©Kirton News 2025

Boston Classic Car Club
33rd Annual Show

The BCCC Annual Show took place on 10th August with perfect weather, an excellent turnout and an eclectic mix of around 540 classic vehicles - all of which had pre-booked and exhibited free of charge. Held at Orchard Park Field in Hubbert’s Bridge near Boston for the fifth year running the event proved to be the most successful to date with well over 1500 members of the public enjoying the display of lovingly prepared and presented classics.

Singing duo, Infinity Max provided well appreciated entertainment on two occasions during the day with selections of songs from the 60’s and 70’s together with hits from ABBA. Practical Classics Editor, Danny Hopkins took part, together with BCCC Chairman, John Simpson, in a Question and Answer session during the afternoon which proved fascinating and enlightening as well as entertaining to their appreciative audience.

At the end of the day, for those drivers who had their vehicles judged during the show, the winners and runners up from the various categories and eras were presented with their trophies by well-known personality Sarah Crabtree and Danny Hopkins.

The array of trade stands proved of interest to many of the exhibitors and visitors alike as did the food stalls (with the ice cream sellers particularly having a very busy time!). The raffle held on the day raised a healthy amount for LIVES which is the Club charity for this year.

Spalding Sea Cadets carried out car parking duties with efficiency and courtesy and their efforts were very appreciated by the Club.

The Club is indebted to Mr David May for the use of both the Show field and the car parking field. Without his help, which went above and beyond, the Show would not have been the resounding success it was.

Club members and other members of their families, worked tirelessly on the day and for many days before and after, to ensure that the event ran smoothly and Show Organiser, Graham Lunn, was always available to deal rapidly and professionally with any unforeseen issues.

The Boston Classic Car Club’s 33rd Annual Show in its 35th Anniversary year was much appreciated by all and was, by a considerable degree, the best yet. Next Year the BCCC Annual Show will be held on Sunday 9th August 2026.

Kirton News turns Sixty!

Taking Kirton News into the new Millennium as our 6th Editors were David & Sylvia Hilton. After moving up to Kirton from the South, the pair quickly became involved in all things ‘community’ around the village, firstly converting their home on Boston Road into a guest house and then joining the many clubs and societies around the village including: The Church in Kirton Magazine, Kirton Keep Fit, Kirton Craft Club to name but a few, and becoming active members of The Parish Church. One of David & Sylvia’s innovations for the magazine was to record all the articles each month onto a master tape, that was then duplicated onto cassette tapes for the blind.

After completing their 4 years of service, the Editorship passed to Lesley Lanfranco in 2004. Our archive of minutes stated “Lesley is married with 2 children aged 11 and 9 and has an extremely busy life but nevertheless has agreed to take on Editorship and has many ideas for the magazine” and indeed she did! Lesley’s first decision was to increase the amount of copies printed to account for the ever growing population of Kirton. Her second and most radical idea was to rename the magazine from ‘The Church in Kirton’ to ‘Kirton News’ s at this point, the Churches’ contributions were decreasing and they were considering putting out their own magazine.

After a couple of years, Lesley stepped down in 2006 and the 8th Editor was Roger Booth. Like David Hilton before him, Roger, and his wife Elsie had moved to Kirton to retire after his career as a Marine Engineer. Roger’s main contribution was to digitise production as he declared Kirton News should move towards receiving all articles via email and should feature all of its content online. So, from April 2007 our website was launched and since then, everything has appeared on the internet!

We now have a vast archive of previous editions that can be accessed online. Roger recounted many stories of his time at sea that were published in 7 parts within the magazine. After several years living in the village, Roger & Elsie made the decision to emigrate to Australia and left us with this farewell message: ‘Dear readers, well this is it – my swan song. I have really enjoyed doing my editor ‘thing’. I have met many interesting people and owe a big thank you to the contributors who are too many to mention individually. Contributions range across old pictures, stories, features, poems, crosswords, etc. I have mentioned before keep your contributions coming – it’s a Kirton magazine for the people and by the people who live here. A big thank you also to the people who distribute the magazine.’

2008 saw Catrina Smith take on the role of Editor. Catrina did a sterling job for 2 years but then in July informed the committee she was leaving the village and therefore left us without an editor for September. An urgent committee meeting was called with the future of the magazine in jeopardy. Thankfully, David & Sylvia Hilton (still involved recording the tapes), agreed to come out of retirement to take up the reins once again. They quickly launched anurgent appeal featuring Lord Kitchener on the cover to seek out a new editor and after several weeks, Joan Woods agreed to come on board as our 11th Editor. Sadly, her time with Kirton News was brief as her husband became ill and she needed to dedicate her time to care for him. So in October 2011, our Advertising Manager at the time, Sam Chapman agreed to become our 12th Editor.

Concludes next month

Our 6th Editors, David & Sylvia Hilton

Our 7th & 8th Editors, Lesley Lanfranco (left) and
Roger and Elsie Booth (Centre and right)

Information from Citizens Advice

I’m starting to book tickets for Christmas events, but I’ve seen lots of stories in the news about people being left out of pocket if these are cancelled at the last minute, which is making me nervous. How can I get a refund if this happens to me?

Keep an eye on the organiser’s website and social media profiles for all the latest updates. You won’t be entitled to a refund if you change your mind about going or realise you can’t go anymore - but if an event is cancelled, your refund rights will depend on how you bought the ticket.

If you bought your ticket from an official seller and the organiser cancels, moves, or reschedules the event, you should get a refund. The official seller is the best point of contact to ask about how to get your money back.

If you’re having no luck getting a refund, check to see if the seller is a member of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR). If they are, you can use STAR’s complaints procedure. STAR members should receive a refund at face value if the event is cancelled and the organiser has agreed to refunds.

You’ll probably only get the face value of the ticket back - the amount printed on it. Some sellers might refund postage if, for example, the event is cancelled before the tickets are sent. If you had to pay any booking or card fees, you might not get those back.

If the official seller isn’t a member of STAR, check how you can solve an ongoing consumer problem with a business seller. You may also be able to get your money back another way, such as through your credit card company.

If you bought your ticket from a ticket-reselling website, refunds will depend on the site's terms and conditions.

If you bought from a private seller and the event is cancelled or rescheduled then it is unlikely you will be able to recover your money. We still recommend you contact the seller.

Be aware of scams. Unfortunately we’ve found that in these situations scammers can prey on those who are affected.

If your event is cancelled and people or companies get in touch to offer their services to try to recover money on your behalf, be alert and make sure that you're looking out for the signs of a potential scam.

For more information on getting a refund, take a look at the Citizens Advice website.

If you need further help, contact Citizens Advice Mid Lincolnshire on 08082787942. Alternatively, you can email your query to: outreach@citizensadvicemidlincs.org.uk or attend one of our face to face drop in sessions.

For information about our service, drop in opening times and how we can help you, please take a look at our website www.camidlincs.org.uk

Message from Father Paul

The parable of the Good Samaritan is probably one of the best know passage from the bible, but does it hold any relevance for us today, do we recognise the meaning of the parable in our lives? Jesus give us this parable in answer to the question ‘who is my neighbour?’ The parable is set upon the road to Jerusalem where a traveller is rob of all his possession and left for dead on the road. It happens that two religious men walk past one after the other and they both walk by on the other side of the road, showing no compassion to the man. These religious men were followed by a Samaritan, who not only show the man compassion, he also took him to an Inn and payed for him to be cared for.

The point that Jesus was making is that anyone and therefore everyone is our neighbour, no matter who they may be, particularly if they are in need. This is more than just a nice story of people being kind to each other, for at that time the people of Samaria and the people of Israel were sworn enemies, if we think of the modern day Israelis and the Palestinians we would not be far off. To show compassion, care, love to our families and friends even to the people we know is an easy thing to do. To show that same compassion, care, love to those we do not know, to those who are different from ourselves, to those who speak different language is not so easy and yet these are our neighbours also. With the darker nights and the colder day we tend to hide ourselves away, this is the time to consider those around us, to consider our neighbours, those who may be in need but do not like to ask. Take the time to show compassion to your neighbour, for you never know when will need compassion shown to you.