Stream danger...black magic...broken NHS...coast protection
Then and now
Lymington Town Sailing Club and Seawater Baths,1960
THE Lymington Town Sailing Club (LTSC) clubhouse and its proximity to the historic Lymington Sea Water Baths represent key elements of the town’s rich maritime heritage.
The current LTSC clubhouse, situated on Bath Road, overlooks the Lymington River and Solent beyond. It was officially opened in 1968, replacing more modest premises, to accommodate the growing number of sailors drawn to the club after its establishment in 1946.
Adjacent to the club lies the Lymington Sea Water Baths, one of the oldest lidos of its kind in the UK, dating back to 1833. Originally developed as a saltwater bath-ing facility to capitalise on the Victorian enthusiasm for seawater health benefits, the baths have long been a landmark.
Over the years, the Sea Water Baths have been modernised and are now operated as a popular family-friendly attraction during the summer months, featuring inflatables, paddleboarding, and safe swimming areas.
The LTSC clubhouse, meanwhile, has undergone several upgrades to meet the evolving needs of its membership, including improved facilities for sailors and expanded social spaces.
50 YEARS AGO
The Forestry Commission has urged parents to keep a vigilant watch on children playing in New Forest streams following an incident where a three-year-old girl nearly died.
Two weeks ago a Hordle couple went for a picnic at Balmer Lawn. While their two grandchildren paddled they saw another toddler fall into a hole in the bed of the stream and go under.
She had been there with a sister a year older who also fell into the hole but managed to scramble out. The husband of the couple dived in fully clothed and rescued her.
His wife said: “There are holes there that you simply would not be aware of and when people leave their children unsupervised it is dangerous.
“The little girl could have been dragged under the bank and no one would have seen her.”
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FOLLOWING well publicised reports in the press and television claiming that schoolchildren were indulging in black magic in the New Forest, denials of any knowledge of such practices have come from the vicar of Brockenhurst Canon Roy Chamberlain.
He said that an international study into the subject had not revealed any evidence of such goings-on in the Forest.
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When a man tried to get through the French windows of a house in Pinewood Drive, Hythe, he thought he was home.
In fact, he lived a block away in Furzedale Gardens.
At Hythe court he was fined £10 for being drunk and disorderly. A woman and child alone in the house had been very frightened by the defendant’s attempts, the court heard. An off-duty policeman digging his garden heard the commotion and told the defendant to go home, when he insisted he already was, the policeman arrested him.
25 YEARS AGO
A WOMAN from West Totton says she was forced to break into her savings to pay for an emergency kidney operation after being told she would have to wait 10 months for surgery.
The woman paid £5,000 to go private and underwent the same operation by the same surgeon within three days of asking.
The 28-year-old woman said the NHS was in a “terrible mess”. Her case was raised in the House of Commons by New Forest East MP Julian Lewis who said if she had not paid she would have lost her kidney.
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NEW Milton artist Fred Moore is officially England’s oldest art student. Fred, 107, attends weekly art at Brockenhurst college and has done for the last 25 years.
He has been studying free of charge since 1992 when the college waived all his future course fees as a 100th birthday present.
“I’m still growing and learning,” said Fred who is most proud of his portrait of Field Marshall Montgomery which hangs in the Ministry of Defence building in London.
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A DECISION by the Secretary of State for the Department of the Environment not to allow a £100,000 coast protection at Barton means that the section involved will retain world importance for geological science.
The decision comes over a year after a joint inquiry into the scheme which was proposed by the former Lymington Borough Council.
The council, supported by Barton Golf Club, had sought planning permission to construct a stone and concrete tripod revetment below the golf course and east of Becton Bunny.
At the inquiry geologists said the cliffs were of world importance and a reference for the time division in the geological timescale. Collections of fossils from Barton are distributed to museums worldwide.
The secretary said that in “view of the great importance of the SSSI to geology” he would be refusing permission for the works to go ahead.
