20/04/2017 BBC Wales Today

I am a Brexit supporter, you are not.

on the campaign trail, the First Minister admits Labour has

a mountain to climb in the general election,

but says he can see Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10.

I think people are looking for an alternative. They don't want the

same old they have had for seven years. With claims Labour is in

trouble heading into this campaign, I have come to a height land area to

find out what kind of shape it isn't. -- heart land area to find

out what kind of shape it is in. Karen Kitch has early onset

dementia, now a major new research centre

at Cardiff University will help It'll be for my children, my

grandchildren, because possibly they could have dementia when you're

older and if by that time, they can find a cure, that will me happy.

Refugees hold a special training event to build relationships in the

community and talk about where they came from. It was too hard to live

in Syria. It is not good, lots of people are dying.

the history-makers who've taken the WRU Cup north for the first time

The First Minister Carwyn Jones has admitted that Labour has a mountain

Speaking for the first time since the snap election was called,

he also said it was an opportunity for the UK leader Jeremy

With the party languishing in the polls, how much pressure

Our political editor Nick Servini is in one

of their heartland areas tonight - Merthyr Tydfil.

Appropriately, I have come to be said of a mountain overlooking

Merthyr Tydfil Tippett to be tested very frank admission that Labour has

a mountain to climb. There may be some method here. Labour is trying

to portray itself as the antiestablishment party. Maybe the

party for the underdogs in Wales. And that is something that they feel

clearly comfortable to be seen as. Coming to a doorstep near you, high

profile politicians are back out on the stump. Are you normally a labour

voter? Bill. And it's going to get quite uncomfortable for them as the

First Minister found out. I am a Brexit supporter, you are not. You

haven't tested by your constituency. The Welsh Labour leader of course

won't be ending up in number ten of his party wins in June. Dairy

corporate world. -- Jeremy Corbyn will be. Can you see him as Prime

Minister? Yes, there is no question about that. People have not seen him

in an election campaign. He is passionate and offering an

alternative. We have a long way to go, we know the electorate is

volatile, despite the opinion polls, this is still an election to play

for. Lee Briers lagging in the polls, which had led some to predict

it will struggle. The party currently has 25 out of the 40

parliamentary seats in Wales. -- Labour is lagging in the polls.

Cardiff Central, Newport West, Anglesey and the number in South

Wales could come under pressure. If Labour lead to leg was six, they go

down to less than half in Wales. That hasn't happened very long time.

It will take much longer to rebuild of that happens. There is an

inevitability, there isn't an end to the Labour Party, but it will take a

lot longer to get back to where they used to be. What about its heartland

areas? Merthyr Tydfil says it has a big hard. A big problem for Labour

in places like this is that they supported Brexit. In contrast to

virtually all of the party's leaders. No one realistically expect

any other than Labour to win your. This is Labour territory here, isn't

it? But they voted out. I will not be voting for them. Lee Briers says

they support leaving the EU. It recognises the results. Yes, it's

all a bit watery. I am Labour, I would have been, I will not change

my mind. If everyone had the same opinion as me, they would be in

Downing Street. I think they have lost a few voters. They lost them to

Ukip. Potentially to the Conservatives this time maybe.

Maybe. Stranger things have happened. Over the next seven weeks,

expected to reason me to talk a lot about taking us out of the EU and

controlling our Borders. Expect Jeremy Corbyn to talk a lot about

and your sturdy and taking on the business elites. The question is, in

a place like Merthyr Tydfil which voted to leave, has Jeremy Corbyn

pot class -based rhetoric which has gone down so well over the years

been overtaken by the new language Brexit? All of the parties will come

under intense focus in a frenetic few weeks. But in Wales inevitably,

that means the dominant force Labour will face the biggest questions.

Next, Jeremy Corbyn is saying it is not a foregone conclusion that

Labour will lose, politics is difficult these days. Yes, if it is

the sense that the Conservatives are running away with it, then other

parties and Labour could benefit from the idea that there needs be a

strong opposition. Carwyn Jones will be very much the face of this

campaign in Wales, but the problem is he is not an MP or even the

leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn as. Accusations have already

been said that Welsh Labour is trying to pretend that Jeremy Corbyn

does not exist. He will come to Wales and I think the Welsh and UK

party will try to be cute about this and focus on areas they both agree

on. The obvious example here is a campaign against austerity. Brexit

really is problematic for Labour. The infighting we have seen in

recent years really is problematic as well. It might be OK in a

constituency like Merthyr Tydfil, where maybe there would be a serious

challenge. But it could be a problem in areas where they will face the

challenge. The added challenge is whether after the 8th of June,

Labour reverts to cause the port in former coalfield areas are whether

it remains the dominant parliamentary voice across Wales.

Thank you. Cardiff University has been chosen

as one of the major centres The ?13 million centre

in the capital will be a significant section of the UK's

new Dementia Research Institute. The other towels were

outside, weren't they? From preparing a meal

to doing the laundry, 54-year-old Karen Kitch

from Llanharan, helping hand with daily

tasks from her personal Three years ago, she was told by her

doctor that she had He couldn't tell me how long before

I was in the final part How it was going to be

through the process. He said it was an

individual disease. And have you noticed

that the condition is My children say that over

the last 12 months that they I think that I'm OK,

but, obviously... They say that I have

got a little bit worse. Cardiff University

has already gained international recognition for its

dementia research, but today's announcement means academics

here can take their research a step further and it's all part of

the ?250 million initiative funded Alzheimer's Society

and Alzheimer's Research UK. The is to aim find new ways

to diagnose, treat, prevent and cure for people with dementia and

build on the work which is already I think for those people

with dementia, we can give hope. Our research will

help to design drugs, Probably to cure, to fix it,

the problem, there is a long way to go, but just to modify,

just to slow down the progression, that's

Initially, the University will receive ?13

million to become a UK dementia research Institute Centre.

And the centre is set to become the biggest

investment Wales has ever received first

scientific study into the

With the potential to be awarded a further ?70 million in

research funding over the next five years.

And up to 60 scientific researchers will be employed in

The centre will be one of six across the UK.

They will all collaborate to get the best results.

This happened to Cancer Research about 20 years ago.

Where a lot more investment was put in and sustained.

And now we are reaping the benefits in terms of new

And we needed this large injection of funds and

this is what has happened, so we are very pleased.

Back in her home, Karen welcomes the news.

It's really needed, because I don't think it will be for

my time, but it will be for my children, my grandchildren, because

possibly they could have dementia when they are older.

And if by that time they could find a cure, that

The recruiter process will now begin at the centre

as the fight against dementia continues.

Police investigating a sexual assault on a woman in Barry

are appealing for a man, who gave her a lift in his

The woman had been out in the Park Crescent area

It's believed a man in a silver Lexus offered her a lift.

He's described as white, aged 50 to 60, with white hair

and was wearing orange workmen style trousers.

Doctors a struggling to cope with the influx

Waiting times for patients in A E units in Wales held

Just under 81% of patients were seen in less than four hours.

The target of 95% has never been met.

NHS Wales is still behind on waiting-time targets for patients

to start cancer treatment, but there was a slight improvement

in ambulance response times to life-critical calls.

A tumble dryer at a flat in Llanrwst where two men died in a fire

couldn't be ruled out as the cause despite a lack of

An expert hired by the manufacturer Whirlpool has been presenting his

findings at an inquest into the deaths of Bernard Hender

One of the key questions surrounding the fire at this flat in the centre

of Llanrwst is whether a tumble dryer was to blame.

Seen on the left of these pictures, taken just days after the tragedy,

it's the focus of the inquest into two men who died there.

39-year-old Douglas McTavish, who ran a local bistro, and

19-year-old Bernard Hender, who worked there as a chef, were unable

to escape the thick smoke and flames which tore through the property

Mr Hender's partner Garry Lloyd Jones was able to crawl

out of the building but, suffered from severe carbon

He said yesterday that he woke up in a smoke filled bedroom, before

seeing flames coming from the drum of the tumble dryer,

though it had been swtiched off with the door open the night

Today, a member of the Insitute of Fire Engineers presented his

Appointed by the manufacturer Whirlpool, he said there was no

compelling evidence that the blaze started in the dryer, but it

The company's former product safety director said between 2009 and 2014,

there had been 28 reports of fires where the same type of door

switch was implicated or couldn't be ruled out.

But given that its dryers complete one billion

cycles every 12 days, it hadn't triggered

The inquest is expected to enter a third

Ukip has been continuing its campaign for the local elections

on the streets of Cardiff today, saying it offers a breath

It says councils are under pressure because of immigration

and it will work with other parties if they hold the balance of power.

Here's our political correspondent Arwyn Jones.

The champagne flowed last year after Ukip won seven

seats to the Assembly and claimed they were a big part of the

There were further celebrations after the

Today, a handful of volunteers took to the

streets in Cardiff to try to sell their message.

While there were some happy customers, recently, there has been

a view that the party has lost its cutting edge.

They lost heavily in two important parliamentary by-elections

in England recently and have struggled to attract candidates for

On May the 4th, there will be 1,200 council seats up

for grabs in 22 councils across Wales.

But Ukip will only be fielding candidates in 80 of those

We probably would have liked to have fielded more.

Sometimes, our members aren't keen on standing, because

they don't think sometimes running for Ukip is going to look good

So we do struggle sometimes compared with the other parties.

Ukip as it's willing to work with those other parties to

hold the balance of power on some councils.

Ukip go into these council elections with plenty of policies -

from giving local people priority for social housing, lower council

salaries for staff, to making sure that councils have to have referenda

But the danger for the party will be no-one is listening.

But having played such a prominent role in pulling the United Kingdom

out of the European Union, now Brexit means Ukip

After the last local elections five years

ago, Ukip had two councillors in Wales.

Unless it makes significant gains this year, the questions will

continue about the party's future role on the UK's

Refugees living here hold a special event to help build links

with the community - and say thank you.

And they're rugby's new boys, but they've taken the cup

Now all they need is a trophy cabinet.

A charity is calling for a respite centre,

the first of its kind in Wales , for people with kidney disease.

Kidney Wales say it would allow patients to continue their dialysis

treatment whilst holidaying with loved ones.

Currently there are 10,000 people in Wales living with kidney disease.

Do you want some chocolate? I don't want chocolate, I want sweets.

Whatever the incentive, time together is the real treat

He's waiting for his third kidney transplant.

In the meantime, he has dialysis, where his blood is cleaned

three times a week, for four hours at a time.

And while the kids enjoy cake, mum, Gemma, will be raising

The aim is to build a respite centre,

the first in Wales, offering a space for families

to have a holiday while loved ones continue treatment.

For us as a family to go on holidays and things like that is such a

struggle. It's not easy just to pick a holiday and go, because we still

have to think of dialysis. A unit that they are trying to create will

be so much easier for families. There are 1,400 patients

on dialysis, which can take up And nine out of ten patients

waiting for a transplant are waiting She's been on dialysis

for a year and is getting used She's nervously planning

her first holiday and dialysis abroad

since her diagnosis, but just getting to this

point has been hard. I've accepted it now. I did, you

know... Have a little break down, but I have accepted it now. I have

to build my life around this, because I had been about before and

it's just since this, I haven't. I am going to give it a try.

Now she has her dialysis at home every night.

Wherever she goes, so does her machine,

though she'd like to leave it far behind.

I got 11 hours on dialysis, ten cycles, so I have that in the night,

everything all day. I did have it transpired, but then I had to take

that out. I want another transplant so I can go to Disneyland.

stopping at dialysis centres to hear more experiences

like Shaun's and Gemma's, Mary's and Summer's,

but they won't sit down for long, the walk is the first step

Thousands of Syrian refugees have arrived in the UK

400 of them have been welcomed in Wales.

Today in Ystradgynlais, at the top of the Swansea Valley,

six Syrian families came together to put on a special cultural event

Our reporter Ben Price went along to find out more.

Thousands of miles from home and drinking Arabic coffee in Wales.

This man and his family arrived in Wales eight months ago, having fled

war-torn three. Leaving have his family behind, you said, was the

toughest decision of his life. Translation Mack I have contact with

my family on Facebook, because there is no food or work for them in the

village. -- TRANSLATION:. Having experienced a warm welcome here,

today his wife and mother-in-law adhere to Syrian cuisine to share

with the locals. With thank you for the locals and generosity.

TRANSLATION: This village has been very nice to me, they helped me a

lot and that's where want to stay here forever. It reminds me of my

village in Syria. Down the road at the welcome all, it was all hands on

deck as everyone chipped in to prepare for a cultural celebration.

Six families from Syria have recently settled here. Among them

are many young children, including the 11-year-old. It was too hard to

live in Syria. It is not good. Of people are dying. It's so hard. Was

at a very scary? Yes. When you came to Wales, how different was that? It

a lot different. Yes. Had he made friends here? I have made lots of

friends. -- have you made friends here? Familiar with entertainment,

it's probably the first time this welcome all has showcased theory on

dancing with everyone playing the part. With enough food to feed an

entire time, be sweet and savoury dishes proved to be a very popular

choice. We have a proud history welcoming refugees going back to the

1930s were people fleeing been at least in Europe. That perspective,

that was a real concern, but you are quite right. It isn't as diverse as

big cities, that was a big fear in the back but as you can see from

today, the community have welcomed the families families with open

arms. The Syrian families say they are happy to call will their new

home. He clear sign there remains a welcome in the hillside. Ben Price

reporting. Former Wales manager

and midfielder Gary Speed will be inducted into

the National Football Speed, who made 536

Premier League appearances, is being honoured for his dedication

to the game. The former Wales captain,

who died in 2011, will be inducted at ceremony

in September this year. Rugby now and after the excitement

of yesterday's Lions Squad announcement, focus returns

to the end of the domestic season. In the WRU Premiership,

there are still play-off RGC14-04, who made history on Sunday

by taking the WRU Cup to north Wales Back in training at their Colwyn Bay

home and the scale of what they've The experiment, the project

to boost the game's It was something some may have

doubted would ever happen. Silverware for a trophy cabinet

they still haven't bought. It still hasn't sunk

in, to be honest. It's something that we've tried

to develop on each year. When we first started

five years ago. So, to reach the final

in our first year of Premiership, it's

absolutely fantastic. First, RGC, then Pontypridd

had the upper hand. Seven times finalists

in the last ten. And in the crowd,

cheering on the win, are juniors from

Colwyn Bay Rugby club. The family had stayed

on in Cardiff for a feud is. It just promotes

rugby in north Wales. You know, for the

children came to see it, it just gives them

something to aspire to. It gives them something to aim

towards, doesn't it? And back in his studio,

the cartoonist Mumph, a keen supporter of RGC,

he was at the stadium on Sunday. Gog the goat, the club's unofficial

mascot, is one of his creations. The future is exceptionally

exciting, I think. I know that there may well be

plans that maybe one day RGC can become a professional

full-time region, Competing with the That may happen, it may not,

but it's going to be such an exciting process to see them

try and develop that and make it But RGC's creation isn't

without its critics, who question the perceived level of support

from the Welsh Rugby union. Nonetheless, a squad

average age less than 22, more than 90% north Walean, has just

achieved something very special - With just under two months to go

before the Champions League final is held in Cardiff, a team

of cleaners has absailed the Principality Stadium

to polish the 300 foot venue. The game on June the 3rd is expected

to be watched by 180 million people It's too far ahead to

say what the weather will be like in June,

but what about the next few days? April is normally one

of the driest months of the year. We'd only had about 14mm.

been well below average. And over the next few days, there's

not a lot of rain in the forecast. A few gaps, but cloud increasing

again later in the night with the odd spot of rain

in the north. Temperatures not falling too low,

six to nine Celsius. Down to five in one

or two rural spots. Tomorrow, high pressure remains

in charge, but this cold front over Here's the picture

for 8am in the morning. In the north, the cloud maybe thick

enough in places for a spot of rain, A few spots of rain

in mid and north Wales. Lots of cloud but a few places

will brighten-up in the afternoon Top temperatures 12 to 16 Celsius

with a light to moderate breeze. In Merionydd tomorrow -

mostly cloudy. The odd spot of rain,

otherwise a lot of dry weather. Some brighter spells

and feeling pleasant. Overnight cloud will thicken

in the north with spots of rain. The odd spot of rain

otherwise mostly dry. And it will tend to brighten-up

with some sunshine. Mind you, if you're

gardener - watch out. Saturday night will turn cold

with a widespread ground frost. Some sunshine but cloud will

build-up during the day with one it looks like the thermals

will come in handy again! Arctic winds are heading our way

bringing colder air Hail, thunder, sleet and a little

snow on the mountains. A reminder of our first story:

Carwyn Jones has admitted Labour have a mountain to climb in the

general election. Speaking sins the general election has been called, he

said it was an opportunity for a Jeremy Corbyn to prove himself.

We'll be back later tonight at 10:30pm with more updates.