Press Archive

2005 Derbyshire Village of the Year Winners Honoured

The winning villages in the 2005 Derbyshire Village of the Year competition have been honoured at a presentation event held at the Glebe Field Centre in Crich on Thursday 28th July.

The competition is run by Chris Adlington on behalf of Derbyshire Rural Community Council and sponsored by Calor, the UK’s leading supplier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The competition judges communities on six aspects of village life with categories in Building Community Life, Business, Young People, Older People, the Environment and, new for 2005, Information Communication Technology. Thanks to competition support from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) this year, there is an extra £500 prize money for the successful villages in Derbyshire’s Building Community Life section.

The overall winner, gaining the prestigious title of 2005 Derbyshire Village of the Year, is the village of Ashover.

The results in each of the categories are as follows –

Building Community Life

Winners: (joint) Elton, Ashover

Runner Up: Bonsall

Business

Winner: Creswell

Runner Up: Elton

Young People

Winner: Elton

Runner Up: Ashover

Older People

Winner: Ashover

Runner Up: Aston on Trent

Environment

Winner: Aston on Trent

Runner Up: Smalley

ICT

Winner: Bonsall

Ade Heath of competition sponsor Calor presented the winning villages with their prizes, a combination of framed certificates and cash prizes. He was joined by Graham Norbury representing Defra.

Competition organiser Chris Adlington commented: “I would like to thank all the villages that have participated in the competition this year. It has once again been a privilege to see all the great projects and activities the county’s villages are involved in, and I also hope the participating communities have gained a positive experience from getting involved. My congratulations go to all the successful villages and I would also like to thank the competition judges who have worked so hard to select the winners.”

As the county’s Village of the Year, Ashover has also been nominated to go forward to represent the county in the prestigious national English Calor Village of the Year^® competition, joined by Bonsall in the ICT category. They have the opportunity of following in the footsteps of Elton last year and gaining recognition at national level as well as a share in the £36,000 prize fund. They will be competing in the Central England region of the competition against villages from Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.

Chris Adlington added: “We wish Ashover and Bonsall the best of luck with the next stage of the competition. They are both great villages and we are sure they have the drive and enthusiasm to do really well.”

Further information regarding the competition is available from Derbyshire Rural Community Council on 01629 824797, email drcc@derbysrcc.org.uk

Further press information from: Emma Flinn, Flent PR Ltd
tel: 01223 845781 (direct) 0161 817 4200 (main office)
email: emma.flinn@connectpoint.co.uk