New Milton Advertiser 27th Nov 2020

18 · Friday 27th November 2020

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Letters

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Coke habits in lockdown

Thanks for help in dog search SIR – We wanted to express our gratitude to the riders, dog walkers, rangers, hikers, for- esters, friends and neighbours who gave us hope and inspira- tion during a heart rendering search for our 13-year-old dog called Charlie Valentine, a springer spaniel, who was missing overnight for 19 hours in the Furzey Lane area of the Forest on Monday 16th November. She is deaf, along with the other typical ailments that go with age. We feared she might be frightened and possibly stuck in the deep mud that covers many of the walks in that area. She does the walk regularly but on this occasion she did not come back after running off towards the Beaulieu direction. She went missing at 3.30pm and was still missing when night and panic set in. Calls to neighbours, friend and family brought a troop of searchers by torchlight overnight. My son came down from London and he stayed out until 1.30pm with no sight of Charlie, who had seven puppies. One of them, Watson, came down from Sunbury to help in the search. An early start after a sleepless night at 6.30am and the search resumed. Despite the despair, we were encouraged by the Forest locals and strangers who ex- pressed concern, gave advice, contacted the local networks and websites and took our phone number in case of a sighting. At 10.45am she was found in an open grassland area not far from Penerley Lodge. She was curled up fast asleep and surrounded by grazing New Forest ponies. Charlie and the family send our great respect and thanks for the kindness and help of the New Forest community who rallied in the search for Charlie Valentine – in particular, Jo Butler who put Charlie’s plight onto Face- book’s New Forest Lost and Found Dogs. Pamela Davies, Lymington tails will appear in this paper in a few weeks’ time. We may not be able to sing, but we will be playing Christ- mas carols through our AV System, and one of the essen- tial carols is Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, which finishes with the words: Born that Man no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth. That is the new normal that God wants to bring to your life. 2020 wasn’t up to much, as years go. Why not begin a new normal this Christmas? Martin Keenan, Barton Methodist Church

Reader’s photo

The VIP Lymington Highway Code SIR – I have come to the

ber) on the current closures of New Forest car parks. What good reason do Forestry Eng- land have this year for shutting a significant number, as they do every winter from October to March? As the same car parks are shut each year, maintenance is hardly the reason, or they would be shut in rotation and I have seen little evidence of surface repair over past winters anyway. This year of all years we need to be able to get out and exercise and benefit from fresh air. During the current lock- down many facilities, enjoyed especially by families with children, are closed. There is plenty of research to confirm that we all, plus dogs, need to be able to exercise to maintain mental and physical wellbeing and what can be better than getting out now to enjoy the autumn colours. Even on weekdays the car parks that are open are full by midday and at weekends they are overflowing – parking on verges and selfish behaviour will result. Surely if repair is needed, a car park can be shut on a one-by-one basis. Come on, Forestry England, open up those car parks now and contribute to making living with Covid-19 this winter more bearable. Caroline Birch, Boldre Time to look at the Marque? SIR – I read the article about the New Forest Marque with great interest (A&T, 20th No- vember). It is the first time I have seen it acknowledged that only 25% of the product contents of some items need to be from the Forest to apply the marque. Food mainly gains its flavour 2/ Park on pavements when- ever possible and take par- ticular care that pedestrians and especially disabled people using wheel chairs cannot pass and are forced into the road to pass your vehicle 3/ Always drive at the max- imum possible speed to limit journey times and when doing this on narrow roads practice the acquired skill of striking pedestrians’ arms with your wing mirrors 4/ Drive along pavements whenever possible as they are an extension to the road, especially in congested areas like Captains Row. Abuse any pedestrians and local resi- dents who object and get in your way as they should not be using the pavements and delaying your journey time 5/ Do not observe no-entry and road-closed signs as they will delay your journey time. VIP Highway Code users should be commended for strictly observing this rule during the recent closure to two-way traffic flow in Cap- tains Row. Name and address supplied

SIR – I saw two young people coming out of the Co-op on Saturday with a litre bottle of Coke. Essential shopping obviously. Why bother with lockdown when people have no respect for the rules or each other? Numbers are rising locally. Lorraine Chandler, Highcliffe We need the high street SIR – Your correspondent Rod England (Letters, 20th Novem- ber) collates our relationship with the EU, the 1950s (av- erage lifespan was 67 – don’t think many retirees want to go there!), and the problems of the high street. They are not related but we do have a problem. A walk round the ruins of Pompeii, its shopping streets and forum for meetings, shows a constant in our world. I choose to shop in individual baker, butcher and grocer for many reasons: food freshness, quality, locally sourced prod- ucts – and we know each other. We have humanity. By way of contrast, read the short story The Machine Stops, by E.M. Forster, in which humanity has isolated itself beneath the ground, enmeshed in automated comforts. The opening paragraph (a room without windows filled with light; no ventilation but the air is fresh; in the armchair a swaddled lump of flesh, a woman, face white as fungus) written in 1928 is brilliant. Fantastical at the time – but now? Turning the high street into boxes for the old is not the answer. Lots of us have become more “stressed/upset/tense” in the last nine months. We need a high street every bit as much now as 2,000 years ago, the internet notwithstanding. Equalising the charges and costs on web shopping and physical shopping would be a start. Peter Padfield, Holmsley eating, drinking, presents and visiting family, but we do all of that at this time of the year because we are celebrating – even if we forget what we are celebrating. But imagine if we caught on to what God had in mind in this new normal that He set up! The idea that we could have a new beginning; that we could find freedom, purpose, hope, peace. That was God’s intention in sending Jesus. That is the kind of new nor- mal that everyone would like. We are planning, in Barton Methodist Church, to have a community carol service on 20th Sunday December at 6pm. It will be limited to those who book – booking de-

Asking for full waste answers SIR – New Forest District Council have embarked on a Draft Waste Strategy which was endorsed by cabinet on 4th November 2020. Although classed as a draft, it appears the only option is wheelie bins to be the introduced to the New Forest area. Copythorne Parish Coun- cil unanimously rejected the wheelie bin option and, in- stead, offered another solution – re-useable bags for the vari- ous categories of waste. These have been used with success for garden waste, why not for other waste? A number of questions were put to the waste team, most of which involved the addition- al costs of the new proposed wheelie bin proposal compared to the existing system. All of the questions regard- ing costs were answered by: “We have yet to establish these costs.” This is very disappoint- ing and extremely difficult for householders to express a balanced view on the propos- als without these costs being available. In the interests of openness and transparency, answers to these and other questions should have already been for- mulated. If this half-completed report does not contain the necessary answers to reasonably raised questions, the public consulta- tion period should be extended until they are provided. Increased recycling is re- quired but why is there no Plan B – the use of reusable bags? Steve Herra, Winsor We need all the car parks open SIR – I would like to endorse the comments Derek Redman made (Letters, 13th Novem- bottom of the High Street into Captains Row, and abuse any pedestrians or residents whom may object as they cross from the High Street into Quay Hill. conclusion after many years of living in this lovely town of Lymington that the UK Highway Code does not apply here to a select band of VIP motorists whose journey times must not on any account be delayed. These select drivers have their own exclusive VIP Lym- ington Highway Code that, as VIP motorists, they strictly ad- here to, especially those using four-wheel drive vehicles that are a necessity in our town in order to negotiate the outback of the off-road pavements. Having unsuccessfully searched for a copy of the VIP Lymington Highway Code and to avoid any confusion, I thought it would be a good idea as a citizen of our town to clarify a few of the code rules as follows and which are designed to shorten journey times for these VIP drivers; 1/ Do not observe the no right-hand turn sign at the

Oto Smith captured this sunrise at Lymington. Please send your photos to news@adt.press

are feeding on wood pigeons, partridges and pheasants. They kill a bird at first light, eat part of it and then return in the late afternoon and eat the rest. That is one thing I admire them for: they only eat what they want. In July when the young ones fledge they are a different kettle of fish, they just kill for fun. A short time ago I was walk- ing through the wood where I live and noticed a female goshawk fly off a kill. I thought at first it was a leveret but it turned out to be a muntjac kid a few days old. Most of this evidence is on video. There is one other predator I would like to point my finger at – that’s the badger. They ac- count for a lot of ground-nest- ing birds. The experts, for the want of a better word, tell us their staple diet is worms. If that was the case they would have a beak! Common sense of Sir Desmond SIR – Your correspondent calls for the replacement of Sir Des- mond Swayne as MP (Letters, 13th November). I believe Sir Desmond should be congratulated for his stance during the current coronavirus period. He was one of the first MPs to question the efficacy of lockdown, an exercise which has done nothing but create mayhem. First, lockdown has de- stroyed the economy, with many people losing their jobs or even their businesses – but the government does not seem to care. Secondly, lockdown is re- ported to have indirectly killed Peter Whitefield, South Baddesley

and texture from where it is raised, not where it is pro- cessed. I feel the whole New Forest Marque needs re-exam- ining and greater honesty in labelling. The Red Tractor logo suffers similar problems. Reginald Chester-Sterne, Blackfield More predators than goshawks SIR – I have been follow- ing with interest the weekly correspondence regarding the goshawks in the Forest. There are two parties: one for and one against. I was sitting on the fence until they killed about 20 of my white doves. They do eat wood pigeons, but if you will pardon the pun: white doves matter. I thought readers may be in- terested in the view of a person who has spent the last 60 years 24/7 looking after and man- aging the wildlife in the local woods and countryside. I was a working class aristocrat (Jack Hargreaves’ words, not mine) – in other words a gamekeeper. In the 1950s we used to try to impress our employees, dispatching everything with a hooked beak to protect our game and their nest. However, to be honest, in those days there were a lot more song birds than there are now. What I miss most is the nightingales and the turtle doves. Now the evidence I give will be the truth, etc. The decline of song birds in our garden and the Forest has nothing to do with the goshawks. It is down to sparrow hawks, cats and magpies. They are the worst – they mob and plunder every nest they see. At the moment the goshawks

thousands of people, such as those who have not been able to see a doctor, let alone re- ceive hospital treatment – but the government does not seem to care. Sir Desmond has spoken in parliament against the folly and stupidity of the govern- ment in blindly pursuing its ill thought-out ideas and, I’m pleased to see, has been joined by other Tory MPs. According to the press there are between 50 and 80 Tory MPs now trying to make the government see reason. After all, in 1968/69 some 30,000 peo- ple died of flu, but the country did not shut down, schools remained open and people went to work in the usual way. No hysteria then. Thank you, Sir Desmond, for some common sense. Ian Davis, Bashley mas is coming and some people already have their decorations up, just in case. One advantage of being a Christian is that we can celebrate Christmas every day. The birth of Jesus, God breaking into history, was the beginning of the new normal for the world. The Old Testa- ment prophesied the New Age (what we like to call the “new normal”). It was so new we even changed the calendar to cele- brate it! I don’t suppose we’ll do that after Covid-19. But that is what Christmas commemorates. I know we have made it about Santa,

Christian Comment WE are nearly at the end of the second lockdown. Christ-

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