MERRIE KINDLE

This is 'E.H. Williams' Merrie Men Of Rhyl: A Minstrel Troupe' by Malcolm Drew, a book in Kindle format downloadable from Amazon (made available this year).

The book discusses the nature of minstrelsy as a form of entertainment and includes much information about E.H.Willams' Merrie Men who used to perform at the minstrel pitch on Rhyl sands.

Also covered are the Rhyl troupes that preceded E.H. Williams, and other artistes who appeared in Rhyl during the Edwardian period – and the reasons for the Merrie Men's eventual demise in 1906.

There are over 40 illustrations plus a list of 80 artistes known to have appeared with the Merrie Men including Jack Hylton, Jimmy Charters, Joe Huda, Ernie Mayne, S.W. Wyndham and the author's great uncle, Charlie Drew.

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

See my Rhyl videos on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/RhylTime

Only the videos marked RhylTime are mine!

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QUIZ QUESTION # 108

The above photos were taken this year by Yours Truly. Only one is Rhyl.
The question: Is the Rhyl photo at the top, in the middle or at the bottom?

Click on any picture to see a bigger version.

The snapshot below was taken in 2000 by Yours Truly.
The question: What are the names of these two people?

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You would score 1 win for locating the Rhyl photo and/or 1 win for the two names.

You have until the end of Saturday 12th Sept 2015 to send your entry.
Second tries not accepted.
The result will be published on Sunday 13th Sept 2015 around Midday.


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

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QUIZ ANSWER # 107

Last Sunday I posted four images, numbered 1-4. Only two are Rhyl.
The question: What two numbers are Rhyl?
The answer: 3 and 4.

1. Not Rhyl, Rhuddlan.
As an ex-Rhuddlan lad I don't remember this camp named Vale of Clwyd Vacation Centre. Oh well, camps change names. Here is the card in full:

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2. Not Rhyl, Buckley.
Looks 1940s, the banner says Methodist Tabernacle Sunday School:

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3. This is Rhyl. It is a 1951 advert for North Wales Upholstery Company, Palace Royal Works, Palace Avenue. Here it is in full:

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4. This is Rhyl. A weathered old photo of the original paddling pool on the promenade. On your right (east) of the scene would be Rhyl Pavilion:

Scoring a win for the two correct numbers: Dilys Bagnall, Richard & Ceri Swinney, The Great Gareth, and Geoff Hughes.

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SUN 20th SEP 2015 UPDATE: Re Vale of Clwyd Vacation Centre, Rhuddlan. The following is a 1962 postcard to Mr. & Mrs. Gorton of Walkden near Manchester (near Salford if you prefer) which gives no clue to the whereabouts of the camp but mentions Stephensons Caravans. 
Click on it for a clearer view.

The following multiview card looks 1960s as well:

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SAT 1st OCT 2016 UPDATE:  Re Vale of Clwyd Vacation Centre, Rhuddlan. Now on this 1952 postcard we can see where the camp is located in relation to Rhuddlan Castle:

That would seem to make Vale of Clwyd Vacation Centre a precursor of the present Sun Valley Caravan Park:
http://www.sunvalleycaravanpark.com/

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ONWARD AND UPWARD

Illustration: A shot from one of Rhyl's annual air shows. The copyright in this image belongs to Denbighshire County Council.

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Today the total number of pageviews of this Rhyl Life blog passed the 300,000 mark. Many thanks to all contributors and readers everywhere.

Last month the average number of pageviews was 255 per day, and last month's top countries were these:

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A SMALLER SPLASH

A nice young lady in Morrisons, among the fruit and veg, asked when the paddling pool was built. The original paddling pool that is, captioned above as New Model Yacht and Paddling Lake.

I presume the pool was established in early 1920s during a wave of improvements to the central part of the promenade, at same time as the pier's wooden Amphitheatre was rebuilt in brick and the Coliseum was created (opened 1921).

Certainly the pool existed by 1923; a previous post in this blog includes a picture taken there in that year. The following card is postmarked 1930:

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The image below shows what was in the location of the pool previously. Sand!

Years ago somebody told me the Pavilion was not built on the promenade, it was built over the beach on a specially-constructed platform adjoining the promenade. Hmmmm yes, looks likely.

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

See my Rhyl videos on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/RhylTime

Only the videos marked RhylTime are mine!

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HARBOURING THOUGHTS

Foryd Harbour at the estuary of River Clwyd is a lot older than the rest of Rhyl and might have remained active until present day even if the town had never developed. 

The image above would be pre-World War 1 and coloured at a later date. The big building on your left has been labelled Foryd Hall but the position looks unconvincing; it may be a pair of semi-detached hotels such as the ones demolished quite recently, one was Westcliffe Hotel.

Here is the motor boat ‘Alice’ taking passengers for a mini-cruise. This looks pre-WW1 as well, and the harbour is spelled Voryd:

The letter V does not appear in the modern Welsh alphabet, but it does crop up in some ancient Welsh texts so its use in this context may not be entirely incorrect.

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From the following monochrome photo taken not long after the Foryd Bridge was opened in 1932 it not possible to tell what colour it was. It certainly hasn’t always been blue.

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Rhyl Pavilion is not visible in the following two shots, so they must be from the late 1970s or later. Ocean Beach Fun Fair is in the background.

Rhyl Life reader Dilys Bagnall writes, “I remember when for about a shilling (less than 10p) you could take a return trip across the Foryd to Horton’s Nose in a small rowing boat.

“Also I remember the proper Romany caravan behind the fun fair in which Billy Williams’ mother-in-law Mrs. Waltzer lived. I talked for hours with her, and she showed me inside her caravan. That was a great honour for a “flattie” like me. It was beautiful inside.

"Mrs. Waltzer may not have been her real name but that’s what she was called. I worked on her daughter Sue’s hot-dog stall –I think it was the first ever in Rhyl. That was at the far end of West Parade near the Mad Mouse. The hot dogs cost a shilling and I had to chop up fresh onions so I was always crying.”

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THE WRONG SIDE!

The Foryd is a harbour of two sides, the other side being in Bae Cilmael aka Kinmel Bay which has become known jocularly as "Criminal Bay".

According to Wikipedia, "A ship called "The Italia" sank in the River Clwyd near Kinmel Bay in 1798 with the loss of 90 Tones of Spanish gold coins. These coins are still being found today."

Just Rhyl's luck, having the ship sink on the wrong side!

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The card below is unposted; it looks 1930s. It shows Kinmel Bay's Glan-y-Don camping ground "near Voryd" with tents that may have been for boy scouts and/or girl guides:

A similar place, Ty-Croes Holiday Camp, was further to your left (west).

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The house below, 'Belle Vue Foryd near Rhyl' was presumably a guest house/small hotel in 1911 when this card was sent. Voryd or Foryd is the old name for Kinmel Bay and beyond, so I have been over the bridge in search of the house but carn find it.

Click on any image to see a bigger version.

Val Adams of Epworth Road has the same picture with the front label saying 'Mrs. Dawson, Belle View, Foryd, Abergele, Near Rhyl' which suggests that Foryd meant the whole area between Rhyl & Abergele.

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These references are added here for indexing purposes: Summerscales Yates Morecambe.

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TUE 22nd NOV 2016: Just arrived at Jones Towers - a view of Kinmel Bay from across the water, on a card postmarked 1963:

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6720. Two additional images added in July 2020:

A later shot of Glan-y-Don than the one shown above. This is probably from the 1950s/'60s.

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Business card of Madam Sheringdan, Scientist. This Voryd/Kinmel Bay-based lady may well have been a test-tube-and-bunsen-burner type but
I rather suspect she might have been a pseudo-scientist of some kind.
There used to be in Queens Arcade a woman who described herself as a "scientific delineator of the hand". She was a palm reader.

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