On Taylors Zeppelins railways churches soldiers and plants

Ok, so I admit it! Today I am being grumpy because it is simply too hot! It's too hot to do anything, too hot to hang out red washing, too hot to cook a roast chicken and too hot to walk anywhere! I had planned to do the Art Trail, but the heat has sapped away any energy I had - and I never have much of that at the best of times!

Having said that, this week has been another interesting one, with loads going on, so lots of choices to make about what to do. 

Thursday was a super day: I met up with some visitors from Canada who were researching their Loughborough roots. As if meeting them and receiving their thanks wasn't enough, they were also kindly brought me a little gift. You can read a bit more about their visit over on the Old Rectory blog. 

Afterwards, I was out and about in town taking pictures of Zeppelin-related things for a friend who is writing a book about Zeppelin raids in the UK during the First World War. The photo session was only partially successful: I managed to safely stand in the middle of The Rushes without getting run over (it seemed quiet for a Thursday), but the sun was a bit too hot for me to walk to Empress Road. Ah well, maybe another day. In the meantime, I scoured my hard drive for slightly older photos that would do the trick.

On the way home I popped into the library to drop a few things off for a forthcoming exhibition on Taylors Bell Founders, and to see the current exhibition about the three railways in Loughborough. Do pop along if you get a chance: it's a most interesting exhibition, very informative and easy to follow. Well done to all involved.

Let's not talk about Friday. I don't always work on a Friday but this week I had to go in because I am having a massive clearout prior to moving office. 32 year's worth of paperwork is a lot to sort through!! I was interested that a friend who had said they wanted to research into railway posters had sent me some copies of posters, which I had kept for some reason: I guessed now was the time to dispose of them. I was amused, also, to find that in 1996, when I had created my first web pages, I had talked about Mount St Bernard Abbey, and had printed out some information about it: obviously the Railton work a friend and I have recently done for St Paul's church in Woodhouse Eaves, was a continuation of work I started over 20 years ago!!

As a late birthday celebration, we popped over to Oakley Grange for breakfast on Saturday: very nice, and not too hot under the umbrella. Sadly, I missed that pesky Scotsman who was once again steaming through Loughborough! Lunchtime found us in the town centre. How fortuitous that town was really busy, and the Armed Forces Day was in full swing. Lots of interesting stalls to visit, cars/landrovers/bikes to look at and soldiers to talk to. There was also a fantastic part of Loughborough's In Bloom competition entry in the form of a set of shelves adorned with used boots full of plants which had been made up by local school children.

In the afternoon we went over to St Paul's church in Woodhouse Eaves to hear a talk on the Taylor's bells they have, and to learn a bit more about bell founding. 

Absolutely fascinating to hear about all the detailed records that have been unearthed, both from the Taylor's archive, and from the church's own records. Great too, to talk to lots of folk, to see some of the banners on display, and to pick up a booklet about the stained glass windows in the church. Makes me all the more determined to fit in that trip to the stained glass museum in Ely (and hope it's open this time)!

Last evening was spent in Birstall at the gala. Hathern Band were playing the proms-type finale again, and again, it was a good 'un, especially that trombone piece!

So, maybe I've done enough this week, and can be forgiven for staying indoors, writing blog posts today?!

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). On Taylors, Zeppelins, railways, churches, soldiers and plants. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/07/on-taylors-zeppelins-railways-churches.html  [Accessed 1 July 2018]

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Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne

             

Local lambs and calves at Oakley Grange, Hathern!

Proud mum!

I read somewhere recently, that Calke Abbey was no longer rearing sheep in quite such large quantities and so they wouldn’t have the big marquee of lambs that they normally have during the early spring. So, I went in search of sheep elsewhere, and I was lucky enough to happen upon a ewe who had given birth to triplets, not three hours earlier!

Going a little way out of Loughborough, I regularly drive to the village of Hathern to take my son to play in the Hathern Senior Band, and I have had occasion to hunt around the cemetery looking for some specific graves, but I had not as yet found anywhere to have a cup of coffee and a cake, until someone mentioned a great place to me, and now was the time to check it out.

Driving up the Shepshed Road I found a sign to Oakley Grange OrganicFarm on the right, and swiftly pulled onto the narrow winding track. Narrow and winding it might have been, but there was a really good view to my left, over the village and across to the power station. I drove carefully along the little road, and imagine my delight when I encountered a beautifully restored barn with window to roof windows and a lovely little patio area in front. And sheep!!! In the fields, lots of sheep!

Coffee and cake!

I went into the barn for a little light refreshment: There was so much to choose from, including savouries, sandwiches, main meals, any manner of hot drink, soft drink, beer and wine. Oh, and cake! I plumped for a cafetiere of coffee, with soya milk, and a piece of coffee and walnut cake – an enormous piece of cake it was too! All this was nicely served, with a sugar basin of sugar cubes!

While parking my car, I’d noticed there was a large barn next to the café barn from where I could head various animal noises, so replete from my refreshments, I walked towards the barn for a bit of a nose around!

Inside was a real treat – lots of little calves, some of them as young as a day, and three little lambs who’d been born only three hours earlier! Glad that I’d brought my camera (but frustrated because the batteries were low so many of my close-up shots didn’t work!) I began to take a few pictures.


Inquisitive calf

Tired calf

Hungry calves

The big brown bull

As I was doing this, the farmer came along and we started chatting about the cows, and the calves. I was really thrilled to learn that the little tan coloured calves with the white stripe down their backs were Longhorns!

The big brown animal was actually a bull, although when he was lying in certain positions he looked a bit like a brown bear! Many of the cows were pregnant, and the farmer was saying they’d had about 10 calves born over the last 10 days.

It's cold out here - let’s cuddle up!

By far and away the most exciting thing was the ewe with her three little lambs. I think it’s quite early for lambs to be born and so she and her new family had been brought into the barn to keep them a little cosier.

So, coffee, cake, cows and sheep, as well as plenty of fresh produce, bread, groceries and gifts, this turned out to be a perfect afternoon. I also spotted an interesting little book of walks around the village of Hathern, but had to resist buying it as I spotted it being bought by my companion - probably for a forthcoming birthday!! 

Mother and baby

 

My aim of promoting Loughborough as a place to visit means that I often blog about current events, but I’m hoping to get back to some historical stuff soon! Thanks for stopping by.