Thomas Cook or Maypole Dairy?

I recently caught sight of an interesting photograph of a Maypole Dairy which I want to tell you about, but first I feel I should explain about Thomas Cook!!

I was taken to task last week for suggesting that Loughborough was not a traditional tourist destination, because of the outing Thomas Cook made in 1841. Let me explain ...

When I suggested we weren't a touristy place, I was thinking around a number of things. When I first visited Loughborough I was an avid collector of souvenirs of places I'd visited, which usually took the form of a keyring with the name of the place on it. Sometimes these were beautiful with crests on, other times they were plastic fobs with a blurry picture of the place on, and other times they were a leather affair with the name of the town printed on. I looked all around the town, but the only one I could find was in Woolworths, and was one of the rather less-than-inspiring leather ones. I've still got it (and the rest of the collection) probably upstairs in the attic.

Ok, that's perhaps not the best reason to suggest Loughborough is not a tourist destination! The other thing that I was thinking was that I think people who would consider spending a week's holiday in Leicestershire are probably in the minority (something to do perhaps with a lack of coastline, and a dearth of charismatic, legendary heroes, like Robin Hood). I know I'm a bit on dodgy ground here, after all, Leicester now has Richard III, and it's true that visitors to the city have increased as a result of this, and not everyone wants to see the sea! 

As I said last week, when I first came to Loughborough there was a tourist information centre, but now there isn't. True, Leicester has a destination organisation in Leicestershire Promotions and they've done a good job of trying to connect tourist venues in the city and the county. And, as you know, I'm forever extolling the virtues of our 5 museums, our Local and Family History Centre, our wonderful buildings, our parks, our cinemas, our markets, our fair and everything else I can, when I chat with people, take people on guided walks, give talks, blog or write books. the one thing I keep forgetting to mention is that all our 'attractions' are within a very close area. If you start at the Market Place and walk the shortest route, these are the distances:

To Charnwood Museum in Queen's Park - 0.2 miles
To the Carillon in Queen's Park - 0.25 miles
To the Old Rectory Museum - 0.3 miles
To Taylors Bellfoundry - 0.5 miles
To the Great Central Railway - 0.8 miles 

So what of the Thomas Cook connection? Cook, living at Market Harborough, brought a party of about 500 people along to Loughborough from Leicester on a Temperance outing, on 5 July 1841. They each paid one shilling to travel by train, and arrived at the Midland Main Line station from where they walked to the meeting on Paget's Park, which I believe is now known as Southfields Park. This trip was successful, and Cook planned and executed excursions for Temperance supporters and school children over the next few summers. By 1854 Cook had given up his trade as a woodturner, and begun to make a living from arranging trips. So this is what makes Cook's trip from Leicester to Loughborough the first 'package tour', or more accurately, the first of Cook's package tours. 

Of course, Cook's trip in July 1841 was not the first trip to take place. An example of an earlier one happened when the Nottingham Mechanic's Institute brought a group of between 400 and 500 members by rail to Leicester to visit that town's * own Mechanic's Institute. This appears to have been a very successful visit despite there being few people around to welcome the visitors. However, by the time the group came to leave they were enthusiastically waved off by thousands of Leicester people.  

It does appear, however, that Leicester seems to play a role in those early trips. Sorry for the lack of photos and dense text!

Now, onto the Maypole Dairy. Ahhhh, sorry, I've run out of time today, so I'll be back next week with that story.

Thank you for reading. 

* Although Leicester was a city at the time of the Domesday Book, it lost that status in the 11th century, not regaining it until 1919, thus at the time of the visit of the Nottingham Mechanic's Institute, Leicester was a town. Nottingham gained its city status in the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

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

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Thomas Cook or Maypole Dairies? Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/02/thomas-cook-or-maypole-dairy.html   [Accessed 24 February 2019]

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     
    

If you like this you might also like that

This week, thanks to those lovely people at the Carillon Tower and War Memorial Museum, I was at an event that reminded me of why I started this blog, over 5 years ago now. In an attempt to ensure that Loughborough didn't make it into a book called 'Crap towns' (it appeared in the top 100 so was in danger of, but luckily only the worst 50 made the book) I began to think about what Loughborough had to offer its residents, its students and its visitors. 

Shops, of course, were - and still are - very important to the town's economy, as are the pubs, the cafes and the restaurants. The huge variety of markets, along with the November fair are also a big part of the town's heritage and help to attract visitors. Alongside this, we also have a rich variety of museums, huge signs of our industrial heritage and a wide variety of cultural venues and events. But ...

Loughborough is not a traditional tourist destination, and is surrounded by three cities with a bigger offering than we have, and these probably also have more investment in resources. With access to those resources (I'm talking both money and people here) marketing and promotion of the attractions in these cities is likely to be more intense, more prolific and will reach a wider audience, and is therefore bound to result in more visitors.

So, we're a relatively small market town, with quite a big heritage offering, all of which is within quite a small geographical area. I suppose one disadvantage of this is there is no suitable bus service between the different locations, but for many people the distance might be walkable, and certainly there are plenty of available car parks. 

I'm sure I've probably blogged about all Loughborough's museums before, but maybe in different posts, not all in the same one (hmmm, on having a look I did actually blog about four of them in one post). And, I've shared some of Loughborough's cultural heritage in some of my walks - like the Loughborough Sculpture, Art and Architecture Trail. Of course, there's more: as a trained Loughborough tour guide, I've taken people on walks around the themes of Hidden Loughborough, and Loughborough's Links with War and Remembrance, as well as walks of a general nature.

When I first came to Loughborough, we used to have a Tourist Information Centre, located inside John Storer House. The TIC was part of the, can't quite remember what it was called, but something like the English Tourist Board (honestly, you'd think I'd remember since I actually worked there for a short while) and most towns had one. They used to be the keepers and sharers of local information - places to visit, groups to join etc. - leaflets galore, holiday brochures for other parts of the country (and operated a booking system), and a whole host of other useful stuff. 

I'm not sure what happened to these TICs, but many closed down (including the one in Leicester which I think was in St Margaret's bus station) and Loughborough's was one of these. I think I'm beginning to ramble a bit now, and I can't quite remember what the point of this post was ...

Oh, yes, it might have been something to do with publicising places to visit. The Charnwood Museum has lots of leaflets about local places and things to do locally, as does the public library, so if you're looking for somewhere to visit or something to do, these are good places to look. Maybe places could advertise other complementary places, you know, like on online when you buy something and they say "If you like this ... then you'll like that." or "Other people who bought X also bought Y." Worth a try!

So, if you like the Charnwood Museum, you might like the Carillon Tower and War Memorial Museum. If you like the Carillon Museum who might like the Great Central Railway Museum. If you like the Great Central Railway Museum you might like Taylors Bellfoundry Museum. If you like Taylors Bellfoundry Museum you might like the Old Rectory Museum.

Similarly, if you like the temporary exhibitions in Charnwood Museum, you might like the temporary exhibitions in the Local and Family History Centre in the public library. If you like the temporary exhibitions in the public library, you might like the temporary exhibitions in the Town Hall. If you like the temporary exhibitions in the Town Hall, you might like the temporary exhibitions at the Old Rectory Museum.

If you like the temporary art exhibitions in the Town Hall, you might watch out for the Art This Way annual exhibition which is held in a variety of artists' houses during June. If you like Art This Way, you might watch out for the Art and Craft Fair at Rosebery St Peter's Community Centre in October. If you like the Rosebery St Peter's Art and Craft Fair, you might watch out for an Open House art event in April.

I could go on and on ... but I won't! I think you get the idea!!

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 (2019). Museums, libraries, books, talks and archives. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/02/museums-libraries-books-talks-and.html [Accessed 17 February 2019]

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     

             

Museums libraries books talks and archives!

Apologies for not blogging last week. Well, I say apologies, but I did blog, only not here!!! I was lucky enough to attend the Leicestershire and Rutland Heritage Conference, run by Museums Development East Midlands for people who work or volunteer in the heritage sector. It was held in the National Space Centre, and you can read my account of the event over on the Old Rectory Museum blog.  






On Tuesday I popped into our public library because they were having an ancestor hunt day, where people came along and had a bit of help tracing their elusive ancestors. The library has access to Ancestry and Find My Past, as well as to a lot of other resources that can really help with family history. Having said that, I was in the library on Thursday too, for the launch of the renamed Local Studies Library which is now called the Local and Family History Centre, and the latest exhibition. The new name really describes succinctly the kind of information that can be found in their resources. 

The launch was well-attended, with about 30 people enjoying the talks and the exhibition - oh, and the tea and cakes too!! We were told about many of the things the Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers (LLLSVs for short) have done over the past 5 years, and heard about their plans for the future. Their latest book is a faithful transcription of a book by Herbert W. Cook entitled Robert Bakewell of Dishley: the pioneer of English stockbreeding, which was originally published in 1942. The 2019 reprint is now available to purchase from the Local and Family History Centre for a minimum donation of £7. Do try and get along to the exhibition if you can - it's about William Railton, the architect behind Nelson's Column, and his work in Leicestershire.






Later that same evening I went to the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society talk on Elizabethan and Stuart turbulence in Leicestershire, given by Richard Bullock of Nottingham Trent University. Before I went along, I admit I knew very little about the Elizabethan age, or the age of the Stuarts, and really couldn't imagine what turbulence there might have been in the peaceful county of Leicestershire, although given what I knew about the Luddite attacks, the Chartists Uprising of the early-mid 1800s etc. it was always likely that Leicestershire had never been peaceful!

Anyways, it was great to learn about the arguments and disputes, the trials and tribulations and relationships between the local landowning and influential families - the Hastings, the Greys, the Shirleys and the Faunts. What a complicated set of circumstances, what a complex web of relationships, but I certainly came away knowing more than I had before.

So these busy few days were then followed by a visit to a fascinating archive, like most fledgling archives, kept in a tiny room and a basement, but housing some truly fascinating documents and resources. I was also lucky enough this day to happen upon some Tuckers bricks, with the header end facing forward and embossed with "Tuckers Newstyle". What a treat!!! Sadly, no photos though. I also tried to find out if the radiators were from Messengers, but there was nothing obvious, so perhaps on my next visit I should take my plumbing kit with me and disconnect one so I can get round the back and find the evidence!!!!!






This weekend I've spent a great couple of days walking the length and breadth of Loughborough looking for suitable photo opportunities for my forthcoming book, and trying to hunt down more blue enamel street signs (I've only found 4 so far, but I'm pretty sure there are more out there)!

Anyway, must go and prepare for another week at work!

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

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Museums, libraries, books, talks and archives: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/02/museums-libraries-books-talks-and.html [Accessed 10 February 2019]

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