Milford on Sea Local News Archives

Welcome to my online web blog. Below is a summary of all of our 'old' news stories. Click on the 'news page' link to read the latest Milford on Sea news articles.

*Please see 'Whats On' for local events

28th April 2010: Food Week donates £4500 to Community Centre

After all of the great fun that was had during Milford on Sea Food Week we have recently had the great pleasure of donating £4500 to the Milford on Sea Community Centre. Food Week was never run as a fund raising event, but thanks to everyone who bought a programme or raffle ticket, our sponsors & the participants who made a donation, we have raised some valuable funds which we know will be spent for the benefit of everyone in the village. We were also very happy to hear that a number of charities that joined in with our various events managed to raise over £1600 for their own good causes.

In addition to the Community Centre donation we have also been able to retain a ‘fighting fund’ to enable us to create more future initiatives in the village & to prepare for next year’s event. Thank you to everyone who parted with their hard earned cash in whatever way you did. Milford on Sea is, as we all know, a special place, & this is in no small part because of people who live & work here. Hopefully you tried something new in the village during Food Week & it would be great if we can all continue to support our village shops & eateries – they are worth it! Off to start planning next year now, & if there is anything new you would like us to include please just let me know. | www.milfordonseafoodweek.org

28th April 2010: Take a Guided Village Tour
Our parish Community Tourism Group are running a number of Village Guided Walks. The first walk is next Wednesday 5th May 2010 & it is a great opportunity to find out a bit more about Milford on Sea & the village in which we live. All of the family are welcome, simply meet at the Village Green at 10.30am to join the tour, which will conclude at All Saints' Church at noon for refreshments. The cost is only £1 per adult with all children free.

Our Community Tourism Group will also hold guided walks at the same time on Wednesday 2nd June, 7th July & 4th August 2010. In addition to this, the Lymington Town Tours team are also running guided walks in the village. Dates for all of these walks can be found in our ‘Whats On’ pages.

28th April 2010: Jazz Swing in May
The next Jazz Swing session is on 28th May at South Lawn Hotel and features ‘SubbDance’ who we hear are a great band to dance to. Everyone is welcome & the admission is £4. After that there will be no more Jazz/Swing evenings until September 24th when it will be held at the new Community Centre and will feature a perennial favourite ‘The Regular Joes’.

28th April 2010: Danes ‘Stream' or 'River’? - An Update
Since recently publishing the story below, I have heard from Terry Langford. Now this is quite scary on two levels, firstly it means that someone reads the nonsense I write, & secondly he knows what he is talking about, something I have never claimed to do!

Terry writes: Dear Ed, As a freshwater biologist for over 50 years, I regard the Dane stream as a "stream", one of the suite of New Forest streams, albeit more urbanised than most. Actually, the definition is immaterial...a stream or river to most of us is what we want it to be. In America the Dane stream would probably be called a ditch. The Danes stream is quite interesting ecologically in that it suffers urban run-off but still manages to hold a head of sea-trout, quite large some of them. It has mayflies too, but the fauna is not a diverse as those of the less urbanised streams. There seem to be no major inherent problems apart from the urban run-off in the stream above Milford, but it is interesting. Probably a bit too much silt near the bridge but that is because the channel is too wide for the low flows and silt settles out then.

So there you have it, you can call it what you like, you can fish for the odd sea-trout, & if you hear an American call it a ditch, tell them that it is a river which is full of salmon. | www.milfordonsea.org/news

3rd May 2010: Flower and Produce Show – Enter Now
Looking forward to the summer the Milford on Sea Flower and Produce Show is due to take place on July 17th on the village green. There are a wide choice of classes. As well as Flowers, Fruit, and Vegetables, there will also be Craft, Photography, Baking, and classes especially for children of 12 and under. For anyone who wishes to enter any of the categories the free Schedules for the Show are now available from Gwen’s, and other High Street shops. Just look for the ‘Schedules Here’ notice is in the window. This event is one that will allow almost everyone to find something to interest them and help maintain the traditional atmosphere of a village show, so we hope that everyone who has ever said 'mine is as good as that' will plan their entries and be part of it.

3rd May 2010: Bandstand for Seafront
The Parish Council has received positive feedback from the District Council about using the sea front shelter near the Needles Eye Cafe as a bandstand.

The Milford on Sea Parish Council are now looking for someone to put on a Summer Show or two to see how the project can be bought to fruition. One of the suggestions made has been about holding a ‘Picnic on the Lawn’ for all of the family. This all sounds like a good idea to us. The entertainment certainly seems in tune with the village character. Hopefully our local bands, choir & musicians will take up the opportunity & give us all some pleasant afternoons & evenings enjoying music by the sea. | Milford on Sea Parish Council website: www.milfordonsea.org.uk

5th May 2010: May Fayre Fun
The annual Milford on Sea May Fayre survived some suspect weather to once again put on a great show for the village. The Milford on Sea Village Green was festooned with colour & a variety of side stalls offering gifts, hot food, local charity displays & my favourite; the WI cake stall! The children had plenty to entertain them with the bouncy castles, climbing wall & regular ‘Punch & Judy’ shows. At the centre of the village green stood the traditional May Pole, where in the afternoon our local children had great fun showing us their May Pole dancing. The afternoon concluded with the crowning of this year’s May Queen. Once again Ray Sales & the team on the VCC had put on a great show for all in the village. Well done all. | May Fayre website: www.milfordcarnival.com

5th May 2010: New Jewellery Shop & Village Patisserie
A new shop ‘Silverbox’ was open in the village on Bank Holiday Monday on the old site of Allure Ladies Fashions in Church Hill, Milford on Sea. The temporary outlet shop was offering a stylish range of ‘Silverbox’ Italian silver designer style jewellery at outlet prices, there was also a range of Italian handbags. The jewellery is from another business owned by Val & Nick (from Piccolo Mondo), which sells a selection of individual Italian jewellery from Val’s own brand jewellery range (Silverbox). The couple took the opportunity to offer some special prices on end of line, display & sample stocks. Silverbox will again be offering items from their range at outlet prices on the weekend of the Spring Bank Holiday between 29th & 31st May 2010.

Nick & Val also run the Piccolo Mondo restaurant in the village. Having now taken over the ‘old Allure’ site they are currently preparing the shop to open as a Patisserie in July. We understand that ‘Le Petit Monde Patisserie’ will offer a delightful range of patisseries & fresh breads. The new bakery will also offer fresh croissants, pain au chocolat, loaves, speciality breads, cup cakes, family cakes, individual desserts, apple tarts, éclairs, pizza slices, savoury pasties, pies, sandwiches & takeaway lunches. In fact a list of my favourite diet! Roll on July!!

5th May 2010: Stuck on Beach Pebble Mountain
If you have strolled along the beach recently you will have noticed that the beach keeps growing! We decided to go and take a look, & were met by a stone cliff face with a fierce drop of around twelve foot down to the sea edge. I decided to try and get down, this wasn’t difficult, as once you were sliding there was no way to stop 20 stone of muscle! (well, mostly muscle) My wife for some reason was very amused, & whilst it is always a pleasure to see her smiling, it was a shame that her mirth was purely based on how I was going to get back up. No problem, I thought to myself as I took a run up. I progressed two strides up & was soon back where I started. On numerous attempts the shifting stones had no trouble to move faster than my size twelves & I soon became accustomed to sliding backwards. In fact over the time I think I perfected an Olympic standard rearwards slide. The dogs thought it was great fun to regularly visit me & then run back up to show how easy it is when you are fit & have four legs. By now my wife’s cackling had reached a level where I really hoped she’d wet herself. Her help was restricted to useful comments like ‘Do you want me to find an elephant to pull you out?’ Dismissing the idea of calling the coastguard I resorted to one last plan, so on all fours & with the help of the sea groynes, I made my way back up in the most dignified manner I could. Waiting for my congratulations, & perhaps a small round of applause, I soon realised my wife had got bored & walked home.

For those that like some useful information in a story, I can tell you that the Milford on Sea beach is once again being replenished with approximately 10,000 tonnes of additional beach material. This coastal works is to provide continued protection to the beach frontage at Milford on Sea. The New Forest District Council has secured £310,000 from the Environment Agency to carry out the works, which started on 19 April and is expected to last for three weeks. The bid for funding was made following last year's storm damage, which resulted in substantial loss of beach material. It seems good news to me that a focus remains on maintaining the coastal defenses for us all – even if traps me by the sea.

On arriving home I muttered, ‘I wonder how many pebbles they have used on the beach?’. My wife said ‘I hope you don’t intend to count them’, & then enjoyed recalling how I had once spent two days counting the hairs on my legs. For some reason she felt this was of no real value, but then again she wouldn’t understand a man’s need to know such things. Us men enjoy doing some strange things, & I defy anyone left alone in a room with a tea cosy not to put it on their head at some stage.

12th May 2010: Red Lion Live ‘n Kickin' this Saturday
A favourite local band will be playing at the Red Lion this coming Saturday evening. Live ‘n Kickin' comprises of a number of local faces & was formed about 6 months ago. Since then they have played around three times a month since & were last at the Red Lion in December. On lead vocals, guitar and keyboard is Adrian Withers a well known face in the village. Unfortunately this will be Adrian’s last Milford gig as he is moving to Cornwall on the 25th May. Adrian has played & helped out with many other local bands over the last years, & has made regular appearances at the village Milford on Sea Arts & Music Festival, we think he must be the one of the most recognised faces in the Milford on Sea music scene! His son, Jason, is again from the village & a number of people will also know from his day job at Collins & Butler. In the band he plays guitar and backing vocals, & he has been gigging locally for many years. The rest of the band comprises of Roger, on bass with a fantastically over-elaborate style! Roger lives in Poole, most well known from playing in his original band called 'Mission Impossible', Bournemouth based band of 25 years. You will find Damian on Drums and backing vocals, he lives near Southampton, & also plays in a band called 'The Shift'. The Live ‘n Kickin' band covers a range of music from Pink Floyd, Gary Moore, Cheap Trick, Lynyrd Skynyrd... & to keep everyone happy there are a few more up-to-date numbers thrown in! So, if you can make it on Saturday it sounds like the Red Lion will be rocking!

12th May 2010: Where there's a Will there's a Film
We now have another film of the Food Market for you to enjoy. The film was created by Will Mann, who’s Mum & close family live in Milford on Sea. His video production company, E-Motion Productions based in London, have made the film free of charge, no doubt with the encouragement of ‘Mum’! The film features interviews with a number of the local traders & New Forest food producers. To keep things in the family, the interviewer is Sue Tobitt, who is Will’s aunt. Nice work Will!
Food Week Film: www.milfordfoodweek.org/food-market-you-tube

12th May 2010: Duncan’s Classic Mini off to Brighton
Duncan Broomfield from Sullivan Mitchell is off to compete in the London to Brighton Rally this weekend. Duncan has a classic 1969 Mk2 Mini Cooper & unlike the editor he can fit in it. Before joining Sullivan Mitchell, Duncan had previously worked at Murray Hayward in Milford on Sea for 7 years, & before this he spent 7 years in the RAF Police serving on overseas detachments and in UK bases. Let’s all hope his car makes it & he is not stopped by the real police!
Sullivan Mitchell website: www.sullivanmitchell.net

12th May 2010: Dan the new Co-Op Man
Our Milford on Sea local Co-Op now has a new manager. The new man is Dan Haynes, who originates from New Milton. The previous manager, Leon, has moved to a store nearer his home close to Southampton.

15th May 21010: Milford on Sea Dining & Accommodation Guide
Having had such fun with Milford on Sea Food Week we wanted to find a way to keep celebrating the great places we have to eat & stay in the village. We also want to put Milford on Sea on the map as the place to dine out. So, we are now onto our next project!, which is a ‘Milford on Sea Dining & Accommodation Guide’. We recently launched the concept at a ‘Traders Meeting’ generously hosted by Pat Ogden at The White Horse. The guide will contain a listing of all of the places to stay & eat in the village, and we hope will encourage people to try out the great variety of eating places we all have in the village. The support of the restaurants, pubs, bistros & tea shops has been fabulous & nearly all of them are offering ‘free discount vouchers’ in the pages of the guide. We are now printing 10,000 copies of the guide (yes, 10,000!) & these will be available free to both holidaymakers & all locals in the village shops, eateries, B&B’s, self catering premises, Shorefield, local tourism offices & anywhere else we can find to give them to people! In addition to the free discount dining vouchers, the Milford on Sea Dining & Accommodation Guide also contains a map of where to find all of our local dining places. To ensure that everyone has the opportunity to visit & try out new eating places we have also added the free discount vouchers to this website, which you can view on the link below. To fund the project our local food establishments are paying for their vouchers & we have also been fortunate in securing sponsorship support from ‘Brand New Forest’ at the NFDC. The remaining costs are covered from the ‘fighting fund’ we had retained from Food Week. The guide should be printed in the next three weeks, we hope you enjoy it!
Dinning vouchers online & map of restaurants: www.milfordonsea.org/free-dining-vouchers

20th May 2010: Braxton Gardens Launch Summer Musical Evenings
A range a free music is going to be available at Braxton Gardens from Friday 28th May and running all the way through to the end of August. Friday evenings will feature a classical guitarist from 6pm to 9pm, and on Sunday evenings a Jazz duo will provide entertainment from 6pm to 8.30pm. Food, beer and wine will be available on both evenings, and we hear that both professional acts have a good local reputation. Braxton Gardens are also looking for another act to fill a regular Saturday evening spot, so if you know of anyone who is interested they can give Neil Munton a call on 01590 645663.
Braxton Gardens website: www.braxton-gardens.co.uk