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Saturday 3rd April 2010
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The new railings and a past mishap -
see "The Bourne Eau . . . " |
Summer will soon be bringing an influx of visitors
anxious to find out more about Bourne and we must do our best not to disappoint
them. Now is therefore an opportune time for South Kesteven District Council to
correct the mistakes currently displayed on the information board in the town
centre because it does create a bad impression if the local authority cannot get
it right.
The main pamphlet on display entitled Out and About gives a précis of what can
be seen with accompanying potted histories and prominence is given to our most
famous secular building, the Red Hall, which has had its fair share of legend
and folklore. Fortunately, the myth that the Gunpowder Plot was hatched here is
not repeated but another calumny is, that it was once in the possession of Sir
John Thimbleby which is incorrect. He had absolutely no connection with the Red
Hall and this reference appears to have been taken from past histories that have
long been superseded, notably Historic Bourne published by Joseph J Davies in
1909 in which he refers to Sir John Thimbleby as “a Roman Catholic leader whose
family were in possession of the Red Hall”, a phrase which echoes the council
pamphlet.
Sir John was born at Irnham in 1478, a well known recusant and vehemently
opposed the suppression of the smaller monasteries by Henry VIII because it is
recorded that as his family were staunch supporters of the old religious order
he was anxious to associate himself with the rebels during the Lincolnshire
uprising of 1536 by raising a small force from his neighbourhood, moving
northward to join the main body, thus earning himself the reputation among the
king’s followers as “the great traitor”. In the event, the rebellion was
short-lived and Sir John returned home and surrendered to the Lord Lieutenant
who ordered him to remain with the royal army where opportunities for further
disloyalty were curtailed, a lucky escape because ringleaders of a higher rank
were condemned for high treason and beheaded.
But any other connection with Bourne is tenuous and it was quite impossible for
Sir John to have owned the Red Hall because he was dead and buried long before
it was even built around 1605. Unfortunately, when something gets into print it
is accepted as fact and repeated ad nauseam, as this was last year during
a Heritage Trail tour in the town when the guide gave this particular piece of
misinformation as fact although the more knowledgeable members of the group
quietly put her right. The time has therefore come for SKDC to delete this
reference from its records to avoid further embarrassing repetitions.
There is another erroneous assumption, often repeated, that the Red Hall was
once the home of Sir Everard Digby, one of the leading conspirators in the
Gunpowder Plot to blow up King James I and the Houses of Parliament which was
allegedly hatched at the Red Hall. But he came from a different branch of the
family and never lived there and although the myth has long been disproved,
references to it persist in guide books and magazine articles, usually the work
of writers who fail to check their facts.
The Bourne Eau as it runs past the west front of the Abbey Church has
been fenced off with a row of attractive iron railings installed as part of a
public realm improvement organised by the Town Centre Management Partnership and
apart from eliminating a long-standing hazard, have also enhanced the appearance
of this quiet part of the town because they have been finished in gold and black
trim to match the street furniture elsewhere and also giving an elegant
appearance to Church Walk.
The river at this point has always been a hazard for the unwary because there
has been no protecting rail and at least one motor car in recent years has
nose-dived into the water while the driver was trying to park although the lady
on that occasion escaped unhurt. There was an even more eventful occurrence in
July 1890 when the choir of Lincoln Cathedral stopped here for a break while
journeying for an engagement at Grimsthorpe Castle.
The party was accompanied by the cathedral precentor who was passing on some of
his knowledge to the boys about the history of the west front and the tower but
his lecture came to an abrupt halt when, overcome by his enthusiasm for the
subject, he stepped backwards to secure a better view and fell into the river.
Happily the water was shallow and he got out easily but the boys unanimously
decided that it was by far the best part of their outing.
In more recent times, parishioners arrived for morning service on Sunday 2nd
September 2007 to find a saloon car in an alarming predicament. It was owned by
a young man living in the nearby flats who had left it parked overnight but
vandals on their way home from the pub forced the door, released the handbrake
and pushed it backwards towards the river. The police later retrieved the
vehicle from this perilous position and took it away for their experts to
examine for finger prints. Further incidents of either nature are unlikely now
that the new barrier has been installed.
Our local authorities appear to be perpetually unaware of public opinion
yet highly paid staff continue to beaver away in back rooms writing reports and
dreaming up new initiatives with little thought of their viability. The latest
suggestion from South Kesteven District Council, for instance, to install
outdoor exercise equipment in Bourne Wood must rate as the most pointless scheme
of the year as well as being badly timed because it comes in the middle of an
economic recession and at a time when local authorities are being asked to cut
back on public spending.
The idea appears to be that numerous pieces of gym equipment will be placed
around the woodland to provide exercise opportunities for visitors but the
thorny problem of who pays has not been sorted out. The council is seeking
funding from the Forestry Commission with little chance of getting any because
they have recently closed the public lavatories and are seriously thinking of
withdrawing many other facilities while Bourne Town Council has sensibly decided
to give the idea a miss because their budgets will just not run to it and Bourne
United Charities has also given the scheme the thumbs down.
It appears that the money for this initiative has come from NHS Lincolnshire
specifically for outdoor gym equipment but on this occasion SKDC should keep out
of the undergrowth and leave fitness regimes to the leisure centres and sports
clubs. Bourne Wood is no place for physical jerks except for walkers and joggers
who are quite happy at the way things are and additional equipment for
occasional use is most certainly not required. One would have thought that the
council would have learned from its past mistakes because the last initiative in
which they participated, the woodland sculpture trail which they helped finance
in 1991, has now practically disappeared, the various exhibits either
dismantled, deteriorated or vandalised.
This project was steeped in good intentions with several artists commissioned to
produce work that would fit easily into the location of Bourne Wood, so taking
art out of the gallery and into a natural setting and funded by SKDC,
Lincolnshire County Council and the Eastern Arts Board in partnership with
Forest Enterprise and Bourne Grammar School.
The sculptures commissioned varied in their degree of abstraction in the hope
that walkers would find an enhanced awareness of their woodland surroundings but
not all of them met with universal approval because some were soon vandalised
while others were totally ignored and soon the entire scheme sank into oblivion
and the cost to the public purse can only be imagined. Past experience therefore
would not auger well for the latest project and as most people in the district
have just received yet another increase on their council tax demand, it is hoped
that the authorities will think again and use the available cash for a more
sensible purpose.
My wife thinks I may be losing my marbles after putting all of the clocks
in the house back one hour before going to bed on Saturday night only to
discover my mistake when I awoke at what I thought was 5 a m next morning to
find the sun streaming in through a crack in the curtains and realised that it
was actually seven o’clock. Imagine the chaos if such an error had been made by
one of the big airlines or railway companies or even Microsoft and it raises the
question as to whether this system of daylight saving has not outlived its
usefulness and should now be regularised, one way or another.
Clocks throughout Britain were put forward by one hour at 2 am on Sunday 21st
May 1916 to launch daylight saving time, as it was officially known. Britain was
then involved in the Great War of 1914-18 and the government told MPs that
hundreds of thousands of tons of coal burned to provide power would be saved by
the change in an attempt to help the war effort.
The prospect of lighter evenings was widely welcomed, with the clocks being put
back again in October, although not everyone was happy with the new arrangement
as the Stamford Mercury reported on Friday 26th May 1916: "Farmers in the
Bourne district are not putting the new Summer Time Bill into operation but are
retaining the former times for commencing and leaving off work. In all other
business concerns, the new times have been worked with general advantage.
Various comments had been made as to the proposed change, there being some who
declined to alter their clocks and looked upon the proposal with suspicion that
it meant another hour’s work a day with no corresponding recompense."
During the Second World War of 1939-45 the government introduced double daylight
saving when the clocks went forward two hours to help farmers and to conserve
gas and electricity for lighting. It was an extremely popular move, especially
among us children who were able to stay up even later and even then go to bed
when it was still light outside.
The question is whether all of this jiggery-pokery with the clocks is still
necessary and if the time has come to leave them constant all year round. The
evidence is that remaining on British Summer Time (BST) would reduce the use of
gas and electricity, cut road deaths and injuries and save the National Health
Service millions which are currently spent on treating injuries associated with
daytime darkness. Past attempts to impose regularity however have not been
successful and M Ps voted against it in 1971 while farmers in Scotland have
always been opposed to change because northern areas would be left in darkness
until around 9 a m each day. In fact, the emotive factors that have swayed the
argument against have always been its possible effect on road accidents,
disruption to dairy farmers and construction, delivery and postal workers, and
so the status quo remains.
There are some around the country who, like the Bourne farmers almost 100 years
ago, refuse to tamper with the time and leave their clocks and watches on
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) from spring until autumn, unwilling to accept that it
is necessary, although this must play havoc with their lives whenever they are
off to catch a train or tune in for a favourite television programme but then it
takes all sorts although following a different drummer today is not popular and
those who do are usually regarded as eccentric. As with most controversial
issues, the majority put up and shut up while the government finds it such a hot
potato that it dare not even put the subject on the agenda for a Commons
discussion and any M P thinking of tabling a private member’s bill would do so
at their peril.
Thought for the week: I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.
- Golda Meir, (1898-1978) who helped found the state of Israel and later became
its fourth Prime Minister.
Saturday 10th April 2010
The death last month of Mrs Alice Gray is a reminder of
the lost cottages of Bourne because she lived in one for much of her life and
its demolition over thirty years ago became part of a cause célèbre for the
town’s past heritage. No 35 on the west side of South Street was also known as
Gray's Farm because Alice and her husband David were farmers who had taken over
the business from his father, Mr Snowdall Gray, when he died, and the land
adjoining the house was always filled with produce in season, cabbages,
potatoes, carrots, parsnips, cauliflowers and Brussels sprouts while there were
some animals such as chickens and pigs in the outhouses at the back.
The fen type cottage was built in the early 18th century, perhaps even before,
and consisted of a single storey with a steep pantile roof, two gabled dormers
and casements. It was constructed in red brick but had been rough cast and
colour washed. The front windows were added in the 19th century with flat arches
and wooden frames and no glazing bars while the door was of plain wood. There
was a modern one-storey addition at the side, a brick extension at the rear with
a mansard roof and two dormers and the ground floor was latterly used as a
garage.
During her lifetime, Mrs Gray became a familiar figure in Bourne and Dr Michael
McGregor, who once lived at Brook Lodge across the road when it was a medical
practice, remembers the flooding in South Street in the spring of 1968 when she
was marooned inside but happily chatted to firemen from an upstairs window as
they pumped away outside to clear the road. The location of the cottage was
unfortunate because it stood on a sharp bend and created a road hazard for the
increasing traffic flows of the 1960s and 1970s and although earmarked as a
building worthy of preservation, it was demolished in January 1977 and the site
used for two new houses, Nos 35 and 37, whose frontages have been set back from
the road.
A few weeks later, Roderick Hoyle, of Pinewood Close, Bourne, wrote to the
Stamford Mercury lamenting the loss of the cottage and asked why it could
not have been preserved, creating as it did a picture of placid rurality in the
shadow of Bourne Abbey (18th February 1977). He wrote:
With forethought, the A15 could have been
diverted through what is now the library and fire station when Bourne station
closed to passengers in 1958 but since the end of January, the Grays' farmhouse
is no more. How many Brunnnians can remember Mr David Gray driving his cattle
from the byre behind the house and through the town to Stamford Hill?
Controversy over its preservation in the 1960s at such a vulnerable traffic
point sealed the fate of this 250-year-old mud and stud pantiled farm. The
floods of the late 1960s decided matters for Mr and Mrs Gray when meals arrived
by boat via the dormer windows and after nearly 70 years as home, they
regretfully decided that it was no longer a sociable spot. Mrs Gray remembers
passing traffic being visible from any window; butter making in the lean-to
dairy; and the yard as bike-shed for cinema goers; North Sea rigs shaving the
guttering and train loads of Midland holidaymakers bound for Norfolk.
Alice Louisa Gray died at the Cedars Retirement Home on Saturday
27th March, aged 89, which prompted more memories from Adrian Simmons who wrote
in the Bourne Forum a few days later:
In the 1970s, her cottage had green
wooden-framed windows and a front door that if you stepped out of you would be
more or less planting your feet on the road surface itself. The Grays also then
had a large vegetable patch between the cottage and what was in the 1970s Tucks
garage. In the late 1940s, locals remembered David Gray employing a stockman
they nicknamed Chappie. At the back of the cottage they had a barn that housed
several dairy cows that Chappie used to take in the morning down South Fen Road
to some grazing land, returning with them late afternoon to milk them. Locals
used to get what was unpasteurised milk from the Grays' metal urns - using a
ladle to skim off the cream first. Chappie was remembered because he didn't look
after himself very well. He slept in the barn and never cut his toenails. How
often he took his socks and boots off is not known but his nails eventually
curled and carried on growing underneath his feet.
Rod Hoyle, art master at Bourne Grammar School, was one of the
great conservation campaigners for Bourne and ironically it was yet another lost
cottage which became the catalyst for the formation of the Civic Society. It
began at a public meeting at the Red Hall in 1977, inspired by Mr Hoyle, when a
steering committee was set up and the following year, a second such meeting
approved a constitution to protect our heritage and promote high standards of
town planning. The impetus for the society's formation was to save No 15
Bedehouse Bank from demolition, a mediaeval thatched cottage made from the mud
and stud method and one of the last surviving examples of its kind in
Lincolnshire, and so the property was unique to Bourne where it had been in
continuous use for more than 250 years.
The dwelling was known as Miss Adams' cottage, after the last tenant who had
died, when it was condemned by the local authority as being unfit for human
habitation and had been put up for sale as a redevelopment site but the owners
failed to find a buyer. Experts insisted that it was sufficiently rare to be
preserved, perhaps as a museum, but costs were said to be prohibitive and the
owners sought permission to pull it down. Although it was a listed building, the
cottage was demolished in 1980 after a public inquiry when objections by the
Civic Society, the Ancient Monuments Society and other conservation
organisations, were overruled.
Despite the failure of this campaign, the joint endeavour sparked an
appreciation of the richness of the urban environment and the society vowed to
help enhance our old buildings, through persuasion and criticism, to plant and
landscape unattractive areas and so preserve the heritage of the town. The
society invited the Earl of Ancaster to be their president and he continued in
office until his death in March 1983 when he was succeeded by his daughter,
Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, who remains in office today. The inaugural
meeting also voted to produce a regular newsletter and to bring guest speakers
to the town to talk on environmental issues and both of these objectives have
been achieved in the years since with the added bonus of founding a lively and
interesting Heritage Centre that has won many awards.
What the local newspapers are saying: Anyone who walks and talks around
Bourne on any day of the week will know that the proposed £27 million
redevelopment scheme for the town centre is not a frequent conversational topic
and therefore a public consultation based on vox populi will be a struggle
against the tide. Yet that is exactly what South Kesteven District Council is
proposing in an attempt to end the impasse over this abortive project on which
an exorbitant amount of money has already been spent over the past decade
without a single brick being laid.
The Local newspaper quotes the leader, Councillor Linda Neal (Bourne
West), as saying that officers will begin consulting with the public during
April and May in an attempt to find out what shoppers feel about the scheme (March
26th). “This is about the council being seen to engage with the community”, she
said. “It has been some time since it was consulted. We are in different
economic times and we want to get the public’s view and what they think is right
and appropriate for Bourne. We want to take their views into account and to help
shape the future decision of the council.”
The redevelopment scheme was first mooted in the summer of 2001 and anyone who
has followed events since then will find it hard to remember a single voice
raised in support, whether it be in letters to the newspapers, public meetings
or the Bourne Forum which has produced the liveliest discussions on the subject
so far. Most people are reluctant to be stopped in the street, regarding such
intrusions as an invasion of privacy similar to the unwanted callers who turn up
on the doorstep, and opinions are often given without thought just to get away.
Street interviews, therefore, are not a finite method of establishing public
thinking on future policy and so we are right to regard this latest exercise by
the council as window dressing to hide the plain truth of which everyone is
actually aware, that the town centre will stay more or less at it is for the
time being.
Unless you are a regular user you will not have noticed that the price of
postage has gone up yet again by around 8%. This has become an habitual
occurrence in recent years and increased prices are being imposed without even a
public announcement. We have come a long way since the days of the penny post
(240 pennies to the £) and it now costs 41p to post a letter first class and 32p
second class while the price of sending other items is now rising to exorbitant
levels such as 81 pence, for instance, to send a CD inland second class while at
the counter last week we overheard a young man being charged £40 to send a
parcel to the United States.
This is an organisation that has aroused much controversy in recent months
through television programmes which have exposed irregular practices and
over-manning in several operational areas while strike action cost them many
corporate customers who have moved to a more reliable system of collection and
delivery. Locally, it can be a dispiriting experience to use the West Street
post office with queues often stretching out into the street with only two or
three counter staff on duty while the stamp dispenser at the front of the
building has now been permanently closed because of problems over maintenance.
Unfortunately, the once proud Royal Mail enjoys a virtual monopoly over the
general public and can therefore carry on much as it wishes whereas the
introduction of competition through the licensing of other carriers would either
force a change of ways or signal its demise. In the meantime, we will have to
put up with it.
One of our most beneficial organisations, Bourne United Charities, is now
online as part of its policy to keep the community in touch with current
activities. This is a welcome innovation and part of the changing pattern of a
society in which everything that affects our life must be open and transparent.
There have been critics in the past, this column among them, about a lack of
information emanating from the boardroom at the Red Hall concerning the various
matters under the control of the trustees but these are now being addressed and
the new web site will eventually provide everything we need to know about the
conduct of their affairs, those who serve as trustees, where the money comes
from and how it is being spent.
Bourne is lucky in having charitable money from past benefactors to finance many
aspects of our life from playing fields, parks and almshouses to regular grants
for various projects and weekly payments for deserving cases, thus adhering to
the wishes of those who left their fortunes in past times to be administered for
the benefit of the town. In recent months, there have been major changes to the
Abbey Lawn and now work is progressing on improving the Wellhead Gardens, and
the decision to go online is the latest acceptance that the people have a right
to know exactly what is happening and to invite feedback in the same way as
other organisations which are active in the public sector.
The web site is still in its early stages and will grow with time but already
contains information about the origins of Bourne United Charities and the names
of those who currently serve as trustees together with details of the properties
under their control. A regular newsletter is planned and so the public may now
keep in touch through the telephone and email addresses provided. This is a
significant development and one that will prove to be a continual source of
information about the activities of a philanthropic organisation which many
other towns must envy.
Thought for the week: Charity begins at home, is the voice of the world.
- Sir Thomas Browne, English physician and writer (1605-82).
Saturday 17th April 2010
The debate over wind turbines continues with a vociferous
lobby opposed to their erection on the grounds that they will ruin the
environment although it is difficult to understand how the wind on a blade to
produce power can do that. Now a government planning inspector has allowed the
erection of 13 turbines each 100 metres high at Wryde Croft south of Gedney Hill
in South Lincolnshire after ruling that the sheer scale of the fens can rapidly
absorb wind farms, thus overriding objections over their visual impact, possible
health effects and potential problems for aircraft and the way therefore seems
clear for other wind farms already planned for the Bourne area.
The inspector also made another valid point that wind turbines would not in any
substantial sense redefine the fenland landscape which would retain its
essential characteristics and this is the nub of the argument because it is
conveniently forgotten that the windmill was a familiar part of the countryside
in past times and without them life would have been hard indeed because they
produced the power to grind corn and other commodities and to keep the swampy
marshland drained and productive in this part of the country.
In 1763, for instance, fifty windmills are listed as working in Deeping Fen to
drain some 30,000 acres of farmland, the nearest being Woolley's Mill at the
appropriately named Windmill Farm, a mile west of Tongue End south of Bourne.
The mill ground corn and other grain brought in by barge along the River Glen
and navvies working on various drainage schemes over the years were housed there
and fed from the adjoining bakery which also supplied residents of Tongue End.
It was not uncommon for up to 60 navvies at a time to be living at the Mill
House. The mill closed in 1912 and has since been demolished.
Another mill, Ward's Mill, was built in 1910 alongside the Division Drain
between the parishes of Bourne and Thurlby. It was built by Mr Jonathan Ward, a
local farmer, and was made of timber and also drove a wheel for drainage but was
blown down in a gale within a year of construction. It is unlikely to have been
a particularly solid structure because the mill sails were made of canvas and
these had to be frequently reduced or increased in size according to the
strength of the wind. Jonathan Ward, who lived at the Manor House, Thurlby,
farmed on a large scale and is recorded as saying: "Any fool can farm in bed
when it's dry but you have got to be out and about when it's wet." He always had
a five-gallon jar of whisky with a tap at the bottom available and he never
allowed it to be less than one third full.
Evidence of these mills can still be seen at Dyke village, which is within the
parish of Bourne. Just off the main street is an old smock mill although now in
private hands and adapted for other uses in recent years including for the sale
of antiques, arts and crafts and picture framing. It was originally a pumping
mill in Deeping Fen, probably built by Dutch drainage engineers in the late 17th
or early 18th century and around 1840 it was moved to Dyke and fitted with corn
milling machinery but lost its sails in 1923 and so ended its wind-powered
working life. The mill had a boat-shaped cap turned to wind by a braced tailpole,
both features inherited from its former use, and two common and two spring
shuttered sails driving three pairs of stones.
The last miller was Mr Thomas Sommerfield who wrote on 8th September 1940: "It
was the best fitted mill I was ever in, but old fashioned outside. I worked it
for 32 years. It was dismantled in 1927 and was in my family for 63 years. All
the spindles below the stones were turned and I took great pride in keeping them
polished with sandpaper. The governors were also bright. I never saw this
anywhere else in my life. Everything was of the best. My father thought a lot of
this mill."
Dyke Mill was listed Grade II in July 1977 and restored in 1998 and it would be
unthinkable to even consider its demolition. So it is with England’s other
remaining windmills which have become part of our heritage and in centuries to
come it is quite possible that the earliest of the wind turbines now being built
will also be preserved as part of our industrial heritage.
There is nothing like a spot of competition to straighten the corporate
mind and so the expected arrival of Tesco must be good for Bourne because
Sainsburys has been spurred into action by submitting a planning application to
extend its supermarket in Exeter Street in order to offer a wider range of
products. The improvements will also create another 50 jobs and improve
facilities for the staff and car parking.
The opening of Sainsburys in August 1999 has been most beneficial for shoppers
and regular patronage has lulled us into a situation where we cannot do without
them but the monopoly has affected standards in recent years with the result
that prices soar and the queues at the checkouts lengthen. The opening of Tesco
will therefore prove to be a steadying influence and only time will tell whether
both stores can coexist with the profits they seek from such a small market
town.
There will be victims, the Rainbow store in Manning Road, for instance, and
there is no guarantee that the Tesco Express outlet at the petrol filling
station in North Road will continue, but overall another superstore will be a
good thing for Bourne and this appears to be reflected in the changes planned
for Sainsburys. The company must also speed up time at the checkouts which is a
regular cause of complaint, especially on Saturday mornings when there are long
queues yet many of the tills are closed, and those huge trolleys used to stack
the shelves must be kept out of the aisles during opening hours because they
have become an infernal nuisance by impeding shopping trolleys and blocking the
view of customers trying to choose from what is on offer.
A trip to Tesco in Market Deeping would be fruitful for those wishing to make a
comparison because car parking here is no problem, there is a wider range of
products and a no queuing policy which is an absolute delight after Sainsburys
where ten minutes shopping often means another ten minutes wait at the checkout.
Supermarkets have become a necessity of life but the owners must realise that
they exist for the benefit of the customers and if it takes strong competition
to right past inefficiencies, then so be it.
There are signs in many areas that the customer is becoming a victim and
banks and building societies are high on the list for providing a far less
efficient service than in past times. Cheque books are being phased out and now
the Nationwide, which has a branch in North Street, plans to restrict money
withdrawals at the counter of under £100 from June and anyone wanting less will
have to use the cash machine. The decision has already been criticised as a move
towards getting rid of the relatively poorer customers and low value
transactions and focussing on selling products which the banks have been doing
for some time (BBC Online, April 10th).
The restriction will certainly be inconvenient for many and although it will not
bother regular users, old people are notoriously reluctant to take cash from
these holes in the wall, regarding them with suspicion and even trepidation,
forgetting their PIN numbers and wrongly keying in the amount, and so prefer the
friendly face at the window they have always known. It would therefore seem to
be another retrograde step for customer services but the company says that the
change is needed to reduce waiting in their branches although it needs only a
moment’s thought to appreciate that the queue will be no more nor less whether
anyone is drawing out £50 or £100.
The problem is that queues usually form because of insufficient counter staff
and this is particularly evident at my own bank, Lloyds TSB on the other side of
North Street, where a visit has become a dispiriting experience. Last week we
waited for fifteen minutes to get some money and by the time we left the queue
was twice the length of that when we went in yet only three positions were open
and one of those was fully occupied for most of the time with a customer doing
business that should have been transferred to the interview room. During all of
this time, various members of the staff were striding to and fro clutching
folders and looking busy while the customers in the queue became even more
dejected and disgruntled. Eventually someone who looked like an executive strode into
view and several exasperated customers complained loudly but he offered no
explanation and after listening politely, went back to his office.
The ideal solution is to move to another bank but all appear to be equally
unconcerned or prepared to initiate improvements, putting profit first and
customer service second, while the actual system of transferring an account has
become so daunting and time consuming that it really is not worth the effort and
the worry. As with the deteriorating standards with post office services which I
described last week, we will just have to put up with it.
Message from abroad: News has reached us from Australia that one of our
longest and most faithful visitors, Jack Ismay, has died in hospital at the age
of 81. He lived for ten years at Kirby Underwood with his wife Moira and two
sons, Dennis and Peter, and worked for the Forestry Commission, later joining
the prison service, but the couple decided to emigrate in 1968 when Jack took a
similar job down under, moving to live 3,000 feet up in the Blue Mountains near
Lithgow in New South Wales but always remembering their time here with great
affection.
They lived at No 6 Callans Lane, Kirkby Underwood, a brand new house when they
moved there from Newcastle-on-Tyne. "We had our happiest times there", said
Moira. "We would have been married for 60 years this months but Jack passed away
on March 18th peacefully in Lithgow hospital here in Australia. We had known
each other since we were both sixteen and we loved the Bourne area and always
regarded our time at Kirby Underwood as our special years."
This web site has done much to keep expatriates in touch with the town and
district over the past 12 years and there must be many who remember Jack Ismay
and send their condolences to Moira on her sad loss.
The general election campaign is underway and the usual flood of
manifesto pamphlets have started to arrive, each carrying promises that will
remain unfulfilled even when the next Parliament is dissolved. There is an air
of ennui over the entire campaign and much of which is being printed and
broadcast is little more than the various parties squabbling among themselves
while the majority of the electorate are totally bemused by all the bickering
and empty rhetoric.
Many who have dedicated themselves to either one of the main parties are having
serious thoughts about how to vote this time but no matter what your political
loyalties, there is really only one factor in deciding where to put your X when
it comes to polling day. Promises of future policies are totally immaterial and
the only pertinent question is whether you are satisfied that the present
administration has handled our affairs well during the past 13 years for the
benefit of you and the country and if not, perhaps the time has come for a
change. The choice, therefore, would seem to be an obvious one.
Thought for the week: An election cannot give a country a firm sense of
direction if it has two or more national parties which merely have different
names but are as alike in their principles and aims as two peas in the same pod.
- Franklin D Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd president of the United States and a
central figure in world events during the mid-20th century.
Saturday 24th April 2010
One of the felled oaks in Dole Wood - see "Opposition to . . .
"
The discovery of a mortar bomb in the Abbey Lawn last
weekend has evoked memories of the Second World War of 1939-45 and the military
activity around Bourne during those years. The Home Guard had a strong presence
during that period, using every available space for their training, but the army
disposal experts called in to deal with the discovery were confident that the
missile came from the armoury of the Parachute Regiment which was billeted here
prior to the Battle of Arnhem.
Arnhem is a city in the Netherlands and the airborne operation was launched in
an attempt to secure a bridgehead over the Rhine, thereby opening the way for a
thrust towards the industrial areas of the Ruhr in Germany and a possible early
end to the war. It took place between the 17th and 26th September 1944 but was
only partially successful with 7,600 casualties and the action has since been
immortalised in Richard Attenborough's highly dramatised 1977 film A Bridge Too
Far. In the months preceding the action, troops were massed in eastern England
and particularly in Lincolnshire, where the airfields within easy reach of the
Continent were situated and so began the intricate logistical operation of
finding accommodation for them until the fateful day and Bourne was chosen to
house the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment.
The unit had returned to England from Italy in time for Christmas 1943 having
been constantly in action with its two sister battalions for the previous 12
months, participating in the occupation of Algiers in North Africa, the seizure
of Tunis and in helping Montgomery's Eighth Army drive out Rommel's retreating
Africa Corps. The troops had established a reputation as an aggressive assault
force, despite suffering enormous casualties but the unit still went on to the
invasion of Italy and once that had been securely established, the battalion
sailed for home and awaited further orders.
An advance party came to Bourne at the beginning of November 1943 to start
making the accommodation arrangements and the entire battalion of almost 550
officers and men arrived by train at the end of the month. They established a
headquarters at Grimsthorpe Castle and the various companies were encamped or
billeted at Bulby Hall and in and around Bourne itself, at the Bull (now the
Burghley Arms), the Angel and the Nag's Head public houses. The officers' mess
was set up on the ground floor of the Masonic Hall, which was then situated
behind Woolworth's store in North Street, while officers were given rooms at
private homes.
Troops were also billeted at the former English Racing Automobiles workshops in
the Spalding Road that was taken over by the Delaine bus company in 1939. This
building had been requisitioned by the army for military accommodation at the
outbreak of the war and a total of 240 paratroopers were stationed here. A
cookhouse and latrines were added to the premises, both of which survived until
building alterations in 1989-90.
Major Christopher Perrin-Brown, one of the battalion's company commanders,
remembered later: "Although these troops were not particularly well behaved,
there was a total absence of evil. The affinity between host and guest blossomed
overnight and in retrospect, like a happy marriage, the loves and laughs
remained. Joys and sorrows were shared and borne. Rationing was in force and
meat was hard to come by but the hosts had their ways and their pigs and the
guests responded with venison from the park, despite a near miss on a park
keeper that was later explained as weapon testing. And then there were the
bicycles! Suffice to say that if the lake at Grimsthorpe Park had been drained
after the troops had departed, it would have yielded a veritable treasure trove
of two-wheeled transport."
When the action became imminent, the 1st Battalion was briefed and then confined
to quarters ready to depart but there were five false alarms before they
eventually left on Sunday 17th September 1944. "It was a bright and lovely
morning", recalled Major Perrin-Brown, "and the townspeople of Bourne thronged
the streets as flight after flight of transport aircraft flew low over the town
from the nearby airfields at Colsterworth, Grantham and Barkston, supported by
massed formations of Lancaster bombers. Then suddenly, the guests had gone. The
town was empty."
Of the 10,000 troops dropped by parachute behind enemy lines over Arnhem, only
2,000 escaped back across the Rhine. Of the 545 members of the 1st Battalion who
had been stationed in the Bourne area, 459 were killed, wounded, captured or
reported missing. Major Perrin-Brown was captured and sent to a POW camp but he
escaped at Christmas 1944 and after returning to England, joined the training
brigade. He had already been awarded the MC for action in North Africa and the
Arnhem campaign also earned him the DSO. After the war, he went to live at
Folkingham and died in 1995, aged 77. Other members of his unit returned after
the war to marry local girls they had met while stationed in the town, settled
here and raised families, and so Bourne‘s bond with Arnhem remains alive and
strong.
One of Britain’s ancient and curious country customs will be observed in
Bourne on Monday to secure the rental of the White Bread Meadow, a small field
of just over one acre 1½ miles north of the town. It has become an annual
tradition since the mid-18th century to auction the lease of this pasture during
a 200-yard race between two schoolboys, once held on the Monday before Easter
beside the Queen’s Bridge at the end of Eastgate although in recent years the
date has been moved to the last Monday in April, therefore the Monday before the
May Day Bank Holiday.
A bequest in 1742 by William Clay, a gentleman of Bourne, gave two pieces of
land, the rent of which was to be distributed each year in the form of white
bread among the householders and commoners in the Eastgate Ward. The land was
called the Constable’s Half-Acre and the Dike Reeve’s Half-Acre but when the
Enclosure Award was made in 1770, the original land mentioned in the bequest was
incorporated in the new field system so in lieu of the two original half-acres
of land there was allotted just over one acre of land in Bourne Meadows as the
basis for the charity and it is this land that is still let annually under the
terms of the will.
The conditions of letting were that two good loads of manure be put on the land,
the meadow should not be overgrazed or poached, the fence be maintained in
proper repair and that the hawthorn bush in the middle of the field should not
be cut or damaged, by animals or weather, and although it has been blown down by
the wind on two occasions, it has always been replaced. Clay also stipulated in
the terms of the letting the bizarre manner in which the new tenant should be
chosen and the annual race continues to be held in the traditional form as in
previous years with officially appointed stewards on hand to ensure that the
rules are observed.
When the auction begins for the grazing rights, the boys do not start running
until the auctioneer thinks that a final bid may have been made and if by the
time they have returned no further bid has been received, then the hammer falls.
If a further bid has been received by the time they return, then the auctioneer
usually asks them to run again until such time as no further bid is received and
so the successful bidder becomes the tenant of the land for the following year.
The rent money now goes to one or more of various local charities but in 1968,
one of the last times that white bread was actually bought and distributed,
between 300 and 400 loaves were handed out from the proceeds of the charity
which then amounted to £13.
After the annual ceremony, the boys who ran the race received one shilling each
from the auctioneers, although they get £1 today, and then everyone attended a
feast of bread, cheese, spring onions and beer. Until 1890, this took place at one
of the six pubs in the Eastgate area, the Boat, the Woolpack, the Butcher's
Arms, the New Inn, the Marquess of Granby and the Anchor but the meetings are
now held solely at the Anchor. In 1941, no cheese was available owing to wartime
rationing and in May that year, a German bomber crashed on the Butcher’s Arms
and destroyed the usual convivial venue while the Boat and the Woolpack have
been demolished and the New Inn converted for use as a private house.
The event today is merely a token of what was intended and girls often take part
in the race when no boys are available although the auction is still very
real and its result is legally binding. But family traditions for the
administration of the charity continue. John Bannister, senior, is a third
generation steward, his grandfather Tom, senior, holding office from 1935 until
1960 while his father Tom, junior, was steward from 1951 until 1999 when John
was appointed. The current steward is Roger Macey who was appointed in 1972 when he
succeeded his father-in-law. The auctioneer and chairman of the charity,
Stephen Knipe, has held office since 1994 when he took over from his late father
George who had let the meadow annually between 1959 and 1994. A new tradition
has also been born in recent years with the attendance of the Bourne Borderers,
a local group of Morris dancers who have now become a permanent feature of the
proceedings.
Opposition to the felling of ancient oaks in Dole Wood, near Bourne,
appears to have been well and truly routed by the announcement that the timber
will be used for restoration work at Lincoln Cathedral. The wood is administered
by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust who ordered the felling of sixteen trees in
February as part of the ongoing preservation programme for this ancient woodland
which has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The
decision followed an inspection by the Natural England organisation and the
Forestry Commission which found that the canopy was beginning to close and
restricting the light reaching the woodland floor but caused outrage among some
conservationists who saw it as official vandalism and a petition with 327
signatures was raised but failed to prevent the work going ahead.
The Local newspaper now reports (April 16th) that at the request of
Natural England, the felled oaks were cut on site into 40 lengths of six to
eight feet each and then transported to Lincoln where the cathedral carpenters
cut them into sections, either square shapes or planks, and then stored them in the
roof space where they will remain for between three and five years to enable
them dry out before being ready for use in bespoke joinery work as the need
arises.
Most of the oak used in the building of the 11th century cathedral came from
Sherwood Forest, over the county border in Nottinghamshire. “We are merely
carrying on the tradition of using locally grown oak”, explained Carol
Heidschuster, the cathedral’s works manager. “It is absolutely wonderful to be
able to use timber actually grown in the county which already produces stone
from our own quarry.”
Sixteen oak saplings have already been planted in their place and Rachel Shaw of
the LWT told the newspaper: “The history of our woodlands is one of people
making the best use of the resources provided and wildlife being the unintended
beneficiary. All felled timber or coppiced wood is put to good use. The oak
trees in Dole Wood were cut down in a single day by a highly skilled team to
ensure speed of work and minimal damage. Some fine timber is the result and
continuing in the tradition of making good use of nature’s gifts, it will be
used by the county’s finest building, namely the cathedral.”
Thought for the week: On the fall of an oak, every man gathers wood.
-
Menander of Athens (342 BC-292 BC), ancient Greek dramatist and poet who was so
respected that when he died he was honoured with a tomb on the road leading to
Athens.
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