Bourne Diary - January 2002

Saturday 5^th January 2002

The conservation area designated for Bourne in July 1977 listed 51 buildings as being of special architectural or historic interest and whose character made it desirable to preserve or enhance. All remain protected with the exception of two shop premises in North Street that were demolished to make way for the Burghley Arcade development 13 years ago. The fact that permission was given for these buildings to be pulled down is an indication of the importance that may be placed on such a document.

Public vigilance is therefore essential when new developments are proposed in which our old buildings are put at risk merely because they stand in the way of commercial interests. The row of four terraced houses at the far end of North Street now face a similar fate and although they are just a few feet outside the conservation area, their inclusion would be beyond doubt if such a study were undertaken today.

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. They are a perfect example of late Victorian urban architecture with distinctive bay windows of the period, chimney stacks and stone lintels over doors and windows still intact, and their very appearance cries out for preservation as a reminder of a bygone age. To pull them down with council approval would be a wanton act of official vandalism.

The site was originally intended for a supermarket development but this has not materialised and now we are told that the Lindum Construction Group who own the land plan to build 20 new houses there instead. This development will not be advantageous to Bourne. Firstly, no more new homes are needed in the town and secondly, if they were, this is the wrong place to put them. What we have here is an opportunist development on a prime site and one that will involve defacing the street scene in a sensitive area which is in direct contravention of the Town and Country Planning Act of 1971 which states that “the inward views of, and outward views from, the conservation area” must be protected, a stipulation that can be found within the Bourne Conservation Area document published by South Kesteven District Council.

Councillor John Smith, who is also an influential member of that council with whom the final planning permission rests, is on record as saying: “The houses were not deemed worthy when the conservation area was adopted. Nothing has changed since then.”

This is misleading because very much has changed in the intervening 25 years. Since the conservation area was designated in 1977, our perception of what should and should not be protected has altered dramatically and as planning policy is part of his economic portfolio on the district council, he should understand that as the houses are that much older, they are therefore that more worthy of preservation. But the issue is not one of the official designation of this or that building but whether the hearts and minds of our councillors are in the right place, whether they are interested in protecting what remains of the old town or whether those few old buildings we have left will suffer the same fate as the chemists’ shop in North Street and the premises next door, both listed buildings that were demolished to make way for the Burghley Centre development in 1989 amid widespread public protest from those who are anxious to preserve our heritage.

Furthermore, the survey carried out 25 years ago bears little relation to our perception of the old town today. For instance, No 63 West Street, now occupied by the Pyramid Club and surely one of our most picturesque Victorian buildings, was not given listed status. Nor were No 1 North Street, currently used by the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society or No 11 that is used by Barclays Bank, but it is unthinkable that such buildings should even be considered for demolition today. It is also worth remembering that unless men of vision had been in public office, the Red Hall would have been demolished on two occasions, in 1892 and in 1962, because it was not considered to be worth preserving. Fortunately, this remarkable building it still with us but those who sought its demise have long been forgotten.

If our councillors wish to devote their energies to preserving the heritage of Bourne, then they should marshal the legislation at their disposal to ensure that the few 18th and 19th century buildings we have left are properly maintained. Many are located in the town centre and are owned by absentee landlords who let them out as shops but spend little on their maintenance. The owner of any period property has a duty to keep it in good order, irrespective of the income he may derive from it, but the dereliction of this responsibility is the reason why Bourne often looks so tatty and dilapidated, the outward appearance of many buildings marred by unsightly wires festooning the facades, neglected window and door frames and unsuitable shop frontage conversions with a predominance of plastic in a town that is essentially red brick.

In the meantime, an alternative to the bulldozer should be considered for the North Street terrace that has become a distinctive feature of the town. They are solidly built houses with many years of useful life ahead and could easily be modernised for resale or even converted for one of the many community purposes for which they might be suited. Here is the chance for our local councillors to do something tangible rather than sit round their committee tables rubber stamping every unwanted development that comes along, no matter how unsightly it may look when completed. If developers are allowed to chip away at the old town in this manner, there will soon be nothing left to preserve.

Local authorities have the power to ensure that our listed buildings are protected for future generations yet they pay only lip service to these requirements and so the outward appearance of our town deteriorates daily. The demolition of this terrace of houses in North Street will further impoverish our heritage and in their place we will have a small estate of what the developers call “two and three storey town houses”, a ridiculous euphemism for too many homes in too small a space. Meanwhile, every weapon is being used to discredit the worth of these old houses which are being condemned by the developers as “dark, damp and rat infested” and should therefore be pulled down. Whatever would they say if it were suggested that the site is a breeding ground for vermin once their new homes are finished and ready to go on the market? I feel sure they would then be singing a very different tune.

If there is anyone who is still in doubt whether we need more new houses in Bourne, then you need look no further than the controversial Elsea Park development now proceeding at a fast pace to the south of the town where 2,000 houses are being built, not to mention another 135 planned for the abandoned nursery land in Exeter Street despite real fears about the traffic congestion this will create as vehicles compete for road space with customers travelling to and from Sainsburys. Councillors excuse themselves when granting planning permission for the large residential developments on green field sites today, especially if there is strong public opposition, by suggesting there will be a planning gain from new facilities financed by the developer. My item on the Elsea Park development is added today to the web site, and so these promises are now on record but only time will tell whether these will come to fruition.

Most of us have just finished our season of excessive indulgence, eating and drinking too much without perhaps a thought for anyone who has little or nothing. Those so deprived are fewer than they were in years gone by but it is not so long ago that the hardships were real for the less well off who fell by the wayside. During my researches in the newspaper archives at Stamford public library this week, I came across this heart-rending item about a family in Bourne in 1904, less than a century ago:

THE HARD FATE OF THE DRUNKARD'S CHILD

John Leach, a pedlar, was charged at Bourne police court on February 25th at the instance of the NSPCC with neglecting his seven-year-old child. A distressing story was told of the neglect of the accused, who was stated to be addicted to drink, to provide for his wife and child, the former being in the last stages of consumption when the district nurse was called to his cottage in Eastgate early this month. The nurse eventually found that the child was covered with vermin, and took her away, and has since had the child under her care. The prisoner's wife died on February 11th and was buried on the 15th, on which date the prisoner was arrested at night. Nurse Bellamy stated that the only furniture in the house was a trunk turned upside down for a table, some bricks around the fireplace for a fender, whilst upstairs was a bag of straw on which the prisoner's wife lay, and on which the prisoner and his child also slept. The woman was only partially clothed, and there were no proper bed clothes. On the three days previous to his wife's death, prisoner came home drunk. Prisoner admitted that the evidence was substantially correct but said he had done all he could to obtain food and clothing for his wife and child. The Bench said that they could hardly conceive a worse case and they felt that they would not be doing their duty if they did not impose the full penalty of six months' hard labour.

Each New Year brings with it the thought that the next twelve months ought to be better than the last and that this is the time to make those decisions that will dramatically improve our lives. Smoke less, take more exercise, avoid quarrels, be polite to everyone and pat the dog more often. It was Alexander Pope who observed that "Hope springs eternal in the human breast" and few of these pledges that we make to ourselves are likely to be kept but then the whole point of the exercise is in making them for therein we reveal our weaknesses.

Government promises announced at this time are particularly suspect and are unlikely to survive the summer. Our own undertakings may have an even shorter life span but all are interesting nevertheless and others like to read of what you honestly intend but may be unable to sustain. Your New Year resolutions therefore are welcome on the Bourne Forum where I have started an appropriate section. Please tell us of your hopes and fears for the coming year, whether personal or otherwise.

In the meantime, all of us associated with the Bourne web site wish you well for the coming year and we hope that 2002 will bring you health, happiness and contentment.

Thought for the Week: We are part of the community of Europe and we must do our duty as such. – the Marquess of Salisbury in a speech while Conservative Prime Minister, 11th April 1888.

Saturday 12^th January 2002

Bourne Hospital was built with public money early in the 20th century and although the service is urgently needed today, the site is deserted and overgrown, closed in September 1998 when a vigorous protest campaign by local residents failed to save it. The will of the 8,000 people who signed the petition to keep it open did not prevail against men in suits. We have two excellent medical centres and a health clinic but for more advanced diagnosis and treatment, the nearest available place is at Stamford 13 miles away or at Peterborough which is 17 miles distant, long journeys by ambulance that could mean the difference between life and death.

Yet, despite this absence of such medical facilities in Bourne, the planning and building of new homes continues at breakneck speed without a thought for how the people who will live in them will be treated if they are suddenly taken seriously ill, as some of them most surely will. This would be an appropriate time, albeit late in the day, for the old hospital site to be redeveloped for its original purpose. The cost would be around £2-3 million, a drop in the financial ocean when compared with the money being spent by Britain on the war in Afghanistan.

This is unlikely to happen if plans already in the pipeline come to fruition. The North West Anglia Healthcare Trust that controls Bourne Hospital has now submitted an application for the site to be used for residential development and if approved, 50 new homes will be built there instead. The hospital that served Bourne for almost 100 years will disappear completely and with it will go any possibility of replacing it. To their credit, members of Bourne Town Council have heeded the warning signs: that if this land is given over to housing, then all hope of a new hospital in the future will have gone.

The trust claims that the site is surplus to requirements and that they have a legal obligation to dispose of it for the best possible price and housing is the obvious solution. As the trust has introduced the legality of the situation into the argument, we are entitled to ask what exactly are their rights over this property? Can it be proven in a court of law that they have the legal power to sell it because it is my belief that the real owners are the people of this town. The hospital was built by the former Bourne Rural District Council for £5,000, money that came from the ratepayers, and included the cost of the land itself that had been purchased by the authority three years before from Kesteven County Council when it was part of a field intended for smallholdings. It was originally used as an isolation unit, solely for patients suffering from infectious diseases that were prevalent at that time, hence its location a mile outside the town. Building was completed in 1915 and the Countess of Ancaster performed the official opening ceremony on June 2nd. Its role changed with the years although it continued to serve the local community and would be doing so now but for government policy.

How then, can another organisation with a name totally foreign to Bourne, claim ownership of this hospital and determine its future? Can they produce a bill of sale and the deeds showing that the property has been transferred to them? The sale of such a site for housing development is a transaction of some financial magnitude and the people of Bourne have a right to know just how much the £5,000 that was contributed in their name a century ago is now worth and where that money will be spent in the future. One thing is certain: it will not benefit medical services in Bourne. The North West Anglia Healthcare Trust is part of the Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust and therefore any money that accrues from this transaction will go to them. The little wealth that Bourne has will therefore be siphoned off for the benefit of Peterborough in much the same way as our water supply is taken from our underground supplies at the rate of four million gallons a day.

Councillor John Kirkman has expressed the will of the people. He told the town council: “This is not the time to develop a site that has the potential to be a hospital.” Our councillors should now take this issue a stage further by demanding proof of ownership from those who are preparing to sell the site. It might turn out to be an expensive and complicated procedure and could well become a test case but one well worth pursuing in the cause of justice while at the same time halting any immediate development of this valuable site. Do our elected members have the stamina for such a fight?

The fens do not appeal to everyone. Those who prefer mountains and valleys may regard the area as flat and featureless but nowhere in Britain will they find such a peaceful place with spectacular and ever-changing skies.

This part of England was originally known as the Great Level, a term no longer in general use today but meaning that tract of land on the east coast, extending southwards from the uplands in Lincolnshire for a distance of about 60 miles and occupying portions of six counties. It is much maligned because it is flat, but there is beauty here for all who have time to look and to listen, and to cycle out along the lanes on a hot summer's day and eat a picnic lunch at the field's edge in this isolated countryside, as we sometimes do, is a rewarding experience because this is also one place where you can experience total silence except perhaps for the occasional singing of a lark ascending.

Vaughan Williams cycled many miles in these parts seeking out folk tunes and his symphonic impression In the Fen Country is redolent of low skies and a boundless horizon for this is one of the few places in the world where you have an uninterrupted view for an entire 360 degrees. Percy Grainger, also a frequent visitor to these parts, travelled around with an early recording device, calling in at pubs and hostelries to persuade the locals to sing their old folk songs into his microphone, and the results have given us his evocative Lincolnshire Posy, one of the finest pieces of music from our English countryside. There is a culture in the fens that those who despise a flat landscape tend to miss.

Tongue End is in the heart of the fen country, a bundle of houses tucked away in this isolated spot and I spent some time there last year researching my item on the village. Two newcomers, Howard and Nicola Callow, who have recently moved into one of the new houses being built there, have sent me an email to say how much they enjoyed finding so much information so quickly and Nicola tells me that they have already discovered that this is the place they want to be:

The photos on the pages were very interesting to look at, especially as we thought they showed our little piece of the countryside to be anything but flat and featureless. We often see a barn owl at dusk, just as a glorious sunset is painting its bold and crimson hues across our skyscape and we feel both fortunate and privileged to witness. There is a heron that fishes in the dyke across from our bedroom window and when we wake up, we hear the bleating of the sheep and a whole host of the countryside noises. In summer we are treated to the delights of a drive through the nature reserve, past fields full of sunflowers to our very own piece of heaven. In winter, when that part of Baston Fen nearest to us freezes over, we have our own free ice rink where even the BBC Television programme Blue Peter has filmed this in the past. So I hope you continue to add to your Tongue End pages perhaps with some of the delights of living in such a wonderfully unspoilt area.

If you have not yet discovered the beauty of the fenland landscape, then you might like to spend a few hours driving through it for I am sure you will find it an enlightening experience. The very best time is the spring that is not now too far off and so mark your engagement diaries accordingly.

Those who believe that a greater police presence on the streets of Bourne will reduce crime levels, particularly offences involving drink and drugs, might be interested to know that zero tolerance on New Year’s Eve worked wonders at Manly in New South Wales, Australia. Press cuttings about the police operation have been sent to me by Paul Hinson, a great-grandson of Thomas Hinson (1816-1902), a monumental mason who worked in Bourne during the 19th century, and he likes to keep in close touch with what goes on in the town where his ancestors lived and worked.

Paul tells me that Manly is a miniature Blackpool with lots of visitors and in the run up to the holiday, police warned that drinking outdoors was banned and more officers would be on patrol to ensure that the alcohol free zones around the town were enforced. They intended to provide a safe and pleasurable environment for everyone and drunken behaviour that might spoil the enjoyment of others would not be tolerated. The get tough approach meant that the New Year passed off relatively trouble free and the area commander, Superintendent Steve Cullen, said afterwards: “We poured an enormous amount of alcohol down the drain after people were caught drinking in the open and a large number of adults and juveniles were issued with warnings but only two resented this tough approach and were arrested. My officers who were on duty regard this as one of the best nights ever and that our strong police presence and policy of non-tolerance paid off handsomely.”

The Quakers date back to the 17th century and are better known today as the Society of Friends. They had a presence in Bourne from 1705 and met for worship at premises in West Street that were built the following year. This property was last referred to in the will of John Dove in 1818 when it was described as two cottages. I have been unable to locate them and so they have probably been demolished but I am still trying to identify the exact site on which they stood. If anyone can help, please email me and in the meantime, my item on the Quakers is added to the web site today.

My Diary entry last week on the preservation of the Victorian row of terraced houses in North Street has provoked widespread discussion in the town while our web site poll has voted overwhelmingly against these properties being demolished. A comprehensive appraisal of the situation has now been posted on the Bourne Forum by town councillor Guy Cudmore under the heading Conservation in Bourne and I urge everyone who is concerned about the future of our town and its old buildings to read it.

Thought for the Week: International arbitration looks hard and doubtless it is very stressful but the stakes are not always as high as they appear. Making the 8.15 from Basingstoke run on time, or cutting waiting lists for heart operations, or reducing violent street crime, is very difficult indeed. But flying to the subcontinent, doing your best, and then flying somewhere else carries few political risks. Success is less important than the spectacle of honourable statesmanship. In contrast, no amount of shuttle diplomacy around Britain can make parents happy with state schools or patients content with their health care. – Matthew d’Ancona, writing in The Sunday Telegraph on Prime Minister Tony Blair’s recent trip to India and Pakistan, 6th January 2002.

Saturday 19^th January 2002

The terrace is at present just a few feet outside the town’s conservation area that was drawn up in July 1977 but the council’s highways and planning committee voted on Tuesday to start the necessary procedure to include the terrace and give it listed building status which would ensure that the houses could not be demolished or altered without special permission. One of those who voted in favour of their decision was Councillor Guy Cudmore who said that the terrace was both good and pleasing in appearance and the quality of design, choice of materials and their relatively untouched state since they were constructed more than a century ago, were all plus points in favour of their retention. He added: “The proportion is right and the ground in the front sets off the properties perfectly. Do not let anyone tell you that they are commonplace, devoid of merit, fit only for demolition. They are not. These houses would have been built in the late 19th century for prosperous tradesmen or artisans. They will outlast anything built in their stead and if they were in Islington they would be worth a million pounds each.”

Meanwhile, another local man, Robert Harvey, has been in touch with the department in an attempt to ensure that the houses are preserved as part of our heritage. He said: “I value these buildings because they are a very real part of the history of Bourne, of its transition from mediaeval market town to Victorian railhead and centre of population. They are well built, typical of their period and in no real need of demolition. With only a little repair, they could provide good rented accommodation. I recall from a few years ago this government’s initiative to encourage renting in the heart of our commercial towns. Here is such an opportunity begging for encouragement.”

Mr Harvey has told the department: “I ask you to do everything in your power to prevent Lindum Construction from demolishing these fine, historic buildings. Bourne is merely a tiny country town but one in which I live and I do not wish to see it despoiled in the face of public outcry. I urge you to act.”

The future of these houses was the subject of a poll by this web site from 4th-11th January. A total of 110 people voted and 94 of them (86%) were in favour of the terrace being preserved while only 16 people (14%) were not. This is an overwhelming result from a sample poll in favour of their retention and a reflection of current public opinion in Bourne. As promised to those participating in the voting, I have passed the results on to Chris Farmer, Chief Executive of South Kesteven District Council, with a request that the information be presented to the appropriate committee when the planning application comes up for consideration and he has replied with an assurance that it will. I have also sent copies to our local members of this council who live in the town, John Kirkman, Mrs Linda Neal and John Smith.

I have also received an email on the subject from Canada. Mrs Heather Nash, who emigrated almost half a century ago and now lives on Vancouver Island, tells me that her family occupied one of the houses, No 49, for 30 years when the entire row was beautifully maintained and a joy to those who lived there. “It would be a shame to see them bulldozed”, she says. “I hope that the local authorities and the public can be persuaded to preserve these houses as a distinctive reminder of Bourne’s heritage.”

My suggestion last week that the town council should contest the ownership of the Bourne Hospital site has raised the question of how much it is worth. It is to be offered for sale by the North West Anglia Healthcare Trust once they get planning permission for 50 new houses and this will make it a very attractive proposition for developers. A freehold site of almost four acres with no onerous planning or constructional difficulties should realise £250,000 to £350,000 an acre, particularly as the site is south of the traffic lights in the town centre where demand would be considerable and would certainly cause a great deal of competition between national developers and could therefore fetch in excess of £1.2 million.

This money however will not be used for the benefit of Bourne and as the vendors are part of the Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust, this sum will be invested in their medical facilities rather than ours. Whether the North West Anglia Healthcare Trust has the legal right to sell this site is another matter and one that should be investigated by the town council in the hope that it can be retained for future development as a new hospital for the benefit of the people of Bourne. After all, it was their money that financed the original hospital project and it was not only a struggle to find the money to build it in the first place but also to fund various improvements over the years.

The original hospital cost £5,000 that was borrowed on mortgage over a period of 40 years at an interest rate of 3½% and there were other bank loans to pay for extensions, £3,770 in 1925 and a further £3,500 ten years later, debts that were not finally discharged until 1949. During this period, the hospital was used as a convenient place for the public health authorities in other parts of South Lincolnshire including Stamford, Sleaford and Spalding, to send patients suffering from infection diseases such as scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhoid and even tuberculosis, and so the hospital has played its part in serving the wider community. But throughout, the cost fell on the people of Bourne who were being levied on their rates to pay for this hospital for almost forty years and yet we have not only lost its benefits, but we are about to see it disposed of for the advantage of someone else.

My revised history on Bourne Hospital is added to the web site today and it illustrates the moral if not the legal right that townspeople have to the ownership of this extremely valuable property and we look to our elected representatives to protect our interests.

I mentioned recently (Diary 15th September 2001) that in 1965, Bourne was judged the best kept small town in this part of Lincolnshire and was awarded a trophy by the Council for the Preservation of Rural England. There is absolutely no prospect of any such prize today. A contributor to the Bourne Forum posted this message at the weekend and although I expected him to be challenged, no one did and all of the ensuing writers agreed with what he said and even added their own unfortunate experiences to the scenario he had painted.

Anyone visiting Bourne on Sunday morning would have thought they were passing through one of our inner cities. Litter is always a problem but it was everywhere today, in the town centre, the car parks, alleyways and along most of the main roads out of town where the roadside was scattered with the debris from the previous night's activities including broken glass, bottles and cans, fast food wrappers and other unmentionables as well as the regular piles of dog dirt that are hazard to all pedestrians.

It will stay there until out street cleaners get about their duties, a rare activity these days. Anyone driving through and considering stopping for lunch will keep straight on when they encounter all of this, especially seeing the Angel Hotel being painted green when its historic architecture cries out for it to be black and white and that awful boarded up frontage that has been blighting North Street for the past decade.

Bourne seems to be slowly going down hill. It looks seedier every day while our councillors remain totally inactive yet our council tax is about to go up by 8% and South Kesteven District Council reckons that this is because extra money is needed for waste recycling, among other things. Believe that and you will believe anything because our rubbish problems will be just as bad next year and it is doubtful whether that much vaunted re-cycling centre, due to be opened this spring, will ever materialise. The truth is that they need the extra money to pay for increases in salaries to staff and allowances to councillors.

The future of society rests on the shoulders of only a dedicated few who do their best to make things better while most of the people do nothing and care nothing. This is why Bourne is looking such a mess. The Bourne web site makes the town look good, certainly much better than it really is, but it does not bear close inspection and you only need a short stroll around the town centre to realise just how ghastly the place has become, a situation made worse by the total neglect of many shops and offices that look as though they are falling apart. Councillors need to be more resolute in the approach to their duties of planning and conservation and the people need to recognise their civic responsibilities to observe the law and maintain standards. Only then will Bourne become an attractive place to visit rather one to be avoided at all costs.

The problem we have is one that we recognise yet do nothing to solve. Another contributor summarised it thus: “The solution is not simply more bins and dog fouling signs. It is more about people, and especially kids, respecting the society they live in. I believe that it is the role of parents to impart this and I stress that teachers should teach and not take on the parenting/citizenship-teaching role that should be the sole responsibility of parents. The world does not just revolve around an individual. Parents need to teach their children that they are part of a society and that being a citizen is about knowing how your actions impact upon others. It is a good thing that people are aware of their rights in society. Abuses of personal rights are much less likely to go unchecked today than in the past but it is an infinitely bad thing when individuals value their rights over and above their responsibilities to wider society.”

But is everyone of the opinion that Bourne is becoming seedier with the passing years? It is a debatable issue and so I have asked it as this week’s question on our web site poll. Please cast your vote if you get a moment.

The new CD-ROM recounting the history of Bourne continues to grow in size and this week I added the 1,000th photograph while the text increases commensurately in volume. This has become the most comprehensive pictorial account of this town and its people from the earliest times to the present day and as it is now the size of three coffee table books, I think that it is a bargain at £20. If you wish to order A Portrait of Bourne, you will find a form on the front page of this web site.

Thought for the Week: Twelve thousand bomb strikes still have not yielded Osama bin Laden. – the London Daily Mirror, 15th January 2002, commenting on the 100th day of the offensive against Afghanistan.

Saturday 26^th January 2002

Discarded waste in our streets has been a problem for centuries but was not seriously addressed by government until the post-war years when the habit became socially unacceptable. The phrase litterbug to describe someone who drops litter in public places was coined in America about 1947 although litter lout has since become more common usage in Britain. The situation became so acute that the first Litter Act was introduced in 1958 with heavy fines for offenders although it was left to the local authorities to enforce the new legislation, usually on information provided by the police.

The first case to be heard by Bourne magistrates was on Thursday 19th October 1959 when a 28-year-old man from Morton was accused of throwing down a fish and chip paper in North Street on August 29th. Police Constable L Burrell, who witnessed the incident, said there was a bin within four yards of the defendant and another ten yards away. In a letter to the court, the defendant’s brother wrote saying that he had been ill for some years and was not fully acquainted with the Litter Act.

The accused was found guilty and fined ten shillings (£7 at today’s value). Mr Douglas Reeson, prosecuting for Bourne Urban District Council, said there were litter bins in conspicuous places. It was hoped that this case would make the public more litter-conscious and the council now intended to summons all offenders.

This of course has not happened. The law has never been fully enforced and subsequent legislation relating to depositing rubbish in public places, the Litter Act of 1983, which now carries a maximum penalty of a £400 fine, and the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act of 1978, are largely inoperable and successful prosecutions are rare. The result is that our town centres are despoiled by litter and our countryside becomes a junkyard for old cars and domestic appliances. Furthermore, the situation worsens as each year passes and successive generations who have not been brought up with an awareness of their responsibilities to their surroundings treat our public places as a dumping ground for their detritus.

A poll by this web last week on rubbish in Bourne produced one of the most decisive results since this feature began last year. More than 150 people voted and over 90% of them said that the town was untidy and run down while only a handful insisted that it was clean and smart but in view of the overwhelming majority and the evidence that is all around them, perhaps they ought to make an appointment to have their eyes tested.

One of the regular visitors to this web site is Tony Walton, an international banker who lived at Southfields, Bourne, until last year when he moved to the Far East and now works in Singapore. He was a member and sometimes a player with the cricket club and he remembers this town with affection but is concerned about its continuing environmental problems and he has emailed me to say:

It may be ridiculous to compare a small market town with one of the great cities, but I am compelled to comment regarding control of litter and general standards of care applied to cleanliness and presentation. I am sitting in my office overlooking one of the busier areas of my new city and am unable to see any litter, except in the bins provided. I can confidently predict the same situation in most other parts of Singapore. People here respect the city. They do not litter. Are they, in fact, any better than the residents of Bourne? I believe not, however their respect for the city is in many ways dictated by the extent of the fine if they do not. Here, the rules are clear (if not always agreed with). Further, they are always enforced, with increasing bite at each offence, to the point where financial penalty is a severe disincentive to transgress.

I can already imagine the bleating were such a regime to be implemented in Bourne or elsewhere in the UK. Just as with the prospect of severe physical or financial penalty for vandalism, the outcry would be in favour of the perpetrator rather than in support of the action. There are elements of the system here that grate, in particular the almost dictatorial rule of government, however the result of such policies is evident in the clean, safe city we now call home. So, such rules will never be implemented in Bourne, nor the rest of the UK, and slowly but surely our tremendously beautiful nation will slip into the type of squalor that many countries have experienced before and are fighting to get out of. Sharpen up, people.

A discussion in the Bourne Forum during the past few days over current developments in the town has been enlivened by contributions from one of our senior councillors, John Smith. He is not only a town councillor and former mayor (1978-79 and 1996-97) but a prominent member of South Kesteven District Council and since the modernisation of local authorities as a result of government directives last year, he is now the Cabinet member with responsibility for economic development which includes local planning policy. This makes his contributions to the Forum all the more valid and I hope that they will continue to stimulate debate about the future of Bourne.

This is the Internet working at its very best, putting people in touch with each other to disseminate information quickly and efficiently and at the same time provide the facility for a speedy reply. It is therefore the perfect medium for discussion because messages can be passed to and fro on the click of a mouse. I have mentioned here before that South Kesteven District Council has been encouraging the use of computers by its elected members and it is an obvious benefit for the emailing of weekly planning lists and committee agendas but the real breakthrough is in putting councillors in touch with their constituents.

One town councillor, Guy Cudmore, has acknowledged the value of the medium and has become a regular and valued contributor to the Forum with erudite messages on the topics of the day, particularly on matters affecting Bourne. But although several of our district councillors have email access, John Smith is the only one to contribute to the Forum so far. It is to be hoped that others will join him in the coming weeks and engage in debate with those of us who are concerned about the future of the town. Fears have been expressed by some that they might be abused and reviled but as mediator of the Forum, I can assure them that this will not happen. There will be strong opinions and some humour but rude and offensive messages will not be tolerated and unless contributors have something valid to say on the subject under discussion, their messages will be deleted. Let us hope that all of our councillors in Bourne will take up this challenge.

There has in the past been too much insidious gossip about the handling of our public affairs because most of those who grumble and complain in this way do it to friends at home or in the pub and rarely make their opinions known to a wider audience. The paucity of correspondence in the letters columns of our local newspapers bears witness to this. If our councillors are prepared to enter into serious debate in the Forum on subjects of public interest, both sides will benefit because they will become quickly aware of the climate of public opinion while we will soon know the difficulties they face in implementing their various policies. Who knows, it might even increase the abysmal turnout at our local government elections.

The question of whether Bourne ever had a castle is still one of debate but an interesting item has turned up suggesting that such a building was in evidence here during the early 20th century. This is of course complete nonsense and yet this is the subject of an Edwardian postcard that was on sale at a time when writing and sending them was almost a national occupation. A copy of the postcard has been passed to me by Mrs Fran Broom, a deltiologist, who until last year lived in North Street, Bourne, but she and her husband Alan have since retired to the east coast and now live at Belford in Northumberland. It shows a grand castle with turrets and embattled towers and standing in spacious parkland and the caption reads: Midlands Open Air Sanatorium, Bourne Castle.

Fran bought the postcard in an auction with several others relating to Lincolnshire. It was published by the Messenger Company, printers of Bromsgrove, near Birmingham, and was posted from Belbroughton, Worcestershire, on 5th December 1904 to an address in Pembrokeshire. However, I can state categorically that this is not Bourne in Lincolnshire. The castle depicted on the postcard is somewhere else but I am quite mystified as to where. I have been through my reference library but have been unable to find any mention of it although the building is obviously a stately home being used as a tuberculosis sanatorium when the disease was prevalent in the early part of the 20th century. I thought at first that perhaps it might be Grimsthorpe but I have checked and there is not the slightest resemblance but there is a slim chance that it could be Irnham Hall that can be found illustrated in the village pages on the web site but I have been unable to take more detailed photographs of this house because the owner, Sir Simon Benton Jones, told me that he dislikes publicity of this kind. Here is a copy of the postcard and if anyone has any ideas about where this castle is, please let me know.

While stuck in a traffic jam in the town centre on Wednesday morning, I pondered on the road conditions in Bourne of past times. Most of the old photographs of our main streets I have seen are memorable for the absence of the motor car and children can be seen playing in the middle of the road, as indeed I did when I was a lad. I also remember collecting car registration numbers in a notebook, a pastime pursued by most young boys in the early 1930s when the sight of a vehicle passing by was of some interest, and we often spent the entire day on the road near our home that lead directly to the Great North Road yet if we returned home in the evening with 20 or 30 sightings we thought ourselves lucky.

Although there were fewer motor cars in those days, this did not mean that all was safe on the roads as I discovered from this news item that I stumbled across during my recent researches in the Stamford Mercury of Friday 23rd October 1908 when such momentous events in a quiet market town were worthy of column space:

MOTOR CAR COLLISION

A motor accident occurred on Thursday just in front of the police station in Bourne [then on the corner of North Street and Burghley Street], but had no very serious results. The car belonged to Viscount Enfield, who was himself a passenger, and he was accompanied by two ladies, with the driver. Just as the car reached the police station, Messrs Bray and Son’s fish cart turned out of the police station yard. A collision was inevitable. The driver of the trap pulled his horse up but the animal slipped on the granite setts that form the crossing and the driver of the motor car, who had it well in hand, at once applied the brakes. The car collided with the trap, both the wings of the former being damaged, the front lamp glass broken and the lamp bracket bent. The trap also suffered damage. The motor car was able to proceed on its journey to Burton Hall, Lincoln.

Thought for the Week: Civilisation is little more than a series of lighthouses on a dark and dangerous coast. – Paul Johnson, writing in The Spectator, 12th January 2002.

Return to Monthly entries