Welsh Wales camping,the way it was

Camping for the McBride family started when I was about eight years old,from one end of Britain to the other end and many cross channel trips to Belgium,Germany,Italy,Switzerland and Austria,the idea was affordable and we had some great times.

The picture was taken circa 1965?  left click it to view full size,I have re discovered a very large amount of similar photos.

From left to right,I have no idea who the first two are but I think my mother is sitting on the far side of the lady with her back to the camera,thats Betty Boyle,the first girl is Elizabeth,a good friend of the girl next to her, Susan Boyle,thats her dad Alex Boyle sitting in the camp chair and facing the camera.My father  is wiping his hands while the AA man does his work.

I assume the picture was, taken by myself with my fathers camera,as thats my dad standing by his 1953 Morris Oxford 1400cc side valve engined car,the AA were called out and I think the problem was a large one,the fibre crank drive gear had broken up,only a new one would work,so the front of the engine had to be stripped.

The place was at the Farmer Thomas back field,in Llangwnadle,Lleyn Penninsula,North West Wales,a favorite place for us as campers,it was a Whit Sunday holiday weekend.We were there as members of the Liverpool and North West Wales Camping Club of Great Britain and Ireland,the group is now in their 90th year of camping.

Exports are speeding up

The yard KND,which is now working in the  Simonstown Naval Dockyard, has nothing at all to do with what CKD Boats cc does,except I have two good friends on her right now as officers,thats enough for me to post this fantastic shot of the 30 meter fast patrol boat that they have built.

Please please,left click the picture to view full size and feel the speed!

With a three engine set up,thats 3500 hp,jet engines and a top speed of some 32 knots there must be many uses for such a boat off the African coast.

Thanks for the use of the picture I found on this web site http://www.kndprojects.com/

The Last of the Summer Wine,Its still summer on our marina

John gives a friendly wave to say hi to Notty who is now back in the UK,if this is the start of our winter I have no complaints.Sunrise is 7am on the dot today,recently we have lost hours of local daylight but with fine weather like this lifes just great!

Johns boat,a Morgan 31 is named  Rosie Dry,the last of the summer wine perhaps?

Roy

Our Fraser race Imp is now painting

Well the guys are doing the painting,we used a picture named Jims Imp for reference to the blue layout paterns.The car should be ready for fitting out later this week.

Jims Imp,thanks for the copy.

Roy

Introducing Henry

Henry is a pidgeon,well we think so as thats the size he seems to be growing to right now,he was gifted to us a few weeks back when he and his whole nest fell from a tree and landed on an air conditioning box,the rest is all about feeding and more feeding.

Henry as he arrived,in a box with his nest

We really did not expect him to see the first night out,much to our surprise he did!

Jean made contact with Hout Bays World of Birds on how to feed this tiny chick,they were most helpfull.

The food must go in the top part of his mouth and on the top of the tongue.

I made the cage before I flew off to the Uk for a week,he still sleeps in it but two weeks laterwe leave the grate off now,he has self taught himself to fly and is a friendly little chap.

More on Henry to follow,of course he may be a Henrietta,time will tell on this one.

 

St Andrews Church in Maghull,Lancashire,England

While I was born in Anfield,home of the Liverpool FC,as a family we soon moved to the wide open spaces and farmlands in the area known as Maghull. St Andrews was our local church,its quite a large structure,I had not really noticed this untill a week or so back as I walked through the grounds on a short cut to the James Page House where I was visiting my mother.

The main view from the  Damfield Lane side

The traditional roofed gate,its been like this as long as I can remember

This will be the oldest part of the church grounds,as the small chapel was once part of a larger structure which was demolished to make way for St Andrews as it is to be seen now,you can pass the chapel and think nothing of it but if you look closer you will find its the oldest church structure in Lancashire.

The church building is thirteenth century,thats a very old building.

I have to assume this is the same Frank Hornby of the train set manufactures,excepting I think I read he became an MP at the age of 73?

Maghull it would seem is very much a part of local history,you just have to open your eyes and look around you!

Roy

Taffy tries out his Watchmate AIS in Australia

We arranged shipment of the latest Watchmate AIS unit to Taffy and Shirley on their yacht The Road while they were out here on a family trip,the unit is now up and running,read about it below.

Hi both,

Just a few lines to let you know that the AIS is up and running. Apart for a few heart stopping moments in the late evening when for about 4 minutes there was a failure in the GPS signal, but it did come back, and performed for the balance of the night without a second glitch.

After the relativly short trip from Sydney to Nelson's bay Port Stephens, we are already wondering how we managed to survive for so long without one. For example, off the approaches to Newcastle (the New South Wales Australia version) at one point there were 17 targets on the screen simultaneously, four of which were indicated in black (collision course suspects) , but as we had the system set on a 12 mile range, there was plenty of warning time for us to deal with each one without raising our communal blood pressures.

We did however take the precaution of contacting the first commercial ship we came accross with an active AIS signal, and confirmed that not only was our receiver mode working, but our transponder also, and yes everything was 100%

So my friends you can proceed to sell these units with impunity, and should you require an independant wholehearted endorsment of the product, you only have to ask.

Well that's about that for that, look after yourselves and keep in touch.

Taffy and Shirley.(plus of course Rubbish)

 which is their african grey parrot,Roy



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Frank Hornby of Maghull

Its often later in life we learn what we do,trains and train sets were a passion when I was small, little did I know that the inventor of Hornby Trains lived and died in the very same village I also lived in!

History, The railway line between Walton Junction (near Liverpool) and Lostock Hall (near Preston) was proposed by the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway, and was authorised by Act of Parliament on 18 August 1846. In October 1846, the company was leased to the East Lancashire Railway, which opened the line on 2 April 1849; among the original stations was that at Maghull.

Thanks to Wikipedia fo the above words and picture of the station below.

Maghull is now the last station on this branch on Merseyside before the county boundary with Lancashire.
Frank Hornby, the designer of Hornby model railways, lived in the Maghull area; he based the design for all railway stations for small towns and villages in the Hornby Trainset on Maghull station

Frank Hornby used to live in this cobbled road,more or less at the point where those large trees are at the far end of the picture,I was taking the walk from the James Page Care Home to visit family friends John and Rose,thanks for the great evening meal both!

A collection is being made of pieces,

Check the link out for more info  http://www.maghullstar.co.uk/maghull-aintree-news/maghull-aintree-news/2010/01/14/hornby-history-needed-for-maghull-s-new-toy-museum-104897-25585042/

Hi Roy, just having a look at your site and realised that you have made mention of Frank Hornby, thought you may like to know that I am Chairman of the Frank Hornby Charitable Trust, and the the bloke, Len Green, in your photo is one of our trustees. We have just secured space in the 'Meadows' leisure centre (you passed it on your way to the old Kirbys site) for the worlds first permanet exhibition to Frank Hornby, rather than the toys he made, so if you, or any of your friends have anything to do with Frank Hornby I would be delighted to have it in our exhibition.

Cheers

Les

Caractor Graphics
Moorhey Road
Maghull



DO YOU hold a piece of Hornby history you would like to share with visitors to Maghull’s new toy museum?


Employee wage slips, letterheads, Dinky, Meccano toys and Hornby memorabilia are among a list of items wanted to go on display at the Hornby Experience Centre.

The museum will pay tribute to the famous toy model maker, Frank Hornby who lived in Maghull.

Celebrating his work, it will catalogue a social history of the toy king’s life – from inventor to when he became MP at the age of 73.

Hornby Trust treasurer and Aintree Village Parish councillor Len Green, who is a past chairman of the Liverpool Model Railway Society, is making the memorabilia appeal.

Len is keen to stress that items would need to be donated to the museum and not loaned.

Aluminium service vessel in Hout Bay Harbour

As far as I know the boat was designed and built in Simonstown,this is the first one of its type and I was told two more are on order.South African flaged right now,its final destination are the oil fields in Nigeria mainly as a crew service and supply vessel,there is a large and spacious seating layout in the top saloon area.

Hout Bays Harbour and hills make a fine backdrop to the South African national flag.

The front end shows a no nonsense design that is made for coming alongside,the boat has a rubber fender  around most of it,note the Nigerian national flag.

Lagos will I assume be the vessels home port.

Lots of Aquasignal lights,we can supply these to order when required.

The Zodiac supprised me,I would have expected a local brand such as Gemini or other well known South African made rubber boat.

The boat was full of crew and engineers,all were really nice guys and I was able to talk to a good number of them on my extensive tour of the ship (thanks Charles). They left around 4.55pm yesterday afternoon,Bon Voyage and have a great trip!

Roy

Captain Wrankmore continues to serve his ship

Never one to be put down or let an injury stop his work Captain Wrankmore shows a good face as he heads for a taxi to go and clear himself and men out of the country on the ships delivery trip.

Seen here along side in Hout Bay Harbour

Spring in Maghull,England

It always amazed me how these bulb flowers can survive even the harshest of winter but still pop up when Spring arrives.

These were to be found all around Maghull,many just seem to grow wild.

Where is Cape Town?

Where indeed,lets face it the name Cape Town is an odd one,we are used to it but the first time I heard it I did wonder about it and why it was named so,its not a name one would forget,unless you also have to ask where in South Africa?

I was in my home town named Maghull,it was once a village but urban creep from greater Merseyside,or Liverpool to give it its proper name soon spread further and further and while once I was thought a little strange not to have a proper scouse accent,I was nick named Maghull at work in Liverpools Dryden Street factory at Tysons,a large building contractors,I now find that everyone in Maghull speaks with a very broad Scouse accent,such is progress!

My trip to the UK was to see my elderly mother who is now in a very good care home named the James Page House,the place is spotless and the grounds large and well run,my mother is well thought of and gets really good attention,this includes food of course and was an issue I had also to address.

Hake and Chips for one.

We still have the family house and thats where I stayed,a trip to Morrisons supermarket saw me stock up with the basics,bread,butter,cheese,coffee,milk and some easy to prepare pitza's,which where a lesson on what not to spend my money on,if it was not for the garnish of nice mushrooms I cooked in butter they would have been a disaster but we learn.

Then there was the local shop The Chippy,its in Dover Road and on my way home,day one saw me call in and order a portion offish and chips,at four pounds,it was a great buy and was more than I could eat in one go,each order is cooked for you while you wait,so its really fresh.The Chippy was to see me twice more and saved the day as far as eating was concerned.

Why the name of this blog,Where is Cape Town? on my last visit and while waiting for my order to be wrapped,I got talking to a girl standing next to me,she was mid twenties or so,I told her that I had once lived in Maghull but had emigrated to Cape Town long ago,where is Cape Town was her reply!

A new support vessel arrives in Hout Bay

I was away one week,a week to long,catching up took me two weeks,I am back on top I think and the blog stuff can restart.

This 30 meter alloy boat has three Catapillar engines and can do 30 knots but uses around 700 litres of fuel at that speed,she is on a delivery trip and will cruise at one third of maximum I was told.

Just in from Simonstown,the captain and one bridge officer are friends of mine,I told them I would be taking pictures of her arrival,thanks for the nice show guys!

The speed so close to the harbour is misleading,the Canon G11 was on part tele lens,bringing the subject closer to the eye,when she entered the harbour there was minimum wake.

Just check how little wake is behind this boat,not much that I saw.

Hout Bay Harbour entrance approach and slowing down.

They went to a fuel dock for the night,thanks for the arrival,its good to see such new craft being built in Cape Town.