Elizabeth Fish

Three community groups from Lincoln have secured £500 each in funding for improving their activities from Skipton Building Society Grassroots Giving.

In order to receive funding from Skipton, community groups had to win over the public in order to vote for them, with the top 161 getting the funding.

Birchwood Colts JFC, Willow Farm Pony Club and WIN Squash and Racketball Coaching all manage to get enough votes for funding.

The funding was being awarded to hard-working community groups that have previously struggled to secure money to grow.

Birchwood Colts JFC is an FA Charter Standard junior football club, offering football to both boys and girls age four to 18. They will use the funding to purchase new equipment.

Willow Farm Pony Club is a small community horse riding group open to anyone aged four to 25, regardless of ability and background. The club will use the money to buy and install arena mirrors around the school to help riders improve their technique.

WIN Squash and Racketball Coaching offers sports sessions within local council establishments that are free of charge. They will use the funding to buy equipment so they can run more sessions.

Lisa Black, Skipton Building Society’s local Branch Manager, said: “The Grassroots Giving programme is a fantastic scheme, allowing us to really delve into the heart of our local community.

“We love being able to help small, self-funded groups and give them the boost that they both need and deserve.

“It is inspiring to see so many brilliant local community and voluntary groups working hard to improve our local community and it is with great pleasure that we are able to help them continue their work. Typically these grassroots groups struggle to secure vital funding due to their size, and this is something we wanted to change when we launched this pioneering initiative.

“We now look forward to hearing how this funding has impacted the groups and seeing them continue to flourish as the jewels in the crown of their local communities”.

Skipton Building Society launched the Grassroots Giving scheme as part of its 160th anniversary celebrations in 2013.

Lincolnshire Police are looking for a male believed to be a rogue trader who targeted a pensioner in Lincoln.

The incident happened on November 18 at around 4.30pm in the Moorland Avenue area of Lincoln.

A male visited a 94-year-old resident’s home, and claimed he was collecting money after previously clearing guttering.

He then wanted to take the elderly resident to a cash point in order to get the money.

However, a relative who was with the pensioner at the time spoke to the caller, who then said if he wasn’t back within the hour he would return in the morning.

The man is described as a slim white male, under 6 foot tall and in his mid 20s, with an Irish accent.

He has mid to long curly, dark hair parted in the middle and patchy facial hair. He was wearing a large, long, dark coat that was zipped up.

He was driving around in a white transit van with ladders on the top, but the vehicle registration is unknown.

Anyone with information relating to this incident, or have seen any suspicious doorstep incidents, contact Lincolnshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 332 of 18/11/14.