From our files: Unbalanced population...1788 letter...explosive find...pale moon
50 YEARS AGO
THE remarkable financial recovery of Highcliffe Men’s Club was revealed at their annual dinner last week.
Just three years ago the club was in severe financial difficulty with debts of £10,000, but they have now managed to pay them all off.
The club now has a membership of 1,200. Recounting the early days of the club which was founded in 1908, secretary Mr T. Young told how rules had to be strictly adhered to with members not allowed to leave their wheelbarrows outside.
Gents urinals had to be washed down with disinfectant at least three times a week and a storm lantern had to be hung over the door in the winter if there was no moon. The club floors had to be scrubbed every three months.
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OVER 120 people attended a meeting in Lymington Community Centre to discuss the future of the town.
The meeting was organised by the Lymington Society. The first question read out was that in the Lymington District Plan it is emphasised that population is unbalanced, in that the old far outnumber the young.
There are not enough young people to provide the work force required and there are not enough small houses for young families.
The questioner asked why then was attractive countryside at Woodside to be spoiled by building 54 houses of a size and cost which are only suitable for the elderly and retired as they are far too expensive for the young.
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A SHIP letter of 1788 postmarked with the stamped words “Limington Ship Lire” will be auctioned at Stanley Gibbons salerooms in London in March.
It is expected to fetch over £200. The letter was from Pennsylvania and travelled to Poole via Lymington at a cost of nine pence.
Part of this amount went to the captain of the ship bringing the letter to England. In the mid and late 1970s merchant sailing ships often stopped at Lymington and sent mail ashore with pilots for onward transmission.
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A PROPOSAL by Christchurch Council to tarmac all the grass verges in Highcliffe has been dropped.
At a meeting of Highcliffe’s Citizens Association the chairman Mr A. Crawley when he announced this recalled that the council had said the proposal was to save the cost of cutting the grass, which amounted to £277 a year.
The cost of putting down the tarmac was £23,000.
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25 YEARS AGO
SAMMY MILLER has just qualified for his bus pass yet the former world trials champion is still blowing much younger competition off the track.
He recorded the best performance on the pre-65 course at Ringwood Committee Cup Trials beating all-comers.
Sammy said: “I won my first trial when I was 17 so it’s not bad to be still winning near enough 50 years later!”
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A CONTRACTOR from Verwood was shocked to discover a bomb while uprooting a pine tree at Fawley enclosure.
Andy Bascombe from Bascombe Contractors had been employed to clear a plantation and burn it for heat restoration.
He came across a cylinder which was two feet by six inches in diameter. He then came across two more.
The Forestry Commission inspected them and recognized them as bombs and called in the bomb disposal unit.
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SWAY parish councillors have praised village constable Gordon Jamison for his appropriate action in dealing with four 13 and 14-year-olds who have caused considerable damage around the village.
He contacted the culprits' parents, who have vowed their sons will pay for the damage their mischief has caused.
They had damaged children’s play equipment and a door at the village hall.
PC Jamison told councillors that he is also investigating a complaint that one Sway lad in his early teens takes delight in “mooning” at passing traffic.
The youngster wears a white baseball cap bearing the ‘NY’ New York logo and as further identification, his backside is said to be as white as his headgear.
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HUNDREDS of Burley residents have signed a petition urging the country’s chief constable not to take away their village bobby PC Chris White.
Postmaster Roger Hutchings said rumours about the closure of the local police station had been circulating for more than a year and people were growing increasingly concerned that they were in danger of losing what they considered a vital community service.
“It has really touched a nerve, “Mr Hutchings told the A&T, adding: “We have had a long series of closures of services in the village which have upset some of the people. This has upset everybody though.”
PC White said: “I live in the village and I am a local point of contact for the people who live in the area. My detailed knowledge is invaluable in the work that I am doing.”
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THE quality of the water in Mudeford has improved so dramatically over the past eight years that it is now often clean enough to swim in.
A decade ago, surfers and other harbour users claimed that there was so much sewage that people who went into the water often became ill. Tests taken in 1991 showed that there were almost double the number of coliforms than the EC maximum of 10,000 for safe bathing.
The most significant factor had been Wessex Water’s commitment to review its sewage treatment facilities and storm water management as these had most impact.
