News - Campaigners plead for time in fight to save the Maltings (Beeston)

BEESTON Maltings looks set to be demolished, but campaigners are still working to save it.


They say the building will be razed on May 7 and are asking for more time to explore all options for the site.

Barbara Selwood, of Beeston and District Civic Society, said people should have their say over plans to demolish the building.

An application for demolition has been registered with Broxtowe Borough Council.

The council has said it cannot refuse permission to demolish the building, which has stood for 133 years. It was closed in 2001.

Mrs Selwood said: "It feels as if a lot of this is being rushed and we would like more time to get councillors and members of the public on our side.

"We have done what we can and we want to make sure everyone has the chance to raise an objection if they want to see the Maltings kept in their current form. I don't want the building left to rot, but I want to see all the alternatives explored – it's important the building has a use."

She said she was considering lobbying for an article four direction for the site – which would give the Maltings more protection against development.

The orders, which have to be sent from councils and confirmed by the Government, are intended to protect high quality architecture and preserve heritage.

The East Midlands Association of Civic and Heritage Societies (EMACHS) has also criticised the plans.

Advisor Ian Wells said: "They stand proudly opposite the Victoria Hotel – two fine Victorian structures together.

"These buildings form a group at the west end of Beeston Station and they contribute together very well to the streetscape, and indeed to the view as seen from a train– they contribute importantly to the railway setting.

"Although the Maltings was refused listing by English Heritage, the building still remains of immense local importance – there is potential for a discreet and sympathetic enabling development elsewhere on the site.

"The Maltings, adapted sensitively for new use if necessary, must stay."

Mr Wells said EMACHS would want the developer to keep the 'helter-skelter' feature on the north side of the building.

David Jones, a spokesman for Heineken, previously told the Post that the Maltings had been redundant for many years and that demolition was the best way to end the constant safety and security problems associated with the building.

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Campaigners-plead-time-fight-save-Maltings/story-15848163-detail/story.html

Event - Plaque honours famed scientist (Beeston)

A BLUE plaque commemorating the life and work of one of Notts' most eminent scientists will be unveiled at his former home.

Edward Joseph Lowe was an astronomer, botanist and founder member of the Royal Meteorological Society.

His scientific observations helped to shape understanding of the earth's atmosphere.

The plaque is the result of a campaign by civic and historical societies and has been funded by the University of Nottingham.

It will be unveiled at Broadgate House, Broadgate, Beeston, the home and observatory built by Mr Lowe in the early 1850s.

University vice-chancellor Professor David Greenaway said: "We are extremely proud of our close connections with Edward Joseph Lowe, one of Nottingham's most eminent scientists, and are delighted that we can play a part in commemorating his contribution in this way.

"Lowe's quest for knowledge and scientific endeavour are among the cornerstones of the university which has made its home on the area of parkland where Lowe spent so much of his life."

Mr Lowe became well know after publishing studies on astronomy and weather-related phenomena.

His papers included meteorological observations made during a solar eclipse in 1860.

The plaque has been spearheaded by the Beeston and District Civic Society in collaboration with Beeston and District Local History Society, the Stapleford and District Local History Society and the Bramcote Conservation Society.

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Plaque-honours-famed-scientist/story-14029534-detail/story.html

News - Bare knuckle fighter Bendigo gets plaque in Beeston

A boxer known as the "Muhammad Ali of his day" has been honoured with a blue plaque at his former Nottingham home.

The bare knuckle fighter William Abednego Thompson, better known as Bendigo, was born 200 years ago. 

Bendigo fought 20 prize fights and was famous throughout England for his unique boxing technique.

Historian Alan Dance said: "He was a sporting legend. He bought a wit and cunning to boxing which had never been seen before."

The blue plaque has been fitted near to the site of Bendigo's cottage in Wollaton Road, Beeston.

The name Bendigo came from his middle name Abednego and from the way he bent his body in the ring.

He was born in Nottingham in 1811.

"He was a great character, well known throughout Nottingham, England and indeed throughout the world” Alan Dance Historian

After a stint in the workhouse he started fighting at the age of 18 to earn money to support his family.

Bendigo quickly gained a reputation for the entertaining way in which he boxed.

Bare knuckle fighting was illegal but Bendigo's fights attracted thousands of people.

Mr Dance said: "He used to duck and weave and taunt his opponents.

"He was a great character, well known throughout Nottingham, England and indeed throughout the world."

 

William Abednego Thompson lost only one fight of his 20 prize fights

 

One of Bendigo's most famous fights was with Hucknall fighter Ben Caunt. It lasted for about two hours and included 93 rounds.

Bendigo died aged 68 at his cottage in Beeston. His funeral procession was said to have been a mile long.

Bendigo also has a city named after him in Australia.

The plaque is part of a scheme to recognise historical figures in the Broxtowe area of Nottingham.

The organisations involved include the Beeston and District Local History Society and Beeston Civic Society

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-15255777

Event - 'Americans' on their way (Beeston)

THE Yanks are coming – and they will be arriving at Beeston Marina in a Second World War landing craft.

A living history group called GI 44-45, which portrays GIs of the Second World War, will be recreating some of the sights and sounds of 70 years ago.

Formed in 2006, the group has featured in newspapers and magazines and National Geographic's TV series Generals at War.

They will be at the marina on Saturday from 12.30pm.

Member Sam Harris, of Long Eaton, has arranged for people to travel in the LCI – Landing Craft Infantry.

To gain some understanding of how the GIs felt in the craft the group will be wearing the uniforms, and carrying the equipment, of the US 4th Infantry Division otherwise known as the Ivy Division.

During the build-up to the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, men of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment were based in Wollaton Park.

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Americans-way/story-13418413-detail/story.html

Event - Blue plaque scheme to commemorate some of Broxtowe borough's finest

BLUE plaques are to be seen on many buildings in London, commemorating men and women who, for one reason or another, achieved public prominence.

Usually, they are on buildings with which the people were connected, either because they were born or brought up in them, or because it was while they were living in them that they became famous.

English Heritage, which administers the blue plaque scheme, ran a pilot project across the country from 1998 to 2005 but is no longer responsible for plaques outside Greater London and is instead helping communities to set up their own schemes.

Now, Beeston and District Local History Society, Stapleford Local History Society, and Beeston Civic Society, have formed a partnership to promote blue plaques in the Broxtowe area. They are about to unveil two plaques to prominent local people: Arthur Cossons and Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren.

Cossons was a schoolmaster and local historian in Beeston for many years. Born in Somerset in 1893, he arrived in Beeston in 1922 to begin a teaching career which lasted until his retirement in 1958.

He was headmaster of Church Street Junior Boys' School for 36 years. The school has gone but the block of flats on the site is called Cossons House in his memory.

Despite the demands of such a responsible job, Cossons found time to become deeply involved in local history, both locally and further afield.

He wrote about turnpike roads but knew all there was to know about heraldry, the postal system and philately in general, buildings and building materials, numismatics, typography, farm wagons, the rigs of sailing ships, and railways.

He wrote regularly for the Nottingham Journal, promoted school museums and taught adult education classes across the county, always travelling by bus because he never learnt to drive. His son Neil, himself educated at Church Street, learnt everything he knew about local history at his father's knee before enjoying a glittering career during which he was director of the Science Museum and chairman of English Heritage.

Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren is probably best known in Nottingham for the public house named after him at Canning Circus. Born in Stapleford in 1753, he played little part in local life but enjoyed a successful naval career, initially during the American War of Independence but later, and most significantly, during the Napoleonic wars.

In April 1794, he was commodore of the frigate squadron off the north-west French coast assisting in the blockade of Brest. His squadron captured a number of French frigates. As a result, he was soon regarded as a naval hero and, when he visited Nottingham in September 1794, diarist Mrs Abigail Gawthern recorded that he was "drawn into the town amidst the acclamation of thousands, preceded by a company of the Light Horse, twelve sergeants and five drummers".

Following his leadership of an expedition to Quiberon Bay in 1795, and his capture of three French frigates in 1796, he was given the freedom of the town.

In 1797, he was elected unopposed as MP for Nottingham, and returned again in 1802 in a hard-fought contest he clearly found distasteful because of the intimidation and rioting that accompanied the poll.

He remained as one of the town's two MPs until 1806, when he did not stand for re-election. How much (or perhaps how little) time he spent in the Commons is unclear, since he was frequently at sea, and between 1802 and 1804 he served as ambassador to Russia.

In 1805, Borlase Warren resumed his naval duties, and he continued to enjoy success at sea. He was commander-in-chief on the North American Station 1807-10, when he was promoted to the rank of full admiral. After that, he was unemployed for a while until the outbreak of the Anglo-American war in 1812, when he was sent to America again and made commander-in-chief of the consolidated North American, Jamaica and Leeward Islands squadrons.

His naval career came to an end in 1813 but he received various honours. He was made a knight grand cross of the Bath in 1815 and a knight grand cross of Hanover in 1819, in recognition of the part he had played in the war effort. However, he did not receive the peerage he really wanted.

He died suddenly in 1822 and was buried at Stratton Audley, in Oxfordshire. There is a monument to him in St Mary's Church, Attenborough, but the Canning Circus pub is the most prominent reminder that inland Stapleford was the birthplace of one of the most active and faithful serving officers in the British navy during the Napoleonic wars.

The Arthur Cossons plaque will be unveiled tomorrow afternoon at the old Beeston Village Cross by his son Sir Neil following a welcome meeting at 2.15pm in Chilwell Road Methodist Church.

The Sir John Borlase Warren plaque will be unveiled on Wednesday, May 18, at 11am in the Walter Parker VC Memorial Square, Stapleford, by the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Notts, Col Tim Richmond.

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Blue-plaque-scheme-commemorate-Broxtowe-borough-s-finest/article-3526199-detail/article.html