Here’s a photo of St George’s Rd, Abergele, by Sion Jones.
Abergele Grammar School football team 1943-44
Andy Hilton (aka Nigel Hinton) has been a long-time contributing editor to AbergelePost.com. He wrote recently:
“I wonder if you can help me out. You may recall that some time back I put out an appeal via AbergelePost.com to see if any of our readers had any group photos of past Abergele Grammar School pupils, to include in the magazine. I recently heard from Derek Harper, who attended the school between 1940-44. I replied to him direct & we’ve subsequently spoken on the phone.
“He’s a sprightly 87 year old gentleman who, in his time, was very much into sports, especially athletics, winning numerous & various awards. During his (almost) 2 years in the army just after the war, he became a Physical Training Instructor, whilst even in his 60’s he was still competing at sports. He also attained his Private Pilots Licence, so you get some idea of his mettle, though he did mention that he’s now only allowed to fly solo, i.e. wiithout passengers, in view of his advancing years. So, that’s some of his background.
“His original email & 3 photos are attached, prepared by his daughter, as he says he’s not overly computer savvy. What I hope we can do is upload the 3rd image to the appeal page on the site, as a fairly large size, so that the readers can better view the pupils with their teacher. All of their names are included in image No.2. “
“Derek says he also has a list of the teachers who were at the school during his years there & will post that information on to me in due course.”
Thanks Andy and Derek. Here are Derek’s photos. Click on the image to see them at their original size. Please feel free to use the Comments section to add any information, names or stories.
The Abergele Home Guard
Here are two photos from the Dennis Parr Collection of the Abergele Home Guard. One was taken on a wooded hillside and the other is thought by Dennis to be taken at the Marine Hotel in Pensarn.
Abergele’s War Memorial at St Michael’s Church
Abergele’s War Memorial at St Michael’s Church.
Dyma’r Cofeb yn Abergele i’r hogiau na ddaethant adre o’r rhyfeloedd 1914-1918. Hefyd 1939-1945.
As Wikipedia says: “Armistice Day (which coincides with Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, public holidays) is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o’clock in the morning—the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918. While this official date to mark the end of the war reflects the ceasefire on the Western Front, hostilities continued in other regions, especially across the former Russian Empire and in parts of the old Ottoman Empire.”
Some news about the Dennis Parr Collection of Abergele photos
Judging by the comments here and on Facebook, local photographer Dennis Parr’s photographic collection has given many readers great enjoyment over the past months.
Dennis has written to say that he’s deposited his entire photographic collection, which numbers around 500 gems, with the Conwy Archives Department in Llandudno.
Ms Susan Ellis of the Archive has kept them for safekeeping and they will be available to view at the Llandudno Archives facility.
The Archive Service is based at: The Old Board School, Lloyd Street
Llandudno, Conwy LL30 2YG. (01492) 577550 archifau.archives@conwy.gov.uk
The Conwy Archive Service is open to the public every Monday to Thursday from 10:00 to 12:30 and 13:30 to 16:30.
Lady Emily’s Tower, Abergele
This watchtower is called Lady Emily’s Tower. It’s near Cefn yr Ogof and is a familiar landmark to everyone who drives along the A55 north Wales coast road between Abergele and Llanddulas. It’s a 1930s folly commissioned by Lord Hesketh’s wife, Lady Emily, so she and the children could go painting and take in the air (source)
Lady Emily’s Tower is connected with Gwrych Castle. From its perch, high above North Wales’s A55 road, you can see breathtaking views east and west along the coast. Looking out to sea from the tower is stunning, with the windfarms peppering the northern horizon.
Walks
In the woodlands around the tower, you can walk along the many paths created when the tower was built.
“The headstone above the main entrance to Lady Emily’s Tower bears the words “the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands prepared the dry land”, taken from line 95:5 from Psalms of David.
“There’s a variety of access points as it’s buried in some really beautiful woodland, we park near Llandulas and walk up the scree banks from the Dolwen / Tan Rallt side. The view from here opens up quickly over the houses of Llandulas, The Beach caravan park and beyond.
The Frozen Divide Blog writes: “After forging a path through the maze of forest trails, the limestone caves lower down the cliffs are amazing fun and well worth an explore too, with popular sport climbing routes.”
The hanging dummy
There are a few stories associated with this landmark. However, my favourite is the one told to me by a friend of my father’s – on the condition that I didn’t publish his name. When he was a boy in the late 1950s, he and his friends ‘borrowed’ a tailor’s dummy of a woman from the back of an Abergele dress shop. They marched the dummy up to Lady Emily’s tower. They then hung her from a rope round her neck from the branch of a tree through the tower’s window. Seeing the body swinging over the cliff, several car drivers on the road below stopped at phoneboxes in Llanddulas and Abergele. They called the police to say they’d witnessed a tragedy.
The police retrieved the dummy from Lady Emily’s Tower and returned her to the dress shop owner. Do you know what? I don’t think my father’s friend was ever found out.
Glynn Cinema, Abergele
Here’s a photo from Dennis Parr’s collection (reproduced with kind premission) of the old Glyn Cinema in Abergele Market St.
Water St., Abergele
Do you know the history of this stone?
You may have walked over this moss-covered slab after crossing the Gele via the second steel bridge from what we used to call the Sixth Field to the base of Red Rock, Tower Hill. It’s a large flat stone lying on its side. But what’s its history I wonder? Was it a grave, a fallen gatepost, an old standing stone..? If you know, please let me know.
1915-2015: Abergele & District Commemorations: John Owen Gilmore
Private 12847 John Owen Gilmore. 1st Battalion Scots Guards, 2nd (Guards) Brigade, Guards Division. Killed in action, 27 September 1915, Battle of Loos, aged 19. No known grave. Commemorated Panel 8 and 9, Loos Memorial, Loos-en-Gohelle, Pas de Calais, France. Not commemorated in the Abergele district.
Born Abergele 1897 and lived 17, Mount Pleasant, Abergele until at least 1911. The eldest of the six children of Owen and Harriet Gilmore. Enlisted in Liverpool with an address of 269, New Chester Rd., New Ferry, Wirral, Cheshire.
Before enlistment he had worked, from at least the age of 14, as an Iron Ore Miner, like his father. He landed in France as a reinforcement for 1st Scots Guards 12 July 1915. He was reported as missing during the Battle of Loos on 27 September 1915, and with no further evidence to his fate he was presumed to have died on that date several months later. See here for more details of Loos and Abergele.