AT Warbis sketch of town site is identified
THE recent mystery sketches we asked you to identify, appear to be proving tricky.
The sketches are by celebrated local artist, the late Alfred Thomas Warbis, and are taken from his regular slot: From the Artist’s Sketchbook - Special to the Echo, which ran in the newspaper from the 1950s to the early 1970s.
He travelled all over the area with his sketch book and, in addition to his drawings, he would add a few lines about the places he captured.
So far only one person has contacted us identify one of the scenes, which was in Loughborough, and it’s regular Looking Back contributor Mike Jones, who, of course, knows the town so well.
This particular drawing was from 1968 and Mike said: “It’s nice to see the Alf Warbis sketches in last week’s Echo. I used to work with Mary at Hawker Siddeley Power Engineering Ltd.
“The top sketch is obviously looking from Southfields Road, across Leicester Road and down Barrow Street.
“The shop on the corner would have been R G Lords’ Chemists, with the Coopers Arms seen further in the distance on the corner of Moira Street and Barrow Street.”
The building on the right is the old Lodge to Southfields Park, which Mike has previously identified saying: “It was built presumably when the Paget family occupied Southfield House. However, I remember it in later years when the council used it as a nursery.”