Wrexham County Borough 64 - A night on the town/Focus on what is good/A town in lights /City of Culture bid

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Wrexham a city ? I don't think so . We are too small to be a city without enough infrastructure . Wrexham city of Culture bid for 2025? Well maybe . That is different and many in the town cannot see the difference. City of Culture has now taken on a new meaning . You don't have to be a city. You can be a town, a village or an area which has opened up attempts to gain that title from Conway County Borough and Wrexham County Borough . We don't have enough culture the locals say. Well we have a rich heritage of coal mining and steel making . Ironworks run by the great Wilkinson . A medieval church linked with Yale University in the USA through Elihu Yale. The world class Erddig Hall . In the surrounding area we have the Vale of Clwyd and the pretty towns that run through it . Mountains, hillforts and heather hillsides . We have the World Heritage site of the Pontcysyltte Aqueduct . We have roman finds coming out of the ground in nearby villages. Iron age forts. Beautiful rivers . What is there not to like ? We won't win the bid I am sure about that but the town has put up billboards trying to rouse the population into backing the bid . Why cannot folks focus on what is good about the town rather than what is lacking or bad?

We were off to the football match. It is a night match and we leave home early in order to park up safely and be able to get away from the game easily . That means a very early start . The town is in darkness and we need a cafe . The only thing to do is head away from the Cae Ras - the Racecourse ground . Away from the lighted floodlights and past the wall that was made up of individual bricks . All purchased by supporters to help keep the ground open and inscribed with their names . That was one of the ways the club survived through the donations of true fans.

Our walk took us up town past what used to be Caxton Place . The home of the Wrexham Leader newspaper . I felt like a tour guide pointing out interesting buildings along the way . Recalling what I could remember of their history . The Old Infirmary . A neo classical building with a portico . Once the hospital for the town erected in 1837. The rich could sponsor the hospital at one guinea a year which would pay for 12 patients to be treated . The patients could add on another 10/6d which would cover in patient work but they had to bring their own bedlinen in . It served as a hospital until 1926 when the new War Memorial Hospital opened . Now a part of the university catering for art students.

The pro cathedral of St Mary was lit up like a beacon . St Marys was the first purpose built Catholic church in the town . Pugin lent a hand in the gothic design . Across the road Grosvenor Lodge once the home of the German Graesser family who set up the chemical works of Monsanto in Acrefair and later the Wrexham Lager Brewing company . A lager that travelled the world on the Titanic and to India .

Walking slowly we took in Regent Street and Hope Street . The Horse and Jockey the only thatched pub in Wales . The Majestic cinema with its art deco frontage . Long since closed . It has changed from cinema where I watched Goldfinger to Wimpey Bar to a Wetherspoons . In the same row used to be a harberdashery and womens wear shop. Lloyd Williams . On the ground floor we could buy material needed for needlework classes at school . Tacking thread, french chalk , threads of every conceivable colour . Upstairs school uniforms . The navy gymslips , white blouses and blue and red ties . Blazers for all the grammar schools in the town . Our scarves and hats . If we could not get everything we wanted in Lloyd Williams we could head across town to Wrights Corner . Another shop that was sure to have the gaberdines and the summer dresses we required .

The old militia building housing the museum was earmarked for a visit on the weekend when we yet again would be watching football from our season ticket seats . The Old Court House was build in 1879 amd converted to a police station and magistrates court . Its a lovely building and I told tales of the police parking their blue minis and Mini Mokes out front . A familiar sight around town .

We had by now arrived at High Street the Guildhall had long gone . Knocked down in the late 1940's. Not thought then that it spoiled the street when it was demolished . No thought that traffic lights or a one way system could have saved it . No thought that eventually the streets would become in the main pedestrianised . At the opposite end the Wynnstay Arms had been saved . The frontage remained and still looked much as it did 100 years ago . We went into the pub and ordered two glasses of wine . The Welsh Football association was formed here in the REgency Ballroom in 1876. The first Welsh team was formed at the same time . A place of great history in the town .

It was time though to leave my guided tour of the town . There was still much to see but that would be left for another day .

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