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Repton Recent Events
Repton in Bloom Summer 2026
The village looked amazing thanks to the shops, pubs, businesses and private residences who all contributed to Repton in Bloom 2026.
Three RHS judges attended on July 1st and they seemed to enjoy looking around Repton in Bloom, Repton Church and meeting the school children from St Wystan’s School and Repton Primary School.
The judges were also pleased to see how many floral displays there were outside the shops, pubs, businesses and private residences in addition to those in the centre of the village. Thank you to Repton allotment holders who ensured the allotments looked tidy and welcoming.
Thank you to all who have supported us this year, results will not be known until 24th September. Helen and Owen Jowett
Repton Gallery Exhibition by Stretton Art Group
Repton Village Hall displayed the work of Stretton Art Group during May and June by kind permission of Jeremy Bournon. The group itself are excited to show their work, which is a mixture of different skill sets, and outlines a number of varying topics. This is the first time they have exhibited as a group.
Stretton Art Group was initially set up by a well known local artist Sheila Richard’s in the 1990s. Sheila spent many years producing paintings of local scenes and encouraging others to be involved in the world of Art.
Sheila continues to be involved, although due to failing eyesight she no longer paints but still hold’s personal tuitions. On display will be a snapshot of the groups work who are very mindful of Sheila’s legacy, and wish to carry it on.
The Group is now part of Burton U3A and meets every Wednesday at 1pm in Stretton Church Hall.
Friends of Repton Parish Church - Trip to Bakewell
On Wednesday 20th May 8 Friends’ supporters travelled to Bakewell and enjoyed an energetic day beginning with a guided town walk, followed by a visit to All Saints’ Parish Church and after a lunch break spent an interesting time at the Old House Museum. Thankfully the weather was fine and timings and arrangements all worked out smoothly.
Dave, our town guide, packed a great deal of information into 90 minutes of walking round the town centre explaining the history of the settlement on an important turnpike route, heavily influenced by the local magnates at Chatsworth and Haddon, and having a surprising variety of industry. The parish church shares with Repton Saxon origins and functioning as a medieval minster church. Among its historic features it has possibly the largest number of Saxon stone sculptures in one location. The town museum, housed in a 16th century gentleman’s house, as well an interesting collection covering the history of the town, currently has a fine collection of dolls houses.
Our thanks to Dave our town guide, Susan our church guide, and Greg the museum manager for an interesting and enjoyable day.
Call my Bluff Wine Tasting Evening May 2nd 2026
14 teams gathered in Repton Village Hall on Sat 2nd May to once again pit their wits against the panellists in the battle to identify the 8 correct wines being tasted.
This year’s line-up included a first ever orange wine, two whites, a rosé, three reds & signed off with a glorious dessert wine, taking the teams from Chile to Uruguay, France to South Africa & Austria to Hungary.
In the end, Team Rioja triumphed with 5 points out of 8, just nudging out Sonoma Coast, Wachau & Margaret River – who all scored a gallant 4 – to take the prized trophy & magnum of champagne. Many congratulations!
£4,478.69 was raised for Hannah’s Hope charity, that total boosted wonderfully by the generosity of many local businesses contributing raffle prizes.
Our thanks to them, to all who took part, to our volunteers on the night & to Jen for all her help setting up & clearing up.
Next year’s Call My Bluff wine tasting will be on Sat 1st May in the village hall. Please save the date & we look forward to seeing you there.
Repton Village Party May 2nd 2026
The 10th Repton Village Party
The sun shone, the band played and the village partied on Saturday 2nd May on the Mitre Field. A fantastic time was had by all who attended. There were trains to ride, displays to read, bread twists to cook, magic to watch, circus skills to practise, classic cars to admire and a zip-wire for adventurous teddies to slide down. If peckish during the afternoon, visitors could spend some time with the WI and their fantastic array of cakes, visit the hog roast or enjoy an ice-cream or packet of sweets. The Boot Bar had steady trade all afternoon.
There was plenty to entertain in the central space too. The maypole dancers were fabulous, performing complex manoeuvres with their ribbons which resulted in lovely patterns around the pole. There was a relaxing Tai Chi demonstration to enjoy and a musical interlude from South Derbyshire Music Centre. It was also great to see everyone involved with the various Tugs of War, from the tinies to the not so tiny! It really added to the community spirit of the afternoon.
The end of the afternoon saw the calling of the tremendous raffle with numerous fantastic prizes being won. The anticipation on the children’s faces as they checked their numbers was fun to see.
All of this was organised by a small committee of volunteers ably led by Frances Wimbush. A massive thank you goes to Frances and everyone who helped with the organisation, set up, running and clearing up of the party. It was certainly a brilliant afternoon.
If you enjoyed the party and feel inspired to join in with the planning and organisation for the next one in 2028, the committee will be very pleased to hear from you. reptonvillageparty@gmail.com
Opening of the new Pump Track on Mitre Field
A great day for Repton with the official opening of the new Pump Track on Mitre Field.
Lovely to see representation from our MP, our County Councillor and our District Councillors as well as the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner and presence from Mercia and Hilton Police SNT.
Most of all thanks to members of Repton Parish Council, both present and past, and to some who stand out, notably the drive from Stuart for whom this has been a project he has passionately stood behind from start to finish.
They say it takes a village to raise a child, but in this case it took a village to create a pump track and a resource for our children to start their cycling journey and to hone their skills. Underlining the Mitre Field area as a hub for local youth and children village groups and hats off to all the volunteers who enable so many activities at the heart of the community.
Great work as well from Toby aged 4 in exemplary ribbon cutting and fearless demonstration of how to use the track.
Also thanks to the named sponsors, all village based who have contributed to enable this to happen. Thank you to those that donated and wished to remain anonymous. But most also to the whole village as critical funding came out of the Parish Council budget.
Repton Village Hall Gallery - Ken Ash: A Centennial Tribute - March and April 2026
On the 100th anniversary of Ken Ash’s birthday, with the support of his daughter Pauline Kingman, the gallery in Repton Village Hall is thrilled to be able to exhibit a collection of his drawings, map making, guides and calligraphy. For the month of April, you will be able to view his Historical Timeline of Repton which, due to its size, it is seldom exhibited.
William John Stephenson-Peach Exhibition. January & February 2026
With the invaluable help of Paul Stevens, Repton School Librarian and Archivist and Russell Fisher, Village Historian and Archivist, for the months of January and February, The exhibition will provide an insight into the remarkable engineering work of William Stephenson-Peach in the village hall gallery. Stephenson-Peach ran an engineering workshop in Askew House, Milton Road from the late 1880’s into the 20th century and although he left Repton in 1897 to set up an automotive business in Malvern with Henry Morgan, he continued to oversee the innovative development of motor vehicles with the help of his works manager Frederick Smith and the boys of Repton School.
Thanks to the Repton School Photographic Society of the time, many images exist of the works and vehicles that were built and the exhibition will be of photographs, engineering drawings and brief historical texts from the period.
An Enchanting Autum at Repton Baby & Toddler Group
Wow, what a wonderful and busy few months it has been! It feels incredible to be celebrating the festive season and the close of another fantastic year of toddler group fun. Time truly flies when you’re watching your little ones grow!
Welcoming New Faces and Big Changes.
Back in September, we were thrilled to throw open our doors to welcome all our lovely families—both those returning after the summer break and the many new faces joining our group. We couldn’t believe how much everyone had grown!
The start of the new term also brought a significant change to our volunteer committee. We want to take a heartfelt moment to thank the dedicated members who moved on as their children transitioned to school. Your years of hard work and commitment were invaluable! Our new team is certainly learning the ropes as we go, and we are so excited to continue building on the group’s success.
Crafting, Celebrating, and Festive Fun
Every week has been a joyful adventure! Our little explorers have been busy with creative activities celebrating the season:
- A successful Macmillan Coffee Morning – we were so proud to host a cake and coffee morning for Macmillan Cancer Support. Thanks to the incredibly generous donations from all our families, we raised an amazing £131 for this vital cause! Thank you all for your support.
- We celebrated Remembrance Day by carefully crafting beautiful tissue paper poppies.
- For Bonfire Night, we turned tiny handprints into mini flickering flames and autumn leaves!
- Our Halloween party was a huge hit, complete with spooky sensory trays, creative crafts, and, of course, delicious biscuit decorating.
- Our Christmas Party was packed with festive cheer, party food, games, and a very special visitor for the children!
Special Visitors & Keepsake Memories.
The past few months have been filled with exciting guests, helping us create some beautiful memories:
- The lovely team from The Mug Tug at Barton Marina visited, helping the little ones create beautiful handprint keepsakes and festive baubles ready for Christmas gifts.
- We’ve had several wonderful visits from Joanna’s Bookshop – in partnership with Usborne with her fantastic pop-up book stalls, providing plenty of new reading inspiration.
- Finally, Kirsty from Bumble & Bow Photography came by to capture beautiful Christmas photos of our children. We simply can’t wait to see the beautiful results!
Mitre Field Pump Track completed: October 2025
The pump track situated on Mitre Field in the heart of the village is now complete and ready to use! The track was completed just in time for the half term holiday where it attracted many users from across the Parish, who enjoyed the good weather and the new facility.
The track has received praise from all users who have had a chance to ride, roll or pedal around the track. A pleasant side effect is it has brought life to the play area too and it is great to see the Mitre field being used as intended for the play and enjoyment of the children of our Parish.
It has been great to see children as young as 2 learning to ride the track and gaining their confidence, to teens with experience honing their skills and developing new ones. It is amazing to watch the quick progression, I chatted to a parent as their youngest child went from nervously walking with their bike, to bombing around the track with glee within a couple of hours, then eagerly challenging their much older sister to a race, or more precisely endless races with boundless energy. Some of the older children including Officer Bob have also been seen enjoying the track.
The track has met its design ambitions of being open to all people and all things on wheels, a local teacher was spotted testing his skateboarding skills while their children rode the track on their bikes. The bravery of the very young on scooters and balance bikes is something to behold. The track is primarily intended for the young to enjoy, however if you are an older big kid and have a wheeled object you can ride or roll on do dust them off and give the track a lap or two, it is surprisingly good exercise and good fun.
To mark the completion, we intend to erect a plaque next to the track for posterity, listing all the supporters of the project, from the smallest to the largest donation, all are equally key to the success of this project. It will represent how the community helped bring the track into being and recognition from Repton Parish Council.
Dazzled by Display - a funeral, a coronation and an Abbey: 25th October 2025
Friends of Repton Parish Church
We were privileged to have the Very Revd Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, deliver our Annual Lecture 2025 with the title Dazzled by Display – a funeral, a coronation and an Abbey. An audience of about eighty people in St Wystan’s on 25th October heard Dr Hoyle speak informally for an hour on the history and significance of Westminster Abbey in the life of our nation, and his experience of taking a leading role in the funeral of Queen Elizabeth and then the coronation of King Charles.
The entertaining and informative talk was full of fascinating anecdotes, including Dr Hoyle’s story of his hurried arrangements to fly back from the USA, where he had been meeting the American Friends of Westminster Abbey, to join in a hectic ten days organising the Queen’s funeral.
Dr Hoyle took time to give informative answers to questions including how the Abbey reaches out to visiting
Bridge Tea Party for Hannah's Hope Charity
On October 20th over 50 keen bridge players met at Repton Village Hall to enjoy an afternoon of cards, tea and cakes. They raised over £1,000 for ‘Hannah’s Hope’ which is a charity supporting young adult cancer patients by providing respite care, at a lodge in Mercia Marina, for patients and their families. Hannah’s mother gave a moving introduction to their cause.
Exhibition of paintings by William Hufton
In the latter part of his life William Hufton painstakingly reproduced Van Gogh paintings to scale and interpreting them as faithfully as he could. Repton Village Hall Gallery was pleased to be able to display these in the gallery.
The show runs until the New Year.
Lavinia Blackwall in Concert: October 2025
On Saturday 11 October, a packed St, Wystan’s Church was treated to a wonderful evening of folk music by Lavinia and her band, George Nash and Alex Rex.
Later to appear as Stilton’s drummer, Alex Rex opened the show with his collection of extremely quirky poems set to music. There was no escaping the humorous honesty of his singing and raw guitar accompaniment.
For those in the audience who had not seen George Nash’s performance at this year’s Repton Festival and who were not aware of this young man’s astonishing technique, this display of mind-blowing virtuosity was a revelation. Using a range of unusual tunings, there seemed to be no part of the guitar that was not employed to create beautiful tunes and harmonies. The ambient sound of the church suited his playing perfectly and each instrumental was greeted with rapturous applause from the spellbound audience.
However, the night was definitely Lavinia’s. Backed by three musicians, but playing keyboards and guitar herself, she and the band recreated the songs from her two solo albums flawlessly. Special mention must be made of her multi-instrumentalist husband Marco. Not only did he bring an exquisite palette of sounds to music, but he and Lavinia’s voices locked together throughout the night in perfect sonorous harmony.
Repton in Bloom: 2025
A huge thank you to everyone involved in this year’s Repton in Bloom event and congratulations on achieving a Silver Gilt Award in the Small Town Category and a special award to the children of St Wystan’s School for their display on High Street. In their report the judges give credit to Owen and Helen Jowett who they described as the’ prime movers’ of this ‘Blooming entry’ and engaged so many people in the campaign.
The judges were impressed by the immaculately maintained borders at Repton Village Hall, the eye catching frontage created by the children of St Wystan’s School, the displays created by local businesses, the planters at The Cross and Kindersley Gate, baskets at the bus stops, the Cloister garden and buildings along High Street where many private houses and businesses took pride in ensuring a good display at their frontage. The
Monsom Lane allotments also received praise, the comment was that they were a ‘sheer pleasure to see’ and how allotments can be important for both physical and mental health.
Ticknall Art Group Exhibition: July and August 2025
In July and August Repton Village Hall Gallery was pleased to host an exhibition by the Ticknall Art Group. A very fine collection of work exploring a variety of themes and media by this well-established group of practitioners.
Repton Festival: 4th-6th July 2025
Over 1,200 people were drawn through The Arch to a wide range of attractive events at this year’s Repton Festival, held in the grounds and buildings of Repton School.
A sizzling evening celebrating captivating South American rhythm opened the Festival with the big Salsa Chubasco Band of highly trained and hugely talented musicians from around the world compelling the large audience to get up and dance, tap their feet to the beat or just enjoy the hypnotic sound, whilst enjoying authentic Argentinian food created by Gaucho Stu. The following morning, brilliant young actors from Repton Primary School brought an abridged version of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night to the same stage and a full house. Further free live theatre was performed for children by the professional specialists, Rhubarb Theatre Company ably supported at times by their camels and reindeer, with four performances across the weekend. The ‘animals’ were possibly eyed up by The Vikings of Middle England who set up an authentic encampment and gave historically accurate combat demonstrations on The Paddock, where they also founded a brief but thrilling Viking Combat School for eager children. The Hive hosted wonderfully engaging activities for children throughout the weekend, including story-telling, a treasure hunt, a Story Box competition and so much more.
The brilliant Burton Concert Band entertained all with delightful al fresco concerts, the sensational George Nash performed mind-blowing percussive guitar techniques and internationally recognised harpist Lucy Nolan joined acclaimed poet and story-teller Chris Tutton to create magical and mesmerising moments of reflection and joy, in their respective lunchtime recitals.
On Saturday evening the hilarious Stand-Up Tiff Stevenson ( The Office, Mock the Week, Never Mind the Buzzcocks), previewed new material for her forthcoming Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, Dr. Thomas Charles Craig intrigued all with a fascinating show about Victorian Spiritualism and stunning displays of seemingly impossible and breath-taking magic that defies any explanation and the delicious Ada Campe’s crowd-loving variety show revealed just why she is such a popular performer on the national comedy club circuit and at the Edinburgh Fringe.
The Times’ gardening and notebook columnist Ann Treneman suggested easy ways to go greener in the garden (and then wrote warmly about her visit to Repton in the newspaper the following Saturday) and Hildegard Wiesehofer unveiled The Glory of Derbyshire Gardens in a lively presentation full of charm… and gardening.
Locally acclaimed archivist and librarian Paul Stevens led fascinating and factually packed walking tours of Repton and gave a sell-out talk about the Undercroft and its intriguing history in er, the Undercroft, the ground level floor of the guesthouse in the original 1172 Augustinian Priory.
Enigmatic and energetic author Guy Hale, brought together a library of popular authors to discuss crime-writing and other best-selling writers gave book-lovers a welcome opportunity to celebrate story telling and new writing in the Inferno Book Club.
Local artist Jeremy Bournon closed this year’s Repton Festival with Sunday Afternoon with Dr. Gachet – a unique and compelling celebration of art, friendship and flavour through a discovery of Dr. Paul Gachet’s remarkable connections with the Impressionist painters… and wine.
With over 40 live events at the festival, it is impossible to cover them all or do any of them justice in this report, but with free entry to the festival and free attendance to as many of the events as possible, the volunteer organisers, in association with the very helpful team at Repton School Enterprises, aim to continue to build on this year’s success and to continue to invite everyone to Be Curious at next year’s Repton Festival, currently scheduled to take place over the weekend of 3rd – 5th July 2026.
Call my Bluff Wine Tasting Evening: May 2025
The Call my Bluff wine tasting evening in May 2025 was very successful event and raised £3,204.32, a new record for the wine tasting event.
The winning team were ‘Team Haut Brion’ pictured below.
Pam Haines, David Haines, Roger Kerry, Dea, Steve Topliss, Annie Topliss, Martin Casha, Jayne Casha, Lesley Bird.
Friends of Repton Parish Church: Visit to Tewkesbury and Deerhurst 17th May 2025
On Saturday 17th May 2025 16 of us from Repton and surrounding area travelled to Tewkesbury where we enjoyed a guided tour of the Abbey and then in the afternoon went on to the nearby Saxon church at Deerhurst.
We shared cars and thankfully there were no traffic hold ups so everyone arrived on time at Tewkesbury where after coffee in the Abbey café we divided in to three small groups for our tour of the Abbey, one of the finest Norman parish churches in England and larger than many cathedrals. Prior to the Reformation the Abbey was home to a Benedictine community but there is now no trace of the extensive monastic buildings.
Fortunately the weather kept fine as we moved on to the priory church of St Mary’s Deerhurst, where we met up with our president Professor Mark Horton. Deerhurst is one of the most complete surviving Saxon churches. As with St Wystan’s its exact dating is much debated by historians but it is generally thought to belong to the first half of the 9th century and therefore contemporary with the crypt and east end of St Wystan’s. After a detailed talk and tour by the local expert Michael Hare we walked the short distance to Odda’s Chapel, dating from 1056 and described by English Heritage as “one of the most complete surviving Saxon church buildings in England.”
Repton Village Hall Gallery: Ink Drawings by John Plowright. May and June 2025
The gallery in Repton Village Hall displayed a series of ink drawings by John Plowright in the months of May and June.
John was a history teacher at Repton School for many years and, as well as being an eminent fount of knowledge about the Beatles, film and modern history, he is also a prolific draughtman in ink.
An Evening with The Beatles: 26th April 2025
The organisers would like to thank all those who performed, attended and supported the evening which was ‘sold out’ and hugely enjoyed by all present.
In particular the wonderful contribution from The Repton Community Choir under the leadership of Izzy Hurley, the pupils and staff of Repton School, the actors, the house band, crew, sound team and John Plowright the narrator.
A great night celebrating their music, enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience some of whom ended the evening by dancing in the aisles.
Repton Village History Group Exhibition January and February 2025
In the Repton Gallery No 1 (near the cross) we hosted a display of photographs from yesteryear in January and February alongside a display of interesting items from Repton School.
We were a little unsure of how it would go, so restricted the open days to two. How wrong we were, there was a huge amount of interest and on the open days we had large numbers of people attending to view the items on display.
The exhibition contained many photographs and maps relating to Repton and the surrounding villages.
Comments like ‘I used to live there’, ‘oh I remember that sweet shop’ and ‘oh that’s my grandad in that photo’. Some people were actually meeting others after a long time and discussing old times.
There are many hundreds of photos in the archives, too many to display but we welcomed requests and will try our best to help.
We had a comments book and the comments received were lovely and made our job feel worthwhile. Now we know there is an interest we can plan possibly for a similar occasion in the future.
We would like to thank Ivor Sandars and Ian Whitfield (Director of Art) for thinking of the idea and also Russell Fisher and Tim Norman for setting up and hosting the open days.
We would also like the thank Paul Stevens for his archive material from Repton School and Jeremy Bournon for loan of some of his display boards.
Charnwood Art Group Exhibition March and April 2025
During the months of March and April the gallery hosted an exhibition by the Charnwood Art Group.
The Charnwood Art Group are long established and not only regularly exhibit but also have twice weekly meetings of drawing in the out of doors and collaborating in a studio setting.
Breaston Art Group's exhibition in Repton Village Hall Gallery - January & February 2025
An exhibition of work by the Breaston Art Group was on display in the gallery during January and February 2025.
The Breaston Art Group was established 25 years ago. The 40 or so members meet weekly in the Methodist Church Hall in Breaston, Derbyshire. They have an annual exhibition where all members are encouraged to exhibit.
Repton Village Hall is delighted to host an exhibition of work by five of the group.
Tales from the Archives - 18th January 2025
Paul Stevens, Repton School’s highly respected archivist and librarian and an acknowledged authority on the ancient buildings and history of the local area, treated a large audience of over 150 to a fascinating and entertaining lecture about the life of and personalities at the school over the centuries, featuring Old Reptonians who many would not have known about previously. The talk was accompanied by recorded music on arrival by notable past pupils including Eric Maschwitz (A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square), Babybird – Stephen Jones (You’re Gorgeous) and Blair Dunlop (Sweet on You) and live music in the performance from the acclaimed school singing group The Reptiles.
Paul shared some of the forgotten stories that have intrigued him over his twenty years exploring the archives and carrying out research using a wide range of source material covering the centuries of the school’s existence. This includes Headmasters’ records in Red and Black Books, school Daily Notices, Punishment Books, Terminal Letter publications to Old Reptonians, personal letters and publications, newspaper accounts and court transcripts, and his selection for this talk was a rich seam of chosen material.
Initially, the audience was treated to some examples of offences committed by pupils between 1901 and 1915, many of which involved discharging firearms, and strict instructions concerning standards of behaviour expected of pupils in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; in 1878 there was a reminder that “No boys are to bathe without Bathing Drawers” whilst in 1902 ” Boys may not go inside the wild beast show now in the village”, and in 1964 the Headmaster noted that “Pears School is being used far too much by pop groups. I wish to see a representative from each group in break today”.
Subsequently, the audience appreciated some vivid descriptions of individual pupils, Headmasters, Assistant Masters and support staff from the local community with only a nod in the direction of familiar names from today. Paul mentioned some of the visiting personalities such as Benjamin Britten and Nigel Kennedy but saved his more illuminating descriptions for just a few Old Reptonians who went on to achieve notably in a range of spheres both nationally and internationally.
Towards the end of the presentation the audience learned about a few pupils from Paul’s Brief Lives Project, an investigation of hundreds of Old Reptonians from the 1550s to the 1950s who had died before the age of 30 but who had led fascinating lives cut short by disease, murder, suicide and tragic accident.
He closed this superb talk acknowledging that perhaps there have been between 60 and 70 thousand past pupils of the school over a period spanning more than 450 years, but drew attention to one in particular: “By 1664 Repton School had been opened for 85 years and had probably had at least two and a half thousand pupils in that time. We only know the names of about 80 of them. In that momentous year of 1644, when the Royalist Army of Charles I was decisively defeated at Marston Moor by the Parliamentarians, a boy climbed on to the wooden dais at the end of the Big School Room at Repton and, directly behind the Headmaster’s chair carved his name, Henry Sykes, and the date onto one of the oak panels. There they stand to this day – the only record that Henry was ever at the School. We don’t know where he came from, we don’t know where he went to – but we know for certain that he was here.”
Repton in Bloom 2024
A huge thank you to all who helped and participated in this project.
For the judging purposes Repton falls into a small town category within East Midlands in Bloom. The area stretches North to South from Grimsby to Market Bosworth West to East from Nottinghamshire to Sutton on Sea on the Lincolnshire coast. There were 42 entries all judged within the first 2 weeks of July..
This was the first time that Repton entered this competition, and was very much a learning curve.
That said that we were thrilled to receive a silver award in the Small Town Category and were also given an extra Judge’s Award for the newly constructed community gardens and Parish Council allotments on Monsom Lane.
The judge’s comments and certificates are available to view in Repton Village Hall. We are aiming for gold next year!
Owen Jowett
Repton Festival 12th - 14th July 2024
St. Wystan’s Church and Repton School
This year’s Repton Festival boasted an exciting and wide range of curated activities, talks, concerts and events with plenty to appeal to everyone, and it certainly delivered!
A free ‘Paddock Pass’ gave access through the ancient Arch of the Augustinian Priory where the Vikings of Middle England showed what daily life would have involved and gave carefully choreographed combat displays in an area once occupied by Vikings over a thousand years ago.
Close by, Vijay Verma read Roald Dahl’s “Revolting Rhymes” in The Grubber – the school tuck shop – where chocolate truffle-making and painting in the style of famous artists delighted children, who could also try circus skills and join a percussion workshop, in a family-friendly festival.
World renowned harp-guitarist and film-maker Jason Carter gave a magical, almost mystical concert in the Parish Church to open the festival on Friday evening and the Ravens Drama Group from Repton Primary kept up the performance aspect on Saturday with a delightful, abridged “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in a sell-out show. Later in the day, acclaimed local actor Joanna Hands gave a rehearsed reading performance of “Graggers on Your Eggs”, selected letters of Repton Schoolboy Roald Dahl to his mother from nearly a hundred years ago, featuring local landmarks, fire and flooding in the village (‘Graggers’ was then Repton School slang meaning Congratulations).
Local M.P. Samantha Niblett was introduced and interviewed by BBC Radio Derby’s Ian Skye in her first public appearance since being elected, before she headed to Rosie Holt’s hilarious stand-up comedy set “That’s Politainment…”. With Rude Shakespeare, an audience with Oscar winning film-maker John Stephenson, walking tours of the beautiful buildings, gardens and grounds, talks by creative and crime writers, local craft brewers and wine importers, specialist gardening experts and authors, there was a feast of active entertainment opportunities to suit everyone.
There was also an actual feast… . The ancient, stone Tithe Barn, adjacent to The
Arch, was transformed into the magical Secret Garden designed and created by Carl and Mandy Avery of Parkside Home & Garden, featuring a large pond, a skyscraper bug hotel and hundreds of trees, flowering plants and bushes, beautifully lit to pick out the shades and contours of the living design.
The Secret Garden. Photos courtesy of the creators Carl and Mandy Avery
A ‘tea menu’ curated by tea expert James Pogson of Northern Tea Merchants and a classic sweet and savoury afternoon tea selection prepared by The Pantry Event Catering would have been a quintessentially english experience alone but this enriching and memorable event was enhanced by two nationally respected gardening experts moving around the tables to answer questions and offer advice.
The Repton Festival has become a truly delightful, gloriously surprising and thoroughly enjoyable occasion and many in the local and wider area will look forward to whatever imaginative and engaging events are developed in the future.
Graggers on the Repton Festival!
Repton in Bloom 2024
This is the first year Repton has entered the Village in Bloom competition, the objectives being to brighten the village, give pleasure to those who live in or pass through Repton and encourage community spirit. These sentiments were endorsed by the Parish Council and supported by Repton School with initially shops, local businesses and those involved with the Monsom Lane allotments being invited to participate.
The idea was also promoted at the South Derbyshire Community Fun Day in January and at the Village Party which took place on the Mitre Field in May.
Judging took place on 11th July and although it was a wet afternoon the village certainly looked cheerful with so many wonderfully bright displays.
Results will be announced on September 25th.
We obviously still have a lot to learn this being our first attempt, but hopefully we can improve and expand in future years with more people becoming involved.
Very many thanks to the shops, businesses and house owners who took part and to Dr Howard Gould for the colourful photographs recording the event.
Thanks also to the Parish Council, St Wystan’s Church, the Allotment Association, Repton WI, Repton Village Hall, the two ladies who made the bunting and to Repton and St Wystan’s schools for their valuable help and support. Owen Jowett
Images of Repton in Bloom 2024 courtesy of Howard Gould
Friends of Repton Parish Church Summer Barbeque 2024
More than sixty people came along to a barbecue at Cokhay Farm on Saturday 17th August hosted by Stephen Gould and his family in aid of Friends of Repton Parish Church. We enjoyed great food (burgers and salad, strawberries and cream) and drink (Everards beer, wine and soft drinks), comfortable weather, delightful surroundings, good company and live music. Around £1,900 was raised to enable Friends to continue its support of the maintenance of St Wystan’s Church. Our most recent project has been to contribute about 40% of the cost of repairs to the chancel stonework.
Our thanks to Stephen and family, others who helped, and everyone for their generous financial contributions.
The next Friends event is our Annual Lecture by Professor Mark Horton on Saturday 2nd November at 2 pm in St Wystan’s Church entitled ‘50 years of early medieval archaeology at Repton 1974-2023’. It will be followed by tour of sites at Repton School not normally open to the public.
If you are interested in finding out more about the lecture or Friends of Repton Parish Church see our website https://www.friendsofreptonparishchurch.co.uk
Friends of Repton Parish Church Summer Barbeque 2024
More than sixty people came along to a barbecue at Cokhay Farm on Saturday 17th August hosted by Stephen Gould and his family in aid of Friends of Repton Parish Church. We enjoyed great food (burgers and salad, strawberries and cream) and drink (Everards beer, wine and soft drinks), comfortable weather, delightful surroundings, good company and live music. Around £1,900 was raised to enable Friends to continue its support of the maintenance of St Wystan’s Church. Our most recent project has been to contribute about 40% of the cost of repairs to the chancel stonework.
Our thanks to Stephen and family, others who helped, and everyone for their generous financial contributions.
The next Friends event is our Annual Lecture by Professor Mark Horton on Saturday 2nd November at 2 pm in St Wystan’s Church entitled ‘50 years of early medieval archaeology at Repton 1974-2023’. It will be followed by tour of sites at Repton School not normally open to the public.
If you are interested in finding out more about the lecture or Friends of Repton Parish Church see our website https://www.friendsofreptonparishchurch.co.uk
4th May Repton Village Party 2024
An occasion where people gather together to have fun and enjoy themselves in the company of others.’ I’d like to think that everyone who came along to the Mitre Field on May 4th did just that and hopefully, everyone left having had a good time and having met new friends.
However parties don’t just happen…and huge thanks are due to the many folk who contributed in numerous ways to make the Village Party successful, giving generously of their time and expertise: from poster design to putting up tents; making cakes to maypole dancing .. and everything in between. It is impossible to thank you all individually – it would run to several pages and I would be sure to leave someone out. Suffice it to say that whatever your involvement, your help was very much appreciated.
Finally. Thank You to everyone for coming! It would have been no fun without you! Parties are about people and although we have no way of knowing how many came along, we do know it was a record number with ages ranging from 9 months to at least 90!!
PS: The Village Party relies totally on goodwill within our community and the ‘fun’ is not confined to the day of the Party! If you enjoyed the Party this year, please do consider becoming involved in the planning for the next Party in 2026. It is a great way to meet people and find out what happens here in our village. Whatever your interests or skills, everyone has something to offer and we’d love to hear from you!
23rd March Craft Fair & Makers Market
Repton Community Support Helps Ukrainian Refugees 2024
On March 18th, Repton Community Support hosted a wonderful event at Repton Village Hall for the Ukrainian community and their sponsors. With Easter approaching, there was an arts and crafts table where everyone had a fantastic time creating beautiful artwork. It was a great opportunity to meet the new families and warmly welcome them.
South Derbyshire Family Community Day Saturday 20th January 2024
South Derbyshire Family Community Day was held at Repton Village Hall on Saturday 20th January to great acclaim! The queues outside to have a go in the fire engine and police cars were never-ending, including some surprisingly tall ‘children’.
Officer ‘Bob’ Marley started the event by thanking Lynne Skeith of the Maple Tree Café and Helen Adcock of South Derbyshire Community Voluntary Support (CVS) for organising it. ‘Bob’ introduced Sergeant Tarj Nizzer who welcomed everyone and thanked Officer Bob before handing over to Repton School Jazz Band. The Band played some of their hits which were clearly appreciated by those people having a gentle bop.
Repton School also provided the cakes which contributed very well to the profits from the day which are to be donated to charities, in particular to the food bank.
The day was very well attended, with large crowds both inside and out, including our MP. The purpose of the Community Day was to facilitate engagement by the community with clubs and groups that they might not even know existed, and in that it succeeded. Many groups were seeking more members or volunteers. For example, if you want to help beautify Repton for entry into Britain in Bloom please do not hesitate to contact Owen Jowett or Tony Brown. CVS is also looking for helpers across a great diversity of jobs providing invaluable services to our community that become increasingly important as funding for council services is withdrawn by the government.
The attending organisations were Maple Tree Community Café, South Derbyshire CVS, Safer Neighbourhood Team, the Rural Crime team, Derbyshire Blood Bikes, Derby Mountain Rescue, the Fire Service, St Wystan’s School, Newton Solney School, Repton Primary School, Repton School CCF, Scouts, Brownies, Rainbows, Repton Village Party, British Legion, District Councillors, Repton Parish Council, Speedwatch, Burton Model Railway, Repton School Art Department, Lunch Club, Ukrainian Support Group, Repton WI, Slow Knitting Group, Bridge Club and Repton Community Choir. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone out!
This was a great example of the community coming together and we all look forward to the next one!
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