MarisAna: an answer

 


The curtains in the hall have been replaced and are now functional 
Indeed they look splendid 
MarisAna asked about Michael Antonio Ralli, the man behind the construction of the Memorial Hall which took place nearly 120 years ago
And here he is ( the information below is from a post in 2012) 


Last night I went to the Trelawnyd and Gwaenysgor Community Council meeting and in passing had chance to read a photocopy of the Prestatyn Weekly Newspaper dated the 23rd of October 1909.
In it was an article discussing an initiative by Mr Michael Antonio Ralli,who was the Greek Consul in Liverpool, to build our village Hall as a way of giving jobs and motivation to the local unemployed.
Ralli was a somewhat colourful character to be found in a predominantly Welsh village. He was a Greek from Odessa who made a small fortune importing cotton from Russia when American could not export it's own during the American Civil War and I find it fascinating that after a period living in London and Liverpool
he and his wife Polynmia, would end up dominating an insular and quiet backwater village.
A Ukrainian Greek as Lord of the Manor
How Exotic!


Trelawnyd ( or Newmarket as it was formally known) was Ralli's dream, he clearly wanted it to develop in status when he gifted the Memorial Hall to the village
The newspaper cutting eluded to that fact when it stated that Ralli's wish was to make Newmarket a "Garden City", a rather grand dream for a village of 600 simple souls, but a rather sweet one nevertheless.
 I wonder what Ralli would have made of the fact the Newmarket title was renamed Trelawnyd in 1954...
The "new" name was in keeping , I suppose, for it has a name that Ralli might of liked
.....Trelawnyd  literally  means " a town full of wheat"


5 comments:

  1. He looks like a handsome chap.

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  2. Barbara Anne5:04 pm

    What an interesting post about Ralli and his gift of the Hall to Newmarket was amazing. Nice that the information and photo are available to current residents of Trelawnyd and around the world.
    I love the glorious red of the new curtains!!

    Hugs!

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  3. A real entrepeneur and benefactor, as well as being very handsome.

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  4. The stage looks all set for some spectacular performances now. I can just imagine the swish of those beautiful new curtains. What a fascinating and philanthropic man Mr Ralli was. It's great that the TCA is keeping his dream alive. xx

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  5. it's always so interesting to learn back stories. Thanks for that.

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