Local Government Reorganisation. All Change for Councils in Northamptonshire.
Local government in Northamptonshire is changing. The existing system, which has been in place since the 1970s, is like a three-tier cake.
The bottom layer is parish and town councils which typically cover one village or town. The middle layer is borough and district councils, which are responsible for things like planning applications, collecting the bins, tourism, and dealing with benefits. The top layer is the county council, which is responsible for things like social services, education, and highways.
From 1 April 2021 the top two layers of the cake are being replaced with one layer, known as unitary councils. There will be two in Northamptonshire: North Northamptonshire Council, and West Northamptonshire Council. Parish and town councils remain as they are.
West Northamptonshire Council will cover the area currently covered by Daventry District Council, Northampton Borough Council, and South Northamptonshire Council. The area contains the towns of Northampton, Daventry, Towcester and Brackley and nearly two hundred villages and hamlets. West Northamptonshire Council will be one of the larger unitary councils in England. It will be responsible for all the services currently being provided in the area by the district, borough, and county councils.
The main reason for replacing the district, borough and county councils with unitary councils is to save money. Northamptonshire County Council had well-publicised financial issues in 2017 and 2018, which led to a government inspection of the council. The inspector’s report recommended that creating unitary councils was the best solution.
Most people will not notice any difference, certainly in the first few years of the unitary councils. In fact, great efforts are being made to ensure that is the case. For example, the lorry collecting the rubbish might have a different logo on it, but the bins will still be collected. Council services will continue as normal, and any changes will be gradual.
From 2021 you will see three lines on your council tax bill. You will pay an amount for the parish or town council that looks after your village or town, an amount for Northamptonshire Police, and an amount for West Northamptonshire Council for all the council services it provides. The amount you pay to each body is set by that body.
West Northamptonshire Council will have 93 councillors, who will be chosen at the local elections on 6 May 2021. Some will be people who have been district, borough, and county councillors before; others will be new. Anyone over 18 and living in West Northamptonshire can put themselves forward to be a councillor. The councillors elected in 2021 will serve a four-year term of office and may seek re-election in 2025.
Council meetings are held in public, and all the information, reports, and papers for the meetings are published on the council’s web site. Councils are open and democratic bodies and are accountable to the people they serve.
It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of one of our oldest residents of Nether Heyford. Sadly recently, Mr Hugh Adams passed away.
One of our most long-standing Nether Heyford residents from one of Heyford’s most longest-standing families. A family that has farmed the surrounding area for a very long time.
This year Hugh provided The Prattler and the county news teams with a wealth of information, particularly around VE Day and his experience of VE Day in 1945.
The Prattler has been very fortunate to obtain the interview from BBC Radio Northampton from Martin Heath who interviewed Hugh in May this year in regards to VE Day.
“Hugh Adams (96) from Nether Heyford has been telling me about driving a jeep into Copenhagen in May 1945 as part of the Allied Liberation Force. He also collected guns off German soldiers and sold them to buy a car!”
Images of Space taken from Nether Heyford Village Green
“Well late last night I finally got some clear skies (thinking about it, it was early this morning). So, I got to test out the new setup. 24 images (12 minutes )from my DSLR/Starwave scope, stacked. M42 (Orion)& the Running Man nebula.I am going to process this with another program, but at the moment I’m learning – I should be able to get a better image… Once I understand how it works, not exactly intuitive “
All photographs taken from Nether Heyford Village green by local resident
Nether Heyford’s Tradition of Pantomime – November 1995
As we approach pantomime season it is worth reminding ourselves that there has been a pantomime in Nether Heyford almost every year since 1969.
The article below written by Joan Juland (November 1995) gives us an insight into the enjoyment given by the Monday Club pantomime to both the audience and performers.
This year, as usual, the Heyford Players continue the tradition with ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” – Performances will be: 7.30 pm on Friday 26th January, and at 2.30 pm and 7.30 pm on Saturday 27th.
The Monday Club pantomimes began in a small way, but grew and grew, and still continue now under the Heyford Players. They started as an alternative to a Christmas party, and were put on in December” mainly because we wanted the worry of it out of the way before settling down to arranging the family Christmas, later they were presented in January so that the main rehearsals were done in the quiet time after New Year. The list to date reads thus:
1969 Red Riding Hood
1970 Goldilocks and the Three Bears
1971 Jack and the Beanstalk
1972 Cinderella
1973 Sleeping Beauty
1974 Dick Whittington
1975 Hey Diddle Diddle
1976 Aladdin
1978 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1980 Beauty and the Beast
1981 Mother Goose in Space
1982 Alice in the Underworld
1983 Robinson Crusoe
1984 Snow White
1985 Old King Cole
1986 Jack The Giant Killer
1987 Cinderella
1988 Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood
1989 Aladdin
1990 Peter Pan and the Magic Snowman
At this point the Monday Club decided to finish doing Pantomimes mainly because our membership numbers had fallen so much that we had many more ‘co-opted‘ members purely to take part in the Pantomime than we had members.
The Heyford Players were then formed and they have continued the tradition ever since with the following:
1991 Dick Whittington
1992 The Adventures of Alice
1993 Sleeping Beauty and the Beast
1994 Ali Babe and the Forty Thieves
1995 Mother Goose
Many names that appear in the programmes for the early shows have sadly passed on, such as Reg Collins, who always enjoyed having a laugh and causing a laugh even if it wasn’t in the script. Molly Dawson who also helped with costumes in the early days, and Mike Wallis who was one of our ‘Ugly Sisters’. Many people who have since moved away, some as far as the USA namely Anne & John Martin who both took part in our events. Bev Sewell, Pam & Glyn Bowen, Suzanne Brett, Gwenda Benstead, Angela Dixon, Sheena Harland and Jeanette Purcell are names that spring to mind but I know there were many others that you will remember, not least of all Tim Short who played a memorable Dame on many occasions and I understand still does so!
We had some ‘accidents’ during our performances that the audiences did not always know about, such as the camp bed that collapsed in Goldilocks when Dave Norrie sat on it and the Aspidestra that was dropped from a great height during a scene change and had to be hurriedly swept up, that was in our first Cinderella .
The lines of a song that Gordon Hayes had difficulty remembering so he wrote them on the back of the beam, and then couldn’t read them because of the lighting, but his wife helped him out from the audience, Kathleen had heard them so often at home she was word perfect .
Do you remember our Growing Beanstalk in Jack and the Beanstalk, and the wonderful wigs in Cinderella as well as the ballgowns. The water fountain in Dick Whittington, which Dick didn’t expect to work, but it had been rigged.
We also had our chorous girls a group of girls mostly the daughters of the cast who sang and danced as fairies or soldiers etc.
We have also had a variety of changing arrangements, for the early performances we had the green curtains pulled round the kitchen corner and had to do everything in there — boys & girls together all very friendly The cast would run down the outside of the hall round the old boiler house that used to jut out, right round to the front of the building and in through the front emergency exit which was curtained off – you can imagine how cold it was on some December nights! We also had to be very quiet, especially on Saturday afternoons when all the children were there and were very inquisitive!
We then had the comfort of the football portacabin, which also meant running through all weathers into the emergency exit. That too was all very well when they were playing away, occasionally they were at home and then we used the Baptist schoolroom — an even longer run through rain and snow!
As many of you will know we were always well supplied in the changing rooms with ‘Dutch Courage’; Sometimes it was tea or coffee, but mostly it was a little stronger, it was the only way we could get some of our cast on stage!!
We tried not to leave out the most important member of the whole show that of the pianist, who was for many years Mrs Marjorie Rogers, The first couple of shows I believe were done by Mrs Betty Sillence, and latterly by David Farmer.
A few weeks after the show we always had an excuse for a party to hold an inquest on the performance and to vow that we wouldn’t do it next year, but we nearly always did and thoroughly enjoyed it for my part for fifteen years.
I was always greatly indebted to my typist who would read my long hand scribbled scripts and make sense of them, often as many as 22 pages, also of course the scenery painters and constructors, props and sound effects which always turned up in time for the performance even if they weren’t thought of until dress rehearsal!
Of course one of the highlights of the day for the children in the early years was the arrival of Father Christmas and the gifts that he brought them.
Joan Juland
Published in The Prattler – November 1995
Newspaper Cutting – Mother Goose 1995
Hey Diddle Diddle 1975
Hey Diddle Diddle 1975 – Cast
Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs 1978
Beauty and the Beast 1980 – Jeanette Purcell, Pauline Thackray, Chris Metcalfe, Marion Williamson
Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs 1984
Cinderella 1987
Nether Heyford’s Tradition of Pantomime – Continued…..December 2020
The Pantomimes continued…….
1996 Snow White
1997 Cinderella
1998 Aladdin
1999 Babes in the Wood
2000 The Emperors New Clothes
2001 Jack and the Beanstalk
2002 Dick Whittington
2003 Peter Pan
2004 Cinderella
2005 Snow White in the Palace
Various Programmes
Thanks to Sheryl Scarrott and Pauline Thackray – December 2020
Who is this and What was it all About??
Sally Smith MBE (formerly Sally Foulkes) Students from the USA visit Nether Heyford May 1979
Recently there was a photo posted on the Heyford Facebook page, with a question “Who is this?” Several people had answered before I saw it and there is a story behind the photo.
The picture was of me taken by the Chronicle and Echo, then a much read daily local paper. There was an article on the front page in the edition printed on Tuesday May 15th 1979, 42 years ago. Margaret Thatcher had just become Prime Minister, the shop that is now Restore was the Post Office run by Mrs Blaney and the Eales family was running the “VG” store just visible in the picture, which was much smaller and their living room has now become part of the shop. There was a bus shelter since removed because of vandalism. It was a very hot early summer, hence the sun dress! Unfortunately my copy of the paper despite being in a plastic box has been attacked by a mouse, but gives the details of why I was looking quizzical.
”I was then Parish Clerk, and a letter arrived at the Post Office addressed to the “City of Nether Heyford Tourist Information Office.” Mrs Blaney gave it to me. It was a request for details of hotels or other accommodation in Nether Heyford from a Professor at Concordia College Minnesota USA. I wrote back to say we were a very small village without any hotels. They wrote back saying they really wanted to stay in Nether Heyford and after discussion with the Parish Council and other people in the village it was decided we could offer ‘B and B’ in local homes.
The students from Concordia were going to be visiting the UK and Europe on a cycling tour using backways and byeways. Their tour would start from London and take them via Bath and Stratford upon Avon en route to Cambridge, Denmark and Paris. We told them about Sulgrave Manor which would be on their route from Banbury to here so that was added to their itinerary and they arrived here in mid May, assembling on the village green to meet their hosts. We organised a tour of the Church with the Rector Alan Horsley, before everyone went off for a wash and change and evening meal with their host families. Later we all met in the games room at the Foresters Arms where local historian Ron Greenall of Leicester University gave them a lecture about Heyford and Northamptonshire, with slides, followed by games of skittles and darts, shove ha’penny and plenty of local beer. After a good “Full English” the next day the group set off for Cambridge and the rest of their European Tour. Concordia students came back to Nether Heyford several more times as they had enjoyed their visit so much.
And why did they want to come here… our village is half way between Stratford upon Avon and Cambridge, it was as simple as that!
Sally Smith MBE (formerly Sally Foulkes)
Letter published in The Prattler – December edition 2020
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The Nether Heyford Prattler 