Successful community event raised money for Forever11 and launched three consecutive weekends of waterside activity in Pembroke

MORE than 100 competitors took to the water at Castle Pond as Paddle West staged its first annual Pembroke Regatta.

The event brought together rowers, paddlers, families, sporting clubs and community groups for a packed day of racing beneath the historic walls of Pembroke Castle.

Competitors of different ages and abilities took part in a varied programme of events, including rowing boat races, solo and tandem kayaking and team canoe competitions.

Crowds gathered around the pond to support those taking part, while volunteers worked throughout the day to help keep the inaugural event running smoothly.

Paddle West thanked everyone who raced, attended or supported the regatta, describing the turnout as an encouraging start for an event it hopes will become a regular fixture in the Pembroke calendar.

The organisation said: “Thank you to everyone who came, raced and supported. Well over 100 racers took part, and thank you for bearing with us as we worked things out in our first year.

“Let’s make 2027 bigger and better.”

Money raised through the event is being donated to Forever11, a charity established in memory of 11-year-old Zac Thompson.

The charity works to improve awareness of water safety, swimming and first aid, while also supporting the provision of life-saving equipment and safety education.

Forever11 was also due to hold a family fun day at Pembroke Dock Harlequins RFC on Sunday, July 26, continuing a weekend of fundraising and community activity.

The regatta was the first in a series of three consecutive weekends of events at Castle Pond.

The Welsh Open Canoe Polo Championships are due to take place on Saturday and Sunday, August 1 and 2, bringing teams and supporters to Pembroke for two days of fast-paced competition.

Canoe polo combines elements of kayaking, water polo and basketball, with teams competing to score goals while manoeuvring their boats around a specially marked pitch.

The championships are expected to attract teams from Wales and further afield, adding another major sporting event to the summer programme at the pond.

The Pembroke River Rally will then take place on Saturday, August 8, when a flotilla of boats is expected to travel along the river and into Castle Pond.

The rally traditionally attracts a wide range of vessels and provides spectators with an opportunity to watch the boats arrive beneath Pembroke Castle.

Food, drink and community stalls are also expected to form part of the day’s activities.

The three events highlight the growing use of Castle Pond as a venue for watersports, community celebrations and visitor attractions.

Paddle West’s successful first regatta has now provided organisers with a strong foundation on which to build ahead of a possible return in 2027.

Further information about future Paddle West activities and next year’s regatta is expected to be announced through the organisation’s social media pages.

Aberystwyth-led technology will guide Europe’s first Mars rover as it drills beneath the planet’s surface, while the proposed DARC radar development keeps neighbouring Pembrokeshire at the centre of the space debate

WEST WALES is strengthening its place on the international space map after an Aberystwyth University scientist met the head of NASA to discuss technology that could help uncover evidence of life on Mars.

Dr Matt Gunn is leading work on a sophisticated infrared instrument that will be fitted to the European Space Agency’s Rosalind Franklin rover, which is due to launch for the red planet in 2028.

The meeting comes at a time when space technology is also firmly on the public agenda in Pembrokeshire, where the Ministry of Defence is proposing to develop the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability, known as DARC, at Cawdor Barracks near Brawdy.

Although the two projects have very different purposes, they underline the growing importance of west Wales to international space science, engineering and security.

Dr Gunn met NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman during a gathering of UK ExoMars stakeholders at the Airbus site in Stevenage.

Isaacman, a businessman, pilot and private astronaut who has flown into space on two missions, was sworn in as NASA’s 15th administrator in December 2025.

During the meeting, Dr Gunn explained the work being undertaken by the Aberystwyth-led team on an instrument known as Enfys, the Welsh word for rainbow.

The infrared spectrometer will form part of the remote-sensing equipment carried by the Rosalind Franklin rover.

Its task will be to examine the Martian landscape and identify minerals that could point scientists towards the most promising locations for drilling.

Enfys will work alongside PanCam, a camera system led by University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, to help mission controllers select the rover’s drilling sites.

Once a target has been chosen, the rover will drill as far as two metres beneath the surface and collect samples for analysis by its onboard laboratory equipment.

Scientists believe this depth is particularly important because the upper surface of Mars has been exposed to intense radiation and harsh environmental conditions for billions of years.

Material buried further underground may have been better protected, increasing the chance that organic compounds or other signs of past life could have survived.

Rosalind Franklin will be Europe’s first Mars rover and is designed to travel remotely across the planet’s difficult and rocky terrain.

The mission will look for organic compounds and biomarkers that could provide evidence of past, or potentially present, microbial life.

Dr Gunn, from Aberystwyth University’s Department of Physics, is the principal investigator for the Enfys project.

He said: “It was a real honour to meet Administrator Isaacman and present our work to him.

“Our work on the ExoMars rover places Aberystwyth, and Wales, at the heart of one of the most advanced planetary exploration projects in history.

“We are drawing on years of experience in space instrumentation development to push the boundaries of what’s possible.”

He added: “Although several rovers have explored Mars, Rosalind Franklin will be the first to drill two metres below the sun-baked surface, where the chances of finding preserved evidence of life are highest.

“It’s really exciting to contribute to a mission that could help unlock the secrets of life on Mars. It was a pleasure to discuss our work with the head of NASA as well.”

The Aberystwyth team is now concentrating on the construction of the flight model of Enfys.

This will be the final version of the instrument intended to travel into space and will eventually be fitted to the Rosalind Franklin rover before launch.

Development and testing are being led by Aberystwyth University, with support from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL, the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and optical technology company Qioptiq Ltd.

Aberystwyth University assumed greater responsibility for the mission after cooperation with Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, was cancelled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The development of Enfys was supported by an additional £10.7 million from the UK Space Agency.

From Mars exploration to deep-space radar

For Pembrokeshire readers, the mission provides another example of the growing space sector taking shape across west Wales.

Around 60 miles south of Aberystwyth, Cawdor Barracks has been selected by the Ministry of Defence as the proposed UK location for DARC.

The radar network is intended to detect, track and monitor satellites and other objects thousands of miles above Earth.

The proposed Pembrokeshire development would include six transmitting antennas and 21 receiving antennas, together with supporting buildings and infrastructure.

The project has attracted considerable public interest and debate, including questions over its visual impact, environmental implications and military purpose.

A statutory pre-application consultation ran between February and March this year.

DARC and the Rosalind Franklin mission are not directly connected.

The Pembrokeshire radar would have a defence and space-surveillance role, while the Aberystwyth project is a scientific mission intended to explore another planet.

Together, however, they show how west Wales is becoming increasingly linked to some of the most advanced space projects being developed in Britain and Europe.

The Aberystwyth project also demonstrates that major international missions are creating opportunities much closer to home than many people may realise.

Scientists and engineers based on the west Wales coast are developing technology that could travel millions of miles from Earth and contribute to one of the greatest scientific searches of modern times.

For pupils and students in Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire considering careers in physics, engineering or computing, the mission offers proof that cutting-edge space research is not confined to NASA facilities or distant international laboratories.

Some of the equipment that may help answer whether life once existed on Mars is being designed and built here in Wales.

Retired police officer Max Jones has adapted his Honda Goldwing trike so severe arthritis cannot stop him enjoying motorcycle adventures across Britain and Europe

A PEMBROKESHIRE motorcyclist who refused to allow severe arthritis to end his life on the open road has found an unusual way to combine his passion for biking with the mobility support he needs.

Max Jones, 75, travels on an 1800cc Honda Goldwing Tourer converted into a three-wheeled trike, towing a specially adapted trailer containing his powered wheelchair.

The arrangement allows the retired police officer to continue touring around Britain and Europe before unloading the chair and independently exploring the places he visits.

Max, who jokingly describes himself as “25 for the third time”, has been riding motorcycles since the 1970s. Over the decades, he has toured extensively through Ireland, Scotland and mainland Europe, creating memories he was determined not to leave behind as his mobility deteriorated.

Severe arthritis eventually made conventional motorcycling and walking increasingly difficult. Converting the Goldwing into a trike gave Max greater stability and back support, but another problem remained.

Although he could reach his destination, he was often unable to explore it.

“I bought my first powered chair because I was becoming increasingly isolated,” Max said.

“We would visit places such as National Trust homes and gardens, but I was forever leaning on a stick, which was painful, and always looking for somewhere to sit down.

“In the end, my wife would go off on her own while I sat in the car park and read a book. I couldn’t carry on like that.”

Max needed a powered chair capable of supporting his six-foot-three frame while still fitting inside the trailer behind his trike. After trying several options, he chose a WHILL C2 powerchair, which can cope with different surfaces and longer days out.

The chair now travels behind the Goldwing, allowing Max to switch from the saddle to powered mobility whenever he reaches a destination.

He has since added a lighter folding model for journeys by car, bus and train.

The couple recently stopped at mobility specialist TGA while travelling to Norfolk for a motorcycle holiday. During the trip they visited Norwich Cathedral, Norwich Castle, Blickling Estate and the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum.

Max said the powered chair made it possible to explore places he would otherwise have been forced to miss.

“I would never have managed to get around all those places on foot, especially the vast gardens at Blickling,” he said.

“I was able to travel across the grass and tackle the hills without any trouble.”

Max spent 27 years in the police, serving as a constable and later as a sergeant in different parts of South Wales. He also spent two years working as a law instructor at the Welsh Police Training Centre.

He recalls that policing in his early career involved considerably less comfortable vehicles than the Goldwing he now rides.

“In those early days, being six-foot-three was hard when packed into a Mini Panda car with four other burly officers doing a top speed of around 40mph,” he joked.

When off duty, Max also helped teach safer riding skills to people beginning their lives on two wheels.

His involvement with motorcycling has continued into retirement through the Blue Knights International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, an organisation for serving and former police and law enforcement officers.

Max and his wife attend motorcycle events with the club and help raise money for charitable causes.

For Max, the trike is about much more than simply getting from one place to another. It provides a connection with the countryside and a sense of freedom he does not believe can be replicated inside a car.

“You can see the animals and birds, sense the atmosphere and smell your surroundings,” he said. “You cannot experience that in the same way from a car.”

He now hopes his experience will encourage other former bikers who have given up riding because of age, disability or health concerns to consider whether an adapted machine could help them return to the road.

“There must be so many people who still want to ride a motorcycle but feel they cannot because of health issues,” he said.

“With a trike, trailer and powered chair, it may still be possible. Take your time and do not put yourself under pressure. Learn something new slowly. That is the best way to broaden your horizons.”

Despite the challenges caused by arthritis, Max said continuing to travel has made a significant difference to his independence and wellbeing.

“We think we don’t look our age because we are happy,” he said.

“We are happy doing what we want to be doing, which is riding on the open road. It is a huge thing for us and massively important for our mental health.”

Picture caption:

Pembrokeshire biker Max Jones with his adapted Honda Goldwing trike and wheelchair trailer.