Planet Wimborne Newsletter
April 2025
Hopefully you’ve been able to enjoy the recent sunshine, the reappearance of summer migrants, and the emergence of butterflies and other insects from their winter sleep. Yes, Spring has definitely sprung!
This edition provides an update on what’s been happening in the area We would welcome any stories for our next Newsletter Please email planetwimborne@gmail.com.
Bee Quiz
Some quick general knowledge quiz questions, with a focus on bees:
1. How many bee species are there in the world?
2. Which region of the world has the most bee species?
3 Which is the world’s largest bee species?
4. How many of the UK’s bee species are threatened with extinction?
5. How many bee species might you have in your garden?
Answers below.
We still need volunteers to join our Campaigns sub-group. Please email planetwimborne@gmail com if you are interested in helping with this, or any other roles within PW
Spring is in the air
There are many r rn of spring after the dull, darker d ou can add some special events in
Planet Wimborne (earthday.org/earth-day-2025) as a focus for green-themed activities which will tie in with April’s annual ‘Discover Wimborne’ festival organised by the Wimborne BID (Business Improvement District (wimborne.info/business/wimborne-bid).
Alongside regulars like the Win on Waste collection, DonateIT and Community Litter Pick, there’ll be a Plant Swap at Walford Mill, a guided bird walk in Colehill Burial Ground and the opportunity to make eco-friendly party decorations at a craft workshop You can also meet Wimborne’s green community groups at ‘Spring on the Green’ on the Minster Green on Saturday 26th, and visit the Fair Ground shop in the Cornmarket anytime during April to pick up some seeds to plant (donations welcome).
For a full list of Spring Green events, see planetwimborne org/calendar
Spotlight on Community Groups in PW
We are aiming to profile each of the Community Groups belonging to Planet Wimborne here in this Newsletter. So if your group hasn’t been featured yet, please send us a brief description and details of current activities For this issue, we’d like to welcome Wimborne Community Theatre
Wimborne Community Theatre
Re-imagining the Dorset Environment through Community Theatre
The ethos of WCT, like that of Planet Wimborne, is to bring the community together in response to environmental and social issues, in our case as a way of expressing stories about place, and reflecting issues of importance to our community, such as the management of woodland (By Hook or By Crook in Holt Forest 2004; Bytheway 2018), and the role water and rivers play in our lives (The Great Rinsing, 2011; Our Rivers Run Through Us, 2019; Secrets of the Stour, 2022)
Since the group was set up in 1991 by a group of theatre, education and arts professionals, we have created over thirty original site-specific performances with community actors, set in unusual outdoor venues or non-theatre buildings All our productions bring to life stories and memories inspired by local places and the lives of inhabitants, past and present
River Memories
During the pandemic, we invited children and adults to share their memories of living near the Wimborne rivers. For some, the river is a place to visit to overcome personal turbulence or to seek stillness of mind in a view of ever moving waters ‘When you grow up in a landscape with a river, the water seems to wend its way through your memories like lines curving over the contours of a map.’
Read the memories here: https://www.wimbornecommunitytheatre.co.uk/river-memories-bylocal-people/
We hope our kind of landscape theatre that ‘situates human experience within a larger ecological story (not above it)’, will be a form of advocacy for understanding, even reconnecting, with nature’s ecosystems.
One audience member said: The way the performance moved through the landscape was so well planned, capturing the beauty of the location whilst also reinforcing the need to protect it.
Past Productions
To develop a production, WCT works with theatre and arts professionals and in partnership with local landowners, heritage and arts organisations, including the National Trust, English Heritage, which have enabled us to perform in places such as Hambledon Hill, Holt Forest, Kingston Lacy, Dean’s Court, as well as venues such as Wimborne Minster, Christchurch Priory, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, White Mill, Shapwick.
HOME: WCT’s current project
WCT’s next production will take place in the landscape at Kingston Lacy and will focus on the idea of ‘Home’ and what that means for people living in the Wimborne area. Wimborne is situated in an ancient landscape, once home to the Celtic tribe, the Durotriges, and the nuns of St Cuthburga, in the town centre, and close to the ancient homes of Deans Court and Kingston Lacy, and the hill fort at Badbury
As new home developments are completed on the periphery of the town, it’s timely to ask: What does home feel like? What’s it like for someone to move to a new house/town? How do they begin to feel a sense of being ‘at home’?
Get Involved
WCT is always looking for people to join – either as actors or backstage, or perhaps you are someone interested in developing creative ideas on a theme. We are an open group who enjoy travelling together on a creative journey. If you would like to give us your thoughts about what Home means to you, and what chosen object you would take when you move house, please take a few minutes to complete our Survey on HOME, here: Take a short HOME survey about what makes YOU feel at home - Wimborne Community Theatre
Apart from local school groups and a choir, students for Arts University Bournemouth will also be involved to make costumes and props, and Architecture students will design and make models of houses or shelters that may form settings for the play If you are interested in helping to construct these, please contact us. The production is dependent on receiving a grant from Arts Council England
Please contact us on: info@wimbornecommunitytheatre.co.uk
To find out more about WCT’s site-specific productions since 1991: www.wimbornecommunitytheatre.com
Community Theatre is a part of an international movement creating theatre within particular places, involving local people in sharing experiences and stories about the places they live. Gill Horitz, on behalf of Wimborne Community Theatre
A vision for a more sustainable Wimborne and surrounding area
We have set up a working group to come up with ways to engage as wide an audience as possible to develop a vision of what a more sustainable town and surrounding area could look and feel like. This has been inspired by Zero Carbon Dorset's vision for the county (https://www dorset2030 com/vision-statements html) So far the group has met a couple of times, and has brainstormed key words that we might wish to include in the vision statement We also presented these draft ideas to the groups represented at the networking event (see below), to gather further feedback. Our plan is to produce a draft set of statements, which we will circulate to all of the groups to elicit further feedback The next workshop meeting is Tuesday 22nd April at 7.30 pm in the Lion Hotel; all welcome!
Planet Wimborne Community Groups Get Networking
Planet Wimborne now has 30 affiliated Community Groups and many of them came together on Saturday 1st March 2025 at Wimborne Methodist Hall to share what they do and see how we can work together more. Linda Bunting, Chair of Planet Wimborne said, "We hosted a networking event last summer to hear from the Community groups and the one thing they all said was that they did not get enough time for a chat to get to know each other better. So, that's why we ran this event and the buzz in the room tells us it was a success "
The groups discussed how the UN Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) aligned with their activities to show how local actions have global connections. Having heard about Planet Wimborne's plans for the coming year, they discussed ideas for other possible collaborative projects. Over a vegetarian lunch, supplied by local Sorrels Caterers, there was also the opportunity to consider who was not in the room and how close a fit they might be to Planet Wimborne and add thoughts on what a more sustainable vision for Wimborne and the surrounding area could look and feel like
Dr Neil Smith, one of Planet Wimborne's Directors said, "It was a really great day. Everyone had their say and we've come away with a lot to think about and do."
Photo caption: Planet Wimborne and affiliated community group members
QUIZ ANSWERS: 1. About 20,000. 2. Asia, which has about 15% of the world’s bee species. 3. Megachile pluto, also known as Wallace's giant bee or raja ofu ( lit 'king of the bees'), which is a large resin bee found in Indonesia With a wingspan of 63 5 mm (2 5 in), it is the largest known living bee species. It was believed to be extinct until several specimens were discovered in 1981. It was originally discovered by Aldred Russel Wallace, who is buried in Broadstone. 4. 35. All native bee species are facing many threats, the most significant of which is the widespread use of pesticides in agriculture 5 We’ve found more than 20 species in our Wimborne garden. Stephen Falk has produced a wonderful Field Guide to the Bees of Britain, which can help you identify the bees on your own patch
Planet Wimborne Plans for 2025
We are busy making plans for the coming year Dates for your calendars are:
● Spring Green Earth Day celebrations (as part of Discover Wimborne 2025) - a number of events around Saturday 26th April.
● Green Festival (11th - 18th October) - a week long celebration of all things sustainable, with a focus on over consumption (working title: Buy Better, Be More).
Further details to be announced in due course We are always looking for volunteers to help with our events and please email planetwimborne@gmail com if you would like to help
Things happening around Wimborne
You can see what is coming up here. Some key dates for February and March:
20 April Mayoral Walk around Wimborne Minster
22 April Earth Day
26 April Spring Green Saturday, Plant Swap at Walford Mill all day, 10:30-15:00 Spring on the Green, 12:00-14:00 Donate IT
27 April Spring Green Sunday, Plant Swap at Walford Mill all day, 8:30 - 10:00 Discovering Birds walk, 11:30-13:00 Wimborne War on Waste’s Community Litter Pick.
30 April 19:30 - 21:30 Mayor’s Big Charity Quiz
18 May Sunday, 13:30 - 17:30 Ambient afternoon. An afternoon of ambient music concerts in the tea room of the Museum of East Dorset. Free entry, donations for Planet Wimborne.
We hope you’ve found some things of interest in this newsletter. If you have comments or suggestions for future topics, drop us an email at planetwimborne@gmail.com