1974: LLANDUDNO Ferry Ladies' 795th Voyage | Nationwide | Voice of the People | BBC Archive

Martin Young meets three pensioners - Mrs Simpson, Mrs Smith and Miss Lee - who buy a season ticket every summer for the ferry that goes between Llandudno and Douglas on the Isle of Man. The trio then spend each day of the summer season - 57 days altogether - making the six hour return trip to the island aboard the steamship Mona's Isle.
What is it about this journey that appeals to them? Don't they ever get bored?
Originally broadcast 24 July, 1974.
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[@cazharris5581]

This is the beauty of these BBC films - they gave a voice to the ordinary folk and shone a light on the little eccentricities of people

[@thedave7760]

Some things never change.

[@annother3350]

@@thedave7760 the BBC has completely changed. So terribly biased today that people are cancelling their tv licence in droves, shame

[@spiffenage1]

@@thedave7760 That's why we need the BBC and the TV licence, although some compassion should be shown to those who cannot genuinely afford it, but not those who shout "woke" at anything

[@RB-ib3mo]

I'm sure those ladies have long since passed along with the remanence of another world where life was so very different. Better times I think.

[@zulfiqarali9808]

Yes in a given perspective theirs were better simpler times with of course a different set of challenges as well

[@spiffenage1]

@@zulfiqarali9808 q

[@johnsrabe]

“Life‘s too short to be miserable with people.“ So right.

[@ucheucheuche]

I don't even know these ladies, and I feel like I miss them already. 😥

[@Volker_GR]

Very lovely ladies! Generation of my grandmother (b. 1902). She loved to go by ferry boat to the small island of Norderney (German island in the Wadden Sea of the North Sea). They all went through two world wars, so as pensioners they deserved this joy a lot!

[@heskeylator]

I stood right on the end of that very pier 7 days ago from writing this. These ladies were long gone in the 1990s and early 00s when I went there with my grandparents and parents as a kid. But it was great to see their grandchildrens generation of the same age by now, there and enjoying it. I hope the place never changes.

[@hilaryepstein6013]

A very sweet little film of a much simpler time gone by. Their jaunt would have made a wonderful Alan Bennett film.

[@fffffffffffffffffark]

He would've been the me of this

[@Xarvey]

As a 23yr old Llandudno resident, it would be so cool to have ferries from our town again.

[@Paul2377]

I was in Llandudno a few months ago in the summer and walked to the end of this very pier! It looked quieter back in those days. I agree it would be nice for the Isle of Man ferry to be reinstated, but I suppose there isn't the need for it now.

[@heatherlamb3254]

I think it would be a good idea to reinstate the ferry, I did visit Llandudno when the ferry used to come in but I never did go on the ferry as my grandmother didn't like traveling on ships much, probably many people would like to visit the Isle of man for the day,before I go does anybody in Llandudno or visitors remember the great orme lit up with green and orange it was like flood lights shining from the ground

[@rabbit64sj91]

Lovely ladies, bless them! 😍💕 I was ten years old in 1974, & remember our 'old folk' being like this, born late Victorians & Edwardians as they were. We had holidays in Llandudno in 1968 & 1969, when I was just 4 & 5 years of age, but I remember it so well. Such lovely times to grow up in. 💞

[@markiliff]

I did the same trip about 10 years before that with my dad, grandad, uncle & sister. It was the first time I'd seen, never mind had, potato crisps (Smith's). The little twist of blue waxed paper full of salt really didn't taste at all nice. The funnel was reddy orange. The ship was called Snaefell. And that's what I did on my holidays.

[@zulfiqarali9808]

What an intense love for life and all these activities with patience and a great sense of appreciation Keep it up BBC Archives I love each of your well made videos Precious history

[@jessicatorretto159]

Those 3 lady's had a awesome attitude. Life's too short .

[@alanpengo3335]

I can remember in the late 70s for a school day out we were supposed to sail from Liverpool to Llandudno for the day but the sea was to rough to dock, they were scared in case the ship crashed into wooden pier ,so we had to stay on the ship and sailed to the Isle of man Douglas, we were all sea sick 160 kids from two schools, 4 hrs to Douglas then 4hrs back, will never forget our school day out in 79 I'm 56 now and still laugh about it feeling nausea as I remember 💙 😀

[@chazwalker7156]

I remember us going to Llandudno, sometime in early 1970's (71/72 or 73 I think 🤔) I was only a nipper - whilst there I remember the Red Arrows passing over... we also saw William Roach (Corrie's Ken Barlow) on the beach with his golden labby - my sis still got the pics. Oh happy days 🏖️😎

[@JohnHonda101]

I was 7 years old when this was aired, its strange to see how old fashioned this all looks.. Keep up the good work BBC.

[@Holeyguagaamoley]

When I was a kid I could not stand Nationwide but was made to watch it by my Dad now I can’t get enough of it!

[@sharondowney1725]

O i love these ladies.thy enjoyed life stayed friends im sure there someone around the pier keeping an eye on it in spirit. I lived in North Wales for 20yrs loveed Llandudno.

[@1magnit]

I've been on that very boat. In the 60s. Been to Llandudno too AND Douglas. From Barrow. I was probably about 7 at the time.

[@mattsan70]

"Do you not tire of each others company?"... oh no NO no NO no... (middle lady says nothing!!) 🙄

[@angelacooper2661]

I regularly go on holiday to Llandudno every year. Here I would have been just four and not old enough to remember or understand what went on in the wider world.

[@heatherlamb3254]

I have been to Llandudno a few times since the ferry stopped running, we never went on it as my nan suffered from sea sickness but still enjoyed watching the ferry come and go. I used to like seeing the Great Or me lit up in Green and Orange. My husband and sons love Llandudno, I think they always will, I know I will.

[@donlogan83]

It’s fascinating to watch videos such as this, to see the older generation 9 years before I was even born! There’s so much that it would be interesting to speak to them about…I’m sure that there would be elements of today’s society which would delight and shock them in equal measure, but also parts which remain very similar.

[@heatherlamb3254]

I remember seeing every body going on the ferry, it used to leave Llandudno every morning about 8.00 and arrive back about 6.00 it was lovely

[@Flaccidtetris]

A very sweet little clip. Would love to have a conversation with someone from their generation, it's nice that footage like this exists :)

[@GianniBarberi]

I was 12,it was a great year

[@NorthWalesKid]

1974 and we’re still in black and white

[@jasonayres]

Well, we got a colour TV set the following year, and had the neighbours around that Saturday night to watch The Wizard of Oz. Excited? We sure were! 100%

[@petergivenbless900]

English weather is so grey it to me 30 seconds before I realised it was in black and white!

[@chazwalker7156]

In bare-foot-days, we sometimes stuck that coloured Lucozade film on our little black & white tv screen < It were reet good for a while, till dad copt us and towd us off, w'ya clip roun'th'ear... Kids today eh... di dunt no' di born, d'di - but, ad g' bek tomorra, if a cud 👶

[@donlogan83]

@@petergivenbless900 None of this took place in England 😉

[@spiffenage1]

The SS Manxman was the last steamer to sail from Llandudno in September 1982. The 1973 oil price shock was soon to be reflected in Steam Packet fares rocketing putting an end to cheap fares these ladies enjoyed . An era was a few years away from its close. The current IOM Steam Packet fleet no longer have the spare vessels to run to Llandudno and it's possible the pier is unsuitable for the current ferries which are much heavier than the Mona's Isle was. In 1980 the vessel was chartered to appear as a French liner in the film:-Chariots Of Fire It was her swansong as she went for scrap in 1981 Long live the BBC (with its faults) and the IOMSPCo 200 years old in 2030.

[@weerobot]

Very Cool..

[@aineo2888]

This has to be an early Mark Felton film

[@iaina3251]

The way he says LLandudno as "Clan Dud No", really grates on my ears!

[@user-lz3vp8rq2s]

It's khlan DID no After the parish of St Tudno

[@sarahlouise7163]

aw ☺️

[@storyspeakingtree]

Mrs.Smith and Mrs. Doubtfire I like them...

[@martina5296]

The simple things in life are now just fun memories to watch. Those ladies definitely knew how to not only enjoy the simple things in life, but they were chock full of appreciating them as well. I hope they truly celebrating properly and with gusto and kicked up their heels on their 800th sail. So, they inquired about them men since they knew they were all married? Good for them! You never know unless you ask.🙃😉😉😉

[@borderlands6606]

Not an advert for Llandudno.

[@TheGwylan]

❤️😊❤️

[@nigeljames6017]

I love how Mrs Simpson in the white coat is left behind the other two ladies because she can’t keep up !

[@GianniBarberi]

Look at the pants of the servant with boxes! Almost a double maxi skirt! It was called unisex fashion style

[@Dazsvintagestuff]

Miss Lee seems a bit fearsome.

[@jontyarnold8522]

Ha ha, she is a character…..

[@garryleeks4848]

Probably got a rolling pin in her bag

[@garryleeks4848]

I wonder if they ever married or stayed spinsters, how long were they friends, questions questions , so many .

[@Volker_GR]

'Mrs Simpson, Mrs Smith and Miss Lee' suggests that two of them had been married (before).

[@rebeccaamys8902]

Miss Lee is definitely the woman in black

[@Tmuk2]

I really miss *proper* old ladies. You still get old ladies of course, but these days they're more likely to be dressed in jeans and trainers and seem almost indistinguishable from the general population

[@garryleeks4848]

Proper old ladies blue rinse hair, dentures move when talking, and sweets in a little white paper bag, there must be some somewhere

[@moominmay]

@@garryleeks4848 lol I think thats a vision never to return as the current old ladies would have been born in the late 50s/early swinging 60s and won’t naturally fall into that sweet old lady look!

[@Volker_GR]

@@moominmay There will come a time when today's clothes will be the 'sweet old lady look' 🙂

[@gtaluvr1992]

@@garryleeks4848proper old ladies have been gone since the late 90s early 2000s :(

[@snowdog9954]

Agree! They remind me of my childhood, my Grans were like them. Always mints in the handbags.

[@minimaxi802]

These women were probably born around the same time as Adolf Hitler, 1889.

[@garryleeks4848]

Or Charlie Chaplin

[@Volker_GR]

One of them was born 1900, because she says in 1909 she was nine years old. That's what I heard.

[@garryleeks4848]

@@Volker_GR Gordon bennet she looks older than 74

[@Volker_GR]

@@craig7333 Back then, people generally looked 'older' than they do now. Hard work, no spa, no plastic surgery. And: In Great Britain, the average life expectancy in 1974 was 72 years, today it is over 80. So people just died earlier. From this point of view, the three ladies were already older than the statistical life expectancy at the time - probably because of the healthy sea air 🙂

[@garryleeks4848]

@@craig7333 That’s what’s aged them , the old sea salt

[@eddiehanson2738]

This is splendid. What happened to sympathetic, heart-warming reportage like this?

[@caijones156]

This is great! Other than the pronunciation of Llandudno, that was dreadful.

[@Volker_GR]

Luckily they were in Llandudno, and not in Llanfairpwll­gwyngyllgogery­chwyrndrobwll­llantysilio­gogogoch 🙂

[@caijones156]

@@Volker_GR unironically though, Llanfair PG is an easy name to pronounce if you can speak Welsh, most other names are harder.

[@Volker_GR]

@@caijones156 And even if I can't pronounce the short version correctly, there's always Gogogoch left. Don't forget, I'm a mainland European, and Goch is also a city in my country - so go-go-Goch is easy for me 🙂

[@caijones156]

@@Volker_GR that would be easyer if you can make the ch noise. But I'm referring to the whole name, it's long but not hard, there are plant of shorter names here, especially the ones that have mixed with English that are impossible to pronounce.

[@Volker_GR]

@@caijones156 Languages and dialects are so interesting I could talk about them for hours even without being able to speak them. As a native German speaker, I can make the ch noise in several variants, except the Swiss one 🙂