The British obsession with the seaside lives on in the valleys and industrial towns of South Wales. Whether it is Barry Island or Benidorm, for the ordinary folk of Wales there is a compelling desire to have a great day out and a night on the tiles is a powerful incentive to help one cope with the drudgery of everyday life. A day out (or 7) at the seaside with your family is a welcome escape. Doing it with your mates and a chance to dress up, is an added bonus.

Ron McCormick has been photographing the British seaside periodically forover fifty years and first exhibited some of that work in 1973 in a two-man showwith Josef Koudelka, about the Essex seaside resort of Southend on Sea.(TWO VIEWS at Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend 1973) This recent work returns to the theme with a selection of pictures made inPorthcawl over the last decade and takes in “girls nights out”, “the cult of Elvis”and “a family day at the seaside” overlaid with a whiff of hedonistic celebrationthat mirrors the extravagant indulgence of Blackpool, Brighton and Bognor.