This card is a reproduction of a poster. The card was published, probably in the 1980s, by
Clwyd County Council. Last year while this blog was
hibernating, there was a proposal to bring a hovercraft service back to Rhyl.
In 1962 during the hovercoach trials I was 16 years old and
remember seeing crowds on the prom watching over the sea wall. I don’t remember
actually seeing the craft myself – would have been in too much of a hurry to
get round the arcades and down to the fun fair.
At 16, it is uncool to
stand in a crowd gawping at something. Right?
The trials lasted only a few weeks, and the hovercoach ran only between Rhyl and the
Wirral. Now, more than half a century later, given Rhyl's reduced status in the tourism industry, it seems doubtful that such a short route would be viable.
In Victorian times, steam
ships operated between Liverpool, Mostyn, Rhyl and Llandudno; they were owned by private
companies that survived on their own profits. These days transport companies expect huge subsidies from public bodies and would want a lot of money up front.
Not surprisingly, talks about the current proposal have
stalled on the funding issue.
Meanwhile, there is a website that would tell you more about
the 1962 trials than you ever wanted to know: http://www.wirralhistory.net/hovercraft.html
And there is a relevant British Pathé newsreel item on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8CBf-XpNd8
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