The purpose of this site is to provide useful, important and interesting news, information and insight for residents and visitors, with the hope of enriching the life of the village, and the aim of bringing our community closer together. If you have any information you’d like to add to the website or updates you’d like to make, please contact the webmasters (click ‘contact’ tab above).
Caretaker position open at Milford School
Milford School has a position for a caretaker open. See here for more details.
Milford School
Belper 250 Celebrations
Belper and Milford are hoping to stage celebrations to mark the 250 years since Jedidiah Strutt set up his cotton mills in Belper, before doing the same in Milford, and transforming our village completely. For more information and how to get involved, see the article here.
Christmas wreath making at Milford Baptist Chapel
Milford Baptist Chapel hosted its annual Christmas wreath making event on the 5th December. This proved hugely popular once again and some beautiful wreaths were created. There was no charge to attend but £265 was donated and after expenses, £200 will be sent to “The ABC Orphanage” in Swaziland. Thanks to all who contributed to this great total.
Milford Mills Development Update
After the developers spending much of the spring and summer laying foundations, suddenly and rapidly new buildings are appearing on the site – for more photos and a more detailed summary of how far the development has got, see here. There will be 69 properties in total, a mixture of terraced houses and flats, and they are already for sale. The developers website here gives a good impression of what they will look like.
Christmas Fayre held in The King William a great success
The Christmas Fayre was held in The King William on Sunday 23rd November was very well attended and a huge success, with close to £600 raised for the upkeep of Bridge View Allotments. The organisers would like to give sincere thanks to all those who attended, all those who volunteered on the day and donated produce and The King William for hosting the event and their generous provision of hot drinks and bacon cobs.
Homemade cakes, biscuits and pastries
For more details of the day, please see the article here.
New business in the restored dye house in Milford
Nestled in the beautifully restored 1832 Dye House on the A6, Bloom Reformer Studio’s Milford location offers a unique blend of historic charm and modern wellness.
Their state-of-the-art Pilates studio features 12 premium Reformer machines, expert-led Reformer Pilates classes, a welcoming health bar, and exclusive Bloom merchandise.
For more information, see their website here.
Milford & Makeney wins Gold in East Midlands in Bloom competition
For the third year running, Milford and Makeney has won the highest award, Gold, in the Village category of the East Midlands in Bloom competition, a great achievement. Once again, many thanks to all those who helped to make Milford look so lovely for the East Midlands in Bloom judging on 11th July. Meanwhile The Holly Bush, Social Club and Old Bike Shop on the A6 all got Silver Gilt awards for their floral displays, also an excellent achievement. In addition Rob and Poyee Beaumont got a Special Judges Award for their lovely shared garden at the end of Millers Way, seen here in July.
Communal garden at the bottom of Millers Way flats
For a more detailed report of the work leading up to judging and more photos, see here.
Milford Apple Day
Milford Apple Day was held on The Greenspace on 11th October 2-4pm on a lovely warm afternoon. There were apple based refreshments and apple based games for the children. It was well attended and still populated with parents and children after the Greenspace volunteers had packed up and gone home at 4.30pm!
For more photos from this event and a report of Greenspace activities since July 2024, see here.
Macmillan Morning at The King William a great success
A Macmillan coffee morning was arranged by the King William pub for the morning of 24th September. A huge number of cakes and pies were baked by the residents of Milford and tea and coffee provided by The King William.
It was a great success – £490 was raised for the charity. Many thanks to those who did the baking, those who attended, and The King William for hosting.
Memorials to Chris Ring in Bridge View Allotments
Following Chris Ring’s tragic death in Milford in June last year, several memorials have been organised for him in Milford, on Bridge View Allotments. The first, a bench opposite his former allotment, was installed at the end of July.
Memorial bench to Chris Ring
Work is nearly complete on a second, the Chris Ring Community Orchard, which will be available for the whole village to use. In September the area was completely transformed, as the pictures below show.
Volunteers doing final clearing of area
Complete transformation!
For more detail see the article here.
Milford & Makeney Flower and Produce Show 2025 – Another success
The Milford and Makeney Flower and Produce Show was held on the 13th September and deemed a great success, with entries up 60% from last year, and categories increased from 30 to 41 to include baking, eggs and preserves this year. For more details and photos, see article here.
Fruit and vegetable entries
Litter Pick in Milford on 26th August
A litter pick was organised by The King William and The White Peak Distillery starting at 6pm on Tuesday 26th August. An excellent turnout of 20 people fanned out all over Milford and Makeney over the next hour, picking up litter. Villagers will be pleased to hear most litter was found outside the village boundaries! The King William very kindly then offered a free drink and nibbles afterwards for all participants.
Litter pick team outside The King William
Children’s Play Area Closed
On 21st June 2025 the Children’s Play Area on the A6 was suddenly closed by Amber Valley Borough Council, with no reason given. By 7th July a much more informative sign was in place, as shown below. Large temporary fences then appeared to deter children from trying to play on the area.
Our local councillors have been alerted so they can try to ensure the inspection process is undertaken swiftly and any actions dealt with as soon as possible, since this is a very popular play park, especially at this time of year. This has also appeared on a BBC article, see here.
Rally held on Milford Triangle 16th June
The LGBT+ rainbow flag is one of many flown on Milford Triangle by Belper Town Council. A couple of months ago when it was flying it was removed by vandals, who also damaged the flagpole, which had to be replaced by Belper Town Council. When the LGBT+ flag was flown more recently, it was cut down by vandals again. Belper Pride organised a rally to protest on the 16th June at 6pm, and were joined by many Milford residents offering their support. A free drink and snacks were then offered to all those who attended by The William at 7pm.
Milford & Makeney May Day – another wonderful day!
The highlight of the Milford and Makeney social calendar took place Saturday 10th May, at 3 venues (The Holly Bush, The Elephant & Peacock and Milford School) and as well as the usual Morris dancing, Maids of The Mill, Maypole dancing and fire eater, and also featured the Belper Boom drum band. The theme was Fairy Stories and as in previous recent years we were treated to lovely weather, bringing out record crowds of people.
For more photos and a more detailed report of the day, see the article here.
Milford Mills Development – May Update
For the latest news on the Milford Mills site, including an explanation of the eerie whining sound coming from the site during weekdays, see here.
Local community groups do well in plant sales over the May Day weekend
Milford community groups Blooming Milford, Bridge View Allotments and The Greenspace all had stalls at Belper Town Council’s Sunny Sunday plant sale on Belper Market Square on Sunday 11th May to provide funds for their activities.
Bridge View Allotments stall at Belper Town Council’s Sunday plant market
Blooming Milford’s stall
Blooming Milford also had a plant stall outside the school as part of the school fair on Saturday 10th May at 3pm. Over the weekend Blooming Milford made £520 for their funds – a record – thank you so much for your support.
Plants being loaded for Blooming Milford’s stall at the School Fair
Milford Mills Chimney Sold
In our December update on the Milford Mills development, we reported site developers Chevin Homes had put the mill chimney, a listed structure, up for sale. Last week it was sold for £3000 to Laura Gregory of Derby as a birthday present for her husband Lee. They intend to use it as a “quirky office space.” For more detail, see the BBC article here.
Huge community effort to move 2 tonnes of chipped bark onto The Greenspace
For more details, see article here.
New defibrillator in Milford
There is a new defibrillator in Milford installed on the back of one of the Courthouse Farm buildings facing the public footpath leading off Chevin golf course going towards Hazelwood Hall Farm.
This brings the tally in Milford to three; the other two being at the side of Milford Social Club facing the school on Chevin Road and by the telephone box on the A6 just south of The Children’s Play Area.
Planning Application for Children’s Home at Makeney Coach House and Gate House – October 2024 update
In August we reported a planning application had been submitted for change of use at The Coach House and The Gate House in Makeney from C3 dwelling house to C2 children’s home (may affect the setting of a listed building and character and appearance of the Conservation Area).
The Coach House and The Gate House are the historic Strutt buildings centrally located on Makeney Road opposite Makeney Hall Hotel and are currently used as a holiday let.
Makeney Coach House at present
The application would accommodate a total of 8 children or young adults of ages 10-18 across the houses, with 16 staff working a 24 hour shift pattern.
Further details can be found at the Amber Valley Borough Council website here under application number AVA/2024/0425.
Comments/objections can be filed and so far there have been 57 objections, including one from Belper Town Council on 2nd October 2024, which can be seen here. BTC Response 2 Oct 2024
A group of concerned residents has been formed and can be contacted on makeneygroup@outlook.com
Milford featured in ‘remarkable’ photo book of the Derwent Valley Mills Heritage Site
The first ever photo book to celebrate the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage
Site – authored by Milford photographer Ashley Franklin – has been hailed ‘a remarkable project celebrating a remarkable landscape’ in Outdoor Photography, the UK’s premier photography magazine.
Published last December, the 228-page hardback book sold 500 copies in its first 10 weeks. Currently over 600 copies have been sold. Milford features in nearly 50 of the 477 images.
Initially commissioned in 2014 by the Arkwright Society during his tenure as their official photographer, Ashley’s project took flight in 2019 when Ian joined forces and together they invited additional photographers to participate. Divided into three thematic sections—Industrial Heritage, People & Places, and Wildlife—this photo book
encapsulates the valley’s historical significance, its communities, and its rich biodiversity.
To read more about the book and see locally-taken images, click here
Milford House enters into spirit of “In Bloom”
Donna Stanton, senior nurse at the Milford House care home, on hearing that Milford had been entered into the Britain in Bloom competition, was inspired to have Milford House be part of it.
Over three months the large raised bed gardens there were cleared and then planted up with flowers and vegetables, with the help of the residents.
Raised beds at Milford House cleared by April
One of the raised beds by July
For a more detailed report and a video showing the whole garden in all its glory, see here.
BBC Radio 2’s Vernon Kay runs through Milford for Children In Need
As part of his challenge to run the 115 miles from Leicester to his home town Bolton in just 4 days (see here for details) in order to raise funds for Children In Need, BBC Radio 2 DJ Vernon Kay ran through Milford on his second day. Crowds gathered on the A6 at 9.45am on the 15th November 2023 and at 9.55 Vernon, and his entourage of well wishers running along with him, went past and then sped up Chevin Road. The picture below (from the Derby Evening Telegraph) is as he passed Milford School on Chevin Road.
The video below was taken as he went past Bank Buildings.
He was remarkably chipper at the time, but this was the longest day of the four, at 40 miles, and he was considerably more tired when he arrived at Hope in the evening. For more pictures of his day, see the Derby Evening Telegraph article here.
Did Rod ‘Strutt’ his stuff in Milford?
Do you remember live music at the Strutt Arms in the 1960s? It’s reported that Rod Stewart sang there. Bryan Bennion has some choice memories of seeing Gary Farr – and even Alan Price of Simon Smith & The Amazing Dancing Bear fame. Read more here
The King William has a QUIZ NIGHT every Wednesday at 9.00 pm and Live Entertainment at 9.00 pm on Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Milford Social Club has fortnightly Live Entertainment on a Saturday and Sunday: All 9 pm start on Saturday and 3 pm on Sunday (unless specified). Free admission.
Have a need? A want? A sale?
This website has always been a resource where we can help you with a particular appeal. For instance: Do you need a recommendation for a good plumber?Would you like help with sponsorship for a charity? Are you keen to form an activity group within the village? Want to sell some horse manure for the garden? Just go to this page by clicking here and fill in the contact form. Click here to read about a garden plot to let.
WHAT’S ON THIS WEBSITE
The News & Events box to your left will keep you up to date with what is going on – and coming up! The Menu tabs above open up lots of ‘sub-menus’, extra pages which fall under the main menu headings. For instance, hold your cursor on the Information tab (or the box to the right) and you will see pages which, with one click, will lead you to information about essential and useful resources provided in the village and beyond e.g. schools, shops, pubs, public footpaths, churches, restaurants, residential homes, places to stay, doctors’ surgeries and MP surgeries, bus times and businesses. The Activities tab will reveal all the organisations and interest groups in the village – everything from Maypole Promotions to the Knit Knatter Club. The History tab mines the area’s rich heritage seam and we hope, in time, to make this area of the website a substantial archive.
Appeal Please let us know if there any inaccuracies to this website. We would also like to hear from you if you can help in any way to improve the site. Is there some useful information you can add? Maybe you run a business or are part of an activity in the village that we ought to know about? Perhaps you have some reminiscences of Milford and Makeney life along with some old photos? Here is the webmaster’s email address again: webmaster@milford-makeney.org
With thanks to the Milford & Makeney Community Group for promoting the establishment of this website and to Ashley Franklin and David Moreton for sponsoring and managing the site.
