This data is based on the latest available information, which tracks reports of violent and sexual offences for January 2019 in each area in Northampton. There were a total of 719 reports of violent and sexual offences reported throughout the whole of the borough in January. Areas listed are a rough guide based on policing districts, and images are for illustrative purposes and do not represent a specific location.

Long serving Cobblers club historian Frank Grande has been named the EFL League Two Supporter of the Year, after he was nominated by the club for the award.

Grande, who is 70, has been a huge help to Northampton Town over many years.

He has been the historian since the early 1980s, has also written many books on the club and contributed to the matchday programme for almost 40 years.

Chairman Kelvin Thomas said: “We are delighted to learn of this award for Frank.

“He has been a huge help and a big friend of the club over many decades and this is a wonderful tribute to Frank and his family and is much deserved.

“We are really fortunate to have the support of some wonderful people at this club.

“This is the second year in succession our supporters have been recognised after Mustafa El-Bayati was named the EFL Supporter of the Year last year and that is a huge tribute to the individuals concerned.

“It shows how much this club means to our supporters and how much those supporters mean to the club.

“We know that Frank will be very proud of this award and we are certainly very proud to call Frank a friend and a fan of Northampton Town.”

The EFL Awards take place in London on Sunday, April 7.

Following the news that he has been named the EFL League Two Supporter of the Year, we throught it would be a good time to republish an interview we did with the Cobblers historian Frank Grande earlier this year.

Chron sports editor Jeremy Casey chatted to Frank about his love for the Cobblers, his favourite Town player, the best Cobblers game he has seen, the best club managers, and handing on the historian baton to his grandson, Ethan...

“It used to be said to me that ‘your claim to fame is that you are the Cobblers historian’. I used to say, ‘no, my claim to fame is if I Anglicised my name, I would be Frank Large...’

And in one sentence, Frank Grande manages to sum up his love for Northampton Town Football Club, and his favourite player to have donned the claret and white in 60 years of watching.

Grande has been the club historian for the Cobblers since the early 1980s, being the go-to man for facts and stats on Cobblers players from the earliest days following the club’s formation in 1897, right through to the present.

He has written and published a string of books on the club, including a history and a who’s who, and there is another on the way detailing the career of one of the club’s most famous sons, former player, manager, secretary and director Dave Bowen.

The 70-year-old will soon be filing away his stats books and files after more than 35 years of service, although things will be kept in the family as he is to be succeeded by his grandson Ethan - but more on that later.

It seems the right time to talk to a man who may not have ever set foot on the pitch at either the County Ground or Sixfields, but has been part of the fabric of the club for so long.

So first things first, when did Frank first watch the team who he would follow for the rest of his life?

“It was October, 1958, and it was a 1-1 draw with Exeter City,” said Frank, who was aged 10 on that first trip. “It was at the old County Ground, and I don’t really remember too much about it.

“I just remember thinking I had never seen so many people in one place at one time! I fell in love with the club straight away, and I always was in love with the club.

“The captain at the time, Ron Patterson, was a coach and he used to go round the schools coaching the children, so that was the beginning of my interest.”

As timings go, becoming a Cobblers fan in the late 1950s was pretty perfect, with the club on the cusp of launching the amazing run through the Football League divisions, culminating in that one and only season in the top flight in 1965/66.

“I followed the club up to the first division, and saw most of the home games in that season,” remembered Frank, who was born in Wellingborough and taken to games as a youngster by a family friend, as his dad ‘wasn’t interested’ in football.

“They won the third division championship, and then were runners-up in the second division and it was a great time. We got to see some great players.”

Indeed fans of Frank’s vintage did, in both the Cobblers team and in those of the opposition, but who is the best Cobblers player he has ever seen?

“I have to say it was Frank Large,” said Frank, who was also a familiar face on the local parks footballing scene, enjoying stints as the Sunday Alliance League secretary, a referee assessor and an NTFA official.

“Frank was a brilliant player. He could do everything, he scored goals at will. He would be like Bayo (Adebayo Akinfenwa) in more recent years. He was a real fans’ favourite, and he could play in defence as well!”

A total of 60 years in the tank watching one football club means there are a lot of games stored away in the memory bank as well, so what matches are Frank’s top picks?

“My favourite game was the 8-2 defeat to Manchester United, with George Best scoring six,” he said, referring to the infamous FA Cup clash of 1970 which although ended in that heavy defeat for Town, saw one of the world’s greatest footballers strut his stuff at the County Ground.

“Then there was John Frain’s winner at Wembley, which was special, and the day when the team won at Shrewsbury to stay up.”

Great memories all, but how did Frank come to be the club historian in the first place? Well, that was all down to his love of compiling a stat or two - and another man’s dislike of the same thing!

“When we played Aston Villa in the FA Cup in 1983, John Morris was the programme editor at that time,” said Frank.

“He needed stats, but he was a man who hated stats, whereas I collected them so I got involved there and then. I had always kept records of every game, every player.”

It has been a labour of love ever since, and Frank added: “As a historian you have to look into their careers as a player, and keep an eye on what they do. It’s hard to believe that you can take somebody like John Gregory now, and he is managing in India!”

In these days of the world wide web, there is of course more information on more things than anybody could ever need, but that was far from the case for Frank when he started delving into the Cobblers history.

Getting all the facts together was a long and difficult process.

“I used to go to the library and look through old Chronicle & Echos, and go through the match reports,” said Frank.

“It used to take a long time to get everything together, but it was worth it in the end.”

And Frank is still getting things together, having spent ‘six to nine months’ on the book about Bowen, which he says is set to be published in the near future.

The Welshman is perhaps the key figure in the club’s long history, and he is somebody Frank clearly has a lot of love and admiration for as well.

“It’s more of a statistical book, and it covers everything about Dave Bowen’s career, from being a player to being a manager,” said Frank. “It takes in his time with Wales, and the fact he played at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, playing against Brazil.”

It was perhaps as a manager he made his greatest mark though, masterminding that Cobblers surge to the top flight, so in Frank’s opinion was he the best boss?

“I would certainly say he is the club’s greatest manager, although the most successful one was Herbert Chapman back in the Southern League days,” he said.

“Then there was Graham Carr, Colin Calderwood and of course Chris Wilder, who were all excellent.”

Frank is now set to hand over the Cobblers stats baton to his teenage grandson Ethan, who is already well versed in the history of the club.

“Ethan will do things in his own way, and he has already set up the Cobblers Past account on Twitter, “ said Frank. “He knows everything there is to know!”

And despite Ethan’s tender years, he will also by now be well aware that watching Northampton Town is a roller-coaster ride of emotions.

Frank still attends matches, sitting in the west stand with his son Dustin and Ethan, and is regularly put through the wringer, as we all were on Saturday when Town were trounced 4-0 by Colchester United. But that is of course is all part of the process of following the Cobblers.

“It’s something we have to get used to as Cobblers fans I’m afraid,” opines Frank. “It makes the successful seasons more special.”

Yes it does, Frank. Yes it does.

Attempts to create a ‘People’s Plan for Northampton’ appear to have taken a back step until Northampton Borough Council submits its bid for High Street funding.

At its full council meeting in November 2018, a motion was agreed for the council to develop the ‘People’s Plan’ to help a likely new unitary authority prioritise regeneration projects.
But the councillor behind the motion, Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Sally Beardsworth, is concerned that there appears to have been little progress on the idea four months after it was agreed.

In a written question to Conservative council leader Councillor Jonathan Nunn, she asks: “We are now four months away from the stated deadline for producing the plan, and no indication is evident of any start on this council motion.

“Can the leader please provide an update setting out the stakeholders consulted and the progress to date, and provide an assurance that the People’s Plan will be produced by July 2019?”

Responding to her question, Councillor Nunn said: “Since the motion was passed in November 2019, we have also received the details of the government's ‘Future High Streets’ fund, and in order to ensure that there is a way of both capturing the views and aspirations of so many people and groups, and to also ensure that we submit a good Future High Streets Expression of Interest, NBC has recently coordinated a new stakeholder group (Northampton Forward) to further look at the wider regeneration of the town.

“Given the time pressure of the Expression of Interest deadline of 22nd March, and its focus on funding the built environment, the initial focus of this group is demonstrating to government the town’s need and ambition, and beginning to shape a vision and masterplan that will create a vibrant and sustainable future.”

The Future High Streets fund was launched in December, and has put £675million into a pot to bring high streets into the modern age.
Stakeholders in ‘Northampton Forward’ include the University of Northampton, the Town Centre BID, Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce and Royal & Derngate, many of which were expected to be consulted on the People’s Plan.

Speaking about the consultation for the People’s Plan moving forward, Councillor Nunn continued: “This must involve the widest possible consultation, and it is essential this this is not narrow. Therefore Northampton Forward may coordinate consultation, but the process must involve panels or sub groups across different subject areas and to ensure that it takes account of the views of a vast number of sources, from the public, to the council’s forums, and partners across very many other areas such as health, sport, the voluntary sector and community groups.”

Roger Thompson, 48, of Boughton Green Road, was arrested in 2016 after a taxi journey from Northampton town centre to Pitsford ended with the cabbie reportedly driving away 'fearing for his life'.

During Thompson's trial at Northampton Crown Court, the Bounds taxi driver who took him home at around 4am on June 17, 2016, told the jury what he witnessed.

On the journey from Northampton to Pitsford, Thompson reportedly became upset at the rising price of the cab fare.

Then, the driver said, a speeding car overtook the taxi.

The driver told the jury: "I told the passenger 'that was dangerous'. I was just making conversation. He replied 'that wasn't dangerous, you'll see dangerous when we get there'."

At the address in Pitsford, the 48-year-old reportedly asked if he could fetch money from inside to pay the £17.50 cab fare.

But when the driver next saw Thompson emerge from the cottage, he had a gun over his shoulder.

The driver said: "As soon as I saw him, I just drove off. I was scared for my life. My legs were shaking."

Police officers went to the cottage the next day where they found two air rifles, a deactivated shotgun and a deactivated musket.

The court heard how when he opened the door to the police, Thompson said: "I know what this is about. I had it with me when I came to the door."

But last week, the 48-year-old was found guilty by a jury of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear or harm.

At Northampton Crown Court yesterday (March 18), Thompson was jailed for two years and nine months. The firearm in question will also be destroyed.

A Northampton mother and shop worker will not say a word for an entire day next month to raise awareness for autism.

Vicky Stuart, who works at the Bohemian Finds vintage store in Market Walk, will keep schtum for the entire day on April 6 as part of a sponsored silence.

Anyone who finds Vicky behind the till on the Saturday will find she will only communicate with special cards and gestures.

She is keeping quiet from waking up until bedtime in support of her three-year-old son Harry, who is autistic and non-verbal.

Vicky told the Chronicle and Echo: "Harry will face different challenges as he grows up but one of the hardest things he faces is other people not being able to understand him.

"I want to show others you can always communicate in other ways if you are patient."

She will wear a badge showing customers why she cannot talk to them and hopes to show how there are always other ways to express yourself.

Her JustGiving page has already smashed its target and has raised £250 ahead of the day.
Vicky's sponsored silence coincides with Autism Awareness Week between April 1 and 7.

She said: "Autistic people still have feelings, are still funny, are still loving and still have hopes and dreams.

"I want to show people they can still communicate with people they can’t understand."

To learn more, visit Vicky's JustGiving page.

Keith Curle said there were ‘a lot of very pleasing aspects’ to come out of his side’s performance at Grimsby Town on Saturday, despite also admitting the Cobblers lacked quality in the final third.

Whilst ending their four-match winning run, the 0-0 draw at Blundell Park made it eight successive games unbeaten for Northampton as they continue to push for a top-half finish in League Two this season.

The visitors were the better team, particularly in the second-half, but they failed to really test home goalkeeper James McKeown, managing just a solitary shot on target across the 90 minutes.

“There’s a lot of aspects of the game that were very pleasing,” said Curle. “I’m disappointed not to come away with the three points but that, again, is another good sign.”

“We weren’t quite able to put quality balls into the box that have given us pleasing results in the past few weeks but I walked into the changing room afterwards and you can tell there’s an air of disappointment from the players because we haven’t won.

“That wasn’t there when I first walked into the building and that shows that we’re growing and that there’s a belief in the changing room, which is all positive.”

Knowing his side need victories to chase down the play-offs, Curle took the attacking option on Saturday when sending on striker Marvin Sordell for midfielder Daniel Powell and going two up front for the final 25 minutes.

He added: “We wanted to go 4-4-2 to get an extra man in front but both Andy Williams and Marvin Sordell knew that, out of possession, they had to sit in.

“We went through a two or three minute spell when (Jake) Hessenthaler was sitting out and being their spare man so we allowed them to do that but then we had the advantage of another man up front.

“Could I have done it earlier? We had a good foothold in the game and things were going OK and we just needed that break, but I’m pleased overall and I’m pleased to have those options available to us.”

James Grayson says Saints are a club on the up after securing their first trophy under boss Chris Boyd on Sunday afternoon.

Grayson was named man of the match after steering his side to a 23-9 Premiership Rugby Cup final win against Saracens at a sold-out Franklin's Gardens.

The Academy graduate delivered some key passes as Saints scored three tries on their way to claiming their first piece of silverware since winning the Premiership in 2014.

And fly-half Grayson, who picked up the award for Premiership Rugby Cup breakthrough player of the season after the game, said: "I'm very proud.

"It's a bit of history here for myself, having grown up here.

"The boys are excellent and so are the fans so I'm really happy.

"I'm really enjoying my rugby.

"Boydy's given us confidence and everyone's enjoying it.

"Everyone's playing, having fun and the fans are enjoying it.

"It's testament to Boydy, Sam (Vesty), all the guys who have come in.

"The club's going in the right direction."

Northampton Borough Council is to consider leasing land to a local football club so that it can build a clubhouse and community centre.

Thorplands Club 81 is exploring a partnership with Thorplands Residents’ Association to create the community space on land the club currently play at in the Round Spinney industrial estate.

But they require a helping hand from the borough council if they want to get external funding to help fund the project, in the form of a long-term lease for the ground at Stone Circle Road, which is just behind the Miller & Carter restaurant on Talavera Way.

Club secretary Colin Lee appealed to elected members to support their scheme at the full council meeting at The Guildhall last Monday (March 11).

He said: “We are looking for support in developing a clubhouse or community centre that will attract more people and get even more involved. Thorplands and Southfields don’t have any facilities like that and the idea is to build it for a large room of say 130 people, and you could use it for events or Scouts groups as well.”

The council's support would mean a great deal to Mr Lee, who helped form the club and at 79 years of age still occasionally plays himself. Back in 2011 he was dubbed ‘Britain’s Oldest Goalkeeper’ in the national media, and as well as occasionally manning the sticks he also acts as the manager for the Saturday side.

External funding bodies or organisations such as the Football Association tend to only consider funding if clubs own leases of at least 25 years for land they want to develop.

Deputy leader Councillor Phil Larratt told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Thorplands Club 81, which has six adult teams and 10 children’s teams, had approached the council for help ‘quite a while ago’.

He said: “They have got some pitches that they currently use and have done so for a long time. They have been playing up there for years and there’s potential to develop the site and build a clubhouse and changing rooms and all the facilities they would need.

“They are a very successful club who have approached the FA looking for funding, and they asked if we could help them by giving them a lease.

“They envisage a building which could also act as a community centre, so that would be great for the local area.”

Councillor Larratt said the decision to grant the lease would likely be coming to the borough council’s cabinet for approval in the next couple of months, as officers can only be delegated power to grant leases of up to 21 years.

Mr Lee added: “We’ll be looking for funding from wherever we can. If the council can give us the lease it means we can maintain it and move forward with this.”

Former Cobbler Matt Taylor has announced he is to retire from football at the end of the season.

The 37-year-old midfielder, who currently plays for Northampton’s League Two rivals Swindon Town, has made more than 650 league appearances during his 20-year career as a professional.

He made his senior debut for Luton Town and went on to play in the Premier League with Portsmouth, Bolton, West Ham and Burnley before joining the Cobblers in the summer of 2016.

Taylor spent 12 months and made 49 appearances for Town, scoring eight goals, but left for Swindon the following August and he remains at the County Ground, playing 32 games this season.

“I have loved every minute from leaving school at 16 years of age to pursue my dream,” said Taylor in a statement on Twitter.

“To the fans who have supported and followed my career, I hope I’ve given you some memories that, looking back, will make you smile.

“To make just one appearance as a professional football was special, so to have go on to play in more than 700 games makes me immensely proud.”

Customers can take free snaps with their loved ones and enter them into a prize draw to win £250 worth of holiday vouchers this Mothers Day.

The free of charge photo booth will be at Weston Favell shopping centre on Saturday, March 30 and Sunday, March 31 for everyone to use.

Shoppers are invited to take pictures with any of their family member to capture a special snap, and once it has been taken they will receive two instant prints to take home.

A £250 Thomas Cook voucher is also up for grabs.

Shoppers simply need to stick one copy of their photograph to the Weston Favell 'Wall Of Photos' and they will be automatically entered in the prize draw.

Weston Favell’s Centre manager, Kevin Legg, said “We wanted to give our loyal customers an opportunity to have a bit of fun this Mother’s Day and to say a big thank you to the special lady in their lives.

"The photo booth is a chance for our shoppers to make some happy memories and we are looking forward to seeing all of these being shared on our Wall Of Photos.”

WED2B, the wedding dress retailer who has a store on Wellingborough Road, has been named as 193 among the fastest growing companies in Europe.

Published earlier this month, the third annual Financial Times 1000 recognises companies in Europe that have achieved the highest compound annual growth rate in revenue.

WED2B claimed the 193 spot, followed by other nationally recognised companies such as Boohoo Group and Pitchup.com.

Todd Cassidy, managing director of WED2B, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have our efforts recognised by the Financial Times.

"It truly shows that our proposition, which puts the needs of brides-to-be at the heart of everything we do, is paying off.”

The company, which was founded in 2009, has grown to be the UK's largest and fastest growing bridal retailer and is recognised as one of the top companies in the UK for 'brick and mortar' retail, which refers to businesses that have physical, as opposed to online presence.

WED2B now has 36 stores nationwide, from Edinburgh to Brighton, and another six in wider Europe, including Dublin, Gent and Rotterdam.

All of their dresses are designed in the UK, limited edition and available off-the-peg, so brides-to-be can take home their dream dress on that same day.

She has embarked on the FridgeStreet project to sketch as many of the town's iconic buildings as possible, with the art being sold in the form of fridge magnets at Vintage Guru in St Giles Street. With more than 60 sketches to choose from, we have selected some pubs, restaurants and other night-time venues. How many can you name? (We'll publish the answers tomorrow).

A water company has taken extra safety precautions to cover large manholes with screens after three boys were pulled from the town’s sewer system last July.

A multi-agency operation involving fire crews, police office and the ambulance service saw a rescue plan get underway in Northampton in July after three boys became lost and trapped in the town's drainage system.

The boys were eventually found and rescued in the Kingsthorpe area during the operation and road closures were put in place in Kingsthorpe Road and Washington Street.

READ MORE: Huge emergency operation to find three boys lost and trapped in Northampton's drainage system
An Anglian Water spokesman said: “Whilst the urban explorer trend is popular, it can be extremely dangerous.

"A group of young explorers became stuck in our sewer network in Northampton last year. Luckily, they were rescued without harm, but the situation could have ended differently.

“Although most of our sewers are not big enough for people to enter, they all contain wastewater and operational equipment which makes them dark and dangerous - not a place to explore.”

"We evaluated all of our assets and decided that the largest ones were the most important ones to cover first and they have been fitted with screens to prevent access."

Urban exploring, sometimes called urbex, is the exploration and scaling of man-made structures, usually abandoned buildings, often with the aim of photographing them.

The growth of urban exploring on social media and an increase in people seeking out dangerous or exposed locations has led to concerns that young people could be injured or killed trying to emulate what they have seen online.

Is Urban Exploring illegal?

While trespass is generally a civil matter, criminal charges of causing alarm and distress can be made against those climbing structures if they cause onlookers to fear they may fall.

Damage caused by a trespasser may be considered a criminal offence.

Criminal behaviour orders can also be made prohibiting activities such as the climbing of man-made structures or accessing specific sites.

A village near Thrapston was hit by a series of overnight thefts.

Between 11pm on Sunday, February 24, and 7.30am on Monday, February 25, a number of vehicles in High Street, Twywell, were broken into and items were stolen.

Officers investigating the incidents would like to speak to two people captured on CCTV in the area at the time and have released an image of one of them.

A police spokesman said: “One is described as a white man, possibly in his early 20s, of slim build.

“He wore a hooded top with the hood pulled up and had a light coloured hat on beneath it.

“The other had their face covered.”

Witnesses and anyone with information about the incidents are asked to contact Northamptonshire Police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Nurseries and childminders were extremely angered over the weekend when the authority’s plans emerged to cut subsidies to the tune of £1.8m.

The proposal would have largely impacted on the best and most qualified early years providers as it would have taken £1m away from quality supplements.

The schools forum was due to make a decision on the funding cut yesterday (March 21) but decided against it after a backlash from the early years providers.

The authority will now go to the Department for Education to ask for more time to get its budget together. It should by law submit the budget to the DfE by March 31.

The council’s deputy director of children’s services Sharon Muldoon told providers: “We will speak to the DfE to see if we can get an extension. We have the budget proposal and that is not going to go away. We should have done this before now, but we are where we are.

“Next year we will make sure we have a forward plan to avoid this scenario. We need to do this with you rather than just look at what works for us.”

The council will now look at other ways to save the £1.8m from the early years budget. It says it will have overspent by £1.5m in the current 18/19 financial year.

The original plan, which was to keep the base rate the same, which is £3.66 per hour per child for three to four years olds and £5.10 for two year olds.

The council was proposing to reduce the quality supplement, which can add an extra 50p per hour for providers. There was also to be subsidies taken away from those who look after children from deprived areas and those who look after children with special educational needs.

The early years funds are passed down to the council from the government. The early years budget has had a reduction from central government. Overall £45m is spent on early years services in the county. A total of 10,485 children are looked after by 600 providers.

At the meeting headteacher of the Parklands Nursery School in Northampton Sarah Brooking said: “This proposal will close us. We have looked at our budget and if the quality supplement is taken away it will cost us £60,000 per year.”

Sam Evans, who owns nurseries in Corby and Northampton, said that in the previous consultation early years providers had been misled as it had implied there would be a base rate increase, which is why some providers had said they would be happy for the council to remove the subsidies. The council then proposed to remove the subsidy without raising the base rate. She said the settings had been encouraged by the council to train staff to a higher level, but would now not be paid for that and have to cover the cost themselves.

Joint head of Pen Green Children’s Centre in Corby, Angela Prodger, said: “We have not had time to speak as a sector. The papers came to us at Friday lunchtime.”

There will now need to be an extraordinary schools forum meeting convened to agree the early years budget.

This is the latest issue to face Northamptonshire County Council’s children’s service department. Ofsted found it was failing in November with more than 250 children without an allocated social worker and failures at the ‘front door’ of the service, where child protection issues are often first raised.

Children’s commissioner Malcolm Newsam was sent in by the Government to sort out the department. A report into his findings is yet to be published.

The early years providers have also had almost two years of ongoing financial problems because the council has not being able to run its computer system properly. This resulted in hundreds of providers being paid wrongly or late and is still ongoing.

More than 285 people have died from stabbings in the UK in the past year. Two of them were in Northampton – Louis-Ryan Menezes, 17, and Daniel Fitzjohn, 35.

In the past two weeks, many have calling for more police funding to tackle the issue, and this has led to the Government announcing £100million more to address the issue.

But, as our report this week finds, handing fistfuls of money to the police will not solve the UK’s knife crime problem. In fact, as Northamptonshire’s Chief Constable Nick Adderly puts it: “By the time it becomes a police issue, it’s already too late.”

In short, top police believe that if a young person is carrying and using knives in the street, many more things have gone wrong first.

But lives can be saved in Northampton and the UK if funding is instead found to show young men what the alternative is.

“You’ve got to believe in them,” says Clive Ireson. He works with the young men who come to Spring Boroughs Youth Club. He understands what is driving some people towards crime and knives more than most. “You have to help them outgrow the culture of roaming the town,” he says.

Clive believes the spike in knife crime is rooted in years of dwindling funding for youth services and, put simply, places for teenagers to be.

Excluding problem children from school and eroding their prospects is a factor too. Both have led to listless young men roaming town with no output – a perfect crop to be recruited and groomed by gangs who look glamorous and prosperous by comparison.

And soon after, young men are carrying knives to protect themselves from other young men carrying knives.

Clive said: “They say it’s for their own protection – from other people carrying knives. But they are children as young as 12. They don’t know the consequences.”

Clive has seen how knives destroy young men’s lives. One of the boys his club knew was Kane Allaban-Hamilton – who is now serving a 14-year sentence for the murder of Liam Hunt, 17.

There were no gangs in that case. It was just young men carrying knives. Kane had one, and the court heard some of Liam’s friends tried to ‘tool up’ before the stabbing. It was a brutal attack – one the judge called ‘just short of an execution’ – involving young men who wanted to prove themselves.

Nothing excuses Kane’s actions – but Clive says the murder could have been prevented if someone had helped him sooner. Clive said: “He had a lot of energy, and therefore a lot of potential. If someone had helped him into work or training he could have used his energy there and not on the streets trying to prove himself.”

Funding the police to catch knife criminals is one thing. But some believe that, if more funding for programmes like youth and sports clubs is found, it could help to show young men the alternative to roaming the streets.

And so, in the past week, CIRV - the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence - has come to Northampton. The programme to show gang members the consequences of their lifestyle and ask them to turn their backs on violence has proved hugely successful in Cincinnati, Boston and Glasgow.

Anyone can refer into CIRV - whether that be someone who needs help themselves to get out of ‘gang life’ or someone who is concerned about someone they know.

Chief Inspector Daryl Lyon who leads CIRV, and launched the event at Sessions House in Northampton on Sunday, said: “CIRV has been hugely successful in Glasgow, Cincinnati and Boston and we are hoping to mirror that success here in Northamptonshire.

“The program is not an easy way out for anyone and it requires a significant level of commitment and hard work - those engaged must commit to leaving drugs and violence behind."

Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable: "The very best thing that can happen is an officer stops them and takes the knife off them."

Anyone looking for a ‘quick solution’ to the UK’s knife epidemic ‘will not get one’, says Northamptonshire’s Chief Constable.

The furious debate over knife crime has led to many calling for the Government to pour more funding into policing to tackle the problem.

And last week, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced a £100million funding package against violent crime.

But the county’s Chief Constable Nick Adderley says a lot more needs to be done than just funding the police - and says the UK could face this crisis for as long as six years.

Meanwhile, Northamptonshire faces up to 40 knife crime offences a month.

Chancellor Phillip Hammond at first dismissed calls for funding on March 8 and said police forces would have to use the money they already had.

CC Adderley said: “If the Chancellor is telling the police to prioritise resources to tackle knife crime then we have to move resources away from other areas. That means you can no longer focus on problems like burglary and sexual offences.

“The public then are frustrated because they feel they are not getting the focus they deserve in those areas. Other areas suffer.

“But the problem is, even if the Chancellor handed over £5m and told us to solve knife crime it would not be a big help. More services than just the police need funding to solve this problem.

“This epidemic willl not be solved overnight. It’s a four, five or six year job. If you’re looking to a quick solution you will not get one.”

The number of police officers in England and Wales has dropped by more than 20,000 since 2010.

But to the parents of Northamptonshire, CC Adderley wants them to know the force is there to help and prevent young deaths.

He said: “The very best thing that can happen to a young person carrying a knife is an officer stops them and takes the knife off them.

“If you are concerned about what your child, you can call 101 and a neighbourhood officer will sit down with you and your child to talk about the dangers of carrying a knife.”

Cobblers goalkeeper David Cornell has been happy to sit back and enjoy the quiet life over the past month or so.

A busy man at the start of the season, when he was regularly seen picking the ball out of his net, Cornell has shipped just four goals across the past eight games, the same amount Town conceded in the space of 42 minutes against Colchester United last month.

The defensive collapse suffered by Northampton at the hands of the U’s was the cue for manager Keith Curle to go back to basics and tighten things up in defence, and the results since speak for themselves.

Their average of 0.5 goals conceded per game since losing to Colchester – the best record in League Two during that time – compares favourably to the 1.4 goals per game they were letting in over the previous 30 matches this season.

And not only is Cornell picking the ball out of his net less recently, he’s also having fewer shots to save with Town conceding an impressively meagre 19 shots on target over that same eight-game period.

What’s more, across the last two games, opponents Newport County and Grimsby Town have managed just on shot on target combined, keeping Cornell’s workload to a bare minimum.

While that can mainly be attributed to the improved efforts of Charlie Goode, Aaron Pierre, Ash Taylor and David Buchanan at the back, midfielders Jordan Turnbull and Sam Foley have also been in fine form.

After a fourth clean sheet in six games at Blundell Park on Saturday, Cornell said: “The conditions made it tough but the boys at the back and the two sitting in front defended really well.

“I didn’t have that much to do again and the players did brilliantly in the conditions. It was another light day for me, which is great!”

Cornell was only called into serious action on two occasions on Saturday and both times he displayed excellent anticipation as well as speed off his line to thwart Wes Thomas and Elliott Embleton.

“It’s one thing I’m decent at I’d like to think,” added Cornell. “I try to read the game two or three steps ahead to see those things happening.

“That’s all part of the concentrating and staying focused but I think it was a fight in the conditions on Saturday and the boys showed that fight and have done for the past seven or eight games.”

A settled back four has certainly helped matters. Curle has selected Goode, Taylor, Pierre and Buchanan as his defence for each of the past six matches.

“There have been changes at times this season but there are reasons for that,” Cornell continued. “I think that’s a few games it’s been unchanged now and we’ve picked up decent results so the lads are putting in performances.

“They all want to stay in the team and they’re producing performances to do that.”

Town’s defensive improvement has helped them move into the top half of League Two and have eyes on a potential play-off challenge this season, though Cornell is not getting ahead of himself.

He added: “We’re looking at the next team. We’re still six points behind with eight games left so if we win our games, fingers crossed we’ll get closer to it.

“But the next step is winning on Saturday and keeping the run going. Any game we go into we want to win - hopefully the weather is a bit calmer!”

Officers have released an image of the 26-year-old man they want to speak to - but have decided not to name him.

A police spokesman said: “Officers would like to speak to the man pictured in connection with an investigation into an assault and anyone who knows of his whereabouts is asked to call Northamptonshire Police on 101, quoting reference number 18000624644.

“They can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.”

A group representing a Northampton park has praised action taken by the borough council to flatten a controversial mountain bike trail.

Mountain bikers who use Cherry Orchard Woods near Hardingstone were aghast earlier this month when dirt jumps and ramps that had been in place for more than 20 years were flattened by on the orders of the borough council.

An online petition by Northampton Mountain Bike Group asking for the trails to be saved has now been signed by more than 1,200 people.

But Delapre Park Friends - whose group represent all the Delapre parkland, including Cherry Orchard Woods - have said they completely support the council's actions and labelled the trails "criminal damage".

A spokesman said: "We are so glad that the council have done what they did.

"It's part of the Delapre Park Land, it's a natural resource, it's there for people to walk quietly around and appreciate.

"They had no right and it's staggering they can't see it's criminal damage."

Posting on the petition website, Tom Robinson of Hardingstone Mountain Bike Group said: "As a group, our focus is to work with the council, to compromise and to enable this positive, healthy activity to be able to continue, to support the younger generation and to offer this wonderful opportunity to people of all age for many years to come."

But Delapre Park Friends says it has not been swayed by the petition, and has questioned how many of the signatories actually use the park.

The spokesman said: "I think a few people have just thought let's have a go at the council, but actually the council have done something good here that needs to be praised. They are a minority."