|
Saturday 2nd June 2012
It has been a long time coming but the new community centre at Elsea Park has certainly been well worth waiting for. First planned in March 1999 when the new estate was announced, it was finally opened this year at a cost of £750,000 after 750 houses had been built, thus creating a place for functions and events, leisure and relaxation, for an estimated 2,000 residents as well as providing the town with another public venue. This is a state of the art community centre, light and spacious with a large and adaptable main function room, lounge, kitchen and bar, outside patio and lawns with play areas for children and an adjoining car park. It will be known as The Centre@ Elsea Park and the developers, Kier Homes, must be congratulated for their vision in the location and design. The new centre will be run by the Elsea Park Community Trust administered by a board of nine volunteer members and a paid team of four staff. The money to run it comes from an annual charge levied on each dwelling on the estate which is currently set at £260 for 2012-13 but is increased each year in line with the retail price index. Any complaints, criticism or other observations may be voiced at the annual meeting each year while an active resident group provides regular feedback about the estate and advice about forthcoming events. Once fully established, the trust will take over several responsibilities from the developer including all open green spaces, hard landscaping, play and conservation areas, ponds and wildlife habitats and the community centre itself. The opening was celebrated last weekend with a series of events on Saturday including a family fun day, stalls and live music, a barn dance and a hog roast, followed by a cheese and wine event with instrumentalists on Sunday. There were also taster sessions for forthcoming activities such as dance, tai chi, kick boxing, Zumba, pilates and yoga. Until now, Elsea Park has been isolated from the town, a separate entity of new houses that did not seem to belong, but the centre has now turned the housing estate into a community and in view of the facilities on offer, it will undoubtedly become a much sought after venue for other local clubs and organisations, thus making it very much a part of Bourne in the future. Building continues at the rate of 100 houses a year, each bringing a potential increase in the population of 2.3 people, and with 2,000 homes planned for this first phase, with more land in waiting, we may expect Elsea Park to make a significant difference to the size of Bourne in the years to come and a community centre is therefore part of that growth. The right decision has been reached by the town council not to take over the running of the new skateboard park at the Abbey Lawn in the unlikely event that it will ever come to be built. A commitment now to take on the responsibility for maintenance and liability insurance would escalate into horrendous costs to the council tax payer once the project was up and running which is why Bourne United Charities, although prepared to provide the site, wanted no part of it after that. Fortunately, common sense has won the day and perhaps this will provide the trustees of BUC with food for thought over the wisdom of their decision to even contemplate such an unsuitable location. But as this was their idea in the first place, perhaps they would like to pick up the baton and move the suggested site to the Wellhead Field, a much more suitable place and one likely to receive the support of the entire town, and then take on the financial responsibility for its upkeep from the ample funds at their disposal. To suggest something and not follow it through is like throwing a pebble in a pond and then standing back to watch the ripple effect, totally unconcerned that it may upset the wildlife and swamp the banks, a supposedly magnanimous gesture but one without responsibility. The town council has agreed to support the skatepark which is commendable but even members of the Dimension Park committee organising the project have realised that it was too much to expect financial aid from public funds. The chairman, schoolboy Zac Pinchin, aged 18, told The Local newspaper (May 26th) that they were happy to get council support but were disappointed that it would not take over the lease although he added: "We can understand the reasons why and that it would be unfair to the other clubs that use the Abbey Lawn." The committee now has two major hurdles to surmount, obtaining planning permission and raising the necessary capital to finance the project which could cost as much as £170,000. This is a tidy sum to find especially as it will be used to satisfy followers of a minority sport, but if the youngsters involved have sufficient energy and enthusiasm, then there is no reason why the target should not be achieved within a few years. Our shops are awash with souvenirs of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Decorative plates, mugs, loving cups, glasses, vases, medallions and even teddy bears which are being sold around the world will be kept on display on shelves and in family cabinets as a reminder of the great occasion when the nation celebrates with a Bank Holiday on Tuesday. Many buy these things in the mistaken belief that they will one day be valuable and that is certainly the case for royal occasions in past centuries when commemorative items were fewer and are eagerly sought by collectors but the sheer volume now being produced is a sure sign that they will not retain their value in the years to come unless produced by the more prestigious factories such as Royal Worcester, Crown Derby and Wedgwood. Mass produced mugs and plates from the Queen’s coronation in 1953 fetch only a pound or two today, silver jubilee crowns from 1977 are worth little more than their face value (25p) while memorabilia from the last royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011 is so thick on the ground that it is not worth the effort of selling. The rule is therefore to buy these items as a memento of the big day but not for investment because without a good factory provenance, they will never accrue in value or even be worth what you paid in the first place. Similar state occasions in the past produced a large amount of commemorative ware with mugs as the most popular item because hardly a royal occasion passed without them being handed out to schoolchildren during the celebrations. In Bourne, the festivities invariably included a public treat of tea and buns in a marquee erected on the Abbey Lawn, followed by a programme of sports with evening dancing for adults to end the day. The first record of souvenir mugs being handed out in Bourne was in 1902 when the town celebrated the coronation of King Edward VII and by then, they had become a traditional gift for children but one mystery remains. On that day, Thursday 16th August, every boy and girl under 16 was given one although the number handed out is uncertain but as the population of Bourne was 4,361 (1901 census figure) and large families were quite normal, we can assume that the figure must have been at least 1,000. Yet few appear to have survived. Crockery was expensive in those days and so the mugs would have been used daily by the poorer families but the more well-off would have preserved them in their front room display cabinets and they were probably sold off or even destroyed with other household effects when the owners died. Today, these old pottery souvenirs are sought after by collectors of commemorative ware but the mass produced items now being sold for these occasions will be of little value in the future other than a reminder of a memorable occasion in our history. Souvenir mugs are not quite as popular today although the tradition is being observed at Morton and Hanthorpe, near Bourne, where children living in the two villages are to have one. The gifts are being financed through a local charity dating back to the 18th century and distributed as part of the jubilee celebrations organised by the 2000+ Committee, the same group which is responsible for the highly successful street fair each year. Six hundred jubilee mugs have been ordered and every boy and girl who is under 16 at the end of August 2012 will get one together with any children not resident but who attend either the village school or the pre-school. Letters are being circulated to ensure that no one is missed out and if anyone else who does not qualify wants one, they may buy one for £5. These may not be worth a small fortune in the years to come but they will remain treasured possessions in the family as a reminder of a momentous day and of the community spirit that still exists in many of the villages around England today. The most dedicated of fans is planning a trip from Holland to be in Bourne for the 50th anniversary celebrations to mark the world championship victory by BRM with Graham Hill at the wheel. But Hein de Groot is not coming empty handed because he is bringing with him a new book about the legendary car and its rise to fame which will be on sale later in the year. Hein, who is 62, works for the DAF truck company based at Eindhoven and describes himself as “a Dutch BRM fanatic”. He has booked a long weekend holiday in Bourne to coincide with the BRM event due to take place on Sunday 7th October when he plans to meet as many people as possible connected with the car and its performance on the track. “I have been a motor racing fanatic all my life”, he told me. “This has involved many visits to England to see museums, factories and racing circuits connected with the sport. But my main interest has been in the ERA and BRM and collecting everything I can about these fascinating makes of high performance cars.” Hein is also a collector of memorabilia connected with the two marques and has amassed an enormous amount of material over the past 50 years including books and badges, pins, factory literature, model cars, paintings, art and other artefacts and this is the subject of his book entitled The Way to Bourne which contains a foreword by David Owen of the Rubery Owen Organisation which took over the BRM company in 1954. “The history of BRM is well documented by others”, he said, “and so I have concentrated on the memorabilia connected with them. I am still working flat out to finish the book but it should be completed in time for the big day.” Hein plans to be in Bourne for four days, enough time to take in everything about the BRM including a long visit to the Heritage Centre in South Street which contains the Raymond Mays Memorial Room and a mass of material about his cars, his life and his career on the track. Tickets are already on sale for the big day when the programme will include a parade of cars from the 1962 World Championship line-up including BRM, Lotus and Lola, demonstration runs through the town telling the history of BRM, a flavour of the 1960s with live music from the period and a cavalcade of cars from the period to set the scene. There will also be a poignant moment when the 1996 world champion Damon Hill climbs into his father’s car to make a triumphant run through the town. Thought for the week: Anything happens in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does. - Murray Walker OBE (1923- ), former Formula One motor sport commentator who worked for the BBC for most of his career when he became known for his distinctive and enthusiastic style. Saturday 9th June 2012
The changing face of Bourne can best be seen by studying old photographs of the town and then comparing them with the same locations today. A good example of this is Meadowgate, now entirely residential, but once a place of commerce and even industry. The largest of these premises was the warehouse, workshops, sales and display area of the agricultural machinery business run by Ernest Foley, a Yorkshireman who moved to Bourne with his brother, George, in 1891 after buying the business at No 30 North Street following the death of the owner, Arnold Pick. He had established a sound reputation as an ironmonger and blacksmith and was also interested in agricultural machinery, but only in a small way, and it was this that the brothers began to expand and eventually made it one of the biggest enterprises of its kind in Lincolnshire. George died prematurely in 1903, aged 34, when Ernest became sole proprietor. The ironmongery department continued at No 30 North Street as a separate undertaking under the direction of a new partner, Henry Butler, while Foley developed and sold threshing machines, concentrating this side of the business at premises in Meadowgate which he expanded considerably. He was also an engineer of some skill and was the inventor and manufacturer of a straw elevator, the height of which exceeded that of any other make on the market and was therefore in great demand. In 1920, he bought a massive 80 feet long World War I balloon hangar from the War Department for £400 after it had been declared redundant at the Royal Air Force base at Wittering, near Stamford. It was then dismantled and moved by road to Bourne in sections, an operation that was not without its difficulties because the load was the longest ever known to have been transported in this part of the country, the sections including two roof trusses 115ft. long and two doors 30ft. high. The various sections eventually arrived safely and the hangar was re-erected on site where it was used as a sales and display area. Ernest too had an early death in 1926, aged 58, when the business was sold and the entire stock of agricultural machinery and haulage plant, comprising almost 800 lots, came under the hammer at an auction sale on the premises. The gap in the market was subsequently filled by a young man who had been employed as a clerk at Foley's works, Thomas Rickard, who established his own business on the old cattle market site as T Rickard and Sons Limited which continued in existence until the middle years of the 20th century and part of these buildings survive as Fitzgerald’s Bed Centre. Foley’s main factory complex in Meadowgate continued in business under new owners and was greatly improved, later occupied by a plastics company and a haulage depot. Older residents of Bourne also remember family tales of a serious fire breaking out on the premises which was so intense that the paint blistered on the door and windows of properties in Hereward Street. In later years, the site was cleared to make way for the Meadow Close old people’s housing development which opened in 1980 and later extended for more new homes in Norman Mews. Despite his business acumen and enterprise in bringing jobs and prosperity to the town, Foley is now largely forgotten although the frontage of the hardware shop in North Street where he began with his brother George has been preserved as part of the Jubilee Garage public house with the name Foley Bros. still intact as a reminder of the way things were. A new primary school for Elsea Park is back on the agenda following recent revelations that children in Bourne are being denied places at the two existing schools and sent to outlying villages instead (Bourne Diary 12th May). The scheme was put on the back burner last year after Lincolnshire County Council decided that there was insufficient demand to justify a new school but the situation has now changed and the town council has taken the initiative by demanding a timescale for building a new school which was promised when the estate was first announced in March 1999. A primary for Elsea Park was part of the planning gain agreed with the developers who will foot the bill yet the project has been delayed several times, usually citing the possibility of creating problems of surplus places at the two existing primaries but this is no longer an issue. Sue Woolley (Bourne Abbey), executive councillor for health, housing and communities on LCC, told the town council’s highways and planning committee last week (May 29th) that plans for the school were now moving forward. “The county council is working closely in partnership with the developers, Kier Homes, to finalise the location of the school and more details will be available later this summer", she said. "I am delighted that with a rising birth rate, these plans are starting to become a reality and parents will be pleased with a new school close to where they live.” That is good news although it is not, as Councillor Woolley suggests, the rising birth rate that has caused the current shortage of places at the Westfield and Abbey primary academies but the huge increase of new housing in Bourne in recent years, notably Elsea Park where building began eleven years ago, although other sizeable developments have since contributed to the problem including Hereward Meadows, Red Hall Gardens, the old hospital site in South Road, the old laundry site in Manning Road and others are on the way. This was a situation that should have been foreseen as planning permission was given for one new development after another, let alone the Elsea Park estate which is likely to double the population of the town when its 2,000 plus houses are complete. Unfortunately, this procrastination will mean that the current shortage of primary school places will get worse before it gets better because the new school is not expected to materialise for at least three years. Way back in the early days of the Internet, we went online. This meant subscribing to a service provider for access and an email address and as only a few companies were then available, the choice was limited but we selected the most promising known as Which Online, run by the Which Organisation, Britain’s leading institution on consumer affairs that was respected nationwide for its integrity and trustworthiness and as a champion of the consumer. It was a good choice because although the connection was a slow and laborious dial-up with the inevitable delays, the support they provided was quite excellent. The date was 28th July 1997 and we were impressed with their motto "Internet access you can trust". The fact that our computer was primitive by today's standards, with a mere 16MB of hard disc capacity and even a smaller memory, did not seem to matter because being on the Internet was an absolute joy. In addition, the service from Which Online was so good that we stayed with them to host the Bourne web site when it was launched in August the following year and throughout that early period, we established a friendly relationship with the technical staff, just two or three chaps who we knew by their first names and could call up at any time on a direct line when they were always ready to help and make suggestions, so cementing a friendly and reassuring relationship. Shortly before Christmas 2000, we received a small but unexpected present, gift-wrapped in glowing terms because it was another accolade for our labours, the sixth since we had started in 1997. This recognition was of particular significance because it came from Which Online who named the Bourne web site as a winner of their Web Site Wonders award for December that year and were duly grateful for such acknowledgement that spurred us on to even greater effort. Another twelve years on and we are still with Which Online but how things have changed. Gone is the personal and friendly approach to the customer. Gone too is the ease of contact and with it the standard of service. Our attempts to get help over the past few days to resolve a problem of their making has been an horrendous experience yet one that is being replicated throughout the world since the new style of dealing with customers over the telephone has taken hold with all large organisations now running call centres that have replaced the personal touch. We have had a week of waiting on the phone, listening to endless messages and bursts of canned Mozart, only to be greeted with total indifference once we got through to explain our problem and then to be told that an engineer would ring back but knowing that he never would. This all began on Monday of last week but the problem is still not resolved and because I now realise that the mission is impossible, I have stopped calling. In a last desperate attempt to get satisfaction, I sent off a detailed email about our plight to all departments at Which Online and, as expected, there has been no reply. This scenario is symptomatic of business today where a climate of indifference pervades the customer service and technical help departments. Hardly anyone does not have a similar tale of woe, the worst from those who try to keep their computers running and Internet access open. Whether those who staff these departments are inefficient, underpaid, overworked or just plain lazy, is a matter of conjecture but the fact is that this one area of our national life is responsible for more complaints than any other and as there is no alternative, the public will just have to put up with it or opt out of the service altogether. There is much talk in official circles about the dramatic effect the refurbishment of Wherry’s Lane will have on Bourne and we hope that this will not all turn out to be optimistic rhetoric. South Kesteven District Council and the local newspapers continue to refer to this scheme as a revamp of the town centre when everyone knows that it is nothing of the sort, rather a scaled down version of a £20 million project which was finally scrapped in June 2010 after ten years of planning and enormous cost. The current work involves the refurbishment of the Burghley Street warehouse and adjoining properties at a cost of £2.14 million, now being described as “a key part of the district’s economic strategy” and will result in seven new shops and 14 apartments. Paul Ross, chairman of the Bourne Business Chamber, thinks that the council is moving in the right direction and he told The Local newspaper that the plans “look brilliant” (June 1st). “Bourne has always been classed as a sleeper town but it is really becoming more vibrant”, he said. Let us hope this this euphoria is justified and that tenants can be found for the new shops which will be essential for the local economy. There have been suggestions that they are too far away from the main shopping area around North Street where several retail outlets are standing empty and others are likely to be so soon. It will not be easy to fill them at a time when others are struggling to survive in the face of massive overhead costs such as rental, the business rate and electricity, not to mention the competition from Internet shopping, all factors that may deter all but the strong-hearted, but we will have to wait and see. Thought for the week: A new town centre for Bourne is envisaged in a draft guide drawn up by South Kesteven District Council to shape the future of the area. The main aim of the scheme is to counteract insensitive infill development of the past, with its poorly designed shop fronts and vacant lots, and to establish a main High Street area with a town square and a new market place and so provide a central hub of commercial activity and public amenities. – news report from the Stamford Mercury, 5th December 2003. Saturday 16th June 2012
Now that the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee has passed, there is time to reflect on the contribution made by Bourne to the national celebrations and the picture is not good. In fact, there were no official arrangements for events and the few street parties that did take place were organised by patriotic individuals who braved inclement weather to mark the monarch’s sixty-year reign. The town council flew the union flag from the town hall and spent £264 on red, white and blue bunting at the last minute to decorate the main streets but its involvement ended there. Other decorations were left to individual shopkeepers, the owners of business premises and householders who made valiant attempts to fly the flag for the occasion. Added to this, the weather marred the entire weekend with wind and rain a major deterrent to being outdoors and so the few events that had been arranged suffered accordingly. Yet is was not entirely the council’s fault because an apparent indifference to the occasion was evident last year when a public meeting was held at the Corn Exchange on Monday 28th March 2011 to organise events. The royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton was also being discussed but the reception was distinctly lukewarm. The intention was for groups and individuals to organise joint celebrations on the day but in the event little progress was made. The Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Pet Moisey, who took the chair, said afterwards: "The meeting was over in half an hour and nothing was decided. It was all very disappointing." Fortunately, there was a big event at the Wellhead Field although this was largely a coincidence because the royal celebrations fell during the annual Bourne Festival where there was an entire weekend of attractions for all the family but an additional Abba tribute night on the Monday had been arranged as part of the jubilee celebrations, a concert sponsored by local people and businesses with Bourne Round Table providing the stage and marquee. Old people resident in our various care homes who remembered the Queen’s accession in 1952 were determined to mark the jubilee but there were only one or two of the much publicised street parties although most of the surrounding villages had some form of celebration. Bourne town centre, however, was deserted for much of the weekend. Contrast this with Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee of 1897 when the gaily decorated streets were crammed with people in their Sunday best from dawn until dusk. There were parades with marching bands, l,000 schoolchildren gathered in the market place to sing God save the Queen, a programme of sports before sitting down to tea and buns, a cycle parade, a supper for the adults in the evening followed by dancing, fireworks at dusk in the Wellhead Field and to end the day, a torchlight procession to Stamford Hill on the outskirts of the town where, at the highest point, a huge bonfire that had been days in the making, some 20 feet in height, was lit to coincide with others across Lincolnshire and indeed, the entire country. “Children were jubilant from daybreak till long after the legitimate bedtime”, reported the Stamford Mercury, “and veterans of 70 and 80 were early astir. There was no home undecorated and many were remarkably beautiful with red roses, evergreens, flags and patriotic emblems. There appeared to have been a happy rivalry in transforming the old Saxon town into a place of beauty.” Or more recently, our present Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 and the Golden Jubilee in June 2002 which was also celebrated over four days when there was live entertainment, fireworks, a barbecue, street parties, exhibitions, a flower show, and of course a grand parade through the streets. Over £10,000 had been raised by public appeal to pay for it all, the biggest attraction being on Bank Holiday Monday at the Wellhead Field where a huge marquee had been erected for the town's own Party in the Park, a feast of musical entertainment throughout the day and catering for all tastes ranging from ceilidh and rock to disco and brass. There were similar festivities in all of the surrounding villages where homes and gardens were decorated. The committee's organising secretary, Betty James, summed up the successful weekend as follows: "The people of Bourne turned out in their hundreds, determined to have a ball and enjoy themselves over this very special Golden Jubilee weekend. It was gratifying to see so many families making their way to the Wellhead Field carrying chairs, rugs, picnic baskets, pushing prams, carrying excited little children. All ages mixed so well together and there was not a hint of any trouble over the whole weekend. Children played happily, young people laughed together, parents enjoyed the company of their friends, and grandparents sat in the sun, soaking up the atmosphere, smiling contentedly as they watched the world go by. The Abbey Church was packed to capacity for the thanksgiving service on Sunday and the following day, the big parade was the talk of the town. The weekend certainly went out with a bang and the fireworks were splendid into the bargain." What a different picture it was last weekend yet the reason for this poor turnout is not even being discussed. The media gave the impression that the celebrations were nationwide with the entire population out on the streets waving flags in the time-honoured fashion, omitting to say that the participation of the majority was confined to watching events unfold in the capital on their television screens. Our local newspapers were crammed with page after page of photographs which appeared to suggest that everyone was involved in the big event but this was not the case. The Stamford Mercury, for instance, published a 28-page supplement “recording how you celebrated the Queen’s 60-year reign” but close scrutiny reveals that most space was devoted to established annual events that happened to be taking place at the same time such as Stamford Festival, Rutland Show, Bourne Festival, Deeping Show and the Uffington Scarecrow Festival, all of which would have been given extensive coverage anyway. Experience at local level therefore, presents a very different picture with only a minority taking part in organised jubilee inspired events and the question must be asked whether this is the result of a sycophantic press, a total apathy by a growing number of people or a sign of the declining appeal of the monarchy. This is not a popular theory in the light of opinion polls which indicate that the Queen herself remains enormously popular and cherished by the people, but it is one that cannot be ignored. The Bourne Links page on this web site must be the most comprehensive in the country, containing over 500 links to a variety of resources such as charitable, sporting and social organisations, schools, churches, local and national government, places of interest, our heritage and environment and, not least, genealogy, a massive section which enables visitors from at home and abroad seek out their ancestors. We try to keep it up to date but this can be a headache because the Internet is ever changing and dead links are automatically deleted. Nevertheless, it is an astounding resource for anyone studying the town and its history because all that is happening here is available at the click of a mouse and it was therefore gratifying this week to receive an appreciative email from the other side of the Atlantic. Karen Murphy is a history teacher at Elwood Union Free School District in New York and she wrote to say how helpful our links had been. "I just wanted to take the time to send you a quick thank you from the students in my class and myself for providing the resources on your web site", she said. "They have just completed their history and genealogy projects and your page proved to be a great reference for them, so from Mrs Murphy's class thank you for your help." Elwood is a suburban Long Island community located in the town of Huntington which is half an hour's drive from Manhattan. The population is around 13,000, mainly business and professional people, and there are approximately 2,625 students at the complex of four schools. Genealogy and history are obviously popular subjects because Karen's email also included several other links discovered by her students during their research, an outstanding example of the way in which education and teaching tools are benefiting from the Internet. "If you wouldn't mind adding them to your other resources, I'd love to show my students who went above and beyond to find the sites that their work was appreciated and maybe a little extra credit", she said. Bourne Links has now been running for over 14 years and is accessed by a variety of local organisations as well as visitors from around the world, especially those anxious to trace their roots back to this market town. If you want your web site to be included, then visit the page and send us an email. One jubilee event that both of our local newspapers missed was the peal completed by bell ringers at the Abbey Church on Wednesday 6th June to commemorate the great occasion. A peal is the name given to a particular type of change ringing which is carried out on special occasions and for a performance to be recognised by the Central Council for Church Bell Ringers it must consist of 5,040 changes which is a considerable and time consuming feat. The Abbey Church has six bells with a total weight of 61 cwt (1 cwt being 112 lb and there are 20 to the ton). They were cast in 1729 by Rudhalls of Gloucester having been commissioned and installed during the incumbency of the Rev William Dodd who was vicar from 1727-56, and all are inscribed. They are:
No 1 weighing 14½ cwt:
William Dodd, Vicar, 1729 Surge age (Rise and act); The ringers on this occasion were No 1 bell Alan Payne (the tower captain), No 2 Jim Benner, No 3 Matthew Payne, No 4 Ben Ricketts, No 5 Michael Maugham (who conducted the peal), and No 6 Barry Jones. They began ringing at 9.35 am and completed the peal at 12.30 pm, 2 hours 55 minutes later, a wonderful and evocative sound that I could hear quite clearly from my garden over a mile away. There have been many such peals at the Abbey Church, particularly in the years following the installation of the bells in the 17th and 18th centuries when campanology was extremely popular and visiting ringers arrived from surrounding villages for a session in the tower while the Bourne team reciprocated with return visits. Peals are usually held to commemorate an event or occasion and on Monday 29th October 1877, for instance, a peal was rung in honour of the golden wedding of Mr S Benstead, clerk of the parish, that being the 50th anniversary of his wedding day. From the archives: The fine peal of bells at Rippingale sent forth their melodious sounds on Christmas morning, the ringers having completed 5,040 changes without a stop in 3½ hours. The church being on elevated ground off the borders of the fens, the sound of the bells in the stillness of the morning was heard for many miles round. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 31st December 1858. Thought for the week: For bells are the voice of the church. They have tones that touch and search the hearts of young and old. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82), American poet and educator whose works include The Song of Hiawatha and was one of the five Fireside Poets. Saturday 23rd June 2012
The result of a planning appeal announced this week indicates that local councillors no longer have the power to control house building in those districts they represent. A development company has been given permission for a 46-home estate off South Road, Bourne, despite the scheme being turned down by them on the grounds that sufficient new homes are already planned for the town. In October 2011, Lindum Homes was refused planning permission by South Kesteven District Council for residential development in the last section of the old railway yard off South Road, an estate of 46 homes. Officers recommended approval but councillors disagreed with their decision and voted against it. They pointed out that the core strategy plan, a guide to development until 2016, restricted house building in the town to sites that already had planning permission. The company, which has been building homes in Lincolnshire for the past fifty years, appealed and their objections were heard at a planning inquiry at Grantham on May 22nd on the grounds that councillors had ignored the advice of the government’s National Planning Policy Framework. Mike Sibthorpe, who appeared on behalf of Lindum Homes, claimed that the council could not demonstrate a five-year housing supply across the South Kesteven district as required by government (Stamford Mercury, May 25th). He added: “Guidance is set on a district-wide five-year supply. If there is not a five-year supply then there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development applications.” Ben Hunt, who spoke for SKDC, challenged this. He agreed that a five-year supply could not be demonstrated across the district but argued that while national policy should be followed, the council’s own core strategy should also be taken into consideration and pointed out that the Elsea Park development would see up to 100 new houses built every year until 2016 as evidence that Bourne itself had a housing supply in excess of five years. The result was announced on Thursday when the planning inspector, Andrew Jeyes, found in favour of Lindum Homes by upholding the appeal and granting planning permission, saying that the new houses should be built to make up for the shortfall in Bourne. He refused a claim by the developer for full costs to be awarded in their favour but he did endorse financial contributions that will be made by them towards education, play areas and health services. Work will now go ahead at the old railway yard immediately opposite the new housing development of 60 homes being completed by the same company, originally named Red Hall Gardens but changed to Great Northern Gardens after objections from the trustees of Bourne United Charities who administer the early 17th century mansion which stands nearby. The appeal decision will be seen as a major setback for the authority of local councillors in planning matters as they relate to housing. No matter what they decide to be in the interests of the town and the people they represent, they may be rendered powerless because developers have the right to appeal if those decisions are not in their favour. This can be a costly exercise and councillors may therefore be reluctant to pursue such a course of action in the future, so enabling developers to build where they choose and with fewer restraints. Vandalism continues in Bourne and much of it at the weekends when the culprits have been drinking in town. In the latest incident on Saturday night, the safety barriers were removed from road works in Meadowgate and one of them deposited on the post box in nearby Meadow Close. Some will dismiss this as high jinks but damage was done and public protection jeopardised. Criminal damage and anti-social behaviour have been a constant problem in Bourne for many years and we have been recording such incidents for more than a decade with the list growing ever longer. Smashed windows occur in the town frequently as well as new graffiti on walls and hoardings. Other problems recorded by this column include defaced road signs, a wrecked telephone box and bus shelter, rubbish bins and flower containers overturned, trees uprooted, litter and broken glass in the streets and more. Most incidents appear to be trivial, as with Meadowgate, but when ignored are symptomatic of the broken window syndrome which signals that the situation is likely to escalate into even more urban disorder. In recent years, for instance, there have been a number of attempts to burn down the pavilion headquarters of the Bourne Town Football Club on the Abbey Lawn while the premises and pitch at the adjoining Bourne Cricket Club have also been despoiled on several occasions. A great deal of the damage is done on Saturday nights and the routes leading away from the town centre are the main targets once the pubs have closed, thus making enforcement much easier. The pattern of damage is so simple that it does not need a Sherlock Holmes to solve the crimes that are committed, rather a spot of vigilance which was the mainstay of old fashioned police work. A receding police presence on our streets is often cited as a contributory cause and we hear regular appeals for bobbies back on the beat. Saturday night patrols would certainly be a deterrent but are unlikely to happen in the current economic climate when police budgets are primarily concerned with preserving salaries and pensions rather than maintaining law and order. The vandalism that has become endemic in recent years is, therefore, here to stay. The town has lost its only newspaper office with the closure of The Local’s premises at No 28 West Street. The decision is part of a re-structuring by the owners, Johnston Press, which has had widespread effects throughout provincial journalism in this country with several important evening newspapers going weekly, notably the Peterborough Evening Telegraph where I began my career in journalism sixty years ago. In those days, it was little more than a slip edition of the parent newspaper, the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph, published in Kettering, that is additional pages containing local items of interest and therefore justifying the Peterborough title. But the accent was on our weeklies, the Citizen and the Advertiser, published on Tuesdays and Fridays respectively, both being far more important to the community than some fly by night evening paper. Things have changed dramatically since those days. The evenings have come and gone, the weeklies are under threat and running costs are being cut which seems to be why The Local office has closed. Online newspapers are the current trend and both of our weeklies have extended their coverage noticeably in recent weeks as part of the group’s policy to maintain a high Internet profile. But as with all major changes, there could be a downside. The Local was launched on 5th October 1989, a significant event because until then Bourne had depended on the coverage of its life and times on newspapers from nearby towns, notably the Stamford Mercury and the Lincolnshire Free Press at Spalding, both attracting advertising from the area, column space paid for by business and industry which is the necessary lifeblood of provincial newspapers if they are to survive. There were other owners until December 2005 when it was bought out by Johnston Press, one of the country’s top three largest local newspaper publishers and a major force on the Internet thus giving The Local its own web site. From small beginnings in 1989, our own newspaper therefore stood alongside the company’s other 140 outlets with a dedicated commitment to producing local news and information that both informed and reflected the important issues of the communities they served. Unfortunately, staffing was always a problem because of economic considerations and now the West Street office has also become a victim. An announcement in the newspaper from the editor, Eileen Green, insists that it will be business as usual (June 1st). “Our editorial team of reporters and photographers will continue to be out and about in Bourne, covering your events and activities, and our advertising representatives will also maintain their coverage”, she said. “We look forward to continuing to serve the community and welcome your calls, comment and inquiries.” It is hoped that this is not the beginning of the end for The Local but tradition has decreed that a town’s newspaper has its own office because it does need a presence, a place where readers can drop in to give their stories and pay for their public notices and small ads, a less encouraging prospect if the nearest place is twelve miles away. The telephone, letters and emails all have their place but in a small market town, there is no substitute for the intimacy of face to face contact. There is talk around town that an amalgamation with the Stamford Mercury may not be far off which would make economic sense but that is pure speculation although it would be a sad day if Bourne were to lose its own newspaper because we would then be back to those inadequate slip editions that circulated here in past times. Amid the gloom surrounding the future of our high streets comes the announcement that one of our best loved shops, Walkers Books in North Street, is likely to close this summer. This is a major blow for Bourne and to the intellectual life of the town because it is the only place where the customers can browse and buy the latest volumes they have read about in the national reviews. Walkers also have a policy of encouraging local authors by stocking their books on various topics that might otherwise not have a shop window and indeed many of my own works on the town’s history that are currently in print and on DVD can be found there. An alternative outlet in such a prominent position will be hard to find and so this will be an added reason why this shop will be sorely missed. This is an uncertain time for town centre retailers and Bourne has been particularly badly hit by the steady decline in the number of shoppers using the town centre, a drift that began with the closure of Woolworths in 2008 followed by the opening of the Tesco supermarket in South Road last year, major developments that have resulted in significantly fewer people shopping in Bourne. Many more shop premises are standing empty and the number is expected to increase in the coming months. There has been a bookshop in the town since reading matter became a commercial viability, one of the first being William Sang who traded from No 1 North Street during the early years of the 19th century and he was followed by John Pearce who had shop premises adjoining the post office across the street. The biggest of our booksellers was undoubtedly John Morris of No 13 West Street, a printer and newsagent who also published postcards, a town directory, train timetables and even opened a reading room and public lending library which had a stock of more than 1,000 volumes by 1885 and it was his business that was eventually purchased by Lorenzo Warner in 1936, so leading to the establishment of the prestige printing firm Warners Midlands plc, one of our most important local industries. Walkers Books is a comparative newcomer and has been here since taking over the premises of Bourne Bookworld at No 19 North Street in 2007, but soon became established as a much loved shop not only for books, newspapers and stationery, but also for chocolates in which it specialised. This is a family run business formed in 1972 and now has four shops in Stamford, Sleaford, Oakham and Bourne. Director Tim Walker told me: “The company is still in a consultation period with our staff. It is always heart breaking to have to take such decisions but the number of people shopping in Bourne just keeps going down. We only opened five years ago but it feels as though we have always been here. If the final decision is to close, I know that an awful lot of people will be very sad and upset.” Thought for the week: The book salesman should be honoured because he brings to our attention, as a rule, the very books we need most and neglect most. - Confucius (551 - 479 BC), Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and social philosopher whose teachings have influenced world thought. Saturday 30th June 2012
The cemetery will soon be full and the town council is seeking to acquire more land for further burials in the future. Unfortunately, the only suitable site is 2.2 acres behind the houses in South Road but this is owned by Kier Homes, the company currently building the Elsea Park estate, and they are reluctant to give it up. If they can be persuaded to part with it, this will be the third expansion of the cemetery since it was opened on four acres of land in 1855. The population was then 3,700 which had risen to 4,300 by 1904 when it was extended up to 5½ acres and in 1999 (population 10,000) when the available land was exhausted, two more acres were added beyond the original red brick boundary wall and this is known today as the new cemetery. The population has increased by another 5,000 since then and as the town is expanding at a greater rate than at any time in our history, it was inevitable that the present site would soon be used up. The land earmarked has already been allocated for housing and on Tuesday, the town council was granted planning permission by South Kesteven District Council for a change of use to an extension for the cemetery and 14 car parking spaces which should help in the negotiations for a purchase. "This is required because there is limited usage left in the present cemetery", explained Mrs Nelly Jacobs, clerk to the council. "When what land we have runs out, burials will have to go elsewhere and that is not acceptable to local people. There is no guarantee that we will get this site but the granting of planning permission will give the council additional leverage with the owner." Kier Homes has already objected on the grounds that they will have to forfeit many residential units at Elsea Park. All of which raises the question as to why the provision of additional cemetery space was not included in the planning gain, the S106 agreement drawn up when permission was granted for the 300-acre estate in 1999. Other areas of our infrastructure were specifically included such as the south-west relief road, a primary school, play areas and a community centre, all amenities that cater for the living but no one appeared to consider the requirements of the dead, namely that extra space for burials, despite the population explosion created by the new estate. With 2,000 homes planned, the number of people living there is likely to have reached almost 5,000 once the project is completed over the next decade and that will have a dramatic impact on the cemetery. This matter should have been addressed by South Kesteven District Council during the planning process at the outset although that cannot be changed now. But the developers are in a position to help by paving the way for an easy transfer of the required land to the town council and it might even be argued that they have a moral duty to remedy the omission in this way. Over 10,000 people are now buried in the cemetery, the most frequent name being Smith which is mentioned more than 200 times, followed by Lunn, Parker and Pick. These were identified during a survey of the graves carried out by the Bourne branch of the Lincolnshire Family History Society in 1997 and provides an interesting insight into those who are buried here. The first person to be interred was Mary Farrow, aged 59, a farmer's wife, from Eastgate, on 3rd June 1855. The survey also revealed that nine people aged 100 or over had been buried there, seven women and two men, the oldest being Angelina Blood, aged 104, on 18th March 1975. But since the survey was completed, Sarah Jane Smart of Harrington Street, Bourne, was buried there in February 1998, aged 106, and she therefore becomes the oldest person in the cemetery. The highest number of burials in any one month was 17 and this occurred three times, in March 1867, March 1872 and April 1873. Of the 1,389 children who died, 15% did not reach the age of five and the general conclusion of the survey was that the number of burials has fallen since the turn of the 20th century, mainly because more children survive infancy and people live longer. One of the oldest families to be buried in the cemetery is William Mays (1794-1889) and his descendants whose line ended with the motor racing pioneer Raymond Mays (1899-1980) who did not marry. Four headstones stand together to remember this business dynasty through three generations but Raymond, motor racing pioneer and the most famous of them all, is not with them. He was cremated after his death in 1980 and his ashes were not preserved. Civic Sunday was observed in Bourne earlier this month (June 17th) and although well attended, it escaped the attention of our local newspapers despite being one of the most important occasions in the town council calendar. The event was first held in 1967 when Councillor Jack Burchnell (1909-73) was chairman of the old Bourne Urban District Council. He had a tremendous feeling for tradition and was anxious to ensure that there were sufficient opportunities during the year when those involved in the decision making process could be brought together with the people for both religious and social occasions. The following year, when the event was held on Sunday 9th June 1968, the Vicar of Bourne, Canon Hugh Laurence, outlined the aims of the event during his address to a packed congregation at the Abbey Church. "Only when government and religion become two sides of the same coin can society become healthy and happy", he said. "Since people get the kinds of governments they deserve, it matters supremely what kind of people we are." Civic Sunday that year began with a parade led by the band of the Boys' Brigade with the chairman of BUDC, Councillor Ted Kelby, and Councillor Harold Scarborough, chairman of South Kesteven Rural Council, at the head of the procession together with other councillors, magistrates and officials followed by representatives of various organisations in the town such as the Round Table, the Rotary Club, Fire Brigade, St John Ambulance Brigade, the Red Cross, girl guides and boy scouts, Bourne United Charities, the British Legion, WRVS, police and special constables and the Royal Naval Association. The various representatives assembled in the market place [now the town centre] and then marched down South Street and Church Walk to the Abbey Church where the lessons were read by Councillor Kelby and Mr Frank Mason, clerk to BUDC. After the service, the parade re-formed and marched to the Corn Exchange for an informal gathering over coffee and biscuits. The Civic Sunday we have today no longer includes a parade through the streets but the enthusiasm of councillors has been no less evident, usually assembling outside the church and then walking in procession down the aisle to their places in the front pews after the congregation have been seated. This year, members of the town council headed by the Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Helen Powell, attended the service and afterwards they were joined by parishioners for refreshments in the church hall nearby, an informal occasion but one that enables councillors get to know the people they represent. Such events are the very stuff of provincial or parish pump reporting and everyone who attended must have been disappointed at the lack of coverage. It would also have been a record of the occasion for future historians and anyone interested in the town’s past. Local newspapers throughout Britain are falling by the wayside and so we look to those still being published to give adequate coverage to our affairs not only for those with a personal interest in the event but also for future generations who will look to this archive as a record of the way things were. Home owners in Bourne are slowly signing up to pay the compulsory £25 a year to dump their garden refuse demanded by South Kesteven District Council, a charge imposed on top of the council tax earlier this year. An article in the council’s magazine SK Today suggests that this is because the green waste service is a popular amenity (Summer 2012) which it is although the real reason is that those who are paying have no alternative if they wish to keep it. The decision to charge for this service has been heavily criticised, notably in a hard-hitting front page article by the Grantham Journal (February 4th) but the council pressed on regardless and started taking the money but those who did not pay up by June 11th have had their collections stopped. More than 19,500 households across the district have agreed to the extra charge although it had been hoped that if 80% of the 27,000 who already had green bins had paid up, then the £500,000 a year needed to keep the service running would be recovered. That would take care of this year but what about next? Now that the council is sampling success in raising additional revenue, the £25 for emptying your green bin is most certainly here to stay and is not merely a temporary measure to help the council over a bad financial patch, rather a deliberate attempt to extract more money from householders on a permanent basis. Nevertheless, there is a shortfall of more than 7,000 on the anticipated take up, the majority of them almost certainly old age pensioners living on fixed incomes who cannot afford to pay the levy and even though they are our keenest gardeners, they will no longer have their bins emptied and will have to take their waste to the recycling centre in Pinfold Lane which will be a struggle for anyone with a disability or who does not own a car. The other point at issue is the assurance that only those who use the service will pay for it but if this criteria applies to emptying our green bins then it should be used for other services that not everyone uses. Unfortunately, the disposal of rubbish is one of the main occupations of the council and a necessary one at that which is why keen gardeners were sitting ducks for paying an additional fee. Come next April, the charge is sure to go up and who knows what else will be shifted off the council tax to a separate levy. Emptying the silver bin perhaps, or even the black one. Now that the precedent has been established with this council, anything is likely to happen in the pursuit for more money to feed its ever increasing commitment for staff salaries and pensions. The charge for the green bin is an indication that the council has financial problems. This is a national rather than a local difficulty and a report this week claims that local authorities are fast running out of money for main services and by 2020 they will be unable to pay for libraries, parks, leisure centres or fixing potholes in roads because of a catastrophic funding crisis. The warning comes in a report from the Local Government Association which speaks for more than 300 councils in England and Wales (Daily Telegraph, June 26th). Heavy cuts in public spending combined with a soaring bill for care for the elderly and legal commitments such as rubbish collection will almost wipe out the budget for all but the most essential services and people will face a choice between soaring council taxes or drastic cuts in local amenities unless there is a radical overhaul in how local government is organised. “The business as usual service offer appears not to be possible by the end of the decade”, it warns. The green bin levy may therefore be seen as a precursor of things to come. Once the government’s freeze on council tax increases is lifted, it is likely to begin rising sharply while additional charges to fund selected services will become too attractive an option to be ignored. Thought for the week: What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue. - Thomas Paine (1737-1809), English-born journalist and intellectual, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and author of Rights of Man. Return to Monthly entries |
