New Milton Advertiser 20th Nov 2020

Friday 20th November 2020 · 5

news@adt.press · advertising@adt.press · 01425 613384

News

Ambulance hit by ‘disgusting’ vandals

Making light work for skaters NEW floodlights have been installed at Fordingbridge skatepark thanks to a £10,000 pledge by the town council. The grant was combined with £1,250 donations from local businesses and £700 raised in a campaign by local resident Jo Windsor to fund the new lights at the concrete Ringwood Road facility. Fordingbridge mayor Cllr Edward Hale said: “The proj- ect has been a fine example of the community and town council working together to secure funding, using a combination of crowdfund- ing, grants, and council reserves.” Blaze threat to nearby homes SWIFT actions by fire - fighters were credited with preventing a blaze in a skip from spreading to nearby homes in Dibden. The alarm was raised just before 2pm on 8th Novem- ber as flames engulfed the skip outside a property in Cheviot Drive. A crew from Hardley con- tained the emergency within 25 minutes. A post on the fire station’s Twitter account said: “Quick action from the crew meant that the fire didn’t spread to neighbouring properties!” 18-month community order of rehabilitation activity and 80 hours of unpaid commu- nity work. He was told to pay £740 in court costs. ATTACKING a woman resulted in a New Milton man being banned from contact- ing her for two years. Alan England (39), of Davis Field, had previously been found guilty of assaulting the victim by beating on 15th March having initially denied the offence. Southampton magistrates also handed England an Two-year ban over attack

Two schools shut after coronavirus cases confirmed Eling Infant was one of two Totton schools to close (Photo: Google)

VANDALS were branded “dis- gusting” for targeting a first responder ambulance car dur- ing a vehicle wrecking spree in Bransgore. The car will be off the road for a week, and lives could be lost as a result of the “mindless” ac- tions during the early hours of Sunday, Bransgore Community First Responders warned. The Dacia Duster’s wing mir- ror was smashed off sometime between 1.30am and 7.30am while parked outside an on-call volunteer’s home on Elmers Way. One of a Hampshire fleet of 14 new responder vehicles rolled out by South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) about three months ago, it had attended two call-outs earlier that night. Several other vehicles around the village were targeted, with broken wing mirrors and smashed windows reported in Shackleton Square, Hill Close, Shearsbrook Close, Rosehill Drive, Stibbs Way, Brookside Road and Tyrells Court. Group coordinator Mike Jukes, who was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2018 for his service and fund- raising, told the A&T CCTV footage of the vandalisms was being shared in the communi- ty. A resident had even chased suspects at around 6am on Sunday. “While we obviously share the frustration of everyone whose car has been damaged, to ac- tually damage our ambulance car so it is not useable, during a time of the pandemic, is dis- graceful,” he said. “As a result of this mindless action our volunteers are less First responder car damaged in village wrecking spree BY CHRIS MARCH

TWO Totton schools were forced to close their doors com- pletely yesterday (Thursday) due to positive cases of corona- virus. Abbotswood Junior School sent a letter to parents in- forming them, while Hamp- shire County Council listed on its website that Eling Infant School had also shut. Abbotswood head teach- er Glen Moore said it shut the school after consulting Public Health England following a fur- ther positive case at the site. He stressed it was a “pre- caution” and “not because of a widespread outbreak”. He add- ed: “Furthermore, this decision has not been taken lightly but the health and safety of our pu- pils and staff is always of para- mount importance. “With regards to your child’s learning, we will be sending out a letter in the morning with de- tails of ‘remote learning’. “Finally, I would like to reas- sure the whole school commu- nity that we continue to follow government guidance in terms of social distancing, handwash- ing and cleanliness to minimise the spread of the virus.” A previous letter to parents had confirmed a positive Cov - id-19 case at Abbotswood in October. But the school remained open while the individual – who was described as a “school com- munity member” – self-isolated. Close contacts were also iden- tified and had to self-isolate but the school said “no children”

The first responder car will be off the road for a week while the damage is repaired

Abbotswood head Glen Moore

had been identified as such. Eling Infant School’s closure was listed online by Hampshire County Council but there was no confirmation on its own website or Facebook page, and it did not respond to a request from the A&T for comment. HCC revealed other schools which had recorded positive cases since Sunday 15th No- vember, but remained open, included Bartley and Lyming- ton juniors and Netley Marsh infant. Since the start of November, according to HCC, there have been positive cases at Ring- wood infant, Fawley infant, For- est Park, and St Michael and All Angels in Lyndhurst. Five secondary schools have also been hit: Arnewood, Priest- lands, Ringwood, Applemore and Hounsdown.

likely to be able to provide that critical response in the first few minutes of a medical emergen- cy or cardiac arrest. “This really could cost lives in our community until we can get the car back on the road. Local communities donate money which enables South Central Ambulance charity to provide the cars. To have someone do this is so disrespectful to those who care.” Jack Ansell, SCAS communi- ty response operations manag- er, estimated repairs to the first responder vehicle will cost up to £600. “Now we’re having to secure a replacement vehicle while repairs are undertaken which, unfortunately, we have to take out of the charity’s funds which would normally go towards oth- er equipment such as lifesaving

defibrillators,” he told the A&T. “Damaging a vehicle, which our local responders use in vol- unteer capacity and continue to raise funds to support, is dis- gusting. “Group coordinator Mike Jukes and his team do a smash- ing job out there and they cer- tainly don’t deserve their vehi- cle being damaged and taken off the road like that.” A picture of the damaged responder car loaded on a re- covery truck was shared on the group’s Facebook page on Sun- day evening. The post highlighted the po- tentially catastrophic impact of a frontline ambulance not reaching a more serious emer- gency in time due to having to respond to a non-injury fall in the car’s place. The volunteer driver’s daugh-

ter was among several residents who took to Facebook to ex- press anger and frustration. “My dad tirelessly gives up his time in that car to help those in need as quickly as possible,” she wrote. “Let’s hope whoever you are, you don’t need their as- sistance anytime soon!” Some called for vigilante ac- tion amid claims police were failing to investigate the van- dalism adequately, with reports other vehicles were hit in Brans- gore over recent weekends. A Hampshire police spokes- person told the A&T on Mon- day officers were “pursuing lines of enquiry”. Anyone with information should contact the force on 101, quoting crime reference num- ber 44200442536, or call Crime- stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Fairy dust to be sprinkled on village’s £7,000 play area

Unit 2, Battramsley Farm, Shirley Holms Road, Boldre, Lymington, Hampshire SO41 8NG 01590 623893 www.spgmowers.co.uk

A TINY fairy forest is set to be included in a new £7,000 woodland play area planned in Bransgore. More details have been re- leased about the play trail at Clare Lodge copse which is be- ing installed as a joint project between the parish council and the national park authority, as reported in the A&T. Other confirmed features

of the attraction include a na- ture-based sculpture for imag- inary play and climbing; bal- ancing and stepping logs; and woodland viewing screens de- signed with peep holes at differ- ent heights. Claire Pearce, wild play of- ficer for the NPA, said: “Right now, it is more important than ever for children to have easy access to nature with opportu-

nities to engage their imagina- tion and energy with the natu- ral environment. “I hope that the wild play trail will become a much-loved part of the village.” The trail is due to be com- pleted by the end of March next year. It will be the fourth wild play site in the New Forest, joining similar attractions at Ashurst, Sway and Holbury.

We are OPEN in line with current guidelines. For all your essential petrol and battery powered garden machinery. Get ready for SPRING 2021

To help keep everyone safe we are not sending out our service reminder letters but... We are freezing our service prices this year to say Thank You for your continuing support. And offering FREE COLLECTION AND DELIVERY to our existing customers. Call or visit us to book your machines in

before December 23rd to guarantee this offer.

From small holdings to vast estates. Unique all electric to power diesel engines, there’s a Farmtrac tractor ready for action.