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LCE Photographer of the Year 2025 now open for entries
Picture: 2024 Winner: Long Tongued Bat Approaching Banana Leaf by Marilyn Taylor
UK independent retail group London Camera Exchange (LCE) is inviting entries for LCE Photographer of the Year 2025, following the success of the inaugural 2024 contest, which attracted more than 13,000 entries.
This year’s competition incorporates 14 dierent categories and is open to photographers of all levels of experience*. New for 2025 is the ‘Emerging Talent’ category for students currently studying photography, with a prize for both the student and the university or college, helping to support the development of future photographers. As last year, the popular ‘People’s Choice’ category will be open to public voting.
Entries can be submitted online at https://poty.lcegroup.co.uk/ or in person at any of LCE’s 26 stores across the UK. The entry deadline is midnight on 21 January 2025, with early entries having a better chance of winning the publicly-voted category.
The competition has been made possible with the generous support of leading photo industry brands including headline sponsors Canon, Nikon and Sony, plus partners Fujifilm and OM System.
Winners receive a share of the £10,000 prize fund and impressive trophy, with the overall competition winner presented with a total of £3,000 in LCE vouchers. The awards ceremony will take place at The Photography & Video Show in March 2025 at ExCel, London. Final shortlisted images will be displayed at an exhibition at the show and be featured in a special commemorative book.
Judges include respected photographers and editors including SheClicks founder and journalist Angela Nicholson, Chris George, content director at Future Publishing, and street photographer Peter Dench.
Lee Harasyn, managing director of LCE, commented, “Last year’s competition was immensely popular, attracting large quantities of high-quality entries across every category and genre. We’re thrilled to announce it is now open for submissions for the second year, and proud to provide this platform for photographers to showcase their talents and gain visibility. With the addition of the ‘Emerging Talent’ category we are
pleased to help showcase the creativity and vision of up-and-coming photographers, providing them with an opportunity to present their work and find a route into the industry early in their careers. We can’t wait to see the entries and look forward to discovering some exceptional photographers.”
The LCE competition is open to photographers aged 18 and over. Entries will be accepted from photographers worldwide, however, prizes will only be awarded to UK residents. Full terms and conditions, rules and FAQs can be found at https://poty.lcegroup.co.uk/
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Lenny leaves six-month placement after sixty years
North East Lincolnshire Council employee Lenny Would has decided to retire after nearly six decades maintaining all manner of vehicles for the council and its predecessors.
Lenny, now 72, started as an apprentice for Grimsby Borough Council in 1968 when he was just 16. Fixing anything from bin lorries to lawnmowers, he spent time honing his skills before moving to the former depot on Weelsby Avenue in 1971.
Over 20 years later, he moved to the current depot at Doughty Road to continue his role as a motor fitter, working on and repairing the Council’s fleet of lawnmowers.
During his time working in the garage, he devoted most of his efforts to the lawnmowers used to cut grass in the borough’s parks and open spaces as well as the grass verges. It’s calculated that Lenny would have sharpened around two million lawnmower blades in his time at the Council.
He said: “When I started out as an apprentice, I was working on all sorts. One day it’d be a wagon and the next a bin cart.
“When I started it was only meant to be for six months, but my boss at the time asked me to stay and now I’ve done over half a century here.
“In all those years, the thing I’ve enjoyed the most though is how friendly the other staff are and the banter we used to have with one another. “
For Lenny, the key to him staying so long was the satisfaction he got for fixing the machines. “I loved working on the mowers and it was something I was good at too. Once you got into it you could just keep going.
“Granted, there were some times when the job could be quite difficult, but I always enjoyed the challenge of getting the lawnmower working again.”
Reflecting on the past 56 years, it’s the people Lenny will miss the most. “Some people I’ve seen through their whole career. Take Danny Mills for example, I knew him when he was an apprentice and now I’m finishing with him as my boss.
“I’m so thankful for everything they’ve done for me and for how friendly everyone has been to me during my time here.”
Looking ahead to retirement, Lenny is hoping to spend more time relaxing. “I’m looking forward to not having to get up so early and being able to take time for myself after all these years. I’ll also be visiting my allotment plot more often.”
However, even after all that time, Lenny isn’t completely giving up on repairing lawnmowers. “I’ll still be fixing the odd mower for friends and family and cutting my neighbour’s grass when I can.”
Thanking Lenny for his dedication to the Council, Rob Walsh Chief Executive, said: “’I just want to say a huge thank you to Lenny on behalf of everyone associated with the Council. 56 years of service is simply immense. He enters retirement with our very best wishes and sincere gratitude; I can only imagine that he has many a story to tell!”
Winkfest Fundraiser raises £3,000 for Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance
The team at Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance are saying a huge thank you to David Grimwood and his family for raising a fantastic £3,000 from their Winkfest event.
Held in The Swan pub at Moulton, Lincolnshire, the fundraiser featured raffles, auctions, tombola amongst other events. First held in 2005, Winkfest has, 19 years later, turned into an annual fundraiser for LNAA’s life-saving work.
David said: “Our event started as a surprise 80th birthday party for my our late mother. My nieces took her out for lunch while we got things ready and friends and family arrived. What a shock then, when she arrived at the house and announced that she was only 79!
We still went ahead with the party and mum decided we should raffle the presents that guests had brought and give the £80 raised to LNAA. We enjoyed the day so much we decided to do it again and call it Winkfest as my nickname is Wink!
When mum passed away in 2020, Winkfest carried on growing in popularity each year. We outgrew our garden and when the lady of The Swan suggested we hold the event in the beer garden we gladly took up her offer. This year was a great success with a local band providing the entertainment and almost 400 people attending. Winkfest is definitely here to stay and we are already planning for next year.”
LNAA Community fundraiser, Jac Sutherland said: “We are extremely grateful for this fantastic donation. It is thanks to the generosity and goodwill of supporters who create fundraisers like Winkfest, that the crew can provide critical care to patients at scene, giving those with the most severe injuries and medical conditions the very best chance of survival when minutes matter.”
It is thought that Winkfest has raised over £20,000 in total, that is equivalent to five life-saving missions.
Badgers cause highway headache in Mablethorpe
Lincolnshire County Council is in a race against time to restore a road in the centre of Mablethorpe after badgers have tunnelled under it.
The badgers have dug under Seaholme Road in the town, and repairs must be finished before the end of November, after which it’s illegal to dig around badger setts. That would mean leaving the work until next July, with the road closed in the meantime.
Badgers are a protected species, all works on their setts have to be done between July and the end of November due to the badgers’ mating season. What’s more, a start in the work has been delayed whilst Natural England granted a licence, insisting that the road had to be closed during the work to keep the badgers safe.
Cllr Richard Davies said it was extremely frustrating that the council had not been given this licence until now, and the holdup meant that delays were inevitable for drivers.
North Lincolnshire Council steps in with alternative winter fuel payment for pensioners
Three thousand pensioners that will miss out on the winter fuel payment this year will be given a £200 boost by North Lincolnshire Council.
The council has looked at how it could help the pensioners most in need following the Government’s decision to scrap the winter fuel payment for the vast majority of pensioners. Further investment is also being provided to pensioners through an air fryer and slow cooker programme that will be available to all residents of pension age.
The money will be given to pensioners who do not qualify for pensioners tax credit but do receive council tax support. There is no need to apply – letters will be sent direct to those eligible that they can exchange for the £200 at any post office.
Cllr Rob Waltham, leader of North Lincolnshire Council, said: “We have looked at how best to support the most vulnerable pensioners following the Government’s cruel decision to scrap the winter fuel payments for most pensioners.
“With some pensioners having to decide whether to eat or heat we had to act and are investing £600,000 to help those most in need. In addition, our investment in helping older people with air fryers and slow cookers will help ensure our residents will be able to limit their energy usage whilst also supporting healthy eating.
“The money will be in people’s pockets before Christmas, going some way to help older people who may be struggling with high bills this winter.
“This is on top of the other support the council provides to pensioners – such as an energy switching service, open access libraries which serve as warm locations, leisure packages, a free bus pass and free car parking.”
Aldi encourages charities to register for free food
Supertmarket Aldi is calling on charities, community groups and food banks in Lincolnshire to register to receive surplus food donations from its stores this Christmas.
In partnership with community giving platform Neighbourly, the supermarket’s Lincolnshire stores donate surplus food year-round. But with all stores set to close on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, the festive season provides an opportunity for even more charities to benefit from the partnership.
Charities will be paired with local Aldi stores this Christmas and will be able to collect fresh and chilled food products nearing the end of their shelf life.
Luke Emery, National Sustainability Director at Aldi UK, said: “We know that the services provided by our incredible charity partners are needed now more than ever. That’s why we are dedicated to providing as much support as possible for the communities we serve this Christmas.”
Steve Butterworth, Chief Executive Officer at Neighbourly, added: “Christmas can be a challenging time for some families, and we expect many will depend on the services of local charities this year.
“We’re sure there are lots more groups out there that could use the extra help that businesses like Aldi provide, so we encourage them to sign up.”
Any groups interested in collecting unsold food at Christmas that are not currently working with Neighbourly can get in touch with them at aldi@neighbourly.com by Friday 8th November.
Housebuilder submits plans to deliver 170-home development in Lincolnshire
Housebuilder Honey has submitted plans and exchanged contracts on a 12.3-acre site in Witham St Hughs, Lincolnshire, to deliver a £45m, 170-home development.
The proposed site, which will be called Nova, is located off Warren Lane and is a short drive from the A46.
Subject to planning, the development will comprise a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom homes and feature 17 of Honey’s different house types. Of the 170 homes, 28 have been allocated as affordable housing.
The proposed site in Witham St Hughs will form part of the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan which looks to ensure that all new homes are well-designed and in appropriate locations to benefit the needs of the community.
If given the go ahead by North Kesteven District Council, work at the development is anticipated to start in early 2025 with the first residents expected to move in by the end of next year.
Since being launched in October 2022, Honey has secured 19 sites across Yorkshire and the East Midlands that will deliver 2,349 homes and a combined gross development value of £665m.
The housebuilder is backed by private equity firm Alchemy Partners and its Alchemy Special Opportunities Fund IV which has £937m of fully committed capital.
Honey Chief Executive Officer, Mark Mitchell, said: “Our thorough market research identified Witham St Hughs as a popular residential location for us to build in and expand our development footprint in the East Midlands.
“We are seeing strong demand for high-specification homes from prospective buyers living in and looking to move to the local area. Our thoughtfully designed homes, which combine style, substance and sustainability will satisfy this.
“Now that we have exchanged contracts and submitted plans for our Nova development, we look forward to North Kesteven District Council considering our proposal.”
Heritage and culture provision celebrated
Work being done to review the Heritage and Culture offer in the district has been a topic of discussion this week. At Monday’s Newark and Sherwood District Council Policy and Performance Improvement Committee, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Heritage, Culture and the Arts, Councillor Rowan Cozens, presented a summary of activity, both undertaken and planned, to offer more arts engagement for local residents.
Comments in the 2022 Resident Survey called for more arts and culture events and activities, and, over the past year, the District Council has worked with local partners on a number of relevant projects.
The Council has continued to work with other members of Newark Cultural Consortium to deliver and promote Newark Creates events including the very popular Wild In Art BookBenches around Newark, the daisy themed installation over Newark Market Place and the fantastic Festival of Creativity.
An agreement has also been made with Newark Town Council to provide curatorial support for the Town Hall museum and to work towards better alignment with the National Civil War Centre – Newark Museum.
Many of the events not only fulfil the desire for more arts activities but also align with other objectives from the Council’s Community Plan. For example, in support of the Motion for the Ocean, artists have been commissioned to develop initiatives in Clipstone and Ollerton and to work with local schoolchildren to produce the summer surfboards and beach hut exhibition in Newark’s Buttermarket while community art projects in Balderton have also shared this theme.
Various graffiti art projects have also promoted the Council’s values around green initiatives.
Councillor Cozens said: “It has been such a positive year in Heritage and Culture with a fantastic amount of activity taking place and an amazing number of residents engaging with the arts.
“Heritage, culture and the arts are hugely important for so many reasons, from bringing people together to supporting mental health and highlighting how wonderful our community is.
“Because of these benefits and their value, there is always more that we can do and there are so many exciting projects in the pipeline. These include, after around 40 years of false starts, the first credible and costed plan to site the Kiddey Sculptures which could mark the start of a new art trail across the town taking in a dozen businesses.
“We are also looking forward to building work starting early next year for the Castle Gatehouse project for which we have secured £1.2 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and a further £3.3 million from the Towns Fund.
“£80,000 has also been approved though the budget process to deliver plans aimed at increasing access to music in Newark and Sherwood which are being informed by feedback from local musicians and music providers.”
Last year, Arts Council England awarded the Heritage and Culture provision at the Council ‘National Portfolio Organisation’ status and, through this, an array of ‘Open Doors’ activity has been delivered across the district including music works in Ollerton for people with care and support needs; arts awards for home-educated children in the Millgate area of Newark; music and movement sessions for children and their parents in Rainworth; community led touring exhibitions in Bilsthorpe themed around mining; and work with the visually impaired to develop arts projects with Newark’s train stations.
Recent work through the NPO has enabled items from the Council’s collection of 95,000 objects, many of which have local or national significance, to be taken out into the community across the district as part of the ‘Our Heritage’ project.
The NPO has also funded a series of Artists in Residence at the National Civil War Centre who have had the opportunity to display objects from the reserve collection in their gallery to inspire their work.
The Centre itself has recently been awarded the national Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award for Best Small Museum, recognising the fantastic range of events for all ages which take place there from a Mini Museum toddler group on Thursday mornings to monthly Family Saturday events and Hidden History Walking Tours of the town, all resulting in admissions being 25% ahead of target for the first quarter of 2024.
The Learning and Participation Team at the Centre have also been honoured with the prestigious Sandford Award for their nationally acclaimed schools programme.
The neighbouring Palace Theatre Newark has also had a successful year, having just hosted the national Bill Kenwright Ltd. tour of Blood Brothers to sold-out crowds. Their varied and thriving programme of shows, from drama to ballet, comedy, music, and community dance and theatre, culminates in the annual pantomime.
In 2023, this achieved record sales and this year’s Aladdin sales are currently a full house ahead of where they were last year. General theatre admissions were also up 55% for the first quarter of the year from the same period in 2023.
The Council’s Arts Development Team have also been working with the community and arts partners to deliver activities including the Live and Local Village Ventures programme, a live arts programme which takes place in rural communities each year, while the artistic talents of residents have recently been recognised with a photography competition celebrating the district.
Rutland Hall Hotel welcomes West End performers for Christmas extravaganza
Rutland Hall Hotel, in partnership with Vision Live Events, is excited to be bringing a larger-than-life West End experience to the UK’s smallest county of Rutland.
On Saturday, 30th November, a troupe of experienced performers will be singing, dancing and entertaining an audience of over 350 in the Pavilion Venue at Rutland Hall.
In addition to a welcome drink and two course meal, attendees will be treated to a live and immersive performance.
“This supercharged event will blend West End musical flair with festive singalongs. Alongside timeless hits from Jersey Boys, there will be plenty of seasonal songs, a dedicated dance troupe, plus the ever-popular acrobatic Lex and his LED wheel.
“The Jersey Quartet Christmas Experience is a first for Rutland and is going to give us all a fabulous night to remember,” explains Kate Cadman, Marketing Manager, Rutland Hall Hotel.
Following the live performances, guests will be encouraged to dance the night away, making it a perfect event for families (with older children), friends, and corporate get togethers.
“There are still tickets available, but these are selling fast, so make sure you book soon to avoid disappointment,” adds Kate.
Ticketing & Event Details:
- Date: Saturday, November 30, 2024
- Location: The Pavilion, Rutland Hall Hotel
- Ticket Price: £65 per person, including dinner, a welcome cocktail and live show
- Booking Information: Tickets are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. (Link here: Jersey Quartet Christmas Experience – Rutland Hall)
District Council provides update on Climate Emergency actions
In 2019, Newark and Sherwood District Council declared a Climate Emergency, setting a target to reduce the impact of climate change and achieve carbon neutrality by 2035. Monday’s Policy and Performance Improvement Committee was an opportunity for District Councillors to look at the progress that has been made towards this goal.
The District Council’s carbon footprint for 2023/24 was 3,141 tonnes and the Council is working on reducing this through many activities and behaviour changes, including switching to greener utility providers and exploring alternative fuels like HVO for environmental services vehicles, which account for nearly a third of these emissions.
In the past year alone, the Council has installed solar panels at Dukeries Leisure Centre, Vicar Water Country Park and Sconce and Devon Park as well as planting over 4500 trees across the district.
Solar PV projects are also a major part of the District Council’s strategy to cut carbon emissions. The District Council has installed solar panels at multiple sites, saving money and reducing its carbon footprint.
Projected savings over the next 12 months indicate that, across Newark Sports and Fitness Centre, Vicar Water Country Park, Dukeries Leisure Centre, Sconce and Devon Park, and The Beacon, carbon will be reduced by 74 tonnes and over £42,000 will be saved.
A Decarbonisation Plan for Council buildings has been created in partnership with Newark firm BE Design. This plan outlines energy efficiency measures and carbon reduction strategies for sites including Blidworth Leisure Centre, Brunel Drive Depot, Castle House, Dukeries Leisure Centre, Newark Beacon, the Palace Theatre Newark and National Civil War Centre, Sconce and Devon Park and Vicar Water Country Park.
In the past few years, The Carbon Trust has updated its stance on tree planting and now considers this a valid method for accounting for carbon savings. The District Council has been successful with tree planting schemes and plans to do more to offset carbon emissions in this way.
Since 2019, over 19,000 trees have been planted or given away, and the Council is always looking for more opportunities to increase this number. This year, even more trees will be planted once planting season begins, including new trees on Clay Lane and Sherwood Avenue Park as part of its regeneration.
The Green Rewards App was launched in the district in 2022, helping the community to make positive changes by logging carbon-reducing activities. With 608 residents signed up (a 5.2% increase since April 2024), 73 tonnes of carbon emissions have been avoided so far. Residents have also been aided in lowering their carbon emissions with the rollout of kerbside glass recycling, reducing multiple visits to and from recycling sites.
£93,000 has recently been awarded to the Sherwood Forest Trust from the District Council’s UKSPF allocation to support a community tree nursery. Their goal is to plant 10,000 trees in the next 3 years and, so far, they’ve recruited 680 volunteers for planting and seed collection, gathered 40,000 seeds, planted 2,000 trees, and have 4,600 trees maturing on site, ready for planting.
Councillor Emma Oldham, Portfolio Holder for Climate and the Environment, said: “These are just some of the exciting initiatives the District Council is undertaking to help achieve our net zero targets by 2035.
“This is an extremely important cause to me personally and we must act with urgency. The enthusiasm of our officers in pursuing this goal and thinking creatively about ways in which to do so is really heartening.
“I recognise that setting an example for our residents is vital and we’re always looking for solutions to help residents reduce their carbon footprint, making it as easy for them as possible.
“Together, our actions are securing cleaner air for residents and better protecting tenants’ homes and residents’ services against volatile energy prices. We’ve also got some exciting climate action plans up our sleeve and can’t wait to share our growing ambitions with you all soon.”
