Back in 1962 the inaugural 'Best Kept Village' competition was held across St Andrews District. Organised by the St Andrews District Council, the contest followed in the footsteps of Cupar District, where a successful event had been held the previous year (won by Strathmiglo). Both districts were gifted trophies by J. & G. Innes Limited, proprietors of the Fife News and the St Andrews Citizen. By winning, Upper Largo became the first winners of the 'Citizen' trophy, represented in the sketch above. The nineteen competing villages had been visited on 25 June by the judges, who included the curator of St Andrews Botanical Gardens.
Points were awarded for the appearance and condition of lands and buildings of a public nature, such as playing fields, open spaces, the village hall and surroundings, church and churchyard, bus shelter, war memorial and school. The cleanliness of verges, ponds and streams and the condition of hedges, fences and walls, the tidiness of flower and vegetable gardens, and the general appearance of the village were all taken into account. The suitability and orderliness of advertisements and notices, and the absence of litter and unsightly rubbish dumps also factored.
The following year, 1963, Strathkinness triumphed in the contest, which must have spurred on the community in Upper Largo, who won the trophy back in 1964 and again in 1965. When Upper Largo retained the title in 1965, they received 82 points from the judges, just pipping runners up Boarhills who scored 81. The photograph below appeared in the 5 August Leven Mail, showing the plaque mounted on an 8-foot pedestal. This was positioned prominently on the grassy area at the junction of Main Street and St Andrews Road, seen below, with Largo Law in the background.
Councillor John Adamson (retired teacher and former headmaster of Lundin Mill Primary School) accepted the award and said how proud he was to see the village win again. He praised the hard work of the villagers, as well as their spirit of co-operation and civic pride. Some of the others featured in the photograph are detailed below.
In fact, Upper Largo would go on to win the Best Kept Village title several more times over the years. The winners of subsequent years are listed below:
1966 - Upper Largo
1967 - Kingsbarns
1968 - Kingsbarns
1969 - Upper Largo
1970 - Kingsbarns
1971 - Lower Largo
1972 - Kingsbarns
1973 - Upper Largo
1974 - Upper Largo
Note that Lower Largo also got in on the act - entering for the first time in 1967 and winning the crown in 1971 (beating Upper Largo into third place). Judges praised the new colour scheme of the Crusoe Hotel (shown below), the tidiness of the car parks at the Temple and the former railway station, as well as the well-kept gardens of the housing estates. They were less impressed with the general lack of litter bins around the village. The trophy on its tall pedestal was put up at Cellar Braes for the year. The 28 August 1971 St Andrews Citizen below provided the full report. John Adamson and Joseph Grassick were both present (as they had been in Upper Largo a few years before). As the list of winners above shows, however, before long the trophy was back in Upper Largo!