Sport played a huge part in the lives of mining communities and traditional street games flourished. Collieries and mining communities supported a network of sports teams and ran social activities in their local areas.

Thwack! Mining Communities at Play is the title of a free celebration event reminiscing those times which takes place at Bestwood Country Park this Sunday (August 17), from midday to 4pm.

Bulwell Forest football coaches will be leading soccer activities and Notts and Arnold Amateur Cricket Club will be helping children brush up on their cricket skills this weekend. Small children can catch a fish in an angling ‘lake’, and all the family can try out some traditional street games.

Councillor John Knight, Committee Chairman for Culture at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “This event is a celebration of the historic sporting heritage which existed within mining communities and it is an ideal family activity for the school holidays.”

Thwack! Mining Communities at Play is the latest in a series which has been organised by the county council to help promote Bestwood’s mining heritage. Heritage development officers David Amos and Adele Williams work alongside a team of dedicated volunteers to promote the 19th Century-built Bestwood Winding Engine House, restored with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, in the surrounds of Bestwood Country Park.

As well as the sporting activities on offer there will also be a traditional sweet shop and refreshments on offer from the Dynamo House café. For information, call the Heritage Development Officers on 0115 976 2422, or email [email protected]

Today Mansfield Central Library in West Gate, is hosting the Mansfield Town FC Summer Football Spectacular, from midday to 4pm. This is a free event and the club will be bringing some football fever to the library with football-themed family activities, including the chance to show your skills with an inflatable football pitch and mini football goals.

You can meet some of the players, the mascot and legends of the Football Club. Why not have your face painted and design your own football shirt, while the smaller ones can help with a family craft collage? Visitors can also meet the supporters club and there is an opportunity to buy official club merchandise. And there is a reminder to sign up to the Summer Reading Challenge at the library if people have not already done so.

Young writers are getting the chance to learn more about the exciting history of Mansfield Woodhouse as part of summer creative writing workshop.

Nottinghamshire County Council is working alongside New Writers UK as part of the series, which is running throughout August.

It is the second series of Myths and Legends creative writing workshops for children and is taking place at Mansfield Woodhouse Library on Fridays from 10am to 12.30pm.

The first couple of sessions have explored The Great Fire of Mansfield Woodhouse that raised the village to the ground in 1304. And over the next couple of weeks, county council archaeologists will be at the library to talk about the network of tunnels which connect from the Manor House and beneath the town.

Fiction will fuse with fact when the young writers, aided by authors and experts, create stories that combine their imagination with history.

All entries will be entered into a free-to-enter competition and finalists will be presented with awards and a compilation of entries will be published.

Forthcoming sessions:
• Friday 15 August 10.00am-12.30pm: New Writers UK authors – creative writing workshop focusing on the tunnels of Mansfield Woodhouse
• Friday 15 August 1.30pm – 3.30pm: Tunnel Dwelling Monsters Workshop. Come and learn more about the secret tunnels hidden under Mansfield Woodhouse and design your own Tunnel dwelling monster to take home.
• Friday 22 August 10.00am-12.30pm: New Writers UK authors – creative writing workshop focusing on the tunnels of Mansfield Woodhouse
• Friday 22 August 1.30pm – 3.30pm: Tunnel Treasure Trail. Collect your ‘Tunnel Treasure Trail’ sheet from the Heritage Link located within Mansfield Woodhouse Library.

For more information on the workshops, go to the Events page of www.newwritersuk.co.uk. For the workshops and other leisure events taking place at libraries and country parks across the county, visit Nottinghamshire County Council’s website: www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/whatson