A limited edition beer has been launched by local firm Batemans Brewery in celebration of the Magna Carta’s 800th anniversary.

The team behind ‘Law of the Land’ were joined by connoisseurs and guests at Lincoln Castle Tuesday, May 19, after working on the beer’s creation for a year.

Only 30 barrels of the product were brewed, using ingredients which would have been available in the 13th century.

The exclusive beer will only be available on draft in four pubs around Lincoln including The Dog and Bone, The Victoria, The Butcher and Beast at Heighington and The Treaty of Commerce.

Most of the beer however has been bottled, and is available to buy in stores such as the castle shop. It will also be available to try at the Lincoln Beer Festival, which returns to the city this year with a Magna Carta theme.

With an alcohol percentage of 5.5%, the brewery recommends that it is only drunk as half pints and served in a stemmed glass “to help the aromas and taste of the beer come through”.

Stuart Bateman, Managing Director at Batemans Brewery said: “What we have tried to do is produce an old fashioned style beer, a really traditional beer.

“If you went back 800 years, you would never have heard of light-coloured beers so Law of the Land is a good rich ruby colour. You wouldn’t have had any imported raw materials either, so it is good English barley malt and all English hops as well. It is a proper British beer.”

Rodger Protz, a beer connoisseur who writes for the Annual Good Beer Guide, as well as his own books, said: “It’s absolutely delicious. It is very spicy and very peppery and I suspect that’s the way that beers were back in the 13th century.”

A 1966 Leyland Titan has been converted by two Lincoln businessmen into a fully functional mobile bar.

Route 14, the brainchild of David Humphreys and Alex Robinson, is the only bar of its kind in the county, and is available for public and private hire at events in Lincolnshire and further afield.

The bus, christened Leyla, was purchased by David last year, and has been converted over the last six months.

A total of around £60,000 has been invested by Route 14 into the whole project.

The upstairs floor of the bus has been renovated into a lounge, boasting ambient mood lighting, music and a VIP experience.

Downstairs, the bar is fully equipped to run 10 lines of ice-cold draught beers and ciders as well as serving cocktails, coffees, ice-creams and soft drinks.

David said: “The idea for the bus came from when I was on a party boat in Ibiza which I thought was a fantastic idea and was really well-received.

“Alex had also been on the Pimm’s Bus in this country so we merged the two ideas together to come up with our bar.

“So far, we’ve had an excellent response from the public and we hope this continues over the upcoming months once the bus has been at more events.”

The bar can be hired for a range of events from weddings and sporting events to trade shows and charity fundraisers, with the bus able to be tailored and customised for every occasion.

Indeed, Leyla’s first booking was on May 16 at the Dambusters Inn Beer Festival at RAF Scampton.

The team, consisting of David, Alex, driver Matthew Sear, and bar manager Kim Harrington, are now looking ahead to their next event at the Lost Village Festival on May 22, with a range of cocktails being served.

On May 27, the bus will be at Landmark House on Riseholme Road from 5pm where visitors can enjoy a free glass of champagne and meet the Route 14 team.

For more information or booking enquiries, visit the Route 14 website.

A £2 million extension for Pennells Garden Centre in South Hykeham was opened by The One Show’s, Christine Walkden, providing customers with a great day out ‘whatever the weather’.

The extension features a fully covered plant area, spanning 3,300 square metres.

It also includes a food hall with Simpsons Butchers and restaurant with seating for 420 people.

The move has also enabled the company to employ an additional five staff for the centre and restaurant.

Over 200 people turned up to the opening last week, where Christine Walkden shared her experiences as a gardener.

Along with the main event there were food tasting opportunities from local suppliers and demonstrations including flower arranging on offer throughout the day.

Will Pennell, Managing Director of Pennells Garden Centre said: “The day went perfectly, we were blessed with brilliant weather and Christine’s talk definitely was the pinnacle of what was an excellent day for all involved.

“I would like to thank Christine for opening the centre and the suppliers and staff involved who all worked very hard in making the day a success.”

Many Lincoln businesses were recognised for their contribution to programmes for young people at The EBP ‘Investors in Education Awards’ event at The Belton Woods Hotel near Grantham, May 21.

Over 14,000 employers in Lincolnshire and Rutland support The EBP’s ‘Access Employability’ initiative to help young people gain work skills, including providing work experience placements for more than 6,000 14-19 year olds.

Schools and colleges were invited to nominate three employers who had ‘gone the extra mile’.

In Lincoln, the following companies all received Investors in Education Awards from Elaine Lilley, Chief Executive of The EBP: AAR Corp Northrop Grumman, Bridge Mcfarland Solicitors, Cobham Aviation Services, Continental Landscapes, Evans Halshaw, Kier Building Maintenance, Learning Communities, Lincolnshire Co-Op, Lincoln Honda, RAF Scampton, Sincil Salon, Software Europe, Yorkshire Bank.

Guest speaker Pete Cohen, corporate and sports performance coach and TV personality, gave a motivational presentation about quashing negative thoughts and thinking positively.

Software Europe said: “We witnessed some very well presented, inspiring work experience presentations this evening. Thanks for the award – we are proud to contributing to the future workforce.”

Lincolnshire Community Health Services added: “Massive thank you to The EBP for organising such a fantastic, thought-provoking ceremony. We were proud to be there.”

If Sam Elkington, 56, has learned anything from his love of rugby, it is how working as a team is crucial to achieving targets and the same applies to business. He has always held of the view that usually the best team will succeed and he feels that this is the case with Hodgson and Elkington.

Having studied land economics at Sheffield City Polytechnic and qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor in 1982, Sam decided to take his career into his own hands with his then business partner Chris Hodgson, and set up Hodgson Elkington in 1990. But the history of the firm goes back longer then that.

“I was a partner in a firm called Earl and Lawrence, founded in 1867, of which Chris Hodgson was also a partner in. We sold that business to Prudential in 1986. Then in 1990 when the Prudential wanted to get rid of that business, we took the commercial element of the business and the residential management and set up Hodgson Elkington in November 1990 with a total of 12 staff.”

This feature interview was first published in issue 30 of the Lincolnshire Business weekly magazine, now available to read at www.lincsbusiness.co. Subscribe to the email newsletter to receive the latest edition in your inbox this Friday.

Thanks to existing clients coming over to the new firm, it gave Sam and Chris a solid foundation. But starting a new business during a recession was certainly challenging along the way.

“When we set the business up we thought that the recession would be over, but it actually lasted until 1996. That was a very big challenge, but we held the business together during all that and grew it. Property goes in cycles, just like the economy goes in cycles and even during the last recession, which was very property focused, we have managed to grow the business. We have grown the business every year since it has been formed. We have never seen a backwards step.”

Knowing the market is Sam’s strength and he has played to his it to survive. “In a recession there are people and businesses who are facing different challenges. There is still a sale to be had, or a letting to be had of that stock. So it is having the ability to have good clients and then just being able to see the challenges, adapt to them and shift the business focus accordingly.”

Along with his current business business partners, Dan Race, Tim Shaw and Marie Gutteridge, he feels that Hodgson Elkington is continuing to grow after they recovered from the untimely loss of their former partner Stephan Bradford in 2012. The company will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in November.

Picking the right team

Sam believes the team is just as important as the leader. Hodgson Elkington now employees 35 people of all different backgrounds. “I am a big believer in encouraging youth. So we see graduates come through the business to get qualified and then stay. We had three of our graduates qualify last year and they have all stayed with us and been promoted, so they are all chartered surveyors and we have another graduate starting next month.

The full cover interview with Sam Elkington is available to read in full here. Look out for the next edition of Lincolnshire Business magazine, which is published every Friday.

Lincoln Castle has been nationally recognised for its commitment to customer service.

The newly refurbished attraction is the latest organisation in the UK to be awarded WorldHost Recognised Business status.

WorldHost is a customer service programme that has been used to train around 150,000 people in the UK, including tens of thousands of staff and volunteers for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The award is given to businesses that have trained 50% or more of their front line staff using any of the WorldHost training programmes and signed a commitment to delivering excellent customer service.

Lincoln Castle has over 90% of its front of house staff trained to WorldHost standards.

Site manager Kimberley Vickers said: “We’ve been working hard to create and shape a fantastic visitor experience at the castle.

“2015 is such an important year for us, as we reopen our doors to our new-look site and celebrate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.

“We’re incredibly proud to have achieved WorldHost Recognised Business status. When our customers see the WorldHost logo, they’ll know that we have made a commitment to delivering an exceptional experience for them.

“Not only does this generate a positive buzz about the service we offer, but it helps to promote Lincoln as a friendly and welcoming tourist destination.”

A locally-crafted bespoke screen, modelled on the nave of Lincoln Cathedral, is to be auctioned in order to raise funds for the maintenance of the city’s iconic attraction.

Nationally acclaimed kitchen and furniture company Chiselwood has committed over 80 hours in order to produce the decorative screen, which will be auctioned at a Magna Carta Dinner at the cathedral on June 5.

The team at Saxilby-based Chiselwood cabinet makers have used exceptional skill to hand carve and hand cut the frame and the base.

The intricate screen, which is currently on display at the cathedral until the dinner, measures 7 feet high and 4 feet wide.

The screen was originally inspired by a brief from a client who married in the Cathedral many years ago and who wanted a unique room divider for their multi-million pound new house project in the South of England.

It is made from Pippy Oak with the actual screen being painted. It was then laser cut using the latest technology following designs by Chiselwood Founder and Design Director, Martin Holliday.

A Chiselwood spokesperson said: “This unique screen is on display in the Cathedral until the Magna Carta Dinner and would provide a stunning focal point in a number of residential and commercial environments including formal entrance, function room or private residence or to create a bespoke backdrop in a high end gallery.”

Tickets for the dinner are now sold out, however people can still take part in the auction segment and bids are now open.

People wishing to find out more can contact the Events Manager Lincoln Cathedral via eventsmanager@lincolncathedral.com, or call 01522 561606.

Read more about Chiselwood in Lincolnshire Business magazine, as they celebrated their 25th anniversary.

Some 30 new jobs have been signalled as expanding restaurant chain Wildwood plans its first Lincolnshire restaurant in place of the former Mall Shopping Centre in Lincoln.

Chartered surveyor Banks Long & Co announced that the national chain will submit a planning application to refurbish the site of The Mall in upper High Street within two weeks.

Wildwood, which already has 40 eateries and more in the pipeline, said it is aware that Lincoln is growing in prominence and it has had its eye on the city for some time.

The site, which is in line for a complete revamp, will offer relaxed dining, with a menu which features pizza, pasta and grilled dishes, hoping to attract shoppers, students and passing tourists.

Banks Long & Co Managing Director Tim Bradford said: “We have turned down a number of wet-led late night bar operations in favour of Wildwood, which offers a top quality dining experience including a small bar and retail area.

“This new name for Lincoln signals new jobs and continues the revitalisation process being seen throughout the City Centre. It is great news for Lincoln.”

Wildwood is owned by Tasty Plc. Its Joint Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director Samuel Kaye said: “We are really excited to be opening a restaurant in Lincoln. The city has been on our radar for some time.

“We recognise how Lincoln has improved, with an expanding economy and a surge in tourist and student numbers. We can’t wait to bring our fantastic new dining concepts to the people of Lincoln.”

The aim is to have Wildwood ready to be completely fitted out and ready to welcome its first diners in time for Christmas.

The first houses are nearly complete at one of the city’s most luxurious developments, The Colosseum on Newport, and The Lincolnite went along for a sneak preview.

Phase I includes 14 high end properties set in a crescent style mews over four storeys and each property is named after a famous poet.

Phase II will see a further eight homes released later this year.

The prices of these homes will range between £450,000 to £940,000 and include kitchen/diners, dressing rooms, master suites and some of the five and six bedroomed properties also include cinema rooms and games rooms.

The homes can be bought as a shell ready to be planned by the buyer to create their perfect home.

Builders at Tennyson Homes Ltd have taken additional care to make sure that each room is individually soundproofed and insulated for extra comfort.

The gardens have been designed with a small grass area and paving, and the show home boasts a picnic bench created with stone which has been built into the wall.

Hodgson Elkington LLP have been appointed to manage the common areas of the properties.

Peter Park, Senior Property Manager, said: “This is a unique site which Hodgson Elkington is proud to have been instructed to manage on behalf of Tennyson Homes and we look forward to working with them on future developments.”

Some 74 jobs will be lost in Lincoln as compost, fertiliser and garden chemicals producer, William Sinclair Horticulture closes facilities across the country.

In a move to restructure the business, the firm has proved the imminent closure of its Lincoln storage facility on Beevor Street, its Bolton Fell (Carlisle) bark plant and its Astley Moss peat bog near Manchester.

William Sinclair intends to consolidate its English operations at its recently opened and extended production facility at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire.

Under the proposal, production of chemicals and fertilisers will continue at the company’s Firth Road, Lincoln site; however the head office, growing media and central admin functions will transfer to Ellesmere Port.

Overall, the company expects to shed over 100 jobs across four sites Astley Moss, Bolton Fell, Lincoln and Ellesmere Port, of which 74 of the 93 Lincoln positions will go.

Having incurred losses from a poor peat harvest in 2012, followed by the enforced closure of its  facility at Bolton Fell, Sinclair is also seeking to reduce overheads at Ellesmere Port by restructuring its Commercial team and streamlining the Supply Chain, Marketing and Technical departments.

Stuart Burgin, William Sinclair Holdings CEO said: “It is regrettable that our proposed restructuring process will mean some job losses but we must increase efficiency, find economies and realise non-core assets throughout the business in order to be fit for sustainable growth and profitability.

“Having invested over £25 million in our Ellesmere Port super-site which boasts the world’s most advanced twin track production line, we must ensure that the business is in a position to harvest the profits from that investment.

“Integrating our operations under one roof at our technically advanced and newly-expanded Cheshire site would enable us to see significant benefits in efficiency and cost-effectiveness while making optimal use of a world-class facility so that we can continue to provide a premium service to our customers.”

With a love of engineering, Steve Debonnaire, 56, made his way through the ranks only to find his dream job at the top, leading a large and professional support team. With the setting of RAF Coningsby and being surrounded by Typhoon aircraft, it is easy to get distracted and think that you are looking at a scene from Top Gun.

This feature interview was first published in issue 31 of the Lincolnshire Business weekly magazine, now available to read at www.lincsbusiness.co. Subscribe to the email newsletter to receive the latest edition in your inbox this Friday.

“I guess it started with my careers advisor who was a French teacher that used to double as a careers advisor. You got 20 minutes when you were about 15 years old to decide what your future life was.

“He said: ‘Well what subjects do you like, son?’

“‘Well, I quite like metal work and I quite like drawing and maths.’

“He said: ‘You’re a lathe operator in the local crisp factory. You’ve got it written all over you.’ So I went for an interview for that job and decided he was definitely wrong!” Steve laughed.

After realising that he had not been given the best careers advice, Steve stayed on at college to do technology and applied for as many sponsorships as he could get his hands on.

“It was in the days where you could be paid to go to university and you came out with money in the bank. I was sponsored to go to university by what was British Aerospace (now known as BAE Systems). I have been with BAE Systems now since 1978, from apprentice to my current role as UK Availability Director.”

After doing a degree in Mechanical Engineering, most people go into design or engineering, but Steve decided to take a different path and went into production.

“Graduates working in production were unheard of. But I loved it because every single day was a new challenge. I enjoyed working in the different parts of BAE Systems and now I’m in maintenance and operations.”

Taking on a new challenge

Steve didn’t always work in the military side of the company. Much of his career was spent in the civil part of the business, progressing from manufacturing engineer to running the big aircraft assembly line for the 146 passenger liners. He then moved to the military side about 10-12 years ago when BAE Systems was bidding to build an aircraft called The Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft.

The MOD invited a number of significant industrial players to explore better ways for working together. Steve was chosen to be part of a small team to go to RAF Wyton and help the customers develop their partnering strategy. It was a time of significant change with a focus on transparency and incentivised long term contracts aimed at halving MOD support cost and paying only for successful service delivery.

Steve knew that it was time for a change and thought out of the box in order to be able to help both businesses come up with the best solution.

The full cover interview with Steve Debonnaire is available to read in full here. Look out for the next edition of Lincolnshire Business magazine, which is published every Friday.

A new branch of Danish international discount supermarket Netto will be opening on Tritton Road in Lincoln later this year, bringing 25 new jobs to the city.

Netto, meaning ‘net price’ in Danish, is expected to open in October in the former Blockbuster Unit on the Lindis Retail Park.

Founded in 1981, the supermarket chain originally came to the UK in 1990. In 2010 Asda bought the shops that Netto had, and the brand left the UK again until November last year where they opened up stores in Sheffield and Leeds.

Now they boast over 1,000 stores across Europe including Sweden, Poland, Germany and the UK.

Tom Hampson, Head of Marketing at Netto Ltd said: “We are delighted to be coming to Tritton Road.

“We are looking forward to bringing our fresh fruit and veg, 100% British meat and freshly baked Danish pastries to the people of Lincoln.”

The University of Lincoln has been named one of Siemens’ Global Principal Partners for its research and development work with the engineering giant.

Lincoln now joins Newcastle, Cambridge and Manchester universities in the global engagement scheme, which offers increased levels of support for Siemens Research and Development and graduate recruitment.

It comes two years after the university was awarded Principal Partner status in recognition of its collaborative relationship with the global company in the development of the award-winning Lincoln School of Engineering.

Professor Tim Gordon, Head of the School of Engineering, University of Lincoln, said: “It is a great honour to join other leading universities as Global Principal Partner.

“This represents the close collaboration between the University and Siemens which builds up a talent pipeline and attracts high quality students to the University and ultimately to the Siemens workforce.”

The prestigious status was conferred on the university at Siemens’ third annual UK University Relations Event with its UK partner universities on June 3.

Juergen Maier, Chief Executive, Siemens plc, said: “We are delighted to celebrate our collaboration with the UK’s top universities.

“Siemens has a very long heritage of innovation in the UK, which has helped to make us one of the country’s leading engineering companies.

“We look forward to strengthening these university relationships and working together on projects that will keep the UK at the forefront of technology innovation.”

Siemens currently employs around 1,500 people across its three sites in Lincoln, and secured a major £30 million contract in February of this year.

Work is also underway on the extension to the Siemens Product Training School, based at the University of Lincoln, with the help of a further £500,000 contribution from the company.

When Dawn Barron hit a major crossroads in her life, help came from an unexpected source, inspiring her to take a leap of faith and change direction. Fifteen years later she is using her talents and experience to help medium-to-large businesses to take the plunge and supercharge their fortunes — by tapping into the power of their people.

This feature interview was first published in issue 32 of the Lincolnshire Business weekly magazine, now available to read at www.lincsbusiness.co. Subscribe to the email newsletter to receive the latest edition in your inbox this Friday.

Dawn, the founder of Human Alchemy, is also loving being a part of the local business community, at a time when Lincoln’s star is definitely rising. In the run-up to the millennium, the Essex-born businesswoman was living in Nettleham, having followed her family to Lincolnshire. A single mum to Lewis (then aged eight), she found herself increasingly torn between holding down a high-powered job and spending time with her son. Something had to give.

“I was at a crossroads and wrestling with what to do. I was the Employment Policy Director for GEC, working for a giant corporation which employed 140,000 people worldwide. I loved my London-based job, which involved some UK and European travel and the odd trip to America,” said Dawn.

“I regularly commuted by train, spending one or two nights in the capital, before rushing back home again. I wanted to spend more time with Lewis, but I was also committed to my career.”

It was an agonising time, until someone who was helping Dawn to juggle her hectic lifestyle, made a suggestion. Amazingly, that person was her au-pair. “I believe people come into your life for different reasons. She certainly wasn’t destined to be an au-pair but she turned out to be my little angel in disguise, when she handed me a copy of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, saying ‘read this’.

“That book, which inspired the name of my business, is all about following your dreams. It had a big impact on me and I soon decided that I was going to go it alone.” Convinced that her health and home life would suffer if she didn’t take action, Dawn handed in her notice and immediately experienced the wave of relief that comes from making a big life decision.

The full cover interview with Dawn Barron is available to read in full here. Look out for the next edition of Lincolnshire Business magazine, which is published every Friday.

A new one-stop advice-shop for businesses seeking support has launched to help increase competitiveness and growth within the county.

The Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub, created by Greater Lincolnshire LEP and Lincolnshire County Council, will provide a single access point to a package of information, diagnostics, advisory support and business development programmes.

Businesses will also be able to receive a growth diagnostic and free impartial advice from dedicated business growth and skills advisors, helping formulate and implement growth plans.

The service has been created to complement the online information portal, which provides information for all business sectors, providing access to local, regional and national business information as well as the ability to search for grant schemes, events and networking opportunities.

Councillor Colin Davie, Economic Development Portfolio Holder and LEP Board Member said: “One of the main aims of the Growth Hub is to provide a `front door’ for business support.

“This project will stimulate growth and job creation and improve the local economy. By providing free support to local businesses with the help of experienced advisers, we can achieve great results and create a thriving business community.”

Noreen Read, Lead Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub Adviser, added: “I am extremely excited to be part of such an innovative project. Our team of dedicated local advisers collectively have over 50 years of experience helping Lincolnshire businesses expand. With our expertise, impartiality and the Growth Hub connections we can help local businesses with the support they need.”

Some 18 environmentally-friendly homes are now available to buy on land at the Lincolnshire Showground in Lincoln, with an estimated running cost of £1 per day.

As previously reported, The Edge, which has been developed by Gusto Group has been constructed to the highest standard of sustainability.

The construction company has worked in partnership with Lincolnshire Agricultural Society and West Lindsey District Council in a bid to create something that can be promoted to the rest of the construction industry.

The homes are in a secluded area off Tillbridge Lane. All are 3 or 4 bedrooms, and those currently priced with agents Hodgson Elkington cost between £325,000 and £389,000.

Each home has a minimum of two car parking spaces. They all look over a private lake and, once construction is complete, will share communal tennis courts.

Solar panels that double as the conservatory roof provide most of the power for the homes and the properties are constructed in way that means there is no requirement for central heating.

Each room has an infra-red panel which produces heat like rays from the sun, which is then reflected off the surfaces and warms the room.

The water system has also been designed to be eco-friendly using pipes that drain water used in the shower to help heat fresh water. There is also a system that collects rainwater from underground, which is then used to flush the toilets.

Some five of the 18 eco homes have been sold already and Gusto Group will be continuing to develop the area, with planning starting soon on another 10 homes to the side of the current development.

Steff Wright, CEO at Gusto Group said: “The point of the development wasn’t just about building 18 houses to sell. Part of the reason that we got the planning permission was to be able to promote it to a wider audience because there are new standards that are coming into house building.

“As of next year all houses are to be build to a zero carbon standard and the government, as of yet, hasn’t decided what that standard is.”

Gusto Group have worked closely with many of the local suppliers around the county to furnish the showhome and also use local products to build the homes which are expected to make the owner money on electricity.

Steff continued: “We are confident that these homes will cost less than £1 a day and less than £300 a year to run because the house is super insulated. It works like a big storage heater and retains the heat.

“It doesn’t need a lot of power for the lights and it generates the majority of its own electricity, which it diverts to heat the water. You get a Feedin tariff as well, which is about £500 at the moment.”

Lincoln city centre was alive with festive excitement on the morning of Thursday, June 11 as royal scenes and colourful barons welcomed the arrival of the Great Magna Carta Weekend.

Around 100 people from city centre businesses donned their crowns to mark the incoming boom of events for tourists and residents alike, marking the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta.

Over 2,000 crowns will be given away by shop staff in the city centre, and some have even gone one step further by making their own crowns and diving into Medieval wardrobes.

Boots Lincoln High Street store Manager Dawn Nolan said: “Our staff are really looking forward to it.”

Lincoln BIG is organising the action-packed, family weekend on behalf of the Lincoln Cultural and Arts Partnership.

Lincoln BIG Chief Executive Matt Corrigan said: “Our events-packed programme is the culmination of more than two years’ work and it looks set to be a fabulous weekend for the city.

“From the castle to St Marks, we’ve got a fantastic range of things going on – from street entertainment and busking through to food stalls, a colourful carnival and fireworks.

“Our Lincoln Ambassadors will also be out and about, carrying maps which highlight where events are happening, but it won’t be hard to find something going on almost everywhere you go!”

What’s on during Magna Carta Weekend

The gold crowns are just one of the highlights of the weekend, which runs from June 11 until June 15.

Hundreds of performers – who are taking part in 40 events right across the city centre – are playing a key role in making it happen.

Find out more about some of the highlights to look out for here.

The weekend will also see the launch of the exciting Lincoln Barons’ Charter Trail, which will feature 25, individually-decorated, vibrant sculptures who will be placed around the city centre.

People are being encouraged to try their own crowns on for size and spread the word on social media with a ‘royal selfie’, using #greatweekend and #LincolnBarons.

For those wishing to join the action on Twitter, signing up to the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Thunderclap campaign will see their voice accompany hundreds of others, at the same time.

Budding royals should also look out for a royal throne being carried through the streets of Lincoln city centre on Saturday, June 13 as part of the Magna Carta Weekend.

We're looking regal and ready for Great Magna Carta weekend in Lincoln! Ready to tweet your selfies? #greatweekend pic.twitter.com/uYtIrDcNFW

— The Lincolnite (@thelincolnite) June 11, 2015

Dynex Semiconductor Ltd facility in Lincoln was flagged as an example of successful UK and Chinese business relationships during a ministerial visit.

Chinese Minister Counsellor Xu Jin was accompanied by First Secretary Wanming Zhao and Peng Zhang on a tour of the facility off Doddington Road.

The Minister Counsellor and his colleagues were provided with an insight into the operations at the facility – which is the UK’s largest high power semiconductor manufacturer.

The group discussed how the company works alongside the China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corporation Ltd (CSR), the world’s largest manufacturer of electric locomotives, as an example of successful UK and Chinese company integration.

Dr. Paul Taylor, Dynex’s President and CEO, and George Guo, Dynex’s Sales and Marketing Director, presented to the visiting party a brief history of the business in Lincolnshire.

Counsellor Jin was provided with a tour of Dynex’s Lincoln factory, detailing the processes involved in the manufacturing of power semiconductors.

Some of Dynex’s leading engineers were on hand for Counsellor Xu’s questions regarding the products, production processes and applications of products.

Senior managers were also able to comment on some of the cultural differences Dynex has experienced throughout this partnership.

Dr. Paul Taylor said: “Here at Dynex we are proud to have on our Lincoln management team three Chinese senior managers, bringing their experiences of working in China to help us improve here in the UK and vice versa.

“These managers help us ensure that when any cultural differences do arise we are able to provide help and support on both sides, ensuring Dynex and CSR reach understandings that benefit both businesses.”

Currently the Chinese are more heavily invested in the UK than in any other country across Europe.

Counsellor Jin compared the similarities in culture between the UK and China, which he believes will help develop the relationship further over the years.

George Guo added: “I am delighted to have been able to showcase a successful relationship between a UK and a Chinese company.

“CSR have been working tirelessly alongside Dynex to ensure both companies are offering high-quality products and a vast range for our customers, as well as giving our employees insights into how the other functions.

“We have then been using these insights to help improve our companies both here in the UK and in China”.

Dynex recently made headlines when 30 jobs were axed after the company admitted financial difficulties.

City planners are recommending councillors to reject plans to demolish a popular Lincoln pub and build a care home in its place.

Proposals to turn the Monson Arms pub on Skellingthope Road into a 54-bed care home, after the pub was deemed “economically unviable”, were met with much local rejection.

The claim was fiercely opposed by local customers and landlady Tracie Pickard, who started a campaign to save the pub, which has been a part of the community for 52 years.

In addition to a Save the Monson Arms Facebook page, which received over 1,100 ‘likes’, the group set up an online petition against the plans.

Development proposals which would set in motion the demolition of the pub will go before the City of Lincoln Council’s Planning Committee on Wednesday, June 24, with a recommendation for refusal.

The application, submitted by Ideal Care Homes Ltd, is for a 54-bed, three storey care home.

Objections to the plans argued the pub offered a valued community role to Hartsholme, Birchwood and Boultham housing estates.

It is also used by groups including darts, pool, poker and football teams.

Arguments against the proposal also suggested that the care home should be built on the vacant site of the former Wildlife public house on Birchwood.

The planning manager noted in the report that there would be obvious benefits to the proposed care home to the wider local community, however officers advise that these would not outweigh the harm that would be cause by the loss of the pub as a ‘driver of social cohesion in the community'”.

A recommendation has been made to refuse the application on the grounds that the pub is a valued facility and is of community value under the Localism Act 2011.

It was also considered that the proposed building would not “sit comfortably in the context of the smaller scale of nearby buildings”, and its proximity to Skellingthorpe Road.

Driving Land Rovers competitively off road is something that Ben Duckworth, 38, has always taken very seriously — so it was only natural for him to get into the family business at Duckworth Land Rover and work his way up to the top.

With a flair for the motor industry, cars have always been a hobby for Ben. “For some people, they can work in a particular industry and not be that interested in it, where as actually I am. I’m interested in cars and four-wheel drive outside of work,” he said.

This feature interview was first published in issue 33 of the Lincolnshire Business weekly magazine, now available to read at www.lincsbusiness.co. Subscribe to the email newsletter to receive the latest edition in your inbox this Friday.

He went to college to study engineering so he could join the family business, but when he received a scholarship with Land Rover, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity. However, after a few years of following his own path, his father’s business was really taking off and it was time for Ben to return home.

“I spent quite a few years working up through the business and working in all of the departments before taking on more responsibility.” Ben started in the service department and then took on the role of After-Sales Director, making sure that customers stay the primary focus.

Ben took on the Managing Director role in 2004/2005 and used his experience of working in a large company to develop the business. But nothing really prepared him for what happened in 2008.

Hitting hard times

Before the recession hit, Duckworth Land Rover expanded to a new site in Boston. “We got off to a challenging start in 2008. Like most industries, the motor industry went through a really hard time. It was a challenging start for us, we certainly didn’t follow the business plan that we had set out with.”

Ben took it all in his stride and, as many businesses did, looked through the company’s expenditures and had to make some redundancies as well as cost cutting in other areas. “We were really mindful to not let it affect customer satisfaction. For instance, we had a tremendous cost in loan vehicles, in fuel and collection and delivery costs that we had to cut back on. It was a painful time for us and we made a lot of cost savings, but we also had to concentrate on sales.”

The full cover interview with Ben Duckworth is available to read in full here. Look out for the next edition of Lincolnshire Business magazine, which is published every Friday.