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LEICESTER MUSEUMS TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION Supporting the Abbey Pumping Station Museum www.abbeypumpingstation.org Corporation Road, Abbey Lane, Leicester LE4 5PX www.leicestermuseums.org Tel. No. (0116) 299 5111 Registered Charity 1052391 CHAIRMAN’S NOTES It was good to see some volunteers back on the 14th June to get the museum ready for opening June-July 2021 on the 21st and with more Volume 50 volunteers able to get on with their projects, which had been on hold No 06-07 for 15 months. There was a lot of chatting as some had not met during this time. Jo Jones, the Head of the Museum service Picture: About to set off to Worksop Chairman 1 popped in and thanked everybody for their help and patience. We are now back to working 10am to 9pm on Mondays. Chips Van 2 th to Worksop As for events, only Tuesday railway days are planned at present, on the 13 July and 27th July. We will try and open the café, but this will have to be Electric Buses 3 - 4 similar to the ‘Beach Café’ we set up for the seaside event, to comply with Covid-19 regulations. Heritage Open Days have been planned Monday 13th, The Infirmary 5-6 th th Tuesday 14 , and Thursday 16 September. We are offering guided tours of Features 7 the Transport Shed and the Beam Engine on an hourly basis (11am, 12 noon, 2pm, and 3pm) to booked groups of a maximum of 10 for each tour. Railway News 7 Events 8 The chip van travelled to its spiritual home in Worksop on the 2nd July, at the Sign-off 8 request of the Carroll family, to serve chips at the North Nottinghamshire rd th Rank 3 below: the Food Festival on the 3 of July; and returned safely on Sunday 4 July. Electric bicycles row near the National We have a lot of catching up to do with maintenance on the collections, so Space Centre... will be very busy at least until the autumn on this. Please remember that most of the transport exhibits have not moved for over a year and need careful checking of all moving parts, if unsure check with Mark. Good news! The road roller and ‘Leonard’ were steamed successfully, and both passed their live boiler inspections on 12th July. Steam trains ran for the first time this year last Tuesday: see article within these pages. Meanwhile keep safe and well. Tony Sign on a bonnet See p.7 The LMTA received an invitation to take the Carroll Bros van to a Food Festival Event in the centre of this North Notts town. Well, the four vehicles set off at about 3.30pm on Friday 2nd for the 50+ mile trip to Worksop, comprising the Chip Van driven in turns by John and Simon, an LCC Ford Transit support vehicle with the freezers and sundry equipment, plus two convoy escort cars driven by John Corley and our Chairman. The Chip Van was limited to a steady 40 mph, so progress was fairly sedate! The journey was without incident and the route chosen, via the A46, and on through Ollerton and Sherwood Forest, took us straight to our destination right in the centre of Worksop, by the Town Hall and other historic buildings at the southern end of the High Street. We were immediately met by Suzanne, the organisor of the event, and before long shown to our allocated spaces. All six of us returned to Leicester by about 7pm. Nicely in time for the England-Ukraine football match. 8.30am rushing around setting up John Mills whose wife worked with Carrolls.....+ daughter Suzanne (the organisor) The next morning, our alarms went off at 6am: we all had to get back up to Worksop by 8.30am on the Saturday, to give us time to park the support cars, re-position the Ford Transit, light up the fryers and get everything else ready to serve the public. We were surrounded by numerous traditional stalls, the Beer Tent was next to us (how did we plan that?!) and the other traders were also turning up to do their own thing. Amongst many others, there were stalls run by Morrisons, another, Turners, sold wonderful locally-made craftbreads; a chocolatier from Melton Mowbray; an historic ice cream van; a Jamaican Food tent, and also nearby, a curry food gazebo. (The samosas were jolly tasty!) By about 10am Saturday shoppers were turning up, and by mid-day there was atmosphere! The best was and most pleasant surprise was the many, many people who came up to us, tears in their eyes almost...”That van brings back memories...I remember seeing it...there used to be a depot around the corner from here...I recall they used to go around in pairs...!” and many similar comments. The pictures taken can tell the rest of the story. All good publicity for APS hopefully. Simon and John doing their stuff...a few yards away, the historic Bedford Ice Cream Van...remember those? Tasty ices too... It was sheer chance that the Newsletter carried comment about electric buses last month. Almost to the day of publication something stirred in Leicester: it was the inauguration of the City’s new service from the three Park-and-ride outposts. Meant to happen in 2020 in a blaze of publicity, this did not quite happen because of the pandemic. May the 24th, ie last Bank Holiday Monday, saw the start of Leicester’s new zero emissions bus service. This is a joint venture between the Councy Council and the City Council in association with Roberts Luxury Travel coaches, which have acquired a fleet of fifteen brand new battery-powered sungle- decker Yutong buses*. (* approx £300K each ) Main picture: Inbound service 303 at Byford Road My first outing was to Birstall P-&-R to catch service No 303. By chance I was the sole passenger that particular time. There is just one intermediate stop at Byford Road, near Asda: handy for the National Space and Abbey Pumping Station, where I alighted, as I wanted to view APS, and walk on through Abbey Park to the centre. From Byford Road, the bus continues non-stop to the Haymarket Bus Station, which is where I later caught the return bus to Birstall. On that journey, on the approach to Byford Road, a message over the loudspeaker system announced the National Space Centre. I wanted to see more, so another day was set aside to travel into the city centre by service 103, then proceed outbound by service 203 to Enderby P-&-R, and the Everards/Fosse Park area. From where I live, the Meynells Gorse P-&-R for service 103 is not too far away. This is the smallest set- up of the three. The buses run every 15 minutes between 7am and 6.40/6.45pm Mondays to Saturdays; note: no service on Sundays. My bus was already there: the trip into town via Hinckley Road to its terminus at Jubilee Square was quite lively, what with the availability of the dedicated bus lanes; from Jubilee Square, whence I walked into town. Jubilee Square was also the start point for the 203 to Enderby P-&-R, at an adjacent stand. The seats are green, of course, and comfy, there is a Wi-Fi facility in the back of most seats so that you may receive your work e-mails whilst on the way to work. Outward is via the Meridian area. A neat illuminated info sign at Enderby. The Wi-Fi plug-in points Part of the seating layout. A video of the service plays while you travel. At right: the message on the side of the bus. On arrival at Enderby, the park appeared to be popular, with a good number of cars at the facility. On my return into town I was joined by a number of passengers, and others again joined or alighted at the only two intermediate stops on the way to the city centre, namely The Royal Infirmary, and De Montfort University. All-in-all, a tremendous initiative by the local authorities. Early days of course, but let’s hope that as the people of Leicester get used to them, they become popular, and more services and stops become available. The service leaflet. More on the way? – Looking ahead, the Leicester Mercury (31st May) reported that an electric shuttle bus service was being looked at, as a free ‘hop-on-hop-off’ circular route, possibly to be introduced next year. This latter would travel perhaps every 10 minutes around the inner ring road, linking the Haymarket and St Margaret’s Bus Stations, and the London Road Railway Station. Another such service could link the Infirmary, De Montfort University and Leicester University. All this bodes well in principle for improving the environment in the City Centre... See Railway Station plans, page 6... More ideas, and telecommunications too - At Bottesford Station, in the north of the county, a public telephone point on the platform: at the top of the pole, it is powered by the sun! Near both the Peepul Centre and in Horsefair St: electric bike rows. A prospective rider needs the ‘app’ on a mobile ‘phone to release the bike and ride away. A (VERY) BRIEF BIT OF HISTORY: LEICESTER’S FIRST HOSPITAL – 1771 to 2021 Early hospitals In London: Westminster 1720 – Guy’s 1724 The Counties started in the 1730’s eg. Bristol 1735 - Winchester 1736 – Exeter 1743 - Northampton 1743 William Watts, born 1725, graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from King’s College, Aberdeen, issued a pamphlet: ‘Observations Relative to the Establshment of a County Infirmary at Leicester, in 1766.

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