Herald - Issue 403

v THE NEXT HERALD IS OUT ON 1ST APRIL v 11th March 2021 • The HERALD • Page 61 AUTOPAT A Family Business Established since 1982 PROMPT & EFFICIENT v Servicing v Mechanical Repairs v MOT’s - Petrol & Diesel v Air Conditioning Service Unit 3, Hardley Ind. Est., Hythe 023 8084 0163 FAWLEY GARAGE SERVICE - PARTS - M.O.T.’S ALL MAKES OF VEHICLE SERVICED AND REPAIRED • D iagnostic F ault F inding • T yres - F itting & B alancing • L aser T racking FAWLEY 8089 1057 THE VILLAGE, CALSHOT ROAD, FAWLEY Send your local news to The Editor, The Herald, 2 High Street, Hythe SO45 6AH or email editor@herald-publishing.co.uk A DEEP HOLE TO FILL Councils across England have been allocated their share of £500 million for highways maintenance, with the funding expected to fix the equivalent of 10 million potholes across the country. It is the second instalment from the £2.5 billion Potholes Fund, providing £500 million a year between 2020/21 and 2024/25, announced by the Chancellor in the 2020 Budget – and is part of wider funding the Department provides for road maintenance, totalling over £1.1 billion across England in 2021/22. With the average pothole costing around £50 to ll in, the funding will ensure that the equivalent of 10 million potholes can be repaired, making thousands of local roads both safer and easier to drive and cycle on. Transport Minister Baroness Vere said: “We know potholes are more than just a nuisance – they can be dangerous to drivers and cyclists alike, and cause damage to thousands of vehicles every year. The funding allocated will help councils ensure roads in their area are kept up to standard, and that the potholes that blight road users can be dealt with promptly.” e Department has already invested heavily in pothole lling since 2015, including the £296 million Pothole Action Fund which ran from 2015/16 – 2020/21. It also topped up highway maintenance investment in 2018 with a one-o £420 million boost to all highway authorities in England, including London. Rotary Club of Fordingbridge An interesting talk was delivered to Fordingbridge Rotary members, via the medium of Zoom, on Tuesday 9th February. e speakers were Malcolm and Eileen Pickett of the ‘Hearing Dogs for Deaf People’ organisation. Eileen is deaf and the bene ciary of a ‘hearing dog’. Malcolm explained all about the training that these dogs go through, including what they are trained to do, and what they are not trained to do. Dogs are trained to alert deaf people to important and life-saving sounds that they would otherwise miss like the doorbell, re alarms and even alarm clocks. Additionally, the dogs are trained to give a deaf person a newfound sense of independence, con dence, and companionship. e organisation has matched thousands of dogs carefully with deaf people. e dogs are retired at the princely age of 11, and each partner o en elects to keep the former hearing dog as a pet. e cost of training, supporting, and placing these hearing dogs is around £40,000 per dog, and the organisation relies heavily upon volunteers, support, and donations. For more information, please get in touch: www. hearingdogs.org.uk or D erek Ayling on : hippotrain@ btinternet.com. To discover more about the Fordingbridge Rotary, visit: www.fordingbridge- rotary.org.uk Young beneficiary with her faithful Hearing Dog companion