W is for Waves Wheatsheaves and Weedon the Architects

I simply can’t decide between these choices for the Letter W, so let's cover them all!

So, Harry Weedon’s architectural practice was the one favoured by Oscar Deutsch to design his Odeon cinemas. Arthur J. Price was one of the architects in the practice, and it was he who designed Loughborough’s original Odeon on Baxter Gate, most recently a Beacon Bingo, and now in the process of being renovated.

The Art Deco style was rather influenced by the designs of things of travel and speed – like the Mallard train built in 1938, which broke the speed record for steam locos in the summer of that year; like Babs the racing car which broke the speed record on Pendine Sands in 1926 with J.G. Parry Thomas in the driving seat; and like the popularity of the cruise ships. Hence the building designs that almost mimicked the shape and style of the cruise liner, or included waves, or wave-like patterns in their ornamentation. Perhaps you might stand where Market Place joins High Street and look at the amusement arcade, which if you get the right angle, looks like the front of an ocean liner. Plus, its ornamentation is decidedly wavey - and the central panel almost looks like the letter W!

A similar ocean liner feel comes from the row of shops on Market Street, and they too have waves. These are above the windows at first floor level of the blocks either side of Party Pieces, although these almost look like eyelashes!

There are also some waves above the windows on the first floor of the row of buildings on the right-hand side of the former Ramada Hotel (previously the King's Head), although they do look rather more like window pelmets!

 

And my final choice for W is wheatsheaves! No, not the Jam Garden, but the architectural motifs that we can see on the former Burton Tailoring store. They are keeping well out of the way of the lions, and can be found on the outside pillars of the building, at first-floor level.

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2025). W is for Waves, Wheatsheaves, and Weedon the Architects. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/w-is-for-waves-wheatsheaves-and-weedon.html  [Accessed 26 April 2025]

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Why have I never visited before?

So, whilst the youngest was home for the Christmas vacation I looked around for some places close by to visit. We had already walked the canal from Melbourne to Shardlow and back again, and walked from home to Pilling's Lock, to the GCR station at Quorn and back to home, so this time we decided to drive to somewhere that might be exciting.

Well, I don't know why I've not been before, but we decided to go to Donington Park and have a look at the museum there. Now, in truth, I have been to Donington Park before, once to watch the touring car races, and once to take part in a Race For Life with chums from Hathern Band (yes, there is photographic evidence out there somewhere!), but I've not stopped to look at the cars before.

We were a bit late getting there, and it was a pretty cold day, but that wasn't going to put us off! And I'm glad it didn't, because the museum was absolutely brilliant! If you haven't been, I'd highly recommend it - even if you don't like cars much!

The museum is in a very large warehouse-type building that snakes around, before coming back the same way. This suits me well: I can never seem to look at things to the left and the right at the same time, so it was good to be able to concentrate on one side going out, and the other coming back! 

The first gallery was full of German vehicles - motorcycles, cars, tanks and amphibians. Then there were loads of racing cars, areas made up to look like old garages, some very old racing cars, and some quite up-to-date ones. There were also prototypes, a wooden model of a car (which reminded me of father-in-law's joke about the wooden car with the wooden body, the wooden steering wheel and the wooden tyres - which wouldn't go!) and a child's go-kart. Looking out of the windows on the right, was great as each window had a painting of a race-track on it, through which were hints of the grassy banks outside.

Ok, I admit, my account here simply doesn't do the collection justice, so you really must go and look for yourself! My particular favourites were the old green racing cars, and the pale, minty green one that reminded me of Babs. And then there was the cafe: a really lovely, relaxing place, with tables and dining chairs, or squishy leather settees, or high chairs made from old tractor seats. We had a late lunch of ciabatta with bacon, brie and cranberry - delicious and plentiful. Each seating area also had a puzzle on it - a riddle that could be solved: I enjoyed that as it was relevant to my Twitter dementia initiative - #delaytheonsetofdementia

Once we'd finished our very late lunch, and having sat chatting for a while, we decided it was time to go home. The sun was just setting, and the sky was a dazzling orange. Obligingly a bird flew in front of me, just above the sunset, and just as I was taking a photograph! 

I did ask, and we were allowed to take pictures inside, so here are a few to whet your appetite (with the usual disclaimer that I'm not good at taking pictures, and these were particularly difficult as there were lots of spotlights around and bright light coming in through the many windows).

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 (2016). Why have I never visited before? [Online] Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/01/why-have-i-never-visited-before.html [Accessed 8 January 2017]