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Hunt for Northamptonshire's Top Village Begins

If you’re proud of your vibrant, inclusive community and want the chance to celebrate your achievements then you should consider entering your village in the 2006 Calor Northamptonshire Village of the Year competition.

The competition, organised by Northamptonshire ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) and sponsored by Calor – the UK’s leading supplier of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), looks 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 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).

Information and entry forms have been sent out to parish councils and community organisations throughout the county encouraging them to take part. All villages with a population of 5,000 and under are eligible to enter and, for judging purposes, competing villages will be split into small (under 500), medium (500 – 1,499) and large (1,500 – 5,000) sections. Prizes are on offer to the winning villages in each section as well as the village judged to be the overall Village of the Year. There is also £500 prize money to be shared between a small, medium and large winner in 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.

The 2006 Calor Northamptonshire Village of the Year and ICT Village of the Year will have the added honour of being nominated to go forward and represent the county in the prestigiousCalor Village of the Year^® for England competition, with the opportunity of gaining recognition at national level as well as a share of the £36,000 prize fund.

Competition organiser on behalf of Northamptonshire ACRE, Anne Millar, commented: “Taking part in this competition is a wonderful way of celebrating and promoting all that is positive about where you live. It’s not a competition about perfect villages – it’s about communities working hard to make life for residents as good as it can be, in whatever ways possible, and judges are looking for evidence of community involvement, pride and initiative. Taking part in the competition is a way of carrying out a ‘community audit’ on your village and it may well help in your village’s future development.”

Entries to the competition are invited from all villages in Northamptonshire with a population of less than 5,000. For further information and entry forms please contact Anne Millar on 01604 825885, email anne.millar@northantsacre.org.uk. The deadline for entries is April 3rd with judging taking place during April, May and June. The winners will be announced at a presentation event to be in July.

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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 £36,000. First prize is £6,000 with £1,500 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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