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Saturday 2nd October 2010
Work in progress - see "One of the most attractive . . . "
Two news items were significant last week and both came
from police sources, the first an acknowledgement that the yob society must be
curbed and the second that if the current situation continues unchecked then we
will continue to retreat, as with the closure of the Elsea Park play area.
This is not a new situation and has in fact been the main public concern for
more than a decade yet nothing is done and the anti-social element becomes more
evident. The broken window syndrome has been with us for more than a quarter of
a century, that urban disorder and vandalism have small beginnings before they
escalate into serious wrongdoing, yet during that time the police have
practically disappeared from the streets and the crime rate has risen
accordingly.
Sir Denis O’Connor, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, has called for officers
to reclaim the streets after admitting that he himself was once forced to move
home because of rowdy and drunken yob behaviour. The police, he said, were
failing to get to grips with neighbourhood louts because they did not consider
them a serious enough problem even though many people are being forced to move
home as a result.
Meanwhile, a front page report in The Local (September 24th) tells us
that the Springbank Drive play area at Elsea Park was closed for a week because
of anti-social behaviour by yob intruders hurling abuse at people living nearby,
even though this was an expected occurrence after an outbreak of vandalism
earlier this year which resulted in a similar restriction for
the youngsters who live in the vicinity.
The previous closure which occurred in June was reported by this column after
intruders damaged the equipment and defaced surfaces by spraying graffiti and a
six foot high fence was installed before reopening. But even this was not the
first incident of its kind because last summer there were complaints of children
causing disturbances at 2 o'clock in the morning, screaming and shouting at the
top of their voices.
We are therefore talking about a known problem that has been allowed to fester
without effective remedial action being taken and although many will think that
a play area for children is of little consequence in the current climate, we
only have to apply the broken window theory to realise that more serious crime
in this locality is now a distinct possibility.
Sir Denis had a similar experience and has revealed that he and his family were
driven out of one area where they lived by rowdy, drunken yobs and how the
encounter had remained with him for years but acknowledges that many people are
not in a position to move home if faced with comparable circumstances. “The
anti-social behaviour was kids gathering every Friday and Saturday night,
drinking cans of lager and stuff like that“, he said. “They were making a din
and hanging around the area despite complaints. I know it doesn’t sound like a
lot but if that happens on and off, week in and week out, then it adds up.”
The town centre is not immune from problems of anti-social behaviour either and
a graphic account of what might be expected at night in the streets of Bourne
has been given by local businessman Kenneth Jacob, who lives in a flat in North
Street, in a contribution to the Bourne Forum (August 26th) in which he
describes the conduct of those who congregate outside the public houses at
weekends between 10 pm and 2 am:
“This happens every Friday and Saturday
night. I have no problem with that. After all, urinating outside the gate to my
property, on occasion defecating there, shouting and screaming obscenities -
this is all part of Bourne’s rich cultural heritage. What I object to strongly
is the fact that I cannot get to sleep until 3 - 4 am these days. I am not the
only one affected, nor the only one who has complained. North Street is a mixed
retail/residential area. People congregate in numbers. I have counted over 40
outside certain pubs, on the pavement and also the street. Then there are those
who park in North Street and totter or stagger towards their cars and drive off.
The police have the powers to disperse such groups of people and let us not
forget it is a hardcore of possibly 200 - 300 people who regularly cause the
problems. I have complained to the police and the council but predictably
nothing has been done.”
Sir Denis used an emotive phrase to put his message across which
caught the imagination of the media and the nation, that the police should
reclaim our streets from the yobs, but until now no one seems to have been
listening, least of all the very police forces he purports to represent. This
may be about to change according to The Local newspaper which carries a
front page report (October 1st) detailing a new initiative by the police to
crack down on anti-social behaviour both at Elsea Park and in the town centre.
Extra evening patrols have been introduced over a period of three weeks in an
attempt to stop the yobs when alcohol will be confiscated and warnings and fines
issued. This is an admirable way forward but as we have learned in the past, it
will need a continued campaign to be fully effective.
The important question is however what do you do with the miscreants when
they are caught and how exactly should they be punished. We have been told that
ASBOs are worn as a badge of pride in some localities while community service is
ineffective because it is not being enforced. Contributors to the Bourne Forum
where this issue has been discussed this week have condemned the recent liberal
approach by society and have advocated a return to harsher methods of
retribution which they claim would work such as birching, one man even
volunteering to carry it out if required.
Birching is a corporal punishment with a birch rod, typically applied to the
recipient's bare buttocks, although occasionally to the back or shoulders. The
implement was not in fact a single rod but usually a bundle of strong and smooth
leafless twigs and was frequently used to punish male juveniles during the 19th
century in ships and naval institutions as well as prisons and the courts for
fairly minor offences such as petty larceny. This method was abolished in 1948
although retained until 1962 as a punishment for violent breaches of prison
discipline.
The last known case of birching in Bourne occurred in 1923 when the victim was a
young lad who appeared before a special children's court at the town hall on
July 26th charged with indecently assaulting a girl under the age of seven
years. The magistrates said that they “deplored his depravity” and ordered him
to be punished with four strokes of the birch rod and bound the father over in
the sum of £5 for the boy to be of good behaviour for six months. In such cases,
birching was usually administered privately by a policeman immediately after the
court hearing, either in a room in the building or at the nearest police
station.
There have been other severe reprisals imposed by the courts on young offenders
in the past and perhaps the most celebrated example in this town occurred during
the 17th century. Like many other places, Bourne had its stocks which stood at
the edge of the market place at the top of what is now Abbey Road, where
wrongdoers were locked in by the legs and pelted with stones, rotten fruit and
bad eggs until they saw the error of their ways. Nearby was a whipping post for
similar severe punishments and an entry in the register of the Bourne Quarter
Sessions for 22nd April 1688 records one such punishment by this means.
Daniel Summerby, a slater, who was perhaps our most infamous tearaway, was
brought before the justices for rowdy and disorderly conduct in the town on a
number of occasions, and the magistrates ordered that he ". . . being a person
of an ill life and conversation and also being very malicious, desperate and
unruly, so that complaint hath been made by the inhabitants his neighbours made
unto us this day. It is therefore ordered that the constable of the said town of
Bourne do upon his next excursion or disturbance seize and carry him to the
common whipping post, there to be whipped till blood come, and so at all times
hereafter, serve him as shows himself dangerous or desperate to the hazard or
trouble of his neighbourhood."
The fate of the whipping post is not known but there was also a set of
stocks which were dismantled by townspeople one dark night in 1850 and thrown
into the Bourne Eau and so it probably disappeared around the same time and with
no one regretting their fate, neither were replaced.
One of the most attractive spots in the town is the stone bridge across
the Bourne Eau in South Street, built as an approach to the War Memorial gardens
when they were established in 1956 and still a magnet for anyone wanting to take
a photograph, especially newly-weds after tying the knot at the Abbey Church
across the road. It has withstood the weather well over the past half a century
but finally succumbed to the severe frosts of last winter which damaged the
pointing stones on the top, leaving many chipped and broken.
Bourne United Charities who are responsible for the gardens have employed a
stonemason to carry out remedial work which has involved chiselling replacement
sections from blocks of stone and he has done a fine job to ensure that the
bridge remains intact as a picturesque feature in this part of town and as the
backdrop for photographers for many years to come.
We have been singing the praises of Bourne’s voluntary workers in recent
weeks and it is disappointing to see so few young people among them. Admittedly,
they do have other diversions, not least the urge to go out and enjoy themselves
and who can blame them, so perhaps it does need a little more experience of life
to realise that pleasurable pursuits are not always to be found in the pubs
and clubs and that helping one’s fellow man can be rewarding and enriching,
especially when one reaches the maturity of age.
High on the list of those who have given immeasurable service to this town is
Dorothy Alexander who has worked in many fields of voluntary endeavour, notably
the local branch of the Women’s Institute, the Tory Ladies Tea Club, Meals on
Wheels and the trolley service at the Digby Court retirement home. It will
therefore come as a surprise to many that although she is now 89, she continues
in a useful role as chairman of the Bourne Youth Management Committee which
administers the youth club in Queen’s Road.
As with so many of our redoubtable voluntary workers, Dorothy was not born in
this town and did not move here until 1971 with her late husband, Ron Alexander,
who subsequently became a town councillor and Mayor of Bourne and it was while
serving as mayoress that the seeds of her present work were sown. Youth
facilities in Bourne were beginning to expand during her husband’s year in
office and she was invited to become a member of the Friends of Bourne Youth
Club, the founding organisation of the management committee of which she was
first secretary and now chairman since 1986.
Age is no barrier to the work in hand and when asked if anyone had ever
suggested such a thing she says defiantly: “They wouldn’t dare!” Mrs Alexander
also stresses that as a mother and grandmother, she is perfectly in tune with
the youth of today and keeps abreast of affairs through regular visits to the
youth club, always on the lookout for new opportunities to add to its busy
weekly schedules and so bring additional interests for the town’s teenagers to
enjoy. At the risk of sounding trite, we are as young as we feel and anyone who
has met Dorothy Alexander will know that she is the embodiment of that sentiment
because she most certainly has not lost that youthful spirit which can prove so
elusive in old age.
Thought for the week: The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but
that one is young. - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish writer, poet, and
aesthete who became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s.
Saturday 9th October 2010
The future of the bus station appears to be back on the
agenda after The Local newspaper reported that South Kesteven District
Council is again eyeing up the site for development (October 1st). This has been
the subject of controversy for the past decade yet the authority fails to grasp
the obvious fact that this is a useful and necessary amenity and if it goes then
another comparable and convenient site must be found which will be near
impossible.
The reason behind the proposal is also questionable because the newspaper
reports the council as saying that there is a need for additional space for new
shops in Bourne which appears to ignore the fact that after ten years of
planning, it has only recently shelved the £27 million scheme for the town
centre because of a total lack of interest from developers. This does give the
impression that planners may be out of touch with what is going on in Bourne.
Forty years ago, this was a quiet country community but becoming busier and as
the weekly street market was then held in the town centre, which was also a
stopping place for buses, some regulation was needed and on Monday 11th June
1973, the first traffic lights were installed at a cost of £10,000. There were
also attempts at this time to move the market off the streets because of the
dangers being created by stalls erected alongside the pavements in North Street
and West Street, so narrowing the space available for passing traffic although
it was to be several more years before this was to become a reality. But it was
obvious at this time that buses could not continue to use the market place with
the kerbside as their terminus and so the construction of a new bus station was
undertaken.
The chosen site was at the corner of St Gilbert's Road and North Street and the
new facility came into use in the autumn of 1974 and although it meant a longer
walk for bus passengers arriving in town for a day's shopping or business, it
was an obvious and rational development. Shortly before Christmas the following
year, a new town service was inaugurated with buses travelling at intervals on
circuits through many parts of the district.
The bus station has been in regular and busy use ever since with long distance
coaches between London and the north also calling here daily as well as a number
of others from various coach companies as this form of transport enjoys a new
popularity in the face of rising rail fares. Apart from providing a convenient
picking up and dropping off point, the available space enables coaches wait and
adhere to their schedules which was not previously possible at the kerbside
where large vehicles parked for any length of time were liable to cause problems
for other traffic.
The first signs that the town might lose the bus station came during the autumn
of 2000, when it was proposed that one of the parking bays was to be removed to
make room for a new supermarket planned nearby and so after more than a quarter
of a century, the bus station was perceived to have outlived its original
importance to the town. This development never materialised, mainly because the
North Street terrace that had been earmarked for demolition, was saved through
public opposition and is now part of a new red brick housing development called
Marquess Court that does credit to that part of town. Yet official persistence
to close the bus station continued with SKDC quoting “a widespread view” that it
was under-used although this was totally without foundation.
Then in 2006, the council leader, Linda Neal (Bourne West), told the Stamford
Mercury (January 6th) that although they had been considering selling the
bus station on the grounds that it was surplus to requirements, the facility
would remain for the foreseeable future. She added: “In the light of recent
comments and public opinion, I can confirm that it will not be going anywhere
unless another site can be found.”
Yet in July that year, it was revealed that SKDC had identified the site as being within an area for major housing or
commercial development “at some time in the future” and the following May, the
public lavatories were pulled down which was regarded as the first stage in
clearing the bus station in readiness for sale to a housing developer.
Now it is back on the list as a possibility although the site will never be
suitable for shops, being too far away from the town centre. Perhaps this is
acknowledged in Grantham after all because the newspaper report says that the
site has been identified not just as an opportunity area for commercial purposes
but “also for housing” and given the current obsession with selling off assets
to bankroll increasing staff salaries, holiday and pension entitlements, this
could well turn out to be true, much to the detriment of this town’s public
services.
The Bourne Diary marks its 600th edition today, a weekly chronicle that
has been published continuously for almost 12 years, usually running to 2,000
words and dealing mainly with local issues but often with national and
international events that were talking points of the day. The entire Diary is
included in A Portrait of Bourne, now the definitive history of the town and
locality, the subjects indexed for easy reference, while the last six years may
also be accessed from this web site.
This document is therefore a microcosm of important events in Bourne over the
past decade, detailing what has gone on, who said what and when, and a reminder
to those who run our affairs that what they do and say is being recorded for
posterity and from that their actions will be judged by future generations. This
is now a massive archive of almost 1.2 million words, the index alone running to
almost 100 pages, while the printed and bound version already has 24 volumes
which I have arranged to go to the Lincolnshire County Archives after I have
gone.
The Diary, which began on 28th November 1998, makes fascinating reading because
it was written at the time and some of the entries come back to haunt us. There
are many examples worthy of quotation on this anniversary but I have chosen one
still topical today for although written almost 2½ years ago, the difficulty
under discussion remains unresolved and so the entry not only tells of an event
but also illustrates the attitudes of those connected with it:
Saturday 3rd May 2008: There are
signs of frustration among members of the newly formed Bourne Preservation
Society over their efforts to restore and manage the Victorian chapel in the
town cemetery. They turned up in force at the annual parish meeting on Tuesday
expecting a decision in their favour only to be told that this was not the time
or place and that a working party of councillors was being formed to consider
the issue.
This sounds ominous and the society is naturally dismayed, having drawn up an
admirable plan of intention in a matter of weeks which needs only the
endorsement of a council that has dithered and delayed over the future of the
chapel for the past thirty years with the result that it is now in urgent need
of attention. It would therefore have seemed reasonable that the objections
being offered by councillors for not taking a decision might have been overruled
if it meant that the society could start work straight way.
Mrs Helene Currell, the society’s secretary, said that despite being so well
attended, the outcome of the meeting was disappointing. “How much longer is this
going to take?”, she asks. “The chapel is not watertight and needs urgent
attention with regard to this but winter will be here before we know it.”
Unfortunately, a decision over whether the chapel should be handed over to the
society looks a long way off. The working party has still to be appointed and
with the annual meeting and mayor making in May, its deliberations are unlikely
to go before the full council until the end of June. Time therefore slips by, as
it has in previous years, with nothing being achieved while that first flush of
enthusiasm generated by people who want to do something about it is slowly being
defused by the council’s inactivity. The Duke of Edinburgh famously offered this
advice on another occasion that seems appropriate now, that councillors should
pull their fingers out, because it will be a sad day for Bourne and for this
fine Victorian building if the current impetus should founder on the rocks of
bureaucratic procedure.
A vacancy has arisen on Bourne Town Council caused by the
sudden departure of Councillor Brian Fines who has been a representative of
Bourne West since May 2003 but tendered his resignation following a council
meeting last month when he left abruptly and without explanation.
Under the existing rules, a by-election must be held to fill the vacancy if
sufficient nominations are received within 14 working days, otherwise the
council has the power to co-opt whoever members think fit. The date of the
resignation notice was September 20th and so the requisite period expired on
Thursday of this week (October 7th) and it appears that no names had been put
forward by then. This means that a new councillor will be chosen by those
already in power and once this procedure is underway, there is still time for
anyone who is interested to have their names put forward.
This is an opportune moment for anyone who is sufficiently civic minded to make
their mark, even with the prospect of becoming mayor which Councillor Fines
managed within three years of joining the council although his early elevation
did cause acrimony in some quarters. There is also the chance to do some good
because whoever does fill that vacant seat would have the opportunity to dust
off some of the cobwebs that have begun appearing in the debating chamber of
late, particularly over the three year delay in granting Bourne Preservation
Trust a lease of the cemetery chapel and it is hoped that this will be
compensated by an appropriate decision very soon.
Santa’s siren call sounds forever nearer every year and we have just
learned that the Christmas lights will be switched on in Bourne on Friday 26th
November which is the earliest date ever recorded. As this event is largely a
commercial rather than a social undertaking, it will be accompanied by late
night shopping as traders urge us to start spending for the festive season.
The summer holidays are barely over yet mince pies and plum pudding are already
on the supermarket shelves and any day now we can expect to hear the first sound
of Jingle Bells echoing down the aisles. Unfortunately, no matter how hard
pressed our shopkeepers claim to be, the signs are that this year will be an
austerity Christmas for many people who are struggling with the various effects
of the recession and the economic crisis. The days of the spending boom and
elastic credit cards have gone for the foreseeable future and there are gloomy
financial days ahead.
No one is suggesting that most of us will not be celebrating the festive season
as in the past but a four week prelude does seem to be a rather misguided notion
this year, not least the electricity bill for those illuminations at a time when
all local authorities are being urged to curb their spending.
Thought for the week: From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did
not exist it would be necessary to invent it. - Katharine Whitehorn (born
1928), British journalist, writer, and columnist known for her wit and humour.
Saturday 16th October 2010
The days are numbered for the Masonic hall in Wherry’s
Lane, once described as the ugliest building in Bourne and now likely to be demolished
as part of a redevelopment scheme for the area which will link North Street,
Burghley Street and Crown Walk. The building which is seventy years old has been
sold to South Kesteven District Council and leased back
to the previous owners for twelve months to give them time to find new premises.
Freemasonry is an ancient fraternal association open to men of any religion. The
first lodge in England dates from the 18th century and the Hereward Lodge No
1232 was formed in 1868, meeting for the next seventy years at the Angel Hotel
until the present premises were opened in 1938 at a cost of £1,500. Since then
the building has been the centre of freemasonry in Bourne, the numbers
increasing to such an extent that a daughter lodge known as Aveland was
consecrated in 1982.
The building will now be swallowed up by the proposed £5 million Wherry’s Lane
development which will include a series of shops, restaurants and flats, so
replacing the more ambitious £27 million scheme for the town centre which was
scrapped in June after nearly ten years of planning because of a lack of
interest by commercial developers. Several other properties have already been
acquired by the council, notably the Burghley Street corn warehouse which was
purchased for £350,000 in 2008, the nearby motor salvage workshops
and two semi-detached houses for £285,000 the following year and now £375,000 for the Masonic
hall.
The bill for the Wherry’s Lane development is therefore mounting and it is to be
hoped that it will not suffer the same fate as the previous scheme and founder
on the rocks of commercial disinterest.
The district council originally refused to reveal the price paid for the Masonic
hall. Council leader Linda Neal (Bourne West) would not give a figure when the
sale was reported in The Local last week, merely saying that “it was
another piece in the jigsaw” (October 8th). On Monday, the council’s public
relations department at Grantham offered to help but despite daily reminders, there followed total silence which
indicated either departmental inefficiency or, more likely, an official embargo.
There was a similar reticence from the Hereward Lodge where I understand that
only the trustees were privy to the details and even the rank and file members
remained in the dark about the transaction and some are less than pleased. In treating this matter as confidential, the facts were only available to the
privileged few and both sides failed to appreciate that the
purchase of this property is not a private transaction but a public one using
public money and therefore the people who contribute through their council tax
have a right to know how it is being spent. This was a particularly
disappointing attitude by the freemasons for although secrecy has been their ethos in the past,
much has been done in recent years to dispel this image and to encourage a
policy of openness about their affairs yet this one instance may well prove to
be a set back in the public perception of that cause.
Secrecy by government at all levels is anathema to journalists and this made the
conduct of South Kesteven District Council’s public relations department all the more unacceptable. I therefore applied to the authority for
details of the transaction involving the Masonic hall under the Freedom of
Information Act and received a reply late on Friday that the purchase price was
£375,000. As the valuation in 2003 provided by a team of experts for the
ill-fated town centre redevelopment was £275,000, it would appear that this is a
very good deal indeed and freemasons from the Hereward Lodge will have every reason to believe that
Christmas has come early this year.
The vacancy on Bourne Town Council created by the sudden resignation of
Councillor Brian Fines (Bourne West) is unlikely to be filled for the time
being. It appears that many senior councillors who call the tune feel that as
the local government elections are due to be held next May, the authority can
taxi along quite well as it is.
This is unfortunate because there are public spirited people in this town who
wish to serve but feel that they have not been given the chance. The vacancy was
not officially notified until September 20th and went unreported by the local
newspapers and no paid advertisements were inserted by the town council with the
result that the only exposure was on their web site which is read by a few and
on the notice board in the passageway alongside the town hall which is ignored
by many.
The date for nominations closed after 14 working days on October 7th with hardly
anyone even knowing that there was a vacancy and this was only realised when
Councillor Fines wrote to the local newspapers explaining his decision to resign
in a letter which appeared in the correspondence columns of The Local and
the Stamford Mercury the following day (October 8th) by which time it was
too late.
The cost of holding a by-election is reckoned to be around £3,500 and with
parish and town councils being on very small budgets, they are not exactly a
welcome development but they are part of the democratic process and are not to
be passed over lightly. The Bourne West ward is now one councillor short and not
all of those still sitting give their full attendance for various reasons and if
we are to accept the current system of allocated seats as being fair and honest
then the electorate in this district is seriously disadvantaged.
Co-option is now the official method of filling the vacancy, a most
unsatisfactory way forward because it is left to councillors rather than the
people to choose who they think fit, if indeed they choose anyone at all, but
even nominations for that procedure also closed on Tuesday. This particular
episode, therefore, has not been a good day for democracy in Bourne.
The seats have disappeared from the Burghley Arcade, a most annoying
development for shoppers, especially the elderly and infirm who can be seen
struggling through most days but happy in the knowledge that a moment’s relief
from the business of walking was available with a brief sit down to take the
weight off their feet.
But they have gone, removed by whoever is responsible, most probably the owners
of the arcade, which will not be good for business especially as the Co-op is to
open its new food store in the old Budgens supermarket premises on Wednesday.
This will bring an influx of customers into the vicinity, many of them old
people for whom mobility is an increasing problem and public seats a welcome
sight. Their removal is not therefore good for trade. The seats have become a
feature of the arcade and although there have been problems of vandalism in the
past, they are an essential amenity if our senior citizens are to shop in
comfort. The decision to remove them should be the subject of an immediate
review otherwise it is the traders who will suffer the consequences, however
insignificant the effect may be.
The other news from the Burghley Arcade is that car parking is to be restricted
to two hours instead of the present three which is a most welcome development
because it is one of our main town centre car parks and too often hogged by
people who are not actually shopping. Perhaps it is also time to impose a time
limit at the other car parks in South Street and Burghley Street which are used
almost exclusively by shop and office workers. South Kesteven District Council
which owns them does not have a duty to provide them with car parking spaces or
even give them priority and the present system means that shoppers are often
denied a place to leave their cars and so go elsewhere with the result that town
centre trade suffers. All that is needed is fairness in deciding these matters
and a time limit all round would fit the bill.
Bowls is generally considered to be an old man’s sport although there
have been many initiatives in recent years to attract youngsters into the game
with varying results around the country. Bourne has an excellent club on the
southern edge of the Abbey Lawn but this is outdoor and so play is restricted to
the summer months and the absence of an indoor green has been a major drawback
during the winter when players have to travel to Stamford and even further
afield for a game.
Robert Kitchener, aged 70, a keen member of the Bourne Town Bowls Club for the
past ten years, has now come up with an idea that will not only help solve the
problem but also attract youngsters by financing the necessary equipment for a
short mat rink which will operate from the Abbey Church hall in Church Walk on
Friday evenings.
Short mat bowls is an indoor version of the game played in village halls and
other indoor arenas where space is limited. It originated in Ireland half a
century ago and was brought to England in 1967 and is now spreading worldwide,
being both social and extremely competitive.
The mat is usually 40-45 x 6 feet which can be easily rolled up for convenience
but the bowls are normal size although the indoor game has its own set of rules.
Mr Kitchener held an open evening at the church hall last week and is now hoping
that regular Friday evening sessions will become part of the town’s sporting
life. “It is something new for Bourne”, he said, “but it is a very sociable game
and I am hoping that we can form a club that will become family orientated so
that anyone can play whether they are young or old. We can supply the bowls and
all that we ask is for anyone who wants to come along and play to wear flat
shoes.”
His initiative has been welcomed in the town, particularly in bowling circles
and the club’s former chairman, David Wynne, is particularly enthusiastic. “Such
a generous and public spirited gesture deserves support and provides an
opportunity for anyone, young or old, to have a go”, he said.
The game of bowls has an illustrious history and will be forever
associated with Sir Francis Drake who famously insisted on finishing his match
on Plymouth Hoe before engaging the Spanish Armada as it was sailing towards the
English coast in 1588. In the event, he lost the game but won the battle.
The origins of organised bowling in Bourne date from 1921 when John Arnold set
up the Congregational Sports Club on rented land in Manning Road, an arrangement
which was disrupted by the Second World War of 1939-45 when the club’s assets
were auctioned off, the proceeds going to local Sunday schools. Meanwhile, the
Bourne Abbey Lawn Bowling Club had begun in 1922 when volunteers laid a new
green in the vicarage gardens close to the church ably assisted by the vicar
himself, Canon John Grinter, an enthusiastic player who had been instrumental in
negotiations to lease the site to the club for a peppercorn rent of £8.50 a
year.
The club prospered for more than 60 years until the Church of England decided
that Bourne needed a new vicarage and that the bowling club’s green was an
appropriate place to put it and despite angry protests the building went ahead,
leaving club members without their playing facilities. The Bourne Town Bowls
Club was their salvation, having been formed in 1953 as the Abbey Road Bowling
Club with just 20 members on land at the Abbey Lawn provided by Bourne United
Charities. Many joined and the town club flourished to become one of the best in
the county.
Over the years, facilities have gradually improved with the addition of a modern
brick built pavilion in 1977 and two years later the name was changed to the
Bourne Town Bowls Club with well over 100 members playing on a regular basis. A
new surface was laid on the greens in 1995 at a cost of £13,000 and the club now
fields ten to twelve teams a week in various competitions around the county.
Thought for the week: Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It
is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and
sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the
shooting. - Eric Arthur Blair (1903-50), better known by his pen name of
George Orwell, English author and journalist and leading chronicler of English
culture during the 20th century.
Saturday 23rd October 2010
A board has gone up on the front of Wake House announcing
that the property is for sale, a surprising development this week because the
present tenants, the Bourne Arts and Community Trust, have been negotiating with
South Kesteven District Council for the past five years in an attempt to obtain
a long lease which would secure its use for the next 25 years.
An agreement is now pending for a full repairing and insuring lease with a
rental of £6,000 a year for 25 years and a rent review every five years. The
trust would also have the option to terminate the lease every five years subject
to six months written notice. Although this has not yet been finalised, the
building has been offered for sale by tender for commercial investment with a
deadline of Friday 12th November and this is one of the conditions of purchase.
Wake House, which dates from the early 19th century, is now Grade II listed and
occupies a prime frontage in North Street with a plot of land covering 0.4 acres
including 29 car parking spaces. It was built circa 1800 and was 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. The house 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 when it was leased to them for
a peppercorn rent of £5 a year.
They turned the building into an arts, crafts and community centre but this
agreement ran out in 2005 and since then its future has been uncertain with the
trust seeking a long term lease to provide security of tenure and enable them
carry out much needed repairs. During their occupancy, the building has become a
centre for a variety of activities which are held there with more than 30
organisations using the premises as their meeting place without which the social
and cultural life of this town would be the poorer.
But SKDC has insisted on a market rate for the rental and their position was
made clear with a statement from the leader, Councillor Linda Neal (Bourne
West), who said that there was no possibility of the building being gifted to
the trust (press release 9th August 2005). She added:
“This
is not a council policy. Our priorities have been set by residents who are far
more concerned about issues like anti-social behaviour and recycling. Wake House
is a considerable asset that cannot be given away. The council owns a lot of
property worth millions of pounds and we have a duty to preserve and protect our
assets. We do need to establish, however, what a fair market rent would be and
this needs to be clarified in a new lease. Finally, there is the question of
what would happen if the board of trustees ceased to function . . . when it
would be very difficult to enforce covenants. By retaining the property, the
council can ensure that this valuable building is still available for the
benefit of the wider community.”
There followed five years of negotiations without a settlement
until the details of the proposed sale emerged this week which indicates that
the council no longer places so much emphasis on protecting its assets. The
change of policy is no doubt dictated by the current curb on public spending
for although the authority does intend to cut expenditure by 25%, there
appears to be no intention of reducing the workforce which means that increasing
staff salaries and a mounting pension pot must be sustained and so we may expect
to forfeit further properties and land in the future.
There is, however, a silver lining in all of this because agreement over the
lease will give the Bourne Arts and Community Trust security of tenure for the
foreseeable future irrespective of the owner of Wake House. “If the council
wishes to sell with the stipulation that we remain then that would be
acceptable”, said the chairman, Mrs Jean Joyce. “A long lease is what we have
been asking for and our sole objective is to ensure that those organisations who
use the building can continue to do so and that we can go on providing the same
service as in the past. It will also enable us to carry out repairs to the
building and make it more presentable to the public.”
An old workhorse that once supplied millions of gallons of water to homes
and businesses around Bourne has been given a new lease of life in a museum in
Suffolk. The oil-driven beam pump was one of two that worked practically
continuously after being installed in 1922 but became redundant with the opening
of the new £350,000 water pumping station for Bourne in February 1974.
An indication of the work they had been doing may be gleaned from the statistics
available for the new equipment, six new electrical pumps, each capable of
delivering 1.5 million gallons of water daily to supply 250,000 people in South Lincolnshire and Peterborough at the rate of six million
gallons a day and engineers were so proud of their achievement that a special
feature of the development in Manning Road also enabled visitors to see
water on site for the first time. Until then, there was only a mass of pipes
and valves above ground at the pumping station but engineers integrated a
cascade within the building at the side of the main entrance.
But the old engines were not forgotten. They had been made by the world famous
firm, Tangye Limited of Birmingham, and after giving Trojan service for half a
century, one of them was sold but the other was preserved in its original
position in front of the control building in Manning Road as a permanent
monument to the engineering skills of an earlier generation. The base was
concreted and all metal parts treated to resist rust and then given a fresh coat
of paint and it remained on show until the engine was sold to a private
collector and the landmark relic of our industrial history was removed from
Bourne on Friday 9th October 2009. A heavy duty crane and low loader arrived to
dismantle the unit and move it to its new location at Aldeby, near Beccles,
where the new owner, Stephen Green, aged 49, works as an engineer and runs his
own business. He also collects large engines for his private museum and the
Tangye example has now been restored to its original glory after twelve months
of hard work.
Steve already has nine similar units weighing from five to forty tons and is
excited at acquiring the Tangye pump and for the future prospects for his
museum. “It is like a dream come true”, he said. “The engine is extremely rare
both in type and size. There are only about five others of these early cold
start type units known to have survived for preservation but the others are all
much smaller in size, the biggest being only 20 hp whereas the Bourne unit is
rated 120 hp and the largest built by the company.
“All of the engines I have are unusual, even unique, the last surviving examples
of an almost forgotten time when British engineering was the best in the world.
They are currently in store and not available for public inspection but they are
recognised as a very important and historical collection and I am currently
completing a move to a more suitable property where I plan to open them up as a
museum. The Bourne engine is a remarkable addition and I had been trying to buy
it for twenty years. It has done its turn for the water authority and I have
spent a lot of time and money on restoration."
The engine will be up and running in readiness for an open day which is now
being arranged when employees of Anglian Water will be invited. "They are sure
to enjoy seeing one very, lucky lady in prime condition", said Steve.
Shop watch: Despite the crowds, we checked out the new
Co-operative Food store in the Burghley Centre this week to decide whether it
would be a shopping alternative to Sainsburys and the answer is definitely no.
The prices are noticeably much higher, the aisles narrower and were often
blocked with trolleys, either those pushed by shoppers or being unloaded by
staff. But the cost of groceries was the deciding factor and we found several
people also leaving disillusioned and empty handed and heading for the familiar
surroundings of the now popular supermarket in Exeter Street. Here, there were
fewer customers, perhaps because they were also checking out the new store, but
they will be back and perhaps the new outlet may well need a reappraisal of its
profit margin if it is to succeed.
There will be no more pints pulled at the Royal Oak public house at 74
North Street which has been serving the neighbourhood for the past two
centuries. A revised planning application for a change of use for the site from
commercial to residential has been approved by South Kesteven District Council
at the second attempt and the building will now be converted into three flats.
The scheme will involve demolishing a single storey function room at the rear
and replacing it with an extension to the main building together with the
provision of vehicle access and parking space for one car. The original
application in June to convert the premises into four homes was rejected by
planners on the grounds that residential use would be out of keeping with the
area but they have changed their mind after seeing the new proposals.
Last orders were called at the Royal Oak when it closed last year and it has
been standing empty ever since. It is among the oldest of the 36 public houses
recorded in Bourne, first mentioned in 1826, and its disappearance will reduce
the present number to twelve although not all of the others are doing good
business either. Recent changes in managership have left some vacancies unfilled
for several months while at least one other is up for sale, and so more closures
may soon become a possibility, thus changing our familiar street scene for many
years to come.
There is a brighter prospect for the Golden Lion at No 49 West Street which has
been looking rather dilapidated of late. This is also one of our historic
hostelries dating back to the mid 19th century and now Grade II listed. But all
this is about to change because the word on the block is that a complete refit
of the property is to be carried out and the work is so extensive that it will
be closing down several weeks, re-opening early in 2011 ready to face a new
lease of life as a modernised public house in the 21st century.
The Golden Lion is first mentioned in the local archives in 1856 although prior
to that the building was a beer house, believed to have been a row of artisans’
cottages built during the late 18th century which were later converted for use
as a public house, thus giving the building its listed status as a property of
historic and architectural interest. It has been suggested that John Wesley, the
founder of Methodism, stayed at the Golden Lion during a visit to Bourne in the
summer of 1782, a solitary horseman clad in the garb of a clergyman of the
Episcopal Church who had been attending a conference at York. Returning home by
Doncaster, Retford, Newark and Grantham, he learned that Methodism had recently
been established in Bourne and decided to pay a visit.
The narrative written in 1930 by Henry Sneath, a local councillor and staunch
Methodist, continued: “He turned off the Great North Road at Colsterworth and
slowly proceeding into this honourable and ancient town, he made his way to a
quiet hostelry in West Street, the Golden Lion, kept by one John Bray. This good
man stared in astonishment as the solitary horseman dismounted and unpacked his
saddlebags.” Wesley is then supposed to have stabled his horse and stayed the
night before preaching in the market place next morning, resuming his journey
back to London early next day.
But the story is most certainly apocryphal for although John Bray did keep the
Golden Lion, it was not until a century later and, as the records indicate, the
hostelry did not exist in 1782. But then as with so much of our social history,
a good tale is always worthy of the re-telling, even though it may be complete
fiction.
Thought for the week: I cannot tell how the truth may be; I say the tale
as 'twas said to me. - Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), Scottish historical
novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his
lifetime.
Saturday 30th October 2010
This has not been a good week for the town council which
suddenly finds itself at the centre of a storm of criticism on various matters,
notably its objection to a new coffee shop in the town centre.
Costa Coffee, the prestigious national chain, has applied for planning
permission to open a new business at No 10 North Street which has been standing
empty since the premises were vacated last year by the estate agents Quentin
Marks who have moved to new offices across the road, but councillors have voted
against the scheme on the grounds that our current independent shops must be
protected. Their decision has incurred the wrath of the Bourne Business Chamber
and many residents who have launched a protest group on the Internet social
networking site Facebook.
Bourne Town Council has no planning powers and is only asked to comment on
applications and although this particular one did not find favour with members
of the highways and planning committee on Tuesday 12th October, a final decision will rest with South Kesteven District Council
but the disapproval of councillors has been sufficient to spark a lively debate, not only on the merits
of another food outlet but also the ability of our local representatives to
deliver judgment on such matters.
The Facebook campaign, which now has over 300 signatories, accuses them of being
“small minded” and of “draining Bourne of its lifeblood” while the business
chamber says that the council is sending out the wrong message to national
chains and that a big name would attract more shoppers to the town. The
chairman, Kevin Hicks, told the Stamford Mercury (October 22nd): “Here we
are in a period of recession trying to make Bourne a thriving town for everyone
and yet we are turning down a national chain, which is the wrong message to send
to a prospective business. If we can embrace a company like Costa Coffee then
hopefully more positive things could come out of it and other national chains
might consider moving here.”
During the week, notices from Costa Coffee were posted in the window of the
North Street premises accusing councillors of a narrow minded approach to new
businesses coming into the town and added: “If they continue with such an
approach then Bourne will become a ghost town with shoppers disappearing to
Spalding, Stamford and Bourne to buy their goods rather than here.”
There has also been a flood of protest letters to the Stamford Mercury
(October 29th), a record number on any single subject, but among them is one
from the Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Pet Moisey, who is also chairman of the
town council, valiantly trying to defend their decision. “By nailing colours to
the mast”, she writes, “I have incurred the wrath of many readers but they were
not privy to, nor made any representation at the meeting. The council is not
self-serving but tries to reflect all opinions before a vote is taken and it is
disconcerting that the business chamber did not attend to ensure that their
views were considered.”
Nevertheless, there is a distinct feeling in the town that the vote was taken by
councillors without sufficient consultation with the people they represent and
on this occasion the word on the street might be a more advantageous prospect
for Bourne. In the event, wiser counsel may well prevail when the application
comes before SKDC for a final decision next month and until then it is a case of
wait and see.
On another front, there is deadlock between the town council and the
Bourne Preservation Trust which has been trying to agree terms for a lease of
the Victorian chapel in the South Road cemetery for the past three years without
success. Frequent meetings have been held but they have grown more acrimonious
of late and tempers became frayed on Tuesday 5th October when trust members
walked out in disgust. This is the latest in a long series of disagreements and
the last one earlier this year over who should take the chair at their regular
meetings led to the resignation of Councillor Brian Fines on September 20th. A
statement on the trust’s web site reflects the frustration of their officials:
“We attended the first resumed meeting with
council full of hope that we could continue the good work in progress but found
ourselves under attack yet again by certain councillors who do not appear to
want to behave in a rational and responsible way. No progress was made at the
meeting which quickly descended into farce. We informed the council that we
would hold no further meetings with them until they were in a position to talk
to us constructively. The behaviour of some councillors was out of order and we
asked for certain actions undertaken by them to be minuted for future record.
Surely they must look at their performance and decide that their time serving on
the council is coming to an end. Their latest decision taken to attempt to block
the arrival of a major high street coffee chain beggars belief. Just when will
Bourne town councillors move into the 21st century, and recognise what our town
needs?”
The continual neglect of the 19th century building since the
town council took on responsibility for it in 1974 has lead to the current
situation and yet we now have a responsible body of organised volunteers ready
to take over and put matters right but remain powerless without the necessary
legal authority. We also learn that work on the outside of the chapel which
began earlier this year has stopped.
During the summer months, trust members carried out a major clearance operation
around the building, completing more than 160 hours of hard labour, and the
exterior is now looking its best for decades. “We had intended to continue”,
said a trust spokesman, “but following a dispute over the permission we had been
given we notified the council that until we had an agreed plan we could not
carry out further work. Many people have complimented us on what has been done
during the past six months and the improvement we have made but there has been
no formal vote of thanks from the town council."
This is a most regrettable development after such dedicated work by voluntary
helpers anxious to do their best for the town and an agreement over the chapel
is now much overdue. We are facing yet another winter with nothing decided and
the fabric again at risk from the weather, leading many to assume that some
councillors are prepared to see this Grade II listed building deteriorate
further and even fall down through neglect.
The co-option of a new councillor has also attracted criticism that the
vacancy should have been filled through the traditional procedure of a
by-election. It was created by the departure of Councillor Brian Fines who had
represented Bourne West since May 2003 but little publicity was given to his
resignation on September 20th with the result that the requisite period of 14
working days to receive nominations expired on October 7th with hardly anyone
knowing about it. The matter went unreported by the local press, there were no
paid advertisements and the only public notices that did appear were on the town
council web site which few people read and on the notice board in the passageway
underneath the town hall which most people ignore.
Once the vacancy became known, four names were received for co-option and a
special meeting to consider them was held on Tuesday but the fact that so many
people were interested in becoming a councillor indicates that an election would
have been a far more satisfactory method of filling the vacancy than councillors
making a personal choice. In the event, the name of one candidate was rejected
because it was received after the closing date while the other three were
invited to speak to councillors to say why they ought to be elected. They were
local businessman Kenneth Jacob, Bob Russell, Conservative member of South
Kesteven District Council (Bourne East since 2007), and Colin Pattison who was
chosen by a vote of 7/12 by secret ballot although one of them did not take
part. Kirsty Roche (Bourne East), who had been co-opted in August 2008 to fill
the vacancy created by the resignation of Guy Cudmore, declared an interest and
left the meeting because Bob Russell happens to be her father.
It is to be hoped that Councillor Pattison will make a difference and it is a
pity that his appointment has been accompanied by such hostility to the
co-option procedure which is widely regarded as a most unsatisfactory method. It
may have saved the council the £3,500 expense of holding a by-election
which some members wished to avoid but then democracy does come at a
price. Fortunately, the local government elections are due in May when I
suspect that there will be two more vacancies as members of the old guard
finally call it a day and as this particular incident has stimulated a new
interest in the town council and its affairs, then the experience will not have
been wasted if it attracts more people wishing to take over.
The appointment of our new councillor has not been reported by the local
newspapers nor was the vacancy which he has filled, a factor which lead to his
co-option rather than a by-election. Neither has there been any coverage of the
current situation relating to the deadlock with the Bourne Preservation Trust.
In fact, council affairs are no longer covered as in the past which has also
been referred to by the mayor in her letter to the Stamford Mercury about
the Costa Coffee planning application. “Unfortunately, the press were not
present when the planning application was discussed and their report did not
reflect the full argument that the council considered”, she wrote.
“Consequently, readers are ill-informed and expose the council to unjustified
criticism.”
Councillor Moisey’s observation is totally justified because the activities of
our local authorities are an integral part of community life and coverage of
council meetings is a duty for all responsible newspapers. To ignore them is to
allow councillors make decisions without public knowledge and to complain when
this happens is a stable door policy that is untenable in a democratic society.
The clocks go back this weekend causing muddle and even mayhem in many
households and elsewhere but this timekeeping confusion is likely to become even
worse. The government is currently considering the benefits of retaining British
summer time (BST) all year round which would bring the country into line with
the rest of Europe but still having another additional hour in the summer
months.
Daylight saving, as it was known, was officially introduced during the Great War
of 1914-18 but then, as now, it did not please everyone. Clocks throughout
Britain were put forward by one hour at 2 am on Sunday 21st May 1916 after the
government told M Ps that hundreds of thousands of tons of coal 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 there were objections to the new arrangement as the Stamford Mercury
reported the following Friday:
“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.”
In recent years, there have been eight successive attempts in
Parliament to change clock times since 1994 and all have failed but the benefits
now appear to be unassailable, not least a reduction in the daily demand for
electricity all year round. There would also be many community benefits because
more time would be available at the end of the day than in the morning.
There is now a chance that a three-year trial could start as early as
next summer. In the meantime, we have those clocks to contend with tonight, a
task that always causes a headache for collectors and museums and as not
everyone is efficient when it comes to putting back the clock, there are sure to
be many unnecessary early risers and disrupted schedules tomorrow morning as a
result.
Thought for the week: To realise the unimportance of time is the gate to
wisdom. - Bertrand (Earl) Russell (1872-1970), English philosopher, pacifist
and ardent campaigner for nuclear disarmament.
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