Mercury Memories looks back through the archive housed at the Rutland and Stamford Mercury offices
10 years ago
A bus service has been axed as a cash-strapped council tries to save money.
Bus company Kimes has had to cancel its weekly Stamford to Lincoln bus service after Lincolnshire County Council pulled its funding.
The county council has to save £125m over the next four years and has slashed its bus services budget to £4m,
The bus company, which is based in Sleaford Road, Folkingham, had received £6,211 from the council to run the Saturday service.
The route, which finishes on April 2, started off from Stamford but took in Ryhall, Essendine, Bourne, Rippingale and Folkingham, along with villages north of Sleaford.
Traffic director John Kime said the company was sad to axe the Saturday service, due to the loss of the subsidy coupled with the increasing cost of fuel.
He said: “It was heavily subsidised and the county council has ended their desire to subsidise it.”
A youth group has applied for £5,000 to put on a summer programme for youngsters later this year.
Teenzone offers a range of activities and cafe sessions for nine to 16-year-olds on Christchurch, Green Lane, Stamford.
The group has approached Stamford Town Council for £5,000 to put on the summer play scheme and activities for children and teenagers in the town.
Programme manager Emily Turner and some of the youngsters who attend the popular club gave a presentation to the council meeting on Tuesday on its events last summer. Teenzone kept youngsters occupied last year with trips out to Burghley Park, Wicksteed Park along with a sleep over, sunshine ball and a range of activities.
Mayor David Brailsford hopes to have raised £1,500 for Teenzone during his year in office.
Teenzone is one of the two mayoral charities supported during the last year.
The group was praised by councillors for the activities it puts on for youngsters in the town but no decision was made on the request for a £5,000 grant.
No decision will be made on the future of the Riverside Festival until after the May elections.
Stamford Town Council unanimously agreed at its meeting on Tuesday to postpone making a decision on whether to allow The Riverside Association of Music and Arts to use The Meadows in 2012.
But the council has agreed to hold informal meetings with the festival organised before and after the elections.
This year’s event was called off after a row erupted with the council, which wanted to see audited accounts.
The association says that the Charity Commission does not need audited accounts and that it cannot use grant money to pay for this.
Director Jenny Collins is pleased that the council has agreed to meet.
She said: “I think it is a positive step forward.
“I am hoping that the two meetings will be a step forward in the right direction and we can get some resolution and finally get the show back on the road.”
The proposals were put forward by mayor David Brailsford, who does not want to impose a decision on the new council.
25 years ago
Non-medical staff at Stamford Hospital have been told their jobs are not at risk by the company taking over the running of catering, domestic and portering services.
An announcement was made that company Matthew Hall had beaten the hospital’s own bid to manage its ancillary services.
Staff were afraid of job losses and changes to their contracts.
But at a meeting in the hospital dining hall with representatives from Matthew Hall and North West Anglia Healthcare NHS Trust, workers were told they had nothing to worry about.
A spokeswoman for the trust said: “Staff were reassured by Matthew Hall that there will be no redundancies, contract conditions will not be altered and bonus scheme will be unaffected.”
Small-scale beef producers in the Stamford and Deepings area could be put out of business by the latest Mad Cow Disease scare.
And the latest health alert means beef will stay off the menu for many schools in the Mercury area.
National Farmers’ Union press officer Harry Albright said: “Farmers are extremely concerned. Small producers could be put out of business.
“The frustrating thing for many is that most of the herds are BSE free but they are all being lumped together.”
The Government admitted for the first time this week that mad cow disease might be passed to humans by eating beef.
A new strain of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of the disease which has no cure, has been found in 10 people under the age of 42.
Leicestershire has not included beef in school meals for some years, but Lincolnshire will carry on serving beef.
Dr David Bryars, headteacher of the Deepings School, said: “Lincolnshire LEA has issued a statement to say there will be no change and that a choice of meals will be offered to pupils, including beef.
More than £20,000 is currently being spent in attempts to foil or repair constant acts of vandalism on toilets in the district.
Sledgehammers and even petrol have been turned on conveniences in South Kesteven, with Bourne and Stamford suffering the most.
The issue of cleanliness and presentability was raised at the last Stamford and District Tourism Association meeting, Irene Quinn said: “People, particularly tourists, judge a town by its toilets and there are some in Stamford that are terrible.
South Kesteven District Council fights a never-ending battle to keep toilets presentable.
Head of amenity services Brian Pashley said: “Some people deliberately go out to damage the toilets with tools and we have had petrol or some other flammable liquid poured on then and then set alight.
“We make every effort to make the fittings vandal-proof – even bars and locks. But people always smash them.”
The most extreme case has been at Bourne. Vandals struck less than 48 hours after the toilets at the bus station were refurbished and before they were open to the public, Two weeks later they were damaged again. But repairs will continue.
“We’re committed to providing this service. Each time there’s trouble we review the facilities and try to improve them the real problem lies in the behaviour of the people who do the damage. But that us not something the district council can address,” said Mr Pashley.
The commitment to provide clean, usable toilets last year cost SKDC more than £20,000.
50 years ago
Stamford Hospital is to keep its accident and emergency services and the present facilities are to be slightly increased.
The East Anglian Regional Hospital Board has accepted a recommendation from its officers that the services should stay.
And the Board has also agreed that there should be two extra clinical assistant sessions in the casualty department.
This decision is a direct result of a meeting between local councillors, doctors, hospital staff, and regional hospital board officials.
Last year the board’s decision to consider closure of the accident and emergency services in Stamford caused a public outcry.
Two petitions were circulated and together gathered about 9,000 signatures. A special meeting of Stamford Borough Council was held and unanimously condemned the closure move.
It was then that the board decided it was time for a re-think. After the meeting with councillors, doctors and hospital staff, the board’s officers recommended that the service should not be closed.
The Board was strongly in favour of maintaining a minor casualty service such as the one existing at present.
The Malcolm Sargent County Primary School, re-opened last year because of a shortage of primary school accommodation in Stamford, will be full by Easter next year.
After this date the school will only be able to take new pupils as the existing children leave.
But the Bluecoat county primary school is having 120 extra places built which should be ready by this September.
This will increase the size of the school to between 800 and 900 places before the new Malcolm Sargent School is ready.
Malcolm Sargent School headmaster Mr Paul Knight said on Wednesday: “The school is expected to be full by Easter next year.
“No new children will be taken into this school until we move to new buildings on Empingham Road.
“This is expected to be in 1973 providing we have no hold-ups in the building programme.
“Until then we will only be able to take fresh pupils as the existing children leave.”
He was expecting the school to have 90 pupils by the start of this year’s autumn term.
The full capacity of about 120 pupils should be reached by Easter 1972.
The dispute which halted production at Dow-Mac’s Tallington factory for four-and-a-half hours on Friday has been settled.
General manager Mr John Morgan said on Wednesday that agreement had been reached with the unions to increase efficiency and so increase the men’s wages.
This was settled at a meeting on Tuesday between Mr Morgan, Mr Arthur Hyland, district organiser of the Transport and General Workers’ Union and Mr Les Wallis of the General and Municipal Workers’ Union
“The settlement is really a meeting of points of view,” said Mr Morgan. “It has been agreed to increase efficiency and the dispute is now settled.”
100 years ago
At the meeting of the Stamford Board of Guardians on Monday, Mr. J. W. Coulson (vice-chairman) presiding, it was decided, on the proposition of Mr. J. B. Tomms, seconded y Mr. W. Turnill, to restore the weekly egg to the dietary of the children in the home on Ryhall-road in view of the present low price of that article of food.
South Lincolnshire Farmer’s Estate – A corrective affidavit has now been filed at Somerset House in connection with the affairs of the late Mr. R. E. Worth, of 81, Lincoln-road, Peterborough and who formerly farmed at Wilsthorpe, near Stamford, showing a gross estate of £26, 943 14s., the estate previously being sworn at £12,460 2s. 1d.
Accident _ A Tickencote school-girl, Isabel H. Beadle (16), when cycling on St. Mary’s-hill on her way to the Girls’ High School, Stamford, on Tuesday morning, collided with a Government-owned motor lorry, and was seriously injured. Near the Town Bridge she attempted to pass between two motor vehicles, but, misjudging the distance, was knocked down and run over. She was conveyed to the Infirmary, where, on enquiry, her condition was reported to be serious, though no definite details of the extent of the injuries were at that time available.
“Utopia, Limited” - the Stamford Amateur Operatic Society are to present on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings, April 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th, and at a matinee on the Thursday, the above opera by Gilbert and Sullivan. Seats may be booked at Messrs. Denning’s, Broad-street.
The Tramp problem – The Bourne Board of Guardians, meeting on the 17th inst., accepted the following tenders: Boots, Messrs. Hilton and Sons; drapery, Messrs. J. Wall and Sons; men’s clothing, Mr. G. E. Bett; brushes, Messrs. Wherry and Sons, Ltd.; bread and flour, Mrs. Pick; hair-cutting, Mrs. Brinkley; tobacco, Messrs. Wherry and Sons, Ltd.; milk, Mr. J. W. Billings; groceries, Mr. Smith; necessaries, Messrs. Wherry and Sons, Ltd.; funerals in Bourne district, Mr. J. Rawlinson, and Corby district, Mr. E. Walsingham. The Hon. Gerald Walsh, Ministry of Health Inspetor, invited by the Chairman (Rev. J. Carvath), to address the meeting, remarked that there was only one subject to which he desired to call attention, and that was the vagrants. If the Board considered that the number was abnormal, he suggested that they should apply for the re-opening of the casual wards. Then there was the question of the mid-day meal. When the system as first started bread stations were established, but these had fallen out of use, and he suggested as an alternative to re-opening the stations that the mid-day meal should be supplied to vagrants before leaving. Vagrants would then have no legitimate cause for begging on the road.
Military Nurse Honoured – Miss Florence Pickwell, who is well-known locally, has been invested with the insignia of the order of the Royal Red Cross, in recognition of her five years’ valuable service as a sister of the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve, spent in Egypt, India, and Mesopotamia.
150 years ago
The late Mr. W. R. Dalton, of St. Martin’s, Stamford, bequeathed the sum of £10 to the Stamford Institution, for the purchase of books.
At a vestry held yesterday at St. John’s church, Stamford, there were two applicants for the office of rate collector for the parish, vacant through the resignation of Mr. Henry Moore, viz., Mr. Reedman, jun., and Mr. Jos. Moore, baker. 25 voted in favour of the latter and 23 for the former. The appointment rests with the Board of Guardians, who invariably sanction the recommendation of the majority of the vestry.
At the Stamford Union Board on Wednesday the clerk announced that 43 applications had been made for the office of master and matron, and that the committee appointed to peruse the testimonials had recommended that four of the couples should be asked to attend the Board on Wednesday next, when the election will take place. The suggestion of the committee was adopted. The report of pauperism showed 176 inmates – a decrease of 29 as compared with the corresponding week of last year. Out-relief was given to 802 individuals, at a cost of £96 8s. 9d.; corresponding week of last year 823, at a cost of £95 18s. 1d. Tramps are beginning to permambulate in increased numbers: 55 were received into the casual ward last week.
Stamford Midlent fair – There was a very good show of sheep at this fair on Monday last, especially of lambhogs, but owing to the scarcity of keep sales were rather slow; good prices, however, were realised. The average price for lambhogs was from 52s. to 56s.; but a pen of exceedingly good animals, belonging to Mr. Parkinson, of Ryhall, sold for 66s. per head, and a pen of very good hogs belonging to Mr. Hodgkin, of Wittering, made 60s. The price of fat sheep in wool, of which there was also a large number, was from 9½d. to 10d. per pound: for a pen of 100 fat clipped sheep Mr. Dainty, of Easton, obtained 63s. per head. The supply of beasts, both fat and store, was unusually large for this fair; the trade, however, was not brisk for either. Store beasts averaged from £18 to £20, and fat animals fetched from 9s. 4d. to 10s. per stone. Mr. Dainty sold four fat beasts at £37 10s, £37, £36, and £34 respectively.
Stamford pleasure fair this year seems to have rather degenerated so far as the character of the exhibitions is concerned. There is this time no collection of wild beasts; and the lead has been left – perhaps to Marionettes, although there are “Art Treasures from London” calculated, it appears, to “open the windows of the souls” and afford “food for the mind;” an “astounding exhibition of mirth, magic, and mystery;” a circus; a living skeleton, a fat boy, and a “prize” lady; and a numerous progeny of a more humble and less conspicuous family. There are the usual bazaars for the sale of toys and fancy articles; steam roundabouts whistling and whirling; rifle ranges and portrait “studios;” and a novel establishment for the supply of “hot green peas with mint!”
200 years ago
E. Stanton begs to inform the ladies of Stamford and its vicinity, that she intends carrying on the Millinery, Dress, and Corset-making Business, and hopes, by strictest attention, to merit their patronage and support. St. Martin’s, Stamford. March 21, 1821.
R. Goodyer, Saddler, Hunting-Cup and Harness Maker, Ironmonger-street, Stamford, impressed with gratitude for the numerous favors conferred upon him during his Partnership with the late Mr. Heppenstall, takes the earliest opportunity of informing the nobility, gentry, clergy, and his friends and customers generally, that he proposes carrying on the Business as usual, upon the same premises as heretofore occupied by Mr. Heppenstall during a period of 30 years, and humbly hopes for a continuance of their favors; assuring them, that no exertions on his part shall be wanting to give the satisfaction so liberally experienced by his late partner. March 22d, 1821.
N.B. An Apprentice wanted; letters post paid.
The remains of Mrs. Richardson, of Peterboro’, sister of the late Earl of Lindsey, were deposited in the family vault at Uffington on Tuesday last.
The statement of the death of Mr. Butterfield, from the injury he received by the overturning of a Yarmouth coach near Diss, was premature. The unfortunate gentleman yet survives, and may possibly linger some time longer; his recovery, however, is quite hopeless.
A box, containing bank-notes and bills to the amount of £1100 and upwards, was stolen from the Wellington coach, while standing in front of the Coffee-house, York, on the night of the 13th ult.
Vote for Rutlandshire.
To be Sold by Private Contract,
One Acre, One Rood and Fourteen Perches of Freehold Land, part of Harrington Close, in the parish of Thistleton; abutting on land sold to Thos. Gascoyne South, land of George Fludyer, Esquire, West, and the lordship of South Witham North.
For further particulars apply to Messrs. Girdlestone and Wing, solicitors, Wisbech.
Deeping and other late-inclosed Commons
Interior Drainage Tax, 5th and 6th Districts.
The Second Instalment of the Acre Rate or Tax of One Shilling per Acre per annum, rated and taxed by the Trustees of the above Districts, on the lands and ground comprised within he same, for the year 1821, being due the 5th of April next; Notice is hereby given, that the several Occupiers of land within the said districts, are to pay their respective proportions of the said tax, at my office in Market Deeping, on Wednesday the 11th day of April next; and that in default thereof, warrants of distress will be forthwith issued to levy the same, without further application
Samuel Sharpe, Receiver.
Market Deeping, 19th March, 1821
Billingborough.
To be Let, from Year to Year or for a Term of Years, and may be entered upon immediately,
Buckminster Hall, in Billingborough, formerly the residence of J. W. H. Burton, Esq. deceased. The house consists of airy and spacious apartments of every description, with a Lawn in front, and Coach-house, Stable, and Malting-office adjoining, and with or without Fifteen Acres of Pasture and Meadow Lane.
Sleaford, 20th March, 1821.