From Porthcawl with Love

Actress Ruth Jones takes her friend and fellow actor Steve Speirs for a weekend to remember in her home town of Porthcawl.

The little seaside town on the south Wales coast is famous for its beautiful beaches, funfair and for being home to the world’s biggest Elvis festival. But the Porthcawl that Ruth grew up in is changing, so now seems like the perfect time to come home to rediscover the places of her youth and to take Steve to meet her family and old school friends.

Ruth and Steve go way back, having been mates since the early 90s, and they have gone on to write and act together. Steve is also no stranger to Porthcawl, having spent family holidays there as a child. But he wants to find out about the places that shaped Ruth and to discover more about her from the people she grew up with. He also has a surprise set of wheels for their weekend adventure, an Austin 1800, just like the one Ruth’s dad proudly owned back in the 70s.

The timing for the trip couldn’t be better. The town of Porthcawl is celebrating its 200th anniversary, and it is Elvis weekend, when hundreds of Elvis tribute acts and thousands of diehard fans flock to this tiny seaside town to celebrate the king of rock and roll.

Ruth and Steve kick off their weekend by getting stuck in with a rescue training exercise with the Porthcawl lifeboat crew. And while seasickness gets the better of Steve, Ruth proves she has sea legs, from her time in the Girls Nautical Training Corps.

Next, it’s off Ruth’s old home, to visit mum and her brothers and sister. For the first time in years, they dig out all the old home movies that her dad had filmed. It’s an incredible record of Ruth and the family’s life growing up in Porthcawl, and this is the first time that this very personal collection has been shown to the public.

Over the course of the weekend, Steve discovers how involved Ruth’s family is in the local community. Little sister Maria is the lifeboat crew’s medical advisor, brother Julian helps organise the weekly Parkrun, and oldest brother Mark puts on the jam night at their local pub.

Steve also discovers that the old bucket and spade seaside resort image of Porthcawl is changing. Sadly, after more than a century, the town’s famous Coney Beach funfair is closing its doors forever. One last trip on the ghost train and waltzers, and they are keen to embrace the new face of the town. At the top of the beach, a woodfired sauna has appeared, and they join a group of regulars to feel the healing power of heat. And after a brisk beating, or ‘whisking’, with eucalyptus branches, they all head out to cool down in waters of the Bristol Channel.

Ruth has also arranged to meet up with her old school friends Cerys and Nicola, and the girls soon spill the beans on how she was always top of the class and the biggest hit with the boys.

Their action-packed weekend ends with a visit to the finals of the Porthcawl Elvis Festival. But Steve soon discovers that they aren’t just there to watch.

As the sun sets, they head to a bench on the front to reflect on an epic weekend and raise a glass to Ruth’s dad, Richard. As they say, they may both be middle-aged and they may both have dodgy knees, but while it's fun to look to the past, life is more importantly about looking forward to the future.