Firefighters attended a small flat fire on Kinoulton Court this afternoon.
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue confirmed that a crew from Grantham rescued a male casualty from the flat using a 10 metre ladder.
The man was left with paramedics, but is not thought to have suffered any injuries.
The fire was located in the kitchen of the property, and caused damage to a door as well as smoke damage.
Firefighters were called to Houghton Road, Grantham, this morning to reports of a fire.
The Grantham crew arrived at the scene just before 9am.
They found the cause of smoke to be controlled burning.
In just three weeks, the Bare to Care Charity Calendar has raised £3,600 for Macmillan Cancer Support and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
The calendar was on sale in the George Centre at last weekend’s Christmas Market, where organiser Ruth Clements was joined by Emma Aust, Karen Auckland and Becky Gwyther to raise £645 in just four hours.
Nottingham Forest Football Club have also supported the calendar with Henri Lansbury tweeting about it and the whole team signing three calendars which sold for £40 each.
Ruth said: “I’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of people in Grantham at this expensive time of year – Grantham people have big hearts.”
She added: “The response to this calendar has been phenomenal and I cannot thank the ladies involved, sponsors and each and every one of you who have purchased a copy enough.”
However there are still a few copies left, and Ruth has a fundraising target of £5,000.
The calendars are £10 each with 100% of the money going to the two charities. Stockists are Jenny Wren Lingerie, Unveiled by Leanne, St Peter’s Hill Post Office, Genes Barbershop, Woodland Waters in Ancaster, Indulgence Delivered and The Atrium Grantham.
A sex offender who fled his home in Grantham and evaded justice for 25 years after stealing the identity of his lover’s husband is finally behind bars.
Michael Evans fled May 1988 just days before he was due to stand trial at Lincoln Crown Court accused of sexually assaulting a young girl.
A warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to appear in court but it was a quarter of a century before he was finally tracked down.
Evans,then known as Michael Kime, left his then partner Elaine to run off with his friend Martyn Foster’s wife Susan. The couple initially lived in a tent and did farm work for cash in hand.
He used Martyn Foster’s birth and marriage certificates to obtain a passport that enabled him to travel to Greece to pick olives at the end of the English land work season.
And then, when he was back in England, he needed a licence to allow him to drive tractors as part of his farm work.
He sat his driving test using Mr Foster’s name and so then had a licence under his assumed name.
Jolyon Robertson, prosecuting, told Lincoln Crown Court that the couple settled in Kent and changed their names by deed poll to Evans.
But the scam came crashing down in 2012 when police carried out a cold case review into the disappearance of Susan Foster, as she then was, who still remained on the missing persons list from 1988.
As a result they tracked down Susan and then discovered the man she was living with was on the run.
The original sex case was re-opened but the court papers including the original statements had been lost.
Officers were able to track down the complainant, by then in her late 30s, and she gave a fresh interview confirming her original allegation that she had been abused a number of times starting when she was just eight years old.
By the time he resurfaced, Evans had been removed from the wanted list on the Police National Computer although the warrant for his arrest was still in place.
He was finally detained in December 2013 and after being remanded in custody faced trial in front of a jury at Lincoln Crown Court.
Evans, 61, who originally lived in Hornsby Road, Grantham, and last in the Margate area of Kent, was convicted of two charges of attempted rape, six charges of indecent assault and two charges of indecency with a child. He denied all the charges.
Before the start of the trial Evans and his wife Susan Evans, also 61, each admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice between 1988 and December 2013 by doing a series of acts to assist Michael Evans evade arrest and prosecution.
Both will be sentenced in January. Michael Evans was remanded in custody after Recorder Gareth Evans told him “It has got to be prison. There is no alternative.”
Susan Evans, who was of previous good character, was granted bail.
A Grantham couple who kept a fighting dog, of a pit bull type, have been banned from keeping dogs for 10 years after it attacked and killed another dog.
Rebecca Louise Doughty, 24, of Colne Court, Grantham, admitted being in charge of a dog which was dangerously out of control in a public place. Wayne Kirby Doughty, 39, of the same address, admitted possessing a fighting dog.
Prosecuting, Shelley Wilson told the court that the incident happened in September last year when a 76-year-old woman was walking her dog, a Bedlington cross, and a neighbour’s dog, both of them on leads. While walking at the back of properties in East Avenue she heard another dog snarling and then saw it run from behind some garages and clamp its jaws around the head of her dog.
Mrs Wilson said the Bedlington cross was “viciously” shaken and dragged over rough ground taking its owner with them as she held on to the lead. The owner was pulled to the floor and suffered bruising and pain to her arm. She was “hysterical” and a group of people gathered round to help and the police were called. The small dog was clearly dead.
Mrs Doughty had said the attacking dog escaped though a hole in the fence and she was unaware of what had happened until the police arrived. She said her husband was supposed to have fixed the fence. She accepted the dog was aggressive towards other dogs.
In a statement the owner of the dead dog said the Doughtys were not responsible enough to own a dog.
The fighting dog, which weighed 30kg, was so aggressive in the kennels that staff were unable to go near it for four days. A vet had to put 43 pills in the dog’s food followed by another sedative before he could go into the kennel and put it down.
Mrs Wilson said the Doughtys bought another dog for £250 which was said to be a Staffordshire type. It had also been involved in a recent incident near St Hugh’s School in Grantham when it attacked another dog. It did not bite the dog but pulled tufts of hair from it.
Chris Pye-Smith, representing Wayne Doughty, said his client had not known it was a prohibited dog but had pleaded guilty after seeing expert evidence which had proven it was. Rebecca Doughty had owned the dog before they were married and Doughty had said he was surprised to learn it was prohibited.
Mr Pye-Smith said youths had vandalised the fence leaving a hole in it. Doughty had put a metal grate aross it but it was damaged again. A vet had said the couple’s dog was well looked after. The court heard Doughty had no previous convictions with regards to dogs.
Sonia Bhalla, representing Rebecca Doughty, said the dog had been her responsibility at the time. Miss Bhalla added: “She is incredibly sorry for what happened. My client has suffered from this. She is not trying to blame anyone else. She is now suffering anxiety and is on medication for it. She said her client wrote a letter to the victim with a full apology and offering to cover any expenses.
Magistrates banned both defendants from keeping a dog for 10 years. Rebecca Doughty was given a community order for nine months and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work. Wayne Doughty received a three month community order and will be electronically tagged to obey a curfew from 7pm to 7am. Both defendants must pay £500 each in compensation to the victim. They were given 48 hours to have their current dog rehoused.
Domestic abuse affects all social cultural and religious boundaries, including men as well as women.
According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales in 2012/13, 5.7 per cent of the adult population aged between 16 to 59 experienced some form of domestic abuse.
In Lincolnshire there were 5,861 cases of domestic abuse between April 2013 and April 2014, of those 1,537 were in South Kesteven, which includes Grantham.
At the Lincolnshire Domestic Abuse Conference held in Lincoln last week, over 200 representatives from various agencies including the police, NHS and the council came together to help create a culture where society does not tolerate domestic abuse.
Delegates heard from several speakers including Wendy Turner Webster, sister of Anthea Turner. Wendy’s harrowing story included years of mental abuse, only reporting her husband after he had left her. Last year she took part in a major BBC documentary about domestic violence and also produced and presented a documentary for the charity Refuge.
Many victims suffer for years in silence before taking the courage to ring the police. It is estimated that 17 per cent of females subjected to domestic abuse do not tell anyone that they are suffering, similarly men feel too proud to talk to friends and colleagues.
At the last council meeting I was elected as the council’s representative on the West Lindsey Domestic Abuse Service which covers Grantham and I have made a pledge to highlight domestic abuse and the help that is available.
It has been acknowledged that each week three women commit suicide because of abuse and that a further 30 contemplate suicide. There is support and real help including the new domestic violence protection notice which enables police to prevent further abuse. This is authorised by a police superintendent and serves as a summons for court.
A magistrate can issue a domestic violence protection order, which lasts for 14 to 38 days and prohibits an offender from entering or being within a certain distance from a home.
Thirteen women have also been helped to escape abusive relationships after using the new domestic violence disclosure scheme.
Further information in confidence can be obtained by ringing the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247. Alternatively, the West Lincolnshire Domestic Abuse Service number is 01427 616219 or ring Lincolnshire Police on 101.
Say NO to domestic abuse.
Rural businesses around Grantham are in line for a share of £1.7-£1.9 million, part of a pot of more than £8 million in new development grant funding destined for Lincolnshire.
South Kesteven District Council and Lincolnshire County Council were part of a partnership which bid for the cash through the LEADER programme, which delivers rural development funding from the EU and Defra.
Grants will benefit areas from farming to tourism, culture, heritage, rural services and small businesses.
SKDC’s economic development manager David Mather said: “Looking at successful LEADER programmes from elsewhere in Lincolnshire the range of projects it has helped is enormous, diverse and massively beneficial to our local economy.”
Under the new programme, 70 per cent of projects must directly support jobs and growth. The remaining 30 per cent will also need to demonstrate their contribution to improving the rural economy. Full details will be announced early next year.
Crews tackled a chimney fire at historic Grantham House in Castlegate last night.
Two Grantham crews tackled the fire with the help of an aerial ladder platform after being called to the National Trust property at 7.40pm. The fire started in a chimney in a gardener’s cottage. Firefighters used one hosereel to extinguish the fire.
James Bond is swapping his Aston Martin for a Fiat 500 in the new 007 movie, according to reports.
Fittingly for an Italian model, the Fiat will be seen being driven by Bond actor Daniel Craig in Rome.
Bond’s beloved Aston Martin DB5 came to a sticky end in the last 007 film Skyfall, getting blown up in the climax to the movie.
According to Italian media, the Fiat 500 fares little better in the new, as-yet-unnamed, Bond movie – with the car being crushed on the approach to the Vatican.
The Fiat will feature in a typical Bond movie car chase through the streets of the Italian captial, with scenes due to be shot in February and March next year.
Cars have played a prominent part in the Bond movies, with the DB5 making a number of appearances.
It featured for the first time in the third 007 film, Goldfinger (1964), when Sean Connery was Bond – and a DB5 was also in Casino Royale in which Craig played 007 for the first time.
Bond has also bonded
with Bentleys during his illustrious film career, while records show that the first car driven by 007 in a movie was a Chevrolet Bel Air convertible in Dr No – which was made in 1962.
Pupils at Barkston and Syston Primary School have been collecting shoesboxes full of gifts for the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child Appeal.
Leaders of the school council Cara Aldenhoff-Kelly, Jason Reah and Mitchell Smith helped take the shoeboxes to the depot where they will be packed and sent to needy children in Serbia.
The children learned that the shoeboxes make three smiles - one from the child who gives it, one from the child who receives it and one from the carer of the child who receives it.
A Grantham car park will be closed for three days next week due to survey works.
The South Kesteven District Council-maintained car park in St Catherine’s Road will close from 8am on Monday to 8am on Thursday.
Welham Street and Wharf Road car parks will remain open.
SKDC said it apologies for any inconvenience.
We have teamed up with East Coast to bring you this fantastic rail offer.
We have thousands of discounted Standard Advance fares available such as Grantham to London from £8 each way and to Edinburgh from just £15 each way, so why not spend sometime visiting historic Edinburgh or go to London to see the sites?
On top of these fantastic rail offers East Coast have some great 2for1 offers in London for you to take advantage from the London eye to the London Dungeons or a selection of West End shows!
To qualify for these extra special fares, simply collect four tokens from the newspaper this week only. One set of four tokens allows up to four people to travel together, with booking opening at 9am on December 8 until midnight on December 11, 2014. Book early to avoid disappointment.
Reader Offer fares are available for travel between January 5, 2015 to February 27, 2015, excluding February 13-15 (inclusive).
HOW TO BOOK
Collect four tokens over the promotion period
Visit our website from 9am on the Monday, December 8, 2014. Click on the East Coast link which takes you through to the promotional East Coast booking page. Enter your journey details, check availability and book!
Please note the offer is only accessible when you use the link on this page – you won’t be able to find it using an internet search engine. The offer is not available, and can’t be booked at stations or by phone. When you travel, you must have your train ticket, seat reservation and tokens with you as you’ll need to show these when requested by the train guard.
Terms and conditions:
When you travel you must have your train ticket, seat reservation and tokens with you as you’ll need to show these when requested by the train guard. Tickets are valid on booked train only. Unless otherwise stated tokens and/or competitions that are published in the newspaper apply only to the printed product and are permissible in newsprint only. Only original newsprint tokens will be accepted. Once a booking is made no refunds or changes will be allowed. Seats are subject to availability. There are no child, Railcard or other promotional discounts available with this offer. Under 5’s travel free if they do not occupy a seat. Travel is only permitted on the East Coast service on which you are reserved, no break of journey is allowed except to change to/from East Coast connecting trains where these are shown on your ticket or itinerary. E-edition customers cannot print out tokens and use these instead. Only original newsprint tokens will be accepted.
No other discounts including railcards are valid with this offer. For full terms and conditions please see the East Coast link via our website.
Grantham Town this week announced the appointment of a new joint manager to fill the empty seat on the bench left by Jimmy Albans.
A posse of diehard Gingerbreads supporters responded to the club’s call to attend a press conference at the MCS Centre on Wednesday where they were promised they would be introduced to the latest addition to Grantham’s coaching staff – Adam Stevens.
The conference began with former club chairman Peter Railton thanking Wayne Hallcro for his sterling efforts in keeping Town’s head above water since he had been solo at the helm – holding league leaders to two draws in two weeks not the least of them – which drew rapturous applause from board of directors members and fans alike.
Mr Railton introduced 39-year-old Stevens (‘Stevo’) to the room after an initial speech by Hallcro who worked with him at Coalville Town around a year ago.
Stevens played for Coalville before going on to manage them for eight years, taking them to the final of the FA Vase at Wembley in 2011.
Since he left The Ravens earlier in the season, Stevens has not wasted his time and said he has kept an eye on the NPL.
He said: “I’m excited to be in the Northern Premier League. I’ve been out watching games at their level, looking at players. So, I’m ready and raring to go.
“I thought me and Wayne worked really, really well at Coalville. I know most of the players involved and I can’t wait to meet everyone and get started. I’m ready for the challenge that’s ahead.”
Following his former co-boss Albans’ departure at the beginning of last month, Hallcro said his first thought of somone to fill the position was Stevens.
Hallcro said: “When Jimmy decided to do what he was going to do, it was the first call I made. “We hit it off straight away at Coalville. We sort of have the same thought process, which is very important. If you’re united in what you’re doing then you’ve got a good chance.
“You’ve got to sing off the same sheet which is what me and Stevo did, and our results at the time proved it.
“It can only benefit us all for someone like Stevo to be alongside me.
“It’s going to be enjoyable, it’s going to be tough, but we’re all up for the challenge of making sure we carry on going in the right direction.”
The pair answered a variety of questions from the floor including whether there would be any players returning to the club, which they said they could not rule out.
Stevens was asked what he thought of The Meres set-up and he said it was a big step up from what it has been used to. He said: “The facilities available were a massive factor in me coming here. It’s fantastic to be here.”
The managerial duo will have their first chance to impress supporters when the Gingerbreads take on Halesowen Town at The Meres tomorrow (Saturday).
The club is offering a special deal for the game – a ticket for the match plus handmade Posh Steak and Ale Pie, chips, mushy peas and onion gravy – for £13.50, a saving of £3.50.
The meals are available, served at your table, at the MCS Centre between 1pm and 2pm, and must be pre-booked via email: admin@mcscentre.co.uk
Kick-off tomorrow is 3pm.
A developer proposes to build 300 homes off Barrowby Road in Grantham, which, if built, will back on to another proposed housing estate off Dysart Road.
A scoping opinion request has been submitted to South Kesteven District Council on behalf of Gladman Developments Ltd. They wish to determine whether an environmental impact assessment is required as part of any future planning application. The developer hopes to build on land bordered by the A1 and Gloucester Road.
And if a planning application to build 227 homes on land north of Dysart Road is successful, the two developments would stand side by side, separated only by Barrowby Stream. Constable Homes Ltd is behind the application for the smaller development, as reported in the Journal last month. {http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/local/developer-plans-227-homes-for-dysart-road-in-grantham-1-6431810|Read more on the application for homes off Dysart Road.}
** To view both plans in full, {http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1411|click here} and enter S14/3301 and S14/2953.
Those criticising the Grantham Remembers concert (Journal, November 28) for taking place on November 15 have clearly forgotten the purpose of the commemoration events during this special Remembrance Week.
Setting aside the inaccurate and unfair accusations within it, we were not there for our own satisfaction but to remember the thousands of men who went on to a terrible fate in WW1 and to honour those who serve us still today. That people across our town might choose to commemorate and reflect upon the sacrifices made throughout Remembrance Week in their own different ways should have been expected and welcomed.
How sad that in a 100 years from now, after so much effort, when people look back in our archives, instead of a town united in remembrance, they will see that letter.
Charmaine Morgan
Grantham Remembers
I see there is now a temporary low bridge warning sign next to the bridge on Barrowby Road.
Very commendable, but surely warning signs should be further away? Should a large, tall lorry miss the one warning sign at the Barrowby Gate roundabout, and then notices the low bridge sign, what happens then? The traffic chaos trying to extricate the lorry will be horrendous, but at least the bridge is safe.
Surely more warning signs approaching the bridges in Grantham, with adequate notice to enable the lorry drivers to take action, would be better with warning chains at bridge height.
Harlaxton Road is the same. If they miss the warning sign after passing the A1 what can they do? Turn left at the lights? No - weight restricted. Straight on? Turn right? No - low bridges down both roads.
Steve Cattell
Main Street, Hougham
Residents vented their fury at a meeting with the construction company which is carrying out work on the site of Priory Ruskin Academy.
People living on Rushcliffe Road and other streets next to the school site say their lives have been blighted over the last few years with vibration shaking their houses, mud covering their roads and generators causing too much noise.
At a meeting with representatives of Shepherd Construction at the school on Wednesday night, residents were unhappy with the company’s response to their grievances.
Neil Matthias, of Shepherd Construction, told the residents they should contact their insurance companies who would in turn contact the company’s insurers if any damage to their property was found as a result of ongoing work.
Mr Matthias said: “We apologise for any inconvenience it has caused to the neighbourhood.”
Residents complained of rivers of mud on their roads and “sandstorms” during the summer because of the dust generated by the work.
Joyce Hukin, who lives with husband Alf next to the entrance to the school on Rushcliffe Road, described the vibrations as like an “earthquake”. She said: “The whole house shook, the windows everything. It has been very bad.”
Residents said large blocks of concrete were lifted up and dropped to break them into pieces causing the vibration.
Rushcliffe Road resident Jackie Sanders said Shepherd Construction had not been considerate at all. She said: “You cannot offer us anything.”
District councillor Ray Wootten said it had been nothing but “grief from day one” for the people in the area.
District councillor Jacky Smith said: “There has been a complete lack of communication and we do not think they are following the planning conditions. Everybody is passing the buck.”
The meeting was told that soil would not be taken away from the site until the February half-term when it would all be removed. The final part of the £13 million project, to seed the playing field, would then be carried out.
Plans to build a swimming pool on site have been approved but no construction company has yet been given the contract.
Now riding for Haribo-Beacon, former Witham Wheeler Karl Baillie returned to Manchester Velodrome for the latest round of the Premier Division Track League last Tuesday.
Karl has been riding very strongly against tough opposition for the last few weeks with the likes of Olympic champion Steven Burke, Australian national champion Scott Laws and riders from British Cycling’s academy.
The best result of the evening for Karl came in the 10-mile scratch in which he finished sixth. The fast-paced race was over in just 20 minutes.
l The latest round of the Lincs Cycle-cross league took place at Winterton Showground, near Scunthorpe.
Numbers were down as fewer riders made the journey to the north of the county, but Witham Wheelers all rode well.
In the under-12s, Jessica East finished 17th and was the fourth girl to cross the line.
Robert McAndrew came sixth in the Youth section, while his father Graham took 31st place in the Veterans.
In the Senior section, Adam Jackson finished 15th and Jennifer McAndrew was 26th and fourth lady home.
A brass band will play a Christmas concert in Bottesford this month.
The Hatfield Brass band, from South Yorkshire, will perform at St Mary’s Church in the village on Saturday, December 13, at 7.30pm.
Tickets cost £10 or £8 for Friends of St Mary’s. They are available from the church office (Tel: 01949 842859), Malcolm Owen (Tel: 01949 843113) and the Co-op or Spar Shop in the village.
A fanatical darts player from Fulbeck has finally achieved her dream to play at county level.
Sharon Magan has been selected to play for Lincolnshire County Darts – 34 years after she first stepped up to the oche.
Formerly a keen pool player, Sharon’s interest in darts was nurtured by her father Dave Magan whose own ambition had always been to play at county level, and she first picked up her arrows at the age of 15.
Sharon said: “I got my love of darts from my dad who died two years ago.”
A self-confessed “Lincolnshire Yellowbelly”, Sharon said she is not the kind of person that can go into a pub and just sit and drink. She is a great believer in pub games, with darts obviously being her favourite, and she said she loves the social side of it all too.
The move up to county level will involve travelling, but Sharon is used to that as she plays for Market Rasen in the Lincolnshire Ladies’ Super League.
Selection for Lincs is dictated by player’s results and averages in the Super League, and if a player is ranked in the top 10, they qualify for the team. Sharon is currently ranked seventh in the county and plays for the Lincs B team.
Despite Sharon starting to play darts as a teenager, she gave up when she got married but went back into the sport 13 years ago.
As well as playing for the county and in the Super League, she is also captain of her local team at the Joiners Arms, Welbourn, who play in the Sleaford League on Monday nights.
She said her first match representing her county was very daunting and she was disappointed to lose 4-0 when Lincs took on Lancashire. But Sharon’s second outing for the county worked out better and she triumphed 3-0 when the team played Warwickshire.
The Lincs team is captained by Paula Jacklin, who is ranked 12th in the UK, and each player has their own walk-on theme – just like the professionals. Sharon’s theme is ‘Pump It’ by the Black Eyed Peas.
Sharon said it was sad that her father had not lived to witness her playing for the county: “He would have been so proud.
“It’s an honour to be picked for Lincolnshire County. It’s just brilliant fun. I never knew I could get to that stage. It’s amazing.”