Christmas 2022 in Ruddington

After the ‘lockdown’ Christmas of 2020, and the rather restrained festive season of 2021, Ruddington’s celebrations in 2022 look as if they might just be the biggest and best ever! That’s certainly the case for this weekend’s ‘Ruddington Christmas Market’ (on Saturday December 3rd) which, as previously reported, will comprise over a hundred indoor and outdoor stalls of food, drink and gifts, two covered pop-up bars and stages of live music, and children’s activities. Now organised by Ruddington Village Community Partnership (RVCP) it will take place along both High Street and Church Street (road closures…

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£8k Funding for Improved Museum Shop

Staff and volunteers at Ruddington’s historic Framework Knitters’ Museum are celebrating the award of new cash to upgrade their newly established café and shop. ‘Parker’s Yard’ was added late last year when the museum site expanded into the former ‘Gun Cottage’ – between the original workers’ cottages and frameshops and the old Knitters’ Chapel. This allowed a brand new visitor entrance, hospitality and retail area – including a separate new garden. It was achieved via grants totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds from The Heritage Lottery Fund, FCC Communities Foundation, various…

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A Plethora of New Village Businesses

Whilst many high streets up and down the country continue to struggle in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and people’s changing shopping habits, it seems Ruddington is coping better than many. Although there have been shop closures here, generally our retail units in the village centre don’t stay empty for long. Currently there are plenty of new arrivals. In fact the opening of ‘The Courtyard’ two years ago – an attractive new shopping precinct where mainly derelict old buildings used to be – plus the redevelopment of the former Barclay & Cook site…

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New Ruddington Café Launches

The recently opened coffee shop within the new extension and gardens at Ruddington’s knitting and textile museum is now officially in new hands – following its ‘launch’ this weekend. The Split Screen Coffee Company – which has previously traded from The Bottle Top on High Street as well as from its famous converted VW camper van – is now running the hospitality area at Parker’s Yard within the former ‘Gunn Cottage’. Along with the museum gift shop and its Old Chapel, these are areas of Ruddington’s internationally famous tourist attraction which can…

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Telly Fame For Our Framework Knitters!

Ruddington will feature on national television again this week – after a well known presenter and her camera crew secretly dropped in on one of our village’s heritage attractions earlier in the year. It was at the start of February that BBC1‘s Bargain Hunt came to Nottinghamshire, where host Natasha Raskin Sharp and experts Ben Cooper and Izzie Balmer brought the two teams antique hunting. During the morning of Friday February 4th Natasha visited Ruddington’s Framework Knitters’ Museum on Chapel Street to discover how a 16th-century curate revolutionised the world of knitting –…

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New Museum Manager Announced

Following the stepping back of former manager and curator Jim Grevatte, Ruddington’s Framework Knitters’ Museum has just revealed its latest boss. After completing “a competitive recruitment process” for their new ‘Operations Manager’ role, the venues’ Trustees say they are “delighted” to announce that Ruddington resident Sarah Godfrey has been appointed. Sarah is already well known for her extensive community work within our village. The Trustees add: “With a strong arts background, Sarah brings us an unusual combination of both creativity and commercial awareness, as well as a wealth of experience…

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It’s Goodbye to Jim

The man who has guided a Ruddington museum through one of the most important periods in its history has now left for pastures new. Jim Grevatte, who’s been the Manager and Curator at The Framework Knitters’ Museum since December 2018, has just stepped down from the role following the appointment of a new ‘Operations Manager’.* However, he will continue as a trustee for our internationally famous Chapel Street tourist attraction. Over the last three years, Jim has been instrumental in implementing (amongst many other things) the ‘Right Good Yarn’ project…

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Funding Boost for Museum

Staff and volunteers at Ruddington’s historic Framework Knitters’ Museum say they’re “super happy” to have received new funding worth £62,925. The cash will be used for urgent structural, chimney, window and roofing repairs, as well as improving the heating and security at their Chapel Street tourist attraction. The award is part of a £48m national package of additional government support for museums and libraries in the UK from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England. The museum has already benefitted from extensive previous funding to help with its ambitious…

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Will YOU Open Your Garden This Summer?

As plans progress for the 2022 ‘Ruddington Open Gardens’ weekend, organisers are now seeking villagers who’d be able and willing to open their gardens to others in support of two children’s charities. As before, all proceeds from the event on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd July will be split between Save the Children and Action for Children. Back in the summers of 2016 and 2018 the Open Gardens proved a great success, with an impressive £2280 raised for the two charities. Sadly, COVID-19 put a stop to the biennial event happening in 2020 so it’s hoped…

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Omicron Christmas Closures and Cancellations

Just when it seemed the Coronavirus pandemic was under control in the UK, another variant of COVID-19 is forcing significant changes to our festive plans for the second year in a row. With daily infections now reaching a record high, seemingly driven by the highly contagious new Omicron strain, the Government is still largely putting its faith in the mass vaccine rollout to see us through. Indeed Ruddington hospitality venues are largely grateful that no official restrictions on them have been re-imposed just yet. However, perhaps partly due to this…

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