News from producers around Derbyshire

Based around the High Peak Trail just the section from Middleton Top, down to High Peak Junction I aim to really focus in detail by painting 25 panoramic views of it as if you were walking down it. The High Peak trail was developed fifty years ago and opened fully in 1974 as a public trail. Why am I doing this? Well, it is somewhere I've always loved and is a natural progression from my Derwent Valley Mills work as the railway was a major part of the valley's transport infrastructure.

We hope you have had a great half term and are ready for the kids to go back tomorrow. We have lots going on at the moment and quite a few courses starting this month both online and in person as we slowly edge towards opening fully from September.

We hope you have been making some time for yourself to get creative as things have started opening up between catching up with friends and family. Don't forget our workshops are great as a day out with friends and we have lots coming up in September at weekends.

Volunteers Week 2021

We want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of our volunteers! The donation of their time and skills are vital in making it possible for all people we meet to experience the supportive power and connection being creative gives us.

The National Forest is looking for new ways to support the health and wellbeing of those who live in the National Forest and are pleased to announce a new grant scheme to fund work to achieve this.

Projects supported by the Forest Society grant scheme will encourage new and diverse audiences to get involved with Forest activities, increase participation overall, and will use local woodlands to harness the wellbeing benefits of spending times outdoors and connecting to nature.

Well - Summer is finally here, and we have a mill yard full of sunshine and visitors. Tickets are selling fast for the Outdoor Theatre Weekend and we have more celebrations planned to mark our 250th and 50th anniversaries.

We do hope that we will see you here!

June Events include:

The extension to the lockdown rules announced tonight means they don’t expire until the day AFTER the Festival is supposed to finish (and there’s no guarantee they won’t be extended again). So, thanks to the government's announcement… we’re NOT on. Gutted.

Well we’ve put all our resources and planning into running from the 16th to 18th July which was hard enough during the pandemic, so we're not going to be pulling any rabbits from any hats in a hurry.

Businesses across the Cathedral Quarter and St Peters Quarter Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in Derby city centre are showcasing their own flock of mini ram characters as part of this summer’s Derby Ram Trail.

The Great Ram Sleepover runs from 14th - 26th June and will feature ten mini Ram characters who will stay in a business for four nights before moving to another business window for the next four nights.

Photo by Federico Estol

17th May - 5th September - In venues across Derby

Meet the artists

A sequel to 'The Trail', James Ellson has launched his latest book 'Cold Dawn' by publisher Unbound. They work by crowdfunding, and you can support at https://unbound.com/books/cold-dawn/

Remember the world wide media attention grabbing Belper Moo? https://www.facebook.com/BBCRadioDerby/videos/925062664593366/