These Community Agents will help bridge the gap between the local community and the statutory and voluntary organisations able to offer help and support. Agents have a wide range of contacts and provide high-quality information, promote access to various services and work with individual residents or groups to identify unmet needs in the community.

For further information please contact Justine Hunt on (01234) 832648 or via email: justineh@bedsrcc.org.uk

You can find out more about Just Ask! here

Neighbourhood Planning enables communities to shape the future of their area, within certain limits. Residents can decide on where they want new homes and shops to be built and what they want them to look like. The concept was introduced under the Localism Act in 2011, and now the government has made funding available of up to £7,000 per community to help them draw up their plans.

Communities will be able to apply for grants and support from a number of organisations working with nationwide charity Locality. Information is available via a website, My Community Rights, which offers advice and links to support and guidance for Neighbourhood Planning and other localism rights.

If you want to work with BRCC on developing your Neighbourhood Plan, please contact Cliff Andrews on (01234) 832617 or via email: cliffa@bedsrcc.org.uk

The Paragon 2012, the latest vintage from Warden Abbey Vineyard (managed by BRCC) has won a commendation in this year's International Wine Challenge, following in the medal-winning footsteps of its previous wine, The Reformer 2010.

Many thanks are due to dedication of all the vineyard volunteers and skilled grape-picking, enabling a quality wine to be made in a year where the weather threw everything at us.

The Paragon, a large flawless diamond, was chosen as the name to commemorate BRCC's diamond anniversary in 2013.

The wine will be available to buy in the early autumn.In the meantime, stocks of The Reformer 2010 are going fast.

Volunteers will be staffing a stand at the Woburn Garden Show, so if you are visiting the show do pop by.

BRCC is also delighted that the Luton Hoo Hotel has chosen The Reformer 2010 to be featured in its fine dining restaurant for the duration of English Wine Week 25th May-2nd June.

The Ivel Valley area has long been associated with food production – not least through Jordans, whose cereals appear on breakfast tables up and down the land. Now you can explore this rich heritage at the newly opened Jordans Mill near Biggleswade, which received a £163,000 grant from the Greensand Ridge Rural Development Programme (managed by BRCC).

As well as taking a guided tour of the historic flour mill, which has been fully refurbished, you can visit the Riverside Café, the Mill Store and, from this summer, the gardens.

You can find more information here www.jordansmill.com

Spring may have been late arriving this year, but it hasn’t held up the launches of two new Health Walk programmes at opposite ends of the county: Biggleswade and Leighton Linslade both started their weekly walks in the wintry conditions of March.

The short walks, which last from 40 to 80 minutes, are led by trained volunteers and are designed to encourage walkers of all abilities to join in and get fitter while also enjoying them as regular social occasions. They are free to attend and take place in Biggleswade on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and in Leighton Linslade on Mondays.

Walk 4 Health is co-ordinated in Central Bedfordshire by BRCC.

For more information, please get in touch with Mike Fayers on (01234) 832619 or via email: mikef@bedsrcc.org.uk

Anyone within working age, living in south Bedfordshire and suffering from issues with transport can now access a hybrid bicycle through Wheels2Work. This opportunity has been funded through the Central Bedfordshire ‘Travel Choices’ scheme. Participants will also be offered Bikeability Level 3 cycle training for FREE but will have to purchase their own insurance and safety equipment.

For further information contact Chris Bland on (01234) 832649 or via email: chrisb@bedsrcc.org.uk

Rural Community Broadband Fund re-opens

The third round of the £20m Rural Community Broadband Fund has opened for Expressions of Interest between 22 March and 24 May 2013. The RCBF is jointly funded by Defra and Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and provides grants to communities to establish superfast broadband in hard-to-reach areas.

You can find further information here.

Mind BLMK has developed a new project aiming to support people aged 55+ across rural Bedfordshire to improve and maintain their mental well being and reduce isolation. This will be achieved through a number of ways including: supporting people to access groups, mentor support, peer support groups and peer mentoring, various courses and counselling, the latter being offered in partnership with Relate.

They are looking to recruit volunteer mentors for the project, particularly of similar age group, with full training provided.

For further information please visit their website www.mind-blmk.org.uk

A groundbreaking scheme to raise awareness and understanding of dementia is winging its way to Central Bedfordshire. The Dementia Friends initiative, run by national charity Alzheimer’s Society, aims to improve public knowledge of dementia by helping people understand what living with the condition is like, and the small things they could do to make a difference to people living in their community.

The Alzheimer’s Society is looking for local people to volunteer as ‘Dementia Friends’.

Anyone can volunteer - perhaps you have a job that means you have contact with people who might have dementia or maybe you want to learn more about the condition so you can better understand the needs of family members, a friend or neighbour?

You can find further information here: www.dementiafriends.org.uk
Download: Press release (PDF 21KB)

BRCC’s Housing Needs Surveys for Henlow and Wrestlingworth and Cockayne Hatley were featured recently by the Biggleswade Chronicle

You can read the full story here.