Bourne Diary - June 2013

Saturday 1^st June 2013

Civic Sunday in past times - see "Tradition is a belief . . . "

England’s green and pleasant land may soon be a thing of the past if our Member of Parliament, Nick Boles, has his way. He is advocating that more houses be built in the countryside at the expense of the rural idyll we have come to expect in the shires.

He is in a powerful position to make this happen. Although only an M P since he was elected for the Grantham and Stamford constituency in 2010, he was appointed Minister of State for Planning by the Prime Minister two years later and is therefore in charge of those matters which affect residential growth.

The speed of house building in recent years has already been the cause of dismay in many communities, not least in Bourne where the massive 2,000 home Elsea Park estate was pushed through during the planning process in 1999-2000 much against the public will and is now well advanced with the completion of some 800 houses, bringing a massive influx of newcomers who have had a dramatic effect on our infrastructure and public services such as roads, schools and medical clinics.

This development is eating up 300 acres of prime agricultural land and so what was once open countryside is fast becoming a suburb of Bourne, if such a phrase can be applied to a traditional country market town such as this. But the houses under construction here are just a few of the 7,000 being built on greenfield land in Mr Boles’ constituency and changes to the  planning laws that he is now advocating are likely to accelerate that growth even more.

An exclusive article in the Daily Mail this week (May 29th) carried the headline “Houses are better than green fields, claims the minister as he unveils new plans to concrete the countryside” with Mr Boles describing the England that he envisaged for the future. He said that the government was determined to speed up the rate of house building, despite opposition from countryside groups, because the building of houses would create more human happiness than preserving fields, and those communities who refused to support the initiative risked losing their hospitals and high street shops as their populations shrank.

Mr Boles acknowledged that rural rights campaigners and Conservative supporters were very worried when greenfield land was replaced by “the sheer ugliness and soullessness of housing estates” but he insisted that current planning laws were sending Britain back to the 19th century when only the wealthy could afford their own homes. “The sum of human happiness that is created by the houses that are being built is vastly greater than the economic, social and environmental value of a field that is growing wheat or rape”, he said.

This announcement will not be welcome in Bourne where the Elsea Park estate is still regarded by many as an unwanted intrusion yet we were promised by South Kesteven District Council that this would be the last new housing development to be imposed on the town. The pledge came in an unequivocal statement to The Local newspaper which said that no more houses would be built after currently identified projects were completed (9th December 2005). In a letter to the editor, Rachel Armstrong, Senior Planning Officer, said that three sites around the town had been identified in their consultation document Issues and Options for the development of the South Kesteven district as being suitable for employment development but not residential. “No consideration has been given to their suitability for housing”, she wrote. “Indeed the document makes it clear that the council thinks that Elsea Park is sufficient to meet the town’s needs.”

This was confirmed by the late Councillor Don Fisher, then a member of SKDC, who said: “I was so impressed that I sought confirmation from the council’s chief planning officer and he assured me that there would be no more housing in Bourne after Elsea Park.”

We now realise that this promise was written on the wind because the building of new houses around Bourne has continued apace. Major developments approved since then include the Great Northern Gardens (106 new homes), Willoughby Road (42 homes) the Old Laundry in Manning Road (47 homes), The Croft in North Road (68 homes), the old Raymond Mays garage on Spalding Road and the adjoining Rainbow supermarket in Manning Road (108 homes) and more schemes are in the pipeline. In all of these applications, the developers have presented a formidable case for the acceptance of their proposals which have been difficult to oppose.

New and relaxed planning guidelines from Mr Boles will provide an adequate excuse for our local authorities to continue this unseemly haste irrespective of the effects on communities and perhaps this is what is called progress. But we are also seeing a dramatic change in the style of housing and the terms of tenure, much smaller properties that are also harder to purchase in the current economic climate when few people can afford a substantial deposit and so they are offered to prospective buyers under various assisted schemes while developers are actively encouraging buy-to-let as an investment to dispose of their houses.

As a result, the old system in which you bought your house on a 25-year mortgage and then collected the deeds when it was prudently paid off may soon be a thing of the past. Shared ownership, help-to-buy schemes, equity loans and leasehold properties mean that the occupier may never have total ownership in his lifetime and in the years to come, the notion that an Englishman’s home is his castle could be little more than a pipe dream.

Outdoor swimming pools are at the mercy of the weather if they are to make a profit and none is so vulnerable as ours here in Bourne, one of the oldest lidos in the country and run entirely by voluntary effort. Last summer was disastrous with continual rain and cold that had a serious affect on attendance and therefore the seasonal takings were well down on a normal year.

The facility is currently run by the Bourne Outdoor Pool Preservation Trust which took over in 1990 after surviving the threat of closure by South Kesteven District Council which feared that it would create competition for the indoor pool at the newly built leisure centre off Queen’s Road but this generated a vigorous and successful public campaign to keep it open and since then it has become one of the town’s most popular summer leisure amenities.

The pool began life almost a thousand years ago as a carp pond to provide food for the monks of Bourne Abbey but later became an unofficial venue where the lads of the town took a dip during those hot spells of summer which seem to be so reminiscent of past times until being converted for use as an official swimming pool in 1922. Since then there has been a progressive programme of improvements to create the amenity we see today, a pool just under the official Olympic length of 50 metres and holding 250,000 gallons of water which is heated to a pleasant 27-30 degrees C during its opening period from mid-May to early September.

The 90th anniversary of its opening was marked last year but apart from reduced admissions caused by the bad weather there has also been the problem of essential repairs that needed to be done, mainly remedial work on the floor of the pool where cavities had formed allowing algae to grow but specialists have now replaced the damaged sections and re-sealed the entire pool. The work has cost £35,000 and the bill has been met with substantial grants from local organisations, the Len Pick Trust and the organisers of the BRM celebration day last October.

These generous gestures and, indeed, the running of the outdoor pool itself, are symptomatic of a community where volunteers are always at hand and a readiness to help are ever present, two factors which make Bourne such a pleasant place to live. All we need now is a spell of fine weather during the coming summer to ensure that the pool is well used and so increase the incoming funds that are essential for its survival.

From the archives – 138 years ago: THE DERBY DAY: Within a short time after the race the public in Bourne were informed of the result, by circulars issued by Mr Thomas Pearce, postmaster, printer, etc, who had received a special telegram. - news item from the Grantham Journal, Saturday 29th May 1875.

Tradition is a belief or behaviour within a society with a special significance to its past, a method of holding on to a previous time, and although we normally associate it with our ancient history, it has to start somewhere. Our oldest tradition is the White Bread Meadow race, the eccentric idea of an 18th century landowner, William Clay, who in 1742 bequeathed the annual rental of land in the fen to buy bread for the poor of the parish with the stipulation that the successful tenant for the grazing rights be decided by bidding during a race between boys, a custom sill observed today.

Civic Sunday is a comparatively new event in the Bourne calendar with no claim to any substantial historic connection but will nevertheless be observed this weekend with similar regard for the past. It began as recently as 1967 when Councillor Jack Burchnell (1909-73) was chairman of the old Bourne Urban District Council which ran this town’s affairs until the re-organisation of local government in 1974 when the present town council was formed and with it the office of mayor that we know today.

Councillor Burchnell had a tremendous feeling for tradition and was anxious to ensure that there were sufficient opportunities during the year when those involved in the decision making process could be brought together with the people for both religious and social occasions.

The following year, when the event was held on Sunday 9th June 1968, the Vicar of Bourne, Canon Hugh Laurence, outlined its aims during an address to a packed congregation at the Abbey Church. "Only when government and religion become two sides of the same coin can society become healthy and happy", he said. "Since people get the kinds of governments they deserve, it matters supremely what kind of people we are."

Civic Sunday that year began with a parade led by the band of the Boys' Brigade with the chairman of BUDC, Councillor Ted Kelby, and Councillor Harold Scarborough, chairman of South Kesteven Rural Council, at the head of the procession together with other councillors, magistrates and officials followed by representatives of various organisations in the town such as the Round Table, the Rotary Club, Fire Brigade, St John Ambulance Brigade, the Red Cross, girl guides and boy scouts, Bourne United Charities, the British Legion, WRVS, police and special constables and the Royal Naval Association. The various representatives assembled in the market place [now the town centre] and then marched down South Street and Church Walk to the Abbey Church where the lessons were read by Councillor Kelby and Mr Frank Mason, clerk to BUDC. After the service, the parade re-formed and marched to the Corn Exchange for an informal gathering over coffee and biscuits.

The Civic Sunday we celebrate today no longer includes a parade through the streets but the support of councillors has been no less evident, usually assembling outside the church and then walking in procession down the aisle to their places in the front pews after the congregation have been seated. This year, members of the town council headed by the new Mayor of Bourne, Councillor David Higgs, will attend the service and afterwards join parishioners for refreshments in the church hall nearby, an informal occasion but one that enables councillors get to know the people they represent.

Although less than half a century old, this event is usually well attended and provided our first citizens are imbued with the same enthusiasm as in the past then there is no reason why it should not continue for another fifty years, perhaps even longer.

Thought for the week: A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril. - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former Prime Minister, statesman, orator, historian, Nobel Prize winning writer and artist.

Saturday 8^th June 2013

The old bridge over the Bourne Eau in Eastgate is not a particularly prepossessing structure and it is doubtful if it will be missed, despite its age, because after almost two centuries of useful work it is to be replaced, a victim of European bureaucracy.

This practical rather than aesthetic structure dates from the early 19th century although exactly when is uncertain. The name Queen's Bridge suggests that it marks an important occasion connected with Queen Victoria but as records show that it existed in 1856 this rules out her Golden and Diamond Jubilees and so it may have been built as a commemoration of her accession or wedding in 1837-38.

There is evidence of a ford or crossing at this point since the earliest times and when the river was cleaned out in October 1898, the bed of the section beside the bridge was found to be paved with stones, ancient and well laid and believed to date from Roman times. The bank below the bridge was once a slope to provide access for horses and carts, allowing the animals to drink and the wagons to be washed.

Queen's Bridge became a central feature of the Eastgate district and can be seen in many old photographs from earlier times. The White Bread Meadow auction was traditionally held there annually as well as periodic auctions of grazing rights on pasture land in the North and South Fen. It was also the centre for many public occasions, outdoor meetings and other gatherings, while children played along the nearby riverside and small boys netted newts and fished for minnows.

In 1865, there were concerns about public health because the town's sewage was emptied into the river at this point so creating a serious nuisance which was expected to exacerbate with the introduction of more domestic water closets around the town.

The original bridge was most likely made of wood but the present structure, probably dating from 1910-20, has little artistic merit, sturdily built of rough concrete and strong enough to withstand the weight of horse-drawn traffic but within a few years, constant use by cars and lorries had taken their toll and the bridge is now showing signs of deterioration. In addition, pipes from various public utilities that have crossed the road at this point in recent years have been left exposed with little attempt to disguise their presence.

The bridge's official weight capacity of 7.5 tonnes is below the European directive of a 40 tonne limit and so Lincolnshire County Council, the highways authority, has decided that its days are numbered and plans have been drawn up to replace it during the summer months.

It is now becoming apparent that the new Community Access Point that has been established at the Corn Exchange is considered to be too small by the people who use it. There is insufficient space for the public library, an inquiry desk and the staff required to deal with visitors with the result that complaints about the cramped conditions have become commonplace. This is a predicable outcome for the entire project which has tried to squeeze a quart into a pint pot and once the library that had been transferred from South Street had been drastically scaled down, it was inevitable that the lack of space for other amenities would also be at a premium.

Staff have been heard complaining about the lack of space behind the inquiry desk while waiting customers feel jostled at busy periods and library users have found that there is insufficient room between the free standing shelves to allow them browse the books in comfort.

It is perhaps, unfair to condemn the entire scheme as a failure but we have yet to hear a single word in praise while some of the criticism is scathing. “Lack of space seems to be the opinion of everyone I have spoken to about it”, said one email this week. “Another big mistake and total waste of money.”

Car parking is also causing a problem and on Thursday of last week, which was market day, we heard complaints of visitors driving round for twenty minutes before finding a space with the usual frayed tempers as a result.

The new Community Access Point has brought all council services at town, district and county level together under one roof. The reason for the new arrangement was to save money in the current round of public spending cuts but many are asking whether this is really the way forward especially as the scheme cost £600,000 which was three times over budget while the future of the redundant buildings created by the move, the historic Town Hall and the public library in South Street, still has to be decided.

They are now expected to be sold on the property market and it is a fair assumption that the cost of the project plus the money obtained from these sales would have been sufficient to finance a purpose built and spacious Community Access Point on a new site which would have provided a more convenient location with adequate car parking, a far more acceptable economic proposition.

The heartbreak stories of those who ended up in the workhouse at Bourne during the 19th century reflect a harsh and even uncaring social system although many of the inmates had seen better days and had arrived there through unfortunate circumstances beyond their control. There were also mysteries that would not have been out of place in the pages of a Victorian detective novel such as the strange case of the tattooed lady which occurred 150 years ago.

Apart from the destitute from the district, the workhouse or union, then situated in what is now St Peter’s Road but demolished in 2001, also admitted tramps and vagrants who were passing through and allowed to stay a few nights although they had to earn their keep by cleaning the dormitories or helping in the kitchens and garden, and in 1858 a woman named Elizabeth Powell found herself living there under such circumstances.

She was not in good health and died within a few days on October 30th but when the body was being examined by a doctor he made a remarkable discovery. The chairman of the Board of Guardians, Mr John Burgess, takes up the story: “It was found after her death that both her arms bore initials perforated with ink, and executed in a beautiful manner”, he said. “As she was admitted into the union house as a casual, nothing could be correctly ascertained from her whether she had friends or not, or where her native place was. On her right arm was the following: W.B.R.H.N.G.E.W.R.S. and T. Whittingham C.5. Left arm: A.J.J.R.P.”

The workhouse officials were baffled by the lettering and on being unable to find an explanation they posted a notice in the local newspapers describing what they had found, adding: “Should this paragraph be observed by the friends of the deceased, they may ascertain more particulars by communicating with the Master of the Bourne Union.”

There was no response. Elizabeth Powell was subsequently given a pauper’s burial in the town cemetery where she lies in an unmarked grave, the secret of the tattooed messages on her arms having died with her.

Celebrations of national events today never seem to be quite as elaborate or enjoyable as those in past times and this has been amply illustrated by the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation which passed by this week almost unnoticed in those towns and cities which celebrated the occasion with such gusto back in 1953. Yes, it was a long time ago but there are still people around who remember it vividly.

Television was still in its infancy, black and white and with an intermittent signal, but the new medium proved its appeal on this occasion when thousands bought a set and watched the small screen for the first time only because they wanted to see the coronation ceremony as it was transmitted live from London. But by the time this grand occasion was over, the nation had been hooked on television and so it has been ever since.

Across the land, everyone celebrated by inviting friends and relatives round or with street parties where entire neighbourhoods joined together to toast the new monarch. Bourne Urban District Council, which then ran our affairs, decided that there would be a whole week of events, a tradition that goes back to the earliest times to mark royal occasions, and a Coronation Committee was appointed to make the arrangements and ensure that both young and old would be involved. Souvenir gifts were distributed to all children, public buildings including the Abbey Church were floodlit at night together with the market place [now the town centre] and South Street while residents were urged to decorate their own houses to add to the festivities of joy and acclamation.

On Coronation Day, Tuesday 2nd June 1953, a united service was held on the Abbey Lawn at 10.30 am conducted by the Anglican and Free Church ministers in the town and the March Railway Prize Silver Band lead the singing. A grand carnival procession marched through the streets in the afternoon headed by the band starting at Queen's Road and proceeding along Mill Drove, North Street, South Street, Austerby, Eastgate to the gates of the Abbey Lawn and included mobile tableaux, private cars, fancy dress and decorated cycles. The parade was followed by sideshows and a fun fair on the Abbey Lawn with skittling for a pig, hoopla, rifle range, tombola, putting and bowling competitions. Refreshments were served and throughout the afternoon the band played popular musical selections at frequent intervals.

All children living in the urban district and of school age were served with tea in the Corn Exchange. Afterwards they attended a sports event for both children and adults on the Abbey Lawn where there were a series of events with valuable prizes including track and sprint events, the sack and egg and spoon races and a tug o' war for teams representing the various works in the town.

The day's celebrations ended with a fireworks display on the football field, a torchlight procession from Abbey Road, along West Street and West Road to Stamford Hill where a bonfire was lit and this was followed by a Grand Coronation Carnival dance at the Corn Exchange (admission 3s 6d) with music by the New Olympian Orchestra and which was relayed for dancing in the Market Place.

There were also a multitude of street parties around the town during the week where neighbours struck up new friendships. Other events included a display by the fire brigade on the recreation ground, an old people's tea and entertainment in the Corn Exchange for everyone over the age of 65, a grand Coronation gymkhana for children and young people on the football field with £50 in prizes, a carnival dance at the Corn Exchange and a competition for the best kept council house garden. A fund was also opened to pay for the planting of trees to improve the approaches to the town.

The week of celebrations ended with a choral service of praise and thanksgiving in the Abbey Church with the combined church choirs of the town singing works by famous composers and accompanied by the band, the various items interspersed with readings from the scriptures and English literature.

This was one of the most successful community events ever held in Bourne at a time when the population was just over 5,000, one third of what it is today. There have been similar occasions in the town but none has involved the people quite so much as this and the news reports from the time indicate that not a soul was left out of the celebrations, a rare accolade for those volunteers who spent so much time on its organisation and who always seem to be around when there is work to be done.

Thought for the week: Those who can, do. Those who can do more, volunteer. - author unknown.

Saturday 15^th June 2013

Wind turbines in the fen - see "Plans to build . . . "

The Bourne Forum has closed after fourteen years during which time it became one of the liveliest debating platforms in Lincolnshire. It began in April 1999 and has since hosted thousands of contributions on a multitude of subjects and although these discussions may not have had any dramatic impact on our community, some have certainly made people think.

This was one of the first forums on the Internet and the intention was to discuss topics associated with Bourne but the subject matter slowly broadened and within a few months, international affairs were on the agenda with several visitors from overseas contributing regularly. This enthusiasm has lasted the years but we have become a victim of our own formula because most newspapers now have a system of accepting contributions while the spread of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have helped decrease the attention span required and it has become quicker and easier to post gossip in a few seconds rather than spend time on studied opinions on matters of the moment.

The demise of this facility is a sign of our changing times, brought about by the rapid spread of new technology that has given us the world at our finger tips. You may now post your thoughts from a mobile phone or tablet while on the move whereas to give an opinion of any weight needs time at the keyboard and most people are opting for the easy way out.

The omens were apparent earlier this year when contributions began to decline and in recent weeks the Forum has been limping along and so I have decided to put it out of its misery. This is an opportune time to end this facility because it coincides with the renewal of our regular subscription, and there is little point in paying out for something that is not being used. This decision will not affect the Bourne web site which will continue for the time being.

The closure of the Forum is only one manifestation of the Internet changing the way things were and the book trade has also been badly hit. Shoppers at Tesco’s new store in South Road may have spotted a couple of sections in one of the aisles devoted to the sale of books on local history. These modest volumes deal mainly with Lincolnshire and there is one about Spalding and another about Stamford but none of them deals with Bourne, the very place from where the bulk of their customers come from, even though there are six books about this town currently in print.

It appeared to be a serious omission on the part of Tesco not to stock a book on the history of the town where the store is situated, especially in view of the company's commitment to community participation and so I pointed this out to the manager. He referred me to Customer Services who passed me on to the book buying department and an exchange of emails and letters ensued but the result is that there will be no change in company policy, the plain fact being that books no longer sell, particularly those dealing with local history.

The slump in this market has already cost us a fine quality outlet with the closure of Walker’s Books in North Street last year, a shop that welcomed literature on local history, but Tesco are unwilling to take the risk. This would seem to be a cavalier attitude by a company that uses the slogan “being a good neighbour in our local communities” but then they are in business to make money and if books are slow in selling, then why bother.

The case made by Garry Blackman of Tesco, the Category Buying Manager, Books, seems final. “Currently there are just too many books being published in the U K for the declining market to sustain”, he told me. “We only now consider books submitted to us by the country’s leading publishing houses or those that stand a chance of featuring in the publishing industry’s top 5,000 national best-selling titles.”

Sales of local books have declined at a more dramatic rate than main stream titles, he said, and the company has now suspended any new titles being added to their very limited ranges for the time being and an on-line and or digital service is now being considered. Self-published work, however, would not be considered by the company at all until they are supported by a major publishing house. Mr Blackman added: “I fully accept that all of these scenarios make it very difficult for individuals, new authors, writers groups and independent publishers to get a breakthrough in to the mass market which I can only apologise for.”

This does not augur well for anyone now writing books on local topics unless they are prepared to publish on-line. In the meantime, Tesco will continue to sell its range of volumes on Lincolnshire and the surrounding towns at their South Road store. But not one of them about Bourne.

Local newspapers are also feeling the pinch as the Internet expands. Most now have their own web sites but editorial content, their original purpose for existing, has declined dramatically in recent years. Past issues of our provincial publications show them packed with columns of news cover to cover and, indeed, this has been my experience during 60 years in journalism when reporters were writing copy from morning to night to fill the available space. But today, advertising rules because this means income. Editorial staffs have been reduced and the coverage of local events has declined together with that of council meetings, court proceedings, and the activities of our churches and various organisations. Instead, we get coming events and charity announcements masquerading as news while the doings of those who run our affairs and influence our lives hardly get a mention.

The content of provincial coverage bears little resemblance to that when I began in 1953 and the end of detailed reporting of what we called parish pump affairs is yet another sign of our changing times while investigative and campaigning journalism has long gone and much of what we get now is advertising material. Yet despite these significant changes, our local newspapers continue to put up their prices and from this week the Stamford Mercury will cost £1, a small increase of 5p but as the newspaper carries only two or three stories from Bourne which can also be read on their web site, that may well prove to be a price increase too far for many readers.

Among of the most frequent fire hazards in the Bourne area in past times were hay and straw stacks which ignited easily and caused widespread damage, an unfortunate occurrence in some cases when farmers were not insured. Spontaneous combustion was often the cause and children playing with matches another but there are also many recorded cases of employees setting them on fire as an act of revenge for being badly treated or some other grievance.

More importantly, there were numerous cases in which stacks caught fire when farm workers had been smoking but this was difficult to prove because such allegations were invariably denied and if there were several of them working at the same time, then no one would take the blame.

Such a case arose in Bourne on the evening of Friday 26th  July 1872 when fire broke out in a stack yard at the back of Star Lane [now Abbey Road] owned by Edward Banton. As a result, four stacks of hay and part of another (containing together about forty or fifty tons) were almost entirely destroyed. One of the stacks was an old one of last year's produce and the remainder were new hay.

As a result of the blaze, a local newspaper reported the following day: “The stack where the fire originated was raised partly on the previous day and finished on the afternoon of the same day; therefore the fire could not have arisen from spontaneous combustion, nor were there any children near who could have set it on fire with matches or otherwise. The stack which first became ignited was adjoining one at which three or four men were at work. A few minutes before the fire burst out they had finished putting a load upon the stack and were resting; the supposition is that some of the men were smoking and that the accident was occasioned in that way; excluding this theory the fire is a very mysterious one, they denying they were smoking at the time. It is, however, a fact (and a serious one too for insurance companies) that the habit of smoking is very prevalent in farmyards and in dangerous proximity to stacks. The practice of farming men going about their work with short pipes in their mouths ought to be put a stop to.”

From the archives – 297 years ago: Went away from his Master, Christopher Newton, shoemaker, of Morton, near Bourne, Robert Gambel, a middle-sized lad, near 20 years of age, fresh coloured, thin nose, long visage, sad coloured clothes, buck skin breeches well worn, his coat torn on the left shoulder and mended like an L, and has sad coloured stockings. Whoever gives notice of the said lad to his Master, Christopher Newton aforesaid, so that he may have him again, shall have 10s.reward and reasonable charges, or whoever entertains him be it at their peril. – notice from the Stamford Mercury, Thursday 31st May 1716.

From the archives – 138 years ago: Robert Pick, of Witham-on-the-Hill, near Bourne, farmer, was summoned at the Bourne Petty Sessions on Thursday under the Master and Servant Act 1867 by George Stevenson, a lad in his employ, for ill-treatment in the said service. The statement of the lad was that Mr Pick had several times beaten him and on the day in question he did so very severely with a thick stick so as to bruise his back and arm very much, alleging as a reason that he had suffered the crows to go on the corn he had been minding. He had no other complaint against Mr Pick and wished to stay with him. Mr Pick admitted the assault and was find 1s. and costs 11s. - news report from the Grantham Journal, 28th August 1875.

Plans to build a massive wind turbine on the outskirts of Dyke, near Bourne have been dropped for the time being after a flood of objections that the 150 ft. high structure would cause problems for traffic on the nearby A15 trunk road.

County councillor Sue Woolley (Bourne Abbey), who supported the protest, said that it would cause a distraction for drivers by drawing their attention away from a section of carriageway that was already deemed to be dangerous. “The junction with Dyke village is also a notorious accident black spot”, she told the Stamford Mercury (May 24th). “I was concerned that people driving along a red route might be caught off guard and have their eyes drawn towards the blades.”

There was also a vigorous campaign against the development by villagers and the town council on the grounds that the wind turbine would be visually intrusive and in the wrong location, making it out of character in the rural area and as a result, the planning application which had been made to South Kesteven District Council has been withdrawn.

The company behind the project has declined to comment on their future plans but under the existing rules, they may now submit a revised application within six months without incurring another fee. They may, however, have been overtaken by events because in the meantime the government has announced that tough new guidelines are on the way that will give local people more power to prevent such developments when they are likely to create an undesirable impact on our landscape and heritage.

This means that in the future, councils will have to give precedence to the concerns of local people over the need for renewable energy and although the new guidelines will have a greater effect on larger expensive installations such as wind farms, single turbine projects are not expected to escape and so if planning permission for the Dyke scheme is re-submitted, the district council will have to give much greater credence to local objections.

Thought for the week: The wind farm business is an immense folly inflicted on a gullible public by big business, with the collusion of big government, at enormous expense to taxpayers and the environment, with shockingly little energy benefit. - Christopher Barnes, West Marin Citizen, a weekly newspaper based in Point Reyes Station, California, USA, November 2010.

Saturday 22^nd June 2013

The new library in Bourne is not affected by the proposed closures

More dire warnings from our local authorities surfaced this week with claims that their finances are now in such a sorry state because of the current cost of care for the elderly and disabled that they will have to consider closing libraries and parks and even switching off street lights unless they get more government funding.

The Local Government Association (LGA) which represents 370 councils said that although savings were being made through various efficiencies they were now running out of ways to cut costs further and unless they get substantial aid from central government the social care system will face financial collapse.

Sir Merrick Cockell, the Conservative leader of Kensington and Chelsea council in London and chairman of the LGA, told the Daily Telegraph (June 19th): “If government doesn’t give us what we hope on sharing and integration at national and local budget level, the services like libraries, like leisure centres, like the way that parks are kept or indeed street lights being on all through the night, councils will have to look at saving money on those things.” He added: “Councils are facing a very real crisis in providing even the most basic care to the most vulnerable members of society. The current system promotes an inefficient use of taxpayers’ money but more worryingly it also reduces the quality of care people receive. Fixing the financial crisis engulfing adult social care has to be a priority and not doing so could see councils start to fail their communities.”

Lincolnshire County Council appeared to be waiting in the wings because the ink was hardly dry on this report when they issued a statement warning that cuts were on the way with 32 out of 47 libraries being closed down. Staff will therefore be reduced from 298 to 128, a loss of 170 jobs and 177 access computers, as part of a scheme to save £2 million, one third of the total library budget, thus making LCC the first local authority in the country to tailor their cuts to the minimum statutory requirement. “It is also the most clear in stating that, in the brave new e-book and online world, and regardless of finances, there is no longer any need for libraries in smaller towns and villages and, if those communities stubbornly insist that there is, then they can jolly well staff them themselves”, commented the Public Libraries News web site this week.

Our own library here in Bourne, which has just been moved to the new Community Access Point at the Corn Exchange, appears to be safe for the time being and although its size has been drastically reduced, it will not be affected by the new proposals while opening times will remain at 46 hours a week as part of a new arrangement with South Kesteven District Council.

The bleak news from elsewhere in the county is yet another sign that the pressure on spending for all official organisations is now immense as a result of the current economic crisis and it is the public that is bearing the brunt of these draconian measures. But as well as these financial constraints, our libraries have become fair game for drastic savings because of advances in technology which we discussed last week, with the result that they are not being patronised as frequently as in the past.

The way in which our libraries are used is changing and the county council reckons that 82% of the population in Lincolnshire are not active borrowers and the stock of books issued in the last 10 years has dropped from five million to under three million. Councillor Nick Worth (Conservative, Holbeach), executive member for libraries, said in a statement: “Like it or not, smart phones, tablets, Kindles and new technology are changing the way we do things. As a result, our vision for the future of the service is a comprehensive one but one that remains both affordable and efficient.  But despite the need for change, our ambition is to keep all of Lincolnshire’s libraries open but this is only going to work with the support of our local community.”

Although 15 priority libraries in the larger towns will remain, 32 of our smaller rural libraries, including Market Deeping, will be closed to be replaced in many cases by a mobile library service for some people and access to an online database for others when a monthly visit would be arranged to deliver books to their homes, another sign of the new technology being adapted for modern needs. Operating hours of the mobile services would also be reduced but the council is encouraging people to run libraries themselves within their own communities. Proposals now under discussion would provide grants of £5,000 a year and up to 4,000 books, as well as a one-off payment of £15,000 for building works and equipment although this would not be implemented without the public consultation which is due to take place between July and September.

These are drastic changes to services that we have taken for granted and it is only when they are about to be lost or downgraded that we realise their value and we wonder what else will suffer the same fate in the future. New technology has become a whipping boy for spending economies and that may be a factor in some cases but cuts to our familiar public services are now becoming such a regular occurrence that at this rate, it cannot be long before the street lights actually do go out.

Taxidermy was a popular craft in Victorian times and many wild birds and animals were preserved in this way, mounted in glass cases or under glass domes to adorn the homes of our more affluent citizens.

Bourne became well-known for this animal artistry through the work of John Evans who practised from his workshop premises in West Street for fifty years until the close of the 19th century during which time he stuffed and preserved large numbers of rare and uncommon species that had been killed in the locality, many of which have since become extinct.

The first recorded example of his work comes from the summer of 1850 when a flight of curlews flew over Bourne and four of them were shot by a gamekeeper employed by a landowner at Dyke. In the years that followed, he also preserved a red-backed shrike, peregrine falcons, hen harriers, honey buzzards, Bohemian waxwings, a Manx shearwater, a puffin and a bittern. There were many more species and John Evans’ reputation soon spread countrywide and he was also called on to preserve rare animals, usually displaying them when finished in the front window of his shop for passers-by to inspect before sending them off to his customers.

His clients included many famous people from among the titled and landed gentry, stately homes such as Burghley House, near Stamford, and Grimsthorpe Castle, near Bourne, and army officers serving in India who often sent home the skins of animals, including a tiger and a panther, for his attention. But birds were his main preoccupation although by the end of his career, protest groups were springing up to prevent such practices, eventually leading to the formation of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1899. He continued working until 1898 when he moved to Ely to live with relatives where he died in 1899, aged 83.

His work output appears to have been prodigious yet I have been unable to trace much of it, apart from a kestrel which is on display in Peterborough Museum, and I am trying to find other examples that may have survived in order to photograph them to illustrate my article on Evans for the history of Bourne.

Although preserved birds no longer have the popular appeal that they commanded in Victorian times, there must be many still on show in the homes of our older residents who live in the Bourne area and if anyone has any such examples under glass then they must surely be the work of John Evans. If so, please email and perhaps we could arrange for me to come along and take a photograph.

The academy system which was introduced by central government thirteen years ago appears to be changing the appearance of our schools entirely and where once excellence in learning was the prime objective this is now perceived to be money and investment.

The first academies were established in 2000 by the Labour government under Tony Blair and within ten years there were more than 200 of them in England but this figure rocketed with the introduction of the Academies Act of 2010 which sought to expand their number and so by July 2012 it had reached almost 2,000 as schools rushed to take advantage of the official mantra of more money and more independence which would enable them implement their own admissions policy and curriculum, set their own pay and conditions for staff and vary the length of terms and school working days.

This major change in our education system has been opposed in many quarters, notably by teachers' trade unions and some leading politicians, while various news stories that surface periodically suggest that the undue haste pursued by schools to join it may have been ill-advised and the doubts and uncertainties expressed at the time now seem to be well founded. It is because of this system that in February this year it was announced that the Charles Read Academy at Corby Glen, near Bourne, was to shut by September 2014 and the 230 pupils transferred to the West Grantham Academy St Hugh’s, eleven miles away.

The school opened in 1963 and developed into a successful comprehensive, becoming an academy in 2011 but the attainment of pupils has been low and the school listed among the bottom 200 in the country with just 38% of pupils achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE level. Poor pupil performance, however, was not cited as a reason for the proposed closure which was blamed partly on changes in government funding which is allocated per pupil and with an anticipation that fewer children would be starting in the coming years, less money would be coming in and this appeared to be the nub of the present problem.

Schools that have turned into academies therefore, now seem to be in the hands of the accountants rather than the educationalists and it is inevitable that standards are likely to suffer if the main objective is always to balance the books. Money however, has saved the day at Corby Glen and the school is to remain open thanks to the benefaction of a wealthy businessman, David Ross, one of the richest men in Britain who is said to be worth £540 million. As a result, the school is to join a group of other academies administered by the education trust which bears his name and will therefore be saved from closure. In other words, the future of this school, once administered by Lincolnshire County Council, the local education authority, now depends on philanthropy, in this case the wealth of a particular individual rather than the taxes paid by the people.

All the mainstream schools in Bourne have been granted academy status, the first being the Abbey Primary in 2010 followed by the Robert Manning College (2011), Westfield Primary (2011) and Bourne Grammar School (2012).  Now we have another school for 210 pupils, soon to be built at Elsea Park at a cost of £2.5 million after a great deal of procrastination by the county council because it was first promised in 1999, long before academies were even on the horizon. Yet that too will be an academy but instead of being entirely independent, it will be run by Bourne Abbey Primary Academy, a decision approved by Lincolnshire County Council last week.

The days of a central administration for our schools, such as the local education authority, therefore seem to have gone for good. Academies are self-governing and often constituted as registered charities run by a board of governors yet they are funded by central government although there is a great deal of public confusion over whether this cash flow will be sufficient if schools such as Corby Glen are in danger of failing. The answer is that the regulations allow for academies to receive additional support from personal or corporate sponsorship, such as in this case, but many will regard this as a move towards privatisation by the back door.

Thought for the week: In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. - Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, American author and humorist and friend to presidents, artists, industrialists and European royalty.

Saturday 29^th June 2013

Car parking spaces are being allocated to the occupants of the new apartments now being built by South Kesteven District Council for sale as investment properties, thus reducing the number available to the general public. Whether they will be sold, rented or leased, is not yet clear but the Burghley Street car park has been redesigned to accommodate this change.

The work has involved removing the black and gold ornamental railings, a public seat that has been well used, especially by old people, and an information board, all installed as recently as 2009 yet now consigned to the rubbish tip. As a result, the original 92 spaces for public use in this car park have been increased to 95 but 14 of them are being lost to the general public because all have been fitted with lockable integral parking posts to secure them for the exclusive use of the new owners.

The arrangement is part of the Wherry’s Lane refurbishment scheme which is costing £2.2 million and involves converting the old corn warehouse into flats with an arcade of seven shops, a questionable project at a time when there are many retail outlets in the town centre already standing empty, while the fourteen apartments are being advertised as investment opportunities even though the council has some 4,000 names on its housing waiting list, 440 of them in Bourne.

The use of spaces in the nearby public car park as an inducement to buyers of the available apartments will be an additional annoyance to those struggling to find somewhere to live or even to leave their cars on a busy day in town at a time when parking in Bourne is becoming increasingly difficult yet the council appears to have taken no account of these problems while pursuing a scheme that seems to have been driven by the profit motive rather than the welfare of the people it is supposed to represent.

SKDC has had a problem on its hands with two highly priced properties to dispose of following the unfortunate collapse of the £27 million town centre regeneration scheme which was abandoned in June 2010 after ten years of planning without a single brick being laid, the Burghley Street warehouse having cost £350,000 and the old Masonic lodge £375,000, the latter to be pulled down, thus making it the most expensive building site in the history of Bourne.

The refurbishment of Wherry’s Lane seemed to be a bright prospect which was welcomed by most people in the town until they heard that the new development was being undertaken to create more shops to let and apartments for sale to investment buyers but it now becomes apparent that although this narrow walkway from the town centre was in need of a long awaited facelift, there will be little public benefit apart from it looking much better than it did by removing a long standing eyesore from the locality while cuts in council services continue on a regular basis.

There is also the question of what will happen when the funfair comes to town in October. The Burghley Street car park is always closed for a week to make way for the stalls and sideshows and we wonder whether the owners of these private car parking spaces will have to give them up in the same way as the rest of the town or whether special privileges will be granted to enable them park as usual. Or perhaps, which is most likely, officers at SKDC have forgotten about this annual attraction and have not even addressed the problem in their forward planning strategy. We therefore await the arrival of the dodgems and candy floss kiosks this autumn with some expectation.

We insure our cars today against all eventualities but in times past it was the cow which played an important part in our daily lives, providing a continuous supply of milk, manure and eventually meat, hides and other by-products from the carcass.

Many people apart from farmers owned a cow and they took similar precautions to protect their property, the most popular method being to subscribe to a scheme that would indemnify them in times of disaster. The Bourne Cow Insurance Club, usually known as the Bourne Cow Club, was formed for this purpose in 1854 and in return for regular weekly or monthly payments, members were promised compensation if their animals died. Under the rules, three-fourths (75%) of the value of the animal was paid out in compensation if it died although the carcass became the property of the club who sold it to defray expenses.

The club was also regarded as a social organisation and the annual meetings were convivial occasions, held on licensed premises, when members could meet and discuss their business and the affairs of the day and then relax over a meal and a drink. The 10th annual meeting of the club was held on Wednesday 6th January 1864 at the Windmill Inn in North Street [now demolished] and the accounts of the club presented to the meeting are an indication of its success because they showed receipts for the previous twelve months in excess of £50 with a surplus in hand after discharging all liabilities until the end of the year. Members celebrated with an excellent supper provided by the landlord, Mr William Banks, and afterwards spent an agreeable evening of music, song and conversation.

In 1890, the club widened its membership and was reconstituted as the Bourne, Dyke and Cawthorpe Cow Club, continuing in business well into the 20th century although its finances were not always so healthy, especially after those years when sickness took its toll among farm animals. When the annual meeting was held at the Marquis of Granby in Abbey Road in February 1901, members were told that the club had sustained heavy losses but their spontaneous generosity in making individual donations kept it afloat.

A similar situation occurred in 1907 when the club was insuring 44 cows with a total estimated value of £650. But when the annual meeting was held on Monday 28th January, members were presented with a balance sheet that reflected serious losses because of compensation payments for three cows and the club therefore had a shortfall of almost £5.

The chairman, Mr Arthur Saul, a local auctioneer and valuer, told the meeting: "I am sorry to report that the club has had such a disastrous year and I hope that before we disperse this evening, members will be able to clear our deficiency and so enable our club to continue in a flourishing condition." These meetings were followed by the usual dinner and an evening of entertainment and so the chairman’s confidence was not misplaced because the deficit was cleared before the evening ended.

The club continued in existence for a few more years but by 1920, support had begun to wane and it eventually folded, due mainly to the increase in other forms of insurance, notably through the National Farmers’ Union itself.

From the archives - A crime wave 165 years ago: Bourne abounded with disasters on Tuesday night last. The warehouse of Messrs Wherry in North Street was broken into and 170 lb. of tea stolen. The larder of Briggs at the Nag's Head was found minus a fine piece of beef. His neighbour, Mr Shippey, was robbed of a fine spare rib; on the same night, Mr Marriott, brazier, of Deeping, was stopped and robbed on his way from Bourne and almost immediately after, the mail cart proceeding from Bourne to Peterborough was stopped by the same party (it is supposed). In the last case, however, the presenting of a brace of pistols made the sinners scamper. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 10th March 1848.

A drive through the English countryside at this time of the year gives us a glimpse of what is happening in the villages and hamlets of this green and pleasant land because every few miles we see a roadside sign or poster advertising the multifarious activities in pursuit of pleasure. These are known as the lazy days of summer but there is much going on in and around our little town and these makeshift signs announce fetes, feasts and festivals, gala days and fun evenings, because this is the season of village revels that have their origins in the mists of time.

People do remarkable things under the guise of merrymaking. They roll cheeses, kick bottles, run around in sacks, pelt Aunt Sallies and do various things with eggs and there is always the beer tent to ensure that they generally make fools of themselves. But there is a serious sociological background to these public gatherings of high summer.

Our ancestors had only the hedges around the fields as their horizons and in those fields they ploughed and hoed and harvested and with no artificial illumination in their homes other than expensive candles and rush lights, they went to bed at sunset and rose at dawn which coincided with their working day.

The pattern of village life has always been closely linked to the perennial rounds of ploughing and sowing, new crops, first fruits and harvest, and these weeks of hard work were punctuated by periods of relaxation, during which the traditional festivals, fairs and holidays were held. High summer gave them longer days and therefore additional hours to enjoy themselves just before the back breaking work of the harvest and so the tradition of the village feast during these months grew up when for a few hours they could forget their endless toil and socialise with their neighbours.

Most of these ancient customs survive today as a means of fund-raising for various charities and good causes and they continue despite our notoriously inclement weather and the assurance that the event will go on "in barn if wet" has become an ominous reminder that storm clouds may gather on the day although enjoyment is never dampened by the rain.

Meanwhile, more recent customs invade our senses and as the cornfields begin to turn a golden yellow, we hear the smack of leather on willow from the Abbey Lawn where cricket is a regular weekend occurrence and the smell of barbecued food drifts down the street to remind us that the outdoor life is the preferred one when the sun shines while the ubiquitous fly-past by vintage aircraft from the Second World War now proclaims this season of events as they drone overhead every weekend heading for some village fete or gala to be cheered for a few thrilling moments by the crowd thronging their side shows and attractions.

It has always been a puzzle why millions of us head for foreign climes at great expense during July and August when these are the very months that we can usually enjoy good weather here at home in our own back gardens without the hassle of crowded airports, uncomfortable accommodation and poor food at overrated tourist destinations. Admittedly, the current erratic weather pattern can play havoc with our summer events as unexpected spells of wind and rain keep spectators away and disrupt even the best organised public occasion but this hardly compares with the hassle of foreign travel and the personal indignities imposed at our airports.

Travel is the perception of being somewhere else and it is a seductive illusion that we pursue, rather like a mirage in the desert, but as those of us who have abandoned such peregrinations years ago have discovered, the grass is seldom greener in those faraway places than it is here at home.

Thought for the week: A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it. - George Edward Moore (1873-1958), distinguished and influential English philosopher and one of the founders of the analytic tradition in philosophy.

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