Victoria Vets on Victoria Street have been nominated for the Pet Plan Vet Practice of the Year. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Oscars of the Vet World’, they are highly regarded within the veterinary industry and it is an honour to be nominated. and we feel very honoured to have been nominated.

These awards are now in their 12th year, and prizes will be awarded at the Pet Plan Award Ceremony 2011 at the British Small Animal Veterinary Conference later this year.

The winners will be announced on 31st March.

www.victoriavets.co.uk

DERBYSHIRE Fire & Rescue Service are keen to recruit volunteers to work with their officers in carrying out home fire safety checks (HFSCs) and delivering safety messages to the public in a varied range of settings.

The unpaid roles could be particularly suitable for young people who wish to help in their community and gain a working knowledge of the role of community safety officers within the fire and rescue service, right through to people who have retired and are looking for some opportunities to get involved in their local area.

Volunteers should be at least 16 years of age and there is no upper age limit to apply, and should be from the Glossop or New Mills areas. Application forms are available from Buxton Fire Station and the closing date is 1 April 2011.

An undercover police-led operation to find pubs in the Glossop area selling alcohol to underage customers has discovered five breaking the law.

Officers joined forces with Derbyshire County Council’s trading standards team and High Peak Borough Council’s Licensing department to carry out the operation with the help of young volunteers who posed as customers.

The volunteers, two 16-year-old girls, visited seven premises and were served alcohol in five of them.

Inspector Gareth Meadows, who is in charge of policing in the Glossop and New Mills areas said: “It is disappointing that five out of the seven premises visited during this operation sold alcohol to underage volunteers.

The intelligence-led operation took place on Saturday, February 26 in the town centre, Old Glossop and Charlesworth areas.

Those staff that were caught serving the alcohol were issued with an £80 fixed penalty notice and the venues may now have their licences reviewed.

Insp. Meadows added: “The majority of pubs in Glossop have high standards, with many licensees taking part in an active Pub Watch scheme and we are pleased that, while two of the seven pubs which were visited were members, neither of them broke the law.

For more information on Pub Watch or to become a member please contact Sgt. Barry Doyle on 0345 123 33 33 or email glossop.neighbourhoods@derbyshire.pnn.police.uk

Local play centre, Mr Clown’s Fun Zone has launched an out of school club. Director Barbara Grafton told Glossop.com “We heard from many parents that as their children got older they were less happy about attending the after school club at their nursery – it simply wasn’t cool”.

“That gave us the idea of creating an out of school club fro children from 4-11 that was cool. We have continous provision activities that includes arts and crafts, constructive and imaginitive play and of course use of all our existing play facilities”. The club is OFSTED registered and qwill be under the management of fully trained and qualified staff with CRB clearance.

Mr Clown’s will also be operating a holiday club from 8am to 6pm during the school holidays with keeep fit classes, football, days out and arts and crafts.

The latest school performance tables are available on the Department of Education website. The local schools are listed below.

• Glossopdale Community College
• Longdendale Community Language College
• St Philip Howard Catholic School

The Children’s BBC contacted Glossop.com to ask us to help find a Glossop family to feature in the brand new TV series “I WANT MY OWN ROOM!”

CBBC are looking for children aged 9 – 12 who need more space – kids who need room to practise their hobbies, kids who need a place to play, kids who don’t want to share a bedroom – whatever the issue “I Want My Own Room!” is coming to the rescue.

The show will help children find space within their home (or garden) by redesigning the layout of a room, swapping the use of rooms, or taking over underused areas. With the help of an interior designer, the kids will be in control of their makeover – it might mean turning your garage into a dance studio, your spare room into a pirate ship, or building a treehouse in the garden.

Any children aged 9 – 12 who would like to apply for the show should download an application form from the CBBC website.

If you are successful why not drop us a line here at Glossop.com and tell us all about it.

Glossop people are to have their say on major plans to revitalise a landmark building.

The pledge was made this week by High Peak Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council, which are to join forces to breathe new life into the Town Hall following decades of under investment.

The ambitious project proposes:

- Opening discussions with the County Council to see if the library can be accommodated within the Town Hall complex
- Installing a lift to bring the Town Hall in line with the Disability Discrimination Act and make the first floor available for some form of community use
- Refurbishing the Market Hall.

The exciting prospect of a new lease of life for an iconic town centre building is more good news for Glossop, following last December’s announcement that a £7m retail and leisure project to transform the Howard Town Mill site was back on track.

The County Council has earmarked £2m towards the potential library relocation while the Heritage Lottery Fund has committed £615,000 through the Glossopdale Townscape Heritage Initiative programme.

Substantial funding from the Borough Council from the sale of surplus assets including its Chinley site will increase the total investment package to a hefty £4.5m.

Borough Council Leader Tony Ashton said: “The development of these proposals is a major step forward in meeting the aspirations of townspeople who told us they wanted to see viable community uses for the town centre’s landmark public buildings. This message came across loud and clear during our recent Design and Place-Making workshops.

“The project will complement £2.6m of works to preserve and enhance historic commercial buildings in the town centre through the Glossopdale Townscape Heritage Initiative funded partly by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Derbyshire County Council.

“Although it’s too soon to be talking about precise timescales, I can say that the two councils are totally committed to exploring options to revitalise the Town Hall.

“The improvements will look to end years of under investment in the Town Hall and will give Glossop the town centre community space it so desperately needs”, he explained.

Tony Kemp, the Borough’s Executive Councillor for Regeneration, added: “It’s been frustrating that it has proved so difficult to bring forward a scheme to bring back the Town Hall and associated buildings into active and vibrant use by the community.

“We’ve had two attempts over the past four years to draw in external funding and been thwarted on each occasion, despite the quality of the bids. There are just so many schemes chasing limited cash while, as a small borough, we couldn’t hope to finance a full repair and restoration on our own.

“So I’m really appreciative of our County colleagues’ promised help and support in moving this challenging – but very important – project forward. Our recent Design and Place-Making workshops reinforced just how important a solution is to the local community, and we’ll be carrying out further major public consultation on the detail of the proposals after the council elections on Thursday, May 5. We want to ensure we take full account of people’s aspirations for the town centre’s iconic public buildings as we finalise the plans”.

The transformation of the Howard Town Mill site was thrown into doubt in 2009 when previous developer B & R Developments went into administration. But new developers Peveril Securities and Real Estate Development Partnerships have pledged to have a new-look site up and running by September or October.

Pub chain Wetherspoons has signed up for 7,000 sq. ft. of space while Travelodge proposes to take space in the mill itself for a 62-room hotel. Other high street names will be revealed in the near future. The project will also include a landscaped, 140-space car park on adjoining land owned by the Borough Council.