In 2001, Egerton was put well and truly in the spotlight when they represented Kent in the Regional Final of the National Village of the Year Competition. This meant that Egerton was competing against only 5 other villages in the country at an awards ceremony held in the Millennium Mayfair Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London, on 5th December 2001.

Caryl Budd and Pat Parr represented Egerton at this ceremony and had a brilliant day, the highlight of which was being presented to Prince Charles and having the chance to tell him a very brief account of our lovely village.

There were about 500 guests at the presentation, which also included a beautifully presented 3-course lunch. Here is the menu:

The Starter: Flaked hot smoked salmon with coriander and horseradish. Gravadlax on sweet mustard and single malt marinated with scallions and pink pepper.

The Main Course: Saddle of organic sweet Ithon (Welsh) lamb with caramelised parsnips and rosemary.

The Desert: Ivory white chocolate cone with black cherry compote and pistachio cracker.

Coffee and petit fours.
A choice of wine from South Africa and Chile.

The Awards Compere was John Humphreys, the Awards were presented by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, and the Managing Director of Calor Gas and the Editor of the Daily Telegraph (the Sponsors) also spoke.

There were over 30 awards to be made as there were 6 regions, each region having a category winner in each of the 5 categories of the competition (Community Life, Business, Environment, Young People, Older People), the Judges' Special Achievement Award and the Winner. There were no runners up prizes in the competition, just the winner, which for 2001 was Tedburn St. Mary in Devon. We believe that we were very close in points to the winner.

The following is a transcript of the Final Judges' and sponsors' press release on Egerton:

Egerton Receives Regional Award from the Prince of Wales

A village in Kent was today praised for initiatives that brought the community together today, when it received its award for Southern and South East England Village of the Year from HRH the Prince of Wales. Egerton added to this title by also scooping the award for environment in its region and villagers were presented with the awards at the prestigious Calor Gas/Daily Telegraph Village of the Year luncheon in London.

Patricia Parr, who attended the awards on behalf of Egerton said collecting the award from the Prince of Wales and meeting His Royal Highness at a reception beforehand had been an amazing experience. "Everyone in the village has pulled together to ensure our environmental and telecottage initiatives are successful" said Patricia. "It is brilliant that our hard work has been recognised and it is just a shame that everyone couldn't have had the honour of collecting the award."

The village was particularly praised for its environment initiatives. Egerton school children have recently helped an Egerton resident to erect 80 nest boxes for the nationally rare dormouse. 30 of these boxes were made and donated by another local resident and they are monitored regularly by volunteers.

"There is a real sense that everyone plays a part in helping Egerton's local environment," continued the regional judge. "The village was recently involved with purchasing a large stretch of ancient wood, just outside the parish boundary. Villagers now sit on the steering group to develop the area and voluntary work parties meet once a month to build benches, clear shrubs and erect way-markers."

The judges were also impressed by the telecottage facility provided by the Kent village. The telecottage has eight computers that can be used by all residents of the village. Courses in word processing, basic IT skills and the internet are run four evenings a week and a free computer clinic is held on Saturday mornings, where villagers can get help and advice on any problem with their computer or programs.

"Egerton's telecottage facility is outstanding, and it is just one of the initiatives in Egerton that made the village worthy of winning the regional competition," commented one regional judge. "Despite its small population (945), residents are eager to do everything they can to help the village and it is not uncommon for more than 20 to attend a Parish Council meeting."

Parish councillor, Patricia Parr said that the Village of the Year competition had helped bring out the very best in the village. "Every village has a core of people in the forefront who just get things done. Here, our core is not just a handful of people, but almost everyone in the village. We are all very proud of what we have achieved."