Bourne Diary - May 2001
by
Rex Needle
Saturday 5th May 2001
The civic dinner and dance in Bourne last month was one of the more interesting events in this season's rubber chicken circuit, mainly because of the remarks by the mayor, Councillor John Kirkman, who seems to think that crime in our town is largely a figment of the imagination because he said: "We have a low rate of crime. In fact, there is more fear of crime than actual crime", an ill-advised analogy because statistics are finite whereas a state of anxiety is indeterminate.
This unfortunate juxtaposition was no doubt uttered for the benefit of the Chief Constable of Lincolnshire, Richard Childs, who was one of the principal guests, and although he did not quite echo the mayoral enthusiasm for such a Utopian view, he did state his mission to help create a just and safe Lincolnshire, free of crime and free of vandalism. Amen to that, but what else could he say? He could not totally agree with the mayor's rose-tinted perspective because he knows that crime is rife in all communities and cannot be curbed by present social policies although it might be made to appear less widespread with catchpenny euphemisms that would find favour with guests intent on an evening of junketing. Such euphoria, however, would be sure to vanish as soon as they left the dance floor and stepped back into the cold reality of the real world because while they were revelling on wine and waltzing, nothing outside had changed.
There is still litter in the streets, graffiti in public places, the Bourne Eau a dumping ground for tin cans, plastic bottles and even shopping trolleys. Dog dirt fouls the Wellhead Gardens and most of our roads, even North Street, our main shopping area where one gateway contains large canine turds that have been there for a fortnight. There is broken glass in the streets, abandoned cars, children regularly cycle on the pavement (watch the delivery boy next time he arrives with your morning newspaper), skateboarders defy warning notices not to pursue their noisy hobby in car parks, much to the annoyance of local residents, street signs are uprooted, fences toppled, trees and shrubs damaged, windows smashed, empty homes broken into and defiled and some even set on fire.
Ram raiders are no strangers to Bourne and there are few tenants of the factory units on our industrial estates who sleep easily at night, wondering whether they will arrive for work next morning to find a business that has been brought low by midnight intruders. The town centre has become a no go area for the unwary after the pubs have closed on Saturday nights. Car crime is becoming endemic with illegal parking a normal procedure and speeding and dangerous driving high on the list of daily breaches of our traffic legislation. Boy racers use the Abbey Road and elsewhere for handbrake turns and wheel spins while others, some as young as fifteen, drive cars at breakneck speeds around our housing estates, particularly the Beaufort Drive area where residents fear that this practice will eventually end in tragedy with a child or an adult being killed.
All of these incidents have been reported on the Bourne web site in the past two years. They are also crimes but it is doubtful if many will appear in the official statistics because the police either do not respond when callers report them or they are unwilling to investigate and it is no coincidence that the police station that has been a bastion of law and order in our town since the 19th century has now been downgraded to a police office and we no longer see the reassuring sight of bobbies on the beat or even a traffic warden. The public view of crime is similar to that of the National Health Service. People are not concerned with waiting lists for treatment, only how long they will have to wait. Similarly, they are indifferent to police statistics cataloguing the number of offences in their neighbourhood. They just want it to stop.
The truth is that the police are reluctant to investigate minor infringements of the law because it will increase their paperwork and push up the crime figures and the result is manipulated statistics that enable those in power to make such statements. Petty crime causes great distress to law abiding citizens but because of police inactivity it is something we must learn to live with and therefore the gulf between what is right and what is wrong in society, which in the past was governed by police intervention, grows forever wider as police officers and those councillors who pay lip service to their policies for their own ends, retreat to their ivory towers.
The recording of crime statistics has made a complete volte-face during my career as a journalist. Forty years ago, the figures were pushed up by prosecutions for even the most trivial offences such as riding a cycle without lights or failing to stop at a T-junction while every offence from every arrest was painstakingly recorded because this reflected society's demands for a strong police force to protect us whereas today the people need reassuring that the battle against crime is being won and so figures that reflect a low crime rate are in order and unlimited tolerance is required to achieve this. The fact that the mayor touched upon crime in the presence of the Chief Constable is undoubtedly due to the fact that he is a member of the county police authority and therefore knows full well how the crime statistics are massaged in an attempt to provide that feel-good factor for an increasingly worried public.
The consequences of allowing petty crime to become entrenched in our neighbourhoods is also causing concern to the Prime Minister Tony Blair who said in his anti-yob speech on Tuesday 24th April: "In isolation, a bit of vandalism here or graffiti there might seem trivial, but their combined effect can seriously undermine local quality of life. Some criminologists talk of the 'broken window' problem. They argue that a failure to tackle small-scale problems can lead to serious crime and environmental blight. Streets that are dirty and threatening deter people from going out. They signal that the community has lost interest. As a result, anti-social behaviour and more serious criminality may take root."
We may not have the problems of the inner cities but then we do not have their high populations and social deprivation and I feel sure that this was the message the mayor was trying to convey. But we should not allow the chain of office to choke the truth of the situation just because the audience consisted of the great and the good of the town dressed in their finery for an evening's enjoyment. There are hundreds out there who know of the real crime rate here in Bourne because they have been the victims and no amount of civic posturing will eradicate it from their memory.
Litter louts and rubbish dumpers are the enemies of society in this consumer age because they not only deface the environment but also leave their garbage for someone else to clear up. They are about to have a field day here in Bourne if the freighter service that operates from the Rainbow car park closes on May 26th without the promised waste recycling centre opening the following week. This column has warned time and again what will happen if there is no such continuity because our collection service is the busiest in Lincolnshire and a lot of the rubbish that is normally dumped here will go somewhere else if it ends without a replacement.
A few days ago, someone chucked a bed settee and its cushions on the grass verge in Meadow Drove, just a mile from the town centre, and this is an example of what we can expect if the Rainbow facility shuts down prematurely. The dumping of rubbish, or fly tipping, is illegal and offenders risk prosecution if they are caught and so anyone who sees such incidents should provide names and vehicle registration numbers if known to the local Environmental Health Services Department and this should be regarded as a public duty rather than the actions of a snooper. In the meantime, if anyone out there recognises this bed settee and knows the owner, you now know what he did with it.
The approved school was part of the justice system in this country for wayward boys during the last century and youngsters could be sent there for a variety of reasons ranging from criminal acts to defying their parents. Such institutions were intended to provide training and rehabilitation for young offenders and almost 100 existed in Britain at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. One of them was here in Bourne, based in a complex of wooden huts situated on the edge of Bourne Woods in what is now Beech Avenue. I have been researching the history of this school for almost two years and my results are added today to the Schools pages of the web site, an odd categorisation some may think, but then this section is devoted to education in the town in all of its forms. This has been a difficult piece to write because little documentary evidence survives but I am indebted to Robert Penhey for his valuable assistance and for providing me with copies of several documents associated with the school, particularly the old map showing its layout.
Thought for the Week: "Poultry has been blamed for almost a quarter of food poisoning outbreaks in recent years, more than any other type of food. In our tests on more than 300 fresh, raw, whole chickens and chicken pieces, 16 per cent contained bacteria that you wouldn't want in your kitchen. Almost one in six chickens we bought from supermarkets in our latest test were a potential food risk and organic and free-range meat was no better than standard." - from a report by the Which Consumers' Association.
Anyone who keeps a weather eye open for birds knows that their numbers have declined in recent years. The American naturalist and scientist Rachel Carson (1907-1964) published her best-selling book Silent Spring as long ago as 1962 in which she directed public concern to the problems caused by synthetic pesticides and their effect on the food chains and forecast an earth slowly becoming unfit for life. There were those who scoffed at her predictions but they are unfortunately coming true. She was undaunted by the hostility of the chemical companies and caused a major shift in public awareness about our countryside by alerting the world to the hazards of pesticides and as a result, the American and global environmental movements were launched. Saturday 12th May 2001
It is now quite evident here in Britain that there are fewer birds around, even those of the more common species, and it is particularly noticeable in our gardens where we provide a regular food supply to attract their company. House sparrows and starlings are down by 58% whilst there are 30% fewer blackbirds and the causes are mainly the relentless progress of intensive agriculture. The increased use of pesticides and herbicides, particularly powerful selective weedkillers, have turned land that was once meadow and field into highly efficient monocultures whilst miles of hedges that once surrounded them and provided safe havens for a wide variety of flora and fauna have been uprooted.
No one who walks in the countryside or puts out titbits for visiting birds can fail to have noticed this unfortunate decline and the situation is of particular significance in this season of the year because of the cuckoo, a migrant visitor to our shores from tropical Africa and southern Asia. They too are becoming scarcer as the years progress, partly because of the shootists lying in wait in Spain, Italy and France, and more importantly, the islands of the Mediterranean such as Malta where they frequently land for a rest only to become the victims of the guns. Then when they arrive here, the birds find that their traditional habitats have been further eroded by agro-chemicals and other effects of intensive farming and so the sound of the cuckoo in spring will soon be no more than a memory or the stuff of poetry.
I have noted their distinctive cry as early as April 14th which is traditionally Cuckoo Day and twenty years ago when we moved to this house overlooking the fen on the outskirts of Bourne, their song filled the air from morning to night from April through to June, but last year we heard only one and this year there was no welcoming song until May 3rd and we have not heard it since. Man may well have claimed yet another victim but Rachel Carson also warned that in our arrogant desire to win total control over nature, human safety is at risk through the exposure to or the ingestion of chemicals used to treat the soils. We could well be next.
There has been much support for my remarks last week about crime in Bourne and it is surprising just how many people are affected. I was taking photographs down by the Bourne Eau in Eastgate a few days ago and was approached by a lady walking her dog who was greatly distressed by the increased activity of yobs in the vicinity who succeed in causing unrest and of turning the area into an eyesore and she told me that she is afraid to leave her home unattended. I walk the streets of this town frequently and always talk to someone and hear many similar stories.
A correspondent suggested that although there was litter in the streets and graffiti in public places, he had never actually seen a shopping trolley in the Bourne Eau but I spotted in the river near the back of the Anchor public house. There are probably many more. Similarly, abandoned cars escape many people's notice simply because they appear to be normally parked when in fact they have been left for scrap. Another correspondent has emailed to say that there is such a vehicle in Abbey Road and has been there for over a year and that weeds are spouting from underneath its tyres. I have notified South Kesteven District Council who removed the last one from the car park behind the Post Office in Burghley Street but I fear that we will have to wait several weeks before this one is shifted.
There has also been some discussion on the Forum about spiralling house prices in Bourne and another correspondent has suggested that the reasons for this may well be because I have made this web site too appealing to outsiders who see the photographs of attractive views and buildings and read of our history and heritage and then want to come and live here. But he goes on: "Perhaps Rex ought to include a few photos of the streets awash with vomit on Saturday and Sunday mornings, or possibly a nice shot of the old knacker's yard. A nice picture of all the bottles and glasses littering the river outside the Red Lion would help or even an aerial photo of the traffic queuing up to get out of Bourne and into Peterborough."
On a happier note, Lincolnshire County Council have filled in the pot holes that I mentioned on April 21st including a very large one outside the home of the mayor, Councillor John Kirkman, in Stephenson Way and so somebody out there is taking notice.
Public footpaths in Lincolnshire are to remain closed for the time being despite the fact that the county has not been affected by the epidemic of foot and mouth disease. This is the decision of the county council, taken in defiance of government guidelines that they should be re-opened in areas that are not at risk in an attempt to attract people back into the countryside and to help the ailing tourist industry. But, in their wisdom, the county council has refused to follow the official line and so the public suffers as a result of their obstinacy. The decision is also a foolish one, compounded by meaningless signs erected alongside main roads urging the public to help prevent the spread of the disease, even though they are totally powerless to do anything of the sort, while the police have warned that they are treating any breach of footpath restrictions as a high priority, which in layman's terms means that if you are caught walking one, you will be nicked.
My first floor study window overlooks the fen between Bourne and Dyke village, a large expanse of Lincolnshire countryside crossed by footpaths that are a favourite with ramblers and even as I write, a man is out there walking his dog, totally unconcerned with the restrictions that have been imposed. There have been several walkers out there today and yesterday and every day since the restrictions were imposed. I happen to agree with the rule of law and even though I am a regular walker, will observe all rules and regulations, no matter how much I disagree with them, but not everyone has such an attitude. If they see the rest of the country enjoying a leisurely walk that is denied to them in their own locality for no sound reason, there is little chance that even all the Queen's men can possibly stop them from following suit.
The prospect of a £10 million business park being built in Bourne was greeted with euphoria by our local councillors when it was first mooted 18 months ago (see Diary October 1999). A 17-acre site alongside the A15 south of Bourne was earmarked for the project that included a petrol filling station, restaurant, public house and hotel with a mixed use business area, light industrial units and warehousing and a planning gain of road improvements at this point. The scheme was hailed as a welcome and exciting project, creating hundreds of new jobs, attracting fresh inward investment opportunities and providing scope for locally based firms to expand and develop. All of these benefits were cited as reasons why the new business park should go ahead and so planning permission was purely routine.
But all that glisters is not gold. It mattered not that Bourne was unable to support such an ambitious project and so it has proved. The land has been lying idle ever since and now we learn that the developers have shelved the scheme because of insufficient commercial interest. What once seemed a worthy project with an element of philanthropy turns out to be a purely profit venture and a reminder that it is money and money alone that makes the world go round. Will the much-maligned Elsea Park residential development that is intended to bring 2,000 new homes to farmland on the other side of the road be next? We live in hope.
We drove to the Waterside Garden Centre at Baston a few days ago to buy one or two plants to fill in those holes in the garden that have assumed a vacant appearance after the winter months. Although this was mid-week, the place was crowded with people spending a small fortune on instant gardens which they are liable to lose if we get a sudden overnight frost, a not unusual occurrence at this time of the year. Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) reminds us that " . . . winter lingering chills the lap of May" and indeed, there is nothing like an unexpected spell of extreme weather at this time to bring us back to our senses. Years ago, we were friendly with the owner of a garden centre who confided that he made a large part of his annual profit from inexperienced gardeners who turned up every year at this time and bought sensitive plants because they looked colourful and pretty and in total disregard of his warnings, they went home and planted them out only to lose them all at the next overnight frost and yet the following weekend they would be back buying more. When I was a lad, I worked at a nursery or market garden, the forerunner of our present day garden centres, and the old chap who trained me told me repeatedly that at this time of the year, you must always observe the old adage of "Cast ne'er a clout till May be out" which means that you are most likely to catch a cold if you do not take precautions until June 1st and this also applied to plants and of course, he was always right.
The liveliest discussion since the Bourne Forum started two years ago has been in progress for the past fortnight on the validity of the British monarchy. Some very strong opinions have been expressed on both sides because the very heart and soul of our country is at stake. Ironically, the subject was raised by someone from Canada who shook hands with Prince Charles when he recently visited Ottawa but his enthusiasm for royalty was not shared by everyone when he related his experiences here on the Bourne web site.
There has been much talk of opinion polls that provide results favouring the retention of our royal family but such sampling of the way in which the public thinks is not always accurate as our recent political history attests. Nevertheless, one of our visitors, Angela Hewett, suggested that it might be a worthwhile exercise to test public opinion with a mini-poll and so we have introduced such a feature on the front page of the web site and the obvious first question was: Do you approve of the monarchy? A total of 122 people voted during the week and the result was a narrow majority for the anti-royalists but I imagine that the argument will continue. Full details of the voting have been posted on the Bourne Forum. This modest exercise in democracy will have absolutely no bearing on the future of our constitution but it does demonstrate that the people who visit the Bourne web site are ambivalent about the role of the royal family today and I feel that this is exactly the result you would get were the entire British public to participate. Nevertheless, even with such a narrow majority, their role in our society would be at an end were our results to be accepted as official policy. Those in power however are fully cognisant with the basic rule of calling a referendum: never ask the public what they think unless you know that the answer will be in your favour.
One thing that has been proven by this new feature is that you cannot please everyone because one disgruntled visitor left a note on the Bourne Forum saying: "How can I possibly answer yes or no to such a vague question?" little realising that all questions posed in polls are by definition vague because they cannot possibly interpret the mores of everyone taking part. But a question such as this does not need an O level in common sense to work out and I am left wondering whether he did or did not vote or was left with his own confused thoughts over the issue. I am reminded of the rag and bone man of my boyhood in the 1930s who would push his barrow through the streets collecting old clothes and in return he would ask the kids who brought him such offerings: "Would you like a flag or a balloon?" Our protestor will soon have a similar decision to make on June 7th but will he be complaining to the returning officer that he should be given greater latitude in the selection of his M P instead of a straight yes or no by putting a cross on his ballot sheet? I hope he does not dither too long over it or he might find himself being ejected from the polling booth by other impatient and less pedantic voters in a more determined frame of mind and only too happy to say yes or no instead of arguing the toss.
Despite this one and only complaint, we now plan to introduce a new question each week with voting starting and ending at midday on Friday GMT and the results will be posted on the Forum. If anyone out there has a suitable subject in mind, please email me and I will add it to the list that will include many local as well as national topics. In the meantime, this week's new poll has already been posted and as Prime Minister Tony Blair called a General Election on Tuesday, the choice was obvious and I hope it does not confuse our protestor from last week because the question is simplicity itself: Do you wish to see a Labour government re-elected? Please vote, for although we may only be a small voice, we are a valid one.
Thought for the Week: "The Metropolitan Police's finest would have trouble tracking down an elephant with a nosebleed in the snow." - from the leader column of The Times, 28th April 2001.
Bourne is about to lose a row of perfectly respectable houses in North Street, built in the traditional red brick and blue slate, materials that are a familiar sight in the town having been used for two centuries past. They have been home to generations of local families since they were erected in the late 19th century and are even marked on a map of 1891 when they were known simply as The Terrace. These four solidly built houses, with their distinctive bay windows, chimney stacks and stone lintels over doors and windows still intact, are a reminder of the hopes and fears of those who once lived here and the walls have echoed the events around which their very existence revolved, the births and marriages and deaths that marked their lives, for this was the place that successive families called home. But soon they will be no more and when they go, another small part of our heritage will be consigned to the dustbin. Saturday 19th May 2001
Why then are they disappearing from the street scene? Why is another historic part of Bourne to be pulled down, as has happened so often in the past? The only thing wrong with these terraced houses is that they are in the way of a new commercial development, one that is not necessarily needed for the town but investment and the profit motive decree that it will go ahead and as South Kesteven District Council seizes every opportunity to raise more money from the business rate, planning permission will be a formality as we have seen by the speed in which the Esso Petroleum Company has been given the go-ahead to establish a Tesco Express shop at their service station in North Street, a site which is already a serious road safety risk.
Two major fires in the 17th century robbed Bourne of many old properties and although these were replaced with buildings of the period, there have been many outrages since, especially in recent years, resulting in a number of modern flat-topped shops that were erected in their place and are totally at odds with their surroundings. But our lesson has not been learned for now we have a row of Victorian houses in almost perfect condition about to fall victim to the bulldozer on the whim of our local councillors, sacrificed at the altar of Mammon. The record of our local authorities in the preservation of this town is not good. They allowed, for instance, the Burghley Centre to be built with a façade of yellow bricks in a traditionally red brick town and an original Victorian shop front in North Street was demolished in the process.
Planning permission will be needed for such a development but South Kesteven District Council tells me that although interest has been expressed by several supermarket operators, the last being Lidl U K in the autumn of last year, no planning application has yet been received. Despite this, the site, which also includes nearby business premises, has been vacated and the houses are standing empty, the last occupants having been moved out in readiness for demolition that cannot now be far off. The final decision on whether this part of our heritage must be sacrificed will rest with our district councillors when the planning application eventually comes before them for approval and it is to be hoped that when they do vote, they will think long and hard about our town and its history rather than party political affiliations that influence so many judgements in the council chamber.
I went to see a prominent farmer in the Bourne area some weeks ago about an historical subject I was investigating and although he was quite helpful, he said at the beginning of our interview: "I should tell you that I dislike all journalists." I immediately replied that I did not have a very high regard for farmers either and he seemed somewhat surprised by this because although he was quite prepared to denigrate my profession, he regarded his as sacrosanct. The ignorance, even indifference, of farmers to public opinion has been the subject of debate in recent weeks as a result of the foot and mouth outbreak and now their standing in the community is being reassessed in the light of the revelations that have surfaced in many parts of the country about the way in which subsidies and government grants have been exploited and that such subterfuge may have been the catalyst for the current epidemic.
This should therefore have been an opportune time for farmers to curry a little favour with the public but they remain stubborn in their outlook and continue in their disregard for others who share the countryside with them, particularly those people who have purchased homes built on land they sold for high prices in the cause of profit but once they moved in, were regarded as intruders. Not all are guilty by any means, but there are sufficient of them in the Bourne area to make life intolerable at this time of the year because the audio bird scarers are back and once again they are being used in contravention of the Code of Practice drawn up by the National Farmers' Union and endorsed by South Kesteven District Council.
The warm spell last weekend was ruined for many trying to enjoy their gardens by the sound of these gas guns being fired at regular intervals although the code specifically states: "Try not to use auditory scarers on Sundays. Try another type of scarer instead." The reputation of our farmers is currently at an all time low and therefore this is the time for them to observe the instructions from their own professional body and indeed to practice some common sense for it is well known that these devices do not work and that crows and pigeons soon become attuned to the regularity of the explosions. But will they? As I gaze out of my study window over the fen, there is not one single winged pig in sight.
For further reading on the controversy over bird scarers in the Bourne area, see my Diary entries for January and April 1999.
Traffic congestion in Bourne is at its worst on weekday mornings between 8 a m and 9 a m when parents are taking their children to school. The roads into the town are frequently bumper to bumper with most vehicles containing just two people, usually mother and child, while the tailbacks cause long delays for anyone else going about their business. This is known as the school run, a practice that is so widespread in Britain that the Classic FM radio station even runs a request programme at that time in order that children can have their favourite pieces of music played over the car radio during the journey.
This is a welcome serenade for early morning drivers but it is not much fun for those us of caught up in the long queues and even worse for residents around school entrances that are jammed with cars at this time, dropping off children to start their school day. The Robert Manning Technical College has come up with a method of warning parking transgressors on their newly launched web site. This school is the biggest in Bourne with more than 1,000 pupils and instead of using the recommended car park in Queen's Road, many are being dropped off in Edinburgh Crescent where residents have started making a note of vehicle registration numbers of drivers who have been found blocking the road and supplying them to the school for publication. There are thirteen numbers on the web site already and if yours is one of them, then you now know you are in the wrong.
I make frequent visits to Bourne cemetery because this has been the last resting place of the great and the good of this community for the past 150 years and it is an interesting exercise to study the headstones, for each one tells in names and dates of the brief lives of those who are buried here. Some were connected with our past prosperity while others have a place in our history because of the help they gave by serving the town and even the country, for not all were engaged in trade.
By far the most eminent name on a memorial stone that I have discovered so far is that of Air Marshal Sir Maurice Heath whose distinguished service with the Royal Air Force brought him many honours and although he was not born here, he left instructions that after his death his ashes should be buried here in Bourne alongside those of his first wife Mary whose family came from this town. She was the daughter of a local corn merchant, Richard Boaler Gibson and his wife Frances, and Sir Maurice, a former Chief of Staff, Allied Air Forces Central Europe, met her before the Second World War at a station dance at R A F Wittering where he was serving and they were later married at Bourne Abbey with a guard of honour in attendance. Their marriage lasted for half a century and even though he married again, Maurice Heath never forgot this town and the happy times he had enjoyed here. My essay on his life and times is added today to Bourne Focus.
Stamford has been one of my favourite towns for more than half a century and I never tire of walking its streets and admiring the hundreds of picturesque buildings that have won it a reputation as the most beautiful stone town in England. We are just 11 miles away and so we can visit often but there is a quicker way for those who own a computer because there is a web site devoted to this town that contains a gallery of 100 photographs that reflect the very best of its heritage.
These pictures are the work of Des Scholes who was born and brought up in the town and educated at Stamford School and after a spell in the army, he went to live in the highlands of Scotland where he has been since 1980. He now works as a gardener at Cawdor Castle, five miles from Nairn on the coast of the Moray Firth, but his heart is still in Stamford and he visits often to take more photographs for the web site.
Des, now aged 43, tells me: "I am fortunate enough to live and work in a beautiful place but for me the most important thing is that I come from a beautiful town. Stamford is part of me and I feel a terrific affinity with it whilst the web gives me a chance to share a little of its magic with others."
The web site has a strong following among computer buffs on the Continent and Des has started including some of his descriptions in French for their benefit and he hopes eventually to produce a complete version of the site in French. "By working on the Internet I am perhaps more of a Stamfordian than I have ever been before", he said.
Des has now asked me to contribute an item on Stamford and my thoughts on the town have just been added to his web site that can be seen at www.netcomuk.co.uk/~dscholes/6002.html and for those of you who have also been captivated by Stamford, it is well worth a visit.
The old tale that Leo Sayer once worked in Bourne has again surfaced with an inquiry from a television production company in London asking whether anyone can testify to this. The story was given much prominence on our discussion forum early last year after a contributor suggested that he had been employed as an assistant at D J Spire's electrical shop in the town centre, now occupied by Galaxy Travel. I am told that Leo was a pop singer of some prominence but whether he had any connections with the town produced a flood of messages from people who claimed to have knowledge of him while he worked here and even that his mother lived in Stamford.
I therefore undertook some research in an attempt to lay the ghost of Leo Sayer's presence in Bourne once and for all. He is in fact Gerard Hugh Sayer, born at Shoreham-by-Sea in Sussex in 1948, and he went to school locally, sang in the church choir and then studied at the West Sussex College of Art and Design at Worthing before taking a job at a design studio in Brighton. He moved to London in 1967, then back to Shoreham where he was employed at a car factory and built up his first band in his spare time. Then around 1970 he won a talent contest at the Brighton Pavilion Theatre and the rest is musical history. But there was not a shred of evidence that he had even visited Bourne, let alone worked here.
Carmen Poston of Tiger Aspect Productions tells me that the documentary series Before they went Pop! is due to be broadcast on ITV sometime during the summer of 2002 and will deal with the secret former lives of pop icons and apart from Leo, it will also feature Jimi Hendrix, who was a painter and decorator in Seattle, and Luther Vandross, a one-time glazier's apprentice. Since the appeal appeared on the web site, one contributor claims to have spoken to Leo at a pub in Surrey when he admitted that he had worked at the electrical shop in Bourne to supplement his income while attending Peterborough Technical College but we have no way of corroborating this. To settle this matter once and for all, perhaps someone has Leo's email address in order that we can ask him direct but in the meantime, if you still think that he was once here in Bourne, please don't tell me, tell Carmen Poston but unless someone can produce a photograph of Leo standing behind the counter of Spire's shop in a Pierrot costume or playing his mouth organ, then I shall continue to assume that he has absolutely no connection with the town.
Thought for the Week: "In the six months since October 2000, there have been another one million users connecting to the Internet in the United Kingdom. This now brings the UK total to 12.5 million. Half of the surfers are adult males, 35% adult women with children only 15% and so the web has clearly become an adult occupation." - extract from the Unix Internet newsletter.
We are taking a short break and although this column will not be appearing for another fortnight, the web site will still be here for all to see.
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