The first full year of Lincolnshire Reporter has seen general and local elections, a host of exciting new and returning events from the Humber to the Wash, freakish weather and sadly more than a fair share of tragedy.
In this round-up, we take a look back at the stories that made the headlines across the county in 2017.
Tory Karl McCartney loses Lincoln seat in general election
New Lincoln MP Karen Lee
Nationally, the political scene was completely dominated by Brexit and the unexpected general election called by Prime Minister Theresa May for June 8.
The Conservative leader had wanted the election in a bid to boost her majority in the House of Commons and receive her own personal Brexit mandate from the electorate.
However, in a night of surprises, the Conservatives lost their majority, and had to end up negotiating a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland to hold on to power.
In Lincolnshire, despite earlier Conservative hopes of winning in places such as Scunthorpe and Great Grimsby, it was Labour who made the only gain of the night, with Karen Lee ousting Karl McCartney in Lincoln.
The rest of the county stayed pretty much the same, with veteran Tory backbencher Sir Edward Leigh winning his ninth successive election in Gainsborough, Nick Boles fighting off cancer to retain his Grantham and Stamford seat, and UKIP leader Paul Nuttall being humiliated in Boston and Skegness.
Lincolnshire County Council Leader Martin Hill. Photo: Lincolnshire Reporter
What perhaps made the general election result all the more surprising was the dominance of the Conservatives in the county council election just four weeks earlier.
The Tories banished the disappointment of failing to win a majority at County Hall back in 2013 by securing a remarkable 58 out of 70 seats, with county council leader Martin Hill visibly delighted by the results.
It was a night (and a year) to forget for UKIP, who lost all their seats on the council, with the other parties only faring marginally better.
Sporting triumphs, huge music acts and sparkling new events
Lincoln City had the most to cheer about last season in their successful campaign
2017 saw a whole range of familiar events on the Bomber County summer calendar, such as the ever-popular Lincolnshire Show, Armed Forces Day in Cleethorpes, the largest village show in the UK in Heckington, and the Woodhall Spa 1940s Show.
Alongside these favourites was the inaugural Scampton Airshow which will hopefully make a return for 2019, and smaller events such as the JoeFest music festival near Horncastle.
This year also saw huge live acts come to Lincolnshire, with Kaiser Chiefs playing their greatest hits at Market Rasen Racecourse and singer-songwriter Craig David performing on a memorable Friday night in Cleethorpes.
It was also a year to remember sporting-wise, with Lincoln City reaching the quarter finals of the FA Cup and more importantly gaining promotion back to the Football League.
Cyclists were also treated to a special 2017 in Lincolnshire, with The Tour of the Wolds earlier in the year followed by North Lincolnshire hosting a stage of the Tour of Britain in September, with thousands lining the streets of Scunthorpe and the surrounding areas.
Tragedies on our roads
Photo: Janos A
2017, as with all years, sadly saw far too many tragedies happen on roads across our large, rural county.
The death of Lincolnshire County Council business and public protection manager Ian Newell in a six-vehicle crash on the A1 in March hit the whole county hard.
Hundreds of tributes were also left to 24-year-old biker Josh Stepniewski, who died at the scene of a crash in Blyton in June.
Murders, serious crimes and Spalding killers named
Markham (left) and Edwards were sentenced to 17-and-a-half years in prison. Photo: Facebook
Lincolnshire, generally, is widely regarded as a safe place to live. However, a few sporadic incidents spread out across the year brought grave concerns and sadness to communities.
August Bank Holiday in Mablethorpe was marred by the stabbing of 36-year-old James Rudd on Victoria Road, with James Adam, 46, pleading not guilty to murder after being arrested by police.
One month later, seven men were arrested by officers following the death of Alberts Volkausks, who was found with serious head injuries at an address on Pen Street in Boston.
Earlier in September, the north of the county was rocked by the death of 58-year-old Mike Hawkins, who died after being reportedly knocked out with one punch outside a bar in Cleethorpes.
Moving down the coast to Ingoldmells, in December Lincolnshire Police confirmed that they were treating the death of 29-year-old Gareth Bailey as murder, with Skegness man Steven Feeley arrested.
Continuing the journey further south, 2017 was the year in which the infamous Spalding teenage killers Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham, jailed for murdering Spalding mother and daughter Elizabeth and Katie Edwards, were able to be named by the media for their gruesome crime.
A storm called Doris, and snow which never really came
Photo: Andrew Scott
The weather for 2017 caused much discussion among Yellowbellies, most notably when the final day of the Lincoln Christmas Market was cancelled due to the threat of heavy snow, which never really materialised.
Officials were widely ridiculed for the controversial decision, with outspoken television presenter Piers Morgan slamming the decision, and describing us as “a snowflake generation”.
Snowflakes aside, the start of the year saw the Lincolnshire coast braced for a storm surge, with the army even drafted in to deal with potential severe flooding.
Thankfully, again this was not as bad as predicted, with high tide passing without major incident on the coast.
In February, Lincolnshire was once again told to brace itself for another storm, this time affecting the land mainly and called Doris.
While not sounding overly threatening, the heavy rain and strong winds of Storm Doris did end up causing damage across the county, with trees falling down, public transport postponed and homes without power.
Syas relaxing in his new Horncastle enclosure. Photo: Steve Smailes for Lincolnshire Reporter
Lincolnshire being Lincolnshire, there were some slightly unfortunate, unusual and just plain bizarre stories which you enjoyed reading, sharing and commenting on throughout the year.
Christmas is described as the most wonderful time of the year. Sadly, it almost got cancelled in Gainsborough as the much-anticipated Coca Cola truck was hours late after ending up being stuck in a field!
During the summer, we visited surely one of the region’s most impressive collections of wild animals featuring tigers, zebras and camels…inside one person’s backyard!
And finally, if this Grantham vicar does not get you in the festive spirit, well I’m not sure what else we can do!
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There have been 351 new coronavirus cases and 12 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 243 new cases in Lincolnshire, 63 in North Lincolnshire and 45 in North East Lincolnshire.
It also registered seven deaths in Lincolnshire, three in North East Lincolnshire and two in North Lincolnshire.
These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England also reported 11 local hospital deaths on Monday. Seven were at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and four were at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust. This takes the total number of hospital deaths in the county to 468.
On Monday, national cases increased by 15,450 to 1,527,495, while deaths rose by 206 to 55,230.
Lincolnshire cases up to November 23.
But there’s some good news today too: leisure centres, gyms and shops will reopen from December 2, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced, as new tiered restrictions will be introduced when lockdown ends. See the breakdown here.
There will also be a new way to avoid people self-isolating at home for two weeks, even though they haven’t tested positive. It would entail getting tested every day for a week, with isolation required only after a positive test — using rapid lateral flow tests with results within 30 minutes.
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire for Monday, November 23
23,838 cases (up 351)
14,665 in Lincolnshire (up 243)
4,361 in North Lincolnshire (up 63)
4,812 in North East Lincolnshire (up 45)
721 deaths (up 12)
469 from Lincolnshire (up seven)
129 from North Lincolnshire (up two)
123 from North East Lincolnshire (up three)
of which 468 hospital deaths (up 11)
246 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up four)
9 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
212 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up seven)
1,527,495 UK cases, 55,230 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.
Leisure centres, gyms and shops will reopen from December 2, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced, as new tiered restrictions will be introduced when lockdown ends.
In an address before the House of Commons, Mr Johnson confirmed a return to the three-tier system, however, parts of it will tightened.
It is expected that more areas will fall into the higher tiers when they come into effect.
However, details of which tier regions in England will land on won’t be confirmed until Thursday.
Lincolnshire was in the lowest tier (one/medium), and managed to escape moving into tier two (high) just days before the latest national lockdown.
From December 2 people would be able to leave their homes for any reason and meet others in outdoor public spaces, subject to the rule of six.
Pubs in tier three areas will stay shut unless offering takeaway services.
In tier two only those serving meals will be able to open with last orders at 10pm and curfew at 11pm, as businesses will get another hour of trading.
Collective worship and weddings will be allowed to take place.
A ban on outdoor grass-roots sports has also been lifted. Gyms, leisure centres and non-essential shops will reopen in all areas.
A maximum of 4,000 fans are set to be allowed at outdoor events in the lowest-risk areas.
A mass testing pilot carried out in Liverpool will also be expanded nationally for six weeks in tier three areas.
Plans for the festive period should be confirmed later this week, with up to three households allowed to meet.
Mr Johnson praised the nation for “steadfastly observing nationwide restrictions.”
“For the first time since this wretched virus took hold, we can see a route out of the pandemic,” he said.
He praised the “sacrifices of millions of people across the UK”
However, he warned: “The hard truth is we’re not there yet. First we must get through winter without the virus spreading out of control and squandering our hard-won gains at exactly the time when the burden on the NHS is always greatest.”
Mr Johnson said: “I can’t say that Christmas will be normal this year, but in a period of adversity, time spent with loved ones is even more precious for people of all faiths and we all want some kind of Christmas – we need it.
“But what we don’t want is to throw caution to the winds and allow the virus to flare up again, forcing us all back into lockdown in January.
“This virus is not going to grant a Christmas truce. It doesn’t know Christmas and families will need to make a careful judgement about the risks.”
Mr Johnson concluded by praising the latest vaccine developments from Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
“This will be still a hard winter, Christmas cannot be normal and there’s a long road to spring, but we have turned a corner and the escape route is in sight,” said Mr Johnson.
“We must hold out against the virus until testing and vaccines come to our rescue and reduce the need for restrictions and everyone can help speed up the arrival of that moment by continuing to follow the rules.”
Emergency responders charity LIVES have created a cookbook to celebrate the range of Lincolnshire-based produce and raise money for their charity.
The Lincolnshire Kitchen book gives local producers a platform for their goods to be featured.
The charity worked with a group of Lincolnshire companies, alongside its headline sponsor Ringrose Law, to create the book.
LIVES is a voluntary Lincolnshire-based charity that attends 999 medial emergencies around the county, and it needs over £1.4 million a year to keep the service running.
Popular local producers such as Doddington Hall & Gardens, Belvoir Fruit Farms and Pin Gin are included in the 50 page book.
Local produce will be used for recipes in the book. | Photo: LIVES
The book is £9.99 and postage is £2.50, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to LIVES.
Lincolnshire Kitchen is available to buy in Lincolnshire Co-Operative stores this winter, as well as on the LIVES website now.
Tiffany Allen, corporate fundraising manager at LIVES, said: “We have been really excited about working on this project, and to have so many wonderful local companies involved has made this even more enjoyable.
“We know this cookbook will really showcase Lincolnshire talent and excellence, whilst raising money for a lifesaving Lincolnshire charity.”
With the change of business came a new safety and hygiene inspection from North Kesteven District Council, which resulted in a one out of five star rating for the White Hart.
In the most recent inspection on October 16, The White Hart scored a rating of ‘generally satisfactory’ for cleanliness and condition of facilities and building.
It did, however, require improvement for its hygienic food handling and major improvements on its management of food safety.
It is an unusual score for the business, which had five stars in its last three inspections.
One of the owners told The Lincolnite that the inspection had taken place before all works had been completed, so he thinks it is an unfair reflection.
“We only rebranded recently and the kitchen was closed for maintenance when the inspectors arrived, so we were ranked accordingly.
“We are in discussions with the council and the EHO (Environmental Health Officer) about this and have been granted a repeat inspection free of charge.”
They also claimed that The White Hart were told the inspection results wouldn’t be published, as it wasn’t fair to score the pub based on that.
The Lincolnite approached North Kesteven District Council for a reply, but are yet to receive a comment.
The mother of a 14-year-old boy who overdosed on MDMA at a house party in Holbeach has called for people to beware of the dangers of drugs in an emotional tribute to her son.
Alex Buchan, 14, was found dead at a house party in Holbeach in April 2019, with part of an ecstasy pill next to his body and fatal levels of MDMA in his blood.
Two men, the host of the party and the person who dealt the drugs, have been jailed after a hearing in Lincoln Crown Court.
Alastair Turner, 19, and Sam King, 21, were sentenced to 45 months and three years respectively after the incident.
In a heartfelt tribute, Alex’s mum Lisa criticised the jailed pair for ‘targeting’ her son.
She said: “Nobody will understand what this has done to the family — it has destroyed us. The sentence isn’t enough. It won’t ever be enough.
“This will be hanging over me for the rest of my life. My son, who had a heart of gold, is never coming back.
“People don’t understand the devastation drugs cause families. What kind of person targets a 14-year-old boy who doesn’t know the risks. How many children have to die?
“If anything good can come from this, I hope it’s that parents and children see how dangerous drugs can be and that dealers see the potential consequences of what they are doing.”
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