Everyday Life on Mumbles Coastguard Station 1930 & 1940s
by Bet Ogbourne & Pat Symmons
By the 1850s a Look-out Station or ‘Watch House’ was already operational on Mumbles Hill and by the 1870s, it was decided to build a Coastguard Station, for Officers and their families. It was constructed in the form of a square on an acre of land formerly known as Upper and Lower Church Fields. The families’ quarters were along the top and one side of the square, the rocket apparatus was kept in one of the bottom corners and the middle open space was a garden. Later, Overland Road, Upper Church Parks and the house known as 13, Church Parks were developed surrounding the Station.
Mumbles Lighthouse and the old Coastguard lookout at Tutt Head, Bracelet Bay, overlooking Bracelet and Limeslade Bays >
Two sisters now share their thoughts on life at the Station in the 1930s:
When we arrived in Mumbles in 1935 or 1936 and saw the Coastguard Station for the first time, it looked very forbidding. Our father took up duty as a Coastguard Writer immediately while our mother and we three girls looked over our new rent-free house, which came with the posting. Number Three, Coastguard Station was opposite the office where my father was to work. There were two rooms and a kitchen downstairs and three bedrooms upstairs. We had no bathroom, there being a full-size bath with a wooden lid in the kitchen and a gas boiler to heat the water. Consequently it was quite hard work just to have a bath and the toilet outside required a feat of endurance to visit in the winter!
We settled into Coastguard life slowly as it was a different life from an outside one, no one being allowed on station except on business or visiting the Coastguard. There were four gates onto the site, which always had to be kept closed especially at night. All parts of the Station were kept spotless with a wash down once a week and the brass door handles were buffed to a shine. Once a year the Deputy Chief Inspector from London came to have a chat to the Personnel and their wives.
Coastguard Cottages, a modern view
A google satellite view of the former Coastguard Station cottages
All the families on the Station got on so well together, being like one big happy family. Some came from as far away as Scotland, Devon and other parts of Wales. Of course, if people were looking for promotion, they and the family would have to move on. Consequently they tended to talk about their part of the country and how much they missed it. At Christmas time, there were parties in each house and everyone was invited and in the summer time there would be picnics in Caswell Valley. Our parents were great friends with Coastguards from Cornwall and Newton Abbot who came to our house and we visited theirs.
Our father’s boss was Commander Hurst ex R.N. and they dealt with all the work concerning Stations throughout the Cambrian Division. The District Officer was Mr. Jeffers, who lived with his wife and five sons in a large house at the bottom end of the Station. One of these, Bert, was later a POW in Germany. At Number One were the Saits and their daughter, Betty, later followed by Mr. and Mrs Joslin. The Troy family with daughters, Alma and Gladys were at Number Two. At Number Four lived the Chuggs who had six children, Dolly, Gladys, Teddy, Joan, Ronnie and another brother who worked away. Mr. and Mrs Fitton and daughter, Minnie followed by Mr. and Mrs Roberts and their daughter, Evelyn lived at Number Five. Down some steps lived Mr. and Mrs. Firth at Number Six and in Number Seven, there were Mr. and Mrs. Twells and their daughter, Rosemary.
Coastguard Cottages, 1930s
Mumbles Coastguard Station, The Tutt, Swansea
We, as children played in the playground, which was up a flight of steps and was a square piece of ground, which had been used for Life Saving Exercises .S.A exercises and sometimes fireworks were let off there. Additionally, each Coastguard had an allotment in front of the house and our father took great delight in supplying his home grown produce for us to enjoy.
At the entrance to the site was a house which had large green doors on which were emblazoned the letters L.S.A, where all the ropes and equipment were kept in readiness for a rescue.
All the Coastguards did a rota of duties at the Tut, which overlooked Bracelet Bay and was reached by a flight of steps. However, there was only one man on duty at night and it could be a lonely job, done without any light, so that there could be a clear view out to sea. To keep them company, some men had dogs, which would run alongside their bikes as they travelled to their lonely vigil. Our father, as Chairman of the Coastguards, obtained an allowance for the men using bikes to get to and from the Tut.
Mumbles Coastguard Station, The Tutt, Swansea
A lorry would take the men out there to hold their exercises using a Breeches Buoy and Stand or to take part in a rescue. The ropes, which had been used would then have to be washed back at the L.S.A. house and laid outside to dry. The water used for this was pumped from a well on site and was clear and clean having been used for drinking-water years before.
A Mumbles Coastguard Life Saving Apparatus and crew
Life Saving Apparatus and Crew, 1919
In the event of a real emergency, the Station Officer was the only one allowed to fire the distress rocket, which would call out the Auxiliary Guards. But before he could do this he had to go to each Coastguard house to warn them that the rocket launch was imminent, as when it exploded, there would be a most tremendous bang and the sky would be lit up with a glow. The Mumbles Lifeboat tragedy in 1947 was unforgettable for the Coastguards who were called out to see if they could rescue any of the crews of the stricken vessels the Santampa and the Mumbles Lifeboat. Sadly, no one was saved.
Our father’s work in the Navy and the Coastguard Service over the years earned him the B.E.M.
Bet spent many happy years on the Station until she left at 17 to become a nurse at the Bristol Eye Hospital and now lives in Cardiff; their late sister, Joan went to London in 1937 to work in the Civil Service. Pat, who spent a few years working in the station office, still lives in Swansea and continues to enjoy her visits to the Mumbles.
Pat Symmons Remembers The 1947 Lifeboat Disaster
My fiancé and I were coming back to Mumbles on the train that evening from his parents’ house in Danygraig. The weather was so bad that the sea was coming right over the top of the train. The driver decided in the circumstances to stop at West Cross. A little later, he decided to resume the journey as the wind was abating a little.
Over several days, the lifeboat had been called out twice to the Samtampa, which was in serious trouble near Porthcawl, but once the news came through that the lifeboat crew themselves were in danger, my father, Percy Hore, a Coast Guard, who was later awarded a B.E.M., went in a car with Commander Hurst, Head of the Cambrian Division, to Porthcawl, but when they arrived, the wind was so bad, it nearly tipped the car over. They then helped to try and rescue people, but they were all dead, having been covered in oil and suffocated. My father recovered the body of his friend, William Gammon, the Coxswain. Dad, also covered in oil, did not come home until early the following morning and subsequently had to claim for a new uniform as his was ruined. I think the youngest member of the lifeboat crew was Mr.Allen, who was only in his 20s.
I remember the day of the funeral.
It was raining as the procession wound its way along the Mumbles Road and up Newton Road to the cemetery.
Pat Hoare and Albert Symmons Wedding
My Wedding
A few days later on 3 May, we got married in All Saints’ Church. There were no flowers to be had in the village, due to the disaster and the Vicar, Rev. Wilkinson kindly rang up the nursery at Blackpill and obtained some pink rose buds. Outside the Church, while we had our photographs taken, the yard was still strewn with the remains of the petals and leaves from the wreathes of a few days before.
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