Port Talbot Stories Part III

Andy & Bev at the Port Talbot YMCA

It’s been far too long since my last instalment of Port Talbot Stories, so please forgive me. Here we are coming to the end (hopefully) of lockdown no. 3, and there is a light on the horizon. I’m actually starting to think about when I might be able to head back over to PT and restart my project. I can’t wait. In the meantime, read on…  

Previously, I talked about despite having started the project and hit the ground running with my camera in hand, I started to realise that I needed a strategy to properly get under the skin of Port Talbot. This, after all, is a social documentary project, so I needed to find a way to meet some key people.

It’s probably worth saying at this point that this is not a street photography project. I’m not a street photographer - for me, my photos need to have a connection with the subject, whether that’s a landscape, building or a person. I want there to be a relationship with the people I photograph - I’ll often spend so long talking to people, I almost forget to take a photograph! It’s not that I don’t appreciate or respect street photography (I do), it’s just not what this is about.

My brain wave came when I walked past the YMCA on Talbot Rd. With my other hat on (as a designer) I had recently completed work on the new YMCA in Bristol city centre in the old CID building. I got in touch with my client there who was able to link me up with Andy Brown in Port Talbot.

From the get go, Andy bought into the idea of the project and was very happy to meet with me. He spent a good couple of hours with me , and he and his colleague Bev, told me about some of the challenges facing the town, and how the YMCA was trying to help. The hostel is not used by backpackers in the traditional sense, but is temporary home to a variety of people who have fallen through the net of other options. There are some great success stories too - which was good to hear, and also of potential interest for my project. I am in regular contact with one young man who was helped out of a hole by the YMCA and is now studying Art in Cardiff - he’s a very talented chap, and the team picked up on this and helped him get into education to channel his abilities.

The YMCA also provides a number of activities for young people, at minimal cost, to help provide a social and physical outlet for children in the area. I went on to meet some of the people involved in this - including Peter Ross, who was also Chairman of the Port Talbot YMCA at that time.

I met Peter at the Wednesday Activity Club in a small former industrial unit at the docks. The building is right by the water and allows the storage and maintenance of all the equipment, Kayaks etc. and a Land Rover! I returned that evening, and got chatting to some of the parents of children at the club, and further expanded my connections.

I should say that I was blown away by the generosity of all the people I came into contact with through the YMCA, not financially, but of themselves. They all give of their time and enthusiasm to help young and not so young people both in their normal lives but also in their time of need. It was a very humbling thing.

So from this initial connection came lots of other contacts, and I really began to discover how closely connected Port Talbot is socially. It’s not a huge town, but the community is big. I would quite often meet with people who would say “you should talk to so and so…” and then reel off a list of people. In fact I still have a good few of those to get through. 

I’ve been back to the YMCA a few times since that first meeting. I still owe them some new pictures for their reception (I promise I’ll sort that out Andy!). I plan to keep in touch - like many of the people I have met along the way.

In my next instalment, I’ll tell you a bit about a few of the other characters who I have met since then. Stay tuned…