Lynne About Loughborough: Oddfellows

Showing posts with label Oddfellows. Show all posts

Tuesday, 13 February 2024

Shrove Tuesday

Oh, so today is Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as pancake day!

As we know, it’s a moveable feast, but cast your mind back to this day in 1862 … The Loughborough Monitor of Thursday March 6th, carried the following report of an event that had taken place two days earlier:

CONCERT FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE DISPENSARY

On Shrove Tuesday evening the Loughborough Amateur Choral Society gave their promised Concert for the benefit of the above valuable public charity, in the Odd-fellow’s Hall [now an international supermarket]. As we anticipated, there was a very large and highly respectable audience, although there was a deficiency in the numbers of the elite of the neighbourhood, considering the object for which the concert was given.

The hall itself presented a very lively and greatly improved appearance, having just been cleaned and re-painted throughout, and the walls being finished in tinted coloured panels; many of the audience remarked [on] the pleasant contrast between its present aspect and uses, and its former gloomy condition and somewhat questionable appropriation.

An additional decoration, prepared for the occasion by Mr. G. Russell, was extended nearly the whole width of the room, and consisted of the inscription – “For the benefit of the Dispensary,” – executed in bold letters of vermillion chocolate upon a white [back]ground, the whole very tastefully bordered round with flowers coloured in rose and green.

The excellent acoustic properties of the building proved to be such as to make many wish that our noble Town Hall was equally adapted for vocal and instrumental performances, although there is as much need for improved ventilation as there is at the Town Hall.

The members of the Amateur Choral Society acquitted themselves, on the whole, to the satisfaction of the audience, who very freely accorded their approval at the termination of each piece; although we have no doubt those present who were able to criticise would discover very much that might be, and we feel persuaded will be, amended.

Their success at present is greatest in choral pieces, as there was an evident need of more severe practice in the trios and quartetts [sic.]. We may, however, make very favourable exception in the case of Miss Peel, who sang most sweetly the beautiful song, “My soul doth magnify the Lord”, in which she was deservedly encored. We have no desire to look too closely into any defects that might be noticed, as we cannot forget that the majority of the members of this society are working men, and that their praiseworthy object was to enhance the funds of our public dispensary.

The members of the society were aided by the gratuitous services of Mr. H. Dennis, of Hugglescote, as leader of the orchestra; Mr. West, of Sawley, first violin; Mr. Turner, of Sawley, second violin; Mr. Edwards of Sheepshed Choral Society; Mr. J. Granger, of Nottingham, bass singer, who was heartily encored in singing the bass solo, “Arm, arm, ye brave!” and also by other friends.

A vote of thanks moved by Mr. Mills, and supported by Mr. Marshall, was cordially presented to the Society and to those gentlemen who had so kindly assisted; and this was acknowledged by Mr. Dennis. We are glad to say that after the payment of all expenses there remains the handsome sum of £6 15s. to hand over to the funds of the Dispensary. We hope the society will ere long give a concert for their own benefit.

The following is the programme:

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2024). Shrove Tuesday. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/02/shrove-tuesday.html [Accessed 13 February 2024]

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Sunday, 26 November 2023

Loughborough pubs as meeting places

Whilst I was writing my latest book, ‘Loughborough Pubs’, I learned so many things not just about the history of individual establishments, but also about licensing, competition, pub management, legislation etc., of which there was far too much to include in the short volume that is now published.

Many of the pubs in Loughborough were the places where inquests into deaths were held, and auctions of land, property, and goods were also held in pubs. In the case of inquests, this would often be the pub nearest to the place where the person had died. Pubs were used for such ‘events’ as they were often the place with the biggest and most accessible rooms, often upstairs. Some of the pubs in which these events took place include the Bellfoundry when it was the Saracen’s Head; Champs, when it was the Unicorn; Fat Sam’s when it was the Mundy Arms; the Royal Oak; the Plough at Thorpe Acre; the Old English Gentleman; the Windmill, and the Bull-in-the-Hollow when it was the Buffalo’s Head.

Royal Oak

Old English Gentleman

The Windmill

Pubs were also often meeting places for various societies. I’ve mentioned the Loughborough Chrysanthemum and Celery shows in an earlier post, in ‘Secret Loughborough’ I wrote about the Freemasons meeting in the Bull’s Head, and the landlord of the Clarence, Henry George Lovett being a member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, and in ‘A-Z of Loughborough’ I included an entry on Thomas Glover:

“Born in 1817, Thomas Glover of the White Horse Inn on Bedford Street, owned many residential properties in Loughborough. In 1843 he met with local people to form a friendly society, the aim of which would be to administer relief to its members in times of illness and adversity. Called the Free Shepherds’ Society, it was perhaps based on the existing national Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds, created in Ashton under Lyne, being an amalgamation of the Royal Shepherds Sanctuary Benefits Society and the Ancient Order of Shepherds.”

Unfortunately, by the time the Loughborough Society was eventually established, in 1881, and was holding its meetings in the Golden Fleece, Thomas Glover had already been dead for 27 years, so never lived to see his initial ideas come to fruition.

Interestingly, while we had a pub called the Druid’s Arms, the United Ancient Order of Druids at one time held their regular meetings at the Windmill, and some anniversary dinners at the Cross Keys, now the Phantom, while the Oddfellows opened a new branch at the Windmill in 1834, and the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (RAOB), Percy Gale Lodge 944, were still meeting and fundraising here at the end of the twentieth century.

The Phantom, previously the Cross Keys

Meanwhile, the Royal Victoria Lodge of the Order of Druidesses held their inaugural and subsequent meetings in the Mundy Arms but went dancing on the occasion of their twelfth anniversary at the Black Boy pub, now the Blacksmith’s Arms. The Mundy Arms also hosted anniversary dinners of the Ancient Order of Corks, a part of the Freemasons, while a new Lodge of the Ancient Order of Shepherds in connection with the Ancient Order of Foresters was created at the Swan-in-the-Rushes, in 1866.

12 Degrees West, previously the Mundy Arms, now Fat Sam's

The Blacksmiths, previously the Black Boy

Swan-in-the-Rushes

And sadly, that’s all I have time for this week folks! Tune in next week for a bit more about pubs!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2023). Loughborough pubs as meeting places. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/11/loughborough-pubs-as-meeting-places.html [Accessed 26 November 2023]

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site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Thursday, 8 September 2022

Secrets of the supermarket

During the pandemic, and especially during lockdown, I went along - via Zoom, of course! - to lots of different talks, and courses, which included a number of writing events. What follows is what I wrote during one of those writing events, in response to the writing prompt – ‘That place has a curious past and may hold many secrets’!

And, we had to do this under a 30-minute limit!!!

Hope the results are of interest!

I walk a lot, and I particularly love urban walking. Over the years I’ve found myself not only looking up, but also looking down, and, in fact, looking all around as I walk! History is all around us, and it is because of that history that we are where we are today. Indeed, that is why I am here today, standing outside the International Supermarket, thirsty after my long walk!

The sun reflects off the white rendered building. The huge ground floor windows look somewhat out of place, disproportionate in size, ugly even, with wire grill shutters to deter non-shoppers from entering. Looking up, I see some curious brickwork that looks like window ledges, but there are no upstairs windows! In the middle of the triangular-shaped upper storey, alongside what looks like a 20th-century burglar alarm, is what appears to be a badge - is it a crest of some sort, or just an ornament, a decoration?

The door to the shop is awkwardly placed in the middle of the building’s frontage, and I stagger up the two green-painted steps, to enter the shop – full of delicious delicacies and foodstuffs from a range of countries, like Poland and Greece, as you’d expect really, given the shop’s name.

It feels exciting to go into the shop, and yet, it also feels perhaps a little run down, and very much more like a corner shop than a clinical national chain food hall. Something – a tingling down my spine perhaps – tells me that there is far more to this building than meets the eye, so, refreshments purchased, I rush home to do a bit of desk research – we are still in the grips of the pandemic, after all, and so many buildings are still closed, and services non-operational, that desk work is currently the only option.

Several weeks pass as I amass more and more information about the building that houses the International Supermarket, until finally, I feel ready to tell its story, albeit somewhat briefly!

The building is far older than I had realised, and was originally opened in 1823, and according to Helen and Richard (1986) (1) it was constructed to be Loughborough’s first purpose-built theatre. If you know the Georgian Theatre in Richmond, Yorkshire, which is still operating as a theatre – pandemic permitting – then you have an idea of what Loughborough’s theatre was originally like. An expert in our local Leicestershire theatres has created a plan of the building as it probably was at its opening, showing the raked stage and the high ceilings, neither of which are visible today from the shop floor (2).

Mr Bennett, the producer for whom the theatre was created, had theatrical interests in other Midlands towns, like Sheffield, so he was rather experienced. He opened the theatre with a production of ‘Speed the Plough’, a comedy by Thomas Morton, that had first been performed in Covent Garden in 1798, and with ‘Warlock of the Glen’, first performed at the Theatre Royal, Convent Garden in 1820 (3). Later, Master B. Grossmith, performed his one-man show at the theatre, although there is speculation about how he could have remained seven years of age for so many years!

The theatre was initially successful, but gradually declined in popularity, so much so, that around 1856 it was used by the local lodge of Oddfellows, as their regular meeting place. It is the badge of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows that adorns the front of today’s International Supermarket.

Once the Oddfellows left the building, it became a dance hall, showed early films before there was a dedicated cinema in town, and then became the office of a local auction mart – Adkinson and Freckletons, the latter of which still have offices on Loughborough’s High Street.

Although there was a period of intermittent performance at the theatre, once the auction mart had left, the building was put to use as a bicycle repair shop, a carpet shop, an outdoor clothing shop, and has now been an international supermarket for over 10 years. Did I say earlier that they sell lovely baklavas?

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Notes

(1) Leacroft, Helen, and Leacroft, Richard (1986). 'The theatre in Leicestershire: a history of entertainment in the county from the 15th century to the 1960s'. Leicester: Leicestershire Libraries & Information Service

(2) ibid.

(3) Both according to entries in Wikipedia.

____________________________________

posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

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

Dyer, Lynne (2022). Secrets of the supermarket. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/09/secrets-of-supermarket.html [Accessed 8 September 2022]

Take down policy:

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Sunday, 24 May 2020

Whitsun holiday

Hathern Band taking part in the Whit march, May 2015

Something in some of the recent issues of the local newspaper, ‘The Loughborough Echo’, caught my eye: the editor had set a challenge, and not one for ignoring such things, I set about researching and finding an answer to the question. What a journey that’s been!! From Loughborough to Nottingham, back to Hathern and off to Clifton in Nottingham, and then up to the North West of England – all on a Whit weekend!

In the Nottingham Evening Post of 3 June 1936, a contributor to the newspaper wrote about the Whitsuntide holiday, and the staging of what was often the main event of the year in villages – the ‘walk’. The contributor suggests that the tradition of walking at Whitsuntide is associated with the ‘benefit clubs’ and friendly societies that existed in the nineteenth century, some, as he says, going back even as far as around 1790 in Nottinghamshire. The role of the friendly society (1) was to provide aid (financial, medical and social) to its members, long before the inception of the NHS and social services of today. There is also a suggestion that these Whit walks were born out of processions of Sunday school children who were celebrating the coronation of George IV in 1821.

The Whit walks were full of pomp and ceremony and helped to unite the gentry and landowners with the rest of the village population, and all members would join the procession. Of course, the better the event, the more new subscribers were enrolled and therefore the more help could be distributed. During the procession, the walkers would stop perhaps stop off for a blessing at the local church (let’s not forget that Whitsun is the Christian festival of Pentecost, a time which commemorates the holy spirit descending upon Jesus’s disciples), and then at various of the big houses, where sometimes they were provided with refreshments, before probably ending up at a large banquet for everyone.

The walks, the banquet and the evening dancing were usually accompanied by the village band, something which most villages had. From the report of the event that appeared in the Nottingham Daily Express of 29 May 1860, it appears that, as ever, the British weather was not at all conducive to the enjoyment of such an outdoor event as the Whit walk, although, thankfully some people did attend. There appears to have been no sport, no boating on the river Trent, which apparently was very choppy, and no music, singing or dancing. It was the wind that was really the problem, making the day feel chilly. People had been expected to picnic at Clifton Grove (2), to dance at the arboretum, and fish and take boating trips on the Trent. What did take place, however, were the friendly society dinners which included groups such as the Independent Lodge of Oddfellows, and the Ancient Order of Foresters.

So, bands were normally a big part of the Whit walks. Our nearest local band is Hathern Band, an amalgamation of two bands in the village, one which formed around 1856 and one later in the nineteenth century. The history of the band is on their website, and it was the entry for the 1860 Whit Week that sent me on this journey.

More recently (2010 and 2015 that I know about) Hathern Band have taken part in Whit marches around Manchester: there are two, one based around Saddleworth, the other around Tameside, and it was the latter which Hathern took part in. For the bands taking part, the marches are actually a banding contest, which is supported by thousands of spectators. Luckily, some of the band's performances have been recorded and saved for posterity! Have a listen to performance 1, performance 2, performance 3 and performance 4! And see some pics from the event:

It is but a short journey from Hathern to Loughborough, and so back to the challenge I mentioned at the beginning of this post, which was to discover who was ‘Heywood’, a writer who contributed articles to the Loughborough Echo back in the 1930s. You might guess from reading this post, that I believe Heywood to be Heywood Chilton, the person who contributed to the Nottingham Evening Post in the 1930s, although so far, this is all I know about the person!

Notes

(1) I haven’t written much about our local friendly and fraternal societies on the blog – there’s something on the post about UnityHouse, and the Sparrow Hill Theatre – but there’s a bit more about them in ‘Secret Loughborough’.

(2) Clifton Grove was apparently a bit of an attraction for the people of Nottingham, and was accessed by the ferry at Wilford. I wonder if Samuel Yates (journey Part 1, journey Part 2) chose Clifton for his daily walk in 1819, because of its position on the Loughborough side of the river Trent? By 1874 it was described in Shaw’s ‘Guide to Nottingham’ as follows: ‘At Easter and Whitsuntide if the weather at all permits, thousands of Nottingham artizans with their wives and families, and young men and maidens, either with sweethearts or to gain sweethearts, flock to the Grove.’ as I discovered on the Nottingham Hidden History Teamwebsite.

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

Dyer, Lynne (2020). Whitsun holiday. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2020/05/whitsun-holiday.html [Accessed 24 May 2020]

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Sunday, 2 July 2017

Fete on the Green

Another busy week in Loughborough and beyond! I hope you're enjoying my daily #100wordsaboutloughborough: I'm certainly enjoying writing them, although brevity has never been my strong point, so they are rather challenging!!

This week I was lucky enough to visit Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon, and part of my birthday treat was to see Titus Andronicus at the Stratford theatre. I've only been to Warwick twice before, once being so long ago I can remember nothing from that visit, and once a couple of years ago. Last time we did some of the museums, but the town museum was closed when we went, so we were pleased to pop in this year. We also managed to get to Lord Leycester Hospital, a fantastic set of Tudor buildings that used to house the Medieval Guilds: a little bit more impressive than our own former Guildhall, which is now Lowe's the furnishers on Church Gate.

Whilst we were looking around, we spotted a chart showing various crests, and saw some of the actual crests dotted around the complex. Several of these had connections to our area - Hastings, De Lisle, Ferrers,

The gardens were beautiful too, with flowers, hedges, herbs, and statues.

Once we'd finished in Warwick we went over to Stratford for something to eat before the start of the performance, and we had time for a quick stroll around. This weekend they have had a boat festival on the river that passes next to the theatre. They were just setting up when we were there, but it looked like it would be a great event, similar to our canal festival.

In the town, we passed a lovely art deco cinema, and a pub called the Oddfellows Arms. The branch of Oddfellows in Loughborough used to hold their meetings in the former Georgian Theatre on Sparrow Hill, but we have never had a pub named after them.

On Saturday I popped along to the Fete on the Green, next to Fearon Hall in the grounds of the Church of All Saints with Holy Trinity. What a pleasure it was to see the re-sited WW1 memorial, and the wonderful book of remembrance that is now beneath it.

Exciting too, to be able to go up into the bell tower, and see where the bellringers ring their changes. And even more exciting was to be able to go right up to the bellchamber and see the eight Taylors bells, and hear the tenor bell ring out (albeit with our fingers in our ears, as instructed).

Sunday, 4 January 2015

Loughborough 2014 in pics

I'm still reviewing 2014! Last week I shared the top blogposts and my favourite blogposts with you: This week I'm sharing my favourite pics from 2014! Warning: Lots of pics and I haven't as yet worked out how to make them smaller without loosing quality, so they load more quickly: A job for 2015!

From January 2014 - Warner Street School shortly before demolition. All that now remains is the portion which was the schoolmaster's house, to the right of the main school in this photo. The blogpost this appeared in was a veritable pot pourri and included info about resources in the public library, a bit about Aumbery Gap, mention of a talk on Luddites, a WW1 project, the Leicestershire Green Plaque scheme, and a few other things.

Warner Street School shortly before demolition

From February 2014 - an open day at Unity House led me to the discovery of a rulebook for the Oddfellows, published in 1904. Unity House is a lovely building erected in about 1889, and has an interesting history, described in the blogpost. The Oddfellows had various meeting places in Loughborough, and Unity House was one of them.

Oddfellows rulebook for 1904

From March 2014 - ghost signs of Loughborough produced some really interesting photos of painted signs on the sides of buildings advertising businesses that were no longer there (and a few other carved, embossed, and painted signs that really weren't ghost signs!). I think my favourite is the Wool Shop on Nottingham Road: Someone recently told me that the lady who ran the shop knew exactly where everything was, despite the seeming disorder, and when she eventually shut up shop went on a worldwide cruise!

The Wool Shop on Nottingham Road

From April 2014 - during WW2 Sir Malcolm Sargent toured the country with his orchestra, visiting industrial cities affected by the Blitz. He was supposed to conduct at the Empire Cinema, but was unfortunately indisposed on this particular occasion, his place being taken by Warwick Braithwaite.

The programme for the concert at The Empire Cinema

From May 2014 - a rare guided walk around the Dishley Estate led to some really exciting photo opportunities (although I didn't get into the photograph that appeared in the Echo, because I was too busy looking at the walls of the church!)

All Saints Church, Dishley

From June 2014 - For the last couple of years the Loughborough In Bloom initiative has commissioned sculptures to adorn the pond area of Queen's Park, outside the Charnwood Museum. This year the sculptures were on the theme of remembrance.

From July 2014 - having helped out at the Carillon Museum for a few weeks during the 2014 season, imagine my surprise when I discovered that my uncle in New Jersey was the carilloneur in their carillon!!

The Loughborough Carillon in Queen's Park

From August 2014 - a wonderful event took place in Queen's Park, as a reminder of the start of the First World War. There was a parade from John Storer House, a service at the base of the Carillon, and there were stalls and events in the park.

From September 2014 - the spotlight on ancient Loughborough part 1 as a feature on The Windmill Inn, a regular haunt of mine during the 1980s! One of Loughborough's most historic and characterful pubs.

Possibly the oldest pub in Loughborough!

From October 2014 - following my research into Temperance, and particularly into the Temperance Hotel in Nanpantan, I took a visit to Nanpantan Reservoir - its old workings, its surrounding farms and houses, and its wildlife.

A view of the reservoir at Nanpantan

From November 2014 - the son et lumiere on Loughborough Carillon turned out to be rather controversial - some people objected to such an event, and many others simply didn't know it was happening. I went along and took some rather rubbish photos, but it gives you an idea of the event.

Everyone loves a cat

From December 2014 - December gave me an excuse to focus on Christmas events! The Christmas in Leicestershire blogpost gave me a chance to indulge in Hathern Band (particularly the trombone section) and in Christmas trees (although I was unable to attend the Loughborough Christmas tree festival, so the ones on show here are Melton Mowbray).