A family are appealing for a large skip and volunteers to help rebuild a much-loved man’s community shed and local allotment, which was destroyed in a suspected arson attack in Lincoln.
The surrounding vegetation within the allotments was also severely damaged by the fire. The cause of the fire was recorded as deliberate by the fire service and police launched an investigation.
A rebuild will hopefully start in due course after various people volunteered their assistance to the family, but a large skip is needed first to help them progress with the project.
People have been left devastated after a suspected arson attack destroyed their much loved community sheds.
Around 10-15 volunteers have offered to help with the rebuild. Lincoln College’s construction department also contacted the family to offer its assistance.
Various businesses have also been in touch with Fred to donate building materials, and another man has offered to build a kitchen.
Daniel Hyde, Isla burley and Fred Hyde.
Shed owner Fred Hyde was left in shock when hard work and memories were destroyed at a place he described as his “sanctuary”. Two other sheds were also left in ruins.
Fred and his family have been overwhelmed with donations. A GoFundMe page set up by his daughter-in-law Janet Priestley-Taylor to raise funds to help resurrect the shed. At the time of writing it has raised over £1,400
Anyone wishing to help should contact Janet on [email protected] or comment on the story and she will get in touch directly.
This robin comes everyday to get food from Fred and was pictured at the site on Friday, October 4. Photo: Janet Priestley-Taylor
Janet told The Lincolnite: “It’s left us feeling very upset and angry and wondering why somebody has done this but we just want to try to move forward and get things back on track to rebuild it all.
“We would like to thank everybody for their continued generosity and support over the week, but we have found ourselves at a stand still on the clean up.
“We are asking if any local skip hire companies could help us by donating the use of a large skip please.”
Gareth Mackie sent up a separate GoFundMe page for his friend Dave, who was also affected by the fire. At the time of writing it has raised over £500.
Janet Priestley-Taylor captured this photo of the fire damage on Thursday, October 3.
The rebuild will start soon. Photo: Janet Priestley-Taylor
A spokesperson for Lincolnshire Police previously said: “We are investigating a shed fire at the allotments in Boultham Park Road. This is believed to be arson. Anyone with any information can call us on 101, incident 1 of September 29.”
Police confirmed on Friday, October 4 that there have been no arrests and the force is still appealing for information.
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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