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Social mobility in Derbyshire is one of the lowest in the country and I see my year as High Sheriff as a fantastic opportunity to help children and young people in Derbyshire to set aspirational goals for themselves and support them to be the very best they can be.
Michael Copestake, High Sheriff of Derbyshire
The High Sheriff's Charity this year is Foundation Derbyshire (the community foundation for our city and county), which will hold donated monies for the benefit of charities and not for profit organisations involved in promoting opportunities and aspiration in Derby and Derbyshire's more deprived areas.
Derby and much of the County suffers from low social mobility and low aspiration amongst its children. This, of course, is at odds with the fantastic jobs available in Derbyshire; most recently the announcement by Rolls-Royce that they intend to recruit 200 apprentices for the company's nuclear reactor programme at Infinity Park.
In the House of Commons Constituency Social Mobility Index in 2018, Derby South ranked 532 out of 533 districts. Chesterfield ranked 439, Erewash 463 and Amber Valley 440. In comparison, Derbyshire Dales ranked 84.
Derby is an Opportunity Area and receives special support from the Government to promote and improve social mobility and opportunities for all. Using this funding, much has been done over the last few years to improve the situation and the University has been a keen driver of this.
As a former Chair of Enterprise 4 Education, the High Sheriff has been heavily involved in promoting aspiration and careers in secondary schools and in primary schools throughout the County in his year as High Sheriff. However, much still needs to be done and monies raised during Mike's year in office will be used to support groups and charities making a much needed difference in our city and county's more deprived areas.
Jeremy Copestake, Dominic Hughes and myself were seen off by Alan Grimadell (Chair of Derbyshire Childrens Holiday Centre) and Lucy Stephens (Penguin PR) from outside the Crown Court in Derby at 9am on Saturday October 2nd. We were not the most awe inspiring trio of cyclists. Jeremy referred to us as sausages in lycra!
The first surprise was how fantastic the ride out of Derby towards Borrowash is alongside the River Derwent. Having done the ride into Derby from the North a few weeks beforehand for Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust, I can honestly say that riding into and out of Derby through Darley Park, alongside the Derwent and then out to Borrowash alongside the Derwent with Alvaston Park on the other side is an immensely attractive ride. The next surprise was the huge beautifully laid out and well used public park at Long Eaton. Skirting Nottingham via Boots, we headed out into the Vale of Belvoir, stopping for lunch at Orston. Heading out towards Lincoln we travelled down delightful towpaths and country lanes. Initially Lincoln was signposted as 17 miles away. The next signpost (a couple of miles later) said 19 miles, the one after that 17 and then the miles slowly started to decrease! No wonder we did 65 miles! The ride into Lincoln was through a delightful wooded towpath alongside a canal. The only significant hill was the one up to our B&B at the top near to the Cathedral that was quite a climb!
End of the ride. The promenade at Skegness
After a quick tour of the Cathedral, a good meal at the White Hart nearby and a reasonable nights sleep we set off for Skegness. The towpath alongside the River Witham was spectacular for its wildlife. Apparently the Romans diverted the river to make it dead straight for about 15 miles. What engineers!. Breakfast was at Woodhall Spa (aka Weybridge in Lincolnshire). Lots of really nice delis and a really good bacon sandwich where we stopped. On the way to East Kirby (where a Lancaster Bomber and a Dakota have been restored) we came across a husband and wife team who we struggled to keep up with, only to discover that they were in their 80s and we were just beginning to congratulate ourselves on how well we were doing! Next stop was the Lincolnshire Wolds and the only really big hill which we gasped our way up. Just as we came down from the Wolds and saw a signpost which said Skegness 11 miles, the distances to Skegness started to increase again as we wound our way through the fens! A vison of sandwiches, tea or even a beer were starting to melt way before the distances started to decrease again. The last 5 miles to the Clocktower on the promenade at Skegness were the only time we hit a main road.
A trip to Skegness would not have been the same without a swim for Jeremy. He had been told that the North Sea would be warm after our lovely summer. He doubted it and was proved right. We then made our way to the Derbyshire Childrens Holiday Centre on Scarborough Avenue where the Centre Manager, Ali Byerley fed our hunger with some very welcome sandwiches and tea. Throughout our ride we were accompanied by Chris Frost with a back up vehicle. He comes from a largely female household and told us that he came along because he needed some male company! I hope that he enjoyed the banter.
Brother Jeremy having proved that the North Sea is cold whatever summer we have had
Thank you so much for your extraordinarily kind donations. Together with the collection from the Legal Service on October 9th we now have just over £10,000 before Gift Aid for Derbyshire Childrens Holiday Centre and not for profit organisations working with the Countys youngsters on careers and aspiration. One recent piece of good news on this score is that I hear that 80% of the 200 young people recruited by Rolls-Royce for their nuclear reactor programme will come from within the County".
Michael Copestake, High Sheriff of Derbyshire
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