PORTHCAWL
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David Newton-Williams
42 Suffolk Place, Porthcawl, CF36 3EB. 01656 451844 davidnewtonwilliams1929@gmail.com
● Griffin Park Table Top Sale: Town life is getting back to some form of reality here in Porthcawl, and one of the first organizations to open up again is the Table Top Sale in Griffin Park.
Now Covid friendly and maintaining social distancing it is back on Fridays.
This is a weekly event and is held every Friday at Griffin Park Hall in New Road. Doors open between 8.30am and 12.30pm.
If you want a table to sell things yourself, then tables are available at £5 per event.
More information on this and other events in Griffin Park can be obtained by contacting Barry Morse on 07883 065 507.
● National Blood Donor Service:
I’ve reported before that all our favorite charities are struggling for donations and some will never make up the loss, meaning that research will suffer.
But it should also be noted that the National Blood Donor Service is suffering and has had to reorganise.
There are now fewer centers open with different opening times, but those of you who have been regular donors please get back in touch with the service to start donating again and remember, you can’t catch the virus from the process!
● Art Exhibition and Auction: Talented local artist Tracy Warmsley has organized an Exhibition and Auction of her work in the Picton Hotel, New Road Porthcawl on Wednesday, July 28.
It all starts at 7pm when the exhibition will be officially opened by the Mayor of Porthcawl, Councillor Tracy Hill.
The exhibition will be made up of a mix of portraits and landscapes.
● Vintage Surfboard Rally: There is a community of surfboard collectors from all over the country who meet regularly in various locations to discuss and note the changes in the design and construction of surfboards from the heady days of the 70s and 80s.
This was the first time that they have met in Wales for some time and the event, which was well attended by local surfers, was organised by local surfer Simon Tucker who is a former professional European Champion surfer who has competed on the world stage, was held on the top of the carpark at Rest Bay last weekend.
There were exhibitors from all around the country showing boards including the British Surf Board Museum in Braunton, north Devon.
Some 100 surfers from all over the country were there checking out the surfboards on display some of which originated in far-off places like California, Australia, and South Africa, and some of which were worth thousands of pounds.
It is nice to see that the majority of the surfers themselves were vintage – we tend to think of surfing as being a sport for the young, but surfers in their 60s and 70s are not uncommon these days.
My generation missed surfing but I do remember being on holiday in Newquay Cornwell in the late
40s and they were talking about an Australian lifeguard who had stood on a board in a rescue whereas the natives were still using bodyboards.
Cancer Research UK – Porthcawl ● Branch: The George Albert Prince of Wales Bowling Club, in Penylan Avenue, Porthcawl, held its usual annual Fundraising Bowls Match last week and raised £470 for
Cancer Research.
Well done and thank you very much on behalf of the local committee.
● Open Day at Kenfig Nature Reserve: The Kenfig Nature Reserve is now under new management, having been taken over by the Kennfig Trust, and was officially re-opened on Saturday, July 3 when Local civic dignitaries fom Cornelly, Porthcawl and Bridgend braved the weather to see for themselves what the future holds.
The building has been redecorated and the public toilets are now open from 10am-4pm.
There are public spaces where exhibitions and lectures can be held and pop-up offices can be arranged for people who are already fed up of working from home.
There is also a space where workshops in Country Craft could be held and there is talk of making it a Wedding Venue. Just think of the photographic opportunities. Well done and best wishes for a prosperous future.
● Clients I Have Met and Enjoyed Working For: Roy Gammon and I had one client who had a string of superstores in Wales.
He had started of as a laborer at the age of 16 and by the time he was 21 he was foreman ganger on the construction of new tunnels for the London Underground.
Then he had a bit of luck when he met and became friendly with the man who founded Kwik Save, the supermarket chain, and because he was rather a large man who could handle himself, he became his ‘front runner’.
The founder of Kwik Save was a Polish gentleman who paid all his bills in cash and our client used to have to carry maybe as much as £30 or £40k across London to pay for a shed full of items.
Just think how much discount he would get by paying in cash!
I remember him saying that on one occasion he was delivering a vast sum of money across the city and suddenly found himself wondering whether now that he had paid the bill did he have enough money to get a tube ticket back home!
● Michael Marshall: ‘Who him?’ I can hear you ask. ‘Mike Carpets’ everybody called him.
A man who had it all: he was married with a nice house, a Jaguar and a thriving business. Then things started to go awry and his problems mounted.
On a good day he could be kind, articulate, respectful, but always gentle. To Gay and I and others who knew him well, he was a friend.
At one stage he lived in a campervan on a farm in Ton Kenfig and then the farmer made a ‘cwtch’ for him in the back of one of the farm buildings – big enough for all his needs and warm enough to be cozy. There he was watched over by ‘Bones’ the farmer, and Christine who looked after the horses.
It had one disadvantage – to get to it you had to go through the Tack Room and had to ready to be attacked by a number of fighting cocks pecking anything in sight. That wasn’t always the story. Some years ago he enrolled at Pencoed Horticultural College, passed his exams and went to work as a warden in Margam Park.
Sadly Mike was found dead in his Cwtch last Monday: no more pain, cares or worries and in a place where he was happy.
Mike Carpets RIP. God Bless.