Issue No. 29 August 2010 (£1.50)
Walter William Dudley of Nottingham Forest F.C. (4 pages)
Walter Dudley played for Nottingham Forest, from 1900 to 1914 and made two hundred and ninety nine competitive first team appearances as well as taking part in thirteen friendly games. Only a handful of other Forest players could match that achievement during this era. He was also one of the thirteen Forest players who took part in the South American summer tour of 1905. For most, if not all, of the time he played for Forest, Walter Dudley lived at various different addresses in the Lenton area. After he left Forest he spent part of the next season playing for Mansfield Mechanics and the rest of it at Doncaster Rovers. With the First World War now in full swing Walter Dudley enlisted with the Royal Garrison Artillery and saw action at Vimy Ridge, Messines, Ypres and Passchendaele. The outcome of all this was that he was awarded the Military Medal in 1918. Although we are fairly certain that Walter Dudley died in Yorkshire in 1958 we have yet to discover exactly what happened to him after he and his wife, Alice, left Nottingham.
Edgar Simpson: Arts & Crafts Jeweller and Former Lenton Resident (5 pages)
Elyse Zorn Karlin in her book Jewelry & Metalwork in the Arts & Crafts Tradition (pub.1993) provides brief biographical sketches of some 240 British designers/jewellers/metalworkers who worked in the Arts & Crafts tradition.
This is what she had to say about Edgar Simpson:
A jeweller from Nottingham, Simpson worked between 1896-1910 in a simple style, somewhat similar to C.R. Ashbee. His work, some of which was exhibited in 1902 at the Vienna Secession exhibit, often took the form of curved wirework (whiplash) pendants with enamel. Other pieces by Simpson include: silver cloak clasps, gold pendants set with opal and amethysts, silver pendants, brooches, buttons with enamel, and a pendant with an opal in matrix. Dolphins and other marine animals were familiar motifs in his work. Simpson designed for Charles Horner and other firms. He designed some pieces in the Glasgow style which were exhibited in Vienna. Charles Rennie Mackintosh had recommended him to Josef Hoffman of the Wiener Werkstätte when Mackintosh was unable to fill a request himself.
Born in Nottingham, for some ten years Edgar Gilstrap Simpson's family home was Highfield House in Lenton. Initially his father, Henry Simpson, was a successful lace manufacturer but in the early 1890s Henry got into to financial difficulties which prompted the family exodus from Highfield House about 1893 to more humble dwellings elsewhere in Nottingham. 
Our own researches reveal that Edgar Simpson eventually moved to Switzerland, where he married and raised a family of his own. Once his work as a jeweller came to a halt, Edgar Simpson subsequently took up a career as a professional photographer. Along with his wife and two daughters, Edgar Simpson eventually made England their permanent home and he was living near Orpington in Kent at the time of his death in 1945. Our article is, we believe, the first to provide a detailed account of the life of Edgar Simpson and is accompanied with illustrations showing the range of his handiwork as an artist repoussé and jewellery maker.
The Hillside Area: A Twentieth Century History (6 pages)
The Hillside area of Lenton is the comparatively short portion of Derby Road stretching from the Rose and Crown public house to the Wollaton Park gatehouse, also known as Lenton Lodge. Our article describes the various developments that have taken place in this part of Lenton over the past century or so.
Our Sponsor's Story (1 page)
Sherwood Truck and Van has its Nottingham base at 522 Derby Road, Lenton. Elsewhere it can be found in Sheffield, in Stoke-on-Trent, and in Blackwell, Alfreton, which is also home to the group's head office. The company sells, maintains and repairs commercial vehicles. It linked up with Iveco in 1993 and in 2007 added the Fiat Professional range of vehicles to what was already on offer at Nottingham. Sherwood Truck and Van has grown into one of the leading independent dealer groups in the area and certainly the best-known name for Iveco and Fiat vehicles in the East Midlands. Given that 522 Derby Road falls within the part of Lenton we know as Hillside it is highly appropriate that Sherwood Truck and Van should agree to be the sponsor's for this particular issue.
Highfields Lido: A Grand Obsession (4 pages)
Highfields Lido was one of the many gifts Sir Jesse Boot made to the city of Nottingham. When it was opened in August 1924 it was considered to be the largest inland open-air swimming pool in the country. It remained a prominent feature of Highfields Park until the 
City Council decided to close it in 1981. Eventually the lido was demolished and the site acquired by the University of Nottingham. The School of Music and the Djanogly Art Gallery now occupy its site. Back in 1964 during the summer school holidays, Chris Noble and a friend decided, for want of anything else to do, to spend the day at Highfields Lido. Chris had never really taken to swimming and all attempts to teach him had hitherto failed. But something happened that day at the lido! In the course of that one session Chris overcame his fears and effectively taught himself to swim. There were further return trips to the lido that summer. When the lido was opened again the following year Chris and his friend decided to go on the very first day. The freezing cold water didn't put them off and Chris encouraged more of his friends to come with him. Eventually it ended up with Chris going there every single day the lido was open - some obsession! Chris relates his time spent at the lido and how he was eventually given free access in exchange for performing a few menial tasks each time he went. As an adult he inducted his own son into life at the lido. The proposed closure in 1981 came as something of a shock to the system – the end of a long-lasting love affair. But at least Chris had the photographs he took on his final visit to console himself – some of these photographs accompany the article.
Albert & Flora (1 page)
The central characters in Mark Collar's first novel are Albert Ball, the World War I flying ace, and a young woman called Flora Cavanagh Young, whom he gets to know in the last few weeks of his life. Mark Collar got the initial idea for his novel when he read Albert Ball V.C., the biography written by Chaz Bowyer and first published in 1977. In the course of researching his book, Bowyer had interviewed Mrs Flora Thornhill. She told him that, as an eighteen year old helping out on a farm, she had become romantically involved with Albert Ball while he was stationed in Hertfordshire. After his return to France, Albert had written to her on a daily basis. Mark's book focuses on the events of 7th May 1917 - the day Albert Ball was to die. As the day gradually unfolds he intercuts it with episodes from his past - including the time spent with Flora Young.
The book should be available in all good bookshops but can also be ordered on line at www.lulu.com.
Emma Lewis: The Charge is Wilful Murder (3 pages)
On Wednesday 28th April 1852, Henry Syson, one of the Lenton police constables, was instructed to go to the stretch of the Nottingham canal that ran between Derby Road and Abbey Street and look for the body of an infant child. After some initial difficulty the body of a three-week old boy was found. The following day Christopher Swann, the County Coroner, held an inquest at the Traveller's Rest, a pub situated nearby on Spring Close. Our article relates the evidence that was presented to the jury which led them to a verdict of wilful murder against Emma Lewis. What happened next can be found at the conclusion of our article.
Anne Mustoe (1933-2009) (2 pages)
Anne Mustoe died, aged 76, on 10 November 2009 in a hospital in Aleppo, Syria. A few days later The Times newspaper devoted a full-page obituary to her;
the accompanying strap line described her as a 'headmistress who became a round-the-world cyclist in middle age and wrote about her remarkable travels.' While acknowledging that she had been born in Nottingham, The Times' obituarist failed to mention that Anne spent her formative years living in Lenton. Given this local connection, however, we offer readers our own appreciation of the life of Anne Mustoe
Our Friend, Anne Mustoe (1 page)
Margaret Hunt and Julia Hibbitt were in the same class at Mundella Grammar School as Anne Mustoe. After Cambridge University, Anne moved to London and Margaret would periodically go to stay with her. Julia only really re-established contact with Anne when they all attended a school reunion held in Nottingham in 1999. After this Julia also met up with Anne following occasional visits to London. The two of them add a little more to our story of Anne Mustoe.
Lenton Times - Issue 29 - Downloadable PDF Version
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