Today's tale from the Advertiser's archives takes us back 10 years to celebrations for Arrochar and Cardross in the annual 'Village of the Year' contest.

Here's how we reported on the two villages' achievements in the Advertiser on July 9, 2009...

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TWO communities are celebrating after scooping prizes in the ‘Village of the Year’ competition.

Arrochar and Tarbet were crowned the Central region winner of the Scottish Calor Village of the Year Competition 2009 and awarded a plaque and £2,000 for community investment.

A separate accolade for combined business efforts was also awarded, along with another £500 towards a community development project.

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And Cardross also scooped a first prize place - in the communication category - winning £500.

The awards - organised by Calor Gas Ltd, with support from the Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC), and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisation’s (SCVO) Rural Team - are designed to allow Scotland’s rural communities to promote their success and achievements and demonstrate initiatives towards sustainability.

Stephen Rennie, MD for Calor Gas, said: “Arrochar and Tarbet made a fantastic presentation to the judges at an event held recently in Stirling.

“With the initiative used in a recent Church build and the complete community redevelopment project, they are an extremely worthy winner of the central region and business category awards.”

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Arrochar and Tarbet will now go head to head against the South and North Scottish regional winners to vie for the title of Scottish Calor Village of the Year 2009.

Judges will visit each of the three villages in mid-August before determining the final winner, who will receive a whopping £7,000 towards community regeneration.

And on Cardross’s achievement - they were described as “extremely worthy winners” - he said: “They made a fantastic presentation to the judges at an event held recently in Stirling.

“Even though the village narrowly missed out on the regional award, their effort was outstanding towards communication within their community.

“Judges were impressed by Cardross’s incredible community spirit and their efforts to get the whole community involved through excellent communication, particularly the local children who made their own presentation in Stirling.”

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