“Marine Archaeology of the New Forest” – Talk from Frank Green of New Forest National Park

Robert Hole Room, Lymington Centre 6:00 for 6:30 talk

The New Forest has a coastline with fantastic views to the Isle of Wight, eastwards towards Southampton and Portsmouth: westwards towards Dorset. The easiest form of transport before the introduction of railways in the mid-nineteenth century was through coastal shipping. Industrial products such as salt could be legally shipped out of Lymington and other goods shipped in. Some other good were imported illegally, as contraband through smuggling.  The ever-changing coastline often reveals aspects of the areas past history as a result of storm; from wrecks of all periods to ancient submerged landscapes and the relationship of early settlements with the coast. The talk will outline the results of recent archaeological work along the New Forest and adjacent coasts.

Tickets £5.00 to include refreshments
Tickets available from Clive Sutton solicitors
3 The Old Printworks, 85b High St Lymington, SO41 9AN
Or on the door

Dear Lymington Society Member

I am taking the trouble to write you specifically because of the important developments which are taking place in the future of Lymington and Pennington through the Town Council’s consultation document for a neighbourhood plan.

The Lymington Society were instrumental in initially persuading the Town Council to have a neighbourhood plan. This is now being put in hand at the same time as the New Forest District Council had to make allocations of substantial additional housing to the Lymington area amounting to approximately 1100 more houses up to 2036.

The Lymington Society were always told that any such substantial increase could largely be accommodated in the Waterside area but it seems much of that area is not available because of safety factors connected with the military uses and refinery uses of that area. However there is still the possibility that a significant part of that area can be used for development which would relieve the pressure on Lymington and the other villages on the southern part of the New Forest District Council area.

A very helpful consultation document has been put out by the Lymington and Pennington town Council for the Neighbourhood Plan and this is available online and I recommend that is read by members of Society who are interested in the future of the Town. The options for future development clearly set out involving the town centre brownfield sites, a large area on the north of the town between Buckland and Ramley Road and various other surrounding pieces of land which could be made available for development being largely greenbelt sites.

The Society’s Committee have given this some thought and are initially hopeful that the number of houses to be allocated the Town eventually will be less than 500 over this period.

The committee considering their own detailed response which will be submitted in the meantime drawled the consultation to members attention so that members can review the councils analysis of the neighbourhood plan and respond to it. It can be found online at LymingtonandPenningtonplan.org.UK

The main consultation itself is in the form of an online response, or a paper response which can be obtained from the website or from the Town Hall.

I urge you to look at this and hopefully respond in detail to show your interest in the future of the town and contribute to it as a member of the Lymington society.

The consultation needs to be in by Monday 17^th July and so please look at this as quickly as possible.

Yours sincerely

Clive Sutton

Chairman Lymington Society

Approximately 35 members and their guests enjoyed a very pleasant evening at the Society’s annual garden party on 7th June . This year David Rule and Sandra allowed members to use their beautiful garden at 15 Waterford Lane The stunning array of colourful herbaceous shrubs and plants providing a great backdrop for the event. Members were treated to prosecco, soft drinks, wine and canapés, and were also joined on the evening by the Mayor Barry Dunning. Thanks too to David and Sandra for allowing members to take shelter inside when a shower of rain threatened to bring the evening to a premature end.

A small group of members was treated to a workshop courtesy of SPUD and resident artist Christine Mackay . Mark Drury from Spud first explained about the construction of the two observation pods and it was fascinating to learn exactly how the Shou Sugi Ban technique for wood preservation had been carried out on the outer shell of the pods.

Christine then gave a presentation of her work under the title Seed Matter. This included a description of her visit to the international Svalbard seed bank in Norway, and a talk about her work in Ireland with different communities around land use, seed saving and plant resources

Back in the observatory Christine also discussed her current project which has been looking at neglected plants like the asparagus fern which it was discovered was used in wedding bouquets as far back as 1889.

Members , with the help of a local florist were then able to create their own small floral decoration which was the end to a very enjoyable afternoon.