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Three Berkshire communities in line for Village of the Year accolade

Three villages have been shortlisted for further judging in the 2005 Berkshire Village of the Year competition. The villages of Brightwalton, Ashampstead and Purley – all in the West Berkshire area – will be visited by judges in July to determine which community will be awarded the prestigious title of Berkshire Village of the Year for 2005.

The competition is run by Wendy Dacey on behalf of the Community Council of Berkshire with sponsorship provided 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 Information Communication Technology (ICT).

The overall winning village will receive total prize money of £750, which includes £500 from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) which is supporting the Building Community Life section of the competition, with £100 going to the runner up and a prize of £100 for the best ICT project. Following the judges’ visits in July, the results of the competition will be announced on 29th July and a formal presentation event will take place later in the year on 14th September.

The 2005 Berkshire Village of the Year will also have the added honour of representing the county in the prestigious national English Calor Village of the Year^® competition later in the year, which this year has a prize fund of over £36,000 and a top prize of £6,000.

Competition organiser Wendy Dacey commented: “I would like to wish Brightwalton, Ashampstead and Purley the best of luck. Their initial entries were all very good and I think that our judges will have a tough time choosing between them to select an overall winner.”

Further information regarding the competition is available from Wendy Dacey at the Community Council of Berkshire by email at wendy.dacey@ccberks.org.uk, or by telephoning 0118 961 2000.

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