Bourne Diary - August 2009

Saturday 1^st August 2009

Memories of a hero - see "The military chest . . . "

The future of the Old Grammar School, one of our most interesting ancient buildings, remains uncertain and it languishes in the churchyard unused and largely forgotten, up for sale with little hope of a buyer being found and deteriorating with each passing year. Yet the part it played in the establishment of secondary education in this town was an important one because from this modest educational establishment grew the Bourne Grammar School we have today where attainment is high and places eagerly sought.

The school was a gift to this town in the 17th century when William Trollope, a local landowner, left a bequest in his will that provided for an endowment of £30 a year to maintain "an honest, learned and godly schoolmaster" in a free grammar school incorporated by royal charter. The single storey building, made of red brick and blue slate, was completed in 1678 and was in constant use until 1904 when it was forced to close because of a declining number of pupils and despite several unsuccessful attempts to revive its past glory, it was eventually replaced by the present Bourne Grammar School in 1921 and two years later, in January 1923, was sold to the board of governors for the nominal sum of £100.

During the Second World War of 1939-45, the premises became an ambulance station and a headquarters for the girl guides who continued to use it to store their equipment and for meetings during the summer months but has been largely unused since and in April 2003, notices were posted on the door banning entry because the structure is unsafe. The education of young boys which was the main purpose of the school appears to have been lost in the mists of time although we do have records of illustrious pupils such as Charles Worth (1825-95), the solicitor’s son who went to France to seek his fortune and becoming the world’s most famous fashion designer of the 19th century, but there were others whose names are remembered in Bourne today.

The last boy to leave the school was William Harold Redshaw (1888-1971), son of William Redshaw, the Bourne photographer, also a prosperous businessman at that time who could afford to pay for private education. After completing his studies, he went to work at his father's studio and later became a mechanic and driver for T W Mays and Company. He married Sarah Ellen Hemsell (1913-1968) and they lived in Coggles Causeway. Their only son, Raymond (1914-1968) married Kathleen Fowler (1920-2000) and three of their four children and their families still live in Bourne today and so a link with the old school remains.

Unfortunately, it may not last. Roof repairs have been carried out in an attempt to preserve the building, now Grade II listed, but it faces a bleak future as the present owners, the Bourne Educational Foundation, seek a buyer for a property without an access and of little value in a world where modernisation is the key. The only future it has therefore appears to be as part of this town’s history but as we have seen in other cases, this now takes second place to financial necessity. If we lose it, Charles Worth, William Redshaw and hundreds more, would mourn its passing but they are no longer with us to either help save it or impress upon us the significance it once had.

What the local newspapers are saying: The outdoor pool is one of Bourne’s most popular amenities and among the best lidos in Britain yet according to the The Local is facing a cash crisis because of falling attendance through inclement summer weather (July 31st). Continual rain and overcast skies are certainly bad news for swimmers and we have seen it all in the past few weeks but somehow the £38,000 a year needed in running costs always materialises to enable the pool open each season and bring delight to so many.

The pool is one of this town’s most outstanding examples of voluntary effort, having survived threats of closure on several occasions, yet those who keep it going continually rise to the challenge with various enterprising initiatives to open for yet another year, this time a moonlight sponsored swim on August 22nd which must be the most novel idea ever introduced since this small stretch of water was nothing more than a carp pond to provide the monks at Bourne Abbey with food so many centuries ago.

From these humble beginnings, the present pool took shape, notably when Britain became lido crazy in the 1930s and outdoor pools opened at Ilkley in Yorkshire, Norwich, Saltdean in Sussex, Aylesbury and Peterborough where I spent much of my boyhood, always being among the first in the queue for a season ticket and then attending practically every day come rain or shine. A recent article in The Times reminds us that the enthusiasm for outdoor swimming owes much to Weimar Germany where lidos were the symbolic heart of the new cult of the body that embraced sunshine and bathing in a way that would be frowned upon today (July 4th). I have some experience of this in that my late mother-in-law was a dedicated member of this movement which was quite divorced from the militarist ambitions of that regime and was devoted entirely to the physical and mental health espoused by so many organisations and publications worldwide.

England’s largest lido, the huge triangular Jubilee Pool at Penzance in Cornwall, built in the art deco style in May 1935 to celebrate King George V‘s Silver Jubilee, was saved from the clutches of the local council in 1992 when it wanted to convert it into a modern fun pool, and remains more or less in its original state and now has listed status. There is little doubt that our own outdoor pool will survive its current financial hiatus but in view of the unpredictable nature of events, perhaps now is the time for English Heritage to adjudicate over this amenity to ensure that its status is preserved for future generations by protecting it with a Grade II listing.

The military chest once owned by our local hero, Charles Sharpe VC, has surfaced at the home of a South Lincolnshire woman. The large wooden container was used by him to store his personal belongings each time he was posted overseas and he usually sent it to one of his family for safe keeping and now Mrs Hilda Sharpe, his niece by marriage, has revealed that it had been in her possession for many years.

Sharpe (1889-1963), son of a farm labourer from Pickworth, near Bourne, volunteered for the army in 1905 and joined the Lincolnshire Regiment, subsequently serving in France during the Great War when he won the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest decoration for gallantry in the field, after crossing No Man's Land under heavy fire during the battle of Aubers Ridge in May 1915 and capturing an enemy trench single handed and leading a successful assault on another. He was 26 years old.

The chest had been used by him throughout a long military career and was usually sent to Arthur Sharpe, one of his two brothers, whose address in Grantham is painted on one side. But in later years he would deposit it with Mrs Sharpe, widow of Ted Sharpe, son of his other brother Wilf, who lives at Ingoldsby, near Sleaford, and it remains in her care although there are hopes that it will eventually be deposited with a local museum for safe keeping.

One of the pitfalls of old age is that remembrance of times past gives the impression of halcyon days when the summers were long and hot, everyone respectful and friendly towards each other and crime so minimal that you could go out for the day leaving the house unlocked knowing that it would be safe. There may be a grain of truth in this idealistic picture of the good old days but our parents who weathered the hardships of bringing up a large family in a working class neighbourhood during the 1930s would hardly agree that it was a life of sunshine and roses.

I am reminded of those difficult times each time I pass a fish and chip shop, whether it be Dee’s Fish Bar in West Street, George’s in North Street or the establishment in Abbey Road, because the familiar smell wafts past bringing with it memories from seventy years ago when hunger was a perpetual enemy and we were forever cadging for pennies to buy ourselves a portion of chips, especially in the early summer evenings when we would hang about outside watching the comings and goings and savouring the smell of frying.

We knew every fish and chip shop in the district and the taste of their chips, ever watchful for the tell tale sign saying “Frying tonight”. Each was identified by its owner's name, Dorman's, Stenson's, Beeby's, Wickes', Ryecraft's, Barnett’s and Partridge's, all run by husband and wife teams, she peeling the potatoes and operating a primitive hand chipper while he tended the coal-fired cooking range which was constantly in need of more fuel, and between them they served a constant flow of customers. Each shop had its own distinctive brand which could be recognised by connoisseurs such as ourselves by the look and the taste of the batter in which it had been fried.

No portion of fish and chips was complete without a scoopful of the small brown fragments left in the pan and all of the shops kept them on one side to serve free of charge to small boys ordering their chips who invariably asked: "Can I have some scraps please?" while an occasional treat at some establishments was scallops, thin slices of potato dipped in batter and deep fried like the fish. Long queues of children would form outside the shop when these delicacies were being served and as they were more costly than chips, many would buy them in quantities of two or three at a time.

On those days when we had fish and chips for our dinner and we were sent to fetch them, my mother would specify which shop we were to patronise and the moment they were unwrapped she would know if we had been elsewhere. Weekends were the busiest times and long queues would form and often we had to wait for an hour or more to be served but it was never boring because the owners knew most of their customers and their shop was a constant buzz of conversation with the swapping of local gossip. On Friday lunchtimes, workers at local factories would send out the apprentices for fish and chips and they would arrive at the front of the queue with huge baskets which would be filled with the various orders listed on a piece of notepaper that had been delivered earlier, each portion of fish and chips liberally garnished with salt and vinegar and then wrapped in old newspapers, while the rest of us waited patiently for our turn.

In late summer, when the harvest began, the fish and chip shops would start making their chips from new potatoes and word would flash down the street that they had arrived and we would rush to buy our first pennyworth, smaller portions than before because the early crop was more expensive to buy wholesale, but the chips were sweeter and more succulent than we had been eating in the previous months.

The smell remains so evocative that I cannot pass a shop today without feeling hungry and being tempted to buy a portion but the cooking process has changed with the years while the newspaper for wrapping has been replaced with plastic fast food trays and although this may all be much healthier and hygienic, the fish and chips which provided such a boyhood delight in past times seem to have gone for good and with them the pleasure of the eating.

Thought for the week: The first fish and chip shop was opened by Joseph Malin in London in 1860 while the concept caught on in Lancashire in 1863 followed by those areas colonised by people from the UK during the 19th century, such as Australia, New Zealand and parts of North America.- from Wikipedia, the free Internet encyclopedia.

Saturday 8^th August 2009

Sainsburys' new store under construction in 1999

It seems like only yesterday, as they say in the song, but Sainsburys has now been with us for a decade, the supermarket having opened in 1999 and is as popular as ever. This new retail outlet has had a dramatic effect on the shopping habits in our town and whether you like or loathe it, there is no doubting its success in meeting a need with few complaints.

The opening on Friday 13th August was the biggest single retail development in the history of Bourne and was appropriately accompanied by a jazz band that played outside all day to celebrate the occasion. It was also the most controversial 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 to appease the developers.

The store was built on a site previously occupied by Nursery Supplies (Bourne) Ltd that moved to a new out of town location at the corner of the A151 Spalding Road and Meadow Drove in January 1999. The building covered 15,000 sq feet and provided 150 new and part time jobs. The development also included an adjoining car park for 170 cars and it was the amount of traffic to and from the supermarket that caused so much concern in the planning stage because the store was on the edge of a residential area.

The number of cars using Exeter Street had already increased following the recent opening of the Hereward Medical Centre in December 1998 and vehicles parked at the kerbside were causing congestion, especially at busy periods, but the problem was solved by widening the road at this point, installing new pedestrian crossings outside the store and mini-roundabouts to speed up traffic flows at each end of Exeter Street, at the junctions with both West Street and North Street.

There is no doubt that the building has enhanced the street scene at this point because it is well designed and constructed in red brick, a material that blends with the earlier properties in Bourne, but there were complaints that the new store would take trade from the two existing supermarkets, Budgens in the town centre and Rainbow in Manning Road, which proved to be an accurate forecast because Budgens eventually closed in April 2008.

In October 2003, Sainsburys completed a major extension programme at their store which was almost doubled in size at a cost of £5 million and with the creation of 75 new full and part time jobs. Additional car parking spaces were also provided together with an in-store coffee shop. In the following years, Sainsburys have made several successful applications to South Kesteven District Council to increase the time allowed for deliveries of goods which were laid down in the original planning permission although there have been repeated complaints from residents living nearby in Exeter Street about the noise from unloading activities early in the morning which have been repeatedly overruled.

The success of the store can be measured by the car park which is always full, activity in the aisles which are mostly crowded and the checkouts which are invariably busy and there is usually a long and frustrating wait, not because there are insufficient tills but because they are not all always manned, due no doubt to today's workplace policy of keeping every employee fully engaged whatever their jobs. Some of the goods on offer are also expensive when compared with elsewhere in the district although the management insists on making a comparison only with Tesco, another high-priced outlet whereas the same items are often much cheaper at Morrisons or Lidl in Stamford.

Nevertheless, we have become like most people in Bourne, regular customers and it must be inevitable that this success will eventually mean a move to a larger site to eradicate those small problems but the prognosis is clear, that Sainsburys is here to stay.

The Bourne web site also has an anniversary being eleven years old this week, a small milestone but we are pleased to record that we have been published continuously since August 1998, making us the longest running community project on the Internet for a market town of this size.

From small beginnings, we began with a handful of pages and pictures and were lucky to attract a few dozen visitors but have since expanded to a formidable size of 500 pages and more than 600 photographs, with around 2,000 people a week dropping in from around the world and consulted by a wide variety of academic, commercial, business and government organisations. The web site could be larger but I constantly trim the content to under 50MB because anything more is too much for one person to control with any accuracy which has always been our watchword.

We have topped the Google ratings now for many years and anyone in the world who wishes to know about our town will automatically be directed to this web site and although we are often snowed under with email inquiries, all are answered and information provided whenever possible and details of those who have logged on can be found in our list of Visitor Countries which makes impressive reading.

The web site carries no advertising, despite many approaches to do so, because commercial intervention means restrictive editorial practices, as our local newspapers know to their cost. The result is that I can speak my mind on topics of the day in my weekly Diary for which I have written well over one million words in the past decade, and although this has not always found favour in some quarters, we are gratified to know that we have influenced events in this town and, hopefully, for the better.

Our Photograph of the Week was introduced soon after the web site began and more than 500 pictures of the town and locality have been used since, showing most of our interesting buildings, parks and open spaces, roads and waterways, flora and fauna. Readers also send in their own pictures demonstrating a wide variety of talent and our Photo Gallery was introduced as a showcase for their work.

One of the most important features of the web site is our Family History section which has brought together families from all parts of the globe seeking information about ancestors who originated in Bourne. A total of 366 names are currently listed for research and rarely a day goes by without an inquiry from overseas, usually Australia, Canada, the United States and New Zealand, the former colonies which attracted the more adventurous of our past residents who left to seek their fortunes and whose descendants are compiling family trees and are anxious to find out about the place where they originated.

The Forum is the most widely read in Lincolnshire, a discussion group of people with something to say, whether on local or national issues, serious and light-hearted, but always intelligent and informative, a platform that has produced contributors of real value and with views on the human condition that are enlightening and give food for thought which is the very essence of debate. We also carry a list of Friends of Bourne, more than 100 people living around the world who are anxious to keep in touch with the town and to contact old friends.

Our Notice Board is the most extensive available for the town, updated daily and providing details of dozens of organisations which keep this town alive and an example for those who complain that there is nothing to do in Bourne because they only need to consult this list to find out what is really going on. We also carry links to more than 400 other web sites connected with the town, government and local authorities, schools, churches, business, social, sporting and charitable organisations, the media, surrounding villages and guides to places of interest.

The past eleven years have been a rewarding experience and although there are times when I have flagged and thought seriously of packing it in, my wife Elke, all round helper and trusty proof reader who is responsible for our envied error free presentation, a rare occurrence on the Internet, has urged me to carry on and her confidence is reinforced by the many kind messages we regularly receive from around the world. It therefore seems that we will continue and although I will be 79 next month, it is business as usual for the time being.

Vandalism and anti-social conduct at the Abbey Lawn and elsewhere has shocked many people but it is by no means a new phenomenon. There are many similar cases recorded over the centuries and the stigma of public censure was generally regarded as the best solution.

Like all towns, Bourne had its stocks where wrongdoers would be locked in by the legs and pelted with stones, rotten fruit and bad eggs. They stood at the edge of the market place at the top of what is now Abbey Road together with a whipping post and an entry in the register of the Bourne Quarter Sessions for 22nd April 1688 records one such punishment by this means.

Daniel Summerby, a slater, who was perhaps our most infamous tearaway, was brought before the justices for rowdy and disorderly conduct in the town on a number of occasions, and the magistrates ordered that he ". . . being a person of an ill life and conversation and also being very malicious, desperate and unruly, so that complaint hath been made by the inhabitants his neighbours made unto us this day. It is therefore ordered that the constable of the said town of Bourne do upon his next excursion or disturbance seize and carry him to the common whipping post, there to be whipped till blood come, and so at all times hereafter, serve him as shows himself dangerous or desperate to the hazard or trouble of his neighbourhood."

It is not known when the whipping post disappeared but we also had a set of stocks that were dismantled around 1850. A tradesman in the town, well known for his practical jokes, was passing the churchyard one night and saw some bricks and mortar close to a small cottage which then stood nearby and he used them to block up the windows with the result that the occupants were late rising next morning, thinking that it was still dark. The Stamford Mercury subsequently reported "this dastardly outrage" and suggested that the culprit should be apprehended and put in the stocks but a few nights later, the same tradesman and a companion dismantled them and threw them in the moat section of the Bourne Eau. Thus ended the stocks in Bourne and with no one regretting their disappearance, they were not replaced.

Birching was another public punishment that survived well into my lifetime and I can remember, as a schoolboy in the 1930s, three classmates who had been involved in a murder being sentenced to be birched followed by a spell in Borstal. The last known case in Bourne was recorded in 1923 when magistrates, sitting at a special children’s court on July 26th, “deplored the depravity” of a boy charged with indecent assault on a girl under seven years of age and ordered him to be punished with four strokes of the birch rod and bound the father over in the sum of £5 for his boy to be of good behaviour for six months.

Physical punishment and humiliation is still practised in many parts of the world during the dispensation of justice but has long since disappeared in this country in favour of rehabilitation and re-education although there is still a lively body of opinion that regularly puts the case for its return as a quick and effective means of retribution.

Thought for the week: An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. - Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), the political and spiritual leader of India during the independence movement and pioneer of non-violent resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience.

Saturday 15^th August 2009

Yellow loosestrife - see "If some of the wild flowers . . . "

A Bourne lady, Mrs Evelyn Plowright, has just celebrated her 104th birthday, so putting herself into that exclusive class of citizens known as centenarians. Her anniversary was marked with a champagne buffet at the Digby Court residential care home in Christopher’s Lane, accompanied by music and singing appropriate to her longevity. Joining her is Mrs Elsie Thomas who has just reached 102 and has celebrated her special day at the Woodgrange Care Home in West Road with a glass of sherry.

These occasions are noteworthy because they remind us that living for 100 years is no longer a marvel but an everyday occurrence and although the modernists will put this down to diet and exercise, my own theory is that we oldies survive because we were exposed to and endured life’s indignities in our childhood when our living conditions were far less comfortable than they are today and we have therefore become more durable than the mollycoddled of later generations.

The birthdays come at a time when we were also remembering two veterans who survived the Great War of 1914-18, Henry Allingham (born 1896), the world’s oldest man who died aged 113, and Harry Patch (born 1898), who was not far behind when he died aged 111. There are others around the country who have lived past the magical century and although society makes suitable noises to mark these venerable occasions, there is little doubt that the available financial resources for continual care are dwindling and the social system is not equipped to sustain a increasing ageing population.

Although there were exceptions, attaining 100 years was unusual in times past although one lady in Bourne is remembered. She made no contribution to public life but Mary Ann Buckberry became well known by reason of her endurance, living until she was 101, the oldest person in the town during the early years of the last century. It is also ironic that both Henry Allingham and Harry Patch were serving in the Great War at that time.

She was born at Peterborough in 1817 but moved to Bourne when she was twenty, before the railway had arrived and the carrier's cart was the only form of public transport. Mary married twice and outlived both husbands but had several children, the number unknown, and spent her final years living alone at a cottage in North Street by which time she had become a familiar figure in the town and was frequently seen standing at the end of the passage leading to her home, weather permitting, ready to talk to anyone who went by. She not only lived to see the arrival of the motor car but also took her first trip in one at the age of 99, travelling almost 100 miles in one day to visit a granddaughter.

Her memories of earlier times remained clear until her death, living through six reigns, taking part in the coronation celebrations for Queen Victoria in 1838 and, as a girl, singing in the choir at Peterborough Cathedral. Mary also remembered toiling long hours in the fields to earn a shilling a day and in later years, she worked as a weekly help for the family of William Redshaw and went to his house in North Street every Monday to assist with the household chores, particularly the washing. Redshaw (1856-1946) was a professional photographer and to celebrate her 100th birthday in 1917, Mary agreed to sit for her portrait that was taken by Redshaw at her cottage and the occasion was subsequently recorded in an interview with a reporter from the Stamford Mercury on Friday 15th September:

The state of Mrs Buckberry's health is such that she bids to live for several more years. Her eyesight and hearing are both very good; she takes a great interest in all that goes on in the town and likes to be told all the news about the war [the Great War of 1914-18 was then in progress]. Her memory is very good for things that happened in her early years but she forgets present day things. In talking to our representative, she said that her life did not seem very long and she hopes she would live some time yet. She can remember sugar being dearer than now and not near so good either. She lives by herself and most mornings makes herself a cup of tea about 3 o'clock. Her appetite is very good and she does not seem to have to pick her diet.

During her final weeks, Mary became increasingly feeble and was unable to look after herself and so she went to live with her only surviving son, William Cooper, at his home in Eastgate, where she died peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday 16th April 1918. Her funeral took place the following Friday when she was buried in the town cemetery, the ceremony being conducted by the Congregational minister, the Rev J C Jones, and during the evening service on Sunday, he referred to the passing of the town's oldest inhabitant who, he said, would be remembered as the Mother of Bourne.

The message quite clearly suggests that anything left inside the car where it can be seen is likely to be stolen which did not please Neville Hydes, of Northorpe Lane, Thurlby, near Bourne, who wrote (August 7th) saying: “I was not happy with the implied expectation that crime was inevitable. It could also be seen to say to the thief that it’s O K to break into a car here because that is what the public expects. What it should say and what the police should be doing in conjunction with the store manager and CCTV is to say to the thief: ‘If you steal from cars in this park you will be caught and you will be prosecuted’ because not only is stealing a crime but stealing is wrong and a bad thing to do. That would also give a very strong social message to our children and young people. It’s not O K to steal and it is not something society should expect.”

In an ideal world we would have bobbies out on the beat, in the streets and other public places, as a deterrent to wrongdoers but instead these notices are posted in the hope that they will act as a warning in the absence of any uniformed patrols yet they are declaring that the car owner is perpetually at risk and the police are powerless. Whoever sanctioned this particular alarum may have thought it was a bright wheeze to deflect from a scenario in which criminals are ubiquitous and the public constantly at their prey yet it needs only a moment’s reflection to realise that the alert they contain is addressed to the innocent citizen, as though making him the culprit, rather than the intending offender, a policy of the cart before the horse, and perhaps it would be advisable to withdraw them and change the wording which appears to tolerate opportunist theft and does little for the image of our police force as the guardians of law enforcement.

We hear on the grapevine that another examination is to be made at the Wellhead Gardens in the hope of finding evidence that a castle once stood there. It will be an amateur operation conducting a hi tech appraisal from above ground but using the latest electronic wizardry, that is a box of wires and a No 8 battery that can determine the existence of solid foundations and other artefacts below the surface, thus proving once and for all that a mighty fortification with turrets and towers, moat and drawbridge once stood on the spot.

Any new interest in this part of our history is to be welcomed but whether it is seriously academic or merely a sensational undertaking for what we journalists call the silly season is another matter but is does keep one of our ancient traditions alive. The last such examination was carried out in 2006 when it was anticipated finding “the remains of a sizeable stone fortress lying beneath the Wellhead” and after a few weeks of sporadic inspection the intrepid explorers announced that they were 99% certain that one existed although there was no proof of this other than a couple of erratic diagrams on graph paper.

For those new to the subject, it was originally believed that the castle was the birthplace of our local Saxon hero, Hereward the Wake, until it was discovered that it is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 when the story changed to it being a Norman castle similar to other strategic fortifications in this part of the country although the exponents of this theory have never explained why, unlike Castle Bytham for instance, it was not built on rising ground on the outskirts of the town such as Stamford Hill, thus providing sentries with a scenic view of the surrounding countryside, rather than down in the hollow next to St Peter’s Pool.

No matter. Any student of Bourne’s history will know that there has never been a detailed expert excavation of the site to prove the castle theory one way or another, and that includes the oft-quoted dig of 1861, although exponents continue to cite sources they found on Google or in the public library, all populist presumptions but none of which are conclusive. The lads operating the castleometer, or whatever they call it, will undoubtedly come up with something we are unable to see or feel and as sure as eggs are eggs the conjecture will be that we have the remains of another Neuschwanstein on our hands.

If some of the wild flowers we dismiss as weeds were hard to locate instead of being found in profusion in waste and wayside places then the world and his wife would seek out their seeds to plant in their gardens because rarity brings out the acquisitive nature in us all and especially in the gardener.

Victorian plant hunters scoured the world during the 19th century to bring back new specimens from remote regions to adorn our herbaceous borders and many of those popular today originated in foreign climes and are now taken for granted. Yet the dandelion, for instance, is a pretty and colourful native flower but one which is subjected each year to noxious chemicals or the trowel each time it rears its little head above the manicured lawn but if left alone then it is indeed a sight to behold, as we are seeing this year along many of our grass verges where it blooms in abundance.

Yellow loosestrife has also a bad press, yet what better display can there be on an outing to Bourne Wood to find these delicate five-petalled flowers in abundance on the margins at the Beech Avenue entrance where despite competition from encroaching nettle beds they thrive as a welcome to walkers for many weeks during the summer months. This tall, erect and handsome plant (Lysimachia vulgaris) can be found along shady riverside banks and other damp places in July and August, often growing up to 4 ft. high, but it has a creeping root which persists year after year which is perhaps why it is not favoured by the more dedicated gardener.

It also has many medicinal properties and has therefore been popular with country folk for centuries, notably to stem bleeding from a fresh wound, a treatment even recommended by the herbalist and physician Nicholas Culpepper (1616-64), and to quieten unruly beasts such as plough oxen by placing sprigs underneath the yoke and so relieve them of the torment from gnats and flies which find it obnoxious, and for this reason the dried herb was often burned in houses to keep such pests away and was therefore popular in marshy districts such the fens. Gardeners of old have suggested that yellow loosestrife can be attractive in the domestic plot where they will thrive if the soil is moist although their perennial roots do spread and perhaps the neighbours might not approve of the intrusion. But these flowers are still there to enjoy every summer in the wild and unkempt places around town where they remain a constant delight.

Thought for the week: In the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), 16th President of the United States who successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War.

Saturday 22^nd August 2009

Work is well advanced in erecting fencing around the Abbey Lawn in the latest attempt to prevent further vandalism to the sports facilities within. Iron railings nine feet high are being installed around the perimeter and the frontage with Abbey Road is now almost complete although time will tell whether this will be an effective deterrent.

All previous precautions, including the use of security guards, have failed to deter intruders and the result has been many cases of arson, criminal damage and graffiti at the premises of the cricket and football clubs and complete enclosure is now regarded as the only solution, a sad commentary on society today in which a few unruly and irresponsible youngsters force drastic action on the majority to protect popular amenities that have given so much pleasure in the past.

Each year brings new restrictive measures throughout the town and it often appears to be an impossible battle against the odds to preserve the peaceful way of life that most of us crave but an alternative solution appears to elude those who run our affairs. Tighter security with more fences, railings, steel doors, barbed wire, locks and electronic alarms appear to be the favoured way forward yet none of these precautions are as effective as a uniformed policeman on the beat but those days appear to have gone for good and this is the unfortunate result.

In an ideal world, one in which vandalism had been eradicated, this open space would be left to develop naturally and in the past conservationists were always ready to defend the Abbey Lawn whenever there was a move to make artificial changes. For instance, one of the most attractive features during the 19th century was an avenue of elm trees along the northern boundary with Star Lane, now Abbey Road, interspersed with a number of stone cairns built with materials that may have come either from the Abbey House when it was demolished in 1879 or even from the old abbey itself. But the trees were felled after complaints that they were becoming a health hazard despite widespread protests that their removal would ruin the appearance of the area and there was also a feeling that the trees were being removed for gain rather than to ensure public safety.

The widespread disquiet in the town was voiced by the local correspondent of the Stamford Mercury, Joseph J Davies, headmaster of the Boys' Council or Board School, now the Abbey CE Primary School. On 28th December 1891, he wrote:

The threatened destruction or spoliation of the splendid avenue of ancient elms which, forming the northern boundary of the Abbey Lawn, renders the scenery so picturesque, must be averted. A rumour is current that several of these fine trees have been earmarked, and their cubic dimensions calculated, with a view to their sale. The reason alleged for the destruction of the trees is said to be that, by shading the entire length of the Star Lane, they render it damp. Instead of removing the trees, what is required is that a proper footpath should be made beneath the trees with a gully for drainage.

The objections fell on deaf ears and the trees were cut down. Mr Davies reported on 1st January 1892:

My protest against the demolition of the fine avenue of elms bordering the Abbey Lawn has had no effect. The trees are being merrily felled. Picturesqueness has been sacrificed to profit. The cottages opposite will now be favoured with a better view of the railway line and the stone cairns saved from temporary destruction. It would have been a pity to have removed these for the sake of a few old trees. At the same time, it is a still greater pity that a few picturesque features still remaining to redeem the miserable monotony of the fens cannot be preserved. I suppose there will still be an outcry that the tower of the Abbey Church blocks the light from some stable window. If the complaint is made, one thing is pretty certain: the stable must remain intact.

The eventual fate of the cairns is not known for certain although many such stones survive in Bourne, some in Baldock's Mill where they are on display, some in the grounds of Bourne House in West Street where they have been converted into seats, and others in private gardens around the town. But the incident does illustrate the endeavours of those anxious to save our town from unwanted changes, albeit often without much success in the face of determined people pursuing minority interests.

What the local newspapers are saying: The town centre redevelopment scheme for Bourne trundles on, a bandwagon on three wheels with little prospect of it coming to fruition in the foreseeable future although South Kesteven District Council continues to make valiant efforts to stimulate public interest. It was first promised in August 2001 that the £27 million project would be up and running by 2006 but according to The Local (August 14th) work will not even start until well after 2012 when sufficient land has been acquired, that is if everyone is prepared to sell and another developer can be found, a doubtful prospect in the current economic climate, two prospectives having been lost already.

But despite successive delays, we now have assurances from the council that everything is being done to ensure that the scheme will come to fruition although it would be better if the statements issued were cleansed of official jargon and presented in a language we all readily understand. Wordy and overblown pronouncements beloved of government are always suspect, clumsy and verbose attempts to hide either unpalatable truths or delay and obfuscation, and so it appears in this case.

For instance, Councillor Frances Cartwright, the council’s portfolio holder for economic development, told the newspaper: “This project is one of our priorities and today we have shown our commitment to making it a success by approving the acquisition strategy. It will support our desire for Bourne to continue to be a vibrant and economically prosperous and growing market town. Our ambition is to have a development which will provide an improved retail offer, adequate parking and a pleasant experience for residents and visitors. The strategy identifies key sites for acquisition subject to certain conditions and secondary sites which may be suitable for the future and also identifies about a quarter of the site which is considered to be not a priority to buy but will continue to be regularly reviewed.”

This could have been put much simpler and appears to mean that everything is being done to acquire the necessary land over the next three years to ensure that development will eventually go ahead although it does seem to be a little late in the day for a scheme that is now running eight years behind the original timescale and no doubt in this unsettling financial climate the projected cost will also have dramatically increased by the time the first bricks are laid.

Councillors who are really concerned with the future of this town might like to explain why so much housing is being dumped on it, far too much for the current infrastructure to bear and pushing our schools and medical facilities to the limit. Most of the recent new developments are high density, that is crowding too many in too small a space that has recently been described as a rabbit-hutch appearance (Daily Mail, August 12th) with the smallest rooms in Europe and sometimes insufficient space to cook and relax, when compared with the spacious homes and gardens created during the last century by the former Bourne Urban District Council.

Practically every new scheme that comes along is rejected by the town council but their protests are in vain and all seem to be approved despite their unsuitability for a small market town such as this which should be left to grow organically, that is by a natural process of expansion rather then enforced development. Yet even more new houses are on the way as part of the core strategy document which sets out South Kesteven District Council’s planning guidelines for the area and suggests that over 11,000 new homes are needed. Of these, 7,000 would be in Grantham, 999 in Stamford, 788 in the Deepings, 767 in the larger villages and 1,792 in Bourne.

Why this town should have so many more houses is a mystery particularly as the document suggests that they are necessary to meet the demands of the community which is utter nonsense because those who live here cannot afford to buy what is already on offer. Stamford is lodging an objection and with almost double the number proposed for Bourne, there will almost certainly be an outcry from the town council when the subject comes up for discussion later this year.

The summer holidays are not over and the August Bank Holiday is yet to come but for some of our traders the festive season is just around the corner. This week we spotted a notice in the window of the Angel Hotel in Bourne advertising the Christmas menu and urging us to book a table. Is there no let up to this constant demand for our cash? For goodness sake, give us all a break.

Message from abroad: How delightful! It's like a mini vacation to browse through your lovely web site. Thanks so much for all the effort it must take to produce such a superior presentation. Greatest regards. - email from Loretta J Willits, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, Thursday 20th August 2009.

Most of us salute the perfect life yet few achieve it but recognise it when we see it. The epitaphs on the tombstones in our churchyards and cemeteries may often be overstated but there must have been sufficient justification by the relatives or friends who put them there for future generations to observe and even to follow.

Inscriptions which predate the early 19th century have been mostly obliterated by wind and weather but we do have a note of the more worthy which were described by historians of the period and there is one memorial in the churchyard at Folkingham, near Bourne, that has been immortalised by the printer and publisher William Marratt in his survey of Lincolnshire carried out in 1814-17, over the grave of Amy Berry. She was the wife of William Berry, a surgeon and apothecary, who died in 1811, aged 64, and who must have been a paragon of virtue because the inscription placed there by her husband and two sorrowing daughters says:

In uniform piety to God, warm benevolence to her fellow creatures, domestic affection and unaffected sincerity, she exhibited that which speaks more than the tongues of men and angels, which is more instructive than precept, more persuasive than eloquence, more authoritatively commanding than law; the amiable and pleasing example.

Few people can aspire to this goodness and it is a pity that we do not know more about Amy Berry and to discover why she was so highly regarded. Tombstones today mostly carry less eloquent epitaphs although we should not regard this as a sign that the righteousness illustrated here has vanished from our lives with the passing of the years.

Thought for the week: The whole of life is but a moment of time. It is our duty, therefore to use it, not to misuse it. - Plutarch (AD 46-120), Greek historian, biographer, essayist.

Saturday 29^th August 2009

Official opening of the Horace Stanton memorial garden

The trustees of Bourne United Charities are to be applauded for their current work at the Abbey Lawn, even though much of it has been forced on them by circumstances. The fencing along the frontage in Abbey Road has been tastefully designed and looks good, even belying its real purpose of keeping out unwanted intruders, while the renewal of the stone wall at the western end has been a painstaking labour of skill and craftsmanship worthy of the masons of old.

The meadows within are part of our history, having been used by the people of this town for centuries, long before responsibility passed to BUC in 1931, and as the grounds are within the conservation area designated in July 1977, it is right that they are maintained in first class condition at a time when much of our heritage is under threat.

Another much needed task, that of refurbishing the garden immediately behind the wall in Abbey Road, is also being tackled with gusto by volunteers from the Bourne Green Gym project, a scheme run by the British Trust of Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) which allows young and old alike improve their health and the environment at the same time. This particular group of eleven members comprise the team recruited by Lincolnshire NHS through the Hereward Group Practice in Exeter Street under project manager Rosemary Blakesley, the first of its kind in the country.

Every Tuesday, they have been busy on the current project of cleaning up the site, wrongly described I might add, as the former Salvation Army garden because it is in fact the memorial garden established in July 1983, six years after the death of local solicitor Horace Stanton, to mark the work that he did for the town, notably in being instrumental in the purchase of the meadowland which became the Abbey Lawn. It consisted of a paved area with shrubs and a seat and was built by pupils of Bourne Secondary School as part of a Project Respond scheme sponsored by the National Westminster Bank in which schools were given financial help to carry out community projects.

Mr Stanton (1897-1977) was chosen for the memorial because of his continuing work for the town during his lifetime and particularly his long and distinguished clerkship to the trustees of Bourne United Charities but the garden was not well kept in the years that have followed and was frequently used as a shortcut by walkers and children with their cycles. But as there was no plaque there to record its dedication, confusion over its origins may be forgiven although it is surprising that none of the trustees remembered because one of them, Councillor John Smith, was chairman at the time and officiated at the handing over ceremony on 20th July 1983 while another, Councillor Don Fisher, also attended in his capacity as Mayor of Bourne.

The Green Gym team has several projects in hand but this has a particular appeal in that it lies within the town amid a well used amenity and both Rosemary and her volunteers are full of enthusiasm for the task which should be completed by the end of the summer. “Most are recovering from some form of medical trauma”, she said, “but this work is a beneficial therapy that does not involve taking pills or medication. We should all try to be fitter and at the same time we are made increasingly aware of the importance of our environment and so we can leave something good for the future generations to enjoy while at the same time giving ourselves the chance of a better, healthier life.”

This project has already transformed a near derelict area and it is to be hoped that we hear more from the Bourne Green Gym in the future.

One man who would have appreciated the work being done is the late Terry Bates (1936-2009) who died in January and whose passing meant that Bourne lost not only a major sporting personality but also someone who cared deeply for the Abbey Lawn where his notable cricketing Sundays featuring national stars and players have now become an annual feature and are being continued in his name. The tradition is being perpetuated by his family, notably his daughter, Lisa Ashpole, who has taken over the organisation in conjunction with Bourne Town Cricket Club.

This year’s Lord’s Taverners match has been fixed for Sunday 6th September and looks like being one of the best ever with the home side facing a celebrity team captained by television personality Chris Tarrant and including the ex-England rugby player Tim Stimpson, former England cricket captain Mike Gatting and TV soap stars Frazer Hines (Emmerdale) and Charles Dale (Coronation Street). Another familiar face, television personality Lorraine Chase, will be signing autographs at the event which has been arranged as a family occasion filled with activities for all ages with the object of raising money for charity.

“I think Dad would be really pleased with this year’s organisation”, said Lisa in an interview with The Local (August 21st). “He had done quite a lot before he died but we have finalised everything and hopefully we will have a very successful day.”

What the local newspapers are also saying: The War Memorial in South Street contains the names of 97 men from the locality who lost their lives during the Great War of 1914-18 although the list is by no means complete and the Stamford Mercury reports that another may be one of the victims found in a mass grave currently being excavated in France (August 21st).

He was Private John Swift serving with the 2nd/7th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment who was killed at the Battle of Fromelles on 19th July 1916. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission which has responsibility in these matters is now trying to make a positive identification in order that he may be laid to rest with due military honours while the Bourne branch of the Royal British Legion wishes his name to be added to the roll of honour on the War Memorial.

The best method of establishing an identification is by tracing immediate relatives and taking a DNA sample, a simple but effective procedure, but after almost 100 years it is difficult to trace members of the family especially when information about the dead soldier’s life is not always easy to find. The newspaper has been given some details by a Lincolnshire man, Richard Parker, who discovered that Private Swift’s name was not on the War Memorial while researching his family history and he is hoping that the story will stimulate further interest.

Census returns from 1901 and 1911 have already established that John Swift’s parents were Charles William Swift, a local grocer, and his wife Sarah, who lived originally in Gladstone Street, Bourne, and then in Meadowgate, Bourne, and he was one of five children, the others being Annie (born 1887), William (1888), Edith (1890), and Kathleen (1900), but John subsequently moved to London to live with his grandmother and it is not known when he enlisted. There the trail ends until that fateful day in 1916 when he fell during the first major battle on the Western Front in which the 5th Australian Division suffered 5,533 casualties, 1,780 of them killed, and the 61st British Division lost 1,547 men, either killed, wounded or taken prisoner, all within a 24-hour period.

Some 400 of the dead were buried by the Germans in mass graves at Pheasant Wood near the village of Fromelles, confirmed during a limited excavation in May 2008, and a full exhumation began this spring. Although lists of names are not available, it has been possible to draw up a pool of possible identities of the victims with formal identification being made by DNA testing which should be completed by next year.

My own records enable me take the story a little further in that Private Swift’s grandfather was almost certainly William Peck Swift, a grocer and draper of Church Street [now Abbey Road], whose business was taken over by Charles William Swift whose younger brother, John Thomas Swift (1855-1939), became a leading citizen as magistrate, chairman of the old Bourne Urban District Council, county councillor and alderman, and is best remembered for his book about the town which was published in 1925, Bourne and People Associated with Bourne. His own son, Ashby Swift (1882-1941), who was therefore Private Swift’s first cousin, was one of our leading local photographers who also served with the Royal Flying Corps during the Great War.

Both J T Swift and Ashby Swift are buried in the town cemetery but exhumation for DNA sampling is unlikely in this case and so it will depend on finding relatives. There is another branch of the family still living who were regular visitors to this web site and I have emailed them asking them to get in touch and perhaps assist in this worthy cause.

Cats are undoubtedly the biggest killers of garden birds and all lovers of nature try to keep them at bay but seem to be fighting a loosing battle. Apart from this, they also cause a nuisance and a health hazard by fouling flower beds and borders and any other patch of soil they can find. Failing that, they have started scratching holes in the lawn to do their business and it has been a regular occurrence to find several of these which need cleaning out week after week and the area renewed with soil and grass seed.

The garden centres suggest several methods of keeping these pests at bay but none seem to have been successful, the green crystals widely advertised as a deterrent soon melt away and pepper dust which is also on sale disappears after the first shower of rain. I discussed the problem with my neighbour who mentioned a new device that he had used successfully to keep out these unwanted intruders and suggested that I give it a try and so I duly installed his electronic gewgaw for a trial period, grandly described as a mega-sonic cat repeller.

I was sceptical, having heard that similar devices were totally useless, but was pleasantly surprised after a few days to realise that it was in fact 100% per cent successful and after a quick check on the Internet for the supplier, bought one for myself which is now up and running. These devices are battery operated and throw out an infra-red beam which constantly monitors a 98 degree arc up to a distance of 12 metres and as they are small and portable, can be anchored in the most convenient position and any cat moving into it triggers a burst of continuously variable ultrasound which they cannot stand and move away.

It can take 14-28 days to deliver the full deterrent effect for cats that have been calling regularly but occasional visitors disappear within seven days. In my own case, they all vanished within three days and we have not seen one since and if anyone out there is having similar problems and sends me an email, I will let them have the address of the supplier where they are available by post at 30% less than the garden centres.

Thought for the week: The cat is domestic only as far as suits its own ends - Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), British writer best known for his short stories (1870-1916).

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