So who was A T Warbis?

If you pop down to the public library before the end of July you will see the exhibition cabinets near the Local Studies Library full of sketches created by A T Warbis. Alfred Thomas Warbis, or AT as I believe he signed his drawings, was a prolific artist, and created over 1,200 drawings for the Loughborough Echo, which appeared in a column called "From and Artist's Sketchbook".

Here are some pics from the exhibition; they don't do it justice and I'm still trying to get to grips with my new camera, so do try and pop in and have a look for yourself. And, if you're on Twitter and want to follow what's going on in the Local Studies Library, follow the volunteers - LLLSV @Loughlibvol

If you pop over to the internet (preferably using Chrome rather than IE (as the site doesn't work for me on IE)) you'll find some webpages on A T Warbis created by his son, David. This site also includes an obituary that appeared in the Loughborough Echo at the time of A T's death (1976). In his introduction, David makes a great point that his father's sketches were not only works of art, but now also contribute to a recorded social history of Loughborough. So, for example, in the public library exhibition you can see copies of A T Warbis's sketches, next to a photograph of what the same view looks like today: some are little changed, but many are vastly different.

The Loughborough Echo obituary tells you a little more about the artist's life, and it is wonderful to learn that he created about 5,000 sketches, was a pupil of, amongst others, Herbert Railton *, and worked for Brush.

Personally, I love these sketches. There is no substitute for a real drawing, but since I am no drawer myself, and I do like taking photographs, so I have recently been playing with some software that allows me to create pencil sketches from photographs, and I've used these in my walking booklets. Of course, as I said, they are no substitute for the real thing ...

The Manor House

The Odeon

The Sockman

Beacon Bingo

The Parish Church

The Old Hospital Site

The Old Rectory in the snow!

 * I've been looking for a connection between Herbert Railton, artist (who originally trained as an architect) and William Railton, architect, who designed, amongst other things, Nelson's Column, and the Bavarian Lodge at Garendon Park, but as yet have been unsuccessful!