Sherborne Times September 2019

SEP TEMBER 2019 | FREE

A MONTHLY CELEBR ATION OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PURVEYOR

ON THE UP

with Sherborne's Apprentices

sherbornetimes.co.uk

WELCOME

I

f we keep it talking, hold its gaze, perhaps summer won’t notice the time. Up late, outside, salt-tangled hair and sand in our toes, we’re reluctant to wash it away. Children are moving up, on and out. With shorter hair and longer trousers they will trip, fall and triumph in a world of new ways. Have we kept the promises we made? To fill the days, feel the breeze? Ah well, there’s always next year. Always next year…

And so to September. We meet the bright young things keeping Sherborne’s wheels of industry turning — the apprentices taken under the wing of forward-thinking local businesses and actively encouraged to fly. Dan Chiappa-Patching remains mindful, Val bakes muffins, David Copp takes us to Luxembourg and Sarah Hitch has it nailed. Our series of previews continue in the run up to the Sherborne Literary Festival and we meet Buddhist monk, Gelong Thubten, ahead of this month’s Wellbeing by the Lakes Festival.

Have a great month.

Glen Cheyne, Editor glen@homegrown-media.co.uk @sherbornetimes

CONTRIBUTORS Juliana Atyeo

Editorial and creative direction Glen Cheyne Design Andy Gerrard @round_studio Sub editors Jay Armstrong @jayarmstrong_ Elaine Taylor Photography Katharine Davies @Katharine_KDP

Jeremy Barber Thumbnail Media @ThumbnailMedia thumbnailmedia.com Simon Barber Evolver Magazine @SimonEvolver evolver.org.uk Terry Bennett Abbey 104 @terry_bennett16 abbey104.com Elisabeth Bletsoe Sherborne Museum @SherborneMuseum sherbornemuseum.co.uk

Feature writer Jo Denbury @jo_denbury

Richard Bromell ASFAV Charterhouse Auctioneers and Valuers @CharterhouseAV charterhouse-auction.com

Editorial assistant Helen Brown

Alison Bryant Monkey Music monkeymusic.co.uk

Illustrations Elizabeth Watson @DandybirdDesign Print Pureprint Distribution team David Elsmore David and Susan Joby Christine Knott The Jackson Family Sarah Morgan Mary and Roger Napper Alfie Neville-Jones Mark and Miranda Pender Claire Pilley

Mike Burks The Gardens Group @TheGardensGroup thegardensgroup.co.uk Paula Carnell paulacarnell.com Cindy Chant Sherborne Walks @sherbornewalks sherbornewalks.co.uk Dan Chiappa-Patching Sherborne Preparatory School @Sherborneprep sherborneprep.org Tom Chiffers Mogers Drewett Solicitors @mogersdrewett md-solicitors.co.uk Ali Cockrean @AliCockrean alicockrean.co.uk

1 Bretts Yard Digby Road Sherborne Dorset DT9 3NL 01935 315556 @sherbornetimes info@homegrown-media.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk

Gillian M Constable DWT Sherborne Group @DorsetWildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk David Copp Rebecca de Pelet Sherborne School @SherborneSchool sherborne.org

John Gaye & Bill Bennette Sherborne Literary Society @SherborneLitSoc sherborneliterarysociety.com Kit Glaisyer @kitglaisyer kitglaisyer.com Craig Hardaker Communifit @communifit communifit.co.uk Andy Hastie Cinematheque cinematheque.org.uk Joanna Hazelton MARH RHom London Road Clinic @56londonroad 56londonroad.co.uk Sarah Hitch The Sanctuary Beauty Rooms @SanctuaryDorset thesanctuarysherborne.co.uk John House The Old Fosterians Association James Hull therustypigcompany.co.uk Shaun Leavey OBE @RideStrideUK rideandstrideuk.org Lucy Lewis Dorset Mind @DorsetMind dorsetmind.uk Gemma Loader BVet Med (Hons) MRCVS Kingston Vets @TheKingstonVets kingstonvets.co.uk Sasha & Tom Matkevich The Green Restaurant @greensherborne greenrestaurant.co.uk Millie Neville-Jones Alfie Neville-Jones & Oskar Maitland The Gryphon School Eco Club gryphon.dorset.sch.uk Mark Newton-Clarke MA VetMB PhD MRCVS Newton Clarke Veterinary Partnership @swanhousevet newtonclarkevet.com Simon Partridge BSc SPFit spfit-sherborne.co.uk

Jenny Dickinson Dear to Me Studio, Fine Stationery @DearToMeStudio deartome.co.uk

Dr Tim Robinson MB BS MSc MRCGP DRCOG MFHom Glencairn House Clinic glencairnhouse.co.uk doctortwrobinson.com

Sherborne Times is printed on an FSCÂŽ and EU Ecolabel certified paper. It goes without saying that once thoroughly well read, this magazine is easily recycled and we actively encourage you to do so.

Jimmy Flynn Milborne Port Computers @MPortComputers computing-mp.co.uk

Deacon Jonathan Simon Sacred Heart and St Aldhelm

Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the data in this publication is accurate, neither Sherborne Times nor its editorial contributors can accept, and hereby disclaim, any liability to any party to loss or damage caused by errors or omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause.

Sherborne Times does not officially endorse any advertising material included within this publication.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - without prior permission from Sherborne Times.

Andrew Fort B.A. (Econ.)

CFPcm Chartered MCSI APFS Fort Financial Planning ffp.org.uk

Paul Stickland Black Shed Flowers @NaughtyDinosaur blackshedflowers.blogspot.co.uk

Andy Foster raisearchitects.com @raisearchitects

Val Stones @valstones bakerval.com

Jan Garner Sherborne Scribblers Sherborne Literary Society

Sally Welbourn Dorset Wildlife Trust @DorsetWildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

4 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Heather Sheppard

68 8

What’s On

18 Film 22 Art 26 Shopping Guide 30 Family 44 Wild Dorset 50 History 56 Antiques

SEPTEMBER 2019 60 Gardening

122 Tech

68 SHERBORNE’S APPRENTICES

124 Directory

76 Food & Drink 88 Animal Care 94 Body & Mind 110 Property 118 Legal 120 Finance

126 Folk Tales 128 Community 130 Short Story 132 Literature 137 Crossword 138 Pause for Thought

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 5

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Thinking of letting your holiday home?

SEPTEMBER 2019 Listings

for Help with Technology

____________________________

____________________________

Sherborne Library, Hound St.

Wednesday 4th 3pm & 7pm

01935 812683

A Hungarian Metropolis:

____________________________

Art & Culture in Budapest

Sherborne Library, Hound St. Shared

Thursdays 2.30pm-4.30pm

Digby Hall, Hound Street. Non-

group. Free. 01935 812683

Tinney’s Lane Youth &

Last Monday of month 5pm-6pm

sherborneartslink.org.uk

Talk: Plants for Autumn Colour

Sherborne Library, Hound St.

First Thursday of

____________________________

Mondays 2pm-3.30pm ‘Feel Better with a Book’ Group reading aloud with a small & friendly

ArtsLink Fizz! Parkinson’s Dance

____________________________

Community Centre. 01935 815899

Thursday 5th 2.30pm-3.30pm

____________________________

Castle Gardens, New Rd, DT9 5NR

Bookchat A lively book discussion group

seach month 9.30am

____________________________

Netwalking

Tuesdays 10am-12pm & 2pm-4pm

From Sherborne Barbers, Cheap St.

ArtsLink Fizz! Art for Memory 01935 815899 sherborneartslink.org.uk

____________________________

members £7. theartssocietysherborne.org.uk ____________________________

Free walk & talk with other small business owners & entrepreneurs. yourtimecoaching.com

____________________________ First Thursday of each month 2pm-3.30pm “My Time” Carers’ Support Group 1st & 3rd Tuesdays 6pm-8pm Dorset Mind Sherborne Wellbeing Group Costa Coffee, Cheap St.

The Shielings, The Avenue, DT9 3AJ. Advice, coffee & chat. 01935 601499 or 01935 816321

____________________________

£3 incl. free drink. dorsetmind.uk

Fridays 2pm

Friday 6th 7pm

____________________________

Sherborne Health Walks

Our Man in New York

Tuesdays & Thursdays 10.30am

Leaving from Waitrose. Free, friendly

by Henry Hemming

____________________________

Rd. Tickets: TIC, Winstone’s or

Explore Historic Sherborne

walk around Sherborne. 07825 691508

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby

Blue Badge Guide Cindy, 1½-2-hour

Monday 2nd 12.30pm

ourmaninnewyork.eventbrite.co.uk

From Sherborne TIC, Digby Rd. With walk. £8 cindyatsherbornewalks@gmail.com

Talk & Book Signing

____________________________

(Jeffrey Archer)

Thursdays 9.30am-11.30am

Cheap St Church. £20/£30 plus free

Saturday 7th 2.30pm

ArtsLink Fizz! Art for Parents

(see preview page 133)

____________________________

signed book. 01935 816128

SDFHS Talk: Parish Registers –

____________________________

A social history

(two sessions). 01935 815899/07483

Tuesday 3rd

Raleigh Hall, Digby Rd.

____________________________

Raleigh Hall, Digby Rd.

St Pauls Church Hall/West End Hall 338969 sherborneartslink.org.uk

RVS Sherborne Lunch Club

Thursdays 1.30pm-2.30pm

07502 130241/01935 593539

Saturday 7th 3pm-9pm

____________________________

Vineyards Spirits Festival

Library writing group for sharing &

Wednesday 4th 2pm-4pm

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd,

The Sherborne Library Scribes discussion. 01935 812683

Sherborne History

____________________________

with Blue Badge Guides

Thursdays 2pm-4pm

Trinity Manor Care Home, Bradford Rd,

Seniors Digital Drop-in

DT9 6EX. Free. Afternoon tea included.

£3 members; non-members £5

____________________________

DT9 3NL. £20 vineyardsofsherborne.co.uk ____________________________ Sunday 8th 7.30am 30-mile Sportive Ride (age 13+) sherbornetimes.co.uk | 9

WHAT'S ON The Story Pig, Great Pitt Lane,

____________________________

Hog roast & refreshments afterwards ____________________________

01963 362355 artsreach.co.uk

Sandford Orcas DT9 4FG.

Saturday 14th 11.30am-3.30pm Sherborne Steam Waterwheel

Monday 16th 7.30pm-9pm

sportive.eventbrite.co.uk

Centre Open Day

Talk: Consider the Heavens

Sunday 8th 1pm-3pm

Oborne Road, DT9 3RX. sswc.co.uk

____________________________

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd. £5

Oborne Village Fete

Saturday 14th 1.30pm for 2pm

Tuesday 17th 11am-1pm

Playing Field & Church, Oborne.

Sherborne Museum Lecture:

Recognising Scams & Fraud

£1. 07866 933736

‘The Black Death in Dorset’

(Sherborne Police)

____________________________ Tuesday 10th 7.30pm

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd £5. Refreshments included

Trinity Manor Care Home, Bradford Rd,

____________________________

____________________________

Sherborne Bradford Abbas

____________________________

____________________________

DT9 6EX. Free. Refreshments included.

Camera Club

Saturday 14th-

Tuesday 17th

Village Hall, Bradford Abbas, DT9 6RF

Sunday 22nd 10am-4pm

RVS Sherborne Lunch Club

sbacameraclub.co.uk

Art Exhibition

____________________________

Raleigh Hall, Digby Rd.

Wednesday 11th 6.30pm

The Butterfly House, Castle Gardens.

07917 190309

Book Talk by Celia Brayford

07502 130241/01935 593539

____________________________

____________________________

Tuesday 17th 6.45pm

Winstone’s Bookshop, Cheap St. Free.

Sunday 15th 2.30pm

Talk: Stourhead by Alan Power,

____________________________

Sherborne Walk:

Head of Stourhead Estates

Thursday 12th 11am-1pm

Sherborne’s Buildings

Introduction to Bowen Therapy

Meet at TIC, Digby Rd.

Milborne Port Village Hall. £7.50 in

Trinity Manor Care Home, Bradford Rd, DT9 6EX. Free. Afternoon tea included.

£8pp. Approx 2hrs

____________________________

advance. 01963 251598/01963 220984

____________________________ Wednesday 18th 2.30pm

____________________________

WI Talk: ‘Walking Blind’ –

Thursday 12th 2.30pm-3.30pm

A Man’s Journey

Talk: Spring Bulbs for Pots

Catholic Church Hall, Westbury, DT9

Castle Gardens, New Rd

3RA. £4 - includes refreshments

____________________________

____________________________

Thursday 12th 7.30pm

Wednesday 18th 7.30pm

Talk: Bristol University

Dorset Wildlife Trust Talk:

Botanic Garden

'Living Landscapes'

Sherborne & District Gardeners’

With Andrew Pollard, Director of

01935 389375

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd.

Association. Raleigh Hall, Digby Rd

Landscape Conservation for DWT. Non-members: £2.50

____________________________ Friday 13th 11am

____________________________

Coffee Morning & Talk

Sunday 15th 2.30pm

Thursday 19th-Saturday 21st

Abbey View Nursing & Care Home,

Music in the Park: Sherborne

Wellbeing by the Lakes

Bristol Rd. Free.

Town Brass Band

____________________________

Pallington, Dorchester DT2 8QU. Tickets

Friday 13th 2pm-3pm

Pageant Gardens, Digby Rd

____________________________

from £25. wellbeingbythelakes.co.uk

____________________________

Talk: Autism, SEN & The Hidden

Sunday 15th 7pm

Thursday 19th 2.30pm-3.30pm

Needs Trust

Opera Holloway – La Boheme

Talk: Autumn/Winter Bedding

Sherborne Library, Hound St.

Contemporary adaptation.

Castle Gardens, New Rd

Free. 01935 812683

10 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Stalbridge Village Hall. £20. U18s £10.

____________________________

Speakers include:-

Tashi Lunpho Monks Yoga Meditation Sound Therapy Pilates Creative Spaces Evening music performances

Liz Earle MBE Gelong Thubten Mac Macartney Tiffany Francis Francis Trussell and many more... visit the website for the daily schedule

ALL INCLUDED IN THE TICKET PRICE

at

Sculpture by the Lakes 19th - 21st September Featuring wellbeing expert Liz Earle MBE and world renowned author and Buddhist Monk Gelong Thubten.

Curate your own wellbeing experience from a 3 day programme of expert talks, guided mediations, yoga, movement & mindfulness sessions, art workshops, live performances and healing therapies, evening music concerts, candlelit paths around the lakes - it’s going to be magical!

BOOK NOW - Advance tickets from ÂŁ30.00 per day www.wellbeingbythelakes.co.uk office@sculpturebythelakes.co.uk +44 (0)7720 637808 Pallington Lakes, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 8QU

WHAT'S ON ____________________________ Saturday 21st 10.30am-12.30pm

DT9 6EX. Free. Afternoon tea included. ____________________________

Oxfam Coffee Morning

Tuesday 24th 7.15pm for 8pm

Raleigh Hall, Digby Rd

Talk: Why didn’t Britain go either

____________________________

Fascist or Communist between

Tuesday 24th 11am-1pm

the two World Wars?

Benefits of Exercise

Digby Hall, Hound St. Non-members: £5.

& Healthy Eating Trinity Manor Care Home, Bradford Rd,

sherbornehistoricalsociety.co.uk

____________________________

DT9 6EX. Free. Fruit buffet included.

Tuesday 24th 7.30pm

____________________________

Sherborne Bradford

‘As Kingfishers Catch Fire’

Tuesday 24th

Abbas Camera Club

Elementum Gallery, South St. Tickets:

RVS Sherborne Lunch Club

Village Hall, Bradford Abbas, DT9 6RF

____________________________

07502 130241/01935 593539

Friday 20th 6.30pm Art Exhibition Opening Event:

Elementum Gallery/01935 813776

Folke Golf Club.

Saturday 21st 8.45am

____________________________

Wednesday 25th 7.30pm

7th Annual Camelot Challenge

Tuesday 24th 2pm-4pm

Sherborne Science Café Talk:

(half-marathon)

Dementia Friends

Banking the World’s Seeds

Starts from Gryphon Sports Centre,

information session

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd. £2

Bristol Rd. theeventurists.com

Trinity Manor Care Home, Bradford Rd,

sbacameraclub.co.uk

____________________________

____________________________

Award-winning music classes for babies and young children

Now open in Sherborne

Tuesdays at The Scout Hut, Blackberry Lane, Sherborne DT9 4DE To book your FREE CLASS please call 01935 850541 or visit www.monkeymusic.co.uk sherborne.dorchester@monkeymusic.co.uk MonkeyMusic MonkeyMusicNews

12 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019

Please share your recommendations and contacts via FaceBook @sherborneparents ____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

Mondays 4pm

Tuesdays starting 10th

1st Saturday of the

Helen Laxton School of Dance

Monkey Music

month 10.30am-12pm

Sherborne Primary School. Ballet,

Scout Hut, Blackberry Rd.

Sticky Church

helenlaxtonschoolofdancing.com

monkeymusic.co.uk

Free group for playgroup &

street dance, hip hop.

____________________________

Booking essential.

Cheap Street Church Hall.

____________________________

primary age children.

01963 251747

Mondays from 9th 4pm

Fridays 9.30am-11am

Stardust Dance School

Bishops Caundle

Oxley Dance Studio. Ballet/Tap/

Toddler Group

Saturday 14th 2pm-3pm

Modern dance. Reception-Yr 4.

Roald Dahl ‘Splendiferous’

stardustdanceschool@gmail.com

All Saints School, Bishops Caundle

____________________________

Story & Craft Session

____________________________

Fridays starting 6th 7.15pm

Tuesdays from 10th

Shindo Wadokai Karate

Sherborne Library, Hound St.

(term-time) 9.30am

Club (age 5+)

Nether Compton Baby

Sherborne Dance Academy,

& Toddler Group Village Hall

____________________________

Free. Ages 3+ 01935 812683

____________________________

North Rd. 07769 215881

____________________________

____________________________

Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance

centreforpuresound.org

Abbey View Nursing Care Home, Bristol

Saturday 28th 7pm for 7.30pm

Monday 30th 7.30pm-9pm

Rd. £2pp includes continental breakfast

Last Night of the Proms

Talk: Robots of Good Character

____________________________ Friday 27th 7pm

Digby Hall, Hound St.

£7 from Sherborne TIC

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd. £5

Friday 27th 7.30am-8.45am Breakfast Networking Meeting

Literary Society: Horses &

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

Humans by Lucy Sewill + AGM

Saturday 28th 7.30pm

Planning ahead

Raleigh Hall, Digby Rd. Tickets:

Concert with Connaught

____________________________

Winstone’s Bookshop or on door

Brass Quintet

Saturday 5th – Sunday 6th

____________________________

October 10am-5pm

Friday 27th 8pm

St Peter’s Church, Stourton Caundle. £18.

01963 364384 tim@familyvilliers.co.uk

Art Exhibition

____________________________

The Trooper Inn, Stourton Caundle,

Sunday 29th 10am-4pm

Templecombe Village Hall. Free.

Refreshments available.. Proceeds

recommended.

Playshop (10am-12.30pm)

Chris Foster in Concert DT10 2JW. 01963 362890. Booking

Angels of Sound Voice

____________________________

Crystal & Tibetan Bowl

Tuesday 8th October 8pm

Saturday 28th 10am-12pm

Soundbath (2pm-4pm)

Talk: The Diet of Worms 1521

Leigh WI Coffee Morning

Oborne Village Hall, DT9 4LA.

Digby Hall, Hound St. Non-members: £5.

Village Hall, Leigh, DT9 6HL. In aid of

£12 per session. 01935 389655

to Alzheimers Society

____________________________

sherbornehistoricalsociety.co.uk

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 13

WHAT'S ON ____________________________

Workshops & classes

Thursdays 10am-12pm The Slipped Stitch Workshops The Julian, Cheap St. 01935 508249

session. 01935 389655 ahaihel@live.com centreforpuresound.org

____________________________

____________________________

Saturday 14th 10am-5pm

Thursdays 2.30pm-4pm

White Tara Day Group Workshop

____________________________

ArtsLink Fizz! Parkinson’s Dance

2nd Monday of month

Tinney’s Lane Youth & Community

Oborne Village Hall, DT9 4LA. £40

9.30am-3.30pm West Country Embroiderers Workshop – Water-soluble Fabrics

Centre. Free dance class & social time

01935 389655 centreforpuresound.org

____________________________

for people who live with Parkinson’s.

Sunday 15th 1.30pm-4.30pm

____________________________

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd. £10

01935 815899 sherborneartslink.org.uk

Sherborne Folk Band Workshop

01963 34696

Thursdays 7pm-9.30pm

____________________________

Art Club@Thornford for Adults

in advance; £12 on door. 07527 508277

Tuesdays 10am–12pm

Wheelwright Studios, Thornford

Bishops Caundle Village Hall.

ArtsLink Fizz! Art for Memory

sherbornefolkband.org

____________________________

DT9 6QE. 07742 888302,

Thursday 26th 7pm for 7.30pm

alicockrean@gmail.com or alicockrean.co.uk

Sherborne Floral Group

____________________________

Workshop: Hogarth’s Curve

stage memory loss. 01935 815899

Fridays

Catholic Church Hall, DT9 3EL.

____________________________

Wheelwright Studios, Thornford.

Wingfield Room, Digby Hall, Hound St. Free art class for people with early sherborneartslink.org.uk

Acrylic Classes

Tuesdays

07742 888302 alicockrean.co.uk

Watercolour Classes

01935 813316

____________________________

____________________________

Saturday 28th -

Wheelwright Studios, Thornford

Wednesday 11th 6pm-8pm

Sunday 29th 9am-5pm

07742 888302 alicockrean.co.uk

Style Workshop

@WriteInDorset -

____________________________

with Lindsay Punch

Weekend Writing Workshop

Tuesdays 10am-1pm

Trinity Manor Care Home, Bradford Rd,

with Rory MacLean

signaturestyleclass.eventbrite.co.uk

£275 including lunch and refreshments.

until December Chetnole Art Group with Laurence Belbin

DT9 6EX. £30/35 refreshments included.

Haydon Church Studio, DT9 5JB.

____________________________

rorymaclean.com/workshops

Village Hall, Chetnole.

Friday 13th 10am onwards

____________________________

121 Soundbath

£135 for 13-week term. 01935 872256

White Tara Pureland

Wednesdays 2pm-4pm & Oborne Village Hall, DT9 4LA. £50/ saw_bridport_times_ad:Layout 1 14/08/2019 17:54 Page 1

____________________________

Yoga/pilates ____________________________

SOMERSET ART WEEKS

FESTIVAL 2019

21 SEPTEMBER – 6 OCTOBER This year celebrates the 25th Anniversary of Somerset Art Weeks FREE FESTIVAL GUIDE now available in Tourist Information Centres, libraries, galleries and other outlets, as well as online FESTIVAL 2019 features over 130 venues as well as a special event programme including SAW projects and commissions, workshops, demonstrations and Family Friendly activities

somersetartworks.org.uk

14 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 Classes in Yetminster, Chetnole &

____________________________

justbyoga@outlook.com

& Friday mornings

Corton Denham. 07983 100445

Tuesday evenings

____________________________

Iyengar Yoga

Mondays-Sundays

Digby Church Hall, Digby Rd.

Yoga with Emma Venues - Sherborne, Milborne Port,

Thornford. emmayogateacher@gmail.com

Mondays 10.30am-12pm Yoga with Gemma

With experienced teacher Anna Finch.

01935 389357

____________________________

emmareesyoga.com

Wednesdays 8.20am-9.20am

____________________________

(term-time only)

Mondays-Sundays

Vinyassa Flow Yoga

Hatha Yoga

Manor House, Leweston School. 07403

Meditation & Relaxation. Small classes, beginners welcome. hello@yogasherborne.

245546 sarahlouisewilliams@yahoo.com

____________________________

co.uk yogasherborne.co.uk

Wednesdays am,

____________________________

Thursdays am & Fridays pm

gemski81@hotmail.com

Tuesdays 10am-11am

Yoga with Suzanne

____________________________

Vinyassa Flow Yoga

Mondays & Wednesdays

Stourton Caundle Village Hall. 07403

Sherborne venues. Especially suitable for

Longburton Village Hall. 07812 593314

Just Breathe Yoga

245546 sarahlouisewilliams@yahoo.com

aged 50+01935 873594

____________________________

100 ARTISTS 56 VENUES

BRIDPORT & WEST DORSET OPEN STUDIOS

bridportopenstudios.co.uk

7-15 SEPTEMBER 2019

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 15

WHAT'S ON Town Centre, outside Post Office

Saturday 7th

____________________________

Cheddar (A)

Charlton Horethorne Village Hall.

Saturday 28th 9.30am-4pm

Saturday 21st

£7.50. 07828 625897

Chasty Cottage Antiques Fair

Portishead (H)

ali@positive-postures.co.uk

Saturday 28th

____________________________

Digby Hall, Hound St

____________________________

Wednesdays 2pm-3pm Classic Mat-based Pilates

Fridays 4pm-5pm

____________________________

Classic Hatha Yoga (beginners)

Sport

Charlton Horethorne Village Hall. £7.50.

____________________________

____________________________

7.30pm–8.30pm

07828 625897 ali@positive-postures.co.uk

Fairs & markets ____________________________

Warminster (H)

Tuesdays & Thursdays Mixed Touch Rugby Sherborne School pitches, Ottery Lane

DT9 6EE. £2 per session, first 4 sessions free. 07887 800803 sherbornetouch.org.uk

Sherborne RFC

The parade

Sundays 9am (from Abbey gates)

____________________________

& Wednesdays 6pm (from Riley’s)

The Terrace Playing Fields, DT9 5NS

Thursdays 9am-11.30am

Digby Etape Cycling Club Rides

Country Market

Average 12mph for 60 minutes.

Chippenham (A)

@SherborneCyclingClub

Marlborough (H)

Thursdays & Saturdays Pannier Market

Church Hall, Digby Rd

____________________________ Every third Friday 9am-1pm

____________________________

First XV Southern Counties South sherbornerfc.rfu.club. 2.15pm start Saturday 7th

Drop-bar road bike recommended.

Saturday 14th

____________________________

Saturday 21st

Farmers’ Market

Old Centralians (A)

Cheap St

Saturday 28th

____________________________

Old Patesians (H)

Every 4th Saturday 9am-3.30pm

____________________________

Vintage Market

To include your event in our FREE

Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd.

listings please email details – date/

07809 387594

Sherborne Town FC

time/title/venue/description/price/ contact (max 20 words) – by the

Saturday 21st 10am-4pm

First XI Toolstation Western League

Division 1. Terrace Playing Fields, DT9 5NS. sherbornetownfc.com. 3pm start

listings@homegrown-media.co.uk

____________________________ Wincanton SEED Market

5th of each preceding month to

Creative Art

NEW courses, tutors, evening classes, talks and films Free weekly wellbeing groups: Parkinson’s Dance, Art for Memory, Art for Parents

www.sherborneartslink.org.uk 01935 815899

Sherborne ArtsLink Ltd Company no. 2471382. Registered charity no. 1007680 Funded by Dorset Council and National Lottery Community Fund

16 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

ARE YOUR RETIREMENT PLANS ON COURSE? Contact us for a pension review.

PETER HARDING WEALTH MANAGEMENT Principal Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management

36 Haven Road, Canford Cliffs, Dorset BH13 7LP Tel: 01202 830730 40 High Street, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 8JG Tel: 01747 855554 9 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PU Tel: 01935 315315 Email: peterhardingwm@sjpp.co.uk Web: www.peterhardingwm.co.uk The Partner Practice is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products. The ‘St. James’s Place Partnership’ and the title ‘Partner Practice’ are marketing terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives. Peter Harding Wealth Management is a trading name of Peter Harding Practice Ltd.

Film

The Guardians (2015)

ON FILM

S

Andy Hastie, Yeovil Cinematheque

eptember is here and Cinematheque begins its 38th season showing the cream of world cinema.

Our not-to-be-missed opening film is the French Les Gardiennes (The Guardians), a wonderful period drama of 1915 Western France during the First World War. The ‘Gardiennes’ of the title are women left behind to work the land on the Paridier farm during the agonising absence of their men at the front.

Nathalie Baye commands in ‘the role of a lifetime’ as the matriarch doing whatever it takes to maintain land and status as the men make intermittent returns from the horror of the fighting. The arrival of an outsider, the teenage orphan Francine, to help with the chores acts as a catalyst, shaking things up for the whole family, particularly Hortense’s son Georges.

The Guardians is undoubtedly a beautiful film. The landscape photography of the French countryside, ‘like a series of Monet paintings come to life,’ is shot throughout the year in early morning mist or early evening sunlight, with the seasonal rhythms of repeated images of women labouring in the fields. The director, Xavier Beauvois, lingers over the minutiae of these moments in unhurried compositions of a way of life 18 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

forced upon the womenfolk by the situation they find themselves in. All the time in the background, however, in the letters home or on the faces of the men on leave, is the unseen horror of war.

The Guardians is a rewarding and rich film, which offers a considered insight into the lives of those left behind by history. (Pamela Hutchinson, Sight and Sound magazine) After having seen this stunning film, I was struck as to how much the rhythms and conflicts of rural life reminded me of Thomas Hardy and, if that appeals to you, do come along as a guest to the Swan Theatre in Yeovil on 25th September for 7.30pm. We would be delighted to welcome you. Better still, think about becoming a member. cinematheque.org.uk swan-theatre.co.uk

____________________________________________ Wednesday 25th September 7.30pm The Guardians (2017) 15 Cinemateque, Swan Theatre, 138 Park St, Yeovil BA20 1QT Members £1, guests £5.00

____________________________________________

WET PLATE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS WITH SIMON SANDYS BOOKING NOW FOR SPRING 2020 Immerse yourself in the technology of the 1850’s. Using large format cameras, you will be taught how to prepare plates, shoot on a large format camera, work with natural light and develop tintype and glass plate ‘Ambrotype’s’ in a makeshift darkroom.

For more information contact: eleanor@denmangould.com or visit: www.denmangould.com/workshops

Haydon Church Studio Haydon Dorset DT9 5JB

As Kingfishers Catch Fire Paintings and sketches by artist and illustrator, Neil Gower

Sat 21st Sep – Sat 12th Oct Elementum Gallery, Sherborne

An evening with Neil Gower and private view of the exhibition

6.30pm, Fri 20th Sep

TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM ELEMENTUM GALLERY OR ONLINE

01935 813776

elementumgallery.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 19

PREVIEW In association with

Louise Jordan: ‘The Hard Way’ The Story of Hannah Mitchell ____________________________________________ From a remote hilltop farm in the Derbyshire moorlands to

Friday 27th September 7.30pm

of storytelling with song by acclaimed musician and composer

£8/£6. 01308 424922

Manchester city magistrate. ‘The Hard Way’ is a one-woman show Louise Jordan. With just two weeks’ formal schooling behind her

Village Hall, Broakoak DT6 5NL

and through her sheer force of character, Hannah escapes domestic

Saturday 28th September 7.30pm

councillor and finally a magistrate. A self-taught, self-made

£8/£6. 01929 423834

drudgery to become a campaigner, speaker, writer, suffragette, woman, Hannah leaves home aged 14 years, exchanging one

Village Hall, Langton Matravers BH19 3HA

exploitative situation for another. In 1906 she finds herself face

Sunday 29th September 4pm

time in Strangeways prison. This show celebrates one woman’s

£9/£6. 01300 348247

to face with Winston Churchill at a public meeting and spends determination to take power in the face of insurmountable barriers, motivated by a desire to improve life for those around her. evolver.org.uk louisejordan.co.uk 20 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Memorial Hall, Piddletrenthide DT2 7QF

artsreach.co.uk

____________________________________________

ARTIST AT WORK No. 11: Zac Greening, Blue Neuron, Chasing LEDs and reused plastic bottles, 4m x 2m x 1m

M

y inspiration comes principally from nature – ‘the ultimate sculptress’. I work in a wide range of media from discarded plastic bottles to organic matter. A narrative is created that highlights the relationship between man and the natural environment. Common themes found in my work often abstractly express or make a comment on issues such as sustainability, environmental degradation or consumption; alternatively, they may simply be an expression of the marvel and awe which I see in nature’s natural forms. I communicate with and remind the viewer of mankind’s inextricable socio-economic and spiritual link with the natural environment.

Blue Neuron was inspired by a recent study which has come out of the University of British Columbia who have discovered that trees communicate with each other via their own ‘neural’ network. Being made entirely from found plastic bottles, it also attempts to make a comment

on the overwhelming pervasion of plastic entering into our ecosystems. The piece was selected and commissioned this year by Canary Wharf ’s Winter Lights Programme. zacgreening.com Blue Neuron is available to purchase at £2,500.

This, and other works, are also available to hire.

____________________________________________ Wednesday 21st September Sunday 6th October, 11am - 4pm Zac Greening - Somerset Art Weeks Festival Zac’s work will feature as part of this year’s festival at Venue 61, 7 High Street, Wincanton. Open every day except Mondays.

Pick up a free Somerset Art Weeks guide locally or see website for more details. somersetartworks.org.uk

____________________________________________ sherbornetimes.co.uk | 21

Art

Alex Lowery

T

he 21st Bridport & West Dorset Open Studios event takes place from 7th to 15th September, with over 100 artists showing in 56 venues including studios, homes and galleries. Presented in a beautiful 56-page guide are distinctive portraits of participating artists by photographer Pete Millson.

This year esteemed painter Fred Cuming RA is the event Patron, a widely admired artist, having won the Grand Prix de l’Art Contemporaries in 1998. He is showing at Sladers Yard gallery alongside artists Alex Lowery, Vanessa Gardiner, Luke Elwes, Frances Hatch, Janette Kerr, Marzia Colonna, Fiamma Colonna Montagu and Petter Southall.

The Guide cover artist, Ella Squirrell, is a rapidly emerging talent, recently graduated from Falmouth College of Art and selected by FBA Futures to exhibit in London. Other young artists to keep an eye on include Ellie Preston, a graduate of Chelsea School of Art who creates delicate abstract paintings in oil on board on a small scale, and Tilia Holmes who specialises in pyrography (burning illustration) and oil painting on unusual pieces of wood at the Dansel Gallery in Abbotsbury. In Bridport, Phill Moon explores the 22 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

healing and transformational power of art, while illustrator Pippa Evans favours pen & indian inks and botanical subjects. Poppy Moores will be showing multi-media and video works in Symondsbury.

It’s now a year on from the fire that destroyed half of the renowned St Michael’s Studio Complex in Bridport’s Art & Vintage Quarter, and many of the artists have been adjusting to new surroundings. BOS Director Kit Glaisyer has recently set up a new studio and gallery in central Bridport, while Caroline Ireland and David Brooke have found studios in the village of Morecombelake. Illustrators Paul Blow, Suzanna Hubbard and Russ Snedker have all relocated to other studios on the St Michael’s Trading Estate, while painter Marion Taylor works in Loders and will be exhibiting at Eype Church with her popular Colmer’s Hill paintings.

In Bridport, the Portmanteau Gallery presents geometric ceramics by Björk Haraldsdóttir and woven tapestry and etchings by Jacy Wall. Nearby, find popular semi-abstract paintings by Boo Mallinson, then up the road, collages by Ali Tebbs and gestural calligraphic paintings by Mart Tebbs.

Bjork Harraldsdottir

Mart Tebbs

Popular artist Gerry Dudgeon returns once again in Melplash, and newcomer Chrissie Jenkins arrives in Beaminster from New Zealand. Harland Viney, showing in Mangerton Mill, was shortlisted for the John Ruskin Prize in 2017, while sculptor John Wolf was awarded the Van Leyden Prize from the Medical Arts Society in 2018. In Wynford Eagle, Sue Jenkins specialises in highly accomplished painted portraiture of farm animals and wildlife.

In West Allington, Kim and David Squirrell will be showing a collection of artists at their new ‘makers’ shop, Ink & Page, where they continue the ‘making’ tradition with a bindery upstairs and makers-shop downstairs showing handcrafted work from local makers and artists.

There’s a new collective of three artists at the Red Barn Studios in West Chelborough: Esther Jeanes, whose paintings are dominated by the sky; Malcolm Giladjian, an impressionist who studied in France; and Claudia Dharamshi, who experiments with unconventional media, surface texture and layering.

In Symondsbury, painter Peter Hitchin will be showing his unique figurative works and, nearby, the

Hugh Dunford Wood

Lyme Bay Artists have moved from the old Town Mill Gallery to their new gallery on the Symondsbury Estate.

Another artist to move to Bridport from Lyme Regis is painter, printmaker and designer Hugh Dunford Wood, best known for his bespoke, hand-printed wallpapers.

Then there’s a great new venue at the Durbeyfield, West Bay, with four artists: batik works by Sue Barnes, subtle landscape paintings by Nicola Moeran, free-hand embroidery by Debbie Tiltman and intuitive gestural abstracts by Ruta Skrinskiene.

And, perhaps the most interesting new participant must be sculptor Nigel Dawes in Uploders, who will be showing his extraordinary Vacuum Cleaner Mutations, Frankenstein sculptures assembled from broken household objects, toys and devices. bridportopenstudios.co.uk

____________________________________________ Saturday 7th - Sunday 15th September Bridport and West Dorset Open Studios Showcasing the work and process of more than 100 artists in 56 venues across the region. Visit bridportopenstudios.co.uk for details

____________________________________________ sherbornetimes.co.uk | 23

Art

HOW TO GET THE BEST OUT OF YOUR ART CLASS Rohatynchuk Mykola/Shutterstock

S

Ali Cockrean, Artist

eptember’s here and with it a plethora of potential activities to fill those short, autumnal days as we head towards Christmas! For those of us offering adult education classes it’s the busiest term of the year, as people consider taking up new hobbies or revisiting an existing interest. Learning to draw and paint is high on a lot of people’s lists. So how do you ensure you get the best out of your art class experience?

First of all, make sure that you are clear about your goals. It might simply be that you want to understand how to draw better, or perhaps you really want to master a particular medium. Whatever your reasons, a good tutor should always ask you what you want to achieve and discuss how they will help you do this. They should also manage your expectations about what is achievable in one term, as learning a new skill takes time and practice.

Before you join any class ask about class size. This 24 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

is really important as the more students there are in a class, the less time the tutor will have to spend with you on a one-to-one basis. Larger classes generally cost less than smaller ones but it can prove to be a false economy if you are someone who likes a lot of personal attention and feedback.

Be aware that there are many different ways to deliver an art class. Some tutors choose to lead from the front, with all their students working on the same project at the same time. Some regularly demonstrate, some don’t.

Others encourage all students to work on individual projects within one class. There are tutors who only teach others to draw or paint like they do themselves. Then there are tutors who encourage experimentation and exploration, so that their students have broader experience and can discover their own personal ‘style’ over time.

Again, whichever you choose depends largely on how

you learn best. If you aren’t sure how a tutor works, don’t be scared to ask ahead of joining the class. The tutor should be happy to talk to you about this before you pay your money. Some students love to work in a very structured environment while others prefer the freedom of a more flexible approach. Do also take time to look at the type of work your tutor creates. It should inspire and excite you to want to learn with them.

There should be chemistry between you and your tutor. Good tutors take time to get to know their students and how they tick. They will, for example, understand how different students react in a variety of situations and be able to manage the ups and downs of learning to draw and paint. They should be encouraging and positive about your achievements, however small, because tiny improvements are always the steppingstones to greater successes.

Look at the length of the class too. Some students work best in shorter bursts and, for them, a 2-hour class is long enough. Others like to take their time and prefer a longer class so that they can fully relax into their work.

Ask lots of questions. If you aren’t sure about anything, however small, ask. No question is too silly when you’re learning and your tutor should encourage you to find out as much as you can during their classes.

Remember practising outside of the class will always help you to develop your techniques more quickly than only painting once a week. Be careful not to compare yourself with others in the class either. They may well be doing more work at home or have more previous experience. Whatever the reason, it is far more productive to measure yourself against your own improvement over time to see how much you’ve achieved.

As a tutor, I always measure how successful a class has been by the number of students who return term on term. This is called the retention rate and it’s always been my own personal measure of how well I’m meeting my student’s needs. That said, I also think it’s very important for my students to experience variety, so I will always encourage them to expose themselves to a range of workshops and painting holidays with other artists.

Most of all you should look forward to your art class and it should be fun as well as informative. A shared interest means that often new friendships are forged and a good art class becomes far more than just an opportunity to pick up a paintbrush... it becomes a social occasion full of laughter and creative energy! alicockrean.co.uk

LOUISE BALAAM JILL BARTHORPE EMMA HAGGAS ELSA TAYLOR 14th September – 2nd October

Elsa Taylor

Still Life On Grey

Jill Barthorpe

Green Bowl

www.jerramgallery.com THE JERRAM GALLERY Half Moon Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3LN 01935 815261 info@jerramgallery.com Tuesday – Saturday sherbornetimes.co.uk | 25

Shopping Guide

Antipodes Botanicals, Natural Life Wholefoods £16.99 each

Cushion, Circus £36

Lotus flower candle-holder, Occasions Flowers £12.99

Ortigia glass plate, Circus £30

BALMY NIGHTS Jenny Dickinson, Dear to Me Studio We’re holding out for an Indian summer with these exotic finds. deartomestudio.com 26 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Lantern, Melbury Gallery £9

Bird necklace, Melbury Gallery £28

Leaf necklace, White Feather £21

Peacock bottle opener, Fly Jesse £17

Agate ring, White Feather £59.99

Men’s shirt, Circus II £64.95 sherbornetimes.co.uk | 27

Clothing Jewellery

Autumn Collections!

Gifts Home Sherborne 01935 814027

Dorchester 01305 265223

Vineyards

SPIRITS� FEST

DESIGNER

Est. 2019

SATURDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER, 3PM-9PM Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Road, Sherborne DT9 3NL

SPIRITS� LIVE MUSIC� FOOD DEMOS

Tickets £20

Available now from Vineyards wine shop

In aid of

Half Moon Street Sherborne opposite the Abbey

01935 812 927

Bespoke & Ready to Wear 28 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

SOFA

PROMOTION ENDS 30.09.19

THECIRCUSBOUTIQUE.COM 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM 01935 816551 33 CHEAP STREET, SHERBORNE, DORSET DT9 3PU.

@elizabethwatsonillustrations

Excellence in Private Tuition We assist students aged 5-18 years in literacy, numeracy, SEN, Common Entrance, GCSE, A-Level and exam technique.

Please contact Emily on 07940 423525 or emily@ascent-tutors.com www.ascent-tutors.com 30 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Tour Morning Come & explore all that we offer

Saturday 28th September 2019 10am - 12 noon Informal group tours & meet the staff | Opportunities for children to join fun activities For details & to register:

www.sherborneprep.org/tours

You are invited to join us for our

AUTUMN OPEN MORNINGS Saturday 5th & Friday 11th October 2019, 11am - 1pm

Nursery & Prep School | Outstanding Extra-Curricular Activities | Extensive School Bus Routes 01963 442 606 | www.hazlegrove.co.uk | admissions@hazlegrove.co.uk | Sparkford, Somerset, BA22 7JA sherbornetimes.co.uk | 31

UNEARTHED Bella Moore, Aged 14

The Gryphon School

L

ike most children Bella started swimming when she was very young. However, her determination and competitive spirit has seen her hobby transform into a true talent. Bella recently qualified for the National Swimming Championships where she competed in the 100m butterfly.

Qualifying for the nationals does not come easily, and Bella’s training regime is intense. She trains eight times a week, including morning sessions at Yeovil Swimming Club, and evenings at Millfield School with Street & District Swimming Club. Training at Millfield has allowed her to practice in their 50m pool and the club has supported and pushed her, which has seen her results improve dramatically this year. Outside of the pool she also works with a personal trainer to ensure peak fitness.

Bella’s favourite discipline is front crawl, so she was surprised and delighted to hear she’d qualified in butterfly. Having previously competed at a regional level she has regularly finished in the top five across 100m and 200m distances.

Her commitment to swimming leaves little time for other hobbies but Bella is also excelling academically and looking forward to starting her GCSE options this month, which include triple science, Spanish, economics and history.

gryphon.dorset.sch.uk

KATHARINE DAVIES PHOTOGRAPHY Portrait, lifestyle, PR and editorial commissions 07808 400083 info@katharinedaviesphotography.co.uk www.katharinedaviesphotography.co.uk

32 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Family

Children’s Book Review

by Ethan (aged 11)

Greek Myths and Mazes, by Jan Bajtlik (Candlewick Studio, Oct 2019) £16.99 Sherborne Times Reader Offer price of £15.99 from Winstone’s Bookshop

A

s someone who has always been fascinated

by Greek mythology, I was excited to read Greek Myths and Mazes by Jan Bajtlik. It’s a history and puzzle book in one. There are 24 challenging mazes to complete, lots of myths to read and, most interestingly, a family tree which gives the reader an idea of how all the titans, titanesses, queens, gods, goddesses, and heroes (a cross between a god and a human) fit in together. I liked how the book gives examples of

'Independent Bookseller of the Year 2016’ 8 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PX www.winstonebooks.co.uk Tel: 01935 816 128

words and phrases from Greek mythology that we still use today. For example: ‘Pandora’s box’ being a source of trouble and great misfortune, ‘Achille’s heel’ being someone’s weak spot and ‘a Trojan horse’ being someone or something brought in deceitfully to cause harm. This book is huge and full of really nice, detailed illustrations.

It literally is a book that you can lose yourself in, struggling free of the many mazes while learning about the fantastical Greek myths along the way!

SUPERHEROES REQUIRED. APPLY WITHIN

Family

WE CAN ALL CHANGE THE WORLD

W

Millie Neville-Jones

e have all dreamt about putting our mark on the world or making a difference, yet sometimes it can feel impossible. However, we all have the power to change the world through a small but powerful action.

And that is, to VOTE. Given the current political climate in this country it is hard to keep up with all that is going on, even with the sporadic news notifications that pop up on your phone, the quick scroll through the news during the day or the brief flick through the newspaper. Do you ever feel that they are not telling you the full story? Or are you beginning to see that all these decisions that are being made for you are slowly beginning to close in and will soon have an impact on your life? I began to seriously question this and it got me thinking.

I will admit that, until recently, I have taken a relaxed view on politics. I have grown up with many of my friends and family being extremely fervent about politics and have always admired their passion and knowledge on the subject.

Perhaps I was ignorant and felt that the decisions being made in Number 10 were the last of my worries. I believe that some young people feel that the world of politics will never touch them.

However, in the last couple of years, it’s fair to say we have all had to sit up and really appreciate what is happening. I’m sure we can all relate to having rather heated debates recently or whispering, ‘Don’t mention Brexit’ or perhaps having to hold your tongue to save friendships!

Despite what you may think about your fellows’ views, who/what they vote for or who they support, the most important thing is that everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if you don’t agree with it. How lucky are we to be able to speak openly about our opinions and spark healthy debate? In so many countries this is not allowed. Everyone has an opinion here and it’s time it was heard.

When I first went to vote it was one of my most empowering experiences to date - short but sweet! There is no excuse for not voting - you can vote by proxy, post and the classic polling station. Why give up the chance of having your say?

Or having your opinion heard?

Do not waste your vote; who knows when the time will come again? Most importantly, it’s your chance to change the world.

34 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

YOUTH FOR THE EARTH!

I

Alfie Neville-Jones and Oskar Maitland, The Gryphon School Eco Club

n a small, unassuming classroom in the Gryphon School a movement is born. Stimulated by the haemorrhaging of waste plastic into our oceans, the imminent threat of global warming and inspired by the youth movements around the world, The Gryphon School Eco Club begins to take shape. Students from year 7 to year 12 join together with staff to begin to consider how we can make an impact on our school and community.

With this collaborative ethos the Gryphon Eco Club aims to bring about ambitious and meaningful change through pragmatic and realistic steps towards an uncompromising final goal: a Gryphon School that moulds tenacious defenders of this planet by telling the truth and empowering young people to make a difference, at the same time as being fully sustainable and environmentally harmonious as a site and as an organisation.

As a starting point we have scrutinised the environmental ramifications of each action within our school, from which energy provider we use, to how our lost property is managed, to what happens to our food waste. From this point we have been able to learn, discuss and advise on how the school can become, step-by-step, a more sustainable and planet-friendly establishment. For example, we have begun a recycling scheme for plastic bottles, tins and cartons entirely manned by students.

We also recycle broken pens and crisp packets. Going forward, we are working hard to try and remove singleuse plastic bottles entirely from our site.

Along with the posters that now decorate the walls of our school with messages that are both stark and empowering, the initiative is adamant on education in a variety of media to ensure younger years carry the same positive sentiments throughout the school and set an example in years to come. Assemblies, tutor drop-in sessions and workshops enable us to bring

in a practical application of environmental awareness which we hope will permeate throughout the school ethos, ensuring thereby that students leave the school with a sense of responsibility for, and duty of care towards, our precious world.

One of the most exciting developments is our work with Operation Future Hope. Its expert regenerative guidance, led by the positive force of Lesley Malpas, has enabled a school-wide rewilding programme to come into force, dropping the pesticides and lawnmowers for binoculars and quadrat squares as students take part in documenting the heartening return of the natural world to our once barren ecosystems. We have designed gardens that will benefit both the students and the local habitats - we will begin to develop them over the next year. Our hope for the future is that our school grounds will be an oasis for nature and that this will inspire the community who use our site to see themselves more as part of nature rather than separate from it.

Constantly pressing for change, the Eco Club’s key demands are intended to show that, together, we really can have an impact on the future of the planet. This attitude is founded on the philosophy that a school should be a place to prepare us for a bright future full of opportunities, not merely another link in the chain of climate crisis and ecological destruction which casts a doubt over that same future. Each small individual change we make has the power to inspire others to make changes and to begin a cultural shift amongst the next generation.

Beyond this, The Gryphon School Eco Club’s ambition is to reach out into the local community to effect a holistic shift to a sustainable Sherborne. So, if you care about our collective future, watch this space! gryphon.dorset.sch.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 35

Family

THE MAGIC OF MUSIC Alison Bryant, Principal, Monkey Music Sherborne and Dorchester

B

abies love to listen to voices; very early on they will recognise the tone, rhythm and pitch of a familiar voice. From one-day old, babies use their innate skills to discriminate between patterns in rhythm. There is something magical about singing with our babies that has enormous benefits, not only for their development but also for that special bond between 36 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

parent and child.

Have you ever wondered why the sound of your singing voice soothes your little one, whether they are tired, poorly, or just wanting to be close to you?

Evidence suggests that there’s a strong evolutionary link to the development of the style of singing we use with our babies. We naturally find ourselves using greater

emotion in our voice, raised pitch and slower tempo, and it seems to help optimise our baby’s mood and regulate their arousal level, contributing to better sleep and feeding.

When listening to music, children are grasping elements of their native language - some scientists hypothesise that singing to your baby is their first language lesson! During their first year, children will pick up all the sounds they need to know so that they can learn and develop the ability to speak in their ‘mother tongue’. They will practise making these sounds in preparation for producing their first recognisable words and continue to develop these skills as they join sounds and words together.

Singing also strengthens the emotional bond between you and your baby. They don’t mind if you aren’t the next Bieber, Beyoncé or Bowie - yours is the voice they have loved the most since before they were born and they feel connected to you when you sing. Although we know that all music has wonderful benefits for your little one’s development, the element of human interaction between you and your baby when you sing is what they crave and need for their cognitive, language and emotional

development. The best way to use music is just to sing!

How to incorporate music into your little one’s day

1 It’s never too early to expose your child to live music.

Go along to local dress rehearsals for shows and concerts and stop to watch buskers and live bands when out and about.

2 Attend a local pre-school music class to expose your child to a fun, early musical education – and make lots of new friends for you both!

3 Instead of humming the tune of your favourite nursery rhyme, use different sounds to replace the words - this will allow your child to hear single syllable and vowel sounds from their mother tongue… ba ba baaa, ma ma maaa, da da daaa!

4 Try to punctuate your day with familiar tunes and rhymes so that your little one associates a happy routine with positive musical sounds.

5 Have musical toys and baby-friendly musical instruments around for your baby to play with.

6 Dance and sing ALL the time! monkeymusic.co.uk

OPEN DOORS

ber 24 Septem 10.00am er 5 Novemb 10.00am

Visit our Open Doors events and see the Prep, Senior and Sixth Form on a normal teaching day.

Contact our friendly Admissions Team to book your place. www.leweston.co.uk | 01963 211015 | www.leweston.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 37

Family

THE SIMPLE ACT OF MINDFULNESS Dan Chiappa-Patching, Head of Boarding, Sherborne Prep School

T

he summer holidays are clearly a time to relax for many of us. Even those not benefitting from the extended school holiday can possibly appreciate the longer evenings and the slower pace of life. Perhaps fewer emails, maybe fewer deadlines creeping up; whatever the case, all seems well and we seem able to embrace quite simply having time for our families, friends and ourselves. One wonders what we might be able to do to hold on to that relaxed state of mind a little longer.

The ability to relax is not programmed into us, it is something we pick up as we grow and, in many cases, it is something we need to learn. To properly relax we first need to feel that we have achieved something: a busy day, a job done, a task completed. If we try to relax without first having achieved, we can leave ourselves feeling more stressed than before. I find more and more often this is the case with electronic devices that consume our attention, leaving us feeling tired and in need of a rest.

For most, the issue is just about losing track of time and the easiest way to combat this is to start thinking more about our time. Which is where the simple act of mindfulness comes in. It is a term that I regularly hear at educational or pastoral conferences, as well as more and more regularly with regards to anxiety and stress-related illnesses. It relates quite simply to the idea of knowing directly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment. More practically, an important part of mindfulness is reconnecting with our bodies and the sensations they experience. This means being aware of the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the present moment.

It is this term, ‘awareness’ that resonates with me as it is one of our core values here at the Prep and one we are constantly reinforcing with the children. Often, 38 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Yuganov Konstantin/Shutterstock

we are asking them to be aware of others, but, more often than not, we are asking them to be aware of themselves. How are they feeling? What are they doing? Trying to put them in touch with the here and now. However, this does need to be taught and built into a routine. Some simple ideas that we often use in the boarding house when practicing mindfulness are: • Keeping a food diary. Not only is it a good idea to register what one is eating, but also taking the time to register what it tastes, feels and smells like.

• Setting a timer for 1 minute, closing your eyes

and focussing on deep breaths and how your body reacts to this. • Having a digital detox on a Thursday night with no electronic distractions. • Plenty of mindfulness colouring books!

The idea is that mindfulness is not something that needs any specific time constraint or specialist equipment but is rather taking time to register the world around us, how we affect it and are in turn affected by it. As I sit here in a busy school, surrounded by noise and bustle I can still stop to feel the breeze on

the back of my hand, smell the coffee on the table and hear the children playing. All of which put me in the here and now and let me know that I am present in this moment, physically and mentally.

More information on mindfulness can be found on the NHS or mindful.org websites. I would advise trying mindfulness if you want the relaxed feeling of summer to carry on that little bit longer! mindful.org/how-to-practice-mindfulness sherborneprep.org sherbornetimes.co.uk | 39

Family

EARNING THEIR KEEP Rebecca de Pelet, English Teacher, Sherborne School

I

find myself a little reluctant to tackle the writing of my column this month since, as a mother of three and a teacher, September inevitably makes me think of going back to school. Earlier this week, the Lucy Mangan book I referred to in my last column (Bookworm: a Memoir of Childhood Reading) was chosen by presenter Harriett Gilbert for her Radio 4 programme A Good Read. She loves Mangan’s delight in Enid Blyton’s school stories in particular and, as I write, I have just booked tickets to take my daughters to see Malory Towers at the Bristol Old Vic. Such stories never did it for me but I know how powerful they can be, 40 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

much like the extraordinarily positive impact the Harry Potter books had on the number of boarding school enquiries. What you read when you are young counts.

This was certainly true of the poet John Clare.

I recently came across an old Oxford edition of his autobiographical writings and have found it hard to put down. Clare was born in 1793, the son of a Northamptonshire labourer and his illiterate wife.

He grew from ploughboy to literary star even though his mother beleved the higher parts of learning was the blackest arts of witchcraft. Indeed, until the age of 12 or so, only three months of each year could be devoted

Pressmaster/Shutterstock

to any form of learning since he was required in the fields. Apart from the prayer book and the Bible, books were hard to come by, but when, as a young teen, he encountered a fragment of poetry by chance, the lines made his heart twitter with joy, and the rest, as they say…

As thoughts of school loom, it makes me think again about the tricky question of whether teaching literary texts can in fact put pupils off them. I’m with Alan Bennet in never having been interested in instilling a love of what apparently counts as ‘literature’ in my pupils, but I certainly see it as part of

my job to expose them to as wide a range of books as possible and to stand back as sparks light. Nevertheless, for many children, school books can seem to stand in opposition to those they read for pleasure. However, a more powerful, binary opposition is increasingly being drawn by older pupils, and indeed their parents, between those subjects which lead to well-paid jobs and those which apparently don’t. Consequently, and catastrophically, for some, reading becomes valueless.

In February this year, the journalist Susanna Rustin exposed the unnerving news that a shortage of English teachers has gone under the radar. Furthermore, she pointed out that the number of pupils taking English Language or Literature at A level has fallen by 25% since 2013 and that undergraduate take up of English degrees has fallen too, from an all-time high of 51,000 in 2011/12 to 39,000 in 2018. She points the finger at the bigger, international story about the weakening of the humanities, and its counterpoint: the rise in STEM (or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

Acknowledging that the route from the humanities to the workplace is not obvious, she nonetheless mistrusts the propaganda about STEM being the route to a highwage job.

As a feminist, I am delighted by the rise in girls studying STEM subjects in greater numbers, but there is still an important debate to be had. The creative industries’ contribution to the UK economy is demonstrably high and what Rustin calls the humanistic role of literature must not be ignored. The idea that reading and studying books is somehow a form of frippery in today’s society is dangerously wrong. Blyton knew this. She wanted children to read and so gave them stories full of commonly-used, non-threatening words and plots which they could rely on. And Clare knew this too. He was needed on the land but had to write; his work brought untold value to those who have read him down the years and indeed gave him a ‘career’. My pupils know this too sometimes. When I read Clare’s poem First Love to a class of fifteen-year-olds, most dipped their heads and smiled, in recognition of that special moment’s awkward joy, I ne’er was struck before that hour/ With love so sudden and so sweet,/Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower/And stole my heart away complete. Two of them now earn their keep from words and several of them left the room reassured that such a love can be true: both outcomes are a win. sherborne.org sherbornetimes.co.uk | 41

Family

DESTINATION: A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE Juliana Atyeo

Foxys Forest Manufacture/Shutterstock

42 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

‘It is definitely striking, our disproportionate place on Earth… When I do a puzzle with my daughters, there is usually an elephant next to a giraffe next to a rhino. But if I was trying to give a more realistic sense of the world, it would be a cow next to a cow and then a chicken.’

Ron Milo, lead scientist on the 2018 study which found that the mammal biomass distribution on Earth is 60% livestock, 36% human and 4% wild mammals. Bird biomass distribution is 70% farmed poultry, 30% wild birds.

I

n the past twelve months or so, plant-based food choices have been in the news for a variety of reasons. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently stated that populations which consume significant amounts of animal products ‘place an undue demand on land, water and other resources’ and that this way of living is ‘environmentally unsustainable.’

Meanwhile, research at Oxford University asserts that, ‘a massive global reduction in meat (and dairy) consumption is needed if we are to avert climate crisis’ and that, ‘a vegan diet is the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use.’ The interesting and empowering aspect of the multiple reports and articles disseminating this research to the public is that we each have the power as an individual to make choices that can have an impact - positive or negative - on the planet’s health, simply by deciding what sort of food we choose to buy.

As somebody who was vegan for much of the 1990s I can say that things have changed considerably in terms of attitudes towards and awareness of plantbased lifestyles. When I was pregnant with my now 17-year-old son, I changed from being vegan to eating meat. Partly, I confess, it began with a craving for Heinz Cream of Chicken soup but, significantly, I felt pressurised to bring up my children as omnivores and I did not want to have conversations about why I ate different food. Five years ago, after reading Sapiens (by Yuval Noah Harari), my oldest son decided to become vegetarian. The irony that he led me back to vegetarianism and then two years ago, veganism, is not lost on me. Last year, my youngest son also decided to become vegetarian, ‘because of the animals and because of the planet.’ I cook meat perhaps once a week for my middle son (who, a few weeks ago, announced that he saw the environmental benefits of eating very little meat and was glad to live like this) and my husband (who is becoming less and less enamoured with meat and dairy

– although that may partly be, I have to admit, because I am not an especially competent cook when it comes to preparing food I don’t taste in the process!)

Trying to make food choices that have the least negative impact on the planet is not straightforward. I frequently come across people who want to pick holes in what they see as the ‘trend’ of veganism by pointing out that vegans are responsible for a steep increase in food miles through their obsession with avocadoes and for mass deforestation of the Amazon rainforest which is being chopped down at an alarming rate to grow soya. We do need to think carefully about where our food comes from, although the insinuation that vegans are the sole avocado eaters is absurd and the second accusation demonstrates a lack of understanding that, in fact, the animal industry is responsible for the majority of this type of deforestation: only 6% of soya is turned into human food, with over 70% of it being grown for animal feed (for the beef and dairy industries) and the rest for biofuel.

Perhaps the greatest, most effective changes we can make are to simply consume less and waste nothing, be mindful of what is in season and attempt to recondition our palates to appreciate what is locally available.

Growing some of your own food, if remotely possible, has to be beneficial, whilst joining a local vegetable delivery scheme or shopping at a greengrocers or market and asking for more local, seasonal produce are options which are more environmentally sustainable. Choosing to eat a largely plant-based diet need not be boring or difficult and, contrary to popular concerns, can be far more cost-effective than a meat-based diet. The range of recipe books and websites aimed at plant-based lifestyles is enormous and there is a wealth of information about how to ensure that such a diet is healthy and balanced.

For me, the return to veganism has been like coming home to myself and I take comfort in the knowledge that the food on my plate is helping me to reduce my environmental footprint. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 43

Wild Dorset

THE NURDLE NIGHTMARE Sally Welbourn, Dorset Wildlife Trust

T

he Great British Beach Clean is an annual autumnal event to clean beaches in the UK, removing unsightly litter which is harmful to both people and wildlife. The beaches in Dorset are amongst the best in the UK, so it’s important that we look after them.

Marine litter comes in all shapes and sizes. Many people think of plastic bags and bottles, but it is the presence of tiny beads of plastic called ‘nurdles’ in our seas that is causing increasing concern. They have been found in their hundreds of thousands at Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset alone. Nurdles are small plastic pellets which, when melted together, are used by industry to make nearly all our plastic products. The lightweight nurdles can escape into the environment, spilling into rivers and oceans during transportation. It is thought that billions are lost in the UK each year. They pose a huge danger to wildlife as they can easily be mistaken for fish eggs and swallowed by seabirds, fish and even crabs and lobsters. They can also soak up the toxins from their surroundings which then accumulate in the tissues of the animals that eat them.

Plastic is durable and will be around for a long time.

In 2016, conservationists at Kimmeridge Bay found a lolly stick with a figurine on top which was made in 1978 – an example of just how durable and long-lasting plastic can be. So, what we do now, really does matter for 44 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

future generations.

It is hoped that more people than ever will take part in the Great British Beach Clean from 20th–23rd September this year. However, you don’t have to wait Dorset Litter Free Coast and Sea is asking everyone, at any time of the year, to do a ‘2-minute beach clean’ when they are visiting a beach in Dorset. There are 10 beach cleaning stations in Dorset including Chesil Beach (next to the Dorset Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre), Swanage and Studland which provide bags and litter-pickers.

Find out where your nearest 2-minute beach clean station is at litterfreecoastandsea.co.uk.

FACTS • Nurdles are 3-5mm in diameter.

• 415,000 nurdles have been collected from Kimmeridge Bay – we even have a ‘nurdle-o-meter’ on the wall of the Fine Foundation Wild Seas Centre.

• Since 2012, 1,300+ volunteers have removed over 5,700kg of litter from the beaches at Kimmeridge and Worbarrow Bays.

For more information on beach cleans in Dorset and the Great British Beach Clean visit dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/events

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 45

Wild Dorset

SHERBORNE DWT Gillian M Constable, Dorset Wildlife Trust Sherborne Group Committee Member

Image: Gillian M Constable

S

eptember and the start of autumn sees the resumption of Sherborne DWT’s series of talks.

There is a change in our September speaker from that indicated earlier. Andrew Pollard, Director of Landscape Conservation for DWT, will now talk on Living Landscapes. Andrew grew up in Dorset and, after a period away, returned to the county in 2003 when he started work with DWT. The talk is on Wednesday 18th September and, as usual, we meet in the Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Road, with doors opening at 7pm for 7.30pm. Drinks and nibbles are available, for a small contribution, and there is time to chat about recent wildlife sightings before the talk. Non-members of DWT are most welcome.

In April the Digby Memorial Hall was packed for the Literary Society’s meeting, Wildings. This was about the wilding of Knepp Castle Estate in West Sussex.

To date the bird species reported there, e.g. turtle dove, have arrived naturally but now they are starting to introduce white storks. The report indicated 25 chicks were to arrive in August, imported from the continent, 46 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

in the hope that they will establish a breeding colony in southern England. Dorset might benefit from their introduction. The above picture was taken on the Gironde marshes, western France, where there is a huge breeding colony.

Recently the press has been reporting good news about butterflies; their numbers are up in 2019. Butterfly Conservation’s data indicates good numbers of common blue and painted lady butterflies. Dorset’s BC website reveals good, but not exceptional, numbers of painted ladies this summer. We have seen only a few singletons in the garden. Dorset BC has a report of a long-tailed blue butterfly in the county with an accompanying photo. Keep your eyes open; this is only the 10th Dorset report since 2010. Any unusual report brings the question, ‘Is it from an imported caterpillar or egg or has it migrated here naturally?’ Long-tailed blues are said to be strong fliers and we have had a lot of hot weather from the south so possibly it arrived here naturally. dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

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Wild Dorset

HONEY

Paula Carnell, Beekeeping Consultant, Writer and Speaker

F

or thousands of years, bee-keeping has mostly been about taking honey. Thankfully, there’s a growing trend towards a more bee-centred, natural way of keeping bees. When I had my first hive and my mentor helped me through the early years, I was delighted as well as flabbergasted to find we could extract 140lbs of delicious honey from a single hive. We bottled the liquid gold and shared it equally between us: seventy jars to share with my family and friends, sell, and use to maintain my hay fever-free family.

It was after that excitement, during my next 48 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Image: Katharine Davies

mentoring session, that a large pack of sugar fondant was unwrapped and given to my bees. I was horrified. It seems that often we need to see things in practice before fully realising the errors of our ways. The thought of my beautifully calm and friendly bees, who’d so generously shared so much honey with us, spending the winter months tucked up inside their hive with only a diet of sugar fondant appalled me.

At that time I was still suffering with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, and learning through experience the effects that diet and nutrition had on my symptoms. I had

stopped eating sugar and noticed an improvement in my energy levels, digestion and sleep. Further research had proven how damaging sugar was to my health, so why would it be any different to bees? Conventional medicine has been treating food as fuel, measured by its calorific value rather than nutritional content: ‘You are what you eat’ a long-forgotten wisdom.

Studying herbal medicine, I began to understand more and more about the medicinal properties of plants and began to connect that with the mineral content of soil and hence the quality of nectar in plants feeding my bees. Everything was connecting. Although honey is a complex mixture of sucrose, fructose and glucose, it also contains trace elements of minerals, organic acids, vitamins, nitrogen-based substances and the all-important enzymes that the bees add during the process of trophallaxis. On returning to the hive with a honey crop full of nectar, bees are met by a receiver bee and the nectar transferred from bee to bee, backwards and forwards, hundreds of times. Each exchange adds digestive enzymes before finally being deposited into a wax cell to reduce the water content from 80% to under 18%. Once the bees feel it is ready, each cell is capped with a wax lid, carefully protected until they need to open and eat it.

Many scientists have been researching just how much bees need to feed themselves over winter and, naturally, it depends on many factors. Surprisingly, a long, cold winter means bees need less food than during a mild, damp one which prevents them going into a deep state of ‘torpor’ where eating is not so necessary. Our longer, wetter, mild winters are therefore not so good for bees, especially if their honey has all been taken and replaced by a bland block of sugar paste. Imagine if we had to survive six or more months on eating plain white sugar fondant? My challenge therefore has been how to balance keeping and caring for bees with taking honey.

I was comforted by the passage in the Quran which states, ‘place hives in the trees and mountains, and where they choose, and from their bellies emerges a fluid of varying colours which is healing for the people, surely in this a sign for those who reflect’. The Bible often refers to lands of ‘milk and honey’ as places we could live in health and abundance. Just when I was thinking that God was allowing us to take honey, I learned that Buddhists don’t eat honey, believing it to be a sin. Like many vegans, the thought of cruelty to any animal prohibits the taking of honey, and many ancient methods of taking honey certainly did result in the death

of bees. Can we say that modern honey production is cruelty-free?

I believe that there are ways of working with the bees and that they are happy to share honey, as long as we repay them by providing them with plenty of nutritious food to forage on. I have also noticed that countries who farm without chemicals have the most generous and healthy bees!

I’m often reminded of the Roman tale of a bee who visited the God Zeus, presenting him with a jar of honey. After Zeus had devoured the pot, and naturally asked for more, the bee explained that they didn’t have enough for themselves or their babies. Humans, bears and birds were stealing it. Zeus wasn’t sure how to respond; after all, he also wanted more honey! His wise wife, Juno, had overheard the conversation and offered a solution. ‘Little bee, why don’t we give you a sting, to help protect your honey. You must use it wisely however as using the sting will cost you your life. There may be times you wish to share your honey, and so then you need not use your sting.’

Over recent years I have been talking more with my bees, or maybe listening more. Before taking honey, I observe them and ask how much they are willing to share with me. Prior to writing this, my bee team and I extracted honey from a client’s apiary. I had spent some time with the bees a few days earlier, warning them of our intention and getting a feeling for what we could safely take in return for all the forage we had provided.

During the extraction, we carefully opened each hive and, instead of taking a whole box of supers, we took a few frames from each box. This ensured that they were left with a larder filled with a variety of honeys to feed on through the following months. Each of the hives cooperated. We didn’t use smoke, no porter escapes, just grass to brush off any bees on each frame of capped honey. The process of course took longer and, by not using queen excluders, we even found a virgin queen hiding in a layer of wild comb. Had we used queen excluders, we would have lost colonies in June during the prolonged wet weather. Our bees were able to move freely around the hive to feed themselves during nonflying days.

Most importantly, none of us were stung and, as far as we know, no bees were squished during this meditative and grateful process. Surely this honey is pure medicine and so will be treated as such. paulacarnell.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 49

History OBJECT OF THE MONTH

THE GARTHWAITE SILK Elisabeth Bletsoe, Curator, Sherborne Museum

O

ne of our particular treasures in textiles is a panel of flowered silk, 50cm x 65cm, woven to a Rococo design by Anna Maria Garthwaite. It was recorded in her log as being sold on 24th December 1744 to Captain John Baker (1693-1783), an English silk weaver who bought 45 of her designs between 1742 and 1755.

It is backed by a panel of raw dusk-pink silk. Sprays of flowers - irises, roses, solomon’s seal, daisies and carnations - are brocaded in various coloured silks that still glow brightly against a pale mink-brown ground.

Garthwaite (c.1688-1763) was considered to be the pre-eminent designer of silk in this country during the mid-C18th. Born in Harston, Leicestershire, daughter of the Reverend Ephraim Garthwaite and Rejoyce Hausted, she later lived with her twice-widowed sister Mary in Princes Street, Spitalfields, London. This East End area was associated with the silk industry through the influx of Huguenot refugees fleeing religious persecution who settled there, often bringing with them nothing but their weaving and lace-making skills. Garthwaite was unlikely to have received formal technical training but she became a successful freelance designer, adapting Revel’s pointes rentres technique to produce 80 patterns a year for over three decades in both damask and floral brocade, on commission from master weavers and mercers. They were woven by hand on a draw loom which allowed the production of intricate and repeating patterns, a laborious and skilled technique. She diverged from popular French styles, favouring clusters of naturalistic flowers scattered across a pale ground, as we see in our panel, which reflected contemporary advances in botanical illustration in Britain.

The museum also has two damasks attributed 50 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

to Garthwaite, one in bright gold and the other a smoky blue, where the effect depends on the differing play of light on the patterned surfaces. Both incorporate foliate garlands connecting huge stylised flowers and fruits with lobed edges and filling patterns of a continuous, exotic, inflected design. The blue damask is possibly the side panel for a gentleman’s banyan, or informal coat.

The V&A museum in London conserves over 800 annotated Garthwaite designs; nevertheless, in 1990 their curators requested the loan of Sherborne’s panel for a major exhibition on flowered silks in which Garthwaite formed the central figure. It also features in Natalie Rothstein’s book Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century, based on the exhibition’s catalogue.

Whether the silk thread used in its making was thrown in Sherborne has yet to be researched but we have confirmed recently that the panel, brocades and several other special silks came to the museum via Florence Emily Miles (1884-1972), of Long Street, in the year of her death. Florence’s maternal great-grandfather was Francis Hill, a clothier from Bradford who famously established silk mills at Malmesbury in the late 1700s.

It is tempting to make some connection here as to how Mrs. Miles had acquired so much C18th silk, eventually to the great benefit of Sherborne Museum’s collections.

Sherborne Museum is currently open from TuesdaySaturday 10.30am–4.30pm. Admission is free. We are currently seeking new volunteers at all levels; if you are passionate about maintaining Sherborne’s great heritage please email info@sherbornemuseum.co.uk sherbornemuseum.co.uk

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sherbornetimes.co.uk 20/02/2018| 51 17:10

History

SHERBORNE'S TURNPIKES Cindy Chant, Blue Badge Guide

M

aybe most people appreciated the new road improvements but many objected to having to pay tolls for themselves, their carriages, carts and animals. A lot of people tried to avoid tolls by sneaking around behind the Toll House or even jumping the gates!

There were originally eight Toll Houses in Sherborne and one in Longburton. The meetings of the Sherborne Turnpike Trust were held in the Grand Jury Room in the Sherborne Town Hall. The Town Hall was situated in front of the Abbey along Half Moon Street and stood where the War Memorial now stands. Sadly, the old Town Hall was demolished in 1884 and the stone re-used for other buildings such as Cricket View, the terrace at the west end of Westbury and so called because it overlooks the Boys’ School Playing Field.

52 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

The Sherborne Turnpike Trust may have had as many as 25 gates, but today, I can only trace 15 of these.

Maybe you know of more and, if you do, then please inform me as I would love to know about them.

• The Golden Ball Gate: Bristol Road, near to what is now called ‘The Carpenters Arms’.

• East Gate: along Coldharbour and the A30, at Castletown Way. • Stoney Lane Gate: at the junction of the Marston Road and Coombe.

• Dog House Lane Gate: at the junction of Oborne Road and Castle View.

• West Gate: at the junction of Yeovil and Bradford Road at Kitt Hill.

• Horsecastles Gate: at the junction of Horsecastles and Lenthay Road.

• Thornford Lane Gate: Thornford Road, near Limekiln Farm • Halfway House: Old Toll House at the turning to Nether Compton.

• White Post Toll House: Bristol Road, at the junction to Charlton Horethorne and Corton Denham.

• Pathfinder Toll House: along the A30 by the turning to Oborne and now derelict.

• Westhill Toll House: at the top of Sherborne Hill, turning to Sturminster Newton.

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Outside Sherborne Town were four others: • Bailey Ridge Toll House: at the turning of the Sherborne to Leigh Road.

• Farthing Gate Toll House: at Middlemarsh and opposite the turning to Hermitage.

• Revels Inn Toll House: Lower Revels Farm, Cosmore.

• Bow Bridge Toll House: on the A30 near Henstridge.

In 1834, the Digby family commissioned a map of Sherborne, showing every street and building in the town.

With this map was a list of all the people who lived in and owned all the buildings. This was called the ‘Sherborne Terrier’. This Terrier Map shows that in 1834 there were 8 Toll Houses dotted around the town, collecting tolls from travellers to pay for the upkeep of the roads.

Changes took place over time - the first Toll Gate to go was the Gainsborough Gate, purchased by the Earl of Digby in 1852 for £100. In the same year it was decided to sell East Gate at Castle Town Way, and Revels Hill Gate was the next to go, abolished in 1853.

New gates were built - including some of those listed above, such as the Pathfinder Gate near Oborne, but gradually the turnpike system came under increasing criticism at government level, and eventually the costs of road maintenance became the responsibility of the county. The Sherborne Turnpike Trust finally expired in November 1877, when the gates were thrown open and people were freed from the burden of having to pay tolls.

Whilst I have been writing about the Toll Houses known to us locally here in Sherborne, there are of course many fine ones nearby on the Somerset/Dorset border which I simply must mention to you as they are such gems.

So next month, more local Toll Houses and following that I will discuss the fascinating history of Milestones.

So lots more to come! sherbornewalks.co.uk

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History

Fred Archer on Ormonde Owner: Duke of Westminster.

Triple Crown Winner 1886

JOHN PORTER: LEGENDARY TRAINER AND HIS LEGACY, NEWBURY RACECOURSE

by Jeremy Barber (Thumbnail Media)

J

Available from The Abbey Bookshop, Cheap Street. RRP: £30.00

eremy Barber has lived in Sherborne for the past ten years but his connection with the town began in the early 1950s when he was a pupil at Sherborne School.

The catalyst for writing the book was a gift from his wife Margarete of some 400 letters and documents purchased from the long-since closed Keeble Antiques on Digby Road. The dealer, Clive Keeble had made a speculative purchase of them at a Sussex auction and they were loose in a brown carton. The gift turned out, on examination, to be a previously unknown archive of letters to and from Porter to his owners, friends, family and others covering a period of around 55 years commencing in the 1860s.

54 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

The first task was to sort them out and to identify who wrote them, then file them in some semblance of order, which took several months. They became a meaningful commentary on the racing scene and additionally offered an in-depth insight into the social history of the time.

Porter was a remarkable and resilient man who survived having ‘Palmer the poisoner’ as his family doctor (later hanged at Stafford gaol for multiple murders). He also, early in his career, survived a severe case of typhoid fever. This caused him to be watchful of his health for the rest of his life, as is evident in some of the letters.

He left school aged 14 and, weighing a mere 4st 10lbs, became an apprentice jockey. He drew up his own

The Directors, Newbury Racecourse Ltd, 1905 Back Row. Mr W.E. Bushby ( Clerk of Course), Mr G.G.Leader (Secretary). Mr C.W Stephens (Architect).

Front Row. Mr O.W Rayner, Mr John Porter, Mr Lloyd Baxendale (Directors)

indenture for signing by his employer. Throughout his life Porter liked every aspect to be properly handled.

In 1863 he became Private Trainer to Sir Joseph Hawley, a doyen of the turf, at Cannon Heath. His employer had already purchased land at Kingsclere where he proposed building a new, purpose-built racing yard and gallops. It was that autumn Porter contracted typhoid fever. During his convalescence, and unknown to his employer, he drew up plans, based on his own knowledge and requirements, for the project at Kingsclere. They formed the basis for what was built.

Porter became Master of Kingsclere and remained there until retiring as a trainer in 1903. Some of the original buildings are still viewable today. The current Master is Andrew Balding, who succeeded his father Ian. Porter’s designs for the purpose-built yard were based on the needs of the horses and staff alike. Roomy, well-ventilated stables for the horses and comfortable, well-serviced accommodation for the staff. A total change from the past where many yards were converted from farm buildings.

Following his retirement as a trainer in 1903 he proceeded with his idea of building a new racecourse at Newbury, an idea he had harboured for some years. Despite having his application for a licence turned down on several occasions by the Jockey Club, his persistence, tenacity and vision were rewarded following Royal intervention!

The course is now one of the foremost Flat and National Hunt dual-purpose grass tracks in the country.

Porter was also a man of invention and designed a bicycle ambulance to recover fallen and injured jockeys from the furthermost parts of the course. As a trainer, his paramount interests were the welfare, wellbeing and care of his horses and staff. He had learnt from his early life to treat people from all levels of society equally and, in the many letters reproduced in the book, there is evidence of the deep and long-lasting relationships that he made, and of the esteem in which he was held. He was also, as we would call him today, a great networker.

The book contains four main sections: • A truncated biography of John Porter from birth to his retirement as a trainer.

• His owners and friends, with biographies and many letters.

• Newbury Racecourse, including an article by Porter and letters from patrons of early meetings.

• The Porter family, accompanied by letters.

The book is self-published and net proceeds from its sale are being donated to The Injured Jockeys Fund. The original archive of letters is being donated to the National Horse Racing Museum at Palace House, Newmarket. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 55

Antiques

TIME MACHINE

Richard Bromell ASFAV, Charterhouse Auctioneers

T

ime waits for no man. This is certainly true, but nonetheless many of us are obsessed with time.

As a busy valuer, I spend my days trying to keep on time with my visits, however the reality is that I am usually running behind. Every so often though, I have been known to arrive ahead of time. This happened the other day when I turned up to look at a house contents.

The mother had gone into a home and the family were looking to clear the property. Several family members had travelled quite some distance, except one. He lived just around the corner and was somewhat shocked to see me at the house when he arrived – I was 10 minutes early!

Over the centuries, many devices have been invented to record time, from the sundial to the atomic clock. However, it is perhaps the marine chronometer which has had the biggest impact on knowing the time. It was successfully developed and pioneered by John Harrison in the 18th century. He was a Yorkshire carpenter who dedicated his life to developing the marine chronometer. The whole purpose of knowing the time for a sailor was to enable them to calculate their longitude when sailing the seas.

Early marine chronometers were hugely expensive.

It was not until the mid-19th century that sailing ships started increasingly to use them. As valuable items vital to the running of a ship, they were kept locked in their own little cabinets. The last thing a captain or navigator wanted was for a sailor to change the time on a chronometer – the results could be catastrophic and 56 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

they could be lost at sea or wrecked on the shore.

Over the past few years I have been fortunate enough to auction several marine chronometers. They are, without exception, of the highest quality and by some of the best makers. They usually come in a tall square box, which makes them easy to recognise: rather like a canteen of cutlery, you know what is going to be contained in the box. Recently one of these tall boxes came into our reception on a specialist valuation day.

This chronometer had been in the same family for about 100 years. Made by Charles Frodsham, a family member took it back to Frodsham’s for some information in the early 1930s and accompanying the chronometer is a letter from them stating it was about 62 years old (typical precise time-keepers; I would have probably said 60-65 years as a good estimate!) They also comment that one of their men remembers this type of chronometer being made in the workshop in the mid-1870s and costing £40. This would have been a huge sum of money then and it is quite incredible to learn that someone remembered working on them at this time.

Moving forward, whilst the family have enjoyed owning their very own timepiece, they have decided to let someone else enjoy it. Now entered into our September collector’s auction, only time will tell how much it sells for. charterhouse-auction.com

CHARTERHOUSE Auctioneers & Valuers We are now accepting entries for our forthcoming auctions: Classic & Vintage Cars Wednesday 11th September Coins, Medals, Stamps, & Collector’s Items Friday 20th September Bassett-Lowke Burrell engine in our September Collector’s auction

Classic & Vintage Motorcycles Saturday 5th October

Contact Richard Bromell for advice and to arrange a home visit

Hunting, Shooting & Fishing Items Thursday 17th October

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58 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

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Gardening

GETTING READY FOR AUTUMN Mike Burks, Managing Director, The Gardens Group

S

eptember is a great month in the garden as many plants give that final burst of glory before the autumn and winter sets in. With the turn of autumn, comes plenty of moisture in the soil, making it the perfect time to start thinking about future planting.

In the dark winter months, it’s always pleasing to come across a plant in flower that is also scented. Amazingly 62 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

there is quite a collection of such plants that will bring the garden alive even on the dullest days.

Look out for the holly-leaved Osmanthus during autumn; a favourite of mine is the Osmanthus heterophyllus variegatus, which is a medium-sized evergreen shrub. It looks good throughout the year with its holly-like appearance and then blooms with small but

Islavicek/Shutterstock

heavily scented white flowers in the autumn. There are green leaved forms, some with purple young leaves and another with masses of colour in the leaves (O. tricolor) although the latter is shy of flowering.

Moving on into winter, there are a number of Mahonia that are again evergreen, with powerful yellow sprays of flowers that really show up in the dark

light but also have a wonderful fragrance. The variety ‘Charity’ is often spoken of but for something less spiky and great in a pot, look out for a new variety called ‘Soft Caress’, which flowers earlier than the rest but still looks good in the depths of the winter.

Around Christmas time, the Sarcococca or Christmas Box is a must. The flowers are insignificant in size but they pack a glorious scent. Compact enough to grow in a pot, I would place the shrub near to where you walk in the winter on a regular basis. Sarcococca buds up in the autumn and can flower right through until the early spring.

On a bigger scale are a couple of Viburnum, one is tall and upright and, if space is tight in a small garden, the shrub can take the role of a small tree. The variety I am describing is Viburnum fragrans, which has green leaves that begin as a pleasing bronze when young and then turn purple/red in the autumn before falling.

Boasting pink and white flowers that come in small clusters on the upright stems and have a delightful aroma, this is a great surprise to the unsuspecting gardener. The evergreen form of Viburnum is the variety Burkwoodii, which flowers later in the winter and into early spring, offering a delicious scent that gives a wonderful boost to a gardener’s morale at that time of year.

A large grower that, to be fair, uses up quite a bit of space for most of the year without doing anything exciting, can be forgiven when it flowers in the depths of winter. The flowers on close inspection give a clue as to what it’s related to because they are clearly miniature versions of the hedgerow Honeysuckle, albeit white or cream in colour. The Lonicera fragrantissima and another variety that is similar called Lonicera purpusii are probably not for the small garden but are excellent if space isn’t an issue. Flower arrangers love this shrub as it can be cut and brought into the house for winter arrangements.

Towards the end of the winter months, the red buds of the Skimmia Rubella finally open to white scented flowers. These are best grown in a pot and, when young, make a very useful centrepiece to a winter bedding display.

So, select your shrubs now and get them planted in the warm soil. Not only will they establish well over the next few months but they will also produce a display to cheer you up whatever happens with Brexit! thegardensgroup.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 63

Gardening

DIARY OF A FLOWER FARMER

T

Paul Stickland, Black Shed Flowers

he flower farm’s been in full flow for months now. Tens of thousands of blooms have left the site: waves of colour in innumerable buckets, florists’ vans brim-full, beautiful bridal bouquets and buttonholes, a teacher’s posy, a single stem tightly held in the hand of a toddler. With all the emotion tied up in the flowers, the weddings, christenings, funerals, it’s quite overwhelming at times. And it’s been tough work too. The need to pick early in the morning and late into the evening have meant some very long days. Lovely, long days though. The garden at first light is a misty joy and in the evening, before the sun sets behind the hill, the low light glances off the layered spires and spikes of flowers in such a delicious way that it’s hard to drag yourself back to your task, or indeed home.

I seem to have spent most of the summer praying for rain. It’s even worked occasionally - usually, as all gardeners know, when one has just watered. Our resident vole population has discovered that our 2 kilometres of drip irrigation tape contains a convenient source of water and in a matter of weeks have ruined our wonderfully frugal irrigation system - which has made keeping the plants in good shape rather tricky. Must put up some barn owl boxes! Luckily our thick mulch of composted garden and household waste helped to keep what little rain we had in the soil, stopping the surface soil from drying out, compacting and cracking. It’ll soon be time to put more on; there are 24 tons sitting out in the field waiting to be spread if anyone wants to get fit!

We should have sown all our biennials by the time you read this. Actually, we should have sown them weeks ago but we’ve been far too busy. However, with the arrival of our two wonderful volunteers, Pavla from the Czech Republic and Arno from the Pyrenees, we’ve at last found time to do some of the neglected tasks. We’ve been gathering and collecting seeds for our exciting new range of Black Shed Seeds, all the while cutting and bunching huge amounts of Statice, Helichrysum, Acroclinum, Xeranthemum, Nigella, Amaranthus and grasses ready to hang up in our grain silo for drying. Cutting these at the right stage is critical to a first-class final product, so we have to keep a close eye on all these species. A close eye on everything frankly. There’s so much to watch over, tweak, nurture and coax. We’ve met several fellow flower farmers recently and we all seem to have one thing in common (apart from almost all of us having whippets or lurchers) and that is, by this time in the season, we’re pretty exhausted! So we’re hoping for a break at the end of the season in November and we’d better have one. December is Christmas trees… blackshedflowers.blogspot.co.uk instagram.com/paulstickland_

64 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 65

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SHERBORNE’S APPRENTICES Words Jo Denbury Photography Katharine Davies

S

herborne has been a seat of learning since the time of King Alfred, but today, for many young people who have grown up here and left school, the lack of employment opportunities requires them to seek work far from their home town and families. The traditional, local industries, such as leather-making, have all but disappeared and, according to recent Open University figures, 1.5 million jobs in the UK are at risk of automation — a figure likely to rise. Set that against the cost of studying for a degree which, unless it’s towards a professional qualification such as medicine or law, is unlikely to bring you a life of guaranteed gainful employment, and the future could look ominous.

In general terms, the baby-boomers had it good, bedding in with one company for 30 or 40 years, retiring with a healthy pension and watching the value of their property rise before moving to a comfy spot in the country. Those heady days however, ground to a halt in 2008. The Millennials (now aged between 23 and 38) sometimes get a bad press but among them were many ambitious entrepreneurs with the nous and vision to carve brave new paths. The world was their marketplace and many rode high on the tide of the internet, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Spotify’s Daniel Ek being two successful examples. >

68 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Kira Blake sherbornetimes.co.uk | 69

Maisy Miles 70 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

But where does that leave Generation Z, those who were born in or after the Millennium? The modern phenomenon of ‘slashie’ culture or the ‘gig economy’, in which a person holds down two or three jobs might not be exactly new but it is fast becoming the norm for many young people in the face of disproportionate living costs and static wages. It is an approach that can offer diverse experience, liberation from the ‘9-5’ and highly prized ‘authenticity’ but it is also precarious and unpredictable.

Then there are apprenticeships, an open door to the ground floor of a career, where paid work meets education. For some, this offers the best of both worlds as well as the chance to earn a living and forge a career in their home town.

I met with a number of young people who have taken local apprenticeships, opting to venture into today’s employment market without the weight of tuition fees to drag them down. The motto is: ‘Get in; go far’. I say, they’re future-proofing this town.

Maisy Miles, 17

Maisy started her apprenticeship with Salon Fish, a hairdressing salon in Sherborne, just over a year ago. ‘I had a Saturday job here to begin with,’ she explains. ‘At the time, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I fell in love with hairdressing. I asked Jools Lewis [the salon’s owner] and he agreed to take me on as an apprentice.’

Maisy spends Mondays at Yeovil College and the rest of the week working at the salon. ‘I feel I learn so much more at the salon than I would being a full-time student,’ she says. Within two years Maisy will be a fully qualified, Level-2 hairdresser, but she doesn’t want to leave it at that.

‘School was not for me,’ says Maisy, who is dyslexic.

‘I love being on the job,’ she says of her decision to step out of education and into an apprenticeship, ‘you don’t have to follow the lines. You can go in between and cut your own lines. I want to try and be the best I can, to go on to Levels 3 and 4 [in hairdressing]. Then I can tell my grandchildren that I started at the bottom but worked my way to the top.’

Tuesday night is training night at Salon Fish. It’s the evening when volunteer clients come in and have a free haircut while acting as models for the apprentices.

The apprentices work on the haircut while Jools remains nearby to teach and offer advice. ‘Jools is always on hand and watches as we work,’ explains Maisy. ‘He’s very relaxed and always gives us a boost. If we have done something that might need to be changed, he

always asks us why we have done it that way, rather than shouting at us. So it’s a relaxed way to learn, which is really nice.’

Jools has been taking apprentices at the salon since he opened 30 years ago. ‘You can’t survive without the apprentices,’ he says, ‘they are the heart and soul of the business and it is a pleasure to see them grow professionally. To my mind education fails a lot of children. Unfortunately, they are pushed into academia.’

Jools has visited the Gryphon (in association with Rendezvous) on several occasions to talk to A-level stage pupils about careers but he would like to do this at an earlier stage. ‘Schools have become like businesses and are focused on results and figures and some kids are not getting the right advice. The focus is on A-levels but to my mind they should let colleges come and talk to the pupils at GCSE level as well.’

‘My business needs fresh blood, as do all service industries,’ continues Jools. ‘Unfortunately, apprenticeships are looked down on in some circles.

But for me it is lovely to have a happy, nurturing environment which gives apprentices confidence in what they do.’

Maisy is clearly hugely grateful for the opportunity to work at Salon Fish, learning a skill for life whilst being able to live in the town where she grew up.

When I ask what motivates her, she says, ‘It’s the fact that one day I can give someone a really transforming cut, something that I can put my stamp on and say “I did it and made it mine”.’

Justin Babb, 20

Justin has spent two years with Hunts Accountants as an apprentice. He had just finished his Extended Diploma in Business at Yeovil College when he met a representative of Hunt’s at a college careers day.

‘I always knew I would do something with numbers because I was interested in Maths at school,’ says Justin, who attended Stanchester Academy. ‘So when an opportunity came up to be an apprentice accountant I took it,’ he explains. ‘The advantage of being an apprentice is that you are not completely thrown in at the deep end. You learn as you go; it’s a very hands-on experience and not just with your head in a book. I am very glad to have had this experience and for Hunts to be there to guide me through the exams.’

Generally, Hunts Accountants takes one or two apprentices a year and mentors them through the first steps towards taking their AAT Level 3 exams. > sherbornetimes.co.uk | 71

The exams are the first step to becoming a qualified accountant. Justin spends one day a week at Yeovil College and the rest at Hunts’ Sherborne offices. ‘I learn much better this way,’ he says. ‘I’d really recommend the apprenticeship scheme for the extra knowledge that you gain through the work experience; personally I prefer it to qualifying at college and then trying to land a fulltime job,’ he adds.

Justin, who lives in South Petherton, says his aim is to become a fully qualified accountant. ‘I really want to be in the position where I can help people grow their business,’ he says. What better reason to study business and accountancy than to help others with their own advancement?

Millie Hockham, 18

‘I was looking for an apprenticeship in hospitality and saw an advertisement for work at The Green,’ says Millie Hockham of her new position. It is early days; she has only been in the position for a month and is due to start a 12-month, one-day a week course at Yeovil College this September. She is already excited at the prospect of pursuing her passion for working with food.

‘I did a BTec Level 3 in hospitality at school and loved it so much.’ She knew that she wanted to pursue it as a career. ‘I always felt that an apprenticeship would be the route in for me,’ she says. ‘I kept looking online and when this opportunity came up, I went for it. I love all food and cook at home but I get anxious about whether people will like it or not. When they do like it, I feel so relieved and happy.’

Sasha Matkevich, the owner and head chef at The Green, has given Millie a few tips about progressing in the industry. ‘My ambition is to own my own restaurant or pub in the future,’ says Millie. ‘In the meantime, it’s very nice to work in a restaurant where there are lots of new flavours and tastes which you can explore and learn about.’

‘It’s so much better to learn this way rather than have tests and so on in a classroom,’ Millie adds. ‘There’s much to be learnt, including finance and business and organisation.’ She has her heart set on combining food with hospitality and, in her words, ‘making sure people have a good time.’

Dora Kozlak, 28

Dora came to her apprenticeship late in life and used it as a way to move from working in a care home to studying business. She already has a Masters in English from > 72 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Millie Hockham sherbornetimes.co.uk | 73

Justin Babb

Poland but needed UK qualifications in English and Maths in order to study for an NVQ in Business Administration at Yeovil College. While she was studying at Yeovil College, she was given an opportunity to apply for an apprenticeship at Harmony Fire, a fire security and engineering company based in Milborne Port. Dora has been an apprentice for two years and is now a service co-ordinator with the company.

‘My apprenticeship allows me to work five days a week,’ says Dora ‘but I attend the masterclasses at Yeovil College, which are useful as they focus on subjects such as personal development.’ As part of her apprenticeship Dora’s assessors come to the workplace rather than her going into college. ‘I have found the apprenticeship to be an excellent way to work, study and practise the theory for coursework.’

She continues, ‘By working, I am gaining experience which can be used as evidence in my coursework.’

Admittedly Dora finds it hard being an apprentice as they are paid less than the minimum wage but, as she says, ‘I am not paying for an education [such as a degree], so overall it works very well.’ Her ambition is to progress in the company and work her way up to 74 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

managerial level.

Dora adds: ’The key is to get an apprenticeship with a good company. Harmony Fire is an amazing company and I am very grateful that Yeovil College found the position for me. Not every apprentice is offered a job after their apprenticeship ends so I feel very lucky that I will be able to continue working here.’

Kira Blake, 18

‘I will have finished two years of my four-year apprenticeship with Hunt’s Foodservice this September,’ says Kira, who joined the company aged 16, after finishing her GCSEs at King Arthur’s Community School in Wincanton. Having grown up in Milborne Port, she had known about the family-owned food business for years and when the opportunity came up for an apprenticeship, she applied.

As an apprentice electrician, Kira works alongside other qualified electricians overseeing all maintenance, including the refrigeration processes. ‘I do all the electrical side of it,’ she explains. ‘That’s the power, lights, sockets, and all the 400-volt stuff.’ She clearly loves it. ‘I

Dora Kozlak

always wanted to go into a trade, either civil engineering or electrical. Electricity fascinates me because you don’t see it but it powers everything.’

So why a trade and not A-levels? ‘When I was 16, I knew that I wanted to start an apprenticeship because I learn better by physically doing something. By starting work I could succeed somewhere,’ she explains. ‘I wanted to get on with it rather than study in a classroom. In a classroom you don’t get the practical side, whereas as an apprentice you learn because something new happens every day. Even qualified electricians continue to learn because there are always new problems to solve. And, as an electrician, you know there will never be an end to the learning because regulations change all the time and electricity won’t die out.’

Having said that, Kira does spend one day a week with P&R Hurt of Yeovil, where she learns the theory of electricity and works towards her final qualification, which comes after four years as an apprentice. ‘Year one is the basics; year two the theory; year three the electrical science; and in year four you study for the final NVQ and become a fully qualified commercial and domestic

electrician,’ she explains.

‘Even nowadays people are shocked that I am studying to be an electrician,’ she says. ‘They say things like, ‘You can’t be doing that! You’re a girl!’ but the reality is that many women who live alone might feel more secure with a female electrician coming into their house.

And I have never seen it as a problem; my family have always treated girls and boys equally. In fact, abroad and in the north of England there are many more women coming into the profession.’

Kira isn’t making plans for the future. She says that her focus is on the next two years, finishing her apprenticeship and qualifying. But if there was one thing she would like to add it is that she would definitely encourage other girls to get a trade. ‘It doesn’t matter that you are a girl,’ she says. ‘You can succeed and will have a trade that will always bring you an income.’

Knowing how difficult it can be to find an electrician, I don’t doubt that for a moment. yeovil.ac.uk apprenticeships.gov.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 75

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Food and Drink

THE CAKE WHISPERER Val Stones

TOMATO, MANCHEGO CHEESE AND BASIL SAVOURY MUFFINS

Image: Katharine Davies 78 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

W

ith so much sunshine, the tomatoes in the garden have ripened well; I love the sweet cherry varieties. To me the scent of summer is the green stalks of tomatoes and basil.

When it is so hot my family are more interested in savoury rather than sweet foods and these cheesy muffins hit the spot.

I use Manchego cheese but you can use a good cheddar cheese - if you do, add only a pinch of salt as the cheese is already salted. The sweetness of the tomatoes makes this a good choice for anyone who prefers their muffins sweet. I always add a little sugar to a recipe when I use tomatoes as it brings out even more of the sweetness in the fruit. In the ingredients I add 80ml passata - as I often have a lot of very ripe tomatoes, I roast them, put them through a sieve and freeze them so I have my own stock of ‘passata’.

These muffins are great for a quick lunch with salad or as a picnic item. They even make a good breakfast if warmed.

What you will need

A twelve-hole muffin tin; 12 muffin baking cases.

Ingredients Makes 12 muffins

300g plain flour 3 rounded teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda ½ teaspoon soft brown sugar Pinch of salt 10 twists (pepper mill) black pepper 2 large free-range eggs 150ml whole milk 50ml natural yoghurt (yoghurt reacts with the baking agent to give a better rise) 80ml passata 80g unsalted melted butter 150g Manchego cheese or other hard cheese, made into small cubes 30g sun-dried tomatoes 12-24 small cherry tomatoes, mixed colours if you can get them 20g fresh, finely chopped thyme 20g finely chopped basil plus extra for decoration

Method

1 Set the oven for 190C fan assisted, 200C, gas mark 6-7 2 Place the muffin cases into the muffin tin.

3 Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, salt and pepper into a bowl.

4 Beat the eggs milk, yoghurt and passata together.

When fully combined, add to the flour mixture a little at a time and fold in with a spatula to keep the mixture light.

5 Add the melted butter, folding it into the muffin batter.

6 Gently fold in the cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, chopped basil and thyme.

7 Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases. Fill the cases to ⅔ so there will be room for the muffins to rise but not spill over the cases.

8 Place a couple of the fresh tomatoes on the top of each muffin and press in lightly.

9 Bake for 15-20 minutes but check after 15 minutes because they dry out quickly if over-baked. They are baked when a skewer comes out clean.

The muffins can be eaten warm or left to cool. They are ideal for freezing but should be frozen on the day you bake them. To eat from frozen, defrost the muffins for an hour and then bake in the oven (180C fan) for 10 minutes. bakerval.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 79

Food and Drink

Alla Din/Shutterstock

PLUM PASTILLES

T

Sasha & Tom Matkevich, The Green Restaurant

his twist on the classic fruit pastilles uses beautiful plums which are in their prime at this time of year. Reminiscent of sheets of dried fruit made by families in the Caucasus region, this treat is well balanced and delicious.

Ingredients

700g red plums 350g caster sugar 25ml water 75g liquid glucose 15g pectin Juice of half a lemon

Method

1 Add the plums and 25ml water to a saucepan with the lid and stew until very soft.

2 Pass through a sieve and return to the saucepan with 250g of the sugar and 75g of liquid glucose.

Bring to the boil.

3 Mix the remaining sugar thoroughly with the pectin and stir into the puree.

4 Using a sugar thermometer, bring to the temperature of 104 degrees Celsius then add the lemon juice and mix thoroughly. Cook for another 4-5 minutes.

5 Meanwhile, grease a 20cm x 20cm baking tray with vegetable oil and pour the pastille mixture into it.

Take care as it is extremely hot. Cover then set at room temperature for 12 hours.

6 Dice into 2cm cubes and coat in caster sugar. greenrestaurant.co.uk

80 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

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FROM FIELD TO TABLE Order our homegrown Tamworth ham, sausages, joints and bacon

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Demand for food parcels in and around Sherborne continues to be very high but donations are not keeping pace. Sherborne Food Bank relies solely on the generous food and cash donations from the community and remains in urgent need of your help.

SUNDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER Hog roast, live music and Twisted Cider

When shopping please consider adding the following items to your trolley: • Tinned Vegetables and Meals • Rice and Pasta • Bottles/Jars/Cartons Donation points can be easily found at

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Plus

THE COMMUNIFIT SPORTIVE

Open to riders of 13 years old and over Registration from 7.30am Ride starts 8-9am Contact Craig on 07791 308773 or info@communifit.co.uk The Story Pig, Sandford Orcas, Sherborne See more at www.therustypigcompany.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 81

Food and Drink

A MONTH ON THE PIG FARM James Hull, The Story Pig

I

always have the radio on; it’s my constant companion. Lately I have moved away from the BBC to commercial radio where the presenters have opinions, which is quite refreshing. So, the radio is on as I write, and guess what they are talking about?

Should we all give up meat to save the planet? That’s the headline but, when I listen a little longer, it almost sounds like they are supporting our type of farming. Buy less and better they say; that chimes with us greatly.

Is how we farm better though? Our animals still end up in sausages, the same as mass-produced pigs, but that’s where the similarity ends. The size of our farm makes us different from most: it’s small, and the number of pigs is small too by commercial standards - 170 pigs is not enough for a pink pig farm to survive. Generally, they have to farm tens of thousands of pigs a year. Does that matter though? Well I think so.

For a start, our Tamworth pork tastes amazing; our product is simply better than others. When people taste our bacon and sausages we get nothing but complimentary comments back. There are many others doing the same as us across the country, using rare breeds to produce meat of exceptional flavour, texture and provenance.

Do our pigs have a better life? Well, their life is twice as long as on a commercial farm and they live it all outside, only stepping onto concrete at the very last minute. They can run and jump and root - eat roots, grass and anything else they can find in their paddocks.

They live like us, changing their routine depending on the weather and time of year. They feel the seasons as we do, up early in the summer and snuggling down in the winter. I believe this all adds up to healthy, high-welfare, happy pigs that in turn produce pork with an amazing flavour and a very low footprint on the world.

At The Story Pig, summer seems to be whizzing by already the evenings are shorter and the early mornings are pulling in. The garden has been laden with vegetables and flowers abound at every turn; thousands of bees have visited us this summer to gorge on our nectar-rich 82 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

flowers. I have lost count of the number of amazing sunsets we have had. At home we can now eat only our own produce and that’s a great feeling!

We have had a flurry of piglets born lately, up in the pig field. They love the warm summer months, basking in the sun and then rolling in the wallows we make for them to keep cool. Often it has been too hot to feed them until later in the evening.

We have been busy participating in as many food fairs as possible and, along with hog roasts for many local events, this has filled every weekend all summer. For a small business such as ours, food fairs are our life blood, giving us a platform on which to promote our products and enabling us to build a faithful following of interested, engaged customers. We love these events: they are hard work - often early starts with long days on your feet - but the buzz we get from the lovely comments we receive as people try a piece of our bacon or sausage makes it all worthwhile. So, thank you to everyone who organises these events for us to take part in.

There is one in particular that stands out, not the biggest but a favourite of ours, and that is Leigh Food Fair. Run by Elizabeth Turnbull and her team of willing helpers, it is a great event featuring great local producers and lots of classic cars - a mix that seems to work well at Leigh and which always has a great following. Thank you, Elizabeth, for the energy that you put in to make it such a special day.

So, with that in mind, we are opening our farm again on Sunday 8th September. We are teaming up with Communifit, who are going to run a Sportive, a 30-mile bike ride that is open to all those over the age of 13. For our part, we are the start and end venue, the provider of a Tamworth hog roast, live music, pigs to visit and cider from Twisted Cider to quench your thirst. So, if you fancy the cycle ride that’s great but, if not, come and join us anyway for the open farm day. Please follow ‘thestorypig’ on Instagram and Facebook to find out more. therustypigcompany.co.uk

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Food and Drink

LUXEMBOURG David Copp

L

uxembourg is one of the smallest winegrowing regions in Europe but close to my heart because it is part of the Mosel Valley, the home of some of the world’s finest Riesling wines.

Like Andorra, it is too small to be commercially attractive. Indeed, the Waitrose buying team, who loved the quality of their wines, could not find enough to satisfy the demand for them, so it is best to rely on your local wine merchant or, better still, go there and buy the wines you like. It is easy to get there. There is an airport at Luxembourg but the one at Hahn in 84 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Germany, about an hour’s drive away, caters for budget airlines. It is not a difficult drive from Calais.

If you do decide to go don’t leave out a visit to Trier, Constantine’s capital in the west, and take a boat ride up the Mosel to Brauneberger and climb the Schwarzhof above Wiltingen to see one of the world’s truly great sweet wine vineyards. In Luxembourg you will find people who speak English, French and German and offer you a cuisine that is borrowed from their neighbours as well as beautifully worked and maintained south-facing vineyards often covered in slate, which

Valery Shanin/Shutterstock

retains and reflects warmth during the growing season.

Why is the vine so successful in these rather cool climes? The answer is three-fold: the valley is rich in clay limestone and gypsum, the microclimate favours Riesling, one of the world’s truly great wine varieties, and difficult wine-growing terrain breeds resilient and skilful winemakers who love their work.

If you do go by car there is a wine route which includes Grevencher where a visit to the Charles Massard winery will show you what makes Luxembourg wines so special. Vinsmoselle is the

largest cooperative and one I can highly commend for the range and quality of its offerings.

However, there are some very fine smaller producers making exciting fine wines with great appeal. The secret is the balance between two decidedly unfashionable ingredients: sugars and acids. Sugar without acidity is flat and dull. Acid without sugar is sharp. When they combine, as in my neighbour’s Cox’s orange pippins, the result is perfect.

Charles Decker focuses on quality: he makes fine wine, ice wines and also, when conditions allow, straw wines (by drying the grapes before fermentation) and sparkling wine. In the village of Ahr, Abu Duhr is making some delightful, well-structured, complex wines that deserve a wider audience. Next door his cousin, Jean Duhr, competes with him for top quality wines while André Klein can claim to have the most famous terroir in the grand duchy, a southern slope with a 55° angle of incline. There is a wonderful minerality to these wines.

Some of my colleagues disapprove of this descriptor but I continue to use it because it is meaningful to me and it is a bit late to change!

Summen Hoffman has only seven and a half hectares of vineyard and is completely biodynamic: another producer who typifies the pristine quality of fruit grown in Luxembourg to encourage full development of varietal character.

Apart from riesling, pinot blanc is successfully grown and the region produces the best pinot gris I have yet come across, more Alsatian than Italian. World class.

Massard, the Co-op and Caves St Martin all produce very palatable Crémant de Luxembourg. Their crémant is successful because some grapes don’t ripen as well as others and good sparkling wine actually needs acidity more than sugar to develop and maintain freshness.

Besides, with crémant a little sugar can legally be added as dosage at bottling, as the market may dictate.

The most widely consumed variety in Luxembourg is rivaner, the Luxembourg name for müller-thurgau, an uncomplicated but pure, fresh and fruity light white wine. What more could you want from a wine which sells at 4 euros a bottle and is often served in a pichet (a small carafe), or better still in a beautifully glazed ceramic jug such as those made by the Luxembourgeois potter Norrie de Montigny, now resident in Sherborne. If you haven’t come across his work, look out for it because it will add considerable elegance to your table and introduce you to colours you will have rarely seen before. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 85

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Animal Care

CLOSE TO HOME

Mark Newton-Clarke, MA VetMB PhD MRCVS Newton Clarke Veterinary Surgeons

I

won’t bang on about how fast the summer months slip by, hastened by the fine weather this year that became almost normal for a time. I can’t say my year so far has been ‘normal’ as it seems I have spent more time away from the clinic than other years. Our Sherborne and Yeovil surgeries keep getting busier (probably because I’ve not been in the way!) and, to try and stay ahead of the workload, another veterinary surgeon will be joining us in October. Our new addition has post-graduate training in surgery and, although all of us are general practitioners, clients realise we perform quite a wide range of operations. Consequently, the nurses spend a lot of their time with patients (and their owners) before and after a surgical procedure.

Communication between the owner, the nurse, the vet and the patient is vital at all stages of an operation and I was reminded of this again last week. Our family’s Labrador, Portia, has been due to be spayed for at least a year since we decided against breeding but I have been putting it off. Operating on one’s own dog was something I had to get used to with Cocobean, our previous Lab, as I was on my own in the clinic. Bean’s eating feats became legendary and I managed to control my emotions sufficiently to perform whatever procedure was necessary (usually removal of foreign bodies from stomach and intestines). However, that was all years ago and, with Kate’s expertise on hand in Sherborne, I thought that I would not have to subject myself to the same stress again.

Then the thought occurred to me that if I was not prepared to operate on my own dog, why should anyone trust me to operate on theirs? I had to concede this was a good point and so Portia was denied breakfast last Tuesday in preparation for her surgery later on that 88 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

morning. I must say, for a dog who will not sit still to have even a tick removed, she was very calm and the nurses placed her intravenous catheter without any dramas. All animals being sedated or anaesthetised have an IV line fitted so we have instant access to the patient’s blood vascular system.

After an opiate-based pre-med, Portia was very happy and sleepy, in contrast to me as I was trying to take my mind off the fact that, in a few minutes time, I would be seeing our dog on the inside! All went well with the surgery despite Portia’s deep chest and

Seh342/Shutterstock

long uterus which took quite a while to retrieve and remove. One of our most experienced nurses, Lucy, had the unenviable job of being in charge of the anaesthetic (routine for Lucy but it was the boss’ dog) and all was well until Portia’s blood pressure dropped too low for comfort.

In years gone by we would have been oblivious to this but these days all anaesthetised patients are continuously monitored for blood pressure and oxygen saturation.

Lucy looked much happier after Portia had received a good dose of intravenous fluids and I completed repairing the wound.

Since then, like most dogs, Portia was back to normal after 48 hours and was trying to rag with Jessica, our Jack Russell. Not what the doctor ordered, as roughand-tumbling two days after a hysterectomy is asking for trouble. I am also happy to report that Portia suffered no bruising around her operation site and, five days after the operation, the skin has healed. Not so the deeper muscle layers so it’s walks on a lead for another week at least and definitely no tumbling with the terriers! newtonclarkevet.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 89

Animal Care

HERD HEALTH PLANNING AND SUSTAINABLE FARMING Gemma Loader BVet Med (Hons) MRCVS, The Kingston Veterinary Group

D

uring recent years the role of the farmer has evolved from just ‘producing animals’ to ‘producing food in a sustainable manner’. The industry is rapidly and continually changing.

Farmers are resilient to these changes in order to continue to produce food that is trusted and produced in a sustainable way.

At the heart of sustainability is good animal health and welfare.

Healthy animals optimise efficiency of production by reducing both cost of production and environmental impact. Healthy animals are not only more productive, i.e. in achieving increased growth rates and higher yields, they also require fewer antibiotics and live longer. They create a smaller carbon footprint and produce more food from fewer resources.

To aid the health and welfare of animals, all livestock farms should have a dynamic farm health plan which is reviewed and updated at least annually by both the farmer and vet. The herd health plan documents key procedures and policies undertaken to maintain health and welfare.

The animal health component would include disease prevention strategies, such as vaccination courses, and protocols to follow if an outbreak of illness were to occur. It has a focus on disease surveillance, e.g. routine investigation and testing to reduce the likelihood of a farm issue. This part of the herd health plan would also aim to prevent zoonosis (disease transmissible from animals to humans).

The animal welfare elements within a herd health plan encompass a whole raft of measures. This can range from the amount of space an animal has to live in to enrichments designed to encourage the expression of natural behaviours.

Herd health planning is continually improving to optimise animal health and welfare. For success in designing and implementing these herd health strategies, vets help and encourage farmers to achieve best practices in order to make a more positive impact, not only for the animals but also for the farmer/producer and consumer. Further down the food chain this approach leads to more sustainable and safer food and a more sustainable environment. kingstonvets.co.uk 90 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Patrick Jennings/Shutterstock

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 91

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The Pet Experience Training & Behaviour Ltd 2018 & 2019 Award Winners of best Dog Training & Behaviour Service in Dorset & Somerset New classes start on Saturday 21st September Dog walking available in Sherborne and the surrounding villages £10 an hour. Call to arrange.

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www.friarsmoorvets.co.uk 92 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

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@elizabethwatsonillustrations 94 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

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Body and Mind

GELONG THUBTEN THE PATH TO COMPASSION

G

Heather Sheppard

elong Thubten, monk and author, has taught Buddhist philosophy, meditation and mindfulness all over the world. He collaborated with comedy star Ruby Wax and Yale neuroscientist Ash Ranpura on the bestselling book How to be Human. Now his own book, A Monk’s Guide to Happiness, is sailing up the bestseller charts. All in all, he’s an impressive individual.

So, it comes as a bit of surprise when the voice on the end of the phone is cheery and open. I don’t know what I’d been expecting. Something more solemn, weighted with learning, perhaps? The person I find myself talking to is friendly, kind and very human.

Unexpected pleasantries over, I ask Thubten about how he came upon the path he now follows. I learn that Buddhism and mindfulness haven’t always played a prominent part in his life. Although he had Buddhist parents, their spirituality was unobtrusive. ‘It was there, in the background, but I never really did anything about it. I was not at all interested in Buddhism as a child or teenager.’

One childhood influence, however, did make its way into Thubten’s early adulthood. His mother, Indira Joshi, is a household name who has acted in Coronation Street, Eastenders, and The Kumars at No 42 to name but a few.

After his time at Oxford University, Thubten moved to London and New York to become an actor.

He was good at it – but it was not good for him.

‘I got very ill with stress,’ he says, ‘and had a major burnout, ending up very sick in bed for four or five months. During that time my mum gave me some books on meditation which really resonated with me. The idea of transforming the mind was compelling.’

Then he learned of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Scotland where people could become a monk for just one year. ‘That idea struck me. I was so unwell and so unhappy, and I needed to just put myself back together.

A year felt like it was something I could manage.’

Manage it he did - and then he managed another 96 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

year, and another. After a few years, he decided to take the vows for life. His training over the past 26 years has included spending 6 years in strict meditation retreats, the longest of which was 4 years long – on a remote Scottish island with no contact with the outside world and with an intensive programme of meditation sessions.

After Thubten had spent some years deepening his understanding of Buddhist principles, the monastery asked him to start giving courses. Having experienced the profound benefits of meditation and mindfulness for himself, he felt inspired to help others.

‘I’ve been teaching out in the world for about twenty years now,’ he tells me. ‘I started to work in prisons, hospitals and schools, and then slowly began to spread out.’ He now teaches at Google, major universities and even for the United Nations. ‘I’m finding that there’s a massive increase in interest in mindfulness,’ he says, ‘and I think it’s because we’re more stressed as a culture.

We’re crying out for solutions.’

As we’re speaking, I quickly Google his new book, A Monk’s Guide to Happiness. It’s averaging four stars on Goodreads – very impressive on a site notorious for harsh criticism. Reviews speak with enthusiasm of his warmth, honesty, humour, and pragmatism. Was this

Search for Enlightenment by Simon Gudgeon

book something he’d been building up to?

‘No, not at all! It’s not something I ever thought I’d do! I was coaxed into it after How to be Human became so successful!’

With A Monk’s Guide to Happiness, Thubten aims to break through misconceptions about mindfulness.

‘I wanted to demystify mindfulness and meditation, to show people that you can bring it into everyday life.’

The topic of happiness looms large throughout the book. ‘Our modern approach to happiness is more about searching for certain things than being a certain way.

The more we search, the more dissatisfied we become.

Whereas if we stop searching for outside things and turn within, we find that the true source of happiness is inside ourselves.’

Aside from greater proficiency at mindfulness, what are the main things that Thubten would like people to take away from his book?

'Compassion,’ he says, instantly. ‘Mindfulness can help people to connect with others and with themselves in a more compassionate way.’

Definitely something the modern world could benefit from.

‘Things have become very polarised. Everyone is

shouting at each other on social media,’ Thubten says, ‘and, to be fair, there is a lot to shout about. But maybe shouting isn’t the answer. Maybe taking a step back and learning to connect compassionately with others is what the world really needs.’

Gelong Thubten will be speaking and running guided meditation workshops at the Wellbeing by the Lakes Festival in Pallington, near Dorchester, Thursday 19th-Saturday 21st September.

A Monk’s Guide to Happiness (Yellow Kite, Hodder & Stoughton) £12.99 is available now. Sherborne Times Reader Offer price of £11.99 from Winstone’s Books. gelongthubten.com

____________________________________________ Thursday 19th - Saturday 21st Wellbeing by the Lakes Pallington, near Dorchester. A 3-day festival exploring what it means to be mindful and live well in this fast-paced modern

world. A curated blend of experts talks, meditation, movement sessions, art, live performance and healing therapies. Tickets from £25. wellbeingbythelakes.co.uk

____________________________________________ sherbornetimes.co.uk | 97

Body and Mind

SLEEP AND ANXIETY Lucy Lewis, Dorset Mind Young Ambassador

Natalia Maroz/Shutterstock

98 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Q

uality sleep is vital to both physical and mental health. Lack of sleep can cause your health to deteriorate and health issues can cause your sleep to suffer. Statistics from insomnia specialist Kathryn Pinkham state that over 50% of people in the UK struggle to sleep due to stress and anxiety, and up to 90% of people who experience depression also have sleep issues (thebodycoach.com/blog/sleep-and-mental-health-1231.html).

As someone who experiences both anxiety and depression, I am all too familiar with the sensations of adrenaline coursing through my body, thoughts sprinting through my mind and sleepless nights. Here are the most effective techniques I use to fall asleep when anxious.

‘Headsheet’

As I would attempt to sleep, millions of thoughts would race through my brain and put me on edge, such as remembering something I had forgotten. My anxiety would be fuelled by the idea that I need to constantly repeat these thoughts, so I won’t forget them. This, of course, infested my brain with unnecessary noise. However, I began quickly jotting down these distressing thoughts on what I christened a ‘Headsheet’, a spring-cleaning of my brain. I no longer felt that my mind was solely responsible with remembering these important tasks or notes, thereby removing the need to incessantly mentally rehearse them and allowing myself more cognitive space in which to fall asleep.

Keep a pen and paper by your bed, and jot down anything on your mind. These tasks will then be ready for you to address in the morning, when your mind is rested and clearer. Basking in the clarity of morning, I realised these worries and thoughts that had consumed me during the night were actually unimportant.

yourself. Trying to force the thought away will just fuel it. Acknowledge and accept the thought as it crosses your mind, then add it to your Headsheet if you need to remember it or it feels important. If not, just return to where you last remember in your story.

Picture your Plan B

If you’re still not falling asleep after approximately 15 minutes, decide to get up and complete a relatively short, mundane chore. Picture each step of completing this task.

For example, putting away a growing pile of clean laundry.

I found that, having resolved to be productive if I didn’t fall asleep soon, I would suddenly feel more sedated and comfier.

If I don’t then fall asleep, I get up and complete this task, lessening my frustration and boring me enough to make my bed seem more inviting. This also removes one task from my cognitive load instead of just losing time chasing sleep.

Don’t give up

As tempting as it is to reach for your phone or tv remote, know that you can’t fall asleep whilst using these. The only way to fall asleep is to act like you’re asleep, with your eyes shut and in darkness. Trying to fall asleep is boring but, if I’m honest with myself, I know entertaining my brain isn’t the solution to sleep issues.

Enjoy your bed

Additionally, if you can’t sleep, mindfully enjoy the sensations of being snuggled up in bed. Imagine your mindset when your alarm tears you from your bed in the morning and make the most of being able to enjoy the rest whilst you can.

Let your mind wander

Don’t watch the clock

Allow your brain to roam freely, avoiding reality if possible. I find if I immerse myself in an imagined story or scenario, I can fall asleep significantly quicker than if I’m just thinking about how I can’t fall asleep.

If you struggle to lose yourself in your imagination, use what you know. Think through the stages of your favourite plot from a book, film or tv show. The point of this exercise is to distract your brain by giving it the room it needs to fall asleep. Work through the plot in as much detail as you can and pace yourself. If you find yourself getting bored, this is a good sign. You don’t want your brain to be engaged with something interesting which will keep it awake. Here, tedium is your friend.

If negative or distressing thoughts arise, don’t berate

Knowing what the time is will not change or improve your dilemma and counting down the hours until your dreaded morning alarm will only increase your stress and make you painstakingly aware of the slow passage of time.

Further support

These are the techniques that I personally use to aid falling asleep when experiencing anxiety, however you should seek always advice from a medical professional if your sleeping habits or physical/mental health are causing you distress.

Further information and advice on how to cope with sleep problems is available on the Mind website. mind.org.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 99

Body & Mind

BEAUTY – NAILED Sarah Hitch, The Sanctuary Beauty Rooms and The Margaret Balfour Beauty Centre Efetova Anna/Shutterstock

W

hether on a conscious or sub-conscious level, a person’s hands are one of the first things we notice when we meet them.

From the ancient ritual of handshaking (a gesture of peace to demonstrate the hand holds no weapon) which we continue today, through to greeting someone with a wave, our hands and the way we use and move them offer a window into who we are as people.

With this in mind, it is easy to understand why our nails have always formed such an important part of the grooming ritual. Historically, long nails signified status; today, a good manicure is an indication that you take pride in your appearance.

Nail polish dates back to China circa 3,000BC, when precious metals such as gold and silver were painted onto the nails of the wealthy to demonstrate status and power. In 50BC, Cleopatra was one of the first to apply colour solely to her fingertips, moving away from henna painting of the hands. After the fall of the Roman Empire, nail painting fell into decline and didn’t resurface until the Renaissance, when new connections to Eastern trade sparked a fresh interest. During the Victorian age, nails were buffed and polished with creams, tinted oils and powders to create a shiny finish.

The nail polish we use today emerged via advancements in paint, specifically car paint! In the early 1900s, companies such as Cutex and Revlon modified the formula of these paints to create a varnish suitable for use on nails. Manicure parlours became commonplace and, in the 1930s and ‘40s, the colour movies of Hollywood widened the appeal of red nails 100 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

(and lips) to demonstrate femininity.

In the 21st century we are able to choose any shade we desire, and there is a huge choice of brands and a variety of formulas to meet the demands of modern-day wear and tear.

Gel polish gives glorious colourful shine and support to your natural nails. This typically lasts around two or three weeks, depending how hard you are on your nails.

Nails and cuticles are prepared before the gel polish is applied, then cured (or hardened) under UV or LED light. UV and LED curing refers to the chemical process that occurs when photo initiators within the gel itself are exposed to the UV or blue light. This chain reaction produces heat and creates long, bonded chains that make the gel hard.

Although gel polish has had some bad press regarding damage to the natural nail, when applied and removed correctly it is no more damaging than wearing regular nail polish. Excessive buffing, scraping and picking of the gel should always be avoided, and nails should be cared for with oils and lanolin-free hand cream. Always use a proper gel removal soak-off liquid and never use a pure solvent such as acetone to take them off, as it will dry out your natural nails. Reputable nail technicians will offer a gentle professional removal service or sell a product suitable for home removal.

And remember, as we say in the trade, nails are ‘jewels not tools’! thesanctuarysherborne.co.uk margaretbalfour.co.uk

Exciting new equipment coming soon to The Zone!

Monday 2nd September.

01935 818270 www.oxleysc.com Bradford Road, Sherborne, Dorset, DT9 3DA

• Exercise classes • Personal training • Homes programme

LONDON ROAD CLINIC

All age groups and abilities Call 07791 308773 @communifit

communifit

communi_fit

communifit.co.uk

yoga with emma Classes in Sherborne, Thornford and Milborne Port For details please visit emmareesyoga.com dorsetyogawithemma emmayogateacher@gmail.com

Health Clinic • Acupuncture • Osteopathy • Counselling • Physiotherapy • EMDR Therapy • Shiatsu • Podiatry and Chiropody • Soft Tissue Therapy, Sports

& Remedial Massage Therapy

• Manual Lymphatic Drainage

• Hopi Ear Candle Therapy • Bowen • Homeopathy • Light Touch Spinal • Facial Energy Release • Swedish Massage • Indian Head Massage • Pregnancy Massage • Nutrition

Tel: 01963 251860

www.56londonroad.co.uk Email: info@56londonroad.co.uk 56 London Road, Milborne Port, Sherborne DT9 5DW Free Parking and Wheelchair access sherbornetimes.co.uk | 101

Body and Mind

SHERBORNE’S GREAT RIDE & STRIDE SATURDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER

D

Shaun Leavey OBE

orset has a vast number of wonderful and historic churches, varying from Sherborne’s mighty Abbey to tiny rural churches tucked into the folds of the downs or reached only by walking across a field. Many are in villages where the cost of their maintenance is a heavy burden for their small but loyal congregations. Others are in towns where the size of the church buildings - often built on a very grand scale - are now disproportionately large in relation to the numbers worshipping there. Dorset Historic Churches Trust was founded to resolve this problem.

Each year the Trust raises funds so that it can make grants towards the maintenance of these churches and help to preserve the county’s priceless architectural heritage. Their main fundraising event is the annual Ride & Stride day when local people are encouraged cycle, ride a horse or pony, or just walk (perhaps with a dog) between as many churches as they can from 10am to 6pm. Those who can’t do this are encouraged to 102 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

sponsor those who can. This year’s Ride & Stride date is Saturday 14th September. Almost all churches across Dorset will be open on that day and the majority will offer some form of refreshment to those taking part in Ride & Stride.

None of this will be worthwhile unless Ride & Stride secures enough people prepared to participate or sponsor someone participating. So please consider taking part on Saturday 14th September and, by doing so, both help to maintain Dorset’s amazing heritage of church buildings and have a great day out in the countryside. Sherborne’s event organiser is Jo Higgs - website details below.

Sherborne Times’s regular columnist Mike Riley has given good advice to those taking part and made a special offer. ‘Folks should check their bikes well in advance and Riley’s will reduce by 5% the cost of a standard service if customers bring their bike in before the event.’ rideandstrideuk.org

Craig Hardaker, BSc (Hons), Communifit

W

hen most adults think about exercise, they imagine working out in the gym, running on a treadmill, or lifting weights. For children, exercise means playing and being physically active. Children exercise when they have a gym class at school, at sports clubs, in the park, while riding bikes, or when playing tag.

The sedentary problem

Children and teens are sitting around a lot more than they used to. They spend hours every day in front of a screen (TVs, smartphones, tablets and other devices) looking at a variety of media (TV shows, videos, movies, games). Too much screen time and not enough physical activity add to the problem of childhood obesity. One of the best ways to get children to be more active is to limit the amount of time spent in sedentary activities, especially watching TV or other screens.

• Put limits on the time spent using media, which includes TV, social media, and video games. Media should not take the place of getting enough sleep and being active.

• Limit screen time to 1 hour a day or less for children between 2 and 5 years old.

• Discourage any screen time, except video-chatting, for children younger than 18 months.

• Choose high-quality programming and watch it with your children to help them understand what they’re seeing.

• Keep TVs, computers, and video games out of children’s bedrooms.

• Turn off screens during mealtimes.

How much exercise is enough?

Parents should make sure that their children get enough

Image: Stuart Brill

CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND FITNESS

exercise. So, how much is enough? Children and teens should get 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily. Toddlers and pre-school children should play actively several times a day. Toddlers should get at least 60 minutes active play every day and pre-schoolers should have at least 120 minutes active play every day. This time should include planned, adult-led physical activity and unstructured, active, free play. Young children should not be inactive for long periods of time — no more than 1 hour unless they’re sleeping. School-age children should not be inactive for periods of longer than 2 hours.

Raising active children

Combining regular physical activity with a healthy diet is the key to a healthy lifestyle.

Here are some tips for raising fit and healthy children: • Help your children do a variety of age-appropriate activities.

• Set a regular schedule for physical activity.

• Make being active a part of daily life, for instance, taking the stairs instead of the lift.

• Embrace a healthier lifestyle yourself, so you’ll be a positive role model for your family.

• Be active together as a family.

• Keep it fun, so your children will come back for more.

We encourage children to enter our monthly 5k series (under 12s are free), where they can run or walk a 5k distance and receive an awesome medal to show off at school upon completion, whilst also raising money for a local charity or fundraiser. Please contact us for more information. communifit.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 103

Body and Mind

CAN YOU DO A PULL-UP? Simon Partridge BSc (Sports Science) Personal Trainer SPFit

T

he pull-up is my personal favourite exercise because it is fantastic for improving upper body strength, muscle definition and lumbo-pelvic stability (the ability for the body to maintain proper support around the lower spine and pelvis during movement). I am going to attempt my first ultra-marathon in October and if the number of pull-ups I can achieve falls then I may have put on weight, which will be no good when running up the cliffs of North Devon. Pull-ups are my scales.

Many clients have walked through our door and said, ‘I could never do a pull-up.’

A few months later they can. Rachel Goodfellow ran 26 marathons in 26 days to raise money for the Hidden Needs Trust which helps children with special education needs. She is now concentrating on getting stronger. The photo shows Rachel doing her first ‘pull-up’ the week before I wrote this article. She was ecstatic (as was I, and very proud of her).

I am passionate about helping people ‘do’ pull-ups.

They are challenging but they are FUN, and I believe that exercise should be fun! Clients often cannot perform a pullup or as many as they want to because of their technique.

Here are some reasons for this and the solutions.

Overusing your arms

Try not to initiate the movement by pulling with your arms, use the larger and more powerful muscles in your back. Initiate the movement by drawing the shoulder blades in toward the spine and down toward the opposite hip. Solution: Scapula Pull-ups It is a full body movement

A ‘perfect’ pull-up involves the whole body working as a synchronised unit. This includes the anterior core, glutes and even the lower body. When your whole body works 104 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

as one, you can propel your body to and from the bar with more ease and efficiency. Solution: Before each rep, make sure that your body is set in either a straight line from your head to your heels or a slight hollow body position.

You need enough tension to keep the body from swinging

In order to maintain a proper body position for the duration of the exercise, you need to generate sufficient tension in certain muscle groups, particularly the abdominal muscles and glutes. You can then pull a rigid object, rather than a limp and floppy one, which is much less prone to swinging, resulting in a much shorter and more efficient path to the bar. Solution: Dead Bugs Weak grip strength

If your grip strength prevents you from hanging from the bar, performing one or more pull-ups is bound to be difficult. Solution: Plate Pinches and Loaded Carries Band-Assisted Pull-ups

We use band-assisted pull-ups a lot. However, when performing a band-assisted pull-up, do not let your form deteriorate. Ensure you maintain proper body positioning and generate enough tension around your hips, spine and legs. Solution: Master form first and use other regressions (simplified movements, maintaining floor contact).

Pull-ups can generate an enormous sense of achievement and raise your self-confidence. Set yourself a goal, believe in yourself and take a step by step approach to progress.

I firmly believe everyone can do some form of pull-up(s).

Give them a go and good luck. spfit-sherborne.co.uk

FIRST AID HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES FOR TRAVEL Joanna Hazelton MARH RHom

I

am often asked by patients what remedies I recommend they take as part of their first aid kit when they travel. The following are remedies I include in my own kit. The list is not comprehensive but hopefully covers most problems encountered.

If you are not familiar with using homeopathic remedies, a basic rule of thumb for first aid/acutes is: • for very minor injuries, consider taking lower potencies, such as a 6C (potency measurement). Arnica in a 6C potency can help when exhausted.

• for more serious conditions, such as a sprain, use a higher potency, such as the 30C. • for grave injuries, always seek medical advice, as you would at home.

When using remedies in first aid/acute situations, you may repeat the remedy frequently. An effective way to repeat the remedy is in water: dissolve a pellet in water, stir and give a spoonful of the liquid to the patient as often as necessary, i.e. until an improvement is noted, then stop.

Remedies

Apis 30C: for symptoms with swelling and redness, and burning and stinging pains, i.e. insect bites. Other symptoms are lack of thirst, along with a tendency to drop things.

Arnica 6C and 30C: the go-to remedy for all trauma.

Consider for muscle strain, exhaustion, sore bruised feeling. Arnica patients often insist that they are ‘alright’.

Arsenicum album 30C: for food poisoning or acute illnesses with vomiting, nausea, and diarrhoea. Restless, with great anxiety, thirsty for small sips, feels cold and chilly, strong desire for company.

Belladonna 30C: sudden onset of symptoms which are acute and violent, high fevers of 103° and higher. Heat, redness and burning sensation of affected parts, dilated

pupils. Desire for lemons/lemonade. Throbbing, rightsided headaches with red face.

Calendula 30C: along with ointment, externally; wounds with risk of infection; abscesses. Apply ointment externally to cuts after cleaning thoroughly.

Cantharis 30C: a superb first aid remedy for scald burns. Use Urtica urens ointment for slight burns, but Cantharis for more serious burns. It takes away the pain rapidly and promotes healing.

China 30C - 200C: ailments from loss of body fluids (excessive bleeding, diarrhoea, suppuration, perspiration), which can cause exhaustion, weakness, headaches, gastrointestinal problems and anaemia. Excessive bloating of abdomen with gas.

Hypericum 30C: injuries to nerve-rich areas, i.e. fingers, toes, back. Pain radiates or shoots up along the nerves.

Pain in the gums after extraction of teeth. Prevents lockjaw. [Along with Ledum, use for puncture wounds.]

Ledum 30C: puncture wounds, insect bites, animal bites.

The characteristic is that wounds are cold to the touch but the patient wants cold applications. Black eye from a blow (Symphytum). Prevents tetanus (Hypericum).

Ruta 30C: repetitive strain injury, broken bones; injuries to the linings of the bones or periosteum, injuries to ligaments and tendons (excellent for shoulder and knee injuries where the ligaments and tendons have been damaged).

Symphytum 30C: excellent for healing broken bones [after Arnica and Ruta]. Trauma to the eyeball, bloodshot eye. For slow repair of broken bones. hazeltontherapies.com 56londonroad.co.uk

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 105

Body & Mind

TIREDNESS AND CHRONIC FATIGUE

Dr Tim Robinson MB BS MSc MRCGP DRCOG MFHom GP & Complementary Practitioner

G

eneral tiredness and lack of energy troubles many people. This becomes a problem when it interferes with home- as well as work-life.

Tiredness and fatigue can be presenting symptoms of underlying medical conditions such as anaemia, underactive thyroid, diabetes or liver and kidney dysfunction, as well as more serious problems such as cancer. For this reason it is essential that you seek advice from your GP to rule out these underlying conditions.

Having ruled them out you are left with non-specific and nebulous causes such as lifestyle and psychological factors, stress, poor diet, smoking, alcohol excess, exercise and excess weight. It is important to address each of these factors in order to boost energy levels.

Unfortunately each takes time to reverse as well as much determination and self-discipline.

An especially difficult condition in which there is a lack of energy is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). This usually follows on from some event such as a severe illness or infection, Glandular Fever being the commonest. It can also follow some stress-related reaction to a traumatic event or mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Recovery can take a long time and is assisted by a holistic, generalist approach that considers graded exercise, optimal nutrition, structured rest, and counselling such as cognitive behavioural therapy.

Other strategies such as mind-body techniques, yoga and meditation as well as complementary therapies can be helpful. Above all, it is important to explore the precise onset of the illness and hence the trigger factor from which the insidious process of CFS has stemmed.

Careful detective work by the practitioner brings an 106 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

understanding that leads to corrective strategies to achieve relief from the debilitating tiredness and its allied symptoms. This holistic approach is preferable to the blinkered medical approach of drugs prescribed to suppress the presenting, superficial symptoms.

The condition has much deeper roots that need to be explored and addressed.

Herbal treatment with St John’s Wort is an accepted treatment for mild to moderate depression which in turn will help the tiredness that may be associated with this condition. Treatment with homeopathy prescribed on the constitutional or whole person approach by a trained practitioner should be considered. Healthy eating is important; a mixed and balanced diet which contains the correct proportion of carbohydrates, proteins and fats is needed. Make sure you get your omega 3 fatty acids in fatty fish such as salmon and mackerel or take them in capsule form. Plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables are an important source of vitamins and minerals. If your lifestyle does not permit you to have a mixed, balanced diet, take a respectable multimineral/ multivitamin supplement. Choose one that contains the Vitamin Bs (these are responsible for many energyproviding metabolic processes in cells) and the mineral Magnesium (patients reported increased energy and mood in a number of studies).

Sadly there is no single treatment or cure for CFS. Taking a wider approach to address this multifaceted and complex condition makes perfect sense and is more effective in restoring energy and general good health. doctorTWRobinson.com GlencairnHouse.co.uk

Luxury New Care Home Opening This Winter You’re invited to our

Marketing Suite Open Weekend 31st August–1st September, 10am – 4pm Trinity Manor, Sherborne’s new luxury care home, is opening this winter. You’re invited to the opening of our marketing suite to take a look around and meet our friendly team.

Bespoke residential, dementia and respite care Choice of nutritious and delicious home-cooked meals Daily life-enrichment programme • Luxurious and safe surroundings

01935 574 968 www.barchester.com/TrinityManor Bradford Road, Sherborne, DT9 6EX If you’re unable to join us at this event, the Marketing Suite will be open daily from 31st August Private dining • Concierge service • Choice of lounges • En-suite rooms Spa bathroom • Cinema room • Hairdressing salon • Minibus • Wifi • Café

Brister&Son Independent Family Funeral Directors

When your family suffers the loss of a loved one, we are here to support, guide and reassure you – every step of the way Call Daniel on 01935 812647 100 Lenthay Road, Sherborne DT9 6AG Email: daniel@wsbrister.com www.wsbrister.com

A J Wakely& Sons Independent Family Funeral Directors and Monumental Masons – 24 Hour Service –

Private Chapels of Rest Website www.ajwakely.com

Independent Family Directors and Monumental Mason 33 SparrowFuneral Road, Yeovil BA21 4BT Tel: 01935 479913 16 Newland, Sherborne, DorsetService DT9 3JQ -Tel: 01935 816817 - 24 Hour Please contact Clive Wakely, or a member of our dedicated team for any advice or guidance.

Private Chapels of Rest

Website.www.ajwakely.com

108 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

While being ideal for long-term residential needs, the home also maintains a respite service and offers day care to the surrounding communities.

Carers are committed to understanding personal needs and adhering to a tailored approach.

A number of activities are organised to support personal interests and physical health, and residents have access to information technology while enjoying home-cooked meals.

The Old Vicarage Care Home has won over 30 national and regional awards over the last few years for their commitment to care of the elderly to back-up their reputation as one of the leading care homes in Dorset.

At The Old Vicarage we offer...

The Old Vicarage, Leigh, Sherborne, Dorset, DT9 6HL Tel: 01935 873033 Visit our website for a full map to the home

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Palliative Care Day Care Respite Care Convalescent Care Own GP if required Own Furniture if required Pets by arrangement Near Public Transport Stairlift Minibus or other transport Wheelchair access Gardens for residents Phone Point in own room/Mobile Television point in own room Residents Internet Access

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commitment we achieve

Sherborne Property Services Building & Project Management Consultant I can offer advice or oversee your building project from start to finish • Strong relationships with architects and builders • Vast knowledge of planning processes • Reasonable rates and personal service Stuart Cox 07565 831024 sherbornepropertyservices.co.uk 110 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

81 Cheap Street Sherborne 01935 815 657

traditional | contemporary | heritage sensitive | simple | sustainable raisearchitects.com

Architecture

THE GEOMETRY OF A COMFORTABLE STAIRCASE Andy Foster, Director, Raise Architects

T

here was something I didn’t know about stairs.

I’ve been following the rules for designing stairs for a long time, however there’s a difference between knowing rules and understanding them. Understanding rules means knowing how and why they came about, what their limitations are, and how they might need to be interpreted in different circumstances. In the case of stair design, I’d always intended to investigate a particular rule that I’d never really understood but I had never had the time to do so.

Then one day, I did investigate it.

It doesn’t take much experience of planning buildings to realise that staircases take up a lot of space.

Exactly how much space a stair occupies is a function of the storey height, the form of the stair, and the stair geometry. As far as stair geometry in the UK is concerned, the allowable step dimensions are controlled through the Building Regulations.

112 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

You would naturally expect the regulations to control the height of the step (the rise) and the depth of the tread (the going) and the overall steepness of the stair (the pitch angle), which they do. But there is a further criterion, one which constrains the relationship between the going and rise, namely that the going dimension plus twice the rise dimension should be between 550mm and 700mm.

I’ve always been aware of this relationship. I’ve used it for all of the stairs I’ve designed but, if I’m honest, I’ve never really understood what it’s for, what it does or where it comes from. It’s stated as a requirement but there’s no explanation. Why would you add two dimensions at right angles together? Why twice the rise?

And where does the 550mm to 700mm range come from? I just couldn’t guess.

It didn’t take much Google searching to establish that the equation is attributed to a 17th century French architect by the name of François Blondel. There were

Image: Samuel Zeller

many references to him but no explanation as to how he derived his equation. More searching led me to Blondel’s book, Cours d’Architecture, dated 1675, and I managed to find an online archive copy of the original. My schoolboy French led me to the chapter on ‘Escalier’, and I managed to make sense of his thinking.

First of all, he makes reference to various famous architects who had come before him and who had considered the design of the perfect stair. He gives Pythagoras, Vitruvius, Scamozzi and others short shrift and says that they got it wrong! Then he gives his own version of things by, first of all, establishing that the average stride length is 24 inches on the horizontal. He recognises that if you are going to go up as well as along, then the horizontal travel distance should reduce to allow for the vertical rise. He realises that the dimension between ladder rungs is 12 inches and that this is half of the average stride length.

Hence, he concludes that the horizontal distance should be reduced by twice the vertical rise.

But the average stride length must vary? And there must be variability in the dimension between ladder rungs? For instance, my stride length is approximately 28 inches and measuring the ladders that I could find, I established that they varied from 8.5 inches to 10.5 inches. I couldn’t find any that had rung spacings of 12 inches. So was he correct?

People’s stride length obviously does vary, and the relationship between horizontal movement and vertical movement is also variable. Hence it would be impossible, in reality, to arrive at a universally applicable relationship.

A better question would be to ask, is his relationship useful? The fact that it has been used down the centuries since he derived it seems to indicate that it is. From my investigations, it appears to have been adopted in the building codes of most developed countries.

And when you equate it to a dimensional range rather than a specific dimension, the Blondel relationship becomes more meaningful. 24 Paris inches is 650mm, and this is within the 550mm to 700mm range that is quoted. The Blondel equation, used in conjunction with a range, has the effect of eliminating extreme step geometries. That is, you can’t have a short tread with a small rise and a long tread with a large rise. In other words, the equation prevents people from having to take tiny steps or overly large strides. It keeps the stride length within a range which is generally accepted as being comfortable.

How does this help? Blondel’s relationship is designed to keep the stair geometry comfortable by limiting the stride length to an acceptable range. In doing so, it also helps to make the stair safer. So, having investigated the background to the equation, does my new-found knowledge about stair geometry improve my ability to design stairs? Has it made me a better architect?

Well, yes. A bit. Previously, I would just want a stair to comply, and I thought that steepness was the principal factor which determined comfort and safety. Now I have a sense of how well a particular stair complies.

If I were designing for young children or the elderly, I would think more carefully about stride length. And, in certain circumstances, I would involve clients in decisions about the trade-off between the amount of space a stair takes up and any consequent comfort or safety issues. raisearchitects.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 113

SALES OFFICE OPEN NOW VISIT OUR BRAND NEW SALES OFFICE AT UPBURY GRANGE IN YETMINSTER

Prices from £250,000

Set against the stunning backdrop of Yetminster, Dorset, is Upbury Grange; a premium quality new housing development exuding luxury at every turn.

Visit us to discover more about our 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom homes available.

Upbury Grange, Thornford Road, Yetminster, DT9 6LS Book an appointment with a Sales Executive by emailing upbury.grange@burringtonestates.com or call 01935 345020 www.burringtonestates.com/upbury-grange

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*Prices correct at time of printing. Help to Buy criteria apply, see www.helptobuy.gov.uk for details. Images are for illustrative purposes only.

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114 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Nr Gillingham Detached family home, two receptions, study, six bedrooms, three bathrooms, double garage, large garden. £2,600pcm

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116 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

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Legal

POTENTIAL INHERITANCE TAX REFORMS Tom Chiffers, Partner, Wills & Trusts team at Mogers Drewett

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) recommends sweeping reforms of inheritance tax (IHT) in a bid to reduce the complexity of the so-called ‘death tax’.*

T

he OTS has recommended government changes to the rules surrounding gifts of cash, property and other assets acquired while someone is still alive, as well as an overhaul of the relationship between IHT and capital gains tax for farm and business assets.

Should these changes go ahead, individuals will need to reconsider their current planning.

The key proposals include the following: For individuals

• Simplifying the lifetime gift exemptions to a single personal gift allowance, with a revised threshold for small gifts and reform of the regular gift out of income exemption.

• A revision of exempt transfers. It is currently possible to make gifts during your lifetime free of IHT, so long as you live for more than seven years after making the gift.

It is proposed that this period is reduced to five years.

• In-line with the above, an end to the complicated taper that applies to the inheritance tax due on ‘failed gifts’, whereby gifts made three to seven years before your death are currently taxed on a sliding scale.

• A simplification of the rules relating to who is liable to pay IHT on lifetime gifts and how the £325,000 threshold is allocated between different recipients.

For businesses and farms

• A reform of the relationship between inheritance tax and capital gains tax. Current rules for both taxes vary greatly and are dependent on whether the disposal of a farm or business is following death or during one’s lifetime. The proposals seek to prevent different tax 118 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

outcomes applying for effectively the same action.

You may need to update your Will and estate planning to ensure that you benefit from any tax reform. Your Will and planning may have been formulated to reflect the current regime and, if not revised, you may end up with a very different outcome from what was originally intended. This will certainly be the case if the rules change on where liability for tax falls between those receiving lifetime gifts and those who inherit upon death.

Some of the proposals on allocation of liability will also have wider implications that will need to be considered.

Another consideration for any future inheritance planning includes the government’s pledge to extend civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples. Where proposals are currently out for consultation, the Government Equalities Office hopes the option will be available by the end of 2019. The right to enter into a civil partnership would give opposite-sex couples the same inheritance tax exemptions as those currently enjoyed by married couples and same-sex civil partners.

If you have any concerns regarding your Will, speak with your legal team for advice. *The OTS is the independent adviser on simplifying the UK tax system. Making recommendations for government to consider and the consultation and subsequent reporting on inheritance tax was undertaken in response to a request from the Chancellor of the Exchequer in January 2018. mogersdrewett.com

Straight to the point legal advice

A law firm without the baffling jargon Sherborne | Bath | Wells | Frome mogersdrewett.com | 01935 813 691

Finance

GLOBAL INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Andrew Fort B.A. (Econ.) CFPcm Chartered MCSI APFS, Certified and Chartered Financial Planner, Fort Financial Planning

A

cross more than 40 countries, there are over 15,000 publicly traded companies. If you listen to the news, however, some countries may seem like better places to invest than others, based on how their economies and stock markets are doing at the time.

Fluctuations in performance from year to year only add to the complexity, providing little useful information about future returns.

Daunted by the prospect of sorting it out, some investors look to the place they know best— their home market. There can be good reasons, such as tax benefits, for prioritising an investment close to home but too much home bias could mean missing out on part of the investment universe.

Australia, for example, represents 2% of the global equity market. An Australian who aims to build a global equity portfolio may have cause for investing a greater amount at home. However, this would come with the trade-off of reduced investment in other countries. The same is true for a Japanese investor, whose home country represents 8% of the global equity market. Even the US equity market — the world’s largest by far — is only about half of the global opportunity set.

Fortunately, no one needs to be an expert in every region to benefit from the opportunities those regions present. Equity markets process information continuously, leveraging knowledge from millions of buyers and sellers each day as they set security prices.

Investors can trust market prices to provide an up-tothe-minute snapshot of global investment opportunities.

Because prices do such a good job of incorporating information about securities in every market, they also

120 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

offer the best prediction of future prospects. No sensible story or compelling empirical research suggests investors can consistently outguess those prices and pick winning countries. A well-diversified global portfolio can help capture the returns of markets around the world and deliver more reliable outcomes over time.

The tables below illustrate 20 years of annual equity returns for developed and emerging markets. Each colour represents a different country. Each column is sorted top down, from the highest-performing country to the lowest.

Taken together, these tables powerfully demonstrate the randomness of global equity returns. In either table, pick a colour in the first column and follow it through to the right. Does any country seem to follow a pattern that gives clues about its future performance?

In next month’s article we will reveal the answers, as well as explaining how this can help investment returns! ffp.org.uk

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 121

Tech

I

get asked this all the time when a child demands a laptop from a non-tech-savvy parent. Whether it’s to boost homework productivity or a device on which to watch their favourite films, when you’re buying a laptop for a child you need to know what it’ll be used for as this is critical. Is it an educational tool only? Are you happy for them to use it for gaming or watching movies?

Laptops come with different operating systems: Windows, Chrome OS and macOS. Windows is the most common, working with the most applications.

Chrome laptops are usually the cheapest but have an operating system with fewer applications and really only work best when connected to the internet. A Chromebook uses Google’s own laptop operating system which uses programmes such as Google Docs but with some Android apps as well. Finally, Apple’s macOS is arguably the most intuitive to use but Apple’s hardware is not cheap (and lacks the touchscreen found on many laptops and Chromebooks).

It’s important to check with your child’s school to make sure there’s no requirement for particular programmes or operating systems. Screen size is the most immediate way to interact with a laptop, and if your child is planning on watching movies as well as doing homework, then a bigger screen is better. There is usually a triangle of trade-offs: weight, power and price.

One that’s lightweight will rarely be cheap; one that’s cheap probably won’t be powerful or light. There is a 122 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

balance to be found somewhere, and there are bargains to be had. Note that some companies, Apple and Microsoft for instance, offer lower prices to educational organisations and students.

It’s also worth considering the life expectancy - most children’s laptops won’t last much beyond 3 years. If you think they’ll need a new one for GCSEs from Year 9, don’t buy them an expensive one in year 8, as you may be replacing it again before GCSEs have finished in year 11 - and again if they choose to go into further education.

Sixth formers and university students have slightly different needs as most of the specialist equipment will probably be provided by the institution. Even maths and science degrees only require a computer that you can write essays and dissertations on and which can do the occasional spreadsheet. Most students browse the internet, do social media and watch Netflix! Golden rules: (1) don’t spend too much too early and (2) ask the school or university what the minimum specification is, then check with a reliable source for the best deals. Most institutions can provide cheap access to Microsoft Office 365 as well, so don’t be coerced into buying it from PC World at full price before term starts.

The choice, as always, is yours but if you think you need advice, you know where to come.

Coming up next month: 5G Network - you’ll be lucky! computing-mp.co.uk

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07792 391368 NO VAT www.sherbornedecorators.com michellethurgood@sky.com 124 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

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ABBA | GEORGE MICHAEL | DISCO INFERNO | MOTOWN & SOUL Join us this Deecember where we have lined up four of the best music nights across two weekends.

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07917 787 000 sherbornetimes.co.uk | 125

FOLK TALES with Terry Bennett

RABIAH JACKSON

Volunteer Co-ordinator, RVS Sherborne Lunch Club

‘I

’m quite small… and Asian’ was the telephone advice offered to me by my Folk Tales guest as a means of recognising her when we met for coffee and a chat. Always helpful when carnations are out of season and station clocks have become smaller and much more utilitarian devices. A trouble-free start then as Oliver’s provided the backdrop for a first meeting with this charming, energetic lady whose roots lie in the postwar years of the Singapore Republic.

‘I really don’t want to talk much about me’ was a less helpful opening gambit from Rabiah, deferring immediately to her role as Volunteer Co-ordinator for the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) Sherborne Lunch Club, an organisation with which she has had links for many years and for which her enthusiasm is evident. And justly so, as Rabiah and her band of 10 helpers provide a fortnightly cooked lunch for the 30 or so local members whose ages range from 70 up to 93. I enquire how she became involved with the charity which now forms such a prominent part of her life in retirement. The answer lies in an RVS presentation that she attended whilst living, with her husband John, in the London Borough of Enfield 15 or more years ago which led to a volunteer role in that area. Rabiah is less effusive regarding those early days where she mainly assisted behind the scenes at events, denying her the chance to engage with others, something in which she flourishes. Within a month of the couple moving to Sherborne in 2011, however, the RVS grapevine had flagged her presence to the local branch and an opening was quickly identified which offered her an opportunity to indulge one of her great passions in life… cooking. After that, it seems Rabiah was ‘hooked’.

But what of the intervening period? How did a primary school teacher from equatorial south-east Asia, the eldest of 6 children, come to the UK in the first place?

The connection, it seems, can be found via the scouting movement and a conference held in Singapore during April 1980 which John was attending. Rabiah winces slightly over the ‘love at first sight’ descriptor but the fact is they married just two months later and, having subsequently accompanied him on various overseas postings including Geneva and Sri Lanka, the couple returned to the UK in 1983, locating to Enfield to be close 126 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

to John’s work. I postulate that the move away from such a family-centric and tightly-knit community to the multicultural rough and tumble of 1980s London must have been something of a wrench, but Rabiah firmly rejects this. ‘No, it was exciting. Anyway, I always look forwards, not back, and this is now home; my family’s here.’ The more we chat, the more I ‘get’ this and can’t help but be inspired by her infectious enthusiasm and joie de vivre.

Employment with the local authority and the birth of their two daughters occupied the ensuing years until, contemporaneous with ‘retirement’, they decided they’d fallen out of love with London and started to plan an escape. Hampshire, John’s county of birth, looked to be the front-runner but, on the advice of a friend, they followed a lead to a property in Sherborne which, in Rabiah’s words ‘ticked every box.’ This somewhat blind date with the town appears to have paid-off though as they both love the place and are now fully immersed in Dorset life.

But back to the Lunch Club which has recently found a new home in the Raleigh Hall, Digby Road. I suggest that, for a cooking enthusiast raised and trained in the subtleties of Singapore cuisine, and for one so dedicated to the art, the mass catering involved in providing meat and two veg for an audience of 30+, however appreciative, might be a bit soul-destroying. Again, Rabiah is dismissive; underlying this is clearly the reward enjoyed by so many who undertake voluntary work. She speaks in animated tones of the friendship forged with those who attend the lunches, the pleasure gained in seeing them interacting with others and the enjoyment of working within a team of dedicated individuals.

All too soon our time is up and a trip to the supermarket beckons ahead of tomorrow’s lunch.

‘They all know me in there,’ Rabiah quips, ‘not many people go in and buy 8 cabbages at a time!’

And off she went, leaving a wake of positivity and enthusiasm which stayed with me, much like the melody of a favourite song lingers hours after it has finished playing!

For more information about the Lunch Club, contact Rabiah on 07502 130241 or visit the website. royalvoluntarysevice.org.uk

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 127

Community

SAMARITANS OF YEOVIL, SHERBORNE & DISTRICT

B

ecoming a Samaritan needn’t be an entirely selfless decision. Whilst a big part of the commitment is about helping others, the Samaritans also offer a network of community and support to all its volunteers, and an opportunity to forge lasting friendships with like-minded people. Samaritans of Yeovil, Sherborne & District now has well over 100 volunteers on board. Here they speak of their experience of volunteering.

‘I am privileged to know each and every one of our volunteers as both colleagues and friends. And that’s more friends than I’ve ever had in my life,’ says Director of the Branch, Sarah Coote. ‘When my husband and I first moved down to the South West, we didn’t know many people. We’re both very social people and are at our happiest when our house is filled with friends and family. I wanted to find a way to meet like-minded people, on our doorstep. I had been a Samaritan in my 20s and always thought about joining Samaritans again once I retired. I’d had friends who were listening volunteers and who had always enthused about the community aspect. I decided to go along to an information evening and see what the Yeovil Branch was like. I liked what I found and, eventually, I became Director of the Branch! What is reassuring is that you know that a Samaritan will always be kind, and everyone has a right to kindness, whether or not they’re a Samaritan.’

Chris says, ‘Since joining Samaritans, I have been privileged to meet an amazing group of people who devote a big part of their lives to providing support to those who need it. A more diverse group of people it would be hard to find, but what they have in common is a reservoir of kindness and compassion, not only to callers but also to each other. The friendship and support I have received has done much to restore my belief in human nature.’

Beth says, ‘It began on Selection Day when I had an opportunity to chat to some Samaritans from the Yeovil Branch. They were such lovely, kind people who 128 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

made me feel that I really wanted to be part of their organisation and I would have been so disappointed had I not been selected for training - which fortunately I was! What I discovered when I started my training and eventually became a full Samaritan is that everyone in the branch is like that. I found the kindness, support and encouragement from everyone quite overwhelming, especially coming from a more hard-nosed business background. It really did feel as though I had joined a family. However, this was never more evident than recently when I lost my husband. I was again overwhelmed by the support and care shown in so many ways. I can honestly say that my ’Samaritan Family’ has helped me to get through some of my darkest days, and I can’t thank them enough.’

Simon, who heads up volunteer training at the branch, is always overwhelmed by feedback from trainees. ‘They always comment on how warm and welcoming the sessions are, how supportive and friendly the attending volunteers are, and they all seem to go away feeling really positive and motivated.’

Faye says, ‘Though the range of volunteers’ backgrounds and ages is refreshing and stimulating, our common thread is that we are fellow Samaritans and that in itself means we have an unspoken trust in each other and a shared set of values. It doesn’t matter who my shift partner is. I never bother to check because I know I will feel supported and comfortable with them whoever they are, and this helps me to keep supporting our callers. And 13 years on, I’m still going!’

Could you volunteer with Samaritans? Why not come along to one of our information evenings to find out more about what we do? They take place on the first Wednesday of every month at 7pm at 25 The Park, Yeovil, BA20 1DG. There’s no need to pre-book. Simply turn up and we’ll be there.

For more information call 01935 414015, email recruitment@yeovilsamaritans.org.uk or visit samaritans. org/branches/samaritans-yeovil-sherborne-and-district

FOSTERS GRAMMAR SCHOOL John House, The Old Fosterians Association

Carpentry workshop at Hound Street

2

019 marks the 80th anniversary of Foster’s School moving from Hound Street to Tinneys Lane in 1939.

The origin of Foster’s School from the mid-1600s to 1875 is quite a complicated story of buildings, land, teachers and governors but, in 1874, a decision was made to build a new school in Hound Street. The new school was built for £1,250, not including the boarding house, by a local builder, Mr Thomas Farwell. The Hound Street school opened in April 1875 with Mr J. Griffiths as headmaster and with about 40 boys.

In September 1933, Mr Lush, Headmaster, raised the problem of more classrooms being needed; the number of pupils then stood at an average of 150. In 1935 plans were drawn up to build in the Fair field, next door in Hound Street (now Digby Hall and Library). This was rejected by the County Education Officer as there would not be any room for playing fields; the school was then still using the Terrace playing fields. Purchasing the adjacent property, The Wilderness, was also considered and rejected.

Dorset County then overruled the Governors and purchased a site in Tinneys Lane, where Lord Digby’s School had had, since 1924, a hockey pitch. In January 1938 a contract was made with E. G. Wilkins of Marnhull to build the new school for £20,864. The new school was scheduled to open at the start of the autumn term 1939 but problems caused a delay and pupils eventually moved into the new school on 11th and 12th October 1939, after World War II had started. The

Old Fosterians Association gifted to the new school an automatic scoring board for the cricket pavilion.

There are boys, now in their nineties and still with us, who attended school in Hound Street as opposed to being a boarder there: Dennis Fudge, John Jackson, Alec Oxford, Jack Treasure and hopefully many more. Alec remembers having to go to the Terrace playing fields to play football and other sports. He scored 4 goals in a game against Sherborne Town. Jack remembers that all pupils had to have indoor shoes before attending the new school to protect the floors; no hobnail boots!

John Jackson remembers the shoes as well and the huts down in the gardens used as classrooms; also the weekly market that took place in the Fair field. Pack Monday market, with its sheep, pigs, cattle and horses, was also held there.

At the new Tinneys Lane school, trenches were dug on the far side of the playing fields (well away from the school building) in a zig-zag formation, with duckboards in them to stand on. When the air raid siren sounded, pupils had to run across to them, entering from both ends and numbering off when meeting in the middle.

On one occasion John remembers a German plane flying quite low over our heads with his machine guns firing, probably just to scare us. The school caretaker (Mr Pollard) and groundsman later found some bullets scattered around the playing fields.

Much of the above information has been taken from S G McKay’s 1975 book, Fosters. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 129

Short Story

THE GIFT

A

Jan Garner, Sherborne Scribblers

fter thanking the courier for the package covered in fragile stickers, Angela carried it carefully into the kitchen and put it on the table next to the post waiting to be opened tomorrow – her 70th birthday.

The following morning, even though entering her eighth decade horrified her, she wished the grey-haired woman looking back at her in the bathroom mirror, many happy returns of the day.

Stephen’s card was the first she opened and she wiped away more than one tear as she read the beautiful words her son had written in his untidy scrawl. It was only nine months since he’d left to work in Australia, but each one of those had felt like a lifetime and she missed him terribly.

Once read, she arranged the rest of her cards on the window sill and excitedly turned her attention to the parcel. The scissors sliced through the black plastic wrapping and under the layers of bubble wrap she saw the laptop.

‘Oh dear,’ she muttered, disappointed by her son’s choice of gift. A computer was the last thing she’d expected or wanted.

‘Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,’ his deep voice sang down the line when he rang her later that morning. ‘Did you get your present mum?’

‘I did darling, thank you. But Stephen, it must have cost a fortune.’

‘Mum, I can afford it, and like that advert says you’re worth it. Now I know you’ve never been interested in computers, but please give it a try, honestly, it will change your life. I’ve arranged for a local chap to set it up and to give you some lessons. He’ll call you sometime this week to sort out a suitable day.’

How on earth had he managed to organise all this from the other side of the world, she wanted to know?

‘That’s the wonderful thing about the World Wide Web mum, it doesn’t matter where you are, you can do anything with the click of a mouse.’

‘A what dear, did you say a mouse?’

‘Yes, but don’t panic, it’s not the furry kind. Mr Young will explain. He’ll show you how to email, Google and Skype.’

The unfamiliar words terrified her. ‘It all sounds very complicated dear, I’m not sure I’ll be any good at it.’

‘You’ll be fine, just wait and see, and once you have Skype downloaded we’ll be able to see each other on the screen. It’ll be like I’m there with you.’

‘Really! Now that would be wonderful,’ she sighed.

Mr Young arrived the following week, only he wasn’t, young that is, he looked older than she did. ‘Please call me Bob,’ he said, as a warm lop-sided smile lit up his face as he shook her hand.

He seemed nice enough in a crumpled sort of way she decided as she ushered him into the lounge.

‘Would you like a cup of tea before you start?’ she offered.

‘I’d rather crack on if you don’t mind,’ he said as he walked over to the desk and lifted the lid of the computer.

‘Ok, I’ll be in the kitchen when you need me.’ It was a while later when he popped his head around the door.

‘All done,’ he said. ‘Shall we get started?’

130 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Hoping to delay her inevitable initiation, she suggested a slice of lemon drizzle cake to accompany a cup of tea. ‘It’s just out of the oven,’ she tempted.

‘I don’t mind if I do,’ he said taking a seat and stretching his legs under the table. ‘It smells wonderful; my wife was a great baker. Unfortunately, I only have shop-bought ones nowadays.’

As they sat chatting he confided that setting up Computing for Golden Oldies had helped fill his days after his wife had died.

‘Well, I must warn you, I’m useless with anything technical. I can’t even work the DVD.’ ‘Don’t fret,’ he said, ‘I’ll soon have you emailing and tweeting like a professional.’ Sheer panic overwhelmed her. She hadn’t a clue what he was talking about.

‘Thanks,’ he said as he pushed the plate away and got to his feet. ‘That was delicious, now if you’re ready, we’ll go online.’ Reluctantly she followed him back down to the lounge and nervously took a seat next to him in front of the laptop.

‘Ok,’ he said. ‘The first thing you need is a password. It has to have at least seven characters.’

She thought for a moment. ‘How about Bashful, Happy, Grumpy…?’

‘No, not those sorts of characters,’ he laughed.

‘Sorry, you must think I’m Dopey,’ she joked.

‘Very funny,’ he said as his bony fingers raced over the keys and created a password for her.

‘Now let’s concentrate and I’ll show you how to use the internet.’

‘Ok, that could be useful; my girlfriends are all on that face thingy.’

‘It’s Facebook actually.’

She shrugged. ‘I did tell you I was hopeless, didn’t I.’ For the next half-hour, he continued to extol the benefits of the web but also pointed out the dangers. ‘Make sure you keep your passwords safe,’ he stressed. ‘That’s most important. I’ve set up a firewall to protect you from getting any viruses.’

‘Oh, I don’t want any of those,’ she said looking alarmed. ‘The last one I had made me really poorly.’ He rolled his eyes and the look he gave her left her in no doubt that she’d made another faux pas.

‘I think that’s enough for today, we’ve made a good start,’ he said encouragingly as he put on his coat to leave. ‘You can practice by sending me some emails. But phone me if you have any broadband problems.’ Broadband, she thought, what’s that?

Over the next few weeks, as her confidence grew, she looked forward more and more to her weekly lesson. She was proud of all she’d achieved. However, of all the things Bob had taught her, using Skype was the thing she valued the most. Every Sunday morning at nine o’clock when her son’s face appeared on the screen, the miles between them disappeared.

‘Morning, darling,’ she greeted him as she answered his weekend call.

‘Mum! What have you done to yourself ? You look great.’

‘I’ve had my hair coloured,’ she giggled as she ran her hand over her head. ‘Do you like it?’

‘It’s fabulous, you look ten years younger.’

‘Well, if I do, it’s all thanks to you, Stephen. You were right about the laptop changing my life.

I can’t possibly tell you just how much fun I’m having right now,’ she said, as Bob came into the bedroom with their early morning pot of tea.

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 131

2019

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Image: Susanne Ollmann 132 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

LITERARY FESTIVAL PREVIEW Pravda Ha Ha: True Travels to the End of Europe

by Rory Maclean (Bloomsbury 2019) £14.99 Sherborne Times Reader Offer Price of £13.99 from Winstone’s Books Bill Bennette, Sherborne Literary Society

F

rom the acclaimed author of Stalin’s Nose comes this superbly described, darkly comic exposé of the collapse of Soviet communism and its dysfunctional effect on millions of the Russian population. The opportunistic rape of the nation by oligarchs as they have appropriated for themselves some 40% of its wealth is scrutinised alongside the progress of ‘Tsar’ Vladimir Putin’s new Russia and the destabilisation of Europe.

In his previous book, Rory MacLean led us through the chaotic but jubilant period immediately following the fall of the Berlin Wall as he travelled from Berlin to Moscow. Thirty years later he retraces his journey in reverse, reliving the same desolation and facing new challenges. His account exemplifies corruption and greed through opportunistic characters such as the ‘Chicken Tsar’, who found his fortune in George H. W. Bush’s gift of American chickens in the early 1990s, intended to feed the starving millions after the communist regime ceased to be their breadbasket.

The demise of the Gorbachev and Brezhnev eras are handled with precision in the lead up to the advent of Putin.

Exposing the rotting state of many cities and abandoned villages throughout Russia, MacLean explores the means by which Putin often mocks the truth. He compares the inversion of the pre-revolutionary disastrous tsarist losses of Russian troops in the Japanese war of 1904-5 into victorious history, with Putin’s subversion of terrible truth into false rhetoric so brazen that it becomes spuriously credible. He questions how different life in Russia is today from that which had to be endured under Stalin’s totalitarianism or that of the autocratic tsars.

The introduction of colourful characters is used to demonstrate the restricted lifestyle that most people

are forced to endure in contemporary Russia, often bound by loyalty to ageing parents. The constant fear of punishment for craving intellectual freedom, is present in many people. In Hungary, memories of life under the Soviet regime and German wartime cruelty, make most people feel both victimised and less optimistic about the future. Maclean’s travels through Poland illustrate the instability and xenophobia sweeping the country as reflected by the policies of the PiS (‘Law and Justice’) nationalistic party, and the air disaster of 2010 which wiped out 96 members of the political elite.

Concern for mass migration into Europe is also sensitively handled through the prism of MacLean’s connection with a young African whose illegal entry into Russia is tracked through much of the narrative, and the plight of immigrants on makeshift vessels across the Mediterranean is poignantly described. Whilst Germany has welcomed many of them, much of the rest of Europe has introduced increasingly anti-immigration policies.

There is a marked disparity between the post-war success of Germany following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the desolation of life in most eastern European nations.

MacLean paints his pictures with imaginative clarity.

His brilliant and sensitive descriptions, depicted in richly defined and unsettling detail, make for a compelling, often amusing and always challenging read. sherborneliterarysociety.com

____________________________________________ Friday 25th October, 11am Sherborne Literary Festival - Rory Maclean The Merritt Centre, Sherborne Girls. Tickets £8 from Sherborne TIC and pravdahaha.eventbrite.co.uk

____________________________________________ sherbornetimes.co.uk | 133

2019

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25 th O

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Our Man in New York by Henry Hemming (Quercus, 2019) £20 (Hardback) Sherborne Times Reader Offer Price of £19 from Winstone’s Books John Gaye, Sherborne Literary Society

134 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

T

his is the extraordinary story of how 1940s isolationist America was subtly persuaded to support the UK in defeating the Nazi threat to Europe. Many different events have been claimed to have brought about a shortening of the Second World War but the actions outlined in this book surely rank high in that list.

Some of this tale has been told before in a book entitled A Man Called Intrepid, written by William Stevenson and published in 1976, but so much more material has since come to light about these events and how the hero of the story, William Stephenson (no relation to the original author), created the huge swing in American public opinion as well as putting in place the origins of the CIA. The story starts on 11th June 1940 when a rather nondescript and small in stature Canadian embarked on MV Britannic in Liverpool docks bound for America. This was William Stephenson, who had recently been recruited into the ranks of MI6 to become Head of Station in New York. He had already had a rather full life as a World War I fighter pilot with an MC and DFC to his name. He had then become a successful inventor and businessman in Canada before going bankrupt and moving to England where he reinvented himself and made a second fortune from developing, marketing and selling radio sets. By 1940 he was a very rich man with his own investment fund working throughout Europe in many industries and with his own network of contacts providing him with the intelligence which was vital in such volatile geopolitical circumstances.

As Stephenson disembarked in Manhattan, the Dunkirk evacuation had just taken place, France had

'Independent Bookseller of the Year 2016’ 8 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PX www.winstonebooks.co.uk Tel: 01935 816 128

fallen, Italy had joined the war and Britain was desperately short of weapons, munitions, ships, food and a regular supply of industrial raw materials with which to continue the struggle. In America a Gallup Poll had recently recorded that only 7% of the population wanted the country to support Britain’s struggle.

Fortunately, President Roosevelt was not part of that 7% but recognised that he could do little without public consent.

Stephenson set about changing that statistic. He had already established a close contact with the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, and through him a line of communication to the President himself. Now he had to widen his remit to change the mind-set of Americans.

He achieved this through spreading rumours, infiltrating pressure groups, winning over prominent isolationists, manipulating opinion polls and, not least, in creating the embryo US intelligence agency, the CIA. Henry Hemming can turn history into a pageturning narrative worthy of the finest novelist. He brings to life this extraordinary man and his huge team of subversives located throughout the Americas. This gripping story shows that manipulation of the news to influence events is nothing new and that there are few limits to the dark arts of the intelligence services. sherborneliterarysociety.com

____________________________________________ Friday 6th September, 7pm Sherborne Literary Festival Plus Event Henry Hemming Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Road. Tickets £9/£10 from Sherborne TIC and via ourmaninnewyork.eventbrite.co.uk

____________________________________________

Author event with Jeffrey Archer

Monday 2nd September, 12.30pm, Cheap Street Church Tickets £20 from Winstone’s incl. a copy of the book (couples £30)

SEP TEMBER 2019 | FREE

A MONTHLY CELEBR ATION OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PURVEYOR

WEAVING TALES with Malcolm Seal

bridporttimes.co.uk

OUT NOW

Available across Bridport and beyond Read online at bridporttimes.co.uk 136 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Beginners Italian Course in Sherborne Fun 10 week course starting Tuesday 24th September at 2pm and 5.30pm 1.5 hours per week, ÂŁ15 per lesson

19 Cheap Street, Sherborne.

01935 815005

Learn all you need to travel, eat and chat!

www.oliverscoffeehouse.co.uk

Group and individual French tuition also available

@OliversSherbs @OliversCoffeeHouse @oliverscoffeehouse

Amanda Donnelly 07739 972538 languagetutor19@gmail.com

AUGUST SOLUTIONS

ACROSS 1. Young cow (4) 3. Opposition to war (8) 9. Upward slopes (7) 10. Personal attendant (5) 11. Support for a golf ball (3) 12. Water vapour (5) 13. Maladroit (5) 15. Departing (5) 17. The Norwegian language (5) 18. Exclamation of surprise (3) 19. Speed (5) 20. Traditional piano keys (7) 21. Flying an aircraft (8) 22. Extras (cricket) (4)

DOWN 1. Artisanship (13) 2. Money (5) 4. Take as being true (6) 5. Detective (12) 6. Malady (7) 7. Process of transformation (of an insect) (13) 8. Action of breaking a law (12) 14. Sunshade (7) 16. Eg from New Delhi (6) 18. Friendship (5)

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 137

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT Deacon Jonathan Simon, St Aldhelm’s and the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church

F

or some of us, the holidays are over and we are going back to work, to school or to college. For others, there won’t be a holiday this year, or perhaps that pleasure has still to come. But one thing that nearly all of us have in common is often feeling that life is too busy, that we don’t have enough time to just ‘stand and stare’, as William Davies’ poem says.

I’m sure that I am not the only one who thought that retiring from fulltime employment would automatically mean that I would be taking time to sit and think, to spend more time with friends, to generally live life at a slower pace. Well, to a certain extent, that is what has happened – however, so often I still seem to be busy. And I am starting to understand that this is not because I have too much to do but because of my daily choices.

I would like to be a calm, peaceful person, someone who does not rush about, someone who is able to act and react calmly with the events of life as they happen. The trouble is, I am the person that I am. I am not someone who has chosen to spend enough time being quiet and still, enough time standing and staring, to become that quieter, more reflective person.

When I have a space with nothing that has to be done now, I still usually find something. It may be a physical task, it may be watching some television or reading a book, or even surfing the internet. The point is that I very seldom choose that quietness, even when I could. So, I can easily feel rushed, and busy even though I don’t really have a lot that must be done now.

The quiet time I have spent in contemplation, in prayer, in listening, during my busy life has helped to make me the person that I am now; the person who wants more quiet, more space, more stillness. My mistake has been to think that retirement would change things automatically.

The reality is that, just as before, I need to apply a little bit of selfdiscipline in my daily life. I need to sometimes reject the temptation to wander around the internet, around the television channels, to look for another something, anything, to distract my mind. I need to choose the silence, to choose to just stop and look at the world around me, to allow myself to simply appreciate and enjoy the life that I have been given.

138 | Sherborne Times | September 2019

Sixth Form Morning Saturday 12 October 2019

To find out more and to book your place please contact the Admissions team Scholarships and Bursaries are available 01935 810403 admissions@sherborne.org sherborne.org

Green by name and nature

LO C A L LY S O U R C E D I N G R E D I E N T S S E A S O N A L P RO D U C E 3 CO U R S E P R I X F I X E M E N U AVA I L A B L E E V E RY F R I DAY A N D S AT U R DAY N I G H T 2019 MICHELIN BIB GOURMAND WINNERS Tuesday - Saturday Lunch 12pm - 2.30pm | Dinner 6.30pm - 9.30pm

Sunday Lunch 12pm - 2.30pm

3 The Green, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3HY 01935 813821 @greensherborne www.greenrestaurant.co.uk