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
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!
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:
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..
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.
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!
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
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:
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
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 StreetMill StreetMill Street waters subsidingBridge St footbridg at South end of Mill Street – one arch acts as a DAM not a bridgeThe obstructed second arch on the Bridge Street road bridgeBrook CloseBrook CloseNot 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 StreetMill Street – the MIll is at bottom Right, the 3 cows are maroooned at mid LeftBabelake Street looking North towards Mill StreetEven 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 MillBabelake 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:
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.
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.
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:
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 ClubBook ClubAimee, Choir LeaderChurch informationAshby Ivanhoe Garden SocietyAshby U3A Science & Technology Group
