Picnic in Queen's Park and more

Last Saturday saw the 39th annual Loughborough Picnic in the Park, organised by Charnwood Arts. The day was so wet and windy that there was talk of cancelling the event, until Fearon Hall came up trumps and the picnic was transferred to the 'the urban village in the heart of the Loughborough' and the whole kit and caboodle moved in!

It was a bit of a squash, but the many and varied stalls were set out in the main hall, and performances took place in the upstairs space and one of the downstairs rooms, while some things still took place outside the hall, at moments when the weather permitted. It was crowded and noisy inside, but everyone who was looking after a stall, and everyone who visited seemed to be having fun! At one point Queen Victoria and her consort, Prince Albert popped in to enjoy the festive occasion of their 200th birthday!

The rain has been such that at the end of this week, into this weekend, and Queen's Park is pretty waterlooged, with ducks paddling on the paths, the swan maze having an added dimension and the grass drowning. The park is riddled underneath with little streams that meet up with the Wood Brook in various places (I did find a map once, but, of course, I can't find it now). 

Last Sunday I spent the day in Birmngham, singing with the CBSO and a number of community choirs and individual singers. We had quite a long break, and so off I went in search of Loughborough connections! Near the venue was an arts and crafts house called Winterbourne House and botanic gardens, so I popped in to have a look to see if it were anything like Stoneywell Cottage, the house in Charnwood that Ernest Gimson designed for one of his brothers. Of course, it wasn't. In fact, it was totally different! Stoneywell is constructed of the local stone, and Swithland slate, whereas Winterbourne is of red brick construction. There was, however, an interesting use of slate for sculptures in the garden, upon which quotes had been carved. Inside I learned that Annie Oakley who had come to Britain with Buffalo Bill praised the firm owned by the owner of Winterbourne House for their ammunition.

The extensive gardens were beautiful and I was keen to see if the greenhouses and orangery might have a connection to share. Of course, they didn't! No Messenger conservatories here! In an area so close to the city of Birmingham where at one time there were extensive factories and foundries, it was always going to be the case that any ironwork would be produced there!

Back on the University of Birmingham campus, on my walk round I spotted a lovely building that reminded me of Towers on our own university campus, allbeit a little smaller! 

During the week I headed off to the New Walk Museum in Leicester to catch the Mods exhibition. Wow! That was fabulous! I was rather taken with the pinball machine they were auctioning off for charity, as it reminded me of my misspent youth!! And the beautiful scooters reminded me of the bike show in Loughborough market place, which I blogged about last year. Also on display was a bit of Loughborough memorabilia.

This weekend I spent Saturday in Market Harborough and Foxton, attending wedding celebrations. The connection with Loughborough that I was immediately aware of was me, as I had my wedding meal at Foxton Locks a few years ago!! And then, as I was walking around the village hall, I spotted some photographs which included some familiar names (Guy Paget, of the Ibstock Pagets, Hazlerigg, and Colonel Martin) and on the way home, we drove along a road in the village called Swingbridge Street, and over the swingbridge which crossed the canal, which, of course, reminded me of Loughborough's own Swingbridge Road.

The happy couple!

Today I managed to dodge most of the rain showers and headed down to the market place to see the cars on show - and what a show!!! Loads and loads of vehicles of all shapes and sizes, and so many people too!!

To round off the day I walked over to Rosebery Community Centre (formerly St Peter's Community Centre) to view artworks created by local folk. Talented artists showed a huge variety of their work, from pottery to jewellery, paintings to wirework, and tyedye to printing. 

Gosh, a busy 10 days! And as if that weren't enough, I got myself a new car! Oh, and preview copies of my new book arrived through the post for me! 

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). Picnic in Queen's Park and more. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/06/picnic-in-queens-park-and-more.html  [Accessed 16 June 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

A walk to Oaks in Charnwood via the Outwoods

Walks in Charnwood are simply spectacular! The scenary is green and rugged. There are crops burgeoning in the fields, flowers growing in the hedgerows and a variety of animals at the farms. Our walk to Oaks in Charnwood Country Fair took us up to the Outwoods, where there were sculptures made to blend into the trees, and across Breakback Lane where someone else was clearly enjoying the scenary.

The journey was quite a distance, so it was really exciting (by which, of course, I mean it was a huge relief) to be able to see the fair in the distance! 

When we eventually got to Oaks in Charnwood, we were hungry, so indulged in a hog roast, tea and a piece of homemade cake. We walked around the stalls, which were selling everything from jewellery to wood carvings, from handmade cards to books, from bric a brac to handicraft materials, and everything in between!

There were activities for children, like archery and quoits, and a gigantic slide and revolving teacups. The dog show attracted a lot of spectators, and the tractors, vintage cars and steam engines were also very popular!

To make the journey home more interesting, we walked back a different way, and saw some different sights!

A great day that saw us bask in the sunshine, get soaked in the rain, and nearly get blown over!

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). A walk to Oaks in Charnwood via the Outwoods. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-walk-to-oaks-in-charnwood-via-outwoods.html [Accessed 2 June 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 

Local books local people

This week I've treated myself to perusing some of the books about Loughborough I have on my bookshelves and also some in the Local and Family History Centre, in the public library. And what a fascinating experience it's been!

'The story of Loughborough: 1888-1914' by W. Arthur Deakin, and published by the Echo Press in 1979, is a well-thumbed tome that contains extracts from the local newspapers, and is accompanied by plenty of photographs. What's particularly interesting is that my copy was once owned by George Lowe, who was at one time curator of the Old Rectory Museum, interesting because as a member of the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society, I volunteer at the ORM! In addition, it's also interesting that at the time he owned this book, George lived in Staveley Court, interesting because Christopher Staveley was an architect who, around 1799-1800, undertook repairs to the ORM, as well as to the parish church in 1815.

In a booklet on non-conformist Loughborough, it was interesting to note that there are so many different Paget families:

Other publications reveal other names. So, for example, in a revision to the rules of the Co-operative Society of Wood Gate, Loughborough, there are several groups of names mentioned:

And in one of the Bulletins of the Loughborough and District Archaeological Society (now the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society) there's an interesting list of members:

Interestingly, George H. Green, listed above in connection with the Bulletin, wrote a book about the Loughborough market and the fair, when he was the Markets Manager:

Being very keen on Wales, as well as Loughborough, it's wonderful that my book 'Wild Wales' by George Borrow, was once owned by George Green, as seen by the dedication he wrote inside it:

A lovely little map (not sure of the date) is rather tall and narrow, unlike most which are much squarer. I'm guessing because this was produced specially for Mr Mather:

And the final treat I unearthed was a copy of a book called 'Recipes and wrinkles'! I've always associated that last word with age lines on a face, but apparently, it has another meaning, as discovered in the Oxford English Dictionary: 'A piece or item of useful information, knowledge, or advice; a helpful or valuable hint; a tip'. Hence, as can be seen from the contents page, the last seciton of this book includes household tips, although I'm not quite sure what this has to do with Suffragettes!

Thank you for stopping by!

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). Local books local people. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/05/local-books-local-people.html [Accessed 25 May 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 

A week of local history

I have been very fortunate this week to have spent my spare time engaging in history and heritage-related activities, with quite a number of like-minded people, some of whom I already knew, and some of whom were new to me.

The week started with a meeting with a large group of folk, all engaged with activities and projects related to Loughborough. There seems to be a lot of big anniversaries coming up in the next couple of years and there are some exciting plans afoot. The next upcoming event to look out for is Picnic in the Park on June 8th, arranged by the folk at Charnwood Arts. Staff from the Local and Family History Centre, aka the Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers, will be hosting a stall celebrating the 200th birthday of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Victoria and Albert will be in attendance - well, actors will be portraying them!

Picnic in the Park 2018

Talking of the Local and Family History Centre, the current display is a great one - the Midland Main Line then and now - and well worth a visit if you can.

I spent an evening talking with loads of people about what about Loughborough we'd like to see in the Victoria County History volume on the town. This is a national project that's been going since 1899, with the aim of writing a history of every single parish in the country. Progress was initially quite swift, but has since slowed down, and there are still many areas of the country to be written about. We had so many ideas Loughborough's history, it just reinforced to me how fantastic our little town is, and oh so interesting! We thought there was so much to include that we could fill lots of volumes!

I missed a trip to Nottingham with a dear friend due to illness. I was so looking forward to being shown around some of the more interesting parts, especially as I rarely venture off the beaten track that is the Broadmarsh Centre route through to the Victoria Centre, although I did once have a guided tour of the areas associated with D H Lawrence, which was fascinating, I have been to Green's windmill, and I recently had a look at the Alfreton Road area.

Green's windmill

Back in Loughborough, and at the Local and Family History Centre I did a bit of research and met some very interesting people, with whom I seemed to have much in common, not least an interest in milestones!!

After many years of not being available for training, I finally made it to the Old Rectory Museum for some training to be a guide during the open season! Wow! What an exciting opportunity to be able to show people around the building and explain its history, as well as learning something about the artefacts upstairs. There were three of us being trained, which should help towards keeping the ORM open, but there's always a warm welcome for anyone else to be trained up as a guide - just get in touch with the ORM if you're interested!

At the weekend I had a front row seat at a concert in the Trinity Methodist church on Royland Road, given by the Loughborough Male Voice Choir and Hathern Band. Sadly, the youngest wasn't playing due to revision for exams, but it was a great concert, with some lovely singing and some superb playing.

Well, better go now, books don't write themselves!

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). Garendon Estate water mill. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-week-of-local-history.html [Accessed 19 May 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