Bourne Diary - July  2007

Saturday 7^th July 2007

Potholes have become a permanent hazard in and around the town. They seem to be everywhere yet despite the money being poured into our local authorities, nothing ever seems to be done to repair them.

It is not a new problem either because as long ago as 26th July 1988 the Lincolnshire Free Press published a headline saying that "the potholes are getting bigger" and their report went on to describe them as a danger that seemed to be getting worse. The late Councillor Ray Cliffe, never a man to mince his words, told the town council's highways committee that the potholes were getting bigger each day and there was a particularly bad example in Ancaster Road that only needed a child on a bike to come to grief "and they'd be up the creek". Each time the county council filled in a hole, he said, another immediately appeared beside it and he recalled those days when a man walked the streets with a wheelbarrow and filled in those holes he found as he went along. He added: "Why on earth don't the maintenance people bring a truck load of dirt and deal with the obvious ones? They'd not spend any extra money at all."

By far the worst examples can be found along the short access road off Manning Road leading to the waste recycling centre in Pinfold Lane, a topic that has been aired in this column several times in recent years but the holes have never been bigger and deeper than they are today and motorists use this route to dump their rubbish or access the Anglia Home Furnishing store at their peril.

When this problem was last mentioned in October 2002, we were told that the road was unadopted and ownership could not be established but that really is beside the point because it is a regular route for users of the recycling centre and so Lincolnshire County Council, the highways authority which is also responsible for the depot, has a duty to ensure that it is safe for vehicles. What is needed is the man with the wheelbarrow mentioned by Councillor Cliffe to fill in the holes as they appear but such a simple solution is anathema to the official mind which can only handle matters that have been discussed ad infinitum by cabinet, council and committee without any real result being achieved and it will take a serious accident or even injury before they wake up to the realisation that something should be done.

What the local newspapers are saying: The possibility of gypsies coming to live here has been a major talking point in the town ever since it was revealed in the Bourne Forum last month (June 27th) that South Kesteven District Council has earmarked four potential sites as a permanent caravan park. The Local devotes its front page this week to assurances from the authority that this is not about to happen and in fact may never materialise although under existing government legislation it must provide such a facility within its borders and its location could be any one of sixteen possible sites at Bourne, Market Deeping or even Grantham (July 6th).

The alarm created by rumour and gossip has even prompted a rare statement by one of our senior councillors, John Smith (Bourne West), who is also a cabinet member with responsibility for a healthy environment, anxious to allay public fears that we are about to be invaded by hordes of itinerant travellers with a bad reputation. “I absolutely deplore prejudice of any sort”, he said, “and I hope that anti-gypsy sentiment will not be aroused. People think there will be four sites in Bourne but we are looking for one, possibly two, in the whole council district. The likelihood of it happening here is not that great and it is quite probable that it will not be. People ought to wait until they have the full information before they voice their concerns.”

That should still the objections for the time being but surely it would have been better to have made this sort of statement before the hare started running. After all, the council has a public relations department for this very task and had the people been fully informed of what was going on, then there would have been fewer worried residents and a protest unnecessary.

As the local newspapers report less and less of our public affairs we are forced to depend on gossip for our intelligence and the latest on the grapevine is that the town council is going ahead with plans to install a memorial plaque in the town centre remembering Frederic Manning. It was a near unanimous decision, most members agreeing that the poet and novelist was worthy of the honour although one was against it, suggesting that Manning was a nonentity - I was told the councillor’s name but it was not familiar to me and I cannot remember it.

Another councillor has already confused him with Robert Manning (1264-1340), the mediaeval monk who worked at Bourne Abbey producing religious texts, thus setting a standard of Middle England speech and dialect, and is also well remembered with the Robert Manning Technical College and a road is named after him. This is a common mistake among those who do not know this town well and so for everyone’s benefit, I will recap from previous discussions which have lead to this welcome decision to commemorate a famous writer.

Manning (1882-1935) was an Australian-born poet and novelist who wrote his outstanding book about the Great War while living in Bourne. Her Privates We is a harrowing account of the horrors of trench life seen through the eyes of Private Bourne, the hero he named after this town, and is reckoned to be among the most important literary works to emanate from the conflict of 1914-18 which claimed ten million lives and is still in print today. Manning lived at the Burghley Arms (then the Bull Inn) and later lodged with a couple in Burghley Street and during this period, he developed such a fondness for the town that he stayed here until shortly before he died in a London nursing home.

Councillors should remember that although they are responsible for the erection of memorials to those whose noteworthy lives have been beneficial to this town it is most unlikely that they themselves will be so honoured. Times have changed and the power of elected representatives has been eroded to make them little more than ciphers. But this should not affect their decisions in this sphere and it would be churlish of them to deny a memorial to someone else simply on the grounds of their own ignorance. It is, in fact, their duty to make themselves aware of the achievements of anyone whom the public wishes to remember, as with the case of Frederic Manning whose literary fame places him well above the category of a nonentity.

No matter what political affiliations our M P chooses, there can be no doubt that he has the problems of his constituents at heart and this week, Quentin Davies threw his weight behind the campaign to save the Old Grammar School, one of our oldest Grade II listed buildings dating back to the 17th century.

Until last month, it had reached a state of dilapidation but the present owners, the Bourne Educational Foundation, called in workmen to repair the roof and make it watertight although the work was seen as a temporary measure and in no way secured the long term future of the building. It is currently up for sale and unless a sympathetic buyer can be found, the circumstances of recent years may well be repeated.

Mr Davies, the member for Grantham and Stamford which includes Bourne, issued a statement this week giving his wholehearted support to those who want to see the building saved. He said: "Bourne Civic Society has been making sterling efforts to save the Old Grammar School which is certainly one of the town’s architectural treasures. I have written to Brenda Jones, chairman of the Civic Society, offering to give her all the support I can and will be very happy to take the matter up with English Heritage. Once you have destroyed the heritage you cannot recreate it. I recognise that saving this building may cost a significant amount of money but I think we also need to put some serious thought into finding a new use for it, if only a part-time use, which might defray some of the continuing maintenance cost in the future.”

Mr Davies has articulated the thoughts of many who wish to see the building given a new lease of life although the will for action is weak and this is the first time that anyone has suggested seeking grant aid to help solve the problem. Let us hope that his initiative will not be wasted through the inactivity of those immediately involved.

When I worked for the Daily Mirror many years ago we had a tired and emotional editor who was obsessed with the climate and at the sound of the first thunder clap of summer he would emerge from his office and shout down the newsroom that he expected a story on the weather within the hour, anticipating no doubt a second flood or a similar conflagration. That was half a century ago and although the state of the elements was always a good talking point, there was no mention of global warming, the phrase that obsesses the media today even though extreme conditions are no worse now than they were then.

Storms and flood have always been with us. They are no more severe now than they have been in times past but with politicians keen to impose new green taxes and scientists regularly producing doom-laden predictions, many people now believe that the earth is heating up and that the human race will be fried out of existence whereas all we are experiencing is that which has been the norm for centuries, namely fluctuations in the weather pattern.

Those who write the news for the television or the newspapers also seem to be bereft of common sense because any story detailing an unusual meteorological occurrence is automatically linked with a statement that global warming is to blame yet we are always told, to reinforce their importance, that these occurrences are the worse for fifty or a hundred years as though that qualifies the link between weather and Armageddon. But anyone who gives such sensational claims a moment’s thought will realise that if these conditions have existed before and so long ago, then how can they be the harbinger of climatic change on a grand scale today?

In 1571, the flooding was so severe in Bourne that the water level rose halfway up the church walls and in Tudor England, there was a spell when the winters were so severe that the Thames froze over and roast chestnuts were served to skaters out enjoying the ice. You also only need to read Charles Dickens to realise that winters in the 19th century were extremely cold and hard for the labouring poor.

Yet a century later, heat waves became a godsend for the tabloids in the silly season, that annual summer lull when the nation is on holiday and the flow of real news dries up, and few people have not seen the hoary annual headline of “Phew! What a scorcher!” Floods are equally commonplace as many places where homes have been evacuated can attest but were never so severe as in England in January 1953 when an enormous storm surge occurred in the North Sea and engulfed 1,000 miles of the east coast and the Netherlands, a catastrophe in which 367 people died, 200,000 acres of farmland rendered useless and 20,000 buildings damaged. No mention of global warming. It was just weather.

So it has been the past few weeks, very changeable indeed and often not very pleasant. With thunderstorms most days, I have been more bothered about my Internet connection than whether the planet is about to disintegrate into a pile of hot ash. Each time there was a thunderclap or lightning flash, my Broadband line gave out and we must have had half a dozen power cuts, each time necessitating the re-setting all of the electronic gewgaws in the house from the microwave to the hi-fi, an unwelcome task that must have been replicated throughout the land. This has made me realise that civilisation as we know it is not prepared for even the mildest of storms let alone a global catastrophe of the predicted proportions. We really must get our priorities right and stop this scare mongering.

Thought for the week: Global warming, at least the modern nightmare vision, is a myth. I am sure of it and so are a growing number of scientists. But what is really worrying is that the world's politicians and policy makers are not. - Professor David Bellamy, English botanist, author, broadcaster and environmental campaigner (1933- ).

Saturday 14^th July 2007

Modern technology is quite breathtaking and although often easily explained, it is none the less astoundingly brilliant. The media has been preoccupied in recent days with choosing the seven wonders of the modern world and all were buildings or structures of some kind yet no one ever actually celebrates man’s achievements in other fields, medicine, electronics, exploration, flight and space travel, for instance, and it would be interesting to see such a list compiled on a public vote.

My own choice somewhere among the top seven would be the Internet and its associated discoveries because it has given us a source of infinite intelligence at our finger tips and a means of communicating with anyone anywhere on the planet. I can exchange views with the people living next door if I have not seen them over the garden fence that day or on the other side of the world, in China or Australia.

Late on Tuesday evening, while working in my study overlooking the fen, a hot air balloon wafted into view and I paused at the keyboard to watch its progress as it floated over fields of ripening corn, traversing the sky heading southwards, and eventually out of view, and I was able to take a photograph without even getting up from my desk.

Balloons often pass this way and so they are not an unusual occurrence but this one arrived as I was thinking about man’s achievements and within seconds, a picture was being flashed around the world to several people who keep in regular touch, in Canada, in Malaya, in New Zealand, Sweden and Germany, telling what I had just seen. It was nothing consequential but the means by which I communicated was, digital camera, computer, wireless connection, email and the Internet, all combining to send information across continents within seconds. To someone who was brought up when penny postage was still the main means of contact over a distance, this is truly one of the seven wonders of the modern world and yet most accept it as a normal part of everyday life.

The so-called Continental market that is being held periodically in Bourne this summer does not seem to be a success with shoppers, mainly because the prices are exorbitant when compared with what can be bought in the delicatessen or specialist counters of the supermarkets. Taking a stall at these markets should not be a licence to rip off the unwary and there have also been complaints that some stallholders seemed suspiciously like Eastern Europeans out for a quick buck and that there have been accusations of attempts to short change customers.

The original concept was a good one when it was first mooted two years ago but even then the cheese and bread were expensive and as the market continued I even heard a rumour that one stallholder who had run out of stock had nipped into Budgens to replenish supplies which were sold at double the price. Yes, we do like the idea but at the same time we do not expect to pay double for our luxuries just because the trader is wearing a black beret and smells of garlic.

The equivalent is the ubiquitous farm shop that is springing up all over the place yet most of their supplies seems to originate from wholesale sources and apart from the inevitable ostrich eggs, they stock nothing that is not available from the corner store. I have also made it a rule never even to stop at any country outlet supposedly specialising in local produce yet advertising oranges unless I happened to be driving through California or Cape Province.

South Kesteven District Council is behind the Continental market initiative and as it moves on to Stamford and Grantham after Bourne, we wonder just how much it has cost them to entice these traders to participate and whether there is a vetting procedure in place to ensure that customers get a fair deal. But the consensus seems to be that this has not been happening and perhaps the money spent by the council would be better invested on those matters of public concern that still need to be addressed. Improving our refuse collections in the wake of the wheelie bin fiasco would seem to be a far better way of spending public money than on enticing council tax payers to part with their cash for a couple of highly priced baguettes and a sliver of gruyere.

There has been much speculation about the pipe laying project which is underway at various points around the countryside, mainly in the Dyke area, and I have heard it said many times that new housing is underway, the plans being slipped through under the radar without the public being told. Such is the distrust in which our local authorities are held.

One person even said that they had inside information from Grantham that massive residential development was beginning on acres of prime farmland and indeed, whenever we see construction work of any kind underway in the green belt area, we assume that some land owner has sold out to make a handsome profit out of new houses. Such is the low esteem in which some of our farmers are held.

Others have suggested that the pipe laying is a prelude to the establishment of the controversial gypsy site that has been causing such a furore in the district in recent days, not only in Bourne but also in Market Deeping where a public protest meeting at the town hall on Wednesday was so well attended with more than 1,000 residents turning up that they could not all get inside and had to wait outside in the street to hear the outcome.

However, I can given an assurance that on this occasion, the rich black fenland along Meadow Drove and Manning Road is not about to give way to bricks and mortar or to hard standing for caravans because the work is being carried out by Anglian Water to lay a reinforcement water main between Bourne and Guthrum, a project costing £2.7 million to improve water services to customers in the area and due for completion in the spring of 2008. It would have been in the public interest had a statement to this effect been issued and published by the local press to avoid alarmist rumour and speculation but those in charge either did not think about it or prefer to keep the people guessing and our newspapers now report very little of what goes on in the town.

The pot holes in the access road leading to the waste recycling centre in Pinfold Road have been filled in following my photograph last week and drivers may now go that way in much safer conditions than in past years although this appears to be a temporary measure and complete resurfacing is still needed. We are grateful that this work has been done and wonder why it could not have been completed sooner rather than allow this short stretch of road to remain extremely dangerous for so long.

Inefficiency has never been as prevalent as it is today and there are examples of it in all walks of life, from central and local government to our public services, institutions, business and commerce, and in the main, the public has come to accept it. Middle management is mainly to blame with executives unwilling or afraid to exercise their power for fear of losing their popularity or of being accused of unfairness, abuse, or even taken to an industrial tribunal. Instant familiarity where everyone is on first name terms has robbed us of workplace discipline and this atmosphere of mateyness has replaced respect and eroded the demarcation between employer and employee with the result that no one is really in charge.

More people should protest and in doing so, those responsible would be forced to do what is expected of them instead of adopting the mañana attitude which allows standards to slip and with it a way of life in which everyone did their job to the best of their ability is fast disappearing.

The global warming lobby is now reaching preposterous proportions with the claim this week that flatulent cows and sheep are responsible for 3% of Britain’s greenhouses gases. This effect has actually been the subject of a three-year study at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth where researchers have been measuring the amount emitted by livestock housed in a plastic portable tent.

The scientists responsible for this bit of nonsense might like to consider the fact that North America was once home to many millions of buffalo which roamed the prairies during the 19th century, a population so dense that huge tracts of green grass were turned black by their numbers, while the massive cattle drives of the same period have become the stuff of legend. Other herds of ruminants, which includes cattle, goats, sheep, llamas, giraffes, bison, buffalo, deer, wildebeest and antelope, have inhabited many continents for centuries, usually on a much larger scale than today, and so imagine the methane given off by these animals without any ill effects of climate change, a term totally unknown until coined in recent years.

There is also the question of the human race which far outnumbers our four-legged friends around the world and they too give off noxious gases in varying quantities, particularly on a Saturday night when a gang of the lads after half a dozen pints of Carlsberg Special and a chicken vindaloo would produce quite as much as a herd of Friesians out to pasture. If hot air is to be measured for its ill effects then the best place to start would appear to be Aberystwyth.

What the local newspapers are saying: A few paragraphs hidden away in the inside pages of County News, the free newspaper published monthly by Lincolnshire County Council, is a perfect example of the way in which we are being misled by government at all levels over the public consultations that are regularly held to back up unpleasant official policies.

The newspaper published a front page report in the March issue over the recent decision to impose a 4.5% increase in council tax and added: “The rise is backed by more than 1,000 residents across the county who took part in a budget consultation exercise.”

But a small item in the latest issue (for July) corrects the mistake and we are told that in fact, only 770 residents responded to this consultation and of those, a mere 27% (208) opted for the 4.5% increase. A further 22% of the replies (169) recommended a rise of between 3.5% and 4.5% while 51% (393) suggested an increase of less than 3.5%. In the event, the council took absolutely no notice of the results and increased council tax by 4.5%. “We apologise for the incorrect reporting”, says the newspaper. “This was due to genuine human error rather than any intention to mislead.”

In other words, the sensational front page headlines of four months ago suggesting that a majority of the entire county was supportive of a 4.5% increase were completely wrong and there was no evidence for such an increase, even from such a small sample of 770 residents in a county that has a population of 678,700 (2005 estimate). To compound the crime, unintentional it may have been, this tiny and insignificant correction is tucked away on Page 4 in a space where it can be easily be overlooked whereas one of the cardinal rules of journalism is that reports rectifying mistakes of this magnitude should be given equal prominence on the same page.

The incident also highlights the inadequacy of public consultations by our councils which have become as discredited as the local forums which are orchestrated to avoid difficult questions and keep contentious debate to a minimum. Unfortunately, in both cases, many elected councillors collude to this end and so we can no longer depend on them to safeguard our interests.

Thought for the week: There are three kinds of lies - lies, damned lies, and statistics. - Benjamin Disraeli, the first Earl of Beaconsfield, British author, statesman and prime minister (1804-1881).

Saturday 21^st July 2007

Gypsies camped on a farm at Thurlby, near Bourne in September 1915 while
helping with the harvest

The seasonal nature of agricultural work in past times meant that itinerant workers were essential to bring in the crops and although the wives and children of farm workers were always a ready source of labour, gypsies were invariably on hand to provide help when needed.

They have a rich history of harvest work, notably hop picking in Kent, collecting apples in Worcestershire, soft fruit in Cambridgeshire, lifting sugar beet in Norfolk and potatoes in Lincolnshire, as well as bringing in the corn harvest around the country. Their asset to such work was mobility as travelling families moved with the seasons and often turned up on the same farms when work was available by habit rather than command.

Gypsies are a wandering race, probably of Indian origin, and their language, Romany, is a corrupted dialect of Hindi. On their arrival in Britain, probably in the late 15th century, they were wrongly thought to have come from Egypt, hence the name.

It was as metal workers that most gypsies made a living and their activities broadened to include basket and peg making, horse dealing, selling flowers and herbs and telling fortunes, the latter occupation with some financial success because a folklore soon became established that unless you crossed a gypsy's palm with silver when she offered to tell your future, bad luck would come your way.

They were also entertainers and considered to be splendid fiddlers and pipers while the traditional decorated gypsy caravans or Romany carts, as they are also known, can still be seen in parts of England, especially during the hop and fruit picking seasons. But the decline of the county fairs at which gipsies used to trade has led to many abandoning their nomadic way of life and those that remain are regarded with suspicion in many areas.

Their traditional craft of metal working which has a long and honourable history has evolved into the recycling of scrap metal and abandoned encampments littered with car parts and other such debris have not endeared them to nearby communities. Local authorities now have a duty to consider their needs for camp sites and some provide them with electricity and running water but these facilities have not always been treated with respect and many have been badly vandalised. There have also been complaints in some parts of the country about their purchase of land and subsequent development for living purposes without the required planning permission but councils are reluctant to proceed against them for fear of infringing race relations legislation.

There is currently a climate of intolerance towards travelling families by the public at large and it remains to be seen whether the gypsy community will use this to its advantage or continue to defy convention and the law in pursuit of a way of life that is fast becoming outdated.

The last known encampment of gypsies in the Bourne area was in the winter of 1998 when a small community of Romany travellers arrived and parked their colourful carts on the wide grass verges of the access road leading to Cawthorpe village, a mile north of Bourne. There were also several vans and many ponies, particularly the piebald which they favour, and the only signs of life were the occasional wisps of smoke which wafted skywards from their camp fires. They appeared to be totally self-contained and not wishing to bother anyone, or be bothered, because my attempts to photograph them were not welcome.

The verges at Cawthorpe had been a regular stop for several years but villagers disliked their presence and lodged a protest with Lincolnshire County Council and officials subsequently ordered the landscaping of both sides of the road with the planting of a variety of saplings that have now become young trees, making the verges totally inaccessible for camping. The gypsies have not been back since.

What the local newspapers are saying: The people of Bourne are unlikely to have the chance to question councillors and officers of South Kesteven District Council over controversial plans to establish a permanent gypsy site in the locality, according to The Local newspaper. Meetings at Market Deeping and Langtoft have already attracted large crowds unanimously opposed to the proposals but there are no plans for a similar consultation here (July 20th).

Council officers will speak to the town council on the issue at the Corn Exchange, Bourne, on August 14th and although members of the public may attend they will not be allowed to ask questions because this will be a committee and not a full meeting of the authority. The clerk to the council, Mrs Nelly Jacobs, told the newspaper that there may be an opportunity at the Open Forum which precedes the full council meeting on September 4th but the consultation period will then be nearing an end with only ten days to run and so residents will have little time to respond.

It would seem apparent that both the town and district councils are following the recognised procedure to the letter but this is an issue that calls for extraordinary action because of the strength of feeling in the town and now is the time for the councillors who represent us to demand a public meeting rather than hide behind the rule book.

This column pointed out last week that public consultations by local authorities have become a sham, engineered occasions to suppress debate on unpleasant issues and now is the time for our councillors to decide whether their loyalty is to the people or the authority on which they sit. Their duty is a clear one, to call a public meeting at a venue large enough to take the expected crowd and to arrange for those involved in the current appraisal of gypsy sites for the South Kesteven area to be present and prepared to answer questions. Anything short of this will be a gross dereliction of duty and if rumour and speculation continue to circulate and gypsy prejudice is allowed to simmer then the blame will be entirely theirs.

The new edition of Yellow Pages arrived on Tuesday, bigger and bulkier than ever. It used to be dropped through the letter box but it has become far too big for that and the distributor either rings the bell or leaves it on the doorstep or in the garage and he needs a large van to take them round.

The directory is still 8 x 12 but grows in thickness as each year passes, now reaching three inches and 1,460 pages, far too big for even the strongest man to tear in two, a feat which was a popular music hall act many years ago when its ancestor was a puny 200 pages. We now have to dispose of the old monster while finding a suitable place for its replacement because the drawer it once inhabited is far too small and I ask myself whether it is worth keeping or consign it to the skip with its predecessor.

Certainly the question should be asked: who consults it today? Yellow Pages was once a handy reference but much of what is offered comes from companies too far distant to be of use while that which might prove helpful is easily available elsewhere, not least on the Internet where you can find a plumber or electrician serving the neighbourhood at the click of a mouse. The most active and reliable of tradesmen are also listed in our local newspapers, particularly the weekend free sheets, and as these are regularly updated they are far more reliable and avoid the exasperation of ringing numbers only to find that they have been terminated or the business closed down.

In short, Yellow Pages has outlived its usefulness. The time has come for the publishers to strike a blow for the planet and cease publication because a single issue must use up large tracts of forest in the production of newsprint or even gobble up large consignments of recycled paper that would be valuable elsewhere. The yardstick is whether anyone would buy it if they had to pay and the answer is a deafening no. This week’s delivery was even more annoying because my copy was left outside the front door and despite a plastic covering was soaking wet and will need several days to dry out. I think it will be binned and it is almost certain that so will many thousands more.

I found a moth in the bathroom a few mornings ago, apparently having flown in from the garden the evening before when the window had been left open and the light switched on. Still wet from the shower, I managed to grab my camera and photograph it but with much difficulty, because it rarely stayed still while trying to reach the window but I was able to snatch a shot when it perched  on the tiled sill for a few seconds before eventually fluttering back to the outside world. A check in my handbook later proved that the effort was worthwhile because it was identified as a swallow tailed moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria), not a rare species but then few people have actually seen one.

There are more moths in our gardens than you imagine and at this time of the year it is a simple task to see some of them at night because they are attracted by the light and if you leave a lamp on for a short while, dozens will soon be hovering around it.

There are more than 2,000 species of moths in Britain, ranging in size from the death’s head hawkmoth which has a wing span of 5½ inches making it our largest insect, to species measuring only one eighth of an inch, and they make up 97 per cent of the insect order Lepidoptera, the remaining 3% being butterflies.

This summer, a project called Garden Moths Count was launched with the help of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund after research suggested that their numbers in towns were down by about 50% compared with 35 years ago and the initiative was designed to encourage people search their gardens, one woman having identified a staggering total of 190 over a period of years.

Their importance should not be underestimated because they play a significant role in maintaining a healthy landscape. “Moths represent the hidden wealth of wildlife on all our doorsteps”, said Richard Fox, manager of the Moths Count campaign. “Without them, plants would not be pollinated and our garden birds would go hungry.” Sir David Attenborough, president of Butterfly Conservation which is co-ordinating the count, insisted that the decline must be reversed, otherwise the outlook was grim. “The consequences for Britain’s wildlife would be too dire to contemplate”, he said.

Saturday 28^th July 2007

Rippingale school - see "Village schools . . . "

The Ostler memorial fountain in the cemetery has been given a Grade II listing which means that it cannot be moved or demolished without special permission. The decision by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is the second to be applied to structures in Bourne during the past four months, the Victorian cemetery chapel being given similar status in April.

Awareness over the importance of the fountain was raised when English Heritage made its inspection of the cemetery chapel during the listing process in March and their recommendation was accepted by DCMS this week. The town council has been notified of the decision which will be discussed by a meeting of the amenities committee on Tuesday 31st July 2007 but it is now in a position to seek grant aid from various organisations to restore the fountain which has begun to deteriorate badly through neglect.

It was erected in 1860, originally in the market place [now the town centre], to the memory of John Lely Ostler, landowner and philanthropist, who died on 27th June 1859 at the early age of 48, and designed by the architect Edward Browning who built the cemetery chapel and supervised much restoration work on the Abbey Church. The drinking fountain was built of Portland stone and consisted of a canopy supported on shafts of Aberdeen granite on a stepped base of Yorkshire stone and a jet of pure water continually falling into an ornamental basin.

The public unveiling ceremony was held in October 1860 and as the years passed, the town flourished around it, the fountain sometimes working but more often not, the population increasing and horse drawn transport giving way to the automobile, until eventually the stone structure was in the way, a 19th century anachronism totally out of place as the cars and lorries, buses and vans, sped by and occasionally clipping the stonework as they went.

A century after being built, the fountain had outlived its usefulness and the purpose for which it had been erected was largely forgotten. New safety precautions were being introduced in the town centre because of increasing traffic flows, including an experimental roundabout, improved vehicle lanes, widened pavements and a pedestrian crossing, all approved by the Ministry of Transport, Kesteven County Council and the police, but the fountain did not feature in these plans, other than for its removal.

After three years of agonising, Bourne Urban District Council finally met on Tuesday 11th April 1961 to decide its fate, the lone voice in its defence was expected to be Councillor Dr John (Alistair) Galletly (1899-1993), a dedicated conservationist, but by bad luck he was away at a meeting of the county health executive council and in his absence, colleagues voted to support the county council, then the highways authority, which wanted it out of the way and to be ignominiously replaced by a bollard.

The council was then left with the task of finding a safe place for the preservation of the fountain and after the town cemetery was deemed to be suitable for this purpose, workmen moved in during the spring of 1962 to take it down stone by stone to enable the highways improvement scheme go ahead. A central position alongside one of the cross footpaths was eventually chosen and in the autumn of 1962, the memorial was re-built in its present location.

The future of the fountain has been uncertain because it is deteriorating badly and once again, as in 1961, no one wishes to accept responsibility for its maintenance. There have been many attempts at refurbishment, mainly through voluntary effort, but all have come to nought although there has been a recent suggestion that it might be moved back to a prominent position within the town centre during the forthcoming programme of redesign when it eventually comes to fruition although that is a remote possibility. Now that the memorial is protected, perhaps councillors will ensure that the stone structure that commemorates a man who did so much for this town is preserved for future generations.

The prospect of a gypsy site in Bourne has created almost as much discussion as the town council’s proposal to demolish the cemetery chapel earlier this year and the participation of our local representatives, not least the mayor herself, Councillor Jane Kingman Pauley, has been most commendable. Perhaps she is leading the way for a new era of openness in those affairs that hitherto have only been discussed behind closed doors because she has been joined by several of her colleagues, all of whom have made worthwhile contributions to the debate in the Bourne Forum.

She and fellow councillors have demonstrated that they do have the ability and the will to speak out on matters of importance to those they represent and what they have to say has been listened to with respect, fending off criticism with tact and diplomacy. This is the way that public debate should be conducted, in the tradition of the Greeks who first conceived the idea that the populace should be part of the decision making process, their assembly in Athens 2,500 years ago laying the foundations of the democracy we know today. Indeed, the public forum developed by the Romans is gradually returning to this country, having already been adopted by the Prime Minister from the No 10 Downing Street web site and smaller forums such as this enable everyone have their say on issues whether of national or local importance.

On the subject of a possible gypsy site in the Bourne area, the underlying message of all councillors who have joined the debate has been the same, that it is the people themselves who will ultimately sway the process and they have all urged those who have something to say to attend the town council highways and planning committee meeting at the Corn Exchange on Tuesday 14th August when officers from South Kesteven District Council will be making a presentation on the subject and although this is not usually an occasion for public participation, the Stamford Mercury reports (July 27th) that the mayor has made it possible for the public to ask questions afterwards which is an unprecedented arrangement and one that reflects her concern for the importance of the issue. If the attendance does not match the hot air that has been generated, then this will give carte blanche, and rightly so, to our council representatives to vote as they wish and hereinafter there can be no possible excuse for complaint on this issue.

Village schools have been part of rural life for 150 years, longer in some places, and their closure is a sign of the changing pattern of habitation. Whereas the pupils were once the children of the farming poor their parents are now more frequently the affluent middle class who have chosen to live in the countryside and having the power of choice given to them by recent governments, select schools which they think more beneficial although they are often further away in nearby towns.

The result is that village schools are closing at an alarming rate and the familiar red brick Victorian buildings with their distinctive bell cotes and doors at each end marked “Boys” and Girls” have now been sold and converted for use as private houses, community halls and business premises. The latest casualty in the Bourne area is the village school at Rippingale which closed last week after a useful life of a century and a half, teaching an average of 100 pupils annually for most of that period although in recent years the roll has shown a sharp decline corresponding in the main with the drift from the land and the influx of newcomers seeking the quiet life.

Rippingale school was built in 1856 by Lord Aveland (formerly Sir Gilbert John Heathcote), lord of the manor, who owned large estates in the area. Prior to that, classes were held at the village church in St Anne's Chapel which was boarded off from the rest of the building. Financial support was provided by the Brownlow family and as a result of this, an annual payment of £5 was made to the governors by the owner of Manor Farm. The school was opened on Tuesday 28th October 1856 with due celebration, as reported by the Stamford Mercury:

This village was enlivened on Tuesday last by some slight manifestation of rejoicing and gaiety in commemoration of the opening of the new school erected by Lord Aveland. Early in the morning and during the day, the church bells pealed merrily and flags and garlands were displayed around the festive spot. 110 children were regaled with roast beef and plum pudding at one o'clock, under the presidency of the Rector [the Rev William Cooper], assisted by his churchwarden, Richard Quincey. The overseers, Messrs Edward Healey and Henry Chapman, acted as vice-presidents. After dinner, amusements of a most jovial nature were indulged in by the children and visitors and in the evening, fireworks were discharged. The schoolroom was tastefully decorated by the ladies of the village and great praise is due to the Rev W Cooper and his lady for the zeal and exertion manifested by them to procure such a "day of remembrances". The day's proceedings concluded with "God save the Queen". The dinner was provided by voluntary subscriptions from the parishioners.
 

The school was built to accommodate 130 pupils of all ages and the premises were enlarged in 1899 when a new classroom was added together with cloakrooms and offices, the work paid for by the Earl of Ancaster. In 1876, it was listed as a public elementary school and the master was John Caunce with Miss Jane Hind as mistress but by 1885, his wife, Mrs S F Caunce, had become mistress and the average attendance was 95, a figure that had dropped to 87 by 1900 and to 70 in 1913 when Horace Edmund Sharpe was master.

Further extensions to the premises were carried out in 1956 after it had become a junior school in 1949 and it subsequently became known as Rippingale Church of England Primary School. Fifty years later, attendances had begun to decline dramatically and by Easter 2007 pupil numbers had fallen to a mere 20, despite efforts by the governors to attract more from the locality. As a result, Lincolnshire County Council, the education authority, decided that it was no longer financially viable and the school was closed at the end of the summer term in July.

County councillor Patricia Bradwell, executive councillor for children's services, said that although there were 132 children living in close proximity, parental preference was for other schools in the area and this had brought about the closure. "It is always a great disappointment to see schools such as this shut when they should be at the heart of their communities", she said.

The closure was marked on the last day of term, Friday 20th July, with a special service for pupils and staff both past and present conducted by the Bishop of Grantham, the Venerable Dr Tim Ellis. The remaining pupils were transferred to the village school at Horbling and the future of the building has not yet been decided but is expected to be sold for either residential or commercial development.

Thought for the week: The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. - Diogenes Laërtius, Greek author noted for his history of philosophy and the lives of the Greek philosophers, fl 3rd century AD.

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