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Going for Gold – with cakes and ale

Updated on

Special cake to welcome the Judges in the Village of the Year competition Hampshire Village of the Year Judges’ visit

Two judges from the Hampshire Association of Local Councils visited us for two hours on Thursday 16 August.

The visit started in the Parish Hall, decorated for the occasion with Diamond Jubilee bunting.

The judges were welcomed by several dozen local people, all of whom contribute to village life in various ways.

After a short presentation from Parish Council Chairman Una Stevens, John Wilkinson shared his impressions of the warm welcome that he and Myra had received when they moved to the village three years ago. George Yorke, who was already a resident at the time of the Queen’s Coronation, spoke about what makes Compton  and Shawford such a special place to live.  Then Adrian Walmsley showed slides focussing on various community projects, beginning with the building of the Parish Hall in 1896,  through to the Parish Hall modernisation in 1999, the Jubilee Pavilion in 2003, and the Church extension in 2008.

Parish Hall decorated to welcome the Village of the Year judgesThen after a short break for coffee and a chance to talk to parishioners about the various historic documents on display, the judges were whisked up to the pavilion to talk to Sports Club President Paul Murray and Chairman Mark Jenkins about the sporting facilities available to the community, and back to the Bridge Hotel to round off the visit with a delicious buffet that had been laid on by the landlord, not to mention the special cake that had been provided for the occasion (see picture) and the guest ale Fullers London Pride.

 

We won’t know the results for a while. The HALC website says the winners will be announced on 3 September, though we are not sure if this date is firm.

But we have been invited to send a delegation to the official prizegiving in Bishop’s Sutton on 25 September, so I hope we can conclude that we are still in the running.

 

More details on the two competitions where we have been shortlisted:

  • Hampshire and Isle of Wight Village of the Year 2012, sponsored by Fullers
  • The Website section of the Hampshire ALC Communications Awards 2012