Manx Nostalgia - At the Welbeck with Rodney Smythe

I am going to post a copy of this blog into the pages of a Facebook Group Page called Manx Nostalgia but I thought it may also interest a portion of the select few that follow my musings especially as I know not everyone is on Facebook or that particular group.

The FB group can be really interesting and I've learned a huge amount about the Island about which I would have had no idea, though from time to time, members are prone to looking at the past through the largest pair of 'Rose tinted spectacles' in history.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/manxnostalgia/

A couple of months ago, I received a telephone call from an Irish gentleman, a Mr. Rodney Smythe whose father had recently passed away.

While sorting through his effects, he found several invoices from the Welbeck Hotel from his family visits to the Island in the late 1950s and early 1960s and he wrote me a very nice letter (see at the bottom,) listing some of the memories which the souvenirs had evoked. You will have to double click on them to read properly.

The Welbeck in those days was run by the Corkill family and one of their sons, Philip still lives just a couple of miles away in Onchan.

Mr Smythe has promised to send me some photographs when he finds the time to sort through his father's collection, so I will post them here when they arrive.

I may also reproduce my potted history about the life of Alexander Gill who built this Hotel (and half of Douglas) at some stage and if anyone has any documents or photographs, they think might be of interest, please feel free to send them to me either by e-mail or hard copy.