Haughton triumphs as best kept village

Villagers in Haughton are celebrating after maintaining the title of Staffordshire's Best Kept Village for the second year running.

It was named Best in the County after beating off more than 50 competitors to again wow judges with its combination of cleanliness and colour.

Around 200 people packed into Weston Village Hall last night to see the overall and district winners announced at the prestigious annual event organised by the Community Council of Staffordshire.

With 57 entries, the assessment ranges from the appearance of church yards and how well kept shrubs are to the lack of litter.

Derek Warbrick, vice chairman of the Haughton parish council, praised the attention to detail of individuals and organisations in tidying up the area and keeping it attractive.

"We are thrilled to bits we have won it for the second time. It has definitely been a community effort. You have heard of Team GB and this is Team Haughton."

Along with being named overall winners Haughton was named best large village in Stafford and shared the district honour with Derrington which was top small village.

The South Staffordshire district and best small village was Brinsford with Kinver coming out as top in the large village category. In the Lichfield and Cannock category, Kings Bromley was the district and large village winner with Upper Longdon named the best small place.

In the poster competition the top prize went to Maddie Hulme of Yarnfield in the five-to-seven category and India Birtwisle of Wombourne for the eight-to-11s.

In East Staffordshire, Yoxall and Marchington were named top large and small villages. The overall county winners in the small village section was jointly Oakamoor and Derrington.