Erewash Sound

The Bacon Butty Club

A Bacon Butty Club is held at Cotmanhay Children's Centre, Beauvale Drive, Cotmanhay every Saturday morning from 10am until 11:30am and provides an opportunity for dads, step-dads, grand-dads, uncles and male carers to spend quality time with their children enjoying activities, eating butties and finding out about access to support.   There is no age restriction for children who attend, but all children must be accompanied by an adult.   The group is funded by the Cotmanhay Neighbourhood Management Group, and is organised by volunteers from the Cotmanhay Parents' Forum and supported by Childrens' Centre staff.   Butties cost just 50p each!  No need to book - just turn up. 

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KIDZ AKTIV: Quackers!!!

Quackers is a recently formed community group based in Cotmanhay including Jackie, Melanie and a family of ducks.   At Quackers, breeds of water fowl are incubated, hatched and reared successfully, including geese, ducks and peacock,  The community of Cotmanhay is invited to the community to join the project and follow the experience of rearing the birds from egg to adulthood and encourage breeding in their natural environment.  

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Community Hub In Cotmanhay

Looking for a source of community information in and around the Cotmanhay & Ilkeston community?  The GEM Centre is located at 259 Cotmanhay Road, opposite Jimson's Hardware and offers a community facility for YOU!   Open Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 3:00pm and when resources are available, on Saturday mornings too, you can visit to buy a selection of goods and locally made crafts.  If you produce your own material or have skills to offer, you can even share or sell these through the outlet!

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New Services By The Local Family Practice

Residents of the borough can now take advantage of services offered by the local Family Practice and GP Walk In Centre situated at Ilkeston Community Hospital.  The facility offers health care and advice to any local resident - any member of the public can simply walk in and see a doctor or nurse practitioner at the centre or even more conveniently. 

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Pass The Source!

PASS THE SOURCE!' is an exciting and innovative new arts project developed by Ilkeston based community arts organisation Wash Arts in partnership with Cotmanhay Enterprise Centre.

Project participants discover how to create, edit and share digital photos, images, sounds, stories and videos about local life using high quality FREE licence ‘Open Source’ online resources and software. The results will be showcased on social network, blogging and file-sharing sites such as Facebook and You Tube and will create a unique living archive celebrating our community for anyone to experience.

The project will be based at The Enterprise Centre on Cotmanhay Road and will be open to adults aged 19 and over with all levels of skills and experience, who live in Ilkeston and surrounding areas.

The course offers the opportunity to find out how to use high quality FREE 'Open Source' equivalents to expensive and photo/sound editing, graphics and other creative software and take copies away to use at home, the opportunity to work with nationally successful artists, the chance to take part in up to 4 FREE creative sessions per week on Thursday (am and evening), Friday (am) and Saturday (pm) until March 201 plus other times by demand.   There's also FREE wireless and desktop based internet access avalable outside sessions, and the opportunity to find out more about how to safely and effectively use FREE social networking, blogging and media sharing sites such as Facebook, Flickr and YouTube, and the chance to get involved in the creation of a unique online resource.  10 FREE laptops available to give away to eligible participants. 

To find out more, telephone Susan or Cathy at WashArts on 0115 932 8171 or e-mail susan(at)washarts,co,.uk.  Look out for posters and flyers in local venues, keep an eye on local media or go to www.washarts.co.uk, or visit www.facebook.com. You can also call into the Enterprise Centre in Cotmanhay.

Facelift For Cotmanhay

Community Rangers have given a facelift to the streets of Cotmanhay,  The young team spent an afternoon clearing litter from Beauvale Drive Recreation Ground as part of the borough council's Pride in Erewash initiative.  The Junior Rangers scheme is run by the borough council and Cotmanhay Neighbourhood Management Group to encourage children to become involved and more aware of community issues.