Defra Support

The Building Community Life category of the Calor Village of the Year^® for England competition was launched by Calor in 2005, with the support of Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to enhance the community life element of the competition at both county and national level.

Defra’s support enabled Calor to offer every community in England the opportunity of entering during 2005 and 2006, plus it enabled the prize money to be increased in the county, regional and national levels of the competition.

During 2007, Defra has further supported Calor Village of the Year® by funding a county organisers conference which took place on March 29th in Warwick.

Copies of a booklet which was launched by Defra back in March 2006 regarding Building Community Life are still available. The aim of the booklet is to give communities greater understanding of how they can 'build community life' and spread the good work that villages are already doing.

In addition, this section features:

Judging guidelines - helping to show exactly what judges are looking for in your community.

Sharing best practice - Share your villages schemes and ideas with others - via this web site.

Village case studies - Read about some of the villages who have prospered in the BCL category.

BCL winners - Find out which communities are the latest winners of BCL awards.

County Organisers' Conference - Funded by Defra

"Defra has welcomed the close collaboration with the Calor Village of the Year Competition over the past two years through our sponsorship of the Building Community Life category.

"The category was launched in 2005 to highlight the value and importance of cohesive and mutually supportive communities and encourage the inclusion of all groups and individuals into the fabric of rural community life. The competition has matured over these years and Defra's involvement has enabled every community in England to enter the competition.

"Defra was delighted to sponsor the conference of county organisers and judges which has been such a success. The Conference offered a great opportunity to reaffirm Defra's commitment to strong rural communities and the importance of social inclusion.

"It also represents the culmination of Defra's sponsorship of the Building Community Life category and it is pleasing to know that awareness of the issues has been raised and the good work of the past two years will continue to reap dividends in coming rounds of the Calor Village of the Year Competition."

Tony Poole
Head of Programme Management and Rural Proofing Team
Defra Rural Policy Directorate

Why did Defra sponsor the Building Community Life category?

Villages are constantly undergoing change with the closure of community facilities, decline in religious affiliation, physical isolation, loss of local services, and a varying rural population in terms of age and social background. All this can lead to a loss of community spirit and an increase in isolation for some groups. One of Defra’s objectives is to promote sustainable rural communities and to tackle rural disadvantage - and supporting Calor Village of the Year® helped towards achieving this.