During March, April and May we have travelled the length and breadth of England, meeting great people from 104 different Big Local areas who are passionate about where they live.

You might have been one of the 369 people who attended one of the 15 spring events, or you might have kept up with what was happening by seeing videos, tweets and Facebook messages. I found the events interesting, inspiring and exciting as those attended discussed the detail of how they could help make their Big Local areas even better places to live. People swapped experiences and I think we all came away with new insights.

If you weren’t able to attend a spring event we will soon be uploading the presentations and information from the day to our website, and we will be keeping you informed of other opportunities to network and share learning with other Big Local areas.

As we move into June we are looking forward to hearing about all the Big Local events and activities that will be taking place in your areas over the summer.

In this newsletter we share some great activities hapening in areas from photography to tennis to 'flash mobs'! We hope you enjoy reading it.

Debbie Ladds, chief executive, Local Trust

Dover Town Big Local had a creative day of enagement, out in the streets and in the town hall. There was a participatory mapping project, where residents were asked to 'map the possible and the impossible'. Photographers had also been invited to map the area through photographs and these were used to get conversations going about the area.

Led by a local graphic design company, residents were also encouraged to contribute to a sketchbook project where they could record their ideas visually.

Dover Youth Theatre were on hand to teach people how to fight with real stage swords. Performing arts tutors and students from K College took to the streets wearing brightly coloured Dover Big Local t-shirts for a 'flash mob' to create a buzz around the day and get people talking about Big Local.

In last month's e-newsletter we invited you to share your Big Local logos, design and artwork. We've had a great response so far and have put this together and made it available on our Flickr account. As well as logos (some of which are shown above) there are banners, t-shirt designs, facepaint motifs, mugs, leaflets, posters, bags and pins!

There are some fantastic ideas and it's great to see the different approaches taken by areas. We have been inspired by the creativity from areas and we hope you will be too. If you have something you would like to share from your area please email info@localtrust.org.uk

As areas move through the Big Local pathway and tell us about what has happened through their end of funding reports, we have been able to gather some early learning. Over a series of three blogs we will share what we have learned by looking at 16 ‘Getting People Involved round 2’ end of funding reports.

Feedback from locally trusted organisations has identified what people feel is working well in their areas, what is challenging and what lessons have been learnt.

In the first two of the three blogs we focus on what areas are learning as they begin to get people involved. and what areas have learnt whilst developing steering groups and partnerships.

The idea behind ‘quick wins’ in Big Local areas is that they meet immediate needs or concerns of an area, in a way that can be inexpensive but fun and energising and part of a bigger plan.

In this latest ‘how to’ guide Maria Adebowale from Capacity Global shares five ideas about how you can make your area even better, using the green spaces or built places that you are likely to already have in your area.

Rastrick tennis club were awarded funding from Rastrick Big Local and have used it to provide coaching sessions for junior school children in the area. A school's final will be played at the club with the winner going on to a local league final in Calderdale. Coaching for secondary school students and adults have been organised too.

In Dewsbury Moor Big Local even younger children have been getting involved in sports by signing up for rugby taster sessions. The project is funded by a Big Local 'quick wins' scheme in the area and was thought up by a community group and parents locally looking for a way to get young children into sport.

A group of people from Devonshire West Big Local came along to the final spring event in Hastings on 22 May. They shared their press release about the day:

'The trip to Hastings spring event workshops gave the planning group representatives an opportunity to look to the future, and to anticipate what still needs to be done to make sure Devonshire West gains the improvements its residents say it deserves.'

Read the full press release or short interviews with people who attended, talking about the toughest and best parts of Big Local.

Big Local DY10 in Horsefair, Broadwaters and Greenhill have launched a photography competition. There's no fancy equipment needed, photos can even be taken on camera phones. What's important is to capture the 'spririt' of the area.

As well as a series of workshops being delivered in local primary schools, there have also been two community photography workshops for residents. 15 shortlisted photos will be printed for an exhibition which will be on show in the area.

The Caldmore village festival took place over the May bank holiday weekend and attracted over 7,000 people. Palfrey Big Local set up shop in the community marquee to promote Big Local and Star People and get people's ideas for their area.

The festival brought people together to celebrate the multicultural nature of the area, bringing the work of locally based community groups and artists to a wider audience.

Festivals and celebrations can be a great opportunity to talk to people about Big Local or provide some activities. If Big Local in your area is part of any festivals coming up, please share some pictures and let us know how it goes!

Prince’s Countryside Fund announces new funding round - £500,000 from the Prince’s Countryside Fund has been made available to organisations and charities helping rural communities. The aim of the funding is to assist projects that tackle the major issues surrounding the countryside.

Neighbourhood Planning support grants open from 1 May - communities can access one-to-one support and grants up to £7,000 to help the production of a neighbourhood plan. The Localism Act 2011 introduced statutory Neighbourhood Planning in England which enables communities to draw up a Neighbourhood Plan for their area and is intended to give communities more of a say in the development of their local area (within certain limits and parameters). For example, where you want new homes, shops and offices to be built, having a say on what new buildings should look like or grant planning permission for the new buildings you want to see go ahead.

Funding for historic buildings to involve community groups - the Heritage Lottery Fund has launched Heritage Enterprise, a new funding programme to empower not-for-profit organisations, including community groups and social enterprises, to work in partnership with the private sector to rescue and return neglected historic buildings to productive use.

Neighbourly - a new website launching soon which helps communities make a noise about local projects they care about as well as also helping brands listen and understand how they might help.

We are moving office during June. We thank CDF as our current landlords as they helped us get established by letting us rent some space from them. We’ll give you our new address and phone numbers soon – our new office is near the Angel Islington and again, we have found a charity landlord.