About Us

The Friends of Hollingworth (FOH) was formed with the aim to bring together and foster friendship and understanding within the community of Hollingworth.

This is achieved through fundraising and voluntary efforts of the membership; whose main aim is to enhance the village of Hollingworth and to promote recreational activities, mutual support and aid amongst our community.

We aim to work closely and support where possible other groups within our area to the mutual benefit of all. We are an independent group and are not influenced by, or have affiliation with, any Political or Religious group(s).

EVERYONE WHO LIVES IN HOLLINGWORTH CAN BE A MEMBER OF THIS GROUP.

There is no membership fee, and the success of the Group is entirely dependent on people getting involved, even in the smallest of ways, it all helps to foster a greater community spirit.

If you would like to participate in the sub-groups or be a main committee member, let us know at the next monthly meeting or via our Contact page

Keep an eye on our Events page and our Facebook page for latest updates

In 2015 a few local people decided since the Council were no longer providing a Christmas tree for our village we would collect some money from local people and provide our own.

That is what happened and lots of people from the village were happy to donate money towards purchasing a tree.

The tree was bought and then planted in Treacle Gardens.

There was some money left over and a decision had to be taken on how to spend it.

That was the start of the Friends of Hollingworth who went from strength to strength.

In 2016 Friends of Hollingworth developed the membership of the group with more and more people wanting to join and have a say in how funds could be raised and used to improve the village.

There were events such as meals at both Mama Mia and Spice Bistro, the switching on of the Christmas Tree and regular meetings.

In 2017 Friends of Hollingworth grew even more and the membership became really active in providing fun events for all groups within the village.

It was in 2017 that not only fundraising meals and musical evenings with both Riflemen of War and The Wednesday Club took place but in addition there were new events for all ages which included a Teddy Bear’s Picnic, Easter Bonnet parade, a barge trip, meals at Spice Bistro to name just a few.

2018 has been a real success story for Friends of Hollingworth with the successful Heritage Lottery Fund Bid being approved enabling work to be undertaken to repair the War Memorial, and the production of the Lest We Forget Book, The Festival on the Green and who could forget the first wonderful Heart of Hollingworth Exhibition.

The year continued with the Easter Bonnet event jointly hosted with Friends of Etherow Lodge Park. We continued the successful events with the annual Teddy Bear’s Picnic. In late June we held our second tea dance working closely with Longdendale School enjoyed by all who attended.

Following a break for summer holidays the first Hollingworth Bake Off took place highlighting the talent of the village children and adults alike. This is sure to become an annual event on the Friends of Hollingworth calendar.

We then hit the busiest period in FOH calendar.

We held another successful Xmas Market together with the switching on of the lights. This was quickly followed by other festive events.

The children of Hollingworth were expecting their annual visit from Santa on his sleigh to hit the streets of Hollingworth.

Unfortunately Santa’s helper was suddenly taken ill and couldn’t get the sleigh and reindeers ready for the trip.

But as we all know Santa doesn’t like to let the little ones down so The Friends of Hollingworth contacted him and came up with a wonderful modern alternative.

Santa visited the streets of Hollingworth in a lovely shiny Red MX5 open top car.

The car decked with tinsel and sparkling lights drove Santa around the streets of Hollingworth where children were delighted to meet him.

The Friends of Hollingworth accompanied Santa on foot distributing sweets to the children.

As well as Santa visiting the streets The Friends of Hollingworth who secured a National Lottery Award in early December took 100 children and adults to see Dick Whittington at Buxton Opera House.

The following weekend this was followed by a party with entertainer, food and a free gift for each child. Thanks go to Roy Watson and his wife for their kind donation of gifts and also to the family and friends of the late Christine Cooper for their donation which enabled the hire of the children’s entertainer which everyone enjoyed.

But now it is time to start planning our activities for 2019 with the first one being the heART of Hollingworth Exhibition to be held on 2 and 3 of February at Cannon Street.

If you are a local artist or craftsperson and wish to exhibit your work then please contact markjessop18@gmail.com

Also don’t forget to check out the calendar page for dates of forthcoming events.

heART of Hollingworth 2019

This second annual exhibition of local arts and crafts, organised by Friends of Hollingworth, took place at the Cannon Street Community Centre over the weekend of 2nd and 3rd February. Once again, this proved to be a wonderful free celebration of a wide range of imaginative work.

The exhibition reflected the diversity, and dare we say eccentricity, of the area. Although there was no selection or judgement involved, the quality was very high. Work included paintings, photography, digital imagery, drawings, sculpture, model making, poetry, jewellery, pyrography, woodwork, textile work, costume etc. Around 30 artists were involved, and over 200 visitors attended.

The Friends of Hollingworth fundraising team produced a “pop up” cafe, serving excellent lunches, cakes, drinks etc, allowing friends and visitors to enjoy the social event as well as the art.

A small team spent many hours organising the event over several months. Friends of Hollingworth volunteers turned out in large numbers to help with cleaning, setting up the exhibition, transport etc. A floral display was donated by Anna MacKay of Flower Power, which was raffled, adding to the small profit made by the exhibition to be used to help fund other community events.

None of this would have happened without all the people involved, and the weekend was a shining example of Friends of Hollingworth at its best, when the community pulls together.

Mark Jessop