Brilliant Belper Initiatives
Welcome to our Brilliant Belper Initiatives Blog!
Belper has long had a reputation for its beauty spots and attractions, including being the only town in England to be twice winners of Best High Street in the Great British High Street awards! With a combination of friendly locals, vibrant economy, beautiful scenery and plenty of culture, more and more people are choosing to settle here.
What people don’t always see however are some of the amazing initiatives that are going on, right on our doorstep; most of which have sprung up from the grass roots of our super creative and committed community. There are so many brilliant initiatives happening in Belper.. Here we list just a few of them!
Transition Belper
Transition Belper aims to make Belper a more sustainable place for us all to live, work and play, and at the same time reduce our impact on the planet and our individual and community carbon footprint.
Founded in 2009, Transition Belper is made up of people from all ages and backgrounds. It is not a political group, or a campaigning group but instead, brings people together who have a shared desire for action for the benefit of our local community and our planet.
Local participation is at the heart of Transition Belper, and their events programme includes some the amazingly successful two day festival, Belper Goes Green, plus the monthly Belper Repair Cafe, which members of the public to can have their household items mended by a team of skilled volunteers, plus community circles, Apple days, Green exchanges and much more!
Belper Goes Green
Transition Belper is supporting the wider growth of community participation in Belper too; last year they initiated an exciting programme of ‘Community Conversation’ events, which formed the springboard for a series of new groups formed around such issues as waste in the town (Zero Waste Belper - see below) and the Belper East Mill (Our Belper Mills - also featured below).
Visit the Transition Belper website to find out more about exciting https://www.transitionbelper.org
Find out about the wider Transition movement.
Zero Waste Belper
Zero Waste Belper are a super dynamic voluntary group that sprang out of the Transition Belper “Community Conversation” last year. Lead members, Mary Dwyer, Amina Burslam and Zoe Hughes started out with a shared frustration at the amount of waste being generated in day to day life, such things as plastic and other packaging.
Following initial consultations and a well attended information event for local businesses, Zero Waste Belper are now working in partnership with staff from Derby College to create a user-friendly audit process which will allow businesses and other organisations such as schools to take a good look at areas for improvement in their waste management, including packaging and plastic, with numerous local businesses already interested.
The group are also developing the 'Sustainable Business Award Scheme' which will acknowledge local businesses who are making progress reducing their impact on the environment, including a professionally and sustainably printed awards flyer, which can be displayed in the shop front or business premises. The awards will hopefully be presented at the Belper Goes Green festival in 2023.
But it doesn’t just end there! The group have even managed to inspire Derbyshire County Councillors to aspire that Belper could be the first Zero Waste town in Derbyshire and provide a shining inspiration for other towns and the wider business world.
For more information contact Mary Dwyer marydwyer6055@gmail.com.
Derbyshire Toy Libraries
Picking up on the sustainability agenda, a real contributor to this issue is Derbyshire Toy Libraries; with a local group in Belper, the fantastic charity aims to support children’s development through the extension of play opportunities through providing a large range of high quality toys to ‘borrow’, as well as providing spaces for parents and carers to meet and offering parental support in play.
This brilliant contribution to reducing plastic just gets better and better, with a recently introduced option to hire reusable party tableware to save money, resources and our oceans!
The toy library also aims to act as a hub within the local community and provide opportunities for volunteering and learning new skills.
To find out more visit: https://www.derbyshiretoylibraries.org/.
Our Belper Mills
The Belper East Mill, the later addition of a complex of cotton mills that sprang up with the industrial revolution, is one of Belper’s most distinctive landmarks and forms a key element of Belper’s status as part of the Derwent Valley World Heritage Site. Now sadly fallen into disrepair, the mill site is the subject of long-drawn out discussions regarding development and planning.
Formed out of the Transition Belper Community Conversation last year, Our Belper Mills is a community group that seeks to gather local opinion about the future of the mills by holding events and stalls; they also urge interested locals to join the group in order to demonstrate local concern about the important historical buildings.
The group are concerned that proposals for the mill repair and refurbishment have been pending for more than three years, and that further delays could threaten Belper’s status as a world heritage site.
Blue Box Belper is a registered charity that supports residents of the Parks Estate in Belper to improve their community and lives. They provide an exciting programme of activities including detached youth workers from the Blend (funded by Belper Town Council) with hopes to develop mentoring and opportunities for one to one support for local young people, plus Cuppa Cake Chat, a fortnightly social get-together aimed at supporting isolated residents to connect and regular craft and chairobics group sessions.
Founded in 2012, Blue Box’ initial aims were to build the capacity for activities for children and young people on the Parks Estate, hosted from the original ‘Blue Box’ building. However, when the space was demolished following a fire in 2014, the group was spurred on to consult further with the community and became a registered charity in 2018 with the aim of creating new community facilities to replace the demolished one.
Now the brilliantly proactive charity has gained planning permission for a brand new multifunctional community facility to be built on the site of the original space, for use by all of the Parks Estate. Look out for fundraising events and initiatives, including the lovely Blue Box annual calendar and stalls at Belper events. Blue Box are also very interested to hear from people who might like to volunteer in a wide range of rewarding roles including project support, fundraising and more.
https://www.blueboxbelper.co.uk/
Belper High Street Group
As we're all aware, the high street is becoming an increasingly tough environment for small businesses, with pressure from bigger retailers and the internet, not to mention the cost of living crisis, and Belper is no exception. But in true Belper style, local retailers have been stepping up to the challenge and working together to set up a fully constituted group to drive forward the success of our multiple award winning High Street.
Building on the fantastic achievements of the 'Love Belper' group over the last four years, the Belper High Street group are hoping that new businesses will breathe new life and fresh ideas into our High Street. Local representative Rebekah of Cheeky Bambini children’s clothing is excited about the potential, “We are hoping to create some exciting events and initiatives to increase footfall and ensure a fantastic retail experience for visitors and residents of Belper.” Rebekah hopes that local businesses will work collaboratively and support each other, with community at the heart of its values. The group is made up of small independent businesses in Belper town centre, and is supported by Belper Town Council.
And this month, under the banner of 'Love Belper', local businesses are inviting everyone to come to Belper for some super spooky fun as the ever popular Pumpkin trail is back! This year's offering is even bigger and better, with 'Autumn Leaves and Shopping Sprees' and a Spirit Trail event added to make a weekend full of fantastic activities to suit everyone. The weekend runs 28th - 29th October. For more information keep an eye on the Love Belper Facebook page.
The Fleet Hub
The Fleet Community Hub (FLUB) was formed around the Old School building on The Fleet, which had up until recently housed the long standing dynamic local arts charity Fleet Arts. The group, made of local residents, have now successfully been granted a licence for one year from the building owners, Derbyshire County Council, to explore how the building might be used for community events and opportunities.
With discussions taking place around funding, arts activities and the Fleet building space, the group is initially developing a business plan to make FLUB a sustainable site that benefits the local communities. There are already lots of exciting creative ideas being generated and new members are invited to get involved!
Visit https://m.facebook.com/fleethubbelper/
The Strutt Community Project
Belper is full of historical interest and buildings, including the mills of course, but also Babington Hospital (formerly Belper Workhouse!) and not least, the historic George Herbert Strutt School building which you can see on the left, opposite Babington Hospital on the A6.
Opening in 1909, the original Strutt School was gifted to the town by George Herbert Strutt and remained as an educational establishment, changing from Higher Elementary, Grammar, Middle and Primary school until 2008. As plans were drawn up for Herbert Strutt Primary School to move to alternative premises, a small group of people, passionate about maintaining the heritage and legacy of the building and its importance to the community, formed a group and worked with the council to achieve an agreed change of ownership in 2009, ensuring that the site would become a social enterprise known as the Strutts Community Project.
Strutts is now run entirely by volunteers and is a much loved and vibrant asset to the local area, offering space to host regular group activities, clubs, and events, together with the opportunity to hire rooms for one-off meetings, or as a local base for business use and including optional catering and bar facilities plus free Wifi and parking. Covering 3.5 acres, the site has plenty of outdoor spaces including a ‘Rain garden’ a living demonstration of the practical, ecological and sustainable possibilities for our gardens through the use of sustainable drainage approaches.
Strutts welcomes enquiries for booking or to become involved as a volunteer.
Pride in Belper
Since the first ever Pride march in the US in June 1970, Pride parades have sprung up in towns and cities across the world as a wonderful celebration of LGBT+ communities and diverse sexual and gender identities, and Belper is a true part of that!
Made up of an awesome team of local people, Pride in Belper is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to create a space in Belper for people to express who they truly are, standing by every person who identifies as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender with the recognition that sexuality and gender identity are part of everyone's life.
The amazing Pride parade is now a huge and colourful event in Belper, the centre of which the amazing procession, followed by stalls and family activities, live music, project links with local schools, and even a dog show!
With estimated attendance at this year of over 10,000 people, plus sponsors from a range of local businesses including Reunion, Belper is clearly proud to be standing with members of the LGBT+ community!
Number 28
On the Belper Market Place stands the wonderful ‘Number 28’ building always cheerfully swathed in bunting and lights. Originally Belper’s Salvation Army meeting space, Number 28 is a very well used multi-purpose community venue providing a 60-capacity space for hire for a variety of different activities.
It's included in this blog because it is central to so many activities and events in the Belper Calendar, not least the Transition Belper Repair Cafe and Green Exchanges, but also pop up arts markets, creative workshops and choir meetings, pop-up cafés/restaurants eg Moroccan, Ghanaian, Mexican, Vegan, Language Café, Death Café, Philosophy Café, a monthly pay-what-you-can Welcome meal, and even comedy nights. And on Farmers Market and Food Festival days, the centre opens it’s doors as the No28 Café, with artists & makers stalls and much acclaimed cakes!
It’s well worth a visit to this bustling heartbeat of Belper or considering organising your own event there!
twentyeightbelper@btinternet.com
Reunion Belper
Whilst not strictly an ‘initiative’, we couldn’t let a blog go by without mentioning ourselves! We opened across two sites in May 2022, with Reunion Deli on Strutt Street offering delicious food, networking events, private event hire, catering and plenty of foodie gifts and our sister site, Reunion @ Hub Space, which offers high spec, affordable & flexible coworking in a beautiful heritage building.
If you haven’t visited us yet, please stop by! You can find out what’s going on by liking us on Facebook, Instagram or joining our newsletter (subscribers get exclusive offers each month).
Do you think we’re missing something? Send us an email and let us know what we should add!
