NGV May/June 2022

Tanya About Town
The year seems to
be flying by. How
can we be heading
toward the longest
day already? Here’s
my pick of what’s on
in and around Notts
during May and June.
Dare you enter the deep forest
at Rufford Abbey Country
Park where bears, snakes and
tigers roam? Enjoy an immersive
adaptation of The Jungle
Book (1-5 June). A journey
of dance, puppetry, music and
comedy - featuring professional
performers, fantastic costumes
and beautiful scenery.
A fantastic season of open-air
theatre performances awaits this
summer. Newstead Abbey plays
host to Awful Auntie, Pride &
Prejudice, Twelfth Night, Much
Ado About Murder, Jane Eyre
and Peter Pan (11 June - 4
Sept), while Wollaton welcomes
The Gunpowder Plot, As You
Like It, Awful Auntie, Romeo
& Juliet, Cinderella and A
Midsummer Night’s Dream (16
June - 1 Sept).
There’s plenty to see and do
at Belvoir Castle too over the
coming weeks. First up, their
very own Vintage Weekend is
back for its second year running
(28/ 29 May). Swing bands, jazz
singers, re-enactors, living history
encampments and classic cars
will be taking over the Castle’s
cannonade and front lawn for
a weekend of entertainment
suitable for all the family!
‘Belvoir Revisited’ is getting a
sci-fi fantasy twist as the famous
Regency Castle prepares for
the Ministry of Steampunk
takeover! (25/26 June) Escape
to an alternate futuristic
reality powered by steam and
adventure!
For more fashion of the future,
Fashanne returns to St Mary’s
Church (5 May) in Nottingham
city centre. This annual event
celebrates the talent of the final
year fashion/textile students from
universities in the East Midlands
and beyond. Set up by BBC
presenter and journalist Anne
Davies in 2016, this year marks
a return to a live event after two
years online due to Covid and
this year’s event is set to be the
most exciting yet!
Green’s Windmill takes part
in National Mills Weekend (7
May), the annual festival of the
UK’s milling heritage, celebrate
by visiting Nottingham’s famous
working windmill. Climb the mill
to see the breath-taking views
and discover how the staff at the
windmill turn grain into flour.
Fans of history can enjoy a
fascinating day out at Britain’s
finest Victorian waterworks
by visiting a Steaming Day at
Papplewick Pumping Station
(1-2 May/4-5 June). You can
learn even more about the
pumping station at a talk at
Arnold Methodist Church
(17 May). Now protected as a
Scheduled Ancient Monument,
the highest preservation order
that can be bestowed upon a site
in England, this beautiful place
was designed in the early 1880s
to pump millions of gallons of
clean fresh water daily to the
rapidly increasing population of
industrial Nottingham.
At Bromley Library House,
learn all about the early infamous