FLASHBACK #34

As you cross the Foryd Bridge and land in Kinmel Bay you are flanked by hostelries. On your left used to be Clwyd Private Hotel and Clwyd Cafe:

Now in the same building are The Harbour pub and Hungry Horse restaurant:

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Click on any image to see a bigger version.

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On the opposite side of the road used to be The Ferry Hotel. At the time shown below Mr. & Mrs. Marsh were in charge.

Now in the same building is The Mayquay pub/restaurant:

Both of the colour pix above were taken a few days ago by Yours Truly.

• The 2016 message from the UK's chief medical officers still applies. Research shows any amount of alcohol can increase the risk of cancer. There is no such thing as a safe level of drinking the stuff.
• On 24th August 2018 the BBC reported that a new global study had been published in the medical journal The Lancet confirming that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.

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Below is a 1920s snapshot taken on Rhyl promenade, opposite West Parade. The first turning on your right is Queen Street.

In shot is Mary Hughes of Birmingham with her brother and possibly her mother. There must be thousands of family snaps like this lying forgotten in attics and sideboards . . .


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

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FLASHBACK #33

This time we flash back not very far. Here is a snap taken in September 1984 at the Foryd in Rhyl (who could mistake that Ocean Beach Fun Fair background?)

It was taken by a passing stranger. Lined up, left to right, we have Frank Lomax, Basil Connelly, Ray Pearson, "Sandy" Powell and Sam Caruth. They are ex-Harrison Line relief staff.

The Harrison Line was based in Liverpool and ran cargo and passenger services from 1869 until the year 2000 when the business was absorbed by P&O Nedlloyd.

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This seems as good a place as any to squeeze in an image of the harbour that has not appeared previously in Rhyl Life.
It is on a card postmarked 1980 but the photo must have been taken years earlier because in the background on your left is the old domed Pavilion which was demolished in 1974.

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Don't forget Rhyl Life's YouTube channel featuring Rhyl videos and slideshows. The channel is named RhylTime. Click here to see RhylTime's Top Ten:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7BKgZiQNRSaVpnyTl8PgEpPusmd3dl_z

Only YouTube items labelled RhylTime are mine.

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FLASHBACK #32

These two photos were taken on the Dyserth branch line that operated 1869-1973 from Prestatyn to Meliden to Dyserth for the quarries.

Ah yes, the quarries. As a schoolboy on the Dyserth side of Rhuddlan I used to hear a warning siren followed by eerie silence, and then big boom accompanied by a chorus of dogs barking.

The mountain looked as if a giant’s spoon had removed a portion to eat. We took the disfiguring of the landscape by heavy industry for granted.

On visits to Wrexham area I joined the children playing on ‘spoil tips’ from the collieries until 1966 when a big one collapsed on houses and a school at Aberfan in South Wales and killed 28 adults and 116 children.

Our industrial past is less than glorious.

You can read about the Dyserth branch line, most of which is now a footpath, in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyserth_branch_line

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Mr. Gerald Turner, now of Canada, thought he saw a picture of Yours Truly and my pal Jill on this blog ages ago – and he has spent a long time trying to find it again. He didn't say what for!

Well Gerry, the pic was taken in 2015 by Lynn Roberts outside The Piazza Restaurant, High Street, Rhyl. It appeared as part of a temporary post and got deleted. Here 'tis.

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

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FLASHBACK #31

Many readers would remember Charles Jones timber merchants at Foryd Harbour. In days of yore the harbour was a hive of activity. According to the postcard / business card below, the Charles Jones company was established in 1870. (It closed down in 1988.)

"From SHIP to RAIL"
This would refer to nearby Foryd Railway Station aka Kinmel Bay Halt about which you can read on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foryd_railway_station

"RHYL HARBOUR"
This was a name in common use for Foryd Harbour even though most of it is in Kinmel Bay. Foryd is an old name for Kinmel Bay.

This part of the card's text is repeated here for indexing purposes:

Archangel Reds, Floorings, Bathurst Spruce, Mobile Pitchpine & English Cement.

Vessels discharging at Messrs. Charles Jones and Sons, Ltd.,

Timber Importers & Sawmill Proprietors, Foryd & Rhyl.

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A reader got in touch to say she had searched Rhyl Life for an old picture of St. John's Church, Wellington Road, and failed to find one. What? Can this be true? Hereby I make amends:

St. John's, a Grade II listed building, held religious services from 1887 to 1997 and is now a private residence named Churchill House.

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FRI 16 NOV 2018 UPDATE: Mike Theaker reports that Churchill House is now a Bed and Breakfast business. See Trip Advisor:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g616283-d2077168

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FLASHBACK #30

The old toll bridge that preceded the present Foryd Bridge is always an item of interest. The image below tells us little or nothing about the bridge but it has a certain charm. Views from downriver looking northwards to the harbour are quite rare.

The image has been re-shaped slightly Yours Truly. It is from a card postmarked 1916. Printed on the back of the card is a copyright notice by
A. Netherwood, Conway. Arthur Netherwood was an English artist who travelled in Wales. He died in 1930.

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Well boys, we men seem to be boxed into a corner: no longer able to take hold of children and – thanks to predatory film producers and the like – no longer able to take hold of women either. We’ll have to learn to hug each other.

A long way from the dark side is this depiction of a young lady landing in Rhyl and being pursued by interested parties while a policeman looks on. Women would send this kind of card to each other.

This is postmarked 1903. It is intended to be humorous and I hope most sincerely that it offends nobody.

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MON 15th OCT 2018 UPDATE: Ditto the following item, a card postmarked 1910.

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

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FLASHBACK #29

George Ellis of Colwyn Bay found a reference to the Country Club in Rhyl and wondered where it is/was.
It stood on the corner of Rhuddlan Road and Ffordd Derwen on the site of the present Ffordd Derwen pub. This advert is from Rhyl Urban District Council's tourist guide book of 1948.

In the advert are intriguing references to Ralph "Muffit" Moffat of radio station AFN (American Forces' Network) in Munich and a brochure about High fidelity recordings - Made in your own home . . .

Click on any image to see a bigger version.

In the same guide are details of the council's coupon system in which their coupons were worth twice their face value – even in car parks!

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FLASHBACK #28

Rhyl is an August resort; this month the town has seen plenty of visitors. Nevertheless you would be hard pressed to produce a long list of the attractions. 'Rhyl's 40 Attractions' above is from circa 1904.

- Of items relating to the short-lived Queen's Palace in West Parade, Constantinople was a large model version of the Turkish city of Istanbul. The management installed this after taking out a similar representation of Venice ('Little Venice'). 

- Bijou Pavilion was a tiny theatre on the pier for troupes such as Adeler & Sutton’s Pierrots. Later it was renamed Pier Pavilion. It is under the blue dot in the image below.

 - Phrenology is the study of size and contours of the head as an alleged indication of character and mental abilities. Phrenological Lectures were presumably by Arthur Cheetham who, if you crossed his palm with silver, would feel your bumps.

- The Doll Man would be Professor Millar (sometimes written as Miller) who operated Rhyl's first Punch and Judy booth featuring his 'talking dolls' on the prom opposite Queens Hotel - just west of High Street:

- Victoria Hall Concerts is an interesting item. I suspect Victoria Hall to be the upstairs premises in Market Street known at other times as Lyric Hall and Central Hall. My reasoning is as follows:

Here is a comparatively recent pic of the premises. Underneath the red dot is inscribed the year 1890. So the building was in existence when the list was drawn up and yet the only Hall named is Victoria.

Round the margins of the list are adverts for Sandoe's books and stationery and a plug for E.H. Williams who rented the council-owned minstrel pitch on the sands for comedy & music shows by E.H. Williams' Merrie Men.

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FLASHBACK #27

Above is a reminder that in the 1920s the fun fair at Marine Lake was sometimes known as Ocean Beach before the newer site was developed.
Westbourne Cafe is just about discernible centre left.
The remarkable Figure Eight Rollercoaster would have been fairly new when this aerial photo was taken. On its far side, Oakland Avenue seems in the process of being created.
There is something peculiar built on decking over the water centre right.

Below is ostensibly a shot of Foryd Harbour but shows how the fun fair eventually reached West Parade. This is a card postmarked 1961.
By that time, Marine Lake Fun Fair and Ocean Beach Fun Fair were both operating. The clanking, the swirling, the screams . . .
Bottom left corner of the picture would be part of Ritz Ballroom, and the 'Casino' to your left of the Big Wheel would be an amusement arcade.

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FLASHBACK #26

I have never quite reconciled myself to British pop singers adopting American accents when they open their mouths to sing, and bending and twisting notes. The cynic in me suspects these devices are for disguising poor diction and the lack of ability to pitch accurately.

There was and still is a local audience for classically trained singers, such as the John Ridding Opera Company (above) photographed during a summer season in Rhyl. They toured in Wales, Scotland and England and possibly elsewhere from the 1890s to 1920s.

The card above advertises their 1910 productions at the New Pavilion & Marine Gardens development. The Pavilion was the iconic domed edifice on the promenade, and Marine Gardens was on its eastern side - where a roller skating rink was created nearly forty years later.

The following is by Rhyl photographer Ernest Jones of 3 Kinmel Street:

The Ridding Company has not been mentioned previously in this blog and nor has Rhyl Choral Society, a local army of enthusiastic amateurs. Here they are photographed by Wills Jones in 1908 on the prom:
Click on the image to see a bigger version.

How handsome the gentlemen look in their evening suits, and how pretty the ladies in their dresses. Dear me, where did we all go wrong?

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

See my Rhyl videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/RhylTime
Only the videos marked RhylTime are mine!

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FLASHBACK #25

Kerfoot Hughes & Jones is one of those evocative Rhyl business names that I like so much. They were ironmongers mainly, and their shop was in Bodfor Street. The business card above states new premises, so this was not their first address. The card would be circa 1909.

The Kerfoot Hughes & Jones invoice below is addressed to Mrs. Stanley "Plas Coed" Dyserth Road and is dated 1931.
Click on it to see small print.

Having consulted my pal Dilys Bagnall, I can advise that the shop was on the northeast side of Bodfor Street. The location is shown in the following photo taken last month by Yours Truly standing outside Argos:

There may be a connection between the ironmonger Kerfoot and the Rhuddlan street name Kerfoot Avenue. Can anybody confirm?

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

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Another fondly remembered ironmongers was H.O. Davies, 28 Queen Street (known as Garth's). At the time of writing we have no ironmongers in Rhyl town centre.

6720. Additional image added here in June 2020:

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At the time of writing we have no butchers in Rhyl town centre either. The business card below, for long gone butchers I mean purveyors of meat Owens & Sons of 9 Water Street and 51a High Street, is likely to be from before World War 1.

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These names are added here for indexing purposes: Mind charity shop, Goldilocks hairdressers.

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FRI 23rd JUN 2017 UPDATE: Nigel Kerry has written from Clun – a lovely place in South Shropshire. Nigel says that in the 1950s his uncle Oswald Jones of Alpha Villa (now No.9) Elwy Street, Rhyl, worked in the dispatch department of Kerfoot Hughes & Jones.

[He adds that there is or was a few years ago a Kerfoots in Porthmadog, an imposing shop that was part ironmonger/ fancy goods etc. The proprietors told him that there was a link to the Rhyl business.]

Nigel says that, in Rhyl, Kerfoots’ dispatch department was in Windsor Street – probably where Salvation Army is now. That would it have made it parallel with the Bodfor Street shop with perhaps an alley between.

Here is a photo of the Sally Army premises taken today by Yours Truly:

The Blood and Fire emblem on the wall above the entrance never fails to catch my eye:

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FLASHBACK #24

Rhyl Life presents a double-flashback on the old Pavilion. Firstly, here is a picture I had never seen until recently. It was taken during World War 2 when the Pavilion was camouflaged and Manchester Repertory Company was in residence.

The boy in foreground is wearing a short-sleeved pullover and knee length trousers - a fashion that lasted too long into the 1950s.

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On Feb 28, 1908 - just a few months before Rhyl Pavilion opened - the following item appeared in The Building News. Interesting to see the structure described as 'assembly room' rather than a theatre (same intended use, though).

The accompanying text says:

"SELECTED DESIGN FOR ASSEMBLY ROOM AND GARDENS FOR THE TOWN COUNCIL, RHYL

"This design, by Messrs. Maxwell and Toke and F. Bennett Smith, F.R.I.B.A., of 25 Brazennose Street, Manchester, has been selected in a limited competition of six architects for an assembly-room to be erected on the foreshore at Rhyl.

     "The building will contain a large hall or assembly-room on the ground floor, with gallery over. The main entrances will be at the front, with entrances or exits on either side. There will be a large platform, suitable for music or theatricals, with retiring rooms and staircases on either side. Tea and refreshment rooms will be provided on the ground floor, and large one on the upper floor at the front, opening on to a balcony. Covered balconies and verandahs will surround the entire building.

     "The form of plan is practically a square with four large turrets at each corner, and the centre covered by a large dome.

     "A considerable amount of reinforced concrete is to be used in the construction of the staircase, floors, gallery, roofs and dome. The exterior (is) to be faced with red and buff bricks and terracotta. The assembly-room is to hold 1,500 persons seated. The general contractor is Mr. C. Griffiths, of Lye, Stourbridge.

     "The ornamental gardens on either side of the pavilion are being formed from the designs, and under the superintendence of Mr A. A. Goodall, the surveyor to the council. The entire cost is £14,000."

Note the cost of the project is £14,000 – that would be about one-and-a-half million pounds in today's money (quite a bargain compared with the fifteen million pounds for our proposed waterpark).

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Photo: VOA News

FÉLICITATIONS AUX ÉLECTEURS DE FRANCE

Congratulations to voters of France for electing Emmanuel Macron as President. He is enthusiastic about the European Union and wants to make it work. How refreshing, compared with the backward politicians who want to drag us out!

Bon chance, Monsieur le Président!

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FLASHBACK #23

Previously in this blog have been references to the Post Office that used to be in Rhyl High Street in days of yore, but no clear illustration until now. The date 1959 appears on the back of this photo:

The building has long gone. It was opposite the present Boots chemist, on a site where now we have a pair of charity shops: British Heart Foundation at No.42 and Scope at No.44.

I thought I remembered a red pillar box outside. Memory plays tricks!

To your right of the Post Office was formerly Avondale Restaurant which, by the time the photo was taken, had become combined-Avondale-Cafe-and-shop belonging to E.B. Jones & Co Ltd.

Cyclists, please take note of the two chaps in the picture. They are doing what you should be doing in town centres, i.e. walking along pushing the bikes and not riding. 

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Incidentally, the E.B. Jones company was known mainly for its chain of grocery shops in North Wales – based in Rhyl.  E.B.'s shops were much in evidence in the 1950s, having sprung up like mushrooms between the two world wars.

6720. Two additional images added here in June 2020:

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FLASHBACK #22

Above is a typical Victorian cabinet card produced in this case by the photographer J. Brown of 3 Kinmel Street, Rhyl.

The card is signed by the subject, J. Rhydwen Jones. The name is remembered as part of Rhydwen Jones and Davies, a furniture shop in Queen Street – and we have Rhydwen Drive and Rhydwen Close in Rhyl.

J. Rhydwen Jones was one of the Rhyl Improvement Commissioners (forerunners of Rhyl Urban District Council) and was Chairman of the Commissioners for the two year period ending May 5th 1879.

He had been the contractor for the present Rhyl Town Hall which opened in 1876. [The word ‘contractor’ may not have meant exactly the same in that context as it does now.]

If he were around today I would ask J.R.J. why the front tower is leaning.

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SAT 26th MAY 2018 UPDATE: On the subject of early photography in Rhyl, J.W. Jones' book 'Rhyl And Roundabout' refers to an 1866 trade directory which lists only one photographer.
J.W. says, "The photographer was Signor L. Volpé of Shipley Street (now part of Kinmel Street). I have never come across any of his work; there must be some his Cartes-de-Visites still around somewhere."

What an interesting quote! The photographer's name looks like a mix of French and Italian and may be a Eurofake. Shipley Street we think of as an old name for part of Brighton Road and not Kinmel Street. Any road up, a Volpé card has turned up here at Jones Towers:

Click on the image to see fine details.
I would like to know more about this photographer. If a genuine foreigner, he would have stood out a mile in Rhyl of the 1860s. The logo below is on back of the card and gives his first name as Louis and family name as Volpe without accent over the é.

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THU 18th OCT 2018 UPDATE: The railway photo below carries no information about date or place. It gives the signor's name as (not Louis but) Luigi Volpé'.

The following is a detail from above:

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6720. Additional image added in July 2020:

Ladies and children with toys, spades & buckets by Luigi Volpé. I don't know why 2 of the 4 children's faces blurred.

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

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FLASHBACK #21

No, I haven't forgotten about Rhyl. I am in the process of tagging pictures in this blog to make them easier to find on Google Images etc. There are well over 2,000 to be done so progress is slow.

Meanwhile here are a couple more Botanical Gardens cards. The first is postmarked 1930; the other is undated but feels pre-1950:

Click on a picture to see a bigger version.

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FRI 20th JAN 2017 UPDATE: This undated card fits in well here. Grange Road in the background and cafe on your right:

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SAT 10th MAR 2018: Here is a rounded view of the water lily pond, an artificially coloured card postmarked 1947:

By local artist J.A. Elliott-Jones, a drawing of the Rose Garden. I never promised you one.

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