88-449: Welsh Development Agency ( WDA ; Welsh : Awdurdod Datblygu Cymru ) was an executive agency (or QUANGO ) and later designated an Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB). Established in 1976, it was tasked with rescuing the ailing Welsh economy by encouraging business development and investment in Wales , clearing derelict land and encouraging growth of local businesses. In April 2006
176-591: A broadband communications company. The company has made significant investments in enterprise Voice over IP telephony technology. Mitel's manufacturing business was spun off as BreconRidge . The company acquired Intertel in April 2007. Mitel went public again in 2010. Mitel announced the purchase of Aastra Technologies in November 2013. Mitel announced the purchase of Mavenir Systems in March 2015. Mitel announced
264-441: A Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the now defunct Welsh Language Board ( Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg ). Thereafter, the public body is charged with implementing and fulfilling its obligations under
352-594: A Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal. The wording is Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ". UK banknotes are in English only. Some shops employ bilingual signage. Welsh sometimes appears on product packaging or instructions. The UK government has ratified
440-621: A bachelor's degree in Electronics in 1969. After an apprenticeship at British Telecom 's research lab at Martlesham Heath , Matthews left Britain and joined MicroSystems International , a chipmaking operation affiliated with Northern Telecom (which became Nortel Networks ) in Ottawa , Ontario , Canada. Matthews' first enterprise was started in collaboration with fellow Briton and Microsystems employee Michael Cowpland in 1972. To raise seed money for future enterprises they had planned,
528-487: A businessman, was appointed by the then Welsh Secretary , Peter Walker after meeting him at a Conservative Party fundraising lunch. He later resigned from the post ahead of a 1992 Commons Public Accounts Committee report that condemned the agency for: The Commons Public Accounts committee became concerned when the Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, discovered many irregularities during his annual examination of
616-663: A census glossary of terms to support the release of results from the census, including their definition of "main language" as referring to "first or preferred language" (though that wording was not in the census questionnaire itself). The wards in England with the most people giving Welsh as their main language were the Liverpool wards of Central and Greenbank ; and Oswestry South in Shropshire . The wards of Oswestry South (1.15%), Oswestry East (0.86%) and St Oswald (0.71%) had
704-532: A group of angel investors (notably Kent Plumley), the two developed a telephony DTMF tone receiver based on Cowpland's PhD thesis. This was a major advance in the technology, since they were able to sell receivers at a fraction of the cost of competing versions, while gaining returns of 1000%. Additionally, Mitel later became a chip manufacturer with the acquisition of the Silek foundry in Bromont, Quebec. Later,
792-528: A high-tech entrepreneur and investor, and for his contributions to community development through charitable endeavours. He was invested by the Governor General of Canada at Rideau Hall on 20 November 2018. His daughter, Karen, is executive director at Wesley Clover Parks . His son Owen lives in Victoria, British Columbia, is a General Partner at Wesley Clover , and is founder and chairman of
880-687: A report of the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee argues that the abolition of the Welsh Development Agency has reduced Wales's visibility in the global marketplace. The committee claims that, five years on, the WDA remains one of the most recognisable Welsh brands and argues that the establishment of a successor trade promotion agency should be a priority for the Welsh Government. The report also argues for greater engagement by
968-479: A single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Welsh speakers are largely concentrated in the north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , Conwy County Borough , Denbighshire , Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , north Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , parts of Glamorgan , and north-west and extreme south-west Powys . However, first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. Welsh-speaking communities persisted well into
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#17327650507251056-990: Is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people . Welsh is spoken natively in Wales , by some in England , and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province , Argentina ). It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia ). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave
1144-549: Is a Welsh-Canadian business magnate , serial high-tech entrepreneur, and Wales' first billionaire . He was the richest man in Wales until 2012, when he was surpassed by Sir Michael Moritz . He has founded or funded over 100 companies in the high-tech communications field, most notably Mitel and Newbridge Networks . He is the chairman of Wesley Clover and the Swansea Bay City Region board. He owns
1232-530: Is a public limited company set up by the WDA and still providing funding to Welsh businesses. Employing several hundred workers, the WDA was argued to be one of Wales's most important institutions with a network of offices worldwide and their headquarters in the former Bank of Wales building in Cardiff . In its 30-year history the WDA reports claim credit for helping to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and securing billions of pounds in investment. It even enjoyed
1320-645: Is available throughout Europe on satellite and online throughout the UK. Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010, S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh. The main evening television news provided by the BBC in Welsh is available for download. There is also a Welsh-language radio station, BBC Radio Cymru , which was launched in 1977. Sir Terry Matthews Sir Terence Hedley Matthews OC OBE FREng FIET (born 6 June 1943)
1408-688: Is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, which in turn is divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh. The word Welsh is a descendant, via Old English wealh, wielisc , of the Proto-Germanic word * Walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Celtic people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer to speakers of Celtic languages, and then indiscriminately to
1496-511: Is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion , although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The Bible translations into Welsh helped maintain
1584-732: The Cynfeirdd or "Early Poets" – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was supposedly composed in the Hen Ogledd , raising further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed. This discretion stems from the fact that Cumbric was widely believed to have been the language used in Hen Ogledd. An 8th-century inscription in Tywyn shows
1672-484: The 2014 NATO summit . The Celtic Manor hosted the ISPS Handa Wales Open for 15 years. The original Celtic Manor Hotel was formerly a maternity hospital and is Matthews' birthplace. Matthews bought Celtic Manor in 1980, ploughing £100m into the project. Firstly the 19th century Manor House was renovated, while in 1991 plans were unveiled to develop two new golf courses and a convention centre between
1760-500: The 2016 Australian census , 1,688 people noted that they spoke Welsh. In the 2011 Canadian census , 3,885 people reported Welsh as their first language . According to the 2021 Canadian census , 1,130 people noted that Welsh was their mother tongue. The 2018 New Zealand census noted that 1,083 people in New Zealand spoke Welsh. The American Community Survey 2009–2013 noted that 2,235 people aged five years and over in
1848-466: The 2021 census , 7,349 people in England recorded Welsh to be their "main language". In the 2011 census, 1,189 people aged three and over in Scotland noted that Welsh was a language (other than English) that they used at home. It is believed that there are as many as 5,000 speakers of Patagonian Welsh . In response to the question 'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?' in
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#17327650507251936-666: The Celtic Manor Resort , KRP Properties , the Brookstreet Hotel, and the Marshes Golf Club . Matthews was born in Newport , South Wales , at the then Lydia Beynon Maternity Hospital. Matthews returned as an adult to include the manor house that housed the hospital within the Celtic Manor Resort . He grew up in the town of Newbridge, Caerphilly . He studied at Swansea University and received
2024-482: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which until digital switchover in 2010 broadcast 70 per cent of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows during peak viewing hours. The all-Welsh-language digital station S4C Digidol
2112-702: The National Audit Office and the Welsh Office under Sir Michael Scholar CB in 1994-96, creating an agency which conformed with the Nolan Principles and was the first UK QUANGO to have a Code of Practice. The Agency reported to John Redwood , David Hunt and William Hague as Secretaries of State for Wales under the Thatcher and Major governments. The Agency regained its spot as a lead inward investment and job creation agency in
2200-528: The New York Stock Exchange in 1981. In 1985, British Telecom bought a controlling interest in Mitel. Cowpland would later form the company that became Corel , and Matthews later founded Newbridge Networks. In 1986, Matthews drove Newbridge to become a leader in the worldwide data networking industry, manufacturing data communications products, especially ATM devices and routers . In 2000
2288-756: The Polish name for Italians) have a similar etymology. The Welsh term for the language, Cymraeg , descends from the Brythonic word combrogi , meaning 'compatriots' or 'fellow countrymen'. Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic , the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons . Classified as Insular Celtic , the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and
2376-640: The United States spoke Welsh at home. The highest number of those (255) lived in Florida . Sources: Calls for the Welsh language to be granted official status grew with the establishment of the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru in 1925, the establishment of the Welsh Language Society in 1962 and the rise of Welsh nationalism in the later 20th century. Of the six living Celtic languages (including two revived), Welsh has
2464-633: The University of Wales (Glamorgan and Swansea) and Carleton University . In 2006, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Engineering) from the University of Bath . In 2011, he was appointed Patron of the Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute at Cardiff University . On 29 December 2017, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) in the 2018 Canadian honours , for his exceptional achievements as
2552-685: The Welsh Government . The current Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills is Ken Skates AM, although Ieuan W Jones was the Minister for the Economy and Transport at the time of the merger. The Swansea AM Andrew Davies made the decision to abolish the WDA in conjunction with the First Minister of Wales Rhodri Morgan . In the early 1990s the WDA attracted controversy when its chairman, Gwyn Jones,
2640-476: The "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with the Welsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards. I will look to build on the good work that has been done by the Welsh Language Board and others to strengthen the Welsh language and ensure that it continues to thrive." First Minister Carwyn Jones said that Huws would act as a champion for
2728-596: The 1880s identified a small part of Shropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing from Llanymynech through Oswestry to Chirk . The number of Welsh-speaking people in the rest of Britain has not yet been counted for statistical purposes. In 1993, the Welsh-language television channel S4C published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who spoke or understood Welsh, which estimated that there were around 133,000 Welsh-speaking people living in England, about 50,000 of them in
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2816-536: The 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh. On 7 December 2010, the Welsh Assembly unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales. On 9 February 2011 this measure, the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 ,
2904-536: The Agency's accounts. Criticism also followed the appointments of Neil Carignan and Neil Smith by Gwyn Jones. Carignan's employment was terminated over his poor performance, but he was allowed to take £53,000 of office equipment with him. Smith was hired as a marketing director, but the WDA failed to check his CV, which was fraudulent, and that he was a discharged bankrupt . Smith was later investigated by police over his hiring of models for claimed promotional work, and he
2992-486: The Assembly which confirms the official status of the Welsh language; which creates a strong advocate for Welsh speakers and will improve the quality and quantity of services available through the medium of Welsh. I believe that everyone who wants to access services in the Welsh language should be able to do so, and that is what this government has worked towards. This legislation is an important and historic step forward for
3080-772: The Coldra Court Hotel. Matthews founded the Wesley Clover Foundation, a not-for-profit, philanthropic corporation that supports entrepreneurship, healthcare, education, and community initiatives. The foundation leased the properties formerly known as the Nepean National Equestrian Park and the Ottawa Municipal Campground to create Wesley Clover Parks . Matthews hosts an annual gala, Lumière, that has raised over $ 1 million for charity. Matthews
3168-550: The Greater London area. The Welsh Language Board , on the basis of an analysis of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the 2011 census , 8,248 people in England gave Welsh in answer to the question "What is your main language?" The Office for National Statistics subsequently published
3256-700: The WDA helped establish Admiral Insurance plc, which is now a FTSE 100 Company. The WDA contributed to the building of the Millennium Stadium and the walk way for the 1999 Rugby World Cup and the Millennium Centre. It assisted in the establishment of the National Botanic Garden for Wales and the Llanelli Coastal Path. It removed contaminated land and reclaimed and removed coal tips in South Wales through
3344-579: The WDA was abolished and its functions were transferred into the Welsh Government . The WDA was established under the Welsh Development Agency Act 1975 under the then Secretary of State for Wales John Morris MP for Aberavon . The WDA had four objectives: The organisation worked to secure entrepreneurial growth in Wales by increasing the number of startup businesses and by persuading multinational companies to relocate or open subsidiary facilities in Wales. Finance Wales
3432-530: The Welsh Government with parliament on the issue. The Committee's report received a mixed response in the Senedd . Conservative AMs tabled a motion endorsing one contributor's statement (Professor Brian Morgan) that "the closure of the WDA and the abolition of the ‘WDA brand’ will probably go down in history as the worst policy decision made in Wales in living memory". In response, Business Minister Edwina Hart accused those holding such views as "wanting to revisit
3520-496: The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, all new signs have Welsh displayed first. There have been incidents of one of the languages being vandalised, which may be considered a hate crime . Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16; this has had an effect in stabilising and reversing the decline in the language. Text on UK coins tends to be in English and Latin. However,
3608-704: The Welsh Language Scheme. The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993 to 1997, by way of statutory instrument . Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed statutory instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes. Neither
Welsh Development Agency - Misplaced Pages Continue
3696-615: The Welsh language official status in Wales. Welsh and English are de jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd , with Welsh being the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merely de facto official. According to the 2021 census , the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of
3784-526: The Welsh language, though some had concerns over her appointment: Plaid Cymru spokeswoman Bethan Jenkins said, "I have concerns about the transition from Meri Huws's role from the Welsh Language Board to the language commissioner, and I will be asking the Welsh government how this will be successfully managed. We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer
3872-426: The Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it. During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to
3960-429: The Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire for the first time. However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh. The Annual Population Survey (APS) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that as of March 2024, approximately 862,700, or 28.0 per cent of
4048-419: The West End of London and I didn't come far short of it!" . In September 2014, Matthews was appointed chairman of the Swansea Bay City Region Board. The Swansea Bay City Region Board is backing a Swansea Tidal Lagoon project. In January 2016, he purchased the Hilton Hotel in Newport, which has since undergone significant renovation, and has been incorporated into the Celtic Manor Resort Collection as
4136-444: The abolition announcement without informing the Minister Andrew Davies AM and the Chair Sir Roger Jones at an Economic Development Committee of the Assembly chaired by Alun Cairns then AM now an MP for the Vale Of Glamorgan, this was unprecedented. Hawker was the CEO of Welsh Water PLC prior to his controversial appointment as the WDA CEO. Welsh Water PLC had to be rescued by the new Dwr Cymru mutual led by Lord Byrnes. In February 2011,
4224-407: The board of directors for a number of high tech companies including Solace (formerly Solace Systems), and chairs CounterPath Corporation and Benbria Corporation. Matthews spends a considerable amount of time in his native Wales, working on such ventures as the Celtic Manor Resort , a leisure complex in Newport , near the south Wales coast, chosen to host the 2010 Ryder Cup golf tournament and
4312-408: The census. In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.4 per cent (443,800) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in March 2024, with 5.4 per cent (165,500) speaking it weekly and 6.5 per cent (201,200) less often. Approximately 1.7 per cent (51,700) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.0 per cent of
4400-485: The company employed more than 6,500 employees with recorded FY 1999 revenue of $ 1.8 billion. Later in 2000, Newbridge was acquired by Alcatel for $ 7.1 billion. Matthews' personal stake in Newbridge was valued at over a billion dollars, and as a result of the transaction he became the largest single shareholder in Alcatel. In 2000, he reacquired the Mitel PBX business and company name, taking it private. He has invested heavily ($ 600 million by 2006) in Mitel to turn it into
4488-414: The course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census. Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many Welsh-speaking people are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within
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#17327650507254576-489: The creation of Old Welsh, Davies suggests it may be more appropriate to refer to this derivative language as Lingua Britannica rather than characterising it as a new language altogether. The argued dates for the period of "Primitive Welsh" are widely debated, with some historians' suggestions differing by hundreds of years. The next main period is Old Welsh ( Hen Gymraeg , 9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of
4664-408: The decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys. Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education. Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history; however, by 1911, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population. While this decline continued over
4752-431: The following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in 1981 with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in 2021 at 17.8 per cent. By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase in Welsh-medium education . The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of
4840-411: The highest number of native speakers who use the language on a daily basis, and it is the Celtic language which is considered the least endangered by UNESCO . The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated equally in the public sector, as far as is reasonable and practicable. Each public body is required to prepare for approval
4928-413: The highest percentage of residents giving Welsh as their main language. The census also revealed that 3,528 wards in England, or 46% of the total number, contained at least one resident whose main language is Welsh. In terms of the regions of England , North West England (1,945), London (1,310) and the West Midlands (1,265) had the highest number of people noting Welsh as their main language. According to
5016-400: The history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The period immediately following the language's emergence is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh, followed by the Old Welsh period – which is generally considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to sometime during the 12th century. The Middle Welsh period
5104-527: The language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns. Janet Davies proposed that the origins of the Welsh language were much less definite; in The Welsh Language: A History , she proposes that Welsh may have been around even earlier than 600 AD. This is evidenced by the dropping of final syllables from Brittonic: * bardos 'poet' became bardd , and * abona 'river' became afon . Though both Davies and Jackson cite minor changes in syllable structure and sounds as evidence for
5192-431: The language, its speakers and for the nation." The measure was not welcomed warmly by all supporters: Bethan Williams, chairman of the Welsh Language Society, gave a mixed response to the move, saying, "Through this measure we have won official status for the language and that has been warmly welcomed. But there was a core principle missing in the law passed by the Assembly before Christmas. It doesn't give language rights to
5280-449: The language. As Germanic and Gaelic colonisation of Britain proceeded, the Brittonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbric, and those in the southwest, speaking what would become Cornish , so the languages diverged. Both the works of Aneirin ( Canu Aneirin , c. 600 ) and the Book of Taliesin ( Canu Taliesin ) were written during this era. Middle Welsh ( Cymraeg Canol )
5368-481: The late 1990s in the UK. It was credited with having brought in, secured and safeguarded investment with major companies such as Ford , Bosch , Panasonic , Sony , Hoover , TRW , Anglesey Aluminium , Toyota , British Airways, TRW and General Electric . It gained prominence in bringing in financial services companies such as Legal & General and Lloyds Bank into Wales and later on key back office call centres came into Wales. With South Glamorgan County Council ,
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#17327650507255456-399: The lawnmowers finally arrived, the ground was covered with snow in the Canadian winter and no one would buy them. Matthews later said "That taught me a key lesson – the importance of timing. The shipping company lost the lawnmowers! By the time they showed up no-one wanted them, as you can't cut grass when it's covered with snow." Mitel became a technology consultancy company run from home to
5544-415: The manor and the River Usk . Matthews had become friends with golf course architect, the late Robert Trent Jones Snr , whose family roots were in Aberystwyth . Work began on the 'Roman Road' course in 1992, named after the main route connecting the former Roman fortress of Caerleon with the town of Caerwent , which crosses the land. In 1994 the 4,000-yard 'Coldra Woods' golf course was started, as well as
5632-468: The modern period across the border in England. Archenfield was still Welsh enough in the time of Elizabeth I for the Bishop of Hereford to be made responsible, together with the four Welsh bishops, for the translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Welsh. Welsh was still commonly spoken there in the first half of the 19th century, and churchwardens' notices were put up in both Welsh and English until about 1860. Alexander John Ellis in
5720-448: The number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased. Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language by UNESCO . The language of the Welsh developed from the language of Britons . The emergence of Welsh was not instantaneous and clearly identifiable. Instead,
5808-405: The pair intended to import and sell electric lawnmowers built in the UK. Conventionally, and from accounts by Matthews, the name Mitel is thought to be a contraction of " Mi ke and Te rry L awnmowers". However, Cowpland is quoted as saying that it stands for " Mi ke and Te rry EL ectronics". This first endeavour was a fiasco; the shipping company carrying the first batch lost the container. When
5896-401: The pair realized that the then-new technology of microprocessors and other semiconductor devices would make a similar change in the market for small PBXs . The SX200 PBX launched to immense success, being cheaper to purchase, quicker to install and far more functional. Mitel became one of the more successful manufacturers of small PBX systems and telecom semiconductors in the world, floating on
5984-410: The past". A highly critical report of Inward Investment attraction was also published by Cardiff Business School in 2012. The report "Selling Wales" was an assessment of the agencies involved and argued that the lack of a consistent brand was one of the most significant problems. Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] )
6072-402: The people of Wales in every aspect of their lives. Despite that, an amendment to that effect was supported by 18 Assembly Members from three different parties, and that was a significant step forward." On 5 October 2011, Meri Huws , Chair of the Welsh Language Board , was appointed the new Welsh Language Commissioner. She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to
6160-412: The people of the Western Roman Empire . In Old English the term went through semantic narrowing , coming to refer to either Britons in particular or, in some contexts, slaves. The plural form Wēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Walloons , Valaisans , Vlachs / Wallachians , and Włosi ,
6248-436: The population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 862,700 people (28.0%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in March 2024. Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount. 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly. The Welsh Government plans to increase
6336-471: The population not being able to speak it. The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability. Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh. Over
6424-502: The population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language. Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.4 per cent, 241,300). Around 1,001,500 people, or 32.5 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.7 per cent (759,200) could read and 22.2 per cent (684,500) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by
6512-407: The population of Wales spoke Welsh, compared with 20.8 per cent in the 2001 census , and 18.5 per cent in the 1991 census . Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the 2011 and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms. The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in
6600-661: The praise of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , who claimed it was doing a marvelous job. The WDA had an annual budget of approximately £70 million per year. After some governance issues were brought to light in the early 1990s (see "Controversy" below), the Government appointed David Rowe-Beddoe (later Lord Rowe-Beddoe) as Chairman in 1993. Rowe-Beddoe appointed an inquiry led by Sir John Caines in late 1993, which led to new executives being appointed. The changes included new Legal Director and new Agency Secretary in 1994 who attended Public Accounts Committees and worked with
6688-447: The purchase of Polycom in April 2016, however, the deal fell through and Polycom instead merged with private equity firm Siris Capital Group. In July 2017, Mitel announced they had reached a deal to buy ShoreTel for $ 430 million, increasing the size of the company to 4,200 employees. On 24 April 2018, the company announced it would be bought by an investor group led by Searchlight Capital Partners . Additionally, Matthews serves on
6776-409: The required fresh approach to this new role." Huws started her role as the Welsh Language Commissioner on 1 April 2012. Local councils and the Senedd use Welsh, issuing Welsh versions of their literature, to varying degrees. Road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English. Prior to 2016, the choice of which language to display first was the responsibility of the local council. Since then, as part of
6864-651: The shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the 9th century , with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguist Kenneth H. Jackson , the Battle of Dyrham , a military battle between the West Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD, which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh. Four periods are identified in
6952-526: The use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. The New Testament was translated by William Salesbury in 1567, and the complete Bible by William Morgan in 1588. Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh. Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century, and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from
7040-562: The various companies around Ottawa's emerging high-tech district. Mitel's clients included the National Research Council , the Communications Research Centre , and a handful of pioneering start-ups including SHL Systemhouse, which was later purchased by EDS and now is part of HP and Quasar Systems (now Cognos ). Obtaining funding from a $ 4,000 bank loan, as well as from their own savings and
7128-729: The world leader in the field, Gwyn Griffiths OBE. Success included partnerships with newly created 22 local authorities in the mid 1990s on urban regeneration and Town Improvement Grants. It worked in the EU with an Office in Brussels namely the Wales European Centre ensuring it gained European funding with the Welsh Office. It led the successful bid with Sir Terry Matthews for the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor Resort , which
7216-559: The £10m golf clubhouse hotel. Celtic Manor was Hotel of the Year in 2002, and won two European Design Awards in 2001 - one for the interior designers, Goff Associates, and one for its spa from the International Spa Association. Matthews commented that: "I think the resort can act as a magnet to draw new investment into Wales from across the UK and overseas. I did my best to put up a building that you can see from
7304-688: Was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1994 Birthday Honours for services to the communications industry. In 1998, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng). On 16 June 2001, he was conferred the honour of Knight Bachelor in the 2001 Birthday Honours for services to Industry and to Wales. He was knighted by HM The Queen at an investiture in Buckingham Palace . Matthews has received honorary doctorates from
7392-803: Was being built at the time near Newport . It also established Finance Wales plc. Other public bodies, including the Development Board for Rural Wales , the Land Authority for Wales , Technical Enterprise Councils and the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation , were merged into WDA by the Government of Wales Act 1998 . The WDA ceased to exist on 1 April 2006, when it and two other ASPBs - the Wales Tourist Board and ELWa - were merged into
7480-622: Was complete by around AD 550, and labelled the period between then and about AD 800 "Primitive Welsh". This Primitive Welsh may have been spoken in both Wales and the Hen Ogledd ('Old North') – the Brittonic-speaking areas of what are now northern England and southern Scotland – and therefore may have been the ancestor of Cumbric as well as Welsh. Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to
7568-525: Was later convicted of theft and deception and went to prison. The WDA was abolished in difficult circumstances in a statement at the National Assembly which took Assembly Members by surprise. The Agency had appointed Graham Hawker as CEO who was in the middle of a reorganisation at the time reversing the regional offices created in 1995 to centralised offices without consultation with the Minister. Hawker resigned in controversial circumstances after
7656-518: Was passed and received Royal Assent, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales. The measure: The measure required public bodies and some private companies to provide services in Welsh. The Welsh government's Minister for Heritage at the time, Alun Ffred Jones , said, "The Welsh language is a source of great pride for the people of Wales, whether they speak it or not, and I am delighted that this measure has now become law. I am very proud to have steered legislation through
7744-517: Was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth . During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, thus evolving into Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. It is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Linguist Kenneth H. Jackson has suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern
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