It’s the biggest gathering of world leaders on British soil ever. And it’s happening here in Wales. On Thursday and Friday, Barack Obama and Angela Merkel will join David Cameron and 57 other world leaders at what has been described as one of the most important NATO Summits ever.
And, as any of us who live in Cardiff and Newport can testify, with that comes with an extreme level of preparedness.
On a short run around Cardiff yesterday morning I counted around 30 police officers on foot, 20 on bikes and five vans. Most of these were around the large metal fences in the city centre.
Security fence around Cardiff Castle ahead of the NATO summit. Photo: Getty Images
It’s fair to say Wales has never seen its like before. And it’s our job to try and make sense of it all.
We’ll be presenting Good Morning Wales live from ‘inside the fence’ at the Celtic Manor on Thursday and Friday. We’ll also have reporters updating us on the progress of the Summit throughout.
Before that, we’ll spend the earlier part of the week dealing with the practicalities. Throughout Tuesday, we’ll be trying to paint as a reliable picture as possible of the level of disruption listeners in south Wales should expect.
If you need a brush up on NATO and the summit ahead, there is a terrific discussion on yesterday’s All Things Considered which is available to listen to or to download.
Elsewhere, I suspect NATO will be one of the first items under discussion for Tom Price as he launches The Leak - a sideways slant at the week’s news on Friday at 6.30pm. Just 30 minutes later, Catrin Heledd will bring us the start of Guinness Pro 12 season in Radio Wales Sport with live commentary of Ospreys versus Treviso.
Catrin is now a fully paid up member of the Radio Wales Sport presentation staff, and co-hosts Thursday night’s Scrum V Radio programme alongside Rick O’Shea. Check out the new format, Thursday from 7pm or you can download the podcast.
Two features to look out for this week. On Wednesday at 6.30pm, a Radio Wales Arts Show special profiles the life of Alexander Cordell, author of Rape of the Fair Country. And on Saturday at 1.30pm, Simon Wright is back getting Wales on the Menu, with a new series of home cooks looking to get their recipes on the menu at some of Britain’s top restaurants.
Ivan Moult is the Radio Wales Artist of the Week with his new song Lazy Day. Ivan joins Eleri Sion (who is back from a well-deserved break) on Wednesday.
While most attention will be on the south this week, festival goers will be heading to Portmeirion this week for Festival No.6. Alan Thompson and Sue Charles gave us an essential guide last night. Plus Bethan Elfyn and Adam Walton will once again join forces for a 4 hour special from the festival on Saturday from 7pm.
Beth and Adam’s show were both on tape on Saturday night and therefore it wasn’t a good time for the tape player to misbehave (excuse the technobabble!). We’re fixing the gremlins and are going to get Bethan’s show up on the iPlayer in the next 24 hours.
