As we look forward to Christmas celebrations this year, it’s maybe worth looking back on previous years’ celebrations. For no other reason than it allows me to make a bad ...
William Gold followed his father by also working on the railway and at one stage worked in West Bromwich where he met and married Lily Jane Edith Gee, the daughter ...
‘Food is one of the munitions of war’ (Lord Woolton)
From the outset of the Second World War, the Board of Education was extremely pro-active in encouraging schools to lead the way ...
As part of the Shrubland Street School Collection1, there are a number of memoranda that were issued by the Board of Education during the Second World War. Education and ensuring ...
In the 7th August 1914 edition of the Royal Leamington Spa Courier and Warwickshire Standard, there are some interesting articles on how the local residents should continue as business as ...
Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of America’s most celebrated writers, especially famed for The Scarlet Letter of 1850. He stayed in Leamington three times, including Lansdowne Circus in 1857. On his ...
In part one of this article, I reviewed the building of Christ Church until its closure in 1950. With the mantra of the time being if it’s old it has ...
As I have mentioned in other postings on this site, in the years following the Second World War there seemed to be a frenzy of demolition from which no building ...
Frank Whittle’s achievements in both inventing and developing the jet engine are well-known and well-documented. Indeed, it is not unreasonable to call him one of Warwickshire’s more famous sons, especially ...
In the Royal Leamington Spa Courier and Warwick Standard published on 7th August 1914, there is an interesting newspaper article describing the journey of a party of 20 Americans as ...
On Tuesday 4th August 1914, Great Britain declared war on Germany after the German Government rejected the request by the British Government to assure that the neutrality of Belgium would ...
The Octopus Stinkhorn, or Devils Fingers (Clathrus archeri) is a non-native fungus originating from Australia and Tasmania and is occasionally found in Britain and Continental Europe. It is not poisonous ...
In the 31st July edition of the Royal Leamington Spa Courier and Warwickshire Standard there is an advertisement for Bird’s Custard:
Bird’s custard pre-war
Any Doctor will tell you that in summer, ...
By February 1915, more and more Women were taking up the roles left by men, who had taken up their call of duty to fight for their country. In the ...
Florence Rose was the Rev. Squirrell’s eldest daughter, being born in Croydon in 1865. She was married to James Ward in 1893, when if the ages given on the census ...
Built around 1777, this was a four storey brick tower mill with four common sails and two pairs of stones. In about 1886, it was fitted with new gearing, sails, steam ...
The first well house was built on the instruction of the 4th Earl of Aylesford, the lord of the manor, following a visit to the town in 1803.
The house was ...
This is sometimes called the Camden Well and sometime the Aylesford Well but it actually pre-dates both these gentleman.
It is generally accepted that the well was first recorded by the ...
Sleepy, genteel Royal Leamington Spa had been immune from none of the concerns post-war. The town’s War Memorial bears witness to the number of its young men who gave their ...
I started work with AP in Banbury, which opened in 1962 in 80 acres of land. It was built to increase capacity in the supply of spare and replacement parts, ...
Think of the grass court tennis season in England, and it is natural to think of Wimbledon, strawberries and cream, and a very ‘English’ tradition. Leamington’s role in that tradition, ...
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has announced £100,000 towards the restoration of the UK graves of First World War Victoria Cross heroes. The project, in association with the Victoria Cross Trust, ...
Leamington’s most colourful and probably its oldest piece of public sculpture isn’t easy to spot, and most visitors and many residents are unaware of its existence. The brightly painted stone ...
By a quirk of administrative boundary changes, Warwickshire’s home at Edgbaston is not in the current county. Delve back to its early years however, and some of the key places ...