A large, wall-mounted panel presents an activity-based challenge relating to the main themes of our heritage, from ‘Sandy the squirrel’. This is supported by five, life-sized character displays that bring the people behind our main themes (Jesus, Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace, CE Kempe and Ben Caunt), to life for younger visitors. All displays feature a fun activity and are the perfect support for school or family visits.

Ask one of our church stewards for a ‘Sandy’s Church Safari’ activity sheet when you visit – there’s a chocolate treat reward for anyone taking Sandy’s challenge!

Local historian David Heathcote presented two talks within the church, celebrating the life, works and legacy of this ‘enchantress of numbers’, as she was known.

She is best remembered for her work with Charles Babbage, creator the first mechanical computer but as David’s talk highlighted, she was a formidable intellect, whose legacy is far greater than the translation and support she provided to the engineer of the Difference Engine.

The main picture shows a cameraman from NottsTV news, who came to church whilst David was rehearsing.

Historically, the wreath was positioned very high up on the south wall of the south transept, above the old toilet, in a dusty and cracked glass dome.

As part of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) supported restoration project, the wreath now forms part of the story of poet Lord Byron and sits atop the Byron tomb in the newly refurbished wooden case. New LED lighting also shows the wreath off to best effect – the first time it has been seen so close at hand in many decades.

During the restoration project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the ceramic copy of the wreath used at Lord Byron’s funeral has undergone its own restoration. Now returned and protected within a new, perspex display case, it will be repositioned within a modified version of the wooden structure above the vault.

The structure is being enlarged to accommodate the wreath and an inscribed marble tablet will be re-sited to accompany it. The wreath will also be lit by LED lighting so that visitors can see all of the hand-crafted detail.

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), we have recently been fortunate to receive a substantial grant to help with restoration of the fabric of the church and also to better interpret the church and its associated heritage for visitors.

The first stage of this new interpretation are a church-wide collection of heritage displays which chart the history of St Mary Magdalene church through the ages, associated Hucknall-born famous people and some of the events which have helped shape the town.

Shortly, a collection of supporting literature in the form of tour guides will be available to help visitors explore the church and its world-renowned heritage.

For further information, check out the heritage pages of this website where PDF versions of the tour guides can also be downloaded.

We were visited by a BBC4 film crew and presenter back in April, gathering footage of Ada Lovelace’s last resting place, as part of a BBC4 documentary on her life, works and legacy that aired in the autumn.