Marshwood+ January 2022

Tim Kliphius on tour Page 38

Greta’s Mary Anning in place Page 32

Kristopher Allerfeldt Past, Present & Future Page 12

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Marshwood + Magazine

THE

© Ruth Wilkins Photograph by Robin Mills

The best from West Dorset, South Somerset and East Devon No. 274 January 2022

COVER STORY Robin Mills met Ruth Wilkins at Rampisham Hilll Farm, Dorset

© Ruth Wilkins Photograph by Robin Mills

’I

grew up in the centre of Oxford where my parents, both physicists, were academics at the University of Oxford. I spent a lot of my childhood with a family who lived in a narrow boat moored on the canal at the end of our street. They ran a wheelwright’s workshop and kept ponies on Port Meadow right in the middle of Oxford, which they used for carriage hire in the wedding business, and I used to help prepare the ponies and hold them outside the church while the wedding took place. When I was 12 they moved to a smallholding further up the canal where they ran a farm shop from their boat and kept a couple of cows which were hand milked, some chickens and pigs, as well as the ponies for the weddings. I spent every weekend there, usually with my best friend, sleeping in a caravan in the field or in the horsebox and helping with the livestock. My life in the countryside, immersed with farming and horses, had already taken root.

Before university I had a gap year working in a lab in Oxford growing tissue cultures for medical experiments, then went to Wye College in Kent to study Agricultural Science. It was the last year they offered that course, and I was one of only two students on it.

Wye College had been owned by the University of London but had recently been taken over by Imperial College London who, during my time there, embarked on an asset stripping exercise, and tried to sell the site to build 4,000 houses on the College farm. They had Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 3

Ruth Wilkins

signed a secret deal with Kent County Council to allow the development through, but the story was uncovered by two local journalists who blew the whole thing open and saved the beautiful village of Wye. About a month after I had started the course they also announced that they were going to stop teaching us, and make all the staff redundant, at the end of my first year. Fortunately, they relented on that and let us finish our degrees with some staff staying on to teach us, but given the circumstances it put a different complexion on the prestige of gaining an Imperial degree.

I met my husband David at Wye, and after university we bought this farm and moved here. It was only 16 acres originally, then we bought another 16 the following year, and now we rent grazing from our neighbour as well. Alongside the farm work I worked for Symonds and Sampson, training to be a land agent, which involved doing a post graduate diploma at Reading so that I could qualify as a rural surveyor.

However, after a couple of years I realised that I did not enjoy the negotiation involved in being a land agent, and went to work for the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG).

There I ran a scheme called the Dorset Arable Project which advised arable farmers on integrating conservation measures with arable farming, as well as soil and nutrient management and other general conservation advice. When the Dorset Arable Project ended I went to Kingston Maurward College and taught Agriculture, teaching all levels of students there, from 14-year-old school students to first year degree level.

After a time, with our sheep numbers growing, I found myself working too many hours away from the farm, as David worked full time elsewhere as the workshop manager for an engineering company. We had to do the farm work before and after our off-farm jobs, which meant early starts and late nights, and we had sheep on rented ground spread around West Dorset which all needed checking too. So I left Kingston Maurward and went to teach Countryside Management at Milton Abbey School, three days a week, as well as some further work back with FWAG, which gave me more time for the farm and enabled me to finish my post graduate course which I’d had to abandon earlier. However, since my oldest daughter arrived five years ago, followed three years later by another daughter, I’ve been back working on the farm whilst looking after them.

We’ve always had sheep here. When we took on the farm in 2007 we bought some Poll Dorset ewes at a sale, and as we

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were very understocked we then bought some Dorset Down ewes from a neighbour. They seem to suit our system rather better than the Poll Dorsets, so they’ve gradually taken over, and we now just run Dorset Downs. The Dorset Downs have good confirmation and grow fast off very little grass, which fits our low input farming system—we don’t feed any hay or concentrate feed outdoors and our fields are mostly unfertilised permanent pasture. We have a small flock of approximately 80 ewes plus followers, so up to around 250 sheep at some times of the year. All our sheep are registered with the breed society, and are also performance recorded as part of the Signet recording scheme which gives us information on how likely each lamb is to have fast growth rates, high muscle depth and low fat depth, and this helps us make sure our flock is continuously improving.

Our main output is breeding sheep; the rams sell well as crossing and pedigree sires, and the young breeding ewes are extremely popular. Although Dorset Downs are registered as a rare breed, they make a good choice of breed for today’s market, the meat being particularly sweet. We regularly take stock to the local agricultural shows, which is a great way to present and market them, and the children enjoy showing their sheep too. For the last two years the judging for the shows has been on-farm, and this year we were delighted to have won the Melplash Agricultural Society’s Best Managed Small Farm (199 acres and under).

I am a keen hand and machine knitter, which is partly why we see wool as a major part of our sheep output, rather than the general nuisance that many sheep farmers find it these days. Dorset Down sheep have a very nice fleece so for a long time we’ve been selling our wool to crafters, who often asked if we could process it for use in knitting, weaving, rugmaking and other crafts, but this was not cost effective for us to do by hand. Our customers were telling us that there was a huge demand for quality wool to be processed, because there are very few wool mills in the UK who will process small quantities.

Having spent years discussing, researching and costing, we took the plunge and started building Rampisham Hill Mill in January 2021. Getting it off the ground through the Covid pandemic and Brexit has made everything much more difficult, but we have replaced our old timber cow kennels with a new mill building and custom built wool processing machinery. We started processing in September 2021, and

© Ruth Wilkins Photograph by Robin Mills

David and I are now both working full time in the mill and enjoying managing the complexities of processing wool.

Our customers bring us wool from many different breeds of sheep, from all over the UK, which we process to their specifications and return to them. Through our website we also sell raw fleece from our flock and other local farms, as well as wool and yarn processed in the mill. Each batch, which can be as little as an individual fleece, requires a completely different approach to process. It’s difficult to believe that such enormous variation in characteristics between different sheep breeds’ wool comes from animals of the same species, but you have to remember that some were bred to live in the comfortable Dorset meadows, and some have to survive life in the Outer Hebrides. Even

wool from individual sheep in the same breed can behave differently to the rest during processing and give varying results. Steps involved in processing wool include washing, drying, opening, carding fleece into batts or sliver, gilling, and spinning and plying into yarn, using high specification modern machinery, as well as some machines from bygone times which still work perfectly.

The diversification promises to be a rewarding venture in so many ways. There’s an echo of the past, to when West Dorset was known for spinning flax, and much earlier to when the UK was globally renowned for the quality of its wool. It’s a huge challenge setting up something that nobody else is attempting, but I’ve always loved a challenge.

’

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Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 7

UP FRONT Listening to Seth Dellow’s audio interview with Kristofer Allerfeldt, a Professor of American history at the University of Exeter, it’s hard to imagine his leap from Devon farmer to the study of subjects such as the Ku Klux Klan and American crime. Seth’s interview covers topics ranging from people trafficking to quantum computing, which feel a long way from sheep farming on the edge of Dartmoor. But that theme of diversification and expanded vision seems to come up throughout this issue. Christopher Roper talked to Jyoti Fernandes of Fivepenny Farm about her experience at COP26 where she spoke on behalf of a global network of small farmers.

In a world where the food trade appears to be controlled by large corporations, it’s easy to think that small farmers might not have much voice.

But Jyoti points out that over half of the world’s food is produced by small farmers, and that they are often the ones most immediately threatened by climate change. It’s another reason to be aware of and support our small local producers. Our cover story this month is an interview with sheep farmer Ruth Wilkins. She and her husband David have shown an extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit in focusing on setting up a new mill with custombuilt wool processing machinery to process wool for use in knitting, weaving, rug-making, and other crafts. They receive wool from different breeds all over the country. It’s a laudable diversification from breeding sheep, and their work and their vision is another sign of the value of collaboration between small enterprises. On page 42 we highlight a new exhibition opening at Somerset Rural Life Museum.

It shows work by photographer Pauline Rook, who in 2002 was commissioned by the Countryside Agency to create a photographic record of the Blackdown Hills. Her brief was to capture the ‘spirit and essence’ of the area—something we have sought to do in this magazine for twenty years. A former sheep farmer herself, Pauline’s photographs show a true passion for the land and all it produces.

As we start a new year with unsettling levels of uncertainty and a feeling of retrenching for the winter months, it’s good to be aware of and hold onto the roots and history of our local community.

Fergus Byrne

Published Monthly and distributed by Marshwood Vale Ltd Lower Atrim, Bridport Dorset DT6 5PX For all Enquiries Tel: 01308 423031 info@marshwoodvale. com

THIS MONTH

© Photograph by Pauline Rook

3 10

12 16 20

Cover Story By Robin Mills Local response to the climate crisis

By Christopher Roper Past Present and Future - Kristofer Allerfeldt Event News and Courses News & Views

22 22 24 26

House & Garden Vegetables in January By Ashley Wheeler January in the Garden By Russell Jordan Property Round Up By Helen Fisher

28 28 30 31

Food & Dining Potato and Soured Cream Pie By Lesley Waters Welsh Rabbit By Mark Hix Plaice By Nick Fisher

32 Arts & Entertainment 32 Greta’s Mary Anning By Andrew Carey 34 Preview By Gay Pirrie Weir 37 Young Lit Fix By Antonia Squire 38 Galleries 41 Screen Time By Nic Jeune

42 Health & Beauty 43 Services & Classified “There’s an old proverb that says just about whatever you want it to.”

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Editorial Director Fergus Byrne

Contributors

Deputy Editor

Andrew Carey Seth Dellow Helen Fisher Nick Fisher Richard Gahagan Mark Hix Nic Jeune

Victoria Byrne

Design

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Fergus Byrne info@marshwoodvale.com

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Russell Jordan Robin Mills Gay Pirrie Weir Christopher Roper Antonia Squire Lesley Waters Ashley Wheeler

The views expressed in The Marshwood Vale Magazine and People Magazines are not necessarily those of the editorial team. Unless otherwise stated, Copyright of the entire magazine contents is strictly reserved on behalf of the Marshwood Vale Magazine and the authors.

Disclaimer: Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of dates, event information and advertisements, events may be cancelled or event dates may be subject to alteration. Neither Marshwood Vale Ltd nor People Magazines Ltd can accept any responsibility for the accuracy of any information or claims made by advertisers included within this publication.

NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS Trades descriptions act 1968. It is a criminal offence for anyone in the course of a trade or business to falsely describe goods they are offering. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 and the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. The legislation requires that items offered for sale by private vendors must be ‘as described’. Failure to observe this requirement may allow the purchaser to sue for damages.

Road Traffic Act. It is a criminal offence for anyone to sell a motor vehicle for use on the highway which is unroadworthy.

Local Responses to the Climate Crisis

W

hen I saw that my neighbour, Jyoti Fernandes of Fivepenny Farm in Wootton Fitzpaine, had addressed a Plenary Session of COP26 in Glasgow, I knew she would be able to tell me what it was all about, and what it means for the Marshwood Vale. Although the meeting dominated the airwaves earlier in November, I didn’t know until yesterday, that COP stood for Conference Of Parties and meets every year in a different country, next year (COP27) in Egypt.

The “Parties” are the 197 Countries that have ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a global effort to reach agreement on measures to keep the planet’s atmosphere from heating by more than 1.5 degrees from its pre-industrial norm. This doesn’t sound like much, but we are currently headed for a 2.0 degree rise in temperatures, and there is a strong scientific consensus that this will have catastrophic consequences for humanity, and that includes the inhabitants of the villages and towns of Marshwood Vale. Check Google for areas of Devon, Dorset and Somerset that may well be under water in 2050 Jyoti’s presence in Glasgow, speaking on behalf of the farmers of the world, arises from her long advocacy of agroecology and as a founder of the Land Workers’ Alliance, the UK component of a global network of small farmers, Via Campesina. According to its website, LWA includes farmers, growers and land-based workers with a mission to improve the livelihoods of its members and “create a better food and land-use system for everyone”. She is also involved in the UN Committee on Food Security that meets in Rome.

Small and family farms were given space to speak in Glasgow because, ‘If you include the food consumed by small farmers themselves and their neighbours, rather than measuring food that is traded, over half the world’s food is produced by small farmers, and they are most immediately threatened by climate change,’ there are also far more of them.

Jyoti freely admits that the scientific and political issues wrapped up in climate change are both very complicated and very hard for people to understand, as we need systemic changes in human behaviour, and governance. She regretted that there had been so much emphasis in Glasgow on Net Zero. ‘The underlying message seemed to be that if we planted enough trees, we needn’t change our consumption patterns. We actually need to decarbonise, and that’s difficult.’ For this very reason, this article offers links to websites that go more deeply into the issues (see below).

Given the scale and immediacy of the threat to humanity, an American commentator recently said that, ‘Winning slowly is the same as losing’. Jyoti disagreed, ‘There is no silver bullet; winning slowly is our only option.’ Change must happen at so many different levels. ‘It’s not just changing

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By Christopher Roper our habits as consumers, we have to keep up pressure on local and national governments, and use our purchasing power to influence supermarkets, and support local producers.’

I then turned to another veteran campaigner on food and climate issues, Candida Dunford Wood, to discover what was happening on the frontline in West Dorset, a great deal it seems.

She pointed me first at the website of Bridport Food Matters, where you will find a wealth of information, aimed at every level of understanding, together with practical advice. Anyone who wants to get involved will find many signposts to local groups, growers and Jyoti Fernandes at COP26 retailers.

Another revelation was ‘In My Backyard’, an online co-operative shop for local food products from Devon, Dorset and Somerset, endorsed by Sir Tim Smit of the Eden Project. ‘It’s a brilliant idea, delivering locally produced, delicious food, direct from the farms to your door each week.’ ‘In My Backyard’, was launched at the beginning of the first Lockdown in April 2020 with just five producers. Today there are twenty-nine, all listed on their excellent website.

If we weren’t trying to support other local retailers, I thought we could do all our weekly food shopping with ‘In My Backyard’. The way it works is you place your order (either online or over the phone) and then choose either home delivery (covering most of East Devon) or collect your order from one of five collection points between Lyme Regis and Sidmouth.

‘In My Backyard’ is made possible by the Open Food Network, a decentralised global network of people and organisations working together to build a new food system.

‘We believe a sustainable and resilient food system needs to reconnect producers and consumers.’ Their flagship project is an open-source software platform that makes it relatively easy to create enterprises like ‘In My Backyard’.

Candida also drew my attention to the Dorset Climate Action Network, currently seeking funds to pay an experienced part-time administrator for a year. They seem to be well organised, with many opportunities for getting involved. Suddenly, the systemic shift that Jyoti said was required seemed possible. The Open Food Network was founded in Australia in 2012 an is now active in 20 countries.

Useful websites for anyone who wants to know more or wants to be involved: The Land Workers Alliance: https://www.landworkersalliance.org.uk) Bridport Food Matters: https://www.bridportfoodmatters.net In My Backyard: https://www.inmybackyard.co The Open Food Network: https://www.openfoodnetwork.org Dorset Climate Action Network: https://www.dorsetcan.org Turn Lyme Green: https://www.turnlymegreen.co.uk Sustainable Dorset: https://www.sustainabledorset.org

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 11

Past, Present and FUTURE Kristofer Allerfeldt talks to Seth Dellow

By Fergus Byrne

I

n this month’s audio interview, Seth Dellow spoke to Kristofer Allerfeldt, a Professor of American history at the University of Exeter. Kristofer specialises in modern slavery, immigration, the Ku Klux Klan and organised crime and in his interview with Seth he covered topics ranging from people trafficking to quantum computing.

His route to becoming a professor of history was not traditional by any means. Brought up on the edge of Dartmoor, Kristofer’s father was a farmer and his mother a portrait painter. He describes them as ‘complete and utter opposites’ but ‘a fantastic combination together.’

After university in Bristol, where he studied advertising and marketing, he recalls how ‘for one reason or another, I left and went out on trawlers and did all sorts of the Jack London type stuff ’ before moving for a spell to San Francisco. However, instead of then following an academic route to where he is today, he came back home and spent the next twenty years farming.

In fact, he was still farming when he did his degree in history, followed by a Ph.D. in history, and even continued after he started teaching at Exeter University. It was a lifestyle that left him with a deep love of animals, especially dogs.

Despite initially studying Russian with someone he describes as ‘Devon’s last Stalinist’ he changed tack to study American history and that is where his interest in immigration came from. ‘I became interested in the idea of immigration history’ he tells Seth ‘and particularly what changed the

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Kristofer Allerfeldt by Seth Dellow Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 13

attitude of America from being a nation of immigrants to being a nation rather hostile to immigrants.’ He was particularly interested in areas where people didn’t come across many immigrants. ‘They seemed to be even more anti-immigrant than they were in the areas where they actually mixed with the immigrants, and I came to the conclusion that actually it’s often fear of the unknown, rather than dislike of the known. And I think that’s true in almost all circumstances of xenophobia and particularly immigration.’

On a visit to New York some years ago he managed to have lunch with one of his heroes, the late Aristide Zolberg, a distinguished political scientist said to have been one of the world’s preeminent scholars of comparative politics. Zolberg believed that there was a time when American immigration policy had been heading in the right direction. However, he thought that the atrocities of 911 changed everything. Kristofer doesn’t like current immigration policies but understands the difficulties.

‘But I can’t come up with a solution to it’ he says, ‘and I suppose people have to have some form of border control.

But it seems sad, and it always seems like it’s the most unfortunate people get caught in the middle of it.’

It was Kristofer’s interest in immigration that led to his specialism in the Ku Klux Klan. He explains to Seth how he became fascinated by the Klan and relates the story of how in the Pacific North West in the 1920s they had hundreds of thousands of members. The organistaion was ‘very public, very successful at propagating itself and spreading its message across the regions, particularly the urban regions of Oregon.’ They attempted to replicate this by moving into Washington State and it was totally unsuccessful. ‘They were opposed by the Catholic Church.

They were very anti-Catholic at this point and they were opposed by the Catholic Church and the Catholic Church did a very good job of shutting them down, having learnt the lessons of why they’d been successful in Oregon, and developed strategies to deal with it.’

Kristofer’s interest in the Klan led to a specialism in organised crime. He tells Seth this ‘stemmed out of an interest in criminal history, which I got into largely because of links between corrupt politicians and anti-immigrant behavior. And also just anti-immigrants arguments. I mean one of the big arguments against the immigrants at the turn of the 20th Century was that they were involved in crime, particularly Southern and Eastern Europeans and particularly, of course, the Italians.’ His interest in criminal history is because he believes ‘we cannot understand the history of America if we don’t have a look at the history of crime in America.’

In his wide-ranging talk with Seth, Kristofer also talks at length about modern slavery and human trafficking. He believes that celebrating the abolition of slavery is used to cover up behavior that is no better than that which was abolished. ‘Abolition in 1865 in America really just forced another form of slavery that was driven underground’ he says. ‘And the difficulty is that in order to maintain that fiction of abolition, the Americans have created a vision of slavery that is focused on plantation slavery. So it’s all African Americans being imported into America, which

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again, is a fallacy anyway in terms of the numbers. But it’s really very much this idea of we abolish that, and that isn’t the case. It’s much more. It’s morphed, it’s mutated, it’s changed since those years and to the point where there’s actually more slaves in America now than there ever has been in history. Which is quite a shocking statistic. But significantly more.’ As well as many other measures to combat this he would like to introduce legislation that said paying below the minimum wage was actually a criminal offense and should be seen as modern slavery.

He is currently fascinated by the potential of artificial intelligence and whether it will have the ability to help stem the flow of misinformation by helping build models of behavior based on historical data. He cites the example of how during an outbreak of bubonic plague in Chinatown in San Francisco in 1900 it was decided to offer vaccination to the Chinese community as it seemed they were the most likely to be infected. ‘So of course, the Chinese immediately thought there must be something wrong with this vaccination, why are they only giving it to us?’ They responded with fear that the vaccination was a conspiracy. Kristofer wonders whether artificial intelligence will help create models that will help eradicate this kind of misunderstanding. However, it’s a difficult balance. Will we all become ‘enslaved by the algorithm’ he asks, or will artificial intelligence enable drones to be able to pick up situations such as modern slavery?

Kristofer believes the real problem with artificial intelligence is that ‘the speed of change will be so massive’ that we have to be looking at potential outcomes now.

‘We’ve got to have legislation and we’ve got to have thinking, philosophical ideas in place’ he says. ‘It is going to dramatically change everything we do.’

Perhaps one of the most frightening things he talks to Seth about is his concern about quantum computing and the geopolitical ramifications of one nation developing computational speed quicker than others. ‘Can you imagine the quantum computer enables the cracking of any security system whatever in milliseconds? So of course, the company that develops that has the control over everything.’

He foresees that happening within the next five to 10 years.

Seth Dellow’s full interview with Kristofer Allerfeldt is available to listen to on the Marshwood Vale Magazine website.

Visit www.marshwoodvale.com.

January

EVENTS AND COURSES 1 January

East Devon Ramblers 4.5 mile leisurely walk. Sidmouth Phone 01395-513974.

2 January

Singing Bowl Soundbath 2pm-4pm. Oborne Village Hall, Oborne, nr. Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4L. £15 Please book in advance 01935 389655 or email ahiahel@live.com ffi www.centreforpuresound.org.

3 January

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Evening of Scottish Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall. 7.30-10.00 p.m. Tea and coffee provided and no partner required. Contact David on 01460 65981. Cost £1.50 www. chardscottishdancing.org.

4 January

Scottish Country Dancing every Tuesday at Ashill Village hall TA19 9LX from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Learn the steps, formations and dances, have fun and keep fit. Hot drinks at the interval. For more information please contact Anita on 01460 929383 or email anitaandjim22@gmail. com or just come along and bring a friend. See you soon.

Beaminster Museum hosts its 4th Winter Talk at 2.30pm. Brian Earl, Curator, talks about “Mr Hearne’s long walk.” Samuel Hearne, educated in Beaminster, eventually joins the Hudson Bay Company and finds himself on a mission to locate lucrative new business opportunities for his employers deep inside the Arctic Circle. Hear about the harsh conditions, and unpredictable travelling companions. Entry £3.

5 January

East Devon Ramblers 8 mile Moderate walk. Castle Drogo. Phone 07874-330097.

6 January

Celebrate Twelfth Night with Bridport Broadside male sea shanty singers at Bridport Town Hall 7.30pm. In aid of Bridport Millennium Green £8, members £7. Wine/nibbles, raffle. Details Sandra Brown 01308 423078.

Leave no Trace (2018, US, 12, 106 mins, Director Debra Granik) 7:30 pm. Clapton & Wayford Village Hall (TA18 8PS). Membership £22, guests £4 per film. Contact mickpwilson53@btinternet.com or ring Mick Wilson on 01460 74849 or Di Crawley on 01460 30508. Prices as they were in 2019. Sensible COVID-19 precautions are in place.

7 January

Flying Folk with ‘Stompin’ Dave Allen & ‘Slammer’ Durrant, and The Farey Family Ilminster Arts Centre TA19 0AN £10. Starts 8pm. Doors open 7pm, with bar. 01460 54973 - musicbookingsIAC@gmail.com www.ilminsterartscentre.com.

8 January

Film night at South Perrott Village Hall. 7pm “The Slow and Dirty” A documentary about the Somerset & Dorset Railway followed by “A History of Farming in Dorset and Somerset” Tickets £6.00 to include refreshments. Cash Bar Bookings: Mike Gardner 01935 891669.

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 7.5 mile walk from Ringstead. For further information please ring 01308 898484 or 01308 863340.

Photograper Pauline Rook will be at the Somerset Rural Life Museum for a Meet the Artist event when she will be available 16 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

to discuss her work and the exhibition The Blackdown Hills: A Photographic Portrait. On 12 February Pauline will be giving an illustrated talk as part of the museum’s Talk and Tea series. Somerset Rural Life Museum, Chilkwell Street, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8DB. 01458 831197. For more information and to book your visit go to srlm. org.uk.

9 January

East Devon Ramblers 8 mile moderate walk. Charmouth. Phone 01404-45944.

10 January

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Evening of Scottish Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall . 7.30-10.00 p.m. Tea and coffee provided and no partner required. Contact David on 01460 65981. Cost £1.50 www. chardscottishdancing.org.

Crewkerne Gardening Club welcomes you to a new gardening year, with a talk on “ The Vineyard” by Susanna Applegate. This will be held in the Henhayes Centre at 7.30pm with refreshments. Membership £15 per annum. Contact- Rosemary Prince 01460 74290.

Bridport folk Dance Club Like music and dancing, gentle exercise, socialising and maybe learning something new, then come along to our dance sessions in the W.I Hall on Monday evenings from 7.15 to 9.30pm. All welcome, especially beginners. Tel: 458165 or 459001 for more information.

Hawkchurch Film Nights, in association with Devon Moviola, proudly presents ‘The Courier’ (Cert.12, 112 mins). 6.30pm (doors 6.00pm) at Hawkchurch Village Hall, EX13 5XD. Reservations £5 from csma95@gmail.com or 01297 678176, or pay at the door.

Refreshments available.

Talk: ‘Exploring Winter’ A New Exploration on Painting, Photography, Poetry & Prose. From Scott of the Antarctic and Shackleton’s photographers, to artist responses to the season and poetry & prose. Face to face with masks and ventilation. 2pm: Venue: Bridport, United Church Hall, Fee £11. Pam Simpson, MA, Associate Lecturer, London College of Fashion. To book please email: chris. pamsimpson@btinternet.com (This lecture would move on line, if covid prevents face to face lectures).

Dorchester TG. Late Flowering Lyricist. Miranda Pender, guitarist and singer. 2 p.m. Visitors £2.50. Dorchester Community Church, Liscombe Street, Poundbury. 01305 832857.

11 January

Scottish Country Dancing every Tuesday at Ashill Village hall TA19 9LX from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Learn the steps , formations and dances, have fun and keep fit. Hot drinks at the interval. For more information please contact Anita on 01460 929383 or email anitaandjim22@gmail. com or just come along and bring a friend. See you soon.

13 January

Seaton Garden Club will hold their monthly meeting in the Masonic Hall Queen Street, Seaton at 14.30. Speaker will be Harry Barton of Devon Wildlife Trust entitled - “How Nature Rejuvenates”. Visitors welcome, cost £2 with refreshments.

Art History - A Renaissance art history course on Thursday evenings, at 6.30pm, online on Zoom for 6 wks, fee £55. Course is led

by Pam Simpson MA, Associate Lecturer, London College of Fashion.

To book please email: chris.pamsimpson@btinternet.com Lyme Voices Community Choir. 19.30 to 21.15. Sing for fun. Learn tunes by ear. Everyone welcome. Baptist Church (pine hall round the back), Silver St., Lyme Regis, DT7 3NY. Phone 01297 445078 or email petelinnett2@hotmail.com. Please let us know if you are coming.

14 January

East Devon Branch, Devonshire Association; The Kingdom of Dumnonia c. AD400 - 700; Derek Gore, University of Exeter, will shed some light on the fascinating and mysterious story of what happened in the South West after the Romans left; 2.30pm, Manor Pavilion Theatre Sidmouth EX10 8RP; contact Brian Ludford 01395 513232 or edevon.sec@devonassoc.org.uk.

The Courier doors at 7pm, film starts at 7.30pm at Holyrood Academy Upper Site. Plenty of well-lit, free parking. Tickets for £5 and £2.50 from Eleos, the PO and Barron’s or online at ticketsource/ cinechard; or on the door for £6 and £3. This is a true community cinema and we look forward to welcoming you back to our new venue.

East Devon Ramblers Friday 5 mile leisurely walk. Seaton. Phone 07710-160903.

Talk on line via Zoom: ‘Exploring Winter’, A New Exploration on Painting, Photography, Poetry & Prose. From Scott of the Antarctic and Shackleton’s photographers, and artist responses to the season and poetry & prose. 2pm: Fee £11. Pam Simpson, MA, Associate Lecturer, London College of Fashion. To book please email: chris. pamsimpson@btinternet.com.

East Devon Branch, Devonshire Association; The Kingdom of Dumnonia c. AD400 - 700; Derek Gore, University of Exeter, will shed some light on the fascinating and mysterious story of what happened in the South West after the Romans left; 2.30pm, Manor Pavilion Theatre Sidmouth EX10 8RP; contact Brian Ludford 01395 513232 or edevon.sec@devonassoc.org.uk.

Mike Denham & his Sunset Cafe Stompers - vintage jazz Ilminster Arts Centre TA19 0AN £20. Starts at 8pm. Doors open 7pm, with bar. 01460 54973 - musicbookingsIAC@gmail.com www. ilminsterartscentre.com.

15 January

CUPID is a mutual support group for ostomists, i.e. anyone with a stoma (colostomy, urostomy, ileostomy) or pouch. Meeting will be held between 10:00 and 12 noon at the Dorford Centre, Bridport Road, Dorchester DT1 1RR. Parking is available opposite at the Top of Town car park. Mr Talwar, a surgeon from Dorset County Hospital, will be giving a talk about advances in techniques and giving general information on this type of surgery. The specialist clothing company CUI will be represented by Kayte Hiscock. Join a friendly and informal gathering where you are welcome to refreshments and maybe chat to others, not necessarily always about stomas.

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 8 mile walk from Buckham Down. For further information please ring 01308 898484 or 01308 863340.

16 January

East Devon Ramblers 8 mile leisurely walk Uplyme. Phone 01297443836.

Crewkerne: All Saints Church, Merriott. Sunday 16th January at 3pm, Allington Strings and Jonathan Delbridge play Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and others. Tickets £10/under 18s free. info: allingtonstrings.yolasite.com.

EVENTS IN FEBRUARY Live or Online send your event details to info@marshwoodvale.com TH

BY JANUARY 17 .

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 17

January

EVENTS AND COURSES 17 January

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Evening of Scottish Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall. 7.30-10.00 p.m. Tea and coffee provided and no partner required. Contact David on 01460 65981. Cost £1.50 www.chardscottishdancing.org.

Talk: ‘Bridgerton & the Regency Period in Art, Dress, Taste, Architecture & Interiors. Fee £11. Face to face with masks and ventilation. Venue: Bridport, United Church Hall, 2pm: Fee £11. Pam Simpson, MA, Associate Lecturer, London College of Fashion. To book please email: chris.pamsimpson@btinternet.com (This lecture would move on line, if covid prevents face to face lectures).

17 - 22 January

The Swan Theatre Yeovil will present ‘Di and Viv and Rose By Amelia Bullmore. 7.45. Tickets are £12 from www.swan-theatre.co.uk.

18 January

The Lyme Regis Society present A Talk: Combe Lane (Part 2). by Audrey Standhaft. To be held on Tuesday 18th January 2021 at 2pm Woodmead Halls, Hill Road, Lyme Regis. DT7 3PG All Welcome.

Members Free. Visitors £3.00. Check website for further information: https://www.lymeregissociety.org.uk.

18 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

Scottish Country Dancing every Tuesday at Ashill Village hall TA19 9LX from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Learn the steps, formations and dances, have fun and keep fit. Hot drinks at the interval. For more information please contact Anita on 01460 929383 or email anitaandjim22@gmail. com or just come along and bring a friend. See you soon.

Beaminster Museum hosts a talk about “A History of Corscombe”

by Freda Henessy at 2.30pm. A series of snapshots of a large rural parish in West Dorset. Corscombe has been part of no political or military upheavals. It’s history gives a benign and illuminating picture of a self-contained rural parish from Saxon times to the 21st century.

Entry £3.

19 January

East Devon Ramblers 8 mile moderate walk Bickleigh Mill. Phone 01884-32039.

Colyton & District Garden Society Talk ‘Tall Tales – trees for your garden’ by Jenny Short, garden designer. Colyford Memorial Hall, 7.30pm start – please come in good time to pay your 2022 subscription - £10 for the year. £3 for guests. Information: Sue Price – 01297 552362.

Community Coffee Morning, including croissants & bacon rolls,

10.30am – noon, at Clapton & Wayford Village Hall. More details from Julia (01460 72769).

20 January

‘The Development of a Dorset Garden’ Paul Atterbury returns to the club to give this talk 7.30 W I Hall North Street Bridport Please bring proof of vaccination. www.bridportgardeningclub.co.uk Lyme Voices Community Choir. 19.30 to 21.15. Sing for fun. Learn tunes by ear. Everyone welcome. Baptist Church (pine hall round the back), Silver St., Lyme Regis, DT7 3NY. Phone 01297 445078 or email petelinnett2@hotmail.com. Please let us know if you are coming.

Arts Society West Dorset: Ambitious Architecture: Rethinking the Meanings of Blenheim Palace. Speaker: Dr James Legard 2.30pm Bridport Town Hall. Visitors welcome-£7.50.

21 January

East Devon Ramblers 5 mile leisurely walk Exeter. Phone 01392439122.

Ensemble Burletta Quintet Baroque and other superb music from a wonderful clarinet and string quintet Ilminster Arts Centre TA19 0AN £20. Starts 8pm. Doors open 7pm, with bar. 01460 54973 musicbookingsIAC@gmail.com www.ilminsterartscentre.com.

Talk on line via Zoom: ‘Bridgerton & the Regency Period in Art, Dress, Taste, Architecture & Interiors. Fee £11. Face to face with masks and ventilation. Venue: Bridport, United Church Hall, 2pm, Fee £11. Pam Simpson, MA, Associate Lecturer, London College of Fashion. To book please email: chris.pamsimpson@btinternet.com.

22 January

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 6.5 mile walk from Abbotsbury Swannery. For further information please ring 01308 898484 or 01308 863340.

23 January

East Devon Ramblers 6 mile leisurely walk Sidmouth. Phone 01395513974.

24 January

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Evening of Scottish Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall 7.30-10.00 p.m. Tea and coffee provided and no partner required. Contact David on 01460 65981. Cost £1.50 www.chardscottishdancing.org.

Talk: ‘Grayson Perry, Potter & Artist and so much more!’. Fee £11 Face to face with masks and ventilation. Venue: Bridport, United Church Hall, 2pm, Fee £11. Pam Simpson, MA, Associate Lecturer, London College of Fashion. To book please email: chris. pamsimpson@btinternet.com (This lecture would move on line, if covid prevents face to face lectures).

28 January

Lawrence: After Arabia at 7.30pm. Village Hall, The Causeway, Milborne St Andrew DT11 0JX. Doors and bar open 7.00 Tickets £10, which includes a drink or an ice-cream. The screening will be introduced by the Director and will be followed by a Q&A. East Devon Ramblers 4 mile leisurely walk Uplyme. Phone 07740427812 Roger Beaujolais, Robert Fowler, Jamie Brownsfield, with the Craig Milverton Trio - modern and mainstream jazz Ilminster Arts Centre TA19 0AN £20. Starts 8pm. Doors open 7pm, with bar. 01460 54973 - musicbookingsIAC@gmail.com www.ilminsterartscentre.com Talk on line: Grayson Perry, Potter & Artist and so much more!’.

Fee £11, On line via Zoom. 2pm, Pam Simpson, MA, Associate Lecturer, London College of Fashion. To book please email: chris. pamsimpson@btinternet.com (This lecture would move on line, if covid prevents face to face lectures).

29 January

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 7 mile walk from Bothenhampton. For further information please ring 01308 898484 or 01308 863340.

30 January

Singing Bowl Soundbath 2pm-4pm. Oborne Village Hall, Oborne, nr. Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4L £15 Please book in advance 01935 389655 or email ahiahel@live.com ffi centreforpuresound.org East Devon Ramblers 7.5 mile leisurely walk Colaton Raleigh. Phone 07772-069940 Bridport: John Colfox Academy. Sunday 30th January at 3pm, Allington Strings and Jonathan Delbridge play Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and others. Tickets £10/under 18s free. info: allingtonstrings.yolasite.com

31 January

Talk by Paul Atterbury local writer, broadcaster and historian and of BBC Antiques Road Show fame – “The Perfect Partnership – Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll”. United Church Hall, East Street, Bridport at 2.30 pm. Golden Cap Association. Entry members- £2, non-members - £5. More information 01308 459855.

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock Evening of Scottish Dancing at Chardstock Village Hall 7.30-10.00 p.m. Tea and coffee provided and no partner required. Contact David on 01460 65981 Cost £1.50 www.chardscottishdancing.org

25 January

Scottish Country Dancing every Tuesday at Ashill Village hall TA19 9LX from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Learn the steps , formations and dances, have fun and keep fit. Hot drinks at the interval. For more information please contact Anita on 01460 929383 or email anitaandjim22@gmail. com or just come along and bring a friend. See you soon.

Bridport & District u3a presents a talk by David Ramsden MBE entitled ‘Climate and Ecological Crisis? What’s all the fuss about?’ in the Bridport United Church Hall at 2pm, followed by refreshments. Covid safety measures will be in place. Visit www.bridportu3a.org.uk or email info@bridportu3a.org.ok for further details.

26 January

East Devon Ramblers 10 miles moderate walk Colyton. Phone 01395-516897.

27 January

Lyme Voices Community Choir 19.30 to 21.15. Sing for fun. Learn tunes by ear. Everyone welcome. Baptist Church (pine hall round the back), Silver St., Lyme Regis, DT7 3NY. Phone 01297 445078 or email petelinnett2@hotmail.com. Please let us know if you are coming.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 19

News&Views

AXMINSTER Prestigious prize for historian

Local amateur historian and Axminster Heritage Centre volunteer, David Knapman has been awarded the prestigious W.G Hoskins Prize for his book, Unsteady Progress – A History of Axminster from 1701 to 2000.

The W.G Hoskins Prize, which is open to new or emerging authors in any category of Devon history, is named after the English professor and local historian, William George Hoskins. David’s book covers over 300 years of local history in ten 30-year chapters (and 480 pages), including many stories which have never made it into earlier histories of the town. The book is published by Axminster Heritage Centre and is available to purchase from the centre.

BRIDPORT Recipes for Dorset schools

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, campaigner on food and environmental issues, has kindly provided some recipes to be used on local school menus. Hugh has supported Local Food Links since the organisation launched in 2006 and the team are thrilled to be able to share some of his recipes with their young discerning customers. The two recipes that have been chosen are: Gardener’s Pie and Boston Bean and Squash Stew. Gardener’s Pie is described as a being similar to the ever popular Shepherd’s Pie but more veg-centric and the team are confident the pupils are going to love it. Boston Bean and Squash Stew has been chosen as a vegetarian option and is sure to be a wonderful winter warmer.

EASY DEVON Plans for new town revealed

A draft new Local Plan reveals potential locations for where new homes could be built, including an option for a new town, as well as East Devon’s ambitious plans to become carbon neutral by 2040. This is the first time in the council’s history that it has revealed a ‘work in progress’ draft for a Local Plan, normally waiting until work is further progressed before showing it to the public.

The document, on https://eastdevon. gov.uk/ builds on the authority’s recently adopted Council Plan and looks at how the district can protect the environment, build employment space and ensure only high quality developments are built.

20 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

BRIDPORT Local business steps up

When Charlie Groves, managing Director of Groves Nurseries in Bridport, put a call out to local businesses to sponsor a tree to donate to local schools and charities, no less than 22 businesses said yes.

Charlie said ‘Every year we have loads of requests for the donation of Christmas Trees for deserving organisations around Bridport, Beaminster and the surrounding villages. I wanted to find a way to be able to get anyone who needs a tree this year to get one.’ With the three trees that were donated by Groves Nurseries, Ivy House and Little Groves they donated 25 Christmas Trees.

DORCHESTER Tree to remember refugees

A native Birch tree will be planted at The Thomas Hardye School on 24 January 2022 as part of a nationwide campaign to mark the 80th anniversary of the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR)— the national charity providing social and welfare services to Holocaust refugees and survivors in the UK. 80 Trees for 80 Years will see native trees planted around Britain in honour of people and places that symbolise the enormous contribution made to every walk of British life by refugees who escaped from Nazi Europe. The tree at The Thomas Hardye School will act as a platform for telling the story of Britain’s Jewish refugees.

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House&Garden

Vegetables in January

By Ashley Wheeler

J

anuary can go either way as a vegetable grower. It can offer up beautiful crisp, blue skied days, or it can bring the sort of cold dampness that gets into your bones. It can be dry and frosty or wet and muddy and the conditions often determine my mood. There is not much better than working outside on a frosty day with clear blue skies, as long as you have warm clothes and gloves. On the flipside working outside in damp, muddy conditions can be a real drag, and getting anywhere in the garden can be hard work, especially if you have half the field on your boots by the time you come back inside.

We hope for dry, cold conditions in January so that we can mow or strim down some of the green manures that were sown in the autumn to get them ready for plantings in March. We then sprinkle a little compost over the beds and cover them with black plastic weighed down with sandbags.

This kills off all the crop residue and weeds in time for planting in March. We also re-apply woodchip on the paths of the no-dig beds. This feeds the soil life and makes for walking up and down the paths a much more pleasant experience. We usually put a layer of cardboard down before applying an inch or two of semi-composted woodchip. This sort of work is great when it is dry, but it can be tricky when the ground is saturated.

We also make the most of not having much to harvest, plant or weed in January by getting the winter job list underway. This changes each year, but there are always some things that we try to do each year. For example washing all of the polytunnels with a window cleaner’s extendable hose with a brush on the end. Alternatively you can use an old bed sheet with rope tied onto each end and have one person either side of the tunnel going back and forth in unison with the sheet—this works best on a rainy day. We make sure the propagating tunnel and sheds are tidied and organised so that when work in the garden gets underway in Spring we are fully prepared and not looking around for tools or working around things. We also finish any crop planning for the upcoming year so that we are fully prepared when the sowing starts.

Don’t worry if you don’t get much done in the veg garden in January, and don’t be too tempted to tidy it up too much—making sure you leave plenty of old crops and weeds as habitat for overwintering beneficial insects. But, do try and get out there—it’s important to get outside as much as possible on the short days of the year, and it often looks less appealing than it is when you are looking from inside a warm, dry house.

We have new dates for courses for 2022, focusing on Salad Growing year round and a more general Introduction to

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Paths of the no-dig beds after a layer of cardboard and then a layer of woodchip.

This will feed the soil life and suppress the weeds too.

Market Gardening with two other growers in East Devon and West Dorset—Ruth at Fresh and Green near Ottery St Mary and Lally and Tomas at Springtail Farm in Wootton Fitzpaine. To find out more go to trillfarmgarden.co.uk WHAT TO SOW THIS MONTH: It is still too early to sow most veg, but we will be sowing a few sugarsnap peas, lettuce, spring onions and agretti on a heated propagation bench for early tunnel production. But, there is no rush for sowing anything until the end of February/early March.

WHAT TO PLANT THIS MONTH: Nothing to plant this month (unless you still haven’t planted garlic, in which case it’s not too late!)

OTHER IMPORTANT TASKS THIS MONTH: Keep working through your winter job list of getting everything sorted for the season ahead. Soon enough it will be time to start sowing in earnest, so the more prepared for this the better. Do your seed ordering now if you haven’t already— and try to use some of the great smaller seed companies growing open pollinated seed in the UK such as Real Seeds, Vital Seeds and the Seed Cooperative. Make sure you have gone through all of your seed packets, and throw out any that don’t last more than a year. We find that parsnip seed is no good after a year, and parsley, carrots, spring onions and leek seed doesn’t last particularly long so we tend to buy seed each year for these.

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January in the Garden

By Russell Jordan

A

lthough the shortest day has passed, at our latitude the weakness of the winter sun takes a while to start warming up our climate. January and February are likely to be the months when winter really bites and getting on with gardening tasks may be limited to just the most benevolent periods of weather.

Here, in the south west, it rarely gets so cold that the ground is completely frozen, or snow covered, so activities like ground clearance and digging should still be feasible.

If you are really keen and organised you may already have made a start on planting bare-root trees and hedging. If not then you have until around the end of March (‘bud burst’) to plant things which are supplied as dormant and ‘barerooted’—obviously this excludes evergreen species which are generally supplied as potted plants.

If you planned ahead, before the end of September, you may have applied a non-persistent weedkiller, i.e. glyphosate, to the areas where you intend to plant your bare-rooted specimens. New trees and hedging plants will establish more quickly and successfully if any competing grass or weeds are removed first. If the ground hasn’t been cleared using a herbicide (I know some people are chemical-free) then stripping off the turf, or digging out any weeds, prior to inserting your bare-root specimens will be beneficial.

Bare-rooted material establishes best when obtained at a small size, rapidly catching up with the more ‘instant’ hedging which can look very tempting, and this is also a bonus when planting it. The compact root system lends itself to speedy planting by simply creating a spade deep slit, wobbling the spade back and forth to enlarge the slot, then inserting the tiny sapling into the opening you have made.

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Firm it in with your boot and protect with a cane and rabbit / deer guard as appropriate. For mass tree planting, or long lengths of new hedge, this allows a large number to be planted rapidly whenever there is a suitable weather window.

I am a little concerned that all the recent hullabaloo suggesting that ‘planting a tree will save the planet’, is largely greenwash but it certainly doesn’t do any harm.

The danger is that suggesting that planting trees is a magic panacea, somehow offsetting any amount of greenhouse gas emissions, allows companies and individuals to avoid making the more painful changes that are absolutely necessary if we are to avoid climate calamity. I think that most people realise that it is our ridiculous, out of control, over consumption, in the developed world, that needs to be radically reduced. Niceties like tree planting and recycling the occasional bottle are something that we should be doing in addition to reining in our rampant consumerism!

Back to gardening: it’s a bit early yet to acquire them, but snowdrops are another garden stalwart that is best planted en masse and which are a most welcome sight at this time of year. They are generally supplied ‘in the green’, alive and not dried out, after they’ve finished flowering but before they die down completely. It’s worth looking out for gardens opening under the ‘National Gardens Scheme’ (https://ngs. org.uk), at this time of year, which promise a good show of snowdrops as they may also offer them as plants to buy.

There has been a resurgence of interest in ‘winter gardens’ of late and these are good to visit in order to get inspiration for adding stem and bark colour to your own garden. The sight of vermilion, or flaming orange, dogwood (Cornus) stems in the low winter light is especially uplifting

at this comparatively flowerless time of year. Birch, cherry and willow are other genera which have plenty of species and varieties selected for bark / twig interest and which are worth seeking out in nurseries and arboretums while they are putting on a show.

Like choosing acers in the autumn, when you can actually see their true autumn leaf colour, if you want a specimen with a very specific attribute then it’s worth choosing it ‘in the flesh’. Winter scented shrubs are a case in point and, for me, smell is very subjective. What I might recommend, as having a lovely perfume, might be either too overpowering or too faint for your own sensibilities. For example, I love the scent of ‘Winter Box’, Sarcococca, but other gardeners find it just a bit too sickly sweet when grown in abundance.

When shopping for winter scented shrubs, Hamamelis (‘Witch Hazel’) is another good example, remember that there generally needs to be a degree of warmth in the air for the flower to produce any decent amount of perfume. Gently breathing on a bloom should warm it up enough to elicit a whiff of scent on days which are otherwise too chilly. Flower scent can vary greatly, between numerous named varieties, so sniffing one out for yourself is a fun way to spend a winter afternoon.

When the weather really isn’t pleasant enough to venture out then there’s always the seed catalogues, virtual or physical, to look at in order to plan your gardening New Year. Planning ahead is as good a place as ever to wind this up; I hope 2022 proves to be a productive year for you, whatever kind of gardening you indulge in.

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PROPERTY ROUND-UP

New to you in Twenty Two!

By Helen Fisher

BRIDPORT £680,000

A stylish Grade II listed 4 bedroom townhouse with many period features inc: high ceilings and sash windows with original shutters.

Family kitchen with Aga. A well established south-west facing courtyard garden plus dedicated off-street parking for two cars. Set within a no-through road in the centre of town.

Symonds and Sampson Tel: 01308 422092

YEOVIL £998,000

An impressive 8 bedroom family home with wonderful views across 20 miles of unspoilt countryside. Beautifully presented throughout with reclaimed French oak flooring, open fireplace and French doors onto a terrace. Electric entrance gates, private gardens, paddock summerhouse and numerous outbuildings/annex. Garage and ample parking. All set in 1 acre.

Knight Frank Tel: 01935 810064

COLYFORD £625,000

UPLODERS £545,000

A bright and contemporary detached family home built in the 1970s with 4 bedrooms/3 bathrooms. Beautifully presented with spacious open-plan living areas with French doors onto the south-facing, landscaped garden. Master bedroom with balcony overlooking the garden and views beyond. Ample parking plus double garage.

Gordon and Rumsby Tel: 01297 553768

A Purbeck stone village house set on a private corner plot with far-reached countryside views. With 3 bedrooms, built in the 1970s and beautifully presented & updated. Southwest facing established gardens with small trees and raised terrace. Ample parking and double garage. Benefitting from a no-forward chain.

Kennedys Tel: 01308 427329

LYME REGIS £1,200,000

BRIDPORT £820,000

An individual detached house, set in an elevated position with stunning sea views. Built in 2002 with 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Set over 3 floors with well appointed and presented rooms throughout. Beautiful landscaped gardens with summer house and private terrace with coastal views. Double garage and ample parking.

Stags Tel: 01308 428000

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A substantial, detached 4 bedroom chalet-bungalow with sea and coastline views. With ground floor Canadian oak flooring, Aga and wood-burning stove. French doors onto patio area with pergola. Established and well stocked south-facing gardens with fruit trees inc: apple, pear and plum. Detached garage/garden store with light and power plus greenhouse and wooden store.

Kennedys Tel: 01308 427329

Food&Dining

Talking Food and Drink in The Fox at Corscombe MARK Hix is known for his careful sourcing of responsibly produced food and drink and the subsequent relationships he builds with suppliers. So, this winter he is welcoming guest producers to host a series of very special dinners at The Fox Inn, giving Fox guests an opportunity to meet the producers and learn about how their food and drink is made.

The series kicked off with a pre-Christmas Cheese and Wine supper which saw Rob Corbett of Castlewood Vineyards and Trish Maunder of Somerset Membrillo host an evening with Mark, giving the low down on everything you could wish to know about growing vines and producing still and sparkling wines in the Devonshire countryside.

Mark says ‘Our menus change every day based on the local produce that has been brought into us, or new producers I have found in the area—whether that’s homegrown fruit and vegetables, mushrooms from our local forager or pigs that have been reared especially for us. Our series of events is a great opportunity for the producer to tell their story and introduce their delicious food and drink to our guests first-hand.

In the new year, Mark and the Fox team will welcome Jason Barber, who cofounded Black Cow Vodka with his business partner Paul Archard, making the smoothest vodka in the world purely from milk. Guests will hear the story of how Black Cow Vodka came about before tasting Black Cow vodka cocktails alongside a special menu created by Mark, which will, of course, include the Black Cow Cheddar.

There is a Charcuterie and Beer event on February 2nd at 7pm when David & Karen Richards of Capreolus chat with Dan Fitzpatrick from Gilt & Flint Tickets for these events are priced at £85 and include the four course menu with paired drinks. Tickets can be bought online at thefoxinncorscombe.co.uk/ news-events. The Fox is at Pound Hill, Corscombe, Dorset DT2 0NS. For more information visit thefoxinncorscombe.co.uk.

DNA techniques used to find apple varieties WITH the largest and most diverse collection of apples used in cider making under its care, Somerset cider maker Thatchers has been partnering with the University of Bristol Prof Keith Edwards and Chris Muntz-Torres in a ground-breaking project that is using DNA fingerprinting techniques to identify apple tree varieties.

With many old and heritage varieties of apple trees beginning to disappear, the project is using genotyping—a process that compares DNA to find the differences in genetic make-up—to identify different varieties of cider apples.

Led by Professor Keith Edwards from the School of Biological Sciences and post-graduate student Alex Graham, scientists from the university visited Thatchers’ Exhibition Orchard to gather leaf samples for genotyping and thus identification. The biggest collection of apples for cider making in the country, Thatchers’ Exhibition Orchard contains hundreds of different varieties of apple tree, many of which were saved from the Long Ashton Research

Station in Bristol when cider research stopped in 1985. The researchers have also been out to other Thatchers’ orchards to gather samples, helping them create the largest database of apple tree fingerprints in the world, with over 2,500 genotypes present.

Chris Muntz-Torres, Thatchers Farm Manager has been involved in the project since its inception. ‘This is such a fantastic piece of research which will help us understand even more about the trees in our orchards. As with any research, you’re not always sure what’s going to be found. Although we think we know about the trees in our Exhibition Orchard with detailed plans we’ve compiled over the years as new trees have been planted, you never know, the research may identify a variety that’s been lost and now rediscovered. That would be such an exciting find!

‘By using the DNA technique to tell us more about the pedigree of each variety in our Exhibition orchard, we hope to be able to start creating new varieties of apple for cider making with the characteristics that we love as cider makers.’

Professor Edwards says, ‘By taking a leaf and fingerprinting it, we are in effect creating a barcode for that tree. And from that we are able to produce a reliable process for easy identification in the future.’

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 27

POTATO AND SOURED CREAM PIE

LESLEY WATERS

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

• 900g / 2lb white potatoes, peeled and sliced into approx. ¼ cm • 2 large banana shallots, finely chopped • 4 tbsp wild garlic, shredded • 85g / 3oz butter, cut into small dice • 575g / 1lb 4oz plain white flour • pinch of salt • 200ml / 7 fl oz rapeseed oil • 150ml /¼ pint cold water • 1 egg, beaten • 90ml / 6tbsp low fat crème fraiche

1. Place the sliced potatoes in a large bowl and season really well with salt and black pepper.

Toss in the shallots, wild garlic and butter and set to one side for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make the pastry. Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and add a pinch salt. In a measuring jug mix together the oil and water. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the oil mixture stirring with a wooden spoon. Gently with your hand bring the pastry together. If it’s too dry add a little more water.

3. Pre heat the oven to 200C/400F or gas mark 6.

4. Roll out 1 third of the pastry into a round of 30cm and place on a flat baking tray lined with baking parchment. Pile on the potato mixture, leaving a 2.5cm border around the edge.

5. Roll out the remaining pastry to a round of 35cm and carefully place over the top.

Gently press down to seal the edges and roll the edges up to form a thick rim.

6. Brush with egg glaze and place in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

7. If the pie becomes too dark, reduce the heat to 190C/375F or gas mark 5 and cover with a sheet of foil. When cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

With a serrated knife, carefully cut off the top of the pastry.

8. Dot the crème fraiche over the potatoes and gently spread over. Replace the pastry top and let it stand for a final 5 minutes before serving.

9. Serve hot or cold with a lightly dressed watercress and red pepper salad.

Serves 8 - 10

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Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 29

WELSH RABBIT No, I haven’t made a spelling mistake. For years, like most people, I thought rarebit was correct and rabbit was a misprint or used by someone who had been getting it wrong since the inevitable childhood misunderstanding. If anything, it’s the other way round. After reading what reputable food writers such as Jane Grigson have to say on the subject I’ve become determined to see the return of rabbit—the original name for cheese on toast. That’s what it started off as in the early 1700s, when there was a difference between English, Scottish and Welsh rabbits. Maybe the rarebit adaption was a Welsh joke that caught on, or it was thought to sound more refined. Anyway, Welsh rabbit is a refined cheese on toast with savoury additions.

I’ve utilised the pickled walnut juice here instead of Worcestershire sauce as it seems a shame not to use the juice. I like to use Black Cow Cheddar, and we serve this at the pub as a bar snack or savoury at the end of your meal.

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

• • • •

1. Melt the butter in a thick bottomed pan then gradually stir in the milk and flour to form a thick sauce, you can use a whisk to stop lumps forming. Simmer very gently for 15 minutes giving it an occasional whisk.

2. Meanwhile simmer the pickled walnut juice until it has reduced to about half a tablespoon then add the cream and reduce this by about two thirds until it is really thick, then add to the sauce with all the other ingredients, except the pickled walnuts and bread, and season to taste.

Leave in the fridge for an hour or so until required.

3. Toast the bread on both sides, spread the cheese mixture on top, about 1cm thick, and to the edges to avoid burning. Push the pickled walnuts into the cheese mixture and grill on a medium heat until it is nicely browned.

• •

MARK HIX

• • • • • •

50g butter 40g plain flour 200 ml milk 80ml pickled walnut juice 80ml double cream 150g Cheddar cheese, grated 2 egg yolks 2tsp Tewkesbury or English mustard 4 pickled walnuts, quartered 4 slices bread – a small bloomer-style loaf is ideal Salt and pepper 4 pickled walnuts Serves 4 - 6

Book now for Meet the Producers with Black Cow Vodka at The Fox Inn January 19th 7pm.

Tickets available online at thefoxinncorscombe.co.uk 30 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

Plaice

By Nick Fisher ‘MEN get weird about plaice’ said Pat Carlin, as he leant against the bulkhead of his charter boat, sucking on a roll-up. ‘Don’t know what it is about them. But there’s something. Something gets them all obsessed and serious.’

We’d just dropped the anchor on some rough ground, half a mile to the east of Portland Bill, and now we were stood, smoking, waiting for the boat to swing round and settle on the end of the anchor rope.

‘They come out here with all sorts of crazy rigs. Stuff with beads and bells and spoons. And God knows what else’ says Pat, his eyes carefully watching the display on his GPS navigator, gauging where the boat should settle, and how much rope to pay out. He makes a quick calculation and scribbles figures on a scrap of paper.

‘And you should see their faces when they’re getting into good fishing’ he continues. ‘They got this deep furrow across their brows and their jaws are set like this...’ Pat pulls a comicserious face. ‘Some blokes get themselves all wound-up about plaice. Sometimes you can have ten blokes on board, doing a drift, and no one says a single word.. ‘Cause they’re all concentrating, taking it so seriously.’

Pat looks at the cursor on his plotter, sucks his teeth and shakes his head. Unhappy with the position the 42 foot Aquastar has settled in. After five minutes he goes through the difficult and back-breaking procedure of hauling the anchor to start again. To get it right. This is serious stuff.

Sadly, I am not worthy to be aboard this boat, a few miles outside of Weymouth harbour on a serious quest for the compelling plaice. Because, to be absolutely honest, I don’t give a toss. Plaice are beautiful fish to look at with their rich Florida orange spots, their squinty eyes and their lily white bellies. But they don’t move me. Don’t excite me. Don’t get me muttering and salivating like a ventriloquist’s dog on a crash diet. Mainly because I don’t really enjoy eating them.

Plaice flesh is so fine and so smooth and so silky. It’s wasted on me. It’s too sophisticated. Too rare. I like muscley, thickflaked fish flesh, like bass or black bream or mackerel. My wife is the plaice freak in our family. ‘Oooh, that is just...just ...mmmm.... Heaven’ she says, sucking her fingers and licking her plate so clean it looks like it just came out the dishwasher.

Me, I don’ get it. Plaice don’t speak to my palate with the same poetry as they use to serenade my missus.

At last Pat gets the boat where he wants it, anchored to the western edge of a mussel bed where these spring migrating plaice stop to gorge themselves on the small grape-sized Channel mussels. ‘There’s much bigger mussel in the harbour’ says Pat, nodding in the direction of the huge ancient wall that encircles Portland harbour. ‘These mussels never grow big because there’s too much tide out here. They don’t get long enough to feed. But plaice seem to love ‘em’ Mussels are filter-feeders, they suck in water, filter out any nourishment and then spit the water out again. But if there’s strong tides flowing for much of the day, food is scarce, because the fast-moving water disperses the food-packed sediments too quickly.

So, these mussels don’t grow big. But they must be as sweet as little honey pies, because plenty of plaice, plenty of big plaice, seek them out to succour and savour and snarf down like sweeties.

Photographer Paul Qualiana is the first man of our crew to haul a plaice on board. Which is pretty much standard practise for Paul. He’s a committed sea fisherman, full of ideas and tricks and blessed with a healthy dose of patience.

‘I don’t encourage blokes to use spoons’ says Pat, after Paul’s two pound plus plaice is safely in the net. ‘They spin too much in this fast current and usually just cause a lot of tangles.

Messing all the gear up.’

Plaice spoons were traditionally made from the bowl of a dessert spoon with the handle sawn off and a hole drilled near one edge of the elliptical shape. This was then mounted a few inches back from the hook on a ring or a swivel.

The purpose of a spoon is to turn and flip in the current, or with the movement of a drift. The spoon’s antics should then attract plaice to the hook bait, by glinting or kicking-up puffs of sand. And fat fresh rag worm tipped with shreds of lightlyhooked squid, finish off the mouthwatering bait.

Plaice like a long bait’ says Pat. ‘Long, fat with lots of movement.

Pat shows me his method of mounting bait on my two-hook rig, threading a ragworm up the hook, over the eye and along the line.

Followed by a squid strip, then another ragworm and another squid strip. Until the bait is at least six to eight inches long. It looks marvellous, irresistible... But of course, all the other anglers on board, me included, now only have eyes for Paul’s plaice spoon.

‘I made it last night’ says Paul, showing us the decorative markings he lovingly painted onto a blank shop-bought plastic plaice spoon. Instead of congratulations and admiration, the rest of us turn our backs and start muttering things like ‘Should get out more’, ‘Get a life’ and ‘Sad git’. But of course, we’re only jealous of Paul’s kit. Like true plaice maniacs our penchant for fancy rigs and gizmos is just beginning to evolve.

I dig around in the bottom of my tackle box and find what I was looking for, an ancient plastic flounder spoon I’d bought back in Mediaeval Times and never used. The hook is rusty. Still, I fancy giving it a whirl. ‘Why not’ says Pat, suggesting I lengthen the leader and dismissing my worries about rust.

A handful of fat plaice are landed in the net at anchor and many more come in rapid succession when we start drifting across the mussel beds, when the fierceness of the tide had ebbed.

Plaice bites are tender, twitchy, teasing little affairs that leave you unsure and insecure. You don’t know whether to strike, to lift slowly, to wait or what. At first there was lots of swearing and cussing and laughing, as we each missed a succession of bites. Then, as the day wore on, we lapsed into more silence, more concentration, with more than a few serious looking faces being drawn around the boat.

‘Jesus’ I thought to myself as I looked around my motley collection of mates: two farmers, a dairy man, a builder, two software technicians, a furniture restorer and a metal worker...

‘Sweet Jesus and Mary... we’re turning into plaice nuts!’ I quickly scanned around the gathering. The shock realisation that we were reverting to being weird, silent, rig-obsessed plaice anglers was surely worthy of note. And, I would have said something to all the others, would have had a laugh about it... But, I was currently too concerned about how my spoon and coloured beads were behaving. So instead, I just stared into the water, nerves tingling, and furrowed my brow....

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 31

Arts&Entertainment

Greta Berlin’s radical new sculpture of Mary Anning Despite numerous representations over many years, Mary Anning remains one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of the South West. Andrew Carey has talked with Greta Berlin about her recently unveiled sculpture of one of Lyme Regis’s local heroes.

‘THE first thing my builders did when I showed her to them was to look up her skirt. Well, skirts.’ Greta Berlin is talking about her remarkable new sculpture of Mary Anning, finished in 2019, which has just been installed as the Parish Boundary Marker on the coast path between Charmouth and Wootton Fitzpaine. And there’s a lot to unpick in that throwaway remark of hers.

First, I’m not sure about the rights and wrongs of upskirting a sculpture. There are some familiar old stereotypes lurking in there. But, hang on. Mary Anning? This is not the Mary Anning we know from conventional statues of her and that painting—the stout Victorian lady with the air of Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggywinkle. This is a lithe, athletic, agile, eager young woman, hammer in hand, sleeves and skirts hitched up as she steps forward and upward to examine some new curiosity in the grey cliffs between Lyme and Charmouth. (Incidentally, the hammer in Mary Anning’s right hand is one that Greta found on Lyme’s East Beach in the collapsing rubbish dump, close to where some of Mary Anning’s most important finds were made.)

But it’s not just her appearance that’s had a comprehensive upgrade. In this remarkable figure, Greta is telling us quite a lot more about Mary Anning’s inner landscape. ‘I felt she just went her own way regardless, and I wanted it to be about a woman exploring and overcoming.’ Exploring and overcoming, that is, not just the treacherous Blue Lias cliffs and the treasures buried in them, but also the constraints and prejudices and blind stupidities of contemporary 19th-century society. As a woman, she was not allowed to join the Geological Society and her contributions to the burgeoning scientific knowledge of the period were rarely credited to her.

‘I felt it must have been quite difficult for her’, Greta goes on, ‘and I wanted to represent women’s strength and courage and determination.’ As she speaks, the parallels with her own life become clear—and clearer still when she starts to talk about the skeleton of the fossil ichthyosaur that the sculpture carries on her head. ‘I’ve put things on women’s heads for twenty years.’

‘Why?’ ‘It’s something to do with women under oppression. In Kenya I discovered that, in some villages, a widow has to carry her husband’s head around with her for the rest of her life. Women have to deal with so much.’ So the fossil that Mary Anning carries on her head, which might have been the source of recognition, pride and financial security, comes to stand for the burden of family responsibilities that weighed upon her and the injustice that she daily faced as men boasted of— and grew rich on—the specimens that she had found and, often, dug out, drawn, described and sold for a pittance.

What of the sculpture then? ‘I have always loved skeletons and fossils because they’re nature’s architecture. So this piece drew me in—the architecture of the steel bars, of the armature. It’s all light engineering,’ she says. I want to argue that this work is about much more: about desire and dreaming and finding the beauty in the landscape of the human body. But I don’t need to do that, because, as she continues, I realise that calling it ‘light engineering’ is not a way of dismissing her work. It’s a way of celebrating it: ‘You have to know where you’re going… get all the rods at the right angles… the way the tensions build up with the heat as you’re welding … sloshing on the jesmonite with only a minute to work it before it goes off … carving the shapes out of flat steel with a plasma cutter ... and there’s more engineering than normal because it’s not been cast.’

As we turn to leave the sculpture in its new home on the coast path, Greta says: ‘I always forget how difficult these things are to make. Looking at her, I feel amazed. How did that happen?’

And I don’t need to say, well, maybe it’s something to do with your own lifetime of exploring and overcoming, of strength and courage and determination, of desire and dreaming and finding the beauty in the landscape of the human body.

You can visit Greta’s Mary Anning if you take the brand new coast path diversion between Charmouth and Lyme Regis. From the very top of Old Lyme Hill in Charmouth, follow the new fenced path round the edge of the golf course until you come to Mary Anning in the woods. The What3Words location is: totally.ruby.thickens.

Greta Berlin’s ‘Mary Anning’ was commissioned for The West Dorset Walkers Welcome project, curated by Dorset Council’s Countryside & Greenspace Team and Cleo Evans at the Arts Development Company.

32 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

Photograph by Pete Milson

January PREVIEW

The Kindness of a Stranger

BUCKLAND NEWTON WRITER Bernadette Russell was so shocked by the UK riots in August 2011 that she set out on a mission to be kind to a stranger every day for a year (plus one).

The result is 366 Days of Kindness, a unique performance which Russell is bringing to Buckland Newton village hall on 30th January, at 6.30pm. This show, part stand up, part storytelling, charts this amazing year, which began with burning buildings, and ended with the flame of the Olympic torch. It attempts to answer the question: “is it possible to change the world just by being kind?”

Community dance project

BROADMAYNE AND HALSTOCK TAUNTON-based aKa Dance Theatre Company brings a collaborative new performance to Broadmayne village hall on Friday 21st January and Halstock on Saturday 22nd, both at 7.30pm. A Real Fiction, which has been co-created with the community for the community, is filled with fun, funk and foam bananas! The core theme is collecting memories and the resulting work ranges from current affairs to childhood nostalgia. aKa Dance was co-founded

by Jen Grant and Joe Garbett in early 2014. Based in Taunton as company in residence at Tacchi-Morris Arts

Centre, aKa creates works that are adaptable for a variety of performance surroundings, indoors and out.

Stories across six centuries

LITTON CHENEY MULTI Story Theatre Company explores stories from the land across six centuries in Hefted, coming to Litton Cheney village hall on 29th January, at 7.30pm. Hefted is a play told through nine stories embedded in the landscape, history, and psyche of rural life, presented by four actors who conjure a score of characters between them, interspersed with song and a spectacular soundscape. Wryly funny, emotionally absorbing, the play asks big questions about our relationship with the land. The narrative sweeps across 600 years, starting in 1475 with a supernatural birth and moving through nine stories to an imagined 2075 in which tales from the past are retold to heal the present. Some stories are fantastical, others dramatise real events: all explore the notion of being ‘hefted’—deeply connected to the land. Hefted is also at Blandford on 30th January at 7pm.

Meet the regulars

DRIMPTON HAVE you ever sat in your local and wondered about the people who sat in your seat or at the bar before you, a

Bernadette Russell in 366 Days of Kindness

34 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

the comfort and warmth of your own home. Also available until 2nd January, the Ridgeway Singers and Band present their 2021 festive concert, A Dorset Christmas, for online audiences. All these events are accessed by registering for a free e-ticket. Donations to Artsreach are welcomed.

Jarman—a remarkable life

LYME REGIS THESE days you are more likely to hear about Derek Jarman’s garden beside his unique wooden house on the beach at Dungeness. But writer and performer Mark Farrelly brings this remarkable man fully to life in a new play, being performed at the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, on Thursday 20th January, at 8pm. Farrelly portrays Jarman the film-maker, painter, gardener at Prospect Cottage, activist and writer. His influence remains as strong as it was on the day AIDS killed him in 1994. But his story, one of the most extraordinary lives ever lived, has never been told.

From the creator of Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope and Howerd’s End (about the comedian Frankie Howerd), brings Derek Jarman back to life, a powerful celebration of the courage it takes to truly live while you’re alive. It is a journey from Dungeness to deepest Soho and into the heart of one of our most iconoclastic artists.

An evening of the dark arts Have a drink with Teatro Vivo and The Regulars at Drimpton

decade or even a hundred years ago? An inventive show coming to Drimpton on 23rd January asks the question and provides some possible answers. Starting at 6:30pm, Teatro Vivo presents The Regulars—the pub-goers of the past are closer than you think. Who propped up the bar a decade ago? Who stood in front of that fireplace telling tall tales 200 years back? Designed specifically for performance in pubs, The Regulars is a celebration of the outlandish, sometimes incredible stories you hear over a pint as the regulars of the past sit shoulder to shoulder with the pubgoers and bar staff of today. Pull up a stool, lean in close, and as the drinks flow you’ll start to wonder how blurred the lines are between fact and fiction as actors and pubgoers together celebrate the spirit of the local and the tales told there.

Festive fun with Artsreach

ONLINE ARTSREACH, Dorset’s rural touring arts charity, has an online new murder-mystery for New Year—another blood-curdling, toe-curling, hilarious adventure with one of fiction’s greatest detectives, as Sharp Teeth and The Wardrobe Theatre present Sherlock In Homes – Murder on Ice, 6th January. On your marks, get set, go… to 1960 to solve a crime that will make your heart race. Could it be the chill of the cold war or the heat of the Italian sun? Zoom into Rome’s Olympic village to find out. You’ll interrogate the suspects and attempt to unmask a murder with your fellow audience members as you pit your wits against some of the UK’s most talented performers and improvisers.

Only you can solve this case! Online with Artsreach until 2nd January, Cornish actor David Mynne has adapted his brilliant solo performance of A Christmas Carol to enjoy in

DORCHESTER THE Great Baldini, one of the leading magicians and illusionists of today, comes to the Corn Exchange at Dorchester on 27th January, at 8pm. Baldini—variously described as emperor of illusion, prince of prestidigitation or maharajah of mystery—provides a cabaret of magical illusions. He has been making magic from childhood, starting with his first trick on his 12th birthday and culminating in taking control of the ILLUSIONATI—a shadowy group of elite magicians who control the world through the Magical dark arts. Imagine Tommy Cooper meets Blofeld. Baldini is a member of the Magic Circle, and an award-winning member of the Bristol Society of Magic and the Wessex Magical Association.

ALAW returns to Dorset

ARTSREACH VILLAGES WELSH folk supergroup (as described by Songlines) ALAW are coming back to Dorset in January for a threedate tour with Artsreach at Portesham on 28th January, Langton Matravers on 29th and Chetnole on 30th, all at 7.30pm. ALAW are three musicians who bring a wealth of experience to a shared passion for the traditional music of Wales. Nia Lynn’s exceptional voice and harmonium dance with the dazzling fiddle of Oli Wilson-Dickson, interwoven with Dylan Fowler’s sparkling guitar playing.

Whether unearthing rare gems or reimagining a well-loved song, they treat their music with a deftness and sensitivity that is thoroughly absorbing. Combined with powerful song writing and original tunes, this makes for a musical experience that will stay with the listener long after the performance ends. In August 2018 they collaborated with the BBC Concert Orchesttra for a highly praised televised Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, with Julie Fowlis, Jarlath Henderson, Sam Lee and The Unthanks. In 2019 they won

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 35

a Wales Folk Award after being nominated in three categories. Oli and Dylan have a long history of working together, sharing projects including The Devil’s Violin and The Ian McMillan Orchestra. Oli is well known as the fiddler in Jamie Smith’s MABON. Nia has an international reputation and has sung at the Barbican and The Albert Hall.

Tim Kliphuis brings his trio back to Dorset

Classical meets jazz

ARTSREACH VILLAGES DUTCH violin maestro Tim Kliphuis makes a welcome return with his trio to Dorset village halls with Artsreach for a three-date New Year tour on the theme of “The Five Elements,” at Broadoak on Wednesday 12th January, Piddletrenthide on Thursday 13th and Yetminster on Friday 14th. Classically trained, Kliphuis first made his name playing with the fiery European gypsy guitarists, before developing a more personal style that has taken him on a busy touring schedule around the world. Now widely regarded as the inheritor of the Stéphane Grappelli crown, Kliphuis breathes new life into existing styles with his high-energy brand of classical gypsy jazz, Celtic and world music. His improvised sound is totally new yet steeped in tradition. With Nigel Clark on guitar and Roy Percy on double bass, the Tim Kliphuis Trio re-defines the music of many well-known composers to create an intensely moving concert experience.

The Five Elements, written and recorded in lockdown, is an ode—expect the usual mix of Django, Richard Strauss and the Chieftains!

Midwinter delights

DORCHESTER DORSET favourites GreenMatthews return to Dorchester Arts at the Corn Exchange with their new festive show, Midwinter Revels. Spanning several centuries in words and music, the show is a celebration of Yuletide past that is guaranteed to warm the cockles of the most Scrooge-

like heart. Featuring Christmas carols, winter folk songs, toe-tapping tunes and a plethora of weird and wonderful instruments, Midwinter Revels is brought to life with wit and humour.

Winter ceilidh

DORCHESTER DORCHESTER-based band Tatterdemalion will be playing for a ceilidh at the Corn Exchange on Saturday 15th January, from 7.30. The event is supporting the chosen charities of the mayor, Gareth Jones—The Gap Project and the Mencap Hub. There will be traditional tunes from Dorset, taught by experienced dance caller Angela Laycock, and played with energy and verve by this colourful group of musicians. No experience is necessary. There is an afternoon session, from 4 to 5pm especially for families with younger children, while the evening is for everyone. No partner necessary, as you can always find someone there! Tatterdemaliony play for many local dances and functions, as well as providing music for the New Hardy Players’ productions of Thomas Hardy novels.

All the tunes are traditional and could be found in Dorset in the 19th century.

New Year treats

AROUND THE REGION THE curtain comes down on the pantomimes early in the New Year, but the area’s leading theatres have some exciting events to take you to some amazing places. Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre has a seasonal treat on 8th and 9th January, as St Petersburg Ballet brings The Nutcracker to the theatre. The brilliant comedian Omid Djalilli is at Poole on 14th January, and the marvellously inventive bicycling acting troupe, The Handlebards, best-known for open air performances, will be in the theatre on Friday 21st with their take on Shakespeare’s Scottish play. Plymouth Theatre Royal follows its Aladdin, starring Joe Pasquale, with Mamma Mia, the much-loved sunny celebration of ABBA songs, from 18th January to 5th February. Bath Theatre Royal offers laughs and some touching moments in The Play What I wrote, an evocation of the genius of Morecambe and Wise, from 11th to 22nd January. That is followed by the brilliant Peeplykus bringing their inventive and irreverent style to Sherlock Holmes, in The Hound of the Baskervilles from 25th to 29th January. The month ends at Bath with the muchanticipated (and Covid-delayed) stage adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, starring Nigel Harman as Professor Robert Langdon, from 31st January to 5th February.

GPW GreenMatthews bring their Midwinter Revels to Dorchester

36 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

YOUNG LIT FIX IN JANUARY PICTURE BOOK How to Mend a Friend

by Karl Newson Illustrated by Clara Anganuzzi Published by Studio Press an imprint of Bonnier Books RRP £6.99 REVIEW BY Antonia Squire WE all like to be happy, and we hope to be happy most of the time but when we’re not we often rely on our friends to see us through the tough times. We’re all different though, and we all respond differently to various stresses and difficulties.

This lovely picture book shows a little girl offering lots of her animal friends different types of love as they struggle with feeling unwell, or just a bit blue. Sometimes that can be a hug, or a chat, or sometimes just being with them or leaving them be.

Supported by gorgeous illustrations, this book is a lovely balm for difficult times giving the youngest readers the tools to help, not only their friends but also their friends, during trying times. Just delightful.

MIDDLE GRADE October, October

by Katya Balen Illustrated by Angela Harding Published by Bloomsbury RRP £7.99 REVIEW BY Antonia Squire I was scanning our shelves to decide which book I wanted to review for this month, and just kept thinking that it seemed a bit weird to review a book called October, October in ... January. I love this book so much but the timing wasn’t right to do it last year, and we can still enjoy this glorious novel in deep winter.

Ten-year old October lives in the woods with her dad and she’s happy there. They don’t use electricity and for the most part they live off the land (although her dad does go into town for supplies every now and then). As summer draws to a close, October finds a baby owl alone in the woods and decides to take care of him, naming him Stig.

Then, on October’s eleventh birthday, tragedy strikes.

October and her dad are visited by ‘the woman who calls herself her mother’. October’s mum couldn’t handle living off the grid and left October with her dad when she was very young. October’s mum and dad still talk regularly but October want’s none of it. Once again, her mum tries to visit October on her birthday, but October runs away—forcing her dad to follow her. And that is when the

accident happens. October’s dad suffers a terrible fall and is taken into hospital, it’s very serious and he will be there for months and October has to live with the woman she hates, in London’ until he’s better.

The clean, featureless flat in London, together with the strange noises and awful smells are terrifying for October.

Add to that her first experiences in school, she is absolutely miserable. But October’s mum isn’t a terrible person, and she understands what October needs. She takes her to visit her dad in hospital regularly, as well as the bird sanctuary to visit Stig. But she can’t take her back to the forest, and there isn’t a tremendous amount of ‘nature’ to be found around London. But then they discover Mudlarking. It is this, as well as the kindness and patience shown her, that makes October realise that her mum isn’t all that bad.

A stunningly beautiful story, told in the voice of a young girl who doesn’t communicate much with words. A tale of strange new experiences and places, of uncertainty and of love. An absolute must read.

TEEN Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle Greenwillow Books an Imprint of Harper Collins RRP £14.99 REVIEW BY Nicky Mathewson HIGH school drama just got real ferocious and Maggie and Lisa have really brought this sassy graphic novel for teens to life.

Meet Becca, new at school, moved from LA, super cute and ready to make friends.

Meet Marley, Amanda and Arianna, the popular girls, super sporty, super sexy and dangerous as hell: The Squad.

Becca is invited to be the fourth member and her new friends do not play nice.

With an initiation ceremony like no other, Becca becomes embroiled in some deadly payback for all the jerks out there. Are The Squad dealing out just deserts, or taking things too far? Feminist horror that leaps out and grabs you. These girls are always hungry, so all you cheating dudes out there better watch your step!

I completely love this and would recommend it to readers age 13+ It contains strong language.

10% off RRP of these books for Marshwood Vale Readers at The Bookshop, 14 South Street, Bridport DT6 3NQ.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 37

Local

WORDS The years 2020 and 2021 may have delivered more difficulty than any of us could ever have wished for, but they have also given birth to voices from within. Here is a selection of some of the books that local writers have recently published.

38 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

Alas the day By Ben Robinson available at writingandpoetry. com

Chesil Beach By Judith Stinton available from harlequinpress. net

Something of the Marvellous

By Andrew Pastor with illustrations by Patricia Barrett.

Something of the Marvellous charts the days of British Summer Time in 2020. Described by Andrew as ‘a year like no other, a year of Pandemic and Lockdown, when the world outdoors called more loudly than ever, and we all of us looked for ways to break free.’

Early in the year when gloom was threatening to overtake us all, Andrew began writing a short daily image of the world in his garden and within walking distance of home. His lifelong friend, Patricia Barrett, living in industrial Lancashire, responded with drawings to produce a beautiful and poignant record. Available from Little Toller Books, Beaminster at £9.95.

Seas the Day

By Rachael Boughton Since lockdown Rachael Boughton has become a keen wild swimmer and trail runner, and recently ran a half marathon to raise money for Dorset Mind. This book is inspired by wild swimming and how it helps to connect with Nature, reduce stress and improve wellbeing. Rachael also

writes about wellbeing in nature and has a blog called Girl Gone Wild about the mental health benefits of spending time in nature.

Seas the Day is a wonderful collection of poems, journal extracts and photographs. It is the diary of a Dorset sea swimmer and is available from Rachael’s website www. girlgonewild.co.uk/shop £8.50 + P&P.

Gemini Day

By Bruce Harris Gemini Day is the rollercoaster epic of an Englishman and an American woman who meet and fall in love in the Spanish Civil War. They are both journalists forced to flee to southern France. In an old farmhouse, Ruth gives birth to their child, Susannah, on the same day as a fugitive Spanish

woman shot by Nationalists gives birth to a son and dies almost immediately.

Ruth and her husband Bob adopt the boy and call him Rafael after his murdered father. They name the day when their children were born as Gemini Day, and the story tracks the Gemini Days of the future. Published

by The Conrad Press it is available from Amazon and good bookshops.

Words on the Table

By Jim Potts Words on the Table is a collection of over 200 poems written over six decades in many parts of the world: Greece, Czechoslovakia (as it was), Australia, England, the Nordics (especially Sweden), the USA, China and Ethiopia, and other countries. The collection is arranged in four broadly

thematic sections. In November, Jim celebrates twelve years of residence in Dorset. He has published three books in that time (all published by Colenso Books), including a volume of 43 short stories This spinning world, many of them set in Dorset. Jim grew up in Castle Cary in Somerset. Words on the Table is published by Colenso Books and is available from Amazon.

Coping with Death

By Leslie Scrase available from unitedwriters. co.uk

Long Shadows By Michael Gardner available as an e-book from Amazon.

West Bay By Elizabeth Gale available at Bridport Museum, TIC and local outlets.

A Pottery Journal

By Alan Ashpool available at Waterstones.

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January GALLERIES

1 - 31 January

Kit Glaisyer: Cinematic Landscape Paintings an evolving exhibition of West Country landscapes with a range of works on show in gallery and studio. Open Weds & Sat 10-4pm. Bridport Contemporary Gallery, 11 Downes Street, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3JR. 07983 465789 www.bridportcontemporary.com @ bridportcontemporary

Until 3 January 2022

Eduardo Chillida was one of the foremost Spanish sculptors of the twentieth century. Also Thomas J Price ‘Thoughts Useen’ Price’s multidisciplinary practice confronts preconceived public attitudes towards representation and identity. His inaugural exhibition with Hauser & Wirth presents two decades of conceptual enquiry spanning film, early sculpture, and the artist’s largest figurative bronze to date. Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0NL.

4 - 29 January

Exhibition of prize winners from 2021 OPEN Art Competition Ilminster Arts Centre TA19 0AN Free. 9.30am - 3.30pm 01460 54973 www.ilminsterartscentre.com

8 January - 19 March

The Blackdown Hills: A Photographic Portrait by Pauline Rook A photographic exhibition documenting two decades of farming life on the Blackdown Hills. Somerset-based photographer Pauline Rook has photographed this hidden landscape for almost 20 years. Over this period she has explored hundreds of miles of country lanes and paths, getting to know the individuals, countryside and buildings that make up the distinctive landscape of the Blackdowns. Includes a selection of Pauline’s most recent work which has been captured using an infrared sensitive camera.Open 10.00 am – 5.00 pm Tuesday – Saturday, booking advised

40 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

Somerset Rural Life Museum, Chilkwell Street, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8DB 01458 831197 Charge: Normal admission applies/FREE for Museum Unlimited pass holders SRLM. ORG.UK

Until 9 January

Philip Sutton Colours through Life Philip Sutton’s exuberant paintings express the poetry he sees all around him. At the age of 93, he still paints and draws every day as he has throughout his life. His work is full of bright colour, painted with a freedom and clarity reminiscent of Matisse but entirely his own.

His treatment of his varied subject matter is full of wonder, sometimes combined with humour. As The Times critic John Russell Taylor wrote, ‘All you need to understand and appreciate Philip Sutton is a lively eye and open mind. You do not have to make your way painfully towards him: his art will welcome you with open arms.’ Sladers Yard, West Bay Road, West Bay, Bridport, Dorset DT6 4EL. 01308 459511. gallery@sladersyard. co.uk.

‘Sou’-Sou’-West Winter Open’: mixed open Sou’-Sou’-West Arts Gallery, Symondsbury Estate, Bridport DT6 6HG. Open daily 10:30-4:30. Free admission & parking. Contact 01308 301326 www.sousouwest.co.uk. SSW Gallery’s annual Winter Open, this year with a focus on smaller pieces of original work, in a variety of media.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery. Queen Street Exeter EX4 3RX. 01392 265 858. https://rammuseum.org.uk/ Ti Parks A Retrospective Survey Messums are delighted to host this explorative retrospective of an artist whose core believe was in playfulness and the importance of change. Intuitive and intellectual, his ideas found wide-ranging expression in collage, etching, paintings, sculpture and performance. Mostly presented and performed in Australia, this exhibition brings together key elements of his practice to better understand his work. Messums Wiltshire, Place Farm, Court St, Tisbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 6LW. E: info@messumswiltshire.com. T: 01747 445042.

My Creative Life: Talking Heads, an exhibition of clay sculptures inspired by Elisabeth Frink, is at Dorset Museum until March 6.

15 January – 5 March 2022

Mikhail Karikis multi-venue exhibition Children of Unquiet & Sea Women: Two immersive film installations by international artist Mikhail Karikis. The works share the experience of two very different communities: fisherwomen on Jeju island, Korea, and children from Devil’s Valley, Tuscany. Open Tuesday – Saturday, 10-5. Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LX, 01404 45006 www.thelmahulbert.com / Ocean, Queen’s Drive, Exmouth EX8 2AY www. oceanexmouth.co.uk

19 January - 6 March

An Artist’s Journey: Paintings by Dianne Mary Alice This Dorset-based artist is inspired by images and and forms from the natural world and experiments with all mediums in an impressionistic style. Rotunda Gallery, Lyme Regis Museum, Bridge Street, Lyme Regis DT7 3QA, Wed-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 10am-4pm, www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk.

Until 16 January 2022

Dame Elisabeth Frink RA (1930 – 1993) Man is an Animal the most extensive collection of large-scale sculptures by Dame Elisabeth Frink to be shown in this country since the artist’s death in April 1993. Messums Wiltshire. Place Farm, Court St, Tisbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 6LW. E: info@ messumswiltshire.com T: 01747 445042.

Big Skies, Distant Views Lyme Bay Artist Steve Manning works predominantly with lino, employing a combination of multi-block and reduction printing to produce spacious landscapes inspired by the landscapes of Devon and Dorset. Rotunda Gallery, Lyme Regis Museum, Bridge Street, Lyme Regis DT7 3QA, Wed-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 10am-4pm, www. lymeregismuseum.co.uk.

GALLERIES IN FEBRUARY Live or Online send your gallery details to info@marshwoodvale.com

BY JANUARY 17TH.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 41

January GALLERIES

24 January - 27 February

‘A Show of Love’: Designer Makers selected open. Sou’Sou’-West Arts Gallery, Symondsbury Estate, Bridport DT6 6HG. Open daily 10:30-4:30. Free admission & parking.

Contact 01308 301326 www.sousouwest.co.uk.

Until 29 January

Wilder than Wildness itself. New works by five artist-makers in response to Oudolf Field, a 1.5-acre perennial meadow designed by Piet Oudolf at Hauser & Wirth Somerset. The works evoke the immersive experience of the garden, drawing upon Oudolf ’s philosophy that rather than copying nature, the intention is to create a feeling, deepening our connection with its seasons and cycles. Wed – Sat, 10 am – 1 pm and 2 – 4 pm. Hauser & Wirth, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0NL

Until 6 March

Talking Heads, an exhibition of clay sculptures inspired by Elisabeth Frink, will open on 2nd December 2021 at Dorset Museum. The heads are on display in the Alice Ellen Cooper

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Dean Community Space, and the exhibition is free to en-ter.

They are displayed in a recreation of the artists’ workspace, on turntables where visitors can explore them through touch.

A film of the project and quotes from the participants will accompany the display. Dorset Museum, High West Street, Dorchester DT1 1XA

Until 26 June

Ray Balkwill’s The River’s Voice is a celebratory exhibition of painting the Exe Estuary for over four decades. Ray Balkwill was born in Exeter and graduated from Exeter College of Art in the late 60s. He returned to Exeter in the late 70s to work in advertising giving up his job as an Art Director to paint professionally in 1990. Since then he has lived and worked in Exmouth for over forty years, mainly capturing the many moods of the river. The exhibition will also feature some of his Mixed Media Assemblages from material washed up on its foreshore. The Cafe at RAMM, Queen Street, Exeter, EX4 3RX. Open Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 5pm. Closed Mondays and Bank Holidays. Admission free and all work is for sale. rammuseum.org.uk. raybalkwill.co.uk.

Screen Time with Nic Jeune

Netflix FILM OF THE MONTH Lost Daughter (2021) “This sinuous adaptation of the novel by Elena Ferrante marks a supremely confident feature directing debut from Maggie Gyllenhaal, who also penned the screenplay. The two timelines— Leda present (played by Olivia Colman) and Leda in the past (played by Jessie Buckley)—are woven in serpentine coils that twine together, in this portrait of the kind of motherhood that isn’t afraid to bare its teeth.

In 2018 Elena Ferrante wrote an article published in The Guardian headlined: ‘Maggie Gyllenhaal is filming one of my books. It’s her story to tell now’ “It’s important for me—for her, for all women—that her work be hers and turn out well. Mine already exists, with its strengths and defects… So I don’t want to say: you have to stay inside the cage that I constructed. We’ve been inside the male cage for too long—and now that that cage is collapsing, a woman artist has to be absolutely autonomous. Her search shouldn’t encounter obstacles, especially when it’s inspired by the work, by the thought, of other women.”

Munich The Edge of War. (2021) Well received at The London Film Festival in 2021. Jeremy Irons is impressive as Neville Chamberlain. Ben Power (Hollow Crown) has adapted Robert Harris’ novel.

“Harris up-ends conventional Churchillian wisdom to give appeasers some of the best tunes. We feel the public horror at any return to the carnage of 1914-18, and see why the canny Chamberlain could appear to majority opinion across Europe as a Messiah of Peace, robed in the drab costume of an elderly accountant”. Boyd Tonkin The Financial Times.

Amazon Prime All is Lost (2013) Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man (Redford) wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas.

With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails

unknowingly into the path of a violent storm.

“In his late seventies, Robert Redford has never held the camera as magnificently as he does in the survival-at-sea thriller All Is Lost.” David Edelstein. New York Times.

Capote (2005) In 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.

“The mesmerizing performance of Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the celebrated writer dominates every scene, while director Bennett Miller and screenwriter Dan Futterman’s penetrating study enthralls in every aspect.” David Rooney. Variety.

Love Story (1970) To some this will be a trip down memory lane. Number 9 in The American Film Institute List of The Most Romantic Films of All Time. It is also one of the highest grossing films of all time.

“Love Story is a three-handkerchief movie if you are hard boiled.

Otherwise, it rates six hankies.” Tony Mastroianni. Cleveland Press.

Apple TV+ The Tragedy of Macbeth Joel Coen’s first outing without his brother and regular codirector has adapted of Shakespeare’s play for the screen. Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand play the leading couple.

“Of all Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth may be the best-served by cinema, with terrific, distinctive adaptations over the years from Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Roman Polanski, and most recently Justin Kurzel, with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.”

Robbie Collin. The Telegraph.

“The movie hits its stride immediately with a taut, athletic urgency and it contains some superb images—particularly the eerie miracle of Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane, with Malcolm’s soldiers holding tree-branches over their heads in a restricted forest path and turning themselves into a spectacular river of boughs. This is a black-and-white world of violence and pain that scorches the retina.” Peter Bradshaw. The Guardian.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 43

Farming Life on the Blackdown Hills A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION documenting two decades of farming life on the Blackdown Hills opens at Somerset Rural Life Museum from 8 January to 19 March.

Somerset-based photographer Pauline Rook was commissioned in 2002 by the Countryside Agency to create a photographic record of the Blackdown Hills. Her brief was to capture the ‘spirit and essence’ of the area. The commission ignited a love of this unique corner of Somerset, and Pauline has now been photographing the landscape for almost 20 years. Over this period she has explored hundreds of miles of country lanes and paths, getting to know the individuals, countryside and buildings that make the Blackdowns so distinctive.

Pauline said: ‘My principal passion continues to be working in the rural environment. I built up a photographic archive for the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty when it was newly designated. This relatively under-populated and inaccessible landscape of small farms and many lanes continues to fascinate and delight me. I love to include farm animals in my pictures—my years of farming and having my own flock of sheep have come in handy.’

The countryside and photography have been lifelong passions to Pauline, who spent almost 20 years dairy farming in Somerset. This fuelled her desire to document the wonderful characters of the farming world. Pauline is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society.

The exhibition will bring together over 50 photographs and includes a selection of Pauline’s most recent work, captured using the infrared techniques she began to learn during lockdown.

On 8 January and 12 February Pauline will be at the museum for a Meet the Artist event when she will be available to discuss her work with visitors. On 12 February Pauline will be giving an illustrated talk as part of the museum’s Talk and Tea series.

For more information and to book your visit go to srlm.org.uk

44 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

Below: Hello—Suffolk cross sheep near Dalwood Opposite page clockwise from top: Jamie Darlington shoeing a pony at Dennetts Farm, Wambrook Henry Derryman, Peterhayes Farm, Stockland Libby Lister milking her golden Guernsey goat at Dennetts Farm, Wambrook All photographs © Pauline Rook

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 45

Last Chance to view Prestigious Exhibition T

he world-renowned exhibition, on loan from the Natural History Museum in London, is currently open at Exeter City Council’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year features exceptional images which capture fascinating animal behaviour, spectacular species and the breathtaking diversity of the natural world. Using photography's unique emotive power to engage and inspire audiences, the images shine a light on stories and species around the world and encourage a future of advocating for the planet.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the most prestigious photography event of its kind, providing a global platform that showcases the natural world’s most astonishing and challenging sights for over 50 years. Launching in 1965 and attracting 361 entries, today the competition receives over 49,000 entries from

46 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

all over the world, highlighting its enduring appeal. This year’s award-winning images will embark on an international tour that will allow them to be seen by over a million people.

Dr Tim Littlewood, Executive Director of Science at the Natural History Museum and member of the judging panel, says, 'This competition has an outstanding reputation in attracting the world's very best photographers, naturalists and young photographers. But there has never been a more vital time for audiences all over the world to re-engage with the natural world, and what better way than this inspiring and provocative exhibition. Photography's unique ability to spark conversation and curiosity is certainly special. We hope that this year's exhibition will provide an opportunity for audiences to pause, reflect and ignite a passion of advocating for the natural world.’

Opposite page: When the Rain Came Rolling In - Zack Clothier.

Below: Taiga Tiger in the Night - Sergey Gorshkov Night Hunter - Jonas Classon

Councillor Amal Ghusain, Exeter City Council’s lead for Communities and Culture says, ‘We are delighted that local people will have the chance to see this world renowned exhibition on show in Exeter as part of its international tour. Wildlife Photographer of the Year captures the beauty of the natural world while shining a light on the environmental challenges we face, inspiring audiences to take action to safeguard our planet.’

Exhibition open up to 9 January 2022.

To book tickets: https://bit.ly/RAMMWildlifePhotographer Prices: £8 adults, £6 concessions, under 19s free Visitor Enquiries: 01392 265960

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 47

Health&Environment Can you help protect Dorset’s Seas?

Chesil volunteers Sue and Wendy © Dorset Wildlife Trust

DORSET Wildlife Trust is appealing for local people aged 18 and over to help with its wildlife conservation work in the Isle of Purbeck and Weymouth and Portland areas. The Trust is looking for new recruits to join a keen group of volunteers at both the Fine Foundation Wild Seas Centre, Kimmeridge, and the Fine Foundation Chesil Beach Centre, Portland. With increasing concerns about the climate and ecological emergency and marine litter, alongside a newly created network of protected areas in the sea, Dorset Wildlife Trust’s marine conservation work has never been more important.

Local people who would like to do something valuable for our blue planet, and have time to offer on a regular basis, are invited to take part. No expertise is required as all volunteers will be provided with free training to equip them with the basic knowledge and skills necessary. Our aim is to enable visitors to the Trust’s centres to leave feeling empowered to make simple changes in their everyday lives that benefit the planet and help tackle the environmental issues of our day. Volunteer training will include topics such as the identification of seashore animals and seaweeds, geology and fossils and how to carry out simple seashore surveys to monitor wildlife and activities within the new Purbeck Coast Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) and on Chesil Bank and the Fleet nature reserve.

Julie Hatcher, Wild Seas Centre Officer, said: “We have an amazing team of volunteers at Kimmeridge and Chesil with a wide range of backgrounds and ages. What they all have in common is a passion for wildlife and a desire to help ensure its well-being. We’re a friendly and fun bunch of people to work with and are looking forward to welcoming some new faces to our centres in 2022.”

Open sessions at both the Wild Seas Centre and the Chesil Beach Centre will be held in January or February, when you can meet the staff and volunteers and find out more about what they do. There are a limited number of vacancies at both centres, so if you think you’re suited to join the hardworking teams, please contact the relevant centre to register your interest.

To contact Kimmeridge: Julie Hatcher on 01929 481044 or email kimmeridge@dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk. To contact Chesil: Sarah Hodgson on 01305 206191 or email chesilbeach@ dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk. For more information about these and more volunteer opportunities go to dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/ volunteering-opportunities.

48 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

Fund for East Devon based creatives

A

rts and Culture East Devon (ACED) is calling on East Devon-based creatives to apply for a new innovation fund which aims to strengthen local economic recovery.

Innovative projects being developed by organisations within the cultural and creative industries could benefit from the new £2m Innovation and Resilience fund (IRF).

This new IRF scheme aims to unlock the delivery of transformational projects in East Devon linked to diversification, new innovative products/services, creating valuable jobs and/or reducing their carbon footprint.

ACED hopes the fund will enable new opportunities for cultural engagement through local arts organisations and services in East Devon such as theatres, museums, galleries and festivals. The aim is to support resilience and innovation as well as creating skilled employment in the sector through increased access to the arts for local communities and in attracting visitors to the area.

Creative practitioners and organisations can band together to submit a collaborative bid for an innovative creative project taking place in East Devon. Ideas may include but are not limited to: establishing a new cultural festival, events showcasing the local area or costs of embedding a new technology to deliver performances or exhibitions which enable the business to expand; or specialist training to allow organisations to diversify. Applicants cannot use the funding to cover salaries or lost income, to cover normal operational costs or existing purchases.

Applicants can apply for: • Up to £50,000 per individual business or organisation • Up to £150,000 per collaborative bid (multiple businesses and organisations) Match-funded applications will be prioritised.

Potential applicants are encouraged to first review the detail of the fund. The IRF Policy document contains the full guidance and criteria for this scheme and there is a comprehensive FAQs page. Projects which meet the criteria can then be put forward by submitting an expression of interest giving a basic overview of the project.

If successful, applicants will be invited to submit a full bid application, after which a decision will be made on whether to award funding. Help with developing the application is available at no cost from support agency, Business Information Point, on referral from the council.

Ruth Gooding, Arts Development Manager and THG Curator said, ‘Creative and cultural institutions are at the heart of our community and we would encourage them to apply for this fund to develop and expand upon this vibrant creative community.’

Find out more: https://youtu.be/SZq0QZE1Nyw

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 49

Services&Classified Check our website for things you may have missed www.marshwoodvale.com

PEST CONTROL

TURKEYS

Three Counties Pest Control. Friendly, professional service for Devon, Dorset, Somerset.

07484 677457. www.3cpestcontrol.co.uk

Local Christmas Turkeys! Free-range, traditional (rare) breeds. www.

PilsdonPenTurkeys.co.uk Super tasty, highest welfare. Tel. 07760 663504.

PETS Tiny cocker poos! Toy spaniel cross miniature poodle. Home reared. In luxury shades of apricot Boys and girls. Ready mid January. More info 01404 881720.

FOR SALE Hay £3.50 Straw £3.00 Haylage £5.00 Free local delivery 07970 288272

Solution to Humphrey’s Festive Crossword

50 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

Unique Victorian Writing slope with New Aged Leather tooled Inlay with Ink well and Pen. That fits into a beautiful Mahogany case.

This is a wonderful piece of craftmanship that was in the same French family for over 100 years £295. 07484689302.

Luggie mobility scooter in unmarked condition fully folding model a real bargain 450 ono tel no 07866150799.

Stunning example of an Original Mid Century Ercol Drop Leaf Dining Table with stand out grain features. It also has the original Ercol gold stamp which fully authenticates the table. £290. 07484 689302.

Texier black leather briefcase with combination lock. Very good condition £50 Tel 07905627483 John.

Table. Conran solid maple top, 60 x 30 x 1.1/4“ thick, with demountable polished

RESTORATION FURNITURE. Antique Restoration and Bespoke Furniture.

Furniture large and small carefully restored and new commissions undertaken. City and Guilds qualified.

Experienced local family firm. Phil Meadley 01297 560335

Mar 22

PERSONAL I’m a 56yr old handsome male with a nice personality, who would love to meet a 55yr – 67yr old attractive, intelligent arty lady for friendship / relationship.

With interests in countryside walks, antiques, cinema, nice pubs, eating out & a spot of travel. East Devon area – Stuart 07549 614985

FOR SALE steel legs. £50 tel.

07905627483 John.

A pair of Acoustic Energy speakers,120 watt 8 ohms. Cherrywood finish with cables. In good condition £40 Tel 07905627483 John.

Jersey stamp booklets and prestige stamp books (1969 - 2010). All in mint condition in album.

Real price approximately £380. £285 ono. 01305 820878 Jersey definitive stamps

ELECTRICAL

WANTED

CHIMNEY SWEEP

Vintage & antique textiles, linens, costume buttons etc. always sought by Caroline Bushell. Tel. 01404 45901.

Oct 21

Secondhand tools wanted. All trades.

Users & Antiques.

G & E C Dawson.

01297 23826. www. secondhandtools.co.uk. sept 21

Dave buys all types of tools 01935 428975

FOR SALE

2021) “Self Build & Design” “Homebuild & Renovation Magazines” Wanted: Old tractors Call Graham 07767 and vehicles. Running, 272910 non running. Good Circular pine pedestal price paid. 01308 table, painted in Farrow 482320 07971 866364 and Ball colour ‘stoney ground’ (appears as ivory) and waxed. £80.

Coins wanted. Part Tel 01460 30932 or full collections Sewing machine purchased for cash.

- electric ‘Janome’ Please phone John on with holdall and full 01460 62109 instructions, as new - £50 ovno. 07850 Too much clutter 805142 Merriott (photo in your Loft, shed, available).

Garage, barn. I buy job-lots of vintage items. Wolf power washer on wheels. Used 3 times cost 07875677897 over 100£ three years ago, asking £35. Bosh Experienced metal blow and suck vacuum detectorist looking for detecting buddy. Honiton complete with collection bag only used once so area/East Devon. Tel 07594 687485 in new condition £35 a pair of Dacia cross over roof bar adjustable FOR SALE and lockable with 2 keys extending tree pruner in (1969 - 2007) All in mint new condition used once condition. Also Jersey £10 ono tel 01297 postage dues all in mint 598249 (Axminster) condition in album (1969 evenings best.

- 1982). Top include all G Plan Teak Cabinet, 2 bulletins with inserts. doors, 2 full-size drawers, Real price approximately 2 half-size drawers 48”h £360. £265 ono 01305 x 30”w. 01297 443930.

820878.

Armchair/ fold out bed Free to collect ‘Rest Assured’ unfolds Marshwood. Approx into single bed, ideal 100 back issues (2014for sleepovers, Xmas Jan 22

Dec 21

Jan 22

Mar 22

visitors. £25. 01297 443930.

Vintage Ercol Easychair low armchair Yorkshire design circa 1960’s, new webbing, recovered chintz, as new £500, matching foot stall, £250. 01297 443930.

Massage table Elan folding design in blue vgc £100ovno. Elegant standard lamp with shade £35. Can email photos.

01297 442290.

Men’s electric trouser press Corby 7700. £20. Canon Electronic Typewriter +instructions £30. Empty glass perfume bottles display £1 each. 01308 456830.

Modern Portable Electric Fire, room heater 1000w or 1500w or 2500w digital super condition white and black £40ono. Call any evening after 6pm 07594 687485. Its Programmable!

Small compact double portable electric hob, still boxd, never used, mint condition. £35ono.

50mm Zoom lens, originally for Pentax 105E, in case, as new, best offer secures. 07594 687485.

Ladies bicycle, easy gearing, great for

DISTRIBUTION

FOR SALE touring, light but strong, Pendleton Brooke design. £95. 07717 887442.

Pine Welsh dresser, excellent condition, 4 drawer 2 door H 200cm w 160cm, D45cm. £200.

Can deliver. 07963 951651.

Bosch dish washer GWO large £100, five

bags floor leveller £40, Oak sliding door inc. running gear £100.

01300 341250.

Pink rocking horse age 1-3, excellent condition. £25. 07854 623012.

Twinlock V8 Variform binders. Cost new £75.

Two for £50, or £30 each. Used, in good condition. 01308 427113.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 51

FREE ADS for items under £1,000 This FREE ADS FORM is for articles for sale, where the sale price is under £1000 (Private advertisers only — no trade, motor, animals, alcohol, firearms etc). Just fill in the form and send it to the Marshwood Vale Magazine, Lower Atrim, Bridport, Dorset DT6 5PX or email the text to info@marshwoodvale.com.

Unfortunately due to space constraints there is no guarantee of insertion of free advertising. We reserve the right to withhold advertisements. For guaranteed classified advertising please use ‘Classified Ads’ form

Name ............................................................. Telephone number .................................

Address ................................................................................................................................

Town .......................................... County....................... Postcode ..................................

Monthly Quiz –

Win a book from Little Toller Books

Send in your answer on a postcard, along with your name and address to: Hargreaves Quiz, Marshwood Vale Magazine, Lower Atrim, Bridport, Dorset DT6 5PX. Study the clues contained in the rhyme and look carefully at the signposts to work out which town or village in South Somerset, West Dorset or East Devon is indicated. The first correct answer drawn out of a hat will win a book from local publisher Little Toller Books.

There is no cash equivalent and no correspondence will be entered into.

Last month’s answer was South Petherton. The winner was Mrs Hoskins from Crewkerne.

52 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 Tel. 01308 423031

BUSINESS NEWS Dorset LEP publishes labour market analysis DORSET Local Enterprise Partnership, the business led private and public sector partnership promoting local economic growth and prosperity, recently published a report on the state of the local labour market. It focused on unravelling the recent labour shortage trends and the possible effects from the furlough scheme closure in Dorset.

Swtiching the entire economy on over the summer created a unique spike in labour demand with an unexpected peak in vacancies and employment indicators holding up well. As businesses were struggling to fill their increased demand from the same talent pool, the narrative has changed from a peak in unemployment, feared at the start of the pandemic to widely reported labour shortages and a job seekers market.

As ONS reported 1.1 million vacancies, the highest on record, Dorset followed the trend with a spike in demand in the third quarter.

Rebecca Davies, Head of Enterprise, Skills and Industry at Dorset LEP said: ‘In the aftermath of a pandemic that displaced thousands of jobs and forced millions into furlough leave, a labour market with growing availability of jobs and relatively stable employment levels is welcome news. Yet businesses competing over a small talent pool are finding it increasingly difficult to hire new staff, as a lack of applicants is creating resource gaps and impacting business recovery. In Dorset this spike in demand adds to a well-documented pre-Covid labour shortage issue that placed Dorset LEP in the top three areas nationally for employer reported hard-to-fill and skills shortage vacancies.’

Rebecca went on to say ‘Our latest labour market analysis unravels the complex puzzle of contributing factors, including pandemic and EU-exit developments, accelerating existing trends and discusses how furlough and out-of-work benefits relate to shortages and how much these have to do with job quality.’

The full report is available on the Dorset LEP website at https://www. dorsetlep.co.uk/dorset-labour-market-and-skills-insights-quarter-3

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine January 2022 53