Llandudno / My Town / Nia Parry

I absolutely love the fact that Llandudno is my local town. This is the town that I consider home. Having lived in south Wales for a few years, there’s nothing I like more than the approach to Llandudno and the sign that states “Llandudno welcomes you” as if it had been created especially for my arrival!

We moved as a family to Rhos on Sea, a short distance from Llandudno, from Anglesey when I was five years old and I have many memories of a very happy childhood by the sea. It was on the prom that I first learnt to ride a bike and would roller blade to my heart's content along the prom in the annual school fun run. It was on Llandudno beach that I would do most of my horseriding – a chief hobby of mine.

It is the sea that is of greatest appeal to me. There is something innately soothing to the soul about seeing the horizon especially, if you have been used to seeing it all your life. Having spent time in the city, I live by the rhythm of the waves again.

The best way to appreciate the town in my opinion is to climb the Little Orme and take in the view of the town and the Great Orme beyond in all its splendour.

And what a town! And what a place to come for your holidays! The old saying “make hay while the sun shines” was certainly true of me with the annual summer swarm of tourists.

I would do a breakfast waitressing shift at one hotel before going on to the Cambridge Restaurant on Mostyn Street to serve lunch. Despite a long menu it would be the £4.50 lunch special that would sell without fail. I can remember it well – lamb or beef dinner, steak and kidney pie or the plaice and chips. There was always a lack of change in the till and so I would take a £5 note along with the line “keep the change, love” and pocket the difference. Bargain! My brother was stuck in the kitchen washing dishes and would bemoan the fact that I would make such a profit from my broad smile. After lunch I would go on to another hotel to complete the day with a supper shift.

With money burning a hole in my pocket there was nothing I liked more than going with my friends to enjoy a night out. Living directly between Llandudno and Colwyn Bay I was forced to choose early on whether I would be a ‘Dudno girl’ or a ‘Bay girl’. For me it was an easy choice of Llandudno over Colwyn Bay. Therefore, each Friday and Saturday night I would go along with my friends to Bartons wine bar – fancying ourselves as a cut above the clientele in the local pubs.

The night would always end in the Bouli (the Broadway Boulevard). The joke is that we are still to be seen at the Bouli - though we now avoid the weekend, preferring a Wednesday over-25’s night so as to avoid the teenagers! Y môr yw’r apêl fwyaf – mae na rhywbeth sy’n llonyddu’r enaid am weld y gorwel, yn enwedig os 'dach chi wedi ei weld o’n ddyddiol ar hyd eich oes. Ar ôl treulio amser yn y ddinas, mae 'na hiraeth yn dod drosta i i weld rythm y don unwaith eto.

Y ffordd orau i werthfawrogi’r dre yn fy nhŷb i yw drwy ddringo Trwyn y Fuwch (neu’r ‘Little Orme’ fel ei gelwir yn lleol) neu’r Gogarth ochr draw er mwyn gweld y dre yn ei gogoniant.

Ac am dref! Ac am le braf i ddod am wyliau! Roedd yr hen ddywediad Saesneg “make hay while the sun shines” yn wir i mi bob haf gan mai gweld yr ymwelwyr fel cyfle i wneud pres fyddwn i.

Byddwn yn neud ‘shifft’ brecwast mewn un gwesty cyn mynd ymlaen i’r ‘Cambridge Restaurant’ ar Stryd Mostyn i weini bwyd amser cinio. Er bod dewis hirfaith ar y fwydlen mynd am y ‘sbesial’ fyddai’r cwsmeriaid bob tro. Am £4.50 byddai modd cael cinio cig oen, bîff, pei stêc neu bysgod. Gan fod diffyg arian mân yn y til byddwn yn derbyn papur pum punt ynghyd â’r llinell “keep the change, love” yn ddi-ffael. Bargen! Roedd fy mrawd yn golchi llestri yn y gegin ac yn herian fy mod i yn elwa gymaint oherwydd fy ngwên lydan! Ar ôl y shifft cinio ymlaen â fi i westy arall i neud y shifft swper mewn gwesty glan môr arall .

Gyda phres yn fy mhoced roedd gofyn mynd allan i fwynhau. Ac o fyw yn union rhwng Llandudno a Bae Colwyn rhaid oedd dewis yn reit ifanc os am fod yn ‘Du dno girl’ neu ‘Bay girl’. Dewis syml i mi oedd Llandudno dros Fae Colwyn. Felly bob nos Wener a nos Sadwrn mi fyddwn i a’m ffrindiau ysgol yn heidio i far gwin ‘Bartons’ yn meddwl ein bod yn smart.

Byddai’r noson yn diweddu'n ddi-ffael yn y ‘Bouli’ (y Broadway Boulevard). Y jôc ydy ein bod ni’n dal yn mynd yno pan 'dan ni’n dod at ein gilydd, ond y tro hyn yn dewis y noson i’r ‘over 25’s’ ar nos Fercher er mwyn osgoi’r plant yn eu harddegau!