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The group behind the annual Lincoln Medieval Market have promised they will return to the city, despite a heartbreaking break-in and burglary at the city’s oldest church.

As reported previously, traders from the Travelling Historical Market, run alongside the Lincoln Christmas Market, had been sleeping in St Mary le Wigford Church on High Street on the night of Saturday, December 4th when they were disturbed by the criminal.

The thief had helped themselves to handmade items from the stalls, and some of the artists’ takings, before their presence woke frightened stallholders.

Bravely, the traders gave chase, but sadly the perpetrator got away.

Writer Joanne Major, who was selling copies of her books at the event, told The Lincolnite: “Some of the traders were sleeping in the church and were woken by the thief shining a light looking for more to steal. Obviously that terrified them.

| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

“The traders have had a bad couple of years with events been cancelled due to Covid and many were at Ludlow Medieval Fayre last weekend where tents and stock got destroyed in Storm Arwen.”

To add to the independent group’s misfortune, costumed volunteer Tom Kay was also targeted by thieves.

Stallholders wore traditional Medieval dress | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Tom had travelled from Barnsley to work at the market dressed as a knight, promoting the market and letting children have their picture taken with him.

Joanne said: “He’d parked his car in the car park off King St overnight while he stayed in St Mary’s Guildhall with the traders there. He discovered that someone had stolen his catalytic converter.”

Both incidents have been reported to police.

| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Traders thanked those who turned out to support the event on the last day of market weekend, many of whom had seen the news of the break-in on The Lincolnite.

Joanne added: “We had a lot of people turn up who had seen it, and who’d come out to support the market because of it so it was a big help.

“We haven’t heard anything else about the thefts, and while they were unpleasant, they certainly haven’t put us off. The Medieval Market will definitely return next year, hopefully even bigger and better.”

The event was spread across the church and St Mary’s Guildhall, a genuine Medieval building and one of the city’s oldest.

“We’ll be back in the same location as we like the fact that we’re able to bring the Christmas Market experience down to the lower High Street, and showcase the history of that area of the city. So many locals came into the Guildhall saying that they’d always wanted to see inside, and were amazed with what they found.

“We might not be right in the centre of the main market, but we think it’s worth the effort to find us!”

The Lincolnite has contacted Lincolnshire Police for an update on the investigation.

A Lincolnshire MP has called on the government to do more for dental care access in the county, pitching the idea of a local dental school to attract more work in the sector.

Dr Caroline Johnson, Conservative MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, first spoke in the House of Commons on the issue of dental care provision in her constituency back in October, saying the lack of NHS dental access is causing real problems in the county.

Recent figures show that just 41% of adults in Lincolnshire have accessed NHS dental care in the past two years, and less than a third of children have in the last year.

It comes as access continues to be more limited in the county, going from having three full-time consultants in orthodontics, based at Grantham, Boston and Lincoln, to having just one permanent consultant two days a week in Lincoln.

Following on from the Commons debate, Dr Johnson met with the minister for patient safety and primary care, Maria Caulfield, to further discuss the lack of access to NHS dentistry in Lincolnshire.

She detailed the struggles of her constituents in finding adequate care, and stated that more needs to be done to attract more dentists into work.

This prompted calls for a dedicated dental school in Lincolnshire (the closest ones are in Sheffield, Leeds and Leicester), which will also be discussed with Health Education England in the near future.

The MP’s suggestions were to boost training and skills opportunities for young, budding dentists, but creating the dental school as part of the newly built Lincoln Medical School at the University of Lincoln.

The new Lincoln Medical School will be the most environmentally-friendly uni building in Lincoln. | Photo: Shradha Mishra

Within her arguments in the commons, Dr Johnson said that Lincolnshire has no specialist services either in paediatrics or restorative dentistry, meaning patients have to travel out of the county for more expert help in their time of need.

Dr Caroline Johnson, Member of Parliament for Sleaford and North Hykeham said: “I believe that it is vital to ensure we have good provision of NHS dental care, which is something many of my constituents contact me about.

“Following my positive meeting with the Minister on this important topic, I will be speaking to Health Education England, Ministers and the relevant universities about my suggestion for a Lincolnshire dental school and I will assist them in their full report to analyse the feasibility and costings.

“Although these are early steps in discussions, it is my intention to campaign actively for a dental school in Lincolnshire as it is well-known that you stay where you train and I therefore consider this to be the best long-term solution for our county.”

A young TikTok star who became a viral hit online after posting wholesome videos of his trainspotting hobby came to Lincoln over the weekend on a special steam train, and even had time for some coffee with cats in the city!

Francis Bourgeois is a viral TikTok sensation, amassing nearly 30 million likes on his trainspotting videos and becoming somewhat of a social media national treasure.

The 21-year-old University of Nottingham student has become so successful with his videos, filming his reactions to trains going by and broadcasting his love of locomotives, that he recently quit his job to pursue trainspotting full time.

His most recent venture saw him arrive in Lincoln for the Christmas Market last weekend, aboard the special Black 5 steam locomotive No. 44871.

The train began at London King’s Cross, where Francis excitedly declared on an Instagram story that he was heading to Lincoln, before arriving in the city on Saturday afternoon.

He rode the steam locomotive into Lincoln before making an appearance at Coffee Cats on The Strait, presumably on his way to or from the Lincoln Christmas Market, which saw over 275,000 people attend between December 2 and 5.

We hope that Francis enjoyed his time in Lincoln, and the next time he is here we would love to show him around some of the other wonderful sights of our city!