13815/02VILLAGERS in Ramsbury hope to do at least as well in the 2004 Village of the Year contest as their arch rivals Aldbourne did last year.

Although the rivalry between the two villages is nowhere near as keen as it once was, each still likes to steal a march over the other.

Last year Aldbourne won the technology award in the Calor Gas sponsored village of the year awards for its pioneering website.

This year Ramsbury is hoping to win the community section of the national Calor Village of the Year awards.

Parish council chairman Sheila Glass said there is lot going on in Ramsbury that demonstrates that it is not only a good looking village but also a thriving community.

In the Wiltshire Best Kept Village competition, organised by the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the awards went to Ansty in South Wiltshire as the best small village; Hindon in South Wiltshire as the best kept medium sized village and to Atworth in West Wiltshire as the best kept large village.

Ramsbury has won the best kept village contest several times in past years.

Now Ramsbury has been selected to represent the county in the south and south east regional round of the national Calor Village of the Year contest.

The two contests have as much in common as chalk and cheese.

The best kept village is judged on appearances, tidy verges and hedges, well kept churchyards, well maintained community buildings and lack of litter.

The Village of the Year is all about what goes on behind the scenes and what visitors to the villages never see, the community life.

George McDonic, the chairman of Wiltshire CPRE, said: "The Calor Village of the Year has a different focus to the best kept village competition with categories covering various aspects of life in a rural community.

"It would be wonderful if they could emulate the success of our 2003 entrants Colerne and Aldbourne in winning a prize at national level."

It's as a thriving community, said Coun Glass, that Ramsbury scores highly.

Behind the pretty facades of the thatched cottages and High Street terraces there is a busy and thriving community.

Coun Glass said that if anyone in the village should ever complain there was nothing to do "they couldn't be looking very hard".

She said: "There is a lot going on in the village if people want to find out about it."

Off the top of her head she reeled off a list of clubs, organisations and activities including the Sunday night bridge club, soccer club, tennis club, quilting classes and a ladies choir.

The Village of the Year contest, said the council chairman, is totally different to the best kept village awards that are judged on appearances.

Coun Glass said: "It's about what goes on in a village and not just about appearances and chocolate box cottages."

Like many other villages, Ramsbury has its own website that is currently undergoing major change, said Coun Glass.

Under the new web address www.Ramsbury.org the village owns its own domain.

"We are in the process of setting up what we hope will be a very good web site and it is intended that all the clubs and organisations in Ramsbury will have their own pages," Coun Glass said.

Some villages have appointed a local co-ordinator to run their best kept village or Village of the Year efforts but in Ramsbury it has been yet another role for the hard worked parish council chairman.

However, said Coun Glass, the parish council is setting up a group to run the new village website and to invite village organisations to become involved.

She said she was convinced that when the Village of the Year judges visit Ramsbury in October they cannot fail to be impressed by the amount of community activity.

The Village of the Year awards has a prize fund totalling £37,000.

Ultimately Ramsbury, which in the October regional round will be up against entries from Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent and Sussex, is in with a chance of winning £12,500.

Judges decide on best kept