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Saturday 6th December 2003
Government at all levels excels in one thing and that is
the stable door policy. It needs events to bring about new legislation because,
despite their multifarious, highly paid advisers, they consistently fail to read
what is going on. This is not only a costly way of doing things but also a
negative approach because the new rules and regulations they introduce are never
retrospective and cannot therefore undo what has already been done.
The shop fronts in our towns for instance, and Bourne is a perfect example, are
a particular illustration of this aberration because in most cases, they have
been welded on to old properties and so we have the unhappy blend of garish
plastic or plaster board and unsightly showroom windows stuck on to what were
once very attractive brick and stone period houses. Walk down North Street or
West Street and you will find many instances of this unhappy combination but if
you lift your gaze to the upper storeys you will have an idea of what this town
once looked like and will realise what we have lost. There are one or two
favourable exceptions, Smiths of Bourne for instance, and these highlight the
mistakes that have been made with the others.
This hotch potch of commercial and domestic architecture has taken centuries to
evolve and yet it is only now that the problem is being addressed because we are
told that a shop front design guide is being considered by the Town Centre
Management Partnership in conjunction with South Kesteven District Council. The
object is to identify shop fronts of historic merit for preservation, those that
relate to the architecture of the buildings, and to suggest new methods of
designing them in the future, a difficult task because conservation is
frequently the last consideration of commercial developments. Bob Stewart, team
leader of planning strategy at SKDC (who on earth dreams up these titles?) says:
“We could say to people that if they are looking to develop a shop front in
Bourne, then these are the principles you ought to follow.”
The aim is a commendable one although whether it will result in the removal of
some of the crude and gaudy facades that currently adorn our main streets is
another matter. It may well be too late for that.
Two public statements of recent days are worthy of close scrutiny because
they reflect an official policy of involving the people yet events prove that
they do no such thing.
The first is from the government with its Big Conversation project, designed as
a listening post for the electors to let off steam. The second is from the new
chief executive of South Kesteven District Council, Duncan Kerr, who tells us in
his review of the authority’s visions, aims and priorities, that the community
will be in the driving seat over the next ten years. Both are disingenuous
claims because whatever the people say, they will remain isolated from the
decision making process and policy will continue to be implemented without their
participation and often against their best interests. MPs know this at
parliamentary level and local councillors acknowledge that they are usually
powerless to enforce the wishes of those they represent.
A perfect example is the controversy over pensions for councillors which I
discussed last week and has stimulated a debate on the Forum where there seems
to be little support for such a move but despite public opposition, and from
within the council chamber, the scheme may yet go ahead.
The suggestion from SKDC is that the 58 elected members qualify for pensions
based on their allowances. All receive a basic payment of £3,312 a year although
those with special responsibilities, such as cabinet members, get additional
increments and this can push their take home pay up to more than £10,000 a year
with the leader drawing £15,000 and the deputy leader £12,000. The new proposals
under the Local Government Pension Scheme have been recommended for approval by
John Blair, the council’s head of finance, and would cost councillors 6% of
their allowances with the authority contributing 16.2%.
The subject was debated at the council’s monthly meeting on Thursday 27th
November when a move to shelve the scheme was lost. The motion came from
Councillor John Kirkman (Bourne East) and seconded by Councillor Michael Taylor
(Greyfriars, Grantham). He argued that there was no justification for such a
move, particularly because of the outlay that could be as high as £45,000 a
year, depending on how many councillors took up the option, and this would be
the equivalent of an extra £1.05 on the council tax for a Band D property.
Councillor Kirkman said afterwards: “I do not believe that the council tax payer
should be asked to support this extra cost which would arise from the
employers’, or council, contribution. This simply cannot be justified
particularly as the council tax this year is likely to be much higher than the
predicted 5%.”
Other members thought that pensions for councillors would be a good thing and
that such a benefit might attract younger people to stand for election. The
motion however was lost by 22 votes to 24 but as no other was moved, the council
did not make a decision and the matter is now likely to be on the agenda again
at the full council meeting in January. “I will continue to oppose it then”,
said Councillor Kirkman. “It is to be hoped that a few more councillors will
join those of us against the proposal and perhaps a recorded vote might be a
good idea.”
The holiday interval will give councillors time to think again on this issue.
All of them are either in well-paid employment or have retired with adequate
provision for their old age without the need to be subsidised from the public
purse. Additional pensions are therefore quite unacceptable at a time when the
authority should be looking at ways to reduce its spending commitment which is
likely to be £455,000 short of the basic requirement for the coming financial
year and could result in a massive council tax increase of 16.6%. Every means of
pruning the spending budget must therefore be employed and feather-bedding of
elected councillors on this scale and at this time is therefore both unessential
and morally wrong.
Whenever the people are offered a serious debate about their affairs, you may
rest assured that they will play no part in future decisions. The dishonesty of
government is manifest at all levels and unfortunately, many of those elected
find collusion an easy option.
What the local papers are saying: The County News, which appears
monthly at great public expense, dropped through the letterbox this week and yet
again it is full of inconsequentialities that have either appeared elsewhere or
are of no interest whatsoever. The 20-page colour newspaper is published by
Lincolnshire County Council at a cost of around £400,000 and is distributed free
to 314,000 homes and businesses who face the prospect of another increase in
their council or business tax in April. I have been in journalism for half a
century and cannot remember a more dire publication than this, one that would
not have survived its first few issues had it been subjected to the commercial
pressures of circulation and advertising, yet it continues blithely on its way
as though it was changing the county’s reading habits.
One of the items called “View from the top” carries the signature of Councillor
Ian Croft (Bourne Castle), leader of the council, who expends twelve paragraphs
on obscure details about recent changes in the authority’s operational
procedures as though anyone really cares. If this newspaper carried a column by
Councillor Croft telling us when, why and how much we will be expected to pay in
council tax, and what he is doing to keep increases in check, then he might be
read. In the meantime, I have some advice for him: a cobbler should stick to his
last. Councils are there to deliver public services and not to publish
newspapers.
A new town centre for Bourne is revealed in a front page story by the
Stamford Mercury with an aerial photograph showing the changes envisaged in
a draft guide drawn up by South Kesteven District Council to shape the future of
the area (December 5th). The main aim of the scheme is to counteract insensitive
infill development of the past, with its poorly designed shop fronts and vacant
lots, and to establish a main High Street area with a town square and a new
market place and so provide a central hub of commercial activity and public
amenities.
The Stamford Mercury and The Local devote many column inches to
the financial insecurity of the Butterfield Centre that provides day care,
social activities and services for more than 200 elderly people at the old
hospital building in North Road. There are fears that the service may close next
year unless £10,000 can be found and both newspapers (December 5th) have
fund-raising campaigns to ensure that the target is met.
On market day this week, I found two of the town’s redoubtable fund-raisers, Dr
Michael McGregor and his wife Margaret, sitting outside Budgens’ supermarket
selling tickets for a Christmas draw to aid the centre and if the enthusiasm
engendered by their appearance were multiplied throughout the town, then the
future of this amenity would be assured. Dr McGregor and his wife have also been
busy with another fund-raising activity, this time a coffee morning in aid of
the Leukaemia Research Fund at the Corn Exchange last Thursday where it has been
held for the past 20 years and has become the biggest charity event of its kind
in the town. The couple began raising money for the fund when their son John
became ill with leukaemia and he died in 1985, aged 21. The Local tells
us (December 5th) that during the event this year, 60 volunteers had been
recruited to run the stalls and serve coffee and mince pies to the visitors who
crowded in looking for bargains and £4,000 was raised in three hours for a very
worthy cause.
The Local also has a follow up of its exclusive story last week that the
public lavatories in South Street are to be re-opened by South Kesteven District
Council in partnership with Bourne Town Council (December 5th). These loos were
shut without warning in October 2002 on the pretext that they were being
vandalised and becoming a haunt of paedophiles but the solution now under
discussion is basically that Bourne Town Council will run them but SKDC will
provide the necessary cash, around £15,500, towards maintenance and supervision
and that will include the toilets at the bus station. A final decision is yet to
come from the district council cabinet but there are still some important
questions to be answered such as whether this will be a permanent or temporary
arrangement, exactly what costs will be covered and who will pay for any
additional expenses that might be incurred. There is also the matter of the new
public lavatories now being planned by SKDC and what will happen to the old ones
if the partnership scheme goes ahead. All of these issues still have to be
addressed and the public will need assurances that any decisions taken will not
result in a further burden on the council tax for which a large increase already
looks likely next April.
A suggestion from the Civic Society that the Ostler memorial fountain be moved
from its present location in the town cemetery to a small island in the middle
of the Bourne Eau in South Street has won little support from the landowners,
Bourne United Charities, and now the Stamford Mercury informs us
(December 5th) that the town council has no sympathy with the idea either
because their members firmly rejected the proposal last Tuesday. The Victorian
edifice was erected in the town centre, then the market place, in 1860, funded
by public subscription to commemorate a local benefactor, John Lely Ostler
(1811-59), but it was moved to the cemetery in 1960 because of an increasing
flow of traffic. Urgent work is badly needed if the fountain is to be preserved
but there appears to be little interest in it apart from a handful of
conservationists. Oddly though, the argument against it appears to be centred
round its move whereas restoration was the original idea. Nevertheless,
Councillor John Kirkman, told the meeting: “It should not be moved until we know
there is a desire on behalf of the people of Bourne to do so”, which prompts me
to ask: since when has public opinion ever been the main consideration of our
councillors except when the situation suits them?
Putting the memorial in the middle of the river may not have been the best
possible solution and, as the town council suggests, it is probably wise to
leave it in the cemetery, but the question remains of who will pay for it to be
restored and preserved for the future. Unfortunately, a Gothic stone memorial to
someone long forgotten does not have the same emotional appeal as a day centre
for our senior citizens and in the absence of either money or enthusiasm, I fear
that it will most probably suffer the same fate as the Old Grammar School and be
left to deteriorate and fall down and few will even notice.
The good old days: A summons after judgment was sought in the county
court held in Bourne on Tuesday last in the case of John Watson [a farmer] of
Baston v Jonathan Gibbons over an amount in the order of £2 4s. 4d. [£110 at
today’s values]. Gibbons was ordered to be imprisoned for 40 days for
non-payment but upon the order for his commitment being about to be made out,
defendant paid the money, notwithstanding that he had in his examination denied
his ability to pay. His Honour [the judge] expressed his strong disapprobation
of the course of conduct pursued by the defendant, of whose honesty and veracity
he took a very low estimate. – news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday
25th August 1854.
Thought for the week: This universal, obligatory force-feeding with lies
is now the most agonising aspect of existence in our country – worse than all
our material miseries, worse than any lack of civil liberties.
– Alexander
Solzhenitsyn (1918- ) Russian novelist and once imprisoned political dissenter,
who left the Soviet Union in 1974 to live in the United States until returning
in 1994.
Saturday 13th December 2003
It is becoming apparent that our heritage is slipping
away and only large sums of money will save it. Castles and stately homes,
museums and art collections, are in comparatively safe hands because government
and lottery cash is freely available to guarantee their future, but at the lower
end of the scale, the remains of the past that we see around us, are less likely
to survive.
Blame is difficult to apportion but one thing is certain: the will to save what
we have left is lacking by those who make the decisions. Our first line of
attack when we see a cottage or some historic feature under threat is to blame
our local councillors, expecting them to preside over a cornucopia of wealth
that can be directed on a whim to anything that sounds worthy. They can help in
some cases by making grants but this is small beer in the broader canvas of
conservation and projects that need several thousand pounds to give them a
permanent place in our history are less likely to benefit.
The recent debate on the Ostler memorial is an example of this declining
interest in our past and the Victorian fountain would now appear doomed to be
left at the mercy of wind and weather which has already taken its toll on the
edifice as it languishes almost forgotten in the town cemetery. The Old Grammar
School in the churchyard, now closed and boarded up as an unsafe structure, is
likely to be another victim because a grant of £25,000 which is needed for
primary remedial repairs is as improbable as a snowball in the Sahara. There are
other projects in the town that are equally worthy of our attention. The Abbey
Church, for instance, founded in the 12th century, is constantly in need of
funds to keep it in good repair while the churchyard has been in a run down
state for many years. The Town Hall, built in 1821, is always the subject of
some heart searching among our councillors whenever maintenance work is required
because no one wishes to pick up the bill and St Peter’s Pool is in a sorry
state and not what you would expect for one of Britain’s most ancient springs.
All of these projects are an indication of what we can expect in the future when
trying to preserve the past in small towns such as Bourne which has a low
priority with our district council and is of even less concern to the county,
while we are totally unknown at national level except that we feature in a few
guide books merely because Robert Manning worked at the abbey, Charles Worth was
born here and this was the home of Raymond Mays and the BRM. In the world of
high finance, these are tenuous reasons for a handout to save a few old stones
or bricks and mortar.
The answer then, as always, is to raise the money ourselves but appeals for
large amounts of cash such as this invariably fall on deaf ears. Fund raising on
any large scale inevitably means work for the dedicated few whose faces and
names are already well known to us, either because we have seen them rattling
their collecting tins so often or they have asked us directly for contributions
to this or that so many times that we begin to avoid them. Yet for them, there
would be no good causes in Bourne, because charity begins at home and it depends
entirely on those who are prepared to assist, that unsung band of volunteers
without whose help our public appeals would falter.
Now another nail is being driven into the conservation coffin because the
appearance of our burial grounds is about to change drastically and there seems
to be nothing we can do about it because the juggernaut of useless legislation
is in top gear and will take a roadblock of public opinion to stop it. Our own
is among the best in the country, having won a Cemetery of the Year award in
2002 when it was deemed to be everyone’s ideal of the perfect place for this
purpose. Row upon row of memorial stones surrounded by well-maintained grassy
areas and neatly trimmed trees provided a most attractive last resting place for
more than 5,000 people who have been buried here since it was opened in 1855.
I know this spot well and go there often during my researches and find it a
peaceful and tranquil place to sit and ponder on the lives of those who have
gone before. Brief details can be gleaned from the inscriptions, although the
wording has eroded on some of them over the years, and so the rows of
gravestones are a permanent record of life and death in this parish for the past
150 years. But many of the stately tombstones that adorn this place may soon be
laid flat if they are deemed to be unsafe. Bourne Town Council, which is
responsible for the cemetery, has a duty under the Local Authorities Cemetery
order of 1977 to check on those stones that may have become unsafe and therefore
a danger to visitors.
Every sexton or gravedigger knows that once a coffin has been laid in earth, it
slowly disintegrates, the plot subsides and after 50 or 100 years, the tombstone
above is liable to lean and even topple. This is now deemed to constitute a
public danger to visitors who might be injured if they fall and so the town
council, as custodians, must carry out stability tests which will begin in
January 2004 to identify those headstones that pose an imminent danger in that
they are unstable or potentially unsafe. The relatives or owners responsible for
the memorials will then be informed and given time to make them safe, but if
this is not possible or no one can be found to take responsibility, then they
will be laid flat.
The council’s cemetery working party met recently to discuss how to deal with
unstable memorials and recommended that £10,000 be set aside in the budget for
2004-05 to deal with the problem but this received little sympathy when it was
discussed by councillors who decided that they could not risk an increase in the
council tax to pay for the perpetuation of memorial stones. “It is not our
responsibility”, they said, and where have we heard that before? Instead, they
decided that relatives should pick up the bill. This will apply to very few,
perhaps even none because those tombstones which fall into the category of being
hazardous will most certainly be the older memorials of those with no surviving
family and so in the coming months, we face a drastic change in the appearance
of the cemetery as dozens of old tombstones are laid flat. The place will never
look the same again and those that come after will not thank us for the way we
have handled this matter.
If the town council decided to take on the work of stabilising these tombstones,
this situation would not have arisen. Some local authorities may be footing the
bill themselves but this is not happening in Bourne where Christmas lights seem
to command a greater priority than preserving our past. We are therefore,
sacrificing a small part of our heritage because councillors say that no cash is
available and I cannot see any of our worthy fund-raisers devoting their
energies to saving a few old stone memorials when money is so badly needed for
causes such as the Butterfield Centre which is liable to close next year unless
a budget shortfall of £10,000 can be rectified. Where then can money of this
magnitude be found, money that can be spent for the benefit of the town and the
community?
Bourne is one of those lucky towns because it was endowed in the past with
valuable assets left to the people by philanthropists from many walks of life,
dating from the 17th century to the present day, and as a result, their bequests
are now administered under one umbrella known as the Bourne United Charities
whose remit is to distribute funds for the relief of poverty, to help schools,
old people and the general public, and to sustain the environment, conservation
and our heritage. This organisation does have money, assets of more than £7
million and sufficient income to accumulate large reserves in the form of a
sizeable portfolio of stocks and shares that increase in value annually despite
guidance from the Charity Commission for England and Wales with whom they are
registered that savings such as this might be seen as self-indulgent when there
is clear evidence of human need, such as the Butterfield Centre, while they
ought not escape some responsibility for preserving the Old Grammar School which
was endowed in 1636 by a local landowner, William Trollope, one of the
benefactors whose legacy they now administer. No doubt the commission has
satisfied itself that these procedures are perfectly acceptable but in a
community where there are many causes that require financial help, this money
does attract attention and whether it is there for use or for ornament, it
belongs to the town and if it has been saved for a rainy day, then the trustees
should be aware that the skies clouded over long ago and now is the time to
unlock the safe.
What the local newspapers are saying: One of the most controversial
housing schemes in recent years was rejected by South Kesteven District
Council’s development control committee when it met on Tuesday and refused to
sanction 37 new houses on meadowland adjoining The Croft in North Road, Bourne.
This will come as a great relief to all who value the appearance of our town and
The Local reports (December 12th) that the feeling of the meeting was
summed up afterwards by Councillor Norman Radley (Lincrest) who said: “This is
the only open space of its kind in the centre of Bourne and it should not be
filled up with houses. The amenity should be used for the benefit of the town by
being preserved and kept as a place of pleasure. There are some councillors who
do not know the area very well and if a similar application comes up again, I
will suggest a site visit.” His motion that the plans be refused was seconded by
Councillor Paul Genever (Truesdale), who added: “The area is special and there
are not a lot left like it. There has been a great deal of opposition to this
and we as councillors should stand up and be counted.”
The committee’s decision is a particularly notable one for our local democracy
because the councillors who proposed and seconded the motion opposing the scheme
both represent wards outside Bourne and yet were sufficiently concerned about
what is going on in this town to make their opinions felt and to force the issue
to a vote which was eventually won by 12-8.
The strategy for a new town centre in Bourne that I mentioned in my last Diary
received a set back this week when the Mayor, Councillor Trevor Holmes, said
that it should be scrapped. The Stamford Mercury reports (December 12th) that
the plans went on public display in August 2001and the scheme has been gathering
pace ever since but it did not get much sympathy from town councillors when they
met to consider the draft guidance document at an extraordinary meeting on
Tuesday, particularly from our first citizen. Councillor Holmes, never a man to
mince his words, scorned the planning guidelines for a triangle of land between
North Street, Burghley Street and West Street and he had little time either for
the Town Centre Management Partnership that is behind the proposals. In a
hard-hitting speech, he said that the guidance given was a cheapskate way of
following national planning guidelines in the letter but not in the spirit of
their intentions.
He went on: “There has been a failure to consult, not just the elected body for
the town but, most importantly, the population as a whole. Only one per cent of
the town’s population saw the plans for the area when they first emerged two
years ago and we were assured then that they were just preliminary and that the
fullest possible consultation would take place before anything was finalised.
Some of us were foolish enough to believe that but nothing could be further from
the truth.”
The town council does not have executive powers and can only comment on issues
such as this and make recommendations which are likely to influence the decision
makers at SKDC but that role should not be under-estimated because it can be
effective, as it was in their opposition to The Croft housing development in
North Road that was subsequently rejected. Their recommendation on this matter,
reported by The Local, says: “The planning document is unacceptable in its
present form as it will have a detrimental effect on this essentially historic
market town. The council urges the TCMP or SKDC to hold a public meeting, with a
proper notification period, in the Corn Exchange, prior to taking this further.
The timescale of the publication of this document, so close to Christmas, was
felt to be poor from a consultation point of view.”
There can be no argument with that, especially as the new chief executive of
SKDC, Duncan Kerr, has just committed himself to a consultation period with the
public over the next ten years, so providing an opportunity for residents of the
district to make their voices heard. Let us hope that he will listen.
From the archives: A meeting was held at the Town Hall in Bourne on the 7th
inst. to consider the desirability of establishing a soup kitchen during the
inclement weather. The curate, the Rev J P Sharp, took the chair and a committee
was formed, subscription lists opened and on three occasions, on Saturday,
Monday and Wednesday, about 60 gallons of soup of excellent quality have been
served out at a halfpenny a pint to a large number of applicants. About a dozen
subscriptions have been opened: one at each of the banks and others with various
tradesmen, where it is hoped that those who desire to support the soup kitchen
will leave their subscriptions and thus avoid the necessity for a house to house
collection, the committee having determined to adopt the former course. – news
item from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 15th January 1864.
Message from abroad: The world has changed so much in recent years. In those
days after World War Two [1939-45], there were so many more opportunities for
young people with skills, a will to work and some ambition, but today it seems
that they are so frustrated at not being able to find employment that they
devote their energies to doing things that are not at all productive and they
take out their frustrations on the public in general. They also seem to have a
total disregard and lack of respect for other people and their properties. I
really do not know where it will lead us but I am not at all optimistic about
the direction in which we seem to be heading. I am pleased I am not just coming
into the job market today. – email from Graham Fairweather, Sherwood Park,
Alberta, Canada, Monday 8th December 2003.
Thought for the week: The traditional playing of Christmas music from early
morning until late in the evening is nothing less than psychological terror for
shop workers. – a spokesman for the Austrian shop workers’ union which wants
daily breaks from Christmas music, quoted by The Times, Saturday 6th December
2003.
Saturday 20th December 2003
Christmas past in Bourne had a distinctly Dickensian
flavour, as I have discovered after reading how it was celebrated years ago. The
shops were full of festive fare, particularly for the table, and most butchers
hung their poultry outside on the pavement to attract customers while the buyers
of the prize beasts at the various fatstock shows exhibited prime cuts in their
windows to entice the housewives shopping for their Christmas dinner.
The poor were never forgotten as charities handed out seasonal gifts of coal and
calico and the inmates of the workhouse were given meat with their meals, a rare
occurrence, and sometimes beer and baccy. The churches had special services and
amateur stage shows were always popular and were in earlier times the beginnings
of what we know today as the Christmas pantomime. Today, Christmas in Bourne
appears to be centred entirely on the shops but of course it is now a very
commercial occasion and so these retail emporiums that are becoming the new
temples of worship must be illuminated for the occasion.
The enjoyment that people had from the festival during the 19th century is well
documented but the anticipation did not start quite so early and lasted no more
than a few days and as this was the age of temperance and the tendency to sign
the pledge promising to abstain from alcohol, there was always someone
ready to warn against the perils of drink. Here is a sample of the way it was
from the pages of the Stamford Mercury more than 100 years ago. The
newspaper reported on Friday 23rd December 1887:
There is abundant energy being manifested in
the seasonable decorations of the various business establishments at Bourne. The
butchers have quite a fine show. Mr Mays [George Mays, butcher, Eastgate] has
killed 300 sheep (two of which have been lately exhibited at the Smithfield
Show, one weighing 211lb., the other 187lb.) and 9 beasts. Mr Williamson [Joseph
Williamson, butcher, North Street] has on view one of the prize beasts at the
Bourne show. Mr Mansfield [William Mansfield, butcher, Church Street] had a
splendid show of fat stock on Tuesday, including Mr J Grummitt's [John Grummitt,
farmer, North Fen] prize beast at Bourne show. The grocers' windows are
tastefully adorned with appetising wares; and the milliners' and drapers'
establishments also present an artistic appearance.
At the National Schoolroom in North Street, the vicar and churchwardens and
members of various local charities made their annual distribution among the
deserving poor, the gifts including 700 yards of flannel, 50 blankets, 700 yards
of calico and 170 tons of coal.
Postal: On Monday (Bank Holiday) [Boxing Day having fallen on a Sunday], the
money order and savings bank business will close at noon. There will be no
morning despatch of letters and no delivery after the first at 7 am. The letter
box will be closed on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve for all parts at 10.40
am; special mail letters and parcels for all parts at 6 pm; general despatch at
7.10 pm; for Sleaford and Folkingham at 8 pm.
On Monday and Tuesday, Mr Thomas Rosbottom, the celebrated Lancashire lecturer,
addressed crowded meetings in the Victoria Hall, Bourne, in advocacy of
temperance. The lectures were a great success, the audience being apparently
entirely in sympathy with the lecturer, who interspersed anecdotes, humorous and
pathetic, with his moving exhortations, in a manner quite irresistible. He
claims that during his career as a lecturer he has induced thousands to sign the
pledge.
The Christmas celebrations continued in the town for the next
few days and the newspaper reported on December 30th:
Bourne Abbey was throughout adorned with
seasonable decorations for Christmas. Though not so elaborately ornamental as in
some previous years, the general effect was exceedingly pleasing. Over the
communion table in white letters on a scarlet ground was the text "Emmanuel, God
with us". The centre was occupied with a beautiful white cross. The miniature
arches were filled with a pretty arrangement of evergreens interspersed with
flowers. The reading desk was decorated with ivy and holly, the panels in front
being ornamented with chrysanthemum crosses, the centre one of the St Cuthbert
type. The pedestal of the lectern was gay with a choice selection of flowers and
evergreens, a fine bunch of pampas grass being especially noticeable.
Holly berries and ivy embellished the handsome pulpit. The sills of the windows
in the north and south aisles were beatified with texts worked in white on a
scarlet ground, and encircled with wreaths and evergreens. The font was
decorated with exquisite taste; the cover was surmounted with a fine cross and
chrysanthemums; the pedestal was encircled with ivy and a variety of evergreens
prettily frosted. Great praise is due to the ladies who so admirably executed
the decorations. The services were well attended. The sermons, morning and
evening, were preached by the Rev H M Mansfield, Vicar, his texts being Isaiah
ix.6, and the words "Thy holy child Jesus". The musical portion of the service
was executed with precision and taste, reflecting great credit on both organist
and choir.
The services were as follows:- At 8.30 a m, full choral communion service,
Agutter in G. During the administration of the Holy Communion the hymn "The
heavenly word proceeding forth" was sung very softly by the choir. This formed a
new and beautiful feature of the service. The morning service was fully choral,
the hymn, "Christians awake" being sung as a processional. The anthem "Let us
now go even unto Bethlehem", concluding with a chorale, "This is he whom seers
in old time", which was finely rendered. The evening service was also fully
choral. The processional hymn was "Hark, the herald angels sing", the anthem was
"Behold I bring you glad tidings" and the carols were "The manager throne" and
"All my heart once more rejoices". "The Hallelujah chorus" from The Messiah
formed an appropriate conclusion to the day's services.
Christmas was ushered in at Bourne with merry peals of the bells of the old
abbey church and the musical strains of the Bourne brass band who played carols
and other appropriate pieces in an exceedingly creditable manner.
The Guardians of Bourne Union gave their annual treat to the inmates of the
union-house [the workhouse] on Boxing Day. The seasonable additions to the usual
plain fare were apparently highly appreciated. A thoroughly enjoyable day was
suitably concluded with a merry evening entertainment.
A grand fancy fair [similar to our modern pantomimes] was held in the Corn
Exchange on December 27th and 28th in aid of the funds of the Congregational
Church. The room was fitted up as a street of nations or grand international
bazaar. The scene was laid in Canton. The peculiar conglomeration of Oriental
and European architecture was depicted with realistic effect. Proceeding down
the left side of the street, the enterprising traveller passed in succession a
Persian residence, an Indian cottage, a Chinese house, a delightful Japanese
village, a Tyrolese chalet, a snug mountain home covered with snow and having
icicles pendent from the roof, a magnificent Buddhist temple having its
elaborate exterior embellished with representatives of the Oriental deity and
dragons; the Japanese villa, "the Golden Lily"; a pretty view on the Yang-tse-Kiang.
The last abode in the curious street was an Australian log hut.
The entire series of buildings presented a charming appearance, and attested the
well-known skill of Mr A Stubley [Alfred Stubley, painter, paperhanger,
sign-writer and art decorator of 28 West Street]. The articles exhibited on the
various stalls were both useful and ornamental. Various entertainments were
given in the evenings. Vocal and instrumental music was performed at intervals.
Amongst the amusements were The House that Jack Built and Æsop's fables
personified, which were very popular. The promoters of the enterprise are to be
congratulated on the success which has deservedly crowned their efforts.
Poverty was still evident in 1908 when there was an annual
handout to the poor shortly before Christmas on December 21st.
The distribution of the Christmas gifts from Harrington's and other charities
belonging to the parish of Bourne took place on Monday, all the Trustees being
present. With the amount which the scheme for regulating Harrington's Charity
permits to be given away at Christmas and the income arising from other
charities, there was distributed about 100 tons of coal in quantities from 4
cwt. to 10 cwt., the latter only being given in a few instances according to
circumstances. In addition to the above distribution there are 80 pensioners
receiving not less than 5s. a week (25p) and up to £20 a year for married
couples from the income of Harrington's Charity. Several of the couples
receiving £20 a year have also had the State pension awarded to them, giving
married couples an income of 18s. a week (£53 at today's values). [NOTE: Old age
pensions were just being introduced in Britain at this time.]
The demon drink however has been responsible for a great deal of rowdyism in
Bourne, especially at Christmas time, and during the 20th century it became a
particular problem at the Abbey Church where midnight mass on Christmas Eve had
become a popular feature of the religious season. In 1968, the vicar, Canon H P
Laurence, said that excessive drinking before going to the service was not be be
encouraged and that year, several people were asked to leave early as a result.
"There was no disturbance", he said, "but there was an incident on one side of
the aisle and it was dealt with very capably by a sidesman. You cannot select
which people can and cannot come into the church and even if you could, you
should not. This was just an occupational hazard."
The problem was far more serious in later years, especially in 1975, when the
service was disrupted by young hooligans creating a commotion outside the church
while the service was in progress, and the Rev Gordon Lanham, who was then
vicar, decided that enough was enough and the following year he issued this
warning in the December issue of his parish magazine:
With the object of preventing a repetition
of such barbarous behaviour, the Christmas Eve service will start at 11 pm. It
is still, I believe, one of the laws of the land that churchwardens have the
power of arrest and prosecution against persons causing disturbances at the time
of divine worship. Those of you who were present at the Christmas service last
year will know what I am talking about. This is why, this year, the time for the
first Communion of the festival is moved forward to 11 pm on December 24th.
Nobody begrudges anybody extra drinking time on Christmas Eve, if that is their
way of celebrating. There are, however, young hooligans who cannot accept it
without making fools of themselves. This causes police officers unnecessary and
distasteful trouble and interferes with other people's freedom to worship God in
peace. The churchwardens and sidesmen have tried in the past to deal with this
problem kindly and firmly. But I do not see why they should come to Communion
and have to act as "bouncers". This intolerable nuisance may be mitigated by the
earlier hour. Last year the church door had to be locked and this should never
happen. No one should be debarred from worship.
What the local newspapers are saying:
The failure of the
Christmas lights in Bourne last weekend is given front page treatment by the
Stamford Mercury which reports (December 19th) that no reason can be found
for the blackout which also affected the Nag’s Head public house, the Corn
Exchange where 120 pensioners were enjoying a Christmas dinner, and several
shops and offices where candles were lit to enable work continue. Everything
appears to be back to normal and the only explanation for the town centre being
plunged into darkness for three days comes from Trevor Wand, owner of Town and
Country, the firm responsible for installing the lights every year.
Coincidentally, I was in the town centre at 6 pm on Monday evening photographing
the illuminations soon after they had been restored when Trevor pulled up at the
traffic lights. Spotting me at the kerbside outside the Angel Hotel, he wound
down the window and shouted across with some jubilation: “They’re back on!” –
and indeed they were, as you will see from my photograph on the front page of
the web site. Trevor told the newspaper: “We have not had any problems since. I
think that the trouble occurred because the demand for electricity in the town
simply outgrew the supply and the infrastructure just could not deal with it
all, especially at Christmas.”
Opposition to plans for the new town centre which were discussed here last week
has attracted several letters to the columns of The Local defending the
scheme (December 19th). Three of them, signed by Ivan Fuller, the Town Centre
Co-ordinator, Norman B Stroud, chairman of the Bourne Town Centre Management
Partnership, and Mark P M Horn, of North Street, Bourne, all take the mayor,
Councillor Trevor Holmes, to task for his remarks about the guidance document
which he said was a cheapskate way of following national planning guidelines and
was not in the spirit of their intentions and he added that there had been a
failure to consult the population as a whole.
The letter from Mr Horn sounds a very personal note when he says: “As mayor, he
is expected to keep his finger on the pulse of local affairs. His behaviour is
simply uncouth.” Abuse is always non-productive and this may also be considered
to be unfair because it does not acknowledge that Councillor Holmes made his
remarks in an official capacity at an extraordinary meeting of the town council
convened to consider the draft guidance document and which subsequently passed a
motion against its acceptance. Councillors are elected by the people to serve
their interests while members of a quasi-official body are appointed for quite
different reasons. The mayor was therefore speaking for the electorate and it is
a pity that Mr Horn should make a personal attack on our first citizen when he
was merely carrying out his duties as he saw them.
None of these letters addressed the other issues raised by the town council, the
suggestion that a public meeting should be held at the Corn Exchange prior to
taking the matter further, and, most importantly, that the publication of this
document so close to Christmas was deemed to be badly timed from a consultation
point of view. The letters therefore appear to have cherry picked their target,
namely the mayor, who is pilloried for his rhetoric.
Since Councillor Holmes made his remarks, I have done a little research myself
and one town councillor reinforced the view of the meeting, although in less
emotive language: “The town centre scheme was a non-starter from the beginning.
There is no way it will get past the town council and we all knew that from the
outset. We do not need an organisation like the Town Centre Management
Partnership to tell us what to do when the present system works perfectly well
as it is.”
There the matter rests until the New Year, a most unsatisfactory state of
affairs. But whatever the outcome, we should not for one moment even consider
that a quango such as the TCMP should take decisions that supersede the views of
our elected representatives and when they object, as they clearly have done, try
to discredit their objections through the columns of the local press.
Message from abroad: The first snow to stay arrived
Thursday night but it is only about 10 inches deep and so it is not too bad yet.
This winter is already six weeks shorter than last year even if it snows into
May. Today the snow is so fine it is almost like a mist and when I got up today,
I thought it was a foggy morning. – email from Glen Foster, Owen Sound,
Ontario, Canada, Sunday 14th December 2003.
We are taking a break for the Christmas holiday and so this is my last
Diary of 2003. The web site remains open over the holiday, and that includes the
discussion Forum, and as 1st January 2004 is almost upon us, I will be posting a
notice suggesting that contributors might like to add any New Year resolutions
they will be making or would like to see fulfilled in the coming twelve months.
Such resolutions, we are told, are meant to be broken, but it might be an
interesting exercise to discover some of the hopes and fears that are in our
minds as the old year ends and the new one dawns.
Christmas greetings to everyone out there and may the New Year bring you all
health and happiness.
Thought for the week: To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes
more difficult with every year. – Elwyn Brooks White, American journalist and
writer (1899-1985).
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