05/08/2011 BBC Wales Today

Good evening. Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight's top story: Fearful

for the future, workers at Remploy say they are concerned the company,

which has employed disabled people for more than 50 years, is under

Tonight's other top stories: Meg Burgess was killed after a wall

collapsed on her three years ago, a man is to be charged with

manslaughter. The explosion at Chevron in

Pembroke in June claimed four lives. Today, the son of one of the

victims remembers his father. was brilliant, a good family man

and he idolised his grandchildren. He would have done anything for

anybody. A really good bloke. At the National Eisteddfod we meet

those honoured for their contribution to Welsh life. Rugby

referee Nigel Owens in Gorsedd Green, welcomed into the Bardic

Good evening. It has been providing employment for people with

disabilities for more than five decades, but workers at Remploy

factories in Wales have told this programme they fear for its future.

It follows a report which says there are better ways of finding

jobs for disabled people and the government owned plants are out of

date. Today, staff at Remploy in the wrong but started a 48 hour

protest. With a special report, here is our Business correspondent.

Remploy workers show their anger today at proposals which could lead

to 72 of them losing their jobs recycling computers. They are not

the only ones feeding for their livelihoods. At Remploy a Swansea

factory, a number of staff left earlier this year as part of a

voluntary redundancy programme. Those who remain believe that time

is running out. Where are the jobs? They want to get thousands of

incapacity benefit. What better vehicle than factories. They could

fill the factories with workers and the people of capacity. They could

be contributing to society. Jobs are hard to find. For the same

person to be chucked in the scrap heap and then told to find a job.

Remploy is owned by the UK government and was set up live at

the the second world war to find work for servicemen who had lost

Over the years, there have been cutbacks. These protesters failed

to shut one factory closing in 2007. There are still nine Remploy

factories dotted around Wales, employing more than 400 people.

They make a range of goods from furniture to field two parts. They

have been around for years, but a review for the UK government has

just concluded that the �63 million of public money that in effect

subsidises Remploy factories every year would be better spent helping

disabled people get into mainstream work. We have discovered that there

are methods of support that can enable people with really

significant disabilities to work in all sorts of jobs. In

administration, finance, retail, sales, you name it. So, actually,

younger disabled people are saying that they do not think that a

particular factory for disabled people is what I want. This report

is not saying that every Remploy factory, like this one, has got too

close, but it does say that if they are going to survive they have got

to become financially viable. One possible way of survival is for

individual factories to turn themselves into co-operatives,

where they are owned by the workers. The problem is that they have got

to become financially independent for that. It's the Remploy factory

in Britain is loss-making. For the Jones family, it is a worrying time.

40-year-old Alex has learning difficulties and lives with his

parents. He works at the Remploy factory in Swansea and his mother

says it is his life. All of my friends like get, the managers and

the staff and meetings all the time. He has been there for 15 years.

Enjoyed every minute of it. It has supported him in employment and

gives him a lot of self esteem. I am not sure he would have the same

if he was working in normal employment. The UK government has

launched a three-month consultation on the report, although it has

already said it it is going to accept the recommendations. A final

decision is expected next year. Earlier I spoke to Paul Swann from

Disability Wales, an organisation which works for the right of people

with disabilities. I asked him for his reaction to this review.

Employment should not be taken in isolation from a whole range of

broader factors. We need a much more or joined-up approach to

disability. We are quietly confident that that can happen in

Wales. We have been calling for it strategy on independent living,

there has been some sympathy from politicians for that. We hope we

can move forward positively. It has been suggested that the �63 million

of funding that goes to Remploy every year could be better spent

helping support disabled people in two main street work, how realistic

is that? Jobs for anyone at the moment are few and far between,

particularly meaningful work is hard to come by. Disabled people do

need additional support into employment are because of their

additional barriers that they face. Society is not the most enabling,

does not provide the best support for disabled people. Our approach

is very much a let us put all the building blocks in place,

employment be one of the key building blocks, but let us not

forget all the other issues as well. Yes, perhaps that funding could be

better used, clearly, in the present economic climate it is very

difficult to justify support for failing businesses.

A company director will be charged in connection with the death of a

girl who was killed after a wall collapsed on her. Meg Burgess died

three years ago when the breeze block fell on her near Prestatyn.

George Collier, whose company designed and built it, will appear

in court charged with gross negligence and manslaughter. Remind

us what happened. It was a Saturday morning in July 2008 when Meg was

coming back from a trip to the shops with her mother and younger

brother. She was a few steps behind them and the wall collapsed on her.

There were frantic attempts to dig her out of the rubble but

unfortunately she died from severe injuries. What more do we know

about the charges today? The Prime Prosecution Service they will

charge dollop -- George Collier, director of the company, he

designed and his company built the wall. They are going to charge him

with gross negligence manslaughter. That can carry a prison sentence of

two or three years. The company will also be charged under the

Health & Safety at Work Act as well. They will have to establish whether

enough was done to protect their health and safety of members of the

public. This evening there has been a further development, a statement

from Nick's appearance. They have said that not add day goes by when

they are not reminded of the loss of their daughter. -- Meg Burgess's

parents. They hope this will remind the construction business of the

real dangers are. They want an extension of the guidelines around

the building industry to cover walls like this, which currently

fall out of the more stringent health and safety regulation.

The first of a series of public meetings has been held in Holyhead

to discuss alternatives to landfill site. Five local authorities in

North Wales have joined forces to tackle more on recyclable waste.

Two sides, in Deeside and Holyhead, had been earmarked for a possible

incineration plant but no final decisions have been made.

The son of one of four people killed in an explosion at an oil

refinery in Pembroke has spoken publicly for the first time. He

wryly's father, Dennis, died in the blast at the Chevron Refinery in

June. He is now in training for a charity rugby tournament in memory

of his father and his colleagues. Passionate about rugby, Lee Riley

shared his love of the game with his father. Denis was a regular at

this rugby club, right up until his death two months ago. The explosion

at the sheer fun of oil refineries all the lose his father and leave

the whole community affected. people knew who my debt -- dad was.

We have all been in contact, all the victims' families, that has

helped my mother and she has helped to them in the way that the deal

with their grief. Denis Riley died along with three others. Dennis was

overseeing maintenance work which was being carried out a storage

tank. Lee had worked with his father for years but finished a

weeks before the explosion. People dead phone the house and think it

was me at first, because he was management and he would not have

been on the job so people thought it was me. He could not have suited

-- sat in the office, he would rather be out on the job. Chevron

have sold the refinery but flew in experts from the US to help it

investigation which is expected to be a lengthy process. Li hopes its

applies some answers. I hope it answer some questions. I really

want to find out what has happened. If there is somebody to blame, what

would you like to see happen? Justice. At the end of the day, for

everybody. Over half of the rugby team here work at it refinery. A

charity match will be head -- held for all the victims. The community

has been affected and somebody new one of the victims. Everybody has

felt the impact. The charity matches will be a fitting tribute

to a regular who was known as any, who loved the game and loved his

family. He was brilliant, a good family man, idolised his

grandchildren and his family. He would have done anything for

anybody. A good bloke. Coming up in a few minutes, I will

have all of the day's sport. We will be looking forward to the

clash at Twickenham tomorrow and, some new faces at the same ambition,

Cardiff City's season kicks off The new Catholic Archbishop of

Cardiff says his priorities are to address the declining church

attendance and repair the damage caused by abuse scandals outside

Wales. The Most Reverend George Stack, who was installed such as

Archbishop this summer, says the Catholic Church you need to balance

its core teachings with the changes One of George Stack's first public

engagements, celebrating Mass at a local high school. After

celebrating -- working in Westminster for 40 years, he has

now made Cardiff his home. But, as in the rest of the Day Today, --

the UK, church attendance has been declining. We have to fit it into

the context of the pressures that people are under that is not the

same as it was 25 years ago. The Church needs to address that in its

structure and organisation. There are issues on a global scale

affecting the archbishop. In recent years, there have been allegations

of sex abuse and other controversy is. It is something that affects

everybody's view, everybody's perspective of the life of the

church and we have to try to hold on to what is good and it's true

and wholesome and wholly and never let that be distorted by the very

real evil that goes on in the world. The Archbishop believes that one of

the greatest Christian virtues is hope. It is a message he will be

spreading to the 18,000 Catholics in it Wales that he now serves.

Now to the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham. Another busy day on the

Maes. Elin and Tomos are there. Welcome to what is still a very

busy Maes. People out enjoying the sunshine, competitions continue

into the evening. 23,500 turned up today so far this

week, More than 130,000 have made it to the Maes. And there was a big

crowd watching a special ceremony this morning, welcoming new members

to the Gorsedd of Bards. It was a sea of blue, green and

white. There are 46 new faces joining this year.

The National Poet of Wales and one of our most successful sportswomen

were honoured. And weeks before he heads to the

Rugby World Cup, the referee Nigel Owens was also recognised, wearing

the Bardic Robes for the first time. Swapping the rubbish at Forest

Green down. -- the robes of four and green down. He is considered as

one of the best referees in the world. He is proud to speak Welsh

whenever he can, even when he is The reason that I do that is

because it is natural. If I want to make a point and I can speak Welsh,

it is something that I naturally do. After becoming only the second ever

Welsh winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, another on a

today for Gillian Clarke, the national poet of Wales. This is

amazing. I take it is incredibly generous and warm hearted. It is

part of what I wanted to do anyway, to crush the boundaries and for us

all to be one nation, with two languages. One of her best-known

female actresses -- sports people. I was a little bit nervous. I

thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. And this afternoon, an

opportunity for the news members to take part in their first proper

ceremony. There was a winner. Rhys Iorwerth

from Caernarfon, now living in Cardiff, was awarded the Eisteddfod

Chair. Competitors were asked to write a poem in strict metre up to

250 lines on the theme Clawdd Terfyn, or "boundary". The judges

praised the very high standard of the competition but Rhys' work

stood out for its emotional subtlety.

The man in charge of the Eisteddfod says he is hopeful the festival

will get enough money for next year. Last week, Elfed Roberts said jobs

could be at risk if it had to make more savings.

We have had a few words with the politicians that have been here

throughout the week. I am quietly confident that we can work together

to ensure that the future is well- funded and we will be supported by

a Welsh government. I'm heading to the arts pavilion

and to an exhibition capturing key Good evening.

Let's start with developments at Wrexham Football Club. The Dragons

have been given a 5pm deadline on Monday to meet a strict set of

criteria to prove they are in a fit state to play in the Conference

this season. They include providing a �250,000 bond to league officials.

The club says it is confident it will meet the deadline.

One of the visitors to the Maes in Wrexham earlier today was Wales

manager Gary Speed. He named his squad for next week's friendly with

Australia which includes a return for Spurs' Gareth Bale, following

injury. It feels like the summer holidays

have only just begun, but Cardiff City's break is well and truly over.

The Championship season starts this weekend. The Bluebirds, under Malky

Mackay, kick off their campaign at West Ham on Sunday and the new boss

cannot wait to get started. They may not have the spending

power of rival Swansea City, but there are nine May new summer

signings overall. After their guidance of that their new boss,

Cardiff City are looking to push hard. 12 pairs -- players have left

since their Filia last year and the new team are desperate to play.

were eager to get the new team man. But we are eager to get into

Friendly's and now we are looking forward to getting the new season

started. With lots of new faces, the captain says the changes have

been positive. It feels like a new club. It has been good. It has been

exciting and hard work. We are looking for to Sunday. The trip to

Upton Park is certainly a tough opener. The former manager has bad

words of advice for the new boss this week, saying that he will need

to manage the levels of expectation. I am not putting myself up against

the previous managers of football clubs. If I had done that at

Watford, I would have been worrying every day. We are ambitious and I

want us to do as well as we can this season. Expectation is high

and the but for promotion starts on Sunday. -- the push for promotion

starts on Sunday. Tomorrow afternoon, Warren Gatland

will have a clearer idea of who might be getting on the plane with

him to New Zealand. Wales and England trained at Twickenham this

afternoon ahead of tomorrow's world cup warm-up match. Gatland says

this is the players' chance to impress and they must seize their

opportunity. There are just 30 places in the squad to fill and

both sides know, with selection on the line, tomorrow could be an

almighty battle. People say, are they going to be scared about being

injured? The fact of the matter is that if they do not put their head

where it is, they will not be selected. They will not hold back

because they are scared of being injured, because everybody is on

pressure -- under pressure for their places. It is a pre-season

game in one sense, but when we get there on Saturday, with a full

house, it is a Test match. There is a real edge to any game between

Wales and England. People are fighting for places in the Welsh

squad and the English squad. It will be no place for the faint of

heart, put it that way. Cricket and Glamorgan were four

wickets short of victory on the final day of their match against

Essex at the Swalec Stadium. Glamorgan lost early wickets this

morning but rallied to declare on 296 for seven, leaving the visitors

chasing 333 to win. It ended in a draw a little while ago, with Essex

finishing 143 for 6. Let me just tell you how to keep up

with this weekend's sport on the BBC. Tonight, Sport Wales returns,

with plenty of build-up to tomorrow's Twickenham showdown,

9:30pm over on BBC 2 Wales. Tomorrow, live commentary on Radio

Wales and Radio Cymru and highlights of the game, tomorrow

evening from 7pm on BBC 2 Wales. And you can catch Cardiff City

against West Ham on Sunday, from 12:45pm.

Instability on the stock market continues, despite better than

expected US job figures. There had been sharp falls and the last 24

hours, made at crisis of confidence due to the Eurozone debt crisis and

concerns about weak economic recovery in that the US and Europe.

That's it from us. Enjoy the weekend. We will now head back to

Wrexham for our final visit to the Eisteddfod and Elin.

A visit here is not complete without a visit to the arcs tent,

showcasing the very latest in Welsh artistic talent. This year, they

have a special exhibition. Joining me here, as Robin Thomas, to talk

about this issue -- this exhibition. It is a fantastic opportunity to

give the artists and Nadine, because he was such a prolific

photographer. He was working for over 50 years, taking pictures of

events in Wales. It is a historical chronicle, a document, it is

fantastic. People are enjoying it? They are responding fantastically.

What do you think he would have made of this exhibition? It is

wonderful to have been recognised. Many of the pictures have become

iconic. It is nice to see the photographs in their pure form,

without words. How many words deed? Thank you for joining us this

evening. Let's head outside and Derek with

Let's head outside and Derek with the weekend forecast.

Fun and sun on the Maes. Feeling fresher too with a breeze. Ideal

for walking around the Maes and having a picnic. And it is a

similar story across the rest of the country. Lots of sunshine on

Gower and in Borth for their carnival. Tomorrow's forecast not

quite so straightforward. A few sunny intervals but also some

showers, so if you are coming to the Eisteddfod, bring a brolly just

in case. This evening, fine with some cloud and sunshine. Overnight,

generally dry but a few showers are possible in Gwynedd and Pembs later

on. A comfortable, fresh feeling night. Lowest temperatures 10 to 14

Celsius. Tomorrow's chart shows low pressure over Britain and that

means areas of heavy rain and showers. So tomorrow not as nice as

today. More cloud and less sunshine. Some showers as well becoming more

widespread during the day. If you catch a shower it could be heavy

and prolonged. Temperatures 16 to 19 Celsius with light winds and sea

breezes. Tomorrow evening, the heavy showers will die down

although a few will continue overnight. Powys becoming dry. On

Sunday, more showers. Most of them in the South and West, some heavy

with hail and thunder. The North and Northeast may be drier and

sunnier. Breezy on the Bristol Channel coast, with highs of 16 to

19 Celsius. From Tuesday it looks like the weather will settle down

from for a few days thanks to high pressure. So there we are, sunshine

on the Maes today and with a bit of luck Wrexham will miss the worst

showers over the weekend. That's it from the Maes. There is