A fundraising event for the family of Leighton Buzzard mum Laura Jones is receiving “unbelievable” support from the community.

Laura, 29, of Vandyke Road, lost her life in a car accident last month, leaving behind her husband and three children.

Two of the children attend Leedon Lower School and her friend Chloe Peters, chairman of Leedon PTA, is organising a Pudding Club evening at the school with the hope of raising £1,000.

Chloe said: “Laura was a beautiful person inside and out and her sudden death has rocked our school community - not just in the playground but within our friendship group and the staff.

“Not only have we lost a beautiful friend and a fellow mum but a young woman with so much more to give.

“We have been overwhelmed at the love and support we have received from our Leighton Buzzard community.

“We have decided to do a fundraiser in Laura’s memory and hope to raise £1,000 to support Laura’s husband and her three children this Christmas.”

The PTA’s Pudding Club event will take place between 7pm and 9.30pm on Saturday, December 2 and is described as being an evening of puddings, wine and laughter. Entry is £5 (includes a raffle ticket). Those attending can just turn up on the night and are asked to bring a pudding (homemade or shop bought).

Chloe added: “The staff and her friends had so many people wanting to do something but didn’t know what!

“We have chosen to do this fundraiser because as a friendship group we hosted Pudding Clubs between us where you take a pudding and wine and you try different puddings and have one or two drinks – it was so much fun! So we thought this was the perfect thing to do.

“The amount of support we have received for our event from people who didn’t know Laura or her family has been unbelievable.

“We have had parents at school not accepting their change from school dinners or buying uniform and donating it to this cause, and others offering to donate puddings because they can’t come to the event but want to do something.

“We have had local businesses donating raffle prizes to make sure our raffle is a huge success, we even have a Butlins break as our first prize!

Laura’s funeral took place on Friday at West Herts Crematorium, Garston.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the accident which happened at about 12.50pm on October 19.

It is believed Laura’s Ford Mondeo veered on to the opposite carriageway on the B655 Barton Road at Pegsdon near Shillington and was involved in a collision with an Isuzu vehicle recovery truck.

> Call police on 101 quoting the reference Operation Triops with any information.

Leighton Buzzard is at risk of going backwards with more air pollution and congestion due to incomplete sections of the cycling network.

That’s the claim of cycle campaign forum Leighton BuzzCycles who say progress has faultered since Leighton-Linslade was designated a Cycling Town in 2008, winning £1.8m of funding.

The group took South West Beds MP Andrew Selous on a bicycle tour around Leighton Buzzard and Linslade recently to highlight the problems.

Mr Selous, who has recently been appointed co-chair of the All Parliamentary Cycling Group, was shown some of the best and worst examples of cycling infrastructure in the town, in order to demonstrate the challenges the campaign group currently face in completing the cycle network or ‘Green Wheel’ around the town.

Mr Selous said that he understood their frustration in how things had seemingly stalled and promised to take things up with the Leader of Central Bedfordshire Council.

“Cycling shouldn’t be at the bottom of the pile” he said. “This is not about being anti-car: the bike is the ideal mechanism for short journeys across town, such as taking the kids to school.”

Peter Bate, chairman of Leighton BuzzCycles stressed that it is not shortage of funding that is the stumbling block but lack of political will at a local level.

“Often the policies are there but they are not followed through,” he explained, “particularly when it comes to granting planning permissions.

“This means opportunities to get developers to fund and build the small but crucial links to join up sections of cycle path are missed.”

On a bicycle lent by local bike shop Dorvics (his is kept in London where he regularly cycles) Mr Selous was shown the site of the old toilet block next to the tow path beside the Canal Bridge.

This redundant piece of land could be used to create a new access down onto the tow path from the south side of Leighton Road, something that would benefit pedestrians as well as cyclists.

Leighton Linslade was designated a Cycling Town in 2008 winning £1.8M of funding. Mr Bate said: “The Cycling Town Project that started in 2008 kickstarted an increase in cycling in the town but we risk going backwards into more congestion and worsening air pollution if we don’t complete the network soon.”

He pointed out that huge amounts were invested six years ago as part of the Cycling Town project to build the main sections of the cycle network but attention has since turned elsewhere and the town is left with half routes that don’t join up and those that were completed are now falling into disrepair through lack of maintenance.

The group then rode along the topath to show the MP the White Bridge, with its steps that are a barrier for pushchair and wheelchair users as well as bicycles; the grand new Green Bridge at Tiddenfoot, which was designed to be part of a cycle route between the railway station and the new homes in south Leighton Buzzard; and the section of Grovebury Road near the doctors’ surgeries where only part of the pavement has been widened in an as yet incomplete attempt to create a shared-use safe cycle route to schools.

While some people may not be too bothered about their neighbours smoking cannabis in their own homes, others may find it particularly annoying.

It’s not uncommon for people to smell an illegal stench when they’re out and about but it becomes worse when it’s happening next door.

The smell of cannabis wafting over into people’s properties isn’t exactly the most welcome fragrance you can ask for.

It’s a smell that’s hard to miss and even harder to get rid of, but there are steps you can take to nip the problem in the bud.

Although some people think it is perfectly legal to smoke cannabis in their own home, it is still a Class B drug with possession punishable by up to five years in prison, an unlimited fine or both.

Police forces and partners have reaffirmed their commitment to continuing to ‘take action to improve the quality of life for communities who are affected’.

However, they have stressed that their best method of tackling the problem is by help from the public.

A police spokesperson said: “Local residents are often best placed to see on a daily basis whether their neighbours are behaving suspiciously and could be in possession of, cultivating or supplying drugs in their homes.”

But, this doesn’t mean that your neighbours will automatically know it was you that alerted police to problem. Police have insisted that will never tell people information came from a neighbour and sometimes will use the tip-off as a starting point on areas they’ll patrol.

As a result, they may smell cannabis themselves and knock on the door.

Crimestoppers have also said that people can contact them anonymously if they think their neighbours are smoking or cultivating cannabis near them.

A spokesperson said: “If you spot any of the signs that there may be a cannabis farm in your community you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or use our Anonymous Online Form.

“You will not be asked any personal details and neither your telephone number nor IP address will not be traced or recorded.”

However, if your neighbours rent their property, you can contact their landlord about this but there are constraints as to what they can do.

A police spokesperson said: “If you own or let a property you need to be aware of your responsibility to ensure cannabis is not grown on your premises.

“Consequences of allowing cannabis cultivation include reduction in property values, increased insurance premiums, hostile tenants, and up to 14 years imprisonment and a criminal record.”

If a landlord suspects the use of cannabis on their property, they can arrange a visit as long as they have warned their tenant they will be doing so. However, landlords are not bound to keep your tip-off anonymous like the police will do.

Cedars Upper School is celebrating Ofsted success, the Linslade school maintaining its ‘Good’ status since the last inspection in 2013.

A team of Her Majesty’s and Ofsted inspectors visited the Mentmore Road school in early October, and delighted headteacher, Steven Palmer, was pleased to hear that the school had been ranked as ‘Good’ once again.

The inspectors stated that that teachers’ “strong” subject knowledge and “positive” relationships with pupils helped students to make good progress, while leaders took “effective action” to improve areas of weakness.

The report said: “Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. They work hard and treat others with respect and courtesy. Sixth Form provision is good.

“Pupils achieve particularly well in mathematics - most achieve at least as well as their peers nationally.”

The school received a rating of ‘Good’ in the five key areas: ‘Effectiveness of leadership and management’;‘Quality of teaching, learning and assessment’; ‘Personal development, behaviour and welfare’; ‘Outcomes for pupils’ and ‘16 to 19 study programmes’.

Headteacher, Steven Palmer, said: “We clearly recognise our school in this positive report and the judgments match our own internal judgments.

“We are really pleased that this has been recognised by the report and will continue to make further improvements.”

Looking forward, Ofsted stated that the school should continue to diminish the difference between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and that of other pupils nationally, continue to develop strategies to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and ensure that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, particularly in science, is consistently good.

Cedars was also the second highest ranked school in Central Bedfordshire for pupil progress, which is how all schools are now measured, in the recent league tables.

Mr Palmer added: “What is really pleasing is that this doesn’t take into account that 33 students have seen their English GCSE result go up on appeal and when this is factored into the results we might be even higher than second!”

Frustrated businesses have hit out at Central Beds Council for failing to warn them about a road closure which affected their trade.

The businesses say the resurfacing of Bird’s Hill in Heath and Reach severely affected access to the area – but none of them were given notice of the disruption.

Bird’s Hill – the main road from the village into Leighton Buzzard – was closed from Monday, November 6, for five days, while Central Beds Council carried out essential road resurfacing work.

Jackie from Leighton K9 Grooming said: “Quite a few people were unhappy with the road closure because of the amount of time it was closed and the lack of notice beforehand.

“I think what was more annoying for me is that we weren’t told that it would be closed. I had to cancel quite a few appointments last week as the elderly clients could not get to me.

“There was a small sign near the road but people can’t read that if they are driving, and I wasn’t told about the closure.

“I feel businesses and residents should have been sent a letter informing us about the road closure.”

The Heath Inn on Woburn Road was also affected.

Trevor Cook, who works at the bar, he said: “It was ridiculous, customers couldn’t get into town from here, buses were being redirected, it was difficult to get taxis because the road was closed.

“We were not given any notice, normally when they do work on the roads they send a letter to residents and businesses that will be affected by it, but we didn’t get anything.

“I understand that the road needs to be repaired but it was the lack of notice of the road closure that was frustrating.”

A Heath and Reach resident added: “I think it was badly organised there was only the small sign about the closure, the council should have done more to let people know. The workmen tried to help people where they could.”

The landlady, of The Dukes, Sarah Smith, reported a quiet week during the road closure, she said: “It meant they were not letting my staff in, they had to park and then walk down, and I wonder how many customers tried to come here and weren’t allowed down the road so drove somewhere else.

“We were quieter than normal but I’m not sure how much business which actually lost because of the closure.

“I know they closed quite a bit of the road and I bet a lot of people didn’t come in from Leighton Buzzard because of that.

“We were not notified about the road closure and the noise was ridiculous, we had customers eating their lunch and the noise was so loud. They have resurfaced part of the road, but the bit that I think was worse and actually needed doing, they haven’t touched yet!”

Other residents reported that their houses had been “shaking” due to the work going on, and it is claimed workmen had received verbal abuse from frustrated people.

A spokesman for Central Bedfordshire Council said: “We would like to apologise for any disruption to local residents whilst we undertook works in Heath and Reach.

“Advance warning signs were placed on the roads in the days leading up to the closure. We can confirm that the works are now finished.”

Speculation is mounting about the vacant managerial position at West Brom after they parted company with Tony Pulis on Monday.

The Daily Mail reports that Sam Allardyce is in the frame to take over at the Hawthorns, with the paper reporting the former England and West Ham boss is “featuring highly” in discussions about succeeding Pulis.

The Scottish Sun has a different name for the Hawthorns hotseat, reporting that former club captain and current manager of Aberdeen Derek McInnes is among the contenders. McInnes played 88 times for the Baggies between 2000 and 2003 and helped the club to promotion to the Premier League.

Meanwhile, the next opportunity for Tony Pulis could come in the shape of the top job at Swansea if current manager Paul Clement is given the sack, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Away from the managerial merry-go-round, the Sun reports that Danilo Pereira is on the radar of both Manchester United and Arsenal, with the paper reporting that scouts have watched the Porto midfielder play over the weekend. The 26-year-old, who has been capped 27 times for Portugal, is also the subject of interest from Paris St Germain, the paper adds.

New Sunderland boss Chris Coleman is looking at landing Liverpool’s Danny Ward on a loan deal in the January transfer window, the Sunderland Echo reports.

The Daily Star says Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has challenged striker Daniel Sturridge to earn a January transfer

Watford striker Richarlison is the subject of interest from a number of Chinese clubs after impressing with his Premier League displays, the Watford Observer reports.

The family of a Leighton Buzzard man who was given a bravery award 50 years ago have paid tribute to him.

Robert Bates (Bob), who passed away on Tuesday, November 14, aged 89, has been described as a funny and loving man by his three children.

Bob grew at Grange Mill, Heath and Reach, helping his father on the farm and watermill with his two sisters, he went to Heath School and then Beaudesert School in Leighton Buzzard.

He was awarded a bravery award by the Royal Humane Society in the early 1960s. His son Alan said: “A local lad fell into the Grand Union Canal and my dad, being a strong swimmer, jumped in to try and save him, he managed to get his body out but sadly he died.”

Bob was married and divorced three times and had his three children with his first wife, but had several stepchildren and step grandchildren with his other two wives.

His children, Pat, Alan and Robert have paid tribute to their father. They said: “He was a very practical man and was always willing to help anyone who needed a lift somewhere or a gardening job doing. He was very well known around Leighton Buzzard and Heath and Reach and loved to have a chat with friends in the Wheatsheaf.

“When he was 18 he was called up to do his two years national service in the Royal Artillery of which he was very proud. It was during his time in the army that he acquired the travel bug and particularly loved Cornwall.

“He also loved to travel and see the countryside and family holidays always consisted of camping somewhere around the British coastline.

“Dad lived at Grange Mill up until it was sold in 1979, he was always very proud of his family’s history and legacy.”

At the age of 82 Bob found himself living alone for the first time in a flat in Leighton Buzzard. He taught himself how to cook and kept himself busy reading, walking and doing jobs.

Alan said: “Dad was a funny bloke and really enjoyed playing pranks on people. He liked talking about the history of the town and often did talks about the history of the town. He was very popular, he could talk the hind legs off a donkey.

“He will be very sadly missed by his 3 children, 5 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren.”

Mick King, a friend of Bob’s, said: “Really shocked and saddened by the passing of Bob. We had been friends since I was a lad and swam and fished in the river and sluice pond at the old mill.

“He was quite a character, not averse to a bit of mischief, and one of my favourite anecdotes is of the family he saw having a picnic in one of his fields. Not wanting to spoil their fun, Bob waited until they left and drove home. He followed and a couple of days later had his own little picnic on their lawn!

“I found him to be good-hearted and generous, always ready to do a good turn, lend a helping hand, without thought of reward.

“Whenever me and my brother get to talking about ‘the old times’ you can bet Bob’s name will come up and I’m going to miss him, as I am sure lots of others will - not least his loving family.”

The funeral is on Monday, November 27, at 10.45am at Crownhill Crematorium, in Milton Keynes.

A tribute to a man who was given a bravery award for trying to save a man’s life

A landlord is calling on the district council to do more to help him after losing thousands of pounds dealing with problems caused by a tenant who was rehoused.

Neil Conroy rented a property in a village in Aylesbury Vale to a tenant about four years ago.

Two years later, he claims that the tenant contacted Environmental Health saying there was no central heating in the property.

Mr Conroy was forced to make wholesale changes to the property under the Housing Act.

He said: “I didn’t understand why I had to brick up the fireplace and upgrade some of the power supplies.

“The tenant was constantly hostile to all who worked at the property and would often not let workmen in.

“This resulted in the works costing about £20,000 to complete.”

Mr Conroy was asked to sell the property by the Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust in 2016, however by this time the tenant had mobility issues.

The tenant was told by the district council to stay in the property until they were evicted by Mr Conroy.

He said: “We have lost tens of thousands of pounds going through the courts.”

The council eventually rehomed the tenant but Mr Conroy was left with a property that was still in a mess and significantly out of pocket.

He said: “It not right that the council advise tenants to stay in the properties.

“This has happened to us so many times even when the tenant is not paying the rent.”

A council spokesman said: “All dwellings need to meet the same standards regardless of whether the tenant is supported in paying their rent through housing benefit payments.

“Where possible we always try to work with landlords to improve defects in their properties, but we will take action if it is necessary to protect the health of occupants.”

A probationary police officer for Bedfordshire Police has been dismissed after acting unprofessionally while off-duty.

Officers were called to PC Matthew Duffy’s home address in Cambridgeshire to reports that he was drunk and acting aggressively on 15 April.

He was arrested for a breach of the peace but acted in an ‘uncooperative and belligerent’ manner towards attending officers and then carried on being abusive while in custody.

PC Duffy was released from custody the following morning but a Professional Standards Department investigation was launched into his behaviour and he was placed on restricted duties.

Following a gross misconduct hearing held at King’s House, Bedford, on Monday, he was found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour in relation to discreditable conduct.

He was dismissed without notice on Tuesday.

Deputy Chief Constable Garry Forsyth said: “We expect the very highest standards from our officers and staff at all times and sadly PC Duffy’s conduct fell well below what is acceptable.

“We will not tolerate such behaviour and attitude towards emergency service staff by anyone, particularly when it is by a serving police officer.”

B&M has apologised after a furious mum accused the store of almost ruining Christmas for her children with one of its products.

Emma Mander, 34, took to Facebook after spotting a ‘Santa’s Reply Letter Pack’ at B&M’s till with the header ‘Letter from Santa’ at the top.

The furious mum said she was with her youngest child in the store when she noticed the letter and claimed that it breaks the ‘unwritten Santa code’.

She said that the placement of the card could ‘ruin the magic of Christmas’ and would have led to some difficult questions if one of her three children had spotted it.

Posting on Facebook she said: “Why did you think 1. It was acceptable to sell these in the first place (do it online maybe?) and 2. To put them right at the till so that parents can’t avoid with their kids?!

“I’m just glad I didn’t have my older two with me, who I’m trying desperately to keep believing in the magic of Christmas ... and Santa ... “

If they’d have seen something clearly labelled “Santa’s Reply Letter” there would have been all sorts of questions ... why do they sell these in B&M Mum? Doesn’t Santa have them typed up in the North Pole Mum? Are all the letters I’ve had just bought from a shop Mum?!

“Yours, A disgruntled Xmas Ninja Mum of a very inquisitive, still believes but Inspector Clouseau type almost 8 year Old, a full believing 6 year Old (and a baby that was with me, who can’t read yet so luckily has no idea) Parents avoid B&M when kids are in tow just in case!!.”

The letter has Santa’s ‘address’ printed on the top right hand side of the page and a badge which reads ‘Santa’s Little Helper’.

The text reads: “Dear.... As it’s nearly Christmas I thought I’d write to let you know that as you have been good this year, your name is on my present list, here in the North Pole.

“I will bring you lots of gifts and leave them next to your tree. “Just you wait and see! Have a Merry Christmas. Lots of love from Santa.”

B&M have now apologised to the mother for the card and said they would be reviewing its position of the product in its stores.

Wizz Air this week announced a massive expansion at its Luton base, with 150 extra jobs, five new routes, and the addition of four Airbus A320 aircraft to its fleet by June 2018.

The allocation of four more Airbus A320 aircraft, each equipped with 186 seats, brings the total number of aircraft in Wizz Air’s Luton fleet to five.

Over the past year months Wizz has carried more than 5.5 million passengers on its Luton routes alone, an increase of 11% compared to 2016, making them the second largest carrier at Luton airport.

Wizz Air, which employs 30 people currently, is expanding its capacity at Luton by 15% year on year, and will offer in 2018 more than 6.9 million seats on its 46 routes to 20 countries.

The new routes will see daily flights to Larnaca in Cyprus, and to Bratislava in Slovakia, whilst four flights per week will operate to Tallinn in Estonia and three flights per week to Tirana in Albania and Lviv in Ukraine. Seats on the new routes are already on sale

The additional aircraft will also allow Wizz to increase the frequency of flights on three of its most popular routes. Starting in Spring 2018 flights to Tel Aviv and Suceava become daily, and Prishtina flights will increase from two to three times per week.

Owain Jones, Chief Corporate Officer at Wizz Air said: “We are thrilled that after only five months on from opening our base in Luton, we’re announcing a massive expansion by allocating four additional aircraft Airbus A320 to our Luton fleet. Our investment brings benefits to the local community by creating 150 new direct jobs, as well as stimulating more jobs market in aviation and related industries. #

“Wizz Air’s network from Luton will expand with five new routes, to Larnaca in Cyprus, Tallinn in Estonia, Lviv in Ukraine, Bratislava in Slovakia and Tirana in Albania, creating more choice for our passengers and even more opportunities to discover Europe on WIZZ’s low-fare routes.

“Our friendly and dedicated team looks forward to welcoming our passengers onboard to enjoy WIZZ’s lowest fares and excellent onboard service”.

Nick Barton, Chief Executive Officer at Luton Airport, said: “The announcement that Wizz Air is expanding its operation at LLA is great news for passengers, the airport and the local economy.

“Our redevelopment is focused on creating an even better experience for more passengers and that includes increasing our choice of destinations. We look forward to building on our already strong relationship with Wizz, as we deliver a bigger, better LLA”.

All the key facts from Philip Hammond’s Budget with our video graphics.

We have put together the key points from Philip Hammond’s Budget announcement on Wednesday into an easy to digest video graphic.

Shefford Town & Campton triumphed in their table-topping clash at Crawley Green Reserves to go six points clear in the Bedfordshire League.

They won 3-1 at second placed Crawley to extend their advantage in the Premier Division supported by Sportsform.

Jim Burnside, Kier Boyd and Ricky Young grabbed the goals against a lone home reply from Temitayo Akerele.

This defeat saw Green drop down to fourth place below both Caldecote and Wilstead.

Caldecote are now second after they retained their season’s 100% home record with a 4-0 victory over AFC Kempston Town & Bedford College.

Two ahead via an own goal and a strike from Jack Boyd, they made sure of all three points when Tom Wallace netted twice in the last five minutes.

Whilst Wilstead now find themselves in third after extending their unbeaten away run with a 1-1 draw at Flitwick Town. Hanvir Thiarra was on their scoresheet against a 90th minute home reply from Jack Colebourne.

Fifth place now belongs to Wootton Blue Cross who won 4-3 at AFC Oakley M&DH to end the home side’s six game unbeaten run. Dale Armitage with a brace was joined on the Blue Cross scoresheet by Chris Butler and Sam Halfpenny against M&DH replies via Elijah Hukin twice and Alex Liburd once.

Also netting four on the road were Cranfield United who still remain unbeaten away this season after a hat-trick from Josh Bamford and a penalty from Ali Smith took them to a 4-1 win at Renhold United.

United go bottom after Queens Park Crescents notched their first win of the season when a penalty from Daniel Rasol took them to a 1-0 victory at Kempston Rovers Development.

Also winning 1-0 were Ickwell & Old Warden, at home against Sharnbrook thanks to a last minute goal from Marko Tobzic.

Marston Shelton Rovers picked up their first home point when sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw with Stevington.

Ahead in the seventh minute via a strike from Wes Burrows they were just four mintues from recording their first home win when Kieran Souter netted for the visitors.

Division One supported by O’Neills

The new leaders of Division One supported by O’Neills are Totternhoe Reserves who retained their 100% home record with a 4-0 victory over the morning’s league leaders Wixams who were tasting defeat for the first time in seven outings. Lee Formont scored a hat-trick and Spencer Park joined him on the home scoresheet.

This defeat dropping Wixams into third spot and overtaken by Riseley Sports who remain unbeaten on the road after winning 2-0 at Cranfield United Reserves. Jay Willett and James Jermyn both netted in the second half to earn the points.

Still in fourth are AFC Kempston Town & Bedford College Reserves who were 4-1 home winners over Sandy. Kurtis Alleyne, Michael Sexton, Jonti Neal and Paul Obuch all found the back of the net against a lone reply from Max O’Keefe.

Whilst now in fifth are Flitwick Town Reserves after they won 2-0 at bottom of the table Meltis Albion who were suffering their eighth consecutive defeat, Sean O’Donnell and Josh Arthur-Kent netting the goals to do the damage.

Cople & Bedford SA are still looking for their first home win after being held to a 1-1 draw by Henlow. Ollie Hughes was on the home scoresheet and Paul Wright scored for Henlow.

Biggleswade FC Reserves are still awaiting their first away win after drawing 2-2 at Shefford Town & Campton Reserves. Malcolm Marimirofa and Andrew Hayday marked the Town scoresheet against visiting replies via John Veal and Charlie Luff.

Division Two

With Renhold United Reserves sitting the afternoon out their place at the top of Division Two is now in the hands of Henlow following their 2-0 home win over AFC Oakley M&DH Reserves. Russell Ayles and James Campbell netted the goals.

Bedford Albion missed their chance to climb into second spot when beaten 1-0 at Caldecote Reserves. Adam Legate scored the goal to end the Albion’s six game winning run.

For fourth place Houghton Athletic it was a 4-1 away victory at Atletico Europa to end the home side’s unbeaten home record. Jordan Thomas with a hat-trick and a single strike from Mihail Tudos did the damage against a lone home reply from Yasmin Demir.

Wilstead Reserves in fifth were the 5-2 home winners over Elstow Abbey. Gregory Turnball with a brace plus single strikes from Luke Prietzel, Luke Pursey and Robert Booth brought up the nap hand. The Abbey goals were the first and last of the afternoon via James Reynolds and Dean Leydon.

Elsewhere Westoning lost their unbeaten away record when defeated 3-1 at Marston Shelton Rovers, Garry Russon, Carl Borromeo and George Rogers netting for the Rovers against a lone reply via Lewis Wilson.

Sundon Park Rovers claimed their first win with a 3-1 home success over bottom side Luton Leagrave. Danny Buttigieg with a brace and a single strike from Nicky Buttigieg marked the home scoresheet against a lone reply from Matt McMillan.

Wixams Wanderers were taking their unbeaten ways up to three games with a 3-0 home win over CS Rovers. Khy Cyrus, Jordan Benham and Daryl Oliver all found the back of the net.

Division Two

With leaders Kempston Athletic and second place Clifton both sitting the afternoon out Harlington took full advantage to move to overtake Clifton by winning 4-2 at Sandy Reserves to record their fourth win on the bounce. Shea Gentle-King with a hat-trick and a single goal from Liam John were replied to twice by Liam Brophy for the home side.

Also winning on the road were both Caldecote A and Stevington Reserves.

Caldecote A inflicted the sixth consecutive home defeat upon White Eagles with a 5-4 victory thanks to a hat-trick from Tony Norman and single strikes from Neil Giles and Luke Dear against Eagles replies via Andrij Zjablilev, Constanin Adrain David, Marchin Rogolski and Hincu Ion.

Stevington Reserves won 3-2 at bottom of the table Wootton Village. First half strikes from Stefan Watts, Regan Scott and Daniel Coulthard fired them 3-0 ahead before, in the second period, the Village hit back with goals from Jack Flynn and Hamayun Shahid.

Elsewhere there was a 5-4 home victory for AFC Kempston Town & Bedford College A over Lidlington United Sports. Michael Stephenson led the way with a hat-trick and joined on the Town scoresheet by Nikola Stanchev and John Hislop to bring up the nap hand against United replies via Nick Spencer, Carl Pearson, Brenden Cunningham and Danny Cain.

Bedford Albion Reserves are now up into fourth and still unbeaten at home following their 4-1 home win over Flitwick Town A. Matt Phelan and Josh Emmerton both netted twice against a lone Town reply from Mark Bartlett.

Amazon is facing a backlash over its lack of packaging on a number of deliveries in the build up to Christmas.

Social media has been littered with complaints that Christmas present surprises have been ruined after packages arrived without any wrapping or box to conceal what was ordered.

Items have been delivered with the delivery label stuck straight on the item rather than the packaging that was used in the past.

And the delivery giant has felt a significant backlash from angry customers, who are claiming that the company are ‘ruining Christmas.’

One customer said she was “absolutely fuming” after the person who was meant to receive a present saw what it was upon delivery. She accused Amazon of “ruining Christmas” too.

Many shared images of items such as game consoles, video games and toys, complaining that Amazon had ruined their Christmas surprise.

Amazon has confirmed that they were trying to cut down the amount of packaging they use after being criticised for delivering small items in unnecessarily large boxes.

The company also said that customers could opt in for packaging.

Responding to a customer complaint on Facebook, a representative for the company said: “I’m so very sorry that your surprise was ruined.

“We try to minimise the amount of packaging materials we use as much as possible.

“For future orders, you can keep the contents of your package a surprise by selecting the gift option during checkout, or you may mark ‘Ship in Amazon box’ on the checkout page if you don’t wish to reveal the contents.”

If it hadn’t been for Kerry Packer, World Series Cricket and the smartphone, England’s Ben Stokes might well be out in Australia defending the Ashes, this winter, rather than waiting at home to see if he’ll be charged with actual bodily harm, after that brawl in Bristol, last September.

Crispin Andrews is a freelance cricket expert who writes for the Cricketer, Cricinfo, Inside Cricket and the Nightwatchman.

World Series Cricket began ,forty years ago, this December. Australian media tycoon, Packer, was refused international broadcast rights by the Australian Cricket Board, so he signed up the world’s best players on lucrative contracts and put on his own contests.Two years later, the ACB gave Packer his TV deal and the players returned to their international sides.

Before World Series Cricket, international cricketers were paid peanuts. Ever since, cricket boards have been increasingly aware that if they don’t pay their best players what the players think they’re worth; someone else will, these days most probably a T20 franchise.

To raise money to pay their stars, and of course their own salaries, cricket board executives turn to corporate sponsors. ECB made £1.1bn from their last TV deal alone.

Corporates sponsor cricket teams because they think it will help them sell more of whatever they sell. They like their chosen teams to be full of well spoken, nicely turned out lads. The sort the company CEO might hire as an office junior, or even invite home to meet his or her, daughter.

What the corporates don’t want are charismatic, colourful types who can’t be trusted to say the right things at the right time. People like Kevin Pietersen, and Tony Greig, who in 1976, on national TV, announced that he’d make the West Indies grovel. Imagine the outrage if the England captain said that today. The ECB’s corporate benefactors would be queuing up to sponsor tennis.

And now an England cricketer gets filmed fighting in the streets and the footage ends up in the national newspapers. Even if the ECB wanted to be lenient to England’s star player, there’s no way the corporates are going to have that sort of thing associated with their brand.

Stokes has nothing to complain about, whoever started the fight, and for whatever reasons. He is an England cricketer, well aware of the standards of behaviour his employers expect, of what is likely to happen to transgressors. He was also happy, no doubt, to pick up the sort of salary that wouldn’t be possible if ECB didn’t dip into the corporate wallet.

Before Packer, in the days before smartphones with cameras, players could get away with the odd boozed-up barny.

Ian Chappell got into a bar room fight with a young Ian Botham before the 1977 Centenary Test. A few months later, Botham was making his Test debut and Chappell captaining Kerry Packer’s WSC Australian team. Christmas 1980 and Botham, allegedly, got involved in a brawl in a Scunthorpe nightclub. But whilst the bow-ties at Lord’s might have raised a disapproving pink gin or three; Botham was still England captain when the team set out for the West Indies a few months later.

Back then, though, there were no corporate bigwigs casting judgements about the type of chap they wanted associated with their brand.

It’s not all bad change for Stokes. Suspended on full pay since the incident, he has probably earned more in the last few weeks than he would have, in an entire career, if he’d had played during those more lenient, pre-Packer days.

Rail bosses have completed a £4million upgrade which was made following last year’s landslide at Kings Langley.

Services on the West Coast main line were severely affected in September 2016, when a train derailed after hitting a landslip, caused by torrential rain.

A train travelling in the opposite direction then clipped the derailed train.

Although nobody was injured in the incident, Network Rail have spent the following 14 months and £3.954m stabilising the cutting, and removing vegetation so that 1km of rock netting and soil matting could be installed on top of the 500-plus rock anchors which were embedded into the chalk face.

The West Coast main line runs from London Euston, and includes stops at Cheddington, Leighton Buzzard, Bletchley, Milton Keynes and Wolverton.

Gavin Evans, scheme project manager at Network Rail, said: “Passengers will have more reliable journeys through the Watford area thanks to this investment.

“The challenge was to work safely around the operational railway without impacting on journeys.

“A large proportion of the work took overnight and at weekends and the work we have done will protect the cutting for more than 60 years.”

Steve Helfet, London Midland’s head of West Coast Services said: “The work was done with minimal impact to our customers on one of the busiest stretches of railway in Europe.”

A caring Leighton mother with community spirit is on a mission to ensure that the town’s supermarkets each have a shopping trolley with a disabled child’s seat.

Thanks to mum-of-two, Tahira Chatfield, Tesco in Vimy Road, and Morrisons in Lake Street now each have a trolley with a disabled child’s seat in their stores.

For the last two months, Tahira had been contacting the supermarkets to request the trolleys after she struggled the fit her daughter, Nyla, two, into the standard child seats because Nyla wears splints.

Tahira, 29, said: “I just wanted something in the newspaper to make other parents aware of this great news!

“My daughter wears splints and she’s getting quite big now – I was having trouble fitting her into a (standard) trolley.

“I just asked staff if they had any disabled trolleys, obviously they had ones for adults but they were really big.

“I knew the trolleys existed so I emailed all the head offices and I spoke to Ellen, a manager at Tesco, who was amazing.

“I thought ‘I’m not the only person out there with a disabled child’; I knew the trolleys were out there and that Leighton Buzzard needed some.”

Tahira lives in Leighton Buzzard with her husband, Wayne Chatfield, 32, daughter Nyla, and Nyla’s older sister Layla, four.

The determined mum has also contacted Aldi to see if their Vimy Road store can have a trolley with a disabled child’s seat, too.

Ellen Gibbons, customer experience manager at Tesco, Vimy Road, said: “We work hard to make sure all of our customers feel comfortable in our store so were happy to help Tahira with a disabled trolley seat for her daughter.

“We look forward to seeing them in store again soon.”

A Morrisons spokesman said: “We now offer a trolley for customers with disabled children at our Leighton Buzzard store to help them with the shopping trip.” The LBO also contacted Aldi for a comment but has not had a response yet.

A mum-of-three has called for Central Bedfordshire Council to introduce residential permits along Leighton Buzzard’s Hockliffe Road - after they introduced parking restrictions to the residential street.

The resident of Hockliffe Road, who does not wish to be named, was unhappy to see the council have already introduced double yellow lines outside her home.

She has no driveway and now has to park down George Street and walk to her house, which she says is a challenge with her three young children.

She said: “I understand the need for yellow lines but they need to think about the residents and where we are supposed to park.

“We have nowhere to park near our home, we have to park up and walk with three young children, on a busy road where vehicles do not stick to the speed limit, that is difficult and dangerous.

“I am hoping this problem can be resolved. Andrew Selous, our MP, has been very helpful but the man from Central Bedfordshire Council has been ignoring us. It seems the council has come up with a quick solution without thinking about the residents.”

A spokesperson for Central Bedfordshire Council said: “Hockliffe Road is one of the main roads serving Leighton Buzzard town centre.

“The double yellow lines are intended to address haphazard parking, prevent cars from parking on the pavements, and allow the traffic to flow better.

“We understand residents’ concerns that there is limited parking in this area, and that demand for parking along this road and nearby roads has steadily increased.

“However we had received several complaints about obstructive parking on this road. On-street parking creates congestion, and this road isn’t wide enough for oncoming vehicles to pass easily.

“As a result, car owners were parking on the pavements so that their vehicles weren’t damaged.

“These then blocked the way of pedestrians, so vulnerable users had to cross and re-cross the carriageway to complete their journey.

“This presented a significant risk to their safety; hence we installed double the yellow lines.

“As with all new schemes, the impact of the new double yellow lines will be monitored and additional measures or adjustments made if required.”

The All Saints Church Christmas Tree Festival starts today, with plenty of treats to get your family into the festive spirit.

The festival opens today (Friday, November 24) from 11am - 5pm, and will also be running on Saturday from 10am - 5pm and Sunday from 12pm - 5pm.

An All Saints Church spokeswoman, said: “Over 80 trees will be there from schools, organisations, and others. Our church tree will be on display as well.

“Refreshments are available and entry is free!”

LBO readers should note that the Christmas Tree Festival is not the same weekend as the Leighton Buzzard Christmas Festival, as when the All Saints Church set a date for the Christmas tree fayre, Leighton-Linslade Town Council had not yet decided when the town’s festival would be.

All Saints had to set a date early, as many events are booked at the church in November and December.

Readers can look forward to The Leighton Buzzard Christmas Festival next weekend.

> Are you going to the All Saints Church Christmas Tree Festival today? Send us some photos to: news@lbobserver.co.uk

In the rush to snaffle up those Black Friday and Cyber Monday bargains, shoppers often fail to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves when buying online.

But anyone who lets their guard down risks falling victim to fraud, with ‘Grinch-like’ cyber-fraudsters waiting to pounce.

There are tons of savings to be had, of course, but in some cases, the deals may not be what they seem. Mercifully, there are ways to avoid being duped by Black Friday and Cyber Monday scams (check out some key tips below).

Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber-crime, this week released last year’s Christmas crime figures, showing that more than 15,000 victims lost around £16million, up 45 per cent on 2015.

It may come as a surprise, but men aged 20-29 were the most common victims, with online auction fraud accounting for 65 per cent of crime reports, the average loss being a whopping £727.

In demand items victims reported losing out on to fraudsters included Yeezy trainers, Kylie Jenner make-up, hair dryers, drones and Fitbit watches.

Mobiles phones continue to be the most likely thing that people try to buy from fraudsters, with clothing and accessories second on the list and footwear shooting up from sixth to third place. Watches have also overtaken jewellery and are now more commonly offered by fraudsters.

Action Fraud reckon that this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping bonanzas are set to be the most fraudulent on record as retailers are planning to bombard consumers with more than 40 million texts.

In an attempt to combat this, Action Fraud is warning shoppers to avoid clicking on links in shopping-related SMS and Whatsapp messages, over fears that criminals are jumping on a boom in legitimate “special offer” texts to steal people’s details.

Action Fraud’s DI Chris Felton said: “Black Friday is a prime opportunity for fraudsters to target shoppers looking for deals on Christmas presents. We have recently seen a spike in reporting of Whatsapp supermarket voucher scams so people should be cautious about Black Friday deals they receive in a Whatsapp message.

“We urge people to never click on unsolicited links in messages, even if they appear to come from a trusted contact. Also clear your browsing history and cookies.

“Fraudsters may have installed cookies on your phone that track you, or add browser extensions that can be used to show you advertisements. If you believe you have fallen victim to fraud, please report it to us.”

Top tips to protect yourself

If possible use online retailers/brands you are aware of and trust. For major brands always go to the official website to find a list of authorised sellers.

Check the delivery, insurance, warranty and returns policy.

Be especially careful when purchasing expensive items.

Make sure you have adequate anti-virus software that will enable your computer to flag any untrustworthy sites

Think before you buy

If something seems too much of a bargain, it’s probably poor quality, fake or doesn’t exist.

Never click on unsolicited emails or text messages. Criminals can use the technology to make emails or texts look like they come from a legitimate business or organisation.

If you’re buying tickets, always buy from official sources and never pay by direct transfer.

If you’re buying a holiday online, research it thoroughly to ensure that is a genuine offer and check to make sure it is registered with ABTA and ATOL.

Think when you’re buying

Use methods like PayPal when buying on auction sites; never transfer money to someone you don’t know.

Secure Wi-Fi is vital for your privacy. Check that the network you’re using is secure before you make any financial transactions.

Keep your purchases secure

Always ensure that you keep your anti-virus software, operating systems and other security measures up-to-date on your electronic devices.

Create strong passwords that are unique for each account you have. A good way to create a strong and memorable password is to use three random words.