Members were welcomed to Nant y Ffin, Llandissilio, for their first meeting of 2014 by president Brynmor Thomas. A new member and several guests as possible new members were also welcomed. It was announced that Graham Haddleton had agreed to take over the responsibilities of club secretary from John Chambers.

After the usual high standard lunchtime meal which the members enjoyed and have come to expect at their home venue, the president introduced the guest speaker. On this occasion this was David James, of Cosheston, the long-standing secretary of the West Wales Maritime Heritage Society. The subject of his talk, given as a power point presentation, was Early Shipping and Ships in Pembrokeshire.

Mr. James spoke with enthusiasm about the establishment of the Pembroke Dockyard and its early history from the middle of the 18th century. He went on to describe in detail and illustrate with excellent pictures the many ships which had been built in the Dockyard. He talked about the vessels from the 28-gun frigates HMS Ariadne and HMS Valorous to the HMS Tartarus, the first steam ship from the yard. He told of HMS Thunderer and HMS Dreadnought, names which were familiar to many of those attending the meeting.

It was fascinating to hear how ships had changed from wooden construction, through to iron and steel. Propulsion had changed from sail to steam and illustrations were shown of some of the different type of engines used.

Protection from the weather was given to the vessels as they were being built under a large roof. A similar construction to the shed was used for the housing of the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. Punctuating his talk with delightful and appropriate anecdotes, Mr. James described the development of the Yard and its shipping through to its last days when the tanker Oleander was launched in 1922.

After that there was a different life for the Dockyard for a few more years to come. During his presentation, Mr. James showed pictures of some of the models he had built of the ships he was describing. These models are mainly dispersed to local museums.

It was clear to his audience that Mr. James is totally committed to his work with the West Wales Heritage Society. It had brought him into contact with many interesting people. He particularly mentioned a Japanese diplomat who had wanted to see a model David had made of the Hiei, the first ship of the Imperial Japanese navy. Further links had developed from this encounter. He mentioned journals which apprentices had to keep of their work as they developed their skills. A set of these had recently been retrieved from the USA and stored for safe keeping in the Narberth Museum.

As Mr. James ended his talk, club members broke into spontaneous applause, so enthralled had they been by the excellence of his presentation and his obvious enthusiasm. Questions and discussion followed and the president concluded the formal part of the meeting by inviting John Chambers to thank the speaker on behalf of the members.

The next meeting will be on February 27, when the speaker will be Tom Lloyd on life as a High Sheriff.