Memories of Easter

[jennyann]

My first memories of Easter isn't one of Easter egg hunts and chocolate eggs. Chocolate was rationed for years during and after WW2 so Easter eggs were hard to come by. I remember my Mother buying hollow plastic Easter eggs that broke in half. Pink for girls and blue for boys. Mom filled them with toffees that she had saved from the sweet ration. I had never seen a chocolate Easter egg until two brothers who lived in our street came out with them on Easter Sunday in the late l940's. Their Father was a bit shady with the "Black Market" so the tales went. The next year the boys appeared to taunt us with knee high chocolate rabbits!!!!!!

Later memories are of Kunzle's windows both in Town and on Broad Street. They had amazing windows full of chocolate eggs and fluffy chickens at Easter. I remember one huge colourful egg decorated with icing which weighed at least 20 lbs which bore a plaque in front of it stating that after Easter the egg would be donated to a specific Children's Home. Never seen such a large egg since then.

We always went to church on Good Friday and it was always very sombre We were handed cards with scenes of the Cruxifiction on them along with Bible verses and purple ribbons. On Easter Saturday we went to town to buy new clothes to wear on Easter Sunday. It was always "mad" every where we went with everyone trying on clothes etc.

Easter Sunday was a much nicer atmosphere and my Mother always used to play the piano and sing to the music of the film "Easter Parade". Lovely memories.

 

[sylviasayers]

There was a sweet shop called Johnsons in Newtown Row almost opposite the row of Co-op shops, and they always had a lovely window display at Easter with the centrepiece a basket with a huge chocolate decorated egg

They also had another shop in Newtown Row near the junction with New John Street which had a similar display.

 

[Di.Poppitt]

I remember being taken to see the window display in Kunzle's in town. I had a surprise on that Easter Sunday when there was one on the breakfast table waiting for me.

 

[Peter Walker]

Easter 1945

During the Easter school holidays in 1945 Nanny Walker took me on holiday with her and a teaching colleague to Rhyl. I still remember the train journey up there, I think changing at Chester, and following the Dee Estuary, ultimately past Prestatyn, where people were living in a lot of old railway carriages and buses - probably only over the holiday period.
We stayed in one room at the "Stella Maris" boarding house at 34/35 West Parade. I found it strange at the age of nearly twelve having to share a room with two old ladies (though they were both younger than I am now).
It was still wartime and there wasn't much to do at Rhyl, especially as it was cold and wet most of the time. I remember hanging about the bus station, the pier and the Marine Lake, which had a miniature railway (but nothing working or even on display.
My high spot on that trip was the bus trip to Llandudno on Good Friday. As we reached Colwyn Bay I saw overhead wires ahead of us, and next moment a tram! After a couple of stops the tram route turned off out of sight, but then met us in spectacular fashion on the side of Little Orme, continued parallel with us fora time, crossing the road and later running across fields to Llandudno, where it went past the bus terminus. Now my gran was quite a wilful person who knew what she wanted and normally got it, but I could twist her round my finger, so we walked to the far terminus and came back by tram as far as Colwyn Bay, not having used most of our return bus ticket.
What else do I remember? - only that I associate that trip with the song "I'll be seeing you". It must just have come out then.
Peter