MOULTON WINS Best Kept Village AGAIN

MOULTON WINS Best Kept Village AGAIN

For 15 years now Richmond Rotary Club has organised a Best Kept Village competition and this year’s winner has been named as Moulton, followed by Bellerby and Scorton as runners-up.

Ten villages took part this year and the overall standard was judged to be extremely high. This is the fifth time that Moulton has topped the list and it was last year’s runner up.

Rotary Club President David Stewart who organised the event praised the efforts of participants and explained the way the wide-ranging contest works: 

‘We send judges to all the villages during the same two weeks in July and they score each village on seventeen criteria ranging from public spaces and private gardens to the condition of bus shelters, shops, guest houses, inns and the encouragement of wildlife. Villages without some features are not penalised. After the first scoring a second visit by different judges is organised to the front runners to be sure that the scores are fair’, he said.

Receiving the winning prize of £400 which was used to purchase a pop-up tent, Moulton’s Chair of the Parish Meeting John Gentry said: ‘This has really been a team effort. Everyone in the village pulls together. Moulton is a special place and although it’s a lot of effort we are delighted that Moulton has won again. The gazebo will be a real asset for a variety of village events.’

Richmond Rotary Club President David Stewart presented a cheque to Moulton and said that he was delighted that the competition encouraged so many people to participate and take pride in their locality. ‘There is every reason to be proud of the area where we live and our beautiful villages well deserve the recognition that Rotary gives them through this annual competition.’