CHESHIRE COMMUNITY ACTION
The list of Awards from the Best Kept Town or Village competition results from October / November each year. Download PDF File for full list.
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COMMUNITY PRIDE a Brief History.
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COMMUNITY PRIDE AWARDS / CHESHIRE BEST KEPT VILLAGE COMPETITION.
The Cheshire Community Council (Now Named the Cheshire Community Action) was formed in 1930 and was
formed to promote and help local communities in the Cheshire Area.
The Awards were started in 1956 by the “Cheshire Community Council”, when the competition was known by
the name of the “Best Kept Village”. It was used as an incentive to improve the towns and villages of Cheshire
and to celebrate the best-looking towns in the area a purpose that has continued with a few changes in its format
until this year.
The awards were started at the suggestion of the CHESHIRE FEDERATION OF WOMEN’S INSTITUTES.
The request for a competition was considered by the County Planning Committee who sort information about
such a competition from Gloucester, East and West Suffolk and Caernarvon County Councils who have already
held such events.
On the 21 June 1956 at the Annual General Meeting of the Cheshire Community Council it was announced that
the CHESHIRE OBSERVER was willing to sponsor the event and under the chairmanship of Mrs S E Harris
the CCC arranged for the Lord Lieutenant, Viscount Leverhulme to present the Observer’s trophy to the
winning village.
The award was a blue and gold oak and wrought iron work sign rather like a freestanding pub sign.
The aim of the competition was to create a pride among the parishioners and also to provide a “Push” toward the
anti-litter drive being held at the moment.
Judging for the first competition took place during June of 1957.
MARKS WILL BE AWARDED on the following Scale:-
Type and orderliness of advertisements 5 Points
Absence of litter and unsightly refuse dumps 20 Points
Condition of hedges, fences and walls, particularly those adjacent to, and surrounding buildings and gardens 15
Points
Condition of Churchyards and Cemeteries 10 Points
Condition to surrounds to village halls 10 Points
Surrounds to war memorials 5 Points
Condition of Bus Shelters 5 Points
Condition of village centres or greens, playing fields and cleanliness of verges village ponds and streams 15
Points.
Tidiness of flowers and vegetable gardens and allotments and the neat appearance of outhouses and sheds 15
Points.
Making a total of 100 Points.
On the 4 July 1957, at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Cheshire Community Council held at Town Hall under
the Chairmanship of Alderman F Garstang, Mrs K M Harris of Appleton announced that the village of Prestbury
had won the “Cheshire Observer Best Kept Village in Cheshire Award”. Mrs Harris said that there had been 26
entries in the competition.
FIRST ENTRIES included the following who made up the finalists.
Astbury, Acton Bridge, Clutton, Prestbury, Tarporley and Thornton Hough.
The award was presented to the winning Village at a Garden Party on the 27 July 1957 by Lady Barlow of
Sandbach as the Lord Lieutenant, Viscount Leverhulme was on Holiday and unable to attend.
Lord Leverhulme would present the awards for a number of years after that first results evening.
In 1959 the WARRINGTON GUARDIAN agreed to sponsor a trophy for the Village with an under 600
population leaving the Cheshire Observer to sponsor the over 600 population awards.
In 1960 the awards ceremony included a film of the villages was shown showing the reasons why some of the
locations hadn’t won and why the winners came top.
In 1961, the COUNTY EXPRESS NEWSPAPER sponsored new trophy to be awarded to “The Most Improved
Village over the last three years”. The first winner was Christleton.
1961, was also the introduction year of an Art and Essay Competition was introduced to encourage interest in
Children.
For the 24 July 1964, competition Alderman Sir Wesley Emberton offered to provide a trophy for previous
winners in the competition and who also entered this year. The College of Further Education agreed to make the
new trophy and designs were invited to be submitted for consideration.
In year one there had only been one trophy for all the town’s and villages and didn’t discriminate about the
population. The third year added the Under 600 Population and Over 600 Population categories which have
been joined in 1964 when the CHESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL agreed to sponsor a Championship Class with
Thornton Hough being the recipient of the first award.
In 1971 a new class was added to the awards for towns with a population of over 3,000. The first winner of this
new class and the “Countryside Trophy” was Huntington.
Since 1979 one town has dominated the competition with 10 category wins. Crowton has been placed first in the
400 to 1,000 categories for the following thirteen years 1979 / 1996 / 1997 / 1998 / 2000 / 2002 / 2003 / 2005 /
2007 / 2010 / 2013 / 2015 / 2016 (13).
Since the records kept from 1995, they show there have been over 91 towns and villages who have entered the
event which is open to any of the community groups within Cheshire.
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In 2003 the name changed to the “COMMUNITY PRIDE” Competition and from then on it has incorporated
many new competitions which are changed each year to reflect the needs of the community. Awards now
include the “Best Website” which was added to reflect the towns reliance on new technology and the awards for
“Community Initiative” and “Work by or with Young People” being added in 2013 to keep the competition at
the forefront of its community involvement.
Today however the awards are not as well publicised in the community as they should be with the only
indication of each town’s involvement in the area being a plaque on the wall if they win one of the prizes.
The official website of the competition (http://cheshireaction.org.uk/) only publishes the results from last year
and unfortunately not always those results.
Records held by Cheshire Community Action (Formally “Cheshire Community Council”), who now run the
scheme only go back to 1995 so it is only by looking in the local newspapers what awards were given out during
those early years unless, like Sandbach a plaque is put on a community wall with their prize announcement.
In 1997, as far as the official records show, Northwich (10,000 to 20,000 Population) became the only town to
be disqualified from the competition, although records do not show the reason why they were dismissed. One of
the rules of the competition is that a representative of the town must attend the ceremony to qualify for a prize
and it is possible that the town was not represented. A spokesperson for the awards organisers said that this has
happened on a few occasions, so there may be a number of other non-recipients.
By 1998, the main part of the competition was sponsored by Shell UK. In 2011 the Ellesmere Port Plant
(Stanlow Refinery) and was taken over by Essar Oil who continues to support the sponsorship of the
competition. Over the year’s various other prizes have been donated by the Cheshire Community Council /
Cheshire Community Action and the Cheshire Federation of Women’s Institutes.
The competition is divided into various sections with population grouping. Originally towns like Congleton
were in the group of over 20,000 people but found they were the only entry in the competition and won for
many years by default. The organisers decided that the 10,000-population group would be extended to cater for
the larger 20,000 population town’s inclusion thus creating more competition for the bigger towns.
In 2009, the LITTLE GEM AWARDS were introduced to spotlight one space within a town or village that was
of merit. Awards were given for things like Floral Displays, Village Ponds, verge planting and blowing greens.
In 2010, technology was acknowledged with awards for the BEST WEBSITE, LOCAL NEWSLETTERS and a
PHOTOGRAPHIC award.
The 2013 completion had a number of categories including, Best Kept Village (Essar), Community Safety
Award (Cheshire Constabulary), Community Spirit. Community Champion (New for 2013), Community
Initiative (New 2013), Work by or for Young People (New 2013) and Best Website.
In 2016 a new award was issued, the RURAL WOMEN’S AWARD.
In 2016 the Cheshire Community Action office was moved from 3 Royal Mews, Gadbrook Park, Northwich,
Cheshire CW9 7UD (01606-350042) to Queens House Annexe, Queens Road, Chester CH1 3BQ, the
organisation and publication of the results was very difficult to co-ordinate so in 2017 the Best Kept Village
Competition was scrapped for that year and in 2018 it returned to the diary with Congleton winning the 20,000-
population award at the ceremony in the Frodsham Community Club on the 1 November 2018.
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SANDBACH TAKES PART
Since the 1990's Sandbach has taken part in the competition and has been quite successful over the years.
In 2013 Sandbach won the prize for the Best Kept Market Town Category (Over 10,000 Population) with
Congleton being its only opposition in the category which should also have included Alsager, Nantwich and
Middlewich. Due to the splitting of Cheshire into East and West, many towns are finding their feet as Town
Councils rather than County Council funded and so between 2009 and 2013 many decided not to take part.
Sandbach has always had a strong community involvement with its entry and with groups being formed in the
town like the Friends of Sandbach Park, Friends of Elworth Park, Friends of Sandbach Station and the Clean
Team they have all joined together to clean up the town for the competition which paid off giving them the top
spot.
Sandbach has entered the competition since the early days, winning the top prize in 1991 and 1992. Since the
official records began in 1995 the town has received the highest award twice before in 1998 and 2003 with one
2nd place, four 3rd placing’s two 4th places and two 5th positions.
Judging takes place over a number of visits during August and September with the results being announced
sometime in October.
In 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Sandbach again won the Best Kept Market Town Category.
SANDBACH (MT) 1st in 1991 / 1992 / 1998 / 2003 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 (8)
##########################################################################
COMMUNITY PRIDE a Brief History.
###########################################################################
COMMUNITY PRIDE AWARDS / CHESHIRE BEST KEPT VILLAGE COMPETITION.
The Cheshire Community Council (Now Named the Cheshire Community Action) was formed in 1930 and was
formed to promote and help local communities in the Cheshire Area.
The Awards were started in 1956 by the “Cheshire Community Council”, when the competition was known by
the name of the “Best Kept Village”. It was used as an incentive to improve the towns and villages of Cheshire
and to celebrate the best-looking towns in the area a purpose that has continued with a few changes in its format
until this year.
The awards were started at the suggestion of the CHESHIRE FEDERATION OF WOMEN’S INSTITUTES.
The request for a competition was considered by the County Planning Committee who sort information about
such a competition from Gloucester, East and West Suffolk and Caernarvon County Councils who have already
held such events.
On the 21 June 1956 at the Annual General Meeting of the Cheshire Community Council it was announced that
the CHESHIRE OBSERVER was willing to sponsor the event and under the chairmanship of Mrs S E Harris
the CCC arranged for the Lord Lieutenant, Viscount Leverhulme to present the Observer’s trophy to the
winning village.
The award was a blue and gold oak and wrought iron work sign rather like a freestanding pub sign.
The aim of the competition was to create a pride among the parishioners and also to provide a “Push” toward the
anti-litter drive being held at the moment.
Judging for the first competition took place during June of 1957.
MARKS WILL BE AWARDED on the following Scale:-
Type and orderliness of advertisements 5 Points
Absence of litter and unsightly refuse dumps 20 Points
Condition of hedges, fences and walls, particularly those adjacent to, and surrounding buildings and gardens 15
Points
Condition of Churchyards and Cemeteries 10 Points
Condition to surrounds to village halls 10 Points
Surrounds to war memorials 5 Points
Condition of Bus Shelters 5 Points
Condition of village centres or greens, playing fields and cleanliness of verges village ponds and streams 15
Points.
Tidiness of flowers and vegetable gardens and allotments and the neat appearance of outhouses and sheds 15
Points.
Making a total of 100 Points.
On the 4 July 1957, at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Cheshire Community Council held at Town Hall under
the Chairmanship of Alderman F Garstang, Mrs K M Harris of Appleton announced that the village of Prestbury
had won the “Cheshire Observer Best Kept Village in Cheshire Award”. Mrs Harris said that there had been 26
entries in the competition.
FIRST ENTRIES included the following who made up the finalists.
Astbury, Acton Bridge, Clutton, Prestbury, Tarporley and Thornton Hough.
The award was presented to the winning Village at a Garden Party on the 27 July 1957 by Lady Barlow of
Sandbach as the Lord Lieutenant, Viscount Leverhulme was on Holiday and unable to attend.
Lord Leverhulme would present the awards for a number of years after that first results evening.
In 1959 the WARRINGTON GUARDIAN agreed to sponsor a trophy for the Village with an under 600
population leaving the Cheshire Observer to sponsor the over 600 population awards.
In 1960 the awards ceremony included a film of the villages was shown showing the reasons why some of the
locations hadn’t won and why the winners came top.
In 1961, the COUNTY EXPRESS NEWSPAPER sponsored new trophy to be awarded to “The Most Improved
Village over the last three years”. The first winner was Christleton.
1961, was also the introduction year of an Art and Essay Competition was introduced to encourage interest in
Children.
For the 24 July 1964, competition Alderman Sir Wesley Emberton offered to provide a trophy for previous
winners in the competition and who also entered this year. The College of Further Education agreed to make the
new trophy and designs were invited to be submitted for consideration.
In year one there had only been one trophy for all the town’s and villages and didn’t discriminate about the
population. The third year added the Under 600 Population and Over 600 Population categories which have
been joined in 1964 when the CHESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL agreed to sponsor a Championship Class with
Thornton Hough being the recipient of the first award.
In 1971 a new class was added to the awards for towns with a population of over 3,000. The first winner of this
new class and the “Countryside Trophy” was Huntington.
Since 1979 one town has dominated the competition with 10 category wins. Crowton has been placed first in the
400 to 1,000 categories for the following thirteen years 1979 / 1996 / 1997 / 1998 / 2000 / 2002 / 2003 / 2005 /
2007 / 2010 / 2013 / 2015 / 2016 (13).
Since the records kept from 1995, they show there have been over 91 towns and villages who have entered the
event which is open to any of the community groups within Cheshire.
##############################################
In 2003 the name changed to the “COMMUNITY PRIDE” Competition and from then on it has incorporated
many new competitions which are changed each year to reflect the needs of the community. Awards now
include the “Best Website” which was added to reflect the towns reliance on new technology and the awards for
“Community Initiative” and “Work by or with Young People” being added in 2013 to keep the competition at
the forefront of its community involvement.
Today however the awards are not as well publicised in the community as they should be with the only
indication of each town’s involvement in the area being a plaque on the wall if they win one of the prizes.
The official website of the competition (http://cheshireaction.org.uk/) only publishes the results from last year
and unfortunately not always those results.
Records held by Cheshire Community Action (Formally “Cheshire Community Council”), who now run the
scheme only go back to 1995 so it is only by looking in the local newspapers what awards were given out during
those early years unless, like Sandbach a plaque is put on a community wall with their prize announcement.
In 1997, as far as the official records show, Northwich (10,000 to 20,000 Population) became the only town to
be disqualified from the competition, although records do not show the reason why they were dismissed. One of
the rules of the competition is that a representative of the town must attend the ceremony to qualify for a prize
and it is possible that the town was not represented. A spokesperson for the awards organisers said that this has
happened on a few occasions, so there may be a number of other non-recipients.
By 1998, the main part of the competition was sponsored by Shell UK. In 2011 the Ellesmere Port Plant
(Stanlow Refinery) and was taken over by Essar Oil who continues to support the sponsorship of the
competition. Over the year’s various other prizes have been donated by the Cheshire Community Council /
Cheshire Community Action and the Cheshire Federation of Women’s Institutes.
The competition is divided into various sections with population grouping. Originally towns like Congleton
were in the group of over 20,000 people but found they were the only entry in the competition and won for
many years by default. The organisers decided that the 10,000-population group would be extended to cater for
the larger 20,000 population town’s inclusion thus creating more competition for the bigger towns.
In 2009, the LITTLE GEM AWARDS were introduced to spotlight one space within a town or village that was
of merit. Awards were given for things like Floral Displays, Village Ponds, verge planting and blowing greens.
In 2010, technology was acknowledged with awards for the BEST WEBSITE, LOCAL NEWSLETTERS and a
PHOTOGRAPHIC award.
The 2013 completion had a number of categories including, Best Kept Village (Essar), Community Safety
Award (Cheshire Constabulary), Community Spirit. Community Champion (New for 2013), Community
Initiative (New 2013), Work by or for Young People (New 2013) and Best Website.
In 2016 a new award was issued, the RURAL WOMEN’S AWARD.
In 2016 the Cheshire Community Action office was moved from 3 Royal Mews, Gadbrook Park, Northwich,
Cheshire CW9 7UD (01606-350042) to Queens House Annexe, Queens Road, Chester CH1 3BQ, the
organisation and publication of the results was very difficult to co-ordinate so in 2017 the Best Kept Village
Competition was scrapped for that year and in 2018 it returned to the diary with Congleton winning the 20,000-
population award at the ceremony in the Frodsham Community Club on the 1 November 2018.
##########################################################
SANDBACH TAKES PART
Since the 1990's Sandbach has taken part in the competition and has been quite successful over the years.
In 2013 Sandbach won the prize for the Best Kept Market Town Category (Over 10,000 Population) with
Congleton being its only opposition in the category which should also have included Alsager, Nantwich and
Middlewich. Due to the splitting of Cheshire into East and West, many towns are finding their feet as Town
Councils rather than County Council funded and so between 2009 and 2013 many decided not to take part.
Sandbach has always had a strong community involvement with its entry and with groups being formed in the
town like the Friends of Sandbach Park, Friends of Elworth Park, Friends of Sandbach Station and the Clean
Team they have all joined together to clean up the town for the competition which paid off giving them the top
spot.
Sandbach has entered the competition since the early days, winning the top prize in 1991 and 1992. Since the
official records began in 1995 the town has received the highest award twice before in 1998 and 2003 with one
2nd place, four 3rd placing’s two 4th places and two 5th positions.
Judging takes place over a number of visits during August and September with the results being announced
sometime in October.
In 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Sandbach again won the Best Kept Market Town Category.
SANDBACH (MT) 1st in 1991 / 1992 / 1998 / 2003 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 (8)
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