Country Air 126

The newsletter of Rural Action Yorkshire Autumn 2013 Issue 126

www.ruralyorkshire.org.uk www.twitter.com/ruralyorkshire

In this issue… RAY’s work 2012/13 page 2- 3 Emergency planning page 4 Getting the evidence page 6 What are CILs? page 8

Plus all the latest project updates and rural news.

12 months, 365 days 15096 visits to our website 515 communities receiving advice and support from Rural Action Yorkshire 500 hours of activity for Touchstones 188 new venues on the community venues website 100 new members on community buildings virtual network 82 village hall committee members receiving training on managing their building 7 new community hubs delivering preventative social care activities 6 new village hall networks with 60 members And behind those numbers are real communities and real people – everyone of whom has a story tell about how, with our support, they have made their village a better place to live or work. We hope this edition of Country Air gives you some idea of the scale and scope of the work RAY, Yorkshire rural communities and our partners are involved in. It will hopefully inspire you to try something new in your community or signpost you to some helpful advice. There are other numbers that are not listed above. The amount of funding that is no longer available to RAY to deliver support services, the sums of public funding being withdrawn from service delivery in rural areas, the numbers of new volunteers needed to keep things running without that funding. It’s not been an easy year for any of us and it looks like more of the same for the coming 12 months. Both central and local government will continue to have to make cuts in their budgets and their emphasis will remain on communities supporting themselves. This might be running your own library, taking on the management of a community building, developing support activities in the village hall for your older residents, setting up a winter weather scheme to support vulnerable neighbours or putting together a plan for the development of your village.

Many of us, whether we believe in the rationale for the cuts or not, are rising to the challenge and volunteering to start new projects in our villages. However, a little support for these endeavours can go a long way – whether it is funding advice, support to develop a business plan, a toolkit that shows you how to set up a new activity, peer to peer support networks, guidance documents, training sessions or just some friendly advice at the end of the phone. This support needs to be funded and we must all remain vocal in demanding this resource in return for taking on the new work that is coming our way.

RAY Contacts

Switchboard: 0845 313 0270

Leah Swain, Chief Officer .............. ext.236

Gillian McIntosh

Head of Finance & Admin ................ ext.230

Rebecca Craven

Marketing & PR Officer .................... ext.232

Candice Dowson

Operations Officer ........................... ext.221

James Russell

Information Officer .......................... ext.223

Tina Chamberlain - 07963 533675

Communities & Stakeholders Manager.... 235

Joanna Bayton-Smith - 07834 322296

Touchstones Project Co-ordinator...... ext. 234

Tania Weston - 07540 691028

Touchstones Development Officer ... ext: 233

Tess McMahon - 07540 691029

Community Hubs Development Officer.ext 226

Andy Ryland - 07722 127505

Broadband Development Officer

Maggie Farey - 07825 380051

North Yorks Development Officer

Kathryn Chapman - 07825 380052

North Yorks Development Officer ...... ext.247

Mel McGeoch - 07722 127503

West Yorks Development Officer

Melanie Swanwick - 07757 639929

South Yorks Development Officer

02 The Newsletter of Rural Action Yorkshire

Disclaimer: Every effort is taken to provide accurate information. However, Rural Action Yorkshire accepts no responsibility for any error or omission in, or complaint arising from, items in this publication. The views expressed in Country Air do not necessarily represent those of Rural Action Yorkshire. The display of advertising material does not represent an endorsement.

Front page picture: Barton le Street Village Hall (see page 10)

Looking Back,

Going Forward

While preparing for the October AGM I found myself counting the ways in which Rural Action Yorkshire has made a difference to rural communities over the last year. Here’s a selection of the numbers...

Our year ahead is full of challenges but I can also see opportunities, both for RAY and the communities we work with. Superfast broadband is being rolled out across the three Counties and we are supporting community broadband schemes in difficult to reach rural areas which might otherwise be ignored by the big broadband providers. Broadband brings new opportunities to access education, healthcare, jobs, social events and so much more online. The Local Enterprise Partnerships are putting in place plans to spend millions of European funding in 2014 to support economic growth and target social inclusion and RAY is working with them to ensure rural areas can access a fair share of this funding. The localism agenda remains strong and many communities are developing community led plan or more targeted neighbourhood plans to take control of what their locality looks like now and in the future.

Funding cuts mean many councils are having to do things differently which can open up new ways of working in rural communities. And Rural Action Yorkshire is still here to support community groups, Parish Councils, rural businesses, and individuals to undertake work that benefits local people. In the coming months I will be launching a new Community Advice Panel – a chance for active members to get more involved in our work and be proactively engaged in shaping the services we deliver. It will be virtual and easy to join so if you are interested then please get in touch.

I look forward to seeing the numbers above grow in the next 12 months, to working with you, hearing about your communities successes and helping you find solutions. Leah Swain, Chief Officer Rural Action Yorkshire

The national picture

RAY helps to shape Government policies on rural issues through its membership of the ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) Network. ACRE is the national umbrella body for England’s 38 rural community councils – county-based local charitable development agencies who work to make a difference in their communities. The Network members have years of experience in finding innovative solutions to rural challenges. Advice and support is available on Neighbourhood and Community-Led Planning; transport, facilities and services; fuel poverty and energy generation; broadband; and community assets, such as village halls. Together, they employ around 1,000 staff with a variety of specialist skills and engage in 1,300 different partnerships, reaching 40,000 grass roots contacts in 11,000 communities across the country. Through an agreement with Defra, ACRE and its Network play an important role in helping the Government to ‘rural proof’ policies by flagging up issues. For example, RAY gave ACRE important evidence about the potential impact on rural GPs of the Government’s plan to withdraw the minimum practice income guarantee (MPIG), from April next year. ACRE Chief Executive Janice Banks said the work of organisations such as RAY was vital in speaking up for rural communities, as well as providing them with practical support. She said: “A recent report by the House of Commons Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pointed out that professional support organisations are needed to help rural communities help themselves. “Members of the ACRE Network are ideally placed to do this and we hope Government funding will be sustained so we can continue to make a difference.”

The Newsletter of Rural Action Yorkshire 03

Halls as Hubs

Volunteers at village halls continue to organise activities that make life more interesting and enjoyable for local residents, including themselves. Some of them are part of RAY’s Community Hubs project, where extra activities are run to benefit all, but with a particular emphasis on being of benefit to, and accessible by, people who might otherwise find it hard to get to activities. The project is funded, until spring 2014, by Innovation Funding from NYCC and they are keen to see vulnerable people among those who benefit. The seven Community Hubs have been running activities such as community lunches and cafes, silver surfers and book swaps. They are now getting on with their autumn programme including new activities such as film clubs, table tennis and yoga. Volunteers from each Community Hub have found their quarterly get-togethers (otherwise known as the Steering Group) very useful for comparing experiences and sharing information. For example a group that has already found out how to set up and run a film club is able to help another group wanting to do something similar. Once people have met it is then easier to contact each other by phone or email to discuss issues that come up. Volunteers from Community Hubs have also started to attend some of each other’s events, such as quizzes.

At the Steering Group there is now discussion on how to continue the development of existing Community Hubs while at the same time encouraging the establishment of new ones. Contact Tess McMahon.

Get prepared for an emergency

September’s floods illustrated that trouble can strike communities quickly and dramatically. In an emergency – whether it is severe weather, a power failure, disease or other event – it may not be possible for emergency services or local authorities to respond to all needs immediately. For that reason, the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum (NYLRF) – a partnership of local authorities, public, private and voluntary organisations – is encouraging communities to improve their resilience by drawing up a local plan that will enable them to respond to an emergency until other help can be allocated. Here are some examples from existing North Yorkshire communities: Newton-le-Willows Parish Council developed an emergency plan five years ago and it has recently been updated. Considerations included the kind of emergencies that may occur and the layout of the village. Through the village newsletter, residents were invited to offer resources, such as cooking facilities, first aid and building skills. The plan is monitored by a community resilience team of seven members chosen for their range of skills and to represent all parts of the village. Two reception centres have been identified and two residents designated to man them, if necessary. Each household has been given a brightly coloured card, which includes details of the plan and which can be displayed if a householder needs help. The Hovingham Action Group has two plans. One, the winter maintenance strategy, is for snow-clearing. In the bad winter of 2010, volunteers were called out ten days in a row. The group has some equipment, including a push-along gritter, so volunteers are able to clear priority footpaths, such as those near the school and elderly people’s bungalows. The other plan is to deal with flooding and was drawn up about a year ago. It also covers other potential incidents. Pickering also has a community plan. It has had a flood plan since 2007, but this has developed to cover a wider range of incidents. Filey Town Council’s emergency plan centres around having first aid. An emergency advice folder was delivered under the plan to all homes in Filey and includes a red H, which people can place in a window to show neighbours that they need help. If you would like to learn more about creating an emergency plan for your community, contact Katie at [email protected]. Read more in the online version of this article on the RAY website, including a handy checklist for your ‘Go Bag’ which you can prepare for an emergency.


mailto:[email protected]

Lobbying update

There is nothing more frustrating than wanting to be listened to on an issue that is important to you and yet not knowing how you can get your voice heard. At Rural Action Yorkshire we work locally, regionally and nationally to ensure that key rural issues raised with us are being heard and acted upon. In the last few months we have been working hard to give everyone living or working in rural Yorkshire a strong voice. We have done this through ensuring key stories have coverage in the press, that MPs know about important issues and have a chance to fight our corner, contributing local case studies to national campaigns and responding to consultations. In turn we hope you feel we are providing you with timely information in the consultation section of our e-bulletin so that you too can contribute your views. What have we been shouting about recently? Our Chair, Linda Lloyd has asked all Rural Community Councils across England to support the campaign to ensure the phased withdrawal of the NHS Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) does not adversely affect rural communities and result in GP practices closing.

In our media work, we have been helping to raise awareness of how health and social care services are getting harder to access in rural areas and the impact this has on the well-being of those communities. We have also been informing the local media about the impact of the bedroom tax and the effects of fuel poverty. We have been writing to MPs asking for support for an All-Party Parliamentary Group for village halls to help combat red tape, loss of funding and the demands of managing community buildings. We have responded to Local Enterprise Partnership consultations to help shape how millions of pounds of European Funding will be spent in our patch, ensuring rural businesses are supported, rural isolation is addressed and that transport and broadband coverage are improved. In the coming months we will be working on behalf of rural communities to input into discussions on cutting bus subsidies, changes to adult and social care, how vulnerable people can be supported this winter and mitigating the impact of local authority cuts on rural services. We are working for you so please do let us know if you have an issue you think we can help with – don’t be shy, we are here to help you get heard!


Can we help?

Does your community group, Parish Council or business need help with consulting residents, developing a business plan, completing a community led plan or managing a local project?Perhaps your village hall or community building would like support to obtain the Hallmark quality standard , undertake an energy audit or run bespoke training for your trustees. RAY can help. Our experienced staff team are able to offer a wide range of services to ensure your community endeavour is a success. We want to empower you to achieve your aspiration with friendly, effective and competitively priced support. We are often able to answer queries from our members over the phone or by email and have a range of online resources we can signpost you to. There is no additional charge for this membership support. However, there are times when a more in-depth analysis and tailored support package is needed. We can offer a competitive alternative to consultants – at a price that only covers our costs. You are also assured your fee directly contributes to keeping RAY running and able to benefit other rural communities in the future. A flavour of the types of work we might help you with include:

Creative community consultation and engagement

Training to run a well managed community building

Developing a neighbourhood plan or community led plan – from putting together a steering group to identifying the final action plan

Writing a business plan for a community project

Project-managing and employing staff for a funded project

Supporting mediation discussions in areas of conflict

Feasibility assessments Why not give us a call to discuss your needs and get a quote? Many communities have done just that and found we were the perfect partner for a successful project. Contact Leah Swain.

Getting the evidence

RAY’s national parent organisation ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) have commissioned access to vast socio-economic data from Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion (OCSI) in order to develop in-depth reports on all rural areas across England. As a member of ACRE, RAY have access to this database and as part of your membership package with us, you too can have access to this wealth of information free-of-charge. This initiative, called Evidencing Rural Need and found at www.rural-evidence.org.uk, brings together data from the 2011 Census, Government and Council statistics and other sources in a way that has never been done before for rural areas. Reports, covering every parish in England, contain data and statistics on income, employment, health and wellbeing, education and skills, housing and access to services, transport, crime, diversity and living environment. An idea of just what can be achieved with this new resource can be found below: Evidencing Rural Need

Provides robust data to help target programmes to the right areas, support funding applications;

Strengthens the evidence base on rural deprivation across England;

Provides public and voluntary organisations with the information they need to ensure rural issues are properly considered when planning projects and services;

Provides local communities with quantitative evidence to support community and parish planning and;

Has a website interface to allow local partners to quickly find the information for their area.

What can be achieved with this data is almost limitless: the main and most obvious possibilities being the level of help this can give to funding applications or lobbying to protect or develop local services. Were a village hall, church, library, school, club or parish council thinking of applying for funding for anything, such as through the Awards For All scheme, this would be the first point of call in drawing up an application, would form the basis of the argument for funding, and may well be the key to successful bidding. It is also integral to Community Led and Neighbourhood Planning.

Where censuses and data in the past have appeared to focus on urban needs in the press and mainstream media, Evidencing Rural Need is a window of opportunity for rural communities to have their voices heard.

RAY can help you both access and utilise this goldmine of information according to your community or organisation’s needs.

More information about Evidencing Rural Need can be found on our website or call us on 0845 313 0270 for an information pack.

Community

Libraries Together

Faced with reduced funding for the library service from 2010 onwards, volunteers, believing libraries to be vital to community life, have stepped in to keep libraries going. Their commitment and determination have saved several libraries in North Yorkshire. Volunteers from 9 community libraries came together for a networking and information day in Thirsk in September. There were opportunities for sharing experiences and to attend workshops on bringing in income, funding and networking on-line and in person. A small Steering Group from Community Libraries had planned the event over the previous couple of months, with support from Rural Action Yorkshire, North Yorkshire Library Service and funding from North Yorkshire County Council.

RAY’s Leah Swain started the event with the response from her four year old son, when asked what he liked about books: “...the quiet when you disappear into a different world.” She also commented that “Libraries are more than books,” a sentiment repeated during the day. As Jane Barber, a volunteer from Boroughbridge Library, said in the same session, “We have gone from despair to delight”. And in the final session: “We will succeed. We are desperate to keep libraries, though not necessarily in the same way. It is wonderful to have a library service. We need to help people not feel alone.” In the final session the key question was “Do we want to keep in touch? The answer was agreed to be “Yes. We have to for the survival of libraries in the face of reduced resources.” Since the event, volunteers have met to move their network forward. Contact Tess McMahon


Online fundraising

Drystone Radio provides an independent voice in the community to South Craven and the Yorkshire Dales by broadcasting programmes aimed at the socially isolated within its rural community.

Localgiving.com has proved to be a great tool for receiving donations, helped by the fact that supporters have been able to make their money go further as a result of automated Gift Aid and Match Funding. The charity’s Chair, David Adams, has spoken of the difference this money has made in enabling Drystone Radio to continue its activities: ‘A volunteer came to us to broadcast at a time that their business had just gone bust . Depression was evident and we were able to help give back his pride’. The charity is working with around 50 people, helping them to develop broadcasting skills, whilst providing other important community support, such as food when times are tough or simply company for those who are lonely. Tips for online fundraising Make sure your profile includes:

Examples of how your organisation benefits the local community

Three attractive, high resolution images. Preferably of your beneficiaries, volunteers or staff. People give to other people, not organisations and so you should highlight the individuals you work with (with their permission)!

Where donations go. Illustrate what you could spend various amounts on. At least one should be around £10 so that supporters who want to give a small amount still feel their contribution will matter.

Volunteering opportunities, including contact details.

Put yourself in a supporter’s shoes and ask yourself:

Are there specific examples of how this organisation benefits the local community?

Can I see from the photos who will directly benefit from my support?

Is it clear where my donation is being spent?

If I can’t afford to give a lot, will my donation still make a difference?

Is it clear that this information is current?

Expansion of Yorkshire Venues

The Yorkshire Venues website (www.yorkshirevenues.org.uk) developed by the Rural Voice project and RAY is a great opportunity for groups to advertise the range of diverse opportunities for community use. RAY hopes the website will benefit community venues and help them raise their business profile to create bookings to help with venue running costs. Visitors to the site will appreciate the wide range of venues and facilities that voluntary and community groups can provide. From boat trips to wedding venues, office and meeting accommodation to circus skills, RAY hopes to encourage business for the wide variety of voluntary and community organisations across Yorkshire. Some examples include: Thorner Victory Hall, Thorner, Leeds After refurbishment during the last 10 years Thorner Victory Hall, with its large and small halls and a meeting room, is the venue for a range of weekly sporting and fitness classes in Thorner, Leeds. The hall also hosts entertainment events and is in growing demand for wedding and family parties. ‘Next year we’ll be celebrating Thorner Victory Hall’s nineteenth birthday,’ explains committee member David Miller. ‘It’s impossible to think how Thorner could manage without it.’ Regather Works - a community centre for co-operation in Sheffield Horn Handle Works was a small-scale late C19 horn handle works. It is little-altered and represents an important, but little recognised specialist trade which formed part of Sheffield's internationally significant cutlery manufacturing industry in the late C19 and early C20. The Regather Co-Operative have worked closely with the landlord, local authorities and skilled trades people to establish the long term re-use and re-development of this historic building. Regather offer specialised spaces and equipment - kitchen, classroom, studio and workshop, plus services for events, education, food and enterprise. Swinton Lock Activity Centre – Swinton, Rotherham Swinton Lock Activity Centre is an Arts and Environment Centre developed to address the leisure and learning needs of its local communities. It offers a range of arts and environment related courses and activities to meet community needs. The centre maintains an attractive community park in conjunction with the local community which also doubles as a sculpture park and where five double fishing pegs offer excellent leisure facilities. Owning two boats, the centre offers boat trips up the historic South Yorkshire Navigation canal and river Don and boat handling courses to young people and adults. The centre can now offer all these facilities to wheelchair users as well. Originally funded through the Lottery’s North Yorkshire Rural Voice Project, RAY managed to secure additional funding from Transform Leeds Development Fund, Sheffield Fuse Change and Innovation Fund and Transforming Rotherham Infrastructure Services meaning the website is now available to groups in Leeds, Sheffield and Rotherham. RAY is hoping to work with other areas to roll out the website to the whole of the Yorkshire area. Get in touch for more information.


Ask James: CILs

What is the Community Infrastructure Levy? The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a charge that local authorities can impose on new developments. Its purpose is to enable the local authority to pay for any additional services that might be required as a result of the development, such as extra school places and waste collections that might be needed by a new housing development. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Yes, CIL is meant to replace or supplement Section 106 of the Planning Act 1990. Section 106 enables local authorities to negotiate charges on new development to pay for additional services. So what’s the difference? Where Section 106 agreements are negotiated on a case by case basis, which can attract criticism for a perceived lack of transparency and consistency, CIL is charged at a set rate per square metre of new development. Local authorities will set this rate themselves according to the circumstances in their area, subject to public consultation to determine what the top priorities are for projects to be funded with CIL revenue. Different rates can be set for different categories of development in different geographical areas, to encourage appropriate development. How does this benefit our local community? At least 15% of CIL revenue raised as a result of a new development must be passed directly to the Town or Parish Council in the area that the development takes place. This money can be spent on local infrastructure or anything else that the Parish Council needs to help meet the additional demands generated by the new development. There is an annual limit to the amount that each Parish may receive in this way. Is there any way our Parish can get more than 15%? Yes, there are two ways that Parishes can benefit by more than 15% of local CIL revenues. Firstly, 15% is a minimum, and the local planning authority can choose voluntarily to pass on a higher amount of CIL revenues than this. Secondly, areas which have developed and passed a Neighbourhood Plan will receive a minimum of 25% of CIL revenues, with no annual limit to the amount that can be received in this way. So a Neighbourhood Plan is the way to go? Possibly. While the increased CIL revenues that might be available are a benefit of having a Neighbourhood Plan in your area, there are many other factors to bear in mind. Why not contact RAY to find out more about Neighbourhood Planning and the support available to help you? Got a question for James, our Information Officer? Get in touch!

Supporting older

people

The Needs of Older People in Harthill and Wath upon Dearne, S. Yorkshire In conjunction with Age UK Rotherham and Rotherham Older People’s Forum RAY ran two recent events in Harthill and Wath upon Dearne in South Yorkshire. The events entitled ‘What can we do to support older people in your area’ were attended by around 80 people and over 60 questionnaires were completed. People who attended were asked what they liked about their areas, what groups they were involved in and what groups they would like to see happening. In addition people commented on how they felt about transport and services in their areas and if they currently did any volunteering or would like to volunteer. At Harthill Village Hall local people expressed concern about the lack of dropped kerbs and access problems for people using mobility scooters and a need for traffic calming measures on some roads. A number of people said they had need of a gardening service and a drop-in advice centre. At Trinity Community Hall in Wath upon Dearne local people said they had many facilities in the village centre but if they lived very far out of the centre transport was an issue. The information from the events has been passed to partners and to the venues where they were held so that organisations can respond to the issues identified by those who attended the events. 32 people from the events said they already volunteer and 9 people

expressed an interest in volunteering and have been provided with follow up information. For more information contact Melanie Swanwick.


Pro-active Penistone People

Help from RAY 24/7

Getting the most from your RAY membership? The Rural Action Yorkshire website (www.ruralyorkshire.org.uk) is updated on a daily basis and is a really useful place to bookmark for the latest rural news and helpful resources. Unlike sharing this copy of Country Air, you don’t need to wait for ‘your turn’ and we strongly recommend making sure all of your committee has a good look round. Members can create their own account on the website, meaning that they can access the restricted content such as helpful guides and videos on running community buildings. This isn’t limited to one login per group, so this means several committee members can access the resources by having individual usernames and passwords. The RAY website has a new section called Rural News, where we keep you up to date with all the news, policy developments, consultations and campaigns which matter to rural communities. You can sign up to an RSS feed of any news category so you’re alerted whenever news stories that interest you are added to the website. Online resources Many of our work areas and project pages have their own resources. There are information sheets on Community Buildings for members, such as alcohol, fire safety and lotteries. The Fuel Poverty resources page is also well read, with details of the Green Deal, or how vulnerable residents can access their energy supplier’s Priority Service Register. As part of our project work, we often produce toolkits which anyone can download for free. Recent ones include: Oil-buying co-ops: this guides you through the process of setting up a co-operative in your area to co-ordinate the purchase of heating oil and benefit from lower prices. Find it in the Fuel Poverty resources area. Winter Weather Agents: ideas, tips and resources for planning ahead in your community. For example, have you thought about elderly residents who would appreciate a warm meal, help with shopping or dog walking? The scheme does not have to be run by the Parish Council – it just needs a group of willing volunteers to take ideas forward. Marketing for community groups: the Rural Voice project produced a 4 part toolkit which is available for download and includes narrated presentations and accompanying workbooks. If you’re short on time, there’s also a one page guide to marketing essentials. Online networking We believe that online networks can be a really useful option for volunteers needing support and ideas from other communities. We know that our members are spread over a wide area and that many can feel isolated. Although RAY workshops and events take place in lots of local venues, it’s not always possible for members to attend them and so online solutions can work really well. At our AGM event in October 2013 we talked about the online networks we have recently been involved in setting up. One of these was for community libraries in North Yorkshire (see page 6) and another is to help community buildings to network. RAY’s Community Buildings email network has just signed up its 100th member. The network enables community buildings to share ideas, problems and experiences with one another. Get in touch to join.

Tour de France

As you’ll probably be aware by now the world's greatest cycle race - the Tour de France – is coming to Yorkshire on 5th & 6th July 2014. Day One travels from Leeds to Harrogate via Harewood, Otley, Ilkley, Skipton, Kettlewell, Aysgarth, Hawes, Reeth, Leyburn and Ripon. Day Two’s route is from York to Sheffield via Knaresborough, Silsden, Keighley, Haworth, Hebden Bridge, Elland, Huddersfield and Holmfirth. It’s the first time Le Tour has visited the north of England and this is Yorkshire’s moment to shine. Over 3 billion (yes, billion) people watch the Tour on television and millions of fans will travel to Yorkshire to cheer on the competitors. Each stage an average of 470,000 people watch by the roadside, concentrated at the start and finish locations, villages along the way, and the big climbs. But what does this mean for communities? There is an opportunity for communities to organise activities to make the most of the Grand Départ. Does your community want to set up a temporary campsite, car park or village party? The Yorkshire Dales National Park, Craven and Richmondshire District Councils and North Yorkshire County Council have produced some factsheets to help communities plan activities as well as information about how the Grand Départ may affect communities along the route. Remember that the roads used for the route will be closed to motor vehicles throughout the day. More information can be found at www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/livinghere/letour. There will also be a Cultural Festival that will run alongside the event between 27 March and 6 July, including a number of specific commissions. Watch out for more information about how you can get involved. Stay up to date with the Grand Départ on Twitter (@LeTourYorkshire), or Facebook.com/LeTourYorkshire or email updates (letour.yorkshire.com/email-updates).


Rural Voice reflections

Tania Weston writes... By the time you read this the North Yorkshire Rural Voice project will have finished and so this article is a reflection on the past four years. Rural Voice aimed to support voluntary and community organisations (VCOs), focussing on the most remote rural areas of North Yorkshire. The main aims were twofold: to improve access to support, and to improve the way in which infrastructure organisations (such as the district-based Council for Voluntary Services-CVS) deliver services together. So, what has been achieved? Well, personally, I think quite a lot. Coming late to the project I have been impressed with its achievements. In our focus on helping VCOs we have delivered a lot of help and advice – possibly low level, but important nonetheless. We’ve helped village hall committees renew their awareness of current legislation, worked with communities to set up oil co-operatives, provided advice on musical instrument insurance, set up a promotional community venues website, produced a hearing loop guide, helped with the establishment of a community library, and the list goes on...We have also worked to embed equalities throughout the project, and worked with under-represented groups to encourage them to get more involved in their communities. And we have developed Community Buildings and Halls Networks across the county with well over 40 halls involved and interest from North East Leeds. The strength of the project has been having an officer in each district of the project area (Craven, Harrogate, Hambleton, Richmondshire, Ryedale and Scarborough). Given the vast size of North Yorkshire, as we all know, if people are all based in one office, getting out and meeting people can take up all day! As support organisations I think the eight project partners have learnt to work more closely with each other, particularly the Rural Network Officers. This has been invaluable. It has allowed us to share knowledge and help solve problems. I think we also understand better the needs of rural VCOs as a result. We have strengthened links at regional and national level. Through engagement with Yorkshire’s regional project (with Involve Yorkshire & Humber and the Humber & Wolds Community Council) we are now in a better position to influence policy and make the ‘voice’ of rural communities heard. And what is still needed? One thing we hoped was that the project would help VCOs feel more able to influence policy. We found that often this was not necessarily a priority for groups – fixing the leaking roof, for example, often came higher up the agenda! But, since the project’s start we have been noting recurring issues, and so are in a position to lobby on behalf of VCOs. Rural VCOs bring villages and hamlets to life, step in when a local authority is unable to and provide a contact for isolated individuals – the government’s Big Society in other words. And in rural areas they face a lot of challenges. Reduced national and local government budgets put increasing strain on VCOs, an ageing population brings its own challenges. VCOs cannot fill the gap with no support – which is where support organisations like RAY and the local CVS’s come in. Finally, this project would not have happened if it hadn’t been for the fantastic project officers, so huge thanks go to Kate, Cath, Kathryn, Linda, Maggie, Pam, Rita and Andy. I like to think we have laid a stronger foundation of an improved way of working together. But what do you think?

Award Winners!

Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band Winner of the Ryedale Rural Award for best Rural Community Group while Barton Le Street wins Village Hall of the Year Now in their third year the Awards celebrate the best of voluntary and community activity in Ryedale. As the Rural Voice project comes to a close, it was nice to be able to sponsor the Rural Community Group prize, having supported the Rural Awards from their inception. Rural Voice has focussed on the most remote rural areas of North Yorkshire, providing support for the voluntary and community sector (VCS) and strengthening the influence of rural communities. The entries to the Ryedale Rural Awards show just how much time, effort, enthusiasm, and creativity, goes into rural communities. Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band (www.kirkbyband.co.uk) won the award for best Rural Community Group. The judges felt that they were a fantastic organisation that embodied community spirit by involving all people no matter what their age. The judges were also touched by the Band’s donation of old uniforms to the Ugandan youth music foundation, Mbale Uganda. The Village Hall of the Year award, sponsored by Rural Action Yorkshire, was deservedly won by Barton le Street Village Hall. RAY continues to support this award as a great way to highlight the importance of such buildings at the heart of a community, providing a vital resource for the village and supporting often isolated people. Barton Le Street impressed the judges with their determination and enthusiasm. A huge community effort saw the hall stripped, painted and refurbished in time for the Jubilee celebrations; the next project is to install new toilet facilities. This is truly a community building, so much so, that when drafting their award entry the village apparently had such a convivial evening that they had to meet up a week later to try again! For more information contact Rory Kemp, Chairman, Barton Le Street Village Hall Committee.


The Last Word...

The Trustees and staff are looking into a strategic review this autumn. Going forward, but with more funding cuts ahead for local authorities and increasing competition for those funding sources, RAY is continuing to deliver our core functions. We always endeavor to help our stakeholders with the challenges they face and we will build on our current activities to develop initiatives that will aim to grow the rural economy – a phrase close to our hearts. During this last year we have developed our consultancy, to deliver professional and expert services to communities and, although in early years, the end user would have seen some of these as ‘free’ at point of delivery, this was only managed by RAY securing funding to offset. Now, with many funding avenues closed, we can still deliver a service that will enhance your community but we now have to make a charge for this work. We will build on proven relationships and look to others for partnership working, increasing our trading activities and accessing public service contracts. Our members continue to access our free advice line, which has been enhanced by the development of our website and the appointment of an Information Officer. We continue to influence key stakeholders and their rural policies, both at regional and national level and all community councils nationally, feed information into DEFRA. So not all our work is tangible but this is a key way to send our rural concerns direct to government. Linda Lloyd Chairman chairman@ ruralyorkshire. org.uk

Catching up with Touchstones

We’re now one year into Touchstones, our project to support older, bereaved people to access and learn new practical skills. With our delivery partners Age UK Wakefield, North Yorkshire and North Craven we have been helping people in the Craven, Harrogate and Wakefield council areas. So far we’ve helped people to:

learn easy, healthy and tasty cookery skills

discover their gardening skills

use IT devices, Skype and buy things online

learn to sew From RAY’s point of view we’ve met some really lovely people – our volunteers, project partners, and above our participants. We’ve also tested out some ways of increasing engagement between the generations at three pilot skills exchange sessions. And we have lots more planned until the project’s end in February, including some sessions themed around preparing for winter for people to learn some skills to help them cope with bad weather. Touchstones is supported by the Big Lottery Fund Silver Dreams fund and runs until February 2014. If you know anyone who has suffered a loss and

might benefit from practical support, or you would like to volunteer to pass on your skills, then we would love to hear from you. Please get in touch with Joanna ([email protected]).

You can keep up to date with Touchstones via our blog and events calendar on the RAY website or follow us on Twitter @RAYTouchstones.


Harrogate & Ripon: Call Wendy on 01423 502253 for more information Wakefield: Call Libby on 01977 552 114 for more information. Craven: Call Jean on 01729 850329 or Julie on 01729 823066 for more information.

Unit A, Tower House, Askham Fields Lane, Askham Bryan, York YO23 3FS Registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee in England & Wales No: 1839458 and as a Charity No. 515538

www.ruralyorkshire.org.uk [email protected] 0845 313 0270 0845 313 0271

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