Bourne Diary - March 2013

Saturday 2^nd March 2013

An owl tower designed to protect one of England’s endangered birds and provide a permanent habitat is being built on open farmland in the fen on the outskirts of Bourne. The project is funded by the Len Pick Trust with the help of Dr Bob Sheppard, an expert on the species who was awarded the British Empire Medal last year for his services to nature conservation.

Barn owls have been nesting for decades in a range of traditional red brick farm buildings on the edge of the land alongside Meadow Drove to the north of the town, pictured above. They date from the 19th century and formed part of the £4 million estate left to the town by the late Len Pick, a farmer and businessman who died in 2004, but are now in a dilapidated condition with no likelihood of further use and are being demolished for safety reasons.

The trustees therefore decided to provide a home for the owls to ensure their continued presence in the locality and also to enhance the prospects of attracting further wildlife. The owl tower is being built on the northern boundary using reclaimed materials from the demolished farm buildings, a project which is being carried out in conjunction with students from Peterborough Regional College as part of their Building Construction Course. Work has been delayed by bad weather during the winter months but the tower is expected to be finished by the end of March. Last year, the trust was also instrumental in the planting of fifty mixed lime and cherry trees alongside the Mill Drove boundary of the land as a result of a generous anonymous donation.

The area around the tower is the perfect terrain for barn owls that inhabit low lying open fenland and the woodland edge. They are distinctive looking birds with a heart-shaped face, buff back and wings and pure white underparts and are widely distributed across the country. They are elusive although familiar to those with an interest in the countryside, usually hunting for food at night but sometimes appearing in early evening, perching on fence posts before swooping low in their search for small mammals such as mice, voles, beetles and even frogs. Their numbers have suffered in recent years as a result of increasing urbanisation and intensive farming practices and even because there are fewer abandoned buildings, but this trend of decline is slowly being reversed through a greater awareness of their needs, modern conservation and habitat practices such as this.

The farm buildings were in a rundown state during Len Pick’s lifetime but he refused to have them demolished to protect the barn owls and so this project is a fitting memorial. The tower will not only help to ensure that these attractive birds continue their habitation of the local dykes and grassy margins with their silent and silvery flights but is also likely to attract other wildlife such as bats, kestrels, swallows, and a variety of other amphibians, reptiles, moths and insects.

A second tower is also planned by the trust to be built during the summer on farmland which it also owns close to Bourne Wood where more than 100 bat boxes have already been erected in conjunction with the Friends of Bourne Wood organisation.

We hear that work is about to start on the new filling station in South Road and is due to be completed within sixteen weeks. The site will be run by Texaco, Britain’s fourth largest petrol retailer, with a Subway sandwich and salad bar nearby, and will operate round the clock following a decision by South Kesteven District Council in January to lift its original restrictions on opening hours. This is welcome news for all motorists who have had no choice where to buy their petrol locally other than the Esso/Tesco outlet in North Street where the forecourt is often crowded at busy periods, especially when goods lorries and tankers have been making deliveries. The new filling station is also likely to mean lower petrol prices because it will create keen competition at the pumps.

The police reported this week that thieves have stolen an audio bird scarer from a field at Dowsby, near Bourne. The motive for the theft is not known, whether it was taken for scrap by itinerant dealers or perhaps removed by someone who has been distressed by the noise it has been causing. Either way, the people of this village must be thankful that such a nuisance has been removed from within their midst. We do not condone criminal behaviour but the continual use of these audio devices by certain farmers is not only anti-social but is also in defiance of the code of conduct agreed between the National Farmers Union and South Kesteven District Council and so drastic action such as this may be the only form of redress.

Here where we live to the north of Bourne, one of these infernal machines has been firing away since before Christmas and is also in contravention of the guidelines and so whoever owns it has no regard for the official agreement or for the well-being of their neighbours. We do not know exactly where it is situated because there is a large expanse of countryside out there but the consensus over the location appears to be somewhere near the village of Dyke.

These infernal devices have largely been phased out, firstly because they are quite useless for their intended purpose of scaring the crows off growing crops and secondly because of the anti-social element involved in that they cause annoyance and even distress to homeowners, especially the old and infirm. The culprit in this instance has been firing his propane device every ten or twelve minutes which is in breach of the regulatory code which clearly states that they should not be discharged more than four times in any one hour, not on Sundays or at night, and they must not be positioned within 200 yard of any houses.

Farmers are also asked to surround these devices with a baffle of straw bales and position them down wind to reduce the noise but these stipulations are also invariably ignored. The code also states that they should ensure that their name and telephone number are displayed at the nearest point of public access in order that they may be contacted in case of complaint. This is rarely done and so the public are powerless to determine the identity of the culprit when a nuisance is being committed.

Factories and business premises in urban areas are prohibited from causing inconvenience to those who live nearby with their emissions, either chemical or audio, and the same applies to farmers in the countryside. They are not a chosen race growing food for our survival but part of the global economy and are not exempt from the basic rule of life in that we should all respect each other. Some of these devices are quite formidable in appearance, often resembling cannons, and are frequently positioned unattended in the countryside in close proximity to paths frequented by walkers and so it is surprising that they should not attract the attention of the Health and Safety Executive.

The effect on home owners is not good and one of our neighbours has asked me if there was any chance of “stopping that artillery from firing all the time” but I had to tell him that there was not because it depended entirely on the goodwill of the farmer if he could be identified. A complaint to the NFU is likely to go unanswered because they are too occupied selling insurance and it is no good approaching SKDC because as we have discovered in the past, staff are too busy to bother with such trifling matters.

The problem of gas guns has become so widespread in recent years that a pressure group has now been set up to help those who are affected by the nuisance and who fail to get assistance from their local authority. They also have a web site devoted to news and developments about their campaign to ban these devices together with details of who to write to and specimen letters. A check on the information contained here will be of tremendous help to those whose lives are being plagued in this way and may even be the means of ending this unwanted intrusion.

Most farmers are good custodians of the countryside and if they use a gas gun are prepared to curb its use when these distressing effects are pointed out but in this case the owner is unknown and even if the device were located after trekking around his acres there is no way of identifying him. But one thing is certain in that he lives well out of earshot or his wife would soon make him turn it off. Those who have been listening to this bombardment day in and day out for the past few months hope that the farmer responsible reads this and acknowledges his responsibilities to the rest of us by regulating its use otherwise, we can only hope that the Dowsby thieves may spot it and see yet another profitable opportunity.

A little known record was claimed by a team of bell ringers from the village church at Langtoft, near Bourne, almost 200 years ago when they completed a unique spell of change ringing for the first time in England.

Change ringing in church towers has been popular for centuries and the first society or ringing organisation was the Ancient Society of College Youths which was founded in 1637. The earliest treatises on the subject were by the English musician Fabian Stedman (1640-1713) who was admitted as a member in 1664 at the age of 23. He became a leading figure in campanology and his two books, Tintinnalogia (1668) and Campanalogia (1677), are the first publications on the subject, introducing the idea of change ringing including his Grandsire Method and Stedman’s Principle (or method).

Although church bells were carefully tuned, they were not used for playing tunes and were rung in changes or rounds. Stedman's achievement was to develop methods known as cross changes which could be realised more artistically and with more interest for the ringers. His original idea was based on five bells but as more bells were added to the towers, Stedman's methods were adapted to higher numbers.

Many teams attempted Stedman's Principle but it was almost 200 years before it was claimed by the ringers at Langtoft that they were the first to do so successfully on any five bells in England and although we have no way of knowing this to be true, there is no record of anyone contesting this assertion.

The church of St Mary and All Angels at Langtoft dates from the 13th century and originally had five bells, two installed in 1662, one in 1772, one in 1810 and the other in 1825, total weight being 2 tons 6½ cwt. They were silenced in 1971 because the bell frame was deemed to be unsafe and to ring them might have damaged the tower but a restoration programme was carried out in 2004 at a cost of £40,000 when a sixth bell was added and they were rung in March that year for the first time in 33 years to celebrate completion of the work. However, 140 years earlier, a notice in the church gave details of the bell ringing record and this was printed by the Grantham Journal on Saturday 15th February 1873 when their report said:

The following announcements are posted up in the belfry of Langtoft church: "January the 18th, 1842: 5,640 changes were rung by William Clark, George Clark, Henry Beadman, Edward Clark and William Reading jun., in 8 hours and 30 minutes; also the Mermaid and St Stedman's Principal, or Cramboo, were rung by the same men in the Year of our Lord 1843. Charles Tomblin, Vicar; William Wright, Churchwarden; William Smart, Painter. On December the 7th, 1818, 5,280 changes were rung by William Rosling, William Reading, Aquila Peasgood, John Mearing and William Barford, in three hours and thirty-three minutes; and also St Stedman's Principal, or Cramboo, were rung by the same men in 1819, which was never known to be rung before on any five bells in England. John Mearing, Fecit.

Bell ringing remains a popular pursuit for many and the sound they create drifts out regularly on Sunday mornings and on special occasions from church towers across the land. It is a welcome and comforting message, not merely one of calling the people to prayer, but an assurance that all is well with the world and those who have kept this tradition alive down the ages are therefore to be applauded for their dedication.

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 9^th March 2013

More criminal damage - see "Vandals were busy . . . "

The new Community Access Point for Bourne opened this week and we have been pleasantly surprised to discover that it has achieved all objectives with the creation of a warm and welcoming space for all of our local council services under one roof.  There was an official ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday attended by council officials and the following day the public were allowed in as the new facility began its business.

The Corn Exchange interior has been redesigned to achieve this end and after a year of speculation about what was to come, the consensus is that South Kesteven District Council has done an excellent job, despite the original estimate of £200,000 rising to £600,000.

Services offered by the town, district and county councils, have until now been scattered around Bourne but the new one-stop amenity will be far more convenient for everyone. Central to the project was in moving the public library from its existing premises in South Street where it has been since 1969 and although we do have a reduced service with fewer books and a loss of the old reference library and reading room, it would be churlish to quibble when we consider the current scale of spending cuts that have cost many towns their library altogether.

Other services to be located here include a customer services counter where all inquiries relating to our three local authorities are initially addressed, the Register Office, relocated from West Street where people will be able to register births, marriages, civil partnerships and deaths, and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. The bank of computers for public use has also been retained from the old library together with a small children’s section and there are booths for anyone who wants a private consultation on council matters.

The town council also has a new arrangement from that which it has enjoyed at the Town Hall where there were offices for the clerk with council meetings held in the grandeur of the old magistrates’ court. Sufficient space has now been provided at the Corn Exchange for the clerk’s office and to hold meetings in the larger of its two rooms, even on those occasions when the public are admitted for the monthly forums. The pomp and splendour of the old setting may be absent in future because the new council chamber, if that is what it may be called, is smaller and more modern, but these are changing times and although necessity is a hard taskmaster, what we now have is quite sufficient for the duties in hand.

There have been misgivings about car parking but we found no problem when visiting on Thursday, even though this was market day and much of the area outside filled with stalls, yet the new amenity was continually busy throughout the morning. It is hoped that this will not be a problem in the future but time will tell because parking in Bourne is becoming more difficult with each passing month and so it is something that will need to be closely monitored.

One of the important outstanding matters still to be settled is the future of the Town Hall, a building that has provided good service for almost two centuries, both as the centre of administration and justice and as a social venue, for dances and other celebrations. It is now protected with a Grade II listing but showing signs of age both inside and out and although renovation and modernisation would have been a welcome decision to give the building a new lease of life, the cost of the work would have been prohibitive.  Although bought for the town by public subscription in 1821, ownership is now vested with Lincolnshire County Council and it is hoped that a suitable role may be found for it in the years ahead, one that befits its role as part of our history and heritage.

Opening times have brought a dramatic change to shopping habits in recent years and in some of the larger towns and cities it is now possible to make your purchases at all hours of the day and night. Even here in Bourne, the new Tesco store on South Road trades from 6 a m until midnight while some of the smaller but enterprising retail outlets advertise that they are open “until late”.

Round the clock opening is slowly advancing and those who do not keep up with the trend will suffer because competition in the retail trade is now more critical than at any time in our history and this is one of the factors that is sounding the death knell for our traditional high street shops. There is vigorous opposition to longer hours from the trade unions and those smaller shops that wish to dictate the opening times for others to avoid competition but the pressure is intense and it will not be long before 24-hour trading becomes a reality for all those who intend to remain in the market place.

Yet early closing in the evenings is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Before the Second World War of 1935-49, I can remember them remaining open until as late as 8 pm and 9 pm and it has only been the influence of the off-licences and later the supermarkets that prompted small retailers to extend their hours, although many still resist and continue with a nine to five regime and even observe an early closing day during mid-week which is not always beneficial for shoppers.

In the 19th century, shops opened as many hours as they could while the weekly markets in Bourne often continued until midnight, bringing complaints about the noise from people who lived in the vicinity, while shops were similarly ready for business until late into the night.

The movement for reducing the working hours and conditions of shop assistants was inaugurated in 1842 when a weekly half-holiday was introduced although many shop owners still exploited their employees. Shops remained open longer in summer than winter while there were additional business hours for those that catered for the middle and working classes and those situated in busy streets. In some cases, it was usual for a shop assistant to start at 7 am to prepare the premises for the day's trading followed by a 7.30 am or 8 am opening and with only five or ten minute breaks for breakfast and tea, with dinner being snatched whenever possible, they remained on duty until 8 pm and 9 pm in winter and an hour later in summer although there was usually more time needed for clearing up after that. Assistants were not usually allowed to sit down, even if trade was slack, and their health often suffered from the confined atmosphere, long hours of standing and working in gas or oil lighting.

In 1872, closing time in Bourne was 8 pm but because of complaints from their staff about long hours and low wages, the leading tradesmen of the town conceded that opening hours would have to be reduced and the Stamford Mercury reported on Friday 21st June:

A movement is now afoot to close the shops at 7 o'clock in the evening, Saturdays excepted, throughout the year, several of the leading tradesmen having expressed their readiness to fall in with it. This will be a great boon to a large number of assistants who are confined longer than is consistent with health and vigour. In a matter of this sort, everything rests with the public, who, by making their purchases early, would set at liberty an hour sooner a deserving class of public servants.

Other shopkeepers agreed with the new closing hours that were subsequently introduced on July 15th that year. This was a local decision by traders and did not affect the rest of the country, and shop owners continued to dictate wages and hours. It was another half century before further reforms were introduced to improve the conditions of shop workers when the provisions of the Shops (Early Closing) Act of 1920-21, which were permanently adopted in 1928, restricted the previous policy of "open all hours". Shops could then only remain open until 9 pm on one day in each week and on those other evenings they had to close at 8 pm, although customers inside the doors before closing time, or anyone requiring some article urgently in case of illness, could be served. There were, of course, exemptions for special events being held in the vicinity and for seasons such as Christmas, while special provisions were also made for holiday and seaside resorts.

It is also interesting to note that these regulations were strictly observed and a shop owner breaking them was liable to a maximum fine of £5 for a first offence and £20 for any subsequent contravention and that the President of the Early Closing Association that brought about these reforms was Mr Winston Churchill.

However, long opening hours continued and were only reduced during the Second World War of 1939-45 to save fuel, restrictions that continued until the arrival of the supermarket began to change our habits. All night opening is now a reality in several parts of the country while Internet shopping is a growth business and as trade is dictated by consumer demand, that is the way it will be in the future.

From the archives: A LINCOLNSHIRE LADY SUED FOR HER WEDDING OUTFIT: His Honour Judge Hooper had before him in Bourne yesterday, a singular case under the Married Women's Property Act, in which a Spalding lady named Rodgers, the wife of Mr Dewick Rodgers, of Morton, was sued by a local tradesman for £24, expenses largely incurred in connection with a wedding outfit upon her marriage. The defendant had purchased a quantity of wearing apparel and household requisites from the plaintiffs (Messrs Measures Brothers, grocers and drapers, Market Place, Bourne). Mr Rodgers has since failed and the plaintiffs now sought to recover the amount due from the defendant, who had a private income, on the ground that she had made herself personally liable. His Honour gave a verdict for £6 12s. 6d., the amount for articles of dress supplied for the defendant's own use since her marriage. The wedding took place in February last and the parties are now living apart. - news report from the Nottingham Evening Post, Thursday 27th October 1887.

Vandals were busy again last weekend, their target this time being the early 19th century Baldock’s Mill in South Street, home of the town’s Heritage Centre. On Friday night, they gained access to the rear of the property and sprayed graffiti over doors and wooden shutters, a completely senseless act that has defaced a building regularly frequented by visitors to this town.

The criminal damage caused is all the more deplorable because the mill is maintained entirely by voluntary effort, being in the care of the Civic Society whose members work and raise money for its upkeep. Jim Jones, the mill custodian, tells me that the graffiti was sprayed on with a substance that is impossible to remove and the only solution will be to repaint the affected areas of woodwork.

Earlier this year, intruders broke into the town cemetery in South Road and caused criminal damage to a number of memorial seats by wrenching them from their moorings. In this case, the cost of repairs will be borne by the town council which administers the cemetery with money that comes from the council tax and so, once again, it is the people who indirectly pay for the destruction.

These wanton acts of vandalism are invariably carried out by small groups of young people usually fuelled by strong drink during a night in the pub. Others must therefore know who the culprits are and they would be doing a valuable community service by informing the police, a simple procedure these days by telephoning 101 and leaving a recorded message which can also be done anonymously. To know and not to tell could even be regarded as collusion whereas passing on information may prevent other criminal acts in the future.

Thought for the week: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke (1729-97), Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who is often regarded as the father of modern conservatism.

Saturday 16^th March 2013

The conversion of the Corn Exchange in Bourne to a Community Access Point has also involved a refurbishment of the main hall which has become the leading venue for events in the town since the building opened in 1870. Drama productions have been predominant among the entertainments and indeed the stage has just been used for a sparkling comedy by the Bourne Players which was presented to delighted audiences on three nights this week.

An auditorium seating 500 people was a natural booking for the travelling players of the 19th century when a variety of shows came here to entertain a public eager for such diversions. The weekly offerings during those early days included teams of hand-bell ringers, a Japanese troupe of acrobats, minstrels, comedy and burlesque companies, vocalists and instrumentalists, and among them were some of the famous personalities from the Victorian music hall who arrived to entertain.

In January 1880, General Tom Thumb played to a packed house. This was the stage name of American-born Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838-83), a little person who achieved great fame under circus pioneer Phineas T Barnum. He was born a normal baby but stopped growing after his first birthday. Stratton made his first tour of America at the age of five with stage routines that included impersonating characters such as Cupid and Napoleon Bonaparte as well as singing, dancing and comical banter with another performer who acted as a straight man. It was a huge success and Barnum took Stratton on a tour of Europe making him an international celebrity, appearing twice before Queen Victoria and with crowds mobbing him wherever he went. Stratton died suddenly of a stroke when he was 45 years old, 3 ft 4 in tall and weighing 71 lb. Over 10,000 people attended his funeral.

In August 1882, a company known as Pepper’s Ghost and Spectral Opera enthralled audiences with a varied programme that included productions of well-known ghost stories including A Christmas Carol which contains a famous midnight scene when apparitions appear to the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge showing him glimpses of his life past, present and future. The productions involved the use of an aetherscope, a device that projected moving images on to a screen incorporating limelight and shadows to create stage illusions, particularly in ghost shows such as this which drew audiences to fairgrounds and theatres all over the country. The effect on those who saw the show at the Corn Exchange was electrifying and a local newspaper reported: “The characters in the dream were represented by means of the aetherscope in a very interesting and extraordinary manner.”

In March 1884, one of the world’s most famous magicians, Dr Lynn, presented his highly popular entertainment to a packed house. He had toured many countries including the Orient, Europe and the United States although his real name was Hugh Washington Simmons (1831-1899) who served with the British navy before becoming a magician in Australia, reaching San Francisco from Japan in 1863. He is credited with inventing many famous stage illusions and it is reputed that Houdini first became fascinated with magic as a young boy after seeing Dr Lynn perform in his home town. Dr Lynn's often repeated "That's how it's done" during his shows became a popular catch phrase. One of his most famous tricks was "to cut a living man to pieces", also known as the decapitation act, involving the apparent severance of the left arm, left leg or head of a man, which was introduced by Dr. Lynn in 1874 under the title of "Palingenesia" which was performed at Bourne and later at Boston which was also on his itinerary.

Amid all these great theatrical personalities who trod the boards at the Corn Exchange there were the concerts and recitals given by local singers, choirs and instrumentalists, always ready to entertain and to raise funds for their particular causes. Few weeks went by without an attraction and so the hall was always in demand. Saturday night dances soon became popular with local groups and touring bands providing the music and today, these have given way to a new type of entertainment, the pop concert, which is now a regular feature at the hall although the traditional productions popularised in past times still attract large audiences.

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is coming to Bourne in the spring, an event that has sparked a discussion on previous visits by the royal family because His Royal Highness appears to be the most senior member so far to grace us with his presence.

His visit is scheduled for Thursday 18th April when he will be opening a new computer training centre at Bourne Grammar School in South Road, recently completed with the help of £762,050 from the Academies’ Capital Grant Fund, the school having achieved academy status in January 2012. The two-storey building replaces  an old teaching block that was demolished after the roof began to leak and will be known as the Turing Centre, named after the mathematician Alan Turing (1912-54), now widely regarded as the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. The new block has six classrooms and will be used to teach systems and control and computer lessons.

The Duke is expected to arrive at 3.30 pm and will be welcomed by the Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, Tony Worth, before touring the new centre and seeing pupils at work. He will then attend a reception and tea in the main hall before leaving around 4.30 pm. The headteacher, Jonathan Maddox, told The Local newspaper that this was a most significant moment for the school and for the town (March 8th). “As far as I can establish”, he said, “Prince Philip will be the most senior member of the Royal Family to visit Bourne for many years.”

This is correct. In fact, neither the Queen nor any previous monarch has ever visited Bourne. It has been suggested in the past that Edward III who reigned from 1327 to 1377 may have come here but this does not bear close scrutiny and is therefore most unlikely to have occurred. However, the assertion by the newspaper that this is the first royal visit to Bourne since Princess Margaret opened the Margaret Hurst Day Care Centre at Digby Court in May 1997 is mistaken. Since then, the Duchess of Gloucester has been here in April 1999 to open new premises for Nursery Supplies (Bourne) Ltd in Meadow Drove and, more importantly, Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, visited Bourne on Monday 27th September 2010 to open a new £700,000 block of three classrooms and kitchen with canteen facilities at the then Abbey CE Primary School in Abbey Road.

Other royal visitors in past times include the Duke of Kent who was a guest of honour at the Lincolnshire Agricultural Show when it was held at Bourne in June 1939 and the Duke of Gloucester who visited Warners (Midlands) plc printing plant in West Street to officially open their new £4 million extensions at the Old Maltings in November 1989.

There has been one other royal appearance, albeit a brief one, when Queen Victoria’s son, the Duke of York, passed through Bourne in January 1900 en route from Sandringham to Chatsworth. “The train remained at the station for five minutes”, reported a local newspaper. “His Royal Highness, who was accompanied by three personal attendants, was looking remarkably well and was accorded a very hearty and loyal reception from those assembled on the platform.”

Anyone who has eaten fish and chips for the best part of eighty years and still finds them a satisfying dish must be a connoisseur. Each time I pass a fish and chip shop the familiar smell wafts past bringing with it memories from my boyhood when we were forever cadging for pennies to buy a portion of chips, especially in the early summer evenings when we would hang about outside watching the comings and goings and savouring the smell of frying.

We knew every fish and chip shop in the district each identified by its owner's name and usually run by husband and wife teams, she peeling the potatoes and operating a primitive hand chipper while he tended the coal-fired cooking range which was constantly in need of more fuel, and between them they served a constant flow of customers. Each had its own distinctive brand which could be recognised by the young regulars such as ourselves by the look and the taste of the batter in which it had been fried. No portion of fish and chips was complete without a scoopful of the small brown fragments left in the pan and all of the shops kept them on one side to serve free of charge to small boys ordering their chips who invariably asked: "Can I have some scraps please?"

On those days when we had fish and chips for our dinner and we were sent to fetch them, my mother would specify which shop we were to patronise and the moment they were unwrapped she would know if we had been elsewhere. Weekends were the busiest times and long queues would form and often we had to wait for an hour or more to be served but it was never boring because the owners knew most of their customers and their shop was a constant buzz of conversation with the swapping of local gossip.

On Friday lunchtimes, workers at local factories would send out the apprentices for fish and chips and they would arrive at the front of the queue with huge baskets which would be filled with the various orders listed on a piece of notepaper that had been delivered earlier, each portion liberally garnished with salt and vinegar and then wrapped in old newspapers, while the rest of us waited patiently for our turn.

In late summer, when the harvest began, the fish and chip shops would start making their chips from new potatoes and word would flash down the street that they had arrived and we would rush to buy our first pennyworth, smaller portions than before because the early crop was more expensive to buy wholesale, but the chips were sweeter and more succulent than we had been eating in the previous months. The smell remains so evocative that I cannot pass a shop today without being tempted to buy a portion and it is a frequent dish when I eat out but, as in the past, it should always be cod and chips because that was the tradition over the years.

But times are changing. Our cod stocks have been seriously depleted and so alternatives are being offered, haddock and pollock being the favourites, although more exotic species are now appearing on the menu as I found out when we lunched last week at the Sugar Mill in South Road. It was not cod, said the waitress when asked about the fish in the fish and chips, but pangasius which hails from the far east where it is also known as Vietnamese river cobbler. I settled for the breaded plaice but intrigued by this newcomer to the table, we later emailed Marston’s Inns & Taverns who own the pub and asked for an explanation.

A lengthy and detailed reply arrived explaining that pangasius is mainly sourced from Vietnam, one of the non-EU countries authorised to export fish to the U K. All consignments into this country are subjected to stringent food hygiene and quality checks to ensure that they are fit for human consumption and vast quantities are currently sold here. “The pangasius supplied to Marston Inns & Taverns is farmed”, said the statement. “It therefore does not impact on local stocks of wild fish and offers a favourable option to traditional species of cod and haddock which in some waters can be subject to issues regarding sustainability.”

It therefore appears that pangasius is here to stay but not having an adventurous palate, I think I will stick to cod and chips whenever possible and if anyone else has a similar partiality for this traditional English dish, then I can thoroughly recommend the award-winning Linford’s restaurant and take-away shop in the town centre at Market Deeping and if you do not mind a short drive, then you will find that they currently serve the best on offer in this area.

Thought for the week: The first fish and chip shop was opened by Joseph Malin in London in 1860 while the concept caught on in Lancashire in 1863 followed by those areas colonised by people from the UK during the 19th century, such as Australia, New Zealand and parts of North America.- from Wikipedia, the free Internet encyclopaedia.

Saturday 23^rd March 2013

The world looks and feels quite different with the advent of spring which officially arrived on Wednesday (March 20th) and the signs of the new season are all around us. This is a welcome time because it means that the cold and discomfort of winter will soon have gone and we can look forward to brighter days ahead with lighter evenings and long spells outdoors, as well as a changing countryside as it bursts into life for another year.

This was always a welcome time and I have come across two such references during my researches in the archives that are worthy of sharing, both written by the local correspondent of the Grantham Journal whose name is unknown but who waxed lyrical 140 years ago in praise of Bourne Wood at the rustle of spring.

On Saturday 2nd May 1874, he wrote that “the inhabitants of Bourne have in these woods a never-failing store of ‘musical instruments’. In the early morning and during the greater part of the day the air is filled with the voices of hundreds of songsters; but the masterpiece may be heard in the evening, when large numbers of nightingales take up the song uninterrupted. Bourne Wood is a favourite resort of these princes among birds, but the numbers this spring are extraordinary; their beautiful strains must be heard to be believed.”

His subject was the weather on Saturday 24th April 1875 but still with Bourne Wood in mind. “Spring appears to have set in very fine, but dry”, he wrote. “Several days indeed have been of almost summer temperature. The cuckoo has been heard in the neighbourhood, and a pair of swallows were observed in the town in the early part of the week. Bourne Wood is resorted to daily; their appearance is highly picturesque, and the air is filled with the strains of a thousand songsters.”

These 400 wooded acres are certainly the town’s most beautiful natural amenity, a forest managed for timber production but also for nature conservation and recreations and is open to the public at all times with many secluded paths and woodland trails that attract many thousands of visitors each year.

There has probably been continuous tree cover on this site for the last 8,000 years and the present species are a mixture of broadleaf and conifer of all ages and their diversity has created ideal conditions for a wide range of wildlife. Once owned by the successive Lords of the Manor of Bourne, the wood is now managed by the Forestry Commission. In past years, the trees were heavily felled, during the First World War, for instance, to provide props for the trenches, but there is now a policy of re-establishing the ancient forest.

Many plants have survived and so make the woodland valuable in terms of conservation. The wild flowers that can be seen here in season include bluebells, primroses, wood anemone and nettle leaved bell flower while fallow deer are abundant and you may catch a glimpse of their smaller, shy cousin, the muntjac or barking deer. Other animals that frequent these glades are foxes, grey squirrels, owls, snakes, badgers and dormice and a wide variety of birds. Nightingales can be heard on summer nights and rare bats and dragonflies fly over the ponds at twilight. Seven species of bat have been identified including the rare Leisler's bat which was first discovered in nesting boxes in 1991 and is now closely monitored.

Deep in the woods are two lakes which were made by damming a small dip in the landscape in 1972 and these have become watering holes for woodland inhabitants and home to ducks, herons, many aquatic animals and several species of fish. The pool is a mass of rushes and sedge, white water lilies float on the surface and yellow flag grows in the margins of the lakes while fallow deer come to drink here in the evenings and early mornings and their hoof prints can often be seen in the soft mud at the water's edge. This is a marvellous sight if you are prepared to sit here until dusk or to get up at 4 am on a summer's morning for a rendezvous with these graceful creatures.

There are many seats around the wood with small brass memorial plaques remembering past walkers who have passed on and near to the main path from Beech Avenue is a copse of twenty small oak trees which were planted in January 1999 by the Friends of Bourne Wood organisation as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, who died tragically in 1997, and the spot was named Diana's Glade.

The people who lived here in Victorian times were deeply attached to these woods and they are equally enjoyed today, more so in the spring months that will soon be upon us when walkers flock to tread the familiar paths as part of their enjoyment of the great outdoors.

Potholes have been a frequent topic in this column, mainly because there are so many in Bourne where practically every road has one, some small and some big and many of them extremely dangerous to motorists and cyclists, a problem that has been exacerbated by recent severe winters when sub-zero temperatures have taken their toll on the tarmac, yet they are not being repaired with any urgency.

Now help may be at hand with the announcement that Lincolnshire is to get a government grant of £6.4 million to enable the county council carry out the work by creating four extra maintenance teams in addition to the ten already in place.

Unfortunately, the situation has been left to worsen for so long that this will not provide a solution although the money will help to alleviate it. William Webb, executive councillor for Highways and Transport, told BBC News Lincolnshire (February 23rd) that although the grant was “hugely welcome” it only represented a fraction of the repair backlog and they would need far more to mend all of the potholes in the county’s 5,600-mile road network. “To fill every pothole in Lincolnshire to the standard we would like would cost over £100 million”, he said. “To put our highways back to the standard we would like would be over £300 million.”

This probably means that only our main roads will be repaired but unfortunately it is the less important thoroughfares that are also suffering from disrepair which is evident all around Bourne, especially on those roads through some of our housing estates, even those that have been built comparatively recently.

The county council, which as the Highways Authority is responsible for roads in the town, claims to employ pothole gangs equipped with lorries and tarmac ready to race to any part of Lincolnshire where repair work is needed yet they have consistently passed our problems by.  Few drivers will have escaped the consequences of bad road surfaces around Bourne where defects have been creating hazards to motorists for several years but despite this latest attempt to speed up repairs, it seems that we may have to live with some of them for a little longer.

“Undoubtedly, lives will be lost if road maintenance is further neglected”, warned the president of the Automobile Association, Edmund King, last year (Daily Mail, 26th October 2012). “Sometime in the near future, local authorities will be searching for billions of pounds to fund repairs that would have cost a lot less had they been tackled earlier.”

This seems to be at the heart of the present problem for although public spending cuts have been imposed comparatively recently, potholes have been with us for a very long time. In fact, they were first mentioned in this column as being a serious problem for Bourne in April 2001 and so many people will be asking where the money has gone that should have been spent on them twelve years ago.

From the archives: Five youths were fined by magistrates at the Town Hall, Bourne, for obstructing the footpath. They were Joseph Elliott and James Archer, both of Bourne, and George Parker, Daniel Parker and Robert Rodgers, all of Thurlby. It appears that defendants stood in the Market Place and prevented people from passing along the causeway to church and chapel. Elliott was fined 9s. 6d. and the others 7s. 6d. each, and costs 10s. or fourteen days' imprisonment. This is a step in the right direction because the practice has become such a regular nuisance, and especially on Sunday evenings, that no respectable person can pass along the footways without having to turn off in consequence of these obstructions. It is hoped that the above cases may be a warning and that for the future the pathways will not be used for people to congregate together. – news report from the Grantham Journal, Saturday 7th September1878.

Libraries throughout the world were built with money provided by Andrew Carnegie and although Bourne was not on the list, it was through his largesse that our first regular local authority book lending began.

Carnegie (1835-1919) was born in Scotland but in 1848 emigrated to the United States with his parents where he became the richest man in the world, earning a fortune in steel and giving his money away to many countries, particularly Britain. Chief among his good works was the provision and equipment of libraries in Britain and the English speaking countries and he distributed £10 million for this purpose alone. The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, from which Bourne derived its library benefit, was constituted in 1914 with the object of devoting its income to the improvement of the well-being of the masses of the people of Great Britain and Ireland, concentrating on the development of public libraries by grants for the purchase of books, particularly for use by students.

There were several lending libraries in Bourne from 1865 onwards but the first free one to be run by the local authority was based at the old National School in North Street [now the headquarters of the Grantham and Stamford Conservative Association] and was opened on 14th November 1924. This was part of the Rural Library Scheme launched by the education committee of Kesteven County Council and was equipped by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust that had presented them with 4,000 volumes of which Bourne had 240. The working expenses were met out of public funds and the library was intended mainly to help students requiring a higher standard of work to study in any particular subject and who could obtain the books they needed by paying the cost of postage to and from London where the Central Library for Students was based.

This modest library continued to operate until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and it was not until 1953 that a more permanent home was found, first a room at the Bourne Institute in West Street until 1967 but this soon became inadequate for an increasing population. Larger premises were needed and in 1969 a new library opened in the old Civil Defence headquarters in South Street which had been converted for the purpose.

The public library remained there until this year when it was moved to the new Community Access Point at the Corn Exchange and although smaller in scale with fewer facilities, it still provides a regular supply of books for readers to borrow in the manner that Carnegie envisaged with his philanthropy more than a century ago.

Thought for the week: A book is like a man - clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun. - John Ernst Steinbeck (1902-68), American Pulitzer Prize winning novelist who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.

Saturday 30^th March 2013

New proposals for the reorganisation of our ambulance service are likely to go ahead which means that the station here in Bourne will close despite valiant attempts to keep it open, yet another case of our trusted public services being axed in the cause of austerity.

The East Midlands Ambulance Service seems to be struggling with the impossible, that of cutting costs, maintaining efficiency and appeasing an angry public who do not want to lose what they have. It was originally proposed last year to replace 66 existing ambulance stations with 13 central hubs and 118 community posts and standby points. This has now been changed to 11 central hubs, 16 stations and 108 smaller community ambulance posts.

The public consultation launched last September is, as expected, a sham, for although there was universal condemnation of the closure of Bourne ambulance station from the public and the trade unions, we are still going to lose it although now it is planned to open one at Market Deeping, seven miles away, which to most people will seem to be quite ridiculous. But all is not yet lost. Lincolnshire’s health scrutiny committee has condemned the consultation as “flawed” and written to the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, demanding a review of the decision and a return to a dedicated ambulance service for the county.

But the dreaded cuts continue to take effect elsewhere. One of the promises made earlier this year by the new police and crime commissioner for Lincolnshire, Alan Hardwick, was that he would ensure “keeping officers on the ground” in return for increasing the county constabulary’s council tax precept by 2%. Now we hear that there will be no policemen available as marshals for this year’s 25th anniversary road races at Langtoft, near Bourne, with the result that the event has been abandoned.

The charity event began in 1988 as a challenge race between the east and west sections of the village and rapidly expanded to become one of the major spring community meetings in the area attracting almost 200 runners for the 10km road race and another 250 for the fun run which is held at the same time. Thousands of pounds have been raised for good causes over the years including the parish church, the football club and the nursery while 60 volunteers give their time to help with the organisation.

There are so many spectators that help has been needed to control crowds and traffic and ensure the safety of runners and two officers have always been provided by Lincolnshire police. That support has now been withdrawn. “In the past the police may have informally managed local events”, a spokesman told the Stamford Mercury (March 22nd). “This is however no longer appropriate, both in terms of legislation changes and our resource levels.”

The effect of this decision on the organisers has been devastating. Not only have they been forced to cancel this year’s races but the future of the event is now in doubt. “We have never had a problem like this before”, said the chairman, Robert Cramp. “We were all looking forward to celebrating our 25th event but our plans have been shelved and we will be holding a committee meeting in September to decide what to do.”

The police have always had a presence at large gatherings. Not only have they been expected to carry out this work but it is their duty to do so. Uniformed officers are the face of authority and without them there will be less control of crowds and traffic, if indeed local organisations are able to continue without them. But if the police force is no longer willing to assist, then other events around the county may soon be at risk and community life will be the poorer while the traditional role of the constable as a reassuring presence in public places recedes even further.

Another proposal from the commissioner is that parish councils should pay for police community support officers (PCSOs). The suggestion comes because many villages and small towns would like their own policeman but cannot have one because of funding. Mr Hardwick told BBC Radio Lincolnshire (March 22nd): “They would be the first point of contact with the police for many people who would know who they were and where they lived. In this day and age it is impossible to go back to the bobby on the beat but this is the nearest thing to it.”

Once again, this gives a hollow ring to the promise that an increase in council tax will “keep officers on the ground” and many will ask where this extra money is being spent, the most likely answer being to supplement salaries and pensions while services take a back seat and policemen now appear to be paid more for doing less.

These are changing times and populations are increasing, crowds at public events are larger and crime levels much higher than they were in years past yet the sight of a uniformed constable is a rare one and it is often difficult to even contact the police through the present telephone alert system where callers are invariably met with a recorded message. The result is that the police are becoming more remote and out of touch with the people they are there to protect. The days of Dixon of Dock Green when a copper was always round the corner have long gone. Change is inevitable but it is not always progress.

Villagers at Rippingale, near Bourne, would agree with this because their surgery is being closed after 180 years despite pleas to keep it open and from now on they will have to go to Billingborough, five miles away, to see the doctor. Many will have transport problems and, unbelievably, the New Springwells Practice has agreed to lay on a taxi service at an annual cost of £10,000, funded by NHS Lincolnshire for the next two years. Doctors believe that this is money worth paying in order that they do not have to travel to the village to see patients every week. It is no wonder that the NHS is in such a parlous financial state with so many complaints from the public about the way they are being treated.

The new arrangement with taxis running three days a week is due to start when the surgery finally closes on Sunday (March 31st), a decision that certainly does not suit the parish council which has fought hard for the past three years to keep their much-loved and well-used amenity open but to no avail. Members even had to resort to the Freedom of Information Act to obtain documents relating to the surgery closure that were being withheld.

Patients will have to register before they can use the service by filling in an application form and once the scheme gets underway, the taxi will leave from outside the village shop at 10.30 am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings but will not be returning until all patients have been seen by the doctor or nurse and have collected any prescribed medication. Repeat journeys will be made by the taxi if more than four people require transport. The message to those participating therefore is do not be ill on Tuesdays or Thursdays and be prepared for a long wait to get back home.

Once again the wishes of the people are being overruled by authority and there is little that they can do about it. Council chairman Mike Hallas told The Local newspaper (January 25th): "The transport scheme was our bottom line. We are very unhappy about the situation but felt that we had to have something in place to protect vulnerable people who do not have their own transport. But we have not given up the fight to keep the surgery open."

Here in Bourne, we have seen much the same with the establishment of the new Community Access Point at the Corn Exchange, a showpiece development costing £600,000 that brings all of our council services at town, district and county level together under one roof and no one was asked whether they wanted it. It looks good and appears to be working well. But there are grumbles because it is not what we had. There is less space and people do not like such radical alterations being thrust upon them without being asked.

The real problem is that the public needs time to get used to anything new. After a few months, even the most controversial variation to our services will be regarded as being quite acceptable. The way it was becomes the way it is now and what we have may even eventually be seen as a good thing. Unfortunately, by then, those who are in power will have their own ideas for solving fresh problems that have surfaced on the way and so the answer will be yet more shocks in store which will no doubt be dressed up as improvements but not everyone is as gullible as our bureaucrats believe.

One of the great picnics of English literature is that described by Kenneth Grahame in his book The Wind in the Willows which tells how his heroes Ratty and Mole spend an idyllic sunny day on the river. Once a suitable spot is found, the pair moor their boat and Mole begins to unpack the luncheon basket that his friend has wisely provided, slowly taking out the mysterious packets with mounting enthusiasm and arranging the contents ready for that unforgettable meal in the great outdoors, a wonderful evocation of an age and enjoyment long gone.

The book remains a masterpiece of storytelling but picnics seem to be the relic of a bygone age and are no longer the pleasurable activity they once were. Today, a trip into the countryside usually means a stop at a pub for lunch, a McDonald’s or Little Chef for a Big Mac or a cheeseburger, because housewives no longer want the chore of preparing food to be eaten outdoors, sitting uncomfortably on a rug and being bothered by insects.

The Wind in the Willows was published in 1908 but the author no doubt found inspiration from his childhood experiences in Victorian England and I have recently come across a description of such an event in Bourne Wood which was held 125 years ago. The woodland was a popular spot for picnics during the 19th century and many parties could be seen there on Sundays and public holidays, and in 1888 it was chosen for a farewell party to mark the departure of the Rev John Woollerton, the Wesleyan or Methodist minister, who was leaving Bourne after three years to take up a new ministry at Market Rasen.

During his time here he had also been president of the Mutual Improvement Society and it was their members who had decided that a farewell gathering in the form of a picnic would be the most enjoyable form of entertainment, provided the weather was favourable but they need not have worried because when the day dawned, Friday 10th August, the weather was splendid and the Grantham Journal gives us an account of how the outing went:

In the open fields the sun was too hot, but this only rendered the shade of the wood more delightful. The pioneers of the party arrived at about three. Mr Stanton undertook the convoy of the provisions and apparatus, and on their arrival the gentlemen of the party built fires on which immense kettles were boiled in an incredibly short time, while the ladies laid out the cloths, and spread a bountiful meal, to which about sixty sat down. After tea, the members of the society were photographed by Mr Richard Bertolle and the party then either strolled along the shaded ridings or joined in various games till about eight o'clock when refreshment was provided. After this, the Rev Woollerton proposed a vote of thanks to those ladies and gentlemen who had carried out the arrangements for the picnic. This was carried enthusiastically. The party started for home at about nine o'clock, one and all expressing the pleasure the outing had afforded.

The archives contain many similar reports from the period of picnics held and enjoyed with such satisfaction and delight and it is a pity that these outdoor occasions are no longer such a frequent occurrence and that modern diversions such as television and the Internet leave little time for these simple pleasures of yesteryear.

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).

Return to Monthly entries