Lanterns & Crimbo '24
Catching the tail-end of the year.

We been doin beets!

So when I initially sat down to start writing this post out, I originally intended on covering everything that we've been doing since I last actually managed to sit down and put something onto the site.

But as Kate started sending me photos, and I was scrolling through mine, it became pretty obvious that it'd need splitting out into a few different posts, as there's absolutely no way in hell that anyone is going to read War & Peace but in Ben & Kate form, about our arguably fairly mundane lives.

So I'll be covering BITS from November up until Crimbo of 2024 in this post, and I'll pop some other posts together for a few walks we've done, and some other things we've been up to, when, quite frankly, I can be arsed.

Spandangly Lanterns

So for those not already aware, Kate & I volunteer for Ashbourne Arts, (these guys: https://ashbournefestival.org/), who are the peeps who put on the Summer Festival that happens between June + July, and help put on the aforementioned Lantern Spectacular at the end of each year.

The scale of the effort that goes into putting this on, is genuinely quite something. I know a lot of ✨ Charitable Organisations ✨ and other events-esque people shout a lot about how much effort is involved in putting something like this together - but seeing all of it happen first-hand has been not only eye-opening - but also somewhat humbling in just how much time different people from all walks of life are willing to give up for freesies, just to be able to give these kinds of events back to the community, especially so when the events are free.

Spectacular Evening

See what I did there? 😎

The Lantern Spectacular is an event that happens every year and is made up of different organisations from around Ashbourne and beyond, coming together and putting together lanterns that are then paraded throughout the town. There's late-night shopping, music, and food, and as long as the weather plays ball, it's a really nice night for everyone involved.

To get the event ready, the plans are normally in place a good couple of months before the event actually starts. That gives us time to prepare the promotional materials, fix all the borked lanterns from the previous year and prep all the logistics of the night itself. But even to just put on something that appears as pretty straightforward as parading some paper + wood through town, it takes ~100 volunteers, the council, permits, insurance, getting materials to repair the old lanterns and create the new ones, workshops, and hours and hours of people's time. Nothing short of a mammoth task, and the people involved, who all genuinely want to put on a great night, are a special group of people, that are not thanked anywhere near to the degree they should be.

The result of all this effort, all of the hard work, is that the night itself is amazing, like nothing you'll see around this neck of the woods, and if you've never been, istg come this year. This isn't an advert for it per se, more just a description of what on earth it actually is if you're not familiar with it. But seeing all the people out on the streets, and the lanterns (especially the bigg'uns) parading the street, is well worth the trip.

Cornerstone Xmas Munchies

In November(ish) we also managed to tick off something that has been on our "to-do" list since we first moved to Ashbourne. We managed to get along to one of the Cornerstone supper clubs. Where they provide you with a set menu of top nosh that is put together around a particular theme. The one that we went to was based around Christmas (obviously - as it was almost Crimbo time), and the food we got was particularly snazzy.

To Greggs, or not to Greggs

What I quite like about Cornerstone, is that it's quaint, it's not mad pricey, and they actually give one about the food that they make. Like, don't get me wrong, I like a Greggs Sausage Cheese and Bean* melt (*the correct order of words IMO), but it's little places like these that are the lifeblood of smaller towns and communities like ours - it's one of the reasons I'm glad that no-one's picked up the Subway in town yet (fingers crossed no-one does) because there are SO many amazing little cafes and spaces in the town.

I know it's one of those wanky "good things to say", but when you speak to the people who own/run these shops/cafes/etc, every piece of biz makes a difference. So just sack off your Costa, sack off the Subway, get yourself to something that's independent.

I had a conversation with my dad about this a few weeks ago, completely off the topic of "end of 2024", the COOP were selling some plants outside the store, we were in the market for some new plants, and he was like "3 for X pound - absolute bargain that" and I was like "Yeah but dad, we'll just go to Wyaston" and he was like "Yeah but you can save a few quid by just getting these".

It's not the point man, spend the extra dollar, be okay having less stuff, but help the people and community around you, cities like Derby are dying because people aren't doing this. It's why Derby city centre is nothing but fast food places, Turkish Barbers & Vape shops. If you walk from Derbion to the cathedral via St Peter's street, you'll pass no less than 10 Vape shops - insane.

Anyway - rant over. Spend money in towns.

Our Crimbo!

We hosted again this year! We picked up a turkey from Dalton's (big shout out again) this year, and as much as it'll pain Monseuir Daltons man, who upon picking up said turkey said "someone who picked one up earlier said they'd just leave it by the back door", I did, in fact, leave it in the bath with the window open, as there was no way I was going to fit that in the fridge - it was fucking huge!

Friendlings Crimbo

Our family's Christmas' are a tad boring most years (sorry mum), mainly because none of our family members drink or stay up past 6pm - so we decided this year that we would attempt a pre-Christmas Crimbo shindig with Friendlings - which was ✨ Very Demure ✨ (are people still saying that?).

We don't get a huge amount of time to spend with our friends as we're all super busy, and social diaries are just busier than ever, so to be able to share something similar to Christmas with them was awesome - if you've never done it, or considered it, then you should definitely give it a go.

I would write something inspirational, or something about looking forward to the new year and all of the GOOD SHIZZ that it'll bring, but I'm currently writing this at the end of of May 2025, so we're already very much in the thick of it now!

For what it's worth, it's been a good year so far 😅

Bonus Bits!

Below are a few of my favourite leftover bits and bobs! There's loads more, but Kate won't let me post them because they're in Derby 🥸

Fine - just one 👀

Here's one of those TikTok Monkey things being thrown from the landing of our office.

Peace out you sxc peeps. ✌️