Five stories from the South you may have missed

Stories about school pupils searching for their teddy bear after he was launched into space and the sale of a private island were among this week’s popular reads.

We have picked five from the past seven days across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Berkshire and Oxfordshire to keep you up to date.

Plans to transform a ferry terminal on the Isle of Wight have been given the go-ahead.

Red Funnel’s proposal for the redevelopment of its port in East Cowes include a new terminal building, automated check-in and a new marshalling yard with capacity for more than 350 vehicles.

The ferry operator said the redevelopment was the “foundation of a new era of reliable, sustainable travel”.

Isle of Wight Council’s planning committee granted conditional permission for the plans as well as an outline proposal for up to 30 homes, a flexible commercial space and an 80-bedroom hotel.

A water company has lifted a hosepipe ban that came into force four months ago.

Thames Water’s restriction covered 1.1m customers, mainly in Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.

The firm said restrictions could end because of above-average rainfall, as well as customers’ efforts to conserve supplies.

However, it said people should continue to “use water wisely” to allow reservoirs to fill up for the summer.

A private island in the River Thames has been sold for £99,470.

Hallsmead Ait, a triangular island or eyot in Berkshire, lies close to Shiplake Lock in Oxfordshire.

Agent Savills said it was a unique opportunity to own the vacant 1.9-hectare (4.7-acre) island, which is wooded and has its own landing pontoon.

Entrepreneur Jamie Waller, who put the island up for sale, said previously that it “offers something truly rare – a self-contained island retreat located in one of England’s most desirable riverside settings”.

School pupils are trying to track down a teddy bear sent flying into the upper atmosphere for a science experiment.

Bradfield Bear was launched on a high-altitude weather balloon from Lymington, Hampshire, two weeks ago by Year 7 and 8 students at Walhampton School alongside the Southampton University Spaceflight Society.

The little bear, along with the university team’s toy badger Bill, soared up above the clouds and reached the stratosphere but then broke off from the balloon, and it is believed to have landed somewhere near Henley-on-Thames or Reading.

The weather balloon and the badger were safely recovered in a field near High Wycombe.

Volunteers rebuilding a section of railway ripped up in the 1960s are celebrating after witnessing a locomotive cross the station bridge for the first time in nearly 60 years.

Shillingstone station in Dorset closed in 1966 but, in 2005, a group of locals took on the lease and began restoration work, initially opening a museum and cafe.

In July, North Dorset Railway completed a four-year project to double the length of the track to half a mile (0.8km), with the aim of one day offering brake van rides to museum visitors.

On Saturday, the volunteers braved the rain to see the Hudswell Clarke diesel cross the newly renovated bridge over Bere Marsh.