AN INDOOR car boot sale will take place to help the Daventry Community Centre.

The centre is launching the first of their fundraising events this weekend.

The community centre, based off Ashby Road, is trying to raise money for its Raise the Roof drive, to help repair the building.

The event hopes to be the first of several indoor car boot/table-top sales on Sunday, November 11 from 1pm to 4pm.

A spokesman for the centre said: “We have people 
on a waiting list for tables but we need the support of the public to make the event a success.

“We desperately need to make the building waterproof and we are also looking for funding for new disabled facilities.

“Despite rumours over the years the centre is here to stay and, with the support of the public we will carry on with our modernisation plan.”

The centre is used by numerous groups and is the only building designed to be a community centre covering the whole of the town.

Admission will be 50p for adults and free for children.

A CONSULTATION has stated that a bypass for Flore and Weedon was seen as important.

The comments come following the consultation on the Northamptonshire Transport Plan, drawn up by Northamptonshire County Council and which closed on Friday.

A spokesman for the authority said: “The feedback is still being analysed by officers. All the information which has been collected will form part of the background information which will accompany a report to be heard before the December cabinet meeting.

“An early assessment of comments made shows that people were broadly supportive of measures which will help Daventry grow sustainably, such as ensuring that suitable transport links accompany any new development.

“Plans for the development of a Flore/Weedon bypass were also seen as important.”

All your local news including:

– Crumbling war memorial set to be saved

– Menswear store set to close

– Planning application submitted for a million pound expansion to primary school

– Inspector hears plans for a 107 homes in Long Buckby

– Profiles of the candidates for police and crime comissioner for the area

– Picture special of the town’s firework display

– WIN: Family tickets to Blenheim Palace and to Christmas show at Royal and Derngate

– SPORT: Buckby boss wants team to be party poopers

Plus all your local news, sport, entertainment and property

A MEN’S clothes store is to close its doors after 30 years of trading on Daventry’s High Street.

Exit For Men, formerly Fosters, is holding a closing down sale ahead of shutting on Christmas Eve.

The unit, and the neighbouring one housing Argos, are both earmarked for demolition to make way for the £50m Mulberry Place retail development.

Exit owner John Gaul said: “We’ve been thinking about stopping the clothes business for a while.

“Our lease runs out early next year. It was a 15-year lease, but they are only offering us short-term leases of three months or so, which isn’t long enough when we have to order stock six or more months in advance.

“So we decided it was time to call it a day.”

For more on this story, see this week’s Daventry Express.

A MOTHER has spoken of her terror at seeing her nine-year-old faughter being thrown from a bonfire night fairground ride.

Yasmin Vickery fell from a “twister” ride at the Hollowell Steam Rally and Heavy Horse Show bonfire on Saturday night and hit a safety fence.

Mum Kim, who was filming Yasmin on the ride, feared the accident could have been fatal.

Paramedics initially treated Yasmin for a suspected broken neck, but it emerged she had escaped with heavy bruising. She was released after an overnight stay at Northampton General Hospital.

Yasmin, of Sevenoaks, Kent, is still bed-bound, and has been vomiting due to the impact her kidneys took in the accident.

The family were visiting the area as Yasmin’s grandparents live in the county.

Mum Kim Vickery is calling for safety checks to be made on the ride to prevent a future accident.

Mrs Vickery, aged 41, said: “We had only been there for 10 minutes and it was the first ride she had gone on, with her cousin Kiya.

“We were laughing and joking at the time. But when it started going around, Yasmin and Kiya’s bar fell forward. Kiya tried to put the bar back but Yasmin fell out.

“She spun into the air because it was going so fast, then you could hear this almighty thud. She had gone flying through the barrier.

“The impact was sideways, but the paramedics said if she had gone through head first she probably wouldn’t be here.

“I was terrified. I was still videoing it. It could have been a lot worse and I am grateful that it wasn’t.

“Yasmin is still in bed. She is walking with a limp because she can’t put any weight on one leg.

“My concern is if that particular fair ride goes elsewhere the it could happen again.”

Yasmin said: “It really hurts. I’m not going back to school for a week or more.”

The Hollowell bonfire is one of the most popular in the county. It charges £1 for entry and has a professional firework display, food stalls and a beer tent.

The incident was attended by the police and ambulance service and is now the subject of an investigation.
Detective Sergeant Gavin Suttie, from Northamptonshire Police, said: “We attended an incident in Hollowell, where a nine-year-old girl suffered injuries as a result of falling off an amusement ride.

“She was admitted to Northampton General Hospital with internal bruising and was released on Sunday. The Health and Safety Executive has been informed and will be assisted by police in the investigation.”

A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said: “The HSE is aware of the incident and is currently making initial inquiries.”

None of the organisers at the event was available for comment.

People are being reminded to clean up after their dogs or they could be taken to court and fined up to £1,000.

It comes after a man in West Haddon was fined for allowing his dog to foul on a pavement in Morrison Park Road without cleaning up the mess last month.

A resident saw the offence and took a photo of the fouling, which also captured the dog owner as he walked away.

Officers from Daventry District Council (DDCs) were able to use this evidence, including a description of the dog, to trace the owner to an address in West Haddon.

When confronted with the evidence on October 17 the dog owner acknowledged that his behaviour was unacceptable and he received a £75 fixed penalty notice.

DDCs community manager Maria Taylor said: “The public repeatedly tell us that dog fouling is one of their most serious concerns in the community, which is why we are currently running an environmental campaign in Daventry during November.

“We have thanked the public-spirited gentleman who submitted the crucial photographic evidence in this case and would urge other members of the public who observe such offences to do the same, providing it is safe to do so.

“People can rest assured that when the Council has evidence of such irresponsible dog ownership fixed penalty notices will be issued and repeat offenders will be prosecuted.”

People can report dog fouling to the Environmental Improvement Team at Daventry District Council online or call 01327 871100.

VOLUNTEERS have been out in force for the past two weeks selling poppies ahead of Remembrance Day.

The Daventry branch of the Royal British Legion had volunteers out at Daventry’s supermarkets and at Watford Gap services.

Thousands more of the poppies have been ordered this year compared to last to meet the demand from this district, and extra volunteers have joined the team to help sell them, and also keep stocked the boxes left in businesses and other locations.

This year Armistice Day falls on Remembrance Sunday – therefore the minute’s silence held in Sheaf Street annually on November 11 will not take place this year.

On Sunday, November 11, thousands of people across the district will fall silent at 11am to remember those who fought and died, and those who still

fight and die, for our country.

Parades, church services, and acts of remembrance will be carried out in Daventry and many villages.

In Daventry there will be the traditional parade through the town and services.

The parade, featuring the town’s Air Training Corps band, will muster in the playground of St James Primary School, in St James Street between 10 and 10.30am.

It will then march through the town centre to the Abbey Street war memorial for the 11 o’clock service which will include music from Daventry Brass.

The parade will then move on to Holy Cross for a church service.

Acts of remembrance will be held at several village memorials, including Aston le Walls, Charwelton and Newnham. In Badby there will also be a half-muffled ringing of the church bells to mark the occasion.

FIREFIGHTERS were called out to HMP Onley last night (Thursday November 8).

Crews from Daventry and Warwickshire attended at 9.20pm to a cell which had been set on fire. Clothing and a mattress was damaged in the incident.

A spokesman for the fire service said the cause was deliberate ignition.

PLANS for a wind turbine have been revealed for a farm near Byfield.

MS1 Energy, an energy firm based in London which specialises in building wind farms, is currently putting together a planning application for a single 67 metre turbine to be based at Hill Farm in Byfield.

The firm has said that once the turbine is built, it will have a rated capacity of 500kW, enough to power around 280 homes and alleviate approximately 565 tonnes of carbon a year. It will be situated in excess of 400 metres from neighbouring homes.

Director of MS1 Energy Peter Wolf said: “The Hill Farm project will help to safeguard the lifestyle we enjoy today for current and future generations, by producing low carbon electricity in a sustainable and ethical way.

“The project comes at an opportune time given the decline in the UK’s oil and natural gas production and the threat of climate change. We are keen to engage with the local community to talk about the scheme.”

A public consultation will take place at the lower annexe of Byfield Village Hall from 11am on Saturday, December 8. For further information visit the energy’s firm’s website at www.ms1energy.co.uk.

POLICE have found cannabis leaves and equipment often used in the production of the drug during a search of a house in a Harpole.

Officers went to the house in Garners Way, in the village at about 9am on today (Friday November 9)

Inside, they found a small quantity of cannabis leaf and pieces of hydroponic equipment.

No arrests were made, but officers did issue a ‘cannabis warning’.

A 32-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested following a three vehicle crash in Norton.

It happened at around 1am this morning (Friday, November 9) when his car collided with a parked vehicle in Daventry Road. This vehicle was then bumped forward hitting another car in the process.

Fire crews were called out to assist the police and ambulance.

He has been arrested on suspicion of drinking and driving.

A HORSE trailer has been stolen from a stable yard in East Haddon.

It happened between 5.15pm on Wednesday and 6,15am yesterday (Thursday November 8) when thieves broke into a private lane leading to a stable yard by cutting locks on two gates and forced their way into the tack room.

A red Ifor Williams HB510 horse trailer with distinctive silver hoof print and horses on the side and a Clark 3.5 kva generator were stolen.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

NEXT week elections will be held for the new police and crime commissioner – overshadowed by the withdrawal of the Labour-supported candidate.

On Thursday November 15 one of four candidates for Northamptonshire will be elected into the post, abolishing existing police authority.

The new post and job of the PCC is to hold chief constables into account, set local policing priorities and set the budget to decide how council tax is spent on crime and policing issues. The PCC will also receive all funding related to policing and crime reduction and decide on its allocation.

In this area Conservative candidate Adam Simmonds, Liberal Democrat Paul Varnsverry, UKIP candidate Jim Macarthur and independent candidate John Norrie are standing for election.

Labour hopeful Lee Barron was suspended last week by his party after it emerged he was arrested 22 years ago and fined £20 for wilfully obstructing the police during an incident at a Northampton pub.

These days such an offence carries a potential custodial sentence, barring Mr Barron from becoming PCC for Northants.

Labour withdrew their support for him, but as the deadline for withdrawals had passed Mr Barron’s name will still appear on the ballot papers. If Mr Barron ‘wins’ the election the post will be deemed vacant and the election will re-run within 35 days.

The vote will see 37 PCCs elected in England and four in Wales through the supplementary voting system – a system very similar to the alternative vote.

Voters can have a first and second preference vote and if any candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the first preference votes they are elected. If no candidate reaches the threshold all except the two candidate with the highest number of votes are eliminated.

The second preferences from the eliminated candidates’ votes are then counted and added to the two frontrunners’ total to declare the winner.

A POT of £10,000 has been granted to Daventry to help the public and local authorities work together to improve the town centre.

Daventry Town Team has been named as a National Town Team Partner by the government and will receive £10,000.

The team was backed by Daventry MP Chris Heaton-Harris in applying for the money, as part of a nationwide high street review carried out by retail and fashion guru Mary Portas.

Sally Halson, manager of the Daventry Business Partnership and leader for the town team said: “We are delighted at being named a Town Team Partner and in receiving the cash injection.

“The town team provides a great opportunity for us all to work together in improving the town centre as well as developing a long term vision for it which reflects the views of all interested parties.

“The funding and support package is a fantastic boost and gives the team a great kickstart in putting some of the initial ideas into action.”

The town team operates on two layers: the public, town centre workers, businesses and others get together to discuss the direction they want the town centre to take, and then a body made up of local councils, the business partnership, the police and others work to achieve those goals.

Mrs Halson said: “We now need more people to join the team and are particularly keen to hear from those community organisations, local businesses and individuals who are passionate about Daventry and want to make a real difference to the town’s future.”

A date for the next public meeting has yet to be set but it is expected after the Christmas period.

Previously the group identified the town’s image as something to work on – with litter and dog mess being tackled, and better branding to create an identity for Daventry.

For more information on the town team the Daventry Business Partnership on 01327 828391.

CRUMBLING stone and subsidence at Daventry’s 90-year-old war memorial may lead to it being replaced and moved.

Ahead of this Sunday’s Remembrance Day the memorial, off Abbey Street, was cleaned. However, workers discovered the stone is weathering and flaking away as well as sinking into the ground.

Daventry Town Council is responsible for the upkeep of the memorial, which was unveiled in 1922. Leader, Cllr Steve Tubb said: “The council decided to clean the memorial and do some maintenance on the names.

“But the workers discovered the stone is in a bad way. We don’t know exactly what stone it’s made of, but it is weathering and flaking.

“The monument is also sinking as well and cracks are appearing – not enough to be dangerous now, but it’s something we need to be keeping an eye on.

“We don’t know what it will cost, but with the anniversary of the First World War approaching we think there will be some grants.

“It’s all in a very early stage at the moment. If we are going to replace the memorial, and there’s sinking at the Abbey Street site, I think we will also look at moving it as well to another site in the town centre.

“Somewhere a bit more central might be better so that people see it more often.

“One site that’s already been mentioned is the patch of unused ground on the edge of the Market Square.”

The town council will now look into the cost of repairing or replacing the monument, and possible sources of money.

Ted Sharp from the Daventry branch of the Royal British Legion, said: “It is very good to know the memorial is being looked after and if it needs replacing it should be replaced.

“If it is replaced then parts of the old memorial should be kept and maybe used in the new one, to provide a link.”

For full Remembrance Service and parade details see page 10.

THE former bursar of Brington Primary School has pleaded guilty to stealing more than £46,000 from the school.

Sara Meakins, 40, has been told to prepare for a prison sentence after she pleaded guilty to 12 offences of theft, fraud and obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, while working as a bursar at Brington Primary School.

Meakins, of Duston Wildes, Duston, stole £46,355 from the school between June 2007 and March 2011 and fraudulently taking £25,300 from a nephew’s trust fund between September 2009 and November 2010. She also pleaded guilty to taking out £192,295 of fraudulent loans, forging her husband signature, against their home for nine years.

Recorder Christopher Donnellan QC adjourned sentence for reports and granted her bail. He said: “The court will be considering a sentence of inevitable custody.”

PARENTS of children in years 9-13 are invited to attend an open event on Wednesday (November 14) to find out more about local apprenticeship opportunities for their children.

The event, run by the Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership and the SWAN Partnership, will be held at the iCon environmental innovation centre on Eastern Way, Daventry, from 6.30pm.

The event is to help parents learn more about apprentice opportunities in the area, meet apprentices, training bodies and employers as well as asking any questions they may have about the future of their childs education.

To book a place contact Samantha Fitzgerald on samantha@swancic.co.uk or call 07702 048618.

A DESPERATE Braunston man chanced his luck defrauded an employment agency out of more than £500 for work he didn’t do.

Kieran Mark Redhead was paid £504 for 72 hours he wrongly claimed for after he received a call from the agency asking for his timesheet, a court heard.

“Very foolishly he thought ‘if they think I have been at work, maybe I can get away with this’.

“At the time he was actually desperate for money. He knew he was not entitled to it. He fully accepts he needs to be punished,” solicitor Catherine Brockway told magistrates.

Twenty-six-year-old Redhead, of Eastfields Road, Braunston, appeared before Nuneaton magistrates on Tuesday (October 30) and admitted committing fraud on June 26 by making a false representation that he had worked at Castle Mound Way, Central Park, Rugby, to gain £504 for himself.

Prosecutor Naila Iqbal said Redhead worked for The Best Connection, of Nuneaton, which provided staff on a short-term basis.

“On the weeks commencing the 16th and the 23rd of April this year Mr Redhead claimed to have worked a total of 72 hours. They paid him £504. When they tried to claim the money back they realised Mr Redhead had not worked for those two weeks.

“He said he is currently unemployed and not in a position to repay the money, and he knew what he did was wrong.”

Miss Iqbal said Redhead had 21 convictions for 43 offences, including for theft and similar matters.

He was last before court in August for taking a vehicle without consent, driving without insurance and other than in accordance with a licence, and given a community order and unpaid work.

Mitigating, Miss Brockway said her client, who has a partner and children, had been working for the agency since November 2011.

“It was only at the very tail end of his employment that this offence occurred.”

Miss Brockway said Redhead, who used to be “in and out” of work with the agency, received a call querying the whereabouts of his timesheet – and this led to the fraud.

Magistrates fined Redhead £50, with £15 victim surcharge, and told him to pay £504 compensation to The Best Connection agency.

WITH the election for Police and Crime Commissioner taking place on Thursday (November 15), Daventry District Council are reminding residents what they need to do on polling day.

Residents should have already received a card with details of their local polling station and stations will be open from 7am until 10pm on the day.

When voting it is recommended that voters take their voting card with them - although forgetting your card will not mean you cannot vote.

Polling staff will give you an election paper for the PPC election and anyone living in the Brixworth ward will also receive a ballot paper for the election of a Daventry District Councillor.

Staff cannot give out ballot papers past 10pm so voters are advised to arrive in good time.

Finally if you have applied for a postal vote it must be received by the returning officer by Thursday November 15 at 10pm - if you have left it too late to post it you can return it to any polling station in the Daventry District for the PCC election and any polling station in the Brixworth Ward for the Brixworth bi-election or at the Daventry District Council offices on Lodge Road.

For more information about the elections visit: www.daventrydc.gov.uk/elections

A RUBY red balloon released by Councillor Alan Hills to celebrate the 40th birthday of the Southbrook community association has been found 85.5 miles away in Cambridge.

At the annual Fete on the Field in September 40 representatives of the association released the balloons with one being recovered by Mr Chamberlain in Balsham.

SCA events and fundraising coordinator Jessica Barnsley said: “We were pretty impressed at how far the balloons went because we were worried they would just come down again. We had a few that reached 70 miles but 85.5 was the impressive winner.”

Both Mr Chamberlain and Cllr Hills received a prize.