The Framework Knitters Museum, Ruddington, will be hosting two Christmas events this year – each with their own little twist. On Saturday 3 December visitors can create a unique take on a Christmas stocking using historic hand-knitting machines, and on Saturday 10 December the museum’s annual Victorian Christmas experience will take place.

Paul Baker, museum manager, said, “We absolutely love Christmas at the Framework Knitters Museum. For us it is all about family, fun and festivity. The museum provides the perfect place to provide an intimate festive atmosphere for events, but of course we have to do things a bit differently!”

The first event, on Saturday 3 December, is the perfect way to start your family Christmas celebrations. Using the hand-powered knitting machines children will be able to knit their own tube of material which, with the help of the museum volunteers, will be sewn at one end. The children will then be able to personalise their stocking with festive sparkle.

The opportunity to create one of the unusual stockings will be available between 12 pm and 6 pm, and will cost £5 per stocking. Normal admissions prices for the museum apply which, along with the tea room and shop, will be open from 11 am to 4 pm.

The event is part of a larger programme of activities planned for the Ruddington Christmas Fayre; which will take place across the village from 12 pm to 5 pm and culminate with the Christmas lights being switched on at St Peter’s Church. For more information search ‘Ruddington Events’ on Facebook.

The following Saturday (10 December) is the museum’s annual Victorian Christmas event. Step back in time and enjoy the Victorian surroundings as they are brought to life with traditional music, food and activities. There will be roast chestnuts and crumpets toasted on an open fire to enjoy, while you listen to Christmas carols and music from a traditional barrel organ. Children can even visit Father Christmas in his grotto and receive a special Christmas gift. After dark the museum site will be lit by lantern light to add to the magical atmosphere.

This popular event will take place from 10 am to 5 pm and is free to attend. If you wish to visit Father Christmas there is a charge of £6 per child and it must be booked in advance by calling 0115 984 6914.

During both events The Textile Emporium, the museum’s shop, will be open selling a wide variety of unusual gift items made by local makers so you can find the perfect Christmas gift with a difference.

For more information about the museum visit www.frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk

Friday 16 December 2016 to Sunday 26 March 2017 in the Weston Gallery, DH Lawrence Pavilion, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD.

Admission Free

11am-4pm Tuesday-Friday
Noon-4pm Saturday-Sunday and Christmas opening 27-31 December
Closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day

The Private View will be held on Thursday 15 December, 5-7pm.

The exhibition will be opened by Helen Willetts, BBC Television weather presenter and meteorologist.

This exhibition uses the materials held by The University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections to explore the history of extreme weather events in Nottinghamshire and the surrounding area.

Key events in Nottinghamshire’s weather history will be featured: floods, droughts, storms, extremes of temperature and other strange atmospheric happenings (some well-known, others long forgotten). Archival sources reveal how extreme weather affected daily life in the city of Nottingham and the wider county, the impact it had on different groups in society and their responses to it, and which events entered the public memory.

The display also explores the contributions of Nottinghamshire people to the extreme weather archive and to the wider development of the science of meteorology. The exhibition materials not only illustrate the diversity of documentary records available for extreme weather history in the UK, but also serve to demonstrate the changing nature of weather recording and weather records over time.

Visitors will also be invited to share their own weather memories.

The exhibition has been jointly curated by Professor Georgina Endfield and Dr Lucy Veale (School of Geography) and Manuscripts and Special Collections at The University of Nottingham. The Weather Extremes research project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Discover Nottingham’s History is a free app that uncovers the highlights and rarities of Nottingham Central Library’s extensive Local Studies collection.

Using a wealth of materials from newspapers, books, pamphlets to images and maps, explore the first collection available on the app-Nottingham Forest Football Club. From the unusual to the captivating, this collection reveals the fascinating 150 year history of the club. You can even take part in a fun quiz and see how good your local football knowledge really is!

You can also explore our gallery of images, organised by collection. Topics include Lord Byron, Robin Hood, Nottingham’s iconic buildings and much more.

You can download the Discover Nottingham’s History app for iPhone or iPad here

You can find out more about local studies and our enquiry service here

Mark is a historian researching and writing on the history of food and drink in the early modern period. Much of what is written about the history of food uses evidence from printed sources – cookery books, dietary advice books, etc. – with the resulting concentration on the wealthy and at best generalisations (often inaccurate) about the experience of those not so fortunate. Mark’s approach is to work from the ground up, using documentary evidence of everyday life to build up a picture of what was actually going on in the households of our forebears.

Mark generally only charges £40 for talks in the evening to local groups In Derbyshire and Notts and that includes travel costs. There is a usually an updated list of talks on his website at mdfoodhistory.weebly.com.  The list includes:

• Food and Drink in Tudor and Stuart Derbyshire.  A look at the foods being eaten and patterns of dining in the county from c.1540 through to c.1700.
• Food and Drink in Tudor and Stuart Nottinghamshire – Similar to the above but using evidence from Nottinghamshire communities.
• To everything a season? Seasonality in the Tudor period.- The nature and importance of changing dietary patterns through the year.
• Oatcakes: farming and diet in North Derbyshire.
• What’s up with ewe? A thousand years of English sheep’s milk cheese.
• Eating out of house and home. – How did people in the early modern period get food when they were away from home and what sorts of food did they eat?

You can contact mark at mdfoodhistory@gmail.com

Mark Nightingale (right) playing as part of the Æsop Mīzen Band with his Father, Pete Nightingale

As many Ruddington residents already know, the former Methodist Chapel at the Framework Knitters Museum is home to the Chapel Art Gallery, which displays works by the Nottingham Society of Artists. In keeping with this artistic theme, the museum is now experimenting with a new initiative called Behind the Music, which will launch on the evening of Friday 11 November.

Behind the Music is the brainchild of Mark Nightingale, who performed at the launch of the Chapel Art Gallery in April. Says Mark: ‘After the launch, Paul, the museum’s manager, and I discussed different ways of using the Chapel that tie in with its new artistic environment. One of these was creating a programme of musical acts who would give a short talk before each performance, either explaining the inspiration behind their music or talking about the instruments they use. This idea has taken shape and evolved into Behind the Music.’

Together with his dad, Pete, Mark will be topping the bill on 11 November as the Æsop Mīzen Band (purveyors of fable jazz), and will also be compering the event. Mark and Pete will be joined by the jazz band Steam Funk, comprising Chris (guitarist), Pat (saxophonist), Pete (drummer) and Mark (Chapman Stick, a touch-style guitar). Also on the bill will be a singing group called Acapella, who’ll be singing songs from the island of Iona, and Gillian, a classical pianist. Completing the eclectic line-up will be Jude Winwood playing her Kora, a 21-string lute-bridge harp usually found in West Africa.

Adds Mark: ‘Each of the five acts has a very different musical style, and the audience will be treated to an insight into their approach as well as a diverse programme of quality live performances. There’ll be some unusual instruments to see and hear, promising a very enjoyable evening in the unique surroundings of the Chapel Art Gallery.’

To enhance the intimate atmosphere of the event, the Chapel will be set up cabaret-style with small tables and additional seating around the walls. Refreshments will be provided by museum partners, The Frame Breakers pub, who’ll be running a bar from the serving hatch in the Chapel. Light nibbles will also be available.

Behind the Music will start at 7:30pm and the programme will run until around 10pm, including an interval. Tickets cost £3 and are available on the door only. Please arrive early as space is limited in the Chapel and audience numbers will be capped. For more information, please contact the museum in office hours on 0115 984 6914.

Jackie Winter has written a book called “Lipsticks and Library Books: the story of Boots Booklovers Library.” which is set within the context of life in Britain during the first half of the twentieth century, especially the interwar period. A couple of chapters are devoted to Florence Boot because of the huge contribution she made both to the firm of Boots and the libraries themselves, after she founded them in 1899. Former staff share reminiscences of Class A subscribers lording it over humble category B subscribers who – albeit resentfully – knew their place. Strict spinster librarians stood no nonsense from either junior assistants or supercilious customers.

“Lipsticks and Library Books” is available from Amazon in paperback or Kindle or directly from Jackie. The Amazon link is https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01J5KCYUE

Jackie’s address is The Chantries, Winterborne Zelston, Blandford Forum, Dorset, DT11 9EU. The cost Including p&p £7.00p
Email address: thorntandem@btinternet.com

On Saturday 22nd October 2016 at the Old Lenton Martinmas Fair wordsmith Dave Wood, with the help of visitors, wrote the Martinmas saga.

a little cold autumn day
we gather around on this mediaeval day

you can try our chain mail coat
but don’t go swimming – you won’t float

to stop your tongue a flapping
your husband will be laughing

a gobby woman that keeps chatting
cackling – scolding – whining – spitting

should be led through the town in the scold’s bridle
to stop her becoming idle

her tongue gets chopped off
and people throw apples at her from the pigs’ trough

‘you could throw something better than grubby foreign apples
they fairly make me crapple’

the poor woman’s name is hillary
she gets taken to the pillory

stop her taking selfies
make fun of her at the pillory

someone calls her strumpet
hits her with a crumpet

which she used to grease here wrists
with aim to get released

she pulls her hand about
it suddenly popped out

she put her hand in her mouth and gave a big whistle
and when she had their attention – she gave this epistle

i want to go home please and i promise i’ll be good
children are waiting and crying for food

well – there’s a tavern round the corner – go and eat  – get some scran
look over there – there’s a strange looking man

i’ll give you some coins for your bairns he said
if you promise to warm me in bed

she fluttered her eyelids and gave him a wink
so he let her out – she ran off in blink

fair maiden – whence do you go?
i’ll follow you high and low

she gets back to the village with revenge on her mind
she can’t deal with her husband on her own – because he’s of the large kind

so help is required to put him in her place
so he needs to be lured by a wench fair of face

so she goes to the tavern disguised as a man
to find the fairest maiden that she can

she does not find what she seeks
as a fair maiden turns out to be a mate that she meets

as two kindred spirits meet at such times
the lady thinks – can maiden be mine?

she approaches the woman (pretends to be a man)
she sweet talks to her and she realises she can

it was lucky she knew sign language
enough to buy her a sandwich

the husband’s in the pub
eating and drinking his grub

there was so much noise on
that he didn’t spot them slipping the poison

A Nottinghamshire woman has taken to the sky in a daring wingwalk to raise money for the Framework Knitters Museum, Ruddington. Kathy Powis, Chair of the Friends of the museum raised in excess of £3000 for the museum’s Redevelopment and Expansion Appeal.

Kathy, who is 64 years old, described the experience, “It really was amazing. I love planes anyway but this was something else entirely! The wind was incredibly strong and cold but it was just so exhilarating to be flying at 500 feet with not much between me and the ground!”

The outstanding feat involved standing on the wings of a Stearman bi-plane for 15 minutes as it flew at speed of up to 105mph over the Leicestershire countryside. The plane took off and landed from Leicester Airport in Oadby, where a group of her friends cheered her on.

Kathy has volunteered at the museum for the last 18 years and has seen it go from strength to strength as a visitor attraction. It is currently in the midst of a huge fundraising drive to raise a total of £750,000, which will be used to double the exhibition space and create a new visitor centre using the cottage adjoining the museum’s site. When the Trustees appealed to the volunteers to do something quirky to raise funds she certainly rose to the challenge. She explained, “A wingwalk was already on my bucket list, so it seemed the obvious thing to do.”

For more information about the Framework Knitters Museum visit www.frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk. If you would like to donate to the fundraising appeal please visit http://www.everyclick.com/kathyswingwalkforframeworkknittersmuseum/info.

The Framework Knitters Museum in Ruddington is Nottinghamshire’s only working textile museum and celebrates the workers and the trade which gave birth to Nottingham’s Lace Industry and the violent Luddite uprising. It is situated in a historic knitter’s yard built in the early nineteenth century.  The site includes two frameshops, workers cottages, and a chapel where the workers worshipped, which is where the gallery will be situated.

The Ivan D Margary Memorial Conference 2016 Roman Roads: Past, Present & Future Research Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th November 2016 Burn Hall Hotel, Tollerton Road, York YO61 1JB

Margary’s name is synonymous with the study of Roman roads, indeed he has had more influence over our understanding of the Roman road network in Britain than any other individual researcher. His gazetteer, “Roman Roads in Britain”, remains the most comprehensive and detailed work ever written, over 60 years since it was first published. Margary numbers, the system he devised for numbering and classifying Roman roads are still used by archaeologists today.

Ivan Donald Margary died on the 18th February 1976 and to mark the 40th anniversary, the Roman Roads Research Association is hosting two conferences in Portsmouth and in York. Nationally renowned Roman archaeologists, researchers, and academics will describe some of their recent work and discoveries in this field and will demonstrate how new technologies and approaches have moved and will continue to move forward our understanding of the Roman road network our understanding in the years to come. Speakers will show how Roman Roads research has delivered a great number of new discoveries, roads, forts, signal stations, settlements and associated sites. Speakers and discussion groups will provide a stimulating and rewarding programme for everyone attending. The York conference comprises two days in which six key themes are explored through the talks and discussion groups involving all. Everyone who attends will be encouraged to participate to help us as an association to shape and move forward future research on and understanding of Roman Roads in Britain.

What’s Included? All conference sessions and discussion groups. A two course lunch is provided free of charge on both Saturday and Sunday and tea, coffee and biscuits at breaks throughout the conference programme. The cost is just £45.00 per person.

The optional Margary Memorial conference dinner takes place on Saturday evening. Accommodation if required can be booked through RRRA. For those travelling by train, arrangements will be made to collect delegates from the station, and return them to the station on Sunday afternoon.

There will be space allocated for displays, stalls and posters for delegates to view during breaks. If any delegate, on behalf of their organisation, wishes to set up a stall, please let us know.

Contact Us: Mike Haken, Chairman RRRA, mike@romanroads.org or telephone 01457 872281 .

We are keen to make this inaugural conference a huge success, please do get in touch with any questions you may have.

Programme for Day One, Saturday 12th November 2016

• 8.45 Enrolment, networking & coffee SESSION 1 – Margary and his legacy
• 9.30 Ivan D Margary and his contributions to archaeology Dr. David Rudling, Sussex Archaeological Society
• 10.05 Roman Roads in Britain; Margary’s magnum Opus online Scott Vanderbilt, software developer & creator of RIB online
• 10.25 Margary numbers – 60 years on, what issues need to be addressed? Mike Haken, Chairman, Roman Roads Research Association
• 10.50 QUESTIONS & COFFEE SESSION 2 – Questioning received wisdom
• 11.15 The road over High Street in the Lake District: is it Roman? John Poulter
• 11.50 Wade’s Causeway – the end of the Roman Road? Dr. Blaise Vyner
• 12.25 QUESTIONS
• 12.35 LUNCH provided free to all delegates SESSION 3 – New Technologies, New Approaches
• 13.25 LiDAR – The game changer Bryn Gethin, Warwickshire Archaeology
• 14.00 Geophysical prospecting and Roman roads – an overview James Lyall, independent archaeologist & geophysicist
• 14.35 Between the Walls – Modelling movement on the northern frontier Graeme Erskine, University of Edinburgh
• 15.10 QUESTIONS & COFFEE SESSION 4 – New Technologies, New Approaches 2
• 15.40 Could OSL provide the dating evidence needed to better understand the Roman road network? T.B.C
• 16.10 The RRRA Online Database and Archive – A critical resource for research Mike Turpin – Roman Roads Research Association
• 16.45 QUESTIONS, leading on to DISCUSSION GROUPS Group 1. What are the key questions about Roman roads that remain to be answered? (led by Pete Wilson) Group 2. Margary Numbering – the Road forward to meet future needs (led by Mike Haken) Group 3. How we can best obtain, verify and add road data to the RRRA database (led by Mike Turpin)
• 17.50 Main Hall, Discussion Group Leaders report back to Conference
• 18.00 Close of Day One
• 19.30 MARGARY MEMORIAL DINNER. Optional three-course dinner, £20.00 per head, guests welcome.

Programme for Day Two, Sunday 13th November 2016

• 8.45 Coffee and welcome SESSION 5 – Roman Surveying and the Road Network
• 9.15 Long distance alignments and the political geography of Conquest Britain. Rob Entwistle – independent researcher
• 9.50 Margary’s centuriation at Ripe in the context of Roman land surveying in southeast Britain. Dr. John Peterson, University of East Anglia
• 10.25 QUESTIONS & COFFEE SESSION 6 – Some insights into Roman roads in the north 1
• 10.50 Roman roads in the York area: what do we really know about them? Dr. Patrick Ottaway
• 11.25 Margary Through Sheffield: Historical Inaccuracies and Modern Technologies David Inglis, University of Sheffield
• 12.00 Margary 712, Manchester to York in Kirklees – not quite where Margary thought it was! David Cockman & Nick Brook, Huddersfield Archaeological Society
• 12.35 QUESTIONS
• 12.45 LUNCH, provided free to all delegates SESSION 7 – Some insights into Roman roads in the north 2
• 13.30 Revisiting Margary’s network in Lancashire & Cumbria David Ratledge, Independent Researcher
• 14.05 Scotch Corner; the impact of recent work on our understanding of the early Roman road network David Fell, Senior Project Officer, Northern Archaeological Associates
• 14.40 Medieval Progresses, Military Campaigns, and the Roman Road Network II (north) Dr. M.C. Bishop – University of Oxford
• 15.15 QUESTIONS & COFFEE
• 15.40 Discussion groups Group 1. A Lasting Legacy to Ivan Margary – a Visible Reminder in the Landscape? (led by Mike Haken) Group 2. Road Planning Alignments & Their Function (led by Rob Entwistle) Group 3. What contribution can volunteers make to ongoing work on Roman roads? (led by Jayne Knight)
• 16.30 Main Hall, Discussion Group Leaders report back to Conference
• 16.40 Closing Address: Towards a co-ordinated approach Mike Haken, Chairman, RRRA
• 17.00 CLOSE OF CONFERENCE

Conference leaflet
Programme and booking form
Book on-line

The manager of a Nottinghamshire museum has been recognised as part of a highly regarded international conference that showcases the best in the museum and heritage field from across the world. Paul Baker, from the Framework Knitters Museum in Ruddington, was invited to be a laureate at the Best in Heritage IMAGINES Conference after winning the international Heritage in Motion Websites and Online Content Award 2015.

Paul Baker said, “I am incredibly honoured and humbled to have been given the opportunity to take part in the conference, and to have been invited to share our story of success and best practice with some of the leading museum and heritage professionals from across the world”.

Best in Heritage laureates are chosen from the winners of the most prestigious national and international awards from across the world, who are then invited to present their winning initiatives at a conference that celebrates global excellence in museums and heritage. The conference, which was first held in 2002, takes place each year at the end of September, in Dubrovnik, UNESCO World heritage site, Croatia. The IMAGINES event has been added to the event for the first time this year to specifically celebrate new technology and multimedia in the heritage world.

The Framework Knitters Museum received the Heritage in Motion Award for their multi-award winning educational resource ‘Breaking the Frame’. The uniquely-innovative interactive film, which Paul conceived and produced with a team of consultants, enables the audience to determine the film’s narrative by making decisions for the main character, allowing consequences and the impact of one’s actions to be examined in a safe environment.

Paul continued, “The recognition we have received for Breaking the Frame, on both a local and international level, has been outstanding. To be held in the same regard as Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Stonehenge and The Whitworth Gallery, who were also celebrated at the event, is amazing and a testament to everyone involved with the project”.

For more information on the Framework Knitters Museum visit www.frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk and for more information on the Best in Heritage visit www.bestinheritage.com.