I am very happy to announce to the Milton Heritage Society Membership that Martin Axton has agreed to join our committee as the heritage research coordinator. Martin was born in New Milton and lived all his formative years in the New Milton Parish. His parents moved to Sea Road, Barton on Sea in 1952 where he attended St. Georges School in Highcliffe, and then in 1957 to High Ridge Crescent in Ashley where he attended Ashley Secondary School, where he was fortunate enough to be taught History by the late great Arthur Lloyd. Martin was inspired by Arthur Lloyd’s enthusiastic teaching, which made him decide to become a History teacher later in his career.
We want the Milton Heritage Society to be more than just a group who meet once a month for a talk and attend the occasional exhibition. The MHS wants to inspire and motivate it’s members to carry out their own research on local history or heritage matters. This can either be carried out as an individual or in groups. The Milton Heritage Society will offer guidance and support and will suggest methods of funding for the research. In some cases, the MHS will be able to provide some data and material to start the project off. It is hoped that members will also contribute skills and knowledge to the various research groups. It is intended that the material gathered by the groups will be written up and published on the MHS website and in the form of books or pamphlets. Martin Axton will coordinate and liaise with the groups. He is contactable via e mail: martinaxton@hotmail.com or via 01425 276971.
Some suggestions for future research topics are; The naming of our streets, a record of buildings of heritage merit in Milton Parish, Milton Parish in the two World Wars, the three bombings of New Milton, the fossils of the Barton Levels, the poor law and welfare in Victorian Milton, the railway station, literary connections to Milton Parish, education in Milton Parish through the ages, Marconi wireless experiments in Barton on Sea, the water tower, the Indian Army in Barton on Sea 1914-1915. We welcome your suggestions for interesting research topics.