From Our Files: footballer kicks off, monster in chamber, millennium charge
50 YEARS AGO
DEMONSTRATIONS by Hampshire farmers for better agricultural prices following a call for support from European farmers are likely to take the form of the distribution of leaflets, a Lyndhurst NFU branch told the A&T this week.
“Tractor processions are banned in some parts of the country,” said the spokesman. “We are not doing tractor demonstrations in this area. We don’t think it would be practical or sensible.”
There could possibly be displays of static tractors with posters displayed on them.
The farmers will be making the point that they cannot make a living on present prices for produce.
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A LYMINGTON footballer told the town’s magistrates this week that he spent over £12 a week on alcohol.
The centre forward was explaining how he would pay off fines, cost and compensation totalling £66.80, imposed on him for breaking a window at the Ship Inn on the Quay.
He was part of a group refused to purchase more drinks by the landlady because of their conduct. As they left, she heard a window being smashed.
The footballer matched the description of the person she saw do it, which was given to police and he was later seen in St Thomas graveyard.
An officer followed a trail of blood from the graveyard to Lymington hospital where he saw the defendant having his hand stitched and he was arrested.
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A MONSTER has been bred in the council chamber, claimed New Forest District Council member Mr Alan Rice who said that it had “crept up unnoticed”.
It was, he said, called the Southern Water Authority. “I will rise at every opportunity to condemn this monster,” he said, and appealed to the public to “rise up and smite it down”.
He said: “They are dictating terms to us in which we have no say. They are levying a rate on us and we receive no amenity for it.
“There are those among us who don’t have sewage facilities and we still have to pay for it.”
25 YEARS AGO
PROGRESS on the proposed memorial devoted to those who served on the New Forest airfield during the Second World War has received a boost thanks to a masonry company.
Portland stone has been donated free of charge by Hanson Bath and Portland Stone Ltd. Work is now under way on the monument. A time capsule within the memorial will contain various artefacts and documents from the airfields.
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A CALSHOT man who a probation officer described as “being more comfortable in prison than at liberty” has been jailed for four months.
The man had committed a total 21 driving offences including two counts of driving while disqualified. On one occasion he was caught driving while banned on his way to a court appearance, the bench at Lyndhurst heard.
The 46-year-old pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to four months in prison.
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A ONE-mile taxi ride may cost about £12 during millennium celebrations in the New Forest. Travellers face the costly fare because of a 13% hike in general taxi fares and the introduction of a ‘millennium’ surcharge which was agreed by the district council’s environmental services and licensing committee.
The surcharge will apply to all journeys between 6pm on 31st December and 7am on 1st January next year.
It will be introduced to encourage taxi drivers to work on millennium eve.
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TWO keen young naturalists from Milford-on-Sea were shocked to discover that the bright yellow-and-black spider they found close to their home is rare and venomous.
Brothers William (7) and Thomas Attard, of Northfield Road, only learned of the potential danger of their unusual discovery which they took home after their parents read an article about the European wasp spider in the Daily Mail.
Their bite is not deadly, but can cause intense itching and irritation.
Mum Petrea said: “The boys found it on a footpath by Sturt Pond, they scooped it up and put it in a small box.”
She said the boys who are “passionate about nature and wildlife” had kept the spider for three days, feeding it vegetation.
Petrea said they had been “handling it all the time” until it was discovered it could bite.
When they released the spider back to where they found it, they spotted two more, with one having an egg sack.
Experts believe the spider had made its way to the New Forest from the south of France, either by boat or on the wind.
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Concorde was due at Bournemouth airport yesterday. The aircraft was chartered by Bath travel to fly to Pisa and was due to arrive at 10.40am, fly an hour later and return at 6.30pm.
