MARCH 2020 | FREE
A MONTHLY CELEBR ATION OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PURVEYOR
sherbornetimes.co.uk
WELCOME
A
hh, the realisation that it’s 5.30pm and still light. We’re so used to the dark that it comes as a surprise. Fanfares of yellow and birdsong at dusk — our eyes and ears remember. And so to March… Mike Burks throws a do, Katy Howell brings brownies, Juliana Atyeo raises a contentious subject, Sarah Sharp helps defeat an army of water-dwelling mole rats and David Copp provides the cheese. Katharine and Jo head over to The Old Yarn Mills, an interesting corner of town where they find Karyn Sparks and Jez Speed up to their ears in flatplans and mid-century modernism. Have a great month. Glen Cheyne, Editor glen@homegrown-media.co.uk @sherbornetimes
CONTRIBUTORS Editorial and creative direction Glen Cheyne Design Andy Gerrard @round_studio Sub editors Elaine Taylor Sadie Wilkins Photography Katharine Davies @Katharine_KDP Feature writer Jo Denbury @jo_denbury Editorial assistant Helen Brown Social Media Jenny Dickinson
Hannah Al-Temini BVSc MRCVS Kingston Vets kingstonvets.co.uk
Carolyn Humphrey Glencairn House glencairnhouse.co.uk
Juliana Atyeo
Lucy Lewis Dorset Mind @DorsetMind dorsetmind.uk
Simon Barber Evolver Magazine @SimonEvolver evolver.org.uk
Vickie Macintosh
Deborah Bathurst Sherborne Literary Society @SherborneLitSoc sherborneliterarysociety.com
Sasha Matkevich The Green Restaurant @greensherborne greenrestaurant.co.uk
Elisabeth Bletsoe Sherborne Museum @SherborneMuseum sherbornemuseum.co.uk
Sally McLaren sallymclaren.co.uk
Richard Bromell ASFAV Charterhouse Auctioneers and Valuers @CharterhouseAV charterhouse-auction.com Benjamin Brown BSc (Hons) Nutrition, ANutr London Road Clinic 56londonroad.co.uk
Illustrations Elizabeth Watson elizabethwatsonillustration.com
Mike Burks The Gardens Group @TheGardensGroup thegardensgroup.co.uk
Print Pureprint
Paula Carnell @paula.carnell paulacarnell.com
Distribution team Barbara and David Elsmore Nancy Henderson The Jackson Family David and Susan Joby Christine Knott Sarah Morgan Mary and Roger Napper Alfie Neville-Jones Mark and Miranda Pender Claire Pilley Ionus Tsetikas
Cindy Chant Sherborne Walks @sherbornewalks sherbornewalks.co.uk Ali Cockrean @AliCockrean alicockrean.co.uk Gillian M Constable DWT Sherborne Group @DorsetWildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk David Copp Rosie Cunningham Jimmy Flynn Milborne Port Computers @MPortComputers computing-mp.co.uk
1 Bretts Yard Digby Road Sherborne Dorset DT9 3NL 01935 315556 @sherbornetimes info@homegrown-media.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk Sherborne Times is printed on an FSC® 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. 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.
4 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Andrew Fort B.A. (Econ.) CFPcm Chartered MCSI APFS Fort Financial Planning ffp.org.uk Craig Hardaker Communifit @communifit communifit.co.uk Andy Hastie Cinematheque cinematheque.org.uk Sarah Hitch The Sanctuary Beauty Rooms The Margaret Balfour Beauty Centre @SanctuaryDorset @margaretbalfourbeautycentre thesanctuarysherborne.co.uk margaretbalfour.co.uk Katy Howell Bayside Bakery @baysidebaker baysidebakery.co.uk James Hull The Story Pig @thestorypig thestorypig.co.uk
Fiona Millard Hazlegrove Prep @HazlegrovePrep hazlegrove.co.uk Suzy Newton Partners in Designs @InteriorsDorset partners-in-design.co.uk Mark Newton-Clarke MA VetMB PhD MRCVS Newton Clarke Veterinary Partnership @swanhousevet newtonclarkevet.com Simon Partridge BSc SPFit spfit-sherborne.co.uk Cath Rapley Lodestone Property @LodestoneProp lodestoneproperty.co.uk Mike Riley Riley’s Cycles rileyscycles.co.uk Dr Tim Robinson MB BS MSc MRCGP DRCOG MFHom Glencairn House Clinic glencairnhouse.co.uk doctortwrobinson.com Sarah Sharp Sherborne School @SherborneSchool sherborne.org Paul Stickland Black Shed Flowers @NaughtyDinosaur blackshedflowers.blogspot.co.uk Val Stones @valstones bakerval.com James Stubbs Sherborne Scribblers Diane Tregale The Gryphon and St Paul’s Church @StPaulsSherb stpauls-sherborne.org.uk Fernando Velazquez Sherborne Preparatory School @Sherborneprep sherborneprep.org Tom Webb Mogers Drewett Solicitors @mogersdrewett md-solicitors.co.uk Sally Welbourn Dorset Wildlife Trust @DorsetWildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk
70 8
What’s On
MARCH 2020 54 Antiques
114 Legal
18 Film
58 Interiors
116 Finance
20 Theatre
64 Gardening
118 Tech
24 Art
70 VE MAGAZINE & MOLECULA
120 Directory
26 Shopping Guide 30 Family 42 Environment 46 Wild Dorset 50 History
78 Food & Drink 88 Animal Care 92 Body & Mind 108 Property
122 Community 126 Short Story 128 Crossword 129 Literature 130 Pause for Thought sherbornetimes.co.uk | 5
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Thinking of letting your holiday home? We know that your holiday home is just that – a home. That’s why our local team is dedicated to managing your property with the same care and attention you would. With tailored services to suit your needs, you can be as involved as you like, so why not get in touch today?
01929 448 708 newowners@dorsethideaways.co.uk dorsethideaways.co.uk 8 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
MARCH 2020 Listings
____________________________
Young Musician of Sherborne
____________________________
Thursdays 1.30pm-2.30pm
Finals Concert
Mondays 10am-11am
The Sherborne Library Scribes
T’ai Chi & Chi Kung
Sherborne Library, Hound St.
Merritt Centre, Sherborne Girls.
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd DT9 3NL. £7. 07517 183277 taichilessons47@gmail.com
Writing group for sharing & discussion. 01935 812683
Tickets £10 from TIC, Winstone’s bookshop or 01963 251255
____________________________
____________________________
Tuesdays 3rd, 17th & 31st 11.30am
____________________________
Thursdays 2pm-4pm
Royal Voluntary
Mondays 2pm-3.30pm
Seniors Digital Drop-in
Service Lunch Club
‘Feel Better with a Book’ Group
for Help with Technology
Sherborne Library, Hound St. Shared
Sherborne Library, Hound St.
Raleigh Hall, Digby Rd.
Free. 01935 812683
____________________________
Wednesday 4th 6.30pm
____________________________
1st Thursday of month 9.30am
U3A Quiz
2nd Monday of month
Netwalking
9.30am-3.30pm
From Sherborne Barbers, Cheap St. Free
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd.
reading aloud. Small, friendly group.
West Country Embroiderers Digby Hall, Hound St. New members welcome. 01300 341003
01935 812683
walk & talk for small business owners/ entrepreneurs. FB: Netwalk Sherborne;
01935 593539/07502 130241
____________________________
£1pp. Teams of 6. BYO food/drink 01935 812827
____________________________
Instagram: yourtimecoaching;
Thursday 5th 7.15pm
Twitter: @yt_coaching
The Reign of Æthelred ‘the
____________________________
Unready’ – a View from Sherborne
Bookchat
1st Thursday of month
Sherborne Library, Hound St.
2pm-3.30pm
Digby Hall, Hound St. Non-members: £5.
____________________________
The Shielings, The Avenue,
Thursday 5th 7.30pm
01935 601499/01935 816321
Melbury Osmond Village Hall. £9/£6
Costa Coffee, Cheap St. £3 incl. free
Fridays 2pm
____________________________
____________________________ Last Monday of month 5pm-6pm
sherbornehistoricalsociety.co.uk
Book discussion group
“My Time” Carers’ Support Group
1st & 3rd Tuesdays 6pm-8pm
DT9 3AJ. Advice, coffee & chat.
Kit Hawes & Aaron Catlow
____________________________
(U18). 01935 83453 artsreach.co.uk
Dorset Mind - Sherborne Wellbeing Group
____________________________
drink. dorsetmind.uk/services-courses/west-
Sherborne Health Walks
Friday 6th 1.45pm
dorset-support-groups/
A Level Musicians Recital
____________________________
From Waitrose. Free. 07825 691508
____________________________
Tuesdays & Thursdays 10.30am
3rd Sunday of month until 17th
____________________________
Explore Historic Sherborne
May 1.30pm-4.30pm
Friday 6th 3pm-4pm
From Sherborne TIC, Digby Rd. With
Sherborne Folk Band Workshop
John Porter, Legendary Trainer
Blue Badge Guide Cindy, 1½-2-hour
(Jeremy Barber)
walk. £8 cindyatsherbornewalks@gmail.com
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd,
____________________________
DT9 3NL. Suitable all levels/all acoustic instruments. £12.50 incl. refreshments.
Sherborne Library, Hound St
info@sherbornefolkband.org
Free. 01935 812683
____________________________
Wednesdays 1pm Lunchtime Organ Recital
Cheap St Church
____________________________
Friday 6th 7pm
Sherborne Abbey. Free. Retiring collection
Sunday 1st 8am for 9am
Talk: City of Djinns & Other Places
____________________________
Sherborne 10km Run
Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays
Sherborne Sports Centre, Acreman St.
Sandford Orcas Village Hall, DT9 4RX.
10am-2pm Sherborne Lunch Club Raleigh Hall, Digby Rd. 01935 814680
£14. All abilities. Refreshments. Prizes
____________________________ Sunday 1st 7pm
£6. Indian nibbles & beer available. 01963 220178
____________________________ Saturday 7th 7pm sherbornetimes.co.uk | 9
WHAT'S ON Pip Utton is At Home With
Women’s Suffrage in Dorset:
William Shakespeare
Forgotten Stories
Charlton Horethorne Village Hall. £10.
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd. £5 incl.
____________________________
01935 814199 jb@classicmedia.co.uk
Meet at Crown Inn CP, Marnhull. jennynewman@zen.co.uk
____________________________
refreshments. sherbornemuseum.co.uk
Sunday 15th 11.30am-3.30pm
____________________________
Sherborne Steam
Saturday 7th 7pm
Thursday 12th 6.30pm-9pm
& Waterwheel Open Day
Play: The Quizzard of Oz
Big British Curry & Quiz Night
Cerne Abbas Village Hall. £6 Cerne
Sherborne Girls Merritt Centre. £15. Live
Oborne Rd, DT9 3RX. sswc.co.uk
____________________________
Village Stores. 18+. tedsnight@gmail.com
____________________________
music, raffle. bit.ly/ASHAProjectCurryNight
Sunday 15th 3pm
____________________________
Wessex Strings Concert
Saturday 7th 7.30pm
Thursday 12th 7.30pm
An Evening of Opera
Cajun Roosters Trio
Cheap St Church. £10 in advance from
(Verdi & Puccini)
Sandford Orcas Village Hall. £9/£6
Cheap St Church. £15/£8 (students).
TIC/£12 on door. Includes refreshments. ____________________________
(U18) 01963 220208 artsreach.co.uk
Wednesday 18th 2.30pm
____________________________
WI Meeting: Rhymes &
____________________________
Friday 13th 7pm
Reminiscing – Humorous
Sunday 8th 11.15am
USA vs. Iran, Richard Spencer
Poems & Stories
Beyond the Seen: Sherborne
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd.
Catholic Church Hall,
marydmc38@gmail.com
____________________________
01935 508755 jonvalender@gmail.com
& the UNESCO Jurassic Coast The Butterfly House, Castle Gardens, New Rd. £5. sherbornewalks.co.uk
Tickets: TIC/Winstone’s 01963 251255
Westbury DT9 3RA
____________________________
Wednesday 18th 7.30pm
____________________________
Saturday 14th 30-minute sessions
The Biking Birder
Monday 9th 7pm
Damming the Nile
Moviola: The Farewell (PG)
Sherborne Library, Hound St. Virtual
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd. £3
Leigh Village Hall, DT9 6HL. £6
____________________________
reality tour with headsets. Book via
Thursday 19th 2.30pm-3.30pm
____________________________
Sherborne Library, Hound St. Free.
Eventbrite. 01935 812683
Abbey 104 Local Radio Station
Words with Wine: Wolfgang
Saturday 14th 2pm-4pm
Grulke, Beyond Extinction
Bric a Brac Sale
01935 812683
Digby Hall, Hound St. £6/£5 includes
Longburton Village Hall. Free.
Thursday 19th 7.15pm
on door. sherborneliterarysociety.com
____________________________ Tuesday 10th 7.30pm
____________________________
Refreshments available.
Early Modern Queens on Screen:
____________________________
Victors, Victims,
____________________________
Saturday 14th 2.30pm
Villains, Virgins & Viragoes
Tuesday 10th 7.30pm
AGM & Talk:
Sherborne Bradford
My 1st Year at Stourhead
Digby Hall, Hound St. Non-members: £5
Abbas Camera Club
Digby Hall, Hound St. Blackmore Vale
canapés. Tickets: Winstone’s bookshop/
Village Hall, Bradford Abbas, DT9 6RF
sherbornehistoricalsociety.co.uk
____________________________
& Yeovil Association (NT)
Friday 20th 2pm-4pm
____________________________
Friends Against Scams
____________________________
Sunday 15th 8am
Awareness Event
Wednesday 11th 7.30pm
The Sherborne 5K Run Series
ArtsLink Flicks:
Terrace Playing Fields
Sherborne Library, Hound St. Free.
sbacameraclub.co.uk
Official Secrets (15) Digby Hall, Hound St Tickets £6 from
Entry fee: £10. U14s £1
01935 812683
____________________________
____________________________
Friday 20th 7pm
TIC, sherborneartslink.org.uk
Sunday 15th 10.15am
Dame Kelly Holmes
____________________________
Dorset Ramblers Figure of 8
Thursday 12th 1.30pm
Walk (6.5m am/2m pm)
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd. £10/£9
10 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
TIC, Winstone’s damekelly.eventbrite.
MARCH 2020 co.uk
Camera Club
Floral Demonstration: My Family & Other Animals
Saturday 21st 10.30am-4pm
Village Hall, Bradford Abbas, DT9 6RF sbacameraclub.co.uk
____________________________
Digby Hall, Hound St. 01935 813926
____________________________
Digby Hall, Hound St. Alpaca knitwear/
Tuesday 24th 7.30pm
Friday 27th 12.30pm-1.30pm
Pima cotton/silk items. 01896 823765
Sherborne Twinning
Christian Aid Lent Lunch
____________________________
Association AGM & Talk
Saturday 21st 2pm-4pm
Catholic Church Hall, Westbury.
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd.
____________________________ Artisan Route Open Event
‘Spring Clean’ Health Check-ups/Advice
Free/donation. 07824 514080
£4. 01963 251527
____________________________
____________________________
Saturday 28th 7.30pm
Digby Hall, Hound St. Free drop-in event
Wednesday 25th 7.30pm
John Etheridge & Chris Garrick
01935 810900 leah.hughes@dorsetgp.nhs.uk
Understanding Epilepsy
____________________________
Yetminster Village Hall. £10/£6 (U18)
Saturday 21st 7.30pm
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd. £2
____________________________
01935 873719 artsreach.co.uk
____________________________
JS Bach Mass in B Minor
Wednesday 25th 8pm
Sunday 29th 10am-4pm
Sherborne Abbey. £5-£20. U18 free.
Folk Music: Daoíri Farrell
Angels of Sound Voice
Tickets from Sherborne TIC
____________________________
Trooper Inn, Stourton Caundle.
Playshop (10am-12.30pm)
Tuesday 24th 7.30pm
Pre-booking essential. 01963 362890
____________________________
Soundbath (2pm-4pm)
Sherborne Bradford Abbas
Thursday 26th 7pm
Crystal & Tibetan Singing Bowl Oborne Village Hall, DT9 4LA.
Whale
by David Holman A Lower School production
Thursday 12 March and Friday 13 March at 8pm Powell Theatre Open to the public Tickets are FREE, to book please email tickets@sherborne.org sherbornetimes.co.uk | 11
WHAT'S ON Please share your recommendations and contacts via FaceBook @sherborneparents
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
Mondays 2pm-2.30pm/2.30pm-
Tuesdays (term-time) 9.30am
Oxleys Sports Centre
3pm
Baby & Toddler Group
Helen Laxton School of Dance
Nether Compton Village Hall
Fridays 9.30am-11am
____________________________
Bishops Caundle Toddler Group
Ballet for toddlers & pre-schoolers
Tuesdays 9.15am,
All Saints School, Bishops Caundle
Tinneys Lane Youth Club.
Wednesdays 7pm Pre-natal Fit Facebook.com/EBPTSquatsandTots
____________________________
helenlaxtonschoolofdancing.com
9.55am & 10.35am
____________________________
Monkey Music
Fridays 7.15pm
Mondays 2.30pm
Scout Hut, Blackberry Lane. Booking
Shindo Wadokai Karate Club
co.uk/area/frome-yeovil-and-weymouth
Sherborne Dance Academy, North Rd
Mondays 4pm
Tuesdays (term-time)
____________________________
Helen Laxton School of Dance
10am-11.30am
1st Saturday 10.30am-12pm
Sherborne Primary School.
Tuesday Toddlers
Sticky Church
Ballet, street dance, hip hop.
helenlaxtonschoolofdancing.com
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd.
Cheap Street Church Hall. Free. Playgroup
____________________________
£1.50 per family.
____________________________
____________________________
Baby & Me Yoga Leweston School. £6
____________________________
____________________________
essential. 01935 850541. monkeymusic.
(age 5+)
____________________________
07769 215881
& primary age children. 01963 251747
Mondays 4pm
1st Wednesday of month
Saturdays 10am-12pm
Stardust Dance School
Babywearing South West
Lego Club (age 5+)
Oxley Dance Studio. Ballet/Tap/Modern
Sling Clinic
Sherborne Library, Hound St
stardustdanceschool@gmail.com
babywearingsouthwest.co.uk
dance. Reception-Yr 4
Booking essential.
____________________________
____________________________
Saturdays 10.15am-11am
Mondays 5pm
Wednesdays 9.30am
Grapplers United
Karate Classes
Core & Restore
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Westend Hall, Littlefields.
Oxleys Sports Centre.
Unit B, Western Ways Yard, Bristol Rd
____________________________
____________________________
07909 662018
£5 (45min session)
Facebook.com/EBPTSquatsandTots
Free. 01935 812683
____________________________
DT9 4HR. £25/month. 1st session free.
Mondays & Wednesdays
Wednesdays 9.45am
6.30pm-8.30pm
Squats & Tots
____________________________ Saturdays 10.45am-11.30am
Tinney’s Youth Club (age 11-16)
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd.
Jen’s Kitchen (Cooking School)
____________________________
14 Cheap St, DT9 3PX
facebook.com/EBPTSquatsandTots
CharaBento Class
____________________________
Wednesdays 10.30am–12pm
2nd Monday (term-time)
Truth Be Told Intergenerational
£20. Ingredients provided.
4pm-5pm
Toddler Group
Saturday 21st 10.30am-11.30am
Books, Biscuits & Beyond
Abbey View Care Home, Bristol Rd.
Wonderful Woodland
Booking essential. 07713 102676
Sherborne Library, Hound St
____________________________
____________________________
Tinney’s Lane, DT9 3DY.
£1. FB: Tinney’s Youth Club
(age 11-16) Sherborne Library, Hound St. Free. 01935 812683
____________________________ 12 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
____________________________
£2.50 per family. Includes child lunch.
Creatures Story & Craft
gemmagillard@hotmail.com
Free. 01935 812683
MARCH 2020 £15/£13 per session. 01935 389655. ____________________________
Thursdays 10am-12pm
Mondays-Sundays
centreforpuresound.org
The Slipped Stitch Workshops
Yoga with Emma
Tuesday 31st 6.45pm
The Julian, Cheap St. 01935 508249 theslippedstitch.co.uk
Sherborne/Milborne Port/Thornford.
____________________________
emmareesyoga.com
Folk Music: Bob Fox
emmayogateacher@gmail.com
Mill Farm, Bradford Abbas.
Thursdays term-time 9.30am-11.30am
Mondays-Sundays
____________________________
ArtsLink Fizz! Art for Parents
Hatha Yoga
St Paul’s Church Hall/West End
Meditation & Relaxation. Small classes,
carers of primary school-age children.
FB: @yogasherborne
millfarmdorset.com/events/bobfox
Planning ahead ____________________________ Friday 3rd April 7.30pm Emma Fisk, Jazz Violinist
Hall (two sessions). Free. Parents/ Booking required. 01935 815899,
____________________________
beginners welcome. hello@yogasherborne.co.uk ____________________________
sherborneartslink.org.uk
Tuesdays 10am-11am
____________________________
Mixed-ability Vinyasa Flow Yoga
including refreshments. Tickets from
Thursdays 2.30pm-4pm
Stourton Caundle Village Hall. 07403
____________________________
Tinney’s Lane Youth & Community
Cheap St Church, DT9 3BJ. £15 TIC or 01935 815565
ArtsLink Fizz! Parkinson’s Dance
245546 sarahlouisewilliams@yahoo.com
____________________________
Centre. Free. Dance class/social time
Tuesdays 1.30pm-2.30pm
01935 815899 sherborneartslink.org.uk
West End Hall, Sherborne.
____________________________
Saturday 14th 10am-4pm
Weekly
ArtsLink: Wire Sculpture
annamfinch@yahoo.co.uk
Art Classes & Workshops
Digby Hall, Hound St. £70/£63.
Tuesdays pm & Friday am
sherborneartslink.org.uk
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd.
____________________________
Saturday 28th 10am-4pm
____________________________
Weekly
ArtsLink: Linocut Printing
Wednesdays 8.30am-9.30am
Creative Courses & Workshops
Digby Hall, Hound St. £68/£61 for
Mixed ability Vinyasa Flow Yoga
815899, sherborneartslink.org.uk
245546 sarahlouisewilliams@yahoo.com
Workshops & classes
with Ali Cockrean Wheelwright Studios, Thornford. 07742 888302 alicockrean.co.uk
Various venues in Sherborne
01935 815899 sherborneartslink.org.uk
____________________________ Tuesdays 10am-12pm & 2pm-4pm
for people living with Parkinson’s.
Chair Yoga
____________________________
No experience necessary. 01935 389357 ____________________________
Booking required. 01935 815899,
Iyengar Yoga
____________________________
01935 389357 annamfinch@yahoo.co.uk
Friends. Booking required. 01935
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd. 07403
____________________________
____________________________ Wednesdays/Thursdays am
ArtsLink Fizz! Art for Memory
Yoga/pilates
Wingfield Room, Digby Hall DT9 3AA
____________________________
Yoga with Suzanne
Booking essential. 01935 815899
Mondays 10.30am-12pm
sherborneartslink.org.uk
Yoga with Gemma
Sherborne venues. Especially suitable for
____________________________ Wednesdays 10am-11am &
Longburton Village Hall
07812 593314 gemski81@hotmail.com
Wednesdays 2pm-3pm
____________________________
Classic Mat-based Pilates
Guided Meditation & Relaxation
Mondays & Wednesdays
Tinneys Lane Youth Centre. 07817 624081
Just Breathe Yoga & Qigong
Charlton Horethorne Village Hall.
____________________________
07983 100445 justbyoga@outlook.com
Thursdays 6pm-7pm
hello@yogasherborne.co.uk
Chetnole & Corton Denham
Wednesdays 2pm-4pm &
____________________________
& Fridays pm
aged 50+. 01935 873594
____________________________
£7.50. 07828 625897
ali@positive-postures.co.uk
____________________________ Thursdays (1) 9.15am-10.15am sherbornetimes.co.uk | 13
WHAT'S ON & (2) 10.30am-11.30am
Vintage Market
Sherborne Town FC
Vinyasa flow yoga:
Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Rd
First XI Toolstation Western League
____________________________
DT9 5NS. sherbornetownfc.com 3pm start
(1) dynamic & (2) gentle Milborne Port Village Hall. 07403
07809 387594
Division 1. Terrace Playing Fields,
245546 sarahlouisewilliams@yahoo.com
Saturday 7th 9am-3.30pm
____________________________
(trade & public)
Warminster Town (A)
Fridays 4pm-5pm
Chasty Cottage Antiques Fair
Saturday 14th
Classic Hatha Yoga (beginners)
Digby Church Hall, Digby Rd. £1
Cheddar (H)
____________________________
Saturday 21st
£7.50. 07828 625897
Sunday 15th 10am-2pm
Calne Town (A)
ali@positive-postures.co.uk
Plant Fair
Saturday 28th
____________________________
Radstock Town (A)
Fridays 6pm-7pm
Digby Hall, Hound St DT9 3AA. Free. plantfairs.com
____________________________
____________________________
Sherborne RFC
All abilities. Emphasis on relaxation.
Sunday 29th 10am-4pm
First XV Southern Counties South
Mindful Market: Vegan Living
____________________________
Digby Hall, Hound St
The Terrace Playing Fields, DT9 5NS
Charlton Horethorne Village Hall.
Evening Yoga 07768 244462
Fairs & markets
____________________________
Saturday 7th
sherbornerfc.rfu.club 2.15pm start Saturday 7th
Wimborne (H)
____________________________
Sport
Thursdays & Saturdays
____________________________
Banbury (A)
Pannier Market
Tuesdays & Thursdays
Saturday 28th
The Parade
7.30pm–8.30pm
Buckingham (H)
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Mixed Touch Rugby
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Thursdays 9am-11.30am
Sherborne School pitches, Ottery Lane
Country Market Church Hall, Digby Rd
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Saturday 21st
DT9 6EE. £2 per session, 1st 4 sessions
free. 07887 800803 sherbornetouch.org.uk
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To include your event in our FREE
Every 3rd Friday 9am-1pm
Sundays 9am (from Abbey gates)
listings please email details – date/
Farmers’ Market
& Wednesdays 6pm (from Riley’s)
time/title/venue/description/price/
Cheap St
Digby Etape Cycling Club Rides
contact (max 20 words) – by the 5th of each preceding month to
Every 4th Saturday, 9am-4pm
sherbornecycling.club
____________________________
____________________________
listings@homegrown-media.co.uk
Mass in B minor J S Bach
Fortieth anniversary celebration concert
Sherborne Chamber Choir | Sherborne Baroque Players
Conductor Paul Ellis
Celebrating 40 years
Sherborne Abbey | Saturday 21 March 7.30pm Tickets £5-£20 | Sherborne TIC 01935 815341 | online at www.sherbornechamberchoir.org.uk
14 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
1st ~ 6th May 2020
Celebrating our
21st SEASON
FEATURED EVENTS FRIDAY 1ST MAY Iuventus Ensemble
MONDAY 4TH MAY Organ Recital: David Bednall
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
The V&K Duo
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Soprano Kate Royal and Sherborne Festival Orchestra
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TUESDAY 5TH MAY Bath Camerata
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Salvator Mundi, Mark Lockheart and Roger Sayer
SUNDAY 3RD MAY Jacqui Dankworth
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Follow the Festival on social media
In all there are 30 concerts and events including children's workshops and pop-up performances Up to 70% of events are FREE ENTRY ,/ *,/# "#1 ')0 +" 1, ,,( 1'!(#10 3'0'1 &#/ ,/+# ,/ ,+)'+# 1 www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org &#/ ,/+#
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John Baker: Outstanding Contribution to Tourism
Tourism Event/Festival of the Year 2019/20
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PREVIEW In association with
THE CAJUN ROOSTERS TRIO With original arrangements and self-penned songs, the Cajun
Roosters Trio take the music of the Louisiana swamplands into fresh territories, creating a sound that’s uniquely their own.
swamp blues, deep fried Louisiana country and tall tales served by the undisputed masters of this genre!
Combining accordions, fiddle, guitar and vocals they create an
evolver.org.uk
Europe, delighting audiences with their authentic joyous music
Thursday 12th March 7.30pm
Chris Hall, who has recorded and played with the likes of Sir
Village Hall, Sandford Orcas DT9 4RX
Expect Cajun music served with a side order of southern
____________________________________________
uplifting sound that has led to headline appearances all over
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and stories of life in the bayous. Leading the trio is accordionist
The Cajun Roosters Trio
Paul McCartney, Dave Gilmour, Kate Bush and Seth Lakeman.
£9 / £6. 01963 220208 artsreach.co.uk
16 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
ARTIST AT WORK
No. 17: Sally McLaren, Dusk, Oil on canvas, 76cm x 76cm
I
am lucky enough to have a wonderful studio which was once a village bus garage. From this place of light and space I paint in oils, watercolours or inks. I am a landscape painter first and foremost, drawing my inspiration mainly from the countryside surrounding where I live, on the edges of Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset, but also from a wealth of impressions of landscape gathered over time from wherever I have been: the hot, strong colours of Australia, the bright blues of the Greek Islands and the wild country of the north of Scotland with its ancient, rocky shoreline and stormy skies. I am absorbed by the light, the structure, the effects of weather and atmosphere, and the astounding changes arriving with each new season. I love the way the light can suddenly pick out the edges in a ploughed field or an earthwork, or light up a distant field. I work in the studio from scant notes in my sketch book, which serve to remind me of the feelings and
impressions I have had while walking: waking at dawn and stepping out into a new day or sensing the dusk, that magic moment as the light fades. When starting a new painting or drawing in the studio, I am aware of a conscious structure but, as the piece progresses, it often surprises me and it becomes at best an exciting journey, a conversation with the painting, almost as if it were alive. I never know how a piece will resolve itself. It is always an adventure. Dusk is available to purchase at ÂŁ1,800 sallymclaren.co.uk
____________________________________________ Saturday 28th March-Saturday 25th April 10am-3pm Sally McLaren The Art Stable, Child Okeford, Blandford, DT11 8HB theartstable.co.uk
____________________________________________ sherbornetimes.co.uk | 17
Film
ON FILM
Andy Hastie, Yeovil Cinematheque
Burning (2018) 18 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
S
outh Korean cinema is slowly getting the recognition it richly deserves, with international film festival programmers helping to expose new South Korean directors to Western markets. Finally free from Government censorship in the 1970s and following the civil overthrow of the military dictatorship in the 1980s, new young directors have had the opportunity to find their feet internationally, and have been picking up awards and thrilling audiences ever since. Probably the breakout film was Park Chan-Wook’s astonishing Oldboy in 2003, followed by Bong Joon-Ho’s Memories of Murder (2003) and Mother (2009). With his latest film Parasite having just won Best Foreign Language Film at the BAFTA's and four Oscars, including Best Picture, Bong’s future is assured. We showed Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden in Cinematheque’s last season to great acclaim, so this month we screen Lee Chang-Dong’s multi-awardwinning Burning (2018) on 25th March. This mystery thriller adaption of a short story from Haruki Murakami concerns Lee Jongsu, an aspiring young novelist who bumps into Shin Haemi, a former classmate. They start a relationship which is cut short by Haemi’s holiday trip to Kenya. Anticipating their reunion, Jongsu is surprised at the airport to meet Haemi with the charismatic Ben, whom she met on her trip. No match for Ben’s obvious wealth, Jongsu’s jealousy builds as they form an uneasy love triangle. Then Haemi goes missing... ‘Burning is a character study that morphs with masterly patience, subtlety and nary a single wasted minute into a teasing mystery and eventually a fullblown thriller.’ (LA Times) ‘Lee Chang-Dong has fashioned a lean slow-burner, gripping, elliptical and intriguingly ambiguous... controlling the tension until the breathtaking explosive finale.’ (Tricia Tuttle, London Film Festival 2018) Intrigued? I hope so. If you haven’t caught a South Korean film before, Burning is a great one to start with. Come along as a guest to Yeovil’s Swan Theatre on the 25th March and find out what we have to offer at Cinematheque. All details are on the website. cinematheque.org.uk swan-theatre.co.uk
____________________________________________ Wednesday 25th March Burning (2018) 15 Cinemateque, Swan Theatre, 138 Park St, Yeovil BA20 1QT Members £1, guests £5
____________________________________________ sherbornetimes.co.uk | 19
Theatre
CONFESSIONS OF A THEATRE ADDICT Rosie Cunningham
G Streatfeild, J Saunders, L Dillon, S Coates, L Robinson. Image: Nobby Clark
I
recently read a book review which astonished me. For once a critic went against the common herd mentality and said what they thought. What many critics had thought was ‘breathtakingly skilful’ and ‘one of the most beautiful novels of the year’ was, according to this critic, ‘grossly overwritten and full of repetition.’ I went to see Uncle Vanya at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London. It was the previews and the producer, sitting in one of the boxes, was still taking notes for last minute niggles. The cast is stellar with Toby Jones taking the title role and Richard Armitage that of the handsome doctor Astrov. Together they drink and lark and rage and run around the set. For me, it was the smaller roles that were more meaningful: Aimee Lou Wood as Sonya and Anna Calder-Marshall as Nana. Chekhov is always thought to be very depressing but there is a lot of humour, unrequited passion and bluster. I loved the set. A dusty, dilapidated falling down mansion. The story line follows the elderly professor Serebryakov and his ravishing young wife who have moved out of the city and return to the mansion in the middle of nowhere which belonged to the professor’s late wife. The mansion is also the home to many other members of his late wife’s family including Sonya, his daughter, and Uncle Vanya. Uncle Vanya has spent his whole life keeping the estate going and suddenly the professor announces that he wants to sell the estate to fund his studies. This statement 20 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
creates turmoil wherein all the inhabitants of the house wonder what this would mean to them – where could they go, what could they do? There is no money. The estate was actually left to Sonya by her late mother and not to the professor but she is not worldly and loves her father. Will she oppose him? There were two curtain calls but no standing ovation which, in today’s West End for a new play, is quite unusual. I felt that something was missing. I actually thought that the cast were unhappy. I had spoken to an acting friend who mentioned that the award-winning director Conor McPherson always like to ‘get under the skin’ of his cast and push them to their limits. Much like the critic mentioned above, I had to disagree with the general view. I did not find Uncle Vanya to be a play worthy of the five stars that the critics have awarded it. On until 2nd May. I caught Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward at The Theatre Royal Bath, with Jennifer Saunders playing Madame Arcati. Does anyone do dippy better than Jennifer? Think Absolutely Fabulous and then some. This production is hilarious, and the laughter rippled through the audience as frequently as the waves on a beach. Each role was brilliantly cast and the costumes fitted the performance perfectly. Directed by Richard Eyre, this production of Blithe Spirit will be at The Duke of York’s Theatre in the West End from 5th March.
L I F E S T Y L E
B O U T I Q U E
OPEN 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM 33 CHEAP STREET, SHERBORNE, DT9 3PU PHONE 01935 816551
Muntanya is an independent trekking and outdoors shop offering clothing and equipment from major suppliers with advice on anything trekking from finding a local walking group, navigation and expedition planning. Come and have a chat about your latest adventure…. …even if you haven’t had it yet! 7 Cheap St, Sherborne, Dorset, DT9 3PT 01935 389484 • 0787 5465218
david@muntanya.co.uk www.muntanya.co.uk
sherbornetimes.co.uk | 21
MARKET RESEARCH
NO.1: KATY HOWELL, BAYSIDE BAKERY
Image: John Gurd
Following the success of last year’s curated artisan event, The Sherborne Market makes a welcome return, with a regular monthly slot from April to September. Over the next 6 months we will meet just some of the many talented stallholders coming to town. Here we speak (through an unapologetic mouthful of brownie) with Katy Howell, founder of Bayside Bakery Welcome to The Sherborne Market! What brings you here?
We are a Dorset-based, family-run artisan bakery and love the opportunity to get out and about across Dorset selling our products and increasing our customer base. We used to live near Sherborne so it is a special place for us, with happy memories. Where have you travelled from?
We now live in Bridport on the Jurassic Coast. Tell us about what you’re selling?
career as a specialist care nurse. I’ve always loved baking and am so glad I took that giant leap of faith to start my own business. I’ve never regretted it. What do you enjoy most about selling at markets?
Selling at markets is so much fun as you get to meet and speak to so many people, both customers and fellow stallholders. It is also a chance to really showcase our brownies and seeing people’s reactions when they try them is really rewarding. If you get the chance, which fellow stallholders here at Sherborne would you like to visit?
Stalls I will definitely be visiting are Ali’s Homemade (best chilli jam ever), Sprout and Flower for beautiful floral bouquets and Jude Colley Potter for fabulous hand-thrown tableware. baysidebakery.co.uk
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We are selling hand-baked, award-winning chocolate brownies.
Every 3rd Sunday April – September
Where and when did it all begin?
and Raleigh Hall
I started the business in March 2015, ending a 20-year 22 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
The Sherborne Market Cheap St, Abbey Green, Digby Hall, Digby Memorial Hall @thesherbornemarket
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THE
Hand picked & selected artisan market featuring local producers, suppliers, amazing food, arts and crafts.
April to September!
Every 3rd SUnday of the month
Art
GETTING STARTED
An excerpt from The Art Class, a fictitious work
M
Ali Cockrean, Artist and Tutor
eredith stood in the art shop and stared blankly at row upon row of products on the shelves in front of her. ‘Can I help you madam?’ She jumped, having been so deep in thought that she hadn’t a clue where she was or why. She looked at the friendly, enquiring face offering her assistance. ‘Oh… no it’s fine. Thank you.’ The friendly face smiled and turned to leave. ‘Actually… I’ve no real idea why I’m even here.’ The friendly face swung back attentively. Meredith wasn’t really sure whether she was talking to herself or the ruggedly handsome silver-haired man now looking quizzically at her. He didn’t speak but let her continue. ‘I’ve signed up for an art class and frankly I feel like a fraud. I’ve no aptitude for it. The last time I picked up a paintbrush was over half a century ago. I’ve got a materials list but there’s so much choice here I don’t know where to start. Why did I EVER think this was a sensible idea? I’m actually sweating!’ She saw a ripple of amusement cross his lips. ‘Sorry… you really didn’t need to know that.’ He chuckled. ‘Let’s have a look at that list.’ Meredith 24 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
handed him the folded paper from her pocket which he studied intently for a few moments. She noticed he wore a name badge with TOM written on it. ‘Okay. This isn’t so bad. Seven tubes of paint, four brushes, a disposable palette and a pad of primed paper should do it. I’ll sort it out for you now.’ Tom headed off down the aisle. Meredith felt herself relax slightly. ‘Do you sell bottles of confidence too?’ she asked of nobody in particular. After a sleepless night and very little breakfast, Meredith made her way to the local community centre. The familiar whiff of disinfectant and sweaty feet met her at the door, making her feel a tad queasy. A big sign ahead told her ‘ART CLASS THIS WAY’ and the thought that she still had time to head for the hills momentarily flashed through her mind. She was aware that a figure was lurking just the other side of the sign. As she approached, the short, portly lady addressed her. ‘You here for the art class?’ she asked. Meredith nodded and judged by the look of trepidation on her face that the lady was another new student. ‘Thank goodness… can I tag along? I’m Anita.’ The classroom filled up quickly and the feeling of apprehension was palpable. Meredith and Anita had
arrived relatively early and were sitting at a table for two one row back from the front. The late arrivals were forced to take the front seats, adding to their obvious discomfort. Everyone had unpacked their new paints, paper and equipment and now sat quietly awaiting a tutor. ‘Lambs to the slaughter…’ Anita whispered as a vivacious brunette with wild hair and sporting a wellused and abused painting overall burst into the room. ‘Hello everyone! I’m Thea.’ The class looked on like rabbits caught in the headlights. ‘Don’t look so worried, we’re going to have a ball!’ Thea’s energy turned out to be infectious. She had no expectations and made no assumptions about the individuals in front of her. ‘Get the basics right and you have a firm foundation to build on,’ she enthused, as the class tackled a series of drawing exercises. Once everyone was busy, she moved from student to student giving hints, tips and advice. It was quiet in the room apart from the frenzied scratching of pencils on paper. ‘So what brought you here Anita?’ Meredith whispered, ‘Have you done much drawing and painting before?’ ‘I needed to get out of the house, Meredith. This was the only class that took my fancy and no, I’ve not. How about you?’ ‘No, nothing since junior school.’ Meredith wondered why Anita needed to get out of the house but felt it was too early to ask. Perhaps next week. Anita broke into her musings, ‘Where did you get your materials from by the way?’ ‘The art shop in town. I got in a bit of a state if I’m honest. There was a nice chap there who sorted it all out for me.’ ‘Oh that’ll be Tom.’ Anita held her drawing at arm’s length and squinted at it. ‘You know him?’ Meredith felt a spark of interest that took her by surprise. ‘He’s my next door neighbour.’ Anita sighed and held up her work for Meredith to see. ‘Thea’s definitely got a challenge on here!’ They both laughed. Thea wafted silently from table to table. ‘Arthur… perhaps press a little less hard. You’ll be through to the table soon darling.’ ‘Good start Susan… well done!’ Meredith felt her shoulders relax and the knot in her stomach loosen just a little bit. alicockrean.co.uk
SELECTED NEW ENGLISH ART CLUB ARTISTS 14th March – 1st April
MARY JACKSON
PETER BROWN
GARDEN NOSEGAY
PLACE DES POITS, CABRIS, FRANCE
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
Metal letters, Occasions Floristry £4.50 each
Healing herbs essential oils, Naturalife £6.99
Mezzaluna and board, Abbey Decor £23.46
Lavender flowers £1, Essential oil £7, Soap £4, Naturalife
THE CURE Jenny Dickinson
Grow, smell, eat or drink, Sherborne is a veritable herb garden!
26 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Wellness garden book, Elementum £16.99
Seeds, from £2 Abbey Decor
Plant labels, £2.50, Stone chalk, £2.25, Plants £4, Castle Gardens
Basil and tomato kit, Castle Gardens £6.99
Plantable pencil, Midwest the Stationer £3.85
Gin garnish kit, Castle Gardens £7.99
Lyres non-alcoholic herbal spirit, Vineyard’s £25
Berto vernouth, Vineyard’s £16
sherbornetimes.co.uk | 27
DESIGNER
Beautiful Bouquets & Arrangements for
MOTHERING SUNDAY 22ND MARCH
plus Houseplants, Cacti & Succulents, Rustic Garden & Home Décor, Wedding Flowers, Funeral Tributes, Corporate Designs Ellie Taylor
01935 814 308
Bespoke & Half Moon Street, Sherborne l www.perriashby.co.uk Ready01935 to 812927 Wearl perriashby@aol.com
occasionsofsherborne@outlook.com occasions-flowers.com 43 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PU
‘ for something different ’
Clothing
Scarves
Jewellery
Cards
Lighting
Gifts
& more
Sherborne DT9 3LN 01935 814027 28 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
New Spring
Collections ! Dorchester DT1 1BN 01305 265223
ARTI SA N R
O
U
T
E
by c l iv e w e bbe r
ALPACA - PIM A COT TON - SI LK
Open Day Event – Digby Hall Saturday 21st March We would like to welcome you to our Spring season
Artisan Route Open Day Event at Digby Hall at Hound
Street, Sherborne. This special event will be held on Saturday 21st March from 10:30 AM – 4 PM. There is plenty of parking at the Digby Hall car park. We will be featuring our brand new Spring Collection of Alpaca Knitwear, ‘Perfect Fit’ Pima Cotton Tops, and Silk Scarves – All by Artisan Route.
Alicia – Beautiful reversible jacquard jacket. Knitted in 100% Peruvian Baby Alpaca.
Eva – Smart scoop neck top in four soft pastel colours. Knitted in 100% Peruvian Baby Alpaca.
Kirsty – Unique bolero jacket with hand crafted bobble trims. Knitted in 100% Peruvian Baby Alpaca.
Valentina – A true longer length classic with chic buttons. Knitted in 100% Peruvian Baby Alpaca.
Patricia – ‘Perfect Fit’ Peruvian Pima Cotton long sleeved Crew. Available in 12 colours.
Pilar – ‘Perfect Fit’ Peruvian Pima Cotton short sleeved Scoop. Available in 9 colours.
This is a young company and brand name, but please remember that Clive Webber has had connections for over 20 years in Sherborne and really knows how to produce top quality designs in Alpaca, Pima Cotton and Silk. The beauty of the Open Day is that it provides the opportunity for Artisan Route to show our products in reality, giving customers the chance to see, touch, and try garments. Personal service and attention is the focal point of our small business. Our very good friend Mel Chambers will be with us to help and assist. We are sure that you all know how to reach Digby Hall, but just in case, the postcode is DT9 3AA. Please feel free to bring family and friends along ! Check out our collection of Alpaca Knitwear, Pima Cotton Tops and Handwoven Silk Scarves in advance at
w w w. a r t i s a n r o u t e . c o . u k or phone for a brochure. T : 01896 823 765 ( Monday - Friday 10.00 - 18.00)
elizabethwatsonillustration.com
Nipper Kicks is a fun-based football group designed for boys and girls aged between 2 and 6 years During weekly sessions children engage in physical activity and fun exercises where they will master social skills and motor coordination by working with the support and encouragement of their parents or guardians, as well as cooperating with other children in small groups. This simple idea has taken off and is now growing rapidly with 10 classes a week in Yeovil and Sherborne. For more information please call Steve and Hannah Laver on 07971 362004 email nipperkicks19@yahoo.co.uk or visit 30 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
@nipperkicks
Do you have a spare room in your home? Are you caring, nurturing and supportive?
Become a Host Family for an international pupil at a local boarding school Attractive daily rates Occasional weekend and half terms only
Contact Laura to find out more on laura@pippasguardians.co.uk or call 01684 252757
www.pippasguardians.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 31
UNEARTHED India Cole, Aged 17 Years Leweston School
H
ead Prefect India has always been passionate about food and this has led her to study the internationally recognised Leiths Diploma in Food and Wine at Leweston. Currently in her second year of the qualification, she is enjoying both the theory and being able to produce a diverse range of recipes. She has created delicious menus and canapés for various school events. The course has provided India with aspirations to learn more and inspired her to undertake work experience at the award-winning Michelin Star restaurant, Galvin at Windows in London. India had to arrive early in the morning in her chef whites and set to work helping prep for lunch, putting the skills she has learnt in Sixth Form to the test! She plans to organise a return trip to broaden her skills further as well as learn about front of house and restaurant management. India has shown great initiative in pursuing her chosen career. She recently contacted Nick Jones from ‘Soho House’ after hearing him talk at the ‘Made by Dyslexia’ conference. She met with him to find out how he got to where is now, what his inspirations were and to ask for work experience. India has been inspired by Nick’s determination not to give up in the face of challenges and the sacrifices he has made to pursue his career. India hopes to marry her love of food with her interest in eco-friendly tourism and already has plans to visit an EcoHotel in the French Polynesian Islands after Sixth Form. leweston.co.uk
KATHARINE DAVIES PHOTOGRAPHY Portrait, lifestyle, PR and editorial commissions 07808 400083 info@katharinedaviesphotography.co.uk www.katharinedaviesphotography.co.uk
32 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Family
Children’s Book Review Reviewed by Venice W, Year 3
I Can’t Sleep by Gracia Iglesias and Ximo Abadía, RRP: £6.99 Sherborne Times Reader Price of £5.99 at Winstone’s Books
I
Can’t Sleep is a short story, in picturebook style, about a child trying to get to sleep by counting sheep. It is written as a poem. The lines have a good rhythm which bounces along and each verse ends with two lines that rhyme. The child even sees a sheep on the bedside rug, a sheep on the wardrobe and another one in the sky, just like a cloud! Finally, by the time she falls asleep, she has reached ten! This makes it a perfect book to read to young children at bedtime as they can count along until they fall asleep too.
'Independent Bookseller of the Year 2016’ 8 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PX www.winstonebooks.co.uk Tel: 01935 816 128
It is a sweet little story and easy to read or listen to. The illustrations are colourful, attractive and very artistic, as they are all done in different ways. I think young children will very much enjoy this book. It would be perhaps be most suitable for children aged 3-7 years. Written by Gracia Iglesias and illustrated by Ximo Abadía, I would give this book five stars out of five! I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. It is soooo good for little children.
Sleuths, Sci-Fi Fans, Nature Lovers and Young Environmentalists. Books for all this Spring
34 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
THE CANDLELIGHT BALL 16TH MAY 2020 6.30PM - 12.00AM
Black tie dinner, dance, live music, silent auction and casino. Help us pass on the light of a boarding education through our full, transformational, Candlelight Bursaries.
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW £95
sherborne.com/events Email development@sherborne.com for further information The Sherborne Girls Foundation
SUPPORTING SHERBORNE
Family
EVERYDAY MIRACLES Fernando Velazquez, Head of Art, Sherborne Prep School
A
rt does not belong to artists; they are not special beings who have extra powers, superior to the rest of us. Indeed, Kevin Ashton in his wonderful book, How to Fly a Horse, is right when he mentions Mozart as a composer who did not create wonderful masterpieces without struggle, dedication and determination. Poems are not always written in dreams and science rarely comes from eureka moments. Artists do not own the right to do art, nor do they necessarily have a different vision of the world. They are people who travel through life, often confronting hardship, wars, poverty, pain and illness, lack of success, joy and decline. Myths are wonderful but we must not forget that they are just that, myths. It is true, however, that art requires commitment and time, strength of character and passion, necessary ingredients for any successful creative endeavour. It is also clear in my mind that we all have the potential to create whilst expressing our ideas. From choosing the colour of our sofa to painting our walls or from arranging our desks in a particular order to taking photographs with our phones, all choices are based upon aesthetics, taste and personal idiosyncrasy. Art is in all of us and it manifests itself in many different ways. We have seen waves of artists creating work from everyday objects and popular culture, making visual comments about mass production, global markets and money. We have seen artists exploiting the markets and markets exploiting the artists. Modern art asked direct questions, confronting conventions, whilst contemporary art sometimes creates confusion regarding the real value of artistic expression. We have inherited the myth of the genius and endured the extravagance of new elusive and short-lived trends, arriving now at a very interesting point of change. The new ‘20s are here, bringing a refreshed approach to creativity away from preconceptions and exclusion. As a teacher, I see small but poignant miracles in the Art Room every day. We see the simple intricacy and the beauty of the beginning of lives on a daily basis, but we are also the witnesses to a new beginning through education, when learning is changing towards different 36 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
goals, beyond testing, questioning traditional ways of assessing and transforming obsolete ideas about success. Creativity is not an add-on value to education; it is at the centre of it. At the Prep we teach drawing as a journey that requires solutions to problems; when we play against the opponent team in a match, we find our way to the goal despite opposition. We understand that the journey involves effort, determination and awareness. We paint, we observe, we ask questions, we dream of
a better world and we have fun. We do not believe that the conventionally gifted children are the only ones who hold the keys to creative success; our art scholars spread their talents throughout senior schools but they are also compassionate, aware and respectful to the talents of others. We are encouraging a new kind of artist, open to life as a valued member of the world community. The new ‘20s is a time to re-evaluate and encourage creativity as a fresh approach to life and education. We need to prepare ourselves for the emerging and
unprecedented challenges, finding solutions where others find closed doors, motivating each other to regenerate our values whilst making space for new forms of leadership. Today’s artists work together. They are not more special than anybody else; they are just like us. At Sherborne Prep we see little miracles every day in a world where we celebrate the artist in all of us. No myths, just brilliantly normal. sherborneprep.org sherbornetimes.co.uk | 37
Family
Illustration by Braden Maxwell
THE THREE CS
A
Sarah Sharp, Drama GRA, Sherborne School
brisk, frosty morning at Sherborne School. In every classroom, boys are hard at work — writing, reading, taking notes from the board. Somewhere else in the school, a completely different style of learning is taking place. The Drama Department. Boys have their shoes off, shirts untucked, they’re rolling on the floor, jumping in the air, spinning in circles. Is it chaos? Absolutely, but it’s a beautiful cacophony of creative chaos where all sorts of things are being learnt, 38 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
summed up in the three all-important Cs: Confidence, Communication and Creativity. I set the boys a task to create a piece of theatre and they put down their pens and learn through doing. This type of learning helps develop skills that can’t be read in books or taught from a PowerPoint presentation. They have to give things a go, make mistakes and learn from them, push themselves beyond their comfort zone to explore new possibilities. This process of expressing
ideas, trying them out and having them validated, builds a self-confidence that can benefit them in all other areas of their learning. In Drama, ‘getting it wrong’ isn’t seen as a failure but as an alternative creative option that sometimes produces better results than ‘doing it right.’ As the boys are busy turning abstract creations from their imaginations into a performance, they need to find a way to communicate their ideas to their audience. They must be able to tell a story, create meaning in movement and convey important messages to their audience through the subtext of a scene. This subtle and nuanced communication can help develop the boys’ skills as they have to know exactly what they want to say, understand why it is worth saying and be able to express that in an imaginative and engaging way. Having the opportunity to practise this regularly can help boys communicate more clearly and articulately in their everyday lives. I stand in the Drama Studio and survey the scene of boys hard at work. One group is working out how to best use their bodies to create a lost cloud who can’t find his friends, another is debating how their character can defeat an army of water-dwelling mole rats. Creativity allows boys to experience things and express themselves in ways they do not normally encounter, and using their imagination helps them consider different perspectives and alternative viewpoints. Creativity is vital to development, especially when combined with confidence and good communication. It’s easy to see the benefits of someone being able to think creatively of new ideas or solutions, being able to articulate those ideas clearly to others and having the confidence to do so in an engaging way. Of course, there is much more being learnt in this lesson than just the 3 simple Cs. The boys are having to work together in groups to create their masterpieces, developing their ability to collaborate as they share their ideas and find ways to incorporate the best elements in their performances. To do this they have to co-operate, learn how to problem-solve as a team, discover when it’s appropriate to take the lead and when it’s best to listen, and how to prioritise the artistic outcome over their own ideas. I look around the studio and see the boys concentrating hard, trying to remember what they’ve made and making sure they’re doing and saying the right thing in the right place at the right time. I see a sense of community building as the boys commit to learning and working together. I see compassion as they present characters totally different to themselves thoughtfully and sensitively. I see their cognitive abilities
stretched and challenged. Oh – and all this is in addition to learning the actual content of Drama as a subject. No wonder they’re exhausted after each class! My favourite part of the lesson is where I get to watch their amazing performances, the weird and the wonderful. After all the work they put in, seeing them enjoy their performances is definitely the highlight. Drama is first and foremost good fun - and why shouldn’t the boys have a time in their day where they can have fun, do things they don’t ordinarily have the opportunity to do in a lesson, be a bit daft and be okay with looking a bit silly? The lessons learnt in Drama are all the more valuable when boys have enjoyed the experience. So perhaps my ‘three simple Cs’ should really be the ‘10 complex Cs’ for well-rounded development: confidence, communication, creativity, collaboration, co-operation, concentration, community, commitment, compassion and cognitive development. My time at Sherborne has showed me that the boys are more than capable of being all of these things, and in every Drama lesson I get to see that ability grow a little. With 75 boys doing Drama as part of their academic curriculum, over 90 involved in co-curricular productions and 60 taking separate Speech and Drama lessons, the Sherborne School Drama Department is well and truly thriving I can’t wait to see what the boys come up with next! Sarah Sharp is currently the Drama GRA at Sherborne School. Prior to gaining a First-Class degree in Drama from the University of Exeter, Sarah was based in Devon where she was Education Consultant for an AHRC-funded research project, Atmospheric Theatre: Open-Air Performance and the Environment, Education Officer for MED Theatre, Workshop Leader for the environmental arts organisation One Step Theatre and also for The Intrepid Imagineers, an arts project on the children’s ward at the RD&E Hospital. Sarah is heavily involved in the co-curricular programme of Drama at Sherborne School and the Lower School production of Whale by David Holman. After her year at Sherborne School, Sarah is going on to study an MPhil in Arts Education at Pembroke College, Cambridge. sherborne.org
____________________________________________ Thursday 12th and Friday 13th March 8pm Whale The Powell Theatre, Abbey Road, Sherborne
Tickets are free. To attend please email tickets@sherborne.org
____________________________________________ sherbornetimes.co.uk | 39
Family
IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY…
I
Mrs Fiona Millard Forest School Leader, Hazlegrove Prep School
pinch myself as I steal a few moments whilst setting up for the next Forest School session with the Pre-Prep. Under the boughs of the majestic Cedar tree is one of my favourite spots in our woods and one that guarantees the children gaze open-mouthed skywards at its sheer enormity. Being able to look through a child’s eyes at the wonders of nature is one of the most rewarding aspects of Forest School. It brings what is important in our world into sharp focus, both literally and metaphorically. The aim of Forest School sessions is to instil a love for the outdoors and respect for the natural world as well as allowing children to develop emotionally and physically. In this often overly sterile modern world, it is important for the children to get mucky and enjoy it! I too am usually covered in mud; one must show by example! You can’t help but get caught up with the excitement and pleasure children experience when discovering new things in the woods. It can come from the smallest creature such as a worm and how it moves, or a normally overlooked broken snail shell. On one occasion the culprit was discovered busy at work. The collective intake of breath from the children was audible as we all watched a thrush repeatedly hitting a snail shell on a rock in order to extract its lunch! We were all totally engrossed in the moment. The natural curiosity that exists in a child is innate and contagious, and what better place than the woods to foster and embrace it? What strikes me about the woods is the calming effect it has on the children. They are content to potter, and how important it is to have the time to explore uninterrupted and have space for the imagination to flow. The other day, a group of children covered themselves with autumn leaves and noticed how warm it was. This led to a conversation about hibernation and hedgehogs whilst lying down gazing at the tree-tops above. We make links to the classroom by using the same vocabulary used in Maths, Science or Topic, helping to reinforce and embed knowledge. Re-enacting stories that have been a focus in the classroom are wonderful occasions, often developing new endings and characters as woodland creatures appear and take on new roles. To quote a Year One child, eyes wide open in excitement, ‘Mrs Millard, it’s as if we are in the story!’ There is nothing like the wind on your face, the noise of rustling leaves and a heightening of your senses by being outside to get the imagination going. It is often the simplest things that offer the greatest of pleasures, such as the newly discovered catkin or the mud kitchen in full swing busily churning out delicious ‘cakes’, the den-building team helping each other towards a shared goal or the effort and concentration needed to use the bow saw - not forgetting the patience shown by the children having to wait for me to get the camp fire lit after numerous attempts! I am often asked to describe Forest School and it is something that I struggle to answer in a concise manner: it covers so many things and is hard to measure. However, I know that children absolutely love it, even when the rain is lashing down and our fingers are tingling with cold. We always return to the classrooms topped up with new discoveries and knowledge, a little more resilient with a funny story to tell and a sense of overall contentment. There really is nothing better than being in the woods! hazlegrove.co.uk
40 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
sherbornetimes.co.uk | 41
Environment
DESTINATION: A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE Juliana Atyeo
Unless the sun dies, winds stop, plants die and rivers stop running, there will always be green energy. Some of these energy sources are completely free and we have them no matter what. Why not take advantage of them? (Edgar Cervantes)
I
n 2019, the UK became the first major economy to pledge to reach ‘net zero’ in its carbon emissions, with the target date being set at 2050. What this means is that emissions from homes, farming, industry and transport will have to cease entirely or be offset by planting trees to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. From the perspective of many environmentalists, campaigners and eco-activists, the goal of 2050 is far too late. Irreversible damage to the planet will have taken place by this date if, as a planet, we don’t act immediately. I personally find the given date frustrating and fragile and, given the five-year fixed term Parliament Act, I fear that it may be something into which governments will not plough the necessary time and money. Certainly, there seem to be several decisions that have been made that suggest the 2050 pledge is not something being taken seriously: the continued expansion of Heathrow, for example, not only poses an immediate and extreme threat to biodiversity in the area but also seems to give a thumbs up to ever-increasing reliance on aviation – one of the major culprits in emissions. This message of ecovandalism is arguably underlined by the government’s 42 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
decision to bail out Flybe; by deferring the £100million tax bill which will allow the company to continue with its polluting domestic flights, funds are being directed away from investment in more environmentally friendly means of low-carbon transport across the country. If these two aviation examples are not worrying enough, the disregard shown by the powers that be is epitomised by the government’s recent approval of a large, new gas-fired plant in Yorkshire – despite the fact that, in so doing, it overruled the advice of its own climate change advisers. Environmental lawyers, ClientEarth, are now in the process of suing the government for its actions. Continuing to make a mockery of any alleged commitment to the wellbeing of the planet, it has recently been revealed that 90% of the £2billion energy deal struck between the UK and South Africa was in the investment of fossil fuels – the undeniable result of which will be increased greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere. All of this is exceedingly bleak, leaving little room for eco-optimism. However, there is an appetite for green energy and, in more positive news, in 2019 zero-carbon
Soonthorn Wongsaita/Shutterstock
energy outstripped fossil fuel-generated energy. In the UK, green energy is generated through a combination of wind and solar power. The UK’s offshore wind capacity is greater than that of any other country in the world, although currently more energy is generated by onshore wind turbines. Whilst the growing success of green energy is to be celebrated, the fact remains that, if the UK is to reach its net zero carbon target, more investment must be made into renewables. One of the challenges facing this is NIMBYism: most citizens would welcome energy sourced renewably but not if it becomes a blot on their landscape, for which reason, it is fairly commonplace to see banners and signs around the country crying out, ‘SAY NO TO GIANT WIND TURBINES’ etc. Zooming into a more local debate, by the time this article appears, the public consultation on the proposed expansive solar park between Sherborne and Longburton will have closed. The solar farm would, it is claimed, generate clean, renewable energy for just over 10,000 local homes, connecting to the existing electrical network and displacing the 11,610 tonnes of carbon dioxide which would otherwise be
the unavoidable by-product of fossil fuels. Campaigners against the solar farm argue that it is inappropriate use of the land and the scheme will pose a threat to biodiversity. This, I think, is a bit of a straw man argument as, in truth, all types of farming or building developments alter biodiversity and, according to the proposals, there will be specific measures in place to protect flora and fauna. The hard fact is that we want to have our cake and eat it. Most of us, I think, recognise that we cannot keep finding ways to extract fossil fuels from the earth to use as a source of energy. We might choose to invest in Green Energy companies – something definitely worth investigating if you haven’t yet done so – but somehow we want to have green energy that is sourced almost invisibly, magically far away from us so that we don’t have to look at wind turbines or fields filled with solar panels. Not only do we need to begin to change our attitude to this, but also we need to become more energy efficient in our day-to-day living, thus putting less pressure on the national grid. By insulating our homes as efficiently as possible and wearing extra layers of clothing, it is not difficult to reduce our dependency on central heating. Switching to LED lightbulbs and always turning off lights and appliances when not in use is another eco-win. Cooking mindfully (planning how to maximise oven usage rather than turning it on for just one thing, covering pans with lids, keeping the cooker top clean), stocking the fridge and freezer so it is more energy efficient, setting the washing machine to its eco-setting and minimising tumble dryer use – all of these small amendments to domestic habits will reduce the household’s carbon footprint. In contrast with some of the shockingly careless recent decisions and actions against Planet Earth which have happened on a national and global scale, these small changes may seem futile but the willingness to do things differently is an important step; finding a compromise in lifestyle that requires fewer resources has to be good for the planet. However, we have to face the truth: we are past the point where these household changes are going to solve the climate crisis. Systemic change is necessary and it is high time we demanded that those changes begin to happen, even if it means a disruption to certain material luxuries to which we have become accustomed. Now that, to me, seems like a worthwhile investment of our energy. moneysupermarket.com/gas-and-electricity/green-energy/ footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/ carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx sherbornetimes.co.uk | 43
Environment
INVASIVE SPECIES
Paula Carnell, Beekeeping Consultant, Writer and Speaker
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have never liked to be ‘sprayed’ with insecticide on aeroplanes and the instruction that the spray is completely harmless and within governmentadvised safety limits raises several questions about the point of it. My recent trip has helped me to understand the necessity for spraying and even wonder if stronger chemicals might be advisable. Just a few days ago, I was sweating under an Indian ocean sun on my way back from a ‘dream trip’ to the Cocos Keeling Islands. To reach our destination, we chose the Northern route via Jakarta and Christmas Island. This was trickier to organise but required fewer air miles and enabled us to use a more ‘green’ airline (KLM) for much of the journey. As Christmas Island was merely a necessary stop-off, we hadn’t really looked into what we could do there or, more importantly, what we could see until a few days before we set off. Christmas Island is well known for three things: the red crab migration made famous by David 44 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Attenborough in 2016; the phosphate mines (the initial reason for populating the island in the late 1880s); and, more recently, its detention centre. We had only heard about the red crabs and were saddened to learn about the media’s portrayal of the asylum seekers kept in the detention centre since 2009. This has seriously affected the tourism business to this beautiful spot, leaving most Australians with an image of a prison island rather than the magical wildlife treasure that it is. The population is now around 1200 people, mostly workers for the mine or the detention centre which, as I write, has been reopened to host Australian nationals returning from China following the coronavirus outbreak. With tourism in steep decline, longdistance flying having been heavily criticised for its environmental impact, Christmas Island has become a haven for anyone wanting to study birds, sea life (the coral is some of the healthiest in the world) and bees. In 2000, a research delegation was sent to the
Chris Moody/Shutterstock
island to record the crab, bird and insect species, and its report included a paragraph about the sighting of honeybees. Despite finding them, no one at the time had any recollection of anyone keeping bees on the island and a search was undertaken for the wild colonies. Around 65% of the island is covered in largely untouched rainforest so there could be any number of bees hidden away from human interference. No wild nests were found. After investigation, I learned that there was once a hive in one of the settlements which could have been the source of the wild apis mellifera spotted enjoying the flowers in the gardens at Flying Fish Cove. Honeybees were therefore most likely introduced, perhaps by the earliest settlers. I was fascinated to ponder the likelihood of solitary bees evolving on the island independently of mainland species. The largest bee on earth, the Wallace bumblebee, was found only a few hundred kilometres away in Indonesia and I
wondered if some of them could have been blown onto the island at some point and be living quietly away from humans in this pristine forest. To undertake a thorough investigation of such an area would take a team of dedicated bee experts months but would be an exciting project! Until such research is done, it would be unwise to introduce more honeybees onto the island. What if there were some native bees, large or small, living there? An extra 50,000 bees from just one honeybee colony could be enough to take the nectar and pollen resources to a state that left none for native bees. Before we left, I met with a resident who had a friend with an empty beehive. I recommended that he bait it and try and entice the now feral honeybees into it rather than importing a colony from the mainland, or even nearby Cocos Keeling. Whilst I was looking around for bees in the rainforest near the Eco-lodge in which we were staying, I spotted several yellow wasps. Looking up into the branches of trees we could see several round paper nests belonging to the wasps; there were at least five nests on two trees. The more we looked, the more we found. Once on Cocos Keeling Island, I met up with Jack, the beekeeper I had planned to visit. His colonies were healthy, happy, not fed any sugar, had no disease and produced each month what it would take an English colony a year to provide! This was exactly what I hoped to find and learn from. As with many of the island community, Jack didn’t just have one job. With airports only having a couple of flights per week, many people help as check-in staff one day, do boat trips another day and then government work at other times. Jack, given his ability with bees, was also tasked as a pest remover, and the yellow wasps we saw on Christmas Island were indeed pests. They had originally been ‘blown onto’ North Keeling and Horsburgh Island in a storm. The nearest land is Christmas Island at over 900km distance, so these are pretty robust creatures. With no natural predators, the Macao paper wasp soon populated Home Island and now West Island, thriving on the caterpillars of some of the most beautiful and rare butterflies found in these remote islands. The full eradication of them looks bleak as they can hitch onto boats that visit these islands. There isn’t yet a happy ending to this story and maybe nature will find its own way of rebalancing. In the meantime, I did take extra care to ensure that nothing was lurking in my suitcase! paulacarnell.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 45
Wild Dorset
A WIN FOR WILDLIFE
Sally Welbourn, Communications Officer, Dorset Wildlife Trust
T
he marsh fritillary is one of the most interesting butterflies in Dorset and is the most attractive and colourful of the fritillaries. Often considered the ‘stained glass window’ of butterflies, they have small wings but are very recognisable, with a bright, intricate pattern of white, orange and black markings. Their main habitat, damp grassland, has been lost nationally due to agricultural-improvement and drainage in the landscape. However, due to careful habitat management over the last 10 years, they are now thriving on one of Dorset Wildlife Trust’s (DWT) nature reserves, Bracketts Coppice. DWT’s Living Landscapes Ecologist, Steve Masters, says, ‘The most reliable method to record the numbers of marsh fritillaries is to count the larva webs in autumn or in spring after the winter hibernation. Eggs are laid in large batches of up to 300 and the caterpillars aggregate in webs which can be counted relatively easily.’ Marsh fritillaries prefer to hibernate in tussocks of grass as caterpillars (which are jet black in colour) and emerge in warm weather – as early as February or March if the winter isn’t too cold. Basking in the sun as caterpillars, they will then pupate and emerge as adult butterflies on the wing in late May/early June. These 46 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Image: Errin Skingsley
remarkable butterflies have a few challenges ahead of them - not only the loss of habitat but also the parasitic wasp which can be deadly to them, laying its eggs inside the caterpillar and devouring it. Steve continues, ‘Their food plant is Devils bitscabious and we have plenty of that at Bracketts Coppice. Marsh fritillaries love damp grassland, purple moor grass and chalk, all of which we have in west Dorset. To help accommodate these butterflies we’ve adapted the management of Brackett’s Coppice slightly to ensure the amount of grazing creates the right habitat for them, providing the right structure for all stages of their life cycle. We even removed one field from the previous hay cutting regime and grazed it instead; we were delighted to see marsh fritillaries breeding in this field for the first time, as a result.’ These management techniques are being used on other suitable nature reserves. In 2019, the highest number of marsh fritillary larval webs counted since monitoring began (38) were found on Kingcombe Meadows nature reserve in west Dorset. Find out more about our nature reserves on our website. dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves
HUTS TO HUNKER DOWN IN plankbridge.com 01300 348414
Keep Dorset Buzzing
Do something this spring to help insects in your garden. Visit: www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/action-insects
DORSET WILDLIFE TRUST Photos ©, Tony Bates MBE Katharine Davies, Ken Dolbear, MBE.
sherbornetimes.co.uk | 47
Wild Dorset
SHERBORNE DWT Image: Gillian M. Constable
T
he March meeting of the Sherborne DWT group introduces us to a birder who is planning a green 2020. Our speaker is Gary Prescott, also known as the Birding Biker. In 2020 he plans to remain in the UK and to visit his fifty favourite RSPB nature reserves and all ten Wildfowl & Wetland Trust (W&WT) centres. He will travel to an area by train and follow this with a period of time cycling around the local RSPB and W&WT reserves. Last year he birded, with his cycle, in northern Spain and he has also birded several times in Peru with a cycle. We believe that, after giving his talk, he will visit two of Dorset’s birding hot spots - Poole harbour and Portland/Weymouth. The title of Gary’s talk is British Wildlife Seen From a Bike and it will take place at DWT’s meeting on Wednesday 18th March in the Digby Memorial Hall. Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start, giving time for wildlife conversation before the talk. Non-members of DWT are most welcome. Last year DWT had the very successful ‘Get Dorset Buzzing’ campaign and this is to be continued in some 48 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Gillian M. Constable, Dorset Wildlife Trust Sherborne Group Committee Member
way this year. Once again you are asked to consider the flowers you choose to plant since some are much more insect-friendly. Butterfly recording did very well last year; 89,206 records covering 49 species were submitted to Dorset Butterfly Conservation’s website. This does not necessarily mean more butterflies were about, possibly just more interest and extra submissions made. The results of the scientifically managed transect walks will provide information about species change. This year had a good start with 13 records covering four species being submitted in January. The Red Admiral was most common. For several years I have sent in records for the Garden Butterfly Survey which runs from March to November. It is very simple to do - simply record the first time you see a species in your garden for each of three quarters. The last two years we have had 17 species but with the slight difference of ringlet in 2019 replacing small skipper in 2018. dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk
The Joinery Works, Alweston Sherborne, Dorset DT9 5HS Tel: 01963 23219 Fax: 01963 23053 Email: info@fcuffandsons.co.uk
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DESIGNERS AND MAKERS OF BEAUTIFUL FINE BESPOKE JOINERY SINCE 1897
History
COACHING DAYS
Part IV: THE MAIL COACHES Cindy Chant, Blue Badge Guide
A
lthough they were operative for little more than sixty years, the Royal Mail coaches left behind an incredibly romantic memory. Surely no Christmas would be complete without a card depicting a red mail coach with cheerful festive passengers, its horses trotting through a snow-covered landscape? In fact, journeys on the coaches were never the exciting events shown on these cards. The seating inside was hardly luxurious and, for the driver, guard and passengers perched outside on the roof, the journey was uncomfortable and mostly dangerous with many accidents (of which I will write more in a future article). Nevertheless, I think that the story of the mail coach period is fascinating. The coaching network created by William Palmer grew from a few routes in 1784 to reach its peak early in the nineteenth century and eventually covered most of the United Kingdom. A mail coach was defined as a coach which carried passengers and mail, normally drawn by two or four horses, running on a particular route and keeping to a strict timetable. The Post Office never owned the coaches; contracts were made to supply and maintain them and also to provide horses and drivers. The guards, who were Post Office employees, were heavily armed, carrying two pistols and a blunderbuss. They wore official uniforms consisting 50 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
of a black hat with a gold band and scarlet coats with blue lapels and gold braid. They also had timepieces, regulated in London to keep pace with differences in local time. They recorded the coaches’ arrival and departure times at each stop on the journey. The guards were responsible for sounding a horn, known as a ‘yard of tin’ to warn other road users to keep out of the way and acting as a signal to toll-keepers to let the coach through. As the coach travelled through towns and villages where it was not due to stop, the guard would throw out the bag of letters to the letter receiver or postmaster. At the same time, the guard would snatch from him the outgoing bags of mail. The Royal Mail system was the pride of Britain and the envy of the world. These splendid coaches were painted in a livery of red, maroon and black. On each of the quarter panels appeared the stars of the four great Orders of Knighthood, namely The Garter, The Thistle, The Bath and St Patrick. The upper panels of the body, together with the front and hind boots, were black. In contrast, the royal cipher was picked out in gold on the front boot and the number on the rear. The royal arms were emblazoned on the door panels, which were in deep maroon. The running gear and wheels were painted in Post Office red. They did not have to pay road tolls and
claimed the right of way over all transport. They were indeed the kings of the road! Many of the Royal Mail guards were recruited from ex-army personnel. They exchanged their military scarlet coat for the scarlet coat of the Post Office and their Brown Bess musket for pistols and a blunderbuss. They were exposed to all weathers as they sat on their seat by the mailbox at the rear of the coach but, despite all dangers and hardships, it still seems to have been a desirable occupation - mainly due to their income being supplemented with many lucrative tips! The guard was frequently the subject of complaints and could be accused of anything with or without reason. It is reported that, in 1810, the guard in the coach between Bath and Chippenham was accused of assaulting Sara Norris, a female passenger. There were some doubts about this case and it was dropped, however there were several other incidents, one of which concerned a Miss Manning and a guard, Thomas Nobles. His behaviour was said to be worse than he admitted and he had a violent temper. He threatened to shoot the Deputy Postmaster who then became reluctant to do anything about the incident, as mail coach guards were regarded as persons of some standing in society. Did Thomas Nobles really assault Miss Manning? We will never know. The most important mail coach here in Dorset was the Royal Mail for Weymouth. This one carried the letters and dispatches of King George III when the King paid his annual visit to the resort from 1758 onwards. By 1785, there were eighteen mail coach routes out of London, including three to Bristol and Exeter. By 1825, ten thousand people were using the Mail coaches every day. Night running was normal on all long routes, covering about 12,000 miles of road nightly. When the golden age of coach travel ended, the title of ‘Last of the Mail Coach Guards’ must surely have belonged to Moses James Nobbs. He was born in Norwich in 1817 and became guard on the London to Stroud mail coach in 1836. During his career he covered many routes. One of his greatest ordeals was on the remote Welsh roads where, on one occasion, his coach was buried in a huge snowdrift causing him to struggle with his horses for over 50 hours in order to get the mail bags through. A story of heroism and duty - a ‘King of the Road’ indeed. Next month’s article will be about the coach horses and their lives spent in harness (with some distressing descriptions). sherbornewalks.co.uk
FREE HOME VISITS Specialist Neil Grenyer will be in the Sherborne area to value your antiques on
Thursday 26th March
A MEDIEVAL WALRUS IVORY DRAUGHTSMAN c.1050-1100, 5.75cm
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To make an appointment please contact: 01460 73041 neil.grenyer@lawrences.co.uk Complete House Contents & Attic Clearances Arranged Professional Probate Valuations
lawrences.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 51
History OBJECT OF THE MONTH
THE PARKINSONIA AMMONITE Elisabeth Bletsoe, Curator, Sherborne Museum
V
isitors often express surprise that we have a local fossil collection, particularly as Sherborne is some distance from the ‘Jurassic Coast’. During this geological period, however, our area was covered by a warm, shallow sea. It was home to many marine creatures, the smallest of which eventually formed the sedimentary rock which provides the building material for many of the local houses; one only has to look closely at the stone to realise it is composed of tiny compressed organisms. The fossil featured is an ammonite; a fast, freeswimming carnivore with a coiled external shell similar to a modern nautilus. It lived during the Bajocian stage of the Middle Jurassic period, 174-163 million years ago. The shell was divided into chambers separated by walls known as septa, which provided strength and prevented the shell from being crushed by water pressure. Our ammonite has had the outer layer of its shell, composed of aragonite, polished away to reveal the complex frilled lines (sutures) where the septa join the shell wall. The animal itself would live in the last chamber, whereas the rest were filled with gas or fluid which the ammonite was able to regulate, thus controlling its buoyancy and movement, rather like a submarine. The genus, or family, to which this particular species of ammonite belongs, was named after James Parkinson (1755-1824) who lived at Shoreditch and who became a surgeon at the age of 29 after studying at the London Hospital Medical College. In the early part of his life, James was a political activist who wrote many pamphlets that were highly critical of the political system under William Pitt (the Younger); he advocated social reform such as the representation of the people in the House of Commons, Universal Suffrage, and the establishment of welfare rights for children working 52 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
as apprentices. During his time as an apothecary and surgeon, he was the first to recognise and systematically describe the constellation of symptoms known as ‘the shaking palsy’, a disease which now bears his name. Parkinson then turned his attention towards the relatively new fields of geology and palaeontology. He belonged to the catastrophist school of thought which proposed that the Earth’s geology and biosphere were shaped by recent large-scale cataclysms, one of which was considered to be Noah’s Flood. He wrote many papers for journals on the subject as well as books including, in the early 1800s, three volumes entitled The Organic Remains of a Former World. Parkinson found evidence of a structure now known as a siphuncle through which the ammonite regulated its buoyancy by means of an osmotic process. He believed that there could be hundreds of species within this genus and he was particularly struck by the beauty of its form: ‘Unlike the septa of the Nautilus, the septa in the shells of the genus are always extended in a peculiar sinuous form; so that, on the removal of the external shell, those edges of the septa, which terminated in the parieties of the shell, appear in very elegant forms, similar to those of a beautiful foliage.’ Although Parkinson has since had many species of fossil named after him, to have his eponym attached to a genus is a particular honour. He is further remembered on his birth date of 11th April, which is World Parkinson’s Day. The museum is open during the winter on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday mornings from 10.30am–1.30pm. Admission is free. sherbornemuseum.co.uk
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Antiques
CHRISTMAS CARDS
I
Richard Bromell, ASFAV, Charterhouse Auctioneers
am aware that, even now, for some firms the planning for next Christmas has already begun. Now I’m not complaining about this as a lot of planning goes into Christmas - as Mrs B tells me every year. And every year, Christmas seems to creep up on me, then I blink and it’s all over with me trying to decide whether it is recycling or rubbish collection and generally struggling to work out what day of the week it is. Like many people we send and receive Christmas cards. Generally speaking, I have little input into this as Mrs B. usually takes the lead, otherwise we would not send out so many. Should you ever receive one from us, there is a pretty high chance that I sealed the envelope rather than wrote the address. As a man, I do not think I am alone in this. Recently a lady made an appointment to see me at one of our valuation days. Although you do not need to make an appointment, she wanted to make sure I was about. It was one of our collector’s valuation days. The term ‘collector’s items’ covers a broad spectrum from model cars and trains to coins and stamps to pop memorabilia and ephemera, and it was a collection of ephemera which she was looking to have valued. Ephemera is transitory written or printed matter not meant to be retained or preserved, such as the Christmas cards we send, and she brought in a collection of Christmas cards, a group of menus and other printed matter. Normally other people’s Christmas cards and menus are not particularly sought after or collected, but hers were pretty special as all the items have a Royal connection. 54 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
The owner worked in the Royal household for many years. It is a super collection covering items from 1975 to 2019. From the 1970s and 1980s there are menus from numerous State Banquets in honour of heads of states ranging from The Sultan of Oman to the President of the Republic of Kenya. 1981 was a big year for the Royal family when Prince Charles married Lady Diana. In the collection is an order of service for the wedding but what excited me was the box for a piece of the wedding cake. Sadly, the wedding cake was enjoyed when it was received in 1981, although there are still a few crumbs left! However, for me, the Christmas cards from The Queen and Prince Philip are the most interesting. They run from 2009 through to 2019 (yes, that’s Christmas 2019!). All are dated and signed ‘Elizabeth R and Philip,’ albeit using autopen (a device used by Royalty and celebrities for automatic signing in cards and letters where large numbers are sent out). With the client moving into a nursing home she is having a sort out. Now surplus to her needs, she has entered all the cards, banquet menus and other ephemera into our two-day collector’s auction on Thursday 5th & Friday 6th March where they are estimated to sell for £800-£1,200. Whether any of the Bromell Christmas cards, signed by us personally rather than using an autopen, will ever be of any interest in the future, I very much doubt, probably much to the dismay of our friends! charterhouse-auction.com
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CHARTERHOUSE Auctioneers & Valuers We are now accepting entries for our forthcoming auctions: Coins, Medals & Stamps 5th March Model Cars, Trains, Dolls & Collector’s Items 6th March Pictures, Prints, Books & Maps 2nd April Sporting Items & Asian Art 3rd April Classic & Vintage Cars 8th April
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Affordable interior fabrics thefabricbarn.co.uk 56 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
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Interiors
Images: Designers Guild
MORE IS (MOST DEFINITELY!) MORE
T
Suzy Newton, Partners in Design
he fashion house of Christian Lacroix is now over 30 years old, however it isn’t the clothing of this pedigree couture label that is catching everyone’s attention but the brand’s incredible range of lifestyle pieces. From cushions to tableware, fabrics to stationery, Christian Lacroix is bringing its distinct style of luxury to chic homes across the world. The flamboyant lifestyle looks have been developed under the creative direction of Sacha Walckhoff. After the departure of Christian Lacroix himself, Walckoff took the helm of the fashion house in 2010, having been Christian Lacroix’s right-hand man for 17 years. For Sacha it made sense to take the brand into homeware, having established a unique reputation for mixing colours and patterns, resulting in exuberant and often surprising results. Since then the Lacroix aesthetic has embraced all aspects of lifestyle and accessories, bringing 60 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
new levels of luxury and glamour to everyday objects. In 2011, Designers Guild launched Christian Lacroix Maison - a superb range of fabric and wallpaper collections as well as home accessories designed by the iconic fashion brand for Designers Guild. These collections celebrate the inspiration, rich heritage and the creative integrity so universally associated with the House of Lacroix brand. Whether inspired by the city of Arles, vintage couture gowns or the Toreador, each fabric, wallpaper and accessory tells a unique story. The focus on homeware and lifestyle has really pushed the brand forward. The lifestyle collections have begun a new era for Christian Lacroix yet, behind this, Walckoff has retained a consistent approach to design. ‘The principles are the same but the products are different,’ he says. ‘My work for Lacroix is to keep the style alive and appealing, to find new ways to express the personality
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of the brand; it is not about old or new, it is more about keeping the house of Lacroix fresh and modern.’ Walckhoff ’s ability to take the brand’s baroque, flamboyant and colourful aesthetic and apply to it to lifestyle products is perfectly illustrated in the most recent Christian Lacroix Maison homeware collection. Inspired by the escapist feeling of flight and fantasy, L’Odyssée fabrics and wallpapers celebrate the wonder of mystical adventure. The collection encompasses printed, woven and embroidered fabrics in a variety of textures and colourways and highly detailed wallpapers, digitally printed on luxurious, non-woven and vinyl grounds. Trailing flowers, panoramic scenes and mesmerising feathers infuse this ultra-useable collection, perfectly capturing the spirit of discovery and making haute couture relevant to today’s home. After so many years of restrained interiors, there are many reasons to succumb to Christian Lacroix Maison’s maximalist style and sense of the opulent. partners-in-design.co.uk
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elizabethwatsonillustration.com 64 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Growing for Health
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Spring lawn care
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luksusoutdoorliving.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 65
Gardening
Mike Burks
Mike Burks, Garden Centre Association chairman
Kate Adie CBE
Cowells Garden Centre - Ruxley Rose winnners 66 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Colonel Dame Kelly Holmes
St Peter's Garden Centre Best Garden Centre Restaurant winnersÂ
GARDENING IS THE SOLUTION
I
Mike Burks, Managing Director, The Gardens Group
have just returned from a three-day conference in Bristol, held for the members of the Garden Centre Association. Over 300 delegates from across the UK and Ireland gathered for the annual get-together. As the newly elected chairman, it was my turn to organise this year’s event along with the head office team. The theme we chose was climate change, environmental issues and the importance of health and wellbeing, and the role that gardening and garden centres could play in this. The speakers that I had chosen were all on fine form. Our first speaker was Trewin Restorick from an organisation called Hubbub, which specialises in helping organisations with their environmental campaigns. Trewin likes to do this in a really positive way and so his solutions are often good fun and, as a result, pretty effective. One example he gave was of a campaign to clean up cigarette butts. Research showed that the culprits were mostly male and between the ages of 20 and 50, so his campaign was to have two perspex bins side by side into which cigarette butts could be placed and could be seen. The genius idea, though, was to label each bin with the names of two of the world’s best footballers - Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi - and then part-fill them, with more in one than the other. This provoked the smokers to put their dog-ends into the bin as a vote for the football star that they thought was better. No explanation was needed and the littering reduced to almost zero! We also heard from former Channel 4 economist, Paul Mason, who looked at the issues of how climate change was affecting mortgages and insurance, and also the impact that this was having on decisions being made by big investors who, at last, were making environmentally positive decisions, albeit for commercial reasons. One of the most entertaining and inspirational speakers was Sir Tim Smit KBE, co-founder of the Eden Project, who has had an extraordinary life and had many tales of ups and downs from his music career through to how the Lost Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project came about. He finished with powerful messages about the importance of gardening and the gardening community in helping avert climate change. This message picked up and echoed what all of the
earlier speakers had been saying: gardening is good for you physically and mentally; it’s also good for the environment (if carried out in the right way), good for nature and can bring communities together. Whereas Tim was rousing in his inspiration, we had a completely different approach from Gelong Thubten, a Buddhist monk who spoke about mindfulness. I had taken a gamble on whether the GCA conference would cope with such a speaker but Thubten had the audience spellbound and had us in total silence whilst he showed us a meditation technique. The silence and the atmosphere had the hairs standing and at that stage I knew that the gamble had worked! Even more telling were the questions, many of which were from men in their forties. Asking a question in front of such a large audience about mental health is a brave thing to do as it can be revealing, however it showed that Thubten’s time with us had been very powerful. We also heard from two inspirational women on the last afternoon; firstly, the amazing Kate Adie who talked us through her career and the extraordinary places and situations she had found herself in during it. Finally, Kelly Holmes bounced onto stage, or rather, to give her full and well-deserved title, Colonel Dame Kelly Holmes. Again touching on the mental health issues she had faced in her career, she told us how she overcame these to win those two gold medals at the 2004 Olympics. Kelly brought the house down and finished with footage of her winning the 800m and the 1500m. It always brings me to tears and, as I then had to go onto stage to thank her, I realised that I wasn’t the only one in such a state - most of the audience were also drying their eyes. Kelly finished the conference off on a high and made us ready to head back to our garden centres with a renewed vigour and the knowledge that we can be a part of the solution to some of the environmental challenges we face by promoting and supporting gardening. There is much to do and we need to be prepared to wean ourselves off some of the products and practices that gardeners have relied upon for decades but it is possible and will be a very positive move. thegardensgroup.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 67
Gardening
DIARY OF A FLOWER-FARMER Paul Stickland, Black Shed Flowers
I
’ve rather fallen in love with willows these last few weeks. At a time when few things are flowering, the colour and form of the various varieties of willows are really very welcome. We started our willow collection with a cutting from a tree in the garden of Tabitha’s lovely school in Thornford. It’s always covered in silvery ‘pussies’ in winter and the stems are a deep burgundy with a hint of purple, the tips covered in a soft, waxy, grey bloom. The furry catkins provide protection for the pollen-bearing stamens and provide a welcome nectar source for early flying bees on any warm day. Taking willow cuttings couldn’t be easier. Any healthy stem thicker than a pencil, between one-foot and sixfeet long, inserted firmly in good, moist soil in winter and protected from weed competition by a compost mulch or mulch mat, will root very quickly and then grow at a truly satisfying rate. A great plant to use to introduce children to gardening, it’s almost impossible not to root them; they’ll even root upside down! We’ve now got around twenty varieties, with all manner of different coloured stems and catkins. To get good, straight stems for our bouquets and arrangements, we will either cut last year’s growth hard down to the ground, or perhaps chest height, pollarding them to make it easier to harvest the stems. This has the advantage of enhancing the winter colour of the stems, which can be truly stunning in a range of yellows, tans, violets and reds: a fantastic sight in a winter landscape, as shown to perfection in James and Tania Compton’s garden, Spilsbury, where Tania has planted a dramatic ring of pollarded Salix vitellina Nova. Their vibrant red and orange stems blaze in the subdued winter tones of their fascinating garden. Another wonderful family of shrubs for the cold months is the Cornus, or dogwood. The glowing red stems of Cornus alba Sibirica are well known and lovely
68 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
but the bright yellow scarlet tipped stems of Cornus Midwinter Fire have my heart. They really catch any bit of winter sunshine and are wonderful to include in a bouquet or dried flower arrangement. The many varieties of Eucalyptus that we grow really come into their own in winter. We grow seven species, all from seed and they are really easy. The well-known gunnii is the perfect flower arranger’s foliage plant but we also grow perriniana, dalrympleana, cinerea, parvifolia, nicholii and rotundifolia. Sown in May, some of these species grow up to six feet in their first year. Once again we will coppice these at ground level or pollard them at a convenient height each year. By August the stems will hold when cut and provide foliage all autumn and winter. All our foliage shrubs get this treatment. We have Physocarpus for its deep burgundy leaves, Pittosporum in various forms, all manner of Hollies, Weigela, the fragrant winter Honeysuckles, the spindle bush Euonymus, a whole range of Hypericums, grown for their colourful berries, our Hydrangeas, Rosa rugosa and perhaps my favourite of all, the elegant and shining evergreen, Phillyrea latifolia. We have a spectacular and very old specimen of this Phillyrea in Sherborne in front of Barton Farm on the A30 at Kitt Hill. This venerable and beautifully refined tree must be several hundred years old and gives me joy every time I pass it. There is another staggeringly beautiful example in Fifehead Magdalen which, in its old age, has naturally cloud pruned itself into wonderful shape, reminiscent of those seen in very old Japanese gardens. It’s a very special tree, which seems to complement fine architecture and I’m surprised that it is not planted more often, I’ve certainly tried to leave one wherever I have lived. blackshedflowers.blogspot.co.uk @blackshedflowers
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VE MAGAZINE & MOLECULA
K
Words Jo Denbury Photography Katharine Davies
aryn Sparks and Jez Speed are two branches of the same tree; they share a passion for furniture and ‘objets’ for the home. While Karyn’s tastes are rooted in the more decorative, Jez prefers the clean lines of the functional form. Together, they have cultivated an eye for mid-century modern furniture and consider it the epitome of all that is beautiful and useful. As William Morris said ‘have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’. A visit to their store at numbers 10 and 11 Old Yarn Mills, an aptly old building where they have planted themselves, will undoubtedly guarantee that you will come away with a bit of both. >
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Stemming from an obsession with visiting auctions and flea markets in their spare time, they began ‘collecting’ over 20 years ago. At the time, they were living on the edge of Exmoor and worked in Exeter. Karyn was working for an interiors magazine and, in her spare time, would visit Sherborne for its antiques shops. When the time came to branch out, as it often does for many of us, she knew it had to be Sherborne. An antiques magazine was first on Karyn’s agenda followed by a vintage magazine. Then, in 2011, she merged the two, culminating in the birth of VE magazine (Vintage Explorer) which has recently published its 50th issue. The popularity and success of the magazine is down to Karyn’s knowledge and flair for everything that falls into the world of collecting antiques and historic design, thus allowing the magazine to flourish. Still working from Number 10, you’ll find Karyn in a light, bright office, sprinkled with a collection of taxidermy that stems from her art director, Alan Ashby’s, interest in zoology. Downstairs is Jez’s workshop and the showroom where he runs his arm of the business, Molecula. Now, Jez is a trained mechanic and, frankly, I am of the view that if you can strip down an engine and rebuild it, then
you are sure to possess a natural eye for detail which is why, when it’s combined with a zeal for collecting and an interest in discovering new historical movements of furniture design, Jez is your man. He is among the few who can decipher the complexities of what makes good mid-20th century design. For a long while, this period of design was dismissed as rather utilitarian and functional; it smacked of postwar rebuilding and tended to come from countries that had been decimated by World War II, such as Germany and parts of Scandinavia. But I remember the day when my own grandmother finally decided to embrace it; when the spaniels had chewed through the last of the legs of the George III mahogany carver chairs and the cats were about to topple the Ming, the first Mini had arrived in the garage and, rejoice, the sleek lines of a Saarinen table with an indestructible marble top and accompanying ‘tulip’ chairs arrived in the conservatory. Granny had gone ‘Barbarella’. For those of you who remember that era, you will be pleased to discover that those pieces, made from what were new materials, have now become highly collectible and valuable. ‘We used to be into Art Deco,’ Karyn says ‘but realised we liked modernism. We live and breathe it. > sherbornetimes.co.uk | 73
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Every holiday is a busman’s holiday, we always go exploring and buying.’ So what do they look for? ‘Simplicity of line,’ says Jez. It’s the angles and finesse on the work of specific designers that we look out for,’ he explains. ‘Danish design has a finesse to it; it’s very delicate in its lines. As you look at it from all angles, you notice special details such as the tapering of the arms of a chair.’ The same applies to many Scandinavian pieces. A sofa Jez recently acquired is a good example. By a Swedish designer, Kofod Larsen, and made in the 1960s, the ‘Kandidaten’ sofa is leather and still has its original cushions. Nowadays, it fetches a high price and is rare, but Jez has his sources and knows what he is looking for. I ask Karyn where one should start with a new collection and she simply says ‘with a chair.’ ‘You’ve got to like it,’ adds Jez ‘buy the best you can afford and always buy what you like.’ Karyn’s tip for putting a room together is to ‘keep things personal’ by putting things you’ve inherited, or already own, with things you love. ‘Everything has a story,’ she insists ‘I call it eclectic living; it isn’t about fashion, but about your personality. Individualism.’ We live in a time with a growing concern for upcycling and reusing. When it comes to furniture and pieces for your own home, the same applies. After all, the passage of time is the greatest sculptor; careworn and loved is so much better. In an era of the internet and with sites such as 1stdibs.co.uk, America has become the couple’s biggest
market. But despite having clients from all over the world, Karyn and Jez are happy to be based in Sherborne. The Old Yarn Mills is a growing scene of new names including Brewed Boy and Gamespod, alongside the established Old Barn Framing, Karen and Jez enjoy being a part of this budding community and also share the upper floor of their space with resident artist Victoria Young-Jamieson (victoriayj.co.uk). Visitors are welcomed to the showroom by appointment and my advice would be to tap into Jez’s knowledge and subscribe to Karyn’s magazine, if you want to learn more. It’s a geeky business, is mid-century modernist design. You will need to know your Gio Ponti’s from your Fontana, but that’s part of the fun. VE magazine HQ is a busy place and it’s time for Karyn to get back to her work and Jez to finish upholstering the new seats on a recent find. Don’t be put off if leggy chairs aren’t your thing, there are ‘mantiques’ to intrigue as well as a number of new lights which Jez has built from upcycled materials. The couple were recently visited by Drew Pritchard, Tee and the Salvage Hunters crew which, like the many treasures that have been sourced, collected and restored by Jez and Karyn, will shine a spotlight on them. It would be my tip to get down there soon. molecula.co.uk vintageexplorer.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 77
elizabethwatsonillustration.com 78 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
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Let someone else do the shopping, preparing, cooking and all the washing up The George Albert Hotel is delighted to offer a Sunday Lunch Carvery. Always featuring two freshly cooked joints of meat with all of the trimmings and homemade Yorkshire puddings. A choice of freshly prepared starters both hot and cold and of course a selection of sumptuous desserts to tempt and delight you.
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Coffee Break Café Pineapple The High Street, Milborne Port DT9 5FB cafepineapple 01963 250726 The Cross Keys 88 Cheap Street, Sherborne DT9 3BJ crosskeyssherb crosskeyssherborne 01935 508130 thecrosskeyssherborne.com
Old School Gallery Boyle’s Old School, High Street Yetminster, DT9 6LF @yetminstergalle 01935 872761 yetminstergallery.co.uk The Three Wishes 78 Cheap Street, Sherborne DT9 3BJ 01935 817777 thethreewishes.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 79
Food and Drink
THE CAKE WHISPERER Val Stones
BLACK FOREST CAKE Image: Katharine Davies
B
ack in the late 1960s I made my first Black Forest Gateau, and it took pride of place on restaurant trollies. I made it as a celebration cake and, because I knew no better, I used cherry pie filling to sandwich the cakes! It is the perfect combination of chocolate, cherries, cream and even more chocolate. Black Forest is now back in favour, a retro dessert that can be found on restaurant menus again. I made this cake on a grand scale for my niece’s wedding in December last year, when I made sufficient cakes to feed 200 as dessert after the main course and before the cheese. I made three, six-tier cakes placed on real logs and decorated with winter foliage and flowers. I also made five satellite square cakes that were cut up and served from the kitchen. I also made a gluten-free tiered cake for nine guests and an egg- and gluten-free cake using my yoghurt cake recipe, in which the egg is replaced with more yoghurt. Makes 12-16 pieces Timing: 15 minutes to prepare the cake, 35-40 minutes baking time, 20 minutes decorating time. What you will need
Four 9 inch/23cm diameter sandwich tins Piping bag fitted with a number 2 nozzle 80 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Cake side scraper Cake board or piece of sliced wooden log Ingredients
375g eggs, out of shells 375g caster sugar 300g soft margarine 75g unsalted butter at room temperature 300g self-raising flour (gluten-free if required) 75g cocoa powder 15g baking powder (sift the flour, cocoa powder & baking powder together) ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 2 teaspoons chocolate extract, optional 1 tablespoon full fat milk For the cake filling
I jar cherries in syrup, preferably with added cherry liqueur (drain the cherries and set aside the syrup for brushing the cake layers) 1 jar of black cherry jam 700ml double cream 1 tablespoon dried milk powder 1 tablespoon icing sugar 1 tablespoon of cherry liqueur 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To decorate
1 small punnet of at least 12 fresh cherries with stalks (these should be at room temperature; if they are used straight from the fridge, moisture will condense on them and when dipped in chocolate they will become sticky). 150g dark chocolate chips, at least 50% cocoa butter. Grate 30g to scatter on the top of the cake and set the rest aside to cover the cherries. Method
1 Set the oven 160C, 180C, gas mark 4. 2 Grease and line the baking tins; you can use butter or vegetable oil. I use silicon circles in the bottom of my tins and only grease the sides. 3 Weigh the eggs into a bowl and then add the sugar, margarine, butter, sifted flour/cocoa/baking powder and beat for one minute. Allow to rest for one minute then beat for two minutes with a hand-mixer or in a stand mixer. 4 Continue to beat the mixture for 2 minutes until light and fluffy, then fold in the vanilla and chocolate extracts. The mixture should be dropping consistency; if it isn’t, add the tablespoon of milk. Then share the mixture between the baking tins. 5 Bake in the oven for 35 minutes before checking if they are too noisy (I listen to my cakes but you can test with a skewer if you wish). If not baked put them back in the oven for another 2 minutes and that should do it. They usually are baked after 37 minutes. 6 Place the tins on a cooling rack to cool for two minutes and then transfer the cakes to cool completely on the racks. To decorate the cake
7 Prepare the cherries by making sure they are dry; handle them carefully so the stalks don’t come off. 8 Place the chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl and place on low in a microwave for one minute. Remove and stir. Repeat twice more until the chocolate is melted. 9 Holding a cherry by the stalk, dip half of the cherry in the chocolate allowing the excess chocolate to drip off. Place the cherries on a silicon sheet to set. 10 Place the cream in a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Add the milk powder and the icing sugar, combine for a few seconds and leave for 2 minutes for the powders to dissolve. 11 Whisk the cream until it reaches soft peaks then fold in the cherry liqueur and vanilla extract.
12 Place a little cream onto the cake board and then add the first layer of cake. Brush this layer with the cherry syrup from the jar of cherries. 13 Spread 3 dessertspoons of black cherry jam over the cake. Next, use 3 tablespoons of cream to cover the cake evenly then scatter â…“ of the cherries from the jar on the cake. Continue adding layers, brushing with syrup, jam, adding cream and scattering cherries. 14 Using an offset palette knife spread cream around the sides of the cake then, using a scraper, gently scrape off some of the cream to give an even look where some of the chocolate cake can be seen (this technique is called a semi naked cake). 15 Spread two tablespoons of cream evenly on the top of the cake. 16 Place the remaining cream in the piping bag and pipe 12 or 16 whorls around the cake, place a chocolate-dipped cherry on each of the whorls. 17 Scatter the grated chocolate over the middle of the cake. 18 Chill for at least an hour before serving to make it easier to slice. This cake will keep for up to two days in the refrigerator. It can also be frozen if you leave off the chocolatedipped cherries, however it is best eaten fresh. bakerval.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 81
Food and Drink
WILD GARLIC, SUNCHOKE AND DORSET CREAM VELOUTÉ Sasha Matkevitch, The Green
T
his is a very popular starter at The Green. We usually serve it with a slice of Borodinsky bread and unsalted butter. For chefs, this dish is a great opportunity to stay 100% seasonal and local. Ingredients Serves: 6
1 very large onion, thinly sliced 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 stick of celery, chopped 100ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil 250g Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and diced 250g wild garlic, washed and roughly chopped 200ml double cream 1 tbsp roughly chopped flat leaf parsley cayenne pepper Cornish sea salt 82 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Image: Katharine Davies
Method
1 Put the onion, garlic, celery and rapeseed oil into a large, heavy based pan and cook gently, on a medium heat until the onion becomes translucent and soft. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper and 1½ litres of cold water. Bring to the boil and keep cooking until reduced by half (approximately 20 minutes). 2 Add Jerusalem artichokes and cook for a further 12 minutes or until the artichoke is just cooked. 3 Add wild garlic, parsley and cream then liquidise in food processor until smooth and bright green. Season to taste. Bon appetit! greenrestaurant.co.uk
A MONTH ON THE PIG FARM
I
James Hull, The Story Pig
write this article a few weeks before you read it in the Sherborne Times so many twists and turns are yet to come I suspect. However, today we have had an almost spring-like day, with drying winds, early spring sunshine and that feeling of hope and gladness that makes us all feel so much better. Every year I dislike winter a little bit more, so the fact that nature has taken control and is bursting with life and promising so much is great news! Our new garden is very slowly coming to life. Every day, at the end of the day, Charlotte and I walk round it together, searching for tiny changes from the day before - buds bursting forth or new soft shoots pushing upwards through the soil. The pigs love this better weather too. They spend the daylight hours ranging far and wide, digging and rooting with their amazingly powerful snouts. They bask in the sun much as we do, soaking up the warmth. They still love their pig arks though. I normally bed them up with fresh straw once a week; they love getting involved with that, generally getting in the way and trying to knock me over as I carry a bale through the cloying mud. Their houses are so cosy and warm, often we think we could sleep in there too. They spend their indoor time chewing up the straw into minute bits until eventually it disappears and their bed is a dusty, dry, soft mattress. They like to lie together in a huge pile, with pigs underneath and on top, all keeping warm together,
constantly wriggling and moving as those underneath get too hot. They even snore loudly too! We are busy filling in forms to attend food fairs all over our region this summer, selling our sausages, bacon and other porky products far and wide. Charlotte is building up quite a following at our Sherborne Farmers market where she has some lovely loyal customers; as a small but growing farm all the positive comments she receives mean so much to us both. Probably one of the things that anyone running a business can relate to is dealing with the unexpected, none more so than farmers I believe. Being at the mercy of so many external forces can sometimes (quite often actually) be almost overwhelming. Over the last few weeks we have been looking forward to our latest batch of sows farrowing. We have moved to batch farrowing so we had moved them all to their maternity paddock, with a pig ark each, and waited eagerly for the new arrivals. And sure enough they arrived. Then, before we knew it, 2 sows were attacked by ravens who stole their beautiful new piglets, leaving one with only three piglets and the other with five. This is the first time this has happened to us but, sure as eggs are eggs, other things will come along to thwart our best laid plans. I still love farming though‌ most of the time. thestorypig.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 83
Food and Drink
CHEESE PLEASE David Copp
Yulia Grigoryeva/Shutterstock
H
ave you ever wondered why wine goes so well with cheese? I don’t know the answer but my experience suggests they were made for each other. Soil and climate are vital to both: good, fresh, green grass or southwest-facing slopes; healthy cattle, sheep and goats or carefully chosen rootstock to match the soils; even temperatures in caves or limestone cellars for maturation. When wine and cheese are wellmatched, they naturally complement each other and delight the taste buds. The weather conditions of each 84 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
growing season add interest. Talking with dedicated cheese lovers I was delighted to learn that they, like wine enthusiasts, want to know precisely where a cheese is made, by whom and how. Cheesemakers have the same strong sense of place, of terroir, as winemakers. Names are very specific to cheesemaking villages and dedicated cheese-making families. For a long time the French have been able to boast that they can offer a different cheese for every day of the year. We may not have caught up with the French in
terms of the number and variety of cheeses we produce but, in recent decades, our cheese and wine production has developed healthily, being very successful in international competition. What is good is very good. For the purpose of this article I have divided our cheeses into four categories: hard, semi-hard, soft and blue. Hard cheeses
Of the hard cheeses, the best known worldwide is Cheddar. The name was never protected so it is now made all over the world but the original came from the small Somerset village of the same name close to Cheddar Gorge, where the caves have the right humidity and the steady temperature necessary for cheese maturation over twelve months or more. Closer to us at North Cadbury and Wincanton, the Keen and Montgomery families have consistently produced top-class Cheddar, recognised for its rich, nutty flavours which pair wonderfully well with robust, full-bodied red wines such as Barolo, Burgundy and Barossa Valley Shiraz. Hard sheep’s cheese is often dry and salty with a long aftertaste which white Burgundy sets off well. Semi-hard cheeses
Semi-hard cheeses such as Gruyère, Malvern and Cornish Yarg also pair well with white and red Burgundy. White wines with character enjoy the liaison. More crumbly lactic cheeses such as Lancashire, Caerphilly, and Harlech Truckle demand something quite different. I recommend a fresh and fruity Beaujolais Cru such as Fleurie with a couple of years bottle ageing. Soft cheeses
Soft cheeses such as Brie and Camembert are best with subtle wines. The Loire offers several choices. I have a soft spot for Loire cabernet franc but there are also many excellent sauvignon blancs grown in the villages along the middle and upper reaches of Franc’s longest river. Crisp, dry wines are most suitable with mature goat’s cheese: Epoisses and similar-style cheeses invite more exotic wines such as peachy-flavoured viognier or Alsatian gerwürztraminer. In passing, I might mention that I have tasted Pont-L’Évêque with Trappist beers from Belgium and, on other occasions, with Calvados and with heavily peated Bowmore Islay Whisky. Fresh goat’s cheese is a bit more challenging but offers opportunity for adventure. Camel Valley, Furleigh Estate and Wraxall sparkling and still wines work well and I also direct your attention to their top-quality Bacchus wines
(particularly from the splendid 2018 vintage), arguably the most interesting of the English white grapes. Many of my younger wine writing colleagues see bacchus as the English answer to New Zealand’s sauvignon blanc. It not only makes a delightful summer aperitif but is also superb with the shellfish from the nearby Channel shores. Blue cheeses
Our most famous blue cheese is the rich and creamy or semi-hard Stilton, first made in Middle England, which quickly gained a reputation for being the perfect partner for port. I like creamy blue cheeses such as Roquefort because they are the most ideal partner for the great late harvest wines of Sauternes, Barsac, Monbazillac, the Rhine and Tokaji Aszu; also Lustau’s magnificent old, sweet oloroso sherry when fine sugar balances the acidity of the cheese. The best person to speak to about blue cheese in Dorset is Michael Davies at Woodbridge Farm near Sturminster Newton. It was he who first rescued a 300-year-old recipe and then developed Dorset Blue Vinny, sometimes spelt Vinney, which used to mean mouldy; the blue tag came with the colour of the veins running through the cheese. Really good milk underpins the Dorset Blue Vinny process so Michael nurtures his own herd of Friesian Holstein cattle. A carefully selected fungus, penicillium roqueforti, isolated from the soil, is mixed into the curds which are sometimes pricked to allow the mould to spread, creating blue or green veins which encourage pungent and spicy flavours to develop. Before the Second World War, Dorset farm butter fetched a premium price in the best food halls in London. Almost every farmhouse in Dorset made butter, leaving farmers with a lot of skimmed milk, so cheesemaking became a natural by product of butter-making. WW2 changed a lot of things and Dorset Blue Vinny went out of production until Michael Davies reintroduced it and it was awarded Protected Geographical Status. It is now unique in the sense that no other Dorset Blue Vinny can be made and Michael and daughter Emily market it throughout the UK. They have introduced a range of fruit chutneys to go alongside it. Dorset Blue Vinny cheese, Dorset wine and Dorset Knobs, the savoury biscuits made from dough with extra butter and sugar, make an attractive culinary welcome to those from the wider world who have come to visit our market town. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 85
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Animal Care
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BETWEEN FRIENDS
L
Mark Newton-Clarke, MA VetMB PhD MRCVS Newton Clarke Veterinary Surgeons
ast week a client called me to ask about a disease in young cats called Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). As this condition is caused by a coronavirus, it prompted me to put a few things into context as I don’t want cat owners donning face masks and locking themselves away for weeks on end! Hopefully, by the time this edition of the Sherborne Times is being read, the coronavirus epidemic in China will 88 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
have peaked and the international community will feel more at ease. I also hope and pray that the mortality data from the Chinese outbreak confirms the initial statistics that this virus has a relatively low pathogenicity. At the time of writing this seems to be the case, with far more people succumbing to influenza this winter (estimates for global mortality go up into the hundreds of thousands). Why should the veterinary profession be interested in
human illness? In a word, zoonosis. This means a disease carried by animals that can be transmitted to humans. The most famous is probably rabies however Ebola and the coronaviruses which caused SARS and MERS (and now this Chinese epidemic) all originated in animals. Closer to home, cattle, pigs, cats, dogs and rodents all have their own coronaviruses but so far none of them have jumped species and become zoonoses like their Chinese counterparts. So what makes an animal disease suddenly infectious to humans? For the coronaviruses, it’s the result of mutations that seem to happen more often than in other viruses. The reason for this is that the coronavirus genome is encoded on RNA, not DNA, and RNA is often badly copied during replication in the host’s cells. These mistakes might give the mutant virus new properties, one of which is the ability to infect a different species; another one might be to make it much more dangerous or more infectious or both. For example, by changing from an enteric (gut) infection to a respiratory illness, it’s much more easily spread by droplets sneezed or coughed out. This, of course, is exactly what has happened in China, as most coronavirus infections in animals cause mild diarrhoea and not the lifethreatening lung conditions of SARS and MERS. So, how about dogs and cats and how about here in the UK? Canine coronaviruses cause mild to moderate digestive upsets that we see commonly in young puppies. The same is true for cats but feline coronavirus (FCoV) has a nasty trick up its sleeve, which I will come on to shortly. The fact is, up to 90% of domestic pets contract their respective coronaviruses at a young age and have antibodies to prove it. Some develop symptoms, others don’t. Almost all recover with supportive care, although weaker or immunocompromised individuals are at greater risk (as with all diseases). We have, at present, no evidence that the coronaviruses which affect our pets can pose any sort of risk to ourselves. However... Let’s have a closer look at FCoV and return to a client’s enquiry about FIP, a relatively rare but fatal consequence of coronavirus infection in young cats. As I have mentioned, FCoV is a mild enteric infection of cats that is common, self-limiting and largely goes undiagnosed (viral detection is tricky and expensive). In multi-cat households, the virus is often passed around multiple times, especially if there are shared litter trays and young kittens are entering the environment, as in breeding premises. Under these conditions, in a random and unpredictable fashion, one theory is that the virus
undergoes a mutation that changes it into a monster. The resulting disease is called FIP and it is fatal. So, we think we have an example of a cat coronavirus mutating to produce a fatal illness... sort of sounds familiar! Luckily this disease only affects cats. Furthermore, the mutated virus is not infectious and cannot be transmitted to other cats (nor to humans!). It is always difficult trying to explain that FCoV is highly infectious, often passed on by contact with soiled litter, but is relatively harmless while its mutated counterpart, FIP, is fatal but not contagious. FIP is a disease of young cats and presents with a variety of symptoms, many quite non-specific, for example, lethargy and weight loss. Other signs are fluid accumulation in the abdomen (hence the ‘peritonitis’ label), inflammation in the eye or brain and jaundice. Diagnosis is quite tricky as so many cats carry coronavirus antibodies which are identical whether it’s FIP or just FCoV. A new technique looking for coronavirus RNA in faeces has been developed by the University of Bristol but it cannot be used for diagnosis of FIP. However, it is useful to identify cats that are shedding the virus and so measures can be put in place to protect kittens that may come into contact with virus infected adults (i.e. the mummy queens). Now let’s reach for a wider perspective. China has produced SARS and the new coronavirus epidemic. Crowded cat colonies frequently produce FIP. I’m getting the feeling that overcrowding and consequent viral recirculation sets the scene for mutations amongst coronaviruses that leads us nowhere good. We don’t have to look very far for other examples: pigs reared intensively have developed severe enteric and respiratory coronavirus infections in the last few years. Let this be a warning. Confinement and overcrowding of animals and humans are not just welfare issues; they may be the breeding grounds for new diseases that will challenge us in the years to come. The World Health Organisation needs our support to investigate and monitor the diseases emerging from the conditions our 21st century world has generated. Not willing to finish this article on a pessimistic note, I will leave you with the thought that our ability to sequence viral genomes and hence design vaccines has been revolutionised in the last few years. Hurrah for science. Boo for insanitary and overcrowded living conditions, whether you are a cat, a pig or a human (or any other species). newtonclarkevet.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 89
Animal Care
HEAVY GOING Hannah Al-Temimi BVSc MRCVS
O
ne of the most common ailments of horses at this time of year is called ‘mud fever’ or pastern dermatitis. Many horses suffer horribly with this condition every year and some have even been known to need skin grafts to heal the damage caused. Mud fever is a condition affecting the lower legs of horses during wet or muddy conditions. The skin barrier of the horse becomes compromised and breaks down, allowing bacteria to enter the epidermis and cause a skin infection. The bacteria responsible is called Dermatophilus congolensis and it can also cause rain scald in horses and severe skin infections in livestock. Mud fever can affect horses and ponies of all ages and breeds if their skin has been allowed to stay wet or muddy for prolonged periods. Owners will usually notice crusty scabs on the horse’s lower legs, especially on areas with pink skin (white 90 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
legs). This can develop into oozing open sores, hair loss and pain. The horse may become lame and the whole leg may swell. Mud fever can spread to the upper legs and lower belly if not treated. Many horse owners have their own methods of treating this infection. What works for one horse does not always work for another! Whichever method is used, the most important thing is to treat the bacterial infection. This can be tricky because this anaerobic bacteria loves living under the crusty scabs in a moist environment which lacks oxygen. Therefore, hair must be clipped in the affected area and the scabs must be removed to expose the underlying bacteria to air. As this process is often quite painful for the horse, it is recommended to first soften the scabs prior to removal by shampooing the leg gently in Hibiscrub diluted in warm water.
David Dirga/Shutterstock
Once the crusty scabs have been removed and the leg thoroughly dried with a towel, an antibiotic cream can be applied to the area twice a day until the infection has healed. It is important to keep the horse away from wet and muddy environments until the problem has healed. In very bad cases, oral antibiotics and painkillers may be needed if the mud fever has caused cellulitis to the leg. Prevention
• When bringing your horse in from a muddy field, allow the mud to dry on your horse’s legs then brush it off gently. Hosing legs daily is common but it can soften and break down the skin barrier and actually start the vicious cycle of mud fever. • Owners can use barrier cream or oil on their horse’s legs before turning out. This works quite well but can get messy and requires washing off at regular periods.
This can defeat the object of keeping the legs as dry as possible. • Turnout boots or ‘mud chaps’ are recommended as a gold standard preventative measure. These cover the lower leg all the way down to the hoof and can be hosed themselves when removed from the leg. • Most importantly, try and prevent poaching of fields by rotating their use. Fence off muddy gateways with electric fencing and move it regularly so horses are not always standing in the same place. Controlling and preventing mud fever requires longterm management. Don’t be disheartened if you are not winning the battle! Talk to your vet - we have all kinds of suggestions to help you. kingstonvets.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 91
elizabethwatsonillustration.com 92 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
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Cycling
OUT OF THE DARKNESS
D
Mike Riley, Riley’s Cycles
uring winter cyclists have the choice to endure unpleasant and possibly dangerous conditions and carry on riding or find alternative ways to maintain fitness and get their fix of endorphins from exercise. There are many reasons why cyclists may choose not to go out on their bike in the winter: ice, damage, wear and tear on their bike, or not having the right clothing or equipment. Cycling is like a pseudoreligion and there is a rule for every aspect of cycling (try an internet search for Velominati rules for a chuckle, though be aware there is some bad language and you may be offended). Some riders adopt rule 5 (harden... up) and just keep riding; rule 9 also applies here. These cyclists will probably have a durable winter bike designed for the purpose with tough tyres, mudguards, a metal frame, reliable brakes, the necessary clothing and equipment; rule 9 applies here too. Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, in spring the cyclist sheds winter clothing and enjoys riding in colourful cycling kit, enjoying the sun on their limbs and breaking out their Sunday best lightweight bike. Tan lines must end in a sharp cut-off where the jersey and shorts cover; a watch strap white band is permissible. So, what has the cyclist been doing during the winter? A problem for the keen cyclist is that they carry no extra fat and can become very cold if they have to stop cycling on a ride in the winter. To avoid this, some may use an indoor trainer, go to spinning classes or even take a trip to warmer climes such as Majorca. Our club, Digby Etape, arranges spinning classes for members; demand is so high that we have to hold two sessions a week. One of our club members, Andy, is our instructor at Oxley’s spin studio; he is phenomenal and shares an enormous amount of valuable cycling technique and nutrition information while training our bodies to their limits. Sherborne Sports Centre, used on Tuesdays by our novice group, is now offering extra sessions due to demand, so it is a surprisingly popular activity. The key benefit is that one hour of continuous intensive spinning training is equivalent to two hours on the bike, so time-poor folks 94 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
can get the most out of their exercise session. Indoor training has become more popular since it has become more engaging. It used to be that the height of entertainment and interaction while training on a static bike was watching a video, named something encouraging like Sufferfest, as you tried to fool yourself in the conservatory/shed/bedroom that you were climbing some exotic Alpine location, with an instructor ‘encouraging’ you by shouting instructions to add even more resistance. Bikes can now be fitted to a device called a turbo trainer. Using an advanced turbo and an internet connection, cyclists can immerse themselves in a virtual reality simulation, riding with friends or other cyclists, even riders in another country or joining a training session with a celebrated rider all while comfortably ensconced in a man/woman cave. What should the cyclist do to prepare for spring? If they have been training during the winter their bodies will be ready, but what about their bikes? If they have been ridden on the roads, even more so if ridden off-
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road, they will need thoroughly cleaning and servicing, and if they’ve been ridden on an indoor trainer, they may need the rear tyre replacing. Training on a static training device still clocks up the miles and wears the transmission, hence it will need servicing. Also, the bike will need to be checked for safety as items such as wheel rims may have worn out due to road grit abrading the braking surfaces. Winter is an opportunity for checking the bike and planning replacement of worn parts. Wheels and any bearings really suffer in winter, or parts may just be wearing out with age. A road bike chain, for example, should be replaced at around 1500 miles. It is easy to overlook how far the bike has covered: if you cover 50 miles a week, that is 2500+ miles a year. Much like a gardener planning his plants and crops for the growing season, winter is also the time for cyclists to think of new adventures. Maybe a race, a long-distance ride, an offroad adventure or a leisure ride with friends and family. You might need new equipment or even a new bike, so
you can do your research on dark winter evenings. At the end of last year, Riley’s Cycles gained four enthusiastic new business partners and we have plans for interesting developments. This will give me more time to cycle and enjoy being a Grandad. Unfortunately pneumonia has affected my fitness recently so I have some catching up to do, however my plans this year include cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats and climbing Mont Ventoux, as well as enjoying cycle trail rides such as the new Exe trail with my wife and family. What cycling adventures are you going to put in your diary? Due to their popularity you should book spin classes in advance with the sports centres. Take a drinks bottle and towel, and wear light clothing. Check with your GP beforehand if you have any medical conditions. rileyscycles.co.uk oxleysc.com/spin-zone sherbornesports.co.uk/classes/ sherbornetimes.co.uk | 95
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Body and Mind
SKIN DEEP
Sarah Hitch, The Sanctuary Beauty Rooms and The Margaret Balfour Beauty Centre
Klever Level/Shutterstock
S
kin. Where would we be without it. Not only does it keep our insides in but also it protects us from infection, radiation and dehydration, keeps us warm and makes us look good. The skin is the largest organ in the body. In an adult it weighs around 5kg and has a surface area of 2m2 which is about the size of a double bed. No other organ in the body is exposed to as much damage or disease from the outside so it really can have a rough time. Your skin is a remarkable barometer of your body’s health and, as such, is very much affected by how well you are internally. Getting all your body systems working well is crucial to addressing skin problems. Many skin disorders can be traced to imbalances in the digestive tract. Problems such as insufficient good bacteria or an overgrowth of yeast in the gut can contribute to skin disorders as they can interfere with nutrient absorption. The condition of your skin relies on many factors including your age, genes, hygiene, circulation, digestion, detoxification, immune system, the environment, your psychology and, of course, what you eat. Nutrition is fundamentally involved in every stage of skin development. In the inner layer of the skin (the dermis) collagen is made when Vitamin C converts an amino acid in your skin. No Vitamin C, no collagen. Our body also doesn’t hold Vitamin C so dosing morning and evening is helpful as the body then gets two shots at converting it. Another component of good skin is Omega 3 and 6 essential fats. Each cell membrane is composed partly of essential fats and, in turn, your skin is made 98 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
up of countless cells. The fatty acid content of your cell membranes is vital as essential fats help the membranes do a better job of controlling what goes in and out of the cells. Without enough fat in the cell membranes they are unable to retain water and lose their plumpness. Healthy skin requires sufficient zinc levels for the accurate production of new generations of skin cells. Lack of zinc leads to stretch marks and poor healing and is associated with a wide variety of skin problems from acne to eczema. Also supporting the plumpness of the skin is water. Imagine a balloon filled with water, taut and firm to the touch. Allow some of the water out and the balloon will shrink; the rubber may even be a little shrivelled. Without an adequate supply of water your cells cannot rebuild your body, and waste products that stack up in the cells and your blood cannot be cleared. Deep in your skin water is a crucial component providing a basis for soft, healthy, taut-looking skin. A good diet consisting of fresh untreated foods is crucial for the health of your entire body, not just your skin. Our skin is the last stop on the supply chain as the body prioritises vital inner organs - if there aren’t enough nutrients left in our diet than the skin simply doesn’t get any. Taking nutritional supplements can be a helpful tool in making sure that our skin gets the vital vitamins it needs and keeps us in top-to-toe condition. thesanctuarysherborne.co.uk margaretbalfour.co.uk
SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS AND MANAGEMENT
W
Benjamin Brown, BSc (Hons) Nutrition, ANutr, 56 London Road
hat is the first thing that comes to mind when ‘dieting’ is mentioned? For some, dieting may conjure up images of unappealing ‘rabbit food’ that must be eaten in order to lose weight. For others, dieting may mean restricting one’s diet by swapping ‘bad’ foods for ‘good’ foods. Although creating a calorie deficit by slightly modifying one’s diet is essential for weight loss, this can often be achieved by adopting positive eating behaviours instead of embarking on the latest extreme weight loss trend plastered all over social media. Adopting these positive eating behaviours can help facilitate and sustain weight loss. Creating a positive food environment
Ensure fresh fruit and vegetables are readily available and reduce the amount of ‘fast food’ items stored at home. This not only helps to increase consumption of the beneficial micronutrients and fibre found in fruit and vegetables but also helps to decrease reliance on high-fat and high-sodium convenience foods. If you have young children, make mealtimes a positive, educational experience by getting them involved with preparing and cooking meals. Family mealtimes have been strongly associated with better dietary intake and parental influence has been shown to help increase fruit and vegetable intake in children. Meal planning
Failing to plan meals in advance is a huge barrier to adopting a healthier diet and eating patterns. Meal planning and preparing meals in advance (to store in the refrigerator or freezer for later consumption) can help increase fruit and vegetable consumption and control calorie intake compared with preparing meals on impulse.
Mindfulness and mindful eating
Mindfulness is the act of purposely paying attention to experiences occurring in the present moment and is thought to bring about weight loss by slowing down consumption, thus allowing the registration of feelings of fullness. Mindfulness also brings about increased awareness of emotional cues and reduces the misperception of emotions as hunger cues. When coupled with lifestyle coaching, mindfulnessbased interventions have shown promising results with regard to adopting healthier eating patterns, with a 17% increase in fruit and vegetable consumption and a 32% decrease in convenience food consumption. Improving your relationship with food
We can be hard on ourselves when it comes to weight loss and weight management, often punishing ourselves or feeling judged by our peers if we consume ‘bad’ foods. Several pieces of research have observed that mindfulness, when coupled with self-compassion exercises, increases tolerance and acceptance of self-critical thoughts when thinking about past dieting mistakes and failures, and was also found to not trigger an increase in food intake during a break from a diet. If you would like to improve your diet, introducing these positive eating behaviours can be a great place to start. However, if you are struggling to adopt healthier eating habits and have no idea what advice to follow, or have hit a plateau and have lost all motivation, a nutritionist can help by offering personalised advice specifically tailored to your needs. 56londonroad.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 99
Body & Mind
SUPPORTING A LOVED ONE OR FRIEND EXPERIENCING A MENTAL ILLNESS Lucy Lewis, Youth Ambassador, Dorset Mind
A
pproximately one quarter of the UK population will experience a mental health problem every year (Mind, 2017). This means that many of us will have someone in our lives whom we care about, who is struggling with their wellbeing. Whilst we want to support them as best we can, just as we would if they were struggling with their physical health, this can often prove difficult. Most of us are less accustomed to discussing mental health as easily as physical health. We find it completely natural to share our annoyance about a cold or a broken bone but can feel uncomfortable to disclose difficulties about functioning day-to-day. It is important to be able to start these conversations with confidence. Here is some guidance on how to safely 100 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
discuss mental health with someone. • Give your full attention when having sensitive conversations about mental health and avoid distractions. It can require a lot of strength to discuss mental health struggles; it is important to respond with respect and active listening. • Keep your mind open. Question your previously-held assumptions about mental illness and ensure they’re rooted in fact, not myth. Avoid imposing your opinions or attempting to explain their experience. A mark of a good listener is the ability to withhold their advice until it’s requested. Provide the space for them to share. • Reassure the person that they have your love and support. Just knowing that someone cares about them
Elena Makovei/Shutterstock
can be invaluable, especially when they’re not feeling their best. • Manage your own emotions. Angry, judgemental, sceptical or distressed responses can exacerbate their symptoms and prevent them from asking for help in the future, for fear of a similar response. • Respect boundaries and privacy. Let the person share what they want, at their own pace. Be patient and let them know you’re there for them if they want to talk more in the future. • Paraphrase what they say back to them to ensure you understand what they are trying to tell you. Let them correct you on details you’ve got wrong. This will show you are taking them seriously and are making an effort to understand them.
If you want to provide more than just a listening ear, ask the person how you can support them further; don’t assume you know what they want. Respect their autonomy and independence by asking if they know ways that you could help them to manage their illness. This could include reminding them about appointments and medication or helping the person to establish a healthy routine. Avoid interrupting the person to give unsolicited advice; leave this to someone qualified such as a doctor or mental health professional. Furthermore, if possible, continue the usual activities you do together. Your loved one is more than the mental illness they are experiencing; they are a multi-faceted, complex person with different interests, goals and relationships. Whilst mental health conversations are to be encouraged, don’t reduce someone to their struggles. Provide a sense of normality and stability by treating your loved one as you always have. Finally, educate yourself. If they have a particular condition, learn as much as you can about it from reputable sources, not the media. Discover what symptoms look like, what treatments are available or possible, and what common misconceptions about the condition should be discounted. This will help you have more effective conversations about their mental health challenges, as you should have a greater understanding of it. However, don’t compromise your own mental health for someone else’s. This will only lead to negative consequences for everyone involved. You will be better able to support your loved one when you are feeling your best and able to demonstrate healthy routines and coping behaviours. Establish boundaries, take breaks and seek support if you need it. Importantly, remember that everyone is unique and can have the same experience in different ways, so don’t expect anyone to fit neatly into a box. It is always safest to talk to the person in question to best understand their experience. At Dorset Mind, we recommend that people seek professional help via their GP. This might not be their first step to reaching out for help; often the first step is talking to a trusted person. You might be that person. Some people might need help to talk to their GP. Find out how to talk to your doctor by searching ‘Your GP and You’ on our website. Dorset Mind delivers a twice-monthly Wellbeing Support group in Sherborne, details of which are also on our website. dorsetmind.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 101
Body and Mind
EXTRA CORPOREAL SHOCKWAVE THERAPY Carolyn Humphrey, Physiotherapist and Shockwave Practitioner at Glencairn House Clinic As a fitness coach I work closely with Sherborne’s healthcare professionals in helping the community to become stronger, fitter and more mobile. In the following article, Carolyn at Glencairn House offers an interesting insight into the benefits of soundwaves for pain relief. Craig Hardaker, Communifit
E
CSWT is a highly effective, non-surgical treatment for a range of painful musculoskeletal disorders. In the procedure, shock waves are passed through the skin to the injured part using a special device. The shockwaves used are mechanical, not electric. They are audible sound waves which work by increasing blood flow to the injured area. This triggers the body’s natural healing processes. ECSWT is used to treat a wide range of soft tissue conditions and is especially effective in chronic problems (those that have been present for more than three months) which have not responded to medication, Cortisone injection, stretching or conventional therapy treatments. Conditions which can be treated include 102 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Ververidis Vasilis/Shutterstock
tennis elbow, Achilles tendon problems, greater trochanteric (hip) pain syndrome, rotator cuff (shoulder) tendon calcification, Plantar fasciitis (pain in the soft tissues under the foot) and muscle trigger points. There is growing evidence that it can help the pain and restriction associated with joint osteoarthritis, frozen shoulder and poorly healing fractures. Some clinics are even using it as a remedy for cellulite. In short, it is a treatment that can help everyone from elite athletes to those struggling with daily activities. Acoustic waves with high energy peak stimulate the tissues to respond in a variety of ways physically, physiologically and chemically, to have the following effects: 1 Formation of new blood vessels (important for healing) 2 Reversal of chronic inflammation (which can cause long-term pain and disability) 3 Stimulation of collagen production (collagen is the protein which makes up tendons, muscles, ligaments and many body tissues) 4 Dissolution of calcified scar tissue
5 Dispersion of substance P (a chemical involved in the transmission of signals involved in pain production) First, you will be assessed by the physiotherapist to ensure that the diagnosis you have is correct, that the condition you are suffering from is appropriate for ECSWT and that the treatment has a chance of being successful. A wave of energy is applied to the affected part of the body through a hand-piece used by the physiotherapist. Treatment lasts about five minutes and can be uncomfortable but is usually tolerable by the patient without problems. Soreness is likely to occur after treatment as the body’s healing processes are stimulated. A course of treatment can last for 3 to 6 sessions. Over a period of weeks after treatment the pain will gradually settle and the patient can return to normal activity or sporting levels. The full effect of the treatment can take 12-16 weeks to be complete, giving the body a chance to recover from inflammation and to form new, strong, healthy tissue and for this to be rehabilitated into the robustness required for everyday life or sporting/ occupational activities. There are very few contraindications to Shockwave Therapy, making it a very safe procedure. Your therapist will ask you questions to make sure you are eligible and that it is safe to proceed with treatment. It is non-invasive, requires no injections, hospital stay or special preparations. You are advised to reduce your normal activity and sporting levels for two days after the treatment but other than this life can go on as normal. Soreness caused by the treatment may be helped with the use of mild, overthe-counter pain relievers. Evidence is being gathered all the time about Shockwave Therapy outcomes. To date, the data shows that, globally, 80-90% of people who receive the treatment can have at least 75% reduction in pain after three to four months. After your course of treatment and the recovery phase, you can return to normal life, daily activities and sport. Often you will need advice about gradually reintroducing activities that you may have not been able to perform for a long time. glencairnhouseclinic.co.uk communifit.co.uk
Over 50s classes Sit and Strengthen
A chair-based exercise class aiming to increase your strength, flexibility, joint mobility, balance and functional independence - all while having fun. Monday 11:00 - 12:00, Jubilee Hall, Church St, Yetminster Tuesday 12:15 - 13:15, Abbey Manor Community Centre, Preston Road, Yeovil Tuesday 13.00 – 14.00, Village Hall, Church Road, Bradford Abbas Wednesday 14:15 - 15:00, West End Hall, Littlefield, Sherborne Thursday 12:30 - 13:30, Village Hall, Halves Lane, East Coker Friday 12:30 - 13:15, Youth and Community Centre, Tinneys Lane, Sherborne
Stand and Strengthen
The same objectives as Sit and Strengthen but you are standing! Targeting all the major muscle groups. You must be able to stand for the whole duration but can hold a chair if needed. A tough class working around your chair. Wednesday 15.15 - 16:00, West End Hall, Littlefield, Sherborne Friday 13:30 - 14:15, Youth and Community Centre, Tinneys Lane, Sherborne
Don’t Lose it, Move it!
An active circuit-based class, improving muscle strength, aerobic fitness and core stability. The class for those who like a challenge! Wednesday 16:15 - 17:00, West End Hall, Littlefield, Sherborne Friday 14:30 - 15:15, Youth and Community Centre, Tinneys Lane, Sherborne
Classes for All
Both classes are challenging, fun and supportive workouts. They consist of cardiovascular conditioning (running, walking, plyometrics), strength training (weights, stability balls, resistance bands, medicine balls, kettle bells) and of course stretching. The HIIT class involves intense bursts followed by rest, using the same objectives. Monday: HIIT 18.00 - 19.00 Thursday: Bootcamp 17.30 - 18.30 Both at Leweston School, DT9 6EN
£4 for 45 min and £5 for 1 hour classes. To find out what class will suit you, please contact us for your free consultation. Pay as you go
Booking not required. For more information call 07791 308 773 or email info@communifit.co.uk
Sherborne 5K Series
Our 5km events are open to all ages and abilities. Beginners are especially welcome, and there are no time limits to worry about. Join us, and see your 5km time improve over the year. We have fabulous medals for each event, and great support. Each month raises money and awareness for local charities. @communifit
communifit
communi_fit
communifit.co.uk
sherbornetimes.co.uk | 103
Body & Mind
AND… STRETCH
A
Simon Partridge BSc (Sports Science) Personal Trainer SPFit
fter our running club you will hear me say stretch, stretch, stretch, and the same is true in our gym when clients have finished their training sessions. It was great to see an article in The Times in January entitled, Feeling stiff ? You may need to see a flexpert. Some of you may have been to see a nutritionist or massage therapist but who has been to a ‘stretchologist’? The Times says gyms devoted to stretching will be a big trend in 2020 and will help to undo the damage caused by our desk-bound lifestyles and our dedication to intense fitness. Training for triathlons, bootcamps and cross-fit can bring dramatic fitness results but can also leave muscles fatigued and shortened. Modern stretching approaches range from mat-based exercises to 1:1 assisted stretching, using my favourite technique known as proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF stretching), in which you are adjusted into position by a trainer. Stretching sessions can correct muscle imbalances and postural kinks. Stretching can also transform your other workouts as you gain an increased range of movement that allows you to squat deeper, run faster or pedal more powerfully. Research suggests 20 minutes of stretching a day brings the most significant change but 5 minutes a day is better than nothing. It is never too late to start. Here are some simple rules to follow: 1 Getting older is not an excuse for becoming less flexible - sports science does not show that we get less flexible as we get older. A decline in strength has an impact on how we move which, in turn, reduces our range of movement. Stretching can help redress this. 2 Warming up before exercise is important but static stretching, lengthening muscles to increase flexibility by holding a stretch for several seconds, is not recommended before exercise. It can actually have a negative impact on power and endurance. It is much better to do 5–10 minutes of dynamic stretching. Prepare your body for the actual activity you will be doing. 3 Do static exercises after a workout. These are never popular with some clients, who see them as boring and often say, ‘I don’t have enough time.’ However, your muscles are like an accordion; they lengthen and shorten as you exercise. Static stretches afterwards will help restore them to their natural length. How much stretching?
I generally suggest to my clients to try and fit in 2 or 3 stretch-based workouts such as yoga or a dedicated stretching session a week. This can seem like a lot but those clients who manage it notice significant and long-lasting changes. While I teach yoga in classes and 1:1, it doesn’t provide sufficient specific stretching and strengthening for particular forms of exercise. Assisted stretching is more effective than most forms of yoga at releasing fascia, the dense, fibrous connective tissue around the body. I love yoga and it has changed my life but it should be complemented by stretching. It is particularly important to stretch after an endurance activity such as running, cycling or swimming, when you are effectively performing the same movement repeatedly. Your body needs to release the tension and tightness from the main muscles you’ve just worked. Will you improve your flexibility in 2020? spfit-sherborne.co.uk
104 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
DEMENTIA
CAN IT BE PREVENTED?
D
Dr Tim Robinson MB BS MSc MRCGP DRCOG MFHom GP & Complementary Practitioner
ementia, as we all know, is becoming more prevalent; when I started out in general practice 30 years ago it was a rare condition. The reason of course is that we are all living longer because of all the wonderful advances in medical science. The drawback though is that there is an epidemic of dementia! Despite extensive research there is no clear way that dementia can be prevented. However, researchers have concluded that a healthy lifestyle can reduce your risk of developing dementia by up to 30%. The key areas to address are as follows: diet, weight reduction, exercise and risk factor avoidance. A diet high in saturated fat, salt, and sugar can increase your risk of high blood pressure, obesity and type 2 diabetes – all of which increase the risk of developing dementia. Try to eat a heathy, balanced diet. Weight reduction by as little as 5-10% will help reduce your dementia risk. A lack of regular exercise also leads to heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Try to undertake 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise such a walking, cycling or dancing each day. Alcohol in excess increases risk of stroke and heart disease as well as damaging the nervous system including the brain. Smoking narrows blood vessels, raises blood pressure and causes full- and mini-strokes as well as blocking small blood vessels in the brain, one of the causes of dementia. Addressing all these factors will reduce your chance of developing dementia. There are many claims that supplementation can stave off dementia – not surprisingly these claims are strongly supported by the vitamin industry. Their effect on dementia prevention has been thoroughly researched. In a recent systematic review of trials by the Cochrane group, no significant dementiaprotective effect by supplementation was demonstrated. The only study that suggests a possible slight benefit in overall mental function is with long-term vitamin A, C and E supplementation, whereas Selenium, Zinc, Copper and Vitamin B complex were found to be of no benefit. Omega 3 fatty acids as found in oily fish such as salmon and mackerel have been thought to be beneficial, especially as 70% of the brain is made-up of fat. These ‘essential’ fatty acids have many important functions in the body but they have not been found to stave off dementia. Many people enjoy the ‘brain gym’ mental exercise such as playing bridge and scrabble or completing the crossword or Sudoku. We are employing the ‘use it or lose it’ policy but again evidence is scant as a dementia-protective strategy. And so the conclusion is as follows: to minimise the chance of dementia, try to reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure and diabetes, drink alcohol in moderation, stop smoking, take regular exercise and eat a healthy, balanced diet that contains the suggested dementia-protective vitamins A, C and E. doctorTWRobinson.com GlencairnHouse.co.uk
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Body & Mind
WHAT MAKES A GOOD FUNERAL CELEBRANT?
‘F
Vickie Macintosh
ail to prepare, prepare to fail,’ as the saying goes. We have all heard this and it is never more true than when it comes to being a celebrant. A good celebrant will spend a huge amount of time planning and preparing a bespoke ceremony in order to ensure it is as perfect as can be. You only get one chance to get it right. A funeral is one of the last acts of love a family can undertake for the deceased and it is important to be as inclusive as possible and ensure that this precious goodbye is unique and special. Good communication skills are essential, as is the ability to meticulously record details of the life of the loved one, to really find out the essence of that person. Listening is an art and sometimes it is not always what is said but how it’s said that is important. After someone has died, the family are at their most vulnerable and, when visiting a home, a good celebrant can provide an opportunity for everyone to really talk about the person who has died. This can help with participation in the ceremony ahead. Grief is never experienced in the same way by everyone so being able to remain calm and focused but also empathetic and warm is necessary in some truly emotional situations. From these meetings, working together with the family, a celebrant is looking to construct a ceremony and discuss a format and shape for the day. They will then go away and create a funeral for family and friends to agree on. Public speaking is an art too and being confident and clear is an extremely important part of the job. It is not easy to stand up and conduct a funeral; the family are relying on you to be strong when they cannot be. The phrase, ‘Poor planning means poor performance’ is very true. Working with Funeral Directors, crematorium staff and the burial sites, and forming good working relationships is the key to a ceremony running smoothly; it needs to be a team effort. There is much ‘behind-the-scenes’ work going on to ensure each ceremony runs according to plan. We are lucky to have the choice these days about who conducts our funerals. For people who have a faith there are many amazing clergy who perform this role. For people without a faith or who want a more person-centred approach, a celebrant can offer a truly unique ceremony. One size really does not fit all in life or death. To be registered as a ‘UK Society of Celebrants’ member you must have completed an intensive course and gained a diploma to satisfy the organisation that you can work on their behalf. The training is ongoing as is the supervision. Do check out credentials before engaging a Celebrant or obtain a personal recommendation — always a good idea for most things.
106 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
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
sherbornetimes.co.uk | 107
elizabethwatsonillustration.com
Thornford Lettings & Property Management
Independent Letting Agent representing town and country property throughout Somerset and Dorset
1 Horsecastles, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3FB
Detached period farmhouse in centre of the village, four reception rooms, four bedrooms, barn, two bathrooms, kitchen with Rayburn, enclosed garden.
ÂŁ1,625pcm
Huntingford Detached cottage in quiet setting. Kitchen/living, reception hall, study, sitting room, utility, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, large garden with parking.
T: 01935 816209 E: info@stockwoodlettings.co.uk
www.stockwoodlettings.co.uk
108 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
ÂŁ1,400pcm
Open Day
Thursday 19th March, 7.30am - 7.30pm Everyone is invited to come and have a look around our new showroom, with all the very latest kitchens, floor, doors and associated products. As the UK’s Number 1 Trade Supplier we can help connect you with a Professional Trades person of your choice through our local network. Drinks and Nibbles • Raffle • Tombola • Games • Free bottle of prosecco and chocolates with every kitchen survey booked in. Mon - Fri 7.30am - 5.00pm Sat 8.00am - 12.00pm Howdens Sherborne, Unit 2a, South Western Business Park, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PS 01935 552200 sherborne@howdens.com www.howdens.co.uk
Free kitchen design service From local stock
Property
Lodestone Founders Sue Macey and Cathy Morris-Adams. Image: Clare Garrard
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
S
Cath Rapley
exism fell out of fashion a few years ago and feminism became a dirty word. However, in the millennial days of #metoo, talking about making it in a man’s world is back in vogue again. Especially in property. For example, a recent exhibition at Tate St Ives by artist Emily Speed looked at how it’s mostly men who design houses but women who spend time in them. Type ‘women in property’ into Google and a raft of posts come up calling for the gender balance to be redressed (according to industry data only 15% of people working in the UK property industry are women). However, talk to 21st century women-led estate agents and you’ll hear tales of empowerment and entrepreneurial spirit alongside the challenge of being taken seriously. 110 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Take the experience of Lodestone Property, who’ve just opened a division in Dorset. ‘We know anecdotally that some male-run estate agents were flippant about our abilities when we first started out,’ explains Sue Macey, who co-founded her business with estate agent Cathy Morris-Adams. ‘We were underestimated as a threat to their business primarily on the basis of our sex.’ Yet four years later, they have three thriving branches in the South West, a team of fifteen and have won several industry awards whilst being shortlisted for more. ‘Ironically,’ adds Sue, ‘any negative comments about us being a woman-led firm just strengthens our resolve to be even more successful.’ However, Cathy and Sue, who met socially while
living in Somerset, didn’t choose estate agency primarily as a vehicle with which to fly the feminist flag. They wanted to develop their working lives and felt their combined experience, woven with a gap they saw in the market, meant this industry had their names on it. Sue – who is originally from Dorset – had been commuting to London from Somerset for her career in television but was looking to apply her commercial skills closer to home. Cathy started work as a nuclear physicist at Hinkley Point but was working in property and could see how her experience in understanding women’s house-buying needs could deliver a new type of service based on tradition. ‘Initially, estate agency was just a stop-gap for me,’ explains Cathy, ‘but I loved it. I found that, as I was dealing with people from all walks of life, communication was key and sometimes being overlooked. Women also chose the houses most of the time and so I could really understand what they wanted. Finally agents seemed to be relying on Rightmove, so I wanted to go back to good old-fashioned talking combined with modern social media.’ Does being a woman give you a natural advantage in this business? Sue describes how many men comment that they like working with a female-led business because it seems more organised and empathetic. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t any male employees – the managers of both the Shaftesbury and Wells arms of Lodestone are male – but it does mean that the company ethos naturally puts an onus on qualities traditionally seen as female such as trust and good communication. Simon Neville-Jones, the new manager for Dorset who has 30 years’ experience working for male-led agencies, says, ‘As Lodestone is predominantly led by women, it provides an extremely positive working environment for the team.’ Sue and Cathy have another advantage. As they’re in their fifties, they also recognise the benefit in employing mature women, who are often mistakenly overlooked in the workforce after leaving to have families. Sue and Cathy’s vision in 2016 disregarded any potential barriers. Says Sue, ‘Building a business based on our values, and having a loyal, hard-working team who share our ethos, is incredibly empowering.’ Older women tend to have had diverse professional careers and are seen as trustworthy, reliable and good listeners, not to mention having a wealth of knowledge about their local areas. Not only do women have valuable skills and aptitudes for working in property, there’s also a very
'Many men comment that they like working with a female-led business because it seems more organised and empathetic.' sound economic reason for a better gender balance. Niki Fuchs, managing director of Office Space in Town, writes on the workplace blog, Insight (read by 2.5million people worldwide), ‘The OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] estimated that balancing the role of men and women in the labour market could increase GDP by 10 percent by 2030. Ultimately the issue should not be about whether a candidate is male or female,’ she continues, ‘but about quality and service – being the right person for the job. The companies that embrace this at a cultural level – in the property sector and beyond – will leverage the best talent and be the companies who will win in the next decade.’ So it’s not all bad news for women in the workplace, especially when you read that a recent governmentbacked review, the Hampton-Alexander Review, found that 349 women sit on the boards of the top 100 FTSE firms, i.e. a third. However, the property industry still has a way to go with their low take-up of 15%. With companies like Lodestone entering the market however, Sue Maguire from Milestone PR, who represents The Association of Women in Property, concludes, ‘Thankfully employers are waking up to [the value of women] and things are starting to improve. The industry needs to revisit that statistic!’ It’s about time. lodestoneproperty.co.uk International Women's Day, 8th March #IWD2020 #EachforEqual internationalwomensday.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 111
Sherborne £900,000
“When we realised that moving was a necessity, Lodestone just ticked all the boxes – professional, tenacious, honest and smart in every sense. The team smiled and made the whole process a hassle-free experience. I am sure that they will continue to lead by excellence in communication and set high standards.” - Testimonial from a vendor: January 2020
Longburton £368,000
What more can we say? We are now open for business in the Sherborne area Please contact our Manager, Simon Neville-Jones, to find out more about us: Chilton Cantelo
T: 01747 442577 E: simon@lodestoneproperty.co.uk
OIEO £700,000
www.lodestoneproperty.co.uk wells@lodestoneproperty.co.uk | bruton@lodestoneproperty.co.uk
Yetminster £740,000
01749 605099 (Bruton) | 01749 605088 (Wells) 01747 442577 (Shaftesbury)
Crafting quality timber buildings and gates since 1912 Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset BA22 7LH Tel: (01963) 440414 | Email: info@sparkford.com | @sparkfordtimber | www.sparkford.com 112 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
SHERBORNE’S AWARD-WINNING, PREMIUM PROPERTY DEVELOPER Consultancy, design, build and conversion projects completed to an uncommonly high standard, with a tenacious insistence on the finest craftsmanship and excellence in build quality Bespoke Joinery • Kitchens • Bathrooms Extensions • Conversions • Renovations To discuss your project please contact
01935 805225
jandsbdesignandconstruction@gmail.com jsbdesignandconstruction.co.uk
Legal
CONSIDERING STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS? IT’S NEVER TOO LATE Tom Webb, Partner and Head of Department, Corporate Commercial Team at Mogers Drewett
S
tarting your own business can be an exciting prospect but knowing when to take the leap can be the biggest hurdle. According to recent research from Sandler Training, the average age of an entrepreneur in the UK is 47 (46 for men and 48 for women) suggesting that later life is the optimum time. If you’re considering a new business venture in your 40s or beyond, we’ve created a quick guide covering the key areas to consider once your business idea is in place. Know you’re ready
Knowing the right time for your own business venture comes down to experience. The difference between having a great business idea and knowing how to execute it is huge and harder to do well with limited experience. Starting a business venture in your 40s or beyond can provide the perfect combination of business know-how and financial security. Business drivers
Before jumping into the business, understand what is driving you and why you’re doing it. Is it to improve your work/life balance, financial security, or both? Are you looking for fixed income for a specified number of years or do you want to grow, maximise the value and then sell for a profit? This will help formulate a clear business plan and ensure relevant stakeholders are involved from the start. Decide on a structure
Building a strong foundation for your business will help ensure future success. While this may evolve over time and adapt to market needs, it’s important to begin from a strong base. Decide if the business is sole trader, partnership or a limited company and confirm the key 114 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
roles and responsibilities within your business. Outlining your skills and weaknesses will help identify what you can and cannot do and where you can delegate to others. Plan for growth
A business plan should detail the objectives of your business so you, any investors and partners understand what needs to be achieved. This will vary according to whether it needs to encourage funding or if it is for your eyes only. A good plan should consider future growth and the steps needed to achieve this year-to-year. Having a solid plan will also allow for trial and error. Finance
It’s important to have a thorough understanding of your financial situation and whether your company will be self-funded or if you need to borrow and, if so, how much. Many entrepreneurs receive funding from friends and family but there are also options for business grants and loans, angel investors, venture capital and crowdfunding. Exit
An exit strategy may not be the first thing you think of but it is key to your future in the business. This should detail any plans to sell the business or a passive income or pension allowance to make sure you are fairly compensated. Seek expert advice
When it comes to drawing up contracts, protecting your business interests, shareholder or partnership agreements and employment legislation, the right legal and financial advice is paramount. 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
THE MIRACLE OF COMPOUND INTEREST PART II
Andrew Fort B.A. (Econ.) CFPcm Chartered MCSI APFS, Certified and Chartered Financial Planner, Fort Financial Planning
L
ast month I wrote about The Miracle of Compound Interest and how it could be genuinely life changing. I now want to put the flesh on the bone, so to speak. Over the last 10 years, using the Retail Price Index (RPI), inflation has averaged 3%. To keep pace with inflation, £100,000 ten years ago needs to have increased to £134,390 simply to maintain the same purchasing power. Over the same 10-year period, cash, that is money deposited in a bank or building society, has averaged a return of no more than 0.5% each year. £100,000 would have increased to £105,110. If you switched your money from one ‘best buy’ account to another a year later you might have increased the return somewhat. On the other hand, if you had been prepared to invest your money in a globallydiversified mixture of shares, equities and bonds you could have achieved an annual return of 8%. Unlike cash, where your capital is guaranteed, such an investment will fluctuate in value and you may not get back what you invested. However, if you are prepared to weather the downturns and stick with the investment, £100,000 would have grown to £215,890. This, I think you would agree, is genuinely life-changing. It is all down to The Miracle of Compound Interest. Naturally, I do not suggest that you should allocate all your money to a fluctuating investment. Cash always has a role because it provides a safe haven for those times when stock markets fall. It is, however, a grave mistake to hold too much in cash. Over longer periods of time The Miracle of Compound Interest has an even greater effect. Over the last 32 years, inflation (RPI) has averaged 3.3%. £100,000 would need to increase to £282,620 simply to keep pace with inflation. Interestingly, over this long period of time the average return from cash has been slightly higher than RPI – £100,000 would have increased to £409,000. The same mixture of globally diversified shares, equities and bonds would have achieved an annual return of 9.5%, meaning that £100,000 would have increased to £1,824,950. For those of you prepared to take a long-term view, creating an investment strategy and sticking with it through good times and bad is, as I said, genuinely life-changing. ffp.org.uk
116 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Your Life, Your Money, Your Future Trusted, professional, fee based advice We live in a complex world. At FFP we aim to remove complexity, replacing it with simplicity and clarity so that our clients can enjoy their lives without worry
FFP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
Telephone: 01935 813322 Email: info@ffp.org.uk Website: www.ffp.org.uk
AHEAD IN THE CLOUD Our real-time cloud accounting solutions present you with a full picture of your financial position 24/7, allowing you to proactively plan and respond ahead of tax deadlines. For a fresh take on your accounts, speak to Hunts
T: 01935 815008 E: info@huntsaccountants.co.uk W: huntsaccountants.co.uk @Hunts_Sherborne The Old Pump House, Oborne Road, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3RX
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Tech
A
s experts in computer software and hardware, we know how important it is to keep your PC clean and secure – and how frustrating it can be when something goes wrong! - so we’ve put together this guide to regular PC maintenance. Of course, we can do this for you if you’re not comfortable with it, but it’s useful to know how to clean your PC occasionally. Updates
It’s easy to ignore those pop-ups reminding you to update your programmes and security but it’s far more effective, and much safer, to update as soon as possible. These updates are designed to optimise your PC so that it can keep up with changes to other software, and viruses usually target older versions of common programmes such as Java or your anti-virus software. Update your programmes and your drivers whenever prompted! However, don’t use any third-party programmes such as ‘Driver Update Pro’… they are quite worthless! Security Scan
Allow your antivirus to do a regular scan of your computer as it is important, even if you find there is no direct threat to your system. Although the antivirus should have stopped anything in the first place, it can never be perfect. A regular scan can pick up dormant viruses before they become active. Defragmenting (‘defragging’)
Defragmentation essentially rearranges the data on your hard drive so that it’s better organised. Much like rearranging your desk, this makes it easier for your PC to quickly find the right information. I’m not a great fan of defragmentation as most users never have 118 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
files big enough to be noticeably affected but if you care about this then go ahead! DO NOT defrag an SSD (Solid State Drive) as the technology is different. Defragmenting SSDs is not only unnecessary but can reduce their life expectancy. Disk Clean
Disk cleaning searches through your hard drive for useless files such as temporary internet files or items in your bin and deletes them all at once. This is a great way to clear out some space, however you should look at the list before confirming as you might accidentally delete files you want to keep. Check Disk
This is a little more advanced but very useful if you start to notice your PC ‘lagging’ or slowing down occasionally. It checks your whole hard drive for bad or damaged files, or any errors that might have occurred during previous system failures. Unwanted Programmes
If you want to remove a programme from your computer, make sure you use the Uninstall option in Apps & Features rather than just deleting the files you can see. If you don’t use the proper procedure, you will leave debris littered all over your disk! The choice as always, is yours, but if you think you need advice, you know where to come. Coming up next month: Email Set-up and Synchronisation (PC, Mobiles and Tablets) computing-mp.co.uk
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120 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
Free registration appointment for new clients when accompanied by this advertisement Kingston House Veterinary Clinic Long Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3DB Mon-Fri 9.00-10.30, 16.30-18.00 Sat 9.00-10.30 T: 01935 813288 (24 hours) E: sherborne@kingstonvets.co.uk kingstonvets.co.uk
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Unique one-off designs of jewellery A great source for gifts
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Designers of bespoke hand-painted lampshades.
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INWOOD BUILDING & JOINERY • Luxury grooming facilities • CRB checked and fully insured • Doggy first aid (accredited CPD)
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Walling, Landscaping & General Building All aspects of walling, stone & brick work, re-pointing, cladding. Hard landscaping, whole garden construction, design, paving, fencing & decking. All general building, construction & conversions. 01963 361109 info@landscapeandbuild.com www.landscapeandbuild.com
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Community
Sherborne Young Musician Winners 2018
SHERBORNE DOUZELAGE SHERBORNE YOUNG MUSICIAN 2020
I
t is again time for the young musicians in Sherborne and the surrounding area to compete for the title of Sherborne Young Musician of the Year. There will be monetary prizes and the winners of each section will have the opportunity to go to Susice in the Czech Republic to compete in the finals. This is the fourth time this highly successful event has taken place under the auspices of Sherborne Douzelage. Previous events have shown that all the musicians taking part gain a great deal of confidence and experience, and make new lasting friendships across Europe. The heats this year take place on Sunday 1st March. The winners of each section will take part in a finals concert at the Merritt Centre, Sherborne School for Girls, that same evening. Douzelage was founded in 1991 with 12 members and has grown into a unique partnership of small- to medium-sized, like-minded towns from 28 European countries. It is a non-political, non-sectarian network of ordinary citizens with the strengths of a twinning organisation but with a much wider reach of contacts 122 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
and activities. It is run by unpaid volunteers, both in Sherborne and internationally, and pursues the aims of sharing and fostering opportunities and friendship across Europe by establishing links between member towns for the mutual benefit of their residents of all ages. Douzelage has been very successful in achieving this aim through educational, cultural, sporting, tourist and economic projects and exchanges which are open to all. We rely on our own fundraising activities, with participants largely paying their own costs. We have, however, built up a Youth Travel Fund which is available to assist young people when attending events. Douzelage welcomes your involvement in its activities, be it participation in one of our many foreign visits and exchanges, fundraising activities, hosting foreign visitors including work-placement students (or even offering work placements) or your involvement in any other way. For further details please contact Mary on 01963 251255 or via the website. sherborne-douzelage.org.uk
1ST SHERBORNE SCOUT GROUP
You don’t need to be Bear Grylls to volunteer at your local Scout Group…
1
st Sherborne Scouts are seeking enthusiastic adults of all ages to join its leadership team, people who want to put their skills to use, learn new skills and play an active role in their community. Starting your adult adventure in the Scouts has never been easier. You will receive full support and training from the Scout Association and become part of an experienced, dynamic team where you can volunteer on a flexible basis. 1st Sherborne Scouts goes above and beyond to ensure its young people enjoy amazing opportunities but volunteering as a Scout leader doesn’t just give you great satisfaction from teaching amazing young people the essential skills they need to succeed in all that they do. It also offers exciting opportunities and benefits for its adult leaders too. Who says Scouting is just for the young people? Here are a few adventures our leaders have been on previously. • Our Beavers recently took part in a mini-adventure, stepping into the footsteps of the 22 Boy Scouts who camped on Brownsea Island in 1907. Along with many other Beaver Colonies, our Beavers took part in lots of different activities. • Our Explorers and leader team regularly head to Wales to experience the mountains in the beautiful landscape of Snowdonia; taking an off-piste approach, everybody gets to experience their inner mountaineer. • Annually our leaders take part in the District Activity camp where they bring their skills to teach young
people over the course of the weekend. Skills may include cooking, knots, archery, rifle shooting, paddle sports and much more. • Sherborne Scouts and Explorers regularly take part in a survival camp where young people and adults get to learn new skills surrounded by nature. This includes learning about living in the woods, lighting fires, camp cooking and making shelters. We encourage leaders to bring their own personal skills into our scout group to teach our young people a diverse set of skills in a whole variety of different categories including, amongst others, digital skills, aviation skills, navigation skills, communication skills and photography. We also feel it’s important to offer our young people and adults the opportunity to do something big in their scouting adventure. Recent adventures have included expeditions to Finland to take part in an international Jamboree and community work building schools in the heart of a small community in Kenya. We are looking forward to our next big adventure maybe you could join us? If the above gets you excited about scouting then we would love to hear from you. We are looking for new leaders to join our leader team and it’s easy to join. Email our Group Scout Leader for more information on 1stssg.gsl@gmail.com @1stSherborneScoutGroup sherbornetimes.co.uk | 123
J. Biskup
Property Maintenance Ltd
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Short Story
BIRTHRIGHT
T
James Stubbs, Sherborne Scribblers
here were two things that Gwyneth said before she died that stuck in my mind, during her last days in the hospice in Brecon. She had battled hard for the three years since we had the awful diagnosis but in October we both knew that she wasn’t going to last until Christmas. One of her comments was her way of letting me know that she knew that I knew. She said ‘At least I won’t have to send out any Christmas cards this year’ The other thing she said as she lay in the bed with her weak hand stroking Sheba our dog was ‘I’m sure this dog thinks that one day she will fall asleep and wake up as a human being, it’s as if she thinks it’s her birthright!’ I smiled and looked at her and at the dog and said ‘well, I suppose we are all slowly turning into something else ’ and Gwyneth looked at me with that exasperated look in her eyes. I have this ability to say reliably nonsensical things when the moment least requires it, which incidentally I blame on my Welshness. The trouble is, I was born Welsh and think in Welsh but Gwyneth doesn’t and so we speak in English. Translating my thoughts into English its like my second language see? We both sat silent for sometime gazing out of the window at the wintry sun, holding hands and me wanting the moment to last forever. It was not many hours after that that Gwyneth fell asleep for the last time, she was so weak from the endless discomfort and pain, which was intermittently relieved with morphine. The dog knew and howled when I started to howl and some hours later we both went home in a daze, my neighbour gave us a lift and me and the dog struck out for the hills, I didn’t know what else to do. ‘Just you and me now Sheba’ I said and the dog looked at me, and she appeared to nod. Gwyneth was right. There was something about Sheba our Huntaway Collie cross. I had never met a dog so attuned to human senses and emotions. Black and tan with thick soft fur, she could keep going all day up on the hills like
126 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
a collie on steroids and she was a class act as a sheepdog. She knew I needed to check the sheep before I did, she could guess when Gwyneth needed a cuddle, she diplomatically left the room if she and I had cross words, and she had the uncanny ability to distinguish between friends and foe. She had a sense of humour too, she liked to frighten the English hippy postman and chase the wheels on his van, but she only did that for effect, knowing full well that the Postie always had biscuits in his pocket. She didn’t tolerate little barking dogs, and she looked down on labradors, retrievers, spaniels and all other doggie life forms including poodles, just like her owners. Some days later I finally buried my dear Gwyneth in the soft damp earth of the small graveyard above the tin chapel where we used to sing hymns and worship. After her Wake which brought out most of the dear near and remote members of our community, I started to settle down to life as a bereft human being and without the dog to comfort me I don’t know what I’d do. However I do keep thinking about what Gwyneth said. Yesterday I was sorting out some of Gwyneth’s old dresses, and I had distractedly left them laid on the bed, thinking I might bundle some off to the Oxfam shop. Later on I heard a commotion in the bedroom and peering round the door discovered Sheba had tunnelled her way into a classy chiffon gown. My dear wife Gwyneth used to listen to the Archers every night, she used to say ‘I’m just going to find out what those silly English folk over the border are up to today’ but actually part of the enjoyment was listening to Sheba singing along to the theme tune. I was sorting something out in the office when suddenly I heard voices in the kitchen. I walked in perplexed to find Sheba, paws on table, head cocked sideways, gazing at the radio and wagging her tail expectantly. Sure enough it was 7pm, I was losing track of time, and the dog had just switched on the radio.
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FEBRUARY SOLUTIONS
ACROSS 1. Perplexing situation (11) 9. Christmas song (5) 10. Sticky yellowish substance (3) 11. Quantitative relation between two amounts (5) 12. Extent or limit (5) 13. Exploits to excess (8) 16. Squid dish (8) 18. Craftsman who uses stone (5) 21. Stir milk (5) 22. Large dark antelope (3) 23. Paved area (5) 24. Quality of being timeless (11)
128 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
DOWN 2. Flustered (7) 3. Dignified conduct (7) 4. Glass container (6) 5. Type of tooth (5) 6. Certain to fail (2-3) 7. Person who looks identical to another (6,5) 8. Extraordinary (11) 14. Nocturnal carnivorous mammal (7) 15. Empty (7) 17. Lessens (6) 19. Wounded by a wasp (5) 20. Country in the Himalayas (5)
Literature
LITERARY REVIEW Deborah Bathurst, Sherborne Literary Society
Thinking Again, by Jan Morris (Faber and Faber 2020) £16.99 Sherborne Times Reader Offer Price of £15.99 from Winstone’s Books
J
an Morris began writing a series of diary pieces for the Financial Times in 2017, 188 of which were published in book form under the title, In My Mind’s Eye. Having got into the routine of daily musings, she has continued and this volume, Thinking Again, contains the next 130. Jan Morris is now in her early 90s. She lives in North Wales with Elizabeth, her spouse and the mother of her children. Each day she walks 1000 paces come rain or shine and writes a short entry in her diary. That is where the predictability of this book ends. The entries are sometimes purely factual accounts of her day but, as often as not, they are thoughts triggered by an event during the day, a comment made by someone or a news item. As such, the subject matter is eclectic and often surprising. The topics are wide ranging, as you might expect from someone who has led a long and busy life. They include Quakers, Royal weddings, the nature of memory, Desperanto made Easy, pygmy goats, philanthropists, magazines in GP waiting rooms, the soccer World Cup, as well as, perhaps inevitably, reference to the Brexit events of 2018/2019, to name but a few. She often presents quirky aspects of serious topics and sometimes addresses modest moral conundrums that confront us all in our daily lives. In amongst all this she frequently reflects back on aspects of her life, touching on the death
'Independent Bookseller of the Year 2016’ 8 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PX www.winstonebooks.co.uk Tel: 01935 816 128
of her father, her time as a child chorister at Christ Church, Oxford, returning there later as an undergraduate, serving in the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers in Italy and then the Middle East as an intelligence officer, and, of course, her life as an author. A striking thing that comes across in this collection is the width of Jan Morris’s horizons and overall enjoyment of life, with a love and general enthusiasm for places and things and how she has embraced experiences. She presents an open, interested, positive approach to life which is immensely refreshing. She loves Wales, Venice and the USA. She appears less fond of the English, the comments in this book relating primarily to second home-owners, an issue that has long been a bug-bear to North Walians. Overall, however, the author has a kindlily (sic) outlook on life - ‘and yes, there is such a word!’ This is a book to be kept at hand and dipped into when there are a few spare moments rather than read straight through. The entries are short but her fluent writing, her evident love of the English language and many of her thoughts and opinions, often amusing, merit a response and should be mulled over and enjoyed like a good wine. P.S. My favourite entry is Day 107. sherborneliterarysociety.com
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel Available from 5th March. Pre-order and receive £5 off.
PAUSE FOR THOUGHT
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Diane Tregale, The Gryphon School and St. Paul’s Church
hat do shivering, a smile and a yawn have in common? Read on to see if you’re right! When we lived in Nottingham, we often visited the beautiful Peak District. One of the villages is etched in my memory for greater reason than its picture-postcard homes, welcoming tea shops and glorious countryside. It is the village of Eyam. A bale of damp material containing fleas infected with the bubonic plague was delivered to a tailor there in the autumn of 1665. His assistant, who unwrapped it, quickly became ill and died – followed by his stepsons, close neighbours and the tailor himself. The plague swept through the village killing 260 people from 76 different families out of a population estimated by historians to be between 350 and 800. The last victim died 14 months after the death of the first. The response of the villagers in the midst of this crisis was incredible. Human to human contact within the village was reduced. More significantly though, under the leadership of the vicar, the villagers took the decision to quarantine themselves. Provisions of food and the money to pay for it were left well beyond the village boundary and no one travelled in or out. The plague decimated the lives of the villagers and many families were wiped out. It’s hard to imagine the fear and sadness that became the everyday experience of the villagers. In the space of eight days, Elizabeth Hancock buried her husband and six children in graves she herself dug in the family farmland. The mortality rate in Eyam was greater than that in London but the courageous decision of the villagers probably saved thousands of lives in the surrounding area as the contagious disease was contained. So, to confirm the answer you’ll have arrived at from the question at the start of this reflection: What do shivering, a smile and a yawn have in common? They are all contagious and easier to catch from your colleagues than the cold virus that is going through your workplace. The sobering fact is that we are all contagious (and apparently even our dogs can catch yawning from us). Psychologists suggest that amongst the most common ‘behavioural contagion’ are laughing, frowning and, more soberingly, risk-taking and (workplace) unpleasantness. We are all contagious and have the potential to spread joy and kindness or unpleasantness and gossip. I know that there are times that I need to ‘quarantine’ myself before saying something, pressing ‘send’ on an email, texting or posting a contribution. We have the power to contain an outbreak of unpleasantness. We also have the power to spread joy and kindness to colleagues, friends, family and strangers. What a privilege to be the carrier of these! Sherborne Primary School is well known for the random acts of kindness the pupils perform. At the Gryphon School, students and staff are being invited to join in with the ‘40 Acts’ kindness initiative as a focus and challenge in this period of Lent. We read in the Bible how Jesus encouraged those who followed him to be the fragrance of God to those around and about them, living lives of love and grace and pointing people to life and faith in him. That fragrance is something I definitely want to be contagious with. gryphon.dorset.sch.uk stpauls-sherborne.org.uk
130 | Sherborne Times | March 2020
TATLER SCHOOLS AWARDS 2020 ‘BEST HEAD OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL’
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 MICHELIN BIB GOURMAND WINNERS 2019 & 2020 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