Welcome . . . Come on in M'Duck !

ROB & VAL HAYWOOD
of Leicester & Hull

welcome you to our

PERSONAL FAMILY PAGES


Seeking HOLT cousins in Aston, Birmingham 1960-1990's
... please see further below

Harry Holt, born in Donington le Heath near Coalville, in 1893 . . .
Harry Holt, in the Snibston Colliery Band, we think c.1910-12, or just before the Great War.
. . . served in both the Leicesters and the Northants as a machine gunner during the Great War.
He signed up in 1911, and demobbed in 1919 from the 4th Bt Northamptonshires.
He returned home to a job as a miner at South Leicester Colliery, and raised four daughters.

This pencil/charcoal drawing fascinated me when I was a boy.
It hung over the sideboard in the back room at 208 Highfield Street,
right up until he died of pneumonia, caught after a fall in the dark,
ironically in a blackout, during the miners' strike of 1972 !
Harry Holt, Pte, in the uniform of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, around the start of the Great War.
Grandad Holt's entry on the Medal Rolls at the Kew National Archives give this detail:
Pte 204379 .... Northamptonshire Regt ... ....... K/1/101B 13 .........
We think the 'K' was the abbreviation for 'King's Regulation 392'
signifying his medical discharge as we know he'd been injured,
and the '1' signifies he served in France or/and Belgium.
But we're mystified as to what the 101B and then 13 means.
It's a common entry, as lots of men were designated as 101B ....
Can anyone help to throw any light on the matter please?

Military Forums

SUPORT OUR SOLDIERS Military Forums and Support our Soldiers
are websites for those interested in ..
and supportive of .. our Armed Forces,
and what they are trying to achieve on our behalf in the Middle East.
There are a host of links to other sites that support our troops and families.
The obituary pages for those killed is heartwrenching ..
The whole nation should pray that they succeed in lancing this boil,
or life will not be worth living, wherever in the West we live.

My dad was in the RAF, and Val's dad in the Royal Marines.
Of course we support our military .. we would find it 'odd'
and tantamount to treason not to.

PROUD TO SUPPORT OUR TROOPS !


DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SCANNED PHOTOS OF:
1: Simpkin & James' .. in Horsefair Street, or the Market Place, either front.
2: Aylestone St James' church, in Landsdowne Road.


Anyone who misses the much-loved
LEICESTERSHIRE OVERSEAS
I am sorry to have to record the passing of Tim Airey, the inspiration
and creator of the Leicestershire site above.
Tim died in Calgary, Canada, in 2006.
See more info nearer the bottom of this page
and on how to access most of it via the WAY BACK MACHINE
No, it can't all come back completely, but many archived pages can still be viewed.
Tim would have been pleased, I'm sure.


OUR FAMILY

VALERIE . . . a former pupil of Sir Jonathan North Girls School
on Knighton Lane East, in Leicester.
Val left to pursue a career in floristry in 1967. Worked as a florist for 6 years
at Simpkins & James in Horsefair Street, then Flowercraft in Cank Street,
before moving with Rob to Hull.

ROBERT . . . a former pupil of Crown Hills Secondary School
on Gwendolen Road in Leicester.
Rob spent most of working life in the bus industry, firstly on Leicester City Transport,
then later on both East Yorkshire Motor Services and Hull City Transport.
Before joining LCT in 1968, worked for a short while at
Simpkins & James, where Rob met Val.
LCT . . 1968 - 1973 || EYMS . . 1973 - 1979 || KHCT . . 1984 - 1993

Married in 1971, moved to Hull in 1973,
our daughter Annette was born in 1974.
Annette & David's daughters, Eleanor and Rowena & Madeleine
were born in 2001, 2003 and 2007.

View this page on the Net with a Side Menu of links . . ?



Email us at : Rob & Val

members of: Leicester & Rutland Family History Society .... H0789



OUR JOINT FAMILIES
a stunted tree
!

 

ARTHUR HAYWOOD
of Griffydam
& Leicester

HILDA SMITH of Aylestone Leicester

HARRY HOLT of Donnington
le Heath
Hugglescote
& Coalville

VIOLETTA MANDERFIELD
of Shepshed

 

JOHN STEVENS
of Hinckley

EDITH BENNETT of Sharnford nr Hinckley

THOMAS SWANWICK of Blaby Leicester

ALICE TOWNSEND FRETTER
of Aylestone

NORMAN HAYWOOD
of Leicester & Coleorton

SYLVIA HOLT
of Hugglescote and Coalville

 

JACK STEVENS
of Hinckley

JOAN SWANWICK
of Aylestone & Leicester

 

ROBERT HAYWOOD
of Leicester

married Aylestone 1971

VALERIE STEVENS
of Leicester

 

 

 

ANNETTE & DAVID
m. 24 Dec 2005

 

 

 

 

ELEANOR MAY - b. 2001
ROWENA HOLLY - b. 2003
MADELEINE ROSE - b. 2007

 

 

Update to this short table;
HAYWOOD side:
The most recent information we currently have on each of our lines:
Arthur HAYWOOD'S grandfather was Josiah, b. Griffydam 1852,
and his father Thomas, also from Griffydam, was b. 1821.

Harry HOLT'S father was b. Thurlaston, as was his before him, in 1867,
but there is almost no trace of HOLT in Thurlaston .. so where were they really from?
Did they hail from Hugglescote in the first place, moving back there from Thurlaston ?

We'd be particularly interested to hear from any HOLT cousins in Aston, Birmingham,
whose origins were north-west Leicestershire, Coalville, etc, and
with whom my side of the family have lost all contact since the 1960's.
(We now have contact with Brian Fisher, Harry's great-nephew, living now in Kent)

Violetta MANDERFIELD'S family are connected, back in the 1700-1800's,
to the well-known ORRINGE and CORBETT lines of Shepshed.

Arthur HAYWOOD'S maternal grandmother was Edith ISON,
daughter of HENRY HASTINGS ISON, b.1810, and himself a
descendant through his mother of the HASTINGS of Humberstone,
who were of the same HASTINGS family that go back
to Ashby and Kirby Muxloe Castles, and way beyond to the Plantagenet era.

STEVENS side:
John STEVENS' father and grandfather came from Hinckley and Barwell,
but we now know that prior to that, in the early 1800s, from Enderby and Croft,
with links before that back to Oxfordshire.

We now have a little more info on the BENNETTS of Sharnford,
our branch originally came from North Kilworth, though there is a mystery as to
why so many were called CAVE BENNETT back in the mid-1700's onwards,
around several dozen males of other surnames in the county had the christian name, Cave.
Could this be a similar story to the HASTINGS name above? Are they distantly related, or just grateful tenants.

The SWANWICK family, as far as we know, were always from Blaby, as we have no trace prior to 1793.
And the FRETTERS originally came from Spratton in Northamptonshire,
with connections to many of the villages thereabouts; Brixworth, Cold Ashby, Naseby, etc.

Recent information from a LRFHS member suggests that the SMITH family of Aylestone may well
have also hailed from Northamptonshire, in the village of Ruston.
There is a strong possibility that my SMITH Aylestone family knew Val's FRETTER Aylestone family ..
the 1881 Census shows their back gardens were adjacent. I wonder if they got on okay ... ?


SOME LEICESTERSHIRE AND EAST YORKSHIRE LINKS

Our own AYLESTONE VILLAGE Page
Val's home village,
and the church where we married.
More pics of Aylestone scenes
including down the canal, pack-horse
bridge, and aerial view of the village.
AYLESTONE ST ANDREWS OFFICIAL WEBSITE
Recommended ! A good history of the church,
plus many more photos, also a
Virtual Tour, and Panorama of the interior,
Parish Groups, Scouts, etc, and links
to other Aylestone churches. Excellent Site !!
Good quality photographs of . .
LEICESTERSHIRE CHURCHES
Over 50 churches listed at present,
this well-laid out site is growing nicely.

See Newbridge High School's excellent
GROWTH of COALVILLE
... wonderful history pages
and also that of the
Swannington Heritage Trust

A UK PHOTO RESOURCE
GEOGRAPH ORG UK
run by the Ordnance Survey ...
a brilliant resource of photos of just about
every map grid square in the country!
Dozens of photos of all towns ...
lots of both Hull and Leicester.
This is the one we've been waiting for ...

the Leicestershire Legend of . .
BLACK ANNIS
a wonderfully told tale linking
local legend with actual history.
So, why DID King Richard lose his
crown on Bosworth Field ?
And what's the connection with
Donington Manor . . ?
Kids will love this.
LEICESTERSHIRE OVERSEAS
with the passing of Tim Airey in 2006, this site has closed,
but some of it can still be accessed
through the fantastic WAY BACK MACHINE,
a superb archive of old sites going back several years.
See more information below ....
LEICESTERSHIRE & RUTLAND
FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

one of the best family history sites on the whole of the web .. bar none!
See these superb
CITY OF DERBY PHOTOS
by Andy Savage.
Over 800 photos of the city,
and Derbyshire towns and villages,
and some in Staffs and Leicestershire too.
Would that Leicester had a site only half as good ....!
ST JAMES' PARISH CHURCH
Sutton on Hull, East Yorkshire
with links to ST PETER'S AT WAWNE

and other churches
in the Team Ministry.
Services, History, and links to
War Memorials, etc.
A North Yorkshire Moors walking site
. .. recently updated
NORTH YORK MOORS
HEROES OF HULL . .
... an indexed list on HullWebs of all Hull casualties
for both World Wars, plus three other notable conflicts:
still being created and updated.
The Royal Society of St George
Patron : H M The Queen
See what Englishness is all about,
and why it's under threat.
The Music Education Council
.. we're strong believers in the re-establishment
of music education in schools.
For those that feel as strongly, this needs your support.
Yorkshire Births Marriages & Deaths
A free index concentrating on Yorkshire only,
superb to navigate, with BM&D registrations since 1837,
and in many cases, up to the 1950's.
Bomb maps of Hull - 1945
Grid of all 16 maps . .
in a 4x4 grid, take 2.28 Mb of space
they're all here now:

The Story of a House in Hull during the Blitz

The GPO War Dead Memorial - Hull

Many early web users, and natives of Leicester,
will recall the excellent website,
LEICESTERSHIRE OVERSEAS
created by the late Tim Airey, and his wife Carol,
in Calgary, Canada.
A Texas correspondant tells me that
Tim sadly died last year, in 2006.
But .. I'm sure that Tim would have been pleased that
the site still lives, after a fashion, on the fantastic
WAY BACK MACHINE
In looking for old sites, and info on old sites,
of years ago, it is unsurpassed.
More properly known as the Internet Archive,
it's a brilliant and largely unknown resource.

The best link I can find, specifically to get back into some of
the LEICESTERSHIRE OVERSEAS pages is here ...
take it as it is, many graphics and pictures don't load,
but just as amazingly, quite a lot do.
This link takes you to
The main Leicestershire Overseas Archive
and this page, for Aug 03
is the best link I can see that loads most of it all.
Try it for yourself ... and remember Tim, the man whose genius created it,
as for any determined Leicester-expat or amateur historian
as Tim himself was, it's a veritable gold mine.
Our belated condolences to his family, and friends, worldwide.
I'm sure all Tim's fans and correspondants around the world
some of whom will recall Tim as a founder member of
the 1960's Leicester pop group, "The Foursights",
will be as saddened as we are at this news.
Rest in Peace, Tim.

Here is a potentially very useful link straight to the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
They have records on graves and memorials for all our Armed Forces . .
including Royal Navy and Merchant Service personnel, and RAF aircrew,
who have no grave but the sea. I found my Uncle Jack on there . .
as well as being on the Coalville Memorial,
he is also commemorated on the Naval Memorial at Southsea.

See also two 'Sonnets from the Edge of War', below


LINKS

The link on the left is to our on-line business, "Valerie's UK Videos"
where we have a catalogue of some several hundred DVD's of English heritage and history,
with many on the local history of towns and counties around England,
and even couple on the Leicester section of the Grand Union Canal,
but oddly enough, Leicestershire is not over-endowed with videos as yet.



TWO SONNETS

My father, the late Norman Haywood, listed above, had two brothers.
One, my Uncle Don, is an unpublished poet.

I have placed a few of his lines below; 'Sonnets from the Edge of War',
as a memorial to all those of his and my father's generation,
who spent much of their childhood 'down the shelters',
or otherwise deprived and disadvantaged by war.

Born in 1930, Don's memories are of the events in and
around Gough Road, in Leicester, during those years of the blitz.
It is a sobering fact that today's youth would not, could not, put up with as much.
Is this how it was for you? These lines quite moved me when I first read them.
What did my Mum and her sisters think, as a 10-year old, as she stood at the
bottom of her father's Coalville garden and watched the glow in the sky
as Coventry burnt, some 25 miles away?
Fear, I should think . . pure, undiluted fear.
They must have thought that their world was coming to an end ....

 

 

*** *** ***

Sonnets from the Edge of War

1.

Clear moonlit nights filled with the fearful drone
Of war-planes on their odyssey of wrath.
Descendants of the Vandal and the Goth
Extending to the skies their battle-zone.
The thump-thump-thump of anti-aircraft fire
Reverberates around the shelter’s walls,
Unsettles the children in their makeshift stalls
Draws feigned indifference from a troubled sire.
When resonates the All-Clear’s steady wail
White knuckled fists unclench and trembling lips
Begin bravado’s artificial chants.
Recidivists and those who nightly fail
Conceal with overcoats the sodden slips
And dark-stained trews that brand them miscreants.



2.

During WWII, city children in their last year at school were allowed to volunteer to pick potatoes and supplement the deflated workforce to garner this vital harvest.

Unbuttered bread, but with a scrape of marge,
Stale cheese, or jam soaking into the bread.
The outer leaves of lettuce and onion spread
Between hard crusts, loaf-ends cut overlarge.
This simple fare, brown paper wrapped, re-used
From yesterday and loosely tied with string
Sustains soft sinews through the wearying
Cortege of snail-like hours - youth’s dance abused.
As evensong wafts softly from the church
Tired limbs descend ungainly from the bus
That brought the schoolboy home from the fields of toil
Clutching potatoes on his homeward lurch.
Devours his prize as mother starts to fuss
And scrapes his boots free of the foreign soil.


2.

Don used to work down Snibby Pit, in the early 50's.
He recalls the feeling of luxury when the new pit-head baths were opened, just across the Ashby Road from the pit itself.
I was amazed to learn that the baths had to be paid for by the colliers themselves! No wonder they became militant !!

SNIBSTON COLLIERY,
Coalville, Leicestershire.

Brief wraithes of steam unfurl pale arms,
With fingers, unsubstantial, fey,
Grope dark discoloured walls before
Evaporating all away.

Twin contra-turning pulley wheels,
Their spokes in stroboscopic race,
Disclose the vertical approach
Of colliers from their working place.

Hauled swiftly from the caverned streets
Of a sprawling subterrainean wen
They dash across the Ashby Road
In little knots of shabby men.

Torn, shapeless trousers, knee-pad girt,
A No-So patch unsullied yet,
Coal-blackened faces zebra-striped
From dried-up river-beds of sweat.

Honed through the adolescent years,
From male exclusiveness distilled,
Come ribaldry and cutting wit
As requiems for stints fulfilled.

As colliers make this brief traverse
Their banter's often overheard
But some will cross the road and make
The pithead baths without a word.

Garrulous or taciturn
They hasten to the shower jet
To be reborn beneath the flow
And cleanse the skin of grime and sweat.

But cleansing showers and draughts of air
Inhaled above the terrestial crust
Could not begin to purify
Nor ever cleanse the lungs of dust.

by Donald Russell Haywood ©1999

 

a few new pics of
Aylestone Village


Leicester City Transport : cap badge for uniformed platform staff

Leicester City Transport : Leyland Atlantean PDRA/1 : PBC 115G : LCT's first overall advert bus, in 1971
Leicester City Transport : Leyland Atlantean PDRA/1 : PBC 115G

LCT's first overall advert bus, in 1971.
(opens in new Window)


More LCT memories
a 5-page photo montage of LCT vehicles

LEICESTERSHIRE BUS MEMORIES
viz: Grantham to Leicester to Coalville to Coleorton .. c1955
article originally posted on the now-lost site mentioned next below,
now modified and updated and posted here.
Contains boyhood rides on the Midland Red, training days on LCT,
and now a short article on ticket machines.



Finally, here's a link to a most excellent Leicester website ...
The local radio station has been going since 1968,
and regularly wins awards.
Not surprisingly, it's in our old home town ...
Where the Red Cheese comes from,
and Gary Linneker !

The first stop for news, sports and features
for Leicestershire and Rutland.
BBC RADIO LEICESTER




END OF PAGE


Holt Pics