Category: News

EAST CLEVELAND RESIDENTS HAVE YOUR SAY AT YOUR VILLAGE’S #BIGLOCALCOMMUNITYCONVERSATIONS

Residents and local businesses are being encouraged to share their ideas on how they would like to improve opportunities and facilities within eleven villages in East Cleveland.

#BigLocalConversations have already taken place in Liverton, New Skelton, Charltons, Boosbeck and Loftus with further conversations due to take place in Easington, Lingdale, Skinningrove and Liverton Mines.

East Cleveland Big Local Villages, Tees Valley Rural Action and Social Enterprise Acumen are working in partnership to host a series of conversations to bring together local talent, skills, energy, individuals, groups and organisations who want to make a difference in the community where they live.

Rita Lawson, CEO of Tees Valley Rural Action, the Locally Trusted Organisation providing support and guidance to the East Cleveland Villages Big Local and managing the funds on their behalf, commented: “East Cleveland’s Big Local programme is now half way through its 10 years and following a refresh of the Partnership, under the leadership of their new Chair, Linda White from Carlin How, they are now looking to put together an action plan for the remaining five years.

“We are hoping to generate new ideas and fresh thinking to help us to improve opportunities instead of focusing on many of the same ideas on how we can spend the funds. This is about engaging with the 11 villages that make up the East Cleveland Big Local area and looking at how to challenge the status quo and come together more closely to make a lasting change in their villages. It is also about harnessing the skills and enthusiasm of individuals who would not ordinarily get involved in such initiatives so that there is a legacy of community champions in the eleven villages of East Cleveland.”

Social entrepreneur Kate Welch OBE and CEO of Social Enterprise Acumen CIC commented: “We’re keen to hear people’s views on why they love to live where they live, what ideas they have to make it an even better place and how they can help to make their ideas a reality.”

Back in 2012, £1m was awarded for 10 years to help to make a lasting difference to each of the eleven villages in the East Cleveland Big Local area. Villages include Boosbeck, Carlin How, Charltons, Dunsdale, Easington, Lingdale, Liverton Mines, Loftus, Margrove Park, New Skelton and Skinningrove.

East Cleveland Villages Big Local funding currently has five priorities, improving access to employment and services, encouraging enterprise, further business development in the area, promote tourism and bring communities together so they live healthier lifestyles and ensure all families and individuals have support for their needs within their local community. However, these are subject to change following the report as a result of each of the #BigLocalConversations.

At the heart of The National Lottery’s Big Local is to empower local people, help them to become more resilient and dynamic where people and communities flourish by making decisions on what is best for them and the area in which they live.

For further information on East Cleveland Villages Big Local visit www.ecvbiglocal.co.uk or Social Enterprise Acumen visit www.socialenterpriseacumen.co.uk

Big Local Conversations will take place on the following dates, times and locations across East Cleveland.

If you have missed your date don’t worry Kate and the team would love to hear from you and you can still be involved using the contacts above.

• Liverton                Wed 22 Jan, 3-6pm                       Liverton Village Hall
• New Skelton        Thurs 23 Jan, 3-6pm                     Hollybush Activity Centre
• Charltons              Wed 29 Jan, 3:30pm-6.30pm     Charltons Village Hall
• Boosbeck              Thurs 30 Jan, 3-5:45pm               Boosbeck Village Hall
• Carlin How            Tues 4 Feb, 3-6pm                        Carlin How Village Hall
• Margrove Park     Wed 5 Feb, 3-6pm                         Margrove Village Hall
• Easington              Thurs 6 Feb, 3-6pm                      Easington Community Centre
• Skinningrove        Tues 11 Feb, 3-6pm                        Skinningrove Village Hall
• Lingdale                 Thurs 13 Feb, 4-6:30pm               Lingdale Village Hall
• Dunsdale               Thurs 25 Feb, 3-6pm                    Baby Moon, Dunsdale
• Loftus                     Tues 28 Feb, 3-6pm                      Venue TBC
• Final Event            TBC to take place at the beginning of March 2020

The 4th Klondike Grand Prix, an Elite Race on a Circuit and the opening round of the HSBC Spring Cup!

Velo29 Events Sponsored by ‘East Cleveland Villages BIG Local’ a lottery funded group of 11 Villages in East Cleveland to develop, support and create a lasting legacy to the people of East Cleveland.

All the biggest teams and riders will descend upon Guisborough on the 19th April 2020 for this now well established early season classic. The circuit is one of attrition, it favours the strong rider, not really a climbers circuit despite the 3 significant hills on each of the 3 main laps.

The Elite race will start at 12:00 prompt and rollout through to Dunsdale. The flag will drop as we turn right to Sandy Lane (Errington woods) and the racing will start immediately, the riders will turn right through New Marske, onto the A174, we join the main circuit at 4 Lane ends, it’s over 100 miles to complete the circuit the riders will do 3 laps, then one small lap, then return home from Boosbeck, Margrove Park, Charltons, Slapewath back to Guisborough via Whitby Road for the nail biting finish!

The finish line will be at Westgate Guisborough in front of Sunnyfield House where huge crowds will gather to enjoy the excitement. A great race for Elite riders to take part in and for the crowds to enjoy.

Keep in touch with all the developments over at Velo29 Events and East Cleveland Villages BIG Local

Defra and MPs will meet communities awarded funds from the Village Hall Improvement Grant Fund to Kick off Village Halls Week 2020

Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) run the annual campaign Village Halls Week which celebrates the community spaces at the heart of rural communities. This year promises to be extra special as the week kick starts in the House of Commons.

London may not seem like the natural setting for a rural celebration, but numerous village halls will make their way into the capitol to meet Lord Gardiner of Kimble, Defra’s Rural Minister and their MPs.

The halls taking part have all been successful in receiving awards from The Treasury, Defra and ACRE’s £3m Village Halls Improvement Grant Fund which was launched in April 2019 by ACRE, Lord Gardiner and Robert Jenrick MP, previously Exchequer Secretary at The Treasury. The grant exists to helps older halls with repairs and improvements, meaning they may continue to serve their communities and avoid facing closure.

Village Halls Week is a national campaign which celebrates the services provided by halls and the volunteers making it possible. Many halls provide a space for shops, cafes, pop up pubs, nurseries and doctors. They are an essential part of rural life. Village Halls Week ran for the first time in 2018 and this year 650 halls are due to take part in the campaign.

There are 10,000 village halls and other community buildings in England’s rural communities, providing a hub for public events, social activities and other vital services such as hosting a post office.  With rural areas seeing diminishing services and social facilities village halls play a key huge part in bringing communities together and tackling social isolation.

Tees Valley Rural Action currently supports in excess of 70 rural village halls across the region, who we are encouraging to join in this year’s celebrations.   We are hosting our own Village Halls Conference on Thursday 23^rd January Emmanuel Church Hall, Saltburn, where over 50 village halls volunteers and/or representatives will enjoy an action-packed agenda.  This is our 3^rd year of holding a village halls conference and to mark this we are doing a poetry competition, a role-play by trustees titled “Meetings, Blooming Meetings!” and presenting the Village Halls Toolkit thanks to funding from Big Lottery Community Fund. Every Tees Valley village hall will receive a free copy to take away.

Rita Lawson CEO, “Village halls and community buildings are the nucleus of any community providing a venue for social, professional and educational activities.  All of these buildings are run on a daily basis by willing and enthusiastic volunteers and without them these vital facilities would be lost.  It is good to have this conference as we can bring together as many of the village hall volunteers as possible to celebrate what I term as ‘jewels in the crown’ which continue to thrive for the next generation who will benefit from them.”

The National Lottery are marking their 25th birthday by bringing people together.

They’re offering people and communities with great ideas the chance to receive a grant between £100 and £1,000.

If you have an idea for an event or community activity, or even if you want to buy something that will bring your community together – they’d love to hear from you.

Any group of two or more people with a great idea can apply. They’re particularly keen to hear from people they haven’t worked with before.

How will they choose who to fund?

#CelebrateNationalLottery25 is about people and communities joining in with their birthday celebrations. They’re expecting a lot of people to apply so to give everyone a fair chance they will use a lottery process, randomly selecting the applicants to be assessed.

Before entering the lottery here’s a few things you need to know

Everyone who submits an application will be entered into the lottery draw, which will take place after the deadline closes at 2.00pm on Friday 6 December 2019. They’ll then run a few straightforward checks to make sure that applications meet their eligibility criteria and genuinely benefit the community.

They hope to let you know by email whether you have been successful by 31 January 2020.

FULL DETAILS AND APPLY HERE

Don’t delay – the deadline is Friday 6th December at 2.00pm!

Tees Valley Rural Action is calling on supporters to get behind its bid to win a £1,000 boost as part of specialist insurer Ecclesiastical’s annual 12 days of giving Christmas campaign.

The specialist insurer will be giving 120 different charities an early Christmas gift of a £1,000 donation, with 10 winners announced each weekday from 5 to 20 December.

It’s quick and easy to nominate Tees Valley Rural Action online. Nominations are open from 5 November to 19 December and you can vote for Tees Valley Rural Action at www.ecclesiastical.com/12days

Winners will be drawn at random and the more times Tees Valley Rural Action is nominated the more chance it has of being selected.

Tees Valley Rural Action’s volunteers are vital to our community transport services, this funding would ensure we could support more volunteers which in turn would help and support more vulnerable residents across Tees Valley to access hospital appointments and social activities that would otherwise be socially isolated and lonely. Both our community transport services are delivered by a team of enthusiastic and passionate volunteers, who are all fully trained and support by TVRA. #driveforwardteesvalley

Tees Valley Rural Action is encouraging everyone to use their social media channels to ask people to vote for them to give the charity the best possible chance of winning.

Rita Lawson, CEO of Tees Valley Rural Action, said: “Volunteers don’t get paid because their priceless and in our organisation our volunteers they are the key to our community transport services, ensuring we keep the community of the Tees Valley on the move. This funding would ensure our vulnerable residents who struggle to access hospital appointments and social events can gain the support and encouragement they need.”

Mark Hews, Group CEO of Ecclesiastical, said: “As a company whose purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society, charitable giving is at the heart of our business. Our annual 12 days of giving Christmas campaign will help charities change lives for the better and we know that for many charities, £1,000 can make a real difference. We’re encouraging everyone to nominate a cause close to their hearts this Christmas to be in for a chance to win a festive financial boost.”