Bob Cartwright and Celia Webber, the two judges who visited Hambledon yesterday (April 1st) to assess its entry in the regional and national Calor Village of the Year competition, expressed their gratitude to villagers who turned out to meet them.

At the end of a two-hour visit, during which time they met with representatives from a host a community organisations, they thanked villagers for their hard work in making their visit informative and enjoyable.  They congratulated Hambledon on having already won the title of Surrey Village of the Year 2008-09 and said they were impressed by what they had seen.

During their tour they visited the nursery school, church, post office and shop and cricket pavilion, seeing first hand how each had benefited from community-led initiatives.  They also chatted with representatives from the parish council, parish magazine, website, cricket and football clubs, heritage society, ramblers, Oakhurst, Hambletots and St Dominic's School.  They were given a brief on the work of the Hambledon Village Trust and the new Hambledon Village Community Fund; were shown the affordable homes development and heard about local conservation work, the alms houses, the business units in the old coal yard and developments at the Merry Harriers.

Bob and Celia, who have already received a detailed written submission about community endeavours in the village from the parish council, are judging winning villages from eight counties in the south of England. From among them a regional winner will be announced and this village then goes forward to be judged in the national contest.

Regional winners will receive £2,000 each and the overall winner £7,000. Results will be announced in December.

The visit was arranged by Hambledon Parish Council and Jane Caie and Stewart Payne, who escorted the judges, would like to thank all those who took part and helped show why we are proud of our village and its achievements.