New Speed Sign
/in General News /by ClerkWith the help of funding from the Northamptonshire Safer Roads Alliance Road Safety Community Fund, the Parish Council replaced the old speed sign outside the Westaway Garage which was starting to show its age.
It is hoped the new, more visible sign will further deter speeding along the A508 and has the added benefit of capturing data that the Council will use to help in our fight against speeding traffic.

Cllr Goddard and Cllr Hackworth with the new sign.
Thank you to those who helped with installation at the weekend.
New Quince Trees at Loder Hall – Maidwell-Being
/in General News /by ClerkAt the weekend, the Maidwell-Being team and some local volunteers planted 3 quince trees at the back of the Loder Hall.
The trees were planted as part of the Parish Council Sustainability initative to conserve and enhance the biodiversity of the Parish
The hope is that eventually the fruit from these trees can be shared with all residents. Quince trees produce large, highly fragrant fruits, usually golden yellow in colour. These aren’t edible raw, but can be cooked to make aromatic quince jelly, desserts and a quince paste called membrillo.

Home fire safety visits helping the vulnerable
/in General News /by ClerkHome fire safety visits helping the vulnerable
Home fire safety visits
If you would like to refer yourself, a friend or a family member for a
Home Fire Safety Visit, this can be done by visiting https://www.northantsfire.gov.uk/home-safety-checks/
Or you can complete your own fire safety check online, which can be found at the link above.
Alternatively, you can also phone 01604 797 000
News from Maidwell – March 2025
/in General News /by ClerkNews from Maidwell – March 2025
Church Services
2 March Family Service 11:00am
16 March Holy Communion 11:00am
6 April Family Service 11:00am
20 April Easter SundayHoly Communion 11:00am
We are looking for some more people to help with the cleaning and flowers for the church. It would only be once a year. Please let me know if you can help – Amanda 07707 530720.
Interested in a Night Hike? See poster below.

This year we will be having a Village Open Gardens Day, hopefully with a good number of gardens open. Refreshments (tea, coffee, wine, beer – maybe) and possibly activities and /or crafts. Please let Amanda (07707 530720) know if you are willing to open your garden. If we are lucky and get a beautiful sunny day, we will be able to show off our village and all enjoy a pleasant stroll through it. Don’t forget to invite family and friends too. The date will be in June.
The Loder Hall
A reminder that the Loder Hall is available for all your special events, meetings or if you need space to practise something. A very reasonable charge of £10 for the first hour and £5 for additional hours. Heating is extra.
Dates for your diaries:
An evening with the Open Stage Choir – 29 March – doors open at 6.30pm (tickets £8 from David Kent on 07984 411260)
Annual General Meeting – 26 April – 10.30am. All welcome – do come along and share your thoughts.
Quiz Night – 11 October
Christmas Bazaar – 15 November
Please contact Ann on 07939 124521 or Colin 07771 806094 for more details or booking.
Parish Council
Parish Council meetings take place on the second Wednesday of every second month. Everyone is welcome to attend and there is an Open Forum is you wish to raise something with the Council. Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday 12 March at 7.30pm in the Loder Hall.
Please note that the contact details for the Parish Council are:
Clerk’s e-mail address: clerk@maidwellwithdraughtonparishcouncil.gov.uk
Website address: https://maidwellwithdraughtonparishcouncil.gov.uk
Maidwell-being coffee morning
Coffee mornings are on the 2nd Saturday of each month, 10am-12noon. Do come along, especially if you are (relatively) new to the village – it would be great to meet you.
The next date is Saturday 8 March between 10am-12noon, with further dates being 12 April and 10 May. This month please bring along any old photos of Maidwell – several of the newer villagers have shown an interest. We can have a little history lesson about our wonderful village.
Don’t forget the recycling bins just inside the gate at Loder Hall for medicine blister packs, contact lens cases, old pens, used make up and toothpaste tubes.
Contacts: Amanda (07707 530720), Lynne (07785 790265), Paul (07710 096590), Mary (07703 291169) and Fiona (07903 137219)
Maidwell Wombles
A big THANK YOU to the valiant few who wombled in February – Andrew S, Colin, David (Keir), Fiona, Juan Carlos and Tim. They cleared the A508 north of the village, both A14 junctions and Maidwell to Draughton, collecting 18 bags of rubbish. Well done to all!
Would you like to join us? Just coming along to one session would be a big help. Here are the dates (weather permitting):
March Saturday 8 9:00am
April Friday 4 10:00am
May Saturday 3 9:00am
June Saturday 7 9:00am
July Friday 4 10:00am
August Saturday 2 9:00am
September Saturday 6 9:00am
October Friday 3 10:00am
November Saturday 1 9:00am
December Saturday 6 9:00am
Please contact Colin on 07771 806094 to put your name down for one of the dates.
Maidwell Primary School
News to follow in next month’s magazine.
Other Maidwell news
All the Maidwell news above can also be viewed on the Maidwell with Draughton website: https://maidwellwithdraughtonparishcouncil.gov.uk
Town & Parish Briefing – Feb’25
/in General News /by ClerkDear Town and Parish colleagues
Please find below a link to the latest edition of the Town & Parish Briefing
You can view it by clicking on the ‘Go to this Sway’ link below.
| Town & Parish Briefing |
| Edition 32 – Friday 14 February 2025 |
| Go to this Sway |
Please remember you can you print the newsletter by clicking on the three dots in the top right of the Sway, and selecting print from the drop-down menu.
When clicking on links in the document, you may see a message saying ‘You’re about to be redirected off sway.cloud.microsoft to a webpage that may not be secure. Continue?’ Please be aware this is a standard message that the platform generates for every link. We can assure you that all of the links within the document are secure.
News from Maidwell – Feb 2025
/in General News /by ClerkNews from Maidwell – Feb 2025
Church Services
2 February Family Service 11:00am
16 February Holy Communion 11:00am
2 March Family Service 11:00am
16 March Holy Communion 11:00am
6 April Family Service 11:00 am
Many thanks to all who helped and supported the events at the end of the year – Harvest supper (£1340), wreath making (£600), the Mosaic concert (£360), Christingle (£193.90, which goes to the Children’s Society) and the Christmas greeting list (£360). All of these events combined raised a considerable amount so thank you all again.
Thank you to all who have maintained the church yard over the last year and to those who helped with the inside clean-up. It is much appreciated.
Also, thank you to Ingrid for the beautiful floral decorations in the church at Christmas.
This year we will be having a Village Open Gardens Day, hopefully with a good number of gardens open. There will be refreshments (tea, coffee, wine, beer- maybe) and possibly activities and /or crafts. Please let Amanda (07707 530720) know if you are willing to open your garden. If we are lucky and get a beautiful sunny day, we will be able to show off our village and all enjoy a pleasant stroll through it. Don’t forget to invite family and friends too. Date to be confirmed soon.
The Loder Hall
We are pleased to announce that David Kent, Jo Romecin and Chloe Porter have agreed to join our committee. David will take over as our new Chairman. Welcome to you all.
The Loder Hall AGM will take place on Saturday 26 April at 10:30am. Do come along and share your thoughts.
A reminder that the Loder Hall is available for all your special events or if you need space to practise something. A very reasonable charge of £10 for the first hour and £5 for additional hours. Heating is extra.
Please contact Ann on 07939 124521 or Colin 07771 806094 for more details or booking.
Parish Council
Happy new year to all residents from the Parish Council.
Our first meeting of 2025 was on 8 January. At this meeting, the Council made two key decisions.
Firstly, we have decided to renew the speed indicator device at the top of the A508 as you come into the village from the A14. We will be replacing it with a larger device which will hopefully capture the attention of more drivers and will also provide us with speed data – the current device does not do this. All speed data is placed on the village website and is updated after each Council meeting. We are very conscious that speeding on the A508 is one of the biggest concerns for residents so anything we can do to reduce this is considered beneficial.
In addition, members of the Draughton Club Room Committee addressed the Council on the investment that is required to repair the roof – it is currently leaking badly and damaging the inside of the building. Around £10k is required to affect the repairs and add insulation. The Committee has applied for a grant and a decision on this is expected in February. In addition, residents of Draughton have been working hard to raise funds for the repairs. After discussion, Councillors agreed to provide up to £7k to ensure that the repairs can go ahead as quickly as possible. The actual sum provided will depend on the amount of any grant, if awarded.
Over the last few years, the Council has worked hard to create a small reserve fund which enables us to make investments such as the speed signs or the club room repairs. Both of these investments are considered to be important matters that benefit residents of both villages.
Parish Council meetings take place on the second Wednesday of every second month. Everyone is welcome to attend and there is an Open Forum is you wish to raise something with the Council. Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday 12 March at 7.30pm in the Loder Hall.
Please note that the contact details for the Parish Council have now changed. The Parish Clerk’s e-mail address is clerk@maidwellwithdraughtonparishcouncil.gov.uk and the website address is now https://maidwellwithdraughtonparishcouncil.gov.uk
Maidwell-being coffee morning
After a year of activities aimed at improving the village environment (including the creation of the book exchange, providing recycling bins at the Loder Hall, the clearing of the verge on Draughton Road, apple-pressing and lots of tech support), the focus of this coming year will be to provide a community get-together once a month at the village hall. These will take place on the second Saturday morning of each month.
The first get-together took place on 11 January, with a lot of villagers dropping in for coffee, cake and a chat. The tech team were on also hand – thank you. It was great to catch up with everyone.
The next date is Saturday 8 February between 10am-12noon, with further dates being 8 March and 12 April. Do come along, especially if you are (relatively) new to the village – it would be great to meet you.
There will be some one-off projects happening throughout the year, including clearing a couple more verges and planting some trees (more of which in due course).
Don’t forget the recycling bins just inside the gate at Loder Hall for medicine blister packs, contact lens cases, old pens, used make up and toothpaste tubes.
Contacts: Amanda (07707 530720), Lynne (07785 790265), Paul (07710 096590), Mary (07703 291169) and Fiona (07903 137219)
Maidwell Wombles – pick a date next year to help!
Last year several of you committed to join the Wombles for just one outing during the year and many thanks to you for doing so. The feedback was that everyone enjoyed it. Would you like to do it again in 2025 please? Here are the dates (weather permitting):
February Saturday 8 9:00am
March Saturday 8 9:00am
April Friday 4 10:00am
May Saturday 3 9:00am
June Saturday 7 9:00am
July Friday 4 10:00am
August Saturday 2 9:00am
September Saturday 6 9:00am
October Friday 3 10:00am
November Saturday 1 9:00am
December Saturday 6 9:00a
Please contact Colin on 07771 806094 to put your name down for one of the dates.
Maidwell Primary School
We hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas break and the current cold weather isn’t being too harsh for you. The children have returned to school fully refreshed and ready to continue with their learning. Before the break we had a fun packed last few Christmassy days including our Christmas Lunch and a trip to the Panto. A number of children and their parents also enjoyed a trip to the Church for a lovely carol service – thank you Maidwell Church and all who made this possible. I am sure that ‘in the blink of an eye’ we will be facing the start of Spring and a chance to get back outdoors more often. In the meantime, the children are enjoying the frosty surfaces in the morning and the vague hope of some more snow so they can build a snowman or two!
Other Maidwell news
Carol singing
Thank you to all who came out and sang carols around the village on 19 December and to all those who supported the collection so generously – a huge £380 was donated to The Hope Centre in Northampton. Thank you too to those who kept us well supplied with warming food and drink!
All the Maidwell news above can also be viewed on the Maidwell with Draughton website: https://maidwellwithdraughtonparishcouncil.gov.uk
Parish Council Budget 2025/26
/in General News /by ClerkThe budget and precept for the new year has now been finalised. A full breakdown can be found here
There is no increase to the budget therefore no increase from the Parish Council in Council Tax charging.
By carefully managing reserves and obtaining grants the Parish Council has absorbed any inflationary increases.
Get involved in the One West Northamptonshire Plan
/in General News /by ClerkGet involved in the One West Northamptonshire Plan
More details on the poster below
One West poster general version
