New Milton Advertiser 22nd Jan 2021

Friday 22nd January 2021 · 15

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Business

Controversial Co-op opens on village site

Wick Antiques Ltd Established in 1981

Colten Care resident Pat Tharme celebrates the firm’ s perfect 10

Wick Antiques was founded by Charles Wallrock 32 years ago. Having previously supplied Harrods antiques department for 22 years, he offers his expertise and professional knowledge to help you buy and sell your antiques.

Care firm’s top ratings celebration

Development in Sway also includes eight new homes

“We have worked to develop the range, choice, products and services locally that will create a really compelling offer in the community. Co-op is commit- ted to connecting communities and making a difference locally and so I also want customers to know that they can become a member of the Co-op.” He added: “In addition to additional value and offers, our members also make a differ- ence to local causes, with Co-op now donating 2% to communi- ty causes every time a member swipes their card when buying own-branded products.” The 2,000 sq ft store will be open 6am-10pm daily and run on 100% renewable electricity. The branch will serve hot food and host a bakery, free ATM and Costa coffee express. Students who are Totum cardholders can also pocket a 10% discount at the store.

BY LYNDON HOGG

A CARE firm which runs six homes across the New Forest and Christchurch has boasted of its top year-ending customer ratings. Colten Care, which is based in Ringwood, has a group score of 9.9 out of 10 on the independ- ent review site carehome.co.uk from its 21 homes. And New Milton’s Kingfishers was one of two Colten homes to maintain the perfect 10. Colten Care chief executive Mark Aitchison said the firm had the highest rating of any care home group in the UK with 10 or more homes. “To average 9.9 across our 21 homes shows great consist- ency. It provides a reassurance of quality and standards and is testament to both our home teams and those who support them,” he added. A nurse-led approach had ensured success with infection prevention and control, ena- bling staff to start a Covid-safe visiting solution over the sum- mer, said Mr Aitchison. This brought many relatives and residents together for the first time since lockdown. Colten Care began 2020 with a trio of inspection successes from the Care Quality Commis- sion, including Kingfishers re- taining its ‘outstanding’ rating – one of seven in the group with the grade. Mr Aitchison added: “For me, the outstanding quality of care we provide is clearly being recognised in the third-party feedback we receive from our residents, families, community contacts and our external reg- ulator. “Our home teams, supported by our central operations team, have ensured residents can still enjoy great times during what has been the most difficult of years for so many people at all ages and in all walks of life. “What our team members have achieved in 2020 is noth- ing short of amazing. Activities and companionship haven’t stopped, we’ve just been organ- ising and delivering them differ- ently.”

A CONTROVERSIAL new Co- op was set to open in Sway to- day (Friday), creating 14 local jobs. The store is part of a develop- ment which includes eight new homes on the old Hatch Motors site in Station Road. The plans proved unpopu- lar with many residents when announced but were nar- rowly approved by the New Forest National Park Author- ity in 2019 – a decision which prompted jeers from the public gallery. Those who spoke against the plans complained about a lack of parking, increased traffic and A LYMINGTON heating and plumbing firm has been bought by a nationwide home-repairs company. Aqua Plumbing and Heating, based in Bath Road, was the first acquisition of the year for FTSE 150 business Homeserve, which is keen to grow its share of the £3bn domestic gas boiler market. Little will change for the 28-year-old firm, which employs 15 and is led by founder and di- rector Sean Ward. Sean, who will report to Homeserve’s MD of installa- tions and repairs Richard Shep- herd, said the deal will provide “amazing opportunities” for the team. “We’ve grown from a one-man operation in 1993 to a 15-strong team that is recognised as one of the region’s brightest and best heating companies and boiler installers,” he said. “Despite some of the chal- lenges Covid threw our way in 2020, it’s exciting to be starting 2021 with blue chip PLC back- ing and financial support so we have long-term stability and LesLie RonaLd White was born on 23rd october 1928 on the corner of stem Lane and Gore Road in new Milton to Fred and daisy White. With Martha adams his grand- mother and daisy Witcher his mother, his father born in holmsley and his grandfather in thorny hill he was truly local stock. his childhood, although poor, was happy living with his par- ents and grandparents roaming the local countryside with his friends and as war loomed his love for the RaF was born and he longed to become a bomber pilot. in later life he was to write about this period in his first book called the Lure of the Blue. he was academically very clever and was chosen to be entered into the eleven plus exam which he purposely failed because he didn’t want to go a ‘Posh’ school, he always saw himself as being working class and was very proud of that. on leaving school he started work in a small metalworks in old Milton. he spent his national service in the RaF as ground crew and also became a lab assistant for sRde. although his career path looked very good with sRde he decided his real love was for the outdoors and become a jobbing gardener. around this time, at a dance at the highcliffe hotel, he met a young Welsh nurse, dorcas Young, and although his mother warned him the ‘the Welsh were a funny lot’ he knew he had met the love of his life and soulmate. With times changing after the war, his aunt annie decided to buy a van to deliver the laun- dry for her small business in Glenville Road and so his father bought the horses field next door and they built themselves semi-detached bungalows in which he was to spend the rest of his life and bring up his 4 children. With a large back garden and multiple allotments next to the Walkford pub to grow vegeta- bles he took the opportunity of buying a green grocer shop on sea Corner highcliffe and it was here as a local shopkeeper most people came to know him. he immersed himself local politics chairing many local committees such as the Chamber of trade, highcliffe Residents association, highcliffe Youth Club and many others. he had joined the observer Leslie RonaldWhite

Items we are actively looking to purchase

The Co-op under construction last year (Photo: Anne Dew)

an “unsympathetic” design. However, developer Land- mark Estates said the scheme would “create starter and fam- ily homes, jobs for local people and provide a modern, local grocery shop”.

Manager Ant Palmese said he was looking forward to launch- ing Co-op’s newest store. “We are very excited about the opportunity to serve the lo- cal community, and playing our part in local life,” he said.

Hot deal for town plumbing firm

We pay top prices and will come to your home.

Engineers at Aqua Plumbing and Heating, which has been bought by Homeserve

can continue to grow our reach across the southern region.” Richard added he was de- lighted to welcome Sean and the team to Homeserve. “We’re keen to engage with and speak to local businesses like Aqua who have their own Core at a young age and by this time was a local commander but this was to change during the Cuban Crisis. at this time, with nuclear war a real possi- bility, he was given a password and if he was phoned with this word he had to drop everything and make his way to and under- ground shelter in sway with- out anyone knowing. his sense of duty made him accept this but once the crisis was over he decided he would never risk being parted from his family again and resigned from the observer Core with a long ser- vice medal. such was the respect in which he was held, he was asked to become a Justice of the Peace. things are very dif- ferent now but in those days ordinary working class people were not JPs they were land owners, head teachers or ex-military officers. As usual his honesty and intelligence shone through and he was to become Chairman of the Bench. he was also willing to put his money where his mouth was and on one occasion when he felt a young lad should receive a more lenient sentence because he thought he was basically good and just needed a break, he took the lad on to work with him and changed his life forever. through many visits to dorcas’s home town of six Bells in south Wales and many long political conversations with his father-in-law who led the miners’ strike in 1926, he became very attached to south Wales, the people and the history and in 1966 when a slag heap destroyed a school in aberfan killing most of the children, he felt it very per- sonally and along with dorcas they decided they had to do something. he started a scheme by which local hoteliers would give a free weeks holiday to families from the village and not just that, for two years, every weekend of the summer he drove his 12 seater van to aberfan picking up and taking back families to spend a week on holiday in highcliffe. this was after a full working week of up to 12 hours a day!! sometimes his good deeds didn’t work for his benefit and one such occasion was when in the early 70s the Council decided to build on theWalkford allotments. he started a pro- test group and eventually uncovered a covenant that pro- hibited building on this land. it was too late to stop the first part of the development but left 90%

well-established brands, re- gional knowledge, and ways of doing business because we val- ue companies that value their customers as we do,” he said. “It’s a win-win for us all, so we’re delighted to give Sean and the team the extra security of the allotments untouched as they are today. Unfortunately the covenant not only prohib- ited building on the land, it also prohibited anyone having more than one plot and as he and his father had multiple plots they had to give them up which meant he could no longer grow produce for the shop and had to give up the shop as well. at this time he went back to gardening, starting a small landscaping business with his nephew Melville and later his son, steve which he pursued for the next 10 years or so until becoming the head gardener at Wallhamton school. he even- tually moved to Careys Manor as head gardener until he retired at 70. anyone visiting Brockenhurst in the 90s could confirm the beautiful gardens at Careys Manor. during this time he and dorcas started short term fos- tering and helped many young children whilst waiting for long term placements. one excep- tion to the rule was in the mid 80s when they fostered 2 young Chinese girls about 10 and 12, Ping and san. initially this was for a short term emergency placement while a permanent one was found. a few months after they moved to their new home dorcas received a tearful call from Ping. their placement hadn’t worked and they were now in a children’s home and wanted to come back to Les and dorcas. Les and dorcas were only allowed short term fosters because of their age but fought tooth and nail and eventually the girls came home where they stayed until they married. Neither girl was profi - cient in english and Les spent many hours helping them with their homework and eventually, having passed all their exams, they became accountants. Given that Les had left school at 13 his knowledge of english, Maths, Geography, history and Politics was immense. During his final years at work he started thinking more about writing and spent many hours developing plot lines and once retired his writing became one of his main focuses. he wrote 4 novels of which one, ‘Fate Wears a Mask’ was published but he became far better known for his local writ- ing and his contribution local publications. in fact at times there was rarely a week went by when he didn’t have a letter in the new Milton advertiser. His first local book ‘The Lure of the Blue’ was about

and stability they were looking for. “The team’s skills and abili- ties also complement the heat- ing business we already have at HomeServe, so we’re excited to be working and growing togeth- er.”

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Half hulls

his childhood in new Milton through the war, culminating in his joining the RaF. his second ‘My Corner’ documented the changes that had taken place in his Corner of the country since his Grandparents were born but it was his third book ‘the holmesly story’ which started a whole new chapter in his life. this told the history of the local airfields and their value to the war effort and sparked the idea of a memorial to celebrate the aircraft and aircrew who flew from them. From this the charity ‘Friends of the New Forest Airfields’ was born and after much fundrais- ing the Memorial was opened with a flyover from the Red arrows on the edge of the old Holmesly Airfield. FONFA still teach people about the Forest Airfields from their museum in Bransgore. Given the amount he gave to the community it may be thought it could be at the expense of his family. nothing could be further from the truth. His love for the fiery Welsh nurse was enduring and after her passing 4 years ago he missed her every day. she was his support and motivation, she had the ideas and he carried

them out and he wasn’t whole without her. as a father he did everything for his children, he gave them love, advice, money, jobs but most of all he showed them that honesty, humour, integrity, hard work, judging others by who they are not what race, religion or colour they may be, respect for others and yourself and belief in your roots would allow a common, poor, working class forest lad, become a respected pillar of the community whose life touched many others for the better. they say you reap what you sow. i don’t know if that is the case but for the last few months of Les’s life when he was bed ridded his 4 children Linda, steven, Leonie and ann plus Jackie a childhood friend of Lees and Lori one of his foster daughters made sure there was someone at his side night and day, so that he could die at home in the house that he and dorcas had built, in the same room that 3 of his children were born, which he did at 4:15 on the 3rd of January with his family at his bedside. From humble beginnings this man truly left his footprint in his Corner of the world.

Ornamental pieces

For more information please visit our new showroom at Riverside Business Park or call us on 01590 677558 Mon - Fri 9am - 1pm & 2pm - 5pm

Wick Antiques Ltd Mobile 07768 877069 charles@wickantiques.co.uk www.wickantiques.co.uk

Unit 2 Riverside Business Park Lymington, Hants SO41 9BB

Wick Antiques Ltd