Rude Forefathers: Upton-by-Southwell 1600-1666 has recently been re-published by Upton local history enthusiast John Gillespie after many years out of print. It was first published in 1949 by Frank West, then Archdeacon of Newark, who used parish records found at Upton – the Churchwarden’s book and the Constable’s book – to show what life was like in a small rural village during the Civil War. The result has been described as “a model interpretation of parish records, written in a clear and readable style.”

Available from The Bookcase, Lowdham or www.nottinghambooks.co.uk Price £7.50.

We are looking for volunteers to help facilitate conversation groups in our libraries. These sessions provide an opportunity for people to practise their spoken English in a group setting. Typically each session has a theme and various activities to encourage discussion whilst learning about British culture. Volunteers help to set up and deliver the sessions, working alongside library staff.

This is a great opportunity to gain experience of ESOL teaching. We currently have vacancies at the Meadows, St Ann’s and Central Library Conversation Groups.

To apply or for more information, visit www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/libraryvolunteer.

Nottingham City Library members can now access a range of e-magazines free of charge. The magazines can be read online or downloaded to read later. You can use smartphone, tablet or PC to read magazines wherever you are.

What’s more, there is no limit on the length of time you can keep a title or the number of titles you can download.

Our top titles include the Economist, Amateur Photographer, Empire, Hello!, BBC Good Food, BBC History, New Scientist and Gardeners World.

Click here to create an account specifically to read and borrow e-magazines.

(formerly known as The SKN Heritage Museum)

We would like to invite you to join us at the launch of our new exhibition ‘The Art of Black Hair’. In collaboration with Museumand – The National Caribbean Heritage Museum, The Art of Black Hair is a celebration of afro hair and an exploration of hair styling as an art form.

Before Christmas we held a celebratory event where local communities shared their stories, memories and experiences of hair. The result is a series of photographic portraits and testaments that capture personal journeys, the daily ritual of hair styling, and the beauty of afro hair as an expression of creativity, imagination and heritage. We also exhibit a selection of hair memorabilia from Museumand’s archives. Following the exhibition, this important piece of local research and documentation will join the collection of Museumand.

The Art of Black Hair runs alongside UNTITLED: art on the conditions of out time, an exhibition of contemporary art by artists with ties to Africa and its diaspora.

We collaborated with The New Art Exchange on this exhibition and the workshop that accompanied it.

The event is FREE and suitable for all ages.

For more information, please contact Catherine Ross: Telephone: 0746 918 9550 Email: sknheritagemuseum@outlook.com

EXHIBITION LAUNCH FRIDAY 13th January 6pm-9pm at The New Art Exchange 39 – 41 Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 6BE.

Exhibition dates: 14 January – 19 March 2017 at The New Art Exchange 39 – 41 Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 6BE.

In 1895 when children could be sentenced to hard labour in an adult prison for minor offences, a Home Office Committee  report envisaged for juvenile-offenders

‘… a halfway house between the prison and reformatory.  It should be situated in the country with ample space for agriculture and land reclamation work.   It should have penal and coercive sides according to the merits of particular cases.  But should be amply provided with staff capable of giving sound education, able to train inmates in various kinds of industrial work, and qualified generally to exercise the best and healthiest kind of moral influence.’

Eleven years later, a future prison reformer Alexander Paterson wrote after visiting a teenage offender in jail: that he was;

“deeply shocked by the sight of convicts with their broad arrow uniforms, closely shaven heads, and faces covered with a sort of dirty moss (they were only allowed to shave with clippers). No child could recognise their father in such a condition, no girl or wife could believe that they loved a man who looked like that. As they saw us coming, each man ran to the nearest wall and put his face closely against it, remaining in this servile position till we had passed behind him”

It took another twenty-four years of work by Alexander Paterson and many others to turn the Home Office Committee’s vision into reality.  That reality was Lowdham Grange, the historic borstal, which was opened in 1930.  Living initially in tents,  the young offenders, trained and supervised by local tradesmen built a pioneering  Open Borstal which had no walls or fences.  They and staff from the prison service, with the continued support of Paterson and others, created a building and a system that was to survive, against the odds, for some 50 years.  Lowdham Grange Borstal  was to attract professional, political, academic and press attention from around the world throughout its lifetime.

This richly illustrated book commences by describing the fate of young people in the English penal system in the 1800s; it then explores some of the challenges, developments and people who created this innovative institution in the Nottinghamshire countryside.  Also primarily, drawing on the testimonies of former staff and their families, former borstal lads and locals; the author draws a picture of what it was like to live and work at Lowdham Grange Borstal until its closure in 1982 and its demolition in the following decade.

Available for £9.99 + £2.80 p&p from Amazon.co.uk

The author, Jeremy Lodge, lived at Lowdham Grange where his father was a Prison Officer on his first posting in 1963.  He attended Lowdham Primary and Carlton-Le-Willows Grammar Schools then gained a degree at Lancaster University.  Returning to Nottinghamshire after several years, Jeremy spent most of his career in management, research and development roles for Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service; which included working with many of Nottinghamshire’s community, voluntary and statutory organisations.  During this time he lived in Arnold, Calverton, Collingham, Mapperley and Ravenshead. He has been awarded Masters Degrees by Nottingham Trent and Sheffield Hallam Universities.

Jeremy’s` long-term interest in history led to his voluntary work with the Southwell Diocese/Nottingham University Church History Project and his publication of  several e-books based on his wider research on a number of churches.  He is also a volunteer for the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln and is involved with The Nottinghamshire Local History Association, The Friends of the Centre for English Local History (Leicester), Collingham and District Local History Society, and is the Treasurer of a national nurses organisation (BARNA).   He has recently completed an MA in English Local History at the University of Leicester where an analysis of the origins and early years of Lowdham Grange  Borstal was the subject of his dissertation.   Jeremy has also written  books on the history of Collingham and its surrounds east of the river Trent and continues to research and write about Lowdham Grange Borstal where his current book is in its third print run.

Dinosaurs of China is a one-time only world exclusive exhibition of dinosaurs coming to Europe for the first time.

Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, will host the main exhibition, with a complementary exhibition at Lakeside Arts, running from 1 July – 29 October 2017.

Featuring fossils and specimens never before seen outside of Asia, Dinosaurs of China will bring to life the story of how dinosaurs evolved into the birds that live alongside us today.

New fossil discoveries in China over recent years have revolutionised our understanding of dinosaurs’ appearance, behaviour and evolution. We’ve hand-picked some of the most spectacular new fossils from China for this world exclusive exhibition, bringing them to Europe for the first time.

Dinosaurs of China will present some of the best preserved dinosaur fossils from anywhere in the world: not just the bones, but also soft parts including skin and feathers.

Many of the species on display are new to science, only discovered and named in the last 20 years, and some as recently as 2015.

Some things never change: many dinosaurs were giant, scaly, ground-shakers.

Some of the towering skeletons in the exhibition will be among the tallest ever seen in the UK.

However, this view of dinosaurs is now part of a more diverse picture. Many dinosaurs were tiny, some species had feathers, and a number of species even evolved flight. These feathered-flyers eventually evolved into birds. Birds are dinosaurs that learned how to fly.

Dinosaurs of China will feature:

3D mounted skeletons
detailed replicas
original fossils
…and much more

For more information look at http://www.dinosaursofchina.co.uk

Gunthorpe Bridge is 90 years old in 2017. This booklet is a compilation of information gathered at the 60th birthday party in 1987, along with some previously unpublished material and a history of the crossing at Gunthorpe. Price £3.00. Available to order online at http://www.nottinghambooks.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=52&products_id=2120&osCsid=0bvl712uq27euvkah3f1ha0sj6 or from THE BOOKCASE, 50 Main Street, Lowdham, Nottinghamshire NG14 7BE
http://www.thebookcase.co.uk

Approximately 200 wooden machine part pattern moulds from the former curtain lace factory at Burgage Green, Southwell are available on FREE loan for a period of months or possibly longer. The parts were found by Gusto Construction at the Burgage Green site which is now being developed for housing in a plan that will reflect the site’s former use as a house of correction, a reformative prison.

The directors of Gusto have agreed to the loan of the pattern moulds on temporary basis until such time as a suitable heritage centre is established in Southwell itself.

Outline History

The earliest known use of the Burgage Green site was as a brickworks owned by Rev. Richard Barrow. In 1808 it was acquired by the local magistrates to build the state of the art Nottinghamshire House of Correction to replace the former prison of 1611 about 80 yards away. The new house of correction was a model establishment the regulations for which were adopted by a Parliamentary Committee of 1811 for use in prisons throughout the UK and copied in a modified form in the USA.

After the prison closed in 1880 the buildings were converted by the authorities for manufacturing. The first occupant was W G Gregory, a lace manufacturer, for a few years from about 1885 until they decided to concentrate their production at Canal Street. By 1900, lace makers W Carey and Sons had moved all of their Bulwell production, apart from their dyeworks, into Southwell. They maintained a warehouse at Broad Street in the Lace Market and it is recorded that they had production premises in Hyson Green as early as 1834.

At Southwell, Carey employed from 150-200 people operating two shifts 5 am to 2 pm and 2 pm to 11 pm. Products included blouses, table cloths, curtains and antimacassars before they began to specialise in curtain lace. The early wages were 7s 6d for five days plus the option of 6d for three hours on a Saturday. Cyril Flowers worked from 1929 to 1956 except for his war service years. His final task was to dismantle the machines for shipment to Greece. Males were employed mainly as twist hands but some were employed in the workshops and boiler room. Many women were engaged in threading brass bobbins in the winding room from cotton supplied on ‘cheeses’ from Stalybridge while others inspected, sorted and mended output in the Empire Room. Raw product in white or cream was often sent to Bulwell for dyeing but some fancy lace products used pre-dyed cotton and silk.

Steam power from coal-fired boilers heated by furnaces drove the production shafts and pulleys and also a dynamo for electric lighting. For heating, steam was drawn through pipes. The 47 curtain lace machines were controlled by punched cards akin to the Jacquard system, the cards being produced in the former prison chapel. Joiners were employed to make the wooden pattern moulds for the forging and casting of spare parts for machines. Black lead was used for machine lubrication to prevent contamination from oil.

At the entrance to the site, the former prison reception lodge, there is a memorial to those employees that were lost during the war of 1914-18. During WW2 the 49 curtain lace manufacturers of the East Midlands and Scotland formed British Lace Furnishing Limited for economic control of the industry and its contribution towards the war effort. Their head office was based at the Carey warehouse in Broad Street. Only about half of the machines were operated due to the shortage of labour caused by military service and, of those, suitable machines were adapted for defensive products. These included anti-splinter netting for windows to prevent bomb-blasted shards of glass entering rooms and causing injury and also sandfly, mosquito and camouflage netting. The company controlled the cooperative maintenance of the industry’s machines during the conflict. At this time Carey was responsible for slightly less than 3% of UK industry output.

Nottingham curtain lace is defined as product made on machines developed in Nottingham, but in fact most of the production took place elsewhere, especially in Scotland. Recently, the undersigned visited the Haddow Aird Crerar Ltd factory in Newmilns, Ayrshire, where they continue to use Nottingham-built machinery similar to that used at Carey but for making wide plain nets for screens, backdrops etc. and for safety netting for concert halls and theatres in several countries including touring companies. Samples of the output from Newmilns have been obtained and are available for display with the pattern moulds. Also available are photographs from the early twentieth century depicting workrooms at Carey, including the pattern making shop, along with an embossing company stamp from W G Gregory for authenticating their correspondence. It may also be possible to include with the collection a limited amount of house of correction material, images and documentation.

Please get in touch

If you are interested in featuring all or some of the above items in a long or short-term display, or know someone who might be, please get in touch. It is possible to divide the collection between several venues, but as stated, it is intended that the items are returnable to Southwell if and when a suitable heritage centre is established. Naturally, an acknowledgement of the donor, Gusto Construction, will be required adjacent to any display.

Rob Smith
Committee Member of the Southwell and District Local History Society
31 Marlock Close
Fiskerton
Nottinghamshire
NG25 0UB
Daytime/work: 01636 812276
Home: 01636 831341
Mobile: 07752 968579
Email: rob.smith@rainbownightfreight.com

Anna Wilson of CIVIC VOICE writes, “It is over two years since the Prime Minister announced a national programme to survey and restore many of the country’s First World War memorials and about 18 months since the First World War Memorials Programme began. Since then, dozens of workshops have been held across the country to inspire action and encourage communities to save their local war memorial. Did you know it is estimated that 10,000 war memorials are at risk? Did you know that there is no complete database of all the country’s war memorials and their current condition? We want to change this. Civic Voice, the national charity for the civic movement, is running a free workshop at Nottingham Central Library, Angel Row, Nottingham NG1 6HP on February 1st 2017, 9.45am – 1pm. Come and find out more about the programme and how you can identify and record the condition of your local war memorials.”

From the workshop you will gain:

1. Background information about the programme
2. Training to undertake a simple condition survey.
3. Training on how to record survey results on the War Memorials Online website
4. Information about funding for war memorial repairs and conservation
5. A resource pack containing all the necessary information to get you started.

To reserve your free place at the workshop visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/war-memorials-condition-survey-workshop-nottingham-tickets-28329994777 or contact Civic Voice on 0151 707 4319 or email info@civicvoice.org.uk

If you are interested in local war memorials then you should be aware that on Tuesday 14 February 2017 at 07:30pm at St Barnabas’ Cathedral Hall, Wellington Circus, Nottingham, NG1 5AE John Beckett will give a talk to the Civic Society on Nottingham’s war memorials.

You might also like to have a look at the Nottingham War Memorials Index http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/rollofhonour/WarMemorials?SearchDone=True&Name=&District=City+of+Nottingham+%28B%29

Did you take part in the volunteer-led community project exploring the history and restoration of the 1936 Brough Superior motor car which is housed in the Nottingham Industrial Museum? Did you provide memories as part of the Oral Histories Project, to ensure they didn’t get forgotten for future generations?

Volunteer with us and this is the exciting type of project you could get involved in…

For information on how to volunteer please email volunteer@nottinghamindustrialmuseum.co.uk

or go to Facebook
https://l.facebook.com/l/rAQGqrejkAQEOJNImbok6jo8MtCqKfFO_V-QwQOBemgZV-Q/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGUOXByow0iQ

Nottingham Industrial Museum is located in the 17th century stables block of Wollaton Hall, on the western edge of Nottingham. The museum is run entirely by volunteers, and is open Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. The museum contains a unique collection of working steam and diesel engines as well as examples of textile and transport technologies and exhibits reflecting local industries such as mining, railways, bicycles, motorcycles, lace, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, tobacco and printing.