Wolds Words Festival 2016

The Wolds Words Festival is back again in October, celebrating the rich, diverse and unique culture of rural Lincolnshire. This year Horncastle features for the first time, joining the traditional venues in Louth, Spilsby and Alford.

 

In Horncastle the Community Cinema Club offers film screenings in the Stanhope Hall on 19th October and 23rd November. For the details visit their website or email thestanhopehall@hotmail.uk.  The club is operated for the benefit of the community by a small dedicated team of volunteers who aim to show a wide range of films. Tickets are available from The Horncastle Music Shop or on the door.

Elsewhere in East Lindsey

Comedian Robert Webb opens new football pavilion

Well over a year ago, I reported on the campaign by Woodhall Spa Football Club to raise up to £25,000 to build a community Pavilion, through the Aviva Community Fund. It may have seemed then a long shot back then, but a few days ago the dream came true as celebrity comedian Robert Webb and MP Victoria Atkins officially opened Woodhall Spa United Junior Football Club’s new £363,951 changing pavilion.

The original fundraising effort was only the beginning; in fact the project was made possible by a £235,183 grant from the Premier League and The FA Facilities Fund, which provides grants towards developing new or refurbished grassroots football facilities.

Satire, apples, Lancasters and gardens

Some more suggestions for things to do within easy traveling distance from Woodhall Spa in the near future:

 

 

 

The Horncastle Theatre Company is proud to present Yes, Prime Minister, by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, directed by David Ireland, at the Lion Theatre, Bull Ring, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 5HT from Wednesday 28 September to Saturday 1 October.

With the country on the brink of financial meltdown the PM is staring disaster in the face with his only apparent salvation in a morally dubious deal with the Foreign Minister of Kumranistan. Will Jim Hacker and his team of advisors be able to rescue the country from the edge? This amateur production is presented by arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH LTD.

Woodhall Spa airfield: update

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust opened up Woodhall Spa Airfield Nature Reserve this weekend for Lincolnshire Heritage Day. Some of the highlights included a flock of greylag geese swooping across the lakes, an osprey soaring majestically above the airfield, as well as a flypast by a Spitfire and a Lancaster Bomber. Today the trust has thanked everyone who came along and all those who have supported their work in turning the airfield into a home for wildlife.

Those interested in the history of the airfield may also be interested in a talk to be given by Dave Bromwich, Head of Reserves at Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, in Sleaford on Monday February 20 next year. Details here

Gibraltar Point Centre and Gunby Hall

Full marks to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust for the splendid new visitor centre at Gibraltar Point which opened earlier this summer. The spectacular new £1m building replaces the former centre, which suffered extensive flood damage during the storm surge in December 2013. The trust is taking no chances this time – the building is raised on stilts to protect it from any future flooding.

Spectacular is not too strong an adjective, in my opinion.

The Dambusters connection

The connection between RAF Dambusters Squadron 617 and Woodhall Spa is well known around here, and is nowhere more evident than in the Petwood Hotel itself, where in 1942 Dambuster crew, including Canadian, New Zealand, Australian and British Air Force personnel, were stationed. The Squadron Bar, virtually untouched since it served as the officers’ mess, remains a magnet for historians and anyone who, like me, as a boy, was thrilled by the Dambusters film when it came out in 1955.

I am now struck by the tenacity and dedication of those who keep the Dambusters reality alive, as evidenced not just by frequent guests and visitors, but also by numerous posts on social media and, in particular by the Dambusters Blog, written by Charles Foster, nephew of Dambuster pilot David Maltby. As well as logging fascinating biographical notes and reproducing numerous old photographs, the blog features some intriguing current stories, such as an unusual take on Barnes Wallace, the inventor of the famous bouncing bomb:

From the Woodhall Spa noticeboards: September 2018

Here’s a selection of things to do in and around Woodhall Spa over the next month or so, in date order:

 

 

 

September 16 / 17 (7.30 pm)

Broadbent Youth Theatre: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Box office 01673 885500, or book online here

“Two years ago this theatre beat off competition from the Nottingham Playhouse, the Baths Hall in Scunthorpe, The Lighthouse Theatre in Kettering and Louth Playgoers Riverhead Theatre to be revealed as regional winner of the Netmums Theatre Awards.