LEICESTER CITIZEN THE JOURNAL OF

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1 LEICESTER CITIZEN THE JOURNAL OF LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY SOUTH LODGE, 307 LONDON ROAD: The quintessential Stoneygate house. The existing façade is to be retained and integrated into a new structure so as to maintain the view from London Road. The proposed buildings by Signature Senior Lifestyle are larger than the existing house but will still cover less than half the area of the site. This allows for landscaping, particularly at the rear. None of the building proposed is forward of the existing, so most of the trees screening it from the road will remain. The site has lain unused and neglected since the closure of a Day Centre. Photo: Nick Knight No.14 December 2007 HISTORY FAIR. HERITAGE COUNTS. RADIO LEICESTER AT FORTY. YMCA. THE YEAR WE SAVED LEICESTER STATION. THE PUMP & TAP. REGENERATION - MEET JOHN NICHOLLS. BUILDINGS AT RISK. THE GIMSON HOUSES. OLD TOWN PLAN. AYLESTONE MEADOWS AWARDS. BOWSTRING BRIDGE. SILVER ARCADE. PLUS REGULAR FEATURES AND MUCH MORE.

2 LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY Founded 1971 President J.B. JOSEPHS MA (Oxon.) Vice-President The Very Reverend Alan Warren MA Provost Emeritus of Leicester REGISTERED WITH THE CIVIC TRUST REGISTERED CHARITY No MEMBER OF THE EAST MIDLANDS ASSOCIATION OF CIVIC SOCIETIES CHAIRMAN: STUART BAILEY: 48 Meadow Avenue, Loughborough LE11 1JT VICE-CHAIRMAN & CONSERVATION OFFICER (LEICESTER CENTRAL, NORTH & WEST) DEREK HOLLINGWORTH: Arbroath Cottage, 21 The Newarke, Castle Park, Leicester LE2 7BY. HON. SECRETARY & CONSERVATION OFFICER (LEICESTER SOUTH & EAST Aylestone Village, Stoneygate, Knighton Village, South Highfields, Evington Footpath, Evington Village, New Walk, Spinney Hill Park & Old Humberstone Conservation Areas) JENNY WESTMORELAND: 358 Victoria Park Road, Leicester LE2 1XF HON. TREASURER & MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: GORDON GOODE 53 Cort Crescent Leicester, LE3 1QJ WEBMASTER: BEN RAVILIOUS SOCIETY ARCHIVIST: JENNIFER MACGREGOR EVENTS DIARY Wednesday 2nd January pm: General Meeting. Secular Hall. Members welcome. Saturday 20th January: East Midlands Association of Civic Societies Meeting: Hosted by Friends of Greens Mill, Sneinton, Nottingham. Members welcome. Contact Stuart Bailey for details if you want to join us. Tuesday 5 th February 7.30pm: General Meeting. Secular Hall. Members welcome. Tuesday 4 th March 7.30pm: General Meeting. Secular Hall. Members welcome. Tuesday 18th March 7.30pm: REGENERATION IN LEICESTER: An evening with John Nicholls, Chief Executive of Leicester Regeneration Co. Secular Hall. Admission Members free. Tuesday 1 st April 7.30pm: General Meeting. Secular Hall. Members welcome. Friday 4 th April: 2007 CIVIC SOCIETY AWARDS CEREMONY. Members particularly welcome at this prestigious event. See article for details Saturday 20th April: EASTMACS 7th AGM and General Meeting. Dronfield Civic Society, Derbyshire are our hosts. Members welcome. Contact Stuart Bailey for details if you want to join us.

3 THE CHAIRMAN S PAGE On Saturday 27 th October we launched our new exhibition at the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society History Fair at Vaughan College. It was a huge success. Seven hundred visitors enjoyed the exhibition, which was one of the best amateur displays there. (No clutter) Many thanks to the seven (Yes seven!) volunteers who helped. It was also good to see Society members running the Friends of Jewry Wall Museum Stand at lunchtime and the Archaeological & Historical Society Stand all afternoon. There was a big display on the restoration of historic buildings by the County Council and professional displays by Leicestershire & Rutland Museums, but other than a few leaflets on parks, Leicester City Council was noticeable by its absence. The Lord Lieutenant, Lord Mayor of Leicester and The Mayor of Charnwood did the rounds and were suitably impressed by the exhibitions and displays on view from local history societies and heritage bodies across the City and County. Thursday 1 st November saw the exhibition on show yet again. This time to professionals at the Guildhall for the launch of Heritage Counts East Midlands, the annual English Heritage celebration of our historic built environment and held in Nottingham on all previous years. There were exhibitions by English Heritage, East Midlands Museums, Libraries & Archives Service, The Institute for Historic Buildings Conservation and Leicester Civic Society. We put ours on view in the Lord Mayor s Parlour where everyone had to go for tea, coffee and lunch. Sixty-five delegates came from Civic Societies and Local Planning Authorities from across the Region. (Including Nottingham!) However, as Leicester City Council does not celebrate the historic built environment it was again noticeable by its embarrassing absence. And one final date: On Thursday 8 th November Radio Leicester celebrated its fortieth birthday with the launch of a special exhibition. Voluntary bodies were invited to produce a display on any one year that was significant for them over the last forty. We chose 1974 and the Saving of London Road Station and you may read a potted version of this later in this edition of Leicester Citizen. A while ago I used this page to comment on the seeming inability of Leicester City Council to cope with footbridges. Now the situation has improved somewhat. The Castle Gardens footbridge reopened in time for the Castle Park Festival at the August Bank Holiday. There was much slapping of backs that this had been achieved - though three years to repair and reopen a small footbridge hardly seems an excuse for self-congratulation. The disused Charles Street footbridge is no more. Genuine congratulations go to Leicester Salvation Army, whose tireless campaigning led to this dangerous eyesore finally being removed. We were however reminded constantly that this was costing the Council 20,000. A footbridge maintained and used for its proper purpose was clearly the way to avoid this expense. Closure and disuse clearly was not. And that only leaves the boarded-up Harvey s Walk footbridge at St. Nicholas Circle, about which there is still no news. When will this blot on Leicester s skyline be removed? Don t miss out on signing our campaign petitions on the Bowstring Bridge, Pump and Tap, Gimson Houses and Silver Arcade, all reviewed in this Journal and which are proving extremely successful. Watch out for the TAKE ACTION boxes and act accordingly. Congratulations to Ben and Kiran Ravilious on the birth of their daughter Jill. We always welcome new members! I thank you for your continuing support. A merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you all. Stuart Bailey THERE S A LOT HAPPENING IN LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY - IT PAYS TO BE A MEMBER. TELL YOUR FRIENDS! CREDITS: Nick Knight, Olwen Hughes, Phil Taylor, Leicester City Council, Ordnance Survey, Leicester Mercury, Roger Hutchinson and Ben Ravilious LEICESTER CITIZEN: Editorial Team: Stuart Bailey, Simon Harris, Gordon Goode. The opinions expressed in LEICESTER CITIZEN are not necessarily those of the editors or Leicester Civic Society

4 TUESDAY 18 th MARCH 2008 REGENERATION IN LEICESTER Your chance to Meet and Question JOHN NICHOLLS CHIEF EXECUTIVE, LEICESTER REGENERATION Co. THE SECULAR HALL, HUMBERSTONE GATE, LEICESTER PM - WITH TIME FOR QUESTIONS. ADMISSION 2.50 MEMBERS FREE BRING YOUR FRIENDS. EVENTS PAST & FUTURE HADDON HALL 8th September: Lunch in Bakewell and the whole afternoon at Haddon was voted a pleasure by all. However we still failed to fill the coach despite some phenomenally good publicity. VICTORIAN LEICESTER 22nd September: Only thirteen walkers we could have done with a few more. However no one present had been on this walk before, so everybody was surprised and delighted when told to look up and enjoy our wealth of 19 th Century buildings above their shop windows AN EVENING WITH OLWEN HUGHES 20 th November: An evening of pure joy as Olwen Hughes delighted her audience with her amazing life and experiences. There was a large audience mostly members. Thank you to all. And thank you to Olwen who has now invited members to her home next summer. Watch this space. ANNUAL DINNER Fri.7 th December: As we go to print. If you haven t booked already you ve missed a great night out. REGENERATION IN LEICESTER Tues. 18 th March: Everything you ve ever wanted to know about Leicester Regeneration but daren t ask until now. Come along and see for yourself. Applaud John Nicholls s work or give him a rough time! It s your evening THE SILVER ARCADE Join in our campaign to put pressure on the owners to restore and reopen the Silver Arcade. TAKE ACTION: Please join with the Society in fighting to reopen the Silver Arcade as small shops. See our campaign page on and find out what you can do to help. 1. Sign our online petition. 2. Get others to do the same.

5 THE GIMSON HOUSES In 1884 Leicester industrialist William Gimson commissioned Charles Baker to design and built a pair of houses for his nephews on Glenfield Road just beyond the built-up area of the town. It is part of the enduring myth of these houses that they are forever associated with the name of William s other nephew the famous Ernest Gimson, who was an arts student at the time. Ernest grew to know the houses well. In later life, as a leading light of the Arts and Crafts Movement, he designed furniture and interior decor for them. Much of this furniture is now owned by Leicester Museums and can be seen on their new Ernest Gimson web site. Ernest was also a keen rambler and organised long walks from his New Walk home to Charnwood Forest via the Glenfield Road houses. The houses originally stood in open countryside. Eventually an Ashleigh Road was laid out to link them with Hinckley Road. Later someone realised that there already was an Ashleigh Road off Narborough Road and so the street was renamed Gimson Road. Middle class villas came to line the far end of Gimson Road and humbler houses were built on nearby Denton Street but the area didn t become built up until the 1930 s. Olwen Hughes Those of us brought up in the West End always recognised the Gimson houses as something special, a little bit of Stoneygate in our more utilitarian end of town. But alack nothing now is safe. Leicester City Council have given Eastern Shires Housing Association planning permission for a really ugly little block of flats on the site and unless we protest loud and long, these lovely nineteenth century villas will soon be a thing of the past. TAKE ACTION: Please join with the Society and local residents in fighting to save the Gimson houses. See our campaign page on and find out what you can do to help. 1. Write to David Pickering, Chief Executive Eastern Shires Housing Association, 80 The Parade, Oadby LE2 5BF. 2. Support the direct action of local residents, protest meetings and vigils on site. 3. Sign our online petition. 4. Get others to do the same.

6 BUILDINGS AT RISK 2007 English Heritage has published its Register of Buildings at Risk for There are seven such buildings in Leicester an increase of one on Three of them are owned by the City Council: 1) Ruins of Leicester Abbey and Cavendish House, Abbey Park. There continues to be much trumpeting about consolidation of the ruins and restoration of Cardinal Wolsey s grave monument. But nothing is done. There has been some excellent recent archaeology on the Abbey and the results should go on display in a new Abbey Museum. Cavendish House would be ideal for this. But this would cost money, so is out of the question. Meanwhile proposals to sell off Cavendish House remain official Council policy. 2) Former Church of St. Mark, Belgrave Road. It s a measure of how much work the owner Ebrahim Sabat, still has to do to get his building off the list altogether. We wish him well. 3) Belgrave House. Leicester City Council, continuing with its avowed policy of flogging off the family silver as fast as possible, has now succeeded in selling Belgrave House to local businessman Mr. N. Parmar. It was he who also took the City Rooms off their hands. Indeed were it not for Mr. Parmar, the sell-off policy would be dead in the water, as so far he is the only one to buy anything. We wish him well. If The City Rooms are anything to go by, these precious properties are at last in a safe pair of hands. However they are a private pair of hands and there is now nothing to prevent future resale. 4) Leicester Castle, Great Hall and John O Gaunt s Cellar. The City Council now says it will cost 12 Million to restore. (That s approximately 20% of the projected final cost for the Performing Arts Centre). A conservation study was to have been commissioned one year ago. However it has only just gone out to tender and will take one year to complete - after which the bill will have risen further and the Council will no doubt indulge in further obfuscation and delay. This fiddling whilst Rome burns will not do! Leicester Civic Society calls for: a) Restoration of the Castle Buildings, Great Hall, John O Gaunt s Cellar and houses on Castle View as a Museum of Saxon, Norman and Medieval Leicester to compliment the Newark Houses Museum and to allow Jewry Wall Museum the space to concentrate on the Roman collections. b) A physical link between these buildings, the Castle Mound and Castle Gardens. c) Construction of a replica wooden keep on the Castle Mound. This would be a part of the Museum complex and the only such replica outside Northern France. 5) Former Nat West Bank, St. Martins. Work on conversion to a wine bar, restaurant, shops and flats continues in a rather desultory manner. Let us hope that the developers are not getting cold feet. 6) Church of St. Saviour. New on the Register this year. Splendid hill top church by Sir George Gilbert Scott in Listed Grade 2*. Now redundant. Decline has already set in. 7) Magazine Gateway. No news. We are still hoping that the De Montfort University will take it over, as no doubt are its present owners Leicester City Council. 8) And the rest! English Heritage only put Grade 1 and Grade 2* listed buildings at risk on the register. Nationally and locally that leaves the 92% listed grade 2 and many unprotected buildings on the local interest list. Leicester City Council could compile their own list of such buildings at risk but they don t. Here is the Civic Society List: THOMAS COOK S TEMPERANCE HOTEL, BISHOP STREET POST OFFICE, MIDLAND BANK GRANBY STREET, MARKET PLACE ROMAN MOSAIC, EAST GATES COFFEE HOUSE, THE SILVER ARCADE, THE CONSTITUTIONAL CLUB and FORMER REGISTRY OFFICE POCKLINGTON S WALK, THE STATUE OF LIBERTY, THE GIMSON HOUSES,

7 BRAUNSTONE HALL, THE BOWSTRING BRIDGE, THE PUMP & TAP PUB, CAVENDISH HOUSE and THE ABBEY PARK LODGES. East Gates Coffee House. Edward Burgess The splendid wood carving above the sympathetically modernised ground floor is beginning to look the worse for wear. Photo: Phil Taylor THE OLD TOWN MASTERPLAN Leicester City Council is preparing an Old Town Masterplan that will embrace a large section of the most ancient part of central Leicester. However the area is purely arbitrary. It is in area east to west from the Cathedral/Guildhall Conservation Area to Narborough Road North. Its northern boundary is the Waterside Supplementary Planning Document Area and its southern that of the De Montfort University Masterplan. It is therefore very much the bit left over in the middle when all of the deemed important plan areas have already been defined. Whether or not this is good town planning, it does make the plan area a relative easy one on which to comment. Firstly there are overlapping areas to the north, east and south to which plan policies must be applied in the same context as the plan area itself. Secondly it is not one homogenous area of the City but four distinct zones aligned north to south, with the Castle Conservation Area in the centre and parts of the city centre conservation areas along the eastern edge. The two remaining areas either side of the Castle CA were of course part of the old town until the destruction wrought in the 1960s and 70s. The greatest challenge of a Masterplan for the area will be how to rescue and reintegrate these areas as part of the townscape of the City, when they have long been sacrificed to traffic and consequently have a very low level of urban infrastructure in which people can be expected to live or work comfortably. The following two pages highlight some - of the many - ideas for the Old Town Masterplan that have been submitted by ourselves and others through the City Council Conservation Area Panel.

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9 STONEYGATE CONSERVATION AREA SOCIETY Stoneygate is the largest of the City s conservation areas and has the greatest concentration of houses representing many different architectural styles. It is something of a showcase for the City Council s conservation policy and an indicator of trends generally. This year has seen some encouraging developments. direction (32 Elms Road being an exception). Permission is also increasingly being sought to change houses converted for `social uses (care homes, day centres, university residences etc) during the 1960s and 70s into flats and apartments. (e.g. 14 Victoria Park Road and 3-5 Knighton Park Road). ENHANCED FRAMEWORK FOR NEW DEVELOPMENT The City Council drafted a Character Appraisal of the SCA in March and - after a period of public consultation - the Council applied an `Article 4 designation to the area under the Town & Country Planning Act. The appraisal set out to define the Conservation Area s uniqueness. The Article 4 designation, which had already been applied to other City conservation areas, introduced strict controls on alterations to buildings that do not normally require permission and enhanced the framework within which development can be managed and this uniqueness be protected. The new rules concern changes to those parts of a house that face public highway or public open spaces. Permission will now be needed for replacement of windows and doors, initial painting of window frames, fascia and bargeboards, demolition of gates, fences and walls and hard surfacing of land within the boundary of a property. Its introduction is a further acknowledgement of the Conservation Area s importance and a welcome response to challenges created by the widespread regeneration of residential housing that is taking place across the City. In recent years SCA has seen a number of owners carrying out unauthorised building works to the detriment of individual buildings and the Conservation Area. The fitting of UVPC windows and doors that fail to echo the style and design of the timber originals is the most common example but in the worst cases large extensions have been added using non-matching bricks and a wholly inappropriate design. The replacement of gardens with block paving to provide car standing has become common and protected trees have been felled. Stricter controls will strengthen the Council s ability to prevent this happening and will also help address creeping infractions of the existing conservation area planning guidelines that, though small, all contribute to the area s loss of character and undermine its integrity. GENERAL DEVELOPMENTS The post-war trend, which has seen large residential family properties converted into smaller units, continues apace with very few conversions in the opposite Modern craftsmanship. Detail of sash window at Delamere House, London Road, Stoneygate. While some residents lament it, changes in modern lifestyle and the housing market mean that this trend is unlikely to reverse in the near future. However, there are positive signs that both developers and planners are finally beginning to understand the value of creating sustainable, high-quality developments that enhance the area. While motor traffic remains a particularly serious challenge in parts of SCA (both Clarendon Park Road and Alexandra Road spring to mind), there is evidence that the extra burden placed on the existing infrastructure by new apartments is being recognised and travel plans and parking provision are becoming important requirements for the success of any application. This new attitude is reflected in the treatment of several planning applications, relating to both first-time flat conversions and the refurbishment of existing flats

10 THE BOWSTRING BRIDGE AND THE PUMP & TAP Fortunately Leicester City Council can t just demolish the bridge, which is what they would dearly wish. When the footpath was diverted off the bridge someone forgot that it is still legally a Right of Way until a Stopping Up Order is granted. This should be advertised any day now. Members need to be alert for publication of the order and object, as this delay will grant the bridge a much-needed stay of execution. Meanwhile the campaign to save the bridge has been happily expropriated by hundreds of regulars of the old West End Tavern, now known as the Pump & Tap and desperate to save their pub from the bulldozer. The Society is very pleased to lend this campaign our support. We believe that people should decide on their built environment not developers, no matter how well meaning. TAKE ACTION: Please join with the Society and local residents in fighting to save the Bowstring Bridge and The Pump & Tap. See our campaign page on the web site and find out what you can do to help. 1. Object to the Footpath Stopping Up Order. 2. Support local direct action. 3. Sign our online petition. 4. Get others to do the same THE 2007 CIVIC SOCIETY AWARDS The Civic Society is now launching its search for the winning buildings of We are very pleased and honoured to announce that Her Majesty s Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Lady Gretton, will be making the 2007 Awards. We will be giving one award for Restoration in the context of the historic built environment and one award for New Build specifically where that compliments the historic built environment. That is, inside or adjoining a conservation area where it contributes towards the character of that area. Or adjoining a listed or local interest building where the new build enhances the setting of that building. Members will recall our 2006 winners. In the New Build category the award went to the Leicester Mercury and the refurbishment of its offices in St. George s Street complimenting the adjoining conservation area. The award was made to Editor Nick Carter. In the Restoration category the award went to the restoration of the tower and spire of Leicester Cathedral and was made to the Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, Dean of the Cathedral. (See back cover photograph) What next? In this journal you will find a form allowing you to nominate a building for an award. Nominations must fulfil the criteria of the awards, be within the City of Leicester and have achieved substantial completion during These are Civic Society Awards and we want Civic Society members to take the lead in nominating entries. The deadline is Saturday 23rd February After this date the awards panel will meet to decide on the winners. On Friday 4 th April the Lord Lieutenant will make the awards in the Edwin Room of the Belmont Hotel, followed by dinner in the Crawford Room. Costs of the dinner including wine have been held at However members wishing to attend the Awards Ceremony only and meet the winners, will this year have the chance to do so for just Full details will be given in the spring mail drop at the end of February. We regret that details of sponsorship for the scheme are still under negotiation and no announcement can be made at the current time. Please participate and make your awards scheme a success for the Society. But remember that nominees are not restricted to Society members. Anyone can nominate a building. Encouraging and celebrating restoration and design excellence in historic Leicester is a noble cause and one in which we are proud to be taking the lead.

11 1974: THE SAVING OF LONDON ROAD RAILWAY STATION. Commencing work in 1893 the Midland Railway built a new station in London Road Leicester. This was to replace the original 1840 building by William Parsons, in Campbell Street. The result by architect Charles Trubshaw was one of the most stunning Victorian buildings in the City, 300 feet of ornate façade with a grand terracotta clock tower. Leicester Civic Society members John Burrows and Stuart Bailey reminisce about the battle to save this remarkable building from the bulldozers in John: In 1974 this turned into something of an epic battle for Leicester Civic Society. We had only been going three years and had yet to cut our teeth on a really big fight. Stuart: Yes but it was bound to happen sooner or later. The early 70 s saw a development boom in Leicester that was entirely speculator led and involved the building of large office blocks that would clearly never be filled. John: All very good for the developers, who only had to find a Local Planning Authority gullible enough to let them get away with it. They were only interested in building offices and they called it prestigious redevelopment. Nowadays they re only interested in building flats and call it regeneration. A redevelopment was proposed that would create offices and an ersatz cross between Euston and Birmingham New Street. Stuart: I remember it was worse than that John. Financed by the Norwich Union Pension Fund, there was to be a huge office tower with a shopping mall below including a measly sixteen thousand square feet marked for use of railway. The actual station platforms were to be encased below a multi-storey car park. Very much a poor mans New Street. John: I remember you were rather busy trying to get the building listed in an effort to stop this. Stuart: You were rather busy yourself with a campaign of protest. Leicester wasn t used to this sort of thing in those days - local people getting together and using their Civic Society to say enough is enough. I recall the day the Leicester Mercury called and leaked the rumour that we had been successful. I straight away rang the then Department of the Environment in London and eventually got through to a rather sheepish civil servant who said he didn t normally like to comment about such things. I knew then we d won. John: Yes and there was no such thing as de-listing in those days - so that was that. Stuart: Remember the furore it started? John: I certainly do. The Leicester Mercury accused us of being a self appointed watchdog and the Chairman of the then Development Control Sub-Committee said that we were defenders of lavatorial Victorian architecture and suffering from verbal diarrhoea - the latter comment being an expert opinion. Stuart: Let s not get personal. Though I do remember the then Lord Mayor getting stuck in and saying that if we weren t careful British Rail might take their business elsewhere. John: At least that got a laugh. Stuart: What happened next? John: Nothing. The developers cleared off double-quick and that same summer all the other developers went as well, the office development bubble having burst. Stuart: And was all that office floor space ever occupied? John: No it was not. Stuart: Most of these tower office blocks remain. What is your opinion on the contribution they make to the architecture of the City? John: That isn t printable. What I do know is that Leicester Civic Society was - and still remains - a very active thorn in the sides of those who would cause damage to the historic built environment of this beautiful City in an effort to make a quick buck. And that the same authorities that castigated us then now proudly proclaim the frontage of London Road Station as an outstanding example of Leicester s heritage.

12 Front Page of Civic News No.2. February (Note the optimistic 7p) The New Walk Tragedy referred too was the quick demolition of William Flint s splendid Georgian terrace to make way for the Central Ring Road under New Walk. This was done suddenly one night when word got out that the Civic Society was seeking to get the houses spot listed. The drawing is signed A. F. Berridge. Can anyone remember who this was?

13 Aylestone Meadows There & Then - Here & Now is the title of a splendid little book by local artist, writer and historian Roger Hutchinson who is busily compiling an image and photographic history of the waterways of Leicester. The book is an utterly delightful mix of drawings, old photographs and carefully researched text that was an absolute joy to read. This is definitely the recommended stocking filler for our readers this Christmas. Published by Intelligent Arts and available from the author on or rogerhutchinson@ntlworld.com Regulated by The Law Society ************************* LEICESTER: 3 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GE. Phone: WIGSTON: 158 Leicester Road, Wigston. Telephone: BLABY: 19B Leicester Road, Blaby. Telephone:

14 YMCA SEEKS YOUR MEMORIES FOR 125 th BIRTHDAY One of the most iconic buildings of Leicester, the Grade 2 listed YMCA hostel on the corner of London Road and East Street was built in But how many people know that the organisation behind it will soon be celebrating 125 years of continuous service to the City and County? The Association began in 1883, aiming to Promote the welfare of Young Men in every possible way. It is estimated that more than 1 million service men used Leicester YMCA s facilities across the city during the years of the First World War and that more than 1,200 Leicester members went on active service. In 1918 the Patron, Mayor Jonathan North, launched the War Memorial Fund appeal to save the YMCA from eviction from the East Street building. He said No building could more aptly represent a practical and permanent memorial than this specially designed pile in which so varied a work has been carried on During 2008 Leicester YMCA wishes to celebrate 125 years in true style, reflecting on the evolution of its work in the community. Leicester YMCA has stories passed down; for example had you heard that the theatre was once used as a morgue? Or do you remember any famous people who have appeared at the Y-Theatre? If you have memories, anecdotes or mementoes then we would love to hear from you! Contact Emma Knight at Leicester YMCA on , history@leicesterymca.co.uk or Leicester YMCA, 7 East Street, Leicester, LE1 6EY. The official opening of the new Charles Street, in Leicester, June The Lord Mayor of the City of London, who also opened the Leicester Pageant, is performing the honours. The YMCA can be clearly seen in the background. Picture courtesy of the Leicester Mercury.

15 LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY 2006 AWARDS PRESENTATION The 2006 Awards Ceremony at the Belmont Hotel on Friday 13 th April Left to right: Gordon Goode (Civic Society) Madeline Tomblin (Civic Society) Nick Cooper (University of Leicester Archaeological Service) The Very Reverend Vivienne Faull (Dean of Leicester Cathedral) Nick Carter (Editor of the Leicester Mercury) Michael Duddridge (Leicester Cathedral) Stuart Bailey (Civic Society) and Trusha Chohan (Civic Society) Photo: Ben Ravilious