05.
May - Dec
Unity Mill Exhibition
Derwentside Shopping Mill | Mon-Fri 9am-5pm,
Sunday and Bank Holidays 10am-4pm
Derwentside Shopping Mill have a display in the entrance showing the history of Unity Mill from when it was built to the present day. There is a walkthrough exhibition of posters and pictures with amusing stories related to the mill.
Alongside this, the mill are running a 10% off deal on certain items showing the Belper 250 logo.
Free entry
Friday May 1st
Talk: The Workers May Day
No.28, Market Place | 7pm
Talk by Adrian Perry of the Derby People’s History Group. The summer of 1842 was a time of widespread distress and with mounting industrial unrest across the country the Chartist Movement called a General Strike. The people of the Belper area responded on Monday 22 August at 8.00am with ‘a large mob several thousand strong’ gathering on Holbrook Moor and despite the efforts of hussars and dragoons to prevent it 700 of them marched on to Derby. No booking required.
Free entry, donations welcome
Saturday May 2nd
River Derwent Cruise and Celebration
Belper River Gardens | 12noon-5pm
A River Cruise for adults and family groups. From the beautiful River Gardens, either take part in a race upstream and back (3 miles) or take a leisurely cruise with fellow paddlers, upstream as far as Ambergate, returning to socialise and enjoy displays and music back at the River Gardens. Or just come to watch, and take a look at the activities – information stalls, dance and acoustic music – celebrating the river and its importance to Belper.
Paddle participants – £5 to enter a craft. Your own ‘river worthy’ self-propelled craft is required. Approved buoyancy aids must be worn. No unaccompanied U18s. Safety support by ‘Paddle Peak’ https://peakuk.com
Non Paddle UK members will need to take out a day membership unless they are a member of an affiliated club, so that they are covered for event and liability insurance
Advance bookings only, no entry available on the day. Book through https://peakuk.com/paddlesportevents/cruise
Performance Programme
1pm – the boats head off to Ambergate
1.10pm – 1.30pm: The River Wedding - Chris Lewis-Jones to lead and perform in the bandstand.
1.30 – 2.00pm: Fleet Folkloric Forum – Chris Lewis-Jones will be giving an accordion performance, then the ‘Dripping Forecast’ performance and there may be hobby-donkeys to see as well.
2.00pm – 2.30pm: Rough Truffles will be performing the official Song for Belper and other songs by local songwriter Tracey Wilkinson. The Song for Belper will include a new verse about the Belper 250 celebrations.
2.30 – 3.00pm: Open invite to perform something water/river related in Bandstand for any travelling songsters/poets – sign up at the DVMWHS stand.
From 10am to 3.30pm there will be stalls in the central section of the River Gardens with information about the river, and things to see. They include the Derwent Pilgrimage Group with Fleet Folkloric Forum, the Belper North Mill Trust with Dr Ian Jackson’s display on hydropower, and Long Row School PTA are running an activity for families too.
Free to observe and view displays.
Sun-Mon May 3rd-4th
Belper Arts Trail
Belper Town Centre | 10.30am-4.30pm
Come along and be part of the 13th Belper Arts Trail. There will be artists, makers and creatives all over the town centre area in many different venues – displaying, performing and demonstrating.
Wristbands and trail guides can be purchased at the event from:
St Peters Church
The Strutt Centre
The Market Place
The Memorial Gardens
The Studio
Belle La Vie
Wristband price £5 includes a trail guide
Friday May 8th
Talk: Belper Stories
Unitarian Chapel, Field Row | 7pm
Adrian Farmer talks about some of Belper’s stories from the past 250 years, going through a series of themes: people and animals, battles and celebrations, small moments and big events. Refreshments available in the interval. No need to book, just turn up.
Free entry, donations welcome to support the chapel
Talk: An Elusive Legacy – The Rediscovery of Roman Baths in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Main Hall, Strutts Community Centre | 7pm for 7.30pm
A talk by Dr Giacomo Savani – Bathing wasn't just about hygiene to the Romans; it was a key part of social and political life. The talk will investigate how eighteenth-century antiquarians reacted when they first came across the remains of Roman bath buildings in Britain, with a particular focus on the town of Buxton and the city of Bath. It reconstructs the antiquarians' varied interests and occasionally wild theories about the ancient practice of bathing, especially regarding the hypocaust system, which heated the baths. Although the renowned antiquarian William Stukeley (1687–1765) praised the hypocaust as an 'incomparable invention, 'the baths' heating system remained a subject of debate among Georgian scholars, who were often confounded by the subtleties ofthe ancient descriptions. Finally, we'll delve into the elusive socio-cultural legacy of Roman baths in Britain 250 years ago, highlighting how these discoveries influenced, or sometimes reinvented, contemporary ideas about bathing and architecture.
Refreshments available before and after the talk.
Booking and Ticket information
Entry £5 for Adults £2 for accompained under 18's
Saturday May 9th
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
Sunday May 10th
National Mills Weekend
Come along to Strutt’s North Mill as they celebrate National Mills Weekend! Visit www.belpernorthmill.org.uk to find out more.
May Fest Victorian Tea Party
Derby Arboretum Park | 12noon-4pm
Join the Friends of Derby Arboretum for the May Fest Victorian Tea Party. This free event features Victorian costumed characters, Maypole Dancing, music, activities, games, and refreshments celebrating Derby’s diversity. Honouring Joseph Strutt, who gifted the Arboretum to Derby in 1840, the event welcomes families and all communities.
No booking required
Thursday May 14th
Peek Through a Long Row Window
Belper Unitarian Chapel, Field Row | 7pm
Belper actress and performer Judith Hibbert returns with a one-woman show – a mix of music, humour and projected images from Belper’s past, creating a picture of life in the town in the first half of the 20th century.
Booking is essential. To book a space, email belpertalks.walks@gmail.com with your name and number of places required, and the performance you wish to attend.
Entry by donation
Saturday May 16th
Peek Through a Long Row Window
No.28, Market Place | 7pm
Belper actress and performer Judith Hibbert returns with a one-woman show – a mix of music, humour and projected images from Belper’s past, creating a picture of life in the town in the first half of the 20th century.
Booking is essential. To book a space, email belpertalks.walks@gmail.com with your name and number of places required, and the performance you wish to attend.
Entry £5
Music: Leftychris Band
The Queens Head, Chesterfield Road, Belper | 7pm
Acoustic Folk Rock Original 5 piece with drums, bass, violin, acoustic guitar and co vocal.
Places can be reserved via mjones572@hotmail.co.uk
Entry £10, £8 unwaged
Sunday May 17th
Walk: World of Workers
North Mill Car Park | 2pm-4pm
The Belpet Mill Community, built from 1785 onwards to house the workers in the Strutt family cotton spinning mills is the oldest cottton spinning town in the world. Explore the Short and Long Rows and discover why the Strutt family needed to build so many houses. Includes a visit to the Unitarian Chapel and includes a Cluster House, courtesy of the present owner.
Booking essential, booking fees may apply via www.belpernorthmill.org.uk.
Adults £7.50, Under 16s free
May 18th-31st
Belper u3a Walking Treasure Hunt
Enjoy searching for interesting items on buildings, roads etc. found in central Belper. The numbered, photographed clues you need, with a route map are available from the u3a website. Printed maps and photographs can be collected from:
- Library, Derwent Street, DE56 1UG
- Strutts' Community Centre, Derby Road, DE56 1UU
- G.O Coopers' Butchers, 68 King St, DE56 1PZ
If you start in the market place, find the first clue and mark a '1' at its approximate position on the map. Continue to mark the location of each clue you find.
Maps correctly marked with the position of all clues can be entered into a prize draw, if you write your name, email or phone number on the back of the map. Pass it into one of the locations above.
Free entry
Thursday May 21st
Talk: Finding the Historic in the Folkloric
Room 107, Strutts Community Centre | 7pm for 7.30pm
Talk by Chris Lewis-Jones for Belper Historical Society. A lively exploration of the ways in which folklore opens the door to a deeper appreciation of history, and vice versa, from artist, folklorist and archaeological illustrator, Chris Lewis-Jones.
Free to members, £5 for visitors
Friday May 22nd
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
Saturday May 23rd
Walk: Discover Belper Channels
Belper Market Place | 11am-1pm
Most people are surprised to find out how many channels there are in Belper, most of them hidden from view. They illustrate all of Belper’s History. Most of the paths are easy to walk but the steps on some channels are surprisingly steep.
Join leader John Morrissey on this 4 mile circular walk which covers the northern areas of historic Belper and circle around to Dam Side and back to the Market Place.
Walking boots or sturdy footwear are recommended.
Booking essential, booking fees may apply via www.belpernorthmill.org.uk.
Adults £7.50, Under 16s free
Peek Through a Long Row Window
Room 107, Strutts Centre | 7pm
Belper actress and performer Judith Hibbert returns with a one-woman show – a mix of music, humour and projected images from Belper’s past, creating a picture of life in the town in the first half of the 20th century.
Booking is essential. To book a space, email belpertalks.walks@gmail.com with your name and number of places required, and the performance you wish to attend.
Entry £5
Mon-Fri May 25th-29th
Hobby Donkey Workshops
Chris Lewis-Jones working with Fleet Arts to deliver half-term workshops on creating hobby donkeys for the Belper Donkey Day on August 2nd. More info to follow.
Thur-Fri May 28th-29th
Two Queens – Elizabeth I & Mary Queen of Scots
St Peter's Church, Belper | Doors at 6.30pm
A Derbyshire TudorTale. A new play by George Gunby, Directed by Rebecca Holmes.
During May 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots escaped from Lochleven Castle and made her way to England. Eventually she was imprisoned in Wingfield Manor in the custody of Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury. The Countess is better known as Bess of Hardwick. Over the next nineteen years, Mary's life revolved around treachery and intrigue, connivance and plot as she attempted to claim the English throne.
Booking Essential: from livetickets.org (booking fees may apply) and St Peter's Church, Belper.
Entry £15
Sunday May 31st
Food Festival
Held in town centre more info to follow.
Talk: Belper in the Frame: The Edwardian Era
No.28 Market Place | 6pm
Third in a series of six talks by Adrian Farmer, looking at the past 250 years in Belper through historic images. This session concentrates on images from the beginning of the 20th century.
Booking essential. Refreshments available for a donation. To book, email belpertalks.walks@gmail.com with your name and number of places required.
Entry £5