Barrow wins awards at Village of the Year contest

Dec 3 2008 Chester Chronicle

PROUD villagers in Barrow are celebrating after winning awards in the North England region of the 2008 Calor Village of the Year for England competition.

The results of the competition were announced at a prestigious awards luncheon which took place at the Guildhall in London on Tuesday with guest of honour BBC breakfast anchorman and former Strictly Come Dancing contender Bill Turnbull.

Villagers have been on tenterhooks since judging visits back in April, waiting in anticipation for the announcement of the final results.

Village representatives Jane Hastings and Roger Hodges were at the awards event in London to hear Barrow’s fate and collect the community’s awards.

They made their way back to the village with a total of £1,000 prize money to go towards community projects and commemorative certificates.

Calor Village of the Year, which is now in its 12th year, rewards vibrant, self-sustaining village communities which, irrespective of size, have made the best of local opportunities to maintain and enhance the quality of life for all residents.

The competition, which is organised and funded by off-mains gas supplier Calor, judged villages on four categories covering People, Business, Environment and Communications.

Judges commented on Barrow: “While on first glance Barrow might seem like a small village comprising of a few farms, a couple of pubs, a shop and nothing much else, that is actually far from the truth.

“The village’s business community is particularly thriving with some 60 businesses within the parish, employing at least 345 people of which 88 are Barrow residents.

“The village’s business community is very supportive of village life as a whole, and vice versa. When the village shop was threatened with closure in 2006, residents threw their support behind it and it remains open to this day.

“Other successful and well supported business ventures within the village include the Enterprise Centre and the Barrowmore House centre for the disadvantaged.

“Environmentally the village is also very successful, encouraging residents of all ages, both young and old, to get involved in path projects, woodland planting, work on the local plan and many other activities.

“They have also shown how a village can react to problems with positive solutions, for example working with the county council to reduce the volume and speed of traffic travelling through the village, to protect school children, people and the environment.”

Barrow was nominated to take part in the competition by Cheshire Community Council.