Delve into the past of Stamford, Rutland, Bourne and The Deepings with Mercury Memories
10 years ago
An annual fete coincided with the reopening of a village hall.
Villagers in Greatford enjoyed the fete, which was held on Saturday at the hall in Carlby Road.
The hall, which has had a £90,000 refurbishment was also formally reopened on the 100th anniversary of its original opening.
The fete included classic games such as skittles and splat the rat, as well as children’s Olympics, tea and cake and a barbecue.
In the evening, there was live music and a bar.
Fete organiser Jonathan Manning said: “The fete went brilliantly and the whole village was involved.
“I think it is really important that villagers have these big community events and this year was particularly special with the reopening of the village hall.”
The fete raised more than £1,000 which will go towards the ongoing maintenance of the hall.
Chairman of the Greatford Village Hall committee David Brown said: “We are absolutely delighted that through the efforts of local people, and the financial support of our grant funding partners, that we have been able to not only save the hall from physical disrepair and decline, but to revitalise the building.”
A Rugby club chairman has condemned a “pointless” spate of vandalism that will cost the club £700.
The Deepings Rugby Club has been targeted five times in the last seven months, with the most recent incident on Friday last week when vandals attacked the posts at one end of the Linchfield Road first team pitch.
The posts were pulled down during the night and are now broken and unsafe to use.
Chairman Mark Owen said: “It’s just so pointless we now have to try and find £700 for a set of posts.
“Like any other business we simply do not have the money to spare at the moment, with the season just starting we have just invested any spare money we had in new training kit for the minis and juniors.
“I am really at a loss as to what possible enjoyment anyone could get out of pulling them down.”
Previous attacks have seen both sets of posts on the training pitch broken beyond repair, and cross sections removed from the barrier running the length of the first team pitch.
Stamford could have a new skatepark by next summer after a fundraising committee reached its target of £150,000.
The news was announced at a public meeting on Wednesday evening.
About 100 people packed the town hall, including skaters young and old, parents, town councillors and some residents opposed to the plans, to hear the latest developments.
The new park will be a sunken concrete bowl-shaped structure on the Recreation Ground, on the same site as the previous skatepark.
Wooden ramps there were torn down in 2008 because they were unsafe.
Stamford Skatepark Committee chairman Marc Stanier told the meeting: “We have achieved the target of £150,000. The public consultation is ongoing.
“We are beginning the tender process and budgeting for anti-social behaviour mitigation.”
25 years ago
The Rev Rosamund Seal will become the first woman to be ordained as a priest in Stamford next Sunday (September 29).
The Bishop of Grantham, the Right Rev Bill Ind, will perform the ceremony at All Saints’ Church.
Rosamund (40) has been an assistant curate in the All Saints’ and St John’s parish since August, when she moved from Grantham where she was a deacon at St Anne’s.
She will remain an assistant curate in Stamford after her ordination – becoming the first woman to work as a priest in the town.
And despite the controversy which has surrounded the ordination of women in recent years, parishioners have given her a “wonderful” welcome.
“At my previous church there was some dissent, but not before I left. People are very, very supportive and very open to a different style of ministry,” she told the Mercury.
Miss Eiler Mellerup, a former member of All Saints’ and St John’s, will be ordained in Norwich Cathedral on the same day.
Queen Eleanor is about to enter the final stage of development work that will see it become one of the most modern schools in the region.
The Stamford school is also to receive a £50,000 grant from the Sports and Arts Foundation for an all-weather sports pitch.
In 1995 Princess Anne opened the first phase of a modernisation programme that has been in the pipeline for 10 years and will cost a total of £2.8 million.
Now plans for the second and final stage of the project have been drawn up.
Headteacher David Learmonth said: “We will have a large teaching block of spacious classrooms, bringing the English, humanities and learning needs department to the north site.
“The existing dining facilities will be relocated and refurbished, creating a large room for books and functions. A new library building will be created at the front of the school.
“All of this will mean Queen Eleanor will be on a single site, with the most modern buildings in the area.
“Security and safety have been taken into consideration as well as the needs of the disabled.
“The teaching areas will be accessed by a lift, with a wheelchair for emergencies. All buildings will be reached by ramps and lowered kerbs.”
Young drivers are congregating in Bath Row, Stamford at night – turning the area into a raceway.
The youths speed along Bath Row by the Meadows and play their stereo systems so loud that they wear hearing protectors, a resident has claimed.
He told South Kesteven policing forum at Stamford Town Hall on Tuesday: “There are tyre marks all over the street which is disgusting. It looks like Santa Pod.”
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, added: “They also play music that is actually louder than Stamford Fair.
“The equipment is probably legal, but it can’t possibly be legal to be wearing industrial headphones and playing music so loud when driving.”
He said the drivers even raced on a Sunday afternoon. “I nearly got run down with my two young children recently.”
But the youths disappear quickly when a police car arrives on the scene.
Inspector Dave Shakespeare, of Stamford, said: “They are also using scanners, which are illegal but difficult to detect.”
50 years ago
Two local councils held special meetings on local government re-organisation this week and another will be discussing the question next week.
Representatives of six councils – Stamford Borough, Bourne and Spalding Urban, and South Kesteven, Spalding and East Elloe rural councils – met for merger talks on Friday.
On Monday Spalding Rural Council held a special council meeting and re-affirmed their view to seek a merger only with Spalding Urban and East Elloe Rural councils.
Bourne Urban held a special meeting last night and Stamford Borough are due to discuss the matter on Tuesday.
Friday’s merger talks between the six authorities went on for one and a half hours before they were adjourned for a further meeting next Thursday.
At present there would appear to be a definite split of ideas, at least between two of the councils.
While Spalding Rural are pushing for a merger with their two neighbouring councils. Bourne Urban has already sent a letter to the Department of the Environment saying it wants a merger only with Stamford Borough and South Kesteven.
Barnack Rural Council decided when they met in Stamford on Thursday to make a grant of £100, plus a £500 loan, towards repairs to the roof at Barnack Village Hall.
The Clerk, Mr. G. P. Warters, read a letter from the hall committee’s treasurer, Mr. P. R. Edmunds, who said that £600 was needed before the winter to repair the slate roof, which had collapsed in places.
So far, only £75 had been raised towards the cost, and the hall was much in demand as a centre for village activities, among them the local clinic and the youth club.
The council agreed to make the grant, and the loan which is to be paid back over 10 years at a nominal rate.
But they regretted that they could nit make any contribution towards repairs at St Andrew’s Church, Ufford.
Mr Warters read a letter from the churchwardens of the parish, asking them if they would like to contribute towards roof repairs, which needed repairs due to death-watch and furniture beetles, and old age.
Mr Warters explained that under the regulations the council was not permitted to give contributions which would not benefit all of the rate-payers.
More than 1,500people turned out in brilliant sunshine for the host of attractions at the first-ever open day at Allis-Chalmers (Great Britain) Limited’s factory at Essendine on Saturday.
Employee and community relations manager, Mr J. E. Fullerlove, said: “It turned out to be a very successful day with absolutely no snags at all. I am delighted that everyone really enjoyed themselves.”
The open day gave visitors the chance to see the results of a massive expansion programme at the factory, which has cost the firm thousands of pounds.
The new extensions, which increase the firm’s production area to 200,000 square feet, include new ultra-modern offices, new paint, storage and despatching facilities as well as a number of highly advanced machines.
The open day visitors were treated to a comprehensive programme which included tours of the plant, an exhibition of products, demonstrations and films.
100 years ago
Police Sergeant’s Promotion – Police-sergeant Retchless, who has been stationed at Stamford for about three years, is, it is understood, to be promoted to inspector, and expects to remove to Sleaford on October 1st. During his time in this borough he has by his courteous manner and impartial attitude, gained the esteem of the inhabitants , and whilst regretting his departure, he is to be congratulated on his well-earned advancement.
Cheque received – Mr. R. G. Williamson, the secretary of the United Services Fund, has received a cheque for £32 14s. 9d., being a portion of the £260 to be paid to the local committee. The money is to be applied to obtaining hospital treatment for ex-Service men.
Aliens Order – We are requested by the police to call attention to the fact that the regulations under the Aliens Act are still in force, and it is, therefore, necessary for every person over 16 to register his name and nationality when staying at a hotel, boarding house, etc., as usual.
New Headmaster at Technical School – Mr. L.W. Jones, Tinwell-road, has been appointed headmaster at the Stamford Technical School in place of Mr. W. F, Markwick, who resigned some time ago. Mr Jones has had experience in a similar capacity at Gainsborough.
Bourne
Guardians Object to Official Control – When the Board of Guardians met on the 15th inst, the Clerk stated that he had received a letter from the Ministry of Health intimating that they were not prepared to sanction the amalgamation of the districts for which it was proposed to appoint Mr. Adamson as sole relieving officer. There was some considerable discussion on the matter, The Chairman (Rev. F. F, Taylor) was of opinion that they ought not to “sit down” to the letter. Mr. Sneath said that the Guardians on the spot should know better than the officials in London, and Mr. Kelby added that he was about tired of public business that was regulated by “a gang in London.” Ultimately it was decided to inform the Ministry that the area contained a large fen district in which no cases of relief occurred, and that the proposal of the Board was for six months trial, and to ask for approval for that period. In the meantime the confirmation of Mr. Adamson is to stand over. Mr. C. A. Holmes raised the question of the summons recently issued against the overseers of Careby, and asked whether they were notified that they had been appointed by the Board. The overseers in question did not know they had power to lay the rate, and as a matter of fact had not collected any of the rate when the summons was issued. The overseers resented the issue of the summons on the ground that it appeared to the public that they had collected the rates and then not paid the calls. The Clerk stated that none of the letters addressed to the overseers of Careby had been returned, nor had he received any communication from the parties in question, who were the outgoing overseers. By Act of Parliament they continued in office until a fresh appointment was notified. He undertook to write to the overseers on the matter.
150 years ago
The Mayor of Stamford has issued about 60 invitations to a municipal dinner, which will be given in the Town-hall on the 3d of October.
The transfer of the powers of the Stamford Improvement Commissioners to the Local Board, effected mainly to obtain a better water supply, is likely to prove a very expensive affair to the ratepayers. The salaries of the officers have been already increased by £170; and there are many expenses involved in the change which have not yet been developed, but which must be necessarily felt hereafter. The inhabitants of the Eight Acres, who are now brought into charge for the first time, and who are without water, are to remain bereft of that essential, the Board not seeing their way to the sinking of a well in the locality, at least such is the excuse for the evasion of a paramount duty.
A handsome large gold medal has just been awarded to Messrs. Ashby, Jeffery, and Luke, of this town, by the Royal Agricultural Society of Sweden, for the superiority of their chaff-cutters on wrought-iron frame and legs, haymaking machines, rakes, and vertical steam-engines, exhibited at the late Gottenburg show.
Mr. Arthur Lloyd’s concert company attracted a good audience to the Assembly-room, Stamford, on Tuesday evening: and the performances, particularly those of Mr. Lloyd and a clever young ventriloquist named Merdaunt, elicited hearty applause.
About 50 harvest people who had been engaged on the Marquis of Exeter’s farms were entertained at the dairy farm, by his Lordship’s request, on Monday last. The dinner consisted of roast beef, mutton, pies, plum pudding, &c. Before the repast the guests were suitably addressed by the Rev. Mr. Webster.
On Monday, Samuel Skellett, labourer, in the employ of Mr. Banks, Barholm, was returning from the granary with a hopper of beans on his back, when he fell over a rope on the top of the granary stairs and broke one of his legs. He was taken to the Stamford Infirmary.
At an early hour on Monday morning a powerful locomotive passed through Stamford. It was built by Messrs. Ramsome and Sims, of Ipswich, for the India Government, to carry passengers and mails between Thelum and Rawil Pinde in the Punjab, a distance of 80 miles. It was on a trial trip from Ipswich to York, in charge of Lieut. Crompton, a Government inspector. The engine draws a vehicle something like a large omnibus, which will accommodate 65 passengers, and travels from 16 to 20 miles an hour. The tires of the wheels are of India-rubber; consequently it runs quietly, and the ease with which it turns is astonishing. It arrived at Wansford on Saturday evening at about 10 o’clock, intending to reach Stamford to rest on Sunday; but at the invitation of J. Jackson, Esq., of Stibbington House, the train was run into his grounds, and there remained until Monday morning. The novelty drew many people to inspect it, and some of the villagers had the opportunity to enjoying a ride to Stamford. The distance (6 miles) was run in about 30 minutes.
Stamford Union – At the Board-meeting on Wednesday last the weekly report of pauperism showed a decrease of 47 in the house as compared with the corresponding period of last year, and the out-relief to 799 persons at a cost of £93 17s.3½d. varied little from the return in the corresponding week of last year.
200 years ago
A woman dressed in a riding habit, who calls herself Jane Sykes, came to this place on Saturday last by the Glasgow mail-coach from Grantham, and alighted at the Boat public-house. She pretends that she obtains a livelihood by attending boarding-schools with drawings and needle-work, of which she has patterns. In the evening of Saturday she was detected in stealing two pieces of Irish cloth from a traveller who had deposited them in the parlour of the public-house; one piece of cloth she is supposed to have dropped in the yard; the other was found locked up in her box. She says she is married; that her husband is at Manchaester, and that he is a miniature and profile taker. She was dressed in a brown riding habit, with brown beaver hat and black veil; has dark hair and eyes, and a mark on the right side of her face. She had also with her a light great coat, and a dark-blue habit hat, a man’s black hat with velvet band and rosette in front, and green veil; a lady’s metal watch, maker’s name G. Smith, No. 15100, London, with two plain gold seals attached to a black ribbon. Yesterday evening she underwent a second examination before the Magistrates at the Town-hall, and was committed for trial at the next sessions for this borough.
A lad of the name of Smith, in the employ of Mr. Addy, of Lolham, had the misfortune on Tuesday to break one of his arms by the wheel of a waggon which he was driving. Another lad, named Garner, fell under a waggon at Deping St. James, belonging to Mr. Clarke, of Stow Gate Farm, and a wheel passing over him, broke one of this thighs and otherwise much bruised him.
Market Deeping.
To be Let, or Sold, with immediate possession,
A Substantial newly-erected Dwelling-House, Stone and Slated, pleasantly situated in the town of Market Deeping, opposite the New Inn there, with Brewhouse, Coal-house, Yard, and Garden adjoining. The house consists of two parlours or sitting rooms, and a kitchen and pantry, on the ground floor; three excellent bed-rooms on the first floor; and two ditto in the attic story. The Grates and Fixtures may be taken at a valuation.
Further particulars may be known on application to Mr. Clifton, of Market Deeping aforesaid; or to Mr. Pacey, of Witham-place, Boston.
Royal South Lincoln Militia.
Notice is hereby given,
That the Officers and on-commissioned Officers of the Royal South Lincoln Militia, and the whole of the Men enrolled and serving therein for the several parishes and places in the Parts of Kesteven and Holland, and the Boroughs and Liberties of Stamford, Grantham, and Boston, in the said county of Lincoln, and the city and Liberties of Lincoln, are to assemble at Stamford in the said county, on Wednesday the 3d day of October next, to be there trained and exercised for te space of Twenty-one Days.
By order of the Lord Lieutenant, Sleaford,
