WALLINGTON village's efforts to get connected to the Internet have earned recognition in a national competition.

The village won the IT category and earned a special commendation in Calor Gas's Village of the Year competition.

It won the IT award for setting up two computers with broadband Internet access in the village hall.

It is the second successive year the village has won the accolade.

Roger Trowell, chairman of the Wallington Village Association, collected the award at the Grosvenor Hotel in London.

He said: "We're pretty pleased with ourselves.

"Local residents can now get on to the Internet straight away."

Mr Trowell hopes to start up clubs to let local residents get to grips with the new technology.

He said: "There's about a dozen clubs that use the hall in Wallington.

"We hope to develop it so people can just drop in but that will take some development for security.

"We're thinking of starting some courses in the community centre, teaching people how to get onto the Internet."

Fareham based company Hoskins Management Develop-ment Limited (HMD) provided the computers.

The firm is a training provider specialising in online learning, management training and work based learning. It became involved after a request from one of Wallington's committee members, who was also a regular learner at the centre in West Street.

Tony Hoskins, director of HMD, said: "We pride ourselves on our innovative approach to enable more and more people to access learning and information.

"Wallington Community Centre is a great example of what can be achieved for the benefit of the local community.