OUT OF PUFF

A reader has asked if I know the whereabouts of Jeffrey Ditchfield who began trying to run a cannabis café known as the Beggar’s Belief in 2002 in Water Street, Rhyl.

Mr. Ditchfield seemed to me to be using disabled people as a starting point towards supplying cannabis for recreational purposes. We wrestled in the letters columns of local newspapers like Holmes and Moriarty.

Although I never disliked him personally I hated the drugs image he was helping to give the town. Use of illegal drugs for medicinal purposes is a matter for the Government and NHS not cowboy operators.

Mr. Ditchfield was treated as a celebrity in some quarters. The Visitor newspaper went as far as asking him to name his favourite things and Rhyl Town Council gave him an award for his hanging baskets.

It took four long years for North Wales Police to put a stop to his illegal activities in Rhyl, and the force was virtually shamed into it by a TV documentary that revealed more about him.

[Local criminal Johnny Gizzi (John Damon Gizzi) had been a household name as a drug dealer for considerably longer before they got round to convicting him of his first drug offence.]

Do I know where Mr. Ditchfield is now? Nope.

What I do know is that sometime after he lost his final court case in 2006 he sold his Water Street premises to officers of Welsh Government and thereby pocketed a pile of our money.

No doubt he felt much obliged.

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RHYL MAN IN HAWARDEN

Last week I accompanied my pal Janine Rees-Denman to Flintshire Record Office at Hawarden (Welsh: Penarlâg) where we deposited files belonging to her late father Glyn Rees who studied Rhyl history.

Pictured below with Janny is Flintshire’s Head Archivist Steven Davies, and on the table are some of Glyn’s files.

The documents inside the files are mainly photocopies of items from old Rhyl newspapers, every one meticulously inscribed on the back in pencil with the name of newspaper and publication date. 

Many files relate to entertainment: local theatre shows, exhibitions, public competitions such as beauty contests, and valuable information about early performers such as minstrels and pierrots.

There is a file about accidents at sea, and another about accidental deaths and crimes. One file is dedicated to the notorious serial offender in Victorian times in Rhyl, John Jones known as Jac y Bala or Jack y Bala.

Other files reflect the development of Rhyl in all sorts of ways. Plus there is a special set of files about a house named Dyffryn Aled in Llansannan and the Meyrick family who lived there. 
     
We had a lovely afternoon in Hawarden village – a place dripping with history – and it’s nice to know that Glyn’s collection rests where the public can see and enjoy it.

My best wishes to Janny, and to her husband Gareth who is not too well
at present, and to her sister Lynne In Scotland.

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To the world I can report that, in Hawarden near Flintshire Record Office, the Gladstone Memorial Fountain still stands:

Even the village post office has a touch of history with its red phone box shown in this 2011 shot attributed to a photographer known mysteriously as Rept0n1x:

Here are a couple of Hawarden golden oldies to round off this post: a card of the village postmarked 1905, and a cigarette card of the castle from before we understood that having a smoking habit was a bad idea.

Click on any image to see a bigger version.

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Colin Jones / email: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk

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SKID ROW

Yesterday’s Daily Post revealed that from Sunday 9th May 2010 groups of two or more troublesome people on Rhyl seafront can be dispersed by police; this follows reports of nuisance caused by gangs of drunks. The penalties for not complying with a dispersal order could be stiff.

A couple of days ago the same newspaper said that local criminal Johnny Gizzi (John Damon Gizzi) had been arrested by police near Burnley, Lancs, for conspiring to sell Class A controlled drugs. It is only just over a year since he was released from being imprisoned for other offences.

Rhyl Life supports the clamping down on antisocial behaviour caused by alcohol and illegal drugs. If this had been done years ago Rhyl might never have gained such a bad reputation.

Illustration by Tony Husband from ‘The Yobs’ cartoon strip in Private Eye magazine.

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WED 11th APR 2018 UPDATE: Johnny Gizzi was convicted on drugs charges in 2011 and jailed for 11 years. The story of what happened to his home Richmond Hall (formerly Bronwylfa) in St. Asaph, is told here:
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/look-inside-former-mansion-north-14514804?

Note: Johnny Gizzi is listed in this blog as John Damon Gizzi. According to Daily Post and some other sources he is John Damien Gizzi. Whichever is correct, the purpose of using his middle name is to distinguish him from his father, the environmentally-unfriendly builder John Albert Gizzi, who was convicted of illegal dumping in 2015.

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RUTH ELLIS

Pictured above (TOP) is a block of flats in West Parade owned by Haigh Properties. To the east of it is the turning for River Street, and to the west is the turning for Butterton Road. The block includes No.74 where Ruth Ellis (née Neilson) was born in 1926.

Her connection with Rhyl does not extend beyond that. Her father was a musician and moved around to wherever work was likely to be found. In early 1940s the family lived in London where she tried various jobs and ended up as a night club hostess.

Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged for murder in the UK.

The how and why she shot and killed her lover David Blakely, and was executed in 1955 at age of 28, can be traced in various publications and in the film 'Dance with a Stranger' starring Miranda Richardson and Rupert Everett directed by Mike Newell (1985).

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CRIMESTOPPERS

THIS IS THE BLOG OF COLIN JONES, RHYL TOWN COUNCILLOR: BODFOR WARD
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The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own and not the views of the town council.
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As forecast on this blog on 27 February, Johnny Gizzi (John Damon Gizzi) has been released from jail. Described as a violent fraudster by Wales Online and a bully and a thug by North Wales Police, Mr. Gizzi seemed to have megalomaniacal tendencies: he believed that he ‘ran Rhyl’. His various criminal activities brought nothing but discredit to the town.

Now that Mr. Gizzi is free, it’s time for him to think about whether his talents and what’s left of his wealth could be utilised for benefit of the community as a way of making amends. Meanwhile in reply to enquiries received here, I can confirm that the charges against him did not include anything about supplying illegal drugs.

If you suspect anybody anywhere of being involved directly or indirectly in supplying illegal drugs, you should tell Crimestoppers; they would not ask you to identify yourself. It's a national scheme, so you might have to explain that you are calling from North Wales and spell the name of the town (and any other awkward names).

The telephone number is: 0800 555111.

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OUT OF TIME

THIS IS THE BLOG OF COLIN JONES, RHYL TOWN COUNCILLOR: BODFOR WARD
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The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own and not the views of the town council.
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According to today’s Daily Post, Johnny Gizzi (John Damon Gizzi, shown above) could be out of prison next week. Mr. Gizzi, described gleefully by local papers as a gangster, was a household name as a criminal in Rhyl for years before North Wales Police could be persuaded to take a close interest in his activities.

He pleaded guilty to three charges of serious assault, two of grievous bodily harm and one of actual bodily harm. Two of his homeless victims ended up in hospital after they were beaten with wooden staves and kicked and punched. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell counterfeit cigarettes, and 22 charges of mortgage fraud totalling £1.4m were taken into consideration.

If he is released next week, Mr. Gizzi will have been in prison for little more than three years - a remarkably short time - but he should find that Rhyl has been going through changes. Much of the atmosphere of dereliction and depression in which he thrived is becoming a thing of the past.

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THE ARCHERS

THIS IS THE BLOG OF COLIN JONES, RHYL TOWN COUNCILLOR: BODFOR WARD
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The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own and not the views of the town council.
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One of Rhyl’s best-publicised residents is David Archer, known locally as ‘Archie’, who was recently convicted of his 299th offence which was stealing a bottle of champagne from Marks & Spencer in Llandudno.

His ineptitude as a thief seems never to have led him to try some other profession. He is said to have spent in small instalments the equivalent of two life sentences behind bars. The cost to the public in terms of police resources, courts, prison, probation, rehabilitation and other services, must be gigantic.

Some commentators may seize upon his case history as evidence that ‘prison doesn’t work’. I would say that prison does work because when he is behind bars he is unable to commit offences against the community.

What would you do with the Archers of this world?

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WED 30th OCT 2009 UPDATE: This week The Visitor newspaper reported that Mr. Archer has been jailed for 12 weeks for attempting to steal a Cancer Research collection box from a pub in Colwyn Bay. It was his 318th conviction.

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TUE 29th DEC 2009 UPDATE: In yesterday’s Daily Post, Dan Beavan reported that Mr. Archer had been convicted of 321st offence: stealing two bottles of whisky. He was ordered to spend a day in jail and pay £85 costs.

David Archer - photo from Daily Post

TUE 7th MAR 2017 UPDATE: David Archer (pictured above), now with nearly 400 convictions under his belt, has been sent to jail for a further 16 weeks and fined a further £115.

It would be a mistake not to send him to jail; the mistake is letting him out.

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