Shillington Village has grown around the church, which has stood on the hill for thousand or so years.

The Village has a distinctive shape made up of several ends or hamlets. Located at the NE end of the Chiltern Hills, part of the parish lies within an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The Village has much history and was named after a Saxon called Scyttle.

The Village Hall is very well utilised with the Under 5s (50 children) using it daily during term time.

Youth Clubs have been run over recent years, but finished due to closure of Methodist Hall and lack of volunteers to run.

We have two churches in the community – All Saints and The Congregational.

All Saints - our famous illuminated church on the hill is a very distinctive landmark from all entrances to the village. There are several interesting historical documents on All Saints, particularly as it holds one of the most outstanding displays of mediaeval graffiti in Bedfordshire.

Both churches, as well as normal services, host regular events, including coffee mornings, tea & cakes on Sunday afternoons during summer, music recitals, quiz nights, cake stalls, lunches, strawberry teas and fundraising events.

A very active Camera Club has been meeting weekly in the Hall for the last 40 years during winter months and hosts an annual exhibition, which is always well supported.

The Horticultural Show takes place on the third Saturday of September in the Village Hall and will be celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year.

The Church Fete takes place at Parsonage Farm on the last Saturday in June.

We usually have 10-12 gardens open with refreshments. Owls, bees, wildfowl and ponies also on show. Admission by programme. 2005 will be opening on 19^th June.

Last year saw the first Christmas Tree Festival in the Congregational Church. This year on 4^th & 5^th December.

Our playing fields are well used with both junior and senior football teams in the league.

The cricket team is active during the summer with weekly fixtures during the season.

We have a court club where tennis and league netball take place and 5 teams play in the Heritage Netball league.

Very ‘horsey’ village with local livery and riding school offering opportunities for youngsters to ride if they haven’t their own horses.

The Parish Council is very active, working in conjunction with the local police on crime prevention initiatives, supporting the community in burglar and car crime reduction and property protection.

We have also provided smoke alarms and safety chains on doors of our elderly residents as well as dropped kerbs for wheelchair access and prams and have a good homewatch network.

There are tree planting and bulb planting activities in conjunction with our local conservation group and footpath and bridle way schemes with our Parish Paths Partnership.

The Over 60s Club meet weekly at Scyttels Court for bingo, card games, cup of tea & cake and a gossip, with regular outings to the seaside, fish and chip suppers and a Christmas Party.

We have a residential home for the elderly at Scyttels Court with resident Warden, who actively encourages social activities with other village residents and organisations. They frequently go out for mystery tours and pub lunches, as well as having bazaars and activity/craft afternoons, where you can buy fancy goods and enjoy refreshments, made by the residents. A Day Care Centre is hosted here on Wednesdays for people with memory loss or dementia, which is operated jointly with Social Services. Not only does this provide therapy for the sufferers, but also relief for their fully time carers. This has now been operating for 8 years and has proven so successful that 4 other Centres have now been set up in other parts of the county. This Centre is open to the local community as well as residents of Scyttels Court.

To make sure everyone is aware of what is going on in the community, there is a bi-monthly parish magazine, which circulates to 791 homes in the area (and even sent to other parts of the UK and overseas where people have left the village, but still want to keep in touch). The magazine is subsidised by the advertisers with additional funding provided by the Parish Council and All Saints’ Church.

We have two village shops offering a multitude of services (cleaning, cobblers, photocopying, faxing, video rental, advertising, etc), as well as groceries, post office (with banking facilities) and newsagent..

Although principally an agricultural community, due to the economic climate local farmers are now having to diversify and many redundant farm buildings are now being re-developed as light industrial units, hosting anything from double glazing to pine furniture production.