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10 Villages Battle for Calor Somerset Village of the Year Title

A total of 10 villages covering Somerset’s five districts are in line for prizes in the prestigious 2006 Calor Somerset Village of the Year competition.

Initial judging visits to all 10 communities are due to take place between 10th and 16th May when it will be decided which villages will be selected to go forward to the final judging round in June in order to find an overall winner. Villages involved in the first judging round are as follows –

Mendip:
Batcombe (Small), Westbury sub Mendip (Medium), and Leigh on Mendip (Medium)

Taunton Deane:
Nynehead (Small)

Sedgemoor:
Nether Stowey (Large) and Shipham (Medium)

West Somerset:
Brushford (Small) and Sampford Brett (Small)South

Somerset:
Winsham (Medium) and Shepton Beauchamp (Medium)

The competition is organised by the Community Council for Somerset and sponsored by Calor with additional support from Orchard FM and the Somerset County Gazette. Competition organiser on behalf of the Community Council for Somerset, Katy Calvert, is confident that standards are extremely high. She commented: “It looks like the competition’s going to be very close. We are used to high standards from Somerset’s villages, but I think our judges are going to have a particularly difficult time choosing the winners this year.”

The competition judges communities on six aspects of village life with categories in Building Community Life, Business, Young People, Older People, Environment and Information Communication Technology (ICT). Cash prizes are on offer to the winners and runners up of all six categories, including £500 prize money specifically for the Building Community Life category, which has been made available thanks to continued competition support from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) at both county and national level. In addition, once selected the overall winning village will have the added honour of being nominated to go forward and represent the county in the prestigious Calor Village of the Year^® for England competition, with the opportunity of gaining recognition at national level as well as a share of the prize fund totalling more than £39,000.

Katy Calvert added: “Good luck to all 10 villages involved in the first judging round. Whether they get through to the next round or not, they have all done very well and I would like to thank the communities for their hard work and commitment in putting together their entries.”

For further information regarding the Calor Somerset Village of the Year competition please contact Katy Calvert on 01823 331222.

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Further press information from: Emma Flinn, Flent PR, a Connectpoint Company
tel: 01223 845781 (direct) / 0161 817 4200 (main office)
email: emma.flinn@connectpoint.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Calor Village of the Year^®

Calor, the leading supplier of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) to those living and working in the countryside, has supported rural activities in England, Scotland and Wales for 20 years through its Rural Sponsorship programme, which includes the Calor Village of the Year^® for England and Wales competitions and the Calor Scottish Community of the Year competition.

The Calor Village of the Year^® for England competition, now in its tenth year, was founded and developed by Calor, and is organised and funded by the company on an annual basis.

Please note that Calor Village of the Year^® is a registered trademark and should be referred to in full in all circumstances.

Entry to the Calor Village of the Year^® for England competition is through the existing county competition network.

Following competition support in 2005, Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is once again providing Calor with additional funding in 2006 to enhance the community life element of the competition through the Building Community Life category. Defra’s special aim is to encourage the inclusion of all groups and individuals into the fabric of rural community life - building cohesive and mutually supportive communities. Defra’s involvement means that every village in England has the opportunity to enter the 2006 Calor Village of the Year^® for England competition.

The national Calor Village of the Year^® judges look for well-balanced, pro-active, caring communities which, irrespective of size, have made the best of local opportunities to maintain and enhance the quality of life for all residents.

The prize money for the national Calor Village of the Year^® for England competition alone stands at over £39,000. First prize is £7,000 with £2,000 going to each of five regional winners. In addition, there are five category prizes of £500 within each region (covering Business, Environment, Care for Older People, Care for Young People and Information Communications Technology), and a prize of £750 for the winner of the Building Community Life category in each of the five regions. The five regional winners of the Information Communication Technology category are judged to find an overall winner, the award for which is £1,000. There is also, thanks to the Defra support, a prize of £2,000 for an overall Building Community Life winner, which is selected from the five regional winners.

For general information on the Calor Village of the Year^® for England and Wales competitions:

email: info@calorvillageoftheyear.org, tel: 01962 629768, or visit: www.calorvillageoftheyear.org

For more information on the Calor Scottish Community of the Year competition:

visit: www.communityoftheyear.co.uk

For more information on Defra:

visit: www.defra.gov.uk or for information specific to rural affairs visit: www.defra.gov.uk/rural/default.htm

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