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August 2014
Vandals desecrate cemetery memorials BLANDFORD Cemetery was again the target of vandalism over the first weekend in July when memorials were broken and laid flat, only weeks after the reopening of the cemetery chapel following an arson attack last summer. At least ten graves were discovered by town council groundsmen to have been damaged. Blandford Town Council vice-chairman Bob Brannigan, who was Mayor when the chapel was rededicated in May, said: "It is with great sadness that the Town Council has to report yet more damage and desecration in Blandford cemetery. "Several graves had damage done to memorial headstones and the emotional effect on families is incalculable. " Town Council staff are saddened by this vandalism as they pride themselves on maintaining the cemetery to a very high standard befitting the reverence and importance of the place." He said various additional security measures had been implemented immediately to deter further vandalism and crime at the cemetery. "Police are treating this as a very serious incident and the town council is offering a reward for any information leading to a conviction." The attack follows two occasions in recent weeks on which the cemetery wall has been knocked down by vehicles in Shaftesbury Lane.
Cupola restoration will take it back to its glorious past WORK to restore the cupola on Blandford's Grade I listed parish church of St Peter and St Paul will take it back to how it looked 265 years ago. When the landmark domed structure was first installed on the tower in 1749 it was clad in sturdy weatherboarding with elegant curlicues on the corner vanes and decorative gilding on the weather-vane at the top. Successive repairs over the years, some as recently as the 1960s following a lightning strike, were mostly done with poor materials. These included marine plywood, which specialists will replace with solid oak and a coating of paint that will only require re-painting every 10 years. As the £3m Cupola Project, partfunded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, for the restoration of the entire church moves ahead with the submission of phase one plans for approval by the diocese, a challenge has been laid down to the people of Blandford. Chair of the project Sara Loch is asking for their support in raising the £5,000 needed for the reinstatement and re-gilding of the weather vane. "It's a sum that we can work together towards raising," she says, "and then we will all be able to see and appreciate the results - on the top of the cupola,
visible for miles around." Miss Loch, 64, a town councillor and twice mayor of Blandford, is offering to play a major part in fund-raising for the entire project. "I'll abseil from the top of the tower if I can be sure it will raise £3,000," she says. "The Bishop of Sherborne says he'll join me, and I'd like to get some of the youth club involved, too. "I know the youth club used to abseil as a fund-raiser until about 20 years ago but the tower became too unsafe. By the time it is safe enough for us, next summer, I'll be 65, so the prospect of an abseiling pensioner should attract plenty of sponsors." Scaffolding is expected to go up next spring for work to start on the first phase of the restoration. The cupola and the tower on which it stands have priority as they are the most at risk, and in the same phase improvements will be made beside the west door to give wheelchair access. All the plans and background information will be displayed in a Cupola Project exhibition in the church from Thursday 7th August until Sunday 17th August. Ideas for raising money towards the Cupola £5k will be welcomed by the project team at comments@cupolaproject.org.uk or via the Cupola Project Facebook page or to Sara Loch on 01258 450278.
The flattened and broken memorials in Blandford Cemetery.
The cupola: an iconic landmark on Blandford’s parish church.