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Calor Village of the Year Winners Honoured

The winning villages in the 2006 Calor Herefordshire & Worcestershire Village of the Year competitions have been honoured at a presentation event held recently at Tarrington Village Hall.

In Herefordshire’s competition, the village of Tarrington was honoured as the 2006 Herefordshire Village of the Year, as well as the Building Community Life winner and Marden was also honoured as the runner up. In Worcestershire’s competition, Inkberrow was presented with its prizes as the 2006 Worcestershire Village of the Year and Building Community Life winner. The village of Hallow was also honoured as the runner up in Worcestershire.

The competitions are run by Nina Owen on behalf of Community First and sponsored by Calor, the UK’s leading supplier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Villages were judged on six aspects of village life with categories covering Building Community Life, Business, Young People, Older People, the Environment and Information Communication Technology. Thanks to competition support from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) once again this year, an extra £500 prize money was available in each county specifically for the Building Community Life category.

Ray Brookes of competition sponsor Calor and David Howatson representing Defra presented representatives of the winning communities with their prizes, which included framed commemorative certificates.

As the 2006 Calor Herefordshire and Worcestershire Villages of the Year, Tarrington and Inkberrow are now preparing to represent their counties 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. More than 40 villages representing counties across England will be competing in the competition and Tarrington and Inkberrow will initially be judged against villages from Avonside, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Shropshire, Somerset and Wiltshire.

For further information regarding the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Village of the Year competitions please contact Nina Owen on 01684 573334, email ninao@comfirst.org.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:

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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