RESULTS

The following results were announced at Shire Hall on Tuesday 14 July 2009:

SILVER AWARDS (in alphabetical order) 

Ansley  Avon Dassett  Bidford-on-Avon  Clifford Chambers  Cubbington  Fillongley  Grendon  Hampton Lucy  Kineton  Leek Wooton  Moreton  Morrell  Newbold Pacey & Ashorne  Ryton-on-Dunsmore  Tysoe  Ufton  Wolston

GOLD AWARDS (in alphabetical order) 

Aston Cantlow  Bishops Itchington  Cherington & Stourton  Ettington  Harbury  Henley-in-Arden  Shilton  Shrewley  Ullenhall

 PRIZES

 Best Kept Environment 

1st       Harborough Magna

2^nd       Barton-on-the-Heath

3^rd        Wolvey

 Community Projects

1st       Ilmington for Grace's playground, a special play area created by volunteers following extensive consultation and fund-raising.

2^nd       Warton for the allotments created on disused land that was cleared by volunteers.

3^rd        Long Compton for the task force that postponed closure of the post office and for the refurbishment of their sport pavilion.

Community Buildings

1^st        Bubbenhall for innovative use of their community buildings: they use their village hall as a satellite post office and doctors surgery and included a bus shelter as part of the redevelopment of their village green.

2^nd       Lapworth for imaginative re-use of their buildings - the old school became a meeting place, the church is used for concerts and the chapel is used for parties and other village activities.

3^rd        Quinton for development of their village hall so that it could be used for plays, rural cinema, tots and toddlers and an internet cafe for young people. 

Communication

1^st        Austrey for their new website, which includes a page each for the different groups in the village, for their village and church newsletters and extensive publicity of village events around the village.

2^nd       Ladbroke for their E-newsletter, website and electronic response to planning applications AND    Willoughby for extensive use of their website, newsletter, parish plan and noticeboards.

3^rd        Bubbenhall  for their two websites, flyers about village events delivered to every household, noticeboards and newsletter.

Environmental Projects

1^st        Wolvey for adding an environmentally-friendly boardwalk, built by volunteers to enable as many people as possible to view the Wetland Reserve they created in 2008.

2^nd       Willoughby for the wonderful restoration of their village pond.

3^rd        Offchurch for their sanctuary for wildlife in St Gregory's churchyard.

History & Heritage

1^st        Welford-on-Avon for their local history group, who have created their own website.

2^nd       Wolverton for the village-wide celebrations of the 800th anniversary of their church.

3^rd        Henley-in-Arden for their heritage centre staffed exclusively by volunteers.

Business in the Community

1^st        Austrey for the way in which they actively support their village shop, post office, pub and 20 local businesses, in order to ensure their survival.

2^nd       Lapworth for their use of local businesses on community projects, whenever possible.

3^rd        Easenhall for local building companies that provide expertise when required, a local pub with a wedding licence and farmers who help the community.

OVERALL WINNERS  

1st                   AUSTREY for showing that community spirit is alive and well in their village and for winning two categories in the competition.

2nd                  BUBBENHALL for making the most of the amenities available to them.

3rd                  QUINTON for being an active community with innovative ideas.

Why enter the competition?

Villages have a great deal of fun preparing an entry and also reap real benefits from working together. Past entrants have found entering a competition is a great way to build a real sense of community spirit and to give their village an MOT.

What are the judges looking for?

The judges are looking for well-balanced, proactive, caring communities. They will select the villages which, whatever their size, have made the best of local opportunities to maintain and enhance the quality of life for all their residents.  Further information can be found on the Competition Tips page. 

Judging

The judges meet together to consider the entries and all the evidence that had been sent in.  Two or three judges are allocated to each category and they give each entry marks independently. 

Marking

The marking system may appear rather complicated at first glance, but we can assure you that the complexity is due to a desire to ensure that each village gets as fair a chance of winning as possible. 

Each village is given a score out of 20 for each of the following – consultation, level of community involvement, funding, sustainability and benefit to the community – and a mark out of 50 for overall impression, giving a maximum score of 150 per judge that considers the entry.  The marks given by individual judges are then added together.

These scores are used to identify the best villages in each category (“category winners”).

In order to ascertain how well each village had done overall in the fairest way possible, the total number of marks a village had scored is divided by the number of categories that the village has entered, in order to give an average per category.  This average score is then used to identify the third, second and best village overall.

Prizes

The prize system is designed to make it possible for a village to accumulate prize money, if they win more than one prize. 

Since our competitions encourage community cohesion, celebrate and reward your community’s achievements, as well as providing an opportunity to share best practice, we hope that many more of you will enter them next year.
 

Further information regarding this competition is available by contacting:

Ariadne Uslu, Competitions Organiser
Warwickshire Rural Community Council
25 Stoneleigh Deer Park Business Centre
Abbey Park, Stareton
Kenilworth
CV8 2LY
Telephone: 02476 217390