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Saturday 1st September 2012
The town is preparing for BRM Day which is due to take place this autumn to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the world championship victory with Graham Hill at the wheel of a Formula One car designed and made in Bourne, the first ever British win. The event promises to be one of the biggest in the town’s history and one to surpass the motor racing Heritage Day in August 1999 to mark the centenary of international designer and driver Raymond Mays (1899-1980) who developed the ERA and the BRM, when roads were closed to allow thirty of the famous cars associated with the town make a victory circuit followed by a celebration dinner. This year’s event on Sunday 7th October will be a far grander occasion with racing cars arriving from retirement in the United States to line up with Graham Hill’s son Damon, himself a former world champion, in the same car his father drove to victory in 1962. There will also be other numerous attractions including stalls along Abbey Road, many vintage vehicles on display and an exhibition of motor racing memorabilia. Tickets have sold out for the grandstand seats and thousands of sightseers are expected to line the pavements. “The response has been overwhelming”, press officer Carol Corliss told The Local newspaper (August 24th). “We expect visitors from all over the country and from Europe for the big day.” One of the main attractions for visitors will be the motor racing memorial in South Street. The stone structure was erected in 2003 to commemorate the town’s racing connections, the basic design being drawn up by Carol Corliss and the bronze relief plaque completed by Alex Paxton, a Derby sculptor who has produced other work connected with motor racing, while the plinth was finished in Clipsham stone by Gary Tegerdine, a stonemason from Langtoft, near Bourne. The site next to the Heritage Centre was chosen because it was a prominent position that could be seen by visitors approaching the town from the south on the A15. It was officially unveiled by two men with long standing connections with the town’s Formula One motor racing history, the late Louis Stanley, former chairman of Stanley-BRM, and David Owen, chairman of Rubery Owen Holdings. The money to pay for it was raised through the Heritage Day in 1999 which was organised by a committee of local enthusiasts including former members of the BRM workshops team. Mrs Corliss explained: "We did not expect to make a profit but when the final balance sheet was drawn up we had almost £10,000 in hand and it was decided to use it for a fitting tribute to Raymond Mays, the cars he instigated and the people who staffed this world famous concern. It all went very well on the day and the weather was on our side. There were no hitches, the cover came off at the unveiling without trouble and no one fell into the river." Wind and weather have begun to take their toll on the memorial and it is now in need of a clean. The top edge is covered in lichen, stains have appeared on the front and, more importantly, the bronze plaque containing details of BRM, ERA and Raymond Mays has become discoloured and the lettering is now difficult to read. Members of the Civic Society have removed some of the weeds from around the base but it does need a fresh load of gravel to freshen up the surround. This year’s event promises to be an impressive occasion and visitors will expect to see this edifice in pristine condition. The organisers have recognised this and have given an assurance that renovation work is already underway and will be completed before the big day. Lincolnshire County Council has been complaining about the number of requests it has been getting under the Freedom of Information Act which enables the press and members of the public gain access to data held by government at all levels. This right-to-know process is used mainly to obtain information which Whitehall departments and local authorities are unwilling to divulge although the system would be invalid if they were more willing and co-operative in the first place. As it is, there are areas of activity which they like to keep secret for one reason or another, usually because they reflect badly on their performance or the conduct of staff and elected representatives. This is why the FOI legislation was enacted in 2000 and has since been greatly improved to enable anyone ask a question and get an answer. Many politicians and civil servants have since regretted its introduction, preferring to keep many areas of their work confidential, usually to the detriment of the public good. For instance, BBC Lincolnshire Online claims that it is costing Lincolnshire County Council up to £500,000 a year (sic) to answer questions which have risen from 450 to 1,000 in the past three years (August 14th). “It is difficult to take some of the questions seriously”, said David O’Connor, the director responsible for monitoring FOI requests. “We even had one asking for the cost of biscuits while others are quite complex and can have 20 or 30 sub-questions.” South Kesteven District Council, which also covers the Bourne area, is also experiencing an increase in FOI requests from 40 in 2006 to 470 last year. Journalists generally take the view that local authorities only have themselves to blame and the majority are usually disinclined to resort to a FOI request, preferring to go through the normal channels which is usually the press office of the relevant authority. It was only with extreme reluctance that this column used the facility in October 2010 to ascertain the purchase price of the Masonic lodge in Wherry’s Lane which SKDC had bought for redevelopment. This was a matter of great public interest at the time yet councillors declined to give a figure and the council’s press office failed to respond but a FOI request was answered within hours to reveal the purchase price of £375,000. We have another request for information outstanding with Lincolnshire County Council as to how many staff the authority currently employs, including teaching staff, a figure that is included in the local government section of A Portrait of Bourne, the town’s history on CD-ROM, and is now waiting for an annual update but this is proving difficult. This question was first asked of the Strategic Communications Officer in April and despite several promises that the information was being collated, we have had no final reply. It would be more advantageous for both sides if this matter were satisfactorily resolved because if it is not forthcoming soon, then our only course of action will be to make a FOI request, thus adding to the workload about which the county council is currently complaining. We would prefer not to do this but to receive information through the normal channels instead. It would therefore seem that much of the problem highlighted by our local authorities over these applications may well be of their own making and a little more thought and efficiency at the cutting edge would save time, trouble and money which could be better spent elsewhere. The debate continues over car parking outside the Corn Exchange when the public library moves in early next year as part of the new Bourne Community Access point with councillors putting a brave face on it yet apparently acknowledging that the problem is already here. It appears that when they arrived to inspect progress on the project recently there was nowhere to park and so they had to leave their cars outside the present library premises in South Street and walk. This is revealed in a letter to the Stamford Mercury (August 24th), the newspaper which printed a front page report the previous week in which Councillor Eddy Poll, executive member for cultural services on Lincolnshire County Council, said: “We know how important the library is to local people and this move to a new home will give it a new lease of life. It will mean both longer opening hours and better parking, making it easier to visit at a time that’s convenient for you.” He has now been taken to task by Joyce Stevenson of Obthorpe Lane, Thurlby, near Bourne, who wrote to the newspaper recounting this incident and pointing out that the Corn Exchange car park was generally full while two weekly markets, on Thursdays and Saturdays, created further restrictions yet no new parking is being provided. Her letter went on: “It is this detachment from reality which led to the introduction of the county council's telephone customer service centre in Lincoln. Residents throughout the county, with the exception of Lincoln, are charged at the national daytime rate for phone inquiries to this call centre. Inquiry numbers include the renewal of library book services and calls redirected to local libraries such as Bourne and Stamford. We can no longer make direct calls to our local libraries. A letter from the head of customer services revealed that the council will not reintroduce local call numbers. “The spring 2012 edition of County News listed the call centre numbers available during reduced hours from 8 am to 6 pm, Monday to Friday. Recently I rang the call centre shortly after 5 pm, only to hear a recorded message: ‘All our library lines are now closed.’ Not only are lines closed when libraries remain open, but we are being charged at the national rate to hear a recorded message which like all call centres, infuriatingly gives a web site address. On a Monday morning, due to '’an unusually high volume of calls’ you find yourself in a queue. “In another letter, copied to council leader Martin Hill, I asked: ‘When the Corn Exchange becomes a one-stop shop for Lincolnshire County Council, South Kesteven District Council and Bourne library, will we be able to make direct local calls to all services, including the library?’ The question remains unanswered. However it has been suggested that I contact my phone provider to discuss cheaper tariffs. These issues affect each of us. It is the responsibility of all our elected councils to work for the benefit of all residents, not impose additional bills and dilute services.” South Kesteven District Council has already admitted that the large number of staff and customers will be a problem when the new facility opens next year and this is easily verified with a little mental arithmetic. Firstly there are only nine parking spaces outside the Corn Exchange actually allocated to the building and the policy will be that staff come first but as there are sure to be more workers than spaces, they will most certainly fill many of the other available slots on the south side of the dividing wall. They will also be reporting for work early in the day and so the majority of visitors who arrive at a later hour will depend on the goodwill of Co-operative Food who run the nearby supermarket in the Burghley Arcade although their car park is usually crowded and has a two-hour waiting limit. Library users will not therefore have the advantage that they currently enjoy at the existing premises in South Street where there are nine spaces that cater quite adequately for the regular flow of visitors throughout the day and it would be advantageous if councillors admitted this and began to address the issue instead of ignoring a looming problem. At the same time, they might change the existing rules on telephone charges and enable Bourne people call the library at local rates rather than add to the rising costs that face us all in our daily lives by charging premium rates and then have the temerity to call it a customer service. The public library is an amenity we take for granted and it is only when its future comes under threat that we realise its value to the community by providing the opportunity for regular reading at no cost and by directing young minds towards great literature and the writers whose ideas have helped change the world. Those who seek to reduce or destroy this facility do so at their peril because they will be responsible for a literary vandalism which will leave a gaping hole in our culture that will never again be filled. Thought for the week: There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favourite book. - Marcel Proust (1871-1922), French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental work À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). Saturday 8th September 2012
Historic buildings throughout the country are opening this weekend as part of the Heritage Open Days, a national scheme funded by English Heritage that allows people see properties that are not always open to the public and so enable them explore the country’s architectural and cultural inheritance. Among the dozens of places throughout Lincolnshire that people can visit is the early 19th century Baldock’s Mill, home of the Heritage Centre, our only museum. But there is a startling omission from the list, namely the Red Hall whose doors will remain firmly shut although the building is mentioned in practically every guide book relating to this town. The Red Hall is among the oldest and certainly the most attractive of our secular properties. It was built in the early 17th century by Gilbert Fisher, a wealthy London businessman, and is typical of the new style of house being constructed for prosperous gentlemen of the Stuart period. The walls are made of locally produced hand-made bricks of a distinctive deep red with stone detailing and ashlar quoins, hence the name, and the original carved oak staircase remains intact with its chunky turned balusters and intricate carved features. The house is many gabled and has a fine Tuscan porch but there is evidence that Fisher was too ambitious because he died in debt in 1633 and the cost of constructing the Red Hall has been blamed for his insolvency. It is generally accepted that the Red Hall was designed by John Thorpe (circa 1565-1655) one of the foremost architects in Britain during the time of Elizabeth I. A volume of his architectural drawings survives and these enable us to judge his work and to say with some certainty that he was responsible. The house was built on similar lines to Dowsby Hall, also designed by Thorpe about the same period, and was set in formal gardens. In fact, the original plans show a striking resemblance not only to the preliminary studies for Dowsby Hall but also to a whole series of drawings by Thorpe for other houses in this part of England, particularly in the Kesteven area of Lincolnshire. There are then, many good reasons why this Grade II listed building should be opened for inspection but while Baldock’s Mill will be busy dealing with visitors, not a soul will enter the Red Hall which is never opened to the public and is only seen by outsiders when club and other events are held there although activities on those occasions are confined to designated reception rooms and there are no facilities for sightseeing. Its closure on these occasions is also a drawback for the town because visitors who call at Baldock’s Mill also expect to see the Red Hall which is practically next door. “It should be open, particularly over the Heritage weekends”, said Mrs Brenda Jones, chairman of the Civic Society which administers Baldock’s Mill. “So many of our visitors would like to see inside it and often ask why it is locked up.” The Red Hall is in the care of Bourne United Charities, a publicly registered charity formed to administer money and property left to this town, mainly through bequests from past benefactors. After the freehold was acquired for a nominal sum in 1962, there followed a public appeal by the trustees for the £35,000 necessary to pay for restoration (£600,000 at today’s values), the money coming from the Pilgrim Trust at Boston (£2,000), the Department of the Environment (£5,000), Kesteven County Council (£800), Bourne Urban District Council (£1,300), South Kesteven Rural District Council (£1,000) and the balance from local fund raising, thus enabling the hall to re-open in December 1972 with the promise that it would have a public function as an arts centre, museum, assembly hall and community centre although none of these roles has materialised, the only regular use of the building despite its size being the office and boardroom of BUC. The people of Bourne therefore have as much right to see the Red Hall as they have the Abbey Church and other places that form part of our history and heritage and the trustees have a moral duty to acknowledge this. Apart from this weekend, it should be opened regularly for that purpose and perhaps the time has come for them to institute a change of policy to allow public access on specified occasions rather than continue to keep this fine building in sequestered isolation. A report that a huge bomb from World War II has been unearthed in Germany provides a sinister reminder that the dangers created by this conflict seventy years ago are still with us. Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Munich after the 550lb. unexploded device was found buried on the site of a former night club, a relic of the 2.8 million tons of bombs dropped on the country by British and American planes, one in twenty of which failed to explode. In return, the Luftwaffe dropped 75,000 tons of bombs on Britain with equally devastating result although many of these also failed to explode and, as with Munich, are still being found to create havoc in their localities, even here in Bourne where the last major crisis occurred in 1964 when one of them was found on a building site in Eastgate. It was discovered by Derek Bowers, aged 27, on the evening of Tuesday 11th August while he was operating a JCB digger as part of a small team engaged on excavating land alongside Riverside Motors to install new underground petrol storage tanks. The garage had been built there five years before on the site of the former Butcher’s Arms public house which had been destroyed in May 1941 after a German Junkers 88 that had been shot down nose-dived into the building, setting fire to the ruins and killing seven people inside. Derek suddenly started to unearth fragments from the plane, electrical wiring, part of a fuel pipe, and even machine gun bullets and then he struck something more substantial and made of metal and lodged about 7 feet 9 inches below the surface. A small crowd had gathered, half expecting that the excavations might reveal some mementoes from the plane crash but few expected what happened next. "I thought at first it might be the wheel of the aircraft", said Derek, "and I kept hammering it with the bucket to try and shift it but it just would not move. Somebody went down the hole to have a look and he saw that it was an unexploded bomb and got out pretty quickly. He even left his shovel down there. "We immediately phoned the police and eventually a constable came cruising up on his bike but he just wouldn't believe that it was a bomb until he climbed down and took a look for himself. Next thing we knew he came flying out of the hole and before long there were police cars everywhere." Eastgate was cordoned off and everyone went home for the night, most residents refusing offers of evacuation as a safety precaution although some did go to sleep with relatives. "It must have been about 11.30 pm when we finished", said Derek, "but I was back there early next morning and we were given the all clear to carry on working so I lifted it out on the digger bucket and laid it on the ground nearby and waited for the bomb disposal team." The squad eventually arrived from the Bomb Disposal Unit at RAF Newton, near Nottingham and took charge of the operations. "But what a shock when they did turn up", said Derek. "The team leader jumped out of the lorry with a very concerned expression on his face and when he saw the bomb lying next to the hole, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. 'How the hell did that get there?' he asked and then explained that it was still live and could have been detonated by the slightest movement and I must say that he was quite surprised when I told him that I had moved it with the digger. He said it could have destroyed the whole of Eastgate if it had gone off." Derek used the digger to help lift the bomb on to a lorry, slowly and very carefully, and it was taken away for disposal. "All in a day's work, really", he explained when remembering the incident in later years but even at the time, he needed a cigarette when it was all over after it was explained that the bomb could have devastated the entire area. Retail outlets may be closing in Bourne and others are struggling to survive yet charity shops continue to thrive and most report that business is booming. Oxfam is still showing the way and although we do not have a branch in Bourne, their modern marketing approach has become a model for others as they report record sales both in the high street and online with overall sales increased to £89.9 million. Oxfam say that after many decades on the British high street, they have learned a huge amount of what people are looking for and continue to evolve the shopping experience for their customers (Daily Mail, August 31st). “Second-hand and vintage clothing not only offer shoppers the chance to buy designer brands, individuality and quality at high-street prices, but the ability to support charity at the same time, something that is resonating with British shoppers more and more in recent years”, said a spokesman. The origins of charity shops can be traced back to the late 19th century. In 1890, William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, wrote in his book Darkest England and the Way Out, about the crisis in social conditions of the working classes of the time and suggesting that there was a large amount of wastage of goods in affluent homes that might be channelled to the less well-off and he organised teams to collect them and sell them on through salvage stores in London and other centres. From these small beginnings, the charity shops we know today were born. Oxfam became one of the first to open them in the years after the Second World War of 1939-45 closely followed by the Sue Ryder Foundation and other organisations were quick to catch on. Never have these shops thrived so much as today when they even have their own trade organisation, the Charity Retail Association, with 350 members running 7,000 outlets between them and generating £200 million a year in profit. The advantage of running a charity shop is that the owner pays only 80% of the business rate while stock costs little or nothing because most of it is donated and apart from a salaried manager, the bulk of the staff are voluntary workers, giving their time free for the good of the cause. They are undoubtedly the busiest shops in Bourne and always seem to be full of customers while their stock is ever changing. It is here that you can invariably find something you might need because the shelves are full of bric-a-brac unwanted by its original owners while the racks are crammed with clothing and as most items have the near-new look, you can imagine them being bought from a superior store but once unpacked at home, discarded because they perhaps lacked that original appeal which prompted the impulse purchase. There are books aplenty, DVDs and video tapes, picture frames, pottery and porcelain, glass and metalwork. There was a time when this ever changing stock provided rich pickings for anyone with a working knowledge of antiques but those days have gone because everything brought in is now carefully checked by experts to ensure that a rare or collectable item does not slip through for a few pence. Bargains may be had here but you will not buy something cheap that will later net you a fortune in the auction room or on eBay. There are currently five charity shops trading in Bourne, the Salvation Army in West Street, St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice and the British Red Cross in North Street, Cancer Research UK and Help the Aged in the Burghley Centre. You only need to stand outside one of them and watch the comings and goings to realise that this is a phenomenon that has become unstoppable and few shoppers now visit the town centre without dropping in just in case they spot a bargain. Thought for the week: The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others. - Homer (8th century BC, legendary Greek author of the Iliad and the Odyssey whose expression of the heroic ideal formed the basis of ancient education. Saturday 15th September 2012
The country is struggling under the weight of a burgeoning bureaucracy that influences every walk of life with practically all of our actions dictated by government, boards and administrators, councils and committees, a massive octopus of officialdom whose tentacles reach into our homes and private lives. Parliament being the major offender has recognised this but is either unwilling or unable to rectify the insidious growth of red tape and the Big Society flagship policy introduced by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, in 2010 with the intention of taking the power away from politicians and empowering communities solve their own neighbourhood problems, has failed to check its relentless progress. One of the victims of this unwanted intrusion is the Victorian cemetery chapel in South Road, now mouldering away despite the best attempts by volunteers to save it for posterity as part of Bourne’s heritage. The town council was originally intent on pulling it down and consigning the stones to salvage but before the bulldozers could move in, the building was given a Grade II listing by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, so preventing it from being demolished and providing a protection for the future. That was in 2007 and after an intensive campaign by local conservationists, Bourne Preservation Society was formed the following year with the intention of acquiring and restoring the chapel for the benefit of the town. The project will make no call on the public purse and members sought only goodwill in their efforts to preserve this historic building but today, more than four years later, they are still no nearer to obtaining the key of the door. Their progress has been one long and sorry tale of obstruction and obfuscation and although their perseverance has finally won the support of the town council they now face another obstacle from the Diocese of Lincoln which needs to remove a covenant from the building restricting its use to that of an office, workshop or storage area which has been its role since funerals ended in 2001 on the grounds that it was structurally unsafe. Until then, plans by the preservation trust to restore the building are at a standstill. Chairman Jack Slater said in an interview with The Local newspaper that the situation was frustrating (September 7th) and added: “It is a shame that everything is on hold at the moment. The building is an important part of Bourne’s heritage and needs to be repaired and although we still feel positive about obtaining the necessary capital, it is exasperating not to be able to move forward after such an unreasonably long time.” The chapel was erected when the cemetery opened in 1855 and was originally administered by the Bourne Burial Board but ownership passed to Bourne Urban District Council in 1899 and then to the town council in 1974 when the authority was formed under a local government re-organisation. Deterioration in the structure began to appear in 1977 when a survey revealed problems with the roof and since then other defects have been detected although maintenance work has been kept to a minimum because of the cost. Then in 2004, the chapel was deconsecrated by the Bishop of Lincoln at the request of the town council although no press or public announcement was made and it is now the Diocese of Lincoln that holds the key to the future. There have been meetings but no decision has been forthcoming and in the meantime, the fabric remains a continual cause of concern especially with the approach of another winter. This entire episode is a prime example of officialdom at its worst, negotiations over a period of more than four years when the chapel itself was built in as many months. Volunteers are a special breed who work hard and willingly for the benefit of others but they need the help and inspiration of those in power and as long as they continue to drag their heels then community endeavour is likely to founder.
The town has once again made a
distinguished showing in the East Midlands in Bloom competition by winning yet
another silver gilt award, the fifth since we began entering in 2006. This
annual event is community based and designed to encourage cleaner, smarter and
more attractive town centres in the region. There are several sections and
Bourne falls into Category B Towns, those with a population of between 6,000 and
12,000, based on the last electoral register. The difficulties involved in seeing the doctor have been highlighted by the national press after complaints to local clinics shot up by 10 per cent in the past year. More than 53,590 written protests were lodged by patients which is well over 1,000 a week, a sure sign that all is not well when you need urgent treatment, the main dissatisfaction being the surly attitude of receptionists, telephone lines being constantly engaged or a complete lack of appointment times (Daily Mail, August 31st). One of the main causes of this widespread discontent is the government conveniently scrapping its target two years ago that all patients should be seen by their general practitioner within 48 hours after figures revealed that only one in five were able to get an appointment in that time. The result is that the system has continued to worsen with patients waiting up to ten days to see the doctor in some cases. Discontent is now widespread with many people believing that doctors are little more than receptionists, sitting behind their desks ready to either write a prescription or pass you on to the hospital or to see a specialist while the hands-on medical treatment of past times is largely unknown and home visits discouraged. Examinations are often cursory and a full waiting room usually indicates that the majority are there for a routine blood test or their six-monthly medication review and even though the place is crawling with doctors and nurses, anyone who is actually in need of urgent attention and walks in asking for an appointment may have to wait several days or even be told to go to the nearest hospital. This inflexible system is rarely breached while the zero tolerance sign at the reception desk warning about personal conduct preclude any outspoken objection and so patients meekly comply. The National Health Service has made a tremendous difference to our lives since it was launched in 1948 and only those who knew the conditions of previous years can really appreciate the benefits it has brought. Put aside the complaints that surround any institution of this magnitude for they will always be with us and think for a moment what it was like before the days of the modern clinic and a largely efficient system of free consultation and treatment. For those who do not know, and this will include the majority of those who work in the NHS today, doctors, nurses and ancillary staff, here a is a glimpse of conditions in the 1930s when I was growing up. Forget the good old days because they were no such thing. Poverty, hunger and a low awareness of hygiene was evident. We lived in constant dread, not only of coughs and colds, cuts and bruises which were always with us, but of the very real possibility of contracting one of the more dreadful diseases which were ever present in large working class communities and which were the subject of constant discussion among the neighbours gossiping at their front gates, scabies, impetigo, mumps, measles, diphtheria, chicken pox, scarlet fever, meningitis, and worst of all, tuberculosis, all of which came into our street unannounced and claimed their victims. These were the days of the panel patient system when, for the payment of one shilling each, the family's names would be added to the doctor's list of those he would be obliged to attend although subsequent treatment and medicines would have to be paid for at the time. We were registered with the nearest available medical practice, a partnership of two doctors which operated from a private house on the main road into town. Our doctor was the junior of the two, a bachelor, and as his much older partner was married with a family and had a fine house near the park, he lived upstairs and the ground floor was used for their consultations, both having a room as their surgery. There were no other staff. A sitting room across the hall was used as a joint waiting room, with an aspidistra in the corner, velvet curtains, upholstered chairs around the wall and a walnut loo table in the middle strewn with old magazines. Surgery hours were either in the morning before midday or the evening after 5 pm. There was no organised system of appointments but each patient made a mental note of who was in the waiting room when they entered and then took their turn as the doctors tinkled on their respective handbells after the previous patient had left and everyone who turned up was seen. Our doctor, wearing a crumpled grey suit and often puffing at his pipe, sat in a swivel chair in front of a roll top desk from where he diagnosed, dispensed advice and even performed small operations such as the removal of an ingrowing toe nail or the lancing of a boil, washing his hands afterwards in an enamel bowl which stood in the corner of the room, filled periodically from a large pottery ewer. If you needed a prescription he would disappear into a back room and return after a few moments with a bottle of jollop or a box of pills. He always seemed to be on call and would come to the house whenever required, knowing everyone by their first names, even the children, having delivered most of them in the front bedroom at home. If a case was destined for hospital, he would arrange it, usually from the nearest telephone kiosk, and oversee the admission, sometimes taking the patient there in his car if it was an emergency. It was an intimate and reassuring relationship with the doctor as a respected member of the community. This very special association between doctor and patient has largely gone. In its place, we have a system designed to meet an expanding community with the accent on prevention rather than cure and it works through an arrangement of appointments and treatment. What we have lost is the personal touch, never knowing whether we will see the same doctor on our next visit or if we are taken ill. A new professionalism is evident, one that is basically dependable, making patients feel safe and secure in the knowledge that they are in good hands and come the worst, they have the mighty resources of the National Health Service at their disposal. But the family doctor who was once our friend has now become a distant, desk-bound figure pouring over his computer as though anxious to get rid of you as quickly as possible, for why else would you be limited to a ten-minute consultation when there are so many aches and pains to discuss. He has the air of a civil servant ticking boxes and indeed our general practitioners now assume that ill health keeps office hours because they themselves work from nine to five, five days a week, and anyone who needs help in the evenings and weekend must seek it from the emergency services. In those days before the NHS, the patient was put at ease by what was known as the bedside manner of his family doctor, a familiar face that appeared in times of sickness and brought so much comfort to the patient and their family. Today, the system has destroyed this confidence and we are all at the mercy of a bureaucratic system, one governed by finance and targets that take precedence over patient care. No one would advocate returning to the old system but it did have some merit and it is that we have lost. Thought for the week: The burden of the general practitioner has been lightened very much but is he still as much a member of the community as he used to be? Does he still have to wonder what is meant by 'the vapours' or dissuade a patient from the use of bread as a poultice or even goose grease? And will he find a nice cup of tea and a piece of cake for him after attending a confinement? - Dr John (Alistair) Galletly (1899-1993) a highly qualified and well-liked family doctor who practised in Bourne for more than forty years. Saturday 22nd September 2012
Yet another example has surfaced indicating that the new Bourne Community Access Point to be based at the Corn Exchange will not have sufficient room to cater for all of the amenities we currently enjoy when it opens early next year. The fiasco surrounding the shortage of car parking spaces has already been described with visiting councillors having to leave their cars elsewhere and now we are told that when the register office moves in there will be no room for couples to marry. The office is currently based at Saxonhurst, an old house in West Street which also has a ceremony room where the bride and groom can tie the knot and anyone who has seen the happy couples arriving by limousine with families and assorted guests in tow, often on a Saturday morning, will know that this is an excellent arrangement for those who prefer a civil wedding. But it will not be available once the new CAP opens. A report in the Stamford Mercury (September 14th) says that when councillors were given a progress report on the relocation at their meeting last week, it was confirmed that the ceremony room will not be retained. Lincolnshire County Council said that “it is hoped” the Corn Exchange will be licensed to allow weddings take place although the report adds ominously: “In addition there are a number of licensed venues in the locality offering alternatives.” There are indeed other venues, two in fact but both are some distance away, the Toft Country House Hotel which is three miles and the Baskervilles Hotel at Baston which is five miles although there are others even further, three in Stamford, three in Spalding and one in Holbeach, all of which is beside the point of having the ceremony at the same register office where the formalities of the union are recorded. The move will not therefore be the beneficial development we have been led to believe and will in fact be a downgrading of what we already have because if there are no facilities for couples to marry then they will have to go elsewhere. This is yet another indication that space will be at a premium when the new CAP opens and we have not yet been given an assurance that all of the amenities currently enjoyed at the public library in South Street will remain available, namely the 25,000 or more books we have at present as well as the reference and reading library, the children's section and the bank of computers in the IT section and an office for administration. My own personal concern is the future of the reference library which enjoys ample room at the present premises where the walls are lined with glass cases containing books dealing with a multitude of subjects as well as the history of the town and bound volumes containing past issues of The Local newspaper together with plenty of table space to enable visitors spread out while they work. This is a valuable research facility that should be transferred to the new area and when I sought an assurance when the plans went on public display in March, one of the council staff said that it would although when I asked for an exact location, she airily waved at the layout in front of her and said: “Oh, it will be in there somewhere” and so we must wait and see. There is another aspect of the move that needs an explanation and that is the two unsightly metal containers that have appeared in the car park at the rear of the town hall. We have had several inquiries about them with suggestions about what they are there for such as temporary toilets for the workers engaged on the building project and even a rest room but a little investigation has revealed that they are being used to keep the stalls for the Thursday and Saturday markets. Until work started earlier this year, they were stacked in a store at the Corn Exchange but that has disappeared as part of the conversion along with the caretaker’s flat. A new space will therefore be needed to accommodate this equipment because the present temporary arrangement that is creating such an eyesore on the very edge of a Conservation Area cannot obviously be allowed to remain there for any length of time. The continuance of a safe seat in politics depends on the solidarity of the political party but the sitting member must also please his constituents and to show that he cares. This is done in many ways, by visiting often and attending functions, by avoiding unnecessarily controversial conduct or expressing extreme and unpopular views and crucially, to let them know that they are the most important people in their life because they have elected him to represent them at the highest level of government. A tall order but one that can be achieved by an innate common sense. Yet Nick Boles, who in 2010 became the Conservative Member of Parliament for Grantham and Stamford which includes Bourne, appears to have stepped off on the wrong foot and stayed out of step, embroiled in one controversy after another with the correspondence columns of our local newspapers filled with criticism week after week accompanied by a stream of letters from disillusioned supporters who have made no bones about not voting for him next time round. He incurred the wrath of many people, particularly the elderly, by suggesting that pensioners should forfeit some of their benefits such as winter fuel payments and free bus passes to help the government over its current financial crisis and then appeared to support concreting over the green belt to provide more houses while his use of parliamentary expenses to take lessons in Hebrew, the language of his Israeli civil partner, caused such an outcry that he eventually offered to repay the £678 involved by handing it over to local charities. Nick Boles may have won the approval of the Prime Minister, David Cameron, who has just promoted him to Minister of State for Planning, but his standing in the constituency is less esteemed with continued criticism from many quarters and several people complaining that he does not even reply to their letters. It is all the more unfortunate that his two immediate predecessors were model constituency members and their role sufficiently recent to be remembered. Sir Kenneth Lewis (1916-1997) was one of the most highly regarded constituency M Ps in recent times, the Conservative member for Rutland and Stamford from 1959 to 1983 and, following boundary changes, for Stamford and Spalding from 1983 to 1987. He therefore served Bourne for 28 years during which time he made regular visits to the town, meeting councillors and local officials and attending numerous meetings and functions, always ready to be a guest whenever invited, soon gaining a reputation for personal contact with the people. He was succeeded in 1987 by Quentin (now Lord) Davies who represented Bourne for almost 23 years during which time the constituency became Grantham and Stamford. He too maintained a high profile in the town where he held surgeries, answered letters, intervened in various controversial issues, attended meetings and events such as the Salvation Army’s Christmas carol service at the Corn Exchange and was often seen calling in at Burton’s the Bakers to buy his bread before driving home to his estate near Boston. Some friendships ended when he crossed the house to join the Labour Party in 2007 but his enthusiasm in working for his constituents continued until he retired in 2010. One man who remembered both and worked closely with them was the late Councillor Don Fisher (1933-2011) who regarded them as model M Ps with the good of the town at heart. “They were always ready and willing to help out on any issue and would visit when asked”, he said. “They were also prepared to receive constituents no matter what their political allegiance if ever they visited the house and to make them feel that they really were represented at Westminster.” Members of Parliament in past times are painted as remote figures who never appeared in the constituency, wealthy landowners and businessmen whose interests lay elsewhere and once elected rarely came back except on important occasions. There were exceptions, among them Major the Hon Claud Willoughby (1872-1950), son of the first Earl of Ancaster, of Grimsthorpe Castle, near Bourne, an officer with the Coldstream Guards who fought the general election for the Conservatives during the bitterly cold winter of 1910. There had been a heavy snowfall the night before polling day on January 28th and a fleet of cars was brought in to get voters to the polls although movement was difficult and some even turned up on sledges but there was a good turnout and when the result was announced next day, Major Willoughby won in a straight fight with Labour by 356 votes. Although untested as an M P, he was already a popular figure in the locality and he addressed a welcoming crowd from an upstairs window of the Nag's Head and thanked them for their support. By lunchtime, the weather had again begun to worsen but undeterred, a procession of twenty motor cars was formed for a triumphal tour of the town, the vehicle carrying Major Willoughby and his wife, Lady Florence, at the head of the column, the engine having been stopped and ropes hitched to the axles to enable him to be pulled through the snow covered streets with his jubilant supporters preceding him on foot and a blizzard of some ferocity blowing around them. It was an unforgettable sight and Major Willoughby went on to serve as the constituency's M P until 1922 during which time his popularity never diminished. There is also one M P to which Bourne owes a particular debt for taking direct action to help when needed and that is Henry Cust (1861-1917), lawyer and journalist, who was elected as the M P for Stamford in 1890. Soon after taking his seat, he received a letter at the House of Commons from a group of schoolboys in Bourne calling for the establishment of a playing field. “We have nowhere for cricket or football”, they wrote. “No one cares for us, like they do for the boys of Sleaford and Stamford who have just had a jolly playground given to them. We know a fine level piece near Bourne station, just like a park. We should be glad if you would help us to get that and we do hope we shall not be disappointed. You will be sure to do something for us because you know what boys want." Mr Cust responded by making the journey to Bourne where a committee of influential people was immediately formed to find a solution and by the time he went back to London several possible venues had been found and after successful talks with the owner, the ten acres of grassland adjoining St Peter’s Pool and known as the Hereward Field was selected. The following Whit Monday, a public holiday, Mr Cust again travelled to Bourne for the grand opening marked by a cricket match. He arrived from London at noon and was met at the railway station by a large crowd of boys all cheering and shouting. They then paraded through the town to their new recreation ground, headed by the Bourne Town Brass Band with the M P and members of the committee following in a wagonette. On arrival, there were speeches of congratulation that the objective had been achieved in such a short time and Mr Cust told an ecstatic crowd: "This town will now have a good field in which to play their games. Cricket is a manly game and I hope to be present when the boys play their first match and win. I therefore declare this recreation ground open and hope that the boys of Bourne will for many years enjoy the benefits to be derived from it." The boys responded with hearty cheers and then settled down to a game of cricket in which Mr Cust joined them for a short spell. The land continued in use until 1911 when the present ground in Recreation Road was opened to celebrate the coronation of King George V. Hereward's Field was subsequently purchased by Bourne United Charities in 1945 for preservation as an open space and is now part of the Wellhead Gardens and known as the Wellhead Field. Mr Cust resigned his seat in 1895 to become editor of the Pall Mall Gazette but left behind a reputation as an M P who was always prepared to help and the man who was instrumental in establishing Bourne’s first recreation ground. Mr Boles has a long way to go before commanding the same respect and it may be some time before he deserves the welcome of a brass band whenever he visits. Thought for the week: The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish poet and novelist who became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Saturday 29th September 2012
North Street in 1998 - see "In spite of these . . . " Children and young people no longer find books appealing, according to a new survey in which almost one fifth of the 21,000 questioned said they would be embarrassed if their friends caught them reading one. The survey by the National Literacy Trust therefore concluded that reading is in decline due to other pressures on their time such as the Internet, video games and television (Daily Mail, September 7th). The tragedy is that those who do not read fail to realise what they have lost. Books in childhood have so often been the saviour of many who were pointed in the direction by discerning parents or teachers and in later life found that what they had learned gave them an intellectual stability way ahead of those who did not discover these literary delights in their formative years. Many people who have made it in life have revealed that they owe their success to hours of avid reading when young while many of their friends were pursuing less rewarding activities. The Department of Education agrees with this theory and is anxious to encourage young people develop a love of reading. “In a world of so many distractions for young minds, the place of literature is more important than ever”, said a spokesman. “Children need to master the basics of reading as early as possible in primary school so that they can then go on to explore the magical and powerful books that are available.” A major influence in my boyhood was our local library which I discovered at the age of twelve, a small wooden building little more than a hut yet containing an introduction to the world of books which could be borrowed by the week and then returned to be replaced. These visits on a Tuesday evening became the highpoint of my week in a world before television and other diversions and after a pleasurable hour browsing the shelves for my regulation copies of two fiction and two non-fiction, I would return home to devour the contents well before the allotted time span had elapsed. At first, my reading was random but the librarian, a bespectacled spinster who had been my teacher at the elementary school I had recently left, soon realised that I was in earnest and began recommending authors and subjects from which I might benefit although she often frowned when I presented myself at the reception desk where she rubber stamped the outgoing volumes if I had selected something that had taken my fancy and of which she may not have approved. Nevertheless, we established what would be known today as a working relationship and soon, realising that I was becoming an avid reader, she began to turn a blind eye to the rules and without comment would allow me to take home more books than I was officially allowed, knowing that they would be read and returned within the week, an arrangement which enabled me over the next few years to become familiar with the great literary works of the age. This small, and by today’s standards, insignificant library was a turning point in my life and many others must have benefited by what it had to offer and although all of this happened in another age some seventy years ago the thirst for knowledge is undiminished. There are now other and more immediate means of obtaining information but nothing can replace the book, not only for its binding, content and ease of use but also for its place on the bookshelf once read, a reminder of a pleasure experienced and to be taken down and savoured again at some time in the future. Our public libraries therefore should be sacrosanct yet they are under threat and many are closing around the country while others are being downsized or, as with Bourne, moved into smaller locations and plans are even afoot to shift them into the corners of supermarkets. The grand and spacious red brick palaces of past times, pioneered by the Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, may soon be a thing of the past, converted for other uses, while the less pretentious buildings are in danger of being demolished to make way for new houses. We will have to wait and see whether the new library due to be opened at the Corn Exchange as part of the Bourne Community Access Point will be better or worse than the existing facility in South Street which has been operating quite well for the past 40 years. One thing is certain in that the replacement is being offered not as a matter of improvement but of expediency because of the economies in public spending yet councillors are reluctant to acknowledge this in their public pronouncements, preferring instead to present the change as one for which we should all bend a knee and be truly grateful. There has been a free public lending library in Bourne run by the local authority for almost ninety years, the first being opened in 1924 at the old National School in North Street [now the local Conservative Party headquarters] and stocked with 240 books provided by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. This modest library continued in service until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 when it moved to the Bourne Institute in West Street, now the Pyramid Club, and remained there for the next thirty years until it became too small to meet the growing demand for books. A new library was therefore opened at the old Civil Defence headquarters in South Street in 1969 but the population of Bourne was expanding fast and in 1981, £40,000 was spent on improvements by Lincolnshire County Council which had taken over library services in Bourne under the local government re-organisation. Temporary premises were opened at the Jubilee Garage showrooms in Abbey Road until the new building opened in February 1983 with a modern open-plan layout, better facilities for customer lending, a children's section and an administration area. Since then, the library has become increasingly popular complete with a well-stocked reference section containing a large quantity of local archive and an area for quiet study. A bank of computers is also available where visitors can either brush up on their keyboard skills or surf the Internet. A notice board in the entrance hall is crammed with announcements from local groups holding meetings or recruiting members and the library is also used for a variety of other associated activities including displays, poetry reading and story time sessions for children and even on occasions, book signings. Although only small by comparison with some towns in Lincolnshire, the library now has around 25,000 books with a computer link to the central library department in Lincoln that enables staff check for any volume being sought by readers which can then be borrowed as soon as it becomes available. Our public libraries are too often taken for granted and it is only when their future comes under threat that we realise their value to the community by providing the opportunity for regular reading at no cost and by directing young minds towards great literature and the writers whose ideas have helped change the world. Those who seek to degrade or destroy them do so at their peril because they will be responsible for a literary vandalism which will leave a gaping hole in our culture that will never again be filled. Shop watch (1): There is little doubt that Sainsbury's has suffered a tremendous trading loss with the opening of the new Tesco supermarket in South Road, an innovation all shoppers welcome because at last it gives us freedom of choice. Unfortunately, the management does not appear to have learned from this experience. The company made a valiant effort to revitalise its premises in Exeter Street with a programme of modernisation before the opposition opened but it failed to take a most important leaf out of its book by trying to eliminate queuing to pay. As a result, it has become a regular occurrence to spend twenty minutes shopping in the aisles and ten minutes queuing at the till while half of the checkouts remain closed. This is an occurrence of such regularity that it is worthy of mention when trolleys jostle for position at the few checkouts that are open and even shutting while many customers are still waiting and Saturday mornings are a particularly depressing experience. Supermarkets are among our most competitive commercial businesses today and Sainsbury’s is a well-liked outlet, one which we would not be without. But this perpetual problem of queuing at the checkout must be addressed by management if their current customer loyalty is to be maintained. Shop watch (2): Empty premises continue to haunt the town centre where charities, banks and estate agents predominate to the detriment of the traditional retail outlets and those that have survived are struggling to keep going in the face of crippling overheads such as the business rate and heating and lighting costs. One of the biggest casualties in recent years was Deeping Travel which appeared to be firmly established in Bourne until it closed without warning in December 2009 after becoming insolvent and leaving an empty unit in the Burghley Arcade that has become one of the most popular shopping venues in Bourne. We now hear that the vacant premises have been let but there is a downside because the new tenant will be Two Jays, the excellent cut price traders who have two stores opposite which are to be consolidated at the one location and so while one empty shop is let, two others will become vacant. These are certainly nightmare times for shopkeepers who have no idea what the future holds and although we are tempted to repeat the age old axiom urging everyone to shop locally, customers are equally apprehensive about their financial future and so they buy where they can get the best bargains, whether it is on the Internet or the supermarkets and department stores, and so our town centre shops invariably suffer the consequences. In spite of these uncertain times, the town centre is looking better than it once did. I have been taking photographs of the locality now for fifteen years and so some of the images from those early days have become an historic record of Bourne as it once was. This reminder of times past came as I was sorting through my archive to find more space for on-going work and in the process I have retrieved a small collection of pictures showing the way things were before this century began. One of the most startling is a view of North Street looking like a back street in a neglected inner city yet this was the main thoroughfare through the town and nothing was being done to change its appearance. I wrote about this on the Bourne web site at the time and my remarks were attached to the picture which was dated September 1998: There is growing dissatisfaction in Bourne at the state of several historic but dilapidated shop properties that have created an eyesore in the town centre. The buildings in North Street which have been empty for some months are boarded up and have started to attract graffiti and the frontage of one has been covered with multi-coloured patterns in an attempt to hide its dismal and unsightly appearance. "The experiment does not work and the building remains a total eyesore", said one resident. "What is the council doing about this? Where are the campaigning journalists to harry those responsible?" Another resident condemned the buildings as being "hideously unattractive" and likely to deter anyone driving through who might be thinking of stopping off in the town. "It really is time that something was done to either refurbish them or at least tidy them up and give them a more presentable appearance", he said. "We elect our local councillors to look after such matters but they seem to be doing absolutely nothing and the sight of these buildings is a total disgrace to Bourne. In the event, our local authorities continued to ignore these eyesores which were eventually bought and redeveloped by private initiative and as a result, the properties pictured here have since been enjoying a new lease of life and would be a credit to the main street of any small market town. 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. Return to Monthly entries |
