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County's Top Villages Revealed

The winning villages in the 2007 Calor Worcestershire Village of the Year competition have been revealed.

The competition is organised by Community First and sponsored by Calor - the UK's leading supplier of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). Entrants were judged on four categories covering: Community, Business, Environment and Communications.

The 2007 Calor Worcestershire Village of the Year winner is the village of Broadway . Broadway welcomed competition judges to the village with a wonderful greeting from all sections of the community, and everyone, from the very youngest to the oldest, was willing to say what a great place the village is to live in. It was also noted by the judges just how many community based organisations play an active part in the framework of local community life. Broadway is a vibrant and modern community where volunteers provide an extraordinary range of high quality and professional facilities. Residents are clearly proud of their village and actively provide facilities for all sections of the community. The judges left with the impression that the village has clear plans for the future and will continue to be a vibrant community for years to come.

The village of Catshill has also been honoured in Worcestershire's competition, as an outstanding runner up. During the judges' visit, all sections of the community gathered together in the village hall to demonstrate their projects and how they benefit community life. Catshill has a fantastic sense of community cohesion and provides a huge range of activities and provisions for all age groups within the village.

Competition organiser, Matt Lennard commented: "This year's competition has been a great success with some excellent villages taking part. Whilst the judges had a tough time selecting the winners, they also enjoyed themselves tremendously and experienced some excellent presentations by the communities. We are all looking forward to honouring the successful villages at a presentation event to be held later in the year.

"It is not about finding the village with the most facilities, but rather getting involved in the Calor Village of the Year competition is an opportunity for village groups to get together and look at how their community makes use of the facilities it has. I hope that this year's entrants have benefited from taking part in the competition and that even more communities are able to benefit by participating in the years to come."

As the overall winner and 2007 Calor Worcestershire Village of the Year, Broadway now has the added honour of being nominated to go forward and represent the county in the prestigious Calor Village of the Year® for England competition 2007/8. This will give them the opportunity of gaining recognition at national level as well as a share of a prize fund totalling more than £36,000.

Matt Lennard added: "We wish Broadway the best of luck in the Calor Village of the Year® for England competition. It's an outstanding community and did exceptionally well in the county competition. We are sure that this success can be replicated at national level."

For further information regarding the Calor Worcestershire Village of the Year competitions, please contact Matt Lennard at Community First on 01684 573334, email mattl@comfirst.org.uk.

Ends

Further press information available from: Emma Flinn, Connectpoint, tel: 0161 817 4221, 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 competition.

The Calor Village of the Year® for England competition, now in its eleventh 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. Every year, Calor sponsors the majority of the county village competitions – which this year total more than 40 – each of which is invited to nominate one village to take part in the 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 2007 national Calor Village of the Year® for England competition alone stands at over £36,000. 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 support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 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 competition:
email: info@calorvillageoftheyear.org or visit: www.calorvillageoftheyear.org

For all media enquiries relating the Calor Village of the Year® competition, please contact Emma Flinn:
email: emma.flinn@connectpoint.co.uk or tel: 0161 817 4221

For all general enquiries relating to the Calor Village of the Year® competition, please contact Brian Challis: email: b.challis@ntlworld.com or tel: 01962 629768

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