LEICESTER CITIZEN THE JOURNAL OF LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY www.leicestercivicsociety.org.uk The once so mighty Bowstring Bridge that carried the main line of the Great Central Railway from Manchester to London, strides across the River Soar and Western Boulevard at Leicester. This sole surviving bridge of its type on the GC route, memorial to a lost heroic age of engineering and transport excellence, is once again under threat from lack of maintenance and lack of care. Photo: Phil Taylor No.8 December 2005 THE BOWSTRING BRIDGE. CIVIC SOCIETY AWARDS. TREES. ONE-HUNDRED-AND-ONE DELIGHTS OF OLD LEICESTER. ST. MARK S. NEW YEAR DINNER. CITY CLOSED FOR CULTURE! ST. GEORGE S CHURCHYARD. OLD HUMBERSTONE. ILLEGAL PARKING. CHURCH GATE CONSERVATION AREA. CHRISTMAS GIFT VOUCHERS. CIVIC TRUST MEMBERSHIP. PLUS REGULAR FEATURES & MUCH MORE.
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. 502932 MEMBER OF THE EAST MIDLANDS AMENITY SOCIETIES ASSOCIATION CHAIRMAN: JOHN BURROWS, 4 Manor House Gardens, Humberstone, LE5 1AF 0116-276-284 chairman@leicestercivicsociety.org.uk HON. SECRETARY: STUART BAILEY, 48 Meadow Avenue, Loughborough, LE11 1JT 01509-520904 secretary@leicestercivicsociety.org.uk HON.TREASURER & MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: GORDON GOODE 53 Cort Crescent Leicester, LE3 1QJ ARCHIVIST: KEITH DICKENS, 13 Arreton Close, Leicester, LE2 3PP EVENTS DIARY Tuesday 10 th January 2006 7.00pm: General Meeting. Town Hall. Members welcome. Friday 13 th January: Annual New Year Dinner. Stoneycroft Hotel, Elmfield Avenue. All members and friends very welcome. See advertisement for full details. Saturday 21 st January: East Midlands Amenity Societies Association Meeting: Hosted by Grantham Civic Society, Lincolnshire. Members welcome. Contact Stuart Bailey for details if you want to go. Tuesday 14 th February 7.00pm: General Meeting. Town Hall. Members welcome. Tuesday 14 th March 7.00pm: General Meeting. Town Hall. Members welcome. Tuesday 21 st March 7.30pm: Mr. Goode s Night of One-Hundred and-one Delights. Town Hall. Free admission for members. See advertisement for full details. Friday 7 th April: Civic Society Awards Presentation sponsored by The Belmont House Hotel. Members particularly welcome at this prestigious event. See article for details. Tuesday 11 th April 7.00pm: General Meeting. Town Hall. Members welcome. Saturday 22 nd April: East MASA 5th AGM and General Meeting. The Rutland County Museum, Oakham. Members welcome for a return visit to this marvellous venue. Contact Stuart Bailey for details if you want to go. THERE S A LOT HAPPENING IN LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY - IT PAYS TO BE A MEMBER. TELL YOUR FRIENDS! CREDITS: Leicestershire County Council County Records Office for photographs from the Newton Collection, Civic Focus, English Historic Towns Forum, Regeneration & Renewal, Ken Govier, Gregory Lint, Phil Taylor. The editors would like to thank Mr. Simon Harris, without whose considerable desktop publishing skills this Journal would be infinitely the poorer. The opinions expressed in LEICESTER CITIZEN are not necessarily those of the editors or Leicester Civic Society.
The Chairman s Page We start life as big as the full stop at the end of this sentence. Our average height, full grown, is around 5ft 8in. Our life span is somewhere around the biblical three-score-and -ten. Compare that with an oak. It starts as an acorn about the size of my thumb. It can reach great height and girth. It can live for literally hundreds of years It can father thousands of children as acorns - though all too few are ever born. And most trees are the same. So, you may ask, why am I waffling about trees? Quite simple really. Trees are a vital part of our city and country scene. You will recall that we recently visited Great Malvern as the guests of Malvern Civic Society. Our guide pointed out that the people of Malvern had been planting trees in the town for over one hundred and fifty years, so that viewed from the hills the town appeared as woodland interspersed with buildings. Many of our best conservation areas could be so described particularly Stoneygate. Trees are a crucial part of our historic built environment and second only to buildings in the quality of that environment. That is why there is specific legislation to protect trees subject to Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas. Sadly the legislation isn t all that strong but the solution is easy plant more and more trees. Unlike buildings the design is always splendid and it never changes for the worse. This is why few urban designers fail to subtly introduce trees into their work. The proposals for transforming the Newarke Gateway area involve some clever tree planting. Sometimes trees alone can work wonders. We could transform the bleakness of St. Nicholas Circle and Narborough Road North with more trees. So what is a tree, besides being a thing of beauty? It is a universal life support system for birds, insects and small mammals. It is a chemical factory, with functions almost unattainable by man, turning carbon dioxide into oxygen. It is an anchor its roots hold and secure banks against slip and collapse. It is an enormous pump that, without any visible power, can lift water to the highest branch and twig. It is a wizard at recycling. Its leaf fall, returning to the ground, renews the soil and creates the humus around its roots. Deciduous trees shut down for the winter but even during this period they keep a unique beauty in their barren appearance especially when coated in frost and snow. Then each spring sees the first shoots appear as tiny, fragile, buds with the promise of another year of full bloom. In some ways, trees are like us humans. They may need good Management trimming and shaping like a haircut. Storms (or vandals!) injure them or they suffer from disease. Occasionally, their roots can spread to adversely affect buildings. Here again, expert tree surgeons act, as would surgeons at our hospitals. Only in recent times have we humans equalled this with advances in spare parts surgery. It is worth remembering at the bi-centennial of Trafalgar, that Nelson s navy came mostly from oaks. We owe our freedoms as well as our lives to these most British of trees. In the wild all is not lost when a tree dies and falls it becomes part of the food chain of the forest. We too will be like this, providing our ashes are scattered in a favourite spot. For me this will definitely be around a tree in the National Forest. John Burrows,
EVENTS PAST & FUTURE GREAT MALVERN & THE MALVERN HILLS Sat. 17 th September: Highly successful coach tour. Our guide was Dudley Brook of Malvern Civic Society and a Malvern Hills Conservator. Lovely weather and some breathtaking views - a very enjoyable time was had by all. ROMAN LEICESTER Sat. 24 th September: A huge turnout for what is fast becoming our most popular guided walk. Stuart Bailey led the hoard through the City s ancient past, finishing up at the Jewry Wall Museum - which was its usual wonderful self. THE LEICESTER QUIZ Tues.25 th October: Stuart Bailey and Gordon Goode led two teams of contestants a merry dance, after which both teams complained of sore brains! The team from Leicester Tour Bus won two bottles of wine. Well done. ANNUAL NEW YEAR DINNER Fri. 13 th January 2006: A welcome return to the Stoneycroft Hotel, where we had a good time and good value for money, last year. See advertisement for details and book early. ONE-HUNDRED-AND-ONE DELIGHTS! Tues. 21st March: Gordon Goode promises one-hundredand-one in only ninety minutes! See advertisement for details. Come along and see if he can do it. CIVIC SOCIETY AWARDS PRESENTATION Fri. 7 th April: The climax of our new awards scheme sponsored by Belmont House Hotel. See article for details. WE ARE PLANNING TO DO EVEN MORE FOR OUR MEMBERS IN THE SUMMER OF 2006. The following dates are only provisional - but pencil them into your diaries now. ANCIENT LEICESTER Sat 6 th May: Guided Walk in conjunction with Leicestershire Rural Community Council. Full details in Leicester Citizen No.9 due out in early April. STAFFORD Sat. 20 th May: Our first coach tour of the year will visit this attractive old market town. To popularise these tours further we are now planning them two in advance to enable a longer period of advertising. Full details in Citizen No.9. LONDON ROAD Sat. 15 th July: A new guided walk. Full details in Citizen No.9. WITLEY COURT Sat 2 nd September: Our second coach tour of the year will visit spectacular Witley Court, Worcestershire. Full details in Leicester Citizen No.10 due out in early August. THE WALLS OF LEICESTER Sat 30 th September: Another new guided walk. Full details in Citizen No.10. CHRISTMAS GIFT VOUCHERS Make a gift of Civic Society full or concession membership to a friend or relative at this Christmas. Send us the voucher below (or a photocopy if you don t want to cut your journal) with your payment and we will write to them with the good news and the latest issue of LEICESTER CITIZEN. You can choose whether or not to make your gift anonymous. LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY - MEMBERSHIP BY GIFT VOUCHER Name.,,, Address..Post code.. To: G. Goode 53 Cort Crescent, Leicester LE3 0QJ. Please give one year of full membership at 5.00 or concession membership at 4.00 (Students, Senior Citizens, Unwaged) to: Name. Address..Post code.. I enclose cheque for the appropriate amount, payable to Leicester Civic Society. Please DO/DO NOT (Delete as applicable) give my name to the recipient of this gift.
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS Sirs CITY CLOSED FOR CULTURE I recently entertained some Australian visitors. One of them, an historian, wanted to explore some of Leicester s historic sites and museums. We started with the Guildhall. The ground floor was open and was much admired. Sadly the upper floor, with its wonderful Town Library, was closed. We walked towards Applegate and looked at the amazing Wyggeston s House of course no longer a costume museum so longer open. Next we headed for the Jewry Wall. We were able to look at the layout and try to imagine a busy bathhouse. But alas the museum was closed. We decided to head for Castle Gardens. We stopped to read about Richard III and went up the steps towards St. Mary de Castro. This ancient church was very interesting to my visitors and we hoped it was open. It was locked. Even the door into the graveyard was locked. The Castle too was locked. So we decided to visit the two herb gardens close by. Luckily the garden behind Trinity Hospital was open and we were able to sit and admire it a while. But we couldn t see the garden behind Newarke Houses Museum because it was locked. Newarke Houses museum was also closed until 2006. My visitors were dumfounded. They asked me why Leicester was offering so little of its considerable ancient heritage to its overseas visitors? What on Earth could I say by way of explanation? Jenny Westmoreland (The above letter appeared in the Leicester Mercury on 21 st October 2005. Well done Jenny. Ed) Sirs THE BOWSTRING BRIDGE Let s capture the moment and recreate our past by putting a steam engine on the bowstring bridge to create a city landmark over the River Soar, even including some of the arches as a museum display. This is a surviving remnant of the Great Central Railway in the centre of our City and the heart of our nation - a constant reminder of our strength as an engineering power that bought railways to the world. I imagine the bridge and engine illuminated at night with the beauty of brass and gloss paint. This would be not merely a thing of artistic value but wider interest and appeal in a modern, multi-racial, university city that is yet proud of its heritage. A less expensive option would be to use modern technology to project the image of a steam engine into the bridge at night. For special events a laser light and sound display would be truly spectacular. Gregory Lint (We confess ourselves touched by Mr. Lint s imaginative ideas. Sadly the bridge is owned by Leicester City Council who has no imaginative ideas. Ed)
Leicester Civic Society 2005 CIVIC SOCIETY AWARDS In April 2005 Leicester Civic Society was approached by English Heritage with the idea of instituting an awards scheme for architecture and/or urban design in Leicester. With two important provisos we had no doubts as to our ability to run such a scheme. The Civic Society has been a champion for the historic built environment of the City since 1971 and we have a team with over one hundred years experience between them. A concern was that the existing workload of that team would not allow for any new and potentially demanding initiatives. However at our 2005 AGM Ben Ravilious was elected and since then Derek Hollingworth has been co-opted onto our committee. They join Jenny Westmoreland elected in 2004 and therefore increase our active numbers from four to seven over the last eighteen months. The other concern was money. The costs of such a scheme are by no means beyond the resources of the Society but it was felt from the start that, if the awards were to mean anything, they must be annual and that the only way to sustain this was to seek sponsorship on an annual basis. An operation was therefore launched to find a sponsor. We are very happy to announce that this search was successful and that the 2005 Awards Scheme is to be sponsored by the Belmont House Hotel. The nature of the awards was a consideration from the outset. The obvious way would be to reward the best new building built in the City that year, and many award schemes run by Civic Societies do just that. However there are a couple of pitfalls with such schemes. Firstly, are Civic Societies the most suitable bodies to pass judgement on new buildings and contemporary design? As their primary concern is protection of the historic built environment they tend - for better or worse - to be filled with activists who view new buildings as a threat to that environment. There is also the vexed question of changes in taste during the first few decades of a building s life. It would be all too easy to fall into the same trap as say Wakefield Civic Society who now wish to see a building demolished that only twenty years ago they presented with an award. We decided that we were going to stay firmly on our home territory and continue to champion the historic built environment of Leicester. We will therefore be giving one award for RESTORATION 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. Secondly we were concerned about use of the word best. If we use the best as our criterion we are compelled to make an award each year, even though the best may not be very good. We have therefore chosen to award excellence, even though this may risk the conclusion that excellence has not been achieved and no award under a specific category can be made for that year. What next? In this journal you will find a form allowing you to nominate a building for an award. These are Civic Society Awards and we want Civic Society members to take the lead in nominating entries. The deadline is Saturday 25 th February 2006. After this date your committee will meet to decide on the winners. On Friday 7 th April there will be an awards dinner at the Belmont House Hotel, where a VIP guest speaker will present framed award certificates to the lucky winners. Winners will also be given the option of investing in a plaque to go on their building. Civic Society members and their guests will of course be able to attend the awards event and further details will be posted to you all in February. Please participate and make your awards scheme a success for the Society. Encouraging and celebrating restoration and design excellence in historic Leicester is a noble cause and one in which the Belmont House Hotel and we are proud to be taking the lead.
Belmont House dates from the 1860 s, part of the development of New Walk. 140 years later the excellent proportions & graceful elegance of the buildings form an integral part of this lovely Victorian Conservation Area. Originally known as Queen s Walk, New Walk was laid out in 1785. It is the most beautiful stretch of scenic walkway in Leicester and for over 200 years has been designated strictly for pedestrians. The Hotel has been owned by the Bowie family for over 70 years, following a tradition founded on the principles of great service, comfort and style qualities that have been maintained and built upon. Over the years many changes have been made in the fabric of the hotel but always with a sympathetic eye to the style and elegance of the building. The hotel now has 77 bedrooms all individually designed to offer our guests a touch of luxury. Good food is provided from our award wining kitchen in either the Cherry Restaurant or Bowies Bar Restaurant. But the heart of the Hotel is Jamie s Lounge Bar a relaxing rendezvous where guests & friends gather to wind down after the day s business.
The Bowstring Bridge under construction in 1897. Alfred Newton s photograph was taken looking towards Western Boulevard to the east side of the new railway. A steam navvy is at work at the north end of the bridge. The cloud of steam at the south end no doubt conceals its companion. Note the unfinished brickwork, timber supports, walkways and huge travelling crane in use. Mr. Newton was so taken with this particular bridge that he returned 33 years later in 1930 to photograph it again. This looks like a pleasant Sunday afternoon at the height of summer. Both photographs courtesy of the Newton Collection, Leicestershire County Council Records Office.
THE BOWSTRING BRIDGE Stuart Bailey In the summer of 1896 a large notice board was erected on Western Road, Leicester. It read, Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway. New Line to London This was an event of some importance in the history of Leicester, direct travel to and from London having been monopolised by the Midland Railway for nearly sixty years. The MS&LR was a provincial railway company whose network stretched from Liverpool and Manchester to Sheffield, Doncaster and Grimsby. In line with its enhanced status as a trunk railway linking London, Rugby, Leicester and Nottingham to this network, the company changed its name in 1897. The Great Central Railway was born. It was necessary for the new railway to cross built-up Leicester from Frog Island to the River Soar at Bede House Meadows. This was done in three stages. The centre third was occupied by the new Leicester Central Station. Built on viaduct with six platforms in H shape and 1,245 feet long, this was the largest single building ever erected in Leicester. Its construction involved considerable destruction of working class Blackfriars dating from the 1820 s and disturbance of the remains of Roman and medieval Leicester lying below that. The viaducts either side involved considerably less disruption occupying only 33 feet of width to carry a double track of railway across the centre of the town. And it is worth considering here that a double track railway has the ton mileage capacity of a sixteen lane motorway. Leicester South Viaduct consisted of a series of bridges and brick arches stretching from Bath Lane to the River Soar Bridge at Bede Street and included a huge bowstring girder bridge that crossed the old river and Western Boulevard at one leap. The construction of the Great Central Main Line was an important historical event and it we are fortunate that it was to be thoroughly recorded for posterity. Alfred Newton owned a camera shop on Sanvey Gate and he took it on himself to create a minutely detailed record of the new railway being constructed. The result is a thousand plate glass negatives left to Leicestershire Museums by Mr. Newton on his death in 1960. The Great Central main line opened to goods traffic on 25 th July 1898 and to passengers on 15 th March 1899. From the outset it was a considerable success. Well built, straight and true, it rapidly developed an enviable reputation for fast and precise operating, equalled by the highest standards of service. A robust part of the nation s transport system until the 1950 s, it suffered from regional fragmentation by the newly nationalised British Railways and then fell foul of the Beeching Report, which nation wide resulted in the worst destruction of irreplaceable transport infrastructure in British history. Leicester Central Station closed on 3 rd May 1969 and loss of the route through the City has continued steadily since. The surviving length from Duns Lane to Glen Parva was acquired by Leicester City Council and in a far-sighted move, developed as a cycle track. This included the Bowstring Bridge. However the cycle way was diverted onto Western Boulevard following the demolition of the Kirby & West Diary and the section of viaduct north of here, including the great bridge, has received no maintenance since. It now stands derelict and under threat. The Bowstring Bridge is now the only such structure of its type surviving on what was a uniquely splendid piece of late 19 th Century engineering prowess. All similar structures in Nottingham and Rugby have vanished. Leicester alone is lucky enough to possess this monument to a great achievement in British engineering history. But Leicester City Council wishes to see it demolished to save on cost of maintenance. Under the Freedom of Information Act, Leicester Civic Society has obtained a copy of the Bridge Inspection Report of April 2005 prepared by the City Council Highway Management Section and this makes grim reading. The report concludes that, The bridge has been around for nigh 115 years (108 years. Ed) and is approaching the end of a normal life span of 120 years. A structure of this magnitude and excellence may well have served long into the future if only a pro-active maintenance strategy had been in place. Unfortunately, lack of funding and the demise of this section of the railway are instrumental in the extremely poor condition of the structure components. The bridge, which once carried a railway, can only carry its own weight. However, although the report is clear on the costs of repair at 250,000 to 270,000, under the terms of the FOI Act the Public Interest Panel of Leicester City Council ruled that the estimated costs of demolition are commercially sensitive and disclosure would not be in the public interest. Furthermore the City Council refuses to say why this is the case. Those of suspicious mind are now perhaps wondering if the latter are in fact more costly than the former and that the Council may wish to see the bridge lost even though it be cheaper to repair it. But perish the thought that you should ever read such speculation in these pages. Rather disingenuously, the report recommends, The bridge is of no value to Leicester City Council as it does not serve any purpose. Further it would appear that there is a lack of interest to preserve this bridge that was once a local landmark. The first half of this sentence is of course only too true. By its actions Leicester City Council clearly sees little of value in Roman Museums, Medieval Castles, Georgian Houses and Victorian Bridges. However the second half is an outrageous canard. Few issues since the canal campaign of the 1970 s have led to a greater local concern for our heritage - and so sudden an upsurge in Civic Society membership. Whatever the outcome, the report is clear, unless something is done - and done quickly we shall all awake one morning to discover this much loved landmark being demolished as a matter of urgent public safety.
LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY Annual New Year Dinner FRIDAY 13 th JANUARY 2006 7.30 for 8.00pm The Stoneycroft Hotel ELMFIELD AVENUE, STONEYGATE, LEICESTER THREE COURSE MENU at 9.95 ADVANCE BOOKING ESSENTIAL: JOHN BURROWS 0116-276-2843 by FRIDAY 6 th JANUARY. MEMBERS, FRIENDS and POTENTIAL NEW MEMBERS WELCOME COME AND MEET US
NEWS ILLEGAL PARKING IN CONSERVATION AREAS Illegal parking anywhere creates hazards of which we are all well aware. But in a Conservation Area such actions create extra problems, not just for pedestrians but to the reputation of the City. They create the impression that the City Council will not act to preserve the character of the area. Here are just three examples. Silver Street and Guildhall Lane: Double yellow lines are on both sides of the streets. Every day these are being ignored with cars, vans and lorries parking over the yellow lines themselves. This temporarily narrows and permanently damages the pavements. The regular passage of heavy vehicles, over surfaces never designed for such traffic, makes life even more difficult for pedestrians exploring the shops in this historic area. Mill Hill Lane: A one way street with a left turn into London Road. A very narrow street, with prominent double yellow lines, again on both sides. These are, yet again ignored, with vehicles parking on and over the lines, often completely blocking the equally narrow pavement on the west side. Not only is this a hazard for pedestrians but also is of danger if emergency vehicles need to pass. De Montfort Street at the junction with London Road: At night, drivers park on the pavements or with two wheels on and two off, over the yellow lines. What needs to be done? Speak to your Councillors. They should be demanding action from both Police and Traffic Wardens day and night. Drivers must be blitzed to show that the City does care for the character of its Conservation Areas within which parking restrictions apply. Two weeks of such action should soon recover any costs. ST GEORGE S CHURCHYARD Leicester Civic Society is supporting Leicester City Council over its refusal to grant permission to fell five lime trees covered by a Tree Preservation Order in St. George s Churchyard. Queen Street Ltd has appealed against the decision. The Council says, The trees affected by the proposal are of amenity value as they constitute an attractive feature within the St. George s Church yard. ST. MARK S CHURCH Euan Christian s remarkable Church of St. Mark on Belgrave Gate has been saved from dereliction and given a new lease of life as the Empire Restaurant, Banqueting and Conference Centre. As whole hearted believers in new uses for old buildings we welcome its rescue from the Buildings at Risk Register and wish the venture well. OLD HUMBERSTONE A Character Statement together with medium to long term management and enhancement proposals for the Conservation Area are in the course of preparation by the City Council. Public Consultation is promised for January/February 2006. ABC CINEMA SITE Ambitious outline proposals have been submitted for the site of the former ABC (Savoy) Cinema on Belgrave Gate. Proposed are any combination of a ten storey residential unit, eighteen storey residential unit, hotel, casino, shops, offices (A2 use), restaurant/café (A3 use), bar (A4 use), basement car parking and a new link road between Mansfield Street and Belgrave Gate. All subject to Section 106 Planning and Section 278 Highways agreements. It would surely have been simpler to list what wasn t proposed! CHURCH GATE CONSERVATION AREA Church Gate is shortly to be declared a new Conservation Area, thirty-one years after this Society first called for such protection for the surroundings of Great Meeting and the Butt Close Lane wooden warehouse. The new CA will embrace Church Gate and the east side of East Bond Street, thereby shielding the area from further loss of character by the Shires Shopping Centre. Short Street is also to be included as an example of an unspoilt 19 th century factory street. (Something we never thought of!) However there remains the nagging doubt that, although large CA s look grand in theory, Leicester City Council does not take them seriously in practice. Church Gate CA and the recent enlargement of St. George s CA may be moves more with an eye to economic regeneration than conserving the character of historic areas.
MURPHY BROS. FACTORY LOST We bitterly regret the loss of this outstanding art-deco building on Loughborough Road. (See article Leicester Citizen No.1) Massive vandalism was followed by demolition to build yet more bland houses. A BRIDGE TOO FAR The Mile Straight footbridge complained of in Leicester Citizen No.6 (April 2005) is now in an even worse state of disrepair with both ends clumsily and hideously boarded off to prevent unwary users falling into the river. This is an appalling eyesore next to the Castle, Castle Gardens and West Bridge and something must be done. CIVIC TRUST MEMBERSHIP Why not become a member of the Civic Trust and help save your Civic Society some money? It s not widely known that individual membership of the Civic Trust is possible but if you join the Trust and tell them you are a member of Leicester Civic Society, they will knock 10 off our membership as an organisation. Simply call 020 7539 7911 and ask for a membership leaflet. See inside back cover for full details. TOO TALL BY FAR! The new apartment blocks being constructed on Bath Lane are a dreadful mistake. Too tall by at least four to five floors, they are overpowering the historic setting of the Jewry Wall and St. Nicholas Church. So much for the City Council s vaunted Tall Buildings Policy! Such policies must be given real teeth to be able to protect the views on which good townscape is dependant. This particular document does not appear to be worth the paper it is printed on. THE LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY BOOKSHOP Looking for an old or out of print book on Leicester, Leicestershire, Rutland or the surrounding area? Pass your wants list on to our Treasurer, Gordon Goode and we will get back to you with a no obligation quote if we can find a copy.
LADIES & GENTLEMEN! FOR YOUR PLEASURE LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY PRESENTS Mr. GOODE S NIGHT OF ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DELIGHTS bits & pieces of Old Leicester the strange & the beautiful LEICESTER TOWN HALL TUESDAY 21st MARCH 2006 At 7.30 PM 2.00 ADMISSION. Members free. Admission REFUNDED TO THOSE JOINING ON THE NIGHT JOIN NOW SHOW THAT YOU CARE
ADVERTISEMENTS STONEYGATE SCHOOL 6 London Road, Great Glen, Leicestershire. LE8 9DJ Telephone: 0116 2592282 Email: stoneygate@webleicester.co.uk Headmaster: J. H. Morris M.A. Phillips & Powell Solicitors Regulated by The Law Society ****************************************************************************** LEICESTER: 3 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GE. Telephone: 0116-2557566 WIGSTON: 158 Leicester Road, Wigston. Telephone: 0116-2888988 BLABY: 19B Leicester Road, Blaby. Telephone: 0116-2778215/8388 OADBY: 22 The Parade, Oadby LE18 1DS. Telephone: 0116-2714129
Civic societies You can save up to 150 now The Civic Trust will give you 10* off your subscription for each person who takes out an individual membership Why should I join the Civic Trust as well as my local civic society? Because you want to make a difference nationally You will become part of a network of community activists who pool ideas and advice, working nationwide to make better places for people. The Civic Trust is the UK s leading charity dedicated to ensuring that the urban environment is vibrant, beautiful, and sustainable. It promotes our architectural heritage through the annual Heritage Open Days prgramme, ensures our parks and green spaces are of the highest quality with the Green Flag Awards, and rewards the best people-friendly architecture with the renowned Civic Trust Awards. It is also the only national coordinating body for civic societies and their 250,000 members. Because you want to make a difference locally As a Civic Trust individual member you will have direct access to the expertise of The Civic Trust's programmes, including the Heritage Open Days scheme, and its award schemes for architecture and for parks and green spaces, and community renewal projects such as Civic Champions and BizFizz.The Trust will help you network, and introduce you to its local partners in your area. You will receive priority mailings and advance notification of special events in your area, including invitations to award ceremonies and education programmes. Because you want to make a difference You will get the Civic Trust s quarterly magazine Civic Focus delivered to your door, packed with news, advice and debate on the issues that matter most to you. Plus reader offers and cash discounts on selected publications and exhibitions. Regular e-newsletters will keep you up to speed on the sectors that matter most to you, whether it be heritage or housing design. Let your members know today and start saving money now Tell your members about this offer at your next meeting, and post this information on your website and in your next newsletter. Call Julie Smith on 020 7539 7911 to request copies of our individual membership leaflet. Or to reprint this page, visit www.civictrust.org.uk and go to civic societies to download a text-only version or a pdf. The Civic Trust is an independent charity, founded in 1957. It works with people to promote thriving towns and villages, developing dynamic partnerships between communities, government and business to deliver regeneration and local improvement. It is the umbrella organisation of 850 civic societies across the country, representing 250,000 individuals committed to improving and caring for places where people live and work. * Your society will receive a rebate on its annual subscription of 10 per new individual Civic Trust member, down to a minimum subscription of 25. The rebate will be applied to fees chargeable from April 2005.
Civic Society members enjoying the Leek Festival during last May s popular coach tour to Leek & Little Moreton Hall. (See advance notice of this years tours to Stafford and Witley Court) Photo: Ken Govier Gregory Lint s imaginative vision of the Bowstring Bridge used as a living museum display for steam locomotives. (See Letters to the Editors)