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Isle of Wight's Top Villages Revealed

The winning villages in the 2006 Calor Isle of Wight Village of the Year competition have been revealed at a presentation event held at Rookley Pavilion on Tuesday 18th July.

The competition judged communities on six aspects of village life in total with categories in Building Community Life, Business, Young People, Older People, the Environment and Information Communication Technology (ICT). The competition is run by the Isle of Wight Rural Community Council and sponsored by Calor, the UK’s leading supplier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in association with local sponsors the Isle of Wight County Press, Arc Environment, Cemoc Ltd, B&Q and Staples. Continued competition support from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) this year has also led to the availability of an extra £500 in the Building Community Life section.

The village of Brighstone has been revealed as the overall winner of the competition, gaining the prestigious title of Calor Isle of Wight Village of the Year for 2006. Prizes have also been awarded as follows –

Building Community Life: Brighstone (£500 prize money)

Business: Brighstone (£300 prize money)

Young People: Brighstone (£300 prize money)

Older People: Calbourne (£100 B&Q vouchers)

Environment: Brading (£300 prize money)

ICT: Brading (£100 Staples vouchers)

Matt Dunford of Calor presented the winning communities with their awards which consisted of cash prizes and framed certificates.

Competition organiser on behalf of the Isle of Wight RCC, Janet Short, commented: “Our competition judges were amazed at just how much is being achieved in the villages that participated in this year’s competition, particularly as three had not taken part in the competition before. They were also impressed by the amount of partnership work being undertaken within the various groups. In general, the response from villages to the competition this year has been outstanding and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of them, whether they were successful or not. We hope they will all be encouraged to try again next year and look forward to an even tougher competition in 2007.”

As the overall winner of the competition Brighstone will now go forward to represent the county in the prestigious national Calor Village of the Year® for England competition. More than 40 villages across England will be competing in the competition, which has a total prize fund of over £39,000 and a top prize of £7,000. Brighstone will be representing the Isle of Wight in the South England region of the competition against villages from Dorset, Hampshire, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Sussex (East) and Sussex (West).

Janet Short concluded: “We wish Brighstone the best of luck with the next stage of the competition. It’s a great community full of enthusiastic and motivated residents and we’re sure they’ve got what it takes to do really well at national level.”

For further information on the Calor Isle of Wight Village of the Year competition please contact the RCC offices on 01983 524058.

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Further press information from: Emma Flinn, Flent PR, a Connectpoint Company
tel: 0161 817 4200 / 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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