people – Page 6

RIP Nibbs

Posted on 17/04/2012 by John_Bowman

It is with regret I have been asked to tell you that Nibbs (Geraint Evans) of Faenol Avenue, Abergele, has passed away a few days after his 70th birthday at St. Kentigern’s Hospice. Nibbs was a well known and loved local character and will be sadly missed by his many friends in Abergele. He leaves his wife Joan and sons Lee & Brett.

He had been suffering from cancer for some time but remained his usual cheerful self up to just a few days ago.

The service will be at Colwyn Bay Crematorium on Thursday 19th. April. 1030am.

Location – Bron y Nant Road/Dinerth rd. Mochdre Colwyn Bay. Post code. LL284YN. Tel. 01492 544677.

Nibbs had so many friends and was so popular that we are sure the Crematorium will be filled to capacity. If you can think of any of his friends who may have missed this message please do pass the information on.

– from John Bowman.

Twmffat!

Posted on 01/04/2012 by Gareth Morlais

A woman on holiday in a caravan park in Towyn went into Ellesmere’s hardware shop, Abergele, and asked:
“Excuse me, I’d like to buy a tundish”
“A what?” asked shop assistant G., whose first language was Welsh.
“A TUNDISH”
G. excued himself a moment and went to ask Mr Ellesmere in Welsh what a tundish was.
“It’s a bloody twmffat G.!”
“Aaah” sighed G., turning to the woman he said:
“Now why didn’t you say you wanted a bloody twmffat!?”

(more about Ellesmere’s)

Abergele’s 2012 Olympic torchbearers revealed

Posted on 19/03/2012 by Gareth Morlais

Here’s a list of the people who’ll be carrying the Olympic flame through Abergele on 29 May 2012

Eduard Kim (46) from Almaty

George Jacob (37) from Dubai

Gleb Nuriev (15) from Kondrovo

Graeme Johnson (69) from Dyserth

Joanne Wallace (34) from Warrington

Nathan Edwards-Hughes (19) from Abergele

Phil Jones(40) from Bodelwyddan

Stephen Bellis(56) from Mold

Steven Crossland(31) from Formby

(Source).

Good luck to all the Torchbearers, there’s sure to be a fantastic turn-out as the Torch enters town from the old road from Llanddulas, passes along Market St, turns left at the Gwindy lights down Water St, Dundonald Avenue and into Pensarn.

Pen-y-Ffordd Cottages

Posted on 01/03/2012 by Gareth Morlais

AbergelePost reader Juliet Roberts is researching her family tree and has asked for help from other readers. I’ll let her explain in her own words:

“I wonder if you might be able to point me in the direction of someone who may be able to help be locate an address…given as Abergele in the early 1900s? Ann and I are trying to trace our family tree and are curious to find where our grandparents lived at the time of their marriage. The Address given is Pen y Ffordd Cottages near Abergele. There does seem to be a very similar address now but I dont know if it’s the same place. Any advice would be greatly appreiciated.”

If you have any information that might help Juliet, please add them using the Comments on this page. Thanks.

Colin Knowlson’s Slaters of Abergele archive

Posted on 14/02/2012 by Gareth Morlais

When I opened the door, imagine my surprise to be staring at a big shiny red fire engine, with the words Abergele Urban District Council writtern in gold letters running along its side.

Slaters of Abergele is a name well-known throughout the country and now Colin Knowlson has archived his family’s motor company’s historical artefacts, images and documents. And he’s been giving historical and motivational talks to local societies and to people of all ages throughout north Wales.

Colin has some real gems in his photographic archive:

– a photo of world famous boxer and Gwrych Castle resident Randolph Turpin posing outside Slaters Garage

– an ariel photo of Abergele that must surely have been taken from a hot air baloon, because there were no cars on any of the roads and just one solitary horse and cart on Market Street.

– photos of the interior of the Teddy Jones-run Slater and Wheeler machine shop which turned out military equipment during WWII

– and many more fantastic photos

I’m sure to return here in the future to stories of Slaters and of old Abergele told to me by Colin today. But for now, I’ve just got a big smile on my face having seen that big shiny red old Abergele fire engine.

The Abergele Visitor

Posted on 02/12/2011 by Gareth Morlais

The Abergele Visitor was pushed through our letterbox every Friday. It was printed in Abergele, in a room with lino on the floor above the Visitor Office newsagents, next door to the Bee.

Our neighbour Gordon Hughes was the printer and the noise of the rolling presses made it difficult to hear him speak as he explained how he set the lead type mirror-imaged for each week’s edition.

The paper’s chief photographer was Mr Sumners who had his office and darkroom between the Visitor Office and Woolworth’s. Mr Sumners seemed to be at every wedding, summer fete, sports day and chapel parade. He’d develop his own photos and put prints of his latest shoots in his shop window, giving passing shoppers a good idea of what had been going on in Abergele that week.

Nowadays many local and regional papers are owned by bigger and bigger companies, based further and further away from their readers. But there’s something really cosy about remembering the days when the stories of Abergele were told by the people of the town itself. People like Gordon Hughes and Mr Sumners.

Advert for Mr Sumner's Photography from an old map of Abergele.

Lewis’s Sale

Posted on 11/11/2011 by Gareth Morlais

Twice a year there’d be an ad and a pricelist in the Abergele Visitor announcing Lewis’s Sale, Lewis’s was the men’s clothes shop next door to the Gwindy.

The owner had a name that really suited her personality: Jolly Much – a lively and kind woman.

Jolly would have a start date, tempting pricelists available for days beforehand, balloons and limited launch offers to build anticipation. She’d also stick paper on the windows to cover up the bargains until the ‘reveal’ on the first morning of the sale.

Skinny ribbed polo necks were in fashion and mum bought me a mustard one that was a bargain. I wanted to look like Illya Kuryakin from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

In the 1970s, underpants were generally sold individually, but Jolly would bundle up the pants and socks so you’d get five pairs for 50 new pence.

Yes, the Abergele shop owner who really knew how to stage a sale was Lewis Bros’ Jolly Much.

Lewis Bros ghost sign — This ghost sign next door to the Gwindy Abergele is all that remains to remind us of Lewis Bros

Danny and the George

Posted on 07/10/2011 by Gareth Morlais

Everyone remembers their first pint. Mine was a pint of sweet nutty Ansell’s Mild at the Pen y Bont pool bar and it cost me 28p. I won’t mention how old I was at the time.

Abergele being a market town had loads of pubs and each one had its own personality.

The Gwindy was a bikers’ pub.

The Harp was a farmer’s pub and drew an older crowd back in the 1970s.

The Bee had fab Welsh hymn singing every Saturday night.

After the Mormons left, The Bull became popular with Rotary and Round Table.

I didn’t drink in the Castle, but I always reckoned it was popular with Maes Canol dads.

The Hesketh, like many others, was two pubs in one – very young in the bar and much older in the lounge.

The landlords and landladies of Abergele pubs are what defined the pub and one pub that kept me coming back, time after time, is the George and Dragon, thanks to its landlords Danny and Mary.

For many years now, Danny’s been larger than life, with-a-hint-of-a-Scouse-accent, rugby supporting, fundraising Danny.

Apart from Royston :-), the George’s clientele has changed over the years: from the farmers of the 70s, the young crowd in the 80s and older drinkers in the 90s. There’s been one constant through the decades – Danny – one of Abergele’s shining stars.