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Saturday 6th February 2010
A busy market day in past times - see "There was a distinct
air . . . "
The greatest fear of the elderly today is being taken ill in the
evening or at weekends because experience has shown that help may be a long time
coming. This weakness in the National Health Service was revealed in all of its
horror by the Daily Telegraph this week with an investigation which found
one overnight general practitioner in England on call for as many as 650,000
people (February 1st).
This affects us all but I have singled out the elderly because they are among
the most vulnerable in society today who are particularly at risk from the
worsening of a diagnosed malaise or the sudden onset of illness and in view of
their age, expert treatment is vital, administered speedily and precisely, which
obviously cannot be expected with the doctor-patient ratio quoted by the report.
The newspaper identified “gaping holes” in out-of-hours services across England
and warned that there could be a repeat of the errors that have already
contributed to the death of several patients. Services have become so stretched
and understaffed that some practices have resorted to flying in doctors from
abroad to cover shifts and questions have been raised about their competence and
language skills as a result.
The problem began in 2004 because until then family doctors were responsible for
their patients around the clock, making localised agreements to provide cover
and ensure time off, a system which dated from the beginnings of the NHS in
1948. But new contracts for doctors split the workload making them responsible
only for care from 8 am until 6.30 pm with primary care trusts commissioning a
service out of hours. From this date, the service has gone downhill while the
average pay for doctors has soared to in excess of £100,000 a year.
Unfortunately, ill health does not keep office hours and it is those who need a
doctor at evenings and weekends who are now at risk. The NHS is making a
vigorous attempt to defend itself against the newspaper’s investigation but
anyone who has been taken ill when the clinics are closed will know the daunting
task they or their friends and relatives face in getting help and dialling 999
is often seen as the only way out.
The solution to this problem is not an easy one but first it must be recognised
that it exists. Certainly the old system where the doctor was always on call
could not continue but the new practice of nine to five working five days a week
is equally flawed. The health secretary, Andy Burnham, was clearly flummoxed
when questioned on the issue during an interview on the BBC Radio’s Today
programme on Monday morning but on being pressed by presenter John Humphrys
eventually acknowledged that there is a crisis which was “unacceptable and not
good enough” but was at a complete loss as to how it could be improved.
Five day working for general practitioners is a modern phenomenon that
has crept up on us year by year whereas in times past, before the arrival of the
NHS and for some time after, the family doctor was always on call and, right or
wrong, that is what was expected. In an out of hours emergency, the patient is
unlikely to find comfort from the bedside manner of a familiar face so common in
past times because those who espoused the hands on treatment fictionalised by
the excellent Dr Finlay of television fame, and practised in this town by the
founders of the Galletly practice, are long dead and the lifeline out of hours
are now the ambulance and paramedics although the care they provide in
emergencies is beyond reproach.
In 1927, Dr John Alistair Galletly (1899-1993), who had been studying in London,
took over from his father, also called John, who had built No 40 North Road,
home of the present practice, and thus began a lifelong love of Bourne and its
people, swapping the routine of hospital work in the metropolis for a daily
round of births and deaths, fractures and bruises, extracting teeth and tonsils,
dealing with diseases and infections and even mixing his own medicines. At one
time, he delivered more than 50 babies a year, attended road accidents,
performed operations on the kitchen table, attended the Butterfield Hospital for
consultations and saw patients at his surgery twice a day yet was always on call
and still found time for an active public life with many organisations including
Bourne Urban District Council of which he became chairman.
His night calls were many, often a hazardous expedition epitomised by his own
description of walking or cycling to outlying villages in bad weather to attend
emergencies, sometimes even losing his way in the dark, as remembered in his
memoirs:
A worse night venture was to a farm on the
other side of the Weir Dyke. There was no road across the fields to Twenty so
one walked along the bank, crossed over the sluice gates that controlled the
Bourne Eau, then gingerly across the Weir Dyke and, approaching the crew yard,
you hugged the wall until you saw the welcome light of an oil lamp in the
window. But always there was the kindness of one's patients, despite their hard
living conditions, with no water laid on, no indoor toilets. You always got a
cup of tea after attending a confinement and despite the conditions in which
they lived, it was always served on a clean tablecloth with a slice of cake or a
piece of pie.
It would be unrealistic to expect the hours that Dr Galletly worked to be
emulated today but even he would have criticised the sweeping changes in general
practice that have resulted in doctors working fewer hours for more pay because
people’s fears in time of illness remain unchanged. The NHS has brought
tremendous benefits in patient care that are obviously far better than the old
ways and although today’s system is generally far more efficient, this does not
mean to say that it cannot be improved.
There was an air of gloom over the market on Saturday with
the smallest turnout of stallholders for many years, just three traders
operating and business did not appear to be brisk for any of them. All were
regular faces selling food, fruit and vegetables, eggs and cakes and pies, but
there was a distinct lack of custom and the conversation among those who did
turn up inevitably turned to the future of this once busy and much loved
community facility.
Most people seem to think that the days of the market are numbered and the
perennial cry that it should return to the streets where it was located prior to
the opening of this paved space in 1990 is an unlikely solution to the present
ills. The majority opinion was one of changing times and that once the new Tesco
supermarket is up and running on South Road there will be even more drastic
changes in our shopping habits.
The weekly market does seem to be an anachronism, a feature from the past still
clinging on for survival and yet loved and patronised by many but both traders
and shoppers are fickle and do only what is best for themselves and so unless
what is on offer has an appeal for the majority it will not last. Yet we still
expect to travel to outlying towns, as others do to us, and find a picture
postcard market operating but occasional visits by trippers on sunny days do not
keep the traders in business. They must have a steady local custom to survive
and conversely, shoppers must have an assortment of traders doing business to
make their trip worthwhile.
Perhaps it was the cold weather on Saturday which kept both stallholders and
shoppers away and it is to be hoped that with warmer days ahead the picture will
change. The disappearance of this amenity after more than 700 years would be an
unthinkable loss but we have an economy in which supply is dictated by demand
and the weekly market will only remain if it is supported by both traders and
shoppers and not because it is an attractive feature of this town.
The new Tesco supermarket was also a ubiquitous topic of conversation at
Sainsburys as we completed our Saturday morning shopping and the consensus was
that competition of this calibre is badly needed. This supermarket has done well
for Bourne and is patronised by most who have few complaints except for the
inadequate car parking and the interminable wait at the tills with long queues
of impatient customers waiting while checkouts at one end remained closed.
Saturday morning is a particular problem when the world and his wife seem to be
thronging the aisles, yet even after twenty minutes in store you have to face
another fifteen minutes of impatience before you can pay. Tesco have a policy of
no waiting which is well demonstrated at their branch at Market Deeping and so
it is certain that Sainsburys will need to address this issue if they are to
survive the competition which will surely come.
The other point is pricing, a marketing strategy adopted by all of the big
companies, with Sainsburys deftly avoiding Morrisons and Lidl at Stamford and
displaying their comparisons with Tesco, presumably their Express petrol outlet
in North Road where shopping can be the costliest outing in town. The new Tesco
store is certain to drive down prices and Sainsburys will be forced to follow
suit and that can only be good for the consumer.
Opposition to the new Tesco store continues in letters to the local
newspapers although in the minority, the main grievance of those who do protest
being the possible loss of our small shops. This may be a valid point but
progress cannot be halted simply to assist some traders at the expense of others
and it should be remembered that any outlet offering a commodity or service
which the public requires will survive. This cannot be achieved by those who
cling to past practices such as early day closing on Wednesdays with customers
finding certain specialist establishments shut when the rest of the town is open
for business.
A town filled with small shops each catering for its own speciality with nary a
supermarket in sight is, like our weekly market, a subject for the picture
postcards and although highly desirable, distinctly lacking in possibility. If
it could happen then it would be so but those who run small shops seem to think
they have a claim on our loyalty and are worthy of special treatment whereas
they are no better than the customer by doing what is best for themselves and
not for the town.
For this reason many shops that once provided a valuable service in Bourne such
as haberdashery, saddlery and leather goods, glassware and porcelain, fish and
game, toys, delicatessen and fruit and vegetables, have closed merely because
the owners have either retired or departed for pastures new without a thought
for where their customers will go. The loyalty demanded never existed and their
survival depended entirely on the balance sheet or their plans for the future.
Larger stores therefore are necessary for our survival as a consumer society and
as we are buying more in larger quantities and preferring to drive there in the
process, it makes sense to complete these purchases with as little fuss as
necessary and under one roof if possible in a building which has adequate
parking. For this reason, the supermarket has arrived to fill the need and is
here to stay and all future developments in shopping will be centred on these
retail emporiums rather than the small shops. This may not please everyone but
will most certainly suit the majority.
Thought for the week: A person buying ordinary products in a supermarket
is in touch with his deepest emotions. - John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006),
Canadian-American economist and leading proponent of 20th-century American
liberalism and progressivism whose books were best sellers through three
decades.
Saturday 13th February 2010
The decision by a government planning inspector to
disallow the building of 65 affordable homes in Manning Road on the grounds that
the town has insufficient land for industrial development highlights the dilemma
facing Bourne in the choice between homes and jobs and has split opinion among
those who run our affairs.
In fact, the choice of areas for industrial or residential development has
become a chicken and egg situation and one that will not be resolved by the
stalemate that has ensued over the current planning application which has been
given a great deal of flak from the start. Longhurst Homes submitted its
application in October 2008 for the four acres of land to the north of Manning
Road lying between the playing field of Bourne Abbey CE Primary School and the
AHF store, currently used for agricultural purposes but designated for
development by business and industry. The scheme was to deliver a mix of flats,
houses and bungalows for rent and shared ownership together with 104 car parking
spaces and the company was ready to start work within a few months.
But the writing appeared to be on the wall when the Mayor of Bourne, Councillor
Shirley Cliffe, said that she was against it because there was to be no
residential development on that land although this dogmatic view was not shared
by Councillor Linda Neal (Bourne West), who is also leader of South Kesteven
District Council, because she told the Stamford Mercury (21st November
2008): “We need jobs first to be able to afford the houses but such is the need
for sustainable affordable homes in Bourne that the district council has
welcomed the application for new properties offering a mix of social rented and
shared ownership properties.”
In the event, the council rejected the planning application which then went to
appeal which the inspector, Julia Gregory, has now turned down but the argument
is not yet over and although the company told The Local that it would not
be pursuing the development “for the time being” (February 5th) this does not
rule out the possibility that another planning application will be submitted
before very long.
The present mayor, Councillor Trevor Holmes (Bourne West) is pleased with the
outcome because he told the newspaper that although the town needs new houses,
they should not be built at the expense of employment opportunities. But John
Kirkman, former town, district and county councillor, disagreed with the
decision and questioned the use of this particular piece of land for industry.
He is also chairman of the governors of the nearby primary school and as such,
made a very valid point when he told the newspaper: “I believe there are other
areas in the town that would be more suitable for job creation rather than this
site which is next to an elderly persons’ complex and opposite a school playing
field which does seem a bit odd.”
Furthermore, the Rainbow supermarket across the road has been earmarked for new
housing together with the old Raymond Mays garage site and the auction salerooms
nearby in Spalding Road and so eventually a completely new estate will occupy
this part of town which does seem to make an isolated industrial area rather
incongruous especially when there are large swathes of land in the designated
Cherryholt Road zone currently vacant and with little hope of development in the
foreseeable future.
The best solution would be for the site to remain as farmland and therefore part
of our green belt but it is obviously going to be sold for one purpose or
another and if decisions are being made on the issue because it is earmarked for
industry in the local plan then perhaps the time has come for it to be
drastically amended.
Councillors are only too ready to point out that we need more jobs in
Bourne but this does seem a bad time to make decisions on that principle
because, like the rest of the country, we are feeling the effects of the
recession. But even without that consideration, the town has not exactly been a
magnet for employers and South Kesteven District Council has a poor record in
enticing new businesses to start up, notably the failure of the £10 million
Southfields Business Park and the £27 million redevelopment of the town centre.
Meanwhile, we have one of the best educational establishments in the county,
Bourne Grammar School, turning out highly qualified youngsters every year who
must seek jobs elsewhere because opportunities locally are at a premium while a
similar annual exodus occurs at the Robert Manning College. It would therefore
follow that the building of new homes, affordable or not, is not a priority
unless this accommodation is for people from outside the area and who work
elsewhere. It would also be hard to argue that the Manning Road housing project
is an immediate necessity when the same developer is already busy at several
other locations in the district, notably the Red Hall Gardens and the Old
Laundry site.
The worrying aspect of the current situation is that there appears to be no
central policy to co-ordinate all of these endeavours to ensure that those
youngsters who are studying for their future careers can find employment and
then housing all within the same locality and that each sphere of activity is
pressing ahead with its own agenda without thought for the final conclusion.
Some will quote the establishment of a new Tesco supermarket as a major
employment opportunity by creating 300 new jobs but although this retail outlet
will be a welcome addition to our shopping options, vacancies manning the
checkouts will not appeal to the A level leavers from Bourne Grammar School.
What the local newspapers are also saying: A report that stretches our
credulity to the limit appears in the The Local suggesting that a private
security firm is considering street patrols in Bourne to reduce crime at a cost
of 39p per day for homes and businesses (February 12th). This will be greeted
with dismay by the majority who have until now understood that these matters are
the province of the police and although their reputation for maintaining law and
order has taken a knock in recent years, there is still a secure feeling in
knowing that our men in blue are on call in times of trouble.
Furthermore, the police force is financed at local level through the council tax
and business rate which by far outweighs government grants and in Lincolnshire,
this accounted for half of the total annual budget of £120 million during the
current financial year. To be asked to give more for additional private patrols
to carry out duties which have already been paid for through the system is
therefore quite unacceptable and morally flawed.
The company, which already carries out patrols in Spalding and Boston, is
offering a similar service for Bourne around neighbourhoods and business
premises using trained security officers wearing video headsets although they
would not have powers of arrest and in the event of an incident would have to
call the police. A spokesman told the newspaper that the scheme was aimed at
providing community assurance and is now testing reaction “to decide if 39p is
worth paying for safer streets” although there is no indication as to whether
these patrols would be enforced when they were most needed, at weekends and
especially on Friday and Saturday nights.
The company is suggesting random patrols on four nights a week with an officer
on call and a marked response vehicle and their logic behind this project is
also explained by the company. “The only reason we believe Bourne would benefit
from such a service is not because it suffers from a high level of crime but to
release the police for more serious incidents”, said the spokesman, thus
negating the original purpose of the initiative.
If there is no high level of crime then the police are not around, as indeed
they are not apart from the odd community support officer, and so there is
absolutely no need for added security patrols, a conclusion that has already
been reached by Lincolnshire Police because they told the newspaper that there
was adequate capacity to cope with all levels of law breaking and anti-social
behaviour in the area. “We have a very simple message which is that we do not
need a private security firm patrolling our streets”, said Inspector Gary
Stewart, who is in charge of policing in Bourne. “People have the right to make
up their own mind about whether they wish to pay for one but we are quite clear
that it is unnecessary” - and that would appear to be the last word on the
subject.
The term Darby and Joan has entered the language to describe a happily
married couple who have lead a placid and uneventful life and are recognised for
their loving, old fashioned and virtuous qualities, and is now frequently used
to define a social centre for senior citizens, a place for people of advanced
years to meet others and enjoy themselves. These clubs have been thriving for at
least the past half a century, many springing up in the years following the
Second World War of 1939-45 when the welfare state brought a fresh impetus in
care for the elderly.
John Darby and his wife Joan were first mentioned in a poem published in The
Gentleman's Magazine by Henry Woodfall in 1735 when he was apprenticed to Mr
Darby, a printer from the town of Bartholemew Close. The apparent popularity of
this poem led to another by St John Honeywood (1763-98) and even Lord Byron
referred to the old couple in a letter he wrote in December 1811. But it was the
lawyer Frederick Edward Weatherly (1848-1929), also a prolific song writer, who
kept the torch burning for this rustic couple in Victorian times with his
popular poem Darby and Joan which concludes with the lines:
Hand in hand when our life
was May
Hand in hand when our hair is grey
Shadow and sun for every one,
As the years roll on;
Hand in hand when the long night tide
Gently covers us side by side–
Ah! lad, though we know not when,
Love will be with us forever then:
Always the same, Darby my own,
Always the same to your old wife Joan.
This, then, is the literary history of a term which has been in
use for more than 200 years and in 1960 became an obvious choice of name for the
hall which had just been opened in South Street as a meeting place for the
town's elderly people, a much needed facility at a time when old men with time
on their hands had been seen chatting in the streets for want of a place to go.
But one of our readers has found it hard to accept. Following my recent article
on the refurbishment of the club, Linda Chatfield emailed to say: “I would just
like to comment that the name Darby and Joan has some negative connotations. At
least to me and people I have mentioned it to. Is this unusual? As a retired
person, I would be very reluctant to set foot in something called Darby and
Joan."
Fortunately these sentiments are not widespread. Although we do qualify for
membership, other activities occupy our time and our only visit was some months
ago to meet club officials and check out some of the history but on that
occasion the place was packed and I have never seen so many old people enjoying
themselves quite so much although as my wife pointed out, they were all probably
much junior to me in years. The moral therefore appears to be that if you are as
young as you feel then nomenclature is of little concern provided it serves the
intended function as it does here to much local acclaim.
Thought for the week: In the end, it's not the years in your life that
count but the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), a country
lawyer who became the 16th President of the United States from 1861 until his
assassination in 1865.
Saturday 20th February 2010
German prisoners give a concert - see "The recent cold spell .
. . "
There is some suspicion
about public consultations
conducted by official organisations because they do not have a good record in
reflecting what the people really think. These exercises are frequently paraded
as part of the democratic process yet most believe them to be a pretence of
participation, window dressing which hides the fact that those who inspire them
have usually made up their minds on the issue.
A consultation is about to be launched over the proposed £27 million redevelopment
scheme for Bourne town centre, a project that has been on and off for almost a
decade without a single brick being laid and South Kesteven District Council has
decided to ask the people how to proceed. The situation is summed up by the
leader, Councillor Linda Neal (Bourne West), in an interview with the The
Local (February 19th) when she said: “We will soon be asking the
local community their views about whether we should continue with the project or
try a different approach. My view is that it has been such a long time since we
asked people’s opinions that we need to see that what is intended to be provided
is something people still want.”
We only need to ask how much this has cost already to decide whether it is worth
proceeding, wasted money that would have been better spent elsewhere, while the
estimated £27 million will be many times more if it ever comes to
fruition. The basic fault is that the original scheme is vastly out of date yet
is still being quoted as viable whereas the world has moved on in the nine years
that it has been on the drawing board and shopping centres such as that proposed
for Bourne are now facing meltdown around the country.
The Anglia Regional Co-operative Society has just sold its holding at Market
Deeping and in the future will be renting its own premises, the Rainbow store,
from the new owners as a result, a scenario reminiscent of the demise of
Woolworths after trading successfully for more than a century, while the Bourne
outlet faces closure once the new Tesco supermarket on South Road is up and
running. Elsewhere in Britain, negative equity is widespread throughout the
commercial property sector and it has become a common occurrence for centres to
be worth less than the cash loaned by the banks to build them in the first
place. It is therefore difficult to imagine how a redevelopment of Bourne town
centre can materialise in this financial climate and we wonder why the council
with its highly paid advisers is even asking the question whether it should
proceed when the answer is obvious to all.
Blaming the recession however is merely passing the buck for a failed
initiative. There was no economic crisis when the new town centre scheme was
suggested in August 2001 yet we were presented with a succession of
misjudgements that have resulted in the current impasse with SKDC still seeking
a suitable developer yet owning 37% of the designated area bought with public
money and now standing idle and largely unused while feeble attempts are made to
lease the vacant and valuable properties on its books to help recoup some of the
unnecessary expenditure. Local authorities ought to observe the old proverb that
a cobbler should stick to his last. They are in the business of spending our
money wisely by providing public services and not to enter the commercial world
of buying and letting properties which, as in this case, can only be a sign of
total and abject failure.
The answer to Bourne’s commercial ills is not the building of a new shopping
centre but the rejuvenation of the old and this can only be done by routing
traffic away from the traditional town centre as has happened in other
Lincolnshire market towns such as Sleaford, Brigg and Spalding and pave the way
for organic growth. To ask shoppers compete with heavy vehicles trundling past a
few feet away on a major trunk road, creating a permanent hazard and spewing out
unhealthy fumes, is merely applying a sticking plaster to the wound and the
local authorities who have consistently ignored this obvious solution for more
than a century are now reaping the results.
SKDC may continue to ask the public questions but the obvious answer will be
conveniently avoided and that is bypasses for both the main A15 trunk road and
the A151 which intersect in the town centre, thus relieving Bourne of through
traffic and allowing shoppers free access and the chance for shops to expand in
a welcoming retail environment such as that envisaged for the new town centre.
There are two factors against this, the main one being that roads are funded
mainly by government at national and local level whereas shopping developments
depend almost entirely on private finance. The other is that Lincolnshire County
Council, the highways authority, will need to participate in such a project and
as we have learned to our cost that the wheels of one local bureaucracy grind
exceeding slow, it is unimaginable how long such a project might take if two
became involved.
The soldier poet Rupert Brooke wrote about burial after being killed in
action that “there is some corner of a foreign field that is forever England”
and so it will be with Private John Swift whose death has recently been
remembered in this town by the discovery of his body in a mass grave dug after
the disastrous Battle of Fromelles during the Great War of 1914-18. Ninety years
on and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is giving him and his 250 comrades
from the British and Australian Forces a last resting place with full military
honours in a new £1.5 million cemetery in Northern France.
The battle on 19th July 1916 was the first major confrontation on the Western
Front involving British and Australian troops. In total, the 61st British
Division suffered losses of 1,547 personnel who were either killed, wounded,
taken prisoner or missing. The 5th Australian Division suffered 5,533 similar
losses. Work to recover the soldiers buried there by German forces began in
2008, their remains having been recovered following a four month operation by
Oxford Archaeology. DNA samples were taken from each soldier and specialists in
this country have assisted with the identification process.
Private Swift of the 2nd/7th Battalion, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, whose
descendants still live in Bourne, was among those expected to be reburied with
an unnamed headstone in the new Fromelles Military Cemetery and relatives will
be able to add a personalised inscription at a later date.
The first of a series of military funerals has already been held
and there will be others until all have been laid to rest, moving and emotional
occasions on which we would do well to ponder the futility of war and the
reasons why they continue, a subject that has a particular resonance at this
time during the repeated acts of informal public mourning at Wootton Bassett in
Wiltshire where the hearses containing the bodies of men who had been serving in
Afghanistan have passed through the town on their way from RAF Lyneham.
Philosophers argue that armed conflict is not the way to settle disputes between
nations and that the time has come to use the skills of our diplomats to the
full to ensure that not a single soldier is killed when countries clash but
recent experience has proved that self-seeking politicians ignore these
entreaties and so lives continue to be lost needlessly in causes that are beyond
our comprehension.
The recent cold spell has brought back memories of past winters during
the Second World War of 1939-45 when German prisoners of war were stationed in
the locality. Jim Stubley of East Street, Rippingale, has written two letters to
the Stamford Mercury (January 15th & 29th) remembering that many were
still here during the severe winter of 1947 and were called out to help clear
drifting snow from the roads, particularly along Doctor's Lane in order that Dr
Geoffrey Morris could get out to visit his patients. They also helped pull and
top sugar beet, the arduous method of harvesting by hand before mechanisation,
and pick potatoes, a similarly back-breaking task, and by this time they had all
become well known and had even integrated in village life, an echo of similar
circumstances thirty years before.
Fifty-six German prisoners had been sent to Rippingale during the Great War of
1914-18, half of them living in the clubroom at the Bull Inn and the rest at
Camp Farm in the nearby fen and all were employed on vital agricultural work.
The war was practically over and so they were billeted in the village rather
than imprisoned and were soon accepted by the local inhabitants, even taking
part in village life by giving concerts.
At Christmas 1918, villagers threw a party for them and presented each one with
a silver sixpence with which they made trinkets such as brooches and rings that
were hung on a Christmas tree. The photograph above shows some of the German
prisoners at Rippingale Fen on 19th April 1919 shortly before they returned home
together with a picture of their concert party which provided so much enjoyment
for the village.
From the archives: James Quanborough, aged 102 years, was found dead in
bed on Tuesday night at his home in Bourne where he had been a Collector of
Tolls for upwards of 40 years. During that time, he had no other support than on
market days, filching and picking up potatoes, carrots, cabbage, horse beans,
etc, which he used to boil together with grains, and thus existed for years. For
14 years he was never shaved and for the past seven years he had not been out of
his room. He died possessed of upwards of £300 which he used to hide in
different parts of his room. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, 1st
October 1790.
The anti-litter policy pursued by South Kesteven District Council is one
to be applauded and although we have little time for men on motor bikes trying
to hand out spot fines to yobs dropping fag packets and empty lager cans, an
idea that was not only naff but also unworkable, the latest initiative to
install well designed receptacles at vantage points around the town should be
well received.
The black metal containers that have just appeared on the streets of Bourne are
rectangular in design and tastefully finished in red, blue, white and green
lettering, inviting shoppers to bin their litter through one of the two large
front slots and use the other for recycling their discarded food and drink cans,
plastic bottles, paper and cardboard, and they are of a suitable size not to
start overflowing and cause an even bigger mess.
Four are to be installed in Bourne and a total of sixteen in Grantham, Stamford
and the Deepings and the first was given a civic send off by Councillor John
Smith (Bourne West) with children from the Abbey CE Primary School who were soon
queuing up to use it. Councillor Smith, portfolio holder for a healthy
environment, said that the new bins would complement the litter bins currently
in use. “The scheme aims to bring recycling into everyday shopping habits”, he
said. “People are used to thinking before they throw away their rubbish and will
find these bins a great help as we try to gather more recyclable waste from our
streets.”
Thought for the week: We are not to throw away those things which can
benefit our neighbour. Goods are called good because they can be used for good.
They are instruments for good in the hands of those who use them properly.
-
Titus Flavius Clemens (circa 150-215), Greek theologian and philosopher also
known as Clement of Alexandria.
Saturday 27th February 2010
The South Road cemetery - see "The town council is seeking . .
. "
The public consultation over the viability of the
proposed £27 million redevelopment project for Bourne town centre is still
awaited although the local newspapers have begun their own survey. The
Stamford Mercury asked (February 12th) whether South Kesteven District
Council should continue with the scheme or whether the recession had put an end
to it, a loaded question because it provided an answer and one that the
authority would welcome because it would let them off the hook.
This web site also raised the subject on the Bourne Forum although we merely
asked contributors for their opinion rather than suggest an answer and, like the
newspaper, we have not received a single reply which indicates that few people
are particularly bothered about a scheme that has been on and off for almost a
decade and has now passed into folklore. The council may therefore assume that
the public has spoken and move on to more productive issues that need attention.
Contributors to the Forum appear to have been far more interested in television
soap operas rather than the future of Bourne because the discussion on last
Friday’s episode of EastEnders on BBC One attracted a tremendous response which
is still continuing. I am on foreign territory here and so apologise if my
summary is incorrect but it would appear that 16.6 million viewers tuned in to
find out who murdered Archie Mitchell, the culmination of a long-running plot
line specially written to coincide with the programme’s 25th anniversary and
featuring 51 members of the cast who had been rehearsing for three days.
No one would wish to deny the people their entertainment but EastEnders does
appear to be a total fabrication of real life which is corroborated by one
contributor, Ken Fox, who is himself an Eastender in exile and was in no doubt
about its authenticity. “I can tell you that this series has been nothing like
life in the east end ever since it came on the air”, he wrote. “None of the
rubbish the BBC would have you believe reflects the ways of those who live
there. The true east end spirit died with the first airing of episode one and
since then, a bigger load of old make believe you could not imagine.”
Certainly, this programme is a far cry from those days of black and white
television when normal life came to a standstill, when the pubs were deserted
and vicars re-arranged services as the nation crowded round its flickering sets
to catch up with the latest episodes of The Forsyte Saga and Dr Finlay’s
Casebook, two of many programmes that had the ring of authenticity without being
placed beyond the fringe by ridiculous plot lines. As in America, fantasy has
overtaken fact in our lives with serial soaps depicting more and more ridiculous
situations, the players usually greedy and self-seeking, forever bickering,
boozing and bonking, and using situations from real life that have been
exaggerated beyond belief yet still have a grisly appeal to the couch potatoes.
But then, perhaps it was always thus. After all, the Romans knew how to keep the
people happy with their bread and circuses and so it is with the telly which has
shown a marked decline in programme standards commensurate with the increase in
viewing time and the rise in public affluence. One contributor to the Forum said
that watching EastEnders was less exciting than watching paint dry, a remark
that attracted a response from a dedicated soap aficionado which may indicate
the intellectual value of such programmes because he replied: “I have never
heard about this activity.” Perhaps he should get out more.
The town council is seeking new land to bury our dead, space to extend
the South Road cemetery for the future but are having little luck in finding
any. A site close by was originally intended for this purpose but the
Environment Agency has ruled it as being unsuitable because it is close to a
water table and existing regulations stipulate that no burial can take place
within 250 metres of a borehole or spring because it could prove unhygienic for
homes and businesses in the vicinity.
That would appear to be bad news for Bourne because the entire town sits on a
massive artesian supply from underground springs that has provided fresh water
for centuries and was responsible for our prosperity during the 19th century and
beyond with as many as 130 boreholes operating by 1969. This may not comply with
obscure small print regulations concerning the disposal of the dead yet does not
appear to deter planners in granting permission for an unprecedented number of
new houses around the locality or builders wanting to construct them although I
have heard it suggested that this is the reason why various lakes and ponds can
be found in the middle of several of our housing estates.
The council should also note the trend that has become prevalent in recent years
that cremations are taking precedence over burials with the result that less
land will be required and it takes only a small mathematical calculation to
conclude that in view of the current death rate in Bourne, the existing vacant
space will suffice for those who choose a traditional burial for many years to
come. Furthermore, for those burials taking place after cremation, there is no
reason why urns containing ashes should not be interred without the interference
of the Environment Agency because the risk to health to which they refer would
not occur.
If and when the town cemetery is full, the alternative in the long term,
according to the Stamford Mercury (February 19th), is to use land north
of Bourne on the A15 near Cawthorpe or Dyke, two villages which are both within
the parish but would be quite unacceptable to most local families although at
the present rate of progress it is almost certain that these areas will be under
bricks and mortar before very long as the march to fill our countryside with
ever more new houses continues unchecked, whether the land is near a water table
or not.
Our approval of South Kesteven District Council’s recycling initiative by
installing new waste containers around the streets for shoppers had hardly been
published when evidence arrived that the system is not working as it should.
Sixteen of the rectangular black metal bins have appeared around the district
including Bourne and the Deepings, tastefully finished in red, blue, white and
green lettering, inviting shoppers to dispose of their litter through one of the
two large front slots and use the other for recycling their discarded food and
drink cans, plastic bottles, paper and cardboard.
This seemed a worthy improvement on the old litter bins especially as Councillor
John Smith (Bourne West), portfolio holder for a healthy environment, launched
the scheme with the intention of bringing recycling into everyday shopping
habits. “People think before they throw away rubbish”, he said, “and they will
find these bins a great help as we try to gather more recyclable waste from our
streets.”
No one will argue with that but any system is only as good as those who run it
and first impressions are not good. An email has arrived from Brian Cannell of
Morton, near Bourne, who writes:
I was changing buses in Market Deeping at
9.30 am on Monday morning when a SKDC vehicle arrived to collect the rubbish
from the new bins. To my surprise the operative emptied both the landfill bin
and the recycling bin into the back of his vehicle, yes, the rubbish that had
been sorted by the public into separate bins was then thrown together into the
back of the council vehicle. The question is why should we bother to sort the
rubbish when the council is going to put it all together anyway?
It can only be hoped that this was nothing more than teething
troubles for the new system and if the public is to be persuaded to use the new
bins then perhaps the council can give an assurance that its efforts in
recycling will be sufficiently worthwhile in the future to secure the
participation of the people by knowing that they are making a difference.
Genealogy has become one of the most popular pursuits of Internet users
in recent years with thousands tracing their family trees through the resources
now on offer which include access to census returns, parish registers and many
other records that may now be checked very quickly whereas searches in past
times were painstaking and time consuming and often involve travelling long
distances to the county archives departments.
Although the objective is to fill in the blanks from our distant past, there
must always be the hope that we will find an illustrious ancestor in our
searches, someone titled or famous perhaps, although as often as not we are more
likely to uncover a black sheep whose activities have been quietly forgotten by
the family through the generations or perhaps that we have a direct line back to
a fallen women who gave birth in the workhouse, a familiar scenario during the
19th century reminiscent of Oliver Twist, the street orphan immortalised in the
novel by Charles Dickens.
Our own Family History section currently has 400 names connected with Bourne
under investigation by amateur genealogists around the world and additions and
fresh information come in almost daily, mostly from our former colonies to where
our courageous forbears set out to seek their fortunes or start a new life,
risking long voyages in sailing ships under the most arduous and trying
conditions yet surviving to raise families, start businesses and make their mark
in their new world.
A large number of our inquiries come from the United States because the
Americans are among the most assiduous of genealogists, often retaining the
services of professional organisations for large fees in the hope of tracing an
ancestor of high or titled birth which they can then embrace as their own.
Several have written in over the past twelve years claiming to be descendants of
Hereward the Wake while one insisted that Gilbert of Sempringham had a definite
place in her ancestry.
But none of the ancestry is quite as illustrious as one amateur researcher on
the other side of the Atlantic who I discovered this week suggests that he is
descended from our own Baldwin Fitzgilbert (1095-1154), Lord of the Manor and
founder of Bourne Abbey around 1138 and whose daughter married Hugh Wake when
patronage passed into the hands of the Wake family who retained it until the
14th century subsequently resisting the king's escheastor, in 1311 and again in
1324, to claim Bourne Abbey as a royal foundation but the Wakes managed to
uphold their rights which were confirmed during a subsequent visit by Edward
III.
Not only does he claim Baldwin as an ancestor but also lists some of his links
with other distinguished personalities from history such as George I (17 X great
grandfather), Charles VI (18 X great uncle), Ferdinand I (14 X great uncle),
Churchill (23 X great grandfather) and Lady Diana (23 X great grandfather)
together with various unnamed presidents of the United States along the way. It
could be argued that most of us are descended from families which lived a
thousand or more years ago and indeed I remember a chart from my days attending
infants’ school showing how George V, who was then on the throne, was descended
directly from King Solomon, but even in these days of information overload that
would be extremely difficult to prove.
Thought for the week: Why waste your money looking up your family tree?
Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.
- Samuel
Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, American
author and humorist and friend to presidents, artists, industrialists and
European royalty.
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