The Hit List 1) RNLI Station, Aberavon Beach

You know what? I really enjoyed making the last 7 posts about buildings which I think are worth seeing in Port Talbot. Over the last 3 or 4 years I’ve made a lot of sketches of places in Port Talbot, but for each of these 7 posts I ended up making at least 1 new sketch, some of them of places I’ve never sketched before. So obviously there’s still places out there I haven’t sketched. Hmm – we ought to do something about that.

Of course, I’m not saying that I’m going to sketch every building standing in Port Talbot, every house, every shop – the lot. That would be silly, and as boring for me as it would be for you. No, all I’m going to try to do over the next few weeks is try to catch up on some of those places that I’ve missed over the years, regardless of whether I think they’re good, bad or indifferent buildings. Let’s start with the beach area.

I’ve sketched quite a few of the buildings on the sea front. Some of them are still there – Francos, Remos, Aberavon Hotel and the Leisure and Fitness Centre, and some of them are gone – the Afan Lido, The Bay View, the Jersey Beach Hotel for example. So let’s start with the RNLI station.

The first lifeboat station here was built in, I think, 1966. My late father-in-law was a volunteer crewman for many years, and even after this came to an end he stayed connected with the lifeboat through making sure that the lifeboat was fuelled and other duties. In his spare time he also ran more than one local cub pack , and so when the previous station was replaced in the 1990s, he received permission to help himself to some of the paving slabs around the station, for a scout and cub hall he was rebuilding. I helped him pull up some of the stones (and my hands are still aching!) As for the new station, well, it’s rather nice isn’t it. It’s yellow brick, and that’s far more appealing than grey brick. I like the shape of it, and there are just enough windows to offset the plainness of the brick walls. Of course, the aesthetics of the building pale into insignificance when set against the function of the building. But I’m glad that I took the time to sketch it. We’d be much poorer without it.