Excerpts from the Llwchwr Society Magazine

 

Loughor Boating Club

 

By Meurig G. Thomas

 

 

Boating for pleasure has no doubt, been carried on at Loughor from very early times. Whilst the last commercial trade finished after the turn of the Century bringing to an end the work of a once busy port, local fishing boats continued to use the estuary and the river. There are several sailing boats in evidence on early photographs of the river.

 

After the First World War, regular regattas were held with entries for sailing boats of up to 35 feet in length. The support from local people was very great and looking at the record of the organisers, many Gorseinon, as well as Loughor businesses and professional people played an important part.

 

It was this background that encouraged a small band of enthusiasts to get together to revive the boating traditions at Loughor.

 

The first meeting was held at the Lewis Arms, Bynea on 13^th May, 1964. The aims of the club were set out and officers and committee elected. There were 21 persons present and 16 became founder members. It is interesting to note that there were approximately an equal number of residents on either side of the river. The original officers were :-

 

F.R. Raikes – Chairman

Tony Reynolds – Secretary

Vernon Bowen – Treasurer

 

Unfortunately, Mr. Raikes resigned after a month or two and Mr, M. G. Thomas became the first Commodore. The Membership fee was set at 1 guinea with quarterly fees of 5/-

 

The Declared aims of the Club were :-

 

1.                  Improve facilities for small boar owners on the Loughor River.

2.                  To construct a promenade with bench seats for use by the general public.

3.                  Purchase of communal equipment and club boats for use of members.

4.                  To erect a club house on the river bank where people with boating interests could meet socially.

5.                  Provide workshop facilities.

6.                  Construct a car park.

 

It will be seen that their ambitious aims embodied facilities not only for boatowners, but included improvements which would benefit the general public. Therefore, there was a great public support for the club’s efforts and the Members were encouraged by offers of help from many individuals.

 

Land from the bridge to what is now the rear fence of the boat compound was purchased from the Somerset Trust for a nominal sum.

 

On his subsequent visit to the opening of the Club, the Duke of Beaufort expressed his satisfaction that the land had been put to such good use.

 

As soon as it was clear that the land could be purchased, negotiations with Llwchwr U.D.C. and the River Board were undertaken to allow the clearance of the site and tipping of hard core to widen the bank for a future promenade and to provide a slipway to enable boats to be launched at any state of the tide.

 

As at the inception of all such clubs, money was needed and strenuous and often ingenious methods were used to boost club funds. An early boost was given by Messrs. E. H. Mainwaring and Maliphant. Mr. Mainwaring had been one of the secretaries of the pre-war regatta committees and with Mr. Maliphant, had looked after the old boat shed of the Upper Loughor Boating Club and he was elected onto the new Committee. This not only gave an encouraging start to the fund raising, but provided facilities for the club committee to hold its meetings. The old boat shed also housed one of the old four oar gigs, but before it could be repaired, it was further vandalised by an intruder which put it beyond repair.

 

During 1964, the Membership continued to increase and plans for a new club house were submitted f or planning consent. The plans had been drawn up by Mr. C. Vaughan, Chartered Architect of Swansea. The estimated cost was £7,000.

 

Work of clearing and levelling the area continued with the help of the Llwchwr U.D.C. who tipped hardcore on the site. Mr. Mason one of the local builders, provided his small bulldozer free of charge, and the Territorial Army Unit from Gorseinon gave tremendous help in levelling the site with their heavy bulldozers and graders. Hundreds of tons of slag were obtained from the old Gowerton Steelworks. Thus the slip way was constructed and the site consolidated.

 

November 1964 saw the production of the play “Those Damn Jonses” by the St. Catherine’s Church Dramatic Society at the Welfare Hall in Loughor    in aid of Club funds. They also performed “The Wishing Well” in November 1965, donating the proceeds to the Club funds.

 

With just over 40 members and £300 in the bank, the club decided to hold its first regatta and Fete on 26^th June, 1965. This was to be a revival of a pre-war event which last took place in 1933, then under the auspices of the Loughor Miners Welfare Fund. Such a venture prompted the commencement of intense activity to clear the area and make it suitable for a public function.

 

 

The main objects in holding such a Regatta were to raise money, inform people of the existence of the new club and if possible, involve the local population in the revival of a regatta at Loughor.

 

The programme was printed in the form of a glossy souvenir programme. It was priced at 2/6 and served as both an entry ticket and raffle. The thirty advertisers paid sufficient money to cover the cost of the printing and all the raffle prizes were donated by local businessmen.

 

The aquatic events included races for swimming, canoes, sailing boats, rowing boats, exhibition skiing by the Mumbles skiing club and the novel Catch a Duck competition was revived from the old regatta days.

 

On shore there were numerous activities including a fair, pony rides, minature railway rides, tug of war competition, judo display and an innovation, the Bathing Beauty Competition. The prizes for the day were presented by the late Mr. Ifor Davies M.P.

 

The success of the Regatta and the response from the public gave great encouragement to the club and when the end of the year accounts showed that the assets had risen to £835, plans for the new club house were pushed ahead as quickly as possible and work accelerated on the site.

 

By the time of the second Regatta held on the 16^th July, 1966, membership had risen to over a 100. The number of events had been increased and the lessons of 1965 had ensured better car parking facilities. The weather was fine and thousands turned up to support the event, which was a great success.

 

The application for a Grant towards the cost of the building a club house was approved in December 1966. A great deal of work was now necessary to ensure that the club had a suitable constitution and rules. Many of the legal problems were transacted by Mr. Ewart Pate, B.A.  Clerk to the Llwchwr U.D.C. who had kindly offered to be the honorary legal adviser to the club. The year 1966 also saw the election of Mr. Percy Hopkins of Castle Garages as club president.

 

The terms of the grant from the Department of Education and Science were such that a quarter of the total cost of the building had to be provided by the club members and a quarter should be provided by loans to the club. Such was the problem of raising money that the 1967 Regatta on June 17^th was staged before the club house could be started. However, more site works were completed and the bank for the promenade erected near the bridge. A dinghy park was completed to house the increasing boat population.

 

The Regatta attracted a large crowd of over 3,500 and was very well supported. Councillor B.C.Williams, Chairman of the Llwchwr UDC was unstinted in his praise for the work done by the club, as was the late Mr. Ifor Davies, M.P. in his address when presenting the prizes.

 

Early in 1968 saw the start of building the club house, the cost having escalated to £12,000. Grants provided half the money, loans from the National Playing Fields Association and Buckley’s Brewery, together with donations from the members enabled progress to be made.

 

It had been expected that the building would have been completed by the time of the 1968 Regatta, but this was not to be. A temporary pre-fabricated building had been provided to allow boat construction and repairs while the main club house was being built.

 

The club house was completed in 1969 and was officially opened on 20^th January by the late Mr. Ifor Davies M.P. Under secretary of State for Wales. The new building comprised of a workshop, showers and toilets, a large general purpose room complete with bar, kitchen and cellar room. Much of the internal construction, plumbing electricity and decorating were carried out by club members.

 

Early in 1968 contact had been made with Professor O.C. Zeinkiewicz of Swansea University to see if they could carry out a study on the feasibility of constructing a dam across the river Loughor. Dr. D.C. Taylor of the School of Engineering agreed that Mr. R.J.Hasell, a post-graduate student should carry out a preliminary feasibility study into the possibility of providing a dam. This study was later presented as a thesis for his honours degree in Civil Engineering in June 1969.

 

The report showed that it would be feasible to dam the river near the bridges and that with the proposed trunk road between the M4 and Llanelli, the road could be constructed on top of the dam. The favourable report spurred the club members into publicising their aims and try and elicit public support.

 

The water enclosed behind the dam would provide five miles of boating lake and aquatic recreational facilities all year round. There was considerable support for the idea from Llwchwr UDC and Llanelli RDC but no one was prepared to find the £9,000 needed by the university to make a full scale study and design the dam.

 

In 1970 purchase of a further acre of land was made to cater for the increasing needs of a growing membership. The St. John Inshore Rescue Unit was formed and replaced the voluntary service that had been provided by club members since 1964. They had done stirling work helping in several incidents on the river and estuary.