The award ceremony for the 2014 Best Kept Village took place last night (4th Aug) at Stafford College. The winners of the Stafford Area Large Village competition were Haughton, Weston and Great Hayward respectively, this was much the same as in 2013.
During the presentation comment was made at the obvious community involvement in Barlaston to the competion which was encouraging and was a tribute to the large group of volunteers that worked so hard under the leadership of Councillor Patrick Linehan t0 improve the appearance of the village.
The judges visited the village twice, first in May and then in June. One of the features of Barlaston’s year was that progressive improvements were made during the spring and early summer with the provision of additional planters and hanging baskets. The bench on the Green was decorated, again, after the judges had done their work.
The village response to the challenge of being Stafford’s Best kept Village is getting better and we already have items that will hold us in good stead for next year. Our plans for the top end of the Green did not materialise as we had hoped but it will be a feature in 2015.
It was always known that we had some catching up to do but I am sure that we will get there in the end.
Irrespective of comparisons with other villages, I have received many favorable comments about how well the village looked and I fully concur with these sentiments.
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