Origins of CBMWC: Patent Slip Building, 1996

Description

Steve Hartley is the founder of Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre, New Quay. He now runs Dolphin Survey Boat Trips, however previously fished the waters of Cardigan Bay.

A member of our Living Seas Team sat down with Steve, to discuss his memories of life in the Bay. Here, he discusses the origins of Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre, specifically finding the building itself in New Quay.

Recollection as follows:

"I know in 1995/96 I found the floor downstairs. That was when, I think it was, Bob (Morris) still coming back occasionally with his 'boffins' from the Admiralty. By this time, they weren’t working for the Admiralty anymore, they were just doing it because they liked doing it! They were really clever, amazing people.

We’d seen so much on our travels out there to the wrecks, that I thought people just have no idea what is out in the Bay – People think it’s a couple of dolphins, and loads of fish; they don’t realise! There was this room down below here (CBMWC office), and I got that for free for the first year – 'Anti Teifi' gave me that rent free for a year, when I told them that the plan was to make a marine wildlife centre down there!

And I very naively thought that all of the people I’d worked with: Sea Watch, WDCS, CCW – all sorts of different organisations, would come together and take advantage of this room…They could provide their own displays, and we could have an information centre, telling people about the wildlife we’ve got in the Bay.

But of course, that doesn’t happen…oh, and Friends of Cardigan Bay were around in those days as well."

To learn more about Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre, please visit:

• https://www.welshwildlife.org/visitor-centres/cardigan-bay-marine-wildlife-centre/ (link opens in new window)