Don Hale Blog

THE LOSS OF HMS CONWAY During the early morning of 14 th  April 1953, HMS Conway, a large 19 th  century wooden battleship used for the training and education of cadets, all hoping to become officers in the Merchant and Royal Navy, was driven ashore and wrecked by some exceptionally strong tides, and eventually broke her back in the Menai Strait.  Archive report by Don Hale.   This in fact, was the second attempt to move such a large and difficult ship from her relatively safe berth at Bangor, and head back to Birkenhead for a refit. A similar attempt the day before had been aborted due to extreme difficulties, and the assessment that it was always going to be a ‘great risk.’  HMS Conway was considered to be the largest ever ship to attempt to pass through this notoriously demanding stretch of swirling waters known as the ‘Swellies, that separates Anglesey from the mainland, and included a challenging passage under two major bridges. The vessel had an enormous draft of 22 feet, combine

SOUNDS FROM THE 60s - A nostalgic look back at the top stars from Club & The Esquire Some great memories and loads of exclusive stories and photographs from a memorable era SEE ALSO THE EXCLUSIVE VIDEO AND HEAR JOE COCKER LIVE:  https://youtu.be/_bZk5TzTWAA This is a revised, updated and expanded book: SOUNDS FROM THE 60s - which takes you behind the scenes with the stars of rock n' roll, pop, blues and jazz at two of the top Northern UK clubs, Club 60 & The Esquire, owned by Terry Thornton.                                  Joe Cocker as Vance Arnold with his band members 'The Avengers' This is a fascinating and unique account of life behind the scenes during the 1960s in the great industrial city of Sheffield, when a musty old beer cellar helped stage a remarkable revival of popular music, and provided a unique live showcase and platform for a host of top British and international performers. Joe Cocker as Vance Arnold and the Avengers at the Esquire in Sheffield i

Some of the NWRRC club members who took part in the Christmas Handicap race from Llandudno promenade to the Welcome sign last Sunday. Christmas Handicap success for North Wales runners Report by Don Hale. Photographs courtesy of Tom Roberts, Mark Jessett and John Hatton. North Wales Road Runners staged their annual Christmas Handicap race on Llandudno promenade last Sunday morning with 19 athletes competing in a unique social-distancing, time-trial type event, due to extensive Covid-19 restrictions now affecting all live sporting events. Partially sighted runner Daniel Owens with his guide Carla Green together with a magnificent rainbow in the background. It was the first time in many years that this event has been run along the promenade to the Welcome sign and back, after previously following a less-hillier climb from West Shore, and up to and around the old gun sites. The race was held in relatively mild conditions, and fortunately included a brief window within the showery weather,

The Manchester United squad of 1909: FA Cup winners:   Pictured (Back row): Mangnall, Bacon, Picken, Edmonds, Murray, Moger, J Davies, Homer, Lawton, Bell, and Deakin: (Middle row), Meredith, Duckworth, Roberts, Turnbull, West, and Stacey: (Front Row), Whalley, Hofton, Halse and Wall. The Lost Dog that saved Manchester United Strange but True Facts by Don Hale  I t’s quite strange by today’s modern standards when you consider that Manchester United Football Club and its multi-million pound financial and sporting empire, may not have come into existence, had it not been for the City Police, and a notorious lost dog!  The curious tale of the dog - excuse the pun – is still a legendary story in the region that dates back to 1902 just before the original Newton Heath LYR (Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway) football team changed their name to Manchester United.   Founded in 1878 from an enthusiastic bunch of young railway workers at the local Carriage and Wagon Works, the club had made tre

Danuta Reah, Don Hale and Stephen Booth at a US library during their book tour THREE BRITISH AUTHORS AND A TROUBLESOME LIMO HIT THE ROAD IN THE AMERICAN MID-WEST DURING THEIR PROMOTIONAL BOOK TOUR This new introductory update is written by Don Hale, and the following report is reprinted by kind permission from Danuta Reah’s own blog:  www.danutareah.co.uk It is the nostalgic archive story of a memorable and amusing book promotion trip to America in June 2003, that I was fortunate to attend with best-selling authors Danuta Reah and Stephen Booth.   This was an exhaustive journey across numerous States, travelling across many confusing time-zones, flying in rickety planes in terrible turbulence, or driving for hours on end in a very confusing limousine, which always had a mind of its own, and yet thankfully never seemed to need much gas! Written originally by Danuta on her own blog, this week, I suddenly discovered a pack of old photographs from our tour, at which we gave endless repeate

Carla Green hit top form during the International relay challenge   *Report by Don Hale. Photographs by Steve Jeffery and Tom Roberts. North Wales Road Runner Carla Green led the way for her Welsh club during an exciting International virtual relay challenge last weekend with the prestigious Spanish outfit,  Fondistes Penedes Running Club (FPRC), from Vilafranca, near Barcelona. Carla was part of a mixed team of athletes, who each flew the flag for Wales during a unique and combined event that included competition both with, and against, their Spanish counterparts. She played a starring individual role as a worthy member of the winning team, and was also the 1 st  Welsh runner to finish, in addition to being the 1 st  F45 cat winner, and the 3 rd  fastest female overall.  And to top all that, Carla also recorded the 2 nd   best female age performance percentage. Pictured (above) the first wave and (below) the second wave of NWRRC runners in the international relay challenge This unique