Mayor COUNCILLOR COLIN PATTISON
Words from the Mayor Dear friends,
I hope that this finds you all in good health, in what is proving to be a very strange and somewhat abnormal year, and that a little piece of normality is returning to your daily lives! Re-opening of Shops on Monday June 15th: This was a tentative step towards normality with the re-opening of some of our non-essential shops and businesses. We have all had to sacrifice so much in the past three months to get to this day. All the closed shop doors and empty window displays had certainly left a very sombre atmosphere around our wonderful town. However, I will not dwell on doom, gloom or hardship, because from now on, it’s all about being positive for the future! Accompanied by our Town Clerk, Ian Sismey, photographer, Gordon Cochrane, and Discovering Bourne’s publisher, Claire Saberton, I had the great pleasure of touring the town. It was a joy to see some of our shops open again and seemingly doing good business. There were healthy queues outside Hopper’s Jewellers and North’s Shoes, whilst Bourne Bookshop reported a good first couple of hours! I had the pleasure of meeting several of the shop proprietors and present them with a bouquet of flowers, along with some “LOVE BOURNESHOP LOCAL” window stickers. I apologise for not getting around to see everyone; time constraints and other pressures simply did not allow it. The town looked magnificent with all the new hanging baskets and planters. The Burghley Arcade was particularly beautiful, creating a lovely welcoming ambience in which to walk and shop - please go and take a look! We’re so lucky to have a little unseen army of helpers, sponsors and contributors to create such colourful displays
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around our town! A huge thank you to all those involved, including, but not solely, Ian Sismey, Gary’s Gardens and our old friend, Billy Pauley. Hopefully, in the coming weeks, we will see more, if not all, of our businesses open. It truly will be a great day once all hairdressers, pubs, clubs, gyms, restaurants/eateries et al, are open and trading once again.
Charity Fundraising 2020/21: After some lengthy consideration, thought and consultation, I wish to announce that my chosen “local” charities for the coming year are: The Butterfield Day Care Centre (Reg Charity No: 1125156) Wake House Community Centre (Reg Charity No: 1079939) Bourne Old Town Hall (Reg Charity No: 1176315).
Bourne Town Council News: The Town Council continues to be busy behind the scenes, despite the current restrictions on meetings or gatherings. We have also recently conducted a “major clutter tidy up” down at the South Fen allotments site. More than two full skips worth of unwanted debris has been removed. Thanks to Kev Brown of ‘KB All Jobs’, for overseeing the loading. Remember, let’s remain POSITIVE - Please look after yourselves, take care and stay safe!
JULY 2020
