Shotton Memories
Robert Cunnah from Palm Springs USA wrote:
I was born and raised in Shotton, left for medical school when I was 18 and after I graduated I moved to the US. I went to Hawarden Grammar School after passing my 11 plus at Shotton CP. When I was a kid, living in Shotton was great. There was the River Dee and the block houses to stop the Nazis from landing and I even remember the red brick air raid sheleter at the corner. We had a nissan hut in the backyard and I can also remember we had gas masks. I was born in 1947, and life was so much simpler then. Christmas was very special, and when it snowed it was so great to take walks into the countryside which was always easy walking distance from home. Vacations to Rhyl or day trips to the North Wales coast will always be fond memories. There were steam trains back then on the low rail line and the high rail line had diesel trains to Chester and Wrexham. The High Street was just one street in and one street out. I remember the Ritz and the Alhambra as well as the Hippodrome in Connah's Quay. The Ideal had the best shakes and ice-cream with chocolate sprinkles. Knowle's had the best cream cakes. Saturdays were great because we would have fish and chips from Jones's or Hazeldine's wrapped up in newspaper. My gran lived in Garden City and we always went to the Plaza in Queensferry on Friday and my gran would buy peanuts in the shell and make a mess all over the cinema floor. She used to say it kept everbody in their job. After John Summers and Sons closed, my dad retired, he was a steelworker and about ten years later he died. My mum moved away to be closer to my sister in Manchester and I stopped going back to Shotton. But I remember, Ash Grove where my aunt lived and Taliesin Avenue where my best mate lived. Times, faces, feelings, places. Anybody else remember the old days? I'd love to hear from you.
Jim Henderson wrote:
I was brought up in Shotton and remember the Ritz and Alhambra cinemas, also the Billiard Hall. We did not have a great deal to keep us occupied, but we made the best of what we had at a time when it was safe to play on the streets with simple games, and using our imagination. The Vaughan Hall has a lot of musical memories, as many 60s groups appeared there, such as The Kinks. Local groups The Fortune Tellers and The Apaches are others I believe played there. And The Civic Hall had groups such as The Merseybeats and The Rocking Berries appearing. They were exciting times. Shotton has a proud and interesting history. It has changed a great deal but not for the better I feel.
