RHUDDLAN REQUEST

A request has flooded in from John W. Davies for additional Rhuddlan pix. As a Rhuddlan boy myself, Mr. Davies, I am only too delighted to present a few more images including Parliament House:

The image above dates from before World War 1. Exterior plaque says:

This Fragment

Is the Remains of the Building

Where King Edward the first

Held his Parliament

A.D. 1283

In which was passed the Statute of Rhuddlan

Securing

To the Principality of Wales

Its Judicial Rights

And Independence

The plaque has been renewed since then. The words remain the same but their layout is more straightforward.

Below: This Raphael Tuck postcard published in 1930 is captioned Bridge End, Rhuddlan, which makes me wonder what the other end of the bridge was called.

On the far side is Gittins' Garage and Marsh Hotel, Lower High Street which became Marsh Warden, Station Road (demolished in 2014).

The following photo was taken from the opposite direction. It is on a card postmarked 1961:

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Above: Nice example of an image created in a studio for use far and wide with the name of the location superimposed. Somebody must have thought Rhuddlan was a seaside resort. This is a card postmarked 1934.

Below: Hylas Lane, Rhuddlan, in late 1960s/early '70s. The white cottage on your right is Hylas Bach which may be associated with (or a downsized version of) Hylas-fawr which appears on old maps.

Round the corner on same side of road is Rhuddlan Primary School which opened in 1935, expanded to include infants in 1954 and changed name to Ysgol y Castell in 1972.

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Above: Eisteddfod Genedlaethol = National Eisteddfod of Wales. The 1985 event is listed as having been in Rhyl.
This modest paperweight is a reminder that - not for first time - it was actually in Rhuddlan at The Showfield aka Brookes' Field, south of the Rhyl town boundary.
Y Rhyl a'r Cyffiniau = Rhyl and surrounding area.

Below: Despite the black-and-white format, this image of The Parish Church of St. Mary, Rhuddlan, is probably less than 20 years old. The church was founded way back in the 13th century, i.e. 500-600 years before the town of Rhyl was invented.

Doan forget, Rhuddlan Local History Society has its own website:
http://www.rhuddlan-history.com/The-Society.html

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MON 5th MAR 2018 UPDATE: On the subject of National Eisteddfod 1985, this china commemorative mug is a collector's item:

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SUN 4th NOV 2018 UPDATE: Another vintage pic of Rhuddlan. The photo below is dated 1907. It was taken in High Street near junction with Princes Road. You will see on your left that the Black Hotel offers good stabling; the hotel was a forerunner of the present Kings Head.

This is a postcard in the Harry Thomas Collection published by Gwasg Helygain, Rhyl – a series worth collecting.

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QUIZ ANSWER # 154

Last Sunday I posted part of a photo taken a few days before in Rhyl by Yours Truly. The question: Where was I standing?

The answer: Paradise Street or Clwyd Street.

I was in Paradise Street but with a touch a zoom I could have taken the same shot from Clwyd Street. Here is complete photo with St. Thomas' Church and other details restored:

Also I posted the following picture of a badge. The question: What is unusual about it?

The answer: The National Eisteddfod was not here in 1974.

Eisteddfod Yr Urdd is the youth version of the event and it has a separate itinerary. The adult version of National Eisteddfod Of Wales came to Rhyl in 1892, 1904, 1953 and 1985.

Both correct answers were needed to score 1 win. Everybody got the street but nobody got the badge. No winners!

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More badges: a poppy styled emblem of the Junior Tradesmen's Regiment (Kinmel Park Camp, Bodelwyddan) 1962-1974, and Rhyl & District Motor Club car badge / Model Train Exhibition Rhyl, and gold-coloured badge (style of lettering indicates it's quite an old one) / Rhyl Football Club badge by Mark Parr, and Rhyl Delta F.C. who played in Welsh Alliance League from 1998 to 2000:

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WED 1st MAR 2017 UPDATE: Further to the Junior Tradesmen’s Regiment (Kinmel Park Camp) emblem shown above, here is a sew-on badge and a belt:

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THU 4th JAN 2018 UPDATE: Further to the Rhyl & District Motor Club car badge shown above, here is an enamel coat badge of completely different design:

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GIFT SUGGESTIONS

Gift shops, markets, internet sites, antique shops and junk shops are good places to find Rhyl things to collect or give away as presents.

How about badges for the anorak? Here we have a Rhyl Scooter Club Rally, Rhyl & District Angling Association, Rhyl Football Club aka 'The Lilywhites', Rhyl F.C. Supporters' Association (RSA) and couple of rarities: one from Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru the Welsh National Eisteddfod in Rhyl 1953, and an old badge showing Rhyl Pavilion:

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This Rhyl crested Norwegian-style beer bowl with a horse's head at each end seems a perfect present for people that don't know whether they are coming or going:

No? Well, how about a Rhylephant?

And for that really special someone - nudge nudge - what could be more agreeable than an old slot machine manufactured by Parker's Automatic Supplies of Rhyl? 

Click on the machine to see in the background a drawing incorporating elements of Marine Lake and Ocean Beach Fun Fairs with name checks for Billy Williams, Arthur (who's he?) and the Webbers.

That dates it as 1950s/60s even though the art deco style suggests that the cabinet may have been made a couple of decades earlier. Arcade and fun fair items are subject to recycling from time to time.

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SAT 14th JUL 2018 UPDATE: On auction this month was a 1950s/'60s Manhattan one arm bandit fruit machine made by or distributed by Vale Amusement Supplies of Rhyl. 

Even though not in working order, the machine was still expected to fetch around £300. Its value must be as a 'decorator's piece'.

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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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A SURPRISING CONNECTION

This photo was taken in April this year by Yours Truly from near the Sun Centre showing the scene across the road. The beige-and-cream house at the end of a row was once St Thomas's College, 8 Plastirion Terrace. The 1881 Census shows that David Beatty aged 10, and his brother Charlie aged 11 were scholars there.

David Beatty is a figure of special interest to John Williams of Rhyl Liberty Players who is in the foreground wearing black hat and coat. The link between David and John is through John’s mother Cicely Muriel Beatty. David Beatty's father and Cicily's father were brothers.

David was in the school in Rhyl for a couple of years before moving on to naval academy and embarking on an extraordinary career in the Royal Navy that turned him into the formidable character below, Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO, PC.

An account of his adventures can be found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Beatty,_1st_Earl_Beatty

At the time of uploading this post, there is nothing on Internet about the surprising Beatty-Rhyl connection, so we have a scoop here!

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Incidentally the aforementioned John Williams, pictured below, is still hoping somebody will tell us why the Rhyl streets Patagonia Avenue and Madryn Avenue are named after places in Argentina.

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MON 17th APR 2015 UPDATE: Gareth Morris writes, “Patagonia had a large population of Welsh speakers who emigrated from Wales in the 1860s. Since then there have been many exchanges in both directions including their visit in 1953 to the National Eisteddfod in Rhyl. The streets in question were built in the mid 1950s and may have been named to commemorate that visit."

SAT 9th MAY 2015 UPDATE: Returning to the matter of St. Thomas's College, Rhyl, here from files of the late Glyn Rees is an advert from Rhyl Journal, June 23rd 1883.
Click on it to read the small print: 

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LITTLE VENICE # 1

Often I get asked about ‘Little Venice’ underneath Queens Shopping Centre aka Queens Market which has entrances in High Street, Sussex Street and West Parade.

‘Little Venice’ was a Venetian-style water ride with gondolas, in the basement of a business that used to be on the site long before, i.e. Queen’s Palace which existed only from 1902-1907.

There is no reason to believe that ‘Little Venice’ was particularly important in its own right. If it had been, I feel sure Rhyl’s first historian J.W. Jones would said a lot more about it than he did.

Water rides of a covered kind, whether underground or not, were commonplace and often described as rivers. Later there was one at Marine Lake Fun Fair, named at various times La Riviere Mysterieuse, Waterways Of Mars and River Caves.

River Caves at Marine Lake - built on terra firma!

Glyn Rees, who died earlier this year and I miss him, studied old Rhyl newspapers. He said there was no big fuss about ‘Little Venice’ in the press at the time. He added that before the end of Queens Palace, ‘Little Venice’ had disappeared from the venue's adverts and been replaced by something else.

Glyn and I shared the opinion there is too much romanticising about old Rhyl - and facts are more interesting. He is survived by daughters Lynne (now in Scotland) and Janine in Afon Wen. Bill Ellis and Yours Truly have been promised sight of his Rhyl history files.

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THE ARGENTINIAN CONNECTION

Recently, John Williams (husband of Stroma) gave up his Presidency of Rhyl Liberty Players. He has been a member of The Libs since 1963! On behalf of blog readers everywhere I send him best wishes. John wonders why the Rhyl streets Patagonia Avenue and Madryn Avenue are named after places in Argentina. Anybody know?

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MON 17th APR 2015 UPDATE: Gareth Morris writes, “Patagonia had a large population of Welsh speakers who emigrated from Wales in the 1860s. Since then there have been many exchanges in both directions including their visit in 1953 to the National Eisteddfod in Rhyl. The streets in question were built in the mid 1950s and may have been named to commemorate that visit.”

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CORONATIONS

The 1953 snap above came to me from an international smuggler. The recently-crowned Queen Elizabeth II is passing through Rhuddlan on her way to Rhyl to look at the site of the forthcoming National Eisteddfod.

I was six years old and the family was living in High Street, Rhuddlan, near where the snap was taken. I was given a union flag and told to wave it.

Ann Hayes, an old friend of this blog, says, “I vaguely remember the Queen's visit. We lived on Rhuddlan Road, Rhyl, and her car drove past – I remember us all standing in the front garden. There was much excitement! Here are some scans from the Rhyl May Day programme of 1953. May Queen Ruth Hall’s mother (was Phyllis Lane) had been a May Queen in 1934.”

Click on any picture to see a bigger version and be able to read the small print:

These scans should please fans of old adverts. More please, Ann!

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[These references are added here for indexing purposes: Queen Elizabeth II, Arthur Daltry, Mrs F C Anderson, Fred Henson, S Shepherd, Norman Smith, May Queen Ruth, Percy Thomas, May Queen Phyllis, Mivals, Brookes Milk.]

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RITA LANDI # 1

Rita Landi was born in Breconshire and trained as a coloratura soprano in Italy. She was active as a singer in the 1910s and '20s and then became a teacher. Miss Landi lived at Bettws Fawr which is now part of the county of Gwynedd, and then at Haulfryn in Bath Street, Rhyl, for 40 years. She was the founder and conductor of Rhyl & District Ladies Choir formed in 1931.

They were the first choir in North Wales to broadcast on radio. The ladies of the choir wore blue gowns and red capes and sang to prize-winning effect at eisteddfodau and at an international festival in Madrid in 1949 and 1953. On the second occasion in Spain they were awarded the title "champions of the world" - and that was a real feather in Miss Landi's cap.

The choir sang at local venues such as St. Thomas' Church and Rhyl Pavilion, and at Royalty Theatre Chester, and made two visits to Ireland. Miss Landi taught at four private schools in Rhyl: Colet House in East Parade, Elwy Hall in Grange Road, and Arcville and Blencathra in Russell Road. She also ran Rhyl & District Children's Choir.

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Copyright in the photograph belongs to Getty Images. It shows Rita Landi conducting a choir on January 1st, 1951 at Gwrych Castle.

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GENERATIONS

Here are two school pics from Gaynor Williams (was Jones). The one at the top was taken c.1950 and shows, left to right: Gaynor with Pearl Thomas, Joan Wright (?) and Pamela Boyle; they were taking part in a Christ Church School Sports Day at Botanical Gardens. In those days the school was in Vaughan Street and had no playing field.

Presently there is no school in the town centre or west end; children have to cross town for education. There are doubts about whether Rhyl West would be safe for a school anyway – with or without a playing field – because a lot of people have been making a lot of money out of housing people with behavioural problems in the neighbourhood for at least a quarter of a century.

The other picture is from mid-to-late 1960s and shows a recorder class at Ysgol Llywelyn. Gaynor’s son, the late Gareth Williams, is the boy on the left and David Foulds is the boy on the right. Who are all those lovely daft girls I wonder, and where are they now?

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TUE 20th OCT 2009 UPDATE: Thanks to Peter Trehearn for reporting that the male teacher with the recorder class is Mr. Gwynfor Jones who went on to be head of Ysgol Dewi Sant.

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MON 27th OCT 2009 UPDATE: Thanks to David Foulds for all the following info:

“Front row second from the left is Julie Bell.

“Front row centre is Christine Brookes whose father was Derek Brookes of Derek’s Service Station in Rhuddlan Road (next to the Crown Bard pub); the site is now part of the retail park generally known as ‘Sainsbury’s’. Derek was a Volkswagen dealer and a founder member of Rhyl Motor Club. He used to come to Ysgol Llywelyn at Christmas to do tricks – he was an accomplished magician. I believe Christine now lives in Dyserth.

“Front row second right is Elizabeth Davies who I understand still lives in Rhuddlan Road, Rhyl. Her surname changed when married.

“In the back row of children, second left is Amanda Kraus whose father was our family doctor. His son Richard continues in practice at the same place, 18 Dyserth Road. I believe that Amanda now lives in Colwyn Bay.

“The photograph was taken to mark our performance in the Urdd Eisteddfod; we won first place at the finals in Llanrwst. Also I won an award for a drawing of a postman which was done in felt tip pen which was a new thing that year. I still have the drawing framed and hanging on a wall. A very special year and happy memories.”

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ON THE MAES

In June 1953 the present Queen Elizabeth II had her coronation. The following month she was here in Rhyl visiting Brookes’ field (between Rhyl and Rhuddlan) to see advance preparations for the National Eisteddfod’s visit in August.

Mrs. Joyce Simcock (was Taylor) of Rhyl says, “This is a picture of Ysgol Emmanuel Choir who were Eisteddfod winners that year. I am in the middle row, sixth from the left, and the gentleman in the front row looking pleased is Mr T.A. Williams the music teacher.”

Thank you, Joyce. In the enlarged detail, she is top left and Mr. Williams bottom right. Not many boys in the choir, I see – shirking as usual!

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TUE 14th AUG 2018 UPDATE: One of the events at this Eisteddfod was a large-scale performance of Mendelssohn's biblical oratorio 'Elijah' with an orchestra from Liverpool.
The following is part of the programme; the list of participants looks like a mix of amateurs and professionals:

Click on the image to read small print.

The following names are added here for indexing purposes:
R.A. Butler politician,
Stanislav Pieczora singer Ena Mitchell, Patricia Kern singer Robert Thomas, Ernest Williams singer June Glynne Jones, Clive Berry singer,
Babbins Johnson dancer Arthur Solomons, 
June Appleton dancer Susan Benson, Pat Burrell dancer Joan Humphries, Gaynor Owen dancer Elizabeth Stubbs, Maureen Williams dancer Carol Wright, Margaret Hare dancer Pamela Jones, Miki Speak dancer Sybil Goodband, Einir Rowlands dancer,
Rev. W. Pritchard singer Arthur Higgins, John Edward Evans singer Donald Pryce Lloyd,
Gwilym Thomas singer J. Vaughan Jones, Hugh Jones singer Ken W. Platt,
David Parry singer Frank Hatch, Islwyn Parry singer Elfed Roberts, Errol Roberts singer Geraint Vaughan, A, Williams singer Edwin Williams, Terry Williams singer,
Tom Anwyl singer Tom Charles, G.C. Claridge singer Philip Griffiths, Joseph H. Jones singer G.W. Riches,
D.P. Hughes, G.E. Pritchard, Brenda Blazier, Joyce Holden, A.O. Evans, T.S. Simon.

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RHYL PALACE

Here is another gem from the collection of Gaynor Williams. The photograph was taken in 1904 during a visit to Rhyl by the National Eisteddfod. It shows a choir rehearsal and it gives a rare glimpse inside Rhyl Palace. This was the main hall and theatre of the failed Winter Gardens attraction that opened in 1876.

By 1904 most of the land had been sold off for residential development but Rhyl Palace, which stood in Wellington Road between Palace Avenue and Butterton Road, outlived the gardens.

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WINTER GARDENS

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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The Winter Gardens opened in 1876 between Butterton Road (which was in existence) and Sandringham Avenue (which wasn’t). It ran from the seafront down to Wellington Road and encompassed what we know today as North Avenue, South Avenue, Lake Avenue and Palace Avenue. The names Lake and Palace refer to places in the Gardens.

Indoor and outdoor exhibitions took place on the site, also cricket, football, hockey and tennis. There was a switchback railway, a seal pond and a monkey house. The 1878 summer programme included archery, bowls, a brass band contest and even performing fleas - which I presume were kept well away from the monkey house.

The Winter Gardens was an ambitious private development. You could have invested by going into Rhyl Town Hall and buying shares like this:

Click on the certificate to see a bigger version.

From a business point of view the Winter Gardens was not a great success. As the years passed it changed name to Rhyl Palace and Summer Gardens, and then the Old Gardens, before being sold off for residential development in the 1890s.

The Palace part was in Wellington Road, and the building remained a few years longer. The Palace also known as Rhyl Palace was a theatre suitable for public meetings, shows and music events; this came in handy during the visit of National Eisteddfod in 1904.

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The following references are added here for indexing purposes:
Rhyl Winter Gardens Aquarium Land & Building Co Ltd, John Smith of Bures St Mary, Greenhalgh, William Ashton.

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A STONE CIRCLE

THIS IS THE BLOG OF COLIN JONES, RHYL TOWN COUNCILLOR: BODFOR WARD
l
The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own and not the views of the town council.
l

Recent mention of Royal Alexandra Hospital, Marine Drive, on this blog brought a reminder of the picture postcard above; this shows the hospital (background, right) a year or two after it officially opened.

In the foreground is a Gorsedd stone circle laid in 1903 in advance of the arrival of National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1904. The Proclamation Ceremony and other Bardic ceremonies were held inside the circle which remained there until the late 1940s.

The National Eisteddfod has been here four times: in 1892, 1904, 1953 and 1985.

An A5-size booklet titled ‘Rhyl’s National Eisteddfods – A Valuable Heritage’ by Harry Thomas was published by Countryside Publications just before the 1985 visit. This 36-page illustrated booklet is bilingual; the Welsh translation is by Dafydd Timothy of Siop y Morfa.

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SUN 3rd APR 2015 UPDATE: Here is a postcard of the Gorsedd circle, not included in Harry’s book. This would relate to the 1903 visit (picture colourised at a later date). Look how undeveloped East Parade is!

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TUE 24th JAN 2017 UPDATE: A battered but rare item has come to hand.
Click on the image to see a bigger version.

" Presenting the Arch Druid with the Horn of Plenty at the Stones Rhyl Sept 1904."

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