A loud alarm is to go off on millions of mobile phones across Gedling borough and the UK within weeks as the government carries out a nationwide test of a new public alert system.
The new alert system will be tested on Sunday, April 23 at 3pm, with the message to be received on 4G and 5G devices, along with sound and vibration for up to 10 seconds.
When the alert sounds, phone users will be asked to acknowledge the alert by swiping or clicking the message before being able to continue using their device.
The system is intended to be used in life-threatening situations to alert people there is a danger to life nearby, such as flooding and wildfires, and is modelled on similar schemes in the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan.
The government said the alert will only be used on rare occasions and will be sent where there is an immediate risk to people’s lives, so it is possible that phone users may not receive an alert for months or years.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden said: “Getting this system operational with the national test means we have another tool in our toolkit to keep the public safe in life-threatening emergencies. It could be the sound that saves your life.”
The test on St George’s Day had originally been planned for the early evening but was moved to avoid clashing with an FA Cup semi-final, which kicks off at 4.30pm.
But it will still coincide with several major events including the London Marathon and the 2pm kick-off Premier League ties between Bournemouth and West Ham and Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspur.
Officials said they have worked with the Football Association and the Marathon’s organisers to ensure the impact of the test will be limited.
National Fire Chiefs Council chairman Mark Hardingham said: “For 10 seconds the national test may be inconvenient for some, but please forgive us for the intrusion because, the next time you hear, it your life, and the life-saving actions of our emergency services, could depend on it.”
Anyone who doesn’t want to receive the alerts can opt out in their device settings, but officials say they hope the life-saving potential of the messages will see most users keep them on.
Gedling Borough Council has confirmed the full list of candidates standing in the local election on May 4.
Verification will take place on the evening of the election on Thursday, May 4 and the count will take place the following day on Friday, May 5 at 10am.
The council has changed the venue for the count, and it will now take place at the Richard Herrod Centre, Carlton, pictured, below.
There are 41 Gedling Borough councillors representing 19 wards.
Of the 41 seats, 29 currently belong to the Labour Party, eight belong to the Conservative Party, two belong to the Liberal Democrats and two are independent.
In 2019 the Labour Party managed to strengthen its grip on the borough, gaining four additional seats compared to the 2015 election.
The Liberal Democrats gained one additional seat, while the independent candidates secured two.
The Conservative Party lost seven seats.
In total 36.14 per cent of the electorate turned out to vote in 2019.
The election will be the first time voters must bring photographic ID to polling stations to cast their ballot.
A full list of acceptable ID cards is available on the Government’s and all councils’ websites.
Below is a list of all candidates standing in each Gedling ward, listed in alphabetical surname order.
The bracket is the number of council seats being elected.
Bestwood St Albans Ward (2)
Josie Abbott – Conservative Party Candidate
Rachel Elizabeth Ellis – Labour Party
Des Gibbons – Labour Party
Ray Poynter – Liberal Democrat
Katherine Laura Randall – Conservative Party Candidate
Easter Family Trail & School Essentials Event – St.Paul’s, Daybrook, 10.00am – 12.00noon
Bring along the kids, join in the activities and pick up next terms uniform all for free.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (PG)– Bonington Cinema, Arnold
Fri 7 – Sat 22 April
From Nintendo and Illumination comes The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a new animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros!
A Brooklyn plumber travels through the Mushroom Kingdom with a princess named Peach and an anthropomorphic mushroom named Toad to find his brother and save the world from a ruthless fire-breathing Koopa named Bowser.
Easter Funday – St. Judes Church Hall, Mapperely, 3.00pm – 6.00pm
Free Event. St Judes Church Hall, Woodborough Road, Mapperley. Make a Easter Bonnet and enter the parade. Games, Activities, Egg hunt , play and Craft for all ages. Refreshments all afternoon.
Everyone very welcome to join in or just come for a cuppa and chat.
Bring and Share finger buffet tea ( please bring a plate of food sweet or savoury to share).
Magic Mike’s Last Dance (15)– Bonington Theatre, Arnold
Sat 8 April at 7.30pm
The third instalment of the blockbuster Magic Mike film franchise sees Channing Tatum reprise his role as Mike Lane, starring alongside Salma Hayek Pinault.
‘Magic’ Mike Lane takes to the stage again after a lengthy hiatus following a business deal that went bust, leaving him broke and taking bartender gigs in Florida. For what he hopes will be one last hurrah, Mike heads to London with a wealthy socialite who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse…
Based on the play by Alan Bennett, Allelujah is a warm and deeply moving story about old age. When the geriatric ward in a small Yorkshire hospital is threatened with closure, the hospital decides to fight back by galvanizing the local community: they invite a news crew to film their preparations for a concert in honour of the hospital’s most distinguished nurse. What could go wrong?
Event Cinema:The Royal Opera House Live- Cinderella (12A) – Bonington Cinema, Arnold
Wed 12 April at 7.15pm &Sun 16 April at 2pm
Royal Ballet Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella celebrates its 75th anniversary this Season. The ballet’s opening night in 1948, featuring Moira Shearer and Michael Somes in the lead roles, was received rapturously.
A £173,768 funding offer letter, from The National Lottery Community Fund, was sent to the Netherfield Forum where she has been working as a volunteer since 2006.
In her 17 years of dedication to the Netherfield community, this is the largest amount of funding Mrs Simpson and her team have ever received.
It took them one year, with the first stages starting in early 2022, to finally seize the award.
The fund aims to bring significant improvement to the Forum’s two centres, LOCO youth centre and St George’s Centre which offer a community hub and events for both youngsters and elderly citizens.
As treasurer of the Netherfield Forum and manager of the two centres, Mrs Simpson hopes that the award will be a great source of encouragement not only for the group but also for the whole community.
The 67-year-old said: “This award is not just for the centre, it’s for the community of Netherfield.
“The money will be used to finalise the refurbishment of the LOCO youth centre and the St George’s Centre which started a couple of years ago.
“The rest of the funding will be for a new roof on the Shunter’s Cafe and a new solar panel to cope with the economic crisis.
“Our centres help bring the community together and provide people with safe havens and advice, it’s a springboard to bigger and better things.
“Having growth within the community will definitely give everybody uplift and hope.”
Behind that great success is the unseen hard work, dedication, and persistence of the whole team.
She said: “I feel very elated, very grateful, very humble. All those things mixed in together.
“It was a long process, we had to go through many different stages to win the award. When we finally got the offer, the feeling was wonderful.
“It’s the largest amount of funding that I’ve raised and been awarded. It has also been the biggest since St George’s Centre received £1.2million when the Forum started building it in 1999.
“It was a lot of work, but we made it easier by working together, as a team.”
After moving to Nottingham in 1989, Mrs Simpson has “tirelessly” devoted to charity work for the Netherfield community.
She joined the Netherfield Forum in 2006. Since then, she has implemented a number of new programmes at the centre, including apprentice schemes and funded dinners for families.
The centre received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Work in 2014 as a result of Mrs Simpson’s efforts to make the centre a self-sustaining institution.
In November, she was awarded a top prize at the Pride of Gedling awards after helping serve more than 35,000 meals to the community during the pandemic.
For the grandmother of three, there is no “secret” to her success and desire for the community.
She said: “There is no magic formula. It’s about having your feet on the ground and listening to people about what they want or what their need is and then see if you can fulfil them.
“Of course, receiving these awards means that what we’ve been doing is recognised and appreciated. However, I don’t do any of this for any award, I do it because I want to be a part of the community.
“Recently, a young girl whom we help brought me a bag of sweets. When I asked her what it was for, she said that it was ‘for being so nice to her’, and that’s one of the biggest awards.
“I enjoy helping people. Netherfield has a fantastic community spirit with amazing people and it’s a lovely place to be.”
The upgrades to the centres are expected to be completed within the next six to nine months.
In a month where Arnold Foodbank – sadly – announced that it had fed 43,000 local people in the last 10 years Gedling Eye caught up with the Redhill Road Runners (RRR), one of the many groups that support the Foodbank.
Kirsty Hills-Dixon, Comms Secretary for the running club told us about the club’s most recent event – a ‘Food Bank Run’, based upon an idea by Sarah Don – the driving force behind the national campaign.
Sarah Don founded the ‘Food Bank Run‘ idea off the back of a run started several years ago by a Hampshire based running club, the Fareham Running Club. The organisation encourages every running club, group and food bank to link up and create their own ‘Food Bank Run’.
The Redhill runners grasped this idea and joined the several hundred running clubs across the UK that have organised similar ‘Food Bank Run’ collections.
Kirsty said “We just did a collection at our club meeting point, picking a date and communicating that out to members. I’ve collected the items up and with the help of my husband (also a RRR member) dropped them off at Arnold Foodbank.
“The group did an initial collection in December as Christmas is of course a difficult time of year for so many people, but also in February as part of Sarah’s Food Bank Run drive as that is typically when donations fall. So this initiative was to try and give a boost to donations during that time. We’re not stopping there and the club has decided that we’ll do a quarterly collection and we hope that every little helps.”
An Arnold foodbank spokesperson told Gedling Eye that “We’re so grateful to the Redhill Runners for focussing their fundraising on Arnold Foodbank. We rely on the kindness of individuals and community groups, who make up over a third of all the donations we receive. And right now, as demand is greater than ever before, we’ve never needed support like this more. On behalf of our service users, thank you to the Redhill Runners for their continued kindness.”
Pictured: The Redhill Road Runners (PHOTO courtesy of Redhill Road Runners)
Redhill Road Runners was founded in 1985 and have about 150 members today. They do regular club runs on Monday and Wednesday evenings, leaving from the Redhill Leisure Centre, for all abilities from Couch to 5k, through to Marathon and Ultra distance runners. They take part in a lot of other events as a club, such as Summer League, Cross Country and Fell Running events.
The running club’s proactivity doesn’t stop there – they are also the organisers of the annual Newstead Abbey Dash, a very popular 5k that runners across Nottinghamshire take part in each July. Around 350 runners usually attend this popular event which is a nice evening race through the beautiful grounds of Newstead Abbey and usually glorious sunshine.
Further information on the Redhill Road Runners including how to join and contact details can be found on https://www.redhillroadrunners.com/ or via their facebook page HERE
For those wishing to get in contact with Arnold Foodbank their details are:
Police arrested a suspect and seized two weapons and a large quantity of cash after attending reports of an altercation in Arnold.
Officers recovered a baseball bat and police-style baton after searching a car in Brookfield Gardens.
They were called to the scene following reports of three men trying to force another man into a car shortly after 10.20am on Thursday (30 March 2023).
Following inquiries, police arrested a 27-year-old man on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.
Inspector Simon Spooner, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Preventing and reducing the harm caused by dangerous weapons is a priority for the force and we will always deal robustly with anyone suspected as being involved in this sort of criminality.
“We are working hard to trace other individuals involved in this incident and we are urging anyone who saw what happened or who has any other information which could assist us with our investigation to please get in touch with us.”
Anyone who witnessed the incident or who has any information that could help police with their inquiries is urged to call Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting incident 206 of 30 March 2023. Alternatively, please contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The 27-year-old man was subsequently released on bail as the investigation continues.
Situated in the heart of Arnold, The Bonington Theatre is a multi-purpose venue, with a wide-ranging programme of live music, amateur theatre and cinema.
The theatre is home to The Bonington Players, Prospect Players, Nottingham Organ Society, Flying High Youth Theatre and Jazz Steps. The theatre has a capacity of 178 seats and an adjacent bar.
It is accessible to all with good physical access, a modern online booking system and ample car parking. The Bonington Theatre is owned and managed by Gedling Borough Council.
What’s Love Got To Do With It? (12A)
Sun 2, Tue 4 + Wed 5 April
How do you find lasting love in today’s world? For documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbour Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents’ example and opt for an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage to a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan.
As Zoe films his hopeful journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a profoundly different approach to finding love.
Puppetry, magic and storytelling combine in a unique, Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation of the best-selling novel.
After a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, a 16-year-old boy named Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive?
Filmed live in London’s West End and featuring state-of-the-art visuals, the epic journey of endurance and hope is brought to life in a breath-taking new way for cinemas screens.
This work contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.
Contains scenes that may be unsuitable for small children
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (PG)
Fri 7 – Sat 22 April
From Nintendo and Illumination comes The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a new animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros!
A Brooklyn plumber travels through the Mushroom Kingdom with a princess named Peach and an anthropomorphic mushroom named Toad to find his brother and save the world from a ruthless fire-breathing Koopa named Bowser.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance (15)
Sat 8 April at 7.30pm
The third instalment of the blockbuster Magic Mike film franchise sees Channing Tatum reprise his role as Mike Lane, starring alongside Salma Hayek Pinault.
‘Magic’ Mike Lane takes to the stage again after a lengthy hiatus following a business deal that went bust, leaving him broke and taking bartender gigs in Florida. For what he hopes will be one last hurrah, Mike heads to London with a wealthy socialite who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse…
Allelujah (12A)
Mon 10 – Thu 20 April
Based on the play by Alan Bennett, Allelujah is a warm and deeply moving story about old age. When the geriatric ward in a small Yorkshire hospital is threatened with closure, the hospital decides to fight back by galvanizing the local community: they invite a news crew to film their preparations for a concert in honour of the hospital’s most distinguished nurse. What could go wrong?
Allelujah celebrates the spirit of the elderly patients whilst paying tribute to the deep humanity of the medical staff battling with limited resources and ever-growing demand.
Royal Ballet Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella celebrates its 75th anniversary this Season. The ballet’s opening night in 1948, featuring Moira Shearer and Michael Somes in the lead roles, was received rapturously.
After over a decade away from the Royal Opera House stage, Ashton’s timeless reworking of Charles Perrault’s famous rags-to-riches story returns, showcasing the choreographer’s deft musicality and the beauty of Prokofiev’s transcendent score. A creative team steeped in the magic of theatre, film, dance and opera brings new atmosphere to Cinderella’s ethereal world of fairy godmothers and pumpkin carriages, handsome princes and finding true love.
BALLET Company – The Royal Ballet Music – Sergey Prokofiev
Oscar Catch-up Screening: Everything Everywhere All At Once (15)
Fri 14 April at 7.30pm
Winner of a whopping 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, EEAAO will be back on our big screen for one night only. Don’t miss this truly original Oscar winner!
Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can’t seem to finish her taxes.
Winner of 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director (Daniels)
Event Cinema:
Heathers: The Musical (15)
Sat 15 April at 7pm
Wickedly funny and with dazzling book, music and lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, Heathers The Musical is based on the 1988 cult hit, that starred Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, and produced by Bill Kenwright and Paul Taylor-Mills, the team behind the acclaimed stage adaptation of Carrie. With direction from Andy Fickman and electrifying choreography by Gary Lloyd, this is one class production you can’t afford to skip.
Greetings, salutations. Welcome to Westerberg High, where Veronica Sawyer is just another of the nobodies dreaming of a better day. But when she’s unexpectedly taken under the wings of the three beautiful and impossibly cruel Heathers, her dreams of popularity finally start to come true. Until JD turns up, the mysterious teen rebel who teaches her that it might kill to be a nobody, but it’s murder being a somebody…
Event Cinema:
Exhibition on Screen- Vermeer (12A)
Tue 18 April at 7.30pm
Wed 3 May at 4.30pm
Thu 4 May at 1.30pm
In the spring of 2023, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will open its doors to the largest Vermeer exhibition in history.
With loans from across the world, this major retrospective will bring together Vermeer’s most famous masterpieces including Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Geographer, The Milkmaid, The Little Street, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid, and Woman Holding a Balance.
This new Exhibition on Screen film invites audiences to a private view of the exhibition, accompanied by the director of the Rijksmuseum and the curator of the show. A truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! As well as bringing Vermeer’s works together, both the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis in the Hague have conducted research into Vermeer’s artistry, his artistic choices and motivations for his compositions, as well as the creative process behind his paintings.
Exclusive access to THE world’s biggest exhibition of 2023.
Event Cinema:
National Theatre Live- Good (Cert TBC)
Thu 20 – Sat 22 April
David Tennant (Doctor Who) makes a much-anticipated return to the West End in a blistering reimagining of one of Britain’s most powerful, political plays.
As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences.
Olivier Award-winner Dominic Cooke (Follies) directs C.P. Taylor’s timely tale, with a cast that also features Elliot Levey (Coriolanus) and Sharon Small (The Bay). Filmed live at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London.
“David Tennant is magnificent in chilling drama” Guardian ★★★★
Event Cinema:
The Royal Opera House Live- The Marriage of Figaro (12A)
Sun 30 April at 2pm
Servants Figaro and Susanna are filled with excitement on their wedding day, but there’s a hitch: their employer, the Count Almaviva, has dishonourable intentions of his own towards the bride-to-be. With more twists than a page boy’s stockings, the story of Mozart’s comic opera will surprise and delight you at every turn. Come for the music and stay for the cross-dressing hilarity, all unfolding over the course of one crazy, topsy-turvy day in the Almaviva household. Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts a truly international cast in David McVicar’s timeless production.
OPERA Company – The Royal Opera Music – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
In the Court of the Crimson King (15)
Wed 3 May at 7.30pm
King Crimson is a band that people literally are dying to be in. In the Court of the Crimson Kingis a dark, comic film for anyone who wonders whether it is worth sacrificing everything for just a single moment of transcendence.
For over 50 years Robert Fripp, also famous for his work with Bowie and Eno, has overseen a unique creative environment in which freedom and responsibility conspire to place extraordinary demands on the band’s members – only alleviated by the applause of an audience whose adoration threatens to make their lives even harder. It’s a rewarding and perilous space in which the extraordinary is possible, nothing is certain, and not everyone survives intact…
Starring Academy Award® Winner Jim Broadbent as Harold and Penelope Wilton as his wife Maureen, The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry tells the story of a man who leaves his seaside town in South Devon to deliver a message to an old friend.
Food + Film: Clue (1985)
Fri 12 May from 6.45pm
Based on the popular board game, this comedy classic begins at a dinner party hosted by Mr. Boddy, where he admits to blackmailing his visitors – Mrs. Peacock, Miss Scarlet, Mr. Green, Professor Plum, Mrs. White and Col. Mustard.
When Boddy turns up murdered, everyone’s a suspect, and together they try to figure out who is the killer…
David Harewood (Homeland) and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek) play feuding political rivals in James Graham’s (Sherwood) multiple award-winning new drama.
In 1968 America, as two men fight to become the next president, all eyes are on the battle between two others: the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and the unruly liberal Gore Vidal.
During a new nightly television format, they debate the moral landscape of a shattered nation. As beliefs are challenged and slurs slung, a new frontier in American politics is opening and television news is about to be transformed forever.
Jeremy Herrin (All My Sons) directs this blistering political thriller, filmed live in London’s West End.
Event Cinema:
The Royal Opera House Live- The Sleeping Beauty (12A)
Sun 28 May at 2pm
The Sleeping Beauty holds a very special place in The Royal Ballet’s heart and history. It was the first performance given by the Company when the Royal Opera House reopened at Covent Garden in 1946 after World War II. In 2006, this original staging was revived and has been delighting audiences ever since. Frederick Ashton famously cited the pure classicism of Marius Petipa’s 19th-century ballet as a private lesson in the atmospheric art and craft of choreography. Be swept away by Tchaikovsky’s ravishing music and Oliver Messel’s sumptuous fairy-tale designs with this true gem from the classical ballet repertory.
BALLET Choreography – Marius Petipa Company – The Royal Ballet Music – Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Event Cinema: Exhibition on Screen: Tokyo Stories
Tue 30 May at 7.30pm
Tue 6 June at 4.30pm
A thrilling encounter with one of the world’s great art capitals.
Based on a major exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford, Tokyo Stories spans 400 years of incredibly dynamic art – ranging from the delicate woodblock prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige, to Pop Art posters, contemporary photography, Manga, film, and brand-new artworks that were created on the streets.
The exhibition was a smash-hit five-star success and brought a younger and more diverse audience to the museum. The film uses the exhibition as a launchpad to travel to Tokyo itself, and explore the art and artist of the city more fully.
A beautifully illustrated and richly detailed film, looking at a city which has undergone constant destruction and renewal over its 400-year history, resulting in one of the most vibrant and interesting cities on the planet…
Cinema prices are very competitive, with tickets at £6.50, and concessions at £5.50. Concessions are open to those Under 18, Students with valid student ID, and over 60s. Tickets for 16-25 Year Old’s are £4 via a free membership here- Young Person’s Membership – The Bonington (boningtontheatre.co.uk)
Event Cinema is priced separately. Please see website for details.
Furious residents are being forced to walk on the road by a school entrance in Gedling due to building site mess.
Pedestrians using Burton Road say they have to walk into the road as the footpath outside the building site at Carlton Le Willows Academy becomes ‘a quagmire’ every time it rains.
One local parent contacted Gedling Eye and said the footpath was ‘a mess’ even when it wasn’t raining.
They said: “I have stopped passing the entrance now with my pushchair and two-year-old as when I get home the pushchair and our shoes are ruined.
“Last time we used the path, my two-year-old ran into the accessible area in front of the gate, which is set back, and fell straight into the puddle”
Pictured: The footpath that people are expected to navigate (PHOTO: Gedling Eye)
“The muck and dirt appears to be running down from the building site and is being carried onto the road by vehicles when they leave.
We visited the site on a number of occasions and found the same issues every time it had been raining.
Construction vehicles drive through a large puddle, splashing and dragging muck and dirty water onto the public footpath every time they drive through it.
Pictured: The footpath pedestrians are expected to walk on (PHOTO: Gedling Eye)
Gedling Eye contacted Cleggs, who operate the site, for a comment.
Pictured: The footpath is unidentifiable (PHOTO: Gedling Eye)
Another resident said “This is down to the builders, not the school. It has been like this from the start, have a look at the Miller housing site 100 yards over there, it has always been clean”
Pictured: Muck covering the footpath and road (PHOTO: Gedling Eye)
A new statue commemorating the visit of a Hollywood star to the area could soon be placed on Carlton Hill.
Face/Off and Wild at Heart actor Nicholas Cage paid a surprise visit to Carlton Hill back in 2018 whilst carrying out a UK tour to promote his action-horror film Mandy
The star decided to stop off on-route to a promotional press event in Doncaster to get refreshments from a local convenience store.
PICTURED: The actor paid a visit to Tesco Express on Carlton Hill
And now fans of Cage have been crowdfunding to get a statue of the actor placed in gardens on the high street to commemorate the visit.
As proof of his stop off, Cage then shared pictures on his Twitter account of him paying a visit to the local Tesco Express and enjoying a pint of bitter in The Free Man.
He tweeted at the time: “God bless those folks in #CarltonHill. Was only there a short while but met some great guys during a stop off for some soda at the store and also found time to have a nice pint of British beer.”
The UK branch of the Nicholas Cage Society now hopes to erect a statue of the star as a permanent reminder to locals of the visit.
The society’s UK president Alan Bush said: “We have been fundraising for the past year to gather the money needed to erect statues where Nicholas Cage visited – with one of these places being Carlton Hill.”
“We also have statues planned for Doncaster city centre and Newcastle Under Lyme, where he stayed at a local hotel and attended a karaoke night.”
The Society hope to have the statue placed in the sensory gardens.
Geoff Bridges was one of the residents who met the star during his stop off.
“Mr Cage was lovely,” he said.
“He’s a big star but was talking to everyone in the Free Man that day.
“He made a big fuss of my dog Trixie and enquired about what was available in our local DIY shop across the road as he likes making spice racks in his spare time.”
“He had plenty of time for us locals and it was a shame he could only stay for one pint.
“We just hope he might come back for the statue’s unveiling. I know people have chatted about starting a small museum too to commemorate his visit and help attract more tourists.
“I hope they get planning permission for the statue; It’ll add value to our high street”
Residents have also written to the actor asking him to get behind the campaign to save the local Lloyds Bank from closure – but are yet to receive a reply.
The UK Nicholas Cage Society hope to have the statue in place before the end of the year.
A major operation has been launched to track down a criminal gang who have targeted properties in Nottinghamshire, including one in Woodthorpe.
Criminals have used a series of methods to break into properties.
As well as targeting the home of an elderly couple in Woodthorpe, thy have also been active in Sherwood, Chilwell, Bulwell and West Bridgford.
It is believed the gang have been targeting properties for gold and silver, which includes jewellery.
Criminals have even used cleaning products and changed the number plates on their vehicles in attempts to evade arrest.
A police operation with neighbouring forces is now underway to track down and bring the criminal gang to justice. Two arrests have already been made.
The first incident in Nottinghamshire happened in Oxton Avenue in Sherwood just after 6pm on February 23.
The burglars smashed some patio doors and used the key in the lock to gain entry. An untidy search of bedrooms was carried out and a quantity of jewellery stolen.
On the same day, in Perry Road, at 6.40pm, they attempted to break into a home and failed after being disturbed.
They then stole two cars – a grey Audi and Silver Seat Leon – in Bramcote Avenue between 6.15pm and 9pm after they managed to enter the property through open windows and take the keys.
Jewellery was also stolen from the property. They have then used these cars with false number plates to commit some of their crimes. They have also used a black BMW and white Ford transit van.
On March 2, they targeted an elderly couple in Melbury Road in Woodthorpe. A woman was pushed to the ground and her bangles stolen from her wrist.
On March 15, they targeted homes in Commodore Gardens in Nottingham and Davies Road in West Bridgford. Burglars attempted to enter the homes and have been disturbed. Nothing was taken from the addresses.
On March 26, at Dale Farm Avenue in Sneinton at around 8.42pm, a group of men have entered a property through a living room window and stolen jewellery. They were disturbed and fled the scene.
Detective Constable Colin Kirkup, from Nottinghamshire Police’s burglary team, said: “These are horrific burglaries or attempted burglaries which would have caused much distress and sleepless nights for the victims.
“We believe these crimes are linked and are being committed by an organised criminal gang who have also targeted other properties across the East Midlands. We are determined to unite in our efforts to catch them and bring them to justice.
“Burglary is a heinous crime and my team have put countless hours into building an intelligence picture on who they are.
“CCTV, forensics and working with our neighbouring forces is just some of the methods we are using to bring us ever closer to taking this gang off the streets and ensuring they never return to Nottinghamshire.
“We would ask residents to be as vigilant as they can to prevent becoming a victim of burglary.
“This group can work in teams of up to four or five so if you see anything suspicious in your area then please get in touch. Suspicious behaviour could be a group of people walking up and down driveways with faces concealed or hanging about in an area with no purpose to be there.
“Make sure your windows and doors are locked, especially if they are easily accessible to burglars such as downstairs windows.
“Invest in doorbell cameras or CCTV if you can and make sure you don’t open your doors to strangers before finding out who they are.
“If you see anything suspicious in your area then please get in touch by calling 101 or 999 if a crime is in progress.”
