Sam Hoskins is keen to emphasise that he and his Cobblers team-mates have put last month’s derby defeat at Peterborough United behind them.

But that doesn’t mean they have forgotten just how much it hurt.

Hoskins insists what happened at London Road is something the team didn’t dwell on - a statement backed up by Cobblers winning their next two Sky Bet League One fixtures, and also thrashing Harrow Borough 6-0 in the FA Cup.

The club’s mini winning streak was brought to a halt with last weekend’s last-gasp 2-1 defeat at Gillingham, but Hoskins insists the mood at Sixfields is still a positive one.

After all, Town are still in pretty good shape, but Hoskins also admits that 3-0 defeat at Posh was a painful one - and that he wants revenge.

The defeat hurt the players, but it hurt the club’s supporters even more, and Hoskins knows he and his team-mates have to do all they can to put things right when Peterborough make the trip to Sixfields on Saturday.

“Everybody was disappointed with what happened in the last game,” said the former Southampton trainee.

“We recognised what we needed to work on, and I think we are ready to go and get revenge, if you want.

“We definitely need a big performance against them in front of our home fans.”

And he added: “It is another game for us, although we know there is a lot riding on it for the fans, and from a personal point of view because of the rivalry, and the way the last game went.

“We just have to prepare as we do for any other game, and we know we have to go and get the three points. That is the aim.

“It is important we don’t do things differently to what we have been doing, because things then might not go our way.

“We focus on our game and our performance. We are at home so we can go out and show everybody what we have been showing recently.

“I believe we can beat anybody in this league on our day, so if we get our game right then we can get the win.”

The Cobblers were forced to field a much-changed team at London Road due to suspensions and Rob Page’s surprising team selection, so is Saturday a chance to show Peterborough’s players the real Northampton?

“We have such a strong squad and everybody who comes into the team they can step in and do a job, “ said Hoskins. “So I don’t think it is a case of showing them the real Northampton, because some games just don’t go right.

“So we can dwell on that last performance or we can move on, and we have all moved on and we are looking to put this right.

“I think 3-0 was a bit harsh on the night, and if we had taken one of our chances, then it is a much closer game. We are backing ourselves to go and put on a performance this weekend.

“If we had managed to nick a goal then we would have been right back in it, but we are going to put that behind us, move on, and hopefully get the win.

“From defence to attack we know our jobs, and we know what we have to do.”

A leading businessman who was awarded an OBE for services to dance gave an inspirational talk to Northampton students at an awards night.

Kenneth Tharp was guest speaker at Northampton High School's annual awards night and he spoke passionately about the role arts play in education.

A spokeswoman for the school said: "Mr Tharp argued that the curriculum should remain broad and balanced for as long as possible, without students being forced to choose between arts and sciences.

"He believes that many students, as evidenced at Northampton High, are capable of excelling in both fields. He also talked about his vital 3 Fs; Fear, Fun and Failure and how finding your passion can make all the difference."

During the awards ceremony the audience was treated to performances which included ballet, music and drama.

"There was great excitement as we welcomed back the Class of 2016 to a drinks reception before the Awards and caught up on all that they have experienced as they begin the next phase of their lives, " the spokeswoman said.

There were talks by Dr Helen Stringer, headmistress, and Deidre Newham, chair of governors, after which Mr Tharp then presented the many awards and prizes.

"After the ceremony Mr Tharp commented that the students at Northampton High School ‘demonstrated a quiet confidence, with no shortage of ambition or variety in the kinds of careers or further study they wished to pursue', the spokeswoman added.

Since 2007, Mr Tharp has been chief executive of The Place, the UK’s leading centre for contemporary dance development, and has taken responsibility for the overall leadership, strategy and management. His vast array of achievements include being a finalist in the inaugural Black British Business Awards in 2014, being named in eight successive Power lists of Britain’s most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage and receiving an OBE in recognition of his services to dance.

The crucial first report looking at the way Northampton Borough Council handled a failed £10.25 million loan to Sixfields will be available to read next week.

The authority’s audit committee will discuss the final report from internal auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) at a special meeting on Monday, December 5, it has been announced today.

But the document will be available to view online on the council’s website on Thursday, November 24.

The council loaned Northampton Town Football Club £10.25 million across 2013 and 2014 to develop Sixfields Stadium, but the works were never completed.

Back in January, PwC was asked to look at the circumstances surrounding the loan to the football club and the policies and procedures that were followed by the borough council to ensure they were adequate, and that they were followed during the process of making and managing the loan.

The auditors were also asked to consider any “lessons learned” that should be incorporated into the borough’s procedures in the future.

Councillor Jonathan Nunn, leader of Northampton Borough Council, said: “One of my first acts when I recently became leader was to set a date for this report to be published.

“The loan we made to Northampton Town Football Club very clearly went wrong, and I am determined that we should hear what the auditors have to say as soon as possible so that we can ensure that the lessons are learned.”

The special meeting will take place at the Guildhall at 6pm on Monday, December 5.

A second report by external auditors KPMG is likely to have a much wider scope, though there has been no release date set.

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An internet-only comedy series starring a Northampton actor has been nominated for a Screen Nation Award.

Tom Laker, who was born in the town and grew up in Lings, stars in New Skool Life, a comedy about a "sassy" teacher who does not really like his job and is only doing it for the money and holidays.

The former St Gregory's Catholic School and Thomas Becket Catholic School pupil plays the part of Carlos, a teacher's pet in the class but also the teacher's pet that the teacher does not like very much.

Now the series has been nominated for two Screen Nation Awards - Fav Web Series Ensemble and Fav Web Series Actor.

People are able to vote for New Skool Life by visiting www.screennation.com/digitalis/vote-now/.

The award ceremony will be held on the 11th December at The Mayfair Hotel in London and voting closes midnight on Wednesday 7th December.

Tom, a lifelong Cobblers fan, told the Chronicle & Echo that he decided to go into action at the age of six when his uncle, Jonathan Ollivier got him a small part in The Northern Balley's Romeo and Juliet at The Derngate.

"Ever since then I have focused all my efforts on becoming a performer/actor, training at Stagecoach Northampton, West End Kids in London and The Actors Class in London.

"Earlier this year I applied for an audition online for a school online comedy show which I was lucky enough to be offered an audition for towards the beginning of January," he said.

"After shooting Series 1 at the beginning of the year I was lucky enough to be offered the chance to be a part of the writing team for the next series and help promote the series and come up with different promo materials.

"Earlier this week I received a text from Joseph Lindsay, who plays Oliver in the series, congratulating me and saying he couldn't believe it.

"I had no idea what he was on about until I checked online to see that New Skool Life had been nominated for two Screen Nation Awards. Screen Nation Awards are a prestigious acting awards that celebrate Films, Tv series and web series which have a British and African Heritage.

"Considering everyone involved filmed the first series did it without any pay and did it for the love of acting, we are all extremely grateful and surprised by the nomination," he added.

Residents living in a quiet Wellingborough street were woken last night (Wednesday) after a vehicle crashed through a garden fence.

The incident took place in Wellingborough Road, on the entrance to the Redhill Grange estate, at about 10.30pm.

The vehicle, which police say was a ‘small lorry’, left the road and went through the back garden of a bungalow in the adjacent Fallowfield.

The driver suffered no injuries and no arrests were made.

'The Big Learner Relay for Children in Need' stopped at Sixfields on Thursday, and Cobblers players Joel Byrom and David Cornell were on hand to help the drivers on their way.

This two-week event, now in its third year, features driving instructors and pupils across the country all getting together to raise money for Children in Need.

Driving Instructors are relaying a top box, (the kind that driving instructors have on the roof of their cars), from one driving lesson to another around England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The relay started with a day in Northern Ireland on Tuesday, November 1. The top box has continued its convoy around the rest of the UK and the grand finale will be at Donington Race Park on Friday which is the Children in Need Appeal Day 2016 - 14 days, 3000 miles, 190 lead driving lessons and many thousands of instructors and pupils joining the convoy!

The total raised for Children in Need through the Big Leaner Relay is more than £165,000.

It is still not too late to support the cause, please visit www.biglearnerrelay.co.uk

Objections look set to be raised against plans by BT to remove iconic red phone boxes in villages across the Daventry district.

BT has contacted Daventry District Council with proposals to remove 49 phone boxes in total from around Daventry district, 16 of which are the traditional red ‘K6’ telephone boxes.

After initially consulting parishes and other interested individuals, the council has now published the first draft of its official response to BT’s proposals and is encouraging residents to give their views on it.

DDC says it plans to object to the removal of all 16 red telephone boxes on the grounds that they are important to the district’s heritage.

It has also applied to Historic England to grant the majority of them listed status to help protect them in the future. DDC may however agree for BT to decommission the phones inside eight of the red boxes if they are adopted by the local parish councils or residents.

The council also plans to agree to the removal of 22 modern phone boxes proposed by BT, but objects to the other 11, either because the call levels suggest there is a demand in the area they are in and they provide a valuable local resource, or they are located in areas where mobile phone reception is poor.

The initial draft response – known as the First Notification – can be viewed at www.daventrydc.gov.uk/consultation.

People can reply by post to Local Strategy Service, Daventry District Council, Lodge Road, Daventry NN11 4FP.

People have until 5pm on Wednesday, December 21 give their feedback. Councillors will then consider a final response to BT at its Strategy Group meeting in January.

Cllr Alan Hills, DDC portfolio holder for community, culture and leisure, said: “Red phone boxes are iconic features in many of our villages and form part of our district’s distinct heritage so we believe they should all be kept and protected.

“We also looked at all of the modern phone boxes listed by BT for removal and the numbers of calls made from them. It’s apparent that they are still an important community resource in some areas. Also, some are in places with poor mobile reception and may be important for emergency calls. However, it seems that some others could be removed without any real harm.

“We would encourage those with an interest in these issues to give their views before the consultation deadline to ensure they have had their say.”

Red phone boxes are instantly recognisable internationally as an iconic design symbol of 20th century British architecture.

The red K6 phone boxes were designed by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) and were produced in 1935 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V. This model was the first public telephone to be installed nationwide.

The 16 K6 red phone boxes proposed by BT for removal are located in the following villages: Charwelton, Church Brampton, Cold Ashby, Coton, Cottesbrooke, Hanging Houghton, Holdenby, Long Buckby, Newnham, Nobottle, Old, Onley, Sibbertoft, Spratton, Staverton and Winwick.

Fixture: Worcester Warriors v Northampton Saints (Aviva Premiership - round eight)

Date and kick-off time: Friday, November 18, 2016, 7.45pm

Venue: Sixways, Worcester

Worcester Warriors: Pennell; Hammond, Olivier, Mills, Vuna; Shillcock, Arr; Rapava Ruskin, Annett, Schonert; O’Callaghan, Barry; Potgieter, Kirwan, Dowson (c).

Replacements: Singleton, Leleimalefaga, Daniels, Kitchener, Cox, Dowsett, Adams, Heem.

Saints: Foden; Elliott, Burrell, Hutchinson, Wilson; Myler, Dickson; A Waller, Haywood, Brookes; Paterson, Day; Gibson, Clark, Dickinson (c).

Replacements: Clare, E Waller, Hill, Craig, Nutley, Kessell, Olver, Collins.

Outs: Saints: Tom Stephenson (broken leg), JJ Hanrahan (ankle), Harry Mallinder (ankle), Campese Ma’afu, Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes, Api Ratuniyarawa, Teimana Harrison, Tom Wood, Louis Picamoles, George North, Nafi Tuitavake, George Pisi, Ken Pisi (all international duty), Nic Groom (honeymoon)

Referee: Greg Macdonald

Most recent meeting: Saturday, February 27, 2016: Saints 38 Worcester Warriors 18 (Aviva Premiership)

Tom’s preview: There was a sharp reminder from up the M1 this week with the news that Manu Tuilagi is targeting the December 3 derby to make his big return from injury.

Saints’ trip to Welford Road is one of the first fixtures fans look for when the season’s schedule is announced, and the encounter is looming large on the horizon.

But first, Jim Mallinder’s men must navigate matches against Worcester Warriors and Newcastle Falcons as they bid to mantain the momentum provided by three successive wins in all competitions.

In years gone by, beating the Warriors and the Falcons would have almost been a foregone conclusion.

But not now.

Because although the Warriors are languishing second bottom in the Aviva Premiership, they are still just six points behind Saints, who have won three of their seven league matches to date.

And Newcastle are just a point behind Mallinder’s men.

So thoughts of a chasm in class between the sides are non-existent.

Instead, Saints know they will have a real scrap on their hands to keep their winning run intact heading into derby day.

And they have a score to settle at Sixways this week, having lost on their most recent visit to the ground.

That defeat came on the opening night of last season, as Tom Heathcote landed a last-gasp drop goal to seal a dramatic 13-12 win for the then newly-promoted team.

Phil Dowson and Co put everything they had into that game, and they got their rewards.

As for Saints, they struggled to get any kind of foothold in the game, with their attacking game blunt.

They looked like they might escape with a classic smash-and-grab win thanks to four Stephen Myler penalties, but it wasn’t to be.

And now Saints know they must produce a much better display this time round.

First-team regulars should be fresh and firing after taking a break during the Anglo-Welsh Cup wins against Newcastle Falcons and Gloucester.

And others have managed to get valuable game time under their belt.

In theory, it should mean Saints have the perfect mix for the battle with the Warriors.

But as last season’s clash showed, you can never really be sure.

Tom’s prediction: Worcester 15 Saints 20

A woman had her drink spiked at a pub in Northampton town centre, police have reported.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said they were appealing for witnesses after the incident in the Wig and Pen in St Giles Street.

“The woman was in the Wig and Pen on Saturday November 12 and sometime during the evening it is believed a noxious substance was added to her drink without her knowledge. She began to feel unwell and called a friend who came to pick her up.

“The incident happened sometime between 10pm on Saturday and 12.30am on Sunday.

“At some point during the evening, a man joined the woman at her table. He is described as Asian, about 40 years old, with mid-length dark hair which was swept back, and officers believe he may have information about the alleged incident,” he said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Northamptonshire Police on 101. Alternatively, they can call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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The man who died after the ammonia leak at Northampton’s Carlsberg factory has been named by police today.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said the victim was 45-year-old, David Chandler from Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

A post-mortem examination was carried out at Leicester Royal Infirmary and the cause of death was given as inhalation of ammonia.

A 51-year-old man who was in critical condition is improving and remains in hospital.

Police are still on location and are working with the Health and Safety Executive at the scene of the incident. The factory remains closed.

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Jim Mallinder says Saints are ‘immensely proud’ of Ben Foden as the full-back prepares to make his 200th appearance for the club.

Foden will line up in the 15 shirt at Sixways on Friday night as Mallinder’s men take on Worcester Warriors in an Aviva Premiership clash.

And the 31-year-old will reach a major milestone in the process, becoming the 55th player to hit a double hundred in the green, black and gold.

Foden moved to Saints from Sale Sharks in 2008 and has gone on to help the club to win the Aviva Premiership for the first time.

He has been a stable feature of the side and has also shown his worth for England, winning 34 Test caps.

And Mallinder said: “To see Fodes get his 200 for us is really pleasing.

“We’ve got a number of players at that stage of their careers at Saints (Dylan Hartley, Lee Dickson and Stephen Myler have also hit 200 appearances), and that experience is invaluable to us.

“It’s the experience of Ben and the other senior players that has underpinned our success as a club and allows us to bring younger players in with confidence, knowing these guys will show them the way.

“They’ve built a strong culture within the playing squad, which is also important.

“Seeing Ben develop over the years from being a player with potential to one of the best in his position in the country has been really pleasing.

“To see him work hard for the club and pick up 200 appearances since joining us is massively satisfying and something we’re all immensely proud of.”

Parking in the street between the Hazelwood Road junction and St Giles Square, will be suspended from 7pm on Saturday, 26 November until 7pm on Sunday, 27 November, but businesses in the street will be operating as normal.

Work on improving the pavements to make them wider and safer and upgrading the road surface in St Giles Street began earlier this year and was announced as finished on October 21 – six weeks ahead of the planned finish date of December 2.

Pressure washing the road surface to remove the dressing is a necessary part of the work that can only be carried out around four weeks after the new surface is laid, and the one-day closure is part of the scheduled work programme.

Howevere, at the same time as the road surface is cleaned, new, wider parking bays will be marked out to answer concerns that the new bays – while conforming to legal standards – were too narrow.

Cllr Tim Hadland said: “St Giles Street now provides a much-improved experience for shoppers and visitors and I am grateful to businesses in the area, with whom we have worked positively and constructively throughout this project.

"The cleaning of the new road surface is the last part of this phase of work that leaves our Best British High Street with a cleaner, more attractive environment.”

Defender Ryan Tafazolli says he and his Peterborough United team-mates are ready to ‘stand up’ to everything the Cobblers throw at them in Saturday’s derby clash at Sixfields (ko 3pm).

The former Mansfield Town man knows Town will be gunning for revenge in front of their own supporters, with Rob Page’s men still licking their wounds from last month’s horrible 3-0 defeat at London Road.

With that defeat still very fresh in the minds of the Cobblers squad and supporters, Tafazolli is expecting a hostile atmosphere at Sixfields, and for the home side to hit them hard from the off, but he says Posh, who enjoyed an excellent 1-0 win over promotion-chasing Bolton Wanderers last Sunday, will be ready.

“It will be hard and it will be physical. We will have to win the individual battles first and then impose ourselves on the match, like we did against Bolton,” said Tafazolli.

“It’s a big game and everyone loves playing in them.

“Northampton will be out for revenge after what happened at our place so we will have to be ready from kick off and start the game well.

“If they get physical we will stand up to them. They can’t be any more physical than Bolton.”

Posh are on a run of five wins in their past six matches and Tafazolli says confidence in the camp is high.

They can’t wait for the next game to come around, and believe if they play to their potential they will again be too good for Northampton.

“As soon as we finished the Bolton match we were hungry to play the next game,” said Tafazolli.

“That’s how confident we are at the moment.

“It’s another tough game for us (at Northampton), but if we can beat one of the best sides in the division who were in great form like Bolton, we think we can beat anyone.”

A fundraising page has been set up to help the Sea Cadets after Tuesday’s fire at their Wicksteed Park base.

Commanding officer Marc Pether said they lost everything in the fire but were hoping to be up and running by April 2017.

Now, a page has been set up to help them in their battle - and it has already raised more than £1,500.

The page reads: “The boating station is an instrumental part of the Sea Cadets’ journey, with the unit spending many summer evenings on the lake learning new skills from sailing to windsurfing.

“As you can imagine our cadets, staff and parents are devastated.

“The cadets get so much out of being on the water and have many memories of great times. This is such a loss for our unit.

“We can only look forward as no good will come from going backwards.

“We will do everything we can to rebuild and restock our boating station and with the help provide by your donations we can turn this around to be the place we had worked so hard to make it.”

To donate, click here.

A residents’ association in Northampton believes works to a traffic easing scheme in St James should be stopped after a set of plaques and planters were removed “without warning”.

St James Residents Association (SJRA) has “withdrawn support” for the Smart Corridor scheme currently being installed along Weedon Road.

This week Northamptonshire County Council workers removed a set of raised planters and memorial plaques maintained by the association – one of which was to the late Labour councillor, Terry Wire.

The SJRA says this has been done without consultation, though a county council spokesman said the flowers from the planters had “gone to a local resident” and discussions were taking place about replacing the plaques.

Chairman of the association, Graham Croucher, said: “I have written to NCC in the strongest terms to communicate the anger and concerns of residents and have demanded an urgent meeting for them to explain their duplicitous actions.”

This year the SJRA won a Silver award in Northampton in Bloom for its efforts in improving the look of the area.

The association claims an agreement was made between it and the county council, where two of the three raised planters would be removed and the decaying tree would be replaced.

Workers have removed all of the planters “without any consultation with elected community representatives”, SJRA says.

The commemorative plaques attached to them commemorated the Gammons family of Parkwood Street, who were killed in a Zeppellin air raid of 1917, the fallen soldiers of World War One and deceased councillor Terry Wire.

Mr Croucher added: “What is the point of them asking our opinion if they are just going to ignore us and do what they want anyway?

“On this basis we have decided that we are withdrawing our support for the scheme, for the time being, until we reach a clear understanding with NCC?”

The Smart corridor scheme will see live traffic “totems” installed in St James, sensors put in place to monitor traffic flow and new bus stops added.

A spokesman for the county council said: “We are in contact with representatives from the St James Residents Association about the Smart Corridors project, with our latest meeting taking place on Wednesday to discuss their concerns.

“We have also been in liaison with the wider community about the project and have letter-dropped residents and businesses and held two information events.

“The flowers from the original planters in the area have gone to a local resident and we are in discussions about what planting will take place in the area, once the project is complete.

“The commemorative plaques have temporarily been removed while work is taking place and will be replaced once the project is complete.”

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Calls have been made for safety measures along Western Avenue in Daventry.

The move comes after a car collided with an elderly pedestrian on the road on Sunday afternoon.

Northamptonshire Police said that at about 5.30pm close to the Orchard Street junction, a grey Vauxhall Corsa, being driven by a 62-year-old man, collided with a 92-year-old man who was on foot.

The pedestrian was seriously injured and taken to hospital in Coventry.

Police are asking anyone with information to call the Drivewatch Hotline on 0800 174615.

Anthony Gibbons was walking his dog along the road at the same time.

He said: “I got there a few minutes after it happened. I think the pedestrian must have been going to the shop because he had been carrying a carton of milk.

“The milk was all over the car and its windscreen was smashed.

“I didn’t see the collision happen, so I don’t know what caused it.”

But Mr Gibbons, who has lived by the road for two years, said something needs to be done to improve safety for motorists and pedestrians.

Western Avenue was originally built as the town’s first bypass, carrying the A45.

As such it is relatively long and straight. Few houses front on to it for most of its length, but there are some at its northern end.

However, the road separates a large part of Daventry from the town centre, and a lot of foot and vehicle traffic crosses it.

Mr Gibbons said: “It’s the worst road I’ve ever seen in a town. I would say one out of 10 vehicles sticks to the 30mph speed limit, some go a lot faster.

“It’s busy, there’s people crossing it, there’s junctions. It would only take a child to try and cross the road and we could have a fatal collision.

“There are traffic lights further down but that’s it really. If they put a speed camera up here they would be handing out so many fines. But I think what really needs to be done is something to slow the traffic down along the whole length.

“Zebra crossings won’t do much, I don’t think, but maybe mini-roundabouts or speed bumps.”

Northamptonshire County Council’s highways department is responsible for improvements to roads. Some work is planned along the southern part of the road to improve traffic flow as more homes are built.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council said: “Investigations are still ongoing into the cause of the accident. Western Avenue, like all of our roads, is monitored by officers to look for any patterns in accidents. This information is then used to inform any decisions on what appropriate action needs to be taken.”

Charges for using council-run car parks in Kettering will be reviewed next year.

Shoppers currently have to pay £6 for staying for more than three hours in either the London Road, Municipal Offices, Commercial Road, Wadcroft, Queen Street or School Lane car parks.

The charges were branded ‘extortionate’ by Labour’s Clark Mitchell earlier this year, with parking in nearby Wellingborough free.

Kettering Council’s portfolio holder for town centres Cllr Mark Dearing (Con, Desborough Loatland) says there will be a review next year, potentially in March or April.

He said: “There will be a review next year on parking and we’ve got to take that seriously.

“I think everyone has a different view on it but we reduced it last time and we would look to see if we could do that depending on the finances again for the review next year.

“We want to encourage people to stay longer so this is why we’ll have the review on car park charges.

“It’s important to listen to what the people say.

“I’m not convinced that having completely no charges whatsoever [like Wellingborough] works but everyone has got a different view on it.”

Parking on Sundays and Bank Holidays is currently free, with further free parking days near Christmas for shoppers.

Cllr Dearing added that that initiative is something the council is looking to continue.

He said: “One of the things we will be doing next year again is having the free parking days for people, I think that’s important when they’re coming at Christmas time.

“We want to get the amount of people in we can and I think offering those sorts of free days, while it might cost the council money, is worth doing because it does bring the extra people in.

“When you look at all the car parks Kettering Council owns some of them, we don’t own all of them.

“We don’t have any meters on the roads, we still have on-road parking, and that’s free for people.”

Job Centre staff in Northampton are looking to fill 500 factory jobs this Christmas - and hundreds more could be on the way when a sandwich maker expands in the town.

Senior operations leader for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)in Northamptonshire, Mette Soerensen, said a number of warehouses are hoping to take on seasonal picker/packers, loaders and driving staff through the Job Centre this festive season.

Though many of the roles will be on a short-term contract, Mrs Soerensen said the positions can act as a springboard for people who have been out of work.

“When people are in work it is much easier to find them different work as well,” she said.

“A lot of the work we do is helping people already in a job to get them something better.”

But Mrs Soerensen also revealed that sandwich makers Greencore are looking to expand their operation in Northampton in January and employ staff through the Job Centre.

The firm currently has a warehouse at Moulton and employs more than 1,000 people.

But it came under fire in 2014 when the company looked to fill 300 new positions by recruiting from Hungary.

Pub firm Greene King is also hoping to take on around 90 staff in Northampton through a Job Centre scheme, Mrs Sorenson said, when the firm establishes a new venue at the former British Timken site in Duston.

The latest job figures for October published by the DWP show the number of people claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance and Universal Credit across Northamptonshire has fallen slightly by 0.6 per cent, compared with October last year.

But while the number of long term unemployed has fallen in Northampton, there are now 12 per cent - 55 - more young adults claiming either of the benefits than there were in October 2015.

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Relatives of elderly people who attend a Northampton day centre under threat of closure fear the decision has already been made to shut its doors - though the county council claims it’s not a done deal yet.

Northamptonshire County Council (NCC) is currently proposing the closure of two day services that provide specialist care for those with Alzheimer’s and dementia: the Drayton Centre in Kingsthorpe and Stephenson Court in Kilsby.

The move would save £400,000 though a final decision on both is not due to be made until the authority’s next cabinet meeting on December 13.

A consultation is currently being held via the council’s website.

However relatives of those who attend the Drayton Centre fear their protests will make little difference.

Rachela Amalfitano, whose 83-year-old mother has been at the Drayton Centre for nearly three years, said: “We had no idea they were proposing this.”

“When you ask them why they are looking at closing it they say there are ‘a certain amount of places that aren’t being used’, but I don’t understand how they are not able to fill the places.

“We would be extremely disappointed, it’s a very personal, individual care you get there.”

Miss Amalfitano said her mother would find the move “very traumatic.”

She said: “People with Alzheimer’s, a change really means a lot for them.

“My mum really likes one particular carer, and she will lose that.”

Paul Crofts of Save Northants Services, which is helping with a campaign to save the centre, said there are likely to be several speakers at the next cabinet meeting in December.

He said: “We were approached by some of the relatives that use the service.

“The people have told us the Drayton Centre has big rooms, it has high quality, good caring staff and they have different things going on in each room.

“They just feel this is a fait accompli.”

A Northamptonshire County Council spokesman said this was not the case.

“A final decision about the Drayton Centre and Stephenson Court is still to be made by cabinet next month and all feedback received during the public consultation will be taken into account as part of that decision-making process,” he said.

“As part of the consultation, we have talked to the current users and their families and carers about what alternative provision could be offered, but until the cabinet has made its decision, these details are still to be confirmed.

“The council has a range of providers of day care service and we need to use these as effectively as possible to meet the needs of our service users, while ensuring value for money. Whatever the outcome of this consultation, we will ensure that users are properly assessed and their needs met effectively.”

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A Northampton man who feared he was paralysed when a car crash in London Road triggered a spinal injury this week - has paid thank you to the emergency services who came to his rescue in the nick of time.

Two fire engines, the air ambulance, and three land ambulances were called to the road just before 8am on Tuesday, when Alex Salustro and another driver were involved in a collision.

The coming together blocked meant London Road had to be shut to allow air medics to land safely.

The 27-year-old former amy man, who had to leave the forces due to a spinal disc injury, feared the worst immediately after the crash.

Recovering at home in Upton this week, he said: “It wasn’t a massive crash, but it set off the previous back injury that I had to leave the army for.

“I just lost all feeling from the waist down, which was quite scary.”

But Mr Salustro said he has now regained feeling in his legs, which he said was in no small part due to he quick-thinking actions of the emergency crews.

After firefighters managed to get him out of his stricken van without cutting the roof, The Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulamnce crew then flew him to University Hospitals, Coventry.

He said: “They were so helpful. They got to the scene straight away and managed to get me into the helicopter.

“They were absolutely tremendous and I don’t think they get enough praise.”

After the crash Mr Salustro said he dialled 999 himself.

“Straight away the panic set in,” he said. “I was more worried about not making it to work on time at first.

“Then when I realised I couldn’t feel my legs I was frantically trying to get feeling back in them.

“I called the ambulance and they were there pretty much straight away.”

Mr Salustro, who does several charity events for the Royal British Legion, says he intends to raise money for the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance in the future to say thanks.

After the incident on Tuesday, Mr Salustro, took to his Facebook page to thank the blue light services.

“I just want to say a massive thank you to the ambulance, fire, police and air ambulance crews that came to my rescue.

“So glad I’m not paralysed from the waist down, which was my fear.”

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