Four car parks in Sleaford will close next week to allow essential maintenance work to be carried out.

Image source, Google

Work will take place on Cogglesford Mill, Money’s Yard, Eastbanks and Church Lane car parks between 9 and 11 December.

Works have been spaced out to ensure car parking in the town is still available.

The planned works will take place on:

• Monday 9 December from 07:00 at Cogglesford Mill car park

• Tuesday 10 December from 07:00 at Eastbanks and Church Lane car parks

• Wednesday 11 December from 18:00 at Money's Yard car park

Alternative car parking is available at Eastgate, Grantham Road, and the Market Place.

Keep your eyes peeled in Spalding over the next month - a Nutcracker Trail is being launched with 14 figurines hidden around the town.

Image source, South Holland District Council

The decorative Nutcracker figurines are most commonly made to resemble a toy soldier. In German tradition, the dolls are symbols of good luck.

The trail has been created by South Holland District Council and will see the figures hidden in shops around the town from December 7 to 22.

Booklets are available to help guide participants on their festive foray.

After the trail has been completed and all the figurines' names have been entered into the booklet, the participant will be able to post their entry form in special post boxes at the South Holland Centre and the council offices.

Three winners will then be chosen at random and will receive a hamper.

One patient with a serious chest complaint says he was kept waiting for over 12 hours.

A nature reserve car park has been closed until further notice because of flooding.

Image source, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

The Donna Nook reserve, on the Lincolnshire coast, covers more than six miles of coastline between Grainthorpe Haven and Saltfleet.

Every November and December, grey seals come to the area to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes; a wildlife spectacle which attracts visitors from across the UK.

Image source, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

But as a result of flooding, the car park has been closed.

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust is requesting that people do not visit until further notice.

Police patrols in Grimsby have been stepped up after two people were stabbed in separate incidents less than ten minutes apart.

Image source, Google

The first happened at about 19:40 yesterday when a woman suffered knife wounds after being attacked at an address in Duncombe Gardens.

A short while later, at 19:50, a man sustained knife injuries in a separate incident on Oxford Street.

Humberside Police said they do not believe the incidents are linked.

Ch Insp Andy Maltby said: “Incidents of this nature are thankfully rare, however I fully understand how distressing for the local community it will have been, and I want to offer my reassurance that we treating the investigation with the utmost priority.

“We do suspect these incidents have been targeted at the individuals concerned and are not random acts. At this stage, we do not believe the two assaults are linked, although our investigations are ongoing."

Two men, aged 45 and 21-years-old, have been arrested in connection with the incident on Oxford Street.

Emergency services are dealing with an incident on the A180 in Grimsby:

A man who savagely beat his partner to death on her birthday at a Lincolnshire caravan park has been sentenced to life in prison.

Image source, Lincolnshire Police

Andrew Highton punched, kicked and smashed an ashtray in the face of Linda Treeby during the incident in Ingoldmells in May.

Ms Treeby was left with 34 separate injuries including a shattered nose and a broken bone in her throat by the time Highton had finished attacking her.

They had been staying at the Summerlands Caravan Park at Ingoldmells near Skegness.

Highton of Bulwell, near Nottingham, was convicted of her murder yesterday by a jury at Lincoln Crown Court.

The 51-year-old has been sentenced to life in prison and ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years before he's considered for parole.

In passing sentence Judge John Burgess said: "What you did to her was sustained, savage and brutal. It is plain that the amount of violence you were prepared to use was almost inevitably going to lead to her death."

The parents of a woman with severe learning disabilities say they have been forced to sleep on a trolley with her at Boston hospital because there wasn't a suitable bed.

Image source, Family handout

Alisha is 18-years-old but developmentally is like a 14-month-old child.

Her family said Pilgrim Hospital didn't have the specialist equipment she needed when she was admitted last week with an infection.

Her mum, who does not want to be named, is calling on hospital bosses to improve facilities for patients with additional needs.

She says: "We are all equal and I think that is the important message. We all deserve equal care and equal treatment."

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust said it's apologised and will look into what lessons can be learned.

The trust added that the new A&E at Boston will include a quiet waiting area which people with learning disabilities might prefer.

Andrew Highton punched and kicked Linda Treeby and smashed a glass ashtray in her face.

Patients with serious conditions such as suspected blood clots have been waiting in Lincoln County Hospital's emergency department for more than 12 hours, it's emerged.

Ambulances are currently queuing around the hospital car park and officials from the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust have said it simply doesn't have the capacity to deal with the number of people visiting the site.

On patient, Ian, told the BBC: "I've asked if they have any idea when it will be and I've been told ages. They think it's pneumonia or a clot on my lung.

"I've been sat up in a chair all night with two gentleman who are older than me and have been here longer. The nurses have said themselves they've never seen anything like how it was last night."

Patients are being urged this lunchtime to try and use pharmacy and GP services before heading to A&E departments in the county.

A Lincolnshire wildlife park has flooded again because of heavy rain, meaning animals at the site have had to be moved.

Image source, Arc Wildlife Park

Staff at the Ark at Stickney have been battling water for the last month due to the amount of rain and a nearby drainage issue.

The water has caused damage to winter hay stores and is making fields waterlogged.

Owner Jamie Mintram said: "The flooding got to the point where the ground is so saturated, it was backing up into some of our buildings and where the water has not been able to escape and drain off site it's come into some of the animal closures so we've had to move animals.

"Luckily, we were able to get in touch with the fire brigade after a recommendation from the local draining authority and they were absolute stars."

American Marianne Rawlins has become the latest The Apprentice candidate to be fired.

Image source, BBC/Boundless

Her time on the hit BBC show came to an end last night.

Marianne, who lives in Stamford, failed to impress her prospective boss, Lord Sugar, when it came to managing an unsigned musician and was sent home in a shock double firing alongside Thomas Skinner.

Marianne told the BBC it had become clear she and Lord Sugar wouldn't have made a great match.

"He wants to be able to relate to the person he goes in to business with and he couldn't relate to me. He didn't understand what my intentions were, he misunderstood what I said a lot of the time and so there was just a real disconnect there and I think it would have led to a rocky partnership."

A hoard of coins containing two unique examples from Louth are set to go under the hammer.

Image source, Dix Noonan Webb

The collection of 99 Anglo-Saxon silver pennies was found by metal detectorist Don Crawley in Suffolk in 2017.

The site where the hoard was found turned out to be a long-forgotten Saxon church which had been dismantled by the Normans in the 11th Century.

Image source, Dix Noonan Webb

It is likely the hoard was buried in AD 999 as penitence by a travelling pilgrim when the new millennium raised fears of a judgement day.

Two of the pennies have also been carefully folded in half which is regarded as a vow to a saint.

The coins are thought to be worth between £30,000 to £50,000 and will go under the hammer next week at Dix Noonan Webb auctioneers.

An elderly woman needed medical treatment after a man forced his way into her home in Lincoln.

Image source, Google

The man knocked on the door of the property in Barkston Gardens at about 14:20 yesterday and told the woman he wanted to check her water pipes.

He then pushed his way inside, searched the property and left with an amount of money..

The woman was pushed over and needed medical attention.

The suspect is described as white, between 5ft 4ins and 5ft 6ins, with dark hair, rough looking, clean shaven and wearing a khaki brown knee-length rain coat.

Anyone who saw anything or has information is being asked to contact Lincolnshire Police.

With days of rain and extensive floods, the autumn of 2019 seems to have been much wetter than normal. Has it though?

Image source, Getty Images

Villagers in Fishlake, near Doncaster, were forced to flee their homes after the river Don and Ea Beck both burst their banks.

Sheffield in South Yorkshire, Scampton and Coningsby in Lincolnshire and Watnall near Nottingham have all had their wettest autumns on record and are on course for their wettest ever Novembers.

Sheffield had 456mm of rain beating its record from 2000 of 425.2mm.

But while there have been some dramatic weather events locally, nationally the record has been a long way from being broken.

This autumn is currently ranked as the 24th wettest on record for England and Wales, with 372.1mm falling on average across the two nations. The record was set in 2000 when 502.7mm was recorded.

England as a whole has had a mean temperature of 5.3C between 1 and 17 November, 0.9C cooler than the period's average temperature.

Three flood warnings remain in place for Lincolnshire, external this morning.

Image source, Rui Vera/PA Wire

An Environment Agency (EA) flood warning means "flooding is expected and immediate action is required".

The warnings are for:

• Groundwater flooding for Barrow upon Humber in North Lincolnshire. The EA says: "Although groundwater levels are very slowly receeding, any further rainfall could lead to ongoing property flooding in the Barrow upon Humber area. Properties on Westoby Lane, Park View and Orchard Close areas are most likely to be affected through the rest of this week.
• Low Barlings and the Short Ferry Area. The EA says: "The breach near Short Ferry remains, and Short Ferry Road is flooded and impassable along with large areas of farmland. The risk to low lying properties in this area remains."

A total of 13 flood alerts also remain in place for Lincolnshire. Alerts mean "flooding is possible, be prepared".

There are currently no weather warnings for Lincolnshire issued by the Met Office.