Corby Cock-a-doodle-doo woman egging people on to join in raucous rooster roar

If you live in Corby and hear a nightly cock-a-doodle-doo, you are not going clucking mad, hen, it will be resident Michelle Ashby and her son Aaron calling out to the community.

They have been inspired by the Belper Moo, a lockdown phenomenon in the Derbyshire town where every evening at 6.30pm households stand on their doorsteps and Moo.

When 14-year-old Aaron learnt of the Moo from his aunt Sharon who lives there, he wanted to do a Corby version from their Oakley Vale estate home.

Michelle, a retired nurse, said: "One night a man in Belper was bored so he mooed out of his window for stress relief and someone nearby mooed back. Now even the shops do the moo.

"Aaron has special needs and he wanted to do a Corby one, but we wanted one beginning with 'c'. We came up with the Corby Cock-a-doodle-doo.

"It's just for a laugh and for fun. You can be silly for a couple of minutes.There's so many issues with people's mental health. It gets us out the house and we can see and hear our neighbours."

Michelle's two older sons do not join in the chicken chant but Aaron, who is autistic, has been keen for the Corby Cock-a-doodle-doo to catch on.

She added: "It would be lovely for it to catch on. I've had a few negative comments.

"I know that there's the Thursday clap but this is another thing we can do allow children to be children for a few minutes each day."

You can join in the Corby Cock-a-doodle-doo at 6.30pm every night.

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