As the congregation spilled out of St Cristiolus church, the rain began to fall and the Rev Peter Ratcliffe gave a satisfied smile. “We had been praying for it to stop. Now we’re so near the record, we’re praying for it to carry on just a little longer. This is lovely.”
If the rain continues for a few more days – and the forecast suggests there is a very good chance it will – the village of Eglwyswrw in south-west Wales will break the UK record for the number of consecutive rainy days. Since the end of October the people of this picturesque corner of Pembrokeshire have endured every type of rain, from downpours to drizzle.
At times the water has raced into the river Gafren and on to Cardigan Bay; at others it has been little more than a trickle. But as of Sunday rain had been detected at the local weather station for 83 days in a row.
“It was grinding people down,” said county councillor John Davies. “But now people are embracing it and we hope we will break the record. I expect we’ll hold a party of some sort if we do next weekend.
“We’re used to it being warm and wet here but this has been the ultimate test. The rain was hard and relentless until Christmas. Since then we’ve had some breaks but there hasn’t been a day when it hasn’t rained at least a little.
“It’s been bad for some trades. Builders have had to plan around the showers and it’s been tough for farmers. The cattle are all right – they are indoors at this time of year. But the sheep are really struggling being constantly in mud.”
For those hoping to wrest the record from the Scottish island of Islay, where it rained for 89 consecutive days in 1923, there was a scare on Saturday when the villagers of Eglwyswrw stayed dry for the daylight hours. But at 10pm the rain came again and this accidental record attempt was kept intact.
Just up from the church, John Evans was huddled in front of the woodburner in the “pub” he has created in a garden shed and staying cheerful with a drop his home brew beer. “You have to do what you can to stay happy,” he said.
“We’re also lucky that because we’re on top of a hill we haven’t had any flooding. You feel sorry for the people in the north of England who have been in such a mess. Yes, we’ve had lots of rain but we’re dong a lot better than them.”
Sian Jones, whose runs Brian Llewelyn a’i Ferched country stores with her father, argued that the rainy spell was good news for the village. “I must admit I didn’t realise that it had been raining for so long until it made the local news.
“Then I thought: ‘Shit, it has been raining, that’s why we’re all feeling so desperate. But I think it’s good for the village. Before it was the place that nobody could pronounce, now it’s the really rainy place.”
The last time the village hit the headlines was when the country stores CCTV cameras caught an elderly car driver exiting the forecourt on two wheels after clipping the kerb. Jones sold the footage and is now dreaming up ways of making the wet weather pay. “We don’t sell any extra wellies – everyone has them already in a farming community like this – but we’re thinking of making up T-shirts and key fobs.”
There have been a few cynics. Meurig Thomas, who lives 10 miles away in the (slightly) drier village of Maenclochog, suggested cheekily on Facebook he was going to to start fundraising for the villagers of Eglwyswrw: “Thinking of starting a just giving page. With just £2 each they can go buy some man-up pills and get on with it like everybody else who’s had rain all winter and not harped on about it for 80 days!!!”
Some wonder if it will harm the tourist trade, others wonder if it might make second-home owners think twice about buying in the area, which is hugely popular with wealthy incomers (to the extent that a decline in Welsh speakers was picked up in the last census).
There is a serious aspect. Tom Hazelden, who has run the Eglwyswrw weather station for more than 40 years with his wife, Beryl, said this run of rain was due to climate change.
Tom, who was wearing shorts and a T-shirt despite the rain when the Guardian visited, dug out Beryl’s old handwritten weather logs to show how in Januarys past there always used to be some zeros in the rainfall column. “Now you’re lucky if you get a couple of noughts in a row. Things are changing.”
The villagers have found a scapegoat – Sarah-Jane Absalom and her family, who moved into the village just as the rains began. “I think I’m the wicked witch who has brought the curse of rain with me,” she said.
“It is a shame. We’re in a lovely area, just on the edge of the Preseli mountains and we haven’t had much of a chance to get out and explore. Her five-year-old son, Hugo, is not worried about the record. For him it is simple. “I want it to stop so I can go out and play.”
