Community

Spalding’s Wombles have bought new bins, been praised by the Town Forum and appeared on county radio in the last few days. With almost 2,000 members, the group has opened a bank account for donations to help supply equipment and to provide litter bins. The ten bins will be sited in liaison with the district council and there’s an online ...

A Weston nine-year-old has raised over a thousand pounds as well as awareness for those who are homeless by taking on a sponsored walk every night for seven days. Ollie Carrington-Ford has already raised over £1,000 for the Light Project in Peterborough and is set to bolster that further by holding a raffle. Previously the Spalding Whites U9s FC and ...

A new priest has been appointed in charge of St John the Baptist in Spalding. The Bishop of Grimsby announced the appointment of the Rev Greg Bannister during an online Sunday service last month. Greg’s wife Sophie will also be licensed to St John’s as a non-stipendiary Assistant Priest and they will both be licensed on February 22 via Zoom. ...

Holbeach’s Community Ball is hoping to return later this year to raise funds for the town’s hospital. The popular event was last held in March 2020. That’s obviously not possible this year, but instead the event is hoped to go ahead on October 2. Tickets are already proving popular with only six tables remaining. This year’s theme will be ‘Fire ...

The local branch of a group aimed at beating loneliness is reminding people of the online sessions open to them. Nene and Welland Oddfellows is inviting anyone struggling with the impact of spending increasing time alone to join them at one of their regular free online social events. The group has a diary of upcoming Zoom events, which they can ...

Long Sutton Market House is appealing for donated laptops for local schools. Volunteers who run the community centre at the town facility, are asking for people to donate any old, unused laptops to benefit children in the area who are currently learning at home. A spokesman said: “Children throughout the country are being asked to stay home and not travel ...

Those behind a project to create a new community space in Spalding are looking for young designers to help create a logo for it. The St Thomas’s Project is turning the former Methodist Church on St Thomas’s Road into the new hub aimed to be used by the whole community. The building was bought by the adjacent St Norbert’s Roman ...

Struggling families across South Holland are being offered a lifeline thanks to two kind hearted women. Steph Jennings (30) and Sarah Phoenix (35) have just launched the Spalding and Surrounding Baby Bank, off the back of the success of the Holbeach Heroes Covid Bank which Sarah started in October. The idea is for people to donate unwanted baby items to ...

Lockdown has been quackers for a Holbeach family after they took to helping ducks. Cheryl Potts and her daughters Willow (12) and Rowan Ravenscroft (11) have been helping nurse some of the town’s wild animals back to health. It all started in the first lockdown after one of the family cats brought a Mallard back to their Hallgate home. “Luckily ...

Memories of Spalding Flower Parade are being sought for a new community project, which will also explore potential ways of reinvigorating the event for future generations if there is a demand for it. South Holland Heritage, which is part of Chain Bridge Forge, in Spalding, has secured £15,000 Arts Council funding for the multi-phased project, which aims to collate people’s ...

A nature reserve has closed temporarily in the hope that the newly arrived pair of cranes will repeat the breeding success last year – the first time the birds bred in Lincolnshire for 400 years. Willow Tree Fen near Tongue End will not be open to the public to increase the chances of the pair of cranes breeding again. The ...

Transported and South Holland District Council are inviting Spalding residents to send in their stories and memories to transform them into pieces of art. Transported, a community arts project, wants to take memories sent in by local people and craft them into reality. The selected stories will be turned into book nooks – pieces of artwork by designers and makers ...

A group that aims to promote cycling says it’s continuing its work throughout the pandemic in a bid to “look for a better deal for Spalding’s present and future cyclists”. PEDALS has been campaigning for better and safer cycling facilities for over 37 years. And they’ve continued to do so throughout 2020. That includes holding small, socially distanced outdoor steering ...

A badminton club has served up a boost for Whaplode’s Elizabethan Centre. Whaplode Drove Badminton Club usually plays at the venue and working with the committee that run it, has secured a £4,500 grant from The Cambridge Community Foundation. They money will go towards redecorating the somewhat tired looking main hall which is big enough for two badminton courts. The ...

A call has gone out to local businesses who may be able to help a historic building. The Cemetery Chapels in Holbeach has a leaking roof and initial estimates are that it could cost £30,000 to fix. The 1854 brick built buildings connected by a stone archway and tower are owned by Holbeach Parish Council. Plans are in place to ...

An extension to Long Sutton’s cemetery has a new hedgerow thanks to the hard work of parish councillors. Chairman John Clarey, vice chairman David Cawthorne, Coun Norman Redican and parish clerk Karen Treacher worked together to plant the new hedgerow following installation of the fence. The hedgerow has been funded by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Fund Grant Scheme. It will be ...

Local businesses Ark ICT and Simply Magazines have teamed up to help families source equipment required to aid home learning. It’s estimated around nine per cent of children in the UK do not have access to a laptop, desktop or tablet at home and with many children expected to learn from home during the current lockdown it’s vital they have ...

Hundreds of people have picked up their black bags and taken to the streets in a bid to win the war on litter. With more than 1,100 members in less than three weeks, the Wombles of Spalding Common are now an army of litter-pickers to be reckoned with and they are not going to stop. Hard-working pickers at Hereward Close ...

Local volunteers have been saluted for their services to veterans. The Royal Naval Association (RNA) has recognised Terry Day, his wife Shirley and Jan Whitbourn for their commitment to the association and help in the community. Terry, the secretary of the Spalding branch of the RNA, has been awarded a life membership, the highest possible award. It’s after ten years’ ...

An appeal has been set up to help a Crowland 12-year-old regain some of his independence after he was left unable to stand or walk just before Christmas. McKenzie Goldsmith, known as Kenzie, was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy seven years ago, a genetic condition which means his muscles are weakening as he gets older. But in the run up ...