The Autumn weather has definitely got off to a mixed start, is there a good mix of things to do in and around Nottingham to match? Read on to find out…

Firstly, Heritage Open Days return (10-19 Sept) England’s largest festival of history and culture. Every year in September places across the country throw open their doors to celebrate their heritage, community and history. It’s your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – and it’s all FREE.

The Nottingham Green Festival will be held (Sun 12 Sept) at The Arboretum. You can enjoy free live music, outdoor entertainment and activities plus community stalls with refreshments, ethical products and energy-saving technologies.
Roll up, roll up because the circus is in town as Gandeys returns with a sensational new production for 2021! (10 – 13 Sept) You can catch the premiere of “The Double Acrobatic Swing” which promises to be an act that will truly have you on the edge of your own seat.

You can also enjoy non-stop events and activities, as The Festival of the Horse offers a fantastic experience for the whole family at Belvoir Castle (11 – 12 Sep)
Get ready for the 2021 Nottingham Mini Mela! (10-12 Sept) Enjoy a weekend full of free activities, music, dance, poetry, family friendly events, storytelling, workshops, art, giant puppets and more at The New Art Exchange
Nottingham Pride takes place (Sat 11 Sep) With a colourful parade, live music, inspiring speeches and performances; come along and celebrate as Nottingham’s streets come to life with a rainbow of colour, vibrant music and dancing.
Bands in the Park Arboretum take place during September (19, 26) The Arboretum is Nottingham’s oldest public park and the closest park to the city centre. There are also Bands in the Park concerts at Victoria Embankment
Stagger around the Nottingham Ale Trail. With over 40 breweries in Nottinghamshire and nearly 50 pubs serving cask ale in the city centre, the event remains central to Nottingham’s pub scene with a month-long celebration of local pubs, breweries and cask ale. (3 Sept – 3 Oct)

Thoresby Park Craft and Artisan Food Market returns (3 Oct), offering a range of stalls from homemade dog treats and homemade bee products to gin, chutneys, jewellery and much more.
If you’ve missed live music, look no further than the Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall. Put on your red shoes and dance to the Bowie Experience (10 Sept), Boyzone and Westlife unite for an evening of classic hits (12 Sep) and of course, we’ve missed our musicals! Nominated for 5 Olivier Awards including Best New Musical, the sell-out London smash hit SIX visits the Theatre Royal (7-12 Sept). From Tudor queens to pop princesses, the six wives of Henry VIII finally take to the mic to tell their tales, remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute celebration of 21st-century girl power.

Willy Russell’s legendary Blood Brothers is also back telling the captivating tale of twins who, separated at birth, grow up on opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with fateful consequences (14-18 Sept).
Enter a world of magic and fantasy as Disney’s classic movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks makes its world premiere as an exciting new stage musical Star Wars fans should head to Nottingham Playhouse for It’s A Trap – The Improvised Star Wars Show. The show explores untold stories of the Star Wars universe. A handful of audience suggestions creates a unique episode before your eyes – complementing and breaking the canon in unexpected and ingenious ways! “May the Forst of October be with you!” (1 Oct)

(6-10 Oct). Down the road at the Motorpoint Arena, The Dreamboys promise a raunchy night out (10 Sept), The Specials hit the road again (17 Sept). ‘The One More Haim Tour’ will see the band performing their biggest UK shows to date. A welcome return for the Californian sisters (24 Sept).
If it’s comedy you’re after, The Canalhouse Comedy Night is back featuring a mixture of new acts and established acts trying new material (8/22 Sep)

Unless stated, always assume there is a charge for the event. I would still recommend you ring ahead or check online before making any journeys, and adhere to and respect any social distancing measures that remain in place.
All details are correct at the time of going to press.

Ashfield District Council are pleased to be bringing Hollywood back to Ashfield with four free outdoor cinema screenings over the next two weekends. The popular events are back following the success of the first outdoor cinemas in 2019. This year the screenings will take place across the first two weekends in September in Kirkby, Hucknall, Selston and Sutton. Each location will be showing two blockbuster films as voted for by residents; a family friendly film from 2.30pm and an evening showing from 6.30pm.

The cinema events are on:
Saturday 4th September – Kirkby Plaza, showing Trolls: World Tour and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!
Sunday 5th September – Titchfield Park, Hucknall, showing Raya & The Last Dragon and Rocketman
Saturday 11th September – Selston Country Park showing Tom & Jerry: The Movie and Grease
Sunday 12th September – Sutton Lawn, showing The Lion King and Bohemian Rhapsody

Cllr Jason Zadrozny, Leader of Ashfield District Council, said “The outdoor cinema screening events will be a real celebration for Ashfield, a chance for us all to come together and enjoy time with friends and family. We know how much residents loved the outdoor cinema events when we first introduced them in 2019, and if it wasn’t for the pandemic, we would have held them again last year. “These screenings will be better than ever with two film options to suit everyone’s tastes. We have invested over £2million into our parks and green spaces over the past two years so these events are the perfect chance to show them off.”

Cllr Arnie Hankin, Ward Councillor for Selston, commented “We are so pleased that Selston Country Park is able to host an outdoor cinema screen this year, as we have big plans to improve the park and café. We are holding a public consultation event at the Selston screening and we would love residents to give their opinions on the plans for Selston Country Park, before or after they enjoy the films”.

Vampire Rocks- Ghost Train rolled into Mansfield to entertain a sold out crowd at Mansfield’s Palace Theatre. Vampire Rocks- Ghost Train is the brainchild of Steve Steinman, who made his name as a Meat Loaf impersonator many decades ago, (Some of you might be old enough to remember seeing him appear on Stars in Their Eyes). Vampires Rock is one of his productions that started way back in 2003, since then it has gone through various reincarnations over the years, with each year improving on the previous year. This years tour was no exception.

Within that time, there have been various cast members and on odd occasions he has secured the services of very well known musicians (Torah Wilcox, Eddie Ojeda, Sam Bailey). Although these “celebrities” got tongues wagging and raised the publicity of the show, and are undoubtedly very talented, Steve and his cast are more than able to entertain the crowd to the same standard as those musical “celebrities”.

The storyline is as old as time itself, Vampire wants new bride to feed on.
Vampire marries girl. Vampire bites girl. Girl becomes a Vampire. So no prizes for an original story line, however Steve and his cast of dancers and musicians inject a tongue in cheek approach to the classic story which is underpinned by some of the greatest rock anthems ever recorded.
The script is written in a light hearted way to create an evening of laughter, at times even having friendly banter with the audience. The script had been altered recently to include gags about Prince Andrew, The masked Singer and Phillip Schofield. You can’t be more current than that.

The plot has a dark and mysterious twist with a masked character called Van Halensing, who is on a mission to kill Baron Von Rockula. Even though most of the fans of this show like Steve’s vocals, the audience have lots of opportunity to listen to the other vocalists such as Claire Micallef who plays the naïve Roxy Honeybox and is more than capable at belting out classic rock anthems to an impressive standard, songs such as “Poison” and “I Need A Hero” and “Total Eclipse of The Heart”all hit their mark.

Alongside Claire, the Queen Vampire played by Emily Clark was also given her fair share of vocal duties which she nailed with absolute laser precision. Baron Von Rockulas servant Bosley (played by John Evans) also has moments throughout the show to perform. He never fails to deliver enough energy to get the audience stood up swaying and rocking along to Van Halens “Jump” and Europe’s “Final Countdown”.

The dialogue at times is self depreciating and appears to be not taken too seriously, the music is a stark contrast, Steve and his musicians try to replicate classic rock tracks with the utmost professionalism, anthems such as “Back in black”, “Devil Gate Drive”, “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, “Tainted Love”, “Pour Some Sugar on me” and “The Monster is Loose” all make for a wonderful musical backdrop as the storyline progresses through Baron Von Rockulas journey through dating, marrying, dying, and reawakening from the dead to seek revenge on Van Halensing.

Whilst the musicians Pete Jean (drummer), Zoe Parr (Bassist), Henry Bird (Guitarist) and Jamie Hiscox (Guitarist) all managed to deliver the musical assault on the ears, the dancers Victoria Hawley and Trixabelle Bold provided the visual stimulation to bring an incredibly sexy edge to the music. The dancers attire mainly consisted of leather, leather and more leather, as well as the occasional corset.

The show finished with Meat Loafs “Bat Out of Hell”. The crowd lapped up every moment of this legendary rock anthem. Arms swaying from side to side whilst the sold out crowd sang along. The audience wanted more, and sure enough The cast of Vampires Rock- Ghost Train were more than happy to give the fans what they wanted by performing “Crazy Crazy Nights” by Kiss.

This is a great uplifting witty show with incredible rock anthems. will this stage show ever win an Olivier award? Possibly not. However it’s intention is to entertain and it always manages to do that after nearly two decades of touring. Great music, great entertainment, and great value for money, what else could you ask for?

Tickets are already on sale for Steve Steinmans other productions “Anything For Love” and “Love Hurts”.
Review by Luke Seagrave.
Photographs by Luke Seagrave.

This February half-term, QUAD have an exciting range of activities for families and young people of all ages. Make and Take Day, Monday 17th February, 11.00am-4.00pm, for all ages. QUAD’s popular family friendly artist-led creative sessions are suitable for families with children of ages.

Choose from a range of craft materials to make whatever you want and take it away afterwards – just bring some imagination! The drop-in sessions are free. KidsQUAD: Build your own Video Game workshop, Monday 17th February, 10.30am-3.00pm, £25.00, for ages 7-11 years. A chance to learn how to design and build a video game that can be played online at home.

KidsQUAD are creative activities open to children aged seven to eleven years, without grown-ups. booking is recommended and a packed lunch is required. MinecraftLAB Survive workshop takes place in QUAD on Wednesday 19th February from 11.00am-4.00pm, £22.50, for ages 8-16. A series of fun creative sessions at QUAD for ages eight to sixteen focused around the popular game Minecraft, focusing on specific objectives and a community-themed build. Join QUAD’s Minecraft team for a day of ‘Survival’, Minecraft’s original game mode where players must collect resources, build structures, battle mobs, manage hunger, and explore the world in order to survive.

Advance booking is recommended as there are limited places remaining, a packed lunch is required. Teardown! Reimagine! Saturday 22th February, 1.30pm-4.00pm, for ages 8 and up. An animation workshop with UK artists Anna Bunting-Branch and Aliyah Hussain to explore the themes in QUAD’s new digital exhibition ‘Warm Worlds and Otherwise’ by deconstructing machines to create animated characters, sounds and new worlds. The workshop is free, but booking is essential. QUAD’s VR Day, for ages 8 and above. explores the digital world of virtual reality (VR), including a VR Storyroom ‘The Lift’; decision making sci-fi experiment ‘Playing God’, ‘Beat Saber’ competition, plus creative VR experience ‘Tilt Brush’.

• The Lift is a chance to travel through time and space to meet a long extinct dinosaur or be transported back to the trenches of WW1 to hear the stories of the Empire’s forgotten soldiers. Designed by Metro Boulot Dodo, this walkaround VR Storyroom uses a headset for you to explore the past.

• Playing God is an interactive VR thought experiment that lets you imagine you are the captain of a space station, a space station suddenly presented with a humanitarian crisis. Designed by Leicester based Artist filmmaker Ben Fredricks, it challenges its audience with a series of scenarios and questions.

• Beat Saber is a virtual reality rhythm game which takes place in a surrealistic neon noir environment, with the player using light sabers to slice blocks that represent musical beats. Developed by Derby based Beat Games, Beat Saber sessions need to be booked in advance, and the cost is £4 per 10 minute session. www.vr-play.co.uk/

VR Day is suitable for ages eight and above and takes place in QUAD on Friday 21st February from 11:00am to 4:00pm the drop-in day is free to attend apart from the Beat Saber sessions which can be booked in advance or on the day. Cine Kids: Spies In Disguise, daily between Saturday 15th and 23rd February, £4.00 for Kids Club members, for all ages. Smooth, suave super spy Lance Sterling (Will Smith) and scientist Walter Beckett (Tom Holland) are almost exact opposites.

This unlikely duo are forced to team up for the ultimate mission that will require an almost impossible disguise – transforming Lance into a brave, fierce, majestic… pigeon. For more information or to book tickets for films workshops or workshops, call QUAD on 01332 290606 or see the QUAD website. https://www.derbyquad.co.uk/whats-on/get-creative/families-and-young-people