FAMILIES PLEAD: STOP THE NOISE
Date Published: Tuesday 28 October 2003

FURIOUS and frustrated residents have criticised Esso Fawley Refinery bosses for failing to solve a noise nightmare that has blighted their lives for almost two years. The company has admited that the £2m it invested in a new silencer has failed to stop the problem. Families in the villages of Hardley and Holbury, which boarder the giant complex, are still plagued by a deafening din.

FIREMAN IN FATAL CRASH
Date Published: Thursday 04 September 2003
FIREFIGHTERS summoned to a Hampshire road accident were horrified to discover one of their own colleagues lying dead in the wreckage. Shaun Hale, 21, was killed yesterday when his car careered off the A326 at Holbury, smashed into a lamp post and burst into flames. In a cruel twist of fate, Mr Hale's colleagues from nearby Hardley fire station were called out to the accident.

My father was victim of MRSA
Date Published: Tuesday 02 September 2003
A HOSPITAL today defended itself following the death of a Hampshire pensioner who contracted the MRSA bug after a routine operation. Grandfather of ten Donald Willis, 77, was admitted to Southampton General Hospital two months ago after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.

My terror as man kicked at door
Date Published: Thursday 28 August 2003
A NEW Forest woman has spoken of the moment of fear when she was confronted in her own back garden by a man with severe learning difficulties. The incident happened at Hardley between Hythe and Fawley when Carol Biffin was cutting flowers in the back garden of her cottage. She was alerted to the stranger by the barking of her dogs.

Hands off our school
First published on Thursday 26 June 2003
TWO former governors' chairmen last night rallied to the cause of a threatened infant school as a packed meeting made an overwhelming plea to Hampshire County Council to keep it open. The Manor Infant School at Holbury, near Fawley, is one of several in the Totton and Waterside areas which are being put under the spotlight of an educational review with closures as a possible option because of decreasing numbers of primary school pupils.

Dramatic changes as theatre group takes new name
First published on Monday 16 June 2003
THE Esso Music & Drama Group has changed its name of 50 years to the Waterside Theatre Company - and is looking for new members.

HELP US BEAT THE VANDALS
First published on Tuesday 27 May 2003
FURIOUS residents are demanding extra police patrols in Waterside villages after drink-fuelled vandals went on a bank holiday rampage. Wreckers caused thousands of pounds of damage by smashing telephone kiosks, traffic lights and shop windows in Blackfield and Holbury.

SAVE OUR SCHOOL
First published on Tuesday 20 May 2003
BATTLE lines have been drawn up in a bid to fight the possible closure of one of the New Forest's newest schools. The Manor Infant School at Holbury near Fawley was opened as recently as 1981. But it is already one of a small group of schools earmarked for possible closure because of the falling birthrate and falling roll numbers.

HUNT FOR VANDALS
First published on Wednesday 26 March 2003
THE hunt was under way today for the vandals who caused tens of thousands of pounds' worth of flooding damage to a New Forest school. The flooding brought down ceilings and ruined carpets at a Hardley School.

Call to slash accident toll
First published on Wednesday 29 January 2003
HIGHWAY chiefs are being urged to cut the accident toll on a Waterside road that has seen 29 crashes in the past three years. At least three people have been seriously injured in a spate of collisions on Long Lane, Holbury, between the Hardley roundabout and Kennels Corner.