Derbyshire greats honoured with blue plaques

Members of the public have chosen six of Derbyshire’s “great and good” to be honoured in the county’s 2011 blue plaque awards.

Derbyshire County Council started the scheme in 2009 to celebrate well-known local people.

This year’s winners include Henry Royce, co-founder of Rolls-Royce, and Sir Joseph Whitworth, who standardised the industrial screw.

Anyone nominated must have died at least 20 years ago.

The other winners were:

• William Barron of Borrowash – a 19th century gardener who designed the
  gardens at Elvaston Castle.

• Samuel Slater, Belper – known as the father of the American Industrial
  Revolution.

• John Smedley, Lea Bridge and Matlock − regarded as the man who made Matlock. Smedley turned his father’s ailing cotton mill at Lea Bridge into a highly
  successful enterprise.

• Alison Uttley, Cromford and Dethick − an author of more than 100 books,
  Uttley is most famous for the Little Grey Rabbit children’s stories based on her
  childhood at Castle Top Farm, Cromford, where she was born in 1884

Work is now under way to find locations for the plaques.

TV Date for Derbyshire Student

A Derbyshire student whose prize-winning tale of life as an African slave was broadcast on national radio has appeared on television.

Tupton Hall pupil Alice Corker won first prize in the BBC's Freedom writing competition commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery.

Her story about Beth, a young slave on an American plantation in the 1800s, was broadcast on Radio 4's programme Go4it on Sunday.

The 13-year-old, who is a member of Derbyshire County Council's Chesterfield Write On group, was also interviewed on the show.

She appeared on the CBBC news programme on Tuesday and talked about her success.

The Write On group is a writing group for people aged from 11 to 14-years-old which meets every six weeks at Chesterfield Library.

Chris Sabian, Peak District View - 2007-03-29 02:58:01

New Age of Football Hooligan

A new gang of school-aged football hooligans have been causing trouble at Derby County matches. Yobs as young as 13 had become involved in incidents at several games in the second half of this season.

PC Allan Guy, of Operation Cabby, which was set up to deal with Derbyshire hooligans, warned that firm action - including football banning orders - would be used to tackle the thugs. He urged parents to keep an eye on exactly where their children were going during Rams matches.

He said: "We've started getting a big influx of youngsters ranging from 13 to 17 years old getting involved. This lot aren't really going into pubs, they're going around in groups trying to goad people. They are also doing it when police are escorting other fans.

"I can't think of any particular reason why the number of kids is increasing this season. Maybe it's because Derby's doing well. It could also be gangs on the street simply attaching themselves to football."

Some members of established Derby hooligan gangs such as the Derby Lunatic Fringe and Derby Orphans have received banning orders stopping them attending matches. Now police must track the Happy Nappy Gang.

Unlike the older hooligans, who generally only target other gangs, PC Guy said there had been cases of the new group attacking innocent fans. The latest incident occurred during Saturday's home game against Cardiff when the youth group tried to get at, and provoke, a confrontation with away fans as they were being escorted to the railway station.

Police managed to hold them back and one teenager was arrested to prevent a breach of the peace but there have been arrests at other fixtures.

There are currently 54 hooligans banned from going to Derby and England matches. Make that 55 'er indoors has stopped me going to Israel this weekend. she didn't think the trip was kosher.

Chris Sabian, Peak District View - 2007-03-23 03:59:28

Birmingham City 1 Derby County 0: Off the top but don't panic

Birmingham City dislodged Derby County at the top of the Championship last night after a fractious summit meeting on a ploughed field of a pitch at St Andrew's. Rowan Vine's first goal for the club opened a seven-point lead over third-placed West Bromwich Albion, yet victory came at a high price for Steve Bruce's side.

Gary McSheffrey, who has contributed 13 goals to Birmingham's quest for an instant return to the Premiership, was sent off for a reckless lunge on Tyrone Mears with 18 minutes remaining. The former Coventry player's three-match ban for violent conduct will include the six-pointer at Albion a week tomorrow.

Billy Davies, whose Derby team had played at Norwich on Tuesday, justifiably complained about the state of the playing surface before and after the match. "We had three games in the week while they had two," he said. "Their extra recovery time was crucial, but they played the pitch better than us."

Davies admitted asking the referee whether the match would have gone ahead if it had not been live on Sky. He did not reveal Steve Bennett's answer, though in the event the contest turned not on a defender losing his footing but on a fine turn and shot by Vine after he took Martin Taylor's cross under pressure from Dean Leacock in first-half stoppage time.

The teams had traded scoring chances in a fast and furious start. Derby's Giles Barnes sent Colin Doyle sprawling across his goal in the second minute. Within 60 seconds McSheffrey dispossessed Mears at the opposite end but made the angle too difficult by trying to round Stephen Bywater and won only a corner.

Bendtner, the on-loan Arsenal striker, was unusually animated. After 13 minutes he brought down Doyle's long kick with a sublime touch, burnt off Darren Moore and unleashed a drive that Bywater saved with his trailing leg.

Steve Howard continued the tit-for-tat exchanges with a curled shot that missed Doyle's left upright by inches, but the game had become an attritional affair by the time Birmingham edged ahead.

Midway through the second half, Derby demanded a penalty as the substitute Morten Bisgaard tumbled with Mat Sadler in close attendance. Bennett correctly ruled that the Dane had dived while incorrectly failing to caution him.

There was no such leniency after McSheffrey's two-footed challenge on Mears. The red card was Birmingham's seventh this season, but the 10 men survived late pressure in which Davies had five attackers, including the burly centre-back Moore, besieging the home goal.

There is no doubt in my mind that a draw would have been a fair result. In truth the pitch was awful and in the modern era of football Birmingham should not be allowed to continue playing on it. It is a disgrace and an unfair advantage.

there is only one good thing about Birmingham and that is the A38 back to Derby. With 9 games to go Derby need 5 wins maybe 6 to guarantee promotion. Next Tuesday's game at home to QPR is now must win.

Chris Sabian, Peak District View - 2007-03-10 09:26:48

Elvaston lottery bid withdrawn!

Derbyshire County Council submitted a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund last summer for £10m to restore the castle's gardens, which cover 185 acres of the 325-acre site.

But this week, the Friends of Elvaston Castle, discovered the bid was withdrawn in November - a decision the council failed to publicise.

At the time, the Heritage Lottery Fund had asked the council for more details of its proposals for the gardens, which the authority said would cause it to incur significant costs.

Because the council was not willing to foot the bill to provide in-depth details at what it described as an early stage in the possible development of the historic castle and grounds, it withdrew its bid.

The restoration of the gardens was a key element of controversial plans to redevelop the whole of the Elvaston Castle site, which attracts average 500,000 visitors each year.

In 1999 the council announced it could no longer afford the annual running costs of £500,000 or an essential repairs bill estimated at £3m.

Last June the council voted to give Highgate Sanctuary a 150-year lease, despite public protest, including a petition signed by 61,500 people, and concerns raised during public consultation.

The developer, based in London, aims to turn the castle into an £18m, 160-bedroom hotel and golf course.

Remaining land, including the gardens, would be run by a trust.

The lease, which has not yet been signed, states that Highgate Sanctuary would provide £2.75m match funding needed for a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the restoration of the gardens. It also says that Highgate would relieve the council of the cost of repairing the house.

GrahamMansey, a member of Friends of Elvaston Castle, said he was extremely concerned about the future of the historic gardens under the present plans now that the lottery bid had been withdrawn.

He said: "The council was supposed to make information about the bid public by February at the latest but did not do so, prompting the Friends of Elvaston to contact the Heritage Lottery Fund.

"We would like to see the house, gardens and estate completely restored.

"The Heritage Lottery Fund has informed the Friends that money is available for restoration, including the house, but that this money must benefit as wide a proportion of the community as possible and must not lead to loss of public access.

"We opposed the council's application and expressed this to the Heritage Lottery Fund. We do not agree with the public loss of Elvaston Castle.

"Surely this should be an opportune moment for the community to call time on the disposal of Elvaston Castle."

A county council spokeswoman said that re-submitting the lottery bid had not been ruled out but was unable to give any time frame.

She said: "The council is still seeking the full restoration of the gardens.

"We withdrew the application after the Heritage Lottery Fund asked for more details of our proposals, which would have committed us to significant extra costs at a very early stage.

"We are continuing to work to obtain a sustainable future for the castle and grounds."

It all seems very smelly to me. If the Lottery Fund asked for more details then why not get the Friends of Elvaston involved. I am sure they would have done the bulk of the work for free. But in any case how expensive could it be to prepare a report with detailed proposals.

It strikes me the original lottery bid was a smokescreen done on the back of a fag packet to appease the public.

There is definately more to this than meets the eye. Watch this space.

Chris Sabian, Peak District View - 2007-03-10 09:17:23

£139,752 per annum for council chief

Statistics released Thursday revealed that Derbyshire county council's chief executive, Nick Hodgson, received remuneration of £139,752 in 2005-6.

His pay was lower than the chief executives of all but one county council which declared earnings to the Taxpayers' Alliance.

Ann Weston, deputy leader of Derbyshire County Council, said the chief executive took on a large responsibility.

"It is a big job with very big responsibilities and a lot of people rely on the county council to help them in their everyday lives," she said.

Mr Hodgson is responsible for a £1bn budget and about 33,000 employees providing services to more than 750,000 people. What with no help?

In 2005-6 Mr Hodgson saw his pay rise by 8.8 per cent from the year before, when he was on £128,439.

Derby City Council's chief executive, Ray Cowlishaw, enjoyed a rise of 14.92 per cent, from £122,868 in 2004-5 to £141,195 in 2005/6.

Both considerably above inflation!

Derby City Council leader Chris Williamson said: "When this is compared to what chief executives in the private sector get paid for having a fraction of the responsibility I think it shows the people of Derby are getting very good value for money." You wouldn't expect anything else from a brown nose but two wrongs do not make a right.

Now I know I'm in the wrong job.

Chris Sabian, Peak District View - 2007-03-10 08:59:21

Norwich City 1 Derby County 2: Derby back on top

Derby County recorded their 11th away victory of the season to put them right back on top of the championship.

It took a classy double from Derby's former Manchester United midfielder David Jones to ensure that Billy Davies' men will be top of the Championship when they face promotion rivals Birmingham City on Friday in another Sky TV game.

This was a pulsating, thoroughly enjoyable game and a credit to championship football and while Norwich City's endeavour possibly deserved a point, Derby and Jones produced the two moments of real quality to guarantee all three.

Derby had the better of the first half though neither team created much by way of clear-cut chances.

The contest really took off in the second period. After 52 minutes, Norwich worked a throw-in to Chris Martin on the edge of the box where he unleashed a low drive that brought him his fifth goal in seven games. The goal in truth was a mistake by the otherwise excellent Derby goalkeeper Bywater.

Back came Derby. Jones received Matt Oakley's alert 63rd-minute throw and curled a sublime left-footed effort into the far corner.

Norwich responded well and manager Peter Grant felt aggrieved at the refereeing after Huckerby had been brought down by Dean Leacock when clean through and Martin's subsequent "goal" was deemed offside.

Norwich had no problem with the offside decision, but justifiably questioned the referee's decision not to send off Leacock. "He's got to bring it back and send him off," Grant said.

Then came the move of the match. Substitute Gary Teale chipped a ball into the highly-rated Giles Barnes whose audacious flick fell perfectly for Jones to score calmly from close range.

Norwich threw on Dion Dublin for the last 20 minutes and the veteran striker immediately forced a magnificent save from Steve Bywater.

The home team piled on late pressure but Derby were strong enough defensively to hold out, moving a step closer to fulfilling their dream of a place in the Premiership.

"They were there for the taking," said Grant ruefully. "They are singing and dancing because they know they got away with it. But then that's why they are where they are and we are where we are."

Your dead right we were singing and dancing. nearly 1,000 derby fans made the tortuous journey but were well rewarded. The table shows Derby two points clear of Birmingham in second and six points clear of WBA in third.

Avoid defeat at Birmingham and Derby will stay on top. But allowing for the St Andrews disgraceful pitch what price a 12th away win?

Chris Sabian, Peak District View - 2007-03-07 03:34:15