Episode 4 Tenby 24/7

This Time on Tenby 24/7, fisherman Richard Collins faces hard times ahead.

Everything seems to be going up, shellfish are staying the same.

Pest Controller Lee Richards deals with Tenby's unwanted guests.

It's going to be a rodent paradise when everyone's gone home.

And have vandals ruined the town's chances of winning Britain In Bloom?

We've got to hope the judge takes things into consideration.

This is seven days in the life of one of Wales's holiday hotspots.

Seven days with the people who work here to make the holidays a treat.

This is Tenby 24/7.

Hugging the Pembrokeshire coastline is the small seaside town of Tenby.

In the summer months, over 50,000 tourists flock to soak up the lively seaside atmosphere.

With so many people to cater for, works starts early for the locals.

Listen up. Today, we've got regular cod,

mini cod, regular haddock, large haddock, mackerel.

Nothing else.

Delman Fecci's Welsh Italian family have been running a fish and chip shop in Tenby for 76 years.

He and his brother Charles have got to get their skates on this morning.

They have over a tonne of potatoes to chip.

Charles has all the fish to prep before the rush starts front of house.

It's quite relaxing actually. You don't have to deal with anyone.

You don't get shouted at by 100,000 people in the queue,

and all your servers and you always cook the wrong thing, no matter what it is, it's something else you want.

Never mind!

-You live and love it!

-And I'm the only one that does this.

Oh, someone has to, I suppose.

Give it some welly. Digging for Wales!

Del, your mackerel!

Oi, get your arse in here with these mackerel!

There's somebody shouted, I've been told.

It's quite astounding, how deaf you are, aren't you?

He's my brother and I love him, no other way.

Good God, we spend more time with one another than with our partners,

-so it has to be right somewhere along the line.

-Yes, there is that.

Most marriages don't last this long!

Or we'd been had up for murder, we'd be out by now!

Yeah, we'd have been out for parole, I'm sure of it!

Tenby's Welsh name is Dinbych y Pysgod, meaning "little fortress of the fishes".

And fishing the waters around the coast today are childhood sweethearts Richard and Sarah.

They've been catching lobster and crab for over a decade

and Richard himself has been working on boats even longer.

Too long now. I can't remember!

Since he left school.

-Well, he did it weekends and holidays, didn't you?

-Yeah.

-He'll be 34 on the 24th of this month.

-Hey? Behave!

They've gathered in their lobster catch, but for this fishing couple the day's still young.

This is the start now. We'll be straight out.

Sarah will take these down and we'll go straight out.

See you later. Have a good day.

As their boat, the Mistress 3, heads back out to sea,

Sarah is off to run their latest business venture,

a wet fish shop in the Old Harbour Master's office.

I'm doing about 12 hours a day

and Richard is doing between 15 and 17 hours a day, every day.

And the weather doesn't seem to be changing at the moment.

So it's going to be ongoing.

I miss being on the boat.

I find being in here very...confined really.

It's just nice to be out in the open and outdoors.

We opened on the 12th April.

Sarah's idea, not mine. Of course.

Just to try and promote our local lobsters really.

That's the female. Full of eggs.

And that's the male, then.

I think it's 22 days now, we've done, without a day off.

We'll keep going until the gales come.

Everything is blooming marvellously in Tenby.

Last year the town received a Silver Gilt Award

in the nationwide Britain in Bloom competition.

The resort is gunning for gold this year

under the leadership of town councillor, Sue Laine.

What we're going to do today,

if the Youth Club starts in Augustus Place,

I'll walk down with you now,

and the Air Cadets can go onto the esplanade

and working towards each other then that way.

All it is really is getting the route ready for the judges

and it's stray weeds we're looking for today if that's all right. Smashing.

I'm a Tenby girl, born and bred in Tenby.

Very proud to come from Tenby.

You'll find that most people, Tenby people, are very proud.

We've got a lot to be proud of, I think.

This year Sue's working closely with schools, pensioners

and local youth groups in order to get Tenby shipshape in time

for the judge's tour.

Just grab it, and then that in the middle is a weed.

Doing a good job. It makes such a difference, doesn't it?

The only industry Tenby's got is tourism and this is part of it.

I think when you can present your town to look its best

and be one of the best in the country,

then I think that's a great help to Tenby and Pembrokeshire.

-How much do you want to win?

-I want to win. I want it.

I'm hungry for it.

I want gold.

I want gold. Yeah.

Tenby is looking as pretty as a postcard.

But as the resort swells in population every summer,

there are some unwanted guests that are attracted to it.

Hello. Is that Mr Rossiter?

Hi, it's Lee Richards from the Pest Control.

County council Pest Control Officer Lee Richards

has a licence to exterminate.

Yeah. I think that's the place. There we are, I'm not too far away. I'll be with you shortly.

First job now - after the pigeons on town walls.

Don't want to keep them waiting too long.

Got to check the traps quite regularly.

To be fair to the poor animals we are going to be dispatching shortly.

With over 50,000 holidaymakers in town over the summer

the pigeon population has become a bit of a problem.

In the winter when the food supply dwindles, you know,

there's a...it won't sustain the population it sustains in the summer.

So, the most humane thing to do is keep the numbers down

and that's what I attempt to do.

That's what we're going to have a look at now at the top of the town walls.

Lee's job today is to set the traps to try and catch the birds.

In one cull in the past I reached a thousand.

When you look, you wouldn't think there were that many birds about

but it's quite surprising.

I don't want to eradicate them altogether, I mean,

that's not the idea.

It's just to get it down to manageable numbers.

So, the pigeons, they distress with the lack of food.

And plus, you don't want too many of them about the place.

They do spread quite a bit of disease.

Salmonella, dysentery, gastroenteritis amongst many things.

This is one of their nesting areas where I try to...

..keep the egg situation down.

You can see the nests here, look.

Basically made out of sticks and er, pigeon poo.

Dead bodies that'll need to be removed.

This is the problem, you see.

These birds haven't been killed by me,

these birds have starved by the looks of things.

But one man's pest is another man's friend.

Whilst Lee is actively trying to reduce the pigeon numbers...

There's a welcome.

..Julie Schofield is on a personal mission

to help look after Tenby's birds.

There's One Foot.

One Foot.

Come on.

One Foot.

Oh! Missed it.

Throughout the year Julie feeds her feathered friends

and tries to rescue or tend to any injured birds she finds along the way.

All friends, it's all there.

Because they're fed over the wall,

in the summer it doesn't matter because people can walk past

and the birds aren't frightened and the people aren't frightened. It works quite well.

People have noticed, I think, there aren't as many birds

pestering people along the parade and places like that

because they know they can get a feed here

and they're not as desperate as they used to be.

I suppose I've been feeding the birds, well, the Tenby birds,

certainly 40, 50 years, certainly.

Yes, quite a long time.

I'm very old.

There you are, good boy. That's it.

With so many holidaymakers in town this week,

pressure is on the locals to make their money while the sun shines.

Over at the fish and chip shop, brothers Delman and Charles

are putting their heart and 'sole'

into getting ready for the lunch time rush

just like their Italian forefathers.

Yeah, yeah!

My Dad taught me. I taught my son.

I have to say I'm old enough, I taught Charles.

Would you like salt and vinegar?

I remember when my poor old dad was working with me,

and my mum was alive, I wasn't allowed to cook.

Not for me dad, anyway.

I could carry everything in and he insisted on putting everything in.

When my mum worked here I cooked with her all day.

Just never told me dad.

It's funny, really.

And she couldn't cook cod. She could cook a mean plaice.

It's very, very strange.

I suppose everyone has a gift somewhere.

It's just knowing it.

The curry sauce is very hot and it will burn and sting.

Would you like some salt and vinegar?

-Please, on all of it.

-Righto.

Yeah. Sure. Get it really wrong and there's a launderette next door.

Just get these out.

I've got these chips out first

and then I've got the next batch in from raw.

And then I'll do a batch of fish.

Just got to second guess all your customers.

I like to think I'm a Jedi warrior and I use the power of the Force

to figure out what people want.

Doesn't always work, funny enough.

£22.10 pence, please, madam.

Once of us has got the sums right. Woo-hoo!

Ready. Away.

Out on the open seas, Richard's still hard at work.

He's making the most of the lobster and crab season

but rarely gets a chance to eat any himself.

No, I don't eat much fish.

I don't have time, really, to eat, really.

At the moment, we're just living on take aways.

Running the shop at the minute.

That's £2.00, please.

There's seasoning just by the door there.

Richard and Sarah's long hours mean they hardly get to see one another

which is tough when you've been together as long as they have.

I met him outside the cinema in Tenby

when I was supposed to be in the cinema watching a film.

He was outside with his friends.

And then boyfriend and girlfriend, you know what kids are like.

Just...

Had our daughter.

Richard was 15 when I got pregnant and 16 when I had her

and we said that we'd give it a go and we've never looked back.

He's worked hard.

I'm emotional today when I think about that.

Yeah, she does want to come back on the boat. Whether she will, I don't know.

When she comes out on the boat she whinges then.

Proper Caldey Island crab these are.

We nick them to put them in the keep pots otherwise they'll all fight together.

They'll end up with no claws or legs.

Sue Laine is inspecting her floral displays.

And she has discovered a problem that could dash her hopes

in the Britain in Bloom competition.

One of the flowerbeds has been vandalised.

It was last night so I don't know.

Looks like somebody's just dived on it or something.

So sad. So pretty.

Especially just before the judging.

They're all broken here.

I suppose we've just got to hope that the judge takes things into consideration, you know,

that there are people, unfortunately, out there who do things like this.

There is not much time left before the judges arrive in town.

The county council gardeners are responsible for the public arrangements

and Sue hopes they can help.

-Morning, boys.

-Hiya, Sue. How you doing, love?

-All right.

-I don't know if you've heard about the damage

-that's been done on Belmont Arch.

-Yeah, I've just come round that way.

I hope now, if I see Will,

we might be able to get a couple of yellow begonias to take its place

and we'll do them later on now.

It must be devastating for you because you worked so hard.

Well, it disheartens you, to be honest with you.

This competition means so much to everyone.

I keep asking them to do more that's physically possible really.

It's just... But as I say, we get results

and they're good, they understand.

-So...

-They don't mind the nagging?

No, they don't mind the nagging.

They've probably got wives at home that nag them.

Down by the harbour, a distressed seagull has been rescued by Julie.

Come on, baby. There you go.

There you are. All right.

Do you want a little bit of that? Do you want a bit?

No. He's gone in there where it's nice and dark and safe.

So, we'll see.

He's eating the Welsh cake. Look.

You see? Look. Brilliant.

It's nice that he's eaten so early on, that's really very good.

I have to get him some more because he's obviously ravenous.

When an injured bird needs help, Julie makes an emergency call

to a local bird rescue centre run by Maria Evans.

-So thin.

-Isn't he thin?

-Goodness me.

He's lost a feather there, that's why that's gone like that.

All right, all right, all right.

-I'll let you know how this one goes on.

-Yes, please.

-Please do.

-Take care.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye.

She's saved countless, countless lives

through her knowledge and observation.

So, you can't always catch a bird the first day.

Sometimes it takes four, five, six - a fortnight.

But Julie ultimately manages to catch them

and I come and pick them up and we treat them at the farm

and then they're released back into the wild.

They talked about culling seagulls for a long time

which, thank God, they're now a protected species.

But a lot of people would rather they were not protected.

They make a mess.

So do people. Tell me about it.

The amount of rubbish I pick up on the hill is nobody's business.

Erm...

There's too many of them.

Well, there's too many of everything including us.

You know.

But there are always very sound arguments against it.

That's why I try and do it discreetly

where they're not a nuisance to anybody.

So far so good.

Not everyone in Tenby agrees with feeding the birds.

Council Pest Control Officer Lee Richards knows they are a problem.

"Please do not feed the gulls.

"Health and safety." Exactly. They're spreading disease.

"They may look pretty," quite, "very aggressive and hurt people,

"especially children."

I'm afraid people don't realise the danger.

He's looking, see.

Just looking for someone having a sandwich and he'll be after them.

They're watching me and my reputation goes before me, I think.

That's all they do all day, watch us.

But some people like feeding the birds, you know.

They don't pay no attention.

Leftover food and rubbish is a tasty meal for vermin.

If they're going to be anywhere, this is where they'll be.

Lee's checking his traps for another unwanted pest.

Not touching it.

There's too much alternative food being put down.

We'll see what's been going on with our little device down here.

Hello, here he goes. There he is.

Rattus Norvegicus.

Well, there we are. What can't speak can't lie.

The only way to...really combat the rats up here

is to stop that feeding of the birds, I'm afraid.

There's no need for it on an industrial scale that takes place up here.

There's really no need for it at all.

They're wild animals, they are, they can, they're pests,

they can fend for themselves.

So, what chance have I got?

I'll keep on it. I'll get there in the end.

During the busy summer months, fighting pests is a never-ending battle for Lee.

It's going to be a rodent paradise when everybody's gone home for their dinner.

What's left on the beach will keep them going.

In town the 'plaice' to be is at a fish and chip shop.

£5.10 then, please, sir.

A busy service is something Delman likes to see.

There are days when you think, I don't really want to get out of bed

and then you get in and everyone around you is laughing and bubbling

and your customers are quite happy and you think,

I remember now. You're glad you've come in.

Yes, down on the condiment table which is by the tomato sauce.

Once you've paid for it, away you go, all right.

Down there. No worries.

In keeping with their Italian roots,

Charles and Delman take great pride in cooking their own recipes

even when it comes to mushy peas!

Nearly. Nearly. Just a tiny bit more salt.

I went to Loughborough about 25 years ago to an uncle.

They did mushy peas but they wouldn't show me how to cook them.

So I had to fake drunk,

sitting in the corner of his kitchen and watch him.

When I got the recipe and miraculously I wasn't drunk any more

I left the kitchen and here I am.

These Italians, they won't tell you anything!

They're horrors for secrets.

Can I have a curry here, please?

The town is a riot of colour.

The council gardeners have been busy

and managed a last-minute fix on the vandalised flower bed.

Just a drop of water and it should come all right.

Just in time before the Britain In Bloom judges arrive.

Welcome to Tenby first of all.

Tenby is a population of 5,000.

This time of year it rises to 65,000.

The only industry in Tenby itself is tourism

so the floral impact is extremely important to our economy.

If you could try and put a figure on the number of volunteers involved.

-800-900 I would say.

-Yeah?

-And is that young, old?

-It's from the age of three...

-..right the way through to 90.

-Great.

-OK?

-Yep.

Britain in Bloom judges John Woodward and Mel Henley

now need to see what sort of show Tenby and its local residents

have put on display.

This is Michael, he's our county councillor.

-Welcome to Tenby.

-Thank you.

-And I'm Mel.

How are you enjoying Tenby?

Brilliant. Lovely day.

-You've brought the sunshine with you.

-Well...

-Picture postcard Tenby.

-Beautiful, isn't it?

So, that's this garden here.

-It's very useful to have the before and after pictures.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Very useful.

-They've done an awful lot of work in here.

Judge, Mel Henley, has previous knowledge of this seaside town.

I came here as a child with my parents three times

and then I brought my own children here.

So, I've got some fond memories of here and Caldey Island

and the whole area.

Time for Sue to guide the judges towards her repaired display.

Fingers crossed.

And at sea, fisherman Richard hopes his fortunes are changing too.

It's getting harder. Prices of fuel and bait.

Everything seems to be going up.

The shellfish is staying the same, not going up with it.

-Which one would you like?

-Erm, I'll have that one.

-Yeah.

Even though he's been working since 6.00am,

Richard's back to put in a four hour shift in the shop.

That's going off to be dressed now. Ready for the weekend, hopefully.

There's no let up for either of them.

The lobster season carries on until Christmas

and unless we go on holiday he never has a break.

There's maintenance to do on the boat -

painting, pots to make, nets to fix.

You should be saying that.

Quite happy.

Julie's rescued another feathered friend.

This time it's a malnourished pigeon.

He's very thin. The breastbone's very thin here.

See, that's very thin.

Probably very hungry.

Once they get so weak that they can't fly properly,

they don't stand any chance at all, do you?

There you are, sunshine, bundle in.

"If I have stopped one heart from breaking,

"I have not lived in vain.

"If I have eased one life, the aching, or cooled the pain

"Or helped one fainting robin into his nest again

"I have not lived in vain."

I'd like it on my headstone.

Everyone who helps everyone else must feel like that.

I hope they do because that's what we're here for, really,

to help one another.

-Done for the day?

-All done for the day, no more killing.

Time to look after my animals now.

Out to do what I like doing best in my garden.

And my birds.

See, I'm not really cruel. I do look after them.

-DOG BARKS

-Hello, Ben.

All they need for a little treat.

And that's where I like to sit and watch my birds.

The end of another day.

Another glorious day in Tenby.

The Britain in Bloom judges are about to finish their tour

at the patched-up flower bed.

This garden here was vandalised but the gardeners have managed

to get some plants and sort it out.

-That looks good.

-Yeah.

OK.

They don't give much away, do they? They're very cagey.

I don't know.

Just above there is the garden we started off in this morning.

-Looking back at that.

-Round the corner.

-Yes.

It's the end of judgement day for Tenby

and now all Sue can do is wait.

We've done everything we possibly can.

We're even waiting now to have new signs done for the town.

We want to win gold so we can put - Tenby, Winners of Britain in Bloom.

That's our next aim. Gold winners.

At the Fish and Chip shop, Charles Fecci is nearing the end of a 14 hour day.

It's the end of the night so I've put a fish in there as well.

It's better than throwing it away.

It's quite an all-or-nothing game in here.

In the summer it's here we go.

In the winter months it's like...nothing.

So, we've got to make hay while the sun shines, really.

That's it, that's the motto.

That's why we start early in the mornings, finish late at night.

Night, ladies and gentlemen. Ross, I shall see you Friday.

Eva, I see you tomorrow.

Goodnight, guys. Toodeloo.

This has been one of the busiest weeks of the summer season

in the seaside resort of Tenby.

During that time the firemen put on a carnival.

Look at the crowds, look. Makes you feel proud.

The Lifeboats were launched eight times.

Babs the Traffic kept the town vehicle-free.

Could you watch your backs please, sir.

There's a lorry coming through and I'd hate for you to get in the way.

Fish were auctioned for charity.

Tenby people are generous.

You can't beat Tenby.

The Summer Spectacular went off with a bang.

And in The Britain in Bloom Competition

the town received a Silver Gilt again

and for the first time ever won The Tourism Award

for floral displays capturing the perfect holiday atmosphere.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media