More imps have started to appear in shop windows and outdoor spaces across Lincoln, ahead of this summer’s much-anticipated trail event.
The Lincoln Imp Trail will be on show across the city between July 3 until September 8 after being postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 31 Imps, as well as five roving community Imps, were designed by national and local artists.
Among the Imps you can already see out and about in the city are at Saul Fairholm, Imp Travel, St Marks Shopping Centre, Craft, Bells Tea Shop and the Lincoln Visitor Information Centre.
Saul Fairholm are proud of their ‘Majestic’ Imp, which is part of the Lincoln Imp Trail. | Photo: The Lincolnite
Steam Explorer, sponsored by Jacksons Workwear Rental Ltd, and Saul Fairholm Ltd’s Majestic Imp currently occupy first and second place respectively.
Imp-Entertainment is located at Craft. | Photo: The Lincolnite
There are also five smaller roving community Imps, including Wind, which The Lincolnite adopted and he is the most travelled having been to Fantasy Island near Skegness, Grimsby and even on a boat on the Brayford in Lincoln.
The other community Imps are Rainbow, Fire, Sea and Lightning.
Maybe Wind can give his fellow community Imp Rainbow (pictured) tips on where to travel. | Photo: The Lincolnite
Trail organisers Lincoln BIG said: “A number of IMPs are out and about in the city – can you spot then? Sponsors are taking good care of them ready for the launch of the main trail on Saturday, July 3.
“There are many myths and legends about the Imps coming to Lincoln. The five roaming Imps are named after one particular poem.
“Can you spot them at Bells Tea Shop, the Visitor Information Centre, Imp Travel and the Lincolnite offices? These cheeky imps are heading to Skegness during May half-term!”
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Nominations are open for schools and education settings to be recognised in the 2022 Lincolnshire Education Excellence Awards.
The event is organised by Stonebow Media, publishers of The Lincolnite, to celebrate the best school and teachers in Greater Lincolnshire.
The headline sponsors making the awards possible are Lincoln College Group.
Twelve categories are now open for nominations. The deadline for nominations is June 3, with a judging lunch scheduled for June 7.
Nominations are open from parents, carers, friends, families or education settings themselves, so if you know someone who deserving of winning now is the time to vote!
The awards ceremony will be held at the Engine Shed on July 7.
It’s been a week since the controversial statue of Margaret Thatcher was installed in Grantham’s St Peter’s Hill.
The £300,000 bronze monument immediately caused a stir and debate from both supporters and opponents of the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
Within hours of its 7am installation last Sunday, it had already been egged by a man later revealed to be 59-year-old Jeremy Webster, a deputy director at the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester.
Mr Webster’s mother-in-law recently described his actions as “childish”.
Quoted in the MailOnline she said: “Margaret Thatcher lasted a long time in power. She was a trailblazer as the first woman prime minister and she had such energy, even though I know she slept very little.
“I’m very surprised to hear about all of this [egg throwing]. I’m going to have to call my daughter. I wouldn’t have thought Jeremy would be the sort of person to do this. It seems very childish to me – he has a responsible job.”
There have been reports of other antisocial behaviour taking place including people urinating up the statue, but investigations into these are yet to be confirmed by officials.
Away from the statue itself, others took to social media to react to the new monument.
Twitterer @BolsoverBeast thought Mr Webster’s actions should be expanded as a way to… get more people involved?
I think it would be a good idea to put Thatcher’s statue on a low loader and tow it slowly around the country so that we all have a chance to throw something at it. pic.twitter.com/uftMqr0LgR
— Chloe Schlosberg (@ChloeSchlosberg) May 19, 2022
Some called back to the fate of other statues
@Irritatedllama called back to the fate of slave trader Edward Colston who was thrown into the Bristol Harby in June 2020.
It's absolutely disgraceful that people are throwing eggs at the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham! We need to deploy a taskforce to give it jolly good wash!#Granthampic.twitter.com/RKftKUls4u
It wasn’t long before a parody account of the statue was set up on Twitter – nor before “she” was interacting with other parody accounts.
It was awful. I could see almost all of Grantham
— That Statue of Thatcher (@thatcher_statue) May 18, 2022
A… positive view?
There were supporters of the statue, however, Darren Grimes from GBNews was one of the few popular posts calling on people not to “give in to threats of petty vandalism”. He later posted the statue should be in parliament – where it was previously rejected from.
I honestly think Margaret Thatcher would have found this first round of petty vandalism of her statue to be utterly hilarious.
The statue looks absolutely glorious.
Almost a decade on from her passing, she’s still winding them up!
Some, like @Jonnyhibberd were more measured in their response.
I don't see a problem with a Thatcher statue and I also don't see a problem with people throwing eggs at it. Thatcher is an important part of our history, and so is what a lot of people thought about her.
— Jonathan Hibberd 🇺🇦 (@Jonnyhibberd) May 18, 2022