Saturday 25 May 2019

Local books local people

This week I've treated myself to perusing some of the books about Loughborough I have on my bookshelves and also some in the Local and Family History Centre, in the public library. And what a fascinating experience it's been!

'The story of Loughborough: 1888-1914' by W. Arthur Deakin, and published by the Echo Press in 1979, is a well-thumbed tome that contains extracts from the local newspapers, and is accompanied by plenty of photographs. What's particularly interesting is that my copy was once owned by George Lowe, who was at one time curator of the Old Rectory Museum, interesting because as a member of the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society, I volunteer at the ORM! In addition, it's also interesting that at the time he owned this book, George lived in Staveley Court, interesting because Christopher Staveley was an architect who, around 1799-1800, undertook repairs to the ORM, as well as to the parish church in 1815.




In a booklet on non-conformist Loughborough, it was interesting to note that there are so many different Paget families:


Other publications reveal other names. So, for example, in a revision to the rules of the Co-operative Society of Wood Gate, Loughborough, there are several groups of names mentioned:



And in one of the Bulletins of the Loughborough and District Archaeological Society (now the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society) there's an interesting list of members:


Interestingly, George H. Green, listed above in connection with the Bulletin, wrote a book about the Loughborough market and the fair, when he was the Markets Manager:



Being very keen on Wales, as well as Loughborough, it's wonderful that my book 'Wild Wales' by George Borrow, was once owned by George Green, as seen by the dedication he wrote inside it:



A lovely little map (not sure of the date) is rather tall and narrow, unlike most which are much squarer. I'm guessing because this was produced specially for Mr Mather:


And the final treat I unearthed was a copy of a book called 'Recipes and wrinkles'! I've always associated that last word with age lines on a face, but apparently, it has another meaning, as discovered in the Oxford English Dictionary: 'A piece or item of useful information, knowledge, or advice; a helpful or valuable hint; a tip'. Hence, as can be seen from the contents page, the last seciton of this book includes household tips, although I'm not quite sure what this has to do with Suffragettes!




Thank you for stopping by!

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). Local books local people. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/05/local-books-local-people.html [Accessed 25 May 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 


Sunday 19 May 2019

A week of local history

I have been very fortunate this week to have spent my spare time engaging in history and heritage-related activities, with quite a number of like-minded people, some of whom I already knew, and some of whom were new to me.

The week started with a meeting with a large group of folk, all engaged with activities and projects related to Loughborough. There seems to be a lot of big anniversaries coming up in the next couple of years and there are some exciting plans afoot. The next upcoming event to look out for is Picnic in the Park on June 8th, arranged by the folk at Charnwood Arts. Staff from the Local and Family History Centre, aka the Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers, will be hosting a stall celebrating the 200th birthday of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Victoria and Albert will be in attendance - well, actors will be portraying them!

Picnic in the Park 2018

Talking of the Local and Family History Centre, the current display is a great one - the Midland Main Line then and now - and well worth a visit if you can.


I spent an evening talking with loads of people about what about Loughborough we'd like to see in the Victoria County History volume on the town. This is a national project that's been going since 1899, with the aim of writing a history of every single parish in the country. Progress was initially quite swift, but has since slowed down, and there are still many areas of the country to be written about. We had so many ideas Loughborough's history, it just reinforced to me how fantastic our little town is, and oh so interesting! We thought there was so much to include that we could fill lots of volumes!

I missed a trip to Nottingham with a dear friend due to illness. I was so looking forward to being shown around some of the more interesting parts, especially as I rarely venture off the beaten track that is the Broadmarsh Centre route through to the Victoria Centre, although I did once have a guided tour of the areas associated with D H Lawrence, which was fascinating, I have been to Green's windmill, and I recently had a look at the Alfreton Road area.


Green's windmill


Back in Loughborough, and at the Local and Family History Centre I did a bit of research and met some very interesting people, with whom I seemed to have much in common, not least an interest in milestones!!

After many years of not being available for training, I finally made it to the Old Rectory Museum for some training to be a guide during the open season! Wow! What an exciting opportunity to be able to show people around the building and explain its history, as well as learning something about the artefacts upstairs. There were three of us being trained, which should help towards keeping the ORM open, but there's always a warm welcome for anyone else to be trained up as a guide - just get in touch with the ORM if you're interested!



At the weekend I had a front row seat at a concert in the Trinity Methodist church on Royland Road, given by the Loughborough Male Voice Choir and Hathern Band. Sadly, the youngest wasn't playing due to revision for exams, but it was a great concert, with some lovely singing and some superb playing.

Well, better go now, books don't write themselves!

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). Garendon Estate water mill. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-week-of-local-history.html [Accessed 19 May 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 


Sunday 12 May 2019

Garendon Estate water mill


Who would have believed that 2 years after first visiting, I'd be visiting Shepshed watermill again, on this their first opening of 2019! I so loved the place when I went along in 2017 that I promised the other half I'd take him along the next time I went - and so I did!!

I blogged about the mill after my previous visit, but only very briefly as part of a post about a variety of mill-related visits, but didn't include any photos as far as I can remember. When I got back from today's visit, I fished out my photos from 2017 - and what a surprise to see that I'd pretty much taken the same ones!!! So, the Shepshed watermill was once part of the Garendon Estate, but its current owners have restored the mill to working order, and they open to the public for a couple of days each year.

There really was something for everyone at the mill - the water, the mill, flowers, trees, blacksmiths, Swithland slate, milking machinery, agricultural implements - and bits of Loughborough and Wales!!! Also some vintage cars - lovely to see the Gillott's lorry again -  great to see the blacksmiths using their skills, smell the grease on the gears in the mill, hear the sound of the water flowing around the undershot wheel, interesting to see and hear traffic on the M1 which cut through the original Garendon Estate, and fascinating to hear the broadcasts being made by the Loughborough District Amateur Radio - and talk to one of their members about Edward Herbert (although I think the person referred to was actually Herbert Schofield), the transmitters on the university campus where the swimming pool is now, along with a photograph which included Mr Latimer of Latimer's the chemists in Loughborough market place.

Here's some photos from my 2019 visit, and one or two from 2017:






From 2017 visit





Swithland slate to the left, other (but probably not Welsh) to the right


















Ironwork from Loughborough from 2017 visit

A coracle


The M1 bridge in the distance 

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). Garendon Estate water mill. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/05/garendon-estate-water-mill.html [Accessed 12 May 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