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Local Milford on Sea News Story Archives

16th August 2009: Keith Garrard’s Memories of Milford.
As you might guess playing with this website keeps my free time pretty busy & it has plenty of rewarding benefits, not least of which is meeting interesting local people. A couple of days ago, totally out of the blue, I received an e-mail from Keith (R. Keith Garrard) recalling his days in Milford on Sea. His story has plenty of local interest, so I thought I would share it with you.
Keith Garrard’s story: “My parents moved to Carrington Lane just before WW2 when I was about 2 years old. Dad worked for Wellworthy transport section and joined the ARP*. During the war years he was a corporal in the Milford on Sea Home Guard. One night during the second world war a sea mine was dropped by a German Ju88 aircraft which landed to the back of our house at 46 Carrington Lane. The bomb’s parachute got hooked up on a tree bordering our house and the field beyond, and thankfully failed to explode. Had it done so it would have caused considerable loss of life in the area. It took the Royal Navy bomb disposal squad a long time to dismantle it and my dad had a piece of it in his garden shed for years! Later, my dad ran the Milford on Sea boys club for about five years before his health deteriorated. The club was affiliated to the National federation of Boys Clubs and they used to meet twice a week in the old Church Hall in Sea Road.
I went to the local Church of England school and later to Ashley Secondary School. On leaving school I joined the Merchant Navy as an apprentice deck officer on tramp ships*. My first voyage to sea had been across Sturt Pond on a raft consisting of two 40 gallon drums and planks of washed up wood from the beach, but only after my cousin Roy’s dog had tested it for stability. I was the lightest child so I was nominated the first captain! Whilst in the Merchant Navy I took my second mates and master mariners certificates at Southampton School of Navigation. On gaining my Master Mariners certificate I joined Cunard S,S,Co and worked my way up to First Officer on R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth, before leaving the sea to take up the position of Port Agency Superintendent with Cunard, and later a managerial position on Southampton Container Terminal. I moved to Lymington in 1960 and various places subsequently to be near my workplace. Today I am now retired and live in Fordingbridge. My father died in 1968 and mother in 1999 after the move to Lymington. P.S. Most of my village friends have now passed away. PPS: I still have a copy of Chris Hobby’s book of postcards of Milford on Sea and Lymington.” If you remember Keith or his family, or have any memories of the ‘sea mine’ incident, I am sure he would love to hear from you, please contact us & we will put you in touch. Also, if anyone has an interesting story, or old photos they would like to share please just let us know.

*Note: Tramp Ship: I didn’t know what a ‘tramp ship’ was, so here is the definition I found: ‘A merchant cargo ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call. As opposed to freight liners which operate to a fixed schedule.’ | ARP Warden: As part of the Civil Defence precautions set up by the government in 1935, the job of ARP (Air Raid Precaution) Warden was created. By the time war was declared in 1939, ARP wardens were already in place to cover cities, towns and villages. They had to see that the streets were cleared when the air raid sirens sounded and assisted with dealing with the damage after the raids. It was a dangerous job. The wardens patrolled the streets every night and anyone letting even a tiny chink of light out of their windows would be in deep trouble.

17th August 2009: Bird & Nature Watch Newsletter 1
Are you interested in wildlife & bird watching in and around the New Forest? Read on to find out what wildlife you can look out for in the next few months.
September is migration time for birds. Anywhere on the coast can turn up birds and it is worth having walks at Keyhaven, Normandy, Calshot, Stanpit or Hengistbury with early morning being the most productive time. Waders are of particular interest as this is often the only time of year that you can see Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers along the south coast. They pass through on their way south to winter in southern Europe. Sometimes rarer species do turn up, so keep your eyes peeled for that odd looking wader. We are running walks at Stanpit, Pennington and Titchfield in September to help you with your wader ID.
October sees migration slow a little. Many waders have arrived on our coasts and the “Stints and Curlew Sands” have continued on south. It is mostly the commoner species that you see in October such as Swallows, Pipits and Woodpigeons (yes they do migrate!!). They can all be impressive by the sheer volume of numbers passing over. There have been records of 200,000 Woodpigeon flying over Stanpit in an October day! This is the month when the rarest birds can turn up. Anything unusual should be scrutinized to check its identity. We have a walk over at Arne to see what migrants are about, but also to look for Osprey as a couple often stop here for a few weeks on their way south.
Autumn is the time for fungi too. They exist as root like structures called mycelium, under the soil for most of the year. In autumn they fruit and that is the mushroom that we see. You may see people collecting them in the New Forest to eat. There are now by-laws to prevent people collecting loads and selling them to restaurants etc. If you are going to eat any yourself you must be absolutely certain of their identification because there are some that have unpleasant side effects such as vomiting, stomach aches or death (a particularly unpleasant side effect!!). Simon Currie will be leading a fungus foray for us in October and he has a great knowledge of fungi.
As for mammals, in line with the Forestry Commission, we have reduced our Deer walks this autumn to avoid the rutting grounds getting too crowded with people. Red Deer rut in late September to mid October and the Fallows a little later through October. The Red Deer can be seen in New Park between Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst and early morning, or early evening, are the best times to see any action. Do be considerate to the Deer – please don’t get too close and keep all dogs on leads. We are running one walk to look for Fallows on October 23rd.
In the spring we had a great Bird Watch day – trying to see 100 species in a day? We are doing this again in September and we could easily get to 100 or more – a lot depends on what the migrant birds are doing. This will be a fun day and a different slant on bird watching from most of our walks, so we hope you can join us for it.
Lastly, we are organising a trip to day trip Brownsea Island again this November, on the 14th, to look for Red Squirrels and to see the Avocets. This has been a great trip each autumn and we have always seen plenty of Red Squirrels and Avocets and Spoonbills!
Firstly we are organizing an autumn weekend trip to Portland Bill. We shall be staying in the bird observatory, simple, but comfortable hostel type accommodation. Dates are Friday 4th September to Sunday 6th. Cost is £75 and this includes all the walks over the weekend and accommodation. There are 6 places left in shared rooms. Please let me know if you are interested and I will e-mail you further details. Last year we saw Short-eared Owls and a Yellow-browed Warbler as well as commoner migrants.
Secondly we are organizing a New Forest wildlife mini-break over the weekend of 28th and 29th November. Cost is £65 per person and this includes all guided walks over the weekend. We aim to give you a chance to explore the New Forest wildlife in winter. We will be visiting the coast at Keyhaven, inland lakes of Blashford and the New Forest proper at Beaulieu Road Heath and Blackwater Arboretum. We should see Hawfinches, Black-necked Grebe, Goosander, Spotted Redshank, Dartford Warbler and may be lucky with Bittern, Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, Slavonian Grebe, Brambling, Hen Harrier and Great Grey Shrike. Please contact us for further details. Simon Curson | Project Fred: They organise walks and details can be found on their web site at www.projectfred.co.uk

21st August 2009: New village estate agent opening.
You may have been curious as to who will be moving into the shop in the 'tudor building' previously occupied by Craft Junction. After plently of speculation & guessing, as people watched the shopfitters at work, we can now confirm that we have a new estate agent moving in by the name of Ashtons. Their new website is due to be launched in the next couple of weeks & we will bring you more news as we get it.

23rd August 2009: A new wine bar for the village.
We have spotted that a planning application has been submitted for the building which is currently occupied by ‘Attic Attack’ bric a brac shop at 11 High Street, Milford on Sea. We understand that the plans are to have a shop frontage with a charity book shop & display cabinets featuring the work of local artists & potters. The rear of the premises would have a wine bar & bistro with a pleasant outdoor patio. All good news as far as we are concerned! We understand that the owner has previously run a successful wine bar in Lymington & we hope he can bring his formula to the village – I am sure a lot of the village would like to enjoy the odd glass of nice wine whilst browsing some pages of old books!

25th August 2009: Who's killed our Indian takeaway?
We hear that Zaika, our local Indian restaurant, is no longer able to offer an Indian takeaway service. Apparently they now have an arrangement to provide takeaways from another restaurant in New Milton. Hopefully this is only temporary, as this is genuinely one of the finest Indian restaurants I have ever been to, & I have been to scores across the country. I am sure a lot of people in the village used the takeaway service regularly & will find this news more than a little disappointing.
Whilst I am no expert in planning regulations, & certainly I can become pretty perplexed by how some decisions are made, surely if the restaurant already exists what real difference does it make if it also offers a takeaway service? I guess someone will tell me that a takeaway service will mean more cooking & more traffic, and probably that this would be the tipping point in the global warming argument, meaning that the world will come to an end sooner. (Hopefully not before the weekend, as I am looking forward to the carnival!) Whether that is the case or not, I am sad to lose my occasional Indian takeaway & even more importantly hope that the restaurant can survive in these difficult times on the pure restaurant trade they receive. If not we may all lose an excellent Indian restaurant from the village. I guess a few people wouldn’t mind, but I certainly would! I remember on Zaika’s arrival around two years ago, that they were met with mixed feelings in the village, as not everyone wanted an Indian restaurant in Milford on Sea. Fortunately they are now established & whether you use the restaurant or not, it is certainly an asset to the village, anyone who has eaten there would I am sure vouch for the quality of food & friendliness of the service. I appreciate Indian food may not be for everyone, but on the other hand I suspect that not all of us buy women’s dresses or model cars, but I love them being in the village ensuring that there is something for everyone. Come on you planning guys, give us back our local Indian takeaway service!

25th August 2009: New world steam-powered speed record for Lymington team.
The Lymington based British Steam Car team has today broken the world steam-powered land speed record of 121mph which has stood for over a century. They reached an average speed of 139.843mph on two runs over a measured mile at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
For the techy’s amongst you, the car is 25 foot long & was powered by a 300 bhp Curtis steam turbine and has high-tech boilers named Inspiration. The boilers generate a formidable four megawatts of energy, which is almost enough to power a small town for a day. The British Steam Car Challenge car was driven by Charles Burnett (Nephew of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu). The car was designed by Dr Glynne Bowsher, who was mechanical director on the British Thrust SSC project which currently holds the world outright land speed record of 763.035mph. The British Thrust SSC project was led by Richard Noble, who is a serial record breaker & all round ‘dare devil’! I recall once having lunch with Richard as he discussed his plans for a world water speed record attempt in crossing the Atlantic. He had a Rolls Royce jumbo jet engine, & was planning the funding for the rest of the Atlantic Sprinter super boat - but that’s another story. You can read the British Steam Car team story at www.steamcar.co.uk

25th August 2009: New Community Centre on way.
The village Community Centre will close next week on 1st September, whilst an exciting new eco friendly building is erected. Thankfully, the good work & entertainment the Community Centre provides doesn’t stop though, most of our classes and meetings will be held in the youth club building in the car park. Sunday Lunch Club and First Friday Lunches are going to the Church Hall, Jazz to the Tennis Club, Folk to the South Lawn Hotel, Out of a Hat to the Methodist Church. The Old Thyme Music Hall Show on Saturday 24th October will be held at the All Saints Church Hall. The current prefabricated building in Sea Road has served us well since it opened in June 2007 & I for one have always been very impressed with the activities & events regularly organised by what must be a very enthusiastic committee.
The new Milford on Sea Community Centre is to be partly funded by a £500,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund's Community Building Programme and should reopen the Spring of 2010. The new building is designed by Studio Four Architects Ltd from Southampton and will incorporate many green features. These will include a bio-massed boiler fuelled by local pellets from the New Forest, heat recovery systems, under floor heating, roof designed to minimise heat loss and windows positioned to maximise daylight. The new Centre will contain a state of the art performance space enabling it to offer much higher presentation of existing events, bands, concerts, shows, and to present cinema quality films, small scale theatre and dance. This is an amazing achievement from all involved & I believe we all thank their vision & efforts in achieving such a major development for the village. Well done guys & girls! You can read more at www.moscommunitycentre.org.uk/lottery