From our Files: Offending letter...fox fight...hot dog anger...elephant fraudster
50 YEARS AGO
NEW Forest District Council’s Resources Committee has taken offence at a letter sent to them from the chairman of the New Milton Ratepayers, Mr D.M. Love, on behalf of the association.
Mr K.W. Bailey, vice-chairman of the committee, told a meeting of it: “The whole tone of the letter was offensive, and I feel this was a letter which should not have been sent to us in this particular form.”
The part of the letter most strongly objected to was suggesting that the council instead of buying new houses and letting them at a subsidy cost of £1,200 a year should give carefully selected families on the council house waiting list 100% mortgages for the houses on an interest only basis over a period of 30 years which could be subsidised at an annual rate hundreds of pounds lower than that required to subsidise rented houses.
The letter stated that if this scheme were adopted it would obviate the very understandable annoyance – not to use a stronger word – which those struggling to buy their houses feel when those subsidised tenants occupy houses in the same locality; will relieve the general burden on ratepayers of the burden of maintenance and in most people’s views lead to a more responsible attitude on the part of those lucky enough to have been chosen in this way.
It also called for a means test to be carried out on all applicants for council housing.
Mr Bailey said: “The undertones were extremely offensive to very many of our ratepayers and insulting to us.”
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A PENNINGTON man whose garden is overrun by marauding foxes from the neighbouring marshes is backing calls from local wildfowlers for numbers to be controlled.
Retired boat builder Bill Smith said they are wrecking his flower beds. “I am being invaded by the wretched things,” he said, complaining that there had been five in his garden on one evening last week.
“Something has got to be done to keep their numbers down,” maintains Mr Smith who lives in Milford Road. “Their numbers are increasing every year and they have got to be kept in place.
“I’m fed up to the teeth with them. They’re almost tame. They just sit on the lawn and look at you.”
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SOME married couples are upset at the prospect of moving into single-bedroomed accommodation which is to replace the prefabs in Upper Garden Road at Highcliffe, members of Christchurch Housing Committee heard.
Coun. I.A. Stevenson, chairman, pointed out that a number of married couples slept in separate rooms – not for frivolous reasons but medical reasons.
Some members wanted to know if the plans could be slightly altered to provide more two-bedroom homes. But Housing Officer Mr M. Storey stated that with the housing situation as it was there were quite a few constraints against them.
25 YEARS AGO
HISTORY came to life in the Solent with the opening of a visitor centre and heritage trail at Calshot Spit followed by the opening of Hurst Castle’s East Wing for the first time in 20 years.
Councillor Alan Rice, chairman of Hampshire County Council’s Recreation and Heritage Committee, met with the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire Mrs Mary Fagan and members of Captain Henry Hazard’s Company of Artilleries Roger Emerson and Jeremy Foxe who reenacted the delivery of supplies to Hurst Castle during the English Civil War.
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A HIGHCLIFFE woman who released a dog which had become distressed when its owner left it in a car in hot weather was astonished when an RSPCA inspector came along and put the dog back in again.
The RSPCA said that the dog, a dachshund, had to be kept in a safe place until the owner was found and urged people not to take the law into their own hands.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” said Janet Taylor, of Woodfield Gardens. “The dog was clearly suffering but the RSPCA man said I had broken the law and the dog had to go back.
“It seems to me he was more interested in my so-called offence than the welfare of the dog.”
Mrs Taylor, a former dog breeder, had seen the dog in a vehicle in a car park at Christchurch hospital. She said: “It was a hot day, and it was tied up. I was joined by an off-duty policeman who said that if I broke into the car to get the dog out it would be quite justified. We discovered the boot was unlocked so got the dog out and gave it a drink of water which it was desperate for.
“The RSPCA man turned up half-an-hour later. I was just amazed when he said what we had done was wrong and put the dog back into the car. The inspector said that the only time you can release a dog is if they are on their last legs, but how do you know when that is?”
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PROTESTERS against the trial road layout in Lyndhurst High Street continued their campaign, sending a petition with over 2,500 signatures to the county surveyor. Officials also had to contend with some contentious adverse publicity mocked up by protesters who forged and doctored council posters.
The posters, which had advertised an exhibition at Lyndhurst Museum for the proposed road scheme were reworded and re-posted as a prank by protesters – with the Hampshire County Council’s logo in the bottom left-hand corner.
The words “draft proposals” had been changed to “daft proposals”. The trial consists of a series of concrete bollards in the High Street which reduces the road to a single lane.
The council said that traffic problems in Lyndhurst have been recorded since the 1880s but that the chance for a by-pass “had now gone because of environmental constraints”.
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POLICE in Ashurst have found a rogue elephant that did forget. They have tracked down a 6ft tall pink elephant costume left behind by a con man who wore it to fool generous New Forest residents.
The fraudster knocked on doors claiming that he was from the World Wildlife Fund. Police have asked for anyone who had their door knocked by the conspicuous fraudster to get in touch.
