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Matlock Bath Illuminations 2021
Sunday nights are all about our younger visitors, and the themed night on Sunday, 24 October is “Super Heroes”.
Meet our special guests Iron Man and Spider Man - and please do come dressed to impress in your own outfits.
Plus, of course we have the famous parade of decorated boats on the River Derwent, our fairground, the lights and lots of food and drink stalls.
Please visit www.derbyshiredales.gov. uk/illuminations for information.
Enter our competition for a chance to win:
Win a Family Ticket for Sunday 24th October 21
Question - What is illuminated? Answer: A) Boats B) Trains C) Planes
T&C’s: Tickets are for a family ticket (2 Adults and 2 Children under 16). Date can not be changed. Car Parking is Competition not included, tickets are for entry to the illuminations only. To enter simply email the answer to the question to community@voicemagazines.co.uk with the title “Matlock Illuminations” including your name and telephone number.
Chesterfield & District Beekeeping Association (CDBKA) has been in existence since 1947. Current membership stands at over 200 which is a record for the Association. Members have a wide range of age and experience, very few of whom meet the stereotypical beekeeper image –white, male, retired and bearded! Many are women, and young working people are now joining, thanks to the now-raised profile of bees and pollinators.
We are a friendly bunch, with the experienced beekeepers always happy to give advice on the issues that can flummox newer beekeepers, or ‘newbees’ as we affectionately call them. Our region covers the South Yorkshire border down to the Matlock area taking in parts of Nottingham and Mansfield, however our base is Hasland, near Chesterfield. We have a small apiary where we teach and groups of ‘newbees’ who can gain ‘hands-on’ experience before they have their own bees.
One of the Association’s main aims is education of both beekeepers and the public. We run beginners courses each spring for beekeepersto-be as we believe it’s important to know how to manage the bees BEFORE doing the exciting part of buying the first hive and bees. Support is continued with mentoring and further training sessions and workshops.
More experienced members can expand their knowledge via practical and theory courses, with optional exams and assessments, supported by our own trainers and the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) of which we are a member. Educating the public is a high priority too. Many people don’t know the difference between honeybees and bumble bees which makes our volunteer swarm collectors very busy during the swarming season. They are contacted usually via the BBKA interactive map. Swarm collecting provides an opportunity to share knowledge as people are usually very interested in what is happening with the bees.
At local summer fairs and shows we spend the day chatting to people about honeybees. One or two members also give talks and presentations to local schools and groups, sometimes with bees included! During the season our apiary managers welcome members of the public to don a bee suit (which we loan them), open up the hives and invite them to take a closer look at our bees. Most find this closeness a little scary but fascinating.
Honeybees are our passion and this is what we want to share with the non-beekeeping public. Not so much to encourage them to keep bees themselves but to care about them, and help by planting the right flowers in their gardens, reducing their use of pesticides and understanding what bees and all other pollinators need.
For further information about CDBKA, contact the Secretary at kathy.cdbka@gmail.com For general information about honeybees, visit www.bbka.org.uk
Kathy Warren - Secretary
This walk should take you and your dog around 2 hours to complete. An undulating country walk on footpaths, lanes and roads. Care needed when crossing roads. There may be some uneven and muddy terrain, depending on the weather so please wear appropriate footwear. There can be some loose cattle on this walk, so please take care and as always, follow the countryside code, keeping dogs on leads where appropriate.
A version of this month’s walk originally featured in the magazine in 2017, to commemorate the bicentenary of the Pentrich Revolution. The Pentrich and South Wingfield Revolution Group published a series of historical walks as part of the bicentenary. The original walk, along with 18 others can all be found on their website (www.pentrichrevolution.org.uk), along with a wealth of historical information and resources.
On 9th June 1817, over 300 men set out for Nottingham from villages on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border. They thought they were part of a ‘general rising’ to bring down an unjust and oppressive government. Many joined the rising from the Swanwick area, where discontent among miners and framework knitters had already been expressed in Luddite activity and an active Hampden Club.
4.5-mile circular walk from St Andrews Church, Swanwick
Start: Andrew’s Church, Derby Road, Swanwick. Free car park across the road from St Andrew’s Church.
1. From St Andrew’s Church walk down the road, The Green, (B6016) following the signs to the Conference Centre. Take the first turning to the right, Hayes Lane, and walk on, crossing the road to go up to the entrance to the Hayes Conference Centre. Here turn left, at the footpath sign, to follow the track up the hill. In 1817 Swanwick was a village of miners or stocking framework knitters who faced poverty and hunger. Reputed to be a centre of Luddite activity, there was much support for reform of Parliament called for by the Hampden
Club, meeting at the Queen’s Head in Alfreton. We follow the route taken by men from Swanwick and
Alfreton as they marched towards Codnor. They included ‘secret committee’ men, Edward Haslam and James Barnes, who marched at the rear with his gun, William Elliott and George Rawson who had brought bullets they had cast, and Laban Taylor at whose home Jeremiah Brandreth had stayed on 6th June.
2. Passing Hilltop Mink Farm on the right, continue until the track turns sharply. Go straight ahead over the stile, to follow the sign to Golden Valley. Follow the footpath straight ahead down the hillside. Go under the railway line. After 100 yards, right under the 2nd underpass, walk on and cross the railway line. Immediately after the railway line take left fork up through the trees. You pass the Midland Railway and the former Swanwick Station. On your right you see the former Brittain Pit, a colliery opened by the Butterley Company in 1827 and closed in 1946. 3. Past the Brittain Pit turn right at the junction of paths (taking Amber Valley Route 4). After a few yards turn left to go down the hill to cross two stiles in the valley. BEWARE of the barbed wire on the stiles. Enter the field and follow the path up left along the hedge to reach a road. Cross over and continue ahead, alongside a second field to reach the Coach Road. This area is Butterley Park. The rebels came this way visiting houses and farms to take men and weapons. The home of Harriet Marriot was visited and a gun taken. The rebels marched on from here to reach Codnor where the main rebel party waited. 4. Turn right along the Coach Road, until you reach the white house. Below you is the tunnel of the Cromford Canal. From the now blocked tunnel in
Golden Valley it continued under Butterley Park for 2,996 yards. It is the only tunnel of its kind in the world with an underground wharf, which served the Butterley works. This magnificent feat of engineering was built by the engineer William Jessop in 1794. See the remains of the two airshafts, each surrounded by an earth mound and trees, on the right of the road. Cavalry from the Chesterfield Troop of Yeomanry and pikemen waited here on 10th June to capture fleeing insurgents. Several hid in the Swanwick Woods but were captured and joined 28 others who were taken to Derby Gaol that night. 5. At the junction by the white house go straight ahead to pass the Police Headquarters on the left. Notice it says it is OK for authorised vehicles and pedestrians to go there. Butterley Hall, built in 1790, now within the Police HQ, was the home of Benjamin Outram, founder of the Butterley Iron works.
6. Turn right and walk down the road to Derby Road at Butterley. On your left you will see the site of Butterley Works and the Gatehouse. The main body of marchers stopped here and demanded guns. The manager, Goodwin, and a few special constables refused to open the gates. Too weak to attack the Gatehouse the rebels left empty handed and marched on towards Codnor. Goodwin knew some of the men, who previously worked at
Butterley, and gave evidence of their ‘character’ at the Derby Trials. See the plaque on the old Gate House of the works.
7. Turn right along Derby Road. Pass the Midland Railway on your left, then after crossing the railway bridge take a signposted path on your right. Walk alongside a field with Butterley Grange on your left and railway off to the right. Continue ahead on the footpath and continue around Grange Farm. Turn left just before the signs for the Ripley Airfield then cross a stile and bear right up the hill towards The Hayes Conference Centre. There are often cattle here, so please take care, especially with dogs.
In 1817 Butterley Grange was the home of John
Wright, a partner of Outram and Jessop at the iron works. The Hayes built in 1860, now a conference centre, was a POW camp for German officers in
WW2, made famous by the film, ‘The One That Got
Away’, of the one successful escape by a German officer. 8. Passing the Conference Centre on your left you come back to Hilltop Mink Farm. Cross back over the stile on your left and turn right to return down the track to the entrance of Hayes Conference Centre and back into Swanwick. The march proved a tragedy for local men fleeing before soldiers at the
Gilt Brook. Three from Swanwick and Alfreton were tried in Derby. German Buxton (31), miner, married with a daughter, originally from Wessington, was transported for life. Thomas Bettison (35), miner, transported for 14 years, as was Joseph Rawson (32) framework knitter. Among those arrested and imprisoned but later released were Anthony Elliott, John Hall and James Robinson.
