Lincolnshire Remembers: The bravery of four brothers who fought and died with Bomber Command

A Lincolnshire distance runner selected for the 10,000m race at the Tokyo Olympic Games is looking to do his county and his country proud, but he’s already done that and more for his Grimsby-based parents.

The Lincolnite caught up with Helen and Bob Atkin, parents of Team GB Olympic hopeful Sam Atkin, who will be running in the 10,000m event at the Tokyo games, an event that Sir Mo Farah famously won two gold medals in at the 2016 and 2012 Olympics.

During an incredibly emotional interview, with tears of joy and pride from parents Helen and Bob, they reminisced about Sam’s introduction into running and the obstacles he had to face along the way.

Sam originally, and rather ironically, grew up playing as a goalkeeper in football, but it wasn’t until a cross country race at school where his true talents were realised.

Helen and Bob told The Lincolnite: “When he was 11, there was a cross country race at Healing school in Grimsby, and we told him if he finished in the top 10 we’d give him £100.

“There were some vey good runners out there, some who were training regularly, and Sam beat them by miles. We had parents looking around saying ‘wow, look at that boy so far in front!’

“That was the moment we knew he was special, we decided to sign him up for a running club straight after that.”

Sam then joined Grimsby Harriers, winning every race he ran in, before eventually moving onto Lincoln Wellington at the age of 15 because he was getting so quick that he would win adult races.

While at Lincoln, Helen and Bob, who live in Grimsby, would have to drive Sam to and from training each day while juggling his school work and their own jobs at HMRC and Associated British Ports respectively, working flexible hours to support their son.

His dad Bob said: “We always knew he had talent, but it’s the unrivalled spirit and determination he has, you could almost call it stubbornness, which is just about the only thing I can claim he got from me!”

His next big step came at 18-years-old, when he was offered a scholarship in Idaho in the United States of America.

Sam currently lives and trains in Idaho, meaning his contact with his family has been limited, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Success appears to run deep in the Atkin family, as Sam’s twin sister Jen is the reigning Miss Great Britain.

Helen said that the twins were huge parts of one another’s careers and successes, thanks to the “special bond” they both have.

Sam qualified for the Olympic Games in dramatic fashion, after narrowly missing out on the 5,000m qualifying time, which is his preferred event, but then went on to run the now 5th fastest 10k in UK history.

Sam nearly missed the call up to the Olympic squad entirely after changing his phone, but in a rather poignant sequence of events, he found out the news while back at home with his parents.

Bob explains: “He got a new phone number, but the Team GB selectors had his old number so they couldn’t get through to him. Eventually his agent was contacted and he let Sam know, but Sam didn’t tell us for 30 minutes! We were stunned into silence when he told us.”

His heat run will take place at 12.40pm on Friday, July 30, and Sam’s parents will be watching the race from home, but in different rooms!

“We both get very nervous watching Sam run,” Helen explains. “When we went to events with him I’d be at one end of the field and Bob would be at the other end.”

Sam is set to be the only self-funded runner of the 29 competitors in the event, giving him an underdog status that his dad Bob says he thrives under.

“It’s like Grimsby Town being chucked into the Premier League, it sounds negative but trust me it’s not, wherever he finishes he’ll make us proud.

“When he was younger we just used to tell him to run as fast as he can, now that he’s reached the top level, the advice gets tougher, so we sent him a message to go with his Team GB kit that just read: ‘Keep your head up and get on with it’.

“We cannot express the pride we feel for him, it’s all too much to be honest with you. Make no mistake about it, he’s earned his way there and he deserves this so much.”

The second mural as part of the Sincil Bank Art Project has been completed, showcasing the famous Lincoln Star Clematis from the 1950s and spreading positivity in the process.

The Sincil Bank Art Project is a community scheme in which various artists will paint murals onto walls in the Sincil Bank area of Lincoln.

The first project, a portrait of Lincolnshire-born physicist Sir Isaac Newton, was completed by French street artist Zabou on the corner of Sincil Bank and Kirkby Street in April.

The latest mural has come from another globally renowned artist, this time in the form of Sophie Mess, who was recommended for the project by Zabou herself.

Sophie’s ‘Project 002’ design at Trollope Street took four and a half days, and depicts the Lincoln Star Clematis, a flower first bred in the 1950s by Lincoln-born botanist Walter Pennell.

On the mural there are the words “Shine Bright” which Student Housing director Harry Conti told The Lincolnite was done to spread a message of positivity in the area.

He said: “We’re hoping these murals will bring more people to the area and already we’re seeing the difference. People are stopping or detouring on their journeys just to look at the two murals, it’s amazing.”

Sophie spoke with pride when discussing her mural and the reaction it has got, stating that the positive messages and the joy it brings to people is “exactly what it’s all about.”

Hannah Dines is the owner of the property the mural is painted on, and says she couldn’t resist suggesting her house for the project.

She told The Lincolnite: “Having seen project 001 and Zabou’s wonderful creation I contacted The Sincil Bank Art Project and offered my wall for a future project.

“I’ve been lucky to grow up in a creative arts environment, and love art in all its forms. I’m also very community based; I really enjoy sharing, supporting and getting involved in local projects.

“Sophie’s artwork is incredible and she’s been such a pleasure to have here – giving me updates and being just super chatty and friendly. Her work ethic and artwork are both awesome and I’m so glad she agreed to create a piece of her work in Lincoln.

“I feel truly humbled and so very lucky to have such an amazing piece of art on the side of my house – it’s surpassed all my expectations, size, style, colour, wow factor! I had seen the design before Sophie arrived but never expected the final result to be so stunning.”

For future plans, the SBAP is hoping to have up to 30 murals in the Sincil Bank area within the next five years, which would eventually lead to an interactive trail of them all, using QR codes.

If you are interested in getting involved, visit the Sincil Bank Art Project website.

Check out our video of the first mural:

There have been 3,130 new cases of coronavirus in Greater Lincolnshire so far this week as Lincolnshire shows “shoots of possibility” that numbers might be “topping out”.

The government’s COVID-19 dashboard on Friday reported 333 new cases in Lincolnshire, 186 in North East Lincolnshire and 93 in North Lincolnshire.

The figure is 28% lower than last Friday’s 854 cases – and 6.5% down on the 3,351 cases by this time last week.

There were no deaths reported in NHS figures today, however, there have been three so far this week in the region’s hospitals, while government data has recorded the death of five residents.

Nationally on Friday, cases increased by 36,389 to 5,637,975 while deaths rose by 64 to 129,044.

Lincolnshire’s health boss on Friday said the county’s case numbers showed signs of “topping off” with infection rates dropping from 353 per 100,000 population to around 341, compared to an England average at the time of 530.

“There are just the shoots of the possibility that we are topping out,” he said.

“The past four days on our data internally, we’ve stayed around 350. It may well just be a little bit of a plateau before we start to climb again, we’ll keep a close eye on it but certainly we’re staying below the average.

“What would be great is if we stay below the England average and we come down before the overall England rate does – those two things should be real positives.”

He said the county hitting the one million vaccine milestone this week was fantastic, but explained “we’re not done yet,” adding that three in ten people were still not double jabbed.

He noted evidence was growing that the Delta variant had a 50:50 chance to pass on symptomatically between people rather than the previously thought one-in-three.

Anyone who thinks we are out of the pandemic and don’t need the NHS Covid app is ‘wrong’, Lincolnshire’s health chief has said.

Lincolnshire’s director of public health, Derek Ward, explained everyone “will make their own choices” and that it wasn’t a statutory duty.

However, he pointed out that case numbers were now higher than the first two waves, as Lincolnshire has seen three deaths in the past seven days and there are currently around 20 people in hospital with the virus.

Nationally, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics has shown that almost 750,000 people in private households are likely to have had coronavirus in the week to July 17.

It equates to one in 75 people and is up from the one in 95 the ONS calculated the week before.

Meanwhile, England’s R number – which represents how many people an infected person passes the virus on to – has stayed steady at between 1.2 and 1.4 this week.

Public Health England has confirmed a new variant is under investigation in the UK. As of Thursday, 16 cases of the Lambda variant – first seen in Peru – had been confirmed in England. It is not yet considered a variant of concern but will be investigated and risk assessed.

Government bosses have announced a list of exemptions to the self-isolation rules currently governing contact tracing of the virus.

Critical parts of the food industry, for instance, will be allowed to carry out daily COVID testing instead.

It comes as bosses warned of staff shortages after a record 613,903 alerts were sent to users of the NHS COVID app in the week to July 14.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has also confirmed that the Moderna vaccine has been approved for children aged 12-17.

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Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Friday, July 23

77,226 cases (up 612)

• 50,492 in Lincolnshire (up 333)
• 11,932 in North Lincolnshire (up 93)
• 14,802 in North East Lincolnshire (up 186)

2,205 deaths (no change)

• 1,627 from Lincolnshire (no change)
• 303 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
• 275 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,320 hospital deaths (no change)

• 819 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (no change)
• 43 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
• 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
• 457 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)

5,637,975 UK cases, 129,044 deaths

DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF THE LATEST UPDATE. POSTCODE DATA INCLUDES DEATHS NOT IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES OR IN HOSPITALS OUTSIDE AUTHORITY BOUNDARIES.