THE WORST PERIOD for unemployment in Britain was between the two world wars of the 20th century and by 1931 the number of people without jobs had reached its highest total of almost three million, or 22 per cent of the working population. 

The number of jobless was by then causing unrest and social concern and so the government decided that its strategy to cope with the problem would include the opening of instructional centres and the introduction of physical training classes. The scheme was based on the premise that long spells of unemployment made men soft and demoralised and they were therefore unsuitable candidates for regular work.  

The camps were designed to give the men from areas of high unemployment manual work in market gardening, forestry or the building of recreation grounds, coupled with a programme of physical training, and so through a regime of strict discipline, the rekindling of the work ethic and the enhancement of their skills, they would become accustomed to regular hours and hardened up for the heavy work needed under ordinary industrial conditions.  

The removal of the men from their own communities was deemed to be essential if the experiment was to succeed. "The progress of re-conditioning will be quicker and more effective if carried out away from the distressed areas", said a report from the Ministry of Labour. "Attendance at the camps is therefore proposed for 12-week periods with efforts to place trainees in jobs initiated after eight weeks. Trainees will receive an allowance dependent on good behaviour and progress, in addition to their unemployment benefit, and expenses to cover lodgings and the cost of transport. Clothing will be provided free, a pair of boots, overalls and oilskins, at a cost of 35s. per man." 

The Labour government, with Ramsay MacDonald as Prime Minister, also warned that a tough line would be taken with those refusing to attend and in 1930, the Ministry of Labour declared: "The stage has been reached when such men should have their benefits disallowed if they refuse without good reason to take a course of instruction when it is offered to them." 

Unemployment, however, remained high, the vast majority being men aged over 18 years, but the new instructional centres were absorbing only a modest number, about 10,000 men a year. In 1934, new legislation provided for temporary summer camps in tented accommodation but attached to the permanent centres.  

By 1937, there were 22 such centres including permanent and temporary summer encampments, housing about 21,000 men a year, among them a residential camp at Bourne. A Ministry of Labour training camp was already in existence in the town, run in association with the Forestry Commission, and it was these premises which were used for the new experiment of intensive training for the unemployed.  

The twenty huts were built of both wood and corrugated iron and sited on the edge of Bourne Wood. The trainees attended for three-month periods of military-style discipline and pick-and-shovel labour. They were given clothing on arrival, corduroy trousers, a jacket and working boots, knife, fork, spoon and enamel cup. There was a dining room with wooden benches and tables covered with oilcloth on which were served wholesome and plentiful meals, handed out from an adjoining kitchen through hatches to the trainees as they filed in.  

There was also a washroom for ablutions and laundry with hot and cold water, a recreation room, library and sick bay. The huts were large and well built, weatherproof, well lighted and comfortable.  Work began at 6 am and lasted from ten to twelve hours. The tasks were manual, usually digging ditches, cutting down trees or building roads, and former police officers or army sergeant majors were employed to oversee the workers.  

Camp life was austere, the living conditions Spartan and in the evenings or at weekends there was little to do as the camps were deliberately built in remote spots, far from the temptations of the pub or the dance hall. In Bourne, it was a mile outside the town as it was then. For their trouble, the inmates received two or three shillings and a packet of cigarettes each week. 

A memorandum from the Ministry of Labour elaborated on the arrangements at the camps such as Bourne: "All these centres are residential, unemployed single men being brought here from the depressed areas. They receive their board and lodging and in addition, a small sum weekly for pocket money. Against this expenditure is set off the amount of unemployment pay to which they are entitled. The residential centres provide the most effective method of improving the employability of the men."  

Each work camp took trainees from a designated area, initially from the distressed mining communities, but from 1934, recruitment was broadened to cover any place in the country with high unemployment.  

Despite its remote location on the outskirts of Bourne, as it was then, inmates from the Instructional Centre, as it became known, did join in the community life of the town whenever the opportunity arose. In 1931, Bourne United Charities bought the land which is now the Abbey Lawn and they carried out most of the work of turning it into the park that we see today.

The men also played an important role in the celebrations for the coronation of King George VI on Wednesday 12th May 1937, taking part in the morning church parade through the town with other local organisations and staging a boxing tournament on the Abbey Lawn during the afternoon followed by a physical training display in the evening. 

Instruction centres such as Bourne received a substantial number of participants. Between 1928 and 1938, over 120,000 unemployed men spent time in them but few were eventually placed in real jobs. Unemployment persisted until 1939 but with the outbreak of the Second World War, it ceased to be a problem. The labour camp in Bourne was closed and converted for use as a Home Office approved school for young offenders which eventually closed in 1951 after which date the buildings were dismantled to make way for the Beech Avenue housing estate that we see today.