QUIZ QUESTION # 68

These photographs were taken on the same day in April 2010 in Rhyl by Yours Truly.

Re: the upper photo:
(a) What is the name of the street in which I was standing?
and
(b) What's on the other side of the fence on left side of the picture?

Re: the lower photo:
(c) What is the name of the street in which I was standing?
and
(d) What's the name of the street at the far end of the alley?

ALL readers sending the 4 right answers shall be credited with a WIN.
No second tries accepted!

The closing date is Tuesday 3rd August 2010 at 12 noon and the result will be published on this site a day or two afterwards. Please send your answers by email to: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk

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QUIZ ANSWER # 67

Last Wednesday I posted these photographs and asked:
(a) Where was I standing?
(b) What is the name of the street on your right?
(c) What is the name of the street on your left?

Answers:
I was standing on the roundabout in The Boulevard. On your right is South Drive and on your left is North Drive.

Winners:
Dorothy Jones, Geoff Hughes, Jane Evans of Scotland, Pauline Hammans, Richard & Ceri Swinney, Sue Handley, The Great Gareth (12th win - still in the lead), The Legendary Lloyd & Kerry (11th win), Wayne Chadwick.

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STEAMY SCENES

The items above are from our man in transport, John Powell. The photo at the top shows the ‘Flying Scotsman’ train (No. 4472) passing through Rhyl station, the occasion being a special trip from Lincoln to Llandudno on Saturday June 6th, 1966.

Re: the newspaper cutting about a mail train, John thinks the date would be 1910-1920. Streets mentioned in the cutting are added here for indexing purposes: Lynton Walk, Clifton Park Road.

Finally, there is another shot of the railway line that ran from Foryd Harbour to Foryd Junction station in Kinmel Bay. This one is dated circa 1956 and John wonders if the Clwyd Hotel still exists. The answer must be yes and no; it is now a pub/restaurant called The Harbour.

Click on any picture to see a bigger version.

From differing sources, here are a photo labelled Ex LMS Class 3F No 52119 Rhyl shed yard 6 July 1958 and a colour shot circa 1962 of steam loco 41276 in Rhyl station with Rymans bookstall in the background!

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MON 11th JUN 2018 UPDATE: On the subject of the Flying Scotsman the following shot shows it as North Wales Coast Express pulling through Rhyl on Sunday 21st July 1991.

Centre-right is the H-Bridge, so the photographer would have been up in Signal Box No.2 near West Kinmel Street.

Now for a modern-ish train locomoting (new word) in Rhyl on Saturday 22nd August 1970. See if you can work out where the photographer was standing. No need to send me an email. I have absolute faith in you.

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HIGH STREET SCENES

At the top is a photograph dated 1948 showing Habesch the jewellers on the northeast side of High Street. Love the 1940s headscarves.

Next comes a shot from March 1959 showing Boots chemist (centre left) in its present position. To the right of Boots is W. Garson Allen the gents’ outfitters, later Bradleys.

Finally, dated 1962, is a photo that catches part of W. Garson Allen’s shop (far left) and shows Marks & Spencer in its present position. Somewhere in between was Lawrence’s chemist shop.

All three pictures are from Rhyl History Club Community Archive.

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6720. Additional image relating to W. Garson Allen added here in June 2020:

Some kinds of shops used to list prices in Guineas. This ceased when British currency was decimalised on 15th February 1971. The term is still used in certain circles such as horse racing to describe values equivalent to one pound and one shilling (£1.05 in today's currency).

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LIL'S LIFE

To add to our stock of lifeboat pictures, this unused postcard has come to hand. It was published just after the present lifeboat house was opened in 2002. Photo by Terry Williams.

The lifeboat marked 12-24 is Lil Cunningham which is a 12-metre Mersey Class self-righter in service since 1992. The small craft behind, which looks like a rocket, is the D class inshore lifeboat D-485 Stafford with Rugeley.

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FRI 17th AUG 2018 UPDATE: 12-24 Lil Cunningham again, still Rhyl's current lifeboat, this time pictured with tractor in an image first published by RNLI. 

. . . and here's another shot of same lifeboat from same publisher . . .

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MIND THE DONKEYS

Click on a picture to see a bigger version.

The portrait at the top shows a young Lizzie Fletcher sitting on what appears to be a real donkey in a photographer’s studio in Rhyl. Lizzie was born in 1881 and was a Shropshire girl. When she retired she came to live in Rhyl, at Llys Cynon in Bath Street. I'm obliged to Sue of Shropshire for sending the picture.

The donkeys postcard with elaborate border is from a series in circulation during World War 1. This is from June Turner – thanks June.

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Donkey rides in Rhyl date back to Victorian times. It was an idea copied from seaside places where donkeys were already in use for other reasons such as in the cockle industry.

A hired donkey on the sands would have a name on its bridle be expected to carry a child (or some cases a woman) at walking pace along the sands. The activity became less fashionable and less popular over the decades.

In 2008, new rules tried to ensure that donkeys in British resorts would receive adequate care and rest, and a maximum allowable load was introduced. A would-be rider weighing over 8 stones can be ruled out.

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PRESTATYN PIONEERS

The following photographs came from George Owen who says that they must date from World War 2. On the back are pencil notes indicating parts of the camp used by soldiers. J.W. Jones in his book Rhyl The Town And Its People notes that Prestatyn Holiday Camp was used as a training place for ‘The Pioneers.’ The Pioneer Corps was a fighting unit used for light engineering.

The top picture shows The Britannia Bar which became their Mess, the next shows chalets where they slept 3-per-chalet, and the final one shows The Ballroom where they had concerts and film shows.

The camp was new at the time, having only just been opened in 1939 by the railway company LMS in conjunction with Thomas Cook’s. Pontins took over in 1970s and closed it in mid 1980s. It lay derelict until the present housing estate was built on the site. The estate is named Tower Gardens after the camp’s famous Hamlyn Tower which is shown to good effect in the following cards. The first is postmarked 1955:

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SUN 20th SEP 2015 UPDATE: Found for sale on Internet: a Prestatyn Holiday Camp badge approx. 32mm in diameter and dated 1959:

Also found for sale on Internet: a rather fetching Prestatyn multiview card postmarked 1995 by which time - of course - the camp had gone:

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QUIZ QUESTION # 67

These photos were taken in February 2010 in Rhyl by Yours Truly. The questions are:
(a) Where was I standing?
(b) What is the name of the street on your right?
(c) What is the name of the street on your left?

ALL readers sending the right answers shall be credited with a WIN.
No second tries accepted!

The closing date is Tuesday 27th July 2010 at 12 noon and the result will be published on this site a day or two afterwards. Please send your answers by email to: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk

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UP THE TOWER

Here are views looking westwards from Skytower. The one at the top is from days of Rhuddlan Borough Council 1974-1996, and the other shows the scene since the present Drift Park was completed in 2007.

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FORE AND MORE

Not being a golfer, I find the terminology of the game rather puzzling but Diana Davies (now of Canada) feels at ease on a green and has sent these late 1950s/early '60s photographs of Rhyl Golf Club members. See if you recognise anyone:

Click on any picture to see a bigger version.

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Diana has sent scans of a complete Rhyl Golf Club Official Handbook circa 1950. This 18-page booklet describes the course and greens and is illustrated with photographs by local photographer Pat Williams. (Has anyone got information about Pat?)

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QUIZ ANSWER # 66

Last Wednesday I posted a larger version of this photograph which shows the meeting point of three streets.
The question: What are their names?

The answer: Ellis Avenue, Warren Road and Wood Road.

The winners: Geoff Hughes, Richard & Ceri Swinney, Jane Evans of Scotland, Jane Shuttle, Dorothy Jones, Sue Handley, The Legendary Lloyd & Kerry, and Julie Morgan (1st win for Julie).

[The Great Gareth is currently in the lead with 11 wins.]

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A STUDY IN STYLES

At the top is a postcard recently acquired by Yours Truly. It shows the altar at the old St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Rhyl by the highly regarded local photographer Rae Pickard. The card is postmarked 1927.

The sight of it sent me scurrying down Wellington Road to the present St. Mary’s, officially named Our Lady of the Assumption, to take a photograph of the current altar area for comparison.

Father Charles Ramsay (pictured above) takes delight in describing the present altar table top as being made of volcanic lava material 150 million years old. The present Joseph & Mary figures make interesting comparison with those in the old postcard.

My thanks to Charles for his hospitality. You could get in touch with him by phoning (01745) 353395 or sending email to: chas37free@gmail.com

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TUE 6th SEP 2016 UPDATE: Here is an alternative view of the altar at the old St. Mary's. This image is from an unused postcard and therefore is undated:

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AT THE LAKE

Click on any picture to see a bigger version.

Here are some images of the long-gone Marine Lake Fun Fair and its still-here miniature railway. They are from a variety of sources and are in probable date order with the oldest picture at the bottom.

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WED 7th DEC 2016: The following has just arrived here at Jones Towers, another undated image of the miniature railway with – in background – Marine Rifle Range and The House of Fun & Nonsense & Witches Cave. IrresistIble!

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WALES IN WHAT?

In the past few weeks, flowers and plants have been appearing in Rhyl town centre to catch the eye of judges in the annual ‘Wales in Bloom’ competition. We now have planters along Market Street for instance, and in the square at back of the Town Hall (where we used to have a circular garden until Denbighshire County Council took it away).

The ‘Wales in Bloom’ competition seems to me pretty worthless because towns and villages are not judged on their all year round performance.

A big enthusiast for it is Chris Ruane MP whose Labour Party colleagues are in a majority on Rhyl Town Council. There has been controversy over the town council’s financial involvement. Please click here to see: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/internal_review_rhyl_wales_in_bl

While all the nonsense goes on, we Westenders who walk to Rhyl town centre have to contend with cars on pavements, shopping scooters, advertising boards, canvassers, foulmouthed ranters and ravers, spitters, drunks, pavement cyclists and dog poo.

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IN RESPONSE

In response to an appeal some time ago on this site, Mr. James Russell of Wolverhampton has sent these postcard images of Kinmel Bay and Towyn. The sepia at the top is a card of Coventry Co-op Camp, postmarked 1954. The black-and-white has an interesting caption (wrong bridge), and the Towyn card dates from days of Clwyd County Council 1974-1996. Thanks, Jim!

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THU 18th JUN 2015 UPDATE: Just arrived at Jones Towers is this old image of Foryd Road, Towyn. It is a postcard, unused and undated.

Click on any image to see a bigger version.

The following pix of Towyn have been rescued from a deleted post. They are undated. The first shows Abergele Road, possibly as long ago as mid 1930s; by the end of the ‘30s there would have been caravans in sight. The other shows Rhyl Road circa 1970.

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SAT 22nd APR 2017 UPDATE: More views of Coventry Co-op Camp. The address is Voryd (Foryd) which is an old name for the whole Kinmel Bay area. The first image is not dated, and the other two are Raphael Tuck cards first used in 1939.

This 1930s shot of Co-operative Camp manages to mis-spell Kinmel Bay:

[These names are added here for indexing purposes: Sandy Cove, Black Cat arcade, Coop, Cooperative.]

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