| |
Peter Burns (left) and Danny Moody (right)
of Helmdon
Parish Council with David Scudamore of NACRE (centre). |
More success has come Helmdon's way in the 2006 Calor Village of
the Year competition.
Helmdon was awarded first place in the medium sized villages class
of the Village of the Year for Northamptonshire, narrowly beating
off stiff competition from East Haddon.
Geddington, a village between Kettering and Corby won the larger
village category and then went on to take the overall title for
Northamptonshire Village of the Year 2006, bumping Helmdon in to
second place.
Helmdon was also runner up (again to Geddington) in the ICT category,
which follows on from last year's success
in winning the regional competition for ICT.
The final accolade came with a "highly commended" in the
Defra-sponsored "Building Community Life" category, which
looks at community involvement and provision for the elderly and
the isolated.
The awards were presented at a ceremony at Hunsbury Hill, the centre
owned by competition organisers Northamptonshire Action with Communities
in Rural England (NACRE). Peter Burns, chair of Helmdon Parish Council
collected the cup for medium Village of the Year from NACRE's David
Scudamore and Danny Moody, Helmdon's Webmaster, collected the ICT
award.
Cllr Peter Burns with the Village of the Year
judges. |
The judging for the 2006 competition took place on 6th June when
three judges visited Helmdon for the allotted two hours. The judges
were met at the Bell PH (by kind permission of Richard and Sally
Phillips) by no less than twenty two representatives from village
clubs, groups and organisations. The judges were impressed that
everyone had made the effort to meet them and that each representative
was so enthusiastic about their group's activities.
Hopefully next year will see the same level of enthusiasm and we
can carry off the overall title for Northamptonshire. The judges
marks and comments are below:
|
|
Maximum
Marks
|
Marks
Awarded
|
Remarks
|
|
Building Community Life
|
40
|
38.5
|
Surprisingly no welcome pack for such a well
organised village, but the rest was very good.
|
| Village Life |
29
|
29
|
So many things that the people can
join in. Good notice boards and information readily available.
Very good, you have full marks. |
|
Business
|
10
|
7
|
What one would expect in a very rural village.
|
|
Young People
|
20
|
20
|
Lots for all the children & young people
to join in. Great result.
|
|
Older People
|
16
|
10
|
This section scored very well until housing
scheme for the elderly, as there was no provision, not entirely
the village's fault.
|
|
Environment
|
22
|
21
|
You have this very well covered, excellent
all round.
|
|
Wow Factor
|
10
|
10
|
Excellent reception from the village &
so enthusiastic. A beautiful village and very well loved by
the people who live there.
|
|
TOTAL AWARDED
|
147
|
135.5
|
|
Links In This Section:
• Village
Of The Year Competition 2005
• Calor
Gas Village Of The Year Web Site
•
Northamptonshire ACRE
|