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Don’t forget! Northamptonshire Day: 25 October 2026

Taking place in Kettering, Northampton Day 2026 celebrates the county’s history, culture and visitor attractions. It will span many locations across the town centre, focusing on the Market Place, and will coincide with the full reopening of the Alfred East Art Gallery and Kettering Library.

Kettering Leisure Village and Wicksteed Park will also join the celebrations.

This year’s event will include:  
 – Community groups, arts organisations and sporting partners coming together to celebrate the county
 – Family activities and children’s entertainment throughout the day
 – Heritage exhibitions celebrating local history and community stories
 – Live performances in the heart of Kettering town centre
 – Historic venues opened for exploration and activities
 – Vintage and heritage bus experiences linking key attractions, and
 – The chance to visit Wicksteed Park and Kettering Leisure Village.

It’ll be a fantastic day out for all the family. So what are you waiting for – click here to find out more.

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CORRECTION… CORRECTION… to ‘Holcot Village Youth Club’s Hallowe’en Crafts and Snacks night’ posts

The age group for this event is School Year 6 to 18, NOT six years old to eighteen years old.

Apologies for any confusion – mea culpa. I blame it on the fact that it’s a long time since I had any school-age children!

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Don’t forget… only two sleeps to go!

Holcot Village Youth Club’s Hallowe’en Crafts and Bites night is almost here!

Where, when and at what time?
Holcot Village Hall | Tuesday 20 October | 7.00pm to 8.30pm

So if you’re between six and eighteen years old, and can rustle up 50p, come and join us for a fun, Hallowe’en-y evening of crafts and snacks. If you dare…

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Tell us what films you’d like to see

At Walgrave Community Cinema, we always try to choose films that will have a wide appeal. But that’s a difficult trick to get right.

So we’d like YOU to tell US what you want to see.
– Classics from the black-and-white era?
– Oldies-but-goldies that you’d love to see again?
– Rom-coms?
– Pulse-quickening thrillers?
– Feel-good films?
– Musicals?
– Horror films?

Whatever your fancy or guilty secret, just email your suggestions to either walgraveccc@gmail.com or to the editor of this website , and we’ll do our very best to accommodate you.

Please put ‘Film suggestions’ in the subject box to make sure we don’t miss your email. Thank you :0)

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Starry, starry night…

A huge ‘thank you’ to Paul Butler and Phil Scordellis for supplying and installing four dedicated spot lights in the Holcot Village Hall. The glitter ball can now be used and enjoyed to its full effect by anyone who hires the hall.

There are very generous discounts* on hire rates for all Holcot residents. So next time you’re planning a birthday party, anniversary bash, disco night (do they still say ‘disco’?), or New Year’s Eve celebration – THINK LOCAL!

* Between 32% and a massive 42% on non-resident rates. Click here for full details.

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Sacre bleu! Qu’est-ce que c’est?

To the best of my knowledge, there are no French families in Holcot with young children.

So how this book (brand new, charmingly illustrated and unopened), turned up in the Main Street book-exchange kiosk is a mystery that even Hercule Poirot‘s little grey cells would struggle with.

But, on the off-chance that somebody out there is French, has small children and would like to investigate, please email the editor: mailto:editor@holcotvillage.co.uk

À votre service…

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Free Online Safety courses from Service Six; October and November

Service Six is offering online internet safety courses for Parents and Carers of young children.

If the young person is neurotypical, the relevant course is in October. There is also an online course for parents of children with SEND in November (SEND children often access the internet differently).

Both courses are free to attend and the registration is via Eventbrite.

These links will tell you more:
Target Online Safety Session for Parents/Carers (for neurotypical children)
Online Safety Session for SEN Parents/Carers

NB: there is a lot of information on these links, so if you have any questions, it might be wise to contact Jess Cox (Youth Specialist) on 07813 366257 or by email at jess.cox@servicesix.co.uk (on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays only).

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Saturday 31 October: a little something to get your teeth into…

While all manner of vampires, ghosts and monsters are on the roam, take refuge in the warmth of the Holcot Village Hall. And put your little grey cells to work tackling some fiendishly spine-tingling questions to help raise much-needed funds for Service Six*. (All details as below, but tickets are disappearing fast, so put together a team of six and call or message Rosie on 07908 848380.)

Mouth-watering food will keep the wolf from the door, but please bring your own drinks/nibbles/plates/cutlery/condiments etc.

Cash preferred for the raffle, but there will be the opportunity to pay by card as well.

* Service Six is an award-winning mental health charity based in Wellingborough, providing specialist wellbeing support for children and young people, and those who care for them.

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Local Housing Notice: bungalow for sale in Walgrave.

As a neighbouring village, Holcot Parish Council has been notified of this listing and is required to share this information with our community to satisfy local planning and housing policies.

In the first instance, this property is being exclusively reserved for residents of Walgrave and surrounding villages. This exclusive reservation ends on 31 October 2026.

Click here for full details.

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Holcot Parish printed newsletter: July 2026

Hopefully, you have all received your copy of July’s printed newsletter – hand-delivered to every household in the village over the past week or so.

If you haven’t received your copy – or it’s been torn to shreds by your cat, pet parrot or over-zealous puppy – you can read an online PDF version here. (Once there, scroll down to the ‘Previous newsletters’ section – you can print from this version too.)

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Roadworks alert: Brixworth Road; Monday 20 July until Wednesday 22 July

Gulley-cleaning work taking place. This will be a two-way traffic-light system, and the map suggests it’s just opposite the Fishing Lodge entrance/exit. Some delays almost inevitable.

(Unless you follow the example of a lady who wanted to bypass the ‘Road Closed’ signs on Moulton Road – a couple of weeks ago – by driving along the pavement! NOT to be advised!)

Click here for more details.

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National Grid work on Back Lane; 14 July to 20 July

Taking place at the Memorial end of Back Lane (see below), this work is to install a ‘new service connection’ for the proposed new dwelling on Moulton Road. They say that disruption to traffic is unlikely, but I guess they’ll need to park their van(s) somewhere close by.

Click here for more info.

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Holcot Parish Newsletter. Deadline for Edition 3 – 2026

The deadline for submissions for the next printed newsletter is 5.00pm on Friday 17 July 2026.

Anyone can contribute, so if you have any news or information about events happening in, or of interest to, the village please email the details to: holcotvillagenewsletter@hotmail.com

(We have to allow time for design and printing, so please get those emails in super quick!)

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Roadworks alert; Moulton Road closure; Sunday 12 July to Wednesday 15 July

According to Causeway one. net, Moulton Road will be closed for four days while Anglian Water carries out ‘new connection’ work. This is to connect the proposed new development on the left-hand-side just after the westerly end of Back Lane.

Assuming this really is a ‘road closed’ situation, it means that anyone aiming for Moulton will have to go via the Sywell Roundabout and the A43. Or, possibly, via Brixworth.

Click here for more details.

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Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio…

Calling all budding thespians – ever fancied being in a real-life drama?

The West Northamptonshire Council Emergency Planning Team is looking for individuals to play the role of evacuees in a realistic emergency scenario. This is your chance to experience how major incidents are managed in real time and play a vital role in making the exercise feel genuine.

Date: Wednesday 2 September 2026
Location: University of Northampton, Waterside Campus, NN1 5PH
Timing: 9.30am to 4.00pm

What’s involved?
You’ll be taking on the role of someone evacuated from their home during an emergency, interacting with real responders and seeing how support is delivered on the ground. No acting skills required – and refreshments are included!

To give you an idea of what an emergency exercise looks and feels like, check out this YouTube video (Dublin, 2018). And if you’re interested, please complete this registration form.

And HURRY! Places are going fast!

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3.00pm on Sunday 12 July is Fancy Dress time! Don’t miss out!

The Holcot Summer Fete is taking place on the Green by the Church on Sunday 12 July.

And we’re calling all princesses, clowns, super heroes, dinosaurs, cartoon characters, monsters, unicorns, fairies… and, oh… anything else you can think of!

Get Mum and Dad to help you create your favourite outfits! Tell them they need to get their imaginations into gear, and dig out some of those funky outfits they used to strut around in 20 years ago (that they hoped would come back into fashion). Yeah… as if!

Then they need to cut them up and sew them back together to create something NEW and FAN-TAS-MA-GORICAL! For YOU to strut around in!

The main event starts at 2.00pm, and to take part in the fancy dress competition, you MUST register your name by 3.00pm.

So come on Mum and Dad – time to step up!

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Your Parish needs YOU!

Want to have a say in what happens in Holcot?

One way you can make a difference is to join the Holcot Parish Council. There are currently just four people – all volunteers – who make up the Council. To be candid, this isn’t enough.

Ideally, there should be seven or eight people, because there are many advantages when more people are involved:
– Discussions can revolve around wider-ranging views and opinions
– Each debate can be better considered and balanced
– Decisions made are more likely to be reasoned and fair
– Those decisions will then be more representative
– The occasional absence can be more easily managed and integrated into Parish Council meetings.

If, in the past, you’ve found yourself frustrated, perhaps, by decisions made by Councillors, why not join the Council? And influence those decisions.

If you want to be involved, you can find more information here.

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The biggest threat to somebody who has collapsed from a heart attack?

TIME.

It takes just four minutes after a human heart has stopped before internal organs begin to stop working. A frightening prospect.

Most of us would be out of our depth. A mixture of panic and ‘little knowledge’ would prevail. Valuable time would be lost. And a well-meaning but untrained physical response might cause more harm than good.

Enter the St John Ambulance CPR and defibrillator team.

On Thursday 18 June, in the Village Hall, nine parishioners were educated and entertained by Chris and Cayti from Kettering St John Ambulance. They benefitted from 90 minutes of CPR demonstration and defibrillator use – with hands-on practice on the very compliant Annie (a plastic ‘body’).

While none of us would now claim to be expert, we have at least a foundation of knowledge that would, hopefully, enable a quick and appropriate response in an emergency.

A very worthwhile session and I urge you all to look out for the next training opportunity and come and join us! You can find out more about how to do CPR here.

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Subscribe to the Holcot parish website

Holcot from the East

To help everyone keep up with what is happening in Holcot or what is affecting parish life, you can ‘subscribe’ to notifications.

Each time there is a new item added to the homepage, subscribers are automatically notified by email of the item. So whatever is added, from road closures to planning applications to lost cats, this information finds its way to subscribers’ email inboxes as an easy way of finding out what is going on in and around our Parish. 

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