This is a Dydd Santes Dwynwen special edition!

Lot’s happening behind the scenes

Our weeknotes are a little shorter at the moment. We’ve got a lot going on behind the scenes. We hope to be able to share a lot more openly next month!

Collage of photos from the UKGovCamp event

Geeking out at UKGovCamp

Last Saturday, Heledd, Sam and Phil spent the day at UKGovCamp. We had a fab time networking, listening, learning, discussing with other digital, data and technology professionals working across the UK.,

We talked forms, data, AI, leadership challenges, accessibility, why a spreadsheet is the right solution (for now) for some users – and lots in-between. Talks from the day are available in the grid.

Highlights of these types of event is always the people. Love catching up with friends and acquaintances we’ve made in this community. We even met and chatted with some of our #GovCrushes - a term Imran Hussain used in a tribute to remembering Vicky Teinaki – an inspiration to so many in the UK design community, who sadly passed away earlier this month. It was an honour for our team to be mentioned in her blog post in December.

Stuff we want to catch up on

Mini team get together in Cardiff

This week, we were fortunate enough to have some of the team from the north visit us in Cardiff for a few days. In between meetings and workshops, we caught up over lunch. As a remote team, we love an opportunity to get together and socialise – and this week was no different!

After work, Monty, one of our team’s Digital Wooficers even joined us at the ‘Pen and Wig’ pub for a dog-friendly beer with his pals! If you have a dog in Cardiff, this local dog-friendly pub is a great spot to visit with a variety of doggy beers and cocktails, as well as little snacks for them.

Collage of photos from the get together with a little dog in the pub and the view from the window

Other things we’ve been working on…

  • Shaun has published the long-running ammonia assessment pages refresh. Terminology has been updated to be more consistent with the language farmers use, more figures have been included for consultants and the figures have been brought up to date across the board for pigs and poultry. Shaun has also amended the septic tank application pages to make the map for checking eligibility more prominent and make the user journey more obvious. Shaun met with Laura from Deloitte to talk about the water discharge permit application.

  • Sophie has been creating anonymised table examples so our learning modules provide real world best practice for users attending our course. Next week, we’ll be reviewing the content and finalising it to build into the new system.

Fun Fact Friday About Dydd Santes Dwynwen

image showing Santes Dwynwen

Santes Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of love and is celebrated on 25 January every year. The popularity and celebration of Dydd Santes Dwynwen has increased considerably in recent years and many people now send Santes Dwynwen cards to each other.

Santes Dwynwen is considered the Welsh equivalent of St Valentine. According to tradition, she lived in the 5th century and legend has it that she was the most beautiful of Brychan Brycheiniog’s 24 daughters.

She founded a convent on Ynys Llanddwyn, off the west coast of Ynys Môn where a well named after her became a place of pilgrimage after her death. People visiting the well believed that the sacred fish and eels that lived within the well could foretell whether a relationship would bring love and happiness.

The remains of Dwynwen’s church can still be seen today – and is part of the national nature reserve, managed by Natural Resources Wales.