Bourne Diary - January 2012

Saturday 7^th January 2012

There is a resonance from past times over the current parlous state of St Peter's Pool and the Bourne Eau in South Street which have both almost dried up because it is exactly 20 years ago this week when a similar occurrence brought a dramatic condemnation from local councillors over the continued extraction of water.

The problem had been a major worry for many years and the situation came to a head in the summer of 1991 when several youngsters narrowly escaped death after sinking into the deep mud of the exposed river bed. The council was also concerned about the rubbish which littered the surface and the smell which emanated from it and the following January they issued an appeal to the National Rivers Authority which then had overall responsibility for the taking of water from our rivers and underground sources, to "stop draining the town dry".

Councillor Peter Garner told the Lincolnshire Free Press (14th January 1992): "We have got to start fighting for our environment. The town council has got to lead the way and even take legal advice over whether Anglian Water can take our water for commercial gain. They are sucking Bourne dry. Water is basic to this town and without the Eau and the Wellhead, the settlement of Bourne would not exist. The fact that we have a drought does not mean that we should lose our amenities. Anglian Water should not be pumping so near the town centre and the Wellhead. If the water table beneath Bourne continues to fall, trees in the town will die and in the long run there could be a risk of subsidence."

Other councillors were equally incensed. The mayor, Councillor Ray Cliffe, told the newspaper: "The heritage of Bourne has been taken away and we want it back", while Councillor John Kirkman said that he found the situation "most upsetting" and had been told  by the NRA that remedial work was being investigated but the solution was a matter of money. "This is totally unacceptable", he said. "A scheme has been produced to replace water in the River Slea at Sleaford and I can see no reason why a similar scheme should not be produced for the Bourne Eau."

The complaints were accepted by the NRA whose environmental manager, Bill Forbes, said: "I know there has been disquiet about the lack of flow in the Bourne Eau but this is due to a combination of abstraction and the worst drought this century." But he added that the river was not on the list of those which would have their flow supplemented.

The National Rivers Authority which existed between 1989 and 1996 issued licences for the abstraction of water which is now the responsibility of the Environment Agency of England and Wales. But the current situation affecting St Peter's Pool and the Bourne Eau is similar to that of twenty years ago and has again brought protests from townspeople who are blaming the drought conditions of last summer coupled with the continued extraction of water to supply a wider catchment area.

Anglian Water, which is directly responsible for our water supplies, insists that it is not to blame. A spokesman told The Local newspaper (2nd September 2011) that they did pump water from aquifers below the town, including the Bourne Eau, but added: "The drying up of the pool is not related to our water abstraction. Instead, it is likely to be a natural phenomenon. Groundwater levels will typically be low at this time and will be lower this year due to the cold, dry winter and exceptionally dry spring. The water we borrow from the environment comes from a mixture of rivers and boreholes. In Bourne, the groundwater from our boreholes is taken out of naturally occurring underground stores some 40 metres beneath the surface. We continually monitor all our water sources to ensure they are used in a sustainable way."

This all sounds very plausible but Bourne has been a water bonanza from the earliest times. In 1894, for instance, one borehole alone was sunk to a record depth of 134 feet to supply five million gallons of water a day which was then piped for a distance of ten miles to supply the Spalding area. By 1969, there were 130 boreholes at various points around the town which shows how this valuable natural resource has been exploited and although most of these have now been sealed, all remaining sources are administered by Anglian Water.

The current situation in Bourne is similar to that in many other parts of England and was recently highlighted by The Sunday Times which stated quite categorically that our rivers are being diminished as utility companies drain billions of gallons from vulnerable waterways to service a soaring demand (18th September 2011). This wholesale extraction of water has caused many to shrink and stagnate, putting wildlife at risk, killing fish and reducing some tributaries to puddles.

The authorities such as Anglian Water pay for licences at each of the sites where they drain from a river or aquifer and all claim that they are operating at below agreed levels although the terms of many of these permits were set decades ago and are currently being reviewed in an attempt to address the worst cases of over-abstraction.

Environmentalists are therefore calling for the licences of the worst offenders to be revoked. Other measures such as reducing consumption by the compulsory installation of water meters in all households and the repair of leaking pipes may help but the building of new reservoirs appears to be the answer. In the meantime, there can be no doubt that water usage during dry spells causes problems because supplies are not being replenished from natural sources and if it were not being extracted from our aquifers and waterways at such an alarming rate, then it is quite obvious that St Peter's Pool and the Bourne Eau would be in a much healthier condition than they are today.

The poor state of the river through Bourne has been a constant problem for many years. Empty beer cans, bottles and fast food containers can often be seen along the waterway in South Street because many people still find this a suitable and convenient place to chuck their rubbish, despite the large number of litter bins that can be found around the streets. This stretch of the river is among the most pleasant places in the town yet there are those who persist in spoiling its appearance, either deliberately or by thoughtless behaviour, and the result is there for all to see, most particularly visitors who arrive in large numbers at this time of the year hoping to see a typical Lincolnshire market town and all that it has to offer.

This is not a new problem and a report in the archives from forty years ago  indicates a similar concern but it also revealed the existence of a worthy organisation called the Bourne Saturday Club lead by a local clergyman, the Rev Tony Sparham, curate at the Abbey Church. It consisted of thirty boys and girls who had volunteered to keep our town spick and span and in the summer of 1972, they mounted a clean-up project, wading for hours in the thick mud and slime to remove every offending item until the river was devoid of rubbish. But the work they carried out did not last long. The Stamford Mercury reported the following year on Friday 23rd February 1973:

“The Saturday Club would have been disheartened had they seen the Bourne Eau a few days ago, littered with cans, papers, empty cigarette packets and other rubbish. The shallow river, in gentle flow along South Street, adds greatly to the town's scenic beauty as a foreground to the Memorial Gardens. For travellers from the south, it is a pleasant invitation to Bourne. It is difficult to catch the miscreants in their acts but a little vigilance and co-operation from Mr John Citizen would help the police to land the offenders.”

We are now into a new century and yet litter in the streets and along the Bourne Eau is still often a problem but the youngsters who were sufficiently civic-minded to help improve the environment are no longer available. This is a pity. Groups like that inspired by Tony Sparham are an asset to any community and given such encouragement, I am sure that schoolchildren would come forward to help today. It is not their job to pick up other people's rubbish but while offenders persist in such anti-social practices, and the police and the local authorities continue to ignore the problem, then it is up to those who take pride in their town to seize the initiative. Bourne would benefit from a Saturday Club but who out there will be its inspiration?

There has been some disquiet in recent years about the standard of public consultation concerning issues that directly affect the community to which it refers and that the process at local government level is not always beneficial to the people but is designed to favour unpopular policies or schemes they do not wish to be held up by too close scrutiny.

Public consultation, or simply consultation, is a regulatory process by which the people's input on matters affecting them is sought, its main objectives being to improving the efficiency, transparency and community involvement in large scale projects or laws and policies. It usually involves notification to publicise the matter to be consulted on, the consultation itself, usually a two-way flow of information and opinion exchange, as well as participation with the involvement of interested groups in the drafting of policy or legislation.

Although the policy is acceptable in theory, it is not always so in practice but public participation is usually so sparse that the organisations involved often proceed without question. But that is not always the case.

Three public consultations directly affecting Bourne are currently being carried out by South Kesteven District Council and all involve planning applications, namely the establishment of a one-stop centre for community services at the Corn Exchange, the redevelopment of Wherry's Lane and the siting of a filling station, public house and restaurant close to the Elsea Park roundabout in South Road.

Not everyone is happy with the way they are being carried out and this has resulted in a letter of complaint published by our two local newspapers, The Local and the Stamford Mercury (December 30th). It was written by Joyce Stevenson of Obthorpe Lane, Thurlby, an outspoken critic of all local organisations who appear to transgress and this is no exception because she claims that the schemes are being rushed through without the proper consultation procedures being observed. Her letter said that the statutory three-week period concluded immediately following the twelve days of Christmas, on January 6th and added: "These major developments, if approved, will have a permanent impact on the local residential and business community. Each application deserves a considered response but this is not a viable option during the extended holiday season."

She pointed out that the applications were available for inspection at Bourne Town Hall during (holiday) opening hours, with responses and comments by email, through the council web site or by writing to the council offices. "It is nearly ten years since the first planning application was submitted for one of the developments", she said. "Why are the latest plans being rushed through without genuine opportunity for public consultation?"

Joyce Stevenson seems to have done her homework, even quoting the relevant reference numbers for all three planning applications, and she has made a valid point, raising sufficient alarm in the process to deserve an explanation from South Kesteven District Council. This would appear to be the perfect opportunity for the council leader, Linda Neal (Bourne West), to address this issue now that she has her own column in the Stamford Mercury. Failing that, perhaps the council itself will make a statement. Certainly, there should be a response.

Thought for the week: Consultation in a nutshell is about communicating with our residents and listening to what they have to say. There is no point in talking to people if we don’t listen to their views and ultimately take action. The value of involving the public through consultation must not be underestimated. We realise the perception of local government can be affected by poor consultation activity. - from South Kesteven District Council's Consultation Strategy document for 2008-11.

Saturday 14^th January 2012

A South Street eyesore to become a place of beauty

Yet another beauty salon is to be opened in Bourne, the second to be announced within a few months, although others are already operating together with countless hairdressers while many ladies provide similar mobile services, offering treatment in your own home.

There is a belief that, in times of recession, the luxury market will always thrive and when times are hard the people need a boost to their morale. This may be an example of the phenomenon although it is difficult to understand where the money comes from for such luxury and often unnecessary cosmetic treatments for both men and women who are dissatisfied with their bodies. As a result, the beauty industry has spawned a bizarre range of processes including poundings, massages, facials, manicures and pedicures, skin rejuvenation, waxing, tanning, facial thread vein treatment and the trimming of hair in the nether regions, often into specific patterns, which I am reliably informed is known in the trade by the delightful euphemism of tending the lady garden.

It has been said, quite unkindly, that in spite of the large number of these establishments, the women in Bourne do not look any better for it. Certainly, most of the ladies I know are perfectly presentable, even attractive and graceful, without such treatments, depending entirely on a dab of powder and a touch of lipstick before they face the world, unless they are keeping clandestine appointments at these places without telling anyone. But my own opinion is that whatever is provided there, it is unlikely to enhance what nature has given and the latest scandals involving breast implants and cosmetic injections are the perfect illustration of this theory.

The price of vanity does run high but women who have told of their experiences in using a beauty parlour say that it is worth every penny because it increases their confidence and self-esteem and so if they can afford it, it is not up to others to tell them differently or how to spend their money. But whether all of those salons now springing up in Bourne will survive the current economic gloom is another matter.

The latest will provide some relief for a long term eyesore, the shop property on the east side of South Street previously occupied by Hereward Discounts, a cut-price store which has been standing empty since the business closed suddenly and without warning in 2009. It has now been bought by M and ARC Hair and Beauty of Peterborough, a husband and wife team, Alison and Mario Russo, who live at Thurlby, near Bourne, and who according to The Local newspaper, plan to turn it into a grandly sounding "hair and beauty academy" (January 6th). There will be a salon on the first floor and the rest of the building will be used to train students to professional standard.

The work will be costly, running into several thousands of pounds, and is expected to take a year but when complete the business will create nine new jobs. Alison is suitably optimistic. "The opportunity was too good to miss", she said. "It is a big place with lots of potential. I think that Bourne needs regeneration and we can hopefully add to that and cater for the Elsea Park development."

Last September, the Marquess of Granby public house, a roomy Victorian building in Abbey Road, was sold at auction to Mrs Claire Sanders, owner of Renu which opened in West Street, Bourne, in 2006, who plans to turn the building into a beauty salon and fitness studio. She told The Local newspaper (October 7th) that this would mean a great deal of conversion work and relocating her present business. Plans have already been submitted to South Kesteven District Council and once permission has been granted, conversion work is expected to take six months.

New business in Bourne is welcome but in these straightened times, there is inevitably a downside. The opening of the vacant retail premises in South Street, for instance, is accompanied by the closure of others, including Gaynor, the jewellers, in West Street, and Martin's, the newsagents, in North Street. Others are likely to follow yet South Kesteven District Council is pressing ahead with plans to build more shops in Wherry's Lane. It is difficult to imagine where the tenants will be coming from when the town cannot sustain the shops that it has. Perhaps, in time, they will all be occupied by more beauty parlours and hairdressing salons.

The last of our mainstream schools has been granted academy status. Bourne Grammar has finally achieved this from January 1st after a hiccup along the way over the ownership of the site in South Road but this was sorted out amicably between the governors and the trustees of Bourne United Charities which has had a claim on the land since the present school premises were opened in 1921.

The success after this set back has promoted a stirring, almost Churchillian, statement from the headteacher, Jonathan Maddox quoted by The Local newspaper (January 6th): "We are now fully in control of our destiny. We feel confident to take on, embrace and to surmount the challenges ahead, remaining as determined as before to ensure and to strengthen our position as one of the top performing schools in the East of England. Our prominent success over many years is in no small part due to the strength of governance, a strength which gives the governors confidence to take on the additional challenges that fall to them as academy trustees and company directors."

Other local schools to be granted academy status include the Abbey Primary (2010), the Robert Manning College (2011) and Westfield Primary (2011). 

Bourne Grammar School now has another problem to deal with, that of car parking by senior pupils in the Austerby during term time which has generated a great deal of ill-feeling in the town yet has been allowed to rumble on for several years. The seriousness of this issue should not be under estimated because one resident has actually sold his house and moved out of Bourne because of the aggravation and inconvenience caused by these pupils and it would be a misfortune for this community if others followed suit for the same reason.

There is some negotiation with Lincolnshire County Council, the highways authority, over what to do but this is an extremely slow process for a very pressing problem. No matter what is decided, in the final analysis the conduct of pupils is the responsibility of the school and perhaps the new status that has been conferred on Bourne Grammar will provide the impetus to find an acceptable solution rather than continuing with the present impasse which seriously damages relations between school and town.

The town centre in Bourne will smell sweeter in the spring, and that is official. Anglian Water has finally decided to tackle the unpleasant odours that permeate almost daily in West Street, a particularly annoying nuisance which The Local newspaper reports has been with us "for about five years" (December 9th) but in fact dates back much further.

The problem has surfaced regularly for well over twenty years and during that time there have been several unsuccessful attempts to find the cause with the area towards the traffic lights being excavated on more than one occasion but the obnoxious odour always returned, much to the dismay of traders and shoppers in the nearby stores, particularly Boots the Chemists.

In 2008, Anglian Water finally admitted that a partial blockage of a drain or sewer may be to blame and this would seem to be the most likely cause and so another round of road works meant a temporary closure of West Street that November while they investigated but again to no avail. No sooner had the workmen left than the pong was back. Now the water authority has said in a statement that the exact source of the smell had finally been determined as "a dip in a water surface sewer where the pipe has come out of the line" thus allowing debris to settle. Work is scheduled to start in March to replace a five metre section at a cost of £7,000 and will be undertaken overnight in order not to inconvenience local residents.

This all sounds so simple and not particularly costly yet it has taken the authority almost a quarter of a century to reach this conclusion during which time this section of West Street has become one of the most insalubrious areas of the town and when the pong was at its most intense, even invading nearby shops, staff and customers repeatedly complained to the management thinking that their premises were to blame.

One person who should know about the pong is town councillor Shirley Cliffe (Bourne East) who lives nearby, close to the family shop that has been on West Street since the 19th century, although now under new occupancy. "I am pleased that the problem is finally going to be sorted out", she told the newspaper. "I just wish that it had been done sooner because there are times when the smell is really nasty and we have had to live with it."

From the archives: A dangerous fever has been raging in Bourne for more than three months; and notwithstanding there is at present no abatement of it, the inhabitants appear to be wanting in the common precautions necessary for its prevention. I observe that the sewer in the public high road in the North-street is suffered to pour forth its filth on the top of the road instead of being carried underground and thereby causes a most intolerable stench and nuisance, not only to the parishioners but also to persons travelling on the highway. This has too long been a reflection on the town of Bourne, and in my opinion ought to be indicted as a public nuisance. The commissioners of the road, I understand, have liberally offered £50 towards the completion of this desirable object. One of the inhabitants also states that the water flowing from that pure source, the Wellhead, is polluted, nay poisoned, by the refuse from the tan vats etc allowed (illegally) to run into it at all times of the day and rendering it totally unfit for any use. This water is all that the poorer part of the parishioners residing in the Eastgate depend upon for a supply and the consequent inconvenience and ill effects of this practice may be readily conceived. I trust that this notice may meet the eye of some of the influential persons in the town, who have  hitherto been always most anxious to remove everything constituting a nuisance, and that neither the public not parishioners may  have any further cause of complaint. - letter to the Lincolnshire Chronicle signed Viator, Friday 17th August 1838.

Stealing can be such a petty crime in this age of plenty when those who want can easily get by dint of hard labour. Muggings and opportunist burglaries are most upsetting, even dangerous, for the victims and offences against the community are a particular anathema for those who spend their time doing voluntary work in an attempt to improve the lives of others.

The current wave of metal thefts throughout Britain is therefore a disturbing trend, especially when it involves our public buildings, outdoor sculptures, churches and war memorials which are there for the benefit of the people. Stealing from such places is a particularly pernicious practice because the reward is rarely more than a few paltry pounds while the result is often heartbreak for those who labour to maintain them for the good of the community. Several village churches around Bourne have already been raided and lead stolen from the roofs, usually at dead of night, often leaving parishioners with a hefty bill for replacement because insurance companies are now reluctant to accept responsibility as the risk becomes more probable.

The latest target by these midnight marauders is the Red Hall in South Street, our most famous secular building dating back to the early 17th century. One would think that in view of its prominence and antiquity, this property would be immune but metal thieves have no such scruples and lead flashing proved to be easy pickings for them over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

These thefts may be seen as trivial in the scheme of things but the effect can be far reaching among those who care for these buildings and it is therefore incumbent on all of us to remain vigilant in order to curb such villainy and help bring the culprits to book whenever possible.

Thought for the week: The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be. - Lao Tzu (600-531 BC), a philosopher of ancient China and founder of Taoism.

Saturday 21^st January 2012

The establishment of a new community access point at the Corn Exchange in Bourne at a cost of £200,000 is to go ahead following the approval of planning permission by the development control committee of South Kesteven District Council earlier this month (Tuesday 10th January). There have been complaints that the required period for objections to the application has not been correctly observed but these have not been answered by the authority which appears to be ploughing on regardless.

The original idea first mooted in July 2008 was to use the town hall for this purpose following the closure of the magistrates court earlier in the year which left a large empty space to be filled and the public library was earmarked for that purpose. This proved to be an unsuitable location which would need the installation of a lift to improve access and so in November 2010, the Corn Exchange was chosen but as the idea gathered pace, the new facility has been seen as the perfect home for more organisations than was at first intended that could be relocated to save money, thus raising fears that the council is now trying to pour a quart into a pint pot.

A check on the services that have been named as possible tenants indicates that the place will be crowded and despite this, others may be waiting in the wings. So far, we have the county, district and town council offices, a customer services counter, public library, children's reading room, interview rooms, internet access points, the Citizens' Advice Bureau, kitchen, coffee room and changing rooms with the main function hall on the ground floor being unchanged.

Also in the running is the register office, currently based in West Street but now scheduled for closure, while other services that have been mentioned as a possibility include a police presence to enable the closure of the station office in West Road and even a new set of public toilets that have been requested by the town council.

It is therefore likely to become a very crowded space and a concentration of these services will mean extra staff, most of them driving to work which raises the question of car parking that has so far not been addressed. There are only nine spaces currently allocated for users of the Corn Exchange although there are 41 others nearby, seven of which are reserved for customers of the NatWest bank, but all of these are usually fully occupied during the week. Once the new facility gets underway and staff start all-day parking, which will be inevitable, this will mean fewer spaces for shoppers and occasional visitors while all of them will have to go elsewhere on Thursdays when the area is used for the purpose it was built for in 1990, namely tradesmen's stalls on market day.

In spite of these drawbacks, the council remains optimistic that it is doing the right thing, albeit driven by economic rather than practical considerations. The leader, Councillor Linda Neal (Bourne West) said in her new newspaper column in the Stamford Mercury (30th December 2011): "This has got to be the way ahead because it will represent a much better deal for taxpayers as all the running costs will be shared and it will be much more convenient for local people." Two weeks later, she told The Local newspaper (13th January 2012): "The intention is for it to be a good facility for the people of Bourne. It is an opportunity to learn from and will benefit other areas of the district as well."

Work on the new community access point is due to start in the spring and it should be operational by the end of the year. But there is still much speculation over the future of the Town Hall, a Grade II listed building that has been the centre of civic life for almost two centuries. It is unlikely that the owners, Lincolnshire County Council, will leave it standing empty for long and in these straightened times officers will recommend a commercial solution such as leasing the property or even outright sale, as predicted by this column in August 2011, and so the likelihood of an ignominious future as a public house and restaurant or even a carpet warehouse should not be considered an unlikely eventuality. After all, it is only 40 years ago that local councillors were asked to consider selling off the Corn Exchange for use as a supermarket (see From the archives below).

The public library presents no problems for those seeking to capitalise on their assets, standing on the edge of a new housing development beginning to encircle the Red Hall, and so this will almost certainly fall victim to the ubiquitous residential development so prevalent in Bourne. What next, we wonder? The town is changing but it will be a case of wait and see to find out if the current endeavours of SKDC will be for the better.

We can only hope that councillors, advised by officials with all of their expertise, are making the right decision, especially in the light of recent abortive issues such as the proposed sale of council houses and the town centre regeneration scheme with an unsightly multi-storey car park, all of which failed at enormous cost to the taxpayer, and although history will judge whether they have been right or wrong with this scheme, by then it will be too late if it proves to have been a misguided strategy.

The Corn Exchange has had a chequered history dating back to the 19th century when it was built by a group of businessmen and farmers but is one of those public buildings that has been acquired by the local authority along the way.

Grain was one of the main products from the surrounding farmland at that time and the need for a central corn market coupled with a requirement for additional leisure facilities for a rising population persuaded a few affluent citizens to finance the venture and the project was given the go ahead at a public meeting held at the Town Hall on 10th February 1870.

Until then, the main venues for large events were the Town Hall and the Assembly Rooms at the Angel Hotel but it was decided that purpose built accommodation was needed for an expanding town with a population of 3,850 [census 1871].

A limited liability company, Bourne Public Hall and Corn Exchange Company Limited, was proposed with a capital of £1,500 divided into 300 shares of £5 each and nine prominent people were elected as directors. A site in Church Street [now Abbey Road] then occupied by the town’s post office, owned by the Marquess of Exeter, Lord of the Manor of Bourne, who offered it for sale on favourable terms to help speed the development, was also agreed. By the time the meeting closed, 250 shares had been taken up.

The contract for the construction work went to Robert Young of Lincoln in May 1870 after his tender of £1,150 was accepted and work began on clearing the site. The building was ready for use by the autumn and the corn market opened for business in October. The total cost, however, had risen to £2,000, a sum that included the purchase of the land and the fittings. The result was an unpretentious Victorian building of red brick and stone dressings and a blue slate roof but lacking the sober grace of the Georgian Town Hall just round the corner.

The new Corn Exchange was soon in use for the sale of grain and as a venue for social and community events, being the largest hall available in the town, able to seat 500 people and suitable for lectures, concerts and shows from visiting theatrical companies, with other rooms devoted to billiards and reading. Ice skating as a public pastime was introduced in 1876 at a time when many rinks were being opened around the country and the facility became known as the Bourne Skating Rink in an attempt to cash in on a fashionable pastime of the period while the first films to be shown in the town were screened there in 1925.

Corn dealing was phased out during the early years of the 20th century but the building continued in use as a social venue. The controlling company was wound up in June 1938 when it was sold to Bourne Urban District Council and under the local government re-organisation of 1976 ownership subsequently passed to South Kesteven District Council, the current administrators.

The original pyramid-style blue slate roof marks the last remains of the old building from 1870 and in 1990, the Corn Exchange and its facilities were completely rebuilt, refurbished and enlarged on a much bigger site as part of a £900,000 project for the area although a stone tablet bearing the date 1870 and the town's coat of arms were incorporated in the wall which borders Abbey Road. The extensions at the rear of the property also created a new façade overlooking a new market square and car park.

Apart from the main hall, there is also a small reception area and a bar and it has therefore become the major venue for social and business occasions in the town ranging from meetings of the Bourne Organ Club, regular productions by the local dramatic societies and the annual civic dinner and ball, to blood donor sessions, displays and exhibitions and is also hired out for family celebrations such as wedding receptions, birthdays and christenings.

The Corn Exchange has therefore served the town well, even surviving a lightning strike in the summer of 1889, although no serious damage was done and no one was injured. Today, it is our leading venue and in frequent use with many more valuable years of life ahead, all due to the foresight of those who ran this town 140 years ago. Now the building is entering a new phase and its role in the future will never be quite the same again.

From the archives: A move to close the Corn Exchange was made at a meeting of Bourne Urban District Council on Tuesday 12th February 1969 when Councillor Lorenzo Warner (1901-95) proposed that the building should be sold for conversion into a supermarket and the proceeds used to finance a new town drainage scheme following severe flooding the previous year. He said that the issue should be settled with a referendum to decide whether electors wanted a well-drained town or continue to subsidise social and cultural activities. "In all businesses, the right thing to do is to cut out all unprofitable waste and the Corn Exchange has been a very big charge on the rates for the last decade", he said. "In the years 1952-1967, a loss of £7,999 is shown. Has the Corn Exchange outlived its usefulness?"

He said that school halls should be used as public meeting places out of school hours to encourage the social and cultural life of the town and added: "The use of the Corn Exchange has to meet intense competition and I cannot see how the town can afford the luxury in these days of high rates. More benefit would accrue from providing a well-drained town than continuing to meet the very heavy losses from retaining the Corn Exchange."

The idea received overwhelming and even hostile opposition from other members of the council who pointed out that the Corn Exchange was providing a valuable service for a town with a population of 5,500 and that the costs involved were reasonable in return for the benefits that resulted and in the previous five months, the building had been let 112 times. "I think that Councillor Warner has his priorities wrong", said Councillor G H Astley. A motion that the Corn Exchange should not be sold was carried, with only Councillor Warner dissenting. The acrimony generated by his proposal did not however last because he was eventually elected chairman of the council for the year 1970-71.

Thought for the week: If at first the idea is absurd, then there is no hope for it. – Aristotle (384-322 BC), Greek philosopher and polymath and one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy.

Saturday 28^th January 2012

Raymond Mays with the musical comedy star José Collins
See "The long-running radio programme . . . "

When the green bins were last emptied in Bourne earlier this month, a check along our street revealed that 90% were owned by old age pensioners living on fixed incomes. Yet they are the ones now being asked by South Kesteven District Council to pay more to keep the service going.

The proposal to impose a £25 levy on householders who have green bins for garden waste may be cloaked in semantics but in reality it is an increase in the council tax and a selective one at that which will apply to half of the 55,000 households across the district.

The bins are used for grass, hedge cuttings, weeds, leaves and discarded plants, and are emptied fortnightly although this frequency has been changed to monthly during the winter. It is, however, a discretionary service introduced in 2005 on payment of a £26 charge for the bin and the Stamford Mercury reports that if the new charge goes ahead, 27,000 householders will have to pay £35 in the first year and an annual charge of £25 thereafter (January 21st). Those who refuse to pay will have to dispose of their own waste, the alternative being a household recycling centre which, in Bourne, is based in Pinfold Road.

The council says that if 80% of the existing green bin households agree to pay more, the £500,000 a year cost of running the service will be covered and it would be able to freeze the council tax at current levels for 2012-13. The authority claims that the proposed green bin charge was part of a series of consultation events last summer when householders said that they would rather pay it than see collections axed but this is the first we have heard about it and we know of no one who was asked this question.

The Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, has said that councils have a moral duty to freeze council tax to help families struggling with rising household budgets although some local authorities are refusing on the grounds that they must raise more income. But many will want to know why our own district council cannot balance the books in favour of a tax freeze when so many cuts in services are being made across the district and ask whether staff will be getting a salary increase during 2012-13.

The proposal to charge home owners an extra £25 a year is flawed in several ways. Firstly, it breaches the government directive not to put up the council tax because this is an increase being ushered in through the back door, and secondly, the additional charge will not be spread fairly and will hit pensioners the hardest because they are the keenest gardeners. Complaints about the proposal were inevitable and they have been made in the correspondence column of the Stamford Mercury and in a hard-hitting front page story in the Grantham Journal (January 27th) which condemned the levy as "a stealth tax" and also included a wave of protest letters by readers.

One elderly gentleman who ordered his bin from the council only a few months ago paid the required £26 with great difficulty and it has been emptied only three times yet now he is likely to be asked to pay more, a sum which the council describes as "a small charge of just £25 a year". As he cannot afford it, he will be hoping to claim back the original £26 although the council has made it clear that it will not be offering refunds. Pensioners are already besieged by rising costs for food and fuel and as another £25 could be the straw that breaks the camel's back, many will almost certainly have to forfeit their green bin service and face a weekly trek to the waste recycling centre, irrespective of age or infirmity.

The imposition of an additional charge for an individual service is also likely to set a precedent, the beginning of what has become known as the Ryanair syndrome, a pernicious practice that has already spread to the banks, heralding open season for additional levies on everything possible and as far as SKDC is concerned, might even soon include the emptying of our black and silver bins and other items that are currently part of the normal service.

There is another consideration. If this is to be the criteria for the future, with only those who use a service paying for it, then it should be extended across the entire range to include others such as sports, arts and leisure facilities which are by no means of benefit to everyone. As the vast majority of home owners use only the refuse collection service, the authority would soon find itself in a financial quagmire.

The long-running radio programme Desert Island Discs celebrates its 70th anniversary this month and a list of the celebrities who have appeared as castaways together with their choice of records has been posted on the BBC web site.

The programme began in January 1942 and there have since been 500 guests who have all chosen eight of their favourite recordings to play if they were shipwrecked with an inexhaustible supply of needles. They are also asked to choose a book and a luxury item for their imaginary stay on the island, while discussing their lives and the reasons for their choices. Originally devised and presented by Roy Plomley, it is currently hosted by Kirsty Young but the format remains the same with the theme music, By The Sleepy Lagoon composed by Eric Coates.

The programme began when the BBC were looking for an economical way of filling half an hour in those days when radio was the major force in entertainment but its success was immediate and it has since become the second longest running radio programme in the history of the corporation. As someone who heard the first broadcast when the guest was the radio comedian Vic Oliver, and who listened to it regularly for the next fifty years, I can recommend its entertainment value although the quality of presentation is no longer quite the same as it was under that stalwart broadcaster Roy Plomley.

It is also hard to define why it remains so popular, whether it is a curiosity about the lives of others or a liking for that eclectic mix of music which the programme highlights each week but perhaps it is a combination of both. The BBC web site currently has the most recent of the 500 programmes available, from July 1998 to the present day, and it is their ambition to add more castaways to the archive in the near future but it is a time consuming task.

Among those still to be included is our own Raymond Mays (1899-1980), the international racing car driver and designer, who is the only person from Bourne ever to appear on the programme. He was the guest on 25th October 1969 and a recording of the broadcast is retained by the Heritage Centre in South Street where a memorial room is devoted to his life and times.

It is an eerie experience hearing someone you once interviewed and is now dead, talking about their favourite music, but Raymond comes over as a charming man, urbane, nostalgic, and totally dedicated to his lifestyle as an ex-racing car driver and builder of fast cars, but less a businessman and someone more at home in the dress circle of the Drury Lane Theatre rather than sitting round the boardroom table running a company.

Roy Plomley was the interviewer and the music Raymond chose reflected that period of his life in the twenties and thirties of the last century when he haunted stage doors and rubbed shoulders with the actors and actresses who trod the boards and gave so much delight to thousands in the musical comedies in which they performed. Those who captivated him on stage became his friends and came to stay for weekend parties at Eastgate House, his lifelong home, and until he died in 1980 at the age of 80, he never lost this love of the theatre that was reflected in his choice of eight records.

Raymond said that he was a musical person who once played the piano a little but now played records more and added: "I have made my choice to bring back so many sad and happy memories of many delightful times through the years."

The records he chose were:

Roses of Picardy sung by the comedian Fred Emney: "It was a popular tune in its hey-day when I was a young man during and after the First World War and you would often hear it played in London in public and even by the band of my regiment, the Grenadier Guards."

Love will find a way from the stage show The Maid of the Mountains and sung by José Collins: "This means a lot to me. I first saw her in the show at Daly's Theatre with my parents when I was a schoolboy and I was captivated and in the years that followed, while at Cambridge and in the army, I saw it 84 times, always with José Collins, and she later became a very good friend. I was a terrific admirer of hers."

I love the moon played by Russ Conway, a song written for the musical comedy star Phyllis Dare: "I loved the tune and the words. Happy memories and Phyllis became a great personal friend."

Somewhere over the rainbow sung by Judy Garland: "This brings back a lot of sentimental memories for me. I liked it from the very moment I saw a very young Judy singing it in the film The Wizard of Oz and it impressed me forever."

I can give you the starlight sung by Mary Ellis from Ivor Novello's stage production of The Dancing Years: "I first went to see this show just before the war. I knew and admired Ivor Novello and often went to see it at Drury Lane. During the war my mother used to send Mary eggs because she couldn't get any. The producers would sometimes cut this particular number from the show but whenever I went to see it, I would send a little note round to the stage door to say that I was in the audience and would she sing it and she always did."

A stranger in paradise from the London stage production of Kismet sung by Richard Kiley and Doretta Morrow: "A beautiful song that I never tire of hearing. I love the melody and the words and it was played by orchestras around the world and if they did not, I always used to ask them to."

Tea for two from the show No, No, Nanette sung by Binnie Hale: "This always brings back fond memories of Binnie, a lovely person and a very good friend."

The Merry Widow Waltz from the London stage production of Franz Lehar's musical comedy and sung by June Bronhill: "My favourite composer and I was lucky enough to see him when I attended one of his opening nights at the Princes' Theatre. A wonderful experience and one that I have never forgotten."

Asked about his chances of survival on a desert island, Raymond admitted that he had few of the necessary skills and would not be a practical man when it came to building a hut although he had some knowledge of fertilisers through the family business and could probably raise a few crops. He was not a brilliant swimmer or very good at fishing and so he would probably keep a weather eye open for a passing ship in the hope of being rescued. The book he chose to have with him, apart from the Bible and Shakespeare, would be about the theatre that would sustain his memories of the many happy times he spent there and so his selection was: Gaiety: Theatre of Enchantment by W McQueen Pope.

Castaways appearing on this show are allowed one luxury to which Raymond replied: "I can't bear getting wet and so I would like an umbrella, a large blue umbrella, similar to that I used to take to the motor racing circuits around the world which was big enough to prop on the bonnet of a car to check the spark plugs when it was raining."

Thought for the week: The isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not. - William Shakespeare (1564-1616), poet and playwright widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, from his play The Tempest.

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