Fixture: Stevenage v Northampton Town, Sky Bet League Two

Date/time: Saturday, February 23, 3pm kick-off

Venue: Lamex Stadium

Forecast: 14C, sunny spells

Outs and doubts: Stevenage: Elijah Adebayo (suspended), Ben Nugent (suspended), Danny Newton (ankle). Cobblers: George Cox (ankle), Sam Foley (back), Marvin Sordell (knee)

Betting: Stevenage 7/4, draw 11/5, Northampton 31/20

Form guide: Boro DLWLWW, Cobblers DDWLDL

Possible line-ups: Stevenage (3-4-2-1): Farman; Henry, Curthbert, Wilkinson; Wilding, Hunt, Timlin, Byrom; Makasi, Chair; Revell. Northampton (3-5-2): Cornell; Goode, Taylor, Pierre; Facey, Buchanan, McWilliams, O’Toole, Bridge; Morias, A Williams.

Man in the middle: Lee Swabey

Last time out: Lincoln 2 Stevenage 2 (Chair 2); Northampton 0 Crawley 0

Most recent meeting: December 15, 2018 – Northampton 1 (Bowditch) Stevenage 1 (Kennedy)

Record v Stevenage: P9 W6 D2 L1

Opposition view: “It is a totally different game to last week,” Stevenage boss Dino Maamria told the club website this week. “Northampton with Keith Curle have turned the corner and they have responded really well to him.

“I have watched them a few times now, they are solid defensively, they do the basically really well and are compact in the middle of the park. It’s a huge game for us.”

Cobblers connection: Joel Byrom was not one of the headline performers during Cobblers’ title success three years ago, but he nevertheless played a valuable part in Chris Wilder’s record-breaking squad. The classy central midfielder made 40 appearances and scored two goals as Town romped away with the League Two title.

Things then went downhill for both the team and Byrom, who became a bit-part player under Rob Page the following season and, having mustered only five appearances in the first half of the campaign, moved to Mansfield in January 2017. Eighteen months later, the 32-year-old rocked up at Stevenage and he remains there to this day, playing in all 33 league games so far this season.

James Heneghan’s preview: It will take something extraordinary for Saturday’s fixture at the Lamex Stadium to match the drama and excitement of the previous time Northampton stepped foot in Stevenage.

With the Cobblers unbeaten in 14 league games and running away with the League Two title almost three years ago, they found themselves stunned by two Luke Wilkinson headers inside the first half-hour as relegation-battling Stevenage threatened an upset.

But, in keeping with their crazy season, Chris Wilder’s men launched a dramatic fightback as James Collins pulled one back, John-Joe O’Toole levelled and then Ricky Holmes unleashed a spectacular stoppage-time winner to send visiting fans wild and keep Cobblers on course for the title.

Sadly, even victory on Saturday would do little to muster excitement among Northampton supporters such is the way their season continues to fizzle out. For Stevenage though, there’s still plenty to play for.

Dino Maamria’s men are having a curious season. Despite struggling with consistency, and despite having a goal difference of -4 – worse than anyone else in the top 14 and the same as the Cobblers – they remain in the race for the play-offs, three places and two points outside the top seven.

One man Northampton will have to keep a watchful eye on this weekend is young QPR loanee Ilias Chair who, one of four deadline day signings made by Maamria last month, produced a remarkable individual display to almost single-handedly earn Stevenage a point at leaders Lincoln City last time out.

Trailing 2-0 with 87 minutes played, Chair rescued a dramatic draw for his side, smashing home two superb strikes, the second of which prompted Maamira to sprint down the touchline in celebration.

Finding a way to nullify Chair’s threat will form an important part of Curle’s gameplan, but the Cobblers boss must also ensure his side strike the right balance after last week’s overly defensive display at home to Crawley.

Five points from three games represents a decent return following Town’s big defeat to Colchester, but if Curle is to win over the sceptics and build a solid foundation for next season, performances need to improve over the final 13 fixtures.

He is at least boosted by the return of up to four players this weekend. Jordan Turnbull and Shay Facey are expected to be fit, while Marvin Sordell and Sam Foley are also close to returning to action. George Cox remains out with ankle ligament damage.

Prediction: Stevenage 1 Northampton 1

There are seven changes to the team that smashed Sale Sharks 67-17 at the Gardens last Saturday.

Alex Waller, Reece Marshall, Paul Hill, David Ribbans, James Haskell, Alex Mitchell and James Grayson come into the team.

Francois van Wyk, James Fish, Paul Hill, Alex Moon, Jamie Gibson and Cobus Reinach, who are all among the replacements, make way, along with Dan Biggar, who is on the Wales bench for their Six Nations clash with England.

Teimana Harrison (hamstring) remains on the sidelines, while Ehren Painter (illness) joins him on the list of absentees.

“We want to give all of our guys opportunities and you’ve got to be able to put your faith in your entire squad, so we’ve picked the team that we think is the right team to play against Bath,” said Saints boss Chris Boyd.

“One swallow doesn’t make a summer and we’re not quite seeing the consistency in our performances yet – things went our way last week and we capitalised pretty well, but you have to do it three or four times before you can say that the penny’s dropped.

“We have a template that everyone is starting to feel confident and relaxed within, so as long as we stick to the processes we want we can take advantage of our opportunities this weekend.”

Meanwhile, Dave Attwood and Jonathan Joseph are set to mark milestone appearances for the Bath in tomorrow's clash.

Attwood will make his 150th appearance for the club, while Joseph will bring up a century of appearances in the blue, black and white.

But Bath have been hit by two big blows on the wing as Semesa Rokoduguni is out due to injury and Joe Cokanasiga is in the England squad for their clash with Wales.

Saints: Furbank; Tuala, Hutchinson, Francis, Naiyaravoro; Grayson, Mitchell; Waller (c), Marshall, Hill; Ribbans, Ratuniyarawa; Haskell, Ludlam, Wood.
Replacements: Fish, van Wyk, Franks, Moon, Gibson, Reinach, Burrell, Pisi.

Bath: Atkins; McConnochie, Joseph, Willison, Vuna; Priestland, Chudley (cc); Catt, Dunn, Thomas; Attwood; Charteris (cc); Stooke, Louw, Mercer.
Replacements: Walker, van Rooyen, Lahiff, Ewels, Grant, Green, Burns, Clark.

Nearly one in three jobseekers in Northampton are aged 50 or over, new ONS data shows.

International Longevity Centre UK, a think tank, says older unemployed people are hampered by age discrimination and a lack of flexibility from employers.

In January, 2,695 people were out of work in Northampton, of whom 800 were aged 50 or over.

The data only includes people without a job who are claiming benefits linked to unemployment, either Job Seeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit.

The bulk of unemployed people in the area were aged among 25 and 49 years old - 1,445 in total. Just 445 were between 16 and 24 years old.

Dr Brian Beach, a senior research fellow at ILC-UK, which specialises in researching the impact of longevity on society, said few older people benefit from effective support in their job search.

He said: “The key barriers older people face are ageist attitudes and a lack of flexibility in working arrangements.

“Tackling age discrimination must be the number one priority if we are to enable more people who want to work to find jobs in later life.”

Across the UK, 27% of unemployed benefit claimants were aged 50 or older in January 2019 - 270,000 people.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “Experienced workers are a huge asset to the workforce and there are now 10.4 million over 50-s in employment – a record number.”

“Through the National Careers Service and personal work coach support at their local Jobcentre Plus, we are supporting older people to get the work they want regardless of their age.

“In addition, our Fuller Working Lives strategy is encouraging employers to recruit, re-train and retain older workers”.

In Northampton, the number of people claiming out-of-work benefits rose by 3% in the year to January 2019, compared with a national increase of 23%.

The ONS puts this rise down to the Universal Credit roll-out process.

A spokesman said: “Under Universal Credit, a broader span of claimants are required to look for work than under Jobseeker’s Allowance.

“As Universal Credit full service is rolled out in particular areas, the number of people recorded as being on the claimant count is therefore likely to rise.”

Mary Letts was doing her weekly shop at Morrison’s in Kettering Road on Wednesday morning (February 20) when a man asked her for directions to the hospital.

Upon arriving home she found out her purse had been stolen from her handbag and her card has since been used at a Co-op store and cash has been withdrawn.

Mary had even thought about helping the man but decided not to in the end.

Her son Stuart said: "I shared this on Facebook and a couple of other people have messaged me saying the same thing has happened to people they know, one at the same store and one at Sainsbury's.

"I really think people should be warned about this as it has happened more than once. I want to raise awareness with older people that this is going on so hopefully they will be more cautious.

"It's not nice to see my mum scared to be in her own home at the thought they might try and break in. They have her address from her driving licence which was in her purse."

A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire Police said: "This happened in Kettering Road on February 20, between 10.30am and 11am, when a woman had her purse stolen after a man distracted her by asking for directions to the hospital."

Fixture: Northampton Saints v Bath

Competition: Gallagher Premiership (round 14)

Venue: Franklin's Gardens, Northampton

Date and kick-off time: Saturday, February 23, 2019, 2.45pm

TV coverage: None

Referee: Ian Tempest

Saints: Furbank; Tuala, Hutchinson, Francis, Naiyaravoro; Grayson, Mitchell; Waller (c), Marshall, Hill; Ribbans, Ratuniyarawa; Haskell, Ludlam, Wood.

Replacements: Fish, van Wyk, Franks, Moon, Gibson, Reinach, Burrell, Pisi.

Bath: Atkins; McConnochie, Joseph, Willison, Vuna; Priestland, Chudley (cc); Catt, Dunn, Thomas; Attwood; Charteris (cc); Stooke, Louw, Mercer.

Replacements: Walker, van Rooyen, Lahiff, Ewels, Grant, Green, Burns, Clark.

Outs: Saints: Andy Symons (knee), Harry Mallinder (knee), Tom Emery (shoulder), Mikey Haywood (knee), Dylan Hartley (knee), Teimana Harrison (hamstring), Ehren Painter (illness), Mitch Eadie (hamstring), Courtney Lawes, Dan Biggar, Samson Ma'asi, Alex Coles, Ollie Sleightholme, Fraser Dingwall (all international duty).

Most recent meeting: Saturday, September 22, 2018: Bath 17 Saints 15 (Gallagher Premiership)

Tom's preview: Isn't it amazing how fortunes fluctuate during the course of a season?

Sides can go from also-rans to top-four contenders in the blink of an eye.

If they have a coaching team who can encourage development and the squad manages to stay clear of too many major injuries, it seems almost every Premiership team can target the play-offs.

And for Saints, the journey has not been long but the progress has been fast so far this season.

Last Saturday, they took on a Sale side who went from propping up the Premiership in November to catapulting themselves to the edge of the top-four spots.

But the Sharks found themselves submerged in Northampton, seeing their five-match unbeaten run in the league sunk.

The Saints team they defeated at the AJ Bell Stadium back in November suddenly seemed like the better bet to make the play-offs.

And though no one at the Gardens will be getting carried away, there can be no doubt that Saints' improvement under their current coaching team has been stark this season.

They are putting their attacking play together far more frequently now and, having allied that with some defiant defending last weekend, they looked the full package.

More tough tests will come in the next few weeks, starting with Saturday's game against Bath at the Gardens.

But there can be no doubt that Saints are starting to click, especially when you consider they have now scored 48 tries in their past five games.

They have not just done it against ordinary opposition like Timisoara Saracens and a Leicester second string, they have done it against the likes of Clermont and Sale.

And it just shows what confidence and belief in the system that has been put in place can do.

Saints are now closing in on the top four and having looked at their fixtures with trepidation at the start of the season, supporters will now be much more bullish about what's ahead.

Fans are allowed to be less grounded than the players and confidence in Saints' chances of enjoying what would be considered a successful season is rising.

Now it is up to the players to back up a big performance once again, against a Bath side who also harbour top-four hopes.

But you certainly wouldn't bet against the black, green and gold right now.

Tom's prediction: Saints 30 Bath 14

Richard, who was a pop star in the 1980s and is now a vicar in Finedon, has been talking about his life changing time at Isham House, on the St Andrew's Hospital site, as a teenager.

He had gone there due to a mental health crisis and came away with a new outlook on life.

"I was an inpatient here myself when I was 17, in 1979 when I had an episode of clinical depression and a crisis which followed.

"It was just fortunate that my mum and dad had health insurance that generously provided for me to come here.

"I was an inpatient at Isham House in group therapy there and it saved my life, literally saved my life."

Richard spoke about the 'very humane regime' at Isham House at the time, which he said had been the case from its establishment under a different name.

He said: "Northampton County Asylum sounds like something from a horror film, but of course asylums were there to provide refuges for people.

"One of the reasons why that mental health crisis happened was because I was coming to terms with my sexuality.

"And as a gay man in Kettering in 1978, there wasn't really much sense of as life rich in possibility lying dead ahead, I have to say.

"It was a much less tolerant world then than it is today and that was a real struggle.

"Partly that was an external thing, finding your place in the world but you internalise that stuff and that was a huge deal for me."

Richard said that care from two psychiatrists in particular, Colin Wilson and Dr 'Lottie' Lottinger made the real difference to him.

He said: "Coming here in an enlightened regime made a big difference to me

"They were just not bothered about me being gay."

He gave me a Jeffrey Weeks book called 'Coming Out', which was an absolutely seminal work in gay liberation but also in reconciling and integrating that into part of an identity that was just fine and nothing remarkable.

"In those days it was really quite unusual.

"And that's what saved my life, I think. It just made me realise that all that internalised self-loathing which was the kind of inheritance of people who grew up in a world where being gay was a criminal identity.

"Growing up and realising that was me was really tough."

Richard was talking during a visit to St Andrew' Hospital as part of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) History Month.

St Andrew's is holding various events for both staff and patients to come together and celebrate the LGBT community.

Richard took the time to meet with both staff and patients, before taking a tour of the hospital grounds and both adults and adolescent wards.

The force has now confirmed that the 24-year-old who lost his life after being struck outside McDonald's in the Drapery was Northampton man Bradley Matcham.

The incident happened close to an alleyway near the fast food outlet between 5.10am and 5.15am on Saturday, February 9, when Mr Matcham was punched once to the head, causing him to lose consciousness and collapse.

He was taken to University Hospital Coventry but sadly died as a result of his injuries on Monday, February 18.

A 19-year-old man arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the incident is currently in custody assisting police with their enquiries. An 18-year-old man and a 20-year-old man arrested in connection with the incident have been released under investigation pending further enquiries.

Anyone with information, or who witnessed the incident, is asked to call Northamptonshire Police on 101. Information can also be shared anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Anyone calling with information can quote the incident number: 19000067841.

Councillors have suspended the licence of a Northampton nightclub that police said was ‘poorly run’ after a number of incidents including a sex assault on an underage girl.

Northamptonshire Police asked Northampton Borough Council’s licensing sub-committee to review the premises licence due to the number of times the force had been called to the Sheep Street club in recent months.

This included on July 15 last year, when the force investigated two sexual assaults on girls aged 17 and 18, who had entered the nightclub without being asked for ID despite looking ‘very young’. They befriended male customers and left in their company.

The police say it showed ‘a lack of management direction when it comes to performing ID checks’.

One month prior to this, police had been called after hundreds of customers left the venue with no dispersal plan, with ‘no action or support from staff’ as chaos unfolded. One man was arrested and charged with assault on a female.

In documents seen by the councillors on the committee, PC Chris Stevens says: “The police believe that a review is necessary in order to establish who is legally responsible for the premises. It is clear that whoever is currently responsible for it is undermining licensing objectives and that measures need to be put in place in the form of conditions to ensure that the management practices are fit for purpose.”

Two other visits to the club had seen staff show an ‘anti-police attitude’ according to written evidence from officers, and on one occasion it was ‘very clear’ that the use of class B drug cannabis was taking place within the venue.

The licensing sub-committee, which met on Thursday morning (February 21) at The Guildhall, decided to suspend the premises licence for a period of three months and impose a series of conditions recommended by the police.

The licence holder has been given 21 days to appeal the decision.

The hugely popular vegan sausage roll launched by Greggs at the start of the year is now available to buy in all the main branches in town.

Originally launched in 950 shops while bosses gauged customer demand, the now infamous vegan snack is being rolled out into all Greggs stores.

According to the ‘vegan sausage roll locator‘ on the official Greggs website, the meat-free product is now available in all the main branches across Northampton including Mercer's Row and Abington Street in the town centre.

Branches in Harborough Road, Brackmills, Harvey Reeves Road (Travis Perkins) and the Weston Favell Shopping Centre are also now fully stocked.

The lower calorie offering was initially hard to come by in Northampton with signs even going up in the Abington Street store to say they'd sold out.

The vegan sausage roll is being introduced to 250 additional shops per week until every Greggs branch is stocking it before Friday March 8.

Greggs said the public response to the £1 product had been “overwhelming” since the new item had been unveiled at the start of January.

A spokesperson for Greggs said the company would not disclose specific sales figures but revealed that the vegan sausage roll had become its fastest selling new item in at least six years.

“It has been one of the most successful launches in Greggs’ history,” the company said in a statement.

The vegan sausage roll is designed to replicate some of the features of the meat-filled option, including 96 layers of puff pastry, but is filled with Quorn.

Two men forced their way into a Tesco delivery van in Wellingborough.

The van was in Barnwell Road when men barged their way in and took an unknown amount of shopping.

A getaway driver waiting in a Mercedes Sprinter van then helped them escape the scene with the stolen property.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Police are investigating the burglary yesterday evening (February 21) in Stockmead Road, Little Billing.

Between 8pm and 8.45pm, an unknown offender got into a property after jemmying a rear window, causing the glass to smash.

An untidy search was carried out before a man was seen climbing the garden fence and running away towards Dryleys Court.

The offender is described as a tall, slim black man, wearing a light coloured jacket and baseball cap.

Witnesses or anyone with information are asked to call Northamptonshire Police on 101. Information can also be shared anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or on the Crimestoppers website.

A national campaign backed by this newspaper and Northamptonshire's coroner to officially record the suicides of military veterans has prompted a row at the heart of the heart of central government.

An investigation by JPIMedia Investigations last summer - which prompted a national debate - revealed that the Government does not monitor how many former service personnel take their own lives, amid fears that the number of cases is spiralling.

Allied nations like the US, Australia and Canada all record the number of veteran suicides closely, having found significant increases in the past decade.

Campaigners say official UK figures are now also vital to help traumatised war heroes.

Since we highlighted the issue, Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood announced the Government would begin a study into suicide rates among veterans who previously served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also said in November that it was his ambition "to understand from every coroner whether an individual death is a veteran or not".

However, JPIMedia Investigations can now reveal a row at the heart of Government over the issue, with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) claiming it is not feasible for coroners to record veteran suicides - even though MPs on the the Defence Select Committee are in support of the move.

Northamptonshire's own coroner Anne Pember was also broadly supportive of the scheme, saying: “If it would in any way prevent a future death then it’s clearly worthwhile.”

She also felt the recording of such suicides would not add add any undue additional workload on coroners.

The Defence Select Committee has been keenly pursuing the issue of military mental health, publishing their first report last July. It recommended that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) work with the justice departments across the four UK nations to work out from existing suicide records whether someone had been a veteran.

A second report by the committee, due to be published on Monday, is expected to further press the Government for progress.

Co-founder of All Call Signs, an app for veterans to talk through their problems with a team of volunteers, Stephen James, also backed our campaign after reading Mrs Pember's comments in the Chronicle and Echo.

"The fact that this data isn't already collected and used to shape the healthcare and support provided for living veterans is tantamount to negligence," he said.

"The increase to defence spending this year to tackle mental health issues in and around the armed services, equates to less than 0.05% of MoD spending.

"It isn't enough and we're talking to PTSD sufferers who report an eight-week wait between when they reach out in crisis to when they're called back to arrange treatment, and even then, the treatment is outsourced to charities."

Jeff Williams, a former Royal Marine Sergeant Major and campaigner with the Birmingham-based group Veterans Against Suicide, told JPI that he is "devastated" to hear that the MoJ has ruled out support from coroners.

He said: “I am not surprised but I am pretty devastated because a lot of people in the veterans community have hung their hats on this happening.

"We were under the impression that this was in the late stages of being implemented and it wasn't going to be a problem."

His group has recorded the suspected suicide of five veterans and four serving members of the forces so far this year, with 80 former and current service personnel believed to have taken their lives in 2018.

"It should be straightforward for coroners to ask families if their loved ones were veterans," he said.

His organisation can verify "with one phone call" whether someone was a veteran or not.

“This is just a cop-out in my opinion," he said.

Dr Walter Busuttil, Medical Director of national veterans’ mental health charity Combat Stress, said it is now up to to MPs to step in and make it a statutory responsibility on coroners to record veteran suicides.

"If they want to record things properly then they are going to have to change the law,” he said.

He said it sounded a viable idea for coroners' IT systems to be linked to MoD pension records, to verify if someone was a veteran.

“There are precedents, it can be done," he said.

However, the MoJ said it was too complex for coroners to record veteran suicides, in particular because of the potential difficulties of accurately establishing a victim’s occupational history.

"For this reason, there are no plans to require coroners to record this kind of information in the context of suicide conclusions,” a spokesperson said.

The MoD is considering how to respond to the setback.

An MoD spokeswoman replied: “We take the well-being of all those who have served extremely seriously and we are currently considering how we can better understand the cohort of veterans who take their own lives.”

Last week Mr Ellwood, a former Royal Green Jackets Captain, offered a public apology to the grieving families of veterans and serving personnel who took their lives this year and last, vowing to fight on in addressing the issue.

A heroic former Northampton taxi driver has been praised by a top judge for his brave efforts to gather dashcam evidence that sent a murderer to prison this week.

Daniel Quinn, 28, from Wolverhampton, was jailed for a minimum of 27 years this week for the murder of 34-year-old Daniel Fitzjohn.

Quinn, a drug dealer, 'hunted down' Mr Fitzjohn through the streets of Kingsley and stabbed him twice in the abdomen in a 'senseless killing' last June.

He was driven from the scene by Parminder Sanghera, 25, also from Wolverhampton, who was convicted on manslaughter and jailed for 10 and a half years.

But the trial may never have come to court if not for the bravery of a Bounds taxi driver who pursued Quinn through Kingsley to capture the brutal crime on his dashcam.

At Quinn's sentencing on Thursday (February 21) at Northampton Crown Court, His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo recommended the driver for a Northamptonshire High Sheriff Award and with it a £1,000 reward.

Judge Mayo said: "In all my years I've never conducted a case where a member of the public has been so brave to do what he did.

"[This driver] played an important in the finding of these two men and proving what they have done."

That evening, the driver told the jury how when Quinn and Sanghera arrived on Brookfield Road that evening - armed with a machete and a knife - Mr Fitzjohn and his friends scattered and ran away. The pair charged after them and a foot chase began.

But the taxi driver sped after the pair and captured nearly ever step of the attack. He even called 999 while he drove to alert the police.

The 999 call was played in court. The operator told him as he drove: "You're brave following them."

He replied: "I do this all the time. I'm shaking a little bit though."

Thanks to his efforts, he captured the moment Quinn lunged forward and fatally stabbed Mr Fitzjohn in Randall Road. The clip proved crucial to prosecuting the drug dealer.

Prosecutor Mary Loram QC agreed that, if not for the taxi driver, 'this case may not be here today'.

The Chronicle & Echo was unable to reach the driver for comment.

Another dispersal order is in place in Corby this weekend to try to tackle the town’s growing problems with gangs of youths.

After parents spoke out on social media this week following attacks on young people, and the sexual assault of a teenage girl who was lured away from the town centre by two older men, police have put in place a special order that allows them to remove troublemakers.

Corby Neighbourhood Policing Team, Corby Borough Council and Corby Town Centre Security will be conducting an operation covering the Town Centre and surrounding areas of West Glebe Park tonight.

A dispersal order has once again been authorised by senior officers meaning anyone who is causing or likely to cause anti-social behaviour will be told to leave the area for 48 hours.

Police have warned that children will be taken home if necessary and follow-up visits will be made to parents if the person is under-18.

Anyone who has been given a dispersal who subsequently returns to the area within the 48 hour time period can be arrested.

A police spokesman said: “Please take this as a gentle reminder for those of you with children known to frequent Corby town centre to acknowledge that if they are believed to be involved in anti-social behaviour of any kind then they can be dispersed under anti-social behaviour legislation and you may be visited by officers.”

The move follows a rise in anti-social behaviour and weeks of complaints by shoppers, people who have been on nights out in the town and local businesses.

The Adventure Cinema has organised sunset screenings of Oscar-nominated ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and blockbuster musical ‘The Greatest Showman’ at the home of Northampton Saints.

Franklin’s Gardens is set to host hundreds of film fans on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 June, with a state-of-the-art screen to be set-up in front of the Church’s stand.

A Saints spokesman said: "Cinema-goers are encouraged to bring their own blankets or camping chairs with them as they watch the films from the hallowed Gardens turf, while Northampton Saints’ on-site bars and food concessions stands will be open for refreshments."

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, which will be shown on Thursday 20 June, is a foot-stomping celebration of rock band Queen, their music and the band’s extraordinary lead singer, Freddie Mercury. Starring Rami Malek, the film has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

The following day the screen will be set for Grammy-nominated ‘The Greatest Showman’, the smash-hit musical starring Hugh Jackman, which celebrates the birth of showbusiness and tells the story of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.

Tickets can only be purchased via the Adventure Cinema website, with prices starting from £14.50*. There is also a family ticket (2x adults, 2x under-16s) available for 'The Greatest Showman' for £48.00*.

CLICK HERE to book tickets for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on Thursday 20 June.

CLICK HERE to book tickets for 'The Greatest Showman' on Friday 21 June.

Parking is available in Franklin’s Gardens car parks A, B and C, priced at £5, and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Gates will open at 7.30pm with each film beginning just after sunset (approx. 9.30pm).

Cinema-goers will not be allowed to bring their own food and drinks into the venue.

We'll have all the build-up, in-game updates and post-match reaction as it happens on this page. Hit F5 or refresh for the latest news from the Lamex Stadium.

An investigation by JPIMedia Investigations last summer - which prompted a national debate - revealed that the Government does not monitor how many former service personnel take their own lives, amid fears that the number of cases is spiralling.

Allied nations like the US, Australia and Canada all record the number of veteran suicides closely, having found significant increases in the past decade.

Campaigners say official UK figures are now also vital to help traumatised war heroes.

Since we highlighted the issue, Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood announced the Government would begin a study into suicide rates among veterans who previously served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also said in November that it was his ambition "to understand from every coroner whether an individual death is a veteran or not".

However, JPIMedia Investigations can now reveal a row at the heart of Government over the issue, with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) claiming it is not feasible for coroners to record veteran suicides - even though MPs on the the Defence Select Committee are in support of the move.

Northamptonshire's own coroner Anne Pember was also broadly supportive of the scheme, saying: “If it would in any way prevent a future death then it’s clearly worthwhile.”

She also felt the recording of such suicides would not add add any undue additional workload on coroners.

The Defence Select Committee has been keenly pursuing the issue of military mental health, publishing their first report last July. It recommended that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) work with the justice departments across the four UK nations to work out from existing suicide records whether someone had been a veteran.

A second report by the committee, due to be published on Monday, is expected to further press the Government for progress.

Co-founder of All Call Signs, an app for veterans to talk through their problems with a team of volunteers, Stephen James, also backed our campaign after reading Mrs Pember's comments in the Chronicle and Echo.

"The fact that this data isn't already collected and used to shape the healthcare and support provided for living veterans is tantamount to negligence," he said.

"The increase to defence spending this year to tackle mental health issues in and around the armed services, equates to less than 0.05% of MoD spending.

"It isn't enough and we're talking to PTSD sufferers who report an eight-week wait between when they reach out in crisis to when they're called back to arrange treatment, and even then, the treatment is outsourced to charities."

Jeff Williams, a former Royal Marine Sergeant Major and campaigner with the Birmingham-based group Veterans Against Suicide, told JPI that he is "devastated" to hear that the MoJ has ruled out support from coroners.

He said: “I am not surprised but I am pretty devastated because a lot of people in the veterans community have hung their hats on this happening.

"We were under the impression that this was in the late stages of being implemented and it wasn't going to be a problem."

His group has recorded the suspected suicide of five veterans and four serving members of the forces so far this year, with 80 former and current service personnel believed to have taken their lives in 2018.

"It should be straightforward for coroners to ask families if their loved ones were veterans," he said.

His organisation can verify "with one phone call" whether someone was a veteran or not.

“This is just a cop-out in my opinion," he said.

Dr Walter Busuttil, Medical Director of national veterans’ mental health charity Combat Stress, said it is now up to to MPs to step in and make it a statutory responsibility on coroners to record veteran suicides.

"If they want to record things properly then they are going to have to change the law,” he said.

He said it sounded a viable idea for coroners' IT systems to be linked to MoD pension records, to verify if someone was a veteran.

“There are precedents, it can be done," he said.

However, the MoJ said it was too complex for coroners to record veteran suicides, in particular because of the potential difficulties of accurately establishing a victim’s occupational history.

"For this reason, there are no plans to require coroners to record this kind of information in the context of suicide conclusions,” a spokesperson said.

The MoD is considering how to respond to the setback.

An MoD spokeswoman replied: “We take the well-being of all those who have served extremely seriously and we are currently considering how we can better understand the cohort of veterans who take their own lives.”

Last week Mr Ellwood, a former Royal Green Jackets Captain, offered a public apology to the grieving families of veterans and serving personnel who took their lives this year and last, vowing to fight on in addressing the issue.

Northampton Town Festival is set to return to the Racecourse this summer with live music and the iconic tethered hot air balloons.

But Northamptonshire band 'SkyFlood' say they are 'appalled' with one of its organisers after sharing a chain of emails after trying to book on to one of the stages.

The emails, which were sent over the course of a week, saw frontman Craig O'Donnell contact an organiser from Showtime Events Group to ask for a slot on stage for the weekend in summer.

Northampton Town Festival has apologised 'without reservation' for the exchange, which has been widely share don social media.

An exchange on February 20 read:

Craig - "Hi, just to confirm' are the photos I sent in the last email okay?"

The organiser - "You are a pest - we will be in contact'

Craig - "Sorry I'm just eager to play there that's all lol, thanks'

The organiser - "You need to chill a bit as your to pushy" [sic.]

Craig replied to say: "I really don't appreciate the rudeness... I feel your reply was extremely unprofessional and quite frankly I'm rather appalled at your response.

"I certainly do not hope you reply to anyone else in the same manner." He signed off on the email as 'Pest'.

The organiser said: "is this because you have been told that your would not be able to play? [sic.] Well after listening to your demo it's no wonder".

Craig has since published the exchange on the SkyFlood Facebook page and called the replies 'unprofessional'.

Craig told the Chronicle & Echo: "I found it completely bizarre.

"I understand that music at that level is hard and I imagine there are hundreds of bands emailing him everyday. Being rejected is normal. But to be spoken to that way and the wording he used is completely out of order."

A spokesman for Showtime Events Group, who organise Northampton Town Festival, said: "[We] would like to apologise without reservation for the unacceptable exchange between the guys from SkyFlood, and a representative from our team.

"The inbox receives a lot of enquiries for bands, trade space, entertainment and in [the organiser's] words ‘he just snapped’. We have taken measures to ensure that someone else will be responding to enquiries in the future.

"He wishes to apologise to anyone he has upset or offended."

Northampton Town Festival will return to the Racecourse on July 6 and 7. Last year's event drew 56,000 people to the park to watch live music, acrobatics and stunt teams.

Francis played the full 80 minutes, starring as his side earned a superb 67-17 success against Sale Sharks at Franklin's Gardens last Saturday.

It was his first outing since dislocating his shoulder in the early stages of the December 28 win against Exeter Chiefs.

But Francis suffered no adverse effects on his return, producing a big display at inside centre as he propelled his team to a big Gallagher Premiership victory.

"The return was well timed wasn't it?," Francis said. "It was a good team performance!

"It's not been too long a road for me. The decision I took at the time was to rehabilitate the shoulder to get me back on the pitch as soon as possible and I've done that.

"The shoulder felt really good and I'm really confident with it.

"As I say - it was well timed with a good performance back in the Prem against a good Sale team."

Francis opted to avoid surgery on the shoulder and he feels that can continue to be the case following some successful rehabilitation.

"As far as it goes at the moment, everything's good," he said.

"I'll continue to put more focus around it than other parts of my body at the moment but we're pretty good going forward and hopefully there shouldn't be an recurrences.

"It's always good to get 80 minutes like I did last weekend.

"Potentially Luther (Burrell) might have come on to do a bit of a swap for me but Ace's (Ahsee Tuala) calf cramped and that meant a reshuffle.

"But it was good to get 80 minutes under my belt and that should set me up for the next few weeks hopefully."

Francis even took over kicking duties after Dan Biggar was forced off early on.

And it was a good day from the tee for the centre, who landed six conversions.

"It was unfortunate for Dan to go off when he did but then it was nice to be given the kicking tee," the 28-year-old said.

"It's a big part of my game, I work a lot on it and it's good to be given the opportunity to display it.

"I'm very pleased with that as well."

Francis is now gearing up for another big Franklin's Gardens game, with Bath in town this afternoon.

"We're seventh and Bath are sixth and the table is very condensed," Francis said.

"Sale was a huge game for us and Bath is now an even bigger game.

"When we play teams around us in a congested part of the table, it's so important.

"They're a decent outfit but we're going to put another big performance on at home.

"If you can make your home ground a fortress it does put fear into other teams and it turns four-point wins into five-point wins.

"It's a fantastic surface here - the groundsmen work really hard - and it really helps us and how we want to play."

Boss Keith Curle is backing young loanees Timi Elsnik and Joe Powell to keep on improving and play a key role for the Cobblers in the final 13 games of the Sky Bet League Two season.

The midfield pair were brought to the club in the January transfer window, with Elsnik joining from Championship side Derby County and Powell signing from Premier League West Ham United.

Both players made their debuts in the 1-1 draw with Morecambe lasat month, with Elsnik making an immediate impact as he impressed and scored, while Powell struggled.

The pair have gone on to start three games apiece, with Powell playing his part in the recent 2-1 win at Tranmere Rovers, and they were both in the team for Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Crawley Town.

Elsnik and Powell played in an attacking midfield trio alongside Jack Bridge, but struggled to assert themselves, although both did go close to breaking the deadlock.

In the first half, Elsnik fired a close range volley from a long throw into the box just over the bar, and then after the break, Powell was a whisker wide with a 25-yard free-kick, the effort proving to be his final touch before he was substituted.

Despite those glimpses of quality, the pair failed to make much of an impression in general play, although Curle says he is pleased with the pair’s progress and that they will continue to improve.

“I think Joe Powell is growing with every minute he plays,” said the Cobblers boss.

“I think in the first game, with how he wanted to play he found it a massive step up, and a massive leap from Under-23s Premier League football to competitive league two football.

“We knew it was going to take time for him to adjust, but the pleasing thing is he has handled it, he has responded to it and there is more to come from him.”

On Elsnik, he added: “Timi is a goalscoring midfielder that can get on the front foot, and we saw that with the opportunity he had on Saturday.

“He made great movement in the box his finish went slightly over the bar, but he arrives in the box and creates chances.

“I think he is the type of player who overa period of time can be quiet in a game, but will then score goals, and goals change games.

“I am very pleased with him.”

Both will be hoping to be involved in Saturday’s clash at Stevenage, but competition for places is expected to intensify as Sam Foley, Shay Facey and Jordan Turnbull are all expected to be available.

Striker Marvin Sordell may also feature as he is close to recovering from his knee problem.