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2006 Leicestershire & Rutland Best Village Competition - Deadline Approaching

Villages throughout Leicestershire & Rutland are being reminded not to leave it too late if they want to enter the 2006 Leicestershire & Rutland Best Village competition. Information and entry forms went out to parish councils and other community organisations back in January encouraging them to take part and the deadline for entries is April 3rd.

The competition is organised by the Rural Community Council (Leicestershire & Rutland) and sponsored by Calor and the Leicester Mercury. Competition organiser, Diana Cook, wants as many villages to benefit from entering as possible. She commented: “Putting together an entry for the competition can be a positive and enriching activity for communities – often villages don’t realise just how much they’ve got going on until they actually put it down on paper. Completing an entry is also a way of ‘auditing’ a community, helping villagers clarify what they do well, as well as identifying key areas for improvement. I want to encourage as many communities as possible to have a go – particularly those that haven’t entered the competition before. The closing date is approaching, but there is still time for villages to put together an entry if they act now.”

Entries are invited from any organisation within the village, but should be supported by the parish council, and categories cover: Building Community Life, Col John Heggs Best Village Hall, Village Venture, Use of Information Technology, Young People, Older People and Business. For a community to be considered for the overall Best Village Award, it must enter the Building Community Life plus any two other categories. For judging purposes, competing villages will be split into sections according to population as follows: 500 and under (Section A), 501 – 1,000 (Section B), 1,001 – 2,000 (Section C), 2,001 – 5,000 (Section D) and 5,001 – 10,000 (Section E).

Cash prizes are on offer to the winning communities in the competition, including £500 prize money for the winner of 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. Full details of other prizes will be announced at the presentation event to be held later in the year. In addition, one winning village from Leicestershire and one from Rutland will have the added honour of being nominated to go forward and represent their 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 or guidance relating to the Leicestershire & Rutland Best Village competition, please contact Diana Cook on 0116 268 9706, email dcook@ruralcc.org.uk.

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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:

Rural Community Council (Leicestershire & Rutland)

The Rural Community Council is a registered charity that provides advice, information and practical assistance to all those who live, work and play in the rural areas of Leicestershire and Rutland.

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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