From Our Files: Shipwrecked, Spitfire shock, pool petition, strimmer row
75 YEARS AGO
TWO amateur yachtsmen brothers, Messrs. H. L. and D. L. Deere-Jones, will never forget their experiences of Friday 13th February. Ignoring the old sailors’ superstition, the brothers left Dartmouth on that date in a 36ft Admiralty launch, in the hope of making Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.
Everything went well until they were enshrouded in a thick fog, and the amazing end to their journey was that they “rode over” the sea defences which still stretch along our coast from Christchurch to Hurst Castle, and were shipwrecked on the beach at Paddy’s Gap, Milford, at 11 o’clock at night.
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A LOCAL resident, who is an ex-airman, received a rude shock last Wednesday when he was blown off his cycle by a low-flying Supermarine fighter, which was doing a bit of hedge hopping.
The incident happened at about 4pm when he was cycling from Wootton post office towards Tiptoe. He does not know whether it was the back draught or the surprise which made him come off.
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THE amazing sagacity of Forest ponies who eat all the crops and commit sacrilege by eating flowers from churchyard graves caused much concern at last week’s meeting of the Borough Council, when methods of keeping them out were discussed!
The debate arose on a motion proposed by Cllr W. C. Singleton and seconded by Cllr E. S. Pascoe: “That this Council views with alarm the increasing amount of damage caused to growing crops by ponies and cattle, and that representations should be made to the appropriate authority in an endeavour to secure more effective control of these animals in the interest of the present food situation of the country.”
50 YEARS AGO
UNCERTAINTY about the future of the Signals Research & Development Establishment (SRDE) at Somerford, Christchurch, was resolved on Wednesday when in a statement it was announced that SRDE is to be closed
over the next three to five years.
Of the 900 staff affected, about 350 will be transferred to Malvern, Worcestershire, and of the remaining 500-550 people who will become redundant at Christchurch, some will be invited to fill vacancies at Malvern.
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LYMINGTON magistrates on Friday in last week, after a six-hour hearing during which a petition signed by 80 Hordle residents was placed before them objecting to the renewal of the licence of the Folly Inn, Everton Road, Hordle, held by Robin Vernon Sainsbury, decided not to grant the renewal.
“Many of the residents ask you not to renew the licence because experience has shown, they say, that this is the wrong place and the wrong person, and they are suffering,” Mr James Burgess told Lymington Licensing Justices representing objectors to the renewal of the licence.
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A PETITION with 5,204 signatures was handed to the Mayor, Ald. Mrs Iris Nedderman, seeking the provision of an indoor swimming pool at Lymington.
In December, the council had dropped the idea of building an indoor pool, at a cost of around £100,000, on a site behind the Town Hall.
They had decided instead to reduce and improve the present open baths, now 70 years old, at a cost of around £42,000.
25 YEARS AGO
This handsome clock has now been installed on Mallard Buildings, in the centre of Station Road, New Milton, and in addition to acting as a convenient facility for the town, will permanently commemorate the town’s centenary, celebrated in 1996.
The timepiece has been built by John Smith & Sons of Derby Ltd, to a design approved by the centenary co-ordinating committee, at an inclusive cost of £4,448.
This picture shows New Milton Town Council chairman Ken Drew (left) and town councillor Wilf Simkins, chairman of the centenary committee.
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ONE of New Milton’s oldest landmarks, the century-old Milton Hotel – in recent times known as the Speckled Trout pub – was finally reduced to rubble this week, ready for the builders to move in and construct a new health centre. Stepnell the builders arrive next week, with completion reckoned to be around November or December.
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FIVE years ago Boldre parish councillors planted around 500 young beech trees around their recreation ground – but a recent investigation count by amenities committee chairman Jim Witt and Jack Tanner reveals 150 have gone missing. “How can they go missing. Did they die, or have they been lifted?” asked chairman Stuart Ruthven.
It was suggested they may have been damaged by a strimmer. “That’s hell of a lot to destroy with a strimmer,” remarked the chairman. Parish Councillor John said: “You could do that in half an hour. Those things are a curse. They should never have been invented.”
