Saints forwards coach Dorian West says Jamie Gibson is a ‘quality player with a really big future’.

The 24-year-old flanker will cross the east midlands divide when he swaps Leicester for Northampton this summer.

It is the first time a player has moved between the two clubs since Ryan Lamb left Franklin’s Gardens for Welford Road in 2013.

And West can’t wait to work with Gibson, who is a player he has admired for some time.

“I’m really pleased to sign him,” said the Saints forwards coach. “He’s a quality player with a really big future.

“He’s played a lot of rugby over the past few years and proved his worth. He’s someone we think can fit into our squad and who will challenge for selection.

“He’ll keep everything competitive and we think he’s got a lot to offer.

“We remember him playing for London Irish and that ball carrying and work rate around the pitch is similar to some of the lads we’ve got here so he’ll fit in nicely.

“He’s still only very young, he’s a bright lad, 24. We think he’s got a big future and we’re really looking forward to working with him.”

Stephen Myler has welcomed the competition Munster talent JJ Hanrahan will bring to the Saints fly-half role next season.

Hanrahan will move to Franklin’s Gardens this summer, with the utility back setting his sights on the Northampton No.10 shirt.

It is a position Myler has held for the past two seasons, steering Saints to an Aviva Premiership and Amlin Challenge Cup double in the previous campaign.

And the 30-year-old, who recently extended his contract at Franklin’s Gardens, is up for the challenge talented Hanrahan will provide.

“It spreads the workload a little bit and players want that pressure to perform at the highest level of the game,” said Myler.

“If you don’t want that pressure there’s something wrong.

“It’s something for the coaches and the management to think about. They need to make sure we’re fresh come the end of the season and having a strong squad enables you to do that.

“You need competition in all places, not just mine, and that’s one of the reasons we’ve been so strong in the past couple of seasons.

“Ben Foden is out now, but we’ve got James Wilson to fill in and you need that competition right across the board.

“We’re trying to win every one of the competitions we’re in and you can’t do that with 15 players. You need a full squad.

“The people that we’re signing are only going to add to the strength in depth we’ve got in the squad.”

The Cobblers have revealed they pulled out of a deal to sign striker Miles Storey on loan because his parent club Swindon wanted a loan fee for the player.

Town manager Chris Wilder had hoped to take the 21-year-old to Sixfields to complement a forwards department which has been lightened by the departures of David Moyo, Alex Nicholls and Emile Sinclair during this transfer window. A deal had been verbally agreed to take Storey to Northampton until the end of the season but as the paperwork was being processed it emerged the club were being asked to pay a weekly contribution which was higher than the striker’s actual wage.

“We will pay the wages of a player, but we aren’t being lulled into paying a loan fee for a 21-year-old,” said Wilder, who will now focus on other targets.

“That’s not how we do things and we move on. Miles was one of a number of targets and there is no way we are being led into paying what was effectively a loan fee for a young player. We will do a deal if it is right for us but we won’t if not.

“If Swindon want to pick up the phone and agree a deal to cover his wages that’s fine, but we aren’t sitting around waiting, we are moving on.”

Storey will now head to Scotland where he is expected to sign on loan for St Mirren, and the Cobblers’ search for a new forward continues.

Wilder has confirmed he is in no great rush to make a deal and will ensure the financial viability of any transfer is of the highest importance.

Plans to convert the former Vulcan Iron Works in Northampton town centre into 57 art workshops are set to be approved by the borough council’s planning committee next week.

The authority aims to spend around £5 million converting the former factory in Guildhall Road, which council leader Councillor David Mackintosh, (Con, Rectory Farm) said would transform the area into a into a “prospering creative hub” and create 240 jobs when completed.

The project, which will be determined by the borough council’s planning committee on Wednesday, also proposes to demolish the former Weights and Measures building on Angel Street, with a four-storey building erected as a replacement.

However English Heritage has objected to the proposals in their current form and recommends the building and its boundary walls are retained.

In a written statement to the council, English Heritage said: “In our view the scheme causes a high level of harm to the character of the conservation area.”

The application includes plans to create of an “area of public realm at the corner of Angel Street and Fetter Street” and a garden accessed from Fetter Street at the south of the site.

However as the bid, submitted by the borough council, will involve the demolition of buildings within a conservation area and works to listed buildings, they must be referred to the Secretary of State before planning permission or listed building consent can be granted.

The Council for British Archaeology has also stated it is against demolishing the Weights and Measures building, but has said it is on favour of the scheme as a whole.

Outline plans to build 1,000 homes outside of Collingtree have been recommended for approval by Northampton Borough Council, only days after the council members lodged an objection to the principle of developing the same land.

The plan by developers Bovis Homes Limited on a 240-acre site to the north west of the village also include a ‘mixed use local centre’, a site for a primary school, open green space and a re-configuration and extension of Collingtree Park Golf Course.

The homes would be accessed through Windingbrook Lane and Rowtree Road, which many fear would cause traffic congestion as the plan proposes an increase of 6,000 traffic movements per day.

Alongside the outline plan for 1,000 homes, Bovis has also lodged a full application for 378 homes on part of the sitem, including a re-configuration of part of the Collingtree Park Golf Course and a new temporary hole 17.

In papers set to go before next Wednesday’s planning committee the report recommends both applications are approved, providing 30 separate conditions are met.

The report reads: “The site is located in a sustainable location on the edge of Northampton, which will be adequately served by the necessary infrastructure and it is considered that the environmental and highway impacts can be adequately mitigated or reduced to an acceptable degree.”

However at Monday night’s full council meeting, the authority lodged a formal objection to such a development on that land. The area is outlined as suitable for development in the West Northamptonshire Joint Core strategy.

Cabinet member for planning and regeneration, Councillor Tim Hadland, (Con, Old Duston) said on Monday: “Quite clearly Collingtree is not sustainable, in terms of educational provision, pollution, flooding, you name it.”

Several objections have been lodged alongside Bovis Homes Limited plans.

Stacey and Richard Parker of Collingtree Park, said the houses would create “a massive increase in noise,” as well as increasing pollution and traffic congestion.

They said it would also “turn the local environment from a beautiful golf course into a concrete jungle.”

Several of the objectors said the site would massively increase the flood risk in Collingtree.

An August Avenue resident wrote: “Although the Bovis proposals include measures aimed at dealing with the history of flooding to the immediate development land, the impact of the development on wider flooding threats and water course flows along Wootton Brook...must also be considered.”

The plans will go before the borough council planning committee at the Guildhall, Northampton, at 6pm on Wednesday, January 28.

Councillor David Mackintosh, leader of Northampton Borough Council, said: “At full council we considered the Joint Core Strategy and the full impact of the plan on our town, and decided not to support it until necessary changes were made.

“Next week the planning committee will be considering a specific planning application in isolation and will look at the details of that application against the requirements set out by planning legislation and national regulations before making their decision.”

A Northampton man bled to death from a rare dialysis complication while being transported to hospital by a volunteer ambulance driver.

X Rokeby - formerly known as Ian Campbell before he changed his name by deed pole - died after a complication with a blood vessel, which had been surgically altered to make dialysis easier, caused him to bleed excessively on his way to an appointment at Kettering General Hospital.

His driver, who had only a small amount of first aid training, tried to stop the bleeding and called the emergency services, but they were unable to resuscitate him.

During an inquest into the death of Mr Rokeby - of Gurston Rise in Rectory Farm - Johanna Bayes, of University Hospitals of Leicester, which ran the patient transport service, assured the coroner that steps were being taken to provide equipment and training for volunteer drivers.

Mrs Bayes said: “We have now provided equipment and protective clothing to volunteer drivers, as well as better training.”

However, the volunteer driver, Ronald Williams, gave evidence that he had not been offered any form of further training since the incident over a year ago.

Senior coroner for Northamptonshire, Anne Pember, agreed that the promise of training “clearly hadn’t happened” and said she would be looking into the matter further.

She recorded a narrative verdict and concluded that Mr Rokeby died from a complication with his dialysis fistula.

Mr Rokeby had been living with his parents since he found out in 2012 he had chronic kidney problems which would need dialysis.

On his last dialysis appointment before his death, he complained of pain and swelling in his left arm where the enhanced blood vessel - known as a fistula - was placed.

Renal specialists told him that the fistula had become infected and prescribed him antibiotics, but they sent him home until his next scheduled appointment.

Over the following two days, he phoned the Leicester hospital with concerns about it still being painful and tender, but was given little advice.

On the morning of his death on December 22 2013, Mr Rokeby was picked up by Mr Williams for his scheduled dialysis appointment.

In his statement during yesterday’s inquest Mr Williams said: “Mr Rokeby was usually chatty during our drives and we got on well, but this time he sat in the back of the car and didn’t seem to want to talk.

“About five minutes into the journey he said, ‘oh no, I’m bleeding,’ but said he could hold on until the next garage.

“When we arrived, I went in to get some paper towels and told the cashier to call an ambulance to tell them that the patient was bleeding seriously and that I believed he was going to die.”

Paramedics and police arrived soon after but pronounced Mr Rokeby dead at the scene at 8.25am.

Mr Rokeby’s father, Hedley Campbell, said: “I want to express my thanks to Mr Williams for the service he gave my family and for looking after my son, even though he wasn’t trained to deal with that situation and must have been very traumatised by it himself. I will never forget it.”

Mr Campbell went to the hospital to meet his son on December 22 shortly after he left with Mr Williams, but after some time waiting he was told by staff what had happened.

He said: “I hope lessons have been learned from this about giving proper training and equipment to volunteer ambulance drivers, as that might have made a difference.”

Matron Suzanne Glover, who tried to respond to a call from Mr Rokeby on December 19 for advice about the problem, said there had only been two deaths recorded in the last 10 years from dialysis fistula complications.

A new home for Northampton’s main athletics club could be ready by June as work on a new multi-million pound track at Moulton College started yesterday.

Representatives from Northampton Borough Council, the college and the Rugby and Northampton Athletics Club (RNAC) held an official ground breaking ceremony yesterday afternoon on land next to the college’s Pitsford Centre.

Chairman of the athletics club, Mark Exley, said the start of the construction came as a “big relief” because the 1,000-member club had been without a home since the track at Sixfields was removed for the extension of Northampton Town Football Club’s stadium.

Mr Exley said: “We can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. As far as the club goes, this facility will allow us to showcase our runners by allowing them to compete at a higher level.”

Mr Exley said the RNAC had managed to retain its membership base since the Sixfields track closed last spring, but he said, with the club currently training at a number of sites in Northampton and Rugby, it had been a challenge.

He said: “I think we are all looking forward to having a permanent home. If, for example, you are a parent with children at the athletics club in different age groups, you are currently having to drop them off in different locations.”

Moulton College, which has more than 1,000 full-time students studying sports-based courses, will maintain the facility, though the construction is being paid for by the borough council.

College principal Stephen Davies, said: “The fact that we will have a facility of this sort will also help attract major sports teams to come and train here.

“It means my students will get access to the those professional teams. Some of our students could be future athletes and Olympic stars themselves.”

The athletics centre will include changing facilities, car parking, and other infrastructure work required to service the facility, and is part of Moulton College’s plans to launch a new “athletics academy.”

Leader of Northampton Borough Council, Councillor David Mackintosh (Con, Rectory Farm), said: “With new state-of-the-art facilities, our athletics club will go from strength to strength.”

A total of 56 of Northamptonshire’s primary schools are either at or over their official capacity.

A Freedom of Information request was sent by the Labour Party to Northamptonshire County Council covering 268 schools in the county.

Headteachers of 19 schools say they are full and a further 37 said they are over the official limit for pupils.

The Labour Party claimed it showed that 7.1 per cent of the county’s primary schools are at capacity, with a further 13.8 per cent over capacity.

Councillor Danielle Stone (Lab, Abington and Phippsville) shadow cabinet member for education and skills at County Hall, said: “We need pragmatic and sensible solutions for overcoming pressures on our schools. The government should commit more funding for school places and once again give local authorities powers to open schools in areas where places are needed most.”

Councillor John McGhee (Lab, Kingswood), the Labour leader on the county council, said opening schools in areas where there is not a huge need for primary school places has been a contributory factor.

He said: “This Tory-led government’s education policy is not providing the school places in areas of greatest need.

“It, in fact, prioritises money for opening new schools where surplus places already exist.

“A post-May Labour government has a robust plan for tackling the school places crisis. We will employ new Directors of School Standards in every local area.

“The Directors will be responsible for commissioning new schools in a fair and transparent way.

“These will ensure that there is proper planning for new schools where they are needed.”

Numbers of people claiming job seekers’ allowance in Northampton have fallen by almost a third in one year.

Statistics released yesterday showed there were 3,655 claimants in December 2014 comparedwith 30 per cent more in December 2013.

In other encouraging news, the number of claimants aged between 18 and 24 dropped 58 per cent in the same period to 505 people.

Tim George, a Job Centre manager for Northamptonshire, said schemes such as inviting 100 employers to visit the job centres, as well as expenses-paid work experience, have helped more jobless people into work.

thursday JAN 22

MUSIC

Cool Jazz at the Stirrup Cup, Barton Seagrave, 9pm. Free.

Open Mic, hosted by Hannah Faulkner at The Obelisk Centre, Obelisk Rise, Kingsthorpe, 8.30pm

Jazz Colossus at Jazz Café, Auntie Ruth’s, George Row, N’pton, 8pm. £1 admission.

Jam Night, The Cardigan Arms, Moulton, 9pm

THEATRE

Anton & Erin, Derngate Auditorium, Guildhall Rd, Npton, 7.30pm. 01604 624811

OTHER

County Market in The Chantry House, Towcester, 8.30am–noon.

Quiz at Monks Park WMC, Wellingborough Road, Npton, 9pm. Free entry.

FRIday JAN 23

MUSIC

Rhythm & Roots at Bootleggers, Wellingborough Road, Npton, 9pm

Disco Night at Monks Park WMC, Wellingborough Road, Npton, 8pm. Free entry.

Kontra Roots Club at Kennedy’s Bar, Finedon, 8pm. Free admission. www.kcbworld.co.uk

Memphis Blue at Kingsley Park WMC, Npton

THEATRE

Anton & Erin, Derngate Auditorium, Guildhall Rd, Npton, 7.30pm. 01604 624811

An Evening with Bernie Keith, Royal Auditorium, Guildhall Rd, Npton, 7.45pm. 01604 624811

Screaming Blue Murder comedy club, Underground at Royal & Derngate, Npton, 8.15pm. 01604 624811

OTHER

Quiz Night at Brafield WMC, A428.

Quiz Night, Shoulder of Mutton, Weldon, 8pm.

R-Zone Club for ages 8-13 at the Community Centre, Olden Road, Rectory Farm, 5pm–6pm. 07979 152746.

Craft Club, 11am–3pm, Church Hall, St Peter & St Paul’s Church, Kettering. 07733 341674. Admission £3.

Pruning Fruit Trees workshop at Bay Tree Cottage, Maidford Road, Farthingstone, 9.30am–noon. £35pp. 
www.btcworkshops.co.uk

Echoes of Northampton Castle, exhibition at Hazelrigg House, 33 Marefair, Npton (until Feb 28). Open Fri & Sat, 10am to 4pm and Sun, 12-4pm.

SATURday JAN 24

MUSIC

Biggsy, at Brafield Working Mens Club, A428, 8pm.

Easy Livin’ at Great Doddington WMC, Lower Street

Rita Pereira at British Rail Club, St Andrews Road, Npton, 8.30pm

Yasmin at Monks Park WMC, Wellingborough Road, Npton

Attitude at Queens Park WMC, Npton

DJ Neil Harrison at Auntie Ruth’s, George Row, Npton, 9pm.

Martyn Russell at Kettering Rifle Band Club, Havelock Street, Kettering

Xenon at Kingsley Park WMC, Npton

THEATRE

N Dance, Derngate Auditorium, Npton, 7pm. 01604 624811

The Only Way Is Downton, Royal Auditorium, Npton, 7.45pm. 01604 624811

Local Artists Showcase, The Core at Corby Cube, 2pm. Tickets 01536 470470

OTHER

Ukelele workshop by Sara Spade; Beginners I, Northampton Museum & Art Gallery, 10am–3pm. Tickets £34. Ages 16+ only (bring packed lunch). Booking essential on 01604 837397.

Evening of Clairvoyance with Vince Price. Kettering Spiritualist Church, St Peter’s Avenue, Kettering, 7.30pm. Members £2.50, Guests £3. www.ketteringspirit.org.uk

Jumble Sale at the Band Club (nr Sainsburys), High Street, Burton Latimer, 2pm. Admission 20p.

Afternoon Walk with The Ramblers Association (5 miles), 1.30pm from North Street, Mears Ashby. www.northamptonra.org.uk

Wellingborough Ramblers walk (7.5 miles), start Queens Head PH, Bulwick, 10am. 07850 243413.

Fish & Chip Night and Bingo at Semilong WMC, St Andrews Road, Npton

Ballroom Dancing and Rock ‘n’ Roll at Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Church Lane, N’pton, 8pm. £4 entry. 01604 499226

Kettering/Lahnstein Twinning Association will be holding a Coffee Morning at Toller Church Rooms, Gold Street, Kettering, 10am–noon. Learn about the twin town on the River Rhine in Germany.

SUNday JAN 25

MUSIC

Music and Hoy at Queens Park WMC, Npton

3-D Trio, Brafield Working Men’s Club, A428, from 8pm.

Adam James Wilmot at Monks Park WMC, Wellingborough Road, Npton. Bingo at 8.30pm

Dave Moorwood’s Rascals of Rhythm at The Walnut Tree Inn, Station Road, Blisworth, noon. Admission £10

Shauny Moore at British Rail Club, St Andrews Road, Npton, 2pm–5pm

Open Mic hosted by Hannah Faulkner at Ken’s Diner, Finedon, 2pm–4.30pm

Fingers ‘n’ Fumbs at Kingsley Park WMC, Npton

OTHER

Morning Worship with Holy Communion at Whitefriars Junior School, Rushden, 10.15am.

Morning Walk with Northampton Ramblers (5.5 miles). Meet 10am, Queen Victoria, Gayton. Walk via Dalscote, Eastcote and Astcote.

Circular Day Walk with The Ramblers Association (13.5 miles), 8.45am Church Lane (rear Church of Holy Sepulchre), Npton or meet leader 9.30am at Sharnbrook Church.

Hambleton Peninsula – Kettering & District Ramblers Club (6 miles). Call leader John 01536 392269

Car Boot Sale, Nene Park Stadium, Irthlingborough. Sellers 7am, Buyers 8am. www.neneparkcarboot.info or call 07712 114819

MONday JAN 26

MUSIC

Acoustic Open Mic Night at The Woolpack, Rothwell, 9pm

Folk Jam Session at the Artichoke, Moulton, 8pm. Free entry.

Northampton Music Appreciation Concert given by WI County Choir at Quaker Meeting House, Wellington Street, Npton, 7.30pm.

THEATRE

Dreamboats & Miniskirts, Derngate Auditorium, Npton, 7.30pm. 01604 624811

An Evening with Bernie Keith, Royal Auditorium, Npton, 7.45pm. 01604 624811

OTHER

Pub Quiz, Charles Bradlaugh, Npton, 8pm. Entry £1pp

Lunchtime bingo at Monks Park WMC, Wellingborough Road, N’pton, 2.30pm

Equalizer being screened at The Picturedrome movie night, Kettering Rd, Npton, 8pm. Free entry.

tUESDAY JAN 27

MUSIC

The Rob Horn Quartet at the Wig & Pen, St Giles St, Npton, 9pm. Free entry

THEATRE

Dreamboats & Miniskirts, Derngate Auditorium, Npton, 7.30pm. 01604 624811

The Barr Brothers, Royal Auditorium, Npton, 7.30pm. 01604 624811

OTHER

Salsa Estrellas at The Picturedrome, Kettering Rd, Npton. An evening of dancing and fitness, from 7.30pm.

Classic Movies afternoon at The Picturedrome, Kettering Rd, Npton, 1pm

Wellingborough Ramblers walk (3.5 miles), start at Hunsbury Hill Country Park, Npton,10am. 01604 846201

WEDNESday JAN 28

MUSIC

Acoustics Night, Horseshoe Inn, Sheep St, Wellingborough, 9pm. Free entry.

Jazz & Blues at Charles Bradlaugh, Earl St, Npton, 8pm.

Malingerers – Wednesday Country Music Scene, The Headland, Longland Road, Npton, 8.30pm.

The Freight Train Jam at Thomas A Becket, St James Road, Npton, 9pm

Legends Open Mic at Kitty O’Shea’s, St Peter’s Way, Npton, 8pm

Electric Experience at Wednesday Blues Club, The Malt Shovel Tavern, Bridge Street, Npton, 8.45pm. Free entry.

THEATRE

Dreamboats & Miniskirts, Derngate Auditorium, Npton, 2.30pm/7.30pm. 01604 624811

OTHER

Craft Club – knitting, stitching and cardmaking – Hazlewood Community Centre, Gainsborough Road, Corby, 7pm. 07910 989410

Gretton Garden Group AGM in Old Band Room, Hatton Arms, Arnhill Road, Gretton. Subscriptions collected. Contact 01536 772575

Morning Walk with The Ramblers Association (6 miles), 9.30am from White Hart, High Street, Great Houghton.

Wellingborough Ramblers walk (7.5 miles), start from White Hart PH, Sherington, 9.30am. 01234 711604

THURSday JAN 29

MUSIC

JR & Friends, Jazz Café at Auntie Ruth’s, George Row, Npton, 8pm. £1 admission.

THEATRE

Dreamboats & Miniskirts, Derngate Auditorium, Npton, 7.30pm. 01604 624811

OTHER

Marvellous Marmalade workshop at Bay Tree Cottage, Maidford Road, Farthingstone, 9.30am–noon. £35pp. www.btcworkshops.co.uk

Funhouse Comedy at Walnut Tree Inn, Station Road, Blisworth, 8pm. Patrick Monahan headlines. www.funhousecomedy.co.uk

Talks for Over 60s at Northampton Museum & Art Gallery, 10.30am–11.30am. Kate Wills will talk about Old Cures and Remedies.

The Art of Beekeeping, talk by local swarm co-ordinator, Darren Jeacock at Middleton Cheney Library, 7.30pm. Adults £6/Children £3. Order tickets via email hdowning@northamptonshire.gov.uk

FRIday JAN 30

OTHER

Old Union Canals Society AGM & Buffet Supper, Great Bowden Village Hall, Market Harborough, 7.30pm.

New Craft Brewery official opening at The Shoulder of Mutton PH, 12 Chapel Road, Weldon, noon.

One in seven people in Northamptonshire has a sexually transmitted infection, according to latest NHS statistics.

Following the publication of the figures, by Northampton-based counselling service The Lowdown, the Labour Group on Northamptonshire County Council is encouraging people to sign a petition calling for compulsory sex and relationships education.

Northamptonshire County Councillor Danielle Stone (Lab, Abington and Phippsville), shadow cabinet member for education and skills, said: “I’m very worried that 1 in 7 people across Northamptonshire have a sexually transmitted infection. It seems to me that there is a role for schools and colleges to play in addressing this by improving the standards of SRE.”

“We know that SRE isn’t being taught properly or even at all in some schools in the county. This is because it isn’t yet compulsory for all schools to provide SRE, and often where it is in a school’s curriculum it isn’t resourced properly or staff don’t have sufficient training to deliver it to a high quality standard.

Councillor John McGhee (Lab, Kingswood), leader of the Labour group on the county council, said Northamptonshire’s Young Leaders and the Children’s Rights Services had raised their concerns about the “inadequacies” of sex and relationships education in local schools and colleges.

He said: “As a group, we believe high-quality SRE is essential. It’s about giving young people the tools they need to build healthy sexual relationships when they choose to. We are therefore calling on the Government to make it compulsory throughout the education system.”

To sign the petition click here.

Canadian folk quartet, The Barr Brothers, star at the Royal auditorium at Royal & Derngate next week.

The band released their second album, Sleeping Operator, last year.

The group comprises Brad Barr and his brother, Andrew, along with experimental harpist, Sarah Pagé, and multi-instrumentalist, Andrés Vial.

Brothers Andrew and Brad spent most of the 1990s criss-crossing North America, playing music with their spirited, improv-based rock trio, The Slip.

They met Pagé and Vial after settling in Montreal.

They have appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman in the usa, shared stages with Emmylou Harris and The National, headlined the Montreal Jazz Festival in front of 58,000 people and played across the world.

The Barr Brothers play at Royal & Derngate on Tuesday, January 27 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £18.

A transaction fee of £2.80 applies to telephone and website bookings only.

It does not apply in person or to groups, and members of the theatre’s friends programme is per-transaction, not per-ticket.

For more information, visit www.thebarrbrothers.com

Tickets are on sale for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra who will be performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 at the venue on Sunday, February 1.

The concerto is regarded as one of the greatest and recreating these memorable moments will be pianist Alessio Bax.

Conductor Alexander Shelley will lead the orchestra and the finale will feature with Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony.

Shostakovich composed the work in 1937 under the watchful rein of Stalin.

There will be a free pre-concert talk at 6.30pm with Bax.

Tickets for the show cost £15 before fees, door open at 7.30pm.

For more information about both shows and to book, call 01604 624811 or visit www.royalandderngate.co.uk

Dozens of acts will compete in the semi-finals of The Factory Festival at the Roamdender next weekend.

The annual event looks to champion new artists from the county and 21 acts will perform across three stages.

Each act gets 15 minutes to play. While acts will overlap, there will be five minutes in each set where the performers are the only ones playing.

Curtain Mafia, The Naked Spoons, Robyn Wilson Music, Jordan Jones, Destined To Kill, Celebrities, Y-FI, Amy Addison, Harry Mockett, Leo Robinson, James JR Pitman, Rhys Gradwell Music, Fallen Mavericks, The Gillespies, Lake Acacia, Building Skylines, The Wise Old Owls, George Hammond, Solar Roads, The Alps and Ground Floor will all compete.

The event, Saturday, January 31, is organised by The Y Factor and the Rotary Club of Northampton Becket in partnership with The Lowdown and Northampton Music 365

Proceeds will be donated to The Lowdown.

Doors open at 6.30pm, admission is £5.

Paul Riley will be joined by his band for an intimate evening of contemporary jazz at The Castle in Wellingborough next week.

Formed in 2011, the group is made up of some of the finest young jazz musicians in the UK.

Riley moved to London in 2002 where he studied saxophone and composition at Trinity College of Music.

Alongside Riley will be guitarist Ant Law, pianist Mitch Jones, bassist Matt Ridley, and drummer Dave Hamblett.

Many of these will already be well known to regular jazz fans who attend shows at the venue.

The Quintet’s first album, Into View, reflects Riley’s original and magnetic music and this concert is part of a UK Jazz Services tour.

His new album will be launched in March at Pizza Express in Dean Street, London.

Doors open at The Castle at 8pm. Tickets cost £12.50 and are available in advance by calling 01933 270 007 or online at www.thecastle.org.uk

T’Pau return to the region this weekend, touring in support of their forthcoming new album.

The band, which performed at last year’s Alive@ Delapre festival, will release Pleasure & Pain next month.

The single, Nowhere, is available to download now.

Fronted by Carol Decker, T’Pau rose to fame in the late 1980s. They went on to release a string of worldwide hits, including Heart & Soul, which stayed on the US Billboard Charts for six months, and China In Your Hand, which occupied the number one slot in the UK for five weeks.

Despite the band disbanding in the early 1990s, Decker reunited with co-songwriter Ronnie Rogers in 2013 for their 25th anniversary tour.

T’Pau play The Stables in Wavendon on Saturday, January 24.

Doors open at 8pm, tickets cost £21.50 before fees.

A few seats remain for the Syd Lawrence Orchestra who perform at the venue on Friday, January 30.

Doors open at 8pm, tickets cost from £21 before fees.

For more information about both shows and to book tickets, visit www.stables.org

Comedian Lucy Porter is launching the tour of her latest show at Kettering Arts Centre.

Me Time is Lucy’s 10th solo show and is on at the venue on Saturday, January 31

In her previous show, Northern Soul, she talked about how she never felt quite right growing up in Croydon and eventually found her spiritual home in Manchester.

This time she is telling how she believes she was born in the wrong era as well as the wrong location.

Would she have been better off as a Victorian explorer, a 1920s Hollywood starlet or an Egyptian Pharaoh?

Who knows, but Lucy gives it some thought.

And she explains her many frustrations with the modern world from the range of beer glass shapes you get now, to the selling off of the Royal Mail.

Lucy recently appeared on BBC2’s QI and her radio work has included The Unbelievable Truth and The News Quiz among others.

She is also a big fan of silent comedy and has been involved with the Bristol Slapstick Festival in recent years.

For tickets call 01536 513838.

There is plenty to keep comedy fans laughing in January.

The Laughing Boy Comedy Club is back at The Castle in Wellingborough at 8pm on Friday, January 30.

The line-up will include Adam Bloom, Danish comic Sofie Hagen and TV-favourite Rob Rouse. Tickets are £12.50 and can be purchased by calling 01933 270 007 or online at www.thecastle.org.uk

If you cannot wait until then, tomorrow night (January 23) the Screaming Blue Murder Comedy Club returns to Royal & Derngate in Northampton.

The line-up includes Roger Monkhouse, pictured right. Call 01604 624811 for tickets.

If you have ever been to see a production of Dreamboats and Petticoats and wondered what happened to the characters next, you can now find out.

A sequel to the popular musical, which showcased the pop music of the Fifties, has been produced.

Dreamboats and Miniskirts is the new show, which takes the story on to the swinging Sixties.

It is set in 1963 as Bobby and Laura struggle with their pop career, Norman and Sue settle down together and Ray and Donna seem to be blissfully happy.

Songs in the show include Twist & Shout, Handy Man, Pretty Woman and One Fine Day.

The show is written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who are the writing team behind successful TV shows such as Birds of a Feather, Goodnight Sweetheart and The New Statesman.

Dreamboats and Miniskirts takes to the Derngate stage from Monday to Saturday, January 26 to 31.

Tickets, which are priced from £14 to £32.50, can be booked on 01604 624811 or online at www.royaland
derngate.co.uk.

A golf centre has been ordered to stop “unauthorised” construction work near its club house on land where the Battle of Northampton was fought.

Delapre Golf Centre in Eagle Drive applied for planning permission to build a new 126-space car park and adventure golf facility three years ago but then withdrew the plans due to the need to carry out a full archeological survey.

Members of the Battlefield Trust criticised the scheme as they believe the land may be where the Battle of Northampton was fought in 1460.

However, pictures have been posted on Facebook that appear to show the top soil has been removed on the site

Councillor Tim Hadland, Northampton Borough Council’s cabinet member for regeneration, enterprise and planning said council officials had visited the site on Wednesday and ordered work to stop “immediately”.

He said: “We met with the Golf Centre management following reports of unauthorised work being carried out near the club house.

“The Golf Centre has been informed that any works will need planning permission and the Golf Centre has 14 days to submit the necessary paperwork for the council to consider.”

In January 2013, the golf club’s general manager Greg Iron said the new car park wouldn’t require any excavation.

He said: “It would be done just by removing top soil. So we’d love to do it, but if we have to spend an awful lot of money on archaeological digs, it may scupper our plans.”

The Chronicle & Echo has teamed up with Tetley’s to offer a lucky reader the chance to watch Saints take on Racing Metro in the Champions Cup this Saturday - and also enjoy some brilliant hospitality in the Carlsberg Lounge at Franklin’s Gardens.

We have teamed up with Tetley’s, the Official Beer of Northampton Saints, to offer a pair of tickets to this weekend’s huge clash with Racing, with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs for the winners.

The Parisians visit the Gardens, the home of the Aviva Premiership champions, on Saturday for a 3.15pm kick-off.

The match promises to be a dynamic clash, and one lucky reader and a friend can be there to watch the action and enjoy some first-class hospitality in the Carlsberg Lounge.

To stand a chance of winning this great prize, simply answer the following question:

What was the score when Saints visited Paris to take on Racing Metro in October?

Send your answer via email to chron.sports@northantsnews.co.uk stating your name, address, age and a daytime telephone number.

A winner will be selected at random at 10am Friday morning, and will be notified shortly afterwards.