Lincoln literati are about to get their own radio show. Siren, Lincoln’s first community radio station, will debut The Reading Room on Sunday, July 4.
The Reading Room will feature a guide of all thing literary in the city and the surrounding areas, with book reviews, interviews and reading sessions with local and national authors.
Behind The Reading Room are Paul Tyler, 33, presenting the show, and Jonathan Haw, 35, the producer, who also works for the County Council. Both Tyler and Haw are volunteers with Siren, which broadcasts in Lincoln on 107.3 FM.
“My love of books started with the Ladybird books I had as a child,” said Tyler, who is a factory worker in Lincoln. “I started to read more in my early twenties, so the key to never being bored is to always have a book on the go.”
“The idea behind The Reading Room is to promote and encourage reading and writing for all age groups. I’m a big fan of spoken word and short stories, so to produce and broadcast them at a local level gives everyone involved valuable experience,” Tyler added.
The show has found writers from the region through the Writing East Midlands agency, and the first book review panel will be discussing Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss, set to be an opinion divider among experts and listeners alike.
The first programme will also feature an interview and reading with the Lincoln Phoenix Writers Circle. Aimee Wilkinson from the Derby-based spoken word collective Hello Hubmarine will be the studio guest. She will be talking about the collective, and perform a spoken word piece.
“My favourite book at the moment is One Day by David Nicholls, I just didn’t want it to end. You really get to know the characters, and I’ll be reviewing it for the programme’s August edition,” said Tyler. “In that review I’ll be thinking about the loss we feel at the end of a good book, and the worry about the next book coming up to the mark.”
The Reading Room will be broadcast on the first Sunday of every month between 10am and 12pm, and a repeat of the show can be heard on the following Tuesday evening between 7pm and 9pm. You can also listen online on Siren’s website.
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A Lincoln-based photographer has spoken of her love of capturing images of spectacular aircraft flying in the county’s skies.
Claire Hartley’s main photography interests are aviation and nature and several of her pictures have been published, including of the Red Arrows as the sun was low on a winter’s day which featured on the front page of The Times.
In an interview with BBC Look North, Claire said it’s “nice to know that people want to use” her photographs and she picked out to of her personal favourites from her collection.
This photo of a Lancaster flying over Tattershall Castle is a personal favourite of Claire’s. | Screenshot: Claire Hartley/BBC
A photo she took of a Lancaster flying back to Coningsby over Tattershall Castle will always be a favourite, with Claire saying: “That was one of those days where I just sat out in the rain and then just for a split second it came really good just as it passed over the top of the castle.”
She added that her second favourite “is probably one of the Red Arrows” flying in formation.
Claire’s photo of the Red Arrows was used on the front page of The Times. | Screenshot: Claire Hartley/BBC
“It’s not a technically perfect shot, it’s not very good resolution, but it’s the first one for me that took off on social media and that’s kind of the one that made things work for me,” she said.
A group of pupils in Sleaford have represented their school at a recent national track and field event, with four relay runners winning their race and earning the crown of English champions for their age.
On Saturday, July 2, an Inter Girls Athletics team made up of year 9 and 10 students from St George’s Academy in Sleaford, took part in the English Schools Athletics Association Track and Field Cup National Finals in Oxfordshire.
The girls qualified for the event for the first time in the school’s history after winning the regional round comfortably in Derby on June 16.
Heading into the national final they were already the best school for girls’ athletics in the whole North Midlands, and despite difficult conditions they did themselves and their school proud.
Lily Wilcox and Holly Dilks ahead of their triple jump competition.
The team consisted of 15 athletes and one team manager, they were:
Kyla Copus – Team Manager
Lily Wilcox
Lucy Cullum
Laurel Mountain
Maddie Cody
Freya Nicol
Holly Dilks
Holly Johnson
Keira Woollaston
Izzie Hemmant
Gabby Greig
Sienna Slater
Tia Coulson
Natasha Doggett
Holly Young
Tegan Thompson
Notable achievements for the girls were a 2nd place finish for Keira Woollaston, who threw a new personal best in the Hammer event, as well as a 4th place in the 100m for Sienna Slater. Her time of 13.0 seconds saw her qualify for the English Schools competition too.
Freya Nicol, Maddie Cody, Tegan Thompson and Natasha Doggett are officially the fastest school relay team in the country!
However, it was the relay team of Tegan Thompson, Maddie Cody, Freya Nicol and Natasha Doggett who stole the show – winning their race with an impressive time of 57.2 seconds.
St George’s Academy finished in 11th place out of 13 competing teams, missing out on the top 10 by just 15 points across the board.
In a competition dominated by independent and grammar schools, the performance of St George’s Academy caught the eye as the Lincolnshire-based girls took on, and in some instances beat, some of the best athletes in the entire country.
The girls did fantastically well competing against some of the country’s top young athletes.
Miss Cox, the coach of the team and a PE teacher at St George’s Academy, said: “I am so proud of what the girls have achieved this season and they have been a pleasure to work with!
“Their successes have been as a result of a huge team effort; commitment and dedication to training has been exceptional and the bond and friendship between the girls has driven them to push for more.
“They have become role models to younger year groups and are inspiring the younger teams to be as positive and enthusiastic about Athletics as they are.”