Corby was first occupied by Danish invaders, who landed on Britain in the eighth century.
Located 23 miles from Northampton, the area has been worked for iron ore since Roman times and experienced a major population boom in the late 1930s when steel firm Stewarts & Lloyds decided to build a large ironstone works in the area.
Today, Corby has one of the fastest growing populations in England and has undergone a redevelopment, resulting in reopening the railway station and the Corby Cube – a library and council chamber.
According to Julia Lesiak, resident optometrist at Asda Opticians Corby, the town has a diverse pool of residents. ‘There are a mix of cultures [in Corby] from the Scottish, who came to work in the steel works, to the more recent influx of Eastern Europeans,’ she says.
There are currently nine members of staff at Asda’s Corby branch, two of which have been working at the practice since it first opened 17 years ago. Lesiak says that her crew ‘see a lot of factory workers’ in store because the practice is located next to an industrial estate. However, the optometrist admits that being outside of the town centre can have its disadvantages.
‘As we are not in the centre of town, some people may find it harder to make their way here as a lot are elderly and they may rely on other people [to take them] if they don’t drive,’ she says.
Specsavers optometrist David Claffey (pictured) describes Corby as ‘a vibrant town’ where the locals ‘really share a sense of community spirit’. Claffey helped to open the branch in 1992 and has treated a range of conditions in his time.
‘Statistically, Corby has a very high diabetic population with associated problems. As we have seen a higher than normal number of melanomas in the Corby area, this caused extra interest from the medical profession,’ he says.
According to Claffey, an OCT machine is expected to arrive in store post-haste. However, the optometrist says the branch has already started to expand its services. ‘Recently we have been able to offer an “at home” service under the Specsavers banner where opticians attend the patient’s home if the customer is unable to get in to the store,’ he says.
According to the team at Vision Express, Corby: ‘One of the things we have noted from customers coming into store from other parts of the UK is the volume of NHS patients we see daily.’
They believe hard work sets them apart from their rivals. ‘The service we give daily to our customers makes us stand out – nothing is ever too much trouble,’ say the team.
Who’s in town
Total: 7
Independents: 2
Multiples: 5
Average costs
The price of an eye exam in Corby ranged from £19 to £25, producing an average cost of £23.43
Population - see pie chart
Corby population 68,187 (ONS 2017)
Community eye care
According to the Locsu Atlas Map of Optical Variation, Northamptonshire Local Optical Committee has secured a contract for Corby CCG in Cataract Post-op, Cataract Referral and Glaucoma Repeat Readings.
Health and affluence
- The average house price in Corby is £190,886 (Zoopla) compared with a UK average of £223,257 (Land Registry, 2017)
- Corby has an average salary of £21,417 (PayScale, 2017)
- In 2015, there were 1,310 people living with diabetic retinopathy in Corby (RNIB Sight Loss Data Tool 2015)
- There were an estimated 460 people living with late stage age-related macular degeneration in 2016 (RNIB)
- It is estimated that, by 2025, there will be 660 people living with cataract in Corby (RNIB)
Fact file
- There is a crater on Mars near the Viking 2 landing site which is thought to be named after the town. All small craters on Mars are named after towns with a population of less than 100,000 inhabitants, with many of them beginning with the letter C.
- Corby has an annual highland gathering. It is one of a handful of places outside Scotland that holds this type of event. It involves sports, music and dancing.
- During World War II, workers from Corby helped to support the Allied forces by developing the underwater pipeline (Pluto), pictured, that carried essential fuel to British, French, Canadian and American troops after the D-Day invasion.
- A young crow can be called a w.
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