Election Memories

As I write, we are in the period of a General Election - although, as these things go, this one, so far at least, has been remarkably quite locally.

Its time though to recall what, for some reason, is one of my strongest memories. It is from February 1950 (I was 11) when I found myself standing in the yard of the old National Schools on Station Road - then the headquarters of 2nd Beeston Sea Scouts, now the site of the recently closed Fire Station - looking over the wall to watch the excited crowd around the door of the Station Road Sunday School hall opposite. In the centre of the excitement was Martin Redmayne, the Conservative candidate who was emerging from his eve-of-poll meeting. The next day, the 23rd February, he was elected as the member for Rushcliffe Parliamentary Constituency.

In those days - and continuing up the major boundary changes in 1983 - Beeston was part of Rushcliffe Constituency which then, as now, also included West Bridgford and a large area of rural Nottinghamshire south of the Trent. It had been that way since 1885 and, for over 30 years, up to 1918, returned a Liberal member - first John Ellis who died during the election of December 1910, followed by Leifchild (known as Leif) Jones. During the inter-war period, and continuing up the Labour landslide of 1945, Rushcliffe returned Conservative representatives - Henry Betteton up to 1934, followed by Ralph Assheton. In 1945, following the national trend, Florence Paton was elected for the Labour Party.

When he was selected to contest the Constituency for the Conservatives, Martin Redmayne, born in 1910, was seen as an ideal candidate. He had served in the Sherwood Foresters during the war, commanding the 14th Battalion in Italy in 1943 and the 66th Infantry Brigade in 1944/5. After the war he had returned to continue to run the Redmayne & Todd sports outfitters business in Nottingham and was therefore quite well known locally. When I was taken to the shop , before Christmas, probably of 1948 or 1949, to choose a present, he was serving in the shop and I remember my father speaking to him about his selection.

He was to serve as the local MP for 16 years until, in 1966, he was narrowly defeated by Anthony Gardner for Labour - who, in turn, was overturned by Kenneth Clarke who holds the Rushcliffe seat to this day. Redmayne was created a baronet in 1964 and made a life peer in 1966. He died in 1983.

So - as I look back on that moment in 1950 as the candidate emerged amongst the cheering crowd of local supporters, it seems that much of the truly local atmosphere - something that was enough to capture the interest of an 11 year-old - has been lost in the last 60 years. It is certainly in sharp contrast with today's largely national campaigns, fought on TV, on Twitter and in blogs !

Welcome Changes

With a hint of better weather in the air, it was time to take a look at what has been going on in Beeston in heritage terms. And, I found it encouraging.

First of all, the churchyard has received a welcome tidy-up following the changes made to the church itself and the development on the previous Parish Hall site. The ivy that had badly encroached on the memorial stones in that corner - so bad it was difficult if not impossible to photograph some of them - has been cleared back and the gateway has been rebuilt with new ornamental ironwork - "to its former glory" as the old cliche goes.

In that corner too, stands the Crimean War memorial and I was very pleased to see it has had a partial refurbishment. Although the last one was carried out by the Council about 30 years ago after representations by me, I can claim no credit this time - but its good to have it in better shape again. As an external memorial to the Crimean War, its almost unique and it deserves all the respect and care it gets.

Further down Church Street, its nice to see the old Crown pub has undergone a very tasteful refurbishment which retains its position in the street scene very well indeed. Nice too, to see that it has opened as a more traditional pub - a small but welcome movement against the modern trend. Again, its probably about 30 years since the last changes there and, again, I recall being involved then in trying to retain the old archway entrance. At that time it soon became clear that it was impossible to remodel the pub as a viable unit if it was retained fully and the compromise we see today was made - a shallow remainder of the arch was left in the front showing the outline of its position. I have often wondered since whether it was worth doing.


I found welcome changes at Dovecote Lane Recreation Ground too, where the bandstand has received a welcome facelift. This is another feature that was last renovated about thirty years ago - that's when a group of us got together to form the Beeston Bandstand Project and campaigned to move it to Beeston Square where it would have had a more practical modern use. Again, a compromise was reached and the Council agreed to renovate it on its present site. Over recent years, sadly, it seems it has had little use but, nevertheless, it is a fine feature and the present splendid refurbishment is very welcome. As the only surviving bandstand it the County (as distinct from the City - where, of course, there is one in the Castle grounds) it deserves this attention and it is pleasing that it is getting it.

This recreation ground, and the one at Broadgate, came about largely as a result of the benevolence of the Pearson family. Each originally had a bandstand, though the one at Broadgate was removed a little while after the Second World War and even the one at Broadgate seems to have been moved before my memory from a more central point in the park to its present position. (see the photograph on the left - and another below showing the local population enjoying a day in the park listening to the band). The Pearson benevolence also provided goes the land on the other side of Queens Road which was, until recently, the Boys Brigade Sports Ground. When part of it was sold for housing, many worried that the sports facility would be lost, but the establishment of excellent facilities in a part of the land seems to me to be an excellent compromise. And, it has been named the Hetley Pearson Recreation Ground - a very fitting tribute to a man who established the Lads' Club and a reformed Boys Brigade about 100 years ago and who paid the Supreme Sacrifice, along with so many others, in the service of his country in the Great War.



At a time when much of the centre of Beeston has been laid bare and so many of what was familiar has been lost, it is very pleasing to see some welcome changes, attention to detail and a feeling for Beeston's heritage.

Did everyone know this except me ?

Until it's attempts to resist the developers ran out, the pet shop on Station Road was a well-known and popular landmark on Beeston's Station Road. Now, Simon Rowley has got in touch to draw my attention to a claim on the Notts Fire & Rescue Service website that it once served as Beeston's first fire station - that's before it was replaced, in 1902, by another building at the top of Stoney Street (where Sainsburys now stands).

Its not easy to find on the Fire & Rescue site but click here to open the page in a new window.



It certainly looks likely! Take a look at my picture of Station Road (above) taken from the forecourt of the then fire station (now vacated and moved to Hassocks Lane). The pet shop building - along with almost everything else in the photograph - has now, of course, been demolished, but, then painted blue, it can be glimpsed between the Lads' Club and the Shaw & Marven building. It's probably a little further away than the 100 metres claimed but the location of the building, close to the centre and its size - it would have accommodated the then horse-drawn, hand-pumped engine (shown below later at the Stoney Street location) - makes it all very plausible.



Although I thought I had heard most of the tales of old Beeston and thought I knew pretty well "every brick", I had never heard that it had been used for this purpose. But, of course, the reality is there is always something to learn.

Can anyone confirm the story - perhaps, as I say, everyone can except me !

Waterloo Man

Sharing the information that I have in my Beeston database with those who get in touch about their own families often brings unexpected rewards - and surprises.



When Mike Sheldon got in touch early last year, he already had the outline of his family sketched out and I was able to offer what I had, adding some detail and family connections that were new. The family lived in Beeston throughout the 19th century and, like many of that time, contributed to the way it worked then - as framework knitters, silk mill workers and lace makers.



When Mike got back to me the other day, his story showed why it is important to look at all branches of the family and all the associated detail - not just the bare facts of dates and places.



It was when he decided to take a look in detail at the burial details recorded for the family that one entry stood out. Alongside the entry for the burial in Arnold, Notts of Thomas Sheldon, Mike's Great, Great, Great Uncle, was the fascinating note, "Waterloo Man". Clearly, as now and following most wars, local communities were careful to honour and respect their fighting men.



Thomas had clearly broken away from the life in Beeston that was continued by most of his family and become a soldier and had seen the wider world. And, significantly, it meant that there was a good chance that the Army had kept a full record of his life.



Sure enough, at the National Archives at Kew, Mike discovered his discharge papers, dated 1840. They told him that Thomas had joined the Royal Horse Artillery in 1811, aged 16 years old, was a Driver and Gunner at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and had stayed in France for 3 years 6 months. Later he served in Ireland - which is probably where he met Margaret, his Irish wife - and then in England.

Afterwards, as the census had already indicated. he worked at the Royal Hospital at Woolwich as a Coachman to the Director General of the Hospital. Later listed as a Chelsea Pensioner, he moved back to Nottinghamshire and settled in Arnold where he died in 1875, aged 80. It was the record of his burial at St Marys Church, Arnold that provided the clue to the story of his life.

The lesson is clear - follow every detail as lives are not always as straightforward as they first appear.

Connecting Beeston with Shipley

Isn't it great that the Internet is linking together, not just people, but events from the past.

John Cooper is amongst my regular correspondents and we often swap snippets of information about his Beeston-related family and Beeston itself. This week he writes to point out a connection between Beeston and a fatal colliery explosion at Shipley in 1857 - and he was able to make that connection when reading a topic on my site.

The connection is based around Mary Cox - John's 3 x Grt-Grandmother - who was born in Beeston in 1814. She married Abraham Starbuck and moved to Cotmanhay, Derbyshire where they raised a family, with Abraham working as a miner in the Shipley collieries nearby. By 1857, their eldest son - also Abraham - was only 12 but was already working in the pit alongside his father. And it was there on 4th March 1857 that father and son, together with Abraham senior's brother John and two others were killed by an explosion while working underground; others died later of the injuries they sustained. Mary was left to try to bring up the family alone - with at least five of her children still under 10 - but, by 1861 it had proved too much. Then, she and her four youngest were in the Shardlow Union Workhouse - although, more happily, she was eventually able to establish herself as a laundress in Bramcote, living there until her death in 1892.

But the tragedy would have been felt personally in Beeston too. Hannah Starbuck, the sister of Abraham and therefore Mary's sister-in-law, had married John Oldham, a Beeston framework knitter. It was one of their sons, Robert Oldham, who became a Beeston local hero following his service in the Crimean War - see my account of his life here.



So - seemingly separate lives each playing their part in events long ago, then felt strongly within the family and local communities, now pieced together by the power of the Internet and the interest of their ancestors. They would probably have been both pleased and surprised !

Home from Iraq

Many in Beeston and the surrounding communities turned out this morning, to welcome a local army unit - 170 (Infra SP) Engineer Group - which recently returned from Iraq.

The unit marched through Beeston, from Broadgate, down Regent Street, along Middle Street (the photographs above and below shows the parade as it passed the Manor House, led by a military band) and then onto Chilwell Road and round to the Borough Council Building on Foster Avenue, where medals were presented.

As they approached the War Memorial, a group of British Legion veterans stood in respect.

There was a good attendance lining the streets to greet them, particularly around the War Memorial :

And the crowd at the bottom of Foster Avenue was too large to get close:


It was an honour to join the citizens of Beeston and area to greet our returning heroes.

Another era ended

On Tuesday I made a nostalgic journey - into Canning Circus and out towards Bulwell - no trolley bus this time, the gas works is no more, as is much of the industry along the route, now the tram weaves through Hyson Green and beyond and the Northern Baths, where I learned to swim, is now a church. I was visiting my old school, Henry Mellish, on its last day. After about 80 years, it was closing and merging with River Leen School to become Bulwell Academy on a new site.

The school opened in September 1929, providing secondary education to boys, originally from both the County and City but, during much of its time, for boys from the County - including Beeston - only. It set high academic and sporting standards from the start - producing a steady stream of boys to the major universities and to government, the professions, industry and commerce. Its change from grammar school to comprehensive was regretted by many - and welcomed by others - and there was an unfortunate period in which standards dropped to unacceptable levels, but latterly it responded to the needs of a changed world with a clear ethos for today's aspirations.



All I can say is, for me the grammar school experience worked and certainly changed by horizons. Present day criticisms centre on elitism but I had no awareness of social differences when I was there. I was one of three boys from a council house background, five in total (as well as the girls who, in the main, went on to Brincliffe and those who lived in Lenton Abbey, who went mainly to Mundella) who went on from Beeston Fields Junior School in 1950. In an era where even local travel was limited, I was more aware of the amazingly different - and interesting - accents that I encountered than any class divisions that might have existed but were never apparent. The school offered opportunities, admittedly for those that the 11+ had identified as academically able, but, for my part, it was an opportunity that would not have been possible in any other way





Of course, there had been many changes since my day - many of the class rooms were now full of rows of computer screens, the metalwork and woodwork rooms now serve as a drama school and the gymnasium is now a dance studio ! Again, changes for changing times. But, there were some traces of the past - the teak benches in the laboratory where Mr McCandless taught me physics - with some success, as it turned out - and where I played chess every lunchtime, were still there and the facade and entrance of the school - offering a style which we can now appreciate - is still largely intact.


The name of the school came from Henry Mellish (1856-1927 - shown left) who lived at Hodsock Priory where he farmed a large acreage. He was very interested in meteorology and set up a comprehensive weather station at his home and recorded observations for over 50 years. He was very active in the North Notts Territorial Association - its Chairman in the critical years leading up to the Great War - a Justice of the Peace and a member of Notts County Council from its start. It was to honour his work on the Education Committee - for many years as its Vice-Chairman and Chairman - that, following his death two years earlier, the school was given his name.







Now, almost 80 years later it was the turn of his cousin's son, Sir Andrew Buchanan, Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, to formally declare the school closed - and he brought along the original gold key that had been given to the family at the official opening in October 1929. The photograph on the right shows Sir Andrew (left), accompanied by Tony Bond, the present Head Teacher, showing the key to the many past pupils who attended. The key was then used to lock the front door, formally for the last time - and it still turned !



End of era certainly - but also the start of another. We wish the new Academy every success.

Click Here to see my photographic record of the day