The £1.2 million Heritage Lottery Fund (“HLF”)  funded restoration of the Grade II listed Barrow Hill Roundhouse near Chesterfield is now well underway and the Roundhouse team is also delighted to be able to confirm the initial details of its grand re-opening which will take place in September 2017.

Contractors T&C Williams of Sheffield started work on site in January and their first job was to remove the 1960s flat roofed kitchen extension.  This area has now been cleared and levelled ready to be replaced with a larger, light and modern new entrance building incorporating a new kitchen, eating area and toilets.  The design of the new building will allow the original doors and windows on this side of the Roundhouse to be revealed for the first time in over 50 years.

Work has also started on vital conservation work in the Roundhouse itself as the steel structure of the roof is treated and repainted.  In other parts of the Roundhouse false ceilings have been temporarily removed to reveal the unique roof structure of the building whilst it is re-wired.  The original blue brick flooring has also been taken up so that an underfloor heating system can be installed before the bricks are carefully replaced.  Work is also taking place on the Coal Stage – the Roundhouse’s viewing area during special events – to provide an improved walking route and viewing area with new safety railings for visitors.

Although work is expected to continue until August 2017, there will be a break in activities in May to allow Barrow Hill’s renowned Rail Ale Festival – the most atmospheric beer festival of the year – to take place on 18^th, 19^th and 20^th May.  This will provide visitors with an opportunity to have a sneak preview of the works that have been taking place at the Roundhouse.

With work due to be completed at the end of August, this will give the Barrow Hill team a few weeks to prepare for the September 2017 relaunch event: the highlight of a four day celebration will be the visit of three icons of steam – A3 60103 Flying Scotsman, A1 60163 Tornado and Rocket.

This will be the first visit to the Roundhouse by Flying Scotsman since the Barrow Hill Open Day in 1974 and the return visit from the Rocket 12 years after it took part in the celebration of George Stephenson’s connections with Chesterfield in 2005.

Although Flying Scotsman has been seen in Derbyshire since the completion of its overhaul in 2016, this will be the first opportunity for many in the region to get up close to the locomotive alongside her sister East Coast racehorse Tornado, seen against the unique and authentic backdrop of the Roundhouse.

The four day celebration is taking place from Thursday 21^st September 2017 to Sunday 24^th September 2017.  Thursday 21^st September will see the premiere of a specially commissioned play funded by the Arts Council celebrating the incredible survival story of the Roundhouse with live steam adding an exciting backdrop.  The play will continue on the evenings of Friday 22^nd and Saturday 23^rd September.

During the day on Saturday 23^rd September and Sunday 24^th September the Roundhouse will open its doors to the general public for a truly special steam gala with visitors able to see for the first time the comprehensive but sympathetic HLF-funded restoration.

Mervyn Allcock, General Manager of Barrow Hill Roundhouse, said:-

“It has been amazing to see a building that I and many others have worked so hard to preserve now having work done to it to give it a new lease of life. Our September relaunch promises to be a fabulous celebration of all the hard work that is going on at the Roundhouse at the moment and will mark the start of the next exciting chapter in the story of this amazing architectural survivor in the most appropriate way.”

More details of the ongoing restoration project and the September relaunch will be announced over the coming months.

Fabulous landscapes and the formal gardens of the area’s many historic houses have inspired official tourist board Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire’s imaginative show garden at the first-ever RHS Chatsworth Flower Show.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show award winning designer Lee Bestall is the creative brain behind the Experience Peak District & Derbyshire Garden, one of a range of innovative floral features that will be visited by tens of thousands of visitors between 7 and 11 June 2017.

Lee, whose business Bestall & Co is based at Renishaw Hall & Gardens in north Derbyshire, has focused on the health-promoting and mood-boosting benefits of fresh air and fantastic views in his simple, yet striking design.

Rough grass, native trees and hand-painted cows representing the area’s landscapes lead through to the clipped topiary and herbaceous planting favoured by  the Peak District and Derbyshire’s great country houses.

Jo Dilley, Director of Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire, said:-

“We’re delighted with Lee’s design, which reflects the huge variety of the area’s natural and man-made landscapes and gardens in a relatively small space.

“Interest from visitors in the first-ever RHS Chatsworth Flower Show is high, and it will be a great opportunity to showcase the Peak District and Derbyshire to tens of thousands of people from both Britain and overseas.

“Some of our accommodation providers are already reporting anecdotally that they are fully booked during the show, which is great news for local businesses and the area’s economy, and I’m sure availability will be at a premium as June draws nearer.

“We’re really looking forward to being part of this prestigious event, which will help to put our world-class destination even more firmly on the map.”

Lee Bestall, who is a member of the Society of Garden Designers, added:-

“It’s a great pleasure working with Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire to create a show garden illustrating the wide range of informal and formal open spaces where people can relax and feel reinvigorated in this beautiful area.”

The show garden – sponsored by Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire; Hope Cement, A Breedon Group Company; The Camping and Caravanning Club and Wheeldon Trees Holiday Cottages, Earl Sterndale, near Buxton – will be built by J P H Landscapes, Sheffield.

Lee Bestall trained at RHS Wisley and was selected by Kevin McCloud as the first-ever Grand Designs ‘Garden Designer of the Year’. He designed award-winning gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2015 and 2016, and he and his team are currently preparing for their first-ever large show garden at Chelsea in 2017.

More than 42,000 tickets have already been sold for the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show 2017, and more than 80,000 people are expected to attend.

The overarching theme will be ‘Design Revolutionaries’, drawing inspiration from famous figures such as Sir Joseph Paxton and Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, both of whom had a major impact of the 1000-acre Chatsworth Estate.

This year, Ashgate Hospicecare is pulling out all the stops for Chesterfield’s biggest fundraising event. The Hospice is hoping to smash last year’s records and reach over 3,000 walkers for this year’s Markovitz Showroom Sparkle Night Walk, enabling Ashgate Hospicecare to get one step closer to funding a 24/7 Hospice at Home team to keep people at home.

Emma Wilson’s husband, Terry, was cared for by Ashgate Hospicecare. Throughout his time at the Hospice, Terry was able to spend precious moments with his family at such a difficult time.

Emma said:-

“Terry always thought hospices were for older people, but having spent a week in here he couldn’t believe how caring all the staff were. From the dieticians to the rest of the staff, they were all amazing.”

Once Terry’s symptoms were effectively managed, he was discharged from the hospice and returned home after just one week on the Inpatient Unit. Terry was able to have a week in Cornwall and a weekend in the Lake District.

“The last holidays we had were amazing, Cornwall was one of Terry’s favourite places. He’d been going down to Cornwall since he was a child, and he and I always went once a year without fail. So, our wish of going back there, as a family was able to go ahead and I will never forget it.”

“The two holidays that we had post Terry’s admission into Ashgate, were to be the last of his life. But, had it not been for his week in Ashgate Hospicecare, they wouldn’t have been possible, so for this, we will be forever grateful. The Hospice turned Terry’s life around.”

“Memories are not only in your mind but are also on photographs and I have lots of memories of Terry on our last holiday in the Lake District, mostly with our little grandson, Max. I look back on these photographs and sometimes I’m in tears and other times I just look back and think, “Gosh, thank you Ashgate Hospicecare for letting this happen. Thank you for extending Terry’s life and thank you for giving us the holidays of a lifetime.”

In November 2015, Terry was readmitted to Ashgate Hospicecare and on the 15th of November, he sadly passed away.

Emma said:-

“Ashgate Hospicecare gave us all the facilities we required to be able to not leave Terry’s bedside in his final few days. None of us returned home for around 4 days, we had food, beds and showers. It was such a relief to know we had everything there that we could possibly need. This enabled Terry’s close family to be at his bedside during his final days which was one of his final wishes.”

“I cannot fault anybody at this hospice. It is clean, it’s tidy, it’s well supervised and the nurses were fantastic with Terry.

“I’d like to say thank you to everybody at Ashgate Hospicecare for what they did for us whilst we were here and the support and care they have given me since. Thank you everybody.”

Since Terry died, Emma, along with family and close friends, have been heavily involved in fundraising for Ashgate Hospicecare.

“I’ve personally done a few sponsored walks, but one of the best I went on was the Sparkle Night Walk. It was amazing and the atmosphere from start to finish was so much fun with lots of laughter whilst raising money for a great cause.”

A partnership has been agreed between Chesterfield Junior Blues FC and the Chesterfield FC Community Trust.

The agreement will further strengthen the existing relationship between the two organisations.

Oliver Couch, Chairman of Chesterfield Junior Blues, said:-

“It’s very important that we as a grassroots club have a connection with our local professional club.

“We use the facilities at the Proact for our presentation nights and committee meetings and we want to keep on developing our club. We want to set up a soccer school at the stadium for youngsters aged from five to seven years old.”

Chesterfield Junior Blues have 23 football teams and ten futsal teams, from Under-7s to Under-16s. They have teams playing in the Sheffield & District Junior Sunday Football  League, Rowsley League and Chad League.

John Croot, Chief Executive of Chesterfield FC Community Trust, said:-

“It’s the first of what we hope will be many partnerships with grassroots clubs.

“In many ways we’re formalising what we’ve done for many years with Chesterfield Junior Blues, who have always been an innovative club with a good ethos. It’s an exciting project and I’m sure there will be some great outcomes.”