DVCA

A representative from DVCA attended the CALOR Village of the Year Awards 2009.

Many villages from throughout the province entered the various catagories within this programme but there were only 7 winners in total.
Each of the finalists' projects were described by the chairman of the Voting Panel.
It would seem that any one of the entrants in any of the sections could have been winners but in each case an overall winner was identified and carried off the prize.
In all cases the projects which had been submitted seemed to have made a huge impact on their communities on whose behalf they were submitted. It was evident that the work done by the individuals in the various villages in pulling together their bids was well worth the effort in improving the quality of life to many people.

The winners were as follows:-

School Award...St Colmcilles & Cumber Claudy Primary Schools, Claudy

Building Community Life .....Portaferry
Business............................Dromore
Young People ....................Toombridge
Older People......................Cushendun
Environment......................Ahoghill

Overall Winner Calor Village of the Year 2009...........Ahoghill

(Highly Commended ... Cushendun)

Doagh Village Community Association and Burnside and District Community Group

A jointly run Hallowe'en Party has been organised for FRIDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2009 in the TORRENS HALL.

For Toddlers and up to 6 Years ............... 6.30 - 7.45pm

For Older Children, 7 - 11 Years.............. 8.00 - 9.00pm

Members of Doagh Village Community Association attended a meeting with "GROW South Antrim" Rural Development Programme Manager, Emma Stubbs on Monday, 19 October 2009. The purpose of the meeting was to learn something of the funding opportunities available to the rural communities, especially in south-east Antrim.

The session was helpful and productive, indicating that there were several criteria and themes under the various headings suitably placed to give the community in Doagh every chance to develop many improvements in aspects of village life. Many of these opportunities arose under measures contained within the Basic Services or Village Renewal strands.

Emma pointed out that eligible expenditure for grant aid can be awarded towards capital and resource costs

eg Capital Items, including building works and sineage
Non-mobile equipment
Marketing
Feasibility studies and business plans
Professional fees

Non-eligible items:
Projects that have already commenced
Projects creating economic replacement
Retail enterprises
General service or distribution businesses
The purchase of land and buildings
Mobile equipment, including vehicles
Business running costs
Own labour costs
Existing festivals and events
Provision of additional B&B spaces

Eligible areas
These should be project based or demonstrate an impact in an area with less than 4,500 residents.


More information can be found on the GROW website: www.growsouthantrim.com

The latter part of the session was devoted to exploring future possibilities for developing and improving Doagh, with the main emphasis on assessing local needs and encouraging all of the key community organisations to co-operate and work effectively together.

Final plans have not yet been released for rolling out the Village Renewal initiative as these are still being considered. It was expected that they should be in place early in the new year.

Village Development would be rolled out in 2 Phases :-
1.Village Plan Programme.
Support villages to create a vision and integrated development plan for a 5 year period
2.Capital Infrastructure Programme
Grants to help implement village plans, eg building, upgrading, landscaping, signage and resource support