IMPACT FEATURES
WELCOME TO SHOTTINGHAM? Before anyone even arrives at the University of Nottingham, they’re bound to have heard the city’s pet name: Shottingham. However, as the majority of the student population have never even heard of a shooting, Impact Features investigated whether our lovely city really deserves such a harsh alias. WORDS BY NATALIE MALLORY IMAGE BY PERETZ PARTENSKY VIA FLICKR Before researching I spoke to students who have lived in Nottingham to see if they had any anecdotes that could help the investigation. The first student, third year student Natasha, said she remembers often playing ‘gunshot or firework?’ whilst staying in Newark Hall. For those that of you that have yet to experience the unsourceable bangs in the night, this game refers to the loud and sudden noises often heard throughout Nottingham. This is something that I can also remember playing while living near Radford.
Of all the other students spoken to, none had ever seen a gun in Nottingham, or had even heard of gun-related crime from a reliable source. Except that is for one student, who remembered an armed robbery in Ladbrokes on Derby Road in 2014.
“I remember a time when my housemates and I were drawn from the house by the sound of repetitive shots”
So if many people living in Nottingham have never even seen a gun, where has the name ‘Shottingham’ come from? Interestingly, while the overall crime rate in Nottingham at the end of June 2015 was higher than the average in similar areas (such as Birmingham, Sheffield and Leicester) the gun crime rate statistics had halved, suggesting that while crimes are increasing, gun crime is thankfully not a huge proportion of it.
Last year, whilst living near Wollaton Hall & Park, I personally remember a time when my housemates and I were drawn from the house by the sound of repetitive shots. We debated whether the sound could be a gun or perhaps a car repeatedly backfiring, and after a while decided to investigate. Following the noise, we arrived at Wollaton Park to discover a very large war re-enactment taking place and the noises we had heard were blanks from rifles and cannon fire - proof that not all sounds of gunshots are criminal activity.
“The gun crime rate statistics had halved, suggesting that while crimes are increasing, gun crime is thankfully not a huge proportion of it” In November 2015 the Nottingham Police confirmed a total of 8,506 crimes were committed, but only 60 of them involved weapons. Their report neglected to state
12