You are here:
Mochdre
Mochdre maps
Historic maps of Mochdre and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Mochdre maps
Mochdre area books
Displaying 1 of 0 books about Mochdre and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Mochdre
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Mochdre.
Add your memory of Mochdre
or of a photo of Mochdre.
1959 to 1964
In the bottom left corner of the photo is a row of four white bungalows. My father --Ron Bartlett built these and several others on the estate from about 1959 onwards. We lived in the top one. The house immediately to the right of ours was owned by the Williams family. This was a husband and wife who had retired from the family butchery in the Midlands. Next to them lived Margaret and Ron Hankey. Further up the street at No3 (I think) lived Bill and Rhian Trench and their son Allan. The Llangwystennin church and graveyard is just out of view on the opposite side of the valley. Both of my maternal grandparents (William and Jane Jones) are buried there.
Mochdre in those days was a quiet village - one pub (Mountain View??) and a row of shops on the main road. I had previously been at John Bright Grammar School in Llandudno, but had to move to Colwyn Bay Grammar... Read more
MAY DAY MEMORY
REMEMBER, REMEMBER
WE must have been thirteen.
Cousin Keith and I sat on a small flight of steps, what remained of a burnt-out bungalow overlooking the village.
It was May Day. Hot and somewhat sticky, but we cared not for the shinnanigins of the day.
We were too old. Thirteen, you understand. Now, bereft of silly things like dressing up as dwarfs, blacking-up as Kentucky Fried minstrels, eating ice cream cornets, knocking coconuts off poles and watching girls dance around a pole.
Cus and I had fled the day. Our observation post above the village was but a refuge from the mayhem.
Did we care? Not a jot. We had earned our place in the sun. We had done our duty for too many years.... Read more
Clwyd memories
Pwll-Y-Crochan Woods
My late father was born in Colwyn Bay and his father and some of his relatives resided in Grove Park. Every year my parents and my siblings had to visit the relatives, especially one we called Aunty Polly who I think was really called Mary but because she was always polishing and cleaning, my mother referred to her as 'Polly Panshine' and the nickname stuck. She had a huge bowl of false waxed fruit in her hallway and used to love offering us an apple, pear or orange, knowing we always forgot it wasn't real! We loved going for walks in the beautiful, and magical (as we children thought) Pwll-y-Crochan woods. We used to be very quiet whilst walking because then we saw rabbits running here and there, and could hear the birds twittering in the trees. We used to frighten ourselves to death believing there may be ghosties around in the darker parts of the woods, but of course, it was all a figment of our own imaginations! I... Read more
Little Green Buses Along The Prom.
For many years, Colwyn Bay U.D.C. ran a bus service along the promenade from Old Colwyn to just beyond the former pier at Rhos on Sea. Commencing in 1926, a small fleet of 5 'Guy' BB type vehicles with covered top 'toastrack' bodies ran in service during the late spring to early autumn tourist season. While the normal requirement was for two vehicles to maintain a half-hourly service, when the weather drew tourists to the beautiful beach in their many thousands, all of the vehicles were pressed into service.
Five conventionally sided small buses, (of 'Guy' Wolf type) were taken into stock in the period 1934/7 with another in 1949. By 1954 all of the pre-war vehicles were in a 'tired' condition and they were replaced by three Bedford OLAZ type with bodywork of a spartan nature by Spurlings. By 1960 the last of the old 'Guy' vehicles was on its last legs (wheels ??) and the opportunity was taken to purchase two further lightweight Bedfords of similar specification... Read more
To School Along The Prom
I lived in Mochdre, and went to the grammar school, 1955-1962. Getting off the bus at the station we would walk along the prom, skipping stones in the sea, or dodging the waves during stormy high tides. Then we would walk to the school through Eirias Park. One morning I fell into the sea, and had to spend the whole day in a very scratchy ATC uniform, while my clothes dried out in the boiler room.
When we were supposed to be on cross country runs, some of us diverted regularly to our beloved beach; then ran in at the end of the lesson, "puffing" heavily. I never thought we'd been detected, until I read my end of year PE report, which commented that, "Eryl really enjoys his cross country walks."
Whatever gains were afforded to me at my school, I always add to them the amazing privilege that was mine, in my daily journeys to and from the place where my teachers tried hard to break through to an... Read more
Re Donkey Path
My memory of the donkey path on the promenade. I used to walk from Old Colwyn to Rhos on Sea nearly every sunny day during the summer school holidays. They were the best Swimming Baths I have ever swum in, at Rhos. The donkey path ran alongside the prom, below the railway embankment. Primroses blessed the grassy banks in the spring. The path meandered through trees , it was wonderful. Fond memories of my wonderful childhood.
Fun in The Park
1960. As young lads most of us had started work and Friday/ Saturday night was our gang meeting night. Summer hols were good fun as the bay used to get a lot of girls, swap girls as we called them, on holiday from Sweden, the swap was a girl from the bay area would exchange family in Sweden and vice versa, but it was our swap if we had a date with one and did not like her, and would always meet in the fair ground - yes the bay had its own fair ground - small, but opposite the tunnel under the train station. Then most Saturdays we would have the battle of the Alamo with the canoes in Eirias Park, the last man still in his canoe had free drinks the following Saturday. There was always one in the gang who worked on the canoes and knew where the key to the chain was, and we always got the boats righted or it would of been the end... Read more
