Leicestershire & Rutland Heritage Awards 2007

14 projects, events and exhibitions were entered into the Heritage Awards in 2007. Winners were presented with their prizes by Mike Jones, CC, chairman of Leicestershire County Council at a ceremony at the Sir John Moore Foundation, Appleby Magna in July 2007.

Below are details of the winner in each category.

Ashby Museum has recently reopened following a major refurbishment project for which they received a grant of £425,000 from the Heritage Lottery fund. The project included building an extension to the museum which houses a new community room, which is used for school groups and researchers amongst other things, and an environmentally controlled storage area with roller-racking. Displays were upgraded in the museum's main gallery to tell the story of Ashby de la Zouch and a new gallery dedicated to the history of surrounding villages was also opened.

The refurbished museum was opened to the public in time for Easter 2007.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the closure of Whitiwick Colliery, the group staged a large exhibition over a weekend at the local church hall. The exhibition told the story of a coalminers dangerous occupation and took the visitors on a journey through a day in the life of a miner' and his family.  "Visitors heard the rattle of the cage as he descended, touched the coal, handled his tools and tasted his snap. They learned of the tragedies of his working life and sang along with the brass band paying at his galas; they enjoyed his leisure activities and bought produce from his allotment. They visited his home as he bathed in front  of his fire while his wife washed his clothed, they met the people who rescued and cared for him, and saw him leave the mine on the 'Last Shift'".

This exhibition was based on 19 drawing of premises used for framework knitting through the 18th and 19th centuries and surveyed in 1964. The drawings were mainly the work of Mr. Philip A Dodd B.A., RIBA; FCIOB, who made the drawings available to the museum. The purpose of the exhibition was to revisit each site and establish what, if anything, remained and to record present day use.  The exhibition used this information to help the story of the early days of the knitting industry in Leicestershire and the poor social conditions that prevailed for the 'stockingers'. It begins with the invention of the first stocking frame by William Lee in 1589 and traces the introduction of the frames to Leicestershire by Wm. Iliffe in 1640 and the impact the knitting industry has had on the city and county.

Ullesthorpe windmill held an open weekend in May 2007, which was staffed by 27 of the mill's volunteers.  They welcomed well over 100 visitors over the two days, who had the opportunity to explore the recently rennovated mill and learn about life as a miller in their village. The Mill volunteers wanted to demonstrate this unique windmill with much of its wooden machinery still intact. To help do this they provided a range of booklets, postcards, information and display panels to help the visitor understand the building and its history. For children, quiz sheets were provided, as was the opportunity to dress up in period costumes and be photographed outside the mill. There was also the opportunity to buy locally produced (and delicious) jams and preserves as well as flour, muesli and organic oats from Claybrooke water-mill.

Work on the restoration of the mill continues - look out for more open days soon or look at their Website for more details.

This project restored the 'Beavertail' Observation Car No. 1719E to full passenger service for use on the Great Central Railway.

The 'Beavertail' had been in the groups possession since 1990 and they had since then intended to restore this significant carriage (one of only two of its type) to full working order. To complete this project, RVP launched a special appeal to raise the funds for the restoration and from various sources successfully raised the £60,000 they needed.  The project was managed entirely by RVP's team of dedicated volunteers, with in excess of 1000 volunteers hours being required to complete the job. The vehicle entered service on the Great Central Railway in May 2007. Why not go along and have a ride in this impressively restored art-deco observation car?

Take a look at RVP's Website for more details of the project, or look at the Great Central Railway's site for more information about when the car is running.