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Letters to the Spalding Guardian editor – June 18, 2020




Charity is looking for new trustees

Trustees of Citizens Advice South Lincolnshire (CASL) are seeking two new additions to strengthen the current team of nine.

They are particularly interested in recruiting people with experience and skills in equality and diversity, GDPR, health and well-being, marketing, fundraising, local government and/or the charity sector.

The organization is also seeking a trustee to take on the role of vice chair, supporting and deputising for the chair, and possibly providing for succession in the longer term.

These are unpaid roles, offering board experience and outstanding job satisfaction.

Trustees are also non-executive directors of CASL, and are equally interested in talking to candidates with long-term, wide-ranging experience and to those with current knowledge in specialist areas.

The minimum time commitment is five board meetings and five committee meetings each year.

Most trustees also take on an additional leadership role within CASL.

The expectation is that trustees will serve at least two years.

CASL performs well in the current challenging environment, with sound governance and strong finances.

Since March, it has been offering advice via phone, email, and webchat, and has seen no reduction in demand from clients coping with the repercussions of the coronavirus epidemic. It is one of over 250 local charities that make up the national Citizens Advice network, also lobbying government to put right injustices.

It operates across a large region from Spalding to Stamford, Grantham, Bourne and Market Deeping.

To arrange an informal telephone discussion, candidates should contact me at chair@citizensadvicesouthlincs.org.uk

John Morden

Chair, Citizens Advice South Lincs

Spalding reader Angela Reynolds has submitted this beautiful photo, taken during a lockdown walk in Clay Drove. (36792178)
Spalding reader Angela Reynolds has submitted this beautiful photo, taken during a lockdown walk in Clay Drove. (36792178)

We have an MP who does not bow to liberal elite

It appears the entire establishment are complicit in a deafening, politically correct silence. Indeed, our local MP is the only person I’ve come across who is bold enough to call out those thugs who are exploiting lawful protests by vandalising monuments, attacking police and toppling statues.

Sir John Hayes is absolutely right in his ‘Hayes in the House’ column (in our sister paper the Lincolnshire Free Press, June16) - we must stand up to those who want to sanitise everything in pursuit of some new puritan utopia. Our nation’s past - good and bad - helps make sense of who we are, enabling us to stand on the shoulders of those who have come before, learn from mistakes and build a better future.

I cannot express how serious this matter is. If we lose our cultural history, we lose our identity and our shared social solidarity.

We are lucky to have an MP like Sir John, who can always be counted on to speak up for the people, not bow to liberal elites.

Jemma Lowe,

Spalding

John Elson's Spalding Guardian cartoon (36752517)
John Elson's Spalding Guardian cartoon (36752517)

We’re back on the road

South Lincolnshire Advanced Motorcyclists (SLAM) is pleased to announce it is back on the road again after a three-month suspension due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions on travel and social distancing.

Advanced rider coaching started up again on Monday.

It will adhere to detailed IAM RoadSmart guidelines to ensure the current social distancing rules are followed at all times to ensure it is carried out with personal safety in mind.

SLAM, which is part of the UK’s largest independent road safety charity, has also been able to re-start social rides, in line with guidance on outdoor gatherings.

Social distancing and travel restrictions in Scotland and Wales mean IAM RoadSmart bikers are having to wait a little longer to return to the road to provide coaching and enjoy social rides again.

We are delighted to be able to get those taking the advanced rider course with us back on the road.

We are also looking forward to welcoming new associates in the coming weeks.

We have been working closely with IAM RoadSmart to prepare for the safe return to one-to-one on-road coaching. Our volunteer observers have been brushing up their skills over the last couple of weeks to make sure that our coaching maintains the high standards to which we always aspire.

As a group of passionate and skilled bikers and ambassadors for motorcycling, IAM RoadSmart and road safety, we have made personal safety our number one priority by following the rules on social distancing and non-essential travel. We’re now confident that by following IAM RoadSmart’s national guidelines we can get back on the road safely.

Advanced driver courses remain suspended nationwide to maintain compliance with social distancing rules. This is being kept under regular review.

Advanced driver and rider coaching can help reduce vehicle, fuel and insurance costs, improve road safety, boost confidence and reduce travel stress. For those who would like a refresher as they return to the saddle after an extended period off the road, rider assessments are also available for members and non-members.

To find out more, take a look at our courses page.

Clive Shardlow,

SLAM Chairman

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

Christianity teaches that everyone has value because we are made in the image of God.

As I’ve watched crowds around Britain and America protesting the death of George Floyd and the legacy of slavery in the West, I’ve found myself asking what went wrong.

Did Christendom fail in teaching the fundamental sanctity of human life?

Are the Christian principles underpinning our

political and judicial systems unclear?

As I slowly come to terms with what the Black Lives Matter movement is really about, it seems to me that these questions can be

answered by a simple word: ‘Yes’.

Of course, it’s easy to dismiss ‘culture’ and ‘system’ if we view them as abstract concepts that exist outside of ourselves.

If, however, we begin to

understand that ‘we’ -all of us together- make up ‘culture’ and ’system’ then we can see that wrong doesn’t just merely happen around us or to us.

One man’s knee placed on the neck of another is the very image of a culture that downplays the value of

human life and of a system that fails to hold those in power to account.

If we all want to breathe freely, live fully, it’s time we change the system.

Rev’d Dr Evan McWilliams

Assistant Curate, St Mary & St Nicolas Church, Spalding



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