Community

Pupils at a Spalding school have their very own little companion thanks to the support buddy scheme. Headteacher at St John’s Primary School Clare Robinson came up with the idea for everyone to have their very own mascot, friend, companion, partner in crime and work buddy. She spoke to The Friends of the School who then contacted lots of local ...

There will be a special Womble for mental health in Spalding later this spring. The popular Wombles of Spalding Common group is supplying equipment for the planned event. Vanessa Browning, from Community Mind Matters, and Mark Le Sage, of the Rightside Trust, are joining forces to host the event when restrictions allow. “The outside world and nature is very important ...

A Spalding Grammar School pupil is getting on her bike to raise money to allow her to teach in Honduras. Jodie Rhodes (17) is looking to teach English in the central American country of Honduras for 12 months from September as part of her gap year. She’s gone through a long selection process to be one of 90 children selected ...

People across South Holland have been showing they’re superheroes themselves to raise money for Comic Relief. One of those heroes was 10-year-old Lola Willson who raised £460 by baking and selling cakes and then shaving her dad Jack’s moustache. Lola with her bake sale Mum Clare put a message out on social media about who might want the baked goods ...

Historic places manager for Lincolnshire County Council will be the guest speaker at the AGM of Spalding and District Civic Society tomorrow (Tuesday, March 23). Ian will be giving a visual presentation entitled “Heritage, historic character and place making” as part of the Zoom meeting going live at 7.30pm. He’s worked for the county council, as an inspector of ancient monuments ...

A struggling mum and her baby boy have been overwhelmed with support following an appeal to help with heating and food. A post on The Holbeach Heroes COVID Bank Facebook page recently detailed how the single mum, who is a key worker on maternity leave, was finding it difficult to heat her home and afford food. The Holbeach area woman, ...

Communities are being offered the chance to adopt an iconic red telephone box and putting it to good use. Whether it’s to house a mini-library or a defibrillator, kiosks all over the country have been adopted by communities and put to a variety of good uses. Now there are five in South Holland which British Telecom is putting up for ...

An octet of seals are back in the wild thanks to the hard work and dedication of staff at an RSPCA centre. The pups had all been rescued and treated before heading back to the wild in a mass release at Sutton Bridge. They had all needed months of care at the RSPCA centre in East Winch, near King’s Lynn. ...

Plans are being put in place in the hope Holbeach could host a bumper Christmas celebration later this year. Holbeach parish councillor Sam Jackson told last week’s meeting of the authority last week that he was working with All Saints’ Church on making the annual St Nicholas Christmas Fair an event for the whole town. Among the early ideas are ...

Female staff at Bakkavor Pizza and Holbeach Hospital patients were given a blooming marvellous gesture on International Women’s Day last week. Staff at the Bakkavor’s branch in Holbeach St Marks were given flowers with a label thanking them and quoting Michelle Obama. It said: “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” Those flowers left over were ...

Residents at St John’s Care Home celebrated Mother’s Day on Sunday with a special Mother’s Day lunch and afternoon tea complete with Bucks Fizz and cakes. The lunch table was decorated with handmade personal messages created by the care staff at the home. Ann Gregory And thanks to the measures put in place at the home, some residents were able ...

A Spalding band have got back together for a reunion tour – of littering hotspots. Zebra haven’t been able to play recently, but they did have a socially distanced meet-up at the weekend helping clear the area as part of the Wombles of Spalding Common initiative. They managed to fill three bags along the Coronation Channel with rubbish including several ...

A family who have raised over £2,000 for charity by walking more than 100 miles in February have now taken up wombling. Teresa Thorpe (54), of Weston, and daughter Kimberley Waite, accompanied by three-year-old son Evan, attempted to walk and run 56 miles in the month to raise money for Cancer Research UK as part of Teresa’s bid to get ...

A group of Spalding Grammar School alumni are taking on charity challenges to help stay in touch, with the first in solidarity with another former schoolmate. On March 27, Oliver Shores, Mario Fragale and Max Pearce will run a marathon around London while wearing 20kg backpacks and raising money for R;pple Suicide Prevention. The Untitled Gamechangers, as the group and ...

An 18-year-old footballer was given an explosive finish to his month of charity runs. Sam Bayly, of Spalding, ran 5K every day in February raising £1,209 for The Alzheimer’s Society. He did so to thank his great nan Maxine Andrews who suffers with the condition. On the completion of his final run, his family turned up to let off streamers. ...

Transported has announced its latest activities – ‘The Creative Response to Loneliness programme – an initiative to combat the feelings of loneliness and isolation that the pandemic has brought through creative activity. The programme has been funded by Arts Council England to provide immediate, targeted relief through creative and cultural activity to those most at risk of loneliness as a ...

Youngsters (and some less young) across South Holland have been getting in the spirit of World Book Day. Today (Thursday, March 4) people have been dressing up as their favourite characters from books. Even those who haven’t been in school have been wearing their get-up at home. They include pupils of St Bartholomew’s Primary School in West Pinchbeck. A spokesperson ...

A Gedney Hill family have been touched by the support from the community after their three-year-old ‘glorious leader’ was diagnosed with leukaemia. Mum and dad Lisa Bell and James Lidgey-Hutt have been left devastated after son Michael was diagnosed with the cancer last month. Now they’re being offered support with Michael’s uncle Jeoffrey Bell looking to wax his legs to ...

The fame of Spalding’s Wombles is spreading as the group featured on national television at the weekend. With more than 2,000 members and big plans for the future, the group is inspiring others around the country to begin their own campaign of litter clearing. An appearance on the BBC Look North show on Friday was followed the next day with ...

Moulton’s annual Big Spring Clean was the biggest so far with the Wombles’ initiative being cited as an inspiration for its success. Andrew Woolf, the vice chair of Moulton Parish Council, has organised it, and the Autumn Spring Clean, for the last three years. Over 40 people of all ages gathered on Saturday in Moulton, Moulton Chapel and Moulton Seas ...