Located inside the grounds of Bolsover Castle, there is a surprise waiting that even many locals probably don’t know is there.

The Bolsover Castle Bowling Club.

Set against what is possibly the best backdrop a local bowling club has, this small and friendly club has been in existence since 1914. It is open and available for social bowling every day and they enter teams in competitive league bowling Monday to Friday.

We went along to see them in action.

A small team of volunteers in Shirebrook are doing their bit to help preserve butterflies, as once a week they count the insects around the town’s Brook Park.

Willy Lane, a Butterfly Coordinator told us what the count entails and encourages more people to join the group.

With 28 live bands and artists over three-days, the 2023 Vale Fest promises to be a spectacular weekend of entertainment.

The Festival has headline acts such as Nick Parker and The False Alarms, Gladness and Metropolis all performing during the weekend. These acts are backed up by artists like Stinking Rita, Blue Vulture, The Rye Sisters, Sinful Maggie and many more.

With two stages and an open mic stage available (all under cover), this family and dog friendly festival will also have free children's entertainment, a variety of catering stalls, traders and a fully licensed bar.  

Pinxton's 'Singing for the Brain’ group is going from strength-to-strength and is attracting more people to every session.

Held every two-weeks on Monday's at Pinxton Village Hall from 1.15-2.45pm the group is filled with many different types of people, some living with varying aspects of Dementia and some people attend purely as a social gathering with lots of laughter, singing and spending time with a friendly bunch of people.

You do not have to be good at singing, as it is a very informal gathering of like-minded people that enjoy singing and music as a social activity. The whole point is to have fun! After only a few months the group's numbers are growing and a lovely social group has now formed.

Our Community Woodlands Scheme is gathering pace as another orchard has recently been planted.

On the back of the recent orchard planted at south Street Recreation Ground in South Normanton, children from Whaley Thorns Primary School joined our workforce to plant a number of fruit trees on land adjacent to the school.

Complete with spades, trowels, gloves, compost, bonemeal, netting and tree guards, groups of children took it in turns to plant the sapling trees.