Bourne Diary - May 2007

Saturday 5^th May 2007

The bus station toilets have been demolished - see "The public lavatories . . . "
 

The local government elections in Bourne on Thursday were a personal triumph for Trevor Holmes who won a seat for Bourne West on South Kesteven District Council. His success is all the more noteworthy in that he stood as an independent candidate and polled 940 votes, thus beating two sitting Conservative councillors who are both cabinet members, John Smith (762) and Linda Neal (754).

Trevor Holmes, who is 66, a town councillor since 1999 and Mayor of Bourne for 2003-04, is also well known for his outspoken common sense and we look forward to hearing from him in the months to come. Apart from his council work, Trevor is a tireless worker for the community, notably at the Butterfield Centre, while his recent initiative to stamp out doorstep crime in the town has not only brought security to many old people but has also been taken up by the county police force. “I am thrilled and humbled by this opportunity to do my very best for Bourne and the people who live in the town”, he said.

The continuing popularity of Judy Smith, a town councillor since 1999, is also reflected in the results because she polled more than 1,000 votes in both the town and district council elections, outstripping all others to record the highest figures of the day for the entire South Kesteven district. This is seen as reward for the work she does in this town, always ready and eager to take on yet another task irrespective of the time and effort involved while the pace she set as Mayor of Bourne for 2005-06, often two and three engagements in one day, is unlikely to be equalled for many years to come.

Guy Cudmore also made a commendable showing with the second highest number of votes for a Bourne East seat on the town council (835) but narrowly missed winning a seat on the district council although he polled an admirable 696 votes against a strong Conservative challenge. A newcomer, Brenda Johnson, also made a strong showing to win a seat on the town council for the first time, even polling more votes (570) than stalwart member Pet Moisey.

Brian Fines, this year’s mayor of Bourne, lost his seat on SKDC but remains a member of the town council where he has been returned unopposed because there were insufficient nominations in Bourne West for an election. It was also a sad day for Derrick Crump who lost his seat on the town council and failed to win one on the district council by coming bottom of the poll in each election. This may well be due to the controversy that surrounded him last year when prolonged absences from the council chamber on charity work in Africa brought questions from colleagues over his eligibility to continue as a councillor and is a reminder that the people may forgive but they do not forget.
 

The public lavatories at the bus station in North Street were demolished this week and their going appears to be in line with South Kesteven District Council’s policy that any service which is likely to cost money will be either privatised or, as in this case, axed.

Bourne has an increasing population, currently estimated in excess of 15,000, yet is now a town with only one block of public loos, operating solely because the town council was coerced into the responsibility for keeping the South Street amenity open. The lavatories date from 1974 when the bus station opened, a much needed and frequently used facility for travellers and others but they were not properly maintained and once vandalism and graffiti got out of hand, the old solution of shutting it down became inevitable. The demolition decision was taken by SKDC on the absurd pretext that the building was obstructing the view of the CCTV cameras whereas it is common knowledge that the authority had no intention of forking out any cash on repairs.

Pulling them down has not been cheap either but Bourne Town Centre Management Partnership is contributing £10,000 towards the cost and the site will become a hard landscape area with seating and plants, rather like that in the Burghley Street car park. Town centre manager, Ivan Fuller, says that the lavatories have been a focal point for anti-social behaviour including under-age drinking and vandalism and that demolition will “remove an unused eyesore” but he omits to mention that the lavatories were shut five years ago and have been standing idle, bolted and barred ever since and so could hardly be patronised by anyone, yobs or travellers in dire need of spending a penny. Now everyone will have to hoof through the town centre to South Street in the hope of catching the town’s only other public lavatories open. What a sorry advertisement for visitors, especially as the tourist signs for motorists erected on all main roads into the town in February 2005 specifically state that public conveniences are available.

There has been speculation in the town this week that the lavatories have been pulled down as a prelude to clearing the bus station in readiness for sale to a housing developer. Although such a proposition might be a convenient solution to the dilemma over the additional £1.5 million needed before the long awaited town centre redevelopment can go ahead, I am sure that one of our councillors would have said something if they had any inkling whatsoever that such plans were afoot, especially as this has been election week, but as it is, we must wait and see.

What the local newspapers are saying: The future of the Bourne Festival is in doubt and will not go ahead unless a sponsor can be found soon. The Local devotes its front page to the rescue talks currently underway by the Round Table which has organised the three day beer and pop event at the Wellhead Field for the past five years but now needs to find a backer during the coming week or call it off (May 4th).

Although there have been complaints in the past that the festival creates too much disturbance and that the noise can be heard some miles away, the town generally accepts it as a welcome community event for all the family as well as raising money for good causes but last year there was a shortfall of £6,000 due to poor programme sales, reduced bar takings because visitors took their own beer, and an unfortunate clash of dates with World Cup football. The weekend festival has been provisionally scheduled from June 8th to 10th but it all depends on finding a sponsor in the next few days. “Talks are ongoing”, said spokesman John Christie. “Bookings are on hold for bands, marquees and other facilities but we are hoping to find a way of funding the event by next Saturday.”

The earthquake in Kent at the weekend is a reminder that our planet is full of faults, tectonic and otherwise, and to live on or near one can prove dangerous and even fatal. Fortunately, England is not threatened by a geological disaster of this kind and the catastrophe that devastated San Francisco in 1906, for instance, is unlikely to occur here.

But we are not totally immune. In past times, there have been at least four earthquakes that have affected Bourne, two of them serious. The first occurred soon after midday on Sunday 30th September 1750 and the shock was so severe that it was felt not only in the town and surrounding area, but also across the county borders in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. John Moore, the historian, wrote in his Collections of the Hundred of Aveland in 1809: "The houses tottered, plates and glasses fell from the shelves, and slates, tiles and some chimneys fell from the houses; but happily, no great mischief was done. In some churches where services were not over, the people ran from their devotions in the utmost consternation. The shock was attended with a rumbling noise." The Stamford Mercury reported that elsewhere in the town, people who were preparing their Sunday dinners rushed into the streets believing that they were about to be swallowed up.

The second tremor occurred on 24th February 1792 and was felt in Bourne and neighbouring villages but again there was no serious damage while a third tremor occurred in 1896 but this was less serious. The Stamford Mercury reported on Friday 25th December: "A slight shock of earthquake was felt in Bourne about half past five on Thursday morning. Many townspeople noticed the earth tremor. In Bourne Fen, the shock was distinctly felt, several people being awakened by the rocking of their beds."

A fourth tremor occurred on Friday 14th January 1916 which the Stamford Mercury reported as "a seismic disturbance". Their report said: "For some seconds, a very distinct shock was felt as windows rattled violently and furniture and crockery rocked in many homes. At Rippingale, chairs and tables were moved, pots and pans on shelves danced, doors were opened. In Bourne, members of the Volunteer Training Corps were in the Congregational schoolroom for shooting practice when a lamp suspended from an iron rod near the ceiling danced as though the rod had been shaken. There was also a rumbling noise which was heard by several people. Youngsters in bed complained of having their beds moved. Happily, the disturbance was a very mild one and no personal or material damage was caused."

Tremors still occur and even during our short twenty-five year tenure in the town, we have experienced the disorientation of these occurrences, albeit rarely. Nevertheless, experience has taught us never to discount the unexpected.

A yellowhammer has been visiting our patio this week, not on the bird table because it is a ground feeder and so has been picking up seed thrown out by noisy and untidy starlings and blackbirds which seem to have no manners at all. It is an attractive, albeit odd looking, bird, resembling a cross between a canary and a hedge sparrow, prompting one to think that it may even be the hybrid result of an unfortunate cross species liaison at some time in the past. But its pedigree is not in doubt. It has the Latin name Emberiza citrinella and like all other buntings, has a short pointed beak perfect for eating seeds which is why it was attracted to the leftovers on the bird table, and its appearance was unusual for although they are not particularly shy of people, these birds rarely enter gardens, even in country areas.

Yet they are no strangers to this part of Bourne, although that was certainly the case twenty years ago before the development of the Arnhem Way estate on either side of Mill Drove. Prior to these houses being built from 1990 onwards, this was open countryside with dense hedges on either side that were full of them in springtime. But the builders tore down the hawthorn, dog rose, blackthorn and hazel and grubbed out the roots and so a valuable habitat was lost and with them went this very large colony of yellowhammers. Our wild birds are in constant retreat as the house builders plunder their way ever deeper into our countryside.

Thought for the week: Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth. - Lillian Florence Hellman, successful American playwright (1905-84).

Saturday 12^th May 2007

The Civic Sunday parade in 1968
 

Civic Sunday has been postponed this year because of dithering by the town council over the mayoralty. This is the first time it has happened since the office of first citizen was inaugurated in 1974 and the regrettable events of last year when unfortunate decisions were taken behind closed doors are directly to blame.

The service at the Abbey Church was originally scheduled for May 20th, soon after the new mayor had taken office, but as no one has yet been officially nominated for this role in 2007-08, the vicar, the Rev Christopher Atkinson, was given the task during public notices at morning service last Sunday of announcing that it was to be postponed for a month, until June 17th.

This is a most unfortunate occurrence at a time when a new council is about to take over yet the public are totally unaware of what is going on because the local newspapers no longer report proceedings on a regular basis. We therefore have the prospect of our town council drifting aimlessly on a sea of indecision with the chains of office up for grabs, available to anyone, regardless of seniority, provided they show suitable enthusiasm for the job.

According to the past tradition of seniority, there has been a tacit understanding that Councillor Jane Kingman-Pauley will be mayor, and therefore chairman of the council, but even though the mayor-making has been fixed for Tuesday, she has yet to be officially endorsed, while a deputy, who will therefore be mayor in 2008-09, has not been selected and in the absence of any established protocol for the succession, it will most probably again be left for someone to volunteer. If, as in previous years, the job goes to the most senior councillor who is willing to do it, then we are faced with a forthcoming mayor who has not been a town councillor for any length of time and it has been suggested behind the scenes that to avoid this situation, perhaps veteran Shirley Cliffe might be willing to stand again, having been a town councillor since 1976 and mayor on two previous occasions, from 1979-80 and 1997-98.

These circumstances do not auger well for the future of the mayoralty. Many cities are currently installing elected mayors with the power of decision but in Bourne, where the office is restricted to that of a town mayor, that cannot happen in the foreseeable future and so whoever is elected must be prepared for 12 months of flag waving and pressing the flesh, time-consuming duties that have become a necessary part of the mayoral tradition. The office of deputy mayor is equally important, albeit a junior role that enables less senior councillors to get out and about and meet the people, to see how the job is done and train for the chairmanship to come rather than be thrust into the limelight with little or no experience, which can have unfortunate consequences.

In view of these circumstances, it would seem that one of the first tasks facing the new council is to establish a set of rules governing the mayoralty in future years to ensure that the indecision which makes the office of our first citizen and their deputy such a hit and miss affair will not be repeated. It is up to our recently elected and returned councillors to address this issue as a matter of priority or the office that has become synonymous with the reputation of our town might well fall into decline and the efforts of those who fought so hard for its inauguration 33 years ago will count for naught.

The annual Civic Sunday is comparatively new, the first being held in 1967 when Councillor Jack Burchnell (1909-73) was chairman of Bourne Urban District Council. He had a tremendous feeling for tradition and was anxious to ensure that there were sufficient opportunities during the year when those involved in the decision-making process could be brought together with the people for both religious and social occasions.

The following year, when the event was held on Sunday 9th June 1968, the Vicar of Bourne, Canon Hugh Laurence, outlined the aims of the event during his address to a packed congregation at the Abbey Church. "Only when government and religion become two sides of the same coin can society become healthy and happy", he said. "Since people get the kinds of governments they deserve, it matters supremely what kind of people we are."

Civic Sunday that year began with a parade led by the band of the Boys' Brigade with the chairman of BUDC, Councillor Ted Kelby, and Councillor Harold Scarborough, chairman of South Kesteven Rural Council, at the head of the procession together with other councillors, magistrates and officials followed by representatives of various organisations in the town such as the Round Table, the Rotary Club, Fire Brigade, St John Ambulance Brigade, the Red Cross, girl guides and boy scouts, Bourne United Charities, the British Legion, WRVS, police and special constables and the Royal Naval Association.

The various representatives assembled in the Market Place [now the town centre] and then marched down South Street and Church Walk to the Abbey Church where the lessons were read by Councillor Kelby and Mr Frank Mason, clerk to BUDC. After the service, the parade reformed and marched to the Corn Exchange for an informal gathering over coffee and biscuits.

The Civic Sunday we have today no longer includes a parade through the streets but the enthusiasm of councillors has been no less evident, usually assembling outside the church and then walking in procession down the aisle to their places in the front pews after the congregation has already assembled. But you cannot turn tradition on and off on a whim. If the event is to be treated so casually in the future, then the occasion will lose public support and is quite likely to become a thing of the past.

What the local newspapers are saying: The Bourne Festival has been cancelled this year after the organisers failed to secure a sponsor. The Local reports that last ditch negotiations by the Round Table to save the event for 2007 have fallen through and there was no alternative but to call it off (May 11th). The annual beer and pop festival began at the Wellhead Field during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee year in 2002, attracting thousands over successive summer weekends and raising £30,000 for good causes but it ended in financial disaster last year with a loss of £6,000.

This is an unfortunate situation for a town such as Bourne which has many large companies well able to help support a popular community event. The Local also says that the Len Pick Trust, one of our leading charities, has agreed to donate almost £4,000 to offset last year’s losses but not a single organisation has come forward to secure the event for this year even though we have another wealthy charity in our midst. On the other hand, perhaps they all consider it unwise to be associated with three days of cacophonous sound that does not excite everyone and attracts only the young, thirsty and boisterous.

Whatever the reason for their unwillingness to participate, Bourne has lost a well attended musical occasion this summer. But spokesman John Christie is not completely downhearted because he told the newspaper: “We are gutted that we cannot go ahead but intend to continue next year provided we can get backing.”

There is better news for the next gala concert at the Corn Exchange due to be held in September when the celebrated society and theatre cabaret artistes Kit and the Widow will be appearing.

These concerts have been held for the past eight years through the efforts of Jim and Betty James, tireless workers for the community, and financed mainly by themselves and so if there is a loss, it is theirs. This year’s guests have been secured with the help of Richard Markham, one half of the piano duo Nettle and Markham who themselves starred in the inaugural and subsequent concerts.

Kit and the Widow are two highly talented gentlemen who met at Cambridge University some years ago, Kit Hesketh-Harvey (baritone) and Richard Sissons (piano), who went on to become members of the well known Cambridge Footlights, breeding ground for many stars of entertainment who have since become household names. They have perfected the humorous song in the vein of Tom Lehrer, Flanders and Swan and Victor Borge, performing at the Edinburgh Fringe, major concert halls throughout the country and West End theatres, including the Royal Albert Hall and the London Palladium, and their act has become unique, combining musical classicism and an understated urbanity with a sophisticated brand of humour and often outrageous satirical content that is guaranteed to have their audiences rolling in the aisles.

Betty tells me that financially, it is essential that the coming concert on September 28th is a sell out to break even. Tickets are £25, including a champagne supper after the performance, and it also provides an opportunity for guests to wear their best outfits because it is a black tie occasion. Obviously preference will be given to the many loyal patrons, but already a waiting list is in operation for concert fans who live mainly in the Bourne and Stamford areas and anyone who wants a ticket should telephone 01778 424017 to have their names added to the waiting list.

The idea of staging these gala concerts came when Jim and Betty were on a Caribbean cruise in the spring of 1999 and were delighted to hear Nettle and Markham for the first time. The piano duo were guest performers on the liner and they went to every concert. “We were mesmerised by their superb playing”, said Betty. “After the first concert, we bought a CD and a video and were soon completely hooked and determined to bring them to Bourne.”

On returning home, they telephoned Richard Markham in London and a fortnight later, on his way to a concert in Grimsby, he called in at Bourne to check out facilities at the Corn Exchange, the suggested venue. Everything was in order and over lunch with Jim and Betty at their home at Red Gables in South Street, they agreed a date for the following summer and a fee, but despite the massive £2,000 plus VAT, Jim readily agreed, even though this would mean tickets at £20 each and all would need to be sold to make the event financially viable.

Betty decided that the best way to raise funds to help meet the outlay was a series of Lively Ladies Lunches at their home with no specific charge but all donations welcome, and they proved to be an enormous success. By the time the concert date arrived, 16th June 2000, they had sold 138 tickets and the prospects looked good. The day before, Richard and his partner David Nettle booked in for bed and breakfast at the Mill House in North Road, having driven up from London in a large white van containing two beautiful Steinway pianos, and final arrangements and rehearsals for the concert were soon well underway.

But Betty was having misgivings. “The main thing that worried me was how a Bourne audience would react to Percy Grainger, George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein”, she said. “But on the night, we could not have wished for a better response to these two fantastic pianists. Everyone loved them. The atmosphere was electric and it was several days before we came down from cloud nine.”

It was this success that assured the future of the event and it has been held every year since and now there is a waiting list for tickets to hear Kit and the Widow. Betty’s doubts have also long gone. “We have become part of the town’s social calendar”, she said, “and without doubt, this concert will be a thrilling night. What a treat we have to look forward to in September.”

Thought for the week: Accountability means more than standing for re-election once every few years. It means transparency during your term of office too, the obligation to explain what you are doing openly and honestly. - David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, speaking at Bath on Thursday 22nd March 2007 in the run up to the local government elections.

Saturday 19^th May 2007

Many people are exasperated by the sight of litter, graffiti and pot holes in the streets and other public places but know that complaining to the local authority is like blowing in the wind.

There have been many such instances since this web site started in 1998, not least Wherry’s Lane which is probably the worst black spot around the town and yet nothing is done. This narrow thoroughfare runs between the main North Street and Burghley Street and is therefore used by hundreds of people each week leaving their vehicles in the car park behind the post office before walking through to the shops and it does not present an acceptable image of the town while Abbey Road on a Sunday morning is like a scene from some inner city.

The responsibility of South Kesteven District Council in these matters is not in doubt and is clearly stated on its official web site. Yet the town is continually defaced, especially at weekends, with plastic bags, empty drinks cans, bottles, sweet and chocolate wrappers, discarded food cartons and even larger items such as an old television set which I have recently spotted dumped in a public place.

It is always difficult to stir local authorities into action and when complaints become too vociferous to ignore, we get excuses that they did not arrive, or were inadvertently overlooked, and there will be an investigation, and so on, the usual litany of obfuscation to avoid admitting the inefficiency that rules the activities of many councils.

But help is at hand. Embarrassing them on the Internet is proving to be fast and effective in many cases through a Neighbourhood Fixit web site set up with a £10,000 government grant by My Society, the team behind the new Downing Street petitions which monitor the activities of M Ps, and enables anyone with a grievance to type in their postcode, pinpoint the location of the offending area on a map and give a short description of the problem. This is then automatically sent by email to the council and stays listed on the web site until someone registers that it has been dealt with. The scheme went live in February and about 10 per cent of the 2,000 problems reported have been sorted out.

This is the answer for anyone who cares for our environment and next time you see the neighbourhood defaced or the roads cracking up, you can get it off your chest and lodge a complaint by clicking on to neighbourhoodfixit.com.

The postal service we know as the Royal Mail is slowly deteriorating, hampered by high costs and riddled with inefficiency, and with it goes a proud tradition of collecting and delivering our letters, cards and parcels to a set schedule and always on time. In short, the Post Office was as reliable and as steadfast as the Rock of Gibraltar.

This week came the announcement that 2,500 more post offices are to shut by 2009, one fifth of those left in the United Kingdom, bringing the total of closures in the past eight years to 4,000. Although a marked decline in customers has been blamed, regular users will know that the sporadic nature of the service is also a factor. Posting and receiving mail today is no longer a reliable service because the postman calls but once a day, if you are lucky, and never on Sundays or Bank Holidays, while collections are equally haphazard, especially from the various pillar boxes around the town. It was not always so.

William White’s History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire for 1892 which I have just been reading tells a very different story, one of proud efficiency similar to that of the police, another public service regarded by some to be in serious decline. In that year, Mr John Thomas Pearce (1852-1905) was postmaster and the office was in North Street in premises next door to Lloyds TSB Ltd, built in 1880 and grandly described as the post, money order, telegraph office and savings bank.

Letters arrived from the various sorting offices around the district at 4 am, 2.30 pm and 6.10 pm and despatched at 10.30 am for all parts; 6.10 pm for Wales, Ireland, Scotland, north and midland counties; 7.20 pm for all parts and 8 pm for Sleaford and Folkingham, weekdays. On Sundays, letters were despatched to all parts at 7 pm. There were wall letter boxes in West Street, collected at 6.50 pm, North Road 8.45 am and 6.55 pm, Eastgate 2.15 pm and 7.15 pm and Dyke 6.10 pm. These times meant that you could post a letter in Eastgate at 7 pm knowing that it would be delivered anywhere in Britain the following morning.

No one is suggesting a return to the good old days, if indeed they were, but a spot of postal efficiency from times past would not go amiss.

What the local newspapers are saying: The new wheelie bins are boosting recycling and do not smell, reports the Stamford Mercury with the results of a survey by South Kesteven District Council that eight out of ten households are completely happy with the new system (May 18th). The statement is based on a survey of the 55,000 homes in the council’s area although only 500 responded yet the authority is unequivocal in its conviction that everyone is pleased and there are no problems.

My black wheelie bin was emptied yesterday and on opening it when the refuse truck had gone, a swarm of flies flew out and it stank rather than smelled, an obnoxious odour that took a dousing of heavy duty bleach to remove. It will get worse when the hot weather arrives. If, as the council says, 400 of those who took part in the survey are happy with the system, then 100 are not and if any say their bins smell then they smell. Applying the results of the survey across the region, then 11,000 households will have problems, including stinking bins, which proves that it is totally irresponsible to issue dogmatic generalisations about the system with such a small sample.

A letter in the correspondence columns of The Local takes me to task for my article in the newspaper last week about the police force which can also be seen on this web site (May 18th). Special Sergeant Ian Davison writes that “sadly, and a little disconcertingly, no mention was given to the current 168 men and women of the Lincolnshire Special Constabulary”. Indeed it did not because the article was quite clearly about the history of the regular police force since it was first established in Bourne 150 years ago and not about the special constabulary. No doubt there might be an occasion in the future when this very important organisation might merit an article but this was not it.

The image of the Victorian parson ruling with a rod of iron over his parishioners may not be strictly true and there is at least one case in the Bourne area in which a vicar became so lax in his parochial duties that he was taken to task by the local newspaper. He was, however, given the benefit of anonymity in this report which appeared in the Stamford Mercury on Friday 17th July 1857:

The inhabitants of a neighbouring village west of Bourne are concerned to find how lightly their feelings are considered by the vicar who frequently causes annoyance by neglect and delay, not only in the reception of funerals, but also in the performance of the marriage ceremony. On Tuesday, at the hour fixed by the incumbent, a most respectable young couple presented themselves to be married: they remained in the church till 12 o’clock and, no clergyman appearing, they were under the necessity of postponing the rite till the following day, to the great inconvenience of the family and friends from a distance. His excuse, when informed of the disappointment he had caused, was: “Oh, I forgot all about it!” At the last funeral he attended, he kept mourners and bearers waiting two hours in the street; and generally he is considerably behind his time , occasionally exposing the relations and friends of the deceased to snow and rain.

It is certain that such behaviour would not be tolerated today when an errant vicar would not only be in hot water with the bishop but would most likely find himself with an empty church into the bargain. He would also undoubtedly be given a public comeuppance with headlines in the national newspapers, much to his discomfort and the merriment of the nation because readers have always had a penchant for tales of wayward clergymen.

I have been up in the attic this week clearing out old and unwanted boxes and making space for the sake of tidiness. This has involved throwing away dozens of personal files relating to income tax, VAT, company and household accounts and other dull but necessary documentation that has built up over almost four decades. Observing the warnings about identity theft, I shredded everything, a task that took three days on and off and I ended up with a couple of black bin liners full of confetti which I pondered on with some dismay when I realised that this was a large part of my life about to be consigned to the rubbish tip.

A task of this nature has an inbuilt nostalgia and I found myself stopping every few moments to read an invoice or study a bill, hardly remembering the exact circumstances that had brought them about, because old age brings with it a faulty memory syndrome that plays havoc with the truth. But as the task progressed, a picture emerged that I had earned reasonably well, lived a good life and spent wisely, although much of what came in went out to the government. There were also large bills for necessities, health on those occasions when the NHS was totally inadequate, and education, because we chose the private rather than the state sector for our son, and so there were periods of domestic austerity as he attended public school then university, but on the whole, we had no regrets.

I also made provision for my old age because, being self-employed, I could not look to a state pension of any size to keep us in retirement and among the documents that ended up in the shredder were regular and frequent payments to private pension companies in the belief that my final years would be safe-guarded. In short, we have been prudent.

Taking a breather and a cup of coffee between my excursions aloft, I tuned into BBC News 24 to keep up with what is going on in the country to find that Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is to be the next leader of the Labour Party. This will also make him the Prime Minister without an election, not even within his own party, while Blair is leaving to join the ultra-rich and very soon his successor will be granted an audience with the Queen prior to taking office. Memories are short, it seems, but not in this house.

I am one of the many victims of the Equitable Life disaster, watching my hard earned nest egg slowly eroded, while thousands more around Britain have suffered equally because of his plundering of the financial institutional funds which has brought about the collapse of the British pensions industry. The moment his face appeared on the screen, I had to switch off and returned to the attic and the job in hand. Brown’s audacity in thinking that he is a fit person to run this country beggars belief.

Thought for the week: Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. - John Kenneth Galbraith, influential Canadian-born economist, prolific author and a leading proponent of 20th century American liberalism and progressivism (1908-2006).

Saturday 26^th May 2007

Vandals have been busy with a spot of mindless criminal damage that has wrecked a 200-year-old stone memorial in the graveyard alongside the Abbey Church and shattered one of the windows in the south porch.

The tombstone was erected in the early 19th century to the memory of John Osborn, a local ironmonger, who is buried below. He passed away on 1st July 1810, aged 51, and two others are buried with him, Catherine, his wife, who died on 25th November 1826, aged 70, and their son Pretious Osborn, who died in January 1822, aged 28, their names being recorded on the sides of the memorial.

At the same time that this grave was being desecrated, the ancient leaded side lights in the south porch were punctured with a stick or pole which smashed the glass and left the metal a twisted mass. The damage has horrified church officials but repair work to the window will now be included with the current £100,000 restoration appeal for the 12th century building which is now underway. The stone sarcophagus is another matter and unless descendants of those buried here can be found and are willing to pay for repairs it is likely to remain broken.

The mentality of the culprits is hard to fathom because senseless acts such as these cause untold distress to others and the cost to put them right must come from voluntary effort. Those responsible, therefore, have no place in this community and little feeling for the church, the town or its history and in the absence of identification, their punishment can only be remorse.

What the local newspapers are saying: The Robert Manning Technology College is to change its name. The Local reports that from September it will be known as (wait for it) the Robert Manning College Specialising in Technology and Vocational Education (May 25th). Four words in the title should be sufficient for any organisation but this appears to be following the trend of central government in adopting long and unwieldy soubriquets when much the same work is being done as before. Principal Geoff Greatwood, who retires at the end of the current academic year, explains that although the name reflects the new specialism achieved by the school in April, the college will continue to concentrate on the core curriculum but my guess is that it will still be universally known as “The Robert Manning” and that “RMCSTVE” will be confined to the letterheads.

A great deal of space in the Stamford Mercury is devoted to the activities of Bourne Town Council (May 25th) and I wonder if this has anything to do with recent disquiet among members that insufficient attention is being given to their affairs. Many events connected with the authority, not least the installation of the new mayor, Councillor Jane Kingman Pauley, have been only sparsely reported by our local newspapers who obviously did not attend the relevant meetings and democracy is the poorer for it.

Local newspapers are meant to be the communications conduit for any small community and without their detailed accounts of what is going on in the corridors of power, the people are unaware of what those who represent them are doing and are denied any knowledge of the decisions being taken with the result that gossip and speculation ensue. It has become apparent with many weekly newspapers that advertising revenue is far more important than editorial content, a total reversal of the situation that existed when I began reporting more than half a century ago when not a mouse stirred in the parish without an account of the event being recorded in the columns of the weekly rag, as it was affectionately known.

In those days, a small newspaper such as those we have covering Bourne, would have ten or fifteen reporters with a commensurate number of editors, sub-editors and photographers, but today you may count the editorial staffs on the fingers of one hand and so it is not surprising that important meetings are totally ignored.

It is hoped that the extensive coverage given to the town council by the Stamford Mercury this week is not a flash in the pan and that in the months ahead we find our town given the newspaper coverage it deserves, not only for current readers, but for future generations because apart from keeping us informed, weekly newspapers fulfil another role by compiling an archive of events that will become extremely valuable to the social historians of the future when they come to examine the way it was in Bourne in past times.

We have heard the cuckoo in recent days for the first time this year, calling to us from across the fen. I had feared that it might not put in an appearance at all but we and our neighbours have recognised that distinctive cry from its song post on a branch of one of the scattered trees out there over the fen towards Dyke village and I paused in my gardening tasks and stood listening to that magical sound of spring. But this familiar and welcoming call is late this year and that is disturbing.

When we moved to this house overlooking the flat landscape on the very edge of Bourne almost 25 years ago, our favourite migratory bird sang early and late most days. In fact, there were several of them and their song delighted the neighbourhood morning and evening for many weeks because the call of the male cuckoo makes this one of the best known though least seen of our summer visitors. I made a note in my diary and the date was 22nd April 1983.

Cuckoo Day is traditionally April 14th or 15th when we can expect to hear it in these islands for the first time although there is no hard and fast rule but we in Lincolnshire are rarely so blessed and it is usually a week or two afterwards, often even later, that their characteristic call comes to us from across the countryside to remind us that they have arrived after their marathon flight from Africa where they have wintered in warmer climes. No sound is more eagerly awaited than the loud, ringing, repeated song because it signals the arrival of spring and although many people have heard the cuckoo, few have ever seen one. They are quite large birds, well over twelve inches long, and they have a bad reputation because they do not build nests for themselves but lay their eggs in those of other birds and leave them to hatch them out and bring up the young. But despite this wayward conduct, they remain one of the best loved of our summer visitors.

A few years ago we were driving home across the fen one May day when we heard the cuckoo and then had a rare sighting as it perched on an overhead power cable in a field alongside Mill Drove, singing its heart out, but this was an unusual occurrence that stopped every passing car and soon there were a dozen vehicles parked along the roadside verge, their windows wound down as the occupants sat enjoying the sound of this harbinger of warm and pleasant summer days ahead.

Since then, the cuckoo has become an even more elusive bird because its numbers are being seriously reduced and its song at this time of the year can no longer be guaranteed as an annual delight. It has to face the shootists on the Mediterranean islands, particularly Malta, in Spain and in France, as it wings its way north on its annual flight to England, but once here it will find that its habitats are being denuded year by year because the intensification of agriculture and the urban sprawl persist at an alarming rate. Their decline is yet another example of man's uncaring attitude to the world around him and that if we continue on this destructive path, poisoning and killing all that was here before us, then nature will have its revenge because of the imbalance we have caused in pursuit of profit, greed and so-called sport.

From the archives: Disgraceful conduct in the parish church at Langtoft. During the time the minister was performing the ceremony of marrying a couple, a forcible entry was made into the belfry by taking off the lock of an inside door when five drunken characters (Reading, three Clarks and Reedman) got in. On being remonstrated with, Richard Rowell, junior, eldest son of Mr Rowell, farmer, came forward to support these disreputable characters who could only be ejected by the constables. It is asked where were the churchwardens? No wonder the parish is in such a lamentable state of insubordination and drunkenness whilst encouraged by parties who should set a better example. - news report from the Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury, Friday 27th February 1857.

Sex is now the main ingredient for television and films, an element considered essential by producers to sell their products and the last taboos have long gone. Nothing is now left to the imagination and that which cannot be found in mainstream viewing can be sought out in the more remote channels after midnight or in the murky recesses of the Internet.

It was not always so. In years past, Watch Committees and the Lord Chamberlain vetted suspect material before it was shown on stage or screen while the cinema had its own controls through the British Board of Film Censors. Forty years ago, a controversial film came to Bourne designed to teach young people about sex but before it was given a public screening at the Tudor Cinema in North Street [now a Chinese restaurant] it needed the seal of approval from the authorities.

Accordingly, a specially invited audience went along to the cinema in the spring of 1969 for a special screening of Helga, an 80-minute film made under the auspices of the German Ministry of Health and the first full length sex feature to be shown universally. They included the chairman of Bourne Urban District Council, Councillor Ted Kelby, the clerk, Mr Frank Mason, together with doctors, clergymen, school governors and a number of officials from organisations dealing with the youth of the town.

The film explaining the rudiments of sex and its consequences was intended as a guide to adolescents, young couples, parents and educationalists and had already been granted an “A” certificate by the board which enabled young people below the age of 16 to see it provided they were accompanied by an adult but the cinema owners decided that it would be better if it received official approval before being shown to the public. In the event, the film was given their endorsement and for five days from May 11th, attracted full houses of parents, young people and even escorted school parties.

Helga was part of a now legendary German sex education series that started in 1967 and there were several sequels. It was written and directed by Erich F Bender and contained scenes never shown on screen before from the actual moment of conception to the birth of the baby, the complete and intimate story of a young girl’s sexual awakenings. When it was shown in Bourne it was hailed as an essential part of education for young people but today it has been described, perhaps unfairly, as soft porn for teenagers dressed up as sex instruction for youngsters experiencing puberty.

Thought for the week: Sex education may be a good idea in the schools, but I don't believe the kids should be given homework. - William Henry "Bill" Cosby, America, actor, comedian, television producer and activist (1937- ).

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