Community

Those behind a charity’s community café say it’s going from strength to strength. In fact five years after opening, Tonic 44 at the charity Tonic Health’s Surfleet Hub, has experienced its busiest six months.It was set up by the charity to help it fund its many groups from looking after those with dementia and anxiety to providing advice for those ...

A South Holland family are looking to create a new wood in memory of their friend Benjamin Zephaniah. The poet, activist and actor, who lived in Moulton Chapel, was laid to rest last week in a private ceremony after his death aged 65 last month.The Birkett family have been working on creating a wood for the public for several years ...

A fantastic 50 individuals turned up to enjoy Christmas dinner together. Vanessa Browning, of Community Mind Matters, for the second year running cooked the special meal on Christmas Day for those who might otherwise be alone.“It was amazing,” she said of the event held at St Norbert’s Church’s Project St Thomas in Spalding. “The fact so many people turned up ...

A woman who started volunteering at Johnson Hospital is the first in the county to use a scheme to make it into a proper career. Elena Orlova joined the Volunteer to Career programme after volunteering for fourth months with the Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust.She’s now employed as a health care support worker.The Volunteer to Career programme is a ...

Do you enjoy singing and are looking for a New Year challenge? South Holland Singers are looking for new members and are inviting anyone who enjoys singing to give the choir a try at an informal rehearsal on Saturday, January 13.The event, a first for the long-established group, will be led by musical director Sam Graper and aims to demonstrate ...

The generosity of the public will make Christmas a much nicer time for those in need as the Give a Gift campaign celebrates its most successful year to date. Give a Gift has passed on donated toys to lessfortunate children for the last 12 years.Coun Mark Le Sage, founder of Ella’s Project and partner in Give A Gift said: “I ...

Two groups for those with dementia in South Holland came together to celebrate Christmas last week. Both the Movement For Memory and Dementia Focus Groups at Tonic Health came together at the charity’s Tonic 44 café last week for a Christmas dinner.The former is about activities for those with dementia on a Tuesday while the latter is somewhere they can ...

A Spalding teen has for the third year been collecting and wrapping presents to give to those who are less fortunate. Jake Winkett has been an ambassador for the charity KidsOut for several years and taken part in its giving tree initiative for the last three years.Mum Julie, said: “He thoroughly enjoys working alongside the charity.”

South Holland’s Filipino community came together last week to celebrate Christmas, and they’re hoping to do more events going forward. They were brought together at The Sessions House by John Valmoria who moved to Spalding with wife Chikky from The Philippines s 20 years ago.“The Filipino population has really growing over the years,” said John who alongside his wife runs ...

Young competition winners have been thanked for designing MP Sir John Hayes’ Christmas cards. Sir John met the winners and presented the children with their printed Christmas Cards at Springfields Outlet Shopping Centre.As he has for many years, Sir John organised a special competition to design his Christmas card, with children from Gosberton House Academy and Tulip Academy Waterside Campus ...

This year’s calendar by the Spalding and District Civic Society is once again proving popular. It contains some fantastic images of places in and around the town to take you through 2024.A spokesman for the society said: “The Civic Society’s popular calendar is clearly fulfilling a local need, judging by sales to the general public last year.“It contains 13 beautiful ...

A group of over 55s from Spalding found their festive spirit last week at a fun, free, floral evening at Springfields Festival Gardens in Spalding. The seasonal evening was part of First Time for Everything, a programme designed by Royal Voluntary Service to support physical and mental health and wellbeing.Supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, First Time for Everything ...

Golfers have raised over a grand for a charity that provides supporting living in the county. Every Thursday the Spalding Golf Club Social Group meet up at the club to play paying £2 to enter.Of that £1 goes to the winner, 50p towards a Christmas dinner and 50p to a charity.They held that Christmas dinner last week and invited Tess ...

A charity run by a local councillor is urging Spalding Voice readers to check-in on their elderly neighbours this Christmas. District councillor Mark Le Sage runs Ella’s Project which is named after his daughter.It has a host of initiatives and helped with the Give a Gift initiative alongside The Voice, which has once again been a huge success.His festive community ...

Saracen’s Head Village Hall recently held its annual Christmas party for older people and to say thanks for those who had supported it this year. There were 43 attendees who were entertained by Steve Carmell and fed a delicious three course meal by Dunmores of Boston.

A cat charity’s open day proved purrrfect as it raised money and potentially rehomed eight cats and kittens. The event at The Lodge Cattery on Dozens Bank, Spalding also doubled as the opening of its new cats protection block ‘The Four Seasons’.It was officially opened by Spalding Flower Parade organiser Steve Timewell.The Lodge’s Jan Bryant said: “It was a very ...

Members of the Ukulele Orchestra of Spalding (UOOS) celebrated their 15th Birthday with a special ‘Ukes Got Talent’ style party. As well as songs played on the ukulele, there were renditions on piano and guitar, as well as a visit from a ‘naughty Santa’.A spokesman for the group said: “We were delighted to have two of the founder members with ...

Christmas officially arrives in Long Sutton this weekend. The town’s Lighting Up events are being held Friday and Saturday (December 15 and 16) from 5pm to 9pm. There will be a host attractions in the town centre including entertainment from local performers and the West Norfolk Rock Choir. There will be games for children including a photography competition. Earlier in ...

Santa linked up with Spalding Fire Crews last week to meet children in the town. He also helped raise over £1,000 for the Firefighters Charity at Spalding Fire Station.Along with helpers and elves he was able to speak with several hundred young visitors.Santa told fire staff that Lego and headphones were amongst the most popular requests with iPads and phones ...

South Lincolnshire Academies Trust has once again thrown its support behind our Give A Gift appeal. Staff at Spalding Academy and the Giles Academy in Old Leake have been collecting gifts for the campaign to give to children who would otherwise not have a present to open on Christmas Day.Mark Le Sage, founder of Ella’s Project and partner in Give ...