Best Village Competition 2016

Helmdon is a vibrant village with many weekly, monthly and yearly activities involving all age groups and varied interests, with excellent interaction between groups and surrounding villages.

The Reading Room is the “village hub” with many organisations meeting there. The coffee shop is well attended by young and old and has a welcoming atmosphere and “buzz or friendship”

The Post Office is a valuable asset for many people.

The HYO group are to be commended for their fundraising projects, as are all the other groups, the proceeds of which are shared with other village groups,

The school, Acorns and the church host many events which all enhance community life.

The Advent Windows lit up around the village at Christmas is a different and inspirational idea and must be a cheerful sight in the December nights

The village welcomes newcomers with a welcome pack, personal visits and information on the websites and notice boards

Aspects of Helmdon is an enchanting read.

The Helmdon Voice is currently being updated to incorporate villagers needs after a village questionnaire which shows the producers are up to date with village requirements.

The notice boards are updated regularly and are in prominent positions.

The web site and village diary are the main source of communication.

County Connect is a valuable service and well used.

The Snow Warden scheme will be an extra asset to residents in winter.

The Lunch Club and Cafe are run by volunteers, who also supply the delicious cakes.

Following the Housing Needs survey 5 new homes have been completed.

A NHW scheme is in operation and information is posted on the website and the notice boards.

Many businesses in the rural community offer employment to village residents, also giving regular support and generous sponsorship for fund raising events.

Volunteer villagers are involved in many organisations and schemes to generally enhance lives of the residents, young and old, in the community.

The purpose built Acorns pre school is an excellent asset to the village with spacious indoor and outdoor areas, also offering a holiday club

There are two mums and tots groups, well attended, with the benefit of the school offering “wrap around care” and support for children with special needs.

There are many clubs and sports groups for children of all ages, some attending groups in neighbouring villages.

Many older people are involved in village life and activities, fellowship has a large membership and organise outings and social gatherings also actively helping with historical projects, knitting with the school children, being on committees, listing churchyard inscriptions and cataloging and photographing the beautiful church kneelers.

The recently researched names on the War Memorial brings meaning to people remembered there and is available to view on the village website,

The care, compassion and help given to older residents or those with poor health in the community is to be commended.

The village has excellent allotments which now have a waiting list.

Volunteers maintain some public areas and the garden around the war memorial, also the young mums help with the gardens at Acorns

The Jubilee Wood has a dedicated tree warden and many of the tress planted in 2012 now have dedication labels attached.The Churchyard has areas to encourage wild life and wild flowers.

Excellent guides for footpath walks in the area are included in the welcome packs and weekly guided health walks take place in summer

There are no problems with litter in the village as residents obviously care about their environment

Solar panels, ground and air source heat pumps have recently be installed in some properties.

7. IT

An award winning web site that is easy to use and regularly updated

WiFi has recently been installed at the Reading Room

A very lively, well used site, and I wouldn’t want what I say to change that, but the style and structure are a little dated now.

Stylesheets offer many advantages over tables and html formatting, – particularly for accessibility and mobile – so I would recommend a re-design to bring the site up to date.

Good site, simple, easy to read and up-to-date 2

Helmdon is a very warm welcoming village with great community awareness as shown at the cafe in the Reading Room.

Your church plays a large part in the village and was wonderful to see it open every day.

The judges were greeted by many villagers who gave us a great insight to the enthusiasm shown by all for the activities, events and clubs that they support

It is through the generosity of the residents who support the fund raising events that make this a caring and friendly environment in which to live and work, showing a true spirit of neighbourliness

Well done.