Chair's Blog: Finishing off a fantastic Summer and cycling into Autumn!
The past six weeks has been busy to say the least, with 14 events to attend and a Charity bike ride to fit in! We wouldn’t have had it any other way though, we’ve had a great time.
The first weekend in August was a whistlestop tour of Swadlincote, taking in all that was on offer. We began with the Quirky Market in the town centre on Saturday 1 August. If you’ve never been to the Quirky Market, you should definitely give it a try! There are stalls offering antiques, food, vintage, artisan, handmade, home decor and all things quirky! It takes place on the first Saturday of every month on the High Street or The Delph. If you’re a local creator yourself, you can also rent a stall and share your fantastic work with the local community – find out more here: Swadlincote Quirky Market - Vintage, Food, Arts & Crafts - Visit South Derbyshire
From the Market, we made our way over to the Fire Station Open Day, which was a great opportunity to meet with our fantastic local Fire Crews. Children and adults alike love it when the Fire Station opens its doors, it’s a chance to go a bit behind the scenes of what these local heroes do. Thanks so much to the team for having us!
We finished that Saturday off with a visit to the fourth annual Swad Live event in the town centre, which featured some fantastic local talent, from DJ sets and live bands to performances from the local dance centres.
Thanks to everyone that puts together this event, it’s going from strength to strength every year.
This weekend continued to keep me on my toes, as I headed to see the 500th Junior Park Run on Maurice Lea Memorial Park. What an event! I was honoured to present the organisers with a certificate of achievement for SDDC. As well as the 500 runs, the team of fantastic volunteers were also celebrating the 12th Anniversary of the event. It’s fantastic to see how this has inspired young people. Every Sunday morning, Maurice Lea Memorial Park comes alive with laughter, encouragement and achievement as children and families come together.
Over the years, thousands of young people have crossed the finish line, building confidence, making friendships and developing healthy habits that can last a lifetime.
None of this would be possible without the incredible dedication of the volunteer team. As I said in my speech on the day, here's to many more years of smiles, success and community spirit.
I returned to Maurice Lea that afternoon for our much-anticipated Musicals in the Park event, which welcomed over 1,300 people to enjoy the sunshine and the music! What a line-up we had, and we thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon’s entertainment.
The bandstand didn’t get much of a rest, as the following Sunday we were back at Maurice Lea for the Proms in the Park event. Another great event bringing the community together under sunny skies.
As Autumn starts to show itself, it’s hard to remember just how hot it was on 12 August this year, but it really was! This was the same day as Wacky Wednesday, which was moved to the morning due to the heat. We were also celebrating another Music in the Park event, with lots of people gathered in the shaded spots around the bandstand as we were entertained by some brilliant bands and solo artists. That day, we also brought together a number of our Council tenants, for the Tenant Gardening Competition Winner Awards ceremony. What better place to celebrate fantastic gardeners, but one of our beautiful Green Flag parks?
We were all treated to an afternoon tea on our deck chairs and Lenore and I had a fantastic time taking a look over pictures of the winning gardens, as well as meeting the people responsible for them. It’s a real perk of the job of Chair that I get to hand out awards to people and be a small part of their celebrations, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing this again from the bandstand during a musical break.
We closed August up at Rosliston Forestry Centre with their Family Fun Day, where I got to take a bit part in some of the activities, including a little go at the archery! Great fun and you could see lots of families making the most of it.
A huge thank you!
You will have seen on social media at the start of September that I took on my biggest challenge of the year – my Chair’s Charity Bike Ride (click here for lots more pictures of the event!), in aid of my chosen charity, Miles for Smiles.
Firstly, can I say a huge Thank You to everyone that has supported me from the start to finish of this project. This was a 56-mile bike ride, taking in every ward across the District of South Derbyshire. I was supported along the way by my support crew in my daughter’s partner, Steve, Cllr Ben Stuart – our fellow cyclist - and Cllr Kalila Storey, who drove the support vehicle and was behind us all the way, and the other councillors and staff who joined us on the route.
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Miles for Smiles provides valuable support to local children and families and I’m so pleased to have been able to raise nearly £2,500 (incl Gift Aid) so far. There’s still time to donate, so please do support this wonderful charity if you’re able to: JustGiving Page
Particular thanks goes out to Ade, Dawn and the team at the Black Horse in Coton in the Elms who alongside their customers raised £200 for the Chair’s Charity. What a real community spirit!
If you’re interested in seeing how I got on, and finding out just why this is so important to me, you can click here to watch the YouTube video.
And I didn't stop there...
The fun didn’t stop there in September! We had the weekend of the Swad Heritage Fest (held on Saturday 12 September), where I attended the Sir Nigel Gresley talk, which was excellent, and proof that he’s not just a name on the pub in the centre of Swadlincote!
On the Sunday of that weekend, the Melbourne Sporting Partnership, invited us to the 10th anniversary of opening of their site.
We were back to Melbourne the following week on Saturday 19 August as we headed off to the Melbourne festival. We went to find out more about the hand bell ringing in the Parish Church, and I was delighted to see the Swadlincote and Melbourne quilts on display while we were there.
That Sunday, we travelled to Glossop for the Mayor of High Peak’s Civic Service. Cllr Barbara Hastings-Asatourian hosted a lovely occasion, and I was honoured to be part of it.
In my next blog I look forward to sharing with you the news of my Civic Service, which took place on Sunday 28 September, as well as all the events I’m currently getting ready for this October. Have a fantastic few weeks, I’m sure I will!
29 September 2026