A Stihl petrol disc cutter has been stolen from a building site in West Road, Bourne, before Christmas.

It happened in West Road at about 1.20pm on Monday December 22 and police are trying to trace a blue and silver-coloured vehicle, possible a Volvo estate, thought to have been used by the thieves.

Anyone with information should call 101, quoting incident 220 of December 22.

Meanwhile, an outbuilding on Sandygate Lane, Horbling, was burgled between 10am and 3.50pm on Saturday December 20.

When calling 101, you should quote incident 278 of December 20.

Vandals left a trail of destruction when they attacked cars parked in the Willow Walk and Chestnut Avenue areas of Spalding between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.

Wing mirrors were damaged and tyres were punctured with a sharp object, according to police in the town. 
Anyone with information should call 101, quoting incident number 140 of December 26.

Vandals also caused misery to motorists in Bourne over the Christmas period.

A vehicle parked in Willoughby Road had a side window smashed between 9pm and 11pm on Boxing Day. 
A day later, a second vehicle had its back window smashed while parked in The Gables, Elsea Park, between 7.30pm on Boxing Day and 11am the following day.
Witnesses can call 101, quoting incident 196 of December 27, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

Meanwhile, a house in Denshire Court, Baston, was burgled by intruders who got in through the back door between 7.50pm and 11.30pm on Friday, December 19. 
Details of whether any items were stolen haven’t been released but anyone with information should call 101, quoting incident number 463 of December 20, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

UPDATE WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 31 6.35PM: A man has been taken to hospital with serious injuries after a crash near the junction of the A16/A17 in Algarkirk earlier today.

It involved two vehicles owhich collided in Spalding Road, near Sutterton Roundabout, at about.

The man is being treated at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, and police closed a section of the A17 in both directions from about 1.50pm.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 31 5.55PM: Emergency services are at the scene of a crash involving two vehicles on the A16 in Algarkirk.

A section of the A17, at the junction with Sutterton Roundabout and B1397 Spalding Road junction, has been closed in both directions while the scene is cleared.

More details as soon as it becomes known.

Christmas Day has passed now. I hope people had a good time and that a little of the Christian spirit, still evident in that special day, lingers on into the new year.

The 2015 elections campaign started ages ago, though it only officially opened early last week.

There has been much in the local media about the achievements of the old parties. UKIP obviously can’t compete with that, we’re too new.

2015, until late May at least, will be dominated by politics, the elections and no doubt secret meetings in dark rooms as our masters attempt to form some sort of government, from what looks increasing like being a hung Parliament. We can’t hope to be the largest party in May, though we could easily hold the balance of power.

Given the influence we already have on the debate on EU membership, uncontrolled immigration and other matters, it would be remarkably foolish of the other parties to ignore the opinions of our supporters.

All UKIP branches tend to be more or less independent and our HQ organisation is very small compared to that of the old parties.

Looked at impartially, our party is rather more like a co-operative of its branches than the traditional party structure.

Despite this we all get along very well indeed and actually respect our national leadership.

There are very occasional disagreements within the party, usually highly publicised by a media greedy for scandal but in fact of little significance in the greater order of things.

We understand we can’t please all the people all the time and that compromise is the essence of politics.

What this means is that branches, including ours, are far more able to put local matters and local people first.

This extends to our Parliamentary candidates as well as those for council seats. People come before careers.

Every elected representative is expected to put his or her ward or constituency first. Those who fail to do so will not last long. We have no whip system in local government. It is also our policy to introduce a recall system for all elected representatives who fail to perform satisfactorily. This makes us more directly responsible to electors.

Both these concepts are new to politics. They will take time to settle. A proper balance between greater good and micro-local needs must sometimes be made.

For example, new housing developments are unavoidable and have to go somewhere, though not necessarily all in one place, just because it’s convenient or cheaper to build that way. Lateral thinking is needed.

We will be publishing a local policy direction manifesto for South Holland before May. It’s impossible to fill in fine detail without knowing who will govern the country next year, how much cash they will grant to local areas and before knowing how many councillors we’ll have. We’d rather not follow the example of the establishment and make detailed promises we can’t keep but electors will be able to see our direction of travel quite clearly.

As a teaser, we will seek greater public participation in decision making. There are many ways of consulting ratepayers. Obviously holding referendums on every issue would be too expensive but greater use of internet surveying is one possibility.

UKIP wish everyone and we do mean everyone, a happy healthy and prosperous New Year.

Paul Foyster

Chairman

UKIP South Holland

and Deepings

BEM HONOURS: Coun Michael Booth. SG030412-114TW

The British Empire Medal has been awarded to Coun Graham Dark for services to the community in Spalding and Coun Michael Booth for his services to the community of Sutton Bridge.

Coun Dark (74) has been a member of South Holland District Council for eight years.

He has done voluntary work driving Age Concern ambulances and is secretary of the Spalding Indoor Bowls Club.

For more than 20 years he has run the Spalding Fifty Plus Club, which has hundreds of members and he helps organise trips for them all. He also helps out at a disabled swimming club and has put on six concerts to raise money for Help for Heroes in the South Holland Centre, which has so far raised £34,500.

His inspiration for fundraising came from his 32 years in the police, which saw him working in London during the IRA bombing.

As a councillor, he has recently helped set up a changing room for disabled adults at the South Holland Centre. He said: “I find it very enjoyable dealing with ward matters. I am involved in a lot of community projects.”

Being nominated came as quite a surprise. Coun Dark said: “I didn’t want to tell anyone because I was working on the assumption I might not get it.

“I’m thrilled. It’s quite an honour really and the nice thing is this is awarded by people who have written in and appreciated what you have done.”

Coun Dark, of Morus Close, is married to Kerry and has a son, Stuart, and four grandchildren. He does not know when he will receive the medal, but he has been invited to attend a royal garden party later in the year.

Coun Booth (73), who is a district councillor as well as parish councillor, said he had to sit down when the letter arrived from the House of Commons.

He said: “I came home for a cup of tea and the letter was in the post. When I saw the envelope say House of Commons I had to sit down. My wife was very pleased. I am very pleased and honoured that the people I represent felt I am worthy to have my name put forward.”

Coun Booth was chairman of the working party which did the first privatisation for Margaret Thatcher at the Sutton Bridge Estate in 1979. He has been fundraising for the Market House Trust and the church, both at Long Sutton.

For the past 14 years has been housing chairman for South Holland. He said: “I have done all I possibly can to get new houses built.

“I’ve enjoyed being a councillor and it’s certainly been challenging. I would not have put myself up for this long if I did not enjoy it.”

Coun Booth is married to Mary and they have a daughter, Ann-Marie, and a son, Simon. He lives at Curlew Lodge.

Former Spalding man Chris Bates, who was a journalist for the Lincolnshire Standard Group in Boston, has been awarded the MBE.

Mr Bates (66) received the award for services to Tristan da Cunha interests in the UK and worldwide. He joined the BBC as one of the team pioneering local radio in 1970 on BBC Radio Blackburn and has also worked in television.

From 1990 onwards, he became involved with the journalism department at the University of Tartu in Estonia, where staff were supporting the campaign to restore the country’s independence from the Soviet Union. The day following the re-establishment of a free Estonian Government, he was invited to lecture to journalism students on the principles of a free press.

He later assisted with the establishment of a code to ensure freedom of the press in Estonia and gave a series of lectures on British journalism at the University of St Petersburg.

Honours for local residents

At the beginning of the year there was excited talk of the M11 being extended to the Spalding area.

Campaigners wanted the Government to abandon its HS2 national high-speed train plan in favour of an M11 link from London to Humberside.

One group had called for the extended motorway to pass between Whaplode and Moulton on its route to Grimsby.

* Two south Lincolnshire residents were recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours list.

Keith Noel Crawford of Sutterton received an MBE for his tireless service to the Royal Naval Association over 27 years.

Candice Pellett, a case manager district nurse at Bourne Galletly Practice, received the OBE for her services to nursing.

* The victim of a violent armed wages snatch in Spalding was in court to see his assailants jailed for ten years.

Two men pointed a gun at Andy Goulding’s face and temporarily blinded him with CS spray during the robbery at Wykeham Staff Services in Swindler’s Drove.

Andy was coshed twice on the head before falling to the floor, where he was kicked.

After the court case Andy said his faith in the British justice system had been restored.

* An adventurous four-month-old puppy had to be rescued by firemen after getting his head stuck in a gate.

He was freed by a fire crew at the Swineshead home of Ted Benton and his partner Rebecca Avison and their two children, Jayden and Riley.

Barney the labrador was following his best friend, the family cat Billy, when he became stuck in one of the decorative circles in the gate.

Ted said: “He was trying to be adventurous and get out and he got his head stuck.

“We’ve got a cat as well as they’re near enough best friends.”

Glowing care report for Holbeach

Staff at Holbeach and East Elloe Hospital Trust at Holbeach were celebrating after receiving a glowing report on all aspects of care.

The Care Quality Commission had ruled Holbeach Hospital met requirements in staffing, care, management of medicines, respect and welfare of users and monitoring quality of service.

o Hundreds of new jobs were on the cards for Spalding as a result of a state of the art business park on the edge of town. The Lincs Gateway Business Park proposal consisted of high quality commercial buildings, a new major conference centre, hotel restaurant and petrol station on land just off the A16 towards Cowbit.

* A doting brother launched an appeal for help with a mercy mission to bring his sick sister home from the Dominican Republic for lifesaving treatment.

Wayne Ridley of Moulton Chapel was hoping to raise enough money to bring his sister Joy McKechnie home. Joy had suffered three major heart attacks within months.

* The new Polish Christian Church in Spalding was hoping to reach out to the town’s “lost” community after celebrating its first adult baptisms.

* Spalding’s derelict tax office and historic Holland House were to be transformed into apartments and houses, it was announced.

* Strong winds brought chaos to people in South Holland with power cuts, fallen trees and branches reported across the area.

* Dykes and drains saved South Holland farmers from the worst effects of the flooding crisis of the early part of the year, said Ian Stancer, then chairman of NFU Holland (Lincolnshire) branch.

* Driving instructors in the Spalding area launched a campaign to bring back Spalding Test Centre, which had closed in 2008.

* After a brief closure, one of Spalding’s oldest licensed premises re-opened following a substantial investment by its owners.

The Pied Calf in Sheepmarket had a whole new layout after the work to alter the outdated interior.

* A grandmother from Sutton Bridge was funding her own legal battle against South Holland District Council.

Pensioner Shirley Giles took action when her parish council pulled the plug on its fight to stop a £165million gasifier being built at Wingland.Shirley feared the gasifier would harm air quality.

Sporting success for skier Jade

Visually impaired Bourne skier Jade Etherington and her guide Caroline Powell made history after becoming the first British women to win a Paralympic skiing medal.

The duo won the silver medal in the women’s downhill at the Sochi winter games before bagging bronze in the Super G event.

* There were some new ‘cops’ on the beat in Spalding as dog owners were invited to sign up for Canines on Patrol (COPS), a county-wide scheme in which eagle-eyed residents report anything suspicious on their daily dog walks.

Signed up dogs were to wear a COPS ID badge, though they weren’t expected to chase criminals.

* Ye Olde Dun Cow at Cowbit had been reduced to a heap of rubble. Residents fought to save the fire-damaged pub, which had been placed on the district council’s community assets register.

* Bourne-based developers Larkfleet Homes wanted to build 169 new homes in Pinchbeck on a site near Wardentree Lane.

* Approval for 286 new homes in Wygate Park had been approved by South Holland District Council.

* Nicola Smith from Gedney Hill and her Greenland Puck fought off competition from a host of other dogs to scoop the Best of Breed at Crufts.

It was Puck’s eighth Best of Breed at Crufts.

* South Holland District Council handed out £700 in prize money in the first round of its Green Bag Lottery.

Every month ten homes chosen randomly were to receive £100 for recycling correctly for at least three of four weeks.

From wedded bliss to Titch the tiny lamb

Norman and Marjorie Hotchkin were celebrating being one of the oldest couples in Lincolnshire.

The couple, of Deeping St James, had a combined age of 197 years in April, and had been married for 69 of them.

At that time Norman was looking forward to his 100th birthday and Marjorie was 98.

* Four times Paralympic medallist Jade Etherington became the first person to be granted the honour of Freeman of Bourne by her home town.

* Campaigners from The Deepings took their battle to stop the axing of county libraries to Prime Minister David Cameron.

* Spalding historian Ed Fordham and his partner Russell Eagling were planning to get married in the summer – making history in the process as one of the first gay couples to marry in church.

* The search began to find the person to help put Spalding back on the map and bring prosperity to the town: a new town centre manager.

* South Holland’s newest tourist attraction had been launched: a narrowboat.

The 48 feet long narrowboat, All Well and Good, was set afloat on the Welland by Spalding Water Taxi and became available for self-drive day hire or overnight trips for up to a week.

* Titch, a newborn lamb at Fosdyke Bridge, was melting hearts. Born smaller than a daffodil and weighing in at less than 815 grammes and just seven inches high, he was believed to be the world’s smallest lamb, Belinda and James Needham, who run the smallholding, brought Titch indoors when he was rejected by his mum – and the family dogs adopted him.

* Twenty-one churches across south Lincolnshire were preparing to launch their annual flower festivals – the first year they had been run without being in tandem with Spalding Flower Parade, axed a year earlier.

* Holbeach announced it was to have its first ever food festival, with specialist stalls and family entertainment.

* Spalding’s Oxfam shop manager was living on £1 a day as part of a global ‘live below the line’ campaign. Gary Peatling was living on the strict food budget to raise awareness of the 1.2billion people worldwide who have no choice but to exist on that small sum. The budget restricted him to just one tea bag a day, and meant no coffee or meat.

* South Holland residents forced to shell out thousands to fight proposals for turbines at Sutton St Edmund and West Pinchbeck welcomed Tory plans to scrap lucrative subsidies for onshore wind farms.

Lincolnshire Police are asking for anyone who was on Spalding Road, Sutterton yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) around 1.40pm to contact them.

“We particularly want to hear from anyone who saw either a white Ford Fiesta or a silver Peugeot 296 before they collided on Spalding Road, Sutterton or saw the two vehicles collide,” said PC Andy Donnelly who is investigating the collision.

The road was closed between 1.40pm and 5.45pm. A man in his eighties was airlifted to the Queen’s Medical Centre at Nottingham where he is detained with multiple injuries. No other serious injuries were reported.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Lincolnshire Police through the witness hotline on 01522 558855 or 101 and leave a message for PC Donnelly.

Spalding traders are celebrating a bumper Christmas and busy new year’s sales with bargain hunters out in force.

Although online sales are booming, the “proper shops” in real High Streets are reaping the rewards of offering year-round, quality goods and service.

Menswear and school outfitters Mann and Son, in Hall Place, first opened more than a century ago in 1911.

Current owner Nigel Mann, grandson of the founder, said: “Our Christmas trade is up on last year – I think we are six per cent up on last year – and, yes, Spalding is still strong because we have still got independents, we have still got proper shops.”

Charmed Interiors, an independent business on Sheep Market, is one of the newer kids on the block so far as Spalding is concerned.

Manager Darren Sutton said: “We started our sale before Christmas and it’s been very, very busy – it’s our first Christmas in Spalding and we are very, very pleased.”

Hills Department Store, in Broad Street, had a 30-strong queue when it opened its doors at 10am on Saturday for the first day of its sale.

Hills director Emma Allmand said: “We have been very busy and we had a good week last week. Always popular in our sale are boots and shoes, ladies’ fashions and, I would say, things like bedding and linen.”

Edward Hall, manager of Hills Furnishings in Bridge Street, said: “It’s our good time of the year and people seem to be out buying.”

First Tulipmania a success

The first Tulipmania event took place at Springfields in Spalding, attempting to fill the void left by the axed Spalding Flower Parade.

Spalding Horticultural Society organised the event along with Jan Whitbourn of Tulip Radio, helping to keep the 
legacy of the flower parade alive.

* Sam Watson of Spalding was named the first competitive female body builder in the UK.

Sam had to fight life-changing injuries to reach the top as she had been disabled in a serious car accident seven years earlier.

* Spalding-based choir The Priory Singers was facing the axe after 40 years.

The choir had raised about £50,000 for charity over the years, but was at risk of breaking up for good after the resignation of musical director Malcolm Grief.

* Lincolnshire Free Press work experience reporter Alexia Hendrickson interviewed the new head of Spalding High School, Michele Anderson. Ms Anderson replaced former headmaster Tim Clark.

* More than 30 community groups were on standby to run Lincolnshire’s libraries as a date was set for a legal challenge to the proposed changes.

* Moulton Chapel had its busiest Tuliptime in a decade as crowds turned out to enjoy the spectacular day.

* South Holland District Council planning committee 
members turned down a 
proposal for a 78-metre high turbine in Sutton St James.

* Readers who contributed to a Spalding Guardian appeal to raise £20,000 towards the cost of treatment for young cerebral palsy sufferer Joshua Holmes were rewarded. We reported the five-year-old had taken his first steps after undergoing pioneering surgery to remove stiffness in his legs.

Honours for locals in Queen’s list

A lifelong dream was realised when it was announced the name William Jarvis Bush was to be added to the list of First World War heroes on a Spalding war memorial.

Mavis Wilson’s uncle had died at Arras in 1917 aged 26 and although he is remembered on the Pinchbeck war memorial, his name was not on the memorial in Ayscoughfee Gardens.

* The Lincolnshire Free Press uncovered the revolting conditions in which some immigrants working in Spalding were being forced to live by unscrupulous landlords.

* Hopes were high that a foodbank could be launched in Sutton Bridge by year’s end.

Statistics showed the village was officially the poorest in South Holland.

* A 35-year-old woman from Spalding was lucky to be alive when her car plunged into the River Welland in town.

Two men, at least one of whom was thought to be Eastern European, dived into the water to rescue the driver through the car window as the vehicle sank.

* Local veterans paid a final pilgrimage to Normandy to reunite with old friends from the Second World War.

Veterans who marked the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings included Tony Blackman and John Summerson in a trip organised by Harold Payne, owner of the Anglia Motel in Fleet Hargate.

* The presidents of 14 WIs in south Lincolnshire travelled along the River Welland by water taxi when the WI Centenary Baton passed through this district.

The baton travelled from Springfields into the town centre, where WI groups gathered for a party in Ayscoughfee Gardens.

* Weston Village Stores was dubbed the luckiest village shop in the area when two lucky customers won £20,000 in the space of three weeks.

That followed a £10,000 Lottery win under the previous owner of the shop.

* Five local people were named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Cherry Edwards, headteacher of Bourne Abbey Primary Academy; Petronella Keeling, chairman of Action Medical Research’s Spalding committee; and Pinchbeck parish councillor Maurice Chappell were all named in the list. There were also honours for Anjan Banerjee of Market Deeping; and Oxfam volunteer Betty Matthews.

Act of God to a scene from Thunderbirds

A Sutton Bridge mum was left fuming when the county council denied blame for a tree falling on her car outside a school, describing the incident as an act of God.

Emma Robbins was nearly £500 out of pocket following the incident at Lutton St Nicholas Primary School.

* A heartbroken family wanted to know who stabbed their gentle and trusting horse, Joe, in a field at Holbeach – the veteran show horse survived the attack.

* Vandals struck days before the East Midlands in Bloom judging in Spalding, ripping apart a young tree and leaving more than six bags of empty beer cans and vodka bottles around benches on the riverbank.

* Biomass power station protesters from Sutton Bridge went to the council offices in Spalding with a petition and a coffin to highlight their fears over health risks. One placard read: “Planners ... who would promote local pollution?”

* Vandals smashed a window at The Vista, Spalding, just after notices went up about extra police powers to ban groups of two or more people gathering there or around Ayscoughfee Hall and Gardens.

* A road near Deeping St Nicholas became “a scene from Thunderbirds” after a car flew threw the air and crashed into a house.

People in Carrington Drive, Hop Pole, watched in horror as the silver Vauxhall Corsa left the A175 Littleworth Drove and smashed into the house, knocking out a huge section of a bedroom wall. Miraculously, the 26-year-old driver from Market Deeping escaped with broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder.

First step to create up to 2,000 jobs

Developers of a proposed new 60-acre business park near Spalding jumped their first hurdle when South Holland’s planners gave consent.

Ashley King Developments, of Holbeach, and Warwickshire-base Moran Asset Management are steering the Lincs Gateway Business Park on land off the A16 Cowbit Road and B1173 Barrier Bank, which could create up to 2,000 jobs.

Planners imposed conditions designed to protect people living close to the site.

Ashley King said: “We are very, very pleased that the principle of the development has been accepted and we are now going away to deal with the planning officer’s conditions.”

* Spalding Punchbowl landlord Pete Williams appealed to the public to back a petition to help save live entertainment afternoons at his New Road premises.

* Spalding man Edward Aylett won an 18-month battle to have in his grasp the Arctic Star – the medal his late father, Leonard, should have received for his role in the Royal Navy convoys that kept Russia in the Second World War.

Edward said: “As soon as I found out relatives could apply for it I knew I had to do it for my dad.

“It would have been nice if he had been able to receive it, but it’s something the family will always treasure.”

* Peace broke out at The Vista in Spalding after police brought in a dispersal order to help them deal with troublemakers.

* Kerry Foods, which employs 450 people in Spalding, was bought for an undisclosed sum by Pork Farms Group.

* Students across South Holland celebrated excellent A-level results, including Aiden Dobney, a Spalding Grammar School student, who landed a place at Cambridge to study law – Spalding High’s top student, Eloise Lawton, bagged four straight A*s.

* Holbeach newlyweds returned home from honeymoon to find their home plastered with 14,000 Post-it notes.

Jamie (34) and Emily Pharro (29) opened their front door and found everything on the ground floor, including the walls, sofa, television and even the inside of kitchen cupboards, had been covered.

Mrs Pharro said: “The notes were all over the living room walls and everything – I do think that in a few weeks we will still be finding the odd one about.”

* Plans by award-winning butchers Simpsons to move into the T Law and Sons premises in Hall Place, Spalding, were in doubt following opposition from the civic society to its £200,000 refurbishment designs.

Town’s Poppy Appeal saved

It was a little girl’s dream but the playhouse that her dad built in Crowland fell foul of council planning rules.

Olivia Fokt (9) spent all winter working on the design and her dad, Pawel, built it from wood on a raised platform.

The family didn’t realise they needed planning consent. They applied and it was refused.

Mum Marta told us: “When Olivia found out someone had complained and the playhouse might have to come down she cried all morning.”

* Spalding Springfields Retail Outlet shopper Rachel Smith, of Deeping St Nicholas, bagged a £10,000 car at the complex.

* A Spalding bakery was branching out to make treats for dogs – pup cakes rather than cup cakes.

Emily Wadsworth, who runs The Cakery, said: “I’ve been making dog treats, biscuits in particular, for a little while now.”

* Spalding won Gold in East Midlands in Bloom and towns across South Holland gained their best ever results with all of them achieving nothing less than a Silver.

* Lung transplant grandmother Pam Mohr, from Little Sutton, was preparing to take part in a sponsored walk to raise funds for the hospital that helped her and to raise the profile of the NHS Organ Donor Register.

* Magnificent Spalding Guardian readers were the heroes of the hour as they stepped forward to volunteer and saved the town’s Poppy Appeal.

Poppy Appeal organiser Peter Lyon said: “I think they are wonderful human beings. Not only have they put a smile back on my face they are doing something for the people who have made sacrifices for their country.”

* Spalding was in shock as police launched a murder inquiry following the death of Warren Free (42).

Residents of Weston Hills were counting their blessings on October 8 when an F-15 fighter jet crashed in a field, narrowly missing a primary school, nursery and homes.

Residents of Weston Hills were counting their blessings on October 8 when an F-15 fighter jet crashed in a field, narrowly missing a primary school, nursery and homes.

The pilot ejected the aircraft safely and what could have been a day of multiple tragedies became a time to wonder at the miracle that kept everyone safe from harm.

In the aftermath, we spoke to dad Phil Jerwood, who told us his daughter, Honey, had a narrow escape when part of the pilot’s harness hit the ground a few away feet from her as she got out of a school-run taxi.

Phil (37) said: “If that had hit someone, it would have killed them.”

* Record crowds turned out at the start of the month for the Pumpkin Parade, which was held in a party atmosphere.

Community policing inspector Jim Tyner said: “It was pleasing to see so many people enjoying themselves and the firework display was fantastic.”

* The Lincolns’ celebrated battle honour, The Sphinx, was uncovered for all to see at Spalding’s Lighthouse Church, formerly the drill hall. The stone panel had been hidden by a pictorial depiction of the cross, but a new cross was bought thanks to donations given at the funeral service of former Lincoln, Major Stanley Chandler.

* Police dealt a crushing blow to hare coursers, quite literally, when a Subaru Forrester used in the criminal activity was sent to the crusher.

Police wildlife officer PC Nick Willey said: “The Subaru had been involved in a number of incidents in the Holbeach area.”

* Residents of Spalding were being driven crazy as roadworks gridlocked the town.

* Spalding human rights defender Andy Hall (35), who helped expose exploitation of migrant workers in Thailand, won a historic court victory in that country following a 
lawsuit brought by a fruit company.

* A dad who had struggled to walk down his garden path while recovering from a brain haemorrhage made our front page a year later – pictured on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, the world’s biggest walkable mountain.

David Wilkinson (45), from Donington, conquered the mountain with brother Tony to raise money for Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, so more patients can benefit from life-saving treatment.

From a blitz to a bid to dual the A16

Workmen moved in on a notorious eyesore in a council ordered blitz.

Chainsaws and an industrial shredder made short work of overgrown trees and shrubs. Piles of rubbish were cleared.

And the bill for the job was sent to the owners.

Council leader Gary Porter said then: “The old Bull and Monkie pub is a disgrace to its owners, a blot on the face of Spalding, and I am pleased and relieved to announce the start of its clean-up.”

* Seventy elderly people who party together on Christmas Day were praying for a miracle as they risked spending the day alone after Broad Street Methodist Church was forced to cancel their festive dinner for the first time in 40 years – but hope was in the air by the end of the month as a rescue plan emerged.

* The names of 24 forgotten First World War heroes were to be etched on Spalding’s war memorial as the town came together to mark the 100th anniversary of the war’s outbreak.

* We held our first ever Lincolnshire Free Press and Spalding Guardian Education Awards with a glittering ceremony at the South Holland Centre. Among the stars on the night was Spalding Sir John Gleed pupil Poppy Hudson, who scooped the Student of the Year Award.

Poppy (12) told us afterwards: “Nothing like this ever happens to me – I was absolutely speechless.”

* Local heroes raised a record £29,147 for Spalding Poppy Appeal.

* Business leaders met local MP and transport minister John Hayes in London with their campaign to dual part or all of the A16 between Spalding and Peterborough.

There’s a new must-have book for history buffs as Moulton’s last miller, John Biggadike (left), has sailed into print.

“The Story of Moulton Mill” is in John’s own words as told to mill volunteers Jim Critchley, who did most of the research until his death in November 2012, and Peter Hall, who finished the task of writing and publishing. You can buy the £7.99 book from www.moultonwindmill.co.uk or the mill shop. Proceeds go to the upkeep of the mill. Also pictured are book customers Mark Joseph and John Parson and mill manager Janet Prescott.

Age UK Spalding is £1,000 better off after winning a competition run by Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire-based solicitors Ringrose Law.

A Grand Idea 2014 invited community groups in each of the six places where Ringrose Law has offices, including Spalding, to enter a project and be considered for the cash prize.

Age UK Spalding’s idea to host a Christmas party for its members was then shortlisted alongside two other projects which were put to a public vote.

Age UK Spalding general manager Liz Walmsley said: “We were delighted to get down to the last three and then we had to get people to vote for us.

“So we were really pleased to have won the money to give our members a lovely Christmas.”

More than 70 members celebrated the festive season with the charity at its day care centre in The Meadows, Spalding, where services provided to the elderly include exercise activities, beauty therapy and shopping trips.

Alex Bennett, marketing manager for Ringrose Law, said: “We were delighted that Age UK Spalding won our A Grand Idea competition in Spalding.”