2006 in Wales - Events

Events

  • 8 January - Four members of Rhyl Cycling Club are killed in a road accident near Abergele.
  • February - At its spring conference, Plaid Cymru announces several changes to its public image. It is announced that "Plaid" will be used as the party's name, although "Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales" remains the official title. The party's colours are changed to yellow from the traditional green and red, and the party logo is changed from the 'triban' used since 1933 to a yellow Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambrica). Ieuan Wyn Jones is designated party leader.
  • 13 February - Gwenno Teifi Ffransis, granddaughter of Gwynfor Evans, becomes the first Welsh language protestor to be sent to jail since 1995. She is sentenced to five days imprisonment for refusing to pay damages imposed by a court for damaging Radio Carmarthenshire's Narberth studio in protest over its lack of Welsh broadcasts.
  • 16 February - Julien Macdonald and some of his models are pelted with flour bombs by animal rights campaigners disapproving of the use of fur in his fashion designs.
  • 22 February - As The Prince of Wales's court case against The Mail on Sunday continues in the High Court, revelations include the fact that he considers himself a dissident.
  • 1 March - The Queen opens the new Senedd building in Cardiff.
  • 13 March - Dafydd Wigley announces that he is considering a political comeback.
  • 5 April - Legendary singer Gene Pitney is found dead in his Cardiff hotel room after an outstanding concert performance at St David's Hall.
  • 16 April - The first Welsh International Harp Festival opens at Caernarfon.
  • May - Two Big Brother contestants, Imogen Thomas and Glyn Wise, are told not to use the Welsh language for private conversations. The ruling is reversed after a formal complaint from the Welsh Language Society.
  • 7 May - Russell T Davies wins the Dennis Potter Award at the BAFTA television awards ceremony.
  • 27 - 28 May - The Full Ponty music festival is launched.
  • 29 May - Max Boyce headlines at a concert in Pontypridd to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Welsh national anthem. Also appearing are Rhod Gilbert, Mike Peters, Shân Cothi and Hayley Westenra.
  • 9 June - Rhodri Morgan opens Anglesey Coastal Path.
  • 17 June
    • Lynn Davies is awarded the CBE.
    • Julien Macdonald is awarded the OBE.
  • 29 June - In the Blaenau Gwent by-elections
    • Trish Law succeeds her late husband as Independent Assembly Member for Blaenau Gwent;
    • Dai Davies becomes the new Independent Member of Parliament for Blaenau Gwent.
  • 4 July - Alun Pugh announces that the planned merger of the Welsh Language Board with the Welsh Assembly Government, announced in 2004, will be postponed until after the next Assembly elections in 2007.
  • 5 July - The Prince of Wales is presented with a £150,000 gold leaf harp by Victor Salvi, for use by the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales.
  • 20 July - The NDA announced that Wylfa power station will be shut down in 2010.
  • 5 August - The 2006 National Eisteddfod of Wales opens in Swansea.
  • 17 August - In the Clydach murders re-trial, David Morris is for a second time found guilty of four murders.
  • 15 September - The Conservative Party in Wales adopts a sessile oak as its new emblem.
  • 26 September - For the first time in a Welsh court, the mother of a murder victim is allowed to make a statement following the conviction of her daughter's killer.
  • 28 September - Health minister Brian Gibbons admits that the NHS Wales is £100 million in debt.
  • 12 October - The Automatic apologise publicly for trashing the GMTV set, excusing themselves on the grounds that they were still drunk from the previous night and had had only a few minutes' notice that they were due to perform on the show.
  • November - It becomes known that the Prince of Wales had purchased a farm in Carmarthenshire for his personal use and would also be letting it to holidaymakers. It is the first house he has ever bought in Wales.
  • 3 November - Jones Jones Jones, an event held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, succeeds in breaking the world record for the largest gathering of people with the same surname in one place.
  • 24 November - Ferndale Rugby Club welcomes celebrity guests to the grand opening of its "Sir Stanley Baker Lounge".
  • 9 December - Welsh actor Owain Yeoman marries Lucy Davis at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
  • 27 December - Torchwood star John Barrowman and architect Scott Gill become civil partners at a small ceremony in Cardiff.

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