On Our Doorstep Baldock February 2025 by baldockdoorstepmagazine

Raising awareness to find things locally of what’s on & where

Baldock, Ashwell, Weston and surrounding villages

Welcome

Well, January is ﬁnally over - let's just hope February brings us a bit more sunshine and a lot less mud (especially for those of us tired of washing oﬀ muddy paws!). It's felt like an especially long month, but we're looking forward to the year ahead and if a bit of warm, dry weather is what we're in for, I think we'll all be pretty happy with that!

Now, onto February, with Valentine's Day just around the corner! Whether you're planning a romantic dinner or just enjoying some self-care, there's something for everyone in Baldock this month. Speaking of dinners, if you're looking for a tasty night out, Abbas at The Chilli Lounge has a special treat—he's now oﬀering a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) option! It's a novel and popular idea that's sure to make your evening even better. And if you're craving a curry, don't miss his Winter Bonanza deal: Buy 1 curry and a rice for just £9.99. Just take the advert with you or mention the magazine to grab this awesome deal!

February also means the Baldock Beast is fast approaching! We have some friends who will be tackling the legendary run at the end of the month. The best part? Only one of them knows it's happening! It's not too late to sign up if you fancy the challenge, and if you're supporting on the sideline like us, be sure to snap some photos for next month's gallery page.

Check out the travel review on page 9, ‘Marvellous Marrakesh’. What started as a friendly chat down the pub before Christmas, with Karen telling me that she had booked a surprise trip to Marakesh for Jodi as a Christmas present, I jokingly asked her to write us a review and bingo she did.

Lastly, don't miss our 5-minute interview with The Degree Gap, founded by two former Knights Templar students. It's a must-read if you have kids preparing for their exams this summer!

Apologises for the small ‘Gallery Page’ this month, we really didn’t have many sent in, probably too cold for people to be out and about taking photos.

Don’t forget, if you're looking to promote your business or get involved with the publication, we'd love to hear from you! Advertising with us is a great way to support local businesses and get the word out.

Paul & Jacqui

info@onourdoorstepbaldock.co.uk or 07973 788418

Baldock Rotary Working with Knights Templar School

The Interact Club of the Knights Templar School was inaugurated and chartered by Rotary Club of Baldock on the 11th of October 2011. It comprises a group of sixth form students from the school, mentored by the Head of Youth Services of the Rotary Club of Baldock, Paul Brown aided and abeed by longterm Rotarians John Hammond and Linda Sharp. Mrs G Hopkins, Head of Sixth Form at Knights Templar, is the School's representave and liaison oﬃcer. The club meets each Monday in term during the ﬁrst morning break.

Interact is the branch of Rotary Internaonal (RI) for secondary schoolage people with roughly 14900 clubs in 145 countries across the globe and a total of nearly 350,000 members. The Interact Clubs have broadly the same aims as their parent body with key acvies of community support and internaonal aid.

The ongoing acvies of the KTS Interact club are centred on an organisaon called Lend with Care which

acts to provided zero-interest loans to Third World small businesses or individuals through local agents. Clubs and individuals pledge a small part of the funding for their chosen projects, essenally crowd funding the loans. KTS Interact raised just over £1000 to start their Lend with Care account. Through repayments and re-lending this sum has been recycled to provide a total of £3750 in loans to over 180 businesses, with only 4 defaults. They are currently helping over 25 small businesses across the world.

Acvies in the run up to Christmas included helping raise money with the Baldock Rotary Santa Sleigh where 6 Interactors joined the collecng team on one night and organising a high tea for the Baldock Young at Heart Senior Cizens group that meets in the Community Centre. The Interactors organised the tea, made the refreshments, organised a quiz, created a play list for seasonal background music and arranged for several of the Knights

Templar Senior Choir to sing a few Christmas Carols. During the Tea they waited on the BYAH members and volunteers and took me to chat with them.

This term ends at Easter and the Interactors are hoping to repeat the Easter-Egg Hunt at Weston Way Nursery School just before term ends.

Baldock Rotary Youth Services Chair Paul Brown praised the Interact scheme by saying "Mentoring is so rewarding, you see each year group adapt to their roles within Interact and develop new skills outside those that the school curriculum oﬀers"

In previous years The Club has provided refreshments aer the annual Greenway walk that the school's Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 complete, held in the last week of the school year.

'The photo shows brightly dressed Interactors with Paul Brown at their mocktail stall aer a recent Greenway walk.

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St Mary's Church Hall

As many of you know, on 19th July 2024, the church hall and graveyard were aacked in a senseless act of vandalism. Extensive damage was caused. The impact on the church hall has inevitably been negave - the hall is a valuable and much needed resource in the community. It is used by a wide range of local groups, families celebrang special occasions, by the Trussell Trust as a crisis centre and the Food Angels in the distribuon of food to people in need.

The hall was built in the 1980's and doesn't meet currents expectaons for a modern community space. Due to the damage it has suﬀered, it has become essenal to carry out not just repair, but renovaon. The planned renovaon work will improve accessibility and add features in keeping with environmental concerns to beer meet expectaons of users in the 21st Century.

In order to proceed with the renovaon project, the Parochial Church Council (PCC) will need your help and support! Provisional plans have been

prepared but they cannot be progressed without your views, comments and any feedback that you may have. Therefore we are inving everyone to parcipate in a public consultaon to begin with immediate eﬀect. The plans can be viewed as follows:

Ÿ In St Mary's Church and the Church Hall (the Church is open every day)

Ÿ On the Church website –www.stmarysbaldock.org.uk

Ÿ By emailing us on admin@stmarysbaldock.org.uk

Ÿ By phoning on 01462 892838 – to speak to, or leave a message for, a member of the project team.

Ÿ Please submit your views and feedback through our quesonnairere by clicking on this QR code: (note - hard copies are available upon request).

The consultaon is due to be completed by late February with results published shortly aerwards. Please have your say and make your

views known!

With many thanks and best wishes to you all, Rev'd Phillipa Maddox - Rector

Marvellous Marrakesh

Ever thought about a trip to Marrakesh, but a lile unsure as to whether to o or not?? Well stop thinking and GO!!

I'd been contemplang it for some me but decided to bite the bullet. So, on the 27th of December 2024 whilst most people were recovering from Christmas we jumped on a ﬂight to the wonderful, crazy place that is Marrakesh.

I'd heard lots about the airport there and what a nightmare it was. There were BIG queues to get to passport control. It took us 90minutes to get to the desk. You will need a paper copy of your boarding pass and they ask you where you are staying and your profession!

Just when you think you have queued enough, you walk through into the doors to ﬁnd a hall where you must queue AGAIN to get out of the airport. This is because they security scan your bags. This seemed to go quickly, and it worked out we were there for another 30mins.

Once outside there was very organised chaos, where drivers were all there with people's names on. We quickly found our driver whom I had pre booked via our hotel. I would deﬁnitely recommend doing this. Ours worked out at £20euros, however some taxis are known to make the most of tourists not knowing how much it should cost!

Our driver dropped us oﬀ in the old town where it was no longer possible for him to drive and someone from our hotel met us. Khalid was absolutely lovely. When we got to the hotel, we were given mint tea (which is EVERYWHERE)

Once seled in the hotel we decided to go for some food and explore. We were recommended to go to a local restaurant which was amazing. Le Slimana, food was fantasc. Our bellies full,so we went to tackle to Souks we had heard so much about.

All I can is just WOW! They are not for the feint hearted. However, the stall holders were lovely. We heard Asda Price so many mes!! If you genuinely wanted something, then don't hesitate to barter with them. Please don't barter just for your fun as this is their living.

Be prepared to get lost in here. It was hilarious. We went past the same places so many mes. Just don't take it too seriously. You ﬁnd your way out….eventually!

Regarding your mobile phone. I would advise switching oﬀ your roaming data. Esp if you are with EE, mine charged over £2 a minute! Just use the WIFI wherever you can get it.

I'd booked us a trip to the desert to go on the camels, then quad bikes and finish off with a meal. We would definitely recommend doing this. Although being on a quad bike in the dark with no lights was a lile hairy, it was sll great fun.

I'd been warned about people pung

monkeys on your shoulders and trying to get you to pay for pictures, however we only saw them once in one small area of the main square (Jemaa el-Fnaa) and thankfully no one approached us. In the same area there was also snake charmers. Inially they almost look fake, and then they start moving!!

In thinking about wring this arcle I thought of a couple of do's and don'ts. Don't go if you want a chilled me. Or use the public toilets if you can help it. If you do need to be prepared with your own wipes and ssues. Don't talk to people on the street who want to take you on a lile trip or to a certain shop….they are doing it for money. There are plenty of side shops where you can organise trips to wherever you want to go.

Do embrace the smells, colours, and noise. It just doesn't seem to stop. It's so vibrant.

Do eat the local food, tastes amazing and everyone we spoke to were so friendly. (Even the man in a gallery who let us use his WIFI because we were so lost, but he didn't expect anything in return)

When it was me for us to leave, we made sure we would have enough me to get through the airport. When we pulled up, there were long queues outside the airport just to get in. However, it only took us 30minutes to get through. Then even though we only had carry on cases you sll have to check in and get your paper boarding pass stamped. It did seem that there was a lot of queuing, but to completely get through was only an hour so it wasn't too.

Was it worth going? ABSOLUTELY. So get that trip booked and enjoy!

Food Angels - Baldock

A year ago, we wrote how excited we were to be bringing Food Angels to Baldock. We are very proud to sll be here, rescuing surplus food and oﬀering it for free to all, every Thursday 10.30 to 11.30am at St Mary's Church Hall.

Around thirty people come along each week, everyone is welcome, there's no judgement, no means tesng and no referrals are required. If you are unable to aend, you are very welcome to ask someone to come along on your behalf.

We couldn't do what we do without a team of over twenty volunteers, the support of Reverend Phillipa, and the wonderful Pip from Stevenage's Kaoc Angels Food Angels who has supported us from our incepon.

Barb, one of our wonderful volunteers explains what it's like to be part of Food Angels… "I did not know what to expect when in February 2024, I volunteered for the ﬁrst me for Food Angels. I wanted to contribute to the community in whatever way I could, and I have been lucky enough to ﬁnd a really caring, good-humoured group of people which

has meant it's been the happiest and fulﬁlling of mes. Food Angels is linked to the registered charity Kaoc Angel Foundaon.

Discovering such a friendly group of like-minded folk has meant that the teamwork has just slipped into place. Several volunteers collect the food the night before (it's all good condion, but would otherwise be thrown away as it can no longer be kept on supermarket shelves), more volunteers run the Food Staon on a Thursday morning and another takes surplus food on to Kings Cabin to oﬀer to their clients the following day (nothing goes to waste! if the food cannot be used for human consumpon it is taken on to a farmer to feed their livestock).

We are here in all weathers, giving out rescued food. Being able to contribute towards helping those who need it has shown how much this can make a diﬀerence, pung a smile on their faces has been a bonus.

Anyone can stay for a cuppa and a chat (and oen some home baking too!).

Having someone who will listen to you can somemes make you feel a lot beer about your day.

Nicki who has been the iniator and absolute driving force behind this group of volunteers, has now been able to secure surplus food from several businesses, thanks to her eﬀorts this is now happening on a regular basis. Thanks also to Rebecca who paently connues to support us (long distance now as the family has moved away from the area) in a communicaon and administraon role.

If you would like to join us, why not pop along and meet us on a Thursday morning; if you like what you see you can complete a form and Rebecca will be in touch with you, alternavely contact us via Kaoc Angels Food Angels Facebook page, clearly stang that you want to volunteer for the Baldock food staon.”

Silo – Season 2 – Apple TV

Too much choice out there?

Spend more time deciding what to watch than actually watching something? LET BALDOCK'S RESiDENT TV GLUTTON HELP YOU ON YOUR MiSSiON!

Silo is one of the best shows on Apple TV and Season 1 le us in a perfect place for picking up this dystopian sci fi drama. Based on Hugh Howey's post-apocalypc novels, the series connues to explore the lives of the last 10,000 people on Earth, confined to an underground Silo aer a cataclysmic event rendered the surface uninhabitable. The first season set the scene in terms of how life operates in the Silo, who rules with power and how people's roles and responsibilies determine their status and class; those who must get their hands dirty live further down the Silo in tough condions and those who 'rule' live further up in more comfort.

Rebecca Ferguson reprises her role as Juliee Nichols, an engineer from the lower depths of the mechanical levels who turned sheriﬀ, delivering a performance that anchors the series with intensity and depth. The season opens with a near-silent episode focusing on Juliee's survival outside the Silo, showcasing Ferguson's physicality and emoonal range. Her journey leads her to a neighbouring Silo inhabited by Solo, portrayed by Steve Zahn, whose character adds a real humour, depth and opportunity to widen the viewers understanding as to how these Silos came to exist.

The ensemble cast sees notable performances from Harriet Walter as Martha Walker, Juliee's mentor, and Tim Robbins as Bernard Holland, the former head of IT turned mayor, who

grapples with maintaining order amid rising dissent. Behind the scenes, showrunner Graham Yost expands the series' scope, introducing new Silos and delving into their histories. The producon design remains meculously detailed, capturing the claustrophobic and oppressive atmosphere of the Silo environment. The visual aesthec, characterized by its muted tones, reinforces the bleakness of the characters' existence.

The pacing of Season 2 is slower than Season 1 – this is in part due to the spling of the storytelling between two different Silos and the introducon of some new characters. However, of the 10 episodes, the pace really picks up towards the back end and the ending of this season is the definion of clianger. The immersive environments from producon designer Nicole Northridge are just as stunning as they were last season, filled with astonishing detail and cra, and the newly added second silo seems to feature even more praccal elements and moving pieces. This, combined with a deeper dive into the silos' compelling mythology, a welcome glimpse into the history of another community, and some fascinang flashbacks, all makes for another atmospheric, tense trip underground.

I've said before on Tv Tips that Apple TV is one of the best streamers and Silo really backs that up just as a I sele down to watch Season 2 of Severance, also from Apple TV. It's building a really solid back catalogue of top er tv viewing (no , I'm not on commission – I wish!)

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releases

Screen

the

Marvin is a Milwaukee realtor who receives a crimson envelope from Rose, a former partner-in-crime whom he left for dead. He now ﬁnds himself thrust back into a world of hit men and double-crosses that turn his open houses into deadly war zones. Hunted by his brother, a volatile crime lord, Marvin must confront the choices that haunt him and the history he never truly buried.

Anthony Mackie returns as the highflying hero Sam Wilson, who’s officially taken up the mantle of CaptainAmerica.After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red. Love hurts mad about

Break out the big pants and the vodka shots because the lovelorn Bridget Jones is back. Renee Zellweger returns to her signature role as Bridget, who is now a widow, bereft after the death of her on-oﬀ partner turned husband Mark Darcy. With two children to bring up, Bridget struggles to ﬁnd her place in the world but realises it's time to get back out there.

last breath

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Aheart-pounding ﬁlm that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the surface of the North Sea, with only ﬁve minutes of oxygen and no chance of rescue for at least thirty minutes. Based on a true story, Last Breath is an electrifying story about teamwork, resilience, and a race against time to do the impossible.

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You can't hide who you are

New 2025 Lamborghini Temerario

Get ready to shi into high gear as Lamborghini introduces the Temerario, a groundbreaking addion to the super sports car segment that promises to leave you breathless.

With an awesome power output of 920 PS, the Temerario will accelerate from zero to 62 mph in a heartstopping 2.7 seconds and boasts a top speed of 213 mph.

This remarkable vehicle is a new entry to Lamborghini's High-Performance Electric Vehicle lineup, following the Revuelto and Urus SE. It represents a major step in the company's electriﬁcaon strategy.

Replacing the iconic Huracán, Lamborghini's best-selling super sports car since its debut in 2014, the Temerario elevates innovaon and performance to new heights. It features three disnct driving modes - Recharge, Hybrid, and Performance - allowing you to adapt your experience based on your journey. The intuive 12.3-inch digital driver's dashboard visually reﬂects the selected seng with engaging animated graphics.

There is also the Cià mode, which enables fully electric operaon for

urban driving with a maximum power output of 189 PS. Conversely, the Recharge mode eﬀecvely uses the massive V8 engine to breathe life into the baery as required. According to Lamborghini, there's also a Strada seng which opmises fuel eﬃciency for long-haul motorway journeys, providing a balance of performance and praccality.

When excitement is in order, a Sport seng enhances the Temerario's character, delivering a thrilling and responsive driving experience across all selectable modes. The Hybrid system is there to enrich this experience by providing robust power along with the exhilarang roar of the Lambo's ﬁnely tuned V8 lump.

On the track, Lamborghini explains that a Corsa mode shows oﬀ the Temerario's unworldly dynamic capabilies. It enables the powertrain to unload its testosterone, boosng performance and the emoonal magnitude of the driving experience. Addionally, the Italian sports car maker has ushered in the smulang Dri mode, designed to heighten driving enjoyment through precise control of

oversteer. Fied with a trio of adjustable sengs, it caters to drivers of varying skill levels.

With the Temerario, the Sant'Agata Bolognese-based marque sets a new standard by uning cung-edge technology with brain-churning performance. It is a case of buckling up for a ride that promises a meld of power, precision, and thrill that only Lamborghini can deliver.

While I am euphoric about previewing this Lamborghini, the ancipaon of geng behind the wheel is palpable. That day will have to wait, as the car is not yet available for sale. It is there for us media to poke around and talk about - but we won't be allowed on the road with the Temerario for a while yet. Nonetheless, I am sll grateful to Lamborghini for inving motoring journalists to its UK premiere of the super sports car.

The Lamborghini Temerario reminds us that even the most adrenalinecharged vehicles must follow their own meline. Cars are expected to be available to UK customers around summerme.

Fast Facts

Ÿ Max speed: 213 mph

Ÿ 0-62 mph: 2.7 secs

Ÿ Powertrain: 4.0L twin-turbocharged V8 engine + three electric motors

Ÿ Max. power (PS): 907 (engine plus electric)

Ÿ Price: £260,000

New 2025 Lamborghini Temerario

Baldock Gardens

By Graham Tapp

February is the time for us gardeners to come out of hibernation, fire up the old grey matter, and start putting our planting lists together and planning our planting schedules. But be very careful not to get too excited and trying to get your seedlings started too early; you need to be sure that you will have a suitable place to plant them when they're ready to go out. Early spring can be a tricky time for planting out. Just because the sun has come out and is shining brightly doesn't mean it's safe to plant out; we may still have unfavourably cold and watersaturated soil, chilly winds, and even frosts. Starting just a week to ten days later may enable you to plant out into warm, dry conditions, allowing your plants to grow away without faltering. Here is something I was always asked back in the day by my head gardener, Tom Young, Would you lay on the soil you intend to plant these seedlings in for an hour dressed in only a shirt and shorts? If the answer is no, then don't plant them out. Anything that stops the steady growth of your precious seedlings could allow pests and diseases to take hold, causing unwanted damage and even death. If you have to keep seedlings/young plants for any length of time indoors or in your greenhouse past their optimal planting stage, there is a significant risk of reduced crop weight, size and or quality. It is well known that stronger plants have a better chance of looking after themselves against pests and diseases.

If you want to plant your young plants a few weeks earlier, you need to warm the soil where you want to grow them; this can be done using a floor covering or weed control fabric that will convert any early sunshine into a bit of soil warmth. Using glass or plastic cloches to cover your young plants will also give a warmer microclimate and protection from pigeons, rabbits and other small creatures that desire your crops; you must use cloche systems that allow ventilation if, by chance, it turns too warm. This is quite a chore but well worth doing; I have spent many a day opening and closing plastic cloches and moving heavy glass barn cloches approximately 600mm x 600mm

each; these have wire frames that have the facility to open for ventilation and a handle on the top to allow them to be moved about. If growing salad crops, there may be as many as 5400 of these cloches per acre (2185 per hectare). Hard work, as you can imagine, but worth it if growing salad crops early veg or strawberries.

I attended several plant nutrition seminars during late summer and autumn last year. It has become clear that many of us using peat-free compost to grow our seedlings are facing serious challenges with quality. Industry leaders in the seedling and plug plant sector have paid for research to be undertaken. It seems from the trials that, for some reason that is not entirely understood yet it's a nitrogen and potash lock up or leach out that is causing the problem. The suggestion at the moment is that we all liquid feed with a high nitrogen and potas h fertiliser as required; what you should do is as soon as you suspect poor growth, yellowing of leaves, or you feel that something is just not right, feed straight away. Don't go mad with the feed, just a little and often. If you overfeed fertilisers, it's impossible to reduce it, and the damage is done; if you underfeed, at least you can top it up so little, and often, is the way forward.

Overuse with any fertiliser will burn your plants' fine feeder roots and possibly cause considerable and irreparable damage.

Back to our planting and sowing list for February.

Several things can be sown outside, provided it's not snowing, or we have had weeks of heavy rain; broad beans, carrots, leeks, onions, parsnips, peas, and radishes can all be sown directly into your chosen bed. Towards the end of the month, you can sow several varieties indoors: broad beans (tender types), brussels sprouts, summer cabbage, Cauliflower, Celeriac, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsnips, peas, peppers, and chillies. Once we get into March, we can sow even more varieties outdoors: beetroot, brussels sprouts, Summer cabbage, winter cabbage, and a wider range of carrots, Leeks, Lettuce, Onions, Parsnips, Peas, Radish, and Spinach.

The next thing to look out for is Pigeons and rabbits. These will eat anything they can down to the ground; after all, your crops are food for them as well, and they don't like sharing any more than you do.

Defence systems, such as wire cages, netting, cloches, etc, are available to stop them; some excellent sprays are also available these days that work very well, some organic. High-frequency sound generators and water sprays, both working on passive infrared detection, also do a job.

Mice are always a big problem with pea growing, and a mischief of mice could clear a twenty-foot row of germinating peas in one night. And by the way, they love sweetpeas, so be very careful. Remember they can jump 4 feet high (1.2 Mt) from a standing start; when we grow our sweetpeas, we always use a scaffold board or similar as a growing shelf supported on ropes or wires from a greenhouse roof at least six feet (1.8 mt) of the ground and away from any structure they can climb up.

Black birds and crows are another problem; they will pull your freshly planted crops out of the ground, looking for fresh grubs and worms. Those of you who are old enough will remember us growing dried flowers in the field between the Garden Centre and Hartsfield School. We would spend all day planting tens of thousands of helichrysums with a tractor and planter, one person driving (me) and two others feeding the planter. Pleased with our day's work, we would go home and come back the next day to start again to find that more than half of the plants had been pulled out; the choice was to replant by hand or pull the rest up and use the planter. We had to cover them with acres of white crop protection fleece to protect them. It worked, so be aware of what a few birds can do when they work together.

Until next month

chillilounge

BYOB

WE WANT TO MAKE 2025ALITTLE EASIER ONYOUR FINANCES.

So, the Chilli Lounge invites you to bring your own alcoholic drinks - all day, any day

(No corkage is charged either)

We look forward to welcoming you - and your bottles.

Clinical Ultrasound & Diagnostic Ultrasound Scanning

Diagnosc ultrasound is an imaging method that uses sound waves to produce images of structures within your body and is the same technology used for pregnancy imaging. This can provide valuable informaon for diagnosing and direcng treatment for a variety of diseases and condions.

Why would you want to have a Diagnosc Ultrasound Scan?

Diagnosc ultrasound can help to see injuries, help to diagnose injuries which can help to assist in treatment planning for your pain.

What can be Diagnosed?

The following condions can be diagnosed:-

Ÿ shoulders; tears, tendinopathy, bursis and frozen shoulders

Ÿ wrists; joint inﬂammaon - ligament and tendon problems

Ÿ elbows; joint inﬂammaon, tennis elbow and golfers elbow

Ÿ hands; thumbs, osteoarthris, thumb tendinis

Ÿ hip; gluteal tendons, bursis and hamstrings tears

Ÿ knee; ligament tears, tendinopathy, muscle tears, osteoarthris changes

Ÿ ankle; ligament tears, tendinopathy, joint inﬂammaon, osteoarthris

Ÿ feet; plantar fascia, mid-foot joints, plantar plates, big toe osteoarthris and Morton's neuroma

This type of scanning that we do here at Amber is not useful for:

Ÿ Idenfying any cause of spinal pain as it cannot see this deep.

Ÿ Carlage issues

Ÿ Suspected fractures

Ÿ Stress fractures

Ÿ Pregnancy related scans

Ÿ Idenfying lumps, bumps, hernias

Ÿ Organ related issues

Tom runs a clinic on Thursdays oﬀering Osteopathy, Shockwave Therapy and Diagnosc Ultrasound. You do not need to have seen an osteopath to have a scan, and you do not need a referral from your GP.

An appointment for Diagnosc Ultrasound with Tom will cost £115.00 and will last 30 minutes. The appointment will include a case history, thorough assessment and a scan with a wrien report of your scan. Most importantly this will help with advice on your next steps to recovery from Tom, your GP or other medical professional.

If you are interested in ﬁnding out how Diagnosc Ultrasound could help you in your recovery, please call the clinic on 01462 490141 to book an appointment with Tom.

Amber Health Team

5 minutes with... Joe Clark from The Degree Gap

*Tellusaboutyourselves?

The Degree Gap was founded by Joe Clark and Harry Godfrey, two former students of Knights Templar, a fantasc school, in Baldock. As students, we exceeded our predicted grades through hard work and eﬀecve support, and that experience inspired us to create something bigger - a tutoring agency designed to help others achieve the same transformave results. Our vision is simple yet ambious: to raise the standard ofprivatetutoringandprovidestudentswiththetoolstheyneed to succeed. At The Degree Gap, we don't just help students improvetheirgrades;wehelpthemtransformtheirfutures.

*WhoisTheDegreeGap?

At The Degree Gap, we understand the pressures faced when it comestoeducaon.That'swhyweofferapremium,pay-as-yougo online tutoring service designed to support students every stepoftheway–fromGCSEstoALevelsandevenUniversity. Our carefully selected tutors are experienced, qualified, and passionate about helping students not only achieve the grades theyneedbutalsogaintheconfidenceandskillstoexcelintheir educaonal journey. Whether it's conquering tricky maths problems or preparing for life-changing exams, we're here to ensure your child is equipped to reach their full potenal and takethenextsteptowardabrightfuture.

*WhatServicesDoWeOﬀer?

At The Degree Gap, we provide a comprehensive range of servicesdesignedtosupportstudentsateverystageoftheir

educaonal journey: We specialise in personalised, one-to-one online tutoring for all subjects and levels. Whether your child is tackling quadrac equaons in GCSE Maths, mastering cells in Biology, or grappling with advanced topics at A Level or University, we have the perfect tutor to help. Our tutors don't just teach - they adapt to your child's unique learning style, breaking down complex topics into manageable steps and buildingtheconﬁdencetheyneedtosucceed.

Are you a teacher? If so, we offer tailored talks on revision strategies,equippingstudentswiththetoolstheyneedtorevise effecvely,retaininformaon,andwalkintotheirexamsfeeling prepared and confident. We cover topics such as procrasnaon, movaon and revision theories which can makeorbreakexamsuccess.

Lastly,ifyouneedsupportwithyourpersonalstatementorCV, weareheretohelp!

*WhyChooseTheDegreeGap?

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Groundworks & Drainage

What Happens  the Balcy, Must Stay  the Balcy

At Last...Yippee! Its February at last. I'm wring this on the 85th January, feeling thoroughly fed up, another storm is looming over head. The last one blew my aerial down, it's been up there perched on my chimney for years, perfectly happy with its life and the next I know, it's laying in my front garden, looking all forlorn and dejected. I am more than done with January, there's been just one game of rugby this month, so lile opportunity to get out and mingle with the good folks on the new balcony. It was suggested to me that I author an arcle about the match day balcony humour, but on reﬂecon, we thought we might get arrested, so unfortunately for you lovely folk, what happens on the balcony, must stay on the balcony. First team match days are such fun. Three course meal, wine and port slung in for thirty squid, followed by matches that would rival the glorious England naonal squad (well, the Welsh at least) in performance. For me during these dark, cold January days, popping out to the rugby club to seek the company of friends and the like minded lightens my soul, so when games are cancelled because of a bit of frost, I can't help but be disappointed as I slink

back under my blanket and spend another two hours trying to ﬁnd something to watch on the telly.

Our fabulous local rugby club is going places, we are on the cusp of promoon, whether this season or next I have faith that we will get there, unfortunately, with that comes added expense for the club. In order to play in higher leagues, we have to meet the regulaons of that league. Its an expensive thing for grassroots sport to achieve, and without the constant support of our sponsors, players, parents, and volunteers, we will fall short. The higher we go as a club, the more we can give back to the community. Players are always desperately needed; I know our third team is on the lookout. This team is good old fashioned social rugby. A game, a few pints and a fun me are the order of the day, and we'd love to hear from you.

I have to send some love to our President Brian, who has a bit of an ouchie, I do hope it heals well, and excuse me while I gloat at the fact that I got the word in, so meh. For those of you who don't know, and frankly couldn't care less, Brian and I have a

lile game going, I give him a word for his match reports, and he gives me one for this arcle. I am winning, he says its because the word I gave him was edited out. Whatever! In case you were wondering, he is to blame for crepuscular last month, if you had to google it, as I did, It's all his fault. It's not quite light yet when I leave for work, nor when I return home, but its geng there. I'm going to start my annual search for Spring when walking Edd. It just takes that ﬁrst glance at a Snow Drop as it bales it's way through the mud to li the Winter from my old bones and I know it will be any day now. Oh, to be warm again, to cast oﬀ the extra blanky and wonder bare foot in the garden once more. Just wring about it cheers me. I don't tend to wish my life away, but I have no me for January at all, it needs to be over.

Nicky

SUNDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 2025

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Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo

If you've been following my reviews, you'll know I have a deep appreciaon for innovaon and praccality, parcularly when it comes to tech that enables creavity. Enter the Anycubic Kobra S1 – a device that has transformed my 3D prinng experience and firmly established itself as an indispensable tool in my workshop. The first thing that strikes you about the Anycubic Kobra S1 is its sleek and robust design. Straight out of the box, the setup was a breeze, even for someone with experience across a range of 3D printers. The instrucons were clear and concise, and in no me, I was ready to embark on my first print. Anycubic has clearly priorised userfriendliness with this model, making it an ideal choice for both beginners and seasoned makers.

In terms of performance, the Kobra S1 Combo punches well above its weight. I started with the tried-andtested PLA and PLA+, and the results were nothing short of exceponal. The prints consistently displayed incredible precision and detail, rivaling what you'd expect from far more expensive professional-grade printers. Layer adhesion was excellent, and I experienced minimal stringing, which is always a win when tackling complex designs. But what truly impressed me was its ability to handle ABS ﬁlament.

Venturing into ABS was a first for me, and the Kobra S1 made the process seamless. The enclosed design with a carbon filter ensured stable temperatures and minimised odours, which are common challenges with ABS. The printer's heated bed and reliable extruder maintained perfect condions for prinng this notoriously finicky material. The results were outstanding – smooth, durable prints that opened up new possibilies for projects requiring enhanced strength and heat resistance. For anyone looking to expand their material repertoire, the Kobra S1 Combo is more than up to the task.

One of the standout features of this printer is its heang 4-reel mul-colour ACE unit. This advanced system allows for seamless mul-material and mulcolour prinng, elevang the creave possibilies to new heights. Whether you're producing intricate models, vibrant art pieces, or funconal prototypes, the Kobra S1's ACE unit ensures exceponal consistency and stunning results.

At its core, the Kobra S1 is all about oﬀering professional-grade results at a consumer-friendly price point. In an era where 3D prinng is becoming increasingly accessible, Anycubic has struck the perfect balance between aﬀordability and performance.

This printer delivers results that you would expect from machines cosng signiﬁcantly more, making it an excellent investment for hobbyists, nkerers, and even small businesses.

This is an excellent 3D printer which is both nicely package and produces outstanding results.

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Mark Kitchener

UNIT 12 BONDOR BUSINESS CENTRE, LONDON ROAD, BALDOCK. SG76HP

Shoulder of Lamb With Olives & Aubergine

It's February and it's still cold, grey and just not very pleasant so this month's recipe will cheer us all up! It's also a great sharing dish for those of you dining in for Valentine's Day (although why would you unless you have kids and no babysitter!) I thought I'd stay with the Morrocoan theme this month as we have our Morrocon Wine Supper Club on the 20th, this recipe is rich, full of ﬂavour, soft, tender & succulent. It requires slow cooking in the oven but don't worry, once it's in the oven it will look after itself! The other beneﬁt with this recipe is that leftovers are almost guaranteed so lunch the next day is also taken care of! It works really well as a lamb wrap with minted yoghurt and fresh salad.

As always, buy the best quality ingredients you're comfortable with. For the avid home cook, feel free to toast the whole spices that are in this recipe and grind them once cool. If you're super organised then you can make this a day in advance as it would benefit from a day in the fridge for all those wonderful flavours to marry together. I have tried to simplify this recipe as much as possible, for those of you who'd like the "Cheffy" version of this recipe, pop into the restaurant and I'll talk you through it.

This recipe will feed a family of 4 with plenty of leftovers for the following day.

Marinate the lamb

Try and do this the day before but even if you give it an hour or so, you'll get more depth in ﬂavour.

Ÿ 50g Greek yoghurt

Ÿ tsp ground cumin

Ÿ tsp ground coriander

Ÿ tsp smoked paprika

Ÿ Salt & pepper to taste

Ÿ Juice of 2 lemons

Mix everything in a bowl until you form a thick paste.

Ÿ shoulder of lamb on the bone

Make small incisions with the tip of your knife all over the shoulder. Massage the marinade all over the lamb making sure you get it into the incions you've made. The entire shoulder should be well covered with the marinade. Leave uncovered in the fridge for at least an hour but ideally overnight.

Let's slow-cook the lamb

Preheat your oven to 200°C. Place your lamb shoulder in a large oven tray and roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown all over.

Ÿ 3 large brown onions (chunky dice)

Ÿ 6 cloves of garlic (peeled & crushed)

Ÿ A thumb-sized piece of ginger (peeled and sliced)

Ÿ 1 tsp of cumin

Ÿ 1 tsp of coriander

Ÿ 1 tsp of smoked paprika

Ÿ A few threads of saﬀron (soak in a small amount of warm water for 5 minutes)

Ÿ A 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

Ÿ 3 Pints of lamb or chicken stock

In a saucepan on medium heat, fry oﬀ the onions until they are golden brown. Then add the garlic & ginger and cook for a further 3 minutes. Add the cumin, coriander & paprika and cook the spices for 2 minutes more. Then add the chopped tomatoes, saﬀron and reduce the liquid by half. Now add the chicken stock. Bring to the boil then add the contents of your saucepan into the oven tray that you roasted your lamb in. Cover the tray with baking paper and kitchen foil and wrap it around your roasting tray tight so no steam can escape. Pop the tray carefully back into the oven at 160°C for 2 hours.

Let's get the garnish ready

The garnish for this dish is very simple. It's fried aubergine, some olives and some steamed kale.

Ÿ 2 large aubergines (sliced into 1cm thick discs) Shallow fry the aubergines in a frying pan with some rapeseed oil until golden brown on both sides. As soon as they come out of the pan, sprinkle with some sea salt and a pinch of sumac.

Ÿ 300g of your favourite pitted olives 10 minutes before you take the lamb out of the oven, add the olives into the tray with the lamb and return to the oven uncovered.

Ÿ 500g curly kale (stripped from the stalks) Blanch in a pan of boiling, salted water for 2 minutes and serve straight away.

Let's serve up

I would suggest serving your lamb in the tray that you cooked it in which encourages a sharing style of eating which I personally love.

Taste the sauce before serving and check the seasoning. Add salt, pepper or a squeeze of lemon if you think it needs it. Lay the fried aubergine around the lamb and serve with the steamed kale. Use two forks to pull the soft lamb apart and spoon over some of that rich, sweet sauce. You could add some dried fruit into the mix such as dates, ﬁgs or apricots. I also like to serve some Greek yoghurt on the side and some cous cous.

I hope you enjoy this months recipe. Please let me know how you get on. I love hearing your kitchen stories!

recipe from Kish, Chef patron of

SadNews

Vintage Co, at 62 the High Street, will be closing it’s door for good on Friday, February 28th.

Bronagh made the brave decision to close the shop due to business on the High street slowing down over the past few years and she has reached the point where she simply cannot make it work.

“It was a dream of mine 30+ years ago to have a shop on the High Street and from where I stand I feel I have achieved everything I set out to do” said Bronagh “I have met some lovely people and have made some beauful friends, @emmaﬂetcherjewellery .

being the main one. Emma will sll be at the end of the phone for any jewellery requirements you might have.”

Bronagh will connue the business on social media and will carry on with smaller things, lampshades will sll be available to order, and I'm hoping that I will be able to carry on albeit on a much smaller scale.

There is a closing down sale at the

shop, with plenty of bargains and with in reason everything has to go. So get yourself down there grab a bargain and wish Bronagh all the best she before she closes the door for the last me.

SUNDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 2025

Ashwell’s Famous Flea Market

Saturday 15th Match 2025 from 9.30-1.00 pm at St Mary's Church, Ashwell

“All sorts of weird & wonderful items for sale”

FREE ENTRY

Tea & Coffee will be available Funds raised go the St Mary's restoration fund.

Eight Academy Supper Club

Kish the owner and head chef at Eight, held an Academy Supper Club at the restaurant in January, he handed over the kitchen to his two 18 year old catering college students that work part me with him both in the restaurant and on the catering trailer @eightonwheels.

Over the me they have spent in the kitchen the youngsters have learnt a huge amount and Kish felt they were now ready to showcase their skills and knowledge they have developed, by wring, cosng then cooking their own

dishes as part of a 4 course menu. Freddie was responsible for the canapes and the main course whilst Millie was responsible for the ﬁsh course and the dessert.

The evening was a huge success, and with the restaurant fully booked for the event and the young chefs were kept busy, plang up the evening ﬁne dining and served with the utmost precision and skill. All the dishes on the night were executed ﬂawlessly. Let’s hope this event becomes a regular on Eights calendar.

Not All Heros Where Capes

On Sunday Gary Mills and a team of volunteers. myself, included went lier picking from the Orange Tree up Norton Road, towards Norton. We collected 20 bags of rubbish along with 20 gas canisters like the one I am holding in the photo. We are looking for more volunteers to join us on our monthly lier picks on a Wednesday or a Sunday. If any of you know of any areas that need to be cleared please let us know via email gamills442@gmail.com

Brian Noble