A FUNDRAISING night is being held to mark the 21st birthday of a Daventry teenager who died in a tragic accident.

Josh Granfield, aged 16, died in hospital three days after falling 20 feet through the roof of a building at the Royal Oak industrial estate in 2007.

It would have been Josh’s 21st birthday next month and the family has decided to mark the occasion.

His mother Amanda Boikovs, of Highfield Road, said: “It was actually Josh’s two brothers who said they wanted to do something to mark Josh’s 21st and we decided to raise some money at the same time.”

The fundraiser will take place at Daventry Rugby Club on the Stefen Hill estate in Daventry on Saturday, February 4 starting at 7pm.

There will be live entertainment with music from local band Trip to the Sun.

Money raised at the event will be donated to the rugby club as well as the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.

Mrs Boikovs added: “He was a big player of rugby and played quite a lot for the club and his father was also manager of the club. His grandfather’s ashes are also scattered up there so there is a big family connection to the club.

“There should be a really good mix of people coming along on the night, people of all ages and I hope there will be plenty to keep them entertained throughout.

“It has fallen on the actual day he would have been 21 so it will be nice to have everyone together on the day.”

There was plenty of love for the teenager in Daventry five years after his death. It was the help of his friends which led to a memorial bench being installed by Daventry District Council and his influence is being felt even now.

Mrs Boikovs said: “Josh was an inspiration to a lot of people and I think a lot of people’s views of young people have changed since then.

“Even the vicar said that he does not remember seeing that many young people at a memorial service and they were all so respectful and well behaved.

“I am still in touch with a lot of Josh’s friends because they are round at my house. However, they have really taken his brothers, Leo, five and Connor, 11, under their wing.

“They said they would look after his brothers and they have been true to their word.”

There will also be a disco and a raffle as part of the entertainment and people are being encouraged to come forward and offer donations.

Raffle prizes can be dropped into the Daventry Express office in High Street.

Anyone who can help or wants more details about the event is asked to get in touch with Mrs Boikovs by calling 07739 011488.

I HAVE never met a dog that can claim to having seen stars, at least until last week.

Gemma was innocently chasing a ball in the park when she collided with ‘Henry’ and he knocked her head first into a tree!

The poor dog shook her head stood stock still and gazed into space for a moment or two and then stumbled back to me.

Luckily there didn’t appear to be any permanent damage but it was a reminder of just how much we take on when we buy a dog and I fussed over my spaniel for the rest of the day.

Naturally I was rewarded by constant excuses to pay a visit to the freezing cold garden to play ball and when I said no I got that look. You may know the one I mean, the one that says “Look at me, poor little thing that I am, please I really only want a bit of loving.”

I managed to ignore her for a while but she resorted to barking whilst standing at the patio door and refused to go out on her own when invited.

I gave up in the end and took her for another walk to try to wear her out.

She did finally settle down just in time for the 9pm movie on telly but not before nicking a piece of cheese from my supper plate. She has also found a liking for the mint humbugs I buy now and again to spoil myself whilst TV gazing.

If I’m really honest I buy sweets more than now and again these days. It’s just another pointer to the fact that I seem to be entering my second childhood; at least that’s what my daughters tell me.

It’s true that I find it hard to resist sweet things much more these days. I am always buying things like apple and blackberry pies or maybe the odd piece of Battenberg cake.

So it really wasn’t much of a surprise to learn at my recent annual check up that I am putting on weight.

The doctor didn’t appear to be too worried so I celebrated on the way home by popping into the shop to pick up a box of jelly babies!

I have even been reading my copy of “The Dangerous Book for Boys’ again. Does anyone out there know where I can obtain a few of the ‘Just William’ books or maybe a W.E. Johns Biggles novel?

A CRAFTSMAN is helping rebuild the past at a castle in Dorset.

James Archer, from Barby, is a bespoke furniture maker and is in the middle of creating 15 authentic pieces for the guard room at Portland Castle, having been commissioned by English Heritage.

Mr Archer said: “It’s a room with several purposes. It was where the castle’s guards would rest but also where food was being prepared. Because of this mix of items I’ve been asked to build a range of pieces from trestle tables and stools to spice boxes and chopping blocks.”

Portland Castle was one of Henry VIII’s coastal forts, built to defend against the threat of invasions from France and Spain.

It was also used more recently in the two World Wars.

DEVELOPERS putting up new buildings in the Daventry area look likely to face a new community levy.

Daventry District Council will tonight (Thursday) discuss introducing a ‘community infrastructure levy’ on all new buildings.

The level of the charge is yet to be set, but the council is looking at areas which charge up to £12,000 per home.

Council leader Chris Millar said: “Bringing in this charge will mean developers know up front what they will be expected to pay, and it will allow communities to know from the start what benefit development will bring to them.

“The money could be spent on all sorts of things. It could be a village wanting a community hall, or to provide a new school on a town estate.

“Obviously in Daventry we have regeneration plans and some of the money generated by the extra homes we expect to be built in the town could be spent on that.”

Other areas highlighted in the committee report would be to fund improvements to the A45 between Daventry and the M1.

The levy can be varied over the district, to encourage building in certain areas, and can be reduced or increased to deal with changing markets.

The new levy would replace ‘section 106’ payments settled on by developers and the council when planning approval is given.

A spokesman for the Home Builders Federation said: “The one thing developers need at the moment is certainty.

“Setting a fixed charge would do that, but they have to be realistic about the level of the charge.”

The levy would be incurred by all new homes and any new build development of more than 100 square metres (1,076 sq ft). Conversion projects, or splitting existing buildings up would not attract the levy, although any associated new extensions would come under the charge.

NEW bins are being delivered in Daventry as homes prepare for weekly food waste collections.

The new service, which is being phased in from January 23 until March, will see every home in the Daventry district and Northampton borough able to put their food waste out for a weekly collection on their regular recycling day.

Each household will receive a small kitchen caddy and larger outdoor food waste bin a week before the service begins in their area.

Bin deliveries are taking place this week to approximately 17,900 properties in various areas of Daventry which will then begin their food waste collections from Monday, January 23.

The food bin can be lined with newspaper or compostable corn starched liners that are available in shops.

It has a lockable lid that keeps smells in, pests out and prevents spillage.

Food waste collected as part of the new service will be recycled at an anaerobic digestion plant where it will be turned into electricity and fertiliser.

This week information booklets are being distributed house to house to explain more about the service.

They also include the 2012 waste and recycling collection calendar.

From the week beginning January 23 some households will have a change to their collection day. A weekly textile collection is also being introduced.

Katie Arnold, of Ashby Fields in Daventry, has had a sneak preview of the new bins.

She said: “They look very easy to use and the small caddy will hardly take up any room in the kitchen.

“We are looking forward to being able to recycle all our food waste as well as everything else that we currently recycle.”

For more details on the new bins and changes to the collection calendar visit www. daventrydc.gov.uk or call 01327 871100.

SUPERFAST broadband is available for the first time in Daventry after BT upgraded the town’s internet exchange.

The development is part of BT’s Openreach programme which is aiming to make superfast speeds available to two-thirds of the UK by 2014.

Last year the Daventry Express launched a campaign to make sure the district gets its fair share of investment to combat slow internet connections in the region.

Under current plans the Chapel Brampton exchange is the only other earmarked for a fibre optic upgrade.

Fibre optic cables offer download speeds of up to 40 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 10 Mbps. BT is planning to roughly double these speeds this year.

Paul Bimson, regional partnership director for BT in the East Midlands, said: “The arrival of superfast broadband is a huge boost for local businesses and households.

“These are economically challenging times and superfast broadband can transform their experience of the internet.

“Fast and reliable internet connections are an essential part of our national infrastructure, whether we want them for boosting our businesses, delivering essential public services, education online or entertainment at home. Nobody is doing more than BT to roll out faster broadband and we want to go further. Northamptonshire County Council, along with key local business organisations, are keen to get fibre broadband to as many homes and businesses as possible and we will offer help and assistance to make that happen.”

However, it is not yet clear whether the whole of Daventry, for example Middlemore, will be covered.

A COUPLE have big plans for a village pub after taking over the reins just before Christmas.

Sharon Bray and Wayne Ridley are now running the The Old Plough in Braunston after taking over on December 5.

The couple, who live in Long Buckby, are getting married in April this year and are enjoying their new venture.

Mr Ridley said: “I’ve run pubs before in Lincolnshire before we moved back to this area last year, and I was working here as a bar cellar man under the previous landlady.

“When she left we put in an application and managed to get it.

“We’ve got big plans for the pub now.

“There’s going to be a total refurbishment to give it a fresh look while keeping the original character.

“We are also going to start things like curry and pie nights and we pride ourselves on all our food being home cooked.

“It’s been absolutely crazy over Christmas and New Year.

“We’ve had live music and have also just started an acoustic chill out night on Sundays.

“We’ve had a really good response from the village and we are just really enjoying it here.”

The couple also have some big plans up their sleeves for events taking place this year.

Mr Ridley added: “We will be doing something special for Valentine’s Day.

“We plan on having a three- course menu for £19 and a two- course menu for £15.

“We will also be doing something for Mother’s Day and might also arrange something for Burns Night.”

“The pub is a big building with a lot of space upstairs so we are also considering opening a bed and breakfast at some point in the future.”

FAMILIES enjoyed a free day of activities at a Daventry church on Saturday afternoon.

The Grace Space Daventry project is organised by Churches Together in the town.

The aim of the sessions is to get families engaging together in a range of different activities and games.

Saturday’s event was held at the town’s United Reformed Church, in Foundry Place.

There were crafts, games and refreshments on offer for parents and children.

And the main theme of the afternoon was ‘names and what they mean’.

Organiser Ali Middleton said: “On Saturday we all investigated the meaning of our names.

“We also wrote our names in chocolate and made named door hangers with the children. It went very well and we had a good laugh.

“We had around 37 children come along with their parents and other family members.

“As well as focusing on names we also got all the children to do their family tree.

“The idea of the sessions is to get families spending more time together than they might normally do.

“It’s a good chance for families to do different activities together and have some fun.”

The Grace Space Daventry activity sessions are held every two months at the church.

They are free for everyone to attend and newcomers are always welcome.

For more information contact Ali Middleton on 07891 608612 or Liz Adams on 07727 055586.

THE M1 northbound at the Catthorpe Interchange will be closed from the exit road for the M6 northbound between 10pm and 8am tonight, and again from Wednesday until Friday night.

The M6 southbound will also be closed overnight from the A14 exit slip road to the M1 this Friday, as part of the ongoing works to replace the viaduct.

The M1 southbound carriageway will also be closed from the junction 19 exit slip road to the M6 southbound entry slip road overnight next Monday, January 30, between 9pm and 6am.

A TEENAGER caused the death of his 17-year-old passenger when he lost control trying to negotiate a bend on a country road.

George Robinson, 18, had only just passed his test and was driving too fast when he crashed into a fence, causing the death of Jason Eaton.

Northampton Crown Court heard Robinson was at the wheel of a Toyota Corrolla, on the B4036 between Watford and West Haddon, when he failed to brake and crashed at 73 mph on October 5, 2010.

Jason, from Crick, who was a front seat passenger, was airlifted to hospital but died of his injuries.

Johnathan Spicer, prosecuting at Northampton Crown Court, said the friends set off from Long Buckby in convoy with a VW Golf with Robinson’s Toyota ahead. As they approached the bend, which had a 60mph limit, he failed to slow down, lost control and careered off the road.

He said: “The massive impact crushed the roof and tore off the windscreen and both air bags were deployed. The accident investigator concluded the cause was speed too fast for the bend and the inexperience of the driver.”

The court heard 30 metres of wooden fencing was damaged as the car came off the road and split a tree in two.

Mr Spicer said the speedometer stuck at 73mph and an officer later drove the bend and concluded it was still too dangerous to drive at its 60mph limit.

Robinson, of Naseby Road, Clipston, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and was sentenced to 18 months’ detention and banned from driving for two years.

Judge Rupert Mayo said the case should act as a warning to all young and inexperienced drivers.

He said: “There is one major aggravating feature in this case, something I hope all 17 and 18-year-olds will listen to.

“This accident occurred only three months and five days after passing your driving test.

“It was not sustained bad driving but you were just driving too fast before you reached the bend . . . far too fast as you approached the bend and due to your lack of experience, you failed to negotiate the bend accurately and you killed your friend.”

Adam Wiseman, mitigating, said: “He says there is not a single day that passes that he does not reflect on this.”

A ROADSHOW at Brixworth Library tomorrow (Tuesday) will focus on the new food waste service being launched in Daventry.

The roadshow, which will run from 10am until 3pm, will provide people with advice and help concerning the new weekly food collections, which are being gradually phased in from today in the Daventry district and Northampton.

ANYONE interested in learning how to ring bells can go along to an event in a village.

The Peterborough Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers will hold a ringing at St John’s Church in Hellidon village on Friday, February 3, followed by a serivce, tea and a meeting, starting at 3pm.

The group will also be at St Mary’s in Staverton from 7.15pm to 8.45pm for people to have a go learning the ropes.

PUPILS at Weedon Bec Primary School had an out of this world experience when a Doctor Who writer returned to his old school.

Tom MacRae, who has written three episodes of the sci-fi drama, visited the school on Friday to talk to the children about writing for television and telling them how to write stories. He also bought a number of props from the show for the children to look at.

For the full story see Thursday’s Daventry Express.

SICKNESS absence rates at the ambulance service which covers the Daventry area are among the worst in the NHS.

Figures from the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) show that in September more than seven per cent of staff were off sick.

The service said the main factors were injuries caused by lifting patients and stress.

Phil Milligan, EMAS chief executive, said: “We are conscious that we have a higher than usual sickness rate and some reasons for that include musculo-skeletal injuries or stress due to the nature of the calls we respond to.”

The ambulance service has a sickness rate target of five per cent, but has not achieved that for the past three years.

The trust is also spending £80 million on new ambulances and equipment capable of dealing with heavier and obese patients.

The trust said investing in 80 ambulances with larger stretchers, ramps, hoists and specialist chairs for patients weighing up to 50 stone would cut delays and improve care.

THE next breakfast meeting of The Daventry and District Environmental Business Network will take place on Wednesday (February 1) at the iCon Centre.

The free network, which has more than 130 members, aims to encourage environmental best practice among the local business community.

It was 33 years ago that a John Le Carre novel was adapted for a BBC TV series and drew many admirers.

So was it wise to make a feature film of Cold War thriller TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (15: Studio Canal), let alone give it to the Swedish director of cult horror flick Let The Right One In?

On the page and the small screen, the intrigue had time to smoulder, but over the course of two hours the plot points whizz past at a bewildering rate.

More than compensating for that, however, is a terrific, career-defining performance by Gary Oldman as retired spy George Smiley.

As the deputy to the head of British intelligence, Smiley was forced into retirement after an operation ended in disaster. But he’s later recruited by the government to investigate the possibility of a Soviet mole in a high-ranking position in MI6.

A former colleague (John Hurt), now deceased, claimed to have evidence of a deep-cover Russian agent. But who is it?

The cast and period detail are all first class, superbly capturing an important period in recent British history, although there’s a sketchiness to the main suspects (Ciaran Hinds, Colin Firth, Toby Jones and David Dencik) whose characters I would have liked to have seen developed further.

> Just when you thought it was safe to watch another Jaws rip-off, along comes SHARK NIGHT 3D (15: Entertainment In Video), a dumb B-movie that lacks bite in every department.

Spielberg’s classic is aped from the start – apart from the scary, thrilling and funny bits.

And it’s hard to believe it was directed by David R. Ellis, who was at the helm for Snakes On A Plane, a cheesy exploitation movie that I loved.

Shark Night sees rednecks stock a picturesque Louisiana lake with sharks fitted with belly cameras to stream live-attack carnage to the internet.

They have a steady flow of idiotic vacationing youths – or shark bait – who are happy to swim, jet ski and strip at meal time.

The clunky CGI sharks and their devourings register little realism, while the 3D effects are lost outside the cinema experience, making this tawdry tale of terror worthless.

> Bibles and bullets collide in RED STATE (18: Entertainment One), an uneasy mix of horror movie, action thriller and social commentary.

Three teenage boys answer an online sex advert and find themselves in the clutches of an extreme fundamentalist religious group.

As the Five Points Church prepares to burn the victims, its urban terrorism agenda is fully revealed, prompting a government agent (John Goodman) to take action to eliminate the cult by whatever means necessary.

Michael Parks, a Quentin Tarantino regular, makes an incredibly strong impression as the frightening pastor on a murderous mission.

But the film is undermined by misplaced humour, director Kevin Smith’s manic determination to hammer home his political point and a finale that’s an anticlimatic mess.

> Neatly balancing genuine thrills and spills with moments of great humour, THE TROLL HUNTER (15: Momentum) is a fantastic ‘found footage’ film that adds Norwegian folklore to a Blair Witch vibe.

It chronicles, via reconstituted and “authenticated” videos, the experiences of a student film crew who set out on the trail of a bear poacher.

They quickly discover that his actual prey are things far more dangerous and mythic. Trolls, we are told, are not the stuff of fairy tales but real, sun-hating, Christian-hunting monsters.

But the Norwegian people don’t know it because of a government cover-up.

These trolls are terrific, looking like they’ve just stepped from the pages of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Only they’re bigger and scarier.

> Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman gleefully break all the boundaries of taste when they give the body-swap comedy a mighty shake-up in THE CHANGE-UP (15: Universal).

Bed-hopping ladies man Mitch (Reynolds) makes pal Dave (Bateman) question his own life choices – changing nappies and doing “dialogue night” with the missus.

But Mitch secretly envies Dave’s life as a husband and father, while Dave in turn longs for Mitch’s lack of responsibility.

During a drunken night out, they confess their desire to switch places, but when the wish is magically granted, they each find the other’s routine is not as simple as it looks.

With a script from the writers of The Hangover, the gags often go below the belt.

Fortunately, director David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) has a knack for such silliness, though he can’t resist a final tug on the heartstrings.

EVERYONE seems to be getting very excited about the prospect of Sir Fred Goodwin, as we must still refer to him for the moment, being stripped of his knighthood.

The thinking goes like this: Sir Fred was handed his K for services to banking, which with the benefit of hindsight seems about as appropriate as saluting Boris Johnson for his services to hair styling or presenting Jeremy Clarkson with a gong for his work promoting international relations.

As a consequence, now we know that his contribution to banking was about as helpful as turning up at an AA meeting with a case of vodka, the title should be taken back.

But there’s no suggestion that he should endure some sort of public shaming, along the lines of the opening credits of the 1960s TV series Branded.

If you’re not aware of the scene, Chuck Connors is a cavalry officer falsely accused of cowardice and as a result cashiered – that is, he stands in a silent square of his comrades while his hat is pulled off, his epaulettes are torn from his uniform, his buttons are pulled off, and his sabre is broken, all before being kicked out of the fort in disgrace. Now you’re talking!

But as you might expect, I have a less brutal but more appropriate suggestion.

Rather than take back Sir Fred’s title, we should just change it to something else.

It would need to be short and sharp and slip easily off the tongue, so I’d suggest Slap, Punch or Kick, although those who think we should avoid the possibility of random violence – and there will be some – might prefer something less physical, like Berate, Sneer or Booby.

It might not sound like much, because you’ll be aware that there are many who have been awarded titles and other accolades who don’t commonly use those honorifics at every turn through modesty or an unwillingness to change the names they’ve been used to all their lives.

But we should make it a condition that Sir Fred, right, uses the title at every opportunity, and every time he doesn’t he stands to be fined a hefty chunk of that giant pension pot he built up while selflessly piloting his bank down the Swanee.

So it would have to be Slap Fred Goodwin on the electoral roll, on his credit cards, on his correspondence, and every time he phoned up to reserve a table at the sort of restaurant the rest of us can’t afford thanks in part to his peerless stewardship he would have to use his name in full.

I’m not a hard man, and this doesn’t necessarily have to be a lifetime sentence.

Ten years or so ought to be plenty, and a charitable man might say that the name would have to stick until the economy got back on its feet, which we all hope might be a little sooner.

But if Sir Fred and his ilk are so happy to take the plaudits, however little they deserve them, it only seems fair that they should be prepared to carry the can when it turns out that their captaincy was at Italian cruise ship levels of competence.

It’s not quite a hairshirt, it’s not exactly Branded, but it would certainly be a start.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Police has launched a campaign encouraging victims of domestic abuse to come forward.

The force’s dedicated domestic abuse unit is committed to supporting victims and is encouraging people to report their abuse and take the first steps to getting safe.

It is headed by Insp Andy Glenn and comprises both police officers and police staff, who deal with all types of domestic abuse cases.

Insp Glenn said: “We take incidents of domestic abuse extremely seriously and offer as much assistance to victims as possible, whether that be helping them seek refuge, make a criminal complaint or find support from a partner organisation.”

“Our primary aim in any domestic abuse case is to make sure that the victim is safe. Once that has happened we can work with them to see if a criminal case can be pursued and bring the offender to justice.

“Our specialist police officers focus on those cases where there is a high risk of harm to victim.

“However we recognise that abuse isn’t only about serious violence or sexual abuse and can also take the form of harassment, manipulation, financial or psychological abuse. That’s where our domestic abuse advisors play an important role.”

There is a range of support available and anyone concerned about domestic abuse can find more information at www.northants.police.uk/staysafe.

To report a crime or incident call police on 101 or in an emergency call 999.

MARKED police vehicles patrolled Bugbrooke this week as part of an ongoing operation to deter would-be criminals.

A number of large flat-bed vehicles and farm vehicles were stopped on Tuesday, and officers checked each vehicle’s ownership details while also responding to reports of suspicious circumstances in the area.

The checks formed part of the force’s drive to tackle rural crime in the south of the county.

A number of other activities were also carried out by police officers and PCSOs who met up with villagers and members of the farm and rural community to offer rural crime prevention advice.

Officers met locals to discuss concerns and crime prevention, and they raised awareness of the safer community team’s work in the area.

Sergeant Micki Kennett said: “It was a real success as police officers and PCSOs have spent the day focusing on the issues that matter most to our communities.

“Officers met up with a wide cross-section of the public in a variety of locations across the south of the county, while being pro active in acting on locally-identified priorities”.

For more information on the activities of your local safer community team visit www.northants.police.uk/sct.

THREE weeks of artistic entertainment will be coming to town this summer after it was confirmed that the Daventry Arts Festival will return for a second year.

The Daventry Business Partnership (DBP) has set up the event after last year’s success, and it’s now looking for members of the public and business community to get involved to make it bigger and better.

A range of activities are planned for the festival which will run from Friday, July 6 until Sunday, July 22.

For the full story see Thursday’s Daventry Express.