From Our Files: Contamination ruling...‘sea of excreta’...arrested at refinery
50 YEARS AGO
A STREAM in Sway is not contaminated by sewage, New Forest District Council’s health committee was told this week.
The council had been investigating complaints from residents and Sway Parish Council of sewage smells. Samples were taken from the stream and ditches between Brighton Road and Anderwood Drive, and tests on the drainage system of properties not on the sewer.
Observations made of stagnant areas of water which could flood during heavy rainfall showed large accumulations of marsh gas present at times which could well be flushed throughout the length of the sewer thus giving rise to the smell.
There was no evidence of sewage contamination in the stream.
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A PETITION signed by hundreds of Brockenhurst residents is calling for steps to be taken by the district council to remove the “consistent nuisance in the village of vastly increased cattle that are polluting the pavements by a sea of excreta”.
It was presented at the latest meeting of the Verderers’ Court. Residents saw the cow dung has led to “an encroachment of flies in the living quarters of homes in the village and people have to threat their way through by hooting their horn and banging the side of their vehicles to make the cows move out of the way”.
It adds that the “village is getting a reputation for being foul smelling, dirty and polluted”.
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HUNDREDS of people who arrived at Hugh Stevenson’s nursery in Gore Road, New Milton, for an open day had to be turned away as the organisers were unable to cope with the huge response which, following press, TV and radio publicity, resulted in nearly 7,000 members of the public – 6,000 more than anticipated – coming to view the nursery.
People came from as far away as Plymouth, Oxford, Hayling Island. Newbury, Basingstoke and Lyme Regis.
Tours for 20 people had to be shelved and instead guides stood round at strategic points as the thousands went round the nursery.
25 YEARS AGO
An American World War II fighter bomber pilot who flew from Winton Airfield has been officially recognised by his country as an ‘Ace in a Day’ 55 years after his death for bringing down six enemy aircraft.
A young second lieutenant in the United States Army Air Force John W Wainwright landed on the shores of the UK in May 1944. His posting was to the 404th Fighter Group based at an airfield called Station 414 located on the fields between Sopley, Bransgore and Winkton.
He flew mission after mission in a P-47 Thunderbolt Fighter and during one he brought down three enemy planes, went into a spin, managed to come out of it and shot down another three.
Pictured left to right at the 404th Fighter Group decorations ceremony in Belgium in October 1944 are Major General Hoyt Vandenberg, US Ninth Air Force Commander, John W Wainright and Col. Carroll ‘Red’ McColpin 404th Fighter Group Commander.
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TWENTY-TWO illegal immigrants were arrested when the lorry they were hiding in reached the gates of the Esso refinery at Fawley on Wednesday.
The alarm was raised by security staff at the gate when they saw four men emerge from under the tarpaulin of a lorry making a delivery.
The police were quickly on the scene and when they searched it they found 18 people, 10 from Kosovo, six Sri Lankans and two Chechens. Among the group were a baby and a child.
Four Chinese men had run off but were detained later. A police spokesman said it appeared the group had got on the lorry in France before coming through the Channel Tunnel on it.
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ON 26th April 1986 the world’s worst nuclear accident happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power station on the northern border of Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus.
The winds blew north and 76% of radioactive substances fell over the Belarusian population. The Chernobyl Children Lifeline brings children from contaminated areas of Belarus to the UK for rest and recuperation.
The children’s immune systems are badly impaired and a holiday in England with good clear air and vitamins greatly boosts their systems.
The Forest Link of the Chernobyl Children Lifeline is looking for host families who can give their time and care to these children in their homes. The children will be aged 10-13 years and will be here for one month.
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FURTHER ways to tighten control on dogs who foul on beaches were deemed necessary by members of the New Forest District Council’s leisure services committee.
The four main beaches where it is suggested a new scheme should be introduced are Barton-on-Sea, Hordle Cliff, Milford Westover and Calshot.
The council has suggested that all dogs should be on leads, making their owners easier to identify.
Chairman John Hutchins said: “I get so fed up seeing large dogs let loose on crowded beaches. I’ve seen them eat people’s picnics and frighten young children.”
