top of page

Andrew Elsden - stories, tales , rural and social and business issues past and present as I see them.


Search


Mar 72 min read
Epilogue on Sarah Chandler
As I researched and wrote this I couldn’t help but think this story is worthy of a theatrical drama, or a film, or even, as is the trend...
0 comments


Mar 779 min read
The Geranium Scandal
1875 saw Spalding in the national press, with questions in Parliament and interventions from the home secretary in what became known as...
0 comments


Mar 61 min read
50. One of the first cinemas in Lincolnshire
In In 1912 one of the first cinemas in Spalding opened – The Spalding Picture House. There were concerns for the moral impact on...
0 comments


Mar 52 min read
49. Spalding’s Isolation Hospital sold for £35
In 1937 Spalding sold its Isolation Hospital for £35. It had been built in 1896 at the cost of £340 with a contingency fund of £60 that...
0 comments


Mar 41 min read
48. Bananas
For several decades Spalding was famous for its bananas thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of the Geest family that provided...
0 comments


Mar 31 min read
47. Spalding’s Hooters
1989 saw the local bar called The Courtyard announce that it would have topless bars on a Sunday. Letters to the press ensued expressing...
0 comments


Mar 21 min read
46. A Rare Piece of Architecture
The Victorian architect George Gilbert Scott designed over 800 buildings including St Pancras Station in London and numerous churches....
0 comments


Mar 11 min read
45. Did Cricket originate in Spalding ?
A teaser for cricket loving Mark Steel - it's all Dutch to me!
0 comments


Feb 281 min read
44. William Cartwright’s description of Spalding
In 1846 local lawyer William Cartwright described Spalding with each letter of its name as follows: Since first I knew thy muddy lakes...
0 comments


Feb 271 min read
43. The Tulip Parade Exclusion and Subtle Protest
1972 saw the exclusion of a local gypsy from the flower parade in what many locals felt was an act of bigotry: “A Spalding man who took...
0 comments


Feb 261 min read
42. Spalding Cyclists
Being flat it is possibly of no surprise that Spalding was very popular for cyclists from the 1880’s onwards. However the death of Mrs...
0 comments


Feb 252 min read
41. The Election Day Riot 1868
The Reform Act of 1867 gave many more Spalding householders the vote increasing the electorate more than three fold in many areas. There...
0 comments


Feb 242 min read
40. That Wonderful Ship of the Line
If you look up at the roof of Spalding Gentlemen’s Society museum you will see an old ship weather vane. For years this sat derelict in a...
0 comments


Feb 231 min read
39. The Mutiny of Spalding Fire Brigade of 1858
In 1858 the town Improvement Commissioners broke up the Spalding Fire Brigade and formed a new one due to a disagreement between the men...
0 comments


Feb 221 min read
38. The Haley Brothers
When I attended Spalding Grammer School in the early 1980’s the woodwork lessons were often accompanied by the background noise of...
0 comments


Feb 212 min read
37. William Tyler the last man to be gibbeted in Spalding
William Tyler committed a ruthless murder for which he hung.
0 comments


Feb 203 min read
36. Captain John Perry – the Saviour of London
Captain Perry had committed a dereliction of duty by not setting fire to his ship
0 comments


Feb 193 min read
35. Dan Morgan
Few realise that he wrote and sold the best-selling guitar playing book of its day that outsold Bert Weedon's famous, " Play in a Day".
0 comments


Feb 182 min read
34. The Bank of Misogyny resisting Cronyism
The Stamford, Spalding and Boston Bank Company formed in 1832 and this would eventually merge in Barclays Bank in common with many other...
0 comments


Feb 172 min read
33. The Fountain of Controversy
This rather shit fountain has courted controversy in the town centre for decades.
0 comments

bottom of page