Scott Collins

Discover the very best in British shoe design at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery’s showcase exhibition this summer.

From classic English shoemakers to top British shoe designers, ‘Best of British’ is a celebration of British style and design and is part of Northampton’s summer-long Shoe Town Festival 2010 programme of events.

As well as shoes from the museum’s own designated collection; the show includes a number of special loans from the elite of British designers and shoe companies, including Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Georgina Goodman, Manolo Blahnik, Carreducker and Tricker’s.

Rebecca Shawcross, Northampton Borough Council’s museum shoe expert, said: “Britain and in particular Northampton has always been known for the quality of its shoes. We are lucky to have one of the world’s most coveted collection of shoes. The best of our British collection will be on show, which combined with some incredible loans makes this an exhibition to savour.”

After viewing the exhibition, visitors will be asked “What a British shoe means to them?” Is it a shoe that is traditional in style, a Derby or Oxford brogue? Is it a shoe that is quirky, with a sense of humour that makes you laugh? Is it a shoe that is designed by a British based designer? Is it a shoe designed by a British based designer yet made abroad? Is it a shoe that has MADE IN ENGLAND stamped on its sole?

Best of British is showing at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery until 19 September. Admission is free.

For details of other Shoe Town Festival events visit www.Northampton.gov.uk/museums

EVER imagined stepping out onto the red carpet and posing for the flashing cameras, in anticipation of your own movie premiere on the big screen? Well now that dream could be a reality, with the launch of Northampton’s biggest short film festival.

Film Northants returns for its third year, in association with Cineworld Cinemas, to give county film-makers the chance of watching their own film at the cinema and winning a £500 Jessops gift card, cinema passes and exclusive film merchandise.

The successful competition invites people of all ages to get creative and enter a film of no more than five minutes, which must be filmed on location in Northamptonshire.

Film Northants chair Lily Canter said: “This is a great opportunity for amateur film-makers to get a regional profile, build experience and ultimately see their film in all its glory on a full size cinema screen. To date the judges have been extremely impressed with the quality and variety of entries which have showcased the talent of Northamptonshire. As previous winners prove, Film Northants is a great platform towards a career in film.”

All of the festival entries will be watched and shortlisted by a panel of judges before going to a public vote to identify the first, second and third prize winners. The Judges’ Choice award will also be returning again this year.

The judges are confirmed as Ms Canter, Becky Adams of Reelscape Films, Tim Coley, film lecturer at The University of Northampton and Rob Rowe manager of Cineworld. The festival is run by independent organisation Film Northants and funded by Grassroots Grants Fund, managed by Northamptonshire Community Foundation.

The deadline for entries is noon, August 20.

The shortlisted films will be screened at a special red carpet awards ceremony at Cineworld, Sixfields on September 20. The event will be hosted by national film critic Quentin Falk and the awards will be presented by The Apprentice finalist Claire Young.

Details at: www.filmnorthants.co.uk or join the Facebook group ‘Film Northants’.

Film Northants 2009 winners gain commercial success

Mat Dumont and his brother Anthony, from Brixworth, won first prize in the Film Northants 2009 public vote award for their touching mystery short No Stone Unturned. The competition has not only inspired the pair to continue making films but has also opened up commercial opportunities.

Mat said: “Winning Film Northants last year was a great experience. We had a lot of good comments about No Stone Unturned and we look back at the evening and the film itself with a lot of fondness. To have people say they almost cried after watching your own film is very rewarding and keeps you focussed on telling stories that you want to tell.

Over the last year we have been lucky enough to be asked to film a corporate video for a large local company, largely due to our success in the Film Northants competition. We also tried our hand at TV advertising competitions and had a go at the popular Doritos ‘King of Ads’ competition and had to fight against over 2,000 entries

We’ll be back to defend our title in 2010 and hope for an exciting competition once again. We proved last year that you can make a five minute film that can be well-received even with the most basic of equipment, so I’d encourage anyone to give the competition a go. If you’ve got an original idea, there are people out there who want to watch it.”

Meanwhile 2009 Judges’ Choice winner Stacey Swift, from Rushden, has used his success as a catalyst to make a feature length film. Stacey impressed Film Northants judges with his political satire Tuhfah and has since gone on to make an equally controversial film.

Stacey said: “Winning our film award was a wonderful surprise as well as being very encouraging experience. The most positive aspect would be that winning the award has inspired us on to work on further film projects.

We have spent the last year working on a full length feature. A satire shot in the style of a spoof documentary which explores the myriad dangers of blind religious faith and how such beliefs can cause people to behave in the most appalling of ways.

The festival was a great way to meet new contacts and you have the opportunity of seeing your own film on a real cinema screen, which is something many people only dream of. And if you’re lucky you might end up being able to call yourself an award winning film director - that certainly makes it easier to persuade people to be in your future projects.”

Film festival rules and entry requirements

RULES:

1. Maximum length of film is five minutes

2. The film must be shot on location in Northamptonshire

3. A film may be submitted by a group or individual

4. Only one entry per group or individual is allowed

5. The film must be an original piece of work and copyright must be obtained for images or music by other artists

6. No explicit sex, violence or language is permitted

7. The film must be submitted either on a DVD as an MPEG, MOV or WMV file or uploaded to YouTube with the URL and video embed code sent to Film Northants with your details

8. The film may be any genre, fiction or non-fiction

9. Each film will be judged on its own merit and age and experience will be taken into consideration

10. Film Northants must receive your film no later than noon on August 20th 2010

HOW TO ENTER:

Either:

1. Make a short film and save it as an MPEG, MOV or WMV file on a DVD and post it / drop it into:

Film Northants
12 Burns Street
Northampton
NN1 3QE

Please include your name, contact phone number and email, and a brief description of the film

Or:

2) Upload your film to YouTube and email the URL and your name, contact phone number and a brief description of the film to: filmnorthants@yahoo.co.uk

For more information, photographs or interviews please contact:
Lily Canter
07714 595970
filmnorthants@yahoo.co.uk

Conservative County Councillors are spending £2,000 of your money on corporate teabags for staff, plugging the authority’s ‘low carbon mission’.

Given the Council’s poor record on sound financial management, we want to know what you think. Vote in our online poll and have your voice heard.

Scott Collins, Parliamentary Spokesman for South Northants said “This is an utter disgrace. How can any reasonable person think spending £2000 plus on teabags and cups at a time the council cutting costs and laying off staff? This is nothing more than a overpriced ego trip for the councillors.”

“Given that the council has not signed up to commitments like the 10:10 project aimed at cutting carbon emissions it is ridiculous to waste taxpayers money which would be better spent on services that matter not trinkets and gimmicks”

To read the Chron’s coverage of the debacle, click on the following link:

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Fury-as-cashstrapped-county-council.6435830.jp

Councillor Jenny Conroy (Lib Dem – Spencer) Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson has today welcomed the decision of the County Council not to implement charging the parents of post sixteen students with the costs of transporting their children to special schools or establishments outside the normal catchment area until January, and to look at revising the scheme in response to the many complaints and concerns expressed by parents..

“We said at the time that the Cabinet took this decision that it was wrong to impose these charges, and we are pleased that the Cabinet Member has listened to the parents concern. It will be interesting to see what alternative scheme is to be put forward instead. We will be keeping a close watch on what is proposed to ensure that it is a fair scheme” said Cllr. Conroy.

The Conservatives at County Hall are always telling us how open and transparent they are. Anyone who was at the Full County Council meeting last Thursday will know just how hollow this claim is.

When it came to the time to consider a Liberal Democrat proposal to publish on the County Council’s website details of Freedom of Information requests received the Conservatives applied the principles they hold dear and roundly rejected the proposal.

Whilst nationally the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are working together for the good of the country, here in Northamptonshire, we still have the same old Conservatives with the same old attitudes.

Your coverage of the debate on Councillors Allowances at the County Council rightly points out that last week County Councillors refused to implement a proposal that would have lead to a small overall decrease in the cost to Northamptonshire’s taxpayers of councillors’ allowances. In doing so Northamptonshire County Councillors passed up the opportunity to share with the council’s employees the pain of the current round of pay freezes and pay cuts.

True enough the freeze on county councillors’ basic allowances remains in place. However a proposal put forward at the meeting by the Liberal Democrats would have seen the 55 per cent of County Councillors who earn Special Responsibility Allowances on top of their basic allowance take a reduction of 10% in their special responsibility allowance. This proposal was voted down by the Conservatives, Labour and Independents.

At a time when over half of the council’s employees have been notified of a salary freeze or a reduction as a result of the Pay & Benefits Review, the National Pay Award and the freeze on public sector salaries in excess of £21,000 per year, these leading councillors should have set an example by taking the reduction proposed by the Liberal Democrats. Not to do so shows, that for some councillors there is one rule for them and another rule for the council’s employees.

Whilst it is good to acknowledge that the performance in Northamptonshire Schools is gradually improving, it is a long journey that the County has embarked upon, and is far from reaching its destination point.

News that the Government have taken the County’s education services out of “special measures” is a not unexpected measure given the current drive to cut expenditure by reducing the level of inspection of local government.

However serious problems still remain to be addressed. Although the County’s pupils last year achieved improved GCSE A*-C results, pupils in Northamptonshire still under achieve at GCSE level and are below the national average. There are still 3.7% of the county’s schools that are judged by OfSTED to be performing inadequately with only just over half the county’s schools judged good or outstanding. This is not a record that the County Conservatives can be proud of.

Liberal Democrats are committed both locally and nationally to improving standards and want all our schools to be judged as good or outstanding. That way there will be no contests between parents to get their child in a particular school if all schools can be brought up to a good or outstanding performance level.

Northamptonshire County Council’s Cabinet have approved a report regarding the future of the Springboard Pupil Referral Units for pupils facing exclusion from mainstream schools. Liberal Democrat County Councillors are very concerned as to what is happening to those pupils that have been denied admittance to those units since the OfSTED report last October when the council stopped the admission of pupils to the Springboard units. This has led to the reduction in the number of students to just 37 students currently in year ten and has allowed the closure of four of the units at the end of this term.

The report presented to cabinet proposes a compromise – an attempt to buy time to formulate and get up and running Behaviour and Attendance Partnerships as a replacement to Springboard, but these will not be up and running until January next year. By keeping three of the units open for the next school year it is giving the council time to set up the Behaviour and Attendance Partnerships. Whilst the principle of these partnerships is good, the details of how they will operate is still unclear, as is the future of the 71 staff currently employed in the Springboard Units.

The main question now is; what is happening to the pupils who since last October have not been placed in Springboard units? The report states “that there has been no adverse impacts on exclusions indicating that the risk of exclusions arising from the pupils is low” – so the question is, if no admissions have been made to Springboard units, and subsequently there have been no additional exclusions as a result of this, then one has to ask is there either a need for Springboard, or the proposed Learning & Behaviour Partnerships or is the report playing down the effect on the non-admissions to Springboard units on the schools?

We are very concerned as what provision is being supplied to those not admitted to Springboard units from last October to the time when the new Behaviour and Attendance Partnerships are fully up and running next year and what effect this is having on our schools at present.

A fascinating exhibition that celebrates the 100-year history of girlguiding has gone on display at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery this week.

In 1909 a group of girls gatecrashed a Boy Scout rally at Crystal Palace in London and told Robert Baden-Powell they wanted “something for the girls!”

Soon after, Baden-Powell’s sister, Agnes, founded the girlguiding movement and today there are over 7,200 members in Northamptonshire alone.

The display traces the history of girlguiding since 1910 and includes photos, press cuttings, badges, a 1918 handbook and uniforms, including the first Brownie uniform dating back to 1914 when the Brownies were called the Rosebuds.

The Northamptonshire Girlguiding Centenary Exhibition, which is part of Northampton’s summer long Shoe Town Festival, will be showing at the museum until 5 September. Admission is free.

For details of all Shoe Town Festival events visit www.northampton.gov.uk/museums

Commenting on the Coalition Government’s announcement that it has introduced a Bill to compensate Equitable Life policyholders, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Treasury Policy Committee, Stephen Williams said:

“The Labour Government had 10 years to help the those who had their lives ruined by the collapse of Equitable Life and did nothing.”

“In just 10 weeks the Coalition Government has taken real action to ensure that those who saw their pensions and life savings hit hard get the compensation they deserve.”

“Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for proper compensation for Equitable Life policyholders and committed to it in our election manifesto. This announcement is further proof of our influence in Government.”