Spondon Village Improvement Committee

Past and planned events

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2005 events

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May Day Fayre 2004

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Summer and autumn 2003 events

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June/July 2003 events

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Kick of Christmas in Spondon 2002

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Jubilee weekend events

2005 events

Our events in 2005 were mainly fund-raising to support our "Spondon in Bloom" initiative.Spring Fayre

On Saturday 26th February we ran a stall at St Werbugh's table top sale in the Village Hall. On Saturday 9th April the Hall was packed for the Spring Fayre (see right) with an opportunity to buy plants and check the progress of our entry in "Britain in Bloom". It also included a popular "Gardener's Question Time" hosted by Eddie Spencer with questions answered by Jeff Bates and Lucy Gardeners Question TimeClemson, both members of the Royal Horticultural Society (see left).

We also held an Autumn Fayre on Saturday 29th October, in conjunction with the Derby branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

May Day Fayre 2004

At the May FayreThis was held in and around the Village Hall on Monday 3rd May, and again attracted a large number of people (despite an unpromising start weather-wise). All the organisations running stalls reported good "business" and the Village Improvement Committee raised some £500 to help its bid for Spondon to win the "Derby in Bloom" competition.

Pictured above is Judith Flack of the Derby & Sandiacre Canal Society, demonstrating some "canal craft" to Dave Hayes of the Community Association.

Summer and autumn events 2004

bulletWest Park Meadows Nature Reserve clean-up: In conjunction with theDragonfly management committee, the VIC helped to clean up the Nature Reserve at West Park Meadows all day on Saturday 27th September.


This area of ground is adjacent to the school grounds and is actually designated as an official Local Nature Reserve (LNR). Its existence is largely due to the persistence of one of the SCA’s founder members, David Hayes, when he was a Spondon Councillor. It is now under the supervision of a Council management committee which has community representatives. The Council now has a Wildspace! Community Project Officer, Sarah Dornan, seconded for 3 years from the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. Her brief is to concentrate on all the City’s LNR’s.

West Park Meadow Naturee ReserveAs part of our “Cleaner, greener Spondon” campaign, we joined with Sarah and the management committee to hold a “Clean-up Day” on Saturday 27th September. A small band of stalwarts spent a very mucky few hours clearing a lot of old tree debris, plus the odd bike, computer and skateboard! At the same time, we planted some wild flowers and had a general clearing of litter.

June/July 2003 events

Walkers on bridgeIn June, the VIC organised or co-ordinated a series of events, starting with the annual SCA midsummer walk, when around two dozen people (numbers varied as people joined and left at various points) took part in the SCA's annual midsummer ramble. The picture (right) shows some of them negotiating one of the trickier bits! Totalling 10 miles, this circular walk started at the Vernon Arms, Spondon, through Locko Park to Dale Abbey (pause at Carpenter's Arms) and Ockbrook (er, Royal Oak). The more enthusiastic (or still thirsty) managed to complete the circuit back to Spondon in time for a "last pint" at the Malt Shovel.

During the following week, the Adult Learning Service ran a series of "bite size" taster courses. This culminated on Saturday 28th June, with a display which was part of the Open Day in the Village Hall.

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As well as the "conventional" venues and courses, there were a number of other options - the story of real ale (given by the chair of Derby CAMRA), salsa dancing and a walk along the Derby & Sandiacre Canal.

Mayor declares history trail openAlso on the Saturday, the revamped village history trail was officially opened by the Mayor of Derby, after which there were guided walks by the Historical Society and an opportunity to see around the Homestead, by kind permission of Mr & Mrs Rutherford.

The new history trail was covered by the Derby Evening Telegraph, as well as Radio Derby.

Borrowash LockOn Saturday July 26th, members of the Derby & Sandiacre Canal Society led a walk along the towpath from Spondon to Sandiacre (pausing only for refreshment at the Navigation Inn, Breaston!). Pictured left: Derek Walker (standing, on left of picture, chair of the Canal Society) explains progress to date at Borrowash Bottom Lock.

Kick off Christmas in Spondon 2002

The Village Improvement Committee ran a successful series of events to start off the Christmas season

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The first event was St. Werburgh’s Church successful Christmas Fayre which took place in the Village Hall on Saturday 23rd November.

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A success repeated from the Jubilee weekend was the return of the fabulous “Anything Blows” band at  the Village Hall on Friday 29th November

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As hoped the Christmas lights proved to be better than ever! Building on the success of previous years, Spondon Community Association joined with Borrow Wood Infant School to make Christmas in Spondon even more special this year. They were switched on at 6pm on Tuesday 3rd December. In addition to the previous lights again on the Lilac tree in the precinct, there were additional lights at the entrance to the village hall and library. A large crowd of about 400 people thronged the village centre to take part in the excitement.
Starting off at the precinct with carol singing, Santa arrived to switch on the lights. The crowd was then led round to the village hall by the "Mayor and Mayoress of Spondon". After switching on the lights there, music for more carols was supplied by children from local schools. Some pictures from the event are shown on the right Sorry, your browser doesn't support Java(tm).

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"Winter Warmer" - the Spondon Methodist Praise Band repeated their success of the Jubilee weekend with this evening of celebration and worship for the start of Advent, led by Reverend Stephen Greasley. It took place in the Village Hall on Friday 6th December.

Jubilee weekend 2002

This weekend launched the Village Improvement Committee upon an unsuspecting world!

A series of events culminated in the Potter Street market, then an "open day" in the Village Hall with organised walks around the village.

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