Police have given a fresh warning that boy racers in Spalding risk having their vehicles taken away if they drive in an anti-social manner.

A 23-year-old man from Sutton St James had his BMW seized by police after a report of vehicles being driven inconsiderately in Holland Market on Friday.

Insp Jim Tyner, community policing inspector for Spalding, said: “On this occasion, the vehicle was seized for having no insurance.

“However, the driving was also given a warning that if they are found committing further anti-social driving at any time in the next 12 months, then their vehicle will be seized.

“This is a warning to others that we will not tolerate vehicles being driven anti-socially.”

Police are warning South Holland farmers to step up security following two thefts of red diesel.

Around 140 litres were siphoned from a digger at Crowland over the weekend and 100 litres were stolen from a tractor at Saracen’s Head.

• Anyone with information can contact Spalding Police Station on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

A 26-year-old man from West Sussex is due at crown court next week in connection with a burglary in Spalding.

Daniel Osborne (26) of Stephenson Way, Crawley, appeared before Grantham magistrates on Friday in relation to a burglary at Cathedral Drive some time between March 29th and 31st.

Osborne was given conditional bail to appear at Lincoln Crown Court on June 28th.

UPDATE TUESDAY 1PM: Police are urging motorists to be on the lookout for catalytic convertor thieves after an incident in Pinchbeck.

A convertor was stolen from a Citreon C4 parked on a driveway in Southgate overnight between Monday and Tuesday.

It is the latest in a string of thefts across South Holland, including two in Church Lane and Rectory Road, Tydd St Mary and one from an MPV in London Road, Long Sutton, some time between 9.30pm on June 15th and 6.50pm on June 16th.

Anyone with information should call police on 101, quoting incident number 134 of June 18th (Pinchbeck incident), 95 of June 17th (Tydd St Mary) and/or 367 of June 16th (Long Sutton).

TUESDAY 12 NOON: Car owners are being warned to protect their vehicles after a spate of catalytic converter thefts in South Holland over the weekend.

Thefts were reported in Holbeach, Long Sutton and Tydd St Mary at separate times between Sunday and Monday.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Police are trying to trace thieves who stole a trailer and car parts from a garage outside a house near Gedney Hill.

An Ifor Williams Trailer and various car parts were taken from a garage in Coronation Avenue, Throckenholt, that was broken into some time between June 10th and 15th.

Anyone with information should call police on 101, quoting incident number 497 of June 15th.

Thieves stole a sat nav device after smashing the window of a vehicle parked in Spalding town centre at the weekend.

The Garmin sat nav was taken from a Volkswagen Caddy parked in Gore Lane car park after a policeman on patrol spotted the car with its window smashed.

Anyone who saw any suspicious activity in the area overnight on Saturday between 11pm and 5am should call police on 101, quoting incident number 28 of June 18th.

Motorists driving home from work faced delays after two vehicles collided near the A17 in Swineshead.

The accident happened in South Street where an Audi A3 and a Mercedes Vito van collided at about 5.25pm on Friday.

Traffic was partially blocked near the junction with Slumpcross Lane but both drivers escaped serious injury.

Campaigners who would like a field left to the people of Spalding to become a public park are hopeful after trustees were called to their first ever meeting in 62 years.

The Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field has been the home to Spalding United Football Club since 1921.

It was placed in Trust in 1952 for the use of the inhabitants of Spalding, continuing to be used by the football club but locked off from free and unrestricted access when not in use.

At the last full meeting of South Holland District Council, Coun Angela Newton asked portfolio holder Coun Nick Worth if a meeting of trustees could be held to discuss placing the grounds with Fields in Trust, which protects village greens and would allow them to apply for additional grants.

Coun Newton also asked whether it would be appropriate to discuss the email all councillors had received from the Spalding Community Campaign, suggesting the council consider applying for some Section 106 monies to transform the field into a public park and playing field.

She welcomed the special meeting being held ahead of tomorrow’s full council meeting and said: “I’m looking forward to the meeting in the hope of getting some answers to questions that have been asked many times in the past.

“The meeting is open to the public, so anyone who is interested in the future of the Sir Halley Stewart Field is welcome to go along.”

Taking a front seat in the public gallery will be one of the campaigners, Bill Johnson.

Spalding Community Campaign has been calling for the field to be turned into a public park and sparked an investigation by the Charity Commission, which is still ongoing.

He said: “It’s great news this meeting has been called.

“We believe the field was always intended to be opened up to the residents of Spalding and not just used for sport.

“Hopefully we will be able to get some answers.”

Coun Worth said he had contacted the campaign group inviting them to the meeting.

He said: “We are waiting to hear from the Charity Commission but have documents that state the former Black Swan Field should be held in Trust by the council for the benefit of the town, but for sport.

“The field had been the home of Spalding United FC since the end of the First World War and has remained so.

“If the Charity Commission thinks we have done something wrong then we will look at it again, but we can do nothing until we hear from them.”

Chris Toynton, chairman of Spalding United FC, said he had been informed about the special meeting.

He said: “The field has been the club’s home since 1921.

“I’ve no argument with the campaigners but they need to understand what it was all about.

“We are not thinking of moving and will not move until we are told we have got to.”

Members of the public who are interested in the future of the Sir Halley Stewart Field can go along to the meeting in the Council chamber at South Holland District Council offices in Priory Road tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5pm. The full council meeting follows at 6.30pm.

A banned driver who took a risk by driving to work was warned by Spalding magistrates he risks prison if he flouts the law again.

Maciej Kaliczynski (34), of South Parade, Spalding, was spotted by police in the town’s Station Approach at 7.55pm on May 21.

Marie Stace, prosecuting, said police noticed there was a brake light out on Kaliczynski’s Hyundai, followed him and stopped him in West Elloe Avenue.

Checks revealed there was no insurance and Kaliczynski was banned from driving until January next year.

While he was in custody, police found Kaliczynski in possession of a small amount of white powder, which he admitted was amphetamine.

Solicito Anita Toal, mitigating, said Kaliczynski works in Whittlesey and normally gets a lift to work from a friend.

His friend was on holiday and he arranged a lift for every single day of the holiday apart from the day he was stopped by police.

Mrs Toal said he uses amphetamine for pain relief following an injury.

Kaliczynski admitted driving while disqualified, without insurance and possessing amphetamine.

He received a further two year driving ban and a fine of £690 for all three offences.

Magistrates ordered him to pay £85 costs and a £69 victim surcharge.

An angry man damaged his mother’s home and began self-harming, stabbing himself in the leg when she couldn’t find his vehicle registration document.

Alex Hemsley (26) told Spalding magistrates on Thursday: “Obviously I have got some issues that I need to deal with. I wish I could take it back but unfortunately I can’t.”

He admitted criminally damaging two kitchen unit doors and an internal door belonging to his mother, Lynn, at Hall Farm, Market Deeping.

Hemsley, who gave Hall Farm as his care of address, was conditionally discharged for 12 months and ordered to pay £230 compensation with a £15 victim surcharge.

Marie Stace, prosecuting, said Hemsley’s mother, had what she described as a “difficult relationship” with him.

The mother said her son arrived in a reasonable mood and asked for the registration document, which she couldn’t find.

The son became angry, blamed her for all sorts of things, kicked out at one of the kitchen cupboard doors and then the one next to it.

Miss Stace said the mother started to phone police, Hemsley began to self-harm – stabbing himself in the leg – and then head-butted the downstairs toilet door, which also broke.

A driver’s night out in Spalding led to police seizing his Citroen Saxo because he had no insurance – and a ban from the town’s magistrates for being over the drink-drive limit.

Zymantas Jakubsevicius (30) was stopped at 2.10am on May 19 in St Thomas’s Road, Spalding.

A breath test showed 42 microgrammes of alcohol in breath, just seven over the legal limit.

Marie Stace, prosecuting, said police seized his vehicle because he had no insurance.

Solicitor Anita Toal, mitigating, said she was pretty sure Jakubsevicius would have been under the limit if he had accepted an offer to give blood or urine.

Mrs Toal said Jakubsevicius had two pints between 9pm-10pm and felt he would be safe to drive.

There was a difficulty with his insurance because the company would not accept a no claims bonus from a foreign country.

Jakubsevicius, of Turnberry, Worksop, was banned from driving for 12 months and fined £320 for the excess alcohol offence.

He can cut three months off the ban if he completes a rehabilitation course. He must pay £85 costs and a £32 victim surcharge. There was no separate penalty for the insurance offence. He admitted both offences.

UPDATE WEDNESDAY 6.30PM: Police have released CCTV footage as they attempt to trace a burglar who broke into an elderly couple’s home in Holbeach.

The footage taken from a resident’s CCTV camera shows a man acting suspiciously in Netherfield about an hour before the burglary took place.

Anyone with information should call DC Debra Charlesworth on 101, quoting incident number 26 of June 11.

TUESDAY 2.30PM: An elderly Holbeach couple were shocked to find an intruder in their bedroom after they were woken from their sleep.

The intruder got into the couple’s home in Netherfield after breaking in through a conservatory window before going into the bedroom and shining a torch.

But once the couple were awake, the intruder fled empty-handed.

Police said the incident happened at about 3.15am on Tuesday and a neighbour’s CCTV system showed two men acting suspiciously in the area an hour earlier.

Anyone with information should call DC Debra Charlesworth on 101, quoting incident number 26 of June 11.

Donington’s gold award winners in the East Midlands in Bloom contest are concerned they may lose their crown because of an overgrown roundabout.

With just a few weeks to go before judges descend on the village, Donington in Bloom members say grass has grown waist high and shrubs on the roundabout have been allowed to grow wild.

Donington has progressed from bronze to gold awards during seven years’ participation in East Midlands in Bloom,

Chairman Liz Walker said: “It’s a disgrace. We’re very concerned because the judges will pass it and some will even arrive that way.

“The state of the roundabout doesn’t just affect us - it impacts on the whole of the village because it’s the first thing people see.”

For two years the group said they paid South Holland District Council £1,500 in sponsorship for the roundabout and provided plants.

Liz said: “When we came to the end of the contract we didn’t think they were doing a good enough job so we stopped paying them.

“That was two years ago and the state of the roundabout has got progressively worse. It’s appalling.”

Resident Joy Roberts, of Station Road, is a member of the group. She said: “We’re all upset about it. It doesn’t give the village a very good image.”

Andy Wharff, area highways manager at Lincolnshire County Council which is responsible for the roundabout, said: “We’ve been in contact with Donington in Bloom and are trying to coordinate our grass cutting programme with the competition.”

A successful academy claims Spalding students are being tempted further afield to make the most of what it has to offer.

While the town’s Sir John Gleed School struggles to change its fortunes following a damning Ofsted inspection which placed it in special measures, Bourne Academy has just received a “good”grade from the school watchdog.

And the marked differences in the two secondary academies have not gone unnoticed by parents in Spalding when choosing where to send their children, with 134 students – or about 10 per cent of Bourne Academy’s total roll – coming from Spalding.

Isobel Copley, Bourne Academy’s Community Business Development Co-ordinator, said: “We are pleased that more and more parents are choosing Bourne Academy for their children, taking advantage of the excellent bus links from Spalding and surrounding villages.

“Currently 134 students come to us from Spalding with a further 19 currently enrolled for next September.

“September will see not only an increased intake from other towns, but also exciting developments in the school curriculum – we will be the only school in the area to offer A-Level food technology and A-level English Language.”

Ofsted has just published its report following a visit to the school last month, during which one inspector described the positive behaviour of the students as “angelic”.

Headteacher Laurence Reilly was “delighted” by the feedback from the inspectors, who found the school to be “good” in all aspects of pupil achievement, quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils and leadership and management.

The report says pupils achieve well during their time at the school and standards in English, art and design and technology are well above national average.

It says most teaching is good with some examples of outstanding practice and the large majority of students in the sixth form make good progress and move on to training or higher education.

But the school has been told it is not yet an “outstanding” school because teachers are not setting challenging enough progress targets for the students and some are not giving students enough opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning.

Mr Reilly said: “Bourne Academy continues to strive to be one of the best schools in the area and one of which the area can be justifiably proud.

“It continues to develop its curriculum to support and stretch its students of all abilities, in order to exceed challenging targets and provide a first class education within a modern, dedicated environment with excellent facilities.”

Frank Pick, the modest Spalding man credited with creating modern London, has been honoured with a blue plaque over 120 years after he left the town to seek his fortune.

The cast plaque commemorating Frank’s birth on November 23 1878 is set into the wall of the Halifax Building Society in Double Street, a stone’s throw from Bridge House on the west bank of the River Welland, now demolished.

It was unveiled in front of Spalding and District Civic Society members and guests by Sir Peter Hendy, Commissioner for Transport in London, who had travelled up specially from the Capital by train at the invitation of event sponsor Howard Johnston, who was returning to his home town after almost 40 years.

Frank’s legacy is the endearing image of the London Underground, including the famous map that he commissioned, the red and white signs, distinctive typeface, and dozens of classic 1930s art-deco buildings.

It was a special day for Wendy Gavaghan (72), from Whaplode Drove, who revealed herself to the gathering of senior guests and community leaders as Frank’s great niece.

She was able to tell amusing stories of Frank’s brother Sisson, who she vividly recalls as a local sheep farmer.

Her regret was that her mother, who knew all the family, died only a couple of months ago, when well in her 90s.

Civic Society chairman Robert West paid tribute to stalwart members Judy Chapman and John Charlesworth and staff at the Halifax for their hard work in turning Howard Johnston’s initial idea into reality.

He also said that more blue plaques were on the way to honour other famous Spalding residents, including William Bramwell Booth, founder of the Salvation Army.

Mr Johnston, founder and chairman of Cambridgeshirebased events and publishing company Mainspring, said the plaque was a personal thank-you gift to the town for helping to fashion his successful career. After attending Spalding Grammar School in the 1960s, his first real media job was on the editorial staff of the Lincolnshire Free Press and Spalding Guardian from 1970-74.

Following a speech by Sir Peter Hendy, who said Frank Pick did more to create modern London than even Sir Christopher Wren, South Holland and The Deepings MP John Hayes also paid tribute to Frank Pick, who he said was able to carry forward his ideas with vision and style.

Coincidentally, Mr Hayes already has a blue plaque on his house in Moulton, to Olympic gold medal boxer and England cricket team captain Johnny Douglas.

One of East Anglia’s leading training providers has opened a new specialist training centre in Spalding.

Britannia Training launched the centre with a charity open day showcasing the facilities on the Enterprise Industrial Estate.

The open day introduced visitors to the range of training equipment used for some of the 450 courses on offer.

The Britannia team were on hand to show people around and explain how the training services operate.

The day also raised £200 for the Lincolnshire Free Press Children’s Fund charity, an amount match funded by Britannia’s business partner Chislett Tool Hire.

Many local businesses from the food, agriculture, construction and other industries popped in on the day. The Chamber of Trade was represented and local MP John Hayes enjoyed a tour of the centre and met the Britannia team.

Helen Parker, agricultural trainer for Moy Park, was particularly pleased to see the centre opening in Spalding, giving her flexibility on offsite training options for Moy staff.

She said: “Britannia always provides an excellent service, with a high standard of training.

“I’m delighted they have a new centre in Spalding. It’s so convenient and has all the machinery on site.”

Barry Grigg, Health, Safety and Environmental Advisor for The Leeton Group, attended the open day and said:“As a highly respected and flexible training provider, Britannia’s new training centre will be of significant benefit to any organisations, within the food, construction and engineering sectors, who are looking to provide their employees with the trade, supervisory or management skills required to tackle today’s ever-changing working environment.”

The new centre will deliver group training from the extensive list of training courses Britannia already provide in Wymondham as well as at customer premises. New and specialist courses include fully accredited CIEH and HABC courses in food safety.

The courses on offer include open courses giving employers flexibility on staff training.

Specific and group courses for larger organisations are also available.

Managing Director at Britannia Training Colin Wright said: “We are extremely pleased to be able to expand our operation and open this specialist training centre in Spalding.

“Having already worked with some fantastic businesses in Spalding and across Lincolnshire, we know there is a need for a top quality training provision on and off site and we are excited about filling a gap in the market to provide off site training facilities at our new centre.”

With over 5,000 businesses having already been trained by Britannia Training, the company currently provides the training for Kerry Foods and Premier Foods, amongst others.

While crops drip with rain new growth glistens. Brassica plants close ranks becoming green seas; weeds peep through.

Farm manager Michael Summerland orchestrates a team of tractor-mounted weeding machines on this organic farm where herbicides, or any sort of ‘cide’ come to that, is banned under organic rules. We turn to guided steerage hoes, brush weeders, harrows, burners, the same assisted by teams of human hands; all moving towards the same impossible purpose: a spotlessly clean field. It’s working better this year and Michael’s turning the farm round step by step: beetroot grows away steadily, cauliflower and broccoli ditto, the potatoes look clean. We struggle most with the arable fields but we’re getting there.

Have you noticed the great swath of grass? How suddenly it grew? Now is the time of the first haylage cut. The grass is mown, turned, wilted to a limited extent, baled, wrapped and carted away. Like all growers and gardeners we’re thinking winter before midsummer while cattle graze like Gods beneath a silvery luminous sky. In the aftermath of the horse meat scandal Woodlands organic meat sales have rocketed.

Lambs grow away, turkey chicks peck about, curly coated pigs sleep, vegetable boxes resemble vivid impressionist paintings such are their rainbow colours.

Woodlands Farm is once again opening the farm gates to the public on Sunday, July 14.

Tractor and trailer rides will start from the farm at 2pm prompt.

To follow, visitors can enjoy tea and delicious homemade refreshments. The cost is £3 per adult, £1.50 per child to include the ride.

Woodlands Farm ,Wash Road, Near Kirton, Boston PE20 1JD.
Tel: 01205 724778

All farmers have to contend with the uncertainties of the weather but flower growers are also at the mercy of the fickle consumer.

Sales of flowers go up and down, for no apparent reason, yet growers like Lance Whittington have no option but to continue planting and nurturing their crops.

Lance, who farms with his father-in-law Maurice Congreve, at M & G Congreve of Whaplode, has streamlined the flowers he grows to those that best withstand the erratic weather conditions that seem to be the norm – and to those the supermarkets are prepared to pay enough for to cover production costs.

Lance said: “We used to grow a lot more but stopped because the market wouldn’t pay the price. We have to make a living.”

He has daffodils, the bulbs of last year’s forced crop currently being cleaned for re-planting, about 160,000 alliums in cold store, and the alchemilla is being cropped.

The farm also grows crops such as wheat, potatoes, sugar beet – and maize.

The business operates the popular maize maze, which last year was two weeks late opening and, in line with the tourist industry generally, suffered a bad season.

This year, the maize is growing very slowly, and Lance says: “It needs sun. It’s struggling for sunlight. Fingers crossed it will be okay, but it’s only five weeks from opening and it’s only five inches tall so it might be a dwarf maze.”

A poll of over 600 British farmers found a major shift in their stance towards GM in the past year

Nearly a third of those surveyed said they would now be more likely to grow GM crops if it were legal than a year ago.