£2.95 JANUARY 2024 THE REGION’S FAVOURITE COUNTY MAGAZINE WWW.LINCOLNSHIRETODAY.NET www.blmgroup.co.uk BLM GROUPGROUP BLM £2.95 JANUARY 2025THE REGION’S FAVOURITE COUNTY MAGAZINECHARTERED CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANTS To find out how to get your business on the up visit www.dextersharpe.co.uk Offices in Boston, Bourne, Horncastle, Lincoln, Louth & Skegness Quote Ref: LTM25 when you contact us We pride ourselves on providing a pro-active, friendly and accessible service. Experts in Accounts and Tax Returns Tax Planning and Book-Keeping Audits and Business Advice We’re here to get you in the right direction Keeping business on the up… Byyourside then,nowand inthefuture Learn about our free Will Writing Service at ambucopter.org.uk/will Ourfirsthelicopter,1994 LNAACT REG CHARITY 1017501Happy new year January is a time of change for many. It’s the period where more people than ever look to start new jobs, where gym memberships soar, and when resolutions are made. So few of these ever seem to amount to anything, however, and a big part of that is down to the over exaggeration of it all. While new year; new you is a great concept, it’s best to keep in mind that all lasting changes are gradual, so it’s not a great idea to pledge something grandiose like “turning your life around”. Similarly, with fitness, people set unrealistic goals to halve their bodyweight or quit drinking entirely. These goals are great in theory but the unrealistic nature of them means that it’s difficult to see progress and stick to them. Those who set goals of losing 1kg (2.2lbs) a month are far more likely to succeed and keep at it, not only because that kind of weight loss is possible and sustainable, but because it’s quite easily achieved. We need success in our lives to want more, and having a New Years Resolution to actually succeed at (compared to the many we’ve failed over our lives) serves as encouragement to keep on going. Don’t be driven to despair by success stories from others or clips online. Most before and after videos online are faked to no small degree, and people love to exaggerate online, so don’t feel challenged to match an impossible standard. Instead, do what’s right for you and pick resolutions this year that can be achieved with less effort. If you do that, you might just find yourself sticking to them for a whole year! Good luck, and good reading! Michael Fisher Editor and the Lincolnshire Today team from the editor Group Editor: Steve Fisher Editor: Michael Fisher Journalist: Tess Egginton Sales Director: Angela Cooper Accounts & Circulations: Angela Sharman, John Downes (01472) 310301 Design & Production: Gary Jorgensen, Mark Casson Advertising: Tel: (01472) 310302 Editorial: Tel: (01472) 310305 Part Of The Business Link Magazine Group: Armstrong House, Armstrong Street, Grimsby, N E Lincs DN31 2QE Email: lincs-today@blmgroup.co.uk Website: www.lincolnshiretoday.net ISSN No: 1366-1299 FRONT COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF STOCK.ADOBE.COM/GEMES This magazine is now fully recyclable. By recycling magazines, you can help reduce waste and add to the 5.5 million tonnes of paper already recycled by the UK paper industry each year. Before you recycle your magazine, please ensure you remove all plastic wrapping, free gifts and samples. If you are unable to participate in a recycling scheme, then why not pass your magazine onto a local hospital or charity? LincolnshireToday @lincstoday lincolnshiretoday.net The magazine that cares WE CARE because we want to leave our world a better place than we found it Lincolnshire Today believes that being socially and environmentally responsible is the key to maintaining a flourishing business that our customers will be pleased to use and our staff will be proud to be part of. Community - From a very local point of view, we strive to be a ‘good neighbour’. We also extend that into the much broader local community, through financial support of local causes and charities. Environment - Our actions extend to: conservation of energy and natural resources, minimisation of waste and ensuring our trading partners do likewise.Features 6 THIS MONTH IN LINCOLNSHIRE What’s been going on in the county this month? 22A NEW YEAR OF FASHION As we begin a new year, there is a whole host of new outfits to try. 28ADDING ACCESSORIES A few accessories are essential to complete an outfit. 30UPGRADE YOUR MENSWEAR Lincolnshire Today helps you refine your look and refresh your winter wardrobe with some new menswear. 32NEW YEAR STYLE A new year means a new opportunity to doll up, and 2025 may bring about a revival of the nostalgic. 34SLEEP YOUR WAY HEALTHY Sleep has been found to be one of the most important parts of staying healthy both physically and mentally and is one area where a lot of people are struggling. 37SOCIAL SCENE Extraordinary achievements celebrated at Lincoln College Further Education Awards Evening 38JANUARY TREATS There’s a lot of “-anuary’s” to deal with in January, be it dry January, Veganuary, ginuary (which rather defeats the purpose of dry January). All these combined with those looking to lose weight make it difficult to plot what to suggest for the month. Here, we’ve gathered a range of different recipes to pick and choose from. 42BREAKING WITH TRADITION Weddings don’t have to be traditional if you don’t want them to be. It’s your special day, so go wild with what YOU want. JANUARY AS WE BEGIN A NEW YEAR, THERE IS A WHOLE HOST OF NEW OUTFITS TO TRY. contentsWEDDINGS DON’T HAVE TO BE TRADITIONAL IF YOU DON’T WANT THEM TO BE. IT’S YOUR SPECIAL DAY, SO GO WILD WITH WHAT YOU WANT. 46THE FAMILY UNIT While family businesses face a raft of challenges – like many other businesses in this economy – the solutions are often not so simple; they never are where family is involved. 50SUPPORTING THE YOUNGER GENERATION Reports show an increasing issue with younger people and students feeling undue stress, especially surrounding education. 52THE AIR & SPACE INSTITUTE (ASI) Q&A Sky No Longer the Limit at the Air & Space Institute in Newark 55HOW TO CARE Many nowadays are becoming carers for their own parents in the elder years. There’s a lot to learn, but also plenty of resources out there to learn from. 58COUNTY MOTORING All we want for Christmas is new cars, new technology and new advancements. These cars all bring it in spades. • We take a look at the Ferrari Purosangue. 64WHAT’S ON There’s always something going on in Lincolnshire. Desirable homes 12A VICTORIAN VIEWPOINT This month’s featured property is a versatile, Victorian, semi-detached home with stunning views over Lincoln. 18NEVER GIVING UP Michael Abrams recounts that his earliest memories of art were when he was eight years old, and his junior schoolteacher asked his parents whether anyone in the family was artistic. 202025 GARDEN TRENDS Ed Fuller from Fullers Landscaping explains what’s on trend for your garden in 2025.‘Historic moment’ happens for new Greater Lincolnshire local authority Staff feel more secure as Lincolnshire Coop invests £200,000 in body cameras Lincolnshire Coop is investing £200k in body cameras to help protect staff at all of its 99 food stores and 44 pharmacies. The cameras are being supplied after a successful trial at four locations, including Birchwood Pharmacy in Lincoln’s Jasmin Road. Pharmacy Service Assistant Minnie Grainger said the body cameras increased the team’s sense of security. “You can see customers taking notice of the body cameras and any that were thinking about getting abusive thought twice about it after seeing them. It helps both colleagues and our other customers enjoy the safety that we all deserve,” she said. “We have so many regulars that come in and bring a smile to our faces, and it really is a minority who act in an abusive way but it’s good to have the cameras to give us extra security.” The society, which operates in Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, and surrounding counties, has seen a 245% increase in incidents of threats and abuse to colleagues in the past five years. Changes to the way significant decisions are taken involving transport, housing, skills and investment to benefit local people in Greater Lincolnshire have moved a step closer. In an historic moment, a document called the ‘Statutory Instrument’, required to form the new devolved Greater Lincolnshire County Combined Authority, has been laid in Parliament. It means the new devolved authority can go ahead, with a first meeting of the new GLCCA expected to take place early in the new year. That will come before the first-ever Mayoral elections across Greater Lincolnshire in May. Introduction of devolution and the GLCCA brings a total investment pot of £720m directly into Greater Lincolnshire over the next 30 years. This includes an annual £24m Mayoral Investment Fund to invest in priority areas including jobs and skills; housing & highways, transport, business & infrastructure, and innovation and trade. There is also an initial capital funding pot of £28m including brownfield funding for individual schemes across Greater Lincolnshire. Banking hub opens in Market Rasen Market Rasen’s Banking Hub has opened at 9-10 Market Place, offering essential banking services for residents and businesses alike. The initiative, led by Cash Access UK, aims to safeguard access to cash and banking services across the UK, and the opening in West Lindsey has been warmly welcomed by the local community and district council. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony took place with Chairman of the Council, Cllr Stephen Bunney and Mayor of Market Rasen Town Council, Cllr Jo Pilley. Cllr Bunney said the project was a real ‘positive’ for the town. “Three years ago, this building was in a very sorry state – it has been empty for a number of years and was passing from one developer to another – the condition of the building was deteriorating fast – a definite eye sore in the centre of our town, there was a strong health and safety concern that any time it could collapse.” latest news © stock.adobe.com/Oleksii © stock.adobe.com/Philip J OpenshawLincoln’s International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) has been shortlisted for two Tourism Excellence Awards. The centre has been nominated for its accessible and inclusive tourism approach, and in the ethical, responsible, and sustainable tourism category in the regional awards run by Destination Lincolnshire and Discover Rutland. The IBCC has welcomed more than 550,000 visitors from more than 54 countries since opening in 2018, despite COVID closures, contributing an economic impact locally of over £30 million. Visitors to its iconic memorial Spire and surrounding ‘Walls of Names’ can learn more about the hidden history of Bomber Command. The walls are etched with the names of the nearly 58,000 men and women who tragically died while serving or supporting Bomber Command during WWII. The award ceremony will take place at the Lincolnshire Showground on Friday, February 28th 2025, the winners of which will feed directly into the national Visit England Awards for Excellence. Lincoln’s Bomber Command Centre in for two Tourism Excellence Awards Nettleham residents box clever to create micro visitor centre Volunteers in Nettleham have converted a telephone box into a tiny information hub after it had stood unused and forlorn for ten years. Parish councillor and Nettleham resident Andrew Simpson, a member of the Nettleham Conservation Area Working Group, said: “With the phone box being out of use and derelict, we wanted to do something with it to refurbish it and bring it back into use somehow. “It was suggested we turn it into a book exchange, but with some in the village already I did a bit of research and came across a village in Norfolk that had turned their phone box into a visitor centre, so that’s where the idea came from.” Supported by West Lindsey District Council and Nettleham Parish Council, the phone box contains the original telephone, with an information board on the history of the iconic kiosk. There are also free information leaflets, including a guide for a walk around the village, written by 97-year-old Pearl Wheatley, a member of the volunteer group and local resident. £15m Community Diagnostic Centre opens to Skegness patients The first patients have been welcomed to the new £15 million Skegness Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC). The facility on Old Wainfleet Road brings a number of NHS diagnostic services to the town for the first time, including state-of- the art CT and MRI scanners, echocardiograms and dental X-ray. Community diagnostic centres offer a range of elective (planned) diagnostic services, away from main hospital sites, providing easier and quicker access to tests, potentially closer to patients’ homes. Each centre in Lincolnshire is being designed to consider the specific health needs of the local community. Other services available at Skegness CDC include non-obstetric ultrasound and a range of physiological testing, such as blood tests for adults and children over the age of five, standard ECGs and 24-hour blood pressure testing. Blood testing for chemotherapy patients will also be available, in the first step to develop a chemotherapy service from the site. © United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS TrustPlans submitted for new mixed-use development in Boston Boston Borough Council has submitted a planning application for the redevelopment of the Crown House site on the Rosegarth Square regeneration scheme. Within these proposals the Council has also taken the opportunity to provide new public toilet facilities and to relocate the existing Changing Places facility. In addition, the council has submitted demolition notices for both Crown House and the former B&M buildings, marking an important milestone in transforming this area of the town centre. These plans follow in the footsteps of the recently approved planning consent for the proposed public realm works, which features new artwork, external social spaces, and a new entrance/drop-off area for the Len Medlock Centre. It will also include a sensory garden designed for quiet contemplation and reflection, as well as an amphitheatre-style seating area. The Crown House proposal, subject to planning consent, would see a new mixed-use building featuring retail units on the ground floor and apartments on the remaining two storeys above. The scheme will also be enhanced with landscaping, parking and cycle storage to complement the overall Rosegarth Square masterplan. latest news Classic Ibiza to bring birthday celebrations to Burghley House next summer Classic Ibiza returns to Burghley House on Saturday 26 July 2025, promising an extra-special concert to mark the show’s 10th year. To celebrate, Stephen Hussey’s 32-piece Urban Soul Orchestra will be performing more tracks than ever before, in a “best-of” set crammed full of firm Classic Ibiza favourites. Known for collaborating with the likes of Groove Armada and Robert Miles, they’ll be joined by DJ Goldierocks and some very special guests, reimagining house music’s most legendary anthems. Former Pacha Ibiza resident, DJ Jose Luis, will also be there, with the second half of the show once again being accompanied by a spectacular laser and light show. Classic Ibiza’s Lisa Ward says: “I genuinely can’t wait for next summer’s show at Burghley House. We’ll be majoring on those ‘hands in the air’ moments from our 10 year history, with USO’s performance being more like a DJ set, packing in even more anthemic tracks than ever before. “They’ll also be joined on stage by some very special guests, bringing a whole new dynamic to what will be a night to remember.” The Usher Gallery Trust is calling all Lincolnshire-based artists to submit their work for ‘Art of the Now’, an open exhibition launching in July 2025 at the Usher Gallery. Age and experience are no barrier to entry as the Open exhibition looks to celebrate the wide variety of Lincolnshire’s art scene. Laura Garner, exhibitions and interpretations assistant at the Usher Gallery, said: “We’re really excited to open up the Usher to showcase some of the best work from our amazing local artists. “Our judging panel will be on the look out for originality, creativity, quality and skill, and on top of the fantastic opportunity to display your art in the Usher, there’ll be five cash prizes up for grabs too! “We’re always blown away by how talented the county’s artists are, and we can’t wait to see all your fantastic submissions.” © stock.adobe.com/Puwasit Inyavileart Local artists encouraged to enter work ahead of exhibition at the Usher © stock.adobe.com/kojala © stock.adobe.com/mary416South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership sign a Motion for the Ocean The South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership has pledged its commitment to playing its part in keeping the marine environment and our coastal waters clean and healthy. The Motion for the Ocean is primarily backed by the Local Government Association Coastal Special Interest Group (LGA Coastal SIG) and recognises that ‘our ocean and climate are in a state of emergency.’ Over thirty councils across England have made pledges in support of the Motion since its introduction in 2021. By supporting the Motion for the Ocean, the Partnership recognises that local government play a vital role in supporting the health and productivity of our oceans, and that the communities the Partnership serves in South Holland, Boston and East Lindsey are on the frontline for managing the crisis the ocean is in. The LGA Coastal SIG highlights that the oceans are often left out from the climate action plans of many local authorities and aims to raise awareness for this and cause change – partly by attaining the support of local councils. © stock.adobe.com/Hedvika Work starts to bring 393 new homes to Sleaford Bellway East Midlands has started construction work on two new developments at Handley Chase in Sleaford. Detailed plans for 393 homes within the new neighbourhood taking shape on the southern edge of the town were approved by North Kesteven District Council earlier this year. Bellway is building 204 homes at Quarrington Edge at Handley Chase, while Ashberry Homes – part of the Bellway Group – is building 189 homes at neighbouring Daedalus Park at Handley Chase. 31 of the homes will be provided as affordable homes for local people, available through low-cost rent or shared ownership. Steve Smith, Sales Director for Bellway East Midlands, said: “With work now underway on these two developments, which will bring nearly 400 much-needed new homes to Sleaford, we are looking forward to releasing the first homes for sale in March. “The mix of two, three and four-bedroom homes across the two developments has been carefully designed to provide the types of properties needed within the local area. “The new homes will be energy-efficient and feature solar PV panels and electric vehicle charging points.” Play park re-opens in Grantham with more than £100,000 of improvements Children now have more options for outdoor fun following the re-opening of a play area with more than £100,000 of improvements. New apparatus, with safe flooring and inclusive features, has been unveiled at Beeden Park Play Area in Grantham, welcoming all children, including those with limited mobility or sensory requirements. The money has come from the FCC Communities Foundation, with an additional £21,570 investment by South Kesteven District Council, with £5,000 from the Rotary Club of Grantham. The park serves the Beechcroft Road area of the town, where more than 30 new play features have been added. Highlights include a multi-use games area, a rota web climber, an inclusive roundabout, junior and toddler multi play units, sensory boards and fitness equipment for all ages. The new equipment, installed by Wicksteed, is designed with accessibility and inclusivity in mind, providing both sensory experiences and space to accommodate wheelchairs. © South Kesteven District Council © BellwayNext >