A personal statement from the Mayor of Wirksworth

Statement from Cllr Elisa McDonagh – Mayor, Wirksworth Town Council.

“In addition to the statement issued by the council, I would like to highlight the following:

Our staff have had to deal with numerous abusive emails. Our staff have been accused of being Neo-nazis, fascists and of supporting far right extremists. This has put our wonderful team of staff under untold stress, hurt, upset and left them fearing for their safety and the safety of their families. This is completely and utterly unacceptable – I cannot emphasise this enough.

I want to make it clear that the entire situation has been fully investigated and our staff acted proportionately, appropriately, with the utmost integrity and within the law. They were guided by police advice. They dealt with a very difficult and sensitive situation in a highly professional way. I never doubted that they had acted in any other way – having served on the council since 2019 I have built a strong relationship with our staff and I trust them implicitly. I felt the need to investigate purely so I could relay this message as a way of dealing with the unacceptable correspondence they have received. The responsibility for this upset to our community does not lie with our staff, who were merely doing their jobs to their usual high standards. The blame is firmly with those who booked the town hall causing this situation and have attempted to divide us as a community. We must come together and rise against this, not letting these people divide us. Let’s not give them any further publicity because this is what they are seeking. As a council we are incredibly fortunate to employ a team of staff who care as deeply about our town and community as we as councillors do. It is not tolerable that our staff and their families are abused or threatened.

I too am upset to learn how this has impacted our community. But I believe we can come out of this stronger. The council will review our policies and booking arrangements to avoid the chances of this happening again.

We will be sharing our experiences with other town and parish councils to help them learn from it and to take steps to protect their communities.”

Stoney Wood

Stoney Wood is Wirksworth’s Millennium woodland planted in the area recovered from Stonecroft Quarry. The land on which the wood is planted was donated by Tarmac Ltd to Wirksworth Town Council. The original planting was started by Tarmac but later sections were planted by local adults and children in a project …

Hiring the Hall

We have two buildings with rooms to hire on an hourly basis, and the newly renovated Fanny Shaw’s Community Building (FSCB) which is operated on a key loan system.

Town Hall:- The Main Hall is large, suitable for a variety of uses – dance, exercise, large meeting space, wedding reception, family parties, musical events, etc, whilst other rooms – the Club Room, Ante Room, Council Chamber, are suited to smaller classes/groups. All rooms are available for hire during the day & evening during week days & weekends.

Memorial Hall:- the Hall & Kitchen are available to hire for meetings, parties, fayres, events and classes/groups, during the day & evening during week days and weekends.

Fanny Shaw’s:- Community building key available free of charge for use by groups such as: parents, schools, nurseries, scouts & not-for-profit groups holding events on the park.

Council Meetings

Environment & Town Affairs
(Usually held on the first Monday of the month)
Finance, Buildings & Personnel
(Usually held on the second Monday of the month)
Town Council Meeting
(Usually held on the third Monday of the month)