Special Olympics Derbyshire is hosting a ‘come and try’ event at Queen’s Park Sports Centre in Chesterfield for people with learning disabilities.

The event on Sunday July 31 welcomes participants, along with their families, friends and carers, to have a go at basketball, boccia, golf and football – all for free.

Information will be on hand so that people can find out where and when they can play a range of different sports in their local area, as well as opportunities further afield in Derbyshire.

The Special Olympics movement is worldwide and provides people with learning disabilities the opportunity to train on a regular basis and compete at a county, regional, national and even international level.

Special Olympics athlete, Matthew Dalley, from Alvaston, is encouraging others to take part in the event:-

“I would like to see more people giving it a go. It is a great opportunity to see what Special Olympics is all about and we are excited to see you there.

“I have represented Special Olympics East Midlands Equestrian for two of the Special Olympics Great Britain National Games; I won two golds and a silver Medal in 2013, which is one of my greatest achievements.”

Jacob Meaton, Special Olympics Derbyshire Basketball coach, is also looking forward to the event. He said:-

“It is the perfect opportunity for anyone to come and try a number of sports and find out about opportunities to play, officiate, coach, volunteer, or support Special Olympic Sport.”

During the summer of 2017, Special Olympics Great Britain are holding the National Games in nearby Sheffield, at which athletes from across the country, including Derbyshire, will compete in the largest multi-sports event for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

People in the Chesterfield area are being urged to give their unwanted household electricals a new lease of life for a chance to win £50.

Everyone who brings an appliance to Derbyshire County Council’s Bright Sparks re-use and recycling event will get the chance to enter into a prize draw to win shopping vouchers. The event run in partnership with Chesterfield Borough Council will take place on Sunday 24 July at Morrisons, Staveley. For more about the event click here.

Councillor Dean Collins, Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Infrastructure, said:-

“We ran one of these events in Hasland last year and it was very successful. More than 200 items of electrical equipment were brought to the event for re-use or recycling.

“Dealing with waste which residents put in their non-recycling bin costs us £20 million per year at a time when we’re getting less money from central Government to run council services. So it’s increasingly important that we recycle as much as we possibly can and all the electricals we collect at our Bright Sparks event will be put to good use.”

Councillor Chris Ludlow, Chesterfield Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said:-

“We are always keen to work in partnership with the county council to support events like this because they help to get out the message about the importance of recycling.

“Recycling makes sense from an environmental point of view but for tax payers there is also a financial incentive for doing it because it helps keep council tax rates lower if less money is wasted on paying landfill tax charges to dispose of waste that could be recycled instead.”

Chesterfield borough residents can also now recycle small electrical items such as irons, mobile phones and hairdryers by placing them on top of the lid of their blue bin on collection day. Personal data from items such as phones, laptops and sat navs should be removed first.

High-performing athletes ambitious to match the achievements of Olympians Adam Peaty, Liam Pitchford, Mollie Renshaw and Paralympian Lewis White are invited to apply for Derbyshire’s ICON bursary programme, now open for 2016-17 applications.

Chesterfield ABC boxer Jade Ashmore, who won a silver medal at the British Championships in June and is now ranked second in Britain in the 51kg category, was on the ICON programme in 2015-16.

The 18-year-old, from Heath, North East Derbyshire, said:-

“The support that I have received from ICON this past year has helped me cover travel costs to and from squad and attending competitions all around Europe also kit expenses so I could get the training done.

“Not only did ICON help me financially, they also gave me access to a local leisure centre where I can carry on progressing and getting that step closer to achieving my goals of competing at the Olympics and being known as a world-class boxer.”

There were 127 athletes awarded bursaries totalling £23,150 on the 2015-16 ICON programme, run by Derbyshire Sport.

That was made possible by the contributions of all 10 Derbyshire local authorities, including Chesterfield Borough Council, North East Derbyshire District Council and Bolsover District Council, plus a number of business members from across the county.

Go to www.derbyshiresport.co.uk/icon-applications to find out more about the funding.

A £13 million funding package to help the long term-unemployed, young workers, those looking to progress in their career and to boost the economy is now available, via the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership. D2N2 is the private sector-led partnership which promotes economic growth and jobs creation across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

The substantial funding is available through four programmes; which project organisers can bid for to tackle a range of issues relating to business growth by providing training and skills, helping the long term unemployed to find work, and aiding young people termed NEETs (not in education, employment or training).

The programmes that are being funded include:

• EMPLOY Local that will focus on help those unemployed for a long period of time; by helping them access additional support and gain basic work skills, to assist them in competing for jobs.

• CAREERS Local which looks at helping young people aged 15 to 25 – particularly those termed as NEETs, or who are at risk of becoming NEET – to participate in the jobs market and in further learning. This is done providing them with information, and giving advice and guidance to increase the number of young people in employment, education and training.

• The Youth Engagement Initiative that is about increasing employed people’s skills levels to help them progression their careers, and increase the number of people with technical and job specific skills. It will also address the basic skills needs of employed people – particularly in small and medium sized (SME) enterprises and micro-businesses – to help people go on to higher and advanced level apprenticeships, to support business growth.

• SKILLS Local which will look to support business growth across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire by providing training and skills which will benefit the existing workforce.

David Ralph, Chief Executive of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, said:-

“The aspiration is to support D2N2’s employment and growth needs, and have in place an easily accessible system, from which employers and individuals can all benefit.”

Organisations have to be on the national Skills Funding Agency’s ‘Register of Training Organisations’ to apply. They can view further details about these funding opportunities and complete a funding application online, on the SFA e-Tendering portal at https://skillsfundingagency.bravosolution.co.uk

Free information sessions for organisations interested in bidding and delivering programmes’ projects, will be held next week, click here for more information.