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Issue No.12 April 1998 (£1.00)

The Great Fire of Lenton (3 pages)

In the mid 1880s the Sampson Brothers had a huge six-storey factory built for them on Castle Boulevard. They required only a couple of floors for their lace business and rented out the rest of the space to others in the lace trade. In January 1902 a fire started in one of their tenant's premises. The building was quickly evacuated, the fire brigade called and in due course the fire was brought under control. Most of the fire tenders left and a small team of men remained and continued to direct water into the basement where the fire was still smouldering. Most of the building had escaped the ravages of the fire and later that day many of the employees were able to return to work. Unfortunately, through totally unforeseen circumstances, the action of the firemen caused the fire to restart. This time it proved impossible to extinguish and the whole building was burnt to the ground.

Some (Not So) Great Fires of Lenton (4 pages)

We provide the salient details of nineteen other fires that have occurred in Lenton during the twentieth century.

The Fire Station (2 pages)

Triumph Road was the site of an auxiliary fire station set up just before the outbreak of the Second World War. During the war it was upgraded to a proper fire station and retained this status at the conclusion of hostilities. In 1949 plans were drawn up to move the fire station to a new site at Dunkirk. The Home Office sat on the plan for a number of years and it was not until 1961 that the Dunkirk Fire Station was built. Since then there have been various changes at the fire station which are recounted in our article.

In Service at Triumph Road (2 pages)

Les Berry volunteered to serve as an auxiliary fireman, initially based at Triumph Road. He provides us with memories of his time in the fire service during the early part of the war.

From Radford to Dunkirk (2 pages)

Ron Spencer was employed as a fireman at Triumph Road in the run-up to the move to Dunkirk. He recalls both stations and the move itself. He later returned to Dunkirk and served as the Station Commander from 1974 to 1980.

Lenton's Country Carrier (2 pages)

In 1931 Charles Brett started up in business as a country carrier. Initially based in Grantham he moved the centre of his operations to Nottingham in 1937 acquiring premises on Gloucester Avenue in Lenton. As a youngster, his step-son, John Spencer, would go along with him during the school holidays as he made deliveries and picked up other items along a route that might stretch from Nottingham to Peterborough. John provides us with details of the family business which continued until 1947.

St Paul's Church, Hyson Green: a Lenton Outpost in the 1840s (3 pages)

As John Beckett reveals in this article Rev. George Browne, Vicar of Lenton, was to play a crucial role in the erection of St. Paul's, Hyson Green's, one of the first churches in the Nottingham area built specifically to cater for a new industrial working class congregation. Drawing on original correspondence and other material held in various national archives Professor Beckett shows how the vicar went about the business of raising the necessary funds.

Our Sponsor's Story (1 page)

Nottingham Business & Technology Group occupy part of the old Raleigh offices on Lenton Boulevard along with other properties situated at the rear of this building. Established by the City Council the Group provides support for start-up and expanding small businesses with the overall aim of promoting employment opportunities for local people.

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