Your Local Lincs

With everywhere beginning to look a lot like Christmas, we were honoured to play host to Santa’s best friend, the one and only Grandad Elf. He stopped by our office and chatted with us for our Let’s Talk Local feature which you can read in the December 2023 edition. Check out this video, too, where Grandad Elf performs a few magic tricks, and offers some great advice on how to remain on Santa’s nice list!

For more information on this wonderful entertainer, check out www.grandadelf.co.uk.

In The Jungle Book, a sad Mowgli encounters four friendly vultures who proceed to sing to him to cheer him up, and within their tune about what friends are for they mention, “We’ve never met an animal we didn’t like.” Christmas trees are a lot like friends to me, and worthy of a song and dance, too (if only I had the talent). Much like the sentiments expressed by Buzzy, Dizzy, Flaps, and Ziggy in the Disney classic, I’ve never met a Christmas tree I didn’t like. Even when you see in the news about councils putting out sad looking trees, like the 3ft tree with a scrunched up ball of tin foil as its topper that appeared on Scartho roundabout in Grimsby a few years back, I even liked that one!

So when the Christmas Tree Festival at the Sleaford Methodist Church comes around, it’s one of the highlights of the year for me (there are never any Scartho roundabout-esque trees in sight there by the way). Nothing brings that festive feeling as much as wandering around the church hall admiring all the different interpretations of trees presented by clubs, groups, schools, businesses and individuals from our community. Over the 10 years I’ve been visiting, I’ve seen Christmas trees made out of computer components, milk bottle tops, individual decorations made by school children, personal hopes and prayers and Yuletide memories expressed. I’m completely charmed every time I visit.

The good news is that the Christmas Tree Festival returns for its 21^st outing on the Advent Sunday weekend, and only to add to that cheer, we bring you the news that Your Local Lincs will also be entering our tree again. You’ll no doubt remember Noeleen, the tree from last year. Well, this year she’s going to be re-dressed with decorations that include 12 personalised baubles. It’s a number synonymous with Christmas, and an important one for us given that we go out each of the 12 months of the year. So look out for her when you visit.

Until the big weekend, here’s a selection of photos of the festival I’ve taken over the years.

~Rich

The Sleaford Christmas Tree Festival 2023 takes place at the Methodist Church on Northgate on Saturday 2^nd December 10am – 4pm and Sunday 3^rd December 11am – 5pm.

Christmas trees are decorated by people, businesses and societies in the local area. There will also be a raffle, a tombola, jams & chutneys for sale, and a café. Entry is free but donations are welcome.

If you popped into Mrs Smith’s Cottage over the summer, you will have noticed a little exhibition concerning another remarkable female figure from our county, Ethel Rudkin. Much like the resident of Navenby, Rudkin defied expectations for women of her era by forging a remarkable path in life. In her case it was in the world of folklore.

There are many other comparisons between these two ladies; both of them were born in Lincolnshire (within a year of each other), both lived to a late age, both lost their partners in the First World War. Smith’s home became a museum while Rudkin donated much of her collection to a museum in Lincoln.

Rudkin travelled the length and breadth of Lincolnshire in her Morris car, investigating and documenting folklore tales, talking to the people of the county as she recorded their stories and experiences. Before the age of television and the internet, entertainment among the ordinary folk of the countryside would be through song and storytelling, so it was in the evenings after working on the land when these tales would be shared. With the spooky season coming up, those darker and colder nights leading to Halloween, it seems the right time to have a look at some of these folklore tales from our area.

Byard’s Leap
Just down the road from Sleaford (and within our distribution area!) you’ll find the hamlet of Byard’s Leap off the A17. You may well have passed by many times but never stopped to investigate this unassuming place of remarkable supernatural happenings. Rudkin recorded numerous tales concerning wizards and witches, but within this settlement lived an evil witch by the name of Meg who became a bane to the other villagers. A knight from the area (interestingly, the area had strong associations with the Knights Templar) resolved to kill the witch and chose a blind horse named Byard as his steed. Perhaps he selected him because blind horses are less easily spooked, but the witch dug her nails into Byard’s flesh, causing him to leap 60 feet through the air. According to the tale, the knight regained control of Byard and came back around to hack the witch to death. It’s a story that has passed down the centuries, and a 1970s folk band by the name of Decameron even recorded a song about the tale.

Devilry in Dorrington?
Steeped in history and its strong spiritual associations, its no surprise to find so many churches with curious and creepy tales attached to them. One such tale that has become synonymous with Lincolnshire is of course the Imp, the grotesque little being who reminds us that even in a place as holy as a cathedral, evil can find its place. But we have equally strange tales associated with churches even closer to home. Regarding the church in Dorrington, there is a tale of when the church was built. Workmen took stone from a druid’s temple to build the church, but in the dead of night, all the stone they had collected magically whisked its way back to where they had taken it, perhaps by demons. The same church has a strange legend that if you look through the building’s keyhole at midnight, you will espy the devil playing with marbles… No doubt the ones you’ve just lost. Elsewhere in the village there are numerous tales of ghosts and a strange creature who lives under a bridge. Fascinating stuff; please do not have nightmares, our dear readers over in Dorrington!

The Anwick Drake Stone
Over in Anwick, one finds another devilish tale associated with the village church. Ethel Rudkin herself investigated this tale and documented the moving of the Drake Stones, which villagers believed were associated with the devil. Currently they stand outside the main entrance to the church. Some spoke of the devil’s cave being found underneath these stones, within which is stored treasure.

Tiddy Munn
The fenland areas of Lincolnshire are rife of tales of wil-o’-the-wikes, witches, and boggarts. The legend of Tiddy Munn arose when the Dutch were draining the fens, a wizardly spirit with a long white beard and no taller in stature than a 3-year-old child. He was angered with man’s tampering of the landscape and brought pestilence to the villages. But Tiddy Munn was not too malicious a being and was eventually placated when the folk went to the marshes to wish him well and chant rhymes to him. It seemed to do the trick, as Tiddy Munn lifted the spell and the villages thrived once more.

In the spirit of Ethel Rudkin’s work and continuing the theme of preserving oral history, if you have any local folklore tales to tell us about, particularly those relating to our area, or ones less talked about, then we would love to hear them. Perhaps something relating to a church or historic building? Or perhaps an old custom passed down through the generations? Please drop Rich a line or email him on info@yourlocallincs.co.uk.

Together We Are Powerful is the name of a new programme at The Hub, featuring an exhibition unlike anything we’ve seen before there, co-produced by YOU, the community. Set to take place from July 22^nd to November 12^th, there will also be workshops, trails, gatherings, talks, and meals, all within a program that aims to provide a platform for everyone to come together and share and experience the stories that shape our community.

This exceptional exhibition signifies a momentous occasion as The Hub celebrates its 20th anniversary of embracing culture, creativity, and community, while also looking forward to the next 20 years of growth and evolution. At the heart of the program lies a series of elements that invites people to get involved. Anyone is being encouraged to bring in personal objects that hold significant stories. These objects might symbolise past relationships, special memories of holidays, or moments of triumph over significant challenges. The concept is beautifully simple yet remarkably impactful: an object and its accompanying narrative, contributing to our collective memory and understanding of our shared desires for the future.

The Hub warmly welcomes the entire community of Sleaford and surrounding area to embark on this captivating journey of curiosity and creativity. To oversee this program, The Hub brought in artist Kate Genever and we caught up with her at one of the developmental meetings where ideas were explored.

Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?

I am an artist and also have a farm with my family in Uffington, south Lincolnshire. It’s a traditional mixed farm with cows and sheep. As an artist, I work in communities across the country where I spend extended periods of time and build relationships. I use what’s called an asset-based approach, so I look for what’s good and build on it to develop outcomes that are completely unique to each place that I work. I work closely with people and we then try and work out what would be relevant, what’s needed, how can we use what’s already good and brilliant there to build on that, and see how creativity can support what’s already in that area. For example, at the moment I’m working in west Hull in a community and one of the major outcomes is we now produce a newspaper for that community. It’s written and edited and put together by and for that community.

I was invited by The Hub to support them as they wanted to celebrate their 20^th year and they wanted to work with the wider community to co-produce the programme for the July 22^nd to November 12^th slot. But I suppose they didn’t know exactly how to go about it, as co-production is about readjusting who gets to make decisions, so they invited me to support them. Primarily I’m interested in building deep connections with people in celebration and support of their site-specific responses, so how do we make something that’s right for a particular place, and how do we build connections with people and how can creative ways of working support that? People say farming’s so different from being an artist and actually I think it’s very similar because it’s about caring deeply about the landscape and the things that live within it, building and using its strengths to do more and to nourish and produce good things.

In a nutshell, how would you describe what the exhibition Together We Are Powerful is about?

Together We Are Powerful is a title that was generated from one of the groups. It’s a dynamic town-wide celebration that takes place from 22^nd July to the middle of November. It will include exhibitions and workshops and gatherings and events, suppers, all sorts of things for people to get involved in as well as to look at. It’s a programme that will happen inside The Hub and in spaces and on the street outside it. It’s there to celebrate The Hub’s 20^th anniversary and it’s keen to explore diverse voices and different communities within the town. Its whole theme that it’s basing the programme around is the importance of objects and their stories in our lives. We spend our lives coveting, collecting, creating objects and then finding comfort in their stories.

Running up to it you’ve held a series of community meals, the last of which I came to; how have they all gone down and are you happy with the progress you made in those?

Of course. I have the belief that generosity breeds generosity, so if you offer people a lovely time, a nice place, good food, people can’t help themselves but be generous back. The Hub is really pleased that people have come. I think they couldn’t believe that people would come to those things and also share such brilliant ideas. Each has been different. A part of them is about exploring people’s own personal stories and then trying to find more ideas for what people might like to do or get involved in. I think that we shouldn’t underestimate that many organisations are unused to being so vulnerable. It’s quite hard to hold your hands up and say we’re handing it over to you or we want to hear from you. It’s a brave move. So I’m very pleased. I also know the answers are always in the room. I totally trust that whatever we need to know will come from the people in the room.

What sections of the community have you collaborated with for this exhibition and who else might you like to talk to?

We’ve engaged with the youth clubs, with different faith groups. We’ve had carers, other artists, community producers and leaders, teachers, and museums. We’ve had a really broad range. We’d really like to connect more strongly with people from different cultural backgrounds. We know they’re in the town and we know that their heritages and cultural lives will be totally brilliant and we’d love to have their voices included and to hear their ideas.

In terms of The Hub, do you have ideas or hopes of your own for how The Hub can develop its role in the community in the future?

I’m always hopeful that organisations will continue to throw open the doors and let people in not just as visitors but as co-producers, as people that have the skills and experience and ideas to generate fantastic content for programs. So I guess I’m hopeful that The Hub from this experience will continue to do more co-producing. Wouldn’t it be great every now and again to offer the program over to people in Sleaford to do what they want to do with it? It’s a public building using public money – let the public in. It’s also about ownership; people will feel more like they own the the heritage collections rather than somebody choosing what to display. People get to choose what they want to display and say, which gives us more confidence about our own lives and our own stories, and that’s why it’s really important to get as many diverse voices in that as possible.

The Hub have been brilliant. They’ve been fantastically open and enthusiastic about the process.

What are your impressions on Sleaford and its community? Do you think Sleaford has potential?

I’m going to answer this from a cultural perspective. I think it’s a bigger question around who and what we’re deciding to call culture, because I think people are engaging in cultural activity all the time whether that’s woodworking, cake-making or dressmaking. I think the dominance of an elite culture has often meant that places don’t see themselves as being rich in culture and of course Sleaford is hugely rich. It’s got a lot going on. Some of this is about us looking differently at what is there. I look at The Hub and that’s showcasing national, international exhibitions of artists’ work. That building is offering huge amounts of opportunity for people to get involved. So I would say your town is completely packed full of culture. Also there’ll be cultural activity that we can’t even see, that’s invisible to us. It’s about opening our eyes to see it because I absolutely know it’s there. The Hub is a fantastic resource. It’s a great space. It’s got a beautiful cafe, lovely staff, and a very rich program.

So the exhibition will still be on during the Riverlight Festival?

Riverlight sits alongside that programme because it’s all about Sleaford people, and the programme isn’t just the exhibition; it’s meals, things happening in the youth club, it’s stuff happening in different settings. But within The Hub there will be an exhibition in the middle floor space which has many things going on: donated, temporarily loaned objects from Sleaford people. We’re really keen for people to bring their objects and tell us their story around that object or, if they’ve lost an object, come and tell us a story of a lost object! Visitors will then be able to come and look at that object and read the story. It doesn’t have to be an expensive object. It could be a small thing but with a really powerful story. It doesn’t matter what the size is or what it’s made out of.

And essentially it’s an open invitation to the whole community?

Anyone can get in touch. We will have some examples of objects. I might put my first pair of reading glasses in it because they made me so sad, it made me cry in the opticians when I had to have glasses. It was a really powerful moment in my life because, obviously as an artist, I use my eyes a lot, and the thought of losing my sight is terrifying and made me sad. So yeah, it could be something like that. It doesn’t have to be your best bone china.

Together We Are Powerful will explore the extraordinary stories that bind us and imagine the immense potential that lies ahead. Don’t miss this extraordinary exhibition at The Hub in Sleaford between July 22nd and November 12th and become part of this vibrant and unique celebration. The Hub warmly welcomes the entire community of Sleaford and surrounding area to embark on this captivating journey of curiosity and creativity. You can contact them on info@hub-sleaford.org.uk

As a magazine, we have a broad sense of pride for our community and the people who contribute towards making our area such a great one to live. Pride is there in our DNA, and it might feel more than just chance that we find the very word in our company address. Yes, for us here at YLL HQ on Pride Court, there’s a sense of the stars aligning as we reflect on Pride Month, an observance dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community that celebrates diversity and equality, and considers how these communities are represented. It’s not only about the theory of it all, the distant places and figures we see on television, but about bringing it to the community level and looking at how we treat our friends, relatives, colleagues, or that stranger you meet in the street.

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” ~ The Dalai Lama

Read up on its history

June 1970 saw the first Pride Month following the Stonewall Riots that took place the previous year in New York. A popular place for the gay community, the Stonewall Inn was the scene of a riot following a police raid, and the ensuing event became something of a watershed moment. It’s a long story between 1969 and now, and, as with everything, it’s always useful to look back to see how we got here.

Attend a Pride event

Our corner of the world is seeing a growing popularity in Pride events. Lincoln Pride has been held since 2012 and is next scheduled for 19^th August at Tentecroft Street car park. Elsewhere, Mablethorpe Pride is into its second year later this month, 23^rd – 25^th June. Time for one in Sleaford?

Solidarity, brothers! … And sisters! … And NBs!

Like Kermit the Frog once sang, there’s a lot of songs about rainbows; there’s a lot of items of clothing with rainbows on them these days too! Show your support by wearing some rainbow apparel, pinning the flag in your front window, or decorating your office. The rainbow symbol represents diversity in its range of colours, and unity in how they all fit together.

Listen

Open up those communication channels whether that’s in your workplace, school, club etc. Make an effort to truly understand those around you. Show they have a voice and are safe to express themselves.

Get on the World Pride Web

Social media can be a great way to show your support for Pride Month. Create a temporary avatar or profile pic, share an article on the subject, speak up.

Bake rainbow cupcakes

Deep down we’re all the same inside, so embrace those levellers. One thing we can all share in is our love of cake!

Carry it through

Compassion is for life, not just for select times of the year.

“We should indeed keep calm in the face of difference, and live our lives in a state of inclusion and wonder at the diversity of humanity.” ~ George Takei

Best foot forward with Team YLL’S personal favourite local strolls:

Julie – Me and the hubbie like to walk along London Road through Silk Willoughby, down Gorse Lane, cutting through the fields. Depending which turn you take, you can arrive at the back of Southfields or in to Mareham Pastures Nature Reserve. Approx. 4 miles.

Rich – A favourite walk that my wife and I like to do is along the river by Haverholme Priory. There’s a lovely little waterfall into an old lock, plenty of birds (we’ve seen herons, woodpeckers and the kingfisher) and of course the eye-catching ruins of the priory that you can see across a field.

Kerry – Sausage & monsters love the local fields behind our home in Ruskington: across Pooh Bridge, through the crazy chickens and to the Faraway Tree! Without disturbing the angry-geese!

Mel – Belton Park is one of my favourite places to go for a walk. Local to me and only 20 minutes from Sleaford, it’s a walk that can be enjoyed and appreciated over the changing seasons. The deer and sheep graze quite happily as you wander past and it’s always lovely to hear the lambs and birdsong during the springtime. It’s a breath of fresh air!

LOCAL WALKING GROUPS:

Sleaford & District Ramblers – www.sleafordramblers.org.uk

Tattershall Wellness Walks – www.wellnesslincs.com contact Zoe 07921 553849 / info@wellnesslincs.com

A Broken Mind – Facebook group contact Ryan 07870 505014

Though it’s sometimes thought to be a distraction, research actually suggests it has a positive impact on both engagement, creativity, and purpose, which in turn increases employee retention and reduces absenteeism and work-related error. A sense of fun helps people to have a more positive mind-set, enjoy higher levels of wellbeing and better mental health. Fun in the workplace is essential!

When a timeout is needed, I’ll pull out my Would You Rather book and ask my workmates to choose between two winless scenarios. We’ve discovered the office is the perfect environment for random scavenger hunts, and for some reason this involves an OXO cube. None of us even know why! We’ve also learnt it’s best not to turn your back for too long round here, what with all the pranks going on. I have literally blown Julie’s eardrums letting off party cannons, taped Rich’s chair and stuck googly eyes on his desk, and grabbed Mel’s ankles after hiding under her desk. One morning, Julie couldn’t do any work until she found the mouse hiding in the cupboard… Actually her computer mouse, of course! My personal favourite is the classic Veggie Pal (Veg-te-pal) and Fruit Friend creations, for who can resist bringing Brian the Broccoli to life, building a Mr Butternut or even admiring the cute cucumber!?

These gems of gaiety may only last for a few whimsical seconds or take hours in the planning but they are fantastic stress busters and levellers. It’s all too easy to get swept away with adulting and responsibility; sometimes our inner child needs to be set free. Sometimes, maybe we need to share the workplace giggles over the dinner table: ‘you’ll never believe what Rich did today…’ reliving the laughs, manifesting merriment and success while reducing stress and negativity. I’m with Miranda (Hart) and unashamedly see the benefits to galloping into the office with cake, swirling around on the office chair until we’re dizzy, and fighting for googly eyes to be as essential as staples…

Kerry x

As we reached the milestone of our 18^th birthday, we naturally found ourselves in a reflective mood and so we decided to rummage through the YLL archives to look back at the journey our publication has been on.

One constant during these 18 years has been our company director, Karen James, who was the one to come up with the idea of creating a local directory to distribute amongst the neighbours of her local area. There were many late nights as she juggled parenthood and home renovations at the same time as putting together the inaugural directory from the front room of her home.

Edition 1 of “The Sleaford Lincs Directory” landed through your letterboxes in February 2005, a 24 page booklet mostly in black and white. It’s fascinating to see that in this very first edition we find various advertisers who continue to appear in our magazine to this very day. Over the coming years the team also produced various other local directories that were distributed in other areas around Sleaford.

The magazine continued to evolve throughout the noughties and by the end of 2010 it started to resemble the publication we recognise today with its eye-catching front covers. As you can see, the December 2010 edition featured a custom-made illustration by someone who worked for the magazine at the time, depicting her and all her colleagues as they ride a festive sleigh – if only we could deliver our magazine to you like that every December!

As the magazine went into the next decade, distribution between both the Sleaford and Village magazines was up to 20,500 homes and businesses, a few thousand off the tally we stand at today. 2011 was an important year as it was on the 5^th anniversary that the magazines were merged into one with a new-look ‘Your Sleaford Lincs’, but it was the following month in March when the magazine was named ‘Your Local Lincs’ and as you’ll see, that’s how things have remained to this day!

Your Local Lincs has been an integral part of our community over the years, advertising countless businesses, putting their name in front of all our many readers and, in turn, helping the local economy go round. For many, the magazine continues to serve as a directory so that when someone needs a particular service, Your Local Lincs is sitting there on their coffee table and so is the first port of call.

With the distribution area expanding to over 23,000 homes and businesses across 50 villages, you can appreciate it has meant we’ve required a rather large team of distributors to get this load of magazines through all these doors! Currently we have 47 distributors on that team, so it’s quite likely the number of distributors we’ve had over the years runs into the hundreds. Many of these have been young teenagers experiencing the world of work for the first time, learning about such delightful grown-up things as time management and responsibilities. Local schoolchildren have also undergone work experience programs here in the office over the years, with us taking them under our wing and showing them how a local independent business is run.

Beginning in 2015, Your Local Lincs sponsored the NK Community Champion Awards for a number of years with YLL presenting various awards to members of the local area to celebrate the contributions they’ve made to our community. Supporting charities as well as coordinating charity campaigns of our own has also been at the heart of our activities.

For the more recent staff members who have been through the doors at YLL, we have joined the team as readers of the magazine who already recognise what an invaluable resource it is to our local area, and so have continued that ethos of serving our own community. We have a genuine passion to fly its flag. Every month we go out there getting to know you and your clubs, charities, businesses etc.

So now the magazine has reached 18 years old, it’s surely as apt a time as any to raise a glass and look forward to many more years of being the little pocket of sunshine community magazine that appears through your letterbox every month. A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to our pages over the years with their articles, adverts, news, photographs, etc. and to everyone who reads our pages.

Your Local Lincs Team x