Three Daventry teenagers were arrested at 10pm on Tuesday for assault and racially aggravated criminal damage.

Police were called to Daventry High Street in response to reports of a group of teenagers damaging the rear of a restaurant premises.

This coincided with reports of the same group throwing bottles at a takeaway nearby and abusing staff. Police are still looking for another individual in connection to this incident.

The teenagers, two of which are aged 15 and one is aged 17, spent the night in custody before being interviewed and released on police bail with conditions banning them from the town centre.

The arrests follow the launch of ‘Operation Nugget’, a police crackdown on a small group of yobs largely responsible for a spate of antisocial and abusive behaviour, including one incident on Thursday last week where a disabled man was targeted.

Sergeant Sam Dobbs said, “We are already experiencing a problem with a specific group of young people, which has led to my recent letter to parents kindly distributed by the local secondary schools for half term. In the light of my letter, what has been particularly interesting about these arrests is that the mortified mums or dads who have had to attend the Criminal Justice Centre today, had been led to believe that their children were staying with friends.

“Young people who behave in this feral way will not be tolerated – a stance supported by a number of teenagers who have stopped us to tell us that they are sick of the minority potentially ruining the reputation of the majority.

“More arrests will follow under Operation Nugget.”

Three people from Daventry will appear in court next week charged with drugs supply offences.

Kevin Ryan, 34, of Belfry Way, Daventry, has been charged with conspiracy to supply amphetamine, as has 37-year-old Jaime Walls, of Braunston Road, Daventry.

Rachel Johns, 38, of High Street, Braunston, has been charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine.

All three were arrested on Tuesday by officers from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) and Northamptonshire Police, as part of an on-going investigation by EMSOU with assistance from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

They were bailed to appear at Cannock Magistrates’ Court, in Staffordshire, on 24 February when they will appear alongside two other people who were also arrested in other parts of the country on Tuesday as part of the same operation.

Stephen Ryan, 56, formerly of Broom Way, Banbury, is charged with conspiracy to supply amphetamine, while Kenneth Barnes, 62, of Town Street, Pinxton, in Derbyshire, faces a charge of conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Our photographers and readers have been out and about taking pictures of the week’s events.

Here is a selection of some of them.

They have smashed shop windows, engaged in underage drinking and verbally abused a disabled man in Bowen Square.

Now a group of just 25 youths identified as being largely responsible for offences in Daventry town centre are being targeted by a new police initiative cracking down on abusive, violent and antisocial behaviour.

‘Operation Nugget’, launched this week, sees Northamptonshire Police and representatives from youth agencies gathering information on those responsible for a number of incidents in the town centre, particularly near McDonald’s on Vicar Lane.

As part of the operation Sergeant Sam Dobbs and his safer communities team will interview the troublemakers either voluntarily under caution or, if necessary, under arrest.

In a frank and direct open letter sent last week to parents of students at the town’s secondary schools, Sgt Dobbs said he had become ‘increasingly worried’ about a small group of youths responsible for a spate of inappropriate behaviour in shops as well as more serious incidents including damage to property and assaults.

He added that on Thursday, February 12 he was forced to implemented new, rarely-used powers enshrined in the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act to tackle abusive behaviour.

He said: “We issued tickets and orders for seven young people to be removed from Vicar Lane following abusive behaviour in the town centre and the targeting of a disabled man who was left very upset by the incident.

“I am determined that all young people should not be tarred with the same brush as the mindless behaviour I am describing is from a group of only 20 to 25 in number. We have all been young once and will all understand how easy it is to get in with the wrong crowd. There’s generally a great atmosphere in all our schools, and none of us linked to young people will tolerate the trends I am describing.”

However, Sgt Dobbs urged parents to speak to their children about the problems they face and to be alert to the signs of under-age drinking.

He told the Daventry Express: “We want the message to go out to young people that if they are in the company of other young people committing crimes they may well be dealt with the same way.

“We will use CCTV and everything in our power to keep the town centre safe for the public and protect the reputation of young people.

“The majority of young people we interact with outside of custody are brilliant to deal with.”

A group of pensioners claim they have been “ripped off” by Severn Trent after paying an ‘unnecessary’ water charge for decades.

Residents in the Rectory Close estate in Crick have been paying the water company to channel surface water to the sewers for a number of years.

But some neighbours recently found out that their water simply went into soakaways in the ground.

Mary Thomson, 72, who has lived in Rectory Close with her husband John for 40 years, said she felt hard done by after only receiving a six-month refund. “We’ve lived here for 40 years and have been paying around £60 a year for the water to go into the sewers but it turns out it’s just going into the soakaways and we shouldn’t be paying,” she said.

“We only found out when a new person moved in. They got chatting with neighbours and it came out that they didn’t have to pay, so the neighbour rang Severn Trent and they said ‘no, you don’t have to pay’.

“Our neighbour has lived here for five years and when he rang them they gave him a five-year refund. We’ve had £34.10 back after paying for 40 years.

“There’s just no consistency at all. We feel hard done by to be honest.”

Mary and fellow residents have been delivering leaflets in the area to warn people about the charges.

Jean Garner, who lives in Church Street, has also been affected by the ‘unnecessary’ cost and has helped rally residents in the area.

“We feel peeved that we’ve only got six months back but they’ve been charging us all this time for something that isn’t actually happening,” she said.

“We would like a better payment as a six-month refund when I’ve lived here for 31 years is peanuts really.

“We’ve been told we won’t be charged any more but we’ve paid a lot for it over the years and we feel we’ve been ripped off,” she added.

A spokesman for Severn Trent said: “We received an inquiry from a customer on Rectory Estate in Crick about surface water drainage charges at her property, last year (November 2014).

“It’s important for customers to let us know if they think they have a soakaway and provide evidence to support this. We have more than eight million customers across our region, who know their properties much better than we do. If a customer discovers that they do have a soakaway, we’ll refund them for the charges that they have paid within that billing year and they won’t be charged going forward, which is the case with our customer on Rectory Estate.

“We’re always happy to help answer any questions on surface water drainage on 0345 7500 500.”

The Daventry area has been named as the nation’s top ‘property hotspot’ after recording the largest increase in house sales.

Figures from Lloyds Bank show house sales jumped by 56 per cent when comparing figures for January 2014 - October 2014 with the same 10 months in 2013.

Daventry was joined in the top 10 by areas including Corby, Slough. Alfreton and Sutton in Ashfield.

The data shows in the first 10 months of 2013 the number of properties sold per month in the Daventry area varied between 31 and 57, but in the same period in 2014 it was between 54 and 93 per month.

Compared to house sales in Rugby and Northampton, Daventry appears to have been following the same general trend upwards in numbers until around June 2014 when sales in the Daventry area jumped ahead. This coincides with when several new developments came on the market locally.

However, the impressive increase in house sales does not appear to have significantly impacted on house prices compared to Rugby or Northampton areas – which were not in the top 10 hotspots for sales increase.

From October 2013 to October 2014 Daventry’s average house price rose 14 per cent, compared to 12 per cent for Rugby and 15 per cent for Northampton.

House prices in October 2014 for Daventry were around nine per cent lower than in October 2007 before the economic downturn.

Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Daventry, Abigail Campbell, has revealed plans to resurrect the town’s Trades Union Council (TUC).

The original Daventry Trades Union Council represented workers from a broad range of industries in and around Daventry, from engineers to workers at the BBC, for more than 21 years.

It shut its doors in the mid 1980s after struggling to appoint enough officers to carry out its duties. Cllr Campbell said the plans, which are still in their earliest stages, would see the trades union council once more champion the rights of workers in the area.

She said: “There seems to be to a resurgence in trades union councils across the country. There have been a lot of changes in jobs and employment and I wonder if that is partly why people feel they should come together in this way.”

“I see it as another form of support.

“It is about bringing people from different work places together. There are real concerns about employment conditions and zero hour contracts.”

Cllr Campbell said a meeting would be held in March to discuss how a Daventry based trades union council could work, and that the initiative had already attracted plenty of interest.

Roy Sharp, former secretary at the Daventry’s Trades Union Council, reacted positively to the news: “I think it would be a very good idea if Cllr Campbell can attract enough interest to get the organisation afloat.

“It would be quite an improvement.”

This photo comes from the Daventry Express archives and is dated July 1988.

It shows youngsters from the Nene Hall Playgroup, based on Daventry’s Grange estate. Pictured are Jody Wilkinson, Richard Barnes, and Carly Philpot.

A new initiative to support parents of dyslexic children is being launched by the Northamptonshire Dyslexic Association (NDA).

The group will be hosting six monthly workshops from Saturday, February 28, through to July.

The workshops include support with reading, spelling and writing, memory and homework.

Booking is essential. They will take place at the Daventry and District Welfare Foundation on New Street.

Email Amanda.eaton1@ntlworld.com or call Pam 01327 703626.

Training provider and registered charity NITAL are calling on Daventry’s young people to take part in their range of apprenticeships.

The group are currently offering a range of opportunities across a breadth of industries but say they are currently struggling to attract enough interest from potential candidates in the town.

The apprenticeships can last for up to two years with many requiring GCSE Grade C and above in English and Maths and there are range of local companies involved in the scheme, including Daventry Metal Products, which has taken on two apprentices Tom Bichener and Gary Birtles pictured above.

There are currently a number of roles available in Daventry including business support service, calibration technician and apprentice installation and commissioning .

Abby Smith, apprentice recruitment officer at NITAL, said: “Young people don’t have an awareness of the opportunities available to them.”

“But apprenticeships are valuable as it offers them the chance to get a qualification while having a full time job. We have a 100 per cent success rate in getting them full time employment afterwards. “

Ms Smith added that while the training company is based in Corby, they regularly visit young people across the county to provide information.

To find out more about the apprenticeships currently on offer, visit www.nital.co.uk/ or call 01536 408188.

A paedophile who has admitted grooming a young boy from Daventry into performing sex acts has been jailed.

Andrew Bolderson (pictured), aged 28, pleaded guilty to a number of charges of inciting a boy aged under 13, who can not be named for legal reasons, to engage in sexual activity and be involved in pornography.

The court heard that Bolderson committed the offences while on bail for possessing indecent images of children.

The court heard Bolderson had “blackmailed” the young boy into sending indecent images of himself after he started sending messages to him online.

Bolderson, of Stationers Place, Hemel Hempstead, was arrested after the boy’s parents uncovered the online messages, including one where he had made plans to meet the boy in his home town. After analysing his computer, officers found he had 22 indecent images of children, including four in the most serious category.

Judge Lynn Tayton said Bolderson was somebody who represented a “significant risk of causing serious harm”.

She sentenced him to a year in prison for possessing the indecent images.

For the other offences he was sentenced to four years in prison, to be served consecutively to the one-year sentence, followed by an extended licence period of six years.

He is likely to serve at least two thirds of his prison sentence. Bolderson will be placed on the sex offenders register for life. He must pay a victim surcharge of £120.

A limited edition print of a painting depicting the birth of radar has gone on display to mark the 80th anniversary of the historic breakthrough.

Robert Watson-Watt successfully demonstrated his invention for the first time on February 26, 1935, using receiving equipment set up at Weedon and the signals transmitted from the BBC station on Borough Hill.

His instruments were able to detect an RAF Heyford bomber flying at 6,000 feet – proving to the Air Ministry the effectiveness of what would later become known as radar.

The moment was captured by aviation artist Roy Huxley in his painting ‘The First Step’, which was specially commissioned in 1985 to mark the 50th anniversar.

It depicts Watson-Watt and his assistant, Arnold Wilkins with the receiving equipment at Weedon while the aircraft makes a low pass overhead. Borough Hill can be seen in the distance.

A limited-edition print of the work was recently gifted to the Council by Mr Huxley. It is now on display in the reception area at the civic offices in Lodge Road to celebrate the 80th anniversary of one of the most important technological breakthroughs of the last century.

By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 there were 20 radar stations along the east and south coast of England, providing early warning of the approach of German aircraft and helping the RAF defeat the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain.

Variations on the technology remain in use today, in air traffic control systems, geological mapping instruments and police speed guns among other applications.

The spot where Watson-Watt and his team carried out their so-called ‘Daventry Experiment’ is remembered by the Birth of Radar memorial stone near Upper Stowe.

Councillor Chris Millar, Leader of Daventry District Council, said: “The role that Daventry District played in the development of radar is something we should celebrate and commemorate as an important part of our heritage

“We are thrilled to have received this wonderful limited edition print depicting the birth of radar and we’re very pleased in this 80th anniversary year to be able to share it with the wider public by putting it on display in the reception area of our Lodge Road offices.”

Explosive experts were called to the village of Chipping Warden at around 1pm today after a unexploded grenade was found in a field by a local farmer.

Police officer James Reid tweeted: “MOD lost a grenade 70+ years, found by farmer in field , now waiting for #hurtlocker to deal, exclusion zone in place”.

The grenade is believed to have been found just off Appletree Road, which runs from the village past an industrial estate off the old airfield.

Traffic on the A361 appeared have remained unaffected.

Whittlebury Hall is today showcasing its award-winning facilities and service at London Olympia where it is taking part at the International Confex.

The event, which will draw to a close tomorrow, will be attended around 8,000 event professionals and is a focal point for event buyers, professional and commercial conference and exhibition organisers, agencies and associations seeking a venue.

Visitors will see all that Whittlebury has to offer including, the Exclusively Yours corporate rewards programme which has been named as a finalist in the Best Loyalty Scheme category in the Engagement and Loyalty Awards.

Michael Stott, director said: “We are delighted to be taking part in International Confex again. It is the ideal event for us to showcase the individual and tailored service that we provide to our clients along recent product investments including; the refreshment of our conference and meetings rooms, banqueting suites and break-out coffee stations, current refreshment of all bedrooms and three-times faster broadband throughout the property.”

“We continually work hard to understand the needs of our clients and developed the Exclusively Yours corporate rewards programme to ensure it enhances our customer’s experience of Whittlebury Hall and we are thrilled to have been announced as a finalist for this award.”

Winners of the Engagement and Loyalty Awards will be announced at a black tie gala dinner and ceremony on 30th April 2015 in London which will be attended by some of the biggest names in business.

Those who register by February 28 2015 for the programme are being offered complimentary spa break for two people.

Couples looking to get engaged this year are being offered a helping hand with a romantic venue by the people who run a stately home.

Canons Ashby House has announced the new initiative to accommodate marriage proposals following on from Valentine’s Day.

This year also mark the 150th wedding anniversary of Sir Henry and Lady Frances Dryden, the Victorian occupants of the historic manor house.

Operations manager of the house, Laura Malpas, said: “The story Sir Henry and Lady Frances fits the notions of Victorian romance perfectly. They were clearly so in love but waited years until their circumstances were better suited before marrying. Then after more than 30 years of marriage, they died in the same year – it’s heart wrenching.”

In the spirit of this occasion Canons Ashby has revealed that it will be helping couples to get engaged on-site in the most romantic ways possible and is looking for couples to get in touch with them.

Marketing and events officer at Canons Ashby House, Marie Smith, said: “We want people to send us their ideas, no matter how grand, and we will see how we can help make it happen.

“We’re really hoping for a flash-mob!”

If you’re hoping to get engaged this year send your suggestions to canonsashby@nationaltrust.org.uk or call 01327 861900.

The full story of Sir Henry and Lady Frances Dryden, along with more information on how people can pop the question to their beloved at Northamptonshire’s most romantic location, can be found by visiting 
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/canonsashby.

There has been a chequered recent history of having a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Daventry.

In 2008 it was announced that the CID unit in the town would relocate to Weston Favell in Northampton and investigations would take place from there.

Following an absence of six years, CID returned to Daventry Police Station in March last year looking after the Daventry and South Northamptonshire area.

The detective inspector in charge of the new unit is keen to emphasise the difference returning to the town has made.

DI Phil Mills said: “One of the biggest things about moving back to the town is we are in the same room as the safer community teams that do a lot of the day-to-day work.

“This means that we have joint briefings together and that way the information can be spread very quickly among the different departments.

“Previously you might have one department having a briefing and then another, so it gets slowed down. This way, we can get out there and make a difference much more quickly than previously.

“It is not a revolutionary approach, but it is a sensible one. We are the first to do at Daventry but it is being used in different parts of the county.”

The unit has three detective sergeants , nine detectives and four volume crime officers responsible for acquisitive crime.

There are also two officers responsible for looking after the prisons at Onley. DI Mills said: “There are officers in the police station from 8am to 10pm, which means that during those hours, any day of the week, they can get hold of a member of CID.

“When the unit was based over at Northampton we would not have done anything differently to what we do now but we would have had to have found a different way of doing things.”

It is clear from speaking to the detectives working inside the vast space that is Daventry Police Station that they prefer to be based in the town.

Detective Sergeant Keith Finson said: “We have two prisons in the area, which is my responsibility, and it is easier to be here rather than at Northampton.

“I think if you were to ask the criminals in Daventry would they prefer a CID to be in Daventry, I am fairly sure the answer would be no.

“The fact that we are now here and that is something that criminals wouldn’t like makes me immensely satisfied.” DI Mills added: “I think all of the officers prefer the set up that we have at the moment.”

One of the other detective sergeants added to the benefits of working with the other officers in Daventry.

DS Marie Turner said: “My responsibility is working with other forces from outside the area.

“It is mainly intelligence led and speaking to other agencies and forces which includes Leicestershire, West Midlands and even as far afield as the Met in London or West Yorkshire Police.”

With the new CID in place for just under a year, DI Mills is looking back at the success the unit ihas enjoyedso far.

He said: “We have had some luck in tackling acquisitive crime in Brackley and we are looking to deal with this in Daventry.

“We are also heavily into working at Operation Limit which is tackling violence in the county but, in particular, incidents of violence that occur in the town centre during the night.”

DI Mills also added that he was looking to tackle the problems with rural crime in the Daventry area as one of the priorities for the future.

This includes further working with the officers based in Daventry and also using social media.

He said: “The area has a very large rural area.

“I am in constant touch with Jon Lloyd, who has become the new sector commander for Daventry, and that allows greater collaboration between his team and my team.

“One of the big things that we are looking to do is to tackle crime in rural areas.

“We want to work with Farmwatch and use social media to improve communication.

“Having the guys on the safer community team on board is important for the rural areas because the guys out there will know the area like the back of their hand.

“We want criminals to know that there is no safe place and that we will come and find them, wherever they are.”

A number of villagers who have created a document designed to shape the future plans for the area have officially handed it over to Daventry District Council (DDC).

The small group from West Haddon submitted a neighbourhood plan to the council’s deputy chief executive Simon Bovey on Thursday last week.

Alan Perks, the chair of the West Haddon Neighbourhood Development Plan steering group, said: “The steering group, together with West Haddon Parish Council, has been working on this plan for the past 18 months. We decided to set this up in a brave attempt to control development in our hilltop village over the next 14 years.”

A numbers of villages within the Daventry district have set up neighbourhood plans in the past few years.

Neighbourhood plans were bought in by the Conservative Government in 2011.

Speaking to the Daventry Express last year Nick Boles, parliamentary under-secretary of state, department for communities said: “This means that a village or a parish can say this is where we want development and we want to protect our green spaces.”

The next stage will see the proposal analysed by DDC before it decides whether to adopt the document.

A supermarket giant in Daventry has launched a competition for primary school children.

The Tesco store in New Street is currently creating a community room and it is hoping children can design a piece of art work that can 
be displayed in the new room.

There is a number of criteria for children looking to enter the competition that they must stick to when submitting entries.

The supermarket’s community champion, Michele Hawes, said: “The measurements for the new artwork will be 2.5 feet high by 4 feet wide.

“We are asking all local schools to submit their 
designs on an A3 piece of paper with a description of the materials being used, their contact details and class 
age.

“We would love to then pick a first second and third place and they would then make the piece of artwork for our store.

“As a prize we would like to invite the winning school’s artists to the grand opening of our community room to see their work of art displayed for the whole community to see.”

The winners of the art competition will be drawn on Monday, March 9 and entries to have their artwork displayed in the new community room have to be submitted to Mrs Hawes before Friday, March 6.

Mrs Hawes added: “We are looking to have our grand opening of the community room when it is finished on Wednesday, March 25.”

A new principal of the Danetre and Southbrook Learning Village (DSLV) has been appointed and will take over in September.

Simon Cotton, who is the currently at the top job at Kingsbury School in Warwickshire, will be the replacement for David Howell at the start of the next academic year.

E-Act, the sponsor of the DSLV academy, stated the firm hopes the appointment will make a massive difference to the school.

A spokesman for E-ACT said:“We’re absolutely delighted to appoint Simon Cotton as DSLV’s new principal.

“His track record of improvement is impressive, having led his current school, Kingsbury School, to success as the 40th most improved school in the country in 2013.

“DSLV is truly an academy at the heart of its community and Simon is committed to strengthening that relationship even more whilst focusing relentlessly on tangible outcomes for the academy’s young people.”

Mr Cotton’s current school is based between Sutton Colefield and Tamworth and is a specialist school for teaching mathematics and science. Mr Cotton has been in charge at Kingsbury since April 2008 and prior to that he was the deputy headteacher of the Broadway School in Birmingham.

He has been responsible for improving standards, with 67 per cent of youngsters at Kingsbury achieving A* to C grades in five or more subjects including English and maths in 2013. In 2008 just 35 per cent of youngsters at the school achieved the same level.

In 2013, 73 per cent of Kingsbury pupils achieved an A* to C grade in English, 72 per cent reached the same standards in mathematics and 90 per cent of students achieved highly in science.

Kingsbury was most recently inspected by Ofsted in November 2013 and was given the grade of ‘requires improvement’. The new appointment comes following the resignation of David Howell in November last year.

No reason for his departure was revealed but the acting principal of the learning village, Angie Lakey, said she believed that his departure was due to personal reasons.

The news of the appointment was revealed in a letter which was sent home to parents before half term.

A primary school in Daventry has become a National Teaching School and has been working to improve standards across the area.

The Grange School, alongside the Bliss Charity School in Nether Heyford and Hall Meadow Primary in Kettering, has set up the teaching school called Inspire.

Teaching schools work like teaching hospitals – taking a leading role in training new teachers, identifying leadership potential and providing support for other schools.

The Grange School is one of only 60 in England to be granted teaching school status in the latest round.

Teaching schools work with partner schools to ensure high quality school-led initial training for new teachers, and also professional development opportunities at all stages of their career.

They aim to raise standards through school-to-school support, engaging in research and development into classroom methods and ensuring that the most talented leaders are spotted and supported to become successful head teachers.

Gaynor Yates, the principal of The Grange School, said: “We are delighted to have launched Inspire Teaching School with our partner schools.

“We are committed to continue working in the local area to provide opportunities for teachers, and prospective teachers, to make a difference to young peoples’ lives.

“I believe that every child living Daventry and our wider area should have the opportunity to attend a great school; through Inspire, we intend to improve the quality of the education on offer for all of our young people and families.

“We have already been working closely with a number of schools in the Daventry area and this is set to continue.

“I know that this is making a massive difference to schools in the Daventry area and will continue to do so.”

The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) has responsibility, in partnership with the Department for Education, for the designation and quality of the teaching schools programme.

Charlie Taylor, the chief executive of NCTL, said: “Teaching schools are at the heart of an increasingly school-led system, leading the way in improving the quality of our teachers and helping the schools in their partnership to become even better.

“Like teaching hospitals, they have become centres of excellence across the country, conducting research and training teachers.”