Jase agreed to put me through my paces with a taster boot camp session. It’s been a few years since I exercised regularly - if you don’t count running round after a three and four-year-old.

So, I was slightly scared when he said he’d spent five years in the military, but right from the start he put me at ease, telling me that although they may be group sessions, everyone works at their own pace and attempts exercises suited to their level of ability.

We started off with some warm up stretches and movements to loosen me up, including squats, lunges and arm rotations.

Then it was down to some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) - including three rounds of burpees, press ups and sit ups. The final sets were hard going but I was determined to complete them, which I’m pleased to say I did – just!

Although they’re not going to be included in the boot camp yet, Jase also showed me some exercises using an 8kg kettle bell, to work the triceps and biceps, and once he’d explained and showed me the technique I soon got into my stride.

We rounded the session off with some warm down stretches and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself feeling full of beans by the time we’d finished.

Considering my general lack of fitness, I wasn’t in too much pain the next day either, although my legs and arms felt a bit tight, due to some of the movements – mainly the burpees I think. That said, perhaps I’m not as unfit as I feared – and, well, as the saying goes no pain, no gain.

Anyone looking to adopt a new regime to kick start some weight loss, or just improve their fitness, then I’d definitely recommend signing up for Jase’s boot camp – as well as hard work, I think it’ll be great fun.

A man living with the heartbreak of losing his wife has found a new meaning to life after realising a long cherished dream.

At the age of 70, David Tibbs 
has held his first-ever one-man art exhibition and sold 11 pictures – including a 
couple he completed almost 50 years ago.

David lost his wife, Caroline (60), seven months ago following a long illness.

To spare him the pain, Caroline organised her own funeral service and it was then that the Rev Rosamund Seal, Vicar of All Saints’ Church, Holbeach, discovered David was an artist with a burning desire to have a solo exhibition.

David said: “About six weeks after Caroline died, the vicar came round and said ‘you had better get painting, I have set up the exhibition for you that you have always wanted’.

“All I had to do was turn up and put the pictures up.”

David’s church hall exhibition was one of the attractions at the Holbeach Community Flower Festival.

He said: “It meant so much to me and it gave me a meaning to life – a hope, if you like, that there is a life for me.”

David remembers his first drawing when he was about seven, a picture of a toy submarine, but he took up drawing and painting as a hobby when he was in his late teens.

He’s sold pictures privately over the years and taken part in multi-artist exhibitions, but his one-man show has given the self-taught artist a new lease of life and a determination to try his hand at watercolours as well as oils.

David, who lives in Holbeach Hurn, trained as a bench joiner and worked in the building trade.

A retired TV and radio gardening personality is saying thank you to the care home in Bourne where her husband is now living in the way she knows best – by creating something beautiful for the residents to enjoy.

Daphne Ledwood is transforming the garden at the Wood Grange Care Home with pretty hanging baskets, mobiles, solar powered features and raised vegetable beds.

Her husband John (82) has been resident at the home since November last year, being transferred to the Memory Lane unit after a stay in Pilgrim Hospital following a stroke.

Visiting her husband in the home has not been an easy transformation for Daphne.

The couple have been together since the 1980s and lived together in Seas End Road, Surfleet. They met when they both worked at the BBC, John as an audio engineer.

Daphne said: “Wood Grange is such a wonderful place, I wanted to thank the staff for being so lovely to John and this is what I know, so I’m creating a garden for them.”

Work started just over a week ago and already the fruits of their labours are starting to show.

Daphne said: “We planted some seeds to grow vegetables to be used in the Memory Lane kitchen and the plants are already coming through. All of this rain has been really good for them.

“John came out to watch us. He had his coat and mine – it was the first time he’d been out since November and it was really nice having him there. He seems to know who I am.

“Some residents helped out in the garden, too, but not all of them can.

“One lady spend a lot of time looking out of the window, so we made sure she had something nice to look at.”

Contacts of Daphne’s were generous in donating plants and seeds, including Peter Harrison of Westwood Nursery at Bulby and Mr Fothergill’s Seeds of Newmarket.

With most of the planting done, Daphne is already working on another project, organising a dog show to raise money for the home on June 28.

Police are investigating two thefts in Bourne.

Diesel was stolen from lorries parked in Roman Bank at some point between 5.30am and 10am on Sunday.

Two men were spotted at 10am and ran off in the direction of The Arena industrial park.

Witnesses should call 101 quoting incident 117 of May 10.

And a home in St Peter’s Road was burgled between 4am and 12.05pm on Sunday.

Police have not said whether anything was stolen. Incident 172 of May 10.

There are no unusual delays or incidents on the roads around Lincolnshire this morning.

Heading further afield? A single lane was blocked earlier at the A1’s junction with the A14 in Cambridgeshire.

All train services are reported to be running to time.

Seen an incident or a delay? Email paul.fisher@jpress.co.uk

I have already thanked the good people who worked so hard as activists and candidates for my local party and for their country.

All 25 odd of them, as opposed to John Hayes’ claimed 200 activists. They did so on a budget of less than £2,000, all raised locally. I do not think there is much glory in a very marginal increase in Tory votes in such circumstances.

On the other hand UKIP increased it’s votes three times over, came a close second in several council seats and won two, from a standing start. This was not an official target seat and there was little help from our head office.The existing majority was considered to be too large. I am disappointed we did not do better but very pleased with our efforts.

To all those who voted for us, thank you. We will do our best for you. Please remember there are county elections in two years and we will need your votes again. You should also recall, when the time comes, how your local MP thinks of you for daring to vote against his party.

The recent comments by John Hayes are very disappointing. I thought Conservatives had better manners. I expect that sort of cheap smear from Labour, but not from Tories.

“Blemish on civilised society that is UKIP”. He should read our manifesto and local election material properly and state exactly what leads him to that very false conclusion.

He has just insulted some four million voters who chose UKIP on Thursday, over 10,000 of them in South Holland and many more who were tricked into reluctantly voting for his party, because it told them it was the only way to avoid being ruled by the SNP in a coalition with Labour. Winning an election does not entitle anyone to behave so inappropriately.

I have received many calls from members and supporters deeply hurt by his insults and demanding he retracts his rude, inaccurate, indeed untrue remarks.

To give voice to such rubbish after an election is not just political banter, it is inexcusable. I expect a public apology.

A Lincolnshire businessman has come up with a big idea to support the earthquake victims in Nepal.

Martin Thomas, managing director of LincsConnect, established to support the county’s businesses and charities, is putting together The Big Project in aid of the Nepal disaster.

He is asking service providers of all kinds throughout the county – beauty therapists, personal trainers, photographers, yoga teachers and more – to give their time for free for a county-wide pamper party on Sunday, June 7.

For each £20 ticket, people can access three sessions, and all the proceeds go to Nepal. To get involved email Martin at charity@lincsconnect.co.uk See page 29 for more Nepal fundraising.

A Spalding man who died in a motorbike crash has been named.

Mindaugas Mockus (37) was riding a Yamaha motorbike when he was involved in the crash on the A151 Station Road in Corby Glenn at 10.50am on Sunday.

The motorcyclist was part of a group of three other motorbikes and officers would like to hear from anyone who may have witnessed the collision or saw the group. In particular they are keen to trace a woman in a silver Ford Focus estate with possibly an 08 or 10 number plate, who could be a potential witness.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Lincolnshire Police Collision Witness hotline on 01522 558855.

A few times a year we make the trip to sunny Hunny, putting up with the inevitable traffic on the A17 for the joy of fish and chips overlooking the sea.

On a recent Saturday morning, however, we thought we would try to venture a bit further east 
and see how much we could accomplish if we hit the road a little earlier.

Just after 9am we arrived in the gorgeous town of Holt, in time for a full English breakfast at Byfords, probably the oldest building in the town and a delightful, cosy place to eat.

Tempted to just stay here for the day and wander around the shops, we resisted, although did manage a quick visit to Lapwing Woodturning in Lees Yard, buying a beautiful yew and oak cylindrical box from the charming and talented craftsman,Tom Kittle.

Back on the road, we continued along the A148 for a few more miles to Cromer. Despite the sunshine it was a bracing wind that whistled round our ears as we made our way onto the pier to watch people crabbing. Thankfully we found a sun trap on the south side of the Pavilion and had a half-hour doze, huddled together on a bench.

Walking back to the car, we popped into the Henry Blogg museum, dedicated to the RNLI’s most decorated lifeboatman who served for 53 years on Cromer’s lifeboats. We spent time looking at Henry’s old boat and his stack of medals and Dougie, the old salty dog, tried on a fetching Sou’wester and a surprisingly heavy life jacket made of cork.

We left Cromer at 1pm and took the coastal road through Sheringham, eventually stopping at Cley next the Sea. The village is very pretty and we mooched about, pausing to photograph the windmill, probably now most famous as being owned by the parents of singer­-songwriter James Blunt.

Having skipped lunch, we drove back a short distance to the nature reserve at Cley Marshes. The visitor centre has a great viewing area so you can choose something to eat from the cafe and sit looking out of the huge windows to spot the wildlife. Tea and scones, with masses of jam and cream, proved the perfect accompaniment.

Our final stop on our tour was Wells-­next-­the-Sea. We sauntered down Staithe Street to the quay before returning via The Staithe Gallery to look at the artwork created by owners David Roger Burton and Caroline Richmond. We chatted to David for some time about his fascinating collection of timber from Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory.

An early start had made such a difference, enabling us to see so much of Norfolk’s treasures in one day...and we still had Sunday for a well-deserved lie-­in.

* Follow Trish on Twitter @mumsgoneto and read her blog at www.mumsgoneto.blogspot.com

Help for Nepal earthquake victims from South Holland

Over £3,000 was raised in relief aid by Ram Krishna Bashyal and his business partner Deepak Chatri at the Gurkha Oven in Spalding.

The money came from a charity meal at the restaurant attended by 80 people, when a raffle was held, as well as donations from people who were unable to be present, plus £205 from a raffle at the Prior’s Oven in Spalding.

That came to £2,505, and a Red Cross charity collection amounted to £427. A further £275 was donated by Ayscoughfee School in Spalding, and Ram says more donations are still coming in.

He said: “I am really happy and humble at the support we received from everyone. I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who came or who supported us. I am happy and proud with Spalding.”

Ram liaised with a group of emergency workers to identify help was needed in a village left with literally nothing.

Rookie sailors had a whale of a time at Welland Yacht Club’s Push the Boat Out open day on Sunday, although a couple of them ended up in the drink.

Club commodore Martin Cook said 45 to 50 people turned up to try their hand at sailing and another 30 to 40 people were there to watch.

He said: “It was a lovely sight, really. The clubhouse was full, the bank was full, the sun was shining and the wind was blowing.

“We probably would have liked less wind.

“One or two of our guests did go for little swims – we did have one or two capsizes but they seemed to be smiling when we fished them out.”

The family day was a big success and there have been inquiries from participants about joining the club.

The club has always had an open day, but it now coincides with the national Push the Boat Out festival which embraces around 260 clubs which give people the chance to enjoy the water in a sailing boat or on a windsurfing board.

Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance is asking the general public to have a fry-up to help raise money on the charity’s 21st birthday.

Today (Wednesday), the local Air Ambulance are celebrating their 21st birthday and will be having a birthday party at their RAF Waddington base. Slightly unusually, they will be swapping cakes for fry-ups, and are asking the general public to do the same and help save a life.

To show support, the charity are asking the public to snap selfies of themselves enjoying a fry-up and uploading it to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook with the hastag: #flytofry. They are also suggesting, if supporters would like to go that extra mile to help save a life, they could get sponsored to do something fun, silly or bizarre. For example, cooking a fry up for family or friends; hosting a Come Dine With Me, or getting ‘their GaGa on’ and wearing their fry up to work or school!

And why a fry up and not a cake? Well, it’s all down to one of the doctors who flies with the crew. Every day of the year the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance crew start their shift at 6.30am by heading to the helipad to inspect the ambucopter. Having checked all is safe and ready for the day’s life-saving flights, they then head back to the base for their briefing. Once a week however, courtesy of Doctor Dave, the crew starts their day with a Great British fry up.

Today the charity team are joined by BBC Radio Lincolnshire to broadcast the celebrations all morning at RAF Waddington, joined by many guests including the crew, charity team, East Midlands Ambulance Service colleagues and previously airlifted patients.

ISS Defence Catering at RAF Waddington will be providing fry-ups and donating all profits to the charity.

All information on the day is at www.ambucopter.org.uk/frytofly. The charity’s social media sites are Facebook: /Ambucopter, Twitter: @LNAACT and Instagram: LNNACT.

CEO Peter Aldrick said: “This year is a very special year for us and so we wanted to celebrate it in a way that represents the true camaraderie and team spirit we have. The day will be a great day for us as it was back in 1994 when we first airlifted a patient. We’re looking forward to us all getting together and celebrating a service that has flown over 16,000 missions and saved thousands of lives. We have other events planned throughout this 21st year and we hope people will support us in those too.”

Employee wellbeing is the most important ingredient when it comes to Bakkavor Pizza.

The factory at Holbeach St Marks has just celebrated the opening of its new employee canteen, complete with refitted kitchen, brand new servery, additional counters and refurbished seating area.

The new canteen not only provides a range of delicious foods at subsidised prices, it also caters for both the day and night shifts at the site.

That means that all of the 900 employees are able to enjoy freshly made meals from 7.30am through to 1.30am. Catering firm Edwards & Blake runs the catering for the site.

A Bakkavor spokesman said: “This investment is part of Bakkavor Pizza’s continuing commitment to employee wellbeing.

“As well as the canteen, the business has also introduced a new outdoor garden seating area and runs the Holbeach St Marks Community Gym adjacent to the factory, offering subsidised membership to employees and the local community.

“At Bakkavor, our employees are at the heart of our business. This latest initiative demonstrates our continued commitment to employee wellbeing.”

A charity is appealing for volunteers in the Boston, Sleaford and Spalding areas to help local people who have been diagnosed with dementia to pursue their favourite hobbies and interests.

Lincolnshire has been chosen as one of the areas for the Alzheimer’s Society’s new Side by Side service which will initially be launched in and around Boston, Sleaford and Spalding.

Gary Headland, Alzheimer’s Society Side by Side Manager for Lincolnshire said: “We are very keen to hear from anyone who is interested in supporting people with dementia. As a Side by Side volunteer, you would be helping a person with dementia to continue with a favourite hobby or interest, or even try something completely new.

“This could be anything from walking, visiting historic sites, playing an instrument, joining local groups, going to the cinema, carrying on with a sport or leisure activity, through to just going out for a cup of tea and a chat.

“The focus of Side by Side is very much on what the person with dementia wants to do. By enabling people with dementia to stay active and involved in their local community, we can really help improve their quality of life.”

The charity says volunteers will receive full training and ongoing support to help them in their role.

There are thought to be around 11,000 people living with dementia in Lincolnshire and Mr Headland said: “We hope to roll out the service across the whole of Lincolnshire in future months.”

If you are interested in helping a person with dementia live a fuller life and would like to find out more information, contact Gary Headland on 01522 692681 or 07718 322323 or gary.headland@alzheimers.org.uk

A carriage drawn by four black horses dressed in purple plumage carried the coffin of Francis Hanson (90) on his last journey through Spalding.

The procession followed a service at St Mary & St Nicolas Church, which was absolutely filled with people paying respect to the man who was so instrumental in so many areas of the town’s life, including the former flower parade.
The funeral cortege went through the Market Place and made its way along New Road, past the site on the corner with Pinchbeck Road where Francis and his father Frank once ran Hansons department store.

It was a prescription for success when the old Lloyds Pharmacy premises in Spalding was re-opened following a transformation.

Last week Newton Fallowell officially opened its doors to its new estate agency office in the Bridge Street building.
Co-director and valuer Chris Lett has been working with local companies, including Spalding Signs and Elmtree Homes to completely refurbish the premises, creating a modern, comfortable and relaxed environment for those looking for a new home.
A number of people gathered for the opening, including town centre manager Dennis Hannant.
Photo: SG080515-101TW

The amount of people claiming benefits across Lincolnshire has seen a reduction across the board, according to the latest figures released today (Wednesday).

According to Government figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions, nationally unemployment has dropped to 5.5 per cent, meaning that employment across the UK has reached an all-time high of 73.5 per cent.

A spokesman said that, over the last year employment growth has outstripped every other major economy.

Closer to home, Becky Newborough, the Department for Work and Pension’s senior operations leader for Lincolnshire and Rutland, said Boston’s claimant count had seen a reduction year-on-year of 23 per cent to 838, 230 of which were youth claimants aged between 18-24 – a reduction of 25.8 per cent.

She attributed this reduction to Boston Job Centre’s work with local firms to create ‘sector-based academies’ as well as partnerships with groups such as Shaw Trust, Boston College, A4E, and Taylor ITEX, set up to help people on Employment Support Allowance to find jobs and get ‘up-skilled’.

In Skegness, the claimant count currently stands at 854, a reduction year-on-year of 41.9 per cent. Youth claimants account for 215 of those, equalling a reduction of 44.2 per cent.

Ms Newborough said this was part of an annual pattern, which occurred as ‘the season kicked in’, adding: “We’ve had Easter, we’ve had spring Bank Holidays - this is a pattern year-on-year.

“Other places such as Louth and Boston also work as feeders into the local area, with seasonal jobs providing for all those places.”

In Sleaford, the claimant count was 296, a reduction of 43.1 per cent year on year, with 95 of those being youth claimants - a reduction of 45 per cent.

Ms Newborough said: “In Sleaford, the job centre has been co-located with the local authority so they have done lots more closer working with that.”

She said there were developments taking place such as the Renewables Energy Plant - but said she couldn’t be sure of the impact of that on the local area.

In Spalding, there were 706 claimants, a reduction of 30.9 per cent including 180 youths at 34.5 per cent decrease.

Similar to Boston, Ms Newborough attributed this to closer working with large firms.

She said: “Boston and Spalding tend to have a lot of agricultural employers around leading again to work academies and partnerships with business such as Bakkavor.”

She said they tended to try to bring employers into the Job Centre and allow them to use facilities for assessments and interviews.

Louth’s figures had also reduced by 36 per cent to 326, with youth figures standing at 85 – a reduction of 41.4 per cent.

Ms Newborough said: “Louth is a market town, which hasn’t seen any major, major employers go in there, but we have seen more vacancies appear, especially with the seasonal upturn.”

She reiterated that Louth and others did feed into coastal season work as well, and pointed out that many would be waiting for Premier Inn to ‘get the go ahead’.

“That will make a massive difference, it’s more jobs and will bring in more tourism for the economy.”

According to the national report, the Government has seen ‘remarkable success’ in supporting people coming off benefits and into work.

It said the number of people claiming the main out-of-work benefits has fallen by one million since 2010.

Long-term unemployment has also seen the largest annual fall in 17 years, supported by the Work Programme - the biggest single payment by results employment programme Britain has ever seen.

The number of vacancies in the economy is now well over 700,000 at any one time across the UK.

Employment minister Priti Patel, said: “Our long-term economic plan is creating a better, more prosperous future for Britain, with employment at an all-time high and more women in work than ever before. Behind the statistics are countless stories of individual hard work and determination – of people feeling more financially secure with a regular wage.

“I want to continue to ensure our welfare reforms are giving people the skills and opportunities to move into work to give everyone in our country the chance to make the most of their lives.”

This week the Government announced it would be bringing in new measures to support a further two million rise in employment, including requiring young people to take part in training or work placements, increasing free childcare, reducing the benefit cap to £23,000 to ensure people are always better off in work.

Pupils at William Stukeley Primary School at Holbeach went on a Big Green Adventure recently.

And they not only took the whole school with them, but around 200 parents and grandparents too.

That was the name of the production by Year 3, 4 and 5 pupils, and directed by class teachers Sarah Smith, Andrea Emeny and Claire Underwood, who is also assistant head at the school.

Mrs Smith said the production was a way of getting across the environmentally friendly message, to families as well as to the children themselves.

The youngsters picked on various themes, such as shopping locally and so saving air miles, using cars less often and so increasing exercise by walking or cycling, preventing deforestation and generally recycling more.

The themes tapped into topics being discussed within the classroom as well as into the school ethos of encouraging staff and pupils to be eco friendly.

Mrs Smith said: “They absolutely loved it. It was fantastic. They learned so much through role play and acting and really got into it.

“It really hit home to them, things like switching off lights in the classroom, making sure they use the right bins for getting rid of waste and seeing the importance of us asking the children to do this.”

After a dress rehearsal in front of the whole school, the children performed on two evenings for friends and relatives.

Mrs Smith added: “The parents really supported the children in the play. They loved it and the songs were very catchy.”

Spalding’s branch of Greggs will close from 4pm on Saturday until the end of the month for a major refit.

The internal layout of the popular bakers and coffee shop will be switched around to give the store a fresh new look.

The Hall Place shop originally traded as Bakers Oven but was acquired by Greggs in the Nineties and re-branded as a Greggs in the Noughties.

Leaflets handed out to customers this week say: “We’re closed to give your shop a fresh new look. We’ll be back up and baking on Saturday 30th May.”

With any luck, South Holland will have the best excuse for a tea party.

It will be a posh one, naturally, if either of the district’s two vintage tearooms is voted into the finals of the National Vintage Awards.

Both A Time to Remember, a small vintage tearoom at Silverwood Garden Centre, based at Sutton Crosses, near Long Sutton, and Spalding-based Vinteage, a pop-up tearoom, are nominees in the events, services and suppliers category of the awards.

Both will be hoping they receive enough votes to get them through to the final, and an awards night in August.

At A Time to Remember, where customers rave about dishes such as the mince and onion pie with its melt-in-the-mouth crust, it might be the traditional fare that swings it for them.

The tearoom’s regulars appreciate those little extras that make tea-time an occasion: loose tea served in a teapot with a strainer and china cups.

Vinteage, which is owned and run by Mary Haresign, has developed into a business specialising in catering and styling for weddings, shows and events.

Mary is a vintage enthusiast, from her ‘victory roll’ hairstyle down to her favourite 1950s style blue frock and shoes.

She has spent the past few years building up her vintage collections so that she can cater for weddings or events up to quite a large size.

Mary said: “My teapot collection keeps growing – I think I have got about 50 different pots now – and enough cups, saucers and side plates to feed 300 people.”

Her clients are looking for traditional cakes and sandwiches, but that VE Day favourite corned beef isn’t usually on the menu.

Mary says: “A lot of people just like cucumber, cheese and ham, the very simple fillings, and we do sponge cakes and cream teas.”

Mary, who works as a carer to supplement her income from Vinteage, says the pop-up tearoom is very much a family affair.

Her sisters Laura Hilliam and Helen Clarke help out as waitresses and even mum Janet Hilliam dresses up as a trolley dolly when she can.

Mary’s brother Joseph has a designer’s eye and helps with styling at functions and made pinnies for them all, while brother-in-law Rui Macedo, who works at Hedonism, is able to re-create hair styles from the 1940s and 1950s to keep the girls looking the part.

Mary says: “It would be nice to get short-listed for the awards, but I am pleased I made it this far really.”

Readers have until May 31 to vote and the finals night and awards presentations are in August. Visit http://www.thenationalvintageawards.co.uk/32829/best-event-service-supplier.html