Saturday August 2nd TBC

Hobby Donkey Derby 

Memorial Gardens, Belper | 2pm-4pm 

The Hobby Donkey Derby will be a chance to display home-made hobby donkeys, as we remember the traditional 19th century Belper Donkey Race. 

The hobby donkeys will be made at workshops in the run-up to the event, but entrants will also be welcome to bring anything vaguely hobby-like to ride on the day.

Children and adult riders will have chance to display their hobby donkeys in the ring from 2pm. Prizes will be awarded for the ‘best in show’ Hobby Donkeys covering a number of themes. If there are any other varieties of donkey, ‘pantomime donkey’ for instance, there will be a prize for ‘the best non-hobby donkey’!

Saturday August 8th

Preserving Belper’s Industrial Heritage

No.28, Market Place | 9am-1pm 

A project coordinated by Belper Historical Society (BHS), engaging with communities in and around Belper who may have family artefacts from Belper factories. Volunteer BHS ‘curators’ will help to collect, organise and preserve factory-related photographs, documents and artefacts, creating virtual scrapbooks. 

Once catalogued and digitised, original materials will be offered to the Derbyshire Record Office for long term storage. 

Free entry

Belper Gardening Club Horticultural Show 

Central Methodist Chapel Grounds, 

Chapel Street | 12noon-4pm

This friendly annual show for BGC members, celebrates their success in growing and making from fresh produce. The competition is open to members only but the public will be welcome to visit and view the wonderful displays in the afternoon after the judges have awarded rosettes and ‘Best in Show’. The colourful display will be a feast for the eyes and hopefully inspire others to have a go at growing. Viewing is: Free entry

Sunday August 9th

Walk: Bullsmoor – Its History and Songs 

Start from Coppice Car Park | 2pm

Join Sarah Hinds and Adrian Farmer for a two-mile history walk around Bullsmoor. Sarah will perform unaccompanied songs about Bullsmoor. While campaigning to save Bullsmoor from housing developments Sarah learnt all kinds of interesting and unexpected things about the area. She wrote the ‘Bullsmoor blog’ and created the ‘Bullsmoor song project’. In the 2019 Belper Arts Festival, her dad Colin Hinds led a walk across Bullsmoor to share some of these stories. Colin was an enthusiastic hiker and creator of walks around Derbyshire. This walk is in his memory.

No need to book. Please wear outdoor footwear and clothes suitable for the weather on the day. The walk is on pathways and includes stiles. Bring your own drink. For enquiries email Sarah at sarah.hinds@hotmail.com 

Cash donation

Saturday August 15th

Concert: Ballards of Belper

Belper Unitarian Chapel, Field Row | 7pm

An evening of song, tunes and poems that relate to the history of Belper and the industrial revolution. The first half of the evening will be a curated event, during which invited guests will sings songs, play tunes and recite poems that relate to the history of Belper, the emphasis being on material from or related to the industrial revolution.

It will include music from Sarah Hinds, a Belper-based singer/songwriter. Her first song about Belper, Bullsmoor Lament, was written in 2018 as part of local protests around housing developments on Bullsmoor. She has since written songs about the history of the nailers, Jedediah Strutt and the North Mill. Bullsmoor Lament and Sun Goes down on Bullsmoor can be heard on her second album ‘Songs from the Shed’. More information at https://sarahhinds.wordpress.com 

The second half of the evening will be a ‘come-all-ye’ during which anyone will be welcome to sing a song, play a tune, or recite a poem, so long as it relates to the Ballads of Belper theme.

Half of the funds donated will be made available to artists to cover travel expenses etc, the other half will go to support the Unitarian Chapel.

Entry by donation

Friday August 28th

Welcome Meal Project

No.28 Market Place, Belper | 12-2pm

The Welcome Meal Project is a monthly community meal run by volunteers and offers pay-what-you-can for soup, bread and a pudding is supported by Transition Belper 

No need to book – Pay what you can

Sunday August 30th

Getting Crabs, Throwing Stones and Other Offences Belper Heritage Talk: 19th Century Trespassers in Milford 

No.28, Market Place | 6pm

Talk by Jane Whitaker, the fourth in a series of five from the Belper North Mill Trust. A notebook kept by the Milford Nightwatchmen in the 1830s was handed over to Belper Historical Society in 2022. After transcribing the book, it was possible to identify the people involved, the places that attracted trespassers and the punishments meted out to offenders. The talk shows a fascinating and very detailed picture of a different side of local life.

Booking is essential to ensure a seat, booking fees may apply online via www.belpernorthmill.org.uk
£6 per person

Summer

Human Chess Match 

Belper Chess Club event – possibly at Strutts Centre, in the playground/car park.