News of Lincoln City Football Club and Visit Lincoln’s new collaboration hit my inbox around the same time as Luke received his birthday card from the Junior Imps Club so I quickly went from knowing kids love Lincoln City to Lincoln City loves kids too.
The city’s “official Destination Management Organisation” and the League Two club are working together to encourage more people to visit Lincoln.
The Imps’ role as a new Corporate Partner will see a new Visiting Supporters’ Guide produced and the club sponsoring the 2018/19 Lincoln Loves Kids booklet.
Liam Scully, Chief Executive at Lincoln City Football Club, said: “We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Visit Lincoln; not only to encourage travelling away fans to visit Sincil Bank to watch their team, but also to spend a bit longer in Lincoln to see our beautiful city.
“As Lincoln City FC continues to grow on and off the pitch, we believe it will have a positive impact on the local economy; not least with the travelling away fans and local home fans, but also with other commercial opportunities that will be presented by having a vibrant football club within Lincoln”.
Left to right: Joel Murray (Digital Marketing Coordinator, Visit Lincoln), Poacher the Imp (Lincoln City FC Mascot), Jake Longworth (Marketing Manager, Lincoln City FC), Liam Scully (Chief Executive, Lincoln City FC), Lydia Rusling (Chief Executive, Visit Lincoln) and Alan Long (Supporter Liaison Officer, Lincoln City FC).
“Working in partnership is at the heart of everything we do,” said Lydia Rusling, Chief Executive at Visit Lincoln. “We have enjoyed working with the team at Lincoln City FC to produce a new Visiting Supporters’ Guide to encourage visiting football fans to stay a little longer in the city, and maybe turn a match day into a short break.
“The Lincoln Loves Kids booklet sits at the centre of our family marketing for Lincoln and the surrounding area and to have the association with the city football club is a winning combination!”
When I was getting upset at seeing all the back to school shop displays at the end of August I turned the corner of an aisle and came face to face with several shelves full of grimacing pumpkins and the thought of Halloween also looming on the calendar left me with a big grin on my face too.
Last year’s Halloween was definitely a cause for celebration in the Malpi household as Faith returned home from hospital following her heart operation just in time to join in the festivities but we’re definitely hoping this year’s run up to trick or treat time will be slightly less stressful.
If you’re looking for activities that are more fun than fearful, there are plenty on offer in Lincolnshire and just across the county border to keep your mini monsters amused.
As always – some events need advance booking, there are only so many pumpkins in a pumpkin patch and, of course, all live (and undead) events are subject to change so be sure to click on the links to check the details and phone/book before travelling.
Do you know of an event we’ve missed? Tell us about it in the comments or email us at hello@theminimalpi.co.uk and don’t forget to keep checking back in case we’ve found more.
Are your mini marauders are already running out of ways to keep themselves busy just one week into the holidays?
Then why not send any sparring siblings to the National Civil War Centre where they can properly hone their skills of devious deception this summer?
The Newark museum’s family activities programme starts today and includes performances full of pretence and cunning craftiness all on an intriguing espionage theme.
Invited to the launch of Summer of Spies earlier this month, our mini mischief makers were immediately absorbed in a task to search for 10 gold coins hidden around the Appletongate venue’s courtyard area. Their swag could then be swapped for the chance to fire a cannon. They obviously felt this well rewarded their efforts as they insisted on repeating the task numerous times.
But when we were finally able to prise them away from their quest for bounty they discovered lots of other ways to become duplicitous detectives.
Apprentice secret agents had the chance to learn the science behind their subterfuge by making periscopes to see round corners, cracking codes and writing messages in invisible ink.
But it’s not just ciphers that need to be secret, identities do too, and the chance to create their own disguises was the choice they made that quickly filled up the rest of their time at the evening event.
Just like last year, the minis loved sampling all the hands on activities that will featured at the centre at different stages of its Summer of Spies but the thing that impressed mummy the most were the friendly, thoughtful and helpful staff who didn’t bat an eyelid at our slightly delayed, divided and disheveled arrival but simply concentrated on getting the minis having fun straightaway.
Summer of Spies runs from July 28th to September 2nd and the centre is offering 20% off admission for families with at least one paying child during this time.
Family Craft Activities: July 28 – August 5: Seventeenth Century Spy Kit August 6 – August 12: Locked Letters and Secret Seals August 13 – August 19:Cloak and Dagger August 20 – August 26: Hide and Seek August 27 – September 2: How To Be Invisible
Performancesby either Aphra Behn: Mistress of All Trades or The Anonymous Spy take place every day (except Sundays) at 11am, noon, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm.
When Boris and Betty tweeted the blurb of the first installment of their escapades about a week ago it seemed the perfect book to be introduced to as we neared the end of this year’s #30DaysWild:
“Boris and Betty are spending too much time on their favourite computer game, much to Mummy Bear’s dismay!
“But Mummy Bear has a plan to get her children back outside!
“With some friends popping up along the way, will these twin bears rediscover their love for the great outdoors, or will they be forever glued to their favourite computer game?”
Written by Lee Harris and illustrated by Jordan Brown, the minis were lucky enough for the author to send them a copy to see what they thought of the ursine pair’s excursion into “the world outside our door” and it arrived just in time for the end of the month-long challenge.
I love the colour tone of the bold, simple illustrations and how Boris’s favourite toy rabbit, that he obviously can’t leave home without, soon spends more time in his mother’s paw than his.
A great importance is placed on rhythm and rhyme in developing early literacy skills but I also find that books written this way can immediately help the reader find an engaging voice for the story when sharing them aloud and, along with an occasional typesetting highlight, it works well in this instance too.
The author is a father of three who has years of bedtime reading experience and was inspired to write Boris and Betty after becoming “frustrated with the current trend of children spending most of their spare time with an electronic gadget in their hand”. And it’s lovely to note that the twins don’t just find enjoyment in the countryside and active pursuits but also in finding friends to play with too as Daisy Deer and Henrietta Horse make cameo appearances. (Who doesn’t love a little bit of alliteration too?!)
Fun with friends and camping, playgrounds and kites are definitely topics that meet with the approval of the minis – kite flying was even desperately requested on our last camping trip despite a distinct lack of wind.
“Today has been fab, with lots to explore.
This kite’s amazing – we want to see it soar! The world is a wonderful, joyous place We’ve learned to enjoy and start to embrace.”
But, whilst coaxing them outside away from screens isn’t too hard at the moment, I can see a time coming in the not too distant future where it will become more of an issue. #30DaysWild has proved harder this year due to the demands of the school run which, due to the lack of local school places, sees us confined to the car for each trip as well as truncates our afternoons. Fortunately Luke’s school has great grounds and takes part in The Daily Mile initiative and Willow’s nursery has lovely outdoor play areas and even animals that they can observe and help in looking after. But it won’t be too many years before the classroom will swallow a significant part of their day and I don’t like that thought.
It will, however, give me plenty of reasons for keeping Boris and Betty as a staple part of our bedtime reading canon for years to come so we can ensure a yearning to head outdoors as much as possible during weekends and holidays.
And, whilst the bears realistically don’t give up their love for “tablets and gadgets galore” altogether, the tale’s closing couplet:
Now that the bears have begun to discover, What future adventures will they uncover?
seems to suggest they might have further titles to add to it in the future too.
Luke’s school summer fair gave us the opportunity to decorate a stone today and encouraged children to become art ninjas.
“Art Ninjas are a super sneaky fun group of Lincoln people who love making art and love to share it by leaving it for people to find in unexpected places! Art Ninjas aim is to share a smile and spread the power of creativity to connect and inspire the community. No special art skills required just the Art Ninja skills of stealth and kindness.”
We’ve been lucky enough to spot one or two decorated stones in and around Lincoln in the past few months, now maybe we’ll be able to add ours too.
We were very grateful to whoever decided to put their play area in the woodland’s shade but it was in the sun-soaked garden and meadow of the “18th-century architectural masterpiece” that so many different textures caught my eye.
If your minis like spotting different textures in nature then pop over to Pinkoddy and print out Joy’s Nature Trail Checklist for You and Your Little Ones. With seasonal as well as all-year-round suggestions, her list includes a smooth pebble, a soft feather and a prickly pine needle.
Tractors and animals were the main two things on the minis’ to do list for the Lincolnshire Show 2018.
Having been in previous years, we considered this highly achievable. Organised by the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society (LAS) at the Showground just north of Lincoln, the Show has its roots in agriculture and, now reaching its 134th event, it’s still firmly at its heart.
The minis were guests of the LAS for the second day of the event that would see horses, cows, sheep, poultry, bees, pigs and more feature in its rings and exhibition tents.
We had a plan, we had a route.
What we didn’t allow for, however, was the lure of a helter skelter.
To be fair, mummy and daddy had already gone slightly off piste when we happened upon the world famous Red Arrows doing a meet and greet ahead of their aerobatic display later in the day but once we’d spiralled down the fairground ride, been spun around on a merry-go-round and bounced about on an inflatable castle we were well and truly disorientated and just decided to see where their little feet would take us next.
And, whilst the amusements were fun, they were richly rewarded by venturing further afield too.
A laser show meant something interesting for all including our miniest one, the two eldest minis enjoyed their caving experience with Lincolnshire Scouts so much they went round the course twice and daddy enjoyed getting up close to the Checkatrade Trophy that we’d seen Lincoln City FC hold aloft at Wembley in April.
The Schools’ Challenge entries had joined in with the Show’s aviation theme marking the centenary of the RAF and children had made their own aeroplane costumes, air raid shelters and Dig for Victory displays.
Luke and Willow tried their hands at resuscitation with St John Ambulance, examined Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue’s equipment, had a go at table tennis with the Positive Futures team and more sporting experiences with Active Lincolnshire and dug for historic artefacts with Heritage Lincolnshire.
And once they (and daddy) discovered the Lego pit inside Lincolnshire County Council’s tent, promoting the Kingdom Lego Brick Show coming to Lincoln Castle in the summer, they was every chance we’d never have got past that area of the Showground. Fortunately Willow was enamoured by some 1940s singers so we danced our way out to enjoy yet more including the University of Lincoln tent which offered more hands on activities with Luke and Willow asked to consider what they might like to research when they’re older – Lego and sleep were their choices.
Mummy just managed to squeeze in a visit to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust tent too for a #30DaysWild activity where, had they not still be uncovering ancient relics with Heritage Lincolnshire, the minis would have found plenty more to keep their busy fingers occupied. This year the charity’s tent focused on wildflowers and their Heritage Lottery supported project celebrating Lincolnshire’s amazing plants #LoveLincsPlants.
We made it to the land train just in time to stave off any disappointed meltdowns (many thanks to the drivers for letting us on so late) and were dropped off in front of – finally! – the tractors, rounding off the day listening to the marching band in the main ring whilst enjoying rolling down a grassy hill.
We may have only seen some horses, a sheep and a cow from a distance but I think it’s fair to say we had a very full day packed with fun, interesting and educational experiences and left with lots of information on enjoying all our county has to offer all year round.
There is so much on offer at the Show each person will have their own unique experience. Mummy’s dreaming of the year she can seek out the Lincolnshire gin tents and stroll around the shopping aisles, a year that daddy will be heading straight for the beer tent. We definitely found out why they say you can’t fit it all in in just one day. Luke’s school only closes for one day of the Show though, and we’re fortunate in that, so we’ll just have to go again next year instead.
News of Lincoln City Football Club and Visit Lincoln’s new collaboration hit my inbox around the same time as Luke received his birthday card from the Junior Imps Club so I quickly went from knowing kids love Lincoln City to Lincoln City loves kids too.
When Boris and Betty 
“Boris and Betty are spending too much time on their favourite computer game, much to Mummy Bear’s dismay!
Luke’s school summer fair gave us the opportunity to decorate a stone today and encouraged children to become art ninjas.![IMG_2581[1]](https://theminimalpicouk.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/img_25811.jpg?w=394&h=525)
We enjoyed a lovely hot day out at 
