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Saturday 6th August 2005
The Green Flag Award Scheme is the national standard for
parks and green spaces in England, established in 1996 by the Civic Trust as a
means of recognising and rewarding the best green spaces in the country. It is
also seen as a method of encouraging others to achieve the same high
environmental standards, creating a benchmark of excellence in recreational
areas.
This year’s awards have recently been announced and there were more than 200 of
them, and although 20 parks in the East Midlands were rated as being among the
country’s finest, there was only one in this county, the Lincoln Arboretum. It
was therefore too much to hope that the Wellhead Gardens in Bourne might qualify
yet this is the very sort of amenity that should.
The benefits of an award are far reaching because a site flying the prestigious
green flag means that this is an open space worth visiting and we are all aware
of the effect that an amenity of this quality has on people’s lives. It is a
place to visit frequently, to sit awhile and admire the view, to walk and
reflect on life, and above all, to enjoy just being in the open air in amenable
surroundings.
There is much discussion about the declining quality of our parks but the award
list proves that there are many examples of thriving, popular sites run by
dedicated, enthusiastic people working closely with their local communities.
Some sites that were run down and neglected just a few years ago are now shining
examples of green space management and this shows the way forward. This is not
the case in Bourne. We are into high summer when the town can expect many
visitors either passing through and staying awhile or arriving here on holiday,
to see relatives, or to seek out those places they once knew. Others are
attracted here by the images shown on the Bourne Internet web site and it is to
be hoped that none of them will be disappointed.
The focal point is the Wellhead Gardens, a haven of peace and tranquillity just
a short step from a busy town centre and often featured here with photographs
reflecting its appearance in all seasons from the magnificent pink and white
cherry blossom of spring to the snow of deepest winter. Generally the gardens
are well kept but the fringes still need attention and many areas are a disgrace
and are a poor advertisement for our town. St Peter’s Pool, one of the country’s
most ancient springs around which this community was founded, is particularly
neglected with algae piled up on the banks while the Bourne Eau which runs
nearby is choked with weeds and rubbish. These matters have been pointed out many
times in the past but nothing has been done by those responsible, namely the
trustees of Bourne United Charities, an organisation which conducts its affairs
in private and refuses to involve the people even though they administer large
funds that were left for their benefit.
There was a time when all meetings of this organisation were held in public at
the Corn Exchange and decisions only taken after lengthy consultation. But this
openness, this transparency, is a thing of the past. BUC is no longer a
democratic organisation and has become instead a fiefdom for the trustees,
meeting behind closed doors and unwilling to impart details of their decisions, the
appointment of officials and the disbursement of monies under their control.
There have been suggestions that because of their advanced ages, many of the 15
trustees have been in office far too long and certainly some may be considered
to be way past the stage when their deliberations are of value. This is
therefore the time when they should consider their position. Bourne is expanding
and newcomers are moving in daily and so new faces, new ideas, are needed in the
boardroom at the Red Hall. Those who have become too comfortable in their chairs
without contributing should acknowledge that now is the time to stand down for
the good of the town.
Younger members with a modern outlook, with verve and imagination, are urgently
needed. In short, Bourne United Charities needs to modernise and the old guard
should yield gracefully to the wind of change. The present trustees are
currently sitting on millions of pounds, some of which ought to be spent for the
public good as the original bequests were intended instead of being tied up in
investments that benefit no one. If this were done, then perhaps some of the
eyesores that are defacing our beauty spots and offending our summer visitors
could be removed and the appearance of the town enhanced as a result.
What an achievement to see a green flag flying over the Wellhead. The trustees
should look to their laurels and make this their target for 2006.
What the local newspapers are saying:
A remarkable initiative to open the
new south west relief road at Bourne has been suggested by the town’s M P,
Quentin Davies, in an interview with the Stamford Mercury this week. The
1½-mile stretch of carriageway was completed nine weeks ago at a cost of £5
million but has been sealed off to vehicles at both ends because of a dispute
between the developers, Allison Homes, who built it, and Lincolnshire County
Council, the highways authority. Mr Davies told the newspaper (August 5th) that
drastic action is needed to get traffic moving and that the road should be
forcibly seized for the benefit of the public. The M P claims that a compulsory
purchase order could be made by the county council which could then take it over
for the nominal sum of £1 within a matter of days and so end the current
absurdity which was denying traffic the use of a much needed amenity. He added:
“If Martians came from outer space and saw the human race had poured so much of
its time and resources into building a road they then denied themselves the use
of, they would think we were all completely mad. If it is not open by the end of
August, I will make increasingly aggressive moves to put an end to this fiasco.”
Meanwhile, The Local suggests that a serious accident in the town centre
on Friday of last week that brought traffic to a standstill could have been
avoided (August 5th). Long queues of waiting vehicles formed in all directions
when a JCB and two cars were in collision at the traffic lights and town
councillor Mrs Shirley Cliffe told the newspaper: “If the new road had been in
use the traffic would not have been so bad. It is ridiculous that it has not
been opened and the accident shows why we need it.”
Allison Homes, the Spalding based firm which built the road as part of the
planning gain for the 2,000-home Elsea Park estate, are still refusing to
comment on the situation. Both the Stamford Mercury and The Local
report the company’s reluctance to speak to the media and explain their actions
although a contributor to the Bourne Forum claims that she has received a
response to her email as part of a campaign called “Release our Road”. The
message said that the facts of the case were being distorted by the press and
that the company was working with the local authorities to open the road but a
number of quality and safety audits, including lighting, were needed first
although they were now suffering from regular vandalism because of its early
delivery.
I therefore emailed the company myself suggesting that they contribute an item
to this web site explaining their position which would be used verbatim and
without comment but there has been no reply. The public is totally bemused by
this silence and it would seem that Allison Homes are in dire need of skilled
public relations advice because their reputation plummets further with every day
the road remains closed.
The Herald and Post is an erratic publication, delivered free to many
homes in the town some weeks and not others, and on sale in the shops for 30p
although it carries so few news items that there is little point in buying it
unless you are addicted to advertising which is what fills most of its pages.
Local stories are rarely published although we do get occasional glimpses of
what is going on in Peterborough and Stamford if you are interested. If you do
not get a copy and would like a free one, the best place to collect it would be
alongside the footpath behind the Robert Manning Technical College because
someone dumps dozens of copies in the hedgerow there most weeks, littering the
countryside and giving a new meaning to the phrase the gutter press.
That excellent satirical magazine Private Eye carries a column called
Bomb-balls that gives space to utterances from people in high places using 7/7
as a peg to hang flimsy events without actually having relevance to them.
Councillor Martin Hill, the leader of Lincolnshire County Council, must surely
qualify for inclusion with his contribution to the August issue of County News,
the authority’s own newspaper that is circulated free to 314,000 homes in the
county in which he says: “During the London bombings I was attending a national
conference in Harrogate on local government. It was a useful opportunity to find
out about the government’s challenging agenda for councils, to meet others in
similar positions, and to promote our wonderful county.” Someone, perhaps the
editor of County News which printed this nonsense, should tell Councillor
Hill for future reference that such incongruous and tenuous couplings are a sign
that one’s activities are not necessarily quite so important as one thinks.
This must be a significant job but can anyone tell us what it all
means? I quote from the official web site run by South Kesteven District
Council:
Valerie Hayllor has joined the council as
interim director of tenancy services. Ms Hayllor has been involved with housing
matters for over 25 years, which has included a wide range of experience in
local government and housing associations, much at director level. Ms Hayllor
said: “My objective is to set up a tenancy services team that is fully focussed
on what tenants want. I am experienced in setting up new organisations and
developing very strong customer-focussed services. My vision is to have a tenant
services team that tenants will be a part of. I want to get to a position where
tenants can make informed decisions about the future of their homes. We need to
build good foundations for existing and future tenants.
SKDC already employs around 700 people and those of us who pay
their swingeing council tax to foot the bill for their salaries would like to
know exactly what Ms Hayllor will be doing because we are unable to establish
that from this gobbledygook, and, more importantly, how much is she being paid?
If some of our common wild flowers were not so familiar, they would be
highly sought after for planting out in gardens and parks. I have often thought
that dandelions and daisies come into this category yet these beautiful plants
are scorned and uprooted as weeds the moment they make an appearance on the lawn
or in the herbaceous border.
Another underrated bloom is the great willowherb, a magnificent example of our
native flora that is usually found growing in great masses in damp places such
as marshes, the edges of ponds and the margins of lakes, rivers and streams and
also colonises rubbish tips, derelict land, demolition sites and railway
embankments but is never found in cultivated plots inhabited annually by their
puny rivals from nurseries and garden centres. Few displays can equal a bank of
willowherb in full bloom, a mass of tall, slender rose-purple spikes that can be
seen from a distance waving in the breeze to delight the eye between July and
September but chopped down mercilessly by dedicated gardeners once they show a
presence on their land.
They do tend to spread underground at an alarming rate to form vast clumps but
therein lies their beauty and in autumn, the fluffy masses of plumed seeds are
wafted great distances on the breeze and this would not endear you to the
neighbours but while they last the summer months in profusion elsewhere, they
are a sight to behold.
Great willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) is tall and softly hairy, the
leaves, and particularly the top shoots, when slightly bruised, having a
delicate and cool odour resembling scalded codlings, hence its popular name of
Codlings and Cream, but this fragrance is soon lost after the plant is gathered.
It is also called, in allusion to this delicate scent, Apple Pie, Cherry Pie,
Gooseberry Pie, Sod Apple and Plum Pudding, and is believed to be St Anthony's
herb of antiquity. But unlike most wild plants, it has few medicinal
applications and although the leaves have been used as astringents, there have
been reports in the past of violent poisoning with epileptic like convulsions
having been caused by its employment.
Thought for the week: The good of the people is the chief law.
–
Marcus Tullus Cicero, Roman orator and statesman (106-43 BC).
Saturday 13th August 2005
The two black swans that have made their home on St
Peter’s Pool are now such a familiar sight that they have become an icon for
Bourne, having been featured on the front page of the town guide for 2004-05 and
frequently on this web site which is read around the world. It would be a sad
thing therefore if we were to lose them for any reason although evidence has now
come to light that we may be breaking the law in the way they are looked after.
The swans have been here since July 1999 when they were given to the town as a
gift from the Wildfowl Trust and a shelter was installed on the side of the pool
where they laid their eggs but this proved to be vulnerable to foxes and so an
artificial island made from wood and floating in the middle of the pool was
introduced to ensure that they kept out of harm's way and this has proved to be
more effective.
Black swans are indigenous to Australia and Tasmania and they are handsome birds
with dark, curly feathers, a bright red bill and white wing feathers that show
only in flight. One appears on the armorial standard of Western Australia where
the Dutch discovered it in 1697 and they took it to Batavia and thence to Europe
where the existence of a black swan was regarded with amazement. Like the mute
swan, it has been successfully domesticated and raised in captivity and this
pair has become part of the scene in the Wellhead Gardens and a popular
attraction.
John Collins, a visitor to this web site, tells me that a relative who lives at
Cowden in Kent, close to the Sussex border, also has a pair of black swans
nesting on her pond and he asked whether cygnets were legally required to be
pinioned in England to prevent them from flying away and if so at what age
should this be done?
Our own birds have had several cygnets each year, fluffy grey bundles that
attract many children most days to see their progress although the young birds
are always banished by their parents on reaching adulthood and fly off to live
elsewhere and I have discovered that this is typical of the black swan’s
breeding habits. Observations from Mr Collins indicate that the black swans in
Kent also disowned their cygnets after a while, especially when a new brood has
arrived.
Not knowing whether this should be prevented by removing the flight feathers, I
sought expert advice from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and
emailed Ian Peters, their wildlife advisor, at the society’s headquarters at
Sandy in Bedfordshire. His reply has surprised me because he wrote:
Under new government regulations, anyone
keeping non-native species will have to ensure that the birds do not escape.
However, there are already some feral birds around the country although breeding
is rarely successful. Black swans are rarely more dominant than native mute
swans and the latter would not allow black swans to breed nearby.
This would indicate that legally, our black swans and their
cygnets should be pinioned to prevent them from flying away although that is not
a course of action that many bird lovers would approve of. Yet that appears to
be the correct course of action, as the Worcestershire Swan Study Group has
already discovered. They have been ringing swans in the county for the past 20
years and this year they discovered a lone black swan cob on the River Severn in
Worcester and it has since found a female companion.
“By law”, said a spokesman, “all black swans must be kept in captivity and their
wings pinioned so they cannot breed in the wild and overwhelm the British swan
population.”
This leaves us in Bourne with a problem over our pair of black swans and the
young they produce because we must first decide who actually owns them. They
were a gift to the people and so I imagine that responsibility for them rests
with the town council but then they are resident at St Peter’s Pool which is
administered by Bourne United Charities and so the trustees are probably
accountable. It is unimaginable that we should lose our black swans or see the
lives of their cygnets restricted in any way but again we would not wish those
responsible for them to be seen breaking the law. Perhaps someone out there has
wiser counsel on the subject although it appears that solving this problem will
need the wisdom of Solomon.
What the local newspapers are saying: Yet another retail complex is on
the cards for Bourne, according to The Local which carries a front page
report that the Opico agricultural machinery distribution centre in South Road
is to be sold for commercial development (August 12th). Plans have already been
submitted to build a new supermarket, D-I-Y superstore and garden centre on the
five acres of land and the company which has been there since 1983 will be
relocating but remaining in Bourne and so current jobs appear to be safe. This
is what we call progress and it is inevitable in a small but expanding town
where so much house building is going on and indeed the site is only a short
distance away from the new Elsea Park estate that will eventually have 2,000
homes. The company behind the retail development is the Anglia Co-operative
Society that already owns the Rainbow Store in Manning Road which will most
probably close. But horror of horrors, their property manager Andrew Dightory
also tells the newspaper: “We may also look into opening two take-away food
units on the site” in which case I suggest that he takes a look at the number of
fast food outlets already operating in Bourne before making a final decision.
The continued closure of the south west relief road gets more space in the two
main local newspapers but there is little sign that they are influencing those
responsible to see the error of their ways despite campaigns by both to have it
opened. The Local carries more opinions of
disgruntled residents and the developers Allison Homes are still seen as the
culprits in this fiasco (August 12th). Jack Rowlands, who lives in West Street,
Bourne, one of the main roads through the town centre that will benefit from
reduced traffic flows once the £4 million road does open, says in a letter to
the editor: “It is about time that Allison Homes realise how much aggravation
they are causing to the people of Bourne through their stubbornness to hand over
the road for public use. They should send someone along to my home to experience
the noise and interference in our lives from heavy lorries and to see the damage
they are doing to the kerbstones and footpath but I don’t expect they are aware
of these side issues and presumably don’t care.”
Allison Homes, which is part of the Kier Group, finally broke its silence
yesterday (August 12th) by issuing a Press statement "in response to ambiguous
press coverage to clarify its position." The statement read:
Allison Homes took the initiative to
construct the road ahead of the intended programme date of 2011 for the benefit
of the local community. The road is now complete - six years ahead of schedule –
fully funded by Allison. Because this programme has been brought forward, issues
relating to the provision of playing fields must be resolved with the County
Council before the road can open. Variations to resolve these issues have been
agreed in principle with the district council but until such time as the county
council responds formally, no progress can be made. Allison Homes has invested
£4m in the construction of this road and is providing a raft of other facilities
at Elsea Park to benefit the local community. Managing director Mick O’Farrell
commented: “Our reason for bringing the programme forward was to make the road
available as soon as we possibly could and the ongoing situation since March
2004 has been as frustrating for us as it has for the potential users of the
road. Following discussions with the council we are now hopeful that this will
be brought to a speedy conclusion.
This does not clarify the situation as the company suggests
because it tells the public nothing that they did not already know. Only the
opening of the road will have the desired effect.
The Stamford Mercury gives picture coverage to the marks
that have appeared in the grass at the Wellhead Gardens because of the recent dry
weather, suggesting that they may indicate the site where Bourne Castle once
stood (August 12th). Local man Cyril Holdcroft claims that the outlines show
where the stone battlements were situated but a moment’s thought would prove
this to be a fanciful theory because it is doubtful if a castle with high walls
would sink so low into the earth and even if it did, the patches would be square
rather than round. A more rational explanation is that they are post holes from
the dwellings and barns of the community that once lived here, and so the dry
patches would be caused by timber below the surface rather than stone.
The existence of Bourne Castle is deeply embedded in the perception of the
people who cling to their traditions, and that is as it should be, but the
latest discoveries, although remarkable, do not carry the subject further and
until fresh and firm evidence is forthcoming, we cannot say with any conviction
that it was ever a reality. The last excavations took place in 1861 but the
results were inconclusive and so speculation will continue until a more thorough
and detailed archaeological dig is carried out using modern methods. What a
remarkable prospect for the Time Team from Channel 4 Television with Tony
Robinson at the helm, especially as the castle is reputed to have once been the
home of Hereward the Wake. This would be an excellent opportunity to find out more
about the site and to lay to rest some of the myths and legends associated with
it, boosting interest in our heritage and among tourists as film-making has
recently done for Stamford. Perhaps the trustees of Bourne United Charities who
administer the Wellhead Gardens might think this a worthy topic for discussion
at their next meeting.
The Bourne Internet web site is seven 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 wished to be read, but today, Google, a miracle of
revelation, gives us hundreds of mentions depending on the subject in which you
are interested.
As the months went by, we added new features, 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 336 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.
Other features include the Bourne Forum, a lively discussion group that
frequently anticipates what the local newspapers will be saying, a list of old
friends who want to keep in touch, a family history section in which 200 old
Bourne names are being researched, links to other clubs, schools and
organisations and a notice board giving a weekly run down of local events that
reflect the lively and varied nature of what is going on in this town.
Two years ago, 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 and its current chairman, Councillor John Kirkman, the present Mayor of
Bourne, Councillor Judy Smith, Councillors Don Fisher and Trevor Holmes, Ivan
Fuller, the Town Centre Coordinator, 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 it is updated regularly. 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 its Web Site of the Month award in August
1999, acknowledging 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 are located, averaging around 1,500 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?
Thought for the week: The most stringent protection of free speech would
not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.
–
Oliver Wendell Holmes, junior, American judge, member of the United States
Supreme Court and supporter of the individual rights of the private citizen
(1841-1935).
Saturday 20th August 2005
There was a visitor to Bourne last weekend who reminded
us of our links with Hull, the east coast fishing port that came under severe
enemy attack during the Second World War of 1939-45.
He was Robert Mayo, one of the 900 children sent to this area to escape the
bombings that were both extensive and deadly. He arrived here on 1st September
1939 as part of the government’s massive evacuation programme that moved almost
1½ million children from sensitive zones around the country to safe areas over
the next three days followed by others in the coming months. They went by road
and rail with gas masks, identity labels tied to their clothing and baggage and
a supply of food for the journey. It was a step into the unknown for all of them
and many were frightened at being away from their families for the first time.
Bourne welcomed them and gave them homes.
Robert, then aged 4, was sent to live with Kath and George Rodgers at their
cottage in Spalding Road, now demolished. The following month was his fifth
birthday and he was enrolled as a pupil at the Bourne County Primary School (now
the Abbey Primary School). He stayed until 1946 and had several other billetings
in the town for short periods, with Harry and Florence Barnatt in Stanley Street
and at a children’s reception hostel that was opened in West Street.
But he looks back on the time spent with Mr and Mrs Rodgers as the most
enjoyable in his life and in later years returned regularly to see them and
reminisce about the old days. Although both are now dead, Robert, aged 70 and
retired, still makes an annual pilgrimage to Bourne with his wife Colleen to
visit the places he once knew and despite the deprivations and restrictions of
the war years where he was at his happiest.
On Saturday, while visiting Councillor Don Fisher at his home in West Road,
Robert recalled those times that had become a landmark in the formative years of
childhood:
I remember my stay in Bourne as a period of
beautiful summers and cold winters, kind-hearted people, lovely food always on
the table and everything was grown in the garden. It was a very happy time and I
loved every minute of it and that is why I keep coming back. I had no idea why I
had been sent to Bourne because I did not understand the meaning of the word
evacuation and I didn’t know what the war was about until I got older, but I
soon came to realise that it meant a better life for me than what I had been
used to. At first, I did nothing but cry and wet the bed, which is natural when
kids are anxious and that must have been difficult for these looking after me
because the lavatories were so primitive, usually outside and made of wood and
sometimes even a hole at the bottom of the garden.
Schooling was alright. I was not a great scholar and not that well educated but
I did learn that two and two made four and I can look after my cash perfectly
well and practically, I can turn my hand to anything.
But I loved being with Mr and Mrs Rodgers. My memories are of being brought up
to be well-mannered by them and after a while, I began to regard them as my Mam
and Dad and they took to me as their son and I shall never forget as long as I
live the kindness, the love and tenderness they gave me. They were wonderful
people and I was always happy to be with them and when the time eventually came
for me to leave, I did not want to go and nor did Mrs Rodgers but the war was
over and there was no other choice and I had to go back to my own family. Living
here was the happiest and the loveliest time I have ever had in my life.
There were however some experiences that Robert would like to
forget. For three months, while Mrs Rodgers was recovering from a difficult
birth, he was sent to live with one of the town’s prominent businessmen in North Road, then home to Bourne’s more affluent citizens. “I try to
blot those weeks out of my mind”, he said. “Life was quite different for me in
his house. Everything was so strict and there was no consideration for children.
My day ended with bread and milk at half past three in the afternoon and I had
to be in bed by four even though all the other kids were still out playing and
enjoying themselves. He had this regime and kept to it no matter how unhappy I
was about it. That is something I will never forget from a man who should have
known better.”
The evacuees remained until the war ended in the summer of 1945 although it was
the early months of 1946 before arrangements were made for all of them to return
home. But their stay in Bourne had made a lasting impression. Some later married
local girls and had families while many others returned regularly to visit the
friends they had made. None forgot their wartime experience and many remembered
those days with satisfaction and even pleasure.
During their visit on Saturday, Robert and Colleen bought flowers and then
visited the town cemetery to lay them on the grave of Mrs Rodgers who died on
12th September 1994. “I will be back again next year”, he said. “Bourne is
engraved on my heart and I can never forget it.”
An account of the Hull evacuees and their stay in Bourne has been added to A
Portrait of Bourne on CD-ROM, which is the definitive history of this town, but
other memories and old photographs are welcome.
What the local newspapers are saying: New businesses that have opened in
Bourne recently include a tattooist and a pawnbroker but it is a matter of
opinion whether this is natural commercial growth for a small market town
or signs of the downward slide in our social standards. Now, according to the
Stamford Mercury, we have a massage parlour that has begun business very
quietly at premises in Abbey Road but an enterprise that has caused an extremely
loud commotion among the great and the good (August 19th). The establishment is
called Raffles and according to the owner, Steve Morley, will cater for
male-only clients, mainly from out of the area and among the travelling business
community. “Our operation is above board and fully legal”, he said. “It is
nothing unusual these days and businesses of this type are springing up all over
the country.”
But not without opposition because Raffles is just across the road from the
Methodist Church whose minister, the Rev Colin Martin, is in no doubt about the
effect it might have on his congregation. “I am definitely not in favour of this
type of business in the heart of the town or anywhere else in Bourne for that
matter”, he told reporter James Westgate. “It is directly opposite our church
and will create an uncomfortable situation for some of my flock coming to and
from services.” Town councillor Mrs Marjorie Clark, a former mayor, is equally
incensed and she wants Raffles closed down immediately. “I am dead against it and
it should not be allowed anywhere in the town”, she said. “I am chiefly
concerned about the type of person it will attract and it is only a matter of
time before other similar businesses open up and that is the last thing we want
in a small, friendly place like this.”
An application for the change of use of the Abbey Road premises from offices to
massage parlour has been submitted to South Kesteven District Council but will
be debated first by Bourne Town Council. Fast food outlets have already had a
rough ride and I suspect that a massage parlour may encounter similar stormy
weather but if it’s any consolation to the objectors, the tattooist and
pawnbroker who caused such a furore in past times both misjudged the market
potential in this locality and have long since closed down.
There is a daily expectation in Bourne that the south west relief road will be
opened but the prognosis is not good. Allison Homes, developers of the
2,000-home Elsea Park estate who built the £4 million stretch of carriageway,
have finally broken their silence after more than two months by issuing a Press
release last Friday, a most inept example of public relations because the local
newspapers had already been published and the weekend was looming and so its
contents were not widely exposed until this week. The Lincolnshire Free Press
suggests that “Allison Homes hits back at claims over opening delays” (August
16th) but close scrutiny reveals that they do no such thing and their statement
neither justifies nor takes the issue any further but merely states that the 1½
mile stretch of road is closed until negotiations are complete over other
matters.
The Stamford Mercury also carries an item about the Press release
suggesting that “its comments have created more questions than answers” (August
19th) but as with The Local, the newspaper highlights the most
contentious part of the statement that “following discussions with Lincolnshire
County Council, we are now hopeful that this will be brought to a speedy
conclusion” although it declines to state either how or when this might be
achieved.
What those in charge at Allison Homes still fail to understand is that the
people of this town and those who use our highways are interested in only one
thing and that is to see this road opened. They are unmoved by squabbles in high
places or posturing over contractual details but see only a completed
carriageway whose use is denied them for obscure reasons they cannot understand.
Instead of issuing meaningless Press statements such as this, the public
relations department at Allison Homes (or its parent company, the Kier Group)
should be exercising its primary duty, that of maintaining relations with the
public by indicating to the directors the error of their ways. The company
should open the road now and settle their differences later. Only then will they
restore their lost credibility in this town.
How many people have given thoughtful consideration to the district in
which they live? Not whether their house is in the town or country, the
metropolis or the suburbs, but whether they are mindful of those who live around
us and who we traditionally call the neighbours.
It would be a rewarding exercise to sit down one evening with your partner and
discuss the occupants of each house in the street, or at least those that you
know, and decide whether or not they contribute to your well being and the
yardstick is not hard to determine because if they are affable, presentable, not
too noisy and say “Hello” when you meet, or even stop for a chat, then you are
lucky. If this then extends to a drink at the pub together or an evening out, he
helping with those household D-I-Y jobs that mystify and vice versa while the
wives go shopping and the children play together, then you are rich indeed but
you also need to contribute in similar measure. Neighbourliness is a two-way
street. It is all part of the tapestry of living together because homo sapiens
is a sociable animal.
Small towns such as Bourne are a conglomerate of neighbourhoods and each has its
own identity. My own is a cul de sac, off the beaten track and populated mainly
by elderly retired couples. But we do have families living here and a bunch of
delightful children who skip, run and hop up and down most days when they are
not at school and are not in the least bit bothersome. They have various ports
of call and are welcomed in by couples whose own children have long since left
home, and they wave excitedly as you drive in after a trip out to the shops.
They are a reminder that they are our future generation, that one day they may
be living in these very houses and that this will be their life. It is therefore
up to us to show them that we can live in harmony.
Net curtains do twitch, not so much because of Neighbourhood Watch but more
through sheer curiosity, and so as we observe each other’s affairs, their
comings and goings, we can also keep an eye on their properties and ensure that
they are safe when they are away. The fact that we can also see when those
living nearby get a new fridge, a Sky dish, a conservatory built or a shed
delivered, is a bonus, for such is the stuff of street gossip. We also have a
new family here, a young couple with a baby who have become part of our life
without even knowing it, allowing the children who play here to see the infant
almost daily and discuss its progress with them each time they leave home, and
so unwittingly they are adding to the education of the young who will be our
future.
There must be old curmudgeons hereabouts but there is little regard for those
who do not speak to the people next door for some imagined slight or grievance
and fortunately such cases are few. Tolerance is the watchword and long may good
neighbourliness thrive because it is the backbone of our communities and I find
our little close a microcosm of England as it should be. If nations exercised as
much forbearance, there would be no wars.
Message from abroad: Your web pages on Bourne are excellent, a model of
what can be done for a town with so much history. - email from Daniel
Smothergill, Syracuse, New York, USA, Tuesday 16th August 2005.
Thought for the week: Bureaucratic procedures have increased almost
everywhere – education, the health services, the police force, housing and
social work departments, the prisons, government ministries – to the point where
they have supplanted the ostensible purposes of the various organisations in
which they are employed. – Theodore Dalrymple, writing in The Spectator,
Saturday 20th August 2005.
Saturday 27th August 2005
An Internet web site to the memory of local farmer and
businessman Len Pick and the way in which his £4 million legacy to the town will
be distributed was launched this week and it is an excellent presentation. Not
only does it give us a glimpse of the man and his beliefs, but it also offers an
insight into how he envisaged his money would be spent.
The web site is published by the trust set up as a result of the philanthropy of
Thomas Leonard Pick (1909-2004), known to all as Len, who was born and educated
in this town, attending Bourne Grammar School for a brief period but leaving
when he was only 14 to join his father’s coal distribution company, managing it
from the age of 16 and subsequently running the family’s wholesale potato
business.
In later life he also became a successful farmer and landowner before finally
retiring in 1975 to devote himself to his hobbies which included gardening,
playing the piano and walking around the town he loved, becoming a solitary but
still familiar figure in his declining years, carrying a stick and wearing a cap
and long raincoat. He also deplored the loss of the old values which gives us
the measure of the man. “The worst change I have seen is the lack of law and
order”, he said in a newspaper interview in 1999. “There also seems to be a lot
of vandalism but in my day we’d be running scared if ever we saw a policeman.”
He died on 29th January 2004, aged 94, leaving most of his money to the town and
the Len Pick Trust has been set up to ensure that it is distributed according to
his wishes, their objectives being
. . . for the general benefit of the
inhabitants of the town of Bourne, Lincolnshire, to further such charitable
purposes as the trustees in their absolute discretion shall think fit and in
particular the trustees shall make grants to local charitable organisations such
as the Abbey Church, the Outdoor Swimming Pool, the Darby & Joan Club, the
Salvation Army and the Butterfield Day Centre.
The trustees are committed to three guiding principles, firstly
to fulfil the aims of the benefactor for the benefit of the townspeople of
Bourne, to provide full accountability and transparency for their actions and to be pro-active in fulfilling their role for the better management of the trust.
A public meeting is to be held at the Corn Exchange on Wednesday 21st September
to further clarify and explain the proposed aims and workings of the trust for
the assistance of charitable and voluntary organisations within the area of
benefit which includes not only Bourne but also Cawthorpe, Dyke and Twenty that
lie within the parish. This is the very best news for Bourne this year,
especially for those many people who labour in the vineyards of voluntary effort
where the cause is always good but money invariably scarce. The Len Pick Trust
now offers a ray of hope for their endeavours.
The trustees are to be applauded for their work in making the public aware of
their activities and the way in which local organisations might benefit.
Comparisons will be made because their new web site brings into sharp relief the
conduct of Bourne United Charities that administers large sums of money accrued
from bequests to this town in past times and although their deliberations were
also once similarly made by public consultation, through meetings at the Corn
Exchange and elsewhere, they are now arrived at in private and no statements are
issued to the Press afterwards, either about their deliberations or the
appointment of trustees, while outside discussion is frowned upon, and so it is
regarded as a reclusive organisation answerable to no one even though it sits on
millions of pounds that is due to this town.
Bourne is lucky in having two substantial charities devoted to its welfare but
both must be transparent and open to scrutiny. The Len Pick Trust has indicated
the way forward in this modern age and their latest announcements should be a
wake-up call to the trustees of Bourne United Charities to emerge from their
time warp, to discard old and antiquated habits and to bring their activities
into the public arena rather than remain cloistered in the boardroom at the Red
Hall where continued secrecy does them little credit.
The availability of hospital treatment for the seriously
ill recedes daily and the problem of lengthening waiting lists is now being
exacerbated by a shrinkage in the number of hospital beds. Ward closures are
becoming commonplace throughout the country and here in Bourne we have cause for
concern over the future of the hospitals at Peterborough and Stamford that serve
this town.
Our own hospitals have long since disappeared in the name of financial
expediency and we were promised that there would be no reduction in the health
services yet this is exactly what has happened. Each cut back is a fresh blow to
our peace of mind and the latest move to shut the Hurst Ward at Stamford
Hospital is seen as a precursor to the closure of the entire building.
The dismissal of this scenario by health executives has a hollow ring to those
who have experienced similar situations, not least with the Bourne and the
Butterfield hospitals, because we well know that the condemnation of false
rumour is invariably followed by small cuts, then bigger cuts, a public
consultation and then a complete closure, always in defiance of public opinion.
In the light of past experience therefore, the writing appears to be on the wall
for Stamford Hospital.
Hospital trusts, as with local authorities, have become overstretched salary and
pension providers with a public service commitment on the side. The accountants
rather than the medical consultants, decide on future planning and if Stamford
Hospital closes, the site will almost certainly be sold off for housing. This
appears to be the pattern with many of our institutional buildings but there are
small obstacles the bureaucrats will encounter on the way when trying to dispose
of them and that is proof of ownership.
The problem is already looming at Stamford where the search is on for the deeds
of the hospital. It was built in 1828 to designs by J P Gandy on land given by
the Marquess of Exeter and although the records can only be traced back to 1890,
the original documents cannot be found and they will be needed before any legal
transaction can take place. Such an omission could hamper or even thwart any
possible sale because the papers may well contain a clause stating that the land
can only be used for a hospital, as has been the case elsewhere in the country.
These are events that we in Bourne should watch with extreme care because we
have already seen Bourne Hospital, built for the good of the town with
ratepayers’ money in 1915, sold off for private profit without thought for the
public good and the future of the Butterfield is by no means secure. In the
unfortunate event of this valuable care amenity for the elderly foundering, it
is not outside the bounds of possibility that the building would also become a
commercial asset to be sold off to the highest bidder, even though it was
bequeathed to this town by Joseph Butterfield in 1909 for the relief of
suffering. It would be a most unfortunate eventuality if, through some
bureaucratic sleight of hand, the proceeds from the sale of this valuable
property should pass to a remote health service trust rather than be vested in
the people of Bourne.
When the future of the Butterfield was threatened in 1983, a search was made for
the deeds to prove the ownership of the people but they were not found. In view
of the Stamford experience, this might be the time for a renewed exploration of
the archives.
What the local newspapers are saying: The end is in sight for an eyesore
that has blighted North Street for more than a decade, according to the The
Local, which reveals that the derelict properties at No 30-32 are to be
redeveloped at a cost of £1 million (August 26th). The old red brick houses that
have become a familiar part of the street scene and have served this town so
well will be demolished but perhaps they have outlived their usefulness and the
scheme does appear to have a sympathetic period feel that will reflect the
history of this part of Bourne’s commercial centre. It had been hoped that the
old shops might be saved but they have been left to deteriorate for so long that
they are now past repair and the only solution is to pull them down. In their
place will be retail units with flats above, opening on to a garden terrace,
with parking spaces at the rear and a proposed rental that will make them
affordable to a younger market. The empty property next door at No 30, a
three-storey, yellow brick Georgian building of some charm and dating from 1840,
is also included in the scheme but this is in better condition and it will be
converted for use as a café-bar on two floors with a manager’s flat above. Plans
have already been lodged with South Kesteven District Council and if there are
no hitches, work could be completed within a year.
Meanwhile, more green space is being covered by bricks and mortar as house
building begins on the field known as Delaine Meadow off the Spalding Road to
the east of the town. The Stamford Mercury reports that work on clearing
the site was underway this week and 34 new homes will eventually be built there
(August 19th). For the past 40 years, the 2.3 acre field has been in the ownership of the
Delaine family, founders of the town’s bus company in 1890, but was sold earlier
this year for a figure reckoned to be £1.9 million which will give some idea of
the worth that potential house building land now has in Bourne and with many
similar sites still available within the parish, it is doubtful if this housing
boom will end just yet.
But who are the buyers of these new homes? My window cleaner, the Bourne
equivalent of the London taxi driver for gauging public opinion, reckons that
despite the sale of new houses and the resulting influx of newcomers to live
there, the town is no busier at peak shopping periods and that we are fast
becoming a bed and breakfast community. We walk most days somewhere around the
town just to keep pace with what is going on and certainly many of the homes on
the new estates are locked up during the week, their security assured by
prominent burglar alarms positioned on the outside walls, and only seem to be
occupied at weekends when the commuter owners arrive having already done their
shopping elsewhere, either near their place of work or at some supermarket on
the way. New house building then does not appear to be of great advantage to the
life of the town at the moment and the only people who seem to profit are the
landowners, house builders and South Kesteven District Council that collects the
council tax. Until newcomers move in to live here permanently, use the shops and
take an active part in community life, the question of whether new homes are of
benefit the town as a whole remains unanswered.
Moving house is equated with divorce and death in the trauma stakes of
life and it certainly bears no resemblance to the simple flit of years past. One
of the newcomers to the Forum, a policeman’s wife, has been sharing her trials
and tribulations about transferring to Bourne and among her many colourful
contributions she revealed that last Friday was D-Day when the indigenous
population was advised to keep its eyes peeled for a large van followed by
assorted cars carrying a lot of people, three gerbils and three chickens which
would comprise the new household.
Soon afterwards came a break in her messages, indicating that the computer had
been switched off, disconnected and packed, one of the many complications now
inherent in changing one’s place of residence. In years past, such a move was
accomplished in half a day with a horse and cart that was sufficient to carry
the meagre possessions of the average family, a table, one or two chairs, a bed,
linen and a few personal possessions, and by nightfall the fire would be lit in
the new home and the family tucking into an evening meal as though they had
never lived anywhere else.
Today, families have acquired so many possessions, particularly if there are
several children and pets, that moving is a major operation requiring forward
planning, the services of Pickfords or Cliffes, two or three men and a handful
of tranquillisers to steady the nerves during the weeks on either side of the
dreaded day. There is the gas, electricity and telephone to be disconnected at
one end and restored at the other, cancelling the milk and the newspapers,
notification of a change of address to multifarious relatives, friends and
officials and an endless stream of paperwork that continues, even after settling in.
Then comes the task of making yourself acquainted with the neighbours and
familiarising yourself with unknown surroundings, the children coping at new
schools and finding your way around the shops in a strange town.
By the time the guests arrive for a house warming, it is little wonder that most
people say “Never again. Here we are and here we stay.” A wise choice,
especially if they have come to Bourne.
Thought for the week: The living need charity more than the dead.
–
George Arnold, American poet and humorist (1834-65) whose collected work was
published posthumously.
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