Bev Scott-Johns awarded the Citizen of the Year Award
At a packed Annual Towns Meeting held at the New Milton Town Hall yesterday evening (29th April), Mr Bev Scott-Johns was awarded The Citizen of the Year Award 2019 by New Milton Town Council.
In presenting the award, the Town Mayor, Cllr David Rice-Mundy commented that the selection was exceptionally difficult as there were many worthy recipients and he welcomed the assistance of his colleagues, to assist him in the judging process.
Bev has been Secretary of the New Milton Table Tennis Club since 2004. Previously Bev was Club Treasurer. Bev is one of the directors of Mudeford Wood Community Trust, an incorporated charity created to take over the administration of Mudeford Wood Community Centre, one of the club’s two playing venues. Bev also serves on the committee of the Bournemouth & District Table Tennis Association. Bev is a TTE qualified tournament organiser for the club and also a qualified county umpire. In recognition of the many years that he has worked tirelessly for the club, Bev was made the club’s first Life Vice-President at the 2015/2016 AGM. In November 2016, as part of Table Tennis England’s “Pride of Table Tennis” awards, the club voted Bev as “Club Volunteer of the Year”. In March 2018, Bev was honoured with a prestigious Torch Trophy Trust Award for Outstanding Service to Sport. He was presented with the award by HRH the Duke of Gloucester at a ceremony in the Army and Navy Club in London, his citation having been read out by Sir Trevor Brooking MBE. Tne New Milton Table Tennis Club has members from 10 years old to 80 years young.
A Special Award was also made to Phyllis Inglis and again presented by The Town Mayor, for her many years of voluntary service to so many organisations in the Town. In accepting the award, Phyllis recounted how her mother told her that "if she wanted to get on in life then she had to make herself useful". Phyllis concluded by saying "I hope to continue to be useful for many years to come".
In addition, special award certificates were given to 4 pupils from the Arnewood School, who decided to organise a Charity Football Match which was held earlier this year and which raised £1,000. The Mayor commended them for their enthusiasm not just for football, but for their decision to raise monies for those less fortunate than themselves.
During the meeting cheques for £700 each were made to SCARF and The New Forest Young Carers as a result of them being selected as recipients of the Mayor's Charity Appeal for the last year.
The meeting concluded, after reports by the individual Town Council Committee Chairmen, with a Presentation by Keith Betton of the Hampshire Ornithological Society on 'The Return of the Peregrine Falcon'. His very interesting talk highlighted the recent growth in the Peregrine Falcon population after a period of decline. Keith focussed of course, on our very own pair of birds which have now been nesting on our famous Water Tower and where eggs should be hatched within a matter of weeks. The talk was illustrated by a series of exceptional and sometimes dramatic photographs taken by other members of the Ornithological Society and himself.
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Prostate Cancer Testing
The New Milton Community Centre was the venue for a PSA Prostate Cancer Testing Session organised by The Lions Club of New Milton. 300 New Milton men aged between 40 and 80 years attended the session, although regretably, we were not able to accomodate quite a large number who turned up to the centre without a pre-arranged appointment.
The importance of such testing is underlined by the fact that out of the 300 men who had their blood tests, some 22 have been advised that they should make an appointment with their GP for further investigation urgently, whilst a further 12 were advised it would be sensible to arrange a similar GP visit. These figures were slightly above the national averages. It should be noted that these advices are precautionary and do not necessarily indicate the presence of cancer.
In view of the fact that currently there is no national screening programme for Prostate Cancer in the UK, it is clear that the demand needs to be satisfied and the Lions Club of New Milton will be planning a further screening session in 2020.
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Rotary 'Reborn"
Following the official closure of New Milton Rotary Club at the end of 2018,
a new Rotary Club has been founded -
BECTON and DISTRICT ROTARY CLUB.
Formed from some of the members of the former club and with new incoming
members, the Rotary presence around New Milton and District will be
continuing.
In the first instance, the new Rotary club will be supporting two important
projects in the area.
The Rotary Holiday Bungalow on Hoburne Naish Holiday Park
has, over the past 40 years, been able to offer a week’s holiday to many
disadvantaged families. The estimate is that over 40 years, 3,200 people
have been helped to have a holiday, spending family time together away from
stresses at home due to family breakdowns, sickness or poverty. The week is
sponsored by other Rotary clubs across the South.
Secondly, the new club will be
working with selected local schools
to aid those who have outdoor learning as part of their curriculum. One aim
is to build eco-friendly greenhouses using recycled plastic bottles, which
will encourage pupils to understand nature and interact with the outdoors.
If anyone is interested in joining this vibrant new Club and is minded to be
a volunteer helping the community, charitable causes, and also having some
fun, you will be made very welcome. The Rotary group meet regularly at
various venues locally to plan the varied and worthy projects in support of
the community.
www.bectonrotary.org.uk
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Community Comes together for Civic Service
New Milton
Baptist Church was the venue for New Milton’s Annual Civic Service on Sunday
10 March, with over 150 members of the community joining together giving
thanks to the many selfless volunteers in our community, civil servants and
all those committed to public duty.
Amongst the
congregation were former New Milton Citizens of the Year, New Milton Police
PCSO’s, representatives from the Mayor’s nominated charities Scarf New
Forest and New Forest Young Carers, New Milton Sands WI and students from
Arnewood School.
The Fortune
Centre of Riding Therapy were represented by their choir, with 20 students
giving their first public performance, and were given a resounding applause
for their magnificent performance.
New Milton Sands WI provided refreshments in the
church hall after the service. Jackie Alvey, their Chairperson,
provided a reading at the Service, a beautiful poem entitled Spring-time.
As
well as the Mayor, Cllr Keith Craze of New Milton Town Council and Cllr
Barry Rickman, Leader of New Forest District Council gave bible readings.
A musical interlude was provided by Maria Rice-Mundy and the Reverend Andrew
Bailey from St Mary Magdalene Parish Church, and Reverend Martin Keenan from
BOS Methodist Church also contributed presenting their messages of belief to
the gathered congregation.
The retiring
collection yielded £286, a generous sum that the Mayor will be pleased to
share equally between his chosen charities.
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New Forest Bike Project CIC
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Weekly Lunch Club
Hampshire Constabulary release film to highlight Online Risks to Young People
On Safer Internet Day, Hampshire Constabulary has released a
short film, featuring a real life victim, to highlight the online risks of
sending nudes.
The film tells the real life story of Megan, who at the age of 14
moved to a new school after being bullied at her previous school, and was
desperate to fit in. Everyone wanted to be friends with the new girl and she
felt on top of the world. Her social media accounts were going through the
roof with all her new friends and followers. She didn’t think things could
get any better, when she thought she’d caught the eye of a boy and they
began chatting on social media. However, things weren’t as they seemed and
she found herself being tricked into sending a nude photo of herself which
were quickly shared around the entire school and beyond.
Megan was devastated but is now speaking about her experience to
help warn young people and educate people about the dangers of sending such
pictures online.
PC Maria Carrick said: “Together with Megan we have created three
versions of our film, ‘Sending nudes: #ItHappenedToMe’. One version is aimed
at young people, one at parents and one at professionals who work with young
people to highlight the risks of sexting. We hope that hearing about Megan’s
experience and how she overcame this difficult time will give strength and
support to young people who experience bullying and pressure for nude
pictures or naked selfies.
“We’ll be broadcasting our film on a range of social media and
online channels, including Safe4Me, to get the message across to as many
people as possible and will be sending the film to schools so it can be
shown to pupils and staff. We will continue working in partnership with
schools, youth centres, and others organisations to raise awareness.
“We encourage parents and teachers not to be afraid to talk to
children about their activities on social media and explain the importance
of privacy, and thinking before uploading content online, to prevent them
from becoming both the victims and perpetrators.”
Please view our films here: young people - https://youtu.be/DYP1dDSdbxI,
parents -
https://youtu.be/nIiwNAwS1BY and
professionals - https://youtu.be/7SRQ60xi0tQ.
Those wanting more advice on this subject can use the Safe4me
website. This is a free resource available to schools, colleges and parents
in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight as part of Hampshire
Constabulary'songoing commitment to working in partnership with education
and agencies to safeguard children and young people. You can find out more
here:
https://www.safe4me.co.uk/.
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New Milton Talking Newspaper will be 1,000 Editions Old
1000th Edition on 22nd February, 2019 !!
Some of you will already be listeners of, or volunteers for, the Talking
Newspaper, but we dare say you will be amazed to learn that we will be
recording our 1000th edition on the
22nd February
this year!
We would like to take this opportunity to say 'thank you' to all our
listeners and volunteers, past and present.
No listeners or volunteers - no Talking Newspaper!
So thank you, all.
And a reminder that we ARE always delighted to welcome new listeners and
volunteers. Just telephone
Adam
on
01425 616361
to find out more about us.
The 1000th edition is a wonderful milestone for us, and we hope
to carry on for at least another 1000 editions!
Long live the New Milton Talking Newspaper!
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New Milton to Bid for £25m from Government's High Street Fund
New Milton Town Council, following a successful
presentation on 17th January 2019, to the New Forest Business
Partnership and New Forest District Council, has been invited and is pleased
to be bidding for a share of the Government’s £675 million Future High
Streets Fund.
The Town Council is working to transform its town
centre into a vibrant community hub that has a wide variety of uses - for
people to shop, live, work, play, relax and socialise in an inspiring,
attractive and safe environment.
New Forest District Council were able to sponsor just
one bid for this round of funding. New Milton was selected because of the
Council’s strategic objectives and clear plan for town centre regeneration –
and the economic opportunities to the District with the town’s focus on
developing a digital economy.
The vision for New Milton’s town centre started to take
shape with the Town Council’s Neighbourhood Plan consultations with local
residents, asking what they wanted for the future of their town. The Council
is actively progressing a wide range of initiatives and new facilities with
local businesses, community groups and public sector organisations –
including the provision of affordable homes in the town centre, based on the
results of this consultation.
If successful in their bid for up to £25m funding, the
Town Council will be able to create an enhanced town centre environment that
better reflects the beauty of the town’s location in between the forest and
sea, create a satisfying and enjoyable town centre experience for shoppers,
residents, workers and for community activities – for all ages and
abilities.
Throughout the bid process, New Milton Town Council
will be co-ordinating closely with the New Forest District Council’s
Economic Team, Hampshire County Council, New Forest Business Partnership and
community stakeholders.
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