Review of 2018

So, here we are already at the end of 2018! The year seems to have flown by and has been like no other: last year's major achievement was the 100 Days About Loughborough project, this year's was the publication of a book about Loughborough and the collection of a local history certificate from Oxford University. The blog continues to evolve, but its aim is as always - to promote our lovely town and spread the love for Loughborough!

So, let's have a look at some of your favourite posts of 2018.

* In 10th place is Anniversaries and Names, featuring the years 878 and 918 and a few selected place names

* Coming in at 9 is the Psychogeographic Walk Around Loughborough, featuring Whatton Gardens, Calke Abbey, Beaumanor Hall, Woodhouse Eaves, Maddy Prior, Henry Goddard, W. E. Cooke, an exhibition at the Loughborough Library and an open art house.

* The 8th most popular post is Finding Loughborough Everywhere, comparing Loughborough to the Cambridgeshire town of St Ives. 

* Your 7th favourite post is the Leicestershire County Show 2018, and 2005

* In 6th position is Picnic in the Park and on the Farm, featuring suffragettes and a visit to a local farm. 

* Half way up the table, at number 5, is Loughborough five years ago and now, a celebration of the 5th anniversary of the blog.

* At number 4 is 40 Years in Loughborough, a celebration of living in Loughborough for 40 years!

* In third place is House for Sale, taken from a Loughborough Echo of 1954.

* Runner-up is Loughborough Snow Today, featuring pictures of familiar and unfamiliar Loughborough in the snow in March 2018.

* And, the most popular post of 2018 is another extract from the same 1954 issue of the Loughborough Echo, featuring a local wedding and a local bridesmaid. The popularity of this post is tinged with sadness as the bridesmaid, a good friend, died this year.  

Of course, for all those popular posts, there are an equal number which didn't appeal to you! Here are some of your least favourite posts of 2018:

* In 10th place comes More on Suffrage and the Carillon, featuring Alice Hawkins of Leicester, the Suffragette exhibition at the Charnwood Museum and a talk on the Carillon, given by the Borough Carilloneur as part of the 2017-18 talk season of the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society. 

* In 9th position is Exhibitions and the Ceramics Market, which covered the works on St Paul's church Woodhouse Eaves, and the ceramics market in Loughborough. 

* Coming in at 8th, Lynne Really was About Loughborough this Week, featuring, amongst other things, St Paul's Woodhouse Eaves, the Star Wars exhibition at Leicester, a book launch on Loughborough market, and an exhibition at Loughborough public library. 

* 7th place goes to Pubs and a bit of Art, featuring pubs in other towns with the same name as some Loughborough pubs, and a visit to another art event. 

* Your 6th least popular post is Connecting Loughborough, highlighting similarities between some Welsh towns and Loughborough.

* Halfway up the table, at number 5, is the Parish Church and Christmas Trees, some lovely pics from the very recent Christmas Tree Festival. 

* Coming in at 4 is Armistice 2018, commemorations of the end of the First World War. 

* In third place is Still on the Subject of Remembrance, a follow-up to the Armistice post. 

* Runner-up for the award is Loughborough Trinket Box, reporting on the little box I found at a local antiques market, bearing a local crest.

* Winner of the wooden spoon for the least popular post of 2018 is the Christmas Lights Switch On, pics from the event. 

Bearing in mind that the list above of the least popular posts are also the most recent, so there is still a chance for them to catch up with the others!

It's also been interesting hunting down the top 10 all-time most popular posts, from the start of the blog in 2013, to date. Amazingly, a couple of posts from 2018 make it into this table, which is some feat, considering the posts from 2013 have had 5 years to grow their numbers!!

* Coming in at 10th is one of the posts covering Swithland Slate, an ever-popular topic.

* In 9th place is a review of some of the recent archaeological work that's been happening over at Bradgate Park. 

* At 8th position is Disasters in Loughborough, including plague and fire!

* At number 7 is Loughborough Snow Today, featuring pictures of familiar and unfamiliar Loughborough in the snow in March 2018.

* In 6th place is another Snowy Loughborough,this time from December 2017

* Making it to halfway, to number 5, is an extract from a 1954 issue of the Loughborough Echo, featuring a local wedding and a local bridesmaid. The popularity of this post is tinged with sadness as the bridesmaid, a good friend, died this year.

* In 4th place is the Plague and Dead Lane. Thankfully, the plague has been eradicated, but Dead Lane is now part of a shopping centre.

* Coming close to the top, at third is Disasters and Plague Houses - disasters and plague proved to be popular!

* Runner-up in the all-time popularity stakes is Ghost Signs of Loughborough, featuring some of those faded painted signs on the sides of shops and buildings.  

* And the winner of the most popular post over the last 5 years is an early post from October 2013, Spotlight on Ashby Road. Probably well overdue for an update too!

All three walks have been updated for 2018, and this is the leaderboard:

* 3rd place goes to the Loughborough, Luddites and Lace trail

* 2nd place goes to the Loughborough Zeppelin trail

* The winner is the Loughborough Sculpture, Architecture and Art trail
And here are a few of my favourite photos from 2018:

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). Review of 2018. Available from:  https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/12/review-of-2018.html  

[Accessed 30 December 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 trinket box

You've probably noticed it's coming up to Christmas! Lights in the town centre, Christmas trees in the church, Christmas music in the shops, board games at Fearon Hall! And lots of opportunities to get out and about and see some different things.

This weekend I popped along to an antique fair, held in the Hodson Hall in the grounds of the Endowed Schools on Burton Walks. I've been to lots of antique shops over the years, but not to a fair for quite some time - and I was pleasantly surprised!! Lots of interesting artefacts - from jewellery, to glass, from china to wood working tools, and everything in between. Also, cigarette cards, old money, postcards and ephemera. So, what better present to buy for a lover of Loughborough than a trinket box? No ordinary box though. A little china affair, with a Loughborough "coat of arms" (i) on it: a little but worn, but still recognisable.

The lion at the top (the crest) is related to the Beaumont family, who were lords of the manor, from the time of the reign of Henry III (around 1265) and Henry VI (around 1422).

Now, my knowledge of heraldry is scant, so I may not be able to accurately describe the shield. What I do know, however, is that the motif on the top right is a maunche which represents the Hastings family, who were the lords of the manor following the Beaumonts. The bull on the bottom of the shield is also a motif associated with the Hastings family.

The diagonal strip across the middle of the shield shows a cockle shell top and bottom, and a fret or lace pattern in the middle, all of which are part of the coat of arms of the Despencer family, Hugh le Despenser being lord of the manor until his death at the battle of Evesham in 1265.

The motto is just about discernible and says: "In veritate victoria". A modern-day interpretation of this would be "Victory is in truth", and this was the motto associated with the former Barons of Loughborough, that is, the Hastings family.

The arms were officially granted in 1889, which was the year of the incorporation of the borough. In 1974 the Borough of Charnwood was granted use of the arms. 

i) This is not strictly a coat of arms, as there are no supporters included. Supporters usually appear on each side of the shield, and often appear to be holding up the shield. 

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 trinket box. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/12/loughborough-trinket-box.html  

[Accessed 9 December 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

        

Parish church Christmas trees

If you're a regular reader, or if you make an annual visit to this blog around this time of year, you'll know that I always go over to Melton Mowbray for their Christmas tree festival because the youngest plays in Hathern Band who play for the Sunday teatime service. So, it's not often that I manage to get along to Loughborough's own Christmas tree festival, partly because it's only on for a short time.

However, this year I was lucky enough to pass by All Saints with Holy Trinity when it happened to be open, so, I didn't pass by, I popped in! And, I'm glad I did because it was a really lovely sight to see so many decorated Christmas trees - all shapes, sizes and forms - and see which local organisations had contributed. I too over 100 photos, and have made a random selection to show you. I think the trees speak for themselves, so here they are:

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). Parish church Christmas trees. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/12/parish-church-christmas-trees.html  

  [Accessed 2 December 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

Christmas lights switch on

Been rather busy this week, so not had chance to do much research. I did, however, take a walk from Syston to Leicester yesterday, and saw some wonderful sights along the canal - wildlife galore and loads of industrial history. Then, today, I made it to the Christmas lights switch on in town. Here's a few snaps of the stalls and lights:

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). Christmas lights switch on. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/11/christmas-lights-switch-on.html

  [Accessed 25 November 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

   

Still on the subject of remembrance

Earlier this week I went along to Hathern church to hear a talk about the history of the Suffragette movement, which was most fascinating, especially to hear about the contribution to the movement made by local sisters Kathleen and Nora Corcoran. And to be reminded that the current voting rights we have only too effect in 1948 when the concept of one person, one vote was introduced, where previously one could vote in the town one lived, in town in which one had a business and in the town where one was a university student!! Alongside some information boards about Suffragettes was also some information on Hathern soldiers from WW1. 

Friday saw me out as far as Lincoln. Ok, I admit, it was a bit of a day off, but nonetheless, I managed to find the war memorial in the city centre.

Yesterday I popped into Leicester specifically to visit the collection of rescued war memorials that are now housed in All Saints church, Highcross. I've walked past the church many-a-time, but never been in before, so what was awaiting me was quite a surprise! And there was a Loughborough connection, to boot!

The Leicester City, County and Rutland At Risk War Memorials Project aims to recover and restore, preserve and protect and re-create and research war memorials that are in danger of being destroyed when churches and chapels close, and when factories and clubs are closed or are re-developed. Some of those memorials that have been rescued are in All Saints church, and there are stories told of others that have been restored and are now back in their original positions. 

Obviously, the majority of the memorials and information pertained to Leicester, but it was very pleasing to see the story of the memorial in what was St Peter's church, now the Elim Pentecostal and Open Heaven church on Storer Road, through letters and photos, and also of the All Saints, and the Holy Trinity memorial restorations.

All Saints, Loughborough

Holy Trinity, Loughborough, memorial now in All Saints with Holy Trinity, Loughborough

While I was there I took the opportunity to walk around the church, and also to visit the St Nicholas church which happened to be open. While I was walking between the buildings (a bit of a convoluted route because some buildings are being constructed near them) I was surprised to see some work going on with the former Great Central Railway station: looked like they'd removed the roof - hopefully for repair not destruction.

All Saints church, Leicester

All Saints church, Leicester

Leicester's GCR

Leicester's GCR

Leicester's GCR

St Nicholas church, Leicester

Today I was on an organised walk around town when I discovered that a relative from Wales was at the Grammar School, participating in the LBBA (Leicestershire Brass Band Association) open competition. Whilst meeting up with her, I spotted the tribute made by the Grammar School to those who fell during the First World War.

Loughborough's carillon

Granby Street, Loughborough

Loughborough Grammar School

A poppy at John Storer House

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). Still on the subject of remembrance. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/11/still-on-subject-of-remembrance.html  [Accessed 18 November 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