The Last Hurrah

An expression of 'thanks' for loyal service

You may like to read the content of a speech given at this event - photographs have also been supplied:

"Hello everyone and welcome.

We’ve come here today to mark the closure of the Village Hall. But this event is not new to us: it’s been closed before of course when it burnt down in the early eighties and although it’s going to be knocked down again, this time it will rise again too.

To make sure that when it does return, it remains faithful to its roots and purposes and continues to be an important and accessible resource in the community, some of those who have a long association with the hall are here today.

We are asking these people to safeguard the key to the hall as a symbol of continuity until it does open and to ensure we continue the history and traditions already established.

These people are our guarantors that our new hall will be as useful and accessible to the community, perhaps even more so given the new configuration, space and therefore possibilities.

So today we look to Doreen, Doreen Green who has been in the village around 45 years and on various Village Hall committees for 42 of those years.   This is dedication indeed and as Doreen is still serving this community on the Village Hall Management Committee as we speak, it is an even greater achievement.  We say thank you Doreen and please accept these flowers as a token of our appreciation.

Clodagh West; Dave and Gill Rumbelow; Doreen Green;

Philip and Joan Franklin; Sheila Redshaw; Ian Goldsworthy

We also owe a debt of gratitude to David Rumbelow and his wife Gill. Both have lived in Nocton since the early 70s and yes, 42 of these have been involved serving on committees of one type or another.  Both Dave and Gill have both totted up years of service, with the Parish Council, the Social Club and yes even the Sheepdog Trials committees! Now I’m not pushing for a contest here, but I reckon one of these people will have done one more year than the other? Well if not, then the combined total 42 plus 42 added to Gill’s years of involvement will definitely take us over the 100 year total of years served!

An achievement indeed.

We say thank you and would like to present you with these Gill and to you Dave, the greater reward of the Social Club’s best.

Gill and Dave Rumbelow

Jim Hardy also deserves a mention today ladies and gentlemen. He has seen this hall through all its incarnations and presided over the Members’ Room with unfailing commitment! Jim has been in the village since its days as farming estate. I think all of you will be familiar with the photograph of him in his prime that hangs in the Social Club bar. We hope he will find an appropriate corner to continue his patronage in the new village hall!

Jim and Ann Hardy

Sheila Redshaw, last but not least, who features not only as a village elder, but as our resident historian and recorder of Nocton village life. She has lived in the village for 60 years and one might say has a finger in each corner of it from the church, where her husband was a verger in the early days, to just last week serving on a plant stall to raise funds. Sheila, we look to you to remind us of the past and the many activities and celebrations that have taken place here, as the rebuilding of the Village Hall begins a new chapter for the village community.

Thanks also are due to other many villagers who have ‘done their time’ supporting this hall, some of them are here with us. Joan Franklin, a big thank you and Lorna Storr, both who still give their time to the Village Hall committee.

But progress requires change, and the Parish Council have also put considerable time and effort into developing the plans for a new Hall, and we look forward to seeing it rise up on new foundations.

And on behalf of the Village Hall Management Committee, it is to Ian as Chair of the Parish Council, that I give the key to the Hall, to keep in trust until the new hall is built. We all hope to be here again in the not too distant future, to see the key to the new Hall presented back to a new committee, and we hope that you will all be with us to let Ian know what you think of it!"

Clodagh West (Chair of Village Hall Management Committee)
Photographs by Dave Chapman

Sheila Redshaw; Clodagh West; Ian Goldsworthy

Walk around village

Yesterday we arranged to go for a walk around the village, along the many footpaths and by-ways, accompanied by Sheila Redshaw our own local historian.

My wife and I, along with our two Jack Russells in tow, met Sheila outside her bungalow. We set off down Potterhanworth Rd and it was nice to see the Beck flowing freely once more. The Beck on the lower part of  Wellhead Lane has been cleared out recently... but it is slightly disappointing to see the contractors have not cleared the vegetation from the banking on the 'bungalow side'. However, the ducks don't seem to mind as they are happy bobbing along again and taking to the grass verges.

Wellhead Lane - Beck

We decided to cut through the Persimmon Homes and Sowerby developments into Nocton Park and across the playing field up to the allotments. Sheila was surprised to see the number of developed plots, having not walked that area since the allotments were created.

Taking the public footpath around the edge of Claypond Holt, we looked back over the grounds of the RAF Hospital site to Nocton Hall, endeavouring to locate the position of the lake and the eastern avenue of lime trees that once extended from the Hall to Abbey Hill.

My wife, dogs and Mrs Sheila Redshaw enjoying the walk

It was sad to see the skeletal remains of the huts on the old Hospital site, where the roofing sheets have all but been removed. Incidentally, I have not seen the barn owl for ages since this wanton destruction has taken place, so I can only assume the nesting habit has been disturbed. It used to regularly fly along the dykes, hovering occasionally before pouncing on vermin for its next meal. It was a real privilege to observe.

Joining the main estate road, we sauntered around to Lower Lodge and turned right through the woods, taking what we think used to be the laurel walk. A detour to see the snowdrops in the woods, near the gates of the old RAF Hospital, brought us onto the access road.

Snowdrops in the woods

There we bumped into the guy who maintains security of the site for Leda Properties. During our chat it was interesting to hear him say he works for the planning department in Mansfield. He mentioned in passing that Leda Properties had previously suggested to North Kesteven that five properties be built in the walled garden area and another ten properties on the RAF Hospital site, in return for maintaining Nocton Hall, but this offer had not been accepted. It remains to be seen what has/has not been discussed between Leda and NKDC over the years, all we really know is that no preservation/repair work has been completed to date and that is most unsatisfactory for the village.

Our final detour was to the old chestnut tree on the north-east side of the Hall, where Sheila pointed out a small plaque in the undergrowth.

Chestnut Tree plaque

The transcription reads:
    "This chestnut tree was planted by Claude Ancliffe in 1978 - Building Supervising Officer at the RAF Hospital Nocton Hall  1946 - 1978.
     This tree was grown from a chestnut taken from the chestnut tree planted by Katherene Howard, wife of Henry VIII on 13-10-1541"

Though I seem to remember reading somewhere, that chestnut trees had not been introduced into Britain at the time of Henry VIII!

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Thoughts of an Eagle

As part of the cataloguing of Mrs Sheila Redshaw's archive collection, I am in the process of copy typing a manuscript: 'The Lords of the Manor of Nocton and their times - drafted by J Eagle'.

This draft manuscript was gifted to Mr John Ireson in 1966.

It came into the possession of Mrs Sheila Redshaw, after kindly being donated to the archive by the Ireson family, together with other material relevant to Nocton.

The following is text from a handwritten note, discovered within the draft. Whilst it is not signed, it appears to be in the same hand as J Eagle. There is no reference as to source, or whether this is original work, but there is a message in there and perhaps some parallel to the way we perceive life in 2011. I thought you might find it interesting.

"Age and Life

From the point of view of the teenager, at fifty-nine, I must be considered an old man. This practice of drawing comparisons is one that we seem to follow for most of our lives. Thus a man of ninety can always turn to one of ninety-six to point out that he is younger. This measure of relative values through comparison can be comforting to those who would like to encourage the impression that according to such calculations they, at least, are so much younger; so they are not yet really very old – even at ninety.

Some people manage to condition themselves into accepting the advance of old-age gracefully with the thought that every age provides its own particular compensating features.

It is so easy to deceive ourselves when we are young into thinking that time is a limitless factor in life. No doubt this is something to be thankful for. The delay between twenty and twenty-one can seem almost endless, whereas the gap between fifty-nine and sixty is gone in a flash. Moreover, the step that separates sixty from seventy is a very short one for those who are seventy.

The lonely and neglected occupy the most miserably pitiful position in the world, and are often so tormented mentally, for want of companionship, as to become either horribly narrow-minded and embittered, or unreasonably timid and fearful. Sooner or later they reach the point where they are thought of as oddities. Even if they are gifted oddities, the stigma of being thought odd stings at any age. Such people sometimes seek an avenue of escape by claiming to be independent. But independence is only a novelty, and no-one has the talent to be completely self-dependent. Only the severely mentally sick can develop that particular attitude of mind in which they find their own solitude self-sufficient for their requirements.

Life is so full of so many bewildering complexities that reviewed as a whole they become incomprehensible to our limited understanding, a fact that leads us to recognize and acknowledge the dismal depth of our ignorance, so that we are amazed by our incapacity to appreciate and understand the problems of life that some people have to face. Indeed, one can easily become so hypnotized by the range and extent of these difficulties that it is impossible to finalize ones research by concrete conclusions of a decisive and positive nature.

Many people are at a loss to say just what they believe is the purpose and meaning of life. In fact some people dismiss this question by simply asserting that life has no purpose or meaning. To me this answer is merely a form of evasion, a stubborn refusal to face facts. Even if life is only to be recognized as a form of progressive development in the scale of evolution it has a purpose and a meaning. Those with strong religious conviction cling to the dogma formulated by the Church in which we are introduced to spiritual values and the immortality of a soul. Thus the link between religion and evolution is the common belief that life, like death, is not an end in itself, but represents stages in the progressive continuation of something that began millions and millions and millions of years ago. So called indifference to the question illustrates apathy and stagnation in the field of reasoning in some people, whilst in others it portrays a form of mental paralysis developed to deaden the dread of what the unknown might mean."

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Mrs Sheila Redshaw's Archive

There was mention of Mrs Redshaw's kind donation of her Village Archive at the Parish Council meeting earlier this month. The Nocton 'Doodle' editorial for December '2011... the year that changed a village' also makes mention of it.

I have been busy cataloguing the many entries and this is a 'work in progress'. I have uploaded an image of the Excel spreadsheet for you to view. When the original document is complete and posted online, you will be able to filter and sort all the entries, in order to identify the specific folder where the items are located.

The aim is not to reproduce every paper cutting, photograph, brochure etc online. The Excel spreadsheet is only a 'gateway' into all the items that Sheila collected over the years. In short, it is a list of content.

The documents will remain as a paper collection and will only be made available under controlled conditions, so that nothing goes astray. Copies and extracts can be taken where this does not breach copyright, however this service will not be available until everything is catalogued and a suitable system for viewing has been put in place. Please bear with me as the cataloguing is a huge undertaking requiring every scrapbook, folder, brochure, photograph album etc to be examined and every entry described.

I trust this gives more insight to the work being done behind the scenes to preserve what Chris has described as 'a fascinating social history of Nocton'.

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Report of Parish Council - December

Parish Council Report of the Meeting held on

Tuesday, 6th December 2011

There was an excellent turn out for the December meeting and Parish Councillors shared a glass of wine and mince pies with all those attending prior to the start of the proceedings.

Nocton Hall – Options Appraisal

The most important issue on the agenda and probably the reason why so many people came was the report from Karen Bradford (Corporate Director – NKDC) on the initial and draft findings of the long awaited assessment and costed Options Appraisal for Nocton Hall.
Ms Bradford went through the following six options for the future of the listed building and its immediate grounds:

1. Retention as a Historic Ruin.
2. Full Restoration.
3. Retention of the Main House as a Ruin and a full restoration of the Service Wing (including the “pleasure gardens”)
4. Partial Demolition.
5. Partial Demolition with the retention of the Service Wing and Basement only.
6. Full Demolition.

Councillors made a number of comments on the presentation, mainly in connection with the number and nature of, and access to, the houses which would need to be provided on the former hospital site to meet the costs associated with options (2) and (3).  However, it was emphasised that the entire process was at a very early stage and that more discussions would be needed with English Heritage and the land-owner before any conclusions as to the best way forward could be reached. As part of this process, the Parish Council had been asked by NKDC for its formal response to these initial options.  To assist councillors in formulating their response, it has since been agreed to devote part of the Parish Council meeting on 3rd January for the purpose of hearing residents’ views and preferences on the future of the Hall. It was noted that the Parish Council will remain in close contact with NKDC as the situation develops.

Note:  For those of you who wish to see the full presentation click on this link: Nocton Hall - update.

Village Archive

The Parish Council gratefully accepted, on behalf of the village, the generous and kind gift from Mrs Sheila Redshaw of her Village Archive.  Arrangements will be made to ensure that the archive can be enjoyed by all and made available for research and other purposes.

The Beck and Trees on Wellhead Lane

Public concerns were raised once again over the state of the beck and the trees and bushes that overhang Wellhead Lane beyond the railway bridge.  Councillor Goldsworthy reported that he had recently been told by NKDC that the funding had now been secured to enable the beck to be cleared (necessitating the use of a JCB digger).  It was hoped that the work would be carried out in the near future.  LCC Highways and landowners along Wellhead Lane area are to be contacted regarding the clearing of overhanging foliage.

Traffic Survey

Unfortunately, the traffic count through the village planned for the last week in November has had to be deferred because LCC considered that major road works elsewhere were likely to affect the situation and give a false measure of traffic volumes.  It was hoped that the survey would now be carried out in early 2012 although concerns were expressed that the movement of lorries in particular will be far lower at this time.

A New Parish Councillor!

Finally it is with great pleasure that Geoff Hall was welcomed onto the Parish Council.  Geoff has already set up the very successful Nocton Blog and many of us have seen him out and about the village, especially in the Nocton Hall area, attempting to keep Mother Nature at least partly at bay.

A very Happy Christmas to you all!

Next Meeting

3rd January 2012 starting at 7.00 p.m. in the Village Hall.

Councillor MaryAnn Williams

Nocton Village Hall

For those people who are relatively new to the village, you may like to have access to the Village Hall Management Committee Constitution dated 5th October 2006, just in case you wish to attend any of the monthly meetings.

The following documents may be of interest as well:

• Nocton Village Hall - Terms and Conditions
• Nocton Village Hall - Management Committee
• Nocton Village Hall - Hire Charges

The Annual General Meeting is to be held on Thursday, 1 February 2012 at 7.30pm in Nocton Village Hall, Main Street, Nocton [as per formal notice dated 10 December 2011].

Nocton Social Club

I have also managed to obtain copies of the Nocton Social Club Rules and Committee for perusal:

• Nocton Social Club - Rules
• Nocton Social Club - Committee

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Village Hall Xmas Fayre 2011

Yet another brilliantly organised event by the Village Hall Management Committee - thanks to Philip, Joan and all who were involved.

Some really wonderful stalls, lovely tea, coffee and cakes... and friendly faces. It was super to have my family along to support this event as well; my two grandchildren, my son, daughter-in-law and daughter... and of course my wife too.

As they were otherwise engaged in looking round the stalls, I grabbed myself a pot of greengage jam from Sue Morris, I failed miserably in my attempt at winning a bottle of wine and so consoled myself with a mulled wine and mince pie. Following accusations of only thinking of myself, I repaired the damage and paid for my family's refreshments. At least they weren't able to keep grousing at me with mince pie in their mouths!

It was nice to be able to introduce my family to Mrs Sheila Redshaw, who kindly came to sit with us during the event.

The outside Christmas tree lights worked first time and people were taking photos with their own families placed in front of this festive spectacle. Father Christmas did his magic with the kids and each child was given a present, which was a really nice gesture.

I'll share a little secret with you - I even returned later for a sneaky visit to see how the Christmas tree looked once it was properly dark. The Parish Council should be well pleased with the decision to go with this... which is a nice addition to the village for Christmas 2011... and helps to start get us all in the spirit, given the depressing news on TV about the Eurocrisis affecting the UK.

Wellhead Lane

The Beck

It was brought to my attention the other day, that only the grating in the Beck had been cleared when village residents were expecting a full clean-out. I therefore raised the matter with Councillor Ian Goldsworthy over the weekend.

Councillor Goldsworthy has since telephoned North Kesteven District Council to find out the current position and was told more work is due to take place. The funding has only recently been obtained to clear the village becks, not just the one for Nocton, and work is due to start in the next few weeks. The grating has been cleared purely as a precautionary measure, to avoid any risk of flooding arising from the predicted heavy rain.

Clearing the Beck will entail more than just cutting back vegetation and a mechanical digger may well be needed to tackle the job. We are hoping that Nocton will feature as first village on the list, for necessary work to be carried out.

Nocton History

Many of you know Sheila Redshaw who lives on Wellhead Lane and her interest of collecting data about Nocton e.g. through paper cuttings, articles, magazines and photographs etc. This has much significance for those interested in the history of Nocton and Sheila has recently been wondering how she could make this collection more widely available, without the 'archive' being lent out and possibly lost to future Noctonians (if that is the right word to use).

As a first step, I have therefore offered my services to create a list of contents of the collection. I am currently going through every single book and folder in Sheila's collection and listing all the Nocton-related information in an Excel spreadsheet.

I am recording the Date of the item, the Title of the article, the Source of the item, a brief idea of the Content, the Folder No where it can be located and the Type of folder concerned. The spreadsheet will then be able to be searched using any of these descriptors... at very least it will give a unique timeline record of Nocton over the last 40 years or so.

I have just completed twelve scrapbooks and already there are 752 entries in the spreadsheet. I can assure you this is going to be a lengthy job, but a welcome one to occupy me throughout the dark winter months when the evenings draw in and there is nothing worth watching on TV!

Discussions are still taking place with Sheila as to how to safeguard this 'collection' for posterity and yet make it available to the community in the future.

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The History of Nocton

NOCTON
PUBLIC LECTURE

ENTITLED

"The History of Nocton"

in Nocton Village Hall on

Wednesday, October 12th 2011

BY

Dr Nicholas Bennett, as Maurice H Footman, Esq

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This was a really enjoyable event, with a super turnout, for a very interesting presentation. Wine and delicious desserts were served and a raffle held, all for a good cause - the Nocton Church Fundraising Committee.

The introduction was delivered by Carol Bennett at 7.25pm. Sheila Redshaw supplied most of the photographs and also has Maurice Footman's original text in an exercise book, which is hand-written with his personal notes (Eileen Moulds copy typed the original text back in 1988).

The pictures of the Georgian church of St Peter were taken from "A History of Nocton" written by Maurice Footman and Kate Norgate in 1900.

Other photos supplied:

• Joseph Noble and the Chestnut Tree (Chris Parnell)
• The inside of All Saints Church and some of the Vicarage and Gardens (Hilary Healey)
• Nocton Railway Station (Trevor Peacock)
• The James Gilroy's Cartoon of Lady Buckingham (Carol Bennett)
• The 1st Earl of Ripon painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence ; George Hodgson; photos of the Ellys monument and the West Window (Sue Morris)

Powerpoint presentation:

• By Sue Morris.

Maurice Henry Footman was born in Ipswich in 1860. He was the eldest child of Canon Footman who was Vicar of Nocton from 1881 to 1902. He married Lily Harriet Bridges in Stepney, London in 1889. The same year, he had published in Lincoln "The Orchard of a King" a romantic play in one act.

By 1891, he was a solicitor and living with his wife and his younger sister Hannah, who was studying to be a school mistress, at 1 Greetwell Gate, Lincoln St Peter in Eastgate. During March 1900 he was appointed Coroner for Kesteven County Council and one of his Inquests was held in October 1908 at Dunston, concerning two local young men who had died by misadventure by suffocation while examining a pipe in a well in Dunston Vicarage Garden.

Maurice's father, Canon Footman, died in 1902 and his mother and sister would have had to vacate the Vicarage at Nocton. Maurice was an Alderman for many years and in December 1903 he was elected Mayor of Lincoln. By the time he presented his Lantern Slide Show to the Nocton audience in 1911, he was living at Nocton House in Wragby Road, with his wife and 4 year old daughter, Catherine and his older sister Catherine.

Maurice died in the December of 1923 in Lincoln.

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Nocton - The Last Years of an Estate Village

This excellent book - Volume 1 - is a wonderful read. Sheila Redshaw has amassed a huge amount of local information about Nocton for future generations to read about. The data was compiled by Sue Morris, without whom the book could not have been published.

The book can still be purchased from The Post Office, Nocton or Tucann Design & Print, 19 High St, Heighington, Lincoln, LN4 1RG - price £20.

Email: sales@tucann.co.uk
Tel: 01522 790009