PLANS are in the pipeline for the derelict Rectro Bar to be reopened, Daventry Town Council has said.

The former Fagins Bar at 2 New Street has stood empty since 1994 aside from a brief reopening as the Rectory cocktail bar in 1999.

Recently the building has come under criticism for being an eyesore in the town and attracting feral cats and pigeons. Town council clerk Deborah Jewell said: “A representative of the owner has recognised that the building is causing concern and said there are commercial plans in the pipeline.

“It’s commercially sensitive so there are no details as yet but there are plans. At the moment it doesn’t instill civic pride or help bring visitors to the town.”

PUPILS at Staverton Primary School have been learning lifesaving skills.

Members of the St John Ambulance visited on Tuesday to teach Year Five pupils how to deal with people who are bleeding or have been burnt or poisoned.

It is the second of three stages the children are working through the school year to gain a Level Three Certificate in First Aid from the St John Ambulance.

Acting headteacher Lindsey Evans said: “We think it is really important that children have a basic knowledge of first aid.

“They all had a really good time and enjoyed learning. One girl felt a little queasy with the fake bleeding, but even she enjoyed herself at the end.”

THE swimming pool at Daventry Leisure Centre will be closed for several days while solar panels are installed.

Daventry District Council is installing the panels on the roofs of some of the buildings that it owns to help reduce its CO2 emissions and energy costs.

The panels are currently being installed on its offices in Lodge Road, the Abbey Building in Abbey Street and on Daventry Leisure Centre.

The work means that the swimming pool at Daventry Leisure Centre will be closed for three days from Tuesday, January 17, to Thursday, January 19, however the rest of the centre will remain open.

Any Swim School lessons taking place on these days will be rescheduled to take place on February 14 to 16 during the half term holiday.

Cllr Daniel Cribbin, portfolio holder for environment at Daventry District Council, said: “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by necessary closure of the swimming pool, however the installation of these panels will bring great benefits to the council, both in terms of cutting our CO2 emissions, generating its own renewable electricity and saving costs.”

If the swimming pool can be re-opened any earlier Daventry District Council will advise people on its website at www.daventrydc.gov.uk, and it will also be on Daventry Active’s website and notices will be put up in the leisure centre.

A FREE play and sports scheme used by hundreds of children is to end.

The Play Rangers, run by Daventry District Council, are being wound up due to a lack of money.

The scheme was launched by the council at the start of 2008 after the authority received a £199,293 grant from the Big Lottery Fund to run the project for three years.

It was so popular that it was extended for a fourth year.

However, the money for the project has now run out, and DDC cannot find an alternative source of cash.

Simon Bowers, business manager at DDC, said: “The funding for the Play Rangers came from the Big Lottery Fund.

“This money has now been spent and there is no further funding available.”

Since their launch, the Play Rangers have provided free games, activities and sports to hundreds of children across the Daventry district, usually during the school holidays.

A key idea behind the scheme was to take activities and equipment out to communities which otherwise might not have access to similar sports and play equipment.

They have run events from football and crafts, through to bringing along quad bikes and climbing walls.

Activities within Daventry, such as the summer sports camps, are not affected by this decision.

DAVENTRY MP Chris Heaton-Harris dropped in at a new wedding venue last week to see how work is coming along.

Dodford Manor, which is situated opposite the church in Dodford village, is being transformed into a wedding venue by Simon and Annabelle Steel.

After winning a long battle to get planning permission the couple have been working on converting the Grade II listed building since last spring, and the finishing line is now in site.

The venue will also offer parties as well as charity and corporate events.

Mr Steel said: “We will be officially opening at the start of April when our first wedding here will be held.

“We’ve already got quite a few weddings booked in which is a great start.

“A lot of people who have booked can see where we are going with the project and visualise how it will look on their wedding day.

“The uptake has been really, really good and we are just looking forward to opening.

“We’ve put in a lot of hard work and now it’s all starting to come together.

Mr Heaton-Harris was impressed with the work being done at the manor and positive about the affect it will have on the local economy.

He said: “I was particularly impressed because it’s a home bred idea from the couple in a beautiful setting.

“Local tradesmen are being used and the project will create lots of jobs so I think it’s a great venture.

“There will be 12 full and part-time jobs and of course when people book weddings there are also lots of things like hotels and florists who benefit from it.

“The couple have spent a lot of money on the work and are doing a great job.

“There’s lots of beautiful countryside in the Daventry district and I think Dodford Manor will prove to be a very popular place to get married.”

A FATHER has hit out at Daventry District Council (DDC) for failing to support the needs of his severely disabled daughter.

Ian Margieson bought a house in Ganton Close, Daventry with a view to converting part of the downstairs into a wet room for his eight-year-old daughter Harriet, a quadriplegic who uses a wheelchair and requires around-the-clock care.

He enquired to DDC about getting a disabled facilities grant to install the wet room at the house.

However, it was turned down because the facility was already available at his wife’s home in Byfield where Harriet spends 50 per cent of her time.

Ian and wife Jane are now separated but share custody of their daughter. But, without the wet room, Ian must either wash his daughter on the sofa or carry her upstairs.

Mr Margieson said: “Harriet is incontinent and has to wear nappies all day, so hygiene is something that is very important.

“We bought this house because part of the downstairs would be perfect to install a wet room.”

Mr Margieson says DDC’s response was unsympathetic. He added: “Harriet can not be carried upstairs and indeed to try and do so is very dangerous for her.

“I have been told by DDC I should drive Harriet to her mother’s and give her a wash there.

“Her mother and I are still on very good terms, but we are separated so it was a very insensitive suggestion.

“I know that DDC have the option to use its discretion to make grants available and to be told straight away that there would be no way I can get this done.”

Mr Margieson added: “Harriet’s occupational therapist has recommended getting a wet room grant and has been very helpful in trying to get one.

“I would just like an answer as to why they can not use their discretion to help out so that I can then look for other ways of getting this wet room. But I do believe that DDC can and should help.”

DDC’s community manager Maria Taylor said the council does not discuss individual cases but says it operates within the law when providing disabled facilities grants.

A PRIMARY school hall has undergone a transformation thanks to the creative talents of a local artist.

Lilly Gardner, from Daventry, visits Welton Primary School twice a week to teach pupils art. And after being impressed with her work the school commissioned her to paint a giant picture in the school hall.

School bursar Helen Thompson said: “She has painted the most spectacular artwork in our school hall, it really does look fantastic.

“It’s a fantastic piece of work which covers the whole length of the wall.

“It’s got everything including lots of flowers, nature, countryside and canal boats.

“It also has the school and village landmarks and it’s very colourful.

“It took her weeks to complete and everyone at the school is very impressed by it.

“It’s exactly what we wanted and really brightens up the hall.

“The pupils really enjoy her coming in and get lots from the lessons.”

A CONTROVERSIAL high-speed rail line will slice through parts of the Daventry district after Government ministers approved the project this week.

Trains travelling at 225mph will travel from London to Birmingham when the first phase of the £32 billion HS2 project is completed by 2026.

Transport secretary Justice Greening said tunnel extensions will now be built at Aston le Walls and Chipping Warden to help curb noise, but that has done little to appease campaigners. Both the Boddington villages will also be dissected by the line.

Daventry MP Chris Heaton-Harris said he disagrees with his own party’s decision to build the train line.

The second phase of the project would see HS2 proceeding to Leeds and Manchester by 2032/33.

After the decision was made on Tuesday Mr Heaton-Harris tweeted: “Disappointed with HS2 announcement. Simply don’t believe Govt/Dept of Transport can deliver value for money on such big contracts.”

Campaigners said they are now looking into the possibility of a judicial review to challenge the decision.

Boddington parish councillor and South Northants Action Group (SNAG) chairman Peter Deeley said: “The main reaction is one of great disappointment that our Government has not seen common sense.

“There is also a great deal of anger because even though the Government’s consultation received 50,000 responses, the majority of which were against the project, they made no mention of this during the final decision.

“In Lower Boddington there are around 80 houses which face the proposed track. Who wants to buy a house which is going to be 300 metres away from this development?

“The Government is wasting money on a project that hasn’t been investigated properly.”

Aston le Walls campaigner Jo Wilson added: “I’m not surprised that the Government has taken no notice of the consultation process.

“The business case is flawed and the economic case is flawed, it just doesn’t make sense. Pensions of nurses and firemen are being cut so how come there is money to spend on this?

“If it was good for the country I would support it but I don’t think it will bring any benefits. The tunnel will make a difference to noise, but that doesn’t justify the project.”

n Email your views to editorial@ daventryexpress.co.uk

A FORMER PCSO broke down in tears after being unanimously acquitted of child sex allegations.

Marcus Elms, aged 51, said he now plans to sue Northamptonshire Police for dismissing him.

He was acquitted of five allegations of indecency and sexual activity with a child.

Mr Elms, from Brixworth, had been suspended and then dismissed as a police support officer in August when he breached his bail. He said: “I’ve maintained my innocence all along. I’m definitely going to sue for unfair dismissal.”

Det Supt Pete Windridge, of the force’s professional standards, said: “The breaching of crown court bail, by any member of Northamptonshire Police is a very serious matter, as a result of which Mr Elms appeared in an internal disciplinary hearing and was subsequently dismissed. He appealed this decision, however the appeal panel upheld the dismissal.”

A PRIMARY school has kick-started the new year with a healthy eating campaign for pupils.

Southbrook Junior School is aiming to improve the health of its youngsters by educating them about which sorts of food are good for you.

Headteacher Nick Atherton said: “We have come up with a strategy to improve health and diet in line with Government suggestions.

“Our aim is to increase the amount of fruit, vegetables and healthy snacks children bring to school which, in turn, will hopefully reduce the amount of unhealthy snacks such as sweets and chocolates.

“We want to get the children into better habits.

“We are planning on having a healthy eating day at school and we will also be handing out house points to children who bring in healthy snacks. The best class each week will win a healthy food award.”

Healthy eating: Pupils, from left, Alina Neculai, Megan Bennett-Davies, Chloe Jones, Chloe Spencer, Kyle Spencer and Lauren McDonough, with their snacks.

Picture by Jass Lall. (MHDE-10-01-12-healthy-Jan20)

Hello horse fans, you join us for the first marathon World War One big screen steeplechase – the going is good to firm but bogged down with far too many soggy areas…

Soft-hearted billionaire director Spielberg turns this children’s novel/hit play into a long-winded film and crafts a lavish but oddly pedestrian ode to possibly the bravest equine ever.

Spielberg’s film are mostly viewed as cinematic phenomena but War Horse is a bit of a hard sell after it has been worked up with plenty of sentimentality by the likes of Richard ‘Four Weddings’ Curtis.

Yes, the cinematography is gorgeous and there are a couple of exciting scenes including a stunning cavalry charge thanks to the setting but my son – who had read the book and was keen to see the film – actually fell asleep about half way through.

So why is War Horse slightly lame rather than the epic thoroughbred it could, and should, have been?

It’s certainly not the fault of the lead horse Joey – you’d be hard pressed to find a nobler looking or engaging nag and if they ever gave Oscars to animals he’d be a dead cert to bag one.

Nor really can the blame for the dramatic flatness be totally shouldered by the competent cast.

What is missing here is the ability of the film to actually connect and make you care more than mildly about anything you’re witnessing.

Joey’s odyssey from humble farm beginnings through to messianic wartime icon certainly had the potential to send shivers down the viewers spines and grab their imaginations, so it’s hard to explain quite why the overall reaction isn’t better.

I found the best scene to be the no-man’s-land sequence where a British and a German soldier work together to free Joey from barbed wire.

It really stands out because it feels less ‘forced’ than the most of the other scenes.

Eventually the clunky plot limps along to the very Hollywood conclusion, which leaves those audience members who are still awake with a lump in their throats and probably a newfound desire to buy a pony.

This War Horse should have been a cinematic thoroughbred but it falls short in a blub of sentimentality.

Overall it’s decent enough but not a classic. Maybe Spielberg’s forthcoming Robopocalypse will deliver

FOOD and drink businesses in the Daventry district have given their backing to a new logo which is aiming to promote the county.

Made in Northamptonshire was formed last January with the aim of bringing businesses together to help promote quality and forge new working partnerships. And to celebrate it’s first birthday a new logo has been created.

Nobby’s Brewery at Guilsborough and The Royal Oak at Eydon are two of the businesses which will be using the logo.

FIRE crews were called out to a blaze at a flat in Daventry in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday).

It happened at 5.10am at Trafalgar Square with two crews from Daventry attending the incident.

There was light smoke damage to the flat and nobody was injured.

A MEETING will be taking place to discuss a proposed application for a Tesco Express in Weedon.

The planning committee of Weedon Bec Parish Council will give its view on the meeting at the village hall tonight (Thursday) from 7.30pm.

All your local news, including...

– Money stolen from charity shop in town

– Two hospitalised by chemical fumes on industrial estate

– Cocaine dealer told to expect prison

– Police manhunt for jailed thief

– Fundraiser in memory of much loved teenager

– SPORT: Concern over the league proposals

– WIN: A spa day at Hellidon Lakes

Plus all the rest of the local news, sport, leisure, property and jobs.

THE fuss over grocery giant Tesco’s less than stellar showing in the run-up to Christmas has proved pricey, to say the least.

Faced by a minor dip in takings, the level-headed long termists who control the stock market did what they always do – panicked, in a knowing sort of way, in a bid to create circumstances that would allow them to profit from someone else’s perceived misfortune.

So even though Tesco was owning up to sales that were only 2.5 per cent down, the subsequent flurry of financial horse-trading saw £5 billion wiped off the value of the company.

Let’s get a few things clear. Tesco may not be my favourite supermarket, and indeed having a favourite supermarket is not something to which I aspire. They stock things I need, I buy them when I need them, that’s as far as the relationship goes.

But whatever you think of their business methods, you can’t deny that they – and their follow monster retailers – have done us all a favour in many ways.

They may have killed off many independent High Street businesses, but if what you’re after is clean, clearly-priced produce all under one roof and you don’t want to be ripped off in the process, they take some beating.

If, for some reason, you also want lunch while you’re there, or a tank full of fuel, then look no further.

That’s why Tesco still makes a shedload of cash – in an intensely competitive market, with tight margins and relentless pressure to perform, there’s no denying that they do the business.

It’s probably escaped the notice of the dunderheads who inhabit the trading floors and the finance houses, but we’re going through some tough times.

Tesco customers don’t have as much cash to throw around as they may once have had, so when they’re doing the weekly shop they probably hold back on that tub of ice cream or packet of chocolate biscuits – there’s a 2.5 per cent drop in takings. Simples.

Industry analysts grumble that they haven’t been performing well in the home electronics area, and there’s a good reason for that, too.

How many people do you know who haven’t already helped themselves to a widescreen TV? And how often do you imagine people swap their screens? It’s a saturated market, but a supertanker of a business like Tesco can’t turn around on a sixpence.

One thing that has cheered my in all the hand-wringing over the retailer’s future is the apparent agreement between industry analysts that the days of the super-sized shed store are over.

Thank goodness for that. Any shop that’s bigger than a football pitch may offer choice galore, but entering these cathedrals of commerce makes me feel queasy. I try not to use stores which can’t easily be reached on foot, because it only encourages them.

But if Tesco doesn’t need all the land it has stored up for new supersheds, it sounds as if there might be a deal to be done.

How about handing it all over in lieu of a tax bill, on the condition that it’s used for social housing? It might only be a start towards addressing some of the issues bedevilling the construction industry and the housing market, but as I believe someone once said, every little helps

THERE’S no doubt the biopic is the flavour of the month in Hollywood, with recent true-life tales including The Iron Lady and, if you think about it, The King’s Speech.

And we return to the years before the war with Clint Eastwood as he points his camera at the life and times of FBI bigshot J. Edgar Hoover.

The J. Edgar of the title is Leonardo Di Caprio, well used to slipping into period clothes in the likes of The Aviator, and he puts in a good shift as the complicated crimefighter.

Clint’s films are always worth a look, but anyone who knows anything about what a thoroughly nasty and mixed-up piece of work Hoover was will be left waiting in vain for this movie to dish the dirt on a blackmailing megalomaniac with a distinctly odd personal life.

There’s talk of Di Caprio being lined up for an Oscar but the story is too shallow considering the material available, the time sequence too confusing and it’s just too long to make this a satisfying watch.

After the odd and underwhelming Hereafter last time out, could it be that the eminent Eastwood is losing his touch?

> The week’s other biopic offering is one of those ‘worth going just to see whether’s it’s as bad as people say’ numbers, Madonna’s widely walloped tale of Windsor woe.

The W.E here is Wallis Simpson, and Madge shows what she learned about directing from her years married to Guy Ritchie as she tells the story of the Abdication crisis from the side of ‘that woman’.

James D’Arcy is the popular but unpalatable king in waiting, Andrea Riseborough the divorcee he decides is worth chucking up the throne for, and there’s a pointless modern dimension to the tale with Abbie Cornish, stuck in a privileged but unhappy marriage, leafing through the past and plucking up the courage to make changes.

According to the blurb the film reveals universal truths about the search for love and happiness.

Most critics prefer to agree that it reveals that Madonna should never have been trusted with a camera and the cash.

> Steven Soderbergh mixes up mainstream thrillers and artier projects, and Haywire falls into the first camp.

Mixed martial arts mistress Gina Carano is the hottie hitwoman looking to get her own back on those who betrayed her, and the cast includes Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas and Bill Paxton. Loud, silly, but a workmanlike diversion.

> Make it stop! Underworld: Awakening is a short, sharp 3D slash of vampire battles with Kate Beckinsale at the centre of the action.

This is number four in a series that continues to earn its keep without ever being very popular beyond its hard core fanbase.

Lots of special effects, of course, but very little to love.

Haywire

The best of this week’s new releases is a throwback to one of the worst eras in mainstream cinema – the 1980s.

However, in the hands of chameleon director Steven Soderbergh it’s a riot of action and tongue-in-cheek global espionage.

It’s the familiar tale of a special agent who is double-crossed and who needs to clear their name and seek revenge, all wrapped up in a beautifully slick and scored package.

The locations and the male arrogance recall the 80s but interestingly so does the casting of the lead role.

Soderbergh saw the mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano and thought she would make a good action star and lo, the era that gave us Van Damme and Lundgren is reborn.

Although those movies never boasted the likes of Michael Fassbender among their ranks, that’s just one of the joys here.

Carano is a fantastic performer in the action sequences though her acting is, well, mixed is a polite way to put it.

But the film aims to entertain, pulling no punches and wearing its cheesy heart on its sleeve, and it’s a hoot because of it.

J. Edgar

Altogether more serious in its aims is the latest directorial effort of Hollywood royalty Clint Eastwood, whose recent films have become somewhat workaday and overly earnest.

This epic is written by Dustin Lance Black, who wrote Milk with Sean Penn, but here there is none of that style or verve, or maybe it has just been directed out.

Leonardo Di Caprio is his usual superb self, grappling with the complex life of another American icon.

Like his Howard Hughes in The Aviator, Hoover is a troubled man with control issues who would go on to leave an incredible imprint on American life.

This is a standard biopic in the truest sense, lacking cinematic punch or a real vision to make it seem out of the ordinary.

Clint can still deliver, but even he needs people to tell him where he falls up short, or he risks the horror of his art mirroring Hoover’s life.

W.E.

This is a tribute to the power of celebrity.

Only Madonna – well, and perhaps her recent husband, too – can make films that are reviled, booed, misunderstood and ridiculed and keep on getting not only work, but bigger, more expansive projects. It’s the brand that allows it – call it star quality.

This is an hilariously overwrought, naive, badly scripted, shoddily acted farce and the lady’s dismal direction doesn’t help.

Although it purports to distort history, it has nothing to say on anything.

Will it stop her making films? I hope so, but I doubt not. Awful.

Underworld: Awakening

Did we need another instalment of this weak vampire/werewolf franchise? No. Will we go watch it? Maybe. Will it sink without trace? Probably.

Does Kate Beckinsale need to remember how to act and go and do a decent movie again? Definitely.

A THIEF who stole hundreds of pounds from a charity shop in Daventry has been branded ‘despicable’.

The FOPS (Friends of Priors School) Shop in Bowen Square was targeted by an opportunist thief who snatched a full day’s takings on Saturday afternoon.

The shop, which opened in 2008, raises money to help the Priors School and other local children.

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

A COURIER who stole £5,000 worth of furniture before selling it on eBay failed to turn up for his court hearing.

The hunt is now on for Lamin Darboe, 38, from Wilson Close in Daventry, who was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.

He was tried and convicted of theft despite failing to turn up to his trial at Northampton Crown Court.

A warrant has been issued for his arrest and he also faces a consecutive sentence for jumping bail.

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