5 minute read
Kids & Families
Love learning locally Upskilling for a changing job market
2020 has been a challenging year for many people. If you have been furloughed or are looking for work but struggling to get a new job, maybe now is the time to take a look at your qualifications and skills. Consider what you can do to boost your chances in a competitive and rapidly changing job market.
Advertisement
Step into online learning
Have you had your learning put on hold because you haven’t been able to ‘get online’? This FREE 3 week introductory course is designed to help you! During the sessions you will: ✔ Be introduced to accessing Microsoft Teams ✔ Be shown how to use email with Microsoft Office 365 to contact your tutor(s) ✔ Complete an English/maths/digital skills check to identify areas you would like to develop ✔ Be given support and guidance at each session at a structured pace to ‘ease you in gently’ to online learning ✔ Have opportunities to ask questions and get feedback to help you get online This course will be delivered online or face to face at our Long Eaton or Alfreton Adult Education Centres. The sessions will be either Tuesday 12.45pm to 3.15pm or Friday 9.30am to 12noon. Book your place now, email swad.kickstart@daces.derbyshire.gov.uk
GCSE maths and English
Are you interested in doing a GCSE in maths or English but not sure if it’s right for you? Join our online Step Up to GCSE classes in July or early September 2021 These short courses are designed to give you a taster of the content to help you to decide if a GCSE course is right for you, whilst helping prepare you for the commitment and standard of work needed for a class in September 2021. Both English and maths GCSE classes are delivered online and from many of our adult centres across Derbyshire. To book on to one of the ‘Step Up’ courses or to find out more about the GCSE email making.choices@daces.derbyshire.gov.uk today.
Subject to being accepted on the course after taking a Step Up course. You will need to undertake the end of course exam at your nearest DACES registered centre.
Part 5 - Blue John If you’ve been reading the previous articles in this series, you’ll have spotted that a common vein running through them (pun absolutely intended) has been Blue John…but what exactly Is Blue John?
In unromantic terms, it is a mineral, a form of fluorspar (also known as fluorite) with the chemical composition CaF2. Fluorspar is not an uncommon mineral, in fact it is found all over the world, but Castleton is the ONLY place Blue John is found.
Blue John, despite the name, is not really blue! The stone is actually banded, with stripes of an almost purplish grey blue, through to white and yellow, occasionally even red and a very deep purple are present. Rumours abound that the Romans, who had a small fort in nearby Brough (Navio in Roman times, meaning ‘on the river’) discovered the mineral and used it to create decorative cups and urns 2000 years ago. It was even said that a couple of vessels unearthed in Pompeii were made of Blue John from Castleton; something later proved to be untrue, but a good story nevertheless! There isn’t any hard archaeological fact to corroborate Romans finding and using Blue John, however, as veins of the mineral could be found at ground level (it’s often how later miners traced underground deposits) then I personally would imagine that the odd foot soldier or so would have picked up a chunk in passing. Actual mining of the mineral didn’t really begin until the mid-1700s when it became fashionable in the upper classes to have something made from Blue John. From fireplaces to pieces of jewellery and everything in between, the mineral was mined extensively and Castleton and surround villages became a centre for crafts people working with the stone. The earliest dated example of decorative Blue John from Castleton is from 1762 in Kedleston Hall, near Derby, where there are Blue John panels mounted in a marble fireplace surround designed by Robert Adam. The boom time for Blue John lasted until the end of the Victorian era when it fell out of favour, and instead of being mined to create beauty, it was diverted to the steel industry where it was used as flux.
And the name - Blue John? It depends on who you talk to, or what you read! The most common (and plausible) explanation is that the mineral was exported to France, where bleu, jaune means blue, yellow – a reasonable description of the banded mineral. Another plausible explanation comes from Cornwall! Cornish miners worked in the mines from the 1740s and in the Cornish language there is a word bleujenn (in Old Cornish blodon) meaning a flower, bloom, or blossom…I like the idea of the veins of mineral being called blooms! You can buy smaller items of Blue John in Castleton, but if you want one of the big pieces you better start saving, as they fetch into the thousands!
These articles are researched and written by Laura Billingham, a local content writer and author. Laura moved to the Peak District several years ago to pursue her passion for writing.
To find out more visit www.landgassociates.co.uk or contact Laura on 07736 351341
YOUR IN ADVERT L HERE LTD
DIGITAL ADVERTISING IN YOUR LOCAL AREA
YOUR IN ADVERT HERE
YOUR ADVERT HERE
YOUR ADVERT HERE
YOUR ADVERT HERE
LTD LTD Are you interested in a made in the UK, bespoke hygiene unit with automatic dispenser which uses contact-free technology? Are you a shop or a business that requires something like this to ensure covid compliancy? Are you an advertiser that wants to reach your target audience? Are you a restaurant that requires something like this but with your menu on? If you answered yes to any of those, then please contact us for a free, no obligation quote to see how we can help you.
LTD
LTD
LTD
LTD
T: 01773 549 035 / 01629 364 015
