Summer 2021

In this issue: plans for our Summer Party; projects involving town infrastructure, including maintenance of plaques and information boards; news of recent events; and local planning matters, including 'fast track' planning.

From the Chairman

Welcome to our Summer Newsletter, I hope you are keeping well. With the arrival of the summer sun and the final lifting of Covid-19 restrictions (although both events not actually sporting cast iron guarantees!), we can surely strike a more optimistic overall outlook than hitherto. In this spirit we will recom mence our face-to-face activities on the evening of Saturday 31st. July with our Summer Party in the spacious surroundings of St Leonard’s Priory. The last in our covid-19 induced ‘season’ of monthly virtual meetings took place on the 24th. June with a fitting look back on Stamford’s re sponse to previous major health crises from the twelfth century onwards. An extremely well put together presentation provided some perspective on the current pandemic and we learned that 'social distancing’ and ‘lockdowns’ were by no means a twenty first century invention! (see section covering ‘Recent Events’).

I very much look forward to meeting up with you at the end of this month - it’s been a long old drag and lack of genuine social engagement between Members has been sorely missed.

Project update

Our Urban Group continue to pursue the resolution of a number of identified town infrastructure, building, street furniture, and highway issues with Stamford Town Councillors together with Senior SKDC and LCC Councillors and Property Owners. These include seating-benches and planter maintenance; attention to bins on Vence Walk and graffiti in Stamford Walk; conservation of Norman Archways in St. Paul’s Street and St. Mary’s Hill; failure of pavement lighting in Red Lion Square, Horseshoe Lane and Sheepmarket; deterioration of the cobbled road surface in St. Mary’s Place and the very poor condition of paving generally in the town.

Projects aimed at enhancing the appeal of our heritage market town progress with the development of arrangements for a continuing maintenance programme for all the Town’s plaques and information boards. The complete refurbishment of the distinctive All Saint’s Church Sun Dial information board has now been executed and will be re-installed imminently. The project for floodlighting our Medieval Churches continues and a survey of St. John’s is being arranged with the group of technical experts who have advised on All Saint’s, St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s. Concept proposals for the further enhancement of the Sheepmarket area including the ‘entrance’ to Horseshoe Lane are to be submitted to the District Council.

Recent events

Stuart Orme: “Lady Margaret Beaufort and her palace at Collyweston”

A sizeable group of Members and guests logged in to listen to an intrigu ing talk regarding ‘The Tudor Age’ including the ‘War of the Roses’ and the sacking of Stamford, under Margaret of Anjou, as background to Lady Margaret Beaufort’s life. Stuart gave an extremely detailed and comprehensive review of the relationships and lives of those making up the royal ‘houses’ of the period. Evidently Margaret Beaufort was quite a characterful lady, although not officially part of the ‘royal blood line’, she was hugely influential. She became a mother at age thirteen, was implicated in a house plot, impeached as a traitor, be came an important influence on Henry, was the ‘Patron of Learning’ and amassed a large property portfolio including a giant and luxurious palace at Collyweston.

We were treated to a fascinating story very well told with the authority born of Stuart’s profound knowledge base and experience of managing and participating in many cultural events over a number of years.

Joe Whitehead, Head Gardener Burghley House “Burghley House Garden Developments”

Our Society has always enjoyed a close relationship with one of Stamford’s major heritage attractions, Burghley House and indeed our Honorary President is Orlando Rock. For our May event, the fifth talk in our ‘virtual talk season’ featured Burghley’s Head Gardener, Joe Whitehead who gave us a very comprehensive and pictorially excellent presentation covering the history of the park and gardens plus recent large project activities.

Joe explained that he had started his gardening career as a Burghley apprentice and, after some eighteen years as a ‘journeyman gardener’ through positions of increasing responsibility at a wide variety of well known horticultural locations, was delighted to return to Burghley as Head Gardener with a supporting staff of six gardeners and fifteen volunteers. In addition to walking us through the existing park and garden features, he revealed a number of projects, ongoing and planned, reinstating the massive very much neglected ‘walled garden’; clearing significant overgrowth, particularly of laurel, reinstating impressive wide vistas and revealing attractive water courses that were part of the lake overflow management system.

After a short discussion, Joe remarked that he hoped Members would be able to visit the new developments in the not too distant future adding to the attractions of the House, Surprise Gardens, Sculpture Gardens and the Park itself.

Philippa Massey “Care in the Stamford Community”

Our June event was the last in our Covid-19 driven 2021 virtual talk ‘season’ before we revert to our normal face-to-face meetings at the end of July - anticipating the ever closer move to a complete relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions on July 19th. It seemed fitting to wind up the ‘season’ with a look back at Stamford’s previous experiences with high impact health events and our good friend and much respected local historian Philippa Massey kept us enthralled with a very comprehensive and entertaining review of community care issues through the centuries. Philippa guided us through the local re sponses to outbreaks of incurable Leprosy in the medieval period through the waves of Plague, with its 33% European mortality rate, in the 15th. and 16th. centuries and Cholera in the early 19th. century. She explained how we saw the first use of ‘social distancing’ and ‘lockdowns’ during the Plague and the quite effective care administered through alchemy practised by the Monks followed later by the initially successful Parish system which eventually collapsed through ‘scandal and mis management’ in 1929. Philippa was thanked heartily by Members and guests logged in to the virtual event who expressed their appreciation for an extremely interesting and informative talk.

Upcoming events

Our next Event will be a much anticipated face-to-face meeting. Following the significant reduction in Covid-19 restrictions of July 19th. 2021, we will move forward at a ‘measured’ pace by running an open air event in the spacious grounds of St. Leonard’s Priory. This will take the form of our usual invitation to Members and their Guests to a ‘Summer Party’ on Saturday 31st. July 2021 - which allows a couple of weeks for us all to get used to the new ‘freedoms’ and back to behaving (or not!) in a restored liberal environment. Details will be posted in the normal way.

Stamford Conservation Area planning matters

During the first and second quarters of 2021 our Planning Sub-group have reviewed and commented on some 40 applications ranging from door paint colour changes to major new developments such as St. Martins Park.

We continue to contribute to the debate locally and nationally on the new proposed ‘fast track’ Planning System stressing the importance of adequate time for community involvement at the very early planning stages.