page_title: 2011 in Wales
section_title: Events
hierarchical_section_title: 2011 in Wales / Events
caption_attribution_description: English: Ty Newydd Writing Centre
context_section_description: 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). 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
  21 January - The South Wales coastguard carry out their "first ever" rescue of a mudslide victim, at Rhossili in Gower.
  2 February - A bronze bust of Ray Gravell by John Meirion Morris is unveiled at the BBC Cymru Wales HQ in Cardiff.
  7 February - Wrexham council grant planning permission for the "Waking the Dragon" tower to be constructed near Chirk.
  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".
  1 April
  The Academi changes its title to Literature Wales, simultaneously merging with the writers' centre Tŷ Newydd.
  Emergency contraception pills become available free on request in pharmacies throughout Wales.
  The Queen visits Anglesey to witness the daily activities of her grandson, Prince William of Wales. She arrives at RAF Valley in gale-force winds. The prince comments: “I really do love it here”.
  20 April - Four people from Pontypridd are killed when their car plunges down an embankment and into the Clywedog reservoir.
  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.
  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.
  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.
  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.
  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 raisin
caption: 1 April: Ty Newydd
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