In 2008, as far as we know, Crooke Village won it's first prize. Calor Gas ran a 'Village Of The Year' competition and the award was presented to the Crooke Village Co-operative for their 'Community Spirit' achievement.

A plaque was awarded to the Residents of Crooke Village Co-operative in recognition of their efforts and commitment in improving the community spirit.

It is with great pride that we can announce that Crooke is one of the winners in the North West In Bloom competition. Of the five grades of judgement levied by the challenge, we were judged to be one of the best on our category and out of five grades, 1 being the poorest, we were rated at 4. Jim Haynes and Graham Foster attended a presentation at the Town Hall. Jim’s email from 2nd November covers the event:

Jim’s email - 2nd November 2011

Good morning all,
Yesterday evening Graham and myself attended the "Wigan Borough in Bloom Big Thank You" presentation. The event was to say a big thank you to those people who made an exceptional contribution to the 2011 Wigan Borough in Bloom campaign. People and groups from all parts of the Borough attended with awards in various categories.
All of the groups who were involved in the North West in Bloom campaign received recognition and were presented with a framed certificate. After receiving our certificate Graham & I sat back to enjoy the rest of the proceeding and noticed about 12 trophies which were for special achievements. At that point we decided that our target for next year was to win one of those.
Both of us were astounded when we were called and presented with two of them, one a silver plate presented by Wigan Borough in Bloom and the other a glass trophy sponsored by Standards of the Wiend, both are inscribed " Best Developing Community Project ". That moment coupled with our success in getting next to the top level in the North West in Bloom Its your Neighbourhood category has made the work of the last two years worth while and has provided us with a goal for next year.
On getting back we called into Crooke Hall and Liane has offered the use of one of the trophy cabinets in the Crooke Hall Inn so that we can have them all on display which we felt would be the best way of displaying them for all of the village and visitors to see.
It's a long time since I've felt so proud and I would thank everyone who has made this possible, I just wish that you could have been there to enjoy the moment, it was very special.

Regards
Jim

Our next award came earlier this year when, through 'North West In Bloom' we were presented with the 'RHS It's Your Neighbourhood' award. We Achieved level 4 –“Thriving”. This is next to the top level in this category and as this was the Villages first year of entry into the competition it is regarded as an exceptional result.

This was followed by an award entitled 'Big Thank You'. The Village received this award for the work and support given in supporting the North West in Bloom project.

The next award was entitled 'Best Developing Community Project'. It was Awarded to the Residents for the effort put into developing the community spirit, developing relationships with other parties and working towards improving the overall appearance of the Village.

Standards of the Wiend are a private company who have recognised the work put into developing various aspects within the village.

On Friday 25th. November 2011 the Shevington and District Community Association presented awards to two people for " service to the local community"

Jim Haynes Chairperson of the Crooke Village Residents Association.
Paul Green for his work in producing and maintaining the Crooke Village Residents association website.

All the awards have been placed in a glass cabinate, courtisy of Lianne McPhelim, the landlady of 'The Crooke Hall Inn' in the front room for all to see.

This year, a lot of things have happened in the village and we have improved our appearance in many ways. We have installed the Commemorative Stone for her Majesty the Queen's 60th Jubilee, Re-dressed the base of the new Notice Board, dressed the ground around the Interpretation Board and Bench, done a lot of work around the village in tidying up the footways and the list goes on. As a result of our efforts, this years, we have managed to achieve the highest award, Level 5, "Outstanding".

This first award above was awarded by the 'Royal Horticultural Society'and the one below was awarded by Wigan Council in appreciation for all the hard work and effort put in.

A huge thank you goes out to all those members who helped in looking after the village and making it what it is today.

We have yet one more award to add to the Village Achievements and that is the award presented to Michael Thomas for his continued support of the village and his commitment towards Shevington as well. We offer him our congratulations on receiving this Annual Achievement Award and thanks for all his good work and effort for all that he has done for the village.

Once again, Crooke Village has been successful in winning yet another award in 'North West In Bloom'. Two village members, Brian Musgrove and myself who were accompanied by Derek Keen, were invited along to attend the award ceremony in Southport on the 23rd of September to receive our prize. This year, we have maintained what we have built in the village but we had also added a re-cycling centre where residents can dispose of their garden waste. We were presented with a Level 5 plaque for 'Outstanding', like last year and are proud to be up there with the winners.

More recently, on the 12th of November, two members were also invited to attend another award ceremony at St. Peter's Pavilion in Hindley, as a big thank you on behalf of Wigan Borough Council, so there, Derek and I received our 'Big Thank You' award on behalf of the village. The event was well attended and there were many awards handed out for the various achievements attained.

All the awards that the village has won are on display in the Crooke Hall Inn in the front parlour in a glass cabinet on the left hand side of the fire place. If you wish to see them, it is there where you will find them. The Silver Salver we won the year before last, had been returned as we were entitled to hold it for one year only, unless we won it back, alas, we did not.

This year, now at the end os 2013, two more Achievement Awards have been awarded to two more members of our community, those being Derek Keen and Graham Foster. Graham has chosen not to be pictured with his award but Derek has and his award and picture are posted below. On behalf of the village, I would like to thank them for their unceasing work they had done for and within the village, to help it to become the place it is today.

On Thursday the 24th of October, Christine and Derek Keen went along, by invitation, to the Southport Theatre & Convention Centre where they collected, on behalf of the village, the award, presented on behalf of the North West In Bloom competition, where the village achived Level 5, Outstanding for the efforts put in by the villagers and reaching such a high standard. Chris and Derek had a great day out, met many delegates from other places and noted that there were lot there from the Manchester area, perhaps more than last year. They met the other delegates in the morning, had four corse meal and then, in their turn, received our award, resulting in a great day. A professional photographer took their picture and when it arrives, I will include it into this posting.

On Thursday the 6th of November, Derek Keen and I went along to the Wigan Councils 'Big Thank you' evening meeting which was held in an upstairs room within the 'Sumat T'Ate' restaurant in Market Street, Hindley. This is Wigan Councils way of showing their appreciation for all the effort our various communities within the borough have pulled together and become for best region in the country at 'North West In Bloom'. They too presented us with a certificate marking the event as seen below. When the official pictures are available, I will include those as well.

On Friday, the 30th of October, Derek Keen amd I went along to Southport Theatre and Convention Center where we were presented with this years 'Outstanding' award for North West In Bloom. We did not know until after we had spoken to Nick Burdiken, that we should have been to Southport on Wednesday but because the tickets were printed wrongly, there we were. As it happens, Nick had collected our award on our behalf so before all the presentations took place, we were ushered onto the stage to have a picture taken with an award like ours. We decided to stay for the rest of the day to see the winners. Shevington and Wigan were both Gold winners so for that, we are pleased and maybe one day, we may aspire to such dizzy heights or maybe not, anyway, here is a picture of our award. Hopefully, Greg will hang it upon the wall in the pub along with all our other achievements?

On Thursday, the 12th of November, Wigan In Bloom presentations, the Big Thank you Event, took place at 'Summat T'Ate' in Market Street in Hindley. Once again, Derek and I were in attendance where we duely received our award. At present, I do not have a copy of the picture taken of us receiving the award, but when I do receive it, I will post it along with the North West In Bloom picture from Southport. For now, here is a picture of our award.

November soon comes around and here we are again. Once again, we have scored well in the Britian in Bloom, Norht West ratings, once again reaching level 5- Outstanding. We seem to have reached the top and cannot go any further but we have also helped Wigan to score highly. If we do participat in the Bloom project next year, we are at a stage where there is nothing more to discover and we will be required to maintain what we have. Since we began, Crooke has blossomed well thanks to those who have taken the time to do what they have done and I am happy to have been one of them. Here is a picture of out latest award presented at Southport to Mike and Derek who were there to represent the village. This will, hopefully, be displayed upon the wall in the Crooke Hall inn along with our other achievements. There may be another to come so we will have to wait and see? I would like to offer my personal thanks to all those who have helped to make Crooke look the way it does. Thank you.

At the last CVRA meeting which took place on the 13th of December, the awards that were presentred to Crooke for their efforts in preparing the village for the Wigan in Bloom were on display for all to see. This year, we came joint first with Ashton-in-Makerfield so the silver platter is shared. Once again we reached leven 5, outstanding with our score being well up in the 90's out of 100 available points. After the presentation at St Peter's Pavilion, one of the judges chatted to us about the future. For now, here are pictures of the awards we received.

This year, 2017, I am starting with three personal presentation awards given by Wigan Borough in Bloom to an individual from within our community who deservs recognition for his own outstanding results with his own garden. Up until now, I was unaware that someone's garden could qualify for such an award but as you will see, it has happened.

Derek Keen, our Crooke Village Projects officer, leiased with Tracy Williams, the Wigan Borough In Bloom Co-ordinater before the judges came to the village to make their assessment of our standard. This year, because we were not supported by Shevington, our parent parish because they had not entered into the Bloom challenge, it was decided that Crooke should go it alone and enter ourselves as a 'Small Village'. Prior to the judges visit, Tracey came to see Derek to advise him about the judges and at the same time, saw his garden. Because she was so impressed with it, she encouraged Derek to enter his garden into the competition, not knowing that he could and she arranged for a photographer to call and take some pictures. They were duely taken and soon after, Derek received word that he was to receive an award. On the 28th of September, he and Mike Thomas, the chair of the CVRA, went along to the Sports Village outside Leigh to collect his award. In all, he was presented with three awards. The Lord Mayor of Wigan, Councellor Bill Clarke, presented Derek with the 'Christine Hession' sheild, he being the first to receive it for the 'Best Individual Garden' in the whole of the North West, accompanied by a Gold Award certificate and a 'Best Overall Individual Garden' certificate. While they were there, they received another certificate award entitled, 'In Recognition', I'm not quite sure of it's purpose but I'm sure all will be explained later? Early next month, November, the vllage has been informed we are to receive other awards to do with the village, so when those awards are presented, there will be more to show. Until then, please see below Derek's awards.

A more full story of the days events is presently on the 'Events' page so here are our awards for this year, our first attempt at entering the In Bloom challenge as a 'Small Village'.

Our day at Southport was a great experience. Over a period of three days, over a 1000 awards were given out for the various categories that were on offer. Of all those in the Small Villages category who entered the North West or Britain In Bloom competition, there were three that earned first prize winning the Silver Guilt Medal on their certificates, including Crooke Village.

After the presentation pictured below, we all began to process off stage and as we were about to leave, the MC announced:- "And the overall winner is Crooke Village". Once again we came back to the stage where we were presented with another certificate and the Silver Guilt Cup, The Mayor of Trafford Trophy. We in Crooke are very proud of our achievement.

I took a couple of pictures of the cup to try and show it more clearly but the second picture is more blurred than the first, but you can make out who had it before Crooke.

I will try and get a better picture of those who have previously won this trophy along with our name as the latest winner? Perhaps we may be fortunate enough to win it next year, who knows but we have at last reached the top. Now, let us try to keep this position?