This has been an eventful year for Bourne as the effects of austerity continue to bite deep with business and industry struggling against the effects of unfavourable economic conditions, continual price increases in the shops and supermarkets that have a marked effect on household budgets, the cost of gas and electricity soaring and young couples grappling with the problem of finding a home either buying or rented. But despite the grey clouds of depressing monetary policies there have been one or two silver linings during 2014 demonstrating the benefits of living in this small South Lincolnshire market town where the community spirit is alive and well. 

Observances for the centenary of the Great War which began 100 years ago dominated the year with activities in schools and by local organisations devoted to remembering this dark period in our history from 1914-18. When the War Memorial in South Street was erected in 1956, an appeal produced the names of 97 men who died in action but it is now known that a further 37 names were missed and so the total number of those who never came back was 134 and Bourne United Charities hope to add those names on an additional plaque at some time in the future. 

In the meantime, the trustees under the guidance of John Kirkman made a remarkable improvement to the stone cenotaph during the year by adding a veteran’s way lined with memorial stones bearing the regimental and service crests of those who died which were dedicated on Sunday 21st September. Twenty-two pupils were selected from local schools, eleven each from Bourne Abbey Primary Academy and Bourne Westfield Primary Academy, to lay the wreaths bearing identical military crests on the appropriate stones and in doing so provided a reminder to the younger generation of the sacrifice made by servicemen from this town in past wars. 

A new school opened in Bourne during the late summer, the first for almost forty years. This is a landmark development in the history of this town and despite past promises by developers and local authorities it has only come to fruition through the pressure of parents who have repeatedly pointed out that the two existing primaries have been unable to cope with increasing numbers of children moving into an expanding community. Now the Elsea Park Primary Academy has actually been built and the first classes opened for the autumn term in September with an eventual pupil roll of 210.  

The good thing about any new school is that the lessons of the past have been learned and so it starts with a clean slate and every chance of success, particularly so in this case because it will be run by the Bourne Abbey Primary Academy which has already established a formidable record for performance under the guidance of headteacher Mrs Cherry Edwards who in June collected an OBE for her services to education.  

Children from the Abbey Primary Academy have already made their mark on the new school by signing their names on the steel frame during construction work and then in the summer, during a visit by the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev Christopher Lowson, they buried a time capsule in the grounds containing photographs of what life is like in Bourne in 2014 with letters written by pupils to children of the future and I was delighted to learn that a copy of my book A Children’s History of Bourne was also included. 

Bourne Town Council made history during the year by naming the first person ever to receive the freedom of the town, the highest honour the authority can bestow but has only been available to parish or town councils since 2009. The award went to Jade Etherington following her magnificent victory in the 2014 Winter Paralympics at Sochi and in March, a certificate honouring her new status was handed over during a ceremony at the Corn Exchange by the mayor, Councillor David Higgs. 

Jade, aged 23, of Mountbatten Way, Bourne, who is training to be a teacher, is a visually impaired skier who won three silver medals and one bronze at Sochi, making her the most decorated British athlete in a single winter Paralympic games. As a result of her achievement she subsequently became a familiar face at gatherings in Bourne where her presence was eagerly sought, not least at our schools where she has been an inspiration to many pupils, ending the year by being chosen to switch on the Christmas lights during the traditional ceremony outside the Town Hall at the end of November.  

During the year, pupils at Bourne Academy began work on a project that will recognise the link between motor racing and this town by laying a BRM trail through the streets directing visitors to the various places associated with the development of the car which won the world championship in 1962. The project, financed with various grants, will involve pupils interviewing former BRM staff for a film to 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. The trail is expected to be ready by the summer of 2015 and will no doubt take in the motor racing memorial erected alongside the river in South Street in 2003.

The sale of Bourne Textile Services in March for £22 million dominated our business news and few people in the town have not availed themselves of its services, whether it was washing and ironing, garment alterations or dry cleaning, because no matter what progress was being made in the industrial sector the company kept a foot in the domestic market and was always known locally as Bourne Clean. 

The company had humble origins, having begun life in 1932 as a family firm, expanding as the years progressed and changing its name several times to reflect the evolutionary nature of the service sectors in which it operated but still concentrating on what it knows best, namely washing and cleaning. Bourne Textile Services re-located in 2008 to a new and much larger site on the Cherryholt Road industrial estate which included major investment in new equipment and current operations entail the hotel linen rental market, supplying some 350 hotels with around 28,000 bedrooms.

The Stroud family retained control over the years, making the firm one of our biggest employers with 300 workers. Hedley Stroud, grandson of the founder, resigned as chairman and managing director after 33 years with the company and handed over to the new owners, the Johnson Service Group, a British company which rents and dry cleans uniforms and other textiles, but no matter what changes they decide to implement, the company will always be known locally as Bourne Clean. 

South Kesteven District Council finally accepted that the new Community Access Point which opened at the Corn Exchange in March 2013 was cramped and inconvenient following complaints from library staff and borrowers and redesigned the entire main floor in an attempt to make better use of the available space and make it more user friendly. On the plus side, the new CAP remains a very convenient one-stop call, offering 31 council services under one roof including benefits advice, enquiries about waste disposal, council housing, planning, repairs and licensing information while story time sessions for children are held on Tuesday afternoons and you can also pay your council tax, rent the latest DVD and audio CD and even register to vote.  

Meanwhile, the fate of the Town Hall remains uncertain. After serving this town for almost two centuries, the Grade II listed building that has been the centre of public life in Bourne for almost 200 years now stands empty and unused, a forlorn relic of our past civic pride and as Lincolnshire County Council claims ownership, there were fears that it would be sold on the commercial market, perhaps ending up as a night club or even a carpet warehouse. An attempt by a private businessman to turn it into a luxury cinema failed in September because the building was deemed to be too small and this prompted conservationists to challenge the council’s right to sell because the Town Hall was originally financed through public subscription and a search of the archives at county hall produced a trust deed dated around 1821 restricting the use of the building to its intended purpose as a town hall and courthouse with ancillary market stalls or shambles nearby. There the matter rests for the time being although Bourne awaits expectantly for its fate to be decided. 

The future of our beloved black swans which have inhabited St Peter’s Pool in the Wellhead Gardens since 1999 is also uncertain after a petition was sent to Bourne United Charities opposing the purchase of any more. The birds have been repeatedly killed by predators such as foxes and replacements have always been found but in all cases their wings have been pinioned to prevent flying with the result that they cannot flee when attacked. 

There were further deaths this year and as a result the trustees of Bourne United Charities which administers the Wellhead Gardens were petitioned to stop buying more black swans only to be killed again. This has presented a difficult decision for the trustees because the black swans are not only a favourite with visitors to the Wellhead Gardens, especially children who feed them regularly, but they have become an icon for Bourne and have been featured on the front page of the town guide and it is unthinkable that we should visit St Peter’s Pool and find them no longer there.

The forecast is better, however, for the Old Grammar School in South Road which is to be saved after years of neglect as a result of ambitious plans being drawn up by Bourne Preservation Trust to turn it into a centre for heritage excellence for the benefit of townspeople and visitors. The school dates back to the 17th century when it was endowed by William Trollope, a local landowner, and is sited next to the Abbey Church although the premises have been considerably rebuilt since his day. 

The scheme costing around £300,000 will enable the building to be restored as an educational centre complete with a working Victorian classroom and an adjoining information and display centre, a project to be known as the Bourne Heritage Experience which will create a new awareness of what the town has to offer with the involvement of other historic buildings in the vicinity such as the Abbey Church, the Red Hall and Baldock’s Mill. 

The new look Wherry’s Lane opened in June after an investment of £2.2 million by South Kesteven District Council to rejuvenate a neglected part of town and to find a useful purpose for buildings purchased as part of the abortive town centre regeneration scheme which was abandoned in 2010 without a single brick being laid. The old Masonic lodge was pulled down and the adjoining Burghley Street warehouse converted for use as flats with the addition of an adjoining arcade, providing seven shops to let and 14 apartments to be sold to private and investment buyers. 

Unfortunately, by the year’s end, Wherry’s Lane has a distinctly deserted appearance with few people using it, not all of the flats sold and six of the shops still standing empty. Fourteen spaces in the nearby Burghley Street car park have been withdrawn from public use having been reserved for the buyers of the apartments with the result that there was insufficient space for the swings and roundabouts of the annual October Fair that has been coming here for the past forty years and so the event was cancelled for the second time. In addition, land to the north of the development which has been reserved for expansion at some indeterminate time in the future has been grassed over and stands idle despite there being room for around 100 cars at a time when parking in the town is becoming increasingly difficult. 

Other events which made the news during the year were renewed efforts for the construction of a Victorian style bandstand in the War Memorial Gardens, now the subject of an online petition that has gathered some 500 votes. Funding and expert legal and practical assistance for the £25,000 project has been assured but the trustees of Bourne United Charities which administers the park on behalf of the people seem disinclined to endorse the idea even though the War Memorial is currently used as improvised seating by musicians and visitors when the summer band concerts are held there each year but despite their reluctance, the fight for approval continues. 

The bandstand now has a new urgency following an initiative during the summer to form a community brass band for Bourne by local osteopath Jo Sunner, a keen instrumentalist who plays both the tuba and the trombone. In June, he reported that ten musicians had been recruited, both men and women, and were practising with the Salvation Army band which has a tradition of brass band music and has produced many fine players. “There is a strong following in the area”, he said. “We are determined to have a brass band in Bourne and are already planning a few concerts.” 

The Civic Society has more room for its displays at the Heritage Centre housed at Baldock’s Mill in South Street after being given the adjoining two-storey southern section of the mill building which has until now been leased to a neighbour who has been using it as a garage. The owners, Bourne United Charities, have agreed to hand it over to the society and plans are being drawn up to turn it into a new exhibition area for the centre which was established at the mill in 1981.  Until now, the society has been hampered as their exhibits and archives expand with every room and cupboard filled to overflowing and so the new area comes as a welcome relief for their efforts. 

Bourne is blessed with open spaces and so it was heartening to hear that the magnificent silver rose bowl awarded by the Rotary Club of Bourne since 1979 to encourage improvements in our environment went this year to Andrew Scotney and his colleague Hayley Pateman who comprise the parks team of Bourne United Charities and are responsible for the upkeep of the Abbey Lawn, the Wellhead Gardens and the War Memorial Gardens which have all been greatly improved during the past twelve months. Their recent notable achievements have included the establishment of a wild flower meadow planted on land adjoining the Wellhead Gardens to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and the planting of 11,000 daffodil bulbs to bring a touch of spring colour to the banks of the Bourne Eau where it runs through the War Memorial Gardens in South Street. 

Sculptures in public places brighten up the urban landscape and so it was with some dismay when one of the small collection designed by students at Bourne Academy disappeared from the central reservation of the roundabout in West Road during the summer and police were called in to investigate. But after a few days, just as the school was planning to make a replica, a passing cyclist spotted it dumped in a ditch near the roundabout but it was undamaged and reinstated with the others in the display. The incident, however, produced an unexpected advantage through the additional publicity for a most worthwhile project, that of giving young people a platform for their work. 

Burger wars broke out in August with the arrival of the fast food chain McDonald’s who opened a new outlet in South Road. Although the restaurant was packed for several days, it did not please everyone and staff from one local takeaway staged a demonstration advertising reduced prices in an attempt to persuade people to support their local chippies. All of which goes to show that keen competition keeps businesses on their toes and at the same time benefits the customer. 

Voluntary work continued to predominate much of our social and community life during the year, at the Abbey Church and with the various sports and social organisations that are busy most weeks with meetings and activities. Volunteering is a selfless pursuit to help others and the community and without it many of our clubs and associations would founder but we must admire the Friends of Bourne Wood for setting their sights on finding 500 recruits for their very worthy cause, that of promoting and maintaining Bourne Wood, 400 acres of forest to the west of the town managed by the Forestry Commission and one of our finest environmental and leisure amenities. It is a high expectation but then nothing ventured is nothing gained and other organisations will be watching with interest to know if they make it and if they do, how they managed to achieve it.