News from the Centre
12th October 2010 -- Big Switch Off
A very successful Big Switch Off event was held at the Diseworth Heritage Centre on Tuesday 12th October 2010. The event was supported by the ‘Friends of Thringstone Group’ and the RCC (Leics and Rutland). The event was one of several Big Switch Off Events being held around Leicestershire and Rutland during 11th and 17th October 2010 and was held on a ‘drop in’ basis between 10 am and 6pm. Free refreshments were sourced locally from The Manor Organic Farm Shop and Bakery of Long Whatton.
The intention of the event was to raise awareness of climate change, energy efficiency and measures that can be taken to save energy and water, and help to reduce carbon emissions.
Visitors included Steve Darling of DEFRA who is based in their London office, and Richard Windley the East Midlands Housing Enabler. There were approximately 70 other visitors including Mrs. Woffindin, the Head teacher of Diseworth Church of England School, staff and pupils. They entered into the spirit of the event by walking to it, others cycled!
Jon Sketchley of Hermitage Radio, broadcast live from the centre between 2pm and 5pm, and North West Leicestershire District Councillor John Legrys conducted interviews on air with Nikki Henning (Chair of RCCTrustees and member of the Diseworth Heritage Group), Nita Pearson (Friends of Thringstone Group) Gillian Squires (North West Leicestershire District Council) and Jo Ling (Community Development Officer for the RCC).
The ‘Smoothie cycle’ demonstrated by Jo Ling, proved to be very popular with visitors of all ages. ‘Pedal power’ as opposed to electricity was used to blend various fresh fruits into very palatable smoothies! The RCC had a number of interactive activities at the event including a mini wind turbine, solar water heater and photovoltaic panels to demonstrate, in addition to a bulb library with free issue light bulbs and ‘Climate Change Awareness’ quizzes.
Severn Trent supplied a ‘hook a duck’ game, targeted primarily at children, which promoted water saving advice. Each duck caught, had a number on the base that correlated with a numbered photograph. Once a duck was caught, the player was asked whether the image shown was wasting or saving water. On a similar theme, the RCC were displaying an image of a house with a variety of energy saving and energy wasting images- the children were encouraged to identify good and bad examples of energy efficiency with smiley face images and to explain their choices.
Gillian Squires of NWLDC was promoting the Green Footprints Challenge, and gave suggestions on ways to reduce domestic waste; her aim was to raise awareness of recycling schemes and to encourage greener living. The Wattson home energy efficiency metre on the NWLDC attracted a lot of attention too. The metre has been proven to save up to 20% on household energy bills, it indicates domestic energy consumption in watts.
The Mark Group provided advice on ‘whole house’ energy efficiency including cavity wall, and loft insulation, and solar hot water.
The ‘Friends of Thringstone’ display, gave plenty of ‘green’ examples of what can be achieved by a community group working together to improve their environment. The group were recently awarded with the RCC’s Silver ‘Community’ Award and Gold ‘Cleaner and Greener’ Award. The RCC hope that as a result of the event, they will be able to build the capacity of community groups like Thringstone and encourage more volunteers to carry out more environmentally focused projects.
Jo Ling
2nd May 2010 -- An exhibition of the history of Diseworth
Images and different types of articles were put out showing the history of Diseworth.
28th September 2009 -- Exhibition held to accompany the Long Whatton Maternity Hospital Reunion
An exhibition of WW2 nursing and other period memorabilia was staged at the Centre to mark the Reunion event held on the weekend of 26th and 27th September, for "war babies" who were born at the Maternity Hospital operating at Long Whatton House. More details of the weekend's events to follow -- here are some pictures from the exhibition.
9th September 2009 -- Diseworth coins on display at 'Romans in Leicestershire' talk
A capacity audience at the Centre heard Peter Liddle, the (semi-retired) Community Archaeologist from LCC, talk with great enthusiasm about the history of Leicestershire before and during the Roman period. He showed that the popular misconception that the Romans did very little in Leicestershire was patently not true, by demonstrating the wide distribution of towns, roads, villas and settlements throughout the county during this period. Pictures of the amazing finds from various sites set the scene for the "local interest" spot - Liz Jarrom described the finding of a hoard of Roman coins on one of their fields, how she watched them emerge from the soil, and the connection she felt with the person who lost them some 2000 years ago. A selection of them were on display during the evening, and the sight of shiny Roman silver really put the history of DIseworth in context. Our thanks to both Peter and Liz for bringing history alive !
29th June 2009 -- Long Whatton Maternity Hospital Reunion event details available
This event, to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Opening in September 1939, will be held on 26-27th September 2009 at Whatton House and Diseworth Heritage Centre. The exhibition at the Centre will include war time memorabilia, featuring hospitals and medical care. The outline programme for this event can be found here
17th June 2009 -- Scarecrow Festival and Open Gardens Weekend
The Centre opened for refreshments and to allow visitors to the village to view the Centre's facilities during this event on 13th and 14th June. Hot beef cobs were served by Malcolm Mitchell.
5th June 2009 -- Lecture on the Griswold Knitting Machine, Retired Residents bench unveiled
A talk and demonstration by Ivor Swift, Director
of JA Swift Ltd of Hathern drew a capacity audience to the Centre on
5th June. Ivor brought two Griswold knitting machines, and explained
how the 'cottage industry' of sock making survived well into the
20th century due to demand for high quality local products.
The Centre now has its own Griswold machine, kindly donated by Ivor
and which is on now on display.
You see more pictures of the event
here and watch a short
demonstration of the Griswold on a video
here
You can also read more about these fascinating machines
here.
At the end of the talk, the new Diseworth Retired Residents bench was unveiled in the Sanctuary Garden at the rear of the Centre, and immediately put to good use!
14th May 2009 -- Shepshed Building Society support Diseworth Heritage Trust
Shepshed Building Society is delighted to confirm that it has presented a cheque for £636.36 to Diseworth Heritage Trust. The cheque was presented to Peter Miller, Treasurer and the Trustees by Karen Freer of the Society on Friday 24th April at the newly renovated and re-opened Diseworth Heritage Centre.
The payment represents an amount due under the Society’s Affiliation Sponsorship scheme for the years 2007 and 2008. Greg Williamson, Chief Executive of the Society said, “The Shepshed is delighted that the Trust has participated in the Affiliation Sponsorship scheme. The scheme provides income for groups who have their members open savings accounts at the Society.” Martin Hening, Chair of the Trustees, added, “We are very appreciative of the support given by the Society and this latest donation will help us with our future planning.”
You can find details of how you can support the Trust through the Affiliation Sponsorship scheme here
18th April 2009 -- Dedication Service
A dedication service was held on Saturday, to mark the spiritual handover of the Heritage Centre, as the formal Diseworth Baptist Chapel, by the sister Baptist church in Kegworth. The service was led by Pastor Paul Phillips.
16th April 2009 -- Museum Forum meeting held at Centre
The Leicestershire and Rutland Museums Forum held their AGM at the Centre on Thursday. A capacity audience heard a short presentation about the restoration of the Chapel, and exchanged information on forthcoming events at each of the member museums.
Pictured above are Robin Clarke, Museums Development Officer and Councillor Ruth Camomile
7th April 2009 -- Official Opening by Lord Lieutenant for Leicestershire
A bright Spring morning greeted members of the Heritage Trust and our guests for the Official Opening of the Centre by Jennifer, Lady Gretton JP, Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire. Also in attendance were representatives of the sponsors and the project team. After a short speech, congratulating everyone on a successful restoration project and wishing the Centre success for the future, Lady Gretton unveiled a commemorative plaque in the Main Hall of the Centre. A buffet lunch was served to musical accompaniment, and visitors had the opportunity to view the Centre's facilities and garden.
You can also watch the unveiling ceremony, or listen to the Radio Leicester coverage of the event at our Gallery page
30th March 2009 -- DEFRA Minister visits the Centre
Huw Irranca-Davies, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (whose brief includes policy areas such as the natural and marine environment, rural affairs and wildlife), selected Diseworth Heritage Centre for his meeting on 30th March with senior members of Leicestershire Rural Partnership to discuss Rural Proofing. The Minister asked for a tour of the building and about its history and how the restoration was funded.
He congratulated those who had made it possible and said it is a
fine example of conservation and restoration of a disused building
for the benefit of the community. Lesley Pendleton, Chair of the
Leicestershire Rural Partnership (second right in the group above)
led the discussion, accompanied by two assistant directors of
Leicestershire County Council and the Rural partnership Manager
Louise Driver.
March 2009 -- the Centre is completed !
The restored building has been handed over from the builders and is
now being made ready for the official opening in April. Those
interested in making bookings for the Centre should contact us by
email at this time.
You can read other news from the Heritage Trust here