Map bid has got people talking

A bid to get Spalding on a local TV news weather map was part of a bid to improve the town, the lady behind it has said.

Following a challenge in the pub district councillor Jan Whitbourn took it on herself to get Spalding on the BBC Look North weather map.
She’s been exchanging barbs with its resident weatherman Paul Hudson and presenter Peter Levy recently.
And it all led to a visit from senior reporter and presenter Gemma Dawson last Thursday.
Jan met her and cameraman Michael Nagasaka at Spalding Station before visits to the town centre and Red Lion, Ayscoughfee Hal Gardens, the Spalding Water Taxi and Springfields.
After that it was all eyes on that night’s edition of Look North to see if Spalding was on the map.
And it was; sort of.
It was posted alongside the relative capitals London, Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff on the national round up.
“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Mr Hudson said before switching to its usual regional map which did not include Spalding.
Peter Levy remarked: “It’s been a lot of fun and thanks to Jan for being a good sport.”
Coun Whitbourn though felt the campaign had helped raise the awareness of Spalding in the region and she included questions on the survey to see where the town’s residents felt more could be done.
“We’ve had so many negative articles about our town, some of them not warranted in my opinion, so I wanted to change the narrative and get people talking about our town in a positive light,” she said. “Not only did we start a campaign to get people talking, I included two additional questions on the petition to get some more serious research.
“What do you like about Spalding and what could be improved? So this wasn’t just about the map, it was about getting people to talk to me about how we can improve our community but in a fun way.
“Anyone can complain about this or that but instead of moaning I would rather do something to find out what we could do to improve our town while also telling people what we do well.”