Actor Warwick Davis gave up his time to meet fans after his successful show at the Guildhall last week.

Warwick, whose career in film, TV and on stage began with his role as an Ewok in Star Wars, entertained a packed audience with his An Audience with.... show. He spoke about his life and career and showed clips of his films and TV shows as well as some home movies made while on filming locations.

The show raised about £2,700 to be split between St Barnabas Hospice in Grantham and Little People UK, of which Wariwck is patron.

Photographs in the slideshow are courtesy of Ian Selby.

A last-minute free show from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has been added to the line-up of Gravity Fields festival.

As well as exhibiting at the week-long George Centre science fair and Saturday’s family science day, the RVC is staging ‘Adaptable Animals’ at 5.30pm on Saturday in the Guildhall.

Isi Adeola, part of the college outreach team and with a degree in wild animal biology, will deliver an interactive display of how different animals catch their prey.

He has appeared at the Cheltenham Science Festival, London Science Museum and the O2 arena.

Grantham ladies’ Super League team travelled to the coast to take on Marine Boathouse, Skegness, and came home 4-3 victors.

Aftere going down 1-0 in the doubles, Marie Jones and Sam Priestley won theirs to level the match.

Kat Rowe and Elaine Prince both won their singles to keep the match tied at 3-3.

Maxine Skellett took the deciding singles to five legs and won 3-2 to give Grantham overall victory.

Another new Grantham retailer is set to open its doors having benefited from South Kesteven District Council’s scheme that guides owners through the maze of opening a business.

Catlins, in High Street, will open as a Mediterranean cafe and restaurant in the coming days through new proprietor Amy McNamara who was given support by SKDC4Business.

Amy, a first time business owner, was recommended to the scheme by her property landlord and has received help on every aspect of the process and legislation required to start up.

She chose the location for the business over other neighbouring towns and cities citing the retail unit’s historic and traditional links in Grantham where the famous gingerbread men were first made.

The previous business in the location under the same name closed in March 2011 but the council’s priority on business growth helped promote its availability.

The business will focus on serving the traditional teas and cakes the unit was previously famed for, while also stocking a tasty contemporary menu.

Amy said: “The unit and location were a perfect fit for me and I’m looking forward to starting trading. The SKDC4Business scheme has really assisted me transform an idea into reality.

“I would recommend it to other current or prospective business owners.”

Initially the take away section of the business will open to the public before the unit opens on two floors, including the restaurant, later this year.

SKDC’s portfolio holder for grow the economy Councillor Frances Cartwright said: “This is the latest business to benefit from the scheme and will be a welcome addition to Grantham’s High Street.

“It’s inspiring to see a trader see the potential of a business from its location and history and embrace it to see an opportunity. We wish Amy every success with the business.”

For further information on business support visit www.skdc4business.co.uk or contact SKDC’s economic development team on 01476 40 60 80 or email ecodev@southkesteven.gov.uk

A pub in Grantham had to be evacuated on Saturday evening when a teenager threatened to jump off the roof.

Police cordoned off part of High Street and people were asked to leave the Atrium while the man was talked down by a police negotiator.

Police were called to the Atrium at 9.30pm after reports the man was shouting and threatening to jump. He was walking along the roofs of buildings on the High Street and at one point was on the roof of the Yorkshire Bank.

A police negotiator was sent to talk to the man and he later came down. The High Street was reopened at about 10pm.

A spokesman for the Atrium said the pub was closed for about half an hour as everybody was evacuated out of the back. She said the teenager had not gained entry to the roof through Atrium and had not been in the bar before.

There is no confirmation of an arrest.

Grantham sports charity Inspire+ held its very first PE, sport and leadership conference at the Guildhall in Grantham on Thursday.

The conference was attended by headteachers and PE co-ordinators from over 30 different primary schools in Grantham, Stamford and surrounding villages.

Guest speaker for the day was Olympic and Commonwealth Games gymnast Craig Heap who was also a judge on the recent BBC one hit show ‘Tumble’.

The conference focused on the development of physical education, engaging children in leadership and planning the new academic year of the Inspire+ comprehensive breath of programmes and initiatives. The theme of the conference was ‘Inspiring a Generation’ in recognition of the dedication and opportunities teachers are giving to young people to be the best they can be.

Ropsley Primary School headteacher Ann Cook said on the day: “I attended the first Inspire+ PE, sport and leadership conference. I came away from the day with a clear vision for the development of both PE and sport within my school but better than that I was inspired to get us there. What a fantastic day, thank you.”

After the conference, Linda Baldwin, headteacher of St Sebastian’s School in Great Gonerby, saidd: “I would like to reiterate what a colleague said during the day about how much schools value the work Inspire+ does in SK. For anyone who does not have experience of the types and levels of support there is on offer in other localities, it could be easy to take for granted what Inspire+ does. The personal touch Inspire+ offers and the time taken to visit schools and discuss things are valued greatly.”

The day also included workshops delivered by school PE specialists and a chance for the charity’s supporters and partners to promote the programmes they have to offer schools. The South Kesteven Young Ambassadors were also present at the conference. Representatives from every secondary school participated in a workshop with Craig Heap and started planning their events for the year.

Craig spoke on numerous occasions about the work Inspire+ does in SKDC. He said: “The work Inspire+ does is fantastic, the staff and everyone involved with the charity has so much passion for benefitting the lives of young people.”

During the summer, Inspire+ held 12 Olympic sports camps for children aged six-11 years old to experience a range of Olympic and Paralympic sports in an environment of high quality and well-structured sports coaching. The camps where held at Belton Lane Primary School and Huntingtower Community Primary Academy.

Over the next year Inspire+ will be holding a further 30 camp days, including several at Belton Lane and Huntingtower schools. The first three days are October 27, 28 and 29. For more information email sportscamp.inspireplus@gmail.com or visit www.inspireplus.org.uk and sign into the parent zone.

Well, well, well, Dozy Parkers strike again in Grantham!

Alex McIntosh sent in the picture of a Vauxhall Corsa parked up skew-whiff in Union Street. Alex said: “By far the worst parking I have ever seen, deserved more than just one ticket for that.”

Another reader sent in a picture showing the antics of a Dozy Parker in Wharf Road.

** Want to join the Journal’s Dozy Parker campaign? If you see the work of an irresponsible, careless parker, take a snap and send it in to us at comment@granthamjournal.co.uk

Grantham firefighters attended an incident on the A1 this morning involving a lorry fire.

A wheel bearing fault caused a wheel to catch fire on the lorry on the northbound carriageway at Great Ponton. The crew was called to the incident at 8.05am and used one hose reel to put out the wheel that was well alight.

Nottingham Forest Supporters’ Club (Grantham branch):

Forest are at home to Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, kick-off 3pm, and away to Wigan Athletic on Tuesday, kick-off 7.45pm.

Bookings are being taken for games at Cardiff City on Saturday, October 18, kick-off 12.15pm, and Watford on Tuesday, October 21, kick-off 7.45pm.

For details contact Bob Taylor on 01476 550242.

A fascinating journey through the life and career of actor Warwick Davis was a triumph at the Guildhall Arts Centre.

Thursday’s An Audience With Warwick Davis was an entertaining mix of storytelling, film clips and audience participation which all combined to make an enthralling evening in aid of two charities – St Barnabas Hospice in Grantham and Little People UK. Two members of Warwick’s family work for the hospice and he is patron of Little People UK. The show raised about £2,700 for them.

Warwick is a keen film maker himself and gave his Grantham audience an exclusive look at the home movie he made when he took on his first film role as an Ewok in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. The diminutive actor was only 11 when he got the role after his grandmother heard a plea from the film makers for people of a certain height to play the small bear-like character.

Warwick showed us an incredible film he made at Elstree Studios in which the stars – Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher – all play along for him in his own small movie.

Warwick continued to take us through his career reading passages from his autobiography and showing more fascinating clips including another self-made film of him making the movie Willow with Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley in the 1980s.

There were laughs aplenty, but Warwick was also keen to move in a more serious direction when talking about the condition he was born with, which caused his dwarfism. He told us about his son who died after just nine days and about his wife and son and daughter, who were also born with conditions causing dwarfism, but who now lead fulfilling lives.

While a serious subject, Warwick will always look at the funny side of his diminutive size and showed us a clip from the series he made with Ricky Gervais called Life’s Too Short, in which he has a spy hole put in his front door only to realise he can’t see anybody’s face through it.

After the break, Warwick said it was an ambition of his to have his own talk show. He had promised to bring along a big star to interview on the stage but they were not able to be there, so he persuaded a member of the audience to go on stage and sit on his couch to be interviewed. And so Peter Kay became Warwick’s first guest. A familiar name, but this guest was not the comedian but an IT manager and ballroom dance enthusiast. This part of the show could have fallen flat on its face but Warwick conducted an amusing interview and Peter played along nicely.

Finally it was time for the audience to ask questions, the most unusual of which came from the Mayor of Grantham. Coun Ian Selby told Warwick he had ridden a Shire horse in this year’s Carnival parade, and so Warwick, if you were to ride something in the carnival, what would it be? The actor looked genuinely perplexed by this and took some time to come up with his answer – a Segway.

Warwick put on an entertaining and sometimes thought-provoking show for two well-deserving charities, giving us a glimpse into an incredible life and career which continues to go from strength to strength with the current series of Celebrity Squares and a forthcoming second series of Weekend Escapes.

A Grantham Running Club team were thrilled to finish second in their category and fourth overall at Equinox 24 – a 24-hour endurance race held on the Belvoir Castle Estate over the weekend.

Although only its second year, Equinox 24 has already established itself as one of the country’s most popular endurance events. Competitors try to complete as many laps of the approximately 10km multi-terrain course as possible, from midday on the Saturday through to midday on the Sunday.

Entrants could choose whether to compete solo, as pairs, or small or large teams. Grantham Running Club entered two large mixed-sex teams, each comprising eight runners.

Conditions were initially good for the early laps of the race, but those running through the night were hampered initially by rain and then by mist, with only head torches to help navigate through the darkness. Thankfully, come dawn, the mist cleared and runners enjoyed a sunny conclusion to the race.

Grantham Running Club A Team, comprising Jeremy Page, Stuart Sinclair, Mark Wilson, Gerry Hyde, Rob Howbrook, Matthew Kingston-Lee, Holly Durham and Ben Mason, overcame the challenging course and night time conditions, sleep deprivation, numerous injuries, and general fatigue to complete 33 laps (approximately 190 miles). They finished second in the Large Team Category behind overall winners Stilton Striders Team A who amassed an impressive 35 laps.

Grantham Running Club B Team consisted of Mark Hillson, Marc Tremain, Gordon Geach, Sarah High, John Bainbridge, Helen Brown, Sam Bainbridge and Lucy Roberts. They performed equally admirably to finish eighth in the Large Team Category, completing 29 laps and ending up just 25 seconds behind the seventh placed finishers.

The trust which runs Grantham Hospital will survey patients about their experiences in a bid to improve services.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust is making improvements to the ways it gets patient views to improve the quality of healthcare services.

From Wednesday, the Trust is introducing the national Friends and Family Test survey to the outpatient departments and day case units at Lincoln County Hospital, Grantham and District Hospital, Pilgrim Hospital, Boston and other hospitals where it provides services.

When patients leave hospital, or within 48 hours of discharge, they will be invited to give their feedback via text or voice calls, by answering one simple question: “How likely are you to recommend our ward/department to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?” using an “extremely likely” to “not at all likely” scale.

Jennie Negus, Deputy Chief Nurse, said: “We have a large number of patients using our services and being able to ask as many as possible to give us their very valuable feedback is a huge task.

“Gathering views in real time from people who use our services is really important to identify and tackle concerns at an early stage, improve the quality of care the Trust provides and celebrate successes. The feedback is passed on to the staff on each ward and department to help them improve services by taking action.

“We know a number of our patients, especially younger people prefer to contact us using mobile technology, therefore we are providing as many options as possible so all patients can give us their feedback about what is working well and what we could have done better in a way that suits them.”

Sixteen businesses harnessed their creative flair and entered the Gravity Fields festival window dressing competition.

And the winner was the recently opened Teaspoon Company, in The George Centre, which featured an Isaac Newton inspired ‘Gravi-tea’ display.

Runners-up were The Trickling Tap in the Market Place – with one side all about Isaac Newton and the apple, and another side space and anti gravity – and a Newton in Space themed display from Marcus Wilkinson’s jewellers in Blue Court, including solid silver apples representing Newton’s iconic symbol.

Grantham Bowl also got involved, thinking outside the box with no window to dress. Instead, staff hung pins upside down in the entrance.

The festival competition was judged by Councillor Frances Cartwright, chairman of Grantham Business Club Stuart Pigram and SKDC economic development assistant Amber Kitching.

The Teaspoon Company won first prize of a computer tablet, sponsored by the Grantham Business Club. Both runners-up will receive one-to-one social media training and two festival tickets of their choice.

A landlord forum will take place next month to help answer South Kesteven property owners’ queries.

The free event on Tuesday, October 7, from 4pm to 6pm at the Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham, gives property professionals the chance to hear what fellow landlords are doing, ask questions and share experiences.

The council are offering a free carbon monoxide detector to any landlord who attends.

Speakers will include Steve Ward from the England Illegal Money Lending Team who will talk on loan sharks and Janine Green from Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance group on addressing anti-social behaviour in the private sector.

An update from Linda Selvey from DASH on the Landlord Accreditation Scheme and Sally Page from SKDC’s housing solutions team talk on the rent deposit scheme will be complete the session.

To register for the event, landlords need to email ehs@southkesteven.gov.uk or call 01476 406080.

Belvoir Cricket Club held its annual Chris Jones T20 Club Day in memory of their late, much missed team-mate last Saturday.

The line-up of Chopper’s Knightriders, Neville’s Nighthawks, Fellows’ Firestarters and Robbie’s Royals all showcased abundant talent, and competition, although lighthearted, was fierce. The semi-finals culminated in a play-off between Knightriders and Firestarters to decide third and fourth place, in which a supreme knock of 51no from 20 balls by Knightriders’ captain Matt Harland ensured victory for his team.

A hard-fought final saw the Royals (153-9) too strong for the much-vaunted Nighthawks (125-7), and the outstanding performance proved to be Harry Adams’s sublime 57no from 35 balls.

Belvoir CC were honoured to welcome Chris’s father Barry Jones who presented Harry with his trophy. Celebrations continued into late evening.

Belvoir CC expressed its gratitude to everyone who assisted and supported the event, particularly the sponsors – notably (but not exclusively) Helen’s Flowers of Grantham, Harrowby Lodge Nursing Home, Bombay Brasserie, and M. Widdowson and Son of Stathern.

A new business event is offering a helping hand to Lincolnshire’s manufacturing firms.

Lincolnshire County Council has joined forces with the Greater Lincolnshire LEP, Natwest Bank and SHD Composites to launch the new Manufacturing Conference Lincolnshire.

The event will give businesses the opportunity to make valuable contacts for breaking into supply chains, and explain the wealth of support available to help them grow.

There will also be a chance to see the Bloodhound Super Sonic Car, which SHD Composites has provided materials for. Seen as the pinnacle of engineering, the car aims to break the land speed record next year, before targeting 1000mph in 2016.

Councillor Colin Davie, executive member for economic development, said: “Lincolnshire has a proud manufacturing tradition, and we’re working hard with our partners to see that continue.

“This event will help local firms find new business opportunities and enable them to access the wide range of support that can help them go from strength-to-strength.

“And we’re honoured to welcome the Bloodhound Super Sonic Car, which again highlights the role the county plays in such world-class projects.”

The event takes place on Friday, October 10, between 8.30am and 1.30pm at SHD Composites’ premises at Sleaford Enterprise Park (NG34 7BY).

Places are free, but must be booked by contacting manufacturingconf@lincolnshire.gov.uk or 01522 550590.

Grantham Tennis Club men’s first team took on recently promoted Appleby Frodingham in the First Division

The team, skippered by Paul White, consisted of Richard Cragg, Darren Taxis, Jon Cummins, Andrew Isaac and Simon Cormor.

Great quality tennis was played by the Grantham side and the scoreline reflected this with a 9-0 victory.

The result meant the team have their place in the league, finishing second behind a strong Burton Waters side.

l Grantham’s fourth mixed team played The Park in the Indoor Mixed League.

Captained by Rob Isaac, the team Nigel Birch, Sue Cox and Jo Jones played well with the men winning the doubles 9-6, the ladies losing theirs 12-3, and the first mixed match was won by Grantham 9-5.

Unfortunately, they lost the second mixed match narrowlye 8-7, for an overall 31-29 Grantham loss.

Plans are in place to start a new Guide group in Long Bennington.

Grantham North District of Girlguiding has been approached to open a Guide group in the village and needs leaders before it can start.

At least two adults are needed to work with a group of girls aged from 10 to 14.

Leaders must be aged 18 plus and be willing to undertake the Guiding leadership qualification (four modules) which would be supported by an experienced leader who acts as a mentor.

Most of the leadership is working with the girls but there is some training such as first aid (which could be used in work too) and getting to know more about guiding. Previous involvement with the Guides is not necessary.

If you are interested contact District Commissioner Bex Mezzo on 01400 231 044 or email gnguiding2013@btinternet.com

A coffee shop in Bottesford was broken into in the early hours of yesterday morning (Tuesday) and the till stolen.

Burglars smashed the glass in the door of Pizzini, in High Street, to get inside. The alarm went off at 1.50am.

It is possible that they made off in a vehicle parked just around the corner.

The police have made house-to-house enquiries in the surrounding area but would like to hear from anyone who has not been spoken to, but who may have seen something suspicious in that area during Monday evening/Tuesday morning. Information to police on 101.

Primary school pupils across Lincolnshire are benefiting from an innovative new education programme, which focus on key policing prioirities, such as road safety, internet safety, crime reduction and neighbourhood policing, but in a fun, child-friendly way.

The concept was devised by a police community support officer based in Louth, Dean Warrilow, who put his artisitc skills to work in creating friendly police characters.

PCSO Warrilow said: “It all began with Pc Mark Property. Each time we hosted a property marking session in Louth stores such as B&Q or Halfords, I displayed a sign featuring the character so customers knew at a glance why we were in the store and how we could help.”

PCSO Warrilow began drawing other characters and with input from local schools and Lincolnshire Police’s community safety department, the programme was developed, with elements tailored to suit all primary schoolchildren from reception through to Key Stages 1 and 2.

The programme covers a number of sessions, each focusing on a different policing message.

Pc Drivewell’s character delivers road safety messages, teaching how to cross the road and the importance of seatbelts, child seats and cycle helmets.

The session involving PCSO Webb’s covers aspects to do with the internet and texting, teaching how to stay safe online.

PCSO Warrilow said: “For the very young children in reception, PCSO Will Greetham’s character uses games and activities like colouring to introduce them to their local PCSOs and the role they do. Older children can become involved in practical sessions including property marking and the programme can be used as a stand-alone package or to complement other school liaison work, for example, the Junior PCSO Scheme and Bobby Bear Lessons in Pride.

“Through feedback from my neighbourhood policing team (NPT) colleagues, education and the children, the programme is continuously being developed to expand new topics, such as cycle safety and anti-social behaviour.”

Every NPT in the county is able to deliver the programme and any school interested in finding out more should contact their local PCSO for further information.