Comments on: Donkeys On The Beach

By: allan trigg

allan trigg — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:06:42 +0000

All the Price Family now want to know how you know them.

Husband of Deborah.

Kind Regards,

Allah Trigg

By: jackie

jackie — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:38:32 +0000

Opposite the Church. Price’s Stone Masons and Memorial Stone Makers for Cemetery opposite, the family lived in the White House next Door.
Peter has retired here now, and Terry died some years ago.
Gay used to live in Meols but have not heard of her for a while.
Tjhere are two houses now on the site.

By: allan trigg

allan trigg — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:43:42 +0000

do you remember the Stone Masons in Trinity Road

By: Brenda Cottrell

Brenda Cottrell — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:29:58 +0000

I used to help out with the ponies in the 60s, I remember riding bareback down Heron road, going over a little jump and falling off Pinto, he was a little fat piebald, I rode Trigger who was bigger than the other ponies and faster, Sue Gardner taught me to ride the ponies. My brother Stanley helped Bill Clark out at the boating lake. we spent all summer there, and if we weren’t there we would be in Hoylake baths.

By: Carol Tipping

Carol Tipping — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:18:12 +0000

Quote from the Hoylake Rugby Club ( John Tipping is the HRFC archivist)

13/4/51 An application for grazing a horse on the field during the summer was turned down but the application from Mrs Clarke for grazing donkeys was confirmed.

By: Carol Tipping

Carol Tipping — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:06:53 +0000

Mary Stanbridge says the white horse in the photo was called Bunty and there was another white horse with one eye called Nancy. The brother who who ran the ponies was called Bill Clark and Glenda Jackson also used to take the ponies down to the beach – they stayed all day and rode the ponies back to the rugby club.

By: Lynda Williams nee Cooper

Lynda Williams nee Cooper — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:16:22 +0000

I wonder if anyone has any photos of Clarke’s ponies, unfortunately non of us got any at the time. I would love to hear of any.

By: Lynda Williams nee Cooper

Lynda Williams nee Cooper — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:14:26 +0000

I worked for Bill and Doris Clarke on the ponies on the beach for about 7yrs. when I was 7 – 14yrs old. When I was 7 I started with Jippo, who was a very old pony, that Bill was particularly fond of and told us he slept in his house with him, as kids we believed him. After that I rode Polly, Trixie and Pinto. Pinto was my last pony, I had her for years. She was a rather fat piebald and I loved her. The other pony was Dinkey, who belonged to Gill Clarke, Bill and Doris’s daughter. Later on we got a new pony called Trigger from wales, I think, my friend Brenda got him, I thought she was very lucky, as he was a lovely grey pony and faster than ours. We would go to Bills bungalow and get the bridles, we would then go to the field at the RAF camp by Smiths farm, Carr Lane, bring the ponies up to the stables in Rudd Street, saddle up and prepare them for the day. Then take them down to the beach, we had three stations to take rides from, bottom of Trinity road, Baths wall and by the boating pool. We would be down there until the beach was virtually empty, then after walking miles all day, we then rode them back to the stables, unsaddle and take them back to the field to do it all again the next day. This we would do the whole of the summer holidays and Easter too if the weather was good. We loved every minute of it and had the best childhood because of them. I would very often fall asleep over my dinner at 10pm at night, tired and happy. The ponies were kept in a field in Heron Road at the end of the season. Bill did use a scythe to cut the grass for them. The last pony I remember arriving was a larger piebald called Beauty, who was given to Jean Kelly to ride. I left after that at 14yrs old.

By: Richard McIntyre

Richard McIntyre — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:46:25 +0000

In the summer of 1952 my wife worked with ponies, at that time Bill Clark was in charge. She told me about takeing ponies and one donkey over the railroad tracks at night. She did not remember any one in the pictures, maybe they where before 1952. If anyone from that era remember Gillian Barrett.

By: ian Horrocks

ian Horrocks — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:09:53 +0000

I hope there was more than 1 Trixie.

If she was working from the 1940′s to the 1960′s she must have been an extremely old working pony !!!