Lancashire Best Kept Village Competition

Winners 2022

The Lancashire Best Kept Village Competition held its 2022 Awards Presentation Ceremony at Eaves Hall, West Bradford on Monday, 17th October.

It was our 63rd Annual Awards Ceremony and the organising Committee welcomed 120 guests, which included 10 Mayors representing many towns and villages from all over Lancashire. The Chair, Kelly Wood, thanked the judges and villages for all the hard work throughout the year and hoped that moving forward we could build up the number of entrants to the competition. The committee is to trial a pilot scheme this next year to try and incorporate 'wards' of some of our towns into the competition to encourage the community spirit that shows you love where you live.

This year's competition saw 47 villages entering across the 5 categories with 10 villages making the final round…
West Bradford | Bretherton | Adlington Lower | Adlington Higher | Weeton | Chipping | Roughlee | Belmont | Little Eccleston | Great Plumpton.

All the results are a closely guarded secret until revealed during the award ceremony. This year we were very pleased to have Guy Topping, Managing Director of Barton Grange, one of our all-important sponsors, as our guest external Finals Judge - not an easy task given the high standards of the competing villages. Guy also joined us at Eaves Hall to present the awards for Best Kept Villages and Outstanding Features.

This year the winner of the Champion Village Class was Bretherton (pictured); they received a commemorative plaque along with a trophy and a framed certificate.

Other major Whole Village Class awards went to Lower Adlington (Large Village), Chipping (Medium Village), Belmont (Small Village) and Little Eccleston (Hamlets).

There were 16 'Outstanding Features' Awards for features nominated by the villages themselves. This year most entries were for Places of Worship (27) & Grounds and Public Houses (27). The former category was won by St. Bartholomew's, Chipping (Runners-up: St. James', Whitechapel and St. Hilda's, Bilsborrow), and the latter by The Eagle, Weeton (Runners-up: The Retreat, Lower Adlington and The Ship, Elswick). A new category, Heritage Feature (20 entries) was won by Milestone, Blacko (with 3 runners-up: J Waring Heritage Centre, Great Plumpton; Memorial to Air Disaster, Freckleton and Old Village sign, Weeton). Schools (24), War Memorials (21), Public Buildings (21), Community Notice Boards (20) were popular categories; won by Weeton - St. Michael's Primary School, Freckleton - Cenotaph, Brindle - Village Hall and Noticeboard - Preston Old Road, Freckleton respectively. In all there were 262 entries in the 'Outstanding Features' categories.

Competition Winners (2022)   [class entrants]

• Champion Village - Bretherton (Runner-up - West Bradford; Highly Commended - Higham). [16]
• Large Village - Lower Adlington (Runners-up - Higher Adlington and Pilling). [10]
• Medium Village - Chipping (Runner-up - Weeton; Highly Commended - Lathom). [6]
• Small Village - Belmont (Runner-up - Roughlee; Highly Commended - Brindle). [10]
• Hamlet - Little Eccleston (Runner-up - Great Plumpton; Highly Commended - Haighton). [5]

Outstanding Features (2022)

1. Place of Worship and Grounds [27]
   Winner: Chipping - St. Bartholomew's
   Runners-up: Whitechapel - St James’ and Bilsborrow - St. Hilda's
   Highly Commended: Plumpton - St. Anne's, Preesall - St. Oswald's and West Bradford - St. Catherine's
2. Schools [24]
   Winner: Weeton - St. Michael's Primary
   Runner-up: Hutton - Ashbridge School
   Highly Commended: Adlington Lower - Adlington Primary, Bretherton - Bretherton Endowed and Goosnargh - Oliverson's Primary
3. Public Houses [27]
   Winner: Weeton - The Eagle
   Runners-up: Lower Adlington - The Retreat and Elswick - The Ship
   Highly Commended: Chipping - The Sun Inn and Lathom - The Ship
4. Hotel / Guest House [6]
   Winners: Chipping - Gibbon Bridge
   Runner-up: Town Green - Moor Hall
   Highly Commended: West Bradford - Eaves Hall
5. Public Building [21]
   Winner: Brindle - Village Hall
   Runner-up: Weeton - Village Hall
   Highly Commended: Grindleton - Pavilion and West Bradford - Village Hall
6. Public Playing Field [15]
   Winner: Grindleton - at The Pavilion
   Runner-up: Elswick - Village Hall site
   Highly Commended: Blacko - Beverley Rd Recreation and Village Hall site, Hambleton - Bob Williamson Park
7. Children's Play Area [18]
   Winner: Grindleton - Playground
   Runner-up: Adlington Lower - Jubilee Recreation
   Highly Commended: Bretherton - Recreation Ground, Parbold - by Village Hall and Weeton - at Village Hall
8. Industrial / Commercial Premises [7]
   Winner: Sabden - Specialised Automotive Services
   Runner-up: Great Plumpton - Waring’s Whinbrick Works
   Highly Commended: Adlington Higher - Deighan's Funeral Parlour
9. Shops [16]
   Winner: Blacko - Pulse
   Runner-up: Adlington Higher - Frank James Hair
   Highly Commended: Little Eccleston - TOTI's
10. Sheltered Accommodation [11]
    Winner: Grindleton - Mary Brown Cottages
    Runners-up: Lathom - Alms Houses and Preesall - The Lilacs
    Highly Commended: Adlington Lower - Slater Bungalows
11. Community Notice Board [20]
    Winner: Freckleton - Preston Old Road
    Runners-up: Adlington Lower - Town Council Park Rd and Little Eccleston - inside Bus Shelter
    Highly Commended: Blacko - Gisburn Rd/Hollin Fold, Higham - Hall Rd/Kiln Hill, Mawdesley - Spar and West Bradford - Grindleton Rd
12. War Memorial [21]
    Winner: Freckleton - Cenotaph
    Runners-up: Chipping - War Memorial and Sabden - War Memorial
    Highly Commended: West Bradford - War Memorial
13. Bowling Green [11]
    Winner: Bretherton
    Runners-up: Elswick and Freckleton - Memorial
    Highly Commended: Preesall - Working Men's Club
14. Cricket Grounds [7]
    Winner: Mawdesley
    Runner-up: New Longton - Cricket & Recreation and
    Highly Commended: Edgworth - Cricket & Recreation and Freckleton - Bush Lane
15. Public Garden [11]
    Winners: Chipping - Wildflower Garden
    Runner-up: Adlington Lower - Leonard Fairclough
    Highly Commended: Elswick - Village Hall
16. Heritage Feature [20]
    Winners Blacko - Milestone
    Runners-up: Great Plumpton - J Waring Heritage Centre, Freckleton - Memorial to air disaster and Weeton - Old Village sign
    Highly Commended: Adlington Higher - Model Narrowboat and Roughlee - Alice Nutter Statue

Download Lancashire Best Kept Village Full Results 2022.

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Previous Years' Results

Results 2021 (PDF Download).

The 2020 Competition was cancelled due to Covid and Lockdowns.

Results 2019 (PDF Download).

Results 2018 (PDF Download).

Results 2017.