A Crowland man who admitted driving while disqualified and driving without insurance told magistrates custody was the only option in his case.

Daryl Lewis (35), formerly of Peterborough Road, said: “I am about to become homeless and I have had a fine imposed previously which I just can’t afford to pay.

“I don’t see any other option than a custodial sentence at this point in time.”

But magistrates sitting at Boston today (Wednesday) adjourned the hearing to March 11 so probation officers can prepare a pre-sentence report. Lewis, who told the court he was living on a boat at an unspecified location, must return to court that day.

Police in South Holland are looking for thieves who stolen catalytic converters from vehicles in two villages on Monday.

The thefts happened in Newlands Road, Surfleet, and Hallgate, Moulton.

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

Meanwhile, thieves stole items from a vehicle parked outside a house in Manor Way, Langtoft, between Monday and Tuesday.

Police haven’t confirmed what items were stolen but anyone with information should call 101, quoting incident number 166 of January 27.

You can also Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

WorldHost status for Spalding hotel

The hotel has become the latest organisation in the UK – and the first business in Spalding – to gain national recognition of its commitment to customer service, having been awarded WorldHost Recognised Business status.

WorldHost is a world-class customer service training programme, and the award is given to businesses that have trained 50 per cent or more of their front line staff and signed a commitment to deliver excellent customer service.

At Cley Hall, 100 per cent of staff are trained to WorldHost standards.
That’s good reason to celebrate, but owner David Stanbridge and staff are enjoying a triple celebration. 
The hotel has also received Lodging World’s Gold Guest Award thanks to positive customer feedback.
In addition, Cley Hall is the only hotel in town to have achieved 5 stars for its food hygiene award following the latest inspection by South Holland District Council.
David attributes this to all the staff and managers involved in food production having attended the Level 3 intermediate food hygiene course carried out by Boston College.
All the staff received their certificates after passing with flying colours.

David said: “We have always been passionate about service standards and are incredibly proud to have achieved WorldHost status. Not only does WorldHost generate a positive buzz about the service we offer, but it helps to promote Spalding as a friendly and welcoming tourist destination.”
• Pictured are: back (from left) – manager Nikki Deans, housekeeper Kasia Blaszko, front of house assistants Carmen Lupu and Dawn Alwin-Andrew; front – David Stanbridge and housekeeping Angelika Bucznynska,
Photo (TIM WILSON): SG280115-109TW

Queues stretched past the shop for the re-opening of A E Pacey and Son Bakery in Spalding on Tuesday morning – but no-one could have been happier to see the business up and running than the owner of Sheddy’s Fish Restaurant next door, Phil Turner.

One of the main things Spalding Guardian readers wanted to know when we announced the re-opening was if the bakery would be supplying Sheddy’s, as it always had done before the previous owner, Richard Pacey, retired.

Phil said he was delighted new owners, George and Sharon Tear, had taken the bakery on and hoped the town would get behind them.

He said: “We are also really pleased for Richard Pacey, because he really wanted the business to remain a bakers – and for our customers, too, because they have really been looking forward to this.”

Bakers and staff were in at 3am to get ready for former customers eager to sample the original bread and cake recipes they had craved for ever since the bakery closed last year.

Mum Sarah Griggs, of Spalding, said “The little one is very excited for a sausage roll. I was very sad to see it closing. It’s really nice it’s opening again. We love the bread.”

After lunch, when the counter was almost empty, Sharon took two minutes to sit down on a couch in her refurbished upstairs cafe. She said: “It’s been manic from the first minute we opened the door.

“The bakers have done a brilliant job coming in early to get everything done.

“We are so relieved to have got it open. It’s been brilliant.”

Two projects in Holbeach are among those sharing a whopping £14.8 million Government cash injection it was announced today (Thursday).

A roundabout at Peppermint Junction – where the A151 link road connects with the A17 – and the planned Agri-Food Centre of Excellence at the Holbeach campus of the University of Lincoln are benefiting from the latest round of Government Growth Deals.

The Holbeach schemes are each due to net around £2.4million.

Three other projects elsewhere in Greater Lincolnshire will also get a slice of the cash.

The massive investment was secured by Greater Lincolnshire Enterprise Partnership.

A roundabout at Peppermint Junction is seen as the key to unlocking housing and economic development projects in the town.

The University of Lincoln is developing a centre of excellence for the agri-food industry with a focus on higher level skills and agri-tech and food manufacturing research.

The aim is to strengthen research, technological development and innovation in Lincolnshire’s agri-food industry to boost competitiveness.

Professor Andrew Hunter, from the University of Lincoln, said: “The centre will act as a gateway for collaboration between the university and local industry, strengthening collaboration and contributing to regional competitiveness.”

Coun Nick Worth said South Holland has a vital role to play in the county’s economic prosperity.

He said: “The roundabout at Peppermint Junction is a much requested and vital part of infrastructure that will enable both housing and economic development and be of huge benefit to the town.

“The food sector around Holbeach and Spalding makes a major contribution to both the local and national economy.

“I am pleased that we have been able to work with the Greater Lincolnshire LEP to bring this project forward and to support the further growth of our agri-food sector.”

Greater Lincolnshire LEP chairman Ursuala Lidbetter said: “Once again Greater Lincolnshire has done very well in this latest round of funding from central government which supports growth and job creation in the regions by providing money for major infrastructure projects.”

• Millions poured into Lincolnshire in a funding round last year, but South Holland didn’t get a penny.

A Spalding transport firm, which could double its lorry fleet to 40 within two to three years, is seeking planning consent to open a new depot at Pinchbeck.

Temperature controlled distribution firm Midas Transport currently operates from the Keith Butters site in Kellett Gate, Spalding.

The business is seeking consent for a haulage, storage and distribution depot on land off Stephenson Way – part of South Holland Enterprise Park.

If permitted by South Holland District Council, the development will include security fencing, lighting, landscaping, hard-standing, a temporary office and toilet facilities. A design and access statement submitted to the council in support of the plan says: “Due to company growth and anticipated future growth Midas propose to relocate its business and fleet of vehicles to their own site, which will allow room for expansion in an industrial area where the highway network has been designed to accommodate this type of business.

“The acquisition and development of the application site is a major financial commitment and expenditure has to be controlled. In this respect it is proposed to relocate the applicant’s portable cabin type offices which they own from the present Kellett Gate site to the new site and include a new toilet block.”

No on-site fuel storage is planned.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust is offering a specialist form of treatment for patients with prostate cancer to provide better outcomes and a reduction in the length of the treatment.

High Dose Rate (HDR) prostate brachytherapy, offered at Lincoln County Hospital since April 2008, is an internal radiotherapy procedure which requires a general anaesthesia and an overnight stay in hospital.

The Trust is one of only 11 in England to provide this treatment to its patients and treats between 55-60 cases a year.

The team, made up of radiotherapy radiographers, medical physicists, urology nurses and anaesthetists at Lincoln has recently treated their 250th patient with this procedure.

Now a national audit is calling on more NHS trusts in the country to offer this treatment to their patients.

Consultant urologist Ian Mark said: ““Prostate brachytherapy isn’t suitable for everyone but those that can have this treatment can see significant benefits.

“As the procedure is shorter and more intense than others it reduces treatment time to within five weeks. The patient will have his implant and 15 sessions of external radiotherapy, as opposed to up to 39 daily visits to the hospital.”

Businesses across Spalding have come together to support a Valentine’s fundraising raffle at the town’s Norwich and Peterborough Building Society in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

So far more than ten prizes have been donated for the raffle which will be drawn on Friday, February 13.

Cash raised will go towards Yorkshire Building Society’s Hour of Need campaign, of which N&P is part. Hour of Need will enable Marie Curie Nurses to provide even more vital support for terminally ill people and their families.

Every £20 raised in the Hour of Need campaign will fund one hour of care.

The society is aiming to raise £500,000 by December 2016, which equates to funding an hour of care by a Marie Curie Nurse for every hour of the campaign.

Tickets cost £1 each and go on sale tomorrow.

A second judicial review could be in the offing with the county council’s ruling executive expected to rubber stamp controversial changes to Lincolnshire’s library service.

Deeping St James Labour county councillor Phil Dilks, who has fought hard to keep Market Deeping Library in council control, said he “hopes against hope” that council taxpayers aren’t left picking up the bill for further legal action.

“So far it’s cost over a quarter of a million pounds, this exercise,” he said. “It’s time the council listened.”

The council looks certain to ask private companies to put in bids to run 15 core libraries and provide support for 30 others that will be shoved into the hands of volunteers – or close if volunteers don’t come forward.

The council planned to adopt that model of service itself, but lost a judicial review when a judge found it hadn’t properly considered an offer from Greenwich Leisure to run the library service as it stood.

Protesters from The Deepings joined other groups outside County Hall in Lincoln on Tuesday as a scrutiny committee met and later endorsed the latest plan, which is expected to be agreed by the executive on February 3.

A man with mental health problems had a kitchen knife with an eight-inch blade because he wanted to scare the person who sold him a rolled up till receipt instead of drugs.

Barry Mosely (40), of Double Street, Spalding, was arrested at 2pm on October 10 in Spalding’s Hall Place.

Paul Wood, prosecuting, said Mosely was searched and an officer found a red handled kitchen knife in his pocket.

Mosely told the officer: “It’s for my own protection. I am sick of people taking the **** out of me.”

Mr Wood said Mosely later explained he had been in town earlier looking to buy drugs and bought what he believed were his drugs – but it turned out to be a rolled up till receipt.

He got the knife with the intention of finding the person responsible and “scaring them”.

Solicitor Phillipa Chatterton, mitigating, said Mosely is a paranoid schizophrenic and at the time of the offence wasn’t using his own medication as he should and, unfortunately, started to self-medicate with amphetamine.

Miss Chatterton told magistrates: “It’s quite clear that this gentleman was suffering from a psychotic episode and it’s unfortunate that it has to come through the court system.”

Following the incident, he was taken into hospital and remained there for ten days.

“Since this hospitalisation, he is once again medicated – they have apparently upped the dosage – and he’s feeling quite stable.”

Mosely was given a two-year conditional discharge by Boston magistrates on Wednesday and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge. He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possessing a knife in a public place.

A 28-year-old man from Spalding branded as a “persistent” street drinker by police has been kicked out of the UK.

Dawid Szumlanski, formerly of Spring Street, was excluded from the country on Tuesday January 13 under an Administrative Removal order issued by the Home Office.

Szumlanski, originally from Poland, will be unable to re-enter the UK for at least one year, although he can apply to return here thereafter.

South Holland Community Policing Inspector Jim Tyner said: “Szumlanski blighted Spalding with his persistent street drinking and he was also convicted of shop theft during the Operation Washer period in December.”

Operation Washer was a 24-day police initiative last month aimed at preventing and deterring crime in Spalding town centre in the run-up to Christmas.

Boston magistrates on Wednesday further adjourned sentence on a woman who has pleaded guilty to an attempted burglary at Tears Recovery, of Gosberton Road, Surfleet, on November 3.

Recovering heroin user Jade Snell (26), of Richmond Avenue, Peterborough, was bailed with a condition that she attends appointments with the probation service, who will prepare a pre-sentence report for the resumed hearing on March 11. The court heard Snell had missed a previous appointment with probation because of travel difficulties.

A self-employed tree specialist from Spalding has been fined after father and son workers both suffered hand injuries while splitting logs.

Grantham Magistrates’ Court heard that on March 8 2014, a 52-year-old man, who was working for Lewis Hart, was guiding a log through the splitting machine when his left hand came into contact with the blade, partially severing a finger. It was amputated in hospital.

When a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector interviewed him about the incident he dicovered the victim’s 24-year-old son had been injuired on the same machine just two months earlier but Lewis Hart had failed to report it.

In that incident, on January 2, a log had moved during the splitting process and crushed his hand, breaking it in three places. He was unable to work for a month.

Both men, who live in Spalding but have asked not to be identified, are now working for someone else.

HSE’s investigation found the log splitter had never been guarded.

A prohibition notice was issued banning its use with immediate effect until it could be made safe.

Mr Hart (25), of Linden Way, West Pinchbeck, admitted failing to guard the machine, and a separate offence of failing to report one of the incidents.

On Thursday he was fined £965 and ordered to pay £1,347 costs.

After the hearing HSE inspector Neil Ward said: “The risks associated with unguarded machinery are well known in the industry, and so are the measures that should be taken to minimise or remove those risks.

“Lewis Hart was fully aware of the lack of guarding on the machine but failed to take action leading to painful injuries.

“He was also aware of the requirement to report any injuries to HSE within 15 days but, in the case of the incident involving the younger man, failed to do so. Had it not been for the incident involving has father, we may never have known about it.”

Pupils at Wygate Park Academy in Spalding have had an exciting week, starting with a visit from the Billy Branston’s Potato Bus.

The children were given experienced lots of wonderful activities, ranging from growing their own potatoes to studying how they grow.

They experienced sorting and selecting potatoes by measuring them with the potato sizers, weighing potatoes, exploring and smelling different seasonings, putting together ideas for healthy meals with potatoes and, finally, got to taste some wedges.

It was a very exciting opportunity for the children, and the school is grateful to the Billy Branston Potato Bus team for paying them a visit.

Also that week, pupils were visited by MCC Sports Coaching, who demonstrated the skills of fencing. Coaches discussed the importance of warming up and risk assessment before pupils were given the opportunity to have a go themselves.

Pupils were taught the basic skills in fencing and thoroughly enjoyed it. The school would like to thank the MCC Sports coaches for giving them the opportunity.

Stamp duty reforms on residential properties

There has been a change to the rules concerning stamp duty which, for the majority of homebuyers, will now be reduced and deemed fairer. 
The new rules came into force on the December 4 2014 and the changes apply to you if you are buying a home in the UK for more than £125,000. 
In Scotland, the new rates will apply until April 1 2015 when the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax replaces stamp duty. 
Under the old rules, you would have paid tax at a single rate on the entire property price. 
But now you will only pay the rate of tax on the part of the property price within each tax band, similar to income tax. 
Also under the old rules, if you bought a house for £185,000, you would have had to pay 1 per cent tax on the full amount or a total of £1,850. 
Under the new rules, for the same property you’ll pay nothing on the first £125,000 and the 2 per cent on the remaining £60,000 which works out at £1,200 - a saving of £650. 
If you are in or are about to be begin the process of buying a house, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has an online calculator to help you work out how much stamp duty you will have to pay. 
HMRC has estimated that stamp duty will be cut for 98 per cent of people who pay it and if you are buying a home for less than £937,500, you will either pay less stamp duty or exactly the same as before. 
But these rule changes only apply to residential property purchases, as opposed to commercial ones. 
The changes have been broadly welcomed by the property industry, and especially by prospective new homeowners, as a potentially chunky cost involved with moving property has been reduced for the vast majority of people.

Chancellor George Osborne said the changes had replaced “a badly designed system that has distorted our housing market for decades”.

Fears jobs may be lost at a major food company in South Holland have followed the announcement it will no longer be packing potatoes for Asda from July next year.

A four-page document delivered anonymously to the Spalding Guardian states: “QV Foods at Holbeach Hurn has been served notice by Asda to cease packing potatoes in July 2016 – this will affect jobs.”

However, in spite of confirmation by QV Foods that Asda has decided to take packing potatoes ‘in house’, the firm says it is looking to “fill the capacity that will be created in the summer of 2016”.

The document sent to the Spalding Guardian claims: “QV Foods owners selfishly play it low key with employees and the community to protect their critical period of wind down.

“QV Foods Inchture (Scotland) will be taken over by IPL (ASDA). QV Foods Holbeach Hurn will cease packing for Asda and the over-sized QV Foods site at March could potentially become redundant with loss of Asda business.

“Lorry drivers, pack house staff, management and office staff could all lose their jobs, but little is known locally of the Asda announcement.”

Two weeks ago farming Minister George Eustice MP visited QV Foods in Holbeach Hurn on a tour of South Holland to discuss its place at the centre of the UK food production.

A spokesman for QV Foods said: “We put out an announcement to all our workforce on December 2.

“It stated, as part of an Asda initiative to take potato packing ‘in house’, we have reached an agreement in principle with Asda/IPL to sell them our Scottish packing capability.

“The deal is expected to conclude in 2016 and will include, for all QVS staff who wish to do so, an opportunity to transfer. We are considering various alternative options for our continued packing in Scotland post 2016.

“We understand that Asda/IPL have reached a similar agreement with Fenmarc regarding their Westry site and as such it is likely that we will cease to pack fresh potatoes for Asda in the summer of 2016 and consequently we are also considering options for the spare capacity that will result on our Holbeach site.

“We will continue to liaise with all our stakeholders in an open and honest way as things become clearer over the extended notice period that we have.

“In the meantime, we will be working on filling the capacity that will be created in the summer of 2016.”

CHAMBER CHATTER: By Phil Scarlett, president of Spalding and District Area Chamber of Commerce

We ended last year with the successful Christmas Lights Switch-On event and the first Sunday Christmas Market and we are thankful that it was a bright, dry day and Market and Hall Place were packed.

This in turn increased footfall into the shops and eating places. The plan is to repeat these this year but as two separate events with more stalls and more shops open.

I’m delighted to see Dennis Hannant, our Town Centre Manager, is now settling into his post and making plans for this year.

If businesses or residents wish to share their ideas on events or improvements to the town centre I would ask that they email these to him at: dennis.hannant@lincs- chamber.co.uk He will be reporting progress on town centre initiatives on the Chamber website under his monthly TCM Notes.

My New Year’s Resolutions for Spalding & District Chamber of Commerce


* Through the Logistics Forum, to continue to lobby for improvements to roads in and around Spalding.

We must ensure that our local companies can service the increased demand for products (local and imported) which are being packed and distributed to the major retailers all over the country.

We have an opportunity with John Hayes MP  being the Minister of Transport that he will leave us the legacy of a better road infrastructure before the next election, particularly (but not exclusively) with the dualling of the A16.


* The Tourism Forum are working with Newton Press on the printing of 20,000 Visitors Guides and 5,000 town maps, plus working on funding opportunities to help promote South Holland as a visitor destination.

* Town Centre Retailers’ Association: Working with the Town Centre Manager on initiatives to make the town a better place to visit and shop.

* Night Economy Forum: Continuing to improve the mix of leisure and entertainment facilities on offer.


* Shop Watch: With new CCTV monitoring via the Boston monitoring station, this will hopefully make Spalding and Holbeach safer places to shop and visit. I anticipate that we will expand this security network to include Springfields, therefore providing even better coverage within the area


* Chamber will continue providing networking opportunities for businesses and increase our membership within the food and flower businesses in South Holland.


District council leader Gary Porter may have sorted out a parish council’s long running battle to rent a dilapidated loo block as a store for Sutton Bridge in Bloom.

He’s suggested a proposed £800 annual rent could be slashed to £1 and Sutton Bridge Parish is ready to say yes if it receives a formal offer on those lines.

The parish council has battled for two-and-half years to have the closed public loos in the Memorial Park car park at a peppercorn rent.

At one point, a district council portfolio holder suggested the loos might be donated to the village with the district paying for removing “the gubbins” inside.

But, in November, astonished parish councillors received a formal proposal from the district council saying it would charge an annual rent of £800 after spending more than £1,000 on repairs.

Furious parish councillor Vicky Hills said then: “£800 to rent the disused toilets? It’s ludicrous. They can bog off.”

The parish council on Tuesday decided to write to South Holland to see if it will “formalise” Coun Porter’s offer and also pay for the repairs to the block.

• Bloom volunteers want part of the block as an equipment store and to access water.

A patient feedback scheme introduced in Lincolnshire before a national rollout is proving to be making a difference to patient care.

The Friends and Family Test became compulsory for all community and mental health trusts to provide to patients across England from January 1, 2015, but was it was introduced voluntarily as good practice in some of Lincolnshire’s services as early as April 2012.

The test asks patients how likely they are to recommend the service to their family and friends based on the care they have received. Some patients may already be familiar with the test, with it also having been used in acute hospitals for some time and more recently by GPs. Its roll out will continue to include ambulance trusts and dentists later this year.

Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) started by implementing the test in inpatient areas and urgent care services, followed by all community services by September 2014. The trust now receives more than 1,000 comments a month from the Friends and Family Test and other feedback surveys, which have helped drive a number of changes.

This includes:

Ensuring patients are part of the discharge planning process and have a planned discharge date to work towards from arrival into hospital;

Improved communication to patients taking part in the cardiac rehabilitation programme to give a clear timetable of activities;

Further engagement with patients for their feedback on using the telephone service for the Diabetes team.

Sue Cousland, Chief Nurse and Director of Operations at LCHS, said: “To help us to deliver care in the right way, in the right place and at the right time, we take every possible opportunity to ask patients and service users about their experiences.

“The insight the Friends and Family Test gave us when it was implemented in our community hospital in Spalding meant we could not only identify best practice but also see where patients felt improvements needed to be made.

“Such was the level of constructive feedback, we felt that a similar approach could also support the services we deliver into patients’ homes and other community clinics to be more responsive. It was agreed that a pilot should be commenced in July 2014, with a rollout to incorporate participation by all services by September.

“Since then we have found that the comments made continue to make a very valuable contribution to help us further shape our community services to meet the needs of the registered population of Lincolnshire.”

Further information can be found on the Friends and Family Test page on the LCHS website: www.lincolnshirecommunityhealthservices.nhs.uk/Public/content/friends-and-family-test

Around 50 members of the 2nd Pinchbeck Scouts had a close encounter with a dragon when they had an early celebration for the Chinese New Year.

Beavers, Cubs and Scouts went to the China City restaurant in Winsover Road, Spalding, with their leaders.

As well as laying on a superb buffet, the restaurant displayed some traditional trappings of the New Year festivities – including a dragon, masks and a drum.

Group Scout leader Martha Cowper-Johnson said: “The Chinese New Year falls on February 19, during half-term when we don’t normally meet, so we were a little early.

“The children really enjoyed the food – most of the children tried something they hadn’t eaten before – and they liked playing with the dragon and banging the drum.”

• This will be the Year of the Goat or, more specifically the Wood Goat, which occurs once every 60 years and is associated with human warmth and empathy for the world at large.

According to Chinese astrology, people born in this year are at peace with their inner self and are happy to lead a quiet life out of the spotlight.

A tendency for self-improvement sees the Wood Goat working quietly and steadily towards their goals.

Photo (TIM WILSON): SG270115-174TW