The Romans established the town ofDerventio, which was later captured by the Anglo-Saxons and then by the Vikings who madeDjúra-bý one of theFive Boroughs of the Danelaw. Initially amarket town, Derby grew rapidly in the industrial era and was home toLombe's Mill, an early British factory and it contains the southern part of theDerwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. With the arrival of the railways in the 19th century, Derby became a centre of theBritish rail industry. Despite having acathedral since 1927, Derby did not gaincity status until 1977.
TheViking nameDjúra-bý, recorded inOld English asDeoraby, means "village of the deer". However, the origin of the name Derby has had multiple influences: a variation of the original Roman nameDerventio with pronunciation of the letter "v" as "b", becomingDerbentio, and later Derby, along with a link to the river Derwent – from theCeltic meaning "valley thick with oaks"[9] – which flows through the city, triggering a shortened version ofDerwent by, meaning 'Derwent settlement'.
The town name appears asDarbye on early maps, such as that ofJohn Speed, 1610.[10]
Modern research (2004) into the history andarchaeology of Derby has provided evidence that the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons would have co-existed, occupying two areas of land surrounded by water. TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 900) says that "Derby is divided by water". These areas of land were known asNorþworþig ("Northworthy"="north enclosure") andDeoraby, and were at the "Irongate" (north) side of Derby.[11]
The first civic system of piped water in England was established in Derby in 1692, using wooden pipes,[12] which was common for several centuries.[13] The Derby Waterworks included waterwheel-powered pumps for raising water out of theRiver Derwent and storage tanks for distribution.[14] This was designed and built by local engineerGeorge Sorocold.[15]
Statue of Charles Edward Stuart on Cathedral Green
During theJacobite rising of 1745,Jacobite Army troops led by PrinceCharles Edward Stuart arrived in Derby on 4 December 1745, whilst on their way toLondon to attempt to overthrow the reigningHouse of Hanover. Stuart called atThe George Inn on Irongate (where theDuke of Devonshire had set up his headquarters in late November after raisingThe Derbyshire Blues) and demandedbillets for the 9,000 troops under his command. The prince stayed atExeter House on Full Street, where he held acouncil of war on 5 December which decided to retreat. Stuart had received misleading information about a government army coming to meet him south of Derby. He abandoned his invasion atSwarkestone Bridge on theRiver Trent, a few miles south of Derby. The prince, who on the march from Scotland had walked at the front of the column, made the return journey on horseback at the rear of the bedraggled and tired army.[citation needed]
Shrovetide football was played at Derby every year, possibly from as early as the 12th century. The town was split into theSt Peter's andAll Saints parishes, who fought to bring the ball from the Market Place to a goal within their own parishes.[16] There were several attempts to ban the game, described in 1846 as "the barbarous and disgusting play of Foot-Ball, which for a great number of years has annually disgraced our town". In that year the military were brought in and after the police cut the first ball to pieces, another ball was produced and the town's Mayor was "stuck on the shoulder by a brick-bat, hurled by some ferocious ruffian, and severely bruised".[17] The Derby Football was banned in 1846, although it was played once more in 1870.[18]
In 1759,Jedediah Strutt patented and built a machine called the Derby Rib Attachment[20] that revolutionised the manufacture of hose. This attachment was used on the Rev. Lee'sFramework Knitting Machine; it was placed in front of – and worked in unison with – Lee's Frame, to produce ribbed hose (stockings). The partners were Jedediah Strutt, William Woollatt (who had been joined in 1758 by John Bloodworth and Thomas Stafford, all leadinghosiers in Derby). The patent was obtained in January 1759. After three years, Bloodworth and Stafford were paid off, and Samuel Need – a hosier ofNottingham – joined the partnership. The firm was known as Need, Strutt and Woollatt. The patent expired in 1773[20] though the partnership continued until 1781 when Need died.
Messrs Wright, the bankers of Nottingham, recommended thatRichard Arkwright apply to Strutt and Need for finance for his cottonspinning mill. The first mill opened in Nottingham in 1770 and was driven by horses. In 1771 Richard Arkwright, Samuel Need and Jedediah Strutt built the world's first commercially successfulwater-powered cotton spinning mill atCromford, Derbyshire, developing a form of power that was to be acatalyst for the Industrial Revolution.[21][22][23]
This was followed in Derbyshire by Jedediah Strutt's cotton spinning mills atBelper. They were: South Mill, the first, 1775; North Mill, 1784, which was destroyed by fire on 12 January 1803 and then rebuilt, starting work again at the end of 1804; West Mill, 1792, commenced working 1796; Reeling Mill, 1897; Round Mill, which took 10 years to build, from 1803 to 1813, and commenced working in 1816; and Milford Mills, 1778. The Belper andMilford mills werenot built in partnership with Arkwright; they were all owned and financed by Strutt.
Derby's place in the country's philosophical and political life continued with Henry Hutchinson, an active member of theFabian Society. On his death in 1894, he left the society an amount in his will which was instrumental in founding theLondon School of Economics.[24]
The beginning of 19th century saw Derby emerging as an engineering centre, with manufacturers such asJames Fox, who exported machine tools to Russia.
A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion ofNormanton Barracks in 1877.[25]
Derby was one of the boroughs reformed by theMunicipal Corporations Act 1835, and it became acounty borough with theLocal Government Act 1888. The borough expanded in 1877 to includeLittle Chester andLitchurch, and then in 1890 to include New Normanton and Rowditch. The borough did not increase substantially again until 1968, when under a recommendation of the Local Government Boundary Commission it was expanded into large parts of the rural district ofBelper,Repton andSouth East Derbyshire. This vastly increased Derby's population from 132,408 in the 1961 census to 219,578 in the 1971 census.[26]
Despite being one of the areas of Britainfurthest from the sea, Derby holds a special place in the history of marine safety – it was as MP for Derby thatSamuel Plimsoll introduced his bills for a "Plimsoll line" (and other marine safety measures). This failed on first introduction, but was successful in 1876 and contributed to Plimsoll's re-election as an MP.
In 1911, the Derby Wireless Club was formed by a group of local engineers and experimenters. It was to be the first radio or "wireless club" in the country.[27][28] The early activities of the club, (even through World Wars), pushed the boundaries of 'wireless' technologies at the time in England, and promoted it into becoming a hobby for many local folk.{Over later years, as radio technology progressed, the club transitioned to become the Derby & District Amateur Radio Society (DADARS), continuing to host meetings and events for radio hobbyists with all the new technologies, into the early 2020s.}
In World War I, Derby was targeted by GermanZeppelin air bombers, who killed five people in a 1916 raid on the town.[29]
All Saints Church was designated as a cathedral in 1927, signalling that the town was ready for city status.[30]
Slum clearance in the 1920s and 1930s saw the central area of Derby become less heavily populated as families were rehoused on newcouncil estates in the suburbs, where houses for private sale were also constructed. Rehousing, council house building and private housing developments continued on a large scale for some 30 years after the end of World War II in 1945.[31]
In 1964 theBritish Rail Research Division opened to study all aspects of railway engineering from first principles. Its first success was in drastically improving the reliability and speed of goods trains, work which led to the development of theAdvanced Passenger Train.
Derby was awarded city status on 7 June 1977 byQueen Elizabeth II to mark the25th anniversary of her ascension to the throne.[32] The Queen presented the "charter scroll" or "letters patent" in person on 28 July 1977 on the steps of theCouncil House to the then Mayor Councillor Jeffrey Tillet (Conservative).[33] Until then, Derby had been one of the few towns in England with acathedral but not city status.
Despite its strategic industries (rail andaero-engine), Derby suffered comparatively little damage in bothworld wars (contrastBristol andFilton). This may in part have been because of jamming against the German radio-beam navigations systems (X-Verfahren andKnickebein, camouflage and decoy techniques ("Starfish sites") were built, mainly south of the town, e.g. out in fields nearForemark.[34][35])
Derby has also become a significantcultural centre for thedeaf community in Britain. Many deaf people move to Derby because of its strongsign language-using community.[citation needed] It is estimated that the deaf population in Derby is at least three times higher than the national average, and that only London has a larger deaf population.[citation needed] The Royal School for the Deaf on Ashbourne Road provides education inBritish Sign Language and English.
Between 1889 and 1974 Derby was acounty borough, independent from the county council.[41] It then became a lower-tier district council with the county council providing county-level services between 1974 and 1997. On 1 April 1997, Derby City Council became aunitary authority, regaining its independence from the county council.[42] On 7 July 2014, Derby's first ever Youth Mayor, Belal Butt (a student from Chellaston Academy), was elected by theMayor of Derby.[43]
Derby was a single United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency represented by two members of parliament until 1950, when it was divided into the single-member constituencies ofDerby North andDerby South. However, in 2010, the wards of Allestree, Oakwood and Spondon were moved to the new constituency ofMid Derbyshire, created for the 2010 general election.[citation needed] As of 2020, Derby is represented by three MPs.
Derby's emblem is the Derby Ram, about which there is afolk song titled "The Derby Ram". It is found in a number of places, most notably serving as the nickname ofDerby County F.C. The logo of the City Council's services is a stylised ram.
Derby is in a relatively low-lying area along the lower valley of theRiver Derwent, where the south-east foothills of thePennines adjoin the lowlands and valley of theRiver Trent to the south.[44] The city is bordered by fournational character areas, the Trent Valley Washlands to the south, theNottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire Coalfields in the east, the South Derbyshire Claylands in the west, and the Derbyshire Peak Fringe in the north. Most of the flat plains surrounding Derby lie in the Trent Valley Washlands and South Derbyshire Claylands, while the hillier, northern parts of the city lie within the Derbyshire Peak Fringe and the Coalfields.[45]
TheDerby Built-up Area (BUA) orDerby Urban Area is an area including Derby and adjoining built-up districts of Derbyshire, includingBorrowash andDuffield. TheOffice for National Statistics defines anurban area as one which is built upon, with nearby areas linked if within 200 metres.[46][47] It had a total population of 270,468 at the time of the2011 census.[48] An increase of over 10% since the2001 census recorded population of 236,738;[49] comprising population increases since 2001 along with new minor residential areas, and larger sub-divisions. The Derby built-up area is considered to be most of the city, as well as outlying villages within thedistricts ofAmber Valley andErewash which adjoin the city. This overall area is, by ONS' figures, the29th largest in the UK.
Because methods of measuring linked areas were redefined for the 2011 census,Breadsall,Duffield andLittle Eaton were included. However,Quarndon is not considered to be a component as it is marginally too distant. It extends south to small adjoining estates in theSouth Derbyshire district, atBoulton Moor/Thulston Fields,Stenson Fields, and the Mickleover Country Park residential development (The Pastures)[50] withinBurnaston parish. The urban area is bounded to the east by a narrow gap betweenBorrowash andDraycott (to the west of theBreaston urban area sub-division of theNottingham BUA). It is also close to other nearby urban areas to the north.
Derby unitary authority 2001/2011 population figures were 221,716 and 244,625,[51] the table ONS subdivision figures also containing small adjoining estates outside the city boundary at Boulton Moor/Thulston Fields, Stenton Fields, and Burnaston.
Quarndon, although very close to the BUA is considered to be a separate area.
Derby has a green belt area defined to the north and east of the city, first drawn up in the 1950s, to prevent convergence with the surrounding towns and villages. It extends for several miles into the counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, covering much of the area up to Nottingham.
Derby's climate is classified as warm and temperate. There is precipitation even during the driest month. This location is classified asCfb according to theKöppen climate classification. Under the Köppen climatic classification Derby has an oceanic climate along with the rest of the British Isles. The average annual temperature is 9.7 °C. Precipitation averages 694 mm.[52]
The highest temperature ever recorded in Derby was 34.1 °C (93.4 °F), recorded atMarkeaton Park on 3 August 1990,[53]
Climate data forSutton Bonington[a], 48 m (157 ft)amsl; 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1924–present
Derby power station on Silkmill Lane supplied electricity to the town and the surrounding area from 1893 until its closure in 1969.[71]
From 1922 Sinfin Lane was the home of the 62-acre (250,000 m2) site ofInternational Combustion, originally manufacturers of machinery for the automatic delivery of pulverised fuel tofurnaces andboilers, and later producing steam-generating boilers for use in electrical generating plant such as used in power stations. In the 1990s the firm was bought by Rolls-Royce plc and then sold on again toABB Group.[72]
Derby was the home ofCore Design (originally based on Ashbourne Road), who developed the successful video gameTomb Raider. When Derby's inner ring road was completed in 2010, a section of it was named 'Lara Croft Way' after the game's heroineLara Croft.
One of Derby's longest-established businesses isRoyal Crown Derby, which has been producing porcelain since the 1750s.
Infinity Park Derby is a planned business park for aerospace, rail and automotive technology adjacent to the Rolls-Royce site in Sinfin. In December 2014, the government announced that the park would gainenterprise zone status by being added toNottingham Enterprise Zone.[73]
Annual dinner of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers held in the carriage works of the Midland Railway at Derby in 1898. Samuel Johnson, the railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer was the institution president.
As a consequence of the Midland Railway having their headquarters in Derby, along with theirLocomotive andCarriage & Wagon Works, the railways had been a major influence on the development of the town during the Victorian period.[citation needed]
During the 20th century, railway manufacturing developed elsewhere, while in Derby the emphasis shifted to other industries. Even though it had pioneered the introduction of diesel locomotives, new production finished in 1966.[citation needed] Repair work gradually diminished until the locomotive works closed, the land being redeveloped as Pride Park. The only buildings remaining are those visible from Platform 6 of the station.
Derby is also the headquarters of theDerby Railway Engineering Society,[76] founded in 1908 to promote railway engineering expertise both in the city and nationally.
Derby Cathedral tower is 212 ft (65 m) tall to the tip of the pinnacles. This has been home to a pair of breedingperegrine falcons since 2006,[77] monitored by four webcams.[78]
Derby Gaol is a visitor attraction based in the dungeons of the Derbyshire County Gaol, which dates back to 1756.
Derby Museum of Making is housed inDerby Silk Mill and shows the industrial heritage and technological achievement of Derby, includingRolls-Royceaero engines, railways, mining,quarrying andfoundries. The Silk Mill stands at the southern end of the 24 km (15 mi) stretch of theRiver Derwent designated aWorld Heritage Site in 2001. On 10 May 2022, the Museum of Making was short-listed for the 2022 Art Fund Museum of the Year award,[79] and in 2024 it was one of six museums to receive a special commendation in the European Museum of the Year Awards.[80]
The skyline of the inner city changed in 1968 when the inner ring road with its two new crossings of theRiver Derwent was built. The route of the ring road went through theSt Alkmund's Church and itsGeorgianchurchyard, the only Georgian square in Derby. Both were demolished to make way for the road, a move still criticised today. Thus the editor (Elizabeth Williamson) of the 2nd edition ofPevsner for Derbyshire wrote: "...the character and cohesion of the centre has been completely altered by the replacement of a large number of C18 houses in the centre by a multi-lane road. As a traffic scheme this road is said to be a triumph; as townscape it is a disaster."
Derby Guildhall, the former seat of local government, today serves primarily as a 240-seat theatre. It was rebuilt after the previous hall was destroyed by fire in 1841.
There are also local stations atPeartree (on the Newark to Crewe route) andSpondon (on the Nottingham to Matlock route), although their stopping services are very limited.
On 16 March 2011, Mercian Way, the final section of the city's inner ring road, was opened to traffic.[84] This new section connects Burton Road with Uttoxeter New Road; it crosses Abbey Street, which is the only road between the two ends from which Mercian Way can be accessed.
East Midlands Airport is located about 15 miles (24 km) from Derby city centre. There was controversy concerning the airport's decision to prefix its name withNottingham in 2004; this was due to its proximity to Derby, the fact that the airport is inLeicestershire and the traditional rivalry between its three nearby cities (Derby, Leicester and Nottingham).[85] In 2006, Nottingham East Midlands Airport reverted to its previous name.[86]
The airport is served bybudget airlines, includingRyanair andJet2, with services to domestic and European destinations.
Derby Airfield, approximately 7 miles (11 km) south-west of the city centre, has grass runways targeted atgeneral aviation.
On 8 October 2021 it was announced that Derby had been included in the longlist of bids to hostUK City of Culture 2025, but in March 2022 it failed to make it onto the shortlist.[87]
Founding member and songwriter ofMercury Prize nominatedalternative rock bandMaxïmo Park and solo artistDuncan Lloyd is from Derby. His band hit the number 2 spot in the U.K. album charts in 2020, with the albumNature Always Wins.[91]
Pop singerKelli Young (born 7 April 1982) is from Derby. She is best known as a member of the pop groupLiberty X.
Lucy Ward is an English singer-songwriter from Derby, England. She performs traditionalEnglish folk songs as well as her own material. Three of her albums,Adelphi Has to Fly,Single Flame andI Dreamt I Was a Bird, have been critically acclaimed and have each received four-starred reviews in the British national press.
In rock music, the blues singer-songwriterKevin Coyne came from Derby, as does the three-piece rock bandLostAlone, and indie/glam rock bandThe Struts. The ska punk bandLightyear also hail from the city, naming their second albumChris Gentlemens Hairdresser and Railway Book Shop after a shop in Macklin Street.[citation needed]
The bandAnti-Pasti, whose debut 1981 albumThe Last Call reached the top 40 in theUK album charts, came from Derby. The band reformed in 2012 and again with an altered line up in 2014.
Sinfonia Viva is a chamber orchestra based in Derby, presenting concerts and educational events in the city, across the East Midlands, and occasionally further afield.[92]
The folk-music scene includes the annualDerby Folk Festival.[94][95]Derby Jazz promotes a year-round series of performances and workshops.[96] Kaleidoscope Community Music includes Kaleidoscope Community Choir and Calidoscopio Carnival Drummers.[97]
Other music venues in the city include The Venue on Abbey Street, The Hairy Dog on Becket Street, Ryan's Bar in the St Peter's Quarter, The Flowerpot on King Street, and The Victoria Inn.
Derby has had a number of theatres, including theGrand Theatre which was opened from 1886[98] until 1950. This replaced the earlier Theatre Royal.[citation needed]
After a lengthy period of financial uncertainty,Derby Playhouse closed in February 2008. It was resurrected in September of that year after a new financing package was put together but forced to close again just two months later because of further financial problems. The lease was later bought byDerby University and the building was renamedDerby Theatre. Along with the Assembly Rooms and Guildhall Theatre, it was operated by Derby LIVE, the cultural arm ofDerby City Council. In 2012 Derby University took over as sole operator of Derby Theatre; Sarah Brigham was appointed artistic director, and has been in post since January 2013.
QUAD is a centre for art and film that opened in 2008. The building has two cinema screens showing independent and mainstream cinema, two gallery spaces housing contemporaryvisual arts, a digital studio, participation spaces, digital editing suites, artists studio and theBFI Mediatheque. QUAD organises the annual Derby Film Festival, and the FORMAT international photography festival, held every two years at various venues throughout the city.
The Robert Ludlam Theatre, on the campus ofSaint Benedict Catholic School and Performing Arts College, is a 270-seat venue with a programme of entertainment including dance, drama, art, music,theatre in the round, comedy, films, family entertainment, rock and pop events and workshops. The theatre companyOddsocks is based in Derby and stages productions in the city and the surrounding area, as well as travelling the country.[99]
Déda, established in 1991, is the only dedicated dance house in the East Midlands region, acting as a local, regional and national resource for dance and aerial artists and contemporary circus. Déda houses a 124-capacity studio theatre, three dance studios, meeting room facilities and the CUBE café bar. It offers a weekly class programme and a year-round professional performance programme for children, young people and adults, and a community development programme. Déda now hosts a BA degree in Dance in partnership with the University of Derby.[100]
Derby Book Festival, first held in 2015, takes place in late spring/early summer, with events throughout the city.[101] An additional "Autumn edition" was first held in October 2019.
Derby Festé[102] is a weekendstreet arts festival held at the end of September every year. The first Six Streets Arts trail was in June 2012,[103] took place again in 2013 and will now be a biennial event. It includes strong input from the local History Network[104] which was awarded a Heritage Lottery grant to pursue its work on marking the 100th anniversary of World War 1.
The restored Grove Street Lodge and "Grand Entrance" at the northern end of the Arboretum
Derby Arboretum, donated to the town by local philanthropistJoseph Strutt in 1840, was the first planned urbanpublic park in the country. Although it suffered from neglect in the 1990s, it has been renovated. It has been claimed to have been one of the inspirations forCentral Park in New York.[106]
Markeaton Park is Derby's most used leisure facility.[107] Other major parks in the city includeAllestree Park,Darley Park,Chaddesden Park,Alvaston Park,Normanton Park andOsmaston Park. Derby is believed to be one of the country's highest, if not the highest, ranking cities for parkland per capita.Darley and Derwent Parks lie immediately north of the city centre. Derby Rowing Club and Derwent Rowing Club are located on the banks of the river, where there is also a riverside walk and cycle path.
On 10 November 2021, Derby City Council approved plans for the UK's first large-scaleurban rewilding project, in Allestree Park.[108]
Derby has clubs in both codes ofrugby. Inrugby union,Derby RFC play inMidlands Division One East (the sixth level of English rugby union) at their Haslams Lane ground.Rugby league teamDerby City RLFC were formed in 1990 and compete in the Midlands Premier Division of the National Rugby League Conference. From 2008 they are ground-sharing with Derby RFC at Haslams Lane.
Local industrialistFrancis Ley introduced baseball to the town in the late 19th century, and built astadium near the town centre. The attempt to establish baseball in Derby was unsuccessful, but the stadium survived for some 100 years afterwards as the home of Derby County Football Club. It was demolished in 2003, six years after County's move toPride Park.
Shopping in central Derby is divided into three main areas. These are theCathedral Quarter, the St Peters Quarter and theDerbion shopping centre. The Cathedral Quarter was Derby's first BID (Business Improvement District), and includes a large range of shops, boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants. It is focused around the cathedral and the area around Irongate and Sadler Gate. It includes the Market place, the Guildhall and Assembly Rooms along with the City Museum and the Silk Mill industrial museum.
The St Peters Quarter is Derby's second Business Improvement District, brought into effect in the summer of 2011. Its boundary with the Cathedral Quarter follows Victoria Street, beneath which flows the underground course of theMarkeaton Brook. The quarter boasts a diverse range of retail shops, many of them, in Green Lane, Babington Lane, Osmaston Road and elsewhere, independent traders. St Peters Street, London Road and East Street also include a large choice of national retailers and pubs, restaurants, banks and offices. The quarter includes the historicSt Peters Church and, on St Peter's Churchyard, the medievalDerby School building. Nearby also is the Old Courthouse (former County Court).[114]
Derbion is the city's main indoor shopping centre. It opened in 2007 as Westfield Derby after extension work costing £340 million, subsequently being sold toIntu in March 2014.[115] It contains a food court and a 12-screen cinema (Showcase – Cinema De Lux) which was opened in May 2008. The development was controversial and local opponents accuse it of drawing trade away from the older parts of the city centre where independent shops are located. Some of these experienced a downturn in trade and some have ceased trading since the development opened leading to the "Lanes" project which eventually became the second BID and the formation of St Peters Quarter. In the centre itself, a combination of high rents and rising rates have made things difficult for smaller traders.[116]
The Friar Gate area contains clubs and bars, making it the centre of Derby's nightlife. Derby is also well provided with pubs and is renowned for its large number ofreal ale outlets. The oldest pub is theGrade II listedYe Olde Dolphin Inne, dating from the late 16th century.[117]
Out-of-town shopping areas include the Kingsway Retail Park, off the A38; the Wyvern Retail Park, near Pride Park; and the Meteor Centre, on Mansfield Road.
Like most of the UK, Derby operates a non-selective primary and secondary education system with nomiddle schools. Pupils attend infant and junior school (often in a combined primary school) before moving onto a secondary school. Many of the secondary schools havesixth forms, allowing pupils to optionally takeA Levels after the end of compulsory education. For those who want to stay in education but leave school, the largeDerby College provides post-16 courses for school leavers, apprentices and employer-related training. It has two main campuses: theJoseph Wright Centre in the centre of Derby, where itsA Level courses are based, and the historicalDerby Roundhouse, the college's vocational training hub, providing a centre for apprenticeships such as engineering, catering and hair and beauty. The college also works in partnership with schools across the county to provide vocational training opportunities for students aged 14 upwards. Training for companies is undertaken through its Corporate College.
Outside the state sector, there are three fee-paying independent schools.Derby Grammar School was founded in 1994 and was for boys only until 2007, when they accepted girls into the sixth form for the first time. They aim to continue the work and traditions of the formerDerby School, which closed in 1989, one of the oldest schools in England.[citation needed]Derby High School was girls-only for senior and sixth form and for girls and boys at primary level until 2019 where boys were accepted into Year 7 and Year 12.[118] As of 2023, the school is now fully co-educational, accepting both boys and girls in all years of school.
Derby hasspecial needs establishments including Ivy House School at the Derby Moor Community Sports College (which takes pupils from nursery to sixth form) and the Light House which is arespite facility for children and parents. Allestree Woodlands School have a Hearing Impaired department, and Saint Benedict have an Enhanced Resource Base for pupils to access specialised support within mainstream schooling. There also a number of alternative provision schools, includingDerby Pride Academy.
TheUniversity of Derby has its main campus on Kedleston Road. There is another campus in north Derbyshire atBuxton.
TheDerby Telegraph (formerly theDerby Evening Telegraph) is the city's daily newspaper. Crime writer Richard Cox set his first book around his own experience as aDerby Telegraph reporter in the 1970s.[119] TheDerby Trader was a free weekly newspaper that is no longer in print.BBC Radio Derby, the BBC's local station for Derbyshire andEast Staffordshire, is based on St Helen's Street in the city and offers local, national and international news, features, music and sports commentaries. It is available on 104.5 FM and 1116 AM, on 95.3 FM in north and mid-Derbyshire and on 96.0 FM in theBuxton area, as well as being streamed on the internet. TheBBC in Derby have their own local website for the area providing news, travel and weather information, as well as other features.
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC East Midlands andITV Central. The city's television signals are received from theWaltham TV transmitter.
Capital Midlands (previouslyCapital East Midlands andRam FM) is the biggest commercial radio station in the city, broadcasting to Derby on 102.8 FM from the transmitter at Drum Hill, just outside the city. It broadcasts a Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) format, with Top 40 chart hits aimed at the city's under-35s.
Derby istwinned withOsnabrück in Germany. The partnership treaty between the two cities was signed on 17 February 1976.[224]
The twinning agreement with Derby was in the historical Hall of Peace in Osnabrück's Rathaus (town hall).Every year, Derby and Osnabrück each appoint an envoy who spends twelve months in the twin city. The envoy promotes the exchange of ideas between the two cities and acts as an educational and information officer to increase awareness of the twinning scheme. The envoy gives talks to local societies and schools, findspen friends and short-term host families during work placements, works to assist groups who want to get involved in twinning by identifying and approaching possible counterparts and plans the annual May Week trip.
There is an annual exchange between the wind bands ofJohn Port Spencer Academy, Etwall, and its twin school Gymnasium Melle inMelle, Germany,District ofOsnabrücker Land.An exchange was established in 2009 betweenAllestree Woodlands School and the GymnasiumAngelaschule in Osnabrück.This exchange was originally based on a drama project by both schools in June 2009, which included performances in both cities with over 1600 visitors. It is now a language and culture exchange between the two schools, run by the German department at Allestree Woodlands School.
The exchange of envoys between two cities is very unusual. The envoy in Osnabrück changes every year and Osnabrück also sends envoys to Derby,Angers andÇanakkale. No other city in Germany participates in this exchange of envoys, and in Britain, only one other town,Wigan, receives and sends an envoy.
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