Loughborough!

Let's face it. I'm like the Manchester City of the the vegetable growing world. I make lots of noise and pretend I know what i'm on about, winning the odd class here and there but ultimately, like them, I've won nothing of any worth for hundreds of years. Whether I go on this season and beyond to become like Manchester United, true class not just gobby pretenders, relentlessly winning trophies season after season only time will tell. Or will I crash and burn like Leeds United, consigned to be an also-ran in village shows forever more?



I digress. In this month's edition of Simply Veg the quarterly magazine of the The National Vegetable Society I've had a couple of honourable mentions. However, when I was referred to as 'Simon Smith from Leicester' my wife pulled me up and asked why I didn't say I was from Loughborough? She's worked for the local council for many years and quite rightly is proud of what the town has to offer. So I thought I'd devote this post to telling you all about 'the borough', a potted history in Smithyveg style!


Mentioned in the Domesday Book, Loughborough is a university town (pop: circa 60,000) situated in the River Soar valley midway between the cities of Leicester, Derby and Nottingham, all of whom have shite footy teams a bit like Leeds and Liverpool. Loughborough used to have a football league team many moons ago and its one claim to fame was inflicting on mighty Arsenal their heaviest ever league defeat, 8-0 on 12th December 1896. However, the Arse got their revenge with a 12-0 home win on 12th March 1900 which is also their biggest ever win to date. Strange eh? The site of Loughborough Town's pitch is now the town's leisure centre.



As I said, Loughborough is famous for its university which has educated the likes of Sir Clive Woodward, Rugby World Cup winning coach 2003, Lord Seb Coe (met him once, arrogant twat) and Paula Radcliffe who famously had a shit at the side of the road during the marathon race in the Athens Olympics of 2004. The University complex will actually be the base for the British athletics team during the 2012 Olympics and a striking landmark is the tower (below) which is an accommodation block. Several depressed students have thrown themselves off since it was built in the 60's! Loughborough's residents are known for their constant bleating about the antics of the student population on weekend nights in particular when they get up to all sorts of jolly drunken japes in the wee small hours. There are several streets around the town centre that are known as the golden triangle for owners renting out to the student population, but long-standing local residents do have a bit of a running nightmare during term time. 'Student bashing' was a popular past-time when I was a youth. However, if it wasn't for the university the local economy would be desolate so you can't have it both ways.

Loughborough Grammar School (at which yours truly was educated) celebrated its 500th anniversary in 1995. Boys were regularly caned for misbehaving, we weren't allowed to have long hair or walk on the grass and the assistant headmaster used to conduct regular buggery classes in the boarding houses. I used to have history lessons at the top of this building last lesson on a Friday afternoon!

Until the mid-90's Loughborough was the HQ for Ladybird Books. I doubt there's a household in the land that doesn't have at least one of their books which were produced in their millions on all manner of subjects, occasions and interests.

The world's largest bellfoundry is situated in Loughborough. Taylors Bellfoundry cast the large bells for both St. Paul's Cathedral and York Minster and exports its bells around the globe. It nearly went out of business a few years ago but local enthusiasts and benefactors kept it going, so it wasn't quite a bell-end! Taylors' bells also adorn the local war memorial, or Carillon (below) which is also a war museum and is situated in a very pretty green space known as Queen's Park. It's where the local youth meet up and where my youngest daughter thinks we haven't seen her meeting up with boys on more than one occasion!

Other notable local employers are the Brush Engineering Works manufacturers of locomotive engines, power transformers and generators, and pharmaceuticals giant Astra Zeneca although this is currently being run down for relocation causing several thousand more additions to the local unemployment figures. Until relatively recent times the town was a major centre of hosiery manufacture and in honour of this the local council spent an obscene amount of money on a statue in the town centre called 'The Sock Man' which caused a furore at the time. It's now a meeting point in town ("meet me at the sock man!") but has also caused a few headaches for short people walking into the leg! Drunken middle-aged men have also been known to get quite touchy-feely with it....errrr, so I'm told!

Each year in November the town plays host to a large street fair. The huge rides turn up on the second Tuesday of the month and somehow are all up and running by Wednesday lunchtime, the town centre roads being closed off until Saturday night. I used to love going on the rides until I started working for my current employer, an engineering firm and the fairground people would often bring their bits of ride in for repairs to snapped welds !!

Loughborough is one of the contenders being considered for the award of city status to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2013. It was also the destination point for the very first ever-package tour run by Thomas Cook for a temperance group from Leicester in 1841.



Loughborough can lay claim to many famous local residents over the years. Robert Bakewell after whom a street and school are named is generally accepted as one of the founders of modern farming methods. Coronation Street actor David Neilson (cafe owner Roy Cropper) was born in the town and it was also the birthplace of the 2011 National pea champion. There goes my likeness to Manchester City again!