Saturday 4^th October 2003

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust now has a hundred nature reserves covering 8,000 acres in the county and although one of the smallest, Toft Tunnel is certainly one of the most interesting because it is a reminder of the Victorian age of steam railways.

The construction of the tunnel on the outskirts of Toft village, two miles south west of Bourne, as part of the railway link between the Midlands and East Anglia, was one of the biggest civil engineering feats for the railway system in the area during the 19th century.

The Bourne and Saxby Railway Act was passed on 24th June 1889 for the construction of a double track between the two areas but the section east of Little Bytham was the most difficult part of the proposed route because the terrain rose in a series of ridges and although they were not particularly steep, they combined to create a climb from 35 feet above sea level at the Bourne end to a high point of 439 feet above sea level between South Witham and Wymondham on the county border with Lincolnshire and Leicestershire.

The escarpment overlooking Bourne presented too sharp an incline to allow engineers lay rails over the top and so it was proposed that a tunnel be driven through it for a distance of 330 yards and wide enough to take two tracks. Survey work started in November 1890 and the actual tunnelling began the following February with an initial workforce of 100 soon expanding to around 400 men who were housed in a shanty settlement of temporary wooden huts.

Clay from a site near to the tunnel provided the raw materials for one million of the 2½ million bricks needed to line the interior walls and for the construction of the viaduct at nearby Lound and these were made by a manufacturing company set up by Henry Kingston of Bourne. The town stands on the very edge of a huge belt of Oxford clay that stretches from Dorset through Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire to the Humber estuary, and in the late 1880s, Kingston had exploited this natural resource and opened a brickworks at the foot of Stamford Hill on the edge of the town, a few hundred yards west of the railway station and near a wooden footbridge that was erected later and which eventually became known locally as the Red Steps.

The brickworks were now conveniently situated to the new line and Kingston was given rail access to his premises to supply the bricks needed for the project. The company agreed to build a single siding known as Kingston's Siding provided that the owner paid for the work himself and so the new facility was duly installed. Spoil removed as the tunnel was cut was transported to Spalding at the rate of four trains with 20 wagons each day, carrying between them 400 cubic yards of earth which was used to form an embankment for a new loop line that was being built at the same time. In order to facilitate the conveyance of materials such as bricks from Bourne to the workface, a 2½ mile tramway was laid to serve the tunnel and a whole collection of workshops, a sawmill, mortar mill, smithies and carpenter's shops, grew up around the workings. The tunnel shafts were served by two winding engines while the air below ground was kept tolerably fresh by the use of a Roots patent blower to ventilate the excavations. Water was supplied to the site of operations by a 1¼ mile length of pipe fed by a borehole at Bourne.

The tunnel took two years to build and by the end of February 1893, the final stage of the project had begun in readiness for the line to open for goods traffic the following June. A freight train from Leicester reached Bourne at 7 am on Monday 4th June 1893 on its way to the marshalling yards at South Lynn in Norfolk, the first of 30 such trains that day, a precursor of the amount of business that was to be generated in the years to come.

A special excursion train travelled from the Midlands to King's Lynn on 25th June 1893 although passenger traffic did not officially start until May Day the following year, on Tuesday 1st May 1894, when additional facilities had been built to handle them at the Red Hall in Bourne. There was no official opening ceremony although large crowds did turn out to greet the first train.

The Toft Tunnel was not a major project in railway history but it was the only one within the Midland and Great Northern Railway's joint system and the line was used extensively during the summer months to transport passengers from the industrial Midlands to the east coast seaside resorts that were becoming increasingly popular for summer holidays and excursions. The service was particularly in demand on public holidays and by August Bank Holiday of 1936, sixteen extra excursion trains were routed along the line and through the tunnel between 1 am and at midday on Saturday 1st August, most of them heading for Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft but some diverting to Skegness, Mablethorpe and Cromer.

But it was not to last. The proliferation of the motor car and competition for haulage from road transport soon sounded its death knell. Both passenger and goods services on the line ended on Saturday 28th February 1959 despite opposition from Bourne Urban District Council to save it and work on removing the track between Castle Bytham and Bourne began in the spring of 1962.

Toft Tunnel is among those locations along the line that have survived and since 1993 it has been preserved as a nature reserve administered by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and is open to the public. The reserve consists of the two deep eastern and western cuttings that include a large portion of gorse, buckthorn, cowslips, a pond and wet areas of limestone grasses and also acts as a linear wildlife park. This summer, a pyramidal and a common spotted orchid were found on the site and as conditions are perfect for both species, there are hopes that the numbers will increase in future years. The area can become very wet in winter but an all-weather raised path in the east cutting has been built for access. The mixture of scrub and open areas with rich grassland provides a diverse range of habitats. Whitethroat and willow warbler are regular nesting species, while in winter there are often large numbers of fieldfare and redwing. Twenty-one types of butterfly have also been recorded. The trust continues a programme of annual management, mainly maintaining areas of dense hawthorn and blackthorn trees and also restoring some areas of permanent grassland.

This relic from the heyday of Victorian travel now provides a new delight for those in the 21st century who seek out nature that has colonised the abandoned track and tunnel and is well worth a visit at any time of the year. The reserve lies south-west of Bourne on the A6121 Stamford road, about 1 km (0.6 miles) from the A151 junction. Limited roadside parking is available by the entrance to the west cutting while parking in the evenings and at weekends is available in the South Kesteven District Council depot at Lound. Please park adjacent to the east cutting and display a trust car sticker. Access to either cutting is from the roadside with steps down to the track level.

What the local newspapers are saying: While the Labour Party wrestled with the issues of law and order and anti social crime at its conference in Bournemouth, Bourne was hit with a fresh outbreak of vandalism in the Manning Road area that has caused great concern among residents. The Local (October 3rd) carries a front page report of the worst incident early on Tuesday morning when intruders went on a wrecking spree in which they stole a farm tractor from an agricultural engineering company's premises and drove it down the road and into the Rainbow supermarket where the £8,000 vehicle was set on fire and allowed to roll into the front of the building. They also smashed windows in a lorry and a car while intruders also broke into the charity shop at the Salvation Army premises. There appears to have been no reason for these incidents other than cause damage for the sake of it but they have drawn a response from the Bourne Chamber of Trade whose chairman, Hazel Duffy, said that an increased police presence, better street lighting and more television surveillance cameras were needed to protect businesses such as this. "We would not then be vulnerable to this kind of behaviour", she said. "Our local businesses pay high rates and need more protection. If the police presence cannot be increased, then traders may think about introducing a shop watch scheme to protect themselves." Surprisingly, Sergeant Steve Gallant of Bourne police told the newspaper that the Manning Road area was not considered to have a problem with crime. Well, it has now.

At Kirkby Underwood, five miles north of the town, the 13th century village church was the target for youngsters at the weekend when they smashed windows with conkers that had fallen from an ancient chestnut tree in the graveyard and probably shot from catapults. The Stamford Mercury (October 3rd) reports that eight panes of leaded glass in the lower windows and another higher up were shattered and as all are specially shaped, they will be expensive to repair. The destruction was heart breaking for churchwarden Frank Wyer whose family have been associated with the church for more than two centuries. "It is a mindless act and I would like to see the parents of those responsible being made to pay for the repairs", he said. "Church buildings are not cheap to maintain and I am not sure whether our insurance will cover us against this sort of wilful damage and so we may have to foot the bill ourselves." This is the third time in recent years that this church has been vandalised and Frank relates to The Local which covers the same story that he has in the past tried to stop hooligans from riding their bikes over the graves in the churchyard but all he got was abuse. It is little wonder that this and other of our country churches are kept locked although this is a damning indictment on the society in which we live.

A curious story appears in the Stamford Mercury concerning the efforts of our mayor, Councillor Trevor Holmes, in trying to get the public toilets in South Street reopened. The lavatories were closed by South Kesteven District Council in October 2003 on the pretext that they were being regularly vandalised and attracting paedophiles and despite mounting protests from townspeople, especially the elderly who need such a facility when out shopping, the authority has refused to rescind its decision. The mayor was not happy to let this matter rest and so he went to see the council officials responsible in an attempt to get the loos re-opened. A most commendable decision on his part but when the town council heard on Tuesday what he had done, he was castigated with some fury by his colleagues who claimed that he had breached standing orders and by-passed every councillor and council committee and he was forced to make an apology. This seems to me to be rather severe for a man who was trying to do good for the community he serves. After all, he is the mayor and therefore the chairman of the town council, and I cannot understand why he should be rebuked for showing initiative, albeit in an unconventional but honourable and well-intentioned manner.

Too many of our council procedures are governed by rules and regulations and there are times when they must be broken in pursuit of the common cause and this is one of them. The town council is after all, a democratic organisation which exists for the good of the people and not one of those extreme left organisations run by apparatchiks burning the midnight oil in smoke-filled committee rooms and subjecting every decision to textual analysis to ensure that it complies with official procedures. There are times when unorthodox methods are needed to achieve our aims and the mayor should lose no sleep over his attempt to right this wrong because his heart is in the right place.

The bone of contention with his colleagues appears to be a proposal that the town council takes over the running of the South Street lavatories, in which case they would be re-opened, as they were at Market Deeping in February when the parish council adopted this very course of action and with considerable success. However, the town council at Bourne appears to have rejected this idea which is why so much opprobrium is being heaped on the mayor's head for his independent approach. There will be those who ask why the town council should not finance the running of these much needed lavatories. After all, Market Deeping has done it for under £15,000 a year but then this council does not have the millstone of a £40,000 debt around its neck, almost half the annual council budget, for the much vaunted Christmas illuminations which first appeared in 2001. We may have the town centre brightly lit every festive season but you will be in some difficulty if you suddenly want to spend a penny.

Message from abroad: I am surprised to learn of the lost opportunities for Bourne shopkeepers to use child slave labour. As a boy, I used to deliver the groceries and had to wrestle with the weight of the delivery bike itself and the items in the carrier. What a blessing that everything was rationed in those days. As a ten year old, I struggled up North Street with somebody's shopping most Saturdays all for the glorious sum of a tanner [sixpence or 2½p in new money] for the whole day. Thank goodness that petrol was rationed and there weren't too many motor cars around as I wobbled from side to side. Those uphill routes were a real challenge and not for the faint hearted. - contribution to the Forum from Dennis Staff of Ottawa, Canada, who was evacuated to Bourne during the Second World War of 1939-45.

Thought for the Week: Tony Blair says: "I won't resign. I'm going on and on and on." - headline from The Sunday Telegraph, 28th September 2003.

Saturday 11^th October 2003

Young people have set an example to Bourne in recent days by giving up their spare time to clean up St Peter's Pool, our most historic site whose origins go back into the mists of time.

This pool is fed by seven underground springs and around it settled the Saxons, the Romans and the Danes, anxious for a convenient source of water, and soon the town we know today sprang up. Water however, is now a commodity marketed for commercial gain and in Bourne, our supplies are plundered daily by Anglian Water to provide other areas, with the result that the pool dries up in time of drought.

There was little or no rain to replenish underground supplies during the past summer and so the level of the pool dropped dramatically and is now at an all time low, revealing years of rubbish and debris thrown into the water and creating a shameful eyesore that has become a disgrace to the town. There may be some dispute as to who is responsible for the maintenance of St Peter's Pool but Bourne United Charities are the riparian owners because they administer the Wellhead Gardens and yet little or nothing has been done by them to keep it in a neat and tidy state as befits such an ancient site that is also an attraction for visitors.

But the worsening sight of the pool was too much for some of the town's young people, mostly pupils at Bourne Grammar School, and so they decided to do the job themselves and armed with black plastic bags, they have been making regular trips to clear up the rubbish that has accumulated in and around the pond. Their action is commendable because it demonstrates an unselfish concern for the environment and particularly for the reputation of this town. By contrast, Bourne United Charities have been content to ignore the problem, and that of the Bourne Eau that runs through the gardens and is in an equally deplorable state.

Little is known about the activities of the BUC because the trustees do not admit the press to their monthly meetings or make statements to the media and instead of challenging this policy and demanding more transparency, the editors of our local newspapers meekly accept the status quo. A typical example of this occurred earlier in May this year when three of the public seats were dismantled from the Wellhead Gardens, much to the inconvenience of visitors, and although two were reinstated after complaints had been lodged on this web site, there is still one missing. No one was told that they were being removed but my own inquiries reveal that the decision had been taken because of complaints that youngsters had been gathering there late in the evening and causing a disturbance for people living in the vicinity. BUC made no public statement on this issue and one woman who complained directly at the office in the Red Hall about the state of the Wellhead Gardens was fobbed off by being told to raise a petition if she felt so strongly about it and some action might then be forthcoming. This was both inconsiderate and high-handed and a negation of the aims and objectives of a charitable trust. There is also the question as to why the gates of the War Memorial Gardens are locked and chained to prevent entry on some evenings, particularly Saturdays and Sundays, an unacceptable practice for an area that is devoted to our war dead which should be open at all times.

It is therefore worth knowing who the 14 trustees are that make these decisions. The board consists of nine co-optive members, chosen for their knowledge of the community, and five nominated by Bourne Town Council. The chairmanship changes every year according to seniority, Buggins' turn in fact, and the post is filled this year by Councillor Shirley Cliffe and her vice-chairman is Councillor John Kirkman who will be chairman next year. The other twelve members are Mrs Joyce Burrows, Mrs Margaret Ash, Ronald Ayliff, Douglas Reeson, Dr Michael McGregor, John Fisher-Smith, James Lambert, Michael Warner and Mrs Yvonne Elmer, with three other members nominated by Bourne Town Council (as are Councillors Cliffe and Kirkman), Councillors Marjorie Clark, Don Fisher and John Smith.

Some of the trustees are known to dislike any hint of publicity and cite the fact that their discussions often involve sensitive matters, such as the personal details of applicants claiming a charity payment, although anyone with experience of procedure will know that a meeting can go into private session at the chairman's behest whenever such matters are discussed and the press representatives would leave without question. It therefore seems that this is little more than a lame excuse to continue in the same style as before and the result is that the deliberations of the charity are never made public while access to what they have decided is extremely difficult to obtain and we the people are kept in total ignorance. Yet they are sitting on assets of more than £7 million which stem from money and property that was given to this town at various times over the centuries for the benefit of the people.

The trust is principally an almshouse charity within the parish of Bourne, which also includes Dyke and Twenty, and was registered with the Charity Commissioners on 16th November 1962 (No 216000) for the relief of poverty, the provision of accommodation and housing, and the protection of the environment, conservation and heritage. Those sections of the population affected by their remit are stated to be the elderly and the general public by making grants to individuals, including loans, and to organisations such as schools and other charities and to provide buildings, facilities and open spaces. BUC has a rising income from its property and investments, increasing from £293,463 gross in 1997 to £304,918 gross last year when the expenditure was only £257,490. They also have considerable financial investments in shares and Treasury Stock and are not therefore, short of money.

The properties owned by them include the almshouses in West Road, various land and agricultural holdings, the Red Hall, the Abbey Lawn and the Wellhead Gardens, although they also own the Outdoor Swimming Pool and Baldock's Mill which are leased to self-governing trusts.

By far the most valuable assets are 30 residential and commercial properties at Leytonstone, Essex, which were bequeathed to the town in the will of Robert Harrington (1589-1654), a local man who set off from Bourne in the early 17th century to seek his fortune in London and when he died, he left his money for the benefit of the people of his home town. This holding is the largest administered by BUC and much of the income is distributed a the rate of £9 a week to 205 men and women in the town who are considered to be in need of financial support. These payments, known affectionately as "The Essex", represent an outlay of almost £100,000 a year, and are made in the spirit of Harrington's will but since then, times have changed because few people today are in financial need and certainly cannot be considered to be poor as the word implied 350 years ago.

Nevertheless, many see this handout as a useful addition to their income although some who receive it have been known to drive up in their cars to collect it and there is always a queue to join the list. But as a result of inflation and rising costs, the numbers are currently being reduced by the trustees to around 175 although some consider that this is still too many to be subsidised by charity when the state provides, and the money used in this way could be better spent elsewhere.

Although BUC is principally an almshouse charity and to provide relief for those in need, the trustees also have a responsibility for the provision of social amenities to the benefit of the inhabitants generally and this must include the proper maintenance of those public places under their control. The cleaning of St Peter's Pool should not be left to schoolchildren but ought to be done by paid employees. BUC currently employs three people to do this work and if this is insufficient staff to ensure that it is done, then two or three more workers should be recruited or the work contracted out. It is not a situation that has been brought about solely by the summer dry spell but has been slowly building up in recent years during which time the pool has become unsightly and the Bourne Eau an eyesore, particularly that stretch which runs towards Baldock's Mill that has been frequently choked with algae and littered with rubbish while the banks of both the pool and the river have become an overgrown and tangled mess choked with weeds.

The BUC is an organisation handling large funds but we ought not lose sight of the fact that the money belongs to this town and should be spent accordingly. By all means, make payments to those who are in serious financial need but such cases diminish as the years progress and there appears to be sufficient income available to improve those public facilities we have. There are many ways this might be done and if the public were given the chance to make suggestions, the trustees would receive many appropriate ideas but instead they continue to hold their deliberations in near secrecy with little or no input from the people and imparting no information about their decisions. In a word, the trustees have become set in their ways and in the habit of meeting behind closed doors and perhaps this is a time for change.

The Wellhead Gardens, for instance, would be greatly enhanced if St Peter's Pool were given some tender loving care and lights installed along the main paths to make it an attractive place in the evenings. This is only one idea of many that should be explored and financed with the money that is clearly available. Robert Harrington and the others who left funds for the benefit of this town would most certainly have approved.

But firstly, St Peter's Pool needs urgent attention and for Bourne United Charities to give this historic site the attractive setting that it deserves rather than allow it deteriorate year after year and tended only by caring youngsters who recognise its importance to this town and are aghast at how it has been allowed to become so run down.

What the local newspapers are saying: There is no point in publishing a local newspaper unless the intended readership can relate to it by finding something of interest from the place where they live because familiarity makes it popular. Yet this is a lesson that has not been learned by those at Lincolnshire County Council who are responsible for publishing the monthly free sheet County News because the issue for October 2003 has appeared yet again without a single mention of Bourne.

You may read all 20 pages from top to bottom and not find the name of this town in the news reports and features and as this has happened before this year, it looks like becoming a habit. The County News is a free colour publication delivered by the Royal Mail to 316,000 homes at a cost of 9p per home and that works out at more than £340,000 a year. It is then a costly undertaking financed with public money but I imagine that the bulk of the 10,000 or so copies that are distributed in this area will end up either in the bottom of the budgie's cage or the waste paper bin. Most of what appears in the newspaper has either appeared elsewhere already or is utterly useless information and as a council tax payer, I would prefer that the money be spent on improving services rather than supporting this apparently futile and unnecessary undertaking.

The Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Trevor Holmes, who was severely castigated by fellow members of the town council for his unofficial action in trying to get the South Street public lavatories re-opened, has been given a vote of confidence by the people. He went to see representatives at South Kesteven District Council without permission and as a result was given a roasting by councillors last week but the Stamford Mercury (October 10th) devotes its front page and letters column to a spirited defence of his intervention as a much needed hands-on approach to tackling a problem of some importance and urgency. One correspondent deplored the "pompous and down-putting way in which he was criticised by councillors in trying to humiliate an honourable mayor to cover up their own failure".

But the most damning indictment of the situation came from Mr Anthony Stubbs of Saxon Way, Bourne, who called for the resignation of Councillor Peter Martin-Mayhew, the SKDC cabinet member responsible for the toilets who ordered their closure last October on the pretext that they were being vandalised and attracting paedophiles. "Presumably, the responsibility of endeavouring to run and maintain something as simple as a lavatory is beyond him", he wrote. "Perhaps he should either resign or seek advice from South Holland District Council which manages to run five public toilets in Spalding to a very high standard." The mayor appears to be in closer touch with the public mood than those town councillors who heaped such opprobrium on his head and perhaps now is the time for them to put things right by giving him an unreserved apology.

Bourne is awash with new houses and around 2,500 are under construction despite the pressure on schools, roads and medical facilities. Now The Local reports (October 10th) that a further 37 are planned on a paddock adjoining The Croft, an imposing house built in North Road in 1922. An application for residential development has been submitted to South Kesteven District Council despite a similar application being refused in 1994 and opposition to the scheme is already gathering momentum, not least because two lines of magnificent chestnut trees along the front drive may well be felled in the process and wildlife in the area, which includes foxes, squirrels and many species of birds, are likely to be driven out. The housing market is currently one of the most lucrative in Britain, fuelled mainly by enthusiastic estate agents and artificial prices, but if builders wish to build and buyers wish to buy, then new properties in a small market town like Bourne ought to be confined to designated areas such as Elsea Park and Hereward Meadow and developers prevented from snaffling up every little bit of remaining green space for the sake of a quick profit.

Thought for the Week: The government spends about 60p a head on prison food and 35p on school food. Schoolchildren are served cheap food assembled from low grade starches, ready prepared vegetables, processed meat, dematerialised fish, excessive cheap fat and refined sugar, foods that every community dietician and the Department of Health urge the rest of us to avoid. - report from the Soil Association that promotes organic produce, Monday 6th October 2003.

Saturday 18^th October 2003

A suggestion by the town council that streets in the residential development now being built on the old Bourne Hospital site should have names with medical connections is an excellent one and those put forward are an adequate choice. But all worked in the town within living memory and we should be careful not to exclude those who also contributed to the life of the community in the dim and distant past. The mere fact that few people have heard of them does not detract from the fact that their service was equally commendable and they should be considered in any project that remembers their work.

One of the most distinguished medical men to work in Bourne during the 19th century was George Octavius Munton who lived in West Street and was one of five operating in the town at that time. They were then described as surgeons and referred to as plain Mr, the other four being Francis James Bellingham, James Burn and William Hardwick, all of North Street, and George Nicholls of South Street.

George Munton's name appears most frequently in the archives of the town for the mid-19th century, indicating that he was a very busy man who went about his business on horseback to reach the sick and dying in outlying areas and it was on such a visit that he met his untimely death. On Saturday 25th November 1863, he was returning from attending a patient at Morton village when he was killed after his horse shied and threw him to the ground. He was only 57 years old.

An inquest was held by the coroner, Mr William Edwards, the following Monday at the Lord Nelson Inn at Morton when Mrs Elizabeth Handford, who lived in a cottage at the roadside, said that at about 12.30 pm on Saturday, she heard the noise of a horse shying about on the road outside and heard a person speaking to it in an attempt to calm the animal. She assumed that the horse was frightened and did not go outside for fear of making the situation worse but on hearing a heavy fall, rushed out to help and found Mr Munton lying on his back on the ground with both arms outstretched and he appeared to be struggling. Neighbours came up to assist and lifted him into an armchair but he was in a most serious state.

A pair of drags [a rough kind of sledge] loaded with two oak trees, stood near the hedge a little further along the road from the spot where Mr Munton's horse had taken fright. Mr Rollings Handford, son of the previous witness, said that at the time of the accident he was standing with some other men near Morton bridge which was a short distance from and in sight of the place where Mr Munton fell. He saw the horse become troublesome, shying from one side of the road to the other, and eventually throwing its rider who fell so heavily on his head that the noise was heard by him and his companions. The horse shied before it reached the drags and he did not therefore think this was the cause of the accident.

Another Bourne surgeon, James Burn, happened to be in the village at that time and he arrived at the scene within a few minutes. He told the inquest: "I found Mr Munton quite insensible and at once directed his removal to a nearby house and remained with him until he died at about three o'clock the same afternoon. It is my opinion that the injuries he sustained would prove fatal and there was little that could be done. It is my opinion that death was occasioned by a fracture of the skull at the back of the head, causing extravasation of the blood [extensive bleeding] and compression of the brain."

The inquest jury accepted the medical evidence and returned a verdict of accidental death but the foreman, Mr J P Parker, added a rider on behalf of the jury, warning about the dangerous practice of leaving things standing upon the sides of highways.

We drove to Sainsburys shortly before midday on Saturday, a regular outing to purchase those last minute items for the weekend, but as soon as I pulled into the entrance we realised that the store was closed for a week and a pleasant young lady with a bright smile stood on the traffic island waiting to remind us that this was the final stage of their latest extensions and it would be business as usual from Thursday.

There was no alternative but to shop at Rainbow and the effect of Sainsburys closure was apparent when we arrived because the car park was practically full and the aisles thronged with shoppers yet the management had not thought it worthwhile to increase staffing and so there was an interminable wait amid lengthening queues at the checkouts.

As the population of Bourne expands, shopping at peak times becomes more of chore but few of the stores think it worthwhile to ease the inconvenience by speeding up their service at the point of payment. The so called Tesco Express on North Road is the worst offender with long queues and few tills operating at any time of the day, even at the peak periods of 8 am and 6 pm, while Budgens is often equally bad and I have been in there when not a single checkout point was manned and customers had to call the manager for service. Rainbow is also weak in this respect but Sainsburys had a declared policy of putting extra staff on immediately the need became manifest although this good intention has not been evident in recent weeks and it is to be hoped that it will return as part of "the new and exciting features" they have trumpeted as part of the re-opening.

Shopping is sufficiently stressful without having to cope with an inadequate checkout service and all supermarkets ought to make this their number one priority when assessing the efficiency of their business or lose the goodwill to customers who will eventually go elsewhere.

November the fifth looms and many dread its coming. They are not averse to people enjoying themselves celebrating an historic occasion but as with so many other activities, the yobs have taken over and in this case, we can expect to hear bangers and rockets going off in the streets and other public places at all hours for weeks before and after the event.

These round the clock explosions disturb our peace, frighten pets and worry old people and although the government has been asked repeatedly to address this issue, as with so many social problems that cause great inconvenience to the majority, nothing has been done. Fireworks are already on sale and they are bigger and better, or should I say worse, than anything concocted in years past.

When we celebrated Guy Fawkes Day in the 1930s, my father would return home from work that evening with a modest box of fireworks in the saddle bag of his bicycle, bought from the corner shop on his way home for half a crown [12½p in today's money] and containing a few squibs and crackers, a Catherine wheel, a Roman candle, a couple of rockets and a handful of sparklers, all innocent fun that was over in half an hour before we went to bed.

A leaflet dropped through my letter box this week advertising some of the pyrotechnics available today and I was surprised at what was on offer and the prices being charged. The very names of these products are redolent of mischief and mayhem on a grand scale such as the Comet Catastrophe 180 Shot Barrage at £99.99, the Satanic Desecration and the Exterminator (£74.99 each), Armageddon and Towering Inferno (£44.99 each), Aftershock (£69,99), Medusa Venom (£59.99), Tempest Barrage (£19.99), Space Blitz, Cyborg Massacre and Night Invader (£12.99 each). The rockets have similarly destructive names that hint of war rather than an evening's entertainment while there are other displays listed under headings such as The Bomb Factory, Star Buster, Aerial Attack and Terror Tower Barrage, but then those selling these products must know their markets.

Oh, where are the crackers, fizgigs and whiz-bangs of yesteryear? Such a restrained celebration and at least we knew then that Bonfire Night lasted for no more than an hour or two on the evening of November 5th and then it was all over for another year.

What the local newspapers are saying: The letters page of a local newspaper reflects the concerns of readers about what is going on in the community and this week both of our main publications have healthy contributions on a number of issues, notably the planning application to build 37 new homes on a green space adjoining The Croft, a large house in North Road, Bourne, dating back to 1922. The Local (October 17th) has a particularly vociferous selection of opinions, all of them against the proposals in the most positive terms, and it is difficult to understand how the development could possibly go ahead in the face of such opposition. The newspaper also reports that when the town council's highways committee considered the application on Tuesday, it was unanimously rejected with eight specific objections that should leave South Kesteven District Council in no doubt about public feeling when the scheme comes before them for consideration in November. The loss of green space and the inadequacy of school and health facilities to cope with yet more new homes have all been put forward as justifiable reasons for not proceeding with residential development on this site.

Furthermore, as Councillor Don Fisher pointed out to the meeting, similar applications were rejected in 1993 and again in 1994 and perhaps it is worth recalling the mood at that time. The Bourne Local [as it was then], reported on Thursday 21st July 1994 that the objections also included the loss of the two avenues of mature chestnut trees and an undesirable increase in traffic turning on to the main road. Councillor Fisher said: "The whole town is gradually disappearing under bricks and mortar. The people feel very strongly that this piece of land should be left as it is and not be turned into yet another unwanted housing estate." Nothing has changed since then except that thousands more homes on out of town sites are under construction and there is no rhyme or reason why this little slice of green space should be swallowed up in a similar fashion.

A colony of the rare Leisler's bat has made its home in Bourne Wood, according to a picture feature in The Local by Kate Sheppard (October 17th). The species is one of 15 to be found in Britain and this one was identified after taking up residence in specially designed nesting boxes that were installed in 1990 and this year a group consisting of one male and several females have been recorded and are being closely monitored by Forestry Commission staff. Leisler's bat is one of the largest of our native bats, the most common being the pipistrelle which we see in our gardens, and it feeds on flying insects, moths and beetles. All British bats and their roosts are protected by law and should not be disturbed. Even Forestry Commission rangers need a special licence from English Nature to check on them so it is not advisable to go looking for them yourself.

The Local has also devoted a lot of space to the state of St Peter's Pool (October 17th) which has been the subject of a lively discussion in the Bourne Forum in recent weeks and their coverage includes a series of street interviews which should leave no one in any doubt about what the public thinks of the present state of affairs. The newspaper has also managed to extract a rare Press statement from Bourne United Charities but this tries to pass the buck to South Kesteven District Council by indicating that it is they who are responsible for the area towards Manor Lane. This was not the point at issue for although we accept that dry weather will reduce the water level in the pool, there is still the matter of the untended banks and the deplorable state of the Bourne Eau that runs through the Wellhead Gardens. The current situation is quite clear to everyone: that more maintenance is needed to keep this park in a neat and tidy state and if the current workforce cannot cope, then more men should be employed and as we pointed out last week, the organisation has sufficient income to meet this additional expense rather than leave the work to schoolchildren who do it for free because they care for the environment.

The debate over the South Street public lavatories in Bourne rumbles on and most people may now be forgiven for having lost the plot. The story so far is that they were closed by South Kesteven District Council last October on the pretext that they were being vandalised and attracting paedophiles but when the mayor, Councillor Trevor Holmes, went to see officials in an attempt to get them re-opened, and perhaps run by Bourne Town Council, he was criticised by fellow members and forced to apologise for his unofficial action. Yet the Stamford Mercury reports (October 17th) that town councillors have now agreed to consider re-opening the toilets in partnership with SKDC, either on a temporary or semi-permanent basis, although this seems to be exactly what the mayor was trying to achieve in the first place and so why was he castigated by his colleagues?

Although I have followed this saga since it began, I am now greatly confused and it all sounds like one big bureaucratic bungle but provided the lavatories are re-opened, then we may forgive this obfuscation. As Councillor Holmes appropriately told fellow councillors when they met on Tuesday: "We would satisfy the needs of the people of Bourne who would be a lot happier and greatly relieved." They most certainly would, Mr Mayor. It would indeed be relief all round.

What the national newspapers are saying: The ladies' and men's public toilets at Seabrook [Hythe, Kent] are to be temporarily closed due to vandalism. Although the ladies' toilets have not been vandalised, it would be unacceptable under the equal opportunities and sex discrimination regulations, and council policy, for them to remain open. - from the Kentish Express, quoted by the Daily Mail, Thursday 16th October 2003 under the heading "Bureaucracy Gone Mad".

Thought for the Week: No falsehood is more ruthlessly promoted than that football is popular. More people go to museums at weekends than go to football matches. More people go to church. Attendances at grounds have been shrinking steadily since the end of the Second World War [1945]. Less than one Briton in ten goes to a game. The consensus is that football stinks, both as a game and as a branch of culture. - William Langley, writing in The Sunday Telegraph, 12th October 2003.

Saturday 25^th October 2003

The leylandi that have adorned the perimeter of my house overlooking the South Lincolnshire fen have finally been taken down. I planted them when I moved here twenty years ago and managed them in a manner to avoid annoying the neighbours. But keeping them in trim has become too arduous for aching limbs and creaking joints and so they had to go, the front sections being replaced by a picket fence last year and the back with larch lap panels and trellis a week ago and so my days of climbing ladders with shears and cutters are at an end.

These fast-growing conifers, known in some areas as the grotesque green giant, can increase in height by more than three feet a year, and are to be found at many locations in Bourne where they provide an excellent hedge between properties but as they grow at such a remarkable speed, they do need a lot of care and maintenance, otherwise they are soon out of control. There are several places around the town where you can see specimens that have reached heights of 20 and 30 feet and it is therefore no surprise to learn that the dreaded leylandi has earned a reputation as the scourge of suburbia and the hedge from hell, causing more boundary disputes between neighbours than anything else with the number of cases currently estimated at 10,000 a year.

The Leyland Cypress (X Cupresspcyparis leylandii) was bred in South Wales from two American species, the Monterey Cypress and the Alaskan Cedar, and named after C J Leyland who first picked the seed in 1888, although its general distribution did not start until 1927 and it has really become popular in the last 30 years as windbreaks, screens and property boundaries, while exceptional examples reaching around 100 ft. can now be found in many parts of the country. Its general use as a domestic hedge, a living wall that grows in almost any soil and is easy to clip, has made it popular with home owners but thoroughly disliked by the neighbours if you live next door. However, the very qualities that made it ideal for so many tasks have ultimately led to its demise. It was inevitable that the planting and growth of leylandi would eventually attract government attention and the issue is now being addressed in an amendment to the new Anti-Social Behaviour Bill unveiled in the Commons last week by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, condemning the species as a menace to society.

The proposals, formulated by the Labour back bench M P Stephen Pound, whose original High Hedges Bill which forms the basis of the amendment will give local authorities new powers and enable a resident bothered by unchecked leylandi to obtain a ruling ordering them to be cut back if they grow more than 6½ ft. tall and block light or access to property. There would also be the possibility of obtaining judgment if a hedge adversely affects the complainant’s reasonable enjoyment of their property and anyone defaulting on these findings would be liable to a fine up to £1,000.

Yvette Cooper, minister for social exclusion in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, said that intrusive hedges had caused anguish for many law-abiding citizens for too long. She added: “High hedges can make people’s lives a complete misery and can be just as distressing as anti-social behaviour like graffiti. Unreasonably high hedges can cause annoyance and misery for people and lead to confrontation between neighbours. The government is determined to tackle anti-social behaviour wherever it happens.”

This is welcome news for Hedgeline, the Internet web site founded in March 1998 by Michael Jones and a group of 200 supporters who contacted him as a result of a much-publicised leylandi court case lasting five years. Many of these helped in some way with the setting up of Hedgeline and other highly skilled members have freely given their services to the organisation which provides information and advice about bothersome hedges and draws on the experience of thousands of people in their campaign for effective legislative control of problem hedges of all species in residential areas of Britain.

Clare Hinchliffe, the policy director, said in a statement: “Hedgeline, the national lobby and support group for the victims of high hedges, welcomes the government’s decision to tackle this nuisance. We have waited a long time to hear this. There have been so many disappointments in our six-year campaign. This is wonderful news. Hedge bullying will now be clearly labelled as what it is, anti-social behaviour. This law will change hearts and minds. The growers of nuisance hedges will now know that they are expected to consider their neighbours but it is important to remember that the law will apply only to hedges which cause considerable nuisance to neighbours and that it will not threaten other high hedges."

The Anti-Social Behaviour Bill including the new amendment was given a third reading in the Commons on Thursday. The days of the nuisance leylandi therefore appear to be numbered. No doubt the tree will survive in and around the town but once the bill becomes law, the king of hedges will be cut down to size and we can expect to see more modest examples that do not block out the sunlight and turn neighbours into the worst of enemies.

The long-awaited memorial to Raymond Mays, the motor racing pioneer who took Britain to the forefront of international competition on the track, is to be unveiled any day now. Although no date has been formally announced, signs that this event is imminent are evident because the base and the plinth of the edifice have already been installed on the strip of grassland alongside Baldock’s Mill in South Street but are under canvas wraps for the time being. This will be a big event for the town when it happens.

There is already a cast iron notice commemorating Raymond’s life on the wall outside Eastgate House where he was born in 1899 and where he lived until his death in 1980. His reputation is still celebrated by all who love the thrill of motor racing and many aficionados came to Bourne in the summer of 1999 to pay homage when he was honoured with a day of celebration including a cavalcade of thirty historic racing cars through the streets and the official opening of the Raymond Mays Room in the Heritage Centre at Baldock’s Mill where a mass of photographs illustrate his exciting life. These were deserved tributes to the man who developed the BRM that became the first all-British car to win the world championship in 1962.

He was made a CBE by the Queen in 1978 for his services to motor racing but when he died in 1980 at the age of 80, instead of being buried in the town cemetery alongside his father and other members of the Mays family, he was cremated and his ashes were not preserved and so this memorial will go some way to rectifying this omission. This is also an appropriate time to publish a remarkable list containing the names of all personnel who worked for BRM in Bourne that has been compiled by one of the leading members of the design team, Alec Stokes. It contains a total of 247 names and he is confident that this is the definitive roll call of everyone involved with the project launched by Raymond Mays that brought fame to Britain and to Bourne.

Alec, now 78, began keeping the list when he joined BRM in November 1947 and he remained with the team as transmission designer and chief draughtsman for 31 years, leaving in 1977, the year before the company folded. He was therefore the longest serving employee and who better placed to know who did and who did not work for BRM.

“Many people have claimed to have been employed by BRM when in fact they were not, either working directly for Raymond Mays personally or at the garage which bears his name. Only those actually employed by BRM at the workshops are included and that is as it should be.”

What the local newspapers are saying: A shopkeeper in North Street has been complaining about illegal parking outside his premises, according to the Lincolnshire Free Press (October 21st). Richard Simpson, owner of the outfitters Jessie Bellamy, claims that vehicles are frequently left there all day, despite a 20-minute restriction, while delivery lorries were also causing difficulties. “It is a constant problem”, he said. “The street is too busy. People are trying to get by and the shop entrance is obstructed. We want to see something done for ourselves and for the safety of pedestrians.” The complaint was discussed by the town council’s highways and planning committee last week when Councillor John Kirkman told members: “This is a serious problem which has been going on too long and we ought to do something to help.” But what can we expect when there is not a policemen or a traffic warden in sight? Councillor Kirkman is to be commended for his optimism but as a member of the district and county council and a former member of the police authority, he knows full well that little is likely to be done and that this situation is yet another example of the feeble grasp the public has on its own affairs.

Bourne Grammar School is generally accepted as one of the best schools in the county and yet some of the 1,000 pupils are still being taught in mobile classrooms, a tradition that dates back to 1921 when ex-army huts from the Great War were erected on site. Rapid expansion has meant that temporary accommodation has always been needed since but the Stamford Mercury reveals (October 24th) that this situation may soon be at an end. A two-storey extension to the school is planned at a cost of £1.3 million that will phase out the present 10 mobile classrooms. The head teacher Dr Stuart Miles says: “It is awful being educated in mobiles. They are hot in summer and cold in winter. Hopefully, this plan will mean that we don’t need them any more.” Construction work is due to begin in January and the new building is expected to be ready by the autumn.

Opposition to the proposed residential development on the paddock adjoining The Croft in North Road, Bourne, continues to dominate the headlines in The Local where the town’s Civic Society has added its voice to the objections (October 24th). This project to build 37 new homes on one of the last slices of green space in this area has generated as much protest as the Elsea Park development when it was first mooted in 1999, mainly because two lines of magnificent chestnut trees along the front drive may well be felled in the process and wildlife in the area, which includes foxes, squirrels and many species of birds, is likely to be driven out. The Civic Society’s objection states: “We are strongly opposed to any further housing development in Bourne at this time and fully endorse the views expressed by the town council. The design is out of keeping with the character of the area, there will be a loss of local amenity and privacy, visual intrusion, damage to the Conservation Area, loss of mature trees and severe effects on traffic. The proposals are also contrary to local and government planning policy.” It is difficult to see how this development can possibly go ahead in the face of such public opposition yet I understand that planning officials on South Kesteven District Council who will influence the final decision when councillors vote on the application later this month, are likely to approve the idea.

From the archives: As some bricklayers were removing the thatch from an old farmhouse in the parish of Pickworth a few days ago, they discovered an old coat in a very dilapidated condition which it is believed, belonged to a man named Wells, who about 60 years ago concealed himself in the roof of the house, he being wanted on a charge of issuing forged notes. The constables, however, succeeded in discovering Wells’ hiding place and he was afterwards removed to Lincoln, tried and executed. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 17th September 1869.

Thought for the Week: Plans for the Queen and George W Bush to make a triumphant procession along the Mall [in London] during the presidential state visit next month have been abandoned because of fears of anti-war protests. The procession is the high point of a state visit and President Bush’s trip is the first of an American president since the Queen came to the throne 52 years ago. He will travel by helicopter to avoid protestors who line road routes. Other proposed events have also been curtailed or cancelled and he will not address Parliament because of fears of a boycott by MPs. – news report from The Sunday Telegraph, 19th October 2003.

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