The Rev. Jonnie Parkin.

Johnnie is to be licensed to the parishes of Branston, Potterhanworth, Nocton, Dunston, Metheringham and Blankney, at a service in All Saints, Nocton on Tuesday 10th May 2011 at 7.30pm.

The service will be led by the Rt Rev, Dr Tim Ellis, Bishop of Grantham, there is an open invitation for all parishioners of the six parishes to attend and welcome him to his new role within our communities.

Afterwards there will be a welcome reception at Nocton Village Hall, put on by the congregations of the six parishes. A finger buffet and drinks will be available. If you intend to come along it would be useful to know for catering purposes.

More information will be published shortly.

Keep Nocton Tidy

History of the Nocton Estates Light Railway

I have just been reading through the MACLA website and came across a recently published article on the Light Railway formerly used on the Nocton Estate. Its worth a read if your interested in local history.

Here's a flavour which may suggest those 'idyllic days' now long gone were not as harmonious as we are led to believe.

........Mr W.H. Dennis, however, had different ideas on the farming policies of his land and one by one the 26 tenant farmers were given notice to quit so he could manage the entire land himself. Systematically, farm houses on the estate, from the edge of the Lincoln Heath to the Fens, were to be left empty and then in time totally demolished, changing the idyllic Lincolnshire countryside forever. Mr Dennis's actions continued to make him less than popular in the community as woods and hedgerows too were cleared as he increased his arable land to some 8,000 acres, to become one of the major producers of beet, potatoes, wheat and barley in the country. The fact that Nocton Station was on his doorstep was a great advantage to him as his produce could be transported to all points from here. ........

Click here to take you straight there.

More Good News!

Another grant application has turned out to be positive. The Garfield Weston Foundation base in London has sent me a cheque for £3000 towards our repairs along with all their good wishes for the project.

Thank you Garfield Weston.

The Roof Moves Forward...

Well actually I hope it stays in place just for the moment. I did however have a phone call today from the English Heritage grant officer. They are the process of reviewing our plans, costings and tenderers to make sure everything is in place. I may have mentioned before that the costs have come in nearly 50% over estimate for various reasons which did lead to a little dissapointment last year when I feared we may have to trim back our ambitions. However I did submit a strong case to EH for further funds back in December 2010 and it was indicated today that they will probably enhance our original grant by £31,000 to make up some of the deficit. I await confirmation but I am now very hopeful that the project can be completed as originally planned with a few efficiencies hear and there.

As required by the church planning law a public notice has to be displayed for 28 days to give people the chance to view the plans and write with observations to the Diocesan Registrar. The notice is on the church notice board opposite the Post Office and is displayed inside the church. The last day for observations is 30th March.

The first week in April will be the time when everything will come together and we should know exactly how th year will process and what will be being done. I will keep you updated.

March's Magazine

March's magazine is now published and paper copies will be out shortly. I have decided to change the publication date to mid-month to allow for a catch up with most meetings which tend to take place at the beginning of each month. This will make some of the info in the magazine more current. However this blog and Geoff Halls blog carry much of the 'whats on' info if you need to find any village info out.

I have put the full service pattern upto Easter Sunday on line, not quite as far in the paper copy, just in case there is a slip with publication dates.

I hope this will be useful and as I said before more current, things change very fast in Nocton!