Rag days

Rag Days and fund raising

Fund raising for various good causes in Bourne has always been well supported and carnival parades were a popular event in the years following the Great War of 1914-18.

One of the earliest recorded was in 1925 when a grand parade was held through the town with floats depicting local themes such as Hereward the Wake and national events of the time. Most organisations took part with local businesses lending horses and carts and even lorries to carry the various tableaux through the streets, many designed by Alfred Stubley, a painter and decorator from West Street who also specialised in scenic design and was always ready to help with community events.

Events were soon being held annually, later taking the form of a rag day, the first of which was staged in the summer of 1929 to raise funds for the Butterfield Hospital. It was held on Saturday 6th July after several weeks of organising, the initiative having been taken by Councillor Tom Rickard, chairman of Bourne Urban District Council.

Heavy rain on the previous two days which continued into Saturday morning threatened to spoil the event but the storm clouds disappeared as the main parade started and the weather was fine, despite a strong wind. Crowds thronged the streets, attracted by the main attraction of Lady Godiva astride a horse, although her identity was never revealed. The procession began in Mill Drove, headed by the Bourne Town Band and a float devoted to safety first followed by the fire brigade and a float displaying new equipment from the hospital, a baby's cot and bed from one of the wards with a sister and nurse standing by. A barrel organ on a lorry came next, blaring out music as it went, and this was followed by matron and sisters from the hospital together with some trainee nurses.

There were many other tableaux, all heartily cheered as the procession wound its way through the town to the market place then down Abbey Road, Eastgate and back to town via Willoughby Road.

The procession was again reformed in the evening and this time took a different route down North Street to the Market Place with several new attractions, notably Mr G Chamber, who was almost six feet tall, riding a bicycle suitable for a child of six or seven. On each occasion, helpers were out with their collecting tins to raise money for the hospital with Messrs Wherry and Sons providing office space at their North Street shop for the money to be counted until taken to the NFU Bank later in the evening.

The procession dispersed about 7 pm but the band continued playing selections in the market place as collectors walked about still rattling their tins. Earlier in the week, sections of the parade had visited the surrounding villages of Thurlby, Langtoft, Baston, Tongue End, Morton, Edenham and Grimsthorpe with the barrel organ providing a musical accompaniment on each trip.

"The hospital rag was an eminent success", reported the Stamford Mercury the following Friday, "and the appeal to the general public to help with funds received a ready response."

A glance through the list of tableaux which joined the procession with the names of the organisers and helpers is an indication of the enthusiasm among the various groups that took part:

Pinxton Colliery (Mr J G James); Safety First; Lady Godiva (Mr H G Penfold); Fire Brigade (Mr J Moisey); Sunflowers (Mrs Reedman); Red Indians (Master J Paine on horseback); Scout Troop (Assistant Scoutmaster G Lloyd); hospital cot (Mrs J B Sibbald and baby); picnic (Mrs N Walker); hospital organ (Matron and sister); Britannia and the Empire (Misses Dent and Jackson); Jazz Band (Mr Williamson); peasants of many lands, Dickens' tableaux; Queen Elizabeth and her courtiers (Misses Dent and Jackson); barrel organ (Messrs J E Lunn, junior, and P Clark); Harry Tate, Mrs Tate and Little Tate (Mr Thomas, Mr J Fields, aged 75, and Mr R Day, aged 72); man in disguise (Mr R Greenfield); Boys of the Old (Fire) Brigade (Mr T Stevenson); boy on stilts (Master J Raynor); scarecrow (Junior Conservatives); minstrel troupe (Mr J Ross and others); cockerel (Master N Garfoot); Cupid (Master P Hind); Red Indian (Master L Hind); cowboy (Master P Rose); nurse (Miss E Markham); gypsies (Misses E Robinson, O Walker and E Moisey); letterbox (Miss D Nixon); gollywog on penny-farthing bicycle (Mr L Stevenson); "Beck and Call" (Miss A Nixon); early Victorian (Miss M Duffin); witch (Miss I Needham); Red Riding Hood (Miss M Rickard); fairies (Misses P Stringer and S Pulford); and many others.



Two early charity parades are pictured above, from 1925 and 1928, and the 1929 procession with Lady Godiva which heralded the start of the hospital rag days in aid of the Butterfield is pictured below.


The events got bigger and better and these pictures have survived from 1935 showing grown men doing silly things to raise money for a good cause.

The following year, volunteers were still busy, this time at Rippingale with a decorated lorry provided by a local haulage contractor (below).


HERE IS another old photograph taken on Rag Day although the year is unknown. The character is meant to be John Bull, a puny looking representative of our national hero, and I have established that it was taken in the back garden of No 18 West Street, then a private house but now used as office premises and known as Commerce House. The location was fairly easy to identify by the windows of the Baptist Church which can be seen in the background and so the house frontage is on the left of the photograph. The picture was taken by Ashby Swift (1882-1941), a Bourne photographer who was in business from 1904, operating firstly from premises in South Street and then across the road here in West Street. It is obvious that the John Bull connection comes from the cycle tyres which were known by that name, a popular brand in the early years of the 20th century, and samples can be seen hanging on the cart. Was he then a cycle dealer?