Angel is watching with some concern our resident muscovy duck on Spalding’s riverside and her gradually diminishing brood. What started off as 17 or 18 ducklings was down to about 11 on last count.

• How many men in high vis jackets does it take to clear a smallish piece of waste ground beside the railway line on Winsover Road? Five it would appear when Angel was passing on Monday.

• The man painting the smart looking exterior of the new shop planned for the Sheep Market told Angel he would be a millionaire if he’d been paid £1 by everyone asking if he was going to paint the lurid green shop next door – and he’s only been there a week!

• Two very sweet old dears were about to set off from Spalding’s Sheep Market by car the other day. The driver was standing in the road by the driver’s door and summoned her pal to the same side, telling her: “You’re safe – if anyone (meaning passing drivers) looks like hitting you, I’ll hit them with my stick!”

Hmmm. Angel’s not sure you’ll find that sort of advice in the Highway Code. Game girls, though.

• Remember the days when it was fashionable to have three flying duck ornaments on the living room wall?

Angel seems to recall Corrie’s Hilda Ogden had them along with her “muriel”.

Angel was having a cappuccino at McDonald’s in Spalding the other day when three real live ducks were flying in living room wall formation over the nearby Holbeach Road field. Life imitating art, perhaps.

• Angel settled down in Hall Place the other day, clutching her lunchtime coffee and sandwich, ready to listen to a busker playing a clarinet. He packed up just as Angel sat down.

Lots of you know that every year I use my annual leave entitlement to volunteer my veterinary skills and knowledge for rescue centre hospitals and charity organisations around the world.

This year I went to an island called Carriacou, a small island off the coast of Grenada in the West Indies to work for the Grenada Society for Protection Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA)

On arrival at the hospital it was a warm evening. Obviously I was tired, but I was greeted by four lovely dogs, who lived at the hospital for one reason or another and were soon helping me to unpack! It’s a good job that no volunteer work ever requires smart clothes as mine at this point were being dragged around the floor...

The days were long, from 8am until 8pm, and it was very hot working in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees most days. Every day presented cases some good some not so good some with happy outcomes and some not so.

There were routine procedures, such as cat and dog spays and castrates, but as the hospital is not government funded and the owners of these animals can only afford to give a donation, items used such as antibiotics and general anaesthetics are all donated by people such as myself.

One of the biggest challenges that the hospital faced were dogs with ‘tick fever’. We don’t get it over here but the ticks over there carry a nasty virus which effects all the limbs and the circulation of dogs. Once bitten. dogs will loose the ability to stand and the limbs get very swollen – the prognosis is always guarded but if caught in time the dogs can be placed on IV fluids and given a special course of treatment that sometimes can pull them back round. But these dogs will remain in the hospital with round the clock care. I saw three cases and only one was a good outcome.

Another thing that owners do, which if I’m honest frustrated me greatly, was driving beaten up old 4x4s with open backs and tying dogs into the back with rope. This is supposed to prevent the dog from jumping out, but often the rope length is too long and doesn’t stop them. This is what happened to Brie.

This beautiful cross breed dog jumped out of the truck when some other dogs started chasing it. The owner drove for about 100 yards before he realised what had happened, by which time of course the dog had sustained bad scrapes to all four legs.

We saw Brie every day for the time I was there, replacing the dressing daily. The wounds did get better, but the dog was still allowed to travel in the back of the truck, although the rope was made shorter. I felt the dog should never have been put in the back again!

• To be continued.

I love the sound of the cell door clanging shut on a burglar: it’s the ultimate job satisfaction.

In the past few weeks I have had extra patrols out and about at night looking for burglars. There is some good work going on behind the scenes that I am unable to talk about while enquiries continue.

But this has brought to mind a time when I was tasked with looking for burglars who had been targeting the Royce Road estate. It was 10pm on a moonless September evening, with an autumnal nip in the air. I had just parked my unmarked police car up in Royce Road. It was a quiet night, with no one stirring but a local cat prowling along some front gardens.

As I watched the cat I noticed a man who was very well known to me: we’ll call him Billy Burglar.

Billy was stood in a garden in one of the cul-de-sacs off Royce Road.

As my eyes adjusted to the gloom I could see that Billy was motionless on the front path of one of the houses. He was staring at me as I was looking at him.

Billy and I had a history. He had assaulted me on a couple of occasions in the past and had a nasty violent reputation. I don’t mind admitting that Billy scared me. He was unpredictable.

Now, I should explain that being scared doesn’t make me a coward; it makes me human. Avoiding confrontation would be cowardly, but I was never one to avoid trouble.

However, it would be prudent to call for another officer to join me if I was going to approach Billy.

Unfortunately, all other officers were busy. So I continued to watch Billy. He was stood on the path of a house where he didn’t live. He just stayed there, looking at me. I waited for back up. I waited and waited. Forty agonising minutes slowly passed and Billy never moved. I got the impression that he thought he was in the shadows and hoped that I couldn’t see him.

I was in one of our CID cars, and Billy knew all our cars, so it was obvious that he knew who I was.

My stomach was starting to knot up with the anticipation of an impending violent confrontation.

Just as I was deciding that I was going to have to approach Billy without waiting for help, Billy forced the issue by finally walking down the path to the front gate to where a bike was leaning against the front fence. I couldn’t allow Billy to cycle off.What if he had just committed a burglary? What if the bike was stolen?

I got out of my car and ran across to Billy just as he was climbing on the bike. Although Billy knew me, I flashed my warrant card at him and identified myself. Before I could say any more, Billy shouted: ‘Why have you been trying to stare me out?’ I was still a couple of metres away as I started to explain that I thought he was acting suspiciously and I was going to search him.

‘I’m frightfully sorry PC Tyner, but I’m not going to allow that to happen’ is NOT what Billy said, but in his own monosyllabic way, that’s what he meant. And his intention was reinforced as he threw his bike at me.

Yes, there was a flying bike hurtling towards me (did I mention that Billy was incredibly strong.) The more perspicacious among you will already have worked out that this was not going to end well. The bike landed on the ground with such a thud that it buckled the rear wheel. I managed to side step the bike as Billy turned tail and ran up the cul-de-sac towards a small alleyway that lead to Holbeach Road.

Billy ran from my sight and I was a couple of seconds behind him. As I ran in to the darkened alley, Billy was waiting for me in a half-crouched position. He sprung up and threw a right hook at me.

Luckily, he missed me but knocked my glasses flying, breaking them. Now this was the time before CS spray and taser, but I had a torch in my hand, and I managed to get one good swing at Billy, knocking him to the ground. I then jumped on top of Billy and kept him restrained on the ground until help arrived. I knew that if Billy had a chance to get up, I would be in big trouble.

Help was about three minutes away, but that’s a long long time when you’re struggling to restrain someone. The first officer to come to my aid was my colleague John (who I had previously left on the roadside, Spalding Guardian, August 7). Once we got a very belligerent Billy handcuffed, we took him to the police station and searched him properly.

I never did find out what he was doing on the garden path: I suspect that when Billy saw me, it prevented him from carrying out whatever nefarious deed he had planned. However, in his pockets I found some cannabis and some evidence linked to a previous burglary a couple of days earlier.

In many ways our fight against burglars remains unchanged and my officers are still out there actively stopping and searching those people of our twilight community who we suspect of being involved in burglaries.

So, whether it’s my policing reminisces or the next generation of ‘thief-takers’ that have been out there in recent weeks, I still delight to the sound of the cell door clanging shut on a burglar.

Dimitrijs Afanasjeves (27), of no fixed address, has been remanded in custody by Lincoln magistrates until August in connection with a burglary charge after a hearing on Thursday.

Afanasjeves is accused of burgling a house in Pinchbeck Road, Spalding, which was reported to police on August 9.

A four-year-old border collie called Ben has a new-found respect for firefighters after being rescued from a riverbank in Spalding.

Ben was stuck in reeds along the riverbank near West Marsh Road at about 5pm on Thursday.

But firefighters from Spalding and Boston helped the dog to safety.

The police and co-operating organisations put on a very good show in the Sheepmarket on Tuesday.

Congratulations on the special effort. I noticed a sign amongst the displays, that invited: ‘Ask any question’; so I asked one. It was a policy question, and I put it to one of the officers standing near. That was unfair on him really, but I could see no senior-looking person around at the time.

I didn’t get a substantial answer, so here’s the question again, in the hope that someone in the hierarchy will give an answer: Why is there no policy statement by or on behalf of the police, on the matter of cycling on footways? This practice has become pretty well accepted now, to the extent that, by default, the law has effectively been changed. I don’t think that that is an acceptable way of changing law. If it is, what other law may become similarly changed in future?

As the officer to whom I spoke said: ‘We stop them if we see them, but it’s not often we can do that.’ No, of course not, and if you don’t catch offenders often enough, it’s no deterrent. To be effective, being caught needs to be a common enough experience to form a deterrent, and that must mean some special approach. Relying on the chance of catching enough offenders on the normal beat, plainly won’t work.

The police did do a one-off big raid on offenders in the early-ish hours some time ago and caught a number; but that exercise was useless as a deterrent, simply because it plainly was a one-off. Perhaps a programme of smaller, random, unannounced raids would help, with a regular (weekly?) appearance of well-reported court judgements in the paper.

I suspect that, given the calculated undermanning of the police force, there has been a decision by the police authorities simply to let the matter go, in favour of what are judged more important things. That’s comfortable, but is it acceptable? There’s also a political dimension to all this, in two ways: first, the undermanning of the force; and second, the long-standing lack of provision of adequate cycling facilities, which would reduce the temptation to resort to the footway in the first place.

Perhaps our MP would care to join some senior police person in giving a plain statement on policy and suggesting what might be done to recover control of the situation.

John Tippler

Spalding

The East Lincolnshire Community Safety Partnership is calling on people from South Holland, Boston Borough and East Lindsey to help set crime-fighting priorities, with a chance of winning £30 in high street vouchers.

The body’s annual survey will ask local communities what problems they feel need addressing, so they can take steps to prevent them in the future.

Based on last year’s results the partnership produced a three year strategy for tackling crime and boosting saftey.

The current priorities are anti-social behaviour, violent crime, community cohesion, alcohol misuse, theft from shops and cycle thefts.

In South Holland the group already works with various campaigns and schemes such as Alcohol Concern and Activate to alleviate concerns over drinking and anti-social behaviour.

The survey results will be used to fine tune current plans going forward.

Coun Nick Worth, portfolio holder for community safety, said: “This is an opportunity for the public to tell the partnership what issues concern them.

“Your input is vital to help the partnership tackle key problems in local areas.”

The survey is available now online at www.sholland.gov.uk/ or you can pick up a hard copy at the council offices.

The closing date for responses is October 10.

I write to pass on the thanks of Spalding and District branch of the RNLI to Sainsbury’s shoppers who generously donated a total of £260 to the charity on August 16.

Such donations are vital to maintain the rescue services of the RNLI, which are not government funded. Our volunteer lifeboat crews have rescued an average of 23 people a day this year, saving many lives.

I would like to extend our thanks to the manager and staff of Sainsbury’s for their help and support.

Peter Warren

RNLI Hon Treasurer

Spalding Branch

I would like to thank Mel and Colin Carpenter, Pete Wright and Kevin Pritchard for their generous help throughout the fundraising weekend for the Smile Charity.

Thanks to Anne Stevens, Tracey Clarkson and Pat Baxter for their work in the kitchen, supplying tea and coffee; Jason Waltham and Stacey Dickenson for keeping the beer flowing and Spalding Lions and The Ship at Pinchbeck for their very kind donations.

Also thanks to the two football teams, Pinchbeck United Juniors and Boston United Juniors, the veterans of Pinchbeck United Reserves for their kind donations and last of all and by no means least Pinchbeck United Football Club for allowing us to host the weekend at their club.

Once again, thank you to everyone who put all their time into making it a very successful weekend, raising £1,050.

Nigel Stevens

Pinchbeck

The latest set of EU rules which could mean we have to separate our rubbish into six different bins is ludicrous but sadly does not really surprise us.

It’s indicative of the meddling bureaucracy we have come to expect from the EU and its officials.

We know recycling is important and opinion polls tell us the British public realise its importance in many cases but it is farcical that we could end up with six bins.

Where do people house all these bins?

Will it mean collections are farther apart from each other as bin collectors will struggle to collect six bins weekly, or even fortnightly?

The whole proposal shows how disconnected these bureaucrats are from everyday working families in this country.

Roger Helmer and

Margot Parker

UKIP MEPs

for the East

Midlands

Deeping Rangers can expect some defensive lessons on the training pitch ahead of their trip to Oadby Town on Saturday.

A three-game losing streak was made worse by the way Rangers conceded three goals in what boss Tuncay Korkmaz described as “five bad minutes” against Cogenhoe United on Saturday.

Korkmaz said: “Sometimes you think that you need a game in midweek to get back to winning ways.

“But other times you need time to work on your team’s shape and it’s welcome that we don’t have a game in midweek so we can work on the training pitch.”

Pat Rayment wants three signings to strengthen 
Spalding United’s squad.

The Tulips boss vowed to go into the transfer market after their opening home defeat in the Evo-Stik League First Division South.

He has brought in Luke Thurlbourne – brother of left-sided player Jamie – from St Neots Town.

He described the first-half display on Saturday against Chasetown as the best spell since promotion.

But the Staffordshire side went away with a 2-0 victory thanks to second-half goals.

Rayment said: “We’ve got to learn but I can’t get our best team on the pitch at the moment.

“I don’t think Chasetown got a kick in the first half but that’s when you have to learn how to stay strong.

“They were still in the game at half-time when they should have been dead and buried.

“I felt two or three of our players didn’t do enough in the second half. They weren’t strong enough and we can’t afford that.

“There are going to be about half a dozen teams who know how to stay strong and keep grafting away to get the right results.

“In each game it’s up to us to learn quickly and the only way we can do that is by playing matches together.

“We need more personnel so I’ll be going back into the transfer market.

“I want to bring in two or three players across the team in different positions.

“We are really thin on the ground and we need to get players in.

“We need half a dozen games to get ourselves going and if we were that far away I would be concerned. But I don’t think we are a long way off at all.”

Central defender Nathan Stainfield missed Saturday’s game due to illness and his brother George was allowed to play for Pinchbeck United.

Striker Jordan Thomas played in a World War One memorial match in Belgium.

Local councillors don’t have long holidays like Members of Parliament who break from July 30 until October 13.

South Holland District Council members have less meetings in August.

However, members still gather for planning meetings and for the Policy Development Panel and Performance Management Scrutiny Committees to discuss matters which need attention before September.

Also, members of the Executive, myself and Coun Bryan Alcock continue to meet with officers during August.

Other time is spent on constituency matters.

I work closely with my co-ward member, Coun George Aley, and we tour our ward to see if the road sweeper is needed.

This is often necessary when some of the trees have been trimmed or weeds sprayed in gutters.

We also meet people who have requested additional litter bins and then discuss their requests with grounds maintenance staff to find suitable places for them.

The County Council no longer allow us to place bins on posts.

They have to be placed on concrete bases, capable of being fixed down to avoid vandals using them as footballs, and positioned where they will not be a hazard to partially sighted people or residents with wheel chairs or prams.

These bins costs around £450 each and we fund these out of our members’ budgets as we both agree they are a good asset to our area.

Coun Aley and I also do evening tours to see if we have sufficient footway lights in our ward.

With new developments, the developers are now required to provide adequate lighting to meet present day requirements and, on our main roads, the County Council provide street lighting.

Any resident who notices a light not working can report it direct to the South Holland District Council office, quoting the lamp post number, and the fault will be dealt with.

Hopefully other councillors will also conduct similar visits.

People in Spalding Monks House Ward can contact me via email on anewton@sholland.gov.uk if you wish to report areas needing attention.

Contact details for other councillors can be found on South Holland District Council website www.sholland.gov.uk

Church leaders in Sutton Bridge are trying to stamp out thefts and vandalism in St Matthew’s churchyard – by asking families to remove some items left on loved-ones’ graves.

Vicar, the Rev David Oxtoby, said: “Keeping out those within the community who don’t respect others’ grave spaces is always going to be difficult.

“The PCC (parochial church council) will be writing to some families and asking them to please remove items that don’t conform to churchyard regulations – therefore removing the opportunity for theft and also making the whole churchyard more in keeping with its surroundings.”

The church may also step up surveillance to keep thefts and vandalism in check.

Mr Oxtoby said: “The church does have CCTV inside so one possibility is for an extra camera to be located outside at the rear of the church.”

He said some villagers have complained to him about grave spaces that they claim are “spoiling the overall look of the whole churchyard”.

Mr Oxtoby said: “I’m aware that there have been a few incidents where items have been taken from grave spaces and not been returned, such as lanterns.

“The PCC have decided to review the whole churchyard against churchyard regulations to ensure our churchyard is a place of peace and beauty for the current and also future generations.”

Applications made to the local councils.

South Holland District Council

Mr G Dainton, rear 4 Foxes Low Road, Holbeach. New vehicular access for 6 Foxes Low Road.

Mr K Shepperson and Mr G Freeman, Old Crown Farm, Carrington Road, Moulton Seas End. Details of external materials, doors, windows, etc.

Mrs S Mitchell, 8 Albert Street, Holbeach. Removal of defective render, remove cement based pointing and re point in sympathetic lime based materials and various other work (retrospective).

Proctor Brothers (Wingland) Ltd, Lighthouse Farm, East Bank, Sutton Bridge. Detail of external materials.

Mr D Robinson, rookery Farm, Joys Bank, Holbeach St Johns. Expansion of nursery and glasshouses.

Mr D Franklin, 79 Little London, Long Sutton. Details of external materials, landscaping and boundary screening.

Mr and Mrs Woolsey, 3 The Paddocks, Holbeach. Extension.

Bernard Matthews Ltd, Paradise Farm, Mill Drove North, Cowbit. Amendment to nine biomass heating packaged plant rooms.

Mr and Mrs P Horry, 3 Paddock Lane, Roman Bank, Holbeach Bank. Loft conversion and alterations to garage.

Mr K Sharpe, 1 Sunningdale Avenue, Spalding. Relocation of boundary fence.

Mr and Mrs J Carnell, 8 Delamore Way, Long Sutton. Extension.

Boston Borough Council

Ms N Dunlop, Brinsworth Farm, Holme Road, Kirton Holme. Amendment to siting of annex.

Miss S Luker, The Villa, Asperton Road, Wigtoft. Extension.

South Kesteven District Council

Peach, 5 Westwood Drive, Bourne. Demolition of rear porch and build extension.

Twine, r/o 33A Horsegate, Deeping St James. Single storey detached dwelling with car parking.

Bourne United Charities, The Well Head Fields, South Street, Bourne. Fell two willow trees.

John Kearsey, The Grange, Callans Lane, Kirkby Underwood. Conversion of cart shed to dwelling.

Turner, 4 Galletly Close, Bourne. Extension, replacement garage with first floor above.

Welsh, 27 North Road, Bourne. Extension.

Moody, r/o 37 West Road, Bourne. Three dwellings.

Health Matters by Jenny Hinchliffe, Head of Clinical Services for the South at Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust

An estimated three million people have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in the UK, and most people are not diagnosed until they are in their 50s.

Some of you might not have heard of COPD before and many of you won’t realise a specialist respiratory team work across Lincolnshire to support patients to make living with the condition more manageable.

COPD is a long-term lung condition which makes breathing difficult and is caused predominantly by smoking or breathing in other harmful substances. COPD is a broad term that covers several lung conditions, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

The majority of people living with COPD will have symptoms of breathlessness of varying degrees.

No two people are the same and some people cope with their breathlessness with very little support from any health services, however, for many people living with COPD is a disabling and exhausting experience because their breathlessness makes all aspects of daily living very hard work.

The decision about which medicines to use depends on how severe the COPD is, how it is affecting everyday life and whether the person has a lot of exacerbations of their condition (a worsening of symptoms, very often caused by a chest infection). The treatments available for COPD help people to breathe more easily but they don’t repair the damage to the lungs.

Stopping smoking is extremely important if you have COPD to prevent further and ongoing damage to the lungs. Your GP, practice nurse, respiratory team or a specialist advisor from the Phoenix NHS Stop Smoking Service will all be able to offer you support and help to do this. Using Nicotine Replacement Therapy will greatly increase your chance of quitting.

The specialist respiratory team at Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) provide a number of services specifically tailored to supporting patients with COPD.

These services include:

* Specialist COPD nurses who support when symptoms get worse, medicines management and all aspects of living with COPD, especially keeping well and avoiding going into hospital.

The nurses also support patients after discharge from hospital to ensure they make a good recovery.

* Pulmonary Rehabilitation – a 10-week programme of exercise which improves patients’ breathing control, fitness and health related quality of life. The sessions also include education which teaches patients how to manage their condition.

* Adult Home Oxygen Assessment Service – some patients may have low oxygen levels and require oxygen therapy at home. It is important that patients are fully assessed for this therapy and then reviewed regularly.

* Respiratory Physiotherapists will visit patients at home who need support with breathing control, coughing and clearing sputum from their chests.

If you have COPD and think you may benefit from one of these services please contact your GP or practice nurse who will be able to refer you if they think it will help you.

If you would like more information or support to quit smoking, contact the Phoenix NHS Stop Smoking Service for free, confidential and non-judgemental advice on 0800 840 1533.

£ 315,000 – Gosberton

Sedge Estate Agents – 01775 713888

This immaculate spacious detached cottage with no near neighbours is set on a one-and-a-half acre plot (STS).

The property has three double bedrooms with a feature balcony off the master bedroom, five reception rooms, kitchen with separate utility room, bathroom, shower room and a double integral garage.

The extremely large west facing plot has a timber built garden room offering potential for an annexe and an extensive patio area with a hot tub, large pond, further formal gardens leading to wild area at the extremety of the plot – all surrounded by open fields.

This property is offered for sale with no chain.

£209,950

Situated upon the historic London Road, this Grade II listed town house benefits from characteristic features alongside modern and practical everyday fixtures and fittings.

Overlooking the picturesque River Welland this functional home consists of four double bedrooms, three reception rooms, two modern washrooms and a generously sized kitchen diner.

Externally there is a courtyard-style garden and the property is within easy reach of Spalding town centre.

Internal viewing is highly recommended and the property is sold with no onward chain.

£255,000: Morriss and Mennie, 01406 422907

This three-bedroom executive detached bungalow on a small but popular development is on a good-sized plot with vast off-road parking leading to a double garage.

The bungalow offers a warm and inviting interior with spacious and versatile living accommodation.

It has three double bedrooms with an en suite to the master. It also has the added benefit of a conservatory overlooking the landscaped rear garden.

The accommodation comprises entrance hall, lounge, kitchen/diner, utility room, three double bedrooms, en suite to master bedroom, modern bathroom,UPVC double glazing, gas central heating, double garage, block-paved off-road parking, corner plot, front and rear gardens, studio.

A1 Property Rentals: 01406 490429

A1 Property Rentals are delighted to offer this two-bedroom terraced property in Holbeach.

The accommodation comprises of lounge, kitchen/diner, two double bedrooms, bathroom and courtyard garden. The property also benefits from night storage heaters. Please call to arrange a viewing.