Bourne Diary - July 2013

Saturday 6^th July 2013

The petrol monopoly is about to end for the Tesco/Esso filling station in North Road which has been the only retail outlet in Bourne since 2005. Work is well advanced on a new garage in South Road to be run by Texaco, Britain’s fourth largest fuel retailer, which is due to open on Friday 16th August, six weeks hence.

It matters little which company supplies our petrol because it all comes, more or less, from the same source, but what is important is the convenience and availability of sale. After eight years of just one outlet, we will now have two and competition will decide which attracts the greater custom although the new filling station appears to have the advantage with a modern forecourt service, Spar shop, sandwich bar and car wash, while the Tesco/Esso stop remains a cramped and inconvenient location on a busy road junction, often jammed with delivery lorries and a long and winding queue with customers jostling to pay at the checkout for groceries or petrol, or sometimes both. Pricing will also favour the motorist because Tesco/Esso is reputed to routinely undercut other garages in the immediate vicinity and if this policy continues then those who prefer to patronise them may expect to pay less for their petrol in the months to come.

The opening of the Tesco/Esso filling station in August 2002 has not been an entirely satisfactory project and apart from the establishment of the much criticised traffic system in North Street with its two questionable mini-roundabouts at a busy road junction, a price war was also created, resulting in the closure of two other petrol outlets which could not compete with the newcomer. Motorists therefore had nowhere else to go locally and this has been an absurd situation for a town with a population of 15,000. Now with the completion of the new filling station this summer, this unfair domination of the market will soon be over.

Wheelie bins have been with us now for almost seven years, proving to be cumbersome to handle, noisy and smelly but also very practical. There was an outcry when they were issued to homeowners in the autumn of 2006 but most have now come to accept them as a necessary evil, perhaps because there is no obvious alternative in this disposable age.

By issuing each household with two bins, one black for kitchen waste and one silver for recyclable materials, South Kesteven District Council managed to reduce the weekly rubbish collections which have been with us by right since 1875 to fortnightly and has defied all protestations from central government to reinstate them and so the system of alternate weeks appears to be here to stay.

The arrangement does seem to be working well but then so did all of the other methods including the old galvanised bins that made an unearthly noise up and down the street on  collection day followed by the black plastic bags and boxes, schemes which were eventually shelved because of the need to recycle as much waste as possible. Enter the wheelie bin after a complete appraisal of the rubbish collection and waste recycling system which was carried out in 2005 and the following year, the council issued wheelie bins to 5,500 homes through the district amid a great deal of controversy, much of which has now died down.

Seven years of continual use should be a sufficient time trial and it now appears that we generate far more recyclable material than anticipated because the silver bins are proving to be too small for many homes with additional makeshift receptacles awaiting the refuse lorry on collection day while kitchen or landfill waste is less abundant and so the black bins are generally half full or even less.

Although families have now become used to them, the bins remain unwieldy and if something is dropped in by mistake it is difficult to retrieve without tipping out the contents. They also need to be pushed out to the front of the property on collection day which is not an easy task for old or disabled people but everyone seems to manage and complaints appear to be few.

There is, however, one grievance that is frequently voiced and this concerns the lads who operate the refuse lorries on collection day. Householders dutifully observe their side of the arrangement by leaving their bins on the edge of their properties as instructed but once they have been emptied into the back of the cart, they are then left in the middle of the pavement turning the entire street into an obstacle course. This could be construed in law as causing an obstruction, a situation that would be avoided if the refuse collectors took that little bit extra care and replaced them from whence they came.

The bins remain noisy but not unduly so because I understand that they were tested during the design stage over the hard surfaces of pavements and drives and as they are used within the close proximity of homes, they were manufactured to make a maximum sound of 89 decibels when being used under normal circumstances which is well within the European Directive on this subject and so this rating will be printed somewhere on your bins (I kid you not).

They have brought a new distraction to the quiet and secluded byways of suburbia, a tranquillity once broken only by the hum of a lawn mower on Sunday mornings. The rumble of wheelie bins being moved every week to the front gate in the morning and then back again in the evening when they have been emptied often resembles distant thunder rather than a manifestation of domestic efficiency by the neighbours.

But what does the future hold for the wheelie bins? The scheme cost the district council £2.7 million to implement and so it will have to earn its keep. It is not perfect and we would hope that the boffins who beaver away in the back rooms of our waste disposal agencies will be working on a more efficient system although on present performance this may be more difficult to achieve than it appears. As with he who invents a better mousetrap, if anyone can come up with a vastly improved domestic rubbish collection system, then the world will beat a path to his door.

The message from the management committee of the village hall at Dyke, near Bourne, is loud and clear, use it or lose it, an admonition that could spell the end of a much-loved amenity.

A campaign is underway to encourage local groups support the facility which is currently running at a loss and although it is regularly used for many events such as quiz evenings, bingo and meetings of the Women’s Institute, more community involvement is needed if it is to survive.

Modernisation work was carried out last year with the addition of a new kitchen financed by a grant of almost £8,000 from the Lottery Fund but at the same time groups such as the karate class have closed. More public involvement is therefore required if it is to survive as it should because this particular village hall has a unique history.

Although a strange looking building, it is perfectly functional for its current purpose, built of corrugated zinc and originally erected at Belton Park, near Grantham, where it was known as St George's Mission having been used for church services by army personnel stationed there during the First World War. After the Armistice, many of these military buildings were sold off or given away by the War Office and in 1920, this one was moved in sections by tractor and trailer to a piece of land at Dyke supplied by the Bettinson family where it was re-erected as a community venue for social events and meetings.

In 1978, when its future came under review, a village hall committee was formed and since then almost the entire community has been involved in its running and upkeep, extending the floor space by an additional building at the rear to cope with an expanding population, and it soon became the centre of social life in Dyke.

Now its future is under threat, as committee member Mrs Betty Davies told The Local newspaper (June 28th). “I feel that a lot of people see the outside which is not that great and are put off although inside it is brilliant”, she said. “But people need to know that if they don’t use it they will lose it. The hall has been at the heart of the community and it could be again but villagers in Dyke need to play their part and to consider using it if they have a function or run a group.”

The 75th anniversary of the Mallard locomotive setting a new world speed record for a steam railway engine as it streaked down the east coast main line in the summer of 1938 was marked on Wednesday (July 3rd). This tremendous feat was achieved on a stretch of track near Little Bytham on the B1176 four miles south west of Bourne. The station closed in 1969 but the village maintains its reputation and is a popular haunt of railway enthusiasts, nestling around a grand Victorian viaduct that carries the line over the road between London and Scotland.

Even the local public house, a 16th century hostelry once known as the Green Man, changed its name in 1975 to The Mallard because of the growing interest in railways and the steam engine record and although it closed in 2002 and is now a private residence, it has been called Mallard House as a reminder of the famous event.

It was on this section between Grantham in Lincolnshire and Peterborough that the record was broken by the Mallard hauling seven coaches weighing 240 tons, achieving the highest speed ever ratified for a steam locomotive of 126 mph over a distance of 440 yards. On the footplate were two Doncaster men, driver Joseph Duddington at the controls and fireman Thomas Bray feeding the boiler with coal.

The stretch of track between Grantham and Peterborough was chosen for the record attempt because high speeds had been attained there before. From Stoke tunnel, south of Great Ponton station, there is a steady falling gradient and the line slopes all the way to Little Bytham and after passing through the tunnel, the train is able to gather speed which reaches its peak near Little Bytham, so making the next stretch to Essendine the fastest between London and Scotland.

The Mallard had started its journey at Doncaster and passed through Grantham station at a modest 24 mph. In the next two miles, it accelerated to 59¾ mph, then 69 mph with fireman Bray shovelling furiously to keep the fire burning at its maximum to supply all the steam needed as the engine thundered southwards. The train swept past the mile posts at the side of the track at an ever increasing pace, recording speeds of 87½ mph, 96½, 104, 107, 111½, 116, 119 mph and then, at the ensuing half-miles, 120¾ mph, 122½, 123, 124¼ and finally 126 mph, by which time the 6ft. 8in. driving wheels were doing more than 500 revolutions a minute. The train was clocked passing Little Bytham station at 4.36 pm and reaching Essendine, a little under three miles away, at 4.37 pm. It had maintained a speed of over 120 mph for more than five miles and had clocked 126 mph over a distance of 440 yards and so the record was secure.

The engine, an A4 LNER Pacific No 4468, now in the National Railway Museum at York, was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley (1876-1941) who was also responsible for the Flying Scotsman. He is buried in the churchyard at Netherseal, Derbyshire, and visitors come from all over the world to see his grave which was badly neglected for many years until 2009 when railway enthusiasts raised sufficient funds to restore it to a standard more befitting his historic achievements.

Thought for the week (1): There is more to life than increasing its speed. - Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), political and spiritual leader of India during the independence movement and pioneer of non-violent resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience.

Thought for the week (2): Speed, it seems to me, provides the one genuinely modern pleasure. - Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894-1963), English writer, humanist and a leader of modern thought.

Saturday 13^th July 2013

One of our historic public houses is about to disappear with the announcement that the King’s Head at Morton, near Bourne, will be demolished by the end of the year. The building has been standing empty and derelict since a mystery fire broke out in the early hours of Monday 18th June 2007, destroying large sections of the roof and gutting much of the interior. The cause has never been established and arson has not been ruled out.

This was my local at that time and we have since moved elsewhere but it has been a sad sight to see this once attractive building with a frontage on the main A15 trunk road slowly deteriorating. In the meantime, the roof has been made watertight, and the site secured to protect public safety.

The owners, Charles Wells Brewery and Pub Company of Bedford, said that restoration was too expensive and after an abortive meeting at the Angel Hotel held in the hope of finding someone to take over the business and the fixtures and fittings such as furniture and carpets, decided to put the property up for sale but it failed to meet the reserve price of £120,000 at an auction in July 2008 when bidding stopped at £116,000.

The building has since been bought by Lincolnshire Co-operative Society for redevelopment as a food store but the proposed changes were rejected by council planners as unsuitable and although the property was put back on the market for £150,000 two years ago, it failed to sell and the owners have now decided that because of continuing structural problems, it will be pulled down and replaced by a new retail premises.

The King’s Head is not a listed property although it is situated within the village conservation area and identified by South Kesteven District Council as a building of merit. But its age is uncertain and even the brewers who originally owned the building have no idea of its exact origins because their records have been lost and so it remains a matter of speculation. However, the present owners have promised that the design of the new premises will respect the general character of the old building and the history of the site, a decision endorsed by the parish council.

The inn undoubtedly began life as a beer house, probably the front room of a cottage owned by a farmer and brewer with villagers as his main customers but with the coming of stagecoach travel on the Peterborough to Lincoln highway, the premises would have been extended to cater for passengers stopping for refreshment and later for overnight accommodation and the stabling of horses. In fact, a close inspection of the property reveals the various additions to the original building as it was slowly transformed into the roadside inn of today, with bars and restaurant and all modern facilities.

The name too gives an indication of its age because the King’s Head dates from the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century. Until 1533, when the monarch was excommunicated for marrying Ann Boleyn, the Pope’s Head was a popular inn sign but all were changed to the King’s Head and this accounts for the large number still in existence today. The Morton pub, therefore, is likely to date from this period but records are few and the earliest mention from my own archive is in 1842 when James Andrew was the landlord. Nevertheless, the absence of documentary evidence should not exclude the possibility that it is much older which is why it has enjoyed the reputation of an ancient country inn and that, unfortunately, will now be lost before the year is out.

The closure of our public houses has been a cause for concern for many years with landlords besieged by problems of changing drinking habits and increased costs for staff wages, heating, lighting and the business rate. The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) claimed earlier this year that 26 were closing each week in the United Kingdom although a reduction in beer duty was welcomed in the hope that it would help reverse this trend.

Here is Bourne, the Sugar Mill opened in South Road shortly before Christmas, which goes against the current trend of closures, although the future of the Wishing Well at Dyke is uncertain, having gone into receivership but still open and doing good business.

Closures, however, have been a regular occurrence with the Crown in West Street shutting in 1991 followed by the Royal Oak in North Street in 2009 and the Marquess of Granby in Abbey Road two years later. In the past, Bourne has also lost some very popular names that will be quite unfamiliar to residents today such as the Boat Inn in South Fen, the Elephant and Castle in North Street, the Butcher’s Arms, the Old Wharf Inn and the Woolpack in Eastgate, the Horse and Groom in West Street, the Light Dragoon in Abbey Road, the New Inn in Victoria Place, the Railway Tavern in the Austerby, the Six Bells in North Street, the Three Horseshoes in North Fen, the Six Bells, Waggon and Horses and the Old Windmill Inn in North Street, all now long gone.

It is therefore obvious that the town has never been short of hostelries and in 1857 there were eleven taverns or public houses and fourteen by the end of the century. Since then, there has been a fluctuating pattern of closures and openings with the most dramatic developments occurring during the final years of the 20th century when the face of the traditional public house began to change, influenced by varying ownership, an increase in opening hours, the ban on smoking in public places, a decline in drinking habits and a demand for food to be served which is now an essential part of the service.

Among those that have survived are the Angel Hotel, the Burghley Arms and the Nag’s Head in the town centre, the Golden Lion in West Street and the Red Lion in South Street, while across the road is the stone built Mason's Arms. One of the most recent of our public houses was opened in May 2002 in a converted grocery shop on the west side of North Street now known as Smiths of Bourne. Other newcomers to the scene are the Jubilee Garage, opened across the road at No 30 North Street in 2006 in a building with a chequered history as an ironmonger’s shop, garage and blacksmith’s forge but retaining features from all three, and Firkin Ale, also established in former retail premises nearby at No 36 North Street, and all have already become popular haunts. The opening of the Sugar Mill means that there are now twelve public houses in Bourne which is about the average over the past 100 years.

Not all of our pubs, however, have a secure future as recent changes in managership have shown with some vacancies unfilled for several months and as the continuing competition from cheap liquor offered by the supermarkets exacerbates the current problems, the licensed trade continues to be an uncertain occupation.

A little known role for our most important secular building occurred during the mid-19th century when the Red Hall was used for a decade as a boarding school for girls. I am reminded of this by an email which has arrived seeking information about one of the pupils which is required for the compilation of a family tree.

There are no private schools operating in Bourne today but this was not always so. Prior to the Education Act of 1870, which provided for elementary schools to be built and run by the state, many existed in the town although the life of many was short lived. There was a ready demand for this type of education, particularly for girls whose parents sought the teaching of certain subjects required in their training to become respectable young ladies. Instruction was therefore given in such matters as social accomplishments, a subject that was not on the curriculum at the National School which had opened in 1829 and was the only other available to them because the old grammar school was restricted to boys only.

The Red Hall had been built in 1605 by London grocer Gilbert Fisher and remained in his family for the next 100 years but by 1730, ownership has passed to the Digby family who were in residence for the next century and when the widowed Catherine Digby died in 1836, the building was left to her descendants who leased it to various tenants and in 1850 it was converted for use as a private boarding school for young ladies.

During the next ten years there were at least three head teachers, Miss Elizabeth Sardeson, who is believed to have founded the school, Mrs Elizabeth West and Miss Elizabeth Wood, although the number of pupils was never large, no more than twenty at any one time. In 1851, for instance, when Mrs West, a widow, aged 54, was head teacher, the census revealed that she had been a schoolmistress for 38 years and that her establishment had five boarder-pupils, one boarder-teacher and one house servant. Teaching was therefore on a very personal basis and the girls would have spent their time studying languages, the classics, history, music and the social graces, all subjects considered befitting young ladies from well to do families about to enter Victorian society.

The school was eventually forced to shut in 1860 when the Red Hall was sold to the Bourne and Essendine Railway Company and was converted for use as the new station booking office and stationmaster's house, a role which continued until the line closed in 1959 when the building was acquired by Bourne United Charities and restored for use as a museum and community centre.

One by one, the other private schools in Bourne also closed down, the last one in 1945 but by then, the town was being served by state schools spanning all age groups for both primary and secondary education, a system which remains in force today although now being overtaken by the introduction of the new style academies.

It is now thirty years since the BRM company was wound up yet interest in the achievements of this unique organisation is still high and an association has now been formed to perpetuate the work that was done in the world of international motor racing which brought such fame to Bourne.

From small beginnings and powered with an enthusiasm and a will to succeed, the enterprise founded by the late international racing car driver and designer Raymond Mays (1899-1980) at makeshift premises behind his family’s home in Eastgate in 1934 progressed to modern workshops on the Spalding Road employing 100 people where the BRM car was produced which won the world championship in 1962 with Graham Hill at the wheel.

The town has not forgotten this achievement with a stone memorial in South Street, a permanent display at the nearby Heritage Centre and a BRM Celebration Day last October that attracted some 20,000 people from around the world to watch a cavalcade of historic cars with grandstands full and the pavements lined with onlookers enjoying the spectacle of our motor racing past.

Now, the association that has been formed to promote the history and legacy of the BRM will also provide a forum for the owners of BRM cars, enthusiasts and former employees. Membership includes an annual newsletter and members’ evening, access to BRM track days and details of the current locations of BRM cars on public display. A comprehensive web site is already up and running giving a history of this famous car together with a list of the people who worked for and were involved with the company at the Bourne workshops.

Thought for the week: There was the young racing star of the twenties and thirties, the matinee idol who fifty years ago thrilled multitudes in many different countries, and there was the careful perfectionist whose immense respect for detail meant nothing short of the best would ever do for him. Thanks to his lively inventiveness of mind, the genius with which he pursued it, and his courage and daring, he became one of the greatest, if not the greatest, racing motor drivers of his generation. - the Rt Rev Kenneth Riches, former Bishop of Lincoln, speaking about Raymond Mays during his funeral service at the Abbey Church, Bourne, in January 1980.

Saturday 20^th July 2013

The Spinning Wheel at Baston - see last item.

The number of immigrants from Lincolnshire to the colonies during the 19th century was extremely high as hundreds of people were attracted by the prospect of a new life in another land.

In the first fifty years of the century alone, many departed from Bourne and the surrounding villages and in February 1844, three families from Dowsby sailed for New South Wales together with a father, mother and seven children from the adjoining parish of Aslackby, and in the following June, 21 people from Morton left for North America, among them 17 with the name Taylor including father, mother, sons and daughters.

Sail rather than steam carried passengers over the seas and despite the long voyages, Australia was a popular destination although most people favoured North America. Shipping lines advertised berths in the local newspapers with boats of 1,000 to 1,500 tons sailing regularly from Liverpool and in 1845 one company offered passage to New York in 29-31 days and New Orleans in 30 days “with the most superior accommodation for passengers”.  Other packet ships left regularly for Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston, and one company even had a smaller sailing ship of 200 tons leaving from Wisbech which reduced the usual journey time by road to Liverpool for passengers from the Bourne area.

One typical newspaper advertisement from 1845 circulating in the Bourne area said: “Emigrants in the country can engage passage by letter stating the port to which they intend to go, when the price of passage and all other particulars will be stated, so that they need not be in Liverpool until the day before the ship is to sail, and they will thereby avoid detention and other expenses, besides securing a cheaper passage, and having the best berths allotted to them previous to their arrival. For further particulars apply (post-paid and including a postage stamp for a reply) to James Beckett and Son, North End Prince’s Dock, Liverpool.”

Special stagecoaches left central points around the country to take immigrants to the dockside at their port of departure and the journey and the voyage was made so appealing that hundreds flocked to go, so many in fact that questions were raised in Parliament about the loss of valuable workers from this country.

In June 1844, Sir John Trollope, the M P for Lincolnshire, voiced the fears of many landowners when he spoke during a debate in the House of Commons. “Not less than 100 families comprising some of the cleverest artisans and most skilful farmers in Lincolnshire emigrated from one spot in the county”, he said, “and an affecting and pitiful sight it was to see these men abandoning their homes to seek new habitations on the other side of the Atlantic. It is a serious loss to the mother country when the best and most industrious of her citizens leave our shores and settled in foreign climes.”

But the flow of immigrants had become unstoppable and week after week more men, often with their girlfriends, wives and families, chose to take the risk. Many found wealth and happiness while others discovered that life in the new world could be just as harsh as it was at home.

John Rate was among our immigrants although the move to America ended in tragedy for the family. He ran a successful tannery business on the banks of the Bourne Eau in Eastgate but in 1845, at the age of 44, he sold up and booked a passage for New York with his wife, Sarah, and three young children, daughter Louisa and sons John and Edward.

He settled in the Bronx, then an area of small rural farms supplying the city markets, where he found work and the children grew up but John, the elder of the two sons, separated from the family when he decided to move south. Thus it was in 1861 when the American Civil War broke out, a bloody conflict over the controversial issue of slavery that split the nation and by the time it ended in 1865 had cost the lives of 600,000 soldiers. John, then 23, joined the army for the Confederacy, or the South, while Edward, his younger brother, had enlisted for the Union, or the North, at the age of 18, and so they found themselves on opposing sides. Edward survived the war but John died from his wounds on the battlefields of Virginia in 1862, identified among the thousands of dead only by his personal bible which he had carried everywhere.

In later years, Edward recalled their last heart-rending meeting. “Our regiment was marching in column and halted at a ruined bridge over a creek while preparations were made to ford the stream”, he said. “A few feet away from where I was standing, I noticed a wounded Confederate soldier sitting on a log reading a little book with a peculiar plain cloth cover. The soldier’s legs, shattered by a bursting shell, were dangling from the log and blood was trickling though the dirty bandages. The dying soldier started when he saw me and tried to rise. His lips moved but I did not catch the sound. I seemed to recognise the features of someone I had known in that lean face, powder grimed and twisted with pain. I felt an impulse to leave the ranks and go to him but just then the order came ‘Forward march’. I never saw him again.”

Edward was to recount these events at regimental reunions held in the Bronx where he lived to be 81 and their story has been told to me by his great granddaughter, Jill Borman, of Plainfield, New Jersey, who is busy tracing her ancestors and compiling her family tree. She is also anxious to find out more about John Rate and his family before they left Bourne for the new world 170 years ago and if anyone out there discovers that they are related then please get in touch.

Cash aid is being made available to shopkeepers in Bourne by South Kesteven District Council to tart up their frontages in the town centre. A total of £80,000 has been allocated over a four-year period as part of a town centre shop front improvement scheme launched in 2011 to enhance premises here and in Grantham while at the same time retaining and enhancing the character of the towns.

The scheme acknowledges that the appearance and quality of shop fronts make an impact on the street scene and are vital for attracting customers in and around the town centre to help increase sales and investments and to contribute to the unique character and vibrancy of the area. Similar projects are already underway in market towns throughout the country to help regenerate their retail outlets and provide a better environment for both residents and visitors.

Under the scheme, businesses can apply for up to 75% of the cost of brightening up their frontage up to a maximum sum of £20,000, the money being used to pay for improving the facade, repairing windows and doors, pointing and replacing signs and canopies. Seven projects have already been completed in Bourne and Grantham at a cost of £22,653 with a further four due to be finished in the near future costing another £22,718, and the scheme is to be extended to Stamford and Market Deeping later this year.

“We have put money into these projects because we want to support local businesses and make Bourne a more attractive place to live and visit”, explained Councillor Frances Cartwright, portfolio for economic development. “The shop front grant scheme has made a big difference to the appearance of the town and I am thrilled that local business owners have seized this opportunity.”

One of the first beneficiaries has been the Newton Fallowell estate agents in North Street where work on their new frontage is now complete. “We are pleased with how it has turned out”, said director Chris Lett. “It has definitely improved the look of the shop and it stands out a lot more.  I would encourage other people to take it up because it makes the whole area look better.”

From the archives – 190 years ago: Few people are surprised today when an older man marries a young girl but attitudes were quite different in times past as this account illustrates.

Mr John Dexter, who was described as a respectable cottager and freeholder and therefore a wealthy man, was 66 years old when he was married at the village church at Dunsby, near Bourne, to Miss Mary Smith, “a blooming damsel of sweet 21”, according to the Stamford Mercury. Both lived locally and the service was conducted by the rector, the Rev William Waters. But the correspondent appears to have been carried away as he waxed lyrical when reporting the wedding because the following account appeared in the newspaper on Friday 4th July 1823:

“And when, John’s passion fondly pressing, he sought the matrimonial blessing. The language of love, so much talked of by the poets, prevailed against every remonstrance of friends and even the rage and fury of relations. The happy swain had conquest in his cheeks and will love, cherish, honour and obey. Hand in hand the couple blithely proceeded to the adjoining village of Rippingale where the festive board groaned with the weight of the feast and it also being the annual feast day of the parish, the tabor struck up and the village was gay. Rural sports were the order of the day and the merry dance and sparkling glass went round till night was at odds with morning and the groom, having taken sufficient of the cheer-upping cup, the happy couple retired and after throwing the stocking, the jolly swain was left wrapt in the arms of Morpheus to enjoy (what he most needed), nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep.”

Despite the uncertainty over the future of our public houses which was discussed in this column last week, there is still hope that they will survive, not only through the business acumen of the established company owners but also through the determination and enterprise of individuals.

Such a case has surfaced at Baston, near Bourne, where the Spinning Wheel in Church Street closed down in October 2012 despite a vigorous campaign by villagers to save it for the community. The owners, the Charles Wells brewery, eventually put the property up for sale and it was bought by local farmer Mark Richardson, aged 41, who has given the pub a facelift and re-opened under the old name of the White Horse. “I thought it was a great shame when the place closed”, he said, “but when it went on the market I saw the opportunity to turn the building back into the village pub it once was.”

Although new to the licensed trade, Mr Richardson was keen the learn the ropes and he invited villagers in on Christmas Eve to tell them that their pub had been saved and to find out their ideas for the future. There followed six months of refurbishment and recruiting staff, including a husband and wife team as managers, a chef and full and part-time bar staff, in readiness for the opening which was held amid some jubilation on Saturday when the celebrations included music from a marquee. “The staff have worked well to bring this about and we now look forward to running our new business”, said Mr Richardson. “I hope it will become a great British pub at the centre of the community and offering excellent food and drink.”

Baston has never been short of public houses in the past and in the 19th century there were four, the White Horse, the Black Horse, the Wheatsheaf and the New Inn, although this had closed within a few years. In 1900, the Black Horse was actually being run by a woman, Miss Sarah Cole, which was unusual in Victorian England, and the landlord of the White Horse was Joseph Stanton, who also had agricultural interests because he owned threshing machines which he rented out at harvest time, and he handed over to his son, Daniel Stanton, who was mine host by 1933.

In fact many village pubs were run by local farmers in past times, the landlord of the Black Horse in 1876, for instance, being Charles Cole, a prominent farmer, and so today, Mark Richardson finds himself part of that rural tradition.

Thought for the week: Few things are more pleasant than a village graced with a good church, a good priest and a good pub. - John Hillaby (1917-96), travel writer, author and explorer whose book A Journey Through Britain giving an account of his walk from Land's End to John o' Groats is still in print today.

Saturday 27^th July 2013

Drastic changes are being made to the interiors of parish churches across the land in an attempt to make use of the available space but as many clergymen know to their cost, such modifications do not suit everyone, especially those traditionalists who regard these ancient places as sacrosanct.

One of the major alterations has been to the nave, the central approach to the high altar, where the mainly Victorian oak and pine pews are being taken out, usually amid much controversy, and replaced by modern removable seating, thus allowing the large space that becomes available for new uses, including community events such as concerts, plays or children’s playgroups.

This has divided many parishes and cost some churches hitherto faithful members of their congregations and in 2010, worshippers at the 12th century St Nicholas Church in Tillingham, Essex, even launched a campaign to oust their vicar after complaining that plans to remove their pews and replace them with informal plastic chairs, dig up the floor and install central heating would be its ruination.

The pews have been gone from St Firmin’s Church at Thurlby, near Bourne, since 2005, but without quite so much fuss, and plans were also drawn up to move some from St Michael’s and All Angels Church at Edenham, although angry voices were raised because they include a wealth of old craftsmanship, including two bench ends with charming poppy heads, while many panels are thought to be from the 15th century. Now traditionalists are protesting about what they see as another travesty, that of moving the ancient font to a more central position some fifteen feet away, so providing more room around it for family and friends attending christenings which average one a month, a decision which they claim has been approved by the parochial church council and endorsed by the Diocese of Lincoln.

This seems to be a practical move because the font is not in the prominent position at the west end where you would expect to find it in an English country church but tucked into a nearby corner and hemmed in by pews. This indicates that it may have been moved to its present location in years past, probably to make room for more seating at a time when the congregation was expanding, perhaps in Victorian times when attendance on Sundays for workers from large country estates such as that at nearby Grimsthorpe was more or less obligatory and a check on the church records might reveal more information to establish whether this theory has any substance.

Yet some worshippers have condemned the idea of moving it as totally unnecessary and one that was agreed in private without consulting the people of the parish who regard it as unacceptable secrecy. There has been no public announcement and nothing of this has appeared in the parish magazine but now that word of it has leaked out, so much anger has been generated that one parishioner has cancelled her annual subscription to the church stewardship fund which raises money towards the upkeep of the building and a protest letter has gone off to the archdeacon asking for the decision to be reversed.

St Michael’s and All Angels is one of the most striking churches in the Bourne area, the magnificent pinnacled 15th century tower standing 84 feet high like a beacon of faith on a plateau alongside the main road. The large and handsome church is noted for this noble Perpendicular west tower and it also contains a wealth of magnificent monuments to the Dukes of Ancaster, the Earls of Lindsey and Lords Willoughby de Eresby whose family seat is at nearby Grimsthorpe Castle. It has been a Grade I listed building since 1968 while the massive stone font is thought to date from the Norman period, drum-shaped and decorated with shafts and scrolled capitals to the sides with unusual paired arches adorned with foliage.

“It is and always has been in exactly the right place and there is no reason why it should be moved”, said Mrs Jean Joyce who lives at the nearby hamlet of Scottlethorpe and has been involved with the church since she was a schoolgirl 65 years ago. “We are particularly upset that all of this appears to have been settled behind closed doors. There has been no public announcement and we only knew about it when word began to spread through the village. I am so upset that I have cancelled my £200 a year donation to the church and I understand that others are doing the same.”

She added: “It all seems a totally unnecessary upheaval and expense and will affect more of the character of the church and our formerly tranquil house of prayer is beginning to look rather shabby as a result. If there is money to spare then there are other more important things on which it could be spent, a disabled access, for instance, because we still do not have one.”

This is a challenging situation when a wrong decision could easily backfire and turn many people away at a time when every worshipper counts to keep the building alive and the wisdom of Solomon may be needed before making a decision. But there are two sides to every argument and it would seem obvious that both should be given the chance to have their say before anything is done, perhaps at a parish meeting where the proposed changes could be discussed and opinions aired. No church can afford to lose any of its support in these difficult times and certainly not over the positioning of the font.

It is becoming apparent that we cannot depend on anything promised under the planning gain, the financial input into the community by developers in return for permission to build highly profitable new homes.

This uncertain approach has had a history here in Bourne ever since the 2,000-home Elsea Park estate was first announced in March 1999, a scheme which generated much controversy, as did the public exhibition of plans by the various developers which was held the following autumn. But most people who went along to the Town Hall to see what was proposed were convinced that this might be a good thing after all, especially as Bourne was promised a whole raft of benefits provided the necessary permission was given.

These included a new south-west relief road, a community centre and a primary school, all of which were deemed to be necessary for an estate likely to double the size of this small market town within ten years, but these advantages have been slow in coming and it now seems clear that not all will materialise.

The 1½ mile relief road built at a cost of £4 million did not open for another six years and only then after several delays in completion followed by eighteen weeks of acrimony between the Lincolnshire County Council, the highways authority, and the developers who actually blocked the dual carriageway with huge concrete pipes to prevent traffic from using it. Our M P, Quentin Davies, called for the road to be nationalised or acquired by compulsory purchase to end the deadlock but eventually traffic did start to flow in October 2005 by which time the euphoria of having such a welcome addition to our road system had passed and plans for a civic opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony were scrapped to avoid the embarrassment of a boycott. “After three months of legal wrangling, people in Bourne have made it clear that they are in no mood to celebrate”, reported the Stamford Mercury on its front page. Instead, the company simply removed the barriers and allowed vehicles through for the first time.

Then there was the community centre which opened in March 2012 after thirteen years of waiting and by which time 750 homes had been completed, bringing with them an estimated 1,800 newcomers. This must be one of the finest of its kind in the county and is already being well used by a grateful community but we must not forget that its provision was not philanthropic but agreed as part of the Section 106 agreement (S106), the legal contract that formalises what will be provided by developers when planning permission is granted, and it is a pity that they had to wait for so long.

Now we come to the school, another on-off saga with the latest proposed date for opening being September 2014 which will be fourteen years after it was originally promised. Once again, the £2.5 million single-storey building will be funded mainly by the developers and run by Bourne Abbey Primary Academy, providing six classrooms and 210 new places, so ending the practice of diverting pupils to the surrounding villages because there are insufficient places at the two primary schools in the town.

The opening date was announced only last year amid much rejoicing although the sceptics quietly, and correctly, thought that their reticence would eventually be justified because The Local now reports that the project is likely to be held up as a result of the planning application for the school being deferred by the relevant committee following concerns about the proposed access (July 19th), a situation that has all the hallmarks of another year’s delay.

Access problems may seem to be a trivial reason for holding up an important project but the possibility it is causing serious concern among the governors of Bourne Abbey Primary who will run it. Their chairman, John Kirkman, a man with extensive knowledge of the workings of local government at all levels, fears that a hold-up at the planning stage will mean that the entire project will fall behind schedule because tenders for the construction work cannot be sought until permission is granted while parents will face further uncertainty over where they will be sending their children. “We will do everything in our power to get this school open in time for a reception class in September 2014”, he told the newspaper. “If it does not open in time, it will be horrendous for parents and that is my major concern right now.”

Along with the relief road and the community centre, these are all very necessary for an expanding market town where house building continues apace and more people are moving in each month, a population explosion that will also require additional health care facilities as the numbers increase and although we have two clinics doing excellent work, there is evidence of pressure in obtaining a doctor’s appointment without a long delay and so another would be most beneficial. This is well known by our county and district councils and by the developers of Elsea Park whose list of amenities promised under the planning gain in 1999 also included a doctor’s surgery but this necessary, even vital amenity, has never been mentioned since.

The problem is that government and local authorities all say what will either please or appease the public at the time, a policy now followed by most organisations that are there to serve the people such as the National Health Service, public utilities and even stores and supermarkets, with the result that the truth often becomes a hostage to expediency.

We have another example, this time from Lincolnshire Police, who insisted on raising the council tax this year despite the protestations of central government that it should remain frozen because of the current economic climate in which home owners are being squeezed to the limit. It was only a small increase, insisted the police and crime panel, just 6p per week for a band D home, but members promised that “the rise will keep officers on the streets” (Stamford Mercury, February 15th).

Now we hear that our money is likely to have been taken in vain because the newspaper reports (July 20th) that this essential manpower may be reduced after all to meet further savings targets. Once again, it is all about money for although the police force is coping well with its economies so far, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary which has been tracking their expenditure, reports that further cuts which may be necessary in the future “would make it increasingly difficult to continue to protect its frontline”.

Thought for the week: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), shopkeeper turned country lawyer who became the 16th president of the United States.

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