Transforming Spaces for Young People in Staffordshire with Derventio Trust
Plus Potters Pledge to support the ceramics industry, commemorating John Baskeyfield and flats get snapped up sharpish at Goods Yard…
This month, we are supported by Steel Door Company, luxury steel doors to transform your home 🚪 🏠 🔨
Good News 🎉
🏡 More Than Just a Roof. Staffs social landlord Derventio Housing Trust is transforming the spaces of the young people it supports thanks to the Centrepoint and Nationwide Fairer Futures grant programme, More Than a Roof. Derventio provides accommodation to around 1,200 people in the UK, along with additional support programmes to help residents on to a more positive pathway. Last year around a fifth of Derventio’s residents were aged between 18 and 25. With the grant, Derventio is upgrading 90 rooms throughout its accommodation so residents can add soft furnishings and electrical goods like lights, kettles, and toasters. Know someone who needs help? More info here.
🧵🪡 THE KNOT’S PERSON OF THE WEEK – Dr Jack Roberts 🪡🧵
Talented stitcher Dr John Roberts, aka JPR Stitch and author of One A Day, Every Day: The Daily Practice handbook features in a new exhibition, A Common Thread, at the Brampton Museum.This textiles take-over will feature three exhibitions – contemporary art by Roberts alongside a display of textile artefacts from the Museumʼs collection and a show exploring local textile history and industry. The exhibition opened last Saturday and there’s plenty of time to catch it, as it’s on until 21/12 (10am-5pm Tues to Sat, 1.30pm-5pm Sun). It’s free - yay!
👾 More Gaming Recognition for Uni of Staffs. We’re really good at gaming stuff in Staffs. The university is in the running for more awards than any other university at the TIGA UK Games Education Awards 2025, the trade association representing the UK’s video games industry. Based at the uni, the Staffordshire Games Institute is shortlisted for 16 awards across 12 categories, with winners to be revealed at a ceremony on 29/09. Up for ‘Best Student Game’ is Pushy Plushy a party video game developed by a team of students called Thinking Brick Studios for their final year Collaborative Game Development module.
🪦 Commemorating John Baskeyfield. A commemorative ceremony was held this Sunday at the Jack Baskeyfield statue on Festival Park to pay tribute to this 21-year-old Lance Sergeant from Burslem, who was just 21 when he gave his life during the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944 as part of Operation Market Garden, the largest airborne landing in military history. Ahead of Port Vale FC’s League One match against Mansfield Town, the club’s armed forces community group held a breakfast and church service dedicated to Jack, who was a Port Vale fan, followed by a wreath laying on the pitch before kick-off.
🫖 Potters Pledge to Support Our Ceramics Industry. Stoke-on-Trent City Council has confirmed it will only buy local ceramics in the future by signing up to the Potters' Pledge, a campaign led by the GMB union, which is calling on organisations to source part of their ceramic needs from companies in Stoke-on-Trent and the wider county. The council has promised to ensure routine purchases of tableware are sourced from local providers from now on.
🏠 Flats Get Snapped Up At Goods Yard. Bold regeneration project Goods Yard, is fast becoming the city’s hottest place to live, with more than 115 of the 175 apartments already rented out. With work underway to open up the train station car park directly into the new public gardens, people will soon be able to stroll straight through Goods Yard, past the café-bars and restaurants, making it one of the busiest and most connected parts of Stoke. In the market for a house move? Secure one of the last homes by booking a viewing with Ollo.
🌹 New Lease of Life for Spode Rose Garden. The Spode Rose Garden has been given a fresh new look as part of Stoke-on-Trent’s Centenary celebrations – thanks to the support of local based firms. Morgan and Bond Ltd provided 10 tonnes of topsoil, laid new stone pathways and created a slabbed hopscotch court, Dulux Decorator Centre donated masonry paint for volunteers to brighten the garden wall, and The Hire Service Company supplied specialist equipment and training to help the Friends of Spode Rose Garden trim back wisteria safely.
🥨 Good Vibes Only: A word from Helen, writer at The Knot
It was with some sadness that we read about Wedgwood pausing production for up to 90 days, with 70 employees placed on temporary leave, due to falling demand. Local MP Gareth Snell confirmed that he'd already begun speaking to the new Secretary of State for Business & Trade, Peter Kyle, about the work he and other MPs have been doing alongside trade union GMB and Ceramics UK to support the industry. This is why initiatives such as the Potters Pledge are so important: local businesses, and we, the local people, need to put our money where our mouth is and buy local ceramics the next time we need a new teapot, mugs, cups or anything we can purchase from Wedgwood, Emma Bridgewater, Burleigh, Dudson and the like.
On another note, one of our readers, Philip Johnson, wrote in to say how much he enjoyed reading Mel Osborne’s feature, Reclaiming Hanley. Philip is leading a group walking the last 47 Bottle Kilns from Longport’s Cherished Chimneys at 10am on 03/10 and says he will definitely be stopping by with the group on Marsh Street to admire the mural. He elaborates, “I’ve given an indication to the city BID team that the other hundred faces who were nominated perhaps ought to be on a second wall now, not exactly as a B team but as yet another hundred fabulous Stokies! He believes the mural, and the newly-installed Lemmy statue, definitely bring people into the city in the same way that Shoreditch attracts visitors simply to see the urban street art. He adds, “Local people regularly complain about how Stoke looks a little bit dishevelled, but there’s nothing like sprucing up some buildings with amazing artwork.” We couldn’t agree more, Philip…
If you’ve got any feedback about Mel’s feature, our social media reels, or indeed anything Knot-related, let us know in the comments below or email us!
Really Good News 🎉 Your favourite news from the last week
🛍️ Reclaiming Hanley: Keep it Local and other local brands are encouraging Stokies to ditch online shopping and return to the high street…
👏 BuytoGive: A local entrepreneur has launched the UK’s first giving marketplace
👨🎨 Admire Assemblage Art: There’s a show by Edward Mackenzie on now
The Knot Interviews: Rach spoke to Clare Wood, artistic director and chief executive of the British Ceramics Biennial. If you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, it’s open until 19/10 at Spode Works, 10am-4pm every day. And it’s FREE!
Weekly Weather (Stoke-on-Trent):
Mon ☀️ 13° (4°) Tue ⛅️ 14° (5°) Wed ⛅️ 15° (6°) Thu ☀️ 15° (6°) Fri ☀️ 16° (8°)
Sat ⛅️ 16° (7°) Sun ☀️ 16° (7°).
Sunrise 22/09 ☀️06:49 Sunset 22/09 🌅 19:15