Where's That Then? No 19

An ordinary English town that enjoys an international reputation. I wonder if that lingerie shop is still there?

Parachutes & Corsets

Unmitigated England is full of buildings and bits of buildings that start life in one place and then wake up one morning in another, sometimes quite incongruous, location. Such is the fate of this bell tower that once looked out over the centre of Market Harborough from the top of the red brick six storey high Symington corset factory. Put up there in 1876, it housed a bell cast by the famous Taylor's in Loughborough. I'm not exactly sure when it was taken down and placed at the centre of flower beds in the town's Welland Park, but a plaque was put on it in 1977 to commemorate the Queen's Jubilee. Symington's were famous in the town for both corsets and soups, and examples of both trades can be found in the excellent museum that now resides in the cupola-less factory. But perhaps even more amazing is the fact that the Symington's of blush-inducing underwear went on to make over one million parachutes for the RAF in the Second World War. When I read this I have to confess that the thought did cross my mind as to whether they were shell pink with elasticated suspension. Only fleetingly of course.

Blue Film

Imagine the excitement at finding this little box. I mean, it had to be a old-fashioned, badly-shot blue film didn't it? It even had 'blue' stamped on it for goodness sake. And '1943' somewhere. The fantasy continued- would it be WAAFs being introduced to the finer points of timber barn construction by moustachio-ed parachutists, or girls in control towers being distracted from Lancasters landing with a wheel missing? With their headphones still on? But no. Oh, it's a blue film alright. A reel from Lindsay & Williams of Manchester that looks like it would be on the top shelf. Of the ironmongers. The end flap says: 'Parafilm is an amalgam of highly refined paraffin wax and pure rubber with the addition of colouring matter. Parafilm is thermo plastic non-hygroscopic, an excellent insulator and can be used with advantage in place of ordinary insulating tape, particularly in wet situations'. I don't think we need to dwell on any of that, do we? Thoughts on the aeroplane? An Avro perhaps?