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10 Villages Battle for County Title

A total of 10 communities are participating in the 2006 Calor Hampshire Village of the Year competition and villagers wait in anticipation as their submissions are marked and they prepare for a visit from competition judges between now and August.

The competition is organised by the Hampshire Association of Parish and Town Councils (HAPTC) and sponsored by Calor in association with Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), with additional support from Hampshire’s district councils. The ten villages participating are as follows –
Greywell, South Warnborough, North Waltham, Sherfield English, Vernham Dean, Cheriton, Bentley, Buriton, Selborne & Ashurst and Colbury.

Competition organiser on behalf of HAPTC, Steven Lugg, commented: “The villages are being judged on six aspects of village life: Building Community Life, Business, Young People, Older People, Environment and Information Communication Technology (ICT), and our judges are looking for communities that are supportive and caring and that do their best to enhance the quality of life for residents. Entries are well up on last year which is very positive and it looks like standards are high – all making for a great competition.”

The winning villages will be revealed at the beginning of September and prize presentations will take place at HAPTC’s AGM on Saturday 7th October. Cash prizes of £400 and £200 are on offer to the overall winner and runner up respectively. In addition there is £500 prize money specifically for the Building Community Life category, which has been made available thanks to continued competition support from Defra both county and national level. This will be split between a winner, which will receive £300, and a runner up, which will receive £200. There is also an award of £100 for the Best Small Village (population 500 and under), and a schools’ poster competition with a prize of £100 for the winning poster, which will also be used to promote the county competition next year.

New for 2006 is an added element to the competition at district level. A winning village in the five participating districts will be selected and will receive a plaque. The following five District and Borough Councils are joint competition sponsors for their own areas; Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council, East Hampshire District Council, Test Valley District Council, Winchester City Council and Hart District Council.

Steven Lugg added: “I would like to take this opportunity to wish all 10 participating villages the best of luck and also thank them for the time and effort they have put into their entries. Whether they go on to win prizes or not they have all done very well and are great examples of excellent villages we have here in Hampshire.”

In addition to winning £400 prize money and the prestigious title of 2006 Hampshire Village of the Year, 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.

For further information regarding the Calor Hampshire Village of the Year competition please contact Steven Lugg on 01962 841699, email steven.lugg@hants.gov.uk.

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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:

The prize presentations for the 2006 Calor Hampshire Village of the Year competition will be made on Saturday 7th October at HAPTC’s AGM which is taking place at INTECH, near Winchester. Press and photographers will be welcome to attend this event and should contact Steven Lugg on 01962 841699 for further detail.

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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