The appeal was launched over a year ago in an effort to raise £5000 to be used as matched funding for a Heritage Lottery bid, which would be used to rescue two iconic coraclemakers workshops before they deteriorated and disappeared into oblivion - namely those of the late Eustace Rogers at Ironbridge, and the late John Christmas Thomas in Cenarth, the home of the National Coracle Centre.
Unlike last year we had sunshine and a bit of wind. The lavender ice cream man was back, as well as the regulars from the River Stour Trust who run and organise the event. We had a good selection of different craft on show. There was Dick's Teifi replica with ally lathes and green tarpaulin cover and also his new one, which is a Towy replica, using more traditional construction.
The Carmathen Coracle and Netsmens Association were delighted to welcome Society members Brian and Jane Pearce to the River Towy. Joe Woodhead won the Novice trophy, donated to the Camarthen River Festival by the Society.
Article below by Carmarthen Journal
The annual event on the quayside was this year run by Carmarthen Boat Club, Gwendraeth Valley Paddlers and Carmarthen Coracle and Netsmen Association.
BBC News recently posted in their Magazine a video about coracles, net fishing and handing the tradition down through the family, featuring Raymond and Malcolm Rees.
This video can be viewed on the BBC News Magazine website by clicking here
Since we launched the Save Our Heritage Huts Appeal last year, we have received donations of nearly £1100, for which we are very grateful. However, we still need to raise more - in order for our bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to be successful, we need to provide 'match funding' - for our appeal, our target is £5000.
The recent news stories related to the ash dieback outbreak make for troubling reading for any nature lover, but much more so for the coracle maker. Ash is one of the ‘staples’ for coracle construction and this outbreak could, if it reaches the extents of the Dutch Elm disease outbreak - which by the 1990s had wiped out over 25 million elm trees - quite possibly put most coracle makers out of business.
We were asked to attend the Annual Basketmakers’ Summer Meeting on 23rd June at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Carmarthenshire where they were displaying and demonstrating traditional Welsh craft basketry.
We displayed our traditional Towy coracle and several photos of how the coracle is made and it’s history.
Not your normal venue for a coracle venue, but on a pleasant September Saturday, a sizable crowd gathered in Hackney Wick, East London, for an afternoon of activities on the water.
Photos: Daniel Weill
This year’s Annual General Meeting and Regatta were held at St Fagans: National History Museum near Cardiff by kind invitation of our Archivist, Dylan Jones. After the formalities of the meeting, members were invited on a tour of the archived coracle and net fishing assets at the museum.
After a year off, the Macmillan World Coracle Championships took place on Friday 15th June at the Pengwern boathouse in Shrewsbury. Despite the dismal weather and the deluges of the preceding week, the river was only slightly faster than previous years. Just as well, as most of the competitors are not expert coraclers. Needless to say there was a satisfying number of capsizes. The wise were wearing wetsuits under their fancy dress.
"I've been interested in coracles since I can remember, in fact I built one in the early seventies with a view to going down the Thames, but my expedition partner pulled out and that was that for about 35 years. However last year I attended a coracle building course with the Nautical Archaeology Society at the Cranbourne Ancient Technology Centre and built my own Bronze age style boat, very similar to my own design from years ago.
We have been made aware of two events later this year that are looking for traditional craft demonstrators
We all thought the coracle (curach) had died out as a traditional working boat in Scotland in the 18th Century with the cessation of timber floating on the River Spey.
Anyone who has been for a paddle on many of the country’s rivers in the past few years will have noticed much litter floating around, or caught in overhanging branches.
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