Oadby and Wigston's very own community radio station has officially launched on WiFi Digital Radio. The community has been celebrating its long awaited arrival with the people that make it all work and the hundreds of listeners which have so far tuned-in from around the corner to around the world. The Sunflower Fm is now live On-Air 24 hours-a-day and just been granted an Official RECIVA ID Frequency of 23868. Managing Director of The Sunflower Community Radio Association and The Sunflower Radio Ltd. David Harris Boulter said: "It's taken our team a tremendous amount of work over the past two years to get to this stage which sees the end of the initial station creation and now opens a new chapter to develop the stations sound and characteristics for the future. The Sunflower Fm won't be like the other community radio stations in the UK as we focus heavily on speech based content. Also the music that we play is created by extremely talented unsigned musicians, bands and vocalists. We decided to run with this rather than play Top 40 and catalogue released songs as it creates even greater Social Gain for the people of musical community that live within the Borough, County and Planet. The listeners that The Sunflower Fm appeals to are generally going to be people who prefer listening to quality Talk and Speech based news and information radio rather than Chart and Hit Music Radio. As far as I am aware, The Sunflower Fm is the first community radio station in the United Kingdom to break into a market place which has always been dominated heavily by BBC Local Radio. Our plans are extremely bold and it is unlikely that any other community radio stations would attempt to follow us on this journey as it is extremely demanding, resource intensive and expensive. Radio stations shouldn't be the same as each other and The Sunflower Radio Ltd. has always tried to broaden the listeners choice. The response to the station has been excellent and we are right on track to introducing the station to smaller shops and retail outlets across the Borough and surrounding areas eventually forming a network of regular daytime listeners at work. We even plan to give-away WiFi Digital Radio's to advertisers on the station so they can listen to us in the workplace". The Sunflower Fm is now recruiting people that would like to get involved with producing speech based programmes, whether LIVE or Pre-Recorded. If you have a programme idea or are in a band and would like your song featuring on the Playlist Click on the Contact Us page to get in touch.

Travel Plans Studied

New Customer Services Roadside, bus and rail passenger surveys have been carried out to discover more about people's journeys and travel patterns. Leicestershire County Council conducted the surveys over a two week period recently across the County. The survey will gather information on travel patterns by car, bus and rail which will help when analysing the effects of proposed developments, transport measures and transport planning. The information will also be used to build a new transport model to help assess transport schemes and the impacts of new developments. The surveys for road traffic where carried out with the help of the Police who stopped drivers to enable interviewers to ask questions about the origin, destination and purpose of the journey whilst bus and rail travellers were surveyed at bus stops and rail stations as they waited to board the bus or trai,n. Approval for the study was given by the County Council Cabinet in October

So Who Are You?

Television is increasing the popularity of researching family history, but for those who find it difficult to trace their family history, help is at hand as Leicestershire Libraries are running a series of sessions for family history novices to learn how to get started. Whether people have local family roots or not, these sessions will give basic information, show useful websites and direct people to relevant library resources. Places on the sessions are limited, and booking is necessary. For details of the dates and times of events in your area call Val Plant on 267 8020/8000

Local Man Celebrates

A Leicestershire man has beaten hundreds of other graduates to win a national competition about designing roads, bridges and developing transport systems. Jordan Flint, aged 26 jointly won the competition with Scott. The pair won the competition sponsored by The Surveyor magazine, by writing an article on Delivering Significant Improvement in Public Satisfaction. Jordan recently collected his prize in London. Meanwhile Road signs, verges and pavements across Leicestershire are enjoying a new lease of life thanks to an autumn make-over. Teams have been out and about cutting back overhanging branches, painting brook railings, spraying weeds and tidying up traffic islands. The highways spruce up has started in Oadby, Wigston, Blaby, Harborough, Loughborough, Melton and Hinckley, Coalville and Ashby.

Residents of the Borough are invited to a special event to inform them of a wide range of housing, social, training and employment services available in the local area and meet the people who deliver them. The event will provide a “one-stop shop” providing information and advice on housing services, benefits, crime prevention, support for parents, children’s services, adult learning, local employment opportunities, skills and training. Organisations that will be at the event include Oadby & Wigston Borough Council, Extended Schools Family Support Workers, Home Start Blaby Oadby and Wigston, Adult Education Service, Connexions, Next Step, Helping Hands Advice Bureau, Job Centre Plus, South Leicestershire College, Voluntary Action for Oadby and Wigston. The event is taking place on Monday 19th January from 2.30pm until 6.30pm at Bassett Centre in South Wigston and is open to all residents of the Borough. Refreshments and a crèche facility will be made available on the day free of charge. For more information contact Rebecca Miles on 2527 644 or Jacky York on 2572 675.

The faith communities of Oadby came together recently to organise the first inter-faith fair which took place at Beauchamp College in Oadby. All residents of Oadby, Wigston and beyond attended a fun day enjoyed Fairtrade candy floss, mendhi and African drumming. The opportunity gave local people from various different faith communities the opportunity to enjoy each others cultures whilst learning more about faith groups in Oadby. The event marked One World Week, an annual initiative aimed at bringing together people of different backgrounds in order to celebrate diversity. The event was organised by Beauchamp College Student Shabaana Kidy.

Pupils from a Wigston primary school are the first in the county to be part of a Junior Neighbourhood Watch scheme being ran at their school. The nine and ten-year-olds from All Saints Primary School, Wigston, have been attending workshops ran by the local police to teach them about Neighbourhood Watch and crime prevention. Chief Superintendent Garry Forsyth, police commander for the South area of the Force, will be in attendance with the Oadby and Wigston commander Inspector Lindsey Taylor, local beat officers. Marion Lewis, Chair of Neighbourhood Watch and Home Watch England & Wales , as well as representatives from Oadby and Wigston Borough Council. There will also be representatives from the school and some parents. Weekly workshops were ran at the school and there will now be a presentation at Wigston Police Station where the pupils will receive a certificate. It will be in recognition of the Oadby and Wigston Junior Neighbourhood Watch Course and their contribution to crime prevention and community safety. The scheme has been running for five weeks and the presentation will be at the police on Tuesday October 28.For more information about the Junior Neighbourhood Watch Scheme contact Linda Spencer on 222 2222 ext 7315 or Alistair Richardson ext 2333.

The Neighbourhood Manager for Wigston and South Wigston has been busy recently working closely within the community and is currently planning to provide regular updates on The Sunflower Fm's brand-new 24 hour a day community radio station which can be heard on-line. Jacky York has been given the job of identifying priority areas within our region and to work with agencies such as the Police, education, health service and the local community to develop Neighbourhood Action Teams. Jackie Said: "Concerns are usually around common themes such as health, economic development, community safety, youth issues and the living environment. So far you have told me that locally you are concerned about graffiti, antisocial behaviour and lack of youth provision and I am working with the council and partners to address these issues. I would welcome contact from members of community groups or individuals who are interested in improving the neighbourhood in which they live, work or meet or who may wish to offer some constructive advice about how services could be improved. Community and voluntary groups have a large role to play as do businesses and local residents. Working in partnership will allow us to target resources and enable members of the community to participate more fully in how the neighbourhood is managed. Please contact me on email neighbourhood.officer@oadby-wigston.gov.uk or telephone 07789 0926462." Listeners to The Sunflower Fm will soon hear Jacky on the radio talking more about her role and Action Team developments. CLICK HERE to LISTEN LIVE to the station.