HI all...welcome to TRM 2020...the year with perfect vision, I'm delighted to still be with you, so, together, we can unearth more delicious delights from days gone by, as we attempt to conjure up a few mercurial memories that will, hopefully, tantalise your taste buds and electrify your elevenses.
In coming weeks, I will, of course, be again venturing into more tales from old fishing days with TRM's Trawler Corner, as well as tweaking your brain cells with a few more tricky teasers. But to kick off the year, we're returning to a subject that TRM has included several times before, one which is currently concerning many people, and not only those who were around to remember its beginning.
The closure and selling of Milford Town Hall.
I have recently been given Milford Haven UDC's official souvenir programme, celebrating the official opening of the town hall, in 1939…which, of course, thanks to a certain guy named Hitler, never actually took place. But I think it makes interesting reading. As well as photos, here are some extracts from the booklet.
"The town hall will be the centre of the municipal administration of the town.
“The building contains a council chamber and full civic suite of rooms, and will house all the various departments of the council, including the trading undertakings and the fire station.
“This arrangement of complete centralisation has been made for the convenience of the townspeople, and to avoid the previous waste and loss of efficiency involved in using a number of scattered offices about the town."
The main contractors were…Henry Adams & Sons, Milford Haven, and here's the list of sub-contractors used, and what they supplied…
“Cerac Ltd, London…heating boiler; J C Edwards Ltd, Ruabon…facing bricks; Falk, Stadelmann & Co Ltd, London…gas lighting fittings; Gloucester Stone Co Ltd…reconstructed stonework; Goodwick Brickwork Co Ltd…common bricks; Gardiner & Sons Ltd, Bristol…bronze and iron work; Goodlass, Wall & Co Ltd, Liverpool…paint; J C Hitt & Sons, Bridgend…central heating; Holophane Ltd, London…electrical fittings; P C Henderson Ltd, Essex…grilles and door tracks; Harrods Ltd, London…furniture; Kenrick & Jefferson Ltd, West Bromwich...oak panelling; Milford Haven UDC, Electricity Dept…electricity Installation; Fishguard Sawmills...display windows and joinery; Nobel Chemical Finishes Ltd, London…paint; Pilkington Bros Ltd, Bristol…stained glass and other windows; Pickup Ltd, Lancs…sanitary fittings; Ritz-Plazzo Ltd, London…bituminous flooring; Rees & Kirby, Morriston…steelwork; E A Smith & Co, Neath…ironmongery; Sissons Bros &Co Ltd, Hull…Flatomur flatwall finish; South Wales Portland Cement Co Ltd, Penarth…cement; Simpoles Ltd, Manchester...nesting chairs; Treffgarne Granite Quarries Ltd…concrete aggregate; Welsh Navigation Steam Coal Co Ltd, Cardiff...walling bricks; Whicher & Jamieson, Milford Haven…curtains, blinds and French polishing; Windsor Floors Ltd, Surrey…reinforced concrete floors."
Blimey, if Mr Lloyd George had actually been able to officially open the building, it would've taken him ages to thank that lot!
I'm sure that most Milford people have, at some time or other, for some reason, visited the town hall, and will have their own personal feelings and memories about the place.
I know I have. I will never forget my feelings of grandeur, as well as gratitude, when I received my civic award in the domains of such grand, and historic surroundings some years ago.
Of course, it's not the only famous Milford landmark that's been discarded or recycled into a nonentity, as this photo, one of the pile of old snaps that John Rackley gave me recently.
No words from me are needed!
Right, let's get our Xmas-pudded brain cells moving again. Here's our TRM teaser.
What can you serve, but never eat?
Time to go, but I'll leave you with one of the January extracts from The Entirely New Cynic's Calendar of Revised Wisdom for 1905.
"Knowledge is power...if you know it about the right person!"
See you next week.
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