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The Derbyshire flag was flown for the first time on Friday 22nd September.

It was unveiled at ceremonies at Derby Cathedral, The Buxton campus of the University of Derby, Ashbourne Town Hall and Ripley Town Hall.Ìý

If you've been following the idea for a Derbyshire flag here on the site or on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Derby, you'll know that it's been a project that has generated a huge response.Ìý

Once the idea was first mentioned on my Breakfast Show, listeners really seemed to be enthusiastic about it and so we felt we should persue how to go about creating a flag for Derbyshire.Ìý

Thanks to the people who listen to the show, use the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Bus and those who regularly visit bbc.co.uk/derby we now have a winning design, but it was a process that involved lots of design ideas and lots of feedback on them!Ìý

In the end, three designs were shortlisted based on what people had told us they wanted, and then it was down to you to choose the winner.

It was a close run thing too, proving that all three designs would have made a superb Derbyshire flag, but in the end one design pulled ahead and won with a clear majority.

I learnt a lot about Derbsyhire's civic heraldry along the way too.Ìý The significance of the Tudor Rose for instance was fascinating - it's been Derbyshire's county badge since the 1470s and as such it's already featured in lots of county organisations symbols.

You'll find it on things like the Derbsyhire Police Badge, the County Council's coat of arms, the Derbyshire County Cricket Club logo (where it's in gold), The Derbyshire Guide Association badge and even the Derbyshire Lawn Tennis Association flag.Ìý

Meanwhile the stag's connections with Derbyshire stretch back to Viking times with three stag heads representing the Dukes of Devonshire and being featured on the county council coat of arms.Ìý

We're keeping the winner under wraps for now, but we're in the process of getting that design made into lovely hand sewn flags ready for a special hoisting ceremony in September.Ìý

The plan is to unveil the winning design on the flagpoles of some prominent buildings in Derbyshire at the same time on the same day!Ìý Where do you think we should unveil the flag?Ìý

The Derbyshire Flag

THE THREE FINAL FLAGS

These were the three flags that made it through for final consideration...

Flag One

This was one of the most liked designs. However, much of the feedback on this flag said that it would look better with either the rose or the stag and not both.Ìý

The rose looked most striking, so the symbol of the stag was moved to Flag Design 2.Ìý

The blue is one of the traditional colours of Derbyshire and represents our rivers and reservoirs too, the cross marks the fact that Derbyshire is at the centre of the country and it's green because we are a lush county.Ìý

The rose is in gold to symbolise our quality and avoid confusion with Lancashire and Yorkshire.Ìý

Design two

The gold rose is also featured on the badge for Derbyshire county cricket club.Ìý The flag was designed by Breakfast Show listener Martin Enright.

Flag Two

The basic design was inspired by the flag submitted by 10 year old Daniel Hoskins from Bakewell, but includes the popular Derbyshire symbol of the stag from several other designs.Ìý

Once again the green represents our countryside and the blue our rivers.Ìý The vertical stripes on this design were quite unusual compared with some of the other flags submitted and this made it quite striking.ÌýÌý

Flag Three

This again was a popular design from the feedback, but the colour of the Tudor rose been corrected to red with a white centre.Ìý

Design three

Again in accordance with the feedback the rose has also been reduced slightly in size and the green colour has been darkened.Ìý

It was felt that the background colours would be better in a less abstract design.Ìý Once again, the azure is one of the traditional colours of Derbyshire and the green represents the countryside.Ìý

This flag was designed by Breakfast Show listener Leon Summers.

It's worth noting that further small amendments may be necessary to the winning design to enable it to be mass-produced easily as a flag.ÌýÌýÌý