We’ll always have Derby’s back – whatever the weather

Some of you may be familiar with the saying ‘April showers bring May flowers’.

Well, probably the ‘April showers’ bit – we’ve certainly had our fair share of those these past few weeks.

Basically, it means after a particularly rainy April, we can expect lots of beautiful blooming flowers in May.

Or, on a more philosophical level, a period of discomfort and hardship can form the basis of a period of happiness and joy.

Of course, it might not feel that way – particularly when one of those April showers decides to unload when you’re halfway through mowing the lawn or enjoying a pint in a pub beer garden.

But when encountering challenges or difficulties, holding onto the thought that better times could lie ahead, isn’t such a bad way of approaching life.

Here in Derby, April was a particularly challenging month for the workers at Alstom’s Litchurch Lane factory and those in its supply chain.

Last month, the crisis came to a head as Alstom revealed that efforts to plug a gaping hole in its order book had stalled – putting the future of its Derby site in serious doubt.

I’m not sure about April showers, but a dark cloud certainly hung over Litchurch Lane.

In rapid-time, Marketing Derby and Derby City Council, backed by hundreds of businesses, launched a campaign to save the factory.

The pressure exerted by the ‘Save Our Trains – Do the Deal!’ played a key role in getting everyone around the table, which ultimately led to Transport Secretary Mark Harper agreeing “in principle” to order the extra trains that could sustain the Alstom factory.

At the time of writing, all parties are currently working through the small print – and hopefully, that dark cloud over Litchurch Lane will finally lift, signalling better times ahead.

Better times certainly lie ahead for Derby County, that’s for sure.

Last Saturday, my beloved Rams secured promotion from League One back to the Championship.

It’s an incredible achievement, considering where the club was two years ago.

The Rams had just been relegated, were in administration, had no owner, huge debts and just a handful of players on the books.

Derby County was on the brink of going out of business – just a week away from extinction, according to David Clowes, who eventually stepped in to rescue the club.

Team Derby, which again included Marketing Derby and Derby City Council, campaigned to save the club while helping to facilitate a deal.

Questions were asked in Parliament, while 10,000 supporters took to the streets.

They were dark times. Probably the darkest in the club’s long and illustrious history.

So, to go from that to where we are now is a remarkable story. Netflix and Disney must be kicking themselves!

Our congratulations go to everyone at the club, from the playing staff and the management to all those unsung heroes who work behind the scenes (of which my nephew is one!). You’ve made Derby proud!

But why stop there? I spent my formative years as a Rams supporter in the 1980s watching Arthur Cox’s side secure back-to-back promotions, which saw Derby reach Division One (now the Premier League).

Let’s hope history can repeat itself and the Rams can eventually get back to where they truly belong – in the topflight. I know, I’m getting greedy now.

Football and trains aside, believe it or not, some other news happened in April.

The good news continued to pour out of Rolls-Royce, the city’s largest private sector employer.

In the past, the engineering giant’s Civil Aerospace site at Sinfin has grabbed all the headlines.

But in recent times, it has been the firm’s Defence business in Raynesway getting some much-deserved airplay.

The reason? The huge AUKUS submarines contract, for which the Raynesway site will be providing the power.

To accommodate an order of such scale, Rolls-Royce is doubling the size of Raynesway and creating almost 1,200 jobs.

In April, the city council gave the green light for Rolls-Royce to push ahead with its plans.

From underwater to outer space, April also saw a fascinating story involving Rolls-Royce securing funding to research the possibility of developing nuclear energy systems to power missions to space.

According to Rolls-Royce, nuclear power has the potential to dramatically increase the duration of future space missions and their scientific value.

It certainly might give the likes of Elon Musk food for thought.

Talking of food, April saw recipe box company HelloFresh open its latest flagship automated production facility at SmartParc SEGRO Derby.

It is its largest facility of its kind in Europe – and a real feather in the cap for this burgeoning low-carbon food manufacturing campus, which has sustainability at its heart.

Meanwhile, progress on the transformation of our city centre continues unabated.

The city is committed to a culture-led regeneration – and an important part of that is our theatres.

There are ambitious plans for both Derby Theatre and the currently closed Guildhall Theatre.

And in April, those plans took an important step forward after the city council agreed terms for £20 million of government Levelling Up Funding allocated to Derby to be used to breathe new life into both venues.

Meanwhile, Derby’s residential revolution continued in April.

In recent years, the city has seen some great new additions in the form of The Condor, Nightingale Quarter and Castleward.

More are in the pipeline – utilising sites that have been redundant or derelict for far too long.

Among them is part of the site of the old Full Street cop shop.

Wavensmere Homes and Wilson Bowden are looking to create a major new apartments scheme on this site – and in April, they submitted revised plans, which they hope will be met with approval.

So, that was April. Quite a month, all told.

April showers? Well, all I can say is this. Team Derby will continue to have this city’s back – whatever the weather!

Have a safe and productive May and I look forward to catching up again with you soon.