News from producers around Derbyshire

On Saturday 19th September 2020, the new Museum of Making will open to the public for the very first time, showcasing Derby’s 300-year history of making and celebrating the area’s rich history of innovation.

Located in the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site on the site of the world’s first factory - the Derby Silk Mill - the Museum will offer visitors access to all 50,000 objects in its collections.

Bondholder St James Securities has submitted revised plans for the city centre residential offer to be part of the £200m regeneration of Becketwell.

The new plan includes a larger building of 224 apartments over a maximum of ground plus 10 storeys, with a second smaller building of ground plus 4 storeys developed separately and fronting Green Lane and Victoria Street. It will also comprise a public square on the site of the current United Reformed Church.

Bondholder JSA Architects has been engaged on new plans to convert Forester House in Derby city centre into an easyHotel, part of the easyGroup of businesses.

Forester House, located on the corner of Newland Street and Becket Street, became empty after the relocation of JobCentre Plus. The fresh plans would bring an 111-bedroom easyHotel, a 160-seat restaurant plus function room to the city centre.

Placement students at a Derbyshire company convinced older colleagues across their workplace to pull on fancy dress and pose for the camera when they put together a 2020 works calendar in aid of the British Heart Foundation.

More than 130 members of staff at Lubrizol, in Hazelwood, answered the call for volunteers to attend a series of photo-shoots when the students took it upon themselves to compile a calendar for the first time in the company’s history.

Ann Thorsson, a writer originally from Derbyshire, is coming back to the county in February to give a series of workshops and readings.  She'll be delivering a FREE writing workshop at Alfreton Library on Monday, 17 February 2020 - 

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is now open for entries: https://www.aestheticamagazine.com/creative-writing-award/

If you’re a writer who is interested in researching Derbyshire then take advantage of a FREE Introduction to the Record Office session at Derbyshire Record Office in Matlock.  The sessions happen on a regular basis and can be booked online by visiting

Novelist Joanna Courtney will be in Belper on 17 March 2020 delivering an afternoon workshop on writing historical fiction, see here for details: 

The New Year will see this panto fighting fit cast ready to bring classic family pantomime to you all.  Hansel and Gretel be staged at New Mills Art Theatre on 31 January & 1, 2, 7, 8 February.

Tickets for Hansel and Gretel are on sale now – book early to get good seats in the beautifully refurbished Art Theatre.  Matinees at 2.15pm on 1^st, 2^nd, & 8^th February sell out very quickly.  Evening performances on 31st January, 7^th & 8^th February at 7.15pm.

Hansel and Gretel

Derby College Group (DCG) has retained its ‘Good’ grading from Ofsted following a two-day short inspection in December.

DCG was one of the first further education colleges in the East Midlands to be inspected under Ofsted’s new framework.

The team of five inspectors visited all of the group’s colleges: the Roundhouse, Joseph Wright Centre, Broomfield Hall and Ilkeston College with ‘deep dive’ focuses on Sport, Animal Care, adult Retail and Wholesale programmes and Construction apprenticeships.