Village gets closer to top £20,000 prize

SUTTON village is one step closer to winning the title of Best of the Best and picking up a £20,000 top prize

Sutton has been invited to participate in the Calor Village Of The Year 10th Anniversary Award after it was named overall winner in the 2002 Calor Village Of The Year competition.

The community's success in the 10th Anniversary competition follows the submission of a written entry and a nerve-wracking judges' visit during which residents had just two hours to show how their village has improved and developed since its success in the competition the first time round.

As the winner for East England, Sutton now goes forward to the final round of judging when it will be in direct competition with six other area winners in order to choose an overall champion.

Sutton is up against East Keswick (Yorkshire), Ashington (West Sussex), St Neot (Cornwall), Ashover (Derbyshire), Assynt (Sutherland) and Llangernyw (Conwy) for the Best of the Best crown and £20,000 top prize.

Final round judging is due to begin on July 10 and the overall winner will be revealed at the Calor Village of the Year 10th Anniversary Awards event on September 19 at the Four Seasons Hotel in London.

Suzanne Weir, Calor Village of the Year manager, commented: "Sutton has done exceptionally well to reach the final round of this competition. Our teams of area judges have had an extremely difficult task selecting the villages to go through to the final round of judging and we are assured that the competition for the top spot will be fierce. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the village on its success and wish residents the best of luck in the finals. We all wait in anticipation to see which village will be crowned the overall champion in September."

INFO: info@calorvillageoftheyear.org, or visit the competition website at www.calorvillageoftheyear.org.