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General News
STFC: A new mission to explore Jupiter and its icy moons has been approved by the European Space Agency (ESA). The mission will reveal fresh insights into the habitability of the ‘waterworlds’ orbiting the giant planets in our solar system & beyond.
DfT: Commuters will enjoy improved journeys and benefit from 2,400 extra seats during the morning & evening peaks thanks to Government funding for an additional 48 rail carriages. The carriages will be used to boost capacity on South West Trains services travelling into Waterloo by an extra 40 carriages in the morning and 37 carriages in the evening.
ScotGov: A FREE smartphone app celebrating The Queen’s reign in Scotland will be among a series of events & initiatives launched by the Scottish Government to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee this summer, First Minister Alex Salmond announced last week.
ACE: Successful applicants to the first round of Art Council England’s new strategic touring fund were announced last week, with a total of just over £3m being shared across 9 recipients. The strategic touring programme is designed to increase access to the arts, especially in places with low levels of arts engagement and those that that rely on touring for much of their arts provision.
ACE will award a further £12m over the next 5 rounds of the strategic touring fund and a total of £45m of lottery funds will be awarded over the next 3 years.
NE: A County Durham farmer is leading the field in providing young people with the chance to learn about life down on the farm. Around 25 education groups already visit Ulnaby Hall Farm each year and with the opening of a new classroom, Ian is hoping that the number will more than double. Thanks to funding from a Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme - one of Natural England’s Environmental Stewardship schemes - Ian can provide educational visits free of charge.
MoD: A team of wounded British servicemen & women arrived back on home soil recently after a highly successful week competing in the US Warrior Games. The annual event hosted by the US Olympic Committee, saw wounded, injured & sick Service personnel and veterans competing in 7 paralympic sporting events in Colorado from 30 April to 5 May. The trip was supported & funded by the UK charity Help for Heroes.
FDA: FDA members in the more senior grades of the civil service have voted to accept the deal negotiated with the Government for new pension arrangements from 2015.
Dave Penman, FDA Deputy General Secretary, said: "This result should not be interpreted as an endorsement by FDA members of the new scheme. FDA members remain deeply unhappy about aspects of the changes and the Government's approach to pension reform”.
ACE: The Arts Council has recently announced funding for 9 organisations that will provide valuable development support for regional museums. The successful applicants to the Museum development fund will provide a national network of professional advice to all museums, particularly supporting smaller museums.
Applications for the Subject specialist network fund are now open, for grants of between £1,000 & £10,000 from a total annual fund of £150,000 for 2012/13. The fund is aimed at supporting the sharing of knowledge and expertise of specialist collections across the country. Applications must be submitted no later than 5pm on Friday 8 June 2012.
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