News - Father of Council House listed in national archive (Thomas Cecil Howitt)

A HUCKNALL-BORN architect who designed some of Nottingham's most celebrated buildings has been included in a national historical database.

Information about the life of Thomas Cecil Howitt will be featured in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Mr Howitt designed the iconic Council House in Old Market Square, Nottingham Trent University's Newton building and the former Raleigh headquarters.

He is also renowned for designing the YMCA building in Shakespeare Street, Staythorpe Power Station and the Home Ales building in Mansfield Road, Daybrook.

His entry was written by architectural historian Doctor Elain Harwood, who said Howitt's influence on the city was vast.

She said: "He is the great Nottingham architect of the 20th Century and someone the city should rightly be proud of.

"One just needs to look around Nottingham and you can see his wonderful designs.

"The other thing that sets him apart was his range of influences and styles, from homes in the 1920s through to the fantastic Newton building in the 1960s."

The Oxford DNB, which is online and available free in libraries, features famous individuals as well as 400 entries on historical groups.

Mr Howitt began his career designing telephone exchanges and shops for Boots before the First World War.

He later joined the Nottingham city engineer's department and helped develop new housing estates in the north and west of the city to tackle a shortage of houses.

In 1923 Mr Howitt proposed a replacement for the old 18th century Corn Exchange which would become the Council House. Work started in 1927 and the building was opened by the Prince of Wales two years later.

Howitt died in 1968 at a home he designed in Orston, east Notts.

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Father-Council-House-listed-national-archive/story-13378748-detail/story.html

Book- Bookley Explains airfields’ history (Nottinghamshire)

A booklet documenting the rich aviation history of Newark and Nottinghamshire has been unveiled at Newark Air Museum.

At the launch of the booklet, Airfields and Memorials, at Newark Air Museum are (left) county councillor Mr Vincent Dobson and project co-ordinator Mr Howard Heeley.

The 48-page booklet, Airfields and Memorials, produced by the county council, documents all 17 major military airfields, 11 recreational flying sites and 19 memorials in Nottinghamshire.

It explains how, during the second world war, Nottinghamshire was one of the major locations for training volunteers to become bomber crew. It was a role that saw an influx of young volunteers, initially from Poland, followed by the Commonwealth countries.

The booklet provides a snapshot history of the airfields they were based at, providing information such as the nationalities of the airmen, the squadrons, location and current status.

Many airfields in the Newark area are included, such as Balderton, Langar, Orston, Ossington, Syerston and Winthorpe, now Newark Air Museum.

The museum’s archives and photograph collection was used to help collate the booklet.

Project co-ordinator and museum trustee Mr Howard Heeley said it brought everything together for the first time.

“It is not just a local thing though. We are trying to spread the message nationally and internationally,” he said.

“We had people come to train in Nottinghamshire from all over the world, from places like Australia, New Zealand and Poland. There is a truly international story to be told and we are trying to do that. It will encourage people to come and look at the airfields and memorials.

“80% of the copies we have sent out so far have gone outside the county and ten have gone to Australia and Canada.”

Mr Heeley said in the case of Winthorpe, 1,000 new crewmen rotated through the site every six weeks during the war and 25,000 people trained there in total during the course of the war.

“It was like a small town. The runway went out towards the A46 and Langford Hall was the officers’ quarters,” he said.

“There was a massive transient population who all knew the county. Anyone researching their family history might make those connections, and perhaps come to look at a memorial or visit.”

Newark county councillor Mr Vincent Dobson was based at Winthorpe as RAF groundcrew in 1954.

He said: “I spent around three months at Winthorpe and I also remember when there was an airfield at Balderton, before I joined the forces.”

A total of 10,000 copies of the booklet, which also lists memorials to airmen, is available free of charge from the air museum and from county Tourist Information Centres and libraries.

The museum will send copies to people on request. Visit http://www.newarkairmuseum.org/

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Booklet-explains-airfields-history