With only seven days (and one more weekend!) left until Christmas Day, hopefully the shopping is all done, wrapped and under the Christmas tree waiting for the big day.
We still have time to do the lasts bits and the huge food shop — plus of course we all know there is always one more present you can buy. There is also time for the little ones to go and visit Santa in his grotto – in Lincoln we have a few options that you can take the kids too and get into the Christmas spirit!
Most of the usual haunts (your local toddler groups and the soft play areas) are decked out with decorations and have a Christmassy feel about them. However, if you’re looking for the whole Christmas experience with Santa and all, then here are a few suggestions:
Pennells Garden Centre: based in South Hykeham, with free parking and a full gift department. The restaurant has high chairs, and they will warm your milk and baby food, as well as having baby changing facilities. There is a winter wonderland with all of the decorations on show, and a story time display of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Most importantly though, there is a Santa in his Grotto. This week Santa will be there on the 17th, 18th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd from 10.15am to 5pm (with half an hour break at 1pm), costing is £6.95 per child.
St Mark’s Swedish Christmas Santa Grotto: open every day from 10.30am through to 5.30pm. The Grotto is in St Marks Garden, in front on Mamas and Papas, at a cost of £6.50 per child. A great place to stop with the children whilst out shopping.
Rand Farm Park: This popular attraction is holding a breakfast with Santa on December 22 and 23. The breakfast needs to be pre-booked, however Santa is still available to visit throughout the day at a cost of £4.00 per child. Children go free into the park for December with any paying adult. The park is also open as usual so you can go and see all the animals, feed them, play in the soft play area — a great day out plus Santa — what more could you want! To book, call Kay on 01673 858904.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Janie Pengilly is a Lincoln mum of two, both under the age of 4, that keep her busy. As well as being a stay-at-home mum, she is also the editor of the new online magazine, Lincoln Mums.
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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