Practising their formations at Alvaston park were the Chesterfield Musketeers Show Band, who have been invited to play at Disneyland Paris in the Christmas shows at the end of November. The group are also celebrating their 60th playing anniversary and are hoping to raise around £5,500 to be able to fly the marching band to France. To donate, visit www.musketeers-showband.co.uk.
Picture: Alex Cantrill-Jones DEAC20140430C-061_C
A TEENAGE girl struck a 16-year-old boy three times, breaking his jaw after luring him to a park.
Charlotte Marsden, 18, was seeking revenge for a grievance she had with the boy when she attacked him in a skate park in Hilton, Derby Crown Court heard.
The boy, who needed surgery with two metal plates and screws fitted to his jaw, has had to give up hockey, which he played competitively, because of the injury.
He told police: "I couldn't properly defend myself as she's a girl and I've been brought up not to hit girls."
Recorder Ciaran Rankin said: "You lured this young man to the scene, you were drunk, you set out to hurt him and you hurt him in a rather considerable way – it's had a severe impact."
But Mr Rankin said he was going to defer Marsden's sentencing for another six months to give her a chance to prove herself and maybe avoid being locked up.
Prosecutor Sarah Slater told the court that, on the evening of the attack, December 31, the victim had received text messages from friends telling him to meet them at Tesco, in Hilton.
But when he arrived, no-one was there. He was then told to meet them at the skate park. When he arrived, Marsden pushed him to the chest saying that he had messed up her life.
Miss Slater told the court the victim said she had then hit him three times to the face before running off.
He called his mum and was taken to hospital where an X-ray showed his jaw had been fractured.
"He had surgery and two plates and screws were inserted into his jaw. He had stitches as a result of that," said Miss Slater. "He had to have a soft diet for two months."
The victim had a swollen, misshapen face after the incident and is now unable to compete in contact sports.
"This has caused him a great deal of concern as he played hockey competitively," said Miss Slater.
Marsden, of Soar Close, Hilton, was arrested on January 12. In court, she admitted wounding as well as criminal damage, which related to her throwing a beer bottle through the window of a house, on November 15.
Rashad Mohammed, for Marsden, said: "She is trying to change her ways."
Speaking about her home life, he said: "The very people one would expect to help and assist the defendant have turned their back on her."
Mr Rankin said: "The purpose of the deferment is to see whether that aspect of the pre-sentence report, that she has started to engage in victim awareness work, can be built on. Everything else in this report shows she has no concern whatsoever about the victims of her crimes."
Members of Loscoe WI have been sharing the love with patients at the Royal Derby Hospital Breast Unit. The women have made more than 80 heart-shaped cushions for patients in the unit. They started making the cushions in January and are now fund-raising for the chemotherapy unit. Pictured with the cushions, back row, from left, are Kath Jenkins, Jackie Hallford, Kath Berry and Chris Miller, along with Vivien Gregg, Olga Fowler and Ann Willis (third row) Dal Samra (second row) and Amanda Lilley and Jean Bonsall at the front.
Picture: Alex Cantrill-Jones DEAC20140416B-001_C
A GOOD Samaritan has been awarded £200 compensation after being hit with a brick while trying to stop a couple squabbling in a Derby street.
Anton Ngoma came across the incident in Clarence Road on Christmas Eve.
He heard a woman screaming and saw "a domestic altercation" in the middle of the road, said Fiona Brooks, prosecuting at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court.
After intervening, he went into a shop, only to find he had been followed by Sam Brady, 28, of Portland Street, Derby.
Mrs Brooks told the court: "He noticed customers run from the back of the shop and could not understand what was happening. He turned as the male swung a brick towards his head. He was a good Samaritan and was a victim of this assault."
Mr Ngoma was hit on the left side of the face. He was left with a swollen lip and a cut to the inside of his mouth.
Brady ran from the shop after putting the brick on the floor. As he left, Mr Ngoma was also attacked by Brady's girlfriend. She was cautioned by the police, said Mrs Brooks.
Brady was given a 16-wekk jail term, suspended for two years, after admitting assault by beating.
He must obey a four-month curfew and pay £85 prosecution costs and an £80 surcharge on top of the compensation.
Presiding magistrate Philip Houckham told him: "This was a particularly nasty attack with a brick, which may have caused serious damage. It was lucky it didn't.
"You deserve to go to prison. However, we have heard you have a young family and help with accommodation."
Brady replied: "I'm trying to turn my life around. I have got a family now."
Simon Stevens, in mitigation, said Mr Ngoma was mistaken about the original incident. Brady had gone to help his partner, who had been drinking and fell over in the street.
"This resulted in an altercation. The injured party got the better of the defendant.
"Mr Brady should have left it at that but, obviously enraged, he went into the shop and threw the brick at this person.
"He accepts it was impulsive and stupid and he should not have done it. He knows he should have walked away from the situation."
Brady had been drinking at the time. Mr Stevens added: "He has not touched a drop of alcohol since this incident took place."
Taz the cat is enjoying this fancy cat house, or 'glamper', created by Paul Lynegar, who builds and sells wooden furniture, for cats and humans, to raise funds for the Woodland Nook cat rescue centre in Swanwick. Paul, 56, helped to build the rescue centre 24 years ago and has recently started to sell his handmade creations. As well as this glamper he makes cat beds, as tried out by Harley, top, Solo, above, and bird tables and garden chairs. The centre is holding a fund-raising day on July 20 from 10am to 4pm, where the wooden items will be on sale along with a barbecue, raffle and bric-a-brac sale.
A NEW book by Derby author Anton Rippon delves into how British people coped with the stresses and strains of living through the Second World War.
Anton, best known for his football writing, has now penned How Britain Kept Calm And Carried On.
The collection of stories from across the country recounts the memories of real people living through an extraordinary time.
Anton said: "I first made a call-out for stories about the war in 1978 through the national press and had letters from all over the country.
"At the time, I was very busy with work and the task of dealing with all these handwritten letters was just too great. So I put them all up in the attic, I even moved house with them once, before I mentioned to my agent about them.
"She thought that the 'keep calm and carry on' posters would be a good peg to hang it on."
So Anton's daughter, Nicola, took the letters and typed them up and edited the hundreds of stories. He said: "Thinking about it, it isn't really my book. All I did was bring it all together!"
Surprisingly for Anton, when the letters arrived, a great deal of them were not from soldiers but people back home in Blighty.
Anton said: "A lot of the people who sent me stories were from the Home Front – women who were here or men in the Home Guard or who were stationed in the UK.
"Some of stories are fantastic and I think it is the first book of its kind to have been produced."
It is also a book that would be impossible to write today.
Anton said: "I was lucky that I asked for the memories when I did because most of the people who sent them in are now dead.
"There are no veterans from the First World War and it won't be too long before there are none left from the Second World War.
"I know it is a cliche but people always say they wished they had asked their grandparents more when they were alive.
"It is important that we remember what happened during that time."
The book is a departure from Anton's usual subject of sport, football in particular.
However, the social history is something that has always interested him.
He said: "My next book is about sporting scams from the Victorian period up to present-day match fixing.
"But the social aspect of history is something that has appealed to me.
"I even wrote about it in my book, Gasmasks For Goalposts, which was about football during the war."
THE daughter of a former Derby head teacher is preparing to run, cycle and swim 300km in memory of her father.
Paul Gardner, former head of Cavendish Close Junior School, died on Christmas Day last year after suffering from multiple systems atrophy cerebellum, a long-term degenerative neurological condition.
Now his daughter, Anna, is undertaking three challenges to raise money for the MSA Trust.
The first is a non-stop 100km walk from London to Brighton on May 24. This will be followed two weeks later on June 7 by London NightRider, a 100km cycle ride in London overnight. The final event will be a 100km swim on July 12.
Anna said: "My dad was a strong and extremely capable man all his life and for him to go through the degenerative disease MSA was very sad to see.
"He was a great father. He was always very kind and fair and gave a lot of thought to his actions. He was very important to me and my family and totally irreplaceable.
"I think a lot of people that knew him in Derby remember him as a very respectable man who was always ready to help people out."
Mr Gardner, 66, was head at the Chaddesden school for 15 years from 1988 to 2003 and he and his wife lived in Kirk Ireton for 10 years with their four children.
His funeral was held in Kirk Ireton village church and was attended by hundreds of mourners, where tributes were paid to Mr Gardner as a husband, father, teacher and rock climber.
He was described as a "brilliant, friendly and charismatic" man.
Mr Gardner was also formerly head at Hallam Fields School, Ilkeston, and deputy head at Cherry Tree Hill Junior School, before becoming a professional development adviser in 2003 with Derby City Council.
Anna said: "Dad was most well known for being a fair and kind man. He was always there for us, spending time with us when we needed him.
"I know he would approve of my attempting these challenges and my desire to raise money into the disease because it is very hard to detect and cure."
Anna, who lives in London, will be undertaking the swimming leg of the challenge with a group of friends "because I think it might be just a bit too far for me on my own".
When Mr Gardner's death was announced, it started an avalanche of tributes on several social media networks as people recalled the time when they attended the school.
As a result, it was decided that, because plans are in hand to rebuild Cavendish Close Junior School over the next couple of years, a room should be named after Mr Gardner in the new building.
Another former teacher at the school for 36 years, Rodney Kulewka, who died on the same day as Mr Gardner, will also be remembered with a room.
Anyone wishing to make a contribution to Anna's fund-raising events should go to www.justgiving.com/AnnaPGardner
A TEENAGER who ended up in hospital due to the severity of his asthma has now taken up speed skating – because of a breath test which "transformed his life".
Jack Bates was diagnosed with a rare form of the condition when he was eight years old and, after years of unexplained chest infections and coughs, ended up in A&E.
The 13-year-old was referred to a specialist at the Derbyshire Children's Hospital, who tried a machine which checks the breath and gives a reading on how inflamed the airways are.
The FeNO tests were able to help doctors determine how often Jack, of Mayfield Road, Ashbourne, needs his inhaler.
As a result, he has been able to take up sports and now joins his brother, Harry, for sessions with Ashbourne's speed-skating club.
The tests have just been recommended for use within the NHS by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence – but Derbyshire Children's Hospital said it had already been carrying them out for a number of years.
Jack's mum, Julie, 39, said: "He is a typical teenager and he thinks that, if he is feeling okay, he doesn't have to use his inhaler.
"Now he is 13, he is responsible for taking it – but we were finding he wasn't.
"When we went to see Dr Will Carroll at the hospital, he said he had this wonderful new machine which would shows whether he was taking his medicine.
"He got me to breathe into it to show a normal reading and, when Jack breathed into it, his reading was very high. Jack was shocked – we all were.
"I think he didn't really understand why he had to keep taking his inhalers – but this showed him."
Julie said, because of his asthma, Jack thought he was no good at sport. She said: "He struggled to keep up but it was really his lungs that couldn't cope with sport.
"Now they can and he is gaining in confidence. He goes to speed skating with Harry and is enjoying it."
Jack was first diagnosed with asthma after Julie took him to the A&E department with a "nasty cough which just wouldn't budge".
She said his oxygen levels had became very low and it later turned out he had pneumonia.
Julie – who said she, husband Anthony, 51, and son Harry, nine, did not have asthma – said: "Jack had a history of chest infections as a small child and was always given antibiotics but we never thought it could be asthma.
"When he had a cold, it would go on to his chest and he would have a nasty cough. But he was never wheezy.
"My sister and my husband's sister both have asthma but not this type. It was also heightened in summer with his hay fever."
The breath test suggested by Dr Carroll measures FeNO, or fractional exhaled nitric oxide. Patients with asthma have higher levels of this than other people.
Julie said she agreed with Dr Carroll she would give Jack the incentive of a trip to the shops – if he focused on taking his medication every day and bringing the reading down at the next appointment in three months. She said: "Jack had a target to work to and he did it."
Jack's medication has now been tailored for him so he has two puffs on two inhalers each morning and night, before returning to Dr Carroll every six months.
Dr Carroll, who has been carrying out the breath tests for about a year, said: "We have had to rely on charitable donations previously and I hope the NICE announcement will ensure funding is freed up for this important equipment. The patients find it useful and children enjoy doing it.
"We can also use it to open up discussions about adherence to treatment – particularly for parents with teenagers who find it difficult to be certain about what is going on with treatments at home."
ASHLEY Johnson, 27, of Fisher Street, Allenton, was fined £35, with £20 victim surcharge, and told to pay £35 costs, for driving without a valid MoT certificate on September 26.
OLIVER Manning, 44, of St Nicholas Mews, Derby, was fined £230, with £23 victim surcharge, and told to pay £35 costs, for driving without wearing a seatbelt on September 27.
MICHAEL Donald Meehan, 34, of Osmaston Park Road, Derby, was fined £350, with £35 victim surcharge, and told to pay £35 costs, for driving without insurance on October 9. His licence was endorsed with six penalty points.
JOSEF Miker, 27, of Sutherland Road, Derby, was fined £110, with £20 victim surcharge, and told to pay 335 costs, for driving without insurance on October 10. His licence was endorsed with six penalty points.
PETER Smale, 57, of Ashby Road, Kegworth, was fined £45, with £20 victim surcharge, and told to pay £35 costs, for speeding on September 4. His licence was endorsed with three penalty points.
STUART Bassett, 35, of North Street, Langley Mill, was fined £110, with £20 victim surcharge, and told to pay £35 costs, for driving without insurance on November 29. His licence was endorsed with six penalty points.
STEVEN William Briers, 42, of Shakespeare Street, Sinfin, was fined £110, with £20 victim surcharge, and told to pay £35 costs, for riding a scooter without insurance on November 30. His licence was endorsed with eight penalty points.
DIGGER manufacturer JCB has been given permission to build a factory which will create 390 new jobs.
The Rocester-based firm intends to build its CAB Systems factory at Beamhurst, near Uttoxeter, after receiving permission for the project from East Staffordshire Borough Council.
Once complete, it will employ 390 people. The firm has now launched a tendering process to find a contractor to build the factory.
