Heritage

Heritage  2026

• Venue: Clipstone Headstocks Museum Tour.
• Date: Wednesday 25th February 2026.
• Cost: £8.
• Time: Start 10.30am – at the gates.
• Transport: Make your own way there.
• Departing venue: After Tour.
• Booking open at November Meeting.
• For further details contact: Claire Wilkie or Liz Wilson.
• 
• Clipstone Headstocks Museum offers visitors a unique experience, taking you on a journey back in time, beginning in 1885 when the Raleigh bicycle manufacturer started production. The museum’s display of Raleigh bikes spans all decades.  The tour continues with little-known historical facts.  A steam roller is on display, highlighting the world’s first tarmac road, which was laid in Nottinghamshire.
• Clipstone was also the first place in Britain to hold speed time trials in 1900, commemorated by the display of a Nottingham-made Brough Superior motorcycle, once used on the Clipstone Drive “one-mile straight.”
• The journey progresses to 1914, where visitors step into the Clipstone Camp display, showcasing the largest army training camp in Britain, which accommodated 30,000 troops at a time. Exhibits include the huts where soldiers stayed, remnants of their time there, the artillery they used, and even a Model T Ford featuring genuine bullet holes in its door.  The wartime theme continues into 1939 with an exhibit displaying equipment, vehicles, and a gallery detailing Nottinghamshire’s significant role in World War II.
• The Cold War period is represented by an extensive collection of unusual military vehicles, including amphibious vehicles, scout cars, and a tank equipped with four anti-aircraft guns capable of firing 4,000 rounds per minute.

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• Venue: Scarborough.
• Date: Monday 1st June.
• Cost: £20.
• Time: Leave at 7.30am from Morrison’s Mans. Woodhouse.
• Transport: Coach.
• Departing venue: Scarborough 4.30pm.
• Booking open at April Meeting.
• For further details contact: Liz Wilson.
• 
• As Britain’s first seaside resort Scarborough has been a popular destination for holiday makers for hundreds of years. Even before the age of steam, Scarborough was popular as a spa resort.
• Scarborough’s two bays, the South Bay and North Bay, nestle aside a towering headland, crowned by the dramatic ruins of a 12th century English Heritage castle. The Victorian Central Tramway funicular train links the town centre with the South Bay and its harbour. The Rotunda Museum explores local coastal geology, while Scarborough Sea Life Sanctuary has marine  displays and at Peasholme Park you will find Japanese gardens behind the North Bay.
• Scarborough’s Old Town has many quirky independent shops and stalls plus a Market Hall that was first opened in 1852.
• Resting place of Anne Bronte, the famous novelist and poet, who died in 1849 at just 29 years old.
•  Under the castle headland, Scarborough’s harbour is home to a fleet of hardworking fishing vessels and under the end of the pier you’ll find the lighthouse which dates back to 1806.
• There are many things you can find to do in a day at  Scarborough.

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• Venue: Brodsworth Hall, near Doncaster.
• Date: Tuesday July 7th.
• Cost: £25.
• Time: Leave 9.00am from Morrison’s Mans Woodhouse.
• Transport: Coach.
• Departing venue: Brodsworth 5.00pm.
• Booking open at May Meeting.
• For further details contact: Liz Wilson.
• 
• Brodsworth Hall, as it is now, was built in the 1860s, and the ground floor rooms still recall the Hall in its hey day, with glittering chandeliers and marble statues, but as you look through the house the picture shows how the  last owner fought a losing battle against subsidence and leaking roofs, making do and mending with dwindling funds and ever fewer servants.  As a result, the mansion remains as she left it- a country house as it really was.
• Particular rooms to look at include the large Victorian kitchen with its impressive cooking range  and the  Aga kitchen and scullery, with the original housekeeper’s chair.
• The Hall’s history is brought to life by changing exhibitions and  there are friendly room stewards to give you information.
• Over the past 30 years English Heritage have been restoring Brodsworth’s extensive gardens with brilliant weeding, formal topiary and the Fern failed Dell plus quirky garden buildings.

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• Venue: Sherwood Observatory.
• Date: Wednesday 25th November.
• Cost: £8
• Time: Meet at the Observatory for 6.15pm – Tour start at 6.30pm.
• Transport: Make your own way there.
• Departing venue: 8.00pm.
• Booking open at  August Meeting.
• For further details contact: Claire Wilkie.
• 
• Sherwood Observatory is a new multi million pound visitor attraction located in the heart of Ashfield.  It has been constructed on the site of a stunning Victorian reservoir building and offers a unique opportunity to explore the wonders of space and science. The observatory aims to make astronomy, science and other engaging topics accessible to all through its fully accessible planetarium and Space Centre.
• The building consists of firstly,  the original telescope,  in a 6.5 metre diameter dome. The telescope is a 0 .61 metre Newtonian reflecting telescope which rotates.
• The observatory now features also, a 59 seat Dome with an immersive 10 metre diameter screen  for planetarium shows. There is also an underground exhibition space, a science discovery centre and the café, all run by the Academy Transformation Trust Further Education College.
• The observatory has proved so popular since opening, that it was recently given money to employ extra staff!

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Ideas for future visits

Past Heritage group trips