Candidates vying for your votes in the Grantham area at the forthcoming General Election have been officially declared as the deadline for nominations closed yesterday (November 14).

MPs will be elected to serve seven constituencies in the county when the nation goes to the polls on December 12 – the last December election was on December 6, 1923.

It’s already proving a hard-fought contest with Conservative Boris Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn setting out how best they think they could run the country.

Six of the seven Lincolnshire onstituencies have been true blue Tory for decades. But many eye will be on Lincoln – an island of Labour red in blue Conservative sea.

Grantham & Stamford

Harrish Bisnauthsing – Liberal Democrats

Gareth Mark Davies – Conservative

Anne Elizabeth Gayfer – Green

Kathryn Marie Salt – Labour

Results for 2017

Nick Boles (Con) 35,090 votes, Barrie Fairbairn (Lab) 14,996, Anita Day (Lib Dem) 3,120, Marietta King (UKIP) 1,745, Tariq Mahmood (Ind) 860, Becca Thackray (Green) 782

Sleaford & North Hykeham

Caroline Coram –  Independent

Oliver Craven – Liberal Democrats – To stop Brexit

Linda Edwards-Shea – Labour Party

Caroline Johnson – Conservative (defending)

Marianne Overton – Lincolnshire Independents

Simon Tooke – Green Party

Results for 2017

Caroline Johnson (con) 42,245 votes, Jim Clarke (Lab), 17,008, Ross Pepper (LD) 2,722, Sally Chadd (UKIP)1,954, Fiona McKenna (Green) 968, Paul Coyne (Ind)   900.

Join a million people fighting back against climate change on 30 November and help us achieve our goal of planting a tree for every person in the UK by 2025.

Grantham-based Woodland Trust is urging landowners to contribute towards planting one million trees across the UK.

Be one in a million.

Pledge now to plant a tree at

bigclimatefightback@woodlandtrust.org.uk

Bigclimatefightback

Fight for the future of our planet and inspire others to fight by your side

Be a Big Climate Fightback Champion

Fight for the future of our planet and inspire others to fight by your side

Pledge to plant a tree for the Big Climate Fightback– and then plant a tree with your friends and family sharing your actions with others…and remember #EveryTreeCounts

·         Find somewhere to plant a tree

o   At an event (https://woodlandtrusttickets.cloudvenue.co.uk/?_ga=2.126980619.743028609.1571130795-913324385.1558629191)

o   At home

·         Source your tree – making sure it is UK sourced and grown

o   From our Native tree shop (https://shop.woodlandtrust.org.uk/thebigclimatefightback)

o   From other shops (https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/we-plant-trees/uk-sourced-and-grown-scheme/)

·         Pledge to plant a tree: https://campaigns.woodlandtrust.org.uk/page/46713/data/1

o   Remember to include everyone in your planting party when you pledge, if people are involved in getting a tree in the ground – we want to know!

If your family and friends can’t join you – why not ask them to plant their own tree!

Host a tree planting event yourself

Ask your workplace to host a tree planting event, pledging to plant trees as a workforce – working together to fight climate change

Talk with your local community, youth group or school groups to see if they can host an event, or attend an existing tree planting event.

If you can’t do any of this in 2019, why don’t you grow your own tree from seed? Go for a walk locally and find some native tree seeds. You can then plant them in a pot outside and by the spring you may have started to grow your very own tree, ready for planting out in a few short years. For more information on how to grow your own tree click here… https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/advice/grow-from-seed/

Have an amazing time being part of the Big Climate Fightback!

Lincolnshire’s children and young people’s mental health services have been recognised as finalists at the Children and Young People Now Awards 2019.

Healthy Minds Lincolnshire is a service that is delivered by Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council. They provide group and, where appropriate, one-to-one interventions for young people, offer advice to parents and carers and work with schools across the county to develop a proactive approach to students’ emotional wellbeing.

The service has been recognised in the ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing Award’ category. 

Lee Scigala, Business Manager for the Trust’s specialist services division, nominated the team for the award. She said: “The Healthy Minds Lincolnshire team deserves to be recognised for all they have achieved over the last couple of years. They are passionate about improving the lives of young people and their families through therapy, training and consultations delivered to professionals. They continuously find innovative ways of engaging with children and young people and as a result achieve excellent outcomes and feedback.”

Emma Houltby, Service Manager for Healthy Minds Lincolnshire said: “Our staff are delighted to have been shortlisted for the award. We work with children and young people who may be experiencing emotional wellbeing problems, as well as their schools, parents and professionals. It’s really important to us that we catch any emerging issues early, before they develop in adulthood. Our staff give 100% to the people they work with and love the work they do, in particular making a difference to children and young people’s lives. It’s fantastic to be recognised and to be given the opportunity to celebrate a brilliant service and our dedicated staff.”

The ceremony is due to take place 28 November in London.

The 30th Annual Bottesford Toy Run is on Sunday the 24th of November .

Bikers will be meeting at the Rutland Arms in Bottesford from 9.00am and the pub will be open for refreshments.

They will then leave at 11.00am for the Meres Leisure Centre on Trent Road, via Barrowby Gate.

Once again, they will not be allowed through the town.

After there we will ride over to the Tesco car park in Melton Monday and then on to the Birchwood Special School on Grange Drive in Melton ( LE13 1HA )

All motorcyclist and scooter riders are welcome and fancy dress is optional.

The local NHS trust that manages mental health and dementia services in Lincolnshire is hosting a recruitment open day next week for interested professionals looking to make a difference to older people in the county.

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) has a range of opportunities currently available in both its community and hospital services, looking after older people with mental health problems or dementia.

Anyone who is a registered nurse, whether this is in mental health, learning disabilities or general nursing, or other qualified health professionals such as occupational therapist, social worker and nursing associates are encouraged to come along to find out what opportunities there are and the benefits of working in local services.

There will be two information sessions taking place on Tuesday 19 November between 10am and 12.30pm and 12noon and 2pm at Witham Court in Lincoln. Representatives from all of the local older people services currently looking for staff and the leadership team will be on hand to tell you more about working for LPFT.

Associate Director for Older People and Frailty, Steve Roberts, said it’s a great time to come on board with their friendly and innovative teams.

“We are looking for any registered health professional, and those who will be qualifying imminently to come join our teams across the county. There are a wide variety of posts available in both our inpatient and community services. We are also able to offer rotational opportunities which will allow people to work within both settings to develop their skills.”

“This is an exciting time to come join our award winning team and organisation. We’re currently transforming local services for older people and there is a real opportunity to help shape the future of how we deliver high quality health care for the benefit of our patients.”

“I personally have worked in the NHS for over 25 years and have been blessed with a truly rewarding and varied career. All our staff really make a difference to people’s lives and there are plenty of opportunities for career progression, as well as many additional benefits to working in the NHS. So come along and find out more.”

LPFT has vacancies across Lincolnshire. To find out more and apply, please visit www.lpft.nhs.uk/jobs  

The open day will take place on Tuesday 19 November at Witham Court, Fen Lane, North Hykeham, Lincoln, LN6 8UZ. People can attend one of two information sessions taking place between 10am and 12.30pm and 12noon and 2pm.

We are getting reports of partially blocked and slow traffic due to accident on A1 northbound at Valley Lane (Long Bennington / Cotham Turn Off).

On the southbound, there are further delays near the claypole junction due to flooding.

Officers across Lincolnshire are using a new app to help pinpoint people in need. 

The location technology called What3Words has divided the world into 3m x 3m squares. Each square has been allocated a unique three word address which means anyone can refer to their exact location simply by using three words.

Emergencies can happen anywhere, from a road collision in the middle of our countryside to an incident outside one of the gates at Wembley stadium. In an emergency situation, identifying precisely where help is needed is critical – and this can be near impossible if you are in an area with no address or if that address isn’t good enough to describe exactly where you are.

Lincolnshire Police Chief Inspector Steve Williamson said: “Being able to identify a caller’s exact location is incredibly important. When incidents are reported, there is sometimes no easily identifiable landmark or postcode. Trying to establish exactly where these people are can result in valuable minutes being lost.

“With What3Words we can quickly pinpoint where that caller is within a 3m x 3m square. This means that no matter where they are – be it in a field, staying in a caravan on holiday, on the beach, lost or involved in a road traffic collision in an unknown rural area, we will be able to locate them.

“I would ask everyone who has a smart phone to download the app, ask your family, friends and neighbours to download it.”

So far the technology has been used to locate a suspicious package on Skegness beach. Fortunately, the package was located and not found to be suspicious.

The technology has already been rolled out across other forces and has proved a vital tool for locating people in an emergency.

In one incident, Bedfordshire Police used What3words to locate a mother and her child who had been involved in a car accident in which her vehicle had entered a ditch. The car could not be seen from the road, but after pulling herself and her four year old daughter from the car the mother called the police. The mother had no idea where she was but was advised by the call centre to download the What3words app via a link sent to her phone. The mother downloaded the app and obtained her three unique words which led officers to her.

Inspector Williamson added: “Having this type of technology integrated within our

Command and Control system will change the way we are able to deal with incidents where the location isn’t known. We are moving away from the old style questioning – ‘Where have you come from?’, ‘Where are you going?’, ‘What can you see?’ etc. These questions take time and aren’t always that accurate. Asking for a three word address or sending an SMS so they can easily provide their 3 word address, has will mean we have saved valuable time locating incidents.

The Control Room staff that have used what3words for an emergency call, have said how easy it is, and they were able to find the location a lot quicker than they previously would have.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones said: “This innovation is another huge step forward in our efforts to keep the people of Lincolnshire safe.

“We have already invested in a cutting edge command and control system and, along with this new app, will mean the force can get the right officers with the right equipment to the right place quicker than ever before.

“It is another fine example of how Lincolnshire is using innovation to create a 21st century police force equipped with the best technology to protect communities and residents.”

How to download

What3words is available to download as a free mobile app for both iOS and Android from the Playstore. This works entirely offline in multiple languages.

A website offering discount cards to the district’s Armed Forces community has gone live.

Applications from across the military sector started as soon as the site – www.southkesteven.gov.uk/forcesdiscountcard  –  went live on Monday, together with businesses signing up to support the project.

Members of the Armed Forces, their families, reservists and veterans are all eligible for the scheme, launched last week by South Kesteven District Council.

As well as helping service-related personnel who live in the district, the card seeks to support stronger communities by encouraging people to buy local.

Businesses are being encouraged to be creative with their offers and discounts, using the card to promote new services or gain custom in quieter periods, and benefit from access to a new audience from the thousands of people with a military connection living in South Kesteven.

The card is the latest step in a programme aimed at supporting the district’s services community, co-ordinated by Armed Forces Officer Michelle Woolman-Lane who heads up a cross-border Military Covenant project involving South Kesteven, Rutland and Market Harborough.

Michelle said; “We are delighted to see how quickly those in the military community are applying for our new discount card, and the interest being shown by businesses to support the project.

“The card will demonstrate how much those who serve or have served our country are appreciated in the district.  At the same time, we believe the scheme will further support our local shops, businesses and wider communities.”

www.southkesteven.gov.uk/forcesdiscountcard

Recently married Tracie and Jennifer Hughes from Haconby, near Folkingham, have just been voted Live Act of the Year by one of the Largest Holiday Companies in the UK.

Parkdean Resorts voted  SPELLBOUND as the top act of the year at their prestigious end of season awards on Monday

With over 70 Holiday Venues all over the UK, Tracie and Jennifer were delighted to be voted No1 by their audiences and the Entertainment Teams

Pete Stedman, Head of Entertainment for Parkdean Resorts said

‘It was a well deserved accolade, Of our 10,000 nights of act bookings during the season from over 1000 acts, Spellbound are Number 1

They are one of the finest speciality acts in the UK. Combining magic, illusion comedy and song to create the perfect blend of live entertaiment with great appeal to all ages across our holiday parks. They are not only a great act but Tracie and Jen are two of the most professional supportive and nicest people in the industry.’

Julie Butcher, Parkdean Resorts Artist Manager said: “ Spellbound are always a pleasure to work with. Professional on stage, a joy off stage and always perform to extremely high standards.

“The Teams look forward to their performances and they are always the first act on everyone’s wish list – we would give them 11 out of ten if we could !!”

Tracie said  ‘We have been lucky enough to tour our show for over ten years entertaining families on their holidays in some of the finest holiday venues from the Isle of Wight to the top of Scotland. Now having been presented with this award is the icing on the cake

Jen added ‘We tour pretty solidly for 8 Months of the year and we’ve now got friends all over the UK, some of the most talented people in the industry. We see beautiful places and have so many laughs, and we get to do everything together as a couple – that’s really special.’

“We are already looking forward to a very busy tour next year”