Opening Up a World of Possibilities

from S40 Local - 139 July 2023

by Chesterfield Local

A Very Curious Caterpillar Charlie’s Big Day

Free Health & Wellbeing Day

Saturday 22 July: 10am to 5pm

St Thomas’s Church Centre

Words: Suzanne Smith

At Chatsworth Wellbeing Centre we believe that everyone should have an opportunity to find ways to support their health and wellbeing. There is a vibrant community of practitioners, businesses, and specialists in Chesterfield who have the skills and services that can support you to Feel Great This Summer!

What better way to open up your world of possibilities than to come along to our Chesterfield Health & Wellbeing Day on 22 July 2023!

Our “Feel Great This Summer” event is free and open to all. A chance to find out more about what’s on offer locally, to try different therapies and skills, as well as meet specialists in their field.

St Thomas’s Church Centre, Chatsworth Road is our beautiful home for the day from 10am to 5pm.

Our desire to bring all of these people together has been fuelled by an awareness that many people have heard about different therapies, treatments, or activities but haven’t known who to contact or have been nervous about reaching out, especially true if your in the midst of a health challenge.

So, we’ve got you covered if you're curious about ways to improve your health & wellbeing with:

• Complementary therapies to work alongside your medical support or alternative, non-medical options to support you in you want to be supported.

• Ways to improve your general health and fitness, train with a specific goal in mind, rehab an injury or change the things in your life that are causing frustration, resentment, anxiety an unhappiness.

• New skills to support yourself and share with others who are close to you.

• The chance to meet new people and exploring new options.

It’s been our experience that many businesses in the health & wellbeing world exist because their owners want to share the benefits they have experienced with as many people as possible. Not only are these specialists passionate about the changes that they can help others to achieve, they are also extremely well qualified and experienced in their line of work.

We wanted a way to give our health & wellbeing specialists a space to share their knowledge and give you a chance to learn, participate and enjoy. Throughout the day you can join workshop talks on topics including:

• 3 Top Tips to Improve Your Sleep

• Handling trauma

• Connect with Laughter

• Healing Women Through Connection

• Boost Your Energy with Tapping

• The Ripple Effect: How Your Wellbeing Choices Reshape Our Community's Mental Landscape

• Practical Techniques for Managing Anxiety

• Putting Your Boundaries in Place

• Nutrition

In between the workshops you can have a chat with local health & wellbeing businesses sharing their products and services with 20 stands and stalls in the main hall. Full details of who is attending can be found by following the QR code below but here’s a little selection of attendees.

We’ve got beautiful soaps created by Elsie Moss Botanical, sparkling crystals by Jeaneil, Health Affirmation cards for Reconnecting You, handcrafted products made by Lotti as well as personal fitness with Hannah Kendall, health and safety expertise from Pochat Training, mental health awareness with You Are Not Alone, and support and guidance for survivors of abuse from The Maggie Oliver Foundation.

You can also have Temple Spa mini facials and hand treatments or eyebrow shaping and mini make overs from Face2Face Beauty Academy happening in the hall.

And if that’s not enough, we thought that it would be great to give you a way to try out different health & wellbeing treatments. It can be a big decision to go for a full session of a treatment or therapy you’ve never experienced before, especially if you're not sure exactly what's going to happen or how it might help you. This is a gentle way to explore different treatments that’s not going to cost a lot and will only take up to 30 minutes of your time.

Our therapists are offering a range of taster sessions for between £5 to £15 each. The mini treatments will include different massage techniques such as hot bamboo, fire cupping, deep tissue, thai stretch massage and reflexology mini treatments.

Also joining us on the day to bring their enthusiasm and joy are Row Spencer of Derbyshire Outdoors who will be running Forest School activities in the grounds and Andre Brevett of Introverted Moves who will be demonstrating his skills as a juggler. You never know, you might even fancy a go yourself!

Snap the QR code below to read more about the event and book your (free) tickets. We’re looking forward to meeting you on the 22 July!

If you want to be involved or have any questions, please contact us at chatsworthwellbeingcentre@ gmail.com or via our Facebook page.

@chatsworthwellbeingcentre

I Am The Law!

Y12 criminology students were put before the bench back in June. Magistrate John-Charles Tanner JP came into Brookfield Community School to talk about the role of magistrates as part of students’ Criminology Advanced Diploma.

The session began with a quiz that allowed students to learn general facts about the magistracy, such as the number of magistrates in England and Wales (13,177 if you wondered) and that 95% of criminal cases start out in a Magistrates' court.

As well as Magistrates in the Community (MIC) Coordinator and Deputy Chair for North Derbyshire Adult Crime Bench, Mr Tanner is also the Diversity and Community Relations (DCRM) Magistrate for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. His outreach work regularly takes him into schools and colleges. After covering the history, how to become a magistrate and the workings and powers of a magistrate, Mr Tanner encouraged students to look at case studies in which they assumed the roles of magistrates themselves and decided what sentence to hand down.

Criminology course co-ordinator Simon Cliff said: “We are so grateful to Mr Tanner for coming in to speak to our students. We all thoroughly enjoyed the insight he provided us and the engaging way he presented the material.”

It is hoped a follow-up visit will be possible in the Autumn Term to see the Magistrates’ Court in session, further adding to students’ understanding of the criminal justice system.

To find out more information about becoming a Magistrate, just tap into your browser: icanbeamagistrate where you will find all the information you need to know and an Expression of Interest Form.

To request a Speaker from Magistrates in the Community for your community group, school, club or association, please contact: john-charles.tanner. jp@ejudiciary.net

Words: Sky-Louise Randall

When are too many books, too many books?

Words: Ed Fordham

When does your buying of a book mean you have to keep it? When is it appropriate to get rid of a book from your own collection? These are questions I know I have tried to ignore so let me share my strategies for coping.

When I buy them they fall into a few categories: browsers, keepers, readers and gifters.

Browsers are easy - I take them home - they go in a pile by my lounge chair where I sit in the evening. When I have time I sit, sometimes with a whisky, usually watching the Repair Shop on repeat, and I browse through them. I try and do this at least once a month and when the pile gets too high, I then force myself to sit down and go through them. Once they have been ‘browsed’ I can usually then get rid of them.

They go either to my shop in my case or to my favoured charity shop (usually the RSPCA). This process means I get through 4 to10 books a month that go home, but don’t stay.

Keepers are harder - invariably hard backs, usually on a specialised subject and frequently obscure or expensive. I set myself the challenge of making sure that in the first four weeks of owning it I have browsed it at least gently. If it’s one I'm going to go back to then I will place book marks and notes to highlight the section or pages of interest. The hardest ones are books that have been gifted to me at birthday or Christmas - these are hard, and it’s tricky to be ruthless, but I operate another system as well. If there is good keeper that's going onto my shelves then I set myself a target of removing five others. This way I reflect my changing interests - it also means I’m constantly thinning the collection and I do a second and third check with books that have previously survived a cull.

A few keepers have particular value - that book on railways from my grandfather for example, my mother's poetry book collection from her aunt and uncle. With these I make the time about every other month or so to write a note or a tag and place it inside the book to explain why I’m keeping it. No tag, no explanation, and the book goes into the 'charity and dispose of pile'.

Readers are for me the hardest books as I find I increasingly have too little time to sit and read for my own pleasure. Based on my own reading interests most of my ‘readers’ are biographies - and again - if after a few months of them hanging around the house I haven't tucked into them - then they have to go… given they are biographies they are often hardbacks too and so the amount of space they create is great. And, if I have failed to read them, but can’t get rid of them then I move them to my bedside to force the issue. This is very effective and they rarely hang around at this point - I either read it in full, dip into it or just move it on.

Gifters are perhaps the nicest set of books that come home with me. These are books where I have spotted them, made a connection to a friend and decided I should send it as a gift. All that is needed is my own commitment of writing a personal note or letter and dispatching it.

Now these methods might sound cold - but I believe from a collection of several thousand I have managed to halve the number in the house and still bring new and additional books home. Having this turnover means I can continue to enjoy book shops myself. Crucially it means I have space for new ones that catch my eye.

How do you cope? Pop down and let me know - the only thing I know is that doing nothing is not the answer. Don’t let the books be piled up untouched. They were written, designed and printed to be handled and read and enjoyed. Let’s make sure that you are the person to get the enjoyment from them. See you soon.

Ed. x

Brockwell Books, The Market Hall, Chesterfield S40 1AR.