Funding Programme Launches To Improve Lives Of Those Living In Rural Communities

A new funding programme specifically designed to improve the lives of those living in rural communities has launched.

The Rural Micro Capital Grant Programme will be delivered by local Rural Support Networks on behalf of DARD. The Programme will be open for applications from Monday 13 April 2015 until noon on Friday 22 May 2015. Grants of between £200 and £1,500 are available to constituted rural community organisations for equipment and minor capital works.

Pupils To Test Their Knowledge At Euro Quiz

Pupils from a number of Belfast post primary schools will be testing their knowledge of Europe at a special event in City Hall later this month.

11 to 14 year-olds from across the city are taking part in the Opportunity Europe Euro Quiz in the Great Hall on Tuesday 21 April. The event is being organised by Belfast City Council, the European Commission Office in Northern Ireland and NICILT (the Northern Ireland Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research) housed at Queen’s University.

Euro Quiz was a popular part of the Opportunity Europe Fair and Exhibition event which ran for over 10 years at St George's Market every October and brought thousands of schoolchildren across Northern Ireland together to find out more about working, studying, travelling and volunteering abroad. It also encouraged an understanding and enjoyment of different cultures and languages in Northern Ireland, Europe and beyond.

The Euro Quiz is going out on the road with the Belfast round being the first of five taking place across Northern Ireland in April and May – the others are at the Guildhall in Derry-Londonderry on 23 April; Sean Hollywood Arts Centre in Newry on 28 April; Strule Arts Centre in Omagh on 30 April and Braid Museum and Arts Centre in Ballymena on 5 May.

The quiz will test pupils' knowledge on European languages, geography, food and drink, music and much more. Each team will be comprised of six Key Stage 3 students, two each from Years 8, 9 and 10. The top two teams from each regional heat will then go forward to the Euro Quiz Final in Belfast at the end of May.

Turner & Townsend Appoints Belfast Director

Turner & Townsend has announced it has appointed Colm Lavery as Director of project management and cost management services at its Belfast office.

Colm joins the firm with over 20 years' experience of delivering professional services in the commercial, education, healthcare, retail, residential and government sectors.

Formerly leading EC Harris LLP in Northern Ireland, he oversaw the delivery of some of Northern Ireland's most prestigious projects, including Titanic Belfast, the Lyric Theatre and Bangor Aurora Aquatic & Leisure Complex, together with a multitude of education projects across the province, leading on successes with Ulster University and Magilligan Prison.

Mr Lavery said: "I am very excited to be joining the Turner & Townsend team.

"Leading such a strong group of client-focused professionals who are unstinting in their delivery of exceptional outcomes across all sectors is a challenge I will relish."

(CD)