DIARY OF A BRIGG PAUPER & OTHER TALES OF THE PAST

If, or when, time permits, Brigg Blog would love to trawl at length through the microfilm archive of the old Hull (Lincolnshire) Times weekly newspaper (1867-1985) at the Hull History Centre.
We have access to a digital catalogue index which will making searching for items of Brigg interest much easier - but it's still going to be a labour of love.
Going back to 1876 in the index, our eye was caught by a reference to six new bells at a Brigg church - presumably St John's - and also tenders being invited for building a chapel at Brigg Workhouse -  he place of prayer's opening two years later also being reported in the Times.
We'd also love to read the full report of a  story headlined Diary of a Brigg Pauper, published in the newspaper during January 1896. This will give a first-hand account of conditions that existed for the poor and destitute in late Victorian times.
A meeting of the Labourers' League was mentioned in Brigg during 1875. Did this later become the  Rural Labourers' League, established in 1888 to campaign for land reform, tariffs on imported food and support  the rural economy?
A new railway - never built - was proposed between Lincoln and Brigg in 1881. We've heard mention of this before and think it was intended to be more of a tramway, passing through Redbourne.
A major event of the year over generations was the Status Fair (locally known as Stattus) where landworkers, and others, signed on for another year's employment with their master or mistress.
The Times reported on the Stattus Fair held in May 1897. Again, that will make interesting reading if we can locate the original on microfilm.
September 1897 saw a monument to the late Alderman Shaw unveiled in  Brigg. Where was it located? 

Brigg life circa 1904