Pat of the Red Barrows

A few years ago, our streets were so spick and span that the person responsible was given a civic award. Miss Patricia Coles was the official street and toilet cleaner and her red cart fitted with pans and brushes was such a familiar sight around the town that she became known as "one of the Red Barrows". 

This hard work did not go unnoticed and the Bourne Rotary Club nominated her for their silver rose bowl, awarded each year for the best contribution to the environment, while her employers added their congratulations by giving her a cheque. "It is very nice that she should get an accolade for her work", said her boss Mr Malcolm Sandison of the Grantham-based Exclusive Clean Services, the district council's contractors. "She does her job well and people appreciate it. She is one of our star workers." Pat, then aged 31, collected her award during a special luncheon given by the club at the Burghley Arms on 12th July 1988 and she even appeared on television.

This was not the first time that Pat had been recognised for her work in the streets. During a heavy snowfall in January 1987 she won the admiration of townspeople by joining male colleagues shovelling snow off the pavements in the town centre to make it easier for shoppers and one resident was so impressed that he wrote to the town council praising her efforts. "She worked faster than the men," he said, and the council duly acknowledged her dedication.

Pat is no longer our street cleaner because she later left her job to become a post woman. The Royal Mail's gain was Bourne's loss and we could do with a few more like her now. 

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