The Memorial Hall

The Memorial Hall in the town is a war memorial institute, and was first opened in 1934. Inside is a Roll of Honour listing the names of brave local men who fought in the Great War. It was reopened in 1949 after the second world war. The hall is where every musical or opera takes place these days, and I have performed on its stage myself in numerous school productions.(At auditions I would sing flat on purpose to avoid getting picked for bigger roles as I was terribly shy.)
Its also been the place for coffee mornings and dog shows, and in the front building there is a snooker hall and infant school that I attended, the Cylch Chwarae (Play Circle) or at least there used to be. I remember the wooden floor of both buildings being shiny and super slippery and loved the smell of the mothy stage curtains.
The truth be told, as a young boy I found the front building, with its famous clock on the outside, quite an exciting place. As if something magical were held within its walls. It always smelled so clean, from varnish and disinfectant, and the glass in the green doors were higher than myself, hiding me from whatever was going on behind them and of course this would add to the mystery and fascination of the old hall.
My junior school, Ysgol Parc Y Tywyn held quite a few school musicals in the Memorial Hall. On rehearsal days when it was empty, it was like entering the belly of a giant, wooden whale as we filed through the double sky blue doors which were its entrance. Just inside, inbetween those doors and the doors to the main hall itself, was a little glass stand where you would pay for tickets. And it echoed the days of theatres during World War II, not only because that was the era it was built in but because it still had that community togetherness spirit with it still.
The main hall had rows of cushioned seats on the left and right with a shiny wooden path running through the middle, with the stage looming from the front. Off through doors on the sides were canteens which led backstage, a dusty sometimes mysterious place where old men would occasionaly be busy sawing and painting backdrops of every kind of theme for the stage.
My school performed 'Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' there, along with a Welsh language musical version of Peter Pan. (Photo below.)


Author is back row, fourth from left wearing the red headscarf