Welcome to the Village Link website. We’re a small not for profit organisation staffed by volunteers and cannot justify the expense of an SSL certificate. This certificate is what changes a web address from http to https. Google will soon change how they label sites; instead of labelling sites with a certificate as secure they will label sites without one as insecure. We keep this site as secure as we can and is as secure as it ever has been. Please do not be put off!

Take a little time to browse our pages and discover what goes on where and when in our area. Within our pages you can also find out who does what locally. If you would like to contribute anything to any of our pages, including your favourite picture from where you live in our area, please follow the links on the Contact Us page. We would love to carry all the info for your local club or association and best of all, it’s all for free!

The map on the left is fully navigable plus you can zoom in and out by using the controls in the top left corner and if you view the larger map you can enter street view by dragging the little yellow person onto the map to where you want to view and go for a virtual walk around our streets and lanes.

From Grit to Grace

Local heroes recognised as we celebrate Mark Hazle’s award and bid farewell and happy retirement to Rev’d Caroline Burnett.

Guilsborough resident and on-call firefighter Mark Hazle was recently awarded South England's Gritter Driver of the Year award by a highway maintenance vehicle manufacturer. He dedicated the award to his colleagues at Brixworth Depot. Congratulations Mark!

Photo credit: Econ Engineering.

This spring we say a fond farewell to Reverend Caroline as she retires. She has shared in our celebrations, supported us in difficult times, and touched many lives with her care, wisdom, and humour. We thank her warmly and wish her every happiness ahead. Everyone is invited to her Service of Thanks on Sunday 12th April, 10am at Guilsborough Church.
The churches are also looking for someone from Hollowell or Guilsborough to serve as. If you have bookkeeping skills and a little time to spare, your help would be very welcome. Warm thanks go to outgoing Treasurer, Mike Milner, for many years of dedicated service.

LOCAL SPRING GARDENS OPEN FOR CHARITY

Cottesbrooke Hall

Sunday 26th April

Holdenby Hall

Sunday 26th April

Guilsborough

Sunday 3rd May

Ravensthorpe Nursery

Friday 8th & Saturday 9th May

East Haddon

Monday 25th May

Creaton

Sunday 7th June

Twilight Walk 2026 - Sat 9th May

Cynthia Spencer Hospice has launched its popular Twilight Walk for the second consecutive year - an emotive, fun-filled fundraiser for family and friends to take part in a 5km or 10km walk as the sun sets.

The event, on Saturday 9th, is the first of many during 2026 to commemorate the charity’s 50th anniversary – known as the Big 50 - and participants are encouraged to don seventies fancy dress to match the year the hospice was born, as well as carry glow sticks and light up accessories as they step out on to the route around the town centre. Meet at Delapre Abbey, 6:30pm. Register online by Thursday 7th May, or turn up on the day!

Hollowell Sailing Club offers Tuesday evening tasters in the Summer months. You will learn to rig the boats, go for a sail with an instructor, have a go at helming yourself, then return to the shore to de-rig. The session starts at 18:30 and finishes around 20:00. Fee is £10 per adult and £7.50 per child. Maximum of three participants in the boat at any one time. (For families of four we can swap people out half-way through). Children should be 5 or over. For details or to reserve, email androowwood@gmail.com.

Open Day Saturday 9th May—pre-booking essential. Learn to Sail training course dates for 2026 also released now!

Visit the website: hollowellsc.org.uk for more information and to book.

Interested in Hockey?

welfordmixedhockeyclub.co.uk

Red-throated Diver visits local reservoirs

On the evening of 9th February, I had time for a quick visit to Ravensthorpe Reservoir. I had just a thirty-minute window, not enough time for a full circuit, so I started with a quick scan from the causeway. Looking through my binoculars towards the fishing lodge, a bird immediately caught my eye before it dived beneath the surface. After around thirty seconds it reappeared, having moved towards the middle part of the reservoir. Although distant, I was pretty sure that what I was looking at was a Red-throated Diver: larger than a Great Crested Grebe, in winter plumage dark grey above, with bright white sides to the head and neck and with a very distinctive up-tilted bill angle. I had recently seen several of these along the East Sussex and Kent coast, including a raft of at least seven off Winchelsea Beach, but had never seen one in Northamptonshire.

Although the evening was bright with largely clear skies, the light was fading, so I headed as quickly as possible (not easy given the muddy conditions!) round the path on the west side of the reservoir. As I reached the fishing platforms near the lodge, I was able to get better views which confirmed the identification. The diver continued to feed underwater, submerging for up to a minute at a time, often reappearing considerable distances away from where it had dived.

While Great Northern Divers have in recent years become regular winter visitors in Northamptonshire and surrounding counties, Red-throated has become a real rarity in our county, with only one other record in the last eighteen years, a short-staying bird seen at Boddington Reservoir in October 2024. With a European breeding range including the Scottish Highlands and Islands, Iceland and Northern Scandinavia, Red-throated Divers depart these areas in winter, dispersing around coastal areas further south and – as here – occasionally turning up in inland waters. Also known as Red-throated Loon, the species (Gavia stellata) has a circumpolar distribution around the whole northern hemisphere.

As I write, this individual has stayed around for twelve days, also visiting Hollowell Reservoir on a couple of occasions. It was in fact at Hollowell where I saw it most recently - and took the photo above - on the evening of 21st February (I’d also seen it that morning in flight as it departed Ravensthorpe Reservoir).

Jon Cook, joncooknorthantsbirds@gmail.com, @jcbirder.bsky.social