2011 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 2011 to Wales and its people.

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 2011
in
Wales

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Centuries:
  • 19th
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  • 21st
Decades:
  • 1990s
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  • 2010s
  • 2020s
See also:
2011 in
The United Kingdom
England
Ireland
Scotland

Incumbents

Events
  • 1 January - Welsh recipients of New Year Honours include Raymond Rees (MBE), for his role in preserving the tradition of coracle fishing; Tom Davies (OBE), commissioner of the Independent Police Complaints Commission in Wales; Peter Walker, former Glamorgan cricketer (MBE); educator Dr Dennis Gunning (CBE); and Gareth Vaughan, president of the Farmers’ Union of Wales (MBE).[1] Professor Eldryd Parry is made a KCMG for his services to medicine.
  • 5 January - John Warman, a veteran Liberal Democrat councillor in Neath, defects to the Labour Party[2]
  • 21 January - The South Wales coastguard carry out their "first ever" rescue of a mudslide victim, at Rhossili in Gower.[3]
  • 2 February - A bronze bust of Ray Gravell by John Meirion Morris is unveiled at the BBC Cymru Wales HQ in Cardiff.[4]
  • 7 February - Wrexham council grant planning permission for the "Waking the Dragon" tower to be constructed near Chirk.[5]
  • 19 February - The first public passenger train operates between Caernarfon and Porthmadog Harbour over the restored Welsh Highland Railway.
  • 24 February - Kate Middleton, accompanied by her fiancé Prince William of Wales, attends a lifeboat naming ceremony at Trearddur, Anglesey, her first public engagement in the principality.
  • 3 March - Welsh devolution referendum: Of a 35.2% voting turnout, 63.49% vote 'yes', and 36.51% vote 'no' in response to the question "Do you want the Assembly now to be able to make laws on all matters in the 20 subject areas it has powers for?".
  • 15 March - Local Government Minister Carl Sargeant confirms to the National Assembly that Anglesey Council will be taken over by independent commissioners as a result of infighting between councillors. Sargeant says that the councillors have "betrayed those who elected them" and indulged in "politics of the playground".[6]
1 April: Ty Newydd
  • 1 April
  • 20 April - Four people from Pontypridd are killed when their car plunges down an embankment and into the Clywedog reservoir.[10]
  • 29 April - The wedding of Prince William of Wales to Kate Middleton is conducted by Dr Rowan Williams. Welsh guests include Richard Meade and Martyn Williams; First Minister Carwyn Jones and the Assembly's Presiding Officer Dafydd Elis-Thomas are also present. The music played at the service includes Ubi Caritas et Amor, a choral arrangement specially commissioned for the occasion by the Welsh composer Paul Mealor, and the hymn "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, sung to the tune "Blaenwern" by William Penfro Rowlands.
  • 8 May - Social media sites name Ryan Giggs as the footballer involved in the CTB v News Group Newspapers legal case.
  • 12 May - Carwyn Jones is formally appointed First minister of the newly renamed Welsh Government (formerly the Welsh Assembly Government, and his new Cabinet includes Lesley Griffiths, John Griffiths and Huw Lewis.[11]
  • 13 May – Following a decision made at its Bishops' Spring Conference, the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales announces the reinstatement of the rule of abstaining from eating red meat on Fridays. The practice, last observed in 1984, will be reintroduced on 16 September to coincide with the first anniversary of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.[12]
  • 17 May - Two newly elected Lib Dem AMs, Aled Roberts and John Dixon, are discovered to have been ineligible for election to the Assembly, because of their membership of other bodies.[13]
  • 2 June - Four oil refinery workers are killed in an explosion at Chevron's Pembroke Refinery at Rhoscrowther during maintenance of a 730 cubic metre storage tank.[14]
  • 25 June - Archdruid T. James Jones makes a controversial speech in which he claims that "Britishness" threatens Welsh identity, and suggests that Welsh Olympic medal-winners should be accompanied by the raising of the Welsh flag and the Welsh national anthem, rather than the British flag and anthem. Welsh Conservative MP David Davies says he is "talking rubbish" and that most Welsh people are proud to be both British and Welsh.[15]
  • 29 June – A court ruling restricting the powers of police bail has thrown thousands of cases in England and Wales into disarray.[16]
  • 9 July - National Museum of Art opens at the National Museum Cardiff.[17]
17 August: Simon Richardson
  • 12 July – Police (Detention and Bail) Act 2011, affecting England and Wales, receives its Royal Assent.
  • 17 August - Paralympic cyclist Simon Richardson MBE is seriously injured in a road accident near Cowbridge, ten years after a similar accident that left him disabled.[18]
  • 30 August - Racecourse owner Dai Walters warns that Ffos Las, the UK's newest racecourse, could be forced to close if plans to reduce the number of race meetings are carried through.[19]
  • 2 September - Welsh Food Festival is held at Glansevern Hall, Welshpool.[20]
  • 15 September - Gleision Colliery mining accident: An explosion at Gleision drift mine near Cilybebyll results in an all-night rescue operation to free four trapped miners[21] but the following day their bodies are discovered by rescue workers.[22]
  • 1 October - Shops in Wales are obliged to charge for single-use paper and plastic carrier bags from today.[23]
  • 19 October - The manager of Gleision Colliery is arrested on suspicion of manslaughter; he is later released on police bail.[24]
  • 29 October - The revived Wrexham Lager brand is served in North Wales.[25]
  • 31 October - A landslide at Porthkerry leaves several static holiday caravans overhanging the edge of a cliff.[26]
  • 27 November - Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is involved in the rescue of two Russian seamen by RAF helicopter, after the ore carrier Swanland sinks off the North Wales coast. Five more crew members are drowned.
  • 28 November - The judge in the trial of eight former South Wales Police officers accused of perverting the course of justice in the 1988 Lynette White murder case requests a review of evidence. It is discovered that some files are missing, and the case against the defendants collapses as a result.[27]
  • 30 November - About 170,000 workers in Wales begin a strike as part of UK-wide industrial action over pension changes.[28]
  • 17 December - A walker dies in an avalanche on Y Garn, in Snowdonia, despite rescue attempts by helicopter and emergency services.[29] A woman escapes with her life in the same incident.
  • 29 December - MonmouthpediA is launched in the Welsh media.[30]

Arts and literature

Awards

New books

Welsh language
  • Meirion Evans - Cadw Drws
  • Jon Gower - Y Storiwr
  • Llwyd Owen - Un Ddinas, Dau Fyd

English language

Factual

  • Toby Hamden - The Welsh Guards and the Real Story Of Britain's War In Afghanistan

Fiction

Poetry

Music

Awards
Valentina Naforniţă

Classical

Albums
Wynne Evans

Film

Broadcasting
  • Roath Lock television production facility in Cardiff completed and begins production.

Welsh-language television

English-language television

Sport

Athletics

Boxing
  • 21 May - Nathan Cleverly becomes WBO world light-heavyweight boxing champion.

Rugby union
2011 Six Nations Championship:
  • 4 February - Wales are defeated 19-26 by England at the Millennium Stadium.
  • 12 February - Wales defeat Scotland 24-6 at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh.
  • 2 October - Wales defeat Fiji 66-0 at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand, to reach the quarter-finals of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
  • 15 October - Wales are defeated 9-8 by France in the semi-final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, in a controversial match during which captain Sam Warburton is sent off for a dangerous tackle.
  • 20 October - Wales are defeated 21-18 by Australia in the third-place final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
  • 3 December - Shane Williams plays his last match for Wales, against Australia, scoring his 58th try in the final minutes of the match.

Deaths
Tim Hetherington

See also

References
  1. Wales Online
  2. "Carwyn Jones makes offer as Liberal Democrat defects". BBC News Wales. 5 January 2011. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  3. "Mudslide man in sticky spot". Wales Online.
  4. BBC Press Release 2 February
  5. BBC News North East Wales: Wrexham dragon tower plans approved after concerns
  6. BBC News
  7. Welsh Icons: "Academi and Tŷ Newydd join to create Literature Wales" Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Morning-after pill made free at pharmacies in Wales". BBC News. 2011-04-01. Archived from the original on 1 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-01.
  9. Express.co.uk - "PRINCE WILLIAM: HOLD ON TO ONE’S HAT, GRAN!"
  10. "Man bailed over Wales reservoir deaths". The Guardian. London. 21 April 2011.
  11. BBC News, Wales, 13 May 2011
  12. Evans, Martin (14 May 2011). "Catholics told to abstain from eating meat on Fridays". The Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  13. Withers, Matt (19 May 2011). "Two new AMs remain disqualified". Western Mail.
  14. "Investigation begins after four people killed in explosion at oil refinery in Pembroke", Wales Online, 2011-06-03, retrieved 2018-05-28
  15. BBC News – Archdruid's 2012 Olympic Flag Demand
  16. "Bail suspects 'could be released'". BBC News. BBC. 29 June 2011. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  17. Morris, Steven (2011-07-09). "Welsh art collection goes on view in 'the home it deserves'". The Guardian. London. p. 16. Retrieved 2011-07-09.
  18. London Evening Standard, 18 August 2011
  19. wales Online, 30 August 2011
  20. Wales Online, 30 August 2011
  21. Mirror, 16 Sept 2011
  22. Telegraph, 16 Sept 2011
  23. "Carrier bag charge for shoppers in Wales introduced". BBC News Wales. 1 October 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  24. "Gleision Colliery manager who escaped disaster arrested", The Independent, 19 Oct 2011
  25. "Wrexham Lager returns to the pub", BBC News. Accessed 20 May 2014
  26. BBC News - "Lucky escape for Barry park caravan owners"
  27. BBC News - "Lynette White case: Police officers' trial collapses" (retrieved 1 December 2011)
  28. "Strike: Services hit across Wales as thousands strike". BBC News Wales. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  29. "Walker dies in Snowdonia avalanche", Grough, 17 Dec 2011
  30. Wales Online
  31. "Lucy Caldwell wins 2011 Dylan Thomas Prize" (PDF). The University of Wales. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  32. "Welsh Music Prize website". Archived from the original on 2012-09-04. Retrieved 2012-10-15.
  33. "Prolific Cardiff historian Stewart Williams dies at 85". BBC News. 15 January 2011.
  34. Owen, Robert James (10 March 2011). "Tributes paid to Sully community stalwart". penarthtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  35. "BBC commentator Idwal Robling, 84, dies". BBC Sport. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  36. "Y Dirprwy-Archdderwydd Selwyn Iolen wedi marw" [The Deputy Archdruid Selwyn Iolen has died] (in Welsh). BBC News. 10 August 2011.
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