Over The Counter

Creaton Village Shop is proud to announce that it was winner of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) Northamptonshire Community Awards 2022. The award was presented at a reception hosted by CPRE in October this year. (Look at the Village Link website for a photo of the occasion.)

The judges were most impressed by the background to the establishment of the Shop after the original village store closed whereby the village came together to raise funds to provide new premises. Now open 7 days a week the shop provides a wide range of local produce, a post office, home deliveries and an excellent website. The shop has proved its sustainability and has a good business plan. The judges said,

“When a community comes together to save a facility or provide a new one it always takes an enormous effort, and to keep it going as a volunteer effort for a number of years is very impressive. Northamptonshire has some wonderful

Don’t forget to check our Events Diary for more information on events in all our villages and surrounding area.

CREATON WALKERS

The warm weather seemed to go on and on, enabling the Creaton Walking Group to enjoy some beautiful sunshine, dressed more for summer than autumn! The walkers have been walking the Via Beata which is a long-distance path crossing England and Wales at the widest part, from Lowestoft to St David’s Head, and goes through Northamptonshire including from Brixworth to Ravensthorpe. The September walk went through the beautiful Stanwick Lakes near Raunds to Irthlingborough and on to Finedon. October and November continued the route via Great Harrowden to Holcot with lovely views in all directions. In the new year we will continue following the Via Beata to Watford.

It’s not just all about walking though! The Creaton Walking Group are meeting up with various other local groups for a Christmas meal at the Jomidar Lounge on the 9th December.

If you enjoy walking, do join this friendly group who meet on the second Saturday of the month at 10am at Creaton lychgate. Walks are circular and about 8 miles in length mainly over footpaths and bridleways ending with an optional pub lunch. Next walks are on:

• Saturday 9th December 10am
• Monday 1st January 11am (NB slightly later time)
• Saturday 13th January 10am

CREATON SINGERS

A huge thank you to everyone who attended the very successful concert in aid of the local RDA (Riding for the Disabled). Perhaps the homemade cakes helped? The concert raised £776 for the RDA as well as a £20 donation to the URC for the kind use of their premises.

Very quickly the singers have turned their attention to preparing for Christmas and hope to see as many people as possible at the following events:

• Saturday 2nd December 2pm at Welford Christmas Tree Farm
• Sunday 3rd December 2pm at Welford Christmas Tree Farm
• Sunday 10th December 3pm Cottesbrooke Carol Service
• Tuesday 19th December 7pm Carol Singing on Creaton Village Green, then carolling through the village to Creaton church for a free concert at 7:30pm with mulled wine and mince pies. There will be a voluntary collection for charity. Do come along and enter into the festive spirit.

The Creaton Singers are saddened that Sylvia Watt has decided to gracefully retire, despite everyone’s best efforts to dissuade her! Her singing as well as her very amusing poetry presentations will be sorely missed by the singers and our audiences.

We are delighted that one new member has joined us and hope more will follow. We rehearse on Tuesdays from 7:30pm to 9pm at Creaton URC. No previous experience necessary, just a willingness to have fun!

Creaton WI

In October Steve Reid treated us to a very interesting talk about Friars Farm, his artisan chutney, cheese and charcuterie business, along with a tasting of delicious samples!

Please do join us for our Christmas entertainment - an evening of “Humour and Music” with Ken Nokes on December 13th at 7.30 p.m. in the United Reformed Church.

In January and February our meetings will be held on Zoom; non-members are most welcome to join in from the comfort of your armchair!

• “Humour and Music” with Ken Nokes on December 13th
• January 10th – a talk from Prickles and Paws Hedgehog Rescue
• February 14th – a fascinating insight into the secret work of “The Women Warriors of Bletchley Park”

Please contact President, Daphne Clark, 01604 505546 or email wicreaton@gmail.com for more information or a Zoom joining link.

Letter from Anna Hughes

FRIENDS OF ST MICHAEL’S HISTORY GROUP

Our talks for December and January will be held in St Michael and All Angels Church, Violet Lane.

Thursday Dec 21st: 7.30pm Colin Rowe: The Hunting Empress

Thursday Jan 18th: 7.30pm Ruth Thomas: Nefertiti - Enigma and Icon. We hope you can join us and enjoy an interesting talk in good company followed by complimentary refreshments. If you become a member now you can take advantage of our special deal of £15 for all subsequent talks.

Creaton Playing Fields Association

Charity No. 1085011

As I write this, we are well and truly into autumn and experiencing very heavy rainfall. The committee, after consulting with ROSPA, have decided to replace our chipped bark safer surfacing with a more practical alternative. The cost of replacing bark every year, as well as trying to reinstate it after it has been washed away, makes it far from ideal. We are looking to use rubber matting which allows grass to grow through. This will be lower maintenance and more hygienic whilst also providing a surface with sufficient CFH (critical fall height) to cope with the equipment we have in place. This is not going to be cheap and we will be looking for grants as well as fundraising. It may be possible to carry out the replacement over several phases. Any offers of help or suggestions would be gratefully received.

The Association operates the field under the terms of a lease which only permits dogs to cross the field on the Public Footpaths whilst on a lead, the exercising of dogs is strictly prohibited. There is adequate provision locally for dogs to be exercised off leads and therefore there is no excuse to run them on the playing field. The Association has recently taken delivery of four signs reminding dog owners of this.

Hopefully our Annual Quiz, held on 18th November, will have been a sell-out success by the time you read this!

Creaton Church

Christmas Services

All are welcome

Carol Service

Friday 22nd December

5.00pm

Walking Nativity

Saturday 23rd December

11.00am

Christmas Eve

Communion with Carols

10.00pm

Jomidar Lounge

What a wonderful asset this Indian restaurant is to our village. Our main road has at last had the face lift so needed for many years as the sad, tired looking pub has been replaced with a very smart new look, an inviting entrance doorway with water feature and a dazzlingly bright interior where very attentive, pleasant staff await. Finally residents can walk to a restaurant which has quickly become a venue. Having met with different groups of friends on four occasions now since the first opening week, I have noticed that we now had to wait a few minutes for a table to be ready for us. Great. Friday night was very busy and it felt good to be part of it. Speaking as a resident without a car for the last few years I can only ask you to imagine the effect of being able to take myself ‘out for dinner’. This means a lot to me and others like me in our village and I am grateful.

Our village buses

We are so lucky to have not one but two village buses but as always we need to use them or lose them. For those that still have their own transport, a gentle reminder that things may change therefore keeping the bus service running maybe the only way you can continue to live in Creaton in the future.

The weekly Shopper Hopper bus service run by volunteers, is every Monday, picking up bus pass holders from Cottesbrooke, Haselbech, Creaton, Naseby, Cold Ashby, Thornby, Spratton and Brixworth and currently takes us to venues such as Aldi in Moulton and Weston Favell. We also spend time in Brixworth

to enable us to go the local shops there and the library. On two Wednesdays in the month the bus goes to destinations such as Rushden Lakes, a Nursery or large shopping area. This service must be pre-booked. Contact Ka by email at:
bookings@cmbus.org or phone 07888011891.

Volunteer drivers are urgently needed. Again, contact Ka if you could help please.

The 60/59 is a very popular bus service, especially the 59 from Welford to Market Harborough on Tuesdays and Fridays. The 60 bus picks up passengers at 9.30 from the bottom of the Jetty and continues to Welford where the bus number changes. Many people seem unaware that the £2:00 ticket price cap for every journey is still retained which makes travel very cheap for passengers without bus passes and we are all helping to reduce the traffic on our roads which we all know makes sense.

I often hear from residents in Creaton that the bus “never has any passengers on it”. You need to remember that Creaton is the penultimate stop for the route returning from Northampton to either Guilsborough or Welford and can be the third pickup village running from Guilsborough to Northampton or straight from Welford to Northampton. It may have few passengers but yes, it is used. Don’t forget you can also use the bus to begin or end your local walk. Every bus journey adds up and all are counted. Last year we had over 20,000 journeys on our bus, so yes, I assure you, it is used!

Anna Hughes

examples of community run shops and Creaton now joins their ranks.“

And if one accolade wasn’t enough, Shop Manager Adam Perrins-May was nominated by the Plunkett Foundation for their Young Person Award category at the Rural Community Business awards. Adam is one of five finalists who were celebrated at the event in London in November.

In more seasonal news, you are probably already aware that it will soon be Christmas! Get your orders in for meat, veg, drinks, treats, festive fayre. Let Creaton Village Shop relieve you of the hassle of food and drink shopping.

In the shop, the refrigerated space has been reorganised to provide more space for vegetables and fruit. Do have a good look round and if you cannot find what you want, just ask. Please note that the shop no longer takes dry cleaning or sells flowers but is open on Saturday from 8am to 6pm.