COVENTRY INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Our first City Safari ths year will be to Coventry, 25th - 27th March, also known as 'Heart of England'. Coventry is a relatively small city with a long and varied industrial history. It has been known as a centre for silk and ribbon weaving, watchmaking, cycle and car manufacture and much more. Considering the devastation during World War 2, a surprising number of industrial buildings remain in the suburbs.

The city centre is another matter and the mediaeval heart of the city was ripped out as well as the Cathedral and the new ring road is a concrete circle squeezing pedestrians. But the new buildings from the 1950s and 1960s are a joy especially with the University of Coventry's innovative blocks close by. Below is the Univeristy Library, the towers contain lenses to direct natural light into the building and they also act as ventilation towers.

(c) mint choice icecream

We have probably all had name tapes sewn in to our school uniform, all produced by Cash's of Coventry. The company was founded by two Quaker brothers, John and Joseph Cash, who began producing silk ribbons in the early 1840s. Some of their housing still remains in Kingsfield where rows of cottages were built with an upper storey for silk weavers and theor jacquard looms which were powered by a central beam engine. This range lies along the Coventry at Cash's Bridge.

(c) Snowmanradio

Coventry is, of course, best known for car manufacture and we will see a surprising number of factories which still remain, including the former Poppe & White engine works in Foleshill. Sadly car production has moved elsewhere!

Further details can be found at www.citysafaris.co.uk - so do come and join us if you want to find out more about England's 'Motown'.

Further details are available from the new, improved City Safari website - www.citysafaris.co.uk

GLIAS LECTURES

Glias Lectures begin for this season next week on Weds 19th January. This time I have a vested interest as its being given by my husband on one of his pet topics - the History of Computers. The actual title is 'Computers in London, History through Archaeology' and will look at the surviving buildings in Greater London where important developments were made after World War 2.

Although many have heard of the work at Bletchley Park during the war, fewer will be aware of the National Museum of Computing which is on the same site and which is home to all sorts of computers, including some of my own collection of laptops! More information can be found here - http://www.tnmoc.org/

The work of the CCS, Computer Conservation Society has been really vital to the museum and as well as being Treasurer to Glias, my husband is also Treasurer to the CCS.

So as he will be wearing his CCS hat next week, he will be telling us about some hidden history and computing in London. Further details available from the Glias website - http://www.glias.org.uk/

New Year Resolutions

Many Resolutions but as yet little resolve!

As I mentioned in a previous post, my mum died before Christmas, sad but not unexpected at 89, but I have now 'inherited' her supplies of craft materials. Apparently when my sister and I were young she prided herself that whatever we might want to make or do she had supplies available. When she moved from Scotland to Derbyshire, she discovered the cheap materials and haberdashery on Chesterfield market!

So now I have a linen chest and a chest of drawers full of fabric - sheeting, vyella from the factory shop in Paisley and lots of tweed. There is also a huge fitted wardrobe full of wool - mainly Shetland. When she was fitter - in her early 80s she was still making patterned mittens in 3ply on four needles. She never seemed to need a pattern for the different snowflakes and other patterns. When we were clearing up we found about 12 different mittens - but none matched!

Together with the yarn and fabrics I now have her sewing machine, mine is worn out, and a huge selection of threads. At least my sister has taken the embroidery wools and canvas and one of my daughters the rug canvas!

Now my task is to find something to do with this great stash. At the moment I am knitting another blanket out of the scraps of wool and while I am not remembering my mum with every stitch, I do think back to how much she enjoyed her trips to buy the yarn and the plans she had for its use.

What a fine legacy and here's my real resolution - to make sure her stash is well used and that the mountain of log cabin patchwork squares are joined up as she wanted and given to her two grand daughters as throws as she intended.