|
Saturday 5th January 2008
The Prime Minister,
Gordon Brown, said in his New Year message to the nation that things will be
different and for the better in 2008 but experience suggests that this optimism
may have been fired by too much festive cheer and that life will go on much the
same as before. If he really wants to make changes then one of the priorities
must be to restore the confidence of the people in those who govern our lives,
both publicly and commercially, and allow our voices to be heard.
A lady who lives in Ancaster Road, Bourne, has written to the Forum complaining
about heavy lorries using the street, so endangering the lives of residents,
particularly children and old people, and seeking advice as to how to complain.
Our contributors include many who are well versed in these procedures and so the
guidance has been detailed and lengthy and undoubtedly based on personal
experience but we are prompted to ask why such complicated measures involving
the inalienable democratic rights of the citizen to see justice done should take
so long.
One suggestion, for instance, was to photograph the vehicles, keep a log, draw
diagrams, write to newspapers and radio stations, councillors and councils, the
owners of the vehicles involved, produce leaflets, recruit the support of
neighbours and then review progress after a few months and if nothing has
happened start all over again. All of which would take a committee of twelve an
inordinate length of time but would be a near impossible task for a housewife
with two children.
Why should it take so long to right an obvious wrong and perhaps even expose an
illegal activity? Ancaster Road is certainly not an acceptable route for the
type of vehicles described and so something should be done before lives are lost
but this is only one instance of the individual trying to be heard in the face
of the stonewall silence that surrounds not only our local authorities but also
the public utilities, commercial institutions and any other body that provides
services or sells us things.
You will hear them loud and clear when they are trying to win your custom, be it
on the telephone, by mail, the Internet or over the counter but try to get
redress for an injustice and there is no one to be seen or heard. Telephone
callers do not have a ring back number, there is rarely a postal address on mail
shots and Internet sellers will not accept a reply email. In fact, my paperless
gas bill carries the email address from which it originates as no-reply@britishgas.co.uk
which says it all, pay up or else. Try to query it and no one is available, you
are left in a void, unable to complain or question, and so the easiest course of
action is to settle it or face the bailiffs.
The lady in Ancaster Road must be equally frustrated because come this time next
year, the period it would take to fulfil all of the requirements of protest that
have been advised, her anger will have dissipated, the momentum lost, yet the
outrage will not have been righted. Such is the discouragement for all who wish
to complain and so the majority do not. They recognise the futility of protest
and take the easy way out while those who should be championing our cause, the
councillors and members of parliament, languish in their inactivity and the
banks and businesses ensure that their barricades against public breaches are
secure. On those rare occasions that someone has broken through and managed to
lodge an objection, usually through the intervention of the media or some other
public platform which exposes their inefficiencies, the answer is always the
same, that there was a fault in the system that has now been remedied and staff
have been re-trained to ensure that future transgressions will not occur,
although we all know that they will.
The present system of anonymous authority is causing grave distress for
consumers who feel helpless when cash dispensers gobble their cards, telephone
companies add unknown charges to their quarterly bill, banks up their interest
rates without warning and councils continue to levy unfair taxes and now
financial penalties for breaches of parking and the use of wheelie bins.
Legislation in pursuance of additional income spreads its net forever wider yet
the individual is isolated from the decisions made against him with only a slim
chance of a successful appeal and only then after a lengthy and often costly
process.
The faceless systems of payment and collection which spread stealthily as each
year passes isolate the individual from the state machine and from the companies
and corporations that provide services, making him as powerless as he would be
if living in a totalitarian regime. It erodes independence, weakens the spirit
and emasculates resolve with the result that customers become subservient to all
that is demanded. It is the easy way out rather than embark on a daunting battle
for a better deal with an unseen adversary, the massed troops of disregard and
disinterest rallied against you behind the barriers of an uncaring organisation,
customer services and public consultations being mere phrases trotted out to
make the products look good but totally worthless when tested.
The electronic age was meant to make life easier for us all but instead it has
created a remote bureaucracy inhabited by both business and commerce and in the
process has practically eliminated the practice of complaining except for the
most determined and perseverant and we are reminded of the words of the
statesman Edmund Burke (1729-97) who said that evil would triumph when good men
did nothing. Good men, and women, wish to do something to right the wrongs of
today’s society, but the problem is that those against whom they wish to
complain have gone into hiding. If Gordon Brown wishes to make it a Happy New
Year for us all, then he should help flush them out to provide appropriate
answers.
One of those infernal gas guns was firing all over the Christmas and New
Year holiday somewhere out there in the fen between the north of Bourne and Dyke
village. We could not see the field and did not know which farmer owned it but
it was an unwanted present to may people living within earshot of these noisy
and interminable explosions, in Stephenson Way and the new development off Mill
Drove, and so the culprit must have been frequently cursed over the festive
season.
Having had some experience of complaining about this nuisance before, it is
known that the authorities will take no notice and the onus is therefore on the
farmer responsible to observe his civic duty and not cause undue alarm and
disturbance to families who live in the neighbourhood. Unfortunately, most do
not give a fig for what they think and so they allow these audio bird scarers to
fire away indiscriminately.
The rules are quite clear and have been stated here before, their operation
purportedly regulated by Codes of Practice drawn up by the National Farmers’
Union and circulated by South Kesteven District Council’s Environmental Health
Services, but rogue farmers appear to flout them as they wish. Yet not only are
these guns utterly useless in the business of scaring birds away from crops, but
they are also one of the most anti-social devices ever invented and while the
pigeons and crows sit back and cackle at the farmer who puts one in his fields,
those people who live within earshot have to suffer the consequences of his
ill-advised actions.
The code specifically asks farmers not to fire gas guns more than four times in
any one hour but over the holiday they were exploding every ten minutes or even
less, which is a flagrant breach of the rules. The culprits take little notice
of complaints and continue to cause a nuisance in defiance of the rules laid
down by their own professional body to control their use and the result is a
widening gulf between farmers and homeowners at a time when agricultural land is
being sold off for residential development at an alarming rate with large
housing estates reaching the very edge of the countryside.
The continual use of gas guns is a reminder of the cavalier attitude adopted by
some farmers to the general public. They are willing to sell off their land at
high prices to property developers to build houses yet when the newcomers
arrive, their welfare is the last consideration. As a result, the standing of
our farmers in the community has never been at a lower ebb than it is today and
actions such as this will do little to salvage the goodwill they once enjoyed.
They unwisely call themselves guardians of the countryside but they protect it
only for their own profit and to hell with any inconvenience they may cause to
others.
The emptying of our wheelie bins was extended over the Christmas and New
Year period and although we expect changes to accommodate the holidays, in some
cases, when collection days were switched from Friday to Sunday and even Monday,
this meant that the bins were not emptied for 17 or 18 days. It is not so long
ago, with the introduction of wheelie bins, that there was public consternation
at the thought of fortnightly rather than weekly collections but South Kesteven
District Council gave assurances that this was a practical and cost effective
way to proceed and soon the protest petered out but now we have that period
being extended towards three weeks and perhaps monthly collections may well be
on the agenda for the future.
One of the duties of local authorities, as with parliament, appears to be to
test what the public will accept and what it will not and the wheelie bin
system, introduced with some subterfuge, appears to be one such exercise.
Certainly, the original proposals have long since gone overboard and it may not
be too long before householders are asked to contain their refuse for a little
longer. When the next change comes however, the council will be able to say that
it is only extending the period from two to three weeks because by then,
fortnightly collections will have become the norm and the original concept of a
weekly collection which has been our right since Disraeli’s Public Health Act of
1875 will have been long forgotten.
In the meantime, many households, especially those with larger families, were
forced to put up with unemptied bins for an inordinately long period at the very
time of the year that their waste was piling up, the festive season adding to
the table and kitchen waste, discarded packaging and empty bottles yet the
dustmen refuse to collect additional black bags. Fortunately, some councils are
now beginning to see the error of their ways in introducing fortnightly
collections on the pretext of encouraging recycling and are reverting back to
the old weekly system. Among them is the local council at Gedling,
Nottinghamshire, which has reinstated weekly collections after a backlash from
residents and the discovery that tenants actually recycled more when their bins
were emptied more frequently.
Councils such as South Kesteven that continue to offer a reduced collection
service will therefore need a far more convincing excuse than the green card
which appears to be little more than a ruse to reduce costs in their refuse
collection system, irrespective of the inconvenience and the health hazards it
creates, particularly during the summer months.
What the local newspapers are saying: Both of our main local newspapers,
The Local and the Stamford Mercury, remind us that the Abbey
Church in Bourne now has just one month to reach the £100,000 target for the
restoration appeal fund (January 4th). So far, just over £60,000 has been raised
towards the cost of renovations and improvements and although this is a fine
effort, mainly through the work of volunteers, there are still many individuals
and organisations that have yet to contribute.
Not everyone believes, in fact recent statistics show a sharp decline in those
who follow the Christian faith, but that would seem to be irrelevant, the point
being that we all benefit from the presence of this fine Grade I listed building
in our town, a beacon of faith for the past 1,000 years and the central point
for civic gatherings, baptisms, weddings and funerals, occasions of rejoicing
and celebration, music and song, all good reasons why everyone in this parish
should make an effort to help reach that final figure by Sunday 3rd February. To
raise the last £40,000 in four weeks would seem to be an impossible task but
then we need hope rather than faith because it is not the Lord who provides but
the people who have the wherewithal.
Shop watch: It is just an idle thought but on visiting Sainsburys the day
after Boxing Day, we noticed the shelves full of unsold luxury Christmas goodies
now being offered at half price, this within 48 hours of the frantic rush to
stock up irrespective of cost. Basic economics dictate that there is still a
good profit in selling goods off in this way and we wondered why the prices
could not have been reduced in favour of customers before but then we do not
live in an ideal world and supermarkets are no longer content with a modest
return when demand is at frenzy level.
Thought for the week: New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more
gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.
-
James Evershed Agate, English diarist and a notable collector of aphorisms who,
in the period between the wars, became one of Britain's most popular and
influential London theatre critics (1877-1947).
Saturday 12th January 2008
Events in recent
months indicate that we are losing our enthusiasm and respect for the past
and that our old buildings are in danger because the signs are that they are
already less cared for than they were three and four decades ago.
There were 75 listed buildings in the parish of Bourne when the original survey
was carried out in 1977 but the figure is already down to 71, despite two being
added last year, and some of those are in such a parlous state that their future
is in doubt. Public money is short, a situation exacerbated by an alarming
increase in staffing levels in local and national government and the subsequent
need to sustain them with annual pay rises and pension entitlements, with the
result that there is less available for the services they should provide. The
maintenance of historic properties therefore is being left more and more to
philanthropic endeavour.
Old buildings are part of our heritage, the historic monuments that reflect our
past although they do need continual care if we are to keep them but in a world
that is increasingly driven by monetary motives, it is difficult to see how all
of them can survive. High on the list of buildings at risk in Bourne is the 19th
century chapel in the town cemetery, despite it being given Grade II listed
status in April last year by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The Victorian building, which dates from 1855, has been allowed to deteriorate
since the town council took over responsibility in 1974 and a survey has now
revealed that the bill for bringing it back into use will be £400,000.
Many will wonder why the bill has suddenly shot up from £80,000 last year to
£400,000 now but no doubt the town council will soon publish the results of the
survey in order that we can assess exactly what has been costed and judge for
ourselves. However, one thing is certain, that the problem has been known to
councillors for many years but was repeatedly pushed to the back burner whenever
it came up for discussion and as a result the financial situation has now
reached crisis level. Such a large sum will be hard to find yet no attempt has
been made to seek grant aid for which the chapel’s new status makes it eligible
and no approaches have been made to the many national preservation organisations
that have offered to help.
Unfortunately, some councillors
still favour demolition but public support for its preservation
cannot be ignored and so any thought of proceeding with a proposal to obtain the
special permission now needed to pull it down will seriously jeopardise the
credibility of those who encourage it. There is also little more to be gained by
going down the road of public consultation, of asking the people for ideas on
how to proceed, because the weight of opinion for its preservation and future
use has already been well aired and in the final analysis, we need the concerted
effort of all councillors to see the job through and to put this building back
into useful life as soon as possible.
What the local newspapers are saying: The future of the cemetery chapel
was discussed by the town council’s finance and general purposes committee on
Tuesday night when many councillors appeared ready to throw in the towel with at
least one factor designed to scare the populace, that the council tax will have
to go up dramatically to pay for the refurbishment although The Local
also reports that at least one idea to save it has resurfaced (January 11th).
The action committee formed last year by conservationists to prevent the
building from being pulled down suggested that its future could be secured by
handing it over to a trust to restore and run it for a peppercorn rent and this
could well be the way forward. Several future uses were also put forward and all
have merit. There was some sympathy for this idea, particularly from Councillor
Mark Horn (Bourne East), a barrister by profession, but he also warned that the
public would have to pay the bill in the long run. He put forward his views in a
subsequent article for the newspaper:
I am in favour of a poll with one simple
question: “Do you support the increase in the town council precept by an average
of 55% to pay for the refurbishment of the chapel so that it can be used as
storage or as a workshop.” If the people of Bourne, in a democratic poll, vote
for such an increase, I will be happy to support their view. Without a clear
public mandate, I will vote for demolition. That was the overwhelming view on
the doorstep last year. I would be happy to support the formation of a trust set
up by the Civic Society provided there is evidence that it can raise the
£400,000. This would require a performance bond guaranteed for a minimum of
£10,000 in return for an option for a year under which we offer to sell them a
99-year leasehold. I would be happy to commit £1,000 to the bond. I would like
to see 18 other people make a minimum commitment of £500. As the old adage does:
“Put up or shut up.”
A poll with a question such as that would alienate the public at a stroke and
also precludes other means of financing the repair work. A more impassioned plea
to save our heritage came from Councillor Helen Powell (Bourne West) who sounded
a note of reason and also articulated the widespread opinion of last year’s
vociferous protest which the council ought not ignore by reminding us that the
chapel is a testament to the times in which it was built and should be preserved
for future generations because it adds to the richness of our architectural
heritage. She also warned that the high expense should not cloud our judgment:
The actual figure for renovation is only the
cost of two houses and that is because the work will take five or six years. If
it could be done quicker it would be cheaper, maybe done for half the price. In
years to come, it will be these kind of buildings that make Bourne special and
restored carefully now, will give the town yet more appeal to the many newcomers
who are seeking to make it their home. The chapel, I feel, would always be far
more beautiful than any new building that may replace it. With all the many
sources available today, of various funding and grants available, I feel it
imperative for the people of Bourne that we do our duty and try to save this
piece of history.
Whatever the solution, drastic decisions will have to be taken but at least the
subject is now firmly back on the agenda although councillors must also remember
that past procrastination has landed them in the present difficulty and further
delays will aggravate the situation even more.
A puzzle over the holiday has been the mystery of Wragmarsh Hall, which
sounds like an episode penned by Arthur Conan Doyle or some other Victorian
whodunit writer, but I am no nearer a solution and so perhaps someone out there
can help.
The quest began shortly before Christmas with an email from a lady from the West
Country researching her family history and after finding someone of note in her
ancestors, inquiries led her to this town. Daphne Crispin, who lives in
Somerset, wrote that her great great grandfather, Dr Robert Henry Mair, was from
1866-1884 the editor of Debrett’s Peerage & Baronetage, the well-known
genealogical guide to the British aristocracy which includes a short history of
each title holder. Research had revealed that he was the son of Francis Henry
Mair, of Spalding, Lincolnshire, but the interesting point is that his address
during the mid-19th century was given as Wragmarsh Hall, Bourne, Lincolnshire.
I have never heard of this property and a search through my extensive records
for the Bourne area dating back some 200 years failed to find a single mention
although a check with the gazetteer did locate a hamlet called Wragg Marsh
situated in the fens to the north east of Spalding but that is some distance
away.
Mrs Crispin has also discovered that Robert Henry Mair was born at Spalding in
1832, son of Francis Henry Mair and Emma Nicholls, both born in Lincolnshire in
1805 and married at Dowsby, near Bourne, on 18th December 1830. Robert
subsequently married and had six children, a girl, Mary Emma, and five boys, the
first born in 1854 and all in London, but it will require further research to
add more details to the family tree.
At first, I thought that some of the information may have been incorrect, or
that she had the wrong Bourne, because there are several others in England, but
then she sent me a photograph of a luggage label which proved the authenticity
of Wragmarsh Hall beyond all doubt. It was pasted on the back of a large framed
photograph saying that it was a picture of Mrs Frederick Charles Clements, only
daughter of the late Dr R H Mair, late of Wragmarsh Hall, Bourne, Lincolnshire,
and 125 St George’s Road, Westminster, London.
There the trail ends, leaving many unanswered questions. Was Wragmarsh Hall a
large country house near Bourne, now demolished or perhaps even re-named? And
did Dr Mair have any connection with the neighbourhood or, as he was mainly
resident in London in later life, was this merely his country retreat? Perhaps
someone out there has knowledge of him and his family that will help us solve
this mystery.
One of the advantages of living in South Lincolnshire is that you can buy
daffodils in January, a welcome sign that spring is not too far off. These
beautiful golden yellow trumpeted flowers are grown under glass and have become
a valuable export for this part of the country. Their increasing popularity in
recent years has replaced tulips as the most popular flower from the Spalding
area where they are grown, not only for the home sales but also for markets
overseas, in Europe and even further afield, and are exported by air overnight
to destinations around the world.
The bunch my wife bought for £1 this week will be exactly the same as that
gracing a penthouse flat in Manhattan although the prices will be considerably
more in New York. The flowers look beautiful and the fragrance a delight when
they appear and bring pleasure to all who see them, despite their short time
span when compared with the hardy outdoor varieties that will soon follow and
last much longer. But the daffodil is welcome at any time and the dozen in my
study have been a constant reminder of the annual renewal of nature and the
wonderful season ahead.
Thought for the week: Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my
heart. - Victor Hugo, French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, statesman,
human rights campaigner, and perhaps the most influential exponent of the
Romantic movement in France (1802-1885).
Saturday 19th January 2008
A glimpse of England
in times past is best recorded by inveterate travellers of an inquisitive nature
who traversed the land asking questions and making notes about what they saw.
Among the most famous were Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) and William Cobbett
(1763-1835) but Bourne was not of sufficient interest to excite their curiosity
and the only one of note to make an incursion into the neighbourhood was the Hon
John Byng (1742-1813) who rode through but did not stop except perhaps to have a
meal and water his horse.
Byng, later the 5th Viscount Torrington, came from a distinguished naval family
but spent 25 years in the army, afterwards working for the Inland Revenue, and
it was in middle age that this rather crusty gentleman, too poor to travel to
the continent, began to explore his own country, usually travelling on
horseback, accompanied by a servant and a dog, and keeping a detailed journal
recording his observations on the landscape and buildings he saw and the people
he met. He does not seem to have had a happy life and these excursions may have
been undertaken to get away from the unpleasantness caused by an unfaithful wife
although he remained on reasonable terms with her.
He missed his home comforts during his journeying as well as the amenities of
London life but his expectations of rural hospitality and service seem to have
been set rather too high. His diaries, however, have left us a realistic picture
of what travel was like in Georgian England during the late 18th century with
rough roads and frequently rough inns. He entered Lincolnshire on 23rd June 1791
at Market Deeping “a mean, long town” in a very low, damp situation. The
landlord of the inn where he stayed was civil but his wine undrinkable. He went
on: “The bedroom was cold and miserable with a horrid putridity of blankets,
over which I prudently poured part of my half pint of brandy as I have often
done in Wales. I was up early, glad to quit my nasty bed. Happy in a fine day, I
hastened my departure from a miserable inn where I was sure I had caught a
cold.”
He rode on through Bourne for a further nine miles until reaching Folkingham, “
a prettily placed town with its grand new inn at the top of the market place
[the Greyhound], an inn worthy of the Bath road but here goes not two post
chaises in a day.”
Byng had not felt well on the last stage of his ride, the result no doubt of his
unfortunate stay in Market Deeping “. . . having a sore throat and headache for
which I gargled much and at bedtime took several analeptic pills which gave me
through the night a violent perspiration during which I tossed and tumbled in a
bewildered state.” At breakfast, he drank a quart of tea and, in warmer
clothing, explored the neighbourhood before returning to the Greyhound in the
evening. “Another feverish night”, he wrote, “but with appetite apparently
unimpaired, ate dinner of boiled fowls, roast beef and young potatoes, which all
travellers should certainly do, particularly on a Sunday.”
And so Byng journeyed on through Lincolnshire, to Sleaford and then on to
Lincoln. In all, he spent most summers between 1791 and 1794 on the road
exploring the country but what a pity that he did not find the time, or the
inclination perhaps, to spend a while in Bourne because his experiences would be
a most entertaining read today.
The mystery of Wragmarsh Hall which I related in this column last week
has been solved. As usual, the Internet has produced results and united
descendants of an old established Lincolnshire family who are now busy getting
in touch with each other. You may remember that a lady in Somerset, Daphne
Crispin, had sent me a copy of an old luggage label that had been found pasted
on a photograph from circa 1900 saying that the sitter was Mrs Frederick Charles
Clements, only daughter of the late Dr Robert Henry Mair, late of Wragmarsh
Hall, Bourne, Lincolnshire, but I could find no trace of such a property and
appealed for help.
Dr Mair was her great great grandfather, and had a distinguished career as
editor of Debrett’s Peerage & Baronetage from 1866-84 and although she had
established that he was the son of Francis Henry Mair, who was born at Dowsby,
near Bourne, she could find no trace of a Wragmarsh Hall in this locality in her
quest for more information to add to her family tree. A search through my
archives also drew a blank but the Diary entry has produced results from two
sources.
Mrs Patricia Connock, who has lived at Stamford for the past 25 years and is
also researching her family history with the help of the U3A genealogy group in
Bourne, has emailed to say that she is also a great grand daughter of Dr Mair,
while Graham Bishop, from Worthing, Sussex, writes to say that he also has a
connection with his family tree and between them, they have solved the mystery.
Wragmarsh Hall was in fact the home of Dr Mair’s father, Francis, and his wife
Emma, from Witham-on-the-Hill, near Bourne, and was situated on a farm north
east of Spalding. They were married in 1830 and lived there until 1841 when
Francis moved to Spalding to become a wine and spirit merchant. The address on
the label therefore, suggesting that the hall was near Bourne, appears to be
incorrect and although there is a Wragg Marsh House in the area, we do not know
if it is the same property or a later building on the same site.
However, the discovery of fresh information and the subsequent contact between
the three people interested in Dr Mair has caused great excitement and will no
doubt lead to exchanges between them with all adding additional names to their
family trees in the coming months. It also illustrates the thrill of
investigating one’s antecedents which is one of the features of this web site
with 330 names currently listed in our Family History pages. If you wish to find
out more about your ancestors, take a look for yourself and you may even want to
add a family name for research. It costs nothing but is likely to bring untold
rewards.
What the local newspapers are saying: Householders in Bourne are to be
charged for the collection of waste from their green wheelie bins, a direct
contravention of the promises made by South Kesteven District Council. The
decision, reported by the Stamford Mercury (January 11th), is also likely
to signal further charges ahead for the black and silver bins, despite
assurances to the contrary.
Garden waste is currently collected fortnightly from 19,000 homes in the
district and all paid a £10 fee for their green bin but there is a waiting list
of 6,000 because the council has insufficient funds to either provide or empty
them. This fee is now being increased to £20 plus an annual charge for emptying
which will be imposed from April and although the amount has not yet been
determined, it is likely to be around £30 added to their council tax.
The council says that the collection of garden waste is discretionary, in that
it is not legally bound to collect it. Yet they must by law collect rubbish from
each property weekly and it is only the comparatively recent introduction of
rules and regulations that have identified the various kinds of rubbish and when
and how it will be collected. Thus, we have ended up with the three coloured
bins, black, silver and green.
In years to come, it is quite likely that not one scrap of rubbish, green or
otherwise, will be collected from your premises without an additional payment.
As the highly paid waste analysts employed by the council warm to their task, we
can expect to see more colour-coded bins appearing in the backyard and side
passage confined to bottles and paper, plastic and cardboard, all liable for yet
another fee. We may well be approaching a recycling nightmare with the one
objective of collecting not household waste but of accruing income. Yet at the
same time, the council tax will be increased year on year by around 4.5%,
perhaps more in the future, while services either stand still or are reduced.
Further cuts are predicted by The Local which reports that library hours
in Bourne are to be reduced from 37 to 30 hours a week, part of an overall
review by Lincolnshire County Council (January 18th) although many believe that
this is the beginning of the end for a well used service. Anyone who uses the
public library in South Street will know how busy it is at all hours with the
bank of personal computers particularly in demand and we must therefore believe
that the 11.5 per cent reduction in overall hours county-wide is merely a ruse
to reduce spending. Perhaps the time has come for a reappraisal of what our
councils are doing with our money for it is being spent as fast as it is
collected with little or no improvement in the services offered and we are
entitled to ask exactly where it is going.
The public mood is articulated by John Cox of Station Road, Morton, in a letter
to The Local over a possible 4.5% increase in council tax to finance
various declared shortfalls, such as police funding. “The official rate of
inflation was 2.7% up to November last year”, he writes. “Money seems to be
wasted somewhere. It is about time that ratepayers say ‘enough is enough’ unless
we get a good explanation.”
Shop watch: Evidence of the last spectacular collapse in the housing market came with the closure of many estate agents around the country, several
here in Bourne. It is therefore worth noting that Sharman Quinney closed their
premises in North Street last year and now Bairstow Eves has shut up shop in
West Street. You may draw your own conclusions about the reasons why and wonder
who will be next.
There are rumblings abroad that houses are to be built on the very edge
of Bourne Wood to the north-west of the town and we look to our district
planners to ensure that it will not happen. If they are in their job for any one
reason then it is to protect our environment from the increasing advance of
bricks and mortar which has already gobbled up too much of the green belt around
our neighbourhood.
Each time another development surfaces there are excuses why it should go ahead
but expediency is not among them because there are sufficient new homes
available and so we must look to greed and profit as the reason why. Councillors
too must be on their guard when making decisions which might help line the
pockets of property speculators without any benefit to the community and
remember that it is their duty to save the town from unwanted changes.
On this occasion, we expect them to speak with one voice and to articulate that
this ancient woodland is sacrosanct and must be protected from any unwanted
intrusion. Bourne Wood is one of our major environmental assets and nothing must
be done that might despoil the area for future generations. By them we will be
judged in years to come.
Thought for the week: So bleak is the picture that the bulldozer and not
the atomic bomb may turn out to be the most destructive invention of the 20th
century. - Philip Shabecoff, environmental journalist and former reporter for
the New York Times (1934- ).
Saturday 26th January 2008
An inquiry has arrived from the United States asking
about Raymond Mays and another famous man who made his name at the wheel,
Malcolm Campbell. Both were making headlines during the early years of the last
century and racing fan Jim Jardine of Tulsa, Oklahoma, wonders if they ever met.
The answer is yes, several times and at least one occasion is recorded in the
photographic display at the Heritage Centre at Baldock’s Mill in South Street.
Malcolm (later Sir Malcolm) Campbell (1885–1948) was one of the great names,
perhaps the greatest, in motor racing between the wars, hero of every schoolboy
of the period who established new world speed records on land and on water at
various times during the 1920s and 1930s using vehicles called Bluebird. With
two men so closely associated with the advancement of the motor car, it was
inevitable that he and Raymond Mays (1899-80) would meet, usually at race
meetings.
Campbell was born in Chislehurst, Kent in 1885 and competed in international
motor racing events, winning the 1927 and 1928 Grand Prix de Boulogne in France
driving a Bugatti T39A. Between 1924 and 1935, he broke nine land speed records,
the last at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA, on 3rd September 1935 when
he became the first person to drive an automobile over 300 miles per hour. He
set the water speed record four times, the highest speed being 141.740 mph in
the Bluebird K4T at Coninston Water on 19th August 1939.
He received a knighthood in 1931 for his distinguished achievements when he was
acknowledged as the most successful racing driver of his time and was dubbed
"the speed king", his portrait appearing in magazines and on cigarette cards.
Campbell died after a long illness in 1948 in Reigate, Surrey, aged 63 years,
one of the few land speed record holders of his era to die of natural causes, as
so many had been killed in crashes while his versatile racing in different vehicles
made him internationally famous. His son, Donald, was killed in 1967 attempting
to repeat his achievements.
One of his meetings with Raymond Mays is recorded on photograph at the Shelsey
Walsh circuit in Worcestershire, the world's oldest motor sport venue that is
still used after more than a century of hill climbing. The circuit was a
favourite with Mays and it was here that he was pictured chatting with Campbell
after an event in May 1935.
During the meeting, dry weather helped Mays' cars beat 40 seconds for the first
time in the then 30-year history of the hill climb, his 1.5 litre ERA clocking
39.8 seconds and a 2 litre ERA 39.6 seconds while Campbell's 4 litre Sunbeam did
44.9 seconds. The photograph above shows a discussion after the event between
(left to right) Mays, Campbell and the racing driver Earl Howe.
The debate over the cemetery chapel continues, fuelled by a startling
structural survey result suggesting that only an expenditure of £400,000 can
save it. With this huge figure being waved about with the warning that it will
increase the council tax by some phenomenal amount, it should be regarded with
caution while some councillors appear to be intent on making an unassailable
case not to spend money on repairs while exonerating the council from all blame
for its present condition.
Common sense is the answer. The survey is merely a guide to what needs to be
done, full of rounded figures in thousands rather than hundreds and tens, and
therefore subject to scrutiny. Simply put, the major problem has been identified
as a leaking roof which should be remedied immediately and certainly before next
winter arrives. The town council should therefore seek tenders from local
builders to repair this before the summer is out and sufficient funds are
available to meet this obligation which has been continually shelved for the
past thirty years. This will give them breathing space to identify which areas
of the building are in the most urgent need of refurbishment and then work with
local labour to achieve this result over the coming years.
In the meantime, the council should pursue two objectives. The first to seek grant
aid for further restoration work which is available from several sources now
that the building has listed status. Offers of advice have already been made by
several of the country’s leading conservation organisations and these should be
taken up. Secondly, negotiations ought to begin with the Diocese of Lincoln to
change the covenants on the building which govern its current use. These were
laid out in the de-consecration document signed on 1st December 2004 by the
Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev John Saxbee, Councillors Pet Moisey and Judy
Smith, defining storage, office and workshop accommodation as the only purposes
for which it can be used. These covenants are restrictive and if the building is
to survive in another form, then they must be relaxed in favour of other uses
and it is better to begin the negotiations sooner rather than later.
Public consultations are unlikely to produce any results. They are usually a
sham and reflect nothing other than apathy, a weapon used to good effect
by local councils when trying to push through unpopular decisions but apathy
does not give councillors the right to do as they wish. Why, for instance, was
there no public consultation over the de-consecration of the chapel and the
subsequent decision to demolish it? It was not considered appropriate to consult
the people then because the answers would have been obvious but now it is a
convenient ploy when the council finds itself in a quandary.
The ideal solution would be for the cemetery chapel and the Old Grammar School,
another Grade II listed building in a parlous state, to be taken on as
restoration projects by Bourne United Charities, an organisation whose aims
include the preservation of our heritage with sufficient funds accrued from
legacies left for the benefit of this town to finance both. It also has a track
record of success in this direction having saved the Red Hall from demolition
half a century ago, subsequently acquiring the freehold in 1962 and this fine
building has remained in regular use ever since and is well maintained.
Unfortunately, those town councillors who are vigorously opposed to restoration
are also members of the board of trustees and it is unlikely that their
enthusiasm will increase merely because they change seats
although there are sufficient other members to support such a
scheme were it to be put before them.
In the meantime, there is a great deal of misinformation circulating about
events leading to the present situation and so I have drawn up a summary from
available sources in the public domain for the benefit of both councillors and public. What is needed is the unanimous
support of everyone to see this task through, no matter what difficulties
lie ahead, and not to stumble and give up at the first hurdle. The restoration
of this building will be of benefit to the town and it is hoped that the council
will now bite the bullet and take appropriate steps towards ensuring its
survival. That would appear to be the will of the people but unfortunately the
majority of them lack the resolve to make their voices heard and so it is
doubtful if that will can prevail.
What the local newspapers are saying: The controversy
over the cemetery chapel continues to make headlines but the prognosis is not
good. The Stamford Mercury reports that the town council is to send out a
questionnaire to every household asking whether residents are prepared to pay
the £400,000 repair bill through their council tax, increases amounting to
£14.35 a year over six years in band D or £10.87 a year over 11 years (January
25th). This appears to be a neat way of getting an unanimous public vote against
restoration because in these days of financial hardship few can afford to pay
more than is already being squeezed out of us to fuel the excesses of local
government.
Still no mention is made of the offers of help made by the various national
conservation organisations last year when the council was urged not to go down
the path of demolition. In fact, the current situation on this front is
highlighted in a letter to The Local from Anthony Jennings, of Dowsby
Hall, (January 25th) who last year alerted the Victorian Society, the Ancient
Monuments Society (AMS), SAVE Britain’s Heritage and the Chapels Society to the
plight of this fine building. Mr Jennings points out that the first two are
statutory government consultees with huge experience and expertise who took
great interest in the case and AMS wrote to the council urging it to save the
chapel giving examples of a number of others that had been successfully funded
and agreed to stand by to give further advice. “So what has happened since
then?” asks Mr Jennings. “This week, I spoke to Matthew Saunders, secretary of
AMS. He confirmed my fears: no one at the council has even taken the trouble to
pick up the telephone to contact him after all this time! I find that simply
extraordinary.”
The fight to save the chapel therefore, may already be lost. A few lone voices
continue to be heard but there appears to be no concerted will among councillors
to even seek outside help for a problem of which most have no first hand
knowledge. This antipathy, coupled with public apathy, may well result in this
building being left to fall down through further neglect.
The front page of The Local is devoted to yet another ominous tale, this
time the on-off threat of car parking charges for Bourne, one of the last
bastions in South Kesteven where you can leave your vehicle free in a sizeable
shopping centre (January 25th). Many readers will fail to understand the logic
of what is being said because Councillor Linda Neal (Bourne West), leader of the
district council, warns that the income is needed to keep down the council tax
and if it does not come from this source then it will have to come from
elsewhere to ensure that services are maintained yet there is already a
suggestion that SKDC will be increasing the council tax by at least 4% this year
and so where is all of this money going to?
The answer is provided by town councillor Guy Cudmore (Bourne East) in a letter
to The Local in which he tries to explain why the government figure for
inflation is as low as 2.7% when the council tax rises by almost double that
amount (January 25th): “The great proportion of expenditure relates to the cost
of recruiting and retaining staff, their salaries and pensions. A useful
exercise would be to seek from SKDC details about how its staff numbers have
changed over the years, along with their remunerations and pensions. Staff are
appointed at senior levels, numbers have increased by more than the workload and
council tax payers have been picking up the bill. Councillors seem to be
incapable of getting to grip on this and so we can only look forward to further
increases in taxation more comparable to fuel prices than elsewhere in the
economy.”
Thought for the week: Heritage is whatever people value enough today to
want to hand on to the future. - quoted from the village newsletter Perfectly
Aslackby, January 2008.
|
