Community Life in Filkins Honoured with National Award
The Oxfordshire village of Filkins and Broughton Poggs has been recognised at national level for its excellent community spirit, winning the Defra Building Community Life award in the 2006/7 Calor Village of the Year® for England competition.
This award was hotly contested by a total of five regional Building Community Life winners throughout England, and in order to win the award, Filkins and Broughton Poggs beat off competition from Allendale, Northumberland; Hemingby, Lincolnshire; Henlow, Bedfordshire; and Loxhore, Devon.
The Calor Village of the Year® for England competition rewards vibrant, self-sustaining village communities which, irrespective of size, have made the best of local opportunities to maintain and enhance the quality of life for all residents. The competition, which is organised and funded by gas supplier Calor, judged villages on six categories in total covering Building Community Life, Business, Young People, Older People, the Environment and Information Communication Technology (ICT). Prizes were awarded to regional category winners, overall regional winners, and, the ultimate accolade, one overall winner for England.
Representatives of Filkins and Broughton Poggs celebrated their success at the glamorous Calor Village of the Year® final awards luncheon which took place at Skinners’ Hall in London on Tuesday 16th October with guest of honour food writer and presenter Sophie Grigson. Last week Filkins and Broughton Poggs was also revealed as the overall regional winner for South England, bringing their total prize money total to an impressive £4,750 to go towards community projects, not to mention the kudos that success in the competition can bring to a village community.
The Defra Building Community Life category of the competition was launched by Calor in 2005, with the support of Defra, in order to enhance the community life element of the competition. By supporting the competition, Defra wanted communities to recognise the most fundamental quality which
determines whether a village operates successfully as a community – that is how it ensures the inclusion of all groups or individuals, particularly the most vulnerable, in a cohesive and mutually supporting community.
Managing director of Calor, Alex Davis commented: “Villagers should be extremely proud of their success in the competition. As a regional winner and the overall Building Community Life winner, the village has achieved so much and we know that the community’s drive and enthusiasm will spur them on to continue to make every effort to further improve life for everyone in the village in the years to come. We would also hope that Filkins and Broughton Poggs will act as a best practice example for other villages, inspiring them on how to become and remain sustainable.”
Building Community Life judges added: “Filkins and Broughton Poggs is a very attractive village with a wide range of facilities for all ages. It is unusual in having both businesses and social housing in the heart of the village rather than the outskirts. The village communicates well with its residents through the welcome pack, the Parish Pump newsletter and an active, well-developed, well-maintained website. There are a variety of open, welcoming spaces each of which has found its niche in the village. The church is engaged in the community and adapting new ideas to meet the needs of its congregation; the village hall shows films and the Five Alls pub has hosted the Day Care centre.
“The opinion of young and old are listened to and used to shape new facilities or adapt existing ones. The Parish Plan has been used to drive forward real changes asked for by residents. The Parish Council is taking the lead in making this happen and answerable to a monitoring committee. Walking around the village we noticed a large number of fridges put out for recycling. These were some of the casualties of the summer flooding when, on the 20th July, the brook burst its banks and flooded homes in Broughton Poggs. Great community spirit was demonstrated by villagers on higher ground opening their homes to house those in need and cook dinners for others.
“Filkins and Broughton Poggs have been lucky in their inheritance from the past: on top of all of the facilities that one might expect to find in a village there is also a bowling green, a swimming pool and a museum, provided by past philanthropy; but possessing such facilities also imposes responsibilities, and the current residents are looking after them well.”
For further information regarding the Calor Village of the Year® for England competition please contact Emma Flinn or Sara Tomkins on 0161 817 4200, email emma.flinn@connectpoint.co.uk.
Ends
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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