Impressions of Colwyn Bay
| Published date | 01 June 1956 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455055600800202 |
| Date | 01 June 1956 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
20
ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
1956
IMPRESSIONS
OF
COLWYN
BAY
RESOLVED
to
make
the
most
of
our
weekend
at
-*-~.
Colwyn
Bay
we
made
an
early
start
on
the
250-mile
trip
by
road.
We
were
four,
and
as
three
of
the
party
had
separately
obtained
routes
from
the
A.A.,
the
journey
became
an
interesting
exercise
in
which
the
driver
found
his
way
through
a
process
of
elimination
and
the
use
of
road
signs.
We
had
not
been
long
on
the
road
before,
having
pulled
up
in
a
traffic
jam,
we
received
a
prod
from
behind.
Nothing
could
been
seen
at
first
of
our
attacker
but
a
closer
search
revealed
a
Messerschmitt
three-wheeler
wedged
under
the
port
quarter.
The
indignant
pilot
sat
imprisoned
under
his
cockpit
canopy,
secured
to
his
victim
like
a
bee
by
its
sting,
until
we
moved
ahead
to
release
him.
After
this
incident,
though
not
on
account
of
it,
we
changed
drivers.
Our
number
two,
supposedly
familiar
with
the
car,
having
driven
it
occasionally
for
some
two
or
three
years,
used
three
forward
gears,
reserving
what
he
thought
was
a
fourth
and bottom
gear
for
the
Welsh
Hills.
On
a
steep
section
of
the
famous
Horseshoe
Pass
he
brought
the
car
to
a
standstill
only
to
find
to
his
surprise
that
his
supposed
bottom
gear
was,
in
fact,
reverse.
His
passengers’
equili-
brium
was
barely
restored
by
a
halt
for
tea
at
the
top
of
the
pass
where
one
of
the
party
remembered
that
he
had
a
Court
early
on
Monday
morning
and
would
have
to
return
by
train
on
Sunday.
The
return
journey
was
event-
ually
achieved
on
Monday
by
our
number
three,
the
quality
of
whose
driving
could
only
be
explained
by
a
passion
for
small
boat
sailing
in
such
leisure
time
as
a
probation
officer
can
find.
So
much
for
the
journey
which,
the
reader
will
begin
to
suspect,
made
a
deeper
impression
on
the
writer
than
did
the
conference.
But what
of
the
conference
itself?
We
are
now
becoming
so
accustomed
to
our
National
Conferences
taking
place
year
after
year
in
different
parts
of
the
country
that
perhaps
we
take
their
success
rather
for
granted.
That
we
can
do
so
is
due
to
the
perennial
enthus-
iasm
and
organising
genius
of
our
secretary
and
the
atten-
tion
given
by
all
his
staff
(both
of
them! )
to
the
infinity
of
detail
work
involved.
Colwyn
Bay,
our
first
Welsh
con-
ference,
kept
traditon.
If
we
missed
our
way
on
arrival
in
spite
of
the
familiar
A.A.
direction
signs
(there
must,
at
first,
have
been
some
strange
interpretations
by
the
residents
of
&dquo;
N.A.P.O.
&dquo;),
the
locals
trying
to
direct
us
could
hardly
be
blamed
for
mistaking
our
heathen
pronunciation
of
their
beautiful
language.
What
a
welcome
we
received
in
our
various
hotels;
in
one,
the
chambermaid’s
habit
of
bringing
one,
two
and
even
three
successive
cups
of
tea
to
the
same
bedroom
in
the
early
morning
recalled
the
story
of
the
psychiatrist’s
patient
who
would
keep
returning
for
her
forgotten
umbrella.
Dynamic
hospitality
indeed!
While
our
three
hundred
and
thirty-odd
members
were
scattered
very
comfortably
in
groups
in
various
hotels,
it
was
a
distinct
advantage
that
all
conference
activities,
including
two
evening
receptions
with
dancing
and
enter-
tainment,
could
take
place
in
the
one
Pier
Pavilion.
The
acoustics
of
this
pavilion
and
the
slight
but
adequate
amplification,
of
which
one
was
barely
conscious,
were
excellent
and
the
way
in
which
carpets
and
comfortable
theatre
seats
vanished
each
evening
to
reveal
a
dance
floor
seemed
quite
miraculous.
On
the
Friday
evening
of
our
arrival,
after
a
most
hos-
pitable
Civic
Reception
by
the
Mayor
and
Mayoress,
old
friendships
were
renewed
and
new
ones
made
with
all
the
usual
conviviality,
our
entertainment
including
a
talented
and
very
amusing
puppet
show.
On
the
second
evening
our
hosts
were
the
North
Wales Branch
who,
indeed,
through
their
Chairman,
Mr.
Hutchings,
really
did
us
proud.
As
football
is
to
Wembley,
so
is
singing
to
Wales.
We
were
not
disappointed.
A
Welsh
girls’
choir
of
international
experi-
ence
charmed
and
enthralled
us
and
then
joined
us
on
the
dance
floor
where
we
found
that
singing
was
not
their
only
accomplishment.
Later
in
the
evening
we
were
to
enjoy
a
real
calypso
on
the
subject
of
Probation
by
a
charming
and
versatile
West
Indian
member
of
the
English
Probation
Service.
What
did
we
go
for?
Oh
yes,
the
Conference.
It
is
to
be
hoped
that
the
more
serious
purposes
of
our
visit
will
be
recognised
less
flippantly
in
due
course
and
that
some
of
the
addresses
we
heard
may
be
read
by
a
wider
audience.
These
reminiscences
cannot
begin
to
do
justice
to
the
quality
of
the
four
main
addresses
we
were
to
hear.
Perhaps
it
should
be
confessed
that
some
of
us
(the
men
of
course)
were
surprised
to
find
our
first
woman
Chairman
so
very
able
in
the
post.
But
then
we
did
not
know
Miss
Corner.
Annual
General
Meetings
usually
follow
a
stereo-
typed
pattern,
but
on
this
occasion
a
new
Constitution
was
forged,
through
no
less
than
seventy-four
amendments,
some
of
which
were
highly
controversial.
Few
of
us
can
have
envied
Miss
Corner
her
Chairmanship
of
that
par-
ticular
meeting
which
she
steered
boldly
but
tactfully
through
to
a
peaceful
conclusion.
Miss
Corner
opened
her
second
year
in
office
with
a
stimulating
address.
She
spoke
of
the
&dquo;turmoil
of
awaken-
ing&dquo;
now
going
on
in
the
Probation
Service,
of
the
rapid
advances
that
were
being
made
in
many
directions
and,
particularly,
of
the
challenge
of
new
case-work
skills.
She
suggested
that
the
Service
was
due
for
a
general
review
and
indicated
several
ways
in
which
members
individually,
and
Branches
collectively
could
stimulate
and
influence
public
opinion.
Sir
Lionel
Fox,
Chairman
of
the
Prison
Commission
and
of
the
Central
After-Care
Association
left
many
of
us
highly
envious
of
his
gifts
as
a
speaker;
in
a
most
exhaus-
tive
and
comprehensive
address
he
reviewed
the
entire
prison
system;
he
spoke
frankly
of
the
aims
and
difficulties
of
the
administration,
and
his
facility
for
dealing
with
difficult
questions
would
baffle
the
barrage
of
many
a
barrister.
Dr.
E.
J.
Anthony’s
address
on
matrimonial
conciliation
work
was
thought-provoking
and
of
such
real
value
throughout
that
it
is
to
be
hoped
it
will
be
published.
As
might
be
expected,
this
address
evoked
the
usual
quips
about
psychiatrists
which
Dr.
Anthony
enjoyed
as
much
as
the
rest
of
us.
Finally
our
old
friend
and
President,
Lord
Feversham,
once
again
demonstrated
that,
even
after
twenty-seven
years’
Presidency
of
the
Association
(a
fact
of
which
he
(continued
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