The Arts Society Dukeries

03/08/2026

Early Years Trail of Discovery in N.E. Derbyshire

A new type of children’s trail has been launched with the help of the Reception class from Whitwell Primary School. The trail is now available free for all families in St Lawrence Church, Whitwell, which is open daily. There is also a free trail for older children available. The church welcomes you to try them out with your family over the summer.

The Arts Society Dukeries, which meets in Carlton in Lindrick, has created this Trail of Discovery especially for children in their early years (3-6 years old approx.). The trail is based on finding the most important features in St Lawrence’s using flashcards and a simple plan for the children to follow.

Plenty of adults were on hand at the launch to guide the children round the church and answer the brilliant questions the children asked. Their most interesting discovery was the huge tomb of Sir Roger Manners in his armour – very impressive!

The Arts Society Dukeries meets on the first Wednesday of every month (August, September and January excepted) for a lecture on an artistic or cultural subject at the Civic Centre in Carlton in Lindrick. Guests welcome at £8. The Society also engages in a wide variety of activities, including arts and heritage volunteering such as these church trails.

29/06/2026

Our next lecture at Carlton in Lindrick Civic Centre is on Sensation and Sensibility: Depictions of the Industrial Age and the Enlightenment by Joseph Wright of Derby, given by Justin Reay.

Britain in the 18th century saw an unprecedented growth in industry, technology and scientific discovery, building the foundation of its wealth and power. Industrialists and natural philosophers – the name at the time for physical and chemical scientists – became famous, and their world was painted by Joseph Wright of Derby. The son of a well-to-do professional family in the prosperous county town in the Midlands, Wright was well placed to observe the development of the burgeoning industries of the area and to befriend the self-made entrepreneurs creating them. Combining his depictions of industry and science with an original approach to light, these subject paintings became popular in Wright’s lifetime, and his superlative eye for character made him one of the most sought-after portraitists. Justin discusses the key events of the early industrial and scientific eras, and describes Wright’s artistically ground-breaking paintings.

11am, on Wednesday 1st July, at the Carlton in Lindrick Civic Centre. Doors open at 10am. Visitors welcome at £8.

Please share to spread the word. Any questions? Feel free to message us or drop us a comment!

There is parking at the Civic Centre; however, this does fill up. We ask that you please do not park at the doctor's surgery or at the shopping precinct, out of consideration for residents. Thank you.

05/06/2026

01/06/2026

A message from our President, Hilary Kay, for Volunteers’ Week.

Since becoming President in April 2025, I’ve been continually inspired by the passion and commitment of our volunteers across the UK and beyond.

This Volunteers’ Week, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who gives their time, whether you’re running Societies and Areas, supporting local arts projects, creating Trails of Discovery, or helping to record and conserve our heritage in places of worship, museums and historic buildings across the country.

Your time, skills and energy make a real difference. You help preserve, celebrate and share the arts and heritage in communities everywhere - and you are vital to everything we do.

Happy Volunteers’ Week, and thank you.

Find out more about volunteering: https://theartssociety.org/volunteering

01/06/2026

Our next lecture at Carlton in Lindrick Civic Centre is on The Age of Jazz by Sandy Burnett.

Jazz is one of music’s most important genres: a fascinating blend of rigorous structure, free-wheeling creativity, close-knit ensembles and imaginative improvisation. Drawing on his experience both as musicologist and gigging musician, Sandy can shed light on jazz from the inside. His talk covers the early years of jazz up to the Second World War, and touches on the disparate influences which lay behind the emergence of jazz. Musical illustrations range from the blues, ragtime and the very first jazz recordings through to classics by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and the dawn of the Swing Era.

11am, on Wednesday 3rd June, at the Carlton in Lindrick Civic Centre. Doors open at 10am. Visitors welcome at £8.

Please share to spread the word. Any questions? Feel free to message us or drop us a comment!

There is parking at the Civic Centre; however, this does fill up. We ask that you please do not park at the doctor's surgery or at the shopping precinct, out of consideration for residents. Thank you.

09/05/2026

04/05/2026

We are open! Visit us this Bank Holiday Monday for a last chance to see our exhibition 'Jennifer Vanderpool: Bread and Roses - Welbeck's Untold Stories'. Whilst you're here, why not take a look in our museum, or visit our free creative space to keep the kids entertained.

🔗Check what's on today: https://harleyfoundation.org.uk/whats-on/

04/05/2026

It's our birthday! We're 45 this year, and to celebrate, after our Noel Coward lecture this month, we will be serving fizz and cake for members and visitors alike. Come and join us!

11am, on Wednesday 6th May, at the Carlton in Lindrick Civic Centre. Doors open at 10am. Visitors welcome at £8.

Please share to spread the word. Any questions? Feel free to message us or drop us a comment!

04/05/2026

Our next lecture at Carlton in Lindrick Civic Centre is on Noel Coward: the man behind the mask by Simon Whitehouse.

"I don’t know what it is, but I’ve got it!” ‘It’ was ”star quality”, and the person that had ‘it’ was Noel Coward!

On the surface, Coward appeared to be just a camp man swanning about in a dressing gown, dropping acerbic one liners like cigarette ash from a long cigarette holder. But Noel Coward was one of the most versatile cultural figures of the 20th century and his career is the history of 20th century British theatre.

As Lord Mountbatten put it, there may be greater painters, greater comedians, greater novelists, only “the Master” had combined fourteen talents rolled into one.

In any given week, his plays such as "Private Lives" & "Hay Fever" are being performed somewhere in the world, and we can all quote "Mads Dogs and Englishmen" and "Mad About The Boy", but still the range of his work is underestimated.

TS Eliot said that there are things that you can learn from Noel Coward that you won’t learn from Shakespeare. Like Shakespeare, some of Coward’s most moving lines are in his poems which will be shared in the lecture.

Coward said, “I’ll go and see anything so long as it amuses me, or moves me. If it doesn't do either I want to go home.”

So we invite you to join us for this lecture, in the company of Coward, to be amused and moved…!

11am, on Wednesday 6th May, at the Carlton in Lindrick Civic Centre. Doors open at 10am. Visitors welcome at £8.

Please share to spread the word. Any questions? Feel free to message us or drop us a comment!

There is parking at the Civic Centre; however, this does fill up. We ask that you please do not park at the doctor's surgery or at the shopping precinct, out of consideration for residents. Thank you.