Golf is a good 
walk spoiled, 
according to Mark Twain’s quote.

You could also argue that if you are going to hit a ball that far, you should probably 
allow someone else to fetch it, like in cricket!

The sport will return to the next Olympics but it must be so frustrating to play on a regular basis.

Yet there is absolutely no doubt over the popularity and there will be extensive media coverage 
when the European team take on the Americans in the Ryder Cup starting on Friday at Gleneagles.

Known as golf’s ultimate 
team competition, it might even keep the Premier League off the back pages for a couple of days. Maybe...

Personally I found last week’s news much more 
interesting when the Royal and Ancient Golf Club voted in favour of allowing women members for the first time in its 260-year history.

The question is clearly ‘what took you so long?’ and inevitably led the BBC to ask ‘is sport sexist?’

It was described as “an important and positive day in the history of the R&A 
Golf Club” by chief executive Peter Dawson.

But I thought the decision was summed up perfectly by Rory McIlroy: “It is a pity some golf clubs have been quite slow on the uptake. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or woman, black or white, everyone should have equal opportunities to do 
anything you want, whether to join a golf club, or get a job.”

It seems incredible in this era that three Open venues still have male-only membership.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t have the patience to play and I couldn’t watch all day either.

My experience extends only to the pitch and putt at Great Yarmouth and various crazy golf courses. Normally I can enjoy a game but last week wasn’t as much fun. That’s because I finished runner-up (sounds better than loser) to my wife on the Arnold Palmer course at Skegness with a final score of 51-47 (par 36).

Cabinet Call; This week by South Holland District Councillor Gary Taylor, portfolio holder for business development

In my role as portfolio holder for business development I aim to help and support firms across the South Holland district.

I realise that companies operate in a highly competitive and ever-changing environment and that the last few years may well have been very difficult for many of them.

As a council we strive to do all we can to help them grow and develop their enterprises.

In our drive to support local businesses we launched the Grants4Growth scheme back in October last year to offer funding to firms across the county.

The initiative has already had a number of success stories – we have helped over 30 businesses in Lincolnshire by offering a share of £1 million in grant funding, with over £450,000 awarded so far.

In total 145 firms have enrolled with the programme, 42 grants have been offered and ten new jobs created.

This is a fantastic start but there is still much to do and we aim to continue our hard work to get even more businesses involved.

The feedback we have had suggests that businesses find the application process straightforward and user-friendly, which is highly important in an environment where time is often limited.

There is still £500,000 in grant funding available and we will be encouraging Lincolnshire companies to apply for their share of this.

One company that has really benefitted from Grants 4Growth funding is Fusion Aluminium Welding based in Cowbit.

A grant of £1,250 was awarded towards the purchase of four manually operated, second-hand pieces of equipment.

This in turn opens up more opportunities for the company to procure new customers and saves money on utility bills because the chosen pieces of machinery are all manually-operated and don’t use any electricity.

In addition to safeguarding two jobs and eliminating running costs for machinery, Fusion is projected to see £1,500 in cost savings per year.

It is success stories like this that give me and the team behind Grants4Growth a lot of satisfaction and I am certain that there will be many more still to come.

For more information about Grants4Growth and to check eligibility, visit  www.grants4growth.org.uk, email  antony@grants4growth.org.uk or call 01775 764412.

I read with interest the letters that appeared in the Sept ember 11 dition of the Spalding Guardian – particularly welcoming were those from

Jane Ansell, Brian Collins- McDougall and Colin Blundell. I share the sentiments expressed and having attended

the recent planning meeting, I also support the fact that Nina Wells was prevented from addressing the meeting.

Despite the extreme concerns contained, together with a detailed document supporting a call for a public enquiry,

the planning application was allowed to go through, the voting being six for and seven against. Those voting against a public enquiry have shown once again, that they have total disregard for the future wellbeing of Sutton Bridge community.

They responded once again on the “frightener” expressedd by the Leader, that having passed the original application,

they would have to explain why they now take a different view.

I do not see how , in the light of the documentation

submitted, that this would have caused much of a problem.

Councillor Booth stated that the people of Sutton Bridge were losing faith in the South Holland District Council planning committee – I suggest this is agross underst atement. I consider their actions to be dismissive of all the concerns expressed, and should all projected plans come to fruition, Sutton Bridge will be a small community on the edge of a major industrial site.

One other letter appeared on the subject, calling for an air quality station. While this is a laudible sentiment , I feel it a pity his concern does not go as far as to join the protest. I would further add that as the matters are ongoing any suggestion of dismissal of the efforts of the opposition is akin to carrying out a post-mortem on a live matter, not very nice.

Ben Smith

Sutton Bridge

Courageous human rights 
defender Andy Hall leaves Spalding tomorrow to face the threat of eight years in jail and fines totalling £8million.

Andy (34) is embroiled in a series of court cases in Thailand after exposing alleged abuses suffered by migrant workers in that country’s food industry, one of the leading suppliers to Western supermarkets.

Evidence in a defamation case was given between September 2-10 and Andy could face up to a year’s jail if found guilty. Three further hearings are pending under the more serious computer crime act and each carries a sentence of up to seven years in jail.

The court has allowed Andy to leave Thailand and he came home on the 11th to spend time in Spalding with his parents, Des and Pat, and sister Jo.

Andy said: “It was nice to come away. It was a very long couple of weeks because I didn’t sleep very much. You get all of the documents at the last minute and you have to read them.”

Although confident of winning the court cases, Andy knows there is a risk of jail and spending years in a crowded cell with up to 150 inmates.

He also knows he could just walk away from it all and stay in Britain.

But Andy says: “If I was to run away, it would be like admitting defeat. None of this is about me, it’s not about me, it’s about migrant issues.

“I am certain that I am going to win because I told the truth and I didn’t do anything wrong.

“I am looking forward to the day when I win the case – I think it will be a landmark day for everyone.”

Lawsuits against Andy were brought by a company called Natural Fruit after he co-wrote a report in which migrants made accusations about child labour, unlawfully low wages, passports being confiscated and physical beatings.

Andy says he doesn’t see the British supermarkets or the British Government doing much about his case or the migrant issues at its heart.

He said: “They keep their distance from me, all of these supermarkets do. As to the British Government, it’s a distraction for them. If they could avoid me they would do, but I won’t let them. It’s their responsibility to protect human rights defenders.”

Spalding-born Andy left Grammar School and gained a first-class honours degree in law at University College London before completing a PhD in corporate and social responsibility in Melbourne and Cardiff. He first went to Thailand as a back-packer.

“Please come home. We need to know you are safe.”

This is the frantic plea of the sister of Kirton man Justin English, who hasn’t been seen since he finished his night shift at Tesco in Boston on Thursday morning.

Mr English (29) failed to return to his home, where he lives with his parents, and it is believed he went to Skegness.

His sister, Selina, said: “He was picked up by CCTV because he had been sitting on a bench in Skegness for a long time.

“The police spoke to him and we understand that he was advised to book into a B&B for the night.

“At that time he hadn’t been listed as a missing person, but he is now.

“He was seen getting on a bus to Mablethorpe on Friday morning and that is the last sighting we have of him.

“We are just so worried about him and want him to come home. He’s gone away before for a couple of days but never like this - and he never misses work.

“He hasn’t been back since Thursday and that isn’t like him.”

Mr English was last seen wearing his Tesco uniform and a navy jacket, although someone thought they had seen him wearing a green jacket.

He is described as having mousy brown hair and blue eyes.

Selina asks that if anyone thinks they have seen her brother, to call her on 07725257210.

Alternatively, they can call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Around 1,500 homes were without power – some for more than eight hours – in Quadring and the surrounding area on Sunday.

A company spokesman said the power went off at about 1.25am.

She said the majority of homes and businesses were brought back in stages throughout the early hours and the last few properties had their power restored by means of a generator at about 10am.

Workmen remained on site today (Monday) and the company was expecting some more brief disruptions to supplies this afternoon, including the properties that needed to be switched back to the mains supply from the generator.

The spokesman said: “We are sorry for all of the disruption.”

John Derbyshire, from the village store and Post Office, said: “It set our alarm system off, which woke the entire household, but our freezers are all right for 14 hours. As long as you keep the doors shut it stays at a reasonable temperature.

“Most people say it didn’t inconvenience them really because it was overnight and most of them were in bed.

“The workmen said it was an underground cable that had blown – I think they have found it now – and they were saying they kept the village running on generators.”

Hayes in the House by local MP John Hayes

As I opened a splendid new shop in Spalding’s Sheep Market, the welcome result of Scotland’s referendum on independence was a talking point amongst the many people to whom my wife and I chatted.

The overwhelming sense of happy relief and quiet satisfaction I feel was shared by all those we met.

As the Prime Minister said in a campaigning speech in Aberdeen, the Union between England and Scotland in 1707 cemented shared endeavour ‘that abolished slavery, that drove the industrial revolution, that defeated fascism’.

The end of our United Kingdom would have meant the end of the greatest example of a peaceful democratic nation the world has ever known. As the Union has been tested, the referendum on Scotland’s future has been a powerful example of democracy in action. How many countries could equal such a free and fair ballot? How proud we should be of the health of our democratic political system.

As the referendum campaign energised millions of people across Scotland to have a say in their future, with 84 per cent of people exercising their right to vote.

In the end, Scots were not cowered by the sometimes intimidatory tactics of the SNP and the Yes campaign – no one party can ever claim a monopoly of patriotism either in Scotland or across the UK; the politics of division are always ultimately the politics of despair.

Similar nationalist parties and aspirant politicians in England deserve the same fate as Mr Salmond.

Nevertheless, the referendum result raises important questions, not least the impact proposed increased powers for the Scottish Parliament on the level of Scottish representation at Westminster.

This ‘West Lothian question’ has been an issue ever since the Scottish Parliament was established by Tony Blair, but with the referendum now putting it into sharper focus, the English deserve a straight answer and a fair deal.

But whatever issues we face in the coming weeks, months and years, we 
should be proud of all our United Kingdom has achieved.

The UK is our home; the freedoms we enjoy our birthright; and the legacy we leave future generations our responsibility.

Preservation of all we are is in everyone’s interests.

A fire crew from Spalding put out a household rubbish blaze in the town’s Pinchbeck Road this morning.

The alarm was raised at 1.45am.

Firefighters used one hose jet to tackle the fire.

• Firefighters went to Spalding’s Ash Court at about 3.30am when a fire alarm was sounding, but there was no blaze.

Holbeach library has teamed up with local training provider e-QAS to provide advice for jobseekers on a range of topics to help improve employment prospects including CV writing, searching for jobs and accessing funded training.

The free sessions run from 10am until 1pm on September 24. To reserve your place, visit the library, call 01522 782010.

by SIMON TEMPLE, Lincolnshire Community Health Services’ Head of Clinical Services for South East Lincolnshire

According to national charity Diabetes UK, there are 3.2million people in the UK who have been diagnosed with diabetes.

Three people die from diabetes-related problems every hour and 100 toe, foot and lower limb amputations a week are caused by diabetes.

Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in people of working age in the UK and 10 per cent of the NHS budget is currently spent on diabetes.

So, how do we support you locally in South Holland? Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) has a dedicated Community Diabetes Service based at Spalding’s Johnson Community Hospital for adults with Type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes normally occurs in people above the age of 40. It develops when the insulin-producing cells in the body are unable to produce enough insulin or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly.

Type 1 diabetes develops in people normally below the age of 40 and occurs when the insulin –producing cells in the body have been destroyed and the body is unable to produce any insulin.

After getting a diagnosis of diabetes it is important to take control and manage the diabetes with diet, exercise and correct medication.

Our community team’s SPOTLIGHT course helps with this.

The course is held every month at the Johnson Community Hospital and is run in two parts over two months.

The first session is run by the diabetes dietician and covers healthy eating and lifestyle.

The second session covers all other aspects of diabetes management, including advice on taking medication, blood glucose testing, recognising and managing when blood glucose levels go too low and managing diabetes when you are unwell.

The education session is run as a group session, so there is the opportunity to meet other people with diabetes and opportunity to ask questions. Referral to these education sessions is through your GP.

The Community Diabetes Service also supports people who have had Type 2 diabetes over a longer period of time who are having difficulty with controlling blood glucose levels.

Weekly clinics are held at the Johnson Community Hospital, led by the diabetes nurses.

There is also a dietician attached to the service who holds monthly clinics and a GP with special interest in diabetes who attends once a month. Home visits can be arranged for those unable to attend the clinics.

There is currently no cure for diabetes, but with living a healthy lifestyle and having appropriate treatment can mean those affected by it are able to live full active lives.

n Thank you to Sally Johnson for contributing to this month’s column.

SIMON

TEMPLE

Lincolnshire

Community

Health Services’

Head of Clinical Services for South East Lincolnshire

Before the local councils

South Holland District Council

Castlebuild Scaffolding, 11 West Cob Gate, Moulton. Details of landscaping.

IMN Properties, 26 Green Lane, Spalding. Modification of condition of pair semi-detached three-bed houses.

South Holland District Council, Ash Court, Spalding, Additional car parking bays.

Fendyke Solar, land at Fendyke Farm off Old Fendyke, Sutton St James. Change of use of land from agriculture to mixed use for agriculture and generation of renewable energy (solar).

Mr and Mrs Palmer, A Palmer and Sons, Rose Villa Farm, Gipsy Lane, Gedney. Details of landscaping, bricks and panel, roofing materials, roof lights, eaves, external boxes and protected species survey.

RBS, 21 Market Place, Spalding. Signage.

Mr J Spendelow, 10 Shearers Drive, Spalding. Relocation of two-metre high boundary fence.

Broadgate Homes, Willesby Hall, 76 Albion Street, Spalding. Works to trees in Spalding conservation area.

Mr C Goodacre, Waterside, Lutton Gowts, Lutton. Modification of condition on replacement dwelling to allow building to be completely clad in timber boarding.

Gnowee Power, land east of Little London (former Long Sutton Butterfly and Wildlife Park), Long Sutton. Solar park including photovoltaic arrays, inverter housing national grid connection, landscaping, security fencing, vehicular access (amendments).

Tuwale Power, land east of Little London (former Long Sutton Butterfly and Wildlife Park), Long Sutton. Solar park including photovoltaic arrays, inverter housing national grid connection, landscaping, security fencing, vehicular access (amendments).

Mr A Zahar, 80 Bridge Road, Sutton Bridge. Hot food takeaway.

Mr R Harrison, site of former Moulton Chapel Church Hall. Details of existing and proposed site levels and disposal of surface water.

Mr and Mrs D Pearson, 20 Shearers Drive, Spalding. Annexe extension.

Mr B Edwards, 6 Park Close, Gosberton. Works to Gosberton TPO.

Miss E Slater, between 51 and 53 Thorney Road, Crowland. Residential dwelling.

Mr A Schweikhardt, 1 Park Close, Gosberton. Works to Gosberton TPO.

Ashley King (Developments) Ltd, land off Westmoreland Road and Broad Lane, Moulton. Residential development of 39 dwellings.

Mr and Mrs L Hudson, 88a Spalding Common, Spalding. Modification of condition for detached house.

Network Rail, Littleworth signal box, Littleworth Drove, Deeping St Nicholas.

South Kesteven District Council

J R Callow and Son, 5 Market Place, Market Deeping. Repainting shop front.

Network Rail, Station Road, Deeping St James. Demolish St James Deeping signal box.

Old Court Builders, Unit L, Bentley Business Park, Blenheim Way, Market Deeping. Change of use from car sales showroom to building/electrical contractor’s office and counter.

Grimsthorpe and Drummond Castle Trust, Mill Leys Farm, School Lane, Edenham. Discharge of condition (roof structure).

Staines, the Hideaway, 14a Towngate East, Market Deeping. Extension

Money Matters by Scott Woods

There has been focus recently on where it’s best to place any savings that people have.

Given the historically low interest rates we have, this can be tricky so taking advantage of any tax concessions is vital. One product near the top of most clients list of options is ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts).

An ISA is a tax wrapper into which you can invest cash or certain investment products.

ISAs offer a great way to save for the future and in a very tax-efficient manner, they can be very flexible and are generally most suitable for medium to long-term investments, although shorter term cash based options are also available.

When you invest in an ISA, you don’t have to pay income tax or capital gains tax on the returns you receive, no matter how much the investment grows in the future or how much you take out.

There are two types of ISA – a cash ISA and a stocks and shares ISA.

Cash ISAs are simply savings accounts where the interest isn’t taxed, whereas a stocks and shares ISA lets you save money in a range of investments such as shares, unit trusts, open-ended investment companies (OEICs) and investment trusts.

In a stocks and shares ISA, your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back as much as you invested.

Each year, you can choose how you’d like to invest your ISA allowance, either as a cash ISA, stocks and shares ISA or a combination of both.

There are rules around where and how much you can invest.

From July 1 2014, your annual ISA allowance increased to £15,000 which, if you’re over 18, can be split however you want between a cash ISA and stocks and shares ISA.

Before, the amount that could be put in an ISA was capped at 50 per cent of the total allowance.

Darren O’Sullivan, who has just had a play published, My Lot – a Two Act Comedy, teaches GCSE and BTEC drama and performing arts students at the Sir John Gleed School and the Post 16 Centre in Spalding.

He says the students are “really quite excited” to be able to work with his play.

Darren said: “The school is quite keen as well because the writer is on hand to help the young people to develop it fully.”

The author says it is actors and people involved in theatre in some capacity who mainly read plays.

He says: “Ninety per cent of the sales are going to come from people interested in theatre or directing or actors.

“If it works in the Post 16 Centre I have contacts with other schools and I am going to send copies to them, and to theatres.”

This is Darren’s second published work: his children’s book, The Sleep Taker, about a boy who believes a strange old man has stolen his sleep, was published last year.

The views of growers are being sought on how droughts and river discharges should be accounted for in any future water management system.

As Defra continues to develop its ideas for abstraction reform, two online discussions have been launched.

One is about managing water company discharges, the other is on abstraction reform and drought.

To take part in the conversation, complete a simple registration process at http://defra.dialogue-app.com/ To register, a username and email address has to be provided. The username will be made public along with the comments made in the dialogue, something to consider when choosing a username.

The online discussions run until Friday.

A local man with 44 years’ experience in the pesticides and agricultural industries has weighed in on the neonicotinoids debate.

Neonicotinoids, active in soil for more than seven months, have been banned because of research showing their harmful effect on bees.

This has led to fears that farmers might need to use an alternative insecticide more often, with the potential of causing just as much harm.

However, Mike Harrison, of Low Fulney, says: “As the knowledge of these compounds is not fully evaluated, more information needs to be gained to ensure their continued use or withdrawal.

“A temporary ban would seem to be the most sensible option, but it may take a considerable amount of time to discover if they affect bees and at what dose level.

“It is not opinion that is needed here. It is more rigorous testing as the knowledge regarding their activity is very limited.”

An online miscanthus calculator, allowing potential growers to see its projected long-term net margins in an instant, has been launched at terravesta.com

It also provides a comparison with other combinable crops, such as wheat.

A year’s labour is coming to fruition for Europe’s largest pumpkin grower David Bowman.

David, who runs David Bowman Pumpkins Ltd at Wrangle Gate in Low Fulney, is half-way through this year’s harvest, and his verdict is: “It’s not ever such a good year.”

Nevertheless, between three and four million pumpkins will be leaving the farm once they’ve finished the ripening process.

The pumpkins are harvested when they are still quite green, the fruit lifted on to a belt which puts them through a washer on wheels.

The pumpkins then go into temperature-controlled storage until David wants to start moving them off the farm, from the first week in October right up to the end of the month.

David has used his usual American variety which has produced big fruit this year, although David says that doesn’t make too much difference to him.

The fruit goes to UK supermarkets, suppliers in Europe – and, of course, Spalding Pumpkin Parade.

David said: “I have seen much better, but the heavy rain earlier on in the year didn’t do us any favours and they went in quite wet. They don’t like sitting with their feet in the wet.

“And then we had that very wet and cold period in August, which didn’t do a lot of good, but we fight these battles.

“It’s a reasonable crop, but not over the top as it were.”

Next year’s crop is already on this farmer’s mind though, and David said he will be buying in seed any time from now.

He said: “You have got to find out where your next crop is coming from. We keep the seed until the spring and then it’s drilled.”

Solar panels and farming do work at the same time, according to The Agricultural Good Practice Guidance for Solar Farms.

The report by the BRE National Solar Centre says solar farms are “developing and encouraging multi-purpose fields”, with land between and underneath rows of PV panels accessible for grazing small livestock, such as sheep and poultry.

The report, compiled in conjunction with the NFU, examines for the first time good practice in farm solar panels.

Deeping St Nicholas farmer Nicholas Watts reflects on the benefits of keeping a weather diary.

The crops that we have grown have also shown this as they have been better than average but will we make any money? It seems that the whole world has also had a good year as the prices of all of our crops have come down in price.

I mustn’t generalise too much as we all have different ways of farming and your or my neighbouring farmer’s circumstances can be quite different to our own. It is what he has grown, how big a crop he has and how he has sold it that makes the difference, but I am fairly sure that the good harvest that I am harvesting this year will result in less profit than 2013 or 2012.

There was plenty of head scratching in those two years as we were wondering how we were going to get the job done. On the whole we did get the job done but our crops produced less and so the prices were generally far higher than they are this year.

For how long will we remember that it has been a good summer and for how long will we remember the terrible March of 2013? I have been keeping a weather diary for the past 45 years and all these sort of events are recorded in that diary. It will be there for the next generation to refer to; why don’t you also keep a similar diary? The worst ink is better than a good memory.

Post 16 Centre drama students should have the new play they are working on pitch-perfect.

That’s because the writer of the play is on hand at the Spalding college to help the young people develop it fully.

The author is their drama teacher Darren O’Sullivan who also works at the Sir John Gleed School.

Darren says if the play works in Spalding, he intends to send copies to other schools and theatres.

The play, My Lot, was inspired by a “ridiculous conversation” in Darren’s family that only took place because the lights went out.

Darren says: “I thought, ‘This would be a good idea for a play’, and the light came back on and we got on with our lives.”

Unlike his own family, the one in Darren’s play is dysfunctional – for instance, the father doesn’t realise his eldest daughter is at university, and she’s been there two years.

However, as in Darren’s experience, without the distraction of the television the family start to communicate.

Darren says: “It’s a comedy based on the things they find out about each other, challenging things. Actually, when the chips are down, everybody is okay and the blackout makes them see a lot of home truths and that they are a better family than they realise.”

It’s a brave move to write a play, something that will appeal mainly to people with an interest in the theatre, and Darren admits he wasn’t confident it would be published.

However, he approached the company, AUK Publisher, that produced his first, children’s book last year, The Sleep Taker. They said it would work, but suggested some changes, which is when Darren turned to some of his friends in the trade.

As well as acting when he was younger, Darren directs Polka Dot productions and Limelight Youth Theatre in Spalding and has connections with the John Clare Theatre at Peterborough.

He says: “The best way to polish a play is to read it and play it and actors tend to improvise. Eight of my friends started working on it and some of the final lines are things they said when we were improvising.”

In fact, because of the work they had put in to it, they ended up putting the play on the stage at the John Clare Theatre in early September. Hopefully, it will be staged in Spalding too before too long.

My Lot – A Two Act Comedy, £5.99,ISBN: 978-1-78333-886-3.