WHILE most of us have been enjoying a glorious bank holiday weekend basking in the sunshine, spare a thought for the ice-cream sellers who have been working flat out to cool us down.

As temperatures reached a sizzling 22 degrees yesterday and on Sunday, ice-cream sellers across the county were reporting record highs.

Compared with the washouts of last year’s bank holidays, three days of continuous good weather made ideal conditions for icecream consumption – and sellers were making the most of it.

At one of the county’s biggest producers, New Forest Ice Cream, staff were working furiously to keep their outlets stocked up. A whopping 18 tonnes of ice-cream was sold yesterday alone.

Managing director Lawrie Jenman said: “A sunny bank holiday always means good ice-cream sales and we have been working around the clock to keep up with demand.We were due a good run of weather after the washouts of last year so this has been a fantastic few days for us.”

Queues were reported at key locations across Hampshire with the New Forest Ice Cream kiosk at Moors Valley Country Park inundated with customers.

Meanwhile, bosses of Winchester-produced Jude’s ice-cream were expecting sales to be up by a third due to the good weather.

Their kiosk at Marwell Zoo was also reporting bumper sales.

The firm is also preparing to launch a new range of ices in time for the summer season, with sorbets including locally-sourced elderflower and rhubarb set to hit the shelves.

Producers did well to sell while the sun shone as the week’s weather is set to go downhill, with even the possibility of gale-force winds along the south coast tomorrow.

However, the sunshine is forecast to make a welcome return come Friday, with fine weather set to bathe the south coast in sunshine throughout next weekend.

The good weather also made for a busy bank holiday for the emergency services, but although the Coastguard reported dealing with numerous calls, most were for brokendown vessels.

No incidents of so-called tombstoning, where people jump off bridges and walls into water, were reported, while hospital staff at Southampton General Hospital said that there had been no major influx of weather-related injuries.