May 2009 Archives

Six men, whose names are Fred Alberts, Larry Smith, Brian Martin, Marty Jones, Bill Edison, and John Fox were in an elevator together. Suddenly, the lights went out. When the lights came back on, Fred Alberts was found stabbed. Other detectives have investigated. They have questioned the suspects, the witnesses, and people who know the suspects. They have collected physical evidence (hair samples, fibre samples, etc.) from the crime scene. They have collected 14 clues, but have not been able to solve the crime. Therefore, they have called in the world's greatest detective, YOU. You must now examine the clues and solve the murder. -

A solution will be published next month.

On the 4 March, Kay Chambers from the St Barnabas Hospice Fund Raising Team gave members a very in depth and interesting talk on what type of services the Hospice offers.

Then on the 18 March we all enjoyed a musical treat with the Rev. A. Barker on his keyboard.

At the beginning of April Growing Gifts came to the club and members were given the tools and plants to make up their own pot plant, resulting in a very colourful display.
This was followed on 15 April when Janet had the members puffing their way through exercises to music. The month ended with members enjoying a special treat when Mr Dennett gave a talk on his ice cream making business and brought samples of ice cream/sorbet and frozen yoghurt for tasting.

The club meets every fortnight and those wishing to join should contact Betty
Knight on 794121 or Patricia MacPherson on 856981.

The club has made what can only be described as a quiet start to the season! They lost the first game to Cherry Willingham, when David Franklin made the top score of 20, and junior players John Hedley and William Faulkner took the only two wickets before Cherry scored the winning run. Against Reepham, David again made the top score, but this time only 9, and only John Hedley got a wicket. Aswarby were the next opponents, when David scored 43, but it still was not enough, even though David Glew took 4 - 27 when bowling. The fourth game was against Millers (at Billingborough) when David again top-scored, wtih 53, but only John Hedley got a wicket and so Nocton lost again. In the latest match a young Lindum side piled on the runs, making 192-7,before bowling Nocton out for another lowly score of 51. One day Nocton will make three figures!!

There will be the annual village friendly match on 14 June at Nocton, which will be against the Social Club. Spectators are warmly welcomed to watch and have a cup of tea with us. All games are played on Sundays, starting at 2pm. To join in (all teenagers and adults welcome, including absolute beginners!), come to practice night at 6.30 pm on Wednesdays.

For any information, phone David Glew on 321756.

Here are the dates and venues of our forthcoming events. We have recently planned our diary of activities for the rest of 2009. We hope that some if not all of these events will appeal to you and you will be able to come along and support our school.

Village treasure hunt and B-B-Q - 7 June, 2.30pm, Dunston village green.
Sponsored walk - 20 Sept. 1pm, Dunston St. Peter's school,
Pamper evening - 16 Oct. 8pm, Dunston St. Peter's school,
Torchlight treasure hunt - 13 Nov. 6pm, Dunston St. Peter's school,
Christmas Fayre - 4 Dec. 3pm, Dunston St. Peter's school.

We have spent much of the last couple of years raising money to equip the new library extension at the school. The building work is well underway and the staff have been able to start spending the money. I would like to take this opportunity to thank any of you who have supported our many fund raising events. Be certain that any money donated will be put to good use!

For more information contact Jenny Hutchinson - 01526321627

We are all celebrating at Metheringham Primary School after our recent very successful Ofsted inspection. The team of inspectors thought that Metheringham School was a good school that had improved significantly since its last inspection.

Our Early Years Foundation Stage was judged as being outstanding as was the personal development and well-being of the pupils. Teaching was judged as good and sometimes outstanding and our pupils were described as having excellent attitudes to learning, being able to respond well to challenges and having excellent behaviour.

On Saturday 2nd May a new not for profit dance club was started at Dunston. The club is called "Shooting Stars Display Team" and they will train on Saturday mornings. The aim of the club is to provide children with the opportunity to learn new dance techniques, baton twirl and learn pom dances whilst getting fit, gaining confidence and improving hand and eye co-ordination. It is hoped that the club will put on a Christmas Show and will attend fetes and carnivals next year. On our first day we had 22 children ranging from the age of 4 to 15. You do not need any experience of dancing - it is all for fun and we will show you how. Anyone who would like further information, please call Cathy Ramond on: 01526 323589 or email shootingstarsdisplayteam@live.co.uk

The Friends of Metheringham Airfield exists to support the Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre. This small museum, located at Westmoor Farm between Metheringham and Martin, is dedicated to the men and women who flew and supported the operations of 106 Sqn of RAF Bomber Command from 1943 until the end of the Second World War.

The museum open season runs until the end of October, so come along and learn a little of our local history. Entry to the museum is free, although for the very popular evening lectures there is a small charge which includes refreshments.

Future lectures planned are:-
24 June - The Doolittle Raid -Sqd Ldr P. Bonner RAF
22 July - On Land, Sea and in the Air - Wing Comm. L. Wallis RAF (Retd)

For further details contact Mr Peter Scoley on 01526 378270

News

FOMS would like to thank everyone who has supported our events this year. We have arranged lots of activities including a Music Quiz, Valentine's Disco and Easter and Christmas Raffles alongside coffee morning and tombola. The monies raised have enabled FOMS to purchase and have installed a sound system at the school, to buy pom poms for the school Cheerleaders and to contribute to the purchase of new musical instruments.

Open Air production by M.A.D.

We are proud to announce that another open air production will be performed at Blankney Stables (by kind permission of Blankney Estates) on the 10,11, 17 and 18 July.
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare is one of the Bard's classic plays and is in full rehearsal ready for the production.This will be directed by Gaynor Little.

Please see the posters and banners for when tickets will be available and if there is anyone who would like to help with our production we would like to hear from you.

You can gain more information by phoning Sally on 01526 321289 or by e-mailing to
willowshome@hotmail.co.uk.

We had a great success at the Sleaford Little Theatre where the company performed 'The Allotment' last month. Horncastle Players and the Sleaford Little Theatre also performed one act plays and the feedback was very good. It was lovely to go to another venue and meet fellow thespians. Well done to the cast and to the Director Ken Frappe.
The Shakespeare Revue, which was in the village hall in April, also gave a very good performance and showed how diverse a company we are.

We are now in our 18th year as a company and we are still growing year on year. This is due to the great enthusiasm of our members and wonderful support we receive from the villagers who come to our productions.

Let's hope for wonderful weather, just like we had for Midsummer Night's Dream.

We look forward to seeing you all there, you can bring a picnic and your own seats and cushions. Remember this is England - so a blanket may be useful!

If any of the village would like to contribute with some flowering pots to decorate the stables we would be most grateful - I can assure you that you will get these back after the production!

Sally Wilson

Tribute to Eileen Holvey who tragically died following an accident near Nocton - Quote from Eileen's son Ian Holvey of Potterhanworth on behalf of all the family.

Eileen Elsie Holvey (nee Turner) bn 28.9.1925 the only daughter of the late Harry and Edith Turner.

Mum was born in Ledbury, Herefordshire and moved to the Blankney Hunt Kennels on 1 May 1937. She later met her husband Horace Holvey (84yrs) who also lived in Blankney.
As a family we will be eternally grateful that she always taught us right from wrong and it is impossible to describe the void that will be left in all of our lives due to this tragic incident.

These are our gathering dates for the Summer (all Wednesdays)

9 June - 7.30 Metheringham Village Hall
16 June - 7.15 (Refs) Special celebration Metheringham Village Hall.
23 June - 7.30 Metheringham Village Hall
7 July - 7.30 Metheringham Village Hall
14 July - 7.30 Metheringham Village Hall
21 July - 7.30 Metheringham Village Hall
4 Aug - Venue tbc
11 Aug - Venue tbc
18 Aug - 7.30 Metheringham Village Hall
28 Aug - 1 Sept - Grapevine Celebration Lincolnshire showground

For further information contact Dale and Debbie Newman at
newmans155@ntlworld.com or Nicky Jordan on 322305

On the evenings of 22 / 23 May Metheringham Football Club held its Juniors' end of season presentation evenings in the village hall. Lincoln City player Danny Hone attended to make the presentations with the first evening seeing the Under 7s up to Under 10s and then on Saturday it was the turn of the Under 11s to Under 14s.

1st Metheringham Brownies are struggling to find a new leader for their unit for September. It is a thriving Brownie pack with about 18 Brownies, all of whom are very keen to come to the meetings and really enjoy themselves on Thursdays.

The current Brown Owl is leaving in July, and we need someone (or perhaps 2 good friends?) to replace her, so that the pack can continue to meet.

It is a very enjoyable experience, working with the Brownies, and there is lots of support and back-up available from the other Guiders in the Unit, and from the District and Division Guiders as well. You don't have to be a Guider already - we are just looking for people who are willing to share some of their time with Brownies and have some fun.

If you think you would like to give it a try, or you know someone who might, please ring Paula Hill on 01526 321178 as soon as possible, and have a chat with her about it.

Thanks for sponsorship

Edith Revill of Station Rd, Metheringham would like to thank everyone who so kindly sponsored her grandson, Shaun, who recently competed in the London Marathon.

Also Well Done Shaun xx.

News from Metheringham Library

You can now order library books from home to be collected at the library! Go to www.lincolnshire.gov.uk then click on L in the A-Z of Council Services, go to the bottom of the page and click on Reserve library books. Have a look at the Virtual Library and see all of the books available to be borrowed from Lincolnshire libraries. Once in the Virtual Library you can renew items and also see a list of the books you have borrowed during the past year. Just ask the Metheringham Library staff for a PIN and you can log on to your account. If you are not already a member, you can register on-line and pick up your card from the library. You now don't need to produce ID to join, as the process has been simplified. Also you can take out up to 40 items, if you wish - but you don't have to! Of course you can still do all of this in the traditional way and come in to see us.

We would still like more pre-school children to come to Jacki's story time from 2.15pm to 2.45pm on Fridays. We are now getting a regular small group but would like to see more children and parents or grandparents.

At the moment, the Thursday afternoon computer class run by Lincoln College is covering digital photography.

Our reading group continues at 7.30pm on the first Wednesday of the month in the Star and Garter.

Pauline Ventress

On Saturday, 16 May, a special event took place in our village. Nocton Village Trail had another artefact commissioned and added to the series of art works that reflect the village's history.

This time forty people gathered on the Ten Row where there had once been a water pump. This well had been used by local householders until the 1950's.
We had already carved an oak seat which had been placed in-situ in 2006. But the carving was only one half of the art work we had planned for the site. A mosaic had been designed to sit with it. It was this grand piece of tessellation that we were there to dedicate.

Let's go back and explain. The Village Trail had begun in 2000 with a special event called 'Then and Now'. People in the village were asked to bring any old photos they had of the place. 75 people came to the Village Hall bringing with them the most amazing photographic record of life in a farming community. Maps and other records dating back to 1805 were also on display. Out of this event the enthusiasm and the historical records became the source for developing our Arts and History Trail.

The mosaic commemorates two pieces of village history. Firstly, it's the site of a recent village pump and, secondly, it is a reflection, a visit back in time, to the ponds which used to be on the Abbey site. From the 1300's these contained the 'Friday' fish supplies. Our pond also contains tench, roach, perch, carp and a frog.
In our design the ripples from the frog popping its head out of the water sends a series of waves across the surface linking the visual elements together. Images from the carved seat are also reflected in the water. We decided to highlight the butterfly and dragonfly and some of the rushes by painting them blue and green. The colour helps to link the two parts of the artefact bringing a sense of unity to the finished work. The result is very satisfying.

It took 35 people 2 years to snip and shape the small tiles into the finished mosaic. From the registers we kept for the Heritage Lottery Award, 22,400 hours went into making it! A core team of 10 people showed their commitment over that period and the result is plain to see.

After the 'Opening' the spectators were invited to visit the Parish Church where the Fraser sisters played and sang a series of folk songs. Their concert was an excellent end to an excellent day. We did show the villagers present the proposed WWII Memorial for the 5 Nocton men who died in the 1939-45 conflict, but, this is a story for another day.

Lastly, the support 'artsNK' have continued to give us has been extraordinary too. Their guidance and input has been a great encouragement. Thanks to one and all.

Cliff Baxendale

For this edition, I'm going to look at online mapping in and around our area. My favourite is Google Maps (maps.google.co.uk). This site has good street maps together with aerial imagery of our area, all packaged in a very easy to use interface. Type in your postcode to instantly re-centre the map on your street. A close second on the usability front is Microsoft's Live Search (maps.live.com). Again, good quality street map is combined with excellent aerial imagery coverage of our area. Both these sites are must haves, bookmarked in your favourites.

One of the earliest online mapping sites I used was multimap (www.multimap.com). It has proved to be so popular that the company was taken over by Microsoft and it now uses the same mapping as Microsoft's Live Search. The interface is different, with more advertising and the ability to save, plan and routes.

Ordnance Survey's own site (getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk) will now allow you to view and print small portions of the 25000 Explorers series. The interface is a bit clunky and the map window is excessively small but it does allow online access to its excellent paper maps.

Finally there is Open Street Map (www.openstreetmap.org). This is an example of community mapping at its best. The site shows online mapping that has been collected and collated by keen enthusiasts. Their aim is to provide a community based map, free from the restrictive licensing conditions of some of the commercial map providers. This is an ongoing project and the results for large towns and cities are really impressive. However, our local area is not so well served and most of our villages, with the exception of Dunston, have not yet had their details added. They are constantly looking for volunteers. If you have a GPS capable of recording track logs and some spare time, you could join Open Street Map and put our area on the map. You won't get paid but you will have the satisfaction of seeing your work online and widely used by the community.

The Weaver.

The pool is now up and running for the summer season. The opening hours are very much the same as last year with the exception of the Over 50's swim, which is now on Saturday morning (come any time between 9.30 - 11.00 a.m.) We will try it for six weeks then make a decision whether to continue. Pick up a brochure from the Library, Infolinks or the Pool.

We are staging a Triathlon on Saturday 20 June from 10.00 a.m. (sorry there will be no Senior Swim on that day). Ring Dian (321581) or Anne (321175) to register an interest. Entry will be £3 for under 16 years and £5 over 16 years. Entrants need to be confident swimmers. Age categories will apply (full rules available when registered).

On Sunday 12 July we will be hosting the annual "It's a Knockout" from 2.00.m. onwards. Teams of 5 will compete for the trophy. Please join in. We would like it if the local pubs would enter a team and make it a really amusing day.

The "Sponsored Swim" will be held on Friday 11 September from 4.00 to 9.00 p.m. It will be for the children but we can go on all through the night!! Come and enjoy a swim under the lights and help us raise some money to keep this wonderful facility open.

We were unlucky not to get a Lottery Grant for the specialized "solar heating". The reason given "too many people and too little money!" If every household in the village gave just £1.00 we could buy this system! It only costs £4,000. The system involves rubber tubing laid over black aluminium sheets. The tube is full of water which gets hot and feeds back into our system. Our water only needs to be 84 degrees Fahrenheit for enjoyable swimming. With our new covers, which also help to heat the water, we could rely more on sunshine and less on gas. Our estimated gas bill for our 16 week season will be in the region of £3,000.

Dian Robinson (Chair)

It was not only the temperatures this winter that have been like Scandinavia! - Visitors to Lincolnshire may also have noticed people walking with what look like ski poles! We're reliably informed that they are Nordic walking and that it is the fastest growing fitness activity in the world with over 10 million enthusiasts now regularly taking part in what was originally used by super fit cross country skiers as a way to stay fit during the summer.

"It is suitable for all ages and fitness levels, simple to learn and really sociable" says Pete Woollard a local Nordic walking UK Instructor, Personal Trainer and wellness expert. "By using the specially designed poles, you can use all the major muscles in the body and burn up to twice as many calories as ordinary walking but the best thing is that the poles actually propel you along so it feels easier!" he adds.

The poles also reduce the pressure on the knees and joints and the gentle upper body movement is great for easing back and neck pain too. It's so effective that it is being used for weight loss, rehabilitation and sports specific training all the over the UK and those that have tried all agree that being outdoors was energising and that they felt fantastic afterwards!

However it is not simply a case of grabbing a pair of poles and walking with them! It requires the correct technique in order to get the whole body working and it is essential you learn this from a qualified Instructor who will ensure you get the full benefit and fastest possible results. Pete offers you to come and try the sessions and 4 week technique courses - Check out his page on the Nordic walking UK website for all the dates and times http://your.nordicwalking.co.uk/pete_woollard or call them on 07967 214848 to give it a try!

Well, what has been happening in Starlite Twirlers since we last updated you? ...

The girls have been busy with Training. The competition girls are busy practising new routines for the up and coming competitions in October and November and Summer Displays. The other girls are having fun on a Monday evening and will be practising for the Summer Routines.

So far our bookings are taking us to:
Navenby Sat 27 June
Leasingham Sun 5 July
Boultham Park Sat 11 July
Norton Disney Sat 18 July
Chapel St Leonards Sun 2 August

Starlite Twirlers were represented at the Annual Village Meeting organised by the Parish Council on 28 April when Leanne Riddell gave everyone present an update on what we have been up to and what we have planned for this year.

We are still looking for new recruits. If anyone is interested in joining us on a Monday evening between 4.45 pm and 5.45 pm you will be more than welcome. If you want more information please phone Adele Riddell on 01526 321164

Our AGM will be held on Wednesday 17 June in the Star and Garter (Lounge) at 8.00 pm. Please come along.

Metheringham and Dunston group is one of over 90 local First Responder groups across the county with around 700 members. The first responders are alerted by ambulance control to appropriate 999 calls in their local villages. They are then able to provide pre ambulance emergency care to people in need. In total, last year they attended 13,226 calls with an average response time of 4.25 minutes. Here is the top ten most common incidents attended by First Responders across Lincolnshire, with the numbers of call outs from the previous year.
Breathing problems - 2531
Chest pains - 2225
Unconscious/fainting - 1559
Falls - 1238
Convulsions/fitting - 572
Traffic accidents - 517
Cardiac/respiratory arrest - 470
Heart Problems - 302
Strokes - 280
Diabetic problems - 205

For more information on how to get involved with LIVES the charity, or your local First Responder group contact: Beth McLuckie - 01526321919 or Jenny Hutchinson 01526321627.

The Annual meeting of the Council will be held in the Village Hall on Tuesday 26th May 2009 at 7.30pm. Prior to the official start of the meeting a public forum of not more than 15 minutes will be held if required. The public may then address the council on current matters, or issues which may become future agenda items. A Police Report will be given at this time.

A group of Washingborough village volunteers has developed a village art trail and produced 8 art works around the village and a sculpture & mosaic on the Sustrans Water Rail Way.

Please check out artsNK's newest Spires and Steeples related village project web
site, the Washingborough Arts Trail. The group have been doing fantastic work over a number of years and this website is testimony to their hard work, creativity and perseverance.

Scopwick Parish Council Annual Report 2008-2009

Scopwick Annual Parish Meeting Agenda

Scopwick Parish Council Annual General Meeting Agenda

A big thank you to everyone who attended the Annual Village Meeting on Tuesday 28th April. The evening was a great success with some very interesting and entertaining presentations from the village groups; including the Army Cadets, MAD singers, Silver Sounds Band and LIVES. This year's guest speakers were Phil Davies from Vulcan to the Sky XH558 trust and Warrant Office Alan Murray from the RAF Red Arrows, both gave excellent presentations and the evening ended with a raffle.

Again thank you to all who attended.

Regards

Sharon Wetherall
Clerk to Metheringham Parish Council
0800 6343307
clerk@metheringham.org.uk