NOSTALGIA: War and cholera hits school trip plans in 1973 and fears over Boston's Â£20m bypass scheme in 1993

Swineshead Mothers' and Toddlers Group in 1993. The group had enjoyed a boost in its numbers following a Standard appeal.

The outbreak of war in the Middle East had led to a change in plans for an upcoming school trip from Boston to the region.

The British India Steam Navigation Company had decided to re-route the £73 per head educational cruise as a result of the fighting (what would become known as the Yom Kippur War).

The original route had already been changed to avoid cholera areas, which had taken Venice, Naples, and Pompeii off the itinerary.

Schools represented on the cruise included Boston High (37 pupils), Boston Grammar (30), Old Leake Giles Secondary (21), Kirton Girls’ (eight), Kitwood Boys’ (six), and Donington Secondary (18).

The Rev John King, religious instruction master at Boston Grammar School, would be among those accompanying the children.

He said: “This cruise has certainly had its share of troubles, but I am sure we will enjoy ourselves.”

* Four new cranes, each standing 80ft tall, had gone up at Boston dock.

The dock’s owners, Boston Corporation, had bought them from the Clyde port authority at a cost of £460,000 (plus £7,680 for dismantling, transport, and re-assembly).

This week in 1993 ...

* Boston’s bypass scheme, which had already slipped back a year, was in danger of collapsing completely, councillors feared.

That week, they started drawing up campaign plans in a bid to rescue the £20m project.

“The bypass is vital to the people of Boston and vital to any economic futire for the town,” Coun Joan Ashton told colleagues on the Economic Development Committee.

Members agreed that borough chief executive Ian Ward should contact the Department of Transport direct about the timing of the submission of the scheme.

Mr Ward said that if, as they understood it, the bypass plans were going before the county council’s Transportation and Planning Committee next January prior to a submission to the Government, then the scheme had already ‘slipped back a year without anyone telling us’.

* Police reinforcements were called in from all over Lincolnshire when rioters threw stones and petrol bombs in a Boston street.

It was claimed that the incident in Ingelow Avenue was sparked off after young children throwing stones broke the window of a house in the street.