Bourne Diary - April 2006

Saturday 7^th April 2007

The Victorian chapel of rest in the town cemetery has been scheduled a Grade II listed building. The decision was announced on Wednesday following my application for spot listing to English Heritage whose experts have assessed it as being worthy of preservation.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has confirmed this which means that the 150-year-old building cannot be demolished without special permission and the town council will now be required to carry out repairs to bring it back into a serviceable condition, perhaps in another role.

The chapel has been in the care of the council since 1974 but has not been properly maintained and in recent years the roof has begun to deteriorate and work was badly needed on the interior, particularly the window frames. It was last used for services in 2001 and since then has been used to store machinery and the Christmas lights but was closed to the public when structural defects became apparent although various estimates of the cost, ranging from £80,000 to £250,000, made the council reluctant to take remedial action. The chapel was deconsecrated in 2004 and in January this year, councillors voted to demolish the building rather than face the financial problems of restoration but there was a public outcry over this decision which was suspended following an intensive campaign by local people who spent two weeks distributing leaflets around the town. The council also received more than 100 letters and emails in protest, mainly from Bourne residents but also from national conservation organisations and from people living abroad who have links with the town.

Wiser counsel prevails and restoration of the building must now be a priority before it deteriorates further. The council has finished the financial year with £75,000 in credit which could be used to begin the necessary work while other sources of revenue are explored, particularly grant aid for which the chapel will be eligible now that it has become a listed building and advice has already been offered on this matter by some of England’s leading conservation organisations which supported my application.

Spot listing is a course of action open to all members of the public by bringing individual threatened properties to the attention of English Heritage and although this involved a great deal of research and paperwork because the dossier must include maps, diagrams, photographs and a report on the current situation, it was a worthwhile project. I am also most grateful for the encouragement and assistance of many people in this endeavour, particularly Anthony Jennings of Dowsby Hall, David Garrard of the Victorian Society, Carrie Cowan and Dr Dale Dishon of English Heritage, Bourne Civic Society, James Wherry, chairman of Wherry and Sons Ltd, and Roger Callow, whose hard work was responsible for a successful leaflet campaign to persuade the town council to suspend its demolition decision until the listing procedure was determined.

It is now the duty of our councillors to take the lead in this matter and, once the forthcoming local government elections are over, to grasp the nettle and restore this fine building for the future use of the community.

Recycling waste seems to be the new religion with local authorities yet the original impetus began almost a century ago and was brought about by the exigencies of war when necessity meant that nothing that might prove useful should be thrown away. In 1918, when the Great War was in progress, a county organiser for the collection of waste visited Bourne and a public notice was issued appealing for traders and householders to save paper and old metals.

The Second World War of 1939-45 was a particularly busy period for such prudence and children were recruited to help all they could by carrying out door to door collections of salvageable material, especially paper. I can remember spending long hours of my boyhood hauling a makeshift cart through the streets collecting old books, magazines and newspapers and taking them to a central point for collection along with dozens of other lads from the neighbourhood who were similarly engaged. In the light of this experience, I therefore regard the new silver wheelie bin issued by South Kesteven District Council as little more than a streamlined collection cart that gives me a distinct feeling of déjà vu.

The drive to save and collect in Bourne was headed by William Chivers, Chief Sanitary Officer for South Kesteven Rural District Council throughout the war years. He had been appointed in 1939 and continued in the job until he retired in 1973. It was his idea to collect waste paper for recycling from the general public and one of his methods was to visit local schools where he organised competitions among pupils to see who could collect the most paper in the form of old books, magazines and newspapers. Prizes supplied by the Women's Voluntary Service (the WVS) were handed out to the winners and his campaign was such a success that during 1942 alone, over 200 tons of waste paper was collected in Bourne and the surrounding area, amounting to a cash value of £992, a small fortune in those days and a most valuable contribution to the war effort.

There were other campaigns in the same cause, notably the collection of metal for armaments and aircraft with ancient iron railings being cut down, such as those in Church Walk and around some of the grander houses along North Road and the larger graves in the town cemetery, while lorries toured towns and villages urging housewives to bring out their spare aluminium saucepans and frying pans although most of what was collected ended up in scrap yard piles because this ideas was not one of the best to emanate from Whitehall in wartime and failed simply because the logistics were not in place to deliver what was collected to the factories.

Local authorities are now in full cry for the recycling initiative and although we applaud the undertaking, those who remember its origins may be forgiven for asking what took them so long. Unfortunately, their approach is punitive whereas the war effort was persuasive and patriotic, and this one factor may mar its success.

What the local newspapers are saying: Although South Kesteven District Council is ordering all households to recycle waste, the Lincolnshire Free Press reveals that it is not practising what it preaches because none of the rubbish from its offices at Bourne, Stamford, Market Deeping and Grantham, is being processed but is ending up in landfill sites instead (April 3rd). For the past two years, almost 390 tons, equivalent to the amount generated from 430 homes, have been destroyed in this way and nothing is being done to remedy the situation.

The revelation came at a meeting of the council’s healthy environment panel and even the chairman, Councillor Jeff Thompson, condemned it as a disgrace. “I think it is monstrous that we are not setting an example”, he said. Staff have asked for recycling bins for their waste paper and cardboard but it appears that there is insufficient space and the introduction of the new system will have to wait until 2008 when the offices are redesigned. This is a reprehensible situation from a local authority that should be setting an example and it will not endear it to the people, especially those who have already been penalised for various infringements of the regulations governing the new recycling initiative by which SKDC plans to recycle 60% of all household waste by 2011.

The two black swans that have been in residence at St Peter’s Pool for the past eight years are dead. The pen, or female, was killed by a marauding fox while the cob died of natural causes, perhaps because it pined for the loss of its mate. The result is that their four cygnets which arrived earlier this year are now orphans and are being cared for by ground staff at the Wellhead Gardens.

This is a sad loss for the park because the swans have become a favourite with visitors, particularly children, who took great delight in bringing them daily treats of bread and other tasty morsels and became so tame that they would swim over to meet anyone who arrived on the bank with a likely looking bag, usually with their family close behind.

The swans have been here since July 1999 when they were given to the town as a gift from the Wildfowl Trust and a shelter was installed on the side of the pool where they laid their eggs but this proved to be vulnerable to foxes and so an artificial island made from wood and floating in the middle of the pool was introduced to ensure that they kept out of harm's way and until now, this has proved to be an effective deterrent.

Black swans are indigenous to Australia and Tasmania and they are handsome birds with dark, curly feathers, a bright red bill and white wing feathers that show only in flight. One appears on the armorial standard of Western Australia where the Dutch discovered it in 1697 and they took it to Batavia and thence to Europe where the existence of a black swan was regarded with amazement. Like the mute swan, it has been successfully domesticated and raised in captivity which is why this pair adapted so well to its new surroundings in the Wellhead Gardens.

They produced several cygnets each year, fluffy grey bundles that attracted many children most days to see their progress while their parents became such a familiar sight that they became an icon for Bourne and my photograph of them featured on the front page of the town guide for 2004-05. Their four cygnets survive and are being fed regularly by park staff and once fully reared, it is hoped that they too will make the Wellhead their permanent home. A black swan has been sighted at the pool in recent days but this is believed to be one of the three cygnets from last year's brood, now fully grown, and it is not certain whether it will stay.

Access to this web site became unavailable last weekend when our server, Which Online, had technical difficulties which took almost two days to resolve. We were finally back late on Sunday evening and normal service has now been resumed but this has taught me two things.

Firstly, it has sometimes occurred to me that the writing, photographing, research and maintenance may be too much work that is not appreciated but our absence proved to me that it is. Secondly, the emails that flooded in from around the world asking what was wrong were a reminder that we have many loyal visitors, those from Bourne for whom we have become required reading and those abroad who regard the web site as a link with home.

The good wishes we received were touching and sufficient encouragement for us to keep going next time we feel the burden of effort. To be told that you run the best community web site on the Internet and that the Diary must be read before the weekend can begin is sufficient encouragement to continue and with our 10th anniversary imminent next year, that is what I intend to do.

We lost some 600 visitors during the breakdown but on Monday, there were 418 in a single day to mark our return. If the disruption had continued beyond the weekend, I would have used our mailing list to inform visitors of the situation. This now contains almost 700 names and email addresses of visitors from around the world who can be contacted within minutes and if you are not among them, then please use the facility on the front page to join the list. This is confidential information and you have an assurance that it is not passed on to a third party but it will enable us get in touch in similar cases and explain any difficulties. In addition, you will receive monthly updates of our features and progress.

There has also been some confusion about our URL or web site address. The actual code using the “homepages” formula is cumbersome but we do own our own domain name and this might be the best link to use in the future although you will need to adjust the settings in your list of favourites accordingly. It is

http://www.bourne-lincs.org.uk

The support received during our short absence was most gratifying and is an assurance that we have come to be regarded as the voice of Bourne so please keep logging on in the future.

Thought for the week: It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this. - Bertrand (Earl) Russell, British philosopher, ardent pacifist and campaigner for nuclear disarmament (1872-1970).

Saturday 14^th April 2007

Nominations for the local government elections have closed but the anticipated rush for seats has not materialised. Instead, we have the old familiar faces seeking re-election which does not auger well for Bourne where many of those on the town council who are likely to be back appear to be bent on destroying that little bit of our heritage they control in the face of strong public opposition.

In fact, eight of the nine councillors seeking to retain their seats voted for the demolition of the 150-year-old cemetery chapel (including one who even described it as “a bad building”), a decision now discredited by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) which has ruled that it must not pulled down. This is only one of two properties in the care of the council, the other being the rather awful looking bungalow at the entrance to the cemetery, and despite the listing process being fast-tracked by English Heritage to prevent the destruction of the Victorian building, all still think that they have something to offer the town by remaining on the council and public apathy will enable them stay in office.

A total of 15 seats are available on the town council:

In the East Ward (seven seats) where there will be an election with eight nominations, seven of them from existing councillors, Mrs Shirley Cliffe, Derek Crump, Don Fisher, Guy Cudmore, Mark Horn, Mrs Pet Moisey and Mrs Judy Smith, who will face a contest with newcomer Mrs Brenda Johnson.

In the West Ward (eight seats), there will be no election because two councillors are standing down, Mrs Norma Woolley and veteran Mrs Marjorie Clark, now aged 88, who has decided to call it a day after 40 years in local government and two spells as Mayor of Bourne. The nominations include retiring councillors Brian Fines, Trevor Holmes, Mrs Jane Kingman-Pauley, Mrs Linda Neal, Alistair Prentice and John Smith, and newcomer Mrs Helen Powell who is returned unopposed. The additional seat will be filled by co-option when the new council holds its first meeting on May 3rd.

There will therefore be little change in the outlook of the new town council. What an electoral Utopia it would have been with two dozen nominations for each ward and a strong element of youth seeking a place but today that is the stuff of dreams and once again it will be the old guard who will dominate the council chamber.

The picture is a little better for South Kesteven District Council where Bourne has six seats, three each for Bourne East and Bourne West. Councillors John Kirkman and Don Fisher are not standing for Bourne East and so we have four new candidates seeking election while the three councillors for Bourne West are all contesting their seats with three other nominations and so these two wards will have elections of some interest.

More candidates would have been healthier for democracy and there are many reasons for this apparent unconcern in becoming involved. Firstly, people are too busy earning a living to give up what spare time they have to attend meetings and carry out other duties and there is also a lack of passion or commitment in wishing to serve the community while the low level of remuneration is a deterrent to some but the overriding reason appears to be apathy. There is certainly a feeling among veteran councillors that under the present Cabinet system, individual members cannot make a difference and the sum total of these reasons means that interest in local government is at a low ebb and this enables those who do run our affairs to escape public scrutiny on vital issues until it is too late.

It will be interesting to see if the lack of appeal in standing as a candidate is reflected in the voting but I fear that it will be similar to 2003 when the turnout was under 30%.

You may be forgiven for smelling a rat each time one of our local authorities appeals for ideas from the people because it is evident they want something, usually an endorsement of what has already been decided. Public forums, surveys and discussions, therefore, are little more than window dressing and designed to let them off the hook for something unpleasant that will cost the council tax payer even more money.

The latest wheeze from South Kesteven District Council is a consultation over financing a new town centre for Bourne which is still no further forward than when it was first mooted in 2003. Having lost one possible developer, the authority is now trying to snare another and the bait appears to be a £1.5 million injection to the £27 million originally proposed for the scheme, half to come from the government-funded East Midlands Development Agency and the rest from the council, which in effect, means you and me, despite past assurances to the contrary.

As the bulk of the authority's income is currently eaten up by continually rising salaries, pension and holiday entitlements for a staff of around 750, any further expenditure of this magnitude will mean yet another burden on the council tax but just to soften the blow, it is proposed to hold a public forum when residents may have their say. In the words of the council leader, Linda Neal (Bourne West): “I have recommended that we should consult more widely with the local community as the scheme was originally going to be privately funded and now requires some public money.”

Councillor Neal had hoped to consult directly with households in Bourne (we are not told how - would she pop round to everyone for a cup of coffee?) although her cabinet colleagues favoured using the Local Forum due to be held at the Corn Exchange in June but as these forums have already been criticised as being manipulated and a totally inadequate method of consultation, it is doubtful if the declared democratic outcome can be achieved. Cabinet meetings are also held in private, even to the exclusion of other councillors, and so we have no way of knowing that whichever course of action is eventually announced, the decision has not already been taken.

The sale of the bus station for £1.5 million would fit neatly into the scheme of things but surely, even SKDC would not be that devious.

What the local newspapers are saying: Councillor Neal and her colleagues need look no further than correspondence columns of The Local to test public opinion over the popularity of a new town centre because there are again several letters this week opposing the idea (April 13th). Mrs E J Clark, of St Peter’s Road, Bourne, outlines a most attractive, but financially unattainable, alternative of building a north-south bypass for the A15 trunk road which would enable the town centre to be pedestrianised and return Bourne to its true status as a market town. “To spend council tax on the development which most residents did not ask for and do not want is the wrong way to go”, she writes.

There is similar opposition from D F Hall, of Dorchester Avenue, Bourne, who condemns the scheme as a waste of public funds. “A lot of money has already been wasted by the council in trying to bulldoze the idea through and it is about time they listened to the people and accepted their decision", he writes. "We do not want this project. Scrap it now before any more money is wasted.”

Mad dogs were not uncommon in the streets of Britain in times past and the sight of an animal running amok slavering white foam from the mouth was sufficient to send people scampering to the safety of their homes. The reason for their fear was rabies, an acute viral infection that was nearly always fatal, and could be passed on from the bite of an infected animal, with dogs being the main transmitters.

In Victorian England, particularly in rural areas, the cry of “Mad dog! Mad dog!” was a chilling reminder that the disease could be contracted by the unwary and there was such an alarm in Bourne in 1857 which lead to an official public warning being issued on Wednesday 3rd June:

Several householders and occupiers of land within the neighbouring parishes having seriously represented to the magistrates that many beasts and sheep have lately either died in a rabid state, or have been destroyed by the owners in consequence of having been bitten by mad dogs (some of which it is feared are still at large), and that the evil is now spreading to an alarming extent, the magistrates for South Kesteven earnestly recommend all persons having dogs to keep them tied up, or secured from wandering abroad, until the danger has subsided. - By order of the magistrates, Will Hopkinson, Clerk, Bourne Town Hall.

A few days later another mad dog bit a bullock in a field at Edenham, near, Bourne, and the farmer, John Burgess, had to shoot it and bury the carcass which was a health hazard to humans and other animals. The situation by this time was causing panic among the public and rumours were rife with the result that many cases of attacks by infected dogs on livestock may have been covered up by farmers.

On June 16th, four more dogs that had supposedly contracted rabies appeared on a farm at Thetford (Baston) and were shot. They included two valuable greyhounds belonging to Thomas Pope of Thurlby and two other dogs from the village, all having been suspected of having gone mad after eating the flesh from animals destroyed on a local farm. “This dreadful state of things should operate as a warning to those who allow their dogs to be at large unmuzzled”, warned the Stamford Mercury.

The farm in question was owned by William Pick of Thetford where four cattle and eight sheep had previously been destroyed after being bitten by a mad dog but he insisted that the carcasses were buried seven feet deep immediately after being killed and were therefore inaccessible to any marauding animals. “The dogs which subsequently went made could not have caught the disease from eating the flesh of my animals”, he said.

The outcry eventually died down but the fear of mad dogs remained well into the 20th century when rabies was eventually eradicated in this country due mainly to the English Channel, dog licensing, the killing of stray dogs, muzzling and other measures. The last human death from indigenous classical rabies in Britain occurred in 1902, and the last case of indigenous terrestrial animal rabies was in 1922. Most cases of rabies in the UK now occur in quarantined animals, or in people infected abroad, and since 1946 it has been responsible for the death of 22 people in other parts of the world.

One would have imagined that a cat was too small to tackle a pheasant but I saw such an encounter this week from my study window which overlooks the fen and a field of winter wheat, now a mass of green shoots almost a foot high.

The black and white cat is one of the neighbourhood moggies, a regular nuisance that constantly takes birds from our garden and even preys on the feeding table and nut dispensers, waiting for an unsuspecting victim, defying all deterrents and returning with an alarming regularity. On Wednesday evening, towards dusk, it was out there in the field patrolling the closely planted rows for anything it could find in the way of small rodents when a huge female pheasant that is nesting nearby hove into view.

The cat spotted it and crouched like a tiger as it came nearer but then started to move away and the cat lowered its body until almost out of sight in the green carpet and then began to inch towards its prey, slowly, stealthily and with deliberate intent although it was such a huge bird that I doubt if it could have done more than give it a scare. In the event, the pheasant must have realised it was being stalked because it suddenly perked up, stuck its colourful head in the air and glanced around and then took off, skimming the top of the crop squawking and flapping as it became airborne with the cat in full but futile pursuit.

The chase, like the hunt, was ludicrous, almost comical, because the pair were ill matched through size and speed, and the cat’s winged quarry was soon at a safe distance in the next field, leaving it busy searching the undergrowth along the far hedgerow for other tasty and less percipient creatures for its supper.

Thought for the week: I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. - Sir Winston Churchill, British soldier, statesman and wartime Prime Minister, orator, author and historian (1874-1965).

Saturday 21st April 2007

Anyone who walks through Bourne regularly will know that the streets are not being adequately swept, litter collected and graffiti removed. The main roads around the town centre are usually clear but the byways reflect an unacceptable neglect, places that the street cleaners and litter pickers have passed by. The parks and open spaces are little different and are in urgent need of attention.

Beer bottles and cans litter public places, discarded fast food and its containers have been thrown away thoughtlessly and we even found an old television set dumped behind a fence. There has been no attempt to remove graffiti that has been daubed across buildings and trees and roadside edges are in urgent need of a sweep while the fencing alongside the perimeter of the new market place behind the Corn Exchange has been broken and sagging for the past year.

One of the most picturesque places in Bourne is Church Walk which runs past the west front of the Abbey Church with Bourne Eau House on the right and Brook Lodge ahead, three listed buildings from our history all within view. It should be one of the town's delights but has been a sorry sight in recent weeks with piles of windswept debris, drinks cans and even beer bottles lining the bank of the Bourne Eau. Fortunately some of this had been cleared up by the weekend but there is still room for improvement. Not so Wherry's Lane, which runs between the main North Street and Burghley Street, and is therefore used by many people leaving their vehicles in the car park behind the Post Office, but is in a dire state and has been since this web site began in 1998, yet nothing has been done. There are many other black spots in Bourne which combined do not present an acceptable image for the town.

It is no pleasure to write this but the alternative is to turn a blind eye and the situation will get worse. Inaction is therefore not an option because this web site is read around the world. Responsibility for the cleanliness of our streets lies with South Kesteven District Council to whom we pay our ever increasing council tax. Its declared aims are as follows:

The council promises to keep all public land free of litter and refuse, so far as it is practicable to do so. Some parish councils have community litter pickers who work in conjunction with the district council. There is no set programme for street cleaning, but through a series of inspections the council allocates resources to areas where they are most needed. The council will clear up litter, refuse and detritus from roads, footpaths and open spaces, which are its responsibility.

Graffiti has been declared as the largest contributor to the "broken window" effect, where an area looks run down, it attracts more anti-social behaviour, such as littering, vandalism, and crime. Graffiti costs councils and businesses in England and Wales approximately £1 billion every year to clean up. It looks unsightly and can have a detrimental effect on our communities. The district council is committed to dealing with this. The council will, in some cases, arrange for the removal of graffiti. The timescale in which this work is carried out will be determined by the content, with the highest priority likely to be given to graffiti that is racist or offensive in some other way. Cleaning is carried out so that the Environmental Protection Act standards are met.

Litter pickers are a recent innovation, designed to reduce the workload on the district council, and although they do make a difference, especially in the villages, it is not the answer to a totally clean environment. The town council has one employed part time, concentrating on the town centre, around the traffic island, the South Street car park, keeping the litter bins and street furniture looking tidy and any other obvious task that surfaces from time to time and his efforts are noticeable. But as he works only six hours a week, there is a limit to what can be achieved and so the black spots remain.

In the final analysis, the responsibility rests with SKDC and it is apparent that their guidelines are not being met. I have therefore drawn the attention of the Environmental Health Officer at South Kesteven District Council to these matters in the hope that something will be done. Bourne is a good place to live and we like it here. It can also be a very attractive market town and that is the way we want to see it rather than an area of urban neglect that reminds us of the inner cities.

What the local newspapers are saying: An £80,000 skateboard park is vital for the town, says a headline in the Lincolnshire Free Press which reports that the project has the support of the police and the town council (April 17th). No one will deny that amenities must be provided for young people, and indeed are, but whether a pastime of such dubious merit and benefit should be given priority for spending of this magnitude is debatable. Police Constable Steve Smith told the newspaper that they were supporting the scheme in an attempt to stem anti-social behaviour and added: “It is vital that youngsters have somewhere to let off steam. There has been a big rise in anti-social behaviour at the Wellhead and Abbey Lawn and this is due in part because there is nowhere for young people to go in Bourne.”

A skateboard park is one of those lost cause projects that has been rumbling on since it was first mooted in February 2001 and despite several town mayors pledging cash during their terms in office, little has happened and the £2,700 they raised is still lying idle in the bank. Since then, considerable effort and money has gone into providing amenities for our young people, particularly the new £400,000 youth club which was opened in Queen’s Road in March 2005 when the police told the newspapers that this would bring about a reduction in anti-social behaviour which it obviously has not. Nor will a skateboard park.

The current concern is that youngsters are using private car parks to pursue their hobby after they have closed and this is causing problems of noise and even unruliness late into the night. The solution is not a skateboard park but more old fashioned foot patrols after dark and at weekends but it is easier for the police to support this project than carry out the duties the public expects of them. If the authorities are intent on pandering to this whim, then perhaps Bourne United Charities might lend a helping hand and chip in with the £50,000 earmarked for a high fence around the Abbey Lawn, scene of regular acts of anti-social behaviour, and spend it on our skate boarding youngsters instead. This would almost pay for the park they are demanding on the Wellhead Field, which they own, and if the police theory is correct, two birds would be killed with one stone.

A most important letter has been printed in the correspondence columns of The Local concerning the intention of South Kesteven District Council to use the Local Forum at Bourne on Wednesday 20th June to test reaction over the previously unstated proposal for the expenditure of an additional £1.5 million on the development of Bourne town centre (April 20th) and in view of its importance and the fact that it has already begun to raise comment elsewhere, it is reproduced here in its entirety:

The democratic process of a properly constituted and legal consultation with the public should be used rather than the forum process suggested. The reason for this becomes evident from the minutes of the cabinet meeting held on April 2nd in which it is recorded that the forum approach to the matter was voted on by five members of the cabinet with a resulting majority of only one.

The forum, by definition, is merely a meeting to exchange views. It has no statutory or legal powers and as such has no obligation to take notice of or action on any views the public might express in the matter, whereas a properly constituted consultation is required to produce results that are legally acceptable. The use of the forum process will enable the council to appear to be concerned about public opinion, filter out any questions that they wish to evade and deny transparency of the decision process used.

The cabinet is formed of representatives who have been elected by the taxpayer to represent them and their interests. In view of the gravity of the matter, the cabinet should not be denying them the use of the democratic process to decide which way they wish to be consulted in order to achieve a legal and binding outcome. In the best interests of the taxpayer/residents, I request that the method of resolving the matter of the proposed substantial expenditure on this project be by a properly constituted and accountable public inquiry.

The writer is Tim Bladon of Wendover Close, Rippingale, near Bourne, and the points he makes are so significant that a reply from either the leader of South Kesteven District Council, Councillor Linda Neal, or a senior officer, is imperative. We would also welcome comments from those district councillors representing this town who are currently seeking re-election to SKDC, namely Councillors John Smith, a cabinet member, and Brian Fines (Bourne West), and Councillor Judy Smith (Bourne East) via the Bourne Forum where a lively debate on this issue is already underway.

The civic dinner was held at the Corn Exchange last week, an annual occasion that gives the mayor a chance to thank those who have been of assistance during their year in office. In the past, it has been a civic ball but this year the format was changed and instead of dancing after dinner, there was an hour or so of entertainment by budding musicians.

The event has now been held for almost 40 years, having been established by the chairman of the former Bourne Urban District Council, Ted Kelby, who wanted it to become the main occasion in the town’s social calendar. The idea, however, originated a year before when Councillor Jack Burchnell was chairman for 1967-68 and at the end of his year in office, he arranged what he called a civic function to which all organisations in the town were invited, including commercial, business and industrial undertakings The following year, the event was put on an official footing by his successor when Councillor Kelby organised the first civic ball at the Corn Exchange in 1969 after a busy year in office when he and his wife Dot had been attending functions at the rate of almost two a week.

He enrolled officers from the council to assist with the arrangements and the ball on Friday 14th March was a resounding success with 200 guests, headed by the local MP Mr (later Sir) Kenneth Lewis, and Councillor Harold Scarborough, chairman of South Kesteven Rural Council. A young girl was on hand with a tray full of red carnations, handing one out to each lady as she entered the room. “This is the first ever civic ball”, he said in his speech, “and with your help this function will not only be successful but will also remain so in the future.”

Bourne Urban District Council ceased to function on 12th March 1974 under local government reorganisation and its duties and responsibilities were handed over to South Kesteven District Council and the newly formed parish council which, because of its historic status, was given the status of a town council with a town mayor. Bourne Town Council also took over the old coat of arms and successive mayors have observed the tradition of the civic ball every year since.

Ted, a former postman now aged 80 and living in retirement at his home in St Paul’s Gardens, remembered the grand occasion this week and is proud to have been the inspiration for this social tradition. He served as a councillor for 15 years and his election as chairman for the year 1968-69 was the highpoint of his career in public life. “We enjoyed our term in office”, he said, “and were fortunate in being able to accept all of the invitations that came in and these totalled 86. The civic ball was intended as a personal thank you to them and it is most gratifying that it has continued.”

Thought for the week: To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. - Bertrand (Earl) Russell, English philosopher, pacifist and ardent campaigner for nuclear disarmament (1872-1970), from his book The Conquest of Happiness.

Saturday 28^th April 2007

The sewing ladies and their new creation (left to right) Clair Hart, Debbie
Hallam, Lesley Wade and Margaret Hunter. Photograph courtesy Jim Jones.

The ladies who sew have been busy for the past year turning out yet another replica dress to commemorate Bourne’s famous son, Charles Worth (1825-95), father of haute couture, whose life and times are commemorated at his gallery in the Heritage Centre at Baldock’s Mill in South Street.

Their latest creation is a glamorous ruby red evening gown which has taken almost a year to complete from a design Worth produced at his Paris salon for one of his rich lady customers and is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Jim and Brenda Jones, who have been responsible for the establishment of the Worth Gallery, paid a visit to take photographs and make notes to ensure that they got the details correct and then after an exhaustive search for stockists, the material was ordered from a specialist firm at Harrogate in Yorkshire.

Work started in September and was finished just in time for the official unveiling which was held last weekend when it joined the first dress produced by the ladies that is already on display, another fine example of team effort and the voluntary work being done in this town which will attract many visitors in the months to come.

A distinct pong emanates from our black wheelie bin now that the warm weather is upon us especially as we enter the second week and this is likely to be a major drawback of the new refuse collection system. The unpleasant smell defies regular cleaning with a strong bleach immediately after it has been emptied by the collection freighter and is likely to get worse as the temperatures rise in midsummer.

The problem has even spawned a new business that has started operating in the Bourne area under the name of Wheelie Sweet, offering a regular service to householders keeping their wheelie bins clean and hygienic.

Contamination is one of the main reasons why so many local authorities have refused to implement fortnightly collections and those that have, including South Kesteven District Council, may have to increase the frequency of emptying or run the risk of creating a health hazard which is not acceptable for domestic premises, especially those with children. This is not just my view but one shared by the Daily Mail which on Tuesday launched a campaign to save the weekly bin rounds which are being scrapped throughout the country by 144 local councils, ours among them, and others are likely to follow suit and although these authorities are supposed to be run by our elected councillors, we have had no say in the matter.

Once-a-week household rubbish collections were established by law in 1875 to stamp out cholera and other infectious diseases which claimed the lives of thousands of people but now many households face a fortnightly bin pick up for the most sensitive kitchen and organic waste. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) insists that fortnightly collections are not a health risk but a study at High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire on which it bases the claim found that they resulted in infestations of insects and rats as well as bad odours and the World Health Organisation recommends that in temperate climates such as ours, rubbish collections should be weekly.

The wheelie bin system in South Kesteven got off to an inauspicious start because of the heavy handed way in which it was introduced and is now accompanied by threats of fines for those who do not toe the line. Yet despite a public outcry, hardly a word of objection has been raised by our elected councillors.

Council tax bills have almost doubled over the past ten years and the rubbish collection is the only visible local service that many people receive. It must therefore be clean and efficient and this can only be achieved by a weekly collection.

There appears to be a reluctance on the part of our town councillors to settle the question of the mayoralty for the coming year. Usually by now, they have been into secret session and chosen the person who will fill the office and that of deputy who, as in past years, will be mayor for the following term.

The procedure has operated quite smoothly since the office of town mayor was inaugurated in 1974 but was sullied in 2006 by unworthy antics behind closed doors which resulted in the traditional rule of succession being overturned and a less senior candidate being parachuted in to fill the void created by the lack of support for the deputy mayor, a decision that created a public outcry from which the institution of first citizen has never fully recovered. Now, in the absence of the firm control over the rules of procedure exercised by a past member who has recently resigned, silence reigns over these important appointments and no one appears to have the courage to bring the subject up.

The present deputy mayor is Councillor Jane Kingman Pauley who, according to the system of Buggins’s turn, will be the next mayor. The bone of contention is who will be deputy mayor and therefore Mayor of Bourne in 2008-09. This is not a subject for a think tank or the topic for a philosophical debate but a matter of fairness and common sense. The council has the power to rectify the wrong that was done in January 2006 when the deputy mayor, Councillor Guy Cudmore, was passed over for unspecified reasons by a meeting of his peers behind closed doors.

He has served this town as a councillor since May 2000 and is currently standing for a seat on South Kesteven District Council in the forthcoming local government elections and so his credentials are in order. To deny him for a second time the chance to become Mayor of Bourne will be to compound a previous injustice which councillors now have the opportunity to put right.

What the local newspapers are saying: Continual complaints by young people that there is nothing to do in Bourne, supported in recent weeks by the police, are given short shrift by the new youth club leader who gives The Local a list of the activities available for them if only they will make the effort (April 27th). Kirsteen Waugh-Chaurasia, aged 34, said that the club facilities included a computer suite, two pottery kilns, drum kit, table tennis, indoor hockey, basketball, football, netball and cooking, volleyball ball and indoor bowls nets have been ordered and a recording studio is being set up while there are cultural awareness and citizenship activities. “My aims are to increase membership and put a stop to rumours about kids causing havoc in the streets", she said.

A commendable strategy for a club that caters for young people aged from 13 to 19 but one factor is essential and that is to increase the opening hours because the present two nights from 6.30 pm until 9 pm on Thursdays and Fridays are totally inadequate for a facility that cost the community £400,000. Such restricted hours are also a retrograde step because the youth club I belonged to in the 1940s, one of the first to be established in Britain, was open most nights of the week although the accommodation and facilities were distinctly makeshift when compared with what is on offer in Bourne today.

A pigeon tapped with its beak on the bathroom window this week as though asking to be let in and, alerted by the noise as I was passing, I gesticulated wildly, trying to direct it to the bird table on the patio where there was sufficient succulent seed to satisfy the most voracious appetite but my efforts at communication failed and it stayed there for some time, perched on the outside sill and occasionally knocking on the glass.

This was not one of our usual neighbourhood pigeons but a thoroughbred racer, easily recognised by its streamlined plumage and the coloured rings on its legs, one to identify the owner and the other a tag attached at the beginning of a race, because this bird was definitely competing in one of the marathon events regularly staged by fanciers at this time of the year. In my far off reporting days, I sometimes covered the Great North Road race, a 500-mile event from Lerwick in the Shetlands back to their lofts in the eastern counties at speeds of around 50 mph with the King George V Cup as first prize, a gift from the monarch who was extremely interested in pigeon racing and who established the royal lofts at King’s Lynn, while the Queen is currently patron of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.

Not all of the 1,000 or so birds released have their heart in it and many pack it in when they get thirsty and hungry and so they land in the nearest convenient garden for a rest. The day before our pigeon knocked on the window, another had alighted on the front porch, also a championship bird, beautifully marked and probably worth a few hundred pounds, because they are extremely valuable, but as far as the competition went, that was enough.

Racing pigeons are known to become lost or disorientated during long races, often coming down for water and food before continuing, and the association issues guidelines for anyone who encounters one, feeding it for a day or two before persuading it to resume its journey, otherwise they would appreciate a report but only if the bird is contained. Some years ago, one of these birds landed in our garden and expired and before disposing of the carcass, we managed to remove the rings which we sent in and received a letter of thanks in return telling us that they had been passed on to the owner who was most grateful to know what had happened to his prize pigeon. But the two that arrived this week did not stay long and soon headed out into the fen.

Life may be comfortable in the home loft, warm quarters with three meals a day and all found but yes, there is a catch in it, for who wants to fly their heart out over ten counties in all weathers every weekend. Some therefore, drop out and join the wild flocks that regularly swoop over the fen. Take a look next time you see them for among the collared doves and feral pigeons will be several well bred escapees, tell tale rings upon their legs, that have decided to give the easy life a miss rather than face another overnight gruelling flight from Scotland to the Home Counties, and choose the freedom of the countryside instead.

We do care about our birds, keeping the bird table well stocked with food and the bird bath filled with water, even though they are not always grateful, leaving unsightly messages over the patio and garden path, but the rewards are immense. Regular observation not only aids identification but also provides a grandstand view of their habits in winter and summer and as long as you sustain the effort, a wide range of species will soon be inhabiting your garden, the rare and infrequently seen as well as the old and familiar.

This week, while clearing out the garden recesses, I found a couple of old nesting boxes that had been unused for many years but still serviceable and so I cleaned them up and gave them a new position on the front of the shed, well out of reach of any passing cat. I had thought that it was too late in the season for them to be any use but within a few hours my efforts were rewarded because next morning both had been occupied by a pair of blue tits and as both boxes can easily be seen from my study window and the kitchen, we have the added treat in store this spring of watching their comings and goings while raising a family for indeed they are already nest building.

Thought for the week: I realised that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes. - Charles Lindbergh, American pioneer aviator, (1902-1974) in an interview shortly before his death.

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