Q: How do I restore past events to my iPad calendar?

What kind of calendar is it?

From a mail account (Gmail, Yahoo, etc...)?

From an Exchange account?
Subscribed?
Shared?

It's just the generic calendar app that comes with the iPhone.

I have a gmail account but I don't think the 2 are synced.

It's not shared with anyone.

So this is your iPhone calendar.

Is it synced with iCloud?
If so are all your events present when you sign into iCloud.com with your Apple ID from a web browser on your computer?

Yes the events are present when I log on to iCloud.com on my computer.

Since all the events are present on iCloud.com  and if you are sure you have All Events set to sync (Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > In the Calendars section tap Sync > All Events), then we can force a re-push from iCloud.com:

Settings > iCloud > toggle off Calendars, delete from phone (to prevent the possibility of duplicates). Wait for it to finish then turn it back on

Also make sure that you are adding new events to your iPhone calendar by setting it as your default here:

Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > In the Calendars section tap Default Calendar and select your iPhone calendar

I did try to follow these steps when i saw that you suggested them at the beginning of this feed. But after I toggle off Calendars, there is no option to 'delete from phone'. Should there be an option there for me to do this or am I just missing something really obvious?!

Also, I don't have a 'default calendar' in the calendars section.

Thanks for your help with this, I really appreciate it!

Also, the + icon on the top right of the calendar app which allows you to add new calendar events is greyed out, so I can't add new events either

Make sure you have all calendars selected here:

Open the Calendars app, tap Calendars (bottom center), Show All Calendars

It sounds like you may be syncing a calendar from your computer via iTunes.

When I select 'Calendar' in the bottom centre of the app, the only ooption that comes up is 'Birthdays'. There are no other options here

I wonder how it would be syncing via iTunes? I haven't used iTunes in months..

Do you have a CalDAV account setup? If so disable it and see if the default calendar option appears.

Do you have Mail accounts setup? Since you only intend on using your iPhone calendar with iCloud, disable Calendars for all your mail accounts (except iCloud).

No I don't have a CalDAV account.

And I'm sorry, I just realised that my gmail account must be synced to my calendar in some way because when I accept an invite that's sent to me via email, it shows up in my calendar when I accept.

I just went into mail, contacts, calendars > gmail (under accounts) and then toggled off calendar from there and it asked me if I wanted to delete from iPhone..?

My assumption is that these events are from your Gmail calendar.

You can delete it from your phone. It will still exist on the Gmail server and will come right back when you turn it back on.

Yeah selecting the 'delete from my iPhone' option from there has not changed anything. I still have zero events in my calendar. Booooo!

I have to go to bed... I'll look at this again tomorrow. I REALLY appreciate your time and support!! Thank you :)

Now that the Gmail calendar is off, do you have the default calendar option?

Yes the option is there, but the only two options are work and home.

Anyway, I've just switched it from home to work and opened up the calendar for the first time this morning and everything is back! Switching it between work and home doesn't seem to make a difference; everything is back. So I'm not sure what happened but....    happy days!!! Thanks Axeman!!!