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Some, of the 95 children from Inglewood School are seen here in 1972 carrying their harvest gifts to St Clement’s Church, Skegness, on Friday, for their harvest festival and service, which was conducted by the Rev Roderick Welts.
The theme of the simple service was “Feed the Mind,” and the children and parents sang hymns, and then listened to Mr Wells give a talk about the meaning of the theme.
The produce was auctioned in St Matthew’s Hall on Monday evening for the “Feed the Mind ” organisation.

Do YOU remember the Inglewood school in Skegness? Tell us more about it!

DAWN RAIL HORROR
TWENTY-ONE sheep lying on the railway line near Havenhouse Station were killed when a four-coach diesel train ploughed into them just before dawn on Monday.

The train, which could have been travelling at up to 50 mph on that stretch of line, was the 5.40 from Boston to Skegness. It was empty except for the driver and guard. Mr Jim Harvey and Mr Reg Longford, both of Boston, and three British Rail staff travelling to work at Skegness Station.
One, a cleaner, called it “an alarming experience.” She said the train was rocking about and they were afraid it was going to go over.
The accident happened at 6.12, and according to the signalman who reported it, all the sheep were killed outright.
A British Rail spokesman said the train was only slightly damaged and continued on schedule. It was the first train out of Skegness at 06.25. There was no blockage of the line and no danger of derailment.
“The line is well fenced,” he said. “There are other ways of getting on to the line beside through the fences. We shall have to enquire as to exactly how they got on the line so that it doesn’t happen again.”
The sheep belonged to Mr James Epton, of Northolme Hall, Wainfleet.
He said the 21 sheep were part of a unit of 40 ewes and one ram. When they had been left in a field near the railway about half-a-mile away the previous afternoon, everything had been secure,”I’m not quite certain where they got on to the line,” he said. “There’s no question of any negligence on the part of the railway. Obviously access hadn’t been gained at that point.
They must have got on to the track and huddled against the crossing gates on the Skegness side of the station.
“It took us an hour or three-quarters of an hour to clear the line. It really vas a most extraordinary sight half a ton of jointed lamb. They were literally in pieces, chopped to bits.”

Mr Epton, who has 400 sheep, said he has never had a whole flock stray before. The total value of those killed was £264.

1973 Skegness news story

GIRL HID DEAD BABY IN BEDROOM, INQUEST TOLD

AFTER giving birth to a baby in her bedroom, unknown to her parents downstairs, a 20-year-old girl put its dead body in a carrier bag and hid it behind her dressing table, a Skegness inquest was told on Friday.
The police found it there after she had visited a doctor, who discovered she had had a baby and questioned her about it.
The baby girl was born to Janet Sandra Clements of 26 Cecil Avenue, (pictured left) on Sunday 9 July, and an inquest was opened and adjourned a few days later.
At the resumed inquest, the coroner, Mr Ian Mitchell-Smith, heard evidence from Janet’s mother, Mrs Jean Clements, Dr Maurice Fox and Det Sgt James Sutherland.
A report on the post mortem examination stated that death had been caused by asphyxia neonatorum. The baby was of normal development with no congenital. disease and had had a short separate existence.
Dr Allan Usher, who carried out the post mortem, said in a written report that it must have been a very difficult delivery fora girl doing it herself for the first time.
NOT CERTAIN
“Had medical aid been available to clear the airways, cut the umbilical cord and maintain warmth, it is likely, but not certain, that this infant would have survived.” he said.
Det Sgt Sutherland said he interviewed Miss Clements in hospital that evening in the presence of a policewoman.
She said it had been a natural pregnancy and she had not done anything or taken anything to terminate it.
The sergeant commented “She must have been in great difficulties. She was by herself having a terribly difficult birth, and I doubt if she could remember very clearly.”

1972 Skegness news story

Boy `left for ten minutes’ fell to death A 10-YEAR-OLD ****** [Down’s Syndrome] boy, on holiday at Skegness in a boarding house, was “left for no more than 10 minutes, asleep in bed with the room door locked, and inside that time he was lying on the concrete floor below as good as dead,” said Boston’s Coroner, Mr H. G. Frost, at a Boston inquest on Thursday. The inquiry heard how young Peter Wilson, of Walsall, was seem to fall about 20 feet from a sloping roof beneath his window at 7 Algitha Road, (pictured below) Skegness, in August.

Medical evidence showed that his death, a few hours later in Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital, was due to multiple injuries of the skull. The boy’s father, sales clerk, Mr John Henry Wilson, of Lister Close, Walsall, said he and his wife and their two sons — Robin (16) was the other — were holidaying at Skegness with friends. After spending most of the day on the beach they returned to the boarding house and then most of the party went to the nearby Lyndhurst Club, leaving Peter to be put to bed by his mother and grandmother in Room Eight on the top floor. Later, just after the mother and grandmother had joined them, Robin ran in to say Peter had fallen from the bedroom window, The bedroom door was locked because in the past Peter had got up at night and walked from his room. Mrs Lilian Wilson, said her son, who had been enjoying himself in the sea, needed attention every moment of every day. She and her mother-in-law put him to bed at 9 pm and stayed with him until he was asleep, when at 9.50 they went to the club. The window was left open and there was a small chair under it, but Peter was not normality able to climb. Mr John Edward Cressey, a shop assistant, of 4 Lawn Avenue, Skegness, said he saw the boy sliding feet first down the sloping roof below the casement bedroom window. He landed on the concrete forecourt below. The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure. The Coroner commented: “No one could possibly point the finger of blame at anyone,”

1972 local news story. I have edited out an appellation which is socially unacceptable nowadays, and inserted in its place the term ‘Down’s Syndrome’.

A 75-year-old raped a schoolgirl (14) and got her pregnant (1999 Skegness news story)
A PENSIONER who raped a 14-year-old Skegness schoolgirl and made her pregnant was jailed for six years at Lincoln Crown Court.
A jury of six men and six women took just two hours to find 75-year-old Christopher Stevens guilty of three charges of raping the girl between June 1997 and May 1998.
Terrible shock
Giving evidence, the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told a jury of the shock she felt when she fell pregnant after the final time Stevens raped her.
The girl, now 15, said: “It was a terrible shock when I found out I was pregnant.
“When I told him I hadn’t come on my periods he started giving me a hard time. He said if you’re pregnant don’t tell your mum who the father is.”
During the trial the girl claimed Stevens forced her to have sex with him between 15 and 20 times.
The girl described to the jury how on one occasion Stevens lured her into the bedroom of his bungalow and then raped her.
The girl told the jury Stevens never used any contraception and bribed her with money to play on the arcades to keep quiet.
The court heard the girl told her boyfriend about Stevens’ behaviour when she realised she was pregnant.
The police were called but during interview Stevens formerly of Winthorpe Way, Winthorpe, and now of McCleod Street, Broxburn, West Lothian, Scotland, denied having sex with the girl.
Giving evidence on the third day of the trial Stevens said he had sex with the girl on one occasion but claimed she made the first move.
Stevens said he was disgusted with himself afterwards, adding: “I was ashamed, but she consented to it. I was afraid she might tell her mother.”

Stevens denied prosecution suggestions he lied to the police and then changed his story when medical evidence made it clear he was the baby’s father.
Asked by Mr Farrell if he accepted he was the baby’s father, Stevens replied: “Yes, I do.”
Michael Dutchman-Smith, mitigating, told the court Stevens had no previous convictions and urged Judge Richard Hutchinson to take his age into account.
Mr Dutchman-Smith said: “Clearly the only mitigation we can put before your honour is his age. The fact that he is 75 years of age. His life as he has known it ends today.”
Sentencing Stevens to six years’ imprisonment concurrent on each count, Judge Richard Hutchinson told him he was lucky to avoid a much longer sentence.
Judge Hutchinson said: “The sentence I am going to give you is not the one your behaviour deserves or what you would get if you were a man of normal age.
The court heard Stevens was born in Cyprus and lived in London and Scotland before moving to Skegness in 1997.