A CAERPHILLY county borough village is celebrating a range of successful wins in this year's Gwent Best Kept Village awards.

The awards - which are organised by Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations - were recently held in Chepstow Garden Centre.

And Oakdale village was judged the overall winner in categories for:

• Best Kept Post-industrial Village, a new category of awards;

• Best Kept War Memorial (populations of 1001-4999); and

• Most Energy-efficient Village Hall or Community Centre.

Oakdale's entry was submitted by the local Community Partnership group which has initiated more than 40 regeneration projects in their 14 year existence.

Partnership chair man, Ray Bevan said: “We were surprised and delighted to pick up three awards this year.

"The new award for post-industrial villages recognises that valley villages like ours can recover from the loss of a major industry, such as coal, and yet create attractive places for people to live.

"Oakdale has received nothing from government grant schemes such as Communities First or Rural Development Grants, but that hasn't stopped us from seeking other funds to regenerate and sustain our community.

"I want to thank our residents for their contribution to making Oakdale such a desirable place to live and for the real community spirit which exists here.”

Partnership secretary and treasurer of the community centre, Roger Evans, added: “We are very pleased our centre has been recognised as the most energy-efficient.

"The judges were particularly impressed with the fact that the centre is used daily from Monday to Friday, and this reflects on the dedication of the twenty-plus local organisations who support us.”

Following these awards, the Community Partnership was also presented with the Group Award in this year's Caerphilly County Borough Voluntary Sector.