A Cabinet of Treasures

A Cabinet of Treasures

what makes Glossop special?

we might
look at carvings

From the old trees of Manor Park to the waters of Shelf Brook; from the crashing river of Kinder Downfall to ghosts following the old paths of Doctor's Gate, the Glossop area is full of treasures. Those treasures might be landscapes, or stories or histories or uncertainties (why is REDGATE in Little Padfield called Redgate?) but they might just as easily be the house where you live, the park where you play, your family, your friends, the neighbour who always helps.

We are collecting Treasures. Inviting people to add their own treasure: person, place, activity; animal, plant or story, to our Cabinet of Treasures.

Working through Derbyshire Makes with High Peak Community Arts, Creeping Toad will be running public events through April, inviting people to drop in, to think and make and talk and simply be creative!

Last year, we collected the Lost Stories of Glossop. This year we'll go for an even more personal response to the question "what makes Glossop (and the surrounding area!) special?" As we gather these Treasures, we'll build them into a doll's house of a Cabinet that will go on display in Glossop in May 2026 and become a digital gallery here at Creeping Toad.

we might make a tiny woodland

Mixing new drawings with old photographs, collage with cutting and colouring and sketching, we'll be making tiny scenes to display, to hang: to hold a treasure. We can work with anything from the Royal Forest of the Peaks to last year's Christmas present, from mysterious folklore to an over-exciting shopping list....

Events planned so far:

• All events are free: no tickets or booking needed
• Allow about 45 minutes for the activities
• Materials are provided
• If you are under 12, please bring a grown-up with you

Kinder Downfall
(with visitors)

Tuesday 31st March: Glossop Library, Talbot St, Glossop, 

SK13 7DG
10:30 - 15:00

Wednesday 1st April: Gamesley Library, Grindleford Grove, Gamesley, Glossop,SK13 6HW
14:00- 16:00

Thursday 9th April: Hadfield Library, Station Rd, Hadfield, SK13 1AA
14:00 - 16:00

Saturday 11th April: Manor Park, Manor Park Rd, Glossop SK13 7SH (Corn Street Car Park is probably easiest if travelling by car). Find us on the lawns by the cafe. 13:30 - 15:00

Saturday 9th May: Derbyshire Makes Festival at Glossop: look out for the Creeping Toad team and the Cabinet of Treasures: find us to add your own treasure to the Cabinet, listen to stories and meet the Babbling Vagabonds!

Creeping Toad are delighted to have been awarded a Derbyshire Makes Creative and Community Grant by Derbyshire County Council to support the creative work we are doing in the county. Derbyshire Makes is a three-year programme to celebrate the past present and future of making in Derbyshire.   

See: www.derbyshiremake.so.uk 

Tree decorations!

 

Tree mobiles

 

hang your own woodland stories in your home
 ~ a quiet activity for a winter evening

 

 

you will need:

·      a piece of card - we worked on a piece of A5 (about 15 x 21cm)*

·      a pencil

·      coloured pencils or pens

·      some glue (PVA or glue stick glue)

·      scissors

·      a needle or small hole punch

·      some thread or thin string

 

(* you don't need art card: you could do this with a cereal packet or draw on paper and then stick onto cereal packet card when you are ready to cut out) 

This is a blog first published on the site of Toadfriends and colleagues Stone and Water, reblogging here so that it can reach a different set of visitors!

It is associated with the SnW Celebrating Woodlands project

 

Think about: a tree you know (or would like to know!) Maybe consider the tree's life cycle of bud, leaf, fruit and animals...or treehouses and swings… or hanging by your toes in your very own circus tree....

 

In our pictures here we've used pen to make lines show up: if you did this in pencil you could rub the guidelines out afterwards!

 

1. Draw 2 upside down 'T' shapes. these need to be about the same size. A smaller 'T" could fit in between them. These will help keep drawings 1 and 2 about the same size

Step 1, guidelines

Step 2, drawing trees

Step3, colouring trees!

 

2. Draw 3 stages of your tree:1 and 2 need to be about the same size while 3 is OK to be smaller (you have more card? make 3 the same size as the others!)

 

3. Colour in!

 

4. Cut out: don't cut right up to your lines, give yourself some room around your drawings. Then fold drawings 1 and 2 in half along the long line of that first T

 

5. Glue 1 and 2 together on one half of the back of your drawing so they make a Y shape. Then glue 3 into the blank side of this shape. Carefully trim away extra card to show up the shape of your drawing

Step 5: trim

 

6. If you have drawn circles like we did, use these (if they have matched up! they often don't) as a guide to punch a hole. or just make a hole toward the top of your tree! Thread a string through. Add some finishing touches? Glitter? some sequin snowflakes? 

Fold and glue

 

Hang up your tree and enjoy!

There are more woodland events coming from Stone and Water and Creeping Toad in between January and March 2026: keep an eye on this page and on the Toad social media for more details!

Creeping Toad:

Facebook: Creeping Toad

Instagram: Creepingtoad

the Folk Union

Make your own mouse?

Lost Cats and Prehistoric Mice!

Design and make your own prehistoric mouse or a streamer cat on a stick!
The Pump Room, Buxton
 Sunday 2nd April

 

WHERE? the Pump Room, Buxton, SK17 6BH 

WHEN? Sunday 2nd April,2023, 11am – 3pm

HOW DO WE JOIN IN? This is a free event and materials are provided. No booking is needed: just drop by and join in. Allow 20 - 30 minutes to make an animal. 

Drop in and design your own animal flag with colourful streamers to fly on a stick. You might make one of our Lost Cats or you could design your own prehistoric mouse. Will it be friendly or ferocious. Will it be fierce? Will it have sabre teeth and a huge smile?

 

The Lost Cats are coming back! From Cave Lions to scimitar-toothed cats and lynx, many wonderful animals have lived here in the past. We’re getting ready for the Carnival of Lost Cats on 23rd April and our streamer animals from the Pump Room will be welcome to join us. 

 

This event is hosted by Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust and we hope they will not regret inviting shaggy, sabre-tooth mice into the Visitor Centre!

Lost Cats and Prehistoric Mice is part of the Lost Cats of Buxton project for Buxton Our Street. It is also part of The Wild Escape initiative

Big cats and prehistoric mice

Big Cats and Prehistoric Mice

The Lost Cats of Buxton

Final events

 

The Lost Cats are growling, prowling, purring their way through these last weeks of winter and gathering their muscles for the leap that will land them in the middle of St George’s Day on 23^rd April. This is also the weekend of Earth Day and rather than marking the death of a dragon, we are celebrating the richness of wildlife that reaches from the days of our lost cats (up to 100,000 years ago) to today and the woods and hills, the rivers, meadows and mosses of Derbyshire

 

There are school workshops snarling their way through this week and next, and then there are public events where you could come and join us!

 

At other times you could

walk an imaginary cat through the woods

·      Visit the Museum and look for the bones of a Cave Lion’s leg

·      Sit in Grinlow Woods and imagine the wonder of a cave lion wandering through

·      Walk along Spring Gardens and think of the ghosts of ancient cats peering in the shop windows!

 

What’s coming up?

This is a heads-up post – details will follow but why not get these dates in your diary or stuck on the ‘fridge, or written on the walls of your cave-home

 

Sunday 2^nd April

Lost Cats and prehistoric mice!

At the Pump Room, Buxton

Design and make your own prehistoric mouse or a streamer cat on a stick! (and no, we didn't really think there were scimitar-toothed mice but we loved the idea...). More details here: Prehistoric mice!

 

Tuesday 4^th April

Wild Cats in Grinlow woods 

Mask making and then we challenge to wear your masks in the woods and get some photos of the Returning Cats of Derbyshire. Details and tickets:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wild-cats-in-grinlow-woods-tickets-594585921497

 

 

Thursday 13^th April

Giant Cats and More Mice

Help artists from the Babbling Vagabonds to make a life-size cave lion puppet…and make more of those terrifying prehistoric mice to take home! Details on Museum events pages soon

 

Sunday 23^rd April

Carnival of the Cats

Our final day, when we invite everyone who has joined in activities already – and anyone else who hasn’t! - to join us for a Parade of Lost Cats, Giant Cats, Prehistoric Mice, puppet Snow Cats and Garden Tigers along Spring Gardens and into the Pavilion Gardens

Maybe bring a picnic to relax in the gardens afterwards

Maybe make the most mouse-like cake you can to tempt a Cave Lion into sitting beside you…

Maybe just enjoy a catful of colour of shape and creativity

 

Details for all these events will follow soon!

 

Lost Cats is a Creeping Toad project for Buxton Our Street in partnership with Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Buxton Civic Association, Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust and the Babbling Vagabonds. WE are part of the big, brave and adventurous Wild Escape...but aren't sure if we want our Lost Cats remembering they are Big Cats and escaping along Spring Gardens....