Taylors bells sent off to Ypres

Those of you who are following #100days #100wordsaboutloughborough will know that on Thursday this week I was lucky enough to be able to attend an event in Queen's Park. 

I visited Taylor's Bellfoundry a couple of weeks ago as part of a group from the local library being shown around the foundry and the small museum. It was absolutely fascinating, and I took some wonderful photographs (oh, you know me, the subjects were amazing, my capturing of them, less so!) to remind me of the visit (we were discouraged from sharing photos). Well, the bells that I saw being prepared were the very same ones that would be making the momentous journey from Loughborough to Ypres.

The bells left the bellfoundry on Thursday morning on two WW1 lorries, and made their way to Queen's Park where they were greeted by a large crowd. People were taking photos, talking to people involved in the making of the bells, or those who transported them, or to friends they may have bumped into, and all accompanied by the playing of the Carillon. The Mayor led a two-minute silence before wishing the bells "bon voyage", and she was followed by a number of other speakers, including one of the directors of Taylors. 

It was a hugely moving event, one of those once in a lifetime moments that it was a pleasure to attend. 

Excuse the amateurish video - my first attempt on my phone - but here's a flavour of the event. I'll put some photographs beneath as well.

Nothing more to say really, is there?

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2017). Taylors bells sent off to Ypres. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/08/taylors-bells-sent-off-to-ypres.html [Accessed 27 August 2017]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne 

Cheltenham Harpury Malvern and Loughborough

I'm just back from a couple of days in Cheltenham visiting the daughter. Had a fabulous time at the Holst Birthplace Museum, and the Wilson Museum in Cheltenham itself, and then an equally great time looking at a church in Hartpury and walking up the hills around Little Malvern.

I am, however, a little irritated with myself for not checking the area out as much beforehand as I could have done, as I missed something really special! That said, I was so pleased to happen upon some interesting things that reminded me of Loughborough!

Inside Holst's birthplace there was some lace on display - reminded me of Heathcoat and Boden's lace manufactury on what is now Market Street, the recipient of a coveted Leicestershire County Counil green plaque award in 2017.

Then, in the Wilson Museum I was thrilled to see loads of examples of the work of Ernest Gimson and his friends and fellow arts and crafts artists the Barnselys as I'd forgotten that after having been born and brought up in Leicestershire, Ernest moved to the Cotswolds!

The town centre of Cheltenham also boasted a lovely small fountain, and a much larger, more extravagant one

The war memorials were quite poignant, and the area quite blooming.

Meanwhile, over in Hartpury, having walked around the church and churchyard, and seen the the beehive, we spotted some long-horned cattle

Longhorn calf

Travelling on to Malvern, it was a surprise to find some pink granite on the hills. 

It was a delight to happen upon the reservoir

And a real thrill to see, far in the distance, and obelisk!

What I didn't realise while I was there was that I was so close to the church where the Elgar family are buried. I do like to have a look around churchyards, just to how they differ around the country, but I didn't make it to this particular church. Edward Elgar, the composer who created a piece especially for the opening of our Carillon in 1923 is one of the Elgar's buried here. His music, Carillon Chimes is on display in the Charnwood Museum, having been found tucked away in a cupboard somewhere for many years.  

By the time we got to the little town of Great Malvern, all we had energy for was dinner. Best go back there some time and be a bit more prepared!

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2017). Bells, fountains and courtyards. Available from:  https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/08/cheltenham-harpury-malvern-and.html [Accessed 20 August 2017]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne 

Bells, fountains and courtyards

Before I was reminded about my 3rd blogging anniversary I was telling you about some of the connections I made with Loughborough whilst I was on holiday: I know I didn't get very far, and the moment has now passed, but last week we visited Chatsworth House. I admit I was a little disappointed that I saw no more of the artefacts and the building than I did the last time I visited, which was one Christmas when the Alice in Wonderland display was on. 

I hadn't realised that Chatsworth also hosts a regular exhibition for most of the year, and this year it was called House Style. The exhibition covered five centuries of fashion focussed on events and visitors to Chatsworth. It was all quite imaginative, but I found it very dark and hard to see the displays properly, and read the associated information.

That said, we had a great time, and spent about six hours there altogether. There were a number of things that struck me on this visit: 

The last time we came there was a very poignant exhibition about WW1 in a couple of rooms on the side: in those rooms this year, to chime with the fashion exhibition, there was an opportunity for children and adults alike to try on a variety of different hats, and take photos to post on social media under the #hatsworth hook!

As we walked around I couldn't help noticing the courtyard. This reminded me so much of a recent visit I made to the Ramada Loughborough, on High Street, when I discovered the beautiful little courtyard area, which was open to the public for afternoon tea. I was so enchanted at the book launch I went to, that I took the other half there for a chillaxed drink and an attempt at doing the crossword! There was a very helpful guide at Chatsworth who told us about the annual sculpture auctions they have and he pointed out the one in the courtyard which will be leaving soon. It was a bell in a stone fountain with a hare leaping over the top!

The courtyard and fountain at Chatsworth

The courtyard at Chatsworth

The courtyard and fountain at the Ramada Loughborough

The courtyard at the Ramada Loughborough

I also spotted some lace -albeit Venetian - in one of the display cabinets, and this reminded me of Heathcoat and Boden's lace factory on what was Mill Street, and is now Market Street.

Another thing that reminded me of Loughborough was the huge fountain in the huge pond!!! Rather like the ones in Queen's Park, although ours are naturally somewhat smaller! At Chatsworth the sun was shining, and we were lucky enough to spot a rainbow around the fountain. If you see me in Queen's Park one day, just sitting staring at the sky and the fountain, you'll know I'm waiting to see a rainbow!

One of the main features of the exhibition were the costumes worn to the fancy dress ball of the century in 1897 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Guests included Col. and Mrs Arthur Paget: not our Arthur Paget, engineer, inventor and maker of hosiery, who lived with his wife Rose, their eight children and five servants, in Radmoor House! Of course, the Duchess of Devonshire attended her own ball, and she was dressed in an elaborate costume representing Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, which reminded me of the Loughborough perfume!

Radmoor House, the home of Loughborough's Arthur Paget and family

Duchess of Devonshire's Zenobia costume

Artefacts at the Old Rectory Museum

Then there was the helmet for the Derbyshire Yeomanry, which reminded me of the Leicestershire Yeomanry museum in the Carillon Tower.

And finally the conservatory, probably built by Messengers, but any large conservatory could have been built by them!

Well, that's all for today! See you next week.
  

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2017). Bells, fountains and courtyards. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/08/bells-fountains-and-courtyards.html [Accessed 13 August 2017]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne 

Your favourite posts!

So, I can hardly believe that the blog has been going for 3 years now! When I first started it on August 4th 2014 it was in response to a real concern that some people had a very dim view of Loughborough, and I wanted, not to change their view, but at least to tell the story of our town in a different way, through its people, its buildings, its history, and through its current day life. I hope, if you've been following me all this time, I've informed you, amused you and left you wanting to know more. If you've only just found the blog, do go and have a look at some of the older posts, accessible via the archive of posts, or the labels listed on the left-hand side. 

As is now usual at this time, I like to review the past year, and have a look and see which posts you've looked at the most. So, first these are the posts from this year with the most views - with links so you can click and go directly to the if you wish:

* 10th most popular post: From the rooftops, part 1 with 1363 views

* 9th most popular post: Loughborough in 50 shades of red with 1389 views

* 8th most popular post: Village Bands with 1429 views

* 7th most popular post: Christmas trees with 1435 views

* 6th most popular post: Loughborough, Ladybird and book illustrators with 1439 views

* 5th most popular post: Swithland Slate with 1452 views

* 4th most popular post: Cinema memories with 1473 views

* 3rd most popular post: From Loughborough to Melbourne and back again with 1501 views

* 2nd most popular post: Obelisks everywhere with 1540 views

* 1st most popular post: Bradgate Park with 1669 views


And, here are the most popular posts of all time:

* 10th most popular post Christmas trees with 1435 views

* 9th most popular post Loughborough, Ladybird and book illustrators with 1439 views

* 8th most popular post Swithland Slate with 1452 views

* 7th most popular post Red and green houses abandoned in favour of a picnic! with 1456 views

* 6th most popular post Cinema memories with 1473 views

* 5th most popular post From Loughborough to Melbourne and back again with 1501 views

* 4th most popular post Obelisks everywhere with 1540 views

* 3rd most popular post Spotlight on Ashby Road with 1620 views

* 2nd most popular post Bradgate Park with 1669 views

* 1st most popular post Ghost signs of Loughborough with 2327 views

As well as the regular (well, as regular as I can make it!) Sunday evening posts, I've also added a few pages that are fairly static. In order of popularity these are:

* 10th most popular page Photo gallery with 70 views

* 9th most popular page Exhibitions at Loughborough Local Studies Library with 146 views

* 8th most popular page Musical and creative Loughborough with 283 views

* 7th most popular page #100daysaboutloughborough with 373 views

* 6th most popular page Bibliography with 1008 views

* 5th most popular page What's on with 1009 views

* 4th most popular page Loughborough Zeppelin trail with 1049 views

* 3rd most popular page Books about Loughborough with 1142 views

* 2nd most popular page Loughborough, Luddites and lace trail with 1255 views

* 1st most popular page Loughborough sculpture, art and architecture trail with 1312 views


For the coming year, I have some plans to re-vamp the site, and add some new things, as well as pruning out some of the pages and some of the information on the pages. Hopefully, this won't put you off reading! If there's anything you ever want me to investigate, do please leave a comment below (I know, it's not as easy as it should be) alternatively send me an email at the address on the About Me page (following the instructions about substitutions!).

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2017). Your favourite posts. Available from: html https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/08/your-favourite-posts.html [Accessed 6 August 2017]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne