About WAFERS

WAFERS: The Welsh Area Fire Engine Restoration Society was founded in 1994 by a group of enthusiasts, with the aim of preserving fire engines, equipment and miscellanea such as badges, uniforms, documentation, old photos, newspaper cuttings, equipment etc from the Principality and other areas.

Members of WAFERS are drawn from many occupations, serving or retired fire fighters, students, senior citizens, professional and lay persons alike, and aged from 16 to well into retirement. In fact anyone who has an interest in fire fighting history or in preserving our fire fighting heritage for the enjoyment of present and future generations

Many individual skills are brought together in members. Some are able to work in a practical way by restoring, repairing and painting, other less able members work on the documentation and research or on our fund-raising stall at  events.

WAFERS is based at Lonlas Village Workshops, Skewen, Neath, where a small museum has been established. Many exhibits are on show, with more arriving regularly.  Work on preparing and cataloguing these exhibits is on going.

Visitors to the Museum can see what is being restored, as well as being able to look at the exhibits on show, which serves to illustrate fire fighting through the ages.

There are a number of exhibits which were used during the Second World War, for example uniforms, hoses, pumps etc. Old photographs show the development of fire fighting procedures and change of uniform styles.

Fire engines from the 1930s through to the 1960s are on show alongside the uniforms of those periods.