Leicester's Saffron Lane Estate called 'paradise' in exhibition
Another resident who moved to The Fairway in 1926 remembered churned-up mud surrounding the houses before roads were built and the Midland Red bus stop being a long walk away at the top of Saffron Lane.The exhibition shows residents had little in the way of amenities when they first moved in. However, the oral histories do recall a milkman who travelled in from Countesthorpe, a dairy in Cyprus Road, a mobile greengrocer, baker with a basket of hot cross buns and Tommy Newby's, the grocer - where a cat sat on the bacon slicer.Businesses which serve the community today are also featured in the exhibition, including a locksmith that has been trading in Leicester since 1717.Assistant city mayor Vi Dempster said: "This brilliant new exhibition shines a light on the people and businesses that help to give Saffron Lane its strong sense of identity and community."I'm very grateful to everyone who has donated items to the exhibition and given their support to this project. "Thanks to their generosity, our museum staff have been able to bring the story of The Saff to life in an exhibition that I'm sure will be popular with visitors."Popping to the Shops: Saffron Lane opens at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery on Saturday 22 March and runs until 31 August. Admission is free.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
07-07-2025
- BBC News
The Queen's College, Oxford's WW1 memorial plan approved
An Oxford college has been told it can add the names of foreign soldiers to a memorial for former students who died fighting in World War Queen's College will add five new names to the 121 names on the City Council approved a plan that was submitted by the college in the spring.A proposal to add the new names - including the three German soldiers - followed a similar move by the city's New College in 1930, Merton and Magdalen Colleges in 1994 and University College in 2018. The Queen's College said the "appropriate and unobtrusive response" was "justified by the need to remember all members of the college community who died".The names that will added are:Carl Heinrich Hertz, who was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1893 and died in France in 1918Erich Joachim Peucer, who was born in Colmar in 1888 - which is now in France but was then part of the German Empire - and died in Italy in 1917Hungarian Paul Nicholas Esterházy, who matriculated in 1901 and died in 1915 in PolandGustav Adolf Jacobi, who was born in Weimar in Germany in 1885 and is thought to have died fighting in 1914. He is already included on a memorial at Rhodes House in OxfordEmile Jacot, who fought in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was wounded and died of his injuries in 1928. It is unclear where he was born You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
04-07-2025
- BBC News
HMS Vanguard: World War One ship's bell recovered after 108 years
A bell from a World War One battleship - which sank with the loss of hundreds of lives in Scapa Flow in Orkney over a century ago - has been recovered by other artefacts from HMS Vanguard - a metal badge from one of the the main guns and a protective plug from a gun barrel, known as a tampion - have also been brought to the will eventually be loaned to the Scapa Flow Museum in Orkney by the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) after conservation work has taken objects were identified by a team of divers who surveyed the wreck in 2017 as part of commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking. The project has taken three years of planning and has involved the Ministry of Defence, Orkney Islands Council (OIC), the NMRN and the Scottish sinking of HMS Vanguard is believed to be the biggest accidental loss of life in a single incident in the history of the Royal St Vincent-class dreadnought - a veteran of the Battle Of Jutland - was anchored alongside the rest of the Grand Fleet in Scapa Flow on 9 July 1917 when an explosion in a magazine saw her blow up and sink in just a few short moments. Only three of the 848 men onboard survived, one of whom died later from his wreck lies at a depth of 34m (110ft) and is protected under the Protection of Military Remains Act (1986) as a Sovereign Immune permission was secured to bring the artefacts to the surface which lay outside the wreck's current exclusion zone. Wendy Sadler lost her great-grand uncle Henry Metcalf in the sinking of HMS Vanguard and is leading a project to try and find photos of as many of the crew as said it was an emotional moment to be able to see and touch the bell."A hundred years-plus ago your relatives looked at it, heard it ringing," she said."To think of what happened to them that night, losing their lives, and it is not seen for another 110 years - it is a privilege and an honour."We can't stop doing things like this - them fading into history - we've got to keep their memory alive somehow." Experts believe that the tampion is made from horse hair and leather and could have been preserved by bell is distorted from the force of the explosion. It was found about 200m (650ft) from where the ship would have been Hewitt, a naval historian and also the culture team leader at Orkney Islands Council which runs a number of museums, thinks the bell will resonate with those who see it. "Our visitors will look at the bell and they will immediately feel what happened to that ship because it is distorted from the explosion - it is missing the crown that should be on top," he said."It has a hole on the top instead of a crown."Our plan is not to fully restore it, it is not going to look bright and shiny like the Royal Oak bell in the cathedral." The project to recover the objects came about after survey work was undertaken by a team of divers led by Emily Turton, leading up to the centenary commemorations in spent a total of 500 hours mapping together the wreck site, which is spread over a large said it was emotional to be involved in a project which she had been part of for a number of added: "It was lovely to find artefacts that really pertained to the ship, rather than wreckage, along with other personal artefacts."There are musical instruments on Vanguard, there are the clothes and shoes they would have worn so those really have a personal connection."
BBC News
26-06-2025
- BBC News
Fears over plans for volunteer-run libraries in Leicester
Residents in Leicester have expressed concerns over cost-cutting plans for volunteers to run libraries in the City Council has proposed to transfer the running of libraries in Rushey Mead and Knighton to external organisations as part of a wider shake-up of community buildings which aims to save £2.1m a year. However, users have told the BBC they fear no volunteers will be prepared to take over the buildings, which means they could be forced to council said the proposals did not amount to a closure programme and no decisions had been made. A consultation on the proposal runs until 29 Knighton Library Group is campaigning for the council to rethink the Amy Capelin said: "We are worried that it will impact on the service, and that the library might not be open as long. "We are worried it won't be run by experienced, qualified librarians, and that if it isn't run well, it might not survive in the long term."Once it's gone, we're going to lose it forever and we really don't want that." Rushey Mead resident Shashikala Jansari said: "This [the library] means my lifeline. "My husband is not well and he can't hear so I've got nobody to talk to even at home and I come here and see my friends and feel happy."Fellow library user Nishin Vyas said: "Our rates have gone up and they're going to go up again."We're not getting any facilities around here. Everything is cutbacks." Assisstant city mayor Vi Dempster said: "This is not a closure programme. "We have seen in Leicester that community buildings can be very successfully run by community groups, and we are asking local people to consider how they can work with us to take over these buildings. "No decision has yet been made, but we have already had interest from local people in running a number of buildings. "I would urge other groups to contact us if they also wish to make an expression of interest." The libraries are among 11 buildings the council hopes to find volunteers to the plans, the authority would retain 12 sites, which would become "multi-service centres", and the city's Central Coleman and Netherhall neighbourhood centres could be transferred to community organisations, as well as the Braunstone Frith and Rushey Mead recreation council said the Tudor Centre, in Mowmacre, the Eyres Monsell Community Centre, the Gilmorton Community Rooms and libraries in Evington, Knighton and Rushey Mead could also be offered to external organisations to St Matthews Centre could also close with the library moved to a nearby location and the Fosse Neighbourhood Centre in Newfoundpool could be sold off, the authority council said it would invest £1m in the 12 buildings it intends to keep - five of which, including the Beaumont Leys Library Hub and Highfields Library Hub, could have staffed opening for 40 hours a self-access hours would be offered on top of the 40 hours at Belgrave Library Hub, The Brite Centre Library Hub in Braunstone and St Barnabas Library Hub, the council addedIt said the remaining seven sites could open for 30 hours a include Aylestone Library, Westcotes Library Hub, a relocated St Matthews Library and Thurnby Lodge Centre self-access hours are proposed for Hamilton Library Hub, New Parks Centre Hub, and Pork Pie Library Hub.
