From Our Files: Holiday homes axe...imprisoned for a day...foul beach smell

THIS is Lymington's to Evel Knieval's recent abortive attempt to cross the Snake River by rocket. For tomorrow these four intrepid venturers sail this unlikely looking craft in an 18 mile charity race down the River Exe from Tiverton, Devon, to Quay Head, Exeter.

Making up this hulky 52-stone crew are from the right Bill Littlefair, Ken Fielder, Martin King and Rod King.

50 YEARS AGO

THE Hague Embassy siege so much in the news has prompted Mr Robert Adley MP for Christchurch and Lymington to write the following letter to the Foreign Secretary Mr James Callaghan.

“Dear Foreign Secretary, Now that two more EEC member countries have been embroiled in a battle with terrorists ostensibly with political motives, would you please raise the problem at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers.

“The way in which these international political gangsters demonstrate that kidnapping pays off in obtaining the release of convicted killers leads me to make the to me obvious suggestion that people who are found guilty of the crime of terrorism should not be left in jail – they should be executed for treason against the state in whatever country in which their murders are committed.”

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A SCHEME by Bashley Park Ltd for holiday homes on land off Agarton Lane, Lymore, was rejected by the NFDC.

Reasons for refusal were that it would be an alien and disruptive “element in a settled residential community.”

The site is also in the green belt and it would radically change its character and appearance.

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A TRANSACTION which went wrong regarding a proposed retirement villa in Spain led to the appearance before Lymington magistrates on Monday of a 59-year-old.

He admitted that without permission he made a payment of £3,000 to a person resident outside the scheduled territories.

He also pleaded guilty to making a statement which was false in a material particular in giving information to the Bank of England for permission to purchase property outside the scheduled territories. He was fined £100 on each charge.

Anyone wishing to buy property outside the scheduled territories of which Spain had never been one. The man said that having paid out the money his prospects of getting anything were practically non-existent.

25 YEARS AGO

A MAN who stole a copy of the ‘The News of the World’ from a petrol station in Lymington was sentenced to a day’s imprisonment by New Forest magistrates.

The homeless man admitted taking the paper from a stand outside Leonards of Lymington He was ordered to pay a fine of £50 but had no means to pay. Magistrates imposed one day’s custody instead.

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A LOCAL campaigner for the NSPCC has called for Lymington town council to support the society’s ‘Safe Open Spaces’ campaign.

He suggested that every park should have a fenced off area with a sign clearly stating that adults are only allowed to enter when accompanied by a child.

Town clerk, Ray Jones, informed the council meeting that the signs had already been ordered.

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CHRISTCHURCH residents have been assured that any unsightly or foul smelling foam they see being washed onto local beaches is harmless algae not sewage.

A number of people have contacted the borough council fearing the foam is pollution but it is in fact phaeocystis the most common type of marine algae in British coastal waters.

It occurs when the algae dies and a brown foam is formed and can reach a depth of one, or two metres and smells of rotten eggs.