District news from Louth and surrounding areas

Here is the latest district and village news coming from Louth and the surrounding areas.
Village News EMN-151118-093721001Village News EMN-151118-093721001
Village News EMN-151118-093721001

East Barkwith

Gardening group - A full and ambitious programme of visits to places of interest for members of the Barkwith and District Gardeners’ Association and an ever-widening circle of friends has now been organised by Les Robinson for 2016.

Many seats on the very popular trips are booked up well in advance, but there is always the possibility of a last-minute cancellation if someone is indisposed and Les can be contacted on 01673 857063 for details.

He usually keeps a waiting list too in case of seats becoming available nearer the time.

The programme begins with a visit to Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire on Thursday, February 25, to see the snowdrops.

It continues in April with a trip to the Lincolnshire Daffodil Show at Springfield on Saturday, April 16.

On Thursday, May 26, the coach party will travel to the Swiss gardens and Shuttleworth in Bedford.

The first holiday of the year leaves for Norfolk on Sunday, June 12, followed by a day mystery trip on Thursday, June 30.

In July, holiday makers have a five-day trip to Wales to look forward to, with a mystery visit on the way.

Althorp, the childhood home and last resting place of Princess Diana, is the chosen venue on Thursday, August 4, while on Thursday, December 1, the coach leaves for an overnight visit to Thursford for the Christmas spectacular.

Destinations are still to be decided for both Tuesday, October 4, and Thursday, October 27, and there is the possibility of a trip to Burton Constable while it is decorated for the Christmas season.

Les has his clipboard at the ready to take orders for the breakfast stop along the way, which has become a tradition, and he has almost always booked the party in for good food at reasonable prices for a meal on the return journey, too.

The time and energy Les spends to ensure everything runs smoothly is always appreciated by his happy travellers.

Alford

Village library - Little more than three months after it was forced to close by Lincolnshire County Council’s austerity measures, Alford Library will reopen on February 2.

Now run by volunteers, the facility will be known as Alford Focal Point and will be extending the facilities it provides to local residents.

Over the last few weeks, members of the steering committee and other volunteers have been redecorating the building in preparation for the relaunch.

As well as freshly-painted walls, visitors will find a change to the overall ambience of the interior.

Richard Quantrell, chairman of the support group, said: “We are keen to encourage people to spent time in the library and I hope our new look will help achieve this.

“Once open, the library will be run entirely by volunteers, both operationally during opening hours and in the background by managing the finances to ensure it has a strong future.

“We are all on a learning curve and we hope that users will bear with us as we move forward.”

The library will follow its previous opening times on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Manby & Grimoldby

Women’s Institute - Fourteen members of Manby and Grimoldby WI braved the cold for their monthly meeting on Thursday, January 14.

After the business of the evening was concluded, Dr Mike Morgan, a retired GP, gave a highly entertaining talk on his working life.

The talk was interspersed with amusing anecdotes and medical jokes.

As well as being a GP, Dr Morgan was an enthusiastic rugby player and part-time sheep and cattle farmer.

This latter occupation might have been influenced by the time he had spent in New Zealand when he was first married and beginning his GP career.

He told us that he had great respect for the WI and was looking forward to the day when they would accept male members so that he could join.

The monthly competition for a pretty pill box was won by Barbara Bragg, with Wendy Henderson second and Pat Needham third.

Flower of the month was won by Jane Riggall, with Pat Needham second and Barbara Bragg third.

All entries were hellebores as there was not much else in flower.