1. The Armadale environmental clean up is scheduled for 6^th May 2011.

2. The  music festival is scheduled for 1^st July 2011.

Armadale saw its first ever 5k run on May 1^st with 136 enthusiastic runners participating. The run was organised in response to the Ambitious Armadale campaign, ‘Big 5 Ideas’.

The event, sponsored by Scotmid, welcomed local people of all ages to have fun and get active and to recognise the related potential health and well-being benefits. Participants could walk, run or jog the 5 kilometre course with a 2k option for families and buggies.

The event was organised by a partnership group of professionals and local people who all work with and for the Armadale community. Partners included Do More Drink Less project, Together for Health Project, West Lothian Run, Active Schools, Lothian Borders Police (Armadale), The Dale Food Group, Jog Scotland.

West Lothian Leisure provided an energetic warm up session for the crowd before Miss West Lothian, Metja Bowes, an Armadale resident herself, welcomed all participants and started the race.

In celebration of the runner’s achievement they were given a medal and t-shirt, mementos of the day along with other small goodies and literature promoting healthy lifestyles and West Lothian as a place to visit. A market place in the Community Centre also offered participants a chance to see what else is going on and how they could get involved in the community.  

Full results can be viewed at www.westlothianrun.co.uk. In the 5k run, in 1^st place was Brian Turner, 2^nd place was Neil Adamson and in 3^rd place Alex Hughes. In the 2k run, in 1^st place was Erin Blair, 2^nd place was Euan Hunter and in 3^rd place Heather Richardson.

A big congratulations to all of the participants

The Armadale ‘Do More Drink Less’ campaign held a public vote on 20 Big Ideas for an Amazing Armadale.  Below are details of the public vote and the top 5 ideas.

20 big ideas

To make Armadale Amazing

20 Big Ideas to Make Armadale Amazing Campaign was launched on Thursday 24^th June, 2010,                at 6.30pm in Armadale Community Education Centre.

All Armadale resident and local groups were invited to an open meeting to generate 20 Big Ideas to Make Armadale Amazing. Earlier meetings with school pupils, older people, community groups and local traders showed there was clearly a real pride in Armadale and optimism for the future based on developments such as the railway, new high school, improved community centre   and proposed new leisure and shopping facilities.
The campaign's intention is to build on this pride and promote positive alternatives to drinking, with the aim of reducing average alcohol consumption. Work in local schools highlights that younger children see alcohol misuse as frightening and scary, and a

threat to their own safety and the wellbeing of their family. Teenagers view it as a sign of low confidence. They believe that an Armadale which drinks less would be a happier, healthier and more vibrant town.
It was hoped that local people would be inspired by examples from elsewhere to develop ideas of how to make Armadale an even better place to live, work and visit. Stated aims were to: improve the reputation of the town; bring people together; increase activities;

 encourage people to drink less; improve local pride.

Outcome of the Launch: ARMADALE SHOWS ITS TRUE COLOURS

Refresh the town centre with bright colours, make Sundays alcohol-free, family days with street markets, car boot sales and entertainments, encourage schools to perform their shows to a wider audience, organise a music festival and celebrate the town’s young achievers with annual awards – just some of the big ideas generated by townsfolk, aged from 3 years to 79 years, to make Armadale Amazing. This was the result of an event to launch the campaign to get people in Armadale to “Do More and Drink Less”.

Under the banner ‘Ambitious Armadale’ the campaign will gain momentum in the coming months with more events planned and

more people joining in the fun. Mike Stevenson of Thinktastic, who led the event, inspired participants with films of transforming

ideas from around the world – from steps in Sweden that double as piano keys to a litter bin in Germany that makes a whooping sound when litter is deposited – both show that fun is a great way to encourage people to do things differently.

Other local ideas raised at the event, held in Armadale Community Centre, included, a wall of hand-prints (Armadale’s own

Hollywood Walk of fame, positive words only days, a shoe tree, more sports events, street dance, weekly jam sessions for musicians, an Armadale’s Got Talent event, opportunities for young film makers, environmental clean ups, activity opportunities promoted around the streets, paving stones prepared for street games, pedestrian areas and more live music events.

The message from those who took part: “We can and will we make Armadale Amazing.” Young and older will work together to

make this happen - consigning the abuse of alcohol to history.

20 Big Ideas will be produced and widely publicised as part of a people’s action plan for Armadale, calling on people of ages with skills, talents, passions and ambitions to step up and put Armadale on the map as a leader of new ideas in Scotland.

20 Big Ideas are shown in the poster below.

More information: 01506 281084