An Anglesey woman has done everything she can to block plans to turn a beloved village hall into a holiday home. Fundraiser Di Mills endured 24 hours on a deserted islet off the coast of Anglesey and said she would reject an offer of £10,000 to go through the ordeal again.
Visibly shaken by the experience, Di tearfully shared details of her night in a video, describing the fierce winds, rain and “seagulls like dinosaurs” on the deserted island. The yoga teacher, from Rhosybol, staged the brave act to raise funds for the Porth Llechog (Bull Bay) boathouse near Amlwch, a historic RNLI lifeboat house established in 1867.
The Boathouse has facilitated 41 rescues, saving 63 lives but is now in danger of being taken out of community ownership. Campaigners fear it will fall into the hands of property developers and need to raise £80,000 to buy the building. After an initial delay, Di finally set foot on East Mouse this week, a 1.5-acre barren rocky islet with no vegetation, a few hundred yards from Amlwch (the Welsh name is Ynys Amlwch), North Wales Live reports. Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest Welsh news in your inbox.
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“The sea was very choppy and when I got onto the island I got sideways and fell in so it wasn’t the best start,” he told BBC Wales. “It was a typical Bridget Jones entrance onto the rock.” Di, who also works as a school bus driver, set up camp under a parasol because East Mouse was too rocky to set up a tent.
“A tent wouldn’t do much good anyway,” he said, “there’s only a flat place on the rock where you can sit. There are slices all over the island, there’s no comfortable place to sit.”
Although the lights can be seen from Amlwch at night, Di was very much alone on the islet, apart from the screeching seagulls. The wind and rain made for an uncomfortable night, but the weather was far from its worst. “The island is actually covered in poo,” she said. “The smell was incredible.”
After 24 hours on the rock, she returned to a hero’s welcome. At Porth Llechog, members of the Trireme Ynys Mon Rowing Club formed a shoreline guard of honour with their oars. Waiting to greet her was the only person who knew the full extent of Di’s misery.
Doreen Glennard became the original East Mouse casualty nearly 41 years ago when she spent 24 hours on the islet to raise money for boat shelter repairs. “This was clearly before mobile phones,” said Wendy Steele, a member of the boat shelter appeal committee. “She was really completely alone, except for her ship-to-shore radio, which was provided only for emergencies.”
A total of £100,000 is needed to buy and renovate the old boathouse and an anonymous benefactor has agreed to lend the money in advance. The sale could be completed later this month, after which campaigners will have a year to find the money to repay the loan.
A total of £100,000 is needed to buy and renovate the old boathouse and an anonymous benefactor has agreed to lend the money in advance. The sale is likely to be completed later this month, after which campaigners will have a year to find the money to repay the loan.
Amlwch Town Council gave the appeal £20,000 to ensure it remained a community asset, enabling the appeal organisers to find the rest. They have been at it for six months already. “We wanted to get off to a running start,” said Wendy.
“Our concern is that developers will step in to buy the houseboat, fix it up and sell it as a holiday home for just a few weeks each year at a huge profit. It’s one of the last original lifeboat houses on the island and has been part of the community for over 150 years and we want to keep it that way. If we’re successful it will be the last building in Bull Bay that isn’t privately owned.”
For the past two decades the building has been used to store boats and house the rowing club’s equipment, and locals want it restored to its original glory.
“It’s been stripped down, which looks awful,” said Wendy. “Most people in the village have never seen the inside, but old photos show it was lined with wood – it was absolutely magnificent.
“It’s a lot bigger inside than it looks from the outside, so we’re aiming to make it a community hub. Everyone wants a cafe there, but we’d also like to use the space for food fairs, craft events, Welsh lessons etc. We might even put in a mezzanine.”
More details about the appeal and how you can donate can be found here . The amount raised by Di’s “Mermaid on a Mouse” show will be announced at a community meeting today (September 9). Would she do it again? “I’m glad I did it,” she said. “But if someone offered me £10,000 to do another night, I wouldn’t do it.”