Grantham man wins £6,800 on Spot the Ball in 1994

A Grantham man won almost £7,000 in 1994 on what could have been his last attempt at Spot the Ball.

George Abbott, 70 at the time, thought about giving up on the competition after he struck no luck in his years of trying.

However, when Littlewoods called him, they said he had won a car or the cash equivalent which was £6,800.

George said: “I’d been putting my crosses down and every week I thought I might have been close but I never was.

“I kept saying I was going to stop then last week decided to put an extra 100 crosses on the coupon and it did the trick.”

George had won a Nissan Micra, but decided to take the cash instead as he had only just bought a new car at the time.

He added: “I’ve got a Peugeot that hasn’t got many miles on the clock.

“It’s a good reliable car so I didn’t particularly want another.

“We’re going to take the money instead.”

50 years ago - Village hall underwent £4,700 of improvements

A village hall underwent a remodel in 1973, which cost over £4,000.

Foston Village Hall celebrated its £4,700 remodel with a dinner dance held in the building in February 1973.

Refurbishment work began in August 1972, and this included installing a new kitchen, wooden floor to the main hall with suspended ceiling, central heating, new lighting and a

complete redecoration.

Foston planned for the celebration day for almost four years as it was in February 1969 when architect for D.B.

Lawrence Mr Blackburn and Associates of Sleaford met to discuss the plans.

A spokesperson for the village hall said: “We were particularly lucky in being one of the last village halls in Kesteven to receive a grant from the Department of Education and Science, of any size, without which the work could not have been done.”

10 years ago - Blood donors honoured for helping to save lives

Blood donors from Grantham, who donated blood hundreds of times between them, were recognised for rolling up their sleeves to help save lives.

The donors were honoured at an awards ceremony held by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).

David Charles and William Willows received a crystal award for an amazing 100 donations.

Only one per cent of all blood donors reach this milestone. Jenny Carton, Jennifer Hellen and Marilyn Temple were presented with a crystal award after reaching the milestone of 75 donations.

Mrs Temple’s brother, Peter Coleman, from Leicester, also received a crystal award at the same event for achieving 75 donations.

Mr Willows, aged 73 at the time, started giving blood in 1963.

At the time, he said: “It takes only a short time and does a lot of good.”