2022 - Revisited
w/e 01 January 2023
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490 or
a Nikon D3300
With the blank canvass of 2023
stretching out before us and another 365 days waiting for more
memories to be made, it's time to look back over the previous
12 months and revisit some of the places we enjoyed during 2022.
We started our year with a "Walking For Health linear route to Shipley"and as has become our custom in recent
years, we also enjoyed a January stroll through Wollaton Park
(above).
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In February we were back in Shipley Park and "Up On The Hill"
as we sought out some early (very early) spring flowers opposite
the Suffragette Wall. Also in that month, we viewed the aftermath
of two named storms, "Dudley and Eunice",
that had swept across the country. As March approached we took
another short walk through three local and adjacent "Nature
Reserves" - Straw's Bridge, Manner
Floods and Pewit Carr. It has to be said that most of our walks
during the year were strolls rather than hikes as we are still
struggling to regain the fitness we lost during the enforced
inactivity caused by the coronavirus lockdowns.
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Early March saw the "Crocuses & Daffodils"
put in an appearance and the opportunity to view some more spring
flowers. We followed this with a walk through Awsworth and "A Step Back
In Time" visiting some of the
places that would have been familiar to my ancestors. March was
also the month when we paid our first visit to one of several
events held during the year at the Erewash Museum, this one being
a showcase for local musicians. It was titled "Local Music
Live".
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We crossed from March to April looking at some of the iconic
(and not so iconic) buildings in Ilkeston before embarking on
one of the nine roads into the town in the "First Impressions"
series, this one beginning on Ladywood Road at Kirk Hallam. The
following week we were back in Kirk Hallam and revisited the
"Pioneer
Meadows" Local Nature Reserve
(LNR) and although it didn't feature on the website, squeezed
in a visit to Eastwood to join in the Christian Walk of Witness
(above).
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It was bluebell time at the start of May and although we have
visited most to the bluebell woods at various times we found
one this time at "Hufton's Coppice, Marlpool"
that we had not previously visited when the flowers were in bloom.
A walk along the Erewash Canal, the concluding parts of the route
from Kirk Hallam to Ilkeston and another visit to the museum
when it was taken over for the day by the "Vikings" brought
an end to one of the busiest months in the year so far.
There were plenty of events in June too not least among them
being the "Queen's
Platinum Jubilee" when decorations
were put up all over the town. Two more events at the museum
a fortnight apart, a "Steampunk Extravaganza"
and a"Fifties
Day" took place either side of
"Long
Eaton's Carnival".
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And so to July and a four day break in Scarborough, our first
holiday since 2007, that provided more than enough photos for
a nine part series spread over the remaining months of the year.To
be honest there are probably enough photos left for another nine
parts - but you can have too much of a good thing so they probably
stay hidden away in the depths of the computer now. We'd started
the month though before heading off to Yorkshire with a "Weekend Wander" to view some of the flower beds around
the town and we also attended two more events, "Beating Retreat" and "West Hallam's Well Dressings"
before ending the month at the "Kirk Hallam Lakeside Festival".
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The exceptionally fine weather of the summer continued through
August and the "Blue Skies" above
Ilkeston provided the backdrop for a section of puzzling images.
As well as more pictures from Scarborough there was another selection
from the "Classic Vehicle Show"
and Knitted Bible Exhibition.
The start of September was overshadowed by the death of HM Queen
Elizabeth II and the decorations that only recently had been
celebrating her Platinum Jubilee were replaced by signs of "Respect" and condolence. The funeral of the Queen
also impacted the Autumn Footprints Walking Festival which has
still not regained its former glory following the pandemic. I
did manage a couple of walks though in "Shipley Park"
and "Erewash Meadows"
and we didn't miss out on the tea and cake in aid of MacMillan
Cancer at Draycott either even though we didn't take part in
the Coffin Walk from Breaston.
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"Autumn" came to town in October as did the Travelling
Showmen for the "770th Charter Fair"
and of course there were more holiday photos but we did complete
the 7th "First Impressions" route into Ilkeston from
the boundary of West Hallam along "Derby Road" as
the month ended and November began.
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We continued in November by "Remembering The Fallen"
both on Armistice Day and a misty Remembrance Sunday morning,
where once again the townsfolk came out in force to show their
respect.
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Which brings us to December, Advent and Christmas where certain
things have happened so often that they are now becoming a tradition.
There were walks around the area to see the "Christmas Lights" in the town and later
to see decorations on "Private Properties", a visit to Earls
Hairdressers where fancy dress is usually donned on Christmas
Eve and a walk to the Albion Centre to hear Ilkeston Brass playing
Christmas Carols on the same day. Then on Christmas Day there's
the church service in St Mary's where the baby finally arrives
in the Nativity tableau followed by a photo of the tree on the
Market Place. Earlier in the month though the Manchester Bee,
an anti-violence monument made from various weapons arrived on
the Market Place during a tour of the county but we ended the
year with some guest images from the "Light Trail" in Wollaton Park.
And so as 2022 draws to a close the outline of 2023 is already
being formed. There will be the usual annual events, the museum
events too, the walks, the trips out, the parks, the flowers
and maybe even another holiday and I feel Wollaton beckoning
again soon - well it is January again. The outline is there,
all we need now are the details! Happy New Year.
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