2020 has been a tumultuous year. What we expected to be another 12 months of droning on about Brexit turned out to be much worse.
When leavers celebrated Brexit Day in Lincolnshire on January 31, all we knew about COVID-19 was a brief offer of support and guidance from the University of Lincoln to students and staff with connections to China and Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated.
Coronavirus had officially arrived in Lincolnshire by March 6 as government confirmed “up to four” people had tested positive for COVID.
The government’s coronavirus dashboard several months later says there had been two confirmed on March 3 — but the next one isn’t listed until March 9.
From there began the slow decline into a country ruled by restrictions as numbers rose, new rules were brought in and, eventually, the virus brought further disruption.
Three coronavirus pods at Lincoln County Hospital. Photo: Connor Creaghan for The Lincolnite
Health bosses at the time tried to reassure people that the risk to the general public “remains low” and that there was “no reason to panic”.
Government bosses also moved to reassure the public, including saying that schools would not close.
An innocent public, not quite sure what was true or not, began stockpiling shopping including loo rolls and food and supermarkets were forced to bring in limits on purchases.
Not everyone was bothered, however, as thousands of visitors flocked to Skegness despite advice from council and health bosses urging people to socially distance and government guidance not to make non-essential travels.
Thousands flocked to Skegness despite travel warnings. | Photo: Cygnet House Dental Studio
On March 20, the Prime Minister announced a shutdown of all bars, pubs, clubs, cinemas and leisure facilities in the UK, then just days later, on March 22 he closed all non-essential shops, banned gatherings of more than two people and told people to stay home.
But it also sparked a number of positive stories as communities pulled together to push through all the struggles
The regular ‘clap for carers’ began in early April, and was observed in large numbers on Thursdays at 8pm to applaud all essential workers who were on the frontline during the virus’ peak.
It wasn’t just the cathedral that sported colours to support key workers, Peter Spaczynski became a local celebrity for his ‘rainbow house’ on Bunkers Hill in Lincoln.
As well as Peter, Kate Eilidh and her children decorated their home, colouring the bricks in chalk to make a rainbow of their own.
People in Lincolnshire have also been coming up with innovative ways to put a smile on everyone’s faces throughout COVID-19 lockdown, including bus driver Adam Wales and his entertaining TikTok videos.
People found new ways to raise morale.
Organisations and individual around the county began making protective equipment such as 3D-printed face shields, masks and scrubs
For example, For The Love Of Scrubs, a Lincoln-based group, encouraged the local community to use household fabrics and create protective scrubs for frontline NHS staff.
Local distilleries tackled the hand sanitiser shortage in March, making their own from the high volumes of alcohol they produce.
It wasn’t all plain sailing as plans to release sky lanterns for the NHS were labelled “total madness”.
It was almost easy to forget the troubles of the pandemic as people began sharing their joy.
However, the situation continued to rumble in the background with numbers rising throughout the month.
‘Rainbow house’ with the completed thank you message for key workers. Photo: Steve Smailes
In order to help hospitals cope with the pressures, more than £342 million of debt was written off from United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Trust’s books by government.
ULHT’s chief executive Andrew Morgan spoke to staff through a live video while sat in one of the trust’s store rooms in order to demonstrate how much PPE stock the hospitals had.
It was especially tough for police at times as cabin fever began to set in, with one night shift reporting that almost every officer on duty was reportedly involved in violent or abusive situations.
Lincolnshire’s multiple testing sites, built in the run-up to lockdown, were also scrapped for a much larger one based at the Lincolnshire Showground. Later in the year more sites would also be built as testing became more focused.
Councils also reported starting to see the impact on their revenue streams as income from car parking, licensing and planning took massive hits.
May began with a stark reminder of the dangers NHS workers put themselves in when dealing with pandemics as tribute was paid to Anujkumar Kuttikkottu Pavithran, who tragically died aged 44 on Monday, April 27 after working with the NHS for nine years.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson during one of the press briefings.
Residents excited about the prospect of lockdown restrictions being lifted – particularly the most vulnerable – were also urged to “temper their expectations”.
On Sunday, May 10, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new coronavirus rules which would start easing lockdown in England from the following Wednesday.
A 50-page blueprint was launched which outlined what you could and couldn’t do — but many said it was confusing.
The government’s furlough scheme was also extended by another four months.
Shortly after, Lincolnshire began its phased return to work and school, though businesses argued little had changed.
A deeper impact of coronavirus also revealed itself as May’s employment figures showed more than 14,000 had signed up for Universal Credit since the start of the pandemic.
Care homes in Lincolnshire were also given £10.5 million in extra coronavirus cash in a bid to support residents and staff, as many transmissions and deaths were recorded in that sector.
The end of the first lockdown was a staged event, but eventually as rules began to relax, traffic levels began to return to pre-lockdown levels and businesses began to trade over the next few weeks.
Lincoln City themed scrubs were created for healthcare workers at Lincoln County Hospital. Photo: Fiona Robertson
Contact tracing was also set to begin in a bid to get a hold on tramissions and get people who may have been in contact with infected residents to self-isolate.
However, national debate continued to stir the waters, including the actions of the then-Prime Minister’s chief advisor Dominic Cummings was forced to defend a 260-mile drive in March from his home to County Durham with his ill child and wife.
Lincolnshire’s political leaders rallied around the advisor, however, public health officials feared his actions had damaged the core messages that the government were trying hard to promote.
Shortly after, Lincoln’s MP Karl McCartney was forced to defend his travel advice to a constituent too.
As the sun shined on Lincoln, people remained vigilant in lockdown. Photo: Steve McSmailes
Elsewhere Lincolnshire’s council leaders fell out over a letter sent by county council leader Martin Hill and his counterparts in North and North East Lincolnshire calling for talks on local government reorganisation to restart.
The news came as the same local leaders began to take on responsibility for the pandemic response in the county from emergency service leaders.
The debates from May continued into June as shops gradually re-opened one-by-one. Some taking longer than others as staff and customers adjusted to the “new normal”.
Health bosses were confident plans were in place for the reopening of the county’s economy as shops and markets began welcoming customers again.
Parents, initially continued to be reluctant about sending their children back to the classroom as some schools reported just a third of students returning.
Queues at Primark as restrictions started to be lifted. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
The big talking point at the beginning of June, however, was the series of protests around the country, including by Extinction Rebellion and the Black Lives Matter organisations.
Lincoln held its own Black Lives Matter protest which health officials supported going ahead, but urged caution over. No infection spikes were recorded after the event.
However, the large gatherings prompted sharp responses from those keen on complying with social distancing and COVID-19 rules with many quick to jump to criticism of those in attendance.
The first BLM protest in Lincoln in June 2020. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
As health services began reintroducing services, there was a big re-jig across the county’s hospitals, including Grantham Hospital being turned into a “green” COVID-free site.
Other moves saw certain procedures transferred between hospitals in order to better protect patients.
With cases decreasing, and the county going weeks without deaths at times, June looked like things would be getting better.
The month started off quietly in terms of coronavirus, with numbers staying low as people slowly returned to the high street, including the local pubs and restaurants.
The government announced its new Eat Out to Help Out deal and brought in new street cafe rules as it looked to help boost business in the aftermath of the lockdown.
In a bid to control public health as cases continued to surge elsewhere in England, the government also brought in new rules to make face coverings mandatory in many — later most — indoor spaces.
Walkabout’s guidance ahead of its reopening on July 4. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
July saw the first Lincolnshire business lose its alcohol licence over a breach of coronavirus rules.
Some of the first business casualties also began to appear, including a gym in Grantham, which was liquidated.
Despite all of that, however, July was the month with the fewest cases and deaths since the pandemic began. Rising figures elsewhere though meant some restrictions, due to be lifted on August 1, were postponed.
AUGUST
August also began as a fairly quiet month as lockdown entered week 20, with councils preparing for applications of new pavement seating extensions.
But as Lincolnshire’s cases settled, something was looming across the border. Neighbours Newark had seen cases triple in their area, signalling the start of a sharp rise across the Nottinghamshire region.
The Newark outbreak, however, continued to affect Lincolnshire, at one point seeing Lincoln put on a COVID-19 “red list” due to commuters who had been affected.
As the situation continued to look dodgy, Boston Marathon would not be the only event to announce its cancellation in the coming weeks.
Case numbers at the end of August were low and Lincolnshire managed to make it without any hospital deaths for the entire month.
SEPTEMBER
September saw a government review cut more than 70 deaths off the statistics in Greater Lincolnshire with more than 5,000 deaths removed nationally as they focussed only on those who died within 28 days of a positive test.
Meanwhile hospitals, having started to reintroduce services, reported a reduced backlog of cancer treatments, but had seen waiting lists triple.
The month was not without some major headaches for both health bosses and residents, as new problems with booking tests at the Lincolnshire Showground and across the national network surfaced.
There was also a very quick onset of schools reporting COVID cases after youngsters returned and the debate over whether they should be open or not would continue until the end of the year.
The testing centre on Beevor Street in Lincoln. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
It was, however, confirmed that the University of Lincoln would be getting its own testing centre for when students returned in October as the start of term was pushed back a month.
As cases continued to rise, more events were cancelled including Lincoln’s South Common funfair which was shut down by the City of Lincoln Council.
On September 9, however, the rules were changed again — bringing in a new single measure to replace the existing bans on more than 30 peoplemeeting and the rule of two households. It became known as the “rule of six” — and wouldn’t last long.
On September 21, more new rules were announced, with compulsory face masks everywhere and a pub and restaurants 10pm curfew brought in.
Further limits were also brought in on how many people could meet or attend certain events and tighter penalties including £10,000 mega fines were brought in.
However, despite reassurances and nearly nine months of experience at this point, shoppers began stockpiling again as the expectations of a second lockdown increased.
By the end of the month, there had been a 400% spike in COVID-19 cases in September compared to the previous month and infection rates across Greater Lincolnshire had doubled.
Health bosses, despite concerns over the numbers, said the area was unlikely to see any local lockdowns before wider national restrictions were brought in — and they were right, but it would be another month before they were proven to do so.
OCTOBER
October started with some hiccups as it was revealed an elderly patient was stopped from entering Grantham Hospital’s Urgent Treatment Centre and forced to defecate outside, in public view.
As numbers spiked, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed a new three tier “alert system” to tackle coronavirus on Monday, but rejected a second national lockdown.
A day later, it was confirmed, Lincolnshire would be put on the lowest tier level, only slightly confusingly called the “medium” tier. It would be joined by both North and North East Lincolnshire to begin with.
The confusing message some people using the NHS COVID-19 app were seeing. | Photo: The Lincolnite
The new alert system caused confusion when it sent out phantom notifications telling people they were in COVID levels they weren’t — but bosses quickly moved to reassure the population the initial recommendation of “medium” was correct.
The national debate centred around a mounting argument for a circuit break lockdown, but the Prime Minister continued to resist the notion.
Lincolnshire bosses argued it would not follow its Greater Lincolnshire counter parts.
But then, on October 31, a press conference was called by Prime Minister Boris Johnson who confirmed the whole country would go into a second month-long national lockdown throughout November.
People were panic buying toilet roll again. | Photo: Ruth Hollingsworth
There was however a growing complacency to the rules and many up and down the country chose to have one last blow-out — and that was no different in Lincolnshire.
However, as other areas of the UK began to show signs of slowing, the numbers in the Greater Lincolnshire region continued to rocket with several record days for cases and deaths.
November also saw the first Lincolnshire MP isolating following a meeting with the Prime Minister and another MP who later tested positive for coronavirus.
In some pre-lockdown news, however, the government chose this moment to begin discussing its plans for Christmas, seeing restrictions lifted partially to allow three households to meet in an exclusive bubble for up to five days between December 23-27.
The night before the second lockdown. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
The new rules meant all shops can open, but pubs and restaurants were only allowed to stay open for takeaway services, similarly to now.
Schools, universities and places of worship will stay open, though may be subject to household bubbles.
Unlike the previous tier 3 rules, gyms would be able to open and people were allowed to take part in outdoor sports such as golf, tennis and Sunday football.
The rule of six continued to apply outdoors but there was to be no mixing of households.
Local leaders said they were “disappointed” and “frankly devastated” that Greater Lincolnshire will be placed into the toughest restrictions when it comes out of lockdown on December 2.
Tier 3 infection areas, including Greater Lincolnshire, would be better placed to go into more relaxed restrictions if they accept mass testing support, health secretary Matt Hancock said.
The news dashed many hopes of a Christmas pick-me-up and saw a number of events around the county cancelled, including the Lincoln Castle Illuminated event.
However, there was more good news to come as some towns around the county, including Skegness, confirmed they would be getting additional testing centres.
Elsewhere, students in Lincoln were preparing to go home as mass testing began ahead of the end of term.
They were to be sorely disappointed when the next review took place on December 16 and Lincolnshire was kept in tier 3 with the majority of the country.
The decision caused consternation for some council leaders, particularly those in districts with the lowest infection rates.
South Holland leader Gary Porter felt he had failed his district over the COVID restrictions. He said the area should be in a lower tier as many residents travelled to Peterborough which was under laxer rules.
However, his argument would no longer hold water following the review when Peterborough was then put into the toughest restrictions days later.
South Holland District Council leader, Lord Gary Porter.
The country has been given an early Christmas gift though as the Pfizer vaccine was given the go ahead and rolled out to hospitals, including Lincolnshire’s, and then GPs.
Infection rate numbers also began to fall — though remain well above the UK average.
Midway through the month, it was revealed that nearly a third of patients in Lincolnshire’s hospitals acquired coronavirus while being treated.
December also saw a new variant of the coronavirus confirmed in the UK, with more than 1,000 cases across 60 local authorities.
Lincolnshire’s cases up to December 20.
On December 16, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the Christmas rules would stay but said it was everyone’s personal responsibility to keep numbers down as the mutation was 70% more infectious, though not more dangerous.
However, it wasn’t to be as just three days later, Mr Johnson U-turned on his words, bringing the Christmas break down to just the big day itself, and putting several areas with high rates into a new, tougher tier 4 lockdown.
Over Christmas, the county’s infection rates have continued to drop down the table, however, this is mainly because rates elsewhere in the UK have increased dramatically.
Nationally, the number of daily cases confirmed has broken records with 53,000 cases on Tuesday as the new variant sweeps across England.
The government announced on Monday that school children preparing for exams, or of primary school age, will return to class next week but not all school age children will go back.
Health services have reported being under pressure due to increased patient numbers. With ambulance services reporting almost as many calls on Boxing Day as at the height of the first wave.
In good news, however, the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine has been authorised by UK regulators.
And now, to the future
Economy chiefs say there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that business will return next year, but are predicting a rough start to the year.
Health bosses are predicting a “bleak midwinter” ahead and have reiterated warnings to behave over Chrstmas as deaths spike.
And council bosses are hoping that the numbers will come down enough to escape the Hotel California that is tier three.
But with the new COVID mutation spreading like wildfire across the country, the Prime Minister could announce an even higher tier of lockdown, or shut down the whole country again by the new year.
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A father was mistakenly mailed hundreds of addresses of parents with young children by North Lincolnshire Council.
The man received more than 200 letters intended for families with three-year-old children.
Instead of being sent separately to the correct addresses, all 208 letters were sent to his home.
They were all for parents with three-year-old children informing them they were eligible for funding, and had the intended addresses printed on them.
The North Lincolnshire dad is worried the details of so many people with young children could have accidentally ended up in the wrong hands.
He said: “I couldn’t believe that little kids’ information was sent out by mistake like this.
“I have two young girls, and I would hate to know that their information had been sent to someone else.
“The envelope was a huge package with my address on, so I assumed it was from work.
“I couldn’t believe when I opened it up and saw the identical letters with over 200 addresses on them.
“As soon as I realised what it was, I considered shredding it. In the end, I contacted North Lincolnshire Council to report it.
“How could a mistake like this happen? I dread to think if it has happened before.”
Letters with addresses of over 200 parents with three-year-old children were mistakenly sent to one home Credit: Submitted Approved for use by all partners
He has arranged to hand the letters back to North Lincolnshire Council to ensure that they are disposed of properly.
A spokesperson has promised that the way letters are posted has been changed to ensure it can’t happen again.
They said: “We take data protection very seriously and successfully send hundreds of thousands of letters each year.
“Changes have been made to the post system to ensure no such technical issues happen again and all the correspondence was eventually returned.”
The discussion was almost scuppered by a complaint, however progressed only to be deferred as members wished to visit the site.
Recommending approval, officers said the plans, which will include a mix of houses as well as bungalows for over 55s along with 12 homes classed as affordable, would provide “effective” use of the land and not create “unacceptable harm”.
The site is allocated for housing in the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan.
Mark Foster, land and planning director at Lindum Homes told the previous meeting the quality of houses was “vitally important” and the layout of the development was “extremely low density – incorporating more open space than required by planning policy”.
How the site could be laid out.
Objectors to the plans, however, said they presented a risk of overdevelopment and would have a long-term risk to the village infrastructure as well as biodiversity, residential amenity, the character of the village and highway safety.
Resident Nigel Heward, said existing infrastructure was “not fit for purpose” and that a lack of footpath provision at the proposed entry was “an accident waiting to happen”.
Lincolnshire County Council, as statutory consultees on highways, had not lodged any objections, but councillors wanted to see the situation for themselves.
As part of the plans the developers will be asked to make a £30,992.50 contribution to Welton Surgery so it can reconfigure its existing layout to create a larger clinical space and more flexibility to manage the projected patient increase.
A man accused of murdering Sam Davies in Lincoln has denied any involvement in the fatal stabbing, a trial heard on Friday.
The prosecution case is that Eimantas Gochman, who was 19 at the time of the attack on May 27 last year, was hired to carry out the hit on Mr Davies. Gochman is one of seven defendants on trial for murder.
The 23-year-old victim was stabbed twice in a park between Coleridge Gardens and Browning Drive at about 10.45pm and died hours later in hospital.
In police interviews read out to the jury at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday, January 28, detectives put to Gochman that there was a lot of contact between a mobile number associated with him and co-defendant Joe Jameson’s mobile in the minutes after the stabbing.
Earlier that day, Jameson had demanded to know from Mr Davies’ partner where he was because he wanted to kill him.
A detective said to Gochman: “We’re saying that after the stabbing, you’ve contacted Joe Jameson.”
Gochman, who denied the number was his, said: “Yeah, but you believe I killed someone, which is not true.”
In a later interview on May 31, Gochman is told that Mr Davies’ mobile phone had been found a few feet away from a knife they believe was used in the attack.
“Is it likely your DNA will be on that phone?” the suspect is asked. Gochman replied: “There’s no way.”
It was put to him that co-defendant Eric Kesel told detectives that he’d heard Gochman dumped the knife.
Gochman said: “I’m just labelled as this ****ing killer and it’s completely not me. It’s just not nice, it’s not nice.”
A message with a bunch of flowers left at the scene reads “Too young to be gone. RIP”. | Photo: The Lincolnite
Gochman said he had been at The Lincoln Imp pub with friends until about 9pm, then went home to get changed and on to co-defendant Charlie Wakefield’s.
He’d then spent the whole night there before having to contact his mum in the morning to get him to work in Newark.
He said he was late to work, felt rough and got his mum to pick him up before lunchtime.
Police interviews with Wakefield were also read out to the court on Friday. He told detectives that he was on a curfew tag so had to be at home between 7pm and 7am.
He said Gochman had called him from the pub at about 8.45pm on the day of the stabbing to ask if could come round for a spliff. Wakefield had said that was fine.
Wakefield said Gochman called again about ten minutes later to say he was leaving the pub at that point and was going home first to get changed.
Gochman called one further time to check it was still ok, about a minute before he arrived at Wakefield’s home in Broxholme Gardens.
According to Wakefield, neither of them left the house again before Gochman’s mum picked up her son at about 8am the following morning to take him to work.
Wakefield said in the interviews that a 17-year-old co-defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, also spent the night with them and was sent out in a taxi to buy weed from a friend of Wakefield’s.
Flowers left in tribute of Lincoln stabbing victim Sam Davies. | Photo: The Lincolnite
Wakefield said co-defendant Eric Kesel told him on May 28 there was “armed police, CID, forensics, everything” on Browning Drive.
The detectives were told by Wakefield he went for a look and was told by a police officer at a cordon that there had been a stabbing. Kesel had arrived there moments later, jokingly calling him “PC Wakefield” and the police officer made a comment about the surname.
Then, later in the day, when Wakefield found out Kesel had been arrested, he said he started “panicking” that he would be “dragged into it”. He admitted making a quick internet search about being an accessory to a crime.
Wakefield said Gochman had been “calm” when he arrived and they had drunk beer, smoked and played Fifa.
He said: “I’m not being funny but if he came round my yard and said ‘Oh, I’ve just done this murder’, I’ll go in the next room and I’ll ring the ****ing police myself. **** that.”
All seven defendants face one count of murder, which they all deny. They are Billy Gill, 21, of Hatcliffe Gardens; Daniel Heydari, 25, of Chestnut Street; Joe Jameson, 24, of Whitehall Terrace; Eimantas Gochman, 20, of Sturton Close; Eric Kesel, 19, of Browning Drive; and Charlie Wakefield, 21, of Broxholme Gardens. A 17-year-old boy cannot be legally identified due to his age. Jameson is also accused of making a threat to kill, which he denies.
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