Delve into the past of Stamford, Rutland, Bourne and the Deepings with Mercury Memories
10 years ago
A county councillor has warned 100 more police officers could be axed over the next four years on top of 130 posts already approved to be cut.
Lincolnshire Police has already decided to cut 70 police officer and 90 civilian roles in the next financial year, bringing the number of officers to 1,130. It is also planning to axe another 20 a year for the next three
years.
But at a meeting on Tuesday, Chris Underwood-Frost, who sits on Lincolnshire Police Authority and is a county councillor warned that 100 more jobs could also go.
His warning came after the police authority approved freezing its share of the council tax. In return, the Government says it will give the authority £1m every year for four years.
Coun Underwood-Frost said: “The worry is that while we’ve agreed not to raise the council tax, the money we have been promised might not be there and if it isn’t, there is a potential for 100 more officers to go.”
Traders are fed-up of clearing rubbish, vomit and even blood left by yobs. Shopkeepers along Stamford’s lanes are calling for better security for their premises and the area to be cleaned of the debris left by revellers.
Helen Fox has been called out twice in five months after yobs broke the windows of her store Mummy and Me, in Wellington Way.
She also says that people use the passage as a toilet and she is sick of the litter and dog mess left around the site. There is also blood left on her window.
Mrs Fox feels that South Kesteven District Council should offer grants to traders to improve security. Last week the district council announced it would offer grants to help traders revamp their shop fronts.
She said: “We need people to come down the lanes but at the minute they are dodging vomit and dog mess. It doesn’t encourage people.”
Abigail Yardley, who runs Abi Golightly in Silver lane, regularly has to clear litter from the steps which lead to her shop.
She said: “Every week there is rubbish and cigarette butts on the steps. Often there is food and I have to clear it up.”
Stamford Town Partnership will continue despite losing a major source of funding.
The partnership, which brings different groups together to improve the town, has lost funding from South Kesteven District Council as it reduces its costs.
The group has helped to organise and fund a host of events and projects in the town including the Christmas Festival along with working on plans to makeover the east end of the High Street.
The district council had provided the partnership with £10,947 in the last financial year but there is nothing allocated for the forthcoming year. The partnership also receives money from other sources.
Co-chairman Philip Segar said: “This is quite understandable and the town partnership board has no issue with this.
“We will, however, be reviewing the way forward for the partnership as there seems to be the desire from the partners, Stamford Town Council, South Kesteven District Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Stamford Chamber of Trade and Commerce and others for the partnership to continue as a facilitator of funding bids and major events and projects.”
25 years ago
More than 100 engineering and foundry workers are set to take industrial action at Mirrlees Blackstone over a pay claim.
In a ballot which closed on Tuesday shop workers said they were prepared to strike and take other industrial action over failure to agree a pay claim for 1996.
The only authorised action is a continuous overtime ban,” said a spokesman for the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU). The union ran the postal ballot where 123 workers voted, with 76 saying they were prepared to take strike action (46 against). And 87 workers said they would take industrial action with 36 against.
“Hopefully Mirrlees Blackstone may call another meeting with stewards and might start negotiating. We are just taking it step by step. No one likes taking action,” said an AEEU spokesman.
If no settlement has been reached by March 4, 123 workers will operate a continuous overtime ban until negotiations are successful.
Stamford must present a united front to Whitehall if it is ever to get a bypass. That is the message from the town mayor following discussions with residents and local organisations.
Rows over routes and money have delayed Governmental decisions on the bypass all the way along the line, according to Mayor Helen Dawn. But Roads Minister John Watts wants to set up a working party with a view to putting the scheme back in the road building programme, so Coun Dawn believes every effort should be made to find a route agreeable to a large majority of the town or it may be forgotten.
In a letter, Coun Dawn stated that before the minister’s working party begins to consult on the bypass the town must be together on what it wants.
She said: “There has in the past even been arguments whether the route should be called a bypass or a relief road. I would suggest the town requires a bypass to take through traffic away from the town, a relief road to take traffic away from the centre, particularly HGVs that are not servicing town centre shops, and a service road taking traffic away from the town when delivering to industrial complexes on Ryhall and Uffington roads.
“In fact, a road that will provide all three services.
“I believe it is vital that before the minister’s working group is established, every effort must be made to find a route acceptable to a majority of the town otherwise if we lose this opportunity, then I believe we will be forgotten.”
Lincolnshire Air Ambulance, which has flown 600 missions in and out of the county since it first started 14 months ago, has been forced to operate a temporary reduced service to save money.
More than £30,000 is raised by the public every month for the charity. But according to those working for the air ambulance, this amount is still £10,000 below the minimum amount required to ensure the ambucopter is available on a full-time basis.
Lincolnshire Air Ambulance Trust chairman John Hill said: “We believe it is better to reduce the level of service now than to find ourselves with no service at all in the months ahead.
“We hope that this will prove to be only a temporary measure and that our ongoing attempts to secure adequate funding in the long-term will enable us to return to normal service in the not too distant future.
50 years ago
Five local bus services will be withdrawn unless Kesteven County Council agrees to subsidise them says the Lincolnshire Road Car Company.
The County Council decided on Wednesday to seek the immediate views of local councils and the Kesteven Association of Parish Council on a letter received from the bus company.
They are also to obtain further information from the company and will discuss the matter at a future meeting.
The services concerned and the annual subsidies required are: Grantham to North Witham, £318; Grantham to Stamford, £1,550; Grantham to Colsterworth, £928; Grantham to Billingborough £559; and Sleaford to Bourne, £585.
The letter from the bus company said that they would withdraw the services “if agreement about an adequate level of support had not been reached by April 30.”
An occasion on Monday which could have been a sad one, resolved into a warm gathering of friends to wish Dr Charles M. Douglas many happy years of retirement.
Friends, old and new, met at the Rose inn, Frognall, to witness the presentation to Dr Douglas (63) of Deeping St James of an illuminated address commemorating his retirement in January after 32 years’ practice in the village.
The presentation was made by Sister J. Senkey on behalf of Deeping St Nicholas, Deeping St James and Market Deeping. She also gave the doctor a cheque and the promise of the delivery in a few weeks’ time of a reproduction antique writing table and chair,
The proceedings commenced with the introduction by Mrs M. Moyle of Nurse M. Aldridge, who for 21 years has been closely connected with the doctor as district Nurse for Deeping St James.
A school bus service for children on Stamford’s Chatsworth Road Estate is to be started in about 14 days.
Plans for the service have been agreed between the Borough Council and Barton’s Transport.
This follows a petition which was handed to the council last week from two mothers who claimed that schoolchildren from the estate risked their lives crossing Casterton Road to catch the school bus.
Barton’s Transport were prepared to run a school bus along the estate service road, which runs parallel to Casterton Road.
But the Borough Council said that this road was too narrow and they wanted the company to run a service round Chatsworth Road, the estate’s main road.
Barton’s said that this would not be economical and they could not stretch their service any further. At Thursday’s meeting of the council’s highways committee Borough Surveyor Mr R. A. Wall was authorised to sort out a new route with Barton’s.
He met Barton’s Stamford area manager, Mr Charles Page on Tuesday and the amended route was agreed.
The schoolbus which comes from the village of Casterton will pick up the children at a point about mid-way along the service road.
“There is a pavement where they can wait in safety and which is not near enough to anyone’s house to cause a nuisance,” said Mr Wall.
100 years ago
Borough Auditors – Messrs. J. G. Robinson and W. Goodley are the only nominees for the above offices, and are, therefore, returned unopposed.
“Pound day”- Friday was Infirmary Pound Day, and the results were as gratifying as in former years. Splendid efforts were made by the schools and the villages, while there was a magnificent response from the town. The total weight of goods received was no less than 3308 lbs., while gifts of cash amounted to £41 14s. Potatoes were plentiful, the weight received being half-a-ton, while 218 lbs. of rice were given, as well as 205 lbs. sugar, 160 lbs. flour, 138 lbs. tapioca, and 625 eggs. The expenses amounted to only £1 9s.
No Sunday Mail – Stamfordians were wondering on Sunday why there were no letters. The explanation is that the train which conveys the mail from Leicester was held up in the Oakham district owing to a mishap to the engine, and did not arrive.
A Five-Shilling Dog – At the Stamford County Court, on Monday, a dispute over he price of a fox terrier puppy, two months old, came before his Honour, Judge Moore Cann. The plaintiff was J. W. Wade, who described himself as a grocer, of St. Leonard’s-street, Stamford, and the defendant was Davin Bevin, Collyweston-road, Easton-on-the-Hill. Plaintiff stated that he sold the dog to Bevin at the agreed price of 5s., but he had not received the money for it. Defendant said he bought the dog as a birthday present for his little girl, who identified plaintiff as the man to whom she paid the 5s., and from whom she took the dog. His Honour found for plaintiff, remarking that he did not dispute the honesty of the little girl, but it was his opinion that no payment had been made for the dog.
New Valuation Lists To Be Prepared – The Bourne Board of Guardians at their last meeting decided to contribute £10 10s. to Bourne Butterfield Hospital, £5 5s. to Stamford Infirmary. £3 3s. to Grimsthorpe Nursing Association, £2 2s. each to Billingborough Nursing Association and Peterborough Infirmary, and £1 1s. to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The Clerk reported the receipt of circular letter from the Ministry of Health asking public authorities not to incur any capital expenditure unless immediately necessary, except for public health purposes. One member suggested that from a Government point of view it meant doing without fires when it was warm. Mr. Sneath brought forward his resolution for the overseers of the various parishes to prepare new valuation lists. He remarked that there had not been a valuation for eight years, and in no similar period had the valuation and rentals of agricultural land varied so much. Some of the land that had been sold represented three times the rent that had been paid previously. At the same time he did not urge a rental basis, which would work unfairly in many instances, but what he did urge was that the assessment committee should give instructions in accordance with the Act of 1862 which put the gross rent at a rate at which it might reasonably be let from year to year. The resolution was carried and referred to the Assessment Committee to consider.
150 years ago
Liberal subscriptions are being promised for rebuilding a portion of All Saints’ Church, Stamford. The Marquis of Exeter has given £100; £50 each has been given by the Rev. N. Walters, Mr. Torkington, Miss Cookson, Mr. Thompson, and Mrs. Cutler; £50 by the Misses Thompson, £50 by Mrs. Edmonds and family; £40 by Mr. Cayley, and other sums ranging from £20 to 31; amounting atogether to £655. The sum required to render the fabric substantial is £1200.
Soup Kitchen – The operations of the Stamford soup kitchen closed yesterday, after dispensing its usefulness for the last two months. At no period since its establishment has it been of so great a service as during the past eight weeks, and the satisfaction expressed has been universal. Lord Aveland has most liberally forwarded two fine does each week during the season.
Browne’s Hospital, Stamford, is approaching completion, and the public have a right to expect that the hoarding in Broad-street, which has so long been a nuisance and an eyesore, will not be permitted to remain longer than is absolutely necessary. Two well-executed statues in Clipsham stone have lately been placed in niches on the south side of the building. That over the entrance porch (built in Edward the Fourth’s time) exhibits William Browne, the founder, displaying in his hand a tablet representing the southern elevation of the hospital as it appeared before the present alterations. The other figure, which is over the door of the Warden’s residence, is that of Henry the Seventh, in whose reign the hospital received its first constitution, although that monarch and Richard III, had previously given charters to it. The sculptures are the work of Mr. Ruddock, of London.
The pressure for relief at the Stamford Union has diminished since the breaking up of the frost. The out-door relief is a little in excess of the amount at this time last year; but the in-door paupers are less by 30, the number last week being 186. In vagrancy there is not much change: 45 was the number admitted to the house in the week ending Feb. 18. At the Board meeting on Wednesday a petition to the House of Commons for an amendment of the Pedlars’ Act was agreed to. The Clerk laid before the Guardians a mass of returns prepared for the Poor-law Board, containing the rateable value of the Union, as under: 1, Lands, including farm-houses and farm-buildings, tithe-rent charge, £66,860; 2, Buildings, not assessed with farms, houses, shops, warehouses, mills, factories, docks, wharfs, &c., £30,877; 3, railways, including stations, £9728; 4, Mines, nil; 5, All other kinds of property, including quarries, ironworks, gasworks, saleable underwood, telegraph wires, &c. £3570: total £111,035.
Imprisonment seems to have few terrors for a certain class of paupers. “Misbehaviour” in the Stamford Union-house has long been common, and attempts to stamp it out by making the offenders trip on the treadmill have not yet been completely successful. On Saturday a strong young fellow named John King, “a destitute wayfarer and wanderer,” was charged before W. L. Hopkinson, Esq., M.D., with destroying his own clothes while being entertained in the Union-house; and Thos, Hainsworth, of Stamford, who has for a length of time been supported by the rate-payers, pleased guilty of absenting himself from the house without permission of the master. The Magistrate gave each a week’s imprisonment, and he expressed an opinion that whipping would be more effective than incarceration.
200 years ago
Notice.
Whereas I, John Hinman of Teigh, in the county of Rutland, grazier, have by Indenture under my hand and seal, dated the Sixteenth day of February instant, fully empowered John Bunting, of Teigh aforesaid, grazier, to pay and receive all monies due and owing by or to me, and entrusted to him the sole management of my affairs. Now I do hereby discharge all persons from giving credit to any other person on my account (except the said John Bunting), as I will not be answerable for any debt which may be contracted in my name after this notice. Dated this 17th day of February, 1821. Jno. Hinman.
Witness, Philip Harris.
All persons having any claim or demand upon the said John Hinman, are requested to transmit an account thereof immediately to the said John Bunting; and all persons standing indebted to the said John Hinman, are desired to pay the same to Mr. Bunting,without delay.
Petitions to the House of Common have now, from the character of many which have been lately heard of, become things of so little consideration, that we might allow that which was presented by Mr. Bennet last Friday night, as from a boy confined in Stamford gaol, to pass without further notice than what is taken of it in the report of Parliamentary proceedings given in our fourth page. We shall just observe, however, that the boy had been let out of gaol several days before the presentation of what is called his petition, as his trial cannot come on (with that of other persons indicted for similar offences) until the summer assizes at Lincoln; and that the charge upon which he was committed was, as Mr. Bennet observes, “merely” that of carrying on a pole about the town a burning effigy, from which fire was scattered in all directions, to the extreme danger of the property and dwellings of the inhabitants; and that those inhabitants, alarmed by the repetition of such dangerous practices night after night for many nights, entreated the interference of the magistrates, and giving the necessary information against Thos Rhodes as the principal aggressor, the magistrates committed him to gaol.
Billingborough.
To be Sold by Auction,
By Thos. Harmston,
At the Fortescue Arms in Billingborough, on Tuesday the 6th day of March next, at Five o’clock in the evening, subject to such conditions of sale as shall be then and there produced;
The following Freehold estate.
Lot 1. A comfortable Dwelling-house, in the centre of the town of billingborough, in most complete repair, with Domestic Offices of every description, capital Stable. Coach-house, Piggery, and other Conveniences, Yard and Garden adjoining, now in the occupatio of Mr. Rasor.
Lot 2. A Cottage or Tenement, with the Out-buildings, Yard and Garden, near to lot 1, in the occupation of Mr. John Houchen.
February 13, 1821.