Chesterfield Borough Council is looking forward to welcoming customers back to its leisure centres when they reopen on Saturday 25 July.

Queen’s Park Sports Centre and Staveley Healthy Living Centre have been prepared ahead of Saturday’s reopening in line with the guidelines issued by Government and the leisure industry to ensure customer and staff safety.

Councillor Jill Mannion-Brunt, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said: “It is fantastic news that the council’s leisure centres will be back open for business from this weekend.”

“I know lots of customers will be very keen to get back to their fitness regimes. Exercise in its many different forms is great for people’s physical health and mental wellbeing.”

“We have had to make a lot of changes to how we provide the services on offer, and so I would encourage customers to read the guidance on our website before visiting the centres.”

Customers will need to book sessions in advance in order to visit the leisure centres and sessions will be time limited. This will allow for cleaning to take place between customers’ visits. Customers’ contact details will also be retained as part of NHS test and trace requirements.

Customers who are not already a member of the leisure centres will need to become registered users in order to visit. This can be done free of charge by contacting either of the leisure centres by email or phone.

Queen’s Park Sports Centre and Staveley Healthy Living Centre have both been deep cleaned, equipment in both gyms has been moved to make it easier for customers to practise social distancing and signage has been installed throughout the centres to remind customers of expected behaviours.

There will be limited access to changing rooms and lockers for customers wishing to swim; customers should arrive ‘beach-ready’ by wearing their swimming costumes under their clothes. After swimming customers are asked to towel themselves dry, put on their clothes and shower at home.

New cleaning stations have been installed in our gyms and customers will be asked to clean equipment before and after use. Changing rooms, lockers and water fountains will not be in use. Customers should bring pre-filled water bottles for their personal use when visiting the centres.

The council has taken advice from leisure governing bodies including Swim England and UK Active in order to ensure its reopening plans are safe and in line with industry best practice.

Customers will notice that screens have been installed in reception areas and one-way systems introduced to support customers to maintain social distancing when visiting the centres.

Fitness classes will be running on a changed timetable and with reduced class sizes. For further details on classes and how to book your place please visit our website: www.chesterfield.gov.uk/sport-and-leisure

Membership payments will recommence from the start of September. Should customers wish to continue to suspend their memberships they should contact the leisure centre where they are registered. For customers who pay their leisure centre memberships on an annual basis, the weeks during which the leisure centres were closed will be added on to their memberships at the end of the 12-month period.

Plans to restart swimming, gymnastics and trampolining lessons for children are currently being made and the council expects to announce more details in the next few weeks.

Leisure centre staff will be on site from Monday 20 July to answer queries customers may have and to enable non-members to become registered users. Please feel free to contact the Queen’s Park Sports Centre team on 01246 345555 between 8am and 5pm or email qpscenquiries@chesterfield.gov.uk and the Staveley Healthy Living Centre team on 01246 345666 between 9am and 5pm or email hlcenquiries@chesterfield.gov.uk.

A comprehensive guide to frequently asked questions about the council’s leisure centre reopening plans has been added to our website. You can access these here: www.chesterfield.gov.uk/leisurecentrereopening

Chatsworth House, one of Britain’s best loved visitor attractions, will reopen to the public on Monday 27 July for the first time this year.

While the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire have continued to live at their Derbyshire home, the planned public opening of the house, garden and farmyard in March was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Having put in place stringent safety measures including significantly reducing the number of tickets available each day, requiring all visitors to book tickets in advance for a specific arrival time, a one way visitor route and a raft of new cleaning procedures, Chatsworth will soon welcome back visitors to the house, which will be open from 10.30am to 5.00pm daily.

Over the past month, Chatsworth has been undertaking a carefully considered phased reopening of the estate, including the garden, shops and restaurants. The farmyard and adventure playground remains closed, with plans currently being developed to enable its safe reopening at a later date.

Visitors will once again be able to enjoy the splendour of the Painted Hall with its spectacular ceiling by Louis Laguerre; the Great Dining Room for entertaining the great and the good; the Chapel that has witnessed the christenings and marriages of the Devonshire dynasty over the centuries; the magnificent Sculpture Gallery, once the grandest private sculpture gallery in Europe; the State Rooms and much more.

Sally Ambrose, Head of Visitor Experience: “We’re delighted to open the doors again, the house really comes alive when visitors are there to enjoy all of its treasures.

“Our number one priority remains the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff, so we’ve implemented a number of new safety measures, including limiting the number of visitors each day, with bookings only available in advance, to ensure our visitors and staff can practise safe social distancing.”

Chatsworth’s garden reopened in late June with a display of more than 50,000 new flowering perennials, shrubs and trees as well as a huge, new stone sculpture called Natural Course by the artist Laura Ellen Bacon. Open for pre-booked visits from 10.30am to 6pm every day, the garden is currently undergoing its biggest transformation for nearly 200 years with previously underdeveloped areas opening up across its 105 acres.

The house opening is the latest part of the phased reopening plan that Chatsworth has put in place. It follows the garden, car parks, restaurants, shops and the installation of temporary toilet facilities, to enable visitors to access the estate’s surrounding parkland. As an essential food outlet, the estate farm shop in nearby Pilsley has remained open to the public during the pandemic and has also been delivering food supplies to vulnerable households in the local area.

Chatsworth House supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 180 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

Images credit: Chatsworth House Trust 

Chesterfield Borough Council is delighted to be able to welcome local children back to Princess Street play area, bringing a world of imagination play zone to Brimington.

The play area, which cost more than £50,000 to install, was officially re-opened on Wednesday 15 July by local Councillors Tricia Gilby, Terry Gilby and Stuart Brittain, alongside children from Henry Bradley Infant School, Brimington, who were on hand to try out the new play equipment.

Councillor Tricia Gilby, Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council, said: “Investing in the borough’s play areas is so important. They provide a place for families to socialise and for children and young people to play together and get closer to nature.”

“We have worked closely with our funding partners to help deliver this fantastic new play area at Princess Street. I hope that local residents will create lots of great memories in this space for many years to come.”

Work on the site began in May 2020 and the play area has seen a complete transformation with new equipment and new surfaces installed. The new Princess Street Play Area has been purposely designed, with input from pupils at Henry Bradley Infant School, to provide a selection of equipment for all ages including a small play tower for young children, multiple swing sets, balance bars, roundabouts and much more, which will open a world of imagination to local children.

The funding for the new play equipment was provided by a Viridor Credits grant of £47,000 and a £7,500 grant from the Derbyshire County Council Community Programme Initiative. Installation was organised by Chesterfield Borough Council.

Following the Government’s direction that play areas and outdoor gyms could re-open, the council has been working hard to safely re-open all of its facilities. A number of measures have been introduced to ensure that everyone can have a safe and enjoyable time when visiting, whilst still maintaining social distancing.

More information on the measures in place can be found at www.chesterfield.gov.uk/coronavirus

Chesterfield FC Community Trust’s plans for summer delivery in 2020 have been outlined, with a return of the popular Spireites Sports Club and Girls Camp at St Mary’s Catholic High School.

Sessions will be socially distanced and follow all government guidelines. The Trust’s Saturday Morning Club has returned and enabled staff to deliver to smaller groups and trial temperature checks, hand sanitiser provision, the cleaning of equipment and enforce a one-way system around the venue.

The Trust’s head of sport and activities, Keith Jackson, said: “The safety of our participants is the number one priority, along with adhering to all government advice. Thereafter, we’ve been planning socially distanced delivery that will enable competitions and fun activities – the things that are the main ingredients of the Sports Club and always will be.”

The Trust has linked up with Dancedaze as part of their Spireites Schools Partnership and the leading street dance choreographers will be delivering ‘TikTok Tuesdays’ as part of the week-long clubs.

“We continue to look for new ways of creating engaging and exciting ways of making happy memories – TikTok is a hugely popular app and I’m sure learning the moves to the dances will be entertaining for everyone,” said Keith.

Additional safety measures put in place include extra staff for temperature checks, new equipment including footballs and cones, hand sanitiser breaks, equipment cleaning breaks and having smaller groups when delivering, all aimed at making the sessions as safe as possible.

The Sports Hall will be measured out for participants to have their own 2m space to keep their bags and personal equipment safe and all delivery will take place on the field.

New risk assessments have been produced along with the aforementioned changes, ensuring all safety guidelines are met.

Keith added: “Our coaches love to be on the grass as much as possible ordinarily, so whilst this decision is taken with safety in mind, it’s our preferred choice to deliver outdoors.”

Find out more about the Chesterfield FC Community Trust summer events below:

• Spireites Saturday Morning Soccer School – Find out more and book here
• Spireites Sports Club – Find out more and book here
• Spireites Girls Club – Find out more and book here

Chesterfield FC Community Trust use the power of Chesterfield FC and sport to inspire the community of Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

This picture was taken prior to the coronvirus outbreak