March 8, 2013 12.47 pm
This story is over 111 months old
Expanded school project in memory of Red Arrows pilot
Blue Skies: Students from a Lincoln academy have been selected to take part in the second year of a national project set up in memory of Red Arrows pilot Jon Egging.
Red Arrows pilots at RAF Cranwell with Blue Skies students from The Priory Witham Academy, Assistant Head John Wiles and Dr Emma Egging of the Jon Egging Trust.
Students from a Lincoln academy have been selected to take part in the second year of a national project set up in memory of Red Arrows pilot Jon Egging.
The Blue Skies programme, established by the Jon Egging Trust, took off in Lincolnshire last year with pupils from The Priory Witham Academy leading the way.
Now Dr Emma Egging, the wife of Flight-Lieutenant Egging, is expanding the Blue Skies scheme for schools in other areas of the country as well as a second-tier qualification.
Seven of the Witham students who completed last year’s teamwork syllabus are now stepping up to complete the first-ever level 2 leadership qualification.
They will take part in sessions at RAF Waddington, RAF Coningsby and RAF Cranwell before they join their level 1 counterparts for a “graduation” ceremony at the academy in June.
The Level 2 youngsters will also be offered the chance of a flying trip from Coningsby in the summer.
A further 12 Witham pupils, aged between 12 and 14, are signed up for the 2013 level 1 programme and have already experienced a behind-the-scenes day with the Red Arrows at their temporary Cranwell home.
As part of their Teamwork qualification, they will also take part in sessions at Cranwell, Waddington and Coningsby, working with airbase personnel and meeting crew from the Typhoon and Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
Emma Egging said: “The programme connects young people with inspirational individuals and environments connected to aviation. Through this partnership they gain a unique opportunity to build confidence, self-esteem and achieve accredited training in work and life skills.”
“With fund-raising support and based on the success of the Lincoln model, we can continue to expand and we aim to create a nationwide network of Blue Skies that reaches as many young people as possible.”
Academy Assistant Head John Wiles said: “The impact of Blue Skies has been huge. The staff have seen a real, tangible improvement in behaviour and motivation to succeed which has borne fruit in the students’ overall academic outcomes.
The success of the pilot project at Witham has led to more schools being involved this year – the Glenmoor & Winton Federated Trust in Bournemouth and Downham Market High School in Norfolk.
The Years 8 and 9 Witham students who met Arrows pilots at Cranwell also watched a low-level aerobatics display, tried out flying gear for size and toured the Reds’ hangar, meeting the backroom teams who help put the famous planes on display every summer.
Student Cait Thornhill said: “This has been a fantastic experience. I’ve been collecting autographs from everyone I meet and they’ve all been really kind. It’s been so interesting to see all the people involved behind the scenes. I’m really looking forward to all our other visits, too.”
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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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