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Saturday 1st May 2010
Woodland restrictions - see "Dogs are a familiar . . . "
The general election campaign locally has been rather
lacklustre with hardly a glimpse of a candidate on the streets and the
entire hustings swamped by media coverage at national level. Most people will be
aware of the prospective Conservative candidate because he has become well
established in the constituency in recent months and has had commensurate
coverage but the names of the other five will be totally unknown and some have
not even bothered to distribute a leaflet in this part of Bourne.
How different from years past when mass meetings in the street or rented halls
and visits to the various organisations at their regular meetings were a
necessary part of the campaign and all given much column space in the local
newspapers but coverage of candidates on the stump is now so sparse that many
readers could be totally unaware that an election is taking place. As a young
journalist sixty years ago, my editor always sent a reporter to accompany each
candidate throughout the three weeks of the campaign and every word and every
baby dandled was recorded, right up to the eve of poll meetings which were
always lively affairs and never failed to attract huge crowds.
The advent of television has changed that with immediate images taking
precedence and now we have the added phenomenon of the leader debates which are
dominating coverage of this election, television presentations modelled on
entertainment shows in which every raised eyebrow, smile and frown is
significant and every utterance subjected to semantic analysis. These
confrontations have totally overshadowed this election campaign and have moved
politics into a new arena in which personality has superseded policy and a
polished performance able to sway opinion countrywide rather than several days
of old fashioned door-stepping and pressing flesh.
Our local candidates have therefore been sidelined and few people are able to
reel off a list of those who are standing for the Grantham and Stamford
constituency of which Bourne is a part. The seat is currently held by Quentin
Davies who was first elected to Parliament in 1987 for Stamford and Spalding and
since the boundary changes in 1997 he has represented Grantham and Stamford,
originally as a Conservative but in June 2007 he made the surprise decision to
defect to Labour amid much recrimination locally. He later told constituents
that he would serve until the end of the present term but would not be seeking
re-election which was seen by many as a wise choice and it is now expected that
he may well be heading for the House of Lords once the dissolution honours are
announced.
This is considered to be a safe Conservative seat and Quentin Davies has been a
first class constituency M P, always attracting a large majority of around 50%
and polling 22,109 votes at the last election in 2005 and so in the present
climate, his would be successor faces a daunting challenge to overtake that
margin. The 2005 results were:
* Quentin Davies (Conservative) 22,109 (46.9%)
Ian Selby (Lab) 14,664 (31.1%)
Patrick O'Connor (Liberal Democrat) 7,838 (16.6%)
Stuart Rising (United Kingdom Independent Party) 1,498 % (3.2%)
Benedict Brown (English Democrats) 774 (1.6%)
John Andrews (Organisation of Free Democrats) 264 (0.6%)
* Conservative majority 7,445 (15.8% )
Turnout 47,147 (63.6% )
Polling day is on Thursday and the six candidates are:
Nick Boles (Conservative)
Mark Bartlett (Labour)
Harrish Bisnauthsing (Liberal Democrat)
Mark Horn (Lincolnshire Independent)
Christopher Robinson (British National Party)
Tony Wells (United Kingdom Independent Party)
Dogs are a familiar sight in Bourne Wood today but it was
not always so. During the early years of the last century there was a ban on
pets and on leaving the established footpaths to collect firewood which was
liable to lead to an appearance in court. In fact, visitors were generally
discouraged by these restrictions which were imposed by the Marquess of Exeter,
Lord of the Manor of Bourne, who then owned the 400 acres of woodland but were
slowly relaxed after the area was taken over by the Forestry Commission in 1926
and so we have the freedom to roam that we enjoy today.
There has probably been continuous tree cover on this site for the last 8,000
years and the present trees are a mixture of broadleaf and conifer of all ages.
Their diversity has created ideal conditions for a wide range of flora and fauna and is
therefore managed for conservation as well as recreation and timber production
but many plants have survived and so make the woodland valuable in terms of
wildlife preservation. The wild flowers that can be seen here in season include
bluebells, primroses, wood anemone and nettle leaved bell flower while fallow
deer are abundant and you may catch a glimpse of their smaller, shy cousin, the
muntjac or barking deer.
Other animals that can be seen in these glades are foxes, grey squirrels, owls,
snakes, badgers and dormice and a wide variety of birds. Nightingales can be
heard on summer nights and rare bats and dragonflies fly over the ponds at
twilight. Seven species of bat have also been identified including the rare
Leisler's bat which was first discovered in nesting boxes in 1991 and is closely
monitored by the Forestry Commission in conjunction with English Nature.
The woods now attract around 150,000 visitors a year who come here to explore or
just walk the main paths and forest trails for there is always something new to
discover. Many of our readers know the woods well, among them Graydon Jones who
always takes his camera and this week he has agreed to share some of the images
he has captured during these outings which can be viewed from the link on the
front page.
A little known industry carried out in the woodland in past times was
bark peeling which employed a large number of men. Bark is the protective
covering of dried up tissues that can be found on the outside of tree trunks and
its uses are many and various and was once the raw material for making canoes,
shields, baskets and clothing. But the most valuable discovery was that it is
also rich in tannins, particularly that of the oak tree, and is still in use for
tanning hides to make leather, another industry which thrived in Bourne during
the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Working hours in those days were long and conditions arduous but men needing a
regular wage to feed a wife and family had to put up with whatever conditions
their employer imposed although there were isolated outbreaks of militancy among
the labouring classes, particularly those engaged in agriculture and associated
work such as forestry.
In the 19th century, the woods were owned by the Marquess of Exeter who felled
timber for income and also supplied bark to various firms in the locality. In
1872, he was employing 40 men on this industry but there was a great deal of
unrest among them because of the hours they were required to work and the
situation came to a head on the morning of Friday 26th May when they all walked
out on strike. There was no union and pay bargaining was done by elected
representatives. A deputation was therefore sent to the woodman, his lordship’s
agent on site, with an ultimatum demanding revised working hours.
There was a lengthy consultation and it was agreed that they would return to
work the following day provided the hours proposed by them were implemented.
Until then, the men worked from 6 am until 6 pm with an hour and a half for
stoppages, a total of 10½ hours. Their wages ranged from 2s. 3d. to 3s.,
according to capability. The men asked that they should have an hour allowed to
them for going to work and an hour for returning and this would mean a starting
time of 7 am and finishing at 5 pm with the usual 1½ hours for stoppages. They
also asked to leave at 4.30 pm on Saturdays, a total of 8½ hours work. The
woodman's counter proposals were that they should start work at 6.30 am and
leave at 5.30 pm and that they could leave at 4.30 pm on a Saturday but the men
refused to accept this and so the stoppage continued.
A week later, additional labour had been recruited to keep the bark peeling
going and one by one the strikers were drifting back to work although an
estimated half of them refused to return and sought work elsewhere. In the
event, the hours remained the same.
The duck house on the Bourne Eau behind Baldock’s Mill has been a feature
of the river for over a decade, attracting mallard for nesting and a perch for
other feathered visitors including kingfishers. But the structure had begun to
deteriorate through age, the green paint peeling and the wooden sides rotting,
and so it has been dismantled and removed by members of the Civic Society who
run the Heritage Centre based at the mill.
This quaint addition to the riverside scene has been there for ten years, ever
since the Raymond Mays Memorial Room was opened in August 1999, having been
constructed from odd pieces of wood left over from the shelving and put to good
use rather than thrown away. It will eventually be replaced be a new one, the
work being undertaken by Jim Jones, indefatigable member of the Civic Society
which runs the Heritage Centre based at the mill, and he has been on the lookout
for spare wood to complete the project. Building a duck house, however, does
have different connotations in view of the recent revelations about the
activities of our Members of Parliament, and we are sure that whatever costs Jim
may incur, they will not go on his expenses.
One of our longest serving local councillors, Don Fisher has been
reminiscing about his days in the army and a remarkable encounter with one of
our greatest thespians, Laurence Olivier. How the two should not only meet but
also share the same stage can only be described as one of those highly unusual
coincidences that make life so interesting. Don enlisted in the regular army at
the age of 17 and was sent to the guards' depot at Caterham in Surrey for basic
training before being posted to the 2nd Battalion, the Coldstream Guards. He
served with the colours for 15 years and his military career took him to many
parts of the world but in the mid-1950s he was a lance-sergeant at Chelsea
Barracks in London.
Laurence Olivier was appearing in the title role of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
at the Old Vic and the producer was in need of extras to play Roman soldiers in
some scenes and what better place to find them than at Chelsea Barracks where
the appeal went out for volunteers. Six willing guardsmen jumped at the chance
of earning a little extra cash and so for the next few weeks, Don found himself
on stage three nights a week playing a legionnaire and carrying a standard,
ready to welcome Olivier when he made his entrance in a chariot to be greeted by
his cohorts who chorused: “Hail, Caesar!” “They were the only words we spoke”,
recalled Don. “We were on stage for about ten minutes but we each got five
shillings a night and it was great fun but as soon as the curtain went down we
were off to the local for a pint. After all, we could afford it.”
On leaving the army, Don worked for a spell in London before moving to Bourne in
1972 and has been here ever since, serving continuously as a local councillor at
county and district level and as a member of Bourne Town Council, still
representing the West Ward as he has since 1976 and including two spells as
mayor, in 1983-84 and again 1998-99, while doing stalwart work for the Bourne
branch of the Royal British Legion for which he has been duly honoured. In 1985,
he also had an invitation to attend one of the annual garden parties at
Buckingham Palace, staying as a guest with his old regiment at Wellington
Barracks, and now, at the age of 76, he also keeps in touch with old army pals
although they become fewer as the years pass.
Thought for the week: All the world's a stage, and all the men and women
merely players. - William Shakespeare (1564-1616), poet and playwright widely
regarded as the greatest writer in the English language.
Saturday 8th May 2010
Unexploded German bomb - see "The discovery of . . . "
We have a new M P for the first time in 23 years
following the election on Thursday of Nick Boles, a 45-year-old company
director, who fought the Grantham and Stamford seat for the Conservatives. His
success also brings the constituency back into the Tory fold after the outgoing
member, Quentin Davies, made a surprise decision by defecting to Labour in June
2007 and alienating a large number of the electorate in the process. He also
wisely decided not to defend the seat for his chosen party because his successor
recorded a resounding victory of 26,522 votes, not only increasing the turnout
but also boosting his predecessor’s 2005 majority by almost 4,500 votes and
pushing the Labour candidate into third place.
Mr Boles comes from a West Country farming family and is a graduate of Magdalen
College, Oxford, who worked in Europe and has run his own business before being
elected to Westminster City Council in 1998 where he served as chairman of the
housing committee for a spell, becoming close friends with many leading
Conservatives such as George Osborne and Michael Gove.
He has already fought one general election but lost the Labour-held marginal
seat for Hove in 2005 and was a candidate in the Conservative primary for the
London mayoral election in 2008 but withdrew through illness. Now fully
recovered, in recent years he has been part of the Tory policy group working
closely with David Cameron and he remains a member of the Cambridge-based think
tank, the Henry Jackson Society.
If the Conservatives do form the next government, Mr Boles has promised to
support David Cameron’s efforts to cut the budget deficit to keep down taxes and
business rates and at a local level has pledged to fight for the preservation of
our towns and villages, stop the erosion of local services and to stand up for
local businesses by helping them prosper and create more jobs. He is also
particularly concerned about education and that schools at all levels,
especially those in Bourne which enjoy such a high reputation, will be preserved
and allowed to flourish.
The results are:
* Nicholas Boles (Conservative) 26,552 (50.3%
+3.4%)
Harrish Bisnauthsing (Liberal Democrat) 11,726 (22.2% +5.7%)
Mark Bartlett (Labour) 9,503 (18.0% -13.2%)
Christopher Robinson (British National Party) 2,485 (4.7% +4.7%)
Tony Wells (UK Independence Party) 1,604 (3.0% -0.2%)
Mark Horn (Lincolnshire Independents) 929 (1.8% +1.8%)
* Conservative majority 14,826 (28.1%)
Turnout 52,799 (68.0% +5.0%)
The discovery of a mortar bomb during building work at
the Abbey Lawn last month is a timely reminder that there may still be dangerous
explosives under the earth from the Second World War of 1939-45 although it is
doubtful if there will by anything quite as hazardous as that found in Eastgate
in 1964.
Contractors installing petrol tanks for a new garage found an unexploded bomb of
such size that the police alerted not only the neighbourhood but the entire town
which was at risk from an explosion. The bomb was the last relic from a German
aircraft, a Junkers 88, which was shot down and then crashed on the Butcher’s
Arms at No 32 Eastgate in 1941, demolishing the building and killing seven
people inside. During the war, salvage teams had no time to retrieve debris
after such incidents and so the hole was filled in and the site of the public
house levelled and it remained derelict until after the war when it was bought
for a garage development by the late Jack Edmund Lovell (1929-2005) of Riverside
Motors which opened in 1959.
Five years later, in August 1964, he was expanding the business with the
installation of new underground petrol storage tanks and a JCB was brought in to
dig the necessary holes to accommodate them. A small crowd had gathered to watch
the work proceed and there was much talk of the bomber crash which was still
fresh in many people’s minds.
Digger driver Derek Bowers, aged 27, was at the controls and once his machine
began to excavate the site, fragments from the plane and even machine gun
bullets were being unearthed. The machine then struck something more substantial
and made of metal. “I hit it with the bucket”, recalled Derek in later years. “I
thought at first that it might be a wheel from the undercarriage and I began
hammering away in an attempt to move it but it wouldn’t budge. Somebody went
down into the hole to have a look – I think it was Bill Darnes – but he got out
pretty quickly when he realised it was a bomb.”
The digger had in fact unearthed a 1,100 lb. unexploded bomb almost eight feet
below the surface that had buried itself so deeply in the ground that its
presence was undetected when the crater caused by the plane crash had been
covered over and left 23 years before. The police were alerted and they called
in a bomb disposal expert but a preliminary investigation revealed that it was
not likely to explode although the area was cordoned off for the night and
residents in Eastgate spent many anxious hours fearing that it might explode and
some even went to sleep with friends and relatives as a safety precaution.
The following morning at 3 am, a squad arrived from RAF Newton near Nottingham
and loaded the bomb on to a lorry and took it away for disposal. The officer in
charge said that it was still "live" in that it still contained its high
explosives but it was "safe" in that the fuses were not energised. The
excavations also unearthed two clips of live ammunition, electrical wiring and a
fuel pipe from the aircraft.
Jack Lovell said afterwards: “A few of our older residents who remembered the
crash turned out to watch the excavations half-expecting us to find something
and they were not disappointed. What they did not realise was that the bomb
would have blown the street up if it had gone off. I would not be surprised if
there were a few more bombs down there still.” He was only 13 at the time of the
plane crash and living in the Austerby but he joined dozens of more curious boys
who flocked there on the Monday morning to witness the devastation. “We went
there looking for bits of the aeroplane and even bullets as souvenirs”, he said.
“One thing I did get was the original sign from the Butcher’s Arms which was
badly damaged and I hung it in the garage after it was built as a reminder of
that terrible night.”
After Jack retired from business, the garage was demolished in 2001 and new
homes built the following year now occupy the site but there is no indication of
the tragedy that occurred there more than half a century ago or of the high
explosive bomb that caused such consternation twenty years later.
Many of the fields around Bourne have turned a golden yellow in recent
weeks as hundreds of acres of oilseed rape burst into flower. Some people claim
that this bright colour is garish and one that intrudes upon the traditional
English landscape and although it may be unfamiliar to some because its
appearance in many areas is comparatively recent, it has in fact been with us
for centuries.
The crop can also be offensive to those who dislike the
brilliant yellow blossom and its strong smelling scent, claiming that it is an
inappropriate colour with a sickly and inescapable stench, not to mention the
massive problems it causes to hay fever, asthma and other sufferers. Yellow is
one of the most frequent colours in nature's palette but it is easy to
understand why so many people believe that oil seed is a recent innovation.
Old books on farming frequently refer to oil seed as cole or coleseed and in the
absence of photographs, this has confused many people as to the crop's identity.
Also, its eye-catching colour that has proliferated in the fields in the past 30
years has persuaded the public that it is a new crop when in fact it is an
ancient one. The Dutch engineers who came here to drain the fens four centuries
ago were among the first to plant oilseed rape (Brassica napus) in
Britain because they needed the oil it produced to lubricate their drainage
pumps. Lord Willoughby, who opposed the draining of the fens, wrote as early as
1598 in a letter to the Earl of Essex that he was convinced the land to be
drained was eminently suited for growing rape seed "which is of singular use to
make soap and oils with" and would therefore "not help the general poor but undo
them and make those that are already rich far more rich".
William Wheeler, in his book A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire (1868)
described oil seed as being a popular crop when the Dutch engineer Cornelius
Vermuyden began his task during the early 17th century and as Lord Willougby had
predicted, the newly enclosed land was particularly suitable for its cultivation
and it therefore became a major crop, second only to cereals such as oats, and
used mainly for making soap and oil.
In a petition to King Charles I (1600-1649), it was stated that since the
draining of the fens, crop yields had increased dramatically and they had an
abundance of all sorts of grain and "seed for oyl". This was a cogent reason for
oil seed production two centuries before the discovery of petroleum and so one
of the most important functions of the fens after drainage was to provide
England with a continual supply of soap.
The image of oilseed rape remained industrial until the 1970s when it began to
be promoted as an edible oil, a home-grown alternative to groundnuts, sunflowers
and soya. Since then, acreage has increased enormously and the yellow flowers
have become a common sight in the farming counties and here in the Bourne area,
the crops can be seen in abundance and their strong smelling scent wafts across
the road as you pass. It is perhaps the most frequently planted break crop for
the revenue from a good harvest of rape seed can equal or exceed that of wheat
because it can be sold for a good price to the crushing mills for conversion
into vegetable oil and its high profit potential has lured many farmers away
from continuous cereals.
Rape is drilled in late August immediately after the cereal harvest and the
seeds, contained in long pods at the top of the stem, are ready for combining
the following summer but they must not be left to become too ripe otherwise the
pods shatter before they enter the combine and the small brown seeds are lost.
Many farmers therefore cut it early and let it dry in the field, a practice
known as swathing, and these piles of dried stalks thrown into rows by the
cutter can often be seen in the fields in late summer. The combine is then able
to pick up the dried rape and thresh it with less wastage.
The sight of huge swathes of this crop in the countryside is a sure sign that
spring is well and truly here but there are some who object to the name oilseed
rape and all that it implies, claiming that it does not sit easily with the
glorious sight of acre after acre of beautiful yellow flowers giving off their
pungent smell. Many farmers in Britain now merely use the term oil seed but
political correctness in North America has taken its identification a step
forward. A friend in British Columbia, Canada, tells me that the name has been
changed to canola and the resulting oil product which is sold for cooking is
known as canola oil.
The Bourne web site has changed colour and it has nothing to do with the
general election. For the past 12 years, our pages have used a background of
blue sky based on the Microsoft logo and provided by Windows 95, the operating
system with which we started out in 1998, but from now on we will be using an
attractive grey which not only shows off picture images to a better advantage
but also makes the type easier to read. The change will take some weeks to
implement throughout the web site but we expect to have the job completed by the
end of the month and hope that the new colour meets with the approval of our
readers.
Thought for the week: The nation has spoken. - popular opening line
for television presenters in past times when the polls closed on general
election night and the results starting coming in.
Saturday 15th May 2010
The scarecrow has an established place in English folklore and fiction
because it was once a familiar sight in the countryside, a crude figure made of
sticks and straw, old ragged clothes and often a large turnip or a mangelwurzel
for a head, assembled to look like a human being and set up in a field to
frighten the birds away from growing crops. The term dates back to 1592 and
other ideas associated with it, such as someone whose dress and appearance is
gaunt, ridiculous or unkempt, also stem from the late 16th century.
They are a rare sight today having been displaced by other apparatus for scaring
off birds such as gas guns which go off automatically at intervals, by high
flying kites and similar wind-powered contrivances, but they can occasionally be
seen in the fields, standing like silent sentinels guarding rows of green shoots
just breaking the surface in the hope of deterring marauders from flying in to
feed off them.
It is therefore a delight to spot one as you drive through the countryside as we
did this week in the fen along Mill Drove to the north of Bourne although this
one was little more than an old orange boiler suit stuffed to look like a human
being and then tied to a stake in a field of peas in an attempt to keep the
birds at bay. Those which belong to the corvidae or crow family were their
original target in years past and these include the raven, the rook and the
jackdaw, the jay and the magpie, because these birds are omnivorous and will eat
animal, fish and vegetable food indifferently, showing themselves very adaptable
to circumstances and will devour almost anything edible.
The crow is regarded by many naturalists as the highest family of birds and
their intelligence is great in the extreme and innumerable stories are told of
their craft and cunning to ensure that they get a good meal and they are
particularly partial to new green shoots. In past times, especially during the
19th century, children played truant from school to earn a few pennies from
local farmers by scaring the crows away from their crops in the sensitive
seasons of the year and the only weapons they had were their loud voices,
sometimes wooden rattles, but mostly the stones they picked up in the fields to
throw at them, hence the saying that is still with us today: stone the crows.
Although crows were once the main pests, wood pigeons are now regarded as the
archenemies of the farmer and with some justification. The pigeon will eat
practically anything he cares to grow at any time of the year and consequently
the bird is a recognised pest and the latest count suggests that the population
in this country is in excess of 18 million and in many parts of the country,
farmers mount Pigeon Days every year when they turn out with their shotguns to
shoot as many as they can and so reduce the damage to their crops, although in
recent years they have also been killing magpies and jays, much to the dismay of
bird lovers and animal welfare organisations such as the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds.
Myth and legend have grown up around these rustic, makeshift dummies, often
because of the discarded clothes used to dress them because many people,
especially in country areas, had a half-forgotten fear of witchcraft and one of
its beliefs was that old clothes could be used to influence the original owner,
for good or more usually evil, if they had been given away or used for another
purpose, even from a distance and when the physical contact had been completely
broken. Superstition was such that old clothes, a dress, a coat or even an old
glove, might be used for malicious spells, and so owners were reluctant to have
them used for scarecrows.
Nevertheless, they have remained a popular method of scaring the birds through
the centuries and although now fast disappearing from our fields, the scarecrow
still has a place in our affection. An annual scarecrow festival is held every
August in the village of Kettlewell in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales where
over 100 life-size models go on display to celebrate this traditional country
skill. Similar festivals are held in America but usually coincide with Halloween
while in Kansas, the Topeka Scarecrows are one of the top ice hockey teams in
the American Central Hockey League and nearer at home they have been held at
Uffington and Essendine.
The scarecrow has also had an attraction for writers and film makers for many
years, among the earliest being The Scarecrow, a play written by the American
Percy MacKaye in 1908 about a scarecrow being brought to life which was made
into a silent film Puritan Passions and was successfully revived on Broadway in
1953. Who cannot forget the scene in the 1933 Hollywood version of The Invisible
Man, the film that made Claude Rains a star, in which the unseen fugitive is
pursued across the moors by the police in cold weather and eventually seeks
warmth from the clothes he steals from the scarecrow he finds in a field, one of
the great moments in screen history? There have been many film references to
scarecrows since, including Dr Syn Alias the Scarecrow, the 1962 version of
Russell Thorndike's novel about the smuggling Vicar of Dymchurch who disguises
himself as a scarecrow to protect his identity, while the latest is the 1998
slice of horror hokum called Scarecrows directed by William Wesley in which
robbers holding a farmer and his teenage daughter hostage in a remote farmhouse
are killed off one by one by a group of living scarecrows.
They also have a great appeal to children and one of the most memorable
appearances came in the well-loved 1939 film The Wizard of Oz when Ray Bolger as
the Scarecrow joins Judy Garland and her assorted friends in their journey down
the yellow brick road. The use of the mangelwurzel for the head of a scarecrow
was also the inspiration for one of the most famous scarecrows in fiction,
Worzel Gummidge, created by the American writer Barbara Euphan Todd (1890-1976)
and immortalised by the actor, the late Jon Pertwee, and which delighted
television audiences in England from 1979-1982 and later in Australia.
Scarecrows, it would seem, are now far more in evidence on the screen and in the
realms of the imagination than in the fields they have occupied since they first
appeared in the rural landscape of 400 years ago. Modern devices may have taken
their place but for someone who remembers the customary scarecrows from
England's past, the sight of one standing incongruously in the middle of a field
today is sufficient to make me stop and stay awhile, to think of man's ingenuity
and to remember the way our countryside once was.
Few roads around the county can be in a worse state than that which leads
off Manning Road to the waste recycling centre in Pinfold Road, a veritable
moonscape of potholes and some of them six to eight inches deep and extremely
dangerous for the vehicles using this thoroughfare to dump their rubbish. The
problem has been with us ever since the centre opened in May 2002 yet apart from
some superficial repairs nothing has been done to bring the surface up to an
acceptable driving standard.
Lincolnshire County Council, which as the Highways Authority is responsible for
roads in the town, employs much publicised pothole gangs equipped with lorries
and tarmac ready to race to any part of the county where repair work is needed
yet they have consistently passed this problem by despite the continuing hazard
to drivers using a depot which is under their direct control.
The worsening situation has been highlighted by this column on several occasions
and now one of our local councillors, Helen Powell (Bourne West) has raised the
issue during a meeting of the town council’s highways and planning committee
last week (Tuesday 27th April) when it was revealed that the road has never been
adopted and is therefore outside the county council’s control. This would appear
to be a convenient excuse for not doing the work because the authority has
happily allowed residents to use the road to dump their rubbish while refusing
to accept responsibility for the state of the surface.
The town council has now decided to trace the owner of the road through the Land
Registry in order that it may be brought under county council control. This is
sure to take some time and so in the meantime, the county council ought to make
some attempt to safeguard drivers using their recycling centre. It might also
help if our two county councillors gave their support to the demand from this
town for repair work to be carried out as a matter of urgency rather than allow
a dangerous road surface continue in such a state.
One of the most enduring memories of my boyhood is from the early evening
of Tuesday 8th May 1945 when with a group of friends returning home from
swimming in the river, an upstairs window opened in the house we were passing
and a woman shouted excitedly that the war was over, having just heard the
announcement on the radio. We stood outside and cheered for several minutes and
on arriving back in our street, found that many families had gathered at their
front gates to talk about the news and to speculate on how our lives would be
changed in the coming months.
Five years of rationing, austerity and air raids can only be imagined by those
who have lived through those uncertain times and there has been no comparable
experience since and so, in the stirring words of the prime minister, Winston
Churchill, everyone was hoping to put those terrible events behind them in order
that the world could be free and move forward to the broad, sunlit uplands. It
was a memorable occasion, suitably named VE Day to commemorate Victory in
Europe, and for many years afterwards was observed in towns and villages across
the land.
Last Saturday was the 65th anniversary of this momentous occasion, suitably
marked with a ceremony at the Cenotaph in London when the Prince of Wales led
veterans in a service to remember that day and the last post was sounded and a
one-minute silence observed for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
But there were other heroes of those dark days of conflict who laboured on the
home front amid shortages and night time terrors to keep home and family
together, often alone because their husbands had been called up for military
service, yet the women of Britain were equally brave at a time when this
country’s entire future was at stake and without their forbearance there would
have been no land fit for heroes when their menfolk returned. It was they who
bore the brunt of the war’s effects on the civilian population, facing a daily
trudge around the shops and lengthy queues to feed hungry families, making do
and mending to keep their children clothed and, best of all, maintaining a
morale that never wavered even in the darkest hours when they feared for their
very lives and the future looked bleak indeed.
Those who lived during these times will never forget. Unfortunately, it is not
always fashionable now to mention the war and so the celebration of VE Day has
become less popular and rarely observed outside the capital while our local
newspapers do not even give it a mention. In Bourne, the last parade was held in
1995 to celebrate the 50th anniversary with an exhibition of memorabilia at the
Heritage Centre and a fireworks display at the Wellhead Gardens. A blue plaque
was unveiled on the front of the town hall in April 2006 acknowledging the
efforts made by our townspeople at home and abroad during the conflict and last
year, the town held an Armed Forces Day which is likely to become an annual
event.
But VE Day slowly slips down the list of important anniversaries that get public
recognition while those who took part in the war or even lived through it become
fewer as the years progress and very soon, as with the First World War of
1914-18, the last survivors of this human tragedy will have passed on and with
them the memories of how it was will be consigned to history.
Thought for the week: We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or
tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long drawn trials of vigilance
and exertion will wear us down. - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), wartime
Prime Minister in a radio speech to the nation broadcast by the BBC Home Service
in 1941.
Saturday 22nd May 2010
The Methodist chapel - see "Two hundred years . . . "
Working in the garden
on Thursday, I heard the cuckoo for the first time this year and paused from my
labours to sit and listen to this bird heralding the coming summer. It was a
welcome sign because I feared that it might not put in an appearance at all and
May 20th is rather late, but there was no mistaking that distinctive cry from
its song post on a branch of one of the scattered trees out there over the fen
towards Dyke village and I felt somehow relieved that this magical sound was
back with us again.
But there is no doubt that its arrival in this country from foreign climes is
fast declining. When we moved to this house overlooking the flat landscape on
the very edge of Bourne almost 30 years ago, our favourite migratory bird sang
early and late most days. In fact, there were several of them and their song
delighted the neighbourhood morning and evening for many weeks because the call
of the male cuckoo makes this one of the best known though least seen of our
summer visitors. I made a note in my diary and the date was 22nd April 1983.
Cuckoo Day is traditionally April 14th or 15th when we can expect to hear it in
these islands for the first time although there is no hard and fast rule but we
in Lincolnshire are rarely so blessed and it is usually a week or two
afterwards, often even later, that their characteristic call comes to us from
across the countryside to remind us that they have arrived after their marathon
flight from Africa where they have wintered in warmer climes.
No sound is more eagerly awaited than the loud, ringing, repeated song because
it signals the arrival of spring and although many people have heard the cuckoo,
few have ever seen one. They are quite large birds, well over twelve inches
long, and they have a bad reputation because they do not build nests for
themselves but lay their eggs in those of other birds and leave them to hatch
them out and bring up the young. But despite this wayward conduct, they remain
one of the best loved of our summer visitors.
A few years ago we were driving home across the fen one May day when we heard
the cuckoo and then had a rare sighting as it perched on an overhead power cable
in a field alongside Mill Drove, singing its heart out, but this was an unusual
occurrence that stopped every passing car and soon there were a dozen vehicles
parked along the roadside verge, their windows wound down as the occupants sat
enjoying the sound of this harbinger of warm and pleasant summer days ahead.
Since then, the cuckoo has become an ever more elusive bird because its numbers
are in serious decline and its song at this time of the year can no longer be
guaranteed as an annual delight. It has to face the shootists on the
Mediterranean islands, particularly Malta, in Spain and in France, as it wings
its way north on its annual flight to England, but once here it will find that
its habitats are being denuded year by year because the intensification of
agriculture and the urban sprawl persist at an alarming rate.
In May 2009, the cuckoo joined the official list of the most threatened species
in the United Kingdom. Other well-known birds, including the lapwing, yellow
wagtail and herring gull, have also been added to the roll compiled by bird
conservation groups. This assessment of the status of the country's regularly
occurring birds by groups including the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Natural England, shows that
more than one-in-five counted species are now red-listed because of concerns
over their survival.
Mark Avery, conservation director of the RSPB, said that an increasing number of
charismatic, widespread and familiar birds were joining the list of those
species most in need of help and the most shocking decline was in birds that
visit the UK in summer, such as the cuckoo. The pattern seems to be relentless
because in April 2009 a new book was published by Mike McCarthy entitled Say
Goodbye to the Cuckoo in which he laments the disappearance of the sound of
summer from our countryside. The BTO supports this theory saying that since 1994
there has been a decline of 37%, and an overall reduction of 59% since 1980 and
it is thought that the cuckoo has also become the victim of a circumstances,
struggling to find enough food during the breeding season here in the UK and
suffering a similar fate on its wintering grounds in Africa.
The book highlights the enormity of the challenges that migrant birds face. It
is estimated that 16 million of them arrive here every spring and the cuckoo is
just one of these species but being a harbinger of summer, it might just be the
most significant. The distinctive cuckoo song is one of the best known of any
bird, one that many people have never seen but most of us know the song and
relate this to the end of winter and the arrival of summer and its total
disappearance would be a tragedy.
Two hundred years of Methodism will be celebrated in Bourne this summer,
a milestone on the road of non-conformism that began with the remarkable story
of a few dedicated supporters who wished to follow their own path of religious
faith.
Methodism is a movement of Christianity represented by a number of denominations
and organisations and traces its roots to the evangelical revival within the
Anglican church by John Wesley (1703-91) which began during the 18th century
when he took to open air preaching and encouraged people to experience Jesus
Christ personally, his great achievement being the appointment of itinerant,
un-ordained preachers.
There is a published account of Wesley visiting Bourne during his travels around
England in 1782, a solitary horseman clad in the garb of a clergyman of the
Episcopal Church who turned off the Great North Road at Colsterworth to find out
what his people called Methodists were doing in Bourne. He reputedly stayed at
the Golden Lion in West Street and then preached in the market place before
resuming his journey to Market Deeping and beyond. However, the story is most
likely to be apocryphal because there is no mention of it in his journals but is
too good not to be repeated here.
By 1800, Methodism had become active at the village of Aslackby, north of
Bourne, where John Burrows and his wife had moved from Skillington, near
Grantham, and had begun preaching, soon establishing local communities at
Billingborough and Rippingale. There was also great interest in Bourne but no
preacher and in 1808, four men from the group walked the seven miles to Aslackby
to beg for someone to come and speak to them, offering to find him a room for
the night and to take good care of him and his horse during his stay. And so, on
14th January 1809, Mr Pollard, a minister from Grantham, agreed to come to
Bourne, the first of many visits over the next few months held in a cottage in
Star Lane, now Abbey Road, while the four men of Bourne, headed by John Redshaw
(1761-1834), subsequently became permanent hosts during his visits. Two years
later, on 23rd July 1810, a certificate was granted by the Diocese of Lincoln
recording that the property was now certified as “a place of religious worship
for those of His Majesty’s protestant subjects dissenting from the Church of
England, commonly called Methodists”.
The movement grew rapidly, from just eight members in 1810 to sixty-five in 1815
and during the intervening period, a piece of land in Star Lane measuring 12
yards by 10 yards was bought from William Greasley for £20 for the building of
the first chapel which was opened in 1812 at a cost of £200 and soon after Queen
Victoria's accession in 1837, Bourne was placed at the head of the local circuit
when the first ministers were the Rev J Waller and the Rev Thomas Bakewell. Mr
Waller was described as "a fine gentleman of the genuine old Methodist type,
very hearty but very eccentric". When it was discussed at the Methodist
Conference who should go to the Bourne circuit, he said: "I will go if you will
send my boy with me."
The "boy" was, in fact, Thomas Bakewell and they worked together in harmony and
with great enthusiasm but unfortunately, before a year had passed, Bakewell died
of typhoid in 1839 at the age of 23, and is buried in the east end of the
churchyard where a tombstone marks his grave. Mr Waller preached a deeply moving
sermon at his passing based on the words: "As a son he hath served with me in
the gospel".
The congregation in the early days was sustained by a small group of families
but in 1828 they managed to raise the £135 needed to purchase more land nearby
with a view to building a larger chapel. Further land was purchased in 1841 and
this enabled the present chapel to be built at a cost of £1,200 with its
distinctive façade of huge Doric pilasters. The work was carried out by Thomas
Pilkington (1809-1889), a Scotsman who had settled in Bourne, and the building
was opened the following year and registered as a Place of Religious Worship on
17th February 1854 and authorised for the solemnisation of marriages on 9th July
1862.
A gallery was added to the new building in 1867, financed by Robert Munton in
memory of his wife, and this increased the seating capacity of the chapel from
344 to 434. For some time, the choir and harmonium were situated there and for
many years afterwards, the music at services was provided by the Redshaw family.
Mr John Redshaw (1823-1895), grandson of John Redshaw, one of the four men of
Bourne, was the choirmaster and his daughter the organist, and there is a tale
told that on one occasion, Mr Redshaw, from his position as choirmaster in the
gallery, was clearly heard urging "the bottom singers not to drawl, but to try
to keep up with the choir".
Further improvement work was carried out in 1877 and 1891 when the old pulpit
was replaced by a modern platform and the pews by open seats and in 1964 the old
chapel was demolished to make way for a new hall. The building was Grade II
listed in 1977 but in 1988, surveyors declared it unsafe with a tilt of six
inches in the classic frontage and although demolition was the first reaction,
restoration was subsequently carried out at a cost of £300,00 and it remains in
use.
A new floor was installed and the ceiling lowered during 2008 and the following
year major changes were announced to move the worship area to the first floor
and develop the ground floor. The £500,000 project under the slogan “Fit for the
Future” will incorporate a spiral staircase and a lift and provide a link with
the church hall next door, thus turning it into one large building. The design
is expected to produce a new block that is both functional and attractive and
provide additional space for community as well as church events. Fund raising
has already started and once underway, the building work is expected to take
eight months to complete. Meanwhile, special services on Sunday 25th July will
mark 200 years of Methodism in Bourne to demonstrate that the movement is still
alive and well.
Thought for the week: Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come
for miles to watch you burn. - John Wesley (1703-1791),
Anglican cleric and Christian theologian who with his brother Charles founded
the English Methodist movement.
Saturday 29th May 2010
Wake House before the trust took over in 1997
Wake House is badly in need of attention as anyone who passes by this
imposing building in North Street, Bourne, can attest and even the Bourne
Business Chamber which represents our leading shopkeepers and businessmen has
complained that it has begun to look shabby.
The deterioration is there for all to see, mainly on the frontage where the
window frames and sills need replacing, while the walls require attention and
further work must be done at both the front and back to ensure that it survives
in good order. Unfortunately, responsibility for its upkeep appears to be an
issue because the building is owned by South Kesteven District Council but
occupied by the Bourne Arts and Community Trust which uses it for various
activities and as a base for some 30 organisations without which the social life
of this town would be the poorer.
The property was leased to the trust in 1997 for a peppercorn rent of £5 a year
and was turned into an arts, crafts and community centre almost solely through
fund-raising but this agreement ran out in 2005 and since then its future has
been uncertain. What seems to have been forgotten is that Wake House is a Grade
II listed building and as such the owner, namely the council, has a
responsibility to keep it in good order and it is proper that it should do so if
an agreement with the trust is not reached.
The property dates back to the early 19th century and was built on the site of
the old Waggon and Horses public house that was pulled down as part of the
development. It is also the birthplace of Charles Frederick Worth, son of a
local solicitor, who founded the famous Paris fashion house and a blue plaque
tells us that he was born here on 13th October 1825. His father, William Worth,
became bankrupt and vacated the premises which continued for a time as a legal
practice under Stephen Andrews who took over in 1853 but was later used as
council offices by various local authorities, the last being SKDC which moved out in 1993 and so it remained empty until
the trust took over four years later.
The trust is now seeking greater security of tenure which would enable them
apply for grants to fund the necessary work but SKDC has been insisting on a
market rate which would be prohibitive for a voluntary organisation although
talks for a lower rental and a full repairing 25-year lease are continuing and a
successful outcome is hopefully awaited when the council meets next month.
If this does not happen, then in the absence of a formal lease the council,
which incidentally initiated the listing in July 1977, will be responsible for
the maintenance of Wake House. However, there can be no question of the trust
being asked to vacate the property and must be allowed to continue in its
present role, with or without a lease, and if the authority tried to turn them
out then such a decision would unleash the wrath of a very angry public and
rightly so. There is a feeling abroad, however, that the council is no longer
altruistic in its intentions, paying more regard to profit and loss rather than
serving the community, but it is not a business and the council tax we pay which
keeps it solvent is intended to provide public services of which this centre is
one.
The council’s action is therefore clear and those six councillors who sit on the
authority as representatives of Bourne have a duty to fight for a satisfactory
conclusion which will bring benefit to the town they represent by ensuring that
Wake House is given some permanence in order that it can be brought up to the
standard we expect from a Grade II listed building and at the same time continue
in the role that has been so successful over the past thirteen years. Their
votes when the council meets on June 17th will therefore be crucial and the
people will expect them to do their duty.
One of Bourne's best loved leisure facilities, the outdoor swimming pool,
opens for business this weekend. This has always been a favourite haunt of young
and old during the summer months and record crowds can be expected whenever the
weather turns hot.
The pool is so well established that it is difficult to imagine it being sited
anywhere else other than the Abbey Lawn yet this could have happened had plans
that were drawn up during the late 19th century come to fruition. Public bathing
was becoming popular in Britain at this time and the idea of an outdoor pool for
the town was originally mooted at a public meeting held at the Angel Hotel in
1891. Various sites were suggested including St Peter's Pool but the idea was
rejected because it would involve too much boarding up that would deface this
picturesque spot which, it was pointed out, was home to kingfishers and other
rare birds.
An expanse of water 200 yards west of Baldock's Mill was suggested next because
this had been a favourite haunt for generations of local lads but there were
objections to this too because it might interfere with the rights of mill
owners, there being three working watermills dependent on the Bourne Eau in
those days, the others being Cliffe's Mill and Notley's Mill. Another suggested
location was a pond known as Burdwood's Pit, a stretch of water owned by Dr
James Watson Burdwood, the Medical Officer of Health, but was in reality little
more than an extension of the Car Dyke and located at the base of the embankment
of the Bourne to Sleaford railway line. At the south end, it had a depth of 16
feet and the north end was shallower. "We are of the opinion that it could
easily be made suitable", concluded the report.
No agreement could be reached, however, and the idea was shelved for almost
three years until it was revived by Cecil Bell, a local solicitor, who chose a
piece of land to the south of St Peter's Pool as the site, then known as Mr
Gibson's Home Paddock but today it is part of the Wellhead Gardens. He engaged
an architect who specialised in the design of swimming baths and plans were
drawn up and estimates for the work obtained from contractors.
They provided for a pool that would be fed direct from the stream leading to the
Wellhead because the water here was warmer than that direct from the springs, a
very important consideration for bathers. The outlet would be into the backwater
stream, thus interfering only with one mill, which was most likely Cliffe's
Mill. The bath would be 90ft. by 40ft., the depth varying from 3ft. 6in. to 6ft.
and the floor laid from 400 cubic yards of super cement. Provision would also be
made for eight dressing boxes and an open central shed, all covered in, and the
complex surrounded by durable fencing 7ft. 6in. in height to ensure the
strictest privacy.
Once the plans were completed, Mr Bell called a public meeting to find out if
there was sufficient support in the town for the project and it was arranged to
be held at the Angel Hotel on Wednesday 11th April 1894. On the Friday before
the meeting, the Stamford Mercury reported: "Bourne will soon possess a
capital swimming bath if Mr Bell's scheme is taken up with the generous and
enthusiastic spirit it deserves. The plans, which have been excellently prepared
by a gentleman who thoroughly understands the work, show a diving board and
steps. The entire scheme is in business-like order and will doubtless meet with
unanimous approval."
Mr Bell told the meeting that the project had been costed at £300 [almost
£20,000 in today's money] and added: "I believe that the work will prove both
enduring and profitable. So far as raising the money is concerned, I think we
might be able to raise £200 in voluntary subscriptions."
Mr James Shilcock, landlord of the Nag's Head Hotel, suggested the formation of
a limited liability company and this was agreed. The chairman, Mr
Alexander Farr, also a solicitor, said that Kesteven County Council had the
power to establish bath and wash houses but in this matter they deemed a
voluntary effort preferable to official intervention. The evening concluded with
unanimous support for the project and it was resolved to appoint a committee and
delegate the arrangements to them and a report on their progress would be
presented to a future town meeting.
The elected committee met at the Corn Exchange on Saturday 14th April and
enthusiasm for the scheme was still running high. The members reported on two
courses of action, firstly that Mr Bell would attempt to raise the required £300
voluntarily and secondly that the work should be left to the parish council
which was due to be elected in November, the town's first such body formed as a
result of the Local Government Act of 1894. The committee also decided to canvas
opinion in the town as to whether the required capital could be subscribed in
the form of ten-shilling shares in a limited liability company.
In the event, there was insufficient financial support forthcoming from the
public and by the time the new parish council was elected, there was so much
business to be dealt with that the swimming baths never reached the agenda and
by the end of the year, the idea had fizzled out. In the meantime, bathers were
using the pool near Bourne Abbey that was originally a carp pond to provide fish
for the monks and soon after the Great War ended in 1918, it was converted into
public swimming baths by keen local swimmers. Bourne United Charities took over
in 1922 and, as they say, the rest is history. Major improvement work was
carried out and there has been a progressive programme ever
since, particularly in recent years, and this work has turned it into one of the
finest remaining lidos in the country of which Bourne can be justly proud.
Sainsburys are objecting to the new Tesco development in South
Road and although it is understandable that the company would like to prevent
any opposition from moving into the town, the reasons given will appear to many
as being a mere camouflage of their real purpose. The Stamford Mercury
reports that a letter from their agent suggests that the scheme will not only be
directly contrary to planning policy and regeneration objectives but would also
jeopardise any significant future food retail-led investment in the town centre
and the knock-on benefits (May 21st).
The truth is that Sainsburys have been a real shopping benefit to Bourne since
opening their Exeter Street store in August 1999 but they have become a victim
of their own success and now find themselves operating from a site that is too
small for the demand and do not employ enough people on the checkouts at busy
periods. Last Saturday morning at midday was a particularly traumatic time for
customers who faced double queues to pay even though not all of the tills were
operating and there was much grumbling from shoppers jostling for a place with
overflowing trolleys while staff tried vainly to keep order. Car parking has
also been an issue with insufficient spaces and often a queue of cars coming in
from Exeter Road and a tailback in both directions.
There have been other complaints, notably about price increases, but overall,
the store has become part of our shopping week and we would not be without it.
There will naturally be concern about a new one opening up in opposition but
competition can only be good for the customer, driving down prices and
increasing efficiency in pursuit of greater sales and this is of paramount
importance in today’s uncertain economic climate. But altruism has no place in
the corporate mentality and so it will be up to the customers to support the
opening of a new Tesco supermarket and then to decide which they wish to
frequent, a judgment that will be made on performance and so both will have to
stay on their mettle.
Thought for the week: While the law of competition may be sometimes hard
for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of
the fittest in every department. - Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Scottish-born
American industrialist, businessman and a major philanthropist who became one of
the most famous leaders of industry of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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