LymeOnline Digital Edition - October 30 2020

Meet the reception classes of 2020!

SCHOOL RECEPTIO CLASS PH N O SPECIAL O TO N PAGE 10

LymeOnline

FREE

WEAR YOUR POPPY WITH PRIDE THIS REMEMBRANCE ● FORTNIGHTLY ● OCTOBER 30 2020 ● www.lyme-online.co.uk

Wearing red against racism

FORMER RAF NURSE JOAN CELEBRATES 101st BIRTH DAY PA GE 12

No child should go hungry in school holidays DORSET Council says it is working with local voluntary organisations to ensure no children go hungry during the half-term break, as well as making arrangements for the Christmas and New Year holiday.

Following the government’s recent decision not to extend free school meal vouchers through the holidays, Dorset Council is working to ensure those who usually rely on the provision get the help they need.

REPORT, PAGE 2

Seafront roof revamp not up to scratch

ON Friday, October 16 students of the Woodroffe School in Lyme Regis participated in the Wear Red Day campaign in an attempt to ‘show racism the red card’, swapping their usual navy blue blazers for red clothing. During October, they have also engaged in activities in support of Black History Month, bringing to a close a successful first half term back in school following the national coronavirus lockdown. See page 8 for full story.

Expenses dispute

COUNCIL REFUSES TO PAY COSTS INCURRED BY STAFF WORKING FROM HOME LYME Regis Town Council has refused to cover additional expenses incurred by staff working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

The town council’s office staff have been working largely from

FRANCESCA EVANS

francesca@lyme-online.co.uk

home since lockdown measures were first implemented in March.

The easing of restrictions allowed them to return on a rota basis during summer, but the office was closed again in September on

advice of the government.

To cover additional expenses incurred by employees while working from home, such as increased electricity, gas and water bills, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has agreed that a tax-free payment equivalent to about £300 a year can be paid to

those working from home during the pandemic.

As it is difficult to establish the exact expenses incurred by working from home, HMRC has suggested a flat rate allowance of £6 a week, or £26 a month, be paid by employers without evidence to CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

QUESTIONS have been raised over the quality of work on the newly-resurfaced flat roof area above Marine Parade in Lyme Regis The work cost the town council £650,000 but a resident complained during last week’s meeting that it was already pooling water.

REPORT, PAGE 8

Stylish win for Seasiders LYME Regis 1st’s much-awaited return to the Davey Fort was celebrated last Saturday with a display of fast-moving football and clinical finishing, resulting in a 9-0 victory over Dawlish United.

REPORT, PAGE 24

TAKING CARE OF YOUR LEGAL NEEDS Practice Management Standard

Law Society Accredited

Axminster 01297 32345

• Buying & Selling g Property • Business Issues s • Agricultural Issues • Wills • Powers w of At Attorrney • Trusts & Estate es • Matrimonial and d Family • Resolving Dispu utes • Negligence Claims • Employment • Debt Recovery

Ch ard 0 1 4 6 0 6 3 33 6

www.scottrowe.co.uk

Lyme Regis 0 1 2 9 7 4 43 7 77

YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER & WEBSITE OFFERING UNRIVALLED COVERAGE OF LYME REGIS, UPLYME & CHARMOUTH

2 Friday, October 30 2020

www.lyme-online.co.uk

LymeOnline

Published by Lyme Regis Media Limited Hyper-local website and fortnightly newspaper serving the communities of Lyme Regis, Uplyme & Charmouth.

Unit 5 Uplyme Business Park, Uplyme Road, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3LS www.lyme-online.co.uk edit@lyme-online.co.uk Facebook: facebook.com/LymeOnlineUK Twitter: twitter.com/LymeOnlineUK Instagram: instagram.com/lymeonline Editor: Francesca Evans francesca@lyme-online.co.uk 07810 221 420 Contributors: Philip Evans philip@lyme-online.co.uk Richard Austin edit@lyme-online.co.uk Production: Jackie Evans jackie@lyme-online.co.uk

LymeOnline is a proud member of

LymeOnline and the Environment

LymeOnline recognises climate change and environmental concerns as one of the most important current issues faced by our local community and across the globe.

We are committed to continued, fair and accurate reporting of environmental news and events, as well as taking action to reduce our own impact on the environment.

Print and paper is used by news media publishers to produce their print titles. Newsprint is uncoated paper, made out of mechanical pulp or waste paper, which is used to produce newspapers.

Newspapers are not responsible for rainforest depletion; the hardwoods from tropical rainforests are simply not suitable for newsprint production.

Newsprint is an environmentally sound, renewable resource which comes from managed softwood coniferous forests, mainly in North America and Europe. For every tree cut down, two or three more are planted. Between 2005 and 2015 European forests grew by 44,160 sqkm.

The newspaper industry has a voluntary agreement with the government on the recycled content of UK newspapers, which is supported by our printers Newsquest, which is committed to purchasing newsprint responsibly to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve resources In 1991, the UK publishers set a target of achieving 40 per cent recycled content in newspapers by the year 2000. The industry met this target four years ahead of schedule.

In 2018, the recycled paper content of UK newspapers was 69.2 per cent.

Re-use or recycle your copy of LymeOnline when you have finished reading it!

‘No child should go hungry’ in Dorset this winter DORSET Council says it is working with local voluntary organisations to ensure no children go hungry during the half-term break, as well as making arrangements for the Christmas and New Year holiday.

Following the government’s recent decision not to extend free school meal vouchers through the holidays, Dorset Council is working to ensure those who usually rely on the provision get the help they need.

Cllr Andrew Parry, portfolio holder for Children, Education, Skills and Early Help at Dorset Council, said: “No child should go hungry, and Dorset Council has arrangements in place to help provide food for struggling families.

Any family struggling at this time can either contact us directly on 01305 221000 or Dorset Citizen’s Advice on Freephone 0800 144 8848. We will ensure they get the help they need.”

The council says it has been working with local volunteers, food banks and community groups throughout the COVID pandemic to ensure a network of support is in place for vulnerable people.

“We are hugely grateful to these volunteers, groups and local businesses for the support they provide within communities,” said Cllr Parry.

“Where access to food for struggling families is not available in a particular area, we are funding emergency food parcels through the Volunteer Centre Dorset. The

BY FRANCESCA EVANS, LOTTIE WELCH & LOCAL DEMOCRACY REPORTER TREVOR BEVINS parcels will be delivered within 24 hours of receiving the request, although they are normally sent out the same day.”

“We know many people are facing very challenging circumstances right now. If you need support, whether it’s food, or advice about money, mental health, or relationships, you are not alone – there is a range of help and support available.

“The specialist advisers at Citizens Advice can help with immediate problems and also help plan for the longer term. Please pick up the phone and speak to someone now.”

You can call Citizens Advice on Freephone 0800 144 8848 or visit www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/reaching-out Cllr Parry continued: “We are currently making arrangements for the Christmas holidays for children who receive free school meals.”

■ Among the Conservative MPs to vote against extending free school meals into the school holidays was West Dorset MP Chris Loder.

On his website this week, he responded to accusations that he wants children in West Dorset to starve as “nothing could be further from the truth”.

He explained the Opposition Day motion – which allows the opposi-

tion to make political points – was not a vote about a legislative bill that could have helped children living in poverty, it was non-binding and if MPs had voted for it “this would not have changed anything”.

He also outlined how government is supporting families through the Covid Summer Food Fund, providing meals support for families in need during school holidays, financial support of £1.3million given to Dorset Council earlier this month to help vulnerable families, extra Universal Credit and the Schools Breakfast Programme.

Mr Loder said: “I know full well that we have child poverty here in West Dorset. Before becoming an MP, I myself raised thousands of pounds to help support families in need. I also know that many charities and schools do much to help.

Our welfare support mechanisms should be, and are, helping with this.

“So, in response to those who say I want children in west Dorset to starve or I don’t believe in helping them – nothing could be further from the truth. If the welfare system needs to be changed or improved, I shall be very pleased to push for these reforms.

“I shall do so based on the experiences of those constituents who tell me the system is not working for them and their families; rather than on the view of others who have simply followed politicallymotivated headlines.

“I am moved, once again, by the

level of community response to support others. It does, in itself, speak so highly of what our communities and businesses are willing to do – as indeed they have stepped up to do throughout the crisis.”

Mr Loder’s full statement on the issue can be read on his website www.chrisloder.co.uk/freeschool meals ■ Local restaurants SWIM and RISE are getting behind a national campaign to ensure no child goes hungry this half term.

Following the government’s decision restaurants up and down the country have got behind footballer Marcus Rashford’s #endchildfoodpoverty campaign and have been stepping up to ensure no child goes hungry.

SWIM on Marine Parade in Lyme Regis and its sister restaurant RISE, in West Bay, are both donating a percentage of proceeds from all hot drinks served during half term to Fareshare South West, a charity formed in 2007 to help tackle the food poverty issue in the South West by redistributing surplus food across the region.

“Simply buying one of our delicious hot drinks will help a child not go hungry this winter,” said a spokesperson for the restaurants.

If you’re unable to visit SWIM or RISE during half term, you can also donate online at www.faresharesouthwest.org.uk

In print and online, the best of Lyme ● Breaking news 24/7 ● Videos and podcasts ● Digital edition pages ● Entertainment news & listings ● All your local sport ● Community news ● Eating out news, reviews and directory ● Blogs on everything from history to environment ● Colourful Photo galleries

Made in Lyme, journalism you can trust

Visit the website lyme-online.co.uk

Friday, October 30 2020 3

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Town council continues to make financial preparations in case of second lockdown LYME Regis Town Council has continued to make financial preparations in case of a second lockdown in spring 2021.

Lyme Regis was once considered to be a “rich council”, with reserves of £1.4million in the bank. But the impact of the coronavirus lockdown in spring and early summer – as well as a £650,000 major project to resurface the flat roof area above SWIM, the Amusement Arcade and Antiques & Craft Centre on Marine Parade – has seen its reserves significantly reduced.

In April, as lockdown measures first took hold, the council’s reserves stood at £969,794 but by June this had dropped to £581,674.

Councillors were warned that they could decrease further to just £67,000 by the end of the financial year in March 2021 but, following a successful late summer season, this figure has continued to increase to about £400,000.

Town clerk John Wright has warned, however, that if a second lockdown was to hit in spring and early summer 2021, when the council usually takes most of its income, it could completely wipe out the authority’s reserves.

To avoid this, town councillors previously agreed to look into paying back £200,000 outstanding from a loan taken out several years ago from West Dorset District Council to develop the Marine Parade shelters, which is currently costing £37,500 a year in repayments to what is now Dorset Council, and then to take out a new loan of £650,000 over 20 years from the unitary authority, which would cost £39,311 a year.

While the annual cost of paying back the loan would slightly increase, it would give the council an additional £450,000 in the bank.

FRANCESCA EVANS

francesca@lyme-online.co.uk

However, speaking at last week’s virtual meeting Mr Wright told members this request had been refused by Dorset Council due to their own financial difficulties, and they were now in discussions with the Public Works Loan Board about a possible loan.

This would be a loan of £650,000 over 20 years at an interest rate of 2.34 per cent. This would allow the town council to clear its outstanding debt with Dorset Council of £200,000 and add £450,000 to the reserves.

Veteran councillor Stan Williams said he could not believe that the council was in this situation, adding: “I’ve done 50 years on this council and we have survived well when we’ve been short of money, during the takeover of the district council.”

‘More money than we need lying around’ He complained in particular that they were owed money from the Monmouth Beach area, from chalet owners that had not paid license fees and from Dorset Council which uses town council land for boat storage.

“I have run businesses, when times get hard, you get your money in and we’re not making any attempt to do that,” he said.

“We never did deals that the town clerk has done saying you can pay some now and some later… We have far more money than we need lying around.”

The town clerk reminded members that any deals with regards to chalet payments had been agreed upon by the council and not himself.

He added: “This is about protecting the coun-

cil’s finances, not about getting money in. This is about having money available if we have a repeat or something similar to the events of spring this year to make sure the council will have money in place it can call on in extremities.

“It seems to me that this deal with the Public Works Loan Board is exactly what members are looking for; to have available finance if we need it. If we don’t need it, we don’t need to take it out. To have these discussions and agreement in place is a very sensible thing to do.”

Councillor Michaela Ellis agreed that they should make an agreement with the Public Works Loan Board in case financial assistance was needed next year, when more local councils would then be looking for help.

She added that they should also be chasing up payments from chalet owners and beach hut leases should be terminated if owners were not keep up with maintenance and repairs.

The Mayor, Councillor Brian Larcombe MBE, expressed concerns about make an agreement with the Public Works Loan Board before having full details on the terms and possible repayment penalties of the loan.

He said that Councillor Ellis’ argument in favour of the loan “did not wash”, as the government was not going to let local councils go under “because of a last minute scramble to get a loan”.

Mr Wright replied: “We can have one more discussion on this but we can’t just keep having discussions and not making decisions. We have not got a lot to lose in having discussions and coming to some kind of agreement with

the Public Works Loan Board, which will satisfy our financial requirements.

“If we do get into a situation in April, May or June next year and we’ve had a repeat of this current year, we will have to borrow money anyway. It’s best to be ahead of the curve here and not react because you’ve run out of money.”

Councillor Rob Smith commented: “It’s very easy to look at the spreadsheet and assume we’re going to have income and car parking for the next few months, but seeing the way COVID is developing across the country and areas going into lockdown, we might not be in that situation in a month’s time.

“This [the loan] is a very sensible lifeboat to have so that if we need to use it we can do, but hopefully we won’t have to.”

Councillors are expected to make a final decision on how it plans to improve its financial outlook at a budget setting meeting in November. It was, however, agreed to buy two new beach huts for Marine Parade to then sell.

I LOW MA

NCE NTENA

DIT ACCR E

ED

PROFESSIONAL

I N S TA L L AT I O N

4 Friday, October 30 2020

www.lyme-online.co.uk

NEWS ONLINE: Catch up with A round-up of the top stories from our website

Children’s author opens exhibition at museum

A NEW exhibition by local author and illustrator Carolyn King has opened at Lyme Regis Museum. ‘Telling Tales!’ is the third exhibition hosted by Lyme Bay Arts in the museum’s Rotunda Gallery and is comprised of pictures, words and whimsy created by Carolyn. The exhibition will be open from Wednesdays through Saturdays until December 5, 10am to 4pm, and booking is advisable due to social distancing regulations.

Car parking charges to double

DORSET Council has said there are no plans to reconsider changes made to car parking charges across the county. The decision will see all-day charges doubled at Charmouth Road and Holmbush car parks in Lyme Regis. Some councillors said they were unhappy with the changes, which were made with no public consultation, but the council has said it will not be reviewing the decision.

Council reject suggestion to close Cart Road to drivers permanently TOWN councillors have rejected a suggestion that the Cart Road in Lyme Regis should remain closed to vehicles either permanently or during the summer months.

Dorset Council implemented a temporary traffic order to close the Cart Road to vehicles – other than for resident access, deliveries and maintenance – over the summer months to allow more space for social distancing.

It is planning to reopen the road at the end of this month, meaning disabled blue badge holders will once again be allowed to park on the seafront.

However, town councillors considered a suggestion last week that an application should be made to Dorset Council for the closure to become permanent.

Councillors were fairly evenly split on the subject, with some describing the ability to park on the seafront a “lifeline” for disabled residents,

while others suggested it was dangerous.

Councillor Stan Williams said he could not believe the council was even considering closing the road, saying it was the only access to the Cobb for heavy goods vehicles which were technically not supposed to travel down Cobb Road.

He added that it would be “a real crime to the local people who we are meant to be looking after”, if they were to stop disabled people from parking on the seafront.

But Councillor Belinda Bawden said she felt unsafe going into the town centre when it was busy due to COVID-19 and having the Cart Road traffic-free during summer had made it much nicer for walkers and families.

It was eventually agreed not to request a permanent closure of the road from Dorset Council and the Cart Road is now expected to reopen as usual in November.

Follow LymeOnline on social media to stay up to date 24/7 facebook.com/ LymeOnlineUK twitter.com/ LymeOnlineUK instagram.com/ lymeonline

lyme-online.co.uk

RNLI not fundraising at Christmas Day Swim THE RNLI will not be fundraising at the usual Christmas Day Swim in Charmouth this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The traditional Christmas Day dip has been held for more than 45 years in Charmouth and has only ever been called off due to dangerous sea conditions. It usually attracts hundreds of swimmers in fancy dress and has raised thousands for the RNLI over the years. But ongoing COVID-19 restrictions mean the Lyme Regis and Charmouth Lifeboat Supporters Group will not be promoting or fundraising at the event this year.

Friday, October 30 2020 5

www.lyme-online.co.uk

the latest from Lyme Regis

FROM LYME’S OW N COMMUNIT Y WEBSITE

Stay up to date at www.lyme-online.co.uk - 24/7 news | sport | community Finding new ways to celebrate the seasons

Be respectful during Building firm helps to keep Scout group safe fireworks season DORSET & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service is joining forces with other blue light agencies to help keep people safe this bonfire and fireworks season. With many organised events cancelled – including the beach bonfire and fireworks display in Lyme Regis – emergency services are preparing for a busier time than usual as people celebrate at home.

THE 1st Lym Valley Scout Group have received a donation of hi-vis jackets which will help them be out and about safely this term. The donation of the hi-vis jackets was made by local building firm Mew Developments and will keep the Uplyme-based group safe as they resume face-toface activities with all necessary COVID regulations in place.

THE clocks have gone back and autumn is most certainly upon us, with half term practically having come and gone already.

Many youngsters will be looking forward to the Halloween weekend before heading back to school, but things will look a little different this year. With social distancing and the ‘Rule of Six’ putting a stop to traditional trick or treating and Halloween parties, many are coming up with new ways to celebrate the season.

Lyme Regis is never one to miss out on celebrations of any kind and local traders have pulled out all the stops, with more than 40 businesses signed up for a safe, family-friendly pumpkin trail around the town.

Maps are available to download from the LymeOnline website and I’ve already seen lots of families during the wet half term week trying to spot everything from pumpkin drawings and traditional carved pumpkins up to elaborate shop windows and displays - a bit like carnival’s Spot the Window competition.

One of the most impressive must be the stunning floral display outside The Millside Restaurant, put together by local florist Teresa Fowler at House of Flowers.

This free pumpkin trail has been organised by Petrina at the Town Mill and Symphony at Fine Art & Framing in Broad Street, where children in fancy dress will be treated to a bag of sweets from 10am to 1pm or 2pm to 5pm on Halloween (Saturday). Congratulations to this imaginative pair for ensuring children can still enjoy the Halloween spirit despite the ongoing pandemic.

With the new season comes autumn showers and there was definitely no escaping them on Saturday when a few hardy souls may have spotted me, soaked to the bone walking up and down

the seafront, and wondered what on earth I was up to.

I was on my first leg of the ‘Walk the Wall’ challenge, set by my fellow Cancer Research UK fundraiser Anita Routley. The challenge is to walk 20 lengths of Lyme Regis seafront, totalling 15 miles, by the end of the year.

To try and boost my fundraising total I thought I’d get it all done in one weekend - a personal challenge for me as I struggled to walk even one length of the seafront at the beginning of this year due to hip pain.

I managed to complete 10 lengths in the heavy wind and rain on Saturday, and 10 more in much nicer weather on Sunday, when it was great to see a few supportive faces spurring me on. With so many events having been cancelled for causes of all kinds this year, it was felt good to get out and about and raise some money for my one of my favourite charities.

You can read more about the ‘Walk the Wall’ challenge and find out how to take part yourself on page 14 or in the Lyme Matters column on page 6.

And talking of personal achievements, thanks to ‘Facebook Memories’ I was reminded today (Thursday) that it is six years since I was given my first editorship, back in 2014 at the View From Lyme Regis. What a six years it’s been and what a privilege to have spent it covering Lyme Regis.

Francesca Evans,

Editor

The

Woodmead Halls YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY HALL

Collision at notorious Hunters Lodge junction THE A35 was closed on the afternoon of Thursday, October 22 following a crash in the Raymonds area. The road was closed both ways between Musbury Road and Green Lane for several hours following the incident at the notorious Hunters Lodge junction. Police said they were called to the scene at 11.35am and found a man complaining of chest pains. The ambulance services also attended the scene and described the man as “walking wounded”.

Photo by Jordan Lang

Ruby selected to star on album for NHS workers WEST Dorset singer-songwriter Ruby Dew has had a song included on an international album, inspired by the experience of frontline workers during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in March and April.

Ruby, who has lived in West Dorset her whole life, had her song ‘Rehashtag The World’ selected for the ‘Song Club’ album which was released last week.

Curated by renowned musician Chris Difford, the ‘Song Club’ album is inspired by the work of Hannah Grace Deller, an NHS nurse who has worked throughout the COVID pandemic, and money raised from its sale will go towards frontline workers.

The album is now available on Amazon, iTunes and all major music streaming services.

Wedding Venue | Corporate Events Clubs & Organisations | Children’s Parties Fitness Classes | Concerts & Shows

The perfect venue for every occasion!

For further details or to get in touch, vist woodmeadhalls.co.uk

6 Friday, October 30th 2020

LYME MATTERS with Philip Evans Essential reading for all those with Lyme at heart

www.lyme-online.co.uk

philip@lyme-online.co.uk

A Christmas like no other A

S I write this, there are 57 days left to Christmas – but as we edge ever-closer to a second lockdown, it’s going to be a Christmas like no other.

Lyme is not alone, of course, as we shape up to a period of little festive joy - no parade and turning on of the Christmas lights, no Christmas Day swim at Charmouth and no Lunge on New Year’s Day. The only good news is that Lyme’s hardworking Christmas Lights Committee - under the creative leadership of Rob James - will be making the town look as splendid as always.

The lights will go up as usual but we won’t be able to gather in numbers to see them illuminated.

Today, Lyme leads the field when it comes to Christmas illuminations in this part of the world, but we have an advantage in that Lyme’s steep main street means you can admire all the lights looking down from the top of town or looking up from the bottom.

It hasn’t always been like that, of course. For many years Lyme’s Christmas illuminations were rather pathetic until the late Barbara Austin MBE, six times mayor of Lyme, decided to do something about it.

Barbara formed a small committee to raise money for the Christmas lights for many years and there’s a special street lamp attached to the Royal Lion with a plaque recognising her work in making sure the illuminations were among the best in the west.

After Barbara’s death, Christine Lovell picked up the cudgels and, with a small but enthusiastic committee, continued to drive forward the legacy left by Barbara. Now Rob James has taken on the role and is making full use of his marketing skills to ensure that Lyme’s festive reputation continues.

In recent years, unbelievably large crowds have descended on Broad Street to see the Christmas parade with all the children’s lanterns and to take part in the countdown to turning on the tree lights by the mayor, attracting people from far and wide with many visiting the town especially for this occasion.

My favourite Christmas event has always been the Carols Around The Tree, organised with their usual expertise by the Rotary Club.

I think I have missed only two during my adult life and whilst I was working in London I always made a special effort to get back to my hometown to sing carols around the tree with my family, like so many others born in Lyme. There is something very Lyme Regis about this event - but no word yet if it will go ahead in any form this year.

Christmas is obviously a busy period for local reporters and having to work on Christmas Day is seen as a badge of honour in my eyes.

We always turn out for the Christmas Day swim at Charmouth and in the past we were the only local newspaper to cover the visits to local hospitals by the mayor.

As a young reporter one of my distinct memories is being called to a fire at Charmouth on Christmas morning. In those days, the villagers used to take their turkeys to the local bakery to be cooked but on this occasion the bakery caught fire leaving virtually all the village without a Christmas lunch.

It was the first and only time I got the lead story on BBC Radio News At One. In recent times, my daughter Francesca has done the Christmas Day shift, having been told by me when she first started out that you could only call yourself a real reporter if you had worked on Christmas Day!

Is this why Broad Street was so congested this summer? advantage digital print

Business cards Flyers Posters Leaflets Brochures Letterheads Compliment slips Folders Greetings cards Postcards

the

old radio station

www.advantagedigitalprint.com tel: 01305 75 74 72

■ THERE’S been a good deal of discussion in town over the new pedestrian crossing in Broad Street, now half completed.

The town seems pretty well split on whether the crossing will add to Lyme’s already serious traffic congestion.

Some are even predicting that it will be such a disaster that Dorset Council will end up having to remove it. I wouldn’t put money on that, if I was you.

I can’t see any local authority, having spent many thousands of pounds putting in a crossing to help the disabled and infirm, then remove it for traffic congestion reasons.

Broad Street has experienced huge traffic issues this summer, mainly due to the traffic lights at the bottom of town being faulty. The green ‘go’ light outside Rainbow stayed on for just a few seconds allowing only a few cars through at a time for several weeks, causing day-long tail-backs often to the top of Broad Street. I’m amazed the powers that be did not notice this and correct the situation. Or was there another reason for it?

Follow Anita’s example and Walk The Wall ■ THIS was going to be a special year for Cancer Research UK fundraising in Lyme Regis.

It was going to be the year when our local committee, of which I am chairman, was planning to make a special effort to take us through the £200,000 mark.

The group was formed in 2007 since when we have raised about £180,000 so we were determined to put together a programme of events to reach the £200k milestone.

It all started in 2007 when I organised a celebrity cricket match and auction at Uplyme & Lyme Regis Cricket Club as a thank you to the NHS who had provided wonderful treatment for two close members of my family.

With the help of comedian/singer Richard Digance, who once lived in Lyme, and the generous support of friends, family and cricketing colleagues, we amazed ourselves by raising £12,000 which we gave to Cancer Research UK. Within no time at all CRUK were on the phone asking us to form a Lyme Regis branch. I resisted at first because of work commitments but in the end relented and said we would do our best to organise a couple of events a year.

Well the rest, as they say, is history and with magnificent support from the people of Lyme we are heading for £200,000, a sum we never imagined was possible.

We made a good start to

DOING ANOTHER LAP: Champion fundraiser Anita Routley ‘Walking The Wall’ at Lyme Regis in aid of Cancer Research UK 2020 with two events early in the year raising £1,500.

But then COVID-19 raised its unwelcome head and the rest of our programme - we had an event planned for every month - was put on hold.

We did make an attempt to organise one of our most popular and lucrative events - The Big Breakfast - but that too had to be pulled when the lockdown restrictions were tightened.

Cancer Research UK has lost in excess of £40million pounds in donations and fundraising this year and all branches have been urged to come up with unusual ideas to raise funds whilst adhering to the stringent rules controlling the gathering of crowds.

So how do you raise funds in such an environment especially as every other worthy charity is scratching their heads and asking the same question.

Thankfully, my committee has Anita Routley as our treasurer and she’s the Queen of unusual fundraising ideas.

Earlier this year, after lockdown started to impact so greatly on our way of life, Anita came up with the idea of a virtual 24hour board game marathon and in the process raised several hundred pounds.

And now she has come up with another ingenuous idea by inviting people to ‘Walk The Walk’. All you have to do is walk the whole length of Lyme’s seafront - from the end of the eastern parade to the harbour - 20 times- and in doing so to give a pound for every lap achieved with a target of doing it at least 20 times.

My daughter Francesca never misses an opportunity of doing her bit for good causes, especially if it helps to keep her fit, and she has already completed her 20 laps and in doing so raised in excess of £300.

My wife and I are planning to do it, along with a number of our friends.

Will you Walk The Wall and help get to a target of £1,000?

For more details see page 14.

Friday, October 30 2020 7

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Tensions raised as council discuss staff expenses CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE support the actual costs.

If employers decide they do not want to make these payments, staff can claim tax relief direct from HMRC, but must provide evidence to do this.

Councillors considered whether they wanted to cover the cost of additional expenses during a virtual meeting on video conferencing app Zoom last week.

The Mayor of Lyme Regis, Councillor Brian Larcombe MBE, opened discussions by proposing that the staff claim direct from HMRC, “rather than have us pay money out that we’re struggling with”.

Adrianne Mullins, the council’s support services manager, said that if staff had to apply direct to HMRC they would have to provide evidence of their costs.

“For instance, I would need to trawl through all my electricity bills, water bills, gas bills and try and prove exactly how many units of electricity, water and gas I have used in order to do my work,” she said.

“It creates a lot of extra hassle and work for staff, where as the £26 is a flat rate which HMRC has agreed is a reasonable amount to pay. If an employee wants to do it directly they have to prove those costs.”

Councillor Cheryl Reynolds questioned whether HMRC would pay the council back if they did agree to cover the cost of additional expenses.

Finance officer Mark Russell said they would not be reimbursed, putting this down to “one of the quirks of tax benefits”.

Councillor Reynolds said the system was “ridiculous” and had “no common sense whatsoever”.

Councillor Michaela Ellis commented: “I think we should be supporting our staff and paying this. The money we will be paying out we will be saving because we will not be paying all our normal electric, heating and water costs

in the office.

“It will balance itself out and we should be supporting them because this is something they’re having to do.”

The mayor argued that staff working from several different homes would cost more than heating and lighting one, single office.

“It’s costing more to accommodate home working, no doubt about it,” he added.

Mrs Mullins said that asking employees to claim direct from HMRC put the onus on staff to claim expenses that they wouldn’t normally incur.

In a break in normal council protocol – officers not usually involving themselves in debate – Mrs Mullins spoke out on the matter saying: “You have told us, you have instructed us, you must work from home now. I didn’t make the choice to work from home, none of my colleagues did.

“I would rather be in the office where I’m not having to pay for electricity, water and gas all day. You are instructing me to do that but you’re not going to pay me to be able to do that.”

The mayor then tried to interrupt her, saying her statement was “not quite right”, but Mrs Mullins continued.

“Can I finish my point first?” she said.

“I think there is also an issue of principle here as well because your staff have worked really hard during this period; really, really hard. We have worked from home, some of us with no holiday and doing other people’s jobs and I think it would be a little bit of a gesture to say, ‘actually we recognise you have worked from home, you have committed more time than you would normally, you have used your own bills to be able to do your job’.

“It would be a nice gesture if you paid us for the costs incurred to be able to do our job.”

Councillor Larcombe replied: “We’re not instructing you to work from home, the government has stated that you should work from

THE OYSTER

& FISH

HOUSE

THE Mayor of Lyme Regis, Councillor Brian Larcombe MBE and Councillor Michaela Ellis clashed as the difficulties of virtual meetings clearly started to take their toll on the council home if you can. That’s the government instruction, not our instruction, and that’s why the government are allowing HMRC for you to claim that back.”

Councillor Kelsey Ellis said she agreed that they should cover the staff’s expenses, adding: “They have worked hard and they deserve to have this payment made.”

The mayor rebutted: “This is not about working hard, this is not a reward, it’s not about judging whether people are working hard or not – that’s nothing to do with it whatsoever.

“It’s about the government instruction to work from home if you can; it’s not us choosing to do that, it’s the government stating guidelines for working.

“If people are continuing to work from home, HMRC will give a tax allowance to allow you to do so.”

Pushing for the matter to be taken to a vote, Councillor Larcombe asked for no one else to speak on the matter unless they had a new point to bring up.

But tensions were raised, with the difficulties of virtual meetings and a lengthy agenda beginning to take their toll.

Councillor Michaela Ellis replied: “No, I am

going to speak because you’ve had your say so many times, Brian, after everybody again tonight. We should be supporting out staff.”

Shown on video, the mayor then raised his hands.

Councillor Ellis continued: “Don’t raise your hands like that and make gestures; it’s so demeaning when you do that, you do it every time I speak and I’m not happy about it.

“We should be supporting our staff, they are doing something they have been forced to do because of this epidemic, we should not be asking them to have to file a claim for it.

Councillor Larcombe replied: “And you have made that same point endlessly tonight.’

Councillor Ellis: “And so have you on your point.”

Councillor Larcombe then asked Councillor Ellis not to interrupt him again.

Councillor John Broom commented: “Everybody is saying our staff have been treated badly; our staff have been paid 100 per cent salary all through COVID-19. I know of big companies who have only been paying their staff 80 per cent, which the government paid them.

“I think our staff have been very, very lucky.

It’s gone on too long, they ought to wake up and smell the coffee!”

The matter was then taken to the vote, with those voting in favour of covering staff expenses being Cllrs Cheryl Reynolds, David Sarson, David Ruffle, Kelsey Ellis and Michaela Ellis.

Those voting against were Cllrs Stan Williams, Brian Larcombe, Graham Turner, Belinda Bawden, Rob Smith and John Broom.

Cllr Gill Stammers abstained.

This means the motion to cover additional expenses incurred by staff working from home failed, and it was instead agreed they should claim direct from HMRC.

Sample Curry Club Menu Crab keema with parathas, Cauliflower pakoras with mint raita, Poppadums with mango chutney Monkfish curry or Tandoori John Dory Steamed basmati rice and red onion pakora Blood orange sorbet £30.00 per person

Curry Club every Monday night Open every day 12-10pm

Mark Hix’s set menu of locally sourced ingredients, inspired by Indian flavours

theoysterandfishhouse.co.uk | @theoysterandfishhouse The Oyster & Fish House, Cobb Rd, Lyme Regis DT7 3JP 01297 446910

8 Friday, October 30 2020

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Council’s £650k resurfacing project Positive half term for Woodroffe not up to scratch, says resident despite coronavirus challenges

A COUPLE and their toddler were showered with smashed glass on Marine Parade in Lyme Regis, after one of the new glass panels on the flat roof above was broken.

The incident occurred about three weeks ago, when one of the council’s gardeners was mowing grass in Lister Gardens and a stone was thrown up which smashed the glass panel.

The flat roof area above SWIM, the Antiques & Craft Centre and Amusement Arcade has recently been resurfaced and had glass panels installed for a cost of £650,000 to the town council.

When the panel was shattered, most of the glass fell onto the flat roof but a small amount fell to Marine Parade below, just outside the Amusement Arcade, hitting a couple and toddler. No injuries were sustained.

Town clerk John Wright commented: “The issue was referred to the architect who designed and managed the project for the council and, following discussions with the installer, he has confirmed the correct glass panel was installed. The chances of the glass panel breaking in this way

are small, as is the chance of a repeat occurrence.”

Work was started on the resurfacing project early this year, just before the coronavirus pandemic struck, and the town clerk last week said that this project and financial effects of COVID19 had cost the council a total of £1million - a big hit to its reserves which previously stood at £1.4million.

But the quality of the resurfacing work has now been questioned with Lyme Regis resident Nigel Ball, a keen follower of council matters, raising the issue during the public forum of last week’s virtual meeting.

He said he was “very disappointed” with the work, as the flat roof area was already pooling water and there was no run off.

“It can’t go on like that, it needs to be looked at and rectified,” he commented.

The town clerk said: “The new roof covers an area of approximately one quarter of an acre.

Measures have been taken to reduce ponding but inevitably on a flat area of this size, some ponding will occur.”

Plans for new food festival next year PLANS to bring a new food festival to Lyme Regis this year have been put to the town council.

EAT Festival, an award-winning, locally-focussed event, has previous operated festivals across South Somerset and in Honiton. It hopes to expand into Lyme Regis in 2021, with an event similar in scale to local chef Mark Hix’s popular Food Rocks festival.

Speaking at last week’s virtual council meeting, organisers Sarah and Bev Milner-Simonds said the festival would be a “safe and welcoming event that celebrates Lyme Regis using local food producers outside of the main sum-

mer season”.

They had applied to host the festival on Lyme Regis seafront on May 22 2021, but councillors were not keen on this date as it would be just one week before another major event, Jazz Jurassica, which also includes some food stalls on Marine Parade.

Councillors also questioned whether local traders had been approached or shown any interest in taking part in the event.

The organisers were asked to gauge interest from traders and suggest a new date, which will be brought back to a future council meeting for consideration.

THE Woodroffe School in Lyme Regis has reported on a positive first half term following the coronavirus lockdown.

Having returned in September after five months off for most pupils, the Woodroffe students are said to have demonstrated their resilience and desire to consistently be in school, despite the ongoing national concerns about student wellbeing and anxiety.

Nationally, school attendance at secondary level has remained at 88 per cent but Woodroffe has consistently remained well above 94 per cent for the whole of the half term.

Its highest daily attendance figure reached a staggering 99.03 per cent.

Headteacher Dan Watts said: “I would like to thank our parents and carers for their support in helping us to ensure that our students made such a fantastic start to the new academic year.

“It has been great to see our school alive again, with students learning in classrooms amongst their peers and teachers and gradually beginning to participate in more of the additional activities that make Woodroffe such a special place.

“The lunchtime inter-tutor group competition within year group bubbles has been a particular favourite with large number participating daily.

“There have been many smiles on the student return. For those who have found the transition a little more challenging, our new ‘Safeguarding and Wellbeing’ team have worked hard to support these students, ensuring that they able to return to learning confidently in school as

quickly as possible.”

This first half-term would normally have included many school events but, due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place, many of these have required amendment or postponement.

One of the events affected was the school’s annual open day, which could not be held, but prospective parents and carers were given the opportunity to get a flavour of the school through a ‘virtual open day’.

The resources, including videos, can still be viewed on the school website at www.woodroffe.dorset.sch.uk/virtual-openday/ On Friday, October 16 students participated in the Wear Red Day campaign in an attempt to ‘show racism the red card’, swapping their usual navy blue blazers for red clothing.

During October, they also engaged in activities in support of Black History Month including a digital whole school assembly led by Mr Watts on privilege and the work of John Amaechi, based around developing young people’s understanding of how white privilege and indeed, any privilege, can have an impact on an individual’s life.

Mr Watts added: “I would like to thank our staff for what they have done to ensure that we could welcome all students back as soon as possible and for the way that they have supported students during the first half-term.

“This has been a real team effort and despite the challenges faced, the team has done an incredible job. Thank you.”

If you have a story for LymeOnline call editor Francesca Evans on 01297 442781 or email francesca@lyme-online.co.uk ADVERTISER’S ANNOUNCEMENT

A new approach to estate agency

Meyers Estate Agents are now open!

Covering Lyme Regis and Axe Valley Area Contact Fran Ponting today to arrange a free property valuation. £50 from each sale donated to a local charity.

INTRODUCTORY OFFER

0.75% plus VAT for the first 10 properties including professional photography Contact us today on 01297 441964 or fran.p@meyersestates.com

MEYERS Estate Agents has opened its first branch in Devon, with local representative Fran Ponting covering the Axe Valley and Lyme Regis areas.

Multi-award-winning estate agency Meyers has built its reputation over the past eight years with its headquarters in Poundbury and several branches across Dorset.

The brand has been listed among the top five per cent of estate agencies in the country this year, and every other branch is among the top three in their area.

Fran (pictured), who had a background in car and boat sales before moving into property, now plans to build on Meyers’ high standards as the company makes its first move into Devon. Working remotely from home, Fran will be covering the Axminster, Seaton, Beer, Branscombe, Lyme Regis and Charmouth areas.

Her priorities are good customer service and continuous communication with clients, as she hopes to “help people beyond their expectations”. Working from home allows Fran to be flexible with her time and work around clients’ schedules, including arranging evening viewings.

“I’m adaptable and approachable, and my main focus is on providing a bespoke customer service for each individual client,” she said.

Fran describes Meyers as having a “new approach to estate agency” with a 21-step selling process that proven track record of success.

Meyers’ properties are listed on all major property websites - including Right Move, Zoopla, On The Market and OneDome - and they have a big social media presence, using professional photography and video technology to present properties in the best possible way, including regular London exhibitions to attract the highest possible worth buyers.

Fran has launched her branch at a busy time,

with more and more people looking to move to the Axe Valley and Lyme Regis areas. Many have been making the most of the government’s reduced Stamp Duty tax and Fran says there is still time to find your new home before this is reintroduced next year.

She is currently offering an introductory offer of free professional photography and a special rate for a limited time only of 0.75% plus VAT for the first 10 properties that sign up to sell in this area. Fran is also supporting the local community by pledging £50 from every property sale to Axminster and Lyme Cancer Support Group.

For your free property valuation or for help in finding the perfect home, call Fran on 01297 441964 or contact her by emailing fran.p@meyersestates.com

Friday, October 30 2020 9

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Did you know we do Takeaway Pizza MARGHERITA Mozarella, basil, tomato sauce

MEDITERRANEAN Mozarella, tomato sauce, roasted vegetables, olives

DORSET HAM & MUSHROOM Mozarella, tomato sauce

SMOKED SALMON CREME FRAICHE & DILL Mozarella, tomato sauce

SPICED BEEF

Mozarella, chillies, spring onions, tomato sauce

WALNUT, CARAMELISED RED ONION & GOATS CHEESE

Mozarella, tomato sauce

PEPPERONI

●

12 inch pizzas

●

Plant-based cheese and

Mozarella, tomato sauce

gluten-free bases available

CRAYFISH TAILS

Mozarella, tomato sauce, olives, spring onions

●

Extra toppings available

Call in or phone on 01297 443157 to order and collect

Table Bookings from 9am – 8.30pm NEW Autumn Menu COMING SOON We are committed to providing a safe environment for our customers and staff

1 Bridge Street, Lyme Regis – 01297 443157 info@thepilotboat.co.uk

10 Friday, October 30 2020

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Settling into a new kind of school life RECEPTION children have completed their first half term at primary school.

Pictured above, 23 new reception pupils from Mrs Ethelston’s Primary School in Uplyme and, left, the new reception class at St Michael’s Primary School in Lyme Regis. The children have started their school life in the most unusual of times, having to adhere to COVID-19 regulations and stick to their year group ‘bubbles’, but they have settled in well over the past six weeks and are now enjoying the half term break.

If you have a news story in the Lyme Regis area, call us on 07810 221 420

Friday, October 30 2020 11

www.lyme-online.co.uk

LY ME REG GIS BUTCHERS

Christmas Family mily l Feast Hamper perr

Roasting Beef Be f

Only y £6 £64.

4.9 4 .9 99

Ro oasting g Pork

Turk u ey Bre Breast Gammon Joiint G 500 0g of Sa ausa usage ge Mea e t 10 x Pigs Pigs in i Blank Bllank B kets etss 8 x Rash Ra R hers off Unsmoked Streak U re y Baco con n

Al Family Hamper joints are 1..75-2 All A 75 2kg in weigh ight

With every y Christmas order you will receive a lucky envelope

Christmas t L tery Lot

Ticket which will entitle them m to the value of their C Christmas meat.

Other prizes include discount vouchers and free goods ods .

Fesstiv tiv vee T Turk u key urk Ro oasting gP Pack

4-5 -5lb 5lb bB Bo oned d & Rolled d Turk u ey

O ly £ Only On £2 29.9 99

1lb x Award Winn ning Sausage Meat

ooff 66!!

Breast Joint 116 x Pigs in Blankets e

4 x Streaky Bacon Rashers 1 x Packet of Bread d Sauce 1 x Jar of Cranberry ry Sauce

01297 445000 Broad Street, L Lym yme Regis www w.lym .lym l eregisbut i b tchers.co.uk k

12 Friday, October 30 2020

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Plans to improve pedestrian safety in Haye Lane and Roman Road area

LYME Regis Town Council has agreed to put forward a request for signage to improve pedestrian safety in the Haye Lane and Roman Road area to the highways authority.

A member of the public suggested that a sign (as pictured) warning drivers of pedestrians in the road should be placed at the junction of Haye Lane and Roman Road.

Existing signs are already in place at both ends of Haye Lane and at Horn Bridge, and this request was for a further sign at, or immediately approaching, the junction.

The resident had initially had put the re-

quest to Dorset Council, as the highways authority, but officers requested that town councillors be consulted for their view first.

Councillors agreed they would put the request forward to Dorset Council with their support.

This is the second time in recent months that pedestrian safety has been raised with regards to the Haye Lane area.

A resident previously requested that more street lighting be installed on the narrow lane, as it was dangerous for pedestrians at night.

Council committee meetings to start in New Year LYME Regis Town Council will restart regular committee meetings in the New Year.

When lockdown measures were first implemented in March, the council suspended all scheduled meetings and then started holding virtual extraordinary full council meetings every month via video conferencing app Zoom.

With the exception of the Planning Committee - which has to recommend approval or refusal of local planning applications to Dorset Council - the council’s committees have not met since March. This includes committees on Strategy & Finance, Human Resources, Town Management and Tourism, Community & Publicity.

Prior to lockdown, the bulk of discussion on everyday matters and council projects took

place at committee meetings, with full council being used to give final approval to recommendations put forward.

Speaking at last week’s virtual meeting, several councillors called for committee meetings to be restarted. Councillor John Broom said he did not understand why these could not also be held via Zoom, and said other councils had already restarted all of their usual meetings.

Councillor Michaela Ellis also expressed concern that there were many matters that needed to be discussed by committees.

It was agreed that virtual committee meetings would be restarted via Zoom after Christmas, with the monthly extraordinary meetings of the full council continuing up until then.

Joan celebrates 101st birthday LYME Regis resident Joan Cool celebrated her 101st birthday at Fairfield House last week, Joan - who has two children, five grandchildren and five great grandchildren - was born on October 23 1919 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire.

She went to Greenhead High School after passing her 11 plus exam when she was only 10 years old. Leaving school in 1936, Joan joined a fever hospital when she was 17 as she was not yet old enough to go into general nursing. She passed her final fever exams at 20 but was not allowed her certificate until she was 21. She then became a state registered nurse at 23 after completing her training.

During the war, in 1943, Joan joined the Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service at RAF Halton and reached the rank of Flying Officer.

She was later posted to the RAF Hospital at Wroughton, Swindon, which was a casualty clearing station for D-Day and was among the sisters to march past the King in the first Battle of Britain Parade.

She commented: “We used to take in casualties every other night so we could deal with things that needed doing, then they would be passed on to a hospital , probably nearer to their hometown. It was sad in a way because they were the youth of our generation. It was such a waste.”

After the war ended, Joan got a job as an industrial nurse at hat manufacturers Christy and Co, where she met her husband John. He was the buyer, had gone to war and returned to the job he had had since he was 14 and worked his way up from office boy to head buyer.

She spent a year and a half at the factory before the NHS came in so they no longer needed a trained nurse, but Joan said she didn’t mind as she was then married.

They married in January 1948 and had their first child, Jaqueline, in April 1949, followed by a son, Michael, in January 1952, but Joan carried on nursing as they grew up.

In the 1960s, Joan and John gained a reputation for organising caravan rallies all over Europe and in 1996 they moved to Lyme Regis where Joan joined the WI. It was mainly due to her being branch secretary

that Joan decided to get a computer instead of using a typewriter and she has become a bit of a tech-whiz for her age, regularly joining in local debates on Facebook.

When asked about her longevity, Joan said: “I had a good start in childhood and when I was training, we always had good meals and I looked after myself. If I had anything wrong , I wouldn’t wait until it got me, I went straight away to the doctor. I had two great-aunts, one lived until 102 and the other lived until she was 105.”

Joan celebrated her birthday with a lunch at Fairfield House with her son Michael and daughter-in-law, who travelled down from Rugby to spend the afternoon with her. She is pictured above with her birthday cards and a ‘pilot” teddy bear she was presented by the Bridport and Lyme Regis members of the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA).

Joan named the bear Rupert after a Squadron Leader she first met at the Aircrew Receiving Centre RAF Abbey Lodge in London. He had escaped after being shot down over France and their paths crossed again when she was posted to the RAF Hospital in Gutersloh, Germany, after the war and he was the Town Major in 1946.

Delicious deliveries and takeaways from LYME REGIS BRANCH OF THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION

INVITATION TO TENDER made fresh daily free home delivery (3pm-6pm)

vegetarian/vegan gluten free options

immune boosting foods made in steralised kitchen

Menu from October 27th - November 7th HEAT AT HOME - READY MEAL STYLE Wild Mushroom Risotto - £6 with chestnut mushrooms, leeks and a hazelnut & rosemary crumb (vegan, nuts, gluten free) Tierra Moussaka - £6 layered bake of aubergine, rich tomato & spinach with buckwheat, feta, cheddar and oregano (milk, eggs, gluten free) Roast Pumpkin, Leek & Wookey Hole Cheddar Pie - £6 deep flavoured, creamy filling topped with all butter puff pastry (milk, gluten) Kashmiri Curry - £6 autumn vegetables and paneer cheese (optional) slow cooked with a ginger, chilli & garam masala spice mix, creamy ground almond sause and coconut basmatic rice (milk, nuts, gluten, free, vegan option available) Tuscan Casserole - £6 slow cooked rainbow vegetables and cannellini beans with a rich red wine & rosemary sauce, walnut dumplings (vegan, gluten free, nuts) READY TO EAT North African Selection Box - £5 Tierra falafels, humus, olives, Moroccan ratatouille & berber lentil salad (vegan, gluten free, sesame) Bag of organic salad - £2.50

Free home deliveries made between 3pm and 6pm. Orders made after 2pm will be delivered the next day that we are open (Tuesday to Saturday) Tuesday - Saturday: Lyme Regis, Uplyme, Charmouth, Morcombelake Wednesday: Axminster, Kilmington and surrounding areas Thursday: Bridport and surrounding areas Friday: Seaton, Colyton, Rousdon and surrounding areas

Order at shop.tierrakitchen.co.uk or call 07827 224735 or 01297 445189

Lyme Regis Branch of The Royal British Legion invites tenders from appropriate contactors to undertake the following scope of work:

ROYAL BRITISH LEGION PUBLIC NOTICE BOARD REFURBISHMENT PROJECT

1. The notice board is affixed to the wall of the Royal Lion Hotel by four screws.

2. The contractor is requested to arrange for the removal, refurbishment, and replacement.

3. The work is to renovate the notice board to the same current layout and design including the replacement of the internal green baize felt backing.

4. The tender closure date is 1st December 2020.

5. Any contract will be awarded on the basis of best value for money.

6. Lyme Regis Branch of TRBL is a charity and is not registered for VAT. Bids should therefore be quoted as VAT inclusive.

Bids are requested to be forwarded to: The Chairman TRBL Lyme Regis 2 The Close Colway Lane Lyme Regis DT67 3FE Or by email to: lymeregis.chairman@rbl.community

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Friday, October 30 2020 13

14 Friday, October 30 2020

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Walk the Wall challenge raising funds for Cancer Research UK

Lyme Regis Butchers helps charity as events cancelled THE Lyme Regis branch of Cancer Research UK had big plans for 2020 - the year the small committee had hoped to pass the £200,000 mark.

Since forming in 2007, the branch has raised £180,000 and they were planning an event every month of the year to raise a further £20,000.

But COVID-19 restrictions mean they have not been able to hold an event since February, including their popular Big Breakfast, which had to be called off twice.

Lyme Regis Butchers had planned to sponsor the breakfast event by supplying all the bacon and sausages. But on hearing the event had to be cancelled they decided to help the charity in a different way.

The award-winning butchers, run

by Andrew Bolton, have donated a percentage of local online sales over the past month, resulting in a cheque for £300 for the Lyme Regis branch of Cancer Research UK, which was gratefully received by chairman Philip Evans MBE in the Broad Street shop this week (pictured).

Mr Evans said: “We’re very grateful to Lyme Regis Butchers for their generous donation, particularly at a time when COVID has had such a severe effect on Cancer Research UK.” The butchers are so keen to support the charity they have decided to run the donation scheme for a further month, throughout November, and you can help raise funds for Cancer Research UK by placing orders over £9.99 at www.lymeregisbutchers.co.uk

LOCAL fundraiser Anita Routley is challenging residents to ‘Walk to Wall’ to boost funds for Cancer Research UK. Uplyme resident Anita is treasurer of the Lyme Regis branch of Cancer Research UK, which has had to cancel most of its fundraising events this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Anita is hoping to raise some muchneeded funds for the charity, by walking the seawall of Lyme Regis 20 times, and is challenging others to do the same.

The seawall in Lyme Regis is three quarters of a mile long from the end of the new Church Cliff defences to the barrier near to The Harbour Inn. Anita, a keen walker herself, commented: “My challenge to you all is to walk the length of it 20 times and for each length you walk put aside £1, after 20 lengths the £20 you have put aside is to be donated to Cancer Research UK. “This does not have to be done all in one go, you can spread it over a longer period, whatever suits your busy lives.

There are 10 weeks left to the end of the year so you could do just 2 lengths a week and still finish in 2020.

“If just 10 people join in we will raise £200, 25 people will raise £500 and 50 would raise £1000.

“Unfortunately we cannot do this as a group event all together but there is nothing to stop us from doing it individually or with a friend so please join in with this challenge.”

This will be Anita’s second fundraising challenge since lockdown was first implemented. Earlier this year, she

LymeOnline editor Francesca Evans after completing her 120th length of Lyme Regis seafront over the weekend completed a 24-hour virtual games She commented: “Walking the length marathon, playing board games and of the seafront doesn’t seem too far at cards throughout the day and night first but after going back and forth a few with friends from across the world, times I realised taking on all 20 lengths which raised £600. in one weekend was a bigger challenge Donations can be made online via than I thought, especially in the heavy Anita’s Facebook fundraising page or rain on Saturday! put in an envelope and left at Lyme “But was great to be able to get out Regis Post Office, where she works, and raise funds for my favourite charity marked ‘Cancer Research UK for the attention of Anita’. Those taking part once again, after so many events have could also seek their own sponsorship been cancelled this year. Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored me.” for the walk.

If you’re planning to take part in the LymeOnline is getting behind the ‘Walk the Wall’ fundraiser and editor ‘Walk the Wall’ challenge, send in your Francesca Evans completed her 20 photos to francesca@lyme-online.co.uk lengths over two mornings last weekend, to feature in future editions of the Lyraising just over £300 for the charity. meOnline newspaper.

Join Anita’s

Walk the Wall Challenge

By writing a gift in your Will to Cancer Research UK

you’ll help develop long-term research that will save lives across the UK. Find out how you can write a gift in your Will at cruk/WriteAn End or call 0800 707 6006

WE WILL BEAT CANCER SOONER

Join the challenge to ‘Walk the Wall’ and raise funds for the Lyme Regis branch of Cancer Research UK 20 lengths of Lyme Regis seafront

(from the end of Church Cliff Walk to the barrier outside the Royal Standard)

Complete it all at once or spread it out until the end of 2020!

Donate £1 for every length or seek sponsorship Donations can be dropped to Lyme Regis Post Office in an envelope marked for the attention of Anita Routley

Friday, October 30 2020 15

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Lyme’s lone eider duck a familiar face at the Cobb MYSTERY surrounds the four-year-presence of a male eider duck who has set up home in Lyme Regis.

The bird was first noticed when it was still in his black immature feathers but over the past few years he has evolved into a spectacular young male in full coloured plumage.

Lyme Regis boatman Harry May said: “He has become a bit of a celebrity, and most mornings he is waiting by my boat where I give him special snacks for wild ducks which has all the vital ingredients required for a healthy duck.”

The eider is a large sea duck, famed for its soft, downy feathers that are not only used by the bird to line and insulate its nest, but also by humans to stuff our quilts and pillows.

They usually nests around the northern coastline of the UK.

Words and photos by Richard Austin The eider duck is characterised by its wedgeshaped bill and bulky shape. Males have a black and white plumage with a beautiful pale green patch at the back of the head, pinkish breast and pale yellow-grey bill.

Bird enthusiasts are baffled as to why he remains a loner in the south; in the summer he should be 1,000 miles north with flocks of his own kind and it wouldn’t take him long to get there - the eider duck is the fastest flying duck reaching speeds of up to 70mph.

The eider is the UK's heaviest duck. It is a true sea duck, rarely found away from coasts where its dependence on coastal molluscs for food has brought it into conflict with mussel farmers.

THE lone eider duck has been regularly spotted around Lyme Regius harbour for the past four years. Pictured below with a young seagull and, left, being fed by local fisherman Harry May

Marine Parade Lyme Regis Bookings advisable

Tel 01297 442299 harbourinnlymeregis.co.uk

The alternative

Christmas at your favourite seaside restaurant

No Christmas parties this year but Christmas Fayre will still be served with all the festive trimmings as part of our menu BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL Apologies but we will not be open on Christmas Day Social distancing rules observed at all times

PAU L S

Hairdressers Mens & Boys

Modern & Traditional Competitive Prices Two Qualified Experienced Hairdressers on busy periods, available for Appointments Everyday and Walk-In System Please ring bell inside door at bottom of stairs to enquire and remember your face mask!

Card or cash accepted OPENING HOURS 8.45am to 5pm Monday & Tuesday 8.45am to 5.30pm Wednesday 8.45pm to 3pm Thursday 8.45pm to 6pm Friday 8.30am to 4pm Saturday

- Lyme Regis -

01297 442442

PAU L S

16 Friday, October 30 2020

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Council hits ‘brick Town council to scrap tourism wall’ in sourcing website in bid to save money new IT equipment FRANCESCA EVANS francesca@lyme-online.co.uk

LYME Regis Town Council has said it’s “hit a brick wall” in seeking improved IT equipment for members from Dorset Council.

With virtual meetings likely to continue for the foreseeable future, the council agreed to look into purchasing laptops for members and to reinstate council email addresses to allow them to work from home successfully.

The town council approached Dorset Council for the equipment and email addresses, as it already supplied IT equipment for the council office.

But officers have said they are struggling to get a response from Dorset Council and now plan to raise the issue with ward member Daryl Turner.

Town clerk John Wright said: “We’re not dead optimistic, it feels like we’ve hit a brick wall in trying to have a discussion with them so I think we need to escalate it to a member level.”

Councillor John Broom said: “This seems ridiculous. We are the client and we want to buy something, why are we having so much trouble? Do they not want to sell? Shall we go somewhere else? It’s a worry to me, it’s been going on for two months.”

The Mayor, Councillor Brian Larcombe MBE, said it was not right or fair that councillors were having to make do with their own equipment when the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic indicated that virtual meetings were likely to continue for some time.

TOURISM website lymeregis.org is to be scrapped by the town council for “efficiency and to save money”.

Lyme Regis Town Council currently operates two websites - the council website (lymeregistowncouncil.gov.uk), which includes details on council amenities, agendas and minutes of meetings, and a separate tourism website (lymeregis.org), aimed at attracting visitors.

The tourism website was created in 2015 under a five-year contract with NVG - now known as Simpleview - costing £20,350 in the first year and £8,805.30 in subsequent years.

This contract came to an end in February 2020 and councillors agreed to a one-year extension for a further £6,550 while other options were explored.

Members have now agreed to scrap the site and incorporate more information on the town council website, which was revamped last year and can be managed in-house.

The move comes after the council scrapped its traditional and costly printed holiday guide last year in favour of a “modern marketing strategy”.

At the time, councillors instead agreed to have a third website created, which would include an interactive map and comprehensive directory of local businesses and attractions, aimed at visitors already in the town.

The council contracted Coastline Creative to build this third website, known as the Lyme Regis Discovery Trail, and it was revealed at last week’s meeting that this was costing

Local children invited to decorate Christmas tree donated to Town Mill THE lymeregis.org tourism website will be scrapped in February when it comes up for renewal

£27,000 - £2,000 more than the last printed holiday guide.

The site is expected to be launched within the next few weeks and members acknowledged this “complicated matters” as they decided how to move forward with their marketing.

Cllr Cheryl Reynolds, a former chairman of the Tourism, Community & Publicity Committee - who was not sitting on the council when the contract for the new website was made - said she could not believe members had agreed to the £27,000 cost.

It was agreed to scrap the lymeregis.org website and to hold a meeting of the Tourism, Community & Publicity Committee meeting to discus what should be added to the town council website and how to move forward with the Discovery Trail site.

LYME Regis town councillor Cheryl Reynolds and her granddaughter Lillie Filtness will be donating a 20 foot Christmas tree to the Town Mill this year, and are inviting local children to decorate it.

The tree was just six inches tall when it was given to Lillie as a gift when she was four years old, and has been growing in Cllr Reynolds’ garden in Manor Avenue ever since.

This year it will be chopped down and delivered to the Town Mill to be displayed in the courtyard, where it will be adorned in decorations that local children are invited to make.

Decorations can be made at home and dropped off at Alice’s Bear Shop in St Michael’s Business Centre, off Church Street, by December 4.

Every child who enters will receive a small gift and their decoration will be placed on the tree, and the top three entrants will be chosen by Lillie and art teacher Dot Wood and will receive a special prize.

Cheryl and Lillie hope this will be a great way for the community and local children to celebrate Christmas together while also sticking to COVID-19 regulations.

New dog restrictions ‘the wrong decision’ ■ I BELONG to a local Facebook group ‘Lyme

Regis' Loving Dog Owners, Visitors and Friends’, which is an informative support group for local and non-local dog owners, walkers, sitters, etc.

The new council enforcements coming into effect as of Friday, January 1 2021 mean dogs can no longer be run off-lead on the main sandy beach by the Cobb in Lyme Regis. Dog owners local and further afield feel that this decision is the wrong one and most feel they were ill-informed about this decision.

I recently emailed Dorset and Lyme Regis councils expressing my feelings and the feeling of others who exercise dogs on the beach. You can read my email and the reply from the council below.

I think I speak for other dog owners when I say this decision was made by the council without the involvement of any of its dog-owning residents. The town council wanted a complete beach ban of all dogs but there was a well-supported petition and this never came to light.

However, the new enforcement laws have been made with little or no input from the very people it concerns and we all feel this isn't good enough.

Open letter to Dorset and Lyme Regis councils: We don't live in Lyme we aren't even from the area, we live in Wiltshire, but we visit Lyme in the holidays and every weekend. You could say that whatever rules or enforcements the council suggest don't concern us as we aren't 'locals' and, to a degree, you would be right but in this case you are wrong; the decision to enforce the ruling of dogs on leads is a wrong one.

I know you have sat down and discussed the 'dogs on the sandy beach problem' and have no doubt tried to find a way to ban dogs completely from the beach and realised that would not happen. However, the rule to keep dogs on a lead

while on the beach is just as damaging.

Have you really sat down and discussed this?

Below is a list of things I don't think you have discussed at all; it’s a list of things you surely must have overlooked because I don’t think you knew about this and still made your decision. ● Not welcome - what this rule says about the town - 'dog haters' if you own a dog you are not welcome ● Economy - less people coming to the town will affect the area, its shops and businesses with a significant loss of income to them. There are more than 30 shops displaying 'dog friendly' stickers in thier doors and windows in Lyme; these businesses are fully aware that lots of visitors to the area have dogs and in low season dog owners are sometimes the only ones visiting the town. These businesses rely on thier trade. To dog owners, dogs are family and they go where we go. ● COVD - there are already too many restrictions now you have added some more - not a great move. ● Mental health - people are struggling at the moment; 2020 is like no year we have ever known and it’s a hard one, but if you can get out in the air and run your dog on a beach it makes things a little better helps you sleep at night. ● Physical health - for some people (and dogs) a nice flat sandy beach is the only kind of beach they can exercise on. Have you tried walking on pebbles with arthritis in your hips or your hind legs? Have you even thought about this? Probably not because luckily for you, you're healthy. ● Litter - do you know that the dog owners, walkers, sitters, etc. that you are trying so hard to keep off the beach actually keep it looking as good as it does? They litter pick, they keep the place tidy, there's even a Facebook page about it!

They do it because its thier beach too.

Like I mentioned, I’m not local but all the above things affect me. Lyme Regis is a town I

LymeOnline Letters

Send your letters to francesca@lyme-online.co.uk love, a town I’ve been coming to since a child.

When these enforcements come into place in January, there really wouldn't be much point in us coming to the town for a beach we can't use but I'm lucky I don't live in Lyme; I can go to Seaton, Sidmouth, Branscombe, Beer, Budleigh Salterton, Seatown, West Bay, etc. and spend my money there. This doesn't really affect me, I don't live in your town.

Did you even think about the locals, the people that do live in Lyme? The ones without a car?

The ones that can't go to other beaches because they suffer mobility issues? Aren’t these the people that will effectively be paying for the policing of this new rule ?

When you sat down to discuss this enforcement, are you saying you thought about all of

GET INVOLVED WITH YOUR COMMUNIT Y PAPER

this and still made the wrong decision?

I would like this complaint tabled on the agenda, to be circulated to all sitting councillors and be discussed at the your next council meeting and a vote to be held on whether the enforcement rule is to be maintained.

Mr and Mrs Green, Wiltshire Response from Dorset Council: I am sorry you feel aggrieved by the content of the order. However it has been through the democratic process.

Jane Williams Team Leader (Environmental Protection - West)

Where can I donate knitted goods?

■ OVER the last few months many of us have taken up crafts to put the time to good use.

Having knitted an assortment of children's and adults’ hats and a couple of children's sweaters, I assumed that a women's refuge would like them. I've been informed that due to COVID they (social services) cannot accept any articles. Charity shops are the same - fair enough.

Firstly, how come these charities are so in need of donations at other times, but not now? Also, the point I'd really like to make, is why is it okay for outworkers to work from home to make PPE masks, etc. send them to the NHS or sell them to the general public.

Diana Hunt (by email)

The views expressed in letters are those of the author and not necessarily of this newspaper

www.lyme-online.co.uk

thegreenpage

Friday, October 30 2020 17

Sewage discharges in rivers Ways to get involved and and seas is ‘not acceptable’ help make life better locally

AFTER the equinox everything seems to change, and not just the amount of daylight we enjoy. It feels more autumnal and as if everything is slowing down.

One thing that does change is that the Environment Agency stop reporting on bathing water quality from October 1.

In 2019, water firms discharged raw sewage into England’s rivers 200,000 times.

South West Water recorded 273 discharges in the 2019 season. If this wasn’t bad enough, the Environment Agency recently indicated that they might lower water quality standards for rivers and the sea.

The Surfers Against Sewage Safer Seas Service app recorded more than 3,000 sewage discharges into coastal bathing waters during last year’s ‘bathing season’ alone.

The ‘bathing season’ is only from May to September. Outside that period there is no obligation to report on water quality despite many visitors and residents enjoying swimming, surfing, SUP, kayaking, sailing and paddling throughout the year.

In Lyme we have swim line buoys to encourage and provide safety for sea users all year round. We have visitors 52 weeks a year and they are vital to our economy, especially in a time of COVID. It’s costly to treat sewage and stormwater, and our water bills are high anyway. But South West Water’s accounts show that they made nearly £140million in profit last year. Can’t some of this massive profit be invested in eliminating raw sewage discharges into our sea?

Surfers against Sewage was formed in the 1990s specifically to represent sea users health concerns about what the newly privatised water companies were neglecting. And they were successful in getting legislation passed to make them invest in better sewage treatment infrastructure.

But things have slipped over the last 30 years; our population has increased, tourism

has boomed, and ways to get around the legislation have been developed so we have ended up with raw sewage being discharged more and more often into our rivers and seas.

We’re being failed by water companies.

There is no statutory obligation to report sewage discharges to the public. Worse still, the government and Ofwat are letting them get away with it.

We all need to make it known that this isn’t acceptable – our town council, residents and businesses alike should be demanding an improvement, especially in Lyme where we are so reliant on visitors and the draw of the sea, local business dependent on the sea and our own wellbeing.

Start by petitioning and writing to our local MP and town council to demand better standards and world-leading water quality legislation that exceeds current EU standards and sets legally binding targets to end all untreated sewage discharge by 2030. Make sure you copy your letter to your local water supplier too so they know how you feel about sewage overspills.

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) offers a free app called Safer Seas Service, which you can download at www.sas.org.uk/safer-seas-service/ It will tell you when the sea near you has been polluted with a sewage discharge. It also enables you to quickly report any illness you might have contracted following sea bathing.

Using the app will also help SAS in gathering information to, hopefully, force our water companies to eliminate raw sewage releases and raise the standard of our bathing waters. There is also a tab to notify your local MP about your concerns on water quality and specific pollution ‘events’.

Let’s act now before we further damage our sea and lives further.

Grenville Barr, Turn Lyme Green

More funding for Low Carbon Dorset GRANTS and technical support for Dorset organisations to reduce their carbon emissions will continue for another two years, thanks to additional funding of over £5million secured by Dorset Council.

The funding, provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), will extend the council’s existing three-year Low Carbon Dorset programme by a further two years, until 2023.

Through Low Carbon Dorset, organisations across the county have been accessing free technical advice and grant funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy measures.

Since its launch in April 2019, the programme has given out 91 grants worth more than £2million, and provided free advice to more than 100 Dorset-based businesses, community groups and publicly funded organisations.

This support has helped save just under 4,000

Re-use or recycle your copy of LymeOnline when you have finished reading it!

tonnes of CO2 a year – the equivalent of taking about 800 cars off the road.

Dorset Council’s sustainability team manager, Antony Littlechild, has been leading the bid for additional funding and said: “Uptake of this support over the past three years has been phenomenal with over 350 applications received. It has been especially encouraging to see the appetite from Dorset businesses to be more environmentally conscious.

“We are thrilled to be able to extend the support to even more organisations and projects.”

The council will continue to work in partnership with Dorset AONB to deliver the programme, through which they hope to reduce Dorset’s emissions by a further 5k tonnes and help fund the installation of another 5MW of renewable energy in Dorset over the next two years.

Councillor Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said: “The Low Carbon Dorset programme has been hugely successful over the past three years, and we are over the moon that our bid for funds to secure its extension has been approved.

“The programme has, and will continue to be, a core component of the Council’s response to the Climate & Ecological Emergency. And these additional funds offer an exciting opportunity to support Dorset in its move towards a low-carbon future.”

Organisations interested in seeking support from the programme can apply through the Low Carbon Dorset website.

AS the COVID crisis is continuing to create uncertainty in aspects of all our lives, and with Brexit and the climate and ecological crisis looming, it is easy to feel overwhelmed.

It seems as good a time as any to reflect on whether any individual can ever make any difference. I was so concerned about the growing divisions in society and, in particular as a geographer, about the lack of political will to take the threat of climate chaos and biodiversity loss seriously, that I stood for election to the Lyme Regis town council last year.

After nearly a year and a half on the town council, it feels very like working in education (and no doubt in health, care, the emergency services and many other public and charitable services or running your own business) in that there is always more to do than there are hours in the day, you will very rarely get thanked and there is no shortage of those who do not understand how much is involved but who see fit to complain and criticise.

Democracy can be hard work!

Working to make life better for others is an honour and a privilege and when communities do come together, it is humbling and inspiring. The start of the COVID crisis saw the spontaneous generosity of the people of Lyme Regis create the Community Support Group, enabling volunteers to look after people on every street in town. This work continues to bring people together - contact Cheryl Reynolds on 01297 443814 or cherylreynolds1947@gmail.com for details.

Lockdown gave the newly-formed Lyme Garden Growers group the time to nurture a giving and sharing ethos, which has helped many people enjoy the simple pleasures of growing their own fruit and vegetables and sharing them with others.

Many of the town’s businesses adapted their operations to offer ready-made home meals and home deliveries, while enabling generous support for the foodbank and for children on free school meals. The foodbank service continues to adapt and develop to support people when it is needed and co-ordinate generous offers of help from the community - contact Lisa and Mary at LymeForward for information about the foodbank and zero waste initiatives on 01297 441224 or 07955 772 314 or email manager@lymeforward.com, especially if you would like to help enable the free school meals during the school holidays to continue.

Volunteers, community groups, supportive local businesses and well-managed, responsive public services create resilient communities which should be better able to respond to future challenges. We are so blessed in Lyme Regis and Uplyme that there are many ways to get involved and to support each other.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has" – Margaret Mead.

Totally Locally, for example, started out as a small idea in the north of England and has grown into a multi-award-winning worldwide movement. Lyme is now part of a network of Totally Locally towns across the world, sharing ideas, working together and supporting local independent businesses, adding a new vibrancy and spirit of co-operation. Lyme had its first Fiver Fest in February and this October has been one of 130 towns in the UK taking part. More than 40 businesses are offering bargains for £5 on a wide range of food, drink, gifts and treats. Do show your support for our businesses and check the bargains on offer using the map available in participating businesses.

By contrast, Lyme is only one of three towns chosen to take part in the Royal College of Art’s community engagement and sustainable transport planning research study, ‘Our Future Towns’.

There is still time to share your hopes and visions for the future of Lyme and to be listened to about the challenges we face.

We’d particularly like to hear from younger people and from anyone with different mobility experiences so please tell your friends and family to share their views - contact me on 01297 443739 or email belindabawden@gmail.com, or Cheryl Reynolds on 01297 443814 or email cherylreynolds1947@gmail.com for any information needed or support doing the surveys.

Last weekend, the Fossil Festival ran its first virtual event, with many of the universities, museums and associations we normally see in person instead hosting hands-on science activities and presentations online.

Lyme Regis Development Trust, Lyme Regis Museum and the Natural History Museum had the vision back in 2005 to celebrate Lyme’s role as the ‘birthplace of palaeontology’ and a central gateway town in the World Heritage Site, by launching an event which brought together experts in earth science, natural history and geology, including the local fossil collectors, as well as artists and interpreters, to share their enthusiasm, knowledge and skills with schools and families. The annual event attracts thousands of visitors and the artists, academics and professionals return year after year, eager to learn from each other.

Transferring the festival to an online format must have been a huge challenge but many fascinating talks and activities took place and are available on the website to watch again. Among these are Jim Thomas’ excellent film of the history, geography and geology behind Lyme’s changing seafront; Richard Edmonds’ fascinating study of the famous Bindon Landslide; and the team behind Jurassic Airlines, which won the Olympic ‘Inspire’ award in 2012, presenting their plans to develop an online version of the entertaining flight through time along the Jurassic Coast, to show how past extinctions have enabled evolution and explosions in biodiversity. Their question is, are we heading towards our own extinction?

‘Departures’ explores the risks of climate change and biodiversity loss while showing the solutions that we need to avoid the worst impacts are already in our hands. Crowdfunding, investment, expertise and support are needed for this exciting project to ‘take-off’, so please contact the team if you’d like to be involved in this Lyme-born venture on hello@jurassicairways.com or richardmhartnell@gmail.com You can also contact me on belindabawden@gmail.com if you’d like to get involved in a trial for a car-sharing club or to work on transport or energy projects. Turn Lyme Green and Plastic Free Lyme have various environmental and community projects and working groups you can join.

Finally, in breaking news, a Dorset Climate Action Network (CAN) was set up on October 28 in response to the rapidly growing public concern about the impact of climate change, the use and abuse of the world’s resources, the loss of wildlife and the related threats to social justice at global, national and local level.

Dorset CAN aims to stimulate awareness and to support action by people and organisations in Dorset, as a complement to action by government, Dorset Council, town and parish councils and other agencies - please contact me on belindabawden@gmail.com to get involved.

Living in Lyme and Uplyme offers ample opportunities to be involved, find support and learn from each other. Facing the future challenges of pandemics, economic and political uncertainty and climate and environmental change will be easier with collaboration and support. Together we are stronger.

Cllr Belinda Bawden Lyme Regis Town Council and One Planet Working Group

axminsternews

18 Friday, October 30 2020

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Sponsored by Axminster Nub News - axminster.nub.news

Community spirit shown after café fire FIRE crews were called to Axminster Arts Café Bar in the early hours of last Monday morning.

Crews from Axminster, Colyton and Charmouth were called to the café in Church Street at 1.12am after a neighbour reported that the fire alarms were sounding and they could smell smoke.

Crews arrived and confirmed there was a fire in the café kitchen on the ground floor of the property, and they also needed to check an adjoining commercial property.

The crews used six breathing apparatus sets, two hose reel jets, a covering jet, triple extension ladder, small tools, thermal imaging camera and positive pressure ventilation fan to extinguish the fire.

The café suffered 25 per cent fire damage and there was 90 per cent smoke damage to both the café and adjoining retail shop, The Courthouse Makers.

The café bar is owned by Jim and Hilary Reaney who took over the establishment three years ago but retained a link with the town's arts and music fraternity. It was previously run by volunteers.

Mr and Mrs Reaney formerly owned the Kerrington Hotel in Musbury Road.

The café bar, often referred to as Axminster's "hidden gem", is situated in the Old Courthouse and includes a popular garden sitting-out area, one off the few in the town

centre., The building is owned by Axminster Town Council and includes the town's former prison cells and sergeant's quarters, now converted into a comfortable seating area.

The first Mr and Mrs Reaney heard about the fire was when they received a telephone call at 8.30am this morning from one of their staff who was opening up.

After a busy day of assessing the damage AXMINSTER Arts Café suffered 25 per cent fire damage and there was 90 per cent and clearing up, the smoke damage Axminster Arts Café team took to social soon as possible.

Among those to offer support was former media to thank all those who had offered supMayor of Axminster and East Devon district port.

They said the fire had been devastating but councillor Paul Hayward, who said: "Terrible their "spirits had been buoyed by the outpour- news, especially for owners and staff. Hope ing of support". damage can be sorted with minimum of delay They added that thankfully no-one was hurt and get the businesses re-opened." in the fire and they were working with the poCounty and district councillor Ian Hall lice and fire service to ascertain the cause.

They were also looking at how they could re- added: "Take care and you will bounce back store the café to get it back up and running as quickly."

United Against Racism group hope to engage with local community A national network of h hyperlocal news websites, now covering the Axminster & Seatton areas With editorial content provided by the team from Ly Lym meOnline

Visit our new websites at

axminsterr..nub.news and seaton.nub.news And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook & T Tw witter to keep up to date with all the latest local news

THE Axminster United Against Racism group recently held an event to engage with the local community.

Following the publication of their new leaflet, which will be used as a tool to open up discussion about racism and inequality, two members from Axminster United Against Racism - which supports the Black Lives Matter movement - manned a stand in Market Square on Saturday.

Helen Jenkins and Jo Hawkins said that some uncomfortable conversations were had, but overall it was a positive engagement exercise with the community.

Jo said: "It was good to start having conversation around race, prejudice and Inequalities, and raise awareness that there are things we can all do to challenge racism.”

Helen added: "It was a real eye opener; we had some difficult conversation but its great to be able to have these conversations, it has to start somewhere.”

The anti-racism group, which has previously held peaceful events on the Minster Green and a community litter-pick, are now hoping to engage with local primary schools to raise awareness about racism from a young age, and are looking into working alongside the local police.

They are also planning to be in Market Square in small groups every other weekend leading up to Christmas.

■ AXMINSTER residents are being urged to make this Christmas “extra special” with an appeal for a mass ringing of bells on Christmas Eve to end this difficult year “with a bit of magic”.

Posting a message on the Axminster Nub News website, Laura Newman urged the town to “come together” over the Christmas period and make a special effort to make the town “as festive as possible”.

Laura said: “Let’s come together to light up and decorate as much of the local residential, businesses and community areas as possible this year. This can be a small decoration, homemade or bought, with lights, etc.”

She also urged residents to support their neighbours if they had extra lights to spread the decorations over neighbouring properties.

“Think of the elderly who may not be able to decorate anymore but wish they could still enjoy their decorations and a Christmas tree.

“We all need the joy and kindness this Christmas, not just the children.

"Also if you would like to donate any decorations or lights you can deliver to me and if you are in need you can private message me on Facebook and arrange for a delivery or collection.”

Laura is also asking residents to step outside their homes at 6pm on Christmas Eve to ring a bell and sing 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' to "spread Christmas spirit and to help Santa fly that sleigh”.

Laura added: “After a tough year it would be an amazing memory for the kids and communities. Let’s end 2020 with a bit of magic, hope and togetherness”.

Light Up Axminster last week announced their plans for the town's annual Christmas celebrations.

While they had hoped to continue with the festive market, lantern parade and celebratory event that has taken place in previous years, they are unable to do so with the current COVID-19 regulations in place, but every effort will be made to make the town as festive as possible.

■ MERVYN Symes, the newly-appointed chairman of the Axminster branch of the Royal British Legion, has confirmed that there will be a Remembrance service in the town this year although there will be no parade.

The gathering will take place on Sunday, November 8th at 10.45am, at the War Memorial on the Minster Green.

The Royal British Legion chaplain, the Reverend Geoffrey Walsh, will be officiating at the service and Mr Symes will read out the names of the fallen from both world wars at 10.55am.

A number of civic dignitaries are expected to attend, including the Mayor of Axminster, Cllr Anni Young, the MP for Tiverton & Honiton, Neil Parish, and other representatives of business and community groups.

The service will follow COVID-19 guidelines and people will be required to wear masks and maintain two metres social distancing. There will be hand sanitiser stations in situ and stewards will be on hand to ensure that social distancing is adhered to.

Friday, October 30 2020 19

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Exploring Cyberspace from Lyme Regis

A SHORT HISTORY OF WEAVING THE WORLD WIDE WEB

C

OMPUTER technology has been one of the saviours of 2020 making this annus horribilis more bearable for many of us.

From our PC, laptop, tablet or smart phone we have been able to work from home, order groceries, consult health professionals, educate ourselves, watch entertainment, make family video calls, provide community support via social media and even continue to read LymeOnline!

Most of these activities are made possible by the World Wide Web (WWW) – the interface through which we communicate, share information, download software and much more. Given its global use, it is surprising to still discover people who don’t realise that the web was developed at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Geneva. Maybe it is because CERN gave it away for free!

I remember the period leading up to the invention of the web well because in the 1980s I had worked in the same division at CERN as its inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee. His boss was a networking expert who I frequently came across in meetings, discussing the ever increasing IT demands of the huge atom smashing experiments at the laboratory.

By the time that Sir Tim came up with his proposal for the web in 1989, I was still working at CERN – but now on behalf of a UK research institute – on the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP). This was a massive project that first required the construction of a 27 km tunnel through the bedrock 100 metres beneath the valley and foothills close to Lake Geneva. The same tunnel is used today by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which made newspaper headlines around the world when it discovered the fabled Higgs particle.

The LEP machine collided beams of electrons (matter) with beams of positrons (antimatter), which resulted in millions of interactions when they annihilated. Four massive detectors were dotted around the

SCIENCE FEATURE

by Professor Glenn Patrick

Professor Glenn Patrick is a particle physicist and science communicator who explores the quantum world of sub-atomic particles (including at the Large Hadron Collider) and now lives in Lyme Regis collider recording the sub-atomic debris from these interactions. The accelerator and the detectors were designed, built and operated by international collaborations with thousands of scientists and engineers scattered around the world.

The complexities of sharing information across different computer systems around the planet drove Sir Tim and colleagues to develop the World Wide Web. Instead of a plethora of homemade systems, at long last we had a system with a standard interface (browser), a standard language (hypertext) and a standard way of chaining it all together (hyperlinks).

Of course, the web would not be possible without some other ingredients, such as fast computer networks - the physical connections between computers. In the UK, academic networks emerged in the 1960s and 1970s because universities were starting to install expensive mainframe computers for research and teaching. Not every institute could have one, so there was a need to share resources and to be able to remotely submit programs to a distant computer.

One of the earliest networks used leased telecommunication lines to connect universities to the high-performance computers sitting in the national laboratories of the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, ATLAS Computing Laboratory, both in Oxfordshire, and the Daresbury Nuclear Physics Laboratory in Cheshire. I remember marvelling at the fact that I could sit at a remote terminal and be able to submit a

A WALK around town reveals how well connected Lyme is to cyberspace

program to be processed hundreds of miles away on one of the most powerful computers in the world. How times have changed!

Meanwhile, in the US, a network called ARPANET was expanding across university, government and military sites.

Those were the days of the Cold War and ARPANET had originally materialised out of the need for communication systems to survive nuclear attack.

The big problem at that time was that the various networks not only used different hardware, but also incompatible communication protocols.

There needed to be a convergence of standards and ways found for different networks to function together - termed “internetworking”.

After many years of competing development in different countries, the suite of protocols developed for ARPANET won and in 1982 what we now know as the Internet LYME Regis crest and web address on Marine Parade started to emerge.

We should not forget that the other nec- pany, bringing high speed Internet to reessary ingredient to the wider success of the mote places.

With 4.8 billion Internet users across the web and the Internet was the development of the personal computer. After the early world now online – an astonishing 62 per home microcomputers, the IBM Personal cent of the planet – we truly live in the InComputer (PC) with its Microsoft operating formation Age. This vast scale brings with system revolutionised the scene in 1981. it challenges such as security and privacy, This became a standard and spurred other but hopefully technology can stay ahead of companies to produce clones of the IBM the scammers, spammers and trolls.

A short walk around Lyme Regis looking machine - helping to expand and commerat shop signs shows how much the digital cialise the Internet.

Instead of a machine that filled a building, world has permeated everyday life and has even helped some businesses to stay afloat we suddenly had a powerful box that could during the pandemic. However, as the shift sit on a desk in an office or home! Faceto online shopping gains ever increasing book, Google and Amazon now use massive traction, new issues have surfaced. The data centres built from thousands of similar most obvious casualties are the losses of small boxes – or servers - housed in miles some local services - the banks, the Tourist of racks.

Information Centre and even potentially Today, we have bits and bytes, in the form our post office. of pulses of light, flowing to our houses Cyberspace and e-commerce may often be through superfast optical fibres as part of cheaper and more convenient than visiting our everyday infrastructure - just like gas, large chain stores, but there are simply water and electricity. Data cables are being times when there is no substitute for talklaid beneath the oceans to increase the ing face to face with a fellow human being. bandwidth between continents, such as the As we emerge from the fallout from transatlantic cable recently announced by COVID-19, we need to value the cultural Google, which will connect Bude in Corn- and spiritual values of human interaction. wall with New York and Bilbao.

After all, it is the oldest user interface, and We have also recently seen hundreds of we are lucky to have plenty of friendly, inStarlink satellites – sometimes visible over dependent shops in Lyme Regis.

Lyme Regis - launched by the SpaceX com-

20 Friday, October 30 2020

FLASHBACKS with Richard Austin

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Tales from behind the lens of our award-winning photographer

■ A FAIRLY large number of LymeOnline readers would not have a clue who this 1950s American pop star is.

Guy Mitchell was right up there with top pop stars in the USA, UK and Australia.

His song ‘I Never Felt More Like Singing the Blues’ was a massive hit record the world over... and in the Ship Inn, Lyme Regis!

During his amazing career he sold 44 million records including

six million-selling singles. In the fall of 1957, Mitchell starred in ABC’s ‘The Guy Mitchell Show’.

So, what was he doing playing golf at Cedar Falls near Taunton?

I was sent there by the news desk on a tip-off, and it was a good tip-off; there he was on the warm-up green practising his putting. Experience tells me that sometimes celebrities can be a bit spikey, especially if they think the press are invading their

private time. Again my experience is that if the artist’s career is going down the pan it will be “Hi, how can I help you?”. Not the same response when their career is really taking off.

On meeting Guy it was quite refreshing; he was the perfect gentleman and top marks to the newspaper’s chief sub who came up with a great headline ‘Still swinging after all these years’. Guy Mitchell was born on February 22, 1927 and died July 1, 1999.

No parade but our war dead will still be remembered THE annual Poppy Appeal collection in aid of the Royal British Legion will be changed this year to meet COVID-19 government guidelines.

Remaining Poppy collection days will be held over the weekend of October 30 to November 1, and on November 7.

However, the usual street collections will not be taking place, and instead there will be a static poppy sale points outside the Baptist Church on Broad Street and at the Marine Parade shelters, weather depending. The stalls will be a COVID secure environment.

Charmouth will also be modifying their poppy sales in line with these restrictions.

If you would like to volunteer to man the poppy table in Lyme Regis, contact Jacqui Ward on 01297 443606 or email her on wardpj1@sky.com.

In addition Royal British legion chairman Ian Marshall will hold an emergency stock of poppies so please call on 07584 993 955 if you require one.

The public are also being asked to visit the Royal British Legion website and download a printable display poppy for your windows for a donation amount of your choice. You can also request a family poppy pack.

In addition, the Lyme Regis branch of The Royal British Legion will be providing a VE/VJ theme display in the window of the Forge Fossil Shop in

Broad Street for the Remembrance fortnight. The branch would like to offer their sincere thanks to Helen and Dianne from the Forge Fossil Shop for allowing them to use their shop window again this year.

The coronavirus pandemic has also affected plans to mark Remembrance Sunday in Lyme Regis. However, scaled-back commemorations will still go ahead.

There will be no Remembrance Sunday procession through the town or dedicated church service.

However, over the Remembrance weekend of November 7 and 8, Royal British Legion members

and local dignitaries, led by the Mayor of Lyme Regis, Councillor Brian Larcombe MBE, will be laying wreaths at memorials around the town.

Organisations and members of the public who wish to pay their respects may leave wreaths and appropriate tributes against the town war memorial in George’s Square between 12noon and 2pm on Sunday, November 8 but are asked to observe social distancing guidelines.

The annual Remembrance Sunday parade and service at Charmouth war memorial has also been cancelled. Instead, local organisations are invited to lay wreaths individually at the memorial any time on Sunday, November 8.

www.lyme-online.co.uk

Local Services

TV AERIALS

CLEANING

e Lym

Bay Cleaning and

Maintenance End/Beginning of sales End/Beginning of lease Full Maintenance Service Carpet Cleaning specialists Holiday Let Cleans

Now taking on staff

FULLY INSURED ALL GENERAL BUILDING DOMESTIC AND COMMERCIAL No job too big or too small

★ EXTENSIONS ★ CONSERVATORIES ★ RENOVATIONS ★ ALTERATIONS ★ LOFT CONVERSIONS ★ DRIVES★ ★ PATIOS ★ DECKING ★ FENCING ★ ROOFING ★ DECORATING ★ KITCHENS ★ BATHROOMS ★ BRICKWORK ★ PLUMBING Ring us for a no obligation free quotation on

Office: 01308 427428 Mobile: 07956 205733/ 07904 245877 Email: pjs.builders@sky.com

VENUE HIRE

WINDOW CLEANING

AERIALS & CABLE

Pro-Vision Window Cleaning

TV & Radio Aerials

• Installations & Repairs • Satellite Installation • UHF & VHF • Multi Point Installation

● WINDOWS

INSIDE AND OUT ● GUTTERING VELUX WINDOWS ●FASCIAS AND SOFFITS ● PATIOS ● SOLAR PANELS ● PATHWAYS RESIDENTIAL OR COMMERCIAL

● CONSERVATORIES ●

WE CLEAN IN YOUR AREA!

Tel: 01297 443928 Mobile 07814 481833

Please contact us for a free quote Tel: 07855 808228 Email: K.Powell357@aol.co.uk www.wizardswindowcleaning.co.uk

BUILDERS Local family run business

Friday, October 30 2020 21

PEST CONTROL

Reliable, friendly & quality window cleaning service in your area • Windows, frames & sills • Gutters clean & clear • Conservatories • Solar panels • Domestic & Commercial CALL FOR A FREE, NO OBLIGATION QUOTE

G. STORM Group

basement conversion specialists cavity wall tie replacements damp and timber treatments plastering and rendering

NO MOLE NO FEE

Gary White M 07721 565 855

Telephone 07708 805118 westdorsetmolecontrol.co.uk

01297 639810 or 07412 847486 www.pro-visionwindows.co.uk

ARCHITECTURAL

BOILER ENGINEERS

FLORISTRY

E gary.white30@btinternet.com

MODARC MODULAR & ARCHITECTURE

Artisan Florist Seasonal Vintage Bouquets, Weddings and Events Order on-line or by phone Ready made options at 18 Woodmead Road, Lyme Regis DT7 3AD

- Planning Applications - Building Regulations - Extensions - New Builds / Conversions - Listed Building Works - Modular Building

Teresa Fowler

For all occasions or just because ...

35 years experience

Tel: 01297 551393 E-mail: info@modarc.co.uk Web: www.modarc.co.uk

House of Flowers Lyme Regis @HouseofFlowers7

Tel: 01297 444743 www.houseofflowerslymeregis.co.uk Email: houseofflowers34@aol.co.uk

PAINTING & DECORATING

GARDENING Chris Higgs

Interior & exterior decorating

C. H. PAINTING SERVICES

Contact The Hub for details admin@lrdt.co.uk or 01297 444266

ELECTRICAL

Installation, Maintenance, Inspection & Testing Julian Hill 07716 385 582 julianhillelectrical@yahoo.com 24 hour cover available Contact us for a free quote

Tel: 07932 982 206 chrisdhiggs@gmail.com Free Quotations Fair & Reasonable Rates

Pistol Pete’s 07985 285175 Painting, Decorating & Landscaping Peter Peacock | Lyme Regis peterpeacock17@icloud.com

To advertise your business in Local Services for as little as £8 per issue, call 07810 221 420 or email francesca@lyme-online.co.uk

classifieds&jobs

22 Friday, October 30 2020

www.lyme-online.co.uk

ITEMS FOR SALE

ELECTRIC FIRE, Dimplex Cheriton, 2kw convected heat output, virtually unused, £70 - 07840 938 374.

MAKING CHUTNEY? Cooking apples picked daily, supermarkets charge £2 per kilo, mine are just £1 per kilo, free windfalls 01297 443930.

CHEST OF DRAWERS, blonde oak, veneered with three drawers, 33” or 84cm wide x 29” or 72cm height x 20” or 50cm deep, only £25 - 01297 443930.

HEATED HOSTESS TROLLEY, Elko, four lidded, Pyrex containers, instruction book included, as new - 01297 443930.

BEDROOM SET, Sarah Kay bedroom set for girls, 2 duvet covers, pillow slips, matching curtains 66” wide x 54” drop, £30 - 01297 443930.

COFFEE TABLE, light oak, parquet style, very good condition, L48"(1220mm) x W24" (610mm) x H15" (390mm), £25 - 01297 678584.

ROLL TOP DESK, pine, very good condition, L42" (1070mm) x W20" (510mm) x L42" (1070mm), £40 - 01297 678584.

HOSTESS HEATED TROLLEY, very good condition, L29" (750mm) x W16" (400mm) x H27" (700mm), £20 - 01297 678584.

DOOR - EXTERIOR HARDWOOD, six panel, H77" (1960mm) x W30" (760mm), thickness 1 3/4" (44mm), £40 - 01297 678584.

DOOR - INTERIOR, 15 panel glazed, H77" (1960mm) x W 29 1/2" (750mm), thickness 1 3/4" (44mm), £30 - 01297 6789584.

CARAVAN FOR SALE

Elddis Odyssey 505 caravan on site between Beer and Colyton in East Devon - Leacroft EX24 6HY. Two owners from new in 2002, full and porch awnings, everything available to move into. Price £2,600.

FRIDGE/FREEZER, Electrolux under worktop fridge and freezer, good working order, £50 - 07840 938 374.

SONY PLAYSTATION, PS2 Slimline with two controllers and 23 games, fully working but no longer required, one controller cable has had a minor repair, photos and/or list of games can be provided on request, £30 07747 353 301.

Telephone number: .........................................................................................................

Send this form to: Items For Sale, LymeOnline, Unit 5, Uplyme Business Centre, Uplyme Road, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3LS

BOOK, ‘Painting Nature in Pen and Ink with Watercolour’ by Claudia Nice, first edition 1998, as new, £15 - 01297 442627.

BOOK, ‘Westcountry Animal Magic’ by Richard Austin, first edition signed book, as new, £5 - 01297 442627.

COFFEE TABLES, pine, pair 1x1m and 60x60cm, also console table 120x45cm, offers welcome - 07397 206 365.

HEATED FOOD TROLLEY, Ekco Royal, complete as new, £50 - 01297 443930.

FULL SIZE UKULELE, instruction book an case included, as new, unwanted gift, originally cost £95 now asking for £65 - 01297 33745.

...........................................................................................................................................

BOOK, ‘Down by the Sea with Brush and Pen’, first edition 2009, book on drawing by Claudia Nice, as new, £30 - 01297 442627.

MATTRESS, 4’6”, pocketed spring and posture foam, very good condition, £20 - 01297 443116.

LEAF SWEEPER, with large bag, almost new and barely used, plus manual, £15 - 01297 560782.

Your address: ..................................................................................................................

WALKING STICK BLANKS, 30 in total, mixture of hazel and ash, £50 for the lot - 01297 443419.

TILES, bathroom/kitchen, handmade, 60x30cm, underwater scene dark blue, £50 for 3 - 07397 206 365.

SCARIFIER & RAKER, MacAllister 1400w, almost new and barely used, plus manual, £60 01297 560782.

Your name: .......................................................................................................................

CORNER BOOKSHELF, solid whitewood H59”, 21” to corner, 30” out of cornerm six shelves, £20 for charity - 01297 560611

POLISHED FOSSIL, Orthocerus, double, 630g, 17.5 x 13cm, lovely condition, £19 01297 442627.

JAMES BOND BOOKS, set of 3 books by Steve Cole, new and sealed ISBN: 9781782958314 r.r.p. was £23.97, now asking for £6 - 01297 442627.

Please note this service is only for private sellers, not for commercial items, tradespeople or vehicles. Please include a brief description of your item, the cost and a telephone number where a buyer may contact you.

If you wish to advertise an item over £200 your advertisement will cost 10p per word, please email or phone us to arrange payment. Please also include your name and address, although this will not be published.

01217 051483 or 07980 729 551

TIFFANY OPEN LOVE HEART PENDANT, 21mm wide with silver-16" chain, engraved Elsa Peretti, with pouch, box and bag, from Tiffany in New York, unworn, £100 - 01297 678584.

WATERCOLOUR FLOWER PORTRAITS, book by Billy Showell, first edition, 2006, ISBN: 9781844480661, as new condition, £14 - 01297 442627.

ITEMS TO SELL?

You can advertise items for sale up to £200 free by filling in the form below or emailing francesca@lyme-online.co.uk

SOFA, two-seater, brown leather, vintage 1980, good condition, £180 ono - 01297 560707.

CRIB, Mammas and Pappas crib, free to anybody who can use it or nominal £5 - 07554 664 652.

GAZEBO, Charles Bentley 3x3, polyester, unused, £20 07554 664 652.

WETSUIT, Gul male wetsuit, full length, large, 42” chest (107-112cm), word twice, £30 - 01297 444929.

CAR SEAT, Britax Prince child’s car seat, 9 to 18kg, little used, £40 or near offer - 01297 444062.

‘PINK FLOYD BEHIND THE WALL’ book by High Fielder, Race Point Publishing, first edition, 2013, as new condition, unmarked, 240

Re-opening Monday, November 2nd from 9am!

Open Monday to Saturday, 9am - 5pm Sundays and Bank Holidays, 10am - 5pm

We currently have the following vacancies: Part-time team members Full-time commis chef 28 Days holiday Staff uniform Weekly pay Meals on duty 50% discount (Must Have Coffee Shop Experience Only Need Apply) Please contact store manager Leione on watersedgelyme@gmail.com or come in for a chat anytime after 3pm 19A Coombe Street, Lyme Regis

Friday, October 30 2020 23

www.lyme-online.co.uk

LymeOnline Sport

email your sports reports to edit@lyme-online.co.uk

football

Rovers ‘humbled’ by potential champions A HUMBLING 7-1 defeat against Perry Street, one of the Perry Street Division One favourites, was brightened slightly by a lone goal for Lyme Rovers, the first to be conceded by the South Somerset club.

Kicking into a strong head-wind, and expecting a top footballing opponent, the Rovers did their best to batten down the hatches, and with the score kept to 2-0 by 35 minutes, hopes weren’t entirely lost.

But within a ten-minute spell before half time, the visitors, reformed this season having dropped out of Devon & Exeter football last

season, stormed to an insurmountable 5-0 half-time lead.

The second half started better for Lyme, but the visitors were still wasteful of chances before scoring a sixth.

Manager Rob Larcombe and striker Pete Peacock had half chances before new signing, Jack Handy, playing only his second game, scored from the spot, having been brought down on 80 minutes.

This was the first goal Perry Street had conceded in their first six games. The visitors bagged a seventh late on.

Ali Trueman was Rovers man-ofthe match with Noah Gilmore working hard across several positions and Imran Chowdhury battling until the end.

Darius Pickering suffered a serious laceration of the skull which required 12 stitches caused by a stray stud.

This defeat saw the Rovers drop a number of places from their third position in Division One. Tomorrow (Saturday) the Rovers are away to mid-table Barrington.

Second win for young Swallows AVERAGING around 19 years old, what Uplyme Reserves lacked in experience they made up for in energy, passion and tactics to win 5 4 and claim two wins in a row in Perry Street Division 3.

Against a very experienced Kingsbury Episcopi team, unbeaten in the division, they took an early lead through a cooly-taken goal from Connor Tate, after a great ball out of defence from Daley Holmes, who is working his way back from an injury.

Further goals from Dan Huggins and Oli Alner - a long range free kick - meant Uplyme took some great momentum into the second

half up the Venlake slope, but it was needed.

Kingsbury hit back with a penalty early in the half and started to find a foothold in the game at 3 - 1. Uplyme stuck to their principles and Tate struck again after good work from Freddie Andrews.

Andrews himself produced the goal of the game for the fifth; seconds after being pushed up, he hit a pile-driver from 25 yards out wide on the left.

At 5 - 1, and with 25 minutes left, Uplyme made changes and took their foot off the gas, leading to a surge from Kingsbury. Instead of putting away more goals, Uplyme

were now scrambling to hold on as the lead was cut by three goals in a matter of 10 minutes.

The young players dug very deep and saw the game through, much to the joy of almost all of the first team looking on.

Credit to Oli Alner who never stopped running, but man-of-thematch goes to Alex Pennington who, at only 17, worked incredibly hard to boss midfield opponents twice his age.

Uplyme 1sts, who were without a league fixture last weekend, are away to Winsham United tomorrow (Saturday) whilst the Reserves are at home to Chard Rangers Reserves.

golf

Keen competition in stableford

By Richard Jackman THE November stableford at Lyme Regis Golf Club had a high turnout and competition was keen as 18 players scored par and better.

It was nip and tuck and the top of Division 1 as James Drew just pipped Kevin Lacey by a point on countback, both coming in with 40 points, Drew’s nett eagle on the 14th just seeing him through. Simon Harris took third place on 39 points also on countback by one shot on the back nine.

Division 2 winner was more clear cut as Pete West rattled in two consecutive birdies on the front nine with the best score of the day on 43.

Mark Colley (40) and Shane Stone (39), came second and third respectively with Colley finishing the

stronger of the two.

The seniors’ stableford had a high turnout the following day and competition was even fiercer as Division 1 had 11 players on par or better with three players all with 39 points. On countback Alan Jones took gold with a better back nine, scoring 20 points, while John Stow’s better last three holes saw him take second just ahead of Simon Prior.

Spare a thought for John Gannaway who scored 40 points in Division 2 with 23 points on the front nine, including 6 x 3-point holes only to run up against Richard Stubbs, also on 40, but with a better back nine. Stubbs was in such fine form that he carried two blobbed holes to finish first, with Gannaway second and Kim Jeffrey five points

adrift in third position, Division 1 of the ladies’ stableford played in tricky conditions, produced a close result as Judith Williams and Caroline Baker both scored 31 points, Baker scoring steadily but on countback it was Williams who took gold after a superior back nine. Gilly Madill was third on 29.

In Division 2 it was a hat-trick of wins for Sarah Kilcoyne as she amassed the best score of the day on 34 to earn her third win in as many weeks and saw her handicap reduced, while Judith Ellard came second on 32 and Ros Clemmans third on 26. Julie Kabia won the nine-hole competition on 17 points from Jean Moss who beat Karen Buchanan-Harlow in third on countback.

Lady Luck deserts Reserves as they concede another early goal ALTHOUGH they were beaten 10 the week before, despite having enjoyed most of the play, Lyme Regis Reserves travelled to Exmouth Rovers on Saturday confident that they could beat the Devon and Exeter Division One East leaders in the return fixture.

But yet again, lady luck deserted them with Exmouth taking the lead after just two minutes with a penalty decision that the Lyme management team of Nick Tregale and Darren Stewart, thought was harsh.

Only seconds before one of the home players flattened Brin Seward, the ref had his whistle to his mouth but when he saw the ball break for Rovers he changed his mind and Robbie Fowler was adjudged to have fouled in the box.

The Ressies were playing attractive football and had Rovers on the back foot but a number of decisions didn’t go their way and in the 43rd minute a poorly cleared ball was knocked back in and an unmarked player sneaked in to make it 2-0.

In the second half Lyme were well on top, but minutes after using both subs, keeper Rob Harp injured his groin and had to go up front to be replaced by Robbie Fowler who did well be-

tween the sticks.

Minutes later Steve Batey was fouled and when hitting the ground his shoulder popped out so he had to go off. With nine fit players and Harp up front, the Seasiders played Exmouth off the park and created chances but just couldn’t get the ball in the net.

After the game the Exmouth manager commented that Lyme were the best footballing side they have played who had really pushed them.

Joint manager Nick Tregale commented after the game: “I must have run over a black cat or something, we are just not getting any luck and the referee gave us nothing. We played them off the park with some lovely football and the lads gave their all, the spirit in the team is great and it won’t be long before the results start going our way.”

Exmouth Rovers retain their top spot in Division One East with 16 points from six games.

Lyme Reserves find themselves down in tenth place with just three points from four games.

Tomorrow (Saturday) they are at home to Otterton (kick-off 3 pm), who are fourth in the table, having taken ten points from six games.

Tigers Reserves have an eye on promotion AXMINSTER Reserves, favourites to win promotion in their first season back in Devon & Exeter League football, consolidated their position at the top of Division Two East with a 9-1 victory over East Budleigh 2nds.

Having come out of the league for just one season, Axe had to drop down a level on reentry and with the squad that manager Dan Prettejohn having put together, Ottery St Mary 2nds look like the only club likely to challenge them for the Division Two title.

Axminster beat them 4-2 when they met earlier in the season and so far this season Axe have knocked in 35 goals with only four against.

Axminster will be anxious for their Reserves to travel though the league to a place in the Premier East Division so the gap between first and second X1s is not so wide and it would seem the current squad are

more than capable of achieving that. Against East Budleigh, the Tigers came out of the blocks with all guns firing and stormed to 5-0 lead at half-time.

Manager Dan Prettejohn was disappointed they took their foot off the gas in the second half with the with sixth goal not coming until the 65th minute.

But they put the game to bed with three more strikes before the final whistle.

East Budleigh’s consolation goals came late in the game.

Sam Winslade and Tom Edwards grabbed themselves a hat-trick with Axe’s other goals coming from Ryan Vickery, James Girton and a first senior goal for 16-year-old Kyle Williams. Tom Edwards was named man-of-the-match.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Axminster Reserves are at home to Cranbrook 1sts who are in sixth place in Division Two East with eight points from sixth games.

Follow local sport 24/7 on our website - www.lyme-online.co.uk

LymeOnline Sport

24 Friday, October 30 2020

October 30 2020

www.lyme-online.co.uk

NOW IN THE DEVON & EXETER LEAGUE

Saturday, October 31 Lyme Regis Reserves v Otterton 1sts Kick-off 3pm

football

Seasiders putting on the style LYME Regis 1st’s muchawaited return to the Davey Fort was celebrated last Saturday with a display of fast-moving football and clinical finishing rarely seen by the Seasiders’ faithful supporters in recent times.

Dawlish United travelled to the Davey Fort in second place in the Devon & Exeter League Premier East division and after Lyme’s disappointing 3-1 defeat by Colyton last week, the South Devon outfit might well have been expecting an easy afternoon.

It was 42 weeks ago that the Seasiders’ senior squad had a home game and there was a big crowd at the Davey Fort, anxious to see whether the squad, now managed jointly by Julien Simier and Mark Bailey, had what it takes to compete for honours in this strangest of seasons.

They weren’t disappointed; in fact, they were ecstatic at the end of 90 minutes, having put nine glorious goals past United without return, six of them coming in the first half. It was the best 45 minutes of football I’ve seen at the Davey Fort for some time.

The scene was set within the first minute when midfielder Tyler Wellman powered the Seasiders into an early lead with a bullet-like header from a perfect Robbie Fellingham corner.

The writing looked on the wall for the visitors when a curling shot from centre-forward Joe Bond bounced off the bar after seven minutes and, within a minute, Fred Parsons, as influential as ever, made it 2-0 when he sidefooted the ball home after some clever work from Sam PollardJones.

By this time, Lyme’s fast-flowing football had me thinking that Dawlish were in for an uncomfort-

FEATURED GAME

By PHILIP EVANS able afternoon and it could have been 3-0 within minutes when Dan Rendell blazed the ball over the bar with an open goal begging.

Number three, however, didn’t take long coming when Parsons executed a clinical volley which gave the visiting keeper no chance. Soon after he blazed the ball over the bar from a good position,.

A glorious through ball from Pollard-Jones, whose excursions down the left flank caused havoc in the Dawlish defence, enabled Bond to round the keeper and slot the ball home to make it 4-0.

Dawlish didn’t let their heads drop but their first real attempt on goal didn’t come until the 36th minute with a shot that went wide.

By this time Bond (pictured) was cooking on gas, placing the ball wide after a penetrating run down the left and then from another incisive Pollard-Jones feed made it 5-0 in the best move of the half.

After the break, Bond completed his hat-trick within a minute of the re-start when he waltzed around the keeper to send Lyme in with a 6-0 advantage.

Early in the second half Bond was substituted for Brad Rowe, another dangerous striker, safe in the happy knowledge that having scored his 25th hat-trick for the Seasiders he was now well and truly a member of Lyme’s top strikers’ club.

After the break Lyme lost their rhythm for a short while during which Wellman’s fierce drive was saved with a full-length dive from the Dawlish keeper. Rendell was unlucky from close range and Ricky Sargent shot wide after a penetrating run down the right.

Joint manager Mark Bailey brought himself on for the final few

AERIAL DEFENDING: Tyler Wellman heads clear a rare attack from Dawlish United at the Davey Fort on Saturday minutes and had only touched the ball once when he slotted home goal number seven after brilliant approach work from Wellman.

Lyme finished in exciting style with Rowe completing the 9-0 scoreline with two late goals, rounding the keeper and smashing the ball home from a great Josh Rawlins’ assist, and then a more spectac-

ular drive which left the keeper with no chance.

It would be easy to name Bond the man-of-the-match for his impressive hat-trick, but that would be unfair to his team mates as they all performed well and contributed to such a fine performance.

The defeat saw Dawlish drop a place in the Premier East table as

Lyme settle into sixth position, having played only three games with a season six weeks old.

Tomorrow (Saturday) the Seasiders are away to local rivals Seaton Town who were beaten 3-1 last week by Beer Albion. Seaton have won just one of their five games.

cricket

Talks on new T20 league LOCAL cricketers could be playing in a new 20-20 midweek tournament next season.

The idea was revealed last week at the annual general meeting on Uplyme and Lyme Regis Cricket Club, one of the most exciting local sides whose talents suit the 20-over format of the sport.

Uplyme chairman Steve Batey is sounding out local cricket clubs to see if they would support the idea and is looking for a potential sponsor.

This season Uplyme won their tier knock-out competition – organised by the Devon Cricket League in a shortened season caused by COVID-10 – with ease, attracting a crowd of 250 at their play-off final, unheard of in local cricket.

Next season Uplyme hope to instal wi-fi at their clubhouse at the King George V playing field and are looking into the possibility of live streaming of matches.

They are also hoping to have a new electronic scoreboard.

Another idea being investigated is the possibility of organising an overseas tour next June (COVID-19 permitting) to Portugal or the Netherlands.

Officers elected at the annual meeting were: president – Brian Rattenbury; chairman – Steven Batey; vice-chairman – Gary Rowland; secretary – Derek Wellman; treasurer- Neil Price.

Committee members: Mark Brimicombe, Andy Jones. Club captain – Sam Farow; T20 captain – Steve Batey.

Follow local sport 24/7 on our website www.lyme-online.co.uk