In the past, the Women’s Institute has produced sets of coloured postcards celebrating all kinds of events and landmarks around Abergele. Here’s a photo by Gwyneth Vaughan of Betws yn Rhos WI, showing the Abergele National Ploughing Championship. Although this plough is pulled by horses, judging by the estate car in the background, this is a fairly recent competition.
On Saturday the 21st June 2014, the League of Friends of Abergele Hospital are holding their annual summer fete. Bob Pearson of the Friends has written with details:
“It is to be opened by Darren Millar A.M. at 2pm in the hospital grounds. Many different stalls will be there including tombola, bric-a-brac, plants, books, children’s toys, cakes, popcorn and many others. A police dog handler and armed responce officer will be attending to talk to members of the public about their roles. The lifeboat will be represented, a display of childres dancing, the Cantorion Choir and the Rhyl Junior Silver Band.”
The Mayor of Abergele, Brian Roberts, will be drawing the raffle. There will also be entertainment from Bro Aled School and the Joy Cournock school of dancing. There will be a children’s play bus and the Red Cross will be in attendance. (Source: Iolo Facebook page)
I have fond childhood memories of going to the annual summer garden fete at the hospital in Abergele. Back in the 60s we called it the Chest Hospital Fete or the Sanny Fete. From what I hear from Bob and his hard-working co-workers at the Friends, this year’s revival of an old tradition promises to be a real gem.
Photo of entrance to Hospital by Ross Davies.
Bella and Ginge snuggle together to keep warm. They live in Bryn Awel Avenue, off High St.
Further to Gareth’s 1925 postcard of Bryngwenallt, I came across one which appears to be slightly earlier, probably pre WW1 showing Bryngwenallt Hall, with Siamber Wen farm in the foreground. I would imagine the photo was taken from above the the Red Rocks area, possibly a place we local children called ‘The Glass House’. That was the site of one of (Abergele Sanitorium’s) Plas Uchaf’s old chalets forming part of the outlying TB wards’ buildings. Bryngwenallt’s gardens appear truly beautiful, as befitting such a splendid property. It was very sad to see how the Hall lost so much of its former glory, to my mind, from the 1960’s onwards, to become a mere shadow of its former self.
Garry McAlpine (see our exchanges further down this page) has kindly sent some lovely photos of Bryngwenallt Hall which I’ve included below, though I’ve had to reduce them in size somewhat compared to their original format :
I’m afraid I don’t know when they date to but, in the same way that they resurrected long-forgotten happy memories for me, I’m sure they will do the same for other of our readers. Many thanks for your input Garry & for sending them for inclusion on the site.
Following the discussions and posts about The Mount Cottages and the layout of Chapel Street, Abergele, over the years, I had an email from Huw Waters attaching six maps of central Abergele . He wrote in Welsh:
“Oeddwn i’n gweld sôn am fapiau Stryd y Capel yn Abergele yma. Mae hawlfraint OS arnynt dwi’n meddwl, felly dwi’n meddwl bod hi’n ddoeth cydnabod hynny. Dwi’n gallu cael mynediad i hen fapiau fel rhan o wasanaeth llyfrgell Prifysgol Bangor, ac felly gan ei fod mewn cyd-destun trafod hanes, tydw i ddim yn gweld dim o’i le.”
Huw says he’d seen the discussion here and found six maps via Bangor University’s library service. I think as long as I credit the OS, I’m OK to share these with you here.
Huw and I thought it would be fun to link the six maps into an animation to show the development in the 142 years since the first map shown. The source maps are below, which you can click on to enlarge.
Local historian and AbergelePost stalwart Andy (Nigel) Hilton has responded to the discussion about Mount Cottages over on this page.
He says: “I’ve managed to cobble together the relevant sections of two halves of the 1872 OS Map covering the Chapel Street/High Street area. They may shed some light on Andrew Hesketh’s comments regarding the 2 other Mount Cottage properties in the vicinity of the Old Police Station. I’ve also found an aerial photo which shows that same area, probably in the 1930’s I’d guess.”
This postcard is entitled “Bryngwenallt, Abergele and Pensarn” and was published in Valentine’s “Carbotone” Series – card No 65300. It shows an aerial view of Bryngwenallt Hall, with Abergele and Pensarn in the background. The postcard was dated 26th of July 1925.
I don’t know how long it will be before Aladin’s Cave’s owner sells this skeleton (it costs £130). In the meantime, Abergele’s residents can enjoy the photo opportunities…
This is a tiny quadrant of a multiview Abergele postcard from the 1970s or early 80s. Well worth the tiny postage-stamp size to be reminded of the Walls ice cream sign, the kiosk, the merry go-round and the old cars.
A 1980s Liverpool band called The Pale Fountains had a song called “Abergele Next Time”
“Abergele’s still not bad
still not bad this time of year”
..But are there any other songs that mention Abergele?
Feel free to add your suggestions in the Comments.
