West Wales – Carmarthen Bay

We had a four day weekend planned to visit the remaining 11 lifeboat stations in Wales. Staying centrally in a beautiful B&B in the middle of nowhere, we were around an hours drive from our starting points each day. If you are ever in the area, we would highly recommend Brynhaul B&B for very comfortable rooms, superb breakfasts and fantastic hosts. Link below:

https://brynhaul-pembrokeshire.co.uk/

Burry Port Lifeboat Station

Burry Port is a lovely harbour town close to Llanelli in Carmarthenshire. Burry Port got its pin on the world map in June 1928, when Amelia Earhart came ashore here after her seaplane 'Friendship' landed on the Loughor estuary after its record-breaking flight across the Atlantic. Indeed right next to the old lifeboat station is the Buoy that the plane was moored to.

The Burry Port Station is an impressive structure completed in 2019. The station was established in 1887 but closed in 1914. Re-opening in 1973, the original boathouse was converted to house an inshore lifeboat. In 2010 it was upgraded to house an Atlantic 75 before the new boathouse was built.

This new station has improved crew facilities, a shop and a large double boat hall for their Atlantic 85 and D-Class boats. Their Atlantic 85 is Misses Barrie (B-915) and their D-Class is Williams and Cole (D-882).

Unfortunately, we did not meet anyone at the station and so took our evidence photos and headed for our next stop. We never take it for granted that there will be anyone available to meet us at the stations. They are all volunteers and take time out of their day to be at the stations. It is so lovely to meet crew members but if they are not available we completely understand and never feel disappointed.

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Tenby Lifeboat Station

About an hour along the coast on the opposite side of Carmarthen Bay lies the beautiful town of Tenby. With its quaint harbour, it is known for its 13th-century town walls and its stretches of sandy shoreline, including Castle Beach where the Inshore Lifeboat Station lies. The ruins of Tenby Castle are on a headland overlooking the harbour and the two slipway lifeboat stations.

We were to spend the rest of the day in Tenby and before heading to the station we met some local friends and had a lovely pub lunch and a chin wag. We had a walk through the quaint lanes with their colourful buildings before venturing onto Castle Beach where we took advantage of the local knowledge to learn about the coastline.

The inshore lifeboat station on the beach houses their D-Class, Kathleen Ann (D-858). The boathouse was locked up when we arrived on the beach so we took our evidence phot

o and continued our walk on the beach. On the way back we noticed the door was open and we popped our head in to say hello. The boathouse is shared with the RNLI Lifeguards and one of them very kindly offered to show us around. We chatted for a while about her role as a lifeguard as she was the first we had really spoken to during this challenge.

This inshore boathouse was built in 1895 replacing the previous one built in 1862. The first lifeboat was established in Tenby in 1852 before being taken over by the RNLI in 1854. After several renovations and improvements to crew facilities the boathouse now ably serves the D-Class and provides excellent facilities for the seasonal lifeguards.

Heading around Castle Hill, the old slipway station came into view. Built in 1905, it boasts one of the longest slipways in the country at 366ft long. With several alterations and slipway repairs, the boat house served various motor lifeboats until 2005 when it was replaced by the new station a little further around the hill. This 1905 building has since been converted into private residence as documented on the TV programme, Grand Designs.

A little further around the footpath we arrived at the imposing new structure. We visited the shop, looked around the fascinating history and information boards and took plenty of photos. We were then welcomed by Ben who is the navigator on the Tamar Class lifeboat. He showed us around the boat and we had a great chat with him before heading to the crew room where we met Coxwain Lisa and Mechanic Peter.

This station was built in 2005 specifically for the new Tamar class all-weather lifeboat. In 2006 the first operational Tamar, Haydn Miller (16-02) arrived for duty. The Tenby boathouse and slipway is one of thirteen of this style designed specifically for the Tamar, including our local station at Shoreham. The crew advised us that they would be launching on exercise and to cover a swimming event in the harbour later in the evening. Never ones to turn down the opportunity to watch a slipway launch we promised we would be back later in the evening. So we headed back into town for a spot of sightseeing before heading back to watch the launch.

It is an impressive operation and every single crew member plays such an important role. It was fascinating to see everyone working so well together under the leadership of Coxwain Lisa. A fabulous ending to the first day of visits.