2009 in Wales - Events

Events

• 1 January
  • The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, broadcasts a New Year message on BBC television. He warns against losing sight of our "real treasure" and says: "Our hearts will be in a very bad way if they’re focused only on the state of our finances."
  • Record numbers of swimmers participate in New Year's Day charity swims at Amroth, Saundersfoot and Abersoch.
• 2 January - Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson denies having criticised the failure to include all UK Paralympic gold medal-winners in the UK New Year Honours List.
• 9 January - The UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, visits south Wales as part of a 3-day tour of the regions .
• 11 January - Eight rescuers are injured as four mountain rescue teams help bring two climbers to safety from the summit of Snowdon.
• 15 January - Welsh Conservative Assembly Members issue an announcement saying that they give their unanimous support to Nick Bourne as leader of the Assembly group.
• 19 January - The Cardiff International Sports Stadium opens, replacing the old Cardiff Athletics Stadium
• 22 January - After having been the only police force in the UK to record an increase in crime during 2007-2008, South Wales Police witnesses a 4% drop in crime in its area, according to the latest British Crime Survey .
• 26 January - Corus announces the loss of up to 1,100 jobs at its plants in Wales and the mothballing of the Llanwern hot strip mill .
• 2 February - After a 24-hour search, the Llanberis mountain rescue team recovers the bodies of two brothers from south-west England who went missing on Snowdon on January 31 .
• 8 February - At the 51st Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Best Pop Vocal Album goes to Duffy for Rockferry.
• 11 February - Four people are killed in a mid-air collision between two light aircraft near Kenfig. They are two female air cadets from Rhondda, aged 13 and 14, and two RAF instructors.
• 18 February
  • Duffy wins the Best Female and British Breakthrough Act awards at the 2009 BRIT Awards; her album Rockferry wins Best Album.
  • The inquest opens into the Kenfig air crash of 11 February.
• 21 February - Rescuers have to abseil 500 feet (150 m) down a sheer rock face in the dark to rescue a team of three climbers stuck on Snowdon.
• 6 March - Boxer Joe Calzaghe wins a court action against his former manager Frank Warren, claiming £2 million in unpaid fees.
• 1 June - ftrmetro Swansea bus rapid transit system begins operation.
• 21 July - The first race meeting is held at Ffos Las racecourse, the first new National Hunt racecourse to be built in the United Kingdom for 80 years.
• 22 July - Official opening of the new Cardiff City stadium, Wales' 2nd largest stadium, when Cardiff City F.C. drew against Glasgow's Celtic F.C.
• 1 August - The National Eisteddfod of Wales opens at Bala.
• 8 August - The first test of the Ashes 2009 series, seeing England against Australia in Cricket, begins at Cardiff's SWALEC Stadium.
• 12 August - Wales begins the process of digital switchover with the turning off of parts of the analogue signal from the Kilvey Hill transmitter.
• 29 September - On his 70th birthday, Rhodri Morgan announces that he will stand down as First Minister in December.
• 22 October - The St David's Centre in Cardiff re-opens as one of the largest shopping centres in the United Kingdom after its multi-million pound extension and the reconstruction of the surrounding area.
• November - Mererid Hopwood, the first woman to be nominated for the position of Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod, withdraws her name from consideration, leaving T. James Jones as the only candidate.
• 12 November - Health & Social Services Minister Edwina Hart declines a request by Liberal Democrat Kirsty Williams to review how £1 billion has been spent on NHS services in Wales.
• 13 November - The agreement A New Understanding is signed by representatives of the Welsh Assembly Government and the Welsh Local Government Association.
• 18 November - A report by the All Wales Convention finds that public opinion is narrowly in favour of increasing the powers of the Welsh Assembly.
• 21 November
  • Dannie Abse receives the Wilfred Owen Poetry Award.
  • Pride In Barry announces the planned placement of a Blue Plaque on 19 Porth Y Castell, Barry, in memory of boxer Jack Petersen.
• 9 December - Carwyn Jones takes office as First Minister for Wales.
• 16 December - The Afan Lido leisure complex in Port Talbot is badly damaged by fire.
• 29 December - A crater approximately 10 feet (3.0 m) wide and 12 feet (3.7 m) deep appears in Brynmair Close, Aberaman, Rhondda Cynon Taf. Nearby residents are evacuated as the cause is investigated.
• undated - Completion of The Tower, Meridian Quay, in the Maritime Quarter of Swansea, the tallest building in Wales, standing at 107 m (351 ft).