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Saturday 1st October 2005
If you go down to the Wellhead Gardens today you will be
in for a big surprise because springing up on the north western edge of this
valued open space is one of the largest modern buildings Bourne has ever seen.
The skeletal frame of the new £6 million press hall and bindery for the printing
firm Warners Midlands plc is well advanced and it is surprising that such a
development should be allowed on the very edge of a conservation area because
when finished, its appearance will overshadow one of the town's favourite
amenities.
Planning approval was given by our councils at both town and district level in
2003 despite misgivings in some quarters about the additional noise that is
likely to be generated by night time working quite near to existing homes. But
very little was said about the effect the development would have on the Wellhead
Gardens which can be justly described as one of the major environmental assets
of this town, providing a haven of peace and solitude within walking distance of
the town centre.
This island of green space does not exactly compare with the royal parks of
London but it does belong to Bourne and we care for it with equal passion and
wish to see it protected from any form of encroachment by commercial interests
that might destroy its appearance. Yet this development does appear to be bad
news for that corner of the park which borders on the site of the old hospital,
a substantial Victorian red brick building designed in 1836 by Bryan Browning,
the architect responsible for our Town Hall, but quietly demolished in 2001 soon
after being purchased by Warners.
The only objections to building such a large structure came from one town
councillor and three households in St Peter's Street but there was not a word
from the owners and administrators of the park, Bourne United Charities, who
remained silent on this issue. Those who worked so hard to establish this area
of tranquillity, particularly local solicitor Horace Stanton (1897-1977), a much
valued trustee, would most certainly not have countenanced any development that
would destroy the appearance of the amenity he and his colleagues had created.
It was originally envisaged that the new building would be no larger than the
former hospital but we now see that this is not true. It will be much bigger and
far more intrusive, a huge industrial shed built up to the very boundary of the
parkland, used and illuminated 24 hours a day, generating sufficient lorry
movements to make it worthwhile installing a washer. It will, in fact,
overshadow the Wellhead Gardens, a prospect that is not promising because when
the scheme comes to fulfilment, that corner of the park will never look remotely
the same again and will in fact have the appearance of an industrial estate.
We are not privy to every detail of this expansion scheme but we must assume
that when the proposals came before them for approval, our councillors and
officers were fully aware that the Wellhead is a scheduled ancient monument. It
is also well within the town's conservation area, designated under the Town and
Country Planning Act of 1971, and therefore they had the right, indeed the duty,
under the existing legislation to ensure that it is not despoiled by
unsympathetic developments either within or immediately without, and to protect
both the inward and outward views from it yet these criteria were totally
ignored.
There were also fears about the future of the trees and hedgerows around the
perimeter of the site and many have been cut down since but fresh foliage now
screens much of the building although it is insufficient to hide its ugliness
and unsuitability for this particular spot. There are also several large
sequoias along the boundary and as at least one of them looks uncomfortably
close to the new structure, their future may now be uncertain.
Our councillors had the powers to save the area from visual impairment by
outward industrialisation but it would appear that they have not been used. This
is a problem that ought to have been addressed by our town planners many years
ago and instead of allowing a commercial company to expand on land at the very
edge of the conservation area, they should have advised a relocation to an out
of town site. Refusal, or even deferment, of the planning application, might
have precipitated this but the option was not even considered.
Warners have occupied the Old Maltings since 1976 and many think that their
expanding commercial operations on this site have now become so vast that this
would have been the appropriate time to move to a less sensitive location rather
than spread their buildings even further into the town. Such a decision might
also include an admirable contribution to our cultural life because the early
19th century building would make an excellent civic and community centre were
the company feeling sufficiently philanthropic to give it to the people as a
gift once it was vacated as part of their re-organisation.
But these are merely pipe dreams. Warners, with a workforce in excess of 300, is
the town’s biggest employer and their staff are therefore a major contributor to
our daily retail economy, in the shops, pubs and eating places, while the
business tax the company pays on the premises is a substantial input to the
public purse. It is therefore little wonder that councillors think
twice before questioning too closely the demands that they make and so it would
seem that Bourne must learn to live with them in whatever they choose to do in
the future.
We visit the Wellhead Gardens several times a week because it is a
peaceful place to be, either walking through or just sitting enjoying the view
and being out in the fresh air. An added pleasure is to talk to the many people
who go there because we are motivated by curiosity about what interests others
and visitors to this place all seem to be sociable and ready to strike up a
conversation on the slightest pretext.
St Peter’s Pool is the magnet for visitors although it is not a pretty sight at
the moment, the water level greatly reduced by the summer dry spell and too much
extraction, revealing more starkly than ever the lack of maintenance at what is
one of England’s oldest artesian springs. Several Russian visitors were there
this week, staring in disbelief at the state of the site and when I told them of
its antiquity they were dumfounded that it should be allowed to remain in such a
ruinous state, a situation that would not be tolerated in their own country
where historic places are regarded with some reverence.
But it was not always so. In years past, the pool has been given tender loving
care and pictures from Victorian times reveal that it was well kept and appealed
to afternoon walkers, especially at weekends, and despite the attractions it now
offers, somehow it dos not look quite the same as the views that survive from
yesteryear.
What the local newspapers are saying: Common sense has
surfaced in the boardroom at Allison Homes, the developers who have built the
new £4 million south west relief road, because the Stamford Mercury
reports on its front page that the company has decided against a ribbon-cutting
celebration for the official opening. “Plans for a civic ceremony have been
scrapped to avoid the embarrassment of a boycott”, says the report (September
30th). “After three months of legal wrangling, people in Bourne have made it
clear that they are in no mood to celebrate.” Instead, the company plans to
simply remove the barriers and allow traffic through.
This is a rational decision, one in direct contrast to the illogical reasoning
by those responsible to keep the new 1½-mile stretch of carriageway closed since
last June for their own purposes while traffic continues to pile up in the town
centre and has done little for the image of Allison Homes. The resentment of the
people and their elected representatives has finally surfaced in their declared
intention to boycott any celebrations that are judged to be totally
inappropriate.
The opening has been fixed for next Saturday, October 8th but because of the
unreliability of previous similar announcements, there is some public doubt
about it happening. If it does not materialise, then the developers will be
facing a demonstration because The Local reports that two local
hairdressers are planning to lead a protest march from the Corn Exchange to the
new road the following Monday evening and posters announcing the event with the
slogan “Open our road” are already being circulated. One of the organisers,
Laura Shilling, told the newspaper: “We have been told lots of opening dates in
the past and nothing has ever come of them so we are preparing for the worst.”
The Stamford Mercury carries a story about Bourne Town Council meeting at
Wake House in North Street this week for the first time since 1993, the Town
Hall being its official location but the steep steps have made access difficult
for the disabled and so the venue was changed to accommodate the two members of
the public who wanted to attend but found it difficult to get there (September
30th). The November council meeting is also expected to be switched and although
this is only a temporary solution to the problem, the change of venue does not
meet with the approval of all councillors who rightly feel that the Town hall
has better facilities for their meetings and it is also the traditional place
for them to be held.
By all means we should be aware of the disabled but it does seem
to be rather drastic to shift an entire public body just to suit them. The town
council, however, must take their needs seriously because they have the latest
legislation under the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 on their side and as
this states that access must be available for the physically handicapped, then
the council may have to hold its meetings elsewhere to accommodate them. The
town hall is the focal point of our local administration and it would be
ridiculous to send the town council elsewhere merely to comply with an obscure
regulation, however well intentioned, and one that will benefit only one or two
people.
It has been pointed out that a stair lift at the side entrance would appear to
be the answer, and indeed this has been discussed although no action has been
taken. The facility is easily fitted, unobtrusive and the perfect way to assist
the disabled. There are limitations on the alterations that can be made to a
listed building, the Town Hall being scheduled Grade II, but it is doubtful if
this equipment would fall foul of the regulations. This has been the solution to
the same problem at other historic buildings in the area, notably to the town
halls at Market Deeping and Stamford, where the stair lifts have been fitted and
already established their usefulness. Perhaps our local councillors should go
and take a look for themselves before committing themselves permanently to the
costly alternative of a new venue for their meetings, however well intentioned.
The County News Monthly continues to drop through the letter box, two
copies of the October issue having been delivered, and still filled with large
type headlines but little information of real interest to justify the
£450,000 it costs Lincolnshire County Council to produce and distribute every
year. The articles it carries are often unreliable, such as the survey in this
issue on the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act that came into
force on January 1st. The report says that in the first eight months of the year
the authority had received 216 requests for information and 160 were
successfully answered within the 20-day period, a success rate of 76.5% and in
other cases the inquiries were referred to other public bodies such as the
country police, the district councils or health organisations.
We are not told if everyone had a satisfactory reply and my experience is that
they did not because I wrote seeking information about council income and staff
salaries on February 28th but did not get a reply until April 12th and even then
it was incomplete with the proviso (from Tina Stankley, Financial Advisor in the
County Treasurer's Office) that "I will supply the outstanding information as
soon as I have it" but I have heard nothing since. I wrote at the same time to
Steve Jackson (February 27th) with a similar inquiry and although he is
described as the council’s Public Relations Manager and editor of the newspaper
under review, he never replied. This does not auger well for the council’s
latest ruse which is given front page treatment by the County News Monthly
under the headline “Open All Hours” and reporting that a new Customer Service
Centre is now fully operational with 100 staff handling 10,000 calls from
residents every week. Don’t even try.
Thought for the week: Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,
the true place for a just man is also a prison. - from the essay Civil
Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, American writer and poet (1817-62).
Saturday 8th October 2005
The debate over the existence of Bourne Castle rumbles on
and there are now indications that the Time Team from Channel 4 Television may
be contemplating a dig at the Wellhead Gardens provided that satisfactory
arrangements can be made with the administrators, Bourne United Charities.
Certainly, professional excavations under expert guidance, rather than sporadic
searches when civil engineering works are taking place, should provide the
indisputable proof required although the team will have to rid itself first of
any preconceived ideas such as those that have surfaced in print in recent weeks
and to ensure that conclusions are not made before the relevant data is written.
One of the most ardent supporters of the castle theory was Joseph J Davies, the
local schoolteacher and author of the book Historic Bourne (1909) but despite
some of his wilder theories and descriptions, often based on folklore and myth
rather than hard evidence, he did sound a note of caution:
Old time memorials help to visualise the
past scenes that vividly recall the life and deeds of a former day and arouse
the mind to a clearer conception of a glorious past, the visible evidence of
which is thus preserved from dull oblivion. Such relics, ruined and scanty
though they be, vitalise the dry records of the chronicler so that the brave
deeds of old are freshly remembered. Hence it would be a national boon, no less
than a local pride, if the site of the castle, imperishably associated with the
birth and exploits of the Saxon patriot, Hereward, could be unearthed, so that
at least its ground plan and foundations could be revealed.
That was written almost 100 years ago and still the mystery of
the site eludes us. Whether it contains the remains of a castle or manor house,
a Saxon settlement or Roman encampment has yet to be revealed but it is ironic
that it will take a television programme presented as entertainment to discover
our hidden secret.
What the local newspapers are saying: The sorry saga about our south west
relief road is about to end and the Stamford Mercury sums up the
situation with the headline “Relief Road to open to the sound of silence”
(October 7th). There will be no ceremony when the first vehicles are allowed
through today on the 1½ mile stretch of carriageway that has cost £4 million and
a great deal of worry and inconvenience.
“The road was going to be opened with a great big fanfare but sadly that is no
longer the case”, said Jan Lasnon, a spokesman for Allison Homes, the
developers, who built it as part of the planning gain in return for their 2,000
home Elsea Park estate. “Instead, the barriers will be quietly removed and
traffic allowed through, nothing more.”
Meanwhile, a new by-pass for Bourne has moved a step closer, according to The
Local, the proposed road being one to divert traffic from south to north
rather than the controversial relief road which is designed to carry vehicles
from south to west (October 7th). The developers of three acres of land recently
sold by South Kesteven District Council have been named as Henry Davidson
Developments, the firm already engaged on rebuilding the town centre, and it
will consist mainly of roadside services for the A15 opposite the Elsea Park
estate, including a petrol station, drive through restaurant and family public
house, although (surprise, surprise) plans are being formulated for new houses
on adjacent land, probably built by Stamford Homes, the firm already engaged in
residential development on the old hospital site nearby. Details of the scheme
are rather complicated but briefly, a new access road will be built from the
South Road roundabout and, as expected, this will provide the foundations for
the project. “By-pass dream moves a step closer”, says the headline on this
story but let us hope that bureaucratic bungling and inefficiency does not turn
it into another nightmare.
No doubt alarm bells will start ringing for many readers when they scrutinise
the details because the new road will be part of the planning gain, and that
does sound familiar. These arrangements between the local authority and
the developers are usually governed by a Section 106 agreement (S106) to ensure
that they materialise as originally envisaged but there have been many instances
of them being drawn up in a sloppy fashion with the result that they have been
difficult to enforce. As the councillors involved in these contractual
obligations appear to be the same as those who were instrumental in the south
west relief road, perhaps they will learn from the current experience that has
denied the people of Bourne the use of their new carriageway for the past five
months and ensure that there will be no recurrence of such a humiliation.
Newspaper reports are meant to inform but omissions can give a wrong impression
and this will strike many who read in the Stamford Mercury that the
printing firm Warners Midlands plc is building a massive press hall behind
their headquarters in West Street (October 7th) without reference to
the visual effect this development will have on the Wellhead Gardens, a listed
green space next door. The building covering 40,000 square feet will entirely
dominate that corner of the parkland and yet this factor is not mentioned, nor
is its close proximity to this much loved amenity. There is widespread concern
in the town about the impact the new structure will have on the outward prospect
of the gardens, as indeed the accompanying photograph demonstrated, and it is
inconceivable that a journalist covering the district should not know of this
yet readers were not told. Reporters have a responsibility to provide all
aspects of a story and in not doing so they and their newspapers fail in their
duty to the community they purport to serve and may even be seen to be taking
sides, which is not part of their role when recording local events which should
be one of strict impartiality and an adherence to the facts.
It has become a cliché that expatriates pine for certain things from home
that are not available in the domicile of their choosing as anyone who has ever
been abroad for a long period can vouchsafe. My own experience is of a craving
for Heinz tomato soup in Singapore, digestive biscuits in the Bahamas and hot
cocoa in Colombo when tea was the preferred beverage, often iced, I might add.
The Bourne Forum of late has been filled with the unrequited appetites of
those who have long ago departed these shores for North America seeking the
table delights they miss most such as Marmite, Ovaltine, Tetley’s tea and
Lincolnshire haslet, but our discussion group has many redoubtable followers in
the old country who sympathise with the deprived now languishing in our former
colonies and are only too willing to help ease their plight.
Amanda, one of our regular lady contributors, has been promised a tour of
Niagara Falls in return for a bottle of HP sauce (whatever would she need to
take if offered the Rockies?) by Dennis in Ottawa, who once lived in Burghley
Street, and now, like a fairy godmother, she has succumbed to the latest wish
from Ted in Manitoba, lately of Ancaster Road, who wishes for nothing less than
a Melton Mowbray pork pie and has undertaken to send him one by post.
Where will it all end? Can we in return expect to sample some of the culinary
delights of Canada, if that is not an oxymoron? Blueberry muffins, maple syrup
pancakes, or a drop of that potent cordial made from Saskatoon berries by an old
school pal who now lives in Toronto? There is a mistaken idea that love makes
the world go round but I think it more likely that international relations
revolve around our current preoccupation with food and drink.
The personal diaries written by ordinary people are by far the greatest
social documents of our age because they tell of daily experiences, of hopes and
fears, of ambitions achieved and loves won and lost, and so what we read is life
as it was, unfettered by academic considerations.
Among the greatest of these is the Diary written by Samuel Pepys between 1660
and 1669 which presents a vivid picture of an age and a uniquely uninhibited and
spontaneous revelation of its author's life and character, James Woodforde's
diary of 1759-1802 A Country Parson, Kilvert's Diary, written by another country
clergyman Francis Kilvert between 1870 and 1879 and chronicling life in the
English countryside in mid-Victorian times, and of course the Lakeland Journals
of the poet William Wordsworth's sister Dorothy written between 1800 and 1803
while keeping house for her brother at Dove Cottage near Grasmere in the Lake
District.
A more modest contribution to the canon has just been published and it has been
a delight to read because it contains snippets of everyday country life in this
part of South Lincolnshire in 1811 by a young woman who had no idea that her
thoughts were being recorded for posterity. The original journal was found in a
bundle of old family documents and photographs, a small handmade notebook
covered in rough, faded Manila paper and secured with hand sewn white thread,
the anonymous text written in brown ink with a fine hand and needing a
magnifying glass to decipher but this has been done by the editors, Audrey and
Philip Walker, who have also traced the author.
She was Elizabeth Corney, born at Laughton, near Bourne, in 1788 although by the
time she was 23, when this diary was written, she had moved to an isolated
farmhouse in the fens near Gosberton. Her delightful journal records many visits
to Bourne, a constant stream of visitors for tea and entertainment, mostly
playing cards and music making, outings to local fairs and statutes, pig
killing, cheese making, toothache and the ague, as well as more wide reaching
events such as the Great Comet of 1811 which was visible to the naked eye for
around 260 days, soldiers passing through, correspondence from America and a
friend’s return from China with exotic souvenirs.
Elizabeth was married at the age of 39 to George Osborn, eight years her junior
and whose family came from Bourne, and died when she was 73, and although she
had no children, the journal of one year in her life is her legacy for future
generations. All lovers of social history will enjoy this book because it
reflects the minutiae of early 19th century life in the South Lincolnshire
countryside, daily snippets that took the author’s fancy and now enable us step
back two centuries to see how it was.*
A printed monthly newsletter is now available for the benefit of those
people who are not online and unable to see the Bourne web site. The first issue
for October may be accessed via the front page of the web site although you will
need Acrobat Reader to open it, a programme that most computers have on board.
The various subjects deal specifically with our history and heritage and events
today that are likely to have a significant impact on our future while many of
the archive items will enable the reader relate to the way in which our town and
our perceptions have changed over the years.
The main story about genealogy in Bourne has a particular resonance in view of
the present preoccupation with ancestor research that continues to be one of the
most popular subjects for PC users as they strive to compile a family tree, a
fascinating and enlightening hobby that invariably turns up unknown and often
unexpected relatives. Our own Family History section on this web site continues
to attract new names and we now have more than 200 people from around the world
who are seeking information from the Bourne area about those who lived here in
past times and relatives who still do.
The newsletter is a modest single sheet illustrated publication but compact and
informative. Copies are available from today free of charge in the public
library in South Street and the Heritage Centre at Baldock's Mill and for those
who are online who wish to have a copy to pass on to friends, it may also be
downloaded and printed out from the web site.
Thought for the week: I have harped again and again on the vanishing
world of butterflies, wild flowers and birds. The cause is not climatic but
modern methods of farming. It seems to me to be a terrible state of affairs that
this should destroy so much lasting beauty and it leaves me with a sense of
despair for mankind. – from Indian Summer, published in 1984 by the
countryside writer Denys Watkins-Pitchford (BB) whose centenary is being
celebrated this year (1905-1990).
* A
Journal 1811 - The Diary of a Lincolnshire Farmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Corney,
transcribed and edited by Audrey and Philip Walker, is published by Walker's
Books Ltd, price £7.99, and is available from Bourne Bookworld at 19 North
Street, Bourne, and other good booksellers in the area.
Saturday 15th October 2005
There has been a lively discussion in the Bourne Forum
about the necessity for a public inquiry into the fiasco that kept the 1½ mile
south west relief road closed for almost five months while Allison Homes, the
developers who built it, argued the toss on another matter with Lincolnshire
County Council, the highways authority.
Martin Hill (Folkingham Rural), recently appointed Conservative leader of the
council, has ruled out a public inquiry in a written answer to Councillor Philip
Dilks (Labour, Deeping St James) saying: “I do not believe that it would be a
good use of council resources.”
That may be a valid excuse for prudence but not for withholding from the public
details of exactly what went on and neither does it sit easily with the new
administration’s policy of openness and transparency and the need to restore
public confidence after the council’s recent history, with former leader Jim
Speechley being sent to prison for an abuse of his powers and subsequent other
issues that led to government intervention in its affairs. Or have those members
of the ruling Conservative group, like the Bourbon kings renowned for their
stubbornness, “learned nothing and forgotten nothing”, because council tax
payers are still being denied details of controversial issues, particularly the
£4 million road project that became a laughing stock throughout the country. By
all means, Councillor Hill should keep an eye on expenditure but it is difficult
to equate economy with the profligate waste that continues elsewhere in the
authority which he oversees, matters that are ventilated regularly by the media
yet the flow of public money into sluggish backwaters continues unabated.
There is a need for the public to know why two major organisations were
instrumental in closing a public road for eighteen weeks while traffic continued
to pile up in Bourne town centre where life and limb were at risk and as it is
doubtful if Allison Homes will be making any statement on the subject, having
eventually got what they wanted, it is up to our elected representatives to tell
us and to remain silent on this matter will be a flagrant violation of their
public office.
There is no need either for a public inquiry, with all the time and cost that
may entail, for the answer is a simple one. The authority should use its own
facilities to describe exactly what went on by taking space in County News
Monthly, the much heralded 20-page free newspaper delivered to 316,000 homes
each month and reaching more than one million readers. Here is a ready made
outlet for this intelligence, the perfect distribution tool that will reach the
people and the council also has a large and highly paid public relations unit to
deliver the editorial content.
This newspaper has been published continuously since February 2003 and is
currently costing around £375,000 a year to produce. So far, it has not carried
a single story of importance that has commanded much interest or caught the
public’s attention, consisting mainly of anodyne fillers and bland and dreary
comment by senior councillors and officials. Here is the chance for the county
council to redress the balance and give us a detailed summary about the
prolonged debate that lead to this monumental bureaucratic cock-up. The people
have a right to know.
What the local newspapers are saying: The deplorable state of St Peter’s
Pool is highlighted in a photo-feature by the Stamford Mercury under the
headline “Beauty spot needs a major clean-up” with calls for the debris to be
removed (October 14th). This column has continually drawn attention to the
deterioration of this ancient spring and the lack of resolve by the trustees of
Bourne United Charities, the riparian owners, to take any action and James
Westgate’s report indicates that they appear to be totally ignorant of what is
happening under their own noses because he quotes one of them, Councillor Mrs
Shirley Cliffe, as saying: “We are aware that there is some concern but I can
assure people that everything is done to ensure that the area looks
presentable.”
For someone who has been a town councillor for so long (since 1976), Mrs Cliffe
seems to be remarkably out of touch. There is not “some concern” but grave and
serious disquiet and the area does not look in the least bit presentable.
Instead, it is the subject of continual criticism by townspeople and visitors
alike and if she and her fellow trustees take the trouble to go down and take a
look at the pool and the surrounding Wellhead Gardens they will see for
themselves the degree of negligence that has become manifest.
Apart from the weeds and rubbish floating on the surface of the pool, the banks
are overgrown with nettles and sections of protective wire fencing have
collapsed into a tangled mess. Elsewhere in the park, trees that were toppled in
gales as far back as January 2001 still lie where they fell, creating a danger
to children who play there. A rubbish tip has grown up on the site of the old
water cress beds, the river which runs through the park is choked with branches,
bottles, tin cans and other junk, the path alongside Baldock’s Mill is uneven
and slippery underfoot making it extremely hazardous for walkers, there have
been dandelions growing around the war memorial while the flower beds around the
gardens are being strangled by weeds and defaced by litter.
There is increasing alarm about the state of this valuable amenity and if the
present fifteen trustees continue to keep their heads in the sand and refuse to
tackle the problem, then they should vacate their seats in the boardroom at the
Red Hall and make way for someone who will.
The last commercial link with the name Raymond Mays,
international racing driver and designer, is severed this weekend with the
closure of the garage which has been trading from premises near his BRM
workshops in Spalding Road for almost 50 years. The Local reports that
the business is closing down although the future of the site is uncertain
(October 14th). This leaves Bourne with only one petrol retail outlet, Tesco
Express, opened in North Road three years ago and whose competitive pricing
strategy undoubtedly played a part in the closure. “Since they opened”, said
manager Tim Ferrers, “we have simply been unable to compete in the petrol market
because they were able to sell it for less than we were able to buy it. It was
only a matter of time before we went to the wall.”
It is gratifying to note that moves are at last afoot to remove unwanted
signs from the streets of Bourne, a much needed clearance to reduce unsightly
clutter that creates visual chaos and detracts from the image of a small and
attractive market town.
The issue was discussed by the town council last week after it received a
directive from South Kesteven District Council whose officers have at last
become aware that successive administrations, as well as the public utilities,
are responsible for installing them in the most unsuitable locations. More than
20 different agencies, including the local councils, are able to install
equipment in our streets and unfortunately there is no control and very little
co-ordination over their activities, even where historic and conservation areas
are involved. In this way, buildings and thoroughfares can be ruined overnight
by unsightly additions and once in place, it is difficult to get them removed.
But at least the problem is now being addressed and after discussing the issue,
councillors agreed that many signs were misplaced and resolved to draw up a list
and send it to SKDC in Grantham. In case they are in any difficulty over this,
they might like to take a look at my own appraisal of the problem, a
photographic survey posted on this web site last April and still a startling
indictment of past decisions that have created eyesores in some of the most
sensitive spots in this town.
Next time you take a trip down to Sainsburys or Rainbow
to stock up with groceries, spare a thought for the people who lived here 150
years ago because one third of them were starving. Life was a struggle at the
best of times but when there was low employment or severe weather, social
conditions worsened and there was no welfare net to catch those who suffered.
Soup kitchens were often their salvation, financed not by the state or even the
local authorities, such as they were, but by the wealthier citizens because
these were the days of the haves and have nots and the gap between them was a
wide one and often meant the difference between life and death.
In the early weeks of 1861, a long spell of sub-zero temperatures brought
farming to a standstill and as this was our main livelihood, many other
businesses were also affected and workers sent home without pay. Most had young
families, hungry mouths to feed, and the soup kitchen came into its own.
On Friday 1st February that year, the Stamford Mercury reported:
For the past month, about 220 gallons per
week of most excellent soup, costing about 3d. per quart, have been distributed
to all the necessitous poor who have applied for it and no doubt good service
has been rendered to many persons who have suffered from the late inclement
weather and want of employment. The fund raised for this object amounted to £34
15s. 7d. There have been eleven distributions of about 80 gallons each time and
the last distribution for the season is intended to take place today (Friday).
Each distribution, on an average, was purchased by 324 families, comprising 500
adults and 700 children. The cost of each distribution was about £4 and one
third of that sum was received from the applicants at the rate of 1d. per quart.
Thanks are due to the committee for the efficient manner in which they have
discharged the duties devolving upon them.
The money in the fund came from subscriptions to local banks by
those who could afford it, usually tradesmen, the landed gentry, chapels and
churches. This was therefore a case of charity at home for otherwise a large
part of this town could have died out. The population in 1861, which we know to
be accurate because a national census was carried out that year, was 3,730 which
means that one third of them, men, women and children, needed hot soup to keep
them alive. Remember that as you trundle your trolley down the aisles piling it
high with fast food, crisps, Cola, chocolate and biscuits. We take this retail
affluence for granted but there was a time when only the munificence of the
better off in the parish kept entire families from an early grave.
Our mailing list continues to grow, providing details of our activities
once a fortnight, occasionally weekly, and it gives readers the chance to keep
up with developments on the Bourne web site by email. But you have to subscribe
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commercial advertising or any other purpose, but by subscribing (there is no
fee) you are showing support for our work, keeping in touch with developments
and, most important of all, ensuring that it will continue because your support
is vital.
Thought for the week: What does it say about this town when we allow such
an important site to slide into such a sorry condition?
– Councillor Guy
Cudmore, Deputy Mayor of Bourne, commenting on the state of St Peter’s Pool,
quoted by the Stamford Mercury, Friday 14th October 2005.
Saturday 22nd October 2005
Another mediaeval chronicler has finally been given a
place in Bourne’s history following my revelations in this column three years
ago. Scholars have finally acknowledged that an Augustinian monk and preacher
called Orm was working at Bourne Abbey in the early 12th century and manuscripts
of major historical significance in the Bodleian Library at Oxford were written
by him.
This important discovery, which was totally unknown to church
officials in Bourne, now gives the abbey a second mediaeval scribe of
international prominence alongside Robert Manning, the poet and chronicler who
was resident there a century later (1264-1338 or 1340).
Work on translating the homily collection known as The Ormulum has been going on
for several years and in the summer of 2002, Professor Nils-Lennart Johannesson,
a language historian from the Department of English at Stockholm University, who
was working on a new edition, came on a visit. He had been in Oxford for several
months examining the document anew and, before returning to Sweden, he travelled
to Bourne to see the church where Orm worshipped and expressed his confidence
that this was indeed the place where the work was compiled.
The manuscript in the Bodleian is made up of large and irregularly shaped sheets
of parchment, each roughly 23 inches high and 9 inches across, and gathered in
eight numbered quires. It is only a fragment of the total work and contains
homilies, or explications of gospel texts intended to be used for preaching,
dealing with the life of Christ and particularly the lives and works of St Peter
and St Paul, the saints to whom the Abbey Church is dedicated. “This would make
sense only if Orm belonged to a monastery dedicated to these saints”, said
Professor Johannesson. “The dialect in which they are written has long been
recognised by experts as East Midland and the only Augustinian house in the East
Midland areas with that dedication was the Abbey of Bourne.”
His findings have now been given credence by the new 60-volume Oxford Dictionary
of National Biography that contains an entry relating to Orm (flourished 1175)
and his connection with Bourne Abbey. His work is important for students of the
period because The Ormulum is highly revealing about the pronunciation of the
time and the author shows extreme concern with the exact representation of
sounds, thereby providing a major source of evidence for the linguistic study of
early Middle English, the most remarkable feature being not so much the
substance but the distinctive spelling system which was probably intended as an
aid to preachers who would read the work aloud and was evidently designed to
represent speech sounds in a clearer and more consistent way than had been
achieved at that time.
This is a small gem from history but an important connection with our past
captured on behalf of Bourne, and we should treasure it alongside the accounts
of those whose deeds are already known and honoured.
Volunteers are being recruited in an attempt to clean up St Peter’s Pool,
the ancient artesian spring in the Wellhead Gardens that is slowly deteriorating
into an eyesore.
The initiative comes from Andrew Heather who is anxious to see the site put in
good order as befits such an historic location. “It is clear that whenever I
visit, other residents are as shocked and saddened as I am to see it in such a
state”, he said this week. “I have been particularly struck by the condition of
the pool this summer and see no reason why we should not try to reclaim some of
the responsibilities for our communities and their upkeep.”
Andrew, aged 26, has lived at Morton, near Bourne, since completing a Master’s
Degree at Warwick University, and is at present involved in politics, current
affairs and human rights issues. He has taken space on the Internet Pledge Bank
site appealing for local volunteers to help with cleaning up the pool and
surrounds once a fortnight.
“As the fifteen trustees who administer Bourne United Charities and are
responsible for the Wellhead Gardens have shown no signs of acting, I decided to
have a try myself”, said Andrew. “I plan to begin work as soon as ten people
have joined the scheme. We will of course be letting the trustees know about our
scheme and we intend to safeguard the welfare of the black swans that live there
and have become so weak through dehydration that I consider it urgent to offer
them fresh water before we begin.”
Whether this initiative to clean up the pool will spur the
trustees into action or whether they will try to stop it is debatable, although
from experience, the latter course of action seems most likely. It should be
remembered that in October 2003 there was a similar move by pupils from Bourne
Grammar School who were concerned at the amount of rubbish that had piled up in
the vicinity and they spent many hours after lessons picking it up and carting
it away in black plastic bags. The work however was curtailed after their
activities were discussed by the trustees of BUC at a meeting on Thursday 30th
October when concern was expressed about the implications of their insurance
coverage if any of the youngsters were injured although no decision was taken on
how the problem should be solved and so it has been allowed to fester.
What the local newspapers are saying: The order of precedence in laying
wreaths at the town’s cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday this year is causing some
dismay for the town council because, reports the Lincolnshire Free Press,
the Mayor of Bourne has been placed third on the list (October 18th). The
running order for the ceremony was drawn up by the local branch of the Royal
British Legion putting its representative first, an official from the female
section second and then the mayor in third place. Councillor Trevor Holmes told
a meeting of the amenities committee: “The town mayor is effectively the
representative of the Queen during her time in office and should therefore lay
the first wreath.”
A good point if it were true but I think that Councillor Holmes must be
confusing the mayor with the Lord Lieutenant of the county for this privilege
and so his argument is lost because the legion wreaths will be laid by Major
Simon Turner and Baroness Willoughby d’Eresby who both happen to be deputy
lieutenants and therefore his representative. Nevertheless the mayor (currently
Councillor Judy Smith) is our first citizen and is usually given preference on
most civic occasions although this is a British Legion function and one would
have thought that they could run it as they wish.
The entire affair does all have the ring of Toytown about it and any moment you
expect to hear Mr Growser grumbling away in the background: “It’s disgraceful.
It ought not be allowed.” Indeed, the council clerk, Mrs Nellie Jacobs, has been
instructed to check on the protocol to be observed at the ceremony with the
civic officer at South Kesteven District Council although I think it is a lost
cause and the mayor will have to be content with third place unless agreement
can be reached with British Legion officials that all three go up to lay their
wreaths together, an arrangement that must surely suit everyone.
The future of the bus station in North Street has been in the balance for some
months and now the Stamford Mercury reveals that it is likely to be sold
for redevelopment to help fund a proposed multi-storey car park on the existing
site behind the Burghley Centre (October 21st). The bus station has served this
town well since it was opened in 1974 and has become a focal point for local and
national coaches but where they will go in the future is not indicated and they
will presumably have to pick up passengers at the roadside with all of the
dangers that entails. Councillor Linda Neal, leader of South Kesteven District
Council, told the newspaper that the only reason for the sale being considered
is to help fund the redevelopment of the town centre but this would seem to be a
drastic measure, especially as many of the intending passengers who use it are
schoolchildren, while there will be no port of call for our own bus company
Delaine and the National Express link serving London and the north.
The case for a multi-storey car park at the proposed location adjoining Budgens’
supermarket has already been criticised because of the poor access via
Meadowgate, a road originally intended for the horse and cart and already badly
congested, especially at peak periods, while additional car parking space will
merely add to the problem. It was known when this facility opened in 1989 that
the daily chase for one of the 170 available parking spaces would create chaos
along this road and this has happened in no small measure.
Multi-story car parks are not popular and are no longer the way forward. They
are a retrograde step for town centre development and architects of the new out
of town shopping centre recently opened at Spalding recognised this and sensibly
opted for conventional car parking with modern security features that is a joy
to use. This dislike has been engendered by experience and the siting of
multi-storey car parks in towns and cities throughout Britain does not have a
good track record. Only those with a round-the-clock supervision for seven days
a week and fitted with the latest technology operate satisfactorily and it is
doubtful if the demand in Bourne would finance such a luxury. But the die
appears to have been cast and although this opposition is being well aired,
public opinion will not change the official mind, although history will judge
its actions.
Shop watch: The closure of the Raymond Mays garage in Spalding Road has
resulted in increased customer pressure on Tesco Express in North Road, a petrol
and groceries outlet that is already too small for the site it occupies. The
garage was opened in 1994 and the premises extended to include a supermarket
three years ago, despite objections over the unsuitability of the location for
traffic access and road safety. This is now the only place in town to buy petrol
and it is therefore often crowded with queues of cars overflowing into St
Gilbert’s Road, a situation compounded by the arrival of articulated lorries and
oil tankers on the forecourt to make deliveries.
There is also an urgent need for some re-organisation inside because queues at
the tills often stretch down the shop and many customers who have filled up then
go inside to buy groceries and pay, leaving their cars at the pumps, with the
result that waiting drivers have an even longer delay. By virtue of their food,
snacks and drinks marketing strategy, Tesco Express has become a boon for
singles and husbands left to fend for themselves but in view of the additional
custom that has come their way, be warned that the wait will frequently be long
and frustrating.
From the archives: An inquest on John Hudson, aged 39, who died on Monday
9th May 1842, was held at the New Inn, Bourne, [in Spalding Road, now closed and
used as a private house] when it was said in evidence that the deceased was in a
state of intoxication for the whole of the day and in that condition, went to
the New Inn about 7 o'clock in the evening where Mr John Beasley of Dyke and
other company were sitting at the time. He asked of Mr B to give him a quart of
ale, which he consented to do, if he would drink the whole himself and in the
space of seven minutes. After drinking that quantity, he begged of Mr B to allow
him another quart, which was given to him and which he drank. He then became
very drunk and fell upon the floor quite helpless and in that state, was carried
into the yard and laid upon some cloths under an open shed where he soon fell
asleep and in that situation was left for the night. On the following morning,
he was found there quite dead. It also appeared in evidence that the deceased
was a habitual drunkard. After a very attentive inquiry, the jury recorded their
verdict: "Died by excessive drinking" and that the jurors could not abstain from
expressing their strongest condemnation of the conduct of Mr John Beasley in
supplying the deceased with ale when in a state of intoxication.
Thought for the week: There are none so blind as those who will not see.
– John Heywood, English dramatist and epigrammatist (1497-1580).
Saturday 29th October 2005
Our locality has produced several famous people and now
we may place among them a man who became one of England’s greatest soldiers. He
was Edward Harwood, who was knighted for his bravery in the field of battle and
also became one of the first governors of North Carolina.
He was born at Thurlby, near Bourne, in 1586, one of the five children of
William and Elizabeth Harwood, and in 1599 he went to the Netherlands as a page
to Colonel Sir John Ogle, who came from Pinchbeck, later joining the army
himself, serving with a brigade of English volunteers and distinguishing himself
during the Thirty Years War, a major conflict in Europe between 1618-48.
After service at Ostend, he was consistently promoted and by 1607, still very
youthful, he was captain of 150 infantrymen in the service of the Dutch republic
and by 1614, he had been knighted on the recommendation of Prince Maurice of
Nassau, captain-general of the United Provinces. By 1820, he had become a
lieutenant colonel and in 1626 was a full colonel commanding an English
regiment, one of only four in the pay of the Dutch at that time, thus becoming
one of the premier English soldiers of the day.
In that year, he was one of the colonels in the disastrous English expedition to
Cadiz and got the rearguard away safely, returning to the Netherlands. He was
shot and mortally wounded at the Battle of La Felt during the siege of
Maastricht on 11th August 1632, pierced through by three successive bullets and
in 1636 one of his officers, Captain Nicholas Byron, erected a monument to his
memory in the Hague where he was buried on the instructions of Prince Maurice.
Sir Edward was known for his courage both on the battlefield and in sieges and
was reputed to have been everlastingly penitent over a duel in which he killed a
man and this determined him to forgo personal quarrels for the rest of his life.
During my research into Edward Harwood’s life, I came into contact with a
descendant of his elder brother George and it is now suggested that he also had
a successful career as a merchant adventurer in the New World, becoming at one
point governor of one of the nine original United States. Winston Harwood, who
lives at Austin, Texas, has provided copies of his research material and we can
therefore assume that his version is correct.
George had left Thurlby as a young man to seek his fortune in London where he
became a successful merchant, specialising in trade with the North American
colonies. As the result of his influence, Edward became one of the largest
shareholders in the Virginia Company, regularly returning home to attend board
meetings between 1619 and 1623 and visiting Virginia for 18 months to oversee
the company’s affairs. He made a second trip to America in 1624 and this time,
went to North Carolina, one of the original thirteen colonies [later the twelfth
state in the union], and subsequently becoming governor in 1625, although he
held the post for only a short period.
In 1630, he took time off again from his military duties to visit London where
he became one of the incorporators of the Providence Islands or Bahamas Company
and records indicate that George at that time was treasurer of the Massachusetts
Company. On returning to duty, Sir Edward was again ordered to Holland with his
regiment to support the King of Bohemia and subsequently met his death at
Maastricht.
Before the action, Sir Edward had made his will on 16th June 1632 and since he
had never married, left his entire estate worth £500 to his brother George who
was by then an extremely wealthy man. He also bequeathed £100 “for pious uses to
be disposed of by my brother by such Ministers advise as he knows I most
respecteth” and he left jewels and medals to the exiled Queen of Bohemia’s
family and there were also several bequests to his officers.
Mr Harwood’s research is meticulous and although it is difficult to reconcile a
life of business and commerce with that of a campaigning military man, his
sources are impeccable and until fresh evidence is forthcoming, the two accounts
of Sir Edward Harwood’s life must stand and will join the annals of the famous
who originated from the Bourne area.
For the past three weeks I have been visiting Peterborough District
Hospital and in the absence of adequate spaces, I have parked in the
multi-storey at the Queensgate shopping centre and walked the rest of the way.
My route lay over the footbridge spanning the main
A15 and then across the Crescent Bridge, a familiar landmark in the city where I
was born but I see that a silver metal plaque has been placed on the structure
and I stopped to read it.
The 160-foot bow string lattice span was opened by the Great Northern Railway on
16th April 1913 at a cost of £34,000, built to replace two troublesome level
crossings and a subway and was given the name Crescent Bridge after a row of
1830 terraced houses that were demolished to make way for the iron structure. It
was refurbished in 2001 and the commemorative plaque was erected by Peterborough
Civic Society last year to mark both its history and renewal.
Where, I thought, might a similar plaque be erected in Bourne by our own Civic
Society? What recent work has been done to preserve and even enhance those
historic features that we possess? The answer is none. Yet an opportunity looms,
the landscaping and enhancement of the Wellhead Gardens and St Peter’s Pool, if
the trustees of Bourne United Charities have the courage to seize the
opportunity for the benefit of this town. If this much needed work does come to
fruition, I feel sure that Bourne Civic Society would be only too pleased to
foot the bill because a plaque displayed in a prominent place would demonstrate
that those who run our affairs still have the welfare of the town and its people
at heart and are prepared to preserve and even improve those amenities that we
have.
It appears to be on the cards that Stamford Hospital will not close but
will cease to be used for medical purposes and converted instead into offices
for the Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Peterborough
District Hospital will be phased out and demolished and the Edith Cavell
Hospital expanded to cater for medical services in the area, including Bourne.
This would appear to be the modus operandi currently on the drawing board.
Where, you might ask, does this scenario come from and I can tell you that it is
the perceived intelligence among staff at the PDH and it is my experience that
the results of the rumour mill grinding at such close quarters to the decision
making process is most likely true because if discussions have taken place and
papers and plans exist, then there will be leaks because there is no such thing
as a secret if more than one person knows about it and within days, even the
lowliest will be privy to the most confidential information. Always, for
instance, ask a taxi driver if you want to know what is going on in London.
Stamford would seem to be the most likely choice as headquarters for the men and
women in suits, Peterborough with its crime, drugs and heavy traffic coming a
poor second to England’s finest stone town and a very attractive place to live,
no matter that they are some miles away from the very medical services they are
supposed to deliver.
One other point struck me during my visits. If the NHS is so overstretched with
waiting lists for hospital treatment extending into 2006 and beyond, then why
was the bed occupancy at PDH so low, less than 50% in some areas of the
hospital, even on weekdays? Is this to save money or to achieve targets? Yet the
place is humming with non-medical staff, cleaners languidly pushing brooms
about, electricians, porters, receptionists and other ancillary staff as well as
the inevitable clipboard brigade, popping in and out of the wards unannounced on
mysterious visits, checking on this and that without saying who they were or
what their role is in this mighty medical machine, while meals are a
hit-and-miss affair and filling in the menu sheet provided becomes merely a
routine with little hope that you will actually get what you ask for.
Away from this beehive of inactivity, working long hours in cramped conditions
and often with equipment that has seen better days, are the dedicated doctors
and nurses of the intensive care and special dependency units. These are the
people at the cutting edge of the system, the real heroes of the National Health
Service to whom saving life is an everyday occurrence yet some are on duty for
twelve and thirteen hours at a stretch, a stark contrast to the pill pushers in
general practice who run our country clinics where a five day wait for an
appointment is still a reality yet they refuse to work outside their nine to
five, Monday to Friday regime.
When the National Health Service was launched in 1948, the Labour government
promised that it would look after us from the cradle to the grave and to a great
extent, we can still depend on it for our medical needs although urgency is now
unknown except in an emergency. But the workforce has expanded year after year
until it is now larger than the Russian army while the system groans under the
weight of this manpower, much of it absolutely unnecessary yet still being paid.
Successive governments have promised to tackle the problem and all have failed
to do so. Perhaps members of the present Labour cabinet should spend a week as
patients in the PDH to focus their minds.
What the local newspapers are saying: An indication that Bourne may soon
lose its county police force is reported by The Local covering a meeting
of the town council’s finance and general purposes committee on Tuesday when the
effectiveness of the Police Community Support Officers who currently patrol the
streets was discussed (October 28th). In the absence of the traditional bobbies
on the beat, councillors were quite satisfied with their role and John Kirkman,
a former member of the county police authority and this year’s chairman of South
Kesteven District Council, told colleagues: “We have to remember that
Lincolnshire Police Force is under threat and is likely to become part of an
East Midlands force and so we will need our community officers more.”
There have been rumblings of police centralisation at national level but now
that we are hearing it freely referred to at the grass roots, it becomes more of
a reality. The country does seem to be moving away from local accountability in
all of its emergency services, police, fire, doctors out of hours, hospitals and
ambulances, and the people they serve are becoming increasingly depressed by a
sense of isolation. Only time will tell whether the wholesale closing of local
services will work but by then, the deed will have been done and it will be too
late to change it.
The dangers of heavy traffic using Hereward Street was discussed by members of
Bourne Town Council last week and The Local reports that here is an
accident waiting to happen (October 28th). Not only Hereward Street but also
Meadowgate because as this column has been pointing out for the past seven
years, these thoroughfares were built for the horse and cart and not articulated
lorries delivering to the rear entrance of Budgens, the town centre supermarket.
“Damage is being done, whatever the time of day, early or late”, said Councillor
Jayne Pauley and here is someone who should know because she is not only
chairman of the highways committee but also lives in Hereward Street. Others
joined in the condemnation of the situation and deplored the fact that this
issue was not explored when the Burghley Centre was built in 1989.
The upshot of the meeting is that the divisional highways manager of
Lincolnshire County Council, Brian Thompson, is being invited to make a site
visit to see the problem for himself while Budgens will be asked to use smaller
delivery lorries and the police alerted to be on the lookout for cars parked on
the pavement. Mr Thompson, as the county highways representative which has the
final say on this development, should also be made aware that a multi-storey is
now planned for the adjoining car park which will dramatically increase traffic
flows in the vicinity and now is the time to stop it before the situation gets
completely out of hand.
Shopkeepers in Bourne affected by the proposed redevelopment of the town centre
have been hit by business blight, according to the Stamford Mercury which
reports their fears over the slow progress of the scheme (October 28th). Mike
Dunn, proprietor of Bourne Bookworld in North Street, claims that they have
heard nothing since last February and that apparent inactivity makes it
impossible to plan ahead, even providing blank plastic bags for customers rather
than order a new batch printed with the shop’s address. “It is affecting trade
badly and I just do not know what will be happening this time next year”, he
said. There is similar uncertainty among householders in the core development
area, particularly Burghley Street, who have not been told when they will have
to leave their homes to make way for the bulldozers. “We have not heard a thing
for months”, said Mrs Cis Handley, aged 71. “I have written to the developers
but have not had a reply.” Town Centre Management Co-ordinator, Ivan Fuller,
accepted that there has been “a period of silence as negotiations reached a
delicate stage” but plans were moving forward and he has offered to deal with
all inquiries personally in an attempt to allay fears anyone may have about
their future.
Shop watch: One of the best and most efficient businesses in the town
must be the laundry service offered by Bourne Cleaners in Manning Road, a boon
to any husband who, as I did, suddenly finds his wife indisposed for a few
weeks. With a two-day turn around and a 20% discount on Wednesdays for senior
citizens, this is surely better than trying to battle with the intricacies of
the washing machine and the various powders needed for the best results,
followed by a stint with the smoothing iron. Shirts, socks and underwear were
all returned beautifully ironed and packed in individual wrappers with cardboard
stiffeners as though straight from M & S and even those annoying identifying
tags had been removed. I have been so impressed that after 45 years I have
decided to relieve my wife of the chore of washing and ironing my clothes and in
future, all will now go to Bourne Cleaners.
Thought for the week: Children today are tyrants. They contradict their
parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.
- Socrates,
Athenian philosopher (469-399 BC).
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