South Kesteven District Council

Beautiful Ropsley and Welby have taken top honours in this year’s South Kesteven District Council Best Kept Village competition.

Allington was judged second in the large village category, with Barrowby third. Stubton took second place in the small village awards with Witham on the Hill third.

Winning villages will receive cheques in appreciation of residents’ work and community spirit, with £400 for the top award, £300 for second and £200 for third, paid to their Parish Councils.

The top two villages will also receive a gold-coloured litter bin.

Welby came joint first in the competition

Allington came second in the large village competition

Cllr Rosemary Trollope-Bellew, Cabinet Member for Culture and the Visitor Economy, said: “We are delighted to recognise the community pride and work that goes into keeping our villages looking so special and reward the increasing levels of participation that we have seen this year. It all helps our commitment to make the district a vibrant place to live, work and visit.

“I know that our winners last year were planning to invest in improvements, a commitment illustrated by the residents of Welby, who asked for judges’ comments following last year’s competition where they came third in their category. Clearly they have acted on that feedback and we are delighted to see them top the league of small villages.

“Our assessments are also a valuable way to inform the council of areas that might need attention from our street scene teams.”

Barrowby came third in the large village awards

Stubton took second in the small village awards

Judges, helped by the Lincolnshire Gardens Trust for the final stages, assessed more than 100 villages to monitor a range of criteria including village facilities, grounds maintenance and street scene, front gardens and evidence of community pride and ownership. The condition of most villages was exceptionally high and posed a real challenge to judges to determine winners.

The two competition categories are judged on large villages with 501-5,000 residents and small villages with populations between 100-500 residents.

Winners are expected to receive their gold bins and certificates in October.

Witham on the Hill came third

A veteran American WW2 pilot who returned to RAF North Witham in 2019 has marked his 100th birthday with a hero’s celebration in the United States.

Lt Col David Hamilton used the council-hosted visit to re-live his exploits as the last surviving pilot from a perilous pre-invasion mission flown on the eve of D-Day.

Three years on, military colleagues have rolled out the red carpet to celebrate his centenary.

David was flown to join the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team at Frederick Regional Airport Army Airfield in Oklahoma for a weekend of celebrations including a flight in an historic Douglas C-47 Skytrain, nicknamed Wild Cat. Team members parachuted from the aircraft in his honour and Dave took the controls for several minutes.

Cllr Annie Mason, South Kesteven District Council Cabinet member for People and Safer Communities, said: “We were delighted to host Lt Col Hamilton back in in 2019 on the 75th anniversary of D-Day and how wonderful to see how his 100th birthday has been celebrated.

“We must never forget the debt we owe to men like him, and all those he flew with and what they did to help turn the tide of war.”

As a 21-year-old, 1st Lt Hamilton piloted one of the 20 C-47s of America’s 9th Troop Carrier Command that took off late on the evening of June 5, 1944. On board were USAAF 82nd Airborne Pathfinder paratroopers ready to drop into France behind German lines.

The Pathfinders mission set up electronic homing equipment to help guide more than 800 C-47 aerial armada aircraft already crossing the English Channel an hour behind Hamilton’s flight. On board were 13,000 paratroopers dropping into the dark of night at the start of the invasion of Europe in the Normandy region.

Having flown the outward mission at 50ft above the Channel to avoid enemy radar, Hamilton returned to RAF North Witham with more than 200 holes in his aircraft from anti-aircraft and small arms fire.

His visit in 2019 focused on a tour of his former airfield, one of several huge American airfields surrounding Grantham in 1944, and unveiling of an interpretation board on the 5 June mission. He then visited South Witham to unveil a commemorative bench and meet schoolchildren whose poppy cushions handicraft financed it.

RAF North Witham’s runways are now overgrown but still atmospheric, publicly accessible and with little trace of the huge American operation that existed in 1944, when it was home to more than 3,000 American troops.

Hamilton left the US Army Air Force when World War II ended and flew for American Overseas Airline. In 1950, he was recalled into the US Air Force and flew 51 combat missions in the Korean War.