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Sixteen Villages Compete for County Glory

A total of 16 villages are in line for prizes in the 2007 Calor Gloucestershire Village of the Year competition, organised by Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC).

Entrants are being judged on up to eight categories covering Community Life, Business, Young People, Older People, the Environment, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Healthy village and Safer village. Competing villages are as follows –

Ashleworth, Bourton on the Water, Chedworth, Clearwell, Corse, Down Ampney, Dymock, English Bicknor, Highnam, Mickleton, Minchinhampton, Painswick, Poulton, Sandhurst, Withington and Fairford.

The competition is sponsored by Calor – the UK’s leading supplier of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), along with Gloucestershire First, Gloucestershire Safer Stronger Communities Partnership, Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust and the usual great support from the Gloucester Citizen, Gloucestershire Echo and Forester newspapers. In addition, ‘Cotswold Life’ Magazine will be providing help and assistance to the winners of ‘Best parish magazine / newsletter’, and Gloucestershire Market Towns Forum is piloting a stand alone prize for ‘Best Market Town’. The communities in line for this are as follows –

Fairford, Newent and Tetbury.

Finally, B&Q in Gloucester have again generously donated a fabulous gas powered barbeque and patio heater for the Grand Prize Draw. Every completed form that was returned to GRCC before the competition closing date will be automatically entered into this draw, the prizes to be presented at the awards ceremony in July.

GRCC Chief Executive, Lesley Archer commented: “We are really pleased with the both the number and standard of entries received, with seven new villages that have entered this year. First indications are that we have some very strong contenders, so we’re really looking forward to seeing how they fare during the judging process. Whether they go on to win prizes or not, they’ve all done very well and I would like to thank the communities for their hard work and commitment in putting together their entries.”

The full results of the competition will be revealed at an awards event taking place on Friday 20th July at Colesbourne Park. The village crowned the 2007 Calor Gloucestershire Village of the Year 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 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. The county’s nominee to the 2006/7 national competition, Poole Keynes, has already been visited by competition judges and will find out if it’s been awarded any prizes in the competition during October.

For further information regarding the Calor Gloucestershire Village of the Year competition please call Naomi McMahon at GRCC on 01452 528491.

Ends

Further press information available from: Emma Flinn, Connectpoint, tel: 0161 817 4221, email: emma.flinn@connectpoint.co.uk

Gloucestershire Rural Community Council
Community House
15 College Green
Gloucester
GL1 2LZ
Website: www.grcc.org.uk     

Contact: Barbara Piranty
Tel: 01452 528491
Fax: 01452 528493

Email: barbarap@grcc.org.uk

Notes to Editors:

GRCC 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 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 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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