Hougham, Lincolnshire

The Luncheon Club will reform on the first Tuesday of each month, starting on Tuesday next week, 1 November at the Thorald Arms.

If you wish to attend please let Kim know, ideally by Sunday on 01400 250899. Food will be served from 12.30 pm.

For anyone wondering what the Luncheon Club is, it is simply an informal get together each month. There is no membership, no rules, and everyone is welcome, but it would help Kim greatly if you were to tell her in advance that you were coming.

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theThorold Arms @ Marston

Peter Connolly and others have formed Marston Karate Club which will meet in Hougham and Marston Village Hall on Wednesday evenings. If you have family or friends who might be interested in joining please visit the Marston village website for more information, or call Peter on 250711.

This is a message specifically for those with field electric fencing (field-such as for sheep and horses).

We are experiencing all over but more especially around the A15/A17/A52 area (Sleaford rural) thefts of electric fencing, energisers and batteries from fields with sheep and other livestock within. Obviously it is very easy to spot such fencing and all too often very easy for our criminals to pull in a stop, walk or even drive to where the batteries and energisers are located and take them.

This is in itself a risk to road users as it leaves the animals with no live barrier to prevent them straying.

The other hinderance is the cost of replacement of said items often amounting to £200-300 a time.

Advice at this time is to securely clamp the batteries and energisers within a box of some sort, cement the energiser into a lump that makes them harder to lift and walk away with, possibly even incorporating a bike lock to wrap around the battery. Paint or otherwise mark the batteries and energisers with something that will make them more un-atractive along with name of owner stamped or otherwise marked upon them. we need to make the items as unsellable as possible.

record the make model and serial numbers elsewhere. and other than on the items.

Fencing is a little more difficult to deal with. however a can of spray paint of your colour of choice will suitably mark the wire (in spots) and the posts to be able to identify them later.

If all this fails and yours is taken, call and tell us about it please. we need to know where they are going from..

likewise if you have info as to who may be selling these then tell us.

Martin Green (Police, CBM NC36 Sleaford Rural South, Sleaford Station)

Reports updated 21 December

Just a reminder that the closing date for oil orders is this coming Sunday. We will currently be ordering over 15,000 litres. If you'd like to be included in the next order please let me know.

After this order, the next one will be in early March.

For more information and an application form e-mail lincolnshireoil@gmail.com or call Alistair Ross on 251355 or click on the link below

The Office of Fair Trading has recently completed a detailed study into "Off Grid Energy" which includes domestic heating oil and LPG. The report was triggered as a result of the huge increase in heating oil prices in December 2010. Our oil syndicate contributed to this report, as did our MP.

In summary, the report found that:

- the industry is competitive and that December 2010's price increases were as a result of supply and demand rather than profiteering.

- the margins made by the oil companies are reasonable, but their margins are generally higher in winter than in summer (worth noting when placing orders)

- some so-called "price comparison sites" were misleading as they were owned by oil companies themselves. Action has already been taken to change this under Competition regulations

- some oil companies were charging a different price on delivery to the price quoted. This has been addressed and one oil company has already been taken to court by a local council.

The village shop News update, menu and events

The village shop

News update, menu and events