Councillor Peatfield reflects on a successful trip to Derby’s twin city and the long-awaited reopening of Derby’s Market Hall…
If you’ve driven in and out of the city and paid attention to the “Welcome to Derby” signs, you may know that we are twinned with Osnabrück, a city in north west Germany. You might have thought “so what?” or wondered what that even means, but our twinning with Osnabrück is really important for us a city and holds a lot of historic significance.
Derby and Osnabrück have been twinned since 1976, as a way of building strong links and friendships with communities in other countries following the Second World War. Since then, delegations from each city have hosted each other, sharing ideas and cultures, with a special emphasis on involving young people.
For a long time now, I have been really keen to strengthen our link with our twin city and do more to celebrate our partnership. Early last week, I had the opportunity to do just this, taking a whistle-stop tour – fully funded by myself – to learn more about Osnabrück and represent Derby at their ‘Derby Day’. I travelled with visual arts charity Artcore and it was great to share this experience with them.
It really was a jam-packed few days meeting with Osnabrück’s Oberburgermeister, or Lord Mayor, and visiting the Skulptur Gallerie (sculpture gallery).
It was a privilege to also attend Derby Day at the Maiwoche Festival – an annual celebration of our city’s twinning. I joined some some Derby artists from Artcore and members of the public to create a peace-themed mural on the Platz der Stadtefreundschaften (City Partnership Square).
Then it was time for music, and I enjoyed watching Willow Bay, Scribble Victory and Dammit Jack flying the flag for Derbyshire with live performances. The Pipes and Drums of the Royal British Legion Osnabrück were a spectacular finale.
I received a very warm welcome from the people of Osnabrück, including many who want to come to Derby next year, which is the 50th anniversary of our twinning. I’m now more passionate than ever about strengthening the ties between our two cities and ensuring that we educate future generations not only about the history behind our twinning, but the value that our close partnership holds.
Incidentally, 2027 will mark 50 years since Derby was granted city status, meaning we’ll have a lot to celebrate over the next few years. More on that soon.
During my visit of Osnabrück I toured some areas of the city centre that are earmarked for regeneration, and it was interesting to see that they face many of the same challenges as we do in Derby. Empty shops and buildings are issues there too.
However, we had a regeneration success this past weekend which deserves to be celebrated. I can’t not mention the reopening of our historic Market Hall. A huge thank you to every single person who has played a part in lovingly restoring and allowing us to reopen our beloved Market Hall. From planning and conservation teams to those working on the operations and marketing, as well as our wonderful Derby Live and Market Hall management teams, this weekend was a celebration of all that we have achieved working in partnership, and I am so proud of Team Derby!
If you missed out on all the fun last weekend, we have a week-long programme of live entertainment, workshops, activities for families and much, much more this week. There’s lots more information about this on the Derby Market Hall website.
We’re on a journey to transform Derby city centre into a vibrant and welcoming place to be and the re-opening is a very momentous part of this.