2012 - An Eventful Year
w/e 06 January 2013
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

As we cross the threshold of another year, it's time to take our customary look back at the previous twelve months with a few images that didn't make it onto the site at the time. 2012 was an eventful year if not only for the weather which saw the wettest April, the wettest June and the wettest April through June since records began. It also saw more rainfall towards the year end and places that had been flooded earlier suffered the same fate again. All in all 2012 was the wettest year in England since records began over 100 years ago and it ended up being the second wettest in the UK too so I make no apology for repeatedly referring to the weather as we take a look back at the year. Not only was it an eventful year it was a year full of events not least among them were the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the European Football Championships, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and nearly overshadowed but not forgotten by these events was the success of Derbyshire's County Cricket Club that secured the Championship and promotion from the Second Division in the last match of the season.

January - ArboretumAt the start of the year though those events were still some way off and in January we began another route into Ilkeston at Gallows Inn in the "First Impressions" series. This series is a "fill in" for when there is little else to feature in any particular week but I have not had cause to add to the series since then - maybe a project to continue in 2013. We also worked our way through the town looking at places of worship from Cotmanhay to Kirk Hallam and were surprised to fine there were nineteen such places in total. We ended the month in Derby's Arboretum Park (left) with the first of twelve monthly visits for the Heritage Walk.

February - TreesAnother visit to Derby starting at the Arboretum was preceded in February by a walk around Osborne's Pond in Shipley Country Park (right) a similar walk we were to repeat whilst dodging the showers much later in the year (October) and the third part of the Whittlestone Walk in the Country Walks section of the site, a walk that concluded in the following month. In the middle of February we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the start of Ilkeston Cam with a repeat of the images we first featured back in 2002 including images from the town centre, the Pewit Golf Course and Dale Abbey village.

March - Nature

No sooner had we finished the Whittlestone Walk in March than we began another Country Walk, The Coffin Walk from Breaston to Draycott and back a couple of weeks later. As well as our regular Derby visit we also took advantage of some of the best weather of the year to enjoy the spring flowers in Victoria Park and just before the end of the month visited Attenborough Nature Reserve (above) the images from there being featured a little later in April. It's worth noting that at this time in the year, drought conditions had been declared and hose pipe bans imposed in some parts of the country!
April - Dance

April also saw an event at the Erewash Museum where some temporary shelter in the yard between the main museum building and The Hayloft offered some protection against the heavy showers for the dancers and musicians at a Rock'n'Roll day. This was one of several special events held at the museum throughout the year that included a Tudor Day and a Motorcycle Day. Despite April being England's wettest for over 100 years, we were fortunate enough to pick the best of this part of the year for walks at Trowell and on the campus in Nottingham University Park. We also kept dry at Draycott and in Derby for our regular features.
May - Abbey

Sandwiched between the wet months of April and June were some fine days in May like the one when the Duke of Rutland visited the town to raise a Green Flag, a national mark of excellence, in Victoria Park. The rest of the month was changeable and we dodged showers during four days in one week for a selection of images in and around the town. I can assure you that this one of Dale Abbey seen through the damp atmosphere with the colours on the trees suggesting an autumnal timing was actually captured during May. It was also in May that the previously mentioned Motorcycle Day was held at the museum.
June - Island

One of the big events of the year of course was the Diamond Jubilee and the flower beds on the island at the end of Chalons Way drew many admiring comments at the beginning of the month. But who can forget the pictures of the Royal Family standing in the pouring rain as the flotilla sailed past them on the River Thames?

June RainJune TorchThe weather was so bad (left) that Ilkeston's Carnival had to be called off at the last minute causing me to delve into the archives for previously unused images from earlier years to add a "Virtual Carnival" to the site. Olympic fever started to take hold during June and again we had to dodge a sharp shower by going for a coffee in Matlock before joining the crowds (right) to see the Olympic Torch convoy pass by.
July - Scarecrow

Homage was paid to both the Queen and Olympians at West Hallam's Well Dressing Festival and Scarecrow Trail at the beginning of July as well as many other characters including Jubilee Jack pictured above. A brief respite in the bad weather enabled us to pack several more events into the same weekend as the Well Dressings and we also visited a celebration in Stanton Road Cemetery and the Summer Happening on Victoria Park. Even the Nottingham Food and Drink Festival that we visited the following week was cut short by the bad weather. July also saw the completion of the Coffin Walk in Breaston and we were able to avoid the waterlogged ground by sticking to paved paths along the route of the former Derby Canal.
August - Wedding

Having circled Draycott with the Coffin Walk we decided to take a closer look with a Village Trail there which began in August appropriately enough at the Olympic Hotel and which should reach its completion early in 2013. A walk with Jewl the dog around town provided the images for another week and included another of the island at the end of Chalons Way which again proved a popular choice for the "Pick A Picture" vote. We were also able to pull in a visit to the home of Super Heroes, Wollaton Park, but again had to take shelter during a heavy shower. At this point in the year we were beginning to wonder if we would ever get a summer but the weather did behave on the wedding day of my goddaughter although none of the images have appeared on Ilkeston Cam until now - but it was worth waiting for, don't you think?
September - Walk

The changeable weather continued into September but I took advantage of one fine day to experiment with a seines of black and white images around the fountain on Ilkeston Market Place. As well as the regular visits to Draycott and Derby we looked forward with eager anticipation to joining several guided walks in the Autumn Footprints Walking Festival. We had planned to take part in walks most days during the two weeks of the festival but mishaps on a walk along the old Cromford Canal meant that we were unable to enjoy any walking during the second week. Images from the first week then had to suffice for two weeks out of the month but the one above taken in Locko Park was not one of them.
October - Leaves

A planned visit to capture some autumn colour was unsuccessful because of the wet conditions and resulted in an unscheduled call at Shipley Park where we repeated part of the walk around Osborne's Pond that we had done in February. We were more successful capturing the season's colour closer to home near the Erewash Museum (above) and October wouldn't be October of course without a few images from the Annual Charter Fair, which with the regular features completed the month.

November - RemembranceMore autumn colour graced the Latest Images page in mid November with a selection of images from close to home and we also took a trip up to Cromford to scale Scarthin Rock where we enjoyed the Derbyshire scenery and surrounding countryside. In Cromford we were at the side of the River Derwent and were also on the bank of the same river as it passed through the county capital in the penultimate part of the Derby Heritage Walk. In between times there was the annual Remembrance Day service (left) on the Market Place which was held like many other places at 11am rather than in the afternoon as in previous years.

December - ChurchSo as we entered December and the year ploughed on towards its close we took another trip northwards to spend a couple of hours in Crich's National Tramway Museum. With Christmas fast approaching I went looking for Ilkeston images that illustrated some seasonal songs and carols and in the final week before Christmas, the Tree Festival in St Mary's Church (right) took centre stage. In the few days between Christmas and New Year, the weather showed no signs of improvement although it was quite mild for the time of year so the final set of images in Pride Park at Derby were taken under grey skies and more rain showers.

So there we have it - an eventful year and a year full of events. There would have been even more events had it not been for the weather that caused the cancellation of quite a few. Prior to the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics hardly a day went by without some mention of celebrations or "London 2012". Now they are done and dusted so what 2013 holds we shall just have to wait and see. At least come the summer, we will be hoping for much better weather than in 2012 and look for the continued success of Derbyshire Cricket Club as they embark on their campaign in Division One of the County Championship. Keep your fingers crossed on both counts!

The series mentioned on this page can be found in the Special Features, Archives or Favourites page for 2012 which can all be accessed from the links below.

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