2010 Memorial of Six Bells Colliery

Six Bells Colliery was a coal mine located in Six Bells, Abertillery, Monmouthshire, South Wales. In 1960 it was the site of an underground explosion which killed 45 local miners. The sculpture commemorates the pit disaster of 1960 and is a tribute to those who work in dangerous industries. Designed by Sebastian Boyesen, it is fabricated with thousands of steel ribbons. The statue was unveiled by The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams in 2010. Known as the Guardian, the statue has been described as "a Welsh answer to Antony Gormley's Angel of the North".

2009 Kilvey Hill transmitter digital switchover

The Kilvey Hill transmitting station was originally built at the summit of Kilvey Hill in Swansea, by the BBC in 1967 as a relay for VHF and UHF television. As built, the station did not radiate VHF FM radio, this was added later. Freeview digital terrestrial TV was already available at low power from this transmitter before the digital switchover process began. Currently, the hill's transmitters cater for viewers and listeners in the Swansea and Neath Port Talbot area. The transmission station located on top of Kilvey Hill is owned and operated by Arqiva.

2007 Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal's bank collaps

The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal is a small network of canals in South Wales. For most of its 56 km (35 mile) length it runs through the Brecon Beacons National Park. In 2007 a serious breach occurred when part of the canal bank near Gilwern collapsed, causing a number of houses to be evacuated. Eight people were rescued, and the A4077 road between Crickhowell and Gilwern was closed, for a period which was expected to be several weeks. Two families were provided with temporary accommodation, and twenty-three hire boats were also affected with cranes being brought in to help them back to their bases.

2006 NDA announced Wylfa power station shut down

The Wylfa Nuclear Power Station (Welsh - Atomfa'r Wylfa) is situated just west of Cemaes Bay on the island of Anglesey, North Wales. Its location on the coast provided a cooling source for its operation. The construction of the power station, which was undertaken by British Nuclear Design & Construction (BNDC), began in 1963. The reactors were supplied by The Nuclear Power Group (TNPG) and the turbines by English Electric. It was the second nuclear power station to be built in Wales, after Trawsfynydd. Reactor 2 was retired in 2012, and in 2015, Reactor 1 was also shut down, after more than 44 years of operating.

2005 Cardiff celebrates its centenary

Cardiff (Welsh -  Caerdydd) is the capital and largest city in Wales and the tenth largest city in the United Kingdom. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed the capital of Wales in 1955, by a written reply by the Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George. The city was awarded with the European City of Sport in 2009 due to its role in hosting major international sporting events. Again Cardiff was the European City of Sport in 2014. The Millennium Stadium hosted 11 football matches as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics, including the games' opening event and the men's bronze medal match.

2004 Wales Millennium Centre

Wales Millennium Centre (Welsh - Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru) is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay. Phase 1 of the building was opened in 2004 and phase 2 opened in 2009 with an inaugural concert. Opening ceremony was organised by Bryn Terfel, the creative director of the whole opening weekend. The centre has hosted performances of opera, ballet, dance, comedy and musicals. The main theatre, the Donald Gordon Theatre, has 1,897 seats, the BBC Hoddinott Hall 350 and the Weston Studio Theatre 250. The inscription in the front of the building in Welsh reads: CREU GWIR FEL GWYDR O FFWRNAIS AWEN (English: Creating Truth Like Glass From Inspiration's Furnace). The inscription in English reads: IN THESE STONES HORIZONS SING.

2000 Child abuse scandal

The North Wales child abuse scandal was the subject of a three-year, £13 million investigation into the physical and sexual abuse of children in care homes in the counties of Clwyd and Gwynedd, in North Wales, including the Bryn Estyn children's home at Wrexham, between 1974 and 1990. The report into the scandal, headed by retired High Court judge Sir Ronald Waterhouse QC, which was published in 2000. In 2014, the owner of several children's residential homes in the Wrexham area, John Allen, was convicted at Mold Crown Court on 33 counts of sexual abuse against 19 boys and one girl, aged between 7 and 15, during the 1960s and 1970s. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

1995 Disappearance of Richey Edwards

Richard James Edwards (born 1967, disappeared 1995, officially presumed dead 2008) was a Welsh musician who was lyricist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. He was born and raised in Blackwood, Caerphilly. Edwards was initially a driver and roadie for Manic Street Preachers, but he soon became accepted as the band's main spokesman and fourth member. His real contribution to Manic Street Preachers was in the words and design. It was widely believed that he took his own life by jumping from the bridge. Many people who knew him, however, have said that he was never the type to contemplate suicide.

1977 Johnny Owen wins Bantamweight Championship

John Richard Owens (1956 - 1980) was a professional boxer from Wales who fought under the name Johnny Owen. His fragile appearance earned him many epithets, including ‘the Bionic Bantam’ and ‘the Merthyr Matchstick’. He became the first ever Welsh holder of the Bantamweight Championship of the Commonwealth. He challenged champion Lupe Pintor, losing a torturously difficult contest by way of twelfth round knockout. Owen never regained consciousness, fell into a coma and died seven weeks later. Twenty years later, a memorial to Johnny Owen was unveiled in Merthyr Tydfil. At the request of the late fighter's father, the unveiling was performed by Lupe Pintor.

1966 Aberfan disaster

The Aberfan disaster was a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, killing 116 children and 28 adults. It was caused by a build-up of water in the accumulated rock and shale, which suddenly started to slide downhill in the form of slurry. Over 40,000 cubic metres of debris covered the village in minutes, and the classrooms at Pantglas Junior School were immediately inundated, with young children and teachers dying from impact or suffocation. A few children were pulled out alive in the first hour, but no survivors were found after 11 a.m. Rescue work had to be temporarily halted during the day when water began pouring down the slope again, and because of the vast quantity and consistency of the spoil, it was nearly a week before all the bodies were recovered.

1938 Temple of Peace and Health is opened

The Welsh National Temple of Peace and Health, is a non-religious civic building in Cardiff. Since its foundation the building has always served a dual function as headquarters for health and international affairs organisations. The Temple of Peace and Health was the brainchild of David Davies, 1st Baron Davies, and it was designed by the architect Sir Percy Thomas, who was awarded the Bronze medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects for its design. In founding this public building, Lord Davies hoped to combine the ideals of peace and health. He wanted these two great humanitarian causes to be expressed in the architectural design of the building. The foundation stone was laid by Viscount Halifax in 1937.

1922 Urdd Gobaith Cymru is founded

Urdd Gobaith Cymru, literally, the Welsh League of Hope, but normally translated as the Welsh League of Youth, is a Welsh-medium youth movement. The Urdd is Wales's largest youth organisation and it was founded in 1922 by Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards. The first Urdd local branch was established in Treuddyn in 1922. The logo of the Urdd is a triangle of green (symbolising Wales), red (symbolising fellow-man), and white (symbolising Christ). In 1925 the first "Peace and Goodwill Message" from the youth of Wales to the youth of the world was issued by the Urdd, a custom that continues every year on 18 May.

1902 Opening of Great Orme

The Great Orme (Welsh - Y Gogarth or Pen y Gogarth) is a prominent limestone headland on the north coast of Wales, next to the town of Llandudno. It is echoed by the Little Orme, a smaller but very similar limestone headland on the eastern side of Llandudno Bay in the parish of Llanrhos. Its English name derives from the Viking (Old Norse) word for sea serpent. The Great Orme being the head, with its body being the land between the Great and Little Ormes. Although the Vikings left no written texts of their time in North Wales, they certainly raided the area though they appear to have not founded any permanent settlements.

1894 Mining disaster at Albion Colliery

Cilfynydd is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, a mile from the South Wales Valleys town of Pontypridd, and 13 miles north of the capital city, Cardiff. The Albion Steam Coal Co. began sinking a coal mine in 1884 at Ynyscaedudwg Farm. The Albion Colliery opened in August 1887, served by the Llancaiach Branch line of the Taff Vale Railway. Albion was the scene of the second worst disaster in the South Wales Coalfield, after the later disaster at the Universal Colliery at Senghenydd in 1913 (439 men are killed). Massive explosion caused by the ignition of coal dust following an explosion of firedamp killed 290 men and boys. Almost everyone in the community lost someone in the disaster.

1877 First soccer Welsh Cup

The Welsh Cup (Welsh - Cwpan Cymru) is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams from Wales. The Football Association of Wales is the organising body of this competition. The Welsh Cup was first awarded in 1877 to Wrexham, who have won it a record 23 times. From 1996 to 2011, only clubs playing in the Welsh football league system were allowed to enter the Welsh Cup. This rule excluded the six Welsh clubs who played in the English football league system - Cardiff City, Colwyn Bay, Merthyr Tydfil Town, Newport County, Swansea City and Wrexham. In 2012, UEFA stated that Welsh clubs playing in the English football league system could not qualify for European competitions via the Welsh Cup but they could qualify via the English league and cup competitions, hence they were again excluded from the Welsh Cup.

1863 Spa built at Trefriw

Trefriw is today mostly known for its woollen mills, and for the nearby chalybeate spa. Its waters were one of very few throughout Europe to have been classified as a medicine due to their high iron content. In 1833 the old Roman mineral water caves (believed to have been discovered by soldiers of the XXth Roman Legion) were excavated in an attempt to attract people to them. In 1863 Lord Willoughby de Eresby built a small bath-house, replaced a decade later by the current building. In 2003, Nelsons purchased the Spa and the rights to the Spatone mineral water produced there. Today Spatone is sold around the world, with all packaging and manufacture on site in Trefriw.

1831 Merthyr Rising

The Merthyr Rising was the violent climax to many years of simmering unrest among the large working class population of Merthyr Tydfil and the surrounding area. The coal miners and others who worked for William Crawshay took to the streets, protesting against the lowering of their wages and general unemployment. For the first time in the world the red flag of revolution was flown. Twenty-six people were arrested and put on trial for taking part in the revolt. Several were sentenced to terms of imprisonment, others sentenced to penal transportation to Australia, and two were sentenced to death by hanging - Lewsyn yr Heliwr (known as Lewis Lewis) for robbery and Dic Penderyn (known as Richard Lewis) for stabbing a soldier in the leg with a seized bayonet.

1811 Presbyterian Church of Wales

The Presbyterian Church of Wales (Welsh - Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Cymru), also known as The Calvinistic Methodist Church, is a denomination of Protestant Christianity in Wales. It was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival and the preaching of Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland and seceded from the Church of England in 1811. Most of churches are in Wales, but due to strong historical links between the Welsh and certain English cities, there are churches using both the English and the Welsh languages in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Coventry and Liverpool.