I’m Jonathan Hornett, the Co-op Member Pioneer for Wellingborough. I’m here to connect with the community and help support local causes. I work in partnership with many Wellingborough Organisations on this site and to coordinate our forums.
Shopping pre-loved may not be your first thought when it comes to buying a gift, but you can something incredibly unique and extra special. Barnardo’s Wellingborough is a treasure trove full of amazing pre-loved gift ideas. From vintage and one off pieces, unique homeware, and a huge selection of books and toys. There really is something for everyone!
Here Alise shows you around the store and tells you a bit more bout Barnardo’s
Barnardo’s transforms the lives of the most vulnerable children in Northamptonshire and across the UK through the work of their services, campaigns, and research expertise. The charity believes they can bring out the best in every child, whether the issue is child poverty, sexual exploitation, disability, or domestic violence. They help young people leaving care, children with a parent in prison, and provide early intervention for families struggling to cope. Barnardo’s also finds suitable adoptive homes and foster placements for children in care. Registered charity no. 216250.
Wellie Wombles are a litter picking group that work in partnership with Wellingborough Eco Group. They started on Facebook by Freddie Harris in February 2021, as a Wellingborough and East Northamptonshire group of Northants Litter Wombles. Both groups have been set up to encourage people to litter pick.
Wellie Wombles are individual litter pickers who, like the TV Characters, go Wombling free tidying up after the everyday people. They do suggest that Wombles start near where you live but can litter pick whenever they want to, and pretty much wherever they want to. As a group they simply offer help, supplies and guidance, plus give litter pickers the chance to share photos with each other of what has been picked on the Wellie Wombles Facebook group.
Wellie Wombles regularly litter pick 100+ bags a month just in Wellingborough and have filled 60 bags so far this month already! Maybe you have seen a Wellie Womble or two tidying up your local area, or have seen one of those red bags at the side of the road? Wellie Wombles also join in the Wellingborough Eco Group ‘Two Hour Tidy Up’ every month, tidying up local parks and public spaces.
Here is Freddie talking about Wellie Wombles!
Freddie is also busy working behind the scenes and has had some great success stories, including engaging with local schools and young people on the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, by setting up local neighbourhood hubs where people can borrow our litter pickers and hoops; and with local business, to get them to take up litter picking. He is always engaging with supporters over to see if they would like to do some picking too.
To help you, they have teamed up with Glamis Hall every Tuesday afternoon for Tuesday Tidy Ups, with Wellingborough Library Monday to Saturday and with Wellingborough Norse Monday to Friday; to loan litter pickers, hi-vis and hoops, and to give away bags. Equipment and bags are to be collected from one of the above locations, equipment is to be returned on the same day; and bags left for Wellingborough Norse by a public highway or at Glamis Hall on Tuesdays for collection. To get bags collected, simply report them on their website. You can also purchase a variety of pickers and hoops from them at their Tuesday Tidy Ups.
Made In Northamptonshire is a county wide networking group designed to bring together like-minded businesses and individuals from the food and drink sector. The ’support local’ philosophy is at the heart of Made In Northamptonshire, who believe that it is a positive and helpful way to support your local community.
In December 2020, Made In Northamptonshire opened their first shop at Rushden Lakes stocking a vast array of delicious local produce including tasty treats from award-winning Friars Farm, The Confectionist, Brooklyn Brownies, Vicky’s Kitchen, Daily Bread, Explore Chocolate, The Good Loaf, Warner’s Distillery, Nakasero Foods and many more; there really is something for everyone!
The Made In Northamptonshire Shop at Rushden Lakes is open 7 days a week: 9am-5pm Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm Saturdays and 11am-4pm Sundays! The shop is located in between Starbucks and Heavenly Desserts (see map below). They also have a satellite store at Jeyes of Earls Barton. The Made In Northamptonshire team look forward to you visiting them soon!
Introducing a local community centre and charity that is working hard to achieve their goal of being a community centre that is run by the community for the community. Paula Elmore and Marion Lamont have recently taken over the management of the Hemmingwell Community and Skills Centre CIO with two general assistants. Paula and Marion are both trustees who give their time freely and are supported by their wonderful volunteers and other trustees, who all help to keep the centre open and running smoothly.
Kate and Paula tell us about the activities at the Hemmingwell Community and Skills Centre
The centre is recovering from a couple of difficult years (as many others are) and Paula and Marion are hoping to improve the centre, and attract more groups to help enhance peoples’ lives around the area. These groups could be older residents’ groups and coffee mornings, mother and toddler groups, home education groups and more, watch this space as they grow. These and many more exciting things are happening now:
Fit & Fed local children can come and have fun in the school holidays through exercise, with qualified instructors. They also do crafts and get hot meals for themselves and their families.
Nest Youth Club on Mondays 4 to 6pm
The Compound Our Trustee, Kam works his magic all over Northamptonshire! Based in the centre, he works educating and mentoring young people through exercise and music. He also has raised funds for calisthenic bars to be placed outside in Hemmingwell, where he can often be found training and talking to our young people.
Elmore Education has a learning room in the centre, where Paula teaches vulnerable young people who can’t be in school for any reason.
Bingo evenings on Wednesdays, run by the new Hemmingwell Residents’ Association.
Seventh Evangelist Church on Saturday mornings
Shudan Martial Arts run by Jeff Gonsalves are regular users of the centre for young leader and self defence classes
Arts and Culture with Made for Many for young people.
Employment Training with Goodwill Solutions CIC bring courses to the centre to help local residents build their working potential and enhance their lives.
Food Bank (sponsored by Goodwill Solutions CIC) on Tuesdays at 1.30pm to 3.30pm, with extra parcels available to help those in need throughout the week.
Police Local PCSOs have an office at the centre, helping with events such as ‘Safer Streets’ initiative.
NN8 Off the Streets have placed a bleed kit at the centre and are working with their trustee, Kam, in to schools to help educate our children in the fight against knife crime
The centre’s wonderful hall and separate meeting room are available to hire for community events, parties, functions and meetings, both during the week and at weekends. This is at a discounted rate for local residents. The centre also hosts parties for the community, including a Christmas party this Saturday that has completely sold out!
After many years of planning, High Street United Reformed Church are embarking on their largest project since the current Church building was opened in 1875. The aim is to make the Church more welcoming and amenable to all the people of the town and beyond. The project received Planning Approval in April 2017 and is fund-raising to make the dream a reality. The Project, with estimated costs of £600,000 consists of four stages:
New external ramp to the front of the Church to allow for an easier, more dignified and inclusive access to those with disabilities and for coffin bearers at funerals.
New glazed door providing an elegant and secure enclosure to the external lobby.
The foyer, under the balcony, will be enclosed by a glazed partition through which you can enter the worship area of the Church. The foyer, which will become the High Street HUB, will be a multi-functional area, separately heated and encasing a servery and a meeting room.
The existing main worship area of the Church will be redecorated.
The most exciting change is to the foyer, creating The High Street HUB. They already hold Coffee mornings daily in the Church, which attract a number of regulars, some of whom are out of work and some are homeless and in need of a safe place for refreshment and a friendly chat, but this could be better.
Creating The HUB will enable the United Reformed Church to offer better services to the local community. With easily heated and adaptable spaces for use by the whole community that are easily accessible by all and right on the High Street!
The HUB will give the church the opportunity do what they currently do and more, with a purpose built servery, offering quality light refreshments; and a meeting room that’s able to seat 40 persons, for small gatherings, for those seeking counsel and for further outreach work.
Discover Shoots & Spores, a new mushroom shop that has opened at Nene Court and the first shop of its kind in Northamptonshire. They grow many different types of mushrooms including unusual varieties such as Lion’s Mane at the shop, which has a viewing window inside, allowing visitors to see the mushrooms growing and being harvested.
Founded in 2020, Shoots & Spores have been offering a home delivery service to customers and decided to expand into retail premises in October to meet the growing demand for their amazing mushrooms.
We met Dom, the shop’s owner, who said: “There has been a huge interest in these amazing ingredients and many studies are ongoing into the possible health benefits. Mushrooms are very delicate and have a short shelf life, so we know our customers appreciate the quality they receive when buying from Shoots & Spores. We have had fantastic feedback; visitors are impressed with the produce and enjoy the experience of seeing the growing room.”
Visit Shoots & Spores today at Units 2-3, Boxpark, Nene Court, The Embankment, Wellingborough, open every Wednesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm. They also offer a local delivery service across Northamptonshire. For more information find them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or email shootsandspores@gmail.com.
Wellingborough Swap Shop is a free and local exchange where members of the public can pass on things they no longer want, in exchange for something they need. You could describe it as a kind of cashless bring-and-buy sale. Participants do not need to bring anything in order to take away goods, and vice versa. Our ‘Swap Shop’ recognises that things no longer wanted by someone, might be another person’s treasure. By reusing things we cut down on the amount of waste that goes into landfill and reduce the amount of resources that we use in manufacturing of new products. And it saves you money!
Wellingborough Eco Group originally set up Wellingborough Swap Shop last year as a Facebook group (join in!) so items can be swapped or shared with others; and in February we started hosting Saturday Swap Shops at the Victoria Centre on Zoom with the One Wellingborough Plus project. In September we started hosting in person Wellingborough Swap Shops at Animals in Need’s Open day. This proved to be very popular, so we decided to have weekly Swap Shops in Glamis Hall’s Community Room during our Tuesday Tidy Ups with Wellie Wombles.
This Tuesday’s Swap Shop promises to be bigger and better than ever! With food surplus from Glamis Hall and Redeem Funds, plus produce from Wellingborough Eco Group’s Community Allotment there’s lots of stuff for all. In Glamis Hall’s Community Room from 2-6 it’s all for swaps or just take anything you want, it’s all free! Find out more here.
C. E. Adkins and Sons is your local independent bicycle shop and cycle repair experts. Trading since 1923, Adkins are one of, if not the oldest retailer in town. On the face of it, not much has changed in their 98 years, which is good, because it’s hard to find good ‘old fashioned’ customer service like you do at this shop.
Gerry, grandson of the original Mr Adkins, showed us around. He and his father Dave run the shop. They do have a selection of bicycles for sale but are mainly fixing bicycles at the moment, mainly due to a shortage of bicycles caused by the pandemic.
Repairs start from just £9.50 for a puncture, £12 for a bent wheel and £25 for a gear and break service. They also have parts and accessories available.
C. E. Adkins & Sons stayed open throughout the pandemic as an essential repair service at the request of Wellingborough Council. They also support the monthly Critical Mass cycle rides to encourage people to swap four wheels for two.
Visit Adkins Cycle Store at 8a Cambridge Street or call them on 01933 222678. Their opening hours are Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10am until 2pm. Do pop in for all of your bicycle repairs or if you fancy something new to ride on.
Food for Thought have food, cleaning, personal hygiene products and accessories for sale. Kerry, the shop’s owner, gave us a tour of her emporium, and we videoed it for you. Here is Kerry telling us all about the products available at Food for Thought, including lots of new ones:
Kerry has opened her ‘zero-waste emporium’ in Nene Court, Wellingborough, to reduce plastic pollution & celebrate locally made. Their motto is more joy with less waste!
At Food for Thought, you can buy loose and eco friendly goods, such as food stuffs, self-care and cleaning products. You simply fill, weigh and pay for what you need. So save your jars and bottles. Wash them out and refill at Food for Thought!
Here are some photos of Food for Thought:
So if you’re looking for great food and cleaning products with zero waste, find Food for Thought at 21 Nene Court, Wellingborough, NN8 1LD
The Scope Wellingborough shop sells a wide range of new and second goods including: clothes, shoes, homeware, accessories, furniture, CDs and DVDs, books, toys and much more. They offer discount prices, with tops for £1, bags and shoes for £2, dresses for £3 and jackets for £4.
They are urgently requesting donations of good quality clothing, bric-a-brac, electricals, toys and shoes and bags. Don’t throw your unwanted items, give them a new life by donating them to Scope, the disability equality charity in England and Wales. Every donation of a pre-loved item helps them to fund their vital advice and support services; and it stops usable items ending up in landfill:
Scope provides practical information and emotional support to disabled people when it’s most needed, through a telephone helpline and via an online community forum. They also provide a range of employment and child sleep services, community engagement programmes, partnerships and more.
Scope are campaigning to create a fairer society with their Everyday Equality strategy. For the last 5 years they have campaigned for social change, on issues about fairness, justice and rights at home, at school, at work and in our communities; so that the 14 million disabled people in the UK have equal opportunities.
Donating items to charity shops like Scope for re-use, diverts millions of usable items from landfill and into low-income households, tackling poverty, saving hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2, and supporting a vast, growing network of people through volunteering, employment and training opportunities.
There are no limits on number of bags you can donate and you don’t need to make an appointment at the Wellingborough Shop. Just drop off at your convenience to 26/27 Silver Street, Wellingborough, NN8 1AY. They are open Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm and closed on Sunday. Call 01933 227001 or visit https://www.scope.org.uk/ for more info.
