Bourne in 1965

The changing face of Bourne is a natural progression to keep pace with modern developments and ideas, although not always for the better. It is therefore worthwhile looking back to the past as a reminder of how things were in years gone by.

This can only be done if records have been kept and these are mostly in the hands of local organisations and amateur historians to which we owe a debt for preserving details of our heritage.

For this snapshot of our history, we have to thank the ladies. In 1965, the Bourne Women’s Institute entered a national competition for scrapbooks organised by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes to celebrate their Golden Jubilee. At that time, the branch had 113 members and it was decided to compile an entry telling the story of Bourne in words and pictures. The various subjects were delegated to individual members who carried out the necessary research and wrote it up on individual pages which were then bound together in an album that is crammed with facts and photographs, maps and diagrams. This valuable book now provides us with a glimpse of Bourne as it was forty years ago and this year it was handed over to the Civic Society for safe keeping at the Heritage Centre in South Street.

I have been reading through this excellent publication and much of the content is still within the memory of many senior citizens but the bulk of the information is new to most of us and will come as a surprise to the majority.

In 1965, the Lords of the Manor [a title now defunct) were the Marquess of Exeter (Bourne) and Victor Robert Pochin (Bourne Abbots) and Bourne was situated in the Kesteven division, one of three administrative areas that comprised the county of Lincolnshire, the others being Lindsey and Holland. The area of the entire parish of Bourne was 10,059 acres of land and 44 acres of water, and the soil was fen and loam with a subsoil of silt and gravel.

The population in that year was 5,600 and local affairs were in the hands of Bourne Urban District Council, meeting monthly at the Corn Exchange under the chairmanship of Councillor John Grummitt and responsible for highways and works, public health, housing, planning and development and finance, all matters that have now been dispersed to other authorities based outside the town. Major house building programmes were underway off West Road, the Austerby and Mill Drove and new factory sites were being developed in the Eastgate area. In that year, Bourne won the Rudolph Elwes Trophy for the best-kept town in Lincolnshire, an honour marked with a civic tree planting ceremony at the Abbey Lawn.

Public services in the town included the police with one inspector, two sergeants, seven constables, one detective, a motor cyclist and regular attendance by a patrol car, and the fire brigade with a controller, three officers, 14 firemen and three appliances.

The Civil Defence Corps was still operational with 60 members meeting three evenings a week at their headquarters in South Street which were officially opened during the year and taking part in various exercises and social functions. The Royal Observer Corps had a fully equipped underground observation post just off the main A15 between Bourne and Morton with five observers, holding meetings twice a month and periodic exercises.

During the year, the west front of the Abbey Church was floodlit, a new oil-fired heating system was installed and a fine Bechstein grand piano acquired. The choir at that time consisted of 12 boys and eight men under the choirmaster, Jack Burchnell, and other church organisations included the Mothers’ Union, Young Wives, the Tea Club, youth club, St Peter’s Guild and Men’s Society. The Baptist Church in West Street held a big flower show during the year and other organisations included the Boy’s Brigade, Life Boys, Girls’ Own and Women’s Own. The Methodist Church in Abbey Road opened a new church hall during the year with a choir concert and there was also an active Sunday School, Sisterhood and Circuit Choir while the Congregational Church in Eastgate was running a Young People’s Fellowship, a Junior Fellowship and Women’s Guild. Ladies of the church also provided 200 high teas for visitors to the tulip fields in the spring, raising £45 for church funds.

Other active religious organisations included the Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart, served from Corby Glen, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Plymouth Brethren and Salvation Army.

The main industry was agriculture but there was also a strong light industrial presence including timber, laundering, printing, malting and horticulture. Wherry and Sons Ltd, pea specialists, although the company also ran a wholesale grocery business, employed 120 people. T W Mays and Sons Ltd, fellmongers, produced skins and hides for export and ran a new pig farming unit, producing several thousand animals a year, while Mays Chemical Manure Co Ltd, employing 40 people, produced fertilisers for every farm crop and during the summer had a large stand at the Peterborough Show.

Other firms included Boston Tractors (Kesteven) Ltd, specialising in combines and tractors (employing 13 people), Lincolnshire Tractors Ltd, selling and servicing farm equipment (seven people), Johnson Brothers, operating from new premises opened that year on the old brewery site in Manning Road retailing and servicing all machinery from tractors to lawn mowers (13 people) and W A North and Son Ltd, forage merchants, of North Street, employing 15 people and owning six lorries delivering to all parts of the country as well as the Channel Islands and the Continent, their largest vehicles being 58 feet long, 15 feet high when loaded and capable of carrying 20 tons. British Road Services had a depot in the town (established 1949) with 20 men and 20 lorries making deliveries to all parts of the country including Scotland and Wales.

J C Firth Ltd had a factory at Tunnel Bank for the washing and grading of carrots and other root vegetables for markets and canning plants while two large potato merchants, E D & A D Cooke and Thomas Pick and Son (employing eight people) delivered to markets throughout Britain.

The biggest of our market gardeners was E N Moody and Sons Ltd, nurserymen, employing 50 people tending eleven acres of glasshouses and land, producing mainly flowers and bulbs, among them one million chrysanthemums and 10,000 tulips, cauliflowers and tomatoes. Their associate company, Nursery Supplies (Bourne) provided a wide range of sundries covering every aspect of the horticultural industry. The Hereward Water Cress Co Ltd farmed three acres producing watercress, lettuce and cauliflowers for the main English markets and the South Lincolnshire Water Board also had cress beds just off South Street. Dick Sellars had two acres with five salad crops a year from his mobile glasshouses.

Bourne Laundry and Cleaning Services Co Ltd, operating from premises in Manning Road, employed 108 people with 12 large and small vans and shops in Bourne, Sleaford, two in Peterborough, Oakham, Stamford, Market Deeping, Whittlesey and Spalding. Employees also had a social club with many activities including an annual dinner dance and children’s party and weekend outings. Hall and Earl Ltd, fabric and garment specialists (65 people), W Pinder and Sons Ltd, sheet metal engineers (14 people), Travis and Homer Ltd, precision engineers (18 people) and of course, BRM with more than 100 staff at its workshops in Eastgate, one of their cars winning the world championship during the year with Graham Hill at the wheel.

J Pidock and Co Ltd, maltsters, one of the oldest industries in the town (20 people), W K Morton and Sons, printers (eight people) and Warners (Midlands) Ltd, printers (35 people), already expanding through international orders from Asia, Australasia, Africa and Europe, the latest publication, a magazine called Youth, launched in November 1965, with 27,000 copies per month being distributed through Bourne Post Office.

The Forestry Commission ran a thriving timber business from Bourne Wood, employing 40 people, half of them housed in Commission properties, the Bourne operation being part of the Eastern England Conservancy unit of the Kesteven Block of Forests covering 2,200 acres of oak, ash, beech, and various species of conifers such as Douglas fir and Norway spruce. C D Whatton (Bourne) Ltd, timber merchants, also employed 10 people and operated a large sawmill.

Delaine Coaches Limited were running the local bus services and holiday excursions, operating 16 vehicles, six of them double-deckers, and carrying 1,100,000 passengers a year and covering a distance of 438,000 miles. The company also ran special journeys for local works, schools and even a bingo special.

The Post Office at Bourne, then in the market place, had GPO status with a postmaster and thirteen postmen, four postal and telegraph officers. There were two letter deliveries each day and one for parcels. Only 750 people in the town were on the telephone and the manual exchange had six women operators during the day and two men on duty at night although the exchange was switched to automatic on April 9th that year with just one male employee.

Water was pumped from Bourne sources at the rate of 2,030 million gallons a year and serving a population of 118,413. The town’s gas works had been phased out and supplies were piped in from Killingholme in Lincolnshire to 1,400 customers while the majority of properties had electricity from the national grid via a local transmission station.

Magistrates’ courts were held at the Town Hall every other Thursday and a juvenile court sat on the first Wednesday of each month.

A market was held in the Market Place on Thursdays and cattle fairs on the first Thursday in April and May and the last Thursday in September and October.

Bourne had five banks, Barclays, National Provincial, Lloyds, the Trustee Savings Bank and Midland.

Bourne United Charities were, as now, administering money from ancient bequests with 199 bedemen and bedewomen receiving 15s. a week and were also responsible for the outdoor swimming pool, the Abbey Lawn playing fields, the Wellhead and Memorial Gardens, the Vestry Hall, 12 almshouses as well as making grants to local schools.

There were fewer pupils and therefore fewer schools.

Bourne Grammar School taught 314 children aged from 11-16, 120 girls and 194 boys, and the headmaster Mr R P Foster, was assisted by 16 teachers (nine men and seven women) and four part time staff. A total of 240 stayed to lunch each week and 40 had free milk.

Bourne County Secondary School taught 354 children aged from 11-15, 181 girls and 173 boys, and the headmaster, Mr L R W Day, was assisted by 17 teachers and one part time staff. A total of 202 stayed to lunch each week and 60 had free milk.

Bourne County Primary School taught 467 children aged from 5-11, 226 girls and 241 boys, and the headmaster, Mr G Houghton, was assisted by 13 teachers (four men and nine women) and four part time staff. A total of 235 children stayed to lunch each week and 450 had free milk.

There was also the Bourne Evening Institute, meeting at the Bourne County Secondary School premises each weekday evening for a wide variety of classes ranging from woodwork, upholstery, keep fit and cookery to shorthand, typewriting, English and mathematics.

The health services for the town were extensive and an illustration of the welfare state working at full stretch. In addition to the two medical practices in North Road (three doctors) and South Street (two doctors), there were three dentists and three opticians. There were also three hospitals.

Bourne Chest Hospital, originally the Isolation Hospital, in South Road, had a medical and surgical unit with 53 beds, a local medical officer of health, two consultant specialists, a matron, nine day and night nurses, four kitchen staff and a porter. There was a chest X-ray unit at the hospital that was also used by the district generally.

The Butterfield Cottage Hospital had 12 beds in three wards, one male, one female and one private, an operating theatre for minor surgery, a casualty department and weekly clinics by visiting consultants. There were five full time nurses and eight part time, usually employed on night duty, four kitchen staff and a porter.

St Peter’s Hospital for mentally subnormal women and children had a matron, six nursing sisters, 12 day and seven night nurses, a male night nurse and five cadets. Recent alterations had made the hospital one of the most modern of its kind in the country.

Domiciliary Nursing Services provided midwifery and home nursing with a medical officer of health, two nursing sisters and a health visitor and in 1965 they attended 60 births and made 200 visits each month. They also held clinics for eyes, orthopaedics, remedial treatment, relaxation and child welfare.

The town had its own probation officer, working closely with the courts, and a childcare officer finding suitable foster homes for children in need of care, advising unmarried mothers and helping with arrangements for adoption and confinement.

Digby Court, a residential home for the elderly, opened that year providing 48 places and run by a matron with eight day and night staff, five kitchen staff and a gardener.

Worth Court was also opened that year, a block of centrally heated modern flats for elderly people with a common room and television.

The Children’s Hostel in West Street provided homes for 20 maladjusted, orphan and problem children and those from broken homes, with a master and matron and five helpers.

Welfare services also included a Home Help Service (one supervisor and five home helps) for the sick, elderly and young nursing mothers, a Good Neighbours Club providing help for the elderly and a Night Attendant Service providing assistance after dark for the sick and dying.

The Bourne branch of the British Red Cross provided ambulance attendants, a trolley shop at Bourne Chest Hospital, help for the elderly at the Darby and Joan club and arranged lectures for young people studying for the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme. Junior Red Cross cadets were trained for good citizenship and attended lectures on first aid, home nursing and mother craft, so providing a recruiting ground for nurses. The St John Ambulance Brigade was holding regular lectures in home nursing, hygiene and first aid and during the year ambulance cadets were inspected by Princess Margaret.

The Darby and Joan Hall was the centre of activity for old people, having a membership of 135, the hall opening every day with a club day on Mondays. There were outings, parties, concerts and socials and a chiropodist attended once a month for the benefit of members. The Good Companions Club, run by the Blind Association, met at the hall each Thursday for a wide range of activities including sales of work and coffee mornings, domino matches, social visits and craft work. On Tuesdays, the hall was used by the Physically Handicapped Club which also held outings, holidays and members were taught various crafts.

The Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) had 20 members, providing a meals on wheels service for 24 people twice a week, visited St Peter’s Hospital every fortnight, provided toys for children at Christmas, supplied clothes for the needy and organised a trolley shop and arranged for a pianist to entertain old people at Digby Court.

The town also had three veterinary surgeons.

Social and community organisations included the Bourne and District branch of the British Legion, the Tory Women’s Tea Club, meeting at the Darby and Joan Hall with a membership of 100, Bourne and district Young Conservatives (Burghley Arms, 21 members), the Bourne Women’s Labour Association (Toc H Hall, 20 members), the Co-operative Women’s Guild (Toc H Hall), Round Table (Nag’s Head, 23 members), the Hereward Lodge of Freemasons (Masonic Temple, Wherry’s Lane), the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (clubroom, Burghley Street), 2nd Bourne Scout Group (Old Grammar School, 14 scouts and 28 wolf cubs), Girl Guides (guide hut, North Road, three officers and 17 guides), the Second Bourne Brownie Pack (guide hut, North Road, 24 members with a waiting list), Bourne Camera Club (Bourne Institute, 12 members), Hereward Youth Club (Church Hall, 56 members), Bourne Institute, West Street (80 members).

The Bourne Players who have been presenting regular productions since 1947, staged the drama Brush with a Body by Maurice McLoughlin at the Corn Exchange on Wednesday 24th March, the Tudor Cinema was showing films most days with bingo on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sunday afternoons and a junior club for boys and girls on Saturday afternoons. Bourne and District Motor Club had 50 members and Bourne and District Garden Association, 100 members.

Sport played a major part in the social life of the town with Bourne Town Football Club fielding four teams during the season, a first team, reserve team, A team and juniors, playing home matches at the Abbey Lawn where floodlighting had recently been installed. The Bourne Town Football Supporters Club was also active raising funds for the parent club, mainly through weekly bingo tickets and club sessions at the Corn Exchange. Bourne Cricket Club had four teams, a first XI, second XI, Sunday XI and Wednesday XI, playing at the Abbey lawn ground although in July, they suffered a setback when the pavilion was burned down. Bourne Hockey Club was playing 45 matches a season and four members were also county players.

The outdoor swimming pool was a popular feature during the summer months and there was also a putting green at the Abbey Lawn. Bourne and District Tennis Club (70 members) also played there and that year, the men’s team entered the Lincolnshire League’s 3rd Division. There were two bowls clubs, the Bourne Abbey Bowling Club (Abbey Church green, 50 members) and the Bourne Abbey Road Bowling Club (Abbey Lawn, 50 members), both competing in games and tournaments under the auspices of the English Bowling Association and the English Bowling Federation. Bourne Angling Society (270 members) held regular matches along the Bourne Eau, the main event during the year being a charity match that attracted an entry of 200. Bourne Badminton Club (Vestry Hall, 30 members) played friendly matches and knockout competitions and most of the public houses in the town had teams playing darts, cribbage and bar billiards in various leagues and competitions.

This brief and fascinating look at life in Bourne during 1965 reveals employers and organisations that no longer exist while others have not only survived to this day but also thrived. The overall picture from 40 years ago suggests a busy market town with high employment and a wide range of welfare and social facilities and a health service that would be envied today. Everyone seems to be very busy and it is worth remembering that at this time television did not have the universal appeal that it commands today, money was hard-earned and there was less about and so people were more likely to make their own entertainment and pursue their own activities. Nevertheless, the picture painted by this scrapbook is of a small self-contained community at ease with itself and quite unaware of the tremendous changes that were to come in the years that followed.

See also Bourne Women's Institute

WRITTEN JULY 2005