The Collection Access Officer, Antony Lee, with the Witham Shield.
An artefact that was originally uncovered in Lincolnshire, but moved to London, has returned to Lincoln and is back on display.
The Witham Shield, which had originally been on display at the Museum of British History, can now be admired at The Collection.
Antony Lee, The Collection’s Access Officer, explained the shield’s curious journey from discovery to display:
“The shield was discovered in 1826 after work was being done on the River Witham to turn it into a canal.
“The owner of the land claimed he was persuaded to sell it to a London collector, who later died and sold it onto Sir Augustus Wolverton Franks, a director at the British Museum, who gave them the shield in 1872.”
However, the shield itself and the intended use is shrouded in mystery.
“What we know about the shield is that it probably wasn’t used for combat. Since Iron Age warfare was more about posing and style, the shield was probably decorative and was put to the side when the fighting began.
“The shield itself is thin and probably wouldn’t have sustained much damage.”
Sadly, not all aspects of the shield were fully recovered, with a few of the original items found on the shield missing.
Antony Lee added: “There was a bronze boar on the front of the shield that seems to have gone missing and we’ve lost the wooden back.
“Though we don’t know who owned it, we guess it was probably someone provincial. From what we can tell about the shield, it was probably considered to be of great value and was probably put into the river because rivers were seen as gateway to the after life, so it was likely an offering.”
The exhibit display is called The Witham Shield: A Spotlight Loan from the British Museum and will run until June 9.
The exhibition will explain the Iron Age relic’s discovery and history, alongside the archaeology of the Witham Valley.
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Families in Lincoln are being encouraged to save the spirit of Christmas with a new Safari-style trail in the city centre.
Lincoln BIG has organised the Christmas Spirits Trail alongside QR code experts High Street Safari and it will, much like the annual pumpkin trail, have characters hidden in shop windows in Lincoln.
Ten Christmas spirit characters will be out there to be found in your very own High Street Safari adventure, using smartphones to log your discoveries.
The trail will begin on December 4 and run until January 4, 2021, so long as COVID-19 restrictions allow it, and should take around 45 minutes to complete.
It is free for families to take part in, and a Christmas e-book is available to all who complete the trail.
All characters come with a unique QR code which can be scanned to create an animation on your smartphone.
Families will also be able to take selfies with the character, encouraging people to use social media to share their findings.
The story revolves around Albert Claus, the less famous brother of Father Christmas, as he tries to maintain the spirit of Christmas by spreading joy bubbles on Christmas Day.
The trail will help you find Albert and learn what happened to him, before reading the conclusion of the story in the e-book at the end.
For more information and to begin the trail when it goes live on December 4, visit the High Street Safari website.
A twist on Italian street food with “grandma style” homemade dishes will be served as a new business takes over the former Cafe Pino on lower Lincoln High Street.
Dario Rossi, 41, is from the Italian region of Sicily, and has been in the food industry for over 20 years, having owned restaurants in Worksop, Sheffield and Doncaster.
He is now getting ready to open at Cafe Pino and plans to retain the name when he launches his business in mid-December, depending on the latest government guidance.
Italian street food will be served, including pizzas, mini calzones, lasagne and Arancini rice balls with a variety of fillings, as well as vegetarian and vegan options.
There will also be continental breakfast items, a variety of cakes, paninis, and tea and coffee.
The new cafe will initially create around three to four new jobs.
Dario Rossi is aiming to launch his new business in mid-December. | Photo: Lincolnite
A banner on the current signage says a “new vibrant Italian experience” is coming soon and Dario told The Lincolnite: “It will be Sicilian based street food and we know how to do it properly, grandma style and homemade, which I don’t think anywhere else in Lincoln does.
“We have been in the trade for a very long time and decided to invest in Lincoln as it is a lovely city.”
The lead singer and guitarist of a Lincoln indie rock group believes they are “changing what it means to be a band in the 21st century” after their social media following boomed despite the pressures of coronavirus on the music industry.
The band’s rise to close to 100,000 followers on TikTok happened in just one week, while their Instagram following is now up to around 17,000.
Before lockdown The Rills also had around 300 monthly listeners on Spotify and that number has now soared beyond expectations to 50,000.
Mitch Spencer, 23, formed The Rills in 2017 with friends Callum Warner-Webb (bass guitar) and Mason Cassar (drums) after music saved him in his recovery from a skateboarding accident seven years earlier.
Social media platforms, especially TikTok, saw the band’s profile soar including this video entitled ‘Why you should stream our music instead of the Artic Monkeys’ that attracted over 1.5 million views in just three days.
Their latest single, Stardog was released on Wednesday, November 25.
The Rills already have tour dates planned next year in Southampton, London, Manchester and Birmingham, with a Lincoln date still to be confirmed.
In addition, The Rills also have plans to feature on national Dutch radio station KINK Indie and in German music magazine The Postie.
The band’s 2020 single The Angler was played on BBC Radio 6 Music and Amazing Radio, while their debut EP is expected to be released in spring 2021.
The Rills released a new single in November 2020 entitled ‘Stardog’. | Photo: Lewis Budd
Mitch told The Lincolnite he believes The Rills are “currently one of the only bands in the world that’s managed to keep active during the pandemic”.
He said: “Most bands have been limited to just releasing new music and updating their fans once a month, but we’ve grown a huge online fanbase through TikTok and Instagram Reels.
“We’ve done it all by experimenting with music marketing and completely changing what it means to be a band in the 21st century.
“There are a lot of famous artists on Tiktok now, but we’ve been one of the first to do it, and only a handful have been as successful at it as we have! We’ve managed to adapt to the times and are really lucky to still be growing in such a turbulent music industry.
“Obviously we want to try get this as big as it can be, and the dream in the next 12 months would be to sell out the big room at the Engine Shed and do a headline UK tour! We’d love to play Glastonbury too, that would be incredible.”
He added that the comments and messages from fans is what’s getting him through the “never ending rescheduled live shows” during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Rills in China Town in London. | Photo: Lewis Budd
Music was crucial in Mitch’s recovery from a Skateboard accident, which caused a bleed to the brain. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Last summer, Mitch played an acoustic version of the band’s track ‘Us and Them’, which you can check out below:
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