At six o’clock in the morning on July 8, Jonathan Williams stood alone in the car park at Freshwater West beach. Slowly, he heaved one industrial fryer after another out of the back of his van. The air was calm, the sun was sporadically making an appearance and Jonathan had big plans to get set-up and back to the Highgate Inn for the Lions game at 8 am.

It was the day of Spike and Dan’s fish and chip fundraiser, an event to celebrate the lives of two fishermen tragically lost at sea in the spring of 2016.

Eight o’clock soon came round and much to Jonathan’s dismay, his gas rig didn’t work, so he spent the subsequent 80 minutes trying to fix it… this however, nor nothing else could have spoilt what proved to be one of the most wonderful and atmospheric days of the summer.

Spike (Gareth) and Dan Willington, a father and son from Carew, both lost their lives when they got into trouble on board their vessel Harvester off St. Davids in April last year. The local community had not forgotten such a heart-breaking story and they arrived at the beach in droves. They came to buy portions of fish and chips in order to raise money for the family of the lost fishermen. The queue lasted all day and people sat and talked in the sunshine overlooking the beach. The Pembrokeshire Beach Food team were in high spirits, dancing to cheesy hits from the Beach Boys as they cooked.

The Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company originally planned to donate half of the profits from the sale of fish and chips to the family and half to The Fishermen’s Mission. However, the Willingtons insisted all profits go only to the charity, whom they say they had received a huge amount of support from over the past year.

The Fishermen’s Mission is a national charity there to provide support for fishermen and their families in difficult times and in times of tragedy.

Chrissy King represents the Fishermen’s Mission for South Wales locally and came to accept the donation this week.

In total, £1,350 was raised. Jonathan Williams, of The Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company, said: “We will always try to support local fishermen. Our business is based on local sustainable food. So often where our food has come from is overlooked and it’s not right. I’ve said it before, Spike and Dan are the real heroes of real food and we’ll always remember them as such.”

You can donate to the Fishermen’s Mission by visiting www.fishermansmission.org.uk