 | Packington Infofrom Packington Communications Group – about our village in Leicestershire, England |
Two other much smaller charities may also receive a grant.
This major village event brings villagers together – both to enjoy a breakfast, and to enjoy being part of producing the event, by volunteering for an hour or so to help cook and serve while meeting new faces.
Highly recommended each year !
Packington’s own Café and Coffee Shop « Poochies of Packington » quietly closed on Sunday 28th December 2025.
Bev Smith wrote to the Packington NoticeBoard WhatsApp Group in early December:
” After five wonderful years, we’re sad to share that Poochies of Packington will be closing permanently on Sunday 28 December 2025.
We want to thank everyone who has supported us, laughed with us, shared stories with us, and become friends along the way. A special thank-you to Pete, our landlord, for everything he’s done
This has been a very hard decision, but we’re ready to step into a new chapter in life. We’re truly grateful for every customer who has been part of our journey.
Thank you for all your love and support xx “
Bright sunshine greeted midday spectators to the annual Morris Men and Pennyroyal Garland Dancers celebration displays, in the Bull and Lion car park on Boxing Day 26th December 2025.
Mild temperatures and the brilliant low sun provided an endearing spectacle – although the sharp shadows amidst the moving participants make the photography a little difficult.
A Christingle is a symbolic object used in Christian church services during Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.
It typically consists of an orange, a lit candle, a red ribbon, and sweets or dried fruit, each symbolizing different aspects of faith and creation.
Our village Holy Rood church held their children’s Christingle service on Sunday 7th December 2025, and here are three photos to give an idea of the event
About 50 villagers came to see the formal switch-on of the christmas decorations and lights at our Memorial Hall on Friday 5th December at 6pm. Hall Committee Chair Steve Salt gave a short welcome speech and the new lights and decorative effects were illuminated.
The village Community Choir sang some rousing seasonal songs conducted by Choir leader Aimee Harrison.
Mince pies and festive beverages were available.
Unfortunately, heavy rain came along too – after braving the deluge, most of us moved into the kitchen and the Chris Miles Room for our mince pies and drinks! A Packington Communications Group PCG photographer was in attendance – here are the photos, complete with rain drops reflecting the flashes of the camera!
Several village houses signed up to be trick-or-treat friendly, and a line drawing map of participating households was published – it’s hard to convey the spookines in photos, but here goes:
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
Monday 25th August 2025 was one of the NICEST late-August days EVER in our village, and a bumper day for raising funds for our village church fabric fund – desperately needed after the former under-pew heating system had to be removed.
Congratulations go to long-term village heroine Lesley Birtwistle for leading this wonderful event again, and to David Granger Architectural Design Ltd for again sponsoring it for us. Our grateful thanks too for the village residents who opened their gardens to make the event possible; to those who provided the welcome refreshments en route, for the open-air music concert, for the PVHG History Group display in the church – many villagers contributed to make this such a successful day.
You can catch a flavour of the brilliant sunny day in these photos by Packington Post photographer Karn Turnbull:
Alas, the wonderful weather was responsible for the cancellation of the popular Duck Race event which usually brings the Open Gardens day to a close – with no rain for ages, the village brook could not sustain a meaningful flow of water for the ducks!
Friday 1st August 2025 saw a village meeting at our Bull and Lion venue for a presentation to one of our most industrious village residents – Christopher Miles.
Chris has chosen recently to step back from his leadership and participation over the past 40 years in major village institutions. In particular, he has led our Parish Council as chairman, a vital role in our village participation in local government. He has guided our Memorial Hall management committee as Chairman, having achieved the complete refurbishment in 2009 of the old 1957 building after an extended fund-raising campaign to become one of the most sought-after venues in the area.
On his watch, the village benefitted from many Bonfire Nights’ firework displays, from summer Bank Holiday Duck Races, from July Party-in-the-Park events, from March Big Breakfast days at the Hall, from April Big Bake-Offs, from Gold- and Platinum-Jubilee celebrations and cream-teas, from earlier annual summer Carnivals – he has promoted a long list of such fun events in our village.
At the meeting, colleagues and residents were present to thank Chris for his extended service, with a small presentation after an address by our new Parish Council chair Keith Goodwin. The village approved whole-heartedly of the renaming of the Memorial Hall meeting venue as “The Chris Miles Room”, and presented Chris with an engraved room name plaque as a memento.
The photos below by Packington Post photographer Karn Turnbull give an insight into a joyous village evening celebration
Our vibrant village store staff have posed for the camera – these photos in July 2025 show the friendly happy-to-serve faces you may meet in our wonderful village emporium!
This family-run store – three generations of the SWIFT family, two of them shown (Peter and Joe) above – have a well-earned reputation for providing almost anything you can imagine – tell them today, they’ll probably be able to get it for tomorrow. We are a lucky village indeed.
Once again, nice May Day 2025 evening weather was welcomed, and allowed the traditional May Queen award presentation to proceed without thick coats or umbrellas this year, as was the case last year too.
The PennyRoyal Garland Dancers joined the Packington Morris Men and their music-makers 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. The May Queen Award ceremony took place there.
Packington Communication Group’s photographer Karn Turnbull was present and created the following album of delightful images, capturing the joyful essence of a wonderful evening – the best of Packington.
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..
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.
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!
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
Our Traffic Calming meeting at the village hall was attended by:
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.
We would like to say a big thank-you to Context Products Ltd for printing the handouts.
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