Part Four of Roy Denney’s series on Glenfield Through the Ages Glenfield - Today

GLENFIELD PARISH COUNCIL was formed in 1894 and prior to that, such village records as there were should have been maintained in the ‘Village Box’ in the custody of the local Rector.

When the Council was formed and took over such responsibilities, the box was obtained without any key and had to be publicly broken into only to find that it did not even contain the Ordnance Survey map required to show the limits of the parish.

In 1901 permission was obtained for the parish of Glenfield to absorb the parish of Glenfield Frith to create the village as we know it today, although in those days it contained much more open land. Officially since then, the parish has been called Glenfields although the village retains the name of Glenfield.

Long gardens

One anomaly with an historic explanation is the number of properties with very long gardens. If you go back long enough the houses at the Leicester end of Dominion Road and the length of Sports Road were weekend retreats for Leicester people when the area was mostly open country. There were allotments and small weekend-retreat properties along the track with long gardens behind. Most of the properties have been replaced but a few still remain and some have been removed to create small closes of properties where back gardens used to be.

Back in 1909 the residents were circulated to assess the demand for allotments but the cost was prohibitive. However, in 1918 with assistance from the Food Production Department, land was acquired and there are now two allotment sites owned by the Parish; one off Main Street and another off Mill Lane.

The year 1900 might be taken as the start of the modern era but 50 years later saw a major turning point. Back in the 1950s, it was suggested that boundaries be changed and that Glenfield should become part of the City of Leicester, but this was strongly resisted and finally dropped. There is no discernible join between the village and the city to its east but fortunately, the Rothley Brook corridor helps separate us from neighbours to the north and west. The M1 and A46 keep us apart from those to the south although the green wedge in that area is slowly being infilled.

After the second world war ended it was proposed that a Memorial Hall should be built and it was finally opened in 1964 and extended in the early 1980s.

Housing development

Back in the 1950s, the Calverley estate was developed and the nature of the village changed with another primary school being required. County Hall became another important employer and with the population growing steadily more shops came along.

Optimus Point bringing the population to close to 12,000. This includes about 1,000 children of secondary school age, but we have no such school. More recently even more houses have been added and there is the threat of more still. The Parish Council where it can, is acquiring and developing green spaces to preserve the separation zones.

We have seen the creation of a large new commercial area largely taken up by distribution businesses but as part of that process have gained a number of new amenity areas and new footpaths, a new set of allotments and substantial amounts of money to improve existing facilities. We did lose green acreage but that had been monoculture with almost no access, so what we have now if smaller is far more attractive and available.

As the population grows and the Council takes on responsibility for more buildings and more open spaces, inevitably more staff are required and there have been alterations to Park House to accommodate these. That involved building new quarters for the grounds staff and their equipment and providing a detached garage for the vehicle.

Thirty years later Park House was built as the home of the Parish Council, and the Elm Tree housing development brought yet more people. In recent years a further housing estate has been built beside

Thousands of trees have been planted and in many ways - with all our green spaces - we could be described as a garden village, but should that be a garden town?

Councillor Roy Denney

A Million Ways to Stay on the Run

The uncut story of the international manhunt for public enemy no.1 Kenny Noye

By Donal MacIntyre and Karl Howman

A man with a central role in some of the most high-profile crimes of a generation. From the £125 million (current value) Brink’s Mat gold bullion raid to the death of Covert Police Operative John Fordham, and road rage victim Stephen Cameron, the multimillionaire villain became universally known as ‘Public Enemy: No 1’.

He had spent more than a third of his life in jail, but for two years, with near unlimited resources, and underworld connections around the globe, Noye played a game of hide and seek with Scotland Yard, MI5, INTERPOL, The FBI, and other national police forces as he fled the UK after the death of twenty-one-year-old Stephen Cameron in a road rage incident in May 1996.

From South America to Africa, from Cuba to Holland, France to Aruba, and beyond, Noye evaded capture despite the best efforts of some of the most powerful agencies and global security services. From dining with unwitting FBI officers on cruise ships to sitting on Castro’s presidential seat in Havana, Noye’s ‘Grand Tour on the Run’ was as unbelievable as it was unprecedented. It was life on the run but not as we know it.

Back in the UK, the family of Stephen Cameron grieved under the weight of the life of impunity and privilege that Noye was covertly leading but the takedown was as dramatic and extraordinary as the secrets of Noye’s life under the radar. The police would ultimately get their man. His downfall would be placed at the door of an informant. Was it his lover or a gangland rival? Or was it the secret services? When the Spanish police ultimately swooped down with their English counterparts and arrested the affluent and charming ‘Mick the Builder’ – they were armed with a secret weapon of their own – Stephen Cameron’s fiancé.