:00:12. > :00:15.Welcome to Wales Today. Our top story:
:00:15. > :00:18.Annual tests for seven to 14-year- olds for the first time in a major
:00:18. > :00:28.change for schools. The government says it'll drive up low standards,
:00:28. > :00:33.
:00:33. > :00:36.unions say they'll strike over the Our other headlines tonight:
:00:36. > :00:42.Dumped in a corridor for all to read, the confidential medical
:00:42. > :00:47.records left on top of a bin. Homes and busineses ruined as
:00:47. > :00:50.flooding wreaks havok, with a warning of more bad weather to come.
:00:50. > :01:00.Changes to our planning laws to make our houses cheaper to heat and
:01:00. > :01:04.
:01:04. > :01:10.greener. And Wales get ready for the Six
:01:10. > :01:12.Nations. Good evening. Tests for 7 to 14-
:01:13. > :01:15.year-old pupils in literacy and numeracy will be introduced next
:01:15. > :01:17.year. They are part of plans announced by the Education Minister
:01:18. > :01:26.Leighton Andrews to drive up standards. Reading, writing and
:01:27. > :01:30.arithmetic work will be included in all subjects.
:01:30. > :01:33.Children will also be tested on an annual basis. One of Wales' largest
:01:33. > :01:35.teaching unions say the new tests will increase the workload and is
:01:35. > :01:41.warning they may go on strike. Here's Our Education Correspondent
:01:41. > :01:47.Arwyn Jones. You need to put it all together and
:01:47. > :01:51.use these figures to create a problem, create aback story. That
:01:51. > :01:58.is what the Welsh government wants to see across Wales, teachers
:01:58. > :02:00.mixing in a bit of literacy while discussing maths. At this primary
:02:00. > :02:05.school literacy and numeracy are incorporated into every aspect of
:02:05. > :02:08.every lesson and they have seen improvements to results. These
:02:08. > :02:14.children have not that any formal tests since they have been in
:02:14. > :02:19.school, no child in Wales has since 2004 but as of next year that will
:02:19. > :02:23.change. Next September every child in Wales between 7 and 14 will said
:02:24. > :02:28.a national annual test. As well as the tests the Welsh government want
:02:28. > :02:32.to see reading incorporated into every lesson along with writing and
:02:32. > :02:37.maths. By doing that the aim is to reverse the gap in results between
:02:37. > :02:44.Wales and England where they still set tests. The Welsh government has
:02:44. > :02:49.set aside �7 million to run the programme. This is numeracy and it
:02:49. > :02:51.is monitoring the amount of work that children are doing through the
:02:51. > :02:56.school. Schools and Wales already keep track of the progress of their
:02:56. > :02:59.pupils but there is not won successive -- consistent Test
:02:59. > :03:05.throughout Wales. As for incorporating maths into every
:03:05. > :03:11.lesson, the head says it just takes imagination. A might be recording
:03:11. > :03:16.how far they jumped MP or some athletics activity or whether it is
:03:16. > :03:22.to do with blood pressure or pulse. Children in Wales should and see
:03:22. > :03:26.much difference but what do parents make of annual testing? I like to
:03:26. > :03:28.know what standard my child is at and what age they are at and if
:03:28. > :03:33.they have to improve when they have to improve the lot stop adding
:03:33. > :03:36.tests would show that. It is important to know, you want to
:03:36. > :03:41.build on that ability. One of mine is not good at reading so it would
:03:41. > :03:43.be good for her. For teaching unions more tests mean a higher
:03:43. > :03:46.workload for already overstretched teachers and they say the
:03:46. > :03:50.Government has not discuss that with them. That is why Wales's
:03:50. > :03:54.biggest union says they will go on strike if concerns are not
:03:54. > :03:59.addressed. Our members are interested in raising standards and
:03:59. > :04:04.improving the lot of pupils generally. There is no doubt as
:04:04. > :04:07.regards to that. They are already overstretched in the work they have
:04:07. > :04:10.to undertake so something has to give. We have to make sure that our
:04:10. > :04:15.members are not overburdened and teachers are not overburdened and
:04:15. > :04:20.as a result of this. Launching a scheme to promote reading at the
:04:20. > :04:23.Senate today the education minister dismiss those claims. There has
:04:23. > :04:27.been a full public consultation and five meetings in which the unions
:04:27. > :04:30.are discussed these issues. I do believe of for a minute teachers
:04:30. > :04:35.will want to strike over literacy and numeracy and I think parents
:04:35. > :04:39.would think it ridiculous if they did. That is not going to happen.
:04:39. > :04:42.Nobody would argue with a drive to push up standards of weighing up
:04:42. > :04:44.how they go about it is always more tricky.
:04:44. > :04:46.Professor David Reynolds is an education expert and advises the
:04:46. > :04:56.Welsh Government, Professor Reynolds, we know that standards
:04:56. > :04:56.
:04:56. > :05:02.need to be improved in wales, but how will testing improve things?
:05:02. > :05:08.think by having won a national test that replaces lot of the kind of it
:05:08. > :05:11.to be detests that schools use, actually the amount of testing time
:05:11. > :05:16.will be reduced and it will be easier for teachers with one Test
:05:16. > :05:21.purring year in English and maths. The hope is that the tests will be
:05:21. > :05:26.sufficiently good, better than many of the present ones, that they will
:05:26. > :05:31.diagnose who needs help and schools will be able to see who needs the
:05:31. > :05:37.help. If you are a parent or teacher or a pupil, a previous
:05:37. > :05:41.minister scrapped testing so now it is akin, you pity the poor pupils
:05:41. > :05:48.and one being fiddled around with in a guinea pig experiment to see
:05:48. > :05:52.what works. In fairness to the minister who abolished the tests,
:05:52. > :05:56.it may well have been the training in their terms of quantity and
:05:56. > :06:00.quality may not have been appropriate. Maybe we expected to
:06:00. > :06:04.much too quickly of teachers. Having said all that if things are
:06:04. > :06:09.not working you have to acknowledge it and move on. The problem is the
:06:09. > :06:12.currency of the current test is not high so a lot of secondary schools
:06:12. > :06:18.are spending the first few years testing primary pupils because they
:06:18. > :06:22.don't believe the teacher ratings that they gave. Parents will be
:06:22. > :06:26.concerned of the News tonight of the possibility of strike action.
:06:26. > :06:32.That will affect a lot of children's education of the goes
:06:32. > :06:34.ahead. I cannot believe that when are they look at what is being
:06:34. > :06:38.proposed they will want to strike. The testing is not the most
:06:38. > :06:42.important part of this. The most important part is that for the
:06:42. > :06:49.first time Welsh teachers will have access to a knowledge base of how
:06:49. > :06:52.to teach literacy and numeracy. The best teachers will have the chance
:06:52. > :07:02.of being bought out of their schools to take their wares to
:07:02. > :07:03.
:07:03. > :07:05.other schools. Thank you very much. BBC Wales has been told that bag
:07:05. > :07:08.full of confidential patients' records was dumped in a corridor at
:07:08. > :07:11.Wales' biggest hospital and left there for four days. The problem at
:07:11. > :07:14.the University Hospital of Wales was brought to light by a worker
:07:14. > :07:19.there. The hospital says it investigating. Caroline Evans has
:07:19. > :07:23.more. We know about this because a number
:07:23. > :07:27.of staff -- a member of staff was so concerned they contacted us to
:07:27. > :07:32.tell us about it. According to that person, who wants to remain
:07:32. > :07:36.anonymous, these documents were left in a public corridor and they
:07:36. > :07:40.included confidential patient reports, details of medical history,
:07:40. > :07:44.and treatment plants. That person says they should have been shed --
:07:44. > :07:47.they should have been taken away and shredded. I spoke to the
:07:47. > :07:51.medical director responsible for the University Hospital of Wales.
:07:51. > :07:56.We need to look at this and do an investigation to see whether Bailey
:07:56. > :08:00.has occurred. We admit this should not have happened. We should be
:08:00. > :08:05.looking to make sure that personal data is a Jew and when it needs to
:08:05. > :08:15.be disposed of it is disposed of in and have paid -- a -- an
:08:15. > :08:16.
:08:16. > :08:19.appropriate way. -- data should be secured. There is no excuse for
:08:19. > :08:23.this. Organisations need to have the policies and procedures in
:08:23. > :08:29.place and have staff trained so people know what to do. It is the
:08:29. > :08:32.basic things that go wrong sometimes so there is no excuse.
:08:32. > :08:36.The Community Health Council for the area says they are disappointed
:08:36. > :08:39.by this. They too are waiting for a report from the hospital.
:08:39. > :08:42.Thank you very much. A drug addict, who murdered a
:08:42. > :08:45.disabled pensioner on his doorstep in Cardiff, has been told he'll
:08:45. > :08:48.serve at least 22 years in jail. Peter Lewis was killed after
:08:48. > :08:51.answering the front door of his flat in Roath in the early hours of
:08:51. > :08:54.the morning last April. Today the judge told his killer, 32-year-old
:08:54. > :08:59.William Jones, that this was an unprovoked attack for which he had
:08:59. > :09:01.shown no remorse. A British Airways jet made an
:09:01. > :09:04.emergency landing at Cardiff Airport this morning, after the
:09:04. > :09:07.pilot noticed a potential problem with the cockpit controls. The
:09:07. > :09:12.Boeing 747 was checked by engineers and all 138 passengers moved to the
:09:12. > :09:15.terminal after the pilot was forced to divert. Fire crews were
:09:15. > :09:18.scrambled to meet the aircraft, which was travelling from Houston
:09:18. > :09:21.in Texas to Heathrow, and other aircraft were put in a holding
:09:21. > :09:23.pattern while it landed. No fault was found with the plane and it
:09:23. > :09:26.continued its journey three hours later.
:09:26. > :09:28.Wherever you live in Wales big changes are planned for health care.
:09:28. > :09:34.The Betsi Cadawaladr University Health Board which covers north
:09:34. > :09:36.Wales was among the first to come up with proposals. As we've
:09:36. > :09:39.reported, they haven't gone down well with some patients. Today the
:09:39. > :09:42.board even faced the prospect of a no-confidence vote by councillors
:09:42. > :09:52.in Conwy and tonight in Blaenau Ffestiniog campaigners there are
:09:52. > :09:52.
:09:52. > :09:56.gathering. Roger Pinney is there. When it via Betsi Cadawaladr board
:09:56. > :10:01.announced their proposals for the future 10 days ago one of the
:10:01. > :10:05.headlines was a plan to close for community hospitals including the
:10:05. > :10:10.one here. A defence committee is already up and running and you can
:10:10. > :10:14.see it is meeting here tonight to plot the way ahead and how it can
:10:14. > :10:18.overturn the that proposal. Overall this probably wasn't much of the
:10:18. > :10:22.day the members of the health board were looking forward to. There was
:10:22. > :10:28.a proposal for a vote of no confidence and also the community
:10:28. > :10:32.health council was looking at the plans. They have the power to refer
:10:32. > :10:36.them to put the Welsh government in Cardiff. As it turned out they took
:10:36. > :10:39.pause for thought and will not reach decisions for a couple of
:10:39. > :10:45.weeks. Tonight this meeting is going on and one of the members has
:10:45. > :10:49.come out. Are you going to let them off the hook? No, I think there are
:10:49. > :10:55.many unanswered questions still for this community, especially the
:10:55. > :11:01.services that are to take place. I don't feel negotiations are mature
:11:01. > :11:06.enough for that to happen yet. were a member of the county council,
:11:06. > :11:11.it would be unprecedented if another local authority took a vote
:11:11. > :11:16.of no confidence? Last Thursday I put a motion to the council in
:11:16. > :11:21.Caernarfon that the council should go into a negotiation with a Betsi
:11:21. > :11:26.Cadawaladr as to how it is going to affect them financially and what is
:11:26. > :11:32.needed from the Test side of the Council and also to refer the
:11:32. > :11:37.matter up for Leslie Griffiths thoughts. They have to make tough
:11:38. > :11:42.decisions, things cannot stay the same. No, I appreciate about from
:11:42. > :11:47.my point of view any change has to be for the better and it has to be
:11:47. > :11:51.a change for changing needs of the population and is a involves care
:11:51. > :11:55.and him of help and -- health and those negotiations on a late yet
:11:55. > :12:00.the -- are not yet mature enough. You get a sense of the feeling here
:12:00. > :12:04.in North Wales that people know things have to change and the
:12:04. > :12:07.financial constraints but the story does not go away. Tomorrow the
:12:07. > :12:11.Royal College of Nurses and the Royal College of Midwives will be
:12:11. > :12:17.say what they think of another part of this land which is to refer the
:12:17. > :12:21.neonatal care for newborn babies to a hospital on the May -- and
:12:21. > :12:24.hospital on the Wirral. We may not have seen the worst of
:12:24. > :12:26.the flooding, that's the warning tonight from the Environment Agency
:12:26. > :12:29.as more heavy rain is expected tomorrow. Many homes and businesses
:12:29. > :12:32.in west Wales are still clearing up from the weekend. Abigail Neal
:12:32. > :12:36.reports. It's business as usual today, but
:12:36. > :12:40.Josh Phillips knows there could be more to come. On Friday night five
:12:40. > :12:49.feet of water swept down Solva's main street and flooded his pub on
:12:49. > :12:53.all sides. It is the worst I have ever seen it and it, as my dad said,
:12:54. > :12:57.he has been here for 40 years and that is the worst the Athenian.
:12:57. > :13:00.This time it was the road and a reverse so we were Pinsent in
:13:00. > :13:03.between them both. On just one night, fire crews in
:13:03. > :13:10.west wales received 300 calls for help. This village of Llandowror in
:13:10. > :13:12.Carmarthenshire was one of the worst affected villages. More heavy
:13:12. > :13:16.rain is expected tomorrow and rescue crews say flood call outs
:13:16. > :13:21.are now becoming more common. weather fronts seem to come in and
:13:22. > :13:27.stay longer over a certain area and we are getting a lot of water in
:13:27. > :13:32.specific areas. It is getting more prevalent for art's to attend
:13:32. > :13:34.floods and flood rescues. As well as torrential rain, the
:13:34. > :13:37.weekend's weather brought unusual cloud formations and heavy
:13:37. > :13:41.thunderstorms. Then came hail the size of marbles causing a four car
:13:41. > :13:44.pile up on the M4. Tonight the environment agency
:13:44. > :13:51.issued an amber warning, this time for the east and north of wales,
:13:51. > :13:56.and warned there's more to come. This is not the heaviest rain we
:13:56. > :13:59.will experience. This will charge our rivers again but we are more
:13:59. > :14:03.worried about tomorrow's rain and the extent that it will cover the
:14:03. > :14:06.whole of Wales and it will last all day.
:14:06. > :14:09.The flood defences in Solva remain tonight, with high winds and high
:14:09. > :14:11.tides, coastal areas are also being told to stay alert.
:14:11. > :14:14.Two Welsh RNLI volunteers will receive gallantry medals for
:14:15. > :14:17.helping to rescue a woman who was clinging to a tree in fast flowing
:14:17. > :14:22.flood water. These dramatic pictures show the moment Vanessa
:14:22. > :14:25.Glover was pulled out of the water in Devon just before Christmas.
:14:25. > :14:31.Paul Eastment and Chris Missen, from Porthcawl RNLI, were in the
:14:31. > :14:34.rescue boat. Penarth volunteer Jason Dunlop, who was part of the
:14:34. > :14:41.shore crew team, will also be recognised.
:14:41. > :14:46.Much more to come before 7:00pm: Why, when it comes to access to the
:14:46. > :14:49.arts, there's not much to sing about if you live in a rural area.
:14:49. > :14:59.And many more happy landings for the air ambulance and the Welsh
:14:59. > :15:04.
:15:04. > :15:10.rugby union. If yours -- if you fuel bills have been sky-high there
:15:10. > :15:13.are changes to planning laws on the horizon to allow more homeowners to
:15:13. > :15:22.insulate the outside of their houses in a UK wide scheme to
:15:22. > :15:27.encourage energy efficiency. It has been a hard few weeks and
:15:27. > :15:32.the cold weather means we have all needed extra heating. The UK
:15:32. > :15:37.government's Green Deal launch today means loans and a cashback
:15:37. > :15:42.scheme for improving your home and reducing energy bills. The purpose
:15:42. > :15:45.of the Green Deal is to encourage businesses and householders to
:15:45. > :15:50.improve energy efficiency and cut costs. That can be done through
:15:50. > :15:53.external insulation on outside walls, it could be new boilers and
:15:53. > :15:58.possibly windows and even insulation inside houses, and all
:15:58. > :16:03.of that with no upfront costs. those that private finance does not
:16:03. > :16:09.make sense for there is �1.3 billion of subsidy every year over
:16:09. > :16:15.the next decade to help people who are either in fuel poverty or who
:16:15. > :16:19.have hard to treat homes, and many of those homes are in Wales. This
:16:19. > :16:24.company installs insulation, boilers and solar panels. It also
:16:25. > :16:28.trains its staff to fit insulation panels on outside walls -- outside
:16:28. > :16:34.walls. In Wales this type of word usually needs the agreement of
:16:34. > :16:38.planning officers. One of the issues, particularly for external
:16:38. > :16:43.wall insulation which goes outside the house, is planning permission.
:16:43. > :16:49.In the last couple of weeks it was permitted development in England
:16:49. > :16:53.but in Wales we are not there yet. We have a disadvantage. This rented
:16:53. > :16:58.terrace house has just had five inches of insulation placed on the
:16:58. > :17:06.outside. It has made a noticeable difference. It is a really big
:17:06. > :17:10.difference because our heaters are on at most for six years whereas
:17:10. > :17:14.before they won for 11 hours in the winter. In the summer in actually
:17:14. > :17:17.wasn't a lot. It is a vast improvement. Roof insulation and
:17:17. > :17:21.draught-proofing can be installed without planning permission and
:17:21. > :17:26.some changes have been made to allow solar panels and wind
:17:26. > :17:29.turbines as well that outside insulation still requires some
:17:29. > :17:33.consent. We are looking to tweak our planning laws in the spring of
:17:33. > :17:38.this year and next year but at the moment most external wall cladding
:17:38. > :17:45.cannot take place without planning permission. We will look at it
:17:45. > :17:51.reached -- tweaking it as necessary. England has -- in contrast to
:17:51. > :17:53.England planning consent is currently still needed here.
:17:53. > :17:56.Budget cuts and our rural landscape are limiting the opportunities for
:17:56. > :17:59.people to get involved with the arts in Wales, according to a
:17:59. > :18:02.committee of Assembly members. They want the Welsh government to create
:18:02. > :18:04.an action plan that will increase participation in things like
:18:04. > :18:09.theatre and dance groups. Our arts and media correspondent Huw Thomas
:18:09. > :18:14.reports. Only kids allowed has given young
:18:14. > :18:22.people from across Wales the chance to sing and be seen. It is those
:18:22. > :18:25.kinds of opportunities that need to increase according to assembly
:18:25. > :18:30.members. Organisations that receive public money are often obliged to
:18:30. > :18:33.do more to get the public involved in the work that they do. Opera
:18:33. > :18:37.companies and theatre groups stage workshops for budding professionals,
:18:37. > :18:46.or take their shows to places and people that would not normally
:18:46. > :18:50.consider it their kind of fame. Just as businesses and individuals
:18:50. > :18:55.have had to tighten their belts in recent years, the money available
:18:55. > :18:59.to these arts organisations has fallen as well. A number of
:18:59. > :19:03.organisations has lost significant funding and finding funding from
:19:03. > :19:07.other directions has proved a difficult so we are calling on the
:19:07. > :19:11.Welsh government to work with the Arts Council to help these groups
:19:11. > :19:15.and ensure that everybody in Wales has the opportunity to participate
:19:15. > :19:20.in the arts. This theatre group provides opportunities for people
:19:20. > :19:23.with learning disabilities to gain new skills and confidence. Funding
:19:23. > :19:29.cuts mean it is run on a skeleton staff but there has also been an
:19:29. > :19:32.impact on the tour as they made to other parts of Wales. We talk to
:19:33. > :19:35.real -- rural venues and many of them are finding it very difficult
:19:35. > :19:40.and we are seeing closures all over the country, Wales and England
:19:40. > :19:45.included, and that has an air immediate effect on our touring
:19:45. > :19:49.income and a knock-on to our income as a company as a whole.
:19:49. > :19:52.Government cannot print more cash to fund the arts but it is being
:19:53. > :19:58.urged to draw up an action plan to increase participation and monitor
:19:58. > :20:01.how many of us get involved. Responding to the report the Arts
:20:01. > :20:05.Council said it welcomed the emphasis on ensuring the widest
:20:05. > :20:09.possible audience can enjoy and take part in the arts. The Welsh
:20:09. > :20:12.government said it would study the findings and respond in due course.
:20:12. > :20:15.A woman who's originally from Cardiff has become the second ever
:20:15. > :20:17.black woman to be appointed as a US Marshall. Louise Kelton was
:20:17. > :20:21.nominated by President Obama personally and was sworn in last
:20:21. > :20:27.week. Back home in Butetown her relatives say they're proud of her
:20:27. > :20:29.achievements over the decades. Nashville, Tennessee, in the
:20:30. > :20:32.Southern States of the US. Unusually the commander of this
:20:33. > :20:36.city's tough Police department is a woman, even more unusual for the
:20:36. > :20:40.deep south is that she's black, but most unusual of all is that she
:20:40. > :20:44.hails from Cardiff. But last week Louise Kelton handed in hers cop's
:20:44. > :20:53.uniform as she was promoted once more. Nominated by President Obama
:20:53. > :20:57.she's just been appointed the US Marshall for Tennessee. Louise I
:20:58. > :21:02.was brought and brought up her -- and Louise was born and brought up
:21:02. > :21:06.here but in 1978 when she was 23 she gave up her job as a
:21:06. > :21:09.physiotherapist and decided to four sec -- for safe the south of
:21:09. > :21:15.Cardiff for the deep south of the USA and live with her father's
:21:15. > :21:20.family. He had been a GI stationed here during the war. My dad is an
:21:20. > :21:26.American citizen and I just wanted to see where he was from. Basically
:21:26. > :21:30.my idea was to come over here for a year and, round and then come back
:21:30. > :21:34.home and I ran out of money in National so I got a job.
:21:34. > :21:36.Her brother and mother still live in the home she grew up in and are
:21:36. > :21:44.in constant touch. They're immensely proud her achievements
:21:44. > :21:48.over the decades. I think she is the second black female US marshal
:21:48. > :21:53.in the history of the States so she is a very high achiever. I have
:21:53. > :21:57.always been proud of my sister, she is my big sister and I am the baby!
:21:57. > :21:59.Bo Jackson's a former FBI agent living in Cardiff. He was a special
:21:59. > :22:08.agent for 24 years and says the Marshalls are America's oldest
:22:08. > :22:14.federal law enforcers. I have, on occasion, worked with the US
:22:14. > :22:18.marshals services for fugitive apprehension and court protection.
:22:18. > :22:24.It is, indeed, an honour for her to receive a nomination from the
:22:24. > :22:28.President and to be appointed as a US marshal. This is a photograph of
:22:28. > :22:33.a wheeze when we performed a play Mary Poppins in the school. She
:22:33. > :22:37.must have been 10 years old. Betty Campbell taught Louise in
:22:37. > :22:41.Junior School, but is also a friend and neighbour of her family here in
:22:41. > :22:45.Cardiff. She has made us feel really, really proud. She has
:22:45. > :22:49.always been proud of her Welsh ancestry but also proud of her
:22:49. > :22:52.American ancestry as well. Now 57, Louise begins her new role this
:22:52. > :22:56.week. The once glamorous Cardiff teenager now one of the most
:22:56. > :22:59.powerful law enforcers in America. Rugby, and it's just five days to
:22:59. > :23:02.the start of this year's Six Nations championship, with Wales,
:23:02. > :23:05.of course, going in as defending Grand Slam champions. With fitness
:23:05. > :23:08.doubts still over certain key players, the Welsh team to face
:23:08. > :23:11.Ireland in Saturday's opening game is still up in the air, which is
:23:11. > :23:20.quite apt given a special visit to the team's training base in the
:23:20. > :23:22.Vale today. More from our rugby correspondent Gareth Charles.
:23:22. > :23:27.Given the incredible number of injuries Wales have suffered
:23:27. > :23:31.recently, they could have been excused for thinking the new air
:23:31. > :23:36.ambulance was exclusively at their disposal. In fact it was at the
:23:37. > :23:40.base to note a new partnership with other Welsh Rugby Union. We need at
:23:40. > :23:44.least 250 landing sites so the partnership is to reach out to
:23:44. > :23:49.clubs and communities to identify rugby clubs around Wales as safe
:23:49. > :23:56.landing sites for us. Also on show today the entire squad, assembled
:23:56. > :24:00.for the pre-tournament photo, including the latest edition. Wales
:24:00. > :24:04.hope they could be good news with Ryan Jones and Ian Evans both
:24:05. > :24:09.training today. The next 24 hours will be vital to see if they are
:24:09. > :24:13.fit or not. No one will be looking forward to facing Ireland more than
:24:13. > :24:19.John Davies whose two tries last year put Wales on the road to the
:24:19. > :24:23.Grand Slam. We are defending champions and we want to defend
:24:23. > :24:28.Akram. We have confidence in our own ability and we want to make
:24:28. > :24:32.sure we go out there and put the performance that we know can put
:24:32. > :24:37.together. There is no Georgette of repeating the Grand Slam success,
:24:37. > :24:41.especially in light of the poor autumn performances. It took us two
:24:41. > :24:45.and a half games to get going in the autumn, to get up to the speed
:24:45. > :24:52.of international rugby. In all- action -- in all aspects of the
:24:52. > :25:02.game, the scrum, the defence, we cannot afford to do that this time.
:25:02. > :25:02.
:25:02. > :25:04.One thing is for sure, Wales have to get off to a flying start on
:25:04. > :25:09.Saturday. The scores on the doors weatherwise,
:25:09. > :25:11.more bad weather to come Derek? more bad weather to come Derek?
:25:11. > :25:16.That is right. The snow and ice have gone but the wind is back with
:25:16. > :25:22.a vengeance. Look how fast the wind has been a today. There is more
:25:22. > :25:26.heavy rain and gales to come tomorrow. It brings warnings of
:25:26. > :25:30.more disruption. Met Office warnings are in force with a yellow
:25:30. > :25:37.warning covering most of the country and in amber warning for
:25:37. > :25:41.parts of the South. Up to 30 mm of rain expected. There are two flood
:25:41. > :25:48.warnings in force and nine flood alerts. There is also a risk of
:25:48. > :25:53.flooding on parts of the coast. This evening very windy but dry.
:25:53. > :25:58.The strong wind will ease after midnight with more rain moving into
:25:58. > :26:02.the south and south-west towards the end of the night. The lowest
:26:02. > :26:06.temperatures around five Celsius. No frost tonight. A deep area of
:26:06. > :26:13.low pressure over the Atlantic with fronts moving towards the UK with a
:26:13. > :26:18.lot of isobars. They could be gale- force winds. The farm North East
:26:18. > :26:25.stars of dry that it will not last. Much of the country looks damp, if
:26:25. > :26:31.not wet. Not to Wendy at this stage but that will change. During the
:26:31. > :26:35.day tomorrow further outbreaks of rain and drizzle heading away with
:26:35. > :26:38.low cloud and mist and hill fog. Most of the rain in the south and
:26:38. > :26:48.west and it's a Viana eye ground. The air tomorrow is coming from the
:26:48. > :26:49.
:26:49. > :26:54.tropics so it will be mild. Gales on many coasts and hills and
:26:54. > :26:57.mountains. Tomorrow windy with more rain, eventually clearing to
:26:57. > :27:05.showers. When state promises to be a better day, windy but dry and
:27:05. > :27:11.writer with shops and was mixed in with some sunshine. -- dry and
:27:11. > :27:16.brighter with sharp showers mixed in. The cold snap at the end of the
:27:16. > :27:20.week will be short lived. In the meantime unsettled with heavy rain
:27:20. > :27:23.and gales and the risk of more flooding and travel disruption. The
:27:24. > :27:30.thunderstorms and hail we had over the weekend can happen at any time
:27:30. > :27:32.of the year and you can read more about them on my latest blot on our