9 February –
All Wales Ethnic Minority Association—a Swansea-based charity whose role was to distribute funds to ethnic minority projects across Wales—loses all National Assembly funding after a damning report identified "fundamental failures in the control and governance" within the charity.[5]
29 February – Plaid Cymru MP
Elfyn Llwyd calls for England to pay a financial charge for receiving water from Wales.[6]
March
1 March – As part of
Saint David's Day celebrations, the Welsh Assembly announces that the home of poet
Hedd Wyn has been secured for the nation by the Snowdonia National Park Authority.[7]
2 /
5 June – The homecoming parade of the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards in Cardiff begins celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Many Welsh towns and cities hold street parties to celebrate the Jubilee, though there is a protest from an anti-monarchist group in Cardiff.[19][20]
9 June – An evacuation exercise gets under way at
Aberystwyth after holidaymakers are trapped in a flooded caravan park. Several people are airlifted to safety by the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Royal Air Force Sea King helicopters.[21]
19 June – Betws Primary School in
Bridgend is seriously damaged by a fire that breaks out in the computer block during the school day; 219 pupils are safely evacuated.[22]
1 July – The Warden of historic
Llandovery College announces a rescue plan to enable the school to continue to function despite debts of more than £2m.[24]
16 July – Data from the
2011 Census is released, showing the population of Wales has risen by 5% from 2,903,085 to 3,064,000 since 2001. The Census also shows the population of Cardiff has risen by 12%.[26]
24 July –
Cadw acquires an 1854 miner's cottage in
Cwmdare near Aberdare. The cottage is the youngest of the 128 buildings under Cadw's care.[27]
22 August – A group of scouts light the Paralympic flame on top of
Snowdon, to be taken to Cardiff as part of the celebrations leading up to the start of the
2012 Summer Paralympics.[30]
10 September – Wales education minister,
Leighton Andrews announces the regrading of hundreds of English
GCSE papers, in a break from his English counterparts, who have refused to intervene.[31]
15 October –
Welsh National Opera reveal that they have received a donation of £1.2m from the Getty family, to help fund the production of several modern works, including Usher House by
Gordon Getty.[33]
The
National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012 receives the Royal Assent. It is the first Act passed in Wales to become law in over 600 years.[36][37][38] and is also the first bill passed by the Welsh assembly since it acquired direct law-making powers in March 2011. The bill gives the Welsh and English languages equal status in the assembly.[39]
TV presenter
Anna Ryder Richardson is cleared of blame for an accident that occurred at her wildlife park in Tenby during August 2010; her husband, Colin MacDougall, is found guilty of breaches of health and safety legislation.[40]
15 November – The first national election to elect regional
Police and Crime Commissioners for Wales is met with apathy, with only 344,213 people, a turnout of 14.9%, exercising their right to vote.[41]
19 November – The
Silk Commission recommends that the Welsh Government should have the power to vary Income Tax in Wales by 2020.[42]
21 November – A legal challenge by Jonathan Swift, QC for the Attorney General, to a Welsh Assembly bill that would reform local government bye-laws, is overturned by the
Supreme Court in London.[43][44] This is the first time the National Assembly has seen one of its bills adjudicated by the Supreme Court.[45]
11 December – Further data is released from the
2011 Census, it reveals several key facts about Wales:
Two thirds of people living in Wales identified themselves as
Welsh rather than British or another nationality. The local authority with the highest self-identification as Welsh was
Rhondda Cynon Taf (73%).[49]
The Census reveals that for every twenty people living in Wales, roughly 15 would have been born in Wales, 4 in neighbouring England and 1 from elsewhere.[49]
Those in Wales identifying their religion as Christianity fell to 58% (1.8m) a 14% drop since 2001, a larger decline than any English region.[50]
The number of people self-identifying themselves as
Welsh speaking has dropped from 21% to 19% in the ten years between the two census, with only Gwynedd and Anglesey recording a Welsh language rate greater than 50%. One theory behind the drop in the statistics suggests that parents misidentify the ability of their children while at school.[51]
S4C agree a new broadcasting deal with a breakaway group of more than 300 Welsh musicians and composers. The group, now represented by the Eos agency, left the
Performing Rights Society in August after PRS reclassified
BBC Radio Cymru as a regional rather than a national radio station.[55][56]
7 July –
Gavin Rees retains his European lightweight belt and wins the British lightweight title after defeating Derry Mathews in Sheffield.[77]
11 November –
Nathan Cleverly successfully defends his WBO light-heavyweight title for the fourth time, in an eighth round stoppage over
Shawn Hawk in Los Angeles.[78]
11 April – It is reported that Wales rugby coach
Warren Gatland has broken both heels in a fall from a ladder while cleaning windows at his beach house in New Zealand.[91]
20 April –
Rob Howley is appointed caretaker manager of the Wales national rugby side.[92]
23 June –
Wales lose the third of their 3-match test series in their 2012 Summer Tour of Australia; Australia take the series 3–0.
3 December – After losing all four of their autumn international matches, Wales drop out of the top eight seeds, resulting in the side being placed in the third tier for the
2015 Rugby World Cup draw. In the draw Wales were placed in group A along with Australia and England; the final slots being filled through qualifiers.[96]