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Buckinghamshire's Top Villages Revealed

The winning villages in the 2005 Buckinghamshire Best Kept Village and Village of the Year competitions have been revealed.

The Buckinghamshire Best Kept Village results are as follows –

Gurney Cup (population under 500):

Winner: Weston Underwood

Runner-up: Fulmer

Morris Cup (population 501-1500):

Winner: Cuddington

Runner-up: Hedgerley

DeFraine Cup (population 1501-3000):

Winner: Cheddington

Runner-up: Seer Green

Michaelis Cup (urban population 3000+):

Winner: Buckingham

Runner-up: Olney

Pushman Cup (rural population 3000+):

Winner: Chalfont St Peter

Runner-up: Chalfont St Giles

Tindall Cup (2004 cup winners):

Winner: Marlow

Runner-up: Little Marlow

Sword of Excellence (winner with the highest marks):

Cuddington

The Buckinghamshire Village of the Year results are as follows –

Smaller community category population up to 3000:

Winner: Cheddington
Runner-up: Tingewick

Larger community category population over 3000:

Winner: Haddenham
Runner-up: Downley

Building Community Life award

Downley

The competitions are run by the Bucks Association of Local Councils. They are sponsored by Calor, the UK’s leading supplier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) with additional support from the County Council, Milton Keynes Council and District Councils from Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe. The Best Kept Village winners will be honoured during village-based presentation ceremonies taking place on Saturday 24th September when the awards will be presented by Sir Nigel Mobbs, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire.

The Village of the Year winners will receive their awards at a presentation event on Tuesday 11th October at County Hall, Aylesbury. Thanks to competition support from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) this year there is an extra £500 which will go to the Building Community Life winner, Downley. The other winning villages will also receive framed Calor certificates and cash prizes.

The village of Cheddington has also been nominated to go forward to represent the county in the prestigious national English Calor Village of the Year^® competition, joined by Haddenham in the ICT category. They have the opportunity of following in the footsteps of Coleshill last year or Long Crendon in 2003 and gaining recognition at national level as well as a share in the £36,000 prize fund. They will be competing in the East England region of the competition against villages from Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Competition chairman, Richard Pushman, commented: “This year’s competitions have been very successful. We’ve had a higher number of entrants than in past years and the standards have been very good throughout. Congratulations to all the winners – I look forward to honouring them at the upcoming presentation events. I would also like to offer Cheddington and Haddenham the best of luck in the national English Calor Village of the Year^® competition. I am sure they can emulate, if not surpass, the success of the county’s past entrants.”

Further information regarding the competitions is available from Bucks Association of Local Councils by email at balc@buckscc.gov.uk, or by telephoning 01296 383154.

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