Of the above, the late Les Slee of Molineaux Road, Rhyl, said: "This is a picture of Military College of Science (later RAMTS) Group 37A taken in Rhyl in September 1941 after the passing-out parade following completion of apprenticeships. I am on the right-hand end in the middle row. One of the officers in charge was Colonel A. T. 'Goldie' Gardner who was a test driver for MG cars. He had only one arm.
"These boys went all round the world as Artificers reparing motor vehicles, instruments and guns, and some never came back alive. Quite a few of us (including me) got married to Rhyl girls and settled happily here."
In the photo below, Mr. P.T. (Phil) Trehearn is shown far right in fundraising mode. As President of Rhyl Individual Traders' Association (RITA) he started a war comforts fund and organised the local British Red Cross Penny-a-Week Fund. Mr. Trehearn became a member of Rhyl Urban District Council during the war. Photo supplied by Peter Trehearn.
Click on any image to see a bigger version.
The image above was supplied by Eric Hughes whose wife Doreen commented as follows:
"At Marine Lake Fun Fair my father, the engineer Albert Barnes was resident director. When the war began I was only 13. The fairground was open as usual on summer evenings and I used to help out there. My father's workshops in Westbourne Avenue were requisitioned by the Army. He experimented with apparatus to be fixed on the front of tanks to explode land mines.
"The picture above shows an example of a rolling device. In the background is a government inspector. The outcome of the experiments was a device involving flailing chains, which was actually used by the military."
The image below was supplied years ago by Mr. Joe Cooper of Prestatyn. It shows 'C' Company Home Guard GPO Rhyl (that's right, Dad's Army) with a serious gun known as the Northover Projector.
All four images so far are from the book 'Rhyl In The Second World War' by Yours Truly which was published in 2003 and may be available from local libraries.
The one below, showing 'F' Company Home Guard Rhyl, came to hand too late to be included in the book.
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MON 2nd APR 2018 UPDATE: 'Rhyl In The Second World War' says, "The beach was spiked with long wooden poles, and pyramid-shaped concrete objects were positioned on the sands to prevent enemy landings by air or sea."
Below is an image not in the book, a recent acquisition showing holiday-makers and donkeys among the beach barricades at Rhyl in 1944.
Click on the image to see a bigger version.
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Colin Jones / email: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk
See my Rhyl videos on YouTube:
Only the videos marked RhylTime
are mine!
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