Lincolnshire Pride November 2021

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LINCOLNSHIRE

PRIDE LINCOLNSHIRE’S FINEST MAGAZINE

Do you remember?

Social history in Lincolnshire

Christmas is coming Delicious festive bakes

Horse power Lincoln’s equine charity

FREE ONLINE

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WELCOME

H

istory isn’t about the past. It’s about the future. It’s about learning from past mistakes, repeating past successes and looking after our heritage. But it’s also something fascinating to view and enjoy, with a sense of nostalgia. What seemed so modern or promising, or held so many possibilities at the time, may later have fallen from grace or perhaps matured into something we now depend upon; the Blair government or the internet, for example.

This month we’re looking back on how Lincolnshire has changed from the 1940s to the 1990s, and doing so in the context of national and international history too. We’ve tried to pack our feature with as much detail as possible, and given that it’s been such fun to write, we trust it’ll be equally fun to read!

Elsewhere? Well, we’re counting down to Christmas, not least with a few of the larger events planned for November, and we’ve some festive bakes from the delightful Shannon Riglin of Tiffin & Co Bakehouse, whose showstopping layered chocolate marble cake is particularly special.

Speaking of food, we’re also visiting Bicker’s Red Lion for some really delicious autumn dining, we’ve a stunning contemporary home to look around.

There’s also the return of our High Life pages as black tie functions and fundraising balls return to the county.

Our best wishes for a wonderful month!

Executive Editor robin@pridemagazines.co.uk 3

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80 CONTENTS

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NEWS & EVENTS

FOOD & DRINK

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NEWS The best ‘good news’ stories from across the county. We’ll meet the RAF hero completing an epic 5,600 mile challenge for charity.

WHAT’S ON November’s live events.

HIGHLIGHTS 17

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LOOKING BACK A look back

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THE GOOD FOOD AWARDS A reminder to nominate your favourite restaurants and food producers.

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CHRISTMAS BAKES Stunning festive treats from baker Shannon Riglin.

HOMES & GARDENS

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS

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FIT FOR A KING We’ll take a look behind the scenes of Kirton’s Old King’s Head as the former pub reveals its restoration, completed by Heritage Lincolnshire.

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menus now available at Bicker’s Red Lion, perfect for November!

through the decades in Lincolnshire from the 1940s to the 1990s.

Making preparations for spending the festive season in Lincolnshire and the season’s best highlights.

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AUTUMN DINING Enjoying the new

HORSE POWER A look at the work of one of Lincolnshire’s most impressive charities, Bransby Horses.

WELCOME HOME A beautiful contemporary home in Stamford now on sale for £2.5m.

FASHION & LIFESTYLE 106 WEDDINGS No drama, just joy for this month’s happy couple!

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FASHION Luxury luggage and leather goods from Lincolnshire designer Mindy Arora.

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HIGH LIFE The best black-tie events.

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MOTORS BMW’s all-electric i4.

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THE WEALTHIEST PEOPLE IN THE AREA READ PRIDE MAGAZINE

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FREE ONLINE

Pride Magazine is delivered free of charge, via Royal Mail, to high value homes in the county. Our circulation is to homes in the top three council tax bands, which are predominantly worth over £300,000. This guarantees the magazine has an affluent readership commensurate with our content.

The magazine is also sold in supermarkets and newsagents and our in-house distribution team also works hard to hand-deliver the magazine to selected hotels and restaurants, doctors, dentists, executive motor dealerships and golf clubs.

This helps to ensure we have a continued presence, right across our catchment area.

Our titles also have more social media fans than any other local magazine. In addition we have over 30,000 online readers each month who view the magazine free of charge, online, on their tablet, computer, laptop or mobile phone via our website, our app, and via the Readly and Issuu platforms.

If your business would benefit from being showcased to the wealthiest people in the area, please call our friendly sales team on 01529 469977.

Amazing new app out now: You can read our magazines on any device anywhere.

Read Pride Magazine free online at www.pridemagazines.co.uk or by downloading our free iOS and Android App. LEGAL DISCLAIMER

THE PRIDE TEAM

By supplying editorial or advertising copy to Pride you accept in full the terms and conditions which can be found online at www.pridemagazines.co.uk.

In the event of an advert or editorial being published incorrectly, where Pride Magazines Ltd admits fault, we will include an advert of equivalent size, or equivalent sized editorial, free of charge to be used in a future edition, at our discretion.

This gesture is accepted as full compensation for the error(s) with no refunds available.

Selected images in our content may be sourced from www.shutterstock.com.

Managing Director: Julian Wilkinson.

Sales Director: Zoie Wilkinson.

General Manager: Cydney Buck.

Sales Manager: Charlotte Daubney.

Executive Editor: Rob Davis.

Illustrator: Jocelyn Lawman.

Customer Care Manager: Mandy Bray.

IT Manager: Ian Bagley.

Web Developer: Joe Proctor.

Administration and Office Managers: Debbie Wellington, Sami Millard, Paul Robinson-Marsh.

Pride Magazines, Boston Enterprise Centre, Enterprise Way, Boston, Lincs PE21 7TW

Tel: 01529 469977 Fax: 01529 469978 www.pridemagazines.co.uk | enquiries@pridemagazines.co.uk

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NEWS & EVENTS

Mike’s on his bike for charity challenge RAF SUPER CYCLIST MIKE SETS HIS SIGHTS ON FINAL LEG OF 5,600-MILE CHALLENGE SCAMPTON A Lincolnshire cyclist has embarked on the final leg of an epic fundraiser marking the end of his 5,600mile Dambusters Ride 2021 challenge for the RAF Benevolent Fund.

Throughout the year, Mike Ainsworth has tackled a number of mind-boggling endurance rides and regular training rides in tribute to the Dambusters and to honour Britain’s last surviving airman from that raid, Johnny Johnson.

Not only has Mike racked up the miles, he has also raised more than £1,000 for the Fund, the RAF’s leading welfare charity.

Mike’s first endurance ride took place in May when he cycled the 200 miles from RAF Scampton to Johnny Johnson’s Bristol home on the 78th anniversary of the raid.

Another highlight was in July he completed four consecutive 100-mile rides in Lincolnshire,

over four days. Mike covered a total of 413 miles over the four days, and on Battle of Britain Day, Mike put on his cycle helmet for the final time in the challenge, cycling 160 miles from Lincoln’s Interna-

Grantham celebrates...

COMMEMORATIVE ORCHARD OFFICIALLY OPENED WITH MILITARY HONOURS...

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tional Bomber Command Centre to the memorial in Green Park, London.

“The challenge has been so much fun and I feel honoured to be able to pay tribute to those who have gone before

me in this way. I also turned 56 this year, which makes my target especially fitting!” n The RAF Benevolent Fund helps personnel, veterans and their partners access a range of support services. See rafbf.org.

GRANTHAM The Grantham’s Heroes Commemorative Orchard was officially opened last month with due military honours to remember local World War Two heritage.

First Airborne Division trained around Grantham before parachuting into Holland for the Battle of Arnhem and Tuesday 21st September, marked the date in 1944 when the battle entered its fifth day.

Royal British Legion standard bearers were joined at the opening by Army representatives, descendants of men who fought at Arnhem,

orchard project donors, sponsors, members of South Kesteven District Council and Wyndham Park Volunteers who tend the National Trust-owned site.

Judy Urquhart, daughter of Major General Robert Urquhart who commanded the First Airborne Division said: “The orchard is a commemoration for all the soldiers and airmen who were based in the Grantham area during the Second World War. Their sacrifices were made to keep Britain safe from German invasion.” n See wyndhamparkgrantham.org.uk

LIVES CHARITY PROVIDING TRAINING

BOURNE A new contract between Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and first responder charity LIVES will ensure firefighters attending medical incidents are trained to the same standards in trauma response.

The LIVES education team is now carrying out the new training sessions with firefighters across the county, following the first sessions held in Bourne last week.

“We have long seen the benefits of emergency services training and learning together,

and this is particularly apparent at medical emergencies which often involve multiple responders in hugely challenging situations.

Firefighters have now carried out co-responding duties for more than 20 years in Lincolnshire,” says Lindsey Cawrey, executive councillor for emergency services.

Nikki Cooke, CEO at LIVES, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and we’re extremely proud to work in partnership with them.” n

Learning by the Lake LOCAL SCHOOL CHILDREN BENEFIT FROM OUTDOOR CLASSES AT BOULTHAM PARK’S RESTORED LAKE...

Talk? I expect you to drive, Mr Bond...

CONINGSBY The spirit of Annie Lloyd’s ex-husband Brian Redshaw is living on... in his beloved 1961 three-wheeler Bond car!

Unlike the couple’s love for one another, Annie’s relationship with the car is slightly more tempestuous... she describes it as having an ‘aggravating’ character.

This month Annie will exhibit the car at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at the NEC in Birmingham as a tribute to Brian, who died in 2015.

The 250cc Bond was made between 1949 and 1966.

Annie says it’s an honour to have inherited it. n

LINCOLN City of Lincoln Council’s community services teams are working with a Lincoln school to educate local children with outdoor classes as part of the Boultham Park Lake Restoration Project.

Pupils at Sir Francis Hill School have covered topics like ‘Blue Abyss’ and ‘Earth Science,’ with classes including pond dipping, soil testing, fossil making and water art. Other pupils will create seed bombs, hunt for bugs, and enjoy tree planting for National Tree Week.

Boultham Park’s Lake Restoration Project has been funded by the £658,700 given to City of Lincoln Council. n

3,500 Homes

Helping our heroes

BRACEBRIDGE HEATH A new ‘village’ with 3,500 homes will be created as part of the South East Quadrant of Bracebridge Heath. Plans for an initial 1,123 homes have been put to North Kesteven District Council’s planning committee, and the eventual village will comprise seven acres of commercial land, shops and schools too. n

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LOCAL

NEWS In Brief BOSTON x

Say ‘Ello, ‘Ello, ‘Ello but also thank you, thank you, thank you to three heroic coppers...

Three police officers from Boston have been nominated for National Police Bravery Awards.

PCs Sarah Luker, Natalie Eyers and Will Robson successfully tackled a man armed with a machete who went on a terrifying rampage.

Lincolnshire Police Federation Chair Phil Clark said: “This was an act of bravery by the officers who, incredibly, were uninjured, putting themselves in harm’s way to protect the public in the finest traditions of the service.” n 9

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YOUR HOME, OUR VISION

3-4 BEDROOM FAMILY HOMES AT COWLEY PARK Based in Donington, Lincolnshire, Cowley Park is a flagship development brought to you by Ashwood Homes.

3-4 bedroom family homes now released from £275,000-£305,000 ready to move in this Autumn.

Donington is a popular village location with plenty of amenities and good local schools. The development is well situated with good road links to major towns and cities such as Boston, Grantham, Spalding and Sleaford.

Our high specification offers a flooring package as standard with integrated kitchen appliances and a full choice of tiles, kitchen units and flooring.

Cowley Park, Donington, Lincolnshire PE11 4TR Showhomes open Thursday to Monday 10-5pm info@ashwoodhomes.co or www.ashwoodhomes.co or call 01406 490590

01406 490590 • www.ashwoodhomes.co 1 GOODISON ROAD, LINCS GATEWAY BUSINESS PARK, SPALDING, PE12 6FY Please Note: Internal photographs reflect the typical style and finish of properties, but exact specifications and room layouts may vary according to individual plot and development. Help to Buy terms and conditions may apply, please call for further details.

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Rawsons Lane, Boston

£995,000

Middle Drove, Kirton Holme

£525,000

This fabulous, architect designed property, completed less than two years ago, stands in a much sought-after position and while it is incredibly convenient for schools, amenities and the hospital, the view over the acres of parkland to the rear is absolutely breath-taking.

With the internal dimensions alone approaching 7000 square feet, Eight Elms is a spacious property indeed. The accommodation includes a large living room with triple doors opening onto the rear patio and garden, large games room with bar, a cinema room and a stunning home spa complete with a six metre swim spa, sauna and gym. Outside, the property has the most beautiful outlook and an oak framed triple open-ended garage.

Barnes Farm is an individually designed and exceptionally spacious bungalow, now offered with no onward chain. The property occupies a generous plot with established gardens and enjoys uninterrupted views over neighbouring fields. The property also has the added benefit of a 59' x 23' four-bay detached garage block, ideal for a car enthusiast, someone looking for a substantial space to work from home or even just requiring the additional storage space.

Whitehouse Lane, Fishtoft

London Road, Kirton

Offers Over £395,000

This superb family home offers light and spacious accommodation with all rooms on the generous side and enjoys a non-estate position. The ground floor comprises sitting room, dining room, dining kitchen, utility and cloakroom. Upstairs there are four double bedrooms with a family bathroom having both a bath and a shower, and a generous ensuite shower room off the master bedroom. Outside is a generous block-paved driveway and a detached double garage and lawned garden.

£475,000

Situated in the heart of the village within walking distance to many amenities, this most attractive period property and detached shop date back to the late 1800’s. There is also an annexe as well as a detached two storey former coach-house included within the sale, making this unique property one that has the potential to appeal to many different types of buyer. The coach-house comprises two large rooms over two storeys and could be idealy converted into additional accommodation subject to the appropriate consents.

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CEDAR HOUSE | MIDDLEGATE ROAD WEST | FRAMPTON | LINCOLNSHIRE | PE20 1BX

• An Exceptional Architect Designed Mansion Located in 2.7 acres of Landscaped Gardens • Superb Family Residence Offering 8 Bedrooms, 7 Bathrooms • Excellent Entertaining Facilities including 50ft Kitchen/Living Area • Heated Indoor Swimming Pool with Gymnasium • Atria Games Room with Private Seating Area and Hot Tub • Sunken Croquet Lawn and Garden Room with Barbecue • Secluded Lake Overlooked by Deck and Marquee Lawn • Decked Entertaining Area and Wildflower Copse • Garaging for Over 6 Vehicles and Private Parking for Over 30 Vehicles

FOR SALE FREEHOLD WITH VACANT POSSESSION

£2.75 Million Subject To Contract

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LINCOLNSHIRE HISTORY

LOOKING

BACK ‘I remember when,’ is a familiar phrase and this month we’re indulging our sense of nostalgia by looking back at life in Lincolnshire from the 1940s to the 1990s...

Words: Rob Davis.

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1940s LIFE ON THE HOME FRONT: Discover what live was like back home in an era of kitchen gardens and make-do-and-mend... >> In Wartime Britain, we were fighting on two fronts. With the men engaged in fighting, women in Lincolnshire had to help manufacture munitions and work on the land to feed the country.

200,000 women replaced men on the land during June 1939, their wage in 1943 was 45 shillings for 50 hours a week. Many in the Women’s Land Army didn’t live in Lincolnshire. They came from different backgrounds and many came from big cities such as London.

Despite its hardships and relative lack of luxury compared to today, some retain a fondness for the simplicity of the age, like Joanna Francis from Burton upon Stather near Scunthorpe.

Joanna purchased her home in 2007 and it’s authentically furnished in a 1940s style, from the furniture to the lack of appliances – washday, we’re afraid, is still quite a chore – to her kitchen garden and air raid shelter. Playing on the gramophone?

George. Formby, that is, not Ezra.

Meanwhile, Boston’s We’ll Meet Again is a super wartime museum which has an entire exhibition dedicated to life on the home front. Marvel at dolly tubs and old groceries, and admire 1940s fashions. It’s one of the rare museums affording equal attention to life on the home front as well as the front line. The museum’s guides are all really knowledgeable and friendly too!

Top: Joanna Francis’s Scunthorpe home is authentically 1940s, with an air raid shelter and dolly tub for washday!

Above: Some brands have endured... Bird’s Custard, Oxo, Rowntree’s. See them at Freiston’s We’ll Meet Again.

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It’s a beautifully curated museum, a credit to founders Paul and Linda Britchford, based in Freiston near Boston (PE22 0LY, visit www.wmamuseum.co.uk).

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As the country continued to reel from a war that seemed it was never going to end, events also took their toll on home life, as munitions were needed and women stepped in to help feed the country. In Lincolnshire, Land Girls were bussed in to help farm the land...

1944: GUNBY HALL Gunby Hall was home to the Massingberd family who acquired land at Spilsby in the early 17th century and built their new home there. Originally four bays and three storeys tall, the datestone indicates its construction date was 1700. It was then extended in 1873 and 1898.

In 1944, the trustees of Gunby Hall Estate, Lady Montgomery-Massingberd, Major Norman Leith-Hay-Clarke and Field Marshal Sir Archibald MontgomeryMassingberd, gave the house to the National Trust together with its contents and around 1,500 acres of land. n

THE 1940s RAILWAY

Top Right: Joanna Francis lives in her beautifully curated 1940s house in Scunthorpe.

Right: Joanna’s front room with its period furniture.

LINCOLNSHIRE’S WILDLIFE TRUST: ESTABLISHED 1948

The 1940s saw the first nature reserves created under the custodianship of the UK’s Wildlife Trusts. Using funding from banking aristocrat Nathanial Rothschild following his death in 1923, the society set up in his name purchased sites that Rothschild had earmarked are being more ‘worthy of preservation,’ and Norfolk Wildlife Trust was set up in 1926. Yorkshire’s Wildlife Trust followed in 1946, and Lincolnshire’s Wildlife Trust was set up in 1948. Pictured right are Max Nicholson & Ted Smith, co-founders of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. n

A railway line connecting Grimsby, Louth and Boston was first proposed in 1845.

Work began in 1847 and was completed in 1848 with stations at Ludborough, North Thoresby, Holton-le-Clay with Tetney, Holton-le-Clay, and Waltham.

Privatisation took place in 1948 and the line closed in 1961. Enthusiasts set about restoring the route in 2001 and today the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway charity runs steam engines on the line, hosting 1940s days with glorious period costume. n

1940s CINEMAS The 1940s was a golden age for cinema as the war-weary lacking a TV sought an escape from war. Of course Woodhall Spa had the Kinema – the flicks in the sticks – but Boston had four cinemas; the New Theatre, the Odeon on South Square, the Scala was in the Market Place and the Cosy was on High Street. Lincoln had the Central, Astoria, Grand, Ritz, Radion, Regal, Savoy and Plaza.

Skegness had three large cinemas; the Central, Regent and Tower. In January 1941 a bomb landed on the Tower during a children’s matinée. n

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1940s THE NHS IS BORN

Prior to the formation of the NHS in 1948, healthcare was a legacy of Lloyd George’s National Insurance Act of 1911 which covered workers but not their wives or families.

Aneurin Bevan’s vision of free healthcare for all at the point of delivery finally came true in 1948... what did that mean for healthcare in Lincolnshire?

Lord Dawson’s report of 1920 first proposed a more accessible GP service, but especially in areas of poverty, hospital healthcare was dependent on voluntary hospitals set up as early as the 19th century. By 1939 over six million people were attending their GP surgery and by the mid-1940s, British GPs were exhausted from the war.

Below: A male patient receives treatment at Grantham Hospital in 1948. Image kindly provided by www.granthammatters.co.uk.

In 1948 there were 150 local authorities including one in Lincolnshire. The 1942 Beveridge Report proposed that healthcare

was central to addressing the ‘five giants on the road of reconstruction.’

These five were ‘want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness.’ The expansion of National Insurance and creation of National Health Service would allow better facilities in which to provide diagnosis and treatment.

Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital developed from Boston Cottage Hospital, a temporary facility built in 1871. The building was extended in 1875, 1926 and 1971.

Lincoln County was created in 1776 and built on a new site in Lincolnshire’s 1878, Grantham’s Hospital was completed in 1874. All three hospitals joined the NHS when it launched.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals

NHS Today

Trust today employs over 8,800 staff, with a turnover of £400m each year. It treats 650,000 patients every year across sites which total 2,300 square miles!

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FACE OF THE DECADE: The Wartime Prime Minister...

The 1940s n THE COST OF LIVING:

Undoubtedly Britain’s wartime Prime Minister defined the decade with an irascible temperament, a penchant for a good glug of Champagne Pol Roger and his preferred brands of Cuban cigars, ‘Romeo y Julieta and La Aroma de Cuba.’

Between Chamberlain’s fondness for appeasement and Attlee’s Labour Party victory in 1945, was sandwiched the belligerent but endearing character of Churchill. The PM delivered his stirring orations and demonstrated an ability to keep the country’s spirits up even in the face of The Blitz decimating London less than six month into his tenure.

“An empty taxi drove up to 10 Downing Street,” joked Winston Churchill about the man who defeated him in 1946, “And out of it stepped Clement Attlee.”

Churchill was devastated when Britain rejected him in 1945, but Labour’s promise of social reform – healthcare and housing – saw the latter victorious, winning 393 seats to 197. Churchill died of a stroke in 1965 and was given a full state funeral which was assigned the code name ‘Operation Hope Not.’ n Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill 30th November 1874 - 24th January 1965.

DEFINING MOMENTS... A brief history of the 1940s

Average annual salary: £185 (equivalent of £10,905 today).

Average house price: £530 (equivalent of £31,217 today).

n SHOPPING BASKET: Loaf of bread: Pint of milk: Weekly shop:

2p (94p) 6p (£3.53) 38p (£22.14)

n IN FASHION: Rationing for clothing was introduced in 1941 and lasted until 1954. Therefore ‘make do and mend’ was very much the order of the day. We looked to Parisian designers such as Pierre-Balmain and dreamed of glamour, though fashions were, in reality, rather more austere.

Norman Hartnell of Berketex designed popular fashions and held Wales’ largest-ever fashion show a few years later in 1952.

n ON THE ROAD: Average price of a car: £310 (equivalent to £18,259).

Litre of fuel: 2p (94p) One of the UK’s best selling cars was the Hillman Minx.

It was originally released in 1931, but in 1947 and 1948 a MkII and MkIII were available, with a 1,200cc engine.

A radio was a £36 extra, as was the heater, yours for £18!

n ON THE RADIO: n 8th Jan 1940: Rationing begins in the UK, and is later extended to include clothes and soap a year later. n 20th May 1940: Sir Winston Churchill is elected as Prime Minister, replacing Chamberlain. n 8th May 1945: Victory in Europe day is declared and war officially ends. Japan, though, fights on. n 26th July 1945: Clement Attlee becomes Prime Minister, much to wartime PM Churchill’s annoyance. n 24th October 1945: Britain becomes one of five founder members of the United Nations. n 15th August 1947: India gains freedom from British rule, with the partitioning of India and Pakistan. n 1st January 1948: British Rail is established, lasting until the organisation is privatised in 1997. n 20th January 1948: Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse. n 5th July 1948: NHS founded as a consequence of the 1942 Beveridge cross-party report. n 29th July - 14th August 1948: London hosts the 1946 Summer Olympics, opened by King George VI. n 14th November 1948: Birth of Charles, Prince of Wales, styled HRH from 26th July 1958.

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘this was their finest hour.’”

Winston Churchill to the House of Commons, 18th June 1940.

BBC Radio broadcast The Empire Service from 1932, The Home Service from 1939, Light Programme from 1945.

The first Desert Island Discs broadcast in January 1942, its inaugural castaway was Vic Oliver. Woman’s Hour began broadcasting in October 1946. Muffin the Mule, sadly, is no longer broadcast!

n ON THE TV: TV broadcasting began in November 1936, ceasing between September 1939 and June 1946. The first TV news programme, Television Newsreel, was broadcast in January 1948.

n AT THE PICTURES: Disney’s Pinocchio (1940).

Casablanca (1942).

Brief Encounter (1945).

n IN THE PLAYROOM: The Slinky was invented in 1945!

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1950s WE DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE Skegness was so bracing in the 1950s as the seaside holiday was beloved by all

Back in the 1950s, the seaside holiday and Skegness were both entering a golden age.

From the mid-19th century the gentry all recognised the advantage of visiting spa towns like Bath or the coast to ‘take the waters,’ and enjoy their health benefits. Skegness was another destination and was, as the time, a small village with a few farmers and fishermen.

When the railway came to the town in 1873 the middle classes were able to visit Skegness too and it was during that decade the promenades, gardens and in 1881, the new pier, made Skegness the town we know today.

Butlin’s opened in 1936 and later, the proliferation of the motor car would democratise the seaside holiday, making it available to all ready for its most popular period in the 1950s.

‘Walking photographers’ would allow visitors to have their pictures taken to post back home as postcards, with Wrates the town’s most well-known firm. It used gimmicks like costumed characters to drum up business! n Main: Skegness Pier, taken in 1951.

Above: A map of the Butlin’s Holiday Camp in 1952. Highlights include the News of the World Table Tennis Coaching Room, Rock ‘n’ Roll Ballroom, Covered Heated Swimming Pool and um, the Bendix Laundry and Camper’s Ironing Room.

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As Britain moved from post-war austerity to a bright new future, Lincolnshire had a lot to look forward to. A bright and cheerful flower parade was held in Spalding, whilst the Lincolnshire Show found a new home just north of Lincoln. Elsewhere, a Lincolnshire aristocrat was gearing up to play a part in HM The Queen’s Coronation...

LINCOLNSHIRE’S LADY IN WAITING AT THE QUEEN’S CORONATION...

BOURNE ARISTOCRAT ASSISTED THE QUEEN ON 2nd JUNE 1953 “Although my parents knew King George and Queen Elizabeth, I’d never met the Queen so I couldn’t really understand why I’d been chosen,” says Lady Jane Heathcote-DrummondWilloughby, custodian of Bourne’s Grimsthorpe Castle.

The six young ladies, between 19 and 23, carried HM The Queen’s train, and had to rehearse, day-in and day-out for weeks. The procession included 250 people, and a further 250m were watching, many on their new televisions!

Lady Jane HeathcoteDrummond-Willoughby is pictured fourth from left.

1959: THE FIRST COUNTY SHOW

1959: SPALDING FLOWER PARADE

The Lincolnshire Agricultural Society was established in 1869 and its show was peripatetic, travelling to Skegness, Louth, Boston, Lincoln, Scunthorpe and so on, because so few people had transport.

In 1950, for the 76th Lincolnshire Show, the event found a permanent home on the Showground, with a members’ enclosure created and an entrance fee of 10 shillings. The 165 acres of land at Grange de Lings were purchased for £35,000.

Livestock attractions included 289 horses, 66 pigs and 79 sheep as well as 105 heads of cattle. n

The Spalding Flower Parade as we knew it began in 1958/9, but visitors had been coming to the area since the 1930s and the area’s bulb trade began earlier still, in about 1918. In 1890 there were just a few acres of flowers, by 1939 that had reached 3,700 acres and it eventually peaked at 10,000 acres. Crowds visiting the area to enjoy the spectacle of tulips growing in the field caused problems for the town so the Spalding Flowers Union and South Holland Horticultural Association created the event to ‘organise’ the masses. In 1959, Jill Whitehouse (right) was flower queen. n

The 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby is the granddaughter of Viscountess Nancy Astor, who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament in Britain, serving from 1919 to 1945. n

Pelham Bridge Opens, Friday 27th June 1958: You don’t know what you’ve got, until it’s gone! The recent absence of Pelham Bridge as a route through the City of Lincoln has frustrated many motorists, but the bridge has only existed since the 1950s, prior to its official opening by HM The Queen. The structure cost £650,000 to build and the monarch praised it as ‘a bold and imaginative solution [necessary if] Lincoln was to fulfil in the present day its function as the industrial, cultural and market centre of this part of England.’

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1950s POST-WAR RECOGNITION FOR OUR MOST ICONIC AIRCRAFT... AND A NEW GENERATION OF BOMBERS Following the war, Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft would lead an annual Victory Day Flypast over London, beginning on 8th June 1946. At the time, the aircraft were based at Biggin Hill, and on 11th July 1957 the heritage aircraft were consolidated into a new Battle of Britain Memorial Flight group.

The BBMF moved to Coltishall in 1963 and finally to Coningsby in 1976. It now comprises 12 aircraft including its Avro Lancaster and six Spitfires.

Meanwhile, with the Cold War considered a growing threat, a new generation of aircraft with nuclear weapon capability – the first British Blue Danube bombs were delivered to RAF Wittering in 1953 – was commissioned by the RAF in November 1946. The Victor, Vulcan and Valiant entered service in 1995.

RAF Waddington’s Vulcan is one of just 19 surviving planes. The Vulcan to the Sky’s XH558 ceased to have permission to fly in 2015. n

THE DAMBUSTERS REACHES CINEMAS IN MAY 1955...

The 617 Dambusters Squadron returned to RAF Scampton on 17th May 1946, but for their onscreen depiction, the 1955 film celebrating their legacy was filmed at RAF Hemswell, and some other scenes at Scampton. 133 aircrew took part in the raid itself, 53 were killed and three became POWs. The film 1955 film starred Richard Todd as Gibson pictured and Michael Redgrave as Wallis.

It was praised for its sensitive portrayal of the raid when it debuted at the Odeon on Leicester Square. Princess Margaret accompanied Guy Gibson’s widow Eve to the film’s premier.

The film took £419,528 at the box office, the equivalent of £14.5m today, but wasn’t shown on TV until 1971. It was nominated for an Oscar for its special effects and for three BAFTAs. Production on a reboot of the film with Peter Jackson resumed in 2018 and is expected to reach cinemas in early 2023. n

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FACE OF THE DECADE: Her Majesty The Queen...

The 1950s n THE COST OF LIVING:

Television ownership in 1953 was embraced by fewer than 2,000,000 homes, but with the broadcast of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, 526,000 sets were sold and by the end of the decade, three quarters of UK households owned a TV set. The state funeral of George VI was also broadcast on TV and together these events led to a huge boom in the number of people purchasing TV sets. In 1957, HM The Queen would also broadcast her first Christmas speech on television, a natural progression of George V’s first Christmas radio broadcast in 1932.

This meant we could see and hear from our monarch in an unprecedented way, and this undoubtedly made the nation feel closer to a young Queen who had acceded to the throne at just 25 years of age.

In 1969, the Royal Family would utilise the power of television again to appear in a fly-on-the-wall documentary aired on BBC1 and ITV, which would attract 30m viewers in the UK and 350m worldwide. The Queen reportedly banned the film after criticism that it would increase tabloid interest. n HM Queen Elizabeth II, 21th April 1926 - Present.

DEFINING MOMENTS... A brief history of the 1950s n 24th February 1950: Clement Attlee wins the general election, giving Labour a second term in government. n 15th August 1950: Anne, the Princess Royal, is born, The Queen’s second child and only daughter. n 4th May 1951: The Festival of Britain opens, celebrating British industry, arts and science over 27 acres. n 16th January 1952: Sooty, Harry Corbett’s puppet teddy bear, appears on TV for the first time. n 6th February 1952: King George VI dies from lung cancer at Sandringham aged 56. n 2nd June 1953: Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation at Westminster Abbey after the death of her father. n 24th May 1955: The Dambusters is released in cinemas, starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd. n 25th December 1956: PG Tips launches its TV advert featuring a chimps’ tea party, voiced by Peter Sellers. n 1st April 1957: BBC’s Panorama broadcasts a story about a spaghetti tree harvest... the nation is fooled! n 6th July 1957: Paul McCartney sees John Lennon performing with his skiffle group, The Quarrymen. n 10th October 1957: Cumbria’s Windscale catches fire and releases its radioactive material. n 1st August 1958: Carry on Sergeant, the first Carry On film, previews. n 5th Dec 1958: Subscriber Trunk Dialling introduced. The first UK motorway – the Preston Bypass – opens.

Average annual salary: £303 (equivalent of £9,565 today).

Average house price: £1,829 (equivalent of £58,345 today).

n SHOPPING BASKET: Loaf of bread: Pint of milk: Weekly shop:

2p (73p) 8p (£2.68) 52p (£16.45)

n IN FASHION: Rationing was still applicable to clothing in the first half of the decade, but that didn’t stop Britain dreaming of ‘The New Look’ which was debuted in Paris by Christian Dior in 1947.

A tiny waist, fitted top half with pointy breasts and a knee-length skirt were key characteristics of the style copied by Coco Chanel and Hubert de Givenchy.

The term teenager was first used in 1944 but became more prevalent in the 1950s with jeans becoming fashion items as popularised by Marlon Brando and James Dean.

n ON THE ROAD: Average price of a car: £600 (equivalent to £18,259).

Litre of fuel: 3p (£1.06) If there was one decade when Britain led the world in motoring it was the 1950s. The Mini wasn’t born until 1959 but the decade had already given us the Land Rover (1952), the Rolls Royce Phantom IV (1955), and the Jaguar XK140 (1957).

n ON THE RADIO: In the 1950s, The Archers was first broadcast in January 1951, and in that same year The Hit Parade was established.

Nat King Cole was first at number one in the new Billboard chart with Too Young.

n ON THE TV: Independent Television, the UK’s second channel, launches in 1955, the first of 14 regional franchises. Blue Peter began its 50 year run.

n AT THE PICTURES:

“The last two weeks of March are an anxious time for the spaghetti farmer.

There is always the chance of a late frost which impairs the flavour.

But now these dangers are over and the spaghetti harvest goes forward...”

Richard Dimbleby on BBC’s Panorama, 1st April 1957.

Quatermass Experiment (1955).

Richard III, starring Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud (1955).

Bridge over the River Kwai (1957).

n IN THE PLAYROOM: Lego and Play Doh go on sale in 1955 and 1956.

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1960s TUNE IN, TURN UP, DROP OUT...

There was only one place to be in Lincolnshire to see the best bands of the 60s; Boston’s Gliderdrome!

OF ALL THE THINGS that the 1960s is synonymous with, music is what the decade with best be remember for.

It wasn’t just the music itself, either. Fashion, fed into all aspects of culture during the 1960s from fashion to to art, and of course Britain Elton John’s songwriting partner was cool in the Bernie Taupin was born near Anwick and upon visiting the county, wrote 1960s, not least Saturday Night’s Alright for riding high on Fighting about his experience the crest of of nights out here in Lincolnshire!

Beatlemania and its 1966 World Cup win.

Alright for Fighting?

The Gliderdrome was an open air skating rink opened in the mid-1950s by Ernest and Sydney Malkinson. Fire destroyed it in the late 1950s, but when it was rebuilt, it soon became one of the UK’s best music venues, attracting huge names when it opened on

The Who performed in 1966.

Below: Dusty Springfield.

Wednesday, 27th January 1960 with its new Starlight Rooms. Astonishingly, The Beatles were due to perform there as a support act, but Sydney Malkinson cancelled them, not realising just how big they’d become! n

The Glider’s Star-Studded 1960s: In the swinging sixties, nowhere was swinging quite as much...

1960-1963: Alvin Stardust, Joe Brown, The Tornados, Marty Wilde.

1964: The Animals, Brenda Lee, The Merseybeats, Georgie Fame.

1965: Tom Jones, Kinks, Small Faces, Billy Fury, The Searchers, Donovan.

1966: Dusty Springfield, The Who, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Otis Redding.

1967: Spencer Davis Group, Jimi Hendrix, P P Arnold, Stevie Wonder.

1968: Status Quo, The Tremeloes, Procol Harum, Ike and Tina, Ronettes.

1969: The Platters, Marmalade, Amen Corner, Inez, Lovin’ Spoonful.

1970-1973: T-Rex, Elton John, ELO, Wizzard, The Sweet, Slade, Thin Lizzy. n The last dance at The Gliderdrome was held on 28th April 1973.

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The 1960s is renowned as a period of optimism, social change and mind expansion... closer to home we were looking to secure the future of our historic towns and villages, and to celebrate Lincolnshire’s heritage with the opening of a new museum. Elsewhere, football and motorsport victories proved that Britannia ruled!

1965: BELMONT Located near Donington on Bain, the Belmont Transmitting Station was completed and began working on 20th December 1965. It’s 2.7 metres in diameter and a whopping 387 metres tall... for context Lincoln Cathedral is 83m tall and Boston Stump is 81m tall.

The tower is actually a little shorter now than in its original configuration since a bit of equipment was removed from its peak following the switchover to digital TV. Belmont is the second highest structure in the UK, after the Skelton Transmitter in Cumbria, and the 14th highest in the EU. n

1967: THE FIRST CONSERVATION AREA NAMED 1967 was a great year for conservation.

Stamford’s Civic Society had been founded five years earlier, and in 1967, the town was designated a conservation area; the first area in the country to be so designated. The town has 600 listed buildings, including eight Grade I or II* buildings and The Civic Amenities Act 1967 was passed to protect places with special architectural or historic qualities. n

1969: THE MUSEUM OF OUR RURAL LIFE The Museum of Lincolnshire Life was established in June 1969 to exhibit the domestic, agricultural and industrial heritage of the county. It’s based in the former barracks of the Lincolnshire Regiment. The regiment was first raised in 1685 and saw action in the French Revolutionary War, the Boer War and the Western Front. It also houses a number of Lincoln-made William Foster tanks. n

T-Rex’s Marc Bolan died in 1977, just a few years after his appearance in Boston.

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1960s RACING AHEAD IN BOURNE The 1960s were a golden age for engineers at Bourne’s BRM, founded

by Raymond Mays...

Below: Graham Hill in BRM P261, testing at Silverstone in 1965. Chassis designer John Crosthwaite in duffel coat.

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LINCOLNSHIRE’S connection to motor racing was ‘Bourne’ out of the creation of BRM, a British Formula One motor racing team founded by Raymond Mays just after the Second World War. Such was BRM’s engineering prowess that in 1962 it won the World Constructors’ Championships which is designed to celebrate engineering prowess in motorsport.

It wasn’t all plain sailing, though. Mays had built racing cars under the ERA brand and ambitiously intended to build a winning British Grand Prix car. Backers became impatient though, and eventually finance from Alfred Owen was necessary to fund further development.

Under the name Owen Racing Organisation, Mays created two engines, including the BRMV16

and took on Tony Rudd to ratify engine designs and the company’s turbochargers for the development of later P25 and P48 engines.

The engine won attention from the likes of Colin Chapman and Stirling Moss, and in 1960, Tony Rudd was promoted to chief development engineer. In 1960, the team developed a mid-engined car, winning the World Drivers’ Championship in 1962 with Graham Hill at the wheel.

Graham Hill again raced for the Owen Racing Organisation, in cars whose engines were developed in Bourne, in 1963, 1964, 1965, and 1966. As for BRM/Owen Racing Organisation, they placed second in the Constructors’ Champion competition from 1963-1965, It’ll Never underwriting just how good their engines all were. Rudd later joined Lotus with Hill Fed up of Lincoln traffic? driving for the team too. n Hans Trippel thought he had the

Catch On!

answer in 1968 when he ‘sailed’ his Amphicar Model 770 to the Lincoln Carnival on Brayford Wharf. The car could travel at 7 knots on water, and on the road too!

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FACES OF THE DECADE: John Lennon & Paul McCartney

The 1960s n THE COST OF LIVING:

Formed in Liverpool in 1960 from the ashes of John Lennon’s Quarrymen skiffle group, The Beatles became synonymous with British pop culture until McCartney dissolved the band in December 1970. Their legacy was 600m album sales, 22m singles sold, and 15 number one albums. Incidentally there are also five asteroids named after the group members too. Their indomitability endured despite myriad controversies from their experimentation with many psychedelic drugs to Lennon’s claim that they were more popular than Jesus in 1966. n Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison with their MBEs in 1965.

DEFINING MOMENTS... A brief history of the 1960s n 19th Nov 1960: DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover sells 200,000 copies; it was banned from 1928. n 3rd April 1961: Jaguar releases its 150mph E-Type sports car, as a two-seater roadster or 2+2 coupé. n 4th July 1961: Barclays is the first bank to use an EMI computer and create an in-house computing centre. n 4th December 1961: Birth control pills become available on the NHS... they were backed by Enoch Powell! n 4th February 1962: The Times is the first newspaper to print a colour supplement. n 6th June 1962: The Beatles play their first session at Abbey Road Studios. They perform on TV on 17th Oct. n 10th December 1962: Crick, Wilkins & Watson win the Nobel Prize for discovering nucleic acids (DNA). n 22nd March 1963: The Beatles’ debut album, Please Please Me, is released. It tops the album chart in May. n 5th June 1963: Profumo admits to misleading Parliament and resigns over his affair with Christine Keeler. n 23rd November 1963: Dr Who is first broadcast, and in December, The Daleks make their first appearance. n 28th March 1964: Pirate radio station Radio Caroline begins to broadcast just off Felixstowe’s waters. n 15th Sep 1964: The Sun tabloid launched. Murdoch buys News of the World in 1968 and The Sun in 1969. n 8th July 1965: Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, convicted for the 1963 crime, escapes Wandsworth. n 29th June 1966: Barclays introduces the Barclaycard, the first British credit card. n 30th July 1966: England beats West Germany 4 – 2 to win the 1966 World Cup at Wembley. n 27th July 1967: The first Conservation area in the UK is designated... in Stamford, Lincolnshire! n 22nd Dec 1967: BBC Radio 4 panel game Just a Minute, chaired by Nicholas Parsons, first transmitted. n 5th January 1968: BBC Gardeners’ World debuts on BBC1. Dad’s Army also debuts on 31st July. n 7th June 1968: Female sewing machinists at Ford’s Dagenham site strike, prompting 1970’s Equal Pay Act. n 1st October 1968: The A1 motorway is compete, a 35-mile road eventually connecting London to Leeds. n 1st January 1969: The Space Hopper toy goes on sale. The Chopper bike is released in April 1969 too. n 24th January 1969: The flashy Ford Capri is launched... a year after the firm debuts its Escort. n 12th March 1969: Paul McCartney marries Linda Eastman. John Lennon marries Yoko Ono on 25th March.

Average annual salary: £545 (equivalent of £11,446 today).

Average house price: £2,189 (equivalent of £45,969 today).

n SHOPPING BASKET: Loaf of bread: Pint of milk: Weekly shop:

5p (£1.01) 13p (£2.77) 90p (£18.94)

n IN FASHION: Paco Rabanne, Pierre Cardin, miniskirts, paper dresses, and 1964’s mods ‘n’ rockers. See also hippies and Hepburn, the latter in Givenchy’s little black dress.

n ON THE ROAD: Average price of a car: £800 (equivalent to £16,800).

Litre of fuel: 5p (£1.07) The three best selling cars of the 1960s, in order, were the Ford Cortina, Austin/Morris 1100 and the Mini.

n ON THE RADIO: BBC replaces its Light and Home services with the launch on 30th September 1967 of Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4.

n ON THE TV: The BBC launched its full colour BBC One broadcast in November 1969. We first saw TV soap Coronation Street (1960), The Avengers (1961), The Saint and The Avengers, (1961/2), Stingray (1964), and Thunderbirds (1965). Top of the Pops first broadcast on 1st Jan 1964, as did science & technology programme, Tomorrow’s World, on 7th July 1965.

n AT THE PICTURES: James Bond debuted in Dr No (1962). A Hard Days Night followed The Beatles in 1964, two years after their debut single Love Me Do. Also...

Lolita (1962), My Fair Lady (1964), Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet (1968), The Italian Job (1969) and Kes (1969).

n IN THE PLAYROOM:

“Tune in, turn on, drop out.”

Timothy Leary, American psychologist, 1967, advocating psychedelia.

“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”

Andy Warhol, in a program for his 1968 exhibit at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden.

The first Barbie doll went on sale in March 1959.

Her better half, Ken (Ken Carson, incidentally...), debuted in 1961. Space hoppers also went on sale in 1969 but weren’t popular until the 1970s.

Thunderbirds and James Bond also yielded spin-off toys.

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1970s 1972: CHANGES FOR THE FOUR KESTEVENS...

What happened to East Kesteven and West Kesteven...?

WE’VE ALL HEARD of North Kesteven and South Kesteven, but prior to 1972, there were four Kestevens, established by the Local Government Act of 1929.

Historically Lincolnshire was divided into hundreds (feudal administrative areas), wapentakes (the Danish Sleaford’s equivalent) and into Sokes (administrative districts after the Norman Conquest).

The Duke of Edinburgh visited There were 11 wapentakes in Sleaford in June 1970 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of RAF College what is now North and South Cranwell, and met Prince Charles’s Kesteven, and in 1888 these flying instructor, Sqn Ldr Richard Johns. He returned in 1975 were turned into just six to inspect Sleaford’s new administrative areas; Bourne, Riverside Precinct.

Bracebridge, Grantham, Market Deeping, Sleaford and Stamford.

In 1894, another LGA statue established six new rural districts and six urban districts – of which Grantham and Sleaford were Boroughs.

In 1929, the Local Government Act then simplified the area into four Rural Districts – North, South, East and West Kesteven – and finally in 1972, North & East Kesteven and South and West Kesteven were merged together.

The Borough of Boston was created on 1st April 1974 with the merger of the former borough and Boston Rural District. In the 1970s, then, the areas’ previous designations of Lindsey, Kesteven and Holland were replaced with the district council areas we know today. n

Royal Visitor

Right: HM The Queen opens new casting facilities, and rolling mills in Scunthorpe, May 1974.

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The 1970s were a turbulent time for Britain with each successive recession, energy crisis and strike. Culturally things were a bit brighter with gaudy disco and glam rock superstars.

In Lincolnshire, transport projects were underway and the Royals were regular visitors!

Lincolnshire’s New Roads...

In the 1970s the county was on the road to better transport links with major new roads

John Adam’s Way Boston under construction... prior to its name the road was referred to as ‘the Boston inner relief road.’

1972, Lincoln Ring Road: “We’ve got a cunning plan!” said Lincoln’s road planning chiefs.

In January 1972 Lincoln’s congestion woes were to be solved by the creation of a new 350 yard section of dual carriageway, Wigford Way. The road cost £550,000 and 200 people gathered to excitedly watch the new road opening as part of plans to create an inner ring road.

1973-5, Sleaford Bypass: A bypass of Sleaford was proposed and created Holdingham Roundabout as we currently know it, A153 Bonemill Junction turnoff, an overpass at Kirkby la Thorpe, and a bypass connecting Holdingham to the A15, utilising the existing A17. It was opened by Joseph Godber.

1977, M18/M180: The first section of the M18 opened in 1967, followed by further junctions in 1972, 1975, 1977 and 1979. The M180 opened in 1977. The roads connected Grimsby and Scunthorpe to the A15, A1 and M1, which was essential for the area’s businesses.

Barton on Humber and Brigg were also bypassed in 1978 May 1978, John Adams Way: The best things come to those who wait and John Adam’s Way in Boston opened in 1978 after two decades of planning. It was a £1m project that would see homes and businesses demolished, completed in three phases. It was thought 17,360 vehicles a day would use the road. In fact, about 38,000 vehicles use it daily in 2021.

During construction, 12-year old Kitwood Boys pupil Paul Holland uncovered a C13th pot whilst playing with friends on the site of the excavation. n

Above: This map shows Lincolnshire’s administrative sokes circa 1832. Large names (e.g.: Lindsey, Kesteven, Holland) show ‘parts,’ slightly smaller text indicates ridings (e.g.: west, north, south [Lindsey]). Lincoln is a county corporate, Boston, Grantham, Louth, Grimsby are Boroughs, small capital text indicates wapentakes, small text in lower case indicated Divisions. These distinctions were replaced in 1888, 1894 and 1929. The final boundaries including Boston Borough Council, and North/South Kesteven were established in 1974, alongside Humberside, which later became North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire in April 1996.

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1970s 1972-1976: THE SECOND AND THIRD COD WARS

THE WAS NO COD PEACE in the 1970s, when the second and third Cod Wars erupted and decimated the lives of Grimsby’s fishermen.

This first Cod War (1958-1961) erupted when Iceland arbitrarily extended its territorial waters – its Exclusive Economic Zone or EEZ – from the accepted four miles from its coastline to 12 miles, which would prevent British boats fishing in them.

Britain wasn’t chuffed and sent its powerful naval forces to protect its fishing fleets, but eventually backed down.

Above: Tensions on the water; the third Cod War contributed to the decline of fishing in Grimsby.

History repeated itself in September 1972 when, instead of solving disputes in the Hague, Iceland again arbitrarily extended its EEZ from 12 to 50 miles, and employed netcutters to destroy British trawler nets.

The British trawler C S Forester was shelled targeted with ammunition and hit. Then, astonishingly, the crippled vessel was towed back to Iceland and its skipper Richard

1973: THE ‘RYVITA BUILDING’ OPENS

1976: FIRE WRECKS THE BASS MALTINGS It’s a phenomenal landmark, explored in great detail in September’s Pride.

Sadly, 1974 was the worst in the Bass Maltings’ history, with a terrible fire which was started deliberately destroying the buildings.

The Bass Maltings have remained unloved and unrestored since.

On a more positive note, 1978 saw the debut of Batemans XXXB, unveiled by Head Brewer Ken Dixon. Suffice to say it has since become a staple of Lincolnshire pubs! n

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The completion of Lincoln’s new South Park hub for the county’s emergency services has seen the ageing West Parade Police Station entirely redundant.

The building is more colloquially known as the ‘Ryvita Building’ given its obvious similarities to the healthy snack. A total of 15 different prospects for the site’s reuse are being discussed, with an aim to repurpose the site for city living, digital learning and the creation of new workspaces. n

1978: SKEGNESS PIER COLLAPSES Back in 1881, Skegness’s Pier was the fourth longest pier in Britain at nearly 600 metres. However, a terrible storm on 11th January 1978 saw it come crashing down into the sea, leaving a portion of it cut off and shortening its overall length to just 116 metres. The rest of the pier was dismantled in 1985. In 2021, the Pier’s new owners, the Mellors Group, announced plans to restore the pier to its former glory with modern tearooms and glass domes. n

Taylor was imprisoned. Again, Britain backed down.

The Third Cod War occurred in 1975/1976 when Iceland yet again extended its territory to 200 miles from its coastline. Talks to end the Cod Wars took place in Oslo in 1976 limiting Britain’s access by 50,000 tonnes.

An apology and compensation was made in 2012 to Grimsby fishermen whose industry was decimated, but was deemed by many to be ‘too little, too late.’ Parallels between post-Brexit fishing negotiations and the Cod Wars have been made following the UK’s exit from the European Union.

At least there was one positive outcome of the Cod Wars... if you’ve ever enjoyed battered sausage in a fish ‘n’ ship shop, you’ve the Cod Wars to thank; sausages with collagen instead of natural casings were developed as chippies had no fish to fry, sparking a new addition to menus! n

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FACE OF THE DECADE: Margaret Thatcher

The 1970s n THE COST OF LIVING:

No Prime Minister has proved as divisive, but few have ever proved as decisive. That’s an assessment of Thatcher in my own words. But the Iron Lady, who trampled over her critics for three terms from 1979 to 1990, had a few pretty good words of her own. These are a few of my favourite soundbites:

Average annual salary: £1,080 (equivalent of £16,085 today).

Average house price: £4,378 (equivalent of £65,232 today).

n SHOPPING BASKET: Loaf of bread: Pint of milk: Weekly shop:

“If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn’t swim.”

9p (1.31p) 19p (£2.80) £1.16 (£17.23)

n IN FASHION: The word ‘fashion’ is doing some heavy lifting here; thanks to Saturday Night Fever (1977), Disco and Glam Rock made flammable monstrosities out of us all before punk saved the day.

“Being powerful is like being a lady.

If you have to tell people you are... then, you aren’t.”

“I’m extraordinarily patient. Provided I get my own way in the end.”

n ON THE ROAD:

“It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.”

Average price of a car: £1,090 (equivalent to £16,241).

Litre of fuel: 7p (£1.09) The Ford Cortina was selling 100,000 units a year in the mid-1970s, whilst its Escort was second in the sales charts followed by the Mini, Morris Marina and Austin Allegro.

“As God once said, and I think, rightly...”

“The wisdom of hindsight, so useful to historians and indeed to authors of memoirs, is sadly denied to practising politicians.” n The Right Honourable Baroness Margaret Thatcher, 13th October 1925 – 8th April 2013.

n ON THE RADIO:

DEFINING MOMENTS... A brief history of the 1970s n 1st Jan 1970: National Westminster Bank established after National Provincial and Westminster Banks merge. n 19th Sept 1970: Pilton Pop, Blues & Folk Festival hosted by Michael Eavis. It’s later renamed Glastonbury. n 17th Nov 1970: The Sun begins to print a ‘page three’ girl. Gay Liberation Front’s first march in London. n 7th June 1971: Blue Peter buries a time capsule in the Blue Peter garden, to be opened in the year 2000. n 9th August 1972: Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar makes its West End debut. n 16th October 1972: Emmerdale Farm’s first episode is broadcast, filmed in the Yorkshire village of Esholt. n 1st January 1973: United Kingdom enters into the European Economic Community. n 1st March 1974: Pink Floyd release Dark Side of the Moon, the all-time best-selling album by a British artist. n 1st April 1974: VAT comes into effect in the UK, replacing Purchase Tax... the rate is 10%. n 9th April 1975: Monty Python’s The Holy Grail is released. ‘He’s not the messiah... he’s a very naughty boy!’ n 3rd April 1976: UK wins the Eurovision Song Contest with Brotherhood of Man’s Save Your Kisses for Me. n 1976-1978: Filling/opening of Rutland Water, the largest reservoir in England at 2,995 acres, 124m3 metres. n 28th Oct 1977: The Sex Pistols’ ‘Never Mind’ album is released, Sid Vicious has recently joined the band. n 1978/9: Winter of Discontent with severe winter weather, strikes and Callaghan running scared. n 4th May 1979: Conservatives win General Election. Margaret Thatcher becomes the UK’s first female PM.

DJ Steve Wright makes his debut on Radio Luxembourg, joining BBC Radio 1 a year later. Pirate radio DJ Johnnie Walker joined BBC Radio 1 in 1969, taking over the weekday morning slot and early afternoon slot in 1970 and 1971.

Between 1967 and 1973, BBC launches 22 regional stations, starting with BBC Leicester.

n ON THE TV: A Question of Sport debuted in 1970, as did The Goodies, hot on the heels of Monty Python which launched a year before.

n AT THE PICTURES: Godfather Pt1/2 (1972), (1974) Jaws Pt1/2 (1975), 1978) Bugsy Malone (1976) Star Wars (1977) Superman (1978) Grease (1978) Quadrophenia (1979)

n IN THE PLAYROOM:

“I don’t think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime.”

Margaret Thatcher, 1973.

“They have made a grave mistake choosing that woman.”

Ted Heath, 1975.

Magna-Doodles, Chopper Bikes and Space Hoppers, Pogo Sticks and Hungry Hippos... all of the above gave way to electronic games, from the memory game Simon to the Atari 2600 in 1977 which brought us Asteroids, PacMan and Centipede.

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1980s 1983: THE REDS TOUCH DOWN IN LINCOLNSHIRE...

The Red Arrows finally reached RAF Scampton in 1983. This is their last year there!

East Kirby

MAGNIFICENT MEN in their Flying Machines: The Red Arrows are a familiar sight in the skies of Lincolnshire now, but we can trace their provenance back to the 1920s when the RAF held an air pageant at Hendon with biplane squadrons swooping, ducking and generally showing off for the crowds.

Five years later for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, the RAF trained its No32 Squadron to perform a display in their Sopwith Snipes, painted red for the purposes of the display.

In 1947 early jet aircraft – deHavilland Vampire jets – were used by No72 and No54 squadrons to host displays, the later using smoke to create visible trails in the sky for aesthetic purposes.

Aviation Centre

When the school moved to The Vampires were later Scampton in 1983, the replaced with Gloster East Kirkby’s Aviation Heritage Red Arrows were also Meteors and new display Centre is owned by Fred & Harold relocated to the base and squadrons – No56, No66, Panton, created as a memorial to their brother, Christopher, who remained there, with just a and No74 and No92 – were was killed in a bombing raid few years at RAF Cranwell formed. No111 squadron was over Nuremberg in 1944.

The centre opened in the mid-1990s. formed in 1956 and its in 1988. aircraft were painted in a black The team adopted the BAE shade. They were given the title Hawk as their preferred aircraft in ‘The Black Arrows.’

1979, and after much deliberation, it was decided that The Red Arrows would remain 56 squadron was known as the Red Pelicans, in Lincolnshire after the closure of RAF and when all of the squadrons were merged Scampton on 2022, whereupon the display in 1964, the Red Pelican and Black Arrows’ team will relocated to Waddington. names were amalgamated.

The team has completed 5,000 displays in At that time the squadron was based at 57 countries, and are regarded as the best Gloucestershire’s Little Rissington, where the RAF’s flying school was based. display squadron in the world. n

Top: The Red Arrows arrived in Lincolnshire in 1983 when the RAF’s flying school was relocated from Gloucestershire to RAF Scampton. The squadron’s identity is the result of an amalgamation of the Red Pelicans and Black Arrows in 1964. The team will remain in Lincolnshire after RAF Scampton closes in 2022.

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Back in the 1980s, magnificent men in their flying machines touched down at RAF Scampton... and on the airwaves, was a brand new station broadcasting just for Lincolnshire. Elsewhere we were preserving our heritage and celebrating bridging the gap between both sides of the Humber Estuary...

1986: RESTORING THE COUNTY’S WINDMILLS...

In 1986, Heckington’s most famous landmark was restored. Upon the death of John Pocklington in 1941, Kesteven County Council purchased the mill in 1953 for £400, ownership passed to Lincolnshire County Council in 1974 and the Friends of Heckington Mill was established in 1981.

The group raised enough money to fund 1986’s restoration and the mill turned again for the first time until 1999 when structural defects were found. In 2014 its eight sails were replaced and it became operational again in until storm damage in 2018. n Alford Windmill’s repair was also completed in 1979

by Neil Medcalf. n Lincoln’s Ellis’ was restored in 1981 and began producing flour again after 40 years. n 1988 saw the restoration of Boston’s Maud Foster Windmill

by James Waterfield.

Heckington Windmill 1986.

1984: BELTON HOUSE’S FUTURE

1989: OLDRIDS OPENS DOWNTOWN

Maintaining a country estate is fearfully expensive, as the 7th Baron Brownlow Edward John Peregrine Cust (left) discovered when he inherited the house in 1978 when the 6th baron died, leaving behind a half-completed restoration of Belton House.

In 1984, Edward had no choice but to transfer ownership of the house to the National Trust. A subsequent auction of contents was held at Christies in May 1984, when the sale of 1,022 lots raised £8m (£22m today). In 1988 the house was used as the setting for the BBC’s children’s drama Moondial. n

Lincolnshire retailer Oldrids was established in 1804, and was taken over by the Isaac family in 1915. In the 1980s, the company expanded significantly with the construction of Downtown Boston in 1981, its refurbishment in 1985 and with the creation of Grantham’s Downtown in 1989. Planning permission has been granted for a £125m outlet village with 107 stores which it’s hoped will open on the site in 2023. Meanwhile at the end of the 1980s the writing was on the wall for Spalding’s Springfields, closing, only to reopen as an shopping village in 2004. n

n 26th July 1983, Princess Diana opens Grimsby hospital: The People’s Princess was enormously popular across Britain in 1983, just a couple of years after the couple’s wedding. When Grimsby’s former workhouse infirmary on Scartho Road was reopened, it was opened as the Scartho Road Hospital, but upon the Princess’s death it was renamed the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in 1997. Incidentally, the hospital was also used to film scenes of the 1986 John Cleese film, Clockwise, which saw stressed headteacher Brian Stimpson battle to reach a headmasters’ conference where he’s due to deliver a speech, setting in motion a calamitous chain of events.

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1980s 1981: HM THE QUEEN OPENS THE NEW HUMBER BRIDGE It’s a landmark that celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2021, and has been used by 230,000,000 vehicles since The Humber Bridge remains an epic example of engineering and succeeded in uniting both banks of the Humber when the first vehicles crossed it on 24th June 1981. The bridge was officially opened on 17th July 1981 as this image from the Grimsby Evening Telegraph shows.

The structure was conceived in 1959 with the creation of the Humber Bridge Act, which also created The Humber Board, which would manage the bridge upon its completion.

Work began with the creation of foundations in 1973 and an approach road in 1976. It was the largest slipforming

project of its type with the completion the north tower in May 1974.

Cable spanning took place from 1977 to 1979 and the road deck was created in 124 sections from 1975 to 1979.

The final elements to be completed were the administrative buildings and workshops in 1976, then the southern approach roads.

The bridge cost a total of £151m – the equivalent of £592m today – and cut the journey time from the south shore to the north shore down from 82 miles. It’s 1.4 miles (2,200 metres) long and held up using a nearly 15,000

individual cables anchored into concrete footings.

The cables that soar from the two towers down towards the road deck are seven metres round and there’s enough wire in the structures to wrap around the moon six times.

2017 saw the bridge granted a Grade I listed status. Its legacy endures not only as a historic structure and as a bridge that has made an incalculable contribution to the area’s economy, but also because it remains the 11th longest bridge of its type in the world, and the second longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere. n

1980: LAUNCH OF BBC RADIO LINCOLNSHIRE “And it’s a warm welcome for the first time to the programmes of BBC Radio Lincolnshire,” said Nick Brunger on 11th November 1980 at 7am.

Nick was accompanied by a specially commissioned peal of bells from Lincoln Cathedral, BBC Radio Lincolnshire had officially launched. The station was also responsible for the creation of the Lincolnshire flag in October 2005 and remains Lincolnshire’s biggest and best radio station. n

1982: THATCHER’S FINEST HOURS Elected in May 1979, Grantham-born Margaret Thatcher spent the 1980s being the most powerful woman in the world.

In 1980 her approval rating was just 23%, but by 1982 economic recovery was beginning to ease hostility to her leadership. After the Argentinian junta’s invasion of the Falklands in April 1982, her swift and uncompromising response, buoyed by The Sun’s ‘gotcha’ headline helped Thatcher achieve her second electoral term in 1983. n

1989: WHISBY NATURE PARK

Above: HM The Queen opens the Humber Bridge on 17th July 1981, image courtesy of the Grimsby Telegraph, which has more images of the day online – see www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk.

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Lincoln’s Whisby Nature Park officially opened to the public in 1989, a complete restoration of the former sand and gravel pits. The site was designated a Local Nature Reserve in 2001. The 1980s also saw the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust’s Gibraltar Point designated a National Nature Reserve in 1988 and saw work begin on the Far Ings reserve too. Donna Nook had opened in 1979. n

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FACE OF THE DECADE: The People’s Princess...

The 1980s n THE COST OF LIVING:

Throughout her life the woman that 90s Prime Minister Tony Blair would name ‘the people’s princess’ sought to redefine how The British Monarchy would interact with people. Whether she was naïve as to the role she was undertaking, more sinned against than sinning or a canny manipulator is irrelevant. In the 1980s and 1990s her fearless gestures – holding hands with or hugging AIDS patients and walking through fields of landmines – proved that her desire to change the world was genuine. Undoubtedly she has ensured that if and when her eldest son accedes to the throne, he’ll be a better monarch, and will represent the country forever with his mother forever in mind. n Diana, Princess of Wales, 1st July 1961 - 31st August 1997.

DEFINING MOMENTS... A brief history of the 1980s n 19th March 1980: MV Mi Amigo (Radio Caroline) sinks. Broadcasting resumed on the MV Ross Revenge. n 10th October 1980: Margaret Thatcher makes her ‘lady’s not for turning’ speech. n 8th December 1980: John Lennon is shot dead outside The Dakota by crazed fan Mark Chapman.

Average annual salary: £4,242 (equivalent of £20,757 today).

Average house price: £18,574 (equivalent of £84,883 today).

n SHOPPING BASKET: Loaf of bread: Pint of milk: Weekly shop:

37p (£1.69) 68p (£3.11) £4.53 (£20.69)

n IN FASHION: Power dressing for women, New Romantic silliness for men. Surely something better was on the way... like a lovely smart neon shell suit, perhaps?

n ON THE ROAD: Average price of a car: £3,550 (equivalent to £16,224).

Litre of fuel: 28p (£1.29) Ford dominated the 1980s with its Fiesta and Escort. Of course, if you were a Yuppie, you could only be seen on your new carphone in a Porsche 911.

n ON THE RADIO: BBC Radio Lincolnshire launched on 11th November 1980, with a peal of bells from Lincoln Cathedral.

n 29th March 1981: The first ever London Marathon is held and the ZX Spectrum computer is launched.

n ON THE TV:

n 4th April 1981: Britain wins Eurovision after Buck’s Fizz rip off their skirts to ‘Making Your Mind Up.’

Rise and shine! 17th January 1983 saw BBC’s Breakfast Time and ITV’s TV-am go head to head for morning audiences.

Channel Four was brand new, launching in November 1982, and EastEnders aired its first episode in Feb 1985, giving us those ‘duff duff’ cliffhangers.

By the end of the decade, Sky would launch satellite TV, too.

n 29th July 1981: The wedding of Prince Charles to Diana Spencer is watched by 30,000,000 people on TV. n 12th Feb 1982: First Next store in Leeds opens following a merger of Joseph Hepworth & Kendall & Sons. n 2nd April 1982: Argentina invades the Falklands... Thatcher responds in kind, Belgrano is sunk in May. n Mar 1983: The CD goes on sale in the UK. Michael Jackson releases Billie Jean. Kajagoogoo are ‘too shy.’ n 22nd January 1984: At the US Superbowl, Apple unveils its new computer; the Apple Macintosh. n 3rd December 1984: Band Aid releases its charity single. ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ reaches No1. n 1st January 1985: Bray’s Fat Duck, owned by the Roux brothers, is awarded three Michelin stars. n 1st January 1985: The first mobile phone goes on sale. It’s a success! The Sinclair C5 does, too; it isn’t! n 13th August 1985: The first UK heart-lung transplant is carried out on three-year-old Jamie Gavin. n 15th December 1987: Channel Tunnel construction begins. It’s expected to open in 1993 or early 1994. n 5th February 1988: The first BBC Red Nose Day raises £15,000,000 for charity. n 17th September 1988: Summer Olympics in Seoul, UK wins 5 gold, 10 silver and 9 bronze medals. n 5th February 1989: Sky becomes the UK’s first satellite TV broadcaster. Home & Away makes its debut. n 12th March 1989: British scientist Tim Berners-Lee devises ‘http://www’ and the internet is invented. n 3rd Dec 1989: Margaret Thatcher, George Bush & Mikhail Gorbachev, declare the end of the Cold War.

“I’d like to be a queen in people’s hearts but I don’t see myself being queen of this country.” [...] “I don’t go by the rule book... I lead from the heart, not the head.”

Diana, to Martin Bashir in 1995, 14 years after her 1981 Royal Wedding.

n AT THE PICTURES: Fame Indiana Jones Star Wars V/VI The Snowman Dirty Dancing

(1980) (1981) (1981, 1983) (1982) (1987)

n IN THE PLAYROOM: Franchises were popular in the 1980s, from Transformers and Care Bears to Cabbage Patch Dolls and My Little Pony.

But in June 1987, the Nintendo NES reaches the UK with Sega’s Master System a year later and by the end of the decade, ‘16-bit’ systems the SNES and Mega Drive going head to head. Graphics and gameplay had progressed a lot in the decade since Clive Sinclair’s 1982 ZX Spectrum with its rubber keyboard.

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1990s 1996: QUEEN OPENS THE UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN City welcomed HM The Queen for the opening of the University on 11th October 1996...

It’s transformed the city’s economy, its landscape and its reputation.

Remarkably, The University of Lincoln is only 20 years old, and its Brayford campus only slightly older, with an official opening by HM The Queen in 1996.

The University of Humberside officially became the University of Lincolnshire & Humberside in 1993, with a new series of buildings around Brayford Pool being created and the first students arriving on the new campus in September 1996. In 2001, the University dropped Humberside from its name and left its Hull buildings behind.

More than £150m has been invested in the Brayford Campus, transforming the brownfield site upon which it was based, and the local economy. It’s now home to about 16,500 students, 1,500 members of staff, and has created over 3,000 jobs in Lincoln, contributing about £250,000,000 to the local economy each year.

And if those facts are impressive, consider that since the millennium, Lincoln has rocketed up the league tables of British universities and is now one of the top 45 universities in the country.

2021 saw the University named as the Modern University of the Year in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021.

The institution is also ranked 14th out of 129 for overall student satisfaction. n

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Britpop and Cool Britannia characterised the 1990s, and we looked to the future with a brand new Prime Minister in 1997. Elsewhere, Louth astronaut Michael Foale was looking not just to the future but to the sky as he boarded the Space Shuttle and set off for outer space...

1990: LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER ARRIVES...

Skegness’s RNLI welcomed its new lifeboat on 31st July 1990

1991: NATIONAL FISHING HERITAGE CENTRE OPENS 1991 saw the opening of the National Fishing Heritage Centre in Grimsby, which this year celebrated its 30th anniversary.

“It’s a the unique attraction which has become a staple of the town, remembering the dangers of life at sea for many of Grimsby’s fishermen,” says David Ornsby.

“Thirty years on, we are still sharing our pride in our town and telling the story of those that did the most dangerous peacetime occupation in Britain.” n

A huge fundraising campaign launched in March 1989 finally saw the £600,000 needed for Skegness’s new Mersey Class lifeboat, which was christened The Lincolnshire Poacher. A naming ceremony took place on Sunday 30th September, and the Poacher remained in service until March 2017, carrying out 352 rescues and saving 195 lives. The Poacher was replaced by the RNLI’s current £2.2m Shannon class lifeboat. n

1995: FANTASY ISLAND OPENS AT INGOLDMELLS Another newcomer to the East Coast in the 1990s was Fantasy Island.

It was originally operated

by Blue Anchor leisure but was purchased by the Mellors Group in 2016.

Today, the site has 36 rides and includes Europe’s largest Sunday market. It attracts around 40,000 people every day in the peak season and spans 43 acres.

In its early years, Fantasy Island was also home to the Pleasuredome, which was a live dance event that reflected the 1990s rave and dance music culture. It drew in crowds of up to 1,800 revellers each night. n

1992: LINCOLN’S WATERSIDE OPENS FOR SHOPPERS 1992 was a great year for shopping in Lincoln, with the opening of the Waterside Shopping Centre. It’s believed that over time, the centre has welcomed over 100,000,000 shoppers through its doors. Princess Diana opened the Waterside Centre in March 1992.

It would be the Princess’s last visit to Lincolnshire. Meanwhile, expanded and renamed in 1989, Freshney Place in Grimsby would also reopen, offering local shoppers access to over 100 retailers. n

1995: AN AIR SHOW AT WADDINGTON 1995 saw aviation enthusiasts flocking to Lincolnshire for the first ever RAF Waddington International Air Show.

The event would grow to become the country’s largest air show, attracting 140,000 visitors, until it was cancelled prior to the 2015 because of its interruption to the base’s operations and resurfacing work on Waddington’s runways. n

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1990s AN OUT OF THIS WORLD EXPERIENCE...

In 1992, Louth’s Michael Foale became the second Briton to go into space IT’S A LONG WAY FROM LOUTH TO SPACE, 408 miles to be precise. Astrophysicist Michael Foale left Lincolnshire for Cambridge, achieving a doctorate in astrosciences in 1982 and befriending TV star Stephen Fry along the Michael Foale is the only NASA way. He moved astronaut to have served on missions to Texas to work aboard both the Russian MIR space station, which operated from 1986, for McDonnell and the ISS, which was launched Douglas on their in November 1998. He’s spent more time in space Space Shuttle’s than any other Colin Michael Foale CBE, navigation systems UK citizen. astronaut on Space Shuttles and joined NASA’s Atlantis, and Discovery.

Johnson Space Centre, being selected as an astronaut candidate On his last mission, Foale also in 1987 on his third attempt. His career undertook a four-hour space took off along with Space Shuttle Mission walk. In total, he has spent 364 STS-45 in 1992 when he joined Space days in space – until 2008 that was Shuttle Atlantis’ nine day scientific mission, more than any other US citizen. n and went back to space in 1993 and 1995.

Mir & Far

Wednesday, 27th January 1960 with its new Starlight Rooms. Astonishingly, The Beatles were due to perform there as a support act, but Sydney Malkinson cancelled them, not realising just how big they’d become! n

1994: Air Ambulance Takes Off 22,000 missions, countless lives saved, and it all began here...

The service has saved countless lives, it covers 3,500m2 of countryside, flying at up to 216mph, and can reach anywhere in its catchment area in about 15 minutes. The Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance Service was conceived in 1991 when John Hill, of the Lincolnshire Ambulance NHS Trust – EMAS wasn’t formed until 1999 – began to explore providing an air ambulance service. A trust was formed and fundraising began. The service became operational in April 1994. Today the service has extended its use with new night-flying capability and 24-hour operation. It has flown 22,000 missions. The service receives no NHS or government funding. n

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FACE OF THE DECADE: The architect of Cool Britannia...

The 1990s n THE COST OF LIVING:

How on earth can a premiership go so wrong? Upon his election, 43-year old Tony Blair was riding high on a wave of Britpop and Cool Britannia. Bands like Oasis, Blur, Suede, and Pulp were cool and lyrically gifted, whilst the Spice Girls advocated a brash, brave new feminism.

Meanwhile the severe recession of 1991/1992 had abated and new prosperity was promised. 1997 began a golden age for Tony Blair, but from his re-election in 2001, storm clouds were gathering and a dodgy dossier and war in Iraq would turn one of the most popular Prime Ministers into a man accused of war crimes.

Still, Blair’s finest moments in the 1990s were his emotional reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and his deft handling of the media, like Murdoch and his lieutenant Rebekah Brooks. n Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, 6th May 1953 - present.

DEFINING MOMENTS... A brief history of the 1990s n 1st January 1990: Comedian Rowan Atkinson’s feckless Mr Bean character makes his debut. n 27th Nov 1990: John Major elected leader of the Conservative Party after Thatcher retires on 22nd Nov. n 1st December 1990: British and French tunnelers meet 40m under the sea bed, creating the Channel Tunnel. n 9th April 1992: The Conservative Party re-elected for a fourth consecutive term; ‘It was The Sun wot won it.’ n 11th November 1992: Church of England votes to allow women to become priests for the first time. n 8th January 1993: Ford Mondeo replaces ageing Sierra with new safety features like airbags and ABS. n 19th November 1994: The National Lottery launches... ‘it could be you,’ it reckons. No such luck yet. n 16th April 1995: PhONE Day adds a ‘1’ to the UK’s telephone area codes and changes some regions. n 26th August 1995: Blur’s Country House beats Oasis’s Roll With It to number one. Peak Britpop era. n 8th July 1996: The Spice Girls release Wannabe, their debut single which epitomises ‘girl power.’ n 1st May 1997: The Labour Party wins a generation election, bringing Tony Blair into power. n 27th Jun 1997: A new children’s novel by J K Rowling is published; Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone. n 31st August 1997: In the early hours, Princess Diana dies from injuries sustained in a car crash in Paris. n 3rd March 1998: Construction of the Millennium Dome begins. Millennium Bug technology fears arise. n 1st April 1999: Minimum wage of £3.60/hour introduced in the UK, £3/hour for workers under 21. n 10th October 1999: London Eye lifted into position on South Bank. Millennium Dome completed.

“She was a wonderful and a warm human being, although her own life was often sadly touched by tragedy. She was the People’s Princess and that is how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and our memories for ever...”

Tony Blair, on 31st August 1997, to describe Diana, Princess of Wales.

Average annual salary: £10,601 (equivalent of £23,852 today).

Average house price: £58,317 (equivalent of £131,213 today).

n SHOPPING BASKET: Loaf of bread: Pint of milk: Weekly shop:

65p (1.46p) 1.24p (£2.79) 7.73p (£17.39)

n IN FASHION: The rise of the 1990s ‘supermodel’ saw stick-thin bandy-legged models like Kate Moss make a name for themselves. Meanwhile grunge fashions were modelled on America’s Pacific Northwest brands, and saw scruffiness come to the fore. When Britpop arrived in the mid-1990s, so did unkempt hair, Ben Sherman shirts and casual fashions.

n ON THE ROAD: Average price of a car: £9,000 (equivalent to £20,250).

Litre of fuel: 47p (£1.06p) The Ford Mondeo arrived in 1993, replacing the aging Sierra. ‘Mondeo Man’ became a soubriquet for Blair’s voters.

n ON THE RADIO: The arrival of DAB radio in 1995 promised us an end to crackly radios. The BBC’s stations started the revolution, followed by commercial radio such a Classic FM and Virgin – which launched in 1993 – which went digital in 1998.

n ON THE TV: TVs in the 1990s measured 50”, but in depth, not across. Flat screen plasma TVs didn’t emerge until 1997. HD TV would also begin in Japan and would reach Britain a decade later. On our sets? The Simpsons arrived in 1989, and has endured 32 seasons later. In 1994 Friends arrived too, as did American shows like Frasier (1993), Ally McBeal (1997).

n AT THE PICTURES: Titanic (1997) was the highest grossing film (£1,333,233,554) followed by Star Wars I (1999) and Jurassic Park (1993).

n IN THE PLAYROOM: 1990s kids cared for their Tamagotchi pets, and were fast adopters of the Sony PlayStation in 1994.

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NEWS & EVENTS

What’s On...

ALFORD

20th - 21st NOVEMBER 27th - 28th NOVEMBER

GRANTHAM

25th NOVEMBER 2nd JANUARY 2022

ALFORD CRAFT MARKET

CHRISTMAS AT BELTON

One of the longest standing craft markets in the UK, the first of its kind in the Lincolnshire Wolds. The market was established in 1974 by two craftspeople, Heather & Michel Ducos of Alford Pottery, still in business today. Get a head start on your Christmas shopping!

Look forward to some ‘together time’ and make everlasting memories, as you discover sparkling tunnels of light, dancing waterside reflections and trees drenched in jewel-like colour.

For a moment of reflection pause at mesmerising flickering flames in the fire garden, gaze up at largerthan-life illuminations and don’t forget to glimpse Father Christmas along the way.

Enjoy a hot chocolate as you marvel at Belton’s festive sights, lights and sounds! n Belton House, NG32 2LW. From 25th November, call 01476 566116 or see www.nationaltrust.org.uk.

n See alfordcraftmarket.co.uk or call 01507 463341. Free admission, Alford Corn Exchange.

LOUTH

WEDNESDAY 10th SATURDAY 13th NOV

‘ALLO ‘ALLO

Wet Wet Wet in Scunthorpe

SATURDAY 20th NOVEMBER

1990s POP IS ALL AROUND AS WET WET WET PERFORMS FOR AUDIENCES AT BATHS HALL IN SCUNTHORPE THIS MONTH

WET WET WET AT BATHS HALL

LINCOLN

Love really will be all around as Wet Wet Wet head back out on the road for a full theatre tour in the autumn. Selling in excess of 15 million singles and albums to date, their number one hits include With A Little Help From My Friends, Goodnight Girl, and 1994’s Love Is All Around, the biggest selling single of the year, when it spent 15 weeks at number one. n From 7pm, at Bath’s Hall, Scunthorpe, call 01724 290640 or see www.scunthorpetheatres.co.uk.

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Based on the hugely successful British television series that ran for seven seasons, this uproarious comedy relates the adventures of a hapless café owner, René, in occupied France. n From 7.30pm, tickets £9.50/adults, at Louth’s Riverhead Theatre, call 01507 600350 or see www.louthriverheadtheatre.com.

LINCOLN

SATURDAY 6th NOV

AUTUMN LIGHTS A spectacle of light coming to Lincoln this Autumn!

Featuring Lincoln’s biggest fireworks extravaganza, hot air balloon night glow, street food, fire shows and more. n Lincolnshire Showground, details TBC, call 01522 522900 or see lincolnshireshowground.co.uk

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Send your press releases and events to: the Features Editor via editor@pridemagazines.co.uk.

LINCOLN

GRIMSBY

THURS 4th NOVEMBER

WED 24th - THURS 25th NOVEMBER

COMEDY NIGHT AT THEATRE ROYAL A trio of comedians at Lincoln’s New Theatre Royal including headliner John Fothergill from TV’s Eight Out of Ten Cats. n Tickets £15/adult, doors 7pm, call 01522 519999 or see newtheatreroyallincoln.co.uk.

BOSTON GAINSBOROUGH

SATURDAY 13th NOVEMBER

ILLUMINATE: GAINSBOROUGH Lanterns, projections, fire and performances in Gainsborough to close the Mayflower 400 commemorations. Illuminate: Gainsborough features digital projections onto the historic Gainsborough Old Hall, and a parade through the town with willow lanterns made by

artists, community groups and young people.

Watch as the night sky becomes illuminated with lanterns created by the community. The event commemorates 400 years since the Mayflower voyage, the Pilgrims’ story, and its connection to Gainsborough. n Gainsborough United Reformed Church, 01427 676676 or see www.visitlincoln.com.

SATURDAY 2nd OCTOBER

STICKMAN Great fun for families and a pre-Christmas treat!

Freckle Productions presents a live adaptation of Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler’s family favourite. n Tickets £15.50/adults; £13.50/children, Grimsby Auditorium, 0300 300 0035, www.grimsbyauditorium.org.uk

JULIE MCLELLAND & THE BAND FROM COUNTY HELL Superb Celtic rock from one of Lincolnshire’s most well-regarded bands which has performed over 2,000 times. n Tickets £14, 7.30pm, Boston’s Blackfriars, call 01205 363108 or see blackfriarsartscentre.co.uk

Handel’s Messiah in Lincoln

SATURDAY 20th NOVEMBER

LINCOLN’S CATHEDRAL CHOIR AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRA PERFORM HANDEL’S MESSIAH...

HANDEL’S MESSIAH AT LINCOLN CATHEDRAL

LINCOLN

This year, Lincoln Cathedral Choir returns with their performance of Handel’s Messiah, a spectacular piece of music which is to be accompanied by Lincolnshire Chamber Orchestra.

Messiah features one of the most famous pieces of choral music, the Hallelujah Chorus, however this piece has so much more to offer. In most of Handel’s oratorios, the choir sing brief choruses but it is the soloists who dominate.

Messiah differs in the fact that it is made up of striking solo arias, interspersed with captivating choral numbers telling the story of Jesus’s birth, life, death and resurrection.

During Victorian times, a trend arose with Messiah being performed by larger and larger musical companies, almost as if a competition was running to see how big an orchestra could get before the stage collapsed. The Cathedral assures us that their stage will hold long enough to ensure an unforgettable evening! n £12-£50, 7pm, call 01522 561632 or see lincolncathedral.com.

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COUNT DOWN TO CHRISTMAS

COUNTDOWN TO

CHRISTMAS Make preparations for the festive season easier as we count down to Christmas in Lincolnshire. This month we’re eight weeks away, and so we’ve eight ways make life easier...

1. Making Gifts Go Further It’s a wonder that the old adage suggests its better to give than to receive, given the exhausting amount of labour and creative thinking that goes into ensuring everyone in the family has something to unwrap on Christmas morning.

If you’ve a large family, with in-laws and step-relatives, consider a gift cooperative.

The idea is that everyone purchases a single gift for a single person in the family – spending an agreed equivalent of what you’d spend on the whole family in total on one, more meaningful, present. The result is a more substantial gift and fewer presents to buy.

Alternatively, consider charity donations instead of gifts, the adoption of an animals in a rescue centre or challenge yourself to only buy gifts from local, instead of national, retailers.

2. All Wrapped Up Not all Christmas wrapping is as recyclable as we assume. Glitter or foil papers are often rejected by local authorities, and Lincolnshire’s Jane Means has a range of eco-friendly wrapping, and has a range of other suggestions such as using fabric, to get around the environmental impact of making your gifts look really special.

We also love the simple, rustic look of brown craft paper combined with dried foliage from the garden.

3. Find Your Festive Tree It’s always better to visit a local Christmas tree farm given that national garden centre chains tend to have their trees in cold storage for days or even weeks. The fresher your tree, the longer it will last without dropping needles.

For the ultimate eco-friendly tree, Rudies Roots Nursery at Nettleham (01522 752762, www.rudiesroots.co.uk), allow you to ‘rent’ a tree each year which is delivered potted up with roots. Once Christmas is over, it’s returned and replanted with a 40% discount when you bring it back into your home next year. In between, don’t locate your tree near heat sources, keep it well-watered and it’ll look wonderful throughout the season. >>

Words: Rob Davis.

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COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS

>> 4. Decorating the Halls To make decorating your home a cinch, we thoroughly recommend a visit to Gates Garden Centre, Oakham (01664 454309, www.gatesgardencentre.co.uk), whose ranges of Christmas decorations are arranged according to theme – woodland, neon, Victorian etc – making it easier to create a cohesive look for this year’s tree.

If you’ve time and flair, DIY decorations will look superb, and it’s worth looking out for local wreathmaking courses given the abundance of material in everyone’s garden suitable for creating a stunning natural looking wreath for your door.

It’s also worth creating some gingerbread treats which look great when hung on your tree, and stocking up on lovely scented candles – cinnamon, spices and frankincense – to ensure that decoration is sensory, rather than just visual.

The secret, generally, to really good decoration is layering. Whether you’re creating your festive tree, your Christmas table or other areas in your home, mix contrasting sizes of decorative elements, and observe what designers refer to as the 60-30-10 rule; use your key colour for 60% of your scheme, then a complementary colour for 30% of your scheme and finally punctuate with a powerful accent colour for the remaining 10% of your decoration.

5. Entertainment It can’t just be us... despite having many more channels, Christmas television just isn’t as satisfying as when Morecambe & Wise were in their heyday.

Given that TV isn’t what it was, consider searching online for some family quizzes with little prizes for the victorious. And of course, a penalty of doing the washing up for the person who couldn’t quite remember how many lords were leaping or how many of Rudolph’s fellow reindeers’ names began with the letter ‘d!’ Dasher... Dancer...

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A LINCOLNSHIRE

CHRISTMAS n Christmas at Belvoir, Belvoir Castle 15th November to 2nd January: Experience the magic of a colourful Regency Christmas at Belvoir Castle this year, with festive displays, an Enchanted Light Trail, Santa’s Grotto, and more. n Belton House Illuminated Trail Belton House, 25th-2nd January: Look forward to some together time and make everlasting memories, as you discover sparkling tunnels of light, trees drenched in jewel-like colour. For a moment of reflection pause at mesmerising flickering flames in the fire garden, gaze up at larger-than-life illuminations and don’t forget to glimpse Father Christmas along the way. n Lincolnshire Food & Gift Fair, Lincs Showground, 27th -28th November: Shop for unique gifts, handmade crafts and delicious treats and pick up everything you need for your Christmas celebrations at the Showground’s Food and Gift Fair. n Lincoln Christmas Market, Uphill Lincoln, 2nd - 5th December: Stalls, performers, and festive cheer take over Lincoln's Cathedral Quarter for four days of festive entertainment, shopping, and food and drink.

Speaking of entertainment, you can fill a dull winter evening by spending a few hours creating your own crackers. Retailers like Hobbycraft have kits, but you’re better off visiting one of the area’s garden centres for DIY cracker kits. You can combine your festive table place names with themed crackers to appeal to each of your guests individually, and you’ll no doubt come up with some much better cracker than the ‘professionals!’

6. Good Tidings If you’re the poor old soul contemplating hosting another festive season for the whole family, you might want to consider dining out. Whilst dining in a restaurant on Christmas Day does command a premium,

once you’ve factored in shopping for a turkey which barely fits into your oven, prepping all of that veg, wrapping all of those pigs in blankets and buying a small off-license worth of booze to keep all of your revellers in the festive spirit – and then ensuring there’s a buffet-worth of food for the evening – outsourcing Christmas to your favourite local chef then returning home to a tidy kitchen and a comfy sofa doesn’t seem like bad value!

If, on the other hand, you are resigned to hosting Christmas at home, look out for recipes like twice-baked soufflés for your first course and chocolate roulade for dessert, each of which can be prepared a day in advance. Complete your veg prep the day before and make Christmas morning as easy as possible.

Finishing touches to your Christmas lunch which, again, can be prepared a day or so in advance include making your own stuffing from local sausage meat and breadcrumbs, and your own ice cream... either of these will turn a good Christmas lunch into a truly great one!

7. Raising a Glass Opt for local drinks from local gin to cordials from Belvoir Farm to ensure you can really raise a glass to the excellent food and drink producers we have in the area.

8. Be Prepared You might want to curate a practical box of bits to make the festive season go a little smoother. Batteries are a must, as is a spare phone charger for when younger members of the family run out of juice to power their phones and tablets. Other essentials?

Decent scissors for attacking packaging around gifts, a couple of little screwdrivers for installing batteries into toys, paracetamol, indigestion relief and plasters, spare bin bags for all that wrapping paper and a safety gas lighter for fires, candles and for the gas hob when the ignition gives up – inevitably, just as the sprouts need to go on! n

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THE OLD KING’S HEAD

FIT for a KING From derelict eyesore to a fantastic community space celebrating the heritage of Kirton.

This month we recognise the work of the county’s Heritage Lincolnshire charity, which aims to preserve and ensure the continued use of the heritage buildings which are most at risk in the county...

Words: Rob Davis. Images: Chris Vaughan Photography, 07764 170783, www.chrisvaughanphotography.co.uk.

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THE OLD KING’S HEAD: RESTORED BY HERITAGE LINCOLNSHIRE

>> WHAT HAPPENS when good buildings go bad? If they’re really prominent – like large cathedrals or castles – there’s usually plenty of heritage interest. If, on the other hand, there’s some potential for residential conversion, they’re usually restored by those keen to live in them or develop them to make a profit.

But what about those buildings which are smaller in scale than major landmarks, but too large to be of interest to those seeking to create a private residence?

The Old King’s Head in Kirton is just such an example. Too large to live in, it required an eye-watering amount of money to restore and maintain it. And with pubs and other businesses already surrounding the building, – and comparatively little footfall in a village, compared to a market town’s High Street – its commercial interest would be a little more limited.

Without a fresh approach to its renovation, the building’s condition would almost certainly deteriorate with just one inevitable conclusion; dereliction. Thankfully, not all heroes wear capes; some wear hard-hats and hi-vis jackets. We’re referring to the good folk of Heritage Lincolnshire, the charity 30 years old this year which has, since 2016, managed to purchase, restore and now reopen the 16th-century Old King’s Head, ensuring not just the preservation of the building’s fabric and its place in social history, but its future use as a place for the people of Kirton and the surrounding villages to gather together as a community.

controlled by central or local governments, but sadly that’s far from the case.

Some people think that heritage buildings are just funded from a bottomless budget

“Currently the charity owns five sites,” says its Business Manager, Hannah Thompson.

It’s crucial to say that Heritage Lincolnshire isn’t funded by the government; it’s reliant on its own fundraising and the availability of grants from bodies like the National Lottery Heritage Fund to continue its work.

As of 2016, the charity has saved from dereliction eight heritage buildings on the ‘at risk’ register, at a cost of over £25m.

In addition to its restorations, the charity also undertakes to conserve the history of Lincolnshire through other activities like archaeological studies and research.

Heritage Lincolnshire’s Historic Sites... n Tupholme Abbey, Bardney: Grade I listed Premonstratensian abbey damaged during Henry VIII’s 1538 destruction of similar sites. Acquired and repaired by Heritage Lincolnshire in 1988. n Royal Observer Corps Underground Monitoring Post, Holbeach: A curious post-war relic which was one of a number of sites designed to provide early warning of a nuclear attack. A measurement of a bomb’s power would have been taken and reported to London to report the severity of fallout. n Tattershall College: One of a complex of buildings built by Ralph, Lord Cromwell, including Tattershall Castle, the collegiate church and the almshouses. A former malthouse of Tattershall Brewery which closed in the late C18th, and fell into dereliction in the 1970s before being taken on by Heritage Lincolnshire which now manages the site. n Hussey Tower, Boston: Now in ruinous condition, Hussey Tower was built in 1450 by Richard Benyngton and was later part of the manor of Sir John Hussey, a customs and excise official for Henry VIII when Boston was the wealthiest English port outside London.

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“These include Tupholme Abbey and Holbeach’s Royal Observer Corps bunker.

We also manage and maintain sites like Tattershall College and Hussey Tower.”

“Kirton’s Old King’s Head is a site which we can – sympathetically and appropriately – monetise, and run as a centre of its community. There’s no getting away from the fact that restoring and maintaining historic buildings is expensive, and you can’t just fix them up but leave them standing unused.”

“It’s a site that we can ensure meets both our heritage ethos but can also be enjoyed and used too. That’s why we’ve created a business case as well as a heritage case for its renovation.”

“We’ve transformed it into a luxury B&B with nine bedrooms with a café and community rooms that groups can hire for their private celebrations or family functions and for meetings, craft groups, choirs, mother and baby groups or coffee mornings.”

“Groups coming from out of the county to spend time enjoying local RSPB reserves like Frampton’s have also expressed interest in the rooms, which is one of the reasons we’ve used local bird life as the inspiration for the décor of our beautiful bedrooms.”

“For visitors who want to explore the village of Kirton, The Old King’s Head offers hour-long tours led by Heritage Lincolnshire volunteers.” >>

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Focused on preserving Lincolnshire’s heritage sites Celebrating 30 years in heritage, the charity, based in Heckington, specialises in taking care of our most historic sites...

Heritage Lincolnshire is 30 years old this month... which is considerably younger than the sites it looks after – many of which are in a fragile state and necessitate complex and expensive care if they’re to survive for hundreds of years more.

“Our charitable aims are lifelong education, building conservation and archaeological fieldwork and research,” says Hannah Thompson, Business Manager.

“We also have a national reputation for the conservation and re-use of historic buildings and for delivering innovative activities that engage and enthuse local people.”

“We are the most active Buildings Preservation Trust in the East Midlands and work alongside our commercial archaeological team.”

“Our heritage open days allow visitors to gain access to sites of architectural and cultural interest across Lincolnshire.”

“Post-pandemic, we’re hoping to host over 200 heritage open days each year.” n Heritage Lincolnshire is based in The Old School on Cameron Street, Heckington. Call 01529 461499 or see www.heritagelincolnshire.org to find out more about the charity.

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THE OLD KING’S HEAD: RESTORED BY HERITAGE LINCOLNSHIRE

>> “Visitors can discover the unique history of Kirton village and as well as The Old King’s Head, including stories from over its lifetime.”

“We are thankful to the volunteers who have also worked so hard learning about Kirton so that they can engage visitors with our brilliant tours of The Old King’s Head and surrounding historic villages.”

“The funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and other organisations has

meant that we were able to complete this restoration to the highest standard.”

“From the wonderful building renovation and stable block conversion to heritageinspired sage green windows and traditional themed décor in the rooms, we hope that visitors can appreciate the charm of The Old King’s Head as we have brought it back to life.”

“We hope that residents of Kirton, as well as visitors, will enjoy the new café in the main building and use the community room as a space for leisure and recreational activities.”

“It’s wonderful to have been a part of such a beautiful restoration. The building has such a rich history and holds a lot of memories for the village of Kirton.”

“Since opening on 1st October we’re really delighted to have had such interest in the building and we’re keen that as well as preserving its past, it can be a place to make memories in the future, too.”

Craft Workshops

As well as community groups, The Old King’s Head will also be hosting craft mornings such as Corn Dolly workshops on 30th October and a taster leathermaking session on 3rd Nov.

Above: Mary Duff and her husband Richard were the last publicans of The Old King’s Head in Kirton and the family has taken a keen interest in the redevelopment of the site by Heritage Lincolnshire.

The Old King’s Head is based on High Street, Kirton PE20 1EG. Call 01529 461499 or see www.theoldkingshead.com.

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Heritage Timeline Marking the most important years in the life of Kirton’s Old King’s Head pub...

1599

John Wyberd is a merchant haberdasher from Essex who builds and moves into a new public house, The Swan. It takes 161,000 handmade bricks to create the building, which is enough to build 31 modern houses today.

1625

John’s son William Wyberd, haberdasher and judge in the High Court, inherits the Swan upon his father’s death. Charles II is on the throne, which perhaps inspired a later change of name.

1667

A major remodelling takes place resulting in the building we see today. The building is redesigned in a style known as ‘The Fen Artisan Mannerist Style,’ and the roof was thatched. It takes eight tonnes of straw to thatch the roof, which is the equivalent weight of a fully grown African elephant!

1731

After being owned by Jane Wyberd, the pub is purchased by Robert Smith and Susannah Read, then William North. In 1781 it is leased to John Atkinson and comprises four shops, three barns, three stables, a brewhouse, eight acres of land, eight acres of meadow and eight acres of pasture.

1800

The inn is acquired by Samuel Barnard and recorded as The King’s Head. John Baldock becomes innkeeper.

1875

The inn is purchased by John Cade, one of 36 landlords that would serve the pub throughout its life. His brewer, John Benton, is found to have drowned in the brewing copper in June of 1875, and the town’s local coroner records a verdict of suicide due to ‘temporary insanity.’

1939

Annie Smithbone takes over as innkeeper as her husband Fred goes off to war. He returns and resumes his position in 1946. In 1948, Jonny Cuthbert takes over and remains there until 1956... he was also a British Featherweight Boxing champion!

1972

The building is purchased by Geoffrey and Mary Duff and remains in their ownership until being sold to two more families; Reuben & Jacqueline Gill in 1987 and Robert & Maureen Schofield in 1999.

2016

Heritage Lincolnshire purchases the property and begins fundraising to ensure the building can be saved.

2021

Following major restoration and conversion The Old King’s Head reopens as a B&B and café with meeting room for local residents. n

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DINING OUT AT THE RED LION, BICKER

Two-hour smoked chicken breast with Parmesan beignets, olive and tomato anchovy and garlic split-cream with basil oil £15.

A PUB RESTAURANT WITH

ROAR TALENT What’s the expression? It’s better to live one day like a lion, than a thousand sheepishly. Likewise it’s better to enjoy superb dining at Bicker’s Red Lion than settle for anything less. This month we’re looking forward to autumn dining including the pub restaurant’s excellent tapas option...

Words & Images: Rob Davis, Dean Fisher.

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RED IS VERY MUCH the colour of the month.

As leaves turn a russet shade and detach from their trees and as skies at night take on that reddy-amber glow, the palate of autumn reveals itself with dazzling saturation and a terrifically satisfying sense of warmth.

Even better than the way autumn looks though, is the way it tastes. Last month in Pride you’ll have gathered our palpable sense of excitement as we launched our Good Food Awards and began to celebrate the county’s best restaurants.

In any other year it’d be an exciting prospect but given that the whole hospitality industry is craving a return to normality, it’s even more keenly anticipated in autumn. And of course, as temperatures drop, barbecues and al fresco dining are less tempting... we’re all

ready to get back into a nice cosy dining room and enjoy warming autumn and winter dishes, open fires, chinking glasses of full-bodied red wine.

First on our list when we’re heading out for autumn dining is Bicker’s Red Lion, somewhere we’ve long championed and are especially fond of at this time of year. The place reeks of rustic, from the flagstone floors and nobbly beams to open fields that

OPEN FOR FOOD Monday & Tuesday: Closed.

Wed, Thurs, Fri: Open from 4pm.

Saturday: Open all day.

Sunday Lunch: 12 noon to 6pm.

surround it, to the chunky steaks, rustic chips, local ale and generally satisfying food throughout the pub restaurant’s menu.

The place is 350-years old and has provenance as a former hang out for smuggler’s before the land was drained and when Bicker was on the coast.

Taken over by the Duffy family – farmers by profession – in 2012, the place was given a very thorough refurbishment. With a main restaurant at the rear of the place – known as the Hobble Barn – plus little nooks and crannies in which to dine elsewhere, the place has a nice intimate feel, aided by chunky furniture and low ceilings.

At the time of writing the hospitality industry generally is being frustrated by a lack of availability of supplies as the haulage 61

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DINING OUT AT THE RED LION, BICKER

on the MENU Tapas Garden toasts; sourdough infused with garlic, beetroot, radish and ricotta, £6.

Soft-poached Scotch egg with mustard mayo £7.

Smoked brisket burnt ends with sweet BBQ glaze £7.50.

Baked British Camembert with sweet apple chutney and bread soldiers £8.

Main Courses 8oz steak burger with melted Jack cheese, red onion, burger sauce, pickles & rustic chips £14.

Homemade ‘moo and blue’ pie with shortcrust pastry £13.

Pan-roasted fillet of Scottish salmon with crushed new potatoes and samphire £16.

Crispy chilli beef on stirfry noodles £15.

Two-hour smoked chicken breast with Parmesan beignets, olive and tomato anchovy and garlic split-cream with basil oil £15.

Desserts White chocolate and raspberry cheesecake with meringue, strawberry dust and Chantilly cream.

Ye Olde Red Lion, Bicker, Boston PE20 3EF. Call 01775 821200 or see www.redlionbicker.co.uk.

NB: All menu items are subject to change.

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industry and the hospitality industry itself struggles to employ staff post-furlough.

Happily though, The Red Lion is more immune to its effects than many places as the team, including chefs Marcus Franklin and Adam Nagy are long-termers and much of the produce comes from local farms and food producers, ensuring that availability isn’t so much of an issue.

That, in turn, means that consistency is as present as ever, and quality is still as high as it always has been. The menu has been designed since reopening to include 10 main courses including two steaks. Traditional quality pub restaurant options include a battered haddock and rustic chips option, steak burger and handmade ‘moo and blue’ pie, but The Red Lion also takes its

inspiration from elsewhere in the world with crispy chilli beef dish, as well as chicken and chorizo tagliatelle.

Another international influence which has been front and centre of The Red Lion’s menu for a number of years is its innovative Lincolnshire take on tapas. In lieu of starter options or as a series of ‘mix and match’ dishes upon which to graze, diners can choose from one of 12 small but perfectly formed tapas options smaller in composition but massive in flavour.

Marcus has recently been treated to a new piece of kit in the form of a smoker, which means he can now combine a local cut of beef brisket with smoky mesquite flavours and sweet barbecue glazes... we defy anyone

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“The Red Lion is a super example of what autumn dining is all about. Each dish is truly satisfying and packed with flavour, beautifully presented and generous in proportion...” to not crave Adam’s burnt ends in front of an open fire as the temperature drops.

Other suppliers? Well, Lincolnshire fruit and veg supplier Jonathan Hull is contributing fresh produce, much of which comes from the silty fields of South Lincolnshire, whilst Grimsby-based Moorcroft is providing fresh fish and seafood via the town’s fish docks.

A final word must go to the restaurant’s dessert, all of which are made in house and presented beautifully, really delicious and definitely worth saving room for.

The Red Lion is a super example of what autumn dining is all about. Each dish is truly satisfying and packed with flavour, beautifully presented and generous in proportion.

The setting, too, is great, really cosy with a warm welcome, and a vibe that it’s ‘your’ local even if you live miles away.

And then there’s the chefcraft, front of house and personal investment that everyone at The Red Lion appears to have made in ensuring a great experience for diners. It all contributes to a thoroughly satisfying experience.

MEET THE CHEF MARCUS FRANKLIN Food History: I worked at the Supreme Inn, the sister restaurant of The Red Lion just down the road but fell in love with this place!

Food Heaven: I really am fond of game in autumn!

Food Hell: I really do hate baked beans! n

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Menu del Giorno STARTERS -

Soup of the day (v).

Crispy duck, baby gem, avocado, toasted hazelnut salad, limoncello dressing.

Bruschetta of mushroom and truffle, topped with crispy oyster mushrooms, parmesan, and parsley (v).

MAIN COURSES -

Slow cooked blade of beef, crushed new potatoes, green beans, sticky beef jus, salsa verde, crispy onions.

Cauliflower steak, hazelnut polenta, cauliflower cheese croquet, caper & raisin purée, smoked cheese sauce (v).

Sicilian Fish stew (fish, prawns and shellfish) with white wine, tomato and chilli, lemon and herb Fregola (+£5).

DESSERTS

SAN

PIETRO RESTAURANT • ROOMS

-

Clotted cream pannacotta, cherry compote.

Trio of cheese, crackers, grapes, celery, honey (+£3).

Bitter chocolate pave, hazelnut mousse, raspberries.

£23.50/person, two courses £28.95/person, three courses

11 High Street East Scunthorpe, DN15 6UH

01724 277774 sanpietro.uk.com

/SanPietroRestaurant @SanPietroNLincs

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LUNCH | DINNER | SUNDAY LUNCH

BICKER BAR, BICKER, BOSTON, PE20 3AN

01775 821200 www.redlionbicker.co.uk

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R E L A X & E N J OY GET IN TOUCH South Rauceby, Sleaford NG34 8QG Call 01529 488250 www.thebustardinn.co.uk

OPENING TIMES Wed – Fri: 12 noon – 2.30pm, 5.30pm – 10.30pm, Saturday: 12 noon – 10.30pm Sunday: 12 noon – 4.00pm

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A reminder that voting is currently underway for our Good Food Awards for 2021. Vote for your favourite restaurants and food & drink producers from right across Lincolnshire and we’ll ensure they get the recognition they deserve...

Words: Rob Davis.

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Vote for your best restaurant, coffee shop and food producers at pridemagazines.co.uk or use our voting form; just turn over the page

ALREADY, THE VOTES ARE PILING IN! Many of our readers have already registered their nominations in our Pride Magazines Good Food Awards 2021.

Let’s get behind the industry, celebrate our pubs and restaurants and generally raise a glass to the whole sector!

Top: The comfortable dining room of Oasby’s Houblon Arms.

Above: Chocolate and mascarpone with blackberry and custard at The Bustard Inn, South Rauceby.

Main: Colin McGurran and team at Winteringham Fields.

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A reminder, then, that we’d like to know about which restaurants, cafés, food and drink producers you consider to be the best in the county. By asking our readers for their recommendations we’ll ensure that advertising commitment in our magazines or our own opinions don’t compromise our readers’ ability to recognise the restaurants and food & drink businesses they want to celebrate.

Last month we provided over 70 of our own recommendations for what we think are the county’s best restaurants and food-related businesses, but we’re really keen that as many readers as possible fill in the form over the page or vote online to give us their recommendations.

Many of the businesses we featured last month have endured periods of closure during lockdown, and even with restrictions now relaxed, staffing problems and a shortage

of lorry drivers to deliver supplies are still hindering the hospitality industry nationally.

In 2019 hospitality contributed £59.3 billion in GVA to the UK economy; 3.0% of total UK economic output. The sector also provided employment for about 2.38m people; about 6.9% of the UK’s population.

Also, many of these businesses are SMEs, the health of which has a knock-on implication for the agriculture and haulage sectors too.

It’s economically important to ensure the sector is supported. But moreover, where would we be without our local pub or café, or that lovely restaurant to dine in on a Friday night? Let’s get behind the industry, celebrate our pubs and restaurants and generally raise a glass to the whole sector! >>

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A whole year of highlights for diners in Lincolnshire Offering four seasons of dining delight, we look ahead to 2022... n Winter: So much for a

winter of discontent, dining in Lincolnshire through the winter means locally shot game and homemade pies.

As Christmas comes along, we’ll be crossing our fingers for a good frost to make those brussels sprouts really special.

Winter is the best time to visit your local butcher for the best locally reared Christmas turkeys, Lincolnshire sausages, and stewing steak for all those winter casseroles and slow cooker recipes.

n Spring: As nature begins to unfold a new season, look out for those spring lambs.

As rewarding as it is to see them gambolling in the fields, though, hoggard and mutton are the more flavoursome options. Around St George’s Day, look out for Lincolnshire asparagus. n Summer: From new potatoes

OUR SIX GOOD FOOD AWARD CATEGORIES n Restaurant of the Year

n Restaurant with Rooms

Our flagship award looks to celebrate a restaurant that creates great food, with local ingredients and stunning presentation.

Often, great dining and lovely bedrooms go hand in hand. Name your favourite local B&B, hotel or country inn with rooms.

n Café, Bar or Bistro of the Year

n Local Food Producer

This category is designed to recognise places providing really good lunches, lighter dishes and afternoon teas.

The county has plenty of great food producers. Here, we’d like to name a butcher, baker, farmer or food producer.

n International Cuisine

n Lincolnshire Drink

In this category, we’re looking to recognise a restaurant which provides great dishes from around the world.

And finally, from wine and spirits to tea and coffee or local soft drinks, nominate your favourite local drink, too! >>

to those strawberries and raspberries at the county’s pick-your-own farms, to elderflowers and local cordials from Belvoir, high summer is a huge treat for foodies.

n Autumn: October sees Lincolnshire’s Sausage Festival, new season potatoes, and the chance to enjoy a slice of plum bread with Poacher cheese.

n Over the page you’ll find our voting form for your Good Food Awards nominations, but you can also vote at pridemagazines.co.uk.

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You’re free to vote for whichever Lincolnshire businesses you choose; they don’t have to be mentioned in this edition.

You can also vote online at www.pridemagazines.co.uk.

!

Vote for Your Favourite Restaurants and Lincolnshire Food & Drink Suppliers...

Restaurant of the Year 2021: Your overall favourite place to dine in Lincolnshire. ...........................................................................................................................................................................

Café, Bar or Bistro of the Year 2021: Your preferred place to enjoy a lighter meal or coffee. ...........................................................................................................................................................................

International Cuisine 2021: A Lincolnshire restaurant providing great international dishes. ...........................................................................................................................................................................

‘Restaurant with Rooms’ 2021: A restaurant that also has really special accommodation. ...........................................................................................................................................................................

Local Food Producer: A producer of local artisan food e.g.: a butcher, baker or cheesemaker. ...........................................................................................................................................................................

Lincolnshire Drink: This could be a wine or spirit, locally roasted coffee, local tea or soft drink. ...........................................................................................................................................................................

Name:.................................................................................................................................................................

Address:.............................................................................................................................................................. ........................................................................................................................................................................... ...........................................................................................................................................................................

Postcode: ............................................

Telephone: ..........................................................................................

Cut out this page and send your nominations to Pride Magazines Good Food Awards 2021, Pride Magazines, Boston Enterprise Centre, Enterprise Way, Boston, Lincolnshire PE21 7TW. CLOSING DATE 1ST NOVEMBER 2021.

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!

The small print: Multiple entries (e.g.: photocopies of the same vote) will not be counted. You must not be personally or professionally allied with nominations, The Editor’s decision as to our competition winners is final.

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TIFFIN & CO BAKEHOUSE’S FESTIVE BAKES

If you’re entertaining this festive season, if you’re looking to give the gift of delicious cakes or you’d just like to treat yourself, let us introduce Tiffin & Co Bakehouse’s Shannon Riglin whose new festive bakes are, in a word...

Delicious!

S

OMETHING smells amazing...! Upon turning up to meet one of Lincolnshire’s newest luxury confectioners, it’s clear we’re in for a treat. And surely enough, Shannon Riglin’s studio is full of the latest products she’s created as part of her Christmas range, ready to offer to those seeking festive treats for guests to enjoy over the season. Her showstopper is a stunning looking four-layer marbled chocolate cake heaving with ganache and chocolate curls.

‘That must have taken ages!’ We remark, but Shannon’s been baking since she was a youngster and assures us it’s just a case of utilising her experience to approach even the most ambitious bake with patience and attention to detail. You could give Shannon the credit she deserves... or... if you were feeling particularly nefarious, you could just pass it off to guests as your own creation.

Either way, Shannon’s just happy that hundreds of people this Christmas will be enjoying her ranges of tray bakes, blondies, cookies, cakes, cheesecakes and cookie pies. And it’s a nice change of pace from the rigours of academia, like the masters degree she completed at the University of Lincoln last September, just prior to setting up her business, Tiffin & Co Bakehouse.

“I’ve lived in Lincolnshire most of my life and have always had the ambition of baking for a living. Previously, I’ve baked for family and friends, but I knew it would be a leap of faith to turn a personal passion into a business.”

“After pursuing a Business Studies & Management degree with the Open University and then completing my Masters, we were in the throes of lockdown and I finally had the time to set up a business. I’ve designed the branding, made the website and set about creating a range of products that I thought everyone would love.” >>

Words & Images: Rob Davis.

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TIFFIN & CO BAKEHOUSE

From Lincolnshire

To Anywhere Shannon’s products are available in Gary Simpson’s butcheries across Lincolnshire, and from the county’s leading garden centres... but her mail order service means you can send a delicious gift anywhere in the UK.

>> “That was seven months ago and the response has been really rewarding. I’ve some core products that are popular all year round but I also try to create new ranges, like my Christmas products, which are just about ready to go.”

“My ranges are available at all six of Gary Simpson’s shops in Lincoln, Sleaford and Stamford, as well as Baytree Garden Centre, Stamford Garden Centre and Boston’s Sack Store, but most products can also be delivered nationally too.”

“I’m already receiving orders for mixed boxes of brownies, blondies, cookies and festive products like cranberry flapjacks and white forest blondies; limited edition products.”

“I’m taking orders for Christmas delivery until mid-December, and already people are Top: Shannon’s sumptuous salted caramel cheesecake.

Left: Selection of brownies, blondies and cookies.

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really happy to have found a gift for loved ones, up and down the country, which are more personal, really indulgent and a present that comes from a small local business.”

“Our chocolate and Lotus Biscoff products are the most popular at the moment, but we’ve hot cookie dough trays, dipping sauces and cookie pies too, and we’re also taking orders for completely bespoke eight-inch celebration cakes.”

“More involved cakes need about a week’s notice, but often for products that I bake daily I can send out with a courier for next day delivery.”

“After all, nobody should have to wait to enjoy something delicious this season!” n

Find Out More: Shannon is the founder of Tiffin & Co Bakehouse, delivering brownies, blondies, cakes and cookies nationwide. She can create bespoke cakes and other goodies to order. Order at www.tiffinandcobakehouse.co.uk, email enquiries@tiffinandcobakehouse.co.uk or enquire via social media @tiffinandcobakehouse.

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THE HOUBLON ARMS F I N E F O O D & H O S P I TA L I T Y

Fine food in a relaxed country setting, expertly prepared by chefs Ramsay Sinclair and Jim Siddons, using the finest local ingredients

Oasby, Grantham NG32 3NB 01529 701086 | thehoublonarms.com QUALITY DINING • FIVE BEAUTIFUL ROOMS • HOT TUBS •

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We’ll deliver straight to the door, anywhere in the UK!

Website: www.tiffinandcobakehouse.co.uk Email: enquiries@tiffinandcobakehouse.co.uk Social Media: @tiffinandcobakehouse

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Wine of the Month

Just the thing to warm up your winter...

Passion by Punks, by Some Young Punks, £13 / 75cl / 14.5% ABV

Carollers’ Reserve Winter Gin Liqueur, a winter warmer from Bandsman Gin...

Only available for a couple of months a year, you’ll need to be quick to secure a few bottles of this spiffing winter warmer.

It’s a warming gin liqueur made using sloes picked from fertile land near the River Trent, damsons from the farm of a local brass banding family and honey from an apiary in the village of Doddington near Lincoln. Drink it over ice or with lemonade as a long drink. n £25 / 50cl / 30% ABV, See bandsmangin.co.uk.

The Wine Cellar WARMING UP YOUR AUTUMN AND WINTER THIS MONTH WITH A SEASONAL TIPPLE, A CELEBRATION OF BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU DAY AND A SUPER AUSTRALIAN RED...

BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU DAY: 18th November 2021...

1. Rochegrès’ Moulin-À-Vent is a Beaujolais beauty, whose charm will only develop with 2021’s new wine release.

Cherry, spice and oak on the nose, ideal with poultry or red meat, £19.99 / 75cl / 13% ABV.

2. Produced by the Cru of Morgon, by Dominique Piron on his 50-year old Gamay estate. Cherries and plums meet roasted coffee beans and tobacco yielding soft tannins and a really well-rounded flavour overall, £14.99 / 75cl / 13% ABV.

3. And finally, a remarkably good value midweek Beaujolais whose quality belies its modest price. Quite a jolly wine, with plenty of raspberry and cherry flavours, £6.29 / 75cl / 13% ABV.

This absolutely ripping wine was once known by the name Passion Has Red Lips. Its makers, Some Young Punks, produced funky bottles with 1950s pulp artwork.

That branding has been dropped in favour of a different looking label and arguably some of the charm of the original has been lost, but happily, the wine remains the same. Produced in Australia’s Clare Valley region, it’s a rather heavyweight Cabernet Sauvignon (45%) and Shiraz (55%) blend that’ll easily lay waste to winter nights with a hefty mix of cherry, smoke, tobacco and vanilla flavours.

Buy from www.all aboutwine.co.uk n

A friend with mead is a friend indeed...

The term honeymoon derives from the custom of leaving newlyweds alone to enjoy mead or honey wine – thought to aid fertility – for a lunar month immediately after their wedding.

Mead is still produced, most notably on The Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland.

However, Matt and Nicola Brauer have created their own take on the medieval drink, combining a honey spirit with Perthshire whisky... ably assisted by about 8,000,000 bees.

It’s a lovely, sweet winter warmer. £31 / 50cl / 30% ABV, www.beeble.buzz.

n Our featured wines are available from

the best local independent wine merchants, supermarkets and online, prices are RRP and may vary from those stated.

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HOMES & INTERIORS

HEART & SOUL Holwell was supposed to be Simon and Gemma Smith’s forever home, and accordingly the couple put heart and soul into its development.

But having seen another plot, and finding the prospect of beginning a new project irresistible, this stunning home is now on the market...

Images: Dean Fisher Photography.

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“WHY ARE WE MOVING? I’VE NO IDEA!” says Simon Smith, sitting in the kitchen of his beautiful contemporary home, Holwell, in the centre of Stamford. “Well, I do... but...”

He looks around and I find myself in complete agreement; it’ll be a real hardship to leave the house they’ve spent over two years creating. The couple say they’ve fallen in love with a plot upon which they can begin a new project, but it’ll have to be a spectacular plot to beat the location of Holwell, and a phenomenal build to match the look and feel of the house the couple will be leaving behind.

Happily, Simon and Gemma have form when it comes to creating beautiful homes.

Gemma, Simon and their business partner, Main: Holwell is an impeccable, ultra-modern five bedroomed property set over three floors nestling into the hillside in a private spot close to the very heart of the beautiful town of Stamford.

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David McDonald have a combined 35 years experience in the industry and have already developed eight houses in Stamford and several more in North Norfolk under the name of Forest Homes.

“The master bedroom and upper ground floor lobby lead out onto a very generous outdoor terrace, with its outdoor fireplace...”

Simon is meticulous with the design and construction of his homes, but as this was to be their forever home he’s pulled out all the stops and it’s a completely unique, very well-thought out home that will suit modern family life beautifully.

Also on the lower ground floor is a bedroom or playroom, and a shower room, so for those seeking multigenerational living, it’s a nice accessible area.

The house is arranged over three floors and its unique layout does warrant scrutiny.

On the lower ground floor there’s the 50ft kitchen, family room and living area, as well as a generous utility room for family clobber and a separate larder to keep appliances and collateral away from the sleek kitchen surfaces.

On the upper ground floor, meanwhile, and beyond the timber and glass staircase is an entrance lobby which leads to a huge master suite with dressing room and en suite, as well as a guest suite with adjacent family bathroom. Here’s where things get really interesting: the master bedroom and lobby also lead out onto a very generous outdoor

terrace, with outdoor fireplace, living/dining area and stunning views from its elevated position over towards the Burghley Estate.

This terrace sits on top of the living/dining kitchen and the grounds are planted with sufficient trees and shrubs to afford complete privacy as well as providing gorgeous views of the area from the master bedroom.

Venture up another floor and you’ll find bedrooms four and five which share a family bathroom and there’s also a couple of large garages outdoors that provide plenty of storage for vehicles, bikes and clutter.

The property’s kitchen has been created

by Stamford’s Bakehouse Kitchens and incorporates handleless matte cabinetry, white veined Dekton surfaces and appliances

by Wolf and Sub Zero; a fridge, freezer, wine cooler and eye-level ovens. >> 83

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>> The living kitchen also incorporates a TV lounge with a contemporary double-sided glass fireplace operated by remote control.

And speaking of control, the house also incorporates a Control4 system installed by Stamford’s OrangehouseAV which neatly incorporates heating and ventilation, media, security cameras and other functions.

The house also features heat-recovery tech which not only provides environmentally friendly heating but also ensures air entering the house is filtered to remove allergens.

Leading out from the living kitchen is a large terrace with a contemporary outdoor kitchen and beautifully manicured stepped borders.

You’ll notice that both the outdoor areas and

Above: Built with contemporary style living in mind, Holwell features light and open spaces with a superb connection to the outside.

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its indoor spaces make especially effective use of light, and that’s no accident.

Simon and Gemma enlisted Oakham-based Lumison Lighting to manage the property’s lighting design, which has led to practical and beautiful architectural lighting effects which highlight the property’s design both day and night.

The house utilises smooth local limestone, incorporating an ashlar string course outside and it has beautiful dark grey timber veneers indoors. As the whole property nestles into its hillside location, the result really is greater than the sum of its parts. Holwell is a completely unique and absolutely beautiful property, right in the centre of Stamford.

“We saw the estate agent’s photos and were heartbroken,” the couple say. “They just remind us of how beautiful the place is and how much we love it. We really have got every detail right and done the whole home justice. We’d be lying if we said it didn’t make us think twice about leaving, but at least someone else will get to enjoy the place as much as we have !” n

HOLWELL NEAR STAMFORD Location: Stamford 0.5 miles.

Style: Individual architect designed property with open plan kitchen/living/dining area, terrace and four/five bedrooms.

Guide Price: £2,500,000.

Find Out More: Fine & Country, Seaton Grange Barn Offices Grange Lane Uppingham, LE15 9HT. Call 01780 750 200 or see www.fineandcountry.com. n

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UNSURPASSED QUALITY, AFFORDABLE CRAFTSMANSHIP Bespoke Kitchens, Bedrooms and Bathrooms - full project management and free quotations

Peter Jackson Cabinet Makers Ltd Devereux Way, Horncastle LN9 6AU

Tel: 01507 527113 W: www.peterjacksoncabinets.co.uk E: info@peterjacksoncabinets.co.uk

PJCabinetMakers

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Home Interiors Studio

KITCHENS • BEDROOMS • BOOT ROOMS • STUDIES INDIVIDUALLY MADE FREE STANDING FURNITURE

Call 07534 808903 richwood-cabinetmakers@hotmail.com BRING RICHWOOD INTO THE HEART OF YOUR HOME

Interior design for reception rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms Plus: Finishing touches from lighting to mirrors to bedding & home decor

Anelise Home, 140 Burton Road, Lincoln, LN1 3LW

01522 530400 • www.anelisehome.co.uk

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Homes & Furnishings A U T U M N

H O M E S

W I T H

A I T C H

I N T E R I O R S

O F

L I N C O L N

Aitch Interiors provides all of the inspiration, ideas, furniture, finishing touches and expertise you need to make the transformation of any room in your home a complete success. Owner Robyn Buckle has over a decade of experience creating beautiful rooms and provides anything from furniture to made-to-measure luxury curtains and blinds, to soft furnishings and upholstered furniture. >>

Upcycle with

Above: Make a statement with this grand white cedar bookcase, 3.1 metres wide. Works beautifully in a library or office space, £3,450.

Right: Black display cabinet, 2 metres tall, £385.

Earthborn Aitch Interiors stocks Earthborn, a British range of luxury vegan paint that is low in toxicity.

The clay based formula is perfect for lime render, with its stunning flat finish.

Pictured below: Laurie Anne art print ‘Antelope’ Island Horizon £65.

<< Lean on this super on-trend Hambledon shelf ladder for reception room, bathroom or bedroom, in oak, 1.8m x 96cm wide £480.

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WE LOVE MYLANDS’

CHAMBERS GATE

Mylands is a British range of luxury high end interior and exterior paints that are hard-wearing due to them containing crushed marble.

Stocked by Aitch, there are over 160 colours in the range. We adore this dramatic No85 Chambers Gate shade, £94/five litre in super flat marble matt emulsion.

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OFFERING MINIMAL ELEGANCE the Chilson Hallway Bench meets all storage and seating needs. Aitch Interiors has married a cement fibre top with the rustic acacia wood frame for a stable, durable piece for the home.

The chunky box style with slatted lower shelf has ample room to store shoes and boots usually found dotted around the hallway. The soft mix of tones would suit any style of home interior and can be neatly positioned beside a doorway for everyday use, 95cm wide, £212.

INDUSTRIAL STYLE AND STORAGE We really love this iron and mango trolley unit, which provides plenty of storage, and can be moved about for more flexibility. It’s ideal for hallways.

Iron and mango wood trolley, 130cm x 10cm x 98cm, £907.

Beautifully simple, yet a real statement piece, this 5ft four poster bed makes the perfect focal point in a master bedroom, £940.

FIND OUT MORE These featured products are available at Aitch Interiors or to order online.

The studio offers timeless pieces that are chosen for their quality and design to make your home a comfortable sanctuary and owner Robyn Buckle can have bespoke pieces made to your design.

Also coming soon are Zoffany Paints, Clarke & Clarke fabrics.

Appointments preferred so owner Robyn Buckle can reserve time to see you properly, but for a free, no obligation chat about your room, call 01522 810961 or see www.aitchinteriors.co.uk. n

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BRANSBY HORSES

HORSE POWER Based just north of Lincoln, Bransby Horses is one of the UK’s largest equine welfare charities and is currently looking after over 800 horses, ponies, donkeys and mules. Every single person in Lincolnshire ought to know about the valuable work the charity does, and the challenges it faces, too...

Words: Rob Davis. Images: Bransby Horses, www.bransbyhorses.co.uk.

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BRANSBY HORSES

>> It’s an early autumn morning. The mist is still blanketing the paddocks and the team at Bransby Horses can see their breath in front of their faces.

But a bit of October or November chill is of no concern to their residents, based just a few miles North of Lincoln. Living in their new loving home, they are provided with a

safe and secure future - something many of them didn’t originally have. Rescued from a range of different circumstances, Bransby Horses is geared up to provide state of the art equine care, to ensure that every horse has a life worth living.

Rather astonishingly, the charity currently cares for over 800 equines; horses and ponies

Bransby Horses in Numbers...

The equestrian charity is over 50 years old and now cares for approximately 800 animals n Bransby Horses is currently responsible for the welfare of approximately 800 horses, ponies, donkeys and mules at any one time. At time of writing, the charity has 328 animals on site as well as 571 in foster homes across the UK (but these figures can change on a daily basis). n Bransby Horses has seven yards, the Animal Reception Centre (ARC); Peter Hunt Yard, used for nervous or unhandled animals; main yard, Barlings, for ridden equines; Visitor Centre yard and Walklands for horses with long-term medical conditions and sanctuary care. n The charity has over 170 members of staff, predominantly at the 600-acre Bransby site just north of Lincoln between Saxilby & Scampton, but also at their sister site in Langworth. n The charity was established by Peter Hunt in 1968 and is now one of the UK’s largest equine welfare charities. It relies solely on donations from the general public. n To continue its work the charity needs upwards of £6,000,000 each year.

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plus the odd donkey or mule, and has over 340 permanently on site plus an additional 560+ in foster homes with the remaining animals pending rehabilitation, rehoming or sanctuary care.

“The charity was established in 1968 by Peter Hunt who was from London and moved to the county to found the charity,” says Bransby Horses’ Laura Canfield.

“We receive calls from members of the public about horses they are concerned about in the respect of neglect or poor conditions, however we also work with other agencies like the Blue Cross, RSPCA and The Donkey Sanctuary.”

“We’re also proud to provide non-judgemental support and advice for equine owners, working with them to achieve the best possible outcome for the horse in question.”

“Our more immediate operating radius is around two hours from our Lincoln headquarters, but in terms of our inter-agency work we’re very much a national charity.”

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WAYS OF HELPING BRANSBY TO HELP HORSES The charity is currently responsible for caring for over 800 horses, ponies, donkeys and mules... n Christmas Cards: The charity’s ‘Gifts Cards With a Difference’ are a fantastic way to support the 300+ residents at Bransby Horses. By purchasing a Gift of Food, Gift of Warmth or Gift of Wellbeing, you will receive a beautiful gift card for your donation, which you can keep or send to a loved one.

Christmas Excitement Last year, Bransby Horses published

Of course, horses are to visit Bransby Horses on and the bespoke children’s rhyming story book Pudding’s Christmas Miracle. large, hungry and they off for the past 18 months or It’s a lovely stocking filler for can have complex so, which has had a real impact children, telling the story needs, and so running an on the charity’s income and its of one of the charity’s rescue horses. equine charity – especially ability to show the general public one of the size and scope of how valuable its work is, caring for all Bransby Horses – is an operation of those vulnerable horses. huge complexity, with costs to match.

The pandemic, too, has presented problems The charity currently employs over 170 people of its own and is detailed in the report that in addition to its really dedicated volunteers, Bransby Horses has co-authored with other and Laura is quick to acknowledge the charities in the National Equine Welfare importance of the hundreds of supporters Council (NEWC). who provide a constant source of support The report states that around 7,000 horses and income to the charity’s work. are on the charities’ radar as ‘at risk of Another source of income is from the site’s neglect or abandonment,’ and that the 200 Visitor Centre. This summer has been a equine rescue and rehoming charities in the huge success, with lockdown lifting and the UK struggle to increase the current total of public having proven themselves eager to 11,350 spaces they have to accommodate enjoy a visit in order to see the charity’s horses which need to be taken in. About 2,350 four-legged residents. new horses require rehoming each year.

About 4,000+ people a week have visited during August, which is brilliant... but of course, those same visitors have been unable

“‘Britain’s Horse Problem’ has now been compounded by the pandemic,” says Laura.

“During lockdown many people decided to

n Donations: Set up a monthly donation or give a one-off donation to Bransby Horses... and by including Gift Aid, you’ll be boosting the amount that the charity receives.

The charity is also grateful for any legacies which enables it to provide a safe haven and secure future for animals that have suffered neglect or abuse. n Become a Friend: From just £5 per month, you can support the ongoing rescue and rehabilitation of horses, ponies, donkeys and mules across the UK by joining the Friends of Bransby Horses membership scheme. You’ll receive regular newsletters, VIP invitations to special events and much more. n Rug ‘n’ Tack & Bric-A-Brac: Your donations needn’t be monetary – the charity gratefully receives pre-loved items that they can sell to raise much needed funds in their charity shop and eBay store. n Visit Bransby Horses: And finally, one of the easiest ways to support the charity is to get out into the fresh air and enjoy meeting the residents of Bransby Horses for yourself.

Visitors are welcome from Wednesday to Sunday from 10am-4pm at Bransby, Lincoln LN1 2PH. It’s open seven days a week during school holidays, too. There’s a great café, gift shop and plenty of nice country walks.

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BRANSBY HORSES

take on animal companions, sometimes without knowing the implications for their care.”

“We’re here to offer non-judgemental support, advice and guidance if, as the population returns to work, or as the reality of ownership becomes apparent, some new owners encounter difficulties or may be thinking of rehoming their animals.”

“A decrease in fundraising opportunities and awareness of our work due to lockdowns, compounded by more horses than ever requiring our help, means that we’re busier than ever.”

Happily, Bransby Horses is welcoming visitors back to its site every Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm, and seven days a week during the school holidays. As well as a brand new play park, there’s a monthly trail for children to enjoy and countryside walks around the charity’s 600 acres.

Bransby Horses has seven operational yards designed for horses with differing health needs.

When the charity takes on a new admission, the horse spends a period of quarantine at the Animal Reception Centre during which time it has a medical assessment by one of a team of in-house vets.

Teeth, feet and general health are all checked and each horse receives a body condition score to determine any future care requirements.

The period of quarantine also allows the charity to maintain its strict standards of biosecurity and prevent passing on any medical problems to the rest of the charity’s animals.

Naturally then, the farrier and dentist are regular visitors and each animal has its own diet and care plan that must be adhered to.

“Anyone who owns a horse can relate to the cost of keeping them fit and healthy; given the complex needs of many of our residents caused by traumas sustained before being rescued, our costs are much higher. We’ve worked out that an average daily care cost is approximately £30 per resident,” says Laura.

“We’re helped enormously by our supporters and by those who take a keen interest in becoming a member or sponsoring one of our nine Sponsorship Stars. We’re also really grateful to our volunteers who help us by coming along and rolling up their sleeves.”

“We wish it wasn’t the case that there are more horses, ponies, donkeys and mules out there who need and deserve our help.”

“Sometimes it can be a heartbreaking job, but more often it’s an uplifting one, making a difference to an animal’s life and seeing the sparkle return to the eyes of a horse... we’re incredibly proud of what we do, and of how much our visitors enjoy a visit to Bransby Horses, too!” n

Find Out More: Bransby Horses is open Wednesday to Sunday 10am – 4pm and seven days a week during school holidays.

For further details and information, please visit BransbyHorses.co.uk, Bransby Horses, Lincoln LN1 2PH.

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DISCOVER BRANSBY

Based just a few miles north of Lincoln, Bransby Horses welcomes thousands of visitors each year who enjoy meeting its four-legged residents and exploring miles of picturesque walkways.

Bransby Horses is perfect for a family day out, picnic venue, meeting place and eatery, serving breakfast, lunch and a range of light refreshments to eat in or takeaway.

The site is also fully accessible for pushchairs and wheelchairs.

1st-31st October: Devilish Dragon’s Trail “Can you free the unicorns from the dragons and complete your quest? For £3.50 per child which includes a prize, our Devilish Dragon’s Trail is running throughout October – a new, exciting activity the whole family will enjoy.”

“There’s plenty for families to see and do when they arrive, including our play park which now caters for children of all ages, with a dedicated toddler area, new slides, swings and climbing frames.”

From 8th October, Pecan’s Pumpkin Patch is also back, bigger and better than ever! “A few surprises await you when you come to choose your perfect pumpkin from 8th October.” says Holly Hart, Visitor Engagement & Retail Manager.

Pecan’s Pumpkins cost £2.50 each.

Bransby Horses is open Wednesday to Sunday 10am – 4pm and seven days a week, during school holidays. Bransby Horses, Lincoln, LN1 2PH.

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STYLE & SECURITY WITH BESPOKE GARAGE DOORS • Tree Surgery & Felling

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WEDDINGS

NO DRAMA, JUST JOY...!

Hat’s off to this month’s couple, but only when mum says so! Lauren and Adam first met at the University of Lincoln, and recently married at the beautiful Harlaxton Manor near Grantham...

Wedding Photographer: ParkRey Photography, www.parkreyphotography.co.uk.

AN ACTRESS AND A PSYCHOLOGIST walk into a bar... it may sounds like the first line of a joke, but when they did, the punchline is that Lauren & Adam fell in love, having met whilst studying at the University of Lincoln, and are now living happily ever after.

Having studied drama in Lincoln, Lauren is currently working at the charity Bransby Horses which, by sheer coincidence, we’ve also featured earlier in this edition of Pride, whilst Adam is working as an assistant psychologist across the county for the NHS.

WEDDING SUPPLIERS LAUREN & ADAM

“My parents live near Grantham and we’ve often driven past Harlaxton Manor and thought what a lovely building it is,” says Lauren. “We didn’t even look at any other venues, because having looked inside and imagined our Harlaxton wedding there was simply nowhere else that would have compared.”

“Having such a lovely venue also dictated the style of the wedding, so we opted for a theme of lustrous gold colours and greens and pinks.”

“The next element of our wedding that we arranged was the wedding dress. I went to Love & Lace in Sleaford and though it sounds like a cliché, I really wanted a fairytale dress commensurate with the look and drama of Harlaxton itself.”

“The ladies showed me a beautiful blush dress by Martin Thornberg dress and I fell in love with it straight away... even the really long veil which I was adamant I didn’t want!”

The couple are regulars in Edinburgh and made their Hogmanay go with a real ‘hoots mon’ back in 2018 when Adam booked a private dining room in their favourite hotel, the five-star Prestonfield country house hotel.

He proposed over a romantic dinner à deux leading the couple to begin planning their special day for their preferred initial date in July 2020.

Twice the couple were scuppered by the nefarious Covid, but in a case of third time lucky, they managed to secure a date just after restrictions of the numbers of guests at a wedding were lifted. Happily, that meant the couple could invite 78 day guests and an additional 70 to the evening do.

“I’m quite a fan of history and so there was another reference to Harlaxton as we named each of our tables after the stately home’s previous owners.”

Next was suits for the groomsmen, specifically navy tails, found at Moss in Lincoln, for Adam, his two best men and three ushers.

Wedding Venue: Harlaxton Manor, 01476 403013, harlaxton.co.uk.

Wedding Dress: Love and Lace, Sleaford, 01529 414343, loveandlacebridal.co.uk.

Groomsmen’s Suits: Moss, Lincoln, 01522 542651, www.moss.co.uk.

Flowers: Bennington Blooms, Newark 07391 924118, benningtonblooms.com.

Wedding Photography: ParkRey Photography, 0798 060 8410, www.parkreyphotography.co.uk.

Wedding Video: George Hughes Films, 07943 127117, gwjhughesfilms.com, DJ: QL Discos, Lincoln 01522 857353, www.qldiscos.co.uk.

Wedding Singer: Stacey Wood, 07889 925 579, trulyromantic.co.uk. n

Sartorial consideration of just one person remained; mother of the bride Julie, who was delighted to find the perfect hat and insisted that despite beautiful weather on the day, it would remain in place... and nobody could take off their hats until she decided to do so!

“She was quite the stickler for that rule, but we were all happy to abide because she looked fantastic and both she and my dad were amazing throughout the whole day!”

“I think dad had been nervous about the day ever since we first looked around Harlaxton at which point he realised exactly what day I was planning... given the role that the father of the bride usually has in writing the cheques, I think he was relieved that I’m his one and only daughter!”

“The day proved absolutely amazing, of course. Not only was the weather – and the backdrop – stunning but all of our guests were smiling the whole time, it really was great fun.” >> 107

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WEDDINGS

>> “We were really lucky to have found Bennington Blooms who created floral displays to really complement the venue, and we managed to find a stunning wedding singer, Stacey Wood, who specialises in performing lovely songs in a 1940s style.”

“We challenged her to create a slower, more acoustic version of Avicii’s Wake Me Up. She did just that and it sounded absolutely sublime. It was the song Adam and I listened to at University, so it’s one of our favourites!”

“Our photographers were Rob and Graeme of ParkRey, who really captured some fantastic images, and we commissioned George Hughes to create a video of the day too which was a really good idea.”

“The team at Harlaxton were really fantastic, especially Bethan, the Events & Wedding Coordinator and Will, the stately home,’s General Manager. We had a fantastic day and enjoyed a wonderful party in the evening with music from Lincoln’s QL Disco.”

“It really was an amazing day and we enjoyed every second of it. We’ve deferred our honeymoon until next year but we did have a minimoon to Edinburgh – where else – and it was lovely to have just those couple of days to reflect on what a joy it was to be with our family and friends, sharing the best day of our lives together!” n 108

Wedding Photographer: ParkRey Photography, www.parkreyphotography.co.uk.

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Ready for Anything Lincolnshire’s Mindy Arora is an economics and sociology graduate, turned military wife, turned trained teacher, turned marketeer, and now a designer of luxury luggage too.

Mindy established her brand, Asali, in 2017. These are her latest luxury products...

Images shot at The Petwood Hotel, www.petwood.co.uk. For further details of products, see www.asalidesigns.co.uk.

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FASHION

Top: Lancaster Weekend Bag, £285.

Above: Red Arrows Weekend Bag, £285.

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FASHION

Top: Spitfire Weekend Bags, £285. Above: Grey & Yellow Travel & Stripe Document Holder, £60. His & Hers Jet Set Duo Weekend Bags, £395.

Asali was established in 2017 by Lincolnshire’s Mindy Arora. The brand includes luxury leather luggage and accessories as well as aviation-inspired ranges featuring Red Arrows, Spitfire and Typhoon aircraft. Call 07376 399 719 or see asalidesigns.co.uk.

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COSMETICS

Heading into Winter WINTER SKINCARE PROTECTION AND FEEL-GOOD FRAGRANCES AS WE HEAD INTO THE COOLER MONTHS

1. Autumn skincare for gentlemen...

One of the most respected names in shaving and skincare, Kiehl’s has released its trio of core grooming products to cleanse, exfoliate and hydrate the skin. Utilising caffeine and vitamins, the products are specially formulated to control shine, remove dead skin and dirt and to give the skin a healthy, fresh appearance.

Trio of products, 125ml moisturiser, 100ml scrub, 75ml face wash, £52.75.

2. Idea for nail-philes...

A new collection of especially bold nail colours from spa brand Opi. Downtown LA comprises violets, bold red, dusty pink and this shade, Angels Flight to Starry Night, with its iridescent sheen and heavy metallic qualities. Gel-shine finish and chip-free endurance, £15.50 / 15ml.

3. Lash-multiplying...

Estée Lauder’s new Sumptuous Extreme Waterproof moisturiser provides exceptional volume and extreme 10-hour tested wear.

Creates extreme volume, lift and curves that last through all wet conditions, £26.50 / 8ml.

5. The scent of autumn and winter...

Vibrant and soft, the PR-blurb states that Aqua Celestia Cologne forte ‘reveals a luminous and crystal-clear aura, offering a dream, a horizon beckoning you to evasion.’

That translates into a scent with fruity notes of blackcurrant, jasmine and mimosa, before softening into a fruity musky accord. Radiant, fruity and musky with strong fragrance intensity. £165 / 70ml.

6. A restful night’s sleep with aromatherapy...

As the nights draw in we think hibernation is a rather good idea. To help you achieve restful sleep, spa-brand Aromatherapy Associates has created this three-piece set which comprises a Deep Relax Sleep Mist for your pillow, Deep Relax Bath and Shower Oil, then a Deep Relax Body Butter.

Chamomile and sandalwood for a restful night. £40.

4. Wrinkle reducing...

Younger looking skin courtesy of IT Cosmetics’ Daily Retinol Serum in Cream formula which is designed to reduce wrinkles and hydrate the skin. Incorporates into your skincare regime and can be used on sensitive skin too, £20 / 15ml.

n All our beauty products are available from local independent stockists unless otherwise stated, please note that prices stated are RRP and may vary.

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D E RM A L FI L LE RS • W RINKLE TREATMENT • PRESCRIPTI ON S KI N C A RE

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Call for an appointment on 07720 345236 or find us on Facebook or Instagram @sandlandtayloraesthetics

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FACE A FACE, a collection in stock now.

43/44 Wrawby Street, Brigg, North Lincolnshire DN20 8BS Tel: 01652 653595. Web: www.obriensopticians.co.uk Call for an appointment or pop in to view our latest designer eyewear.

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THIS MONTH: FUNDRAISING IN LINCOLN WITH A MAGICAL MASQUERADE BALL

To feature your event call 01529 469977. Our magazines are free to read online, so you can share the magazine with your friends. Visit www.pridemagazines.co.uk.

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A Wonderland Masquerade for

RSPCA Mid Lincolnshire LINCOLN’S Doubletree by Hilton was transformed into a Wonderland-style venue for a masquerade ball last month, raising funds and recognition for the RSPCA’ s Lincoln and mid-Lincolnshire branch.

“The local branch is committed to preventing cruelty and promoting kindness to animals,” say the event’s organisers. “We rehabilitate and re-home animals rescued by our Inspectors and promote responsible pet ownership by hold neutering and micro-chipping animal action days.”

“We receive no government money or any lottery funding so the amount of help we can provide for animals is entirely dependent on how much money is donated by local people.”

The event’s main sponsors were Bransby Horses, Team Vippies and Ringrose Law, for more information see www.rspca-lincoln.org.uk. n Words & Images: Rob Davis.

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MOTORS

ALL FOUR ONE AND

FOUR FOR ALL BMW’s all-new i4 is an essential car for the brand, set to compete with plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars at a price point where both luxury and volume sales are important...

Words: Rob Davis.

BMW’S 3-SERIES is one of the company’s biggest sellers, and has long been a class leader in the compact executive segment.

The current model remains popular and has both combustion and plug-in hybrid variants, but as the transition towards electrification continues and Tesla’s Model 3 continues to be popular, BMW can’t afford to be left behind when it comes to producing compact executive vehicles with electric powertrains.

Its new i4 is the car that will spiritually succeed its 3-Series, and is due to reach UK showrooms this month. There are three versions; the i40 eDrive40 in Sport and M Sport trim, and the flagship i4 M50.

Utilising electricity as its sole means of power, all three variants offer all of the

performance you need, so our advice would be to stick with the entry level Sport model.

The eDrive40 powertrain accelerates the car to 60mph in 5.7 seconds and on to a capped 118mph. Electric range is 367 miles, which should prevent any nervousness about running out of power mid-journey.

Should you need to break up a long journey, a stop at the motorway services for a 10-minute top-up from a DC charger will yield an extra 102 miles of range.

Prices for the i4 kick off at just under £52,000, and there are four doors, a decent boot and a handsome coupé-like profile to ensure the car is practical enough for day to day driving. As you venture further up the range, styling becomes more aggressive, but

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Power to the People: Electric vehicles go mainstream...

Tesla Model 3 Standard Plus £40,490: Whilst Tesla models higher in the range are costly – and far too fast in our opinion – the Standard Plus version of its Model 3 looks rather good value. Power adjustable and heated front seats, sunroof, and full connectivity are all standard. The car also has a range of 278 miles, and will reach 60mph in 5.3 seconds. What it lacks, though, is BMW’s cabin ergonomics and the rather more polished interior – Model 3, when compared the i4, is a little plasticky and dull. n

Mercedes Benz EQC £65,720: You’ll pay a premium for the EQC but you’ll also know why. For a start the car is a five seater with a decent boot but it also has an SUV body style with all-wheel drive transmission.

You’ll find the extra ground clearance and traction handy in our part of the world compared to the lower and sleeker profile of the i4. 60mph is reached in 5.1 seconds, and the EQC’s range is 255 miles. Top speed is 112mph, and standard kit includes Mercedes’s MBUX sat nav and music interface, heated Artico seats, cruise and climate controls. n

we think the Sport, with its 17” rims and therefore slightly softer ride is a better bet.

And speaking of standard equipment, rear wheel drive and automatic transmission with a single ratio with no ‘steps’ are standard, as it sprung suspension, with air suspension an optional extra.

Kia EV6 GT-Line S £51,245: In a relatively short space of time, Kia has transitioned from a budget car brand to a hugely respected manufacturer of some superb cars. Its EV6 is a decent size SUV that’s loaded with equipment. With a 77.4kWh motor, power is 321bhp, top speed is 116mph and 60mph is reached in 5.2 seconds. The GT-Line S has a range of 300 miles and comes with adaptive cruise, remote smart parking, 360° camera, wireless phone charing, heated front and rear seats, sunroof and heated steering wheel. n

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BMW’s Live Cockpit Plus is also standard, with DAB radio, 12.3” and 14.9” digital cockpits and navigation. Equipment standard to all versions includes a reversing camera, Parking Assistant, automatic air conditioning, ambient lighting and LED lights front and back. Ordinarily packaged options irritate me, and at £3,800 the Technology Plus Pack is tantamount to a whole extra trim level, but it provides a

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more value than opting for the MSport trim over the standard Sport version. Should budget allow, the Comfort Plus pack with its keyless entry, heated steering wheel and electric front seats is also worth considering.

very nice Harman Kardon stereo upgrade, Driving Assistant Professional software which includes adaptive cruise control, and Parking Assistant Plus which includes a top-view camera, and automatic parallel and perpendicular parking. It also includes a dashcam and wireless phone charging, and as an overall package, we think that’ll add

BMW i4 SPORT

BMW as a car manufacturer has always majored on driving pleasure, and the i4 is on-message with that aim, enjoying a 50/50 weight distribution, a wider track than the 3-Series and the instant power that an electric powertrain affords.

Powertrain: 80kWh electric motor 430Nm torque, 340hp, single speed auto gearbox, RWD.

The i4 really is BMW at its best. A simple lineup of trims, a good blend of range and performance, plus handsome looks and the practicality of four seats and a decent boot all mean it’ll prove easy to live with, future proof and really desirable too. n

Equipment: Sat nav, heated seats, cruise, reversing camera, automatic tailgate.

Price: £51,905 (on sale Nov).

Performance: 0-62 mph: 5.7 seconds. Top Speed: 118mph.

WLTP 367mpg.

n Listers BMW, 01205 350000.

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MOTORS

Three wheels for thrills MORGAN ANNOUNCES ITS INTENTION TO RELEASE AN ALL-NEW THREE WHEELER MODEL POWERED BY FORD

101 year old Harold’s verdict on 90 years of progress...

Harold Baggott is 101 and recently enjoyed a test drive in a brand new Ford Mustang Mach-E electric car, 91 years after learning to drive in a Ford Model T. Harold had his first taste of getting behind the wheel aged 10, driving the family’s milkman’s delivery float on a farm. He went on to get his license in 1936 (the first year they were introduced), and purchased his first car, a Ford 8 Popular in 1937, for £100, buying 20 more Fords since. n FORD

MORGAN If you’re seeking to place an example of true individuality on your driveway, there are few motor cars as unique as a Morgan, and still fewer than a Morgan that’s short of a wheel. Order books closed for the three-wheeler Morgan in January 2021, but happily the firm has released an image of its replacement; this prototype of its all new tricycle model.

Whilst many details on the new model are yet to be announced, the use of an internal combustion engine can be confirmed. Specifically, a naturally aspirated inline three-cylinder Ford engine, which continues the company’s long-standing use of Ford powerplants. The model is designed to appeal to those who love the idea of a unique weekend tourer. n

One careful owner... Mr Toad!

WIND IN THE WILLOWS CAR MAKES APPEARANCE AT BEAULIEU, AND HAPPILY, IT WAS DRIVEN WITH A BIT MORE CARE!

BEAULIEU Visitors to the Beaulieu motor museum have enjoyed seeing Mr Toad’s car from Kenneth Grahame’s classic story Wind in the Willows this summer.

The four-wheeled star was last driven by Terry Jones in the 1996 film adaption of the story.

Despite looking like an Edwardian tourer, the car has a bespoke Roi-de-Belges style bodywork but is actually a short wheelbase Land Rover in terms of its chassis and running gear.

The car was rediscovered by car fan Gordon Grant in a sorry state in 2020 and was restored at the National Motor Museum ready to ride again! Poop poop, as Mr Toad would say! n

MOTORING

NEWS In Brief

POPULAR COLOURS

ANY COLOUR YOU LIKE... AS LONG AS IT’S BLACK!

Henry Ford famously promised his customers they could order their vehicles in any colour they wanted, as long as that colour was black.

These days we’ve a rather wider choice of colours to choose from, but black and silver remain the UK’s most popular colours in which to order their new car.

Black is the UK’s favourite colour for a used car by a long way, according to new data covering the second quarter of 2021.

Between April and June this year, 461,050 black used cars were purchased in the UK, making it the most popular colour by a margin of nearly 100,000 transactions.

Leicestershire was the most popular part of the UK for pink cars - 23.7 per cent of the UK’s total for 2020 were registered there!

The UK’s most popular car colours for 2021...

Black: 461,050 Silver: 363,529 Blue: 362,140 Grey: 341,950 White: 303,192 Red: 220,472 Green: 38,573 Orange: 16,289 Beige: 11,957 Yellow: 11,415 n

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Louise Langton, Office Manager and Alister Green, Agent.

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ADVERTISING FEATURE NFU MUTUAL

Looking for Investment Opportunities?

It’s important to make plans so you can look forward with confidence to your own, and your family’s future. That’s why it makes sense to review your finances and investments, and put appropriate arrangements for the future in place now...

THE DECISION of where to invest your hard-earned funds can, at times, be complex and rather confusing and, particularly at the moment, you may feel worried about seeing investment values fluctuate. NFU Mutual understands your concerns.

as our insurance services, we also have our own financial planning manager, Mark HattonSmith. He can discuss pensions, investments life cover, income protection, plus inheritance tax planning and other financial advice as well as business continuity.”

“NFU Mutual was established as a separate entity to the farming union in 1910. Still separate, we now have 300 local offices and look after 900,000 customers, underwriting £1.6bn premiums,” says Alister Green.

“Our range of investment funds provides you with access to both our NFU Mutual funds and funds from other carefully selected providers. These funds operate within three categories.”

“We provide a range of insurance products which are designed to help protect your home, your business and your possessions.

But we also provide advice on investments that can focus on your medium to long-term goals and on getting your future plans on track.”

“Mutually Managed Funds from NFU Mutual’s investment team, sees investment across a mix of different markets within a single fund and actively managing how assets are allocated within a risk level.”

“Many of us come from a farming background which means that as the UK’s leading rural insurer, we really do understand our clients’ unique needs, but NFU Mutual isn’t just for farmers and landowners. We’re trusted by those in both town and country settings.”

“We were the Which? consumer group insurance brand of the year 2020 and as well

“Secondly, Market Funds from NFU Mutual focus on a particular market or type of asset, such as the UK stock market or government and corporate bonds.”

“And finally, Select Funds are a range of offerings connected to specialised funds from four leading fund managers. These may appeal to investors looking to further diversify their portfolio across asset classes, markets and/or fund managers.”

“An NFU Mutual Financial Adviser can help to identify what steps you need to take to have suitable investments and the right cover in place for you and for your family.”

“We have taken care of our customers’ insurance needs for over a century, and for the past 90 years NFU Mutual has been helping our customers provide for their financial future.”

“NFU Mutual Financial Advisers advise on both NFU Mutual products and selected products from specialist providers too. When you get in touch, Mark can explain the advice services and the charges. You should be aware, of course, that the value of your investments, and any income, may go down as well as up and you may get back less than invested.”

“When you invest with us, you’ll be able to monitor the performance of many of your NFU Mutual investments using NFU Mutual’s My Investments, an efficient online investment platform available through nfumutual.co.uk. When you access the online service, you’ll be able to securely see the value of your investments which provides transparency, and therefore peace of mind.” n

Find Out More: NFU Mutual’s Mid-Lincolnshire agency has offices in Bourne, Boston and Sleaford.

For a no-obligation discussion of your circumstances, call 01529 302437 or see www.nfumutual.co.uk.

Please remember if we recommend any investments their value can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you have invested. NFU Mutual Financial Advisers advise on NFU Mutual products and selected products from specialist providers. When you contact us we’ll explain the advice services we offer and the charges.

Financial advice is provided by NFU Mutual Select Investments Limited. S M Green, A R Green & J R Musson is an appointed representative of The National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society Limited (No.111982). And an introducer to NFU Mutual Select Investments Limited, a member of the NFU Mutual group of companies.

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PICTURE THIS

Steaming into Lincolnshire...

THE AWESOME FLYING SCOTSMAN MAKES A FLYING VISIT TO SLEAFORD, SPALDING, BOSTON, WAINFLEET AND SKEGNESS SLEAFORD Back in November 1934, if you were in a hurry, and if you were looking to make an entrance, there really was only one way to travel. Built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at the Doncaster Rail Works to specifications by the creator of the A1 loco, Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley CBE, the 60103 Flying Scotsman was the first ever locomotive to officially reach 100mph. The locomotive also set a record for the longest non-stop run by a steam engine by travelling 422 miles in 1989 whilst in Australia.

Retiring from service in 1963, the loco had at that point notched up over 2m miles.

The locomotive cost £7,944 when new (about £330,000 today). It weighs 97 tonnes and is 70ft in length. It was originally numbered 1472, then 4472 and received its nickname completing the daily 10am London to Edinburgh service. In 1948 it was renumbered 60103 and painted blue, then green, until its retirement in 1963.

In 1963, Alan Pegler bought the Flying Scotsman in 1963 and restored it ready for its return to the rails back in 2016. n

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The Directory To advertise here call our friendly team on 01529 469977

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