Old photos from the archive

[SteveH]

Snow scenes in North Wales in past years
This week's selection of old pictures captures the cold weather typical of mid winter

photo WINTER GARDEN: The palm trees seem out of place in this snowy scene at Gareth Pritchard's garden in Llandudno in December 2010

https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/snow-scenes-in-north-wales-in-past-years/

[Hugo]

The photos brought back some memories of the snow in Llandudno in 1962.       A gang of us started making a snowball not far from Gareth Pritchard's house.    By the time we got it to Clonmel Street it was massive but we managed to get it on the pavement in Mostyn Street and rolled it down to the Venetzia cafe where we left it blocking the front glass door

[SteveH]

Life in North Wales captured in fascinating photos from 1993
As we embark on 2023, it's hard to believe these images were taken 30 years ago

photos https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/nostalgia/gallery/life-north-wales-captured-fascinating-25863399

photo Colwyn Bay, a community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales, September 9, 1993 (Image: Mirrorpix)

[Helig]

I remember the Woods department store was on the right of this photo, just a bit further down the road. It was like walking back in time the last visit I had to it. I cannot recall the year but c1970s??? When did it close?

[Hugo]

I remember the shop but have no idea when it closed but I've attached a link about the shop for you to see


https://colwynbayheritage.org.uk/woods-department-store-station-road/?lang=en

[Meleri]

My sister worked there in the 1980's when it was taken over by Owen Owens.

[SteveH]

Photos of North Wales people and places 20 years ago capture life in 2003
Travel back to North Wales in 2003 with these photos

It?s hard to believe that 2003 was 20 years ago and, although many areas of North Wales remain the same, plenty has changed over those two decades.

From hairstyles to fashion, cars to home d?cor, there are many things from 2003 that are out-dated now. North Wales Live has delved through the archives and uncovered dozens of photos that show people and places around various areas 20 years ago.

This includes Llandudno, Mold, Wrexham and many more towns and villages. Some images capture workers going about their day, while others show children having fun at school clubs.

photo gallery  https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/nostalgia/gallery/photos-north-wales-people-places-25952294


Photo below ...A reminder that Llandudno had a Bowling centre the Superbowl, which closed down from lack of business

[SteveH]

More evidence has emerged of a long-lost 19th-century railway on a Gwynedd beach. At low tide, submerged iron wheels and axles are occasionally revealed off Barmouth in an area where the remains of a narrow-gauge track have been spotted.

For decades, the track and rolling stock have lain hidden beneath the sand on the beach?s northern end. It is thought that, in recent years, they have been slowly exposed by shifting sand patterns on a coastline that is constantly evolving.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/long-lost-victorian-railway-slowly-26062944

[SteveH]

The devastating Llandudno Asda fire which left scores of people out of work
Tins could be heard exploding within the destroyed building long into the night

It was almost 50 years ago that a devastating fire ripped through a supermarket in a North Wales town. Flames engulfed the old Asda store in Llandudno in 1976.

The inferno cost scores of workers their livelihoods and all but destroyed the building - which was where the Parc Llandudno retail park is now. The fire was caused by two workmen using welding equipment on top of the warehouse.

In 2016, the Daily Post reported how David Barrow, then living in Halifax, was working as a forklift truck driver at Asda on the day of the fire. ?It was a hot and sunny day, and all the fire engines were out of town putting out grass fires,? he said.

?I was working on the first floor of the warehouse when one of the workmen shouted down for a fire extinguisher. I looked up and it was like watching a snake of fire dripping small blobs of flame onto the lower floor of the warehouse.?

By the time two Asda men ran to the top, the smoke was too thick to see anything, and it was decided to evacuate the building and move as much as possible outside, including the forklift trucks. Philip Evans, a twice former Mayor of Llandudno, remembers the day well as he worked for a water company, which increased the supply needed by firefighters to battle the flames, and also as a special constable guarding the charred shell.
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/devastating-llandudno-asda-fire-left-26071702?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589
cont

[SteveH]

Conkers, 'car boot kids' and dodgy humour - things you could do in 1970s you can't do now
North Wales Live readers have shared memories of life in a decade that had plenty of ups and downs

It was the decade of Chopper bikes, prawn cocktails and shagpile carpets. In the 1970s, the music was universally fabulous and the fashion was always eclectic, if often suspect, from flares to ponchos, Cuban heels, peasant blouses and DIY tie-dye. Space Hoppers were a big deal.

Homes were filled with paisleys, jungle prints and geometric shapes. Living rooms were accented with lava lamps, wicker peacock chairs and spider plants in macrame hangers. Very cool.

It?s easy to forget how awful things were too. Runaway inflation, endless strikes and the Winter of Discontent - on reflection some of that may sound very familiar to younger readers. Then there was the camp coffee and abrasive Izal loo paper in schools. Three TV channels, often in black-and-white.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/nostalgia/conkers-car-boot-kids-dodgy-26264867

[SteveH]

Tryweryn: The stories behind drowned village Capel Celyn

Betsan Powys grew up with the story of how the Welsh-speaking village of Capel Celyn was drowned to provide drinking water for Liverpool.

From her decades-long career as a journalist she thought she knew the story. But making a podcast about the drowning and the protests that followed gave her an opportunity to look beyond the passion and the myth.

The drowning of Capel Celyn is an emotive topic in Wales - the passion some feel almost 60 years on should come as no surprise and has been well documented.

When speaking to people whose homes were bulldozed and flooded and hearing the stories of those directly involved in the decades of political protest that followed, what struck me most were the nuances and complexities that came to light.

It's by listening carefully to these that you get to see beyond the story I thought I knew............. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64799911

[Hugo]

It's a sad reminder of what happened in the past and I trust that it will never be allowed to happen again.    It wasn't the first time that a Welsh village was flooded to supply water to English Corporations but hopefully it will be the last
Nothing remains of Capel Celyn now but when we had the draught last year I could see where the village was.   The headstones from the grave were removed and set near a place of remembrance  but the graves themselves are set in concrete in the original cemetery and a wall has been built around the site.   That was undertaken with the consent of the surviving relatives

[SteveH]

The extra road in the middle of the A55 and the reason why it's there
The remains of an old road between the carriageways can still be used to navigate a notoriously dangerous headland

Before the modern A55, there was Thomas Telford?s coast road, a spectacular route hugging the headland above Penmaenmawr, Conwy. Now a little used cycle path, a section of the old road still exists, shoehorned between the A55 carriageways at the western end of the tunnels.

For more than a century, the road was the main route from Conwy to Bangor, part of the original A55. It now sits beneath landslide barriers, these being a clue to the origins of the modern Expressway.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/extra-road-middle-a55-reason-26541929?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

THIS is the remarkable story of Llandudno resident Elsie Partington MBE.

Elsie was the daughter of Manchester-based brewery owner John Henry Davies, who helped save Newton Heath FC from going bust, a club that would later become Manchester United.

She lived in Orme Lodge on North Parade, with a chauffeur who drove her yellow Rolls Royce.

Most days she would get her chauffeur to take her in the Rolls Royce to the market, where she would buy a bag of bird food. She would sit on a seat by the pier entrance feeding the seagulls.

cont plus more photos  https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/23424607.life-chauffeur-driven-elsie-familiar-face-llandudno/?ref=rss&IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[Helig]

Just to expand on Elsie Amy Partington, nee Davies, in the 1911 census she was living at Moseley Hall, Cheadle, Cheshire. This was with her family, headed by father, John Henry Davies. Elsie was born about 1890 and she married Thomas Partington in 1912. Elsie appears to have had two children and was buried in the south cemetery of Chorlton cum Hardy when she died in 1976.