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Saturday 7th August 2003
The size of the street market in past times is still being debated in the
Bourne Forum and Bob Harvey insists that it was indeed much larger than the two
dozen or so stalls that I suggested last week. He filed a contribution on
Saturday 31st July saying:
I am not sure how many stalls the market
used to get, but it was a lot more than 20. I have seen it stretching from
Wherry's Lane in North Street round to the Post Office and West Street and then
Adams' mobile shop would be outside the Town Hall with and a couple of stalls
next to that. Allowing for a gap at the traffic lights, that's something like
300 metres. Given that the average stall is about 2.5 metres, and allowing for
access gaps every couple of stalls, that could be something like a hundred
stalls. I would have thought the figure of 70 was quite a reasonable claim. This
is the only local market that has declined to nothing. Grantham, Stamford and
Spalding, are as busy as ever they were with the same mix of local and long
distance itinerant traders. Even Peterborough market is still as active as ever.
It is only Bourne market that has suffered this cataclysmic decline. My feeling
is that the move to the new site reduced the number of available stalls to below
the critical limit with not enough outlets to pull in the public and even those
who did get a pitch have not bothered turning up. I think that South Kesteven
District Council, or whoever took the decision, has a lot to answer for and it
seems perfectly reasonable to expect them to do something about it.
My own first hand knowledge of Bourne goes back 50 years, the latter half of
that time as a resident, but I have no impressions of such a large street market
and can find no evidence for it, even after checking my extensive photographic
archive of past times. Without seeing the stall rental records at council
headquarters in Grantham, if they still exist, I suppose we will never know the
exact figures, but it is worth considering the opinion of one man who does have
inside knowledge and that is Trevor Pool whose father John Pool was the
Collector of Tolls at the market for almost a quarter of a century (1921-45).
Trevor, who now lives at Halifax in West Yorkshire, often helped his father and
he emailed on Sunday 1st August to say that there were never the large amount of
stalls that has been suggested and he has sent these evocative memories of the
market to support his view:
The market had its best years before
beginning to decline during the years of the Second World War from 1939-45 and I
don't think it ever got back to its former state. The Thursday market had an
early morning start and all the stalls were cleared away by early afternoon.
Thursday was a busy day for Bourne with farmers coming in to the cattle,
sheep and pig market together with their wives and people from the villages.
Some public houses had extended hours to cater for visitors to the cattle market
and there was no blowing into the little machine to test for the effects of
drinking and drive in those days.
There were about sixteen stalls in total on a Thursday, maximum, with two on the
north side of West Street, then the household auction goods up the corner, then
the pens of rabbits and hens and other small livestock. (I was bitten by a
rabbit one day when I put my finger through the wire front of the cage. Perhaps
it thought it was a carrot.) Then going out into the road was an area for fruit
and vegetables and all these goods were auctioned off sometime during the day.
At the edge of the auction area and nearly in the middle of the market place was
a stall selling seeds of all types to farmers and the general public. Going
along North Street, on the west side, were perhaps three stalls up to the Angel
Hotel entrance then a further three stalls up to Ewles the butchers. On the east
side of the market place going north from the Bull Hotel entrance to Lloyds Bank
was Braime’s fish stall, Briggs the butcher and one other. Going south from the
Bull entrance was a stall selling footwear, then a sweet stall and one or two
others but a clear gap had to be left so that the fire engine, which was kept
underneath the town hall, could get out if needed.
Sometimes there would be what was called a pitcher who would spread a sheet on
the floor and sell from that and on some occasions, a flat back wagon would park
on the south side of West Street and sell fruit from the back, a “buy two and
get one free” style of selling. Saturday was an afternoon and evening market, no
auction of goods or livestock or fish stall. There was a different sweet stall
[Joe Sharp] which was on the north side of the Angel and I remember that there
were fewer stalls on a Saturday than on a Thursday.
So there we have it, a much smaller market than most recall. Faulty memory
syndrome often plays tricks with these cherished recollections of times gone by,
never more manifest than in reminiscing about the good old days, which they
rarely were, or the long hot summers of our youth, which for sure had their fair
share of bad weather. A picture postcard view of a bustling street market with
the pavements of the town centre lined with stalls and thronging with people may
be the stuff of memory but reality was most probably very different, especially
when the population of Bourne was considerably less than it is today (the 1981
census figure was 8,142) and would by no stretch of the imagination support 70
to 100 stalls as has been suggested.
Furthermore, fears that the market on the new purpose-built paved site behind
the Town Hall that opened in December 1990 may be failing was not evident on
Thursday when we visited because there were 22 stalls and all were doing brisk
business. This is one of the best turnouts we have seen this year and the fine
weather that day may have had something to do with it because traders are
notorious for staying away when it rains or the wind blows too strongly. Perhaps
Bourne market will survive at its new and more convenient location after all
despite predictions from the naysayers who want it back on the streets.
What the local newspapers are saying: A disturbing story is given front
page treatment by The Local suggesting that discussions are underway with
the Forestry Commission that could result in a bypass being built through Bourne
Wood (August 6th). This is an inconceivable development in one of England’s
ancient forests and would no doubt be fiercely resisted. The scale of such
opposition is already evident from the Friends of Bourne Wood, an organisation
devoted to the preservation of this area of our landscape where there has been
continuous tree cover for the last 8,000 years, and the newspaper quotes
treasurer Sarah Roberts who is horrified by such a proposal. “We do not want any
part of the woodland closed and such a move would be disastrous to wildlife,”
she said. Fortunately, such a development would need special dispensation at
government level and were it to become a real possibility there are many other
individuals and organisations ready to fight for the preservation of the wood
and we would most certainly see an active environmental protest on an
unprecedented scale.
The Local has also given extensive coverage to last week’s story that
local businessman and landowner Len Pick, who died in January at the age of 94,
left the bulk of is £4 million estate for the benefit of the town (August 6th).
Each of the organisations that were specifically mentioned are profiled,
including the Outdoor Swimming Pool, the Salvation Army, the Abbey Church, the
Butterfield Day Care Centre, the Darby and Joan Club and, of course, Bourne Town
Football Club of which Len was a lifelong supporter. Chairman Terry Bates summed
up their gratitude in a manner that will no doubt be echoed by all of the
recipients: “The magnitude of his generosity has come as a big and pleasant
surprise to say the least.”
Work has finally resumed on the south west relief road after the first half-mile
section has been standing gated and closed for the past two years while the
lawyers argued over who should pay for it and how. The Stamford Mercury
carries a welcome photograph of the bulldozers back in action on the project
(August 6th) and a prediction that it will be finished early next year. The road
is part of the planning gain from Allison Homes in return for their development
of the 2,000-home Elsea Park estate, along with many other amenities, including
a primary school, but these things are never simple. “The main sticking point
surrounds the building of the new school”, reports Christian March. “It is
understood that Lincolnshire County Council will build it although it will still
be funded by the developer.” All of these issues are covered by a Section 106
agreement (S106), the legal contract that formalises what the developer will
provide, but its implementation is never simple and there will no doubt be
further problems when the time comes to provide the other promised amenities
that include a multi-purpose community hall, sites for a doctor's surgery and
crèche, cycle, pedestrian and vehicle links, a shuttle bus route through the
development, sports pitches, nature conservation areas, links to Bourne town
centre and existing public footpaths to the surrounding countryside. We will
just have to wait and see.
The Bourne Internet web site is six years old this week, a small
milestone in the larger scheme of things but noteworthy in the world of
cyberspace where longevity is rare.
When it was launched in the second week of August 1998, we had only a few pages
and it took us many months to be acknowledged by the big search engines, a
necessary factor if you wish to be read, but we are now represented on most of
them, particularly Google which is by far the fastest and the best on the
Internet today.
As the months went by, we added new features including the Photograph of the
Week, Family History, Friends of Bourne and the Bourne Forum, all of which have
become extremely popular. The weekly Bourne Diary too began shortly afterwards
and has been published practically every week since November 1998, the latest
issue being number 284 and that is almost 700,000 words commenting on current
affairs in and around the town and various aspects of our heritage and history.
The Diary has become one of the most rewarding features of the entire project
and it gives me great pleasure to write it, discussing subjects of public
interest that have been mentioned by friends and neighbours or have been raised
in the Forum or the local newspapers. My son Justin suggested that it must be
very satisfying to have your own soapbox and indeed it is and although I always
strive to be fair and not to give undue offence, my opinions on occasions have
not endeared me to some people in the town. But my 50 years as a journalist have
taught me that whatever you write will not please everyone and there will
always be those who regard differing views as a criticism of themselves whereas
an open and inquiring mind is intellectually more stimulating. The Diary may
only be a small voice in Bourne but I know from the reactions I get, warm
support from some and a cold shoulder from others, that it is being heard.
Last year, we introduced a new feature using articles written by prominent
people and those invited to contribute to date include our MP, Mr Quentin
Davies, the member for Grantham and Stamford, who now writes from the Commons on
a regular basis, Councillor Linda Neal, Leader of South Kesteven District
Council, Councillors John Kirkman, Don Fisher and Trevor Holmes, Ivan Fuller,
the Town Centre Co-ordinator, Captain David Kinsey of the Salvation Army, and
many others who play an important role in our affairs. But you do not need to be
a household name to contribute and if anyone has something to say about our
town, past or present, then they are welcome to share this platform.
The Bourne web site is a voluntary project with no commercial support or
advertising and is financed entirely by my son and myself. It is now 50MB in
size and contains over 1,000 pages and almost 700 photographs, giving a glimpse
of this small Lincolnshire market town from the earliest times to the present
day, and I update it every week. On the way, we have collected eight awards,
notably the Golden Web Award in July 2000 for excellence in web design, content
and creativity, and the Médaille d'Or for web site excellence in April 2001.
The Oldie magazine also gave us the “Web Site of the Month” award in August
1999 that acknowledges the fact that I am an old age pensioner and have been for
some years.
Many young people find the web site of interest because I am often emailed by
pupils engaged on school projects or examinations relating to Bourne's social
history and I try to assist wherever possible. The information I have already
provided, or at least pointed the inquirers in the right direction, must be the
stuff of many papers submitted at all of our local schools. We are also
consulted by many schools and universities, in Britain and abroad, who are
studying the way of life in England and I receive regular emails requesting
information and the use of text and photographs.
The web site is now read around the world and has not only reunited families,
but has also enabled many people who left these shores for foreign parts to keep
in touch with their home town. I have recently begun recording those places
where our visitors live, averaging around 600 a week, and it is an enlightening
geographical lesson to read them. The United States, including Alaska and
Hawaii, Australia, Canada, Lapland, Russia, Thailand, Japan and China, Finland,
Argentina and Brazil can all be found among them. Whoever will be reading it
when we celebrate our tenth anniversary in 2008 and hopefully, we will still be
around?
Message from abroad: My maiden name is Rippingale and I have been
following your web site since 1998. I love your pictures and appreciate the
history of Bourne and the surrounding area. I have always been interested in the
growth of your site and have seen all the great strides it has made. Thank you
for this undertaking. I think all communities should have a similar site.
–
email from Linda Lee Rippingale Curren, Garrison, Montana, USA, Sunday 25th July
2004.
Thought for the week: O Memory! Thou fond deceiver.
– Oliver
Goldsmith, Irish-born writer, dramatist and poet, (1728-1774).
Saturday 14th August 2003
There was a time when the cow played a more important
part in our life than the car, providing a continuous supply of milk, manure and
eventually meat, hides and other by-products from the carcass.
Today, we insure our pride and joy and in times past, when many people as well
as farmers owned a cow, they took similar precautions to protect their property
and the most popular method was by subscribing to a scheme that would indemnify
them in times of disaster. The Bourne Cow Insurance Club, usually known as the
Bourne Cow Club, was formed for this purpose in 1854 and in return for regular
weekly or monthly payments, members were promised compensation if their animals
died. Under the rules, three-fourths (75%) of the value of the animal was paid
out in compensation if it died although the carcass became the property of the
club who sold it to defray expenses.
The club was also regarded as a social organisation and the annual meetings were
convivial occasions, held on licensed premises, when members could meet and
discuss their business and the affairs of the day. The 10th annual meeting of
the club was held on Wednesday 6th January 1864 at the Windmill Inn in North
Street [now demolished]. The accounts of the club presented to the meeting are
an indication of its success because they showed receipts for the previous
twelve months of £50 18s. 4d. with payments of £37 6s. 6d., leaving a balance in
hand of £13 11s. 10d. after discharging all liabilities until the end of the
year. Members celebrated with an excellent supper provided by the landlord, Mr
William Banks, and afterwards spent an agreeable evening.
In 1890, the club widened its membership and was reconstituted as the Bourne,
Dyke and Cawthorpe Cow Club, continuing in business well into the 20th century
although its finances were not always so healthy, especially after those years
when sickness took its toll among farm animals. When the annual meeting was held
at the Marquis of Granby in Abbey Road in February 1901, members were told that
the club had sustained heavy losses and had it not been for the generosity of
members who made individual donations to keep it afloat, the balance of £23 18s.
10d. would have been much smaller than it was, having been £50 8s. 10d. the
previous year.
A similar situation occurred in 1907 when the club was insuring 44 cows with a
total estimated value of £650. But when the annual meeting was held at
the Marquis of Granby on Monday 28th January, members were presented with a
balance sheet that reflected serious losses because the sum of almost £30 in
hand from the previous year had been entirely wiped out. The contributory
factors were payments in compensation for three cows totalling £31 and fees of
£12 19s. for the veterinary surgeon but despite members' contributions, the sale
of carcasses and accrued bank interest, the club had a shortfall of almost £5.
The chairman, Mr Arthur Saul, a local auctioneer and valuer, told the meeting:
"I am sorry to report that the club has had such a disastrous year and I hope
that before we disperse this evening, members will be able to clear our
deficiency and so enable our club to continue in a flourishing condition." A
report in the Stamford Mercury the following Friday also reflects the
social climate at these meetings that were always followed by a dinner and
entertainment:
An admirable repast was provided to which a
goodly number of members sat down, Mr Saul presiding. After the usual loyal
toasts, Mr William Nowell proposed "The Cow Club" and expressed his regret that
the call on the funds during the past year had caused a deficiency and he made
an urgent appeal for better support. Mr John Faulkner responded to the toast as
the [incoming] chairman of the club. Mr T Holmes submitted "The Chairman" which
was received with musical honours. Mr Saul suitably responded. Other toasts
included "The Town and Trade of Bourne", "The Treasurer", "The Secretary" and
"The Valuers". Songs were contributed by the following, amongst others: Messrs O
Hinson, F Fisher, W Smith, B Ayre, J Robinson, F W James, W Adams and W Nowell,
and Mr O Hinson also gave a recitation. The singing of the National Anthem
brought a successful gathering to a close.
The chairman obviously knew his members and his faith in their
loyal support was not misplaced because the deficit was cleared before the
evening ended.
The club continued in existence for a few more years but by 1920, support had
begun to wane and it eventually folded, due mainly to the increase in other
forms of insurance, notably through the National Farmers’ Union itself.
What the local newspapers are saying: The town centre in Bourne is at
breaking point, according to a front page story in the Stamford Mercury
suggesting that anti-social behaviour, troublesome youths and litter louts have
finally got out of hand (August 13th). A dramatic picture showing empty beer
cans and spirit bottles in a dimly lit North Street accompanies the article that
is based on a meeting of the town council held on Tuesday when councillors said
that the time had come to get to grips with the problem. They could offer few
solutions, however, but the mayor, Councillor Pet Moisey, made one suggestion
that will find favour with the majority of the people when she said: “The
biggest deterrent would be a uniformed police officer going into those places
where alcohol is served to under-age youngsters.” Councillor Barbara Smith
agreed but sounded a note of caution over the consequences: “If one officer in
Bourne makes an arrest you have lost him for eight hours.”
Last week’s front page story in The Local that a new bypass was being
planned through Bourne Wood (August 6th) gets little official support but then the report was
based on the flimsiest of evidence, notably an anonymous letter to the
newspaper, and did not contain a single quote from Lincolnshire County Council,
the highways authority responsible for road development which would therefore be
among the first to know about such matters. The newspaper might also have taken
on board the article posted on this web site last month by Councillor John Kirkman, a member of the county council, detailing why Bourne would not be
getting a bypass in the foreseeable future before setting off this particular
alarm.
But The Local insists on pursuing the story and reaction from
the people in street interviews fill many column inches in the latest edition (August 13th) under
the headline “Town angered by bypass revelation” while it is left to town
councillor John Smith to bring a spot of sanity to the subject although his
unequivocal denial deserved equal prominence on the front page but is instead
tucked away in the letters column inside.
Councillor Smith is also the cabinet member on South Kesteven District Council
responsible for economic development and if anyone should know whether a new
road is going through Bourne Wood then it is him. He writes: “Unlike many
others I have done my homework and would wish to reassure local people as to the
actual situation regarding any future bypass. Your newspaper has creatively
combined past events with the distant future but the reality lies squarely in
the middle. It is true that a developer spoke to the Forestry Commission, no
doubt speculatively, in regard to possibly building on that side of Bourne, but
that was a year ago. My contacts at a high level have heard nothing since, nor I
believe are they likely to. Our decision this week to get on with developing an
area of council-owned land in South Road in fact lays the foundation for a
bypass for the south east quadrant of Bourne, and I think that is where we are
most likely to see any future road building. I, like many others locally, would
hate the idea of any change to the beauty of Bourne Wood.”
The legacy to Bourne from the estate of Len Pick, the 94-year-old
landowner and businessman who died in January, is one of the most magnificent
philanthropic gestures ever made to this town since wealthy merchant Robert
Harrington left his fortune for the benefit of the people in his will of 1654,
the proceeds of which are still being distributed today.
In his will published this week, he left estate valued at £4,138,774 net and
much of it will go to the Len Pick Charitable Trust that was set up in his
lifetime. He also made specific bequests to various organisations including
Bourne Town Football Club (£100,000), the Abbey Church (£50,000), the Outdoor
Swimming Pool (£50,000), Macmillan Cancer Research Fund (£5,000), the Salvation
Army Citadel and the Darby and Joan Club (£2,000 each), the Butterfield Day Care
Centre, Digby Court Residential Care Home, the Royal National Institute for the
Blind, Bourne Round Table, Bourne Lions, Bourne Players and the Bourne branch of
the British Red Cross Society (£1,000 each), the Christian Aid Fund for
Children, Barnardo’s and the Bourne branch of the Alzheimer’s Disease Society
(£500 each).
It is understood that a large portion of the money left will go to the trust he
founded to
be spent for the benefit of the town in the future although no details have yet
been released about how this will be distributed but there will no doubt be
regular grants to deserving organisations and causes.
Strange but true: Clocks throughout Britain were put forward by one hour
at 2 am on Sunday 21st May 1916 to launch daylight saving time, as it was
officially known. Britain was then involved in the Great War of 1914-18 and the
government told MPs that hundreds of thousands of tons of coal would be saved by
the change in an attempt to help the war effort. The prospect of lighter
evenings was widely welcomed, with the clocks being put back again in October,
although not everyone was happy with the new arrangement as the Stamford
Mercury reported on Friday 26th May 1916:
Farmers in the Bourne district are not
putting the new “Summer Time” Bill into operation but are retaining the former
times for commencing and leaving off work. In all other business concerns, the
new times have been worked with general advantage. Various comments had been
made as to the proposed change, there being some who declined to alter their
clocks and looked upon the proposal with suspicion that it meant another hour’s
work a day with no corresponding recompense.
Conkers were one of the autumnal delights of my boyhood,
seeking out the best places to find them after they had fallen and then enjoying
endless hours of fun, threading them on to leather boot laces or a piece of
string and holding contests between ourselves, three swipes each until one or
the other is shattered, and the winner became the champion or conquering hero.
This was a simple pleasure, less popular today but still remembered by many with
nostalgia.
I was reminded of those days this week when we visited the churchyard in the
shadow of the Abbey Church in Bourne and saw the ancient and stately horse
chestnuts loaded with their ripening fruit and I remembered that it was in God’s
little acres that you would find the most mature trees that produced the largest
and best quality conkers and we often trekked miles to collect them.
The horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is a fast growing and
impressive tree, first introduced into this country in the early 17th century
from Northern Greece and Albania and now widely planted for ornament and shade
and it survives because it can withstand pollution, often reaching a height of
100 feet. The branches of those in the churchyard are full of fruit at the
moment, green, globular, spiky shells that will fall and split when ripe to
reveal their contents, usually between one and three shiny brown seeds that we
call conkers. They are collected as a fodder for cattle in Eastern Europe but
here in England they have little use and are left for the lads to retrieve them
from among the fallen leaves or pelt them off the branches with well-aimed
sticks and stones to play their seasonal game.
Thought for the week: One day, not yet, new Labour will be caught out in
some trivial sin which all at once finally exhausts the nation’s patience. Then,
and only then, we shall remember everything that went before.
- Matthew
Parris, writing in The Times, Saturday 31st July 2004.
Saturday 21st August 2003
This is not a good time to be ill in Britain. The doctors
are retreating behind the barriers of bureaucracy and the dentists have hauled
up the drawbridge to patients who depend on the National Health Service.
Two reports out this week do not auger well for the physical benefit of the
nation and from now on it will not only be bad luck if you need medical
assistance but you may have to go to great lengths to get it.
Some months ago, when it was reported that waiting time to see the doctor here
in Bourne was between seven and ten days, I suggested that a stricter working
regime for doctors, embracing evenings and weekends, would soon reduce the
backlog of appointments and ensure a much healthier population. This common
sense solution was simple and obvious, and also one of expediency that is
embraced in all other spheres of activity: if work needs to be done then those
whose job it is should put in the hours to do it. But it was not even
considered, rather the opposite because, according to one doctor, it incurred
the wrath of the entire medical profession. That was in
November 2002 and the waiting time for an appointment has not been reduced since
while the influx of newcomers as a result of the increasing number of housing
developments in the locality is likely to extend the queues to see the doctor
even further.
The work of the family doctor in those days before the NHS,
exemplified by A J Cronin and perpetuated in the BBC Television series Dr Finlay’s Casebook, now appears to be less a vocation than a job and so the
general practitioners of that time, often working on their own or in
partnership, have given way to doctors who are part of a team and are cocooned
from their patients by an attendant and burgeoning administration, one that
often appears to give the routine of appointments precedence over the urgency of
emergencies and the clipboard has taken over from the stethoscope. If a clinic
has half a dozen doctors it is a sure bet that it has dozens more support staff
with varying titles yet all work set hours, a nine to five regime, five days a
week.
The organisation is all important and there is evidence that you may call in at
your clinic at any time during the week when there appears to be a lull in the
waiting room, usually over the lunch period and afterwards between 12 pm and 3
pm, to be told that “everyone is in a meeting” and so cannot be contacted and
no, their bleepers are not switched on. You may even be given this explanation
when you are ill and in some distress, and need a doctor in an emergency. The
ladies at the reception desk will look concerned and ask ineffectual questions
about what ails you, not that they have the necessary medical training in
diagnostics, but the outcome will be that unless you become prostrate on the floor
with a heart attack, you will not see a doctor until it is convenient for them
to do so and that may be several hours later.
The rules and regulations under which the clinics work must be observed to the
letter, no matter that they operate directly against the interests of the
patients who expect to be seen by a doctor and given medical assistance when it
is needed and not when it suits those who are paid to deliver. The possibility
that there may be no doctor on duty during these periods, even though the clinic
is open, is a cause for alarm.
A front page report in the Daily Telegraph on Monday highlighted public concern
about the manner in which the National Health Service is being conducted and
these fears are being discussed in the Bourne Forum and elsewhere. “General
practitioners are becoming more remote from their patients with the Dr Finlay
school of medicine almost extinct”, said the newspaper and added that those
attending group practices were particularly unhappy with the standard of care
received.
Changes in working conditions currently being introduced are expected to
exacerbate the problem, especially when GPs will be relieved of the 24-hour duty
of care to individual patients, due to come into force in January when practices
can choose to opt out of night and weekend cover and the majority intend to do
so. Indeed, the two group practices in Bourne, both part of Lincolnshire South
West Primary Care Trust that includes 23 others from Grantham, Sleaford,
Stamford, Market Deeping and the surrounding villages, are already discouraging
calls for help out of hours, directing patients who need assistance to an
Emergency Care Centre for urgent treatment and to NHS Direct, the government’s
nurse-led help line, for all other inquiries.
It is little wonder that NHS Direct is becoming busier than ever and is already
carrying out 6.5 million consultations a year, a commendable record but a poor
reflection on our clinics. On paper, they may appear to be delivering a health
service by observing guidelines and reaching targets but reality is very
different and before doctors start reaching for their keyboards to complain,
they should be assured that patients are not dissatisfied with them but the
system in which they operate.
The future for dental treatment looks equally bleak. Also on Monday, the Daily
Mail carried out a survey of 155 practices revealing that nine out of ten had
completely closed their books to NHS patients, a situation that is reflected
here in Bourne. Ten who said they would not take on new adult patients said they
would offer children NHS care provided their parents paid to go privately. The
shortage of available NHS dentists is now becoming so acute that in some areas
patients are turning to teaching hospitals for treatment.
“It is estimated that around half the population in England currently do not
have access to an NHS dentist”, said the report.
The socialist politician Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960) was the architect of the NHS
that came into operation in 1948, promising to give us free medical and dental
care from cradle to grave. It served us well for many years before the benefits
it offered were being slowly eroded, eye tests and spectacles were the first we
had to start paying for, followed by prescriptions, dental treatment and in some
cases, geriatric care, and no doubt very soon the government will find charging
for a doctor’s appointment too attractive a source of revenue to resist. We have
already reached that juncture where, if you need speedy treatment, then the only
way to get it is to pay for it as a private patient and this creates a two tier
service of medical care, one for the rich and another for the poor, which is
contrary to the original concepts of the National Health Service that many,
particularly the elderly, have paid for over so many years.
Rising costs for services, greater expectations of the staff and an
ever-increasing bureaucracy are major factors in the changes we have seen
although there is no doubt that the health care when you get it has never been
better. The clinics have established a fine record of medical and preventative
care in which blood tests, health monitoring, maternity care, family planning,
minor surgery and other services dealing with acute and chronic conditions, form
part of a substantial programme and there are many others. What seems to have
disappeared is that personal touch between doctor and patient that cannot be
established with a seven-minute consultation and the awareness that a sick
patient is the very reason for their existence while the smooth running of the
administration takes precedence over everything and unless you are prepared to
comply with the system, you will soon find yourself excluded from it.
An article by a former Bourne doctor, Dr John Galletly, is included in the web site this week
describing his role in times past. It is not intended as a shining example of
the good old days, which they were not, or as a comparison with the role of our
GPs today, but to enable those who did not live through those times understand
the way it was and what has been achieved in community health care since. These
dramatic changes have increased our life span and boosted our well-being but
must not be allowed to founder in a slough of regulation and red tape.
What the local newspapers are saying:
Town councillors are
worried about the
increasing number of licensed premises in Bourne but can do little about it,
according to the Lincolnshire Free Press. A report from a meeting of the
planning and highways committee on Tuesday discussed plans for opening yet
another bar at shop premises in North Street when members were told they were
powerless to stop it despite current problems with drunkenness (August 17th).
Councillor John Kirkman outlined the dilemma facing the council: “We have no
justification for opposing it”, he said, “and it is unfortunate that the public
are unaware of the reasons why. Decisions have to be made on specific planning
grounds and in that respect there is no reason to object to another bar.”
The council's concern was summed up by
Councillor Linda Neal. “Every planning application has a right to be determined
on its merits”, she said, “ but once the viability of the town comes into
question, you could argue that there is a legitimate reason for refusal. People
come into the town centre primarily to shop and if you lose too many shops then
people will stop coming for that purpose and there is a belief that we are now
at that critical stage.”
The public debate over this issue however, appears to have had some effect
because The Local carries a front page report saying that plans for the bar have
now been dropped (August 20th). The applicant, businessman Michael Thurlby who
already owns Smiths of Bourne across the road, has refused to say why but the
mounting opposition by shopkeepers must have influenced his
decision. It has not pleased everyone because the newspaper reports that Ivan
Fuller, the Town Centre Co-ordinator, sees the development as a missed
opportunity to help regenerate the town’s economy. He told reporter Tony Todd:
"It is sad that the application has been withdrawn. This was a good chance the
town has now lost. Most importantly, we must not send out the wrong message by
discouraging people who want to open a new businesses here.”
Meanwhile, the building formerly occupied by Rowlands Sewing Centre that closed
earlier this year, still stands empty and boarded up. Hazel Duffy, chairman of
the Bourne Chamber of Trade and Commerce, told The Local: “Hopefully, these
premises will now attract a retail outlet and help maintain North Street as a
popular shopping area.”
The future of the market has been debated in the Bourne Forum for some weeks and
is now highlighted by the Stamford Mercury in a report that South Kesteven
District Council is carrying out a survey to monitor its status and recommend
improvements (August 20th). A three-member all party sub-committee visited the
market last Thursday to talk to traders and assess the situation and their
findings were that although the main Thursday market is doing quite well, the
Saturday market needs a boost, perhaps by introducing a peppercorn rent to
attract reluctant stallholders while the market generally needs more signs to
direct shoppers to the present site behind the town hall. Seats for the elderly,
advertising, additional rubbish bins and stalls selling specialist goods have
also been suggested. Although the deputation was asked to consider the
possibility of putting the market back on the street, this is neither
practical nor viable, particularly when considering road safety, and so we
should be content if the council delivers on the other points raised.
The back garden bird table has been the saviour of many of our birds driven away
from the countryside by intensive farming and most homes now buy seed along with
the groceries to keep them supplied. Each variety attracts its own particular
species and until recently, sunflower seeds were among the most popular.
Local farmer, Nicholas Watts, a keen conservationist who has won a number of
awards, has been growing them on his land at Baston Fen for several years and he
is now experimenting with another delicacy favoured by our wild birds. Nyger is
a black seed that comes from an attractive yellow flower, a member of the aster
family and resembling a small sunflower. It is usually grown in Asia and Africa
for cooking oil but now also exported to Europe and the United States as
birdseed. It is extremely fine and very rich in oil and is similar to the
thistle or teasel and has become a favourite with finches and siskins that can
be fed all year round. But it does need special tube feeders with very small
slit openings although fine mesh bags also work well.
Mr Watts, who also sells a variety of birdseed from Vine House Farm at Deeping
St James, near Bourne, is growing nyger as part of his diversification programme
and three acres are devoted to the crop this year, probably the first in
Britain, and which is currently buzzing with hoverflies and bees that produce a
lot of honey from their visits. “It is an experiment but one that looks as
though it is going to work”, he said, “and we will definitely be growing more
next year if it is successful. The intensification of agriculture in Britain has
deprived birds of food and nesting sites. This has resulted in an alarming
decline in those species that rely on farmland.”
His own work in pursuit of conservation at Vine House Farm has produced
populations of reed bunting, yellowhammer, lapwing, barn owl, skylark and corn
bunting which are all expanding while the national average of these species
drops alarmingly. If you want to help out then the answer is a simple one: buy a
bird table and try some of the many varieties of seeds on offer at Vine House Farm.
Thought for the week: However terrible the state of the world might be today,
there is one infallible consolation to be had: that it will be much worse
tomorrow. This means that each day is a golden age by comparison with its
successor. And how is it possible to be miserable when living in a perpetual
golden age? – Theodore Dalrymple, writing in The Spectator, Saturday
21st August 2004.
Saturday 28th August 2004
Three brothers made a pilgrimage to Bourne last week in homage
to their father, Commander Harry Sellwood, who captained HMS Beryl, the warship
adopted by the town during the Second World War of 1939-45.
The ship, a former fishing trawler built at Hull in 1935, was adapted for mine
sweeping and anti-submarine work and later became involved in the siege of Malta
where Sellwood was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
HMS Beryl was adopted by Bourne during Warships' Week from 7th to 14th February
1942 when over £54,000 was raised to buy the minesweeper (£1.5 million at
today’s values) and the ship was handed over during an official ceremony on the
Abbey Lawn where Rear Admiral F A Buckley of the Royal Navy presented a plaque
from the Admiralty to mark the occasion. In return, Bourne Urban District
Council gave a plaque and both were eventually fixed on the ship and stayed
there for the rest of the war.
The ship was sunk off Malta during an attack on the aircraft carrier HMS
Illustrious on 19th January 1941 but was refloated the following October and
repaired, subsequently becoming the largest naval vessel remaining afloat, the
lone bulwark in the campaign, and was nicknamed "the Flagship of Malta" by the
islanders because she flew the flag of the Flag Officer, Malta.
After the campaign, Sellwood left the ship in November 1943 when there was a
complete change of crew and it went to the Greek Islands and Turkey and later
took part in the Sicily landings leading up to the invasion of Italy. HMS Beryl
was decommissioned when the war ended in 1945 and the following year was sold to
a trawling company at Fleetwood in Lancashire and renamed the Red Knight. It
continued fishing until 1963 when it was sold for demolition and ended its days
in a maritime yard at Barrow-in-Furness where it was eventually broken up and
sold for scrap.
The two plaques handed over at the adoption ceremony in 1942 were later rescued
and preserved by Bert Johns, secretary of the Bourne branch of the Royal Naval
Association. The Admiralty plaque was made of cast iron and bore the ship’s
crest while the town plaque had been specially carved by the late Jack Rayner,
woodwork master at Bourne Grammar School, commemorating the adoption ceremony,
and both can now be seen at the Heritage Centre at Baldock’s Mill in South
Street where they are on display with photographs of the ship and its history
that I have compiled over the past four years.
Sellwood had joined the Royal Navy in 1922 at the age of twelve, enlisting as a
cadet at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and serving until 1947 when he was
invalided out of the service and became a salesman for a firm of steel
stockholders. He died in 1996 at the age of 86 and was cremated at Harlow,
Essex. Checking through their father’s papers after his death, his sons found
correspondence with Bert Johns who had tracked him down during his researches
into HMS Beryl.
“We eventually decided that we would visit Bourne to meet Bert and to see the
display about the ship in the Heritage Centre”, said Richard, aged 61, who is
retired and lives at Godalming, Surrey. He then arranged with his two brothers,
David, aged 66, who is also retired and lives at Bexhill, Surrey, and the
youngest, Robert, aged 52, a planning consultant from Stansted, Essex, to make
the trip and their plans came to fruition on Friday.
“The journey was in homage to our father and all of the courageous men who
served and fought with HMS Beryl”, said Richard. “Like most war veterans, our
father did not talk too much about his experiences. We were greatly impressed
with what we learned and the plaques and documents on display were a most moving
experience because he had been involved in it all. The people of Bourne in those
wartime days sixty years ago also played their part in connection with this
gallant little ship and crew and we should all be justly proud.”
What the local newspapers are saying: A disturbing story of corporate
vandalism on the eve of a public inquiry is reported by The Local which
gives front coverage to the destruction of an orchard adjoining The Croft, a
private house in North Road (August 27th). The site is the subject of a
controversial planning application to build 37 new homes that was rejected by
South Kesteven District Council in December 2003 after widespread objections to the loss
of valuable green space and the ensuing increase in traffic flows but the
developers appealed and a public hearing into the refusal is to be held in the autumn.
The newspaper reveals that heavy equipment moved on to the paddock at the rear of
the site on Wednesday ripping out the majority of the mature fruit trees,
erecting high fences and leaving the land scarred with deep furrows left by the
diggers. Outraged residents living nearby who are among the objectors to the
housing scheme claim that the site has been purposely turned into a wasteland to
make it look less appealing and pave the way for a successful appeal. One of
them told the newspaper: “This is a horrendous, wanton destruction of trees and
wildlife” while another said: “It is sad that it has taken those trees years to
grow and they have disappeared in minutes.”
SDDC has confirmed that no regulations have been broken but it is to be hoped
that the inspector appointed to conduct the appeal will ask the developers to
explain their actions when the hearing takes place at the Corn Exchange in
Bourne on Tuesday 2nd November. This might also be an opportune time for the
Galletly Medical Practice to explain its position because The Local
reports that at the time of the planning application, they were the owners of
this particular piece of land which abuts their premises and is part of the
proposed housing estate alongside The Croft yet the building of new houses will
not only destroy an attractive open space within the community it serves but the
entire town appears to be opposed to such a development.
Street names on new housing estates are always a problem and developers, advised
by the local authorities, usually choose something connected with the town or
locality. The latest batch of names for the next phase of the massive 2,000-home Elsea Park
development south of Bourne appears to reflect what we have lost and so perhaps
they have been chosen out of guilt as another huge swathe of English countryside
disappears under bricks and mortar. The names published by the Stamford
Mercury (August 27th) read like a catalogue of our native flowers that are
fast disappearing in the wake of the housing advance: Bluebell Way, Cowslip
Crescent, Daisy Court, Heartsease Way, Iris Gardens, Poppy Place, Speedwell Drive
and Teasel Drive. In years to come, they will have become so unfamiliar that
children living here may well be asking their parents the meaning of these
names.
Our council tax will inevitably be going up next April when there will be
demands from the police for more money to fund their operations. It is therefore
worthwhile to consider this letter that appeared in the correspondence columns
of The Local, written by a frequent visitor from Lincoln, about the state
of crime and anti-social behaviour is this town (August 27th):
To the residents of Bourne: I write to you
regarding the gradual demise of the town centre over the past couple of years. I
visit on a regular basis, staying over most weekends, and during that time I
have seen a quiet, beautiful market town, full of charm and friendly people,
change at night into a noisy, dangerous, dirty place where you dare not venture
alone after dark for fear of getting caught up in some fracas. I have witnessed
gangs of marauding under-age drinkers, yet no police presence. This leads to
drunken children, that is all they are, staggering in front of traffic, throwing
up and urinating in shop doorways and generally causing a nuisance, drinking
themselves into a drunken stupor and ending up having to be carried home. I have
seen teenagers rolling under lorries queued up at the South Street traffic
lights, daring each other to get across the road before the lights change. I
have witnessed a young girl, under-age, drunk and semi-conscious, lying on the
footpath and being sick. She was so inebriated that she was unable to stand.
Youths removing road signs, throwing bottles in the street and jumping out in
front of cars. What an example to this lovely quiet town! I have called the
police but they never arrived.
The increasing wait to see a doctor has become a major stumbling block in
the efficiency of the National Health Service and, as I pointed out in this
column last week, the current delay of seven to ten days for an appointment in
Bourne is likely to rise in the future as the building of ever more new houses
pushes up the population.
Yet a survey by the Developing Patient Partnerships and the Institute of
Healthcare Management claimed this week that almost nine million appointments
are missed each year, wasting a huge amount of time and resources and costing
the NHS £160 million annually. As a result, two-thirds of general practitioners
from 700 surgeries involved in their survey backed the idea of fining non-attenders.
This may not be a good idea and would most probably be inoperable. Who, for
instance, would assess which patients would be fined, under what conditions and
whether a penalty were justified? And, more to the point, would the doctors be
fined for not keeping their appointments on time? The dispassionate observer
would assume that if anyone missed their appointment, the vacant slot would
provide more opportunity for others to see the doctor but the truth is that a
missed attendance upsets the system which is not programmed to cope with anyone
who steps outside it.
There is an apparent inequality in the system of booking appointments at clinics
in Bourne where they are compiled on a first come first served basis, giving no
regard to the condition of the patient, and so someone with a pressing need to
see the doctor will find themselves in a queue behind dozens of routine cases
that may push up the annual performance statistics but could easily wait until
more urgent consultations have been completed. It will take a little more
organising than merely requiring ladies at the reception desk to simply punch in
the first available time that comes up on their computer screen on their
keyboard but that is a challenge the clinics ought to face. The ideal solution
would be a system of same day appointments, telephoning in the morning and
seeing a doctor that day, something you are most unlikely to forget or cancel.
This would also enable those in need of urgent medical advice to have a
consultation without becoming bogged down in a lengthy waiting list of routine
appointments.
Cancellations may be a problem but the majority would appear to be the
consequence of the long wait by patients to see the doctor. A large number of
these are
routine cases, such as medication assessment, maternity or health care
tests and checks, and so some who have been booked in forget to attend, while
many who are ill get better in the intervening fortnight or perhaps consider
their condition less serious than at first thought. One thing is certain: if an
appointment is made by someone who really needs to see the doctor then they will
keep it.
Instead of conjuring up penalties for patients, doctors ought to concentrate on
providing rapid access that would make it unnecessary for anyone to book a
future appointment “just in case”. It is the system that is failing, not the
patients. They do have a responsibility to notify a clinic if they cannot attend
but people are not infallible. It is equally the duty of doctors to provide a
responsive, accessible and speedy service.
The Department of Health said in a statement this week that most people were now
having the opportunity to be seen by a GP within two days but this is not the
case here in Bourne which does not have the same pressures as in the inner
cities yet there are signs that the waiting list is lengthening because at least
one person who needed to see the doctor on Monday was booked in on the first
available date a fortnight hence. A more productive survey therefore would have
been to establish how many clinics and surgeries are not delivering as they
should and then financial penalties might be an appropriate course of action.
Thought for the week: The history of medicine is bestrewn with brief
enthusiasms of no ultimate value to anybody except doctors.
– Bernard Levin,
broadcaster and journalist, who died earlier this month, aged 75, quoted by The
Times on Saturday 14th August 2004.
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