Marshwood+ Oct 26 by Marshwood Vale Ltd

Maddie Grigg’s new novel launches in Bridport Page 26

Derek vs Derek two men with opposing visions Page 8

Steve Crawshaw talks about the battle for global justice Page 40

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Christopher Pike© Photograph by Robin Mills

Linking Environment, Culture and the Arts - www.marshwoodvale.com - Issue No. 331 October 2026

COVER STORY Fergus Byrne met Christopher Pike in Bridport

’I

Christopher Pike © Photograph by Robin Mills

was born around 3am on Sunday morning in the middle of a thunderstorm in Hitchin maternity hospital. My father, Edmund, was a microbiologist. He researched water quality along Chesil beach in the late sixties. When he passed away, I found copies of the Bridport News from that time including one describing “Keeping the beaches “golden” - Research Men to Visit Bridport”. I also found lots of local postcards and photos of me as a toddler at West Bay. My mother, Barbara, was a primary school teacher who taught me to read and do simple sums before I started school. We lived in Stevenage, a new town built as a kind of socialist utopia of neighbourhood shopping and community centres, cycle tracks and subsidised buses, but also of underpasses full of broken glass and graffiti. However, the countryside was nearby and much time was spent building camps, sharpening sticks and making fires. Until skateboarding arrived … From the early seventies, family holidays were spent at a cottage at Tamarisk Farm, West Bexington. These were always taken during school term when the roads and beaches were quieter. My parents also felt it was more beneficial educationally to take children away somewhere different rather than adhering to school curricula. I vividly remember Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 3

Christopher Pike

dreamlike sunset walks with dad up to the ‘little house on the hill’ near Puncknowle. Tamarisk Farm organic produce tasted so good and inspired in me a love for growing and conservation, which continues to this day. I consciously buy most of my seeds from Joy and Michael Michaud at Sea Spring Seeds. My first live music experience at age 14 was UK Subs at the punk club at Stevenage Bowes Lyon House, a somewhat terrifying experience with much aggressive ‘ruck dancing’ at the front. Undeterred, next up was Hammersmith Odeon, to see Motörhead, in their original line up. The Marquee became a regular haunt, their inspired policy to offer residencies to bands that they truly believed in played a pivotal part in the UK music scene for decades. Film is a continuing passion. It’s like oxygen to me. I remember BBC2 late night horror double bills and Hitchcock seasons. I regularly absented myself from secondary school to catch rarely screened classics on daytime TV. The ABC Stevenage was gloriously 1970s with vibrant turquoise (screen 1) or orange seats (screen 2). Later cinemas of choice included the Everyman, Hampstead, still with gaslighting in the mid-1980s, and Scala, Kings Cross and its unique ‘arthouse meets grindhouse’ programming. At Durham University, I studied Chemistry. I found it straightforward, and it allowed more time for other things including chairing 201 Film Society. I then went onto Cambridge, to do a PhD in Quantum Chemistry. This involved doing computer-heavy, modelling calculations of small chemical systems on a giant computer, which occupied its own air-conditioned room. I often worked through the night since that was when computer time was most readily available. It meant that days were often free for other pursuits. Luckily, Cambridge Arts Cinema had great all-day programming. I became quite good at tennis. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial streak and from an early age would set up stalls on our street selling stuff. At college, I ran the graduate bar. I do regret selling my collection of early 2000AD and Action comics. That was definitely worst business decision I ever made. In the early 90s, there was much talk about the UK losing homegrown technology value to foreign competitors. Intellectual property seemed critical, so I decided to combine my technology background and interest in entrepreneurship to train as a Patent Attorney, which proved to be a good move. I owe a lot to my mentor, Tony Gibson at Procter and Gamble in Newcastle. His training in patent skills was rigorous and use of a red pen to correct drafting mistakes, prolific. Outside of the office, my go-to place was a small music club called World Headquarters, which operated under the tag “a smiling face and a pumping bass for the human race”. They mixed up soul, funk, ska, reggae, jungle … everyone dancing together as one sweaty mass, the floorboards palpably rippling underfoot. WHQ still goes strong in a larger venue named after Curtis Mayfield.

After six years in the corporate world, I set up my own practice in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. At the time I was the youngest Patent Attorney in the country with their own practice. The practice grew quickly and it was a joy to work with many engaged, creative and enterprising clients. For years, I handled most of the patent work for Glaxo Wellcome’s world class asthma inhaler portfolio. I taught myself trade mark law and qualified as a Trade Mark Attorney. Until Brexit, I had the right to practice across all of the EU if I chose to. Somehow, I found time to write a book, Virtual Monopoly, on the business strategy of intellectual property. It led to lecture engagements at business schools like Insead and as visiting IP expert at the Royal College of Art. Whilst professional life was going well, it came at a cost, the balance was not quite right. I took time out and joined my parents on a holiday they were taking in West Dorset, which felt like a return to a spiritual home. I decided to sell most of my practice and move to Bridport, keeping enough work for ‘spare bedroom’ type consultancy. Initially, the workload kept growing until I got strict about keeping it in check. I found in Bridport that people took a genuine interest in who you are. It was refreshing. I acquired an allotment and a polytunnel and started fishing off the beach. I joined a study group on Care of the Soul and undertook a two-year training course to qualify as a biodynamic craniosacral therapist. Bridport Arts Centre (BAC) was one of first places I visited. Shabby but soulful. A place of nurturing. A place of meaning. I soon got involved with the brilliant Bridport Film Society, acting as its Chair for eleven years, and also the From Page to Screen film festival, which explores adaptation. Sometimes an apostrophe can make a big difference: I’ve consistently advocated that From Page to Screen also be promoted as Bridport’s Film Festival, whose home is naturally at Bridport’s Arts Centre. I’m now BAC Chair of Trustees and, along with fellow trustees and Director, Claire Tudge and her dedicated team, am proud to play a part in its ongoing journey of transformation. I always try to look for the opportunity in every situation and find that orienting in this way allows positive energy to cascade. When a group or community orients in this way, great things can happen. I’m therefore really enjoying seeing how our Bridport and West Dorset community is enthusiastically responding to the Come Together campaign to raise funds to bring the historic Bridport Arts Centre building back into community ownership. So much generosity, so much creative energy and truly wonderful sharing of meaningful BAC stories. And I’m confident that as the campaign moves ahead, that joy of coming together will gather force. As a generous, creative and powerful community, we can achieve so much together. To find out more, donate or support the campaign, visit www.bridport-arts/cometogether.com.

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UP FRONT

THIS MONTH i n yo u r M a r s h wo o d Va l e M a g a z i n e

One of the many striking comments in the documentary film Derek vs Derek (see page 8) is farmer, conservationist and author Derek Gow’s remark about food waste. ‘We waste a third of the food we produce in this country’, he says to neighbouring farmers concerned that using land to increase biodiversity will lead to food shortages. The comment speaks to one of the central misunderstandings about rewilding—that much of the land proposed to increase healthy biodiversity is not well suited to food production, and that creating corridors and pockets of biodiversity will help fertile land that would otherwise continue to be damaged by chemicals. In the film, a farmer at a cattle market turns to traditional dairy farmer Derek Banbury and says of rewilding, ‘It’s a joke, isn’t it? When the country’s starving, they’ll understand what they’ve done. It’ll be too bloody late by then.’ Derek Gow sees this argument as ‘patently absurd.’ He says he’ll accept there’s a ‘poverty and food crisis’ issue when ‘we’re prepared to eat all the horses, dig up all the golf courses and grow radishes on the lawns of Buckingham Palace’. Derek vs Derek doesn’t address all the arguments about biodiversity, but it certainly shows the polarisation of the discussion and the difficult economics of traditional farming. Explaining how his life is like a treadmill, Derek Banbury says: ‘People don’t know a thing about it. They think all food’s grown in Tesco’s.’ But as food gets cheaper, he has to milk more and more cows to maintain his income. According to government figures, the UK wastes over 9.52 million tonnes of food every year, enough to feed upwards of 30 million people. Taking a long-term view of biodiversity, alongside better education about food waste and more sensible packaging, would go a long way towards sustaining the nation’s food supply. 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

Editorial Director

3 8 12 23

Cover Story By Fergus Byrne Biodiversity and/or Food By Fergus Byrne Events Nature Studies By Michael McCarthy

34 34 36

House & Garden September in the Garden By Russell Jordan Reflections By John Davis

38 38

Food and Dining Irish Sea Sodabread By Nisha Katona

40 40 44 46 56 57 60 62

Arts & Entertainment Holding Evil to Account By Fergus Byrne Galleries Preview By Gay Pirrie Weir Screen Time By Nic Jeune Young Lit Fix By Nicky Mathewson The Box By John Davis Books By Fergus Byrne

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Services & Classified Health & Environment

D O N AT I O N S If you missed our Crowdfunder and would still like to donate to support the Marshwood Vale Magazine, please send donations either by cheque to Marshwood Vale Limited (address below) or direct to Marshwood Vale Limited at Monzo Business Sort Code 04-00-06 - a/c number 65919314 - Ref: Donation

Fergus Byrne

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Fanny Charles John Davis Nic Jeune Russell Jordan

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Design

Michael McCarthy Nicky Mathewson Robin Mills Gay Pirrie Weir

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The views expressed in The Marshwood Vale Magazine, Marshwood+ 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.

Food and Biodiversity In a groundbreaking new film, Derek vs Derek, two Devon farmers face off in a battle of practicality and ideals. By Fergus Byrne.

raditional dairy farmer Derek Banbury and radical conservationist Derek Gow present two starkly opposing visions of the British landscape in the film Derek vs Derek, scheduled to be shown at Bridport Arts Centre in October. Living on adjacent farms with very diverse opinions, the two Dereks should be at each other’s throats. One sees the land as an engine designed to produce the maximum amount of food by any means available, while the other has completely abandoned traditional farming to create a habitat for wildlife. Promoting a philosophy that encourages the reintroduction of wild boar, beavers and even wolves, Derek Gow sees a depleted, sterile ecology

on the brink of collapse and sets out to create what, to Derek Banbury, appears to be an uninhibited disaster. ‘I don’t know what he’s doing. It’s not farming, it’s just a mess.’ says Banbury as he peers over his hedge in horror. The scene is set for a neighbourhood squabble that could escalate at any minute. The result, however, is surprising. Derek vs Derek presents a microscopic view of the global challenge surrounding sustainable farming, biodiversity loss, and the urgent need to balance food security with ecological repair. For generations, British agriculture has operated under a post-war need for yield at all costs. Government incentives tempted farmers to drain

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wetlands, remove hedgerows, and apply synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. Derek Banbury’s farming practice follows this traditional model. For him, success is measured by clean fields, high maize yields, and heavy milk output: ‘We produce a lot of dung on the farm, a lot of slurry,’ he tells documentary filmmaker James Dawson. ‘That all goes back onto the land, which improves the land. We couldn’t farm here with the amount of animals we’ve got without fertiliser... You just grow as big a crop as you can, and carry on day to day, year to year.’ For Banbury, maintaining his land is a matter of professional pride as well as a financial necessity. Trapped on an economic treadmill, his only way

to survive is to scale up, apply chemical sprays and maximise every square inch of pasture. Derek Gow sees things very differently indeed. He sees a biological wasteland. ‘This landscape should be full of a cacophony of natural sound, full of birdsong, full of insects, but it’s just one big green desert,’ Gow argues. He wants to introduce ecosystem engineers—beavers, water voles, and wild boar—to break up sterile pasture. He wants to ‘completely change this farm into a haven for wildlife’ and hopes to have ‘more insects, more butterflies, more trees.’ Which is all well and good until the ecosystem engineers stray onto other people’s land. Nature does not observe property lines, and Gow’s

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radical methods quickly draw the ire of his farming neighbours. Escaped wild boar dig up neighbouring cornfields and are accused of preying on livestock. Beavers construct dams that drown carefully maintained agricultural drainage systems. When Gow bursts drainage pipes installed decades ago under government grants, local farmers view it as active sabotage of productive land. Neighbourhood hostility reaches a boiling point over discussions about species reintroductions, such as wolves and free-roaming boar. Local sheep farmers express existential dread over stock losses, with one young farmer noting: ‘The last thing we want to see is a carcass in the field... Animals taking our stock that we put our life into.’ Gow remains undeterred by local hostility, admitting: ‘I never wanted to do any of this to win a fucking popularity contest.’ At times hilarious and at times moving, the film shines a light on the vital debate surrounding the future of rural Britain, encouraging conversations about how farming and nature restoration can work together. Yet, the film also exposes a genuine structural dilemma: how can individual farmers be expected to accommodate unpredictable wildlife when their livelihoods depend on thin profit margins driven by rigid market demands? As Gow himself acknowledges, agriculture is a high-stress, low-reward industry where ‘the subsidies barely enable them to carry on’ and economic pressures leave little room to think about nature. The debate highlights the central paradox of modern land management. As Gow explains: ‘The paradox of modern farming is that yeah, it produces

food in great abundance, but in creating this abundance, we’re destroying the fabric of nature.’ He says we will reach a point where we can’t add chemicals anymore and then ‘nothing will grow, and then the land really is truly finished.’

...we will reach a point where we can’t add chemicals anymore Seeing nature return on Gow’s land, Banbury is forced to look again at his own farm and reflect on what has happened over the 50 years since he was a boy. Now in his 70s, he thinks about the wildlife he once used to see, which is now absent, and the part played by farmers and government in unwittingly destroying the natural world to produce food. Regardless of the farming discipline practised, Derek vs Derek ultimately shows that beneath the divide between farming and conservation there is a shared connection to the land. True sustainability requires both the hands that feed us and the wild natural systems that keep the planet alive. Derek vs Derek is scheduled to be shown at Bridport Arts Centre on Thursday 22nd of October at 7:30pm. There will be a post film Q&A with Dr Sam Rose who leads the Brit Valley Landscape Recovery Project. For tickets, visit: https:// www.bridport-arts.com/

Photographs by Joss Barratt. Previous page Derek Banbury, below Derek Gow and opposite page Derek Gow and Derek Banbury

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October EVENTS

Wednesday, 30 September

West Dorset Community Orchestra rehearse in the Christian Fellowship hall, East Street car park, Bridport DT6 3QE from 6-30p.m.to 7-45p.m. New members very welcome, particularly violin and viola players . First four rehearsals are free.For more information www.westdorsetcommunityorchestra.co.uk or contact 01308 456297.

Thursday, 1 October

Friends of Lyme Regis Museum Lyme Regis Museum Friends offer an illustrated talk, ‘40 Years of the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre’ by Alison Ferris. At 2.30 pm in the Woodmead Hall, Hill Road, Lyme Regis. Alison is ‘Earth, Marine and Environment Science Manager’ at the Centre. Members £3; visitors £5. All welcome. Enquiries to David Cox, 07800 895351. Clapton & Wayford Film Society A Bunch of Amateurs (2008, UK, 12A, 94 mins, , Director: Kim Hopkins.) A sleazy Hollywood agent tricks one of his clients, a faded action star, into playing King Lear in an amateur charity production in England. Doors 7:00 pm, 7:30 pm start. Clapton & Wayford Village Hall (TA18 8PS). Membership £30, guests £5 per film. For more information/book guest tickets, please email mickpwilson53@btinternet.com or k_ everard@live.com. Alternatively, ring Mick Wilson on 01460 74849 or Julia Borland on 01460 72769. Bride Valley Films will be showing Mothers Pride ‘charming British movie with a great cast’ From the team behind ‘Finding Your Feet’ and ‘Fisherman’s Friends’, Mothers Pride follows a grieving family whose fortunes begin to change when they start brewing their own beer and enter the Great British Beer Awards to save their pub. What begins as an act of survival becomes a journey of renewal – bringing together neighbours, mending old wounds and Starring Martin Clunes, James Buckley and Luke Treadaway. Doors open at 7:00 pm with the film starting at 7:30pm. Tickets on the door, £6 to include a glass of wine. Litton Cheney Village Hall – DT2 9AU. Our exhibition Fire Flood Frost runs throughout October and explores how Beaminster and the surrounding villages have battled the elements – from floods and violent storms to bitter freezes – along with the three great fires that devastated the town. The exhibition tells the story of how local people pulled together in times of crisis and learned lessons for the future. Visitors will also find exciting new Pre-history and Geology displays with eye-catching accompanying graphics, as well as a wide range of children’s activities. Do check out our revamped shop, featuring an

excellent selection of books, toys, crafting kits, and exclusive hand-made items by local makers. The Museum is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Bank Holidays, 10.30am – 4.00pm, Sundays 2.00pm – 4.30pm. Admission is free, but donations are very welcome. Whitcombe Rd, Beaminster DT8 3NB. www.beaminstermuseum.co.uk.

Friday, 2 October

Via Dolorosa By David Hare Performed by Gary Hay at the Chapel in the Garden, 49 East St, Bridport. DT6 3JX at 7.30. The play Via Dolorosa by David Hare is a dramatic account of his travels through Israel and Palestine in 1997, from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to Gaza and Ramallah. The Chapel in the Garden is bringing a production by actor Gary Hay and 30 local singers will be weaving songs from Israel and Palestine as well as Taizé chants into his performance. Jane Silver-Corren, an experienced and gifted choir leader, was delighted to be asked to lead the choir and has chosen the powerful songs and chants. The production is raising funds for the charities Oasis of Peace, who work to advance peace and equality between Jews and Palestinians, and The Chapel in the Garden. Tickets £17.00 from the Tourist Information Centre in Bridport 01308 424901 https:// bridportandwestbay.co.uk/events/via-dolorosa/ My Ballet -Holistic ballet classes for all adults Supportive & Non - judgemental classical ballet to fabulous music. For posture, flexibility, strength, balance, fitness, friendship. Join the fun and feel good. Everybody welcome! Do get in touch and come for a dance! Winsham Jubilee Hall, Church St, Winsham, Chard, TA20 4HU Fridays 10am and 11.15am Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.my-ballet.uk

Saturday, 3 October

The Quangle Wangle Choir go gadabout. Songs and poetry of adventures. 7.30pm. Maiden Newton Village Hall, DT2 0AE. £10 on the door. Children free. 07747373516. www. quanglewanglechoir.co.uk. The Friends of Weymouth Library (F.O.W.L.) talk at 1030a.m. in the Library will recount the ill-fated marriage of Frances Shea to Reggie, one of the notorious Kray twins. The speakers are Jacqueline and Brian Sutton. The talk reveals Reggie’s obsession with Frances, and her attempts to break free. Admission will be £3. Everyone welcome. Any queries ring 01305832613.

Saturday, 3 - 4 October

Winsham Art Group 2026 exhibition The Jubilee Hall,

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Winsham, TA20 4HU. 10am – 5pm. Free entrance. Discover the creativity of local artists at our annual exhibition, featuring original paintings and artwork in a variety of styles and media. Come along, browse, and be inspired—everyone is warmly welcome.

Monday, 5 October

Tuesday, 6 October

Scottish Country Dancing at Horton Village Hall. U3A class in the morning from 10 am till 12 noon and a general class in the evening from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Tea/ coffee and biscuit break and only £3.00 per session payable on the door. All very welcome and beginners most welcome at both classes. For more information please contact Anita on 01460 929383 , email anitaandjim22@gmail.com or just come along morning or evening. Check out our web site at www. ashillscd.wordpress.com See you all soon.

Wednesday, 7 October

feel good. 6:45pm to 8pm Jubilee Hall , Church Street, Winsham, Chard, TA20 4HU. Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.my-ballet.uk

Thursday, 8 October

Rebecca Nash and SaraColman Jazz duo Rebecca Nash (piano) and Sara Colman (vocals) are coming to Colfox School, Bridport — to play a Steinway that sat under the stairs for years, waiting for its moment. 7pm, Sir John Colfox Academy, DT6 3DT Tickets: £12 (Under 18s free). To book: https://jazzjurassica.co.uk/

Friday, 9 October

Beaminster’s Yarn Barton Centre (reg’d charity) has its annual fundraising quiz night at the public hall, Fleet St, 7.00 for 7.30 pm; teams of up to six (max). Licensed bar and raffle. Tickets £7 pp, to include complimentary nibbles, are available from the Centre (01308 862715). My Ballet -Holistic ballet classes for all adults Supportive & Non - judgemental classical ballet to fabulous music. For posture, flexibility, strength, balance, fitness, friendship. Join the fun and feel good. Everybody welcome! Do get in touch and come for a dance! Winsham Jubilee Hall, Church St, Winsham, Chard, TA20 4HU Fridays 10am and 11.15am Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.my-ballet.uk Winfest A class for everybody who wants to give it a try! 10am and 11:30 am all levels & beginners Jubilee Hall , Church Street, Winsham, Chard, TA20 4HU. Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.myballet.uk

Saturday, 10 October

Uplyme and Lyme Regis Horticultural Society. Autumn Show and Coffee Morning 10am to 12noon. Fun event judged by public vote. Free bulbs for members. Show open to all, free entry. A new novel by former local newspaper editor Margery Hookings will be launched at Washingpool Farm Shop, Bridport from 11am-12 noon. Published under the pen name Maddie Grigg, Plashy Fen is set in an imagined Dorset village by the sea and explores community, friendship, belonging and the stories that connect people in a small place. Winfest - An introduction to holistic ballet - The story of My Ballet followed by a class for everybody who wants to give it a try! Talk - free followed by class @ £10 pp. Jubilee Hall, Church Street, Winsham, Chard, TA20 4HU. Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.myballet.uk

Sunday, 11 October

George Cooper will give a warm and witty illustrated historical talk: ‘Rural Life Around the Villages of Clapton, Woolminstone, Wayford & Hewish from 1946 onwards’. Clapton & Wayford Village Hall. 3pm - Tea/coffee and cake

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included, £5; please book and pay in advance; information from Barbara (01460 74321) or Mary (01460 74849). Gather An afternoon for women to step out of the noise of everyday life and create some space to hear themselves. Through gentle coaching, reflection, stillness and connection, Gather invites you to turn inward, listen to your body and explore what you already know beneath the thinking mind. A warm, spacious afternoon with other women, with nothing to fix, achieve or become. 3–5pm, The Glow Collective, Unit 15 St Michael’s Trading Estate (entrance off Foundry Lane), Bridport, DT6 3RR. £20. Booking: Message Alison Sutton 07713626673 alison@ alisonheathersutton.co.uk.

Monday, 12 October

from www.ticketsource.co.uk/weymouthmuseum

Tuesday, 13 October

Bridport Film Society - Young Mothers - Belgian with English subtitles In a state-run home for young mothers-tobe and new mothers in Liege, Belgium, in a state-run home for young mothers-to-be residents must now strive to learn life and mothering skills in a busy communal environment. 7.45pm Bridport Arts Centre. Members and Guests (£5) only. Scottish Country Dancing at Horton Village Hall. U3A class in the morning from 10 am till 12 noon and a general class in the evening from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Tea/ coffee and biscuit break and only £3.00 per session payable on the door. All very welcome and beginners most welcome at both classes. For more information please contact Anita on 01460 929383 , email anitaandjim22@gmail.com or just come along morning or evening. Check out our web site at www. ashillscd.wordpress.com See you all soon. The Lyme Regis Society presents a talk: Dating Your House by Brian Margetson 2pm at Woodmead Halls, Hill Road, Lyme Regis. DT7 3PG. All Welcome. Members Free. Visitors £3.00. Refreshments Included. Social distanced seating available if desired. Please check website for further information: http//lymeregissociety.org.uk

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Tuesday, 13 - 15 October

A Healing Journey from trauma to hope and healing. A unique exhibition of art and reflections. Warning content may be distressing. Artists include Jill Mugliston and Judith Gait MA. St. Mary and St. Catherine Church Bridport DT6 3AD. 11:30 am to 6:00 pm. Free event and refreshments. On Thursday October 15th from 5 pm to 7 pm there will be a few words from artists.

Wednesday, 14 October

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desperate to help pay the hospital bills, gets tangled up in crime, discovering that his condition qualifies him as an exceptional safe cracker. Meanwhile, he develops feelings for Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), an aspiring composer. Tuner” enhances its nifty caper setup with a smart sense of humour and vivid characterizations (Rotten Tomatoes). Doors and bar open 6.45 film start 7.15 at Kilmington Village Hall EX13 7RF. Tickets £6 (Cash Only) can be ordered by contacting: John at wattsjohn307@gmail.com or Tel: 01297 521681. Pastel Painting /Watercolour Workshop Paint a sky and landscape. Suitable for beginners (materials supplied) 10 until 12.30 cost £17. At the United Reformed Church, Chard St, Axminster EX13 5EB ( a car park is opposite). Contact : gina.youens@btinternet.com to book a place. Discover Lyme Regis: history, architecture – and a little gossip – at Dorset Historic Churches Trust’s Annual Event 10.30am – 3.30pm. St Michael’s Church, Lyme Regis. Cost: £25 per person (to include lunch). The event begins with Dr Tim Connor, architect historian, who will take guests inside St Michael’s Church to explore its architecture and history and reveal the fascinating story of this remarkable building. Local historian John Dover will then take audiences on a journey through the “Ecclesiastical Tales and Mysteries of Lyme Regis.” His talk promises fascinating stories about the town, with references to some of the literary and scientific

figures associated with Lyme Regis. The event will also provide an opportunity to hear more about the work of the Dorset Historic Churches Trust, which supports the county’s historic churches and helps communities to maintain these much-loved buildings. “Historic churches are much more than beautiful places of worship,” said His Honour David Grant, Chairman of Dorset Historic Churches Trust. “They are at the heart of Dorset’s communities and have witnessed centuries of local life and history. Events such as these are a wonderful opportunity to discover their stories while supporting their future.” Following the talk, guests will enjoy lunch before a special musical interlude on the magnificent Skrabl organ, providing a fitting finale to the day. For further information and to book your tickets please email Mike Warren gydanmike@gmail.com. My Ballet - since 2012 - Holistic ballet classes for all adults Supportive & Non - judgemental classical ballet to fabulous music. For posture, flexibility, strength, balance, fitness, friendship. Ages 18 to 82 plus! Join the fun and feel good. 10am-11:15 (some experience) 11:30 - 12:45 ( mixed ability) 1pm-2:15 (a Partly seated class with barre work for balance, confidence & fun) 2:15- 3.30 (mixed ability) Do get in touch and come and dance! Bull Hotel ballroom, 34 East St, Bridport DT6 3LF Bull Hotel. Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.my-ballet.uk My Ballet - since 2012 - Holistic ballet classes for all

Hanford: Where Childhood and Reading Flourish

f reading transports us to another place and another time, then it is more than just literature. It is exploration in its most creative form. At Hanford, reading is central to the School’s ethos. Girls can often be found with a book in hand in nooks and crannies across the site; from the cedar tree to the willow dome, and from the walled gardens to the stables. Encouraging reading in all its forms from a young age is crucial in a child’s development. While reading competence is undoubtedly important, the benefits extend far beyond literacy alone. Reading helps children develop confidence, creativity and empathy, while opening doors to new ideas, experiences and perspectives. Since its founding almost 80 years ago, Hanford has placed reading, creativity and equestrianism at its heart. With alumnae such as Santa Montefiore, Amanda Foreman and Sue Bathurst, this comes as no surprise, and the library proudly stocks shelves of books written by former pupils.

A love of reading is actively nurtured throughout the school. One example is the Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) initiative, when the entire school pauses to enjoy a book. These shared moments reinforce the message that reading is not simply an academic skill, but a lifelong pleasure. In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, an unhurried childhood is increasingly rare, but this is unapologetically Hanford. This is a school where childhood is filled with joy, discovery, imagination and, of course, plenty of books! If you would like to find out more about this glorious school based in idyllic Dorset countryside, please visit www.hanfordprep. group or contact admissions@ hanfordprep.group (01258 920847) to arrange a visit. We would be delighted to welcome you, and you can discover for yourself the magic of Hanford in our idyllic setting. Sophie Blewitt, Head.

18 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

EVENTS IN NOVEMBER send your event details to info@marshwoodvale.com BY OCTOBER 14th

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 19

adults Supportive & Non - judgemental classical ballet to fabulous music. For posture, flexibility, strength, balance, fitness, friendship. Join the fun and feel good. 6.45pm- 8pm Jubilee Hall , Church Street, Winsham, Chard, TA20 4HU. Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.my-ballet.uk

Thursday, 15 October

Kilmington Film Matinee “Tuner (15)” (See 14th October) Doors open 1.45pm film starts 2pm. Tickets £6 (Cash Only), cream-teas @ £4. served during the interval but must be pre-booked with your seats see above and www. kilmingtonvillage.com/other-organisations.html for more information. South Somerset RSPB Local Group Nightingales Sing Well Tonight. An illustrated talk by Andre Farrar. Two hundred years of nature in the North Downs, Kent. We will discover a world where turtle doves can still be found, spotted flycatchers still nest and nightingales continue to sing at 7.30pm The Millennium Hall, Seavington St. Mary, Ilminster, TA19 0QH. Entry: Group members £4, nongroup members £5, under 25’s Free. Tea/coffee & biscuits included – Wheelchair access. Further details from Denise Chamings on 01781473846 or www.rspb.org.uk/groups/ southsomerset. Everyone welcome.

Friday, 16 October

Raucous Chorus Community Choir, Celebrating 15 wonderful years of singing. Beaminster Senior School, Newtown, top of Fleet Street, DT8 3EP. 6.45 for 7.30pm Free entry with bucket collection for Dorset Air Ambulance and raffle in aid of ASCape. Inexpensive pay bar. More info Maggie 07804 109127. Netherbury Nature Group Bumblebees by Trudy Smith. Netherbury Village Hall, Doors open at 6:30. Cash bar. Everyone is welcome. Entrance fee only £3. My Ballet -Holistic ballet classes for all adults Supportive & Non - judgemental classical ballet to fabulous music. For posture, flexibility, strength, balance, fitness, friendship. Join the fun and feel good. Everybody welcome! Do get in touch and come for a dance! Winsham Jubilee Hall, Church St, Winsham, Chard, TA20 4HU Fridays 10am and11.15am Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.my-ballet.uk.

Saturday, 17 - 18 October

Dorset Greener Open Homes 30 homes open to visitors to share first-hand experience of heat pumps, retrofitting, insulation, PV and home batteries, nature friendly gardens, water harvesting and green lifestyle choices. All over Dorset, see www.dorsetgreenerhomes.org. Some homes require prior booking.

Sunday, 18 October

Axe Vale Orchestra Concert at 3:00 pm Axe Vale Orchestra

invites you to an afternoon concert at Colyton Town Hall, EX24 6JR. The programme includes Beethoven The Creatures of Prometheus (overture), Delibes Le roi s’amuse (Six airs de danse) and Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550. Conductor: Walter Brewster Leader: Jane Bultz. Tea and Cake after the concert. Tickets £15 (free for under 18s or students), from www.axevaleorchestra.co.uk via TicketSource or on the door. French + Breton Folk Dance Bal Crewkerne with live house band, in the Speedwell Hall, Abbey Street, Crewkerne, TA18 7HY on Sunday October 18th 2026. Dance workshop for beginners 6-7pm followed by main dance 7-9.30pm. Admission £4 (cash). Tea and coffee available or bring your own drinks. Free parking in the town centre car parks. More information on our website:https://balcrew.wixsite.com/ balcrewkerne.

Monday, 19 October

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock An evening of Scottish dancing in Chardstock Village Hall EX13 7BJ. 7.30-10.00. Tea and coffee provided but please bring your own mug if possible and wear soft soled shoes. No partner required. Cost £3.00, For more information contact David on 01460 65981 https://www.chardscottishcountrydance.co.uk. In association with Moviola.org Hawkchurch Film Nights proudly presents ‘The Christophers’, 100 mins, Cert.15 (very strong language). In this thoughtful drama from Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich, Ocean’s 11), a curmudgeonly artist (Sir Ian McKellen) keeps a series of unfinished paintings in his crumbling London townhouse. Believing the stashed artworks to be worth millions, his children hire a restorer (I May Destroy You’s Michaela Coel) to secretly finish them for sale without their father knowing. Also starring James Corden and Jessica ‘Baby Reindeer’ Gunning. The Guardian’s 5-star review describes McKellen and Coel as the double act of the year. Doors open 6.30pm, film starts 7.00pm at Hawkchurch Village Hall, EX13 5XD. Advance ticket reservations £6.50 from csma95@gmail. com or leave a message on 07753 603219 up to 4pm on the day; or in cash on the door for £7.00. Subtitles for hearingimpaired patrons provided if supplied by the distributor. Home-made cake, teas, coffees, soft drinks, wine and other refreshments available. Another in Weymouth Museum’s series of Teas and Talks, ‘Thornhill Paintings in Weymouth and Beyond’ with Tony Flux looks at the paintings of Sir James Thornhill whose work can be found in Weymouth as well as The Painted Hall at Greenwich. 2.30pm at The Centenary Club, 21 Jubilee Close, Weymouth DT4 7BG. Doors open 2pm. Tickets £4 on the door or from www.ticketsource.co.uk/ weymouthmuseum.

Tuesday, 20 October

Scottish Country Dancing at Horton Village Hall. U3A class in the morning from 10 am till 12 noon and a general

20 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

class in the evening from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Tea/ coffee and biscuit break and only £3.00 per session payable on the door. All very welcome and beginners most welcome at both classes. For more information please contact Anita on 01460 929383 , email anitaandjim22@gmail. com or just come along morning or evening. Check out our web site at www.ashillscd. wordpress.com See you all soon.

Wednesday, 21 October

West Dorset Community Orchestra rehearse in the Christian Fellowship hall, East Street car park , Bridport DT6 3QE from 6-30p.m. to 7-45p.m. New members welcome , particularly violin and viola players . First four rehearsals are free. For more information www. westdorsetcommunityorchestra.co.uk or contact 01308 456297. Drimpton & District Gardening Club: ‘Bulbs That Create a Sparkle of Delight’ by Professional Horticulturalist trained at Cannington Micky Little, with posts at a variety of well known nurseries and gardens to his name. 7pm for 7.30pm start, Drimpton Village Hall. Non members also welcome (£1); tea/ coffee & biscuits available. More information on 01308 867172. Coffee Morning including cakes, scones & savouries, and bacon/egg rolls (made to order), 10.30am – noon; all welcome. Clapton & Wayford Village Hall. More details from Julia (01460 72769). My Ballet - since 2012 - Holistic ballet classes for all adults Supportive & Non - judgemental classical ballet to fabulous music. For posture, flexibility, strength, balance, fitness, friendship. Ages 18 to 82 plus! Join the fun and feel good. 10am-11:15 (some experience) 11:30 - 12:45 ( mixed ability) 1pm-2:15 (a Partly seated class with barre work for balance, confidence & fun) 2:15- 3.30 (mixed ability) Do get in touch and come and dance! Bull Hotel ballroom, 34 East St, Bridport DT6 3LF Bull Hotel. Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.my-ballet.uk. My Ballet - since 2012 - Holistic ballet classes for all adults Supportive & Non - judgemental classical ballet to fabulous music. For posture, flexibility, strength, balance, fitness, friendship. Join the fun and feel good. 6:45 - 8pm Jubilee Hall, Church Street, Winsham, Chard, TA20 4HU. Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.my-ballet.uk

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 21

Friday, 23 October

My Ballet -Holistic ballet classes for all adults Supportive & Non - judgemental classical ballet to fabulous music. For posture, flexibility, strength, balance, fitness, friendship. Join the fun and feel good. Everybody welcome! Do get in touch and come for a dance! Winsham Jubilee Hall, Church St, Winsham, Chard, TA20 4HU Fridays 10am and 11.15am. Whatsapp 07866896978. email: myballetuk@gmail.com www.my-ballet.uk.

Saturday, 24 October

Bridport Museum has an exhibition “Bridport’s Sea Dragon - Unexpected Survivor” From Saturday 24 October at 10am to 17 April 2017 (not Xmas/January) about an unusual ichthyosaur recently found on the Jurassic Coast. Includes short film and VR experience. Free to those with a £5 annual museum pass. www.bridportmuseum.co.uk. Netherbury Walkers The autumn walk will take place on Saturday 24th October. If you’d like to join this friendly group and receive details of this, and future, walks then get in touch with Jane Stevens: jane@in4action.com. Sewing for Beginners 10 am until 2 pm. Make a women’s blouse from a man’s shirt’ OR work on your own project. Learn some new sewing skills At the United Reformed Church, Chard St, Axminster EX13 5EB ( a car park is opposite). Cost £18. Contact gina.youens@btinternet.com to book a place.

Dorchester Book Fair Independent sellers will be offering antiquarian and second-hand books, modern first, signed editions, prints, maps and ephemera at the Dorchester Book Fair at The Corn Exchange to coincide with the final day of the Dorchester Literary Festival. This adds a new dimension to a week of author events and a new opportunity for book lovers. 10-4pm. Entry £1 on the door or download a complimentary ticket via www.pbfa.org

Saturday, 24 - 25 October

Sunday, 25 October

Dalwood Jazz Club presents Trevor Whiting & The Craig Milverton Trio in “Bird to Bechet” with Trevor Whiting on soprano/alto/tenor sax & clarinet, Craig Milverton keyboard, Ashley John Long - double bass & Nick Millward - drums. Dalwood Village Hall, EX13 7EG (near Axminster) at 3pm. Bar for beer/wine/soft drinks and tea/coffee/cake etc. Parking at the Village Hall. Entry : £12.50p If possible, please book in advance and pay (cash or card) at the door. Repair Cafe Netherbury 10:00-12:00 at Netherbury Village Hall. Bring your broken items and see if one of

22 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

our lovely team can fix them. They love a challenge! Please bring along any spare parts that you think you might need. The cafe offers home-made cakes, delicious coffee and a range of Clipper teas. Vegan and vegetarian-friendly. We are always looking for new volunteers and so if you love fixing things, baking or being part of a fun community event then come and join us. For more information: Lisa Willis on 07870 950 666 or info@repaircafenetherbury.org www. repaircafenetherbury.org.

Monday, 26 October

Scottish Dancing in Chardstock An evening of Scottish dancing in Chardstock Village Hall EX13 7BJ. 7.30-10.00 p.m. Tea and coffee provided but please bring your own mug if possible and wear soft soled shoes. No partner required. Cost £3.00. For more information contact David on 01460 65981 https://www,chardscottishcountrydance. co.uk. “Quirky Bridport” an illustrated talk by Chris Stevens highlighting some of the characters and stories from the book by the same name, hosted by the Golden Cap Association. 2.30pm, United Church Hall, Bridport DT6 3LJ. Entry £5.00p.p. at the door, light refreshments included. 01308 281085.

Tuesday, 27 October

Bridport Film Society - The President’s Cake - Arabic with English subtitles In 1990’s Iraq nine-year-old Lamia must

make a cake celebrating Saddam Hussein’s birthday. Times are hard, but Lamia heads into town, using her wits and imagination to gather the cake’s ingredients, or face the consequences. 7.45pm Bridport Arts Centre. Members and Guests (£5) only. Bridport U3A Talk at 2.00 pm at Bridport United Church Hall, East Street, Bridport, DT6 3LJ. The talk is by Chris Western and is called The 1893 - 96 North Polar Expedition, led by Fridtjof Nansen. The talk lasts for one hour followed by Q&A, then refreshments. Members are free, guests pay £3.00. Scottish Country Dancing at Horton Village Hall. U3A class in the morning from 10 am till 12 noon and a general class in the evening from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Tea/ coffee and biscuit break and only £3.00 per session payable on the door. All very welcome and beginners most welcome at both classes. For more information please contact Anita on 01460 929383 , email anitaandjim22@gmail.com or just come along morning or evening. Check out our web site at www. ashillscd.wordpress.com See you all soon.

Wednesday, 28 October

Uplyme and Lyme Regis Horticultural Society. Talk ‘Perennial Vegetables’ by Mandy Barber of Incredible Vegetables. Uplyme Village Hall 7.30pm. Doors open 7pm. Members free; guests £3. More information https://ulrhs. co.uk

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Friday, 30 October

Concert in aid of Bridport Arts Centre Come Together campaign. Maggots Diversions at Oxenburys Yard Bridport.Local musicians will be presenting an evening to raise funds for the BAC Come Together Campaign. An evening with Maggot’s Diversions 6 local musicians with a wide range of traditional music at their fingertips. They will be repeating their highly successful show Featuring a full range of folk instruments giving life to jigs, reels, shanties and songs. ‘Hoppiness’ will be providing the bar. Doors open 7.00 pm Music starts at 7.30pm Tickets Cost £10. Tickets available from Bridport Tourist Information Centre, Bridport Town Hall, South Street DT6 3LF. Tel: 01308 424901. A spokesman for the group commented’ ‘When we heard that the Arts Centre was raising money to buy back the building, we felt that we wished to do something to help raise the funds. The Arts Centre has been a key promoter and supporter of the Arts and artists in West Dorset for over 50 years. We have enjoyed playing there and being part of audiences at many memorable events. We are delighted to bring our evening of folk music to Bridport and are excited to be playing in the workshop at Oxenbury’s Yard .It will be a fantastic venue which should suit our music and who knows we may see some dancing! For more information about the Arts Centre Fundraising see webpage bridport-arts.com/cometogether. For more information about this press release –contact Barry Bates badbates@btinternet.com.

Saturday, 31 October

Craft and Fossil Fair Join Charmouth Heritage Cost Centre for the annual fair, your chance to buy locally made items and produce. Raffle and Pumpkin Competition with prizes to be won! Refreshments available all day. St. Andrews Hall, Lower Sea Lane, Charmouth. 10am-5pm. Event details www.charmouth.org/chcc/eventscalendar/ Rutter and Chilcott Come and Sing Workshop join over 100 other Dorset Singers under the baton of Mark Burstow. No previous knowledge of the music required. Music provided plus coffee, tea and cake! 10.30am to 4.30pm.Thomas Hardye School Dorchester DT1 2ET Tickets £20 . To book www.Ticketsource.com.

Monday, 2 November

Another one in Weymouth Mussum’s series of Teas and Talks, returning speaker Jeff Little takes us through ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’. 2.30pm at The Centenary Club, 21 Jubilee Close, Weymouth DT4 7BG. Doors open 2pm. Tickets £4 on the door or from www.ticketsource.co.uk/ weymouthmuseum 24 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

Bird table big winners: blue tits and great tit.

Nature Studies By Michael McCarthy

t was pretty drastic advice. Stop using bird feeders, RSPB urges, was the headline in The Daily Telegraph on April 10. It was a slight exaggeration—but only a slight one. For that day, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds advised bird lovers not to put any bird seed or peanuts in feeders from May 1 to October 31, and to do away completely with bird tables. It was drastic because of the scale of the custom it was commenting on. It’s gigantic. Feeding garden birds is the single biggest active relationship between humans and nature in Britain. It involves more than 12m households and is worth £350m a year, and the RSPB is saying, let’s bring it to an end? Well, not directly, not completely maybe. But the implication is there. And it’s not a surprise. It’s been coming. The proximate cause is the collapse of the greenfinch population because of a disease called trichomonosis, caused by a parasite which the birds pick up and pass on to each other at bird tables and feeders, especially if they’re not kept clean (summer is the worst time for infection, which is why the RSPB is suggesting an end to summer feeding.) It’s devastated the poor old greenfinch, with the UK population down by 67 per cent since 2005. Now it’s hitting chaffinches hard—they’re down by a third—and it’s thought, bullfinches too. Bad enough. But there’s a wider issue in the background. There are increasing indications that the annual distribution of 150,000 tonnes—yes, you read that right—of birdseed in British gardens over many years has actually started to alter the structure of bird populations on a large scale. The problem is, there have been big winners and big losers. Blue tits and great tits, regular visitors to bird tables, have boomed in numbers. But marsh tits and willow tits, which visit feeders much more rarely, have dropped dramatically—indeed the willow tit has gone completely from Dorset and in much of Britain is extinct—and there is a strong suggestion that the

An incomer’s discovery of the natural world in the West Country booming first two may well be causing the decline of the second two, by outcompeting them for food and nesting places. And there is the possibility of a similar link between the rise of the great spotted woodpecker, another boomer, regularly seen on your peanuts, and the decline of the lesser spotted woodpecker, seldom seen on feeders and gone from most of Britain. The difficulty of grappling with this problem, of course, is that feeding garden birds gives enormous pleasure to huge numbers of people, or 12m households would not spend money on it, and to see it as harmful is counterintuitive entirely. But the science is there, especially about trichomonosis, and opinion is slowly but surely moving to opposition. Kew Gardens, for example, has quietly taken down its bird tables and feeders, which gave great pleasure to me when, before coming to Dorset, Kew was only round the corner from our house and I was a regular visitor. Nearly four years ago, in an early number of this column, I wrote about the problem of trichomonosis, and posed the question, is it better to feed your garden birds or not? My answer then was, on balance yes, as long as you regularly clean the feeders. I personally would not say that any more, and our own feeders have now come down. However, I would stress that that is very much a personal choice and I would condemn no-one who wants to continue feeding their garden birds. Indeed, the RSPB suggests small amounts of protein such as mealworms and fat balls can be offered in the summer months, and full feeding with seeds can be resumed in November, which you will know only too well, if you are a garden bird lover who’s been following the RSPB’s advice, is only a month away. Recently relocated to Dorset, Michael McCarthy is the former Environment Editor of The Independent. His books include Say Goodbye To The Cuckoo and The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy. Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 25

Dorset writer Margery Hookings publishes new novel, Plashy Fen

Margery Hookings A NEW NOVEL by former local newspaper editor Margery Hookings will be launched at Washingpool Farm Shop, Bridport, on Saturday 10 October 2026 from 11am-12 noon. Published under the pen name Maddie Grigg, Plashy Fen is set in an imagined Dorset village by the sea and explores community, friendship, belonging and the stories that connect people in a small place. Margery was editor of the Bridport & Lyme Regis News from 1999 to 2004 and is a former feature writer for The Marshwood Vale Magazine, Dorset Magazine and other publications. For the past 11 years, she has written the Maddie’s World column about country life for The People’s Friend, the world’s longest-running weekly magazine for women. Margery said: ‘Plashy Fen is an entirely fictional place, but I’ve been writing about the real people of West Dorset for nearly 45 years.’ Told through a chorus of voices, the novel’s interwoven stories reveal a place shaped by friendship, longing and the tension between those who arrive and those who feel they can never quite leave. It also features a decades-old murder no locals can

ever forget. But beneath the mystery, Plashy Fen is a warm, humorous and gently cosy portrait of village life. The novel, published by Larbok Creative, is already available on Kindle, with the paperback published on 29 September. Reviewer Katherine Mezzacappa said: ‘Plashy Fen is written by an author who has great affection and understanding for the community she describes. Her story is bucolic, but also clear-eyed and her characters multi-layered and never stereotypical.’ Margery said: ‘This rural landscape and those who make their living from it are important to me. It’s the world I know. ‘I’m a tenant farmer’s daughter who was born and brought up just over the county border in Somerset. ‘I’m interested in the backstories of people who might, on the surface, seem ‘ordinary’. I’ve always felt a bit of a champion for the rural underdog.’ Last year, as part of a local heritage project she led for the Windrose Rural Media Trust charity, she wrote a book recording the memories of people born and bred in Broadwindsor. It culminated in an archive film show in the village hall, with profits from book sales split between Windrose, the community shop and community pub. She said: ‘Everyone has a story to tell and my imagined characters in Plashy Fen are no exception. ‘One of the fictional settings in the novel is a farm shop, where key characters meet and things happen. Having Washingpool as the venue for the launch couldn’t be more appropriate. ‘Washingpool began in 1971, long before farm shops and local food became a ‘thing’. It’s one of those local, unpretentious family businesses worth treasuring. I was chuffed to bits when the farm shop offered to host the launch.’

26 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

Plashy Fen by Maddie Grigg ISBN: 978-1-0683723-3-9 Format / RRP: Kindle £3.99, paperback £12.99 Publisher: Larbok Creative Available to order from local bookshops, through Amazon or at the launch.

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Secret Steinway Steps Into the Spotlight

Rebecca Nash & Sara Colman FOR YEARS, Bridport’s Sir John Colfox Academy’s most talented resident has lived under a staircase. On Thursday 8th October, it finally gets its moment: a 1967 Steinway concert grand piano is coming out of hiding for the launch of a brand new jazz series, with pianist Rebecca Nash and vocalist Sara Colman doing the honours. The piano once belonged to a local music club. When the club folded, the instrument was left in trust to the Sir John Colfox Academy—where it has spent years, quietly maintained, rarely heard until last year, and known to few beyond the school gates. But in October, it moves into the school’s main auditorium for a special jazz concert. Sir John Colfox Academy’s Head of Music, Alison Davies, has had a front-row seat to the piano’s double life. ‘It’s a 1967 Steinway concert grand, and there aren’t many of those in the South West, which makes it very special,’ said Ms Davies. ‘Kids play it after school— under the stairs. They’re hidden away, so they don’t feel exposed, but they play and the music fills the halls. Because it once belonged to the town, I feel like it should be a local celebrity—a star in its own right.’ Star treatment is now underway. Rebecca Nash— pianist, composer and educator at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire—joins Sara Colman, the Conservatoire’s first ever Recording Artist in Residence, for an evening of jazz, folk and classical music. The pair go back years, and their album Ribbons has an origin story to match the piano’s: ten days shut away in a forest house during lockdown with nothing but each other and a set of chickens for company. The

The Steinway at the Sir John Colfox school main hall results draw on everything from Joni Mitchell to British jazz pianist John Taylor. This is the first date in a new concert series born from a partnership between Jazz Jurassica, a local music promoter and The Sir John Colfox Academy. Julie Sheppard, of Jazz Jurassica, says it’s worth clearing your diary—and your assumptions. ‘We know what you’re picturing. Draughty. Squeaky floors. A hall that smells faintly of PE lessons. Forget it. Colfox has an auditorium that wouldn’t look out of place on the South Bank, and inside it sits a Steinway with a story of its own.’ Rebecca Nash & Sara Colman is on Thursday 8th October 2026. Doors/bar 6.30pm, starts 7.00pm at the Sir John Colfox Academy, Ridgeway, Bridport DT6 3DT. Tickets: £12 advance (plus booking fee), available at ticketsource.com. For more information: jazzjurassica. co.uk/rebecca-nash-sara-colman-8th-oct

28 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

Chard’s Talking Newspaper charity celebrates 40th anniversary milestone A TALKING newspaper charity in Somerset has celebrated its fortieth anniversary, making it the longest running of its kind in the county. Chard-based Newsline officially became a registered charity in 1986 to support visually and physically impaired people to access the news, formalising an earlier incarnation, The Western Cassette, which began in 1975. By 2012, the audio recordings had migrated to USB sticks, replacing cassettes. Over the forty-year period, the charity’s dedicated volunteering teams of readers, pouchpreparers and recorders have created and edited weekly audio recordings of local news articles for hundreds of ‘listeners’ across south Somerset and further afield. In addition, Chard’s Newsline weathered the storms of the Covid pandemic at a time when many talking newspapers across the country were forced to close down. Newsline’s fortieth anniversary milestone was officially marked at the charity’s AGM, held on August 26, 2026, at The Choughs Hotel in Chard. Attendees included the former Mayor of Chard, Cllr Toria Bates, and David Bracher, husband of the late Val, who served selflessly as chair for more than 10 years, and who sadly passed away in June of this year. Reflecting on the charity’s fortieth anniversary, Treasurer, Anne Fruin, remarked: ‘We are pleased to celebrate this anniversary and hope to be able to run for many years to come. We still have amongst us some of the original recorders.’ As part of the evening, Cllr Toria Bates presented Newsline with a cheque for more than £1,300, as it was one of the chosen charities from her mayoral term between 2025-26. Speaking about the evening, Cllr Bates said: It was a bittersweet honour to present Chard and Ilminster Newsline with the money I raised for the charity during my time as Mayor. Val’s absence is felt so acutely, but I am confident in the passion and determination of the committee to keep her vision alive & maintain this essential service for years to come.’

L-R Front: Cllr Toria Bates, Sue George, and Marion Edwards; L-R Back: Maureen Edwards, David Bracher, Pamela Everitt, Anne Fruin, Hilary Hooper, Graham Everitt, and Sue Williams. The picture on the table is of the late Val Bracher, Chairman from 2016-2026. Toria continued: ‘Everyone involved should be so proud of the strength and determination they have demonstrated since Val’s passing; I am, and I know she would be. I can’t wait to see what is next for them’. Volunteers of the charity still record on a weekly basis from a dedicated studio in the grounds of Chard’s almshouses, Harvey’s Homes, which was opened in July 1990 in memory of David Durie, a Newsline reader. Current long-serving volunteers include Marion Edwards (since 1996), Hilary Hooper (since 2012), Pamela and Graham Everitt (since 2014), along with David and Julie Peadon, Sue George, and Glyn and Maureen Edwards. Newsline is always looking for new volunteers, including recorders. In addition, if you are interested in receiving the service on a weekly basis, and if you would like to find out more, please visit www. newslinechard.com

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 29

Arts and Leisure Festival in Winsham

insham is a small South Somerset village on the B 3162 a scenic road between Chard and Bridport. Many will have driven through the village at one time or another or simply turned off here to visit Forde Abbey or Cricket St Thomas. The village lies in the tranquil Axe valley close to where Dorset, Devon and Somerset meet. Farm land is mostly given over to dairy, beef and sheep. Miraculously Winsham still has a pub, The Bell recently re-vamped and changed hands, plus a primary school, a village shop run by the community and a post office. Not bad these days. There’s quite a lot going on in the village and the latest venture is an Arts and Leisure festival sponsored by the Parish Council which began on Saturday 26th September and will continue until Saturday 10th October 2026. The festival consists of over 25 events and kicks off with a finely tuned concert in St Stephen’s church given by the local and very professional string quartet called the Kilima Quartet comprising of Polly Orr Ewing, Rowan Patterson, violins, Alex Chivers viola and Chris Sampson cello. They will be playing Haydn, Beethoven and Borodin. Other highlights include an illustrated talk by local author James Crowden on Literary Somerset. Not just TS Eliot, Wordsworth and Coleridge but Virginia Woolf in Wells, Thomas Hardy in Yeovil as well as the Powys brothers in Montacute, John Steinbeck near Bruton and a handful of interesting war poets passing through Somerset along with Tolkien on his honeymoon in Clevedon and Cheddar Gorge. The list goes on. If books are not quite your thing then there is a small Cider festival including tastings from four very local but top notch cider makers viz: Wyldlands, Monkton Wyld, Supreme Champions this year at the Bath & West; Temple Cider sheltering under the northern slopes of Pilsdon Pen; Dinnington Cider and Rawlins Cider from Horton. Added to this cider bonanza will be a talk on Cider History by James Crowden and another talk on Somerset Cider apples by the famous pomologist Liz Copas who used to work at Long Ashton Cider Research Centre. Winsham just happens to be at the hub of a very vibrant cider renaissance. Meet the cidermakers and sample their cider which will also be on sale. Added to these key events will be a plethora of other activities and shows including the annual Art exhibition in the Jubilee Hall and several dance events. These include three regular and starter sessions for My Ballet run by Carla Sheills who masterminded last year’s Bridport Dance Festiaval. Followed by two

Cider Making! Painting by Kate Lynch Modern and Jazz sessions run by Eli Hodgson and an Afternoon Tea Dance. Just to give you an idea of how much actually goes on in Winsham every week of the year there are introductions to regular clubs and activities including Pilates, Tai Chi & Gigong, Aikido, Yoga, Bridge, Art with Deborah, the Ad Hoc club, Mini Pub games, a Festival Pub Quiz, Short Mat bowls, the Jubilee café, the horticultural Society, the Community Club, Winsham Walkers and Winsham Juniors FC. The whole festival will end with a Harvest supper, by which time the parish will no doubt be knackered but in high spirits. Most events are free but there are tickets for one or two special events like Music and Cider tasting. Tickets can be bought from the Village shop. Winfest was masterminded by John Sullivan helped by Paula Bramley Ball. Come along and enjoy yourself. See www.winsham.org.uk and Winsham Community page on Facebook. Winsham Festival aka WinFest runs from 26th Sept - 10th Oct 2026. Visit: http://www.winsham.org.uk/Community%20 Matters/Talksandhobbies.html

30 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

Any old money? DO YOU HAVE any old coins, notes or holiday money lurking around the house? If so, Bridport’s Red Dress project would love to take it off your hands. The world-renowned Red Dress is coming to the town next year at a free exhibition in the Town Hall. Steve Legg, from Bridport Heritage Forum, said: ‘We need to raise £2,000 to bring the dress to Bridport. Fund raising is underway and money is coming in, with a donation from clothes retailer Boden, whose founder lives in West Dorset, really getting things moving.’ Steve has also been in touch with a company that will take and pay for all old currency, whether it is UK money—discontinued, legal tender or not—or foreign coinage and notes. Smith & Smith, a family business selling highquality women’s and men’s clothes in West Street, Bridport has offered to be a drop-off point for donations and unwanted coins and notes. The internationally acclaimed Red Dress comes to Bridport from 31 July to 15 August 2027, bringing together artistry, heritage, and a powerful celebration of women’s contributions from around the world. textile art. Watch out for various events that will be held in the lead-up to Red Dress’s Bridport engagement.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 31

Flying high at Melplash - scholarship scheme helps students in agriculture and related subjects

High flyers and awards at this year’s Melplash Show

he Melplash Agricultural Society Scholorship Scheme that awared £35,000 to students this year is open for applications for next year’s award. The scheme has awarded £327,000 to 122 students since it began. This year awards went to twenty-two students who live within 12-miles radius of the Melplash Village Church. The recipients include fifteen students aged 16 years or over who are beginning studies in agriculture, forestry, horticulture or related subjects, and seven previous recipients whose colleges or universities have submitted satisfactory annual reports. ‘Since its launch in 2007, the Society’s Scholarship Scheme has provided financial support to students starting careers in agriculture, helping fund apprenticeships, diplomas and degree courses. Support may continue throughout a recipient’s course, subject to satisfactory reports from their college or university’ said Society Director George Rendell. ‘We also offer a Travel Bursary to those planning to work

overseas and broaden their agricultural experience. Funding varies because each application is assessed on its merits. To date, the Society has awarded £327,000 to 122 students.’ The application form is available to download from www.melplashshow.co.uk. For more details visit the website or contact the Society Secretary Lucy Hart: lucy@melplashshow.co.uk or ring 01308 423337 available from www.melplashshow.co.uk The closing date for applicants for 2027 is July 1 2027. This year’s 22 students received their awards from the President of the Society, Peter Hardwill in the main ring at the Melplash Show held on 26 August 2026. Scholarships awarded in 2026 went to Meagan Lister studying T-Level in Livestock at Coastland College; James Batchelor studying Agriculture at Harper Adams University; Ed Stantiford studying T-Level in Livestock Production, Environmental and Animal Care at Lackham College; Jack Ferrett studying Gamekeeping at Sparsholt College;

32 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

Junior Attinger studying Agriculture at Coastland College; Bobby Ashton studying City & Guilds in Horticulture; Alec Slade studying Land Based Engineering at Bicton College; Eliza Curtis studying T-Level in Livestock Production at Coastland College; Ivy Hopkins studying in Livestock Production at Coastland College; Isabella Avery studying Level 2 in Agriculture at Bicton College; Joseph Pullan studying Professional Forester Degree Apprenticeship; Simon Sage studying Rural Estate and Land Management at Harper Adams University and Felix Sowerbutts studying Rural Estate and Land Management at Harper Adams University A Travel Bursary was awarded to Will Banham travelling to Australia to work on a 12,000 sheep, 1,200 cattle farm near Melbourne and Arthur Hazelhurst also travelling to Australia to work on a

12,000 sheep, 1,200 cattle farm near Melbourne. The Melplash Agricultural Society a charity— charity no 1130201—supports and promotes farmers and food producers in West Dorset. Its showcase event is the popular Melplash Agricultural Show held annually on the Thursday before Bank Holiday in August. In 2027 it will be Thursday 26 August. The Melplash Show, as well as showcasing the work of local farmers, raises funds to help the Society support the education of agricultural in West Dorset through its Discover Farming and Scholarship scheme. www.melplashshow.co.uk Discover Farming is the education programme of the Society to help educate children about food, farming and the environment. www. discoverfarming.co.uk

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 33

OCTOBER IN THE GARDEN By Russell Jordan

hen I last wrote there was no hosepipe ban in force; by publication time ‘Wessex Water’ had introduced a ban, apparently the first since the infamous ‘Summer of ‘76’. At the time of writing, the ban is still in force. This is understandable, given the lag behind any rain falling and the groundwater replenishing or reservoirs refilling. Fortunately, we had the first rainfall not long after the ban was introduced so, as far as the garden is concerned, conditions have become more ‘normal’. What isn’t ‘normal’ is the stress that the summer drought has put on established trees and shrubs. Many trees, beech seems to have been particularly susceptible, started shedding leaves well before ‘proper’ autumn began. Now that we are well into autumn, leaves will have started falling and these will need to be raked up, from lawns, in order to give the recovering grass access to light for as long as possible. Hopefully, the completely brown, apparently dead, sward has already returned to green and your mower has been pressed back into service. Last month, I suggested resowing dead patches in the lawn and this can continue in October. Germination will take place as long as the average temperature stays above around 7°C. Having said that, I’ve found, by experience, that sowing grass seed works even ‘out of season’, especially if the seeded area is protected with something like horticultural fleece. Grass seed is so inexpensive that experimenting with operations like over-sowing, patch repairs and late sowing is not going to break the bank. Now that herbaceous plants are dying down, in readiness for winter, it’s the last chance to collect seed from suitable plants. If you’re not sure whether the seed is best sown straight away, or stored to be sown in the spring, then try both – you have nothing to lose and experimenting is one of the joys of gardening.

Plants are generous by nature; collecting a few seeds, and experimenting with them, is all part of the ‘gardening thing’. While in the garden, looking for seed to harvest, you will probably find plenty of herbaceous perennials that are past their best and need to be cut back, or down completely, so that the remaining plants are shown off to their best. This is especially pertinent this year because some plants will have prematurely faded, gone to seed, due to drought, and then had a second flush once the rain arrived. Herbaceous geraniums, the stalwart of many borders, are a case in point and their second flush of flowering growth is easily obscured if all the old material is left in situ.

Dahlias are traditionally left in the garden until ‘blackened by the first frost’ Hopefully you will have purchased, either remotely or from a physical supplier, such as ‘Groves’, a wide selection of spring flowering bulbs. If you are creating gaps, where you have cut down herbaceous perennials, then maybe fill these with a suitable autumn planted bulb. You’ll need to consider the flowering period of the bulb, and flowering height, in relation to its position in the border. Low flowering bulbs, such as crocus, Iris histrioides / reticulata, the ubiquitous Narcissus ‘Tête-a-Tête’, need to placed towards the front of the border if they are to be seen, in early spring, amongst the emerging herbaceous foliage. Taller and later flowering bulbs, tulips and alliums (ornamental onions) are chief amongst these, can be planted further back in the border as their blooms will

34 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

still be visible even once the surrounding perennial plants have grown up around them. This is also advantageous so that the larger leaves of the taller spring bulbs are mostly hidden by the general melange of the mixed border. Small bulbs, at the front of borders, generally have less obtrusive foliage which dies down before it can become unsightly. It’s for this reason that I don’t mind planting dwarf narcissus (daffodils) in borders but the taller, more statuesque, varieties are better off in ‘naturalised’ drifts, in wild areas of grass or in light shade, because it’s very difficult to disguise their rather unattractive mush of dying leaves in an ornamental situation.

While looking forward to spring, with autumn planted bulbs, it’s also important to think about the approaching winter and to consider any tender perennials that you may have out in the garden. These will need lifting / potting up, in order to be overwintered in a greenhouse or other protected space, and this is best done while they are still active enough to produce new roots once they have been disturbed. Cannas should be dealt with sooner rather than later as potting is more necessary to get them through the winter. Dahlias are traditionally left in the garden until ‘blackened by the first frost’ and their tubers are allowed to dry, once lifted, so timely potting up is not required.

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REFLECTIONS

EVENTS AND PERSONALITIES FROM RECENT HISTORY John Davis highlights Britain’s 1851 John Bull moment with The Great Exhibition

here is nothing the cartoon character named John Bull liked better than to lift his hat, shake his stick and thrust out his plump Union Jack waistcoated-chest to proclaim how great nineteenth century Britain had become. Usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, countrydwelling jovial man he was, like Uncle Sam to the Americans, the personification of all things British at a time when it was said the sun never set on the British Empire and red coloured a quarter of a world map to illustrate Britain’s global dominance. It was from this position of power that Britain staged The Great Exhibition which came to an end after five and half highly successful months in mid-October 1851. The Great Exhibition, the brainchild of the Prince Consort, Albert, civil servant Henry Cole

and other leading members of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, was a massive international world fair to display Britain’s industrial and cultural wonders and those from other nations around the world. Britain particularly had gone through two decades of social and political upheaval and this exhibition was to show that her state-of-the-art technology was the key to the future. In a ground-breaking venture, but the norm today, the event was sponsored by a large corporation—in this case the soft drinks’ maker Schweppes. To house the exhibition, a huge temporary hall was constructed in Hyde Park, London. It was designed by the architect Joseph Paxton and constructed entirely of iron and nearly 300,000 panes of plate

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glass. This was original in itself since at this time glass was not commonly used in building construction apart from windows. It took 2000 workers nine months to construct. Because of its design and the materials used it became known as The Crystal Palace. Over 500 metres long, 125 metres wide and some 30 metres high, the display hall covered ten and half hectares, about the size of sixteen football pitches. There was room to house mature trees, large statues, a church organ and a fountain. The main structure itself was dismantled and moved following the exhibition and rebuilt at nearby Sydenham where unfortunately it was destroyed by fire in 1936. The Premier League Football Club, Crystal Palace, takes its name from this second location. It is estimated that six million visitors attended the exhibition in the spell it was open—about one third of the total population at that time in England and Wales. Entrance fees varied on certain days of the week but most visitors paid one shilling (5p in decimal currency) to get in. These “shilling days” were introduced soon after the exhibition opened to make it accessible to more people. The ever-expanding railway network in Britain also helped costing for the working class by laying on cheap rail travel from different parts of the country. Queen Victoria, forever a supporter of her husband and his projects, officially launched the event on May 1st, 1851 and is said to have visited the exhibition at least thirty times. Extra revenue was generated by selling souvenirs like mugs, plates and fans that people took home to help them remember the visit. The staging of the Great Exhibition proved to be highly profitable, amassing almost £190,000 in takings (£20 million today) and the income was soon put to good use. It provided much of the finance to build the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum—still regular features of London’s visitor attractions. Funds also helped to establish an educational trust to provide grants and scholarships for industrial research. While the inventors, scientists and artisans of Britain and its overseas territories produced about two-thirds of the 100,000 exhibits on display, there were also features from thirty-four other countries with France and the United States leading the way. Visitors were able to view large equipment like printing presses, steam engines, steel making apparatus and reaping machines and the hall was also equipped with a massive telescope. Jewellery ranged from tiny rings and brooches in gold and silver to the Koh-i-noor (Mountain of Light) acquired by the Queen in 1849 and reputed to be the largest

diamond in the world at that time. It still forms part of the Crown Jewels today. Visitors were able to try their hand forcing the strongest locks that were being manufactured, watch the creation of intricate ceramics and see the operation of one of the world’s first fax machines. Not that more traditional crafts were neglected. One stand was devoted to traditional Celtic knot-work designs and from the Maoris of New Zealand came hand-made items like woven flax baskets, wood carvings, mats and eel-traps. The fields of music, medicine and weather forecasting were also covered and there were several more unusual items. The American gun manufacturer Samuel Colt was on hand with his range of weapons and for the first time public flushing toilets were provided for members of the public. According to highly numerate attendants, over 800,000 people availed themselves of this privilege. And the cost? Well, here lies the origin of the euphemism “to spend a penny.”

George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Lord Tennyson attended and Isambard Kingdom Brunel was one of the consultants

Visits by Queen Victoria and other members of the royal family did not account for all the celebrities who spent time looking round the exhibition. The writers George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Lord Tennyson attended and Isambard Kingdom Brunel was one of the consultants. The artist John Nash produced many paintings and drawings of the stands. Among the scientists who visited were Michael Faraday and Charles Darwin and even Karl Marx came in to run his astute political eye over the proceedings. Such was its popularity that other similar events were to follow right up to the present day: Exposition Universelle (Paris 1889), Franco-British Exhibition (London 1908), Festival of Britain (London 1951), Expo World Fair (Canada 1967) and Expo World Fair China 2010). Expo World Fair (Riyadh 2030) is to follow. Semi-retired and living in Lyme Regis, John Davis started working life as a newspaper journalist before moving on to teach in schools, colleges and as a private tutor. He is a history graduate with Bachelors and Masters degrees from Bristol University with a particular interest in the History of Education and Twentieth Century European History.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 37

IRISH SEA SODA BREAD By Nisha Katona

The flavours of smoked mackerel and dulse (a dried red seaweed and a favourite Celtic snack) in this moreish soda bread will transport you to the salty, windswept coastlines of the Emerald Isle. It is just perfect served slathered with a horseradish butter (stir 2 tablespoons of prepared horseradish into 125g/4oz softened butter – a tablespoon of chopped fresh chives wouldn’t go amiss either – then refrigerate to firm up before using).

INGREDIENTS • • • • • • • • • • •

2 smoked mackerel fillets 150g/5oz/1 ¼ cups plain/all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting 150g/5oz/1 cup wholemeal flour ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp fine sea salt ¼ tsp coarsely ground black pepper 2 tbsp dulse flakes, plus extra to sprinkle 250ml/8 ½ fl oz/1 cup buttermilk smoked or regular sea salt flakes, to sprinkle butter, for spreading

Makes 1 Loaf

DIRECTIONS • • •

•

• •

BOLD

Nisha Katona Published by Nourish, an imprint of Watkins Media Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-84899-423-2 (Hardback) ISBN: 978-1-84899-426-3 (eBook)

•

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/ Gas 6 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Mash the mackerel fillets roughly with a fork until the fish is broken up but still with a fair bit of texture. Sift the flours, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the fine salt, black pepper and dulse flakes. Make a well in the middle of the flour and tip in the buttermilk and the mashed mackerel. Using a fork, stir just to bring the ingredients together to a soft dough. If you overwork it, the bread may be tough. Lightly flour a work surface and tip the dough onto it. Briefly knead to form the dough into a smooth round ball, then place it on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the top of the dough with smoked or regular sea salt flakes and a little more dulse. Using a sharp knife, cut a deep cross in the loaf – you want to go at least halfway down to the baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until risen and golden and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Serve the bread warm from the oven, ripped rustically, with plenty of butter for spreading.

38 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

Ilaria’s Italian KITCHEN

Crema Tartufata con Porcini with pasta

ALTHOUGH delicious at any time of year, the rich flavours of truffle and porcini are a first choice for the earthy comfort we crave as the weather turns in autumn and early winter. Bringing Tuscany’s most treasured flavours straight to your table, Ilaria suggests adding Crema Tartufata con Porcini to your pasta. Keep it simple with some pasta water, Parmigiano and black pepper. Blended smooth and rich, it is also ideal for bruschetta, sandwiches, vegetable flans, mains, sides, and pizza. Since 1987, Calugi has been producing exceptional truffle and mushroom specialties in Tuscany, with Stefania Calugi carrying on her grandfather Antonio’s legacy. Focusing on quality, authenticity, and passion, she develops recipes rooted in tradition. Calugi was founded from the dream of sharing truffles with the world, driven by love for the land, respect for nature, and dedication. Mercato Italiano is a popular destination for authentic pizza, coffee, cocktails, and a great stop for lunch from 12-3pm, Monday to Saturday. Recently launched, Mercato Pronto! now brings Ilaria’s curated selection of rare, regional formaggi, salumi, and pantry essentials to kitchens across the UK. Visit: www. https://mercatopronto.uk today.

Unit 3B Dreadnought Trading Estate, Bridport, Dorset DT6 5BU T: 01308 459274 - E: retail@mercatoitaliano.uk Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 39

Arts&Entertainment

Holding Evil to Account Author Steve Crawshaw talks to Fergus Byrne about Trump, Putin, and the fragile battle for global justice

espite writing a book that highlights some of the most horrific crimes against humanity in recent history, author Steve Crawshaw doesn’t see the greatest threat to the world as an imminent climate disaster, a virus, Vladimir Putin or even AI. The biggest threat to the planet today, he says, is Donald Trump. Talking to me in advance of his appearance at this year’s Bridport Literary Festival, he describes Trump as someone who seems to ‘prefer dictators and authoritarian leaders to democratic leaders’. Echoing the views of many who have noted that Trump appears in awe of Putin, Steve says that Vladimir Putin is ‘massively helped’ by the existence of Donald Trump. Seen as a catalyst for global destabilisation, Trump may be at the epicentre of a world spiralling out of control, but Steve Crawshaw’s main concern is that ‘Donald Trump has made absolutely no secret of his desire to destroy the International Criminal Court, and therefore, in a sense, to destroy the rule of law more generally.’ A Bridport resident through his youth, where his father was a well-known doctor and his mother a former member of the intelligence services, Steve Crawshaw went on to study Russian and German at Oxford and in St Petersburg, and worked for Granada Television before joining the Independent at its launch in 1986. There, his roles included Russia and Eastern Europe Editor during the Eastern European revolutions and the Balkan wars, then Germany bureau chief and chief foreign correspondent. He later joined Human Rights Watch as UK director and then as UN advocacy director in New York. In 2010, he joined Amnesty International as international advocacy director and Director of

the Office of the Secretary General. In 2018, he became policy and advocacy director at Freedom from Torture. The International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are at the heart of Steve’s latest book, Prosecuting the Powerful, a fascinating analysis of the path to justice for war crimes. In the book, he revives memories of British suppression of the Mau Mau in Kenya; French torture in Algeria; German starvation tactics in Namibia; US carpet bombing in Vietnam; Serbian crimes in Bosnia; and the 1994 Rwandan genocide. These are just a selection of atrocities committed under various regimes, all set against the backdrop of the Nuremberg trials after Hitler’s march across Europe. Prosecuting the Powerful is a shocking reminder of how ruthless the human race can be in the pursuit of power. Despite delving into a litany of crimes against humanity and highlighting the hypocrisy and double standards practised by countries that supposedly adhere to humane principles and the Geneva Conventions, Steve Crawshaw maintains a sense of hope. ‘There’s just so much darkness crowding in, and a sense that the rule of law simply doesn’t matter to many of the politicians in our current world,’ he says. He points to ‘extraordinary things which no one could ever quite expect to happen’, such as the arrest and imprisonment of the Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic. He recalls a 1992 meeting in a London hotel with Milosevic, when the Serb leader was ‘contemptuous’ of the idea that he could ever be arrested for war crimes. ‘His own Serb democratically elected government handed him over to a war crimes tribunal in The Hague, and

40 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 41

Now we have somebody who, of course, hates accountability in every single form he died behind bars.’ The same happened to Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, who also died behind bars despite his ‘absolute’ confidence that he would never be brought to account for his actions on the battlefield. Steve skips to the present to talk about the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently in jail awaiting trial in November. Duterte, he says, ‘mocked the idea that he might ever be held to account for the thousands or tens of thousands who were killed in what he called the war on drugs.’ He ‘mocked the International Criminal Court when it issued an arrest warrant for him’ but was arrested and taken to The Hague, where he now awaits his trial. Closer to home and other recent atrocities: Prosecuting the Powerful highlights the ICC’s 2023 arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria LvovaBelova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights. Both are accused of the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. The following year, arrest warrants were issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, alongside those for the Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif. ‘It seemed unthinkable that the most powerful people would be brought to account,’ says Steve. ‘When I started writing the book, even then the idea that Vladimir Putin might end up with an arrest warrant seemed unthinkable.’ In the book, he recalls being in the queue to see the Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam when he received a text saying Putin had been the subject of an arrest warrant. Despite the incongruous nature of the thought he recalled, “Putin and Vermeer will now always be intertwined.” The chances of Putin or Netanyahu ever being brought to trial remain slim, especially in a climate of impunity for the powerful and their allies. Western states are still seen as pursuing ‘victor’s justice’, a tool wielded by the strong against the weak. However, self-exemption breeds deep-

seated cynicism, especially when successive US governments have sought to excuse themselves from criminal proceedings. While the four powers that administered the Nuremberg trials after World War 2—the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union—have committed atrocities in other theatres, the US has played another Joker card. In 2002, under George W. Bush, the U.S. Congress passed the American Service-Members’ Protection Act (ASPA), known as the “Hague Invasion Act”, allowing it to use all means necessary to release any person detained or imprisoned “by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court.” Bush’s bill was largely political rhetoric and subsequent American administrations have cooperated with the ICC on cases like Darfur and Ukraine, but Trump’s hostility represents a far darker turn. ‘Now we have somebody who, of course, hates accountability in every single form,’ says Steve. ‘He hates it for his allies, whether they’re abroad or at home… he just doesn’t think that rules matter; that it’s only his own rules that matter. And we see that in terms of blowing up fishermen in the Caribbean or killing schoolgirls in Iran; it’s the same thing for him.’ But despite a legacy of double standards, Steve still holds out hope that if Trump doesn’t manage to destroy the ICC, good things can happen. He sees the arrest warrants of Putin and Netanyahu as a profound shift and that the long-held narrative that the ICC would only ever target African warlords while ignoring Western leaders and their allies has completely collapsed. ‘That criticism was at least to some extent justified,’ he agrees. ‘But you really can’t say that in a context where the president of a permanent member of the Security Council is now on the docket—has an arrest warrant out for him, the prime minister of America’s closest ally has an arrest warrant out for him, and where you’re seeing movement happening in many different contexts.’ He believes the arrest warrants issued for Vladimir

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Putin over war crimes in Ukraine, and Benjamin Netanyahu over actions in Gaza, represent a radical departure from historical impunity. They demonstrate an institution striving to fulfil its original, global mandate. But that institution is still under attack. After Karim Khan, the former ICC Chief Prosecutor, issued the arrest warrants, Khan was dismissed following allegations of sexual harassment and coercive behaviour. While many will suggest a conspiracy, Steve is more pragmatic. He points out that the handling of the dismissal was a critical test of the court’s integrity. ‘I think it is a great relief for the court,’ he says. ‘It would have been terrible if the vote had gone: “Oh well, he’s done such an important thing by issuing these important arrest warrants that we should protect him from these allegations, however well founded they may be.” So I’m glad that he’s gone. And the court was never about one person... You have an entire institution—the judges, the prosecutors, the officials—with so many checks and balances built in.’ His main concern is that Khan’s successor is not timid as a result. In Prosecuting the Powerful, Steve highlights how digital advances have helped to disprove false narratives spun by those supporting war crimes. However, the same technology has also enabled the skewing of truth in ways we never would have dreamed possible. We are in a deluge of digital misinformation, deepfakes, and public cynicism, living in a world where reality itself can be manufactured; how can justice break through? ‘We’re all confronting this sense that you can create an event that never actually happened and make a video of it that looks completely plausible,’ Steve says. ‘That sense that nothing is quite real... I think that’s one of the biggest challenges that we all face today, because it makes people just switch off... That’s almost more insidious than people who believe in the wrong stuff. It’s when so many people say, “Oh, well, you can’t really tell. It’s six of one and half a dozen of the other.” Which, of course, it’s not. There is a truth and an untruth, and I think we need to hold onto that.’ Despite cynicism, open hostility and statesponsored intimidation of those supporting the ICC, Steve is using historical evidence rather than idealism to power his optimism. ‘I’ve seen so many astonishing things change in my lifetime,’ he says. From Eastern Europe to other parts of the world, he has seen ‘incredible change.’ Regime after regime, once deemed untouchable, has often been called out

survivors are making their voices heard very, very strongly by survivors. ‘Survivors have found their voices as well,’ he says. ‘To start with, the lawyers were doing all the work, and the survivors were somewhere at the side... brought in as witnesses. But now survivors are making their voices heard very, very strongly.’ He compares the importance of the ICC and international law to the battle against climate change: ‘What happens if you don’t do anything about it? It’s all very well talking about how complicated it is to do something, but what on earth does this mean if you don’t address that? Self-evidently true of climate change... but I would argue equally true of the institutions of the rule of law.’ Prosecuting the Powerful is a fascinating journey through the development and implementation of a system of justice that is even more important today than ever before. The fight to hold evil to account will never be easy, but it is a battle that needs to be highlighted and embraced. Justice must be pursued if the world is ever to become less fractured and less manipulated by autocratic ideals. ‘Things are achievable,’ says Steve. ‘But it does need governments to come together and say: “This does actually matter.” Because it obviously does.’

Prosecuting the Powerful: War Crimes and the Battle for Justice by Steve Crawshaw (ISBN-13: 9780349128955) is published by The Bridge Street Press. Steve Crawshaw will speak at The Bull Ballroom in Bridport for the Bridport Literary Festival on 12 November at 4pm. For tickets, visit www.bridlit.com.

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 43

October

GALLERIES

1 - 31 October

Caroline Ireland - Vibrant Patels Caroline Ireland is largely self-taught as an artist, who has painted and drawn all her life. Her work often has a dream-like quality, expressed in vibrant colours, shapes and lines, inspired by dreams, music or poetry, the observation of everyday objects in the form of still life, or by improvisation with no preconceived ideas about what will emerge. Her preferred mediums are charcoal, soft pastel and watercolour, often in combinations. The current exhibition will explore the improvisational aspects of her work, which she calls ‘meditations’, where watercolour is first applied to paper or card and once dry drawn on top with soft pastels, without any planning, just letting the paint and the pastel reveal their magic. Open 10 am - 4 pm Wednesday until Saturday at Jenny Penney Local Makers Shop & Gallery, Mangerton Mill, Mangerton, Bridport DT6 3SG Access for All, Cafe next door. Free car parking and no entrance fee. https// www.jennypenneyart.net.

3 October - 30 November

Marking Out the Boundaries Day Bowman & Henrietta Irving. Bold abstract paintings explore the boundaries and disruptions of the English landscape, alongside sculptural basketry inspired by vanished medieval ponds, hidden hollows and landscapes transformed over centuries. The two artists, who only met twelve months ago, find a deep connection with the materials they use and the resultant shapes and forms that are created. Henrietta will be making coiled raffia vessels and paper pieces on the theme of Timelines. She is inspired by changes in landscape and buildings over the centuries at Athelhampton in Dorset. Traces of medieval fishponds are still visible in the

grounds, if you know where to look. The current buildings form part of what was a much larger complex. Wings and rooms were repurposed or demolished to suit the needs and aspirations of the owners. Henrietta’s work will consider these changes, gradual dereliction or deliberate destruction and replacement, in three-dimensional form. The exhibition at Athelhampton House will open with a dance performance choreographed by Lizzi Kew Ross www.lizzikewrossandco co.uk where the dancers weave their way from the Great Hall in and around the staircase up to the gallery. Athelhampton House & Gardens, Puddletown, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 7LG. 01305 848363.

Until 24 October

Rhythm of the Hills Liz Somerville This exhibition is about hills: the trees that grow on them, the water that comes from them and the ground that forms them. West Dorset is a peculiar and particular part of the county; a quieter, slower, folk-lorey sort of place. I have chosen three subjects and worked my way around and into them, hence the inclusion of preliminary drawings. The first, Floating Oaks, are the trees (mostly oaks) that grow around Eggardon near Bridport. The second, Loscombe, centres on Lower Loscombe Farm and its relationship with the hill, Penwell, where the water for the farm used to come from a well on top of it. The final subject are the hills surrounding Loscombe, Hinknowle and Poorton - dictated by geology and weather, these unusual forms are stranger than any imagination. The Art Stable, Child Okeford, Dorset DT11 8HB. kellyross@theartstable.co.uk. 07816 837905.

Until 31 October

Yasmin David: The Nature of Light comprises over

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40 key works on canvas alongside drawings, sketches, notebooks and photographs. Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Elmfield House, Dowell Street, Honiton Devon EX14 1LX. Tel: 01404 45006 Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Free admission, donations welcome. Look Out David Abbott, Dien Berziga, Christabel Blackburn, Sarah Gillespie, Magnus Hammick, Ivon Hitchens, Lee Johnson, Charlotte Keates, Rob Lyon, Katherine Perrins, Ged Quinn, Myrna Quiñonez, Saad Qureshi and Harriet White. A group exhibition exploring landscape across a century of change brings together fourteen artists across generations and a century of artistic engagement with landscape, exploring the land as both a physical reality and a psychological space. The exhibition considers landscape as a place of memory, belonging, reflection and renewal, offering a moment to reconnect with the natural world in a time of profound change. CLOSE Gallery, Hatch Beauchamp, Somerset TA3 6AE Opening Hours: Thursday & Friday 11am-4pm, Saturday 11am-3pm

Floating Oaks by Liz Somerville at The Art Stable until October 24

Until 14 November

At the Still Point of the Turning World David Inshaw, Lise Herud Braten and Petter Southall at laders Yard Contemporary Art & Craft Gallery, West Bay, Bridport, DT6 4EL. Open Wednesday to Saturday 10am – 4.30pm Tel: 01308 459511 Website: sladersyard.co.uk. www.instagram.com/ sladersyard.

GALLERIES IN NOVEMBER send your gallery details to info@marshwoodvale.com BY OCTOBER 14th

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October

PREVIEW

Rosalie Chichester and Dorothy Petre Wadham, two remarkable West Country women highlighted in October Two remarkable women ILMINSTER AND SOUTH PETHERTON A NEW play at the David Hall, South Petherton, on Thursday 15th October, and a talk with music at Ilminster Arts Centre, on Friday 27th November, will shed light on two remarkable West Country women who deserve to be much better known. Rosalie, presented by Pleasure Dome Theatre at the David Hall, is inspired by one of Exmoor’s most remarkable women, Rosalie Chichester of Arlington Court (1865-1949). She was a scientist, photographer, explorer, collector and unapologetic eccentric—the play explores female identity and familial responsibility in Victorian England. She bequeathed all of her property to the National Trust—Morte Point, Devon in 1911 and Arlington Court on her death. She had a fairly standard upper class youth, educated at home by a governess and trained in etiquette and genealogy. She was presented as a debutante in 1885. She never married, but gave time and support to local charities and events and held positions in a number of local clubs. Her father died when she was 16, leaving the family in serious debt, but she kept the estate debtfree though it took from 1881 until 1928 to do so. A keen photographer, who won awards for her photography, she was also an artist—some of her paintings are on show in her home. She was a lover of wildlife, and the estate was a sanctuary against hunting and shooting. In the First World War she served on the Devon War Agricultural Appeal Tribunal and supported the Women’s Land Army. She joined the suffrage movement in 1913 but was opposed to violent actions. Rosalie is written and performed by Helena Payne, artistic director of the Somerset-based theatre company. Wadham is a familiar name in education circles, locally with Wadham School at Crewkerne, and nationally with Wadham College, Oxford, the first college at Oxford or Cambridge to be founded by a

woman who was not a member of the royal family. The life of Dorothy Petre Wadham, 1534/1535 to 1618, will be explored in a talk, Ilminster’s Great Foundress at Ilminster Arts Centre on Friday 27th November, by Dr Matthew Spring exploring her early life, musical connections and legacy. The evening will also feature a concert by Sirinu performing Elizabethan and Stuart domestic music from Dorothy’s childhood home, historic Ingatestone in Essex. Dorothy was the second and eldest surviving child of the very wealthy Sir William Petre, who acquired substantial property after the Dissolution of the Monasteries and was Secretary of State to four successive Tudor monarchs—Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I. He also received grants of land from Queen Mary, including property formerly held by Lady Jane Grey and forfeited to the crown. Married to Nicholas Wadham in 1555, Dorothy was a recusant (a Catholic when it was illegal to practise the religion), but was granted a formal pardon in 1615 under a 1593 Act of Parliament. The couple lived at Nicholas’s ancestral “noble moated seat” of Merryfield, in the parish of Ilton, near Ilminster. They did not have any children. Dorothy was the sole executor of Nicholas’s will, which provided a bequest “for such uses and purposes” as he had “requested her and she hath assented to”. His wishes included the founding of a college in Oxford University, and this Dorothy accomplished, noting that “it would greatly offend my conscience to violate any jot of my husband’s will”. She added substantial funds from her own great inheritance to the funds left by her late husband in order to finance the building and establishment of the college. Dorothy died on 16th May 1618, at the Wadham dower house, Edge, in the parish of Branscombe, Devon. Her body was taken to Merrifield and was buried alongside that of her husband in the Wadham Chapel inside the Church of St Mary, Ilminster. The brass on their imposing monument is said to be “the finest post-Reformation brass in England.”

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Film of Guy Deacon’s solo journey at Dorchester’s Corn Exchange in October. (Photo © Robin Mills for Marshwood cover story in August 2024)

Tales of courage DORCHESTER A VERY special double bill of films presented by Dorchester Arts on Tuesday 6th October at 6pm, at the Corn Exchange, will be focusing on the neurological condition, Parkinson’s disease, and raising funds for a local Parkinson’s project. The World’s Toughest Drive follows former Army colonel Guy Deacon on a solo journey across 25 countries from the UK to South Africa. Armed with determination, 3,650 pills and a VW van, his remarkable adventure is a powerful testament to courage and refusing to let Parkinson’s define him. Kinetics, adapted from Sue Wylie’s acclaimed stage play and inspired by her own experience of earlyonset Parkinson’s, tells the moving story of Rose and Lukas, whose unlikely friendship transforms both their lives. Honest, funny and deeply affecting, it celebrates the strength found in human connection. Sue Wylie, formerly a drama teacher in Dorchester, directed Kinetics, based on her personal story of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 50, exploring the daily impact and acceptance of living

with the condition. It traces her unlikely friendship with a rebellious and lonely teenage parkour runner. The film had its premiere in Dorchester in 2018. Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition. People with Parkinson’s don’t have enough of the chemical dopamine in their brain because some of the nerve cells that make it have stopped working. Around 166,000 people live with Parkinson’s in the UK. The condition is on the rise. In the UK, someone is diagnosed every 20 minutes. By 2050, it is estimated that the number of people with Parkinson’s worldwide will double to 25 million. Well-known people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease include the late and legendary boxer Muhammad Ali and MASH star Alan Alda. Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt and Carly Simons have all talked of their diagnosis, and famous British figures with the disease include Sir Billy Connolly, actors Sir Ian Holm and Pauline Collins, explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and broadcasters Jeremy Paxman and Rory Cellan-Jones. All proceeds from the Dorchester evening will support Dorchester Arts’ Parkinson’s Dance classes in Dorchester and Sherborne.

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From slavery to abolition BRIDPORT AND EXETER FREDERICK Douglass is one of the great names of the campaign on both sides of the Atlantic to abolish slavery. His story is told in a powerful new play, The Ocean Can Be A Bridge, by Dave Samuels and Richard Bradbury, coming to Bridport Arts Centre on 6th October, after opening at the Cygnet Theatre in Exeter on 1st October. The global campaign to end slavery mobilised tens of thousands who were appalled by the brutality of a system in which human beings were regarded as property, to be used, sold and bought like rolls of cotton and sacks of sugar. By 1845 the last remaining major site of chattel slavery in the northern hemisphere were the southern states of the USA. The outrage against this was fuelled by a series of slave narratives—including the autobiographies of escaped slaves. In 1845 Frederick Douglass published his scathing description of his experiences and in an unprecedented and brave move named names and identified places. This act placed him at danger, not only from bounty hunters hired to hunt down runaways but also from the many—with something to lose (wealth, power, etc)—who called him a liar and fraud. To avoid all of this, he crossed the Atlantic to Britain and for 18 months he toured the length and breadth of the country, speaking to crowds numbering thousands and mobilising public sentiment against slavery again. The abolitionists in Britain had a wide network of friends and supporters, who sustained his visit. But they were divided in their views on the way to end slavery—by radical measures or by more moderate approaches. Douglass plunged into these debates, trying to unite the divisions while remaining true to his convictions. Piano landscapes TINCLETON MILANESE pianist Alberto Dalgo comes to the Old Schoolhouse at Tincleton, on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th October, to give a concert programme he calls Northern Landscapes. The musical journey begins in the woods. Schumann’s intimate Waldszenen takes us into a forest that defies explanation: a few steps, a glimmer of light between the trees, a barely perceptible movement. The Waldszenen are fragments of a place that reveals itself in hints, like a memory that refuses to be grasped. Then comes the water. Liszt, through his transcriptions of Schubert’s Lieder, draws three aspects: the wide sea, a stream that speaks softly, a calm surface that reflects the light. Three simple

Alberto Dalgo comes to the Old Schoolhouse at Tincleton images, three breaths. The landscape changes again for the third piece, Grieg’s Ballade Op. 24, taking the audience to a more rugged, bare land. This is an ancient theme that returns, transforms, rises again. Finally, there is an opening as Chopin’s “Heroic” Polonaise bursts in—direct, luminous, affirmative. And so the journey ends: forest, water, rock, light. The north, reduced to its essence. Alberto Dalgo studied at the Imola International Piano Academy as a pupil of Leonid Margarius. He graduated with top grades and honour mention in piano performance from the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali in Pavia, where he also earned a Master’s Degree with honours. Success in many piano competitions included first prize and Grand Prix CMF at the Concours Musical de France, first prize at the Imka International Piano Competition in 2017, at the Bellagio (Como Lake) International Music Competition 2015, and at the JS Bach Competition in Sestri Levante. He has performed as a soloist, in trios and with orchestras in concerts and at festivals throughout Italy and other European countries. He founded the Hopper Piano Trio, with whom he has recorded pieces by Smetana, Shostakovich and CastelnuovoTedesco for the Da Vinci Classics label.

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Ruby Wax comes to the Electric Palace Bridport in October Absolutely with feeling BRIDPORT BRIDPORT’s Electric Palace provides a charismatic backdrop for two shows that bring outspoken and hugely entertaining women to the stage—Ruby Wax with her new show Absolutely Famous on Friday 16th October, and comedians Flo and Jo and their With Feeling on Saturday 17th. It’s almost easier to say whom Ruby Wax DIDN’T meet, interview and coax fascinating insights from in her TV shows Ruby Wax Meets and Full Wax—the very long list includes Donald Trump, OJ Simpson, Pamela Anderson, Madonna and many more. Her provocative, abrasive style was—just about— kept in check by lifelong friend and A-list producer, Clive Tulloh. Now together again, live on stage, they review clips from the shows, tell scandalous stories never before heard—and take the audience along for the ride. Flo and Joan combine music with comedy and they are back with a new show, With Feeling, trying to take

up as much of the stage and as little of your patience as possible as they use a “real band’s” set-list to write their own show – ruminating on themes such as “What is music?” And “How do you be a band?” in their trademark sharp-tongued, deadpan way. By the pricking of my thumbs HONITON THE late great Terry Pratchett not only had a genius imagination—he was also a genius plunderer of other geniuses. In the case of Wyrd Sisters, the autumn production choice for Honiton Community Theatre, he drew on three of the greatest Shakespearean tragedies—Macbeth, Hamlet and King Lear. On stage at Honiton’s Beehive Centre, from 29th to 31st October at 7pm, with a 2pm Saturday matinee, Wyrd Sisters has a story that does seem familiar—there’s a murderous Duke, the ghost of a King, soldiers, peasants ... and three witches, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick, on a lonely heath.

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Chopped Liver and Unions comes to Poole and Dorchester in October A king cruelly murdered, his throne usurped by his ambitious cousin, a child heir and the crown both missing—witches don’t have these kinds of leadership problems themselves, in fact, they don’t have leaders but in Pratchett’s darkly comic world they take centre stage and try to change the story, with help from a fool, some strolling players and a touch of magic. Granny Weatherwax is the most highly regarded of the leaders they don’t have. But even she finds that meddling in royal politics is a lot more complicated than certain playwrights would have you believe. Particularly when the blood on your hands just won’t wash off. A woman against fascism POOLE AND DORCHESTER SARA Wesker may not be a name you are familiar with—but a critically praised play by Blue Fire Theatre, Chopped Liver and Unions, coming to Poole Lighthouse on Thursday 8th October and Dorchester Corn Exchange, on Thursday 29th, tells her story and

why you should know more about her. History, we are told, is written by the victors. More often, it is rewritten by the forgetful (and generally male). Chopped Liver and Unions resurrects a voice that has been almost lost—Sara Wesker, who led the singing strikers of 1928, stood against fascists at Cable Street and devoted herself to the Trade Union cause. Yet, behind every banner and battle cry lies a personal cost. Love, loyalty, and legacy—what endures, and what is sacrificed? Sara was an inspirational speaker, a political activist and trade unionist who never stopped fighting to improve the lot of her fellow workers. She inspired her nephew Arnold’s play Chicken Soup With Barley— but nobody knows her name. Set against the global tremors of 1956, the year Arnold Wesker’s powerful political play had its premiere, Chopped Liver and Unions reminds us that the world is often changed by the women who are pushed too far.

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begins. A stranger, lost in a blizzard, finds their way to the Story Collector’s door. This often happens. Too busy to have fun, the stranger’s even forgotten that today is their birthday. And stories? What a waste of time! For one miraculous moment, new beginnings, better endings and all the adventures in between help the lost traveller discover which direction to take and appreciate All the Small Things along the way. M6’s beautiful design and heartwarming storytelling combine with singing, puppetry, and physical comedy to create a delightful entertainment for children from four years and up, and their families.

All the Small Things in Bridport in October This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street and the centenary of the General Strike—it is a good time to meet Sara, to remember her and what she achieved ... and to ask was it worth it? A magical place BRIDPORT DEEP in the woods, in the middle of nowhere, lives the Story Collector … M6 Theatre brings All The Small Things, an enchanting new spin on fairytales to Bridport Arts Centre on Saturday 10th October at 2.30.pm The Story Collector has drawers, cabinets and cupboards brimming with baddies and goodies, hopes and wishes, once upon a times and far, far aways. It’s a magical place of possibilities. On the turn of the snow globe, the enchantment

Tales from Abrahamic traditions BUCKLAND NEWTON AND BURTON BRADSTOCK THE perception has long been that the three great Abrahamic faiths—Christianity, Judaism and Islam— are constantly at loggerheads, but the traditions run very deep and the shared stories underpin much of our culture. Storyteller Hugh Lupton and cellist Sarah Moody explore this powerful legacy in a gripping show, When The Morning Stars Sang, coming to Buckland Newton and Burton Bradstock on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th October respectively. Lupton and Moody interweave tales that draw from Christian, Jewish and Islamic sources—Adam and Eve, Solomon and Sheba, Tobias and the Angel, Job and his Comforters ... these are stories that underpin so much of Western and Middle Eastern literature, art and wisdom, told here with vigour and humour, rich language and deep magic. Inspired by the music of all three Abrahamic traditions, the show reminds us that at the core of these cultures, despite the misunderstandings, prejudice, persecution and wars of much of the last millennium, there is a shared mythology. This is a chance to hear these ancient tales with fresh ears... Hugh Lupton is an award-winning storyteller, author, poet and lyricist whose work spans myths, folktales, epic narratives and contemporary stories. A leading figure in the UK storytelling revival, he has performed at venues including the National Theatre, the Barbican and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Sarah Moody is a cellist, composer and multiinstrumentalist known for creating atmospheric music for storytelling, theatre and film. Formerly with The Devil’s Violin storytelling company, she collaborates widely with storytellers and theatre-makers, blending folk, classical and world music influences. When the Morning Stars Sang is brought to Dorset by Artsreach, with two performances, on Saturday 17th October at Buckland Newton village hall at 7.30pm and on Sunday 18th at Burton Bradstock hall at 7pm.

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A nice cup of tea BRIDPORT PROFESSOR David Olusoga brings his wit and academic rigour to that most British of traditions, a cup of tea, in his new book, which he will be talking about in The Global History of the British Cup of Tea at Bridport Electric Palace on Saturday 10th October at 7.30pm. The BAFTA-award-winning producer, author, historian and presenter uses art and photography, history and humour to uncover the strange and unexpected history of our national drink. There is nothing more British than a cup of tea. Tea is a national obsession. Yet the history of tea is the ultimate global story. It links more than 350 years of British history to the histories of China, India, the Caribbean and the United States. It encompasses the Boston Tea Party, the Opium Wars and the history of the British East India Company. It is a story that involves industrial espionage and a vast forgotten migration within India, and the creation in Britain of a whole new world of domestic traditions and even consumer household goods. David Olusoga has become a household name over the years, more recently interviewing president Barack Obama while also reaching the finals of the BBC hit series, Celebrity Traitors. His other television programmes include Union and he has been back on BBC 2 with the Empire series, and most recently a new series of A House Through Time. David is the author or co-author of eight books including the award-winning Black & British: A Forgotten History, The World’s War, and The Kaiser’s Holocaust: Germany’s Forgotten Genocide. He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester, a columnist for The Observer, and also writes for The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Voice and BBC History Magazine. A recipient of both the British Academy’s President’s Medal and the Norton Medlicott Medal For Services to History, David is a Fellow of the British Academy, The Royal Society of Literature, The Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Historical Society. A Q&A plus book signing will follow the presentation, offering a chance to meet one of the UK’s foremost public historians.

David Olusoga returns to the Electric Palace in Bridport in October

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An everyday story of village fetes BROADMAYNE AND SYDLING ST NICHOLAS GEORGE—he of the Dragon—may be the archetype of heroic Englishness but perhaps drag offers a colourful alternative. Pipeline Theatre comes to Dorset with Artsreach, from 9th to 11th October, with George and the Drag Queen, described as “a bittersweet, bonkers cake mix of the epic and the geo-political, beaten together with the everyday and the plain silly, and all set within a typical village fête.” We all know what to expect at the village fête— bunting, cakes, outsize veg, and wasps. But, as regular listeners to The Archers will know, these days you need something extra to pack in the punters ... The scene is set with two bantering first-aid volunteers setting up their tent—George, a stand-in grandpa for Maddy, and Maddy, a stand-in granddaughter for George. And then there is the Lebanese drag queen, Eliana Sultana, who has been booked to do the raffle, getting changed in the corner. In a ‘twist of fête’, their stories entwine with explosive results. Why has a drag queen been booked for a village fête? What is Maddy’s connection with Eliana’s boyfriend? Where has George seen Eliana’s face before? And just how allergic is Eliana to wasps? Best served with an open mind. Warning—may contain traces of empathy and kindness! Pipeline Theatre will be at Sydling St Nicholas village hall on Friday 9th October, Stalbridge hall on Saturday 10th and Broadmayne village hall on Sunday 11th, all starting at 7.30pm. Widdershins and round again PIDDLETRENTHIDE WIDDERSHINS, an old word that roughly translates as counter-clockwise, is the title of the latest one-man show from the infinitely versatile and talented David Mynne, ex-Kneehigh, and now one of Cornwall’s most popular theatrical exports. He brings this new story to Dorset for three dates with Artsreach, beginning on Friday 23rd October at Piddletrenthide Memorial Hall. In a solo show that has been described as “a masterclass in solo performance, by turns funny, weird and ever so slightly creepy,” Mynne takes the audience to a long-forgotten village buried deep in a dark, wild corner of Cornwall. Here, Bob Droll (local raconteur, folklore enthusiast and village-hall caretaker) will take you on a tour of a place where mystery lurks about every corner. You won’t believe the shocking tales of poor ‘“Pity Me” Jose, or of Cryer Bledstone, the sea captain afraid of death ... and then there’s Sci-Fi Sally, desperate to leave this world for life beyond the stars. But beware— the deeper Bob leads you into his forest of far-fetched fables, the more lost you might get. Widdershins—‘tis hard to find but even harder to leave… 54 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031

Expect stories told with a sting, poetry cracked and darkly comic, unforgettable characters and physical theatre, alongside the usual irreverence, wit and silliness. It will be dark, delirious and delightful. Under Milk Wood-ish, sort of… only way, waayyy weirder! Widdershins is an exciting original work, scripted specifically for David by renowned writer Carl Grose (also ex-Kneehigh) and directed by Olivier Award winner Simon Harvey. * The word widdershins comes from the Middle Low German word weddersinnes, which means “against the way”. Moving widdershins was often viewed in European folklore and pre-Christian traditions as unlucky, magical,

Artsreach brings George and the Drag Queen to Dorset in October or unnatural because it went against the sun. David Mynne also brings this irresistible show to Langton Matravers village hall on Saturday 24th October, and Shillingstone’s Portman Hall on Sunday 25th, both at 7.30pm. Animal fun and facts CERNE ABBAS ARTSREACH brings the Cornwall-based and much-loved Squashbox Theatre to Dorset for half-term, with Curious Creatures, coming to three venues, including St Mary’s Church, Cerne Abbas, on Tuesday 27th October at 10.30am. Curious Creatures is set in a wildlife park, established by

world-renowned explorer, zoologist and animal collector Jeremiah Johnson. Nobody knows more about animals than him. Unfortunately, Jeremiah is lost in the African jungle, so the park has been handed over to his nephew Craig ... and things don’t quite go as planned! Meet performing fleas, skateboarding snails, gymnastic gerbils, irritable alligators, over-excited elephants and a very intelligent orang-utan! Learn about how animals evolved, how their amazing adaptations help them survive in the wild and how animals can help us learn more about ourselves. Using puppets, comedy and live music plus lots of amazing facts, Squashbox uncovers the mysteries of the animal kingdom. Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 55

Screen Time with Nic Jeune

Top Six at the Flix Bridport Arts Centre Secret Agent (2025) 1st October @ 7.30pm. The fourth fiction feature from Kleber Mendonça Filho is a sweat-saturated riot of a movie: a dualtimeline thriller powered by the kind of anarchic, erratic energy that you would expect to find at the end of a two day bender. Screen Daily. Wendy Ide.

Performances are on Saturday 24th October at 2pm at Stalbridge hall, Sunday 25th at 3pm at Cranborne’s Cecil Memorial Hall, and Tuesday 27th at 10.30am at St Mary’s Church, Cerne Abbas. After the show, there will be a puppet-making workshop where children can create their own articulated card puppets of amazing animals from around the world; suitable for ages four-plus, places are limited and children must be accompanied. New life in old stories CERNE ABBAS AND BROADWINDSOR

Derek vs Derek (2026) 22nd October @ 7.30pm. Five years ago, I realised that the countryside was becoming central to the conflict around the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. I felt it was undervalued as a focus for films. And not properly understood…When I found the two Dereks I knew they were a great way of crafting a story that could tease out the underlying issues in a funny and engaging way. James Dawson. Director. Rose of Nevada (2025) 29th October @ 7.30pm. Seen from the vantage point of our hyper-digital 2020s, Jenkin isn’t just a stark outlier from the current media regime. He’s also among the very few working directors whose cinema feels both familiar and viscerally new. The Film Stage. Leonardo Goi. Poole Lighthouse Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 22nd October @ 2.00pm (Dementia Friendly Screening). Note-perfect performances, a screenplay steeped in both nostalgia and a timely sense of insight. Empire. BBC iPlayer Vertigo (1958) Vertigo is one of the great movies about movies, and about Hitchcock’s own way with them. The New Yorker. Richard Brody. Suspicion (1948) Joan Fontaine is so fantastic in Suspicion that she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the only Oscar-winning performance in a Hitchcock movie. Collider.

Joe Doran and the Northern Assembly A TRIO of talented folk musicians, Jon Doran and The Northern Assembly, draw on their varied backgrounds to create an evening of traditional folk with a contemporary edge, on a short Artsreach tour, including Cerne Abbas village hall on Thursday 22nd October and Broadwindsor’s Comrades Hall on Saturday 24th, both at 7.30pm. With striking vocals from Jon Doran (BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award Finalist 2019), combined with the virtuosic playing of instrumentalists Heather Ferrier (accordion) and Jordan Aikin (whistles and pipes), the trio create dynamic songs that combine exhilarating contemporary arrangements with the much-loved traditional folk canon. This ground-breaking collaboration seeks to capture the excitement that lies within traditional song and breathe new life into old stories from the British Isles by injecting the energy they feel these narratives deserve. Consciously moving away from the conventional folk song performance style, the three musicians rely upon their dissimilar musical upbringings and experiences to conjure emotions and communicate a story that is deeper than the words of the song. Jon Doran and Northern Assembly are also at Marnhull village hall on Friday 23rd October, at 7.30pm.

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The Young Lit Fix Lumi and the Wolf By Lottie Saahko Illustrated by Jason Cockroft Published by Starboard/Hachette Hardback ££14.99 Review by Nicky Mathewson

Curious Creatures appear in Dorset Villages in October Ancient tales for modern times VILLAGES PEOPLE have always loved stories—and there have always been story-tellers. From Odyssey and Beowulf to East Enders and Outlander, stories grip us ... Now contemporary storyteller George Attwill comes to three Dorset villages, from 2nd to 4th October, with an evening of myth, mirth and magic. In ancient times people would come together on nights very much like this, in a place not so different from this, a gathering place for the community, as the wind whistles around and we huddle by the fire. They would come together, perhaps even get a little rowdy and tell stories… Mixing audience participation with carnivalesque revelry, George Attwill shares a selection of ancient tales ... stories of gods and goddesses, witches and wizards, wise men and fools, great giants, precious treasures and forbidden knowledge. Expect to laugh and gasp and even join in “voluntary” audience participation. Feel free to take part OR simply sit back, relax, and enjoy the show... Lung and a Half Full Theatre brings Tales for an Unruly Audience to Milbourne St Andrew village hall on Friday 2nd October, Corfe Castle hall on Saturday 3rd and Child Okeford hall on Sunday 4th, all starting at 7.30pm. GPW

FINNISH Lapland, home to the Sami people. Thousands of reindeer, eight seasons, and for part of the year the sun doesn’t set. This is where Lumi has been sent by her parents to stay with her aunt and uncle. Lumi may be half Finnish, but she doesn’t speak the language, doesn’t like travelling and she would much rather stick to her usual routine in London. She does love nature though and Lapland is beautiful and wild so in no time at all she is out in the forest, up a tree rescuing a trapped bird. That isn’t the only creature Lumi meets in the forest. While she is preoccupied with the bird a huge white wolf strides up and they make eye contact. He is beautiful and terrifying and after a long stare he limps away. Neither of them realise it yet, but they will both embark on an incredible journey together. Lumi discovers that the wolves are being hunted by the reindeer farmers to protect their herds and her strong sense of justice demands that she help the injured wolf. Can they both cover the long distance to safety at the national park in the deep winter snow without being seen? Perfect for ages 8+ with excellent autistic representation. 10% off for Marshwood Vale readers at The Bookshop on South Street, Bridport. 01308 422964 www.dorsetbooks.com Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 57

FROM OPEN WATERS TO Talks at this year’s Dorchester Literary Festival include endurance swimming, military strategy, deep-time geology, and intimate personal memoirs.

aking place from 17–24 October, Dorchester Literary Festival brings leading authors, broadcasters and thinkers to Dorchester for a week of live conversations and events. Among this year’s highlights are a selection of talks particularly suited to readers interested in military history, personal wellbeing and active living. Military history is a strong feature of the programme, with talks exploring the experiences and consequences of conflict across different periods. David Lascelles talks about Out of Colditz on Tuesday 20 October at 2.00pm. It is a fascinating personal exploration of the Colditz story and the experiences of prisoners of war. Jonathan Fennell’s book Collapse: A Global History of the Second World War, 1931–1941 is featured on Tuesday 20 October at 6.00pm. Fennell examines the early years of the Second World War in a global context. Anthony Seldon’s The Path of Light is an early morning treat on Thursday 22 October at 10.30am. It is a reflective journey inspired by the First World War and the idea of commemorating the fallen. Alongside Damien Lewis’s Behind Enemy Lines on Saturday 17 October at 7.00pm, these events offer audiences an opportunity to explore military history, wartime experiences and leadership through the perspectives of acclaimed authors and historians. The festival also includes a range of talks exploring mental health, personal development and the challenges and opportunities of life. For those who enjoy swimming, fitness and outdoor adventure, Vassos Alexander’s Swimmingly

is a special highlight. Taking place on Saturday 17 October at 1.00pm the event features much-loved sports presenter, author and endurance athlete Vassos Alexander who discovered a passion for swimming during lockdown. The event is an opportunity for swimming clubs, open-water swimmers, sports enthusiasts and anyone who enjoys being in the water to hear more about his journey and love of swimming. Hear from Poppy Jamie about her book The Book of Magical Living: 8 Secrets to Inner Power on Monday 19 October at 2.00pm. Poppy offers an opportunity to explore themes of personal wellbeing and inner strength. On Tuesday 20 October at 10.30am, Frank Tallis will talk about Wise: Finding Purpose, Meaning and Wisdom Beyond the Midpoint of Life examining how people can approach later life with meaning and psychological wellbeing. Tallis draws on philosophical and psychological perspectives, alongside neuroscience, to explore questions of ageing, purpose and how to make the most of life. The programme continues on Saturday 24 October at 10.30am when Dr Sian Williams introduces The Power of Anxiety: How to Ride the Worry Wave, exploring approaches to understanding and managing anxiety. The festival’s memoir and biography programme offers audiences the chance to hear authors reflect on personal experience, family history, identity and the lives of remarkable individuals. Olia Hercules explores her family history through the experiences of war, exile and hope, bringing personal and historical perspectives

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FRONTLINE TRENCHES

together in a powerful story of identity and resilience. Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family History Through War, Exile and Hope is featured on Tuesday 20 October at noon. Broadcaster and presenter Johnny Ball brings his distinctive storytelling style to the festival with Stories That Must Be Told on Wednesday 21 October at 6.00pm Poet, novelist and journalist Blake Morrison will explore both poetry and memoir. Afterburn returns to poetry, Morrison’s first calling, while On Memoir examines the possibilities, challenges and power of narrative non-fiction. Morrison will be in conversation with Lulu Taylor on Thursday 22 October at 4.00pm Iain Gately tells the gripping story of Elizabethan seafarer Thomas Cavendish, tracing his extraordinary circumnavigation of the world, his successes and his ultimately ill-fated final voyage. His talk about The Queen’s Pirate is on Friday 23 October at 10.30am. The festival also welcomes John Sweeney to talk about The Real Nigel Farage on Saturday 24 October at noon. Sweeney will be in conversation with Danny Danziger, discussing his reporting and exploration of the political figure at the centre of his book. The natural world is another important theme running through this year’s festival, with talks examining wildlife, geology, conservation, landscapes and the environmental challenges facing the planet. On Monday 19 October at 10.30am Geologist Anjana Khatwa, authour of The Whispers of Rock,

takes audiences on a poetic journey through deep time, combining scientific knowledge with traditional stories. From Stonehenge and Petra to the Dorset coastline Khatwa takes us on an exhilarating journey through deep time Celebrated safari writer Brian Jackman reflects on five decades of witnessing Africa’s wildlife drama, drawing on his experiences documenting the continent’s landscapes and animals. His talk about Lion Song: A Portrait of Wild Africa is on Monday 19 October at noon. Tony Juniper authour of Just Earth: How a Fairer World Will Save the Planet explores the environmental crisis and the relationship between sustainability, social justice and the way we live. His talk on Monday 19 October at 6.00pm considers how a fairer world might help achieve real, lasting change. John Wright brings his expertise and enthusiasm for the natural world to a talk focused on grasslands and their place within the wider environment when he discusses Grasslands on Wednesday 21 October at 10.30am Meteorologist and broadcaster Laura Tobin explores weather, climate and the world around us in Come Rain or Shine on Saturday 24 October at 4.00pm Together, these events offer audiences the opportunity to engage with thoughtful conversations about health, history, and nature. To find out more about the Festival and explore the full programme visit: www.dorchesterliteraryfestival.com

Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine October 2026 59

The Box

ELVIS, THE COLONEL AND THE MOB Review by John Davis

Elvis, the Colonel and the Mob; two-part mini-series; Directed by Dan Bree; Head Editor, Tom Raggett; Executive Producers, Matt King and Daniel Sharp. Channel Four.

t has become a frequent pastime in recent years to denigrate or de-bunk well known personalities and celebrities. Even Churchill, often voted in polls as the greatest Briton of all time, has been subject to

retrospective scrutiny and found wanting in some departments. Let’s face it, whichever celebrity it concerns, if you turn over sufficient stones and open enough closets something unpleasant or unseemly is sure to be discovered eventually. This two-parter is yet another in the extensive canon of documentaries made about the man who was arguably the world’s rock music “GOAT”. It has been made by a production company who have

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Once he got onto the treadmill of the whole Las Vegas scene it became impossible to get off. embarked on similar projects before like Marilyn (Monroe) and the Mob so a certain one-track approach might have been expected. I may be old-fashioned but I prefer my documentaries to be balanced and even-handed like historical research. Consider the various viewpoints and opinions that are expressed or presented as evidence and then draw some logical and rounded conclusions. This feature has a title to live up to and it hurtles relentlessly towards justifying it. The documentary follows Elvis throughout three distinct phases of his career. Firstly, his sensational rise to stardom, then the fallow years of little recording, few live appearances and the making of second-rate movies to conclude with the era of Las Vegas residencies. Sometimes though, such is the pace of both film footage and voice-over narrative, that the chronology gets a little distorted and Elvis’ lasting legacy gets scant attention. Unfortunately there is little of Elvis’ legendary music either because, I suspect, of music licensing regulations. With such an assertive title, it is perhaps not surprising that it all amounts to a depressing watch and devotees will feel sorry for the ways in which their cult hero became so much the victim of his own success and so abused by an individual he mistakenly trusted—his exploitative ‘manager’ Colonel Tom Parker, although that was never his real name. While most showbiz managers at that time would take some 15-20% of their clients’ earnings, Parker would rake in 25% of Elvis’ income for his management duties plus a further 25% of the singer’s record royalties. Parker needed the cash because he was an “ultra” gambling addict and, given the Las Vegas’ movers and shakers the Colonel was dealing with, the ‘Mob’ just had to be involved. Initially the move to Sin City resurrected Elvis’ career but, as puppet-master Parker’s debts mounted, a short Vegas residency of one evening two-hour show spaced over eight weeks became two shows a day, seven days a week for many months. Burnout was inevitable, performances became erratic and then incoherent and the downward spiral began.

The documentary relies heavily on detail, supposedly gleaned from FBI files, and there are a number of ‘talking heads’ like music journalist and author Ray Connolly and Alanna Nash who has written a biography of Colonel Tom Parker. They claim to have had their finger on the pulse when it came to what was going on during this period of Elvis’ career but a lot of their comments could be supposition and it is difficult to check for authenticity. In short, it seems highly likely that Elvis’ money— via Parker—may have been used in some way for criminal money laundering in Las Vegas but there is nothing in the documentary to convincingly confirm that Elvis condoned this or even knew about it. Furthermore, there is also nothing to suggest that the singer mixed socially with known members of the Mafia as did entertainers like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Elvis put too much faith in an unscrupulous adviser and there was a dearth of confidantes who might have been a power for the good. Once he got onto the treadmill of the whole Las Vegas scene it became impossible to get off. The singer died tragically at Gracelands in 1977 at the age of forty-two. Parker lived another twenty years before passing away at the age of eighty-seven. Footnote 1: Tom Parker’s real name was Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk and he was born at Breda in The Netherlands in 1909. He entered America illegally as a young man and one of the reasons that Elvis Presley never toured in Europe was the fact that Parker thought that if he left the USA, he would be refused permission to get back in. Footnote 2: The Mob, criminal activists, should not be confused with the term The Memphis Mafia. This was the name given to a group headed by Elvis’ road manager Joe Esposito that consisted of ‘roadies’, music technicians and security personnel that accompanied the singer. They were given their name by a journalist because of their fondness for wearing sharp suits and sunglasses.

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Books

A SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICA Review by Fergus Byrne

A Short History of America: From Tea Party to Trump by Simon Jenkins

rying to understand and come to terms with American history has become an unpopular pastime that is often filled with angst in recent years, more often because of its leadership than the wars it has been involved in. Simon Jenkins’s book A Short History of America: From Tea Party to Trump offers a lively and straightforward look at a country built on grand ideals, impressive achievements, and difficult moral choices. Jenkins writes in an energetic, easy-to-read style, showing that America’s story is not a steady climb to greatness but a risky experiment. While he admires the United States for its unique talent for political and economic innovation, he is also clear about the flaws in its history, especially the treatment of Native Americans and black slaves, as well as a number of costly and failed foreign wars. At its best, the book highlights America’s impressive

achievements. Jenkins greatly admires the political skill shown during the revolutionary period, noting that the quality of their arguments and the skill with which they dealt with them was “unique in the process of forming a nation” and adding that “no aspect of political history deserves more admiration than America’s journey to independence.” Beyond politics, Jenkins explains how America became a leader in industry because of its special openness to innovation. He points to figures like Henry Ford, who changed global manufacturing in 1913 by cutting car assembly times from twelve hours to ninety minutes. This spirit of innovation also shaped modern culture, making London and New York look like “two sides of the same cultural coin.” Above all, Jenkins believes America’s greatest achievement was holding together a large and diverse union of states” without falling under “the iron grip” of centralised authoritarianism, unlike empires such as Russia or China. The book reminds readers that the country’s history began long before 1492, with early groups building Louisiana mounds “older than either Egypt’s pyramids or England’s Stonehenge.” But European expansion brought disaster. Jenkins does not hesitate to call Andrew Jackson’s 1830 Indian Removal Act a clear case of ethnic cleansing, since it reduced the Native population in the east from 130,000 to just

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30,000 in fifteen years. Later, Hollywood created myths that described this expulsion as “civilization triumphing over savagery.” Slavery was also deeply rooted in American institutions. When writing the Declaration of Independence, the Founders, in what Jenkins calls a “funk,” left out any mention of ending slavery to please southern delegates, while also referring to Native tribes as “merciless Indian savages.” Even after the Civil War, Black Americans were forced into sharecropping, where the enslaved person was to pay rent to work, and faced harsh Jim Crow segregation. This ongoing hypocrisy appeared again during World War II, as seen in the story of Black soldier Lloyd Brown, who was denied entry to a canteen serving German prisoners of war and began to wonder who was America’s real enemy. Alongside its moral failings, Jenkins focuses on the tragic and unsuccessful wars that revealed the limits of American power. He notes that General Ulysses S. Grant called the 1846 war with Mexico one of the most unjust ever fought by a stronger country against a weaker one and an example of “naked imperialism.” Decades later, America’s urge to intervene abroad reached a disastrous peak in Vietnam. That war went on for almost twenty years and saw more American bombs than had been dropped in the entire course

of the Second World War. The war ended in total defeat, with thousands of Americans and millions of Vietnamese killed and no strategic gain. By the end of the Cold War, Washington’s large defence establishment had become an uncertain policeman, always searching for new conflicts to justify its huge budget. Looking at recent years, Jenkins views the second Trump presidency, with a cabinet “virtually devoid of experience or intellectual distinction,” as just another tough chapter in America’s long history of political struggles. Despite two centuries of deep wounds, failed foreign ventures, and broken promises, Jenkins still has a realistic respect for the American project. He notes that the Constitution has allowed fifty very different states to live together through compromise for 250 years, which he calls “nothing short of astonishing.” Even with all its flaws, Jenkins argues that if the United States vanished, it would be a “global catastrophe,” because no other country could take its place. Simon Jenkins will discuss his book A Short History of America: From Tea Party to Trump at the Dorford Centre on 24th October at 2 pm. Part of Dorchester Literary festival visit https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/ for tickets.

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WANTED WANTED: Vintage collections, job-lots & estate items. (Antique, wartime, toys, Motoring, advertising, Curio & interesting items) Seeking larger collections (typically £300+ in value). Fair offers & instant cash payments. Friendly approach, no obligation & Free Home Visits. Discrete Local Buyer. Darren 07875 677 897 May 27

Vintage & antique textiles, linens, costume buttons etc. always sought by Caroline Bushell. Tel. 01404 45901. Dec 26

Wanted Old tractors. Any condition 4x4 pick-ups, estates, Peugeot 205D. Complete clearance undertaken. Tel. 07971 866364 Mar 27 Coin & Stamp Collections Wanted. Discerning collector / investor seeks pre-war collections of stamps and coins. Individual items considered. Tel Rod on 07802261339. Sept 26

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Driver volunteers wanted BRIDPORT & District Good Neighbours Scheme provide a valuable voluntary car service for people needing to get to hospital and medical appointments in the area. With an imperfect local bus service and the expense of taxis to and from Dorset County Hospital, let alone Bournemouth or Poole, there is a greater demand for this service. Unfortunately, with an aging local population of drivers, there is also a greater need for volunteers. Drivers do not have to commit to a certain number of hours, their expenses are covered as well as mileage, and usually there is no additional premium to pay on car insurance. To contact the charity please phone 07778 211140 to find out more about being a volunteer driver, your service will be appreciated by those needing help with transport to hospitals, health centres and dentists.

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