After a very interesting visit to Farrington Oils farm/factory Derek and David presented a cheque for The Faraway Children’s Charity to Duncan Farrington managing director of Farrington Oils who produce cold pressed rape seed oil.

President  John represented the  club on Remembrance Sunday by laying a wreath  at the memorial  on Broad Green.

President John inducted Jim Mandeville as member at the meeting of the Hatton Spire Group on Thursday 25th November and was introduced to the club by Tony Frankland who knew him from their Round Table days.

The Santa Sleigh Appeal started with the Wellingborough Christmas Lights Switch on where our Santa Paul James represented the club and fellow members Nigel Cheetham John Rogers, and David Burkett helped with the set up and collecting for the appeal. The town Mayor flight tested at the start of the event whilst a firefighter kept an eye on the proceedings.

​

​

​Spire Group and volunteers relaxing at AMF Bowling Wellingborough Tim manged the highest score followed closely behind by Paul James all had a great fun and another social night before Christmas.

We had another visit to Isebrook Hospital to continue to clear the area for new planting Alan cut in the edges Tony tidied the whole area up Paul jet washed all the paths Duncan and Paul dug out all the old rose bushes from the circular garden Gail and Carolyn cleared all the old bushes from the square garden.

Thanks to all with a special thanks to our volunteers Carolyn Paul and Gail

Rally Teams

Paul and Mary James               Bill and Jane

Nigel and Tim                             Duncan and Richard

Minus day 1 One of the cars was in bits with some significant repairs needed before we set off the next day. So, some worrying moments for Paul as team member Bill (a mechanic) worked late in the night to fix his Citroen. Further problems when Nigel discovered he could not open the boot of his Vauxhall Tigra (a 2-seater) so ended up cramming bags in behind the seats.

Day 1 saw us complete 500 miles to Inverness having left at 6.00 am and arriving at around 5.30 without a hitch.

Day 2 we started the 500 miles comprising the NC500, the first leg being 300 miles to Ullapool. We   set off at around 8.00 am without time for breakfast. On the way we stopped at John O Groats where unfortunately, one of the cars failed to start. Bill once again came to the rescue and manged to solve the problem. On the way Nigel in their open topped car  lost Tim’s hat and Paul has a  wheel trim come off which Bill recovered. We continued our journey but only to find the road closed halfway to our destination. We had to regroup and figure out an alternative route to our destination and arrived there at around 5.30pm.

Day 3 was the second leg of the NC500 travelling from Ullapool to Inverness including the renowned Applecross Pass. On the way we encountered the inevitable highland cattle who seemed to have a mind of their own! plus the dreaded camper vans. We stopped at the Apple Cross Inn for a drink and some tasty fish and chips before tackling the Apple cross pass in misty wet conditions ending the day with celebratory dinner back at Inverness having completed the NC500 in just 2 days.

Day 4 saw us complete the arduous 500-mile journey back home taking over 9 hours.

The total distance we travelled over the 4 days was1500 miles and so far, we estimate we have raised £3,000 including an assessment for Gift Aid.

This all about raising money for Cransley Hospice our target is £5,000 so please continue to donate using this link.

https:// www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sbr21

The whole team met over the weekend to finalise plans for the rally. We will be leaving at around 6 am on Tuesday heading for Inverness a 500-mile journey for the first day. unfortunately Nigel and Tim could not be there but are still taking part.

We are doing this for CRANSLEY HOSPICE who do great work caring for people at their most difficult time in their lives . So please donate by clicking on the Just Giving link below https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sbr21

The Isebrook Hospital Sensory Garden and Rest Area took a big step forward as the Spire Group helped by the club members and  4 volunteers worked tirelessly on Saturday to transform them into areas of tranquillity. Whilst there is much more to do, they can now be brought into use by the patients and staff. A big thank you to all who helped especially the volunteers who gave up their time for us.

This what it looked before we started earlier this year

The Spire Group are aiming to raise more than £5,000 for Cransley Hospice who provide caring end of life support free of charge to the local community.

We are doing this by completing a rally challenge of 1500 miles including the Scottish North Coast 500 in cars valued at £500 or less within 4 days.

Plus, we will be offsetting our carbon footprint through a local community project to plant trees.

Please help us to achieve our target by donating but as importantly share the poster emailed to you  with the Just Giving Link

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sbr21 to all your network of friends and encourage them to support this worthy cause.

Thank you

The Spire group will now be holding the event on 23rd July at La Rocca this is a bid to attract new members to join the group and to raise money for Cransley Hospice. Let us know if you want tickets.

Another day at ISEBROOK HOSPITAL and the Spire Group team have progressed the project the court yard is now really starting to look good and we have had some great reactions from the staff which make it all worth while. There is much more to do to turn this into a sensory relaxing space which we will continue to do over the next few week.

On the night of 21-22nd June 1941 seven Avro Manchester aircraft of 207 Squadron, based at Waddington, Lincolnshire, were detailed to bomb the docks at Boulogne. Each carried 12x500lb general purpose bombs and they took-off between 01.00 and 01.42hrs. Approximately three hours later, at around 04.20hrs, six aircraft returned. The squadron operations record book records the fate of the missing aircraft:

“Waddington. 22/6/41 It was learnt that an aircraft that had been shot down by a Beaufighter at approximately 01.55 hrs. near Wollaston, Northants was our missing Manchester L7314 (‘Y’). Traces of five bodies were found and the identity tag of Sgt James. The aircraft was outward bound on track at about 6000 ft. It crashed in flames after the attack and some of the bombs exploded.”

On Tuesday 22^nd June2021 (eighty years to the day) a memorial to the seven crew members was dedicated on land near Poplars Farm, Wollaston close to the crash site. The project was driven by the Wollaston Parish Council and the memorial was funded by public donations. Wellingborough Hatton contributed to the fund. Relatives of five of the crew members were present when the current commanding officer of No 207 Squadron unveiled the memorial.

By Dick Parsley

Unfortunately as a result of Boris not lifting restrictions as we had hoped we have had to postpone this event. We are currently seeking confirmation from La Rocca on the next available date which we hope will be 23rd July.

The Spire group will be holding an event at La Rocca in a bid to attract new members to join the group and to raise money for Cransley Hospice .

The Spire Group have been working with Isebrook Hospital to maximise the benefit of the money raised from the Euro Banger Rally in 2019. This money is being put towards creating pleasant sensory relaxation garden areas for both patients and staff. On Saturday after a lot of hard work at you can see the Spire Group team turned a jungle into something resembling a garden. There is much more to do to turn this into a sensory relaxing space which will be done over the next few weeks.

Duncan,  on Saturday, presented a cheque for £500 from the Santa Sleigh Appeal to Dayn Freeman from the Wellie Bus organisation.

They provide a fantastic transport service helping people to overcome isolation or lack of transport. It is available to everyone and they are experienced in dealing with the elderly and people with disabilities. This enables them to get to a range of shops, clubs, and events in and around the town.

We are proud have helped to support this valuable service to the local community.