Creating Food Week: The Statistics

Since being launched in 2010, Milford on Sea Food Week has grown in so many ways.

The initial concept was born out of wanting to boost local village trade by promoting Milford on Sea as a 'Foodie Heaven', - and with 20 great places to eat, what better way for Milford on Sea to celebrate than to have an entire week dedicated to the joys of food!

Very soon this concept grew to involve the local community en-mass in organising and participating in events, promoting the quality local producers that surround us, and adding celebrity shows to enhance the enjoyment and to raise the profile of Food Week.

This year the ever popular Milford on Sea Food Week returns from Bank Holiday Monday 28th March until Sunday 3rd April 2016, and this time it is bigger than ever, with over 10,000 people attending the 150 events (many of which are free). Actually, it is 168 events to be precise!

Food Week Purpose: 
The core purpose of Food Week is to boost and promote village trade, and to inform, educate and entertain the local community and visitors.

Creating the Food Week Events
It is important to us that as many corners of the entire community are directly involved as possible.

To create so many events, there are as you might expect, a lot of people across the village that get involved, whether as a business, local organisation, club or as an individual. A quick count tells us that to create all the Food Week events means that 129 people are organising or participating in one way or another.

We also have 80 local producers who attend the Food Market as stallholders.

Behind the scenes there is a Core Organising Team of 7 volunteers who make sure everything is in place, prepare the events, create the marketing, raise the income, manage the finances, and keep an eye on things throughout the week.

Finally, there are also 43 important and enthusiastic volunteers who work on the event preparation, and provide day to day services and specialist support. Plus, an awesome team of 44 people who do a great job selling Food Week raffle tickets.

So, that's 303 people to make Food Week happen!

Funding Food Week Events
Food Week is run on a shoestring, and we are fortunate that many skills that organisers of other events have to pay for, we are able to do for free thanks to the expertise and time investment of our volunteers.

However, one main element that has to be outsourced is the printing of the publicity collateral, and it is surprising how substantially the cost of publicity material mounts up. Things like local advertising, village banners, window posters, flags, signage, and 20,000 Free Food Week Programmes for the village and 25,000 Flyers for the surrounding areas do not come cheap!

The celebrity events are always a risk, as good ticket sales are essential to ensure that we do not make a loss on any show.

Food Week could not happen without donations, and we are fortunate to get excellent support from Brand New Forest at NFDC, local Councillors, our local MP, 6 local main sponsors, 67 local businesses as gold or silver sponsors, and 41 local residents as Friends of Food Week. Food Week 2016 has so far raised £15,425 from these generous supporters.

Food Week is not a charitable or fund raising event, however we do encourage local charities to take part in order to raise funds for their own good causes.

Should Food Week make any profits, donations are made to local good causes and also spent on projects that may benefit the village overall. Since 2010 Food Week has made contributions of £20,738.

Spreading the Food Week Message

Prior to the fun of Milford on Sea Food Week, there is the little matter of making sure that as many people as possible know that the events are taking place.

As previously mentioned, we do as much as we can without costs and through volunteers, such as; the website, all design and artwork, PR, marketing, social media, e-shots, blogs etc.

Spreading the Food Week message is a multi-level marketing activity, and we regularly use the following:

• The MoS News Website. Which has 20,000+ page views a month. - (www.milfordonseanews.org) 

• The MoS News Bulletin. This is sent directly to 2,626 email addresses in the village. (NB: Milford on Sea has around 5000 residents in total.)  -  Perhaps surprisingly, we have a further 201 people who we know live in Milford on Sea, but have chosen to 'Unsubscribe' from receiving the News Bulletin. (This might be something to do with some of the nonsense we publish!)

• The Food Week News Bulletin: This is sent directly to another of our databases, which contains 1,543 email addresses of 'Foodies from outside of the village'. 

• Facebook: Milford On Sea Page: We have 1,621 Page Likes.

• Facebook: Milford On Sea Food Week Page: Only started this year, and we currently have 318 Page Likes to date. (Currently growing by around 50+ per week.)

• Facebook: Post Boosts: Used tactically to spread the word about Food Week and specific events.

• Twitter: 86 Followers. No idea what Twitter is all about really, we just randomly put stuff on it and hope that someone sees it!

• Streetlife: This is a local social network, so we are also giving this a go.

• Press Advertising & Editorial in Advertiser & Times, New Forest Post, Village Voice, Lymington Directory, Barton Bugle, Highcliffe Eye, Christchurch Eye, Hampshire Life and a few selected other local publications and magazines.

• Media: We contact all local TV and Radio looking for on air coverage. This year we had an interview on the Nick Girlder Sunday Show on Radio Solent, and Radio Solent's outside broadcast team will be at Lambing Live during Food Week.

• Press Releases: Articles are sent to local press and food/lifestyle magazine publications.

• Free Food Week Programmes: 20,000 free copies distributed within Milford on Sea village. (3000 of which are generously delivered to every home in the village by the team that distribute the Community Centre What's On Magazine.) 

• Food Week Flyers: 25,000 delivered door to door in nearby surrounding areas from Christchurch, and across the New Forest to Lyndhurst.

Then of course, we have the messages that everyone sees, like the village banners, window posters, flags and signage.

Summary
Milford on Sea Food Week is very proud that it is a not for profit community event entirely coordinated by a small dedicated group of volunteers who provide their expertise and time for free.

The Food Week organisers are more than satisfied that their sole reward is in seeing the enjoyment gained by people enjoying the events. 

Food Week is truly a ‘By the community, for the community’ event, so please come and join in or simply enjoy!

Milford on Sea Food Week
Bank Holiday Monday 28th March until Sunday 3rd April 2016
www.milfordfoodweek.org

Seeking New School Governors

Milford on Sea Primary School are seeking two people to join the team of Governors.  

In this role the governors provide strategic direction to the School and act as a critical friend. The school are specifically looking for finance and or premises management expertise.  Training is provided.

Requirements: some daytime, some evening and some flexible hours, self starters, team players and a sense of humour.  Rewards; No pay, but personal satisfaction of contributing to the development of the School, and the future of the children in our our village. 

If you are interested to know more please contact: Sue Towndrow, Chair of Governors at susan_towndrow@hotmail.com or on 01590 645442

From Moldova to the West End

This post has nothing to do with Milford on Sea, other than I was recently contacted by Tony Hawks, a comedian, writer, musician and philanthropist who is a funny man doing good for many less fortunate.

Anyone who has read any of his books like; Round Ireland With A Fridge, Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, One Hit Wonderland, Once Upon A Time In The West...Country, and my personal favourite; A Piano In The Pyrenees, - will know his talents as a writer with a great sense of humour.

After accepting a bet from his mate and fellow comedian, Arthur Smith, Tony took on the challenge of finding the Moldova football team players beaten 4-0 by England in September 1997. The outcome is a funny as it is surprising. In his book; 'Playing the Moldovans at Tennis' he reveals his experiences in finding and playing each player one by one. As the story humorously unfurls, an unexpected subplot emerges when Tony, unexpectedly to himself, becomes entwined with a a local family and determined to help with creating a Care Centre in Europe’s poorest nation.

Since that day his life has literally changed, and he today he continues to tirelessly raise funds for what is now the Tony Hawks Care Centre in Chisinau, where they do amazing work for poor families with children who have cerebral palsy.

If you can make his 'Midlife Cowboy' show above in the West End you will be assured of a good night out. Click here for ticket information.

You might even see him here in Milford on Sea one of these days.

Tony Hawks

www.tony-hawks.com

Playing the Moldovans at Tennis

A feel-good film with the unbeatable combination of tennis, Moldova and British eccentricity - Sandi Toksvig
www.moldovansmovie.com

Tony Hawks Care Centre, Chisinau
www.tonyhawkscentru.md

Food Week on Radio This Sunday

It will come as much as a surprise to you, as it has to me, that your editor has been invited to again appear on the radio.

If you are a radio listener, check out the Nick Girdler show this Sunday, 20th March 2016, yours truly will be on live on air between 9.30am and 9.50am in a radio interview with Nick.

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We will be chatting about Milford on Sea Food Week and then reviewing the Sunday papers. Naturally this a an excellent opportunity to plug Milford on Sea and Food Week, but asking my opinion on the current affairs of the day could be unpredictable!

As you may expect, I will first look for 'Food Stories', to give Food Week another plug. Next, I will look for 'Ridiculous Stories' which appeal to my inappropriate sense of humour. If I have to resort to 'Grown Up' stories, I will be able to give them the slant of a natural village idiot.

I of course, have the perfect face and physique for radio. 

Having done a handful of radio interviews before, I now consider myself a veteran broadcaster. (My wife considers me delusional.) As you may know, my wife never listens to me, so it will be interesting to see if she pays more attention when I am coming out of a speaker!

If you fancy tuning in to witness my embarrassment, and to hear the nonsense we discuss from the day’s news stories, please just set your radio dial to BBC Radio Solent.

Click here to hear 2014 Food Week Mix

A couple of years ago a good friend of mine (who obviously has a mind that operates in strange ways, and far too much time on his hands), created a rather odd 'Food Week Mix'.

Steve 'Carrots' Carroll, is weirdly creative, and took as many strange bits from a previous radio interview as he could, and then mixed them into a nonsense soundtrack. Click here to listen to the 2014 Food Week Mix. Steve 'Carrots' Carroll's mind obviously works in a funny way, but the results are amusing!

That's reminds me, Steve also did a previous video on the Milford on Sea Food Market during Food Week 2010, which is also worth a look. This guy is a bit too creative for his own good!

Click here to view the Food Market video from 2010

Next Sunday, 20th March 2016 | The Nick Girdler Show from 09.30am until 09.50am

BBC Radio Solent: 96.1 & 103.8FM: 999 and 1039 AM: DAB: bbc.co.uk/solent

Tom Invents the Roccbox

The Daily Echo has today published an insight into the successful oven business created by Milford on Sea resident, Tom Gozney.

Tom founded The Stone Bake Oven Company in 2009. Since then, his company has received praise from national publications including The Telegraph, The Guardian as well as popular lifestyle magazines and can now be found in homes and restaurants across the world.

Tom Gozney
Pic: Daily Echo
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Unlike other wood fired oven distributors, The Stone Bake Oven Company pride themselves in being both the manufacturer and distributor of all their products, giving customers the confidence they need in dealing with a member of the Stone Bake team directly.

At just 31, Tom is CEO of a group of companies, and he has now invented the Roccbox, which he believes could revolutionise outdoor cooking. The Roccbox is billed as the world’s first portable and lightweight stone bake oven. It can cook more or less anything, with a pizza ready in under 90 seconds.

In the Daily Echo article Tom's speaks of how he went from being expelled from school to launching a business driven by his passion for wood fired cooking.

The business soon established, and eventually attracted such prestige customers as River Cottage, Marriott and Jean-Christophe Novelli, going on to make ovens for domestic use.

Now he heads the Gozney Group, based at Christchurch Business Park, which has six subsidiaries.

Tom says he generally never spends much on himself, but he has been able to fulfil two personal ambitions, one, to have a sea front home, and the other, his stunning Lamborghini Huracan which can often be seen around the village.

Roccbox took four years to develop, boosted by Virgin’s Pitch to Rich initiative and crowdfunding website Indiegogo. Tom explains; “I set up an operation to make a product that worked in the same way as our big ovens, for people that didn’t have a big garden or the same budget.” 

Among the 2,000 advance orders is one from Richard Branson.

Looks like Tom is on to another winner to me.

Read the full Daily Echo article: click here

The Stone Baked Oven Company

Tom Gozney

www.thestonebakeovencompany.co.uk

Vacancies at The Beach House

As Easter approaches The Beach House are looking for friendly people to join their team.

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There can be few finer historical houses to work in, and there are now opportunities for Front House roles in both the restaurant and bar.

Various part-time and full-time shifts are available.

For more information, please contact: Steve or Eve at:

The Beach House

beach.house@hall-woodhouse.co.uk
01590 643044
Park Lane, Milford on Sea, SO41 0PT
www.beachhousemilfordonsea.co.uk

Throw Those Sprouts!

Milford on Sea is about to host the first ever 'All England Sprout Tossing Contest'. (yes, really...)

Organised by local resident Lord Grit (The alter ego of Fredrick Webb), this fun family occasion is designed for anyone with a sense of humour aged from 5 to 95. (Over 95's welcome if they are accompanied by their parents.).

The Inaugural Brussels Sprout Tossing Competition is being held to deliver a laugh and looking to raise money for the Honeypot children's charity. 

So, if you want to be a tosser it is £1, all spectators are free, giggling is optional, and all of this organised nonsense will take place at the Community Centre from 2.30pm to 5pm on Saturday 26th March.

Food Week in The Sun

Out of the blue we had a call asking for some pictures from previous Food Week's.

The call was from The Sun TV Magazine, so it looks like Food Week is now getting noticed on a national level.

Apparently, the article will be in The Sun TV Magazine on sale on 26th March. Not sure how much coverage we will get, but as they say, 'every little helps!'.

Milford connection to Easter Rising

You may think that the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising in Dublin this month has nothing to do with Milford on Sea, but there is a connection...

Thomas Clarke
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Thomas James "Tom" Clarke (11 March 1858 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish republican revolutionary leader and arguably the person most responsible for Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising. 

A proponent of armed revolution for most of his life, he spent 15 years in English prisons prior to his role in the Easter Rising, and was executed after it was quashed.

So, the connection? Well, Thomas Clarke was born to Irish parents at Hurst Castle, Milford on Sea in 1858. His parents were Mary Palmer and James Clarke who was a sergeant in the British Army. 

In 1865, after spending some years in South Africa, Sgt. Clarke was transferred to Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland, and it was there that Tom grew up.

In 1878, at the age of 20, he joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and by 1880 he was head of the local IRB circle. In August that year, after a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) had shot and killed a man during riots between the Orange Order and the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) in Dungannon, Clarke and other IRB members attacked some RIC men in Irish Street. They were driven back, however, and Clarke, fearing arrest, fled to the United States.

In 1883 he was sent to London, under the alias of "Henry Wilson", to blow up London Bridge. He was arrested, and along with three others, he was tried and sentenced to penal servitude for life on 28 May 1883 at London's Old Bailey.

Tom Clarke
1916 commemorative plaque
 at the junction of
Parnell Street and O'Connell Street, Dublin.
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He subsequently served 15 years in Pentonville and other British prisons. In 1896, he was one of five remaining Fenian prisoners in British jails and a series of public meetings in Ireland called for their release.

Following his release in 1898 he moved to Brooklyn in the United States where he married Kathleen Daly. In 1906 the couple moved to a 30-acre farm in Manorville, New York and in 1907 returned to Ireland.

In Ireland he opened a tobacconist shop in Dublin and immersed himself in the IRB which was undergoing a substantial rejuvenation.

When the Irish Volunteers were formed in 1913, Clarke took a keen interest, but took no part in the organisation, knowing that as a felon and well-known Irish nationalist he would lend discredit to the Volunteers. Nevertheless, he had close contacts within the organisation.

In 1915 Clarke and MacDermott established the Military Committee of the IRB to plan what later became the Easter Rising. 

When an agreement was reached with the Irish Citizen Army in January 1916, Clarke was the first signatory on the Proclamation of the Republic. It has been said that Clarke indeed would have been the declared President and Commander-in-chief, but he refused any military rank and such honours; these were given to Pearse, who was more well-known and respected on a national level.

At The Easter Rising, Clarke was stationed at headquarters in the General Post Office during the events of Easter Week, where rebel forces were largely composed of Irish Citizen Army members under the command of Connolly. Though he held no formal military rank, Clarke was recognised by the garrison as one of the commanders, and was active throughout the week in the direction of the fight, sharing the fortunes of his comrades.

Following the surrender on 29 April, Clarke was held in Kilmainham Jail until his execution by firing squad on 3 May at the age of 59. He was the second person to be executed, following Patrick Pearse.

Before execution, he asked his wife Kathleen to give this message. Message to the Irish People; "I and my fellow signatories believe we have struck the first successful blow for Irish freedom. The next blow, which we have no doubt Ireland will strike, will win through. In this belief, we die happy."

To read more about Tom Clarke please click here

Can You Help at the May Fayre BBQ?

The team organising the Milford-on-Sea May Fayre (Monday 2nd May 2016 -10am to 4pm) have two of their normal helpers missing this year, and they are looking for 3 or 4 people to help on the barbeque.

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We understand that men normally see this as their primeval domain, but girls are welcome to help out to, you might even get a Food Week Apron!

Henerieta said; "If any 'BBQ Volunteers' can spare a hour or so each between 10am and 2pm that would be marvellous and really doesn't take up too much time to support the day!"  If friends want to do together that's fine.

Pitches are also available for local traders.

To volunteer, or for more information please contact Henrietta on: 07745 365558 - henri.mayfayre@gmail.com

Food Week reaches New Zealand!

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Local Milford on Sea residents, Chris and Alison Sanford decided a Food Week Bag would make a nice Christmas present for their adored god-daughter, Cassandra Fausett last Christmas.

Whilst many bags may have been banished to the back of a cupboard by now, Cassandra's is getting well used and advertising Milford on Sea Food Week in a far flung land.

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Cassandra lives in Auckland, and it is nice to see that she is happy to scale the heights of the airport sign to get the word out!

To save Chris and Alison struggling to decide on something from Milford on Sea as a gift for next Christmas, we think Cassandra's diligent work in the Southern Hemisphere has earned her a free Food Week Apron!

Get your Goodies!: If you would like a bag, apron or any other Food Week Goodes, please opop into the Village News newsagent, or look our for our pop up stalls at various Food Week events.

Tomatoes Invade The Needles

Label Designer-Imogen Scott
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Three tomatoes and a bottle of ketchup have taken over the Needles on the Isle of Wight as part of Milford-on-Sea Primary School’s entrepreneurial initiative to make its own 'school ketchup' for Milford on Sea Food Week.

Three giant tomatoes have replaced the Needles and the lighthouse is now a ketchup bottle as part of the winning design by Milford pupil, Imogen Scott (aged 9). 

The ketchup which has been designed and made in conjunction with Claire Lee, proprietor of Spice‘n’Easy (a Milford-based producer of fine pickles, chutneys and relishes), has enabled pupils to be involved in a product from start to finish.

The Winning Label Design
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Claire from Spice‘n’Easy commented; "The children tasted various ketchups and then collaborated to agree their preferred flavour option. It has been brilliant to have their feedback and I hope they enjoy selling their product in the village during Food Week. - Looking out for future entrepreneurs!”

Matthew Hill, Head Teacher at Milford-on-Sea Primary School said: “What an opportunity this has been for our children, they have been involved in every step of the way, from taste testing to selling the product themselves to local businesses. It has enabled them to get a hands-on learning experience, and an opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial skills in dealing with local business owners."

The great thing about this project is the way our progressive school and enthusiastic PFA support Parents Friends Association came up with the idea, and how the pupils are learning about product design, product production, direct sales, and profit and loss.

Surprising what you can get out of a few bottles of ketchup!

The School Ketchup will soon be on sale for £4.50 per bottle. Watch out for it in the village shops and all around Food Week - oh, and don't forget to buy some! - every penny of profit goes to our own village school.

Hollands Home Deliveries

One of the great delights of Milford on Sea is the excellent range of independent shops we have in our village centre. One of the busiest, and most popular, is Hollands of Milford, an independent family grocer and supermarket situated in the centre of the High Street.

Paul & Maureen Holland opened their independent village supermarket in 2000, and they now stock over 2500 Products, including all of the big brands you would expect to see elsewhere, and indeed everything you may need for your daily meals, naughty treats, kitchen cupboard stocks, household daily use and celebration times.

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They also love to support local suppliers and stock a tasty range of local New Forest Marque produce. Another delight is the cheese counter & cold meat delicatessen, which is hard to beat for miles around. You can even get your lottery tickets, although winners can’t be guaranteed!

It is likely that you have shopped there many times, and like me, have been amazed how much can fit into such a small space! I wonder however if you realise all that they do?

To keep you informed they have their website which tells you everything you need to know, and more importantly it carries all of their current Special Offers, so a regular look at the website could certainly save some of your well-earned cash. You can view the current Special Offers by clicking here.

Hollands of Milford certainly do their bit for the community, they constantly support village events and are always willing to help out wherever they can. Their Opening hours of Monday to Saturday: 7am until 8pm and Sunday: 8am until 7pm ensure they are open when you need them, and they offer so much more than your daily groceries, including a full Takeaway Service.

Paul’s van is a regular sight around the village as he makes his home deliveries, and yet another way Hollands serves our local village. The Home Delivery Service provides a convenient and friendly way of doing your shopping. Anyone can use the service, you can simply place your order by telephone for later collection, or for Paul to deliver by calling: 01590 641882. Now of course, you can also see all of the current special offers on the website to aid your shopping selections. Alternatively just pop in and select your own shopping and have it delivered. Delivery is free for all orders over £50.

If you are not familiar with the shop, you will find Hollands of Milford right in the centre of Milford on Sea High Street, next to the village green. The High Street has free parking, and there are also a pay & display car park in Sea Road, opposite the store.

A unique village shop offering so much deserves our support, and I for one will try and buy more locally across the village rather than using the large supermarkets. Why not join me, although best to come in when I am not there, I am pretty difficult to pass in the aisles!

Hollands of Milford
49 High Street, Milford on Sea, SO41 0QG
www.hollandsmilford.co.uk | Tel: 01590 641882 | hollandsmilford@aol.com

Cake Decorating for Adults

Food Week has a great opportunity to discover how to make the decorations on your cake look that little bit special.

Kate will get you hands-on to put her cake decoration techniques into practice. 

If this sounds fun to you, you are likely to enjoy the Hands on Cake Decorating with Kate Wall on Wednesday 30th March from 3pm to 5pm.

The cake is provided for you to decorate and you then get to take it home enjoy. 

The Two Hour Session costs: £15 and is being done in aid of Marie Curie. 

Closing date to book a place: Sunday 20th March - to allow your cakes to be made and all ingredients purchased. 

To book call Kate on: 01590 643059 or 07788 970933. 

Hands-On Cake Decorating for Adults

3pm to 5pm in the Cookery Theatre at South Lawn 

Max: 16 people - Limited places so book now!

Kayaking or Paddle Boarding for £5

To celebrate the opening of The New Forest Paddle Sport Company Ltd and their links with Hurst Castle, Sean Scott and his team are running a taster day at Hurst Castle on Friday the 8th April. 

For £5 you can have a 30 min instructor led Taster Session in kayaking or stand up paddle boarding at Hurst Castle! Your ticket also includes your ferry trip to and from the castle. Sessions are pre- book only and tickets available from their High Street shop. All under 18’s must be accompanied by an adult while on the water.

Tickets also available online with a extra 50p added for postage and admin costs - click here

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The New Forest Paddle Sport Company will also be running Castle Experience Tours on Saturdays from the 9th April through to October. Your tour will consist of a 2 hour instructor led paddle up the Keyhaven river to Hurst Castle where upon your arrival you will have access to the castle, lunch and a return ferry trip all included in your ticket price a truly fantastic day out! Adult tickets are £35 and child £25.

The New Forest Paddle Sport Company at 46 High Street, Milford on Sea, can also supply local surfers looking for spares such as fin screws - wax and more. 

Maybe you just want to mess around on the water as a family? The shop now stocks body boards to hire for £5 a day for those perfect messing around days at the beach!

For more information please check out:
www.thenewforestpaddlesportcompany.co.uk or visit the shop.

The New Forest Paddle Sport Company Ltd

46 High Street, Milford on Sea, SO41 0QD
01590 645270
info@thenewforestpaddlesportcompany.co.uk
www.thenewforestpaddlesportcompany.co.uk

Total Voice to feature in G4 Tour

Our own village choir have been chosen to back G4 on one of their UK tour gigs.

Acclaimed ‘pop opera’ quartet G4, runners-up in the very first X Factor series in 2004, have chosen Milford on Sea’s Total Voice Chamber Choir from dozens of contenders to appear with them at the Eastleigh date of their UK tour on Sunday 17th April at the Concorde Club.

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The choir, founded by Victoria Hopkins and Christine Mulgrew in 2012, will perform songs from their own repertoire and will join with G4 to sing rousing favourites such as Nessun Dorma, You’ll Never Walk Alone and Barcelona.

The organisers of the tour said they were ‘inundated with choirs’ applying to appear with the group. Choir Leader Victoria Hopkins said; "We are all very excited to be chosen to appear with G4. It’s a testament to how far our choir has come in the last few years that we have been given this opportunity".

Total Voice Chamber Choir can also be heard on Saturday, 5th March at the Milford on Sea Community Centre in aid of Milford’s Community Library, and on Wednesday, 30th March at the Beach House as part of Milford on Sea’s Food Week celebrations.

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The entire Total Voice Contemporary Choir are also performing during Food Week, with their 'Sing-along Choir Pub Crawl' at various village pubs.

Between 7pm to 9.30pm on Friday 1st April the full choir will be wending their way from The White Horse, to The Red Lion, and then The Smugglers Inn.

Hopefully they can get the choir singers out of each pub as they move along, and then at each venue they will burst into some rock and pop hits. You are welcome to join in a sing-along at the same time if you wish! 

I was considering making a guest appearance as a token pub crooner, but it is unlikely as, I can't sing and once I am in a pub it is really hard to get me out.

Total Voice

07769 332342

victoria@totalvoice.co.uk

www.totalvoice.co.uk

Hollands help Guide Dog Freda

Maureen Holland (L) presenting
cheque to Sue Darby (R)
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Thanks to a fantastic donation from our local independent village grocers, Hollands of Milford, The Freda Cheyney MBE Memorial Fund has now managed to reach their target of £2500 sponsor a Guide Dog for the Blind.

The plan is to name the puppy 'Freda' - and as things progress we will let you know how the puppy is doing 

Freda Cheney was a major village personality & heart of the community for many years. Freda lived locally for more than 80 years and in 2002 she was awarded the MBE for her renowned work with the Women’s Section of the local Royal British Legion, Milford Guides, charities and community events.

You can find out more about Freda by clicking here.

Want to Buy a Beach Hut?

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We normally stick to news on these pages, but when we were approached by a family with a beach hut for sale we thought there may be local people interested. Novelly, this one is still standing. So here goes:

Beach Hut No. 372 Hordle Cliff, Milford on Sea.
Front row, with deck, direct beach access and uninterrupted views to The Needles and the Isle of Wight. Adjacent to small steps, 100m from car park and café.

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Owned and loved by the family for over 25 years, now in need of a makeover, and it's time for someone else to create new memories. 

Rent paid for 2016. £21,000 o.n.o. 

Please call: Nigel on 07428 900293

Barnes Lane Tree Disappears

You may have noticed that a landmark tree has disappeared from the garden of Halnaker House in Barnes Lane.

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Sadly, it was discovered on a routine tree survey last year that the giant Monterey pine was dangerously diseased and a hazard to the public.

Homeowner, David Warrilow said: "We appreciate that the tree was quite a landmark, and will be missed by many members of the community, not least my tree-hugging wife."

David explained: "It was therefore necessary to fell the tree as soon as possible, which took a feat of organization in having both the road closed and the electricity turned off in the power cable adjacent the tree. Thanks to Agars Nursery in Hordle for managing to organize that so efficiently."

The work took around six hours, during which time approximately 30 tonnes of wood were removed from the site. From a count of the tree's rings we estimate that the tree was around 150 years old.

To record the event, David made a time lapse video recording of the tree being taken down, and this may be viewed by clicking here (short version), or clicking here (long version).

David said that he was initially stumped in choosing the music for the soundtrack, but he eventually settled on Bach. (Stumped..., Bark.., do you get it?!)

Food Week Shows Selling Out

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Food Week is proving more popular than ever this year, and the shows 'An Afternoon with Rosemary Shrager', and 'Only Fools and 3 Courses', are already sold out.

The other Celebrity Shows are also selling fast, so please get your tickets now by clicking here and avoiding disappointment. Tickets are also available from the Community Centre Box Office.  

If you are not planning to go to a show, there is still so much more you can enjoy - and many of the events are free!

During Food Week our village will be alive with Dining Offers and Themed Dining Evenings. The Professional Cookery Theatre at South Lawn Hotel will have Free Cooking Demonstrations, Educational Talks and Wine Tastings. There is also lots happening for the kids, and the large & very popular Sunday Food Market gives you a chance to savour the best of local produce and street food.

This year the Food Market has expanded, thanks to The Smugglers generously allowing Food Week to use their car park.

Everyone at every age is included in Food Week, and there are over 150 village events & shows, many of which are free, and all organised by local organisations, businesses, clubs and individuals.

Free Programmes are now around the village pubs and shops, so pick up a copy and come and enjoy!

MILFORD ON SEA FOOD WEEK

Bank Holiday Monday 28th March to Sunday 3rd April 2016

If you love food, you will love Food Week!

www.milfordfoodweek.org

Want to know more about Food Week? - please click here.

Join the Food Week Raffle Team

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As Food Week approaches, (not long now, all starts Easter Bank Holiday Monday 28th March 2016), the Food Week Raffle Team are looking for a few more volunteers to lend a hand.

The Raffle Team appear around Food Week, not only offering people raffle tickets, but also giving information and generally having a good time. You can do just a few hours, every little helps!

If you fancy joining the team, and meeting some new people in the village, please contact: Tricia Preston at: triciaepreston@yahoo.co.uk.

MILFORD ON SEA FOOD WEEK

Bank Holiday Monday 28th March to Sunday 3rd April 2016

If you love food, you will love Food Week!

www.milfordfoodweek.org

Want to know more about Food Week? - please click here.

The History of Our Hospital

As you visit Milford Medical Centre or Milford Pharmacy you are entering an important part of Milford on Sea history.

Milford on Sea War Memorial
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The Milford on Sea War Memorial Hospital was built by public subscription in memory of those from the village who died in the First World War. As you go in the main doors, if you turn left, you can can still see the village's official War Memorial on the wall.

The current hospital opened in 1929 and the inpatient facility closed in December 2006.

Today the Hospital League of Friends provides support to the health related services provided in the hospital, the Medical Centre and the community. This support can be financial, moral or physical such as the provision of volunteer helpers, provision of refreshments or fund raising events in order to provide resources not available from the Primary Care Trust.

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The Hospital League of Friends has organised the Milford Active Persons Light Exercise Group (MAPLE) which encourages people to undertake light exercise under the instruction of a qualified instructor. Two Groups are now in operation and the participants, with ages varying between the 60's and 90's enjoy and benefit from the exercises offered. Another initiative is the introduction of a bathing service at the hospital. Using parker baths, this service offers an opportunity to those who find it difficult to use the bath at home to enjoy a good soak in a safe environment,

If you wanted to find out more about the hospital's history, there is an excellent book available from The League of Friends entitled: 'Our Hospital'.

The League of Friends are always looking for volunteers, whilst not one of the most glamorous of volunteering opportunities in the village, it can be very rewarding, as they provide services that are so valuable to the more vulnerable in our community.

To find out more about volunteering, or to buy a copy of 'Our Hospital' please contact Julia below.

Milford Hospital League of Friends 
Julia Badham (Chairman)
jlbadham@yahoo.co.uk - 01590 645291
www.friendsofmilfordhospital.org.uk

New Marie Curie Fundraising Group

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Last Saturday a new Marie Curie Fundraising Group was launched for New Milton and Lymington (including Milford on Sea) to raise funds for Marie Curie.

The new volunteer fundraising group  met at the Marie Curie Charity Shop in New Milton on Saturday 20th February to celebrate the formal launch of the group with tea and cake. (Editors note: Any launch with cake sounds good to me!)

They then held their first business meeting to start planning forthcoming activities.

Their first event was at the Mini Exhibition held before the village Newcomers Supper, this will be followed by the Great Daffodil Appeal street collection in New Milton on Saturday 5th March. The Great Daffodil Appeal is the charity’s flagship campaign and encourages everyone to give a donation and wear a Marie Curie daffodil pin each spring.

The New Milton and Lymington Fundraising Group will raise vital funds so Marie Curie Nurses can continue to provide free care to people with terminal illnesses. They will do this through supporting Marie Curie’s major fundraising campaigns such as Dinner Down Memory Lane and The Blooming Great Tea Party, as well as promoting fundraising within the local community and encouraging new supporters to help the charity.

Sally Sansom, Community Fundraiser at Marie Curie, said: “The new Fundraising Group will make a huge difference by helping to raise the funds needed to support the local Marie Curie Nursing service. It is wonderful that local supporters have come together to help; several of whom already assist in our fantastic charity shops."

To join the local Fundraising Group, find out more about volunteering in the Marie Curie Shops or assist with the Great Daffodil Appeal, please call Community Fundraiser, Sally Sansom on 02380 263123 - sally.sansom@mariecurie.org.uk or visit the charity’s website: www.mariecurie.org.uk

A Special Evening for Newcomers

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The village ‘Newcomers Supper’ took place last Saturday (20th Feb 2016) in All Saints Church and Church Hall in Milford on Sea. 

All Newcomers to the village in 2015 were invited to this 'two part' welcome event. Around eighty people attended and received a warm welcome to their new home. The village is full of friendly people and the ‘Newcomers Supper’ is a fast-track way of getting to know a lot about our village life.

From around 6pm there was a ‘Mini Exhibition’ held inside All Saints' Church itself, where our new neighbours wandered around and informally meet representatives from the many clubs, associations & organisations in the village. 

The ‘Mini Exhibition’was then followed by a free sit down supper with the chance to meet other new people to the village and a variety of village people. (That's residents, not the old pop group!)

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This special annual evening was yet another success, with lots of fun and laughter, all of which ended in a communal rendition of the 'Milford Village song'. (Yes, there really is one!)

Ruth said: "I would like to thank everyone involved with the Newcomers Supper. The Exhibitors, the cooks, the kitchen workers, the Entertainers and best of all ‘the Newcomers’. You came - so we enjoyed showing you what a great village you have moved into. No excuse now to ever be bored, lonely or fed up. Join in with village activities, walk the Coast or the Dane stream, get involved with conserving this lovely village, use our shops and help to keep Milford on Sea a great place to live!  - Thank you so much everyone for helping to make this years Newcomers Supper such a success."

The ‘Newcomers Supper’ is funded & hosted by all of the churches in the village & tirelessly organised by Ruth Bufton and her team of enthusiastic volunteers.

Smiley Food Week Aprons

I managed to get my wife to model the Food Week Aprons that just arrived, but she insisted I didn't show her face in the photo. (Not sure if this is want she meant?!)

Anyway, the aprons are £5 each and in The Village News newsagent at the bottom of Milford on Sea village green now.

Elves deliver Food Week Programmes

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How do you get 20,000 Food Week Programmes, and 30,000 Food Week Flyers into the hands of foodies in the village and across the region from Christchurch to Lyndhurst and everywhere in between?

Well, the flyers are easy, we simply deliver them to a few warehouses and they get inserted in a variety of newspapers and magazines alongside Food Week advertisements and editorial articles.

Delivering to every house in the village, and providing all the restaurants, pubs, cafes and shops with programmes is a somewhat more challenging task.

Ultimately this is achieved by an amazing group of Food Week Volunteers, and additional help from Sue Whitlock and the Community Centre What's On Delivery Team.

Around 60 people are involved in total and the way people pull together is amazing.

The Food Week Volunteers collected their (heavy) boxes from our temporary warehouse (Tim's garage) in Barton and then set about getting the free Food Week Programmes to the villages commercial premises.

On Wednesday I arrived at the Community Centre at the agreed time of 11am. I was there to help prepare the bundles for people in the Whats On Delivery Team to collect to deliver to their allocated roads.

As I walked through the door the action was already underway, boxes of programmes were quickly being devoured and made into piles, which were then efficiently labelled. Within 15 minutes the entire task of preparing bundles to deliver to 3000 village houses was done. - and them another swarm of people arrived to start their deliveries! 

By the end of this week there will be very few local people who do not know what is happening in Food Week and all thanks to a grand group of volunteer elves.

A big thank you goes to everyone who has lent a hand - it is small efforts by many that makes events like these possible.

I understand that the elves have now returned to Santa's Workshop!

Good Samaritan for Mother in Law

Whilst no one was seen pushing my mother in law over (I was at home with my wife, honest), at around 10am on Tuesday a Good Samaritan walking his dog came to her aid as she laid spreadeagled and bleeding on the ground on Church Hill.

The story goes that she was heading back to her car after beauty treatment at Tu Sei Bella (my wife told me to say they she doesn't really need it - and I have been instructed not to comment), as she meandered along, she tripped over on the pavement outside the old HSBC bank building. 

She said she was heading to her car, but we all know that The Cave is in that direction.

After spectacularly breaking her fall with her chin and generally making a bloody mess of the pavement, with the help of a passer by she made it to her feet again. (Good job it rained later otherwise Dave Gates Butchers Shop may have been questioned.) 

The kind man on a dog walk even offered to walk her (and his dog) to the Medical Centre. Sadly, he did not give his name, but you know who you are and are very kind. She sends her belated thanks, as her mouth wasn't working too well at the time.

Naturally I am full of sympathy for my mother in law's plight and her swollen face, and like any dutiful son in law I was trying to find ways to help. The toffees I bought were apparently 'thoughtless' and the mask suggestion described as 'stupid'.

So, I found the ideal get well gift. I managed to get hold of some of the 'Tripping Hazard Signs' pictured above, Then, when she was out, I put up a number of the yellow signs at the top of her house stairs, above her bed, in the front garden and one on the side of her car for luck.

She hasn't thanked me yet, but I suspect it is because she can't say much as talking still hurts at the moment. (Every cloud has a silver lining!)

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My Mother in Law claims that she is normally steady on her feet, but I think that this old holiday snap from the 1970's tells different.

In fact, I would make a case that it runs in the family, and her daughter is no better as a picture below of her returning home from The Cave shows.

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Note to self  - buy mother in law some beauty vouchers for her birthday, she might need them more than ever now.

The Community Centre is Buzzing

If you have never ventured into Milford on sea Community Centre, you are missing out on a welcoming hive of activity.

There are a wide variety of classes and clubs to join, you can volunteer and meet lots of friendly new people, and of course there is entertainment of all types and styles.

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One good example is the ever popular Peter Snipp who is coming to the Community Centre on Saturday 28th February. 

When Peter last visited he did a quite amazing tribute to Matt Monro, this time he will be singing all of your favourite songs from West End Shows.

Similarly, Graffiti Classics have thrilled local audiences a number of times before, and are now back on Saturday 12th March. In fact, it is quite unusual for an act to be invited back so many times, must be because they provide such a great night out!

We could go on as there is so much happening, including showings of the latest films and live screenings of opera and ballet.

To see all that is happening and to book a fun night out, please visit: www.moscommunitycentre.org.uk or www.ticketsource.co.uk/milfordonseavcc