A total of four South Wales villages - including two from Pembrokeshire - are putting the finishing touches to their presentations for the nerve- wracking judges' visits in this year's Calor Village of the Year for Wales competition. The villages have already submitted a written entry to participate in this prestigious event and, having been shortlisted for a judging visit, this is their chance to make their communities 'come to life'. The villages of Lawrenny and Begelly/Kilgetty in Pembrokeshire, along with Lisvane, Cardiff and Raglan, Monmouthshire, have been shortlisted in the competition. They will be presenting to judges on four categories covering People, Business, the Environment and Communications. They are also required to include a section on what makes their village a special place. The judging team will spend no more than two hours in each village, in which time they'll be looking for proof as to why each village deserves national recognition as well as a share of the prize fund. Cash prizes are available for category winners in North and South Wales, as well as an overall regional winner for North and South from which a winner for Wales will be chosen. The winning village for North Wales and the winning village for South Wales will be announced in July and a Calor sponsored celebration will take place in each community shortly afterwards, prior to the announcement of the overall winner for Wales and the regional category winners on October 16. Suzanne Weir, Calor Village of the Year manager, commented: "We are used to very high standards from Wales' villages, so our congratulations go to all four communities for getting on to the shortlist. Our regional judging team is going to have a difficult task allocating category prizes and particularly picking one village to go through to the final round of judging. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the shortlisted villages good luck and look forward to hearing the full results in October." • Lawrenny is due to be visited by the judges on Monday, June 11, at 10 am, while Begelly/Kilgetty will be visited that afternoon at 2 pm.
