To all customers and friends
First of all apologies for peppering you with Newsflashes like this but
it is "events" season after all!!
Tywyn Victorian Festival, Mid-Wales August
5th - 11th 2001
We had been invited to attend the Tywyn Victorian celebrations by Mrs.
Sally Roberts, who plays an excellent Queen Victoria, after supplying a
complete Royal Engineers CSM uniform to Mr. David Radcliff, another
prominent member of the Tywyn Victorian community.
If you have read my account earlier this year of the parade in Brecon by
the 1879 Group, you will a
lready know that, as an ex-patriate Welshman,
a trip back "home" is a very special event in its own right. Traveling
up through the alpine-like scenery of mid-Wales was a very fitting
preamble to what was to be a magical few days at Tywyn.
The small town of Tywyn lies on the Welsh coast just above Aberdovey and
Aberystwyth and in the foothills of Snowdonia National Park. It is the
home of the famous Tal-y-llyn Victorian narrow gauge steam railway which
was first opened in 1865, and many of the Victorian events were centered
on the railway.
When we arrived on Saturday 4th after a four hour drive from the South
coast, we first of all booked in to the Corbett Arms, a quaint,
Victorian style hotel in the centre of the town. After an amazing dinner
of fresh locally caught fish, we met up with Sally Roberts, her husband
Owen, who plays the famous John Brown, and their son Peter, together
with some other members of the organizing committee, for a discussion of
plans for the next day.
Sunday morning was spent exploring the town and the seafront, but more
excitingly, driving some way up the valley behind the town as far as the
Dolgoch Falls, which is also a stop on the Talyllyn line, and from where
we w
atched kites wheeling high in the sky above the mountain ridges. At
1.30pm we were picked up, in full Victorian dress, by a mini coach which
already contained the rest of the Royal Party and, of course, Her
Britannic Majesty. We drove to a station which is the first stop on the
line after the main town station, and boarded a special carriage on the
"Royal Train" The train, which was already full of other
"Victorians", then took us down the line so that HM could
alight at the main Tywyn station. The railway line is a narrow gauge and
everything about the railway is slightly miniaturized, including the
railway platform, so accompanying HM with a drawn sword presented some
problems, as the platform was crowded with holidaymakers. After a
welcoming speech from the chief official of the Railway, resplendent in
top hat and tailcoat, Her Majesty was invited to inspect the Railway
museum which is at the end of the station platform. After her
inspection, the Royal Party adjourned to a nearby garden, kindly loaned
by the local dentist, for a Victorian garden party. After delicious
fresh strawberries and cream served by Victorian serving maids,
proceedings were adjourned until the evening.
At 7.30pm we all met u
p again at the main railway station for what was
to be a truly unforgettable experience and which was so typical of, and
totally unique to, my home country of Wales.
The Royal party once again boarded the train, together with other
Victorians and the local Member of Parliament and his wife, and the
destination was the station of Abergynolwyn, which is the main station
at the end of the track. (The actual last station has no road access and
is the starting point for walks etc). Also on the train was a Welsh
male-voice choir, the Cor Meibion Llanrwst. After some miles we
disembarked and repaired to the station tea-rooms. The choir had
arranged themselves on the small platform outside, and after a short
while and a dedicating speech to Her Majesty, they began their programme
of Welsh songs. You really have to be a Welshman to have any idea of
what effect that has on your tear ducts and throat !! Especially when
they ended with "We'll keep a welcome...." Anyway, enough of
that.....during the performance the evening light had been fading and
darkness had fallen and was relieved only by dim station lighting and
the lights on the engine, which was patiently waiting, hissing softly, a
light glowing from the boiler in t
he cab. This did nothing but add to
the incredibly romantic and emotional atmosphere of the event.
The short concert over, we got back on the train and traveled back down
the line in total darkness, the Welsh countryside illuminated only by
moonlight. an absolutely unforgettable experience and one which
definitely reinforced my pride to be part of a very special nation!!
Business commitments prevented us from staying for the remainder of the
week's Victorian activities and we left very early on the Monday morning
and drove four hours due South, but feeling very privileged to have been
allowed to take part even for a short while.
I am attaching some photos and pictures of the Railway
Keith Perks |
