Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust Events Programme 2022
A listing of the events in 2022 hosted by the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust including family holiday activities and a programme of monthly talks and events in The Pump Room and the Crescent Assembly Rooms.
Bookings can be made via the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust website.
Children's & School Holiday Activities
February Half Term
Explore the impressive Crescent Assembly Rooms at one of the open mornings and enjoy some crafty activities
Tuesday 22 – Thursday 24 February,10:30am-1pm, Buxton Crescent Hotel
Free. No booking required.
Easter
Explore the impressive Crescent Assembly Rooms at one of the open mornings and enjoy some crafty activities.
Tuesday 19 – Wednesday 20 April, 10:30am-1pm, Buxton Crescent Hotel
Free. No booking required.
Summer Holidays
Explore the impressive Crescent Assembly Rooms at one of the open mornings and enjoy some crafty activities.
Mondays 1, 8, 15, 22 August, 10:30am-12.30pm, 2pm-4pm, Buxton Crescent Hotel
Free. No booking required. Find out more on the BCHT website here.
Enjoy crafty activities in the Pump Room.
Wednesdays, 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 August, 10am-1pm, Pump Room
Free. No booking required. Find out more on the BCHT website here.
October Half-Term
Free family fun with the Pump Room Potion Trail
Monday 22 – Monday 31 October, 10am-4pm, The Pump Room
Come to the Pump Room for Spooky Storytime. For ages 0-8.
Monday 24 October, 10am-11am, The Pump Room
Explore the impressive Crescent Assembly Rooms and take part in free Halloween craft activities including sock monsters. Bring your old odd socks!
Wednesday 26 October, 10:30am-12.30pm, 2pm-4pm, Buxton Crescent Hotel
Free. No booking required. Find out more on the BCHT website here.
Festive Fun: Pitter Patter
Festive Pitter Patter for the under 5s. Playful activities to explore and enjoy in the Buxton Crescent Experience. Enjoy arty opportunities, small world play, dressing up, building blocks and story-telling with a Christmassy twist. The whole experience will be based within the Crescent building and take 90 minutes. All children must be accompanied by a guardian and you will need to reserve tickets for each child and adult attending.
Thursday 8 December, 9.30am-11am, Buxton Crescent Experience
Festive Fun: Pigeon Post – A Christmas Coo at the Crescent
Join us this Christmas as we tell you the story of ‘Pigeon Post – a coo at the Crescent’. Experience the wonder of our professional storyteller who will set the scene, taking you on the pigeons’ journey (and give you a little memento to take away) From here, there will be 3 activities to take part in. Will you choose to ‘personalise your pigeon’, craft your own paper birds, make a wish to pop in the ‘pigeon post’ or all 3? For ages 2-12. 90 minute sessions throughout the day.
Thursday 22 December, Crescent Assembly Rooms
Local History & Heritage Talks
The Derbyshire Grand Tour: an exploration of manuscript journals
Join Anna Rhodes for a romp through eighteenth-century Derbyshire. We’ll be following in the footsteps of Georgian tourists; marvelling at the picturesque scenes in Dovedale and Matlock Bath, judging the interiors and gardens at Chatsworth and having eerie and death-defying experiences at Peak Cavern. Along the way, they’ll be geological wonders, unscrupulous tour guides and atrocious roads.
Wednesday 9 February, 7pm-8pm, The Pump Room
£10. Tickets available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
The Waters of Buxton
Over the centuries, the use of water from springs and the fortunes of their local communities reflected changes in religion, medicine, technology, trade and philanthropy. The effects of these changes will be explored, with Buxton as their focus.
Wednesday 9 March, 7pm-8pm, The Pump Room
£12. Tickets available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
An Evening of All Things Georgian
Join historian, writer and blogger Sarah Murden for an A to Z guide to the Georgian Era.
Wednesday 13 April, 7pm-8pm, The Pump Room
£10. Tickets available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
Water Music
Buxton has a rich history of spa music. Initially, a uniformed band provided by the Duke of Devonshire played while people took the health-giving waters. Later a 30 piece orchestra took up residence in the concert hall known as the Octagon, built in 1876 as part of the Pavilion Gardens complex. The opening of the Opera House in 1903 brought another orchestra and during the season it was possible to hear more than seven hours of live music a day.
Using letters, diaries and other primary sources Ian Bradley tells the story of music making in spas, focusing especially on Buxton, revealing romances between musicians, candid accounts of concerts and conjuring up the unique atmosphere of ‘water music’.
Wednesday 18 May, 7pm-8pm, The Pump Room
£10. Tickets available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
Surgery in the Long Eighteenth Century
The health-giving properties of the spa water at Buxton were well known in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and were a draw not only for suffering patients but also a variety of medical practitioners.
This illustrated and well-resourced talk and demonstration with Steve Bacon will focus primarily on the development of surgery during the ‘Long Eighteenth Century’, the age of the ‘Enlightenment’, but will also make reference to the other types of practitioners, only too eager to assist the chronically ill.
Wednesday 8 June, 7pm-8pm, The Pump Room
£10. Tickets available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
Two Queens and a Countess
An in depth talk with David Templeman on the interaction between the 3 most colourful and charismatic women in Elizabethan History-Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and Bess of Hardwick
Wednesday 10 August, 7pm-8pm, The Pump Room
£10. Tickets available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
Inventing the Neater Eater and other stuff
A short talk by Buxton engineer Jon (J) Michaelis about how he’s avoided having to get a proper job – by developing equipment to assist people in their everyday lives. There will be gadgets to play with (both successful and not) and plenty of time for questions. Heritage Open Days talk rescheduled from 9 September following the death of HM The Queen.
Friday 9 October, 7pm-8.30pm, The Pump Room
Free. No need to book.
Football in Buxton – Past, Present & Future
Take a journey through the history of football in Buxton, to where it is in the present day and beyond. The first half will feature a live panel of speakers, including Alan Zheng, Chairman and Founder of the Frank Soo Foundation, David Hopkins, Chairman of Buxton FC, and Chris Hill, Community Liaison Manager. In the second half, the floor will be open to all the panelists. Guests will be given an opportunity to pose their own questions during injury time.
Saturday 12 November, 7pm-9.45pm, The Pump Room
Find out more and book a place here.
David Nolan – The King of Manc Noir
Named ‘The King Of Manc Noir’ at Altrincham Word Festival, Author David Nolan’s ‘Manc Noir’ thrillers are all set in the North West, all named after real life bodies of water, and all based on events he experienced as a journalist. Experience a roller coaster of emotions as David takes us through his time as a journalist, shares the personal experiences that have shaped his life and the inspiration behind his latest books.
Wednesday 7 December, 7pm-9.45pm, The Pump Room
Online Talks
Annoying Ancestors
An engaging anecdotal story of how to search for your ancestors, highlighting the challenges they may knowingly or unknowingly have put in your way with Gay Evans.
Wednesday 12 January, 7pm-8pm
Tickets are available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
Taking the Waters
Have you ever wondered how Britain’s spa towns were established and why? Join Cheltenham author of ‘Taking the Waters’ Lesley Sainty as she takes you on a (metaphorical!) historical tour of spa destinations including Buxton, Bath and Cheltenham.
Wednesday 16 February, 7pm-8pm
Tickets are available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
The History of Afternoon Tea
Join Meryl White and explore the origins and the characters involved in this quintessential British ritual and what makes the perfect Afternoon Tea.
Wednesday 2 March, 7pm-8pm
Tickets are available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
The Ladies of Blenheim Palace – Lust and Laudanum
An entertaining look at the lives and loves of the ladies of the Marlborough family of Blenheim Palace – usually overlooked in favour of the men – with Antonia Keaney.
Wednesday 11 May, 7pm-8pm
Tickets are available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the English Spa
Curl up on the sofa and join us for our first online talk of the winter season. Author Melanie King will have us dreaming of warmer times as she takes us on a journey through the history of English Spas.
Wednesday 8 December, 7pm-8pm
Tickets are available from the Buxton Crescent Heritage trust website here.
Other Events
Heritage Open Days & Georgian Derbyshire Festival
This September, the Trust hosts a variety of events, including tours, talks, heritage experiences and craft activities for the two heritage festivals.
Friday 16 – Sunday 18 September 2022
Regency Ball
A masked regency ball in the Crescent Assembly Rooms. Find out more here.
Thursday 17 September 2022, 7.30pm-11pm
Tickets are available via the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust website here.
200 Years of Fashion
Join curator Notty Hornblower from Hope House Costume Museum and her models, as they take you on a journey of fashion through the decades in the resplendent surroundings of the Crescent Assembly Rooms. Find out more here.
Thursday 20 October 2022, 6.30pm-10pm
Tickets are available via the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust website here.
Buxton Dickensian Ball
A fantastic night of music, dancing and carols celebrating Charles Dickens.
Dress code is 1835 until 1870. A dance lesson will be held earlier in the day for anyone looking to have a practice or brush up on their dancing prowess. Info tbc.
Saturday 26 November, 7pm-11pm, The Pump Room
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Buxton Civic Association celebrates the natural and human heritage of Buxton including its outstanding buildings and wildlife. We conserve and enhance this heritage and advocate its importance in making Buxton a special place to live or to visit.
