Well as I am writing this it is snowing a blizzard. The kids are getting excited again!! Hoping that the school will be closed tomorrow. No rest for us grown ups though we still need to carry on.

Well in this months issue there is a bit of history, a way of saving money on your water bill, a credit crunch recipe, forewarning of a bank scam, along with the usual updates of our regular clubs and activities in the village. We have started to do personal messages now to make Kirton news a bit more personal for some. Have a look inside someone could be sending you a message.

Mother’s day is this month so I hope all you mum’s out there have a great day. I would rather have a lie in and a rest on this day and for my kids to stop arguing with each other than a bought present. A bit of peace and quiet how lovely would that be. I can dream. But even if I was to get it, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I’d be bored silly.

Little Miracles is a place where parents/carers can meet and chat over a coffee whilst there little ones aged 0-4 years can play in a safe environment. The hall is fully carpeted and we have a good selection of toys including sit n ride toys, climbing frame/slide, role play toys, baby activity mats etc.

We have craft/activity time, music/singing, puzzles, books, Duplo, Stickle Bricks and much more. We serve plenty of tea/coffee, juice for the little ones and refreshments. We have been able to purchase a great selection of toys and learning aids through funding received from the National Lottery. Toddlers learn to share and communicate through play with others their own age, younger or older and also with other adults.

Little Miracles is run by volunteer members of New Life Church and takes place on a Wednesday morning during term time from 9.45am to 12.00 noon. The cost is £1.50 per carer/child plus 50p per extra child. There is no waiting list but it would be helpful to telephone the contact number given first, if at all possible, so that we have an idea of numbers when preparing craft/activities.

Hold a Fish & Chip Supper to help spinal cord injured people live full & independent lives

Want to do something different? Want to raise money where you live or work? Want to eat Fish and Chips, while raising money for charity? Hold a fish and chip supper on Friday 15th May 2009 whilst raising awareness of spinal cord injury and supporting SIA’s information and support services. You can hold a fish and chip supper in your own home, at work or hold a larger supper at your local community centre.

SIA will provide a fundraising pack containing hints and tips, recipes, invitations and donation envelopes. By inviting 7 friends and asking them to donate an additional £5.00 means you will raise at least £35.00 from your supper but we will also give you additional fundraising ideas to raise even more money for SIA.

In 2009 SIA will celebrate its 35th Anniversary and being that Friday 15th May 2009 is Spinal Cord Injury awareness day and what a better way to raise funds than eating Fish and Chips and raising money for SIA.

The money raised from the suppers will help the Spinal Injuries Association offer support to individuals who become paralysed and their families, from the moment a spinal injury occurs, and for the rest of their lives by providing services and publications which enable and encourage paralysed people to lead independent lives.

Every year in the UK over 1,000 people experience a spinal cord injury and there are an estimated 40,000 spinal cord injured people in the UK alone.

Donor Development Officer, Elizabeth Wright, says, “The Fish and Chip Supper is a wonderful opportunity for a great evening with friends and family. We are also encouraging people who work to hold a Fish and Chip Lunch in their work places to raise even more funds. You may be even a local community group wanting to run a fun evening with your group.

2009 is the first year that SIA are running the suppers but we already envisage this to be one of our top fundraising initiatives in the SIA calendar over the coming years. Be a part of something special and make a real difference to help spinal cord injured people gain access to the information and support they need to enable them to live full and independent lives.”

For more information or request a fundraising pack call Elizabeth Wright on 0845 678 6633 xtn 229 or email: fishandchips@spinal.co.uk or visit www.spinal.co.uk

In amongst the papers handed down to each new editor of ‘Kirton News,’ is a copy of a scrapbook of newspaper clippings collected by Mrs Eliza Tunnard (b.1864-d.1925.) Here are a few items from that scrapbook with ‘Money’ as the theme.
House prices are big news at the moment, there cost being a major worry for those wishing to purchase. This item was published in 1906.

Big prices for Kirton property - Messrs. J.G. Killingworth and Son offered for sale by auction on Tuesday, at the King’s Head Inn, Kirton, three lots of property in Kirton, late in the occupation of Mr Henry Woodward. Lot 1, the residence known as Rose Cottage, with garden, covering an area of 1028 square yards, was sold for £590 to Mr. Smith of Kirton; lot 2, a plot of building land, with granary, stables, etc., containing 998 square yards, was bought for £200 by Mr. Cott; lot 3. 1a. 2r. 0p. of pasture land, was purchased for £325 by Mr. W. Dennis. – The solicitor concerned was Mr. H. H. Snaith of Boston.

No doubt many will wish that such prices existed today. Costs did not change that quickly the early years of the century, the next item was published in 1908.

Kirton Skeldyke Church fund - As is shown by the appended statement (not in the scrapbook,) there is in hand to date about £23, The estimate and plan is in, and it is imperative, if the church is to be erected at the lowest cost possible, that it should be put in hand at once. So will all those who are thinking of helping us in this most important church extension, kindly make up their minds, and send either their donations or their promises at the earliest moment convenient and possible? There should be at least £150 in the bank, or likely to be there, before the start is made. Only £20 is there now. The total cost will be about £300, as it has been thought best to erect a brick church. Do help us to respond to Mr. Tunnard’s kindness and wishes and get the Church up by August.

And finally some of the humour from those days: Small boy (to chemist): “You’ll find the smell in the bottle, sir, and I want twopen’orth of it.”
“Dear Terence,” wrote one Irishman to another, “could ye lend me foive pounds? I hate to ask you for it, but I’m in debt and want to pay it all off. -- Your affectionate friend, Mick.”
“P.S. -- I felt so ashamed to ask you for the money that I ran to get this letter back, but the post had gone.”

Mrs Smith was showing a visitor a new hat-stand she had recently purchased, when little Samuel came in and forgot to remove his hat. Thinking to teach him a lesson, she said, “Samuel, what did I buy that hat-stand for?”
“For seven-and-sixpence,” answered Samuel promptly; “but you said I wasn’t to tell anybody.”

“I have never had a penny in my life,” said the profiteer, “that has not been honestly earned.” “By whom?” asked his friend.

Would you like to trace your ancestry or leave memories of your life for family and/or the general public to read and then find that you don’t have the time? Look no further, I am in a position to help you. This January I introduced a new service, available to residents of Kirton, to do any genealogical or local history research for them. My skills have been honed on heraldic research, over the past 15 years, having one book published and researching three others. Due to health reasons, I had to give up my job, and now findmyself with time to help others, by using the skills I have learned in this field.

A recent example of an ancestral descent, undertaken for my wife, the line on the male surname went back to 1510, an exceptional piece of investigation. As before 1835 and the regular censuses beginning, research is fraught with pitfalls easily fallen into. But a direct line of descent is not always the outcome that astonishes, another piece of research found that a family had lived in one place for several generations only to leave the area just after 1900. Family members were traced to Australia after this date, showing just how spread a family can be. Travel had become the in thing, trains were reasonably cheap and migration was made easier. Each surname research yields unique information, just as each of us is unique.

On a different note, I have quite a few papers recording the life memories of numerous people. These have an interest to the parish as a whole and help to build up a picture of the immediate past. In one such paper there is a paragraph about the burning down of Deyncourt Hall and the fire that gutted a garage which stood where the florist’s shop is on Station Road. Going further back, between the wars, another paper records the delivery of bread by horse and cart. In another paper there is mention of a milk cart, again horse drawn, where the milk was poured into a jug from a barrel. Other items which are of interest, include medicines, recipes, daily routines, schools, the list goes on. But there is more out there, give me a call and add your memories to those already available.

Robert's Research Service
Wondering who your ancestors were, have no time for research?
Let me do the hard work for you.
Competitive rates and plans for all pockets.
Contact Bob on 01205 723182 or email: postmaster@robertmeeds.plus.com

Around the homes - News from the Chestnuts

The end of the refurbishment is finally in sight. We have had the use of our lounge since Christmas, and we have now resumed our dominos. Bingo sessions and fish and chip lunches at fortnightly intervals.

To celebrate her birthday, Yvonne gave a nibbles evening which was very well received.
The new fence with trellis topping is now in place around part of our garden and new patio. Once the promised landscaping of that part of the garden has taken place, we will have a lovely area to sit and relax and watch the birds and bees etc. Moles will not be welcome!

When the builders have finally finished all the little snagging jobs inside The Chestnuts, we look forward to the fitting of blinds, curtains, and pictures, to complement the bright clean lines of the refurbished areas. This will make it feel like home again!

Do pop along and see the final results on a Tuesday evening at 7pm.and have a game of Bingo

Kirton Kids Club

What excites children more than food?……….Yes that’s right SNOW! We definitely had some to shout home about, in fact the primary school had to close which in turn meant the Kids’ Club did not open either. I’m sure the children had a wonderful time though.

The art at the club definitely had a very ‘frosty’ theme to it for a while. I was really pleased when my request for people to ‘donate’ an hour of their time to the club during the evening sessions was met by an enthusiastic response.

The club now has four ‘helpers’ who come in and bring they own very unique skills to the Kids’ Club and the children alike. Many thanks to you all – we appreciate your time and your help very much.

If there area anymore people interested in working with the children and staff or one hour (3.30 to 4.30pm term time) one day a week please get in contact with me on 722426 or pop into the club any evening.

While I am on the subject of thanking people – I would once again like to thank Julie and Mick Beeson (Butchers) for their continued support of the breakfast club. Beesons have contributed toward the club for several years now and continue to do so – thank you very much.

Although the club celebrated its tenth birthday in January, we still have not had a party yet! The weather has really put paid to this for now but I am hoping we will have a big ‘shindig’ sometime when it is a bit warmer.

If you are interested in using the club for your child/children, either at the Breakfast club or after school – please give us a call and book your children in. Or alternatively come and have a look around – drop into the Kids’ Club at Kirton Youth Centre during club opening hours – you will be made very welcome.

The Mothers Union

For our meeting in March we are joining with the Women’s World Day of Prayer service. This will take place on Friday 6th March at 2pm in the Methodist Church. The speaker at this service will be Elizabeth Megahey who is the Mothers Union Faith and Policy representative.

Mothering Sunday is on 22nd March and ‘Make a Mothers Day’ gift cards are available from our table in the parish church. We will celebrate Lady Day at our 9.30am Communion Service on Thursday 26th March.

Unwanted Branch - New Home for Birds

Recently retired Tony Tidiman was looking in her garden one day and noticed she had a lot of birds coming to visit. As she looked around she noticed that her old diesel tank was of no longer use and decided to get rid of it and make a place for the birds where it had sat.

She told her friend Derek Hardstaff of her plans and he then started to ring around local tree surgeons for a branch from a tree to help with their idea. But unfortunately they had no joy because the tree surgeons usually chopped all the branches up into little pieces as they cut them down. Then one day as Tony was walking up to the co-op she saw a big branch lying on London road near the memorial garden in the church yard.

She mentioned it to Derek who went to have a look and said “you couldn’t buy a better one it’s ideal”. So Tony then rung Father David Carney who said, she was free to come and get it.

The branch was 37ft long and it took 3 people to carry it to Tony’s garden. Derek then designed, planted and created something marvelous from the branch.

Tony is overjoyed with the result. She has a wonderful bird sanctuary and has lots of little feathery friends come and visit. Such as Robins, Doves, Black birds and Bluetits to name just a few.

Clean it up!

We seem to be experiencing an explosion of the dog population in the village, resulting in serious fouling situations.

Please be a responsible dog owner and clean up after your pet as it is illegal to leave dog poo on pavements and public footpaths. It is a very simple matter to clean it up using plastic bags which can then be disposed of correctly.

For the sake of pedestrians, pram pushers, cyclists, wheelchair and mobility scooter users. It is socially necessary to clean up after your dog wherever it leaves it’s mess. HELP to make our village a cleaner place.

Angela Scarborough - a responsible dog owner

Broadway “now and then”

Despite the snow we all had a wonderful evening. “opera for a while” presented some of Broadways finest songs, including numbers from The King and I, My fair lady and Oliver in the first half, and favorites of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondleim in the second.

The four talented singers were Abbey Johnson, Adele Dixon, Jean Green and Trevor Fenton, and were accompanied by the very gifted Barry Whitfield on the keyboard. We marveled at the wide array of costumes and were so privileged to be at such a thoroughly professional production. We were also delighted that we made £193 for village hall funds.

Rosemary Hutchinson

Savings club

The Lincolnshire Credit Union Ltd is introducing a new Christmas Savings club to help its members save for 2009. They are busy promoting safe savings and loans throughout the Boston area in a bid to offer a cheaper alternative to the high rates of interest charged by doorstep lenders and loan sharks. By encouraging members to budget and save regularly they hope to help the community and those experiencing financial exclusion.

Gina Bailey and Jill Lloyd, the development workers for Boston hope to increase awareness about both credit unions and then need for proper budgeting and saving. Working with the Haven High Technical College they have started a First Savers Club for junior members encouraging children to understand saving. Open only to those who live or work within Lincolnshire the Lincolnshire Credit Union Ltd is run by volunteer directors but is owned by its members. Regulated by the FSA all of their member’s savings are guaranteed.

Anyone interested in becoming a member should contact Jill or Gina
on 01205 357004 (part-time) or the administrative office on 01522 528886.

Latest Credit Card Scam Warning from Lloyds TSB

This one is pretty slick since they provide Y O U with all the information, except the one piece they want. Note, the callers do not ask for your card number; they already have it. This information is worth reading. By understanding how the VISA & MasterCard Telephone Credit Card Scam works, you’ll be better prepared to protect yourself.

One of our employees was called on Wednesday from “VISA”, and I was called on Thursday from “MasterCard”.

The scam works like this: Person calling says, “This is (name), and I’m calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My badge number is 12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I’m calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card which was issued by (name of bank) did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for £497.99 from a Marketing company based in London ?” When you say “No”, the caller continues with, “Then we will be issuing a credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range from £297 to £497, just under the £500 purchase pattern that flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your address), is that correct?”

You say “yes”. The caller continues - “I will be starting a fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 0800 number listed on the back of your card (0800-VISA) and ask for Security.

You will need to refer to this Control Number. The caller then gives you a 6 digit number. “Do you need me to read it again?”

Here’s the IMPORTANT part on how the scam works the caller then says, “I need to verify you are in possession of your card.” He’ll ask you to “turn your card over and look for some numbers.” There are 7 numbers; the first 4 are part of your card number, the next 3 are the security numbers that verify you are the possessor of the card. These are the numbers you sometimes use to make Internet purchases to prove you have the card. The caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to him. After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he’ll say, “That is correct, I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still have your card. Do you have any other questions?” After you say, “No,” the caller then thanks you and states, “Don’t hesitate to call back if you do”, and hangs up.

You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the Card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA Security Department told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase of £497.99 was charged to our card.

Long story - short - we made a real fraud report and closed the VISA account. VISA is reissuing us a new number. What the scammers want is the 3-digit PIN number on the back of the card. Don’t give it to them. Instead, tell them you’ll call VISA or MasterCard directly for verification of their conversation. The real VISA told us that they will never ask for anything on the card as they already know the information since they issued the card! If you give the scammers your 3 Digit PIN Number, you think you’re receiving a credit. However, by the time you get your statement you’ll see charges for purchases you didn’t make, and by then it’s almost too late and/or more difficult to actually file a fraud report.

What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from a “Jason Richardson of MasterCard” with a word-for-word repeat of the VISA scam. This time I didn’t let him finish. I hung up! We filed a police report, as instructed by VISA. The police said they are taking several of these reports daily! They also urged us to tell everybody we know that this scam is happening.

Geoff Sharp

Credit crunch recipes from Lea B’s Household duties - Vegetable Macaroni Cheese - Serves 4

This is a warm and filling pasta bake with broccoli, sweetcorn and topped with a cheddar cheese.

Takes: 40mins Costs: approx £2.53 for 4 people

Ingredients: 200g macaroni pasta
350g broccoli florets
340g canned sweetcorn (drained)
40g butter
40g plain flour
600ml semi-skimmed milk (warmed)
1tsp English mustard (optional)
175g strong cheddar cheese (grated)

1) Heat the oven to 200c / Gas mark 6. Cook the macaroni in a large pan of salted water for 5 mins, cut broccoli into small florets, add to pan and cook for a further 3 mins until the macaroni and broccoli are tender. Drain and place into an oven proof dish.

2) To make the sauce, melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour. Stir over a medium heat for 1 min, remove from the heat and gradually add the warm milk, stirring well after each addition. Return to the heat and bring back to the boil. Stirring until the sauce thickens.

3) Remove from the heat and add the mustard if using it, Season with salt and pepper. Add ¾ of the cheese and stir until the cheese has melted.

4) Add the sweetcorn and pour into the dish, fork the sauce through the pasta and broccoli. Scatter the remaining cheese on top then bake in the oven for 20 mins until the dish is bubbling and the top is golden.

Local Policing

Anti Social Behaviour: There have been 9 reports on Anti Social Behaviour in Kirton for January 2009. These are as follows:

2 report of inappropriate use of fireworks
4 reports of inconsiderate behaviour
2 reports of vehicle nuisance.
1 report of throwing things

There have been reports of criminal damage by persons throwing objects at windows causing them to break. This has occurred in the Saxon Gate, Jackson Drive area of Kirton. The Neighbourhood Policing Team has carried out high visual patrols in these areas and youths have been spoken to regarding this issue. If anyone has any further information regarding this matter can they please contact me directly?

The old tractor yard on London Road has evidence in the buildings that youths are using this as a den. Can you please speak to your children and remind them that these are not play areas and there is concern for their safety. Every effort has been made to make these buildings more secure to stop people gaining access. Increased high visual patrols are being carried out in this area.

If anyone has any issues or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at: Kirton Police Station, Station Road on 01205 722002 or alternatively you can e-mail me at adam.eden@lincs.pnn.police.uk

PCSO Adam Eden - Boston Neighbourhood Policing Team - South Rural

The Registers

Baptisms - We welcome into God’s family:

11th January - Stacey Ann Judd
8th February - Alfie James Davies
8th February - Isabel Jessica Leeann Swinney

Funerals - We commend to God’s keeping:

20th January - Fleda May Oliver
20th January - Marjorie May Ann Pike
22nd January - Phylliss Vera McCormick
26th January - Arthur Saxby (Titch) Carr
10th February - Violet Elsie Horry

Donations

The magazine committee wish to say ‘Thank-you’ for the following donations which are much appreciated:-

Anonymous.................£20
Anonymous.................£10
Kirton mothers union....£5

Donations for the magazine may be taken into Fossitt & Thorne (The Green), enclosed in an envelope.

Kirton Youth Club

We are back open again after our little winter break. The youths are still enjoying learning to play musical instruments and are hoping to play in a concert at Boston College soon.

Unfortunately due to rising costs we are going to have to put our prices up. From April we will be charging £1 per child. But still 50p for extra siblings. I’m sorry I have to do this but I have no choice. However we will be supplying squash free.

Do you fancy becoming a volunteer and helping out some wed nights. If you do we would love to hear from you. We are open on a wed night 7pm till 9pm pop along or ring me on 07804241339.

Catrina