The Gornel

Before I tell you about meeting Rosemarie Frankland, I would like to set the scene by telling you about 'The Gornel', the part of Rhosllanerchrugog where I grew up.

Translated into English the Gornel means 'The Corner' in other words the corner of the village. After reading Derek Rogers' article, and I know him very well, I would go one step further and say that the Gornel, as Derek says, that was bounded by Hall St and Mountain St was in fact an area of Rhos that was unique to the rest of the village. There were no other nick-names given to other parts of the village that I knew of. I would say that the Gornel covered an area that started from The Sun Inn going along Hall Street to the Gerddi. Then along the Gerddi across Campbell and through Entry Tunnah to High Street to where the old Eagles pub used to be. Then left along High Street to where I would then go left down Mountain Street. Then I would take a right down Pentre Dwr down to Maesenion. At this point I would turn left along Maesenion to Gornel bridge 'that is no more' and I would then turn left along Hall Street back to the Sun Inn. That is my memory of the Gornel with Mountain Street running through the middle.

The Gornel kids

In the Gornel there were two gangs, the Austin gang which lived in Mountain Street and the Maesenion gang on the outskirts of the Gornel on the Llwynenion side. This was my area. The Austin gang had two senior figures, David Austin, and his older brother Gwilym. Then there were the younger ones. Arwel Morris, Tony Fields and Glyn Austin. The Maesenion gang had also senior figures, brothers Cyril and David Evans. The younger ones being myself Tom Jones, Brian Davies, John 'Goodrick' Jones, and Roger 'I'll be guard' Ford-Little.

Other kids from the Gornel who were never actually regarded as gang members but were often seen with us were the brothers Allen and Graham 'Twisty' Jones, Selwyn 'Balla' Hughes, Terry and brother Malcolm 'Mokey' Jones, David 'Anthrax' Jones, my brothers David 'Pen Coch' Jones and Derwyn Jones, then there was Eifion 'Pentre Dwr' Jones.

The two gangs were never rivals and never had fights and would often spend a lot of time together. We were just mischievous kids, but ones who never lost respect for our elders. One never passed anyone by without saying hello. The only rivalry came on Bonfire night on the fifth of November when there was always a challenge to see who could build the biggest bonfire. We sometimes ran raids on the Bryn-y-Brain gang's bonfire and sometimes managed to set it alight before Nov 5th. And then we would have to stand guard to prevent them attacking ours. This would be the time when serious fighting would sometimes take place.

Then there were other Gornel kids like Derek Rogers, David Charles and Tudor Jones, who is the conductor of Rhos Male Voice Choir, who never ran with us and was looked upon as being the Intellectual of the Gornel kids. There was also a family that lived next door to Fanny Green [grandmother of Rosemarie Frankland] and they were the Morrises, their nickname being the 'Berks or Burks'. But that is another interesting story.

My learning of the Franklands

'I was born in Rhos', we would say but probably we were all born either in Wrexham Hospital or like myself in Trevalyn Hospital in Rossett. If we went further afield, like say Liverpool, we would say that we were born in Wrexham as none would have heard of Rhos. I was 14 years of age when Rosemarie won the Miss World contest and I must honestly say that I don't remember her growing up in the Gornel. I was also not aware of the name Frankland until the day I was called into the home of Fanny Green. In those days people would pass hand-me-downs from family to family and this was sometimes done by giving a parcel to a member of a family to pass on to the mother. So if a coat or a jumper got too small for you, you would find it missing only for it to show up again on someone else's back a few days later. It was an accepted thing and no one got any ribbing or flack for it.

On this day as I was passing Fanny Green's cottage, I heard a knock on her window, and as I turned, the door was already opening and there stood Fanny in her familiar apron dress beckoning me to go to her. She asked me in and told me that she had something that I should give to my mother, it was a parcel. As I was in her house I noticed a gathering of people in her front room and sitting on the couch was this beautiful girl. She looked at me and I looked back at her, she was stunning. As I left the house, with Fanny giving me strict instructions to go straight home, I couldn't wait to tell my mother about the girl that I had just seen.

I got to the house and gave the parcel to my mother and told her of this good looking girl in Fanny's. She asked me 'Don't you know who that is?' I said no, she said 'Why that's Rosemarie Frankland'. I asked, 'Rosemarie who?' and she then explained to me who she was by telling me of her having won Miss Wales and Miss Universe and so on. This left me confused as she looked far too young to have won all those titles.

Anyway, I then went walking up and down Mountain Street in the hope that I would run into this beautiful girl. I didn't have to wait long for as I was turning the bend, for maybe the sixth time, by the Sun Inn, I came face to face with her and I said hello. She said hello back and added 'You were at my grandmother's house earlier, your name is Tom'. I said yes and you are Rosemarie. She laughed and said 'No that's my sister, I'm Sheilah'. I thought she looked too young to be a Beauty Queen. Anyway, from there on whenever she visited Rhos we dated. Nothing serious just the little kiss and cuddle and walks with my dog, honest! Whenever she visited Rhos it was mostly on her own. I suppose it was due to her mother having to run around with Rosemarie.

Then came the day when Rosemarie was a contestant in the Miss World contest. Sheilah had asked me if I would like to watch it on the TV in Fanny's. I turned it down as I was a little afraid of her grandmother as she was a strong looking woman and I didn't want to upset her in any way. I saw Rosemarie win Miss World and thought how wonderful she looked. Derek is right there was no other better looking than Rosemarie on that night, and I have never watched a Miss World contest since. I didn't get to see Shielah very much in the next few weeks that followed, as you could immagine, but we did see each other whenever she was in Rhos.

Miss World in my house, and that phone call

When Rosemarie visited Rhos as Derek said it was amazing to see so many people there just waiting outside Fanny's house. I was with the rest of the boys standing inside the small garden in the house directly across the road which belonged to a really nice Indian woman whose name was Gwen. She was also there with her daughter, Judith. I remember Rosemarie as she came out of the door and she had to duck down a little as the door to the cottage was low and she had this backcombed hair that was a normal hair style of the time. In the days she stayed in Rhos the village was buzzing and many of us wore down shoe leather just walking past Fanny's.

Then one day I was not feeling too good and went to bed early. I was deep in sleep when my mother entered my bedroom to wake me up and tell me that I should come down stairs as there was someone who wanted to see me. I wasn't in the mood to get up but when my mother said that it was a woman, I thought instantly of Sheilah whom I had not seen for a while. I slipped something presentable on and hurried down stairs only to stop half way and go into this slow-type funeral walk the rest of the way to the bottom of the stairs, because at the bottom waiting for me was a beautiful woman. As I got to the bottom tread this woman said to me 'Hello Tom, I'm Rosemarie I believe you are going out with my sister'. She then gently got hold of my face and gave me a kiss on the cheek. My knees were knocking. My mother asked her if she would like a cup of tea and she said that she would love one.

The next thing I remember was that Rosemarie and I were sitting in the living room. We must have talked about fashion because she asked me to show her my new suit that my mother had bought me. I rushed up stairs got dressed and came down with it on. Rosemarie looked me up and down and told me how handsome I was. I can't remember much about what happened next only that there was a knock on the door and a very good looking blond man came in and whispered something to Rosemarie.

Then Rosemarie kissed me once more on the cheek and said that she must go and hoped to see me again. My mother told me that she would be going with them. I watched them go down the long path to the road and together with my mother they drove away in a red sports car.

The next morning at breakfast my mother told me of the phone call from Bob Hope. I am not sure if Rosemarie was told of the call in our house when the guy came in or whether she first went home to Fanny's and then got the call. But the call did happen, that I am sure of. After Rosemarie left my home I never saw her in person again. The next time I saw her was in the Beatles film 'A Hard Day's Night'. As for Sheilah, we met only a couple of times after that before learning that she had got married to her next door neighbour who was a policeman.

As for Bob Hope I heard that it was written in a contract that all Miss Worlds were to meet Bobby boy, I don't know how true that was, maybe someone out there has more info on that.

So, to quote a Bob Hope song to Rosemarie, I say 'Thanks for the Memories'.