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BISTERNELead theft floods church
Thieves ripped about nine square metres of lead from the roof of St Paul’s Church, leaving its vestry flooded and needing a full refur-bishment. The treasurer of the 19th century church, Norman Light,said: “I just feel that it’s the lowest of the low who do this sort of thing.” Page 4
BRAMSHAWChildLine founder abusedTV personality and ChildLine
founder Esther Rantzen has re-vealed she was once abused as a 15-year-old schoolgirl. The former ‘That’s Life’ presenter, who lives in Bramshaw, said on the helpline’s 25th anniversary the incident in the 1950s had made her want to help other victims. Page 6
HYTHERafts splash for cash
Hundreds packed out Hythe ma-rina on Sunday to watch the thrills and spills at this year’s Great Wa-terside Raft Race. Eighteen home-made vessels crewed by local clubs, businesses and pubs helped raise more than £4,000 for the RNLI. Or-ganiser Ken Potts said: “It was a re-ally good day all round.” Page 13
LYNDHURSTCar theft kindness
A big-hearted donor has helped a wheelchair-bound man from Lynd-hurst after reading in the ‘A&T’ about thieves who made off with his specially adapted car. Welcom-ing the £100 contribution, Guy Hughes’s aunt and carer, Joan Pitt-man, said: “What a generous thing for someone to do.” Page 19
DISTRICT
NEWS
Regular featuresOpen Gardens p.4, Obituaries
p.6, Women’s Groups p.6, New Forest Notes p.7, Personalia p.8, Townsman p.8, Bankrupt-cies p.15, Sport p.16, p.17 & p.18, Christian Comment p.20, Theatrical Reviews p.21, Plan-ning p.22, Letters p.23
What’s OnDetails of forthcoming local
events appear on pages 8, 9, 10 & 11
Eating outLocal restaurant advertising
appears on pages 12 and 13
No. 4145 SATURDAY, September 3rd, 2011 Combined Weekly Sales 20,074 35p
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Cricket clubrelocation bid
sparks ‘Philistine’jibe at council
LYMINGTON councillors havebeen labelled “Philistines” over
plans to relocate the town’scricket club to Woodside Park.The idea, which was backed by a
nine-to-six majority at a recentcouncil meeting, is aimed at easingtensions with other sporting clubsthat use the town centre ground inSouthampton Road.
But it has provoked angry opposi-tion from cricketers who claim themove will throw away the club’s175-year history there and see thetop team relegated.
At a meeting of the council’samenities committee on Monday amember of the public claimed coun-cillors were acting like “municipalPhilistines” by pressing ahead with-out the support of the cricket club.
However, Coun. Penny Jacksondefended the decision: “I was underthe impression that when we votedto move cricket to Woodside we didso on the basis that the facilitieswould be even better than at thetown centre ground with astate-of-the-art new pavilion.”
Cricket club spokesperson BrianHobby claimed the council hadmade a fundamental decision tomove the facilities to a “second ratevenue” without any real knowledgeor consultation.
He said it may be possible to bringthe Woodside pitch up to theequivalent of the town centre’s goldstandard wicket but the locationwould never be suitable.
“The key issue at the sports groundis containment; the pitch is fenced, itcan be locked up –– Woodside couldnever be secured in the same way,” hesaid.
“I urge you to place the decision inthe context of the history ofLymington over the last twocenturies.”
Coun. Paul Hickman pointed outcouncil papers which suggested itwould cost up to ú1.5m to createequivalent facilities to those at thetown centre ground.
He added: “Given the level ofprecept we have, this plan just
(Continued on page 3)
More town shops left emptyas downturn continues to bite
MOST of the New Forest’s towncentres suffered a rise in empty
shop fronts over the past year asthe economic downturn continuesto bite.The district council’s annual
survey in July showed increases inLymington, New Milton, Hythe andRingwood, with only Fordingbridgeand Totton enjoying small falls invacant units.
New Milton suffered worst with12.9% empty — a big jump from8.25% — and Ringwood 13%, up from9.25%. The figure for Lymington was6.8% and Hythe 6.7%.
Despite the small reductions,Totton still had 11.8% unused andFordingbridge 8.3%.
The report described a “mixedpicture” and said: “Vacancy rates canfluctuate markedly year on year andfactors such as the timing of leaserenewals can contribute to vacancylevels as well as wider economicfactors.
“Although vacancies increased inmost of the district’s town centresthis year, evidence of the nationalpicture indicates that vacancy ratescan be much higher elsewhere.”
The survey also looked at smallerzones classed as “primary shoppingareas”, often high streets, where thedistrict council seeks to keep tradi-tional shops, and avoid uses such asoffices and banks.
It measured the percentage ofvacant frontage and found a series ofrises in Lymington to 6.5%, New
Milton 10.5%, Hythe 6.2% andRingwood 11.73%. Totton fell to 2.8%and Fordingbridge 6.81%.
One of the worst hit neighbour-
hoods was Totton’s RumbridgeStreet — despite a £1.5m refurbish-ment from Hampshire CountyCouncil in 2008 to boost trade. More
than 20% of its frontage hasremained empty since then. In 2002it was close to 7%.
Rob Dewing, chairman of the NewForest Business Partnership, said:“Although there are slight rises orfalls in the numbers of empty shopsfrom town to town, the overallpicture is that retail trading on ourhigh streets continues to be asdifficult as it ever has been.
“The story I hear from manytraders is that even when the shopslook busy, what is actually happen-ing is that people are keeping theirhands in their pockets. They arebrowsing not buying. This must be areflection of continuing uncertaintyas to where the economy is heading.”
The district council’s cabinetmember in charge of economicdevelopment, Coun. Paul Vickers,noted four of the six towns’ primaryshopping areas had improved sincethe peak of the recession in 2009, andcompared well to vacancies aroundthe UK of up to 50%.
The council had recognised a needto increase the amount of retailspace in the New Forest’s towns in its20-year plan, he said, and there was“every reason to believe” units wouldfill up as conditions improved.
He added: “Looking at the districtas a whole, retail is only one part ofthe employment picture when youtake into account tourism and thenumerous industrial estates. Thereis every indication, for instance, thattourism will have done well in 2011.”
To let: one of New Milton's vacant stores
National park accused of‘whitewash’ over paymentsfor stand-in chief executive
THE national park authority hasbeen accused of a “whitewash” by
residents demanding an inquiryinto £1,000-a-day payments for itsformer stand-in chief executive.As reported in the ‘A&T’, it was
rapped over the knuckles by spend-ing watchdog the Audit Commissionfor the flawed way it approvedpayments to the agency thatsupplied Barrie Foley after thedramatic resignation of LindsayCornish in 2009.
An audit found the payments werenot supported by a proper businesscase, approval processes were“weak”, and it was not clear the au-thority had even complied with itsown financial regulations.
At its latest meeting, residentschallenged members as theydiscussed the authority’s responseto the findings, but their calls for afurther probe were blocked.
Sue Baillie, who spoke on behalf ofForest campaign group One Voice,gave members a four-page docu-ment with questions arising from thereport.
It asked whether the public hadbeen misled by the announcementthat Ms Cornish had resigned intoassuming there would be no addi-tional costs; why standing orderswere not upheld; and whichmembers had not been aware of thehuge sums paid.
She added: “In the interests ofopenness, transparency anddiligence will the authority conductan internal inquiry into how thishappened and publish its conclu-sions?”
But although chairman JulianJohnson accepted the report bydistrict auditor Patrick Jarvis, headded: “I believe there were weak-nesses — we accept that, and now weare to draw a line under it.”
Mr Jarvis told the meeting: “I amvery satisfied with the response. Asfar as I am concerned, once thereport has been received and theauthority has signed up to the actionplan, then that is the end of the
matter for me.”NPA member John Sanger told the
meeting that internal cover for thechief executive’s post would havebeen “inappropriate".
He said: “There was an investiga-tion pending which may haveresulted in disciplinary action. It wasnot advisable to do that.”
Members voted unanimously infavour of accepting the actions,which recommended future termi-nation payments and interim staffappointments be based on a clearbusiness case and be properlyauthorised, as well as installing aperformance management systemfor the chief executive and directors.
But after the meeting Mrs Baillietold the ‘A&T’ she felt disappointedthat she had not been given answers.
She said: “This is very bad news —it’s a step backwards. We will gothrough the process of Freedom ofInformation if necessary and if weget no answers then we will look foran independent inquiry to be held.
“I expected more from a suppos-edly new-look authority with a newchief executive who was going tomake changes.”
Lynne Gutsell, who also attendedthe meeting, added: “I thought theobject of a public meeting was to askquestions and get answers. From mypoint of view it is a travesty and atotal whitewash.”
Ms Cornish left in the summer of2009 amid uproar across the NewForest over unpopular policies shetried to drive through, and wastemporarily replaced by Mr Foleyuntil June last year when currentchief executive Alison Barnes tookcharge.
The cost of her pay-off has beenkept secret by a confidentialityagreement, but the audit report saidthe agreed sum was “significantlybelow” the amount originallyproposed.
I THOUGHT HE'D DIE: TERROR
OF STABBING VICTIM'S WIFEA MOTHER-OF-FOUR feared her
6husband would die as shecradled him in her arms after hewas stabbed during a horrific NewYear’s Eve knife attack.Teresa Clark described what she
had thought were the last momentsof her husband Roy’s life, after aneight-year jail term was handed tothe man who attacked him, TristamMeyrick.
She told the ‘A&T’: “He said, ‘I’vebeen stabbed’ and then collapsed in
my arms. I thought he was going todie... I told him I loved him and tostay with me but I thought I waslosing him.”
Meyrick (31), of Cloughs Road,Ringwood, showed little remorse ashe was sent down at SouthamptonCrown Court. Judge Gary Burrell QCsaid it was a “grave offence”.
The court heard how Roy andTeresa were part of a group of peoplewho witnessed Meyrick and his wifehaving a heated domestic disputenear their home.
But when the group intervened,Meyrick went to his house, grabbed aknife, and returned to stab Mr Clarkand another man, Jay-Jay Young.
Mr Clark, a construction worker,was rushed to hospital for threehours of emergency surgery on hisneck and chest. He could not talk fortwo days as the blade, which misseda major artery by inches, partiallysevered his windpipe.
Mr Young (21), a ground worker,had 13 stitches in his head and neck.His mother, Casey, was in court towatch Meyrick sent down and saidshe was “pleased” with the sentence.
Prosecutor Peter Asteris told thecourt Meyrick had been drinkingpints of lager and shots ofJagermeister on the night at variouspubs in Ringwood and walked homewith his wife, Emma.
During the journey the pair beganarguing as they reached their house.
A passing dog walker, Lee Weston,described Meyrick being on top ofhis wife, and attempted to split the
Ordeal: Teresa and Roy Clark
Jailed: Tristam Meyrick
pair up with another passer-by,Chris House.
Meyrick’s wife ran off and MrWeston and Mr House tradedpunches with Meyrick before shout-ing for help, the prosecutor said.
More people, including Mr Clarkand Mr Young, got involved — thelatter to help the defendant as hesaw he was outnumbered. Theycalmed the situation down andMeyrick fled.
But as people at the scene shookhands, Meyrick, a trained chef, hadseized a knife from his kitchen andstormed back.
Mr Clark told the court: “I waslooking across the road and saw aman walking towards me. He saidnothing and gave me what I thoughtwas a single push.
“I stumbled backwards onto thepavement and could feel somethingwarm coming down my front. I thenturned to my wife and said, ‘I’ve beenstabbed’.”
Mr Young said he was “shocked” bythe incident, and described howMeyrick came at him from behindand he felt being slashed just belowthe neck and chin.
He added: “I saw the male still hadthe knife so I grabbed hold andpunched him. When he fell to thefloor I kicked him in the head — I didthis as I feared he may have tried tofurther injure me or some of theother people around.”
The prosecutor said both menwere left with permanent scars andsuffered flashbacks and recurrent
(Continued on page 3)
Cyclist dies weekafter Forest fall
A CYCLIST has died a week after6falling from his bicycle and hit-
ting his head on a cattle grid nearLyndhurst.Richard Fisher is thought to have
lost control of his bike as he pedalledalong the entry road to the NewForest Reptile Centre at about12.30pm on August 17th.
The 55-year-old from Harrow inMiddlesex was taken by ambulanceto Southampton General Hospitalwith severe head injuries. He died onWednesday in last week.
Police were not informed of theaccident until the coroner told themthe day after Mr Fisher’s death.
People who witnessed the incidentare being urged to come forward,with officers particularly keen tospeak to someone who stopped tohelp Mr Fisher and was also believedto have arranged safe storage of hisbike.
Anyone with information shouldcontact Sgt Glen Barham at theTotton roads policing unit on 101,quoting Operation Featherstone.
Traders scorn effort toease roadworks traffic
TRADERS campaigning againsttraffic calming measures in Lym-
ington have scorned plans to easecongestion by temporarily lifting ano right turn ban in the town.As reported in last week’s ‘A&T’,
New Forest District Council is plan-ning to close Gosport Street for oneweek during September, althoughan exact date has not yet been con-firmed, to install two pinch points sotraffic can only travel in single file.
One will be created oppositeEgan’s Restaurant in Gosport Streetand the other at the bottom end ofthe High Street, at a cost of aroundú4,000.
Hampshire County Council is alsoexpected to carry out work while theroad is closed to add a “rail trail” ofbronze paving slabs to encouragepeople to walk from the train stationinto the town.
Ysobel Purkis, who owns Hide andSeek in Quay Street, which is ac-cessed from Gosport Street, was oneof around 40 local businesses whosigned a petition against the work.
She contacted the district coun-cil’s highways manager, RichardBastow, who confirmed in an emailthat the no right turn into GosportStreet from the High Street, whichwas imposed around 15 years ago,would be temporarily lifted.
He wrote: “A road closure is neces-sary [for the work to be carried out]but only affects a short section of
Gosport Street. The no right turnban at the bottom of the High streetwill be lifted during the closure to fa-cilitate access.”
John Egan, of Egan’s Restaurant,told the ‘A&T’ he thought lifting theno right hand turn would have “noeffect” as people would still not beable to go past the restaurant.
He added: “This affects us the most— disabled people will not be able topark outside and taxis cannot stop.
“We have 12 deliveries a day andthere will be nowhere for them tostop without causing a blockage.
“It would have been nice to havebeen given some notice so we couldhave made other arrangements.”
Mrs Purkis told the ‘A&T’: “It is agood thing for the no right turn banto be taken off as no one wanted it inthe first place.
“But it has only been done to pla-cate us — I am not placated and nei-ther is anyone else.
“The main problem is still thepinch points — we do not want them.Nobody has been consulted about it,but we should have been as all theshopkeepers are dependant on traf-fic coming along Gosport Street.
“There has been no thought in[this scheme]. The effect of puttingtraffic calming outside Egan’s Res-taurant is ridiculous — it will causemayhem.”
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to
doesn’t seem obtainable — even infive or 10 years.
“It is not just the pitch but all theother facilities like a pavilion andstorage containers.”
Coun. Sally Day said: “If Lyming-ton Cricket Club have been at thetown centre for 175 years, and theylike it there, they should be allowedto stay.”
————————
'Philistines' jibeover cricket move
(Continued from front page)
nightmares. Mr Clark was off workfor months and Mr Young also had totake time off to recover.
Mr Asteris said both the victims’families were severely affected. MrClark’s daughter, Amy, still hascounselling as she saw her dad lyingin a pool of his own blood as hewaited for the ambulance to arrive.
Defending Meyrick, Andy Houstonsaid his client was remorseful for hisactions and said he had “lost all con-trol”, with alcohol a “key factor”.Meyrick’s wife was divorcing him andhe would miss much of his children’slives, he added.
Meyrick has previous convictionsfor burglary, being drunk and disor-derly and resisting a police constablein the execution of his duty, but hadbeen a model prisoner while on re-mand and had favourable referencesfrom a prison chaplain, he said.
Meyrick pleaded guilty to twocharges of causing grievous bodilyharm by wounding with intent. In hisplea he denied he had beaten his wifein the past, but accepted he had oncethrown a saucepan at her.
Judge Burrell said: “Quite easilyyou could have killed one or both ofthem. You can think yourself verylucky you are not facing a homicidecharge in this court.”
He said the maximum penalty forthe offence was 12 years, which hereduced by a third because of theguilty plea.
After the hearing both Mr Clarkand Mr Young said they wanted toput the incident behind them, butwill be reminded of it every time theylook in the mirror to shave and seetheir scars.
Mr Young said: “I still don’t under-stand why Meyrick stabbed me. Heclaimed it was an accident but itwasn’t. I was trying to help him.”
Mr Clark said: “Everyone keeps tell-ing me how lucky I am just to be here.”
————————
Jail for 'out ofcontrol' knifeman
(Continued from front page)
NEW FOREST West MP DesmondSwayne has revealed he would voteto restore the death penalty — de-spite admitting there was as muchchance of it becoming law as “asnowflake in hell”.
Writing on his website he said hebelieved current sentences for majorcrimes such as murder and sexualviolence, particularly againstchildren, were “completely inade-quate”.
He spoke out after Isle of WightMP Andrew Turner recently calledfor a debate in parliament aboutrestoring capital punishment forkillers of children or police. Onlinepetitions on the No. 10 website havealso been started to triggerdiscussion by MPs.
Mr Swayne said: “On thesubstance of the issue, I will vote forrestoration. We signal our lack ofrespect for human life by our refusal
to sanction the ultimate penalty forthose who unlawfully take away thathuman life.
“This glaring omission at the heartof our system of justice spreads adisrespect throughout the edifice: ifwe do not take murder and otherbrutal crimes seriously enough thenit follows that we do not take anycrime seriously enough.”
He added: “My enthusiasm forrestoration of capital punishmentmight be assuaged if imprison-ment for life actually meant that —particularly if it were accompaniedby restoration of the punishmentof penal servitude with hardlabour.”
Mr Swayne claimed a majority ofthe country was also in favour, but heacknowledged there was something“macabre and grotesque” about theprocedure, and every one would be
the “occasion of public demonstra-tions”.
He added: “There is somethingdeeply repugnant about thosenations which make extensive use ofthe death penalty — I think princi-pally of Iran. Do we really want to beconsidered as being in the sameboat?”
He warned bringing back thedeath penalty would not onlyrequire a massive Conservativemajority in the House of Commons,but also for the UK to extricateitself from treaties banning itsrestoration.
Opponents of the death penaltyinclude human rights groupAmnesty which argues it violateshuman rights and has not beenshown to work as a deterrent.
CROWDS gathered to watch the annual hovercraftraces at Gang Warily recreation centre in Fawley atthe weekend.
Visitors to the two-day free event enjoyed a funfair,refreshments and a concert on Saturday evening.
The event, which is the fifth round of the nationalinland championships, saw 58 hovercraft take part in
various engine size categories as well as youngstersaged 11-16 years old.
Steve Nash, clerk to Fawley Parish Council whichorganised the event, told the ‘A&T’: “We’re pleasedwith how the event went and are looking forward tobuilding on it for next year."
Hovercrafts battle it outat Gang Warily races
Accidental blaze wrecksCalshot caravan
FLAMES gutted a caravan in ablaze at a New Forest beauty spotduring the early hours of Tuesdaymorning.
Firefighters were called to CalshotSpit at about 3.45am and crews fromHardley and Hythe brought theemergency under control withinabout half an hour.
A Hampshire Fire and Rescuespokeswoman told the ‘A&T’ thecause was thought to have beenaccidental.
