A series of four regional evening seminars are being held offering guidance to landowners who are looking to set up or expand their rural businesses.

The seminars, which are being hosted by the Country, Land and Business Association and sponsored by emda, will also outline the planning system, along with any available sources of grant funding

The seminars are being held on:

• 30 November at the Lincolnshire Oak Hotel, East Road, Sleaford, Lincs NG34 7EH
• 1 December at Newark Showground, Winthorpe, Newark, Notts NG24 2NY
• 7 December at Sunley Management Centre, Park Campus, Boughton Green Road, Northampton NN2 7AL
• 8 December at Conkers, Rawdon Road, Moira, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE12 6GA

Registration for all the events is from 6.30pm and the seminars will run until after 9pm. Tickets for these events are £7.50 per person. Further details, including a booking form, are attached.

Grants of up to £500 are available now for organisations and projects which are working to bring different groups of people together in Leicestershire.

The new ‘Communities Together’ grant is intended to support community and voluntary organisations who are involved in local projects which:

• play an active role in getting different communities and groups of individuals together to increase understanding and communication
• promote inter-cultural education and relations
• introduce and engage new audiences, organisations and community groups to each other.

Eligible projects will be able to demonstrate their success in increasing cohesion and understanding between people from different age, faith and belief groups or of different abilities, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and gender.

The grant could be used to fund the promotion or development of local projects, workshops or training sessions for different community groups, consultation events, sporting events and much more.

The ‘Communities Together’ Grant Fund is open to projects operating in Leicestershire and applications will be assessed on a monthly basis.

For further information e-mail either Noel Singh or Tom Fisher

The latest report from ACRE with regard to rural community buildings highlights the success of volunteer management of these facilities but highlights a fragile future. To read more please download the attached ACRE press release and the report itself.

In order to give this information a local context the Leicestershire & Rutland Rural Community Council have extracted the following statistics from the report covering halls in both Leicestershire & Rutland:

• 69% have taken steps to improve energy efficiency although none have installed sources of renewable energy. 71% say that they are actively trying to save resources.
• 60% of halls are planning for major improvements over the next 5 years of which 86% will have to apply for grant funding. 93% carry out small repairs and routine maintenance themselves.
• 21% say they plan to develop their halls for statutory or other services. However 61% state that funding could not be found to develop the hall how they wished and 31% could not find volunteers needed to develop the hall.
• 50% have sought assistance from the Rural Community Council over the last 5 years of which 88% rate the service as excellent or good, 9% satisfactory and 3% could not recall!

For further information about the services offered by the Rural Community Council for village halls locally please contact jmoore@ruralcc.org.uk

(Pictured is the recently renovated Seagrave village hall.)

Centre Screen, the mobile community cinema scheme for Leicestershire, are hosting two events for current and potential volunteers.

These events will give us the chance to update you on developments, review the past year and allow you to give us feed back. It’s also an opportunity for people who have not yet had Centre Screen visit their community to find out how it works. These events are great for meeting fellow volunteers to swap hints & tips and to find out what will be the big films over the next few months.

The Monday event will be held at the brand new Phoenix Square, the new base for Centre Screen, which will have only just opened to the public a few days earlier.

• Saturday 21st November from 2.30pm to 4.30pm at Barkby Village Hall, 19 Beeby Road, Barkby, LE7 3QB
• Monday 23rd November from 6pm to 8pm at Phoenix Square, 4 Midland Street, Leicester. LE1 1TG

For further information, directions to the venue and to book your place please e-mail: pete.grosch@phoenix.org.uk or ring 0116 242 2845.

Entries now being accepted for the East Midlands Women of Worth Awards 2010. Designed to recognise the commitment and contribution made by business women to the regional economy, the East Midlands Women of Worth Awards 2010 will spotlight three outstanding business women in key business categories.
These awards are designed to recognise the achievement of many of our entrepreneurial and forward-thinking women. Currently, women are half as likely to be involved in entrepreneurship as men, so it is vital that we recognise the business achievements of those who have taken the step into the marketplace and hopefully encourage others to do the same.
The three categories are as follows:

• Small Business of the Year
• Most Innovative Business
• Business Women of the Year

You can nominate yourself, a colleague, a friend or client or indeed nominate yourself. The entry process is very simple and the deadline for applications is Friday 15th January 2010. The winners will be announced at the East Midlands Women in Business Conference on Thursday 4th March 2010.
Click here for further information and nomination details www.kc-jones.co.uk/rsm/6/event-page/188/1/

More than £75,000 has been injected into Leicestershire’s rural communities, thanks to a successful grant scheme.

Vibrant Villages, has awarded grants totalling over £77,000 to thirteen shops and six community spaces but with over £100,000 still available until the end of 2010, people are still being urged to take advantage of the money available.

Through the three-year scheme, rural businesses, including shops and post offices, can apply for up to £5,000 while also benefiting from free, expert business advice. It also supports existing facilities, such as community halls or pubs, to become multi-purpose venues which could incorporate meeting spaces, youth facilities, crèches or training venues.

Vibrant Villages has already supported post offices in Castle Donington, Coleorton, Ullesthorpe and Newbold Verdon, a number of village shops, including Somerby Stores, Daybreak Services in Packington and Roots farm shop at Barkby Thorpe, along with the new Diseworth Heritage Centre, Packington Memorial Hall and St Michaels and All Angels Church in Fenny Drayton.

Here's what some of the grant recipients have had to say, Stella Lucas, from Coleorton post office said, "Through the scheme I received excellent retail advice which was easy to follow and helped make a big difference to my business." Mohammed Bhojani of MJB Opticians in Quorn said, "The grant has helped me to provide a specialist mobile optical service with the latest equipment, enabling a growing number of people who would otherwise struggle to visit an optician to receive this essential service in their own community"

For more information ring 0116 305 5673 or e-mail: ruralgrants@leics.gov.uk Further details and an online application form, are available at: www.oakleaves.org.uk/vibrantvillages

Follow this link http://www.oakleaves.org.uk/uploads/354ae6bf124d9d8259699754.pdf to download the latest Rural Digest which includes:

• An NFU report on Why Farming matters in terms of food production, the environment and the economy
• Savills Livestock bulletin
• Defra's Soil Strategy
• UK Countryside Survey
• CRC report on Indicators of Poverty and Social Exclusion

Stand holders including the Energy Saving Trust, Severn Trent, the Big Switch Off, Leicestershire Food Links, Freecycle, BTCV, Master Composters, Naturally Good Foods, Ullesthorpe Windmill, and Ullesthorpe Playing Fields Association successfully joined forces with the RCC and the Ullesthorpe Environment Group recently at the ‘Ullesthorpe Save Money Go Green’ event.

The event which was funded by both the Big Switch Off and Leicestershire County Council, provided information and advice on energy & water saving, waste reduction & recycling and sustainable transport as well as promoting local food & produce, village organisations, local environmental projects and encouraging involvement in the countywide ‘Big Switch Off’ campaign.

Local MP Andrew Robathan and County and District Councillor Rosita Page were among those that came along to get involved and show their support.

RCC community development officer Sam Howlett said “The success of Save Money Go Green and the positive feedback it received is a testament to the enthusiasm and commitment of the volunteers from the Ullesthorpe Environment Group who worked incredibly hard to put this event together.”

Hoping to build on the success of this event the group are now concentrating on a ‘Community Litter Pick’ which they are organising conjunction with Ullesthorpe Parish Council and is set to take place on Saturday 31st October.

The LRP is pleased to announce that it has secured just under £600,000 from the East Midlands Development Agency and £140,000 from Leicestershire County Council to deliver a new programme to support the County’s rural economies.

INSPIRE Leicestershire will provide support for market towns and rural areas to help deliver economic improvements. Support will be available in three areas which include;

• Extending the application of the successful Welland town centre benchmarking toolkit to key town and rural centres in Leicestershire. This will include financial support to existing and new business partnerships operating within these areas to deliver on their priorities.
• Support to provide responses to key issues affecting the growth and development of the rural economy. Activities will include planning workshops, mapping tourism hotspots and providing rural business advice fairs. Funding will also be available to deliver the priorities of key rural sector partnerships.
• Infrastructure investment support for redundant building schemes, tourism development, workspace provision and equestrian businesses. Within town and rural centres support will be available for shop front improvements and workspace provision above retail premises.

Mrs Lesley Pendleton, Chairman of the LRP and Leicestershire County Council Cabinet Lead Member for Highways, Transportation and Equalities, said, “I am very pleased that we have been able to secure this much needed funding to help deliver against our rural economic priorities. This programme will help us develop our town centres and rural businesses, capitalise on our existing strengths and bring forward new opportunities for growth”.

The new programme will build on the successes achieved through both the LRP’s former Rural Business Support and Market Towns Programme. The Rural Business programme alone provided over 300 grants, was worth a total of £1.2m, and created or safeguarded a total of 350 jobs.

INSPIRE Leicestershire will be delivered through the County Council’s Better Places Team. Working is being undertaken to appoint a project officer to deliver the infrastructure investment grants, finalise the funding criteria and set a date for the official launch of the programme. Further information will be made available in due course through the LRP’s Oakleaves website at www.oakleaves.org.uk/inspire

For more information on the programme, or to express an interest, e-mail:matthew.kempson@leics.gov.uk or ring: 0116 305 6179.

Brooksby Hall, near Melton Mowbray, has announced details of an exciting and varied four month season of evening events running until February. Music lovers are spoilt for choice with a range of jazz, folk, country and celtic inspired musical performances and for those who prefer their spines to be tingled there are ghost tours which will take you back through the Hall's turbulent history.

Don’t forget Brooksby Hall is open for Christmas parties, private dinners and lunches. e-mail: brooksbyhall@brooksbymelton.ac.uk or ring 01664 855 262 to book one of the best Christmas dinners in the county!