Spalding, Lincolnshire
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- For other places and people named Spalding, see Spalding.
Template:Infobox England place with map Spalding is a market town in Lincolnshire, England, perhaps best known for its annual Flower Parade. It is traditionally part of the Holland division and is part of the South Holland district.
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River Welland
The River Welland flows north from Crowland, through Spalding and out to the Wash, bisecting Spalding from east to west. Consequently the town has developed as a linear settlement around the river. Coronation Channel was built in 1955 to protect the rest of Spalding from flooding after particulary heavy rains and allowed the area around the banks to be safely built upon. Alhough this area has become heavily built up, the river retains its recreational usage and fishing is still a popular sport.
Growth
The town has a population of about 22,000 (26,000 including Pinchbeck). The population continues to grow at a fast pace, including large numbers of retired people and immigrant workers from eastern Europe seeking work in the many food processing factories or on the land. However, public services have not kept pace with the growing population, leading to shortages in services such as NHS dentists and doctors, and the maintenance of a local road system more suited to 1960s traffic levels. The A16 used to pass through the town until August 1995, when the Spalding-Sutterton Improvement opened.
Spalding's nearest major hospitals are Boston (18 miles north) and Peterborough (20 miles south) and, despite the growing population, hospital services continue to be cut. As from September 2006, there will be no after-hours doctors available, and Spalding will be totally dependent on paramedics and the NHS Direct phone services.
Education
Spalding's two secondary modern schools are the Gleed Boys School and the Gleed Girls School; Boston College and Stamford College also have centres in the town. The town's state grammar schools (still selective by 11+ exam) are Spalding Queen Elizabeth Royal Free Grammar School (for boys) and Spalding High School (for girls), both of which consistently achieve exam results close to the top of the UK's annual educational league tables.
Local economy
Spalding is located at the centre of a major region of flower and vegetable growth, due to the rich silty soil which mainly comprises drained recovered marshland or estuary. There are many garden centres and plant nurseries, as well as a thriving agricultural industry and various vegetable packing plants. The main vegetables are potatoes, peas, carrots, wheat, barley, oats, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, kale and Brussels sprouts. The vast majority of these are sold to large concerns such as supermarkets, with little being available for sale locally.
Known as The Jewel of the Fen, Spalding is famous as a centre of the bulb industry, and has close links with the Netherlands (origin of the Geest family, who were former major local employers). The annual Tulip Parade takes place on the first Saturday in May, and is a major tourist attraction, comprising a procession of floats on various themes, each decorated with tulip petals, a by-product of the bulb industry. In years when the tulips are late, daffodils are sometimes used in their place. When the tulips are early, crepe paper has to be substituted. The flower industry has, however, become less important in recent years, and the bands of bright colours that covered the fenland are now essentially gone.
Local buildings and facilities
Surfleet's best-known building is Ayscoughfee Hall, formerly a 15th century country house and now a museum and tourist information centre. Also contained within the town is the Gordon Boswell Romany Museum.
Three supermarkets are available to locals: a Sainsbury's in the centre of the town, a Co-op in the Winsover Centre, and a Morrisons in Pinchbeck. The Castle Sports Complex provides fitness facilities throughout the day and evening. The South Holland Centre is an arts centre close to the Market Place that provides concerts, theatre productions and films. A new £425m, 860MW combined cycle gas turbine power station, owned by Intergen, was built on the former site of British Sugar on West Marsh Road by Bechtel in October 2004.