Friday night in Derby, a mild night, and the city centre was heaving with over 10,000 people, largely families with young children, who had come out specially to see the street parades and other artistic performances which marked the region's launch of the Cultural Olympiad.

The crowd were awed by the Giants of Derby puppets made by local schoolchildren, by Sarruga's large mechanical insects from Spain and by an acrobat suspended from a helium balloon, accompanied by a specially commissioned musical score from Scanner. The evening also witnessed the public opening of Quad, the new £11m visual arts and film centre, located right next to Derby's big screen.

Beautiful weather continued on the Saturday afternoon when I was at Nottingham Castle for the One 8 festival, which had been awarded the first Inspire mark in the region. Over 4,000 people participating in the workshops being provided by young people in collaboration with museums from around the East Midlands which demonstrated so clearly how an understanding of our past can illuminate our futures.

And then on Sunday, I returned to Derby, to find hordes of people still going around the Quad or watching the performances on the People's Stage.

Beau Geste's duet of mechanical digger and dancer performed twice in the central market square, before crowds assembled in the evening to see Denis Tricot's water garden of fire sculptures and cello recital over the nearby River Derwent. A reflective and beautiful end to an exhilarating weekend.