Christmas and cemetery cash debated at town forum

Councillors have called on more money to be spent on Christmas celebrations and on the town’s cemetery.

The concerns were raised as the Spalding Special Expense, the part of council tax fee to be spent in Spalding, was discussed at the recent Spalding Town Forum meeting.

Coun Angela Newton expressed disappointment more money wasn’t being put forward for this year’s events compared with last year.

She said: “I was very sad about Christmas here last year.

“I thought it was pathetic, a big let down for the council tax payers of the district. I don’t think the lights were brilliant.

“I certainly don’t think the activities from the Christmas weekend or light switch on were a credit to the town at all.

“As far as I could see we had a couple of stilt walkers and that was about it.”

Referencing Swaffham winning £1,000 from a competition towards its Christmas lights Coun Newton continued: “Little things like that might make us be able to do a little more at Christmas.

“If only we could get a better budget or think about Christmas before October.

“We used to hold our meetings in January and February but we’ve not had meetings with the market traders.

“If we haven’t it’s going to be a dead loss and we want people into the town.”

The meeting heard £11,000 pays for installation, storage and taking down the Christmas lights while £750 is usually used for the Christmas tree.

Emily Holmes, the district council’s communities manager, said details would come out after this week’s Pumpkin Festival.

“We’ve taken onboard the feedback from previous years and we’re really excited about the plans the team have in place this year linking Spalding town centre and Ayscoughfee Hall,” she told the meeting.

Coun Rob Gibson said: “It does sound like there’s been a lot of planning going on and hopefully that will come to more. It’s maybe something we can look at for next year.”

Coun Elizabeth Sneath argued that more money needs to be spent on the cemetery.

“The roads are in a mess, we’re going to need to do some resurfacing. It’s such a heritage asset and full of the history of Spalding and it’s too important to let that cemetery go to rack and ruin.

“When I ran an event last year at the Cemetery Chapels hundreds of people came to see it and wanted to know about it and get involved. I think we could make it into a really big thing.”

She said after the meeting: “There are hundreds of rare and interesting trees in there and some clearing of overgrown undergrowth would be beneficial. Julia Knight (of Ayscoughfee Hall) and I are looking into arranging a tree walk next spring.

“So many residents of Spalding have been laid to rest in there over the last 150 years, there are some fascinating stories to be found on their headstones. It could be possible that the Cemetery Chapels might be brought back into use as they only need minor repairs and maintenance to be usable again.”