Raspberry Village Lincoln to close in December

Lincoln Ladies continued their unbeaten start to the season in the Women’s NC 2 Midlands (North East) with a 13-0 home victory against title rivals Peterborough.

A try-saving tackle by Lincoln’s Jo Parkes stopped Peterborough from scoring in a tight first half.

Emelia Twesigye slotted over a penalty on the stroke of half-time to give Lincoln a narrow 3-0 lead.

Twesigye successfully kicked a second penalty in the second half to extend Lincoln’s lead before being involved in the game’s only try.

She broke through to within five metres of the line after a short ball from Abi Lee.

After a few phases, Lincoln then worked the ball out wide soon after to set up Jenna Bierton, who stepped inside the centre and went over for a try.

Twesigye slotted over the conversion to complete the scoring on what was a fine afternoon for Lincoln.

Grant Cowe scored two tries as Lincoln’s men’s 1st XV suffered frustration on the road with a 33-20 defeat at league leaders Newark in Midlands Two East (North).

Lincoln opened the scoring via Louie Cooke’s penalty before Newark hit back with tries from Rhys Overland, James Archdale and Will Britten.

Alex O’Dell converted two of the tries to give Newark a 19-3 lead going in at the break.

Lincoln reduced the deficit when Cowe powered his way over for a try, but Newark responded with tries from O’Dell and Ashe.

Josh White handed off a Newark player before going over for a try before Cowe scored his second of the match, but it was too little too late for Lincoln.

Other Results

In the Midlands Premier, a late conversion by Tom Alldridge helped Scunthorpe to a 21-19 victory at Oundle.

Captain Tom Foster, Josh Lugsden and Joey Mowbray scored the tries for the visitors, which were all converted by Alldridge.

In Midlands Two East (North), a try from captain George Grant and Spencer Holvey’s penalty could not prevent Market Rasen & Louth from suffering a 45-8 defeat at Southwell.

Stamford lost their first league match of the season in Midlands Two East (South) after a 38-7 home defeat against Northampton Old Scouts.

John Hickman scored Stamford’s only try of the game, which was converted by Jack Martin.

In Midlands Three East (North), Gavin Purvis, James Cowley, James Goodrich and Justin Dingley all scored tries as Kesteven won 26-7 at Sileby Town.

Matt Grinney converted three out of the four tries on what was a great afternoon for the visitors.

Grimsby three-match winning run was ended after a 23-8 defeat at Mansfield.

Mike Vankampen scored Grimsby’s try and Jess Matthews kicked a penalty.

Boston lost 29-5 away against Nottingham Casuals, with the Lincolnshire side’s try scored by James Griffin.

In Midlands Three East (South), Miguel Da Silva, Tom Parker and George Brown crossed for the tries in Spalding’s narrow 30-22 home defeat against Melton Mowbray.

Conall Mason added two conversions and a penalty.

Bourne made it back-to-back victories with a 42-20 home win against Huntington & District.

Scrum-half JJ Roberts scored two of Bourne’s tries and Sam Evison was on form as he kicked multiple conversions and penalties to add to the hosts’ tally.

Kieron Smythe grabbed two tries as leaders Gainsborough claimed a 38-27 victory at Sleaford in Midlands Four East (North).

Jordan Beresford, Billy Nicholson, Ben Watson, and Brad Beresford scored a try apiece for the visitors, with the latter also kicking four conversions.

Aidan Smith crossed for two of Sleaford’s tries and Jack Osbourne and Will Barnes each scored one.

Sleaford captain Dan Mackie kicked two conversions and a penalty.

Second-placed Cleethorpes also had a great afternoon with a 47-12 victory at winless Worksop.

North Hykeham’s first team were not in action, but their 2nd XV had a weekend to remember with an emphatic 77-0 win away against Spalding.

Jack Thomas crossed for hat-trick of tries and Jamie Robson and Dan Greener each grabbed two.

Sam Cooke, Rob Booth, Adam Bird and Ross O’Loughlin each scored one try for North Hykeham. Greener added six conversions and Booth kicked five.

In Midlands Four East (South), Zach Sismore scored two tries as Deepings recorded a 30-14 victory at Thorney.

Luke Warren, Chris Jones and Lewis Cannell also scored tries for the visitors, with Luke Whitby adding a conversion and a penalty.

Stamford College Old Boys saw their home match against Kempston called off as the Bedford-based side have withdrawn from the league.

Women’s Rugby

In the Women’s NC 2 Midlands (North East), captain Hannah Booth, Lycia Elston, Catherine Neville, Charlotte Daubney, Max Heeley, and Tash Champion all scored tries as Boston Ladies beat Kesteven 34-5.

Aimee Goument scored a try for a Kesteven Ladies side that refused to give up and battled hard throughout the match.

Kelly King and Katy Craddock scored two tries apiece as Sleaford Ladies won 39-10 away against Deeping Devils Ladies.

Anna Chick, Rachel Cozens and Chloe Weston also scored tries for the visitors, while Craddock kicked two conversions.

Jo Burke and Amy Charity scored the tries for Deeping Devils.

Cassie Milestone crossed for four tries and kicked five conversions as Scunthorpe Ladies won 69-0 in a friendly against a Gainsborough side who were playing in their first ever home match.

Ewa Jasek grabbed a hat-trick of tries, while Jorja Lyons and Steph Ellis each scored two. Mel Wright-Mahoney and Jasek both kicked one conversion.

To ensure the game went ahead Scunthorpe helped with numbers and leant four players to the opposition – Bethany Parsons, Jacqui Warrington, Kirsty Grey and Harriet Burniston.

Gainsborough Ladies’ head coach Martin Roberts said his side did well in their first ever home match and their heads never went down, with stand-out performances from Hailey Street and Amber Roberts.

Lincolnshire Police received eight reports of drink spiking in Lincoln so far in October, but none involved spiking by injection, a terrifying new trend across the country.

Meanwhile, the force arrested a 35-year-old man on Friday, after he was suspected to posses spiking chemicals. However, the substances he had were not illegal, so with no crime committed, he was released.

As a number of historical drink spiking reports have been brought up in recent campaigns to tackle women’s safety, police said this is likely due to more media coverage encouraging women to come forward.

Here is the full statement from Lincolnshire Police:

Operation Vicinity coordinates our response and investigations into the recent reports of drink spiking in Lincoln.

Chief Insp Phil Baker said, “We are investigating eight reports so far this month of drink spiking, none of which involve spiking by injection. Whilst these are numbers are relatively low, we know that some incidents may go unreported and we urge anyone who suspects they may have been spiked to call us. One incident of this abhorrent crime is one incident too many and we would like to be clear that it carries a prison sentence of up to ten years.

“You should not have to ‘be vigilant’ when you are out but there are steps you can take; look out for each other, don’t leave your drinks, don’t accept drinks offered by people you don’t know or trust.

“If you suspect a friend has been spiked, stay with them and get medical attention for them if needed. Tell a member of staff and report it to us. The signs of someone having been spiked are lowered inhibitions, loss of balance, visual problems, confusion, nausea, vomiting and unconsciousness. Trust your instincts and if something doesn’t seem right, let us know. We are here to keep you safe and we will treat such allegations with the seriousness they deserve.

“We work closely with our bars, clubs and partners in Lincolnshire to make the venues as safe as possible and many of them operate the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme. If you feel intimidated, uneasy, harassed or uncomfortable because of someone in their venue, you can ask at the bar for Angela and they have protocols in place to address the situation and keep you safe. If you have concerns or suspicions about individuals or activity in any Lincolnshire venue, call us on 101 or 999 if it’s an emergency.”

Operation Vicinity includes work with partners, such as further education, the City of Lincoln Council, Pub Watch, Lincoln Big and the night time economy. Under this Operation we are supporting Officers in ensuring the response is swift and effective including getting early samples if needed to ascertain what substances have been used. As part of the response we are also increasing patrols and conducting additional liaison with venues. We are encouraging searches on entry, education of staff, CCTV monitoring and first aid support on site within our pubs and clubs. We support the work of some venues in offering foil drink toppers to prevent spiking and having facilities to test your drink if you think it’s been tampered with.

A 35-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of yesterday morning. This arrest was on suspicion of possession of controlled substance and attempt to apply or administer a stupefying or overpowering drug, matter or thing with intent thereby to enable him to commit an indictable offence. Our investigation has concluded that no offences had taken place so this man has been released with no further action. Substances in his possession were not illegal and would not have an incapacitating effect. Whilst there were no offences in this case, it does demonstrates we are working effectively in partnership with night time economy and CCTV, to act swiftly in relation to information received.

The issue of spiking has seen an increase as we have come out of lockdown. We believe we may be getting more reports following our highlighting of the issue along with the media coverage. We welcome increased reporting and we want anyone who suspects they may have been a victim to come forward.

ALSO READ:

• What Lincoln bars and clubs are doing to combat drink spiking

• Lincoln women plan to boycott city nightclubs over spiking fears

A former chaplain at Lincoln Prison has spoken out about the devastation she witnessed in the riots nearly 20 years ago, ahead of the launch of her new autobiography.

Joy Osborne, who has lived in Grimsby all her life, worked as a chaplain at Lincoln Prison between 2002 and 2012 before retiring.  The 74-year-old has documented her experiences in her book ‘An Inside Job: The Life of a Prison Chaplain’, and given a glimpse into life behind bars.

Two of the chapters in her book, focus on the prison riots of 2002, which caused almost £3 million of damage and left one inmate dead, and was sparked by a row over sandwiches.

It was described at the time as the worst disturbance at a British jail for 11 years, according to the BBC, and 21 inmates received sentences totalling 97 years for prison mutiny, assault and unlawful wounding, and violent disorder.

Joy was at work the morning after the riots and told The Lincolnite: “The prison was in the hands of the prisoners for eight hours and was out of control. Prison back up came from all over the country.

“The main chaplain rang me the next morning and asked me to meet them at the gate. It was horrendous to look out on that particular wing, it had been vastly affected. It was like a war zone, cell doors had been ripped off. It felt like mayhem and sadly one prisoner died in his cell.

“Then the job came of trying to pick up the pieces and support prisoners that were there. For a long time the structure of the prison, the day-to-day activities of normal prison life, were suspended and it was like a lockdown.

“I hadn’t been there for very long and it never entered my head that a riot would take place, it was very sad. We worked as a team and supported one another and visited prison officers in their home who were injured and affected. One particular prison officer – Nick Scott – received a Queen’s award for bravery as he rescued one of his injured colleagues.”

During her forties, Joy says she experienced a call from God to train for ministry in the church. She gained a BA in theology and pastoral studies from Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, before training to work as a prison chaplain at HMP Lincoln.

Her role as chaplain included providing support to prisoners and staff on a variety of issues, sometimes for a brief amount of time and other times longer and ongoing.

Joy was part of a multi-faith team of chaplains, who supported prisoners and staff, as well as their families where appropriate. The role included three statutory duties – to see prisoners who had come in the day before, those in the segregation unit and in the healthcare section, which was a smaller wing of up to 16 prisoners who were unable to cope on the main wing.

A typical day consisted of meeting prisoners, dealing with bereavement issues such as telling them when a relative had died and offering support, and also helping to facilitate visits such as after an application to attend a funeral or visit a terminally ill relative, with supervision from officers.

Joy said: “Prisoners moved on and would send in a card or letter thanking us for the support they had received. I remember one particular prisoner whose mother was terminally ill and lived in Manchester.

“He was allowed to go and visit her, accompanied by two prison officers. His family sent a card to say how grateful they were that he was allowed to go.

“Every prisoner would be treated in the same manner with decency and respect. You may well know what a prisoner had done, but sometimes you wouldn’t know at all.

“Each individual is a human being. From my perspective as a Christian minister, we are all created in the image of God. Even though people find themselves in prison for a variety of reasons, we are not there to judge what they have done and help them find their self worth again.

“Lives do change through faith and I have seen it happen. Some prisoners upon release went on to work in the ministry to help others.”

Joy dedicated ‘An Inside Job: The Life of a Prison Chaplain’ to Reverend Canon Alan Richard Duce, who was the co-ordinating chaplain at Lincoln Prison and sadly died in 2006. Joy said he was a very knowledgeable and thorough man, who had a big impact on her career.

An extract from the book

“Finding a place of quiet in the prison was not always easy but the chapel offered respite and calm. It was used for services and various groups throughout the week.

“Prisoners would often request to go to the chapel to light a candle on hearing news of the death of a loved one. And because it was such a large area, the prison governor would occasionally hold staff meetings there.

“On entering the chapel, I quickly realised the riot had affected the whole prison in one way or another. Routine, as we knew it, had been severely impacted and allowances had to be made for disruption in every department…including the chapel.

“As I turned the key to enter, I looked over the vast expanse in amazement. What had been going on in here? The chapel had clearly been used as a base for prison officers and staff to conduct their meetings, and as a place to rest and eat during and after the disturbances.

“I guess they had more pressing things to do than keep the chapel tidy. Normally a chapel orderly would clean the space, but not at the moment! Ah well, I could pray as I went around picking up empty food containers, drink cartons, jackets and coats. And what was that? One shoe. Where was the other? I never did find it!

“I couldn’t imagine how officers and staff at the forefront of the disturbances felt. Many of them came from military backgrounds and this, together with Prison Service training, would leave them well equipped to handle trouble. Nevertheless, as in any conflict, there is always the unknown and unexpected waiting to happen.

“Understandably, many staff were traumatised, but specialised help and counselling was at hand, including support from the chaplaincy team. We were kept very busy, not only with staff at work but also home visits for those on sick leave.

“And then there were the 32 prisoners at Lincoln County Hospital, across the road from the prison. They were too sick to be moved to other jails at this time. They may have been injured during the riot or taken substances to make themselves unwell.”

Her book ‘An Inside Job: The Life of a Prison Chaplain’ is due to be launched on October 29, 2021. It is priced at £8.99 and will be available through the publishers directly here, as well as from Amazon, WH Smiths, Waterstones, and Lincoln-based Lindum Books.