THE PRINCE OF WALES WILL UNDERTAKE ENGAGEMENTS IN WALES
Friday 21st February
Engagement 1
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales will visit CAF train factory in Newport to meet employees, learn about the production process and officially open the facility.
During the visit His Royal Highness will tour the CAF factory floor to meet staff working on different aspects of the production process. The Prince will also have the opportunity to board a partially completed train. Before departing, His Royal Highness will attend a reception for staff and local dignitaries to celebrate the factory’s official opening.
CAF
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), created in 1917, is a leader in the railway industry headquartered in Beasain, Spain. CAF offers a wide range of products that includes, among others, highspeed and very high-speed trains, regional and commuter trains (diesel and electric), metros, trams and locomotives. CAF employs more than 8,000 people in the design, manufacture and maintenance of subsystems for the global rail market. It has production facilities throughout Spain and in France, Mexico, USA, Brazil and now the UK.
Newport is CAF’s state-of-the-art train manufacturing facility completed in 2017, taking £32m investment, including a sum from the Welsh Government’s Department for Inward Investment. Currently employing around 220 people, with plans to increase this number to 300, the factory is working to complete the build of diesel trains (DMUs) for Northern Rail. The factory is also commencing work on West Midlands DMUs, followed by those for Wales and Borders; securing work for its employees to the end of 2023.
CAF Newport actively supports Women in Rail Welsh Regional Group, with steering group meetings hosted at the factory and runs a graduate training scheme and apprenticeships to be offered in 2020.
Engagement 2
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales will visit the new Aston Martin Lagonda factory.
His Royal Highness will be met on arrival by Marek Reichman, Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer and Scott Ward, Director of Manufacturing at the St Athan site. His Royal Highness will then test drive Aston Martin’s new SUV, the DBX, and tour the factory floor. Whilst on the tour The Prince will meet engineers working at different stages of the production process, including seat installation and the paint shop.
His Royal Highness will then join a reception to celebrate the new factory, meeting staff and apprentices. HRH will also place a wings badge on the front of a DBX which will be located the reception area of the new Aston Martin facility.
Finally, HRH will unveil a plaque to commemorate his visit.
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda is a luxury automotive group focused on the creation of exclusive cars and SUVs. The iconic Aston Martin brand fuses the latest technology, exceptional hand craftsmanship and timeless design to produce models including the Vantage, DB11, Rapide AMR and DBS Superleggera. The Lagonda brand will be relaunched as the world’s first luxury electric vehicle company. Based in Gaydon, England, Aston Martin Lagonda designs, creates and exports cars which are sold in 54 countries around the world.
New factory in St Athan, Wales
In 2016, Aston Martin Lagonda announced that St Athan had been chosen as the location for its newest centre of manufacturing excellence in the UK. Originally an RAF training centre, the base was home to 14,000 personnel during World War II and was used for training both ground and air crew. After the war, St Athan continued primarily as a training facility and also the major RAF maintenance base for aircraft.
Since 2016, St Athan has undergone a three-year transformation from Royal Air Force base to state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. The completion of the St Athan facility means that it joins the marque’s Gaydon headquarters and its Wellesbourne and Newport Pagnell facilities as a centre of the highest quality of British craftmanship and engineering.
The new £50million factory will create 1,000 highly skilled jobs in the area.
Engagement 3
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales will visit the British Airways Maintenance Centre (BAMC) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the company.
The Prince of Wales will be met on arrival by Alex Cruz, CEO of British Airways.
His Royal Highness will tour the site and will meet engineers working to maintain aircraft at the site. The Prince will be shown the inside of the aircraft engine and how engineers have made new aircraft 25-40% more fuel efficient than the aircraft they replace.
The Prince will then board the aircraft and will be shown some of the sustainable changes that are being made on board the new fuel-efficient Boeing 787-900.
Following a short speech by CEO Alex Cruz, His Royal Highness will unveil a plaque to commemorate his visit made by the engineering team at the facility.
The BAMC was opened by His Royal Highness in July 1993 and he is visiting again to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the company. The facility currently employs 550 local people in highly skilled engineering jobs. Alongside this it runs a three-year apprenticeship programme on site where apprentices work alongside highly skilled engineers.
British Airways Sustainability Programme:
British Airways is committed to achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2050 and has clear pathway to achieve this. Starting in January 2020, the airline began offsetting carbon emissions on all its flights within the UK. This means that all customers flying within the UK on flights operated by British Airways will have the carbon emissions from their flights offset by the airline and invested in carbon reduction projects around the world.
In addition, the airline is investing in new aircraft which are 20 – 40% more fuel efficient than the aircraft they replace. The airline is currently operating more than 60 of these new aircraft and has more than 100 on order.
British Airways is also leading the way in sustainable fuels development. IAG, British Airways’ parent company has invested $400m in sustainable fuels development over the next 20 years and British Airways has partnered with renewal fuels company, Velocys, to build a plant in Lincolnshire which will convert household and commercial waste into renewable sustainable jet fuel, a first for the UK and the first time an airline has done this in Europe.
British Airways Centenary Celebrations:
British Airways hosted a range of activities and events throughout the year to mark its 100th birthday. As well as looking back, the airline also hosted BA 2119 – a programme which will lead the debate on the future of flying and explore the future of sustainable aviation fuels, the aviation careers of the future and the customer experience of the future.
Her Majesty the Queen visited British Airways’ Headquarters at Waterside near London Heathrow in May last year to celebrate British Airways’ Centenary. The event involved over 2,500 colleagues celebrating the history of British Airways.
Engagement 4
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Patron, Marie Curie, will visit the Marie Curie Hospice, Cardiff and the Vale to meet with patients and staff.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales will pay a special visit to the Marie Curie Hospice, Cardiff and the Vale to celebrate its 60th anniversary. The Prince, who has been Patron of the charity since 2003, will tour the hospice in Penarth which provides expert care and support to people living with a terminal illness and their families.
The Prince will be met by several patients and their families as well as hospice staff during a tour alongside Sarah Lloyd-Davies, Hospice Manager, and Matthew Reed, the charity’s Chief Executive. His Royal Highness will also be welcomed by actor and Marie Curie ambassador Suzanne Packer, before unveiling a plaque to mark his visit and cutting a daffodil-themed cake, made by local Michelin-starred chef James Sommerin. His Royal Highness will also become the first person to sign the charity’s Great Big Daffodil which starts its UK-wide tour in Wales the following week in Cwmbran and Cardiff.
The Great Big Daffodil
The Great Big Daffodil, part of the Great Daffodil Appeal, will give people the opportunity to share stories, memories, messages or tributes of someone special – both the loved ones we’ve lost and those that are still here. Marie Curie hopes the Great Big Daffodil will create somewhere for people to take a moment to reflect, remember and pay tribute to those that have been special to them.
The Great Big Daffodil is a 7-foot-tall steel installation, which has specially designed paper books within its petals. People in seven locations across the UK during the Great Daffodil Appeal will be able to visit the Great Big Daffodil and add to the petals their message of someone who’s been special to them. Everyone will be able to share their pictures and heartfelt messages on social media by tagging @mariecurieuk
Catch up on The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall’s most recent engagements, in the latest issue of Royal Life magazine.
