Category: Health and welfare

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An evening of music, fun and shakin’ your booty!*

You are all cordially invited to a spectacular night in the Village Hall on Thursday evening 19 November. Doors open at 7.00pm and the magic starts at 7.30pm.

In an IW-organised fund-raising event, and for one night only, the wonderful Peter Marchant will entertain us with his special brand of glam-inspired rock ‘n’ roll music.

A mere child at 35, Peter was born and raised in Holcot, and is a veteran of the Edinburgh Fringe and some of Europe’s biggest festivals including The Isle of Wight and T in the Park. He has also featured on BBC Radio 1 and soundtracked many hit TV shows. His singing videos on YouTube have been streamed over three million times. Not too shabby, eh…

A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Peter’s repertoire covers The Beatles, Queen, David Bowie, Amy Winehouse, The Killers, Bryan Adams, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Smiths and many more.

To maximise the fund raising, Peter has very kindly agreed to waive his usual fee, and money raised will go to two great causes:
– The Brain Tumour Charity (in memory of Peter’s brother), and
– The Holcot Parish Church fabric fund.

TICKETS: £15 (in advance) or £20 on the door (if still available).
To buy tickets, please email: heatherwilson1950@hotmail.co.uk

IMPORTANT NOTE: please bring CASH on the night to buy raffle tickets and drinks from the bar. Unfortunately, credit/debit cards cannot be accepted.
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* if space allows!

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East Midlands Ambulance Service is experiencing significant demand

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) has escalated to Level 4 of its Resource Escalation Action Plan. This is the highest alert level, and reflects a sustained extreme pressure on its service.

An increased number of 999 calls; patients waiting for a response in the community; and significant patient handover delays at hospitals are all affecting service delivery and increasing the risk to patient safety.

To provide the fastest possible response to patients in the community experiencing life-threatening emergencies, EMAS is:
– Introducing a ‘hear and treat’ system, staffed by experienced clinicians, to triage patients to identify alternative services for their needs
– Taking fewer, or a similar number of, patients to hospital than normal
– Deploying more ambulance resource than ever before.

To fully support these initiatives, it is vital that people only call 999 in life-threatening emergencies. When it’s not life-threatening, please call NHS111 instead.

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These boots are made for walkin’…

This link highlights ten of the county’s best walks, including Pitsford Reservoir, Naseby Battlefield and the Northampton Canal Walk.

It also serves as a gateway to more than 70 other walks across the region, accessible via the ‘More Walks’ button on the map. Each walk includes a detailed route guide, photographs, videos and a downloadable GPX file to help visitors navigate the route.

There are also FREE 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey maps with live GPS tracking available directly in a mobile browser.

So, c’mon boots – start walkin’!

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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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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; 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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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.