From our Files: Changing hydrangeas...historic mill sold...woodman too old
75 YEARS AGO
GARDEN lovers in the district have been intrigued by the changed colour of some splendid hydrangeas at Marston Road off Oakwood Avenue.
The owner brought some small potted plants with him from London about eight years ago, since when they have grown to between five and six feet in height.
He has been experimenting with the idea of getting a new colour for the plants, in place of the more usual blue, pink and white variety, and this year he has succeeded in producing both a green and a deep crimson shade.
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THE experience of a Milford patient provides an interesting sidelight on the working of the NHI Act.
In response to a notice she went to Lymington Hospital and waited nearly two hours to see a specialist. It was, however, a fruitless journey. Owing to the necessary forms not being available the specialist could not order the surgical appliances she urgently required. She will now have to make another journey to Lymington at a later date.
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THE children’s popular slide in the New Milton Recreation Ground has been closed for repairs. It was thought that it had been closed because it constituted a potential danger to children. A little boy fractured his arm by falling off it about three weeks ago, and last week a little girl hurt her head. However, Mr T. A. A. James, Parks Supt. informs us that the slide has been closed for repair only.
Mr James said that he considered this type of slide dangerous, children often tried to climb up the chute, while others are trying to come down. He recounted the story how about 10 years ago some adventurous boys pushed bicycles up to the top and rode down the chute and over a plank placed at the foot of the slide in the hedge.
50 YEARS AGO
A LARGE portion of the main shopping street in New Milton has been acquired by McCarthy & Stone Ltd. The company propose to launch a £2-million development scheme for the area, to create a large scale district neighbourhood centre, including shops, offices, flats, a restaurant, multi-storey car park for 200 cars, increased Health Centre facilities, and possibly a community hall.
Mr Brian Riley, head of the company’s design department, outlined the proposals to the committee of New Milton Ratepayers’ Association at a meeting on Thursday in last week. He spoke of the future of shopping in New Milton, saying it had been “dealt with in depth” by a professional firm of shopping consultants commissioned by his firm to evaluate the news of the community up to 1981, by which time New Milton’s population was expected to surpass Lymington’s by 2,500.
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A PROPOSAL that a joint coast protection board should be set up by local authorities in the Solent area, has been turned down by Christchurch Beach Committee. The suggestion was made by the Minister for the Department of the Environment, who feels that a large scale, collaborated effort would be more effective than individual authorities tackling the extensive problems of coastal erosion. The Highcliffe scheme in operation at the moment has resources of about £200,000, but the work will not be completed until 1975.
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A PROPERTY sale of great local interest is concerned in the announcement that “Gordleton Mill,” Sway, has been sold. This is one of the smaller show places of the district and users of the Lymington to New Milton road via Golden Hill will recall the beauty of the house with its mill pool and stretch of the Avon waters comprising about eight acres. The property is of historic interest and is mentioned in the Doomsday Book.
The purchaser was Mr Lewis G. Whyte. It was occupied by Gr.-Capt. Woodin’s family for over 20 years. They are moving to the west country.
The local firm of Messrs. Lewis and Badcock were concerned in the sale with Messrs. Fox & Sons, of Bournemouth.
25 YEARS AGO
ON Tuesday, at around 4pm, a car crashed into a red F-registered parked Mercedes belonging to Mrs Eileen Bates of Hambledon Road, Boscombe.
The crash happened in the car park of the New Milton Conservative Club. The driver claimed he accelerated too fast in his automatic Renault 5, driving into the fence, smashing into Mrs Bate’s car parked on the other side.
Mrs Bates, owner of the adjacent Good as New shop in New Milton, said she was upset because the car had recently been revamped and was her pride and joy.
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THE old chestnut of people moving into the New Milton area and immediately wanting to fell or lop trees in their gardens, cropped up yet again at Monday’s meeting of the Town Council. Alan Rice said they were not welcome and should stay in suburbia, adding that he could not understand why they bought properties surrounded by trees in the first place.
The latest attack on the “anti-tree brigade” has been sparked by applications to fell trees in the rear gardens of the properties which back on to Fernhill Lane. The councillors say the trees are part of the visual amenity to the approach to the town.
And Planning Committee chairman Ken Drew called on residents to generally be extra vigilant and to alert the council to any likely threats to trees.
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A SEPARATE collection for biodegradable waste will have to be introduced in Christchurch when a proposed EU Directive comes into force.
Currently, of the 26 million tonnes of waste collected by local authorities, 83% goes to landfill. However, almost half the rubbish (11 million tonnes) is biodegradable in the form of paper, cardboard, garden waste and food, which causes greenhouse gases and leachate which can affect the water table.
If the proposed Directive is adopted next year, the UK will have to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill to 75% of the 1995 total by 2010. Further reductions would be required over the following 10 years to bring the total down to 35% of the 1995 total.
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THE Meyrick Estate has rejected a request from Bransgore Parish Council to cut back the trees round the village war memorial because its only woodman is too old to climb up a ladder!
Parish member Sally Owen said she had written to the estate because the trees and other vegetation on its land were overshadowing the memorial and needed attention before this year’s Remembrance Day.
However, the estate replied that it would be dangerous to send its aged woodman up a ladder and suggested that the council should find a volunteer to do the work.
“There is such a thing as health and safety so I’m not shinning up ladders to cut trees,” declared Mrs Owen.
