Creative England works in partnership with the British Film Commission to support film and television productions shooting in the English regions, and to promote England as a fantastic place to film.  Creative England’s library of film locations in the English regions is a fully searchable database of filming locations outside London.

Your property could be just what filmmakers are looking for, be it a cottage or a castle, a suburban semi or stately home. You can earn fees from the use of your property as a filming location and the right production can also have a positive effect on visitor numbers.  Creative England would love to hear from owners or representatives of properties that could be used as locations by filmmakers in England.

To find out more and register on our database visit: Creative England
For further information and local support contact Faith at the Film Nottingham office: faith.blakemore@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Twitter: @FilmNottingham

Facebook: Film Nottingham

Manuscripts and Special Collections
Weston Gallery Exhibition
Friday 22 May to Sunday 6 September 2015
Admission free

The Napoleonic Wars, which were fought between Britain, France and their allies from 1803, came to an end with the Battle of Waterloo on the 18 June 1815. This exhibition, timed to coincide with the bicentenary of Waterloo, reflects on the conflict in its later stages, from the Peninsular Wars in Spain and Portugal in 1808 to the end of hostilities seven years later.

Drawing on the material from The University of Nottingham’s collections, the exhibition assesses the nature and impact of the war and its consequences.

The displays describe key moments in the conflict, chart the rise to prominence of military commanders such as the Duke of Wellington and reveal Nottinghamshire’s contribution to the war effort.

The exhibition also explores the wider legacy of the wars. In Spain, British forces fought alongside those seeking liberation from foreign conquest. In Britain, the return of peace was accompanied by new demands for political and social change.

The exhibition has been jointly curated by Richard Gaunt (associate Professor of History in the School of Humanities) and Manuscripts and Special Collections at the University of Nottingham.

Location and Opening Times

Weston Gallery
DH Lawrence Pavilion
Nottingham Lakeside Arts
University Park
Nottingham
NG7 2RD

Box Office: 0115 8467777

Opening times:

Monday to Friday 11am-4pm Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays 12pm-4pm.

Ask to join our mailing list to receive invitations to future private views of the exhibitions.

For the latest news and images on the progress of  exhibitions, follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/mssLakeside

Lunchtime Talks

1PM – 2PM
DJANOGLY THEATRE
ADMISSION FREE

A series of talks will be held to accompany the exhibition. Places are limited so please book in advance with the Box Office on 0115 846 7777

Thursday 18 June

From the Ballroom to the Battlefield: British Women and Waterloo

On the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, Catriona Kennedy, senior lecturer in history at the University of York, considers the role which women played in the Battle of Waterloo, from the Duchess of Richmond’s famous ball on the eve of the battle, to the women who visited the battlefield in its aftermath.

Wednesday 8 July

‘Hard pounding gentlemen!”: The Tactics of Waterloo

Professor Charles Esdaile from the University of Liverpool re-considers Wellington’s command of the Allied forces and the tactics which delivered his ‘immortal victory’.

Wednesday 5 August

Commemorating Waterloo 1815-2015

For years, Britons commemorated the Battle of Waterloo in a myriad of ways. However, after Wellington’s death in 1852, official acts of public commemoration declined as the legacy of Waterloo was both contested and politicised. In this talk, Dr Russ Foster, a specialist on Wellington, considers why this remains the case to this day.

Special Events

Please book in advance with the Box Office on 0115 846 7777.

Thursday 18 June, Djanogly Recital Hall, 8-10pm

Special concert by the New Scorpion Band

New Scorpion Band is one of the most original groups in British traditional music. Performing on over 20 traditional instruments and dressed in splendid costume, their concert to commemorate the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo will include folk songs and instrumental pieces from the period.

Prior to the concert, there will be a Waterloo-themed meal in the Pavilion Cafe. Call the box office for further details.

Saturday 25 July

Living History Day, Highfields Park

Join the 5/60th Rifles re-enactment group at their Living History camp!

2016 marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the D6 ‘Drys’ Factory at the Boots Beeston site.

Boots D6 Building

The Grade I listed building, D6, was designed by the engineer Sir E. Owen Williams who was also responsible for the construction of its sister building, the D10 ‘Wets’ factory, which produced goods such as creams, pastes and liquids.

D6 was known as the ‘Drys’ factory because it was responsible for the manufacture, storage and despatch of pills and tablets as well as other products including: pastilles and lozenges, medicated confectionary, capsules and polyfusors.

There were also separate rooms on the first floor which manufactured products for the Farms and Gardens Department (veterinary and specialist garden) and the Toiletry Department (powders, bath salts and bath tablets).

The factory was built with efficiency in mind. Raw materials were unloaded at the north dock and stored on the third floor before naturally descending, aided by gravity, down spiral chutes, to the manufacturing plant on the second and first floors.

Railway tracks also flanked both sides of the building with goods being received along one side, manufactured in the middle and despatched along the whole length of the opposite side.

With its Art Deco design, the building features a distinctive reception area with a multi-storey staircase and ‘wrapped’ around windows on each landing. The area of the building covers 450,000 square foot and was estimated to cost £340,000.

In 2013, the building was refurbished to provide fully serviced office and laboratory space, and it now houses MediCity, the health, beauty and wellbeing innovation hub for start-up and fast-growing businesses in these sectors.

As part of the anniversary celebrations, the Boots archive team is looking to interview anyone who has worked in D6 over the years and who would be happy to share with us their memories and reminiscences – these can be written or recorded.

These memories will then be stored within the Boots Archive Collection to enhance the heritage of the building.

If you are interested in taking part – please contact Charlotte McCarthy on 0115 959 3307; email her at charlotte.mccarthy@boots.co.uk or write to her at the Freepost address: MID16628, Records Centre & Archives, D122 Building, PO Box 94, Nottingham NG2 1BR

Over the summer Bromley House Library will once again be inviting visitors, free of charge, into our wonderful Grade II* listed Georgian town house. We are showcasing our collection of books on Sherwood Forest and visitors are welcome to join us every Wednesday from 12.30 pm – 4.30 pm from 1st July – 19th August. We also have 5 talks on Wednesdays from 8th July – 5th August at 1.00pm which are open to visitors, tickets are £3.50 pp. and must be and paid for in advance. On 12th and 19th of August some of our very special books will be available for closer inspection, under supervision; these will be free of charge but again must be booked in advance. Our garden and gallery will also be open with a selection of handmade crafts for sale.

A textile museum in the Nottinghamshire village of Ruddington has achieved success at the European Heritage in Motion Awards. The museum won the websites and online content category with their new interactive film, Breaking the Frame.

The winners were announced at the annual conference of the European Museum Academy, held in Brescia, Italy, on 8 May 2015.

Breaking the Frame is the core of the Museum’s groundbreaking new education programme, which is the second part of the museum’s Heritage Lottery Funded redevelopment. The film, which was partly funded by Nottinghamshire County Council, offers a unique interactive experience in which the audience influence the direction of the story by making decisions on behalf of the lead character at key points in the story. It uses the 200 year old story of the Luddite riots to illustrate the very real decisions children and teenagers face regarding peer pressure and criminality. It was filmed on-site at the Framework Knitters Museum, and at the Galleries of Justice Museum.

You can see the award-winning film here.

Paul Baker, Museum Manager, said “we are absolutely delighted to have won such a prestigious award. We are hugely proud of our new education programme and for our film to be chosen above such esteemed museums is a huge honour.”

Jennifer Spencer, Chief Executive of Experience Nottinghamshire, said “The team at Framework Knitters’ Museum have been working hard to incorporate innovation into their programming to enhance the visitor experience, and it is wonderful to see this work pay off with recognition at a European level.”

The film has also been recognised as pioneering at a more local level and is shortlisted for the Award for Innovation at the East Midlands Heritage Awards 2015. The planning and design of the redevelopment has been undertaken as a collaborative partnership with Rushcliffe School, as well as the students starring in the film and contributing to the production process. This partnership has also been recognised at the awards, and is shortlisted for the Award for Engaging Children and Young People. The winners for these awards will be announced on Tuesday 9 June.

Councillor John Knight, Committee Chairman for Culture, at Nottinghamshire County Council, was recently invited to see the film when it first debuted at the Museum, and said: “The film is very professional and educational and what is particularly great to see is that local children had the chance to get involved in this wonderful project.”

The film and other educational resources have been created to support history and citizenship within the National Curriculum and is available free to all schools from the museum’s website. The interactive film will also be available to the public at the museum on selected days throughout the year. Details will be available on the museum website.

For more information please visit www.frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk, or contact the museum on 0115 984 6914 or office@frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk.

The living, breathing, dirty, smelly, immersive history series that reveals daily life of the Victorian poor comes to The Workhouse, Southwell. The BBC1 four-part series, currently showing on Tuesdays at 9pm, features six celebrities who spend 24 hours in some of Britain’s harshest nineteenth century workplaces.

The Workhouse at Southwell was chosen as a location for the series as it is the most complete surviving example of its kind. Now in the care of the National Trust, The Workhouse is open to the public where visitors can find out about the harsh conditions endured by workhouse inmates. ‘Visitors can explore facts and fiction surrounding workhouse life and decide for themselves whether the celebrities had a hard time compared to Victorian paupers’, says Alison Cross, Visitor Experience Manager.

Celebrities Ann Widdecombe, Tyger Drew-Honey, Alistair McGowan, Colin Jackson, Miquita Oliver and Zoe Lucker endured the back-breaking workhouse regime, slept in dormitories and even had to empty their chamber pots in the privies. But it was not just the celebrities that had to endure hardship, many of The Workhouse volunteers worked hard as extras.

Annette Hambidge, who played Matron, had always wanted to spend a night at The Workhouse since her first involvement as a volunteer 12 years ago. ‘I hadn’t ever imagined I would be sleeping in costume on a straw mattress on the floor of the children’s dormitory’ she comments.

So who was the best behaved of the celebrities? ‘Zoe Lucker would get my vote’ says Annette ‘and the worst, well, without naming names five of the celebrities had their food docked for failing to complete their tasks of making mattresses and picking oakum’ she adds.

The final episode of the series 24 Hours in the Past which features The Workhouse will be shown on Tuesday 19 May. The accompanying ‘Fact or Fiction’ displays at The Workhouse will run from 17 May.
For more information about The Workhouse, opening times and admission prices please see www.nationaltrust.org.uk/theworkhouse

24 Hours in the Past is produced by DSP, part of Endemol Shine Group.

The Framework Knitters Museum in Ruddington, Nottingham will be holding its popular annual ‘Workers Playtime’ family event on the May Day Bank Holiday, 4^th May 2015 from 11.00am until 4.00pm.

The ‘Workers Playtime’ day will feature live music as well as an opportunity for visitors to see and ‘have-a-go’ at traditional crafts. The family event will feature demonstrations by traditional craftspeople including spinners, basket weavers and rag rug makers. Entertainments will include traditional dance and song. More activities will be announced shortly.

Paul Baker, the manager of the museum, said “We are keen to ensure that the traditional May Day celebrations continue to thrive and our historic site is the ideal venue. The May Day Bank Holiday was traditionally an annual workers holiday and this event celebrates the skills and social activities of past generations. We look forward to welcoming visitors to the event and sharing traditional crafts and entertainments with them”. The museum celebrates the lives of the Framework Knitters who produced hosiery and lace and whose poverty led to the Luddite protests. Visitors can observe the authentic machines in action and are invited to have a go on our circular knitting machines. The site includes two workshops, cottages, a chapel and a delightful garden. Refreshments will also be available.

The ‘Workers Playtime’ event takes place on 4^th May 2015. Why not follow the museum on Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates and additions to the celebrations.

For more information contact Paul Baker, Museum Manager – tel: 0115 984 6914, email: rfwk-mus@btconnect.com, web: www.frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk, address: Framework Knitters Museum, Chapel Street, Ruddington, Nottingham, NG11 6HE

Photo: Liz Stewart-Smith, David Woodhead, Janice Lane, Di Roker, Margaret Woodhead, Shirley Moore.

Edwinstowe Historical Society has been awarded a grant of £10,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to enable us to establish a Community Archive Centre in Edwinstowe House.

The grant of £10,000 will help us make full use of the room, kindly given to us by David Woodhead, the Chief Executive of Nuture Enterprises Ltd.

In a planned project over the next 18 months, the group intend to train members in the use of digital technology to enable us to catalogue, archive and make more readily available the wealth of material that we hold, to a wider audience.

The creation of a Community Heritage website will enable schools, groups and individuals to access our extensive collection of resources ensuring the local past of our village is not lost.

Our Chairman, Di Roker, commented,” I am absolutely delighted that we have managed to secure this lottery grant and am extremely grateful to Shirley Moore and her team who have worked so hard on the project. We have been aware for some years that our methods of storage and conservation were becoming increasingly outdated, but lack of funds prevented us from addressing the issue. When David Woodhead kindly offered us a room in Edwinstowe House, it felt like the beginning of a new era, and now the Lottery grant will enable us to update all aspects of the work we do, and to give the public greater access to our archives through a newly designed website. Here’s to the future!

Patrick Folkes is an NLHA member and regularly receives copies of the newsletter; he is, however, a little further away than most of us. He reports that his ancestors came from Granby and there is a direct ancestor in the churchyard there, Richard Foulkes, d. 1766. Patrick’s father George Folkes (1912-1991) emigrated with his family from Loughborough in 1926 and settled in Toronto. Patrick is  located near the village of Lion’s Head on the Bruce Peninsula, which separates Georgian Bay from Lake Huron, about 100 miles northwest of Toronto. Although he is retired, at least on paper, he has worked as a historian and in archaeology for several decades, and still does contract work for a local archaeologist, researching backgrounds of property which have to be surveyed. Patrick has a very keen interest and involvement in the marine history & archaeology of the Great Lakes.

He visited Granby and Loughborough in the late 90’s but admits that his sister has done most of the research into the history of their family. The Folkes (various spellings) appear to have been on the land around Granby until the early 19th century and then after the Napoleonic Wars ended up in the mills in Nottingham.  Curiously enough his father’s immediate family had no recollection or notion that they originated in Nottinghamshire not far from Loughborough or that there was a connection to Nottingham. All this emerged from his sister’s research. That roughly is his connection to Nottinghamshire. He ends by saying that he would love to be able to attend some of our functions as they sound so very interesting. Perhaps one of these days!

Entry is now open for the 2015 D.H. Lawrence Heritage Poetry Competition. To celebrate becoming one of Nottinghamshire’s newest registration offices this year’s theme is ‘LOVE’.

The deadline for entries is 1st July 2015 and they should be sent to culture@broxtowe.gov.uk or to D.H. Lawrence Heritage, D.H. Lawrence Heritage Centre, Mansfield Road, Eastwood, Notts NG16 3DZ.

The first prize winner will receive £100 worth of book tokens with prizes also available for runners-up.