Press Archive

Sussex Village of the Year Winners Honoured

The winners and runners up in the 2005 Sussex Village of the Year competition have been honoured at a presentation event held on Friday 18th November at the South of England Showground in Ardingly. The competition is organised by Action in rural Sussex (AirS), with sponsorship provided by Calor - the UK’s leading supplier of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). Also, competition support from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) this year has led to the provision of £500 additional prize money specifically for the Building Community Life category. The competition assesses communities on six aspects of village life in total, with categories in building community life, young people, older people, business, the environment and, judged separately, ICT (information communications technology).

The President of Action in rural Sussex, The Duke of Richmond, presented representatives of the successful communities with their prizes, which included framed commemorative certificates. He was joined by Dave Stapley of Calor and Mike Gilks representing Defra.

(For the full results of the competitions please refer below).

As the overall winner for East Sussex, Mayfield is representing the county in the prestigious national English Calor Village of the Year^® competition, joined by the village of Northchapel representing West Sussex (Ashington, having won the overall title in the national competition in 2003, cannot enter again until 2008). Mayfield and Northchapel have the opportunity of gaining recognition at national level as well as a share in the £36,000 prize fund. They are competing in the South England region of the competition against villages from Dorset, Hampshire, Kent, Isle of Wight, Surrey and Oxfordshire. The full results of the Calor Village of the Year^® for England competition will be revealed by guest of honour Alan Titchmarsh at an awards event being held in London on Tuesday 6th December.

Further information regarding the competition is available from Michele Condon at Action in rural Sussex by email at michele.condon@ruralsussex.org.uk, or by telephoning 01273 407325.

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

2005 Sussex Village of the Year Competition – Results

East Sussex

Winner: Mayfield (£250 Building Community Life prize money & framed certificate)

Runner up: Herstmonceux (framed certificate)

West Sussex

Winner: Ashington (£250 Building Community Life prize money & framed certificate)

Runner Up: Northchapel (framed certificate)