Carmarthen Coracle & Netsmen'S Association

Great to see our good friend from Llandyssul, Jim Thomson, representing the Coracles at last years Royal Welsh Show.

The day has come when the coracle is again facing a battle to stay on the river.
Today we travel to Newtown (weather permitting!!) to face an All Wales Inquiry into a reduction of our fishing season and catch and release of all salmon. We hear it's not going to be easy, all very intimidating when the national agencies have hired top barristers to tear you to shreds, but we go armed with determination!
While we agree there is a huge concern with fish stock in the river, we fir...mly believe we are not the problem - acidification, agricultural and industrial pollution, oil leaks....these all have a major impact on our river.
Coracles have been used on our Welsh rivers for centuries and over the years the number of coracle net licences have drastically reduced to only 8 (of which only 3 are active). We only have a 5 month season, of which we are not permitted to fish weekends and very rarely fish during the daytime. We are also governed by nature - tides, flood water, prolonged dry spells, high winds....
Unfortunately we're an easy target, an easy option when the agencies who are paid to police and protect our rivers haven't the resources or funding to do their job to the best of their ability.
Wish us luck as hopefully we'll make our forefathers proud.
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A huge thank you to Greg & Sarah at Lewis Printers - always a first class service üëçüèΩüòä

A cold and wet Saturday afternoon can only mean one thing - coracle workshop open!!!

Great to see our Towy coracle men, Dai Elias and Matthew Dagnall, on the front page of today’s Carmarthen Journal!!
River Festival - 13th July Save the date!!!

And they’re off.....good luck Team Wales/Carmarthen ⛳️🍀🇵🇹

Good luck to the Junior Section of Carmarthen Golf Club who are leaving for Portugal next week to fly the flag for Carmarthen and proudly represent Wales. üáµüáπüçÄüè¥ÛÝÅßÛÝÅ¢ÛÝÅ∑ÛÝŨÛÝÅ≥ÛÝÅø< br>

It may look like a family of beetles, but tomorrow they’ll be 7 miniature coracles all completed and ready for an exciting journey 🇵🇹

A huge congratulations to Carmarthen’s Dr Nicola Phillips, Professor in Physiotherapy and Sports Medicine at the University of Wales, Cardiff. Nicola, daughter of retired Carmarthen Coracle Man Gordon Phillips, is on the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List and has been awarded an OBE for physiotherapy services to Team Wales and Team GB at Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games.
Llongyfarchiadau Nicola and to her proud dad Gordon from all at the Carmarthen Coracles üè¥ÛÝÅßÛÝÅ¢ÛÝÅ∑ÛÝŨÛÝÅ≥ÛÝÅø

A beautiful evening and a breathtaking moonlit Carmarthen town and its River Towy. Merry Christmas to you all, thank you for your support during the past year and for all you coracle men and ladies....only 68 days til the 2019 Towy Coracle season!!! Nadolig Llawen o Cwrwgl Caerfyrddin ❤️

Any local history book will tell you how, in the 19th century, the coracle community lived in unsanitary conditions along the bank of the River Towy. The coracle men were known for being aggressive and unruly. Having to fish for their family’s survival - no fish simply meaning no food or money.
You’d be mistaken if you thought these men of the river were anything but intelligent as, apart from making coracles & paddles, they made their own fishing nets. Amazingly they leaded them using a unique sequence of numbers that were later recognised as being the Fibonacci number sequence - when two numbers are added up to make the next.
Who would have thought that these poor, disorderly coracle men would use the same formula to lead their nets as a man described as the greatest mathematician of the Middle Ages.

We’ve had some help researching into the wonderful ‘Yankee’ family coracle tree.
Pictured: 1. David ‘Yankee’ Thomas with his D10 coracle 2. Yankee’s son & daughter, Dave & Elaine, with miniature coracles their father had made.

Lovely to meet the lady behind this wonderful piece of artwork - Louise Jones Art üé® Her commissioned painting of Carmarthen proudly hangs on the wall of Yr Atom in King Streetüè¥ÛÝÅßÛÝÅ¢ÛÝÅ∑ÛÝŨÛÝÅ≥ÛÝÅø
Thank you to the pupils of Richmond Park Primary School who suggested that coracles should feature in this representation painting of Carmarthen (what excellent taste they haveüòâ). ‚ù§Ô∏èüß°üíõüíöüíôüíú‚ù§Ô∏èüß°üíõ üíöüíôüíú

A very young Lewis ‘Yankee’ Thomas followed his family tradition and learnt the skill of coracle fishing. Photo roughly dated 1926

This could be the old episode that features the Carmarthen coracle.... 🤨 .....starts in 7mins but repeats at 9.30pm

‘Carmarthen and River Towy, from an aeroplane’ (postmarked 1941)

Well he kept that quiet.....happy belated 80th birthday to John ‘Snowy’ Hopkins. Snowy is a man of few words, but has a wonderful recollection of river stories which can be heard on an afternoon in the Stag’s Head. A wonderful coracle man, talented net and coracle maker and one of the finest coracle men ever to grace the banks of the River Towy. Happy birthday Snowy Hopkins xx