Businesses large and small are invited to a game-changing transformation day as part of South Kesteven District Council’s Enterprise Week.

Leading experts in business thinking are staging an unusual Shed Without Walls event tackling issues from skills shortages to staff recruitment and increased staff performance.

Wednesday 11 March at Stoke Rochford Hall is the ‘shed’ day to discover new ideas, techniques and tips, based on the idea that the shed is often where the best ideas emerge!

The ‘shed’ day is a highlight of SKDC’s Enterprise Week (9-13 March), a week-long programme of events in Grantham and Stamford to help start-up, small and medium sized enterprises via interactive workshops, informative talks and networking – with a focus on doing business online and via social media.

It’s a day designed to think creatively to solve niggling problems, encouraging delegates to think differently when presented with common business issues.

Delegates will learn practical techniques to increase workplace performance, stop repeating mistakes and reduce stress levels, express yourself and your ideas in a clear and appealing way so customers want to listen, how to involve your people more and use their full potential.

Experts include graphic facilitator Nick Payne (www.visulogy.net), Bryan Webb (www.wizard.co.uk) and Ian Pringle (www.faceuptheatre.com) and Professor Peter Totterdill, an international expert on workplace innovation involving people.

They offer five different workshops in the morning with a practical networking and ideas exchange during the ‘World Cafe’ in the afternoon.  Delegates can attend just the morning, the afternoon or all day.

A day like this would normally cost around £300-£400 per day.  As part of Enterprise Week, SKDC is offering the day for £40 per person.  Anyone wishing  to stay for the evening’s Total Networking summit pays just £50.

The day will be delivered by specialists Wit, whose unique approach has benefitted the BBC, British Red Cross, BT and the University of Nottingham.

To book online and for full event listings visit the Enterprise Week website www.skdcenterpriseweek.co.uk

A SPECTACULAR new show is bringing together treasures from around the world – each with a special Lincolnshire connection.

Starting on Saturday 27 June, Lincolnshire’s Great Exhibition will feature major loans of works of arts and manuscripts from private, national and international collections.

Among the treasures on display will be the fabulous Heneage Jewel from the V & A, the Matthew Flinders map of Australia from the National Archives, and paintings by JMW Turner, Lucien Freud and George Stubbs.

They will be on show alongside well over a hundred other Lincolnshire-related exhibits at The Collection, Usher Gallery, the Wren Library at Lincoln Cathedral, and Lincoln Castle – with many of them free to access.

A sumptuous book featuring essays and reproductions of photographs of many of the treasures accompanies the exhibition, which was devised by Lord Cormack, the chairman of the Historic Lincoln Trust, and which has two honorary curators, Dr Alan Borg, former director of the V & A, and Jeff James, chief executive and keeper of the National Archives.

The Great Exhibition was launched at The Old Palace, Lincoln

Coun Nick Worth, Executive Member for Culture and Heritage at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “Lincolnshire’s Great Exhibition will be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Many of these treasures have never been seen in the county before, and many never will be again.

“Hopefully, it will remind people of the central role the county has played in the history of our country – something that is sometimes forgotten.”

Click link –  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TMC-P77Tbg

From 1 April, Lincoln Cathedral’s Magna Carta will be on display at Lincoln Castle. The county council is currently undertaking a £22m refurbishment of the site, and among the improvements is the creation of a new home for the historic document, the David P.J. Ross Magna Carta Vault.

Lord Cormack, chairman of the Historic Lincoln Trust, said: “A lot of work has gone into creating a new home for Magna Carta at the castle.

“This will mean that generations of visitors and students will have a unique opportunity to appreciate the full significance of the most important constitutional document in our history: the foundation of the rule of law in this country and inspiration to countries throughout the world”.

The Very Rev Philip Buckler, Dean of Lincoln, added: “2015 is a special year for Lincoln, marking the 800th anniversary ofMagna Carta.

“The great exhibition is just one of the many events that are planned to celebrate this milestone.

“There will also be the Three Choirs Festival, a series of Magna Carta lectures and the return of the popular Frequency Festival. Make sure you area part of this historic moment.”

Click link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STdIW0bcnh0

Lincoln MP Karl McCartney added: “The Magna Carta celebrations are certainly going to bring a lot of excitement to the city, but there will be many other highlights in 2015 too. In June, we’re hosting the 2015 British National Cycling Championships, while in April we’re celebrating our engineering heritage with the Spark Festival.

“With so much to offer, I’m sure we’ll see a big increase in visitors to the county this year.”

Lincolnshire’s Great Exhibition runs until 27 September.

For more details on all the exciting events taking place in Lincoln in 2015, please Click link –  www.visitlincolnshire.com

GRANTHAM home improvement store Homebase is not part of the company’s closure package, despite rumours to the contrary.

The company, which also owns Argos, announced one in four stores would close, as householders become less enthusiastic about DIY.

The Boston store, on Alban Retail Park, will close on March 7^th.

But the Dysart Road, Grantham store survives.

A spokesman for the company said: “Homebase can confirm that there is no current plan to close the Grantham store.”

LINCOLNSHIRE Police are urging businesses, particularly retailers and food outlets, to be alert to a scam that could see them tricked out of cash from their till.

Using confusion tactics, confidence tricksters pay for a cheap item with a large note. Whilst the till is open, they then ask the cashier to change an amount of money, then change again.

Each time, money is passed back and forth between the scammer and cashier. The process causes confusion and the cashier inadvertently hands over more money than they should.

Police believe the perpetrator will try it again elsewhere in the south Lincolnshire area.

In one case, at 3.25pm on Monday 16th February,  a staff member at a Stamford coffee shop was confused into handing over £313 after the male involved tried to hand back and forth £50 notes.

He was described as a white male, 5ft9, medium build, 25-30, short blond/brown hair.  He was wearing a cream cap, cream jacket and blue jeans.

Male answering a similar description, confused a cashier at Petrol Station, Bourne

At 4.45pm, also on Monday 16th a cashier was confused into handing over £97 after the male gave confusing requests for change from a £50 note.

A police spokesman said: “The offenders come across as very confident and deliberately distract and confuse the cashier for their own monetary gain.

“Staff working in any business where cash is exchanged for goods or services need to be aware of the scam and how easily they can become confused or distracted.

“I urge local businesses to be vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour to police.”

The simple advice is not to engage with any request to change cash, directing them where possible to the nearest bank or post office.

Incidents 242 and 277 of the 16th of February refer.  If you have any information about these or similar crimes or attempts, call police on 101 (Lincs).

Picture shows the man at Bourne filling station…

Corby Glen firefighters attended a chimney fire at a house on Park Road, Swinstead, at about 6pm yesterday.

Fire damage to soot within chimney breast, caused by a build up.

Firefighters from Billingborough were called to an accident on Folkingham Road, Billingborough, yesterday evening.

No one was trapped so they assisted with traffic control.

POLICE were called to Wyndham Park this afternoon, following reports of a major fracas.

There were reports of up to 20 young people involved in the disturbance, at about 2.30pm.

But when police arrived there was no sign of either victims, perpetrators nor witnesses.

A police spokesman said: “In the end we have no witnesses and no complaint.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Lincolnshire Police on 101, quoting incident 208 of 18/2/15.

Stair and lift access to Welham Street car park in Grantham will be restricted while cleaning works take place.

Work will commence on Monday (February 23) at 10am when the St Catherine’s Road stairwell and lifts will be closed.

The Welham Street stairwell and lifts clean will take place on the Tuesday with the facility closed after 10am on the day.

SKDC requests car park users use the available stairwell and lifts as work is completed and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Users are also reminded the car park ramps for access to each level are not permitted to be used by pedestrians.