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Saturday 4th February 2006
This has been a bad week for the reputation of Bourne
Town Council. Meeting in secret at the Corn Exchange on Tuesday night, members
overturned the 30-year-old tradition of elevating the deputy mayor to mayor for
the coming year and chose Councillor Brian Fines instead of
the high profile Guy Cudmore.
Their reasons remain unclear because press and public were excluded together
with the clerk to the council, Mrs Nelly Jacobs, whose knowledge of procedure and
advice one would have thought imperative on this occasion. We are not therefore
privy to what went on or who instigated the change although no matter what the
final vote was, one councillor must have cast the first stone.
Councillor Fines is less of a household name, even though he is also a member of
South Kesteven District Council (Bourne West), and has one of the lowest
attendance records out of the entire membership with under 58% according to the last recorded figures. Councillor Cudmore on the other hand, a graduate in
politics and economics, is significantly articulate in his well exposed views
through frequent letters to the local newspapers and elsewhere and is second on
the attendance register with almost 95%. He was also officially next in line to
be mayor.
Why he should be passed over by his colleagues in this manner has not been
revealed and we can only speculate on the reasons. In his letters and writings
elsewhere, Guy Cudmore has been particularly critical of South Kesteven District
Council and his remarks have received widespread coverage and support and none
of what he has said had been challenged. But last year, he was reported to the
Standards Board of England for comments he made on the Bourne Forum connected
with a public inquiry into the proposed housing development at The Croft in
North Road by fellow town councillor John Kirkman who felt particularly
aggrieved because he is this year’s chairman of South Kesteven District Council
which was handling both the planning application and the hearing. As a result,
Councillor Cudmore was summoned to appear before the Standards Committee of SKDC
in December and was subsequently censured, a decision that he accepted and
agreed to take advice as to his future conduct.
That should have been the end of the affair because in this country, anyone who
transgresses should not be punished twice. But since then, there has been talk
of moves to prevent him from becoming mayor and that other colleagues, junior in
status for this particular honour, were being sounded out for their willingness
to serve as our first citizen for the coming year. The mayoralty succession is
not normally sealed until the town council’s annual meeting in May but this year
it was brought forward and discussed behind closed doors after the full town
council meeting on Tuesday. It is therefore apparent that the private session
was instigated specifically for that purpose and for the first time since 1976,
the system of elevating the deputy to the mayoralty is unlikely to proceed, an
unprecedented departure from the practice of three decades. Yet we are not being
told why.
Perhaps there are fears that Councillor Cudmore’s criticism of SKDC would
continue during his year of office when his utterances would carry far more
weight. In which case, it is unfortunate that politics has entered the equation
and if the council is to regain its dignity, then it would be better if any
member who is nominated in his place should politely decline to become mayor and
allow tradition to take its course because this affair will hang like a dark
cloud over the mayoralty for some time to come.
The entire episode is extremely disturbing and one that needs
closer investigation by the clerk to ensure that the rules of procedure have not
been breached. In the meantime, the Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Judy Smith, has
a duty as chairman to issue a full and frank statement explaining exactly what
is happening and whether this meeting, held in private and without minutes being
taken, was official and if it is intended to implement the result at a full
meeting of the town council.
There is much talk at the present time about voter apathy, a subject currently
under investigation by SKDC. The case of Councillor Cudmore will do little to
increase the confidence of the electorate, especially among those young people moving
into Bourne who should be taking over from the old guard at the Town Hall who
appear to have made a grave error of judgement this time round.
What the local newspapers are saying: The case of Councillor Cudmore is
given front page coverage by The Local under the headline “Secret talks
crush deputy’s ambition” (February 3rd). The report says that no final decision
has yet been made and that the official election of the new mayor will take
place in public on May 2nd. But Councillor Cudmore appears to be resigned to
what has happened because he told the newspaper: “I could see the way it was
going. It was not a particularly congenial meeting. It was obvious that a group
of people had rehearsed what they were going to say.”
Fellow councillor Trevor Holmes missed the meeting through illness but he told
the newspaper: “If what I have heard is true, Bourne Town Council has
dramatically fallen in my estimation. I am amazed and disgusted that they could
do such a thing.”
Residents of St Peter’s Road in Bourne are again protesting about the nuisance
from the nearby printing plant owned by Warners (Midlands) plc and this time
they have told the Stamford Mercury of their fears that carbon monoxide
fumes from the factory chimney may be injurious to their health (February 3rd).
Council health inspectors were called in after they complained of breathing
problems and attacks of nausea and biliousness but they have ruled that the risk
is minimal and no cause for concern. The company has confirmed that there have
been problems with the chimney but repairs are in hand.
In recent years there have been complaints about lorry movements to and from the
printing plant, about noise and of the close proximity of the new press hall,
now under construction, to the Wellhead Gardens, the town’s popular beauty spot.
The latest incident must raise the validity of the suggestion that such a large
commercial enterprise has no place so near to the town centre. Warners is a
valuable part of the local economy and Bourne would not wish to lose it but
perhaps this is the time for the directors to give serious thought to relocating
to a more suitable site on the outskirts of town.
The old adage advises that there is nothing new under the sun and that
would certainly seem to be the case with the government’s latest initiative to
cure the ills of the National Health Service. Their proposals announced in a
white paper this week are designed to make care in England more accessible by
shifting specialisms such as ear, nose and throat and dermatology, to community
hospitals and doctors’ surgeries.
The Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt described it as “a major strategic shift”
by paving the way for many changes to the services people receive in the
community but I can tell her that it is nothing of the sort. Instead, it is a
return to the health service that we knew in the old days when the consultants
came to the patients rather than forcing them to attend hospitals many miles
away and face the risk of a long wait and even cancelled appointments when they
get there.
The way it was is amply illustrated in the history of the Butterfield, opened as
a cottage hospital to serve the community in and around Bourne in 1910 and
operating quite efficiently until closed down in 1983 because of financial
restraints and an alleged streamlining of the NHS which never came. During the
years in between, it operated quite efficiently for the benefit of the town,
treating thousands of patients who took comfort from the knowledge that primary
health care was so close by.
Operations were performed there and emergency cases treated and there were also
very busy casualty and out-patients departments and a maternity service. In
addition, weekly clinics were held by visiting consultants who were able to see
all of the local patients in a single day. These ingredients were the very
essence of the cottage hospital, an idea that dated back to Victorian times but
was sacrificed on the altar of financial expediency. Now the government is
presenting a similar scheme as though it is an original idea. But we should not
quibble. Anything that improves the health service at local level is to be
welcomed, even if the government does snaffle the credit for an old idea that
has been dressed up in new clothes.
Non-conformist congregations have always been a shining
example of self-help in the establishment and maintenance of their places of
worship and the Baptist Church in West Street, Bourne, is no exception.
The present Regency building dates from the early 19th century when 44 members
pledged a total of £212 for the project to get underway. Voluntary labour was
necessary because the church had no capital but this did not deter members from
proceeding and the first stone was laid on 6th May 1835 with the appropriate
prayer: "May this home be a blessing to many generations".
The total cost was eventually £1,700 and the foundation stone was laid by one of
the deacons, Mr Edward Wherry, a grocer from Edenham who had established a new
retail business in North Street. This was an appropriate choice because members
of his family subsequently served in the Baptist congregation as deacons for
over a hundred years. Extra seating was installed in 1868 together with a new
organ while vestries were added in February 1876. A Sunday school was built in
1891 at a cost of £1,100, money again found by the congregation who also
contributed to the cost of repairs when the building was badly damaged by fire
in 1887. The church was originally lit by gas lamps but electric lighting was
installed in 1932 at a cost of £97 6s. 9d. that was paid by an anonymous
benefactor, although the schoolroom was not wired until 1936, again by
volunteers with cash aid from church members.
Maintenance and repairs have continued over the years to keep this Grade II
listed building in good order and a major refurbishment has just been completed,
the biggest project of its kind in over a century. The work has been extensive
and has included a new floor and heating system, carpets and redecorating, the
replacement of pews with upholstered chairs, a renovated baptistery, repairs to
the roof, windows and frames, a new entrance foyer, disabled access and paved
frontage. The total cost has been £110,000 and the minister, the Rev Derek
Baines, told me: “The money has been raised by friends and members of the church
simply by extra giving without the need for any fund raising events.”
This is a remarkable example of generosity at the grass roots enabling a fine
building to survive and a congregation to feel that it has played its part in
handing it on in good order to future generations.
Unison singing was part of my early education and a regular subject on
the weekly timetable at the elementary school I attended in the 1930s. The
teacher would sit herself down at the piano and direct the class of 40 or more
boys and girls through a series of old English choral favourites ranging from
Hearts of Oak and the Yeomen of England to Greensleeves and Sweet Afton.
These noisy sessions, sometimes sweet and melodious, but more often harsh and
discordant, were intended to give children an appreciation of music but they
also filled the daylight hours and kept restless children occupied although as a
result, I came to know these songs by heart and the words are remembered to this
day. Among them was a particular favourite “What shall we do with a drunken
sailor”, a rousing sea shanty that was always rendered with gusto because it had
a whiff of salt water adventure about it and as the song rang round the school
hall, I would indulge in the escapist fantasy of sailing the seven seas in the
company of rowdy tars who drank too much when allowed ashore.
The tune is one of those included in a marvellous arrangement of British folk
songs composed by the late Fritz Spiegl and used as a dawn call up to herald the
start of broadcasting by BBC Radio 4 every morning for the past 30 years but now
threatened with the axe in the interests of change, a proposal that has sparked
an outburst of objections with a protest petition from listeners and even
questions to the Prime Minister in the Commons. But now after 70 years, the
meaning of this song has been made clear and I doubt very much if the austere
spinster lady who gave us our music lessons would have included it in her
programme if she had known and no doubt all schools would also have struck it
off their list as recommended singing by pupils of such a tender age.
Dr Anne Coren of London explains its meaning in a letter to The Times
(Saturday 28th January 2006) in which she tells us that the shanty is all about
the condition of bosun’s droop whose colloquial equivalent, the drunken sailor,
was coined by the working women of Portsmouth, referring not to the tar himself
but to that part of his anatomy most affected by a night of heavy drinking about
which, as the song says, nothing can be done on the morning after. “Unless, that
is, a bit of TLC care is administered by the woman”, she writes, “whereupon the
cure is greeted with the cry ‘Hey, ho, and up she rises, hey, ho, and up she
rises, hey, ho, and up she rises, early in the morning!’ Perhaps this is why
some Radio 4 listeners are going to miss it so much.”
Thought for the week: We are moving into a high tech economy where
printed money will become obsolete. People of all ages must be prepared for
these advances. – Robert McQueen, Yonkers, New York, USA, quoted by The
Times, Saturday 28th January 2006.
Saturday 11th February 2006
The fens do not appeal to everyone. Those who prefer
mountains and valleys may regard the area as flat and featureless but nowhere in
Britain will they find such a peaceful place with spectacular and ever-changing
skies.
This part of England was originally known as the Great Level, a term no longer
in general use today but meaning that tract of land on the east coast, extending
southwards from the uplands in Lincolnshire for a distance of about 60 miles and
occupying portions of six counties. It is much maligned because it is flat, but
there is beauty here for all who have time to look and to listen, and to cycle
out along the lanes on a hot summer's day and eat a picnic lunch at the field's
edge in this isolated countryside, as we sometimes do, is a rewarding experience
because this is also the place where you can experience total silence except
perhaps for the occasional singing of a lark ascending.
As a young man, the pastoral composer Ralph Vaughan Williams cycled many miles
in these parts seeking out folk tunes and his symphonic impression In the Fen
Country is redolent of low skies and a boundless horizon for this is one of the
few places in the world where you have an uninterrupted view for an entire 360
degrees. Percy Grainger, also a frequent visitor to these parts, travelled
around with an early recording device, calling in at pubs and hostelries to
persuade the locals to sing their old folk songs into his microphone, and the
results have given us his evocative Lincolnshire Posy, one of the finest pieces
of music from our English countryside. There is a culture in the fens that those
who despise a flat countryside are likely to miss.
A discussion on the merits of this landscape is underway in the Bourne Forum,
inspired by John Morfee who wrote that the view across the fens is probably the
most boring outside a desert, but not everyone agrees. Our house is on the very
edge of this flat expanse and from my first floor study window I can look out
over meadow and farmland to the distant horizon and out there somewhere are the
salt marshes of South Lincolnshire and beyond them the North Sea. This daily
panoramic view takes in several fields edged with trees, an old dyke dating back
2,000 years which was once used by the Romans to move soldiers and supplies,
several churches, a few cottages from the next village and a windmill.
But most rewarding of all, I am a constant observer of the farming year in its
entirety because I sit here most days, usually writing something, and watch the
plough and the harrow in the autumn, preparing to plant new crops of wheat and
barley, and then the frost and the snow that turn our countryside into a winter
wonderland overnight, followed by the spring when the green shoots push through
the earth and as the weeks pass they grow taller and soon those mellow
mid-summer days are here and the combines are cutting a swathe through the
golden corn and the year begins again. And so the changing seasons act as a
marker for our life span and constantly remind us that the years are passing and
we must enjoy each day to the full.
If you have not yet discovered the beauty of the fenland landscape, then you
might like to spend a few hours driving through it for I am sure you will find
it an enlightening experience. The very best time is the spring which is not too
far away and so mark your engagement diaries accordingly.
Forum posting of the week: As an exile in hilly Devon, I have fond
recollections of Lincolnshire skies, stretching as far as the eye could see. You
do not get skies like that down here unless you climb to the top of Dartmoor,
something I admittedly love to do. I think of riding the bus from Thurlby to
Bourne Grammar School on sharp frosty mornings when the sky was barely blue, the
turned soil of the fields fringed with white frost, the trees standing stark and
black against the skyline. This was a view I loved with a passion. Or riding my
bike past the rape fields towards Braceborough on a spring day, the crop rising
above my head bright yellow against the sky. I am not particularly religious
these days but I have felt closer to whatever deity there is when surrounded by
the fens and being made to feel the truth of my insignificance in terms of the
planet. – Nicola Senior, replying to suggestions that the fens are boring,
Monday 6th February 2006.
The debate about the appeal of the fens began with the revelation that a
Spanish company is planning a wind farm with six 400 foot high turbines on the
skyline at Sempringham Fen, near Bourne, but local residents have misgivings
about the proposals because they fear that the development will devalue their
homes. Even local members of the environmental pressure group Greenpeace, who
usually support sustainable forms of energy, are not exactly jumping for joy at
the prospect of property prices tumbling by thousands of pounds once the
structures are in place. Each of them will be 100 feet higher than the famous
Boston Stump which is visible from fifteen miles away and retired businessman
Roly Cope, aged 61, who lives at nearby Pointon, said they would be a
monstrosity. “It might be a serious blight on our beautiful fenland landscape,”
he told the Stamford Mercury in an interview last week.
Joan Graham, aged 81, of Pointon Road, Sempringham, was more philosophical. “I
think they are quite beautiful and will grace our landscape”, she said. “People
may even visit the area just to see them. After all, it is not exactly an area
of outstanding natural beauty.”
Wind turbines provoke controversy wherever they are proposed and yet this type
of power is not unknown in this part of the fens. Windmills first appeared in
Persia in the 7th century and reached Europe by the late 12th century and
thereafter their use spread rapidly. By the early 19th century, there were about
10,000 windmills in England and Wales, grinding grain, driving mechanical saws,
raising coal, pumping water and making paper.
They were particularly useful for drainage work during the middle of the 18th
century and considerable areas were freed from water for the greater part of
each year including Deeping Fen, a large tract of mainly sodden peat that runs
to the very edge of Bourne. Windmills were introduced to counteract the effect
of the lowered land surface and by 1763, over 50 were at work in this one fen
alone. Many survive and are preserved as valued reminders of our heritage,
notably the smock mill at Dyke village that was built by Dutch drainage
engineers in the late 17th or early 18th century as a pumping mill and moved
there around 1840 when it was converted to grind corn.
There are many others scattered around this part of Lincolnshire and the
opprobrium of the preservation lobby would be heaped upon your head if you tried
to dismantle or alter one of these magnificent monuments to man's achievement
and so one wonders what all the fuss is about each time a wind turbine is
mentioned.
What the local newspapers are saying: The Butterfield Centre is to get a
grant of £2,500 from Bourne Town Council despite the recent disquiet about its
financial affairs. The Lincolnshire Free Press reports that a full
meeting of the authority rejected a move to delay the money until current
investigations involving the police have been resolved (February 7th). “The
centre needs the money to keep going”, said Councillor John Smith. “It has been
our custom to give them a grant and they depend on it.” This would appear to be
a sound decision because the Butterfield caters for many elderly people and it
might even be argued that it is a lifeline for some and so nothing should be
done to impair its function. Councillor Trevor Holmes, one of the centre’s
trustees, gave assurances that the current problems would soon be resolved and
added: “Income has dramatically increased and our users enjoy being there. The
centre is going from strength to strength and we will come to the end of the
financial year on a positive note.”
The renewal of a rail link to Bourne would help solve traffic congestion on the
A15 through the town, according to the Stamford Mercury. The idea comes
from Lincolnshire county councillor Mark Horn (Bourne Abbey) who proposes the
re-opening of the east coast main line station at Essendine (February 10th) and
so renew the passenger service that operated from 1860 until it closed in 1959.
Councillor Horn says that our roads infrastructure has reached breaking point
with traffic between Bourne and Peterborough doubling in the past fifteen years.
A new railway station could be financed by a private firm which would then enter
into an agreement with one of the established rail operators for the benefit of
commuters and other travellers. “The area is booming and the development
corridor along the A15 means that this will continue”, he said. “It we are to
retain the affluence these people bring we must improve our commuter links and
bringing the town back into the rail network would be the most effective way of
doing it.”
His idea has merit as does the new Labour government initiative to return some
medical specialisms to the community, similar to the cottage hospital system of
years ago which was discussed last week. Perhaps in the future, we should be
wary of discarding the old ways because when we do decide that they are still of
value, the money may no longer be available to restore them.
The Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Judy Smith, has quite rightly given a statement
to The Local over the controversy involving her successor following last
week’s private meeting of councillors which suggested that there may be a
departure from tradition this year and the deputy mayor, Councillor Guy Cudmore,
is likely to be passed over in favour of someone else (February 10th). She said:
“It is the custom of Bourne Town Council at an informal gathering of members to
discuss nominations for the position of town mayor and vice-chairman at this
time of the year. Similar gatherings take place at many other councils with only
members of the council present and no public, press, officers or minute takers.
Actual proposals are made and votes taken at the annual general meeting so it is
not possible to speculate about who will be the next mayor and vice-chairman.”
This is a welcome assurance from the mayor, as chairman of the council, on an
issue that has stimulated some debate in the town and those who have
participated await the annual meeting of the town council on Tuesday May 2nd
with particular interest.
My recent photograph showing the refurbished interior of St Firmin’s
Church at Thurlby, near Bourne, has attracted interest from the north of
England. The removal of pews is a particularly controversial issue at the
present time, traditionalists believing that they should remain while modernists
see them as occupying space that could be better used for community purposes
which was one of the original purposes of the building.
The congregation of St Nicholas Church at Beverley, East Yorkshire, is
considering a similar alteration to the nave and the vicar, the Rev Jonathan
Evans, has asked for permission to reproduce the picture to add to other
illustrations in an exhibition showing what is possible and I have been happy to
oblige.
The change at Thurlby church has been welcomed by parishioners, the Victorian
pews being removed and the old wooden floor replaced to provide a light and
welcoming atmosphere that has rightly been described as stunning. Specially
designed chairs with rush seats and a colouring to match the new flagstones will
eventually enhance the appearance. But not everyone agrees with throwing out the
old and a similar scheme at St Michael’s Church, Edenham, has split the
congregation and presented a dilemma for the vicar, the Rev Andrew Hawes, who
considers the pews too small and cramped. Mrs Jean Joyce, a member of the church
council, disagrees, and condemns the change as an act of vandalism. “If it goes
ahead, so much will be lost”, she said. “We are only temporary in this lovely
building and we are privileged to maintain it. If the fabric is in good order,
and these solid oak pews are free from woodworm, then they should be kept for
future generations.”
An interim scheme is now being considered in an attempt to please everyone by
removing the pews into store for a trial period of eighteen months and then
seeking the views of parishioners for a long term solution. This is an astute
move, perhaps based on the belief that out of sight is out of mind, and many
are already suggesting that they will not be brought back.
Thought for the week: We had crime prevention officers now we have crime
reduction officers. How long before we have crime acceptance officers?
–
letter from R S of Dorset to BBC Dear Ceefax, Friday 10th February 2006.
Saturday 18th February 2006
Public opposition to the
building of more new houses in Bourne again dominates the front pages of our two
main local newspapers with detailed reports on dissatisfaction from all quarters
over plans for residential development on the old railway station site in South
Street (February 17th).
The disused buildings dating back to Victorian times were demolished in March
last year when South Kesteven District Council identified the site as brownfield
land with potential for 60 new houses. The development scheme submitted by
Stamford Homes, however, is to build 121 houses on the land and inevitably there
are what The Local calls “passionate objections from all corners of the
community” for a variety of reasons, particularly because the site is on the
edge of the conservation area and close to the Red Hall, one of our most
attractive Grade II listed buildings.
“If the project goes ahead it will be completely out of keeping with the
locality and will desecrate the area”, said Councillor Trevor Holmes. “This is
over development in the wrong place and something we should totally oppose. It
is intrusive and I am extremely concerned about the impact it will have on the
highways”.
An emotional plea from people living in the vicinity came from James Lawson,
aged 32, a software architect, who lives on the neighbouring Southfields Estate.
The Stamford Mercury reports that he told a stormy meeting of the town
council on Tuesday that the site was completely inadequate for developers to
even consider “shoe-horning 121 homes on to it” and he added: “All our houses
will be overlooked and it will create a cramped and oppressive environment for
us as well as the people moving in. On top of that, there is no way that the
infrastructure can cope. Roads, doctors, dentists and other facilities that the
town relies on are already at full stretch and there is no way that they will
cope with the sudden population influx created by this development.”
There was also support for the protest from Councillor John Kirkman who was
equally vociferous in disparaging the scheme and his objections are particularly
encouraging because he is this year’s chairman of SKDC. He said that opposition
needed to be mustered to prevent the development and he called for as many
people as possible to attend the public forum due to be held in Grantham before
the planning meeting is held to consider the application. “They need to voice
their views before the scheme gets the go-ahead and it is too late”, he said.
Objections were also lodged by the Civic Society and after a heated discussion,
the town council unanimously condemned the scheme. It is all reminiscent of the
outcry that resulted from the proposed housing development at The Croft in North
Road. Public protest then won the day in the battle against the encroachment of
new housing estates in sensitive areas and it will need a similar determined
effort to repeat that victory.
It will not have escaped the attention of those people who know this town well
that most of the major controversial housing schemes of recent years have all
involved land owned by important families whose money was largely made here in
past times, such as The Croft (Cook), Delaine Meadow (Delaine-Smith), Hereward
Meadow (Moody) and now South Road (Wherry). The name of another wealthy
landowner springs to mind, Len Pick, but when he died in 2004, he left his £4
million fortune for the benefit of the town.
You would no doubt be baffled if asked what Bourne has to do with a
Central Asian republic west of China, one of the poorest in the former Soviet
sphere, and I could not provide an answer yet this web site has had visitors
from Tajikistan every week since Christmas.
The Tajik people came under Russian rule in the 1860s and 1870s but its hold
weakened following the 1917 revolution and Bolshevik control was fiercely
contested and not fully re-established until 1925. By 1991, the country had
become independent following the break-up of the Soviet Union and has now
completed its transition from the civil war that plagued the country from 1992
to 1997 and is now in the early stages of seeking World Trade Organisation
membership and has even joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace.
The country covers 55,096 square miles, about twice the size of Scotland, is
mainly mountainous and has borders with Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan and
Uzbekistan, breeds cattle, grows cotton and drills oil, has hot summers and mild
winters, is prone to earthquakes and floods and has a population of just over
seven million people, mainly of the Sunni Muslim religion (85%).
There is increasing prosperity and computers are becoming widespread and perhaps
this explains our visitor who may have just bought one and found the Bourne web
site by accident, liked what he saw and now logs on regularly. Or perhaps a
professional person from this area is living out there, helping in one of the
schools or hospitals, or someone doing a spell with the VSO or some other
overseas charitable organisation. Whoever it is, please email because we are
most interested.
A report by a committee of
MPs says that too many of our railway stations are in a deplorable state and no
one is prepared to take the blame. The Public Accounts Committee points out that
Network Rail owns most of Britain's 2,507 stations although the bulk are leased
to 22 rail operators whose responsibilities include upkeep and improvement yet
few are well maintained.
Until the railways were nationalised in 1948, many stations, especially in
country areas, were a source of pride for all who worked there and were kept in
pristine condition, always clean and smart and usually with a colourful display
of flowers and plants to greet passengers. This work was carried out by the
station staff who found great satisfaction in the appearance of their workplace.
One of the prettiest and best kept railway stations in South Lincolnshire in
past times was at Thurlby, three miles south of Bourne. It was built in 1860 as
part of the Bourne to Essendine line and provided a service to the community for
nigh on a century. The station was dismantled in the summer of 1951 when the
line closed and all that remains is part of the platform that has been
incorporated in the Lincolnshire County Council highways depot, a sad end for
what was once an attractive place to begin or end a journey by rail.
To give you an idea of what the station was like in its heyday, this item about
it appeared in the Stamford Mercury on Friday 18th October 1935 in the gossip
column contributed weekly by a writer under the pseudonym of Strongbow:
Nothing pleases me more than
to see a neatly kept railway station. As a rule, I always think of a railway
station as a bleak, draughty sort of affair, reminiscent of a seaport wharf.
Some of them are dirty, dark, sooty and altogether objectionable places. But I
have in mind an outstanding exception to the rule. I refer to Thurlby station.
Here a pleasing colour scheme has been introduced to good effect. The station
looks light and airy and, above all, clean. There are plenty of flowers,
especially in the summer months. Window boxes are numerous and there are also
boxes for flowers along the edge of the platform. The name of the station is
plain to see on one bank, prettily executed in coloured pebbles. True, Thurlby
is a small station with not a large number of engines passing through it to make
things dirty but nevertheless, it is a credit to the village and its example
might well be followed by other stations in the locality.
With proposals in the offing for
Bourne to re-open its station to cope with the current boom in commuter travel,
it is worth remembering that the place where passengers board and alight should
be spick and span but the outlook appears to be poor if the rest of Britain is
our yardstick because few qualify for such high praise today.
Yet another example of time wasting emerges from South Kesteven District
Council that has just discovered something that we all knew already, namely
voter apathy, and has commissioned a report on it that will cost a considerable
amount of money.
A working group has been appointed to investigate the general disinterest in
local politics and report back later in the year although what this has to do
with the delivery of public services which is the council’s main objective is
not explained. Research of this nature is a specialised field usually confined
to the ivied halls of academe yet this group, which has no such experience, will
investigate the subject by examining national reports, scholarly papers,
national organisations and people willing to provide information. The gathered
intelligence will then be considered by the group that will produce the
inevitable report and make recommendations in a document that, claims the
council, will be similar to those produced by Parliamentary Select Committees.
The cost of this meaningless and unnecessary operation is not given but it is
already eating up valuable staff hours and office administration, a waste that
will seep into other local authorities because at least one member from each
tier of local government, i e the county, district and parish councils, will be
included in the working group which will be holding a series of meetings in the
coming months.
Politics should play no part in local government but unfortunately it does and
this is the reason why there is a general disinterest in council work, an
indifference that is compounded by pointless strategies dreamed up by the smart
suits. After many hours of consideration and deliberation by people who would be
better employed on improving public services, this report will eventually be
nodded through committee and council and then filed away in some dusty storeroom
along with the other abortive projects that have become a monument to the futile
activity that currently occupies so much of council time.
Village weddings 19th century style: Robert Tomlin, aged 74, an opulent
farmer from Birthorpe, near Bourne, was married to Elizabeth Chapman of Haconby,
and who for many years was a resident at Rippingale Mill, at the advanced age of
80 years. The ceremony was conducted at St Andrew’s Church, Haconby, by the Rev
Samuel Hopkinson. The happy couple were attended at the church by the bride’s
grandchildren and after passing the day convivially, drove in the evening to
Birthorpe to spend their honeymoon. – news item from the Stamford Mercury,
Friday 23rd June 1820.
Mr John Dexter, a respectable cottager and freeholder, in his 67th year, was
bound in holy matrimony at the village church at Dunsby, near Bourne, on Monday
last to Miss Mary Smith, a blooming damsel of sweet 21. Both came from Dunsby
and the service was conducted by the rector, the Rev William Waters.
And when, John’s passion
fondly pressing,
He sought the matrimonial blessing.
The language of love, so much
talked of by the poets, prevailed against every remonstrance of friends and even
the rage and fury of relations. The happy swain had conquest in his cheeks and
will love, cherish, honour and obey. Hand in hand the couple blithely proceeded
to the adjoining village of Rippingale where the festive board groaned with the
weight of the feast and it also being the annual feast day of the parish, the
tabor struck up and the village was gay. Rural sports were the order of the day
and the merry dance and sparkling glass went round till night was at odds with
morning and the groom, having taken sufficient of the cheer-upping cup, the
happy couple retired and after throwing the stocking, the jolly swain was left
wrapt in the arms of Morpheus to enjoy (what he most needed), nature’s sweet
restorer, balmy sleep. – news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 4th
July 1823.
Thought for the week: Britain’s personal debt mountain has grown larger
than the entire annual output of the economy. Families owed £1.158 billion on
credit cards, loans, overdrafts and mortgages last year, 10% up on the previous
year, while the nation’s factories and offices generated £1.127 billion, a mere
1.8% rise on 2004. – news report from the Daily Mail, Tuesday 14th February
2006.
Saturday 25th February 2006
The roots of a large sycamore are
causing problems at the town cemetery in South Road, Bourne, and the solution
may have a far-reaching effect on our heritage. The tree stands alongside the
dividing wall between the old and the new cemeteries and its continued root
growth is threatening the stability of the brickwork. Remedial work is necessary
as part of the periodic maintenance and as the tree is protected by law,
councillors have suggested that the wall must be shifted or even removed
altogether.
Realignment has been costed at £5,000, a hefty bill for such a small authority
as the town council that administers the cemetery, and so a working party has
been appointed to consider the alternatives. This brings the task of
councillors dealing with the preservation of our past under particular scrutiny
and although a brick wall may not appear to be a high point of our inheritance,
it was important when the cemetery was opened 150 years ago and has become a
familiar feature since.
The cemetery was established in 1855 on four acres of land purchased by the
newly formed Bourne Burial Board for £420 from local landowner, Sir Philip
Duncombe Pauncefort Duncombe. However, he imposed a condition of the sale that
the board would erect "a good and substantial wall" round the three sides of the
cemetery which were contiguous to other land owned by him and he stipulated that
"such wall to be of the height of five feet above the level of the ground, and
of a strength in proportion thereto, to the satisfaction of the said Sir Philip
Duncombe Pauncefort Duncombe, his heirs and assigns". This wall was sturdily
built of red brick and still stands today, having weathered the passing years
well and it is mainly in good condition despite frequent incursions by marauding
children.
The town council is already wrestling with the problem of what to do with the
cemetery chapel, built at the same time and now falling down through neglect,
and a suggested course of action is to demolish it altogether. A similar
solution for the wall at this point is not really tenable and it is a pity that
destruction is so often seen as the way out of a difficult situation when a
little thought could provide a less drastic and more lasting solution.
Tree Preservation Orders, such as that which no doubt refers to the sycamore,
are merely a guide to the law and good practice and are not written in stone.
They may be rescinded in the same way that they are imposed, in the interests of
the public, nature conservation and care for the environment. One of the major
factors in deciding whether an individual tree, as opposed to woodland, should
be felled is how suitable it is in its present location and whether removal will
have an impact on the visual setting of the area. In this case, it is doubtful
whether the tree was planted in that spot intentionally because it was bound to
cause damage in the long run and so it is almost certainly a self-setter,
overlooked by past workmen until it gained sufficient stature to become part of
the scene. Yet it is an interloper and therefore proves that the wall is far
more important to the appearance of the cemetery than the tree and so it should
be removed and replaced by a sapling in a more appropriate place in the vicinity
whereas an ancient feature such as this wall is irreplaceable.
The course of action by the town council is therefore quite clear. A
representative from the local planning authority, in this case South Kesteven
District Council, should be invited to make an on the spot investigation and
report back. Having been to the cemetery this week to see for myself, the answer
to this problem is obvious at first sight and would not escape even the most
inexperienced local government officer.
It is within the district council’s power to revoke TPOs and as this is a
relatively simple procedure in the scale of bureaucratic endeavour, the removal
of the sycamore appears to be the most sensible course of action, acceptable
even to the official mind. Perhaps the town council’s working party would like
to give it some consideration in the interests of financial prudence and common
sense.
Gas guns are again being fired indiscriminately by farmers in the Bourne
area, much to the chagrin of people living nearby. This is an annual problem yet
the culprits take little notice of complaints and continue to cause a nuisance
in defiance of the rules laid down by their own professional body to control
their use. The result is a widening gulf between farmers and homeowners at a
time when agricultural land is being sold off for residential development at an
alarming rate and so large housing estates now reach the very edge of the
countryside.
The use of these audio bird scarers is well documented on this web site and
although their operation is supposed to be regulated by Codes of Practice drawn
up by the National Farmers’ Union and circulated by South Kesteven District
Council’s Environmental Health Services, individual farmers appear to flout them
as they wish. Yet not only are these guns utterly useless in the business of
scaring birds away from crops, but they are also one of the most anti-social
devices ever invented and while the pigeons and crows sit back and cackle at the
farmer who puts one in his fields, those people who live within earshot have to
suffer the consequences of his ill-advised actions.
The codes specifically ask farmers not to fire gas guns more than four times in
any one hour but this week they have been popping off in the area around Dyke
village every few minutes and even throughout the night and on Sundays, which is
a flagrant breach of the code. Other areas of South Lincolnshire, particularly
around Donington and Crowland, are also being beset by these nuisances and
despite a flood of complaints, nothing is being done to stop them.
The use of gas guns is a reminder of the cavalier attitude adopted by some
farmers to the general public. They are willing to sell off their land at high
prices to property developers to build houses yet when the newcomers arrive,
their welfare is the last consideration. As a result, the standing of our
farmers in the community has never been at a lower ebb than it is today and
actions such as this will do little to salvage the goodwill they once enjoyed.
They unwisely call themselves guardians of the countryside yet it is the
countryside that should be protected from the farmers.
What the local newspapers are saying: Several well-known names are among
the High Street stores moving into the new town centre planned for Bourne. The
Stamford Mercury gives front page coverage to the announcement after
several months of uncertainty about the £27 million project which will create
new retail units, leisure space, a public square, houses and apartments
(February 24th). According to Henry Davidson, the developers, familiar companies
such as Boots, New Look, Peacocks and Wilkinsons have all expressed an interest
in moving in although the statement does not give the information that most
people have been seeking, namely the date building work will start because only
then can they be assured that the scheme is actually going ahead.
Ivan Fuller, the Town Centre Co-ordinator, remains optimistic and gives
assurances that a great deal of work is going on behind the scenes before the
first sod is turned. “There has been some concern and hopefully this will go
some way to allaying those fears”, he said. “The redevelopment of the town
centre is vitally important to Bourne and once completed will greatly enhance
the area.”
Not everyone, however, treats this information as good news and there are
already rumblings of discontent in the Bourne Forum about some of the stores
intending to come here because they are not exactly at the top end of the
market. Certainly, Bourne could not hope for a John Lewis or a Waitrose but it
would be a pity to see some of our excellent small shops closed down because
they could not compete with large retail outlets that put more accent on selling
quantity rather than quality, a situation that would drive even more shoppers to
the malls in Peterborough and elsewhere.
Thieves are digging up bluebells from two historic woods on the outskirts of the
town, according to The Local which reports that the stolen plants are
being sold off for profit at car boot sales (February 24th). The intruders are
targeting Math and Elsea woods, covering more than 100 acres just off the A 15
to the south of Bourne and designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Bluebells are a sign of ancient woodland and this particular tract is part of
the tree cover that has existed here for more than 8,000 years and was once
known as Brunswald Forest. Bluebells take many years to colonise in such
profusion and their appearance each spring is an annual delight to countryside
visitors and so thefts of this nature are particularly inexcusable. As the
newspaper points out, it is also an offence to dig up or even cut wild flowers
and anyone caught damaging flora or fauna in protected sites is liable to a
heavy fine. Thieves have already been spotted in the wood and warned off and it
is hoped that anyone who comes across intruders will take their car number and
report them to the police rather than allow our countryside to be desecrated in
this way.
Damp has penetrated the frames in the glass panels on either side of our
front door and wooden replacements by a carpenter are too costly to contemplate
and so we have reluctantly decided on an installation by the dreaded white
plastic double-glazing specialists. The experience was less daunting that we
anticipated, mainly because we are using a highly recommended local firm, and
although the final bill sounds costly, we have opted for a high quality product
rather than one offered by the bodgers who abound in this particular trade.
By Easter, our frontage will have been improved and the old timber door that
required regular painting consigned to the rubbish tip, one job less for an old
codger who makes regular surveys around his domain to find ways of labour
saving. I told all of this to an old friend who lives at Owen Sound in Ontario,
Canada, and he has replied with some remarkable information.
“A new door does spruce up an entrance way and changes the whole look of the
house”, he writes. “But in our neck of the woods, replacement doors are now all
made of steel and as they come in many colours and finishes, it is almost
impossible to tell them from wood. In the big cities you need a steel door to
cut down on break-ins. Kids today have no respect for anything and feel free to
take what they want. The courts seem to side with them saying they are just
misguided and we need to understand them although I am sure that you were raised
like me to be responsible for your actions and paid the price when you made the
so called lapse in judgment.”
Shatterproof units are already being fitted at homes in our big cities. After a
burglary while they were away, my son’s house in south London was entered by
thieves who used a sledge hammer to batter down the front door and steal the
television set, audio system, a computer and other disposable items, and they
now have a new front door fitted with an alarm and reinforced steel rods. I
wonder how long it will be before the white plastic firms in Bourne are
overtaken by the hard metal men.
Messages from abroad: Your web site is a pleasure to visit. It is so nice
to see your pride and appreciation in heritage and home town. In an era of
frequent indifference to the past, it gives an assuring positive example. How
wonderful that there still are persons who value and have respect for previous
generations and their contributions. Sincerely yours. – email from Barbara
George, Salem, South Carolina, USA, Saturday 18th February 2006.
I have just read and viewed photographs of the Smallman family of Bourne with a
great deal of interest. No connection for me but I do want to tell you how
wonderful it is that you have extended your web site to this degree. It is a
great service and must elicit a great deal of pride for Bourne residents. Please
keep up the good work. Thank you. - email from Shirley Pearson, Muncie, Indiana, USA, Saturday 18th February 2006.
From the archives: Mr John Evans, the taxidermist, of West Street,
Bourne, has received for preservation during the last few days, the following
rare and beautiful birds: two peregrine falcons killed on the estate of the
Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, a common buzzard killed on the estate of Lord
Aveland at Bulby, a merlin killed near Boston, a great grey shrike shot in
Bourne Fen, and a little auk picked up on the bank of the River Witham, near
Boston, which was killed by flying against a telegraph wire. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 26th November 1875.
Thought for the week: Since the 1970s, yields of wheat per acre and milk
per cow have doubled whilst the skylark population has fallen by 53%.
Bumblebees, butterflies and the brown hare have also suffered.
–
briefing on farming wildlife to Members of Parliament reported in The
Countryman, March 2006.
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