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Tesco supermarket being built across the bypass, the news sheet rose to the occasion with full front page articles in three successive issues. Tesco withdrew. The proposals for a revamp of the Corn Market were eventually brought to fruition. Two issues led on the need for cycleways. There was a campaign to buy the former magistrates court from the county council and use it as a heritage centre. This time the chairman, through the magazine, was forthright in a promise to fight for the project. Sadly it failed.
But as well as the campaigns, the news sheet reflected Romsey’s sadness when the Royal Hampshire Regiment was amalgamated (Winter 1992), and Romsonians thronged the pavements as the soldiers marched through the marketplace and down The Hundred. There were memories of growing up in Church Court, near King John’s House, in the 1920s, with no heating, outdoor privies, and water from the nearby stream used for household tasks. The garden surrounding King John’s House was created by a band of willing volunteers, many of them from the RDS, who worked hard for three years before the garden was opened in 1995.
There were several ‘themed’ issues: the cinema, 150 years of the railway coming to Romsey, and the beginnings of the Signal Box project.
Others featured Museums (especially the Mead Mill Museum), Tourism (plusses and minuses), the Arts, Music, Christmas. And of course, in 1999 the Society’s 25th anniversary. The Borough Council’s design brief for the development of the Brewery site was published, with input from the Society and to their approval (with reservations!).
Overall, a lot was achieved in the ten years, even though several of the Society’s ideas and concerns were not taken up. It had built a reputation for making well thought out proposals and objections, and a reasonable and constructive approach to the issues facing the community.
But as well as the campaigns, the news sheet reflected Romsey’s sadness when the Royal Hampshire Regiment was amalgamated (Winter 1992), and Romsonians thronged the pavements as the soldiers marched through the marketplace and down The Hundred. There were memories of growing up in Church Court, near King John’s House, in the 1920s, with no heating, outdoor privies, and water from the nearby stream used for household tasks. The garden surrounding King John’s House was created by a band of willing volunteers, many of them from the RDS, who worked hard for three years before the garden was opened in 1995.
There were several ‘themed’ issues: the cinema, 150 years of the railway coming to Romsey, and the beginnings of the Signal Box project.
Others featured Museums (especially the Mead Mill Museum), Tourism (plusses and minuses), the Arts, Music, Christmas. And of course, in 1999 the Society’s 25th anniversary. The Borough Council’s design brief for the development of the Brewery site was published, with input from the Society and to their approval (with reservations!).
Overall, a lot was achieved in the ten years, even though several of the Society’s ideas and concerns were not taken up. It had built a reputation for making well thought out proposals and objections, and a reasonable and constructive approach to the issues facing the community.
