RESIDENTS of Colerne saw themselves on screen on Saturday night, when a Japanese TV programme about life in their community was shown.

The 30-minute video made by the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation was shown nationally in Japan in November and was entitled Beautiful Villages of England.

Yumico Tivers joined the 140 villagers on Saturday to explain the background to the programme.

Ms Tivers, who acted as the interviewer and has recently returned from Tokyo, said: "The programme was a real success as it explained how self-reliant people in English villages are.

"In Japan older people tended to rely on their sons to look after them and their extended families but with the job uncertainty and economic problems over many years this family structure is breaking down.

"This results in many older people living very lonely lives. It is therefore very interesting for people in Japan to see how supportive of each other people in villages are."

Part of the programme showed how volunteers built the village hall over 50 years ago and included interviews with people in the village who had helped in their younger days.

The number of people wanting to attend the viewing exceeded the capacity of the hall so a second viewing may be arranged.

Parish clerk Pat Phillips said: "Despite the fact there are not many people in Colerne who speak Japanese everyone really enjoyed seeing the familiar village scenes and personalities."

The TV company chose Colerne after it won a prize in the older people category of the Calor Gas Village of the Year competition.