FREE accessible boat trips are being launched along the Pembrokeshire coastline as part of a new 12-month programme.

Blue Horizons CIC Surf Club has announced that its first trips will take place on Friday, May 22, with four sailings planned during the day.

The project has been made possible with support from the Port of Milford Haven and Dale Sailing Company Ltd.

Blue Horizons said the trips have been shaped alongside people with additional needs to create a more supportive and inclusive experience.

The organisation said accessibility was about more than simply getting onto a boat, but also about making sure people felt comfortable, supported and understood throughout the journey.

Its team members are DBS checked to work with children and vulnerable adults, first aid trained, experienced in supporting people with additional needs, and equipped with specialist adaptive and accessible equipment.

The trips will be free for Pembrokeshire residents.

A spokesperson for Blue Horizons said: “We know that everyone experiences the world differently. If the boat feels too fast, we slow things down. If someone needs a break or wants to turn around early, that’s absolutely fine.

“There’s no pressure and no judgement — because the people on the boat trip understand those challenges themselves.

“The coastline belongs to everyone and we can’t wait to welcome more people onto the water over the next year.”

Anyone interested can register here: https://forms.gle/WQjgsXSqhntS4zat7

TEN YEARS after the UK voted to leave the European Union, researchers at Aberystwyth University are launching an ambitious project to build the most detailed map yet of how communities voted in the referendum.

The team is appealing to campaigners, party activists and referendum observers to search old files, emails and campaign folders for informal tallies known as “boxcounts”.

These were unofficial figures recorded when ballot boxes were opened on referendum night, before the formal count began.

Official results from the 2016 referendum were published only at local authority level, giving a broad picture of Leave and Remain support across the UK.

But researchers say those figures do not show the more detailed patterns within towns, villages, suburbs and neighbourhoods.

The project, led by Professor Michael Woods at Aberystwyth University’s Centre for Welsh Politics and Society, aims to uncover those hidden local voting patterns.

Professor Woods said: “The EU referendum was the defining event in recent British politics and has shaped our political landscape for the last decade.

“We often talk about ‘Leave areas’ and ‘Remain areas’, but we don’t really know how communities voted beneath the level of local authorities.

“By bringing together boxcounts from across the UK, we can build a much more detailed picture of where support for Brexit was strongest, where it was weakest, and how these patterns relate to different types of places.

“As boxcounts from the referendum are unofficial no one has collected them together, but they will still be saved on people’s computers or archived in old campaign folders. We’re urging anyone who recorded or collated them to dig them out and send them to us.”

The team says it has developed a process to check the material and correct for potential bias, as well as safeguards to ensure privacy requirements are met.

Anyone with boxcounts from the 2016 referendum can find details on how to submit them via the Rural Spatial Justice Substack.

The study is part of the wider Rural Discontent, Spatial Justice and Disruptive Politics project, funded by the UK Frontier Research Guarantee, which is examining links between rural discontent and disruptive politics around the world.

FIVE emerging acts have been shortlisted for this year’s Green Man Rising final, with the winner set to open the Mountain Stage at the sold-out Welsh festival.

The final will take place at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff on Tuesday, June 2, hosted by BBC 6 Music’s Huw Stephens.

Now in its seventeenth year, the competition gives new artists from across the UK the chance to perform at Green Man, Wales’ largest music, arts and science festival.

This year’s finalists are Brighton school friends Glasshouse Red Spider Mite, Leeds dance-punk duo Kiosk, Heist or Hit signees The Slow Country, Tall Child — the project of London-based Nigerian/Indian musician Zha Gandhi — and bilingual English-Welsh band Cyn Cwsg.

Organisers said a record number of entries were received for the 2026 competition. The shortlist was chosen by an industry panel featuring representatives from Clash, DIY, NME, Dazed, Wonderland, The Quietus, So Young and BBC Radio Wales.

The winning act will secure the opening slot on Green Man’s Mountain Stage later this summer, along with a week of studio time at Prah Recordings and a physical vinyl release with Dinked Edition.

The runners-up will also appear on the Green Man Rising Stage, which has previously hosted acts including The Last Dinner Party, English Teacher, Westside Cowboy, Silver Gore, Adult DVD and Keo.

Each shortlisted artist will also receive a professional recording at the festival to help showcase their music to labels, agents and promoters.

Green Man managing director and owner Fiona Stewart said: “Launching talent is at the heart of Green Man and our incredible five finalists were chosen from a record breaking number of acts.

“When Rising was launched 18 years ago we could never have imagined how many artists have been supported in their early careers. Our industry panel will choose which band will open the Mountain Stage at Green Man 2026.”

Free tickets for the Green Man Rising final are available via Dice. Those attending will also be entered into a raffle to win two tickets to the sold-out Green Man 2026.