Psychogeographic walk Loughborough

These last couple of weeks have seen me out and about rather a lot, but trying to dodge the pollen!

One afternoon last week I went on a walk with some work colleagues. It was suggested to me that this was a psychogeographical walk, but it was only as we were walking around that I realised what this meant. 

One common definition, by Joseph Hart is "a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities ... just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape". Some of the strategies for this might be getting people to look up and down, and really looking at things and understanding and questioning rather than observing and moving on. 

One of the members of our group was part of the Loiterers Resistance Movement, a group who meet in Manchester once a month and walk around different areas, seeing different things. D'you know, I think this is exactly what I do when I walk around Loughborough: I may be going to a place regularly (the library, the market, the cinema, the shops) but I vary my route and sometimes go way out of my way, just so I can experience a different view of Loughborough. 

So, here's a set of photos of places I've been over the last couple of weeks.

Whatton House gardens was just springing to life when I visited the other week:

Calke Abbey was looking picturesque in the sunshine:

It was a freezing cold day at Beaumanor Hall:

St Paul's Church in Woodhouse Eaves was beautifully dressed for a book launch:

Maddy Prior was looking and sounding great at her concert last week, with Hannah James and Giles Lewin:

The architectural plans of Henry Goddard and company were stunning:

The drawings of W E Cooke were also stunning:

The Zenobia perfume bottles in the library also made a stunning display:

The art on show at the Open House today was exciting:

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

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Psychogeographic walk Loughborough. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/04/psychogeographic-walk-loughborough.html  [Accessed 29 April 2018]

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

Loughborough and the Pilkington connection

Sadly this week has seen me down in Wales attending the funeral of a cousin: the only good thing about this was the chance to catch up with relatives I don't see very often. As a result, I've not done much research this week, especially because on returning to Loughborough I was attacked by tree pollen!!

So, over on Facebook, the Loughborough University Alumni group posted a picture of the university library being built and asked if anyone remembered the library from that time. Well, of course, I had to reply because I remember using the old library, and the Tech College Library, and was in my final year when the new library opened, and our lectures moved to its top floor. The new library was opened in December 1980 and it's called the Pilkington Library ...




Visiting my cousin in New Inn this week I had to drive past a development of newish houses, situated down in a dip, near the railway line. In the days when I used to regularly use this road, this was home to the Pilkington Glass Works. Hmmm, any connection, I asked myself? Now, I'd call this New Inn, but it seems to be referred to on the internet as Pontypool. Here's a link to some aerial views of the factory.

So what did I discover? Well, for one thing, Pilkington Glass is still in business, and appears to be one of the largest glassmaking companies in the world. It started life in 1826 as St Helen's Crown Glass Company, and was very successful (if you read the article I've linked you to, you'll see that Parrs Bank, the forerunner of NatWest, of which there was a branch in Loughborough, did a good deal with Pilkingtons in its early days, which might account, partially, for its success)! * However, by the early 1900s things were not looking too good for the company, until they adopted new glassmaking techniques. The company went public in 1970, and in 1997 underwent a massive restructure. Now, I don't know for sure, but perhaps that's when the New Inn factory site became land for housing. Although the factory is no longer in New Inn, Pilkingtons continue their association with the town through the Pilkington Family Trust, which supports community activity events, like a regular self-help group and day club, and produces a regular newsletter. 

Anyway, the connection with Loughborough is that William Henry Pilkington, Baron Pilkington (I believe known as Harry) was Chancellor of Loughborough University from 1966-1980, so I'm supposing the library was named in his honour.

* There's also an interesting article on the transformation of the old NatWest Bank in Leicester, which is now Middleton's Steakhouse, and a description of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Banking Company that also became NatWest, via Parrs.


Update 12 May 2018
Whilst looking for a concert programme I came across a university publication from Spring 1981, which has an article on the new library in it. The Pilkington Library was designed by Harry Faulkner-Brown, who also designed the libraries at Cardiff, Nottingham and Strathclyde. The contractors were Norwest Holst. Apparently it is of strikingly attractive appearance, and was conceived as a "self-renewing" library, so it would cope with demand for many decades. It cost over £3m to build, and housed over 350,000 monographs, and 4,500 periodicals. 

The article goes on to say the building was air-conditioned (as I remember it, it was actually rather cold!), had a modern book security system and used a Sperry-Univac computer for traditional library functions. There were offices, study rooms, and teaching rooms a-plenty.

The article suggests that the Department of Library and Information Studies, which was based on the top floor, was the most important department of its kind in the UK. Rather like a teaching hosptial, it was envisaged that library studies students would be in close liaison with library staff, and therefore gain considrable insight and into library workings with such close contact.  

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

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Loughborough and the Pilkington connection. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/04/loughborough-and-pilkington-connection.html  [Accessed 22 April 2018]

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

    

Bradgate and Beaumanor: a walk amongst the animals!

Following on from last week's post about connections with Loughborough, would be very easy - links between some of the places I've visited recently are many and varied - so let's do something different!!

A trip to Bradgate this week was extremely pleasant, and almost spring-like and I was really pleased to see a number of deer!

We didn't walk far, only from Newton Linford to the Deer Barn, and on the way back we spotted a pair of ducks. At one point they looked as though they were touching beaks, but of course I didn't manage to capture that on film!

On Friday evening I went to a book launch at St Paul's church in Woodhouse Eaves, where the author, Caroline Wessell gave a wonderful talk and we were entertained by contemporary music! 

Having bought myself of copy of the book, I wanted to take another look around Beaumanor Hall, so on Sunday I went to the local history fair. Some great stalls with interesting and useful information, and I had some good conversations with some lovely people. Inside was as stunning as I remember, and the grounds were full of the first signs of spring, plants and animals everywhere!

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

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Bradgate and Beaumanor: a walk amongst the animals. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/04/bradgate-and-beaumanor-walk-amongst.html  [Accessed 15 April 2018]

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