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

Local Milford on Sea News Story Archives

26th July 2009: Dogs galore on the village green.
Milford on Sea once again held the annual ‘Fun Dog Show’ on the village green. A large crowd & vast array of our furry friends arrived on a fine day. (following what felt like weeks of winter weather in July!). It certainly seemed like everyone was having fun celebrating the return of the sun with their pets. The spectators were treated to dogs in all shapes & sizes entering competitions like: ‘Six best legs’ and ‘Dog most like owner’. A jazz band played in the corner & it was great to see the outfits people had made to ‘look like their dogs’.
A ‘fun’ dog show – you bet!

26th July 2009: Milford man & the missing £40,000 from HSBC.
Richard Poole from Milford on Sea noticed that £40,000 had gone missing from his father’s HSBC bank account in suspicious circumstances. He says his experience in trying to establish what had happened has not been a great one. The good news is that eventually the money was reimbursed, but who did it is still to be proved. Read the full story in the MailOnline link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1202134/HSBC-crook-went-40-000-raid-dads-bank-savings.html

31st July 2009: David Shepherd; An international artist with a warm heart.
I know this is supposed to be a news area, but something has happened that I would like to share. We have a very close old family friend, Jock More, who is now in his mid eighties. His life has been colourful to say the least! Scottish parents, born in Australia, played junior football at Wembley & played cricket at Lords, worked in the betting industry in London & met the sixties gangsters who were in control, and lots more, - as you might image he has quite a few stories to tell. Well, one of these stories involves David Shepherd, the internationally famous wildlife artist & conservationist. Jock had modelled for David in his early years as an artist, which of course was now over fifty years ago, and he still talks about his experience & exploits at that time. Having heard him chat about it again one evening, I thought I would see if I could get in touch with David Shepherd. As you might imagine this is not a straight forward thing to do. I decided to write an e-mail to David to see if he still remembered Jock, gave him Jock’s contact details & asked if he would get in touch. I then sent the e-mail to a company that sells David shepherd paintings, asking if they would pass it on. A couple of weeks passed & I heard nothing. Well, to my amazement David Shepherd phoned Jock last night. He was absolutely delighted & they happily chatted about old times. It is a pleasure to be able to add to David’s already impressive reputation, by letting everyone know what a genuinely warm person he is & how he never forgot someone who played a very small part in his rise to fame. Thank you David. www.davidshepherd.org

1st August 2009: Royal British Legion Fete beats the rain.
The Royal British Legion Fete braved the wet conditions on Saturday to put on a good show for locals & holiday visitors alike. The attendance was pleasing for such a dismal day & there was plenty of smiling faces to be found. The village green was awash with interesting side stalls, food stalls and the ever enduring raffle. There was even a ‘catch the rat’ & coconut shy. Further entertainment filled the centre arena with various groups performing, including an interesting fire eating act & the army cadets. To keep things lively throughout the day, the Royal British Legion Band played merrily for the assembled crowd, & once again Milford on Sea had a local event to be proud of.

2nd August 2009: My Dad used to have one of those!
To complete an excellent weekend, we decided to make the most of the sunny Sunday afternoon by taking a short trip to Woodside Park in Lymington, where the local ‘Summer Spectacular’ was taking place. We were expecting quite a small affair & were just going along for a quick look, however we were drawn in for over 3 hours of the ‘best of British’ summer entertainment, - so much was going on! The car show apparently had the largest attendance ever, & it was certainly impressive. Cars & vehicles from ever era, dozens of immaculate historic Jaguars, MG sports cars, lots of other classic marques from all of the decades, military vehicles & even the odd crazy hot rod. A dream for all petrol heads! We often overheard people saying how ‘My Dad used to have one of those’, or indeed the older visitors who were reminiscing of the days when they had been behind the wheel of the classic they were meeting again like a long lost friend. The Dog Show had many furry contestants, there was a lively boot sale, clowns, climbing wall, numerous stalls, - & we enjoyed it all while eating a (probably too large) bag of retro sweets! The highlight of the day for us was the Birds of Prey Display. A team from the Liberties Owl Raptor & Reptile Centre gave flying displays by a Harris Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Vulture & a soaring African Eagle. The head falconer has a great knowledge of his birds & was able to display them in spectacular form to a mesmerised crowd. Throughout the day several thousand people must have come through the doors & the excellent efforts of the Lymington Rotary Club ensured everyone had a good time. I am sure the Rotary will have raised a great donation to their nominate charities, & they all deserved it. Everyone was a winner!

This active local weekend also saw the Royal British Legion Fete taking place on the village green, and the final days of the Milford Art Group Exhibition. Our local artists once again put on an impressive display of their talents with a wide range of quality exhibits in the village church hall. There are certainly plenty of things to keep us all amused in this little part of the world! www.lymingtonrotary.org.uk

5th August 2009: Bringing Milford on Sea’s past into the present.
We today decided to visit the Milford on Sea Historical Records Association Centenary Exhibition, but before doing so, we spotted that a ‘Guided Walk of Milford on Sea’ was taking place. So we were up bright & early, and arrived on the village green for 10.30am. We joined a mixed aged group of locals, visitors & one dog!, and before long we set off on a level walk around the village. Bruce & his good lady wife kept the group of a dozen or so, well informed, as they pointed out local places of interest, all embellished with colourful background stories. A cup of tea with a biscuit was waiting for us in the church after our interesting one & a half hour gentle village stroll. The walking tour was organised by the Parish Council Tourism Group & is well worth joining when next arranged. Surprisingly, we were only charged one pound for the tour which really hardly covered the cost of teas & biscuits! We are not sure when the next tours will take place, but we will certainly ensure that they will be featured on the ‘What’s On’ Page.
The Milford Historical Records Association Exhibition was taking place in the Church Hall next to All Saints Church, so a few yards walk & we were quickly thrown back into the past. How a local group of volunteers manage to collect so much information I have no idea, but I am grateful they do, – not just for us, but also for the generations to follow. This impressive exhibition included sections on just about everything you can imagine: the village now & then, Newlands Manor & the extrovert Cornwallis-West family, the Mill & the ford, (Ah! ‘Milford’ on Sea!), Tithe history, Ravenscroft & his 'arts & craft' house building, Keyhaven, potential disastrous plans which never came to fruition, Milford on Sea crested china, even the history of the Milford on Sea Carnival Queen! - & lots more. A separate room was dedicated to Milford on Sea during the wars. This contained local stories & memories from both WW1 & WW2, the locally stationed Indian Sikh troops, & considerably more which we imagined would stir the memories of local people. As we wandered the exhibition it was fascinating to overhear (or more honestly, eavesdrop on!) people reminiscing of their times around Milford on Sea over the years. It was also heart warming to hear that numerous war veterans had already visited, some of whom had even met old comrades, or members of their families, from the war years. Throughout the exhibition a large group of enthusiastic & knowledgeable MHRA members & volunteers were on hand to provide any further information anyone wanted. We understand the main people behind the exhibition were Chris Hobby & Bob Braid, the sterling work of these guys, together with everyone who aided them, I am sure will be massively appreciated by everyone who visits. The Milford Historical Records Association Exhibition is running from 4th to 8th August 2009 from 10am to 7pm on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday. The exhibition ends at 4pm on Saturday, so if you haven’t been yet, why not make some time to wander the exhibits, it will be well worth your while.

7th August 2009: New village shop closes before opening.
Recently we reported that a new gift card & art materials shop ‘Full of Stars’ was soon to open where ‘Allure’ had previously been in the village. Redecoration was well underway by the new shopkeepers, but the recent appearance of a new ‘To Let’ sign indicates that unfortunately the shop may not be coming now. We hear the renovations may have been more than expected, but that is yet to be confirmed.

Another new shop preparing to open in Milford on Sea Village is in the ‘Tudor Building’s’ at the end of the High Street. (Previously occupied by 'Craft Junction'). Having chatted with a number of local shopkeepers it appears that the soon to be new occupants are keeping tight lipped as to the function of the premises. Educated guesses are that it will be a new estate agents – we will all see quite soon!

9th August 2009: Our famous loo on Radio 4
Not our normal radio listening for a Saturday morning, but yesterdays Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme featured writer Lucinda Lambton as she took the listeners on a tour of four of her favourite lavatories, old and new. Guess what, yes, our very own seafront public conveniences were featured. Described by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as a ‘Soaring Steel Seagull’, the Hurst Road car park public toilets were built by the renowned architect John Pardey. Unusually, the public conveniences walls are lifted off the ground and the roof is lifted off the walls, introducing air gaps for natural ventilation. The structure has a distinctive aluminium gull-wing roof which is durable to the high winds and pebbles flying up from the nearby beach. Vandal proof uplighters are integrated into the floor and this was the first public convenience where covered lighting was introduced to each cubicle. It seems a bit strange to be writing about a loo, but ‘news is news’ I suppose!
Listen to the ‘Today’ programme radio article by clicking the web link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8176000/8176123.stm

9th August 2009: The Fastnet race can be ideal for a M25 veteran.
During the week, we planned to arrive nice and early at Hurst Castle to watch all of the spectacular Fastnet racing yachts on their way to the Fastnet Rock in Ireland. The race started from Cowes at 12 noon, so we estimated they would be coming through from around 12.30. So, at noon with picnic packed and dogs watered, we set off in the car for Hurst Ferry. Well, we never actually made the ferry as gridlock ensued at every turn in the Keyhaven lanes. What appeared to be hundreds of cars had converged on the country lanes & no one was going anywhere fast, it reminded me of the many glorious hours I have spent at a standstill on the M25. After fighting our way out of the mayhem we came up with Plan B. This was pure genius. We would go home, park the car and walk to Hurst Spit. Forty minutes after leaving home we put the car back from whence it came & started walking along the seafront, picnic in hand. By one o’clock we were half way up the spit.(Well sort of, it was actually as far as we could be bothered to walk.) We then strategically made camp, by pretty much just sitting down where we stopped. We had been expecting to see streams of tall masts & magnificent sails racing past the Isle of Wight & Needles. What we actually saw was a bloke in a canoe, but I don’t think that he met the qualification criteria for the race. Now the Fastnet Race has a fleet of over 300 of the most expensive & technically advanced racing yachts afloat, & many of the crews included America’s Cup yachtsmen & Olympic sailors, so I doubted that they had all sunk as my wife had suggested. Pretending to be a nautical type, I surveyed the horizon with my binoculars & spotted the leaders at a standstill on the Cowes side of Hurst Castle, it was obvious no one was going anywhere fast. The weather was hazy & warm, but the wind was nonexistent & I was reliably informed by a passing ‘Barnacle Bill’ that the tides were also not in their favour. At this time of major sporting crisis we did what any self respecting spectator would do, we ate our picnic. It was then again time to take another look at the race; nope, no one at the Needles, still none of the boats were moving on the becalmed sea. (Hopefully the yachtsmen use the M25 to practice for such an occurrence of inactivity.) A scan of the horizon however was a spectacular sight, as hundreds of yachts were now in view and almost obliterating the Isle of Wight. The leaders had by now hardly moved for almost an hour. At around 2pm, a full two hours, after leaving Cowes, the leader, BT, found some light wind & made a break for it on the inside channel past the castle. Although at a snails pace, she was at last moving forward. She was soon to be followed by Hugo Boss & the others. It then took a full 30 minutes to make the Needles. The rest of the field slowly followed. The world famous Fastnet Race covers over 600 miles before the finish in Plymouth. The challenging course is expected to normally take several days, but if they cannot gain pace soon, I reckon finishing sometime in October is more likely. I suppose on days like this it is a bit like trying to use the M25 to get from Guildford to Watford really. Fastnet Website: www.fastnet.rorc.org

15th August 2009: New PC for village.
The village now has a new local PC on the beat. Marco Marchiori has served 18 years in the police force & is in his early forties. Living in Bournemouth, he is also an avid AFC Bournemouth supporter. You can meet Marco at any of his regular Beat Surgeries at the Village Hall on the first Monday of every month. Unless of course you are on the wrong side of the law, in which case you might meet him sooner!

15th August 2009: Art on the green, in the village & up the road!
It is a busy month for the art lover with plenty to visit locally. During Friday afternoon some funky looking marquees appeared on the village green, & on Saturday morning an exhibition of paintings from Milford Art Group & Lymington Art Group ‘magically’ filled the space. Art on The Green is on today (Saturday) & tomorrow from 10am to 5pm with various styles of paintings on sale. Our own Milford on Sea Community Centre is hosting the Hampshire Artists Exhibition from today until the 23rd August 2009. The exhibition has free entry & is open from 10.30am to 4pm. Yet another village event that is worth finding the time to come & visit!
*Also from the 15th August until the 30th August 2009 the Hampshire Artists Open Studios are being held at numerous studio locations locally & across the New Forest. The various artists studios include art in many forms including: paintings, sculpture, wood work, jewellery and pottery. You can see full details of the events & venues by clicking on the ‘Hampshire Artists Open Studios‘ logo on the What’s On page.