Bourne Diary - January 2007

Saturday 6^th January 2007

The old year fades without much of note being achieved in public affairs and 2007 lies ahead with a renewed hope of change for the better. By now, most people will have made and broken their New Year resolutions yet the thought of a clean sheet with twelve pristine months ahead is too good an opportunity to miss in compiling a chronicle of good intentions for our market town.

Whether we will ever see them fulfilled is debatable because it is my experience that many of those in public life find the euphoria of becoming a councillor or fulfilling some other sinecure a heady mixture of vanity and self-aggrandisement while at the same time struggling in a trough of vacillation when faced with real problems and so we end up with totally inappropriate solutions or, more usually, nothing being done.

This does not dampen our expectations and with a new year upon us, we speculate with renewed hope what might be done to make things better for Bourne. Each will have their own ideas and my suggestions may be controversial yet are made after careful consideration of public opinion which does not always figure prominently in the debates in the committee rooms and council chambers.

The most obvious expectation is to see something concrete materialising over the redesign of the town centre, a project first mooted seven years ago yet not a brick has been laid with the result that eyesores such as the north end of Wherry’s Lane (there are many more) that have languished untouched for the past decade continue to deface the environment. Those directly involved, property owners and shopkeepers, have become totally disillusioned while the people have now adopted an attitude that they will expect it when they see it.

There is also anticipation of a renewed effort to save the Victorian chapel in the town cemetery, perhaps by applying for £200,000 of lottery funding or from grants elsewhere to restore this fine building from demolition with similar consequences for the Old Grammar School which is now in a dire state. At the same time, the Len Pick Trust might contribute a suitable sum towards the restoration of the Ostler memorial fountain in the town cemetery, an edifice which its benefactor tried to save in 1999 without much support from elsewhere. And what an outcome it would be if the owners of The Croft in North Road shelved plans to develop the site for residential accommodation and donated the house and the land to Bourne with the proviso that it be converted for use as a central library and public hall for the performing arts and other presentations, administered by the community. But that is, perhaps, too much a flight of fancy.

With Internet access now available to 80% of the population, Bourne United Charities would improve its image as a remote and out of touch organisation by embracing the new technology and launching its own web site to keep the people informed about its activities and to issue regular press releases in the future about its trustees, decisions and expenditure. It could also open the Red Hall to the public at weekends in order that more people could take a look at Bourne’s finest secular building dating back to the early 17th century, install Victorian style lamp standards as an adornment to the paths through the Wellhead Gardens, lighting the way for visitors on dark nights and thus opening up this popular amenity to even more visitors while also instructing contractors to bring St Peter’s Pool back to its former glory by reinstating the crumbling banks, removing weeds and a dead tree, and cleaning out the accumulated rubbish.

Bourne Town Football Club might also consider that its best course of action is to move to an out of town site, an idea floated with great enthusiasm as long ago as August 2002 but one that now appears to have been shelved. Why, we ask, was it such a good idea to relocate five years ago but not now? After all, it would eliminate the need to fence off the whole or part of the Abbey Lawn to deter vandals, a most unfortunate and certainly unsuccessful remedy and one that would not only restrict its use to townspeople but also be a capitulation to the handful of yobs who are causing the current problem of continued criminal damage.

Doctors could acknowledge the obvious shortcomings of the present NHS system, particularly during the evenings and at weekends, and for the elderly and other vulnerable members of society when sudden illness is unfortunate but inevitable, and agree to treat their patients when necessary, even though this may be outside the current nine to five, five days a week regime. There is a growing awareness among old people in Bourne and a perpetual topic of gossip on the Thursday market that being taken ill after five o’clock on a Friday evening is likely to be a grave misfortune and they are terrified that it may happen to them.

Other issues from which Bourne would benefit would be opposition to all future planning applications for the establishment of fast food outlets, estate agents and financial institutions, a resistance to all housing applications unless they apply to brownfield sites in an attempt to prevent further erosion of our green belt and surrounding meadowland, an increase in the number of litter pickers to ensure that the streets are regularly cleaned and that paper, discarded pizzas, fish and chip wrappers, soft drinks cans and other overnight detritus, does not give our pavements and gutters an inner city appearance and a public seminar at the Corn Exchange in the run up to the local government elections in May in an attempt to stimulate interest in local affairs urging more people to stand for election and so end the current geriatric predominance in the council chambers. Remember that all but one of our current town councillors hold their seats without a single vote being cast.

Perhaps this is also the time for Lincolnshire Police Authority to approve the re-establishment of the police station in Bourne and bring it back to more adequate staffing levels, thus showing that progress is a matter of change for the better and not of regression. In 1905, for instance, the permanent strength was one superintendent, one inspector, two sergeants and 15 constables when the population was less than 4,500, one third of what it is today. Crime trends have changed since then and it would be impractical to return to the manning levels of past centuries but the majority find the sight of a bobby on the beat reassuring and although Lincolnshire Police continually tell us that the number of community support officers (CSOs) is being increased, they do not have the same duties or powers as our traditional policemen and you are more likely to see them strolling the streets on market day than patrolling the town centre and Abbey Road after the pubs and clubs have turned out from a Saturday night drinking session. Of all the changes the public would like to see in Bourne in the coming year, the evidence is that a higher police presence around the clock to bring increased security and peace of mind is top of their wish list.

These are just a few of the topics that have engaged this town in the past twelve months, and there are others, but whether solutions will be found during 2007 is up to those who represent us and they lose sight of what the people want at their peril.

What the local newspapers are saying: A lady has written to Bourne Town Council outlining ambitious plans for the redevelopment of the town centre, perhaps spurred on by the inactivity on this front that I have outlined above. The Local reports that she wants to see it pedestrianised with a mediaeval-style timber-roofed market, period shop frontages and hanging baskets to provide an attractive appearance (January 5th). Unfortunately, the scheme hinges entirely on the building of a north-south bypass for the A15 with a roundabout at Cawthorpe from where traffic would be routed along a new road past Dyke and along Meadow Drove to the Spalding Road and finally connecting Cherryholt Road with the existing roundabout leading to the southbound A15 and the new relief road.

The suggestion has merit and is quite as good as anything that has been put forward by any of our local authorities so far and the newspaper reports that it received general approval from those town councillors present but none of them knew if or when a bypass is likely to be built to enable the scheme come to fruition and they decided to seek advice from Lincolnshire County Council. Unfortunately, the answer to their question is that an A15 bypass is unlikely in the foreseeable future but that should not deter the lady who made the original suggestion, Mrs Helen Powell of St Peter’s Road, Bourne, because it demonstrates that there are more ideas outside the council chamber than there are in it and that the town council would benefit from her presence if she considered standing when the local elections come round in May.

There is a rustling in the dovecotes at a local clinics at the prospect of a postal survey being carried out by the Department of Health to test how highly their services are rated by patients and The Local reports that they stand to lose vital funding if the answers are not sufficiently positive (January 5th). Robert Brown, manager of the Hereward Practice in Exeter Street, which has 11,000 patients, said that £5,000 was at stake and services would be jeopardised if the survey went against them. “There are negative questions aimed at getting a negative answer”, he said. One of them, for instance, reproduced by the newspaper, asks patients whether they are satisfied with appointment times available to see a doctor and they are asked to answer (a) very satisfied (b) fairly satisfied (c) fairly dissatisfied or (d) very dissatisfied. This poses a real dilemma for patients for although few can fault the medical care available at the clinic, a wait of seven to ten days for an appointment is not acceptable and so what should the answer be? To say "satisfied" would be quite untrue while "dissatisfied" might help lose the clinic £5,000 of much-needed funding but it is difficult to know how else the question might be phrased without being deliberately misleading.

The most popular place for walks over the Christmas and New Year holiday appeared to be Bourne Wood where the forest paths were busy most days with family parties, chattering groups of adults and children, often with a dog or two scampering close behind, enjoying the fresh air of this wonderful amenity to be found on our doorstep.

These 400 acres of broadleaved trees and conifers date back 8,000 years and although the original forest has somewhat diminished in size, its woodland appeal remains, containing a wide variety of wildlife, both flora and fauna, and two large ponds or small lakes to provide an attractive water feature for anyone prepared to stride out to the northern edge.

The family walk has become very much a part of the festive season, often embracing three generations and usually a feeble attempt to counteract the excesses of the dinner table and other Christmas fare, and the wood is the perfect place for such outings, always of interest with attractive tracks leading off the main paths for the more adventurous and the chance of seeing some of the reclusive inhabitants such as muntjac and fallow deer that can be found in the more secluded glades.

Well over 100,000 people visit Bourne Wood each year and rustic seats have become a feature, placed alongside the main tracks as a respite for those of advancing years, often marked with memorial plaques remembering those who walked that way in years past and have now passed on. As old age takes its toll, we use the seats more often for although covering long distances is not as easy as it was, walking this woodland remains a pastime too pleasurable to give up and during holidays such as this it is doubly enjoyable to greet old friends along the way and to share these tracks with newcomers discovering them for the first time.

Thought for the week: Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile. - Bertrand Russell, British philosopher (1872-1970).

Saturday 13^th January 2007

Few streets in Bourne have escaped defacement by vandals or litter louts and nothing appears to be sacrosanct. The latest act of wanton damage has appeared in Eastgate where the sign commemorating the life of one of our most prominent citizens, the international racing driver and BRM designer Raymond Mays (1899-1980), outside the house where he was born, has been daubed with spray paint.

The mentality of the culprits is a subject for the psychiatrists and criminologists. The current debate in Bourne is whether that which we prize should be locked, guarded, fenced or given a protective covering, or whether the real solution is to catch and deter those responsible.

To suggest that because this happens elsewhere in the country we must therefore accept it here is a negative cop out. Vigorous action is needed to bring our law enforcement up to the standard for which we are paying and unless a policy of zero tolerance is introduced then the community will continue to retreat behind closed doors while all that it values is destroyed. An acceptance of increased security is an acknowledgment that law and order is on the decline and may even have become non-existent in some districts.

Lincolnshire Police has a budget of more than £100 million for 2006-07 (£3 million up on the previous year) yet its performance in investigating and reducing crime is classed only as “fair”. We are not asking for the apprehension of mass murderers, train robbers, rippers and rapists, but merely for the identification of a few hooligans intent on causing mayhem in the community when high on drink or drugs and if this is beyond the capabilities of the 1,229 full time and 100 community support officers employed by the force, then we are entitled to ask what we are paying them for.

My suggestion last week that Bourne Town Football Club might consider relocating to avoid fencing the Abbey Lawn as a deterrent to vandals has brought some bitter criticism and very little support. This is a pity because there are many who wish to see this town preserved and not defaced which would be the outcome of a high fence around one of our best loved beauty spots, used without hindrance for the past two centuries.

Those who did leap to defend erecting an unsightly barrier however appeared to be mainly supporters of the football club or connected in some way to the action committee that is currently trying to find a solution to the continuing problem of criminal damage and of course they must stand their ground. But it is not wise to reject any idea out of hand simply because sights are set on a certain solution and aggressive opposition to other opinions demonstrates a doubt in the validity of your own.

While acknowledging that no final decision has yet been taken, stances have been adopted and have even become ingrained, but it should also be noted that it is only the few who have come up with a high fence as a possible solution whereas the decision should rest with the entire town. We have been given details of the composition of the Abbey Lawn Action Committee, representatives from the sports clubs that use the land, teachers from local schools, councillors, the police and Bourne United Charities which administers the area, but you will find none of the ordinary people among them.

Where for instance are representatives of those whose homes overlook the Abbey Lawn from all sides? If anyone should be on this committee, it is they for if a high fence does go up then the value of their properties will go down like a lead balloon because no one wants to lose such a pleasant prospect that they now have for a site that resembles Stalag Luft 3. If anyone should help make a decision it is they and the rest of the people who live here. They are the real owners of the Abbey Lawn, bought for the community in 1931 with money left for the benefit to the town and administered by BUC and they should not be divorced from a decision making process mainly confined to the secrecy of the committee room. Perhaps a public referendum might even be in order.

There is a great deal of sympathy for the plight of the football club and it is a sporting facility that the town should not be without but the question that everyone needs to face is whether fencing off the Abbey Lawn with no guarantees that it would solve the present problem is too high a price to pay because of the threat from a handful of youngsters ready to cause criminal damage whenever the opportunity arises. It is an unfortunate analogy but it appears that half a dozen yobs are holding this town to ransom and all the good guys can do is to high tail it behind the barriers.

My list of hopes for Bourne in 2007 last week also included a higher police presence in the streets, at night and at weekends, yet no one even mentioned it. That is the real solution to the problem, not high fences erected with money left to this town by benefactors in past times with the good of the community at heart and indeed, the trustees of BUC have no moral right to endorse such expenditure. The legacies entrusted to them were not meant to divide the community but to unite it.

It was inevitable that vandals would turn their attention to The Croft once it became known that the building was standing empty and so it has proved. Intruders caused damage several times last year and early on New Year’s Day it was the turn of arsonists who broke in and started a fire. They smashed a small ground floor window to gain entry before the blaze broke out and there was some structural damage to the first floor and one room and the hallway were smoke logged.

The Croft, a one-time grand mansion standing in its own grounds in North Road, was originally owned by wealthy corn merchant Richard Boaler Gibson, who built it as a family home in 1922 and lived there until his death in 1958. It was subsequently sold but the last owner moved out three years ago and it has been standing empty ever since, its future currently under review by developers who have been trying to get planning permission to build a new housing estate in the surrounding parkland. The property now has an air of dereliction and neglect, the house boarded up and the wrought iron gates at the front standing open, a constant invitation to intruders.

The latest incident of fire raising is a worrying development and there are fears among conservationists that it may sound the death knell for a property that still has a useful life, perhaps in some other role.

What the local newspapers are saying: The fire at The Croft has brought an impassioned plea from long-serving town councillor Don Fisher (Bourne East) who told the Stamford Mercury that something should be done about the building before it is destroyed (January 12th). Like many others in Bourne, he would like to see the site preserved for community use. “The ideal solution would be for the owners to make a gift of it to the town and it could then be used as an open space" he said. "If it is left as it is, it will quickly become a ruin that will blight the entire area.” Councillor Fisher’s comments have received support from colleagues who have fought to prevent the land from being developed for housing but nothing will happen without effort. Perhaps an official approach from the town council to the owners might produce results.

The fate of the Victorian chapel in the cemetery appears to have been sealed with a recommendation to pull it down which was taken by the town council’s finance and general purposes committee on Tuesday. The Local, in its front page coverage (January 12th), says that the expected decision will depend on one of the four options that had been put forward as a solution. They are to convert it for use as workshop and storage, to renovate it fully, to remove it or to do nothing and allow it to decline naturally.

The last option must be familiar to councillors because that is exactly what they have done for the past 25 years which is why the building is in the parlous state it is. But that too would now be costly because their monument to inactivity and indecision would cost £680 a year in fencing to keep people away from a building that is bound to become dangerous through further wilful neglect and it is therefore destined to end up as so much rubble. History will record what has been done but at least we can be thankful that the town council does not have any more of our old buildings under its jurisdiction.

Gale force winds caused many a sleepless night this week and created havoc at homes around the town. We woke on Thursday morning to find the garden looking like a battlefield, the patio furniture tossed around like so much firewood and garden tubs overturned, the plants and soil scattered around, one of them a large and expensive art pottery urn that has been home to an Australian palm these past five years and is now broken beyond repair although we may be able to salvage the plant. No doubt a claim to the insurance company will result in the usual refusal on the grounds that they cannot be responsible for acts of God.

The morning brought no let up and provided a vivid illustration of our dependency on fine weather because the Thursday market was reduced to five stalls only and many of them packed up early because customers had stayed at home and high winds were billowing the covers like sails before the wind, threatening to take off at any moment. The shops too suffered a drop in trade and the only benefit appeared to be the availability of spaces in the car park alongside Budgens which is usually the scene of angry confrontations on market days as drivers vie with each other for each space as it becomes empty. We took full advantage of this by braving the elements to replenish our fruit and vegetables at one of the stalls still in business, thus justifying the old proverb that it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

Nothing changes, it seems, especially when it comes to turning a quick penny from gullible home owners and seventy years ago, the people of Bourne were being warned to be on their guard against doorstep callers, not for installing a new driveway or replacing tiles on the roof but with promises of unexpected good fortune. While delving into the archives a few days ago, I found this in the Stamford Mercury of Friday 3rd April 1931:

An ingenious fraud is being perpetrated in the district by a well-dressed stranger who has already abstracted money from residents. The method adopted is for the man to call at a house and inquire if “Mr So and So” lives there. Having previously obtained the correct name from a directory or by conventional means, of course he is right in his surmise. The nefarious gentleman then informs the good lady of the house that her husband has won a large prize in a newspaper competition and that he has called to make certain inquiries prior to the cheque for anything from £250 to £50 being despatched. The man interviews the husband and states that a condition imposed by his paper is that a certain sum should be donated to charity, generally about £20 if the “prize” won is one of the larger amounts.

In several cases, sums of money have been given the caller but the “prize” has never materialised and communication with the newspaper named has resulted in the fact being announced that no such agent has been sent out, neither have the people named won any prizes. The police have the matter in hand and several warrants are at present in existence for the apprehension of the man. “We are warning householders against parting with money in this way“, said a spokesman. “If such a stranger calls, the proper thing to do is to immediately communicate with the nearest police station.”

Thought for the week: There has been a massive increase in the amount of rubbish being recycled as residents enthusiastically embrace the new wheelie bin scheme in South Kesteven where 15,000 homes are currently using them and the entire district will be by July this year. Figures already show that recycling rates have rocketed from 14.4 per cent to 44 per cent where wheelie bins are being used. - news release from South Kesteven District Council, Wednesday 10th January 2007.

Saturday 20^th January 2007

The debate over fencing the Abbey Lawn to deter vandals continues and although nothing has yet been decided, speculation is rife over whether it will be a high peep proof fence or less obtrusive railings although the trustees of Bourne United Charities may, in their wisdom, rule against any kind of barrier, which would be the most sensible course of action.

In an ideal world, one in which vandalism had been eradicated, this open space would be left to develop naturally and in the past conservationists were always ready to defend the Abbey Lawn whenever there was a move to make artificial changes. For instance, one of the most attractive features during the 19th century was an avenue of elm trees along the northern boundary with Star Lane, now Abbey Road. The trees were interspersed with a number of stone cairns, built with materials that may have come either from the Abbey House when it was demolished in 1879 or even from the old abbey itself. But the trees were felled after complaints that they were becoming a health hazard despite widespread protests that their disappearance would ruin the appearance of the area and there was also a feeling that the trees were being removed for gain rather than to ensure public safety.

The widespread disquiet in the town was voiced by the local correspondent of the Stamford Mercury, Joseph J Davies, headmaster of the Boys' Council or Board School, now the Abbey Road Primary School. On 28th December 1891, he wrote:

The threatened destruction or spoliation of the splendid avenue of ancient elms which, forming the northern boundary of the Abbey Lawn, renders the scenery so picturesque, must be averted. A rumour is current that several of these fine trees have been earmarked, and their cubic dimensions calculated, with a view to their sale. The reason alleged for the destruction of the trees is said to be that, by shading the entire length of the Star Lane, they render it damp. Instead of removing the trees, what is required is that a proper footpath should be made beneath the trees with a gully for drainage.

The objections fell on deaf ears and the trees were cut down. Mr Davies reported in the Stamford Mercury on 1st January 1892:

My protest against the demolition of the fine avenue of elms bordering the Abbey Lawn has had no effect. The trees are being merrily felled. Picturesqueness has been sacrificed to profit. The cottages opposite will now be favoured with a better view of the railway line and the stone cairns saved from temporary destruction. It would have been a pity to have removed these for the sake of a few old trees. At the same time, it is a still greater pity that a few picturesque features still remaining to redeem the miserable monotony of the fens cannot be preserved. I suppose there will still be an outcry that the tower of the Abbey Church blocks the light from some stable window. If the complaint is made, one thing is pretty certain: the stable must remain intact.

The eventual fate of the cairns is not known for certain although many such stones survive in Bourne, some in Baldock's Mill where they are on display, some in the grounds of Bourne House in West Street where they have been converted into seats, and others in private gardens around the town. But the incident does illustrate the endeavours of those anxious to save our town from unwanted changes, albeit often without much success in the face of determined people pursuing minority interests.

There are only three public plaques in Bourne commemorating the lives of the great and the good who lived here in years gone by although many more are remembered by street names.

William Cecil (1520-98), trusted adviser to Queen Elizabeth I who became the first Lord Burghley, was born in the house that is now the Burghley Arms and a plate on the front records this event while Raymond Mays (1899-1980), international racing driver and designer of the BRM, has a plaque on the wall outside his old home in Eastgate. An English Heritage blue plaque also remembers Charles Worth (1825-95), Paris fashion designer and founder of haute couture, on Wake House, the family home.

There is now a move to honour Frederic Manning (1882-1935), the Australian novelist and poet, who lived in Bourne while writing his famous book Her Privates We, a harrowing account of the horrors of trench life during the Great War, seen through the eyes of Private Bourne, the hero he named after this town. The novel is reckoned to be the greatest of the literary works to emanate from the conflict which claimed ten million lives and is still in print today.

The town council has been asked by one of its members, Councillor Guy Cudmore, who has written a brief biography of the writer for the Internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia, to honour Manning this year to mark the 125th anniversary of his birth in July and the centenary of the first publication of his celebrated novel, by erecting a plaque in his memory. “Bourne does not have so many notables that we can afford to throw any away”, he said. “We are proud of our town and I think we ought to show it.”

Unfortunately, support was sparse, perhaps because not every councillor has the advantage of Councillor Cudmore’s education and wide range of reading. Councillor Don Fisher, however, a keen student of local history, did agree that something should be done but Councillor John Smith was distinctly hostile because he told colleagues: “I do not think that Frederic Manning is one of the people of Bourne who is worthy of a plaque. We will end up with plaques here, there and everywhere if we are not careful.”

He also thought that some people may be sufficiently ignorant to confuse the name with that of Robert Manning (1264-1340), the mediaeval monk who worked at Bourne Abbey producing religious texts, thus setting a standard of Middle England speech and dialect, although he is well remembered with the Robert Manning Technical College and by Manning Road. Other councillors were equally sceptical that Frederic Manning should be so honoured although a final decision has yet to be made.

Plaques in public places remembering the lives of those who went before are an essential part of our heritage and are a useful tourist benefit. We have lots of visitors from Australia and this web site receives regular emails from down under asking whether there is any memorial to Manning in the town and our answer has always been a reluctant no. But there is now a growing body of support for the idea and perhaps if our councillors learn more about him, they might change their minds.

We are tempted to ask how many have read his work or even heard of it. Anyone who has the future of this town in their hands ought to know a little about its past and perhaps councillors might benefit by investing in a copy of A Portrait of Bourne because a few hours browsing through the CD-ROM will give them a better idea of the people and events connected with it in past times. If any of them cannot afford to buy a copy, then I would be prepared to give them one in order that this knowledge may be given a wider readership.

Manning’s literary output is well documented on this disc and my account of his connections with Bourne was published yesterday by The Local newspaper and has been added to the web site today and in most other towns, that information would have ensured that a plaque would have been erected years ago.

What the local newspapers are saying: The future of Bourne Arts and Community Trust which has been renting Wake House for the past seven years is now under threat after the owners, South Kesteven District Council, rejected a bid to buy the property. The Stamford Mercury reports that the trustees made an offer (thought to be £120,000) which has been rejected because it was below the market value (January 19th). The council’s asset manager, Paul Stokes, told the newspaper: “We cannot simply give the building away as it would send out the wrong message to other groups. If an agreement cannot be made and the trustees are not prepared to continue renting, then I suppose they may have to find alternative accommodation.”

Many will consider this to be a totally deplorable attitude. Firstly, Wake House belongs in spirit, if not in deed, to the town and ownership only passed to SKDC through some bureaucratic sleight of hand during various local government changes over the years. It is also home to 30 groups which rely on it as their base and to lose it could mean disbandment for many. The council regularly trumpets its achievements in community help yet refuses to recognise that this building has been saved purely by voluntary effort and their work should be encouraged, not threatened.

There is a distinct feeling among the public that SKDC hampers, rather than assists, public effort and cases such as this do little do restore confidence in our elected members because it is they who have to endorse such decisions. Yet come next April, we will again be asked to fork out for an increase in our council tax to pay for what? That is the question those who use the centre will be asking. If the trustees are not allowed to buy Wake House, we gather that it will be sold commercially for a sum around the estimated current value, £300,000, money that will no doubt go into the council’s coffers to help fund salaries, pensions and holiday entitlements for its expanding staff which currently numbers well in excess of 700.

Meanwhile, The Local reports another blow to the community because of an alleged cash shortage, this time the axing of skill courses at Wake House where they have been held since 2000 (January 19th). Those seeking employment opportunities have been able to study computing, literacy and numeracy funded by Stamford College which is now under a new regime with the result that the inevitable budget cuts are being made and the Bourne project is to end in May. The trustees will therefore be left with empty rooms at a time when they are battling with the problem of keeping the property. Altogether, it has been a bad week for Wake House and for the community.

Bourne Town Council can now be found on the Internet with a most creditable site that is mainly the work of our excellent clerk, Nelly Jacobs. The design follows the format provided for the five parish councils being piloted by Lincolnshire County Council and eventually available to all but has been customised to suit our town and the result is easy to read and navigate which are the hallmarks of accessibility.

Mrs Jacobs and her assistant Fiona Barker have obviously been burning the midnight oil to get this up and running because, as anyone with knowledge of web site compilation will know, it represents many hours of painstaking work, not least the addition of a comprehensive picture gallery showing some of the best scenes in and around Bourne which is evidence that both have been out and about with their cameras.

There are also sections dealing with forthcoming events and council meetings, minutes of past committee decisions and other matters of public interest. This is a most creditable start and the web site can only get better as the months go by, adding to our knowledge of the council’s activities and keeping the people in direct touch through the email facility. Perhaps future additions may also have some form of interaction with the people but perhaps that is asking too much of those councillors who cannot use a computer, even though they may be managers of schools where five and six year olds are absolute whiz kids with a mouse and keyboard.

You can take a look at the new web site by accessing it through Bourne Links or the town council section of our Notice Board.

Thought for the week: Policemen are numbered in case they get lost. - Spike Milligan, comic actor and author (1918-2002), in his script for The Last Goon Show of All on BBC radio.

Saturday 27^th January 2007

The 19th century chapel in the town cemetery is to be demolished. The decision was taken by the town council on Tuesday evening despite expert advice from one of Britain’s most distinguished conservation organisations, the Victorian Society, which urged councillors to restore and preserve it for future generations.

The society is a national organisation responsible for the study and protection of Victorian and Edwardian architecture and other arts, founded in 1958 to fight the then widespread ignorance of nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture and among its thirty founder members were Sir John Betjeman, Poet Laureate and tireless campaigner for the preservation of old buildings, and Nikolaus Pevsner, the architectural historian.

David Garrard, the society’s Historic Buildings Adviser, emailed urging the council to delay its decision and not to press in favour of pulling down the chapel for its own sake but to seek ways of funding restoration in order that it could be restored. “I implore you not to condemn this important building to demolition before all avenues have been explored”, he wrote. “This attractive building would be well suited to adaptive re-use and should not be thrown away lightly.”

The appeal fell on deaf ears. I have produced an illustrated leaflet outlining the history of the chapel and its architectural and social importance and 15 copies were sent prior to the meeting with the suggestion that it would help councillors in their deliberations by placing the chapel in its true historical context, as the cornerstone of our town’s recent history and a marker to the graves of the 10,000 local people who are buried there. But despite an assurance from the clerk, Mrs Nelly Jacobs, that councillors would be given a copy, the chairman, Councillor Brian Fines, who is also the Mayor of Bourne, refused to distribute them during the meeting.

The logic in denying councillors the required information to make an informed judgement is difficult to equate with the democratic process. The decision was therefore taken without due consideration of the full facts and in defiance of public opinion of which councillors were fully aware, through letters in the local newspapers, contributions to the Bourne Forum and statements made elsewhere, constituting an overwhelming opposition to demolition that has been largely ignored. In short, it has not been a good week for Bourne or for democracy.

But all is not lost. An application for spot listing is before English Heritage although the wheels of bureaucracy move exceedingly slow. If it does succeed and the chapel is scheduled Grade II, then demolition will not be an option and the town council will be required to seek grant aid for its restoration to ensure that it is preserved for future generations. The question however remains. Why should the public need to take matters into their own hands to force those who represent them to carry out their wishes? In an ideal world, they would do so without question because it is their duty.

What the local newspapers are saying: The decision to demolish the chapel has won the town council few friends, reports The Local in its report on Tuesday’s meeting (January 26th) and among the letters and emails objecting is a “Save our chapel” poster from children at the Abbey Primary School under the headline: “Pupils plead in vain as chapel is condemned.” The newspaper says that there has not been a single communication in support which should clearly indicate to councillors that they have got it wrong.

Councillor Trevor Holmes told the Stamford Mercury, which also covered the meeting: “This has been an issue for a long time yet we have had no public representations until now despite the chapel being on numerous agendas for discussion” (January 26th). In fact, there have been many stories and letters in the local press and discussions on this web site for several months and only someone living on another planet would not know that it has been a topic of speculation and rumour for several months. There would have been even more interest had not the town council insisted on keeping its deliberations secret on some occasions, particularly over the application to deconsecrate the chapel in 2004 in preparation for demolition, and this information was only divulged after I had requested details under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Stamford Mercury also quotes Councillor Holmes as saying that the chapel will cost £200,000 to repair. This is a surprising figure, an estimate that began much lower and has been rising commensurately as the opposition to demolition increases, while his colleague, Councillor Guy Cudmore, has even suggested that it could be £250,000 (Bourne Forum, January 25th). Yet forum contributors, and others who have emailed, who have expert knowledge of these matters, have given assurances that the job could be done for far less. Fortunately, the bulldozers will not be moving in just yet. “While a decision has been made to look into the feasibility of pulling the chapel down, we are awaiting a report from the amenities committee on the way to go forward with this”, said Councillor Holmes. “The chapel certainly will not be pulled down next week.” That at least will give councillors time to reverse a most unpopular decision that has even upset our schoolchildren and to seek ways of preserving the building for the future.

Those who value our heritage must be continually vigilant because the vandals are always at the door, ready to knock down or despoil what we have left of the past. It is worth remembering that the Red Hall, the jewel in our heritage crown, might have suffered this fate on two occasions but was saved each time by the dedication of conservationists who wished to protect our old buildings. These are matters on which we should ponder when contemplating the future of those we have left.

The Civic Society, formed appropriately after a public meeting at the Red Hall in 1977, is devoted to this aim but they need new members to ensure that their voice is heard in those discussions that decide the fate of this town’s future. Membership of the society has not increased in recent years and the situation was highlighted by the president, Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, at the annual general meeting in March 2002 when she urged officials to recruit more to their ranks and to support the Heritage Centre at Baldock’s Mill that has given the town a central focus on its past history. She added: "The society is an important organisation in Bourne and given the rate of growth for the town, it is essential that new members should come forward. More attention must be paid to long-term development and improvement and the society and its members should resolve to get their voice heard. It will make all the difference and so we should aim to increase membership to at least 100".

This is a commendable cause and one equally important today when old buildings are still under threat yet the Civic Society does not receive the public support it deserves and the work is left to a dedicated few. The running costs of the Heritage Centre have increased significantly in the past year with rising demands for electricity and the onerous burden of the business rate that is now over £500, a prohibitive sum for such a small organisation to pay yet despite two appeals, South Kesteven District Council has refused to reduce it. It is, therefore, a problem that can only increase in severity and the society has warned that a substantial rise in income is badly needed for this and other overheads.

An improvement in membership numbers is one way to achieve it and so a recruiting drive has been launched in an attempt to stimulate greater interest and to ensure that the society survives for the benefit of future generations. For those who wish to join, you will find good friends and fellowship and the knowledge that you are helping to maintain our heritage. There is a membership application form that can be accessed from the Notice Board and I commend all who wish to protect this town to think about joining and add your voice to a worthwhile cause. Nothing is achieved without effort and voluntary effort for the benefit of the community brings its own personal and spiritual reward.

Respect for authority recedes as the years progress and there is now no aspect of public life that commands immediate reverence and esteem. It has been suggested that this erosion in deference began with the BBC television programme “That was the week that was”, the biting, live late night show from the early 1960s which took a weekly look at domestic and foreign current affairs and featured David Frost and his colleagues ruthlessly satirising our hitherto sacred cows such as politicians, religion and even royalty.

From that time, standards appear to have gone downhill and today nothing and no one is beyond criticism. Who would have thought, for instance, that the police would ever be held up to ridicule yet that now happens regularly. There was a time, sixty or more years ago, when the very sign of a copper on the beat or pedalling past on his bike, would prompt a stiffening of the back and a resolute step to demonstrate that you were a law abiding citizen with no thought of wrongdoing but how different it all is today.

During the Local Forum at the Corn Exchange last week, the audience was asked if the police should focus on cutting crime but uproar ensued when someone suggested that this would raise more guffaws than the pantomime being staged that evening by the Bourne Lions in the concert hall downstairs. The police were in fact, made a laughing stock although the senior officer on the platform did not find it very funny. I could not possibly envisage that happening half a century ago.

Rarely a day goes by without some senior politician being pilloried for their sexual peccadilloes or sleazy conduct and it is open season on clergymen of all denominations while teachers, solicitors, doctors and dentists have all joined the serried ranks of once respected professions but now fair game for public humiliation. Not only have standards in public life dropped but the opportunity to expose shortcomings has been increased by a media hungry for readership or viewing figures and if there is insufficient to shock in real life, a fantasy world such as the Big Brother House is invented to stop the gap with the result that excess breeds excess.

Poetry is alive and well in Bourne and is not only the province of our ivied halls and literary salons. For the past few days, there has been a most informative exchange among contributors to the Bourne Forum about railway poems and which have the most appeal, a subject that has not only enabled lovers of verse to cite their own favourites but also become aware of others.

My own choice would be Adlestrop by Edward Thomas (1878-1917), a few lines that demonstrate economy of language with ultimate and evocative effect, describing a train stop on a country line and is redolent of a hot summer’s afternoon and idle curiosity yet capturing place and season and the essence of the English countryside.

Guy Cudmore, one of our most prolific contributors, now tells us that a poetry evening is in the offing during the coming spring at the Church Hall in Church Walk, Bourne, an event that will enable all of our poetry lovers to go along and read their own favourite verse at a social gathering and accompanied by wine and nibbles while at the same time, help raise funds for the Abbey Church Restoration Appeal.

Bourne is never short of voluntary effort and there is absolutely no reason why anyone should be at a loss for something to do. This is not a first, because we do have a lively poetry reading group that meets every other Wednesday evening when participants are asked to take along a book of their own favourite poems (see our Notice Board), but it will add to our enjoyment and even may recruit newcomers to an art form that does not always get the recognition it deserves.

Thought for the week: There are none so blind as those who will not see. - attributed to John Heywood, English dramatist and epigrammatist (1497-1580).

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