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Saturday 3rd January 2009
Work underway on the new Sainsburys store in 1999.
The recent holiday season has demonstrated the love hate
relationship we have with our supermarkets and also highlighted the fact that
Sainsburys has now become very much an integral part of Bourne’s commercial life
and is here to stay. The car park at the Exeter Street site may be too small and
the queues at the check-outs at busy periods can be exasperating but in a
national retail market under threat the store has become essential to a large
section of our expanding population.
Many people had misgivings when it opened on Friday 13th August 1999, the
biggest single retail development in the history of the town, a controversial
arrival because it not only involved the demolition of several houses and
business premises but also the re-alignment of the road system amid protests
that the work was pushed through by the local authorities with undue haste and
without sufficient public consultation. There have also been complaints in
recent months about the noise of delivery lorries unloading at unsocial hours
but all of these drawbacks appear to have been overshadowed by the service the
company is giving to the community.
But how handy it is to pop in and out and buy exactly what you need mostly at
reasonable prices and although you may sometimes pay more than elsewhere, this
outlet is conveniently situated and within easy reach of most who live within a
five mile radius. It also offers a dependable service, always there, useful
opening hours, well stocked and with a courteous staff ready to help. The appeal of
Sainsburys was demonstrated several times over the holiday when there were
actually queues to get in and the wait at the checkouts lengthened as a result
but most complaints were overcome by the convenience of shopping so close to
home and a friendly atmosphere within.
It has become fashionable to criticise supermarkets, to compare the advantages
of one against another, but the fact remains that Sainsburys is a reputable and
dependable company selling quality products that has won an affectionate place
in the life of Bourne by offering value for money and, what is more important in
a world that is fast becoming unreliable, it is always there.
The risk we run in depending on one store for our supplies is that it is not
everlasting. Supermarket companies are far from being altruistic, their primary
objective being to make a profit rather than serve the community, and if this
fails then they will go the way of Budgens and Woolworths. Nevertheless, within
a decade, Sainsburys has won its place as the main supplier of groceries to this
town and is making valiant efforts to become involved with the community,
allowing scouts, guides and youth sports teams to collect for their causes at
the checkouts in exchange for helping customers to pack their purchases, as well
as becoming involved in other aspects of life in the town. Customers feel secure
in this knowledge, finding it a safe haven for shopping in an uncertain world.
If we turned up one day to find it closed, then we should really begin to worry
about the state of the nation.
The closure of Woolworths at the weekend after forty years of popular
retailing in this town has left a large vacant space in the street scene that
will be difficult to fill. The store was a port of call for most shoppers who
went into town, either for something specific or just to browse down the aisles,
and there is already an air of desertion in North Street now that the doors are
firmly shut.
Traders with premises in the vicinity fear that blight may set in and other
closures in the town centre will not help but little can be done at local level
to solve a problem of global significance with an ensuing ripple effect that may
be felt well into 2009 and beyond. No 13 North Street will be difficult to sell
or let because it is too large for smaller retailers and not big enough to
attract the chain stores while the lack of space for parking and loading will be
a major deterrent to all, the only suitable access being through the front
doors.
This would be a most advantageous time for South Kesteven District Council to
step in and buy the property in readiness for the much heralded £27 million
redevelopment of the town centre, an obvious solution because it stands on the
very edge of the designated area and may need to be acquired if this scheme is
going ahead, thus making a welcome deposit in the bank of goodwill for an
authority that has been toying with this project for the past seven years
without a single brick being laid. Unfortunately, local councils are not always
equipped to spot the moment and take the initiative and so we cannot depend on
it while the doubts over whether the scheme will actually proceed have been
exacerbated by the current economic crisis and so North Street is likely to have
a large empty space in its midst for some time to come.
What the local newspapers are saying: The prediction by this column last
year that despite the current economic crisis, council tax is likely to go up
yet again (December 13th) looks like coming horribly true because The Local
now reports that South Kesteven District Council is starting a public
consultation to find out whether householders want an increase (January 2nd).
This is, of course, the usual sneaky subterfuge adopted by local authorities in
an attempt to provide the sugar coating to an unpalatable pill because the
answer is as a plain as a pikestaff.
Not only do the public most emphatically not want to pay any more but the
majority cannot afford an increase and even those families able to settle their
next council tax bill at the present level are likely to find themselves in
financial difficulties as the effects of the depression take hold during the
coming months. Governments around the world recognise that the crisis is
affecting everyone at all levels yet SKDC carries on as though nothing has
happened with plans to squeeze the public yet again, not, as it continually
maintains, to deliver services, but to give its staff another annual pay rise
and maintain their pension entitlements.
The whole country is suffering, particularly those who have been thrown out of
work, single parents and pensioners on fixed incomes whose savings income has
nose-dived to almost nought. There is a widespread feeling of confusion and
apprehension about the future yet this council appears to think that it is a
special case unaffected by what is going on outside its plush Grantham
headquarters and, like robber barons, can continue to rake in a rising income
unimpeded by restraint, to foist another tax increase on the public without
thought of the consequences for those who have to pay. If ever there was a time
that the voices of our elected councillors should be raised in defence of the
people they represent then this is it and if they fail us this time then they
fail the democratic process and will be seen as being unworthy to remain in
office.
The death of Mrs Pat Edmunds, aged 94, severs the last link between this
town and one of its most famous philanthropists, Robert Mason Mills, founder of
the aerated water business and generous benefactor to the Abbey Church.
He was her great grandfather and she was proud of his achievements for the town and
for his work as churchwarden although he was not actually a
native of Bourne.
Mills (1819-1904) was born at Hackney in Middlesex where he learned his trade as
a pharmacist and moved to Bourne in 1842 to become manager of the chemist’s shop
at No 1 West Street owned by Frank Daniel and when he died three years later,
bought the business from his widow. He married the same year and he and his new
wife, Fanny, moved in to live over the shop where he stayed for the rest of his
life. The business prospered and in 1864 he began to manufacture aerated water
under the name of Mills and Co., the Original Bourne Waters, a project that was
to bring a new prosperity to himself and to the town. By 1878, the water had
achieved a nationwide reputation and in that year, he brought in Thomas Moore
Baxter, a young chemist who had been working in Brighton and had struck up a
romantic attachment with his 22-year-old daughter Emily. Mr Mills decided to
concentrate on the water side of the business while Baxter ran the shop and
subsequently married Emily.
The manufacture and supply of aerated water was the first venture of its kind in
this part of South Lincolnshire and his products were soon acclaimed world wide.
During the Egyptian campaign of 1882 for instance, a large quantity of his
mineral waters was sent out for British soldiers and the firm was later awarded
a Royal Warrant for supplying Queen Victoria's son, the Duke of Connaught, and
the rest, as they say, is history.
Mrs Edmunds was the granddaughter of Thomas and Emily, also dedicated workers
for the Abbey Church to which Robert Mason Mills devoted so much time, energy
and money, bearing much of the cost for the major work of 1881-82
and his generosity is marked by a plaque saying: "To record the restoration of
the west end of this church by Robert Mason Mills of Bourne, this brass plate is
placed by the congregation: 1883." Four years later, he paid for three new
stained glass windows to be installed in the south wall to commemorate Queen
Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The centre window bears in each corner the
inscription Victoria Jubilee with the date 1887 in the middle. He also completed
the restoration of the nave in 1893, the chancel in 1903 together with the porch
and south roof. He was, in fact, an ardent royalist and was particularly proud
at having been born in 1819, the same year as Queen Victoria and whom he had
seen in London when he was a child, and he wrote personally to her at Buckingham
Palace on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 telling her of this
coincidence.
His letter read: “May it please your Most Gracious Majesty to allow me as one of
your humble and devoted subjects to congratulate you on your 78th birthday and
also upon your reign of 60 years and may you continue to reign. I was born on
2nd April 1819. I had the honour of seeing your Majesty with the Duchess of Kent
at the age of 8 years at Vauxhall, also at your Coronation and the Opening of
Parliament and other State occasions. I feel I have been a devoted subject
during your Majesty's glorious reign over a happy and contented people. May your
Majesty continue in good health and strength to reign over your subjects for
many years. I remain with the profoundest veneration, your Majesty's most
faithful subject and devoted servant. - Robert Mason Mills, Bourne,
Lincolnshire, 12th June 1897.”
His note may be regarded as sycophantic today and perhaps even seeking
recognition and although he did get a reply from the Queen’s private secretary
thanking him for his sentiments, there was no preferment. In fact, Mills is the
one person from our history who should have been remembered for his public work
but the honour never came.
Mrs Edmunds was similarly enthusiastic in her community interests, being a
founder of the Civic Society and was for some years a committee member,
regularly opening her bungalow home in West Road for the annual
garden party to raise much needed funds during the early years, while remaining
a dedicated supporter of the Abbey Church that her distinguished ancestor did so
much to preserve. She died at Digby Court on 18th November 2008 and a
thanksgiving service was held at the Abbey Church on Tuesday 2nd December
followed by cremation at Peterborough.
Thought for the week: We make a living by what we get, we make a life by
what we give. - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former Prime Minister,
statesman, orator, historian, Nobel Prize winning writer and artist.
Saturday 10th January 2009
Wheelie bins awaiting collection in Mill Drove
We live in uncertain times and personal protest, which
has always been a matter of courage and conviction, needs closer scrutiny than
ever before taking the decision to confront officialdom. In recent years we have
seen many risk jail rather than bow to what they perceive to be unjust laws,
rules and regulations, but the draconian penalties that can now stem from
militant action deters all but the more determined and even at the end of it
all, whether the skirmish with authority be lost or won, we need to ask whether
it was all worth it.
Those who control our lives, from the earliest times to the present day, know
this for that is one of the instruments of power. It enables the strong to rule
the weak and impose unjust authority because they have strength, rather than the
law, on their side. They also rely on the apathy of the majority, and this is a
strategic weapon, because as Edmund Burke observed, all that is necessary for
evil to triumph is that good men do nothing, a maxim that applies to all levels
of society.
The battle of the bins began two years ago when South Kesteven District Council
decided to reorganise its waste collection service and introduce recycling, a
system that coincided with the issue of wheelie bins, two per household, black
for kitchen waste destined for landfill sites and silver for the paper, glass
and other materials that could be sent elsewhere for processing. There was no
quarrel with the basic idea but unfortunately the authority decided to fit
micro-chips into the bins with the ultimate intention of monitoring their use
and eventually charging for their emptying according to weight, a system known
as pay-as-you-throw, in other words an additional tax, but the council made the
serious mistake of keeping it a secret and, when found out, denied the ultimate
intention. The resulting furore would have been foreseen by a wiser authority.
There were many objections and one householder, Brynley Heaven, of Asklackby,
near Bourne, was so incensed that he removed the electronic devices from his
bins, risking a heavy fine in doing so, but the council realised the popular
appeal of his protest and instead of prosecuting him in court and incurring
further adverse publicity, refused instead to empty his bins and ever since, the
dustcart has passed his house by each collection day and so he made arrangements
to dispose of his own rubbish. This week, his protest ended and his bins were
collected for the first time in almost 18 months. “All's well that ends well",
he said.
But was it all worth it and the answer must be yes because the scheme to use
electronic chips to monitor our bins has been scrapped as being divisive and
even unworkable. Yet from the start, Mr Heaven had the courage to speak out, to
appear on radio, television and in the newspapers to air his grievance and in
doing so make the people aware that they cannot trust everything they are told
by our local authorities and should question decisions that appear to be against
the public interest. In times past, this was the role of our elected councillors
but they have become increasingly emasculated, their powers eroded in favour of
salaried officials who take the decisions behind closed doors and expect them to
be nodded through in committee room and council chamber while the public
consultations they espouse are a total sham.
The likelihood is that we may soon be needing more like Brynley Heaven to
straighten the minds of our local authorities because many are totally oblivious
of the current economic crisis and its effect on the public and are planning
increases in the council tax without a thought as to where the money might be
found at a time when most of us are struggling to keep our homes warm and pay
the grocery bills. Both South Kesteven District Council and Lincolnshire County
Council are limbering up for an increase, 4.6% for the first and 2.5% for the
second, while the Lincolnshire Police Authority is waiting in the wings ready to
jump in even though their outrageous demand of almost 80% last year was ruled
out of order by the government and resulted in a bill of £500,000 to put things
right.
The ideal solution would be a government directive freezing the level of council
tax, and indeed energy prices, until more favourable economic conditions prevail
but with an administration floundering for solutions and even urging people to
spend more, that is most unlikely. The formula therefore will be much as in
previous years, as though nothing has changed, and unless the public make their
protest loud and long we may expect a recurrence next year and the year after
that. In fact, as may already have happened, the annual increase will be here to
stay.
The street name Tunnel Bank in Bourne has been puzzling
some people and research into its origins reveal an interesting history. It can be found on the industrial estate around Cherryholt Road and is named
after a culvert or relief channel built during the 17th century by local land
owner John Heathcote as part of a wider scheme to drain the fens in the
locality. It has also been known as Heathcote's Tunnel.
A petition by local inhabitants in Elizabeth I's reign had complained of the
poor condition of the surrounding land owing to the deteriorating state of the
banks along the rivers Welland and Glen and after various attempts at drainage
in the early 17th century, a Court of Sewers decree was confirmed in 1632,
giving the Earl of Bedford and others a concession for draining Deeping Fen,
Crowland and Bourne South Fen. They widened and deepened the Welland, built the
Slaker Drain [or Counter Drain] to ease the Glen, Vernatt's Drain was opened
from Pode Hole to the Welland below Spalding and various other drains were cut.
By 1637, the fenland concerned was declared drained although two years later, it
was reported that this land was still liable to flooding in winter and a tax of
30s. per acre was ordered.
This fen lies on the west side of the River Glen and is bounded on the north by
Bourne Eau, on the south by Bourne and Thurlby Pastures and on the west by the
Car Dyke. It contains 850 acres and was first reclaimed by Thomas Lovell for the
Adventurers of Deeping Fen and drained by a culvert under the Glen, which is
maintained by the successors of the then owner, John Heathcote. This land was
exempted from taxation to Deeping Fen by the Act of 1738. By an Act passed in
the reign of George III, a clause was inserted to the effect that if the Deeping
Fen Trust lowered the bed of the Glen then they should first lower the culvert
which carried the water from Bourne South Fen and Thurlby Fen Pastures, and the
right to drain thereby was confirmed.
It is doubtful if the original culvert still exists although there are signs
that it may have been replaced by a more modern drainage pipe. Also, fishing
rights along the Bourne Eau were in past centuries under the jurisdiction of the
Manor of Bourne Abbots and are frequently mentioned in old documents. In 1753,
for instance, the fisheries in the locality, including both the rivers Eau and
the Glen, are defined in the will of Edward Presgrave as "the water from St
Peter's Pool to Eastcoate to the Cross of Goodroom Coate and the water of
Eastcoate or Glen to the Great Stone on the bank at the south east end of the
South Fen of Bourne" and this stone is believed to have been part of the land
works associated with the tunnel.
John Heathcote’s descendants became powerful landowners in the Bourne area, Sir
Gilbert, the first baronet (1652-1733), also being a Member of Parliament, Lord
Mayor of London and one of the first directors of the Bank of England, while Sir
Gilbert, the fifth baronet, was created Lord Aveland in 1856 and his son,
Gilbert Henry, inherited from his mother the barony of Willoughby de Eresby and
became the 1st Earl of Ancaster in 1892.
Tunnel Bank is just one of 237 street names that currently exist in
Bourne, according to the town guide for 2008-09 recently published. One of our
earliest street maps, dating from 1825 when the town was little more than a
crossroads, shows there were then just a handful of streets clustered around the
market place, namely Northgate, Southgate, Water Gang Street, West Street, East
Street, Manor Street and Potter Street, and from these have developed the small
network of thoroughfares that we have today.
Street names have an assortment of origins, historic, personal, topographical,
occupational and, in more recent years, botanical as flowers, trees and even
herbs have become the vogue. I have managed to identify the majority but the
origins of a few remain obscure and are most probably there at the whim of the
builders, chosen because they were the titles of the development company
involved or perhaps they described the house designs in that particular area.
These include streets with hotel names such as Dorchester Avenue and Grosvenor
Avenue, Beaufort Drive and Berkeley Drive, while others that remain unsolved
include Dere Close, Brackley Close, Broadlands Avenue, Broadway Close, Burmor
Close, Foxley Court, The Gables, Hamilton Close, Richardson Close, Rochester
Court, Russell Way, Shipley Close, Stretham Way, Tully Close, Wetherby Close,
Wexford Close, Windle Drive, Cheriton Park and Wendover Mews. If anyone out
there can help with more details of these names I would be most grateful. In the
meantime, a history of our street names has now been added to A Portrait of
Bourne, the definitive history of this town on CD-ROM.
Our leading sports personality, Terry Bates, died this week and with his
passing Bourne loses a major figure whose work touched so many people and so
many organisations, his name having become synonymous with all aspects of the
principal games.
Terry established a reputation as administrator and achiever at both national
and local level, his talents having been as both player and official,
particularly for our football and cricket clubs, while his work over the past
half a century rightly earned him the nickname of Bourne’s Mr Sport. His life
was breathless with a wide range of activities, as a footballer, teacher,
leisure and recreation officer, councillor, charity trustee and club official,
and although retired from full time employment, he maintained a busy schedule working
with the various sporting organisations based at the Abbey Lawn and in recent
years, spending many hours on ensuring its security.
He was also responsible for several notable cricketing Sundays at the Abbey Lawn
featuring national stars and players and designed to raise money for charitable
causes and these have now become popular annual summer events, not just for
cricket fans but also for the entire family. “I am fortunate”, he once told me,
“to have been involved in sport all of my working life as either an employee or
a volunteer. I am so lucky to have been involved with so many top sportsmen and
I have a chest full of memories from more than half a century.”
Terry died on Monday, aged 72. He leaves a widow, Sue, and their two children,
Lisa and Richard, while his death means that Bourne has lost a major sporting
personality and, as many will remember him, a man I always found to be the
perfect gentleman.
Thought for the week:
A cricketer's life is a life of
splendid freedom, healthy effort, endless variety, and delightful good
fellowship. - William Gilbert (W G) Grace (1848-1915), medical practitioner
and English amateur all round cricketer who captained England and
Gloucestershire.
Saturday 17th January 2009
Woolworths in North Street - closed last month
The continuing closure of High Street retail outlets that
have become victims of the recession may well be a sign that the age of
consumerism is coming to an end, that the obsession with shopping has run its
course and the nation is finally coming to its senses.
For too long, the urge to go out and buy has dominated our lives and ruined many
more, outings to the shops so often ending with a huge debt on the plastic card
and a cupboard full of dust gatherers, purchases made on an impulse yet not
really needed and often never used, a situation which profits no one other than
the retailers and the many charities which call regularly to collect those
ubiquitous plastic bags filled with our unwanted possessions while one third of
the food bought in this country ends up being thrown away.
The consumerism we know today began half a century ago with the spread of hire
purchase, also known as the instalment plan, and the establishment of the
supermarket. The first enabled us to have now and pay later, thus giving
everyone access to a wide variety of goods on credit ranging from furniture and
television sets to clothes and kitchen appliances, while the second provided the
opportunity for us to enjoy a wider selection of food and drink.
But this was not enough for the purveyors of these commodities and HP terms were
soon relaxed in order to embrace the less well off while astute marketing
methods persuaded the customer that they needed a trolley rather than a basket
and when one-stop shopping arrived, the habit of buying in large quantities
became so firmly entrenched that an unstoppable wave of selling resulted in a
startling increase in the household budget. Soon, nothing was outside anyone’s
reach, houses and cars and then new kitchens and home extensions, all bought
with money that had not yet been earned but borrowed at high rates of interest
that were making investors rich and keeping many of the more profligate on the
very edge of penury. It was a house of cards that was soon to tumble and with it
our banking system and we are now suffering the effects that will be with us for
many years to come.
The extremes of personal debt and the housing bubble are a far cry from my
boyhood before the Second World War of 1939-45 when the majority lived in
council houses or rented accommodation and nothing could be bought without the
money to pay for it. The one exception was the weekly provident cheques for use
at Christmas and special occasions, instalments of three pence or sixpence a
week in return for a loan of a few pounds, but even this system was used only
occasionally and then with extreme care. My mother’s weekly shopping was a
Saturday afternoon’s excursion into town on the bus with a hand-basket to carry
her purchases and that was rarely full when she returned home, even though she
had to care for a large family. Admittedly, meat, milk, bread and fish were
delivered daily or weekly but everything else had to be bought at the shops
although £3 a week housekeeping meant that there was little to spare for
anything other than necessities.
Today, even the kids have credit cards along with their mobile phones and they
are often seen spending more in Tescos or Paper Chain on crisps, drinks and
sweets on their way to school than my mother did all week. For their elder
siblings or parents, shopping means going further afield, to Stamford,
Peterborough, Lincoln and Nottingham, and even London and New York are on the
itineraries of the more adventurous. It has even become a drug for some, a pick
me up in times of feeling low on the mistaken premise that a splurge of retail
therapy on the credit card will lift depression while the Internet enables you
to buy without even leaving home, to find a new outfit or a case of wine at the
click of a mouse and for those who are not online, mail order catalogues and
television shopping channels are widely available.
This irresponsible and spendthrift living may now have gone for good. No longer
will a mortgage be available without laying down a hefty deposit as in years
past, bank loans are likely to be scarce without some form of collateral and the
credit card companies are already becoming far more stringent with their
ratings. Shopping will therefore become a casualty and the popular retail
outlets that have been so attractive will lose their appeal even if they do
survive.
Perhaps there is a silver lining from the current economic crisis. The chain
stores dispensing goods on a global basis may disappear and our towns return to
streets of small specialised shops offering a personal service while our
obsession with outings to spend on unnecessary items could give way to other
pursuits of a less expensive kind for there is a whole world out there still to
be explored at no expense by those whose have until now been preoccupied solely
with spending.
My unusual Photograph of the Week last week showing a heron following the
plough has provoked several inquiries as to the amount of bird life in this area
and I have reluctantly told them that it appears to be on the decline due to
intensive farming practices. This is a sorry state of affairs because the
indiscriminate slaughter of birds and animals that was encountered in Victorian
England has largely disappeared and we are supposed to be living in a more
enlightened age. Governments around the world are spending vast sums on
encouraging us to save the planet yet do nothing to curb the farmers who are
killing off our flora and fauna with deadly chemicals and by refusing to leave
room for them to flourish.
Quite by chance, I stumbled across this cutting in my archives from the
Stamford Mercury of Friday 1st February 1861, that is almost 150 years ago,
which reveal just how many rare birds there were in the locality that have long
since disappeared:
During the late severe weather, the
following rare birds, among others, have been forwarded to Mr John Evans,
taxidermist, of West Street, Bourne, for preservation, viz. the hoopoe shot at
Essendine, three eared grebes, five tufted ducks, a northern diver, a red grouse
shot near Bourne, a fine specimen of the common buzzard, one lesser spotted
woodpecker, four green woodpeckers, starved to death through not being able to
procure ants and other insects to subsist on, one hawfinch (the latter, although
very common in the south is the only specimen received by Mr Evans during the 22
years he has been a bird preserver), and also a splendid specimen of the
bittern, an account of which may be of interest to naturalists.
The bittern, also known in some localities as a butter bump, mire drum and bull of
the bog is found in Europe, Asia and Africa, and was once common in
England, when in the balmy days of falconry it afforded one of the "great
flights" and was protected by severe penalties, but is now exceedingly scarce
though a few are said to breed in the fenny countries. Its flesh, rank as we
should deem it, was accounted a great delicacy. When wounded, it defends itself
with great determination. In size, the bittern is rather less than the heron.
The plumage is beautifully varied with spots, bars and dashes of black, on a
fine reddish yellow ground. The feathers on the head and neck are long and loose
and capable of being thrown forward, bill brown above, greenish below, iris
yellow, legs pale green, middle claw pectinated [formed like a comb]. Frogs,
field mice, newts and fish, with the buds of the water lily and other aquatic
plants, constitute the food of the bittern. A young woodcock was picked up in
Bourne Wood during last summer and two others were seen at the same time. This
is the only instance remembered of the woodcock breeding in this neighbourhood.
The origin of the name Bourne Eau has been the subject of
debate in the Forum, some contributors suggesting that it may have come from the
French, their word eau meaning water, but this is misleading. Admittedly, the
town has always been associated with water and we have to look to the Wellhead
or St Peter's Pool for its origins because the name indicates that this is a
place near to the source of a spring or stream and it is the course of the
ensuing waterway that gives the town its name.
The Old English word burna, common in the early Anglo-Saxon period and
found in modern form as burn, especially in Scotland, means stream and also
spring although this particular Bourne was recorded in a document of about 960
as Brunne. Over the years, this became Bourn and then in the late 19th century
is was changed to Bourne to avoid confusion with other places of similar name,
particularly Bourn in Cambridgeshire that had already caused difficulties with
the postal and railway services.
The water from the Wellhead springs runs into the Bourne Eau, the name that has
puzzled so many people who believed the French connection but it actually
derives from eä, a pure Old English word that was erroneously given by
cartographers on their maps as eau and few examples of this spelling
occur in documents before the 18th century. Although the modern tendency is to
go for a French sound when pronouncing eau, this does appear to be a very recent
practice. Eä is a dialectical survival in its own right meaning drain and
far more accurate than the French when relating to a Lincolnshire watercourse
and older people in many parts of the county still say Eddick rather than
Eaudyke.
The water connection, therefore, does have some relevance and it seems quite
probable that the early settlement which later grew into the town of Bourne
originated around the Wellhead, a natural feature reputed to be replenished by
seven springs that would have provided an abundant supply of water for those who
first lived here. In fact the water here has been so productive in past years
that Willingham Franklin Rawnsley in his informative book Highways & Byways of
Lincolnshire published in 1914 wrote that "near the castle hill is a strong
spring called Peter's Pool or Bourne Wellhead, the water of which runs through
the town and is copious enough to furnish a water supply for Spalding".
This water from the Bourne area was also reputed to have curative properties and
a century ago one of the most important of these chalybeate springs was at
Braceborough Spa where it gushed from the limestone at the rate of a million and
a half gallons daily. There was another source five miles to the west at
Holywell and others at Great Ponton and Stoke Rochford that were said to "abound
in springs of pure water rising out of the rock and running into the River
Witham".
The springs at Bourne are possibly one of the most ancient sites of artesian
water supply in the country, figuring so prominently in the history of the town
that at times, quite remarkable traditions have gathered around them. One of
these was still current in the mid-19th century and suggested that the Bourne
Eau flowed underground from Stoke Rochford, sixteen miles away, and that a white
duck which was immersed at Stoke was later seen to rise at the Wellhead, a tale
that owes more to the imagination than actuality but then history abounds with
such assertions that are vastly entertaining but have little basis in fact.
Thought for the week: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.
- The Holy Bible, Matthew 6.19.
Saturday 24th January 2009
The changes in our shopping habits which I mentioned last
week have prompted a discussion in the Forum about the current opening hours
which are seen by a few as being inconvenient to many and that the nine to five
system operated by most of the smaller shops and public offices needs a drastic
change to suit customers similar to that which is already being introduced by the supermarkets.
Opening hours especially in the evenings were certainly longer in times past and
part of the pattern of life because those with the money to spend worked during
the day and needed access to the goods they required after 5 pm. One
contributor, Peter Sharpe, whose grandfather ran a sweet stall on Bourne market
for many years, said that before the Second World War of 1939-45, traders did
not even start setting up until early afternoon and that nearly all their
business was conducted between 8 pm and 10 pm, the stalls lit by paraffin lamps
which created almost a fairground atmosphere. "Then the war came and with it the
blackout which immediately put an end to evening markets and by the time the war
finished, people's habits seemed to have been permanently changed", he said.
These memories are substantiated by my archives of the market when the rights
were held by the Marquess of Exeter who was also responsible for collecting the
rents. The minutes of Bourne Urban District Council, forerunner of South
Kesteven District Council, for May 1924, contain details of a resolution to
inform his lordship that residents living in the vicinity were complaining about
the late hour of closing on Saturday nights and suggesting that he issue
instructions for the stalls to be taken down at 10 pm, an indication that market
hours tended to be very much later than today when most of the stalls have gone
long before the shops have even closed.
My own recollections from the 1930s are of Peterborough rather than Bourne but
the situation was much the same with the weekly market in the city centre, now a
pedestrianised precinct, doing brisk business after dark with the lights of the
surrounding shops blazing a welcome to customers well into the night. The
wartime blackout and the need for economy put an end to all of that while
successive Shops Acts restricted opening times and ensured that early closing
day was strictly observed, an anachronism that many of the old-established
traders in Bourne still cling to.
Change is undoubtedly coming and round the clock shopping is already a reality
at some superstore outlets. This should signal to all shopkeepers that they are
in business for the benefit of the customers and not for themselves and although
the realistic outcome of opening at the behest of the buyer will not be lost on
them, perhaps the system of shutting up shop at 5.30 pm has become too firmly
entrenched in our habits to warrant an immediate variation and Bourne may well
continue much as it has done in recent years with streets that were so busy in
the evenings a century ago remaining completely deserted.
What the local newspapers are saying: The public consultation into the
level of council tax for the coming year promised by South Kesteven District
Council is underway and the Stamford Mercury reports that one of the
first of these meetings has been held during a local forum at Deeping St James,
near Bourne, where plans to limit any increase to 3.5% won public support
(January 16th). This report was given top of the page headlines over three
columns which seemed to suggest that everyone was satisfied with the result yet
only 13 members of the public attended the meeting.
The climate of opinion might indicate that despite the economic gloom, the
people are prepared to pay more in council tax whereas this has not actually
been determined, the council representing some 130,000 residents in 55,000 homes
across 365 square miles of South Lincolnshire. These statistics have not been
lost on all of our elected representatives and Judy Stevens, a parish councillor
for Deeping St James who attended the meeting, was not only disappointed with
the turnout but also angry that the event had not been more widely publicised.
“It is a useless exercise”, she told the newspaper, “because it cannot be
representative of the Deepings as a whole and I felt uncomfortable voting.”
Apart from the poor attendance, it is quite obvious that the questions were
highly selective. Instead of asking whether the council should proceed with the
proposed 4.6% increase or none at all, a third option was introduced, namely an
increase of 3.5% which, surprise, surprise, has already been decided by 140
local authorities in England, and those attending were asked to select their
preference using interactive computer handsets. Ten people selected the 3.5%
increase, three the 4.6% increase and none voted for a standstill budget.
The inconclusive nature of this spot voting was revealed by the newspaper this
week in a report on another open forum, this time for the Bourne area, when the
same procedure was adopted, this time resulting in eleven people choosing a 3.5%
increase, four for 4.6% and twelve for no increase at all (January 23rd). The
situation therefore reveals the shortcomings of these public consultation
exercises so beloved of local government which allow them to seize on the
feeblest of figures to support their case. By all means take these issues to the
people at open meetings but to ask a handful make a judgement on future policy
is to use universal apathy as a weapon in a weak defence and detailed scrutiny
will always expose the charade for what it is.
Common sense would be a far more appropriate indicator of public opinion.
Council officers should not need a degree in social studies to understand that
this is not the time to squeeze more money from a financially exhausted
population. A moratorium on spending is badly needed together with a freeze on
the wages and pensions jamboree than has been playing havoc with the annual
budget. This may well become a tussle between elected councillors and salaried
staff but the hired help have no rights in this matter. Now is the time for our
councillors to take a stand on behalf of those they represent and if the council
tax increases this year by even one penny then they will have lost the
confidence of the people and forfeit their moral right to represent them.
Meanwhile, an unfounded optimism appears to have crept into the thinking
of policy makers at South Kesteven District Council, again based perhaps on the
belief that what is going on out there in the big wide world has no connection
with the cosy corridors of power at Grantham. The Stamford Mercury also
reports (January 23rd) that the Bourne local forum was told that despite the
economic crisis, the £27 million redevelopment of the town centre with the
creation of 19 new shops is moving forward and has now reached a stage where a
formal tender can be signed with a developer and district councillor Mrs Frances
Cartwright (Ringstone), cabinet member for economic development, is reported as
saying: “A declining market is the best time to buy because we get the best
value for money.”
This project was first mooted in August 2001 and has been pursued through the
boom years without a single brick being laid yet we are now being asked to
believe that as boom has turned to bust and we are now officially into a
recession, this is the best time for it. A scheme costed at £27 million seven
years ago is unlikely to be less than double that figure now added to which, 38
properties need to be acquired before work can proceed.
Nevertheless, Paul Stokes, corporate head of resources and organisational
development, told the meeting that the tender process would take eight months to
complete and be open to developers from across Europe. “The building and
purchase costs are down which will reduce the overall value of the job”, he said
and suggested that the scheme could be underway by 2012, thus adding another
eight years to the original timescale which projected a start in 2004 and
completion within 18 months.
There has been a suggestion in the newspapers that some of our television
stations might stop broadcasting at midnight and the reaction of many people is
why it has taken them so long. It has always been a puzzle anyway as to who
watches at such unearthly hours other than night watchmen and insomniacs while
the schedules show the second rate nature of the transmissions on offer,
dominated by B movies and old programmes retrieved from the knacker’s yard at
Lime Grove.
The reason given for the possible restriction by the Sunday Express is that the
commercial stations such as ITV and Channels Four and Five have been hit by
reduced advertising revenue which has fallen by 20 per cent and need to save
money (January 18th). The spin off would be reduced output from a broadcasting
medium that arrived on the scene with such high Reithian hopes but slowly
deteriorated, first with the arrival of advertising, then with the proliferation
of the channels and finally the introduction of 24-hour transmissions. The
combination created unlimited hours to be filled without the available creative
resources and so we have seen standards slowly fall to their current abysmal
level as a once welcome and highly individual information service and
entertainment medium became little more than a commonplace addition to the
living room.
Programmes of quality and good taste have become rare and replaced by the worst
excesses of the human race, drama that defies the description, soap operas that
bear little resemblance to real life, the appalling cult of celebrity and game
shows that are little more than showcases for the exploitation of personal
weakness while documentaries and once serious programmes of discussion and
debate on issues of the day are shunted into off-peak hours. Freeview has given
most homes around 80 channels from which to choose but much of it consists of
manufactured reality programmes and repeated dross unworthy of the name
entertainment. In fact, the country might benefit not only from the curtailment
of transmissions in the early hours but also in the mornings and afternoons,
thus returning to the early days of television which was transmitted only in the
evenings by one or two channels but their output was of a standard that has long
since vanished from our screens.
Yes, we do have an on/off switch and yes we could get rid of the television set.
But why should we be denied the benefits of progress because those in
administration are so lacking in ability? There are still oases of culture and
quality in this desert of mediocrity but these will only be fully appreciated
when the surrounding barren ground has been given up to a more productive crop
that can be enjoyed by all.
Those in charge of the channels have the responsibility to not only provide
information and entertainment but also to do it in a responsible manner and not
to succumb to the lowest common denominator. They should realise that quality
rather than quantity is a virtue that brings its own reward, in this case that
of a satisfied viewing audience and if it has taken an economic catastrophe to
bring this about then so be it.
Thought for the week: In this present crisis, government is not the
solution to our problem; government is the problem. - Ronald Reagan
(1911-2004), 40th President of the United States in his inaugural address on
20th January 1981.
Saturday 31st January 2009
New seats in the Wellhead Gardens - see "One of the drawbacks
. . . "
There is something deeply comforting about the return of
Kenneth Clarke to the front bench of politics, a bulky, avuncular elder
statesman with a whiff of the cigar and brandy about him and exuding
trustworthiness wherever he goes. The politics are immaterial because he is
rightly regarded as one of the bulwarks of public life who will not let us down
in his new role as the Conservative Party’s Shadow Business Secretary at the age
of 68 with the prospect of an even more influential role in the future to assist
him in helping cure the nation’s ills.
This is certainly the time that the conduct of our affairs needs the reassurance
of age and experience because the signs are that the malaise in banking and
elsewhere may have been caused by young bloods without the necessary know-how,
making rash decisions that have rebounded into debts of a mighty magnitude that
have spread their influence into all walks of life from which it will take
years, even decades, to recover.
We ought consider whether the young should be thrust into the limelight of
life’s senior positions without first walking that treadmill of preparation
needed before being let loose into the professions, whether it be the law and
politics, medicine or economics, banking and accountancy, or any one of those
occupations that need the skill that only a sustained spell of hard graft can
acquire. Many of the faces we see at the cutting edge of these occupations would
not be out of place in a school photograph while even the weather girls on the
television look as though they have bunked off from the science class at the
Robert Manning College.
There is a great deal of national mirth about the methods of Mr Mainwaring
controlling his client’s money in his role as a stickler of a bank manager or
indeed of his handling military affairs as a captain in the Home Guard, both
with a pathological preoccupation for procedure and detail, but imagine the
chaos if these matters were left to Private Pike and it is surely no coincidence
that his senior’s judgment of him as a “stupid boy” has been added to the
lexicon of immaturity and inexperience. Perhaps the nation is in its current
state of crisis because we have given the young too much responsibility too
soon.
What the local newspapers are saying: The calumny that the Ostler
memorial fountain has been a target for wilful destruction is now being repeated
ad infinitum and the latest reference comes in The Local which reports
that railings are to be erected around it in the cemetery as part of the town
council’s £9,000 restoration “to protect it from further damage” (January 23rd).
This inaccuracy may have originated in the council chamber itself where the
decision to enclose the monument with an incongruous modern barrier was taken
because councillors are notorious for knowing little about their history and
heritage.
The fountain was erected in the market place, now the town centre, in 1860 as a
memorial to local benefactor John Lely Ostler (1811-59), and apart from some
high jinks in the 19th century by local lads who sometimes turned off the water
as a joke and even filled it with soap suds on one occasion, there was never any
criminal damage. In fact, a previous authority, Bourne Urban District Council,
moved it off the streets to its present location in 1962 to safeguard the
stonework from being struck by passing traffic and the only deterioration during
its 150 year life span has been caused solely by wind and rain.
Like King Canute who could not turn back the tide, our councillors are unable to
control nature’s natural forces and it is unlikely that the railings can protect
the fountain from inclement weather in the future. Their inclusion is therefore
not only unnecessary but also a violation of the original conception and design
of a monument to one of our most generous patrons from past times and as they do
not form part of the planning application for restoration currently lodged with
South Kesteven District Council, there is still time to shelve the idea before
work actually begins because this imprudence will surely be recorded for
posterity. An ill-advised decision in 2006 to blast a gap through the brickwork
of the 150-year old cemetery wall rather than dig up a self-setting sycamore
that was threatening serious damage resulted in the culprits being referred to
as the hole-in-the-wall gang while attempts to demolish the chapel still rankle
with many people and so it might be better to avoid yet another gaffe.
A leaflet from Lincolnshire Police dropped through the letter box this
week telling us that someone nearby had been burgled and that we could be next.
We were well aware of the incident, this being a quiet cul-de-sac where the most
eventful thing that normally happens is that someone dies, gives birth or goes
on holiday, and we were advised to lock all windows and doors, keep valuables
out of sight, mark our property and, of course, think about starting a
Neighbourhood Watch group.
There are already many of these excellent self-help groups which have been
operating in the town since the early 1980s and the police encourage everyone to
become involved but the difficulty is in finding sufficient volunteers to run
them. Retired policemen, managers and businessmen should be the perfect role
models, rallying everyone to follow their example, but even they are often too
busy with their gardens to devote the time and energy needed for community effort
such as this and so the work invariably falls on those who are already
over-burdened because they never say no.
Life in any street has its rewards provided you get to know the neighbours and
are prepared to help in times of trouble. This was never more clearly
demonstrated than during the Second World War of 1939-45 when life on the home
front, as it became known, would have been impossible without a dependence upon
each other, when people who had merely been passing acquaintances became close
friends and those who already knew each other became even closer, forging
intimate links that lasted for the rest of their lives.
Such personal endeavour is needed today to ensure the success of any local
organisation and this is particularly so for Neighbourhood Watch but it does
need an initial effort to begin and then a lot of hard work to ensure that it
thrives but the result can be twofold, that of helping to fight crime and also
of making new and lasting friends.
One of the drawbacks for the elderly enjoying a walk through the Wellhead
Gardens has been the seats, long outdated and frequently vandalised, the slats
defaced with graffiti or even prized off their iron frames making that moment’s
rest essential to those of advancing years uncomfortable and sometimes even
impossible. The accompanying waste bins have been equally inefficient, discarded
perhaps from the ark, their outmoded design of an iron lattice frame totally
unequal to the task of containing the human detritus of a public park which was
frequently scattered to the wind.
Bourne United Charities which administers this excellent amenity on behalf of
the town has at last recognised the need to enter the modern age by installing
seven new seats sturdily built with special materials to withstand common
assault by our ubiquitous yob population while eight new bins with removable
metal containers to facilitate emptying should ensure that the grounds remain
clean and tidy. While trying out the new facilities during the week, we
suggested that perhaps this is the start of a complete refurbishment of those
areas around St Peter’s Pool so badly in need of attention as befits the ancient
site around which this town began and sincerely hope that our expectations will
be fulfilled.
Our silver wheelie bin was pushed to the kerbside this week packed to the
brim although we are a household of only two. Down the street and round the
corner, others which cater for larger families were similarly filled to
capacity, some to overflowing and with cardboard boxes and bags piled up
alongside to take the surplus. Yet the campaign launched by this government and
implemented by the local authorities two years ago is suffering various
setbacks, not least from a recycling crisis as the market for waste collapses
and taxpayers are facing a multi-million pound bill to store tons of it in
warehouses.
It was inevitable. As with so many initiatives that are presented in gift
wrapping, the idea has not been properly thought out and so it languishes in the
valley of good intentions leaving officials who lauded its introduction with egg
on their faces. The Times has reported that waste paper is now virtually
unsellable (January 5th) and private firms contracted to deal with household
rubbish have been forced to put it into storage, thus incurring huge bills. The
demand for plastic and glass has also reduced and some companies have begun to
claw back the cost from local authorities, prompting fears of increases in the
council tax and raising the question of whether the kerbside recycling
championed so vociferously in council chambers up and down the land is
economically viable.
There has been no statement on this matter from South Kesteven District Council,
the authority responsible for collecting our rubbish, and until it does the
future is a matter of conjecture. Added to this, the pay-as-your-throw scheme to
which this council gave its support has also collapsed in the face of hostility
from home owners and the planned trials have been called off through lack of
support while the £500,000 spent on fitting micro-chips to the bins in the South
Kesteven area in order that households could be billed according to the weight
of the contents has been wasted. It is a pity that this money could not itself
be recycled instead of disappearing into the landfill site of public spending.
These developments are a sad reflection on those local authorities that
threatened to punish households which contaminated recycling bins with the wrong
type of rubbish. An old lady who puts an empty sauce bottle or plastic packet in
the black bin when she goes out in the dark, for instance, is likely to find
herself with a £200 fine if the offending materials are discovered in the wrong
receptacle and similar penalties apply to those who fail to observe the rules
about leaving their bins out too long or even in the wrong place.
Regulation is needed in all matters but it should apply to both sides. Now that
the recycling initiative is seen to be wanting, we should ask what penalties
will be imposed on those who supported a failing initiative or, as with the
banking crisis, whether the blame will be adroitly passed off as being caused by
global circumstances, a bellwether euphemism that lets everyone concerned off
the hook.
A contributor to the Forum relates the story of a man who went into his
bank at Ipswich and could see the screen the teller was using which said:
"Customer has legal background and may try to engage in legal conversation." He
had complained about bank charges on a previous occasion and the bank had
obviously kept a note with his records to warn staff of possible risks in the
future.
I am reminded of a similar tale told me by an employee of the
National Health Service who said that if you could see the screen on the
doctor’s desk during your consultation and were sufficiently computer wise you
would spot an icon in the corner to remind them of your amenability to
diagnosis. The exact code used escapes me but briefly they are categorised into
(1) has a copy of Black’s Medical Dictionary at home, tread carefully (2)
hypochondriac of the worst type, be warned (3) argumentative old sod, be
conciliatory but firm and (4) prescribe a placebo, get rid of them and tell them
to see nurse next time.
Doctors will rush to tell me that the story is apocryphal although I have heard
it said that some are often so busy scrutinising their screens that they miss
the signs and symptoms or that they were surfing the Internet while the patient
was describing his ailment, merely bored with what he was saying and looking for
a suitable diversion. The computer has certainly become an integral part of
their equipment, far more necessary than the stethoscope or thermometer of old,
while the new technology has created a divide between doctor and patient at the
cost of the bedside manner espoused by Dr Finlay that has probably disappeared
for good.
Thought for the week: Bedside manners are no substitute for the right
diagnosis. - Alfred P Sloan (1875-1966), American philanthropist and
long-time president and chairman of General Motors.
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