Lincolnshire Trading Standards is offering advice for all new and established keepers of livestock in Lincolnshire.

Over the next few months, Lincolnshire Trading Standards will be working with farms across the county to make sure they are up to date with the latest legislation, including animal movement and animal health.

For further advice, contact Trading Standards on 01522 782341.

Sainsbury’s, which helped the government develop its agricultural and horticultural graduate scheme, has pledged new funding to help farmers and growers take advantage of existing technologies and look to new innovations.

The investment will build on an initial £1.2million research and development fund made available by Sainsbury’s in 2012 and was awarded to 14 UK projects that will help the industry.

Your donations to help reopen a popular children’s play park at Surfleet are still rolling in.

Generous readers have given £635 so children can return to the play area at Glen Park, Surfleet, which has been padlocked since July 4 when park bosses decided the Everest tower and zip wire were unsafe.

Among the latest donations is £300 from Spalding Lions.

The Lincolnshire Free Press and Spalding Guardian started the ball rolling with a £500 donation from the Lincolnshire Free Press Children’s Fund to help towards a £4,000 cash shortfall and other donations, including £1,000 from Rylatt Ford, have gone direct to Glen Park.

Surfleet Play and Recreation Committee member Fran Healands said there has been fundraising in the village, including £65 raised by the school’s non-uniform day.

But Mrs Healands says it’s unlikely the play area will reopen before September as the Everest tower will need bespoke replacement timbers and the wood has to be treated.

“It takes weeks for the timber to be treated,” she said. “It will be September, I think, at least before the play park is open again. While the Everest tower isn’t fixed, we can’t let people in that playground and use that equipment while it’s unsafe.”

Lincolnshire has the third highest rate of agricultural crime in the UK, with almost £2million worth of insurance claims by farmers last year.

However, new figures from NFU Mutual reveal that agri-crime fell by almost a fifth nationally from 2011.

Theft of equipment, vehicles and livestock cost an estimated £42.3million across the UK during 2012, a reduction of 19.7 per cent year on year. In Lincolnshire, a total of £1.8million worth of claims were made by farmers affected by agri-crime.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire Alan Hardwick – in Spalding’s Tulip Market last Tuesday recruiting new PCSOs – said rural crime was hugely important in a county like Lincolnshire.

He said: “We are doing everything that’s possible to mitigate for the effects of it. We know it exists and that it’s a problem but we have had some successes with some of our operations.”

The NFU Mutual report showed agricultural machinery was the main target of the thieves, along with tools and fuels, such as heating oil and red diesel.

Tim Price, of NFU Mutual, said Lincolnshire had borne the brunt of “an explosion in agricultural crime” over the last few years.

He said: “This problem came from nowhere and after years of sharp rises we have seen a fall in 2012.

“So there is some good news that the efforts of farmers and police are beginning to work.”

Intruders climbed onto a roof and broke into a business premises in West Street, Bourne, earlier this week.

It happened overnight between Monday and Tuesday when suspects got into the building after climbing onto the roof of premises in Crown Walk.

Police are also trying to find out who tampered with a garden gate lock outside a building in Buttercup Drive, Bourne, overnight last Thursday and Friday.

Nothing was stolen and no damage was caused, but police are treating the incident as suspicious.

Finally, a catalytic convertor has been stolen from a white Mercedes Sprinter van parked outside The White Horse pub in Church Street, Market Deeping.

It was taken some time between 10.30pm on July 26 and 6.30am on July 31.

Anyone with information on any of these crimes should call police on 101.

A woman is to face a crown court hearing in connection with the deaths of two young Sutton Bridge sisters in a car crash just after Christmas.

Marie Easter (44), of Herbert Ward Way, Terrington St Clement, is charged with two counts of causing death by driving without due care and attention after Tamzin (10) and Jessica Portor (7) died in an accident on the A47 near Wisbech on December 27.

Easter appeared at West Norfolk Magistrates’ Court, King’s Lynn, on Friday and was given unconditional bail until a hearing at Norwich Crown Court on November 15.

The girls, who attended Westmere Primary School, suffered fatal head injuries when the black Ford Focus they were in left the road at Walsoken, overturned and ended up in a ditch.

Their father Alan Portor, brother Liam and Easter all suffered minor injuries.

Villagers fed up with noise and anti-social behaviour have backed plans to change the use of a former pub.

Letters of support for a plan to use the old Golden Ball at Holbeach Drove as a children’s nursery and day centre have been sent to South Holland District Council planners.

The pub has been deemed to be no longer viable – a move welcomed by some villagers who said it had previously been a magnet for trouble.

The plan has been put forward by new company Giggles of Gedney Hill, owned by Paula Somers.

Her application states that neighbours have been surveyed about the proposal, which suggests “a preference for change of use and no strong objection to that change being to a children’s nursery.

“Evidence suggests that due to a number of factors including the general economic downturn over recent years, the public house is no longer a viable commercial proposition.”

One comment collected in the neighbour survey read: “It would be lovely to actually see some young children playing, laughing and enjoying it as it would bring more pleasure to the elderly people opposite.”

A supporting letter to the council also said: “There has been so many problems with the pub that nobody who lives in the village will use it.”

Another states: “The establishment has been nothing but trouble for many years with disturbances from noise – music, customers shouting, cars hooting late at night – drinking in the street, drunken behaviour and a build up of rubbish.”

As part of the application, the pub’s owners, Public Inns Partnership, has also provided evidence of the operating losses of the pub under more than a dozen tenants and managers since it bought it in 2002 and how it has dropped the asking price four times – from £250,000 in 2009 to £155,000 most recently, in a bid to sell it.

A pensioner found guilty of horrific child sex offences is battling to clear his name - claiming his victims were “money motivated” and concoted their complaints to sell their story to a women’s magazine.

Benjamin French Rodgers (75), of Hagbeach Gate, Whaplode, has always denied raping one young girl and sexually abusing another but was convicted by a jury last year.

The former lorry driver was caged for 19 years at Lincoln Crown Court last September after he was found guilty of three counts of rape and six indecent assaults. The jury acquitted him of other alleged counts of sexual abuse.

But top judges at London’s Court of Appeal have now adjourned a conviction challenge by Rodgers – to allow his lawyers time to gather evidence in support of his untested claims he was framed by his victims.

Lord Justice Davis said Rodgers was alleged to have raped and molested a girl, putting his hand into her pants, while she was under the age of 15 in the 1970s. He was also accused of targeting a girl under the age of 11 in the early 2000s.

His barrister, Michael Cranmer-Brown, already has permission to argue before the Appeal Court that the women’s evidence was contaminated by discussions they allegedly had about the case before Rodgers’ trial.

But the barrister also now alleges that the pair were “money motivated” to fabricate their accounts and sold their story to a women’s magazine for £1,000.

The barrister said there was a “significant dissimilarity” between their evidence at trial and the accounts printed in the article, purportedly written by the women, months later.

He said the magazine’s editor had so far declined to reveal who initiated the story but that Rodgers’ legal team would demand full disclosure from the publication if given permission to present fresh evidence to the court.

Mr Cranmer-Brown also pointed to large claims they had lodged with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority since the trial.

Lord Justice Davis, sitting with Mrs Justice Swift and Mr Justice Griffith Williams, said the issues raised gave the court “pause for thought” and might affect the “safety” of the jury’s verdicts.

He said: “We have reflected on all these matters raised in the fresh grounds. With some hesitation, we do think this does give cause for further investigation and consideration by the court.

“If this fresh material is admitted as relevant – and it is an ‘if’ – then it might well bear on the issues that have been put forward in the grounds of appeal on which leave (to appeal) has been granted.”

The judge adjourned the hearing so that the fresh evidence can be brought before the court and the full appeal heard at a later date.

A Pinchbeck builder is horrified he has to pay more council tax for a derelict cottage he refurbished than the four-bed property he lives in.

Kevin Rawding’s revised bill from South Holland District Council landed on his doormat last week, informing him he would have to pay an additional premium of 50 per cent, taking the bill to £1,428.71.

Mr Rawding spent around £18,000 refurbishing a two-bed cottage in Northgate, West Pinchbeck, which went on the market three months ago and is on sale for £104,950.

He said: “I understand the changes were brought in to get empty properties filled, but how can the council justify an increase of 50 per cent – and why has it taken them from April until August to inform me?

“It’s costing more for the cottage than the four-bed property I’m living in – and I’m paying for services such as fire, ambulance and police that I don’t need.

“Will I get those knocked off the bill?

“It’s been on the market now for three months. I’ve done what they wanted which is to get an empty property back into circulation, so why do they want to charge me?

“It’s just wrong.”

Coun Roger Gambba-Jones, the council’s portfolio holder for planning, said: “Removing the empty property discount was one of the harsh decisions we have had to make to the gap to fund frontline services.

“What was a £1million shortfall between now and 2015 is now looking like £3million.

“Just when we think we are almost there we get another surprise that puts us even further back.

“I am afraid Mr Rawding is not on his own – this is an unfortunate fact of life for a lot of people.

“We know this is hitting hard working taxpayers who are doing their best and we do sympathise, but these are desperate times for all of us.”

Nicholas Watts, of Vine House Farm at Deeping St Nicholas, is one of eight finalists in the national Nature of Farming Award.

Nicholas, one of the farmers being celebrated for their wildlife-friendly work, donates five per cent of takings from Vine House Farm Bird Foods to The Wildlife Trusts across the UK.

Over the last 20 years, barn owl numbers on his farm have quadrupled, and whitethroats, tree sparrows and lapwings have increased ten-fold.

Nicholas monitors breeding species, not just on his arable farm, but in the local area of Deeping Fen. Every spring, he covers 70 miles carrying out these surveys that help him tailor his farmland management to the best possible results for wildlife.

The winning farmer is determined by public vote, which can be made until Saturday, August 31 at http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/farming/natureoffarming/finalists/index.aspx

Everyone who votes will be entered into a free prize draw for a luxury break for two people with Millennium Hotels.

Mimi Webber has lived permanently in the UK since 1995 but says she has never been homesick.

She admits it was difficult, in the early years, to buy ingredients to make Japanese dishes.

However, she says now you can get most things from Asian supermarkets, although at home she will cook everything from Japanese to Spanish meals.

The Bento boxes she sells at Mimi’s Sandwich and Coffee Bar in Spalding are a single-portion meal, traditionally holding rice, fish or meat, with pickled or cooked vegetables. These sell for between £3 and £4, depending on ingredients.

Bento boxes are typically sold in many places throughout Japan, such as bento shops, railway stations and other stores.

Occasionally, Mimi makes sushi for her Bento boxes – vinegared rice mixed with raw fish or seafood – but this takes a lot of preparation time so it’s not something you will find very often at Mimi’s.

Thursdays and Fridays are popular days at Mimi’s Sandwich and Coffee Bar in Spalding.

That’s when the bar’s proprietor Mimi Webber adds the flavours of Japan to the normal lunch-time food selection.

Customers have come to love her Bento boxes, or lunch boxes filled with rice, a main dish of perhaps deep fried chicken or some other food marinated in Japanese flavours, and a vegetable side dish.

Mimi, who has been running the business in New Road for the past year, said: “I do it so people can try out the flavours of Japan, with meals cooked in the traditional way, not westernised.

“The customers love it and some just come back on Thursdays and Fridays for the Japanese food.”

That’s not the only flavour of Japan that Mimi is offering customers in town.

She also offers lessons in Japanese as well as the traditional Japanese art of folding paper, origami, something she does both at the shop or at other venues when asked.

As customers queue at the counter, they will also see that Mimi has on sale a variety of Japanese ornaments, sweets, little soup bowls, foodstuff and money envelopes, typically used to give money as presents in Japan.

She also sells little boxes containing a child’s sized kimono, sash and geta, or Japanese sandals.

Mimi occasionally wears the more informal version of this, called the yukata, and people are able to buy or hire these too.

Mimi explains the yukata is mainly worn in summer because it is generally made of quite thin material and it is worn as one layer.

“When you have the kimono you normally wear two, three or four layers and it is quite heavy,” explains Mimi, who wore a staggering 12 layers plus the traditional bride’s wig when she married her English husband Duncan in Japan.

They met when Mimi was studying administration and improving her English at Gloucester college.

Duncan visited once she returned to Japan to work and the pair of them decided they wanted to be together.

Eventually returning to the UK after their wedding, Mimi’s language skills took her to Thomas Cook at Peterborough and the couple moved to their home just outside Spalding five years ago.

Mimi says: “The business has ben going well in the last few months and I’ve had good feedback from customers.”

Parents wanting to help their children lose weight and get more active need look no further than a free exercise and nutrition course starting in Spalding next month.

Fit Kids is a 12-week programme that helps youngsters get fitter and healthier, while boosting their confidence and giving them the opportunity to make new friends.

The course has already helped hundreds of families across Lincolnshire, with the next one starting at The Fitness Company in Spring Gardens on Monday, September 9.

The after-school initiative is aimed at kids aged eight to 12 and will take place every Monday from 4pm to 5pm.

Children get to take part in fun activities, such as team games, exercise classes and yoga, and are encouraged to take part in an optional second weekly session of dance, a gym workout or fitness class of their choice.

The course also includes advice on diet and nutrition, with parents being invited to join in the sessions which will include cooking and food tasting.

Space on the free programme, funded by NHS Lincolnshire and South Holland District Council, is limited to 12 children.

Tracey Vowels, who owns The Fitness Company, said: “Working with children is great fun and it’s not just about their weight. By the time they complete the 12 week course they have got more confidence and their fitness has improved. The results are really successful.”

To find out more and to book a place, contact Mrs Vowels on 01775 766775 or 07970 029465, or via email at: tracey@spaldingfitness.co.uk

For getting on for 20 years I have been having frank, honest and sometimes uncomfortable discussions with clients about the ‘what if’ scenarios.

How would they cope if one of them lost their job, was long term sick, needed emergency medical treatment or died?

How would they feel if they had to move house, children had to change school or were not able to go to university because they couldn’t afford it because of one of these occurrences?

All the knowledge and preparation in world still doesn’t soften the blow however when the phone rings and a poorly client, or their loved one, is on the other end.

This has been the case for us on a number of occasions recently and whilst the financial provision has made the people left behind more comfortable and will allow their family plans to come to fruition, it still hurts when you lose somebody you would call a friend.

To help in some small way my business partner Jon Bingham and I are completing a charity bike ride in October this year.

We will ride over 300km of mountainous terrain in three days on a bike with a saddle the size of a Rivita!

We hope to raise £3,000 for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and the Samaritans.

Given our industry the C word comes up almost every day and whilst diagnosis, treatment and survival rates are improving for most forms of the disease, pancreatic cancer is lagging behind terribly.

The statistics are shocking as it’s the fifth largest cancer killer, yet the survival rates haven’t improved in 40 years.

If you feel that you would like to help support the causes financially please visit my JustGiving web pages or pop into our office on Bridge Street.

This illness does not discriminate by age or sex and no-one is exempt.

Every pound to help support additional research is vital.

A 28-year-old woman needed hospital treatment for a head injury after being assaulted in a Spalding nightclub at the weekend.

The victim from Moulton Seas End was at Loaded in Westlode Street where she was attacked by another woman at about 2amm on Saturday.

She was treated for a banged head and police are trying to trace the other woman involved.

Anyone with information should call police on 101, quoting incident number 51 of August 3.

MP John Hayes is backing elderly residents in their fight to keep district council wardens at South Holland’s sheltered housing complexes.

Around 60 elderly people met the South Holland and the Deepings MP, district council leader Gary Porter and portfolio holder Christine Lawton at Spalding’s Lime Court on Monday.

The warden service is under threat because cash-strapped Lincolnshire County Council, which funds the service, is cutting costs and residents fear they will be left with a call system to Grantham rather than the personal touch of district council wardens who help with everything from medical emergencies to personal problems.

One resident told Monday’s meeting: “Basically, we will be left with someone sitting in Grantham on a minimum wage who doesn’t really care if you are alive or dead.”

One after another described how the wardens are their “lifeline” and a reassuring presence when they have families who live many miles away or no family at all.

Coun Porter outlined steps the district council is taking to keep its contract with the county council, including making some service changes.

He said: “Our full intention is that we carry on delivering the service.”

One Lime Court resident said the wardens carried master keys for their homes and wanted to know what would happen to those if the district council failed to win the contract.

Coun Porter said: “If we don’t win the contract we will change the locks. It’s as simple as that.”

Mr Hayes has already raised concerns with county council leader Martin Hill and will now ask a county council representative to attend talks with him and residents at Lime Court.

He promised residents: “My job is to be your champion. I am a fierce defender of my constituents.”

Discussions are talking place to finally stop boy racers keeping residents awake near Spalding town centre car parks.

In the latest of a catalogue of complaints about boy racers in Sainsbury’s car park, residents living nearby said the noise started at 10pm on Saturday night.

The resident said: “At one point it sounded like gun fire from the exhaust. This is the fourth night last week we’ve had to put up with this.

“On Thursday night it was 12.45am. It’s unacceptable – I get up at 6am for work and my husband 5am.

“I’ve called and tweeted the police and they keep saying they need registration numbers. I’m sorry but I’m got going out when I’ve been in bed.

“My mum who is 76 also rang the police and they told her to get some registration numbers. It’s not safe for a 76-year-old to be out late at night doing that.

“Why can’t the police put an unmarked car down there and get the numbers?”

PC Paul Smith, Spalding town centre beat manager, confirmed there had been some complaints about noise from cars at night but said negotiations were talking place to solve the problem.

He said: “Since Sainsbury’s installed traffic calmers, boy racers haven’t used its car park because they damage their vehicles.

“They use the car parks at the other end of Holland Market.

“Although we do regularly patrol the area, we can’t be there all the time and so we need registration numbers so we can take action.”

Michael Moran, Corbo GB representative and manager of Holland Market, said installation of heavy duty out-of-hours gates is being discussed with retailers. He said: “We are looking to meet with the police and council to try and agree on a town wide solution.”

Witnesses should call police on 101.

Details have emerged of a failed district council bid to build homes on the site of a pub which villagers are now fighting to save.

The news was revealed by Peter Mandell, who put together a bid to buy the site and restore the fire-wrecked Ye Olde Dun Cow at Cowbit and reopen it as a pub.

Mr Mandell says the district council successfully tendered to buy the site with the aim of building six to ten houses, but its offer was gazumped by a company which also intends to build homes.

The planning application from Market Homes for nine residences could go to South Holland’s planning committee as early as August 28.

Around 130 public comments opposing the homes have been made on the council’s planning portal, 350 residents have signed the village’s Save Our Pub petition and objectors to the loss of the pub include The Campaign for Real Ale.

Mr Mandell, from Moulton Seas End, is operations director for a building and civil engineering company, Peter Lind.

He put together a bid to buy the site on behalf of Peter Lind and a partner on the basis they would restore Ye Olde Dun Cow and reopen it, but the site is worth more if used for housing.

Mr Mandell says the national planning framework and local policy mean the pub site “cannot possibly qualify for a deviation from its existing use”.

He also claims the council’s offer to buy the site was above its own valuer’s assessment and council intentions to build homes there would have attracted higher offers from companies wanting to do the same.

Cowbit’s Save Our Pub campaign has asked the council to clarify its role in the sale of the pub site.

A council spokesman said: “The council did submit a bid for this land which it felt reflected its market value and was subject to the land obtaining planning permission for affordable housing. This bid was unsuccessful.

“The fact that South Holland District Council submitted a bid in no way compromises its ability to make impartial planning decisions regarding this issue.”

Albert Busley (85) and his wife, Kathleen (82) were told to “get out” as the man ran out of the Longhurst property in St Matthew’s Close on Tuesday afternoon, claiming to be calling his boss.

Instead, he fled the scene.

Pensioner Albert Busley wept as he recalled the bungle by a pest control company workman that destroyed the home he had shared with his wife for 17 years.

Taking refuge in a sheltered housing block yards from where their home went up in flames in St Matthew’s Close, Holbeach, he said: “Longhurst do not pay for the removal of wasp nests, so we found this number for Affordable Pest Control in the phone book.

“The man came and went up into the loft and suggested we shut the doors in case any wasps came down.

“I heard a clatter and he came down and said ‘get out –I need to ring my boss’.

“But he didn’t come back and just drove off.”

Neighbour Steven Cooley (25) was at home on Tuesday afternoon when the fire started.

He said: “I heard a roar and looked through the window and saw people running into the close screaming. Then I saw one of the bungalows in a row of four was on fire.”

Mr Busley’s wife, Kathleen, said of her husband: “He’s a real home bird. He keeps saying he just wants to go home. This has hit him really hard.”

Michael York, assistant surveyor at Longhurst and Havelok Homes Ltd, explained to the couple they had been booked into a hotel in Spalding and would be moved to accommodation in Long Sutton as soon as possible.

He assured them that they would eventually be able to return to their home, but the damage was too severe for them to go back immediately.

Tony Walker, watch manager at Holbeach Fire Station, said fire engines from Holbeach, Long Sutton, Spalding and Kirton attended the scene.

Mr Walker said: “We removed the tiles from the roof to expose the timbers and managed to extinguish the fire in about 20 minutes.

“There is extensive damage to the roof space but fortunately the interior isn’t too bad – small areas of smoke and water damage.”

However, he said the incident sent out a strong message to residents calling in “experts” from the phone book.

He said: “A naked flame should never have been used to remove wasps from a roof space full of timber. Workmen from reputable firms should know this.”

Yesterday (Wednesday), the Spalding Guardian contacted contractor Shaun Robb, of Affordable Pest Control, who said he had not been informed that there had been problems with the booking.

He said: “I’m shocked – I had no idea. I found a sub-contactor in the area in good faith. As a contractor I’ve used them for four years and never had any complaints.”

After contacting the firm to investigate what had happened, Mr Robb said: “The man responsible said he told the couple to get out and warned the neighbours, but then panicked and drove off, which is horrendous.

“My concern right now is for the couple. I have to take my share of the responsibility for this and I’ve been in touch and will be paying their removal costs.”

A woman who admitted being overpaid more than £5,800 in disability benefits was guilty solely on a technicality of failing to notify a change of circumstances, her lawyer said.

Tracy Shepherd (42), of Wignal’s Gate, Holbeach, began claiming in 1998 because she could only walk short distances due to a back problem, magistrates heard.

As her health improved and she started working, she informed the incapacity benefit section of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of her change in circumstances and her hours of employment.

Solicitor Mike Alexander said she thought by telling the DWP she was working that would be “perhaps a clue” that she was able to move around a lot more.

But she didn’t specifically tell the DWP’s Disability Living Allowance (DLA) section that she was getting better and the law requires claimants to inform all relevant departments.

He said: “I did suggest to this lady that she could perhaps consider entering a not guilty plea, but she wasn’t able to stand the thought of entering a not guilty plea.”

Mr Alexander said because of a DWP investigation, Shepherd – who suffers depression – had lost two stones in weight and simply could not cope.

He continued: “Today she has taken the view ‘I will enter my guilty plea, I have to on a technical basis’ because she hasn’t informed the correct department that her health has improved.

“I don’t think this is a case where she has been dishonest.

“It’s a misunderstanding, a mistake. She’s paying that money back.”

Prosecutor Paul Wood said Shepherd was overpaid £5,836.60 in DLA.

He said the DWP conducted a surveillance exercise on a number of days in October and November 2012 and saw Shepherd was far more able than described in her claim.

Magistrates gave Shepherd a six month conditional discharge and made no order for costs but she must pay a £15 victim surcharge.

She admitted failing to notify the DWP of a change that would affect her entitlement to DLA between August 2011 and February 2013.