Alfreton Town - Derbyshire, UK.

The A is for Alfreton Game!

2011-07-05T11:08:00.003+01:00

A is for Alfreton!

Yes, sure it is - I'm not thinking of assholes, if that's what you're thinking! ? Were you?

A is for Alfreton

Have a bit of fun and play the A is for Alfreton Game...

Round 1
Write down five words that come to mind when you think of ...

Paris in France
Sydney, Australia
Barcelona, Spain
New York, USA
Rome, Italy

Have a good look through your answers. What have you got?

You might have written romantic for Paris, Culture or Arts for Sydney, Architecture or Contemporary for Barcelona or for Rome you may have the Vatican or the Pope. How many of you wrote down shopping for New York or New Years Eve, I wonder.

There are many great things to associate with these great places, but places aren't places on their own merits. People were required to make them what they are today.

Round 2
Write down five words that come to mind when you think of ...

Alfreton
Somercotes
Blackwell
Swanwick
South Normanton

Now, that'll be an interesting list I'm sure (please add yours to the comments for this post). All depending on who you are, where you were born, your employment status, what your frame of mind is, your attitudes to life and people, etc etc. will determine what you write. So what you think is going to be unique. But how unique?

If you look through your answers - did Swanwick get the best review? - In that, I mean the most positive words? Spend a good ten minutes working out why Swanwick came out with positive words (if that was the case). Interesting, isn't it! :-)

I can guarantee, that if we'd done this collectively and put all the answers into one large hat, the majority of what is written will have some kind of negative connotation!

Put it to the test - For real - Ask people you know. Then if you're out shopping in say Chesterfield, Mansfield or Derby pretend that you don't know Alfreton and ask a stranger what Alfreton is like and see what reply you get.

If A is for Alfreton, what should A stand for?

That's an interesting one too! Write down your answer. What answer have you got? (add your answer to the comments section at the end of the blog).

Lets say we forget having just one A for Alfreton and instead we give Alfreton a triple AAA rating. now we have three AAA's. We can skip the hard work like building tourist venues, theatres, education centres, social groups and gatherings - lets just pretend we're on an equal par with the great cities we mentioned earlier.

What are you going to have for your three A's? (again, add your answer to the comments section at the end of the blog).

These are mine.... I spent some time thinking what I want Alfreton to be remembered for if it had a AAA rating to be remembered by.

AAA - Alfreton

A - Attractions - I want Alfreton to have tourist venues that people flock to see. This A is my outcome.

A - Assertive / Asserted - I want to see local people empowered to take hold of the destiny of their own town and change it's direction. This A is my motivator.

A - Amazing / Awesome - I want people to visit Alfreton and come away amazed at it's transformation. This A is my response.

I wish to see local people empowered, so that they can achieve great things that others will be amazed by.

Is this your wish too?

Hearts and Homespun - Derbyshire Food & Drink Festival 2011

2011-05-22T13:29:00.012+01:00

Derbyshire Food And Drink Fair 2011

Food lovers from all around the county and across the UK attended the 2011, 10th Annual Derbyshire Food and Drink Fair at Hardwick Hall yesterday. (continues Sunday too).

The impressive Hardwick Hall venue

Derbyshire County Council organises the event for Derbyshire businesses (and others) to promote their tasty food and craft wares.

This year’s event at Hardwick Hall, nr Bolsover boasts over 100 stands and features cookery demos by celebrity TV chefs too.

Plenty of space for parking and access for exhibitors too

Alongside, the food stalls is also a range of children's and family entertainment and a craft marquee too.

Mouth watering cakes and desserts

One of the great things about this annual event is to be able to walk around and taste the free food samples offered by the tradespeople - some businesses offering product to buy off the shelves or order online.

There are so many things to do and see, it becomes quite difficult to know where to begin.

Food Heaven at Hardwick Hall 2011

Some of the great food items include cakes, pies, cupcakes, pork pies, selections of different flavoured coffees, jams, marmalade's, chutneys, smoked sausages, venison burgers, traditionally made sausages, cheesecakes, fudge - and the list goes on and on!

And that's not even mentioning the drinks - liqueurs, champagnes, flavoured and spring waters, sparkling wines, liqueurs - if you're a foody - its a must and sublime entertainment all day long!

Hearts and Homespun - An Alfreton Business

Local Alfreton businesses also attended the fair. I spoke to Elaine from Hearts and Homespun about her craft business.

Elaine has been trading for about 4 years now and regularly attends the Derbyshire Food and Drink Festival.

Elaine has a fascinating array of homespun products - What struck me is the level of professional finishing and the attractiveness of her products.

Picking up a bar of natural handmade soap - it smelt so good I thought it could be edible. It had cinnamon in it and was made from a base of Olive Oil!

Like a lot of people who take up home based hobbies and crafts, it just starts from a seed of love for what you are doing and germinates into a flowering business and Elaine's story is quite the same.

After a period of family turmoil, she ventured abroad for a respite and on her return got into making candles and the business really grew from there. One of the obstacles to overcome in these types of businesses - especially homemade food is to address the red tape surrounding the selling of products as set by certain EU directives - online trading, storage, labelling, sterilisation etc.

But as you can see, Elaine's products are all professionally packaged and look very attractive too - meeting all the guidelines so that she can sell her products online.

We spoke about the effects of the recession. Elaine's business has continued to grow throughout this period as more and more people come to choose alternative products rather than mass produced items and they like to order direct from her website too.

The wholesale side of the business has grown tremendously during this period too as more distributors in the craft market sector aim to distribute the unique products demanded by today's consumers.

Huntsman Pies

I wrapped up my discussion with Elaine to go and seek out other local businesses too, stopping off at Owen Taylors of Leabrooks and nearly having a toothpick fight just to sample the wonderful delight that is called a "Huntsman Pie"!

Like a pork pie, except it doen't have a pastry lid and instead has a layer of chicken topped with a layer of stuffing - delightful!

That sort of wrapped up my rather indulgent day and can now look back with happy memories at the visual feast of photo's of the Derbyshire Food and Drink Festival Images 2011 - Until next year! :-)

A Gingerbread Hardwick Hall by http://www.heavenlies-online.co.uk

Putting it out there - one for the 2%er's

2011-05-17T09:44:00.000+01:00

What a coincidence
It's been years since I saw Andy and today I came across him accidentally on twitter (@spypup) and in a moments flash was reminded of the powerful messages I had read in his book - The Art of Brilliance.

You see, Andy has previously made positive contributions to Alfreton. Andy helped Alfreton Librarians get a Children's Book Club started a number of years ago. What I've omitted here is that Andy is a notable Derbyshire children's author but also the founder of "Art of Brilliance Ltd" - Andy is, in my words, " A Happiness Guru". But where he is different to the majority of people (2% ers) out there who are talking about "positivity" - he focuses in on "your happiness" and provides you with a real sense of empowerment and energy to go out there and make changes to your life - at work, at home and at play.

Anyway, I digress, I'm not writing this blog to give Andy a send up - just a thank you for providing me with a little reminder of my own personal empowerment. No, the reason I'm writing, is because I shelved an idea I had quite a number of weeks ago. I just thought of it again now but it had nagged me for ages but after talking to a friend a while back I realised (the look on her face was that of confusion) that perhaps it's just me and hence I never followed it through. You know sometimes you just think naaah, forget it, it's a silly idea anyway, who would understand it or want to do something with it.

Thanks to the reminders of positivity Andy shared with me years ago - in the modern tradition of positivity evangelists - "I'm going to put it out there"! So, this is me doing just that - if it stands, so be it, if not and it falls as least I can think I've had a go and as an idea and a concept it may travel with someone reading this. I hope so!

The Idea
I can't get this idea out of my head... and it's been bugging me for weeks. You may think I've lost my marbles... but think beyond the words and think about how it could change Alfreton.... "ALFRETON TOURIST BOARD". (think beyond the words).

To me, its the concept behind the idea that's important and not just the concept, but the void that it fills!

Alfreton doesn't have a tourist board and at one point in time someone made that decision with good reason and since that day - nothing really has changed. Alfreton is still fundamentally the same or is it?

We've had a few economic changes and changes to buildings - Industrial Estates expansion, Designer Outlet Retail Park, new Leisure Centre, new Police Station, New Job Centre, New Tesco's, KFC, McDonalds, Genesis Centre and soon a new Library too (Yay!).

I think Alfreton needs a Tourist Board (either real or virtual) - a person or a group of like minded people who think of and address the tourism needs of the town directly. It would be great to create new tourist attractions to get people coming into our town. The potential is there and so too is the opportunity.

Alfreton Park would be a great starting point.

Change and Boundaries - And boundary's to change

2011-05-10T14:23:00.003+01:00

Can the townsfolk of Alfreton adapt and change to embrace the transformation taking place at Alfreton Hall?

A glimpse of Alfreton Hall through the trees

Since time immemorial, when man created "something", the first thing he did/does is to erect a boundary.

The beauty of the Peak District is testament to this simple concept of man made boundaries - in it's case - dry stone walling to devide land ownership. Worldwide we see land, sea and air space divided and protected using similar methods.

Additionally, just as we get used to something, change takes place and in most cases "we" resist that change - and it will always be like this too! (Remarkably - that's something which probably won't change!).

My trip to Alfreton Park today revealed how change is beginning to re-shape Alfreton Hall

To begin to change a historic building from being a public entity to a private commercial one is, understandably, a sensitive task to achieve. On the one hand is the public interest, historical sentiment and local opinion and on the other you have the needs of generating business revenue and sculpting a complimentary service offering.

The visible changes
To begin with, on a physical level, what was in the past, the open access lawn area at the front of the house - the immediate lawn area in front of the house will no longer be available as a public right of way (not that it was before, but it was regarded as one).

In times past, you could stroll off Alfreton Park, up to the front of the house, walk along the pavement, round the side of the house and exit via the car park to Church Street. That's not the case anymore.

The new view of Alfreton Hall

At the end of the first lawn section, a two foot ditch has been dug and on top of the height adjusted grassy bank, a row of evergreens has been planted parallel to the front of the house - effectively creating what will be an approx 7 foot high physical and visible boundary to the lawn area and to the house. The evergreens are planned to form a hedge so that a degree of privacy can be offered to wedding parties and the photography of.

Facing the front of the hall, the far left hand side of this grassed banked area will be transformed into a small public garden and a sloping walk way is planned down onto the greens of Alfreton Park

Historically, (in living memory) the house has been almost akin to being "public property" and certainly local people have become attached to the idea you can get up close and personal with what is a remarkable historic building. But gone are the days when Alfreton Hall was publicly owned and this is the change that local people will need to first grasp when viewing the changes that are taking place.

Alfreton Hall is now privately owned as a social enterprise business and the principle income is as a Wedding Venue. This core service helps shape the decision making of how they transform this historic local landmark - and from a business perspective it has to be - this is how they earn their profit and how they best service their clientele's needs.

The newly dug ditch and evergreen planting

In conversation today with members of the social enterprise group, they have previously and currently demonstrate a desire to involve the public with their plans to evolve Alfreton Hall and have worked closely with the local council to progress their ambitions.

Tens of thousands have been invested into restoring some of the former glory of the hall.

What Alfreton Townsfolk have to address is, is that the restoration is not solely for public benefit but for commercial gain (even in the context of being a social enterprise) - not really an issue to be debated, but townsfolk will have to get used to the fact that they can only really appreciate the restoration if they become customers of the hall and getting up close and personal is no longer something to be enjoyed by the public strolling off of Alfreton Park on to Alfreton Hall property.

Alfreton Park

2011-03-06T13:05:00.002Z

I've been working for a while now on a variety of projects to help promote Alfreton Town in all it's different aspects.

My latest project is to help promote Alfreton Park to local people and to those further afield as well - as a great place to go for a day out.

Alfreton Park is inexpensive to visit, ideal for children's recreation and is a superb destination for families too. However, many people don't even visit or simply don't know about the park!

I've spent a few days getting some basic materials together, old photo's from other projects and some web copy and recently set about adding a website to attract visitors to the Alfreton area.

If you have some ideas about how this could be expanded or improved, please add your comments to the Alfreton Online Website or visit us on Facebook and leave us your feedback.

Thanks

Google Alfreton

2009-05-17T19:35:00.014+01:00

Google Alfreton!

Coming back from the Bolsover Food Festival today the three of us (Martin, Sharon and I) began talking about the possibilities of branding.

As Martin accelerated his girlfriend's newly acquired sexy red Audi TT up the slip road, the rubber stuck to the road surface like treacle (sic) and a whosh of the engine kicking in raised our voices a fraction as the car brisked it's way through motorway traffic and our stomach's caught up with the pace of the car!

The Bolsover Food Festival is a wonderful occassion - A celebration of creativity and innovation in the world of food and drink - take for instance Kiwi and Ginger Jam!

Experimentation and boldness, stupidity and daring even - to go and do things that are different and new was in abundance. For the first time ever - I downed a Bison burger with melted blue cheese and enjoyed every moment of it (it was like a softly formed beef burger - just in case you haven't had the privilege of eating Bison) I also tried sushi wrapped in seaweed - not as good as the Bison burger - but a new boundary of discovery broken by myself.

The Matlock Sausage
As we travelled along I was imagining how Emily's Family Butchers shop - Robin Maycock's Master Butchers of Holloway, Matlock could innovate it's traditional range of quality produce amidst the deepening of this recession. With a mind full of distinct food brands (and a fuller tummy), I came up with the idea of the Matlock Sausage! Inspired by Aberdeen Smokies, Leicester Red, Stilton Cheese and other well known foods that have been location branded - wouldn't it be a wonderful thing for Emily's traditional butchers shop to give birth (or rise) to the Matlock sausage.

The best sausages this side of the Peak District
The conversation started from a serious point and the three of us began to speculate and bounce ideas off one another until we laughed and groaned. A notional starting point was the fact the Robin Maycock's sausages are some of the best sausages this side of the Peak District (if not THE BEST) - marvellous creations that burst with flavour as you bite into them - you'll never get sausages like them in a supermarket.

We thought of a PR opportunity to have rows and rows of Bar-B-Q's lining the streets of Matlock Bath on a sunny summers day morning - A typical Sunday morning when the streets are full of hungry bikers who have ridden the dangerous curves of the A6 to parade the streets of motorbike heaven and notoriety. Serving up hundreds of The Matlock Sausage would be a great way to spread the word of the brand - what better way to make a brand travel than to offer it in a food tasting and let it travel the distance of the country in some happy bikers stomach! Imagine the potential of the brand!

Having got to the sound of laughter diminishing at the point we were chatting about the "The Heights of Sausage (Abraham) my mind turned to Alfreton!

Google Alfreton - Maybe these words are the focus of a campaign for Alfreton Town. A bit like a new phrase created on Alfreton Town's Fans Page on Facebook by Liam - A New Alfreton!

Maybe "Google Alfreton" is the focus of how we want Alfreton to be? In the present or in the future? A New Alfreton certainly sums up the desire for Alfreton to change and to become "something"! Where is our innovation? Where is our creativity? Where is the Alfreton Sausage or the Somercotes Burger? What will Alfreton become famous for?

Behind the thinking of "Google Alfreton" is, if you currently google "Alfreton" what do you see?

What would you like to see?
What websites should be top of the list?
What articles should the world find when they Google "Alfreton"?
Should it be something fantastic?

To contribute to the discussion follow Alfreton Townsfolk on Facebook

An Alfreton picture is a thousand words - Alfreton Picture Library

2009-02-16T15:56:00.011Z

Alfreton's NEW Picture Library

Around the internet the whole process of search is changing. More and more people have diverse interests and they search for information online in a variety of new ways, using new software and new techniques.

The importance of image
Pictures, graphics and images are instantaneous in the way they provide us with information and for many people they meet the need instantly.

During my journey of promoting Alfreton on the internet I have grown to recognise how many people not only seek information in the traditional written form, but are also looking for images, sounds and video too.

The demand for photographs, images, illustrations and drawings is huge and significantly Google offers image search capability in its search engine.

Alfreton Pictures
I recently got involved in mapping out Alfreton landmarks as part of the Alfreton Wiki project and to me, it wasn't enough to have a wiki with just text in it, so I spent some time walking around Alfreton Derbyshire and took some photographic shots of my own depicting Alfreton landmarks, Alfreton houses, Alfreton businesses, views etc.

Here's a few to note - Alfreton Hall, Alfreton Leisure Centre, Alfreton Park, Alfreton Golf Club, Alfreton War Memorial, Alfreton Railway Station.

These Alfreton Photographs have become so popular it's made me realise how important images are to people seeking information.

The NEW Alfreton Picture Library

Who likes images?
Take for instance if you are a fan of Alfreton FC, you would want to view pictures of your local team scoring a goal or perhaps a team photo so that you remember who was in the squad at that point in time?

Another example is that you might once of lived in Alfreton and you left to live abroad and now you can't afford to get back there but you'd like to have an idea of whats going on. So viewing some up to date picture of Alfreton High Street might be of interest to you. You may have worked in a shop when you lived here - what does that shop look like today?

People are born in Alfreton, some live there all their lives and even come to lay to rest there as well. As people journey through their lives they encounter events and relationships of all different kinds and they wish to celebrate and share that information with others! Can you remember the first time your boyfriend or girlfriend met your family? - Did the family album come out? Were you deeply embarrassed at the pictures your family dared to show your loved one?

The Alfreton Picture Library project allows you to share those images with others - We have carefully devised catergories such as Alfreton Births, Alfreton Remembered, Alfreton Weddings, Alfreton Nights out even!

You see we all like photographs. We get an instant reminder of something that happend in time. The Alfreton History Project was my first real acknowledgment that people crave images - We have a small section of historical photographs on the Alfreton history website and people love viewing them - naturally we would like more images, photo's, drawings, maps etc to be donated to the project. Historians all over the world search for this information and not just historians, but everyday people looking to trace their family tree - a long lost relative who worked down the mine and married the local bakers daughter. Alfreton History website is full of requests from people all over the world looking for local evidence in pictorial forms!

Maps, drawings, graphics, illustrations, photo's all make up the vast range of visual media that we like to experience.

Alfreton's NEW Picture and Photographic Library is a visual celebration of these images, images that we produce of our lives, our loved ones, our town - in full colour, sepia or black and white. We want people to enjoy the images we have, we want people to sit and ponder and remember those good old days - be it last week's hen night or life as a child living in Westhouses.

A great feature of the Alfreton photo library website is that you can add descriptions and information to your images, other people can vote and comment too - so the whole online processes is both interactive and fun.

Your photographs - professional or amateur will bring pleasure and joy to someone else, so join in this great pictorial celebration of Alfreton Town and add some photo's today.

http://alfretonuk.co.uk - Alfreton's Online Photographical and Image Library

Sculpting Alfreton's Future

2009-02-11T22:59:00.006Z

What would help Alfreton Prosper?

Alfreton - Pound for Pound
Economically, Alfreton would benefit from more income.

Income coming into the town would be a great thing for us to achieve. Alfreton Town has very little to offer the consumer and less so for the tourist! So, what can it offer? What should it offer? And who might steer the course of Alfreton Town to economic success?

Alfreton Town Landmarks
As towns go, its not got a great deal to it's name. Is that's why it has a poor image? Looking around at the local landmarks and the entities that you might identify with Alfreton there's only a few to list -

Alfreton Hall
Alfreton War Memorial
Alfreton Leisure Centre
Alfreton's Party in the Park
Alfreton Tesco's
Alfreton Job Centre
Alfreton Police Station (we're getting desperate now for ideas)
Thorntons Chocolate Factory
McArthur Glen Retail Park
Alfreton Park

Have I missed anything? Is there something locally more iconic or well known that will spread the word of Alfreton to the world? I don't think so.

Looking through the list - kinda sums up the idea that if we remove some of the more obscure entries we've not got a lot left to deal with.

Thinking Alfreton
I'm looking for a gateway, an idea, a creation that this town could use as a foundation, some sort of starting point for development - even if this gateway is a virtual one, it may get local people thinking about "potential", "creativity" and "innovation". This isn't either a negation of all that is good and has already happened to Alfreton by a number of entrepreneurs and forward thinking professionals who are driving through local community based projects.

"get local people thinking about "potential", "creativity" and "innovation"

Alfreton 2020
I'm working on the idea of what might we wish Alfreton to be in say ten years time? What would it look like from Google Earth? Looking down, how will the roads be developed? The housing or the industrial estates? How will the land be consumed by development? How much income will we have per head from retail, from visitors, from tourism? How many activities would there be for the youth of the town, for the elderley? What level of unemployment would there be? Would education be improving? What level of ecomonic growth would support development of culture, the arts, social opporunities, wealth?

What would YOUR Alfreton look like in 2020?

We're no Stratford-Upon-Avon
There's no mistake, we not in league with other major UK towns to attract an eclectic mix of international visitors like you get in the Cotswolds or in Shakespeare's country. Far from it, we've very little to offer to the tourist. We're within easy reach of the wonderful Peak District and we're not too far away from Robin Hood Country - but other towns have already taken up the challenge of meeting the tourists expectations for these attractions. So here we are - no tourists and nothing to offer the tourists!

I was fortunate to be involved with the New Economic Foundation a couple of years ago. A local christian man, representing a global christian group who have a mindset of empowering people to help themselves in community innovation projects. Part of the process was to generate the movement of cash, but to keep the cash locally within the ecomony. Essentially, when a pound was invested, it was re-invested in local products and services, ensuring that the money stayed locally and the principle of that is excellent.

So here we are - no tourists and nothing
to offer the tourists!

The problem with Alfreton is, is that it needs more money to come into it, to be able to circulate. There's no point trying to circulate the nominal amounts that we have - we need more!

Lets open up the debate - if you have an idea about how we drive more money into our local economy, add your ideas and thoughts to this post on the Alfreton Online Forum.

Alfreton

2009-01-23T14:52:00.003Z

Alfreton is not as good as it could be.

That's my opinion and when I speak to other people about the area they tend to agree with me.

Don't think that these are discussions led by me either, sometimes without any impetus or influence on my behalf people talk Alfreton down rather than up!

You see, Alfreton, for whatever reasons doesn't seem to have the same impetus or the same amount of innovation or even the same level of resourcing that we see across other derbyshire towns.

I know that the annual Alfreton Party In The Park event is one activity that the Town is certainly proud of - the culmination of many months hard work to demonstrate the worth and complexity of what takes place in Alfreton Town. There's a lot to be proud of and there's a great deal of change going on within Alfreton and around Alfreton Town - but there's not enough! And thats my point.

Most recently, a major refurbishment of Alfreton Leisure Centre has had a marked impact on Alfreton Derbyshire. You only need to go along on a weekday evening to find that the Leisure Centre car park is completely full. Not only visitors to the leisure centre, but also to the Alfreton's Genesis Centre and the Alfreton Bowls Club too; But mainly, local Alfreton people looking to get fit and meet other people for squash, fitness classes and workouts in the gym. There's still a bone of contention locally about the swimming pool not being available due to delays in the building programme, but that will be resolved and when it is, personally, I think they will have to expand the car park. It's only been open a few months and DC Leisure (the company that operates the centre) has seen membeship figures go through the roof.

Now, you may think I have gone away from the point I made earlier about Alfreton not being as good as it could be. What I'm really trying to do is to demonstrate that when resources are identified and channeled into local Alfreton Projects things can really change how local people interact with these resources, and this alone improves the lives for Alfreton people.

Alfreton's Adult Education Centre (the rear of the Genesis Centre) is also testiment to the fact that new resources and improved facilities impact on Alfreton's Community to raise standards of living and social interaction and make a significant contribution to improving the welfare and wellbeing of Alfreton Townsfolk.

Currently, what appears to be missing is a lack of support to promote Alfreton Arts within the area. Where do people go to dance? Where can you seen a film? Or learn how to cook? Or to draw, paint or sculpt? Whats on in Alfreton? What Alfreton Arts Events can you go to?

We need arts venues, art galleries, a photographers workshop, a cinema, a nightclub, somewhere to watch a play or see a ballet, we need cultural resources in Alfreton Town.

Alfreton Town Resources

2008-12-27T12:59:00.001Z

Many people search the internet looking for resources about people, facts or places far away from where they live.

Alfreton Town Fellowship provide a range of internet based sign posting services for local people and people far away looking for information about Alfreton Town and villages in the surrounding area.

The aim of the fellowship is to promote the town in all it's diversity and spreading the word about Alfreton and the facilities and services it offers.

So no matter what your interest is, the Alfreton Derbyshire website will have something of interest to you.
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