Paralympian Jade Etherington from Bourne honoured and other stories from the archives of the Rutland & Stamford Mercury
We’re on our weekly stroll down memory lane looking at news from up to 200 years ago.
Our Rutland & Stamford Mercury Memories is produced thanks to the support of the Stamford Mercury Archive Trust.
10 years ago
Chance to be a wildcat!
Children from across the area have the chance to take part in a varied programme of school holiday activities with Wildcats Academy based in St Peter’s Hill, Stamford.
The school is running a number of five day programmes which culminate in the performance of a showcase for parents, including a special production of Cats - The Musical.
Paralympian honoured at graduation
Four-time winter Paralympics medallist Jade Etherington has received another award to add to her collection from her former university. Jade, from Bourne, received an honorary fellowship from Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln during a graduation ceremony on Wednesday last week held at Lincoln Cathedral.
Jade graduated from the university two years ago with a degree in education studies and geography.
Earlier this year, the visually impaired alpine skier won three silver medals and a bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi.
Jade joined about 850 students receiving their degrees on the day.
The Rev Prof Peter Neil, vice chancellor of the university, said: "Graduation day is of course the highlight of the university year and celebrated a wonderful day in a spectacular setting with our graduands, their friends and their families.
"We were also proud to be able to recognise the achievements of five people, including Jade, who stand as inspirational role models for our graduating students."
First ever Festival of Fun
Stamford's first Festival of Fun on the Meadows has made a splash, with families enjoying a huge range of activities in the sun. The nine-day event kicked off on Saturday when Mayor of Stamford Clem Walden took the plunge in a dunk tank.
Coun Walden was happy to oblige in the summer heat and wore a special bathing suit for the occasion.
A collection has been held at the festival all week for the mayor's charities, which are the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance, the 2071 (Stamford) Squadron Air Training Corps and Stamford Carers Sitter Services.
Coun Walden said the cold water was a bit of a shock, but he was happy to take part. He added: “It was enjoyed by all those who took part and who tried to get me in the water.
“It was a pleasure to take part. All agreed when I was first asked and being a man of the people, I thought why not?”
Festival organisers have been delighted with the interest in their inaugural event. Craig Vincent said: “The arts and crafts tent, which the girls from Foundations are running, has been packed every single day.”
Before the festival, discount tickets were sent out, either posted through people's letterboxes or handed to people in the street.
Craig said: "We got the prices down with the fairground. We gave out £20 worth of vouchers on flyers. People are reaping the benefits now.
"We took on board every comment that people have said."
25 years ago
Search for best in bloom
Stamford In Bloom judges were out and about in town this week.
Checking out the hanging baskets and blooms, they were looking for the best floral display put up by commercial premises.
Winners will be announced later this month and a prize giving ceremony will take place in September.
The residential section of the competition this year is the Mercury's Great Gardens Competition. Winners will receive some fabulous garden furniture.
Out of school club wins award
Out of school club 'Jimmy D's' has won acclaim for its group - achieving the National Quality Assurance Award, 'Aiming High'.
The Quality Assurance Scheme sets clear standards of quality for all aspects of a kids' club, from stafling, premises and health and safety to relationships with children, parents and the community.
The staff pointed out the qualification was not just handed out to the after school club - the commendation came as a result of a great cooperation from the workers, children and parents.
They also felt they deserved the official Level 2 standard. Trish Midgely, play leader, said: "We all worked very hard to get this award, and the children are thrilled because they have played a big part in the success of the club.
"The weather wasn't wonderful on the day of the presentation - but you can't have even The certificate of Jimmy D's achievement was handed over by Vivien Bradshaw, the Early Years and Childcare Development Ofti-cer from GPCCTE who congratulated them all on winning the prestigious award.
Hotelier looks back on successful career
Hotelier Manuel Pinto (54) can look back with pride on a long and successful career in Stamford.
He came to England as a young man determined to make a career for himself in the hospitality industry.
After an initial period of training at the Ritz Hotel in Madeira — his home island — he worked for a while in Jersey and Manchester before settling in Stamford.
Manuel said: "I've been very happy here and I think of myself as a Stamfordian.
“Madeira is a small and beautiful island and Stamford is a small and beautiful town. It's a home from home."
He is now in the 25th year of running his Candlesticks Hotel in Church Lane.
It's a sumptuous place offering fine Portuguese, French and English food. But a quarter of a century ago it couldn't be more different than the tastefully restored Victorian building it is today.
"It was condemned and rotten to the core, but over the last 25 years we have been improving the property. I'm proud of what we've achieved. It's a very unusual design — the shape of the building is really something special," he added.
And to celebrate Candlestick's silver anniversary year, Manuel is offering a free drink to diners at his hotel restaurant.
Asked why he chose Stamford above his Madeira home, Manuel replied: "I was looking for somewhere to settle. Stamford just seemed the ideal place."
And for the future? "We just want to keep going. We've survived 25 years and I'd like to keep going well into the Millennium."
Manuel is married to Maria and has two children - Nelio (31) and Robert (26).
End of year celebration with a musical
Marking the end of term on a high note, pupils of Deeping St James Primary School staged a musical and wowed a large audience with a range of twentieth century hits.
War time numbers and 1970’s ABBA tracks were performed by pupils who put on a show of music through the eras. They even dressed up for the part and made the event a rousing end of term send off.
School secretary Linda Cunningham said: "The show was called "Thank You for the Music'. Some of the children dressed up as World War I soldiers and munitions women - and four teachers came as the members of ABBA. The audience really appreciated it."
A day in the life of a farmer
Being a fan of the great outdoors, an offer to work on an organic farm for a day was just too good to miss.
And even having to get up at 5am to be there for a 6am start didn’t put me off!
So it was with a great deal of anticipation I drove down to Apethorpe near Stamford to work on Spa Farm - a 700 acre organic oasis set in some of the area’s loveliest countryside.
I liked the idea of a good honest graft in a natural environment.
Farmer Will Tomkins and Clive Ibotson met me in the yard and we joined a group of Czech nationals who have been working at the farm throughout the summer.
“We’ll start you off on the potatoes,” Will said.
Easy I thought, but after a few hours of tugging clumps of spuds out on the ground my knees were sore, my arms ached and my back was seriously stiff. Farming was tougher than I thought.
Will told me he began converting the farm along green lines in 1980.
“I was just fed up with conventional farming and I liked the idea of the healthy aspects of organic farms,” he added.
New hedgerows and uncultivated field edges are all over the farm to encourage wildlife.
There are even a number of new ponds. I had to avoid these as I drove around on a pretty nifty tractor.
50 years ago
Since Preston won the Rutland Tidy Village competition in successive years - in 1960 and 1961 — they have "been in the wilderness" as regards the competition, but they have come back to take the title this year.
100 years ago
An Exodus To Wembley - About 600 persons left Stamford on Thursday for the trip to Wembley, organised by the Stamford Chamber of Commerce.
The special train left Stamford about 7.0 a.m., and the excursionists were expected home in the early hours of Friday.
They included a party of scholars of the St. Michael's School, under the supervision of Mr. H. Gardham (headmaster).
150 years ago
On Wednesday evening Fred Wright, post-boy at the Stamford Hotel, drove some persons over to Langtoft.
Before returning he seems to have indulged in drink, and on his way home, after one or two narrow escapes from collisions with other vehicles, he upset the trap, and he and two men he had taken up on the road were thrown out, but fortunately none received serious injury. The horse, with the trap, then galloped along Wharf-road, up St. Martin's, and was stopped near Burghley-lodges.
200 years ago
Belvoir Castle, on which such immense sums have been expended for the last 23 years, and the progress of which was so retarded by a desolating fire, 26th Oct. 1816, has risen as it were like a Phoenix from its ashes, with tenfold splendour, and now draws rapidly towards completion.
It will long remain a magnificent monument of the fine taste of the Duke John Henry and his Duchess Elizabeth.
Nothing can be imagined more effective than the exterior appearance of this noble structure—its lofty towers and battlements, piercing to the heavens, and frowning in stern majesty on the lovely vale beneath.
