From Our Files: Rugby club exposure...high tide fears...Florence to the rescue
50 YEARS AGO
NEIL TARBY (11) of Barton-on-Sea caught a bass weighing 9lbs 2 and a half ounces on Barton beach breaking the previous local record for this type of fish. Using pout whiting tail as bait, and a Beach Caster Sealey rod with 22lbs Neil loaded the bass after a short struggle witnessed by several other fishermen.
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HOLIDAYMAKERS and riverside residents along the South Coast must have breathed a sigh of relief at the end of last weekend when tides predicted to be the highest for 110 years did not materialise and evacuation from low-lying camp sites proved unnecessary.
In fact, the scare stories of the highest tides for 300 years were said to be ‘absolute nonsense’ by Commander Glenn of the Ministry of Defence Hydrographical Department which compiles the Admiralty tide tables.
He put it down to “This flaming article in the Daily Mail” published earlier in the year which said that because the Sun and Moon would be orbiting closer to the Earth during the Spring and Autumn equinox in 1974 the tides would be the highest for several centuries.
“There is no scientific evidence to support this as far as I am aware,” the Commander told the A&T on Tuesday.
Last weekend large spring tides were predicted but they were not extreme. A reported three inches of water in the upper reaches of Keyhaven River at low tide on Tuesday was not caused by a tricentennial alignment of celestial bodies but to a high-pressure anticyclone overhead which lowered the level of water.
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MRS FLORENCE BARNES (65) of Culver Road, New Milton, who achieved widespread publicity several years ago when campaigning to secure free TV licences for elderly people during which time she refused to pay her own licence fee and stated she would rather go to prison, is in the news again.
Last September having retired after 40 years nursing Mrs Barnes started sawing up and delivering firewood to the elderly and needy as a comfort during the cold winter months.
Her main problem was she did not have an efficient saw and despite an appeal on Radio Solent which received only one reply, she persisted, and at last help has arrived.
Black and Decker at Southampton heard of Mrs Barnes’s problem and presented her with a saw and drill worth about £20 together with a work bench worth a further £25.
Mrs Barnes said: “I know of old people with central heating in their homes who cannot afford to switch it on. If anyone knows if any old folk in the New Milton area who would otherwise likewise suffer from the cold, I am willing to include them in deliveries of wood to burn.”
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RECENT heavy rains and high seas have increased worries over the condition of the sea defences at Barton where the beach level has been progressively lowered in many places.
In some instances, this has under washed the groynes and if carried out too far will cause some piling to collapse as it did some while ago at one point where the cliff slumped forward.
That a degree of protection has been achieved cannot be denied. Two principal factors cause the erosion at Barton, first the beach levels are gradually lowered as material is taken by the sea and second the inland and local water causes the sand and gravel and clay to slump.
25 YEARS AGO
THE trial traffic and environment scheme in Lyndhurst which saw the High Street narrowed to a single lane for much of its length together with wider pavements should get the go-ahead on a permanent basis Hampshire County Council is being recommended.
Of the near total of 500 people who commented on the scheme after a public exhibition and following a trial (54%) gave their full (21%) or general (33%) support and when it came to the 400 residents of the village, out of the total the overall support figure was 56%.
“It seems we have to accept the verdict of the people of Lyndhurst,” declared Cllr Ken Thornber at a meeting of the New Forest Transportation Strategy Panel “If we would be reneging on the very essence of consultation.”
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SUNBEDS will remain in use at New Forest recreation centres until definitive evidence of any associated health risk becomes available despite the ongoing concerns of councillors that people using them will develop skin cancer.
Members were told at a meeting of the District Council’s leisure services committee that although the link between skin cancer and ultraviolet radiation was widely accepted there was still no definitive evidence that sunbed use caused skin cancer.
They were told that the sunbeds contributed £59,000 to the council’s budget annually.
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MEN dropping their pants was the norm at rugby clubs New Forest magistrates have heard. Solicitor David Lee representing a Pennington man on a charge of indecent exposure with intent to insult a female told the court that such antics were “common parts of the victory celebrations.”
Prosecutor Gavin Foster told the court that the rugby player had stood three feet away from a group of women and dropped his trousers and underpants during post-match celebrations at New Milton Rugby Club.
He then made lewd comments to them. Mr Lee said he did not condone their actions, but rugby players regularly exposed themselves as part of “boisterous celebrations. The following week there was a similar thing.”
The player was fined £500 and costs of £50. “The court considers this to be very inappropriate behaviour even in a rugby club, “the chairman of the bench told him.
