Things to Do

Step back in time for an exciting weekend of displays, demonstrations and hands-on history, complete with cavalry and cannons. On Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd August, The Not So Civil War takes place inside the historic Abbey and grounds from 11am until 4pm. The site will come alive with spectacular fun for all the family as Northampton’s turbulent past is re-enacted before your eyes. It’s the dawn of war and the Parliamentarians have assembled at Delapré Abbey. Visitors can watch a full historic drill display on the South Lawn complete with cavalry and cannons, learn all about the military tactics of the 17th century, and see what civilian life was like. Surgeons, cooks, gravediggers, midwives, gardeners will go about their day-to-day activities so that you can discover how they cook, create, and cut off limbs! Eleanor Sier, Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust’s Head of Engagement and Interpretation said “We’re looking forward..

Those fine folks over at The Roadmender have scheduled some banging shows for early next year, writes Sammy Jones. AC/DC tribute Livewire will prove that Angus Young isn’t the only overgrown school kid around, when they rock up (Feb 19). Expect a High Voltage two hour set with cannons, Marshall Amps and a session that will take fans from Back in Black to PWR UP together with a decent delivery of Bon Scott era aces.  The Undertones play their rescheduled date at the venue (March 11) with an armload of hook-y hits including My Perfect Cousin, Jimmy Jimmy and something called Teenage Ticks. Support will come from Strangler Hugh Cornwell with his electric set. He’ll pepper his performance of solo songs with Stranglers smash-hits like Always The Sun, Peaches, No More Heroes and the seminal Golden Brown. Punk it up some more when Stiff Little Fingers play their rescheduled show..

The re-opening of the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery will help spark Northampton’s heritage renaissance writes Laura Malpas. I have been waiting with anticipation to write this particular article, and the day is here! Our Northamptonshire flagship museum, Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, NMAG, is reopening on 10th July after a long closure for refurbishment. NNPulse was invited for a sneak peek preview, and it’s a wow from me!  I’m most interested in museums that have a relevance to their audience, those that display object and stories that we can all identify with. Shoes are a great example of something we can all relate to. We all wear them, buy them or need them, they reflect our jobs, fantasies or hobbies, and we might love some and hate others. We all have opinions and stories about our shoes. And of course, Northamptonshire is the ‘boot and shoe county’. [caption id="attachment_15381" align="alignleft"..

An outdoor family health and wellness event to raise money for a cancer charity is being held in Northampton next month. Soo Yoga’s Kristina Rihanoff, and local pilates expert, Suneil Khakhar, will host a ‘Family Wellbeing Fair’ where people will get to experience different styles of yoga, meditation, sound baths and outdoor fitness classes. The event is set to take place on Sunday 18th July at the tennis courts in Becketts Park, Northampton, and will also include presentations from specialist speakers about all aspects of physical and mental wellbeing. £2 from each ticket sale will be donated to The Lewis Foundation – a local charity which provides free gifts and support packs to adult cancer patients. “We’re very excited to be collaborating with Suneil, as we share the same passion to help people take better care of their minds and bodies during these challenging times. Especially as the pandemic has..

Vinyl lovers will be able to get in a spin again on June 12, with the very welcome return of Record Store Day (RSD), writes Sammy Jones. Hundreds of artists will be releasing special and exclusive vinyl records to support the 250 stores who have had to deal with enforced closure for more than three months this year alone. More than ever, Record Store Day will be an important date for retailers. RSD is widely regarded as the catalyst behind the phenomenal resurgence in vinyl, and certainly the figures are impressive; in 2008, when Record Store Day began, just 205,000 albums were sold. In 2020? UK vinyl sales topped five million. And to think, it wasn’t such a long time ago that the industry was telling us vinyl was finished.  That most certainly isn’t the case here in Northampton, with three long-established stores helping to get people in the groove,..

Laura Malpas makes a welcome return to the gardens at Boughton House and shares some of the history behind the development its beautiful landscaped gardens. May is with us! That most delightful of months when the natural world seems to explode into life in full technicolour could not be more welcome after being cooped up for so long. I was delighted to learn that Boughton is opening its gardens for both the bank holidays this month, and I can’t wait to revisit. One of the reasons I love the outdoors at Boughton is that it blends together of some of the best ancient and modern garden styles. Seemingly simple green and graphic lines created several hundred years apart work incredibly well together. Vast lawns, expanses of water, ancient trees, and glorious formal and informal bedding make Boughton something truly special. These gardens owe..

With National Children’s Day approaching (Sunday 16th May), a Milton Keynes children’s charity is urging people to walk, run, cycle, swim or roll 5km to raise funds to support vulnerable children in our region.  St. Francis’ Children’s Society (SFCS) are taking part in the 5k May Challenge, which is a national campaign led by charity donation platform Just Giving and Run For Heroes, a charity which raised over £7 million for NHS Charities during the first national lockdown in 2020.  The 5k May Challenge aims to make fundraising events more inclusive and accessible. Everyone can get involved, regardless of age or physical ability, and experience that great sense of achievement that comes from completing a challenge AND raising funds for a good cause.  Anju Chadha-McLean, Fundraiser at SFCS says: “We believe every child deserves to grow up in a safe, stable and loving family. National Children’s Day is just one..

TV Personality Charlie Ross to host live Zoom auction for Hospice Willen Hospice is bringing the excitement of the auction house to front rooms, kitchens and dining room tables next week, when TV personality Charlie Ross, hosts a live virtual auction for the charity on Thursday 26 November. Known for his flamboyant auctioneering skills on popular shows including Bargain Hunt, Antiques Road Trip and Flog it!, Charlie will bring his contagious energy and exuberance to the event, which promises to be a fabulously fun night in support of the Hospice. Bidding will open on a selection of highly sought after items, including a signed copy of Captain Sir Tom Moore’s book and children’s’ book, holiday homes in the UK and Italy, a mini Land Rover for the kids, an exclusive recording studio session and guitar lessons with Marshall Amplification, and a tour of the 007 Goldfinger DB5 continuation car project at..

With just a fortnight to go until the results of this year’s Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards are announced, revealing the county’s best producers, eateries and chefs, more stars of the sector are celebrating their deserved moment in the spotlight! Among them are the six nervous finalists vying for glory in the ‘F&B Achiever of the Year’ category (sponsored by Howes Percival), one which is designed to recognise those individuals who have made, and continue to make, a significant contribution to the food and drink scene in the county. The finalists are (in alphabetical order): Rachael Bradshaw of Hamm Tun Fine Foods Deli, Long Buckby Laurence Conisbee of Wharf Distillery, Towcester Richard Gordon of The Greedy Gordons, Twywell Teresa McCarthy-Dixon of The Swan & Helmet, Northampton Zoe Mee of Mee Farmers, Nassington Dennis Willmott of The Bell Inn, Finedon The impressive sextet were selected from a record number of..

The historic house will be open daily during October half term with creative, Covid-safe activities for all ages to get involved in. Visitors can step inside one of Northampton’s oldest buildings - an urban country house filled with 900 years of history and fascinating stories - every day from Thursday 22nd October to Sunday 1st November. Timed tickets from 11am to 3pm will take you on a socially distanced journey through the Abbey’s intriguing past as a Cluniac nunnery, heyday as a country house, right through to its time as the Record Office before the recent restoration. Little ones can also discover the Abbey’s history through indoor and outdoor trails.   Tickets sold out in less than a week for this year’s Halloween event for under 12s – Delapré Spooktacular - however there are lots more creative and crafty activities on offer. Ages 7-12 years can explore the great outdoors with..

Covid-19 has presented challenges for us all, but particularly town centres. Following a challenging few months for Northampton, the town’s independent businesses have come together to urge residents to rediscover and support the town centre – whilst remaining vigilant to social distancing and protecting others. We've released a video showcasing a snapshot of both the town’s most popular attractions and hidden gems waiting to be discovered. From fresh local produce in the Market Square, to family businesses on Abington Street and cosy cafés throughout the Heritage Gateway, visitors are encouraged to move around the different areas of the town and rediscover Northampton’s best kept secrets. The video includes major attractions such as 78 Derngate, which has reopened to the public for pre-booked tours, through to restaurants such as Saffron, who have gone above and beyond to help the local community throughout the pandemic, and shops such as Watts the Furnishers,..

Northampton’s annual Diwali, Guy Fawkes Day fireworks, Christmas light switch on and Frost Fair celebrations are set to be marked in a unique way this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Following the cancellation of all large-scale events scheduled to take place in the town centre, Northampton Borough Council and its partners will bring the community together through a number of virtual celebrations. The action-packed schedules are being finalised and will include virtual performances, drone footage and images from previous events, speeches and poems, virtual mystery tours and virtual parades. Although most of the Christmas related activities will be virtual, Northampton residents and visitors will still be able to enjoy the traditional large Christmas trees across town, cross street lights and street entertainment that will take place in social distanced manner. Councillor Anna King, Cabinet member for community engagement and safety, said: “Whilst public gatherings are no longer possible,..

The first weekend in July will be marked by a minute’s silence in memory of all those who have lost their lives and a national moment of appreciation for the social connections that have kept the country going through such adversity, when we can all raise a glass, or a cup of tea in a nationwide offer of thanks and appreciation. It will be an opportunity to thank not just NHS staff and other essential workers, but all those who continue to work so hard to support each other and sustain our communities throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.   Join in on Sunday 5th July to mark the 72nd anniversary of the founding of our NHS.  Why not have your own virtual tea party at home while video-calling your family and friends and send us your pictures?  We’d love to share as many pictures as we can on our website and social..

The team behind the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards is delighted to announce that, following a delay to its spring launch owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, the competition in now underway for its twelfth year! The Awards, which are run by the sector for the sector, are aimed at celebrating all that is great about local produce and drink, recognising excellence within the county’s dining venues and rewarding those who work so hard within the culinary sector. Thanks to ongoing support from its existing sponsors – new headline sponsor Weetabix, Booker, British Pepper & Spice, Daily Bread, Dawn Farms, Heygates Flour and Animal Feed, Howes Percival LLP, Moulton College, Northampton College and Whitworth Bros Ltd Flour Millers - and with continued support from SEMLEP (South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership) and Warner’s, the Awards will continue to offer public recognition to the county’s finest eateries and chefs, producers and..

It may have finished off the FA Cup final, seen Wimbledon whitewashed and even overcome the Olympics, but the team behind the county’s favourite annual fundraising bike ride are adamant that COVID-19 won’t have them running for cover! Which is why, with some creative logistical tricks up their lycra sleeves, should they be needed, plans are still in place for Cycle4Cynthia - the biggest fundraiser in the calendar for Northamptonshire’s Cynthia Spencer Hospice – to take place on Sunday, 20th September. The event, which has brought in more than £600k over the last 16 years, is a highly anticipated fixture in the diary of the hundreds of cyclists of all ages and abilities who take part each year, for whom it is a wonderful way of saying ‘thank you’ for the remarkable Hospice care given to their loved ones, and that’s why fundraising manager, John Helm, is offering some welcome..