Out and about in Loughborough

So, I do hope you enjoyed last week's article on what eventually happened to Zeppelin L 20 after its part in the raid on Loughborough on the night of January 31st 1916. Again, HUGE thanks to Ian Castle for such an interesting article, and good luck to him with his latest book and with the next volume of Zeppelin Onslaught, which will include Loughborough.

So, it's back to lynneaboutloughborough for a commentary on this past couple of weeks which, as ever, have been busy and interesting! I suppose the first thing to mention, in the true tradition, is the weather!! We've experienced some very high winds, had lots of rain, and seen much flooding. There's some excellent aerial footage of our area under water, and lots of photographs. Here's my recent (16 Feb 2020) video of the Wood Brook in full flow: 

and some photos I took of various areas, including Forest Road, Derby Road, Cotes, and Meadow Lane.

Forest Road

Derby Road

Cotes

Meadow Lane

Other things happening around Loughborough recently have been singing practice in the parish church for International Women's Day: no matter what the occasion, nor where, you can't beat a good sing!!

I've also had a couple of late-night walks, which show Loughborough in a different light!!

Down at the Old Rectory, we've been meeting to plan the season of events for this year. Lots to look forward to, including an exhibition to commemorate the work of Reverend Fearon in respect of getting a fresh water supply to the town, art displays and more!

2020 is looking good so far!!


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

Castle, Ian (2020). Out and about in Loughborough. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2020/02/out-and-about-in-loughborough.html  [Accessed 23 February 2020]

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.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne 

Bellringing Loughborough and light show Nottingham

Well, this week has been a bit of a funny one, well, maybe 'funny' isn't quite the right word to describe the incapacitation that comes with a migraine. Recovery was aided somewhat by an interesting diversion when I found myself offering to be friendly, helpful and knowledgable down at the parish church on Saturday, when a visiting band of bellringers from across the country came to ring a specific, rather challenging peel. Friendly and helpful I can do, but I wasn't so sure about the knowledgeable, however, armed with the few snippets of info I did know, and the information that was available on the sheets provided for visitors to use written by more knowledgeable people than me, was very helpful and seemed to do the trick.

Anyway, we had a few visitors who were really impressed with our relatively big church, and I had some good conversations with a wide variety of people. We were also treated to a bit of an impromptu organ recital from one of the visiting bellringers!!

Entering the parish church

Open for visitors!

Some of the beautiful stained glass within

An impromptu organ recital!

About to ascend the tower

The bellringing challenge!

Church information sheets

Church information sheets

When I'd finished at the parish church I went off to Nottingham to see the lighting show they were putting on across the city. Luckily, by the time we got to Nottingham it was after 4pm so we didn't have long to wait for the darkness to fall and the light show to begin. I must admit, the show reminded me of the similar event we had in Loughborough, when in celebration of the inaugural Loogabarooga Festival, characters from children's books were projected onto the carillon. At the time I simply enjoyed the event, but in hindsight, it would have been great to have projected onto the Town Hall, like they did at the Nottingham event. Here's some photos of the Nottingham event:

And here are some photos I took at the Loughborough event. I have changed my camera a number of times since these were taken, hence the better quality of the Nottingham photos is down to the photographer, not the lighting show! 

The other thing I've done this week, probably because I was feeling unwell, was doing a bit of phisolophical thinking about Loughborough. I've done this before, but this time I was thinking about something someone had said about not knowing where you're going until you know where you've been. The statement was being applied to individuals, but as I see it, it can also apply to places. A knowledge of the past history of the town - the difficulties encountered, the successes, the makeup of the population, the wider societal context, and a whole range of other things - all help us to understand where we, as a town, are today, and perhaps to show where we could be in years to come. The problem for me comes with how far back in history do you need to go in order to understand how Loughborough became the town it is today? More particularly, why am I so fascinated by the Victorian era, and less so by the life of the town and its people in the Mediaeval period? I feel I should be interested, but find it quite hard to get over-excited, I suppose because I feel closer to the Victorian era, because my great-great-grandmother, who was born in 1871, was still alive when I was 2, so was very much alive in the minds of my great-grandmother, grandmother and mother for many years after this, and thus I felt a connection to her. That and the fact that I actually knew numerous of my great-great aunts and uncles who had been born in the late 1800s, many of whom lived into the last quarter of the twentieth century.

The other thing that I was thinking about was how Loughborough means different things to different people: there is no one Loughborough. I'm sure I've said this before on here, but if pop into the town centre on a Tuesday, you'd be forgiven for thinking Loughborough was a quiet, sleepy little place, whereas if you go into town on a Thursday or a Saturday, you'll think Loughborough is a bustling little market town. Of course, everyone is right! 

Finally, I convalesced yet further by watching the episode of Antiques Road Trip (1) where they came to Loughborough and visited Taylors Bellfoundry and the beautiful Carillon in Queen's Park. Staff of the bellfoundry and the Borough Carilloneur all seemed to really enjoy the visit!!    

Anyway, this blogpost is rather short because I've been out of action for a few days, but, here's the good news - next week, you wonderful readers will be treated to an absolute corker of a blog post!! Watch this space, and be sure to pop back next week!!

(1) Only available until 7 March 2020.

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). Bellringing Loughborough and light show Nottingham. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2020/02/bellringing-loughborough-and-light-show.html  [Accessed 9 February 2020]

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.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne 

Loughborough Lichfield and Southampton

Well, what a varied week this has been! After a weekend in Birmingham, I was out 'Loughborough-connecting' in a few other places, including Lichfield and Southampton. In both places I found plenty of things to remind me of home - as well as many differences, of course, like a distinct dearth of yachts in Loughborough!

Lichfield public library has undergone a staggering change, moving from an expansive Victorian building on the site of a former friary, to a small church in the centre of the Market Square. In order to fit, they had to withdraw quite a lot of bookstock, and some of the seating is now in a most odd place. However, they haven't gone smart, yet. Loughborough library goes smart at the beginning of April, I believe, so at certain times access will be by library card only, and there will be no staff within to help. 

Study tables in the former altar area

Stained glass in Loughborough library

Upstairs in St Mary's church in Lichfield, now part of the library, used to house the heritage centre. Some of the information boards had been retained, and I was rather interested in this one, and whether or not there was any connection with the various branches of the family with that name in Loughborough.

The view out onto the market below in some ways reminded me of Loughborough!

Stained glass above, bustling market through the clear glass

Looking down on Loughborough market

I have a feeling that all Burtons stores are closing, or already have. There's been a lot of disgruntlement about the Abergavenny store which still had its original 1930s signs, as during the re-purposing of the building, there was a degree of lack of care over the valuable heritage. The Burtons store in Lichfield has been long gone: like Woolworths stores and Co-op stores, Burtons shops are quite distinctive, but the Lichfield one also has definitive evidence of its former life.

Lichfield Burtons

Foundation stone in Lichfield

Best I could do for the moment!

And finally in Lichfield, I spotted trams - ok, toy trams!!! Wonder if they are models of those connected with The Brush?

Trams in the Toy Museum, Lichfield

Meanwhile, down in Southampton, markers on the roadside that I think were to do with water, reminded me of the milestones in Loughborough.

Milestone on Leicester Road

Down towards the Ocean Village we happened upon the former railway station and the former offices for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). The station has been transformed into a casino, while what was the hotel, Southwestern House, to its right is now luxurious flats. It was in a small upstairs room that Churchill and Eisenhower planned the D-Day invasions of WW2.  The building was once extensively used by the rich and those travelling on cruises. Apparently, the staircase was influential in the design of the stairs in the Titanic. The dining room was known as the Wedgewood, Ballroom and, as the name suggests, was painted in those iconic Wedgewood colours of powder blue and white. The building is still joined to its neighbour by the original steel structure. Inside the building there is an original document relating to George III. I haven't been able to ascertain what exactly this pertains to, but in my quest for information did discover that a statue of George III was presented to the borough of Southampton in 1809, and placed in a niche on the Bargate: some of my readers will be interested to note this statue was made of coade stone. Not entirely sure what the LSWR offices are now, but probably housing. 

The former railway station with the Imperial flats to the right

The inspiration for the stairs on the Titanic

The former LSWR offices

Along the same road there was a branch of the Wilts and Dorset bank, whose construction reminded me of the lodge to Aingarth, on Leicester Road, which was originally a lodge to The Elms. I might be wrong but the construction looks similar - Aingarth is ashlar (although I can't find my photo at the moment).

Wilts and Dorst Bank

The final thing that reminded me of Loughborough was a pub called the London Hotel. Nothing to do with the name, more to do with the construction material again. The upper storeys look like Hathern tiles, but further investigation reveals that both the upper and lower floors are constructed of tiles made by Carter and Co. of Dorset. 

The London Hotel, Southampton

Detail of the London Hotel, Southampton

Hathernware on Loughborough's Lloyds Bank

And there I must stop, otherwise I'd go on all night! 


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

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Loughborough, Lichfield and Southampton. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/03/loughborough-lichfield-and-southampton.html [Accessed 24 March 2019]

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.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne