The name Tywyn is a bit of a corruption from 'tywod', meaning sand. In the 16th century it's shown as 'Twyni', then Towyn, like the one near Rhyl. Finally the district council held a referendum, but everyone disagreed so they decided to call it Tywyn anyway.

We've always been a bit of a haven for tourists. Many people from Birmingham found us after the First World War, but it actually began around about 1860, when the Corbetts of Droitwich moved here and began developing the land.

There have actually been two Corbett estates here. The first had to sell up after the master of the house lost everything to gambling debts and the estate was bought by Mr Corbett, the 'Salt King'. He was delighted - a ready-made estate with his name on it, albeit with 'tt' instead of his one 't'.

They called it the Kingdom of Ynysmaengwyn - the family mansion - and it stretched over miles, from Aberdyfi and Tywyn to Bryncrug and Dolgoch. They had coal, copper and lead in the land and so Aberdyfi grew as a port to export all these goods.

The woollen industry was also important here, as well as breweries and farming - the area was very self-contained. They needed the breweries because there were 29 pubs here! There are only three pubs in Tywyn now.

One claim to fame for Tywyn is that Marconi, the man who sent the first wireless message, had a station here. It was linked to the station near Caernarfon. He had a boat called the Electra moored out by Aberdyfi and once they invited some locals onboard to perform and set up two large speakers which transmitted the concert to the audience sitting in the old cinema here. That must have been amazing.

During the First World War, Lloyd George and the prime minister of Australia, a Welshman, needed more troops deployed in Gallipoli. So they sent radio messages to each other in Welsh - a code the Germans couldn't break. Staff in the station here were mainly local female operators and they received and passed on the messages.

There's a group of 12 or so bungalows just outside town called Marconi. That was where the station was, as well as some huge generators and his house.

My first memories of Tywyn are from the Second World War years when things became very different. It was a military area and there were thousands of troops based here. The Corbett hotel was overrun with soldiers, the cinema showed films twice a day and the three pubs had queues going down the road!

We also had the evacuees from Liverpool and later London when the V2s came. It went from a very quiet town to a bustling one.

By Owen Roberts