Lincolnshire’s brightest musicians to perform at one-day indie music festival

Tony Turner MBE JP, a Conservative West Lindsey councillor for 67 years and a member of Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) since 1995, won’t be standing for re-election on May 6, as he steps down after a long career in local politics.

He is the county councillor for North Wolds ward and has lived in Swallow in the north of Lincolnshire since 1986. He had his first taste of local politics when elected to the former Cleethorpes Borough Council in 1954 and was later elected to Humberside County Council.

Cllr Turner has held a number of important posts with Lincolnshire County Council, including the Executive Councillor and portfolio holder for Waste Disposal, Special Needs (May 2002 to October 2003) and Executive Councillor and portfolio holder for ICT and Personnel (April 2004 to March 2005).

He has been a member of a number of outside bodies during his 26 years as a county councillor, including West Lindsey Cultural Panel and Central Lincolnshire Community Health Council.

Before his LCC career, he became the youngest ever Mayor of Cleethorpes in 1960. In the same year, he also became a magistrate and later a chairman of the bench when Cleethorpes Borough Council disbanded.

Reflecting on his time as a councillor, Tony Turner said: “I belong to that generation which grew from childhood to adulthood during the war when the notion of service was paramount.”

He added: “As we have been reminded frequently in the days following Prince Philip’s death, duty and service was at the very heart of things for my generation, and it has been for me (as for him) a lifelong joy, as well as a duty, to serve as best I can.”

The owners of an independent book shop in Brigg were devastated to find their store had been broken into just a day after reopening under the current lockdown restrictions

Nick and Mel Webb own The Rabbit Hole in Market Place in Brigg and were able to reopen for the first time this year on Monday, April 12.

However, the elation of the first day back turned to shock when they turned up to find their shop window had been boarded up due to the break-in, which happened shortly after midnight on Tuesday, April 13.

Police said a window was smashed by two suspects who fled the scene with a number of items stolen from the shop, some of which were later recovered.

The main damage was to the window and glass was found shattered all over the floor. Two book cases containing over 20 books, including one hand carved in solid oak, were taken.

The window was boarded up after it was smashed during a break in at The Rabbit Hole book shop in Brigg.

Repairs could cost thousands of pounds, but the exact figure is not yet known and the owners are liaising with their insurance company.

They are determined to bounce back and hope to reopen the shop by the end of the week.

They have also been overwhelmed by the support of the local community, and from regular customer Emma Rowson, who raised over £2,800 via a GoFundMe page.

The main damage was to the window, which was smashed and glass was shattered all over the front of the shop.

Nick told The Lincolnite: “It is devastating. We just spent two weeks trying to get it ready to reopen. We had the elation of opening on Monday and seeing such wonderful people come in.

“Then to arrive on Tuesday not knowing what had happened was a shocker. It was a roller coaster of emotions.

“In December, everyone was dreading a longer lockdown after Christmas and we were unsure if we’d survive it. We got a grant from the local authority but nothing beyond that.

“On Sunday evening (April 11) we had a nice feeling to be in a position to reopen then to come in Tuesday and to have to shut straight away again was pure frustration.

“The saddest thing was we had kids and families turning up yesterday (Tuesday) with book tokens for World Book Day and seeing the mess like that.

“It will be absolutely crucial to reopen again. We operate a very community based and welcoming environment and book shops are very special places.”

Nick and Mel spent a lot of time getting their business – The Rabbit Hole book shop – ready for reopening on April 12.

Nick and Mel worked in the education sector for a combined total of 45 years before deciding to open a book shop, which has been located in its current premises for around three years.

In response to Emma’s fundraising, Nick added: “We are gobsmacked and astounded by what Emma did and the support from the local community, as well as the Booksellers Association.

“She is amazing and we are very overwhelmed. It shows how tight knit the indie bookshop community is, they are a lovely group of people to be working with.”

Emma told The Lincolnite: “It’s been quite overwhelming to see the campaign take off as it has, but certainly on a local level the support is a reflection of the time and effort that Nick and Mel put in passionately encouraging young readers, supporting events within the book community and particularly in their work with schools.

“The last year has been filled with uncertainty for small, independent businesses and my aim was to simply raise enough to help them reopen as quickly as possible while showing them how much they mean to the local area. The level of support they have received from the book community has been astounding.”

Humberside Police said: “We are investigating a burglary at a book shop on the Market place in Brigg which happened shortly after midnight, Tuesday, April 13, 2021.

“A window was smashed by two suspects who fled from the scene with a number of items stolen from the shop. A number of these items were recovered a short time later.

“Anyone with information about this burglary should call our non-emergency number 101 quoting reference 16/39946/21.”

More than a third of call-outs for Lincolnshire Police assistance are related to mental health issues, as the force has seen spikes in suicide rates affecting young people disproportionately.

This has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple lockdowns across the UK, with Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Chris Haward expecting further increases in mental health reports as the county leaves lockdown.

In the latest incident on Wednesday, April 14, Lincolnshire Police had to close Broadgate in Lincoln to talk down a man who was on the bridge.

Chief Constable Haward said: “This is a real issue around partnership operation and actual mental health provision in the community.

“Whilst we can respond to the initial crisis, it’s actually how do we deal with those people in crisis once the police have been, and how do we engage mental health practitioners, how do we engage with the NHS and how do we work as a partnership to try and help these people who are so vulnerable.

“We’re definitely seeing a real spike in suicide rates and attempted suicide, and it’s a very sad state of affairs. It’s actually affecting young people more disproportionately than anybody else from what I can see from our figures at the moment. We’re just going through a review of that.”

CC Haward also believes there are more people who will need mental health support. He said: “People will feel anxious about coming out of lockdown in some cases, and that may exacerbate some of these problems, and it’s only when we come out of lockdown, when people start reconnecting, that we find we’ve got people in need of help.

He added: “There’s work going on with the Police and Crime Commissioner and NHS mental health services, looking at what our partnership response will be, and how we might address this, but I think as we come out of lockdown, we’re probably going to see a further increase in this.”

“As an emergency service, we’ve got to be there to help with that but we’ve also got to be mindful that there is a wider response that is required here from our health partners, ambulance services and our local authorities about what that care might look like in the community.”