Newstead shines in BBC Village SOS TV show

1 Sep 2011 03:02 PM

Newstead Enterprise’s community project in Nottinghamshire is the star of BBC ONE’s Village SOS this Sunday (4September) at 4pm. The TV show follows the project’s quest to transform the former mining village of Newstead by creating a local music festival, eco-friendly visitor centre and fishing lakes, made possible by a £400,000 Big Lottery Fund grant.

Village SOS is a partnership between the Big Lottery Fund and the BBC that is responding to the plight of rural villages across the UK, and investing in new community enterprises that will revive their local areas. Newstead Enterprise is one of six UK projects to receive a £400,000 Big Lottery Fund grant and to be featured on the BBC ONE Village SOS series, presented by Sarah Beeny.

This Sunday’s episode (4 September, 4pm) highlights the strength of community spirit in Newstead as hundreds of locals volunteer to help get the project off the ground, including helping to build the world’s largest single tyre wall as part of the eco-centre. Supported by local angling charity CAST, young people in Newstead have also played an important role in the project, giving up their time and encouraging their friends to make a positive difference in their community by helping to create the eco-centre and fishing lakes, for the benefit of their local area.

Two Village Champions, couple Anthony and Julia Thistleton-Smith moved to Newstead a year ago to act as business mentors for the project and provide expertise in PR and marketing and architecture. They helped to lead the project over the past year and are extremely proud of what the village has achieved.

Julia Thistleton-Smith, Newstead’s Village Champion, said: "Our Village SOS project has far reaching social aims and in the past year we've given accredited training to over 40 local young people and provided learning opportunities to many hundreds more. In total we've engaged over 500 volunteers but it's the effort that young people in this community have made that has kept everyone so inspired. We wanted to create a genuine legacy for a community that was devastated following the pit closure and we're well on the way to doing that."

Sundays’ episode, featuring the inaugural Headstock music festival in Newstead, comes ahead of this years’ festival on 9 – 11 September 2011 with headline acts Echo & the Bunnymen and the Lightning Seeds. Visit www.headstockfestival.com for more information.

For people inspired by Village SOS the Big Lottery Fund’s Village SOS Active campaign, launched alongside the TV series, provides help and advice for villages to develop their own community enterprises at villagesos.org.uk.

The website villagesos.org.uk also provides information about the Village SOS Active competition in which £5m funding is available in awards of £10,000 - £30,000 to for the brightest ideas for new community enterprises that will make a lasting difference in rural communities with a population of less than 3,000.

Mick McGrath, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for the East Midlands, said: “Every year hundreds of local amenities such as shops and pubs close down in rural areas. The effects of this, along with limited transport options, rural isolation and lack of employment opportunities for young people, can all strike at the heart of village life.

“Through this campaign, the Big Lottery Fund will help rural villages in the East Midlands region to tackle these issues by bringing together support, information and expert advice on how to develop community enterprises, as well as the chance to get some Lottery funding to aid them. The Village SOS TV series, which begins this evening, has been following the journey of six villages, which have used Big Lottery Fund money to do just that. We want the campaign to harness the interest and inspiration that the show will generate to kick-start a rural revival.”

BIG will also offer face-to-face advice to communities at a range of learning events across the UK, and a dedicated national advice line, run by rural community enterprise experts the Plunkett Foundation, where people can receive tailored advice on different aspects of setting up a community business.

Further Information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow @BigLotteryFund #BIGlf and @VillageSOS, #VillageSOS

Notes to Editors

BIG has joined forces with a range of expert organisations and networks in the development and delivery of Village SOS Active.
Supporting the provision of the Village SOS national advice line and UK learning events is a partnership led by The Plunkett Foundation, along with; ACRE; Locality and Co-operatives UK.
SiftGroups, a digital agency specialising in community engagement, has supported the creation of the Village SOS Active online community network for people to share their experiences and support one another and others inspired to create their own rural social enterprises.
The Team, a Loewy Group design communications agency, is delivering content, design and online resources for Village SOS Active.
The Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) Sheffield Hallam University is conducting an evaluation to determine how effective the ten projects funded through Village SOS have been in reviving rural communities and meeting the outcomes of the Village SOS programme.
BBC Learning is also offering a range of resources to help ensure that the Village SOS series makes an impact beyond the six villages that are featured on TV. It includes top tips, toolkits and 4 minute films from the Village SOS projects sharing their advice, information and experience of how to make a social enterprise sustainable.
The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £26 billion has now been raised and more than 330,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

The six villages included in the Village SOS series on BBC One, in order of appearance, are:

Talgarth - The villagers of Talgarth near Bronllys, Powys in Wales, will renovate the village's mill cottage to create a sustainable education and renewable technologies centre, with space for local enterprise and a gallery. An eco-cafe will also be established in the education centre and the old mill will be reinstated as a working flour mill, to produce and sell local bakery products.
Honeystreet - Barge Inn Community Project, in Honeystreet, Wiltshire, was awarded a grant to purchase the Barge Inn’s lease (20 years) and operate it as a social enterprise, securing its future at the heart of the local community. As well as rejuvenating the pub itself, the project will run services including a village shop, campsite, and community activities.
Caistor- Caistor Arts and Heritage Centre project will use Village SOS funding to breathe new life into a former Methodist chapel building in the historic rural village of Caistor.The project will create a hub for a range of arts and heritage activities. Local artists will have a space in which to make, sell and exhibit their work while visitors can browse through a shop selling local produce and souvenirs, or visit a cafe for refreshments.
Myddfai - Myddfai charity Ty Talcen in Carmarthenshire, Wales, is developing The Myddfai Trading Company, which will create and sell a new range of craft products from the local community in Myddfai near Llandovery. It will draw upon the 13th century legend of the Physicians of Myddfai who were well-known for their skills in homeopathy and will see local people growing and selling herbal medicines under the Myddfai brand. The goods will be sold at a new purpose-built community facility replacing the current dilapidated 60-year-old village hall.
Newstead - Based in the former mining village of Newstead in Nottinghamshire, this community plans to transform the site of the former pit tips into a thriving Country Park. A sustainable eco-build visitor centre will be built and the original finishing and polishing ponds transformed into angling lakes, working closely with the CAST project which uses angling as a way to engage with disadvantaged young people. There will also be an annual community music event on the site.
Tideswell- Tideswell was known in the Middle Ages as 'the King's larder' and the project aims to capitalise on the village's history of producing quality food. Based on four elements - 'Grow it, Cook it, Make it and Sell it' - the new community-run business will include a community nursery, kitchen garden, Taste Tideswell brand, micro brewery and professional kitchen, which will be used to train local school children and as a venue for cookery courses for adults.
For more information about the BBC TV Series Village SOS here.