At the end of last year I thought I had found the furthest outpost of Wryton land in Caernarfon. About a hundred miles from Manchester. I am talking about the golden years of the early sixties and regular wrestling. Well it looks like we can add nearly another 40 miles to that now.
The Kings Hall , not as grand as Belle Vue for sure , in fact only built as Art deco in the 30's for multiple use , with different floor levels. I take it the ground floor dance hall was used for wrestling with a seating capacity of over 1200.
Don't bother to look for it today as all you will find is a block of flats. Yes pulled down in 1989.
It looks like they did a winter season. the prices marked up considerably above that of Belle Vue for sure.
Look at those bills steeped in Wryton Stalwarts.
Very little in overseas visitors , the most the reports could brag , was Lancashire versus Yorkshire matches.
They must have considered it established by 1962 with every week in the summer. But for me , an absolute sin to be advertising wrestling without the wrestlers.
Did it all come to an end. Could they have kept out O'Shea in 1964 , who was already promoting a few shows at Lampeter.
There is nothing in the papers to support large crowds or a miserable demise or even any further papers that would show if Wrestling remained through the 1960's.
But for me , I just don't see Billy two Rivers , Ian Campbell , Ricky Starr , title matches.
Was the geography just too difficult . I leave it to the reader to enjoy what is here and give an opinion.
But one more thing I did find. Like Blackpool there was a Pleasure Beach/ Fair ground that had a Boxing and Wrestling Booth. On two occasions the performers were named and the promoter. Here we are.
I don't know much about Ron Taylor. He Looks to have been Nottingham based in later years.
Any observations welcome.
Another Nook and Cranny just down the coast New Quay
Thanks, Ron.
Lampeter did have a University, or at least a college within the University of Wales.
Maybe the young farmers and the students supported the wrestling?
Lampeter
Tregaron, Aberaeron, Lampeter and Machynlleth are all winter shows, so no tourists around to boost numbers.
Tregaron Memorial Hall capacity of 250. That's without a wrestling ring. Crazy.
Hack is right about the economics.
In 1973 "North Wales Promotions", which I take to be Orig Williams, even did 2 shows at the Village Hall in Penrhyncoch, about 4 miles outside Aberystwyth. They were decent line ups too.
On 5th October 1973 the advert (which I didn't take a photo of) gives the bill as Mitzi Mueller & Paula Valdez vs Hellcat Haggerty and Lena Blair, Monty Sann vs Hell's Angel Steve Young Esq.,Max Raeger vs Blackbelt Eddie Hamill and Pedro the Gypsy vs Johnnie Palance.
The 27th November 1973 bill at Penrhyncoch was
Danny Lynch vs Gordon Corbett, Monty Swann vs Dr Death and Dave Morgan vs Pedro the Gypsy
In the previous week, the Cambrian News had an advert for wrestling at Neuadd Idris Dolgellau - which at least is a reasonable sized town rather (for Mid Wales) than a small village.
Yes 1978 Kid a meet up in Aber is certainly possible.
I hadn't noticed at first that your additions were not all from Aberystwyth. Good grief, they open up a whole new dimension and make Aberystwyth seem like the big city. You know these places, but others may well be unaware that current population of these places - Machynlleth (2,235), Aberaeron (1,274), Lampeter (2,970) and Tregaron (878,) I think of a bus stop between Aberystwyth and Lampeter. Okay, a few tourists in the area during the summer but the economics of running these shows defies all logic. This is a great journey.
My love for Aberystwyth originates with a family holiday in 1975 and my time there at University and then living there for several years. We go back most summers, usually driving from Liverpool. It is hard to do it in under 3 1/2 hours. The view when arriving from the north when you come to the top of the hill overlooking the town is amazing.
I only attended wrestling there twice, both at the now demolished Kings Hall.
The first time was an Orig show in November 1979, the second was a Best/Wryton show during the summer season in 1980. Unfortunately, by the time I was a postgraduate student and then a resident in the town, the summer seasons of Best Wryton shows were no more.
Thanks indeed to Ron for stating the thread and to Hack for his encouragement.
Am I correct, Hack, that you by train to Aber on a regular basis?
Maybe one day we will meet up there as I can do a day trip there from Liverpool by train!
A Kodak moment on the site of the Kings Hall would be one for the archives!
I actually managed two visits to the Ceredigion Archive - one while she was having her hair cut and the other on the wet day when she was in the adjacent library keeping her watchful eye on me and the ladies in the archive. It seems that in 1984 Orig was hoping that the Reslo TV show would bring out the crowds to such small places as Aberaeron and Tregaron.
What a great story from 1978 Kid , that he happened to be in Aberystwyth at the time of this Nook and Crannie Post , and being a long standing member of Heritage , enjoyed a trip to the Library to make a great addition to the Forum. Many thanks.
Another one for the Archive.
Great contributions 1978 Kid. I knew there had been some shows as I posted, but surprised what has been uncovered.
Wet mornings in Aber? It rarely rains.
Peter. I know the rail journey and make the trip from Wolverhampton at least once a month. From the north west by road or rail it's still a trek.
Thanks for starting this topic Ron.
I spent some wet mornings during my late summer holiday in Aberystwyth at the Ceredigion County Archive looking through back copies of the local weekly newspaper, The Cambrian News. I have some more to share but I don't know how so paste several different photos into the same post, hence the series of separate posts (apologies). I was amazed by the welcome and the help of the kind ladies at the archive who kept bringing me large cardboard files with 6 months of newspapers in at a time. I would have spent more time there but my wife would not have been happy!
It seems that Orig was happy to put shows on in some of the very small places around West Wales. I can't imagine the crowds were very big so goodness knows how he made a profit when having to pay wrestlers to travel all that way!
Nice bills those , 1978 .
Good contribution.
1979 Aberystwyth
Here are some more Orig Williams shows from Aberystwyth area in 1983
Nice one 1978 Kid. If you have access to those papers come back soon.
Anglo Italian is right that Aberystwyth would (and is) a good place to take the family for a day out. But with a Google estimated travelling time (on today's roads) of a four hour drive from Manchester and five hours from London there would be easier places to take the kids for a paddle.
Such additions in the responses , many thanks and as Anglo says , gaps filled.
In October 1961 just following Billy Two Rivers.
8th Rotherham
9th West Brom ,
10th Wolverhampton
11th Aberystwyth
12th Crewe
13th Liverpool.
14th Hanley
Forgot to say , I have never been to Aber. A bit more than I would want for a day out and back , did Barmouth once but not a fast drive out that way. Wryton did not go far north of Manchester or east into Yorkshire so south to the midlands and southwest to Aberystwyth must have been the extreme of the territory.
Great poster and great bouts there. The sloppy modern matchmaking is evident with the Zimba/Kaye bout repeated three weeks later and not even the wisdom to present it as a return.
The rarity of a Big Daddy poster without a picture of Big Daddy.
But almost no Southerners. Zaranoff an exception and one who went more than once.
We can identify all those Bolton and Manchester wrestlers who were closely affiliated with Wryton.
Maybe we overlook the obvious. In the sixties, going to the seaside for a day out was a treat, and getting paid for it too! Some may have taken their families along.
Pete using the ‘Judo’ monicker as far back as 1961.
Great Ron. The museum in Aberystwyth has posters of various entertainment events during the century but there's no sighting of wrestling. It was the Municipal Hall when it opened in 1934 and re-named the Kings Hall in 1937. As you say there are now (expensive) flats on the site, from the first floor up. You can get a nice pizza and ice cream from the shops below.
It was quite a traipse to get to Aberystwyth whichever route the wrestlers took. The shows were still going in 1965 and back in 1980.
Go to crinklecut.co.uk and under the titles list is a 24 minute film called boxing booth. It's worth a look.
Ron Taylor travelled with his boxing and wrestling booth all over the country attending all the big fairs such as Nottingham Goose Fair and Newcastle Hoppings Fair. Ron always worked the crowd before each show and a lot of wrestlers who went onto greater things worked for Ron, his grandson was working the booth the last I heard but they no longer encourage members of the public to tale part because of public liability issues.
Thanks Ron,
All those gaps we have in our records, wondering where the wrestlers were on those empty evenings, you are now starting to plug the gaps with this tip-top research.
I would just say that they did have foreigners: Two Rivers, Zaranoff, Bartelli, Majid Ackra ... not to mention all those Englishmen!
I am intrigued by the claim that Dr Death was a TV favourite. On the one hand he was nobody's favourite, but on the other, he was never on tv. His fame must have skyrocketed early sixties.
Agree, the finances are intriguing: Royal, Mann, Albert Wall, Eric & Ernie (who I always confuse, never having seen them) ... the big names wended their way to Aber. So many snouts in the trough for any show. For this to have lasted several years the hall must have been packed.
In amongst it all - my earliest sighting of Tiger Ryan.
Great stuff!