Tedburn St Mary -
National Village of the Year 2001

Celebrations are under way in Tedburn St Mary in Devon, after it was named Village of the Year in a national competition.

Representatives from 46 local organisations then gave presentations to the competition judges in the village hall, ahead of the final judging in London.

The Calor Gas and Daily Telegraph 2001 Great Britain Village of the Year Competition aimed to find the place with the strongest spirit and liveliest social scene - and Tedburn St Mary came out top! The chairman of the parish council, Chris Sansom, said the success was "absolutely brilliant news".

Tedburn has two pubs - the King's Arms and the Red Lion - where villagers celebrated the win.   It also has two churches, and a post office and local shop.

Christopher Gibbs, who represented the village at the ceremony in Mayfair, said it was a splendid end to a difficult year: "Over the past year, we have had to fight incredibly hard to overcome threats to our village.

"We had two farms in the parish which were confirmed foot-and-mouth cases, and we had contiguous culls right up to the village hall. Foot-and-mouth hit and hurt the village hard, and it affected everybody.

"But the village rallies round and everyone helped each other. We are very aware that this has fostered a real sense of community in Tedburn."