Giving and sharing makes Bishopswood a Calor winner

The fantastic community spirit that is alive and well in Bishopswood led to the village winning the Calor Village of the Year Competition for this year. This means that the village will now represent Herefordshire in the regional competition covering an area from Shropshire to Cornwall. There will be a celebration for the whole of Bishopswood when the award is presented at the Village Hall in October. Christine Puzey, one of the organisers for the competition entry, received a telephone call from Matt Lennard of Community First telling her that Bishopswood had been successful. She said "I was absolutely delighted to get the news; everyone had put in a great deal of effort to make it a success". The judges visited the village on Friday, July 6th, to see how the residents take part in village life. "I believe," said Christine, "that we showed real community spirit. We came up with the phrase 'GAS – the best Bishopswood has to offer' (GAS stands for a 'Giving and Sharing' community), which seemed to us to be relevant to our community." During their time at Bishopswood the judges were shown all the different activities that take place there regularly. They went on to meet more members of the community at Bishopswood General Stores and Post Office, the Church, and Bishopswood House. They then had a short tour around the village. "It was very difficult to know exactly what they were looking for" said Colin Price, another of the organisers. We felt we had given it our best shot with so many from the community chipping in to offer help and to give presentations on different activities". Colin thanked some of the people who had contributed to the success of the village, Peter Dewhurst, Anne Jones, Julie Smith, John Daniels, Don Bent, Monica and Lyn Edmunds and Jenny Freeman. He also thanked Lyn Edmunds for ferrying the judges around the village in the minibus, and Bob Puzey for his help with the displays.