Welcome to the Village Link website. We’re a small not for profit organisation staffed by volunteers and cannot justify the expense of an SSL certificate. This certificate is what changes a web address from http to https. Google will soon change how they label sites; instead of labelling sites with a certificate as secure they will label sites without one as insecure. We keep this site as secure as we can and is as secure as it ever has been. Please do not be put off!

Take a little time to browse our pages and discover what goes on where and when in our area. Within our pages you can also find out who does what locally. If you would like to contribute anything to any of our pages, including your favourite picture from where you live in our area, please follow the links on the Contact Us page. We would love to carry all the info for your local club or association and best of all, it’s all for free!

The map on the left is fully navigable plus you can zoom in and out by using the controls in the top left corner and if you view the larger map you can enter street view by dragging the little yellow person onto the map to where you want to view and go for a virtual walk around our streets and lanes.

CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS!!

Creaton resident Mary Abbott celebrated reaching 100 years old in December. Born in Flore on 21st December 1924, Mary lived there until getting married to Jim, whom she met at the local Saturday night dance. They then moved to Blakesley, living in a flat over the local butchers until moving back to a cottage in Flore.

Mary says she loved driving around in her Lotus and Jaguar XK150 and had a job driving a van delivering medicines to Doctors and Chemists around Northamptonshire. Mary was also Akela to the Cubs in Flore for 10 years, and a brilliant seamstress and baker, even making her daughter’s wedding dress and cake.

After her husband died Mary moved to Keelby near Immingham, Lincolnshire, where she lived for 20 years. There, Mary was President of the local WI for many years, and also ran a coffee shop in the local church. She says she also loved following the local hunt with her friends Joyce and Ab.

Mary moved to Creaton on the 3rd May 2007 where she loves her garden which she proudly opened for Creaton in Bloom. She was a member of the sewing group and the United Reform Church, often enjoying a bacon bap at Poppies.

Mary would like to thank everyone for the wonderful cake, birthday cards and good wishes she has received and especially Margaret for making the special birthday cake.

Mary has two children, Tim and Jacqui, four grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.

One Snowman and His Dog

Christmas Quizzers...

Two children enjoying the challenge of Village Link’s Christmas puzzle page whilst waiting for food at The Jomidar in Creaton.

GUILSBOROUGH ACADEMY SCOOPS NOT ONE, BUT TWO PIONEERING HEALTH AWARDS

Guilsborough Academy has achieved two prestigious health awards. At the very end of December 2025, the academy was awarded The School Mental Health Award at the Gold standard by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools for its outstanding mental health and wellbeing provision. Additionally, they received West Northamptonshire Council’s Healthy Schools Bronze Award, which promotes a whole school approach to mental health, healthy eating, physical activity, and PSHE.

The School Mental Health Award, established in 2017, aims to improve students’ outcomes and life chances by supporting schools to make positive changes at all levels of the UK's education system.

The Healthy Schools Award, tailored to Northamptonshire specifically, empowers schools to improve the health and wellbeing of their communities.

Principal Simon Frazer expressed pride in the academy's achievements, highlighting the dedication of staff, students, and the support of parents/carers and the local community.

Guilsborough welcome any additional support and guidance from the local community. Please contact Kym Wright – kwright@guilsborough.northants.sch.uk

Thank you to Helen Burgess for this picture of a snowman and a snow dog, built by Noah, after a brief overnight snowfall in early January.

Unexpected Winter Visitor at Hollowell

The last part of 2024 had been very quiet for me on the birding front, so I arrived at Hollowell Reservoir on the afternoon of Saturday December 14th with fairly low expectations. As I approached the ‘Point’ just north of the sailing club I was therefore surprised to flush a Bittern from the waterlogged reedy margins. Close enough to hear the flap of its wings, the bird flew away across the reservoir towards the conifer plantation on the east bank and away out of sight into the winter gloom. I had my camera with me, but the surprising nature of the encounter meant I was slow to react and in the fading light I was unable to get a photo.

As far as I am aware the only other record of a Bittern at Hollowell was in December 1983, seen by expert local birder Mark Piper. The only other Bittern that I personally have seen in the county away from the Nene Valley was one on the roadside between Coton Manor and Ravensthorpe Reservoir in December 2010 in a spell of very cold weather. Initially spotted pacing along the verge, it then stood motionless in its characteristic head-up ‘bitterning’ posture, giving views at c2m range from the car window.

Back to December 2024, I returned to Hollowell five days later, close to dusk as before, and the Bittern flew up again from exactly the same location. Although I hadn’t been expecting a repeat encounter, I was ready with the camera this time and as the bird flew away I managed to grab a few record shots, including the one you see here.

The UK Bittern population has increased over the last 30 years or so, this is often viewed as a conservation success story as it seems to be largely due to creation and management of more extensive areas of suitable reedbed habitat. In Northants we have had in the last couple of years several records of male birds heard giving their territorial ‘booming’ call at various locations along the Nene Valley. It seems likely that they will breed before long in the county and may indeed already be doing so. In breeding locations and habitats Bitterns are highly secretive and very well camouflaged and are therefore usually hard to see. Away from these areas, Bitterns are scarce but increasing winter visitors, with our resident breeding population augmented by birds visiting from mainland Europe. As shown with the Ravensthorpe bird mentioned above, in times of hard weather they can turn up in unexpected locations and smaller wetland sites. My recent sighting was not perhaps the national rarity that it would have been in 1983, but it was still noteworthy – and a good reminder of a mantra I often try to keep in mind in lean birding times: “keep going, something will turn up!”

Jon Cook, County Bird Recorder: http://joncookbirding.wordpress.com