News from producers around Derbyshire

A former pupil has returned to Merrill Academy in Allenton as part of a team from Barclays Plc who are coaching young people on key employability skills. Dominic Saneria left the school in 2003 and progressed onto Derby College where he studied IT.  He started working life at EGG and now works for Barclaycard in Northampton. He was part of the team who visited Merrill Academy recently to deliver the first stage of the company’s Life Skills programme – devised to support young people into the world of work.

Wirksworth is already well known for its September Arts Festival, one of the first and certainly one of the most successful rural Arts Festivals in the region. This year, a small Book Festival is planned, for the weekend of the 9-11th April, to encourage readers, highlight local authors and generally celebrate books. The Festival will begin with an evening to celebrate and talk about books, with a number of local celebrities talking about, and reading from, their favourite books.

Catering and Hospitality students at Derby College and Buxton and Leek College went head to head in a Cook Off challenge held at Derby College’s Engine Shed training restaurant at the Roundhouse, Pride Park.

The students worked in pairs from each College and had two hours to prepare two portions using set ingredients including chicken, potatoes, mushrooms and shallots and then a dessert of their choice.

Extra public swimming sessions are being held at two Derby pools next week to encourage young people and their families to keep visiting once Moorways Pool shuts next month.
Lonsdale Pool in Mickleover and Gayton Pool in Littleover will be organising extra daytime sessions during half term next week which are usually taken by school swimming groups during term time.

As the early booking deadline approaches for the 37th Buxton Fringe, the line-up is already showing the variety for which the Fringe has become famous.

Joe Broughton, Paloma Trigás, Tom Chapman and Dan Walsh are The Urban Folk Quartet. Four highly accomplished musicians, a dozen instruments and four voices coming together to craft a knockout show of globally–influenced, electrifying acoustic music that has been taking the international folk scene by storm.

Members of the choirs from Foremarke Hall, Repton’s Prep School, are joining celebrated a capella group The King’s Men in a concert to raise funds for a cause that sadly has particular significance for the school.

The King’s Men is the close harmony group made up of Choral Scholars from the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. It is probably most famous for the broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on radio each Christmas, and its companion programme, Carols from King’s, on BBC television.

The 4th Buxton Festival of World Cinema starts on Good Friday, 25th March, and over eight days 22 full-length feature films from 12 different countries will be screened.

Big hits such as Lady in the Van, Brooklyn and Inside Out are part of the programme which includes plenty of family-friendly titles for the holiday week.

The Peak District Exhibition at Studio 61 Gallery in Holloway near Matlock is raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society charity. The artists exhibiting during February are listed below and they have been very generous in pricing their work for this fundraiser. There are some real bargains to be had, with 25% of proceeds going to the Alzheimer's Society.

 
·       Karina Goodman

·       John Connolly

·       Ruth Gray

·       Valerie Dalling Photography

·       Jen Oldknow

Community groups and individuals are being invited to apply for support from young people taking part in the National Citizen Service (NCS) programme this summer.

This year just over 1,000 young people will be taking part in a four-week NCS programme over the summer holidays. National Citizen Service (NCS) is a flagship government programme that provides a transformational experience for all 16 and 17 year olds in England and Northern Ireland.