Half term is here! Get out and about and explore Gainsborough and the surrounding area with great things to see and do.
Delve in to history or find great activities to keep your little ones entertained this February half term. Here’s just a few ideas to get you started.
The traces left by the people known as the Pilgrims in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire are fleeting but often intriguing.
Many people have heard of the Mayflower and her voyage four hundred years ago, but fewer know about the places they came from and travelled through on their many journeys before they ever set foot upon that ship.
A new book produced as part of West Lindsey District Council’s Mayflower 400 programme for the 2020 anniversary, with funding from Arts Council England, is now available to buy.
It explores many of the places connected to the Pilgrims’ story in the Midlands, alongside a short history of their lives from England through to Holland and then on to America in 1620.
Continue reading “New history guide and gazetteer of local Pilgrims’ heritage sites”
Illuminate 2021 – A vibrant spectacle of fire and light drew thousands of people to Gainsborough this weekend
Smiles lit up the faces of people of all ages as they soaked up the atmosphere of this year’s illuminate event to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower story.
Fire dancers and musicians welcomed visitors as they strolled through the grounds of All Saints Parish Church, taking in all the colourful elements of the first fire garden display to take place in the town centre.
Those attending could then walk among the Illuminated performers towards Gainsborough Old Hall, where projections of a wonderful film, produced by local production company Electric Egg with the help of Dr Anna Scott, telling the story of the Mayflower, was beamed onto the outside of the historic manor house.
Residents and visitors to Gainsborough are invited Illuminate Gainsborough 2021 in just under two weeks’ time, with planning now well under way behind-the-scenes.
Illuminate 2021 is the final spectacular event to commemorate Gainsborough’s links to the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower Pilgrims story – and will include a fire garden, projections, performers, live music and an arts trail around the town.
The free event takes place on Saturday 13 November from 6pm to 8.30pm in the grounds of Gainsborough Old Hall and All Saints’ Parish Church.
Gainsborough Choral Society will also be performing David Fawcett’s new choral work “A Sure Refuge” at a concert in the Parish Church from 7.30-8.30pm. Free tickets for the concert can be pre-booked online via Eventbrite at https://bit.ly/3EkojAb or picked up from Gainsborough Library or Bassetlaw Museum in Retford.
Continue reading “Excitement grows with Illuminate 2021 now under two weeks away”
Residents of and visitors to West Lindsey are invited to attend the final Illuminate event in Gainsborough to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower story this autumn.
A special Illuminate event involving lanterns, performers, music, projections, an arts trail and a spectacular fire garden will bring to an end the commemorations in the town, 400 years after the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving in America.
Last year’s event went online due to the Coronavirus outbreak, but this November the 400th anniversary event brings people back together to look back on the story of the Separatists’ journey to America in 1620. Many leading Separatists on the Mayflower, who later became known as the Pilgrims, came from the Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire region.
Continue reading “Illuminate event to light up Gainsborough this November!”
Last year’s postponed ‘Flight of the Separatists’ event will take place on Saturday 17 July in the grounds of the newly re-opened Gainsborough Old Hall.
The event had been scheduled for May last year, to mark the town’s links to the Mayflower story in its 400th anniversary year, but had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
Saturday 17 July 2021, 10am to 4pm
Gainsborough Old Hall, Parnell Street, Gainsborough, DN21 2NB
FREE Event
The ‘Flight of the Separatists’ event marks the town’s connection to the Pilgrims’ story.
In May 1608, some of the Pilgrim Separatists fled from the town on a barge up the River Trent in search of religious freedom. Others made their way overland to an isolated place along the coast near Immingham. There, they met a Dutch ship in order to flee the country. Many of the men escaped, while their wives and children were left behind for a time, after their attempt to escape was noticed by the authorities. Eventually, they were all reunited in Amsterdam.
Residents of Gainsborough are being encouraged to take part in an online event that will commemorate the town’s links to the Mayflower story in its 400th anniversary year.
One Small Candle is an online event that was created after the town’s annual Illuminate Parade was postponed due to current COVID-19 restrictions. Taking place on Thursday 26 November (the date of Thanksgiving), residents are invited to make their own lanterns at home to display in their windows, to give thanks in their own special way for the things that are important to them.
Continue reading “Gainsborough gears up for online Illuminate event this Thursday”
This Saturday would have been Gainsborough’s annual Illuminate parade, where people come together and parade the streets with a magnificent display of colourful lanterns, commemorating the town’s links to the Mayflower story. Like so many other things that have changed recently, this year’s parade has been postponed and new plans made for an ‘Illuminate’ online.
Working in partnership with Pilgrim Roots partners in Boston and North Nottinghamshire, West Lindsey District Council are encouraging the public to make their own lanterns at home to display in their windows on Thursday 26 November (the date of Thanksgiving), to give thanks in their own special way for the things that are important to them.
Once they arrived on the shores of America in mid-November, the Pilgrims faced a hard winter, realised they needed a new legal agreement, and managed to survive thanks to help from the Wampanoag Native Americans who already lived there.
The ship stopped just off the coast of modern-day Provincetown in Massachusetts, some way off from their intended destination to the south in Virginia. They needed to find a suitable place to live, so some of the men were sent out to scout the coast around Cape Cod. The rest of the passengers stayed aboard the ship for some weeks.
