Bourne Diary - September 2007

Saturday 1^st September 2007

The town council has retracted its opposition to the listing of the Ostler memorial fountain and complaints that it was done without the knowledge of members proved to be unfounded.

The decision was taken by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the recommendation of English Heritage whose representative was made aware of the state of the structure during their inspection of the cemetery chapel which was given similar protection in April. But last month, The Local reported that some councillors were angry over the Ostler memorial being given Grade II status and there were objections that the council had not been consulted (August 3rd).

It now transpires that the council was informed at the beginning of the listing process and that those who did object may not have paid sufficient attention to the paperwork presented to them prior to meetings. The Stamford Mercury has reported (August 24th) that the DCMS had already sent a letter relating to the proposed listing of the memorial in May and this was recorded in the minutes by the clerk, Mrs Nelly Jacobs, who has now returned from holiday and has put the record straight. She told the newspaper: “The council initially believed it had not been informed about the listing but a letter was sent out in May giving information about it and so the correct procedures were followed. At that time, no comments on the issue were raised by the council. We are now awaiting a report from English Heritage which will give us more details about what can be done to preserve it.”

It has been suggested that the burden of work for councillors is becoming too heavy with the result that not everything is read and digested except by the most vigilant. My own view is that councillors should belong to one authority only and that multiple membership be prohibited because apart from the obvious conflict of interests, this is the only way they are able to devote their time and effort to the job in hand. Councillors are deluged daily with paperwork from their particular authority, especially at district and county level, the sheer weight of it being overwhelming with the result that postmen have to knock on doors to deliver rather than push large and bulky envelopes through the letter box while few recipients have the time to read it all, selecting only those portions in which they are directly interested and so those who serve on two or more councils have a daunting, even impossible task and they are likely to miss things.

We have evidence of this from one of our most senior and respected councillors, John Kirkman, who during almost three decades in local government sat on the town, district and county councils, becoming Mayor of Bourne twice, in 1985-86 and 2000-01, and chairman of South Kesteven District Council in 2005-06, before eventually quitting politics in March 2007 and blaming the increasing workload as a factor in his decision. "A back bench councillor carries out an average 150 hours a month on county council work alone", he said. "That's 1,800 hours a year.” Add to this the additional work at district and town level and the task becomes impractical if serious decisions are to be taken.

The attraction of serving is seductive for those who have the good of the community at heart but it is very easy to take on more than is wise and I quote the timely example of one of Bourne’s most dedicated servants, William Wherry (1841-1915), a name that has been associated with Bourne for the past two centuries. He was so occupied in serving the community, taking on every job he was offered, that shortly before he retired from public life because of ill health, his numerous public offices and positions of responsibility numbered almost 100. It is impossible to understand how he could have carried out all of these duties with the same efficiency and the onerous burden he undertook may have hastened his death.

These situations arise because there is a widespread resistance to taking public office, the majority preferring to leave it to others and when those who accept the challenge appear to be in the wrong they face the slings and arrows of a hostile public. In this climate therefore, the many jobs will be undertaken by the few but not one will be completed with the effectiveness we can expect from someone whose time is focussed on the single task for only in that way can they win public confidence and achieve the competence we expect from those elected to represent us.

Conflict of interest among councillors holding multiple membership will be tested on Tuesday when the town council meets to discuss the provision of permanent gypsy sites in the Bourne area. The meeting will be preceded by an open forum that is likely to attract a large gathering similar to that held at the Corn Exchange on August 14th when 300 people attended and a heated debate on the subject ensued resulting in unanimous opposition against the proposals put forward by South Kesteven District Council.

Councillors will be able to speak and express their opinions before a vote is taken but five of them also belong to SKDC, two with cabinet appointments, and it will be interesting to see whether they will be influenced by the people they represent who have made no bones about their views or follow the policy guidance of the district council. They do, of course, have the opportunity of either staying away, abstaining or declaring an interest, so letting themselves off the hook for a very difficult decision, but it would be a more acceptable situation if they were disallowed from sitting on the two authorities, thus obviating the necessity of testing their loyalties which is not good for the democratic process.

What the local newspapers are also saying: An enterprising request has come from schoolboy brothers Alex Dodd, aged nine, and seven-year-old Jack, who say there is nowhere to fish in Bourne and they want an overgrown pond in Waterside Close made habitable for marine life. The lads, who live in nearby Bramley Close, told The Local that at weekends and holidays they have to travel further afield with their father to pursue their sport but would rather use facilities nearer home if they were available (August 31st) and they are so anxious to have the pond cleared that the boys have written to the Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Jane Kingman Pauley, to enlist her help and as a result the subject has been put on the agenda for discussion at a meeting of the highways and planning committee on September 25th.

The obvious place for fishing in this town is the Bourne Eau, as it was in years past when it was an attraction for anglers from miles around and catches were so heavy that the river gained a reputation as a prime match water. Unfortunately, pollution and neglect took their toll and the waterway is now overgrown and the banks inaccessible in many places and so fishing is out of the question even for small boys. Perhaps this is an ideal opportunity for the town council to approach Anglian Water and the various riparian owners in an attempt to bring the waterway back into use and restore its reputation as a public attraction as well as a sporting facility as it was in years past.

As autumn approaches, we can expect to hear the familiar line from one of our most famous poets working overtime as it is used repeatedly in the media by writers and broadcast presenters with an impoverishment of imagination. Every year it is the same with the result that this beautiful and descriptive metaphor of the approaching season has now become a cliché.

The words are the first line of the lyric poem To Autumn written by John Keats (1795-1821) and here it is in its correct context in the first stanza from this famous ode:

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Keats wrote the poem on 19th September 1819 after enjoying a lovely autumn day and he described his experience in a letter to his friend John Hamilton Reynolds: "How beautiful the season is now. How fine the air. A temperate sharpness about it. Really, without joking, chaste weather. Dian skies. I never lik'd stubble fields so much as now. Aye better than the chilly green of the spring. Somehow a stubble plain looks warm in the same way that some pictures look warm. This struck me so much in my Sunday's walk that I composed upon it."

It is obvious that his perceptions were at their most acute and shortly afterwards he was taken dangerously ill and died a few months later. The beautiful and subtle verse has been described as close to perfect as any shorter poem in the English Language and is acknowledged as the most anthologised, pored over by the purists and quoted interminably. This accounts for the popularity of the opening line which has been used so many times over the years as the summer closes but in recent times has had such exposure as to devalue its real worth, trotted out by writers with no thought for its actual context but merely to fill a few seconds of reference to the changing season.

My old editor always warned about using words that fall easily together and this has happened to this line from Keats that has become part of the lexicon of every lazy writer and broadcaster with no inclination to spend time in the library to find a new analogy. Popular is an acceptable description but hackneyed is hard to bear and so we must close our ears whenever we hear another reference coming on. Poor old Keats. He deserves better than this.
 

Santa’s siren call can already be heard in Bourne and it is expected to get louder now that the August Bank Holiday is behind us and the kids are preparing to go back to school. A Christmas tree has appeared in the window of Deeping Travel in the Burghley Arcade along with advertisements for holiday breaks abroad over the festive season and gaudy decorations and shop displays will soon be enticing us to part with our money in another annual orgy of spending that none of us can really afford.

Commercial interests now propel all of our festivals and holidays, each one following close upon the other and all demanding cash from us, Easter and its elaborate chocolate eggs, Mother’s Day and its flowers and cards, the summer holidays in exotic destinations and so through to the biggest spend fest of them all which now lasts some three months or more. The government ought to pass a law restricting the singing of carols, the display of decorations and trees, the appearance of Santa and the advertisements and sales of seasonal goods to one week only around December 25th and in that way we might get some sanity back into the High Street and into our lives as the old year closes.

Thought for the week: The green belts that have protected the English countryside for more than fifty years should be built on, says a report from Whitehall. Developers who have been kept at bay by strict laws must be allowed to build thousands of homes around towns and cities, it added. An inquiry has rejected the voices of nimby residents and voters who hope to keep the countryside unspoiled. - front page news report in the Daily Mail, Thursday 30th August 2007.

Saturday 8^th September 2007

Alarming news about the future of the controversial wheelie bins has arrived in a letter from South Kesteven District Council. Dawn Temple, who is grandly described as the Sustainable Waste Management Policy Officer, announced that from now on additional rubbish placed outside with the black bin each fortnight will no longer be collected. “We have to stop the flow of rubbish to our landfill sites”, she explains. “Controlling the volume of waste we take has made a big difference to the amount we are sending to landfill, a massive 24 per cent less.”

Of course, and if they stopped collecting the black wheelies altogether this would soon be 100% per cent less but it is quite ridiculous to suggest that public services should be cut back merely to meet targets and the current state of the National Health Service is a perfect example of this.

It is the duty of the council to collect our rubbish every week, a system that has been in force for more than 130 years, ever since household collections were established by law under Disraeli's Public Health Act in 1875 which imposed new standards of sanitation on local authorities in an attempt to stamp out cholera and other diseases spread by contaminated waste which claimed large numbers of lives. Since then, the right of British householders to have their refuse collected at least once a week has been recognised as essential to the nation's health and quality of life.

The introduction of the wheelie bin system by SKDC last year has downgraded collections to a fortnightly basis and a legal challenge would surely decide in favour of the householder to have their bins emptied weekly. There have already been numerous complaints that the bins are not big enough for the needs of many home owners with large families for a fourteen-day period but this letter from the council now makes it quite clear that they will have to put up with it and the consequences are obvious. Fly tipping will increase and there are signs that it is already underway in some areas although rubbish jettisoned in the countryside, in dykes, ditches, roadside verges and at farm gates, will have to be cleared up by the council which has a duty to do so and no doubt they will end up dumping it in the available landfill sites, so involving an additional liability on the public purse.

There is yet another anomaly contained in the council’s letter concerning the green wheelie bins for garden waste which are usually for sale from the council at £10 each although current demand is so great that their distribution has been held up for several months. This means that thousands who want one are still without but have been using green plastic bags purchased from the council at 50p each but these too have been phased out and we are being advised to deposit green waste in the black wheelie bin which goes to the landfill site. The letter is therefore yet another example of the lackadaisical manner in which the wheelie bin strategy has been introduced and only a complete appraisal to identify the needs of the householder and not merely to meet council targets can rectify this muddled situation.

What the local newspapers are saying: The public turned up in force for the open forum at the town council meeting on Tuesday and as expected there was a resounding “No” to the gypsy sites proposed by South Kesteven District Council. A front page report in The Local quotes one resident as saying that such sites would become an overspill for those in Peterborough and that with schools full and the lack of a hospital, local facilities were inadequate to meet their needs (September 7th).

As predicted in this column last week, town councillors who are also members of SKDC did not take part in the discussion and therefore did not reflect the opinions of those they represent. This is seen by many as divided loyalty and an illustration of the inadequacy of the present system by which councillors may have multiple membership of the various authorities. Councillor Linda Neal (Bourne West), who is also the leader of SKDC, did however say that her best opportunity to speak for the people would be when the issue is discussed at district council level in November but the question is whether she will then follow the policy guidelines of that authority or the wishes of the people in her town council ward. Unfortunately, meetings of the cabinet, of which she is a member and where this matter will be finally decided, are held in secret and so we will never know.

A letter in the correspondence columns of the Stamford Mercury highlights a most unreasonable policy decision by South Kesteven District Council by insisting that Bourne Civic Society pay business rate for Baldock’s Mill which houses the town’s Heritage Centre. Mr A L Stubbs, of Saxon Way, Bourne, suggests that this is a particularly unfair burden for a voluntary organisation which has no income and will depend entirely on goodwill for the means to find the £620 required for the year 2007 (September 7th) while at the same time the current allowances and expenses for the authority’s 58 councillors totalled £319,640 which averages out at around £5,500 each. As those town councillors who are also members of SKDC chose to remain silent during the recent important debate on gypsy sites for the town, perhaps they can make a concerted effort to raise their voices over this particular iniquity and so demonstrate that they are earning some of the money they are being paid on behalf of the citizens of this town.

Bourne must be one of the few market towns in the country where there is no place for small boys to go fishing, a passion of childhood that we all enjoyed but suitable waterways no longer exist and two lads who live in Waterside Close have asked the town council to clean out a 100-yard stretch of pond near their homes to make it habitable for fish in order that they can pursue their favourite sport. The site was left over by the developers when the nearby estate was built and I can remember it being a favourite haunt of young fishermen ten or fifteen years ago and so the present neglect is a recent phenomenon.

As no one appears to claim ownership, this would appear to be an excellent opportunity for those who live in the vicinity to step in and clean up the pond themselves, a far more admirable solution than always going cap in hand to the town council which has quite enough on its plate as it is. Once voluntary effort is underway, you would be surprised at the change in official attitude and there may even be grant aid from the local authorities or even from the two charities based in this town but parents need to become involved and the will to succeed is paramount before any application is made.

It is a sad fact that most of our waterways are in a similar state of dereliction, particularly the Bourne Eau, once an attraction for both boaters and anglers but now little more than a stream choked with algae while the banks are largely overgrown from end to end. The result is that there is no place for small boys to fish but it was not always so according to Peter Sharpe, keen angler and Bourne resident for almost half a century. Fishing matches, he recalls, were once held at the now filled-in brick pits off West Road while the Bourne Eau next to the memorial gardens and behind the Anchor Inn in Eastgate, held a good supply of roach, pike and eels with occasionally carp, chub, dace, tench and bream. He goes on:

One of our favourite places was the Bourne Eau railway bridge to which we would cycle across the fields to fish for eels from the parapet. The usual method was to stand peering down into the four-foot gap between the two sections and wait for an eel to come swimming along. You then had to drop a worm in front of its nose before it passed out of sight. Another venue within cycling distance was the River Glen at Tongue End, where we would fish all day for the roach and dace and dream of hooking one of the tench and bream. There was a time when it was difficult to get a place on this stretch in winter as coach parties would come all the way from Sheffield for the excellent roach fishing. There were so many anglers at this time that the house on the bank, downstream of the bridge, acted as a café and served hot breakfasts. Looking from the bridge these days, it is often difficult to see the water through the weed although transient shoals of tench and bream can still be seen in late April, when they move up river to spawn. As soon as their activities are over however, the river seems once again almost devoid of fish life all the way down through Guthram to Pinchbeck. The muddy drain running along the Tongue End road up to the bridge was absolutely stuffed with roach and pike but most of this was filled in and the fish are now long gone.

I mentioned last month that the town council has agreed to erect a commemorative plaque in the town to Frederic Manning, the Australian poet and novelist who stayed here in the early years of the 20th century when he wrote Her Privates We which is considered to be the greatest book about the horrors of the trenches during the Great War. He lived here quietly and without fuss and named his hero Private Bourne yet few people knew of his existence.

The book has never been out of print since it first appeared in 1929 and a new edition has now been published with an introduction by William Boyd which I commend to those town councillors who opposed the memorial because they knew nothing about the author and a copy may be obtained from the Amazon web site. I am also reminded by a correspondent that Ernest Hemingway, the American novelist, was among Manning’s admirers, describing the work as the finest and noblest work of men in war. “I read it over once each year to remember how things really were so that I will never lie to myself nor to anyone else about them”, he wrote.

The plaque remembering Manning will be installed on the front of the Burghley Arms, formerly the Bull Hotel, with due ceremony later this year and we are pleased to have played a small part in the recognition now being given to him.

From the archives: Thomas Bellamy, aged 35, a labourer, pleaded guilty at the Quarter Sessions held at the Town Hall to stealing a cow valued £25, the property of Dr James Watson Burdwood, of Bourne, in December last. He took the animal from a field, drove it to Spalding and sold it to a farmer. As soon as the cow was missed the police were acquainted with the loss and they ascertained that it had been sold by the accused. They thereupon apprehended him and charged him with the offence, when he declared that he only drove the cow to Spalding for a man he met on the road who gave him 3s. for his trouble; and he knew nothing more of the animal. Afterwards, however, he admitted stealing it. Mr Draper addressed the court in mitigation of sentence and asked to be allowed to call witnesses to character but was told that he need not do that as the court would take it for granted that the prisoner's character had been all right up to the time of the commission of the crime of which he had pleaded guilty, nothing contrary being known. Prisoner was then sentenced to nine months' hard labour. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 5th January 1883.

Thought for the week: We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. - Martin Luther King, American clergyman and black civil rights leader (1929-1968).

Saturday 15^th September 2007

Historic buildings throughout the country opened their doors over the weekend as part of the Heritage Open Days weekend, a national scheme that allows people to see properties that are not always open to the public to enable people explore the area's architectural and cultural inheritance.

Among those places that people could visit in the Bourne area were the ancient priory known as Sempringham Abbey, Woolsthorpe Manor near Colsterworth, the 400-year-old Jacobean mansion Dowsby Hall and the early 19th century Baldock’s Mill, home of the Heritage Centre, our only museum. But there was a startling omission, namely the Red Hall whose doors remained firmly shut despite this being a publicly owned building and it is mentioned in practically every guide book relating to this town.

The Red Hall is among the oldest and certainly the most attractive of our secular properties. It was built in the early 17th century by Gilbert Fisher, a wealthy London businessman, and is typical of the new style of house being constructed for prosperous gentlemen of the Stuart period. The walls are made of locally produced hand-made bricks of a distinctive deep red with stone detailing and ashlar quoins, hence the name, and the original intricately carved oak staircase remains intact with its chunky turned balusters and intricate carved features. The house is many gabled and has a fine Tuscan porch but there is evidence that Fisher was too ambitious because he died in debt in 1633 and the cost of constructing the Red Hall has been blamed for his insolvency.

It is generally accepted that the Red Hall was designed by John Thorpe (circa 1565-1655) one of the foremost architects in Britain during the time of Elizabeth I. A volume of his architectural drawings survives and these enable us to judge his work and to say with some certainty that he was responsible. The house was built on similar lines to Dowsby Hall, also designed by Thorpe about the same period, and was set in formal gardens. In fact, the original plans show a striking resemblance not only to the preliminary studies for Dowsby Hall but also to a whole series of drawings by Thorpe for other houses in this part of England, particularly in the Kesteven area of Lincolnshire.

There are then, many good reasons why this Grade II listed building should be opened for inspection but while the other properties mentioned were busy dealing with visitors, not a soul entered the Red Hall which is never opened to the public and is only seen by outsiders when club and other events are held there although activities on those occasions are confined to designated reception rooms and there are no facilities for sightseeing.

Its closure on these occasions is also a drawback for the town because visitors who call at Baldock’s Mill also expect to see the Red Hall. “It should be open, particularly over the Heritage weekends”, said Mrs Brenda Jones, chairman of the Civic Society. “So many of our visitors would have liked to have seen inside it and have asked why it was locked up.”

The Red Hall is currently owned by Bourne United Charities, a publicly registered charity formed to administer money and property left to this town, mainly through legacies of benefactors, and is therefore indirectly owned by the people. In recent years, and it was not always so, the trustees have pursued a policy of privacy over its meetings to which the press is excluded and no statements are issued about its activities or even the appointment of the 15 trustees who currently hold office.

But in recent months, new and forwarding thinking trustees have been appointed and it had been hoped that they would shake off the influence of the old guard and enter the 21st century where information and access is freely available rather than adhere to the practices of previous years which favoured the secrecy and public exclusion. The Red Hall does not belong to them but the people of Bourne and they have as much right to see this fine building as they have the church and others that form part of our history and heritage. The trustees have no right to ignore the wishes of the people in being able to see this fine building which should be opened regularly for that purpose and it is time for them to institute a change of policy over the conduct of their affairs.

Bourne has again been successful in the East Midlands in Bloom competition by winning a silver award certificate for the second year running. It had been hoped to gain a higher status but this is still a commendable achievement, the town showing noticeable improvements in all five judged categories but it was not quite enough to be placed among the top performers.

Last year's overall score was also increased and the town received a judge's award for the nature conservation work which has taken place at Bourne Wood in partnership with the Friends of Bourne Wood. Judges reached their decision after being taken on a tour of the town during the summer when they were shown Bourne Wood, the churchyard and work in the garden at Willoughby School and the results were announced during a ceremony at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, on Wednesday.

The result is a notable achievement for all of those volunteers who have put in so much hard work, adults and children who took to the streets to clean up before the judges arrived in order to show Bourne at its best, and particularly the enthusiasm of the clerk to the town council, Mrs Nelly Jacobs. It represents long hours of dedicated effort on behalf of this town by many people but coming at this time, it also regretfully highlights the reluctance and inactivity of the trustees of Bourne United Charities to even take the trouble to open the Red Hall as a welcome to visitors last weekend. Unless everyone undertakes to help all they can, especially those in public office, Bourne will languish in a backwater.

In sharp contrast are the activities of the Len Pick Trust, launched in 2005 to administer a £4 million bequest to be spent for the benefit of the town from landowner and businessman Len Pick (1909-2004), one of the largest amounts ever to be left to Bourne. Rarely a week goes by without the local newspapers carrying a news item about the distribution of this money to various voluntary organisations, the latest donation to Bourne U3A, an organisation for semi-retired and retired people interested in keeping mind and body active, that has enabled the installation of a digital projection system for use at meetings, so providing greater support for illustrative speakers and group activities.

This is merely one of many similar grants given to local groups as part of its community and education programmes and always reported in the local press in accordance with the stated aims of the trust to maintain accountability and transparency of its activities at all times. This year alone, the trust has funded a memorial lecture at the Corn Exchange by Dr David Bellamy, now an annual event with chosen speakers, and provided grants for various projects at Bourne Grammar School, the Abbey Church, the Robert Manning College, youth activities and a new ambulance for the local branch of the Red Cross. There are others and the trust invites applications at all times from those organisations which need similar help.

This is the way a charitable trust should be run and apart from frequent statements to the press designed to keep the public informed about its activities and the appointment of trustees, there is also a web site that is regularly updated. There is a lesson about communication to be learned here by Bourne United Charities.

Some 1,400 responses to the establishment of gypsy sites in the area have been received by South Kesteven District Council during the public consultation exercise which ended yesterday and the task of collating and assessing the various comments will now begin and eventually reported to elected members.

Mark Harrison, head of planning policy, said in a statement on Tuesday that the level of response was far in excess of a typical planning consultation and although the drift of opinion has not been revealed it does not need an expert to know that the majority, if not all, will be against the various sites for one reason or another, a fact borne out by successive public meetings held in recent weeks which reflected unanimous opposition to the establishment of any sites in this part of the country.

Whether that is morally right or wrong is not the issue but this is democracy at work and it will be up to councillors to take this into consideration when their decisions are made in the same way that much smaller sample surveys of only a hundred or so opinions are used to dictate policy on other matters. To ignore the wishes of the people would be a gross dereliction of duty even if it means defying the policy instructions of national government by advising that Bourne, and indeed South Kesteven, may not be one of the most advantageous locations for a permanent gypsy site.

What the local newspapers are saying: Further evidence of the chaos that has resulted from the wheelie bin initiative by South Kesteven District Council is revealed by the Stamford Mercury in a front page report which says that 5,000 people are waiting for a green wheelie bin in order that they can recycle garden waste (September 14th). These receptacles cost £10 but the authority admits that it has run out and so tons of grass cuttings, weeds and other outside detritus are going into the black bins and ending up in landfill sites, the very solution the council has been trying to avoid.

This will mean that the black bins will fill up even quicker than they are doing at present but what the report does not say is that council tenants have been told in a letter from the council that additional waste put out in bags will not be collected in order that their targets to reduce landfill waste can be met. They are advised instead to order a composter for £8 or move it themselves to the local household waste disposal site in Pinfold Road although the temptation to dump it somewhere in the countryside will be great and the more unscrupulous will succumb as has already been evident in recent weeks. In fact, there seem to be so many anomalies in the recycling system that it might be a wise move for the council to go back to the drawing board and iron them out.

As a young man I spent more than five years with the colours, serving for some time in foreign climes, mainly far eastern countries where the heat of the day was often unbearable and the relief of the evening welcomed, especially on pay day when a visit to the nearby village meant a heavy meal of local cuisine, copious amounts of bottled beer and a visit to the native tattoo parlour. I watched my army comrades undergoing this ordeal, for ordeal it was in those days, many times and despite enthusiastic cries to join them and even offers to pay, never succumbed and each time I saw a serpent, a sailing ship or sweetheart’s name being embossed forever on human flesh, remembered my mother’s admonition when I left home never to return with a tattoo as had my Uncle Fred who had served in India and regretted his defiled flesh to his dying day.

It is therefore with some regret to learn that tattoos, once the mark of the criminal or drunken sailor, are the latest fashion and can be seen everywhere on exposed body parts, whether in the gym or beauty parlour, the street or supermarket, because concurrent with this craze is a predilection to wear less and show more and the result is not always pretty. One in five British people now have a tattoo (The Times, Saturday 8th September), butterflies on the arms and shoulders or odd designs on the ankles, on bare bellies and breasts and even backsides peeping over their hipsters.

Bourne has now joined this trend but instead of trekking to outlying tattoo parlours to satisfy the need we now have our own in West Street and it is doing good business because when we walked past on Saturday morning there was a queue of potential customers and others sitting patiently in the waiting room ready to be served. Should we inscribe our skin in this fashion or leave it in its natural state? I think my mother was right when she suggested in her quaint but no nonsense fashion that those who do pay to have their bodies defaced in this fashion ought to have their heads tested.

Thought for the week: Fear is the main source of superstition and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. - Bertrand (Earl) Russell, English philosopher, pacifist and ardent campaigner for nuclear disarmament (1872-1970), from Unpopular Essays (1950) "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish".

Saturday 22^nd September 2007

The Internet auction site eBay must be one of the wonders of the modern world because it enables you sell off unwanted items from the comfort of your own home for very small fees and without incurring the crippling charges of the auction houses. Unfortunately there is a major drawback and that is the exorbitant postal charges that deter many buyers and also keep down prices.

We have been downsizing in recent months and clearing out decades of collected ephemera, books, CDs, LPs and other items that still have a useful life elsewhere and although we have had a healthy turnover, the prices are strictly governed by the cost of postage and packing which often exceeds the value of what is being sold. One of our recent sales was a magnificent coffee table book which was bought by someone in Dublin and although we did get £4.50, the postage was a phenomenal £9.50 which must have dissuaded many who were interested in it from making a bid. Charges to send anything abroad are even more breathtaking and we wonder why on earth the Royal Mail is always pleading poverty and forever seeking to increase them even more. What a dramatic change since the days of the penny post.

Despite these exorbitant charges, the service at most post offices is good but slow and queues are usually the order of the day. Selling on eBay means that we are frequently at the post office in West Street with a parcel or two and we have always had to queue, sometimes 15 to 20 minutes with the line of people waiting to be served stretching out into the street. There are six positions but I have never seen them all manned, the most being three but usually two and often just one, irrespective of how many are waiting to be served. Impatience is always evident wherever a queue may be but I have never seen so many people leave rather than wait but as the Post Office has a monopoly then they must return at some juncture to complete their transaction.

Yet there are signs that the Royal Mail is cutting back its services even more and the newspapers contain almost daily complaints about a service that was once the envy of the world but has now been reduced to a shambles and a laughing stock (The Times, Saturday 15th September 2007). The only post office at Brighouse, a small town in West Yorkshire with a population of 32,000, ceased trading last week without warning, explanation or apology, while on the letterbox in the wall of our own post office in West Street, a tiny notice in very small type, has appeared announcing that there will no longer be any collections on Sundays and Bank Holidays after October 28th.

Second deliveries disappeared long ago but there has been no public announcement about this latest cut back which will mean that because the last collection is at 12.30 pm on a Saturday, at weekends there will be no postal collections for almost 48 hours and over a Bank Holiday weekend for more than 72 hours. Meanwhile, postage costs continue to rise and we are tempted to ask where all of this extra money is going when the service continues to deteriorate and has now reached a contemptible low when compared with years ago.

In times past, the postal service in England was second to none, fast, efficient and always on time and it is worth looking back in the records to see just how dependable it was. In 1860, for instance, the speed of delivery was reflected in this news item which appeared in the Stamford Mercury on Friday 9th November:

The day delivery of letters in Bourne, which previously took place shortly after 3 o’clock in the afternoon, now commences about 11.30 a m. The train, which heretofore was due at Bourne at 10.58 a m, is now timed so as to reach Bourne at 11.20. By this alteration, a letter posted in London early in the morning may be delivered at Bourne the same day about noon.

In 1905, when the postal service had become universally popular and extremely well used, the arrangements are quite surprising when compared with today and Kelly’s Directory for Lincolnshire that year recorded the system operating in Bourne:

Letters from London, by mail cart, via Peterborough, arrive at 4 am and are delivered by 7 am. A second mail arrives at 11 am and is delivered to callers at 11.30 am. A third mail arrives by rail at 2.27 pm and is delivered by 3 pm and a fourth mail at 6 pm and is delivered by 7.20 pm. Letters from Folkingham arrive by mail cart at 7.45 pm and despatched thereto at 4 am. Letter box closes for town and district at 5.45 am, for general despatch at 10.30 am, at 3 pm for all parts, 5.30 pm for Dyke, at 6 pm for Wales, Scotland, Ireland, North and Midlands counties; London and all parts at 7.20 pm and 7.55 pm; Folkingham at 8 pm. Sundays boxes cleared at 7 pm. Wall letter boxes: Eastgate cleared at 8.55 am, 2.30 pm and 7.05 pm; South Street at 8.35 am, 2.20 pm, 3;15 pm and 6.45 pm; West Road at 7.50 am, 4.30 pm and 6.50 pm; North Road at 8.45 am, 3.50 pm and 7 pm.
 

Tales abound of the confidence the public had in the post office and any collector of old postcards will know of frequent messages on them telling of an arrival later that day, the card having travelled on the train only a few hours earlier. Today, second class mail is likely to be delivered at any time while the post office cannot guarantee delivery of first class mail next morning and even if it does arrive the following day as promised, it may not, as happened in our street this week, be with you much before lunchtime.

What the local newspapers are saying: A fresh attempt is being made to obtain planning permission for new houses on the former railway station site in South Street, lately owned by Wherry and Sons, the long established family firm of seed merchants. The Stamford Mercury reports that the house builders Stamford Homes, who have several other developments in the area, are submitting a third application to South Kesteven District Council, the previous two being declined on the grounds of access and traffic dangers and the close proximity of the Red Hall, which is a Grade II listed building (September 21st). The houses are expected to be a selection of three and four bedroom properties but the company has not yet revealed whether it will be seeking to build the 121 units originally envisaged.

But it does appear that the firm is engaged in some advance public relations by contacting the original objectors, notably the Civic Society whose vice-chairman, Robert Fuller, was due to meet representatives yesterday to discuss the implications of the latest plans. Certainly, some amendments are necessary to the original scheme which would have had a disastrous effect on the appearance of the Red Hall with a block of flats overlooking the building, thus destroying its attractive and tranquil setting. This would seem to be the way forward because residential development on this land is inevitable and negotiation to resolve difficulties is a far better solution than taking the issue to a public inquiry which is likely to cost £20,000 and create further delays similar to that we are experiencing as a result of the deadlock over The Croft in North Road.

The death knell has sounded for the moles in the South Road cemetery which have been causing problems with their tunnelling by leaving piles of freshly turned earth along the grassy paths and verges and now their underground activities are affecting the stability of graves. The Local reports that the town council has decided to take drastic action to eliminate them completely, despite a plea from Councillor Guy Cudmore for a more nature-friendly solution, and the cemetery is to be closed for 72 hours while the mass extermination takes place (September 21st).

This does seem to be a desperate measure because no one wishes to see our little furry friends removed with such finality and perhaps the council is making a mountain out of a molehill because there are plenty of alternative methods available today, particularly electronic devices which will do the job equally effectively without the need to slaughter our wildlife. It is not as if they are particularly widespread because the mole population has been estimated at a mere four per acre and so the problem in the cemetery cannot be as acute as has been suggested.

Killing them off may also be a bad idea because scientists suggest that no matter what is used, gas, poison or traps, the mole is here to stay and therefore battery or solar powered electronic repellents which are guaranteed to work are a far more advisable solution and can be obtained for as little as £15 each (including delivery). Half a dozen of them would therefore be cheaper than calling in professional exterminators for a three day killing spree that may not be successful.

A mass of advertising material was dropped through my letter box last evening all within the space of a few minutes. None of it was solicited and all unwanted and so it went straight into the silver bin. It included two local publications, a free newspaper, Herald & Post, and something called Market Place, both with additional leaflets or fliers inside, the whole representing a lot of paper for which I had no use. This material is similarly disposed of unread in many homes and in this age of recycling, the time has come for the householder to have the right to opt out of receiving it and if we want it then we will ask for it. The same goes for the County News, issued by Lincolnshire County Council and sktoday from South Kesteven District Council. Until then, publishers should observe the environmental code and not waste paper.

The hunger for adventure has never been so great as it is today and there is every opportunity to satisfy even the most acute feeling of wanderlust. It was not always so. Sixty years ago, England was still recovering from the debilitating effects of the Second World War and foreign travel was difficult, even impossible, especially for young people anxious to seek new horizons mainly because it was too expensive and so many parts of the world were still unstable.

Ten years later, the hippie trails began, leading to many exotic places and for the next decade a generation of intrepid youth set out to explore until their activities were curtailed as paranoia closed down borders on many continents. Times have changed dramatically since then and few people today have not been abroad, even if only for a week in Benidorm or Ibiza, but the opportunity to explore even further afield is ever present and this week 38 adventurers set off on such a trip because they are going overland by bus to Australia. The journey began at the Thames Embankment on Sunday and will take three months, travelling by way of Austria, Turkey, India, China, Thailand and Bali, taking in Gallipoli, the Taj Mahal, an Indian tiger reserve and Everest, but bypassing the current hotspots of Afghanistan, Burma and East Timor, with Sydney as the final destination.

They are each paying £3,750 for this trip of a lifetime, often camping out under canvas although staying in hotels in Iran and Pakistan for safety. Among the passengers is Mrs Tricia Roach, a grandmother from Tadworth, Surrey, anxious to prove that life begins at 69 while the others are much younger although equally enthusiastic. The coach is equipped with stereos, a library, cooking equipment, crockery and fridges but they have each been advised to bring with them basic first aid kits, insect repellents, malaria tablets and a 12-week supply of condoms. Well, I did say that times have changed.

Thought for the week: Make money your god and it will plague you like the devil. - Henry Fielding, English novelist, dramatist and law enforcer, author of the novel Tom Jones and founder of London's first police force, the Bow Street Runners (1707-1754).

Saturday 29^th September 2007

Ever since smoking in public places was banned earlier this year, the number of cigarette ends dropped in the streets has increased dramatically and they can be found in abundance in Bourne outside premises where staff have got into the habit of popping outside for a quick drag.

Dozens litter the cobblestones outside the Angel Hotel and in other alcoves, doorways and alleyways along North Street and West Street, and there are many other spots that also have a large number of discarded stubs, their owners paying scant regard to the waste bins available at various vantage points around the town. The car park behind the Corn Exchange is also a favourite place for the crafty smoker with the resulting fag ends scattered over the floor, many also dropped by motorists who have just parked their cars.

But perhaps this unsightly mess may soon come to an end because a special disposal unit has now been erected by South Kesteven District Council where smokers can dump their cigarette ends without littering the pavements. It appears to be a good idea although the council has not yet got it right because they have sited the new unit immediately against the back wall of the Town Hall and staff have complained that when the windows above are opened, as they often are in warm weather, then the fumes will drift in, thus creating the very situation of passive smoking which the latest restrictions were intended to avoid.

We hear that similar installations in Grantham, where the council’s headquarters are situated, have been sited well away from buildings and staff at Bourne have been promised that their unit too will be relocated. It is not being used much yet but perhaps the word will soon get around and the unsightly fag ends now littering our streets will become a thing of the past. In any case, expenditure on these metal monoliths ought to be quite unnecessary because dropping fag ends in the street is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act of 1990 which requires local authorities to keep the streets clean and free from litter and that includes smoking-related materials which, according to a recent survey, are one of the most prevalent types, constituting almost 80% of the rubbish found in public places over the past three years.

As with vandalism, graffiti and criminal damage which also plague our town, the answer therefore is not new initiatives but the enforcement of the old through increased supervision by our law officers. Unfortunately, cigarette bins are recommended as part of the latest awareness campaign from Whitehall and so we may expect to see more of them in the future.

If the scheme is a success, then perhaps the next installation can be a chewing gum disposal unit, thus ending the sticky nuisance that defaces our pavements, leaving them splattered with blobs and stains, a nuisance that costs some local authorities (not ours) £200,000 a year to clean up their streets. In places such as Singapore, the chewing gum menace has been effectively eradicated with a policy of zero tolerance and visitors are so aware of the penalties that it is a common occurrence to swallow your gum on leaving the aircraft rather than be found with it in your possession.

The dropping of chewing gum in this country is also covered by the act, although as with the disposal of fag ends, there is no actual discouragement and the government prefers to jolly people along into accepting their laws rather than enforce them with the penalties available, a method that has been proved to be totally inadequate. In the absence of police supervision therefore, the only other solution is a little more civic pride and a stigmatisation of the culprits which would be far more effective but as this appears to be a non-starter, we must depend on a voluntary code and the use of these disposal units which appear to be a most unlikely solution.

What the local newspapers are saying: Another black mark for the recycling scheme run by South Kesteven District Council is reported by The Local which carries a photo-feature of a magnificent effort by children at the Abbey Primary School by filling a giant 1,100 litre bin with waste paper (September 28th). Everyone in the school from staff to kindergarten were involved but unfortunately the council has refused to collect it and so a private firm has been paid to do the job. The council is continually telling us to recycle yet when we get a massive voluntary effort such as this from very impressionable youngsters, their enthusiasm is dented by an official ruling that is quite frankly, incredulous. Debbie Pattison, the school’s council co-ordinator, put it this way: “It is important that we encourage our young people to care for their environment but it is a pity that it comes at a cost.” It is to be hoped that council officials at Grantham who are responsible for this fiasco are listening and that next week we can report a change of heart. But don’t bank on it.

Our community is the poorer for the death in recent weeks of two formidable ladies who spent their lives working for the good of the people. Mrs Pat Broxholme died in hospital on September 13th, aged 78, when the union flag outside the village hall at Dyke was lowered to half mast, a tribute reserved usually for royalty but a mark of the high esteem in which she was regarded by villagers over the past half a century.

Pat is best known to the people of Bourne for her work as housing officer for South Kesteven District Council, a task now carried out by an entire department, but it was her valiant efforts that were largely responsible for the burgeoning community spirit in Dyke through her work with the Village Hall Management Committee since 1978, first as treasurer and then from 2001 as chairman. Her husband Charlie, who died in 2005, aged 84, was similarly dedicated and although not a committee man, was always ready to volunteer for the task in hand. It is people such as this who are the lifeblood of village life and, as Councillor Don Fisher, who has represented Dyke on the town council since 1976, said: “Pat will be a hard act to follow.”

In Bourne this week, another redoubtable lady passed away, one whose name has become synonymous with local authority work because Marjorie Clark had been in office for the past four decades and was therefore our longest serving councillor. She stood down in May, declining to contest her seat on the town council because of failing health, and this summer she left her flat off North Street to live in The Cedars retirement home where she died on Wednesday, aged 88.

She was first elected in 1961 when she won a seat on the former Bourne Urban District Council but resigned when she moved away from the town, returning four years later and being elected to the council again in 1967, heading many committees and becoming chairman from 1971-72 when she was only the third woman to hold the post since the council's inception in 1899. She continued in office after the re-organisation of local government in 1974, being elected Mayor of Bourne twice, in 1984-85 and again in 1999-2000 at the remarkable age of 81.

Marjorie also served with distinction as a member of South Kesteven District Council as the member for Bourne West for 21 years, becoming council vice-chairman for two years and then chairman for another two years from 1990-92, the first woman to hold the office and although she lost her seat in the 1995 elections, she remained a member of the town council until this year, always attending meetings and always ready with a wise word of advice or caution. Her husband Denys, landlord of first the Burghley Arms and then the Nag’s Head, where Marjorie was also an active landlady, died in 1986 after a long illness but was always her most loyal supporter.

John Kirkman, former county, district and town councillor, now retired, who sat with Marjorie in committee room and council chamber for almost thirty years, described her simply as “a super lady”. He added: “In her time, she was a real battler who always had the best interests of Bourne at heart. It is very trite to say she will be missed but in this instance she really will. It is a great pity that many councillors these days seem to forget the basic truth over why they are there, that come hell or high water they should support the people they represent.”

The life and times of the great conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967) are celebrated next week at Stamford, the town where he was born and brought up. From humble beginnings as son of a church organist, he went on to achieve fame in Britain and abroad, his colourful lifestyle attracting attention wherever he went, a darling of the post-war social scene and introducing new generations of admirers to the world of classical music.

A lecture is planned to mark the 40th anniversary of his death to be given by the historian and biographer, Richard Aldous, at Stamford Arts Centre next Thursday (October 4th) when he will talk about the life of this exceptional man.

Sargent was educated at Stamford School where he soon showed his aptitude for music but he did not make his conducting debut until 1921 after he had begun his career as a church organist, being awarded his diploma from the Royal College of Organists at the age of 16 and then, at the age of 24, became the country‘s youngest Doctor of Music with a degree from Durham University.

Although he visited most of the major towns and cities in this country he never came to Bourne but he did visit Thurlby to play the organ in the parish church. In November 1913, a new stop, the oboe, was added to the instrument in St Firmin's and this was deemed to be sufficiently important to invite a celebrated organist to give a recital and the person they chose was Mr H Malcolm Sargent, FRCO, of Stamford, then only 18 years old but already assistant organist at Peterborough Cathedral. The Stamford Mercury reported:

He was ably assisted by Miss Gladys Pettifor, daughter of the vicar, and Major C W Bell of Bourne. This was a unique event, so far as this parish is concerned, and it is not too much to say that the excellent programme provided a musical treat which was greatly appreciated by the large congregation present. Mr Sargent's playing showed a thorough masterly grip over the instrument and was truly brilliant, marked as it was, with great precision and technique. The vocalists both acquitted themselves remarkably well and their efforts were greatly appreciated. A collection in aid of church expenses was liberally responded to.

Sargent subsequently went on to a distinguished career as a conductor, achieving world-wide fame and popularity for his appearances at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts from 1948 until 1967 where, because of his unfailing panache, he became affectionately known among the promenaders as Flash Harry, a reference to his first name of Harold and the fact that he always dressed immaculately and usually wore a carnation in his buttonhole, red during the day and white in the evenings.

He became one of the world’s best known conductors and also won himself a reputation as an ambassador for English music through his insistence when conducting international orchestras of playing the works of English composers such as Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst and William Walton. He was knighted for his services to music in 1947 and when he died in London in 1967 at the age of 72 , he was buried in the town cemetery at Stamford and a commemorative plaque was erected in St John's Church where he had learned to play the organ.

I wonder how many of those in the congregation for that evening recital at Thurlby almost a century ago thought that the young man sitting at the console was destined for such greatness.

Thought for the week: I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air. - Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (1804-1864).

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