Monthly:June 2017
The community centre has been run by George and Julie Bugg for three years. George has played in a Beatles tribute band for years, and since taking over the club, he’s introduced an open mic night. There were such an array of people taking part from the over 80s to under 18s, and some real talent! Such a friendly, welcome and supportive atmosphere, it was so lovely to be able to visit.
This Brownie pack was one of the first groups of any kind to be formed on the estate. The First Clifton Brownies was started by Peggy Towson at St. Francis Church around 1955. It’s now run by Deidre Nall who has been a guider for 33 years. They meet once a week in terms times in the Clifton Village Hall. They do a variety of craft, design and sport activities, and Deidre says that she loves seeing a transformation in […]
Years ago there were many more caged bird societies, now there is just this one for the entire South Notts area with only a handful of members. They organise exhibitions for canaries, budgies, British and foreign birds. They meet monthly and on this occasion the birds were being judged and a winner was to be selected. Birds are presented in identical cages to allow for anonymous judging.
The community garden is a beautiful and calm oasis tucked away at the very southerly tip of the estate. It’s on the allotments which were designed as part of the original estate in the 1950s. The community garden is run by Emma and Leo, along with a team of regular volunteers and was set up in 2008. They have a huge array of weekly visits from community groups, social inclusion groups, young offenders and probationary groups, school groups, and parents […]
The painting club come together once a week at Highbank Community Centre and run by Brian Chambers since he set it up in 2007. They were using a mixture of mediums, gouache, watercolour and pencil and all working on their own subject matter, painting from memory, family photos or magazines. Many of the participants had brought their work in to show me and were very proud of what they had achieved and the improvements they had made over the years. […]
The Clifton All Whites have been a well-known fixture of Clifton since 1963; they started as a youth team and expanded to include seniors in the 1970s and have had a number of players go on to play at international level. This training session was the under 12’s practicing on the ground next to Farnborough Academy. The team are coached by volunteers, Martin Stafford and Richard Shaw and meet weekly.
The British Legion has been a constant central meeting point for Clifton Estate. The legion first began meeting in a wooden hut, until they raised money themselves to build the first permanent building in 1961. Since then, the old building has been extended; it now includes a large hall with a stage, and a couple of bars. They hold social groups, such as the Bingo group pictured here. Many of the people I met and photographed had been coming to […]
Karen is well known locally as both a childminder and a community activist. Five years ago, she founded a charity and family support group to help local people struggling financially. They coordinate efforts with other local charities, such as the Food Bank at the Hope Centre and via a network of people on Facebook. The charity provides things like a ‘Home Starter Pack’ which will contain a basic full kitchen set up for a new tenant. She’s co-founder of Friends […]
Bethany has been volunteering since she was 11 years old. At 16 she began volunteering on a scheme to feed the homeless in Nottingham. At Christmas, she rallies the whole of Clifton via social media, and collects over 100 presents for Nottingham’s homeless. She recently tried to set up a baby bank scheme, where people donated toys and clothes, but found that she received so many donations, she didn’t have the space to store it all. She is continually coming […]
At one time, Mel’s family ran all of the fish and chip shops on the estate. Mel grew up on the estate and went to Farnborough Estate and has many amusing stories from school days – just ask him about the time he faced a Bull in France!
