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Saturday 6th March 2004
A disturbing tendency has developed among our elected
leaders in asserting that they represent the silent majority in all they do and,
when claiming support for unpopular decisions, suggest that this voiceless mass
of humanity is on their side. This is not only invariably untrue but usually a
ruse to infer support when it does not exist.
The phrase silent majority was perpetuated by a man whom the world came to
distrust, Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-94), the disgraced Republican president of
the United States from 1969-74, whose term in office came to an end with the
Watergate affair, a political scandal of monumental proportions and so named
after the building in Washington DC that housed the headquarters of the
Democratic National Committee in the 1972 presidential campaign which was broken
into by men hired by Nixon’s party for the purposes of spying. He eventually
resigned rather than face impeachment for the obstruction of justice and other
crimes and was later the subject of another phrase that has entered the
language: “Would you buy a second hand car from this man?”
Nixon did not coin, but used the phrase, “the silent majority” in a speech on
3rd November 1969 to indicate his belief that the great body of Americans
supported his policies and that those who demonstrated against the involvement
of the United States in the Vietnam War amounted to only a noisy minority. His
actual words were:
If a vocal minority, however fervent its
cause, prevails over reason and the will of the majority, this nation has no
future as a free society. And so tonight, to you the great silent majority of my
fellow Americans, I ask for your support.
The appeal was to those people who did not vote and most
probably would not vote and yet, despite their inactivity, their support for
Nixon was implied. This is dangerous territory.
It has attracted some attention here since being used by Councillor John Smith
who sits for Bourne West on South Kesteven District Council where he also serves
as a cabinet member with special responsibilities for economics and planning.
Last month, in a message to the Bourne Forum, he responded to suggestions that
the council had not been sufficiently vigorous in its opposition to prevent the
Elsea Park housing development going ahead and that had the project been
delayed, it may have been shelved after falling foul of government guidelines
discouraging developments of a purely dormitory nature. As it is, the council
gave the green light to the 2,000 home residential estate and work is now well
advanced on 300 acres of green belt land to the south of the town.
The protests against the development were the most passionate in the recent
history of Bourne yet in his defence, Councillor Smith said that although there
was vociferous opposition, encouraged by the press, “it was relatively small and
certainly minimal . . . considering the size and importance of the application”
and he added: “In any case, account must be taken of the silent majority.”
This last sentence clearly suggests that the council did take into account the
silent majority, that mass of population who do not make protests, hold extreme
views or disagree publicly with the policies of the local authority, and decided
that it was on their side and so the development was given the thumbs up. But
this remark has not gone unnoticed by contributors to the Bourne Forum where the
Elsea Park development has been debated on more than one occasion. In reply to
Councillor Smith, Richard Parrish filed this message on Wednesday 25th February:
We have had polls on this website that
showed over 90% opposed to the development. Of the many tens of people I've
spoken to, none were in favour and they were all members of the silent majority,
if that is those who have not written to the press or to SKDC or contributed to
this forum. Even the latest County News [the county council’s own newspaper]
suggests that curbing housing development is what many surveyed in Lincolnshire
wished to see. As there has likely been, and is likely to be, an even larger
silent majority on any other local issue, need councillors ever be swayed by
public opinion? They can use the silent majority as an excuse to pursue their
own agenda as though they were in full agreement with whatever they were elected
to do. Many people remain silent because they feel they wouldn't be heard and
cannot influence the decision ultimately taken.
Who then are the silent majority and can they be identified to
give support to this side or that? The answer is clearly no and as those who go
to the polls are now in a minority, less than 25% in the case of the local
government elections for SKDC in 2003, it is an advantage if councillors can
appear to represent those who did not cast their votes as well as those who did.
The phrase silent majority has become part of their verbal baggage and unless
what they say is subjected to constant semantic analysis, they will get away
with it.
The answer to this dilemma is for a major boost in turnout at the hustings at
both national and local level or for a wider interest and participation in
public affairs. But neither is likely to happen. Higher voting figures for wards
and constituencies are a pipe dream and although pundits suggest that this
apathy is a reflection of the low esteem in which we hold our politicians and
the isolation felt by the people from the decision making process, we should not
discount the possibility that many are either totally indifferent or completely
lazy and are content with their lives as they are without summoning up the
effort to change the conditions that affect them.
After all, we live in affluent times in which poverty, in the true meaning of
the word and not some woolly liberal interpretation of it, is non-existent. No
one starves, everyone can work and earn a wage, have a roof over their heads, a
telly to watch, booze, bingo, karaoke and fast food readily available and
frequent outings to watch footie or visit Benidorm and Ibiza, and if anyone
feels they are deprived, there is always the benefits net ready to catch them.
Why bother to try changing the system?
Roman rulers were aware of this absence of interest or enthusiasm in national
affairs and in order to safeguard the activities of the state, ensured that its
subjects were perpetually fed and entertained, as the lawyer and satirist
Juvenal (circa 55-140 AD) suggested, with panem et circenses, bread and
circuses, the two things that the populace desired most.
The public in Britain is largely satisfied with its lot, or at least not
sufficiently bothered about it to whinge and moan, and this was the condition
identified by Nixon. There are small pockets of resistance but the majority
raise no angry voices against authority, they pay their taxes without complaint
and accept successive governments and their legislation without any outward
criticism. They represent some 70% of the population. They are the majority and
yet they remain silent and in doing so make themselves vulnerable to the
political charlatans.
While their voice is not heard, large housing estates will continue to spring up
on the back doorsteps of towns like Bourne along with all the other
environmental ills of our society. Governments will continue to pursue foreign
adventures, such as the war with Iraq, impose higher taxes, allow our health and
education services to deteriorate, increase the numbers of asylum seekers and
introduce other similarly unpopular policies which we will be told by our
elected leaders are being implemented for our own good.
If this state of affairs continues, then those who choose not to oppose, as well
as those who do, will be squeezed, morally and financially, as a former Labour
Chancellor, Denis Healey, once so aptly suggested, “until the pips squeak”. The
vocal minority is the angry face of the British public, incensed at what is
being done in their name. To suggest that the silent majority support such
policies is a total negation of democracy but until that silent majority finds
its voice, then the downward slide to political anarchy will continue.
What the local newspapers are saying: The pending council tax increase
occupies the front page of The Local (March 5th) announcing that South
Kesteven District Council will be increasing it next month by 6.7%, which is
more than four times the rate of inflation. It will also mean that property
owners in Band D will be paying more than £1,000 a year. Councillor Mrs Pet Moisey, chairman of the finance committee on Bourne Town Council, is not
impressed and she asks a pertinent question: “Is an increase every year the
future for this country?” If so, and as the council tax and the rates before it
have gone up year by year, it seems most likely, then this is indeed a dismal
prospect for the future. We are always told, by way of justification, that the
council needs additional income to increase public services but that is a
disingenuous explanation from an authority that employs more than 600 people and
paying them eats up 70% of the £50 million budget. In the interests of open
government, which SKDC insists is part of their policy, perhaps they can also
tell us what percentage salary increase staff will be getting from this latest
rise in council tax.
Schools in the Bourne area are turning away hundreds of prospective pupils
because they have insufficient classroom space, according to the Stamford
Mercury. Their front page report (March 5th) suggests that Bourne schools
are the most popular in the catchment area and 250 children from Bourne,
Stamford and the Deepings applied for the 140 available places at the grammar
school while the Robert Manning Technical College has been forced to turn away
33 prospective pupils. Dr Stuart Miles, head teacher of Bourne Grammar School,
gives this explanation to the newspaper: “It would be detrimental to the quality
of the education offered if we were to accept another class without the
infrastructure to support the extra numbers.” This is disappointing for those
parents who wanted their children educated in Bourne but what a recommendation
for the education on offer in this town.
The Local has again demonstrated that letters from the public are an
essential part of urban newspapers and this week they carry a clutch of them on
a variety of topics that reflect what the public has been talking about this
week. They include such subjects as the prospect of parking charges for Bourne,
traffic dangers on the A151 through the village of Twenty, the new town centre
plan, cycling on pavements, and a whole page of protests and advice about the
continuing vandalism at the Abbey Lawn. The Stamford Mercury is not far
behind and although they also carry many letters from other parts of their area
that are of little interest in Bourne, they have printed a large number of
comments on the proposed car parking charges for Bourne now under consideration
by South Kesteven District Council. Once again, this demonstrates the level of
opposition because the newspaper quotes 25 opinions from local
people and all are against the idea. Will their views be part of the democratic
process when the full council meets on April 29th to decide the issue?
One of the reasons put forward for the introduction of parking charges in Bourne
is that it would bring the town into line with Stamford and Grantham where
motorists already have to pay to leave their vehicles. If this were so, perhaps
the council would like to consider this comment, not from the newspapers this
week, but from the Bourne Forum, which also reflects public opinion in this
town. Stan Watson wrote on Sunday 29th February: “I wonder what else could be
done to bring us into line with Stamford and Grantham. Both towns, for example,
have a railway station, a museum with free admission, an arts centre, theatre,
hospitals and bypasses. Will we be brought into line by the building of such
amenities? I doubt it. This sounds like a shoddy bit of local politicking by
SKDC rather than sensible planning. It reeks of petty spite.”
An email has arrived from Mark Pawlett of Bourne who has asked if I have
any information about a secret tunnel that is reputed to link the Abbey Church
with the Red Hall on the other side of South Street. Stories of secret passages
and underground tunnels are the stuff of legend and their existence is owed more
to rumour and speculation rather than hard fact and that appears to be so in
this case. "When I was at Bourne Secondary School (1981-86) there were all kinds
of rumours about this tunnel", writes Mark. "I seem to remember a caretaker
showing our class at school round the church once and he pointed out where the
entrance to the tunnel is supposed to be."
This is a good tale and always has been although some versions suggest that it
connected the Abbey Church with the castle, if there ever was one.
Unfortunately, every hollow, depression and crevice discovered underneath the
surface in the vicinity has been taken as an indication that it might be a
hidden passageway and so its existence rests more with hope than actuality. The
only documentary information about such a tunnel is flimsy and is contained in
the following extract from the CD-ROM A Portrait of Bourne (see web site for
order form) which I gleaned from a newspaper report of the time:
THE UNSOLVED MYSTERY OF
THE UNDERGROUND TUNNEL
There have been persistent stories down the years of a secret tunnel running
between Hereward's castle and the old abbey for use as an escape route during
times of attack but there was no corroborative evidence of this legend until
Friday 18th September 1959. Workmen engaged on strengthening the access to
Wherry's granary in South Street unearthed the remains of a substantial arch
from a tunnel or culvert some two feet below the present surface and leading
directly under the roadway to the Wellhead Gardens. An investigation revealed
that the tunnel had in earlier times been filled in and as the subsoil contained
traces of river mud, it was suggested that it did indeed run underneath the
Bourne Eau and in the direction of the area popularly believed to be the site of
the castle. A piece of carved stone was also found near the arch. Unfortunately,
the pursuit of the quest would have involved a halt to work on the granary
project and major excavations in the vicinity involving the closure of the road
and so further investigation was abandoned.
This is too good a story to become forgotten and so if anyone
out there has further information on this subject, please let me know and it
will be added to the archive.
Message from the Midlands: My husband and I have seen a property in the
area. I was doing a little research and I found your web site. Beautiful. I want
to live there. - entry in the Bourne web site Guest Book from Deb Holt,
Nottingham, Tuesday 2nd March 2004.
Thought for the week: Whereof one cannot speak, thereon one must remain
silent. – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher (1889-1951) who studied
with Bertrand Russell at Cambridge University.
Saturday 13th March 2004
Tramps were a familiar sight on the roads of England in
years past and their numbers increased after wars and in times of social
conflict when unemployment prevented many from earning a living. However, the
fate of the fifteen Scottish dock labourers who arrived in the Bourne area in
1889, practically penniless, hungry and seeking food, is a blot on our legal
system and one that aroused the anger of society once the injustice that
followed had been exposed.
The usual term for a tramp is vagrant which in law connotes idle and disorderly
persons, rogues and vagabonds, all of which were liable to terms of
imprisonment. Laws were passed against them as early as the 15th century
although the distinction between vagabonds, as they were generally called, and
persons who could not find employment, seems to have been confounded with those
who preferred idleness and thieving. All of these early laws were eventually
superseded by the Vagrancy Acts of 1824 and 1873 which were still on the statute
book in 1889 and embraced all manner of conduct that might be construed as a
social crime including merely wandering abroad and lodging in barns and tents or
loafing about in public places and begging for alms, but in all cases "without
visible means of support" and this was the yardstick by which they were judged.
In other words, any action by impoverished strangers that might be regarded as a
threat to the peaceful way of life of the law-abiding citizenry was liable to
prosecution and the penalties were up to 14 days with hard labour or, if
convicted before two justices, three months or a fine.
The men in this case were arrested after being seen on the highway south of
Bourne on the afternoon of Saturday 31st August when the police had been alerted
by Mr William Earle Pick, a baker, of Thurlby, who said that the men had begged
a loaf of bread from him. This appears to have been their only offence yet a
constable was sent to the scene and after following the men into Bourne, he
sought help from other officers and took them into custody.
The following Monday, the fifteen men, all described as dock labourers, were
charged with vagrancy and appeared before one of the county magistrates for the
petty sessional division of Bourne, Mr Christopher Gilbert Peacock of Greatford
Hall, sitting alone on the bench, a normal procedure for special courts convened
to hear cases outside the usual court day. They were named as: James Duncan,
Francis McNallie, James Smith, James Gordon, James Gibbons, John Crawford,
Charles Birch, David Dupier, Alexander Farmer, William Jones, Patrick Balan,
David Lamb, David Sapern, William Shaw and James Burk.
During the court hearing, Pick gave evidence that the men had begged bread from
him. They had actually asked for some food and so he gave them a loaf. They were
not abusive and they told him that what he gave to one of them, he gave to all
of the 15 men and it would be divided amongst them.
Superintendent Willerton Brown, who was in charge of Bourne police station, said
that 13s. 7¾d. in cash was found on the prisoners who then related a pitiable
story of poverty to the magistrate. They spoke with Irish accents but said they
came from Dundee. Some time since, they had shipped from there to London in the
hope of getting work at the docks but were not aware that there was a strike. On
their arrival, they could have found work that was available but were barred
from doing so by the pickets. They were destitute and had nowhere to go. They
then sought relief from the strike fund but could not obtain any and
consequently, wandered about London in a starving condition looking for food but
with little success. They called on the Rev John Wainwright, Vicar of St
George's Church in East London, a well known benefactor of the poor, in the hope
of getting relief and were given 15 loaves of bread but when this had gone, they
started tramping through the east coast ports in the hope of finding a ship that
would take them back to Dundee. At every stop they made on their journey from
London to Bourne, they had reported their circumstances to the police
authorities and had obtained some food at different places en route.
Despite these mitigating circumstances, the magistrate used his powers to the
letter of the law and found the case of vagrancy proved and the 15 defendants
were sent to Lincoln prison for seven days with hard labour.
There was considerable public indignation once the sentence became known in
Bourne. An immediate appeal was made by county councillor, James Derry, a known
champion of the working classes, who opened a subscription fund for the relief
of the men. Within a few hours, two leading citizens, Messrs William Shipley, a
blacksmith, and Henry Berry, a stationer, had collected £2 in donations from
ordinary people and tradesmen and sent it to Councillor Derry to add to his fund
that was being organised in Lincoln. The ministers of the various churches in
the town and surrounding villages, tradesmen, mechanics and labourers, readily
responded to the appeal and by noon on the following Saturday, Councillor Derry
had almost £15 [almost £1,000 in today's values] to hand over to the men on
their release. The total from Bourne was £4 10s. but other donations had also
been made including £1 subscribed by the Lincoln bench of magistrates while a
local councillor provided the men on their release with a substantial dinner.
Each of them also received a pork pie and 6s. in addition to their railway fare
being paid to Dundee.
The governor of the jail spoke in high terms of the behaviour of the men who had
undergone five hours of hard labour each day and the feet of one of them were so
swollen from his previous walking ordeal that he was unable to wear his boots
and so a new and more comfortable pair was provided.
There were also demands that the legality of the arrest and sentence be
discussed by Kesteven County Council and the matter brought to the notice of the
Home Office. The case also featured in many of the national daily newspapers and
The Scotsman reported:
It is possible that the law is such that the
Bourne magistrate had no alternative but to send these 15 men to prison, or is
this an instance of justices' justice? If a gentleman tourist were to lose his
way in some remote district of Scotland, and, finding himself without money,
were to knock at the door of some humble cottage and ask for a scone and a cup
of milk to help him on his road, would he, or could he, be clapped into gaol for
the offence? Of course, those who live by begging deserve to be punished; but
the law that makes every appeal to the sympathy of a fellow creature a crime
does not seem to be much in accordance with human sentiment. It is to be hoped
that this case will call forth an amount of sympathy which will take the
practical form of providing the means for their comfortable return to their
homes immediately on their release.
Meanwhile, Mr Pick, the Thurlby baker who the men had asked for
bread, found himself being vilified for his actions and his standing in the
village greatly diminished and so he issued a public statement in an attempt to
defend himself by denying that it was he who had reported the matter to the
police, a direct contradiction of the evidence presented to the court. His
statement, printed by the local newspapers, said: "The police waited upon Mr
Pick who verified the information that they had obtained to the effect that the
men did beg a loaf of bread from him."
The incident was the talk of the town for several months afterwards and
illustrated the fear that was prevalent at the time of strangers arriving in the
locality, especially when they were seen to be impoverished and without means of
support. As a result of this anxiety and foreboding, and a concern by residents
for their property and even safety, the men became the victims of an over
zealous police force and a strict magistrate who stood by the letter of the law
without any humanitarian considerations. Once the miscarriage of justice had
been revealed, society tried to make amends in the grand manner although it was
too late to save the men from jail.
Our council tax is going up by 6.7% this year and so the local
authorities have taken no notice of government warnings that increases should be
kept within the 5% ceiling. Yet the jobs' gravy train at South Kesteven District Council
trundles on and the present workforce of around 650 which spends an annual budget
of £50 million is
being augmented with yet more highly paid help. This is one of the latest
vacancies being advertised on the council’s Internet web site:
Business Services Officer – salary up
to £23,523. Job description: Working within the Business Management Services
section you will be responsible for ensuring that excellent corporate support is
provided to drive forward the Council’s change management plan and improvement
agenda. This will be achieved either through direct action and the preparation
of reviews or through indirect action involving partial reviews/ supplying of
information or advice. You will work closely with managers in identifying the
scope and range of reviews, identifying and appraising options for improvement,
preparing improvement plans and ensuring their implementation.
The council has a public relations department staffed by two
people whose salaries have just been increased by 4%. Perhaps they can explain
what this new Business Services Officer will actually do because the job
description is totally incomprehensible. Furthermore, councillors are already
being bombarded with piles of bumph they do not read and another new kid on the
block will merely add to the confusing pile of paper work emanating daily from
council headquarters as obscure officials on high salaries seek to justify their
jobs by confounding them with waffle.
What the local newspapers are saying: There is increasing evidence that
Bourne is at bay, assailed on all sides by officialdom that is trying to rob us
of all that has made life in this town comfortable and convenient, a railway station, hospitals, a post office, a
police station, our small market community and its old world charm. We wake up on Friday mornings most weeks to find that one or
the other of our two main local newspapers has launched yet another campaign to
keep what we have and the latest edition of The Local says it all in big
red headlines that this is an angry town that is set to fight yet again (March
12th), this time against the introduction of car parking charges. We have not
won all of these battles in the past and many of our facilities have disappeared
and the odds seem to be against us on this one because the newspaper tells us
that South Kesteven District Council’s environmental policy committee voted
yesterday in favour of the idea by 11 votes to 4, thus totally ignoring the
views of the people. A final decision will now be made by the council next month
but the signs are not good, despite a spirited protest from Councillor Judy
Smith (Bourne East) that the people of Bourne are a force to be reckoned with.
This entire episode about car parking charges and the way it is being handled by
SKDC is a graphic illustration of how alienated the people have become from the
decision-making process. Both The Local and the Stamford Mercury
have been full of protestations over the issue for several weeks and yet their
voices are being ignored. Voting coupons are now being carried by both
newspapers but on the evidence, it would all seem to be in vain, that the
decision has already been made and that our objections are falling on stony
ground. It is only a few weeks since the council’s public relations bandwagon
came to the Corn Exchange trumpeting the message that the people matter and that
their opinions will be listened to when decisions are made. If pay parking comes
to Bourne, that road show, and indeed all of the council’s declared intentions of
public involvement and transparency, will be revealed as a total sham.
Quote (1): Overall, the message has come through that this is a
value-for-money council. – Duncan Kerr, Chief Executive of South Kesteven
District Council, quoted by The Local, Friday 5th March 2004, attempting to
justify a 6.7% increase in council tax that is being imposed this year.
Quote (2): South Kesteven District Council needs to engage more
effectively with local people and ensure future plans are robust enough to
deliver the targets being set. We have recommended the council use Comprehensive
Performance Assessment to help work out how to tackle its weaknesses and would
expect the council to make its improvement plans public – the end result should
be better services for the people of South Kesteven. – from the Audit
Commission’s annual report on the performance of South Kesteven District
Council, which was adjudged to be only “fair”, reported by the Herald & Post,
Thursday 11th March 2004 (the categories being excellent, good, fair, weak and
poor).
Quote (3): The Route Map public meetings held in January are one way in
which we hope to communicate better and find our residents’ needs and
priorities. – Duncan Kerr, Chief Executive of South Kesteven District
Council, quoted by the Stamford Mercury, Friday 12th March 2004.
Grouse of the week: We are not getting the kind of service that we should
expect in return for our council taxes. I live at the end of a 70 yard drive and
until recently, the dustmen drove along it to collect the contents of my
recycling boxes. Unfortunately, they also took the opportunity to cross my
garden and urinate in my shrubbery and those of my neighbours. Naturally, we
objected to this and complained to the council. The result is that the dustmen
will no longer come up our drive. I am not prepared to carry heavy boxes of
paper and glass to the top of the drive, due to a back problem, so all my
recyclable waste goes in the normal dustbin. I feel that I was doing the council
a favour by recycling my paper and glass. I was getting nothing out of it. Is it
too much to expect council servants to put themselves out a little in return and
to act in a civilised manner while so doing? – message to the Bourne Forum by
Geoff Wright, Thursday 11th March 2004.
Thought for the week:
The oldest man in the world, Joan
Riudavets Moll, who celebrated his 114th birthday three months ago, died at his
home in Menorca on Friday night after suffering from a cold for several days. He
was born on the Balearic island on 15th December 1889 and spent his entire
working life as a cobbler, retiring half a century ago. He attributed his
longevity to a Mediterranean diet of tomatoes, fish and olive oil, and continued
taking walks and socialising until his final days. – news item from BBC
Online, Saturday 6th March 2004.
Saturday 20th March 2004
Crossing the road in the town centre any day of the week
can be perilous and unless you take extreme care, as you should, you
are likely to be
knocked down and badly hurt or even killed. This junction at the very heart of
Bourne has been hazardous ever since the wheeled transport of centuries past and
the invention of the internal combustion engine has pushed danger to the limit.
Awareness has kept pace with progress but even the most informed and knowing
person has a lapse, for whatever reason, while children and old people are
always at risk because they are less mindful and therefore more vulnerable.
The pending reorganisation of traffic regulation in the town centre demonstrates
how fast vehicle flows through Bourne are increasing and is a reminder of the
small amount of money available to keep pace with the change. Instead of
tampering with the present system of lights and crossings at what is an
extremely dangerous intersection, Lincolnshire County Council would do better to
build a north-south bypass, a solution that was first mooted almost 100 years
ago, yet it is not even on the agenda and is unlikely to be so in the
foreseeable future.
Instead, as in previous years, we will have to settle for second best. A new
layout will be designed in an attempt to improve traffic flows on the two main
roads that converge here, the A15 and the A151, and even then the scheme will
only go ahead because of a £10,000 grant from the developers of the Elsea Park
housing estate, a planning gain that does not become payable until the first 200
homes are occupied. The latest improvements, therefore, are dependent on many
issues totally unconnected with the urgent need to remove this black spot in our
road system even though it is well recognised by the county highways authority.
One of the worst features of the present arrangement is the pedestrian crossing
in West Street, the two sides of the road separated by an island surrounded by
metal barriers which has become known as the pig pen. On busy days, pedestrians
can be marooned here for several minutes and even when they do cross, especially
towards the south side, they risk being knocked down by vehicles taking the
corner from South Street too fast. But this is likely to be unchanged in the new
scheme.
The solution to the present problem is to keep vehicles moving without
endangering pedestrians. Many people are known to be against the current system
because they think that the job could be better done by a roundabout which would
ensure the free flow of traffic provided drivers remembered the rule of giving
way to vehicles approaching from the right. This scheme has merit, and has
proved effective when the traffic lights have failed in the past, but in the
long term, it does not ensure that pedestrians will not be at risk which is of
paramount concern.
Safety at this location has been a thorny issue for half a century, ever since
vehicle flows began to increase through the town centre, then known as the
market place. In 1962, when traffic lights were still a decade away, Kesteven
County Council, which was then responsible for our roads, was trying to tackle
the problem after repeated requests from Bourne Urban District Council.
Eventually, a “Keep Left” bollard was placed in the middle of the road, a
primitive contraption with a receptacle resembling a dustbin at the base but
this was in fact a holder for the Calor Gas cylinder used to light the bollard
during the night. The system was experimental but the results of its use pointed
the way forward because plans were eventually drawn up to extend the pavements
and narrow the carriageways to allow for the installation of traffic lights.
It is worth thinking about these changes for a moment because the roads through
Bourne were originally used for horse drawn transport yet the moment the motor
car takes over, the available space is reduced instead of extended. Such is the
effect of the official mind on matters of transport policy.
The dangers soon became apparent and Councillor John Grummitt, chairman of
Bourne Urban District Council’s highways committee, warned at a meeting on
Tuesday 8th May 1962: “Parents should be advised to ask their children not to
cross the road at the bollard. Only a few minutes ago, I saw three children do
just that with traffic flying about in all directions and it is a distinctly
dangerous practice.”
The hazard created in the town centre remained because it was to be another 11
years before traffic lights were installed at a cost of £10,000, which is
£75,000 by today's values, and they were unpopular from the very start. They
began operating on Monday 11th June 1973, but within a few days, BUDC had been
swamped with complaints and because of their misgivings over the safety of
shoppers, hastily arranged a meeting with the engineers and told them that
changes must be made immediately. The main problem was that there were no
pedestrian crossing controls and this presented a very real danger, especially
for children and old people, at what was becoming a very busy intersection in
the town centre.
After the meeting, the chairman, Councillor Percy Wilson, was most emphatic
about the hazards involved. "Three-fifths of the children from Bourne Primary
[now the Abbey Road] School have to use the crossings and they do not know where
to cross", he said. "A traffic warden and local police have to help them. If
people try to cross in West Street, they are likely to encounter traffic coming
from South Street. We left the engineers in no doubt that their installation was
not what we were led to believe. We are quite dissatisfied with the arrangements
relating to the traffic lights and the pedestrian crossings are lethal. They are
death traps. The flow of traffic must take second place to the safety of our
people, especially the young and the old. Safeguards for them are uppermost in
our minds."
This must still be the priority yet little has changed in the 30 years since
that warning was given. Kevin Brumfield, the authority’s area highways manager,
admits that the traffic lights at this point are among the oldest in the county
and he told the Stamford Mercury on Friday 27th February: “Basically, we will
have to rip the whole lot out and start again with a new layout but I do not
know whether there will be too many changes to the pig pen island.”
It is doubtful if there will be any major change in the present system.
Tampering with what we have is unlikely to solve anything and is even likely to
make matters worse. A study of the developments in our road systems over the
years demonstrate where mistakes have been made. The major fault, as with the
roads themselves, is that successive local authorities have settled for cheaper
cosmetic surgery instead of the more expensive major transplants, and experience
has proved that it does not work.
There is little doubt that the redesign of the present town centre system will
take many months, perhaps even years, and cost a great deal, but history has
indicated that it will probably be out of date almost as soon as it is installed
and therefore in the long run, will be a total waste of money. But, as in the
past, it is the best solution that those responsible can come up with within the
financial framework they operate. The introduction of the motor car has been a
mixed blessing but no matter what benefits it may have brought, the difficulties
it has created in the centres of our market towns are irreparable and will
remain so until it is removed from them completely.
I have watched progress on the development at the North Street terrace in
Bourne with interest and the result is a pleasing compromise to retain the
buildings in the Victorian style. This will be an asset to the street scene in
what is essentially a red brick market town.
However, the developers may have erred in choosing the name Marquis Court. The
terraces, for there were originally two, the other being demolished in 1974 to
make way for the bus station development and access to St Gilbert's Road, were
built circa 1880 by the Marquess of Exeter, and you will note the spelling of
his title which was common usage at that time. The use of Marquis in this
context is incorrect and is also confusing, being already referred to in the
town as the home of the underground, a reference to the French maquis of the
Second World War of 1939-45, a word which it closely resembles, and I have also
heard it mispronounced "mucky" and who wants to live in Mucky Court?
I have pointed this out to the managing director of Lindum Homes, Rob Stewart,
in the hope that it is not too late for the spelling to be changed to avoid
confusion, and perhaps even derision, in the future and he has been courteous
enough to reply and assure me that the matter is well in hand. He writes: “Many
thanks for your email relating to the above development, raising the question of
Marquis/Marquess. In view of the advanced stage of the development and the fact
that all brochures and signs have been produced using Marquis, we have elected
to continue with this spelling for marketing purposes. Please excuse our
ignorance in this matter and rest assured that the street nameplates will be
spelled correctly when placed in position in the near future.”
What the local newspapers are saying: The controversy over the
introduction of pay parking at Bourne occupies several pages in The Local
and should dispel any doubts about the strength of feeling in the town against
the scheme (March 19th). An excellent Page 2 photograph shows almost 40 members
of the Chamber of Trade lined up in the Market Place, each carrying the now
familiar notice which epitomises the campaign: “Keep Trade Alive. Say NO to pay
parking.” There are columns of comment from townspeople and a long report of
last week’s meeting of South Kesteven District Council’s economic and
environment policy development committee at Grantham when members
voted 11-4 in favour of the scheme. John Taylor, who covered the meeting,
suggests that the signs are not good for Bourne because he begins his report:
“It now seems that the battle lines have been drawn and it’s a clear cut case of
us against them, us being the traders, shoppers and residents of Bourne and them
being the members of SKDC who represent other areas.”
The Stamford Mercury has similar coverage (March 19th)
and again, the feeling in Bourne is summed up in the headline: “People say NO to
parking charges.” There is little doubt that if the vote goes against Bourne
when the final decision is taken by the council on Thursday 29th April, many
will feel it a set back for the democratic process by demonstrating that the
wishes of the public, which the authority continues to tell us are paramount in
their deliberations, are being ignored and that their much vaunted promises are
not to be believed. But what can be done if the vote is lost? Guy Cudmore, a
member of Bourne Town Council, suggests in a letter to The Local (March
19th) that if charges are adopted, all six district councillors from Bourne who
are implacably opposed to the scheme will be expected to resign. Such a course
of action would need a combination of
co-operation and courage but even then there would be no guarantee that it would
be achieve anything apart from registering a public protest.
Councillor John Kirkman (Bourne East), who was at the committee meeting last
week, has written his
account of the situation which can be accessed from the front page.
Our Family History section has now expanded to 172 names being researched by
people around the world who are anxious to trace their ancestors from the Bourne
area. It has grown so big that the single page we have used to accommodate it
over the past five years has become unwieldy and so this week, I have spent some
time re-designing the feature and splitting the archive into four sections, one
an introduction to genealogy on the Internet and the other three containing
names in alphabetical order, A-G, H-M and N-Z.
This was a complicated task and I hope that nothing has been lost in the
transition. I would therefore be grateful if everyone who has an entry would
take a look to make sure that nothing has been missed. The new style is simple
to navigate and it will be easier for visitors in the future to check on names
while at the same time, providing more space for newcomers. Anyone who wishes to
participate in this very popular feature need only send me an entry by email in
the same style as those already posted by using the email facility on the main
page and it will be added within 24 hours, but please remember to give your full
name as well as town/city, state/country.
The arrival of spring tomorrow is a reminder that no matter how the world is
changed by our politicians, the seasons come and go with remarkable regularity
and dependability. I wrote the following paragraphs in the early days of this
web site, on Saturday 6th March 1999, and on walking out one morning this week,
I realised that my observations were just as true today as they were five years
ago.
Shelley reminds us that "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"
and around Bourne this week, there are signs that this magical season is fast
approaching. Snowdrops and crocuses, those beautiful but fragile heralds of
spring, can be seen in many gardens, together with the ubiquitous daffodil, and
the first patches of green are beginning to burst forth in our hedgerows. The
chill easterly winds will soon be dying away to be replaced by more gentle
breezes and on some recent days the sun has already been flooding the
countryside with a warmth and gentleness that ushers in the new season.
"March winds doth blow and we shall have snow" is an old country saying and
although very often true, it can perhaps be somewhat misleading because March is
generally a month of contrasts, a period when great changes take place in the
countryside, most of them particularly evident to the conscientious nature
lover. The birds have started to desert those tasty morsels on the garden bird
tables and are turning their attention to the natural foods of field and fen
that they prefer. The shrill, musical notes of the blackbird can already be
heard from their evening song posts and we stopped to hear one singing its heart
out this week from a tree top in North Road while collared doves are pottering
about my garden picking up loose twigs and other suitable materials for their
nests.
Spring is just round the corner and apart from the countryside, the signs are
evident all around us, even in the streets of Bourne where walking in early
March has the feel of beating the bounds because the grass is growing on the
footpaths again, the first buds are breaking on the trees and the ornamental
cherries are taking on their mantles of pink and white blossom, a reminder of
the verses we used to sing at school ". . . telling that winter's past, bright
days returning fast."
The first day of spring is officially listed in our calendars as March 21st, the
spring equinox, but this season of awakening starts long before that and from
now on, there will be something new to see each day for this time of the year is
one of the best to be alive and enjoy the delights that are beginning to appear
all around us.
Thought for the week: Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows
poems. – Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (1875-1926).
Saturday 27th March 2004
In centuries past, children were meant to be seen and not
heard and so parents, governesses and teachers devised various methods of good
works to keep them occupied. For the girls, sewing was high on the list of
activities that could be pursued in silence and at the same time, taught a craft
that would be useful in later life.
The sampler came to be regarded as an essential part of a young woman’s
education because it provided a record of all the stitches and patterns that a
housewife would require and as pictures of houses, churches, trees and flowers
were added, they became works of art when finished in silk thread on linen.
Among the more common inscriptions are prayers, moral maximums and biblical
texts, often showing a preoccupation with death and misery, although less
depressing subjects can also be found such as those depicting maps and major
events although these are particularly rare because of their value as social or
historical documents.
The most beautiful specimens of original sampler work that have survived belong
to the 17th century and in consequence are rarely found outside museums although
the 18th century did see some fine examples which are highly collectable. In
later years, they were framed for their artistic value and many were indeed
triumphs of decorative needlework which are highly prized by connoisseurs and
collectors. The fashion for using Indian cotton resulted in many designs with
bright floral patterns although the variety of stitches had decreased by the end
of the 18th century when cross-stitch alone appears to have held the field and
this became known as the sampler stitch.
Sampler making was a common subject on the curriculum of the early state schools
of the 19th century and, with typical Victorian sense, alphabets and numerals
were usually the prescribed patterns in order that children would learn two
subjects at once. Because of the large number of participants, materials were
necessarily cheaper and brightly coloured wools were employed on meshed canvas
and more ambitious designs such as landscapes and animals, often cleverly
shaded, were made possible by the use of coloured embroidery charts, although
these niceties are usually absent in classroom designs which tend to be more
mundane.
The inscriptions on samplers are a literature in themselves and an intriguing
record of the precepts of child education during that period. One such example
from the Bourne area has been acquired by Jacqueline Smith of Guildford in
Surrey, who bought it from an antiques shop near Hanover in Germany where the
owner said that he had picked it up about 15 years before at a street market in
England. “I suppose I bought it because it was in the wrong country and demanded
to be brought home”, said Jacqueline.
The sampler was the work of Fanny Letitia Michelson, a pupil attending the
village school at Dowsby in 1881. The village can be found on the B1177, six
miles north of Bourne, a small community on the edge of the fen with an
Elizabethan hall, a few cottages and pantiled farm buildings to keep company
with a church largely rebuilt during the 19th century.
Education, as elsewhere in England at that time, was entirely at the behest of
local philanthropists and it was the Burrell family of Dowsby Hall who founded
and maintained a parish school in the village during the 17th century when
classes were held in the vestry of St Andrew’s Church, a room that was later
enlarged for this purpose. This was replaced by an endowed or elementary school,
built of red brick and blue slate on land near the church in 1864 with room for
65 children although attendance was usually far less. The average number at
lessons in 1885 was only 42 but this had risen to 53 by the end of the century.
John Robert Holmes was headmaster and he was also the parish clerk and the local
collector of taxes and he was still in charge in 1904 although by that time the
rector, the Rev Thomasin Albert Stoodley, had taken over as parish clerk.
The school was financed with money raised by a local rate, a government grant
and an annual endowment of £10 from the estates of local landowners and
continued in use until it closed under the government re-organisation of
education in 1976 when the building was sold and it has since been rebuilt as a
private home. The village was also sufficiently prosperous at that time to
support a mill that survived into the 20th century, as well as a boot and shoe
maker, a grocer and beer retailer, but today all have closed and there are no
shops or services apart from a telephone kiosk.
My records of the village from the late 19th century do not include the name
Michelson but then Fanny may have come from a poor family who would not be
listed in the directories of the period. Her sampler contains the letters of the
alphabet in capitals and lower case, the numbers from 1 to 11, her name with the
date 1881 and a few lines in cross-stitch. This is a simple example of the art,
a relic of elementary education during Victorian times, worked in red wool and
canvas rather than silk and linen, and it has not weathered the years
particularly well. But once its antecedents are known, it becomes an interesting
example of school work in the late 19th century, one that Jacqueline describes
as “a simple sampler, not over-embellished, just plain and honest”, and although
she does not say how much she paid for it, in the right sale on a good day it
would be quite likely to fetch £20-£30. Whatever would Fanny have thought had
she known that her work would one day be that valuable?
Michelson is a name that occurs frequently in the social history of Bourne and
descendants of Fanny’s family may still be alive. One of her ancestors is almost
certainly Robert Michelson who managed the Dowsby Decoy from 1763 to 1783. It
was one of 40 duck decoys in Lincolnshire at that time to produce game for the
London dining tables and although the number of birds caught varied greatly,
this one taking 13,000 in a good season, substantial profits were made for the
first 15 years although the last five seasons showed a loss. When the decoy
closed, the wood in which it was situated was put up for sale but only part of
it was purchased and the remainder was cleared for use as farmland. A depression
in the fields by a clump of trees is all that remains today of the Dowsby Decoy
and its pond. Robert Michelson, born in 1735, was 28 when he started to work at
the decoy and he died in 1819 at the age of 84. He and his wife Isabella lie
beneath a pair of fine slate headstones in the churchyard outside the south
porch.
If anyone out there recognises the name or may even be related, then please get
in touch because Jacqueline would love to hear from you to complete the
historical picture of her sampler’s origins and perhaps discover a little more
about this girl who stitched away so diligently during her schooldays to produce
something that has surprisingly survived to this day.
It is worth keeping an eye open for samplers in antique shops, street markets,
car boot sales and auctions because good examples are worth a great deal of
money and apart from being a good investment, they also look good on the wall.
But beware of copies that are being produced in large numbers and it is
difficult for anyone except the experienced to tell them from the original.
What the local newspapers are saying: The Stamford Mercury again
raises public concern about the possible loss of the ambulance station in Bourne
(March 26th). The building has been marooned in a corner of the old hospital
site in South Road where house construction is now underway although developers
have given assurances that its future is assured, no matter what incoming
families might say about living next door. In a front page story, the newspaper
details sweeping changes to the present county ambulance service in which the
usual duty crew will be replaced by a one-man rapid response vehicle for many
emergency cases, a community paramedic system that already operates in some
rural towns. The slimming down of public services often heralds their
disappearance altogether but this has been denied by the Lincolnshire Ambulance
Service and so we record their words for posterity. The director of operations,
Stephen West, is quoted as saying: “This will be an improvement in the service
for patients. The new scheme will not be introduced at the expense of the
current level of service but to enhance it. There are no plans to close Bourne
ambulance station.”
The pay parking controversy continues to fill many column inches and the protest
petition currently being raised by The Local has been signed by more than
2,000 people in under two weeks (March 26th). Their report also raises a most
important issue, hitherto unexplored in connection with the present problem. If
car parking charges are introduced in Bourne, it will coincide with the opening
of a massive new retail park at Spalding, just 12 miles away, with 40 stores run
by well known retailers of fashion and consumer goods available all year round,
and the report highlights the worst fears of Bourne traders when it says: “This
will have a massive effect on our businesses as many people will be able to
travel a short distance for better shops and with FREE parking.”
What the local newspapers are not saying: The extreme weather conditions
of last weekend have provided The Local and the Stamford Mercury
with stories about the havoc caused by gales in and around the town, notably a
roof collapse at Sainsburys in Exeter Street, power cuts, blocked roads, toppled
trees and the displacement of a security fence at the new Hereward Meadow
housing development. But neither newspaper carried a word about the high
velocity winds that swept over thousands of acres of farmland to the south of
the town on Saturday afternoon when tons on top soil were lifted into the air
and carried across the countryside for several miles. This was an astounding
sight, resembling a Sahara sandstorm, as the photographs and video to be found
on this web site will testify.
Our exclusive coverage of the fen blow, as it is known, has brought many
messages from around the world, some from people who were surprised at such a
phenomenon in an apparently quite rural area such as this. The eye witness
accounts, and photographs supplied by Peter Sharpe, were so dramatic that for
the first time since the web site was launched in 1998, I made late changes to
include them together with a video link showing startling on the spot coverage
by Sallyann (Sam) Malone and in view of the widespread interest, they will
remain on site for another week. Perhaps the editors of both newspapers might
like to take a look to see the important news item they missed.
Among those who emailed was one of our regular visitors, Norman Mapperson, of
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, who logs on every week. He is the grandson of
Charles Mapperson of Castle Bytham, near Bourne, who married Mary Ann Hales of
Baston at the Baptist Chapel, Bourne, in May 1853, and a week later were on a
ship bound for Victoria, Australia. Norman, now almost 89, has carried out
extensive research into his family background that is now produced in book form
and he has presented a copy to the town that can be found in Bourne public
library. Nevertheless, the story and photographs of the fen blow surprised him
because he wrote:
I had never thought of England having such
storms. Here in Victoria, Australia, an extensive area known as the Mallee often
has dust storms that we used to call "black-outs" when you literally could not
see one hand in front of your face. I have seen a place where three fences have
been erected, one on top of the other. As one becomes buried in sand drift, it
is easier to erect a new one over it rather than dig the old one out. Such dust
storms can travel over a hundred miles and when rain comes, everything is
covered with red mud.
Your story brought back many memories of the days from 1943-45 when we lived in
the Mallee at a small town called Manangatan. I was often bogged down in sand
hills when out driving my small Morris Cowley. Our electricity was local AC and
the dust storms would create static affecting our power supply. We would stuff
the keyholes and the gaps under doors with newspaper to try to keep the dust out
but it was a weather board house and let fine dust filter through. Our son was
born there and my wife would put a damp cloth over the cot to filter clean air
into his lungs. We would also set the table for a meal and put the cloth on last
over the food. I am now nearly 89 and it’s a long time ago although the Mallee
still gets severe dust storms. Sam Malone's pictures are quite eerie too.
From the archives: The Bourne bakers have this week
raised the price of flour and bread twopence per stone, for what reason we
cannot comprehend. Best wheats are only making 32s. and 33s. per quarter, and
yet the public must pay such a price for the prepared article! The millers or
the bakers, or both, are getting an exorbitant profit. The same remark also
applies to the butchers. – news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 26th
November 1886.
Thought for the week: Old and young, we are all on our
last cruise. – Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (1850-94) whose books
included Treasure Island (1883) and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(1886).
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