The Ladysmith Road Street Party and project finale - Sunday 12th June 2022
The wonderful Ladysmith "waving-like-the-queen" Pod wave goodbye as they bring this amazing Project to a close. What a fantastic team!
Around 120 residents came to join the team for an afternoon full of smiles and neighbourly joy!
See all of the photographs HERE
See all of the photographs HERE
And this is how the Ladysmith Road Celebrates Project started ...
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The Pod kicked off their street activities by designing a gorgeous leaflet and delivering them into every single house, knocking on doors and chatting with their neighbours They also shared the leaflets with smiles, treats and hallowe'en lanterns! |
October/November 2021 - Visiting neighbours at home, collecting images and memories
The Pod also took the opportunity to visit some of their older neighbours at home for a chat and were thrilled to hear their local memories and to see some of their photographs of street celebrations in the past.
The Pod also took the opportunity to visit some of their older neighbours at home for a chat and were thrilled to hear their local memories and to see some of their photographs of street celebrations in the past.
Saturday 4th December 2021 - Lantern making workshop with rainbows and hailstones - wonderful lanterns were made
Wednesday 15th December 2021 - Lantern parade with carols - around 50 local people came to join us for a wonderful evening with carols, mulled wine and mince pies - pure magic! The singing was led by two Pod members, Josh and Emily, with mulled wine dispensed on the move by John and mince pies at the top provided by Rachel - making a truly joyful event.
January/February 2022 - the Ladysmith Quiz!!
By the time we arrived in 2022 we were all in mini-lockdown again so the enterprising Ladysmith Pod devised a Ladysmith Quiz that all residents could do in their own time. By encouraging people out onto the street to check out the clues we hoped to continue to inspire residents to connect with each other and their place.
Members of the Pod walked the street together to devise the quiz and resident artist, Megan Dowsett created illustrations to enhance the fun!
DOWNLOAD THE QUIZ
You can share and compare your answers at the
STREET PARTY - 12th JUNE 2022!!
17th February 2022
All's Well Conference in Exeter - presenting their work to other cultural organisations
Also in February, Adrienne from the Ladysmith Pod, was asked to present the work of the Pod to the All’s Well Conference, a wellbeing through engagement with heritage project that has been running as a partnership between Exeter Community Centre, St Nicholas Priory and the Devon and Exeter medical heritage Trust, with Thriving Communities funding. Adrienne's clear presentation was very well received by representatives of Arts Council England, Historic England and the National Academy for Social Prescribing as a great example of resident-led, asset-based, street work.
All's Well Conference in Exeter - presenting their work to other cultural organisations
Also in February, Adrienne from the Ladysmith Pod, was asked to present the work of the Pod to the All’s Well Conference, a wellbeing through engagement with heritage project that has been running as a partnership between Exeter Community Centre, St Nicholas Priory and the Devon and Exeter medical heritage Trust, with Thriving Communities funding. Adrienne's clear presentation was very well received by representatives of Arts Council England, Historic England and the National Academy for Social Prescribing as a great example of resident-led, asset-based, street work.
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1st May 2022 - Unveiling of the Ladysmith
Heritage-Inspired Tiled Plaque 
We were blessed in that Ladysmith resident, Megan Dowsett, is a professional artist, experienced in working with schools on creative projects. We asked Megan to create a tiled artwork inspired by the Road's brick and tile making heritage and its architectural features. Fellow resident and Pod member, Liam, assisted at the workshops and ably handled the installation. Joey Lee, a teacher from Ladysmith Infants, worked with Megan, Liam and the children to create a beautiful and lasting creative legacy for all to enjoy.
This work was kindly supported by DCC Cllrs Su Aves and Danny Barnes so we were thrilled when they agreed to unveil it and join us in community celebration. |
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Express and Echo Thursday 12th May 2022 |
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The Ladysmith Road Celebrates Jubilee Street Party!!
And finally, finally ....
Joint presentation with the Heavitree Local History Society - 14th June 2022
Activity final drew to a close with a presentation by JoJo Spinks to an audience of around 20 at the Heavitree Local History Society meeting. the Heavitree Squilometre is very pleased to continue this local cross-organisational collaboration where, annually, we share a presentation related to the latest project. JoJo presented images provided by a past resident that inspired the Street Party of 2022 ..
Images kindly provided by former Ladysmith resident - Robert Squire
... and some further heritage explorations around the build history of the road ...
1906 map showing the earliest development at the top of Ladysmith Road. From https://maps.nls.uk/
A decorative brick from Candy & Co Newton Abbot made from Bovey basin ball clay - from Park Road, Exeter
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The story in brick!
A visual survey of the street and some fascinating discussion on the Exeter Memories and Brick of the Day facebook pages threw light on the interesting occurrence of pale building bricks along Ladysmith Road. We knew of the Brick and Tile works (see map above) owned by Victorian entrepreneur and philanthropist, John Sampson but the locally sourced clay is red. So the sudden inclusion of the pale bricks in the Edwardian period is an enigma. However, the great online hive mind gradually pieced together that the arrival of the railway in Exeter would have made it far easier to transport the pale decorative bricks from Candy & Co in Newton Abbot into the City. The building of the Exmouth Junction in 1908 would have made it easier still to reach the Polsloe area. |
One of the other things we found intriguing was the variety of differing building styles. At first glance the street seems to be fairly uniform but actually there are groups of houses with distinctive styles of windows and brick patterning. This became a little clearer when someone pointed out that the land may be been bought by one developer and then sold in blocks to different builders who would have made their own choices about style and materials. So, even though the development of the whole street would have happened broadly within the same period, there may have been many different builders involved. Fascinating bit of insight into Edwardian street planning!
Project Evaluation
You're welcome to check out the project evaluation HERE - it's a great read!!