CALOR VILLAGE OF THE YEAR - WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Summoned by Diana Cook - 'She who Must be Obeyed' seventeen representatives of village organisations assembled in the vestry last Thursday afternoon to hear Clare Filer from the Rural Community Council announce that it had decided to nominate Lubenham as the Leicestershire and Rutland entry for the Village of the Year Competition, jointly sponsored by The Daily Telegraph and Calor Gas.

The RCC had been impressed by Lubenham winning third place in the Village Venture competition, when the number and breadth of village activities was first appreciated. The new competition does not look for picture postcard, chocolate-box villages; rather, it goes beneath the surface to find out what makes the community tick and what the quality of life is like for the inhabitants.

There are five main categories in which a village can be entered: Environmental, where significant efforts have been made in this area; Business in the Community and how it thrives and inter-relates with the inhabitants; provision for Young People and whether they have a say, or are considered, in village planning; similar provision for the Elderly; and Community Life in general. It is in this last category that Lubenham has appealed to the nominators.

The village organisations are due to let Diana have short descriptions of their activities by September 7th so that the competition entry form can be submitted to the organisers by 5th October and five judges will visit Lubenharn in the last two weeks of October. We will have ready for them displays by all village groups to aid their assessment. All the awards will be presented by Prince Charles at a ceremony in London on 5th December. The overall winner will receive £5000, regional winners £1000 and there will be several other prizes of £250 for winners of separate categories.

It is, said Clare Filer, not the winning that is important (although that would be very nice): being chosen to represent the county is a matter of prestige and pride and will bring welcome attention to Lubenham by the media and the public at large.

Bill Johnston
September 2001

LUBENHAM IS CENTRAL REGION CALOR VILLAGE OF THE YEAR

The people of Lubenham are celebrating news that we have won the Central Region Calor Gas/Daily Telegraph Village of the Year competition for England and Wales.

“We are all elated, it is just fantastic,” said Lubenham’s Village of the Year co-ordinator, John Martin.

Lubenham were nominated for Village of the Year by Leicestershire Rural Community Council and were up against villages from Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Shropshire.

The Regional Village of the Year judges commented: ‘The presentation and enthusiasm shown by all involved indicated the warmth of feeling for the village and those living in it. A village appraisal was carried out and the views of the villagers were taken on board and acted upon. This has resulted in galvanising the village into action and getting things done; one example being the restoring of post office facilities for the village.'

‘The strength of community spirit was demonstrated after one of the largest employers in the village, a textile company, suffered a damaging fire which closed the factory. Villagers had helped to fight the fire until the Fire Brigade arrived. Now the factory workers are working from their homes to keep production going until the premises can be rebuilt.'

‘In each of the five competition categories there were excellent examples of how Lubenham responds to the needs of the community and the judges were unanimous in their choice of the village as Central Region winner’

"We had several rehearsals ahead of the judging. One was two days beforehand when we had an open meeting for the entire village. It was the first time I remember the village hall being packed to capacity,” said John.