A 31-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to using threatening or abusive words or behaviour in the Isaac Newton Centre in Grantham.
Gatis Kazaks, 31, of Harlaxton Road, Grantham, denies the offence which is alleged to have taken place on March 4.
Magistrates adjourned the case for trial at Grantham on July 9. Mr Kazaks was granted unconditional bail.
A white German shepherd was taken from the garden of a property on Fen Lane in Long Bennington at 9.15am on Friday, March 28.
Police are asking for information from the public after a silver transit van pulled up outside the property and a man bundled the dog into the vehicle (incident number 112).
They are also looking into the theft of a 19kg calor gas cylinder which was stolen from a property in the village of Gelston at some point during the night of Thursday, March 27 (incident number 63).
If you can assist police with either of these two incidents contact the force control room on 101 quoting the incident number.
A member of Cliffedale Chandlers Table Tennis Club has been selected to umpire at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games in the summer.
Alex Mercer has been named as one of 12 young umpires for the Games in China which begin on August 17.
Twenty-two-year-old Alex, already a national umpire and the youngest person to pass the national exam, underwent a stringent evaluation last year before gaining his International Umpire award in November.
l Cliffedale Chandlers has won a Sportivate grant and will be running a six-week Junior Umpire Award course in Grantham, starting on April 26 and priced at £1 per session
The junior award is open to all young people and is designed to improve knowledge and test practical skills in the umpiring of table tennis.
The award may be used as part of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) Table Tennis, Sport Leaders UK awards (formerly CSLA), Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Young Officials Award and TT Networker – Table Tennis Youth Leadership Award.
There is no minimum age restriction and playing experience is not necessary.
There are 12 places available on a first come-first served basis.
For further information, contact Clive Henderson on 07860 593102.
Nottingham Forest Supporters’ Club (Grantham branch):
Forest are at home to Millwall on Saturday, kick-off 3pm, and at home to Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday, April 8, kick-off 7.45pm.
Bookings are being taken for away games at Queens Park Rangers on April 12, kick-off 12.15pm, Leeds United on April 21, kick-off 5.15pm, and AFC Bournemouth on April 26, kick-off 3pm.
For details contact Bob Taylor on 01476 550242.
A bus has broken down on a busy Grantham roundabout.
The single decker Centrebus vehicle has come to a halt on the Asda roundabout, which connects Sankt Augustin Way and Barrowby Road.
It is causing traffic congestion; motorists are advised to avoid if possible.
This immaculate and privately situated four-bedroom detached property offers versatile accommodation close to the town centre.
The house on Barrowby Road features a bespoke conservatory looking out on to landscape walled gardens, and is on the market with Winkworth estate agents for £289,950.
The property is located in a private position behind a tall perimeter brick wall, with parking for several vehicles on its brick paved driveway and in the double garage.
A frosted double glazed door takes you into the entrance hall with its exposed wooden flooring and stairs to the first floor landing.
The spacious lounge benefits from double aspect views of the garden and a living flame gas fire.
The dining room has a double glazed window to the side and door to the Vale garden room, which has a feature glazed roof with electric elevated roof canopy.
From here you can enjoy views of the south facing landscaped walled gardens with generous lawns, raised patio area, mature flower, shrub and tree borders and water feature, as well as a green house, external electric point and outside tap.
Back inside the kitchen has a double glazed window to the side, a range of fitted wall and base units, sink and drainer unit, four-ring gas hob with extractor fan and light, double oven, integrated dishwasher. integrated microwave and tiled flooring.
In addition there is a utility room with more wall and base units, sink and drainer, plumbing for washing machine, tiled flooring and internal door into the double garage which has power and lighting.
Another room on the ground floor provides the option of a downstairs bedroom, study, or other living accommodation, and there is a shower room comprising of an open wet area with shower over, handbasin and toilet.
Upstairs the master and second bedrooms have double glazed windows looking over the rear garden, while the third bedroom has a Velux style roof window, partially boarded loft access and a double wardrobe.
The main bathroom comes with a four piece suite comprising of a bath with mixer tap, double shower cubicle, handbasin and toilet, along with electric wall heater, eaves storage space and recessed spot lights.
Viewings of the property are highly recommended, and more information is available from Winkworth estate agents.
Winkworth
4 Finkin Street, Grantham NG31 6QZ
Tel: 01476 578888
Email: grantham@winkworth.co.uk
Website: www.winkworth.co.uk
Two of Grantham Amateur Boxing Club’s young hopefuls were in action last week.
The pair had mixed results, with one on the wrong end of a controversial split decision and the other enjoying victory.
Unbeaten heavyweight Lee Chappell travelled all the way to Bridlington where he took on Oliver Battye (Scarborough ABC) at The Spa Theatre.
Grantham ABC head coach Dean Fardell said Lee made a mistake in the first round which made it “a bit of a war”. But his charge dominated the second round, putting some punches together and outboxing his opponent.
The third round was much the same, although the brawling Battye came back strongly and the always controversial split decision was given. It went, almost inevitably, to the local boxer.
Fighting his first bout for almost a year, Dean said it was disappointing for Lee to have lost his unbeaten record to such a decision: “If he lost it, it was in the first round; he was a bit ring-rusty. But it was a very good, gallant performance.”
Middleweight Terry Bennett returned to the ring, after a split decision defeat several weeks ago, to take on another RAF opponent, Jason Brasen (Boston ABC), at the Haven High Academy in Boston.
Terry dominated from the word go, defending well and using his jab. He came forward more in the second round, mixing it as Brasen tried to assert himself.
His opponent continued to pressure in the final round but Terry picked him off to take the decision.
Dean said his man had come back well from the disappointment of his recent loss: “He boxed really well. It was an excellent performance.
“I’m really pleased and proud of both my lads.”
“This is not only extremely dangerous but it’s highly illegal too,” said the snapper of this ‘Dozy Parker’ in Dudley Road, Grantham.
Faith Clarke posted the picture on the Journal’s Facebook page after asking the Lincolnshire Police roads policing unit via Twitter whether the car was illegally parked. @LincsRPU replied: “Yes, absolutely. They are obstructing the pavement.”
** The ‘Dozy Parker’ campaign to crack down on pathetic parking in Grantham continues. If you spot the work of one of these pests, take a photo and send it to comment@granthamjournal.co.uk with a few details.
The Guildhall Arts Centre will be bursting with colour as a youth group production of the popular musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat will take centre stage this Friday and Saturday.
Performing arts group Star Academy are putting on Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s biblical musical about Jacob’s favourite son Joseph and his coat of many colours.
Star Academy trains youngsters from the ages of four to 18 in musical theatre, and Managing Director Lisa Burgess explained: “We chose this production as it suited the students talents. The show has little spoken dialogue ‑ it is completely sung-through song.
“It has a family-friendly storyline, universal themes and catchy music which will be enjoyed be any age group.”
The technicolour production will star the Academy’s senior students who are aged from 11 upwards, and who will perform the show three times starting with the opening night on Friday, April 4 at 7.30pm before a matinee at 2pm and another evening performance at 7.30pm on Saturday, April 5.
Tickets are £10 and £8 for concessions, and available from the Guildhall website www.guildhallartscentre.com or by ringing the box office on 01476 406158
Lincolnshire police are asking for help to identify a man they would like to speak to in connection with an assault in which a man was head-butted in the early hours of December 27 last year.
The incident took place in the Market Place in Grantham, and although enquiries have been made the man has so far not been identified.
Police are now appealing for the public’s assistance to identify the man, who was wearing a dark top/coat with light coloured trousers.
Anyone with information is asked to contact PC1372 Johnson by calling the 101 number. The case number is 32130051088.
After surviving the most deadly strain of malaria, 34-year-old Mandy George from Newton is challenging herself to live on just £1 a day in order to raise money for the charity Malaria No More UK.
This limited budget is to reflect the daily reality of the 1.2 billion people around the world who live below the poverty line, with Mandy seeing if she can afford all her food and drink from March 31 to April 4 on only £1 a day.
It was fifteen months ago that Mandy contracted malaria falciparum while working as part of the earthquake recovery effort in Haiti, and when it led to an onset of jaundice and pneumonia the doctors did not expect her to survive.
She said: “The parasite attacked all my organs. My body went into septic shock ‑ lungs, liver, kidneys, stomach ‑ you name it, it failed.”
After four weeks in intensive care and six months of recovery, Mandy now wants to use her story to raise awareness and funds in order to help save lives from malaria.
Mandy’s personal challenge previews the national Live Below the Line week taking place between April 28 and May 2, and she hopes that by trying it out and documenting her experiences with a daily diary, she will prove that anyone can do it and encourage others to have a go themselves.
Day 1 of her week living on £1 a day is below, with more daily updates to come on the Journal website.
You can also follow her challenge via Twitter @MandyGeorge and sponsor Mandy by going to www.livebelowtheline.com/me/mandyjgeorge
For further information about the Live Below the Line campaign, or to sign up to the challenge yourself, please visit www.livebelowtheline.com/uk
Mandy George ‑ Live Below the Line food diary
Day 1: 31/03/14
The challenge kicked off today! The 1st shock was the lack of caffeine - I’ve opted for nutrition over stimulants. My budget only stretches to 3 carefully planned meals per day, no snacks, no drinks but water and no eating or drinking out!
I started with a bowl of water based porridge made honey and diced apple. Not too bad. Lunch was quite tasty: an invented rice and lentil dish with onion, carrot and frozen spinach. I budgeted for 1tbs of oil daily and a sprinkle of mixed spice – that + the ½ vegetable stock cube gave good flavour!
I’m now battling with afternoon hunger pangs by sipping water. I was tempted to snack on a carrot but if I diminish my small supply then it will be plain boiled rice by the end of the week. So I’m sitting tight until dinner which is leftovers from lunch. I’m starting to realise just how much unnecessary food I eat every day!
Tonight’s Grantham Town fixture against FC United of Manchester has been postponed due to a dangerous playing surface.
Due to have been played at Stalybridge Celtic’s ground, Bower Fold, the game has been put off for two weeks, with recent heavy rain leaving parts of the pitch “extremely wet and potentially dangerous to players”, according to the FCUM website.
An Old Somerby angler caught a record pike last weekend.
Josh Burrows’ 28lb monster is believed to have beaten the previous record for the Belvoir Lakes venue by around 3lb.
Twenty-year-old Josh, who has only been an angler for three years, was fishing for carp with his brother throughout the weekend.
He decided to put a pike rod out late on Sunday afternoon and was astounded to hook the leviathon on his spinner, although the predatory fish put up surprisingly little resistance, taking only around a minute to land.
Josh said: “It didn’t put up much of a fight. It felt like I had hooked the bottom.”
His previous best pike weighed in at 11½lb and was caught at the A1 Pit, Newark. Josh has also bagged several carp over 20lb in his short fishing career.
l Bottesford and District Angling Association’s first open match of the season took place on Grantham Canal at Stenwith and Muston.
The only angler to hit double figures was P. Gilbert who nearly nearly 13lb of fish.
Results: 1 P. Gilbert 12.14.00, 2 J. Brockway 9.08.00, 3 D. Hicklin 7.03.08, 4 J. Marcier 5.14.00, 5 G. King 5.05.00, 6 J. Farrow 5.00.00.
Bottesford & DAA’s next match is the Norman Chenowerth Open on Grantham Canal on April 13.
The draw will be made at 9am in the Red Lion, Bottesford, where full English breakfasts will be available from 7.45am onwards.
According to a national survey, South Kesteven is in the top 10 of best rural places to live in Britain.
Residents now enjoy a better quality of life, according to a national survey by the Halifax, which ranked the district 10th out of 119 rural local authorities.
The survey tracks where living standards are the highest across a range of factors, including health, life expectancy, earnings, house prices, employment, weather, traffic flow and broadband internet access.
Beverly Agass, chief executive at South Kesteven District Council, said: “Last year we were delighted to be named in the top 50 so it is fantastic news to make it into the top 10 and have confirmed nationally what we have known for sometime – South Kesteven is a great place to live.
“Our district has so many good points, not only for residents but investors as well, including our excellent transport connections to London, our historic market towns, great schools and beautiful countryside. With all this going for it, South Kesteven can only grow in popularity.”
The East Midlands and the East of England secured six of the top 10 places and included overall winner Uttlesford, along with South Northamptonshire, East Hertfordshire, Rushcliffe, South Cambridgeshire and South Kesteven. The remaining four all came for the South East.
There was a 12-way tie for the local authority district with the lowest CO2 emissions per person (all 1.9) and South Kesteven was one of the dozen.
Mrs Agass added: “It’s very encouraging to know that in terms of personal wellbeing and quality of life, South Kesteven residents score among the highest in the country.”
Year 7 King’s School students became Lincolnshire Indoor Athletics county champions for the fourth consecutive year.
With three straight years of success before them, there was no little pressure on them to emulate their predecessors’ achievements – but they duly obliged.
In a strong competition, held at The Meres leisure centre, King’s took on the various regional winners from around the county.
They came out on top following a variety of track and field events including triple jump, long jump, vertical jump, speed bounce, shot putt, relays and various individual sprint races.
King’s progressed to the East Midlands finals, which take place after Easter, to fly the flag for Lincolnshire against the winners of Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire.
Pictured left to right are: Edward Birch, Sheldon Fivas, Will Shennan, Andrew Wilson-Axpe, Emyr Jenkins, Dexter Bickmore and Taylor Jordan.
Setbacks have forced an extended closure of Main Street in Normanton.
Drainage works being carried out by Leicestershire County Council will continue until April 11.
During the closure the alternative route will be via Normanton Lane, Bottesford; Rectory Lane, Bottesford; High Street, Bottesford; Bowbridge Lane, Bottesford; Orston Lane, Bottesford; Bottesford Lane, Orston; Lordship Lane, Orston; Spa Lane, Orston; Mill Lane, Orston; Longhedge Lane to Staunton in the Vale, High Street, Staunton; New Road, Staunton; Main Street, Normanton and vice versa.
Matthew Kingston-Lee recorded the fastest half-marathon time this year by a Grantham Running Club member last Sunday.
Matthew took part in the Coventry Half-marathon and completed the 13.1 miles in 1hr 17min 32sec.
Returning to the city where he had lived for 13 years before moving to Grantham last year, Matthew finished 14th from a field of 2,000 runners, who enjoyed a new traffic-free course and generally favourable weather conditions apart from a stiff headwind for much of the opening half of the race.
l Grantham Athletic Club Parkrunners were smashing their personal bests again at the weekend.
Josh Lord reduced his by 18 seconds at Lincoln, John Ellerby by 1min 53sec at Congleton, and Janice Anderson and Paul Davidson by 22 seconds and four seconds respectfully at Newark.
Results: 3 Josh Lord 17.30, 8 Paul Davidson 20.44, 26 Keith Measures 23.37, 51 John Ellerby 25.12, 43 Janice Anderson 25.17.
l Two Grantham AC veterans took part in the annual Belvoir Half-marathon at Hose on Sunday.
They were among 411 finishers who tackled the rural route through the Vale of Belvoir via Harby, Langar, Colston Bassett and Long Clawson.
Arthur Short finished 50th overall in 1.28.58 and clubmate Phil Hall recorded 2.01.01.
Representing Ropsley Road Runners, Tony Johnson finished in an excellent 1.25.46.
The race was won by Dan Allinson (Leicester Coritanians) in 1.11.52.
There was also an accompanying 4½-mile fun run and a children’s field race.
The event raised funds to improve the village hall facilities which were used as race headquarters.
l Ropsley Road Runner Tony Johnson finished last Sunday’s Oakley 20-mile road race at Bedford in 2.16.33.
One Touch Football will be running football fun and development days during the Easter holidays.
The sessions are designed for both boys and girls, aged between four and 14, from beginners to more experienced players.
The venue is Harrowby Lane playing fields. All coaches are FA or UEFA qualified and CRB checked.
For more information and to book visit www.onetouchfootball.co.uk
Mandy George who survived malaria 15 months ago, has recounted her experiences on day 2 of her challenge to live on just £1 a day in order to raise money for Malaria No More UK.
Mandy’s five days of living on a limited budget comes ahead of the national Live Below the Line week taking place between April 28 and May 2.
She hopes that by trying it out and keeping a daily diary, she will prove that anyone can do it and encourage others to have a go themselves.
For further information about the Live Below the Line campaign, or to sign up to the challenge yourself, please visit www.livebelowtheline.com/uk
Mandy George ‑ Live Below the Line food diary
Day 2: 01/04/14
My coffee machine was staring at me accusingly this morning. It is feeling abandoned. Strengthening my resolve, I decided to start my day differently, adapting one of my favourite breakfasts – carrot cake porridge. 50g porridge, 1 grated carrot, 1tsp honey and a dusting of cinnamon. Porridge is a great way to live below the line at just 4p a bowl, plus it fills you up and tastes good!. For lunch I’ve created a spaghetti dish with a sauce of tinned tomatoes, butter beans, spinach, and onion and sprinkling of herbs. Seasoning is critical on a strict budget! Dinner will be the sauce stir-fried into some rice. I’ve been invited out but had to turn this down. My budget doesn’t even stretch to a soda water!
As well as daily updates on the Journal website, you can follow Mandy’s challenge via Twitter @MandyGeorge and sponsor Mandy by going to www.livebelowtheline.com/me/mandyjgeorge, where details of her menu each day can also be found.
Residents and commuters are reminded that a busy rail underpass in Grantham will close on Wednesday for a community action day of cleaning.
The walkway between Station Road and Huntingtower Road will close all day to pedestrians from 7.30am to 5.30pm.
Litter and graffiti will be cleared from the area thanks to the efforts of volunteer staff from Network Rail, South Kesteven District Council, East Coast Trains, British Transport Police and Huntingtower Community Primary Academy.
SKDC will supply bin bags, litter pickers, gloves and hi-vis vests and will assist with the removal of larger items of rubbish to be disposed of at the nearby Waste and Household Recycling Centre on Mowbeck Way.
Signs informing users of the closure are now posted at both ends of the tunnel.