On this day in Loughborough … 1996
28 June 2021
On 28th June 1996, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited Loughborough to open the new English and Drama building at Loughborough Grammar School.
At the request of Her Majesty, an anthem specially-written for the school’s quincentenary in 1995 by Sir Andrew Carter – was played for the Queen in the drama studio of the building, which was named ‘The Queen’s Building’ in her honour.
See a post about the visit here and here.
Memories of Charles Matthews, collector of local history
14 June 2021
Remember Loughborough Facebook Group member Dusty Miller knew Charles Matthews, who was a neighbour and friend of his father’s. Here, Dusty shares his memories of Charles and his passion for saving old photographs.
Charles was a close neighbour of ours, he lived on New Ashby Road, we lived behind him on Blackbrook Road. My father – Peter Miller – was also into photography, but his main expertise was in processing film and printing from negatives. Almost all of the prints in Charles’s collection were processed by my father.
Charles spent many hours walking around Loughborough knocking on doors asking for old photographs or negatives. Many were the old glass negatives which normal processors wouldn’t print. Some were cracked and faded but father managed to get images from them. Charles became quite friendly with Mrs De Lisle* so sourced several negatives from her.
One example of Charles is, there is a photograph taken on Nottingham Road of a Victorian lady with a baby in a pram. Shortly after Father had printed this for Charles a film arrived for developing and printing. Father did the honours and amongst the photographs was a picture of a modern young mother standing with a baby in a pram on the same spot as the Victorian lady. Charles went to look at the area of the original picture and asked a passing mother if he could take her photograph with the pram. After showing her the original she was only too happy to help.
Charles worked as a clerk for the railway based in a building on the line side between Loughborough Station and Meadow Lane. He later moved from New Ashby Road to Shepshed station house; we visited several times before their next move to Market Harborough.
My mother told me that Charles bought a large box of glass negatives when Hastings House closed for next to nothing. This must have been in the 60’s before it became a community hospital. No one wanted the negatives; had Charles not bought them they would have been dumped in a skip. It is so easy for important things like these to end up in landfill when their true historic value is missed.
It is great to finally see Charles contribution to the history of Loughborough archive recognised. Most of the books of photographs of old Loughborough came from his collection.
Dusty Miller,
12 June 2021
The original posts from Dusty can be found on the Remember Loughborough Facebook page here.
*of Garendon Hall
Charles Matthews’ legacy to local history research
11 June 2021
The Founders and Notable Contributors to the Loughborough Library
Local History Collection
Mr. Charles Matthews, a local historian and amateur photographer, salvaged a number of glass plate negatives of Victorian scenes of Loughborough that otherwise would have been lost. These are still in existence and held in the Loughborough Library archives. Alongside many items from his own collection of photographs, the glass slides were exhibited in Loughborough Library in 1963. The exhibition was a great success. It was featured on television and thousands of people came to see it.
Mr. Matthews’ whole collection was eventually passed on to Loughborough Library and became the basis of what is now known as the Local Studies Collection, held in the Local and Family History Centre at Loughborough Library. The photographs were integrated into the 20th Century Photograph Collection and the books and papers are now available to all local historians and researchers.
There have been a number of other contributions to the Collection over the years, many by notable local historians such as Ian Keil, Brian Williams, Don Wix and George Green to name but a few. Other collections of information in many forms, have been donated by one-time employees of local companies such as Ladybird Books and Brush. Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers currently work with the Collection, constantly adding information, acquisitions and donations, in order to protect and enhance it for future generations.
If you have any documents, books, notes etc. that you feel would be a useful addition to this collection of Charnwood local history, please contact the Volunteers, in the first instance by emailing lllsv@gmx.co.uk. We shall reply as soon as possible given the limitations of the current Covid-19 situation.
Article submitted by Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers
Read a personal memory of Charles Matthews here.
Find an article showing photographs Mr Matthews took of the Loughborough Midland station in the 1950s here (published in The Loughborough Echo in October 2017).
