East Dean named village of the year (From Romsey Advertiser)

East Dean named village of the year

5:31pm Tuesday 25th August 2009

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TINY East Dean has scooped Calor’s Small Village of the Year award for the second year running.

“This is wonderful news,” said parish councillor Jan Barker who has lived in the village for 22 years.

Representatives from the village will be invited to pick up the £75 prize money next month during a presentation evening at St Swithun’s School in Winchester. Headley near Bordon in east Hampshire clinched the top award £350 after being judged Calor Hampshire Village of the Year for 2009.

Runner-up was Vernham Dean, near Andover, which like East Dean receives £75 prize money.

“This shows how special East Dean is. Most people hurtle through East Dean on the way to Lockerley or West Dean and don’t see much of it, “ said Jan.

“East Dean has a lot of history including an old canal running through it, the railway to Salisbury and Romsey and the MoD seconded Dean Hill for a munitions base during the war and we have a Saxon church.

“We hope in 2010 to update the East Dean Chronicle that was done in 2000. Although there are only 83 homes in East Dean and about 184 people living here, it’s a lovely place,” added Jan.

Calor Hampshire Village of the Year organiser Steven Lugg said: “We were very impressed by the standard of the villages and the judges had a very tough job selecting the winners. Each village demonstrated something outstanding and we were delighted to be able to recognise these qualities.”

The competition is run by the Hampshire Association of Local Councils and villages are judged on four categories, community, business, sustainability and communications.

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