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Blisworth - best Northants village 2012 27 July 2012 As you can see there must have been something afoot judging by the evening 'tour of celebration' by Colin Wakelin and Ann North (ringing a bell, sporting a floral hat) in Colin's "Farm- Gator" and, in the accompanying Rover 600, there were Pat Masterman (driving, 'on the horn' quite a bit), Beryl Andrews (waving a flag ) and Sarah Sykes (also waving a flag ). This was an opportunity to celebrate the fact that Blisworth recently won the "Best Northamptonshire Village", a competition run by volunteers through Northants ACRE. The trophies, no less than three cups, were on display on the deck behind Colin: (i) Best Newcomer to the competition, (ii) Best Large Village and (iii) Best Overall Winner. The trophies are retained for a year. Our thanks must go to a small but dedicated team led by Sarah Sykes and Pat Masterman for their efforts this year in putting in the application and presenting the village to some visiting judges; thus displaying considerable civic pride. That which must also be recorded is our appreciation of a community spirit that is plainly abroad in the village evinced, for example by a popular pub, a thriving Post Office shop, a recently built new Scout meeting hall, a host of societies and groups, both long established and new, a bunch of good websites, a responsive parish council and finally an improving canal-side especially near the tunnel and a successful series of Canal Festivals that has been organised by the Canal Partnership. The judges final appraisal of the village is to be found on the Parish Council website or here. An important point is that the village is one of the best-documented, thanks to the Duke of Grafton’s records in the Record office and the work of local historians. Blisworth websites highlight and give ready access to the colossal archives of photographs, stories and the history of the local people.
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