The Nottingham Culture Review of 2022

January

A sad start to the year as Notts County commentator and icon Colin Slater passes away. He was 88 at the time, but still actively contributing to the club in various ways and it had only been a few years since he finally hung up his commentary mic. Cue lots of stories from former Notts County players and managers about ‘Uncle Colin’, many of them about his love for fish and chips.

A new Nottingham-based publication called The Dilettante launches, available to buy online and in bookshops. Edited by Sophie Gargett, if it sounds slightly familiar then not only did Sophie write a column for us in that name (2015-2016), but she also used to publish infrequent free-sheets and stick them in some city centre venues alongside us. We highly recommend you check this new mag (now onto Issue 2) out. 

As always in January it’s a bit slow events-wise, part of the post-Christmas lull, but it picks up towards the end with the multi-venue fundraiser Beat The Streets. 

February

The Festival of Science and Curiosity returns to the city, after a predominately online offering the previous year. Events include workshops on extracting the DNA of strawberries and an exhibition about space race toys. We at LeftLion devote an entire issue to science to celebrate. 

Visual artist and former NTU student Hetain Patel unveils Trinity, his biggest solo showcase of work yet, at New Art Exchange. Light Night also returns following a COVID-enforced break, although it’s now a two-day event which includes fire in the Castle gardens and a very fancy light show on the Council House.

March

Castle Rock Brewery team up with Notts Wildlife Trust to launch a beer called Into the Wild. Although this could just be seen as clever marketing, it’s actually the culmination of a charming twenty-year friendship between two major local organisations.

Jared Bush, the director of Disney hit Encanto, invites Chilwell school girl Lowri Moore to join him at the BAFTAs, three years after she first wrote to Disney requesting a princess with glasses.

Anjli Mohindra, who grew up in West Bridgford and trained at Nottingham’s Television Workshop, has a high profile month starring in Netflix movie Munich: The Edge of War and BBC TV drama series Vigil.

Nick Turner, the former owner and founder of Nottingham music venue The Chameleon, passes away at the age of 73. Many stories are shared by people about his life and later in the year an exhibition and auction of his mainly vagina-inspired artwork will take place. 

Dreaming In Yellow, a book by Harry Harrison about the halcyon days of nineties Notts-based free party movement DiY, is published. A series of events take place around the UK and in Nottingham and lots of now fifty-something former ravers get together to reminisce. 

April

Talented young local actor Phoebe Frances Brown, formerly part of the Major Labia group, passes away at the age of 29 due to an incurable brain tumour. Her final performance was in The Glad Game, a one-woman show at Nottingham Playhouse that she wrote and starred in to demonstrate that “even after receiving the most devastating news, there’s still hilarity and joy to be had.” 

Notts-based artist Wolfgang Buttress puts on his Murmuration exhibition at Beam Gallery, which is part of Primary studios. Mansfield’s Ferocious Dog play another headline homecoming gig at Rock City. Notts musician and filmmaker Dave Lankester steps into the ring at a local White Collar Boxing event in Arnold, raising about £12k for cancer charities, and draws the fight on points against a younger and more experienced rival.

May

The biggest news for the city, probably of the whole year, is Nottingham Forest returning to the Premier League, beating Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the Championship play-off final at Wembley. This ends a painful 23-year stint outside the top flight for the club and is made even more miraculous by the fact that new boss Steve Cooper had only taken over eight months earlier, with the club at the bottom of the table. A packed celebration takes place in the Market Square and suddenly even people who ‘hate football’ are now giving it the ‘You Reds’ on the socials. 

Remember that game of football in 1986 where Diego Maradona handballed it into the goal against England and it was henceforth known as the ‘hand of god’ game? Well, former Forest player, and current BBC Nottingham commentator, Steve Hodge was playing too and managed to get Diego’s shirt afterwards. On 3 May 2022 he finally decided to cash that chip in, with the shirt reaching a whopping £7.1million at auction with Sotheby’s. 

Nottingham Poetry Festival returns once again, with this year’s big guests including Joelle Taylor and Michael Rosen. Nottingham-based MMA fighter Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley has his last ever MMA fight, beating Wendell Giácomo at the Bellator 281 event in London. About 3,500 people take to the streets of Notts to celebrate the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi for the first time in three years, post-pandemic.

June

A television show called Sherwood premieres on BBC iPlayer about a village in Nottinghamshire where people argue about the eighties miners’ strikes and shoot each other with crossbows. While it seems quite a long way off the north Notts district we know by that name, the show is entertaining all the same and features a strong local acting contingent alongside BBC favourites like David Morrissey, Lesley Manville and Stephen Tompkinson.

MBEs are awarded in the Queen’s Jubilee Honours List to a couple of amazing local women. They are Sandy Mahal, the founding director of Nottingham City of Literature and Stephanie Sirr, the Chief Executive of Nottingham Playhouse.

After fourteen years, One Thoresby Street closes its doors as an exhibition space and studios for artists. It’s always sad to see a local studio go, but the founders can leave with their heads held high having put on a number of innovative events over those years. What is worrying in times of vast development in the city - often the development of student flats - is to see the lack of development of new affordable spaces for artists to utilise after they graduate. 

Nottingham Craft Beer Week and Festival take place in June, delighting the more hipster of the city's beer drinkers. The inaugural Meadowlands Festival takes place at Victoria Embankment, headlined by Gerry Cinnamon and The Kooks.

July

England Lionesses beat Germany 2-1 in the Euro 2022 Cup Final, the first time our country has won anything in senior football since 1966. Between the sticks is Nottingham’s own Mary Earps who brings home a Euro 2022 winner’s medal and inspires the whole country. Several murals are painted around the city in her honour. 

Nottinghamshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry is banned from driving after being caught breaking the limit five times (!) in twelve weeks. Elected after pledging to crack down on road safety, there are heavy calls for her to resign, but she brushes them off like Boris batting off a lockdown knees-up.

After a two-year hiatus Splendour Festival spreads itself out over two days with headliners including Richard Ashcroft, Anne-Marie, Supergrass and The Human League. Also returning is Nottinghamshire Pride, making its city centre comeback with a Saturday full of activities, rainbows and drinking. 

August

The Commonwealth Games takes place less than an hour's drive away in Birmingham and Notts is suitably well-represented. Nottingham University alone had eight current students and five alumni competing. However, the most notable local figure on display is Bulwell-born weightlifter Emily Campbell, who follows up her silver medal from the Tokyo Olympics with a gold, setting a new Commonwealth record in the process. Confetti and Antenna also hold qualifying rounds of the Commonwealth Esports Championships.

The inaugural No Man’s Land music festival takes place at The Bodega, with a line-up completely made up of female and non-binary artists. We release the 150th Issue of LeftLion magazine.

September

The Hundred, a 100-ball UK-based cricket tournament featuring live music, enters its second season at Trent Bridge. Many traditional cricket fans remain confused as to why you’d ever want to mix drum and bass with cricket, but their cries are drowned out when our local team Trent Rockets go and bleddy win it, beating Manchester Originals in the final by two wickets!

Goose Fair returns after its COVID-enforced break, but instead of the traditional three to four day stint it’s now on for ten days! Despite the initial shock, it actually makes sense for many, offering two different weekends to take your kids on the waltzers or dodgems. Local education providers Confetti announce plans to open up a new campus in Whitechapel, London.

Ashley Carter steps down as the Editor of LeftLion magazine after 39 issues and three-and-a-half glorious years in charge. We thank him for his excellent work and take him to the pub for a few swifties. He is ably replaced by his assistant George White.

October

The Hockley Hustle Festival returns for the first time since 2019, with dozens of stages of music and performances to liven up a Sunday. Local charities notice the increase of extra funds in their coffers and local employers notice the amount of hungover staff the next day. 

The co-founders of LeftLion magazine, Al Gilby and Jared Wilson (yes, that’s me - weird writing about oneself in the third person), win The Nottingham Award in a ceremony at Nottingham Council House. The award acknowledges two decades of publishing both in print and online, and my mum and wife are well impressed. 

Robert 'Roxy Rob' Michailovs passes away at the age of 69. Rob was a fashion designer who founded clothes shops such as Roxy Threads and Helter Skelter in the seventies and eighties. He later went on to become as well known for his eccentric drinking and dancing in local pubs and venues. 

Several big buildings on Bridlesmith Gate are beautifully painted by Laura Decorum and Emily Catherine, thanks to a project initiated by Nottingham BID and the Nottingham Project.

November

Doc’n Roll Film Festival returns to Nottingham with a run of screenings and events at both Broadway Cinema and The Old Bus Depot. Sleaford Mods release Dirty Rat, a new single collaboration with Orbital, and a van playing the tune to anyone who will listen drives around the city for a day.

Jake Bugg celebrates the ten-year anniversary of his self-titled debut album with his biggest headline show yet at Nottingham Arena. The show actually takes place after I put this together, so if he invites the entire Notts County team to get naked on stage with him and it’s not covered here you know why.

Nottingham Castle Trust goes into liquidation just a year after their grand £30million re-opening. At the time of going to press the building and site remains closed to the public and there’s quite a lot of mess left across the city to be sorted out. 

December

Winter Wonderland takes over the Market Square for the month, this year including an ice rink in the sky. Panto season overtakes our local theatres, with Joe Pasquale and Faye from Steps being the best-known ‘stars’ visiting the city this year

Vicky McClure’s new TV drama Without Sin debuts on 28 December on ITV X, the new free streaming hub replacement for ITV Hub. Not only does Vicky star in this, but she’s also producing it and roped in her This Is England co-star Johnny Harris, so it ought to be pretty good.