From our Files: Questionable refereeing...appalling red buses...dinner punch-up
75 YEARS AGO
THE proudest couple in the borough are Mr and Mrs B. Gray of Hordle who are the parents of bonny triplets.
They celebrated their second birthday at the weekend. Although the birth of “quads” anywhere in the world attracts a tremendous amount of national publicity, triplets tend to be overlooked.
But the Hordle trio –Peter, Michael and Mary Anne- are a great credit to their patents and probably the only triplets in the borough.
Mr Gray, a former Army Warrant Office, is rightly very proud of them and his Syrian wife Georgette for the way in which she has brought them up to the age of two years.
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THE monthly meeting of Hinton WI which took place on Wednesday was not very good. Ways of implementing the Sunshine Fund were discussed.
As a result of the recent sale of work nearly £25 was sent by the treasurer to Earl Haig’s Fund.
Much amusement was caused in the social half hour by members eating jelly with knitting needles.
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A SPECTATOR at the Sway V New Milton Argyll match found himself playing a major role in the match when the referee failed to appear.
The man in the crowd at Sway’s ground had to assume the referee’s job after the match was held up for 15 minutes owing to the non-arrival.
About five minutes after the interval the home team scored again from a doubtful decision the referee blowing up for what I, and most of the crowd, thought was a clear case of off-side and then awarding a goal. A very unjust decision.
Shortly after a penalty was awarded against N Tomkins for a foul. Another penalty was awarded from which the home team scored.
Not many minutes later another penalty was awarded against Britton for a hand-ball.
Sway won 6-0 which the Argyll disputed as they seemed upset by some of the decisions given and it is a pity that when there is a local Derby that the appointed referee should fail to attend.
50 YEARS AGO
FEARS that the present fuel crisis may prompt a search for oil, or natural gas in the New Forest which was the subject of a British Petroleum seismic survey three years ago were expressed by the New Forest Action Group.
A map shows where the oil drilling could be carried out which included Nomansland, Minstead and Bolderwood, Ladycross and in a line from Holmsley to Lymington.
The group said that the Gas Council had said that none of the areas in the Forest would produce enough oil to make the scheme economically viable.
But it added: “In these days of energy crisis this is a situation which needs watching.”
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BROCKENHURST councillor Mrs E. Purkess has complained about buses running through the village now being red instead of green.
She thought red buses “appalling” for the New Forest.
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DOUBTS about the advisability of planting three maples in the cobbled area adjoining Lymington post office have been expressed by a Lymington councillor.
Councillor H. Kalep said the leaves would cause a “slippery surface” and there was also the aspects of vandalism and dogs.
He said the post office manager was also not particularly happy about the obviation of light from his offices.
25 YEARS AGO
THE police are to be asked for their view about Milford-on Sea’s village centre becoming an alcohol free zone.
The parish council’s planning committee had suggested that having a bottle and can drink-free zone where it would be an offence to drink in public would be difficult to police and was not worth pursuing.
Bur Dr James Scobie asked if the police had been consulted and Prof Gerald Smart said such zones did work well in a number of villages.
Parish clerk Ken Metcalf said the question had been asked as to what would happen when they had village fetes and fairs on the village green especially at Christmas, or for the carnival.
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BRANSGORE parish councillors will be asking police to close the roads round the war memorial on Remembrance Sunday in future after traffic spoilt this year’s service.
“The vicar stood up there but no one could hear a word he was saying,” declared Carol Brackstone “It was a sham.”
But parish chairman Sue Hughes said that the police would only close the roads if there was a proper order which had to be applied for. If they just put barriers some motorists might not stop and there could be legal action if anyone was hurt in an accident.
Sally Owen said that the traffic stopped in Burley for the service and Mrs Brackstone said that if the police did not want to co-operate they should write to the MP.
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FIVE men from the New Milton area were arrested after what has been described by police as one of the “largest and nastiest fights” in Bournemouth town centre.
The entire Bournemouth police squad were called to the exclusive Stakis hotel in the early hours of Friday morning last week after a football dinner erupted into violence which took nearly an hour to bring under control.
Three hundred and thirty people had earlier attended the Poole Town Football Club sportsman’s dinner.
Around 12.30am forty of the remaining guests became embroiled in a punch up which saw tables overturned and glasses broken in the Palace Suite.
A police officer said: “The trouble seemed to flare up as the bar closed.”
