DESIGNER BATHROOMS

from May 2023 Your Local Ratby, Kirby Muxloe & Leicester Forest East

An Update From Kirby Muxloe

Tel: 0116 251 0363 - sales@ designerbathroomsleicester.com www.designerbathroomsleicester.com - 74 Bradgate Street, Leicester, LE4 0AW

With an in-house team of experts who are all fully trained and qualified to the highest standard, Designer Bathrooms can ensure total customer satisfaction.

Specialising in beautiful bespoke bathrooms and en-suites, specifically tailored to meet their customers’ requirements, they strive to create a bathing experience second to none. Just walking around their exquisite showroom, you have the opportunity to see a variety of over 35 room settings, each perfectly showcasing many industry top brands, as well as a taste of the Mediterranean with Italian and Spanish wall and floor tiles.

From speaking to the team at Designer Bathrooms it’s clear that they want everyone to be able to have a relaxing and inspiring bathing experience. As such they are proud of their quality of service, products and their single level showroom plus they also specialise in accessible bathing. Their displays include walk in level floor showers, fold down shower seats, grab rails, digital push button showers, lever taps and comfort height toilets.

At Designer Bathrooms it is perfectly clear that they understand just how important it is to make the right choices, for what should be, one of the most relaxing rooms in your home. As such they listen to your requirements and will guide you through the entire process, from first thought to final tile.

So when you’re next considering a new bathroom or en-suite make over, why not pay Designer Bathrooms a visit? You’ll receive a warm welcome as well as expert advice.

Open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturdays from 9am to 4pm Private car park available from first thought to final tile

They look forward to welcoming you soon….

NEW EXTENDED SHOWROOM - OVER 35 ROOM SETTINGS TO VIEW

Sir Edward Wood

Article by Val Knott

This month we feature an article written by Val Knott who is my co-chair of KMLHG and also the Village Archaeology Warden. Val is a fountain of knowledge, always shining a light on something or somebody we may have missed. Her article appeared in one of our newsletters, which were produced during the pandemic when we tried to keep our members entertained and in touch with our History Group.

The name of Edward Wood is wellknown in the history of the city of Leicester and in Leicestershire for his civic role, as an entrepreneur and benefactor but perhaps not so wellknown for his links to Kirby Muxloe. He became Mayor of Leicester four times and was the founder of the shoe retailers Freeman, Hardy and Willis and spent several years living in the village in a house he had built in Kirby Fields in 1891, known as “Charnwood House”.

1876, Edward incorporated the business into Freeman, Hardy and Willis. He, as chairman of the company, appointed as company directors Arthur Hardy, an architect, William Freeman, his factory manager and a Mr Willis, his salesman. Their first retail outlet was opened in Wandsworth, London in 1877 and by 1900, Freeman, Hardy and Willis had become the largest footwear retailer in the world with, by 1903, about 300 shops.

Edward was a devout Baptist and used his Christian beliefs in doing good for the community, becoming a county magistrate and JP and vice chairman of the Derwent Valley Water Board, which ensured a continuous supply of good quality of water to the citizens of Leicester. He was a benefactor of the Leicester Royal Infirmary and under his influence a nurses’ home and children’s hospital were built. As a successful entrepreneur, he created wealth that everyone could benefit from and he provided good wages for all. He set up a number of trusts and charities which after his death in 1917 still exist today. £5000 was invested in the Edward Wood Bequest Fund for distressed gentlewomen in 1917, the year of his deathapproximately £350,000 today.

He became Mayor of Leicester for the first time in 1888 and went on to serve three more times in 1895, 1901 and 1906. In 1906, he was knighted in recognition of his philanthropy and civic work. Many will know the impressive building on London Road, Edward Wood Hall, named after him, now renamed as Leicester University’s Fraser Noble Hall. His portrait by Walter William Outless hangs in Leicester’s Town Hall.

for many years but when he died in 1917, he was living in Shirley Lodge, Houghton, accompanied by his daughter, Annie, a widow and two grandchildrenhis grandson Robert sadly having been killed in WWI.

He was well-known and respected as a local entrepreneur and philanthropist and was described as having a kind and generous nature and a warm heart.

Thanks to “Building our past-the legacy of Freeman, Hardy and Willis” and to Erica Statham’s article on Sir Edward Wood in “Baptists Together”.

The Kirby Muxloe Local History Group

Article by Judith Upton

His life began when he was born in Derby in 1839 to William and Emma Wood. His father at this time, was a printer and then in 1851 a cabinet maker. Sometime later, the family moved to St. Margaret’s in Leicester, along with Edward’s three sisters, where Edward’s father worked as an engine smith. Edward initially worked as an errand boy and was later apprenticed to a draper and outfitter, where he learned skills as a hatter and a hosier. He married Annie Sewell, with whom he went on to have three daughters, Annie, Catherine and Elizabeth.

By 1870, he had begun a business manufacturing boots and shoes, joining Annie’s relatives at premises in Marble St. Leicester. By the following year, he was employing seven men and one boy and in

During the years building his business interests, Edward and his family lived in different parts of Leicester but when Kirby Fields was developing as a desirable part of the county in which to live, he built “Charnwood House” on Stamford Road. He also owned land in Kirby Muxloe, particularly in the Gullet Lane area. It is recorded in our house deeds that the land on which our house was built was owned by Sir Edward Wood and that in 1907, Sir Edward paid £1953-17-6 to A. Moore and C. Seabrook for “all that piece or parcel of land in Kirby Muxloe bounded on the N.E. by a lane called Gullet Lane and on the S.E. by the Leicester & Burton line of the Midland Railway and was formerly part of a close called ‘Kimberlin’s Close’. Also, all that close or ground enclosed site in Kirby Muxloe formerly called by the name ‘Top Kirk’s Close’ field formerly in the tenure of David Stone”. In 1913, Sir Edward sold the land to Annie Knibb to build the house we now live in.

Sir Edward continued to live in Kirby

The Kirby Muxloe Local History Group generally meets 6 times a year, and membership is open to all. Visitors are always welcome to all our meetings, which usually take place in St. Bartholomew’s Church Hall, Main St., Kirby Muxloe and start at 7.30 pm.

Details of the dates of meetings, together with the topics that will be covered, are shown on the notice board in Kirby Muxloe Library and on our website, which is kirbymuxloelocalhistorygroup.org

Our next meeting will take place on Tuesday 16th May 2023. Our speaker Matthew Morris will talk about “Cardinals, Chariots and Queens”. This will be followed by a short AGM. Subscriptions will be due at this meeting and are £10 per person for full membership for the next year, together with £2 per person for each meeting.

Guests and visitors are always most welcome with a one-off payment of £5 per meeting.

Borough Council Election Results May 4th. We are both extremely humbled again. Thank you to the residents of Ratby, Bagworth and Thornton who have put their faith in us again for another 4 years. We will always make ourselves available to our residents. We pride ourselves on giving help and advice to residents when required, we will also take issues forward on your behalf if required. Remember we are only a phone call or email away.