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.
In the 2009 Journal, Alan Grove wrote: “It is quite extraordinary that two sheds, used as coracle making workshops by two ‘famous’ coraclemen, should have a question mark hanging over their future existence at precisely the same time. They are namely that of John Christmas Thomas (‘Jack’ Thomas, 1904-1976) of Cenarth and the Rogers family workshop at Ironbridge, Shropshire, last used by the late Eustace Rogers (1915-2003).”
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.
It has been over 50 years since I explored the backwaters and backwoods of Norway as a young man, spending two successive holidays there with a crowd of friends from Teesside. I was delighted therefore to receive an invitation from woodsmith Maurice Pyle, who runs a green wood workshop and training school in the old Flint Mill at Beamish Museum.
A Coracle Demonstration and Coracle Race was held during Carmarthen’s annual River Tywi Festival on the 9th & 10th July. On Sunday, Malcolm Rees and David Siggery, both members of the Carmarthen Coracle & Netsmen’s Association, demonstrated the art of coracle fishing to the huge crowd that had gathered to watch on the Quayside. The Coracle Race saw several members of the CCNA race against each other.
The 21st Annual General Meeting and Regatta took place on 10 July at Broughton Castle, Banbury. As with the rest of the weather this summer, the forecast was for a wet day, however the exact opposite happened - the sun shone out and we were graced with a perfect summer's day.
Possibly for the first time ever the coracle was introduced onto the river Mawddach over the weekend of May 21st - 22nd 2011
On 19th June, Shrewsbury re-enacted the Olympian Festival of 1864. Held at the Quarry, in the loop of the River Severn, this featured many of the events from the original festival. The sport of jingling is unfortunately not included in London 2012, otherwise you might have been able to get tickets.