Letter writers from Stamford, Spalding, Grantham and Rutland share their views
Readers have had plenty to say on what’s in the news.
Here we share some of the letters, emails and comments that have come in over the week, including this cartoon from John Elson.
Send your letters to: news@lincsonline.co.uk
Our appeal was the most successful ever
As someone who runs a local charity, Voluntary Action Rutland (VAR), I find myself asking frequently for our community’s help and support, both in our insatiable requirement for volunteer drivers and in our need for financial support to continue providing community transport, social lunches and our Emergency Families Fund.
So it is with a big smile that I write to say ‘thank you’, and a big thank you at that! This year’s VAR Christmas Appeal was, I think, the most successful ever.
We were blessed by the support of Lands’ End UK, as well as by, Oakham School, Tesco Oakham, Burley Road Co-Op, Rhino Sports Academy, the Active Hub and Kevin O’Brien Gas Services, local businesses and employers passionate about what we do at VAR; and we were bowled over by the kindness, generosity and compassion shown by our Rutland community as a whole.
In response to our 2024 Appeal, we received large donations of toys, stocking-fillers, books, warm blankets, pamper sets - and even a slow cooker - not to mention generous cash donations. And, working with Rutland County Council, the P3 Charity, Oakham Fire Station, Rotaract Family Charity, Women’s Aid, Age UK, and the Rutland Memorial Hospital, this meant that we were able to help more than 200 members of our community, across our county, aged from one to ninety two (in the words of Nat King Cole) to have a better and hopefully happier Christmas 2024.
So from all of us at VAR to all of our community, may I again say a humble ‘thank you’ and please keep supporting us. We do, of course, still need more drivers, as well as volunteers in other roles. And we will be looking to fund-raise for a new wheelchair accessible vehicle in 2025…
For more information on the affordable transport services VAR offers, please visit us at www.varutland.org.uk, call us on 01572 724705 or email enquiries@varutland.org.uk.
Tom Walters
CEO, Voluntary Action Rutland
We should invest in a decent facility
I have been a Stamford resident all my life and the swimming pool has never changed, the slide is rusty, it’s cold and feels dirty. Yes there are regular cleaning by schedules however it is not kept up to standard. I have been on occasions with my children now they are older and found hair flowing through my finger tips when swimming in the water
The reception team are not attentive to the public and on occasions have stood at the front desk for more than 10 minutes before being served. The phone is rarely answered when I have tried ringing through.
It would be nice to see some SKDC money spent in Stamford on a decent leisure facility.
Name and address supplied
After reading the description of the Stamford Leisure Pool by a disgruntled user, I would like to add my opinion.
Since I have retired from work, myself and two of my friends have bought a membership to the Leisure Centre and use the swimming pool at least twice a week.
We also find that the pool is cold most of the time. We do not like the lane system, we are not fast swimmers but are not able to swim in the shallow lane for slow swimmers as is too shallow to swim properly. We try to swim in the deeper end but a lot of people have the same idea, so is not always possible.
The changing area is old, and the rusty legs of the benches are being held up with tape. There are only six showers which are close together, although mostly hot are sometimes dirty. After some swimmers asking for a hand rail in the changing room, one has eventually been erected. There is no playpen for babies/ toddlers to sit while their parents or grandparents struggle to get changed themselves.
The slide and wave machine are always broken or not working when I have taken my grandchildren.
All in all the swimming pool is outdated and in need of refurbishment. All the new houses already built and the many houses planned for the future, perhaps the leisure centre should be looked at first.
Angela Irvine
Stamford
Council should address litter problem
With the upcoming A1 safety improvement scheme south of Grantham set to begin later this month, South Kesteven District Council has the opportunity to demonstrate real leadership by addressing the persistent litter problem along this key stretch of road. Vegetation clearance and resurfacing works will soon be underway, presenting a chance to finally address a council failure to keep the A1 verges litter-free.
Under the Environmental Protection Act, the council has a legal duty to clear litter from highway verges. Despite this clear obligation – and the £60,000 ‘Clean the A1’ reserve specifically allocated for this purpose, which I played a key role in securing – the chaotic Independent-led, Labour-backed administration has failed to take any meaningful action. Continued inaction risks legal consequences, such as a Litter Abatement Order, which any member of the public can pursue. This would compel the council to comply, potentially at an even greater expense to taxpayers.
Over a year ago, I worked with local residents to identify key ‘grot spots’ along the A1 and called on the council to act. Yet here we are, still waiting. Now, with National Highways preparing to undertake substantial works, there is no excuse for further delay. By co-ordinating litter clearance with these improvements, the council could fulfil its obligations.
This is a defining moment for the administration. They can continue dragging their feet, leaving residents to feel abandoned, or they can seize this opportunity to demonstrate vision, responsibility and action. Empty gestures won’t suffice — only real results will do.
The people deserve better. Let’s hope the council is finally ready to deliver.
Ben Green
South Kesteven District Council (Con - Isaac Newton Ward)
A Georgian vignette of Grantham
The other day I was looking through an 1896 biography of my great-great-grandfather Anthony Wilson Thorold, grandson of Sir John Thorold, 9th baronet. He was born in Hougham-cum-Marston in 1825. He rose to become Bishop of Rochester and then of Winchester, dying in 1895.
The biography quotes my ancestor recording an ancedote by George Elwes Corrie (1793-1885), later Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, who came from Colsterworth:
He remembers being confirmed in Grantham Church with 7000 or 8000 candidates, and it was a scene of indescribable confusion, oranges being sold in the church, and the public houses being ready for them before they came out.
This was probably about 1808 when Corrie was fifteen. Only a couple of lines but a memorable vignette of life in Georgian Grantham over two hundred years ago, with the chaos in St Wulfram's, the orange sellers, and the pubs.
Guy de la Bédoyère
Welby
Notice was aggressive
It was Christmas Eve, at about 8.30am when my husband and I parked in Morrisons car park in Grantham intending to pick up four items at Morrisons store before getting on with our busy Christmas preparations. The car park was almost empty at that time and we were barely 15 minutes in the shop.
When we returned to our Discovery 4x4 we found a printed notice on our windscreen. I will not repeat what was written on the notice – it was printed on bright yellow card and clearly some individual had gone to the trouble to get these printed presumably at his or her own expense, but basically it was a reprimand for parking our car over the white lines in the car park. The language on the card was extremely offensive. If somebody has not parked within white lines there are ways and means of pointing this out without recourse to foul language. I dread to think the effect such a notice might have had on an elderly person. This is totally unacceptable and I hope the person responsible will read this and take note and perhaps reprint his or her notices with less offensive language if he or she wishes to make a point.
I have to stress that we raised this matter with Morrisons and the organisation that runs the car park and although they were equally horrified and sympathetic, there was little they could do as there are no cameras to capture said person in action.
Yes, we hold our hands up to parking outside the designated white lines but in mitigation the car park was nearly empty, nobody was unable to find an adequate space to park and we knew we would be there very briefly, which we were. We knew we had parked outside the lines but thought at that time it really was of no importance.
What is the world coming to when a member of the public finds this kind of thing acceptable? The card was aggressive in content and spoiled our day especially being just before Christmas which we thought was a time of goodwill to all men!
Name and address supplied
Pretty seating but some flaws
The seating looks pretty, but it’s going to prove that all the fuss over the ‘circle of doom’ was a massive red herring!
As I have said before, everyone needs to sit down sometime, even if they are homeless or drink alcohol.
So few seats in Hall Place now.
I do miss the flower display that we used to have on that riverside spot.
I find the illuminated bollards most distracting when I’m walking down Bridge Street in the evening or when I’m driving past; whose idea were they?
Were we told to expect them, or have they simply been imposed on us by a council that ‘knows best’?
David Jones
Spalding
Resignation from political party
I have been contacted by Matthew Swainson informing me that I have not been accepted as a Reform candidate to stand in the Lincolnshire County Council Elections.
Therefore with immediate effect my wife and I have resigned from the Reform Party.
Rodney Grocock
via email
Send letters to: news@lincsonline.co.uk