Bourne Diary - December 2006

Saturday 2^nd December 2006

A robust discussion is underway in the town over the possibility of building a high fence around the Abbey Lawn because of continuing problems from vandalism. Unfortunately, although everyone sympathises with the plight of Bourne Town Football Club and of the other sporting organisations that use the field and have suffered similar damage, the evidence is that such a remedy is likely to prove extremely unpopular.

Bourne United Charities administers the Abbey Lawn on behalf of the people of this town, not to specific sporting organisations, and the original terms of reference will not allow it to be fenced off to the exclusion of others. To do so will renege on the wishes of those trustees who bought it for the good of the town.

The land originally formed part of the grounds of Bourne Abbey but the public were allowed to use it at the discretion of the vicar. There is no record of anyone ever being banned from the Abbey Lawn for this purpose and so it became the town's unofficial recreation ground and has been in use for such purposes for at least 200 years. Ownership was eventually acquired by a syndicate of local businessmen who rented out the rights for cricket and football but in 1931, it was under threat from housing development and was bought by Bourne United Charities for £700, to which the cricket club, one of the main users, made a token donation of £20 but there was no financial involvement by Bourne Town Football Club. The motivation behind the purchase was to preserve it as an open space and sports ground for the town in perpetuity. Fencing would change that open space to an enclosed one.

The original intention is quite clearly stated in a plaque on the left hand column at the main gate which says: "These grounds were purchased in the years 1931-34 by the Trustees of Bourne United Charities in order to preserve the same as an open space for ever." Any form of fencing or exclusion would therefore be open to a legal challenge and the present trustees would be badly advised if they wished to go down that road. Such a course of action would also provoke an outcry among the people of Bourne who wish to retain the amenity they have without restriction.

The location of the Abbey Lawn is in the heart of the Conservation Area which was designated in July 1977. Specific mention is made in the schedule of the Abbey Lawn, in particular its historic associations with Bourne Abbey and the splendid view it creates from the eastern approach to the town. This would disappear entirely if a high fence were erected. In addition, the stated intentions of conservation designation are to avoid the intrinsic erosion of the area and despoliation by unsympathetic development and alterations and to protect the outward and inward appearance and any form of barrier would breach all of these objectives.

Another factor to be taken into consideration is the public right of way over the land from Coggles Causeway to Abbey Road and under the Countryside Rights of Way Act 2000 a fence of this nature would be deemed to be an illegal obstruction. I understand that it is proposed to divert the path around the ground through the streets which is of equal distance but permission would be needed from Lincolnshire County Council which has this responsibility although it should be remembered that rights of way are ancient privileges that are not easily given up and that either extinguishing or diverting them is likely to attract the attention of conservation organisations, not least the Ramblers’ Association, and even result in a public inquiry.

Vandalism is endemic throughout Britain but we must not retreat behind the barriers because this concedes the battle to the culprits. Graffiti should be cleaned up when it appears, litter collected and damage repaired. This will be costly but the higher price to pay will be complete surrender to the anti-social element in our society. The problem of vandalism at the Abbey Lawn is undeniable and the town has read of the ongoing cases with increasing alarm. But a 9 ft. high fence would end the custom of public access that has been enjoyed for the past three centuries and effectively hand over the area for the exclusive use of the football club and other sporting organisations that have no more rights here than the rest of the community over land that is the property of the entire town and not the privileged few.

The nub of the argument here is that a fence would ruin the appearance of an attractive part of this town by secure enclose, thus sending out a signal that the yobs reign. It is therefore inconceivable by many that such a course of action should even be considered. A greater police presence is required backed up by closed circuit television cameras and it is in these areas that the emphasis of the Abbey Lawn Action Committee’s efforts should be placed.

The discussion has attracted over fifty contributions from a wide variety of people to the Bourne Forum this week but the consensus appears to be that we can no longer depend entirely on the police or the local authorities for support and there is a suggestion that some form of civilian patrol might be introduced to keep the vandals at bay but the use of vigilantes is not a wise decision and could even be illegal. Those who feel strongly enough about the damage being done might wish to channel their energies into joining a volunteer squad to turn out after each incident and carry out repairs. This would be a most worthy contribution to the community and might even become so infectious in the town that it would also act as a deterrent to anyone intent on causing further mayhem.

We are into an age when assistance from the authorities recedes with the years and so a return to the Victorian principle of self-help may well be the answer although it will also require time, money and individual effort that are so often in short supply.

What the local newspapers are saying: The fencing debate is ignored by the two main local newspapers although the Stamford Mercury does tell us that the Abbey Lawn Action Committee is to meet Bourne United Charities to discuss proposals to protect the Abbey Lawn from vandals (December 1st). Terry Bates, who is chairman of both the action committee and the football club, is remaining tight-lipped about their plans but was quite specific about their adequacy. “I am not prepared to discuss what these measures are but we are hopeful of having these things in place to put a stop to these problems once and for all”, he said.

Mr Bates, however, made a more extensive statement to the Bourne Forum last night throwing further light on the current situation but by no means indicating what is likely to happen. Nine options to tackle the problem of vandalism at the Abbey Lawn had been discussed, he said, and a draft confidential report prepared for presentation to Bourne United Charities early in the New Year. But he added: "To the best of my knowledge, BUC has never agreed to fund fencing of any kind", not that anyone has suggested they have and he gave no assurance that they would not be asked to do so in the future.

The vacant seat on Bourne Town Council is to be filled by Mark Horn, aged 44, a barrister, who is already a member of Lincolnshire County Council (Bourne East). The Local reports that he won the by-election last week although fewer than 600 people turned out to vote (December 1st). He polled 376 votes against the 213 cast for his opponent in a straight fight, Mrs Brenda Johnson, aged 51, warden at the Meadow Close sheltered housing complex for old people.

Local elections traditionally attract a low turnout, usually less than 30% but in this case it was only 11.24% which must be a record, but at least the by-election indicates that there may be a renewed interest when the town and district council elections are held next May. Certainly Mrs Johnson is unbowed by defeat because she told the newspaper: “I am certainly going to stand again, having learned some valuable lessons.” This is welcome news because the last time the 15 town council seats became vacant in May 2003, there were only 14 nominations and so all of the candidates were returned unopposed. It is hoped that others will also come forward to stand next spring because a contest will be a healthy boost for our local democracy.

From the archives: On Wednesday night, an inquest was held at Pointon, near Bourne, by George White, gent., coroner, on the body of Elizabeth Gunn who had died under circumstances somewhat extraordinary. The deceased, who was the daughter of very creditable parents at the decoy in the fen, was in the service of a respectable family at Billingborough and had been charged with stealing a gown belonging to a lady of the contiguous parish of Horbling, whilst it was hung out on a hedge to dry. The offence seemed to be so clearly brought home to her that her mother was sent for and the girl dismissed from her service after a severe and suitable reproof. Stung with shame and apprehension, the wretched creature accompanied her mother to Pointon on Monday night the 7th but seemed in a state of stupefaction and in the course of the night died in her bed. It was apprehended that she had taken poison but on her body being opened by two surgeons for the satisfaction of the coroner, no intimation whatsoever was afforded of her having done so and the jury therefore, under all the circumstances of the case, returned a verdict of "died by fright or terror". - news report from the Lincolnshire, Rutland & Stamford Mercury, Friday 18th July 1813.

Shop watch: Among the most popular of our retail outlets are the charity shops that are enjoying a boom in this age of the consumer when new and nearly new is discarded along with the old and so those in need become the beneficiaries. As my wife has developed a penchant for browsing the shelves in these well stocked emporia I have been able to observe their operations at first hand in recent weeks and am surprised at just how much stock passes through.

We have four such shops in Bourne, Cancer Research UK and Help the Aged in the Burghley Arcade, the British Red Cross in North Street and the Salvation Army in Manning Road, all treasure chests of items handed in after being jettisoned by their original owners and offered a new lease of life at bargain prices if they take anyone’s fancy. Records, CDs, books, china and bric-a-brac can be found here aplenty while shoes and clothes ranged on rails regularly attract men as well as women, most of the items in perfectly good condition and dry cleaned before sale.

Television programmes such as Flog It! and Bargain Hunt have whetted the appetite of many browsers who sense the possibility of picking up an unidentified piece of Tiffany glass or Clarice Cliffe pottery for a few pence and then sell it on for a small fortune but this is less likely now than it was in years past because many of the charities employ experts to vet the stock and advise on prices. Nevertheless, most items are a bargain and once you overcome the inhibition of buying something second-hand, even clothes, it is worth taking part in the chase because you cannot possibly overspend and if when you get it home you dislike what you have bought, then you can always take it back to the shop to sell again knowing full well that you have made a donation to a worthy case.

Thought for the week: Scarcely a month goes by without an orgy of broken windows in either the church or its halls complex. We always have insurance claims pending. Scarcely a day goes by without gangs of youths in the churchyard and the neighbouring precinct showing rowdy and abusive behaviour. They disrupt meetings in the halls by banging on the window. Sometimes they shout inside the church, disrupting acts of worship. In the week they run into church and frighten our voluntary stewards. - letter to The Guardian from the Rev. Derek Earis, Vicar of St. Nicholas, North Walsham, Norfolk, Monday 27th November 2006.

Saturday 9^th December 2006

The man who left his £4 million fortune to the town, businessman and farmer Len Pick (1909-2004), is to be remembered with an annual memorial lecture, the first to be delivered in the New Year. This is a most fitting tribute to someone who not only made his money in Bourne but also remembered the town when he died, arranging for it to be administered by a charitable trust after he had gone.

The first Len Pick Memorial Lecture will be held at the Corn Exchange on Monday 29th January to commemorate his death and his gift to the town when the speaker will be the celebrated conservationist and environmentalist, Dr David Bellamy, on the subject of The Green Renaissance (or Stitching the World back into Sustainable Working Order), an upbeat message about current issues affecting the planet.

The lecture will also mark the completion of the initial programme of translating Len Pick’s wishes into a practical means of delivering benefit to the community. The trustees have already allocated £180,000 to a range of good causes within the community and further grants are currently under consideration.

Since formation, the Len Pick Trust which administers this generous bequest has been impeccable in its conduct, demonstrating an understanding and transparency that keeps the people informed about its activities and helping local groups and organisations in achieving their goals for the benefit of the town. In a statement this week, Adrian Smith, the trust co-ordinator, gave an indication of what was to come when he said: “We are now embarking on the preparation of a four-year strategic plan to take the trust forward to assist in addressing issues of relevance to the community. To this end, we are currently consulting with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that the trust is responsive to real local issues.”

The debate over whether high fencing should be erected around the Abbey Lawn has generated more contributions to the Bourne Forum than any other since it was launched in April 1999 and the consensus is that it would not be a popular move to enclose this open space.

Almost 100 postings have been made on the subject which is a remarkable reaction and demonstrates the passionate belief that the wishes of those who were charged with running our affairs in past times to keep this as an open space for ever should not be overridden. The people of Bourne therefore look to the trustees of Bourne United Charities not to ride roughshod over our heritage and to respect the majority opinion by refusing to endorse the building of a barrier that would not only enclose a popular open space but also mar the prospect of this market town from the eastern approaches.

To see a high fence when driving in would send out a message that this is Fortress Bourne, a town that has surrendered to the anti-social element in our society and that it is not a good place to live or stop to shop and eat or buy a house or run a business because the yobs have taken over. The reputation of the inner cities must not be allowed to take hold here.

Walls, whether of brick, metal or wood, are divisive, as has been demonstrated throughout the world in recent years, in Berlin, Northern Ireland, the Israel-Palestine border and that between the United States and Mexico, and in each case the system does not work. The erection of barriers is a challenge that they must and will be scaled while creating a division between people.

These comparisons may appear to be extreme for a small Lincolnshire market town but they demonstrate the point most forcibly. Erecting fencing around the Abbey Lawn to keep out one or two miscreants will exclude the majority although the barrier will not only be breached but will also become a prime target for criminal damage and the moment that happens, the expense of erecting it will have been totally invalidated.

What the local newspapers are saying: A mounting repair bill now estimated at £200,000 is likely to sound the death knell for the Victorian chapel of rest in the town cemetery. A report in The Local reveals that Bourne Town Council is considering pulling it down because the money to save it could not be raised, either through grants or a rate precept (December 8th). A statement from the council outlines the present situation concluding: “The council does not have the option to do nothing.”

This is an unfortunate choice of words because the present situation has arisen specifically because of continued procrastination and inaction by councillors since they assumed responsibility for the 19th century stone building in 1974 and the truth of the matter is that the current state of the cemetery chapel is a problem of their own making. Time and time again when its deteriorating condition was discussed, the subject was pushed to the back burner, not wishing to commit funds to keeping it in order yet in the meantime, gaily splashing out £40,000 on new Christmas lights as they did in 2001, even though it meant taking out a hefty loan.

Now that the building has been so neglected and allowed to fall into disrepair, the only solution councillors can think of is to tear it down and remove it permanently from their agenda. When it has been reduced to so much rubble, another part of our heritage will have been consigned to the waste tip and that is how this sorry saga will be remembered in the history of Bourne.

Meanwhile, the £100,000 appeal fund to pay for the refurbishment of the Abbey Church which I reported last month (Diary 4th November 2006) was launched this week and has a much better prospect of success because the Stamford Mercury suggests that the money might be raised during 2007, an achievement that will be endorsed by all who are anxious to see our only Grade I listed building preserved (December 8th).

The vicar, the Rev Christopher Atkinson, is quite optimistic, because he told the newspaper: “We have been blessed with an extraordinary level of support from parishioners down the years and we hope this can continue. Whenever the fabric needed attention, the response has been magnificent. This wonderful building needs protecting from the ravages of time and preserving for future generations to enjoy and we are calling on the good people of Bourne to help us do this.”

The raising of money is always fraught with difficulties and in this case, although God may be the inspiration, it is man who will provide.

The petty tyranny of local authorities in enforcing the introduction of wheelie bins continues to make the headlines and this week we were told that Hertsmere Borough Council in Hertfordshire has abandoned its promise to exempt those properties with access or storage problems (Daily Mail, Tuesday 5th December 2006), much as South Kesteven District Council has done at some addresses in Bourne. The result is that those whose houses are below street level are now having to haul their bins up and down a flight of stairs on collection days, an unacceptable procedure that has been compared with tackling an SAS assault course, and so they are boycotting the new system and reverting to black plastic bags, although it is doubtful if they will be collected and they may even risk heavy fines.

In addition to the black and green wheelie bins for landfill and recyclable waste, the council has also distributed blue and black plastic boxes for other specific items, a system known as ABC or Additional Bin Collections, a reminder of the green and blue containers introduced by SKDC in January 2003 at a cost of £250,000 a year.

The blue box scheme for bottles was found to be unworkable after only 18 months and dropped and the green boxes are now being phased out in favour of the wheelie bins although 19,500 homes in the area, including Bourne, still have the plastic containers and have no idea what to do with them, the council having issued no instructions as to their disposal. I suppose we could take them down to the waste recycling centre off Pinfold Lane or even cut them up and drop the pieces into our new silver wheelie bins, which I see from the guidance pamphlet, takes plastic, but as the council is always so quick to point out, they remain their property and so we would probably be accused of causing criminal damage and face one of their heavy fines which are becoming their favourite way of keeping council tax payers in line.

Perhaps we will receive instructions soon. I certainly hope so because in my small back garden, already overwhelmed with two cumbersome and bulky wheelie bins, I need the space and patience is running out.

Advice on how to avoid getting into debt this Christmas has been issued by the South Kesteven Citizens’ Advice Bureau which covers Bourne with a booklet on how to make the most of your money over the festive season.

Although a worthy objective, one cannot help but think that this is blowing in the wind because Christmas is a time when most people overspend and in the current financial climate there is always someone ready to provide the wherewithal, notably the banks, the credit card companies and the money lenders who are always waiting just round the corner like voracious predators ready to take the overdraft off your hands in return for a lifetime of repayments with horrendous interest rates.

Guidance from the CAB is therefore likely to fall on deaf ears and although area manager Margaret Ogden urges people to buy less expensive presents and to resist taking out costly loans, young people take their decisions amid a welter of aggressive and intense television advertising that make both seem simple and even de rigueur if they are to keep up with the Jones’s and relieve the peer pressure on their children.

The older generation does not generally fall into the trap of spiralling debt, having greater experience in the handling of their cash or, more likely, they have less of it and the prospect of not getting any more, being beyond the wage earning age. But the majority of young people have a carefree, even relaxed, attitude towards their finances, adopting the motto of live today and pay tomorrow, and although Christmas is likely to be a fortnight of spending, there is always a cold Monday morning to follow with all of the reckoning that it entails. Mr Micawber’s advice on happiness and misery being dependent on keeping one’s expenditure in check is particularly appropriate at Christmas but then anyone who follows it is likely to be compared with another colourful Dickens character, Ebenezer Scrooge.

My wife’s latest habit of browsing through the stock in Bourne’s charity shops which I described last week is now proving to be a costly one. We called in at the British Red Cross shop in North Street on Saturday morning in search of a small jug for some kitchen requirement and she headed for the china shelves while I filled in time looking through the book titles. There was nothing there among the paperbacks that appealed but my reading was interrupted by a sudden crash from the other side of the room and I looked up, as did the other customers, knowing that something had been broken.

There is a delicious element of Schadenfreude when disaster strikes for someone else and I saw my wife heading for the counter with a chipped bowl and a guilty look on her face and handed over the sale price of 50p by way of recompense. “It just fell over”, she said apologetically but the sales assistant was nonplussed. “Not to worry”, she said. “We had someone in here last week when the whole shelf collapsed.” Ah well, accidents will happen but at least the money goes to a good cause.

Thought for the week: Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. - Rachel Carson, American naturalist and scientist (1907-1964).

Saturday 16^th December 2006

The computer has prompted many to start writing because it takes the drudgery out of putting words down on paper with pen and ink. The result is that we are getting a steady stream of books that hitherto would not have appeared and the latest to be published takes us behind the scenes during the hey day of the BRM because it was written by a man who worked there as a mechanic for seventeen years.

The result is a remarkable achievement for Dick Salmon, now aged 81, who found the technology as challenging as the writing yet has mastered the PC to produce a book that is both readable and highly entertaining which cannot be said of most first time authors. There is an added bonus in that he also gives us a taste of what life was like during the early years of the 20th century, having been born at Irnham, near Bourne, in 1925 when the village consisted of little more than 30 dwellings with a post office and general store run by his parents. These memories of childhood are a valuable contribution to our social history which is the backdrop for national events and, for him, a prelude to conscription in 1944 when he joined the Royal Engineers, experience that was to stand him in good stead when he returned to civilian life three years later.

His account of the 17 years he spent as a mechanic with the BRM team is one of personal insight into a dedicated band under the late Raymond Mays, a story of real people, hard work, international travel and life in Bourne, told with humour and sympathy and the intimacy of a man who loved his work and forged strong bonds with his colleagues and the men who drove the cars they produced. Dick’s collection of photographs and memorabilia is also a lasting scrapbook of the company’s chequered history, an erratic course of over-ambitious design, changing rules and sometimes bad management, but eventually ending in international success. Whether you are coming new to the story of how BRM became the first all-British car to win the World championship in 1962 with Graham Hill at the wheel or if you are conversant with this glorious chapter in the history of this town, there is something here for everyone and his mechanic‘s eye for detail will also tell you how it was done.

When BRM closed, Dick was recruited to rebuild BRM cars for sale by Christie’s at Earls Court, London, in 1981and subsequently went into partnership restoring historic cars until his retirement and now lives in Gladstone Street, Bourne. Dick has spent two years writing this book of 90,000 words and 300 photographs and illustrations, spurred on to fill his hours after the death of his wife, and the result is an insider's account of those exciting days.

“BRM meant everything to me, good and bad”, he said. “As a member of the team, I travelled the world, became involved in the challenging, hectic, stressful, sad and happy life of Grand Prix motor racing, the most glamorous of all sports. I rubbed shoulders with some of the greatest drivers of the day, including world champions Juan Fangio and Mike Hawthorn, and worked with the best bunch of chaps you could wish for. Though we toiled for many long hours in often difficult conditions, I consider myself privileged to have worked there.”

But what, I wondered, was his own assessment of the book and he was as critical as a seasoned author. “If I could write it again”, he said, “it would be better because I have learned so much. It has also taught me a new appreciation of writers like Shakespeare and Dickens. I cannot imagine how on earth they turned out such a volume of work with no more than pen and ink whereas we have these marvellous machines to make the task so much easier.”

That, of course, is only half the tale. Computers do not compose books any more than the moving finger writes them. They are merely the tool that enables us do it more efficiently. But not a word would go down on paper without inspiration and imagination and Dick has captured both.

The dismay expressed at the forthcoming appearance of Burger King as part of the new commercial development off South Road in Bourne is an indication that not everyone is addicted to fast food, despite the increasing number of outlets that continue to proliferate throughout the town.

Little Chef, Macdonald’s and Kentucky Fried all have their patrons but there is also a very strong body of opposition to French fries, chicken nuggets and Big Macs as has been proved at Tavistock, Devon, which was named the Best Food Town in the South West earlier this year. Fast food, however, is not their favourite choice and for the past seven years they have done their best to ignore the Macdonald’s restaurant located on the A386, preferring their own locally produced food and highly acclaimed farmers’ markets.

Now the company is admitting defeat and shutting up shop. “Trading patterns have changed since we opened in 1999“, said a spokesman. “As part of an ongoing review of our restaurant sites, it has become clear that the location in Tavistock is no longer suitable.”

John Taylor, chairman of the Tavistock Eat Wise Campaign which promotes local produce, is highly delighted. “It just goes to show that the food is so good here that we have seen them off. Because of the quality of our local food, Macdonald’s has not been able to compete.”

Could it happen here? It is doubtful. Despite being in the middle of a farming area, local produce is not exactly easy to find and farmers’ markets are few and far between. No matter what the opposition to buying ready cooked meals of whatever persuasion, Bourne obviously has an appetite for them in preference to home cooked food and the evidence is to be found in our main streets where there are twenty or so outlets with more on the way, a staggering total for a town with a population of under 15,000. Burger King will offer not only a faster and more convenient service but also free and easy car parking space and so it is likely to be no contest.

What the local newspapers are saying: Money, or a shortage of it, dominates two of the important stories in the Stamford Mercury which reveals in a front page report that the post offices in many villages around Bourne are likely to close by 2009 because of increasing losses and dwindling customers (December 15th). The government claims that the existing network of 14,000 post offices is unsustainable and with the service losing £4 million a week, subsidies should be slashed and that means cuts all round with the smallest and least profitable outlets the first to go with others facing an uncertain future. This is yet another nail in the coffin of public services that we once knew, each being slowly eroded in the name of profit and as is usually the case, it is the elderly who will suffer because it is they who depend on these rural post offices for their pensions, stamps and mail.

Lincolnshire police too are having financial problems and the Stamford Mercury suggests that cuts are in the offing after a government grant left the force £4.7 million short of its expectations (December 15th). We are not told where these economies will be made but Angela Crowe, chairman of the county police authority, told the newspaper: “There may be tough decisions ahead” and it will be inevitable that the service to the public will be affected in one way or another at a time when there is increasing dissatisfaction with the apparently poor police presence and response about which most have a tale of woe to tell.

There is better financial news from The Local with a report on the donation of £10,000 to the Abbey Church Restoration Appeal which was launched last week to help preserve the fabric and improve facilities at the Grade I listed building (December 15th). The money has come from the Len Pick Trust, a new charity launched last year with a £4 million bequest from Thomas Leonard Pick (1909-2004), a landowner and businessman, who wanted his fortune to benefit the town and its people. This is a welcome boost for the fund which has a target of £100,000 and it is hoped that the balance can be raised next year from other donations and fund raising events.

The grant from the Len Pick Trust is also an initiative that should now be followed by our other benevolent organisation, Bourne United Charities, of which the vicar, the Rev Christopher Atkinson, is this year’s chairman. BUC is far wealthier with assets estimated in excess of £10 million but one with the same aims, the good of the town and its people, and it will be expected that the trustees agree to match this generous donation to ensure that the target to maintain our fine 12th century church is reached in good time.

Those who remember the children’s hostel at Bourne House in West Road which operated from 1955 until 1985 may like to know that the couple who ran it for most of that time, Pat Schmid and her husband Lou, have just celebrated their golden wedding. They have been living in retirement at Torrevieja in Alicante, Spain, for the past 21 years, but still have fond memories of more than 200 children in their care during their years as master and matron, although always known to them as Uncle Lou and Auntie Pat, a regime designed to stimulate a family intimacy that was to prove highly successful.

The couple were married at the register office in Exeter in 1956 but it was less than auspicious. “We did not have much money and so the witnesses were my brother-in-law and his wife”, recalls Pat in an interview for their local newspaper in Spain. “The photographer who was supposed to record the event turned up without his camera and the reception was nothing more than a few sandwiches.”

Pat went on to train as a nurse and fulfilled her ambition to work with children, being appointed matron of Bourne House in 1957. Lou, a sheet metal worker, gave up his job to work with her, helping look after the huge family of boys and girls that came under their care, many of who are still in touch to this day, but the hostel where they spent more than 28 happy years closed in 1985 and has since been converted into apartments for retired people.

Celebrating the anniversary with them was their daughter Pauline, her husband Hugh and two granddaughters, Louise and Debra, who flew out from England for the special day. Lou, who served with Royal Marines during the Second World War of 1939-45, was a musician who often entertained the children as well as playing at many local functions in Bourne and still plays the drums with a local group in Torrevieja.

Message from abroad: Thank you for all the lovely photographs and good reading about Bourne. I could live there very nicely! - Christmas card from Ethel Guertin, Gatineau, Quebec County, Canada, grand-daughter of Joseph and Frances Flatters who emigrated to the New World from Bourne in 1871.

Thought for the week: The cheapest of all things is kindness, its exercise requiring the least possible trouble and self-sacrifice. - Samuel Smiles, Scottish journalist, author and reformer, who extolled the virtues of self-help (1812-1904).

Saturday 23^rd December 2006

The famous race through the South Lincolnshire countryside between a light aircraft and a motor cycle ridden by T E Lawrence was described in this column in September and there is evidence that it may have been inspired by a similar feat carried out by Raymond Mays two years before.

The young army officer who found fame as Lawrence of Arabia after leading the Arab Revolt in the Middle East during the Great War of 1914-18, later joined the Royal Air Force and was based for a time at Cranwell, near Sleaford. One afternoon in 1925, during an outing on his Brough Superior, he was on the old Roman road known as Ermine Street that runs from Colsterworth, near Bourne, through Ancaster (now the B6403), when a Bristol Fighter from a neighbouring airfield roared overhead and as the plane banked, the pilot waved a challenge for the road ahead, the two attaining speeds of more than 100 mph before they reached the outskirts of Lincoln.

In 1923, Raymond Mays, the international racing driver and designer based at Bourne, had captured the nation’s imagination with a race across the sands of Skegness, he at the wheel of his Brescia Bugatti, Cordon Rouge, with a De Havilland DH6 flying overhead, the two keeping pace with each for more than a mile.

The object of the exercise was mainly publicity and to obtain maximum coverage to ensure subsequent sponsorship renewal for English Racing Automobiles (ERA), forerunner of British Racing Motors (BRM), and so representatives from the world's press were in attendance. The event resulted in headlines around the globe and last minute modifications to the Bugatti before Mays and his team travelled through the night to the Shelsley Walsh circuit in Worcestershire for the final important event of the season.

What the local newspapers are saying: Worth Court, the sheltered housing complex built in the corner of Eastgate and Willoughby Road in 1965, is to be demolished next year and replaced by new residential accommodation at a cost of £4 million. The Local reports that the scheme is a joint project between South Kesteven District Council and the Lace Housing Association, one that reflects the policy of handing over local authority responsibility for housing to outside organisations and is the result of a year of negotiations with tenants to reassure them about their future (December 22nd). The last of the 38 occupants of Worth Court moved out earlier this month and demolition is due to begin in January with the new complex completed by the spring of 2008. It will consist of 34 two-bedroom flats, a restaurant, laundry and hairdresser, services designed to help old people maintain their independence on their own for as long as possible and to achieve this, residents will also have access to care and support services on site.

No one can fault the aims of the new scheme but there must be misgivings about past local authority policy because Worth Court cost around £80,000 when it was built by Bourne Urban District Council only forty years ago yet is now deemed to be unfit for further occupation. The time span hardly fulfils the original expectations and anyone who has visited in recent years will realise that since SKDC took over in 1974, the flats have not been maintained or upgraded with modern developments as they should and it is this lack of investment that has prompted their closure and a subsequent handover of the new scheme to an outside organisation.

It took just a small power cut on a cold morning to make us realise exactly how dependant we have become on modern living when a failure in the electricity supply on Thursday morning prompted us to stay in bed because it was too cold to get up. Over 2,600 homes in the North Road area were affected, reports the Stamford Mercury, from 6.15 am until around 9 am, caused by a fault in an underground cable (December 22nd). With the disruption in supplies went all of the usual morning conveniences from a warm shower, cosy lounge, television news and hot coffee for breakfast. Much more comfortable to have an unexpected lie in and so this was one occasion when we did not curse the breakdown quite as much as usual.

From the archives: A correspondent writes that he is getting more than a little tired of dipping into his pocket to “subscribe” to the funds of organisations which he was not formerly aware existed, by way of purchasing tickets for some Grand Christmas Draw or other alleged competition. “It seems to me that this system of soliciting contributions is getting a bigger menace than the perpetual flag day which was found to be so tiresome”, he says. “This new danger is more costly in that it is invariably one’s friends who have been given the task of distributing the books of tickets.” Perhaps he has had added cause for annoyance by the fact that he has so far failed to win a prize but I must agree that far too many of these competitions are going the rounds just now. - from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 9th December 1949.

Message from abroad: Thank you for your web site, it is awesome, and your dedication to the history of Bourne. - email from Kurt Harwood, Warburton East, Victoria, Australia, Tuesday 19th December 2006.

Our family history section continues to grow and now contains 300 local names that are being researched by descendants living around the world. This has been a major success story for the web site because it has put people in touch with relatives they never knew existed and enabled them expand their family trees considerably.

Requests for information arrive daily and although I cannot always help directly, every inquiry is answered and I try to point them in the direction of someone who may be able to assist. One of the first names to be added to our list when this feature was launched in 1998 was Marshall, a family that originated in Kirby Underwood, near Bourne, where many memorials bearing that name may be found in the village churchyard. This week, I received an email from one of the descendants living at Morton, near Bourne, who was most grateful for this feature putting her in touch with a distant relative living in Texas, USA, and between them they have added 3,500 names to their family tree, a quite remarkable achievement.

Genealogy is now one of the most popular pursuits of Internet users, a facility that allows you check official records that were once inaccessible and enables you contact people researching the same name with the likelihood that you may come from the same family. If you wish to join our list, go to the Family History section and take a look at the current entries then email me with your own inquiry and it will be added within 24 hours. It is a thrilling adventure and one that may also produce some unexpected, even unwanted, information because you are just as likely to discover a criminal as a count among your antecedents, but then that is all part of the excitement.

The number of names on our mailing list also increases and this week messages were sent out to more than 600 people around the world who are anxious to keep in touch with developments to our web site and new features that have been added. In effect, this means that recipients remain well informed about events concerning this town and if you are not included, then you may add your name by emailing through the facility on the front page and you will receive monthly updates of our progress. Those who are already included in the list should ensure that a change of email address is notified if they wish to continue receiving the newsletter.

The year has brought many new visitors from home and abroad and we now regularly log around 2,000 people each week, a remarkable number for a town with a population of under 15,000. The majority of our visitors are from the English speaking countries, the United Kingdom accounting for between 60-70% with North America and Australasia 15%, and other countries making up the balance. We also have regular visitors in many faraway places such as Hyderabad in India, Bangkok in Thailand, Shanghai and Hong Kong in China, Cairo in Egypt, and others in Turkey, Brazil, Russia, Sweden, Singapore and even Iceland, Lapland and Alaska.

It is particularly gratifying to know that we keep in touch with so many people in other countries who are either expatriates or who are descendants of those who emigrated in years past. Many email to tell of their activities and the enjoyment they get from keeping in touch with Bourne and its affairs and we hope that this success will continue and even increase in the coming year.

Bourne is in fact a neighbourly, prosperous and secure place to live and we are to be envied when compared with other parts of the world in these troubled times, a point made quite graphically by our M P Quentin Davies, the member for Grantham and Stamford, in his Christmas message that may be accessed from the front page. “But however civilised our existence may be here”, he writes, “much of the world has not become a safer or a kinder place in the 2,000 years since Jesus was born.”

We had also hoped, as in previous years, to carry seasonal greetings from the Mayor of Bourne but despite making a formal request to the town council, we were informed that Councillor Brian Fines, who holds the office this year, has declined to contribute a Christmas message to readers of this web site.

Thought for the week: Peace on earth, good will toward men. - The Bible, Luke Chapter 2 Verses 7-14.

We are taking a break over the festive season but will be back in the New Year although the web site will continue to appear and if you have something to say, the Bourne Forum remains open for contributions. But wherever you come from, whichever part of the world you live in, we wish all of you a happy holiday and good health and prosperity in the coming year when we hope you find it worthwhile to keep logging on during 2007.

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