Wales

This was taken early in 1958, I was about seven months old at the time. The location is Llanrwst in Wales. The river behind me is the Conwy.


I traced the pub/hotel in the background (it was a Trumans pub back then) which is the “Pen-y-Bont” on Bridge street. It is still there as of writing.

We were on holiday, either staying in Llanrwst or down the road in one of mum and dads favourite places, Betws-y-Coed.

I wasn’t impressed back then, but I am now, of the coachwork of these old prams. The front part is hinged and I believe one of my earliest memories of this life was looking out through that portal when the hood was up. In the picture I’m holding a star shaped rattle. What can’t be seen is the two point leather harness that was often used to hold seven month old babies captive in these tanks.

Arthur and Dorothy had a long love affair with Wales, spent time there before they were married and later the family had many happy holidays all around Wales.

In the late 1970s they both moved to North Wales to retire.

The Magnet, Toys and Fancy Goods

My mum and dad, Arthur and Dorothy Weldon ran a shop on Wavertree Road, Liverpool 7.

The Kelly's Street Directory of Liverpool shows that the Magnet Supply Stores (Liverpool) Ltd, (described as a grocers), is listed between 1958 and 1966 at 179 Wavertree Road. It was situated between Wynne Street and Scourfield Street, I'm going to assume that is the same shop, although I am not certain.


The shop sold toys, fancy goods, greetings cards and various other things, we had a Dinky Toys franchise and were one of the first shops in Liverpool to sell Action Man. I recreated a photo of what the shop would have looked like, unfortunately all the shops in lower Wavertree Road have been demolished. The shop had a central door and two shop windows like the one depicted below.


It was around 1967 or so that a bus strike caused a lot of the Wavertree Road shops to suffer and eventually, customers were lost and the business was closed. In the years that followed, before 2002, all the shops in that local area were demolished for new housing development, I continue to search for photographs of their old shop, It is sad that not one of us took phootos of it, a life's lesson right there.