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LUBENHAM IS CENTRAL 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.
“We worked
pretty hard but our main concern was that we should not let
Leicestershire down."
Click
to read an account of the process by Diana Cook
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