Stamford and Grantham MP Gareth Davies reflects on towns independent businesses including Community Books
Throughout the towns and villages across our area, we are fortunate to have a wide range of independent businesses, so often run by local families, offering everything from locally produced food to handmade clothing, writes Stamford and Grantham MP Gareth Davies (Con).
Among the most well-known of our independent retailers are our independent bookshops, so I was eager to use National Storytelling Week earlier this month as an excuse to add to my reading list by visiting Community Books in Grantham.
Set-up in 2006, Community Books is a wonderful family-run second-hand bookshop that supports a range of fantastic local initiatives and has won a number of local business awards.
It is important that we continue to shop locally to support these small businesses, so I was pleased to be able to pick-up a number of excellent second-hand books about Grantham and Lincolnshire history. These books have taken pride of place on my bookshelf in Parliament, and I look forward to dipping into them when I get a chance in between late-night votes.
In fact, Lincolnshire’s long history has been on display to many in Parliament this week, with Heritage Lincolnshire kindly hosting a drop-in session for Lincolnshire MPs and others to learn more about their work. As a charity, Heritage Lincolnshire works alongside local authorities, other local groups, and national bodies such as English Heritage and the National Trust in protecting, preserving, and promoting our county’s valuable history.
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Our corner of Lincolnshire in particular is of course home to a range of nationally important historical sites such as Woolsthorpe Manor, the birthplace and family home of Sir Isaac Newton, and The George Hotel in Stamford which is said to have been in existence for over 900 years!
Crucially, our heritage requires care and attention to preserve it for future generations of local residents and for the thousands of tourists who come to share our treasures each year. Since 2019, our area has secured significant support from the Government and others aimed at doing just that.
In recent years, funding such as the £95 million High Streets Heritage Action Zone programme, and over £3.9 million allocated to our area through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, has been used to preserve much of the local heritage we hold dear across Grantham, Stamford, Bourne, and our villages.
Most recently, several local churches such as St Firmin’s Church in Thurlby, originating in 925 AD, and the 11th Century St Mary Magdalene Church in Bitchfield were named alongside 30 other local recipients of the Government’s Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme to help protect their place in the heart of our communities for centuries to come.
Our history is the shared bond that connects generations across our community, and it is a legacy we all have a responsibility to pass on. I will continue to do what I can to preserve and promote our local heritage for future generations to enjoy.
