Former paddling pool site for old fountain

Spalding’s historic water fountain is being proposed to be on the site of the former paddling pool in Ayscoughfee Gardens.

South Holland District Council is in a couple of weeks set to submit a planning application to site the Johnson Memorial Drinking Fountain there after rejecting calls for it to be erected in the town centre.

The Voice revealed in January that £24,000 had been allocated in the authority’s budget to re-erect the fountain in Ayscoughfee following its removal in 2018 after 62 years to make way for the town’s new war memorial.

But that proved controversial with Spalding’s Civic Society leading calls for it to be returned to the town centre having been initially been installed there in 1874 by the Spalding Water Company as a thank you to benefactor Mary Ann Johnson.

A petition set up by the civic society calling for it to be brought back to the town centre received 445 signatures.

South Holland District Council appointed Oglesby and Limb to survey the options of either Hall Place or Ayscoughfee Gardens.

Discussing other locations was “not felt appropriate”, the survey said, due to the historic links with the two sites, including that the Johnson family used to live at Ayscoughfee Hall.

The survey broadly agreed with the reasoning already stated by councillors that the fountain would be safer at night due to the gardens being closed then and the road layout of Hall Place had changed meaning work with “outside stakeholders” would have to take place.

It also said: “Hall Place has changed since the fountain was erected.

“Most of the buildings that would have surrounded it have been torn down and been replaced by modern buildings that lacks the charm of the their predecessors.”

It concluded: “The controlled environment offered by Ayscoughfee would offer benefits to the fountain in helping to ensure its safety and longevity.”

Coun Rodney Grocock said: “We had a World War Two committee for years for the memorial and it’s all signed off apart from this last part of bringing the fountain back.

“We spoke to the civic society about the proposal and they spoke eloquently.
“There’s certain things we don’t agree on, such as that it won’t be installed as a working fountain.

“I think they were impressed that Coun Elizabeth Sneath says we’re going to surround the fountain with of flowers, railings and information boards telling people about the Johnson family and their history in the town.”