Fans of the BBC show The Great British Sewing Bee, and anyone who would like to get creative, will be excited to hear that recent contestant and Derbyshire resident Alex Murphy (right) is leading a major strand of Derbyshire Makes – a three-year programme of activities inspired by the county’s making and manufacturing heritage.

We have secured £780,000 in Arts Council England funding for the programme which aims to shine a spotlight on the county’s extraordinary making heritage and creative and cultural industries and get more people involved in making in all kinds of forms.

And now Derbyshire Makes has gained the backing of Alex who will be encouraging people to get creative with materials as part of a county-wide mass participation project to be launched in February.

If you're a walker, cyclist or horse rider, you'll be glad to hear our news about the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT).

We've supported Chesterfield Canal Trust to construct a new bridge to enable further restoration of the canal. The bridge also creates a fresh link for the national Trans Pennine Trail (TPT). We'll adopt this link and designate it as a bridleway open to walkers, horse riders and cyclists.

The bridge has been designed and delivered by the trust as part of their £6m restoration project at Hartington. It is built on county council land and will carry the Trans Pennine Trail above the valley floor, so enabling restoration of the derelict part of the canal beneath. The bridge is critical to the restoration as otherwise the new canal would sever the TPT at this point.

The project creates more opportunities for enjoying our canals and countryside through collaboration.

Images courtesy of Chesterfield Canal Trust.

Our Derbyshire Dementia Support Service – which is provided by the Alzheimer’s Society – is hosting online information sessions to help carers access support and advice.

Sessions include:

• Find out about assistive technology – 2 December
• Christmas celebration for carers and their loved ones – 19 December.

The sessions are on Zoom and run from 5.30pm to 7pm. You can just listen in or ask as many questions as you’d like.

To attend, or for more information, please email derbyshire@alzheimers.org.uk or call 01332 208 845.

We’re encouraging Derbyshire businesses and organisations to sign up to become a Safe Place.

A Safe Place is somewhere people can go if they need help, are lost or feel scared when out in the community.

All Derbyshire-based businesses and organisations can become Safe Places including shops, leisure centres, cafés / restaurants and visitor attractions. Watch our Safe Places video.

A Safe Place can help people with things like calling family members or the emergency services and offering a safe area for people to wait until help arrives.

You’ll get a Safe Places sticker to display and your venue will be listed on the Safe Places app.

Hilton Village Hall, Green Bank Leisure Centre & Not Just Coffee have all recently signed up – could your venue be next?

Join our free weight management programme now and you could be enjoying a whole range of health benefits before Christmas arrives.

We offer free, 12 week support to help you successfully lose weight, and keep it off, for good.

Are you a bird keeper?

Our trading standards team is urging people who keep poultry and other birds to remain vigilant and take action to protect them from catching avian flu, following a further increase in risk levels in the country.