Ref. 25796-21ELWYN Jones is up with the lark every day to keep the streets of Shrivenham clean and tidy.

And his efforts have gone a long way to winning the village an important award.

Shrivenham has won the large village category in the annual Oxfordshire Best Kept Village. The village last held the title 24 years ago.

In their final report, judges concluded the village has a fine church, flourishing allotments, a carefully tended cemetery and well-kept green spaces.

They also made a particular mention about the tree-fringed pond in front of an attractive crescent of houses at Canon Hill's gardens.

Shrivenham was mentioned in the Domesday book and was bigger than Swindon at one point.

In 1939, the village became home to a military college the Royal Military College of Science, which is the largest in the country and is now home to more than 2,000 residents and 100 nationalities.

Elwyn, the village handyman, has been credited with keep-

ing Shrivenham tidy and attractive. The 61-year-old has been employed by Shrivenham Parish Council for the past three years and starts his day at 6am so he can sweep the High Street.

He says he is pleased the village has done so well.

"It has been 24 years since Shrivenham last won and there were more than 50 entries so that is not bad," he said.

"A lot of people do pick up rubbish and they let me know when something is damaged or needs tending to."

The competition was organised by the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council and sponsored by Calor Gas. The first round of judging took place in early May and having come through that successfully, judges next visited Shrivenham in early June.

Villages with a population of between 1,500 and 5,000 people are counted as large villages and there were 16 others in that category.

Peter Saunders, chairman of Shrivenham Parish Council, travelled to Holton near Oxford to receive the award last week.

He said: "This village has always been beautiful and we have previously missed the title purely because of litter louts.

"The council decided to increase Elwyn's hours and this award has certainly proved the point that to keep a village clean and tidy you need to put the hours in. Elwyn is a great asset to this village."

The best of Wiltshire

THE results of the Wiltshire Best Kept Village competition will be known in October.

Of the 69 villages that originally entered, 13 have gone forward to the final county round of judging.

In the running are . . .

Small Villages Class: Rushall (Kennet), Upper and Lower Seagry (North Wiltshire), Homington (South Wiltshire), Bishopstrow (West Wiltshire).

Medium Villages Class: Urchfont (Kennet), Castle Coombe (North Wiltshire), Barford St Martin (South Wiltshire), Steeple Ashton(West Wiltshire).

Large Villages Class: Aldbourne (Kennet), Colerne (North Wilts), Whiteparish (South Wiltshire), Atworth (West Wiltshire), Blunsdon (Swindon).