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Hunt for Gloucestershire's Top Village Begins!

The hunt for Gloucestershire’s top village begins today with the launch of Calor Gloucestershire Village of the Year competition, administered by Gloucestershire Rural Community Council. This year’s contest sees Calor celebrating not only its 71st year but also the 10th year of the Calor Village of the Year^® competition. To mark this, Calor is giving away a free patio heater in a reader competition run by the Citizen, Echo and Forester.

Calor Village of the Year^® is aimed at villages working hard to build communities that are inclusive and environmentally aware. It’s not about how pretty the village is or what it intends to do – it is more about the kind of community it is now and how well it looks after its residents.

This year the countywide prize pot is £4,500! Calor, as usual, are the main sponsors along with DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), Gloucestershire Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships, Local Strategic Partnerships Health sub-groups, Gloucestershire Primary Care Trusts and the usual great support from the Gloucester Citizen, Gloucestershire Echo and Forester. In addition to our regulars, we have new sponsorship from Gloucestershire First’s Rural Partnership for the Information Communication Technology (ICT) and business categories and B&Q in Gloucester are providing a fabulous gas powered barbeque and gazebo for the Grand Prize Draw. Every completed form returned to GRCC by the 26th May will automatically be entered into this draw, the prizes to be presented at the awards ceremony in July.

Every community, no matter how small, has the chance to shine in any one of the eight categories: Building Community Life, Older People, Business, Young People, Environment, ICT, Healthy Village and Safer Village categories, so hurry and register your interest as soon as possible!

Calor’s communications manager, Suzanne Weir, commented: “We are delighted to once again be supporting the Calor Gloucestershire Village of the Year competition.

In recent years, Gloucestershire’s entrants to the national competition have done extremely well and I am sure that this is testament to the success of the county competition which is going from strength to strength. I would urge as many of Gloucestershire’s villages as possible to give the competition a go as I can’t stress enough what a positive experience it can be for the communities taking part.”

New sponsor Gloucestershire First’s Managing Director, Stan Jones said “Gloucestershire First is pleased to sponsor Village of the Year awards in two categories this year - Information Communication Technology and Business. As the county’s economic partnership responsible for inward investment and creating jobs, we are very aware of the very valuable contribution made by businesses in our rural communities where, through technology, being in the countryside is no longer a disadvantage”

Stephen Wright, Director of GRCC added, “Each year we have the opportunity to make exciting changes and additions to the competition and this year is no exception! The real emphasis however is still very much on the villages and their communities. You don’t have to be big, you don’t have to be small, you just have to be able to demonstrate that you care as a Community.”

In an effort to improve the process, the application form has been simplified and now includes guidance notes and an explanation of how the judges award their marks, together with the opportunity to complete the form online. For those unable to do this, hard copies of the form will still be available. The closing date for entries is the 26th May with judging in June/July and the final awards ceremony held in mid July.

For more information on the competition and to register your interest, please contact Gail Lawrence on 01452 528491.

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Editor’s Notes:

GRCC is dedicated to enriching the lives of people living in rural Gloucestershire by supporting them through change and by enabling them to determine and develop their own communities.

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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