Huw came to the region on the 30th March to launch the National Forest's new Delivery Plan www.nationalforest.org/about_us/consultation/
Later in the day he found time to see some of the LRP's work. His first stop was Foan Hill in Swannington to visit an affordable rural housing site where he met with some of the local tennants. The site was developed in partnership between Midlands Rural Housing, the local Parish Council and North West Leicestershire District Council, and is now managed by Leicestershire Rural Housing Association (LRHA). The Association’s Local Connections Criteria was utilised to ensure that local people were housed in the new homes.

(pictured from left to right, Craig Felts, Managing Director of Midlands Rural Housing, Swannington resident, Julie Siddles and Rural Affairs Minster, Huw Irranca-Davies)

Following this Huw was given a guided tour to see the finishing touches being made to the new Diseworth Heritage Centre, which is being officially opened on 7th April by the Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Lady Gretton. At the centre the Minister met with Mrs Lesley Pendleton, the LRP's Chairman, along with senior Leicestershire County Council staff, including Assistant Directors from Adult Social Care and Leicestershire Highways. Part of the afternoon was devoted to discussing Leicestershire's approach to rural proofing as well as challenges around implementing government policy within rural areas.

BT has launched a new round of its BT Community Connections (BTCC) award scheme to help people get online in the East Midlands.
Community and charitable groups in the region are being invited to apply for BTCC Awards, which include a laptop and a year’s broadband internet connection. Groups can also apply together for a BTCC Cluster Award to each receive additional packages of IT equipment.
Whilst the internet has become a crucial aspect of daily life for the majority*, many people are still missing out on the opportunities to email, network, find training, secure a job and access vital services provided by the web. About a third of all people in the country are considered to be ‘digitally excluded’.
BT believes that enhanced communications help create a fairer, more inclusive society where everybody has the opportunity to participate, benefit and contribute. The award scheme enables groups already working within communities to get online and experience the benefits of the internet, helping them to build capacity and encourage their members to support each other in their own digital journeys.
To apply simply log on to www.btcommunityconnections.com or write to PO Box 6919, London W1A 8UX to request an application form.

The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Tim Stevens, was spending time serving customers at the newly refurbished Somerby village stores earlier this week as part of his Lent Pilgrimage.

Somerby stores shop recently benefited from a Vibrant Villages grant of over £4,000 which has helped fund fixtures and fittings. Leicestershire's rural shops and post offices can apply for grants of between £750 and £5,000 and benefit from free, expert business advice which will help support and enhance vital community facilities. (pictured - Lesley Pendleton being served by Bishop Tim)

Lesley Pendleton, Chairman of the LRP and Leicestershire County Council Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs, said: "We all know how important local village shops, post offices and community facilities are to the well-being of our rural communities. I'm delighted that our Vibrant Villages programme has been able to support Somerby stores particularly since it recently lost the village post office."

This year the Bishop is focusing his thoughts and actions on the communities where people are struggling most, sharing in acts of care and service as well as taking time to listen. So far he has visited the elderly, the sick, the young, the unemployed and the addicted during ten full days of visits. Where possible the Bishop is using public transport to travel to the days' venue.

For more information about Vibrant Villages ring 0116 305 5673 or e-mail: ruralgrants@leics.gov.uk

Further details, including the full funding criteria and an online application form, are available at: http://www.oakleaves.org.uk/vibrantvillagesgrantsprogramme.html

With over 1.23 million page views last year the county's parish council websites are capturing the interest of a growing number of people. There are now 158 live parish sites covering over 90% of the parished population in Leicestershire.

LRP Chairman and County Councillor Lesley Pendleton opened the recent Annual User Event at Beaumanor Hall by congratulating delegates on their hard work during the year which had helped attract more visitors to the www.leicestershireparishcouncils.org websites. She also presented the Annual Award "Oscars" at the conclusion of the session.

Awards were presented to:

• Liz Samuels (Kibworth Beauchamp) - Best Freedom of Information Pages
• Bill Glasper (Great Glen) - Best Use of Graphics
• Phil Jennings (Croft) - Best Use of Innovation (pictured with Lesley Pendleton)
• Ian Laughton (Braunstone Town) - Best Services Page
• Lydia Knott (Newtown Linford) - Best Site (small parish)
• Tony Robotham (Glenfield) - Best Site (large parish)

During the year several new features were developed for the sites, including a Services page, Sitemap, and Guestbook. The Services page integrates (for the first time) the services delivered by parish, district or borough, and county council. A series of time-saving template pages were populated to each site to help editors comply with the latest requirements from the Information Commissioners office, which is seeking to get parishes to become more transparent and accountable.

Delegates were encouraged to think strategically about their sites to ensure visitors get a better experience both finding their way around the site and getting straight to the content they are looking for.

For further information on the event, and the parish council websites, e-mail: theeley@leics.gov.uk or ring 0116 305 5678

Earlier this month the Rural Community Council held their 11th Rural Action Seminar at County Hall. The Seminar showcased projects which deliver against the priorities of rural communities, along with highlighting the latest support programmes and encouraging new groups to undertake community consultation.
The event also included information on Recycling Credits, Energy saving and reducing CO2 and a wide range of supported voluntary community projects. The Grassroots and Vibrant Villages Grants were highlighted and the evening rounded off with a series of inspirational presentations from local community groups.
Mrs Lesley Pendleton, Chairman of the Leicestershire Rural Partnership, congratulated volunteers for their dedication and hard work. She also acknowledging the vital support of the Rural Community Council and the committment of other partners who support community led initiatives.
Copies of presentations can be downloaded from the RCC's website at http://www.ruralcc.org.uk/407240.html
For further details e-mail:dcook@ruralcc.org.uk or ring 0116 268 9706.

The users of www.leicestershirevillages.com were in celebratory mood when they gathered at the Walkers stadium last week for their annual event. Their hard work has helped boost the annual number of page views to 3.06 million.

Joining in their celebrations was County Council, Chairman Tony Kershaw and his wife Freda. It was a double delight for Tony, a Foxes season ticket holder since 1958. He congratulated the users for adding thousands of news items, event and contact details and hundreds of pages to their local village websites. And he also praised the Community ICT team for their new campaign to sign-up local football clubs across the county to get them displaying all their news and information in their village sites.

The team from Desford picks up the Best Site Award from County Council Chairman Tony Kershaw. (From left to right: Colin James, Pat Crane, Mike Barker, Ken Bolton)

Awards went to:

• Ullesthorpe for Community Engagement. The team that has put most effort into encouraging their community to get involved with their village website. Not just viewing the site but actively contributing as well.
• Ian Woolnough from Desford for Community Commitment. The person that has put most time into Leicestershire Villages throughout the year.
• Scraptoft for the Most Visits Award. Going to the village site with the largest increase in visits.
• Mavis Battell for Best Newcomer. The person that has made the most impact on their village website in the first year that they have started using Leicestershire Villages. Mavis has added a staggering amount of content this year. Huncote now has well over 100 pages, which include a comprehensive history section, pages for local businesses and pages for many of the community groups in the village. Mavis has been really busy this year and thoroughly deserves her Oscar!
• Ian Woolnough from Desford for Most Postings. This goes to the person that has added the most amount of content to the Local Postings section, whether it be news items, details of village events or local photos for example.
• Sally White and Kim Wallis from Oadby for The Most Active Library Staff Members. The library service is an important partner for Leicestershire Villages and this award is to recognise those people in the service that have been particularly supportive.
• Desford for Overall Content Award. This is effectively the best village website award for Leicestershire Villages. Desford have shown the best development of content through the year, combining pages and postings. They have created a group of 5 Site Administrators and more content editors so that there is a rich mixture of content. They have also started taking other villages under their wing by using shared pages that allow them to share some of their content with surrounding villages. The Desford site has developed tremendously over the past year and for that reason they are the Best Site Of The Year!

Thanks to the flexible architecture of the leicestershirevillages IT infrastructure there's a website for each community in the county and they're open to any member of the public to register and start posting their content to the site.

leicestershirevillages.com,which is supported by the LRP, is the fruit of efforts to investigate ways to use Information Communication Technology (ICT) to address rural isolation in Leicestershire. It enables:
- an equality of service provision across the county,
- a cost-efficient platform for service providers to deliver their services to discrete geographic locations,
- a means for people to access these services at a time of their choosing (self-service).

Environmental Action For A Better Leicestershire (ENABLE), the Countywide environmental partnership, is launching a new scheme to loan renewable energy resource kits. This resource will add to the eco-school objectives to deliver sustainable education through schools in Leicestershire.
The resource includes a miniature wind turbine, PV cell and solar water heater for use as a teaching resource. We will be also providing a set of lesson plans that helps teachers to link applications of these kits to the National Curriculum.
The kits will be available to all the schools in Leicestershire for the term starting 20th April 2009.
To find out more or reserve the renewable energy kit, contact Hetal Patel on 0116 3057068 or enable@leics.gov.uk or contact Resource Box Officer on 01455 552834 or sherrier@leics.gov.uk

This directory has been complied by Leicestershire County Council to highlight the diverse range of independent fashion retailers, jewellers, hairdressers, beauty salons, restaurants and cafes that are available across the County.
By purchasing locally we not only support the economy but also help to reduce carbon emmissions through less use of cars.
The directory is arranged by town and category to make your searching so much easier.
Please contact Nicola Lees nlees@leics.gov.uk if you have any comments or are interested in a future directory.

The following courses have been developed and are offered to assist tourism and other related businesses during the current economic climate. Focusing on customer service and food focus profits, the training courses are offered in the Welland region during March and are FREE.

BOOK BY PHONE OR E-MAIL: Call Jennifer on 01895 81 7014 or e-mail info@stonebow.co.uk with your details and the number of places you require

Places are limited, early booking is recommended

Focus on Food Profits: ½ day course 2:00pm – 5:30pm, ideal for owners and chefs

30th March - Market Harborough
31st March - Melton Mowbray

Customer Service: full day course 9:30am – 5:00pm, ideal for all customer facing staff

19th March - Market Harborough
20th March - Melton Mowbray

Rural communities are the focus of Sport England's first themed funding round, which opens for business on 1 April 2009.

The £10 million fund will support projects that tackle the barriers to, and unearth new opportunities for, getting people in rural areas playing and enjoying more sport.

Sport England look forward to receiving bids to the Rural Communities Themed Round from a wide range of our partners - from local authorities to sports clubs and smaller community groups.

Rural communities have been chosen for the first round because they face particular barriers to participating in sport, such as a reduced choice of sports available to them and transport issues. The latest Active People Survey shows that two thirds of the local councils with the lowest sports participation rates are in rural areas.

A detailed application prospectus for this round will be available on Sport England's website by 1 April 2009, and there will be a three-month window for outline applications.