Local heroes

My latest article for The Bay magazine is now available here.


I was inspired to write it when I saw the launching of the lifeboat a few weeks ago.

Also I saw this:

I am pretty sure that is one of the babies we saw at Cwmtydu when we were there.

Introducing Mumbles Myths

A number of years ago I had a Good Idea. (I should write a book entitled Liz's Good Ideas That Never Got Anywhere.)

I live in a beautiful part of the country. Gower was the first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the UK and is a popular place with tourists. There are various guides around and photo books about Gower but they tend to be quite factual and what I like to read is more personal, an insider's view or story. So my idea was to collaborate with a photographer and come up with such a book.

I spoke to one well-known local photographer and then another. Both expressed interest, especially the second, but neither pursued it eventually. In the meantime I'd got on and written a few bits and pieces to inspire their photographs.

I came across my writing the other day when I was looking for something else so I thought I may as well post it here. I'll subtitle all the different posts Mumbles Myths.

That's another thing about walking on my own: I write blog posts in my head while walking and then splurge them all out. 

So what is Mumbles?

S.J. Qualls also asked about Mumbles.

I was born and raised in Mumbles and after a short period away from Swansea now live just outside this seaside village in south Wales on the very edge of the Gower Peninsular. In 1956 Gower was the first place in Britain to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Mumbles is famous for its pier and lighthouse but probably most famous for The Mumbles Mile.  It was considered something of a challenge especially for stag and hen nights to complete the Mumbles Mile, which involved drinking a pint of beer in each of the numerous pubs running from the village to the pier (20 in a 2-mile stretch). Now, thankfully some of us may say, a number of those pubs have closed so it's less challenging but in the past groups would come from all over to try to earn the right to a 'I've done the Mumbles Mile' mug or t-shirt. 

But let's concentrate on more attractive aspects. The village itself has a thriving community spirit again. After a long period when it lost its heart a new generation has arisen and revitalised the village with a host of posh shops as well as all the essentials. 

For good old-fashioned fun you need to visit the pier and its amusement arcade. After being in a state of disrepair for some years the pier itself is now being spruced up - and made safe! 

Before repair

Withe new lifeboat station 

Mumbles lighthouse from Bracelet Bay

And from the pier

For many years the lighthouse was manned and for some years a unit of soldiers was also stationed there. In 1883 the lifeboat was launched to go to the aid of a German ship. The crew was rescued but the lifeboat itself later got into trouble. Jessie and Margaret, the daughters of the lighthouse-keeper, helped rescue crewmen washed up in lighthouse waters and their actions were commemorated in a poem to be found here. And very recently a blue commemorative plaque was installed at the top of the steps leading down to the beach to the lighthouse.

Of course, Mumbles lifeboat has a proud and sad history. As well as the 1883 disaster in 1947 the boat and the crew of eight were all lost during a rescue. 

Mumbles mammaries

Nick asked where the name Mumbles comes from. One story is that when the Normans - or possibly the Romans - came here, the two islands that make the headland at the entrance to Swansea Bay, reminded them of breasts, mamelles, which led to the name of Mumbles.

xx

"We honour these brave men"

On the evening of Wednesday, 23rd April, 1947, a 7,000 ton cargo ship, the S.S. Samtampa, sent out a distress signal as it drifted towards rocks on the South Wales coast. The Mumbles lifeboat was launched into rough seas and force 8-10 winds.

Before the lifeboat could reach it, the Samtampa had been driven onto rocks and was broken into three. Attempts by coastguards to rescue the men failed and all 39 of the crew died.

All the through the night coastguards and police kept a look-out for survivors and for sight of the lifeboat they knew had been summoned. It was not until the dawning light that the lifeboat was found, upturned on the rocks. The bodies of her crew of 8 were washed up over the next days.

(The front page of the local paper from the day after the disaster showing both the upturned lifeboat and the wrecked S.S.Samtampa)

In the parish magazine, the Vicar of Oystermouth wrote, 'These heroic men of ours were plain-spun; they would not have marked their own amazing courage. The cry of men in distress found an answer in the hearts of those who knew the joys and terrors of the sea ...'

In a memorial service the chairman of Mumbles Lifeboat committee said, '... as long as there is a Mumbles, there will be a Mumbles lifeboat and Mumbles men will man her.'

Two weeks after the horrific disaster, 30 men volunteered to serve as lifeboatmen when Mumbles got its replacement lifeboat.

One man who joined the crew a few years later, and went on to become coxswain for 32 years and receive numerous awards for bravery, was Derek Scott. When asked if he was ever afraid when going out on a rescue, he replied, “If I wasn't afraid I wouldn't be human, but those people waiting for me were a damn sight more frightened and, as we were their last hope, I had to do it.”

It wasn't the first time Mumbles had lost some of its lifeboatmen. Four were lost in a rescue in 1883, and six of the crew of fourteen died in 1903. But it has saved over 800 lives in its 170 year history.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a charity, is funded by voluntary contributions, and most of the crew are volunteers. At Mumbles only the coxswain and, I think, now an engineer, are paid. That such a vital service is not government-funded and relies on volunteers to do everything from man the ships to sell flags and host coffee mornings is remarkable. It provides an incredible insight into what man will do for his fellow.

As the sixtieth anniversary of the lifeboat disaster is commemorated later this month, while it will undoubtedly be a sad memory for the village that lost so many of its young men, it's good to recall how amazingly unselfish and heroic ordinary men can be.

Two stained glass windows in All Saints' Church in Mumbles commemorate the 1883 (shown right) and 1947 disasters.

xxx