Lynne About Loughborough: Queen's Park

Showing posts with label Queen's Park. Show all posts

Sunday, 11 May 2025

A trip around Loughborough in early May

So, the blog has been a little wordy of late, so here are some photos I've taken around Loughborough during the first weeks of May 2025. Enjoy! First, some beautiful flowers in Queen's Park

A visit to the ceramics market

Looking out over Loughborough town centre

I think this one is the back of what used to be the Art Deco building of Marsden's the grocers, and is now Caffe Nero

Lloyds Bank

I found this view intriguing, as it shows the Art Deco decorations (on the right) from a different angle!

This is the top of the former Prudential building, part of which is now occupied by Max Spielmann and Subway

Building flats where Ellwoods garage used to be on Pinfold Gate

The new canopy on Southfields Park is now open, and the footpath around the park perimeter is now re-opened!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). A trip around Loughborough in early May. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-trip-around-loughborough-in-early-may.html [Accessed 11 May 2025]

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Saturday, 19 April 2025

Q is for Queen's Park

So, this is a very oblique entry for the Letter Q in the A-Z Blogging Challenge, focussing on Art Deco in Loughborough! As you know, I’m always looking for connections between things, and this is one case in point …

As we saw in the first post in this challenge, the Art Deco style of architecture, was prevalent between about 1919 and 1940, although its name was applied retrospectively, around 1968. When I lead guided walks around Loughborough, or do presentations about Loughborough’s Art Deco, I do stress that just because a building was built between 1919 and 1940, it doesn’t mean it was built in the Art Deco style. There are plenty of buildings dating from that period that reflect other styles, like, for example, the old Post Office on Sparrow Hill, which is Neo-Classical or Neo-Georgian, or the old King’s Head Hotel, also Neo-Georgian, or the former £Stetcher store which is Domestic Revival in style.

So, thinking about Queen’s Park, there are only a few buildings and structures within the park, which include the Charnwood Museum, built around 1898, the bandstand dating from around 1902, and the Carillon Tower. It is the latter I always mention in my walks and talks, because it was built in 1922-3, but has little, if any features from the Art Deco architectural style. I did wonder if the embossed inscriptions were perhaps contemporary in style, but further inspection has revealed they more resemble a Neo-Classical style of writing. There are no harsh angles, like the tower of the current Odeon cinema; no curved towers as on the former Beacon Bingo building, and not a faience tile spotted anywhere! The only thing that reminds me of the early-mid 1900s is the glossy, deep cream painted brickwork, and the turquoise borders inside the building.

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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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Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). Queen’s Park. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/q-is-for-queens-park.html [Accessed 19 April 2025]

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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

Sunday, 9 February 2025

All Change at Queen's Park

Before getting the blog back on track with its focus on historical Loughborough, here's a quick photo blog showing some of the changes happening down at Queen's Park at the moment. The Hope Bell was featured in an earlier blog this year, so this post shows the new tarmacked paths, and the new lighting - but I think I forgot to take any photos of the new security cameras, but don't worry, they're quite obvious, so you won't miss them when you next pop down.

Sometime last year, there was a lot of work done on trying to alleviate the tendency for the grassy patch close to the Carillon to flood. Hopefully this has had some effect. I'm sure I read somewhere that the reason the bandstand was moved from its original position close to the railings opposite the public library, was because that area flooded regularly, and so audiences often found their feet sinking into the grass, after a wet spell.

Anyway, here are the photos! First, the new lighting:

Next, one of the new tarmacked paths - this one leads to the bandstand:

And finally, a view within the park, a view towards the buildings outside the park, and a few pics looking down on the park:

And here's an interesting view of the former HSBC bank, next door to the Town Hall!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). All Change At Queen's Park. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/02/all-change-at-queens-park.html [Accessed 9 February 2025]

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Lynne

Sunday, 10 November 2024

Remembrance 2024

Sadly, this year I have been unable to attend the annual Service of Remembrance which takes place in our beautiful Queen's Park, under the watchful gaze of our wonderful war memorial, the Carillon. It's always a poignant service, and serves to remind us all of who we lost so we can be here today, and to remind us to look after each other, now and in the future

I visited the park earlier in the week, and was truly amazed by the fantastic poppy display that rose up from the ground, and swirled around the trunk of a tree that lines that path to the Carillon! Members of the Loughborough in Bloom group, aided by many individuals and volunteer groups, created the 6,500 poppies that make up the display!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2024). Remembrance 2024. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/11/remembrance-2024.html [Accessed 10 November 2024]

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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

Sunday, 29 September 2024

Hope Bell Installation

As I mentioned in my post last week, the previous weekend had seen some of Loughborough's buildings and organisations taking part in the Heritage Open Days events. A couple of days before that, I had been fortuitously walking through town, and passed the ever-beautiful Queen's Park. My thought was to walk home through the park, but of course, I'd forgotten it was closed!! So instead, I spent a couple of hours standing on Granby Street watching the exciting events unfolding in the park!

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you might remember that back in March 2023 I was lucky enough to be at the Taylors Bellfoundry to see the Hope Bell being cast. This bell was created to be a memorial to those who died or suffered during the covid pandemic, and as a lasting message of thanks to NHS staff and other key workers. It is actually a chiming set of bells that will ring out regularly, and seems appropriate for a town that hosts the UK's last remaining dedicated bellfoundry.

Anyway, the positioning of the bell had been under discussion for quite some time, and preparatory work began earlier this summer, adjacent to the Swan Maze, which was created by local sculptor, David Tarver in 1988, to commemorate the centenary of the Incorporation of the Borough.

So, on 3rd September, I watched as the Hope Bell arrived at the park, and was hoisted into place, next to the Swan Maze. The park was a hive of activity as people worked together to get the first stage of the project installed. There is still much work to be done before the bell will be operational, but it looks great, and it will be exciting once it is finished.