Episode 4 Glamorgan Coastal Lives

The Glamorgan coast, a natural treasure.

A stone's throw from the urban sprawl of the Welsh capital.

Just on your doorstep, this is like five minutes down the road from where we live.

A diverse coastline of dramatic cliffs, sandy beaches

and unique geological features.

I couldn't think of any better place to be.

Throughout the summer, we followed the lives of the people who live,

work and play here.

The Heritage coastline is probably the best coastline

in all of Wales to fish on.

Fish of the day.

From Penarth...

It's probably the only place in the world where you can go

to the cinema on the beach.

..to Ogmore.

The Vale has the coast, it has the country...

It's got a bit of everything, really.

You know, where else are you going to get that?

This is their summer. These are their coastal lives.

The sea is calm on the Glamorgan coast.

Barry is waking up.

After a hot, busy summer's day, rubbish is left on Whitmore Bay.

But it's one man and his tractor to the rescue.

I have been cleaning the beach now for about 16, 17 years.

I love doing it. You know, it's a nice job.

Russell Morgan is part of a council team dedicated to keeping Barry

beautiful.

When you are first down here in the morning, you are just on your own.

So you can just go with the flow, enjoy the job.

Within two hours, it looks like a really nice beach again.

With anything I do in my life,

I try and get it as perfect as possible.

I try and keep the lines as straight as I possibly can.

It is nice when you've got a big canvas

to try your perfection out on.

For two hours of the day, this is my beach.

You know, and that is why I take care to make it look nice.

After that, it's anybody's.

One man who certainly has a stake in Barry Island...

Step this way and take home a super prize.

..is 72-year-old fairground owner Henry Danter.

If your rewards are not given to you here, you'll get them in heaven.

He plans to make the fair one of the best attractions in Wales.

This is my office.

This is it. This is my life.

And his right-hand man is nephew and park manager James.

The biggest challenge about working here is working with Uncle Henry

cos he's very demanding.

Get a big brush and sweep the floor up.

If there's improvements, he wants them done yesterday, not today.

I think you'd be better turning it on that angle.

Henry and James' biggest investment this year is the big wheel.

But getting it up and running has been one problem after another.

First came the elements.

Obviously, it's a bank holiday Monday -

as you can see, by the weather.

And construction ground to a halt.

Next there were technical issues.

One of the computers has come up with an error

and it won't let the ride operate

for safety reasons.

Gutted.

Then the cars needed safety mesh.

No-one will be able to lean over or jump out, basically.

Cos we don't carry parachutes.

Having missed one bank holiday bonanza,

James is determined the wheel will be open

for the last one of the summer.

I feel a lot better now I've got the last car on.

It now actually looks like a wheel, not just like an ornament.

But as soon as it seems the big wheel will finally be ready to turn,

James discovers they're missing one vital piece of equipment to pass the

health and safety sign off.

Time to break the news to Henry.

The windometer that we've got fitted on the top is not sufficient enough

just on its own. So it's going to have two.

It's going to have a back-up system on it.

To get it through the health and safety?

Yeah, it's just another delay and another setback.

A week today is bank holiday Monday.

Yeah. It's in our last big hit.

And you know we've got to get this going.

Mm.

James has invested more time and money than anyone in the wheel.

And as well as the pressure, he's also feeling the pinch.

Obviously, it's caused a lot of stress and anxiety

cos, at the end of the day, we've got to make money.

We bought it to make money.

But although James has been hit in the pocket,

Henry has been hit in the heart.

This isn't all about money.

This park, I have a love for it and I have a vision,

and my vision says

this is going to be the best in Wales.

But it'll never, never be the best in Wales

unless we have this Ferris wheel working.

This is too painful for words.

It's been too stressful.

Words fail me, to tell you how upset I am to see this now still not

working. I'm here today to get some answers, or it'll be replaced.

It'll be taken down.

James and Henry are really up against it.

And with a week to go

until the last lucrative bank holiday of the summer,

time is running out.

The Fonmon estate is host to the annual Vale Agricultural Show.

And it's all eyes on lord of the manor Sir Brooke Boothby...

..as he enters the pumpkin-growing competition.

If they are not growing by now, we won't get anywhere at the show,

that's for absolute certain.

Having planted his pumpkin seeds in April,

it's time to check on their progress.

Now, that I didn't bargain on.

There was a spider's web right across the door.

And as you can see,

what was only that big a short while ago is now growing well.

And here is the first true little baby pumpkin.

But it's early days.

So much can go wrong.

There's red spider mite, there's whitefly,

there's every sort of little thing.

Danger to pumpkins is a snail, not good news.

We'll take it out. Because we are being filmed, I'll be extremely kind

and throw it over the wall instead of putting my foot on it.

But the beasts and bugs are the least of his worries

when it comes to prize veg.

We get regularly beaten by the gentleman

who lives not far from here,

who is a world-class vegetable-grower.

Sir Brooke has some serious competition.

Welcome to the Land of the Giants.

It's rival gardener Philip Vowles.

Come on, my beauties.

Philip has won countless awards for his monster vegetables...

The incredible thing about something like this is it grows a foot a week.

..breaking a world record for the heaviest cucumber

at 18? pounds in weight.

Good morning.

I think it's good to talk to them.

You are looking good. That's the secret of growing giant veg.

The right seeds, plenty of love and care, talk to them nice.

Quite a nice specimen there.

And that's what it's all about. It's quite easy.

His cabbages can weigh over 8st and feed 140 people.

It's just one stalk and there's eight heads going on it.

I'll be entering quite a few things in the Vale show, like the giant

cabbage, the pumpkins, the marrows.

I just love growing all sorts of vegetables,

but the giants have really got hold of me and I really enjoy it.

I just love it.

But long-suffering wife Brenda doesn't share his passion.

Philip spends far too much time up the garden.

Quite a lot of time with his pumpkins and marrows,

watering them and I think he do talk to them sometimes.

Better tuck you in nice and warm now,

just in case it goes a bit cold in the night.

Far too much time, in my opinion.

She do have a little moan now and again.

Says she's an allotment widow.

But she comes up and helps me out and we have a wonderful time.

You do enjoy it, I know.

I'm always left on my own.

No, you're not.

Most of the time, I am.

You're out shopping.

I do go off shopping to have a break

from making him cups of tea all the time.

There we are. Good night, marrow.

I'm a poor man, really, but I feel like a millionaire.

Up in my allotment, enjoying my flowers and veg, and I just love it.

Time for a cup of tea now, I think.

All this work we are doing.

Yeah.

800-year-old St Donats Castle is home to Atlantic College

and attracts international sixth form students

from all over the world.

Asbjorn Damhus was a pupil here in 1973.

Being near water revitalises body, soul and mind.

My favourite is really to stand at the edge of the water

with my feet in the water

and allow all of the stress of the day to clear out

and to drain into the sea.

Asbjorn fell in love with the coast here at St Donats and has

now returned as a teacher.

Like Asbjorn,

the students at Atlantic College have always had a close relationship

with the ocean and the RNLI.

Sian and Alessandro are carrying on that tradition.

As a kid growing up on the beaches in Swansea,

you would see the RNLI lifeguards, and until I actually got here,

I never appreciated actually how much they had to do.

To wear their kit is really something to be proud of.

It shows that you've gone through a lot of training to achieve this and

you've gone through thick and thin to be able to

bring yourself up to this level.

It's skills which will take you on for the rest of your life.

Sian and Alessandro are part of an annual programme run

by Atlantic College.

Around 24 students a year are trained in surf life-saving skills.

Today, they are completing their training under the watchful eye of

teacher Alun Wood.

What we are going to do now is simulated board rescue

of a casualty, of a weak swimmer.

Put the casualty onto the board and then paddle them back to shore.

Lifeguard taking emergency action!

I slipped as we went in.

Even lifeguards need help when it comes to the water.

MUSIC: Rescue Me by Fontella Bass

Keep going. We are nearly there.

Sian and Alessandro hope to patrol local beaches, but only if they pass

their tests. They have to swim 400m in seven minutes 30, or less.

And their assignment on Barry Beach is fast approaching.

I'm excited for kind of getting out, onto a proper beach, and interacting

with the public and really putting a year's worth of training skills to

the test. That's a really exciting thing about our service

is, when we are patrolling, anything could happen.

When they take to the water, as lifeguards in Barry,

they'll be strengthening the link between Atlantic College and the sea

that was created back in Asbjorn's day.

And perhaps, as with him, that bond will always be with them.

The coast is very important.

Even though I went away for 25 years, it stayed with me,

and it always drew me back here.

Less than two miles from the Glamorgan coast

is St Athan airfield.

Most of the Royal Air Force jets have gone,

but inside one special hangar

lies a treasure trove of historic planes.

Throw that away. Throw that away. Throw that away.

Husband and wife team John and Nadine Spark own a flying school

and aircraft-maintenance business at the site.

And with thousands of spare parts sourced from all over the world,

cataloguing everything is a constant battle.

Nadine does all the stores,

so there's probably about 30 tonnes of it that keeps getting mixed up

all the time and she has to go and sort it out.

And here we have the stores.

Small bits, maybe 20,000, we've itemised and put in.

These are covers for some of the switches.

On this side, you've got the seat stuff.

This is the ejection seat stuff.

Then you've got all the tanks. These are the tanks, fuel tanks.

Because you can't buy these things new,

you have to be very careful what you throw away.

He's a hoarder. He loves things, you know?

I get it tidy and then he goes,

"I've got another thing and I'll just bung this up there and..."

You know. "No, no, no!"

John's hoarding obviously gets to Nadine.

But she's got a cunning plan of how to get rid of everything at once.

As and when he leaves this earth,

he's going to be sat in that Land Rover,

in a 40ft container,

with everything around him,

and then I'm going to have a farmer bury him as a time capsule.

In a field.

SHE LAUGHS

As Nadine soldiers on sorting the spares,

her team of mechanics have been reassembling an old Russian military

training yak for a sporting Welsh hero.

MUSIC: Take My Breath Away by Berlin

Ex-Wales rugby star Ian Gough.

Growing up, I always wanted to learn to fly.

Whenever I went on a holiday, back when you could,

I'd always want to go and see the pilot,

go and see what was happening there.

And I was lucky enough, we had a tour with Wales going to Canada and

America and I ended up staying on,

about three weeks of intense flying, got up to solo,

and then came back to Cardiff and finished it off here.

So it was a bit of a dream come true,

and I was able to fulfil it.

I've had it seven years, I think, now.

And I've taken it to air shows.

I've been doing formation aerobatic schools and just stuff

I dreamed about when I was a kid.

Ian's aeroplane is apart because it's got a 600 hour

service. So every 600 hours,

it comes apart to check every single nut and bolt on it and then put it

back together to make sure it can last another 600 hours

without things breaking.

There's no lay-bys in the sky.

You can't just pull over.

And the service has flagged up a problem on one of the wings.

This is something that we've found underneath the port flap.

Port flap sits there and you can see the crack there...

Right, yeah. So I made a new piece and it's all riveted back on fine.

Right, well, that's nice to know. Wheel it in.

Last time this proud Welshman had his plane serviced,

it was over in England.

And the cheeky mechanics left their mark.

I come up and I see three dead sheep on the side.

So, apparently, I think it's five kills for it to be an ace.

World War II, fighter pilot thing.

And I didn't even get the five kills. So I'm not even an ace.

Back at Fonmon Castle...

With just two weeks to go until the Vale Agricultural Show,

Sir Brooke is busy getting his pumpkins plastered.

Here we have nutritious feed for the pumpkins, which is beer,

which is recycled out of our bar slops.

So there's always plenty of it.

And so you put it on a little bit at a time because you have to let each

lot soak in a little bit.

Beer is good for it. It's got a lot of carbohydrate and sugars and

whatever. And actually, that bucket has got a good head on it,

considering it was from yesterday's event.

It's still looking good.

I'm not going to drink it, though.

HE LAUGHS

Pumpkins are less fussy than I am over beer.

Meanwhile, rival gardener Philip has a different approach.

I'm doing my feed by here now.

I don't want to give too many secrets to Lord Boothby.

But this is my feed.

My special feed for my giant pumpkin.

I'm using a sugar base, which is a molasses.

Which I just put a couple of molasses into the tub of water,

stirred it up, got a good head on it, like a good pint of beer,

try and get some of this feed down on the main runner.

And apart from that, then, it's only a good bed of manure.

And the manure I'm using now is recycled compost,

which is from the Vale of Glamorgan.

The pumpkins are not doing so well this year.

We've had a bad season, as far as growing.

My size on my pumpkin's down by half, I would have thought,

on a normal season.

But I'm pleased. He's a nice clean pumpkin.

I'll be pleased to take him to the show.

And, of course, it's not about winning, as I keep saying, but...

..on the day, it'll be nice to beat Sir Brooke.

Competing with Philip, it's a bit like, I don't know,

going up against Mo Farah or somebody.

In a marathon, you know.

You're looking good.

Pretty vegetable.

I'd better not say as pretty as my wife, or I will be in trouble.

The summer holidays are in full swing at Whitmore Bay,

and Atlantic College pupils Alessandro and Sian

are preparing to hit the beach.

It's a bit nerve-racking when the beach gets very busy.

Cos there's so many people around that it becomes harder

to keep an eye on everything at the same time.

They are providing volunteer support

to the full-time lifeguards in Barry.

And with the summer sun shining and people arriving in droves,

they need to be ready for anything.

We just saw someone jumping off the promenade down there,

into the water. Must be some teenagers maybe jumping

into the water, but it's a little dangerous.

It's Sian and Alessandro's first call on duty,

and they are heading towards the end of the promenade,

where there's shallow water and hidden danger.

Most people listen to the advice of the lifeguards.

But some Barry bathers choose to ignore it.

We're not allowed to tell them, "Don't jump,"

but we can advise them not to jump.

We made them aware of the risks.

They informed us that it wasn't shallow,

so I just responded that it would get shallow soon

and so they had to be very careful

when it came to playing in this area.

Yeah, we can only advise, so we can't say anything.

She said maybe to stay here and watch them for a little bit and see what happens.

Yeah, that's fine.

We're here to help them, we're here to protect them,

we're here to prevent them from getting hurt.

And when they are just not listening to our advice

and just keep doing stuff like that, yeah,

it can get really frustrating at times.

But they can't wait too long.

They are needed back at base to help deal with a medical emergency.

Someone's collapsed down at a restaurant

just down on the promenade.

Yeah, just give us one minute.

A lady has just fainted in one of the shops.

We think it's probably because it's a really hot day.

But we are just going to pass her over to the nurse.

Hang on there a minute, cos you've been sat down for a while.

Feeling OK, a little bit wobbly?

With volunteer and full-time lifeguards working as a team,

the patient is in safe hands.

Are you feeling OK now?

Are you still feeling a bit funny?

I feel fine. OK, that's all right, then.

And your arms are completely fine now? Yeah.

It does make you feel a bit more of an official lifeguard once

you've dealt with something. I do feel a bit more confident in myself

now, after doing that.

It's been a hectic first morning,

but Sian and Alessandro's year of hard work and training

has been well worth it.

I love this job. I love this job.

It's great. People can feel protected and, like, know

that there's people watching them

and that they'll be safe if something happens.

For us right now, it feels like the best job in the world. Yeah.

Back in Fonmon Castle, Sir Brooke is worried about his pumpkins.

The problem is, currently, they haven't grown quite big enough.

And partly, if you look, they are two slightly different colours.

But giant-veg expert Philip has bigger problems.

Disaster! My pumpkin have collapsed.

The luck of the draw. He's just collapsed on me.

I think he was growing too quick,

and with the weather being so unpredictable,

it's just rotted away.

Collapsed completely.

I was absolutely gutted last night.

Because you put so much effort into it, you know, all the season,

and it was looking so well.

It must be, I don't know, 200 or 300 pound in weight.

And just to lose it like that...

And it's not a pretty sight.

Yeah, he's gone rotten inside.

I think my competition is over.

And good luck with Sir Brooke.

It's been three months since John,

Nadine and the team started a complete service

on the Russian yak and owner ex-Wales rugby star Ian Gough

is back to see how she flies.

Today, we are going to take off from St Athan's here.

We can fly down the coast from Penarth

and just seen a spectacular sort of Welsh coastline.

The oil's being changed on the engine.

Checked over, looked at. Plugs, points, all cleaned.

Tested. The engineers have been working pretty hard

over the last few months, getting it right, making sure she is airworthy

just so when we go up, then I don't have to sweat too much.

The moment of truth has come.

Having been completely stripped down and meticulously serviced,

it's time for Ian to fire up the engine.

Sun is shining, nice day in Glamorgan.

So, time to get her up in the air and give her a bit of a flight,

a bit of a test.

As Ian takes off from St Athan,

he makes a low sweep along the shoreline.

The Glamorgan coast is a spectacular coastline.

It's absolutely fantastic.

When I go flying, I like to be by the sea.

I like the coastline.

Most of my flying ends up around that sort of area.

After three months of being painstakingly put back together,

Ian's yak makes its way safely back to its base in Swansea.

Oh, bloody hell! Heavier than I thought.

Yes. Back on terra firma...

Good job I had my Weetabix.

It's the day of the Vale Agricultural Show

and rival growers Sir Brooke and Philip Vowles

are harvesting their giant veg.

After Philip's pumpkin catastrophe, he's brought in a reserve.

This pumpkin here is a cross between a pumpkin and a squash.

Sorry I've got to cut you, but we've got to go to the show.

And over at the show, the cream of the crop is carefully carried.

It's time for Sir Brooke to reveal his giants to rival Philip.

Wahey. Where are we putting these?

Up in the top corner there. Right.

Oh, he's a nice one.

Well done. That's a nice exhibit.

I almost recognise that.

It could be my seed which I gave him a couple of years ago.

Another good exhibit. Well done.

Here we are. That's a beauty.

Unfortunately, I've had a bit of bad luck with my pumpkins.

They've collapsed on me. Collapsed?

Yeah. Oh, I am sorry about that.

I was expecting a gigantic...

You don't look sorry.

With a big smile on your face.

So, you haven't been in Llanharry at any time, have you,

and put something underneath them?

Far be it for me... But the bloke I sent has done a good job,

obviously. Oh, right!

All out now. Time for judging.

This is deadly serious. It's life or death.

As show manager,

Philip remains inside the tent to weigh up the opposition.

But poor Sir Brooke has to wait outside.

The last time I was nervous was when I asked my wife to marry me!

He's not weighing as heavy as I thought he was.

Whatever will be will be, and so that's it.

But a white whopper may have stolen the show.

We clearly haven't won the heaviest one.

There was a much bigger one there. He's a good pumpkin, isn't he?

He's a beauty. That's the gentlemen who have come all way from

Reading. It's 86.4.

I'm going to try and get a sneak preview now,

and see if I can see what's going on.

Ah, yes.

That was a fine figure of a pumpkin.

That was going to be just definitely...

We never like an Englishman coming and beating us,

but we can be polite about it.

That's it. Before we've had a beer.

Neither got gold,

but in the head-to-head between Philip and Sir Brooke,

there's a clear champion.

Oh, we got third.

There we are. It was 43 kilos, I think.

Yeah, 43 kilos.

My measly 26 kilos.

Oh, I love it. Can't win all the time.

It's taking part, that's what it's all about.

He does fib well, doesn't he?

Sir Brooke's got bragging rights for an entire year.

Well, we've been doing the horticultural tent and, my God,

I beat Philip Vowles this year.

You didn't, did you? I tell you what, his pumpkin rotted.

I beat Philip Vowles on his vegetable.

First time in living history.

And the Boothby family are sitting pretty.

Yay!

In Barry Island, the summer has come and gone, and the big wheel -

or, as the locals have dubbed it, the Barry Eye - remains still.

Until now.

Very relieved.

Finally got there after a very long struggle.

52 tonnes of steel is on the move.

And the nightmare that's been the last six months of James' life is

finally over.

Well, James, hey, let me shake your hand.

Well done, kid. Well done.

This is the test run. Let's not waste no more time.

This is it. Let's go for it.

And let's see how good it is.

Look at that magnificent view.

Just look at that. What a beautiful view.

Yeah. That's worth the wait.

I'm sure many thousands of visitors are really going to enjoy this one.

Just massive relief and a lot less stressed now.

I bought a bottle of champagne.

You haven't? But it's vintage now.

Vintage. It's been such a long wait.

To the future...

..of the Barry Eye.

OK, so maybe they didn't get the big wheel turning in time for the bank

holiday... Lovely.

..but they're happy.

The ride might only last a matter of minutes,

but the experience will last a lifetime.

Which is more than can be said for Henry's celebrations.

No sooner than he's finished his champagne, it's business as usual.

We can build on this, but it's not building fast enough,

and I think I've got a lot of ideas

which I'm going to talk to you about Monday.

Well done, James.

You've worked six months straight.

Have a weekend off.

We are very proud because we had a lot of mountains

to climb, and it's going, and it's open to the public,

and I'm bloody pleased about it. OK?

Hello, I'm Victoria Hollins with your 90 second update.

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