Bersham School

A Memory of Rhostyllen.

I attended Bersham School until 1950 and well remember the daily walk (or run) from 30 Wynnstay Crescent up West Grove to the school. I believe 1947 was the year that the winter flood happened and Gwylim Williams drowned near the footbridge. I remember all the teachers at Bersham - Mr Hughes, Mr King, Mr Gilla and Ms Mitchel. She had a great influence on me and was instrumental in getting me to Grove Park. I saw Mr Hughes on Bersham Road in the late eighties and he actually said my name when my sister Kathleen asked him if he knew who I was!

How many of my school friends remember me I wonder? Names I remember are: Glyn Jones, Derek Rowlands, Tony Pemberton, Cynthia Rogers, Beryl Davies, Pam Kyffin, Phillip Pierce, John Povah, Colin Humphries, Emily Rogers (Blacky Row, and she had a younger sister whose name I have forgotten). I was a train spotter and remember trying to catch the ZULU express passing Rhostyllen at 1:00pm. Our gang spent hours at the railway line by the church and climbed along the sewage pipe there! When I was old enough I spent all my time at the billiard room at the parish hall.

Everybody remembers the 'Argie' in Bersham as the gathering place for folk on a Sunday afternoon. Bluebell Woods alongside the Argie was our source for these flowers. I wonder if they still grow there? The old ironworks was a place of interest. Hazel Thomas's family worked the farm and I remember Hazel in the uniform of the Catholic school in Wrexham. Some of us Rhostyllen lads were privileged to play in the octagonal building there with Hazel's permission. Hazel had a friend who lived in a farm about a mile up the step waterfall road. I think her name was Beryl Huxley. We Bersham pupils used to walk from the school to the old church building by the parish hall for lunch every day and I still remember the rows of tables there, and where the food was cooked in the back rooms.

Now to the village shops: Harry Morgan, Trevors, "Top chippy' and 'bottom chippy' were Thomas's and Lloyd's fish and chip shops. We loved the fish cooked by Mr Thomas and the chips cooked by Lloyds! The post office in Bersham was the creepiest shop I can remember.

Mention must be made of Owens' village buses. Bill Owens must have retired and the service then provided by Williams, the company in Ponciau. We used to ride Owens' buses to Wrexham to go to Grove Park School. On this subject I do remember one of the conductors - Dolly Bowen. However she may well have worked for Williams. When Bill Owens ran the buses, I remember my mother (Mrs Gwen Hughes) telling me in later years that Bill would stop the bus to pick me up if he saw me walking home from Wrexham. What a guy!

Bonfire nights! We used to have a huge fire down by the old Rhos railway Line in some disused backyard and I remember spending a lot of time gathering the wood for this event. Many trees in Bersham woods suffered at our hands!

On a sorry note, I remember how we used to taunt an old lady who lived in a decrepit house on Station Road just before the slight hill down to the Rhos railway bridge. We thought she was a dangerous witch! Her backyard faced the foundry.

Another landmark in my village was 'Albert the Barber's'. There was a man who never seemed to stop working. My dad would take me there for a haircut in the 'back' room, and every time a customer would come in the shop, Albert would leave the haircut customer to attend to the shop! A haircut (with those hand operated clippers) could take an hour! In addition to selling groceries, old Albert used to sell home made cough "remedies" and dubious "tonics". I'm sure us village folk thought he had a medical degree and could out-diagnose a doctor - what a character he was! He used to sponsor the village races once a year up at the 'Rec'. I remember winning a shilling or a sixpence in these games. Albert was a true resident of Rhostyllen indeed.

I will confess to a criminal act up at the 'Rec' in my youth. In the field where the wooden club house was situated there existed several very old and large oak trees. One of these trees near the railway line had a rotted-out space about 10 feet off the ground. I think it was Phillip Pearce who was with me, and we started a fire in this dead wood. It grew out of control and in a panic Phillip and I ran away to Bersham (down the old lane lined with the beech trees). We expected the police to be knocking on our door for several weeks! I see that the tree has since been cut down. In the 'Rec' were the two sets of swings, the roundabout and the 'jars. Those swings must have been made by real craftsmen because they were still in use many years after we used them. Are they still there?

If anybody reads this and remembers me, please do drop an email to me in Dublin, Ohio, USA. I notice I am the first memory writer for Rhostyllen and I hope to see others.

hughes@chemohio.com

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