When Major David Goddard retired from the British Army, he travelled to many parts of the world collecting water craft and founded the Exeter Maritime Museum which opened in 1969 and ran until 1997.
In 1991 he arrived at the National Coracle Centre here in Cenarth on our official opening day and donated the guffa from Iraq, and this coracle from Vietnam - which he had brought back from Hong Kong.
Carmarthen Coracle Netsmen's Association have been working with local story-teller Andy Edwards to record and capture their 'Stories from the River'.
During the lockdown, there must have been a few twitchy coraclers when August Bank Holiday Monday came around. So when the annual Ironbridge Coracle Regatta returned last year, there was a sense of things getting back to normal. Like Christmas Day, it's a fixed date in the calendar.
This year, the Society made donations to our two netsmen's associations - the Teifi Coracle Netsmen Association and Camarthen Coracle & Netsman's Association. The aim of these donations was to provide support against the recently increased net licence fees, which along with recent changes to fishing regulations in Wales are creating deep concern over the future of this important tradition.
Saturday 13th August 2022 saw Dunbar's annual Sparkling Dunbar Pirate Festival.
To celebrate the event it was decided to attempt a record breaking build when two new Dunbar coracles would be made from scratch, fully fitted out, and launched and sailed all in one day !
Impossible they said, can't be done they said, who thought that one up they said...
The Coracle Society provided excellent demonstrations on how to build (and sail) a Coracle. Many thanks to the Dunbar Community Woodland Group who supplied the ash from a tree in their wood, Dunbar Craft Centre & Community Shed who helped process it, to Tyninghame Sawmill, who came to the rescue to cut the 72 ash lathes just in time for the event, and to Dave and team Coracle Society for the demonstrations and build.
A windy day greeted us on the Aire and Calder Navigation at Spicers Auctioneers, The Old Waterways Museum, Goole. Entry to the waterway was via canal side and suspended tyres for steps. We had a lovely morning, met and chatted with folks; Mike did a great job describing the construction process.
As coracling has been mostly out of the window this year and not being able to build more, I’ve happily filled some of this year making models. After all, that’s what I believe the Rogers would have done. With most cafes closing their doors and turning to takeaway drinks I realised that instead of my tea coming with the humble teaspoon it comes with a model coracle lath. So, inspired by models in the coracle shed and thirty c
Society member and Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority volunteer Dave Purvis recently attended a virtual conference hosted by the park authority on ash dieback disease and its impact in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Within the presentation was a lot of information on how the disease is spread, how to spot it at various stages, and how to manage woodland in order to conserve as much uninfected trees as possible.
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.
In May 2025 when I drove down to Cilgerran on the Teifi for a short break, I made a pilgrimage to Cenarth, a place I had not been since I was 10.
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Members will remember that at the end of 2020 we sadly lost our dear friend, former President and founding Chairperson, Sir Peter Badge.