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Call to Action for Wiltshire Villages

Villages throughout county with a population of 5,000 and under are being given a last chance to enter the 2007 Calor Wiltshire Best Kept Village and Village of the Year competition.

The competition, which is organised by the Wiltshire Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and sponsored by Calor with additional support from the Warminster Journal, was due to close on April 1. However, in a bid to allow as many villages as possible to benefit from taking part, the deadline has been extended to the end of the month.

Branch Chairman of Wiltshire CPRE, George McDonic commented: “When villagers work together to complete an entry to the competition it brings alive a community spirit in them that just can’t be replicated in any other activity. We want as many villages as possible to benefit from this, and therefore urge communities to take advantage of the deadline extension and get their entries in before the end of April.”

The competition separates communities into Small, Medium and Large categories for judging purposes and the Best Kept element focuses on the community spirit highlighted through a village’s well-kept environment, celebrating communities pulling together for the benefit of all residents. In the Village of the Year section entrants are judged on six categories covering Community Life, Business, Young People, Older People, the Environment and Information Communication Technology (ICT).

Later in the year the 2007 Calor Wiltshire 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, Bromhan, has already submitted its written entry and has recently been visited by competition judges.

For further information regarding the Calor Wiltshire Best Kept Village and Village of the Year competition, or to request an entry form, please contact Margaret Armand Smith, competition administrator, on 01380 722157, email wiltscpre@btconnect.com.

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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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