Bourne Diary - February 2014

Saturday 1^st February 2014

Bourne and the BRM will be forever linked but it is surprising to learn that many of the younger generation have no idea of the motor racing connection with this town. This information has surfaced from Bourne Academy where pupils are to participate in laying a trail through the streets directing visitors to the various places associated with the development of the car which won the world championship in 1962.

A £4,000 grant has been obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund following a joint bid by the school, the Civic Society and the BRM Association, formed last summer after the successful world championship anniversary day celebrations. The Len Pick Trust has contributed a further £1,000 bringing the total amount available for the project to £5,000.

The community business development co-ordinator at Bourne Academy, Isobel Copley, hopes the entire town will become involved. “We want this to be a project which involves the whole town and create a permanent reminder of BRM in Bourne", she told The Local newspaper (January 24th). "Many of our students did not know the BRM even existed until they helped at the anniversary day so this project will provide valuable learning opportunities for them.”

This sorry state of affairs must exist because our young people are either not taught local history or have no interest in it and with so many diversions today why should they bother with events from past times that have no relevance to their lives. There will be exceptions, those with elderly relatives who once worked at BRM, but these become more remote as the years go by.

It is therefore heartening to hear that the BRM Trail is about to be set up. Work will start in September when pupils begin interviewing former BRM staff to create a film which will be shown at the Heritage Centre in South Street where the Civic Society maintains a museum devoted to the BRM and its creator Raymond Mays. Pupils will also begin work on setting the town trail to lead visitors around the various places involved with the development of the car, designing plaques to be placed en route and information leaflets. The trail is expected to be ready by the summer of 2015 and will no doubt take in the motor racing memorial which was erected alongside the river in South Street in 2003.

It is fitting that the Len Pick Trust is assisting financially because the work will help educate young people about our heritage, a factor that always bothered the founder. In fact, Len Pick, who died in 2004, once told me that in his opinion youngsters had no interest in our past which was a pity and he despaired that the situation might ever change. It is therefore fitting that his legacy is helping stimulate a new interest in the history of Bourne where he lived all his life.

The BRM Association now has its own web site up and running to keep members in touch with events and there is a great deal of history about the car and its development available. Among this information is a list of the distinguished drivers who found themselves at the wheel for the company, such names as Graham Hill, who won the 1962 world championship, together with Froilan Gonzalez, Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorn, Jo Bonnier, Jackie Stewart, Pedro Rodriguez, John Surtees, Jo Siffert, Peter Gethin, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Niki Lauda and Juan Manuel Fangio.

The last is a name that conjures up the excitement of international racing and one visit the Argentinian driver made to Bourne had a particular significance for the late Raymond Binns (1935-99), better known by his nickname “Scrim”, who worked for the Raymond Mays garage in Spalding Road for sixteen years. During that time, he was often called on to take his employer’s mother, Mrs Annie Mays, out on shopping trips. She also lived at Eastgate House, following the death of her husband, Thomas, in 1934, and acted as his hostess until she died there in 1973 at the age of 97.

Fangio, who dominated the first decade of Formula One racing, made regular visits to Bourne in 1952-53 when driving for the BRM team and remained in contact during his later years. On one occasion, Scrim was asked to pick him up from the George Hotel in Stamford and bring him back to Eastgate House. He remembered later: “I was given strict instructions to ask Fangio if he wanted to drive back himself and he did and we got back to Bourne in about nine minutes. It was a bit hairy, actually. I knew the road well but it was the first time he had seen it. But he was the perfect gentleman and a super ambassador for the sport.”

Tributes to Fangio poured in from around the world when he died in 1995 after a long illness, aged 84. He had won five Formula One World Driver's Championships, a record which stood for 46 years until eventually beaten by Michael Schumacher, a feat that has not been repeated since. He was also the only Argentinian driver to have won the Argentine Grand Prix which he did four times in his career and many still consider him to be the greatest driver of all time. During his many visits to Bourne, he also tested the BRM V16 on the old airfield at Folkingham, nine miles north of Bourne, and the late Alec Stokes, the company’s former chief draughtsman, remembered him as “a great fellow who mixed well and was liked by the mechanics”.

Diaries have always been controversial because they usually record past events truthfully and not coloured by the passage of time. They have also earned a distinguished place in literature and those written by the great and the good are therefore required reading by historians before embarking on any great tome relating to our past.

Mae West, the American film actress, famously advised on keeping a diary for the entirely mercenary reason that one day it would keep you, but no such motive encourages the millions of people who are today recording their daily thoughts and experiences other than for their own pleasure or perhaps that of their family when they have gone. But one thing is certain in that what is written therein is the nearest we will ever get to the truth of that time.

The Bourne Diary has now been published continuously for more than fifteen years and has become one of the longest running diaries on the Internet. This week’s edition is Number 761 and as each one comprises around 2,000 words, that totals one and a half million which is a considerable size. This is a personal commentary on issues and events concerning all aspects of life in the town and beyond, embracing politics, finance, local government and the conduct of our councillors, to policing, the environment, roads and traffic, our history and heritage, what is happening to our historic buildings and the countryside, the weather and particularly the changing face of Bourne.

We have tried to be informative and often humorous but always entertaining while at the same time trying to tell readers something new or to consider what they know in a different light. Some people have disagreed with my opinions although we do not think we have made lasting enemies because my approach has always been one of common sense and only the most inflexible would disagree with that.

Publishing it in book form would have been prohibitive because of the size and cost and so the entire Diary from November 1998 until December 2013 has now been committed to CD-ROM together with a detailed index of the contents. If you feel to want to catch up with Bourne’s affairs over the past decade or read again some of the entries that made you think or perhaps smile then there is a link on the front page which shows how to obtain a copy. It will certainly keep you busy for a few weeks, no matter how avid a reader you may be.

One of the advantages of living in South Lincolnshire is that you can buy daffodils in January, a welcome sign that spring is not too far off. They grow wild in most European countries and are familiar in moist woods and country gardens. You are also likely to come across them in the most unexpected places and they can even be seen growing along the grass verges of country roads around Bourne in springtime, a sight that often puzzles visitors who ask why they should be there because, unlike the Lake District, this is not a locality that is known for the wild variety.

The answer, however, is a simple one, because these are what a gardener would call self-setters. Daffodils have been a commercial crop in this part of the country for decades, grown row upon row in fields, not only for their flowers but also for their bulbs and some were therefore dropped during loading at harvest time and left to take root, enabling small colonies to become established in the most unlikely places, around the farm gate and in small sections of carriageway that have become isolated lay-bys, created when road improvements have been made.

Wild daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus), also known as Lent lilies, have decreased considerably since the 16th century. John Gerard (1545-1607), the gardener and apothecary who supervised Lord Burghley’s gardens at Stamford, described them in 1597, as “growing everywhere through England” but they were eventually overtaken by the cultivated varieties that now grace our homes. Now, for economic reasons, the land once devoted to growing daffodils is mainly used for intensive cereal production and has since become part of the Lincolnshire corn belt. Bulb and flower production continues in the fens where the rich, black soil makes it one of the most fertile spots on earth but the industry is now confined to the area around Spalding, thirteen miles to the east along the main A151, where tulips, daffodils, narcissi and hyacinths bloom each spring in a vast carpet of breath-taking colour that attracts visitors from all over the world.

As with most of our wild plants, daffodils have medicinal properties, much prized and widely used in the days before Boots became the universal dispenser of pills and potions and were the basis of an ancient ointment known as narcissimum. Nicholas Culpepper (1616-54), the physician and botanist, whose herbal remedies were used in the treatment of disease for many generations, also recommended boiling the roots to make a posset drink which would cause vomiting and could be used successfully against the onset of tertian ague [shaking fits] which was frequently caught in springtime while a plaster made from the roots with parched barley meal added dissolved hard swellings and imposthumes [abscesses or cysts]. Juice from the root was excellent for the discolouring of the skin while the juice from the flower mingled with honey, frankincense, wine and myrrh, was good against “the corrupt and running matter in the ears”.

Ancient remedies have long since fallen into disuse and these beautiful golden trumpeted flowers are grown today purely for ornamental purposes while those brought into flower under glass in the late winter have become a valuable export for this part of the country. Their increasing popularity in recent years has replaced tulips as the most popular flower from the Spalding area where they are grown, not only for home sales but also for markets overseas, in Europe and even further afield, and are exported by air overnight to destinations around the world.

The bunch my wife bought on Bourne market for £1.20 this week will be exactly the same as those gracing a penthouse flat in Manhattan although the prices will be considerably more in New York. The flowers look beautiful and the fragrance a delight when they appear and bring pleasure to all who see them, despite their short time span when compared with the hardy outdoor varieties that will soon follow and last much longer. But the daffodil is welcome at any time and although the dozen in my study will soon fade, they are a constant reminder of the annual renewal of nature and the wonderful season ahead.

Thought for the week: Fair daffodils we weep to see you haste away so soon. - Robert Herrick (1591-1674), English clergyman and celebrated 17th century poet whose ode To Daffodils urges us to make the best use of the short time we have.

Saturday 8^th February 2014

One of the most attractive features of the Wellhead Gardens in South Street is the black swans that have inhabited St Peter’s Pool for the past fifteen years. They provide a particular pleasure for visitors, especially children who take great delight in bringing them daily treats of bread and other tasty morsels and as a result, they have become so tame that they swim over to meet anyone who arrives on the bank with a likely looking bag, usually with their family close behind.

The swans breed each year but the future of their offspring is never secure and the three new arrivals from last year have already gone, one killed by traffic in South Road while the other two have simply disappeared although they may have flown off because the adult birds do not encourage them to stay once they have reached maturity.

Black swans are indigenous to Australia and Tasmania, handsome birds with dark, curly plumage, bright red bills and white wing feathers that show only in flight. One appears on the armorial standard of Western Australia where the Dutch discovered it in 1697. They took it to Batavia and thence to Europe where the existence of a black swan was regarded with amazement. Like the mute swan, it has been successfully domesticated and raised in captivity and the first pair was a gift from the Wildfowl Trust in 1999 when a shelter was made on the side of the pool where they later produced a number of cygnets each spring.

The black swans were soon such a familiar sight that they have become an icon for Bourne, having been featured on the front page of the town guide for 2004-05 and frequently on the Bourne web site which is read around the world. Unfortunately, the original pair are now dead, one killed by vandals early in 2007 and another by a fox, but their descendants remained in residence until the summer of 2011 when St Peter's Pool dried up completely because of prolonged drought conditions and all wildlife suffered as a result. The wings of the swans are pinioned by law to prevent them from breeding in the wild and so they are vulnerable to attack when there is no water in the pool. As a result, all but one of those remaining disappeared during the drought and were believed to have been killed by marauding dogs.

But in May 2012, another pair of black swans was introduced to the pool after being bought with money donated by the Bourne Business Chamber. By then, the dry spell had eased and the water level was back to normal after a prolonged period of heavy rain. The swans came from UK Waterfowl, a breeding farm based at Hanworth in Norfolk, and were transported to Bourne by members of the chamber. The birds were left in a holding pen and then released on to the pool after three days once they had become familiar with their new surroundings.

The swans are cared for by Bourne United Charities which administers the Wellhead Gardens and it is hoped that their presence will continue. Certainly, the birds are showing signs of breeding again this year, having built a nest in the moat or backwater stretch of the Bourne Eau (pictured above) although this is not quite as safe from predators as the floating platform on the lake which has been used in the past and this year there are also reports that a wild mink has been seen in the area which does not augur well for their future welfare.

My item on the early appearance of daffodils in this part of South Lincolnshire last week is a reminder of the work being done by Bourne United Charities to ensure that these beautiful spring flowers can be seen every year in and around the Wellhead Gardens, the park area in South Street which they administer on behalf of the public.

Major maintenance work was carried out in 2012 to improve the banks of the Bourne Eau which runs nearby and once this was completed thousands of daffodils were planted along the grassy stretches overlooking the river to provide a spring welcome, flowering for the first time last year with the promise of an even better display this April. A total of 11,000 bulbs have now been planted around the gardens by the ground staff led by park manager Andrew Scotney and these are expected to provide a magnificent display for visitors come spring. Watch out for them because this year is likely to be a sight not to be missed.

Horse hair was once used for making wigs, a practice that had died out in the early 19th century but was still eagerly sought for a variety of purposes although it was a commodity that was in short supply because it could only be clipped from the manes and tails of the animals themselves.

The hair was usually fine and flexible and could therefore be used for brushes, the bows of musical instruments, a hard-wearing fabric called haircloth, and for horsehair plaster, a wall covering material formerly used in the construction industry and now found only in older buildings. But the most common use was in the manufacture of upholstery, the spoon back chairs and chaise longues that graced Victorian homes.

Supplies were provided from the countryside, from farms, stables and blacksmiths where horses were kept and maintained and particularly by fellmongers whose business was to dispose of fallen stock and to use as much of the carcass as possible to increase their profits. Such was the situation 170 years ago when Fraser Ward, aged 24, was working as groom for Francis Bellingham, a surgeon, or doctor as he would be called today, with premises in the Market Place at Bourne, the area we now know as the town centre.

Mr Bellingham had come to an arrangement with a friend, George Bettinson, a fellmonger, to store a number of fleeces of wool at his granary premises in West Street [now the Pyramid Club] which were used for a variety of purposes including the storage of horse hair which had been taken from the hides of skins and had accumulated over the past six years and now comprised a considerable amount. Fraser Ward had access to the building to ensure that his master’s wool remained in good condition but on seeing the accumulated horse hair stored there, realised that a quick penny could be turned and began taking small quantities with the intention of selling them for a profit.

The theft was eventually discovered by Mr Bettinson when he saw that his stock of horse hair had diminished in bulk and then over Easter in 1844, after being absent for a week, he realised that a large quantity was missing. Subsequent inquiries around the town revealed that two tradesmen had been buying small quantities which had been delivered by boys and bought for small sums and eventually the culprit was revealed as Fraser Ward.

He was indicted for stealing one hundredweight (112 lbs.) of horse hair when he appeared before Kesteven Quarter Sessions held at the Town Hall in June that year. Five boys called as witnesses all stated that they had been approached by Ward in the street at various times and asked to run errands, either to Robert Howe, rope and sacking maker, of West Street, or Abraham Davis, blacksmith, of North Street, both of whom were known to collect horse hair to supply some of the county’s big furniture companies. Each time, the lads were instructed by Ward to go to his master’s back gate where he met them and handed over bags of horse hair with instructions to take them to the various shops where the owners would buy them for 2s. 6d. which they handed over to Ward each time and he usually gave the boys 2d. to 6d as a reward for their services.

The jury found Ward guilty of theft. Unfortunately, the court was told that he had a previous conviction for felony at Boston in 1839 when he was sentenced to be transported for seven years but was liberated before he sailed owing to good conduct. The judge therefore showed little mercy and ordered that he be transported for a period of ten years, that is sent to the colonies to face a period of hard labour when he got there, a severe punishment for what would be regarded today as petty theft.

One of the most interesting features in the parish magazine is Churchwardens’ Chat, a monthly account of the official doings of the two people who currently fill those roles at the Abbey Church, Merryn Woodland and Dudley Guppy. These are ancient and important posts given to lay officials, volunteers working part time as ex-officio members of the parochial church council, their historic duties being to maintain order and peace in the church at all times and, more importantly, they are legally responsible for all the property and movable goods belonging to the parish church and that includes its day-to-day maintenance.

These regular articles therefore keep us aware of the work that needs to be done to keep the church functioning as a working building, one that is in use throughout the week for visitors and occasional engagements such as christenings, marriages and funerals, and particularly on Sundays when the main services of worship are held.

The churchwardens have in recent months told us about bats roosting in the nave and dropping unwanted messages on the congregation below, and of the pressures to maintain a healthy balance sheet, even during inclement winter weather when low temperatures push up the heating bills to unacceptable levels. All such problems fall within the province of the churchwardens and they have a duty to solve them with any means at their disposal. They have now turned their attention to the famous problem of how many people it needs to change a light bulb, a joke that has been circulating world-wide during the past fifty years and satirising a wide range of cultures, beliefs and occupations with usually derogatory solutions although here the churchwardens are in deadly earnest.

The current situation has arisen after complaints that the church interior was poorly lit during December and January, so bad at times that members of the congregation had difficulty in reading their service sheets. As a result, stronger light bulbs are to be installed, the old tungsten variety being replaced with LED lamps, or light-emitting diodes, which although much more expensive have a far greater efficiency and lifespan. The first problem was in finding the right type and it was thought that the only available supply was from China, minimum delivery time six weeks which was unacceptable, but after a diligent search around the country a local supplier came up with the goods which were duly delivered. Then came the difficult part.

“You might think that replacing a light bulb is easy”, say the churchwardens, “but not in the Abbey Church” and the reason is that there are 70 of them and the majority are situated high up in the nave or in other locations that are difficult to access. The answer to the original question about how many it takes to change a light bulb is, therefore, five but even they will have to be recruited and then undertake the task with the church’s portable scaffolding because the alternative, a cherry picker, costs a prohibitive £800 a day to hire.

It is a daunting task because the scaffolding tower needs to be erected in five different places to reach all of the bulbs and that will take a minimum of three days and then the churchwardens will have to find their volunteers and ensure that all will be available on the same days. That has so far proved impossible but now they have made a New Year resolution to have all the new bulbs fitted by Ash Wednesday, that is March 5th, which will be well in time for Easter even though the operation will include replacing a few really tricky light fittings high up in the roof near the font.

Nevertheless, the churchwardens anticipate that the job will be done on time, the last stage of their plan of action being: “Admire lighting, go home and make one, preferably two, stiff gin and tonics.” This time at least, they will deserve it.

Thought for the week: Edison failed 10,000 times before he made the electric light. Do not be discouraged if you fail a few times. - Napoleon Hill (1880-1970), American author who was born in a mountain cabin and went on to become a successful writer, specialising in the importance of personal belief and individual success.

Saturday 15^th February 2014

The traffic chaos in Bourne some days is so bad that North Street comes to a standstill and one of the main reasons is goods vehicles parking on yellow lines, often loading and unloading, with little regard for other road users. There are similar problems in other places, notably West Street, but as North Street is actually the main A15 trunk road between Peterborough and Lincoln it carries the bulk of the traffic using this route through the town.

A morning mid-week is not therefore the best time for a container lorry to deliver to a town centre store yet this is a frequent occurrence with Heron Foods, a comparative newcomer to our retail outlets having taken over the former Woolworth’s premises at No 13 North Street in May 2009 after the previous occupant closed down the year before.

The store is part of the Heron Foods chain which sells frozen and chilled food and groceries at discounted prices and the Hull-based company has around 115 similar branches around the country including Spalding, Grimsby and Louth in Lincolnshire.

Woolworths had a problem of access for the delivery of goods which came through the front door on North Street and although Heron opened up a rear entrance from Burghley Street, some consignments still arrived in this way, even at busy times such as Saturday mornings, although there are now frequent deliveries mid-week which cause a major traffic hold-up in both directions.

Bourne is a small market town and one that should not be subjected to such inconvenience which not only delays other vehicles using North Street but also creates a traffic hazard and deters visitors because word soon gets around that the place is a bottleneck to be avoided at all costs.

This column has repeatedly advocated a bypass for the A15 as the solution to our current woes but as we have pointed out in the past, this is an unlikely eventuality in the current economic crisis. In the absence of any improvement to our traffic infrastructure, therefore, it is up to the police and our local authorities to enforce what powers they have over heavy vehicles regularly bringing the town to a standstill as well as deterring shoppers and visitors who find their route blocked by such monsters with the tailgate down while the driver blithely goes about his business unloading, trundling his heavy metal trolley backwards and forwards over the pavement, totally oblivious of the problems that are being caused to both drivers and pedestrians.

The inscriptions made by children last week on the steel frame of the school now under construction at Elsea Park is part of an historic ritual of leaving our mark on the buildings we create. From the earliest times, man has been aware of those who follow from the cave paintings of ancient times to the official inscriptions of today that give us a glimpse of the way it was.

Workmen renovating old houses frequently discover graffiti in the rafters, usually the names and dates of craftsmen who worked there hundreds of years ago, while the demolition of historic buildings often uncovers a box or a bottle containing artefacts dating from the time it was built.

The new school now has several inscriptions from pupils at the Abbey Primary Academy which will run it, including "Have a brilliant future and enjoy your new school" (Eleanor Smith), "Have a good education" (Bobby Clark), "Achieve your dreams" (Aaron Stevenson), "Be good, learn lots, live life!" (Sam Hilder) and "God bless the new Bourne Elsea Park school community" (Cherry Edwards, head teacher).

Similar messages can be found inscribed on the six bells of the Abbey Church which were installed in 1729, although these were mainly written in Latin and included such religious texts as “Rise and act”, “Praise the true God”, “I call to heaven”, “Whether the world be joyful or doleful, I call the people and gather the clergy”, and “I bewail the dead, I warn the living”.  These were all official inscriptions sanctioned by the church although there are some unauthorised messages on the lead roofing below the flagpole on the 12th century tower, the names and dates indicating that they were the work of fire watchers during the Second World War of 1939-45 who were using this as the main vantage point over the town.

Maintenance work on churches often reveals messages left by stonemasons and others who wanted their work to be remembered for posterity and a good example can be found in the vestibule of the St Faith’s Church at Wilsthorpe, near Bourne, one of the smallest and most interesting churches in South Lincolnshire, where the name of Richard Parkinson has been carefully carved by a visitor in 1759 while the walls in the porch contain several sets of initials and dates which may have been put there by workmen during the 18th century. 

A more popular method of making our mark today is the time capsule, a historic cache of goods or information intended to illustrate contemporary life. Most of the new buildings now being erected have one and they are particularly useful when children are involved in choosing the contents and participating in their burial, such as that which took place at the Willoughby School in South Road on Tuesday 12th December 2012 as part of the Olympic celebrations. On this occasion, the container buried in the grounds was filled with items relating to that eventful year such as photographs of the Olympic torch passing through Bourne, activities at the school during the previous twelve months and other relevant newspaper cuttings, to be opened in 100 years’ time.

Time capsules, however, are not new and one of the oldest on record is still intact within the foundation stone of the Town Hall which was laid on 30th April 1821 by the Marquess of Exeter, Lord of the Manor of Bourne. In this case the container was a bottle filled with coins of the realm (George IV) and a document describing the ceremony and detailing those who had subscribed to the cost of the building. It was a grand occasion with many important guests, the bells of the Abbey Church ringing out to signal the arrival of the marquess in a coach and four horses to be met by an official party of magistrates.

A similar time capsule was buried in the base of the Ostler memorial fountain, erected in the market place [now the town centre] in 1860 to remember one of the town's 19th century worthies, property owner and philanthropist John Lely Ostler who had died the previous year and paid for by public subscription. One hundred years later, the memorial had become a danger to passing traffic and so Bourne Urban District Council decided that it should be moved to a new location in the South Road cemetery, the work being carried out in 1962.

This involved dismantling the memorial stone by stone and while it was being moved, a small glass bottle was discovered within the base although it was broken at the neck but the contents proved to be most interesting, including a note and three coins of the realm dated 1860, the time when the fountain was being erected. The signed note was brief, stating when and why the memorial had been put up.

Anxious to preserve this historical record, council officials decided to leave it in place and so a new bottle was found and the contents inserted and when the memorial was re-built, placed within the structure together with a second bottle containing a similar note to that of 1860, explaining the reason why the memorial had been moved. The two bottles with their explanatory notes and coins from the reigns of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II therefore remain within the base of the Ostler memorial.

Bourne still has a number of interesting buildings among its 71 listed properties and as some date back to the 17th century there must be other secrets waiting to be discovered when maintenance or other construction is carried out in the future. The items that are hidden on these occasions usually have no major intrinsic value but they do give us an insight into the life of the town and its people at that time. They also perpetuate an age old custom that has been practised in one form or another for centuries and so the schoolchildren who contributed inscriptions to the metal frame at the new Elsea Park School have become part of that tradition and so ensure that it continues for the future.

From the archives – 119 years ago: While ringing one of the bells at the Abbey Church in Bourne on Monday evening, Mr John Howe, a hairdresser, of Church Street [now Abbey Road], met with a serious accident. He was taken up by the bell rope and fell down from a great height. His right leg was broken just above the ankle. Dr John Gilpin was speedily in attendance and skilfully attended the injury, which is of a severe nature. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 22nd February 1895.

If you were asked in which field people with names such as Nick, Vince, Chris, Ed and Danny worked, you would most probably suggest pop music or perhaps children’s television when in fact they are all, in this case, leading figures in central government.

Nick Clegg is Deputy Prime Minister, Vince Cable is Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Chris Grayling is Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State of Justice, Ed Davey is Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and Danny Alexander is Chief Secretary to the Treasury and we have a sprinkling of other diminutives in the lower echelons of power while the opposition produces an equally lengthy list.

The names of our leaders of yesteryear, such as William and Winston, Benjamin, Clement and Herbert, may not have disappeared completely but they have been totally overshadowed in the new climate of instant familiarity where the nickname, or shortened version of the first name, is considered to be less staid, informal and more user friendly, and therefore bestows on the owner an image of openness and approachability which may not always be justified.

Coupled with this we have a new collection of first names, often culled from the movies and television, whose origins can be traced to hit films and weekly soaps and all of recent popularity, hence Tyler and Kyle, Jamie and Jake, Paige and Tia, Chloe and Courtney. Attractive as they are, it is difficult to imagine hearing these names within the Palace of Westminster where the destiny of this nation is decided although it is only a matter of time before they do arrive.

The new approach to relationships between politicians and public probably began with Harold Wilson who smoked a pipe during interviews and whenever he appeared on television because it gave him an avuncular and reassuring image although it is rumoured that he rarely used it in private. Fast forward thirty years and when the new prime minister was elected in 1997 he chose to be known as Tony rather than Anthony Blair and also let it be known that from then on, everyone in his circle would be on first name terms. The familiarity we have today appears to date from this period when politicians talk down their ancestry from the landed gentry to working class whereas a century before anyone in public life did everything they could to claim a connection with a title and a country seat and demanded respect from whoever they met.

Those brought up in an age where every senior figure in their life, be it schoolmaster, magistrate or member of parliament, was always referred to as Mr, find it hard to take anything seriously when uttered by the Bobs, Daves, Jims, Tims and Toms, because nicknames do not command the same respect as the formality of past times but as the hare of popularity is running and has become unstoppable, it may not be long before we have a Kev in Number Ten.

Thought for the week: What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. - William Shakespeare (1564-1616), poet and playwright widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, from his play Romeo and Juliet.

Saturday 22^nd February 2014

Hope springs eternal in the human breast, wrote the poet Alexander Pope and although his words were penned some 300 years ago they still have a relevance today when we encounter causes that need an excess of optimism and expectation to realise any prospect of success. So it is with the public meeting called by the town council at the Corn Exchange on Monday to seek opinion and input from residents over future development for Bourne, a neighbourhood plan having been drawn up stating where new homes will be built in the future, the employment to be provided and the construction and appearance of any new buildings. 

Three councillors who have been working on the plan will be on hand to explain, Roy McKinney, David Mapp and Trevor Holmes, and after explaining the purpose and content of the document there will be time for questions from the public. Councillor McKinney set the tone of the occasion when he told The Local newspaper (February 14th): “We hope that the people of the parish will take this opportunity to tell us what their hopes are for the future of Bourne and take advantage of this chance to make it an even better place to live and work.”

The meeting has been called as part of the government’s scheme for public participation in neighbourhood planning outlined in the Localism Act of 2011 in an attempt to divert some of the concentrated power hoarded by central government into the hands of the people. Ministers have finally realised that trying to improve our lives by imposing decisions and setting targets simply does not work and merely adds to the bureaucratic process.

The Localism Act aims to achieve a substantial and lasting shift in power away from central government and towards the people directly involved through new freedoms and flexibilities for local government, new rights and powers for communities and individuals, a reform to make the planning system more democratic and more effective and to ensure that decisions about housing are taken locally. “It is to help people and their locally elected representatives to achieve their own ambitions”, says Greg Clark, Minister of State for Decentralisation. “This is the essence of the Big Society.”

So there we have it. Fine words for a fine idea. Now we have to see what happens in practice and hope that what is intended will be achieved because Bourne does not have a good record of people participation in the past and most certainly not on the provision of new housing when public opinion has been repeatedly passed over, the most notable instance being the development of Elsea Park.

For the information of newcomers to Bourne and those who have short memories, the development of 300 acres of agricultural land to the south of the town for housing was greeted with a great deal of criticism, even derision, when it was announced in March 1999 mainly because of the speed with which it was pushed through and the lack of public consultation.

This was the biggest single residential development in the history of the town and the main objections were that a housing scheme of this magnitude would not only encroach on the existing green belt but would also increase traffic flows through the town centre at peak periods and on roads in the vicinity that were already overcrowded, especially the main A15 into Peterborough. The population explosion would also bring an estimated 6,000 newcomers to the town, putting more pressure on schools, libraries, public transport, leisure amenities, medical and other facilities.

All of these forecasts have come to pass and some have been addressed but the public consultation was not good and even the town's M P at that time, Quentin Davies, the member for Grantham and Stamford, warned that the development was in the wrong place and that South Kesteven District Council should have been more careful "about handing out planning consents like so much confetti" without due regard to existing roads, traffic flows and the infrastructure. Yet it went ahead and now Elsea Park has become an integral part of Bourne and is still expanding annually.

The town has benefited through a new south-west relief road, community centre and now a school, but each amenity needed pressure before it materialised and not everything promised has been delivered. The new spirit of localism may help to change things and we hope it does but the many sceptics who have seen it all before will take a lot of convincing.

The storms last weekend were proof that our wheelie bins are no match for the weather. We awoke on Saturday morning after a particularly wild night of gale force winds whistling around the neighbourhood to find all three of our official waste receptacles in a state of disarray. They are normally parked in a sheltered spot at the side of the house but the black bin had been toppled over on its side, the silver bin moved twenty or so yards down the garden and the green bin also overturned.

Each had varying amounts of rubbish inside that made little difference to the tempest which is no respecter of property although we were lucky because there was no other damage other than our garden furniture which was scattered everywhere but some neighbours had fences down and shed roofs ripped asunder. But despite being tossed around in such an unseemly fashion, the wheelie bins withstood the battering and each survived with hardly a scratch. In fact, all are still in pristine condition regardless of the time they have been in use, the black bin for landfill waste and the silver for recyclable materials since 2006 and the green bin for garden waste since 2011 and still appear to be good for a few more years yet.

There was an outcry when they were first issued to homeowners but habit has made them more acceptable. There is, however, one grievance that is frequently voiced and this concerns the lads who crew 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.

But what does the future hold for the wheelie bins, given that they will withstand further assaults by inclement weather? 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.

One of our most famous trees is to be featured on French television. A documentary crew is currently carrying out research on the Bowthorpe Oak which can be found on the side of a hill near Bourne where it has been for almost a thousand years.

The giant oak tree grows above a natural spring in a grassy meadow behind the farmhouse at Bowthorpe Park Farm, just off the A6121 near Manthorpe, three miles south west of Bourne, and has earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records. It has been featured frequently over the years in newspapers and magazines and in 1998 a short film was screened on BBC Television about its size and longevity.

The legendary tree is the largest girthed living British oak and its circumference measures 42 feet. Apart from its great size, it has a rugged bole, gnarled and crooked branches and a great spread of crown. Although its true age will never be known, it is reputed to be well over 1,000 years old and was therefore growing during the time of William the Conqueror (1066-1087) but chains now bind it to prevent it from splitting under the weight of its heavy boughs.

There is a hollow trunk and looking upwards you can see a small patch of sky, or leaves, depending on the season. Bartholomew Howlett, in A Selection of Views in the County of Lincolnshire (1805), wrote that in 1768, George Pauncefort Esq "had the interior of the oak floored, with benches placed round and a door of entrance where 12 persons had frequently dined in it with ease. The tree, though not lofty, has a very beautiful head and is remarkable for its very early foliage."

The book also contains a detailed drawing by J C Nattes showing the magnificent tree with the door built into the trunk, animals grazing beneath its branches and the stone farmhouse in the background. Other references suggest that a former tenant of the farm had a roof installed and used the recess as an additional room while successive generations of children born and raised on the farm played in its branches. There are many other tales about the uses to which the tree has been put. One former owner used to feed his small calves inside the trunk while children from the Methodist chapel at nearby Manthorpe held their annual tea and treat there.

In 1779, surveyor Andrew Armstrong included the Bowthorpe Oak in the first survey of Lincolnshire. On the map, beside a sketch of the tree, he noted: "The oak is 36 feet in circumference".  The peasant poet John Clare, who lived not far away at Helpston, was also inspired by the tree to write Burthorpe Oak and many times during the past century it has been photographed as a backdrop for gatherings and events. The Bourne photographer, Ashby Swift (1883-1941), used it for a postcard view entitled "The Great Oak at Bowthorpe Park" showing the remains of the 18th century door frame compressed into a constantly expanding trunk.

Bowthorpe Park Farm enjoys a beautiful setting on the side of a hill with a stone farmhouse that is over 400 years old. The surrounding area was originally Bowthorpe Park, hence the name of the farm, and in 1226, Sempringham Priory acquired the manorial chapel which stood there but it has gone, together with its accompanying manor house. The grass in the parkland that remained was lifted during the Second World War and the land cultivated as part of the drive to produce more food for home consumption. Manthorpe village can be seen a few fields away on the next hill and there is an attractive pond alongside the entrance track to the farm. The family who now run it welcome visitors throughout the year to take a look at their activities and their busiest period is during the lambing season in the spring, a favourite time for school parties.

A typical visit is recorded by the Stamford Mercury in the summer of 1842 which said that a large number of ladies and gentlemen from Bourne and surrounding villages assembled at the old oak tree which had a girth of fifteen yards and was used in the winter by the farmer, Thomas Nixon, as a stall for feeding calves. The report went on: "The company, upwards of a hundred, partook of plum cakes and good bohea [a black China tea] prepared by Mrs Nixon, in parties of a dozen each inside the tree which also contained a large table. The visitors spent the remainder of the evening in a dance and separated at a late hour highly delighted with their visit. Several of the party expressed their intention of honouring the tree with their presence next year."

The oak tree, however, is now at risk from the weather because of its old age, and one of the larger branches was ripped off during severe storms in the Bourne area over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday 26th/27th October 2002 when wind forces reached 90 mph but the owners of Bowthorpe Park Farm gave assurances that it would survive. As the year closed, the massive tree was named by the Tree Council as one of the Fifty Great Trees for Fifty Great Years that had been selected from around Britain to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002.

Now the French have discovered the Bowthorpe Oak and the programme is planned for the German-French Channel Arte in a series about the remarkable trees of Europe due to be screened later this year. Marjorie Graudon from the Paris-based production company, Camera Lucida, tells me:  “We want to feature not only about the history of the tree but also the people who live around it and the way they feel about it.”

Thought for the week: From little acorns, mighty oak trees grow. - Thomas Fuller (1654-1734), English physician, preacher and intellectual best remembered for his compilation of adages and proverbs.

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