Success also for Helmdon, Silverstone and Farthinghoe in county contest

Syresham is Northants best village – again!

Villagers in Syresham have plenty to celebrate after the village was named Northamptonshire’s best village at a ceremony on Tuesday night.

The village was named the overall winner and came top in the medium villages category of the competition  which is run by Northamptonshire ACRE.

There was success too for other villages in the region.

Helmdon came third overall and was runner-up in the medium villages category, while Silverstone was runner-up in the large villages section.

The village of Farthinghoe was highly commended in the newcomer’s cup. County organiser Robert Herring said:  ‘Syresham is a very worthy winner of the revised competition.  They are outstanding community and did exceptionally well.’

Village resident Dorothy Dunkley, who attended the awards ceremony, said: ‘We were very thrilled on winning village of the year. We came away elated.’

Although no official feedback has been given, Mrs Dunkley said the judges were impressed during their visit when village organisations packed the village hall with displays of their activities and a slide show of village pictures.

As well as the active lace group and history society, Syresham has recently seen the arrival of two new clubs, the Computer Club and Gardening Club.  Mrs Dunkley added: ’The community spirit seems to be getting stronger and stronger, with everyone working together.  The Village of the Year competition has created a lot of interest and no-one has refused to put up a display or do something for the competition.

Mrs Dunkley said the rules allow a village to win twice in a row before being forced to sit out of the competition for a year.  However, a change of sponsors for the competition allowed them to enter and win the overall village of the year for the third year running.  However, they will have to sit out next year’s contest.  But Mrs Dunkley said the village will not be resting on its laurels and ideas are already being generated for the 2012 competition.  She thanked everyone in the village and in particular Christina Munsey and John Nash.

Andrew Grant, Northants county councillor for Syresham, said: ‘It’s fantastic, a great achievement.  I know they work extremely hard and I’m delighted with their successful defence of their title.’

Mr Grant said the wider success of south Northants villages shows communities pulling together and taking pride in the place they live and work.

Brackley & Towcester Advertiser – 24 September 2010