The Lord-Lieutenant calls for nominations for volunteering Award
The Lord-Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, Mr. Tony Worth, today called on people from the local community to nominate voluntary groups in the area for the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, a prestigious National Honour equivalent to the MBE for groups.
The Award recognises the outstanding contributions made to local communities by groups who devote their time to help others. It also sets the national benchmark for excellence in volunteering.
Mr. Worth said: “Voluntary groups across Lincolnshire are vital to all aspects of community life, especially as times are becoming more trying.
“The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service has proved an important way of bringing recognition to those often hidden groups who have dedicated themselves, in some cases over many years, to improving local people’s lives.
“If you know a group in your area, do get out there and nominate!”
More than 600 groups, including 10 from Lincolnshire have now won the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, over the six years since it was created by Her Majesty to mark the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 2002.
Winners were nominated by members of the public who have been helped personally or witnessed the benefits of a group’s work in their community. They range from Grantham and District Talking Newspaper providing a weekly newspaper on tape for visually impaired people in the Grantham area to Crosby Community Association, Scunthorpe providing a drop-in centre offering economic and social support and advice to people in Crosby, North Lincolnshire.
For details of all this year’s Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service winners and information on how to nominate a group that really makes a difference, visit www.queensawardvoluntary.gov.uk, where a nomination form can be downloaded.
Waste exhibitions as greener tomorrow moves closer
Further information on Lincolnshire’s Energy from Waste facility will be available for viewing at public exhibitions as the Lincolnshire County Council’s waste services department submits its planning application.
Details of the application, including what the facility will look like, how it will operate and its benefits will be on display from 9am until 1pm on Saturday 8 November at North Hykeham’s All Saints Church Hall, Moor Lane. A second opportunity will take place between 3pm and 8pm on Monday 10 November at St. Hugh’s Church on Harewood Crescent, North Hykeham.
The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership project is aimed at diverting waste away from landfill, thereby avoiding multi-million pound EU fines, alongside a simultaneous commitment to increasing recycling rates.
Councillor Lewis Strange, Chairman of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership, said: “These public exhibitions are another opportunity for people to find out more about this exciting project for Lincolnshire. It marks the next stage in our ongoing commitment to finding the best solution for dealing with the county’s waste and keeping the public involved and up to date with each step. Our Community Liaison Group, previous countywide road shows and postal communications have also proved popular and we take an important step closer now that the planning application has been submitted.
“The facility will treat waste that cannot be recycled or composted, generating green energy for homes and businesses, helping the environment and saving Lincolnshire taxpayers money through reducing our reliance on landfill.”
The application for the Energy from Waste facility has now been submitted to the Planning Authority who will check the application to confirm that it complies with the statutory requirements before validation. A consultation process is then expected to begin in December / early next year. At the end of this process, responses and issues raised are formulated into a report and presented to the county council’s Planning and Regulation Committee.
For further information on Energy from Waste in Lincolnshire and the Waste Partnership road shows timetable, visit www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/energyfromwaste , email tacklingwaste@lincolnshire.gov.uk or call 01522 782070.
Young people with designs on the fire service
The Youth Engagement Team within Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue are taking part in 11 million takeover day this year, with an engagement day for young people.
On Friday 7 November 2008, a group of 6th form students from The Priory Academy LSST will work with the fire service to design a fire safety talk for primary school children based on fire issues at Christmas. They will then get the chance to deliver this session to a group of children from Ling Moor Primary School in North Hykeham.
The children will then be able to design their own Christmas Cards with a fire safety message (of which four will be used as the official Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue Christmas cards), and will get to meet fire crews and watch demonstrations.
Manager of the Youth Engagement Team, Andy Payne, will also be working with the group of sixth formers to decide how the service’s Children’s Charter can be put into action, and to look at creating a youth forum.
Executive Councillor for Community Safety, Cllr Peter Robinson, said:
“The takeover day will enable young people to learn more about the role and work of Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, and let them actively getting involved. The scheme is a most effective way for us to make sure that our message to young people on fire safety is hitting the write note.”
Timetable of the day:
· 9am – Sixth formers arrive at HQ where they will work with the Youth Engagement Team and design a 30 minute Christmas fire safety talk for primary school kids.
· 10.30am – Sixth formers will deliver the session to the primary school children.
· 11am – The primary school children will be asked to draw a Christmas card based on the Christmas safety session.
· 11.20am – The primary school children will meet the crews and have a demonstration.
· 12 noon – 4 wining Christmas card designs will be selected and the winners announced and given a voucher prize.
· 1pm – The sixth formers will sit down with the Youth Engagement Team manager Andy Payne to review the creation of the Children’s Charter, develop an action plan to deliver the charter and advise on how we can create a youth forum.
The first ever 11 MILLION Takeover Day took place on 23 November 2007. 10,000 children and young people ‘took over’ 500 organisations. Organisations that took part included – schools, police forces, fire brigades, newspapers, television stations, church groups, charities, local authorities and parliamentarians.
Young people take over the county council for a day
Young people representing the Lincolnshire Youth Cabinet will be taking over top jobs at the County Council on Friday, 7 November, as part of the nationwide ’11 Million Takeover Day’.
The day has been organised to demonstrate the County Council’s commitment to listening to and recognising the contributions of children and young people.
Young people will be taking over from key councillors and managers including Councillor Mrs Christine Talbot, Executive Councillor for Secondary Education and Healthier Communities; Tony McArdle, Chief Executive; Peter Duxbury, Director of Children’s Services; Marcus Coleman, Assistant Chief Executive; Rob Mayall and Helen Longland, Assistant Directors of Children’s Services.
Councillor Mrs Christine Talbot, Executive Councillor for Secondary Education and Healthier Communities, added: “’11 Million Takeover Day’ is a great way of celebrating the importance of young people and recognising the contribution they make towards our society in Lincolnshire. It’s also a perfect way for us to ask young people about how services should be run, from a young person’s perspective.”
Councillor Mrs Patricia Bradwell, Executive Councillor for Children’s Services, said: “We are delighted to be one of the leading organisations across the county asking young people to ‘take over’ services. This is a really positive way of encouraging young people into the workplace and enabling them to contribute and make a difference to the way things are run in their communities.”
As well as members of the Lincolnshire Youth Cabinet taking part, students from St Clements College in Skegness will be joining Peter Duxbury and students from the William Farr School in Welton will be making their contribution.
Lisa Carroll, member of the Lincolnshire Youth Cabinet, said: “One of our priorities is to improve the image that young people have and this is just one of the ways that shows the very positive ways that children and young people make a contribution to their schools and local communities.”
Events around the county include:
· Youth cabinet members will be visiting County Offices, Lincoln to work with managers and councillors. This will include working on services and budgets in Children’s Services.
· Six children from the William Farr School in Welton, Lincoln Christ’s Hospital School and Branston Community College are designing a poster to encourage e-safety and the safe use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo. The posters are part of an e-safety campaign and will be displayed in schools, libraries, GP surgeries, health centres and other public areas across the county. Nearly half of all children who have access to the internet have their own personal profile on a social networking site according to Ofcom.
· Young people in the county have organized a photographic exhibition based on the theme of National Youth Work week and 11 Million Takeover Day. This will be shown at the Haven Gallery, Boston on 7 November.
· A youth cabinet member will visit the William Harrison School in Gainsborough at 10.30am when student Ryan Stanton is being presented with a bike for winning a sustainable transport competition for the new Gainsborough Educational Village development. This will be followed by a visit to the site for the new development to meet the architect.
Schoolchildren debate in the council chamber
Schoolchildren from five county primary schools visited County Offices for Local Democracy Week (13-17 October) to quiz their local county councilors on their work and question them about local issues of interest.
The programme of visits to the council chamber aimed to help children understand local democracy and how decisions are made by local government. Children involved in school councils debated a subject of their choice and these included bullying, mobile phones in schools and school uniforms.
A further 13 schools are taking part in similar visits in the run up to Christmas. The schools had their debates recorded onto DVDs using the recording and microphone system used by councilors.
Councillor Mrs Patricia Bradwell, Executive Councillor for Children’s Services, added: “The school visits are a fantastic initiative which will allow pupils across Lincolnshire to find out at first hand how decisions are made and then quiz councilors on the issues important to them. The children taking part showed real maturity and asked some difficult questions.
This has raised the interest of children and their parents in local democracy and we have got some useful feedback about what services they would like to see in their
local community. I hope the other schools taking part will find them really useful learning sessions as well.”
The visits will also include the chance to meet Impy, the County Council mascot, as well as staff from services such as recycling, libraries and the healthy foods team.
This programme of visits are as follows:
Friday 24 October – Scampton Polyplatt Primary School
Monday 10 November – Stickney C of E Primary School
Wednesday 12 November – Wragby Primary School
Monday 17 November – Long Bennington C of E Primary School
Wednesday 19 November – Skegness The Richmond School
Thursday 20 November – New York Primary School
Tuesday 25 November – Bourne Westfield School
Thursday 27 November – Gipsey Bridge Primary School
Friday 28 November – Navenby C of E Primary School
Wednesday 3 December – Lincoln St Francis Hill Community Special School
Thursday 4 December – Lincoln Hartsholme Primary School
Monday 8 December – Old Leake Primary and Nursery School
Thursday 11 December – Normanby-by-Spital Primary School
Armistice Remembrance Day 90th Anniversary
Ninety years of remembrance at The Museum of Lincolnshire Life
They may be gone, but they will never be forgotten. The brave men and women who gave their lives in the First World War will be remembered in a special armistice service at The Museum of Lincolnshire Life.
The service is part of the nationwide 90th anniversary of Armistice Day and will be a moving example of young and old coming together to honour Lincolnshire’s fallen heroes. The event will take place on the morning of November 11 and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Lincolnshire. Entrance to the museum will be free on the day.
The service will be attended by pupils of Yarborough School, who have been researching the victims of the Great War. They will be laying tributes and poppies on the tank in the engine shed during the service. The poppies have been specially made by some of the county’s primary school children.
Staff from the museum will be in role for the day, including cultural services advisor Debbie Holt. She will be taking the role of Alice Smith who was the fiancé of Lincolnshire soldier Harry Butt. The Reverend Yabbacomb will give a special service of remembrance. He is an army cadet padre, vicar at St Nicholas’ Church on Newport and has two sons currently serving in the forces.
The museum will have a BBC IT supporter on hand to help people add their family memories to a Virtual ‘Wall of Memories’ on the BBC Learning Website.
Remember 90 is a national campaign to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the first Armistice Day. The service also honours those currently serving in conflicts overseas.
The main aim of the day is to engage all age ranges in a ceremony of remembrance and to show young people the importance of Lincolnshire’s history.
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue help local students plan Great Escape
Dodgy dates, relatives from hell and that nightmare task at work – sometimes we all need an exit strategy! That’s why Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue has joined forces with Hollyoaks stars Lena Kaur and Zoë Lister to plan the Greatest Escape of all as students in Lincolnshire start to move back into student digs.
Many students are likely to be preoccupied with new timetables and getting reacquainted with mates and the student union – they’re unlikely to be anxious about domestic duties such as cleaning rotas, bills or crucially, fire safety. But as partying, smoking and drinking are part and parcel of student life, they are at greater risk from fire. Naturally this can be a big concern for parents as they see their children, now young adults, leave the safety and security of the family home.
On average, five people aged 17-24 are killed or injured by fires each day, and statistics show that you are more than twice as likely to die in a fire if you don’t have a working smoke alarm – it’s therefore essential that students make sure they have alarms in their home and that they check them regularly.
Cigarettes are the most frequent cause of deaths in accidental house fires, accounting for nearly a third of all deaths in homes in 2006 . And many fires start in the kitchen because electrical appliances aren’t used properly – 16,900 accidental fires involving the misuse of equipment and electrical appliances were recorded in 2006, the majority were related to cooking.
New Hollyoaks cast member Lena Kaur, who plays art student, Leila Roy says: “Moving out of home into your own place might feel like a Great Escape – being able to do what you want, when you want – but you have to get clued up on potential dangers in the home. When you live in your own accommodation you’re responsible for yourself, and no one is there to look after you – if you have a fire, you need to be prepared. If you need help just ask your local Fire and Rescue Service – it’s just one call”
Zoë Lister, who plays student Zoë Carpenter, says: “My character has escaped some really sticky situations in her time – especially when she was seeing her mad ex-boyfriend Will! It’s much easier to test your smoke alarm once a week and plan your escape from fire than it is to escape from a psycho! Planning escape routes with your housemates is fun too and it could save you life – so do it!’
Here are the Fire Kills campaign’s top tips for ensuring you stay safe from fire in your home:
• Fit smoke alarms on each level of the house and test them weekly
• Never leave cooking unattended
• Take extra care with cigarettes and smoking materials and never smoke in bed – when a cigarette is finished, put it out, right out!
• Never leave candles or tea lights unattended and ensure that they are put in safe holders
• Switch off electrical appliances when not in use, unless they’re designed to stay on – like a freezer
• Check furniture has the fire-resistant permanent label
• Plan and practice an escape route with your housemates
• If a fire starts get out, stay out and call 999
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue offers free Home Fire Risk Checks to local students. They will visit your home and advise on the best escape route to take, check your home for fire hazards and may also install a working smoke alarm free of charge. For more information on how to protect you and your family from fire and to book a home fire risk check or download leaflets, visit www.direct.gov.uk/firekills
The Fire Kills Great Escapes campaign is running in tandem with the latest burst of advertising from Communities & Local Government. From 15 September to 12 October the television adverts will deliver the stark message to ‘Pull Your Finger Out’ and check your smoke alarm. Fronted by Julie Walters, the advert shows the horrific aftermath of a fire in the home, with a burnt out kitchen providing the background to the scene
The Fire Kills campaign has also created an advert in partnership with Viacom to target youth audiences. Named “Ash” the advert focuses on the fact that the things you value most could all disappear into ash if a fire happened – therefore encouraging the viewer to check their smoke alarm once a week.
County Council’s £400,000 unlocks £2m of projects for community groups
Lincolnshire County Council has just announced grants totalling £240,877 for a number of community projects across Lincolnshire. This brings the total to over £400,00 so far this year, and could generate a further £1.7m from other funders.
Successful project include a brand new village hall in North Kyme; a new Youth and Sports Pavilion in Washingborough; and a number of new and innovative projects, including a successful bid by Wellingore’s ‘Kids Kouncil’ (a children’s parish council) for new play park equipment.
Funding was also granted to provide outside gym equipment in the John Eve field in Market Deeping where the Town Council undertook seven days of consultation, inviting members of the community to see displays and discuss the proposed equipment to build up evidence of a need for the project.
Councillor Eddy Poll, Executive Councillor for Economic Regeneration, said:
“The grants scheme is designed to help with projects that will be of benefit to rural communities, and up to £33,333 could be provided through the scheme. Voluntary organisations can apply for the next round of funding before the deadline of 1 March 2009.”
Applications and information can be obtained from the External Funding and Community Grants Officer on 01522 552834.
The Capital Grant Aid Scheme runs in partnership with the county’s district councils, and makes grants available towards capital development projects. They are awarded to voluntary organisations that have responsibility for the county’s village halls, community centres, recreation grounds, playing fields, play areas and facilities for young people. (See below for full list of awarded grants).
Successful projects include funding for disabled access to village halls, purchasing play equipment for play parks and recreation fields, major repairs to community buildings and creation of three multi-use games areas.
The £240,877 funding from the county council, together with an additional £47,982 in contributions from district councils, provides match funding for external grant applications. If these applications are successful, and additional £1,742,462.0 of external funding will be secured for community facilities in Lincolnshire.
Successful organisations in this round of funding, were:
Langton Village Hall,
Sibsey Village Hall,
North Kyme Village Hall,
Skellingthorpe Community Centre,
Holbeach Hurn Village Hall,
Saracens Head Village Hall,
Pointon Village Hall,
Osgodby Village Hall,
South Kelsey Village Hall,
Stainfield and Apley Village Hall,
Skidbrooke cum Saltfleet Haven Parish Council,
Potterhanworth Parish Council,
Eagle Playing Field Committee,
Washingborough Parish Council Holbeach,
St. Marks Village Hall Committee,
IDEA Ltd Market Deeping Play Area Project,
Deeping St James Parish Council,
Foston Playing Field Committee,
Glentham Parish Council,
Holbeach Parish Council,
Wellingore Parish Council,
Cranwell & Byard’s Leap,
Sleaford Sports Association,
Helpringham Playing Field.
This programme sits alongside a further county council grant programme which funds revenue and project costs throughout the year.
Material Evidence: High anxiety at The Collection
Visitors to The Collection in Lincoln this autumn are invited to imagine themselves as archaeologists of the future, looking back at today’s contemporary art as evidence of a global or individual disaster.
Material Evidence focuses on our anxieties in the 21st Century; anxieties arising from issues such as terrorism, global politics, our relationship with technology and the environment or the frailty of human nature. Some artists confront the issues with humour, whilst others present a bleak vision of personal pain or disintegrating culture.
The nature of the disaster or anxiety is not always obvious. It is up to the viewer to create their own interpretations, just as archaeologists use fragments of long-forgotten cultures to piece together a detailed picture of the past.
Works by Jordan Baseman, Marion Coutts, Ian Dawson, Paul Finnegan, Gregory Green, Mona Hatoum, Roger Hiorns, Stephen Hughes, John Isaacs, Darren Lago, Jim Lambie, Michael Landy, Adam McEwen, Cornelia Parker, Marc Quinn and Rebecca Warren have been chosen for the show from the Arts Council Collection.
The show has been curated by The Collection, Lincoln participating in the Arts Council Collection’s innovative ‘Select’ programme.
poet Deborah Tyler-Bennett has written the exhibition’s introduction, her personal interpretation of the show’s ideas and images. The show has been curated by The Collection, Lincoln participating in the Arts Council Collection’s ‘Select’ programme.
For more information and high-resolution images contact Maggie Warren, Community Engagement Officer, The Collection. 01522 550957 maggie.warren@lincolnshire.gov.uk
Select is the Arts Council Collection’s innovative programme that invites galleries and museums to select exhibitions and displays drawn exclusively from its collection, the largest national loan collection of modern and contemporary British art.
Along with Gillian Spraggs, Deborah-Tyler Bennett is the co-author of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s creative writing web-package (www.vam.ac.uk/creativewriting). She regularly performs her poetry, as well as taking writing workshops in schools colleges, bars, art galleries and museums.
Deborah Tyler-Bennett, a nationally and internationally published poet is based in the East Midlands. Deborah has over 400 poems and short fictions published in anthologies, reviews, and journals in the UK and internationally. Her first collection was Clarke Gable in Mansfield (Kings England, 2003).
Smokers rise to challenge
People wanting to stop smoking in the Market Rasen area can get free advice and help at special events in libraries.
Market Rasen, Caistor and Keelby libraries are hosting the Lincolnshire Smoke Free Homes Team who are working in partnership with Surestart, the NHS and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue to give help and encouragement to stop smoking.
There will also be incentives like free goody bags, a free prize draw for High Street vouchers, and referrals for free home safety checks from Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue.
The sessions will take place at Market Rasen Library on Tuesday 28 October from 2pm until 4pm, at Keelby Library on Wednesday 29 October from 3pm until 5pm, and at Caistor Library on Monday 10 November from 2pm until 4pm.
