HIGH winds have caused several trees to fall into roads across south Lincolnshire.
In Holbeach, police are currently directly traffic due a fallen tree in Church Street, near to the junction with High Street.
Hall Lane in Algarkirk is completely closed this morning, also due to a fallen tree, between Boston Road and Church Lane.
CAMPAIGNERS fighting to keep open Spalding’s Chappell Centre will today press county councillor Graham Marsh to keep his promise that it will not close until replaced by something “as good or better”.
South Holland and The Deepings MP John Hayes will privately meet Coun Marsh, executive councillor for adult social care, with campaigners Maurice Chappell and Michael Lee at the Pinchbeck Road day centre.
ARSONISTS are being blamed for two house fires overnight in Spalding and Holbeach.
One person had to be rescued from a three-storey house in Albert Walk, Holbeach, just before 1am this morning.
Crews from Holbeach, Spalding and Long Sutton helped to give first aid before the person was taken to hospital by ambulance.
The fire resulted in damage to a first floor living room and a garage.
It was extinguished using one hose reel and two sets of breathing apparatus.
Shortly after 2.35am this morning, three more crews were sent to Lansdowne Court in Spalding.
A spokesman for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue said it resulted in severe fire damage to a sofa, curtains and a section of carpet.
There was also heat damage to a windowsill and frame, and smoke damage to the rest of the flat.
The fire was extinguished using one hose reel and two sets of breathing apparatus.
The main road through Gedney Dyke has been closed after a crash this morning.
A car left the B1359 near Goose Farm between Gedney Dyke and Gedney Drove End at around 7.30am. It hit a tree and brought down some power cables.
The road was closed while repairs were carried out by utility workers.
PLANNING permission for the second phase of the new Spalding western relief road could be sought as early as spring this year.
The road forms the second link in a long term aspiration to provide a complete route around the west side of the town.
Lincolnshire County Council’s Highways, Transport and Technology Scrutiny committee will be considering the latest report on Monday and recommendations are to approve and protect the route of the road and approve taking the scheme to a planning application in late spring or early summer.
The first phase, the southern section, starts at the B1172 Littleworth Drove, and includes a new bridge over the railway, extending to the boundary of Holland Park. This will be provided by the developer for Holland Park.
Phase two will continue the route northwards, linking the Holland Park development to A151 Bourne Road, with a new roundabout constructed at Bourne Road.
Phase three is a longer term aspiration and would link Bourne Road to the B1356 Spalding Road, in the vicinity of Enterprise Way.
The latest cost estimate for the scheme is £11.8m including design, land and compensation.
Two route options were presented to the public during a consultation exercise in July and August last year, with the more western route being favoured.
A HOLBEACH pensioner claims her car was illegally clamped at a town hotel and is battling to win back the £50 she had to pay to get it released.
Rose Ayling (68) parked at The Chequers Hotel on November 29 and nipped to QD Stores for a couple of bits of shopping before returning to the hotel intending to pick up its Christmas menu for a possible Age UK lunch there.
Mrs Ayling said her car was only at the premises for 15 minutes but it was clamped and she had to go into the hotel and pay £50 on a card terminal to get it released.
She said: “I told the landlord my colleague had asked me to get the menu and he kind of said ‘I don’t believe you’.”
A colleague contacted the hotel to confirm Mrs Ayling had been there on Age UK business.
Mrs Ayling said: “They were most rude to her. Of course we didn’t have lunch there.”
The pensioner took her case to Trading Standards, which referred her to the Security Industry Authority – the licensing authority for wheel-clampers – and it has been reported to Crimestoppers.
Mrs Ayling says she’s been told that the hotel does not have a wheel clamping licence and she believes that means her car was clamped illegally and she’s entitled to her money back.
She has written to the hotel asking for a refund but had no reply.
A spokesman for the Security Industry Authority said: “By law, anyone involved in the clamping chain and operating on private land must hold and display a valid SIA licence including the person who collects the fee.
“If we identify offences under the Private Security Industry Act 2001, we will pursue them through the enforcement channels available to us.”
Landlord Mark Andrews declined to comment to the Spalding Guardian.
l The hotel faces a licensing panel review this month following police concerns about fights and violence on the premises.
A PROGRAMME to encourage healthy eating and active lifestyles for children starts in Spalding on Monday.
Fit Kids is a free 12-week weight management course for children aged eight to 11 and aims to help them lead healthier lives, get fitter and lose weight.
Sarah Ferneyhough, Physical Activity Manager at Lincolnshire Sports Partnership, said: “Leading a healthy lifestyle is a difficult thing to do; especially when life is already so busy. These courses help families to get the right balance; fitting in regular physical activity and eating a healthy diet.
“The changes we see over 12 weeks are incredible; children gain confidence, get fitter and the whole family is encouraged to lead a healthier lifestyle.”
The Fit Kids programme starts on Monday at The Fitness Company.
For information, contact Tracey Vowels on 01775 766775. Booking essential.
A DRIVER has died and another has been injured following a crash at Langtoft this morning.
The driver, believed to be a woman from Bourne, was travelling in a silver Rover 214 which collided with a silver Vauxhall Corsa at about 7.40am.
The fatal crash was in King Street.
Police say the woman died at the scene, while the driver of the Corsa, whose details have not yet been released, was taken to Peterborough City Hospital and treated for minor injuries.
Officers are appealing for anyone who witnessed the accident to get in touch with them as soon as possible.
Anyone with information should dial 101.
UPDATE Friday, 11am: Last night’s house blaze in Spalding was started deliberately.
Fire officers have confirmed that the fire at a detached house in Chaucer’s Way is being treated as arson.
Police are investigating.
The incident was the third house fire on Thursday.
Police made two arrests after arson attacks in Landsdowne Court, Spalding, and Albert Walk, Holbeach.
A 13-year-old girl has been charged in connection with the Spalding incident and is due to appear at Spalding Youth Court on February 1.
It’s understood police are still waiting to onterview a 20-year-old man about the Holbeach blaze.
Friday, 8.15am: THE cause of a blaze which left a Spalding home with “severe” fire damage is under investigation.
Emergency services were called out to the detached house on Chaucer’s Way just after 7.05pm last night.
A spokesman for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue said the fire caused severe damage to the kitchen and dining room, and the rest of the property was smoke damaged.
The fire was extinguished by two crews from Spalding and a pump from Holbeach using two hose reel jets and four sets of breathing apparatus.
NHS bosses are keeping quiet about names of bidders for the former Welland Hospital site in Roman Bank, Spalding.
The hospital was finally demolished a few weeks ago after the building was wrecked by vandals and arsonists.
United Lincolnshire NHS Trust spokesman Rebecca Derbyshire said: “I have been told the site has been cleared and the security fence has been installed around it, but unfortunately we can’t comment on the marketing of the site so I can’t tell you about any bidders.”
A PILOT killed in a helicopter crash in Cambridgeshire is believed to have been flying to a South Holland airfield.
The accident happened at about 11.30am this morning in fields near Lancaster Way Business Park at Witchford, near Ely.
The ambulance service said the man, whose age is not known, was declared dead at the scene having suffered multiple injuries.
Eyewitnesses said they heard a bang and saw a black helicopter crash to the ground and land upside down.
The helicopter, thought to be a Robinson R22 two-seater, is believed to have been flying from Manston Airport in Kent to Fenland Airfield at Holbeach St Johns, however no-one at the airfield was available to confirm this.
An ambulance service hazardous area response team attended the incident, as well as an air ambulance.
Cambridgeshire Police have set up a cordon around the crash site but no roads have been closed.
Crash investigators will begin a probe into the cause of the incident.
POLICE fear a man operating a rent card scam in Wales could be doing it across the UK with the help of others.
Officers in Lincolnshire have issued a warning on behalf of Gwent Police, where the man has conned various shops and got away with £2,200 over just five days in November.
They say the man goes into a shop and asks for his rent card to be topped up with an amount of cash, which in the Gwent cases has often been for £440.
The card is a fraud, has been cloned and is linked to a pre-pay Mastercard.
Once the operator has topped up the fraudulent rent card at a PayPoint terminal the man goes to pay for the top up on his bank card but it’s declined.
He tells the cashier he will go to a cashpoint to get the cash but never returns. The offender is then able to withdraw the cash that has been paid onto the Mastercard.
Police say he has been described as speaking with an Eastern European accent.
Anyone with information on the scam is asked to call Gwent Police on 01633 838111 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
MICHAEL Ward (24) denied taking a vehicle from Sutton Bridge without the owner’s consent on October 28.
Spalding magistrates on Thursday adjourned the hearing for a trial on February 21 and extended Ward’s conditional bail.
Ward – also known by the surname Carter – lives in Salts Road, West Walton, Wisbech.
SCHOOLS, voluntary groups and clubs are being called upon to pitch in to help kick-start a fundraising week in the hope of raising thousands of pounds for local charities.
The Rotary Club of Spalding is hoping South Holland’s residents can put aside their fondness for tulips and back Two Lips instead.
In conjunction with the Spalding Guardian, the club is hosting Two Lips – a charity week from May 14-21 – with the aim of raising more than £10,000.
The money will go to four special organisations – Spalding’s Phab, the League of Friends of the Spalding Hospitals, Scouts and Guides and the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance.
A proportion will also go to Rotary International in aid of their nationally selected charities.
Rotary Club of Spalding president Alan Porter was inspired by the activities people were carrying out for Red Nose Day when he came up with the idea.
“We are hoping this will be an annual event,” he said. “What we want is to make sure the money raised goes to charities that help Spalding and the surrounding district.
“Everyone will benefit from this.”
Getting involved is easy. Anyone interested in taking part needs to come up with an idea for an event.
This could be anything from a dress down day, cake stalls, talent show, or completing a sporting challenge.
The organisers are also looking for volunteers and businesses to sell special Two Lips whistles for the week for donations of 50p or above.
Once you have your idea, pick up and complete a registration form from any Rotary Club of Spalding member or from the Lincolnshire Free Press and Spalding Guardian offices in The Crescent, Spalding.
Any further details can be obtained by calling John Barnes on 01775 725514.
Mr Porter added: “This is the community’s chance to help local charities.
“We want you to grab your family, your sports teams and friends from the pub and come up with an event where you get to have fun and raise money for good causes at the same time.”
In the run up to May 14-21, the Spalding Guardian will be featuring the fundraisers who have volunteered to take part.
Volunteers who save the lives of hundreds of people across Lincolnshire have responded to their 100,000th emergency call-out.
The Lives First Responder scheme reached the milestone just before Christmas.
It marks a huge victory for the hundreds of volunteers who give up their time to administer life-saving first aid to sick and injured people in their community.
The charity estimates that this means at least a thousand lives have been saved.
Steve Hyde, a first responder and fundraising, marketing and recruitment manager for the charity, said: “Attending 100,000 call-outs is a big thing for us.
“It really pushes home how important Lives is as a charity for a county as rural as Lincolnshire and it means that we’ve gone out and treated 100,000 people.
“The first responders are the ultimate volunteers for their community. We always say to them after the training that someone at some point in their community will be extremely grateful they went through the training.”
Lives first responders are trained and equipped to provide emergency care to patients suffering breathing difficulty and choking, collapse, chest pain and cardiac arrest.
They also attend road accidents and other 999 call-outs.
Lives was formed in 1975 by two Lincolnshire GPs, with membership limited to volunteer doctors.
In 1999 the First Responder service was launched and membership was extended to include paramedics, nurses and members of the public trained to give basic life support and defibrillation.
One of Lives’ key goals is to reach and treat cardiac arrest patients within six minutes of an emergency call.
Charity organisers are now appealing for more people to join up as well as extra funding.
STUDENTS from four secondary schools were in business when they set out their stalls at Baytree Nurseries Garden Centre.
Youngsters from The Priory School in Spalding, the University Academy Holbeach, Spalding High School and Spalding Grammar School have been taking part in Young Enterprise, a scheme that allows them to set up and run their own businesses.
Baytree boss Reinhard Biehler welcomed the youngsters to his thriving business at Weston – and was invited to judge the cream of the crop.
THE editorial team working on Spalding High School’s online newspaper held a successful launch attended by all year groups within the school.
The newspaper was founded in 2010 to be run by pupils on the school’s Gifted and Talented programme.
It’s still run by Gifted and Talented pupils, mainly in the upper sixth, but has now moved from the former PDF format to a fully online version, accessed via the school’s main website.
Gifted and Talented coordinator Amanda Rossi said: “Now everyone’s reading it, talking about it and hopefully encouraging their parents and friends – worldwide – to do the same.”
The paper is run by co-editors Caroline Dormor and Charlotte Jones and a team including Katie New, Laura Young, Molly Harper, Hannah Futter and Henry Louis.
A MAN on a bike made a gun gesture with his fingers and shouted “boosh” when he saw his ex-wife waiting in a car at traffic lights in High Street, Holbeach.
Karen Bliss turned round her car and followed David Ringer to Edinburgh Walk, drove in front of him, parked up and asked if he had something to say.
John Mitchell, prosecuting, told Spalding magistrates Ringer then mentioned having a gun and said he was going to blow her head off.
Mr Mitchell continued: “He said ‘I am going to blow you to smithereens. It is not a threat this time – I will bring it to your door.”
Following his arrest, Ringer admitted he said something about “getting a shotgun and ramming it down her throat”.
Ringer (46), of Marshlands Drive, Holbeach, pleaded guilty to a public order offence following the incident on October 14 last year and Spalding magistrates on Thursday adjourned the hearing to January 26 for a probation report.
Ringer had his conditional bail extended.
Solicitor Rachel Stevens, mitigating, said the couple had been divorced since 1996 and Mrs Bliss is now married to Ringer’s former best friend.
Miss Stevens said: “He was cycling on this occasion through town.
“He recognised her cherished number plate and he said he gave her the ‘V sign’ – that was clearly an unwise thing to do – it wasn’t a gun action.”
Miss Stevens asked the court to consider Mrs Bliss’s actions in turning around her car, following Ringer and chasing him on his cycle to Edinburgh Walk.
She said: “He thought had there not been another car to hide behind she would have knocked him off his bike.”
Miss Stevens said Ringer’s words were “one of these days a shotgun is going to get rammed down your throat”.
She continued: “It was an empty threat. He doesn’t have any form of shotgun or have access to one.”
Miss Stevens said Ringer is a schizophrenic under care of his GP and has metal plates in both of his ankles after suffering an accident some time ago. He doesn’t work.
INVESTIGATIONS are under way after fires were deliberately started at three homes in Spalding and Holbeach in less than 24 hours.
The fires, which are not connected, resulted in residents being evacuated from their homes, one man being rescued from the first floor of a house and a police plea for witnesses.
Police say the most recent in Chaucer’s Way, Spalding – which was started while the owner was out – has caused concern among the community.
Emergency services were called out to the detached house just after 7.05pm on Thursday.
Firefighters said the blaze caused severe damage to the kitchen and dining room, and the rest of the property was smoke damaged.
DS Jen Lovatt, from Spalding CID, said: “The fire at this property is being treated as a deliberate ignition and, whilst arson attacks on domestic properties are very rare, this incident has naturally caused concern in the local community.”
The fire was extinguished by two crews from Spalding and a pump from Holbeach using two hose reel jets and four sets of breathing apparatus.
In the early hours of the same day, fire crews were also called out to Albert Walk, Holbeach, and Lansdowne Court, Spalding.
A 20-year-old man had to be rescued from the first floor of a three-storey house in Albert Walk just before 1am.
Crews from Holbeach, Spalding and Long Sutton helped to give him oxygen before he was taken to Pilgrim Hospital, Boston, by ambulance.
The man remains in hospital in a stable condition.
The fire resulted in damage to a first floor living room and a garage.
The fire was extinguished using one hose reel jet and two sets of breathing apparatus.
Ten minutes after the call to Holbeach, a number of residents in flats in Lansdowne Court in Spalding had to be evacuated.
A Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue said a fire in one of the flats caused severe damage to a sofa, curtains and a section of carpet.
There was also heat damage to a windowsill and frame, and smoke damage to the rest of the flat.
The fire was extinguished using one hose reel and two sets of breathing apparatus.
A 13-year-old girl has since been charged with arson with the intent to endanger life. She has been bailed to appear before Spalding Youth Court on February 1.
l Anyone who was around Chaucer’s Way between 1pm and 7.30pm on Thursday and may have seen something suspicious should call Lincolnshire Police on 101.
MORE than £14,000 was spent on community projects by South Holland’s councillors in December.
Donations towards a new organ for All Saints’ Church in Moulton and a contribution towards enhancing a play area in Whaplode were among the schemes to benefit from cash from the designated councillor budgets.
South Holland district councillors have each been handed £4,000 this financial year to spend on projects they believe are worthwhile.
The biggest combined donation last month came from Long Sutton councillors David Wilkinson, Dennis Tennant and Simon Booth. They gave £1,000 each towards a new roof for Tydd St Mary Village Hall.
Councillors Michael Booth and Chris Brewis also joined forces to give £1,000 each to help fund the police room in the Curlew Centre in Sutton Bridge. The pair gave a further £93.73 each to buy 20 litter pickers for offenders in the Community Payback scheme working for Sutton Bridge in Bloom.
Coun Gary Taylor, representing Spalding Castle ward, also chose to spend £68.38 of his budget on the scheme.
Coun Nick Worth gave away £1,500 from his budget to go towards a teenage shelter for Holbeach Hurn Village Hall and Playing Field Committee.
Those living in The Saints ward will be able to enjoy improved access following tree surgery work in the parish churchyard in Sutton St Edmund thanks to a £1,000 from Coun Mick Seymour.
l A full record of what councillors spend from their budgets is available on the South Holland District Council website.