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.
Members will remember that at the end of 2020 we sadly lost our dear friend, former President and founding Chairperson, Sir Peter Badge.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.
During the 2020 Annual General Meeting on Saturday, we were horrified to learn that the Welsh Government and National Resources Wales propose to increase net licence fees for all holders - including the coracle net licences on the Towy, Teifi and Taf rivers - by up to over 120% for the Teifi licences in 2021. The sole reason for this seems to be to ensure the costs of administering these licences is fully covered by the fees collected.
From privet hedge to coracle
Rooster Fricke
Woods Hole, Cape Cod, Massachusetts USA
What started as the pruning of a hedgerow turned into a coracle. Having seen a coracle many years ago, I had always wanted to build one. The time was right when the privet hedge switches lay on the ground. They were destined to go to the brush dump. But wait! Not the brush dump! “We’re going to build a coracle!”
It is with great sadness that the Society announces the loss of Sir Peter Badge, who passed away peacefully on Thursday 29th October 2020. Sir Peter was the founding Chairman of the Society, before holding the office of President from 1997 until 2015.