>Derby College Visit

Span of time, picked up on Roundhouse SiRecently Living Derby members were privileged to be invited to visit the new Derby College site near Derby's railway station. Despite being such an enormous undertaking, it is obvious that all those working on the site have a real understanding and appreciation of the historic significance of the buildings they are working on.

All of the old buildings are being carefully restored in a scheme of work that is quite overwhelming in its scale. A new building is also being built to house the construction, creative industries and beauty courses that the college will run. The Roundhouse building itself will be a massive public space for food, exhibition and meetings. Click here to visit Derby College's site where you can view the progress of the build and find out more about the plans.

Click here to see more images from our visit.

>Final week of exhibition

Chris, a member of the museum staff This week is the final week of our exhibition at Derby Museum which has been on display since the beginning of May. If you can't get to the museum in time - you can have look at some of the work on display by browsing the projects section of this site. The exhibition includes a showreel of films created by Derby people, as well as information about Living Derby and example of some of the projects being created. If you do manage to pop in to the Museum and Art Gallery, make sure you take a look at 'Skimming the Surface', an exhibition by Vickers Arts Award artist Natalie Dowse, brilliant work.

At the writing and publishing end of the spectrum are Time Travel Opportunists who have been holding launch events for their handmade books in the Big Blue Cafe on Sadlergate. Members of Living Derby went to both the 'Coffee' and 'Time' events (Jo Bell even performed!), where an array of Derby's creative writing talent showed off their poetry and short story writing skills. You can buy a copy of 'Time ' or find out about future events through their website.

>Dale Primary Centenary Book

Living Derby is working with Dale Community Primary School in Normanton to help them produce a book that celebrates it's one hundredth anniversary. By pulling out interesting stories from the school's archives, interviewing past pupils and gathering up photographs, we aim to produce a book that truly celebrates the changing life of the school. So far we've discovered that Mr. Goodhind was regularly late for school due to car trouble in the 1930's, there were frequent air raids meaning children had some lessons in Anderson shelters during WWII, and the school had a famed vegetable patch were trading in carrots and potaoes took place through the bars of the school fence!

The book will be launched in november and will mark the exact moment the school was opened 100 years ago. 

If you attended or taught at Dale Primary School and have some memories you would like to share, please get in touch by emailing us here at Living Derby - info@livingderby.com.

We'd love to hear from you!

>A Celebration to Celebrate

On the 22nd of May, Derby Museum and Art Gallery played host to Living Derby's Celebration event. Designed to highlight the work done so far as well as ambitions for the future, the celebration was a way to inform people from Derby about the depth of impact Living Derby projects can and will have, throughout the city's changing landcapes.

Speakers included Juliet Cooper from Derby Hospitals, Charlotte Convey from QUAD, and Jonathan Wallis from Derby Museum and Art Gallery. If you would like to see some of the projects discussed - visit the exhibition at Derby Museum and Art Gallery, on until the 11th of July.

Living Derby would like to say a huge thank you to all who attended, and to the speakers who spoke with such generosity  and enthusiasm. Also a special thanks goes to the staff of Derby Museum and Art Gallery who helped put on the event.

In the pink tights is Living Derby board member Jo Bell - our fabulous host for the evening. 

>Living Derby Exhibition

From the 3rd of May until 11th of July, Living Derby have an exhibition at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery to celebrate and showcase the work we have been involved with so far. 

Feel free to visit the exhibition and view examples of the projects we have been working on. There are a selection of films that have been created by Derby organisations, as well as portraits and publications.

For more information about Living Derby visit our "About Living Derby" page, or contact us with any questions...

Update on Friday, May 16, 2008 at 10:45AM by Living Derby Admin

The exhibition went up successfully and includes a showreel of films created by and for the people of Derby city. Some of contributions include the fantastic work by Film City whose work throughout Derby and the East Midlands has an immediate and lasting impact on the people who take part or view the films.

Also shown is the People and Portraits project with staff from Derby Museum and Art Gallery, as well as examples of publications produced so far.