SOLDIER 'MOST LIKELY' KILLED BY FRIENDLY FIRE

Scunthorpe Telegraph Thursday 29th November 2007

AN INQUEST has heard how a North Lincolnshire soldier was 'most likely' killed by friendly fire.

The inquest into the death of Cpl Bryan Budd is being held at Oxford County Court today.

Cpl Budd (29), from Scunthorpe, was shot and killed in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, on August 20, 2006.



The inquest has heard how the soldier was killed by a single bullet wound to the pelvis.

And speaking about the injury, Ed Wallace, from Leeds-based LGC Forensics, said the shot was 'possibly' fired by a NATO soldier.

"The most likely possibility is that it was a NATO projectile fired from a NATO weapon," he told the court.

The former Thomas Sumpter School pupil was a wine waiter at Winteringham Fields before joining the army. He had been a soldier for 10 years after passing his basic training in 1995 and had enjoyed a distinguished career. He was later awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery.

For the full story see Friday's Scunthorpe Telegraph.

KEN FINDS HIS MIDAS TOUCH IN THE FIELDS

Scunthorpe Telegraph Tuesday 27th November 2007

Fields of gold could be lacing the countryside after a second ancient coin was discovered.

Ken Jacobs (60), chairman of the Scunthorpe Metal Detectors' club, found a whole noble - dating from the 14th century - in a field near Winteringham.

The find comes just weeks after Craig Addison featured in the Telegraph after he dug up a half noble in the Roxby area.

Mr Jacobs' 32mm find, which dates back to the era of Edward III, would have been worth thousands of pounds then. Today it is worth about £500.

The avid historian had been searching the fields with his metal detector which is when he hit gold - around 23 carat - just off pure gold.

"I was ecstatic when I found it and was just jumping around," he said. "I just knew I was on to something."

He said he had never found anything like it locally before but had discovered similar gold coins when he lived in Essex.

"A gold coin would have been owned by somebody very wealthy back then.

"For the average person it would have been around two years' wages," he added.

He said he had found many different things over the years.

"One of my favourite finds when I lived down south was a bronze age axe - dating back around 3,500 years," he added.

After finding the coin, Mr Jacobs gave it a wash and visited a jeweller to have it straightened.

It is currently at North Lincolnshire Museum, where it will be entered in the records, as well as being placed on the Portable Antiquities Scheme website - a database of national finds.

Mr Jacobs, of School Road, Winteringham, said he had no plans to sell it, but if he did, the local farmer would get half.

He said: "It is a rule within metal detecting that the local landowner gets half of anything we sell from what we find on their land."

Lisa Staves (27), finds liaison officer at North Lincolnshire Museum, described the coin as a 'fantastic find'.

She said: "It's a very unusual find and it has given us a great chance to record it.

"Gold coins such as this are quite rare, although on a general archaeology level, North Lincolnshire is rich in history ranging from the prehistoric to more modern times."

Find out more: visit www.finds.org.uk

SCHEME TO PROTECT US FROM RISING TIDES

Scunthorpe Telegraph Tuesday 20th November 2007

A New flood strategy - costing hundreds of millions of pounds - has been unveiled for the Humber region.

The Environment Agency said the scheme will help to protect 99 per cent of the region's homes at risk of tidal flooding.Costing upwards of a third of a billion pounds of Government money over the next 25 years, the project, dubbed the Humber Strategy, will aim to combat the imminent problem of global warming affecting our seas - which scientists claim could rise by as much as a metre in the next 100 years.

Philip Winn, Humber strategies manager at the Environment Agency, claims the strategy will involve making the current flood barriers higher, as well as working with nature to reduce the risks.

It will affect areas north and south of the Humber - including places such as Barton-Upon-Humber and Winteringham.

He said: "At the moment there is not enough protection for the predicted rises in the oceans and we need to act now.

"We can assure most residents, particularly round the more populated areas, we will fund protection, but there are areas which simply cannot be managed.

"We are starting to identify areas which we will be working on and we will be publishing these by March 2008.

"We will then be in the position to start to talk to people.

"We have already started in some areas such as Alkborough, where we have created a flood basin area. This is designed to take large levels of water and help manage water levels further up the Humber."

The new strategy aims to look at future land use around the estuary to make sure flood risk is not increased by global warming, housing and other development.

Mr Winn referred to the great floods of 1953, which killed hundreds of people across the country - including many in Lincolnshire.

He said: "The Humber region is a high risk area for flooding - low lying land with a large population. It is clear something has to be done."

As well as the Humber Strategy which focuses on tidal aspects, Mr Winn said the Environment Agency is working with other bodies on other aspects of flooding such as drainage problems, which were the cause of the floods back in June and July.

He said: "We could adopt a system where we as a body control all aspects of flooding, so we can put out warnings about flooding and drainage problems.

"It was the lack of coordinating problems which contributed to the problems of the last floods."
 
 

HOUSE DOUBLE FOR PUB CHAIN

Scunthorpe Telegraph Monday 19th November 2007

Brewing group Greene King has doubled its presence in North Lincolnshire after acquiring a pub chain for £32.6-million.

The Old School Inn at Epworth and The Bay Horse at Winteringham have now been added to the portfolio, along with The Queensway and The Priory in Scunthorpe.And the Suffolk-based brewers have promised further growth in the region following the purchase of the 49-strong chain owned by New Century Inns (NCI).

The move by the Abbot Ale brewer is the latest in a series of acquisitions, including the Loch Fyne seafood dining chain for £68.1-million in August.

Greene King's chief executive, Rooney Anand, said the NCI pubs would compliment the existing two Scunthorpe outlets.

''New Century Inns' pubs are located across the North and North East, areas where we are keen to grow our presence," he said.

The company said the pubs would provide 'a strong strategic bridgehead for future growth in the region' which could include the acquisition of further freehold pub assets.

Beer drinkers in North Lincolnshire have also been promised wider distribution of ales brewed in Bury St Edmunds, such as Greene King IPA and Old Speckled Hen.

The Teesside-based New Century Inns was launched in 1999 and specialised in developing and operating tenanted and leased pubs, particularly high quality tenanted sites.

Chairman Alistair Arkley said: ''We had reached a point where further significant acquisitions were needed to scale the business up.

"We took the decision in the best interests of the shareholders, and licensees at New Century Inns were served by joining a larger organisation such as Greene King."

Greene King has said the £32.6-million will be financed from existing debt facilities and is expected to enhance earnings in the first full year of ownership.

The company, founded in 1799, operates more than 1,400 tenanted pubs and almost 800 managed pubs under the brands of Belhaven, Hungry Horse and Old English Inns.
 
REFUSE SERVICE OPERATED FROM BEHIND BATHS HALL

Scunthorpe Telegraph Monday 19th November 2007

A Line of refuse wagons feature this week, courtesy of Reginald Gilbert of Southfield Road, Ashby.

The wagons are lined up behind the Baths Hall and the Scunthorpe Youth Centre in Doncaster Road.The father of contributor Reginald Gilbert, Percy Hudson Gilbert, is third left of the bin wagon photo.

Mr Gilbert senior worked as a driver for the refuse department, which was based behind the Baths Hall before moving to Cottage Beck Road.

Mr Gilbert junior worked as a dustman for nine years.

A contract was placed with Messrs W Pallister in July 1938 to build Scunthorpe Youth Centre in Doncaster Road, Scunthorpe, on the site of the old gasworks. A final statement in April 1940 showed the building had cost £10,449 13s 7d.

The land around the Baths Hall and the Scunthorpe Youth Centre is to be checked for contaminants in view of them being built on the site of the old gasworks which opened in May 1901.

The works were replaced by new gasworks in Dawes Lane, Scunthorpe, which opened because of the rapid growth of Scunthorpe.

A Scunthorpe Co-op history reported: "As the town grew the demands upon the existing utilities grew.

"The abnormal demands upon the output of the Doncaster Road gasworks had for some time seriously menaced the lighting of the district and on March 1, 1920, the council decided to apply to the Ministry of Health for power to borrow £200,000 for the erection of a new gasworks in Dawes Lane.

"These works were eventually erected at a cost of about £85,000 and commenced making gas on November 16, 1923. The old gasworks closed on March 31, 1924.

Further details relating to an outing photo from Mr Gilbert, featured in our column on Monday September 3, have now been provided.

The photo is thought to have shown residents on a trip to Cleethorpes around 1950.

In the bottom left of the photo was an old fashioned pram in which was Sylvia Shore (nee Hazel) who now lives in Holroyd Court, Blackpool.

The contributor, Reginald Gilbert, was featured on the left of the photo next to Will Hazel, the grandfather of Sylvia Shore, who was in the pram.

She said third left was the late Rhoda Hazel, who was Will's daughter-in-law and not daughter as previously assumed.

Mrs Shore, who grew up in Cliff Avenue, Winterton, attending the village schools, said the woman on the extreme right of the photo was her grandmother, Alice Hazel, who was married to Will. They lived in Earlsgate, Winterton.

Mrs Shore said before they obtained their council home in Cliff Avenue her parents had lived in a Nissen hut on a former camp between Winterton and Winteringham.

The couple fifth and sixth left of the photo are recorded as Percy Hudson Gilbert and Annie Mariah Gilbert, with the girl fourth left unknown.
 

GREEN AWARDS: WINNERS REVEALED

Scunthorpe Telegraph Thursday 8th November 2007

The 'green carpet' was last night rolled out for North Lincolnshire Council's first-environmental awards.

The Street Right Awards 2007, at Pittwood House, Scunthorpe, honoured people who have made a difference to the environment in their area.Mayor of North Lincolnshire, Coun Tony Ellerby, North Lincolnshire Council chief executive, Simon Driver, editor of the Scunthorpe Telegraph, Jane Manning, and deputy chief executive of Voluntary Action North Lincolnshire, Barbara Diggle were this year's judges.

The winners were:

Junior: Joint winners - The Climate Changers and The Clean Up Crew.

Adult winner: Lillian Marris, from Kirton in Lindsey.

Highly commended: Nancy Allison (Normanby), Gladys Benson (Messingham), Les Burkill (Winteringham), Keith Saville (Messingham)

Community group winner: Alkborough and Walcot Community Group.

Highly commended: Lodge Moor Residents' Association

Business winner: Michael Bennett for his Business, Micky 'B' in Barton.
 
 

SCHOOLS WILL NOT BE STRIPPED OF MONEY

Scunthorpe Telegraph Saturday 3rd November 2007

The Government has been forced into an embarrassing climb-down over controversial plans to strip schools in North Lincolnshire of their surplus budgets.

Eleven schools in North Lincolnshire managed to save more than 10 per cent of their budget last year and faced being stripped of some of the cash under plans being considered by the Government.But Education Minister Jim Knight said teachers had raised 'reasonable concerns' over the move, which had been intended to free up £1.7-billion nationally in unspent reserves.

In a written statement to the Commons, Mr Knight said: "Rather than proceed now we will continue to discuss these detailed concerns with schools and work with local authorities to lower excessive surplus revenue balances."

The proposals drew a furious response after they were set out in a consultation paper in March.

Teachers' organisations and the Tories warned they would penalise prudent financial management, and unfairly fine schools saving for new buildings and other major projects.

Doubts were also raised over assurances the funds would be handed back to local authorities for their education budgets.

Karen Parsonage, headteacher of High Ridge School - a specialist sports college in Scunthorpe, said: "This is not a 'climb-down' so much as ministers coming to their senses - a welcome change.

"Schools' circumstances are complex and varied and what may look like a surplus budget may well not be the case.

"In our case, we hold some budgets for other schools and Government schemes such as the School's Sports Coordinator Programme and the Excellence Cluster - this is simply because we are charged with organising the projects on behalf of many of the schools across the county - it is not High Ridge money.

"Over the past four years we have raised funds for our excellent new sports facilities - £1.3-million, all the rest of our surplus budget was tied up in this.

"Again we were not hoarding cash, just waiting to pay the bills, which are now flooding in."

The original plan was for schools to hand over five per cent of their balance as of last April - even if they were now in the red.

Mr Knight confirmed the retrospective aspect of the proposals had been 'ruled out'.

"I know where schools retain a small surplus, they are using sound financial management, such as putting money aside for extra staffing costs the following year or against unforeseen changes," he said.

However, he insisted the clawback could be resurrected if schools did not reduce their surpluses.

"My department will continue to monitor the overall level of surplus balances during the forthcoming spending review period," Mr Knight said.

"If the levels reported do not show a significant reduction, we will come forward with further action, having resolved the technical issues, for implementation during the following spending review period."

Under the national regulations for local management of schools, the surplus at the end of each financial year is carried forward. All schools are asked to give an explanation of large balances and what they intend to use them for.

WHERE THE SAVINGS WERE MADE:

Wrawby St Mary's CoE - 27 per cent surplus (£112,683)

Lincoln Gardens Primary School - 17 per cent surplus (£212,897)High Ridge Specialist School - 14.7 per cent surplus (£432,817)

Frodingham Infant School - 17.5 per cent surplus (£116,608)

Barton St Peter's CoE - 10.6 per cent surplus (£79,848)

Goxhill Primary School - 10 per cent (£63,832)

Kirmington CoE - 11 per cent surplus (£19,847)

North Axholme School - 10.2 per cent surplus (£207,141)

South Leys Business and Enterprise College - 18.6 per cent surplus (£440,821)

Westwoodside CoE - 10.5 per cent surplus (£55,122)

Winteringham Primary School - 10.3 per cent surplus (£32,684)