MEMOIRS of the late R Tecwyn Jones, 8 St James Drive, Bangor LLAIS 1981
When entering the village of Talsarnau from the direction of Maentwrog, the garage on the right is the very first thing that catches one's attention.
It's good to know that a family originally from the village are the owners, but every business has a beginning, and the beginning of the business is of great interest to us as a family, as my father, the late D R Jones (Dafydd R) started the business around 1912. He started his business in the former Pen-gongl shop, and apparently the business was going well, good enough for him to build a new garage.
Edward Hughes, formerly Barcdy, was the builder. Bikes, paraffin, and strangely enough, goods such as potatoes and vegetables were sold. There was enough business to hire a boy to 'carry out', on a bicycle of course! That first member of the 'staff' lives in Soar, namely David Gwilym Williams, and it was interesting to have a chat with him about those early days.
Paraffin was used a lot of course. You will see several containers of it in the picture, and it had to be carried down from the store, and that store was in Ty-Bach, (Stryd Gefn). The other job was to carry orders out, a basket behind and a basket in front of the bicycle, but D R was soon forced to come up with a plan to carry more than the two baskets, and two bicycle wheels were placed on a wooden truck behind the bike.
It is clear that the garage has been a meeting place for many people in the village, but my father gave up the business. Why? I don't know. Maybe the Great War had an effect, or cars or motorbikes started to become popular. The late R. R. Jones, Tremeifion, took the building over to store wool, and later to store his car before he built a garage next to the house.
As you can see in the photo the original building, and indeed where the late R.J. Williams had his business was much closer to the Ship Aground than the large building that stands today. How many of the men in the picture can you recognize? I have everyone's name but the young porter's. Maybe someone remembers him. I would be glad to know his name too.