Geddington is the Best Village in Central England - It's Official!
Villagers in Geddington are celebrating after it was revealed that their community is one of England’s top villages.
Geddington is the winner of the regional title for Central England in the 2006/7 Calor Village of the Year® for England competition and has been awarded £2,000 prize money. Villagers now have just one more week to wait before they find out if they’re the country’s finest community, when the overall winner for England is revealed at an awards event taking place in London on Tuesday 16th October.
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, judges villages on six categories covering Building Community Life, Business, Young People, Older People, the Environment and Information Communication Technology (ICT), and only villages such as Geddington which excel in all of these areas are crowned winners.
Furthermore, Geddington is up against four other regional winning villages for the overall title for England – Allendale, Northumberland (North England); Filkins & Broughton Poggs (South England); Henlow, Bedfordshire (East England); and Bromham, Wiltshire (West England). Representatives of all five villages will be attending a glamorous awards luncheon next Tuesday at Skinner’s Hall in the City of London, all keeping their fingers crossed that the prestigious title of Calor Village of the Year® for England and £7,000 top prize will be going to their community, which will be on top of the £2,000 awarded to regional winners.
In order to gain the regional title, Geddington has beaten off competition from seven other villages in the region, representing Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire. Geddington has also been awarded regional category prizes for Older People and the Environment.
Competition judges commented: “The village of Geddington, Northamptonshire is an outstanding example of a community that cares, their environmental policies are innovative, the support of young and old ensures an inclusive community and, despite being blighted by regular flooding, the villagers’ spirits are never dampened. The village is a vibrant and very enthusiastic community with energy and vitality throughout which ensures plans for the future are positive, whilst still embracing and nurturing its heritage.”
Calor Village of the Year® manager, Suzanne Weir added: “The standard of entries this year has been very high and Geddington is a worthy winner of the regional title for Central England. We’re really looking forward to an exciting and nail biting finale next week when the overall winner for England is revealed.”
The full regional results for Central England are as follows –
Building Community Life - Hemingby, Lincolnshire
Business - Misterton, Nottinghamshire
Young People - Creswell, Derbyshire
Older People - Geddington, Northamptonshire
Environment - Geddington Northamptonshire
Information Communication Technology - Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire
For further information regarding the competition, or the awards luncheon taking place on Tuesday 16th October at Skinner’s Hall, please contact Emma Flinn or Sara Tomkins on 0161 817 4200, email emma.flinn@connectpoint.co.uk.
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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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