The Strange Case of the Missing Cyclist

Joyce and I caught the 9.48 from Brighton to Havant, with Roger joining at Hove. On the journey the conversation ranged impressively from the Council’s committee system to historical novels, history of science, whether we are the same person as our younger selves, the Buddhist view of the self, belief in life after death, and many other things besides that I have forgotten. We also learned that Joyce’s daughter had been arrested the previous day opposing an impromptu EDL march, but released without charge several hours later. Roger explained that he had arranged an especially extended train journey purely to allow all these things to be discussed!

At Havant, there were Union Jacks all over the place – this being the diamond jubilee of some overprivileged old parasite – and Prince Charles himself was on hand to greet us, although I did notice that “he” was wearing a rather fetching miniskirt. We waited for the later train, but no Clarionette alighted. We had had apologies from Leon (who has just had his operation – get well soon Leon!), Suzanne (still marking exam papers) and Angela (“some text missing”) and, given the weather forecast, we were not expecting many (although Roger reported that sunshine was forecast just in the region of Hayling Island!) But Ian had said he was coming (by car) – where was he? I had a look at the car park but he wasn’t there. Eventually we three set off along the “Hayling Billy” path, the route of the old branch line from Havant Station to Hayling. The rain did not come, and there were even patches of blue sky; it was, however, rather windy.

On the way, Roger got a missed call from Ian but when he tried to call back, Ian’s phone was switched off. Joyce rang Sue to check whether Ian had left for the ride (he had). Eventually Sue must have got worried and called the police, as Joyce was contacted by them to find out if he’d turned up. Several further phone calls ensued – some involving Ian’s daughter, Chloe – but no Ian appeared. We assumed his car had broken down or he was stuck in traffic.

When we reached Langstone Quay, where the bridge to the island starts, Joyce and I waited while Roger went back to the station to look for Ian. We noticed a bench dedicated to a young man who had died in 2010 at the age of 30; a bunch of flowers had been left there with the message “I know you will be at the family barbecue today …” In view of our conversation on the train, this seemed quite ironic.

Roger returned with no Ian. We rode on, over the bridge and down the Billy path. (This was the opposite direction to our last Hayling ride).

We saw windsurfers, and, at the south end of the island there were big houses and more flags, and an unlikely-looking Regency terrace to which Roger drew our attention.

We had a look at the “pleasure beach”, and saw lots of sailing boats taking advantage of the wind.

On the way northwards to the “Maypole” pub, Joyce had another call from Chloe to say that Ian was waiting for us at the pub – and indeed he was. (Ian tells his side of the story in a separate note below).

Lunches were generous and timely. Having exhausted the more intense and profound topics of conversation on the train, after hearing Ian’s story we talked instead about photos of rides, and agreed to open a new “Pro” Flickr account for the Clarion to get round recent problems with “disappearing” photos. (Apologies to other officers who were not there, but we felt we had a quorum and it was not particularly controversial).

The return to Langstone Bridge took us as near as possible to the east side of the island, but no roads actually go right to the sea. We said goodbye to Ian and then made for Emsworth, where we had tea at the Flintstones Tearoom. There is a large mill pond here (complete with full complement of resident swans, ducks and gulls) which was part of an old tide mill. (Why is the phrase “tide mill” always preceded by the word “old”? Seems like a very modern idea to me).

Thanks Roger for a lovely ride, and thanks to Planet Earth for arranging nice weather just for us. Those who didn’t come – well, you don’t know what you missed. Oh, well, actually, you do now.

Jim

Ian adds:

It wasn’t, pace Jim, the dog that didn’t bark in the night but the phone that wasn’t on in the morning. What Holmes would have made of it is anyone’s guess. This is what happened. I arrived at the Havant station car park with more than half an hour spare — but discovered that the parking ticket machines only took credit or debit cards — not something I usually bring on cycle rides, and anyway who’s ever heard of paying ?2 (the Sunday parking fee) with a card? The station itself was no help — seemed deserted by humankind, so I left the car park hoping to find somewhere fairly nearby where I could park without risking being clamped and fined. No luck. Then I hit on what I thought at the time was a brilliant idea

There’s only one way to get onto (or off) Hayling island — a very long bridge. If I could find somewhere to park near it I could join the ride there. I managed the first bit OK and then waited for quite a while at the southern end of the bridge. I tried to phone Roger twice but when it went to recorded messages I came to the (erroneous) conclusion that either the telefonino was switched off which suggested that they’d already left the station and started the ride.

When no herd of Clarionettes came over the bridge after twenty minutes or so I then concluded (wrongly again) that I had not been quick enough finding a parking place near the bridge and they had already gone of down the “Billy Railway” trail — which is one of the only two bits I remembered from Roger’s ride description. So, after debating whether to just call it a day and go home, and deciding against that, I set off down the trail myself — believing the Clarion group were miles ahead of me. As usual I turned my mobile off. Reaching the bottom end of the island without finding them I had a look at my OS map to see if I could locate the other thing I thought I remembered (not 100% sure) the pub chosen for the lunch stop. Couldn’t find the name — but there was one likely pub marked with a little blue tankard some distance up the main road back to Havant. It turned out to be the Maypole. No one there — perhaps still exploring a much longer route than the one I’d taken. So, equipping myself with a half of bitter I sat outside to wait.

After some time had passed I decided to try Roger again —turned the phone on — got a text message asking me to phone home urgently — and discovered I’d spread alarm (and even a modicum of despondency) far and wide. Sussex and Hampshire police were looking out for me as a missing person after Joyce had phoned home to see if I’d set out for Havant. So everyone was worried — not least Sue and Chloe. I’m really sorry about that. My C20 attitude to mobile phones — only to be switched on when about to make a call or expecting to receive one is partly to blame — but why have parking ticket machines that only take credit cards? Still, as Jim says, we were very lucky with the weather — sunny for most of the time and no rain at all. Let’s hope its fine on Bloomsday!

Ian

Nick and Margaret Harper will demonstrate the meditative and healing properties of sound, using various instruments including singing bowls, gongs and other sources of vibration. Nick and Margaret have been to Havant before and their demo was very popular, those who were there say it will be an evening not to be missed.

Entrance is £3 on the door. The evening starts at 7.00 - so make sure you are there in good time.

For our Sunday service on 29 April, the guest speaker is Ben Gator.

Everyone is welcome.

Lovely merino wool, waiting to be turned into felt balls!

You just can’t beat buying local. Not only could I see the true colours of the lovely merino wools that I picked but I could also have a chat with the lovely lady who owns the shop and get her advice on how much wool I would need per ball. I also couldn’t help having a peek at all the other lovely things that she sells and I found a lovely reel of flecked twine for £1.50.

The French Knot studio is a colourful treasure trove for any lover of textiles, they have so many supplies including buttons, ribbons, sari yarns, felt and a lovely selection of books and magazines to inspire you. As if that wasn’t tempting enough they also sell online and have a loyalty card for shop purchases. There is also a wool shop opposite and it would be rude not to pop in there too!

In May we are holding our Open Day with all the usual offerings, especially aimed at those who wish to find out more about the religion, philosophy and science of Spiritualism. Bring a friend, too. Check out the newsletter for details.

Community leaders spoke of their concerns about congestion and parking as plans for 79 homes at Brockhampton went on show.

Developer Orchard Homes wants to build 64 houses and 15 flats on green space to the south of Ranelagh Road, an area once used for allotments.

The meeting at Havant’s council chamber heard the land had been identified as an area that could accommodate 160 homes – and this could be phase one.

Havant Borough Council have already shown that they don’t care about local residents views by their continuing development approvals. They just play lip service to residents comments at review meetings. In the last couple of years every possible piece of greenfield that has been earmarked for development has gone through. The traffic problems brought about by this rampant development just get worse. This particular development will bring an extra 150 to 400 vehicles passing in and out of the area and will of course require somewhere to park.

Paul Basham, a transport consultant for the developers, told the meeting: ‘We are aware there is an existing problem there.

‘What we can do about this is a difficult situation.

‘We are working with Havant Borough Council to see what we can do, if anything.’

People’s comments will now be taken forward as developers work up a formal planning application.

Don’t hold your breath folks. The planners won’t have to live with their decisions. Nor will Paul Basham who says

‘We are working with Havant Borough Council to see what we can do, if anything.’

The implication there is that they will proceed regardless of if they can provide a solution thereby exacerbating the problem.
Warning that congestion woes could get worse – Local – The News.

With all said and done what a great team performance too. Connor the rock in defence (or Python as he prefers to be called), Ella’s versatility, Emily Curwood’s sheer determination, Matthew’s will-to win, Morgan’s dependability, Poppy’s goal scoring tenacity, Emily Nelson’s debut, and not least Grace Taylor’s theme-tune ability … like her Dad, a see a career behind the microphone too!

This resulted in 4 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss … Goals scored 11 and 5 conceded. 6 for Ollie and 5 for Poppy. I am undoubtedly a lucky person to coach this great bunch of kids.
Jon Keynes

Havant Golds
Sam, Luke, James, Dougie, Jonas, Richard, Dan Hart, Ben (hopefully Jevan too)

Havant Greens
Harriet, Elsa, Judith, Amelie, Elin, Aimee, Matilda, Eleanor

If anyone is missing and wants to play, or is named above and cant play, let us know. We may have Liberty guesting for us too.

Registration 9.30 Start 10 am will finish around 12.30

Havant Hawks with coach Jon Keynes
Connor Lasrado, Grace Taylor, Emily Nelson, Matthew Walton, Emily Curwood, Ella Saunders, Morgan Sturt, Oliver Keynes, Poppy Herbert

Havant Harriers with coach Peter Symonds
Hugh Jones, Drew Griffin, Grace Loveridge, Freddie Waktare, Tara Bell, Oliver Rickard, Sophie Jennings, Charlie Robertsonm Claudia Bishop

Please can you confirm by Thursday 22nd March. In case of unavailabity or drop outs we may call on Ruth Harvey or Liberty Allison.

We are also putting together teams for the John Wright tournament at Havant on the 1st April. Please can you let me know if you are unavailable for this one. At present this includes Poppy Wright and Grace Taylor. I will put out teams for this tournament on Monday 26th March. At this stage we would also like to include for this one: Alex Mitra, Lauren Johnson, Abbie Brader, Liberty Allison

Bye for now.

Martin

Havant Boys were unbeaten on the day squeezing past Portsmouth, drawing with Chichester, beating the Havant girls and then putting 3 goals past Chichester in the final. Worth noting that Elsa scored a couple of cracking goals for the girls and Elin and Amelie both made some superb tackles to stop certain goals.

The photos in the gallery below show that hockey was the winner, but medals were awarded by Olympian David Faulkner according to the finishing table which ended …

Gold – Havant Boys
Silver – Chichester
Bronze – Portsmouth
Platinum – Havant Girls

• View Gallery •

I should not have doubted my own powers of telepathy…because, on Friday, the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, made a clutch of announcements about public dialogue to mark the start of National Science and Engineering Week.  These include the award of a £3.6 million contract to a joint bid from the British Science Association, AEA Technology, and Involve (that’s the other(!) Involve) to manage the next phase of the Sciencewise Expert Resource Centre for Public Dialogue in Science and Innovation project.  Bit of a mouthful that, isn’t it?

There’s more on the announcement on Vince Cable’s blog .  But for a a little insight behind the headlines, check out Simon Burrall’s blog – Simon is Director of the aforementioned ‘Involve’ and has written an excellent piece about what they will be doing.  The Citizens Group, involving people in the governance of the programme, looks a good initiative.  Neither the British Science Association or AEA Technology have anything up on their sites yet so I am tempted to say Simon has his work cut out (that sounds a lot meaner than it is intended to be).

I think the Science Minister, David Willetts, – who earlier today was opening a cold storage unit in Havant – has been saying more in a speech this afternoon at the Centre for Science and Policy(CSP) .  CSP will also have a hand in delivering ScienceWise  I believe (well, I did say on Saturday they were ‘the’ organisation to watch).

So let’s hope the ice has frozen and things really are moving again on the public dialogue front.

Go to the Newsletter Selection page or cut straight to the chase …

We went to do my Mum’s shopping and then our own. Havant is barely more attractive than Gosport; a town far removed from what it seemed to be when I was an infant and a teen but don’t places seem different, more charming, more comforting to the child than the adult? The adult mind is coloured by experience and wearied by cynicism. I found the news of forthcoming increases in Havant car parking charges unsurprising but the arithmetic in the article about them in The News far more disturbing. I have written a letter explaining that a change from 60p to £1 is not an increase of 40%.

I probably should be calmer at my age but I still find certain irritants raise my blood pressure at least metaphorically. Sometimes I can tolerate the institutional ineptitude of the Highways Agency but rarely the laxity of Tesco. That will come as no surprise to regular readers. Today, 9 days after my last comments, the telephone line at the North Harbour filling station still has not been mended. Apparently an engineer ‘has been called’. It is not obvious where he is travelling from or by what method.

A highlight of a deteriorating visit to Gosport was one of our occasional visits to Ashtons. This competent cafe near the Ferry Gate offers an excellent breakfast and, today, a good lunch. I really enjoyed a chicken stir-fry enhanced with two sausages from Greg’s breakfast. I am looking forward to a concert tomorrow by ‘Blood Red Sky’, a U2 tribute band containing, much to my recent surprise, two of my colleagues. I am looking forward equally to dinner, a Thai meal, with one of my other colleagues, a charming person and his lovely wife.

We are trying something different. We have published every quarter until now, but in order to keep the news and events current, we will be publishing every month. We hope you enjoy it.

What was less certain was the person chairing the service, me! Talk about thrown in the deep end! The night before we had a late evening phone call to say the person who was chairing was in hospital having an operation on her badly smashed shoulder, having fallen during the day.

‘Could I get there in time to take over the duty?’, the president asked. Well, as last reserve I didn’t have an option.

After a short faff with the hearing aid loop, we got things under way. The evening went well and I survived to chair another day. But for those who came, thank you for your patience, and your good humour which ensured the evening went well. Thanks also to Ron, for making the job easy.