Volunteers praised for keeping villages tidy

This year’s Best Kept Village award first round results have revealed Edington as the winners in the medium-sized village in the West Wiltshire category; the village will now take part in the Wiltshire final. Bratton came second in the ‘large village’ category, just narrowly missing out on the finals.
The 2018 Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) Wiltshire and The Hills Group Best Kept Village Competition is designed to foster pride in our beautiful countryside and is open to every village in Wiltshire.
Judging is based on a written submission and a site visit that focuses primarily on communal buildings and public areas such as village greens, footpaths, car parks, noticeboards, bus shelters etc.
The judges look for evidence of a vibrant village which puts time and effort into its clubs and organisations, and keeps litter and general untidiness to a minimum.
This year, Edington topped the judges’ scorecard in the medium-sized village category in West Wiltshire, and will now take place in the finals, with the judging taking place this month.
Sandie Lewis, parish councillor and co-ordinator of Best Kept Village said, “We are delighted to have been chosen as the winners in West Wiltshire of the Best Kept Village in the medium-sized village category.
“We now go on to the final round and are working hard to keep our village as lovely as we can. Our main priorities are to keep the village litter-free, the grass in good order and to make it obvious to the judges that our village is well-loved and well cared-for. We try to do this all year, for everyone to enjoy, but of course, during judging in July, we will work extra hard!
Just missing out on progression into the finals, last year’s overall runners-up, Bratton, came second in the first round of the large-sized village category, and so will miss out on the finals this year.
Chairman of Bratton Parish Council, Jeff Ligo said, “We have a terrific group of volunteers in the village led by Peter Brabner, regularly meeting to litter pick and ensure the public footpath verges are trimmed.
“The parish council has been allocated an additional £5,000 this year and have a contract with idverde to carry out lots of works of maintenence to keep the village looking presentable.”
The final county results will be revealed after the final judging in July, where Edington will be competing against Biddestone, Hindon and Seend, to find out who will take the title of ‘best kept medium sized village in Wiltshire.’