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Saturday 3rd June 2006
Photographs of two timepieces have been sent in by their
owners as a reminder that the manufacture and sale of watches and clocks was a
major occupation in past centuries and most towns and many villages had their
own experts specialising in this field. In 1835, for instance, there were four
in Bourne, Abraham Hopkinson and John Wilson in West Street, William Sharp in
South Street and Thomas Wilson in North Street.
By 1856, when the town’s population was less than 4,000, there was still
sufficient business to support three watchmakers, William Cealey in South Street
and John Stevens and Thomas Pearce in West Street.
The most prominent of these was Thomas Pearce who came from a family of watch
and clock makers and moved to Bourne in 1840 at the age of twenty to start his
own business after learning the trade with masters at Boston and Stamford. He
spent a few years at premises in West Street before moving to larger
accommodation at No 32 North Street where he established a business that was
later taken over by his son Edward and lasted until the middle years of the 20th
century. In 1899, Edward Pearce and Joseph Ellicock, who had a similar business
in West Street, were given the job of building a new illuminated clock for the
Town Hall, the cost being met by donations and public subscriptions and it
remained in use until badly damaged by fire in 1933.
A former Bourne resident, Mrs Heather Nash, has sent me a photograph of her own
grandfather clock which keeps time at her house in Vancouver Island, British
Columbia, Canada. It was originally owned by her grandfather, Bourne
photographer William Redshaw (1856-1943), and came from their home at No 49
North Street, part of the North Street terrace. The clock bears the name Wilson
of Market Deeping and is a fine example of a painted face from the 18th century
when the style was popular.
“It stood in our house for as long as I can remember”, said Heather, “and was
left to me by my grandmother when she died. We had it shipped over to our
previous home in Ottawa sometime in the 1960s and it still keeps excellent time
after 200 years. Due to the extreme temperature variations between winter and
summer in that part of the country, the casing suffered some warping. Recently,
in line with the move to our new abode, we decided to have an antique restorer
repair and refinish the woodwork and we are anxiously awaiting to see the
results.”
Another example of the watchmaker’s craft comes from Alan
Stennett of Woodhall Spa, near Lincoln, who has recently managed to track down a
silver watch made by his great-grandfather, Edwin Goodacre, of Billingborough.
The village was a famous centre for the manufacture of timepieces and the best
known example locally is the village clock that can still be seen at Horbling on
the side of a building that is now the Old Post Office and was also made by
Goodacre. The original mechanism has been lost but an electrical movement was
installed in 1991 when the parish council agreed to finance its upkeep with a
regular supply of batteries to ensure that anyone who passes by will always know
the correct time.
Goodacre made the watch for his son-in-law Herbert Stennett (1881-1968), a local
man who was one of the first Bourne volunteers to enlist with the 2nd Battalion,
the Lincolnshire Regiment, for service in South Africa during the Boer War of
1899-1902. When the war ended, he joined the British South African Police Force
for a spell and returned home in 1905 to take over the family farm.
Alan actually bought it on eBay, the Internet auction site, a remarkable find
that is now treasured as a family heirloom together with a silver tobacco box
presented by the people of Bourne to Herbert and other Boer War volunteers when
they returned home and an inscribed silver trophy for his loyal service during
the conflict.
A more famous name associated with clock making in Billingborough is that of
Shaw, a family active in the village almost 300 years ago. The earliest mention
on surviving timepieces is that of Joshua Shaw who was buried in the churchyard
in the early 18th century. In March 1967, the Stamford Mercury investigated the
provenance of a grandfather clock that had been in the ownership of a family
from Armagh in Northern Ireland for more than three generations and bore the
name of Abraham Shaw of Billingborough. The report concluded that there were
many other clocks made by the family in homes around Britain and in the
dominions and the colonies also bearing the name of Shaw but with different
first names. It was therefore presumed that the business had been handed down
from father to son over four generations. Following Joshua came Matthew who died
in 1769, then Abraham who died in 1833 at the age of 72 and finally Samuel Barwis who died in 1876, aged 70.
All are buried in the churchyard at Billingborough. The report added: "In
addition to grandfather clocks, other timepieces were made for wall suspension
brackets and mantle shelves. They were renowned as exceptionally good
timekeepers, even after more than a century. The outstanding craftsmanship of
their cabinets made them eagerly sought by collectors and dealers."
The Bourne area therefore has a good record for the manufacture of clocks and
watches in years gone by and no doubt other examples will surface in the future.
Wheelie bins that are due to arrive in Bourne later this year are likely
to go walkabout and throw the electronic tagging system into chaos, according to
former resident Anne Emmett who now lives over the county border in
Cambridgeshire. It appears that their steady progression down the street as the
weeks go by is a combination of the emptying system and a total disregard by the
binmen of replacing them at their rightful addresses, as indicated by the
numbers painted on the side.
She first noticed this phenomenon when living in Cheshire where the bins soon
relocated themselves outside new homes further down the road and even round the
corner into the next street. Anne told the Bourne Forum on Tuesday: "Here in
East Cambridgeshire we have a similar migration resulting in one of our
recycling bins currently coming from a house three streets away and by the end
of this week it will belong to four houses down for a fortnight. This cannot
possibly allow the council to use its electronic tagging system to track who is
being a good citizen by recycling and who is not. I wish you all luck in trying
to prove that it really was you who put out the recyclables."
The problem with wheelie bins is that they are a sign of a system being
installed with inadequate technology, one where price takes precedence over
efficiency. The same predicament is the cause of other environmental eyesores
such as telegraph and electricity poles in the streets and Sky dishes on the
front of houses. More acceptable alternatives are available but usually the
least costly method is implemented. It is inevitable that superior alternatives
will be adopted in the long run but until then we will have to make do with
cheaper and therefore less effective solutions.
What the local newspapers are saying: The unsuitability of wheelie bins
is also highlighted in a contribution to the letters column of The Local
which insists that the new system will not make householders recycle more waste
and Sue Taylor of Churchill Avenue, Bourne, says that providing a large
receptacle will have the very opposite effect (June 2nd). “I am keen to recycle
as much as I can but only fill a carrier bag each week and that will get lost at
the bottom of a large bin”, she writes.
Sue also raises another point, as yet unanswered by South Kesteven District
Council. If newspapers, cardboard, plastic, tins and old clothes are all put
into the recycling bin and then collected by the same vehicle, who will sort it
all out when it gets to the other end? “My previous council collected everything
separately so there was no need to sort”, she writes. “They also provided
bio-degradable sacks for garden rubbish which are far more convenient than
having another large bin around.”
Ground staff have gone into overdrive in their bid to smarten up the town
cemetery in South Road, says the Stamford Mercury in a report on the town
council’s bid for a prestigious national award (June 2nd). Supervisor Alan
Townsend and his assistant David Flear are working hard to win the coveted Best
Kept Cemetery Award which will be judged this summer. The title was previously
won in 2002 when the judges said in their adjudication: "This is everyone's
ideal of a cemetery with a picture postcard entrance consisting of a lodge, a
lavender and rose bed, chapel and entrance drive, and surrounded by old
headstones and yew trees. There is also a great deal of excellent topiary on
yews and other trees which give added interest to the area."
The lads will therefore have their work cut out but anyone who has visited
recently will know that they are at least in with a chance. Alan also has the
right idea because he told the newspaper: “We see the cemetery as a big garden
and we do our best to make sure that it looks its best all year round.”
The countryside has burst into life and there is a lush green everywhere
you look. Along the lanes and byways, the verges are covered with towering lines
of cow parsley that run like white ribbons on either side as you drive past, the
pungent smell drifting in through the car windows, while elsewhere, in the
fields, on waste ground and even on building sites, wild flowers are appearing.
Even if you live some distance away from the hawthorn trees the bitter sweet
scent of their blossom can still be detected in the morning air as nature moves
towards its annual spring display. This is truly the best time of the year to be
alive.
Cow parsley is greatly underrated, a plant that everyone sees yet few people
notice. It is one of nature’s poor relations but without it, many places in the
countryside would be dull indeed. Fern like foliage supports the broad heads of
tiny petalled flowers of this tall and downy plant and although there are
several species, cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) is the most common
in the Bourne area although you will also find sweet cicely in many places.
The botanical name is Umbelliferae because most of the seventy or so
British species are arranged umbrella-like on ribs that spread from a central
stem. Walls of white cow parsley, sometimes known as Queen Anne's lace and hedge
parsley, can also be found on the edges of woods and in coppices and is known in
some areas as kek. In my boyhood, we used to make pea shooters and whistles from
the stout, hollow stems, a countryside custom that is little observed today.
Message from abroad: The new Ontario no smoking laws went into effect
yesterday meaning no smoking anywhere in any building except your own home and
that includes cars with children, taxis, trucks, and outside patios with any
kind of a roof and even an umbrella is a roof by government standards. The law
even says how close to a building you can smoke, for instance 90 meters from a
hospital, but a diesel bus belching black smoke can pull up to the door. -
email from Glen Foster, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, Thursday 1st June 2006.
Just fancy that: Bourne has joined the war against the wearing of topless
dresses in public, a fashion that is sweeping the nation. A resolution was
passed by Bourne Urban District Council on Tuesday that a ban be placed on
females wearing topless dresses being admitted to functions held at the Corn
Exchange and that the clerk be instructed to inform the caretaker accordingly.
- news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 17th July1964.
Thought for the week: Ah! The clock is always slow; it is later than you
think.- Robert William Service, Canadian poet (1874-1958).
Saturday 10th June 2006
The Bourne Festival is underway this weekend, a reminder
that the town has a justifiable reputation for enjoying itself and that many
people are willing to devote their time and money to organising such events
especially when they are for a good cause.
There are many examples over the years that when any organisation is in need of
funds, then the public will respond, especially if their giving is part of a
diversion or entertainment, whether it be a garden party or fete, concert or
sports day, and in recent years we have seen modern equivalents such as car boot
sales and race evenings adding to the gaiety of giving.
The Bourne Festival has rather commanded the limelight of charitable events for
the past five years, beginning in 2001 and last year attracting 20,000 visitors
during the three days. There is music and beer, with many bands and many ales,
and the added appeal that you are contributing to worthy causes because the
event regularly raises thousands of pounds for local charities
Staging a three-day event for a town with a population of around 15,000 is a
formidable undertaking but past years have proved this to be possible and Bourne
and District Round Table has now made it a permanent date in our calendar. The
festival comes at an opportune time for the town when the many housing estates
now under construction are attracting a new generation of people from outside
the area looking for a commitment to the community of their choice and there
could be no better way to become acquainted with the neighbours than by sampling
the convivial atmosphere over a June weekend.
The Wellhead Field is a most appropriate venue for the festival, situated on the
banks of St Peter’s Pool around which this town has become established over the
centuries. This green space, once known as Hereward’s Field, has been the scene
of much revelling in times past and the people have gathered here for many
events, ancient rites, celebrating the accession of royalty, the successful end
of wars, public and social occasions.
The idea of a popular music festival however is not new and in May 1964 a
similarly successful event was staged by Bourne Cricket Club to raise funds for
a new cricket pavilion. The Festival of Beat was an indoor event, the biggest
ever staged in Bourne, and an enormous barn in Willoughby Road had been loaned
by the Mays Chemical Manure Company. Several bands who were well known at the
time appeared such as Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, the Tornadoes, Les Curtis and
the All Stars and vocalists Nelson Keene and Vince Eager, and all were besieged
at the stage door by autograph hunters of all ages and none were refused. There
was the usual bar and although the festival was confined to a Saturday night
only, 2,000 people turned up, a remarkable attendance when the population of the
town was around one third of what it is today.
The police were full of praise for the event which was described as a model of
organisation and orderliness. Inspector Roland Green, head of the Bourne
sub-division, said that the guests behaved magnificently. “They all thoroughly
enjoyed themselves and there was no trouble whatsoever”, he said. “I cannot
speak too highly of their conduct. There was no crime, no damage and no
incidents of any kind.”
Terry Bates, secretary of the organising committee, was overjoyed with the
police reaction. “It has proved that light entertainment with a large crowd can
go down well if the job is properly done”, he said. “It was the biggest
enterprise ever to be held in this town and it was a delight to give so much
pleasure to so many.”
What the local newspapers are saying: A trial move to put the Thursday
market back on the streets may be on the way, according to The Local,
which has been testing public opinion about shifting it from the purpose built
paved area behind the Corn Exchange where it has been held since December 1990
(June 9th). “People in Bourne have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move”,
says their report, quoting figures of 255 in favour and 64 against, thus
ignoring most of the population of the town which is currently in excess of
15,000.
Enthusiasm for the move does seem to outweigh the practicalities but fortunately
a dose of common sense has now entered the equation with a letter from Steve
Frisby, amenities manager at South Kesteven District Council, who has suggested
that a trial may be the way forward but with reservations. He has told the town
council that moving the market back on to West Street for one day a week may
bring benefits through increased trade but he warns that there will be pitfalls
through the loss of on-street parking, objections from shopkeepers about stalls
sited outside their premises and the extra costs of time and manpower involved
in carting the stalls and equipment from the store at the Corn Exchange. “If
there is an opportunity for a trial to test the proposal and the council gives
its consent”, writes Mr Frisby, “it may well indicate whether the local
community would give sufficient support to the idea.”
Mr Frisby does not however tackle the most important question of all and that is
what will happen to the traffic on that day West Street is closed. Those
proposing the scheme have been equally silent on this issue other than to say
that it was be “diverted”. A close look at a street map of Bourne will indicate
that such an idea is a non-starter and fortunately one that will need permission
from Lincolnshire County Council, the highways authority, and even the
Department for Transport may have to sanction a temporary closure order, and so
we can be fairly certain that good sense will prevail and the market will stay
exactly where it is.
The wheelie bin debate: They wouldn't empty our recycling garden
waste wheelie bin today. It was "too heavy" for their poor little machine to
lift. What exactly is the machine for then? And no, we hadn't filled the bin
with hardcore etc. It was grass cuttings and weeds. Now we have to decant the
contents into garden waste bags and take them to the tip. Words fail me.
-
message to the Bourne Forum from Yve Erin, Tuesday 6th June 2006.
The preoccupation with owning a mobile phone is ubiquitous. We see young
men striding down the street with one of these instruments glued to their ears,
housewives chat with distant friends at the supermarket checkouts, drivers
frequently break the law by talking into them while speeding down the road with
the other hand on the wheel, and children pouring through the school gates as
afternoon lessons end are busy texting messages to boy and girl friends even
though they might only be walking a few paces ahead.
There are situations when the mobile is a necessity and the media and the
emergency services could not now operate without them but by and large they are
a gimmick, even a fashion accessory, for there is little that is being said over
the air waves that cannot wait until we meet face to face, as our ancestors
proved in times past before this discovery was thrust upon us.
On Sunday evening, while returning from our usual walk, we stepped aside in
Stephenson Way to allow a speeding cyclist whiz past, a fairy cycle or its
modern equivalent being propelled by a lad who was no more than six or seven,
riding the machine quite expertly but with only one hand while the other was
holding a mobile to his ear and jabbering away furiously as he went. He is the
youngest I have seen to have been overtaken by this modern phenomenon and one
can only wonder what it was that engaged his attention on the phone while
risking his safety by riding his bike in such a careless even dangerous manner.
Among the most familiar of all summer flowers are the large white daises
adorning meadows and waste ground and mile after mile of roadside and railway
embankment. The oxeye or dog daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) has a long
unbranched stem making it a favourite ingredient in a bunch of wild flowers of
times past before picking such blooms was outlawed. It is related to the larger
Shasta Daisy, originally from the Pyrenees and widely cultivated in gardens,
although the daisy family is enormous with some 25,000 species.
We found a large clump growing in Bourne Wood on Thursday
afternoon, their heads turned to the sun because they love the light, closing
their petals in bad weather and after dark, hence their name which is a
contraction of day’s eye. This perennial thrives in grassy places around the
countryside from June to August and has large yellow-centred white daisy-like
heads that can be smaller in exposed places. It has various medicinal uses and
the ancients dedicated this flower to Artemis, the goddess of women, because it
was considered to be useful in women's complaints.
During the Middle Ages, the Crusaders made an ointment from the daisy plant
which they used to treat bruises, broken bones, and wounds. It was also used for
catarrh and migraines. When made into a decoction, daisy was considered to be a
remedy for rheumatism, and bronchitis and the leaves were also chewed to cure
mouth ulcers while a superstition also existed that eating three daisy heads
after having a tooth pulled alleviated toothaches forever. Country people were
also known to take an infusion in their ale as a cure for jaundice.
Growing your own vegetables is back in fashion with allotments thriving
throughout the country and many celebrities are now spending their weekends
turning the soil rather than jetting off to foreign parts. Gardening has become
the in thing for the well-heeled of Notting Hill as it was among the cloth caps
of Rochdale and Oldham years ago.
The appeal of fresh produce is the main attraction and who can resist the taste
of new potatoes just dug from your own plot, carrots and cabbage, runner beans
and onions, and even fruit such as strawberries and raspberries picked from
plants that you bought, planted and tended. Back garden plots that have long
since been laid to lawn are being retrieved and many homes now have a vegetable
garden, however small, to keep the kitchen supplied in season.
One of the most productive of these cultivated strips can be found at the corner
of Stephenson Way and Mill Drove, originally a small waste area of gravel ridden
soil left over from the building of new houses when that part of the estate was
completed ten years ago but now a model vegetable garden. The owner, a retired
gentleman, can be seen toiling there most mornings and is obviously an
experienced gardener. His enthusiasm is also evident because not only does his
plot have a prodigious output but it is always neat and tidy and a credit to the
neighbourhood.
From the archives: The gardener employed by William Parker Esq., of
Hanthorpe House, near Bourne, was last season rewarded for his cultural skill
with a fruit of Gilbert's Improved Victory of Bath melon weighing 9 lb. and
which, when cut, proved of the most delicious flavour. It was grown by Joseph
Rowlett, who has been in the employ of Mr Parker for several years, and the
weight of the fruit in this variety is quite unprecedented and stamps him out as
a gem amongst his horticultural brethren. - news item from the Stamford
Mercury, Friday 10th April 1874.
A beanstalk has been pulled in the Bourne district of Lincolnshire measuring 8
feet 3 inches high and carrying 47 pods. - news item from the Stamford
Mercury, Friday 25th August 1916.
Thought for the week: To get the best results you must talk to your
vegetables. - Charles, Prince of Wales (1948- ), quoted by The Observer
newspaper on 28th September 1986.
Saturday 17th June 2006
Magazines and some guide books continue to print the
erroneous assertion that the infamous Guy Fawkes plot to blow up King Charles II
and the House of Parliament during the early 17th century was hatched at the Red
Hall in Bourne.
The earliest reference I can find to this is in John Moore’s account of the town
published in 1809 but as he was stating beliefs that were prevalent at that time
it is safe to assume that there was a widespread oral tradition that
subsequently filtered down through the printed word, notably by later written
historical accounts, particularly those that appeared regularly in trade
directories such as Kelly’s and White’s that are still available and often
quoted today.
Historian Joseph J Davies, the distinguished headmaster of the former Council or
Board School in Abbey Road, now the Abbey Road School, was quite specific in his
1909 edition of Historic Bourne that one of the leading conspirators, Sir
Everard Digby, was born at the Red Hall and although he does not claim that the
plot was hatched there, most probably at Lambeth instead, he was executed for
his part in the plot which he had joined with the sole purpose of restoring the
Roman Catholic religion in England.
But by 1925, John T Swift dismissed all connections between the plot and the Red
Hall in his history Bourne and People Associated with Bourne yet it was to be
another forty years before the myth was finally laid to rest. In between times,
Bourne was stuck with the legend which was often referred to in the local
newspapers and there is evidence that many still believed it in later years and
may still do so today.
I was recently taking photographs in the town centre one sunny morning when I
was approached by a man who mistook me for a tourist capturing images of the
town to take back home and he suggested that I should not miss the Red Hall
because, he said, this was the place where the Gunpowder Plot was hatched. I
asked where such information came from and suggested that the story may have
been apocryphal but he insisted that it was true because his wife had been born
and bred in Bourne and had been told by her family that this was indeed the
location for this little piece of British history and despite my doubts, his
belief in the tale remained unshakeable.
In fact, it was not until 1964 that the story was totally discredited by Mrs
Joan Varley, archivist to Lincolnshire Archives Committee, after studying parish
registers and deeds of the hall that had recently been deposited in their
archives by a descendant of the Bourne Digby family, Sir Everard Philip Digby
Pauncefort-Duncombe, of Great Brickhill Manor in Buckinghamshire, and so the
popular theory was well and truly laid to rest.
The story had evolved around the mistaken belief that Sir Everard Digby was born
and lived at the Red Hall and it has been frequently stated that as he was one
of the main perpetrators, he and his fellow conspirators met at his home where
the plot was hatched. The date the hall was built is not known exactly but 1605
is the most favoured. This was the year that the plot was actually discovered
and as it was some time in the planning, it would have been impossible for the
hall to have been the meeting place for those involved in the conspiracy.
In fact, Sir Everard Digby, who was involved in the plot, lived at Stoke Dry,
Uppingham, Rutland, and was one of the great landowners in the Midlands although
he had no connection with Bourne. But over a century later, the building did
pass into the hands of a Digby family and James Digby, gentleman, appears as a
deputy steward to the Manor of Bourne Abbotts at a session of the manorial court
in October 1730, and from then onwards there are numerous references to him and
his descendants in the manorial records. It is at this date also that the name
Digby begins to appear in the parish registers. The family owned and inhabited
the Red Hall from then until about a century later and this fact appears to have
been the cause of some wishful deduction that Sir Everard was a direct ancestor
of the Digbys of Bourne which was certainly not the case.
After an exhaustive search through the documents, Mrs Varley published her
findings in April 1964, with some reluctance it would seem, because she said at
the time: “I am sorry in a way that I have robbed Bourne of its best known
legend but I was merely trying to get at the truth. It is very easy for
incorrect statements to get into local town guides. Stories grow up about
places, following generations believe they are true and eventually they are
accepted as fact. They are written into books and other authors do not take the
time to check and revise them.”
This is still the case. Once a statement is made in print, it is filed away in
various archives and then when a subject or place is to be written about again,
the writer consults the cuttings and repeats the error. So it is that the
Gunpowder Plot will surface occasionally as having happened at the Red Hall
because some writers are lazy and, as Mrs Varley pointed out, careless about
checking their facts.
Such errors are widespread and one of the most frequent in our town today
is the incorrect use of the term Mayor of Bourne. This office was not
inaugurated until the local government reorganisation of March 1974 and since
then, 35 people have held office, a responsibility that runs conjunctive with
the chairmanship of the town council. Yet chairmen of the former Bourne Urban
District Council (1899-1974) and even Bourne Rural District Council (1894-1974),
are often mistakenly called mayor, usually by friends and descendants, which of
course they were not and never referred to as such at the time.
One such misnomer often appears in our local newspapers relating to Ted Kelby,
aged 80, a frequent attender of town council meetings, who is often referred to
as a former Mayor of Bourne which is not the case. Mr Kelby may have been an
active and able member of Bourne Urban District Council and its chairman in
1968-69 but he was never conferred with the title of mayor. Yet at some time in
the past, he was given this distinction by the newspapers and the title has
mistakenly stuck in subsequent reports, the last being in the Stamford
Mercury on Friday 9th June 2006. Someone needs to check their facts.
What the local newspapers are saying: Some thoroughfares built in Bourne
forty years ago are too narrow to accommodate car ownership and the Stamford
Mercury reports that St Paul’s Gardens is to be widened from 13½ feet to 18
feet and a communal parking area included at a cost of £20,000 (June 16th) to
ease jams caused by on-street parking. This is another indication that King Car
is taking over not only our lives but also our streets which are jammed day and
night with parked vehicles. When we moved to Bourne 25 years ago there were few
cars to be seen when you looked down the road, even at weekends, but today I can
count fourteen or fifteen by just looking our of the front window, many of them
at the kerbside and often half on the pavement, which of course is illegal.
The motor car is defacing our urban areas and in some streets they are parked on
both sides, making it difficult for large vehicles to pass by, particularly
dustcarts collecting the weekly rubbish and ambulances or fire engines answering
emergency calls. Despite these problems, developers continue to build houses
without garages and those that are provided are usually too small for regular
convenient use or are utilised as storage space for unwanted junk while the
family car sits out on the street. Most people think they have a legal to right
to park outside their home but of course they have not. The sensible course of
action would be to restrict car ownership to those who have a place to park but
what a furore it would cause if such legislation were introduced.
The wheelie bin debate: It won't be so bad if they can make them in
staggered sizes so that each one will fit inside the next one up, just like
those Russian dolls. Then I can just wheel them round to the back of the house
and forget about them until I get round to throwing them all into a skip at the
recycling centre. - message to the Bourne Forum by Peter Sharpe, Monday 12th
June 2006.
The new gallery commemorating the life and work of Charles Worth, the
Paris costumier, recently opened at the Heritage Centre in South Street, also
contains a link with one of Britain’s most famous women. One of the glass case
displays includes a silk decorated cushion that once belonged to Nancy Astor who
achieved prominence as our first lady Member of Parliament to sit in the House
of Commons, loaned by Lady Jane
Willoughby of Grimsthorpe Castle, president of the Civic Society which runs the
centre, and who is in fact her maternal granddaughter.
In 1933, her father, the third Earl of Ancaster (1907-83), married the Hon Nancy
Phyllis Louise Astor, who was the only daughter of the second Viscount Astor and
his wife Nancy. Her maiden name was Nancy Witcher Langhorne who was born in 1879
at Danville, Virginia, USA, the daughter of Chiswell Dabney Langhorne, a wealthy
tobacco auctioneer. She married Robert Gould Shaw in 1897 and after obtaining a
decree of divorce in 1903, married Waldorf Astor, the second Viscount Astor, in
1906. She eventually succeeded him as the Conservative M P for the Plymouth
Sutton division in 1919, so becoming the first woman M P to sit in the House of
Commons where she served until 1945, known for her interest in social problems,
especially women's rights and temperance. Viscount Astor died in 1952 and the
Viscountess spent her final years at Grimsthorpe Castle where she died on 2nd
May 1964, aged 84.
Nancy Astor was a master of repartee, and she needed to have all her wits about
her to survive in the male dominated world of politics. Her maiden speech was
about the perils of drink and in 1923 she introduced a Private Member's Bill
that raised the age qualification for buying alcohol to 18. She was also a
fervent fighter for women's causes and equal rights. Although she did important
work while a Member of Parliament, Nancy Astor’s parliamentary career is best
remembered for her frequent exchanges with Winston Churchill who once told her
that a woman being in the Commons was like one intruding on him in the bathroom,
to which she retorted: "You’re not handsome enough to have such fears". The most
famous such anecdote came when Lady Astor said to Churchill: "If you were my
husband, I'd put arsenic in your coffee" to which the great man replied: "Madam,
if I were your husband, I'd drink it."
Lady Jane was unable to attend the official opening of the Charles Worth Gallery
on April 22nd but recently made a private visit with Councillor Don Fisher to
see the display of fashion artefacts from the early years of the 19th century in
which the cushion is included.
Thought for the week: A myth is not a fairy story. It is the presentation
of facts belonging to one category in the idioms appropriate to another. To
explode a myth is accordingly not to deny the facts but to re-allocate them.
- Gilbert Ryle, British philosopher (1900-76).
Saturday 24th June 2006
Many of us long for the adventurous life but circumstances usually
dictate that we settle for the routine, ending up with a family and mortgage
much the same as everyone else. Tales of faraway places, acts of derring-do and
even heroism are therefore all the more appealing when we read about them from
the comfort of the armchair and few of us can deny that our lives would have
been much richer if only we had been prepared to have taken more chances when
young.
Reading about the career of Clarence Edward Brett Binns is particularly exciting
because he was a soldier, traveller and sportsman whose life story reads like an
episode from Boy’s Own Paper yet he died quietly and almost forgotten in Bourne
over 30 years ago.
He was born at Grimsthorpe House, Grimsthorpe, on 16th November 1897, son of
Edward Richard Binns who was estate agent to the first and second earls of
Ancaster, working with them for a total of sixty years.
Clarence was educated at Charterhouse, one of Britain’s most exclusive public
schools based at Godalming, Surrey, and after volunteering for military service
during the Great War of 1914-18, he was commissioned in the King’s Own Royal
Lancashire Regiment, attaining the rank of captain and fighting at Passchendale
in Flanders between July and November 1917 which was among the bloodiest battles
of the war. He subsequently transferred to the newly-formed Royal Flying Corps
as a flight-lieutenant, working as an observer, and during 500 hours of flying
time he crashed three times but escaped serious injury. At the war’s end, he was
appointed a member of the special commission convened to find the bodies of
personnel from the RFC killed in action.
Returning to civilian life, he went to the Middle East as an executive of the
Persian Oil Company (now the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company), surviving a serious
attack of typhoid fever before moving to Malaya as a rubber planter for fifteen
years and becoming one of the pioneers in the production of palm oil. In 1936,
he moved to take over a 7,000 acre plantation in the Northern Shan State of
Burma where he employed 1,000 workers on the production of tung oil, used in
dyes, stains and wood varnish, and it was here, at Maymyo, a colonial hill
station, that he married his wife Phyllis who had flown out from England to join
him.
The Second World War started in 1939 and when the Japanese invaded Burma in
1942, the couple lost their livelihood and all of their belongings. Mrs Binns
managed to escape by plane to England while he trekked to safety in India and
for three months his wife did not know whether he was dead or alive. For his
work with the part time military forces while in Malaya, Mr Binns was
subsequently awarded the Territorial Decoration.
He remained in the Far East for the rest of the war, returning to duty with the
Royal Air Force as a flight lieutenant working for central photographic
intelligence, helping drop agents behind Japanese lines but when the war ended
in 1945, he returned home to Grimsthorpe to join his wife and their two
daughters, Diana, who had been born in Burma, and Cynthia in India.
He went into partnership with Lord Ancaster and formed the Grimsthorpe
Nurseries, running them successfully until he retired in 1963 and the following
year, he and his wife moved to No 23 North Road, Bourne. He also served for a
spell on the Income Tax Commission which sat at Corby Glen, as a member of
Edenham Parish Council and as a manager of the village primary school. During
his earlier years, he was also an enthusiastic sportsman, playing tennis and
cricket with great ability and golf, at which his handicap was six.
Mr Binns died at his home in North Road on Sunday 16th February 1975 after
several months of failing health, aged 77. The funeral was held at Edenham
parish church the following Wednesday, conducted by the vicar, the Rev Geoffrey
Roberts. He was survived by his wife and daughters. Floral tributes were from
family members only but other mourners and sympathisers were asked to send a
donation to the Royal British Legion of which Mr Binns was a founder member. He
is buried in the churchyard at Edenham.
What the local newspapers are saying: Developers invariably stress that
new building will bring additional employment opportunities although the exact
number and type of vacancies created are rarely defined and are usually given to
reinforce their case for the granting of planning permission. The
Lincolnshire Free Press reports that a new supermarket and associated retail
outlets planned for industrial land on the corner of Cherryholt Road and South
Road will create new jobs but does not say how many (June 20th). The site is
currently occupied by Opico Limited as an agricultural machinery distribution
centre but Anglia Regional Co-operative Society intends to demolish the factory
to make way for a food store covering 25,000 square feet and incorporating four
non-food outlets, a service yard and 365 car parking spaces. The company claims
that the development will not damage trade in Bourne town centre and would have
no adverse impact on the neighbours or existing shopping centres. “The store
would also improve the choice of supermarkets and reduce overtrading in existing
stores”, says the company in its submission to South Kesteven District Council.
Anyone who shops in Bourne will know that the existing supermarkets are most
certainly not “overtrading” and that Budgens in the town centre has been
flagging for several years. We may also presume that if the scheme is approved,
then Anglia Co-op will close their Rainbow store in Manning Road with a
subsequent loss (or transfer) of jobs and so the status quo will be preserved.
Furthermore, there is nothing like the opening of a new superstore to spur
existing companies on to greater effort and Sainsburys, for instance, will most
certainly not take this increased competition lightly.
Bourne hardly needs another supermarket because there are sufficient already and
a gaggle of new shops will be opening when the town centre development gets
underway. What it does need is a new petrol filling station because the only one
at the moment is Tesco/Express which is currently doing capacity business on a
small and inconvenient site in North Street and when the pumps go dry, as they
have done several times this year, motorists have to drive to Stamford,
Spalding, Sleaford, Grantham and Peterborough to fill up. If the present
situation continues, there is no reason why drivers should not stock up on
groceries elsewhere while they are about it, no matter how many new supermarkets
open up in Bourne.
Both of our main weeklies give front page coverage to the emergency meeting that
has been called for next month to tackle the growing problem of damage to
facilities at the Abbey Lawn where intruders have been responsible for continual
damage over the years (June 23rd). The town football club chairman, Terry Bates,
has invited representatives from the police, local authorities and the two
secondary schools to attend in a bid to help solve what has been described as
“nightmarish vandalism” that has recently cost £10,000 to put right. “All have a
part to play in securing the future well-being of the sporting clubs that use
the ground and the safety of everyone”, he told The Local. “The ongoing
problems of vandalism have to be resolved and that can only be achieved by all
involved singing from the same hymn sheet. Vandalism and a lack of respect for
people and property is not confined to Bourne but that is no reason for not
addressing the problem locally.”
The police have already given their support to the meeting and Sergeant Dave
Higgins, who is based at Bourne, told the Stamford Mercury: “All previous
crimes that had been reported have been thoroughly investigated. The offenders
have been caught and dealt with through the criminal justice system. I would
encourage all residents to attend this meeting to not only discuss the problems
and issues but to help work as a community to help develop solutions.”
The wheelie bin debate: Another spanner has been tossed into the works of
the wheelie bin system that is due to be introduced in Bourne this September.
Angry residents of Church Lane at Rainow in Macclesfield, Cheshire, who have
nowhere to store them have won their fight to return to black plastic bags,
leaving the way open for other home owners with a similar problem elsewhere in
the country to do the same.
The borough council delivered wheelie bins to all of the 19th century terraced
homes in the street but seven of them only have a tiny front garden and no
access to the back which means that they would be left permanently on the front
pavement.
Kirstin Page, aged 34, a Manchester barrister, refused to accept a wheelie and
took her protest to the town hall, rubbishing the claim by Macclesfield Borough
Council that the bins were necessary for their recycling scheme involving 70,000
homes in their district. “I know the law of possession and so I did not touch
the bin when it was delivered”, she said. “So I left it where it was and
informed the council. I told them they would be in breach of civil law as they
have to keep the pathway clear.”
The council has now removed all of the wheelie bins from those houses in a
similar situation and owners have been notified that they may revert to black
plastic sacks for their fortnightly collection. This decision will be of
interest to many home owners in Bourne, such as those who live in Burghley
Street, the Austerby, Meadowgate, Albion Terrace, Elm Terrace, St Peter’s Road,
Harrington Street, the West Street cottages and many more. If there is no rear
access to the property or it is restricted, then the tenant has every right to
make a complaint to South Kesteven District Council and officers must act on it.
An excellent Internet service has come to my notice that may be of use to anyone
who is owed money and would rather not go to a solicitor. Her Majesty’s Courts
Service now has a system online that enables you make a claim provided you have
the person’s name and address and they live in this country. This service is
offered to those who are claiming under £100,000 and you may fill out the
appropriate form at the official web site which is extremely easy to use and the
address has been added to Bourne Links this week.
Court fees vary, starting at £30 which you can add to your claim as costs, and
it is processed centrally at Northampton County Court the next day and sent on
to the defendant. If it is a simple claim that can be settled online, you can
keep track of it by logging on to the web site. If not, you may have to go to
court to deal with it. You may also use this service to respond to a claim that
is being made against you.
I am indebted to the Daily Mail (June 21st) for this excellent piece of
information that should prove extremely useful for small traders who have had a
bad experience in recovering debts and even home owners who may have been
aggrieved in some way and wish to recover money they feel is owed them.
Thought for the week: No man is a hero to his valet.
- Anne-Marie
Bigot de Cornuel, French wit and woman of letters (1605-1694).
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