TUESDAY: Police were called to a home in Church Street, Pinchbeck, when a small number of bones were dug up in a garden yesterday.

The bones have been examined at Spalding Police Station by a vet and South Lincolnshire Coroner Professor Robert Forrest and declared not to be human remains.

Coroner’s officer Kev Chamberlain said it is believed the bones came from a small animal such as a deer.

Insp Jim Tyner said the incident was reported to police at about 3.15pm.

Spalding police Twitter patrols are proving popular with local residents.

The account @SpaldingPolice now has more than 500 followers with officers tweeting every day from their patrols around the district.

It was launched a month ago, when the Lincolnshire Free Press joined officers for a live tweetbeat around the town and local estates.

In a poll to see if residents were finding the tweets useful, nearly 100 per cent voted ‘yes’.

Insp Jim Tyner said: “The only ‘no’ was mine - and that was accidently when I retweeted one about the poll.

“Our account seems to be proving polular and we are pleased with the number of followers so far.

“It is a great way of letting people know we are out there - although it is still best to phone us when reporting an incident because that way it will be logged.”

A new account has also been opened @HolbeachPolice, with residents this week following officers at the University Academy Holbeach giving a demonstration of drug and search dog techniques, patrols in the Suttons and visibility concerns for vehicles turning into Barrington Gate from Fen Road.

Big delays are expected for commuter traffic when roadworks with convoys and a four-day road closure hit the A52 on the Bicker Bar approach to Boston later this month.

Lincolnshire County Council is resurfacing the road between Station Road and Boston Road from March 18 to April 5.

Work will go on between 7am-8pm daily and then the road will close completely between Kirton Holme Road and Fenhouse Drove from April 2-5.

County highways principal engineer Arthur Pearson said: “We may need to keep our traffic lights in place on some nights to keep motorists and our workforce safe.

“This traffic management will be removed for the weekends and the bank holiday.”

Two-way traffic lights will be put up and motorists will be guided through the roadworks by convoy vehicles.

Diversions during the road closure are:

• Motorists going east towards Boston will go from the A52/A17 Bicker Bar roundabout along the A17 to the A17/A16 Alarkirk roundabout and then along the A16 to Boston

• Motorists travelling west from Boston will go along the town’s Sleaford Road and the A1121 Boardsides to the A17 and then south to the A52/A17 Bicker Bar roundabout

More than £80,000 could be available for community projects in Pinchbeck ifa new housing development gets the go-ahead.

The cash has been pledged by Larkfleet Homes as it prepares for a public exhibition to inform villagers of its plans for 163 new homes on Wardentree Lane.

In total the company would hand over £81,500 – £500 for each home on the development, which would be a mixture of one and two-storey homes with two, three, four or five bedrooms.

The development will include affordable and open market homes and a large public open space, complete with children’s play equipment.

A newsletter has been distributed to residents publicising the public exhibition at St Mary’s Church Hall, Rose Lane, on Friday from 1.30pm to 7.30pm.

David Connolly, land director at Larkfleet Group, said: “Our proposals for these 163 homes will go some way to meet local housing needs.

“We are keen to consult local people on these proposals and we urge residents to come along to the public exhibition to ask questions and share their views.”

The feedback from the public exhibition will be considered by Larkfleet ahead of plans being submitted to South Holland District Council planners for consideration.

If the development is given the go-ahead, it would be up to the parish council and local residents to decide how to spend the money.

It could be used to enhance public open spaces, improving amenities or paying for support and expertise in preparing bids for larger grants.

Chairman of Pinchbeck Parish Council Andrew Bowser said the council had not yet seen any plans for the development but members had been invited to the public exhibition.

He said he could not comment on the plans at the coment.

Six people in Holbeach Hurn have been detained on suspicion of being illegal immigrants.

Police were called to a French lorry at QV Foods on Tuesday afteroon.

The six will be dealt with by the UK Border Agency.

We have just gone on to our fields with the drill to sow the remainder of our winter wheat seed, the first day or so of March being the last date that it would be ok for a crop that would normally have been sown five or six months ago.

After record rainfall during the autumn, February has been mostly fine which has dried the soil out on the surface, but heavy soil is still very wet underneath.

Working on our no-till soil we are amazed at how the structure has recovered. What we have found is that, because the soil has not been aerated by cultivation, it has not retained as much excess water in its structure and so has not turned into soft mud underneath. Therefore when the surface dries the soil is much stronger and will allow sowing to take place with less damage to the soil and be hopefully moisture stable for the crop to establish.

That’s good theory for the fields that have no surface trash from the previous crop, but the real test is with the fields that have last year’s straw preventing the surface drying so easily. I think we will need lots of patience on those fields and have to adapt our cropping to weather and timing.

Using new techniques, such as no-till, it’s all too easy when things don’t go quite to plan to blame being different, but we feel that it has stood the test pretty well considering we are still in the early years and there is still much to learn and evolve the system to suit our soils and climate.

A little bit of the agricultural engineering history of Sutton Bridge has been carried forward into the 21st century.

Ken Spiller of engineering company Veeract (PortApack) has just sent the first two updated bulb lifters off the manufacturing line to farms on the Isles of Scilly.

Ken bought the production rights to the Summerfield Bulb Lifter from the grandson of the old village blacksmith in the 1990s, a design that had remained unchanged since the 1960s.

Ken explained Martin Summerfield had worked with his grandfather Sid, as well as his father who sadly died early.

Ken said: “When Martin packed up about ten to 15 years ago he came round and asked if I wanted to take the bulb lifter over, which I did. There’s also the spare parts to sell to the people who have got them, and I bought the technical drawings and information.”

Ken estimates there are probably 250 or more lifters scattered throughout the country, although many of them are probably not now in use as a result of the decline of the UK bulb industry.

However, bulb lifters are still used in Cornwall, Southern Wales and Southern Ireland, as well as in south Lincolnshire.

In the time Ken has had the rights, he has made about 15 machines, and the success of a small conversion five years ago encouraged him to make further alterations, which he says have worked “extremely well, very quiet and very fast”.

Peter Hull at Nursery Fresh Plants Ltd at Pinchbeck has been doing his bit to promotesouth Lincolnshire as the home of horticulture.

He held an open day, for independent garden centre customers to come and look at the wide range of plants, from vegetables and bedding plants to roses and perennials, being grown in the district.

He said: “We were trying to promote local horticulture as a one-stop shop because they are sourcing from all over the country and Europe.”

South Holland District Council leader Gary Porter has been elected chairman of a national body, The Conservative Councillors’ Association.

He says the role will give him a greater say in shaping Government policy “before it becomes policy”.

The Spalding councillor landed his new role on Friday and met Prime Minister David Cameron the same day.

He has another meeting lined up with the PM tomorrow (Thursday).

Police are searching the area after an attempt was made to abduct two 12-year-old girls in Bourne.

They were approached by a man driving a white van in Harrington Street at about 8.30am today.

The driver tried to talk them into getting into his van before grabbing one of the girls by her clothes.

Both ran away and joined another group of pupils making their way to school.

The van driver is described as white, middle-aged with brown hair. Police believe the van may have been a Ford Transit.

Patrols in the area have been stepped up as a result of the incident.

Call 101 quoting incident 241 of March 5 if you saw anything.

Staff at the Spalding branch of travel giant Thomas Cook are waiting to hear if the store is on a proposed list of closures.

Thomas Cook announced yesterday (Thursday) that it is looking to reduce the number of staff by 2,500 across the country and has started a 90-day consultation on plans to close 195 high street stores.

A spokesman refused to reveal the stores on the list for closure as she said the firm is working to notify its employees.

The plans are part of the travel agents’ three-year programme to transform its operations.

Chief executive officer of Thomas Cook UK and Ireland Peter Fankhauser said: “It is never easy to make decisions that impact directly on our people, but we also owe it to our customers to operate efficiently and ensure that when they book their holiday with us our administrative costs are as low as possible.”

In August, Thomas Cook merged with Co-op Travel, but branches in our area are not at risk.

These are at Beales Department Store in Spalding, Abbey Road in Bourne and The Precinct in Market Deeping.

Anglia Co-operative has been quick to act to stem speculation surrounding its 15 branches. Group

specialist retail manager Paul Dale said: “The announcement of potential closures and job losses with

Thomas Cook Group travel branches does not affect in any way those trading as Co-operative Travel and

owned by Anglia Co-operative.

“Wednesday’s news was very unfortunate, but we want to assure all of our customers that it’s business

as usual for us and their holidays are in safe hands.”

The NFU and British Sugar have recently announced details of a contract completion bonus payment for beet growers.

Provided they fulfil their contract, growers will receive £1.50 per tonne on their 2013/14 contract tonneage. This will be paid following the 2013/14 campaign and applying to both Contract Tonneage Entitlement (CTE) and Industrial Tonneage (ICE).

NFU Sugar has been highlighting to British Sugar for some months the difficulties of this year’s campaign and the significant loss of confidence among growers.

Official figures suggest the rooftop PV market is still running at about half-speed and picking up only gradually

The NFU maintains solar power is still an excellent investment, but regrets that the economics are not more transparent.

The acting Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police has admitted being in the dark over the suspension of Neil Rhodes over his conduct.

In his first interview since taking up the job temporarily, acting Chief Constable Alec Wood said he had no knowledge why Mr Rhodes had been suspended by Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Alan Hardwick last week.

The matter is currently in the hands of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) but it has not yet decided whether to launch a formal investigation into allegations against Mr Rhodes.

But Mr Wood did confess that the past week had been difficult for the force and he was determined to lead it to the best of his ability.

He said: “It’s been an unprecedented week for Lincolnshire Police as it’s highly unusual for a Chief Constable to be suspended.

“The decision has been taken entirely by the PCC and the force, myself included, have no knowledge of the circumstances as to why Neil Rhodes has been suspended.

“I was asked to step up as interim Chief Constable and will do my very, very best to lead the force forward during the next weeks and months.”

Coun Paul Przyszlak, Deputy Leader of South Holland District Council and a member of Lincolnshire Police and Crime Panel, called on Mr Hardwick to make public the circumstances surrounding Mr Rhodes’s suspension earlier this week.

“I can’t imagine what the problem would be because from my experience of Neil Rhodes, he’s always struck me as being a very straightforward guy,” Coun Przyszlak said.

“But then again, who knows what goes on behind close doors?”

An IPCC spokeswoman said: “We have received further information from the Lincolnshire PCC in relation to a potential conduct matter concerning Neil Rhodes which will be considered.

“But the IPCC is not at this stage formally investigating him.”

Two more fixed penalty notices for cycling on footpaths have been issued by Spalding police.

The latest cases were on the footpath at Woolram Wyegate.

An HGV driver who was stealing diesel from his employer was caught out by police when he went to collect fuel he had stowed in a lay-by.

Tomasz Kurzawski was discovered with four 20-litre barrels full of diesel, along with siphoning equipment, by a police officer who was monitoring a stretch of the A17 on February 8, Boston Magistrates’ Court was told.

He also found documents showing he worked for Browns Chilled Ltd in Bicker.

The 32-year-old initially said he had bought the fuel from another man, but later admitted stealing it when he drove the lorries and pleaded guilty to stealing from an employer between January 31 and February 7 when he appeared in court on Wednesday.

Phillipa Chatterton, defending, said he had only made the decision to take it as he and his family had been struggling for money.

She added: “Through various seasons, work is sporadic, and it is only on those occasions when he was finding it difficult to put enough diesel in his car to get to and from work that he took it.

“He is not proud of that fact.”

Prosecuting, Kate Hartley said Browns measured the fuel consumption on every journey made by drivers.

She added: “Fuel was removed from the HGVs on the occasions that he drove.”

Kurzawski, of Blue Gowt Lane, Pinchbeck, took fuel while he was working and stored it in barrels in a lay-by, before collecting it at the end of this shift, Ms Hartley told the court.

He had no previous convictions, either here or in his native Poland, before he committed this offence, the bench heard.

He was given a £300 fine, £30 surcharge, £85 costs and £248.40 compensation.

Concerns have been raised about the rising number of people in South Holland with hepatitis C.

Almost 2,000 people have the virus across the county, which has been called the silent killer as it is difficult to detect.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that predominantly infects the cells of the liver, causing inflammation and significant damage.

The East Midlands has the second highest figures across the country, after London. Estimates suggest that 14,994 people have hepatitis C in the East Midlands with 1,881 in Lincolnshire alone.

This has been linked to the number of Eastern Europeans in the area. In Poland, between 560,000 and 700,000 have hepatitis C, but fewer than 50,000 have been diagnosed. Romania and Bulgaria also have high hepatitis C rates which are estimated at more than three per cent.

A spokesman for The Hepatitis C Trust said: “Eradicating hepatitis C is a global effort and reaching out to the UK’s diverse population is a priority. We employ a South Asian officer and have run awareness campaigns targeted at Central and Eastern European populations.”

The Trust’s outreach and testing van recently visited Lincolnshire, offering clear information and advice from trained staff as well as on the spot rapid antibody testing.

Symptoms are generally mild and vague, including a decreased appetite, fatigue, nausea, muscle or joint pains and weight loss.

The Trust spokesman said: “It can be asymptomatic, so it’s imperative that people know the facts and get tested.”

Anyone with concerns can call the Trust helpline on 0845 223 4424 on Mondays to Fridays between 10.30am and 4.30pm.

Weston Hills Primary School pupil Millie Weller and Pinchbeck East Primary School student Ellis Newton have guaranteed their place in local history.

For the youngsters will be the last ever Spalding Flower Parade princess and prince after wowing the judges at the Fun Farm in Weston on Tuesday evening.

Millie (9), of Cowbit, and Ellis (10), of Pinchbeck, will experience the day of a lifetime as flower parade royalty and get to travel on a float on May 4. They also get a new bike courtesy of Gibbons Cycles in Spalding.

Runners-up were Oliver Cropley (9), of West Pinchbeck, who attends Spalding Primary School, and Alexandra Gilman (10), of Spalding, who attends the town’s St John’s School.

They will play a starring role in the Moulton Chapel Flower Parade, on May 5.

In all, 55 children chatted to the judges – Jeremy Ransome, editor of the Spalding Guardian and Lincolnshire Free Press, and Karen Slator from the Fun Farm, who kindly supplied her premises for the event.

The evening was compered by Jan Whitbourn and Chris Carter from Tulip Radio.

Now the sun’s just started to put in an appearance and spring flowers are shyly opening their petals, it’s a breeze to pop some spring-like touches around the house.

It’s never been more tempting than to do it with fabric and wallpaper as the new florals and fun Fifties-style motifs are perfect for brightening up your interiors to reflect the new light flooding in,

They’re in sweet colours on a white or light background so they sing - lipstick scarlet and pink, Wedgewood blue, lime-green and sunshine yellow.

Fifties themes are still very much in vogue with sweetness to the fore - so if you’ve got a cushion, sheets or bed cover, lampshade or ceramic vase featuring roses, rosebuds, polka dots, hearts, lovers, poodles or anything Parisian like the Eiffel tower, dig it out and get it on display.

Iconic brand Sanderson - see its latest collections in the windows and inside in pattern books at K.Watkin in Red Lion Streeet, Spalding - is leading the way with ever more inventive frivolities. This year there’s a paper and fabric dotted with flyaway balloons alongside other patterns scattered with garden and wild flowers, ferns and leaves.

Bring Spring indoors in the shape of fresh-cut spring flowers or bowls of spring bulbs you can watch coming into bloom so freely available in fenland markets.

Decorators often move their furniture and soft furnishings around on a temporary or seasonal basis and it’s a great idea to try things in different positions as well as to have a change of curtains or blinds so that this month or next you can take down the heavy winter ones and replace them with something lighter.

A village youth club is hoping to draw a line under its recent troubles to make a fresh start.

Gosberton Youth Club closed its doors several weeks ago after a row developed between the people at its helm and a playgroup which shared its premises.

But after a “painful” period for the group, it is hoped it could get back to normal – possibly as soon as this week – following a productive meeting last Tuesday.

A new board of trustees was elected – a mixture of new blood and experience – and members of the community put themselves forward to offer their help to move the group forward.

Gosberton Baptist Minister, the Rev Steve Weatherley-Barton, who is also a trustee, said: “It’s going to be lots of hard work but there seems to be a lot of goodwill.

“There was also a great response from the young people themselves, who are really keen to get things moving.”

Work will now be done to ensure that relevant people are CRB checked to ensure they can work with the young people and in the meantime trustees who are already CRB checked will run sessions.

A number of people have also said they would like to undertake youth leadership training.

Mr Weatherley-Barton also thanked those who used to run the youth club, but have stepped aside as a result of the recent problems.

He said: “They did a fantastic job of breathing life into the youth club.

“They were very experienced and we couldn’t wouldn’t have such a successful and popular club without them.

“In a sense there are no winners from this situation.

“It has been painful for everyone but hopefully in the long-run we can rebuild the youth club.

“At the heart of all this is the young people and they deserve a good youth club.”