Oakdale is celebrating another “double” success in this year’s Gwent Best Kept Village awards, organised by the Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations and held recently in Llanarth Village Hall.
The village was judged the overall winner in categories for: Best Kept Post-industrial Village; and Most Energy-efficient Village Hall or Community Centre.
This is the second year running that Oakdale have scooped both these awards.
Its entry was submitted by the local Community Partnership which has initiated more than 40 regeneration projects in its 15-year existence.
The Community Centre’s award for energy efficiency was helped by the installation earlier this year of LED lighting throughout its building and storage batteries to complement the centre’s solar panels. The judges were again impressed with the very high use made of the centre by over 20 local organisations between Monday and Friday each week.
This year’s work was partly funded by a grant from Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Welsh Church Fund.