Success starts to sink in

The full impact of how successful Audlem has been by being voted the winning village for the whole country in the DEFRA awards started to sink in last night as the celebrations began. Richard Furber and Mike Hill described what a great feeling it was to see Audlem up on the big screen in London and hear so much said about the village by Government minister Jim Knight and Alan Titchmarsh.

Villages from every county in England were at the awards event held at London's Four Seasons hotel with over 300 guests attending. Broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh presented the awards and Richard was the first person up on stage to receive the regional DEFRA award. Two more stage appearances came as Audlem then won the outright national DEFRA award and the North of England Village of the Year award from Calor. It was clear we came very close to also winning the national Village of the Year competition which went to Ashover in Derbyshire. Last night it was decided a trip must be arranged to Ashover because it must be some village!

For those who have lost count of the awards in recent months, here they are:

National winner – DEFRA 'Building Community Life' award.

North of England winner – DEFRA

North of England winner – Village of the Year sponsored by Calor

Winner of Cheshire Village of the Year

Winner of Cheshire's 'Most Vibrant Village'

Winner of Cheshire's 'Building Community Life' award

The village has won £3,500 in all through these awards and, it was felt last night, a huge amount of fun had been had by all and many new friendships had been made.

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