ABSTRACT
Leicester and Leicestershire, with the old Rutland, are quintessential middle-England. Belloc was wrong, the Midlands are not sodden and unkind – at least, not the East Midlands. They are above everything mild and friendly. Perhaps Belloc had in mind parts of the West Midlands. Leicester, the archetype of such cities, is homely, decent, manageable, able to be held in the hand. Since by the time it began to acquire considerable industry, gas and then electric power had arrived. Leicester is hardly ever dramatic and never apocalyptic; Dostoevsky would have left for a more startling climate. Truer to the generally helpful and relaxed manner of a more secure Leicester were the events surrounding the setting-up of an inner-city Youth Club, in the early Sixties. Spread in and around the inner city, like most of Leicester institutions, were Vaughan College, for long one of the finest adult education centres in Britain, the home of the Leicester Poetry Society and several similar initiatives.
