East Down Rural Community Network in partnership with Building Change Trust – Catalyst for Change Partnership held a ½ day seminar on Saturday 1st October 2011 to provide information and advice to groups within thePeninsula on developing and building community assets.
The event provided opportunities for community groups to learn from the experiences of a range of local groups. Carol Ann Hewitt, Kircubbin Regeneration Project, Colin Dempster, Ballywalter Youth & Community Co-operative and Gary Laverty, Portaferry Regeneration Ltd all gave excellent presentations on the reality for groups in owning and managing community assets detailing the challenges and advantages for groups. This was followed by two workshops where groups were able to hear good practice tips from a range of support providers on: Effectively Marketing and Promoting Your Group; and Acquiring, Managing and Sustaining aCommunityBuilding.
The seminar came about as a follow up to research report undertaken by CENI with the above groups into Owning and Managing Community Assets in Upper Ards. Anyone seeking further information on the report please contact Frances Hughes, EDRCN at Tel No. 028 9182 8884 or alternatively copies of the report can be downloaded from EDRCN website www.eastdownrcn.com.