It dawned on me that apart from some very sparse updates, I haven’t really posted much on this blog recently. Bearing this in mind, I thought I would fill everyone in on some of the things I’ve been doing / working on over the past few weeks.
Since the Summer Ball / Escape into the Park back at the end of June, we spent the week packing, cleaning and drinking in preparation for moving back home. On the last Thursday of term Ian and I went out and joined Helen, Gemma, Gemma and Emma on their last night in Swansea. Helen is spending the next year in New Zealand as part of her course and Gemma P is spending the next few months in Australia, so it was sort of a good bye party. The photo on the right was taken at the end of the night in Time Swansea. By this point in the night there were only 4 of us left – me, Emma, Ian and Helen. More photos can be found in the media section.
A few days later, I completed my move back to Abergavenny and am now living in my new bedroom in the extension. I’ve also started my traditional summer job in Cardiff so I spend most of the week down in the wonderful Cardiff Bay.
The past few months have been a very busy one for my business. I’ve spent a lot of time and effort developing 3 new websites and am about to embark on another. My greatest achievement this month so far has been the launch of a new website for the town of Crickhowell in South Powys. This small town relies heavily on its community atmosphere, and maintaining this is one of the purposes of the new website. Since early this year I have been working with Jan Morgan at the Crickhowell Resource & Information Centre to develop the design of the site as well as implementing the systems in use. The new site has made use of systems I have previously built such as a news module, events calendar, links and contact forms but also incorporates some brand new systems. One of which enables all community groups, tourist attractions, accommodation providers and businesses to have their own updatable page on the website. As you might be able to tell, I am quite proud of this website! It doesn’t end there though! Plans are currently being drawn up for the second phase of developments which could include a community blog and visitor photo albums. Feel free to check out the website at http://www.crickhowellinfo.org.uk.
Another website I have been working on recently is a site to promote a book containing a series of bike rides within / around the Blaenavon World Heritage Site. The new book has been written by a local cycle enthusiast – Alwyn Thomas – who has spent the last few months compiling these rides. The website I’ve produced – all though very small has been designed to give visitors a taste of what can be found in the book. Extracts from the book are available on the site as well as details of where the book can be bought from. I’ve also included a PayPal buy now button so the book can be bought online easily. Again, feel free to take a look at the site at http://www.odynbooks.co.uk.
The final website I have produced this month is an internal website for Herford Sixth Form College. The website has been developed so that the college can efficiently gain access to applicant’s qualifications before final interview at the end of August. On GCSE results day, every applicant will log into the website with their username and password provided to them by the college and input their GCSE grades. These will then be automatically added to the college’s student records database. The system is expected to be used by well over 1000 students! This is another website I’m very proud of. It is the first of a series of systems I am producing for the college that aim to improve the efficiency of the way in which the college operates. I would provide a link to the system, but it isn’t really any use as you can’t log in without a username and password 
. The best you’ll get is the screenshot on the right! Sorry.
There are a few other bits and pieces I could mention, not least including Project Metis, but these can wait for another time and another update (maybe later today depending on how I feel).
But for now, I think I will say goodbye and go make myself some food.
Leave a Reply