Vandals who have been the blight of parks in Donington are to be hunted down and prosecuted if volunteers who tidy them get their way.

A new get-tough stance is being taken after the latest spate of destruction in Flinders Park:

* Plants and shrubs paid for by the community trampled on and pulled up.

* Wires and strings on the pergola for plants to climb up swung on and pulled down and bolts removed from the structure.

* Bolts and fixings removed from the bridge over the dyke to the 
skate park.

* Smashed beer bottles dropped on paths and bottles thrown into shrubs.

* Bricks removed from flower beds in other parts of the village flying up from mowers.

Now volunteers are calling on police to prosecute the culprits. Jane King, who is again standing for Donington in the district council elections, is leading the call for action.

She said: “We plan to check the CCTV more and report incidents to the police. We’ve let it go too often in the past but now we want the culprits caught, prosecuted and named and shamed.”

Volunteers were ready to give up trying to keep Donington looking nice after witnessing the latest attacks by vandals.

The news was broken to Jane King by volunteer Steve Pulfer. In an email, he said that the Easter holidays and lighter nights seemed to have brought out the vandals.

He said: “I have been into the park today and found much litter and some recent damage.

“So much alcohol is being taken into the park that not all of it is being drunk – I found nearly a whole box of Budweiser bottles that had not been opened.

“The chap cutting the grass reported to me that he hit some pieces of red brick with his mower.”

Jane said: “It’s so soul destroying for the volunteers when this happens. We have to fundraise for everything in the village.

“We try very hard to provide things for all age groups, with places to sit and relax, kick-a-round areas and a skatepark.

“Why do they do it? There’s not a group of fairies who come out and clear up after them. But there will be a time when we can’t afford to do it anymore.”

Insp Jo Reeves said she was sympathetic with the volunteers. She said: “The impact of vandalism on any community is significant, especially where damage is caused to equipment paid for by community fundraising and the work of volunteers.

“We fully support the work of people trying to make a positive impact in their community and police will fully investigate any reported incidents of anti-social behaviour and criminal damage and will patrol the areas accordingly.

“However, it is vital all incidents are reported so that we are able to identify offenders and prevent further issues. This will also assist in making sure patrols are conducted at the appropriate times.”

Horse-drawn, colourful Romany caravans made a stately progress through South Lincolnshire as members of an extended family journeyed from Durham to Great Yarmouth last week.

The 262 mile journey from Durham to Yarmouth takes around five hours by car, but the horses took 18 days at a steady walking pace.

Our photographer, Tim Wilson, spotted the family with their caravans in Gosberton on Wednesday. The family are now making their way home to Durham. SG150415-100TW

Five residents were advised to urgently contact their doctors when they took advantage of free health checks in Spalding.

The potentially life-saving event was organised by the two Spalding Rotary Clubs, whose members checked the blood pressure of 152 people on Saturday

It was all part of a one-day national Rotary campaign in support of the Stroke Association.

Twenty-five of the 152 people were advised to see their doctors – five of the 25 urgently.

The checks were organised at South Holland Centre by the Rotary Clubs of South Holland and Spalding with Welland.

South Holland RC president Pat Puckett said the event was a Rotary annual public service which had been well supported and was certainly appreciated by those who came.

She especially thanked the local doctor and nurses who carried out the blood pressure checks.

Spalding Business Club is hosting a talk on stress and bullying in the workplace at Bookmark Spalding, The Crescent, on Thursday May 7 at 7am.

The speaker will be health and safety consultant Sheila Young of Chambers and Young Solicitors, Stamford.

Entry is £8, including breakfast, and to book, call Ken Maggs at Moore Thompson Accountants on 01775 711333.

A student talent show at Spalding’s Sir John Gleed School has raised £271.70 for the Callum Pite Smile charity.

Organiser Amelia Knight (left) said Callum was a former pupil who passed away from cancer and the school does a lot to raise money for the charity set up in his name.

Amelia (16) said: “I think it was a way to honour him.”

Amelia co-hosted the show with her sister Charlotte (13).

There were 11 acts in all and the show was won by Ivan Freitas (15) performing Ed Sheeran’s Sing.

Pictured with Amelia are two of the show helpers Lewis Hooper and Harriet Daley.

SG200415-101TW

It’s bordering on madness but roadworks signs written in Welsh and English have appeared beside the River Nene.

The internal drainage board is working on a sluice beside the riverbank, between Tydd Gote and Sutton Bridge.

One sign reads Works Access/Mynedfa Waith and the second Works Exit/Allanfa Waith, but we are a long way away from the valleys.

Sutton Bridge resident Chris Brewis, who sent in these pictures, said: “It’s incredibly funny.

“I know we border Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, but we are nowhere near Powys.”

Police in Lincolnshire are backing a week-long campaign targeting stalking which affects both women and men.

National Stalking Awareness Week has the theme, Is it Stalking? to promote understanding of the crime.

Detective Superintendent Rick Hatton, head of public protection for Lincolnshire Police, said: “Stalking can take many forms and the impact of it on victims, families and communities can be devastating.

“With one in six women and one in 12 men being stalked at some point in their lives, Lincolnshire Police is urging people to report what is happening.”

A Spalding takeaway has closed temporarily after a fire on Tuesday caused by sparks from a charcoal burner.

Fire crews were called to Nanda’s BBQ takeaway in Winsover Road where an extractor fan was ablaze.

The fire broke out at about 12.30pm and caused damage to the extractor fan, as well as smoke damage to the first floor of the takeaway.

A couple running the takeaway, who asked not be named, said: “We’re not sure what happened but the restaurant was on fire when we came and it was bad enough to have melted some pieces of the extractor fan.

“It’s the first time this has happened in the four months that we’ve owned the restaurant and we’re waiting for our insurers to come around and see what’s what.

“But we’re hoping to reopen as soon as possible.”

A Lincolnshire man who admitted photographing himself sexually abusing a toddler was today (Monday) jailed for seven years at Lincoln Crown Court.

Peter Fox, 62, was originally arrested after he was caught taking indecent photographs of young girls at Heckington Show.

He was given a community order with a condition he complete a sex offenders’ treatment order for those offences but at the time he was detained computers and camera equipment were seized from his then home in Swineshead, near Boston.

Jonathan Dunne, prosecuting, said the seized items were later found to contain thousands of indecent images of children including over 100 he took himself of the two year old girl.

Mr Dunne said that when Fox was interviewed he admitted he had taken the photographs of the young girl.

“A number of the photographs include a hand with a wedding ring on it. He accepted that is his hand.

“He denied getting any sexual pleasure from it but said he liked looking at indecent pictures.”

Fox, 62, of The Meadows, Spalding, admitted sexually assaulting a two year old girl and a charge of inciting a girl under the age of five to engage in sexual activity. He also admitted four charges of taking a pornographic picture of a child, four charges of making an indecent photograph and a further charge of possessing 15,644 indecent images of children.

Recorder Gareth Evans QC told him “What you did was disgraceful. You are a risk to young children.”

Sunil Khanna, defending, said “He is a man who had an interest in photography but unfortunately that interest went too far. He has lost everything as a result of this.”

She has looked after the health of hundreds of South Holland people in her 22 years in Spalding.

Now, the time has come for Dr Cath Hamblin to retire to take care of her own wellbeing.

Cath, who joined what was then High Street surgery – now Munro Medical Centre – in 1992, has been diagnosed with hereditary spastic paraplegia.

Cath will finish work at the end of June in order to take more time for gentle exercise, something that is essential if she is to manage her condition effectively.

Hereditary spastic paraplegia is a group of inherited disorders that cause weakness and stiffness, of the leg muscles in Cath’s case, which gradually gets worse over time.

However, Cath is only relieved it wasn’t anything more sinister, and says it was “a known beast” as she inherited the condition from her father.

Cath (52) says: “By my age dad was on crutches, but he developed symptoms much younger than I did.

“I have had a good life. I don’t think it’s that bad a condition that you necessarily change things.”

One thing that has changed is that she and husband Peter Kite are no longer doing the type of expeditions that saw Cath climb up to 4,500 metres in Nepal in 1994.

That came about after being “roped in”, as Cath puts it, into being female cover with the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme locally, and going on expeditions in particular, where her first aid knowledge was likely to be useful.

Cath had no difficulties with her legs then and loved the expedition.

Duke of Edinburgh has been part of her life since, and was how she met Peter, who was at that time chairman of the local committee. They married in 2008.

Cath and Peter, who simply assess expeditions now rather than being part of the training and safety team, plan to continue to walk, tackle a few gentle hills, and spend time doing more UK travel with their rescue dog Toto.

Cath is looking forward to finishing work. She says: “It’s just got so busy, the level of paperwork and checking things. The surgery is well organised and they are a great team of nurses and admin staff, but I am still shattered at the end of the day.”

There have been many changes in general practice over the past 20 plus years, but Dr Cath Hamblin says she still feels like a family doctor.

She said: “It’s the ongoing care over a period of time.

“The whole point of being a GP is you see all sorts and see people with multiple conditions together, but the thing with general practice is you see families over a period of time. You get to know the relationships and the extended links. That’s still true today.

“With the nurses doing more and more of the chronic disease checking and monitoring it is not as clear as it used to be, but you still get to know who is related to who.”

Cath, who has also carried out minor surgery for both the practice and at the Johnson Hospital, has been gradually breaking the news of her departure to patients.

A drink-driver was more than three-and-a-half times the limit when he crashed into a front garden and then tried to smoke a lighter, mistaking it for a cigarette.

Edward Davis (23), of Station Street, Donington, had 127 microgrammes of alcohol in breath – 92mcgs above the limit – when he crashed a Peugeot 307 in the village’s Badgate Lane shortly before 1am on New Year’s Day.

Boston magistrates on Wednesday heard that Davis has anxiety and depression, and had turned to alcohol as a crutch to help him cope.

Magistrates sentenced Davis to 15 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, and banned him from driving for four years.

As part of the suspended sentence order, Davis must be supervised by probation for 12 months and undertake a non-residential alcohol treatment order over six months.

Davis must also pay £85 towards prosecution costs and an £80 victim surcharge.

He pleaded guilty at a hearing on February 18 to driving with excess alcohol, driving without insurance and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.

At the resumed hearing, magistrates imposed no separate penalties for the insurance and licence offences.

Marie Stace, prosecuting, said Davis appeared “very drunk” at the scene of the crash, was barely able to stand and mistook a cigarette lighter for a cigarette and was trying to smoke it.

Solicitor Phillipa Chatterton, mitigating, said Davis suffers from anxiety and depression, and there were times in the past when he had asked to be sectioned.

She said Davis had tended to self-medicate with alcohol because it helped him.

Miss Chatterton said Davis went to Steps2Change, where he saw a psychologist and was advised he needed further treatment and help through cognitive behaviour therapy.

She said he has new medication and, at the moment, feels stable and is not turning to alcohol as a crutch.

“Clearly he is a young man who needs help,” she told the court.

Miss Chatterton asked magistrates not to send Davis to prison, telling them: “He would quite clearly be a vulnerable person in a prison environment.”

A story from one of our younger readers...

I’m Georgie Van Dyke (current Spalding Tulipmania Princess).

I go to Tydd St Mary Church of England Primary School.

I’m a member of our School Council. I decided to 
donate a giant Bugs Bunny character for us to use for fundraising, to raise money to spend on extra things for the children at our school.

I drew a giant egg and covered it with numbered squares.

Our fantastic local butchers (NW Roffe & Daughter of Sutton St James) were so generous in agreeing to sell the squares to their customers.

The winning number drawn out won the giant rabbit along with an easter egg.

Thank you so so much to Roffes and their customers for raising a fantastic £71 for the children of Tydd St Mary School.

Pupils at Spalding’s Priory School have been cleaning saddles and bridles in preparation for their riding sessions recommencing after the winter break.

This opportunity is provided by the Fenland Group of the RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association), which last year celebrated 33 years of working with children from the Garth and the Priory Schools in Spalding.

Some of the children, volunteers and ponies are looking forward to appearing at Equifest at Peterborough Showground on August 15, where they will provide a short demonstration of the work the charity does with disabled children.

RDA has been chosen as one of the charities to benefit from proceeds from the show and Fenland Group is delighted to be representing them at such a prestigious event.

A very generous donation of £10,000, presented last October following the winding up of DASH Holiday Homes Charity has secured the financial future of the Fenland Group but there is always a pressing need for volunteers, who can spare three hours on a Wednesday morning, to come and assist the young riders by walking alongside them, or leading a pony.

The Group, unlike most RDA groups, does not have any ponies of its own and relies on volunteers to bring along their ponies/horses for the children to ride. It is always looking for offers of the use of suitable ponies as, sadly, there have been occasions when rides have had to be cancelled due to a shortage.

The Group is fortunate enough to be able to use the purpose-built SENSE stables at West Pinchbeck and operates between April and October, term-time only.

If you would like to come along and see what the group does, with a view to volunteering, or if you have a pony you could spare for three hours, please contact Valerie on 07702246504.

Why travel all the way to 
Nepal to climb Mount Everest when you only have to go to Boston?

That’s the reasoning of four 
local fundraisers who have just announced a unique charity effort.

Spalding market trader Ian Johnson, former Spalding Homebase manager Steve Slater, Spalding Garth School teacher Kelly Slater and John Prue of Donington are planning to climb Boston Stump 200 times between August 5 and 8.

The massive effort is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest (2,900 feet).

The charity climb is to raise cash for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Action For Children, Boston Stump Restoration Fund and Macmillan Nurses.

Last year Ian, who has a furniture stall outside the Pied Calf on a Tuesday, completed a Leeds to Harrogate charity 120 mile ‘Tour de France’ bike ride, which raised £1,000 in memory of his mum, uncle and cousin.

Ian, who owns Fairprice Furnishings in Heckington, has been actively involved with Breakthrough since 1999.

Now he has even more reason to support the chairty. His youngest sister Joanne (42) was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer last August and has undergone surgery and endured six months of chemotherapy.

Earlier this month the mum-of-two started three weeks of radiotherapy at Lincoln County Hospital.

If you would like to support the charity climb you can donate to Ian’s stall on a Tuesday or visit his Just Giving site www.justgiving.com/Ian-Johnson35/

Ian will also bhe coming to Spalding’s on Saturdays in soon, with a stall opening in the Red Lion Quarter outside Flowers n Things.

Estate agent Pygott and Crone has picked up an international gong after winning seven major industry awards in 2014.

The agent, which has an office in Spalding, was awarded a silver platter and the title of Relocation Agent Network Agent of the Year at the Cartus Broker Network International Conference in California.

Pygott & Crone beat competition from across the UK to take the prize and adds the achievement to a burgeoning mantel of accolades that include The Times and The Sunday Times Estate Agency of the Year Award and The UK Property Awards Best Real Estate Agency Lincolnshire.

Heidi Fendyke (nee Porter) graduated from the Open University, gaining a 2.2 BA Hons in Business Studies.

This is a great achievement for Heidi (33), who has studied for six years whilst in full time employment. Heidi works as a category manager in marketing for Mars, and is a former pupil of the University Academy Holbeach (formerly George Farmer School). She is the eldest daughter of Mrs S Porter and the late Mr M J Porter of Holbeach.

The A1175 and King Street at West Deeping are closed after a water main burst.

The problem was reported just before midday. Anglian Water engineers and fire crew are at the scene trying to fix the leak and divert water away from the road.

Both the A1175 towards Market Deeping and King Street are closed to traffic around the West Street crossroads while the main is repaired. A police spokesman said the roads were likely to remain closed for some time.

Emma Staples from Anglian Water said: “We’re sorry that a burst to a large water main at around midday today has meant the crossroads of the A1175 and King Street, near West Deeping, has been closed.

“We immediately sent a large team of engineers to site who have been working hard to return things to normal as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, some customers in Tallington were without water for a short time earlier, but supplies should now be returning to normal.

“Our team will be working to fully repair the water pipe and the road, and return things to normal as soon as they can. Once again we are very sorry for any inconvenience caused and would like to thank customers and road users for their understanding today.

“Sometimes after a burst when your water supply returns it may appear cloudy or discoloured. This is normal, just run the tap for a few minutes until it runs clear.”

An inquest is to open later today into the death of a 48-year-old man who died in a crash on the A15 in Market Deeping.

Ian Douglas Reed of Bourne was driving a car which collided with a skip lorry whil travelling towards Langtoft just before 4.40pm on Thursday.

Paramedics from East Midlands Ambulance Service attended to Mr Reed, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Meanwhile. the lorry driver was taken to Peterborough City Hospital with minor injuries.

South Lincolnshire coroner Prof Robert Forrest is expected to open and then adjourn the inquest until a later date.

MONDAY 1.40PM: A man has died after a crash between a car and a lorry on the A15 Market Deeping bypass on Thursday.

The man, who is yet to be named, was driving a car when it collided with a skip lorry at a roundabout near Stamford Road and Lincoln Road just before 4.40pm.

Paramedics pronounced the car driver dead at the scene, while the lorry driver was treated for minor injuries and taken to Peterborough City Hospital.

An East Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We received a call at 4.38pm reporting a road traffic collision involving a lorry and a car on the roundabout going towards Langtoft.

“Our double-crewed ambulance was first on the scene, while police and fire crews also attended to assist with closing the road and extracting two patients.

“The driver of the lorry was treated for minor injuries but, sadly, the driver of the car was pronounced dead at the scene.”

The road was closed for nearly seven hours while emergency services cleared the scene.

A post-mortem on the man who died is due to be carried out later today when confirmation is also expected that a man who died after a collision between a Kia Picanto and a Mitsubishi L200 near Northorpe on Monday was former Market Deeping mayor Coun Reg Howard.

Meanwhile, a man suffered a suspected broken collarbone after a two-car crash on the A17 in Fleet, also on Thursday.

It happened near the Beijing Palace Chinese restaurant where a green Ford Focus and black Volkswagen Polo collided at about 6.20pm.

A man in his 60s driving the Ford was taken to hospital with chest pains, while a man in his 20s who was driving the Polo was thought to have suffered a broken collarbone.

The road was closed for nearly two hours following the crash, finally reopening just after 8.15pm.

Anyone with information should call the Lincolnshire Police Collision Witness Hotline on 01522 558855 or 101.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (ULHT) is holding an open day on Saturday at Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital.

Registered nurses, allied health professionals and people looking to return to nursing or people looking to adapt qualifications gained abroad are invited to the day.

There will be opportunities to see what life is like at ULHT and a chance to tour the wards and departments and a meet the chief nurse and chief executive.

The Trust is creating around 100 new posts to join teams across all its hospitals.

Acting chief nurse Pauleen Pratt said: “Health professionals are welcome to come and see what we do and ask questions. We are looking to recruit more clinical staff. As well as registered staff, we are also hoping to attract nurses whose children have recently started school and are now thinking about going back to work, or nurses who have recently retired but are looking to return part time.

“There’s full funding for all course fees and there’s more good news in that participants get £500 for ‘out of pocket’ expenses.

“We also want people who have qualified abroad and want to adapt their qualifications to UK standards.”