Calor Village of the Year® competition 2007/08

 

 

 

 

LEVINGTON – a vibrant and caring community set in a treasured landscape 
 
DISTRICT COUNCIL ROUND - 2007

Levington’s enthusiastic journey in this competition started in early 2007 when the Parish Council decided to enter the village in the Suffolk Coastal District Council round of the Calor SuffolkVillage of the Year Awards® for 2007. That year, in Suffolk , the Awards were open to villages up to 500 on the electoral roll. [Here in Levington we have just 212 on the electoral roll]. We completed our submission covering Community Spirit; General appearance of the village; the parish council; the natural environment and special activities that impress and sent it in. In June 2007 we were judged – in July were delighted to hear we had won. So we became Suffolk Coastal District Council Village of the Year and won the annual silver cup and a cheque for £200.

 

 

Suffolk Coastal District Council Chairman Cllr. Cocker presenting the annual trophy, certificate and cheque for £200 to Levington Parish Council Chairman David Long and Parish Councillor Pat Pryke

 

 

 

This then made us eligible for the …..

 

COUNTY ROUND - 2007

We duly entered the Calor Suffolk Village of the Year® round competing with five other Suffolk villages in two stages and our village hall displays got larger! We were finally judged by Rachel Sloane, a presenter from Radio Suffolk on 4th August.

 

 

Villagers with Rachel Sloane of BBC Radio Suffolk outside Levington Village Hall
 4th August 2007

 

On tenterhooks, listening to Rachel’s afternoon radio programme on 10th August for the final results, we were again highly delighted to hear we had won CALOR SUFFOLK VILLAGE OF THE YEAR® and happy villagers descended on The Ship for a celebratory drink!

This time we were rewarded with a cheque for £1,000, a Calor plaque and £200 towards the Suffolk Awards ceremony which we had to host in the dining room of a local business, OOCL, in order to accommodate the 140 or so people present. The Parish Council and villagers enjoyed a superb Awards afternoon in the company of many others from our District Councils and other Suffolk villages who had competed. We were also pleased to receive firkins of beer from Adnams and £100s of Notcutts vouchers. The famous Lowestoft Porcelain company also gave us a superb gift of a specially designed tea caddy depicting hand painted scenes of Levington. So our journey in this competition was becoming a memorable one!

Levington Parish Council receiving the Calor Suffolk Village of the Year® plaque and cheque for £1000 from Calor’s Marc Welstand at the Suffolk Awards Ceremony held in Levington on 6th October 2007


Winning Suffolk Village of the Year then made us eligible to enter ….

 

THE REGIONAL ROUND

for the title of Calor Eastern Region Village of the Year® - 2008

 

Our journey in this competition was getting tougher – much tougher! We quickly realised that this was a completely different ‘ball game’. We now had to compete with the best villages from Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk , Essex and Hertfordshire.

 

We produced another submission entry form for Calor. And our Village Hall displays, with lots of hard work, got even larger and better. We gathered together all our Parish Councillors and village organisation representatives for the Regional Judging day which was on 15th April. We welcomed judges David Perkins and Pamela Bywater. We took them on a short tour of the parish to see our beautiful Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Levington Marina and Creek and our lovely 13th century St. Peter’s Church before arriving back at the Village Hall to meet everyone and see our displays.

 

After judging day, we were on tenterhooks again waiting for the Regional results. And to our absolute delight found out in mid-May that we had been successful and were now CALOR EASTERN

REGION VILLAGE OF THE YEAR®.

This then made us eligible to enter …..

THE FINAL ROUND

for the title of Calor ENGLAND Village of the Year®

Upping the stakes again as we now knew we had to compete with the four other top villages in England , our enthusiasm and commitment took off! Our displays grew even bigger and best of all, we finally, in double quick time, launched our first Levington website'

FINAL JUDGEMENT DAY was on Tuesday 8th July when we welcomed judges Heather Stallard, Ann Hunt and Cynthia Holme accompanied by Brian Challis the Calor Co-ordinator. We kept to our previous winning formula of tour around the parish arriving back at a buzzing Village Hall full of enthusiastic villagers and comprehensive displays on the life of Levington. We had a hugely enjoyable finals judging day.

 

Final judging day! With our three lady judges, Heather Stallard, Ann Hunt and Cynthia Holme with Levington Parish Councillors and some of our enthusiastic village organisation representatives

As soon as the judges had departed at 1-30pm, we sat down to unwind and enjoy a lovely lunch together prepared by three of our village 'super cooks'.

And now ……..

We have to wait until 2nd December 2008 to hear if we have made CALOR ENGLAND VILLAGE OF THE YEAR® at the Calor Awards Event in London .

Can we make it!! Has all our hard work, commitment and enthusiasm paid off! Have we done enough to persuade all our judges that this village IS THE BEST IN ENGLAND !! Levington Parish Councillors and villagers have certainly put their heart and soul into this competition.

For Levington, with Calor, this last year and a half has been a successful and eventful journey. We have looked at our village through the eyes of others. We have been ‘judged’ five times along the way - put our displays up four times – and would do it again if we have to!! We are enjoying our success and have fingers and toes crossed for the ultimate prize in December. Until then, a huge thanks to everyone in Levington who has worked so hard and have achieved so much during this Village of the Year journey.

And then …. We had to wait until 2^nd December

Could we make it …..

THE RESULT

THE CALOR VILLAGE OF THE YEAR AWARDS LUNCHEON – TUESDAY 2^ND DECEMBER 2008 AT THE GUILDHALL, LONDON

It was the ‘Villages’ equivalent to the OSCARS! The stunning Guildhall in London the venue. The reason, the Calor Village of the Year Awards to reward outstanding villages. Parish Chairman David Long and parish councillor and Village of the Year co-ordinator Pat Pryke were privileged to accept the invitations to attend. AND LEVINGTON WERE HUGELY SUCCESSFUL!

The afternoon started well with Levington first winning the Environment Category Award (£500). Then David Long and Pat Pryke were invited on stage to collect the Calor EASTERN Village of the Year Award (£2,000 and metal plaque). BUT IT GOT EVEN BETTER! As at the Oscars Calor’s Managing Director Alex Davies opened the large gold envelope in his hand. The winner of the Calor ENGLAND Village of the Year IS …..pause ……. LEVINGTON in Suffolk. Wild cheers, enthusiastic clapping, music and congratulations all round whilst two Levington parish councillors looked at each other, momentarily stunned and overwhelmed, before going up on stage to receive the ENGLAND award (£7,000 plus metal plaque) from Bill Turnball, the BBC presenter and ex-Strictly Come Dancing contender.

The ultimate prize …. The Awards are a testament to the community spirit that prevails in Levington and to all the hard work that is put into our community life by so many villagers.

We proudly say we are the CALOR ENGLAND VILLAGE OF THE YEAR® for 2008/09