Changes in Loughborough 2024 Pt 2

Last time on the blog I shared some of the changes that happened around the town in 2024, which included building changes, like pubs, shops, and various other things. This week I bring you another collection of changes - not at all comprehensive though, as there is so much changing I couldn't possibly report on it all!!

Let's start with bells and parks! The bandstand in Southfields Park is being replaced by an extended canopy. When I walked through on Friday last week, the fencing was still around the new structure. Picture of the bandstand from October and one of the new structure, November 2024.  

The Hope Bell, which was cast back in April 2023, and which commemorates those who suffered during the covid pandemic, finally made it into Queen's Park in September 2024. There is still work to be done to connect it to an electricity supply, I believe, but the structure is starting to look impressive. Pictured firstly in August 2024 before installation, then three pics from September 2024, one from 6 December 2024, and finally one from 28 December 2024.

Whilst we're on the topic of bells, the John Taylor Bellfoundry work has finally been completed. This work has seen amongst other things, building and roof repairs, changes to the internal configuration (like moving the board room, and moving the archive material to different spaces), refurbishment of the carillon, and the museum has been completely changed to include new displays. The pics show the changing entrance - May 2022, April 2024, and June 2024.

Making our way back into town, we find a major change on Fennel Street as the Grade II listed cottage which caught fire, has been demolished. Pics from February and March 2024, and three from April 2024. Today there is an empty space where the cottage once stood.

Another demolition took place, this time on Sparrow Hill, the site once being home to Ellwood's garage, and more recently a car wash. Building work has now begun on flats, I believe. A photo from October 2024.

Meanwhile, in another part of Loughborough, work continues on White Ladies, or Ronaldsway, up on the corner of Beacon Road and Pytchley Drive. Pic from November 2024.

One area which I haven't visited lately is the former farm belonging to the Moss family up on Newstead Way, so I'm not up-to-date with where that building work has got to. Pics from February 2024, so I would imagine there has been much change since then.

And finally, making my way up to the university campus, I am struck by the number of building changes there. The Whitworth Hall of Residence has now gone, as has the chemistry building. The building which formed part of the EHB and old library setting, known as Admin 1, has been demolished and replaced with a canopy. Pics of Whitworth - one from March 2023, two from April 2024, three from May 2024, and three from July 2024. I've yet to visit the Outwoods and take a photo of the changed vista.  

 Chemistry building pics, three from August 2023, one from April 2024

I don't seem to have a photo of Admin 1, but here's the new canopy, pictured in April 2024.

So, that's it for changes around Loughborough during 2024! Hope you've enjoyed this whistlestop tour!!

Hoping to complete the story of Shelthorpe House in next week's blogpost!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). Changes in Loughborough 2024, Pt. 2. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/01/changes-in-loughborough-2024-pt-2.html [Accessed 12 January 2025]

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Lynne

X is for X26/27, XPS, and X-Rays

X26/X27

Based on Royal Way, on the Belton Road West industrial estate, the Paul S Winson family-owned coach company was created in 1980, and has been running bus services in the area for most of that time.

Winson’s X26 service is a popular Monday through Saturday service that connects Loughborough to three nearby villages which fall within the Borough of Charnwood, namely, Quorn, Mountsorrel and Rothley. These villages lie in the Soar Valley and are on the west side of the River Soar: villages on the other side of the river include Barrow-upon-Soar, Sileby and Cossington. In addition to the X26 service, Winson’s also operate the X27 service which runs Monday through Friday, during the Leicestershire school terms only, and is dedicated to delivering children to school (see note below).

XPS and X-rays

Loughborough University has researched and taught all types of engineering since its inception as a Technical Institute in 1909. Chemistry and physics also feature on the curriculum, and today, the Loughborough Materials Characterisation Centre (LMCC) uses X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), sometimes known as Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA) to analyse the top 3-10 nanometres of a material. Using XPS it is possible to study thin films like those used to coat spectacles, corrosion like oxidation, and adhesion, as well as changes in the state and composition of a wide range of materials, from powders to solids, like metal, ceramics and manmade polymers.

X-rays were discovered in 1895, and Loughborough College used the new techniques, which by the end of the First World War could help inform about the condition of various materials. The principal of the college, Herbert Schofield, had the foresight to invest in X-ray equipment for the college in 1919, which was used to check welds and castings. These early machines lasted until the 1930s when they were replaced by new equipment. The university continues to benefit from all the latest in X-ray technology, like the XPS.

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Notes

Entries for the letter 'X' are taken from 'A-Z of Loughborough', which was written in 2019-20, and published in August 2021. Information was correct at the time of going to press, however, the X26 service no longer runs, and was cancelled in September 2021. Similarly, the X27 School Service was cancelled in November 2022. If you need to travel to Leicester from Loughborough, or travel to one of the villages in between it's probably best you consult the Winson bus timetables, or contact Winson directly, or indeed any other local bus company.

See also: bus times website 

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This post is one in a series of posts for the ‘April A-Z Blogging Challenge’

 

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2024). X is for X26/27, XPS, and X-rays. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/x-if-for-x2627-xps-and-x-rays.html [Accessed 27 April 2024]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

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.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

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

Spotlight on Ashby Road 2023 Odd Numbers

Back in August 2013, I took a trip down Ashby Road, photographing the beautiful houses, some of the architectural detail, and the area in general. I also briefly looked into the history of some of the houses, and who had lived in them. This led to a blog post in October 2013, which has been one of the most popular ones to have appeared on the blog.

In August 2023, I replicated my trip down Ashby Road. Of course, this wasn’t my only visit since 2013, as I regularly walk down Ashby Road, and spent a lot of time doing this during the lockdown of 2020. Anyway, on that August 2023 trip, I photographed the beautiful houses, some of the architectural detail, and the area in general!!! In the earlier post, I did share some views of the shops, too, but I shan't do that this time, but will perhaps put them into a separate post - such a lot of changes in 10 years!!

Anyway, here's what I saw in August 2023, and I’ll try and show you a photo from 2013 next to one from 2023, so you can see what has changed!

In 2013 I mentioned the gate piers of the Laurels, no.99, so here's a picture from 2023

No.101 is named Holly Hurst, although this is almost indecipherable from the gate piers

The front garden of the property next to the sports physiotherapist has been completely cleared, and no longer appears to be offices 

Looking along from about 105 to 101

View from 2023 showing nos.101 along to at least 107

View showing the Victorian 115 with its much newer neighbours in 2023

Row showing nos.121 (top window only), 119, 117, and 115 in 2023. In 2013 no.121 was the New Life Guest House, but is now a residential property in 2023

View showing the former Kingscliffe day nursery (left) and a pair of semis, 2023

Detail of that pair of semis from 2013

No change in the detail from that pair of semis pictured above in 2023

Another detached Victorian property, no.129, in 2023

Another point of interest is that I hadn't realised before that if I stood in front of this house I could see the bell on St Peter's church, made by the local bellfoundry

What I didn't notice before on this house was the lovely little round window with its beautiful terracotta decoration, 2023. 

Detail from the gate pier of the house pictured directly above, 2023

Ash Hurst in 2013

Ash Hurst with its lovely turret in 2023

The side of the end terrace, from Cumberland Road, 2013

The side of the end terrace, from Cumberland Road, 2023

The whole row of Victorian terraced properties in 2013

The whole row of grand Victorian terraces 2023

Large detached residence 2023

Large detached residence 2023

The Grove in 2013

The Grove in 2023 (see also a blog article about letterboxes!)

Beyond the Grove, towards the Epinal Way roundabout

Towards the roundabout

Towards the roundabout

The end of the section of Ashby Road that runs towards the Epinal Way roundabout from town

Bastard Gates entrance to the University in 2013

Bastard Gates entrance to the University in 2023

Field House (subject of its own blogpost) 2013

Field House 2023 - the only difference I spotted was the external lighting fixed to the terracotta banding on the left

Field House 2023, view from the roundabout

Part of William Morris halls 2013

Part of William Morris halls 2013

Somerton, one of the buildings of William Morris halls 2023

View of some of the buildings of William Morris halls 2023

Side view of Clavering, part of William Morris halls 2023

Long view of some of the buildings of William Morris halls 2023

Clavering, one of the buildings of William Morris halls 2023

Although there haven't been many changes along this odd-numbered side of the road, I hope you enjoyed walking along Ashby Road with me!

Next time we'll have a look at the even-numbered properties on Ashby Road, where more changes are evident! Following that, we'll look at some of the shops!

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2023). Spotlight on Ashby Road 2023: Odd Numbers. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/10/spotlight-on-ashby-road-2023-odd-numbers.html [Accessed 22 October 2023]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

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.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

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