Midhurst Magazine : Issue 29, April 2019

This magazine is published twice a year by The Midhurst Society.  It includes articles of historical interest, details of public talks, and occasional book reviews, poems, and quizzes. Primarily, it presents updates on news items that affect the lives of the people of Midhurst and surrounding area.  The Society is active in projects and campaigns that will help make Midhurst a better place to live, work and enjoy.  This issue covers the controversial decision by Chichester DC to sell the Grange Site for the development of a residential care home; the contentious decision by Westminster to appoint an inspector to look at the exclusion of sand quarrying from the SDNP Local Plan; the response by The Society to the Inspector's Report recommending the inclusion of several sites in the Local Plan.  Also included: the community initiative to buy the Blue Bell in Cocking, to be run as a Community Hub - including pub, cafe, restaurant, shop and post office; the community initiative to purchase Dunford House, one-time home of the Victorian social reformer Richard Cobden; a campaign to improve ambulance response times; and the donation by The Society of a defibrillator, sited in busy North Street.  There is an examination of the rumour that Goering and von Ribbentrop  once stayed at The Spread Eagle; a day in the life of Marina Cowdray; and a meandering tour of Midhurst by local historian Bridget Howard.