The neonicitinoid pesticide ban has been taken without enough evidence of harm to bees.

That’s the opinion of farmer and conservationist Nicholas Watts, of Deeping St Nicholas, and Holbeach Fen beekeeper Mike Titterton.

Nicholas Watts believes the pesticides do affect bees, but says: “Any insecticide will. I don’t know enough about it but I think it should be banned until the people who are marketing the spray have more evidence.

“Everyone has a war with insects, but they are the basis of all life. The problem is we get rid of bees, we get rid of pollinators.”

Mike Titterton says it is impossible to have an informed opinion because there isn’t enough information and because the data available is too technical . However, he says things shouldn’t be allowed on the market until they are proved to be safe.

Ironically, Mike currently has the healthiest bees he’s ever had, but says the situation varies between neighbours.

Consumers are increasingly switching from ready meals to fresh beef and lamb, according to new figures.

In the four weeks to April 14, data shows volume sales of fresh lamb were up 26.3 per cent and fresh beef was up 10 per cent compared to the same period last year.

In contrast, products implicated in the horsemeat scandal have continued to dip, with beefburger sales down 43 per cent.

Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Hardwick’s bid to have 1,000 volunteers working alongside county police will be launched on Wednesday.

The public are invited to attend a meeting of the newly set up project board from 10am-midday at Lincolnshire Police headquarters in Nettleham.

Mr Hardwick’s plan is for volunteer groups to be made up of 350 special constables, 250 police support volunteers, 150 police cadets and 250 volunteer police community support officers.

His aim is to boost the capability, capacity and visibility of volunteers within the force and provide a valuable link with communities and raise levels of community engagement.

Mr Hardwick will open the meeting and Assistant Chief Constable Keith Smy will be available for questions at the end.

Anyone wishing to attend should email Project Manager Pete Dyer at peter.dyer@lincs.pnn.police.uk

Hundreds of crop plots showing the latest agronomic developments will form the heart of this year’s Cereals event.

The two-day arable meeting is at Boothby Graffoe in Lincolnshire on June 12 and 13.

A bereaved widow who claims her husband was killed by the after-effects of asbestos exposure in the workplace is now battling for £250,000 compensation over her loss.

Barrie Gedney died aged 69 in January 2012 after developing the devastating lung disease, mesothelioma, which was diagnosed the previous month.

His widow, Mary Gedney, of Crossgate Crescent, Pinchbeck, claims his illness was caused by years of exposure to asbestos dust at a factory in West Marsh Road, Spalding, where he worked as an electrician.

Mrs Gedney says her husband was employed at the plant by Uniq Prepared Foods, or their corporate predecessors, for over 30 years.

According to a writ filed at London’s High Court, he worked at the West Marsh Road site until 1989 when the company relocated its factory elsewhere in Spalding.

Mrs Gedney (70) is seeking damages from Chesterfield-based Uniq Prepared Foods with claims that the company, or its predecessors, failed to warn her husband of the risks of exposure or provide proper safety equipment.

In the writ, her lawyers make untested claims that he frequently worked on two brick-built boilers that were coated with a ‘soft powdery type of asbestos referred to as ‘monkey muck’’.

Mr Gedney was in good health until he began experiencing increasing breathlessness in late 2010, the writ states. In December 2011 a diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma was confirmed.

Asbestos was used in many workplaces until the 1990s when its risks became well-known. Its dust and fibres are notorious for staying dormant in the body for decades. Mrs Gedney’s lawyers say her husband’s life expectancy was probably cut by up to 24 years. They value his widow’s claim at between £250,000 and £300,000.

The company’s defence to the action was not available from the court, and the claims in the writ have yet to be tested in evidence before a judge.

The county council has come under fire for making a child-like “bodge” of pothole repairs in Sutton Bridge.

Parish councillor Vicky Hills said: “I think we need to write to the county council. The standard of the work is almost like children putting some Plasticene into the holes.

“What they need to be doing is cutting them out, filling them in and doing a proper job – not bodge it and scarper.”

But Coun Michael Booth said the weather hasn’t been right until now.

He said: “You can’t do tarmac when the holes fill with water.”

Coun Booth said county highways often fill potholes more than once.

But Coun Hills said: “It’s a false economy if they don’t do it properly first time round and they have to come back and back.”

The parish council agreed to write to Lincolnshire County Council to ask it to make proper repairs.

County highways says it has an emergency repair team which aims to patch “dangerous potholes” within 24 hours and those are then scheduled for permanent repairs.

Lincolnshire County Council head of highways Satish Shah said: “I can understand the frustrations of the parish council around the pothole repairs. We do carry out thousands of permanent pothole repairs each year, and use the resources that we have available in the best possible way.

“We invest over £50million per year in road maintenance and have received additional Government grant of £6.5million to spend over the next two years. This extra money will enable us to invest more in preventative treatments, which will help to prevent the formation of potholes in the first place as well as increasing the number of first time, permanent pothole repairs.”

Pressure on primary school places in Spalding could be eased if plans for a new primary school are given the go-ahead.

Plans have been submitted by Lincolnshire County Council for a school for 210 children, aged three to 11, at the town’s expanding Wygate Park.

It is believed the school, which would be built on current open space within Wygate Park, could cost around £2.5million, with around £1.6million provided by the housing estate developer.

Initially it had been suggested the new school would be an “annexe” to nearby Spalding Primary School, but plans submitted to South Holland District Council describe it as a “standalone” school with an option of looking at shared services.

It is still hoped the new single-storey school will be open by September 2014, which could ease the pressure many local schools have been under in recent years.

Many have had to take in more than their usual number of pupils to ensure places were available for all four-year-olds.

This has resulted in some having to convert non-teaching spaces into classrooms or install mobile buildings to accommodate swollen numbers.

Last summer a mobile classroom was lifted into place at Spalding Primary School in Woolram Wygate, which took in 30 extra children.

The move further exasperated residents living nearby who were fed up with traffic chaos caused by parents dropping off and picking up their children.

Ward councillor Roger Gambba-Jones said: “Hopefully the problems would reduce to a certain extent, but probably only back to the previous level before the school took in the extra pupils,.

“Residents will not accept that that is an acceptable level and the problems definitely still need to be addressed.”

“I am hoping the new school would not create the same sorts of problems as it would be located next to open space so parking would not have an impact on houses.”

More than 10,000 children in Lincolnshire are to be targeted in a vaccination campaign to prevent an outbreak of measles.

As part of a national drive, health bosses in the county are planning to immunise as many unvaccinated ten to 16-year-olds as possible to prevent an outbreak of the disease as seen recently in Wales.

Around Swansea there have been almost 1,000 cases, with one suspected death.

There were only eight cases of measles in Lincolnshire during the whole of 2012, but there were five cases from January to March 2013.

The recent rise in cases has been blamed by some on the scare in 1990s when a since discredited report suggested a link between the MMR vaccine, which immunises against measles, mumps and rubella, and autism in children.

As a result many parents chose not to have their babies and pre-school children vaccinated.

If you have not been vaccinated, the risk of getting measles is much higher.

Tony Hill, director of public health in Lincolnshire, said: “There have been relatively few cases of measles in Lincolnshire although numbers have increased slightly over the past few weeks.

“We have a reasonable uptake of the vaccination but we need to get it up higher.

“More than 90 per cent of children are immunised but we need more than that.

“And it’s not just about reminding those whose children are due to have the vaccination now, but also those who may have missed out on the jab in the past, right up to teenagers.”

One dose of the MMR vaccine provides a 95 per cent protection against measles, with a second dose providing almost complete protection.

Anyone with questions about whethe their child is protected should contact their GP.

Residents go to the polls today to vote for the candidate they want to represent them on Lincolnshire County Council.

Seventy-seven seats are up for grabs in our circulation area. Here is the full list of candidates and wards:

BOURNE ABBEY

Ron Davison (UKIP)

Jane Kingman (Ind)

Peter Morris (LibDem)

Ian Selby (Lab and Co-op Party)

Sue Woolley (Con)

BOURNE CASTLE

Charlotte Farquharson (Con)

Paul Jacklin (Lab)

Janire Morris (LibDem)

Helen Powell (LinInd)

BOSTON RURAL

Michael Brookes (Con)

Norman Hart (Lab)

Jodie Sutton (UKIP)

BOSTON SOUTH

Alison Austin (LinInd)

Jan Finch (Lab)

Don Ransome (UKIP)

Paul Skinner (Con)

CROWLAND AND

WHAPLODE

Jim Astill (Ind)

Stephen Clarke (Lab)

Glyn Mayley (LibDem)

Nigel Pepper (Con)

Mark Wharton (UKIP)

DEEPING ST JAMES

Michael Bossingham (GP)

Paul Cosham (Con)

Phil Dilks (Lab)

Philip Hammersley (LibDem)

DONINGTON RURAL

Teelesh Bisnauthsing (LibDem)

Terry Davis (UKIP)

Jane King (LinInd)

Sheena Ross (Lab)

Sue Wray (Con)

HOLBEACH

Paul Foyster (UKIP)

Daniel Mayhew (Lab)

Robert West (BNP)

Nick Worth (Con)

HOLBEACH RURAL

Emily Bates (UKIP)

Val Gemmell (LinInd)

Kathleen Tanner (LibDem)

David Ward (Lab)

William Webb (Con)

MARKET AND

WEST DEEPING

Ashley Baxter (LinInd)

Christine Brough (LibDem)

Elizabeth Eyre (Lab)

Peter Robinson (Con)

SPALDING EAST AND MOULTON

Richard Fairman (UKIP)

Eddy Poll (Con)

Phil Scarlett (LinInd)

Melissa Webb (Lab)

Anthony Williams (BNP)

SPALDING ELLOE

Geoff Garner (UKIP)

Joseph Larrington (LinInd)

Simon Leyton (Lab)

Elizabeth Sneath (Con)

SPALDING SOUTH

Graham Dark (Ind)

Roger Gambba-Jones (Con)

Alan Jesson (UKIP)

Matthew Mahabadi (Lab)

Robert West (Ind)

SPALDING WEST

Howard Johnson (Con)

Adam McVeigh (EPP)

Angela Newton (LinInd)

Kate Osborn (Lab)

Jim Sheffield (UKIP)

SUTTON ELLOE

Christopher Brewis (LinInd)

Lesley Hough (Lab)

Jack Tyrrell (Con)

Joan Woolard (UKIP)

In the last nine months I think we have broken three records in the onion growing industry.

It was probably the longest harvest period since the introduction of modern machinery; it was probably the longest planting period for autumn sown sets; and now, finally, it is almost definitely the longest planting period for spring sown sets.

The weather gods have thrown everything at us. We began delivering sets to growers in January so it snowed and it rained. In April we completed planting and drilling in dry conditions so they decide to send high winds followed by wind blows which damaged established autumn sown crops and knocked out recently planted ones. Just as we have a period of calm, warm growing conditions, the gods decide to cool things down again which I hope will not trigger off bolting like it did last year.

Crops in general are at least two weeks behind on previous years but nature has a way of catching up.

Having grumbled about the weather conditions, I feel suitably embarrassed as I hear about the problems the livestock farmers are suffering with dead calves and lambs after the recent heavy snow and the Schmallenberg disease.

I probably do have the habit of thinking negatively about the problems the arable sector has experienced in recent months and maybe I should occasionally stop being so blinkered and be thankful that we have managed to produce a crop after all.

British consumers are just as likely to cheer themselves up with a bunch of flowers as they were before the financial crash of 2008, according to a survey.

Nearly 80 per cent of those surveyed at Harrogate Flower Show said they brighten up their home with flowers just as often as they did before the start of the recession.

Nearly 50 per cent said they bought flowers once a week, 23 per cent buy every fortnight, and for a further 13 per cent it’s a once a month treat.

The survey was conducted ahead of the 60th anniversary of the event, which began as a Flower Academy in 1953. The floral art marquee has grown to become the biggest exhibition of flower arranging and floristry in the UK.

The Ford EcoSport uses tried and tested Fiesta mechanicals to offer UK buyers a front-wheel drive car with added ride height and chunky good looks.

The Ford EcoSport uses tried and tested Fiesta mechanicals to offer UK buyers a front-wheel drive car with added ride height and chunky good looks.

It sounds like a simple recipe but sometimes simple works just fine.

The EcoSport is offered with Ford’s innovative 125 PS 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine, claimant of the 2012 International Engine of the Year award. Plus there’s a 110 PS 1.5-litre petrol unit.

For those that prefer to go diesel, there’s a 90 PS 1.5-litre diesel powerplant.

It also offers a comprehensive package of driver assistance technologies, including Electronic Stability Programme and Hill Launch Assist.

The chunky looks and high ground clearance suggest a small 4x4 but wriggle under the EcoSport and you’ll find a singular lack of rear driveshafts.

It is, in effect, a Fiesta on stilts but many drivers find the raised driving position more desirable than the requirement for any actual all-wheel drive capability.

Once you’ve got over quite how bluff-fronted the EcoSport is, it’s actually quite an accomplished piece of design work.

The almost Aston Martin-style front grille that debuted on the Fiesta makes its way over to the EcoSport and although the side profile looks a bit pinched, Ford have been very clever with the way they’ve managed to make a short, tall vehicle look so interesting.

The glasshouse is elegant, the headlights and wheel arch treatment is very deft and the stance of the car is better than it has any right to be.

The side-hinged tailgate opens to allow access to a load space that Ford reckons is big enough to swallow a 560-litre washing machine – once the 60/40 split rear seats are folded, that is.

Keep an eye on the Ford EcoSport.

This one’s going to be interesting, if nothing else.

Spalding’s Cley Hall Hotel was named Small Employer of the Year at the Lincolnshire and Rutland Skills 2013 Skills Awards held last Thursday.

The Hotel was nominated by Boston College who work closely with the employer to provide their staff with training, work-based qualifications and Apprenticeships in Hospitality, Housekeeping and Professional Cookery.

The renowned awards celebrate vocational work-based learning, and are organised by the Lincolnshire and Rutland Employment and Skills Board with the support of a range of different organisations and individuals.

Amanda Mosek, Boston College Principal, said, “This was fantastic recognition for the Cley Hall Hotel and the opportunities they provide for local people.

A Spalding care home has undergone a seven figure expansion and refurbishment to provide top-quality care for elderly people with dementia.

Fifteen new jobs have been created at St John’s Care Home in Hawthorn Bank, which is now able to accommodate 55 residents thanks to financial support from Clydesdale Bank in Peterborough.

The end of the five-month project to transform the former vicarage was marked with an official opening for relatives of residents and members of the local business community.

Alykhan Kachra, managing director of St John’s Care Home, which is part of the UK-wide Country Court Care group, said extra carers, an administrator, kitchen and domestic staff had been recruited.

Alykhan said: “A suitable environment is core to the provision of quality support for people living with dementia and we believe we have achieved this to an exceptional standard.

“We have incorporated into the redesign critical factors such as eliminating shared rooms, the provision of ensuite rooms and the maintenance of an optimal ambient temperature in the home.

Alykhan’s father, Abdul, who is chairman of Country Court Care and established the group 30 years ago, was at the official unveiling along with Alykhan’s brother and finance director, Al-Karim Kachra.

It has taken many years to collect the information used for the Histories and Anniversaries of Sutton Bridge exhibition and much of it has come from one individual, village resident Arthur Leonard.

Photographs and other information are being organised by civic society archivist Roy Ashton.

The event, which will include videos of local interest, has been funded from the designated budgets of South Holland District councillors Michael Booth and Chris Brewis.

Civic society events organiser Wendy Jeffries, who is also on the committee of the art group, says it has been organised “to join together the local villages”.

Lincolnshire Heritage will be contibuting information on Lincolnshire ports and Tom and Jenny Rowe will have a display about the proposed marina. There will also be a Now & Then type exhibition, with contemporary street scenes contrasted with those from the past.

Civic Society members – there are 20 of them who meet at Market House in Long Sutton on the third Monday of every month (7.15pm) – are hoping the free to enter event (10am to 4.30pm) might also encourage more members.

There are many things that separate Long Sutton from Sutton Bridge but the two villages will be joined in a unique event later this month.

In fact, the two villages will be transported back to a time when they were one community when Long Sutton and District Civic Society holds its Histories and Anniversaries of Sutton Bridge exhibition at the Curlew Centre on Saturday and Sunday, May 25 and 26. The exhibition coincides with a display of work by members of Sutton Bridge Art Group at the centre from May 23 to 28.

Until the 18th century what is now Sutton Bridge didn’t exist, and was little more than marsh land on the fringes of Long Sutton, or Sutton St Mary as it was called.

The civic society’s exhibition will explore the way in which Sutton Bridge emerged as a distinct village from about 1780 onwards. However, in tracing the first stirrings of the village and researching its history to the current day, civic society members uncovered an astonishing number of anniversaries that fall at about the same time.

Chairman Bobbie Ashton says it was the construction of the first bridge over the Nene, work carried out as part of the straightening of the Nene to allow access to the port at Wisbech, that encouraged settlement at what became Sutton Bridge.

Sutton Bridge born vice-chairman Tony Button, who is vice-chairman, says: “Until the church was built in Sutton Bridge in about 1843 folk had to be buried at Sutton St Mary.”

Once the river had been cut work began on docks for Sutton Bridge, but these only lasted three years before collapsing in 1912, or just over 100 years ago.

Tony recalls that this area and the river banks were a natural playground for youngsters, and says: “It was a good community. We supported each other and never went hungry.”

Part of the reason for that was that renowned wildfowler, poacher, artist and middleweight boxing champion Kenzie Thorpe kept families supplied with food. Kenzie’s part in Sutton Bridge’s history will be explained by members of Gedney Drove End & District Wildfowlers Association. Kenzie’s daughter Fay will open the exhibition at 10am on Saturday.

Anniversaries that will feature are those of Westmere Primary School, which opened 150 years ago, Sutton Bridge Golf Club, which celebrates its centenary in 2014, and the closure of the railway in Sutton Bridge in 1963. There will be images of the 1953 floods and the winter of 1963 when the river froze over.

Finally, Baxter’s Fish Shop has been trading for just over 100 years with only three owners – Harry Funnel, Arthur (Chippie) Cawthorne – for whom Tony chipped potatoes as a schoolboy – and current owner Martyn Baxter.

Jane Stevenson has ridden horses from the age of 15 and now has three, including a Dales pony who is 24 years old.

He is retired now, but Jane says they have done a lot of showing with him and her daughter used to ride him and take him hunting. He has also done some carriage driving, mostly in Windsor.

Jane has had a ten-year-old from World Horse Welfare that she has had since she was four and still rides, and a yearling, a Fresian Cross Appaloosa, who won’t be ridden until she is at least three.

In addition, she and Phil have dogs, hens and grow vegetables for themselves and bedding plants to sell in a couple of glasshouses.

Jane says in the past they have also kept cows, sheep, pigs and goats.

She says: “I could do with another 24 hours in the day.” Despite that. she is finding time to put her map-drawing skills to use by producing illustrations for her bridlework course tutor. Contact Jane on 07732 214648.

A shortage of tulip heads means the 55th and final Spalding Flower Parade will have an entirely new look as float decorators get crafty with a range of fresh materials.

Float headers are working with just 200 bags of tulips compared to their usual 1,000, but parade manager Kathleen Codd said the colour palette will be extended as they are using fabrics, ribbons, cork, foil and feathers.

She said: “To be perfectly honest, I think it will look better because we are not restricted with colour – with tulips you have got a very limited palette, pinks, reds, yellows, a little bit of purple and a little bit of white.”

Gold foil and cork will be put to good use on the float A Bit of Fizz, which features a Champagne bottle some 15ft high and 18ft long.

Kathleen said: “I think the parade is going to be something quite spectacular, well worth the trip for all of the people coming to see it.”

Although tulips are in short supply, the headers are working with flowers for the yellows as daffs will plug the gap.

The parade will leave Springfields at 2pm on Saturday with Flower Queen Inca Honnor (18) on the lead float, followed by Free Press Prince and Princess Ellis Newton (10) and Millie Weller (9).

Popular viewing sites include High Bridge, Market Place, Hall Place, New Road and Winfrey Avenue.

nFor an in-depth look at the final flower parade and the route map, you can buy the official £2 programme from the Lincolnshire Free Press office in The Crescent, Spalding, or from local news agents. It’s a wonderful souvenir.

A former Bourne man appeared in court accused of possessing a prohibited weapon, a brass handled firing mechanism, at his old North Street address in December.

Spalding magistrates on Thursday sent Robert Bulpin (45), now of Guyhirn, to Lincoln Crown Court for a hearing on May 30.

A homeless man with long standing drink problems tried to steal wine in Sainsbury’s by drinking it in the store.

Matthew Preece (39) was followed by a security guard at the supermarket on Holland Market, Spalding, on the morning of April 13, magistrates heard.

Marie Stace, prosecuting, said Preece picked up a bottle of wine, placed it into a carrier bag and walked towards the cafe area.

A police community support officer was there at the time and Preece was stopped as he headed for the toilets.

Miss Stace said Preece was interviewed by police and admitted “his intention was to drink the bottle of wine while in the store”.

Preece, who now lives with his parents in Middle Marsh Road, Moulton Marsh, pleaded guilty to attempting to steal a bottle of wine worth £6.65 and breaching two conditional discharges by committing that offence.

He was fined £75 and must pay £40 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Preece told magistrates he had a long history of drink problems and was homeless and sleeping out at the time.

He said: “I was in desperation that day, asking for help.”

Preece said he hasn’t touched drink for four weeks, describing his parents’ home as “a secure, dry environment”.