Events - Retford churches reveal secrets

Secret staircases, intricate carvings and tales of treachery are just some of the discoveries that will be unveiled during two weekends this July when more than 180 churches across the county will be opening up to give visitors a special welcome.


Retford’s St Swithun’s is one of the three Anglican churches in the town. The church is situated in the centre of the market town towards North Notts.

St Swithun’s continues to be looked upon as the Civic Church of the town, and as such, hosts all services of national or local importance.

Other churches open around Notts include visitors to St Mary’s Arnold, St Helena’s Austerfield and out in the countryside at St Wilfrid’s Kelham.

Many of the 180 churches will be opening during the weekends of 14th and 15th and 21st and 22nd of July. Open churches project officer Heather Sirrel said: “We are fortunate to have such a rich variety of historical buildings to visit in our towns and villages; places of prayer and worship, centres of community life and service, buildings of historical and architectural significance.”

“I hope we will see lots of people who haven’t explored churches taking a tour this month – there are so many to choose from and all with fascinating things to see and experience, we’re hoping people will be planning many more visits in the coming months and beyond.”

Some of the churches will have special events on linked with the open weekend and many will be offering refreshments too.

To find out about opening times and special events at a church near you, please go to the website http://www.nottsopenchurches.org.uk/

Free guidebook to for the weekend, with details, photos and maps of how to find them, can be obtained by emailing heather.sirrel@southwell.anglican.org

From: http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/local-news/retford-churches-reveal-secrets-1-4729777

News - History buffs back plan for old school (Arnold )

HISTORY enthusiasts have welcomed a decision to keep a former school building in Arnold unchanged despite a proposed redevelopment.


The former Church Drive Primary School, in Church Lane, was due to be sold off by Notts County Council last spring.

At the time, members of the Arnold History Group raised fears the building could be knocked down or significantly changed by its buyer.

But the council drew up an agreement that said that any new buyer would have to keep the building unchanged for at least ten years.

Arnold developer Aldergate Properties, which bought the former school for £225,000 last November, now wants to turn it into a business and community enterprise centre.

Bob Massey, vice-chairman of the history group, said: "It is a great relief that the building should be retained, because it has a great historical interest.

"It is also useful that it will be used by the community."

He said the building was designed in the 19th century by architect William Herbert Higginbottom, who had a hand in community buildings across Nottingham.

"This is one of his few buildings that's left," Mr Massey added.

John Ward, one of the history group's founding members, said: "I am delighted the building will be kept the same for at least ten years.

"Everybody in the community will be, too."

The school closed in 2008, when pupils moved to the new Arnold Mill Primary.

Aldergate has asked Gedling Borough Council for permission to convert the building .

In a document outlining the plans, Aldergate said: "Meetings with local groups have been encouraging and there seems to be local support for the type of facilities we hope to provide at Church Drive."

The company declined to comment further.

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/History-buffs-plan-old-school/story-16087011-detail/story.html

Book - A grisly history of Nottinghamshire

A new book for children reveals the gory details of the bloody and gruesome history of Nottinghamshire. The book is the Council's first local history book for children, and is entitled ‘A Grisly History of Nottinghamshire in 10 Spine-chilling Chapters’.

The book has been written by local children’s author Michael Cox, and is illustrated by Clive Goddard. It has been published by the council’s Libraries, Archives and Information Publications Group.

The book covers the history of Nottinghamshire in ten grisly and humorous chapters and wonderful illustrations. It reveals:

• Which horrid king dangled screaming children from the walls of Nottingham Castle until they were dead
• Why the River Trent ran red with blood on one sunny summer afternoon in 1487
• How a posse of blood-thirsty Nottinghamshire ‘hard-cases’ massacred woolly mammoths
• Which Nottinghamshire town was blasted to bits in three bloody sieges then devastated by a gruesome plague!

The book will be launched at Arnold Library in Front Street on Wednesday (Nov 16) by Nottinghamshire County Council Vice-Chairman Coun Carol Pepper. She and the author Michael Cox will then be joined by Year 6 pupils from Robert Mellors School.

Pins and needles 

One absorbing tale in the book centres on an unusual case of pins and needles involving Kitty Hudson, a six-year-old from Arnold who lived with her grandfather at St Mary’s Church in Nottingham in 1765.

Her job was to sweep the church floor and pick up pins which had fallen off women’s dresses. Kitty kept the pins in her mouth to keep her hands free for sweeping, but the habit eventually made her toothless. Then at the age of 18, she began to suffer with numbness in her legs and arms. So, in 1783, she went to Nottingham General Hospital and doctors discovered she had been swallowing the pins and her stomach, feet, legs, chest, and all the rest of her, was full of them! The doctors set about removing the pins and in 1785 she was discharged, completely pin-free, and went on to have 17 children.

Other features of the book include a grisly Nottinghamshire timeline, how the county was affected by the two world wars and letters from the past retold with a fun twist, which paint a vivid picture of yesteryear.

Ideal Christmas present

Nottinghamshire County Council Vice-Chairman, Coun Carol Pepper, said: "This book presents the history of Nottinghamshire in a most humorous and fun way and would make an ideal Christmas present for children aged 10-14.”

‘A Grisly History of Nottinghamshire’ can be bought for £5.95 from Nottinghamshire Archives and major libraries. It can also be purchased by post by sending a cheque for £8.95 (including £3.00 for postage and packaging) payable to Nottinghamshire County Council to: Libraries, Archives and Information, 4th Floor, County Hall, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 7QP.

Article - First female on the beat (Worksop)

AS Worksop’s first police woman Eileen Hebb had to deal with a fair bit of prejudice - mainly from her colleagues.

Most of the problems began when she started courting a fellow police officer, something which was frowned on back in the 1950s.

Eileen, now 82, was one of only 15 police women in Notts when she arrived in Worksop in 1953.

She said: “When I started courting Frank, they didn’t like it. They were going to split us up by sending him to Arnold and me to Carlton but in the end he left the force and took another job.”

At five foot four, Eileen wasn’t the biggest police officer on the beat either.

But it didn’t deter her from tackling the same jobs as the men.

“I did everything the men did except nights, although they would call me out at night if there was an indecent assault or something where they needed a woman present,” said Eileen, of Long Lane, Carlton.

Originally from Mansfield, she went to police college there in 1952 at the age of 21, after convincing her dad it was what she wanted to do.

“My dad asked me if I was sure I knew what I was doing by joining the police and I said yes, so off I went.”

She spent three months there with 14 other women who were then assigned to stations around Notts.

Eileen - whose maiden name was Armstrong - went first to West Bridgford for six months, and from there to Carlton near Nottingham for a further six months, which was where she says she had the only really frightening experience of her police career.

“They had old air raid shelters in the streets and one night I saw a policeman heading to a shelter. I asked him what was going on and he said something was happening in the shelter and he told me to go home.”

“The next day I discovered he was in hospital after being hit over the head with a cricket bat. His face looked awful when I saw him.”

Eileen then moved to Worksop where she earned £5 a week, while her husband Frank earned £6. Her uniform was navy blue and consisted of a skirt, jacket, hat and a handbag, the strap of which was secured through an epaulette.

She was assigned the number 13, which never worried her because she wasn’t superstitious.

She particularly remembers one inspector who she says was resentful of her and made her walk all the way to Shireoaks and back.

Eileen remembers stopping a drunken cyclist who was weaving all over the road outside the police station on Potter Street, who got the shock of his life when he was hauled in by a woman.

She also recalls directing traffic and seeing a police officer watching her.

“I didn’t know what he was doing but he turned out to be the superintendent who was carrying out an inspection. When he saw me later he said ‘Armstrong, you did a good job out there’.”

After getting married and becoming a mother, Eileen left the force and ran a grocery store on Sandy Lane with Frank for ten years.

She then took up a job as a store detective for the former Co-op on Eastgate. “I had two fights in the street with shoplifters but I told them that I paid for my shopping so why shouldn’t they?” she said.

From: http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/local-news/first_female_on_the_beat_1_3859911

Luddite Bicentenary - BBC Video

This year marks 200 years since of the start of the Luddite uprising, a social movement where workers, fearing for their jobs, rioted and smashed up stocking frames.

The BBC's John Holmes has looked at what sparked the first frames to be broken in Arnold, Nottingham, in 1811.

See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-14370546

Anniversary - Luddites 200th Anniverary of the first full scale Frame Breaking

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the first full scale rioting of the Luddites. After a peaceful protest went horribly wrong in Nottingham and the crowd was forced to disperce over 63 frames were destroyed in Arnold.

This was after months of protesting to government about poor wages and mass unemployment and starvation around the area. Some stockingers had even been forced to sweep the streets which must have been really demeaning for these skilled workers. 

The best article I’ve seen today is: http://ludditebicentenary.blogspot.com/2011/03/11th-march-1811-first-luddite-attack-at.html?showComment=1299838768093#c9216153351676385389

God rest your soul General Ludd and all the Redressers wherever their souls may lay

News - Residents launch campaign to save historic building in Arnold

RESIDENTS have launched a campaign to save one of Arnold's "few historically valuable buildings".

The Post reported last August how residents were trying to turn the former Church Drive Primary School into a community centre.

The proposal was led by Gedling Community and Voluntary Services (CVS), but due to funding cuts has now been deemed impossible.

The school, in Church Lane, closed in 2008, with pupils moving to the new Arnold Mill Primary.

An application to English Heritage for the building to be listed was turned down.

But Bob Massey, vice-chairman of Arnold Local History Group, said the school was one of only two in the country to feature a special head teacher's balcony which enabled the head to overlook the school hall and see into each classroom.

Mr Massey added: "It's one of the very few buildings left in Arnold that's of historic value.

"It was designed in the 19th century by architect William Herbert Higginbottom, who designed a lot of buildings for the community all over Nottingham, and this is one of his few buildings that's left. The school should be preserved in order to have something in his memory."

The building's owner, Notts County Council, is selling the building and the sale deadline is April 5.

The council has recognised it as a "significant undesignated heritage asset" and says buyers will be encouraged to preserve the historic aspects of the building.

But residents are disappointed that the council has not taken more drastic steps to save the building and fear it could be demolished.

Mr Massey said: "Whoever buys it, can do whatever they like with it. They could just knock it down."

Pauline Taylor, 63, of Arnold, led the campaign to turn the former school into a community centre.

But she said: "We haven't got the funding now. Gedling CVS have had their budget slashed, so they can no longer help us."

She said the group was collecting signatures for a petition to be handed into Gedling Borough Council as soon as a developer applied for planning permission.

She added: "We are ready to fight."

Conservative borough councillor Sally Mason-Kempster said the campaign to save the building had her backing as well as the support of the local arts and history group.

She said the petition had been signed by around 500 residents.

"But I think we could easily achieve 1,000," she added.

Paul Fearnley, the county council's principal surveyor, said: "The county council recognises that the former Church Drive School building is a 'significant undesignated heritage asset' and we will be working closely with our heritage building experts prior to accepting any tenders.

"We will also encourage all potential buyers to consider the viability of re-using the building."

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Residents-launch-campaign-save-historic-building-Arnold/article-3274913-detail/article.html