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Saturday 3rd September 2005
Leave a building empty and it will attract vandals. The
same has happened with our new but unopened south west relief road where
evidence of wilful damage can be seen at several points along its length.
Fires have been lit, traffic installations burned down, glass shattered across
the carriage with assorted litter, wire fences upturned and thrown into nearby
dykes along with drain covers. The vacant space that should be available to
passing traffic has attracted instead a yob element that congregates here
regularly while the detritus of frequent unruly gatherings around the area is
evidence of their habits.
With each week that passes, the bill for remedial work mounts and that will no
doubt be the cause of another dispute between the developers, Allison Homes, who
built the road, and Lincolnshire County Council, the highways authority.
The 1½-mile section of carriageway, soon to be designated the B1193, was
completed earlier this summer at a cost of £4 million but has remained closed
for the past thirteen weeks because of an obscure dispute between the developers
and the council. There have been indications this week that a settlement is
imminent and that “an early opening” is likely but that has become such an
over-worked phrase when relating to the relief road that it no longer carries
any plausibility.
After an on the spot visit on Thursday, I came back into the town centre to find
South Street and West Street, the two roads that should now be feeling the
benefit, choked with traffic, creating dangers for pedestrians, spewing fumes
over market day shoppers and creating such a din that it was difficult to make
yourself heard in the shops.
The rights and wrong of the dispute are of little consequence to the people of
this town or to frustrated drivers held up for long periods on important
journeys. They just want to see the new road opened. Allison Homes has the power
to do this yet refuses to do so. It is an intransigence that Bourne will
remember.
What the local newspapers are saying: Our M P, Quentin Davies, the member
for Grantham and Stamford, tells The Local that he would seek government
support to force the opening of the road if outstanding issues between the two
sides are not resolved within a fortnight (September 2nd). “We do not need a
date for an opening”, he said, “We need an actual opening. We have all the
traffic from the new development but not the road that was supposed to bring the
benefit. We therefore have the burden without the relief and that cannot go on.
The people of Bourne are bearing an intolerable strain and this situation must
be resolved. One possibility would be compulsory purchase but another would be
for me to introduce a private member’s bill in the House of Commons to
nationalise the road. I would be prepared to do that if it were the only way
forward but I hope that common sense will prevail.”
This is not a good week for bureaucracy. Not only does the south west relief
road remain closed but the Stamford Mercury suggests that the public
inquiry held into proposed housing development at The Croft in North Road
earlier this year may have to be re-run (September 2nd). Melanie Porter from the
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, who is responsible for these
matters, told the newspaper that the inspector who presided at the three-day
hearing in June, Peter Jamieson, was seriously ill and so no decision on the
evidence heard had yet been made. If he is unfit to return to the case in the
future, the proceedings would have to be re-started with a different inspector
in charge.
The possible existence of a castle in Bourne continues to occupy column inches
in the Stamford Mercury which comes to the conclusion that marks recently
found in the Wellhead Gardens are indeed indications that such a fortification
once stood there (September 2nd). “Perhaps the most sensational find has already
been unearthed, late-Saxon pottery which could link the castle with Bourne’s
most famous son, Hereward the Wake,” says the report.
Once again, this would appear to be fanciful theorising because there is no
historical verification to support this hypothesis. Hereward the Wake was a
legendary figure whose recorded exploits are mainly fictional and secondly, had
there been a castle on this spot it would most certainly have been listed in the
Domesday Book of 1086 which it was not. The great land survey ordered by William
I was a meticulous investigation to record everything of value in England at
that time and considered to be so comprehensive that one chronicler wrote: "So
very thoroughly did William have the enquiry carried out that there was not a
single piece of land, not even an ox, cow or pig, which escaped its notice." It
is therefore inconceivable that a castle would not have been spotted by the
invigilators.
It might then be suggested that the castle was built after the Norman Conquest
but this is equally implausible because buildings of such significance were
invariably the work of the most important man in the locality, indeed the only
one to have the authority, and so the only person who could possibly have been
responsible was Baldwin Fitzgilbert, Lord of the Manor, but from 1138 he was too
busy with the Abbey Church to take on another large project which he could not
have afforded anyway. He even had to suspend operations on the church after
being wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Lincoln on 2nd February 1141
and, according to the custom of the time, had to pay a large ransom for his
release and this seriously depleted his financial resources and the church
remained unfinished when he died.
Furthermore, the building of Norman castles is well documented and 32 were
located at strategic points in Lincolnshire during the years following the
Conquest, the nearest to Bourne being Castle Bytham, eight miles to the south
west, where the remaining earthworks can be seen to this day but after this time
their appearance gave way to fortified settlements and towns. In fact, there is
little historical evidence of the presence of the Normans in Bourne until
Charles Kingsley wrote his fictional book Hereward the Wake in 1865 which gave
credence to the exploits of the Saxon hero and the existence of Bourne Castle.
It is little wonder therefore that archaeological proof for a castle has been,
to pardon the pun, thin on the ground and although the newspaper suggests that
in 1861, a stone gatehouse flanked by two towers and a drawbridge were uncovered
by gentlemen amateurs, a search through the archives reveals a very different
story. The dig during the summer of that year was merely a sideshow, an
entertainment laid on for visitors attending the annual meeting of the Lincoln
Diocesan Architectural Society and consisted of a few men with shovels who did
little more than lift off the surface soil which was replaced when the event
ended. The famous map showing a fortified castle, a version of which is
reproduced by the newspaper, was subsequently drawn up by a local artist with a
vivid imagination and has since been reproduced in several publications over the
years to perpetuate the legend of Bourne Castle, most famously by Joseph J
Davies in his Historic Bourne (1909), still surprisingly quoted as a factual
source even though he insists that the castle was once home of the saintly Lady
Godiva who he claims was Hereward’s mother. I wonder what the good burghers of
Coventry would make of that.
The existence of a castle on this spot still therefore relies on assumption and
opinion instead of evidence and excavation. A few remnants of masonry and
pottery do not establish the authenticity of an ancient monument. There may be
stonework beneath the surface of the Wellhead Gardens but it is more likely to
be that from dwellings and other buildings that comprised the settlement that
sprang up around the source of water at St Peter's Pool rather than a
battlemented fortification similar those we now see in Disneyland.
What exactly is an arcade and does the Burghley Centre fall into this
category? This would seem purely a matter of semantics but contributors to the
Bourne Forum have revealed that traders dislike the term intensely as though
being housed in such a development conferred some unwanted vulgarity on their
businesses.
Yet shopping arcades have been with us for a very long time and some of them
have prestigious reputations, not least the Burlington Arcade in London’s
Piccadilly, a Regency collection of small shops designed in 1819 by Samuel Ware
for Lord George Cavendish of Burlington House to prevent passers-by from
throwing oyster shells and other rubbish into his garden.
The word arcade originates from the Latin arcus or arch and came to mean
a roofed passage, lane or walkway covered over by a succession of vaults
supported by columns. In cities, popular locations for small shops were
buildings with arcades along their street-level fronts, the interior faces of
city walls and bridges, protected from sun and weather and an attraction for
people walking by. In time, the word arcade was used specifically for streets
lined with small vendors, known in Italy as gallerias, but the term was
also adopted by carnivals and amusement parks, where rows of shops selling food
and other wares were joined by those offering games of various sorts, usually
coin-operated, and these became known as amusement or penny arcades and therein
lies a resistance to its use today because they also attracted a less desirable
client, often criminally inclined.
The property worth of the Burlington Arcade today is inestimable and there is
strict control over its usage, singing, the carrying of open umbrellas or large
parcels and even running being banned, the rules strictly enforced by a team of
uniformed beadles whose eyes are ever watchful. The Burghley Centre in Bourne
has no such conventions. Litter abounds, as does spitting, discarded chewing
gum, bicycles and even skateboarding, despite the warning notices, and so why
shopkeepers should disparage the term arcade is hard to understand. Centre would
seem to be the description they should shun, being of much more modern usage and
comparable with the malls of middle America and the densely populated areas of
Great Britain that abound with baseball-hatted louts slurping coke and looking
for mischief.
No matter what the shopkeepers in the Burghley Centre wish, the place will
always be known as the Burghley Arcade. It is a name that has evolved since it
was opened in 1989 and it is one that will stick and no amount of protestation
from those who do business there will remove it from the public consciousness.
Research into local history is time consuming and involves long hours
poring over old records and newspaper archives, visiting public libraries and
other institutions and interviewing descendants of those who made their mark in
past times, hoping that they left documents or photographs that will throw some
light on their activities and their relevance to the town.
Many topics and lives that are of interest to Bourne still wait to be revealed
and the most frustrating aspect is to know a little but not enough to include it
in A Portrait of Bourne, the CD-ROM on our history that grows in size with every
passing week. I have therefore added a new section to the web site seeking
information about some of these subjects in the hope that someone out there can
help with unanswered questions and this will become a regular feature in the
future.
Alfred Stubley, for instance, was a well-known man in this town during the late
19th and early 20th centuries for his work on stage and theatrical design but I
need additional information about him before adding his name to more than 200
short biographies that are already included. He is the first subject in our
feature and if you know anything of him, please get in touch.
Thought for the week: Birds are our pals. They awaken us,
sing us happy songs and delight us with their plumage colours. In the garden,
they are undemanding visitors, not inferior to neighbours or family. We pamper
them inordinately. The consequences for bird life may now be the greatest
deterrent to nuclear warfare. - James Fleming, reviewing a new book on birds
in The Spectator, Saturday 27th August 2005.
Saturday 10th September 2005
One of the silver trophies on display at the Heritage
Centre in South Street was flown to Italy last week to become the centrepiece
for the celebrations of a unique triumph for British Racing Motors based in
Bourne.
It was won at the Monza circuit on 12th September 1965 by Jackie Stewart for his
first ever grand prix success and was reunited with the winner at a reception to
mark the 40th anniversary of his remarkable achievement shortly before the start
of this year’s Italian Grand Prix.
Champagne flowed and cheers rang out as Stewart, now Sir Jackie, again picked up
the magnificent cup which was his prize for winning the race at the age of 26.
It was only his eighth world championship and Stewart, now 66, and a subsequent
Formula 1 team owner from 1997-99, went on to win 26 more grand prix events.
That season, he had joined Graham Hill at BRM and on his debut, scored his first
championship point. At Monza, he qualified third and chased Jim Clark for the
lead in an intense slipstreaming battle with Hill, Lorenzo Bandini and John
Surtees. Clark’s race ended dramatically when his fuel pump failed on lap 63.
Hill looked set for victory but made a mistake on the penultimate lap and the
young Stewart flashed past the chequered flag in first place.
Austrian motor racing journalist Helmut Zwicki, aged 65, who was there, recalled
this week: “Jackie Stewart was a very, very friendly winner. He had no
arrogance. We loved him immediately.”
Stewart, son of a garage owner from Dumbarton in Scotland, is remembered as the
man who transformed the image of motor racing from a specialised amateur stance
to a level matching golf, tennis and football at a time when the perception of
sport was changing throughout the world. He subsequently became world champion
in 1969, 1971 and 1973 and in 2000 was elected president of the British Racing
Drivers Club. He was awarded the OBE in 1972 and knighted in 2001, an honour
which he described as more important than his first win or any world
championship. He retired from driving in 1973, having won 27 of his 99 races, a
record at that time.
The Italian Grand Prix trophy of 1965 was among more than 60 cups, salvers and
rose bowls presented to the Heritage Centre earlier this year by Rubery Owen
Holdings Limited, the Midlands engineering firm that eventually took over the
motor racing company founded at Bourne by Raymond Mays. They include trophies
presented to BRM at racetracks around Europe where their cars were successful in
Formula 1 Grand Prix events in France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Austria, Monaco,
Belgium and Italy, together with three rose bowls awarded in consecutive years
to top driver Graham Hill after winning the United States Grand Prix in 1963,
1964 and 1965. Other awards were won in Australia, South Africa and of course in
Britain.
The collection is displayed in four specially built cabinets in the Raymond Mays
Memorial Room on the first floor of Baldock’s Mill where the Heritage Centre is
situated and can be seen during opening hours on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
The Monza cup, which was sent out to Italy last week for the anniversary
celebrations, is now on its way to Goodwood Park in West Sussex where it will be
displayed during the historic motor race revival meeting next weekend before
being returned to Bourne.
What the local newspapers are saying: It is already recorded that the
public toilets in Spalding beat those in Bourne for cleanliness, accessibility
and convenience and have in fact won an award for being among the best in
Britain while ours have a reputation for being so bad that most people give them
a miss unless they are desperate. Spalding, it appears, is also ahead of us in
green issues because the Lincolnshire Free Press reports that its glass
recycling scheme goes from strength to strength as it reaches its first birthday
(September 6th). The blue box collection run by South Holland District Council
now serves 30,000 properties with 600 tonnes being turned into an aggregate for
road construction rather than being dumped in landfill sites and plans are being
made to continue it until the end of 2006.
Quite a contrast with our own efforts because this week a leaflet dropped
through the letter box from South Kesteven District Council quietly announcing
that its glass collection scheme was being withdrawn with immediate effect after
only 18 months. Garry Knighton, head of waste and contract services, says: “The
council has made every effort to make the scheme a success but there have been a
number of factors which have resulted in it failing, including the frequency of
the collections and the limited materials collected.” In other words, it is our
fault and not theirs yet the council continues to insist that it is giving us
the best value for money. What the letter should have told us is who evaluated
the scheme in the first place, how much has this abortive attempt cost us and
was it because they tried to run it at a profit rather than as a public service
that brought about its failure? No doubt those involved will be awarded with pay
rises all round come the salary reviews next April while the empty jars and
bottles pile up in passageways across the district.
The newly completed south west relief road remains closed for the fourteenth
week and has now drawn a protest from the younger generation. Nicole Morley,
aged 11, was visiting her grandmother in Bourne this summer and was dismayed to
find the traffic piling up in the town centre and spoiling her holiday. The
Local reports that Nicole was so upset that she wrote a letter to the town
council urging that the relief road be opened as soon as possible (September
9th). Her letter
was placed on the official agenda at a meeting of the highways and planning
committee for discussion which it duly provoked when read out by
the clerk, Nelly Jacobs, to murmurs of approval all round. “I am particularly
pleased to see a sense of civic duty alive and well in the nation’s youngsters”,
said Councillor Linda Neal. “We should encourage all young people to participate
in local democracy. “ Councillor John Kirkman had similar sentiments. “It would
be lovely to get more young people expressing a view on what is going on”, he
said.
Nicole has also made a small contribution to the town’s history because her
letter was the first to be received at the Town Hall written on notepaper
decorated with dancing pigs. In view of the promises made by the various local
authorities about the date for the opening of the relief road, flying pigs might
have been more appropriate.
A rare statement from one of the trustees of Bourne United Charities is
published by the Stamford Mercury in which allegations that they are
operating in private and against the public interest are refuted (September
9th). “In the past, we have been accused of running a closed shop, a secret
society”, said Mr Douglas Reeson, aged 87. “We are registered with the Charity
Commissioners and as such are governed by the restrictions placed on us. This
means that a full account of our activities can be obtained by the public at any
time, not exactly the activities of a secret society.”
This is the first public utterance I have ever read from BUC which holds its
meetings in private, does not issue press statements and discourages discussion
of its activities. Furthermore, it is an arrogance to suggest that anyone who
wishes to know what is going on should go cap in hand to the Charity
Commissioners in London. It would appear that the trustees have been stung into
making a statement by the transparency and openness of the Len Pick Charitable
Trust, formed this year to distribute the £4 million legacy from a local
businessman and have begun their work with a Internet web site and a public
meeting, an illustration of the way they intend to proceed in the future. While
the trustees of BUC continue to remain cloistered in the boardroom at the Red
Hall, telling no one what they are up to, they will continue to attract
criticism.
The unthinkable happened to my wife this week when she presented herself
to the checkout at Morrisons supermarket in Stamford and tried to pay the bill
for her groceries with the help of a counterfeit £20 note. There was consternation all
round and she felt rather like the character in a Bateman cartoon being caught
in the act of doing something socially unacceptable because suddenly all eyes
were upon her. The queue of waiting shoppers lengthened and with growing
impatience, glancing at her suspiciously and whispering among themselves, as the
girl at the till examined the note closely, holding it up in the air and waving
it about, and finally giving her judgment that it was not quite right before
ringing that little bell she has to summon assistance and a supervisor was
quickly on the scene to confirm her doubts.
Both eyed my wife distrustfully as though wondering whether she had access to
some illicit printing press in the basement of her home, turning out counterfeit
notes by the hundred and distributing them at various retail outlets in the
area, thus throwing Britain’s economy into turmoil. The matter was eventually
settled amicably but having no more cash available, my wife paid the outstanding
amount by credit card, a transaction that was closely supervised for any further
signs of fraud before she was allowed to leave with her purchases but she was
still flushed and agitated with embarrassment when I later picked her up in the
car to drive home.
The offending banknote was one of several that I had been given during a
withdrawal at my bank in Bourne a few days previously but a quick check proved
the others to be genuine. Although it was nearing lunchtime, my wife insisted
that we call in to settle the matter immediately and this time it was me who was
made to feel guilty. I explained the situation to the cashier, assuming that
this was a routine procedure, but she took the note to senior staff out at the
back where there was a whispered discussion and I began to think that they were
about to call the police. Eventually, after much close questioning, it was
agreed that I was given the note by the bank but I then had to identify the
cashier who dealt with the transaction, she not being there that day and will no
doubt be in hot water when she gets back, and I was then given a lecture on how
to identify fraudulent £20 notes in the future. Hey look here, I felt like
saying, if you cannot tell the good from the bad what hope is there for the
customers? But cowardice kicked in and I took my replacement note and left
quietly. Nevertheless, the moral is there - banks can no longer be trusted with
our money so beware.
When I began my researches into Bourne’s history many years ago I was
warned by several people not to upset the applecart by disputing age old
traditions. The people, I was told, do not wish to give up their myths and
legends no matter what new evidence might come my way. That judgment in this
modern age does appear to be severe yet it still applies for although most
people are enlightened and have an open mind, there are others who will not
accept new discoveries if it overturns their accepted beliefs.
My previous writings casting doubts on the authenticity of the exploits of the
Saxon hero Hereward the Wake and the belief that the Gunpower Plot of 1605 was
hatched at the Red Hall have drawn particular criticism and now my research into
the existence of a castle in Bourne is attracting similar censure from some
quarters.
The last historian of this town was J D Birkbeck, senior history master and
later assistant headmaster of Bourne Grammar School, whose excellent book A
History of Bourne was published in 1970 (revised 1976), and it was to him that I
sent the first copies of my CD-ROM A Portrait of Bourne shortly before Christmas
in 2001. He subsequently wrote to me from his retirement home in Cumbria, the
first of several letters, and his review of my work was encouraging but also
mindful of the warnings I had been given. He wrote:
I was fascinated by the amount of research
you have done and the comprehensive nature of your work. I was particularly
interested in the amount of recent detail you have amassed; this filled in the
gap between my own efforts and the present day. I was particularly gratified by
your very sound and balanced approach to the “legends” of Bourne, especially the
Hereward saga and the Gunpowder Plot. What you have written on these is in close
agreement with my own approach which I hope makes at least an appropriate
relationship to the truth. After my writing on these subjects appeared, I was
quite prepared for indignant accusations of distorting the treasured legends and
it did not alter the fact that in virtually all subsequent references to
Bourne’s history, whether written or oral, those old legends were still set out
in traditional form. I hope that what you have written on these matters will
persuade local folk to adopt a more realistic viewpoint but old stories which
enhance Bourne’s fame will be a long time a-dying!
These were prophetic words for since my recent findings on the
doubts over the existence of Bourne Castle, I have been receiving anonymous mail
and there has also been disapproval that my writings “are misleading for people
who have lived in the town all their lives”.
So be it. The truth will out. Nothing can stop research and if that reveals
unpalatable discoveries then we must accept it. By all means keep our old
stories and legends which harm no one but at the same time we should not ignore
the facts. To do so is to bury one’s head in the sand, to live in a world of
fantasy and make-believe, which may be comforting but hardly practical. Sitting
outside in the twilight, you may like to think there are fairies at the bottom
of the garden but take a closer look in the clear light of day and you will see
nothing.
Thought for the week: Day dreams are nought but castles in the air.
-
an old Chinese proverb.
Saturday 17th September 2005
The Wellhead Gardens are an unlikely place to find
children scrumping but the signs are evident once you have located the trees.
Two or three can be found on the far side of the park, just behind West Street,
and all have a plentiful supply of apples that look juicy and very tempting.
Littered around the floor underneath are the weapons of youthful miscreants
intent on stealing the forbidden fruit, sticks of various lengths which I know
from the experience of my boyhood, can dislodge apples from the topmost branches
if they are aimed correctly and thrown with sufficient force. The lads who have
been busy here appear to have been reaping a good harvest because the trees are
fast being emptied of their fruit and although this may be an unlawful pursuit,
it is doubtful if anyone is being wronged because otherwise the apples would be
left to fall and rot.
The trees at this point have an interesting history because they once formed
part of a substantial orchard planted in the large garden behind No 63 West
Street when it was a farmhouse owned by Mr John Gibson during the 19th century.
He fell on hard times and was declared bankrupt and in 1896 the property passed
to the Bourne Institute which became the Pyramid Club in 1975.
We are lucky to have some memories of this once grand orchard because Trevor
Pool, now living in retirement in Yorkshire, often visited the Bourne Institute
where his grandfather, Joseph Pool, was the first steward and caretaker. He was
only a lad but visiting him during the 1930s, Trevor remembers the fruit
vividly:
The orchard was at the end of the lawn and
to get to it you had to cross a small bridge with a cobbled surface that spanned
the river. This was not actually part of the Institute grounds but was rented by
my grandfather and it contained a wide variety of apple trees such as Codling,
with raised ridges from the stalk to the base, Worcester Pearmain which always
seemed to have a maggot inside, Blenheim Orange, Bramley and Ironside. The first
apple to be edible was a little fruit which was only about an inch round, hardly
a bite size for a child, and we had our fill right through the summer months
with apples and plums. The Ironsides and Bramleys, or keepers as we called them,
were not fit to eat until spring and so they were picked in October and stored
in the house until New Year. These gave off that wonderful aroma of stored
apples that reminded us of the pleasures to come when they had matured and were
fit to eat. There were also several plum and damson trees in the orchard, New
Orleans and Golden Drop, and a very large green-yellow variety which was so good
to eat when ripe that I once climbed into the tree and gorged on them until I
felt sick and that put me off eating plums for a very long time afterwards.
The garden has disappeared to make way for the development of a
car park for members and many of the trees have either died or been uprooted and
the land is now part of the Wellhead Gardens but one or two remain as a reminder
of past times and are still an attraction for small boys. Nothing then, changes
very much because they were always tempted by someone else’s apples. Fewer
youngsters though seem to be interested in those available in the Wellhead
Gardens than would have been my experience sixty years ago when such an
abundance so conveniently placed would have disappeared long ago, despite the
seasonal discomfort of green apple stomach.
The debate over the existence of a castle in Bourne 1,000 years ago
continues with a curious letter in the Stamford Mercury written by
Robert Penhey, of Poplar Crescent, Bourne, and although highly implausible, his sincerity is not in doubt
(September 9th).
However, his submission has several dates wrong, including confusing the Norman
Conquest of 1066 with the publication of the Domesday Book which was twenty
years later. He quotes the excavations of 1861 as being of archaeological
significance whereas the event has been discredited by recent research and he
also cites other digs in the Wellhead Gardens as being important although they
were little more than the laying of electricity cables and drainage pipes.
The tradition of Hereward the Wake, which has been the basis of the legend
claiming the castle as his birthplace and family home, is also overlooked and
if, as Mr Penhey suggests, it was built circa 1280, thus side-stepping the
irrefutable fact that it does not appear in the Domesday Book of 1086, then the
entire story of our Saxon hero is consigned to the dustbin of history.
Overall, he makes many claims but quotes no sources and his notion appears to be
based on research into the building of castles throughout England during
mediaeval times and then relating his findings to Bourne without actually
establishing that a fortified stronghold existed here. Nevertheless, his letter
is of interest and can be added to the discussion alongside the recent theory of
Cyril Holdcroft, aged 85, who lives in nearby South Street, suggesting that
marks which have appeared in the Wellhead Gardens during the recent spell of dry
weather indicate the sunken stonework of battlemented towers, a presumption also
published by the Stamford Mercury a fortnight before.
All shades of opinion are welcome when considering our heritage for this is the
stuff of local history. No viewpoint, however unconventional, should be
excluded from the debate and it is up to the reader to consider them all before
making a final judgment.
What the local newspapers are also saying: It is inconceivable that the
eventual opening of the south west relief road should be marked by official
celebration yet The Local reports that there may be a ribbon cutting
ceremony with a brass band and even a running race to mark the event (September
16th). The road has been sealed off by the developers, Allison Homes (part of
the Kier Group), since June because of a disagreement with Lincolnshire County
Council, but the newspaper suggests that negotiations over the dispute are
nearing a conclusion, thus enabling the road to be finally brought into use
although most people in Bourne do not think this a suitable occasion for a
carnival and that the planned razzmatazz is merely a ploy to expunge the actions
of those responsible from the public consciousness but it
will not work. What has happened is well documented and will remain on the
record for the future.
The newspaper’s correspondence column and contributors to the Bourne Forum
indicate that the people are crying out for this road to be opened now, as they
have been for the past fifteen weeks, and the cause for their latest anger is a
road fatality in Abbey Road on Monday afternoon when a 15-year-old schoolboy
cyclist was killed after being in collision with a tipper truck. The accident
may have had no immediate connection with the relief road but it has highlighted
the growing problem of heavy traffic trundling through our town centre streets
that are totally inadequate for such rigorous use and anyone with the power to
alleviate this difficulty should do so immediately.
The strength of feeling was expressed by Jason Thorpe of Aykroft, Bourne, who
wrote to The Local saying: “No one can say that had the relief road been
open, this accident would not have occurred but what is without doubt is that a
fatal accident was waiting to happen on Bourne’s through roads because of the
volume of traffic they have to cope with. One life is one too many and it is
about time that those involved stopped their petty arguments and put the safety
of the people first.”
It would be a mistake to send any of our local reporters out shopping for
vegetables because none of them appear to know their onions let alone their
beans. My neighbour called me over the garden fence on Wednesday afternoon to
say that while driving home he had just passed an articulated trailer that had
shed its 40 tonne load in South Road and the Elsea Park roundabout was covered
with beans. I inquired whether they were baked, soya or kidney to which he
replied that they were French. The Local however suggests that they were
(a) green beans and (b) mangetout, which is merely a fancy way of saying small
peas in their pods. The Stamford Mercury however described them as runner
beans although a close inspection of their accompanying photograph reveals them
to be quite definitely broad beans. There are some people who will know for sure
and they are the homeowners at Elsea Park, who I am told, popped out and filled
their bags and will no doubt be enjoying the plundered fresh produce for Sunday
lunch.
A Victorian dwelling in Bourne is to be the subject of a television
programme, one of those interminable documentaries devoted to property
development that fill the vacant hours. It is described as a Grade II listed
town house although closer investigation reveals that it is not quite that, more
the rear section of a scheduled property.
In fact, the recently refurbished house is merely the back part of No 18 West
Street, otherwise known as Commerce House, built of red brick and blue slate in
1834 with later extensions added in 1847, both marked by date stones and the
initials of William David Bell, the original owner. The two-storey house has a
mansard roof with sash windows while the former passage entrance has been
converted into a main doorway with a round arch and glazed fanlight, a painted
stone architrave and keystone.
William Bell was the founder of a highly respected legal firm in Bourne and held
many of the official posts in the town until his death in 1857 at the age of 59
when his son John Leonard Bell took over. In 1860, he moved with his family to
live at Bourne House further along the street but continued using Commerce House
as the base of his legal practice and when he retired through ill health in
1890, his son Cecil Walker Bell took over and ran the business until 1940 when
he retired and left the town to live at Eastbourne, thus severing the family’s
120-year connection with the town.
No 18 West Street was scheduled Grade II in July 1977 and is now one of 69
listed buildings in Bourne. The refurbished section at the rear has been given a
new address, the Retreat, No 25 Burghley Street, although it has no frontage or
entrance on to West Street, but it has been thoroughly renovated over the past
five months by property developers John Burrows and Jacky Copland, both aged 47.
It is also situated on the very edge of the town centre redevelopment area and
although the immediate outside prospect at the moment is a car park, that is
likely to change once rebuilding work on the core area gets underway over the
next few years.
The house is about to go on the market, presumably at a handsome profit for their
labours, and will feature in the Channel 4 programme Property Ladder later this
year. One question however remains. Does the division of this house into two
separate properties increase the number of listed buildings in Bourne to 70?
Thought for the week: A 15-year-old boy pedal cyclist was killed after
being in collision with a tipper lorry in Abbey Road, Bourne, at 4.25 pm on
Monday afternoon. This is the 42nd death on Lincolnshire’s roads so far this
year. – press briefing from Lincolnshire Police, Tuesday 13th September 2005.
Saturday 24th September 2005
Councillors representing Bourne may soon be facing one of
the most difficult decisions of their careers, that of accepting or refusing an
invitation to attend or even officiate at the opening of the new south west
relief road.
The signs are that a settlement between the developers Allison Homes, who built
it, and Lincolnshire County Council, the highways authority, has been reached
and that the deadlock that has kept the 1½-mile stretch of carriageway closed
for the past four months has been broken.
The road will be officially opened on Saturday 8th October and the consensus is
that the substantial concrete blockades used to keep vehicles out should be
removed quietly and without fuss to enable traffic begin using it as soon as
possible, so relieving pressure on our town centre streets. But Allison Homes,
part of the Kier Group, is indicating that a ribbon cutting ceremony with a
brass band, Continental market and a running race, should be part of the
razzmatazz to mark the opening and, no doubt, help erase their role in this
fiasco from the public consciousness but they will need someone to officiate and
there is much speculation as to who will draw the short straw.
The Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Judy Smith would be an obvious choice but in view of the acrimony piled upon Allison Homes, her
decision will need the closest consideration. If the developers ask Councillor
John Kirkman, chairman of South Kesteven District Council, instead then he will
face a similar dilemma because he is also one of our local representatives
(Bourne East) who will know full well the strength of feeling there is on this
issue. A third choice could be the chairman of Lincolnshire County Council,
Councillor Mrs Edna Chapman, but as this authority has been engaged in the
current dispute with Allison Homes it is thought that she too will be fully
apprised of the reaction to her appearing in support of any cause that has
accumulated such displeasure.
In short, any elected councillor who agrees to participate in this charade may
well incur the wrath of the electorate and although it is generally accepted
that memories are short, misguided decisions of this nature do tend to surface
at election time.
We should remember the positive conduct of Councillor Trevor Holmes, who in
February 2004, while Mayor of Bourne, refused to cut the ribbon to mark the
opening of a new housing estate being built on the site of Bourne Hospital in
South Road, sold for residential development against the will of the people and
thus depriving the town of its only first line medical care. He was a leading
campaigner to have the old hospital refurbished or a new one built on the land
and so he declined the invitation and his decision was applauded throughout the
town. Councillor Holmes showed himself to be a man of conscience and principle
who was prepared to make a stand for his beliefs and not to allow his office be
used for commercial propaganda. If invited to officiate or attend the opening of
the relief road, our present councillors and their leaders might like to
consider his example before making a decision.
What the local newspapers are saying: Public support for an official
opening of the relief road is non-existent, according to both of our main local
newspapers this week (September 23rd). The Stamford Mercury says in its
front page headline that a boycott is likely when the ribbon is cut on October
8th and plans for an opening gala could fall flat amid growing dissatisfaction
in the town. “Residents and town councillors have been left in no mood to
celebrate after three months of legal wrangling”, says the report. There is
similar opposition from a former mayor, Councillor Shirley Cliffe, who told the
newspaper: “I for one will not be attending any opening ceremony as I believe
that we should not be endorsing the way in which this matter has been handled.”
Similar views are expressed by many people in The Local with residents
vowing to stage a protest march if the planned opening date of October 8th does
not materialise while the deputy mayor, Councillor Guy Cudmore, commented during
a contribution to the Bourne Forum: “To hell with their lah-di-dah opening
ceremony.”
Two indications of the profligacy of public spending are
highlighted by the local newspapers this week. The Lincolnshire Free Press
suggests that police costs will push up their share of the council tax in the
coming financial year by 38%, money which Councillor Linda Neal told the general
purposes committee of Bourne Town Council was needed to give the county the
service it deserves (September 20th) which is not an image that will be
recognised by many. Although there have been assurances that such an increase
would not be countenanced by central government, it is an indication that we are
being prepared for another round of fearful council tax increases next April
although, as is widely known, public services are being reduced. The extra money
is needed to meet the salaries and pensions of a burgeoning bureaucracy which is
now getting out of hand and in the National Health Service alone, hospitals
bought and maintained by generations of benefactions and public subscriptions
are being sold off and wards closed to keep armies of officials in their jobs.
Meanwhile, the Stamford Mercury reveals that the ballot over the sale of
6,500 council houses and flats owned by South Kesteven District Council, 535 of
them in Bourne, will cost £1 million from the public purse (September 23rd). The
proposed sale is to avoid the high costs of improvement in bringing the
properties up to standard over the next five years and the council thinks it
better to pass the buck to a housing association but only if the tenants agree.
A vote will therefore be taken in the coming months and if the ballot is fair
and conducted without any form of gerrymandering to give the council an unfair
advantage, the result would seem to be a foregone conclusion against the sale
because councillors are reporting from the grass roots that there is a strong
resistance to any change of landlord. An expenditure of £1 million does seem to
be a bit rich for sending out a few thousand ballot papers but then public money
is so much easier to spend that your own.
Shop watch: Sainsburys announced this week that it is about to embark on
a multi-million pound re-branding in what it describes as one of the biggest
shake-ups in its 136-year history. The supermarket giant will spend £10 million
ditching its “Making life taste better” slogan and replace it with “Try
something new today”. This is the latest stage in a recovery strategy aimed at
boosting sales by £2.5 billion by March 2008 and will involve changing the look
of the carrier bags, trolleys and even its delivery trucks.
One can imagine the midnight oil being burned at company headquarters to come up
with this nonsense and the big bucks being pocketed by PR firms engaged to
deliver the new image when the directors would have been better employed
mingling with the shoppers at their store in Exeter Street, Bourne, opened with
such high hopes in August 1999. Customers will tell them quite firmly what needs
to be done to improve sales and that is to keep the shelves better stocked, the
checkouts fully manned, especially at peak periods like Saturday lunchtime, and
instruct staff to be more helpful when asked difficult questions. As is always
the case, the answer lies on the shop floor and not in the boardroom.
Ice skating is to be an attraction in Bourne during the run up to
Christmas. The Chamber of Trade and Commerce, which is currently co-ordinating
the town’s activities for the festive season, has arranged to have a rink opened
on part of Budgens car park where it would be conveniently placed for the late
night shopping on the new market site that proved to be so successful last year.
The rink, 13 yards by 11 yards, would be opened for three days over the weekend
from Friday 2nd December following the switch on of the Christmas lights, and
available to the public for thirty-minute sessions, the cost to be announced
later.
There are already several spots in London providing ice skating during the
winter months and although this will be the first time that Bourne will have an
open-air venue, it is by no means new to the town. Ice skating as a public
pastime was introduced at the Corn Exchange in Bourne in 1876, six years after
the building was opened, at a time when many rinks were being established around
the country and making a profit for those who invested in them. The Stamford
Mercury reported on Friday 14th January that as a result, "several gentlemen
were accordingly trying to arrange to adapt the Corn Exchange for this simple
means of exercise and entertainment".
The facility, known as the Bourne Skating Rink, opened the following month and
was administered by a committee of management who advertised in the newspaper on
Friday 18th February when their news columns commented: "The pastime has become
so fashionable of late that there can be no doubt it will find numerous devotees
in Bourne."
Unfortunately, it did not last for although popular with the public, the
sponsors did not get the return on their money they expected because of the high
costs of maintaining the rink and the enterprise closed before the end of the
century.
The meter man called a few days ago to check on our electricity usage and
it was such a delightfully sunny day that I thought what a wonderful job he had.
Out in the fresh air on a long and continuous walk with no one to bother you.
When he gets home, he clicks a few buttons on that hand-held gizmo he carries
and the information gathered in the past few hours is flashed back to
headquarters that sends out our bills.
Sitting on my patio when he arrived, sipping a glass of chilled hock from my
favourite Rhineland vineyard, I pondered on the distance he needed to travel to
complete a day’s work and it seems that it is variable according to where you
are working. Densely populated areas with high-rise flats and maisonettes can
mean a shorter distance, but is no less arduous to reach the meters, whereas a
market town such as Bourne with houses at a regular distance would appear to be
average.
My meter man had been having similar thoughts and he told me that he had
recently acquired a pedometer to measure the distance he walked in a day and it
was in fact 18 miles. Working on the average of three miles to the hour, which
is the usual walking pace, this would seem to be correct. But he is sent
elsewhere and more metropolitan districts, with shorter distances between
meters, averaged around five miles, although the time spent was about the same.
This information may not warrant a significant place in the lexicon of human
achievement but it does give us an insight into other people’s jobs. It will
also serve as a reminder that whatever we do, we are all part of life’s rich tapestry
and unless we take pains to understand what others do we cannot evaluate the
importance of our own employment.
From the archives: Henry Dawson, aged 17, a labourer, appeared before the
Quarter Sessions held at the Town Hall, Bourne, on 7th April 1840, when he was
convicted of house breaking and stealing a number of shawls and other items from
William Goodacre, a grocer, of Edenham, near Bourne. The court was told that the
accused could neither read nor write and the trial documents were extensive and
included plans and witness and prisoner statements. He was sentenced to be
transported to the colonies for ten years, sailing for Tasmania aboard the ship
Layton in 1841.
Thought for the week: New roads, new ruts. – Gilbert Keith Chesterton,
British essayist, novelist and poet (1874-1936).
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