Aged only sixteen, at the outbreak of WWII, he joined the merchant navy, shipping supplies from many parts of the world including on Russian convoys. He survived being torpedoed and spending many days in an open boat in the Atlantic.
This stood him in good stead for an adventure in later life for which he is best known. In July 1974 he crossed the English Channel in a Teifi coracle. The journey took him 13.5 hours and on his arrival at Cap Blanc Nez, France, he planted a Welsh flag in the sand.
Having learnt his coracle making and fishing skills from his father, Bernard spent the later part of his life championing the merits of the Teifi coracle over all its other rivals in west Wales.
He was very happy to teach others his skills and would insist that whoever bought a coracle from him knew exactly how to handle it - even supplying a video recording for future reference.
He took part in many of the Cilgerran coracle races, which has just held its 62nd Regatta. He was also instrumental in having the coracle hall in Llechryd built, which serves as an important venue for the village.
He was a great campaigner for the rights of coracle netting on the Teifi and had many an argument with both other anglers and the water authority, who control the fishing.
Never shy of taking on a challenge in 1992, aged 70, he took up microlight flying which unfortunately ended with him crashing in to an oak tree and I remember visiting him in Carmarthen hospital.
He has appeared on many radio and television programmes in both English and Welsh and was always very at ease when being interviewed as he always had a great story to tell.
Shortly after I had started running the National Coracle Centre in Cenarth, I sought out Bernard’s advice and knowledge on the arts of coracles and fishing, spending many hours at his house drinking his homemade elderflower wine. My biggest memory is the first night he took me coracle fishing and catching a salmon in the darkness below Llechryd bridge.
I have used that experience when retelling both that and other stories. Not a day passes where I don’t mention Bernard’s name, and every day people from all over the world get into the coracle that Bernard made for me twenty years ago.
There are too many stories from his eventful life to tell here but it has been very strange to use his name in the past tense since his death. His memory will always live on.
Martin Fowler, National Coracle Centre, Cenarth
