Packington Traffic Calming Group need your help!

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On Friday 19th September at 6.30pm the Group will be holding a ‘community event’ as part of the ‘Packington Welfare & Safety Partnership’ at the Memorial Hall.

The PWSP event is an opportunity for village residents to get updated on what has been happening with various groups in the village.

Packington Traffic Calming Group will have on display designs for our proposals for traffic calming measures which we intend to submit to Leicestershire County Council and we would very much welcome your views on these.  We shall also have available handouts providing information of the work which has been done by PTCG over the last 3 years, for visitors to flick through and read. 

We have invited Ann Carruthers (LCC Director of Environment and Transport), Councillor Dan Harrison (LCC Leader), Councillor Charles Whitford (County Councillor for Highways), Councillor Nigel Smith, PC Ryan Lang, Amanda Hack MP and Stephen Bryan (High Sheriff of Leicestershire), to come along and see what is happening in our village.  Councillor Michael Squires has already confirmed his attendance and we have received interest from Ann Carruthers and Amanda Hack.

It is your chance to come along and ask questions, put forward suggestions and give your much needed support!

Also, we recently asked for volunteers to assist with the Community Speed Watch campaign which will be taking place later in the year.  We have been contacted by 4 residents who have very kindly offered their help.

We know that this is a subject a lot of residents feel very strongly about and we encourage more people to get involved. If you could spare a little time, please contact Jonathan or Nicola on the emails below – the Group would be very grateful for your help!

For any comments or suggestions regarding the above, please do not hesitate to contact:

PTCG Chair – Jonathan Alexander jonathan.alexander.uk@outlook.com      

PTCG Secretary – Nicola Beanland nicolabeanland37@gmail.com

Big Breakfast 2025 – the Photos

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Saturday 1st March 2025 – Dydd Dewi Sant or Saint David’s Day – was a bright sunny crisply cold morning, and during four hours, hundreds of village residents and locals came to our charity event, the Big Breakfast, raising money for LOROS, our special local Leicestershire hospice organisation for Relief of Suffering..

The hall was laid by volunteers on the Friday evening 28th February

Here are the Saturday photos, from Packington Post photographer Karn Turnbull, beautifully capturing the essence of our event, where village volunteers take turns over 4 hours to prepare and serve fantastic full breakfasts, and where the whole village takes part in this wonderful charitable event.

Screenshot

They Made it! Los tres Picos / 3 Peaks Challenge

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Emily Wilsher reports:

14th October 2024 – We made it! Actually did 4 mountains, including the 3 in the challenge, Mulhacen (3482m), Veleta (3394m) and Alcazaba (3371m) over 3 days. We walked nearly 50k in the Sierra Nevada mountains, with the highest peak at 11,400 feet. We felt the altitude and the wind. After two days walking in the clouds, we finally got sun and views on the last day, which was a nice treat.

We wanted to say a massive thank you to those who sponsored us from the last post and those who have donated in Daybreak Services, the bucket there will be collected at the end of the month for anyone wanting to donate only after we made it!

The QR code in our Packington Post July Issue news item below is still an easy way to donate!

Thanks – Emily & Mum!

May Queen Award at 6pm on Wednesday 1st May 2024 at the Bull and Lion Inn, Packington

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Nice May Day evening weather was welcomed, and allowed the traditional May Queen award presentation to proceed without thick coats or umbrellas this year.

The PennyRoyal Garland Dancers joined the Packington Morris Men and their music-makers in a display after the award, and then in a parade round the village, progressing up High Street, left down Hall Lane, left along Mill Street, left again along Bridge Street, back to the Bull and Lion car park

Packington Traffic Calming Group PTCG Meeting

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Village Meeting Report – Thursday 16th November 2023

Our Traffic Calming meeting at the village hall was attended by:

  • Lead LCC Councillor Nick Rushton
  • LCC’s Traffic & Signals Team Manager
  • District Councillor Nigel Smith
  • two Parish Councillors
  • John the lollipop man
  • PTCG members
  • Unfortunately, no representative from Leicestershire Police

A presentation by the Chairman of the Packington Traffic Calming Group, Jonathan Alexander, described the work and research carried out over the past year with Automatic Traffic Counters (ATCs) to show the problem our village has with regards to excessive traffic speed.

You can download a pdf file of the slides in the presentation, about 4MB, here:

20231120_PTCG-Meeting-PresentationDownload

  • John, the lollipop man, gave an oversight of his job which he has attended for 12 years. Daily he witnesses drivers ignoring signs, flashing lights, overtaking on the narrow bridge, giving hand gestures, and he himself has had to shield parents & children due to drivers not adhering to the 30mph, let alone the 20mph school zone. He feels very passionate about this and is a great asset to our cause.
  • Members of the Group raised many important and valid points, and full support was given by the Parish Councillors.
  • As anticipated, we were advised by LCC that they do not have the funds to implement any traffic calming in the village – “there is no money in the pot!”
  • The Group advised that we would attempt to raise the funds by way of grants or fundraising, but are currently unable to proceed further until we know what type of speed measures can be agreed on and aimed for.
  • After some persuasion, LCC agreed to assist us in providing their opinion, advice and knowledge with regards to the type and cost of traffic calming measures and that they would come back to us before the end of the financial year.
  • The Group put forward a very detailed and heartfelt case advising LCC that we are in this for the long haul! The sorry situation for pedestrians on Measham Road was highlighted, where an already critically-narrow footpath is further blocked by a telegraph pole:

We would like to say a big thank-you to Context Products Ltd for printing the handouts.

Subsequent Speed Checks

On Saturday 25th November 2023 there were police speed checks on Measham Road. In half an hour, 6 vehicles out of 81 vehicles were above the prosecution threshold.
We understand there were further police speed checks in Packington on Saturday 23rd December, although the location and number of prosecutions for our village is not yet known.

Please make comments or suggestions by email to :
PTCG Chair – Jonathan Alexander – email: jonathan.alexander.uk@outlook.com
PTCG Secretary – Nicola Beanland – email: nicolabeanland@btinternet.com

Flood Action Team – FLOAT – Autumn 2023

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In the early hours of 18th September 2023 an intense series of rain storms affected Ashby de la Zouch and the surrounding areas. The huge volume of water that fell quickly saturated open ground areas and began a rapid run off, through rain water gullies and drainage systems, into the Gilwiskaw Brook towards Packington.

Unfortunately for Packington, our brook cannot contain such flows, and we experience flooding. Even under normal circumstances, the Gilwiskaw Brook may break its bank on Mill Street between the watermill bridge and Hall Lane bridge. This overflow can block the road for a few hours before retreating back into the channel.

In September however the rainfall was such that the volume of water was much greater than normal and as a result more than 15 homes were flooded as well as over 40 properties that were cut off due to their access being under flood waters. Packington Primary School itself was unable to open, being inaccessible to vehicles.

Sarah Marvin’s kitchen view of Mill Street after the height of the 18 September 2023 floods

This was extremely distressing for everyone affected. It has caused damage to property, loss of personal effects, and a huge amount of disruption as home and property owners began to clear up afterwards.

Packington Post has tried in the photo gallery below to illustrate flood waters and the affected areas – Mill Street and Brook Close are particularly badly hit, Heather Lane at its Junction with Mill Street also had houses 1 to 3 inundated in September.

Hall Lane Bridge from Mill Street
Mill Street
Mill Street waters subsiding
Bridge St footbridg at South end of Mill Street
– one arch acts as a DAM not a bridge
The obstructed second arch on the Bridge Street road bridge
Brook Close
Brook Close
Not just Mill Street and Babelake St / Brook Close – Normanton Road seen here also floods at its junction with Heather Lane.
How do I get to school?
Mill Street
Mill Street – the MIll is at bottom Right, the 3 cows are maroooned at mid Left
Babelake Street looking North towards Mill Street
Even if your vehicle is Snorkel-equipped, GO SLOW because your bow-wave may wash away carefully-laid sandbags..
The Gilwiskaw Brook looking North from over the Mill
Babelake Street

FLOAT (Packington Flood Action Team) have been in regular contact with Leicestershire County Council , NWLDC and the environment agency to examine what the root causes of the more extreme flooding were. The examination of where flooding occurred during this event indicated that it was a combination of water coming out of the Gilwiskaw Brook, failure of culverts and ditches around the village, and the continual issue of emergency discharge from the sewage works.

There are now further investigations planned by LCC into what can be done to clear watercourses – the Environment agency have been tasked with improving the flood alert system to try and alter their current system to allow flood warnings to actually be sent before flooding happens – however this still hasn’t been put in place.

Friday 20th October 2023 – storm Babet swept into the UK and once again Packington flooded. This time the water rose during daylight hours and so some preparation against floodwaters could be made by vulnerable households. The lowest lying homes in the village did still suffer significant flooding, roads through the village were impassable, and the school was once again cut off by the floodwaters.
The community really rallied around to check on neighbours and assist in getting sandbags to protect homes that were at threat of the rising water – and this was much appreciated.

Unfortunately we did get a small number of ‘thrill seekers’ coming into the village in off-road vehicles with the intention of driving in the flood water – the standing advice from Fire & Resue services is that you should never enter flood waters either on foot or in any vehicle – from a safety aspect – manholes and drain covers can become dislodged by floods causing an unseen hazard, and from a practical point of view, vehicles moving through puddles or flood waters cause spray and push water into bow waves that then cause more issues for homes effected.

So what can we do as a community?
Please – Report all blocked drains and gullies to Leicestershire County Council Highways department.
– Report any roads that become impassable due to flooding (no matter for how short a period)
– Report any flooding to your property – include any integral or attached garages or outbuildings

It is only by continuing to report issues will we get support from our local authorities in looking for ways to improve the current situation. Development and construction upstream of Packington are making our problems worse and for this there is no quick fix.

Meanwhile watch out for any communications from FLOAT, we are planning to hold more open meetings to update people on any progress made, this includes having a structured village flood plan to alert and hopefully assist residents and vulnerable properties

From an article in Issue 123 of Packington Post, November 2023

by village Flood Warden Sarah Marvin

Oh dear – Tuesday 2nd January 2024 – floods again.. inundations shown below at Normanton Road junctions with Heather Lane; and Mill Street:

Packington Show – Saturday 2nd September 2023

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Our village Horticultural Society PHS held it’s annual September first-Saturday Show again this year on 2nd September. This was the 80th year since the first show in 1943 held to support village members serving the armed forces in wartime.

The pictures try to give a flavour of the enthusiasm of the village to support this major function. The Hall front flower bed is in September glory; tables full of produce; trophies and silverware on display; and the hall and the meeting room humming and buzzing with visitors admiring the exhibits.

Short speeches from Bob Parry of PHS and show Chair Mike Powell thanked everybody who had participated. Cheques of donations to local charities and groups funded by this charity village show were handed out.

Duck Races – Bank Holiday Monday 28th August 2023 from 5:30pm

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Packington Duck Races – Bank Holiday Monday 28th August from 5:30pm at Lower Mill Street. Huge excitement, especially for youngsters..

Post-Event photos are here on our Packington Post Facebook page, by our Packington Post Photographer, Karn Turnbull :

A series of Duck Races, from 5:30pm, with Grand Prizes. See the ducks flowing down the Gilwiskaw Brook from launching at the Hall Lane bridge, down to the Little Lane bridge.

There’s a personalised race for your own decorated duck, but mostly we’ll race the numbered yellow ducks available at the start for £1 each. Come and see the fun!

Huge excitement, especially for youngsters. The tension rises as the race progesses, people strain forward to read the numbers of the leading ducks – DON’T FALL IN !!

Great prizes, and proceeds to our Memorial Hall Charity.

High Street Walk success on Tuesday evening 27th June 2023 for PVHG

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Some 30 village folk were present at the 7:30pm start on Tuesday 27th June for the guided walk of our village High Street, led by our History Group PVHG

More joined a little later, keen to hear Robin speak:

Robin Boucher is the eminent chair of our village History Group PVHG, and he gave an excellent hour-long guided tour. Robin spoke with an engaging sense of humour about many features of our village High Street

At least 38 village folk were now present as we headed North past the Bull and Lion Inn.

The walk itself ended at the top of High Street, opposite the Round House, but was followed with refreshment served in the Memorial Hall meeting room alongside a PVHG display:

Village Open Afternoon at our Memorial Hall – Saturday 17th June 2023

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Packington Memorial Hall opened its doors to our community at 2pm for an open afternoon during a gloriously sunny and warm day.

Packington Post’s Editor, Amy Powell, was there:

Many groups and clubs are regular users of the hall and its facilities, and a number were present with information about their groups, and also to meet old and new community members. Our History Group PVHG were present:

This opportunity to meet potential new members also allowed group members an opportunity to network, to meet and talk about their upcoming events together. Members of the Board-Games group are seen, busy networking:

A fun afternoon was clearly had by all who attended, as these further photos by hall committee treasurer Angela Holt attest- Click on each photo thumbnail for the full sized image:

The Village Show team
Community Film Club
Book Club
Aimee, Choir Leader
Church information
Ashby Ivanhoe Garden Society
Ashby U3A Science & Technology Group

The groups that attended included:

  • Packington Communications Group (PCG)
  • Packington Village History Group PVHG
  • Packington Lunch Club
  • Packington Boardgames Club
  • Packington Book Club
  • Packington Village Community Film Club
  • Packington Horticultural Society (PHS)
  • Ashby Ivanhoe Garden Society
  • Packington Holy Rood Church
  • Packington Community Choir
  • Packington Parish Council
  • Ashby U3A Science and Technology Group.

For more information on some of the groups who attended this event take a look at the Packington Memorial Hall Facebook Page. 

A big “thank you” goes to the Memorial Hall trustees and committee for organising this event.

Packington’s Community Choir brings fun and laughter

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May 2023 – Our newly formed community choir is enjoying welcoming new participants each week, and with around 30 attending, looks set to stay!

So far, we’ve had an awful lot of fun and lots of laughter whilst learning a wide range of pieces – from popular classics, gospel, and traditional tunes.

Despite being a newly formed group, the choir is already singing some wonderful harmonies, and looking forward to what we can achieve in the coming months.

If you enjoy singing, give us a go; there’s no audition or necessity to read music.

We’re an informal group that focusses on the joy of coming together to share a love of singing. We meet at 7pm on Thursdays, at the back of the village church.

First session completely free – book your free session with

Aimee on 07967 316645 or email: aimeemusic at live dot co dot uk

Village Open Afternoon at our Memorial Hall – Saturday 17th June 2pm – 4pm

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FREE hot drink or glass of Prosecco.. Pop in for 5 minutes, or stay for longer. Our Bar will be Open!

Information on Village Groups, Clubs, Societies, events, and activities will be on display at Memorial Hall starting at 2pm on Saturday 17th June 2023.  Plus you can MEET the PEOPLE behind all these !

We haven’t staged an event of this size since an Open Evening in 2019. Back then seemed to be a major success, with many village people commenting on how they “..just didn’t know..” about all the different activities and societies that take place in Packington.

Some new to our village may never have seen inside our vibrant village hall – here is their chance to see what goes on. They can check us out on our website, at pmhv.uk

Also four years on from 2019, we estimate one-quarter of the village population were not here then.  New to Packington? So were we, once. Please come along and say hello, or just observe, us and the inside of the Hall. We’d LOVE to see you, and offer you that FREE drink!

Four years further on, there are many thriving village Groups that YOU might enjoy being part of, like the table-tennis club shown above. The groups would welcome YOU to come and see what they are and what they do. This is YOUR chance to look around with zero commitment needed. 

Organised by Packington Memorial Hall Management Committee, in conjunction with our village Groups and Societies..

YOUR (second) chance to become a Parish Councillor: action by Friday 12th May 2023

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There were only 5 applicants to be Councillors in the new Parish Council in April, and all 5 were elected uncontested.

Our council really needs 6, not just 5 – they need one more, and YOU can be that one, NOW, without any fuss of election, using the official “Co-Option” mechanism.

To apply, just write a short letter saying who you are and why you should be considered. You need this to be received by Friday 12th May 2023.

Full details are in the official notice below. You can click at the botom to download a pdf copy.

PLEASE APPLY – our village needs YOU

Notice-of-vacancy-available-to-be-filled-by-cooptionDownload

Aldi Ashby 20 Race 2023 – feedback, and thanks from the organisers to us in Packington

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1500 Runners ‘Spring Forward ‘ – March 26th, 2023

With a spring in their step, 1500 runners descended upon Ashby to take part in the annual Aldi Ashby 20. This 20-mile ‘BARR Gold’ road race is organised by runners, for runners.

After 12 months preparation by Ivanhoe Runners, the ‘not for profit’ event took place on Sunday 26th March 2023, the day the clocks went forward. Changing the clocks the night before, runners started arriving first thing Sunday morning, congregating around the streets of Ashby and in cafes before assembling on Upper Packington Road. The mass start at 10am resembled streets of London during the marathon, rather than the Market Town of Ashby de la Zouch. 

With the early rain easing, the runners headed towards Packington over the A42 bridge, turning down Mill Street towards Measham Road before commencing a 2-lap scenic country road course, taking them past Champneys Springs, through Heather via Swepstone, and heading towards Packington again after visiting Normanton Le Heath. 

The roads were lined with volunteers from Ivanhoe Runners, Conkers parkrun and Ashby Castle Rotary, cheering on the runners who join the race from all four corners of UK. Medical cover was managed by Leicestershire Search and Rescue.

After completing the 2 lap course, the runners headed back towards Ashby before crossing the finish line on the Bath Grounds, earning their special edition Ashby 20 famous hoodie, orange this year. Ivanhoe Runner, Abigail Halcarz came in at 2:07:53, taking first female place, whilst Daniel Bagley, Mansfield Harriers, finished in 1:47:36 as first place male.

As aways runners all had their individual challenges and stories, some to beat their time, others simply to complete the distance. Many ran for their chosen charity with Wishes 4 Kids, Hospice Hope, and Teenage Cancer Trust all benefiting. The latter saw 3 Aldi employees running as Cuthbert the caterpillar,  in preparation for the London Marathon:

Earlier, on the Bath Grounds, around 100 children took part in two separate fun runs, organised by Ivanhoe Robins each being twice around the perimeter of the Bath Grounds. This was the first time since the pandemic, and each child earned a fabulous medal to show off to their friends and family.

Richard Bebbington, the Race Director said, “Each year ceases to amaze me. Despite the early wet conditions, all the runners eagerly awaited the start on Upper Packington Road, Ashby, whilst volunteers wrapped up well to support the athletes. As always their feedback was simply amazing. It really is an absolute pleasure to be part of Ivanhoe Runners who spend hours of their own time to put on such a well-reputed race, with participants from throughout the UK. Many thanks to all our volunteers,  the runners, our sponsors, and most importantly the support from the local community and Packington village“.

Preparations are already in place for next years event, which takes place on Sunday 17th March 2024. Follow us on Facebook, and on our website

Richard Bebbington, Race Director, Aldi Ashby 20

Big Breakfast 2023 – Saturday 4th March

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Our village special 2023 Big Breakfast charity event this year followed the familiar pattern of previous years. Organiser Debbie Hamilton supported teams of volunteers, mainly from our village but also welcoming some from Ashby and surrounding areas. A fuller set of images by our Packington Post photographer are here on Facebook

Packington Post Photographer Karn Turnbull captured this scene of Happy Munching at Memorial Hall

From 9am to 1pm a steady stream of customers donated to the Hospice Hope charity and received their full breakfast, or breakfast bap, along with trimmings – orange juice, hot drinks, toast, and friendly service from volunteers.

A total of 240 breakfasts were served, and with donations from villagers we raised more than £1500 for our nominated local charity, Hospice Hope.

We hope that just a few more of our photos below can capture the essence of the event:

A busy Memorial Hall, with customers about to start their breakfasts
A view of the full breakfast product

Ashby Rotary volunteers in blue, standing..
The frontage of our village Memorial Hall