All posts in Ridgeway Ramblings

Spring is just around the corner and hopefully we will all be able to enjoy some welcome sunshine. New Homes on Track Despite extreme weather over the past few months, the £1.2 million project to build nine new Council homes is on target. This scheme is part of Charnwood’s programme to secure the provision of 250 affordable homes in the Borough by 2012. The nine new affordable and energy efficient properties are being built in Thurmaston, Barrow-Upon-Soar and Shepshed and are the first council homes to be built for almost 20 years. The new properties will meet high energy efficiency standards and will feature timber-frame construction, high levels of insulation in the walls and roof, and energy efficient windows and doors. The houses will be advertised and allocated in accordance with the soon to be implemented Choice Based Lettings scheme and should be available from May onwards. Volunteers needed to help ex-offenders Charnwood is working with the Leicester-based Futures Unlocked charity to recruit new mentors to help offenders change their lives and steer them away from a life of crime. Volunteer mentors work with an offender from the point they are preparing to leave prison, through to their release and as they move back into the community. Referrals are made to Futures Unlocked through the prison service, police, council or by self-referral. They are then paired with a mentor whose role is to support the clients in a variety of practical ways including helping them get involved in volunteering, join a library, start exercise and playing sport, organise appointments, register with doctors and dentists, set up a bank account, attend social clubs and apply for educational courses. Volunteers will be needed for four to six hours a week, must be over the age of 18 and available to attend a two-day induction training and evening training sessions in Leicester. You do not need any qualifications or previous experience, however, a belief that offenders deserve another chance is essential. For details of how to apply, visit www.futuresunlocked.org/volunteerApply.cfm  call Futures Unlocked on 0116 255 3742 or email: admin@futuresunlocked.org   Win an office by entering Charnwood’s own Dragons’ Den Charnwood is offering budding entrepreneurs a unique chance to win their own office, complete with furniture, an adjacent meeting room and free wireless internet, in the modern surroundings of the Ark Business Centre in Gordon Road, Loughborough, for a year in a brand new Dragons’ Den-style contest in Charnwood. The prize is worth at least £3,500. To be in with a chance of setting up shop in the new digs, entrants must pitch their idea to a panel of Charnwood’s very own Dragons at Loughborough’s Woodgate Chambers on 4th April. This is thought to be the first local authority in the region to offer such a prize and it is designed to give a new business a helping hand. To enter or for more information about the prize, including a 360-degree virtual tour, visit the Dragon’s Den section of Charnwood Borough Council’s website www.charnwood.gov.uk/dragonsden Business pitches can be sent to: Dragons Den Competition, Michael Underwood, Communications Department, Charnwood Borough Council, Southfield Road, Loughborough, LE11 2TR or email Michael.underwood@charnwood.gov.uk Raise Cash and Smiles and Run a Few Miles Charnwood is set to host the Smiles four Miles fun run on Sunday 20th March but needs you to show your support by entering now. The run sets off from Loughborough Town Hall at 10.00am to help raise money for Red Nose Day, which is held once every two years, and has two distances, one mile and three miles. Fancy dress is optional. For more information, visit www.charnwood.gov.uk/activetogether  or call the Active Together team on 01509 634673 or email active.together@charnwood.gov.uk