Extraordinary year saw row over carving reach its head, Eat Out to Help Out, closure of bargain store after 12 months... even town clock started to run backwards
JULY
AFTER several months without any customers, publicans in the Ashbourne were among the business owners itching to reopen on Saturday, July 4, as the coronavirus restrictions finally started easing.
Shops had re-opened in June, but pubs, cafes restaurants and hairdressers were among those whose month started with a scramble to become Covidsecure in time for their first day of trading.
Ashbourne Town Team made an impassioned plea to Derbyshire Dales District Council to drop the parking charges that had been reintroduced during the lockdown, to help businesses get back on their feet.
And Derbyshire Dales District Council was due to conduct a review of all its property to establish whether any other items in its ownership might carry controversial connotations - like the Black’s Head that was removed from the Green Man gallows sign in June.
Soldiers arrived at Darley Moor’s temporary coronavirus testing site, to help speed up the process, and volunteer litter-picking team Proud of Ashbourne finally got back into the streets with bags and litter pickers after months of staying at home.
By mid-july hospitals in the area reported they were treating fewer Covid-19 patients than at any time since March - and a quarter of the number of patients were in beds compared with the peak of the pandemic in April. Just over 500 people had died at Derby and Burton’s hospitals, but more than 1,000 patients had been treated and discharged.
A month after the lockdown lifted enough for non-essential shops to reopen, many traders said takings had swiftly recovered to pre-lockdown levels and business was booming.
Hot-air balloons took to the skies over Ashbourne for the first time since March - taking off from Callow Top Holiday Park near Sandybrook.
Ashbourne Town Council discussed a bid to bring the controversial “Black’s Head” wooden carving back to town, after it was whisked away to Derbyshire Records Office for safekeeping and councillors defended themselves amid claims their comments in the national press were inappropriate. Martin Spencer, who was interviewed by The Guardian, said his comments were taken out of context.
As we reach the end of a year that many people, the world over, will be glad to see the back of, GARETH BUTTERFIELD recounts some of the headlines that made up 2020. This week, we conclude our review, with the second half of the year from July to December.
AUGUST
ASHBOURNE’S Library finally reopened in August, as Covid restrictions continued to ease and holidaymakers were returning to the town. But the influx was still leaving an ugly mark on the landscape - with litter piling up at beauty spots around the Peak District.
Ashbourne Town Team and Ashbourne Town Council agreed on a united approach to lobby for an easing of parking charges to help the town recover from the pandemic, and Ashbourne beef farmer Jay Wilde, who gave his entire herd to an animal sanctuary because he could no longer bear to slaughter them, was given a bravery award.
By mid-august Ashbourne’s Leisure Centre was finally allowed to reopen - but the months of closure had cost Freedom Leisure more than £300,000, prompting a reduction in staff.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak introduced the Eat Out to Help Out scheme - which saw most of the town’s restaurants offering a 50% discount on meals up to the value of £10 until the end of the month, and Sudbury Hall announced it would remain closed for the rest of 2020.
A-level and GCSE results were announced in August, and a storm of controversy began over the way the grades were predicted – but Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School emerged from the furore with its head held high, after students posted a strong set of results overall.
Pollution levels on the A515’s Buxton Road had exceeded the level deemed safe by the Government every month through 2019, it emerged, and the levels only subsided at the start of the March lockdown.
Months of speculation over the future of a coal yard in Clifton were brought to an end in August, as a council report revealed it was on the table and rumours circulating around the village had been confirmed. However, it emerged the lease for the land would cost the district council £1 million.
SEPTEMBER
SHROVETIDE organisers said they weren’t ready to give up hope on the 2021 game going ahead, suggesting a decision would be made later in the year - but insisting they would stay optimistic and follow the pandemic’s progress closely.
Hints a mass badger cull could begin in Derbyshire that had been found in a leaked document were confirmed by Robert Largan - MP for the High Peak. There were fears that badgers which had been successfully vaccinated might end up being shot as part of the scheme.
Councillors finally gathered virtually to discuss which site they would prefer to put forward as a potential plot for a family of travellers. Clifton’s coal yard was quickly dismissed because of the cost of its lease, and a piece of land in Knabhall Lane, Tansley, was controversially chosen as the site that bosses would explore further.
Thousands of Derbyshire residents signed up to take part in coronavirus vaccine trials and a Neolithic monument at Arbor Low was vandalised overnight.
The group of volunteers working on plans for a new pavilion in the park for Ashbourne announced work could start as soon as January, after a major funding source was secured.
Plans were passed to build a small network of woodland lodges at Callow Hall Hotel and High Sheriff Tony Walker, from Bradley, took part in the Peak District Pilgrimage - walking 39 miles and raising thousands of pounds.
Shortly after schools had returned, following a summer of relatively relaxed coronavirus restrictions, cases started to increase steadily and Queen Elizabeths Grammar School become one of many in Derbyshire to see pupils being sent home for isolation after cases in some of the year groups.
Ambitious plans to pedestrianise Ashbourne’s Market Place and hand it over to Ashbourne Town Council were laid bare and, as September drew to a close, coronavirus cases were rising sharply across the UK - but Derbyshire Dales appeared to be bucking the trend with comparatively low rates.
OCTOBER
AN independent review spelled out the whole story of what happened on the night, in June, when the Black’s Head carving was taken down from its gallows sign. It said Councillor Stuart Lees, a former firefighter who oversaw the head’s removal, acted “admirably”, given the atmosphere and the storm of controversy.
However, when the report went to the committee for discussion, some councillors said the report was a “whitewash” and did not go into enough detail.
Ashbourne’s MP Sarah Dines joined fellow parliamentarians in calling for an end to the 10pm curfew imposed on pubs, which she said were not contributing to a rise in Covid cases.
Roadworks that caused a week of chaos in Ashbourne back in August would have to be carried out again, Derbyshire County Council announced, after their contractor informed them the wrong materials were used in the original job.
Derbyshire Dales District Council responded to the storm of controversy surrounding the county’s badger cull by banning any shooting on land in its ownership.
Tissington Hall was among a
Students at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School returned impressive GCSE and A-level results once again series of cultural hubs that were given Government cash to help it recover from the pandemic and its lockdowns.
The hall was given £20,000 to make up for lost revenue from weddings and tours.
After much of a year that nobody wanted to repeat, the town’s distinctive Millennium Clock started mysteriously running backwards.
By mid-october the number of Covid cases in the Derbyshire Dales was creeping up again, and the county as a whole was recording rates above the national average.
Meanwhile town councillors started to discuss plans for a socially-distanced Christmas and market organisers Ashcom pledged to get the stalls back to full strength by the spring.
Details emerged of a £70,000 revamp for Ashbourne’s park and memorial gardens, which included a new bandstand and the replacement of a seating shelter.
Ashbourne Town Councillors started to get cold feet on their plans to take over the Market Place - after being sent details of what it might cost and what work might be involved.
By the end of October the Derbyshire Dales coronavirus case rate had continued to buck the national and regional trend, with fewer than 10 cases recorded in the last week of the month, securing its place in Tier 1 in at least the short term.
NOVEMBER
THE month started on a sombre note, as Government announcements brought more and more bad news, with the pandemic once again tightening its grip on the country. A second national lockdown would last the whole of November, the nation was told, and non-essential shops and hospitality businesses were once again forced to close.
By this time the number of coronavirus cases in Derbyshire was now double what it had been at the start of October, with more than 500 new cases per day. In Derbyshire Dales, however, the rise was much slower - increasing by just a handful of new cases per week.
Ashbourne marked a Remembrance Day like no other - with the Memorial Gates wide open for sociallydistanced poppy-wreath laying and everyone wearing masks. Spread out across the Memorial Gardens, the event was dignified and poignant - showing the true spirit of Ashbourne’s resolve and respect.
A year after Waitrose controversially left the town, its replacement Bargain Buys announced it would be closing its Shaw Croft store. Staff were told very little about the closure and their future, and bosses failed to respond to repeated requests for updates from the News Telegraph. Rumours suggested the firm was eyeing up a vacant unit at Waterside Park, but no updates have been given.
A consultation into Ashbourne’s long-awaited A515 bypass finally got underway in November, and it gave townsfolk their first detailed look at three routes which could one day become a relief road, taking traffic out of the town centre.
Calls were being made to seal off a bus shelter in Shaw Croft that was allegedly being used as a “drug hut” by local youths and the town council made a formal bid to bring the black’s head back to Ashbourne ahead of a Derbyshire Dales District Council meeting.
Plans were unveiled to turn the former Bennetts store in St John Street into 11 flats, with space for two large shops beneath.
As November drew to a close, and with a tier r system being mooted for early Decemember, the numumber of cases es in the Derbybyshire Dales es finally y started to fall. Raising hopes that the pandemic was once again under conntrol and norormality would ould start to resume. ume.
DECEMBER ER
WITH Covid cases continuing to fall in the Derbyshire Dales, it was hoped the district might be able to move into Tier 2 after the November lockdown - which would have allowed most of the pubs in the area to reopen. But the whole county was plunged into Tier 3, due to the number of patients in beds in the area’s hospitals. Construction work on Ashbourne’s new sports pavilion was almost ready to go, after Derbyshire Dales District Counc Council agreed to le lend the sc scheme enou enough cassh cash to get it ac across thhe the fin finishinng ing line aand and unlock the las last few gr grants i t ne needed. T The f i rs r t snowf snowfall of the w winter largely mi missed Ashbourne, but some areas to the north o of the town saw a dusting - and parts of the Peak District were white over.
Ashbourne Town Council lodged no objections to the ongoing plans for 11 apartments in the former Bennetts building, despite concerns over parking and bin storage.
And the chief executive of Derbyshire Dales District Council urged councillors to ex express a preference for Wester ern bypass routes around the to town as, he feared, the Eastern ro route might cause problems fo for developments on the airfi field - which were written into th the Derbyshire Dales Local Pl Plan. Ashbourne Town Council al also expressed their preference fo for the Western routes, which would be shorter and easier to deliver.
Ashbourne Town Team unve veiled a package of branding fo for the town, which involved a smart new logo and a slogan which they hoped could form a whole new identity for the area as it looked ahead to a recovery fr from the pandemic next year.
Derbyshire Dales District C Council finally got together virtu tually to discuss the future of th the controversial Black’s Head w wooden carving - but quickly re reached a consensus decision iit it should never go back up on t the gallows sign. They wanted, however, to get it back to the town and hand it to the town council for safe-keeping.
Town councillors then responded to the public backlash over this proposal by suggesting some district councillors had let their own personal agendas get in the way of representing the town.
Ashbourne Town Team and Derbyshire Dales District Council rounded off the public bypass consultation by stressing that town traffic mitigation measures must be carried out ahead of a bypass being built, rather than waiting for the scheme to go ahead and suffering in the meantime.
QEGS speech day was held virtually for the first time, with only staff and students gathering in the main hall to hear the speeches and receive awards - and everyone else tuning into a pre-recorded presentation on the Green Road school’s website.
The first bird-flu cases were recorded close to Ashbourne, prompting the creation of a restriction zone that encompassed many local villages - and Covid cases once again started to increase in the Derbyshire Dales towards the end of the month, shortly after a new strain of the virus was detected in the south of the country and national restrictions were eventually placed on festive travel, effectively cancelling Christmas plans for millions.
The people of Ashbourne would normally have rounded off their year reading an exclusive announcement in the News Telegraph, revealing who would be turning up the Shrovetide leathers on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday 2021.
However, the final headline of what had been an extraordinary year was the news that the game was being cancelled by its organising committee. A depressing end to a year of what had often been very depressing news.