From our Files: Pocket money meetings...cod on high...honouring crash dead
50 YEARS AGO
THE New Forest Spinsters and Bachelors ball was held in Beaulieu on Friday. It was a grand occasion attended by some 280 people, some from as far away as Germany.
The decorations reconstructed the first New Forest Spinsters Ball held in 1902 in the Forest Hall in Lyndhurst.
Ostrich feathers and palms adorned the entrance, and a splendid buffet of roast turkey, baked ham and roast lamb was provided. Around midnight a Scottish piper played a few reels followed by a raffle for a skiing holiday.
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PRAISE for the prompt way the Gas Board deals with complaints in Burley came from Mr James Botterell at a Burley Parish Council meeting.
He was among those who had complained last month at the way the Gas Board had left roads in the village after carrying out repairs.
“No sooner did the Gas Board hear of the complaints than they were round tidying up the village, “said Mr Botterell.
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A SUGGESTION by a male member that housewives colleagues might attend meetings to supplement their pocket money if a scheme for payment of councillors was approved was met with some contempt by the maligned members of New Forest District Council.
The male chauvinist concerned was instantly challenged by Mrs M Bannister who told him: “The housewives here are responsible people who are hardly likely to come here for nothing.
“They are responsible people in just the same way as the men are.”
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AN allegation that the scent of her bitch on a Burley woman’s coat had caused a dog to become sexually excited and attack her was made by the animal’s owner at Ringwood Magistrates court.
The victim said that while riding her bicycle the dog had jumped on her back, pulling her to the ground and in a 10-minute attack ripped off her headscarf and stockings.
The owner of the dog claimed: “The dog was sexually excited and the scent on the lady’s coat of her bitch was responsible.”
Magistrates did not agree and fined her £2 for keeping a dog that was not under proper control.
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WORKMEN lopping trees at Somerford after the recent gales dislodged some nests made by collared doves. These nests were found to be made of bits of copper wire apparently taken by the birds from scrap metal outside a local factory.
25 YEARS AGO
AN elderly man from Milford was left floundering when his portion of cod and chips was reduced in size after he queried why he had not been charged the senior citizens rate.
Cyril Jelley, 77, popped into Spinnaker’s in Lymington eager to catch a portion of cod and chips at the OAP rate of £2.15.
But he was charged £2.90. When he queried this he says the female assistant took his meal back, took out some of the chips and replaced the cod with a “much smaller” piece.
Mr Jelley said: “I was pretty disgusted and upset by this.” The manager of the shop told the A&T that the OAP special was smaller “because most elderly people struggle to eat a standard portion.”
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A FURTHER £2,000 has been made available to erect a memorial at Hythe to commemorate the birth of the hovercraft.
Hampshire County Council’s police and resources committee approved the sum which will celebrate the work of Christopher Cockerell and his team in developing the machine.
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AFTER 50 years the Hillcroft register office for weddings in New Street, Lymington, is closing today. Hillcroft is one of three sites being sold by the Health Authority.
Consequently weddings will take place at Ringwood. The Lymington closure coincides with the retirement after 35 years of registrar Ted Smith.
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A STONE to commemorate five British airmen, including one from Totton, who died in a bombing mission in the Second World War has been placed in the Dutch village of Westergeest where they were killed.
In 1943 the bodies of two men in a seven-man crew were recovered in the village. No one knew what had happened to the remaining airmen.
Now it has been discovered that their bomber exploded above Westergeest.
The village decided to erect a stone bearing the names of the five men, including Pilot Officer Donald Edward Grant from Totton. It is placed near to the grave of the two airmen who died.
