News

The number of businesses in South Holland with acceptable Food Hygiene Ratings is at an all-time high. Fewer than two per cent of the 625 premises need work to be brought up to scratch. Of the 98.1 per cent with no concerns, 363 are rated very good, 161 are good, and 89 are satisfactory. Seven require improvement and four are ...

Children and staff at a village pre-school have been left devastated after a break-in. Thieves climbed in through a small window of a mobile building used by Little Stars in Surfleet and got away with two iPads used by the children and a laptop belonging to pre-school owner Bev Gromett. Just 24 hours later, thieves struck at a kids club ...

People living with dementia are being offered a free opportunity to keep active and socialise in South Holland. Three five-week Keep Healthy, Keep Active courses, consisting of two-hour sessions, will be run at different locations in the district in the next few months. Each session – open to carers and sufferers – will kick off with opportunities to reminisce, prompted ...

What would you name a baby reindeer? Obviously Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Blitzen and a few others come to mind, but it’s time to think outside the box! Staff at Baytree Garden Centre at Weston have welcomed three calves into their herd of reindeer and are giving readers of The Voice the chance to name them. William Wallis said: “We’ve had ...

More than 100 barrels of real ale were drunk dry as 4,000 visitors made it an inaugural Spalding Beer and Music Festival to remember. The biggest winners were youth organisations and groups in Spalding who will get to share the £15,000 profit. The three-day event at The Castle Sports Complex was organised by Spalding and District Round Table and Spalding ...

Lincolnshire Police have revealed the cause of a crash which caused more than £20,000 of damage to a South Holland District Council refuse lorry. It follows a Freedom of Information request by The Voice which police now admit was answered incorrectly. The refuse lorry incident happened in Nene Terrace, Crowland, in September last year. Three crew members were hurt. One ...

Drivers are being warned that prescription medicines could push them over the legal drug-drive limit. After it was revealed last week that there has been a 140 per cent surge in drug driving charges and conviction, a local company is reminding drivers to be aware of what they are putting into their system. Even seemingly-innocuous medications can see drivers on ...

Cash-strapped and time-poor schools juggling the demands of teaching with admin, maintenance and recruitment across South Holland have been thrown a lifeline. Spalding Grammar School has started a new venture which will see it offering professional support to other local schools to enable them to concentrate on their core purpose – teaching. Spalding Grammar Managed Services (SGMS) will provide services ...

A charity supporting homeless people in South Holland is appealing for help from businesses and members of the public. The Forget Me Not Trust was set up by freemasons and is helping people in need in cities including London, Manchester and Peterborough. One of the founders – Nathan McGowan – is running a branch of the trust from Lazy Acre ...

A new study on the economic benefits of the rail network to Lincolnshire has described the service in Spalding as “surprisingly poor”. Commissioned by the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership, the study surveyed the whole county and concluded that there were “substantial benefits to the economy from improvements in services”. It said imminent negotiations over the renewal of the East ...

Results of a poll which show more than half of farmers will vote to leave the EU has been welcomed in South Holland. Local Vote Leave co-ordinator for South Holland & The Deepings, Craig Jackson has welcomed the results of the Farming Weekly poll which shows that 58 per cent of those farmers polled will support Brexit. Mr Jackson said: ...

A man who has spent the last 40 years living in a world of fear after suffering sexual abuse as a child says he can finally look forward now his attacker is behind bars. From the age of ten until he was 17, Stuart Brown (49) was the victim of more than 100 assaults at the hand of former Lincolnshire ...

A grandfather fears his grandchildren or pet dog could be seriously hurt after a steel-tipped foot long arrow was shot into the garden where they play. The incident is the latest in a spate of ant-social behaviour blighting the home of the man and his partner, who wish to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. In another incident at their ...

Police are investigating after a cash machine was ripped from a shop wall using farm machinery. Officers were called to reports of the cash machine being attacked at 2.26am today (May 24) at the Co-op, Sutton Bridge. When they arrived at the scene the cash machine had been stolen by thieves using a teleporter, which had been abandoned. Two further ...

Shop traders say moving Holbeach market has had a noticeably bad effect on High Street. South Holland District Council is trialling having stalls on its Boston Road car park. The move began in January to try and improve visitor footfall and to address health and safety issues at the High Street site. But shops say the trial has drastically cut ...

County councillor Martin Trollope-Bellew was elected the new chairman for Lincolnshire County Council, with Coun Andrew Hagues elected as his deputy. Coun Trollope-Bellew represents Stamford Rural and lives in Barholm. After serving for 19 years on the county council, including ten years as chief whip, Coun Trollope-Bellew is very much looking forward to his year in office. He said: “I ...

Five staff have been suspended as part of an investigation into 999 calls at Lincolnshire Police. An investigation was launched in January, after allegations were made that staff within the force control room were calling 999 at quiet times and ensuring the calls were answered quickly to improve their performance figures. The staff are all former police employees who transferred ...

Child sex abuser John Edward Bates was handed a 20-year jail sentence on Friday.(May 20)  The former Lincolnshire police officer and Spalding scout leader was convicted on Thursday of 16 charges of indecent assault and two charges of indecency with a child, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s. Judge Simon Hirst told Bates: “You were entrusted with the welfare of these complainants ...

South Holland District Council members have turned down a second premises licence application for Spalding in quick succession. Councillors rejected Ernesta Tamutyte’s bid to sell alcohol at Global Foods in Winsover Road after she admitted signing false entries in the shop’s refusals register. Lincolnshire Police claimed that Miss Tamutyte, of Hallgate, Moulton, was involved in the distribution of smuggled goods. ...

Children and their families in Lincolnshire are now being supported by a new integrated 0-19 service launched this month. This new model from Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) will see health visiting and school nursing staff working together in nine teams across the county to provide a seamless service. It is based on a nationally-led model already being ...