THE village of Stillington is putting the finishing touches to its presentation for the first round of the Calor Village of the Year for England competition.

The village has already submitted a written entry to the event and this will be the residents' chance to make their community "come to life".

It was nominated to participate in this competition following its entry in last year's county event - the Calor Tees Valley Village of the Year competition.

Now the village is up against 39 other small communities, all of which have been nominated to take part through a network of county events.

The villages are being assessed on six different criteria - building community life, business, young people, older people, the environment and ICT (information communication technology).

Stillington is representing Tees Valley in the North of England section and will initially be competing against villages from Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside, Cumbria, Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire and Humber and Wolds in the first round.

Judges will be in the village at 2.30pm on Thursday, April 26 for about two hours.