Classic Harbour View

The harbour has changed a lot these last few years with the arrival of the Millenium Coastal Park but here are a few snaps of how it looked when swimming was allowed (as well as crane jumping). You can see the Carmarthe Bay Powers Station in the photo below. In fact not far from where that was taken was another hang out spot, used to love popping a few cold ones down here in the summer. (Mind you it didn't need to be summer). The water is always in now because of the new locks but before those arrived, the harbour stank of mud, stale fish and seaweed when the tide was out. Not necessarily a bad smell, just very different compared to when it was in.

Elikington Road 1905

Life in 1905

My family moved to a house on Elkington road in Burry Port way back in 1980. (My father still lives there). This road almost goes straight through the middle of the town and stretches from the top half (Achddu) to the bottom onto Station road. And thanks to this fact, it was a great road for skateboards and bikes.
No skateboards in this 1905 photograph of course. And that is most definately not Pembrey like it suggests.

The Garages

These garages were another favourite hang out in Burry Port. Just behind you can see the back of the Memorial Hall. These face other garages just out of shot and I have actually fallen through the roof of those because at the time (1980s) they had asbestos roofing as opposed to the concrete type you can see in this picture. Used to skateboard on here too, and occasionaly thought about making a skate jump from them.

'Co~op' Wall

Anothe old drinking spot

This charming little view is looking from the Coop bridge down towards the harbour. The train you see was a coal train that used to take coal up to Carway, and the small, red brick wall was another favourite hang out/drinking spot of my friends and I in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Used to be a handy toilet across the road too.
Of course the years have drastically changed all this and these days where that wall is in the photo, there is now a busy roundabout and the coal trains have long since departed to a lost station somewhere in time.

Siop Alwyn

Croeso I Siop Alwyn

Siop Alwyn (Siop is Welsh for shop) was a barbers situated on top of Elkington road, near Achddu. I personally don't remember much about it because it was on its way to closing while I was barely in school but it was certainly very popular before then. The only thing I do remember is if any schoolboy had a basin/bowl style haircut, then others would say that he'd had a 'siop Alwyns'.
You could also buy sweets and soda drinks in Alwyns and probably cigarettes too. I wish little places like these were still opening instead of closing because you get the personal touch and gossip that supermarkets just cannot offer. There is so much character to them and this was definately true of Siop Alwyn's.

Penscynor Wildlife Park

Vintage: Penscynor car sticker

**** from guide ****

Penscynor Wildlife Park is home to some of the world’s most endangered and beautiful animals, all of which nestle amongst the trees, streams and gardens. Parrots, penguins, monkeys, apes and more are all just waiting to be discovered by visitors. You can touch and hold the animals in the Zoo Centre, feed the trout, llama, donkeys and deer, as well as experiencing the famous Alpine Slide. There is a playground in the grounds for children, as well as Bumpa Boats and much more. Visitors can enjoy a picnic or try the delights in one of the four cafes, as well as finding a special gift in one of the souvenir shops.

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When I saw that car sticker last night for the first time in years, I felt dizzy such was the rush of emotion/memories that flooded my brain upon seeing it. This wildlife park was one of THE places to go in the summer.
No it wasn't in Burry Port but Penscynor does bring back warm waves of joy to many 'Burryites' (as I discovered on Facebook last night when I uploaded photos) and therefore it deserves to be mentioned in this blog.


Chico in her enclosure

The park was in Cilfrew, Neath, not an especially long run up the motorway from Burry, and like Porthcawl it has a very dear place in my heart. Sadly it closed down in October 1998 and like many places, lives on only in peoples memories. I certainly does in mine. I have many many stories from Penscynor. One being the Alpine Ski Slide which was there, where children would hurtle down tracks shaped like toboggan runs on plastic carts with a brake lever sticking up from inbetween your legs. Of course being daredevils, my brother and I would barely touch the brake, letting the carts (and ourselves) almost shoot up the side of the run and flip over into heavy wilderness. And as we smashed into the tyres at the bottom (which were there to aid with stopping) our mum and the rest of the family would shriek in alarm. Fun!
Another time my dear grandmother handed a sweet to one of the chimpanzees, little knowing it was actually a toffee. The sight of the poor chimp sitting on a post, chewing this toffee was something which had to be seen. Im laughing now. One highlight was watching the seals in their enclosure, a concrete island surrounded by dark green water and whenever they submerged to swim underwater I would wish I was in there swimming alongside them in the murky waters.
Great place for picnics too, as long as you were away from the spitting lamas. And I remember the souvenir shop sold rubber chimps, snakes, and pens with Penscynor stencilled on the side. Wonderful times.
But looking at the photos (below) of how it is now, an empty shell, is so very depressing when one thinks back to how alive the park was, buzzing with sounds of families and animals. Im genuinely sorry that children f today will never know the delights of this wildlife park. For me Disney World had nothing on Penscynor.


Alpine slide


And the past withers

One Fine Horizon

Ah bliss!

One of the finest things you can do in Burry Port is also the most simple; buying a parcel of chips (with fish, pie, rissole, etc), taking it down the harbour and eating while watching the boats do their bobbing thing on the water. Or looking out toward the Gower. Take it from someone who has done this a thousand times, its grand.
Summer is the best time to do this but all year round works too. Careful how you go though, the sea air has a lethal effect on appetite and you might find yourself heading back for more chips! Those ones in the above photo I had from Bev's chip shop at the end of New Street but that chippy is no longer open. Luckily we are blessed with more than one great fish & chip shop in Burry Port, which means you ought to sample this 'chips down the harbour' delight a couple of times. Just to make sure *WINK*