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Filkins is the Best Village in South England - It's Official!

Villagers in Filkins and Broughton Poggs are celebrating after it was revealed that their community is one of England’s top villages.

Filkins and Broughton Poggs is the winner of the regional title for South 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 16 th 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 Filkins and Broughton Poggs which excel in all of these areas are crowned winners.

Furthermore, Filkins & Broughton Poggs is up against four other regional winning villages for the overall title for England – Allendale, Northumberland (North England); Henlow, Bedfordshire (East England); Bromham, Wiltshire (West England); and Geddington, Northamptonshire (Central 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, Filkins and Broughton Poggs has beaten off competition from six other villages in the region, representing Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Filkins and Broughton Poggs has also been awarded a regional category prize for Building Community Life.

Judges commented on the village: “The community is welcoming, sociable, inclusive and happy – residents are proud of their village, and they are not afraid to shout about it! The whole ethos of Filkins and Broughton Poggs is self-sufficiency. If the community wants to achieve something then they get together and do it. This energy and commitment is further demonstrated on completion of a project or when a goal has been achieved - villagers are very adept at pulling together and celebrating.”

Calor Village of the Year® manager, Suzanne Weir added: “The standard of entries this year has been very high and Filkins & Broughton Poggs is a worthy winner of the regional title for South 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 South England are as follows –

Building Community Life - Filkins and Broughton Poggs, Oxfordshire
Business - Selborne, Hampshire
Young People - Brighstone, Isle of Wight
Older People - Lingfield, Surrey
Environment - Selborne, Hampshire
Information Communication Technology - Herstmonceux, East Sussex

For further information regarding the competition, or the awards luncheon taking place on Tuesday 16 th October at Skinner’s Hall, please contact Emma Flinn or Sara Tomkins on 0161 817 4200, email e.flinn@amaze.com.

Ends

Further press information available from: Emma Flinn, Amaze plc, tel: 0161 817 4221, email: e.flinn@amaze.com

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: e.flinn@amaze.com 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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