Derbyshire-based law firm Banner Jones has donated more than £250 to Ashgate Hospicecare thanks to the fundraising efforts of running trio, Clayton, Lauren and Kareena who swapped their suits for trainers to take part in the year’s Redbrik Chesterfield Half Marathon.

According to the event organisers this was its biggest year to date, with more than 1,000 people taking part.

Chesterfield-based Ashgate Hospicecare is a registered charity which provides palliative care for people with life-limiting illnesses. The organisation provides daytime care as well as running a 21-bed inpatient unit, and relies largely on donations, and the fundraising efforts of those who take part in events such as the Redbrik Chesterfield Half Marathon.

Clayton Bissett, Will Writer at Banner Jones said: “I am absolutely delighted to have taken part in the half marathon again this year to raise funds for such an amazing local charity. ”

“Ashgate Hospice provides such valuable services to the local community and is very close to the hearts of those who live and work in and around Chesterfield.”

“I would like to thank everyone who donated, and for those who supported us.”

Main Image Credit: Paul Horton Photography

The work of schools, groups and individuals to help young people to engage in more active and healthy lives has been recognised at this year’s Derbyshire School Sport and Physical Activity Awards.

Held at the Winding Wheel Theatre in Chesterfield, the awards – which are run jointly by Active Derbyshire, Derbyshire Schools’ Sports Association Sports Association (DSSA) and Derbyshire Active Schools Network (DASN) – also celebrated the sporting successes of young people and the hard work of volunteers, leaders, coaches and school staff.

Winners included The Pingle Academy, which received the Active Derbyshire Schools Community Contribution Award, and Chapel-en-le-Frith High School which won Outstanding School Achievement.

Naomi Jones, Programme Lead at Active Derbyshire, said: “We were delighted to work in partnership with DSSA and DASN to organise and host this year’s awards, and my congratulations go to all of the winners. There is some fantastic work taking place in schools to promote health and wellbeing and engage more young people in becoming physically active and we thoroughly enjoyed showcasing some of the best examples of how this is happening across Derbyshire as well as recognising the successes of a number of individuals and teams.”

Fifteen schools were also recognised for being awarded The School Games Mark Platinum Award from the Youth Sport Trust. They are: Cutthorpe Primary School; Dronfield Stonelow Junior School; Fairmeadows Foundation Primary School; Glebe Junior School; Hague Bar Primary School; Hayfield Primary School; Ladywood Primary School; Linton Primary School; Longstone CofE Primary School; Markeaton Primary School; Osmaston CofE Primary School; Pennine Way Junior Academy; St Edward’s Catholic Academy; Tintwistle CofE Primary School; and Walton On Trent CofE Primary and Nursery School.

The Platinum Award was launched as an extension of the School Games Mark to reward schools who have maintained consistently high standards with their school sport provision, and special certificates of recognition were presented by Katy Rogers from the Youth Sport Trust.

A full list of award winners is below:

Outstanding Personal Achievement, sponsored by the University of Derby

• Kate Robertson, Derby High School
• Joseph Cooper, Chinley Primary School
• Abbie Breakwell, The Long Eaton School
• Ben Haylett, Friesland School
• George Cooper, Bolsover Church of England Junior School
• Jacob Whittle, Tupton Hall School

Outstanding Team Achievement, sponsored by Unit 1 Fitness and Martial Arts

• Derbyshire Youth Sailing A Team
• Ecclesbourne School Key Stage 4 Boys Badminton Team
• Silverhill Primary School U11 Girls Futsal Team
• Derbyshire Schoolboys Golf Team

Personal Best

• Joel Kelly, All Saints Catholic Voluntary Academy

Outstanding School Achievement, sponsored by the University of Derby

• Chapel-en-le-Frith High School

Teacher/Staff Member of the Year

• Andrew Reeves, Fairmeadows Foundation Primary School
• Heather James, Ladywood Primary School
• Chris Peach, Ashbourne Primary School
• Nikki Shenton, Heath Fields Primary School

Active and Healthy School of the Year, sponsored by Boogie Bounce

• Town End Junior School
• New Mills Primary School
• Ladywood Primary School
• Brockwell Junior School
• Bishop Lonsdale Primary School

Active Project or Initiative

• Town End Junior School
• Tibshelf Infant & Nursery School
• Redwood Primary School

Volunteer of the Year

• Louise Robertson, Derbyshire Youth Sailing
• Alisha Bethell, Highfields School
• Frazer Hipkiss, Brockwell Junior School

Young Leaders Award, sponsored by Chesterfield College

• Blakley Radford-Banks, Town End Junior School
• Louis Graham, Harrington Junior School
• Nathanael Gaskin, Brockwell Junior School
• Holly Carr, Highfields School
• Evie Jowett, Highfields School

Young Coach/Official Award

• Emma Robertson, Derby High School
• Harry Rudkin, Highfields School

Active Derbyshire Schools Community Contribution Award

• The Pingle Academy

The Services to School Sport Award in honour of Suzanne Meehan

• Karen Shopland

Two local businesses, both Chesterfield Champions, are working together to provide house hunters in Chesterfield a sleek and professional home buying service.

Chesterfield-based mortgage advisers Mortgage 1st and local estate agent Dales & Peaks are now proudly working together to enhance the home buying experience for their customers in and around Chesterfield.

When a customer visits Dales & Peaks in search of a new home or buy-to-let investment they are met by a welcoming team of estate agents, led by Sales Director Tom Currey, who will assist them in finding the ideal property.

To be able to then put in an offer to buy a property, the customer needs an AIP (Agreement in Principle) which is proof that they can get a mortgage. Mortgage 1st has a team of experienced mortgage advisers, led by Managing Director Jon Stones, who can search the market to find the best mortgage deal available to them based on their circumstances.

The two Chesterfield Champions will each doing what they do best and by working together are able to provide expertise, guidance and exceptional levels of service to meet the needs of the modern house hunter of today.

Jon Stones said: “We are delighted to be working alongside the Dales & Peaks team as they share in our vision for providing customer excellence and are a dynamic and forward thinking business like ourselves.”

Mortgage 1st & Dales & Peaks Estate Agents are actually up against one another in two categories at this year’s Derbyshire Times Business Excellence Awards.

PCT Healthcare, incorporating Peak Pharmacy, held their first Staff Conference and Awards Dinner in October, aiming to build internal relationships between departments in the business, and recognise and reward the achievements of the staff.

PCT Healthcare is an independent pharmacy chain. Peak Pharmacy, the firm’s pharmacies in Derbyshire, was founded in Chesterfield in 1981 and PCT Healthcare remains a family-owned entity today. Having grown from one pharmacy in Chesterfield, to now owning and managing over 120 pharmacies in the UK, PCT Healthcare employs over 1400 people.

Over 350 staff members attended the event, where an afternoon session consisted of introductions from senior management, an opportunity to network with business associates and sponsors, and chance to meet other internal teams within PCT Healthcare.

The main focus of the event was the evening awards ceremony, which recognised the hard work, determination & in some cases extraordinary achievements of individuals & teams throughout the business.

The ‘Special Recognition Award’ was won by David Smith (right), a pharmacist from Peak Pharmacy at the Greendale Centre in Dronfield. David has raised over £100,000 to date for various charities, working in an extremely busy pharmacy during the week and spending most weekends running at events all over the UK for his designated charities. True to form, David left the Nottingham Belfry at 4am on the Sunday to drive to Cardiff to run a half marathon, complete in his regular Scooby Doo attire. You can follow David and his remarkable achievements here.

Joe Cattee, Director at PCT Healthcare, said: “It was an extremely enjoyable experience, and a great opportunity to see so many of our staff in such a glamorous environment. The main reason behind the event was to recognise & reward the hard work all our colleagues put it on a daily basis, as they make our business a success. We wanted to thank them all for their support, and I am confident that we achieved this from the feedback I’ve received and the conversations on the night.”

“We’re extremely proud to employ the number of people we do and we constantly do our best to apply our family values to drive the business in the right direction. It’s fantastic to recognise the achievements of so many of our staff who continue to impress us with their tireless attitude, and I wish we had done this sooner!”

Chesterfield-based care provider, Heathcotes Group, is celebrating the third anniversary of two specialist mental health services which have pioneered a unique model of residential therapy since opening in 2016.

Two of their centres provide treatment for individuals with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), a complex condition which is estimated to affect around 1.3 million of the population and up to 30% of people open to psychiatric services in the UK. It often involves very intense emotions and feelings of abandonment and loneliness which can result in difficulties in establishing stable relationships, impulsive acts, self-harm, life-threatening behaviour and admission to secure hospital accommodation. Treatment conventionally takes place in a hospital or community setting, but Heathcotes has developed an innovative approach which provides therapy within a full-time residential care environment. Each providing a total of eight residential placements, the two services are fully occupied and employ a clinical therapy team working in tandem with a team of specially trained support workers.

The treatment is based on a programme of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) which helps residents to understand their feelings and teaches them skills to manage their emotions and behaviour, with a transition into more independent living being the ultimate goal. The programme, which lasts between 12 and 18 months, provides weekly skills groups, weekly individual therapy, skills coaching, weekly peer supervision for the therapists and an element of structuring in the day-to-day living environment to reinforce the learning and use of the skills.

Dr Peter Burbidge, Heathcotes’ Head of Psychology & Clinical Lead, explained the thinking behind the therapy model: “The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends DBT as one of the therapies suitable for treating this type of personality disorder, but DBT’s success can depend on the setting and circumstances in which it takes place. Hospital-based therapy can be successful, but it goes against the objectives of the government’s Transforming Care Agenda, which seeks to enable more people to live in the community, with the right support, thereby reducing lengthy hospital stays.”

Dr Peter Burbidge commented on the success of the services and his hopes for the future: “A few aspects have evolved since the services first opened. We have adapted the materials that we use and the way that we teach to suit our client group. However, we have remained true to therapeutic model and still deliver Full Programme DBT to the majority of our service users.”

“We’ve also started offering continued support post-therapy, including psychological input to individuals with EUPD living in our supported living provision. We are continually seeking new ways to expand and enhance the therapy model, so we are confident that its success will continue to grow – in three years’ time, we expect to be celebrating our sixth birthday having helped many more graduates move on to a more stable, independent and fulfilling life.”

Residents who complete the DBT programme are given a graduation party to celebrate their achievement and reflect on the journey to recovery. So far, thirteen service users have graduated across the two centres. Each graduate has the option to stay in placement, move back home / into the community or move into one of Heathcotes’ supported-living apartments, providing self-contained accommodation that allows them to build on their daily living skills and increase their independence.