The first holiday recalled in Mum’s account was to Wales:
“Holidays figured very largely in my memories up to and during the Second World War. The first holiday we took after Aunty Mary and Uncle Len settled in Kenlis, Vaughan Road, Wallasey, was when my brother was under one years old and we hired the Dock Board holiday cottage at Pensarn near Abergele, North Wales. My sister and I thoroughly enjoyed the change but my mother said ‘it was just exchanging one sink for another’ which I expect it was looking back. Pensarn was not a place with much going for it and without a car (my father didn’t drive) it was difficult with a young baby to use public transport – although we did manage to visit Abergele once. On the promenade was a small pierrot show. The star of the show, as far as I was concerned, was a Kitty McCourt – a soubrette and dancer. I thought she was wonderful and we went most days to see the show. One famous day, she fainted. She went off the stage and there was a bang. I can still see her feet sticking out from behind the curtain. She did recover and was singing and dancing again at the next performance.
At Pensarn, I nearly ended my short life. I was in the bathroom having a cold wash. Luckily, I did not put the plug in for, when I looked down, there was a tarantula (or so I thought, at the time) and quick as a flash, I washed it down the drain. It was quite a big spider and it probably came up the drain pipe from the greengrocers next door. My family told me I was very brave, and it was the first time that I felt that I was a ‘star’. One of my duties at Pensarn was to go to the local newspaper show for my dad’s daily paper. I can still feel the cool early morning air on my face and the great feeling of responsibility being allowed out alone at 7.30 in the morning. My mother, never went to a hire cottage again.”
Mum told the story about the spider many times during my childhood, and, although even she was never afraid of spiders, we were always aware of the dangers that large spiders could present. As her brother was only born in September 1932, this holiday must have been in 1933 – perhaps around Easter. Her father was quite a senior employee of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and this must have enabled them to book the cottage. I have been unable to trace this house, but there were others at Pensarn, mainly for children from Merseyside rather than families. I have seen a reference to a Kitty McCourt from a 1982 Liverpool newspaper, in an obituary to her husband, but whether this is the same person is unclear.
Pensarn was a very different place then from that of today. Then it was a cluster of houses, shops and churches around the railway station (which is still open), with a promenade and associated buildings. Since that time, Abergele, Pensarn and Tywyn have featured numerous caravan parks, while the suburbs of Abergele have covered what was previously an area of open countryside alongside the road into Abergele.
4 July 2022
Joan Boughey Recalled 