Sherborne Times March 2021

MARCH 2021 | FREE

A MONTHLY CELEBR ATION OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PURVEYOR

LEADING LIGHTS Celebrating International Women's Day

sherbornetimes.co.uk

WELCOME

W

hen considering International Women’s Day as this month’s lead feature, the challenge wasn't who do we interview? but how many? With so many of our town’s most progressive, creative and entrepreneurial groups and individuals being women, the very idea that they might need our recognition also seemed a little trite. This is of course the naive, rose-tinted view of a well-intentioned, lumbering, white male who fancies himself as a bit of a feminist.

Researching the piece, I was struck by the findings of the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, which states that none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children. It goes on to reveal that gender parity will not be attained for another 100 years.

So while there is clearly much work to be done, this is also a time to celebrate the work to date and foundations laid. We could easily have dedicated all 132 pages to the accolades of Sherborne’s women, but focus we must, so here we speak with 7 contemporary ambassadors for the cause – a sportswoman, educator, doctor, solicitor, artist and an awardwinning entrepreneurial duo – each leading by example and serving as an inspiration to us all.

Happy Mother’s Day mums.

Keep well.

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

CONTRIBUTORS Editorial and creative direction Glen Cheyne Design Andy Gerrard @round_studio Sub editor Sadie Wilkins Photography Katharine Davies @Katharine_KDP Feature writer Jo Denbury @jo_denbury Editorial assistant Helen Brown Social media Jenny Dickinson Illustrations Elizabeth Watson elizabethwatsonillustration.com Print Stephens & George Distribution team Barbara and David Elsmore Nancy Henderson The Jackson Family David and Susan Joby Christine Knott Sarah Morgan Mary and Roger Napper Mark and Miranda Pender Claire Pilley Ionas Tsetikas

Elisabeth Bletsoe Sherborne Museum @SherborneMuseum sherbornemuseum.co.uk

James Hull The Story Pig @thestorypig thestorypig.co.uk

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

Richard Kay MA Lawrences Auctioneers @LFA_Crewkerne lawrences.co.uk

Mike Burks The Gardens Group @TheGardensGroup thegardensgroup.co.uk

Lucy Lewis Dorset Mind @DorsetMind dorsetmind.uk

David Burnett The Dovecote Press dovecotepress.com

Kay Lewis-Bell kaylewisbell

Rob Bygrave & Andrew Wallace Sherborne Science Cafe @SherborneSciCaf sherbornesciencecafe.com Paula Carnell @paula.carnell paulacarnell.com

Sasha Matkevich & Jack Smith The Green Restaurant @greensherborne greenrestaurant.co.uk

Cindy Chant Sherborne Walks @sherbornewalks sherbornewalks.co.uk

Mark Newton-Clarke MA VetMB PhD MRCVS Newton Clarke Veterinary Partnership @swanhousevet newtonclarkevet.com

Ali Cockrean @AliCockrean alicockrean.co.uk Geoff Cooke The Gryphon School gryphon.dorset.sch.uk David Copp Rosie Cunningham Jemma Dempsey Alan Dodge Company of Landscapers co-landscapers.co.uk James Flynn Milborne Port Computers @MPortComputers computing-mp.co.uk Andrew Fort B.A. (Econ.)

CFPcm Chartered MCSI APFS Fort Financial Planning ffp.org.uk Andy Foster Raise Architects @raisearchitects raisearchitects.com

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.

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4 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Peter Littlewood Young People’s Trust for the Environment @YPTE ypte.org.uk

Dr Imogen Frame MRCVS Kingston Veterinary Group @TheKingstonVets kingstonvets.co.uk

Jan Pain Sherborne Scribblers Simon Partridge SP Fit @spfitsherborne spfit-sherborne.co.uk Alastair Poulain Sherborne Prep School @Sherborneprep sherborneprep.org Emma Read All About the Glaze @abouttheglaze allabouttheglaze.com Ian Reade Sherborne School @SherborneSchool sherborne.org Dr Tim Robinson MB BS MSc MRCGP DRCOG MFHom Glencairn House Clinic glencairnhouse.co.uk doctortwrobinson.com Sarah Roughsedge Eva Wealth Management for Women claruswealth.co.uk Steve Shield Sherborne Town Council sherborne-tc.gov.uk

Mark Greenstock Sherborne Literary Society @SherborneLitSoc sherborneliterarysociety.com

Paul Stickland Black Shed Flowers @BlackShedPaul blackshedflowers.blogspot.com

Craig Hardaker Communifit @communifit communifit.co.uk

Val Stones @valstones bakerval.com

Andy Hastie Cinematheque cinematheque.org.uk Alex Hennessy Dorset Wildlife Trust @DorsetWildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk David Hill Mogers Drewett Solicitors @mogersdrewett md-solicitors.co.uk Sarah Hitch The Sanctuary Beauty Rooms The Margaret Balfour Beauty Centre @SanctuaryDorset @margaretbalfourbeautycentre thesanctuarysherborne.co.uk margaretbalfour.co.uk

Emma Tabor & Paul Newman @paulnewmanart paulnewmanartist.com Diane Tregale St Pauls Church stpauls-sherborne.org.uk Kevin & Val Waterfall DWT Sherborne Group @DorsetWildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk Bev Welch Bev’s QiFlow bevsqiflow.com

76 8

Art & Culture

22 Community 28 Family 42 Science & Nature 56 On Foot 60 History 64 Antiques

MARCH 2021 66 Gardening

118 Legal

76 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

120 Finance

84 Food & Drink 92 Animal Care 98 Body & Mind 112 Home

124 Tech 126 Short Story 128 Crossword 129 Literature 130 Pause for Thought

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 5

SHERBORNE INDIES COMMUNIFIT Exercise for all age groups and abilities.

Personal training, group training, outdoor bootcamps, running groups, over 50s exercise classes, charity events, mobile gym.

Online workouts and personal training.

KAFE FONTANA

MELBURY GALLERY

We are open 7 days a week.

Spring is in the air. Soon we will be blossoming with new spring clothing collections – Sahara, Adini, Ralston, Thought, Two Danes, Grizas, Cut Loose and many more designers.

Offering a delivery service for hot and cold food.

Birthday cakes and buffets.

Selection of Mother’s Day gifts, mini hampers, tea time treats and Body Shop gifts.

82 Cheap Street, Sherborne, DT9 3BJ

We look forward to seeing you. x Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LN

07791 308773 @communifit info@communifit.co.uk communifit.co.uk

01935 812180 KafeFontana@hotmail.com @kafefontana KafeFontana.co.uk

@Melbury Gallery melburygallery.co.uk

OLIVER’S

THE PEAR TREE DELI

THE PLUME OF FEATHERS

Open 7 days a week for takeaway.

Delivery service available for birthday cakes and buffet lunches.

Mother’s Day treats including cream teas and treat boxes available from £3 to £30!

Delicatessen Open 9am - 2.30pm, Monday - Saturday Delivery & take away service for sandwiches, coffees and cakes plus many more deli items.

19 Cheap St, Sherborne DT9 3PU

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LS

01935 815005 @oliverssherbs @oliverscoffeehouse oliverscoffeehouse.co.uk

01935 812828 @ThePearTreeDeli @thepeartreedeli peartreedeli.co.uk

PURE HAIR

THE DORSET HOMEWARE COMPANY

Pure Hair is the perfect place to relax and be pampered.

Established salon of 17 years.

Hair and Beauty Finalist 2019 & 2020.

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LN 01935 814172 @purehairsherborne

Home accessories and gifts, supplying those perfect finishing touches. dorsethomeware@gmail.com @dorsethomewarecompany dorsethomeware.co.uk

@shoplocalinsherborne #shoplocalinsherborne

16th Century pub serving Italian small plates. Authentic homemade dishes using some of the finest Dorset and Italian ingredients.

Half Moon Street, Sherborne DT9 3LN 01935 389709 theplumesherborne.co.uk

SHERBORNE WEB DESIGN Your local ‘one-stop shop’ for everything that falls under the umbrella of web design; custom built for you.

118 Yeovil Road, Sherborne DT9 4BB 01935 813241 info@sherbornewebdesign.co.uk sherbornewebdesign.co.uk

FINANCIAL ADVICE FROM ONE WOMAN TO ANOTHER “A fresh new approach in financial planning. Our personal, sensitive approach helps women to understand their finances and then formulate options to plan for financial security and control. Whether taking responsibility for family finances due to death, divorce, illness or retirement; receiving inherited wealth; or a professional working woman in the midst of their career, our team work to help our clients achieve their hopes and aspirations.”

SARAH ROUGHSEDGE, FOUNDER, EVA WEALTH MANAGEMENT FOR WOMEN

T 01935 315611 E sarah@evawealth.co.uk // evawealth.co.uk Bay Tree House, Lower Street, West Chinnock, Somerset TA18 7PT Eva Wealth Management for Women is a trading style of Clarus Wealth Ltd, an appointed representative of Best Practice IFA Group Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Clarus Wealth Ltd is a Chartered Financial Planning firm born out of a long standing family business originally founded in 1988.

We are privately owned and fully independent, having grown through our reputation of honesty, trust and high service standards.

Art & Culture

ARTIST AT WORK

No.28: Kay Lewis-Bell, Woman Watching

Oil and charcoal on canvas, 80 x 70 cm (framed), £500

I

make images using oil paint, charcoal, collage and words. My work starts by watching the happenings of the everyday and collecting images. Oil paint and charcoal are my most-used mediums. Women are my main inspiration.

The strong black lines of charcoal shape the image.

Colour enhances and helps me to revisit a memory of a fleeting glance, a certain look or how the face and body can become the narrative. When people share their stories ‘about’ my work, I feel the images are enriched.

My work is intuitive and based on the ordinary.

However, during Lockdown my working space has become much smaller which has encouraged me to start a year-long project. I began making a small work each week and then followed a collage path, using what I have at hand. Exploring fabrics, ink, buttons and ribbon in the beginning; torn paper, chalk and charcoal bind it together. Photographs and the printed word can add 8 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

intrigue to the viewer’s perception of an image.

I am very much ready to return to my studio at Shave Farm, near Bruton. In the meantime, my handson project has suited the twists and turns of our now normal life. Creating and using colour lightened the gloom of missing; sorting and handling lessened the lack of touch.

Black lines merge – colours soften – textures anchor – integrity strengthens – images unfold.

People ask me how I know when a painting is finished and I say, ‘I don’t know.’ It is the only general answer I can give; each work has its own timeline. This painting is a good example of a delayed finish. It began as a drawing from a photograph of my daughter. I revisited it several times, until memory became reality of the now. The girl had become a woman. kaylewisbell

. o d e W Weddings at Leweston

Email: bawdenk@leweston.dorset.sch.uk  Tel: 01963 211011 www.lewestonenterprises.co.uk/weddings

Art & Culture

Abdul Shakoor/Shutterstock

10 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

ON FILM

W

Andy Hastie, Yeovil Cinematheque

hile there are still no theatres, cinemas or film societies open at present – so no films to preview and recommend – I thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce London’s Cinema Museum. Down a side street behind the Elephant and Castle in Kennington, the museum is housed in the former master’s house and chapel of the Lambeth workhouse. Parts of this attractive Victorian building are grade 2 listed, saving it from developers, as apartment blocks spring up all around the site. It was here that Charlie Chaplin lived as a child with his mother, when his family fell into poverty, which he writes about in his catchily-titled 1964 memoir My Autobiography.

The Cinema Museum is a fabulous and fascinating collection of artefacts, memorabilia, equipment and fittings from cinemas nationwide, preserving their history and grandeur – particularly from the Golden Age of the 1940s and 50s. They also host eclectic screenings weekly with local educational projects, are involved in preserving film archives, and have a collection of thousands of books, millions of photographs, and millions of feet of film. This Aladdin’s cave for cinephiles, which receives no public funding, is run entirely by volunteers, who have miraculously managed to raise enough money to see them through the Covid crisis and well into 2021, after falling through the gap of not qualifying for government emergency arts funding. The long term future of the museum however is still in the balance, as developers circle.

One cannot just turn up at the museum; tickets have to be bought in advance and tour parties arranged. The tour starts in a small theatre with a talk from a gentleman in an original commissionaire’s uniform (military style cap, red, purple or green great coat and large gold epaulettes) who gives an engaging and amusing account of the history of cinema-going, before the actual museum tour starts. What I love about the Cinema Museum is that it is very handson, many exhibits aren’t behind glass, and the guides are passionate about the subject. The tour ends in the former chapel with refreshments, and people are encouraged to recall their own reminiscences of their film-going past.

The last time I visited, I gave them a huge flag I had picked up from somewhere years ago, which just lived in a cupboard at home. It was green, with a black silhouette of ‘The Gongman’ (a man striking a large gong) in the centre – the logo of the Rank Organisation. It had flown from a flagpole on top of one of their cinemas.

Once the Covid nightmare is behind us, what would be a great idea would be to arrange a Cinematheque outing to the Cinema Museum. If enough people are interested, we could hire a charabanc – failing this, a Berrys Bus – and have a personal guided tour of the museum! We’ll all be needing something to cheer us up, and I can’t think of anything better. Do get in touch if you agree, and to see if they are flying my flag. cinematheque.org.uk cinemamuseum.org.uk swan-theatre.co.uk

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 11

Art & Culture

CONFESSIONS OF A THEATRE ADDICT Rosie Cunningham

Jessie Buckley and Josh O'Connor, Romeo and Juliet, National Theatre

T

he Woman in Black, based on Susan Hill’s book and directed by Robin Herford, is celebrating over three decades in the West End and is open for bookings at the Fortune Theatre, Covent Garden from 25th May. Described as ‘one of British theatre’s biggest and scariest hits’, I have actually seen this play twice and love it as much as The Mousetrap, which I have seen many times.

12 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Jac Yarrow and Jason Donovan are starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat coming back to the London Palladium from 1st July for 10 weeks. This is a classic feel-good musical, which has won 6 Tony nominations and 7 Olivier Award nominations and is definitely an outing for the family.

Talking of the London Palladium, Van Morrison is appearing there for three days in April and Ricky

Gervais is bringing his new live show SuperNature there from 15th September. With a 2,200 seated capacity and both shows likely to sell out quickly, it is amazing to see who can draw the crowds. Do check out the websites for other wonderful future events.

The National Theatre’s feature film of Romeo and Juliet, starring Josh O’Connor (The Crown and The Durrells) as Romeo, Jessie Buckley as Juliet, Adrian Lester as the Prince and a cast of others including Tamsin Greig as Lady Capulet, can be watched on Sky Arts on Easter Sunday, 4th April. This production was originally to be performed at the National Theatre in 2020 but instead was filmed over three weeks at the Lyttelton Theatre. Do not miss this one. Something to look forward to.

Good Grief is a new online play starring Sian Clifford and Nikesh Patel, which was rehearsed on Zoom and then filmed in a studio and is now available to stream until 15th April at the cost of £15. Billed as a ‘romantic comedy about grief ’, this might get the tears rolling.

Tickets can be booked through ATG. The Tate are taking a trip down memory lane by revisiting exhibitions from the last few years, such as the Henry Matisse: The Cut Outs from 2014 and the David Hockey 2017 exhibition at Tate Britain.

Various prints, from both, are available to buy via their online shop. Something to brighten up your home environment, possibly?

Finally, Moorwood Art caught my eye recently; a contemporary fine art gallery located in an ancient bluebell wood in Bruton. They represent young and established artists, many local to the South West. At the moment, all their exhibitions are online, but they will welcome visitors when Covid restrictions lift. I was browsing through the artists who they represent, and I was amazed by not only the diversity of artists, sculptors, potters, woodturners and photographers but also I thought how incredibly lucky we are to live in such an area of creativity. The stoneware and porcelain

by Tallulah Pomeroy, who I have not come across before, are fabulous. Do pay a visit to the site to view all the different artists and their work. thefortunetheatre.com lwtheatres.co.uk nationaltheatre.org.uk atgtickets.com shop.tate.org.uk moorwoodart.com

PATRICK CULLEN TOM HOAR PAMELA KAY 11th – 31st March

Landscapes and Still Life ONLINE EXHIBITION www.jerramgallery.com

TOM HOAR

WIN GREEN

OIL

PAMELA KAY

LILIES and CHERRIES

OIL

THE JERRAM GALLERY Half Moon Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3LN

01935 815261 07836 549483 info@jerramgallery.com

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 13

Art & Culture

Without Impediment (1923) 14 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

THE BARE NECESSITIES

F

Richard Kay MA, Director - Pictures, Lawrences Auctioneers

or every prurient art enthusiast who derives some vicarious thrill from ‘studying’ art which displays the great glories of the nude form, mercifully many more see only the skill of the artist and their versatility at capturing the aesthetic merits of the subject. For Sir William Russell Flint (1880-1969), an educated Scotsman with a remarkable talent, the taunts must have become insistent. How very testing, some might have said, that this refined and affable man who spent much of his career in a studio or a secluded but idyllic corner of France or Italy, should have had to pass his days solely in the company of stunningly beautiful nubile ladies who had disrobed obligingly for Sir William alone.

That Flint excelled at his art should not be doubted.

Having worked initially as a medical illustrator, thereby perfecting his understanding of the human form, Flint managed to focus his career upon subjects of the sort you see here. He was President of The Royal Watercolour Society for twenty years (1936-1956) and he refined his draughtsmanship and washes to such a degree that his pictures manage to look strikingly realistic and other-worldly at one and the same time.

Despite his professional accolades, for he was a member of the Royal Academy too, his artistic peers scrupled to show him the respect that he might have thought he deserved. They criticised the lack of intellectual content in his pictures, the repetitive tropes he loved to adopt and the simple ease of his subjects that seemed to demand little more from the spectator than a sigh of ready admiration. Does one detect a taint of sour grapes in this criticism? For Flint achieved what so few artists can: he was a popular and acclaimed public personality, wealthy and successful, with a strong marriage and a demeanour of stolid respectability throughout his long life. His watercolours were famously reproduced as the ubiquitous ‘artist’s proofs’ (in fact, merely pencil-signed colour reproductions of his best-known subjects, issued in print runs of about 850) and these were to become highly collectable amongst his adoring middle-class clientele who amassed them almost as philatelists would do had the prints been stamps. These prints reached > sherbornetimes.co.uk | 15

Idleness (1923)

a peak of commercial popularity in about 1988-1993 when some of them made as much as £5000 at auction (those very subjects now make just £100-200).

In a watercolour such as ‘Idleness’ from 1923 (£6000-9000), a nude lies amid sand dunes on a summer day. It may take us a moment to notice the artist’s palette at her side or the folding stool to the right: are these her own effects, abandoned briefly so that she can enjoy the noonday heat; or are they the artist’s wares, their presence hinting at a covert rendezvous? In ‘Without Impediment’ (£7000-10,000), the title may refer to the lack of ‘impediment’ that a bathing costume would otherwise entail or perhaps the title suggests a more recklessly hedonistic abandonment on those wide, wet sands? The title invites a discreet double entendre (if that is not tautologous) but consider, too, how the inevitable intimacy implied by the model’s nudity is tempered by the openness of that wide beach: the sense of privacy, perhaps even a hint of playfulness, is restrained by the awareness that this is an open public 16 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

beach where a moment’s sauciness could be interrupted by a currently unseen intruder.

An assessment of Flint’s renown will always be influenced by whether or not one looks for skill or salaciousness in a picture of a nude. There is a feature in ‘Without Impediment’ that marks it as a little unusual in Flint’s oeuvre: the nude turns to looks at us, she catches our eye, and she engages us for a second or two. In most of Flint’s subjects, his figures look either at something else entirely or gaze wistfully at nothing much at all. We may look at ‘Idleness’ without awkwardness but we feel a slight embarrassment if we allow our look to linger a little too long upon the other subject. In that subtle way, so deftly deployed by Flint, our own interaction with the picture is not wholly ‘without impediment’ either.

Lawrences will be auctioning six watercolours by Russell Flint from a private collection on 23rd April.

Visit lawrences.co.uk for details.

Art & Culture

THE ARTIST’S PERSONA interviews by Ali Cockrean

LOUISE BALAAM Still Air, River Stour (Constable's Walk)

I

t’s two full months since The Artist’s Persona officially launched on Facebook and it’s now a regular part of my working week to research, select and interview some of the UK’s leading contemporary artists for inclusion in the project. I can’t tell you what a thrill it is to get to know these incredible painters.

As a professional artist myself, I know how isolating this profession can be – shut away in your studio, wrestling a work of art to a conclusion. So, to have an opportunity to talk in detail to my artistic colleagues about how a painting evolves, and the challenges faced during its creation and development, is proving fascinating. And what really blows me away is how candid they all are about what it’s really like to be a practising artist on a daily basis.

None more so than Louise Balaam, whose biography makes impressive reading. She is a member of both the prestigious Royal West of England Academy and The New English Art Club, and her work has been regularly selected for the Royal Academy summer shows, as well as the Threadneedle Prize, the Lynn Painter-Stainer 18 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Prize and the Discerning Eye. More locally, you may well recognise her work from visits to the Jerram Gallery in Sherborne, as Louise is a regular exhibitor there too.

Louise describes her work as expressive, gestural landscapes. She tells me that drawings made in the landscape are used in the studio as a starting point for a way of painting, which is not just about capturing reality, but also exploratory and intuitive. ‘The painting develops through an almost unconscious process,’ she explains.

I understand this only too well, as my own process is rather similar, but it can be a difficult approach to fully grasp. There is a delicate balance between accurately conveying the uniqueness of place and atmosphere with a more enigmatic, abstract response. It proved to be a fascinating discussion as we talked about the mindset you need to develop in order to switch between intuitive painting and more controlled decision-making as the painting progresses.

We also chatted about about how important it is

Trees on the Edge of the Stour, Flatford

for her to evoke a strong sense of space and light in her work. Happy accidents, when the energy of Louise’s mark-making produces unexpected results, often become part of the painting. ‘Some paintings come together quickly and easily, but far more often it’s a process of reworking, over several sessions, to bring the final composition together,’ she says. ‘It’s such an important thing to understand about the painting process – to avoid preciousness.’

Louise works with a wonderful muted colour palette.

‘I love working with a limited palette,’ she tells me, ‘My core palette is really earth colours and a blue – usually ultramarine – plus lots and lots of white. I love the subtlety of that combination.’

Louise is influenced by the English landscape tradition, particularly Constable. Other important influences include Joan Eardley and Peter Lanyon, as well as American abstract expressionist artists Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell. She also finds inspiration from writers about the natural world, particularly Nan Shepherd, Robert McFarlane and

Rebecca Solnit.

For those of you who imagine that all artists are born with a God-given talent, we also busted some myths. Louise didn’t learn to paint until she was well into adulthood and completed her Degree and Masters in Fine Art as a mature student. ‘I had a desire to try painting, but I also had a little voice in my head that said this is stupid. However, I did persist and bought a basic student set of paints and it all started from there.’

She firmly believes that talent is developed through hard work and practise; a view that she is happy to share with me. ‘I think if you want to do something and you work at it, you’re going to get better – you can’t not.

You just have to have the interest and the drive to do it.’

To see more of Louise’s work, hear her full interview and subscribe to The Artist’s Persona for free, visit Facebook and search ‘The Artist’s Persona’. And, when you are allowed again, do pop in to the Jerram Gallery to see some of her original works. @theartistspersona sherbornetimes.co.uk | 19

GONE TO POT

BY ANNA STILES Reviewed by Jo Denbury

A

nna Stile’s memoir is fiercely honest, sometimes upsetting and tells the story of her experience of living in a marriage that suffered coercive control in all its forms. It’s a brave tale told by our local potter who has an empathetic smile that many of us will know. ‘It is graphic,’ she says, ‘but it had to be the truth; it had to be the reality that people don’t talk about and I wanted to show that it can happen to anyone.’

She began the writing her memoir a couple of years ago – she had never seen herself as a writer, so asked Clive Saunders to help as her ghost writer. By the time they had got to chapter 17, Anna realised that she needed to write it herself. Armed with the diaries that she kept during the 15-year marriage and her notes, she sat and wrote the rest of the book in two weeks. The rawness and honesty are what is most striking about this book. Anna writes as she speaks: directly and eloquently.

‘I wanted to write this book because I see so many people, couples even, where the tell-tale signs are visible.

Many people don’t realise they are in a controlling relationship; it’s a gradual thing, little by little, you can be drawn in and then you can’t get out of it. Everything is taken away from you and you are made to feel useless,’ explains Anna. ‘It can happen to men as well.’

20 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Illustration: Elizabeth Watson

Art & Culture

Through her honesty in writing the book, Anna is hoping that she will be able to help people who find themselves in similar situations to believe that there is a way out. ‘I want people to realise there is a life afterwards, that you can escape and build a life with nothing.’

Her book is remarkably evocative. Anna’s idyllic family life as she grew up in the Dorset countryside is worthy of Enid Blyton, but it took an unforgettable turn in her teenage years. Ultimately, she married, and it led to years of abuse at the hands of a bullying spouse.

Over those years, she suffered an intense loneliness as she carried the abuse as a secret. It is a testament to Anna’s resilience that she finds a light at the end of the tunnel and is able to rebuild her life.

It’s an engrossing and up-lifting read. Above all, Anna has written a book where she tells you things that you don’t know about her in the hope that one day, if you need to, you will be able to tell someone what they don’t know about you. But make no mistake, this is no book of doom and gloom; it is a story of a Dorset woman who finds a way to a better place.

Gone to Pot is available for £9.99 from annastilespottery.com and Winstone’s Books.

TRENDLE YARD

Bespoke, contemporary pieces, made to order using timber sourced directly from local estates

Trendle Yard, Trendle Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3NT Tel 07900 645450 www.trendleyard.com

Affordable interior fabrics thefabricbarn.co.uk

01935 851025 sherbornetimes.co.uk | 21

Community

MARKET KNOWLEDGE

EMMA READ, ALL ABOUT THE GLAZE Welcome to The Sherborne Market!

What brings you here?

Sherborne is a beautiful market town, conveniently close by to where I live. Its beautiful surroundings are a perfect setting to hold a street market.

Where have you travelled from?

Gillingham, on the border of Wiltshire and Somerset.

Tell us about what you’re selling?

We bring along our artisan doughnuts that are made, filled and glazed by hand, using locally-sourced ingredients. Our packaging is recyclable and designed and printed by Blackmore Press Shaftesbury; where possible, we have used local businesses.

Where and when did it all begin?

The idea was formed around the kitchen table over a cup of tea. After the first lockdown, I decided not to return to work in our local pub as a chef; my mother, who is 91, lives with us and as I care for her I worried 22 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

about bringing Covid home. I am never able to sit still for long and the idea of selling from markets seemed the perfect solution.

What do you enjoy most about selling at markets?

The atmosphere, meeting and chatting to people – everyone has an interesting tale to tell. Market traders are always so friendly and helpful; there is always a good laugh to be had!

If you get the chance, which fellow stallholders here at Sherborne would you like to visit?

I love flea markets and you can always find me rummaging through stalls. All the fellow stallholders are so talented and it’s lovely to purchase unique gifts and goods while supporting small businesses.

Where can people find you on market day?

You’ll find me on Half Moon Street. allabouttheglaze.com

Flying the flag for local

Hand picked & selected artisan market featuring local producers, suppliers, amazing food, arts and crafts.

2021 dates

April 18th May 16th June 20th July 18th

August 15th September 19th October 17th November 21st

Community

BETTER TIMES AHEAD FOR SHERBORNE Steve Shield, Town Clerk, Sherborne Town Council

S

pring is on its way and with it brings renewed hope for better things to come. Covid vaccinations are pushing forward well, thanks to the wonderful work of our local health provision and volunteers. The Digby Hall, once again, proving to be an excellent facility to accommodate these vaccinations.

Sherborne Town Council is busy with plans to help give the town’s businesses and independent shops a boost. The Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership has provided 12 months funding for a scheme called ShopAppy.com, which aims to provide a one-stop local online shop. This facility works by enabling local independent shops and businesses to show information, products and services they have for sale in one place online. Implementing click and collect, and a single delivery service, making it easier than ever for people to support their local economy and their favourite businesses; this will be a great way to preserve the uniqueness and character of our town.

You may have noticed that we now have a new 24 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

website and are actively engaged on social media.

This is all with the aim of communicating quicker and more effectively with the town, sharing news and information, to keep you up-to-date with what is going on. We’ll of course continue our communications via printed media and on noticeboards around the town.

We’ve recently added two important topics to our website: the Dorset Council Local Plan Consultation, where you can comment on proposals up until 15th March 2021 on future plans for Sherborne and Dorset, and the Census 2021.

Dorset Council has produced a draft Local Plan, containing proposals for guiding future development in the Dorset Council area up to 2038. The plan outlines the strategy for meeting the needs of the area such as housing, employment, and community services including schools, retail, leisure and community facilities.

It directs development to the most suitable locations near to existing facilities, and detailed policies promote high quality development that respects and enhances the

Image: Cliff Baker @ceejbeephotos

character of each area. The plan also protects Dorset’s natural environment and contributes towards the mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

For more information, and to have your say, visit sherborne-tc.gov.uk, where there are various links to information from Dorset Council or if you would prefer a paper copy, please ask at your local library.

The Town Council have held a series of working groups on this subject. An extraordinary virtual meeting of the Town Council has also been scheduled for Monday 8th March 2021, commencing at 6.45pm, which consists of a single item agenda focussing on the Local Plan and our response to Dorset Council. Members of the public are welcome to attend virtually and make any comments during the 30-minute public session at the beginning of this meeting. Please contact our Civic Administrator, Sue Woodford, at s.woodford@sherborne-tc.gov.uk to receive an invitation to this meeting.

Now, to the Census 2021. This is a ten-yearly

survey that gives the most accurate estimate of all the people and households in England and Wales. It has been carried out every decade since 1801, except for 1941. For the first time, the Census will be run predominantly online, with households receiving a letter, including a unique access code, to complete the questionnaire on a computer, phone, or tablet. Residents who are unable to complete the Census digitally will be supported by a phone helpline, a network of Census support centres or by ordering a paper Census. Census day is 21st March 2021 and by taking part you help to make sure your community gets what it needs. Visit our website for further details.

Looking a little further forward, we are currently in the initial stages of the creation of a promotional video to showcase Sherborne town; this will include its historic and modern culture, those who live here, our green spaces, and industrious, eco-minded businesses.

The Town Council hopes that, by producing this film, it will encourage tourism into the town as well as being a source of visual information for people looking to relocate to the area. There will be content on the local schools and infrastructure as well as the town’s more leisure-centric attractions. The film will be showcased on the Sherborne town website, as well as social media channels.

A budget seminar was held late last year, where the Town Council initially discussed the implications of the next budget commencing in April 2021. These discussions resulted in the council approving an increase in the budget by 2.66%, meaning Band D charge would increase by £5.86 per annum. The Town Council are keen to promote the way in which the council spends its funds, so that residents are aware of the work being done now, and in the future, within the local community.

The Town Council is also looking to progress several other projects within the community once the current lockdown begins to ease, which include the introduction of new water features and pond enhancement within Pageants Gardens, along with the potential introduction of both a community fridge and a microsite, specifically for Sherborne, linked to the Visit Dorset website. We will also see the introduction of a newly approved Environment Committee, with an inaugural meeting planned later this month. sherborne-tc.gov.uk @SherborneTownCl sherbornetimes.co.uk | 25

TAKE YOUR TIME

AVAILABLE ONLINE sherbornetimes.co.uk

26 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

DORSET FER NDOWN D ES

m ipsum

More and more people in Dorset are recycling their food waste.

Get a food caddy today:

dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/recycle

elizabethwatsonillustration.com 28 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

HANFORD

SNAPCHAT AT HANFORD traditionally modern

Independent Boarding and Day School for Girls Aged 7 to 13 visit hanfordschool.co.uk or call Karen on 01258 860219

UNEARTHED Amber Wright, aged 18 The Gryphon Sixth Form

A

mber has loved performing since she was little – dancing, acting and being on stage have been a big part of her life. But it is her transition to directing which has seen her win awards and gain international attention.

Amber had her first taste of filmmaking, aged 14, when she acted in a short film with the Youth Cinema Foundation. The project ‘Strange Magic’ was a Romeo and Juliet inspired fantasy, set in ancient Somerset woodlands. She then went on to gain further experience at school where she co-choreographed the production for ‘Dance Live’ which the school went on to win in a virtual final.

Last year, she was appointed as a director for a National Youth Film Academy project, managing a team of young people, and having to adapt the filmmaking process due to Covid restrictions. She enjoyed the challenge of tight scheduling, and having to be creatively flexible. Amber has gone on to produce other short films during lockdown and her work is receiving international acclaim at a range of film festivals.

Her work won ‘Best Comedy’ and ‘Best Producers’ and she was nominated for ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Short Film’ at the Oniros Film Awards in New York.

Amber was also a semi-finalist at the Gold Movie Awards, and had work selected for the Andromeda Film Festival. She has been shortlisted for the Cinemagic Film Festival, Femme Fatale Film Festival and the Moving Image Awards.

Amber is currently studying Drama & Theatre Studies, English Literature, and Film Studies at The Gryphon Sixth Form and has applied to university to study a course which covers all aspects of theatre. She says, ‘I hope to have a career in the film and theatre industry as a director and actor. I want to write and direct original films and plays in the future that will be equally entertaining and educating for audiences.

I think that in the post-Covid world, people will need the live, shared experience of theatre and cinema, and the industry will be more important than ever.’ gryphon.dorset.sch.uk

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

30 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Children’s Book Review Pippa, aged 11, Leweston School

Circus Maximus: Race to the Death by Annelise Gray (Head of Zeus, March 2021) £12.99 hardback Sherborne Times Reader Offer Price of £11.99 from Winstone’s Books

I

thoroughly recommend this book as it is an amazing read. It includes loads of plot twists and characters who are not what they seem, which keeps you guessing throughout. There is a race to the finish between the blues and greens, which may seem simple, but sabotage is afoot. The main character is passionate about winning and must push through all the difficulties she faces and does so with great resilience. There are also many lies that she must discover and work through. Whilst she is surrounded by some loyal characters, some are disloyal;

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but can you work out who? There are many secrets to be kept…

Ultimately, the story tells the tale of a strong girl; an ambitious girl who has a dream and a thirst for success. This book will inspire girls, and boys, to have determination to succeed - no matter what!

A great book overall, which is also full of descriptive language. Some words may be difficult for the young reader and there are some very dramatic disasters. I would suggest this book for the 12s and over. I really enjoyed reading it!

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STAY WELL. STAY WELL-READ

Family

HOME FRONT Jemma Dempsey

I

s there now light at the end of this interminable tunnel? It’s taking forever for March and the deadline for schools to reopen to roll around.

Unbelievably, we’ve been home schooling, on and off, for almost a year. I said at the beginning of all this I’d have preferred to have been carted off to the funny farm, instead I got diagnosed with cancer and taken to the hospital instead. That’s been gruelling but educating children at home as well? This time around teachers have been far more organised and had Great Expectations. Lessons via Zoom or Teams, Google Classroom, Bitesize, Twinkl… the resources have been endless; sadly, my patience has not. Neither is 32 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

my printer ink or paper supply. Add into the mix my cancer treatment – 30 sessions of radiotherapy and 6 of chemotherapy and things have, unsurprisingly, been a little hazy in this house.

The kids seem to be coping OK, but I use the word rather loosely because I’m now living in a parallel universe, somewhat dislocated from normal family life.

My cancer journey has well and truly begun – daily trips to Musgrove Park hospital in Taunton, a bedside table full of drugs, a degree of nausea unfamiliar since pregnancy. The mundanity of housework is a distant memory; I might be able to put a load of washing on before collapsing on the bed, but as for schooling

Gladskikh Tatiana/Shutterstock

the youngest one, well, I’ve surrendered that delight to the husband, who’s also trying to hold down his full-time job in the spare bedroom. As for the dog, she knows something’s up. She plods into my room, stops a few feet from the bed and just looks up at me, circles a couple of times and then lies down to keep me company. But every time I leave the house for hospital, she thinks I’m taking her for a walk and her sad eyes never fail to tug at my heart strings as I close the front door.

The Beacon Centre in Taunton is like a private member’s club, but for cancer patients. It’s discreet and tucked away from the main hospital, you need

a permit to park there, or you’ll be seen off by the officious warden, and it’s very quiet. The staff have an air of serenity about them, open doors for you happily and smile in an unforced way. It feels calm yet methodical. The chemo lounge is furnished with comfy Parker Knoll style leather chairs, the staff buzz busily while we patients sit browsing magazines, tablets or just rest, eyes closed, resigned to the hours we need to spend there being infused with the necessary cocktail of drugs on offer. Thursday is chemo day. And every day is radiotherapy day; the dual treatments each relentless in their pursuit of the enemy – my body the unfortunate host for this daily battle. The radiotherapy suite has just had a multimillion-pound makeover; it’s all very swanky and shiny and new, and I was quite excited after being told I could request music while being zapped – anything to make it more relaxing while wearing my ninja style superhero mask. Naturally, I forgot to ask and for my penance had to endure some Phil Collins track from the 1980s which still receives far too much airtime, followed by 10CC’s I’m Not in Love. I guess middle of the road is where it’s at.

As I become more tired and sick, my attention to detail with my attire is starting to wane and I’ve now alarmingly taken to wearing loungewear for my treatment! First it was the makeup to go, now I don’t even have the energy to look at clothes and just grab one of two outfits which are comfortable. I decide this is acceptable; I am a cancer patient. I’m desperate to be able to use that one to escape a speeding ticket, ‘Sorry officer we’re late for my chemotherapy session.’ Back home and more food parcels and gifts keep appearing on my front doorstep. The most amazing group of friends who cook and knit and message and bring flowers. I tap my chest as I feel my heart fill with love.

My boys see my eyes brimming with tears and have learnt to understand these are mummy’s happy tears and just give me a hug.

Not long now, just another three weeks of treatment. Glancing out the window on this gloomy February day, I spy the first signs of the spring bulbs I planted back in November starting to put in an appearance. Fingers crossed I get my ta-dah of colour, something pretty to look at while I recover from this marathon. If the sickness keeps at bay this weekend, I might have a potter in the garden. jemmadempsey@hotmail.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 33

Family

RISING ABOVE IT

Geoff Cooke, Duke of Edinburgh and Ten Tors Challenge Manager, The Gryphon School

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oing your Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award during a pandemic is definitely a challenge after three lockdowns but not impossible.

Whilst almost all clubs and extra curricular activities at most schools across the country have been curtailed, the DofE programme at The Gryphon School is flourishing. Last year saw over 80 students from Year 9 sign up to the Bronze Award (our highest number so far) with Silver and Gold registration strong too.

The school has close to 400 students doing their DofE Awards – double our normal size. These numbers make The Gryphon School one of the largest, if not the largest, organisation running DofE Awards under Dorset County Council and, arguably, one of the highest completion rates in the county.

Despite the regular weekly training sessions not 34 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

running, students have started Covid-safe activities which count towards their volunteering, skills and physical sections. Students from The Gryphon are helping at food banks, helping senior citizens shopping, cleaning up their local village, supporting ethical research on Zooniverse and helping map remote locations for charities as part of the ‘Missing Map Project’.

No one can doubt the benefit of physical activity during lockdown; many students have taken up walking around their local area, keeping them fit & active whilst learning more about where they live. Students and leaders regularly send in pictures of themselves on local hill tops for our Trig Point Challenge which are published on the DofE Gryphon Facebook page.

Students continue to learn skills at home like playing musical instruments and many have started to practice

cooking and baking new recipes under the supervision of family. Keeping students engaged during these uncertain times is important. Many teachers have stepped up to help out as assessors for every kind of activity the students undertake, with tutors mentoring students through their sections and writing the report at the end.

We are continuously looking at options to ensure students from all cohorts will be able to complete their expeditions when it is safe. We are confident that as the world reopens, we will be able to complete all Awards because of our dedicated team of qualified leaders and volunteers. Over the last few years, the school has trained 7 mountain leaders, 24 moorland leaders and in October we saw three more volunteers qualify to lead groups on Dartmoor between lockdowns. These amazing volunteers help us keep the costs affordable. Having this

large pool of experts is impressive for a state school and something of which we are immensely proud.

The DofE Award helps develop lifelong skills, outside the normal curriculum, that employers value.

Recently, one student at the school put his first aid skills, learnt during his DofE training, to good use when his brother started choking. Completing the DofE Awards gives students focus and purpose, helps develop life-long skills, and is something special to put on their CV and talk about at job interviews in the future. The DofE scheme helps students to become the responsible citizens of tomorrow; it is never too late for young people to start their DofE journey. gryphon.dorset.sch.uk dofe.org sherbornetimes.co.uk | 35

Family

A SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE Alastair Poulain, Head of History, Sherborne Prep School

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s our Prime Minister gave his address in March of last year, removing liberties; subjecting the populace to an unspecified purgatory, I sat grateful for my interest in History.

Not only for the enhanced reading opportunities this lockdown would provide (sadly unfulfilled), but also for the perspective it offered.

It had only been earlier in the term that I had discussed the Black Plague with a class of ten-year-olds.

We imagined a life in fear of other people; in fear of the air; in fear of all animals; in fear of a vengeful god, and how frightening it must have been to live a half-life, waiting for it all to end, watching those around you dying. It has been estimated that half of Europe died in this plague, during the second half of the fourteenth century. Yet we learnt that they came out of it as a society: they survived. Not only did they survive, but conditions for them changed for the better - there was a tangible uplift in medieval quality of life. Currently, we may see this pandemic purely in terms of quotidian discomfort and lost opportunity, but there will be change afoot, and it could very well be positive. We just don’t know what it is, yet.

Things will get better. Even if they don’t get better (they will get better!), we are remarkably good at adapting to and normalising any condition given to us. Mask-wearing and the eradication of handshakes are current examples. A class of twelve-year-olds discussed conditions in the factories and mines in early Victorian England. The situation then, to us seems miserable: sharing a room with several other families, having no clean water or sanitation of any kind, no air in the rooms, no safety in the workplace, limited money, danger everywhere and limited opportunities for advancement. But happiness and security were found, 36 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

"History teaches us that we are a hardy race and have got through far worse"

and they did not starve to death: something all too common for their predecessors in earlier generations, working on the land. A brief look with our top year at conditions for the Russian peasants and factory workers before the Great War showed just how much worse things could get, and yet they got through that, too.

Not one of us can understand what the future holds (seemingly least of all our politicians). This could be the first of many such pandemics, or the only one. We may

become very good at dealing with them, or they could become more severe and deadly. What we do know, and what history teaches us, is that we are a hardy race, we have got through far worse, and life for fortunate survivors will certainly change: often for the better. The green shoots of kindness, compassion and community are pushing up everywhere. History shows us that, too. sherborneprep.org sherbornetimes.co.uk | 37

Family

PRODUCTION VALUE

I

Ian Reade, Head of Drama, Sherborne School

f you’d asked me at this point last year if it’s possible to teach practical drama to groups remotely over the internet, my response would have been a resounding no. However, recent months have shown that despite the significant challenges this poses there are solutions that are imaginative, elegant and effective in equal measures. It is, to a certain extent, the answer I would give now. There are a few vital ingredients, however: you must have an amazing graduate resident assistant, a host of very keen boys, and the will to succeed and have fun.

It has been wonderful to see the boys rising to the challenge in Drama, particularly through the radio play on our own station, Radio Sherborne. The first of these was Abbey House’s Dick Barton and The Tango of Terror. In suitably swashbuckling mode, and under the adept direction of Miss Cant – Head of English, and the technical guidance of Mr Donnelly – Theatre Manager, the boys from Abbey House performed wonderfully well in this thrilling adventure.

Lyon House were not to be outdone and quickly followed up with a gripping take on H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. We ended the term with the senior play; the thoughtful production of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, providing a wonderfully lyrical way to see the year out.

Looking ahead, the boys are planning two further radio house plays alongside plays directed by members of the Drama department. Harper House are performing one of the nation’s all-time favourite adventures, The 39 Steps, and School House are donning military garb for their on-air foray into the past as Dad’s Army veterans in The Deadly Attachment.

Mrs. Clayton, drama teacher, will also be directing the junior show, which this year will be The Turn of The Screw. And finally, Miss Flanagan, graduate resident assistant of Drama, picks up the directing baton for the first time with the highly talented drama scholars and their production of an original play.

Although the technical difficulties, already highly challenging, have now been multiplied by current conditions, they are insufficient to outwit the considerable talents of Mr. Donnelly, who has sourced software to enable the boys to stream their vocal contributions from anywhere in the world. There is no doubt that Mr. Donnelly, the directors and the producers will have to expend herculean efforts to bring all of this together for our audiences, but I am certain that their efforts will be rewarded by the quality of the productions. It is often said that adversity brings out the best in us, and from the evidence presented thus far, I would certainly say that the truth of that statement has been borne out by the high standard of performance and the ingenuity employed to not only succeed, but to thrive in this complex context. sherborne.org

38 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Image: David Ridgway sherbornetimes.co.uk | 39

Our Pupils, seizing the opportunity

www.sherborneprep.org

Follow our story

A local charitable group working hard to

#EndChildFoodPoverty www.leehurstswan.org.uk Launch of New GCSE Pathways 3 core subjects plus ANY 7 optional GCSE subject, not limited by option blocks!

40 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Supporting free school meal (FSM) families from Sherborne area schools with vouchers for food supplies and providing hot meals during the school holidays. A helping hand in a difficult time makes a big difference.

To find out more information and make a donation, visit our Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/ stoptherumblesherborne Stop The Rumble is supported by The Fabulous Foundation, a local registered charity RCN: 1164111

The Joinery Works, Alweston Sherborne, Dorset DT9 5HS Tel: 01963 23219 Fax: 01963 23053 Email: info@fcuffandsons.co.uk

www.fcuffandsons.co.uk

DESIGNERS AND MAKERS OF BEAUTIFUL FINE BESPOKE JOINERY SINCE 1897

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Hello Spring!

Spend some time outside this spring. Whether it’s in your garden or your local Dorset Wildlife Trust nature reserve, wildlife is there for you.

Plan your visit at dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves

Photo © Pat Jefferies

When visiting Dorset Wildlife Trust nature reserves please be considerate of other visitors by adhering to social distancing. Please follow visitor guidance for each site to help us look after the wildlife that lives there.

42 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

D I S C O V E R | E AT | S H O P | S TAY | C E L E B R AT E

Welcome to Symondsbury Estate, set in the beautiful Dorset countryside just a stone’s throw from the Jurassic Coast. Join us for lunch. Browse our shops. Visit the gallery.

Explore our fabulous walks and bike trails. Relax and unwind in our holiday accommodation.

Celebrate your wedding day...

Shop online...

SY M O N D SBURY E S TAT E

+44 (0)1308 424116 symondsburyestate.co.uk Symondsbury Estate, Bridport, Dorset DT6 6HG

Science & Nature

AN UNDERSTANDING

T

Continuing our retrospective of past Science Café lectures, here, Andrew Wallace explores understanding in relation to science. Wallace – an artist with no scientific training – moved to Sherborne from London 20 years ago. He studied at Camberwell School of Art and was a founding member of the group that established Sherborne Science Café.

Rob Bygrave, Chair, Science Café

here is an online lecture by Leonard Susskind where he proves, or should that be conjectures, that our planet is a hologram.

Susskind is able to deliver public lectures that are profound and penetrating. I like to watch him in action even though I am unable to completely ‘understand’. ‘Why bother if you don’t understand,’ a friend recently asked, which led me to thinking what exactly I understood about understanding.

As I tried to pin down my thoughts, I got more and more hooked on the notion of what it 44 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

would mean to us all if our world turned out to be holographic; in what ways would this change our understanding? Most of us are content to live in a Newtonian world, even if it ignores quantum physics and is not necessarily the ‘truth’.

When it comes to truth, another name we may dwell upon is Galileo. He began to notice, via both thought and experiment, that it’s hard to see where a centre might be. In the play Galileo Galilei by Bertolt Brecht, we are made aware of many things, one of which is the significance of movement. The

Outer Space/Shutterstock

overlapping of different disciplines is something that I love. For example, understanding that the Earth is moving at high speeds has little effect on our feeling of being at rest. Therefore, I wonder how understanding relates to our perception…

We are all content to use things without understanding how they operate. For me, a favourite is that the structure of cake is dependent on egg white. I prefer not to explore this, and, like most people, I just enjoy eating cake. I feel no need to understand what makes it work but don’t mind others doing just that.

I wonder if understanding equates with being able to write things down in a logical order. This, to my mind, removes the dreamy aspect that comes with having thoughts floating around one’s head. There are times when we need not only to be linear but also to hold onto the possibility of tangential thoughts adding an unexpected value.

If I try to imagine the loci around which my life

has travelled, I cannot. Even so, it’s fascinating to dream of being, not for a single second, ever in the same place and the feeling of stillness that is not so.

Imagine the different ways we are moving, rotation round the sun, rotation round the galaxy, our daily spin and the expansion of the universe, all with no sensation of it. I find this breath-taking.

Sherborne Science Café lectures have enriched my thinking without my always being able to understand.

I like to look across the hall during the lecture and muse upon the depth of understanding a speaker has and, when it comes to question time, I see that many around me also share the riches of finding out how things can be unravelled. sherbornesciencecafe.com Sherborne Science Café hopes to open again soon, when COVID restrictions allow. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 45

Science & Nature

LADYBIRD SPOTTING

W

Alex Hennessy, Communications and Marketing Officer, Dorset Wildlife Trust

ith their colourful markings and round shape, ladybirds are one of our best-loved and most common insects. They can be seen between March and October, and what makes these small beetles a particularly cheery sight for gardeners is their hearty appetite for aphids (the small, sap-sucking bugs also known as greenfly or blackfly). You can encourage ladybirds to make a home in your garden with a bug box and native plants, or keep your eyes peeled for them in parks and green spaces.

There are several varieties of ladybird, often named after their colouring like the orange ladybird, or the number of spots on their wing cases - one of the most common ladybird species in Dorset (and throughout the UK) is the 7-spot ladybird. Adults sport the well-known pattern: red with the seven black spots that give them their name dotted across the wing cases on their backs. Some 7-spot ladybirds are native to the UK and adults may cluster together to hibernate over winter in hollow plant stems. In warm years, large numbers can also migrate to our shores from mainland Europe to join our native ladybirds.

Another of the most common ladybirds is the 2-spot species. They are often red with two black spots but can have several different colour combinations, including black with red spots. This species is the one most likely to be found indoors over winter, sometimes huddled in groups. If not indoors, they may hibernate in bark outdoors.

The lifecycle of a ladybird has four phases: the egg; the larval stage, during which the larva undergoes a series of moults; the pupa, in which the larva develops into an adult; and the adult phase, when the female lays eggs in batches of up to 40. Ladybirds’ brightly coloured bodies warn predators that they won’t taste good, but it doesn’t always work – some birds might try to eat them anyway.

Helpfully, the ladybird’s defences go beyond their looks, and they release a strongsmelling, yellow substance from their joints when picked up.

Ladybird facts: • Ladybirds can eat around 5,000 aphids in their one-year lifetime.

• Female ladybirds lay eggs on leaves in batches of up to 40.

• There is also a ‘10-spot ladybird’, which doesn’t always have 10 spots, but has yellow legs while other common ladybirds have black legs.

To find out more about Dorset’s amazing insects and their importance to our ecosystem, plus how to protect them, visit dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/action-insects

46 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Michal Kimmel/Shutterstock

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 47

Science & Nature

A CLEAN SLATE Peter Littlewood, Director, Young People’s Trust for the Environment

O

n 20th January 2021, the world changed.

I was shocked to find myself tearful while listening to coverage of President Joseph R Biden’s inauguration. I hadn’t realised until then how much pent-up emotion I had inside me following the train wreck that was the Trump presidency. As an environmentalist, issues like climate change really matter to me. I think they do to most of us, to be honest. But for four years, in charge of the world’s most powerful nation, was a man who claimed that climate change was a ‘hoax’, pulled the USA out of the Paris Agreement and removed environmental regulations in his own country. Restrictions designed to prevent further environmental damage and slow the pace of climate change, were systematically stripped away.

To witness such wilful and wanton disregard for the natural world for the sake of profit was appalling. The 48 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

idea that we can live for the now and that the future can sort itself out is something that the world had been slowly moving away from. That’s probably why many US states disregarded Trump’s edicts and carried on implementing their own environmental policies anyway.

Getting politicians to think about policy decisions that go beyond the four or five years they have – between gaining power and the next elections – has always been difficult, but it was beginning to happen and, fortunately, four years of Trump has not changed that.

And when, on his first day in office, Joe Biden began the process of re-joining the Paris Agreement, cancelled the highly controversial Keystone XL pipeline and put a temporary stop to all new oil and gas drilling operations across the USA, he signalled very strongly that the environment is going to be a priority during his presidency. It’s probably too early for the world to

Rupert Rivett/Shutterstock

breathe a collective sigh of relief. There’s still a way to go before America can reclaim its role as ‘Leader of the Free World’ following on from four years making America great again, but early signs – on environmental leadership at least – are very promising.

In November this year, Glasgow will host the UN’s 26th Conference of the Parties on climate change (COP26). John Kerry, the newly appointed US climate envoy for COP26, has described it as the world’s ‘last best chance’ to address climate change.

The world’s leaders need to agree a strategy to make sure that we don’t see global temperatures soaring out of control. For us to succeed, all countries need to be involved. Climate change is a global issue; we’re all in this together. We’ve known about the problem for decades but have kept procrastinating rather than taking action. As a species, we humans tend not to

prioritise problems until they’re punching us in the face, metaphorically speaking. And with climate change, the beating is beginning to hurt.

But if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the last year, it’s that we have the capacity to make possible what had previously been seen as impossible, when confronted with a big enough threat to our existence. In the last year, the world of work changed drastically or stopped altogether. Meetings on Zoom and Teams have gone from a novelty to the norm. School has moved to the kitchen table with parents juggling work, teaching and domestic chores. Everyday norms of seeing friends, going to the shops or out for a meal have all but stopped. The threat of Covid-19 took modern life and suddenly, and inescapably, turned it on its head.

Yet Covid has also seen co-operation on a worldwide scale. Scientists have created vaccines at previously unseen speed, and we are forging a route out of the crisis. Life’s not going to go back to normal for a while yet, but in some ways, that might not be such a bad thing. We have the opportunity to ‘build back better’ and while green initiatives are being adopted by governments around the world, renewable energy investments are increasing rapidly too. We can seize this opportunity, not to go back to business as usual, but to create a new normal, one which puts care for the planet at the forefront.

Increasing numbers of young people are determined to see this happen. Unlike many politicians, they are looking to the future, not just their own, but that of future generations too. They see that the system we have now isn’t working. They want things to change and they are prepared to have their voices heard. Inspired by incredibly determined young activists like Greta Thunberg, they have seen that changing the world doesn’t have to just be a dream; it can be a reality. And plenty of older people share their vision too.

So, as we all look forward to getting back to ‘normal’ again, let’s work together to create a new normal; one that puts care for the planet over profit; one that makes massive inequalities of wealth a thing of the past; one where kindness, care for others and care for the planet, rather than material wealth and possessions, are the measure of who we are. ypte.org.uk The opinions expressed here are Peter’s own and don’t represent those of YPTE. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 49

Science & Nature

Images: Liz Cutting BTO and Friends of Holnest Church

HOLNEST CHURCHYARD BIRDS

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Kevin & Val Waterfall, Dorset Wildlife Trust Sherborne Group members

s you drive along the A352 on the way to or from Dorchester, you may not give much thought to Holnest Church sitting back at the side of the road. Around it is a very simple churchyard and not the place you would think to look for birds, but, as with all undisturbed places, wildlife and birds will move in. As regular surveyors for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), we use their survey methodologies when out walking or visiting a site; we started at the church in 2018.

The churchyard has mixed hedging on three sides – the A352 is the fourth side – and a stream runs along two sides with tall poplar trees at the back. The hedges have a good mix of hawthorn, blackthorn, dog rose, wild privet, ivy and crab apples in them and most of the area is left un-mown throughout the spring and summer.

The churchyard is part of the Dorset Wildlife Trust 50 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

(DWT) Living Churchyards project and a ‘Site of Nature Conservation Interest’ (SNCI). An ecologist from DWT conducted a plant survey there, identifying 13 ‘Dorset Notables’. These are plant species specific to Dorset and if more than 5 are found, then the site could be designated an SNCI. Established more than 20 years ago, DWT’s Living Churchyards project has given advice to over 100 churchyards. If your church or cemetery is interested in being involved, then please e-mail enquiries@dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk The churchyard has its resident birds which include great tits, blue tits, wrens, chaffinches, robins, blackbirds and song thrushes, as well as frequent visitors like greater spotted woodpeckers, green woodpeckers, bullfinches, greenfinches, pied wagtails and starlings. It is peaceful to lean against the church wall and greet the regulars and visitors; they don’t seem to be bothered by

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We have a lot of birds that fly over and might stop to roost for a while, like the corvids, gulls, kestrels and sparrowhawks; the latter two species hoping to find something in the grass during summer.

Seasonal visitors are always fun with little flocks of goldfinches feeding on the seed heads of the knapweed. In the summer, we get groups of passerines, mostly swallows, swooping through the air above the churchyard and sometimes very high on warm humid evenings. In winter, we always have small groups of thrushes visiting from Scandinavia to feed on the hedgerow fruits. This winter, we have had more redwings than fieldfares, which is now common across our area of Dorset. Large flocks fly over while a few drop in to check if any food is left, leaving the wild privet and ivy berries for the blackbirds.

The early summer breeding season brings in the blackcaps, chiffchaffs and some colourful additions such as spotted flycatcher or garden warbler with their lively songs coming from hiding places in the hedges.

We keep monthly records of species and numbers of birds but, in 2019, we had lots more information as the doorkeepers, who open and close the church each day, kept a record to monitor changes and provide a running listing of what was there. It brought up a couple of surprises like Canada geese and a barn owl, so providing more information for parishioners.

You can find out what has been seen each month by visiting the Facebook page for ‘Friends of Holnest Church’ or the church website friendsofholnestchurch.wordpress.com

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Science & Nature

SONG OF THE SNOWDROPS Paula Carnell, Beekeeping Consultant, Writer and Speaker

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he phrase ‘song of the snowdrops’ came about during a dawn walk I did with Arthur Cole at The Newt in Somerset in the last week of January. Arthur is a ‘Galanthus’ specialist and was telling me how these signals of spring open their petals only when the temperature is warm enough for bees to pollinate them; so, over 8 degrees. He delights in knowing that when he sees an open snowdrop, he knows that bees can’t be far away.

52 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

My perspective had been from the bees’ point of view; they leave the hive when they know that the flowers are open and ready for pollinating, so how do these two separate species communicate? It’s not common for a hive to be positioned in the midst of a snowdrop meadow; during the colder months, bees won’t leave their hive just-in-case some flowers are open. Many years ago, during a beekeeping winter meeting, a quiz question asked just that: how do plants

communicate with bees? Without a second thought, I suggested to the small group of around 6 enthusiastic beekeepers I was teamed up with that the plants emitted electrical waves that the bees somehow ‘hear’ and so, they know to come out. There was a murmur of agreement as it sounded familiar to some, yet none of us could remember where we had read or heard about this. After completing the questions, our sheets were passed around to another group for marking and each question was read aloud, giving us all the chance to call out our answers in a slightly competitive way. When the question came up about plants communicating, the chair of our neighbouring table declared that ‘some idiot here has written radio waves, or electrical currents,’ and then laughed out loud. My fellow team all looked towards me, embarrassed, so I felt I had to speak up and admit to the ‘foolish’ answer. With no handy scientific reference to quote, the quiz master diplomatically allowed for my answer to be marked with a half point amongst a murmur of whether or not it sounded familiar. The ‘correct answer’ was that plants have coloured ultraviolet petals acting as guidelines or ‘runways’ for the bees.

I left the meeting slightly miffed as I was sure I’d heard about this communication link but felt that searching the internet and emailing the group may seem a bit unsporting. I need not have worried; by the time I had driven home, an anonymous member of the group had messaged the secretary about the studies, proving that I was indeed correct.

Professor Daniel Robert of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences had found that in addition to a plant’s attractive neon signage, they also gave out electrical signals. Plants are usually charged with a weak negative charge that produces an electric field.

Bees acquire a positive charge as they fly through the air and so, as it approaches a charged flower, a small electrical force is created, attracting the bee. Once the bee visits the plant, the electrical potential is changed and remains so for several minutes, deterring other bees from visiting the same plant. It is not yet known, or scientifically proven, how bees detect different floral electrical fields.

I initially pondered this issue when I was given an apricot tree from my husband one Christmas. We planted it in January, whilst all my bees were asleep. As the tree was planted on the opposite side of the house to where my hives are, and blossoms late in March (before the bees are generally out and about), I wondered how

they would know that we had this new tree, and to leave the comfort of their hive to pollinate it.

Whilst wondering, I came across Jacqueline Freeman’s book ‘The Song of Increase’, where she writes about her experiences and conversations with her bees.

It may well be a step too far for many to believe that her bees really do tell her details about their life cycle and habits, however, wherever the information comes from, it did make sense to me and beautifully describes the connections of nature. She writes about how the plants call out to the bees, informing them that they need pollinating or have nectar to share. The bees then return to the hive, not only ‘dancing’ their instructions to other bees on how to find these ripe sources, but also ‘buzzing’, which is an audio map of not only the location, but also the contents of the nectar.

Nectar will contain the trace elements essential for good, balanced health and wellbeing, and by storing honey in their hive to feed the winter bees, the buzz, or ‘song’ of each nectar is carried around the hive from one generation to the next, describing the benefits of each type of honey. It’s humbling to think that the honey collected and produced by bees is not for their own consumption, but for the next generation, who are born after their death, and live through the winter months long after the foraging bees have passed on.

We also know from research that bees ‘self-medicate’ inside the hive, eating from the carefully separated floral nectars at different times throughout the winter months - not just consuming from one side of the hive across to the other. Could it be that, like water, nectar and honey hold memories - yet more subtle frequencies that carry on the floral wisdom of one colony to the next?

Monica Gagiano is a plant acoustics researcher in Western Australia and is working on the various communications across the plant world using vibrations. She was inspired to study it after hearing stories of people talking and listening to plants and trees. ‘Shamans say they learn from the plant’s sounds. Maybe they are attuned to things we don’t pay attention to,’ Gagliano said. ‘It’s really fascinating.

We might have lost that connection and science is ready to rediscover it.’

And so, whilst in another lockdown, what better new pursuit than to listen to the song of snowdrops, and maybe we will begin to hear the other songs of nature too! paulacarnell.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 53

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On Foot

56 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

On Foot

MAPPERTON ESTATE LOOP Emma Tabor and Paul Newman

Distance: 4½miles Time: Approx. 2½ hours Park: Car park in Mapperton, donation box Walk Features: This corner of West Dorset feels particularly secluded with a series of gullies, hillocks and hidden valleys which host a diverse mix of woodland. The walk has a couple of short, steep sections with a longer, gentler climb back to the start.

There is also a fine view of Mapperton House towards the very end.

NB: Please proceed with caution on the section above Burcombe Wood as it can be tricky and the footpath along it is not clearly marked.

Refreshments: Coach House Café, Mapperton House

E

ach month we devise a walk for you to try with your family and friends (including four-legged members) pointing out a few interesting things along the way, be it flora, fauna, architecture, history, the unusual and sometimes the unfamiliar. For March, we walk a loop from Mapperton, descending into some of the surrounding hidden valleys near Mapperton estate. It’s a walk with many twists and turns, and an enigmatic-looking hilltop enclosure at its centre. There are some lovely views near the start of the walk across Hooke Park and a patchwork of fields towards the sea before delving into a network of holloways, ford crossings and small ravines. >

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 57

Directions

Start: SY 503 998. Look for the car park sign in Mapperton.

1 Turn left out of the car park onto the road and walk up past houses then, after 250 yards, bear off to the right up a road signed as a dead end. Keep going uphill, first right then left, and soon there are good views opening out to your right across a patchwork of fields towards Hooke Park and the sea. This is a good place to see passing raptors including buzzard, peregrine falcon and kestrel.

At the top, bear right and follow the track in front of a house, Coltleigh Hill. Walk for another 300 yards until you reach a bridleway sign to turn right, just before reaching another house.

2 The track heads downhill now, towards woods.

Ahead is a good view over a hilltop enclosure and there are some lovely solitary oaks spread across nearby fields. As the track reaches the bottom, veer left onto the Jubilee Trail, ignoring the trail through a gate to the right. The track now passes through some woodland with a pond to your right and soon fords a stream. Climb away from the ford as the stream drops away into a gully to your left. The track then bears slightly right to emerge into a field though a large metal gate. Follow the Jubilee Trail 58 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

across the field, keeping the hedge on your left.

After a few yards, the hedge turns further left but the footpath goes across the field, diverging slightly right from the hedge (if visible, aim for the tower on North Poorton church). The field soon ends abruptly at the top of a small valley, so turn sharp left and descend through a small cutting and then right, down towards a stream.

3 The path fords the bed of the stream, with a house on your left. Go through another metal gate, pass the front of the house, bearing left and onto a track which leads uphill to North Poorton. Keep on the track until you reach the intersection of four paths marked by a sign to the left. At this sign, turn right through a large metal gate into a field (turning left and heading up the Holloway takes to you on a larger figure-of-eight circuit around Hooke Park). Walk slight right across the middle of the field towards the hedge, keeping the farm buildings over to your left. As you near the hedge you will see a gate in the top right-hand corner of the field. Go through the gate, ignoring the footpath sign to the right, into another field. Head straight across this field and, as you cross it, you will see a gate in the far hedge.

Go through this gate (which has a particularly

fine closing device) into a field now above the other side of the valley you passed earlier. Walk ahead but start to go downhill; keep a small hillock crowned with a burial mound to your left and a spring and water trough to your right.

Pass the spring and trough, now with the hillock above you, keeping ahead and towards the corner of the field with a metal gate.

4 Go through the gate to emerge onto a sunken footpath, along a wooded valley with a fence and fields above and to the left. You will soon meet a tricky section where a small landslide has cut through the path. Carefully climb down and back up to rejoin the path along the fence. Keep the fence on your left; this is a lovely section, with the stream meandering along below you through the woods to the right. After ⅓ mile look for a metal gate to your left at a slight angle to the path. (At the time of writing this gate was covered and partly blocked by a fallen tree). Make your way over the gate into the field, now keeping the fence on your right and follow the footpath around the outer edge of the wood. The path goes gently right and into a slightly sunken track and then left on a bend; keep the fields to your left and the wood on your right.

You will soon meet a wooden five-bar gate; go

through this and descend into a small holloway.

5 At the bottom, as the holloway emerges into a field, turn sharp right and back on yourself, through a metal gate with clear footpath signs.

Walk down this woodland track towards the stream, crossing at another ford and through a gateway, keeping on the track with the stream now on your left. It can be quite muddy along here.

Look out for a ruined building on your right and a beautiful little waterfall on your left. Go through another gateway, keeping on the Jubilee Trail, leaving the woodland behind to your left and stay on the track as it winds up out of the valley.

6 Eventually, as you near the top of the valley, the track reaches a metal gate with a cottage on your left. Keep straight ahead on the track and, where this meets the drive coming from Mapperton House, cross the drive and go through a gate into a field. Go straight across this field, heading to the left of buildings and looking for a gate and bridleway sign in the far hedge. There is a lovely prospect of the front of Mapperton House and surrounding buildings from here. At the gate, turn right onto the road and back to the car park. paulnewmanartist.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 59

History

THE GAS WORKS Cindy Chant, Sherborne Blue Badge Guide

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ow for something completely different from my stagecoach stories: the story of gas works in Sherborne. And yes, the gas works were an important part of Sherborne’s history, and their remains can still be seen today nestled beneath the Terraces’ playing fields, just south of the railway station.

But, I hear it is possible that new houses may be built there, so this remnant of our industrial past could soon be forgotten…

The gas works were built in 1836 and by 1853 the gas company was using 800 tonnes of coal a year – all of which was hauled by road from a pit in Radstock, Somerset. Now, before I take this story any further, I 60 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

must tell you of my own personal connection to all of this. My ancestors were from coal mining stock; my great great grandfather, great grandfather, grandfather and indeed my own father, all worked at this pit in Radstock!

That very much makes me feel part of this story, although I have no personal memories, as it was only when I began my research that I discovered this fascinating link.

The coal was brought by horse and cart and was being sold in Sherborne at 18s 2d a tonne (that’s 91p in today’s money). The gas used in Sherborne was known as ‘coal gas’, which was made by heating, but not burning, coal; the residue was turned into coke and many buildings were heated by coke (during the

last war, local kids would bring their soap box carts to collect supplies of coke to keep the fires burning at home). The gas works needed a constant supply of coal, which continued to be brought by road until the introduction of the railway, when it became easier to bring coal from further afield. In 1876, a siding was built so that coal trucks could be brought into the yard using a turntable – the trucks were shunted onto it and then moved manually into the gasworks.

If you go south over the level crossing, you will find on your right the entrance into the gas works yard, currently used for a variety of purposes such as garage repairs. But before you enter the yard, stop and look at the gable end of the building to your left. Above the window you will see a monogram and if you disentangle this, you will find ‘S G C C’ which stands for Sherborne Gas and Coke Company. A fine manager’s house, boardroom and office were built in 1863 – the date can be seen carved on the lintel of the highest window.

There were furnaces and a retort in the yard and two large gasometers – all this was going flat out, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The works itself comprised a series of cooking ovens where the coal was heated to drive off the gas, which was then stored in the gasometers. These were dug into the ground and as the gas was lighter than air, the gasometers would rise and fall depending on demand and the amount stored. Distributed through iron pipes, the gas was used for heating and cooking as well as to provide lighting throughout the town. This included the streetlights; gas lighters were employed to go around the town to light the streetlights at dusk and then to extinguish them again in the morning.

It could be rather smelly and dirty in the area of the gas works, especially on a damp, heavy sort of day.

Many of the older folk still living in Sherborne tell me that during hard winters in the town, children suffering from breathing difficulties would be taken by their mothers into the heat of the boiler-room to breathe in the fumes; this would act as a form of decongestant and aid their breathing. The mother would take the children outside and turn them upside down, so that they could cough their phlegm into the River Yeo! The gas works closed in 1957, when the gas supply started to come by way of a grid system; then in the 1970’s, Sherborne was converted to ‘natural gas’. For the time being, some of the buildings remain, although now used for a variety of other things.

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History

LOST DORSET

NO. 9 STOURTON CAUNDLE

O

David Burnett, The Dovecote Press

ne rural business that has kept open, against the odds, over the last year has been the village shop and post office. Once the life blood of small communities, now all too often private houses called ‘The Old Shop’ or ‘Old Post Office’, some still retain the bow windows of the old shop front and a letterbox let in a wall. But if ours is anything to go by, those to survive have come into their own during the pandemic, providing a friendly greeting, a chance for a chat, and well-stocked shelves. Long gone is Thomas Hardy’s description of their stock as little more than ‘a couple of loaves, a pound of candles, three or four scrubbing brushes and a frying pan.’ Sadly, their numbers are much reduced since this photograph of the shop at the top of Golden Hill in about 1900, which served Stourton Caundle until 1991. It had three rooms: a grocery on the right; a store for dry goods at the back; and a postal counter just inside the entrance. dovecotepress.com Lost Dorset: The Villages and Countryside 1880-1920, by David Burnett, is a large format paperback, price £12, and is available locally from Winstone’s Books or directly from the publishers.

62 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

OBJECT OF THE MONTH

THE DITTY BOX Elisabeth Bletsoe, Curator, Sherborne Museum

A

ditty box contained items to make running repairs to a sailor’s belongings while at sea; this one, a Kaisar-iHind metal cigarette case, reveals an intimate portrait of this rather private aspect of nautical life – beeswax grooved with the action of pulling the twine, fierce-looking darning needles, thimbles and naval buttons.

It belonged to Frederick John Russell (1862-1958) who was born in Westbury, Sherborne, to Charles Russell, a silk-dyer, and his wife, Jane. In 1878, at the age of 15, he ran away to sea and sailed as a boy before the mast. He was serving aboard HMS Alexandra in 1882 when the British Fleet bombarded Alexandria in response to a nationalist uprising. He was, for some time, at the Royal Naval Reserve battery in Lerwick, before joining HMS Turquoise and taking part in the Burma campaign of 1885, joining in the fighting on the Irrawaddy River and the subsequent march to Mandalay.

Returning to the Tanzanian East Coast as Captain of the mizzen top, Russell then took a leading role in a ‘plucky exploit’ on 29th May 1887. The Turquoise was anchored inside the Fundu Gap, when a dhow approached, seemingly a legitimate trader. Russell and two other men were sent out in a dinghy to make enquiries but, on receiving no answer, realised that it might be a slave ship. The dhow sailed straight for them, refusing to lower its sail and bearing down on them in its apparent haste to reach the Pemba coast in order to ‘discharge their miserable freight.’ Russell gave orders to open fire and ‘all three in the Lilliputian vessel let fly.’

In the ensuing fight with twenty armed Arab slavers, Russell was seriously wounded but battled on before

falling exhausted in the bottom of his boat. The dhow tried to escape while still under fire from the other two men but started to founder in two fathoms of water. Many of the Arab crew drowned, but there were others on the shore waiting to seize their prey; the slaves meanwhile were struggling to keep their heads above water on the sinking ship. Russell recovered in time to fire the 9-pounder gun which scattered the enemy, resulting in fifty-three slaves being saved. For this service, he was promoted to Gunner.

Russell was known for being very clear-headed, reliable and trustworthy, highly zealous and tactful. He rose through the ranks to Lieutenant-Commander by 1919 and retired in 1921, after forty-three years in the Navy. He lived at Ashcombe, Kings Road, Sherborne, from where he was actively engaged with the Sherborne Branch of the Royal British Legion and organised its Poppy Days. He was a member of the Yeatman Hospital’s League of Friends as well as serving as Vice-Chair and Chairman of Sherborne Urban District Council. He was also a proponent of The League of Nations Union, arguing passionately for the abolition of war in favour of peaceful arbitration, and challenging governments to have the League’s ideals included in the school curriculum. He is buried in Sherborne Cemetery.

The little box came to us through Russell’s granddaughter Muriel, who for many years was a muchvalued Secretary here at the Museum. sherbornemuseum.co.uk Sherborne Museum is currently closed and will re-open when it is safe for volunteers and visitors. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 63

Antiques

END OF THE LINE

Richard Bromell ASFAV, Charterhouse Auctioneers

A

fair amount of my home visits are to carry out valuations for inheritance tax, more commonly referred to as probate valuations. Even after three and a half decades of being a valuer, I still find some parts of this strange and a little unnerving. To carry out the probate valuation, I need to carry out due diligence in the property. This involves not only looking through the under-stair cupboards, the kitchen and bathroom cabinets but also through the wardrobes and chests of drawers.

Most of the time, there are old vacuum cleaners in 64 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

the cupboard under the stairs, open packets of biscuits in the kitchen cupboards, used tubes of toothpaste in the bathroom, nicely laundered garments in the wardrobe and socks tied up as pairs in the chests of drawers. Then again, sometimes there can be silver tea sets in the kitchen cupboards or items of jewellery hidden away in chests of drawers.

More often than not, executors, family or friends will clear away the clothing, food and used toothpaste tubes before we are asked to clear the property. Occasionally, there are no family or friends to do this, which is what

happened recently with a deceased estate we were asked to help with.

The family had been in the same property for many decades. The property passed from an uncle, to his niece and then to her husband over the years, and at this point the family ran out of family members to hand the property, goods and chattels on to, so we were asked to help the executors clear it from top to bottom and inside out.

Clearing such a property was quite a task, especially as the family never seemed to throw anything away.

With the cottage being in a small village, the family kept plenty of ‘supplies’ in case of a power cut, being snowed in, or simply to save themselves a journey to the nearest market town. Every cupboard and drawer were full of several lifetimes of detritus. Some were full of silver cutlery or old diaries, and some were full of pieces of string not long enough to be used when cut but might come in handy one day. However, as is often the case, there were several golden nuggets which we unearthed.

The first, and perhaps the most obvious, was a 1960 MG A Roadster. I say obvious as a car is quite a difficult item to miss, but when I opened the garage

door this was not the first thing I saw. What I saw first was piles of rubbish everywhere in the double garage, with most of it thrown on top of the car!

Just like the contents of the house, the sporty MG passed from the uncle to the niece and then to her husband. It is now looking for a new family and garage to live in, which it will find when it goes under the gavel in our auction of classic and vintage cars on Sunday 11th April. Estimated at £8,000-12,000, it is being sold without reserve.

However, it was an RAF pottery mess plate which caught me unawares. Dating to the 1920’s or 1930’s, they are generally worth less than £30. Still interesting, it was not until we turned the plate over that we saw an old paper label sellotaped down. This said the plate was owned and used by T E Lawrence whilst serving in the RAF (under the pseudonym of T E Shaw).

This connection propelled the plate into a different league, and we have just sold this to a T E Lawrence collector in London for £1,430 in our February auction.

A great result for the executors. charterhouse-auction.com

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Forthcoming Auction Programme

Coins, Medals & the Contents of a Private Museum near Dorchester Thursday 11th March Antiques, Interiors & Garden Statuary Friday 12th March 1998 Ferrari 456 GTA £38,000-42,000

Classic & Vintage Cars Sunday 11th April Classic & Vintage Motorcycles Sunday 16th May

Contact Richard Bromell for advice on single items and complete collections Valuations for Probate and Insurance

The Long Street Salerooms, Sherborne DT9 3BS 01935 812277 www.charterhouse-auction.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 65

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 67

Gardening

COMPOSTING AT HOME Mike Burks, Managing Director, The Gardens Group

I

n our greenhouse, we have a large avocado plant that my son has been growing for 7 or 8 years (about the same length of time that he’s been away from home). I read that they take that long before fruiting and so was delighted to spot, when I was watering it the other day, that it was budding up to flower!

It turns out though, that the male and female flowers open with a day between them, which must be designed to encourage cross pollination, and so it may be tricky for us to get fruit from just the one tree.

However, with a paint brush and the help of some 68 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

pollinating insects, who knows?

Quite what the fruit would be like is also an unknown as the plant was grown from a stone and my understanding is that in commercial cropping, plants are grafted, so are from known varieties. This particular stone was from fruit picked up from our farm shop at Brimsmore Gardens. Once eaten, it was sent for composting and the stone germinated in our wormery!

I have tried germinating them over a glass of water and that has never been successful, but the wormery seems to be the ideal place for avocado propagation.

I’m not yet planning a meal based on the home

lomiso/Shutterstock

"It’s a sound method of dealing with garden waste and a free of charge material that will improve your garden."

grown avocado but will let you know what happens…

In our garden, we are trialling a number of composting systems. We have an ordinary compost heap which works well for normal grass cuttings, leaves, pruning and other debris from the garden. We use a wooden type with slats, and it looks good in the garden too. We have three: one being filled with this season’s debris; one composting with last season’s waste; the third being emptied and used in the garden.

We also have a hot bin, which my daughter had to send home when she moved house last year. This is ideal for dealing with waste from the house. It is well insulated and has a temperature gauge on the top. As the material composts down, so the temperature rises and, often, we find it at over 50ºC. This breaks down material at an astonishing rate.

Our third method – but in two different style of bins – are wormeries. The first of these is in a dustbin arrangement, with a false floor near the bottom, which allows the liquid to drain from the compost into a sump; this liquid can be used as a simple fertiliser in the garden. Above this is where the waste to be composted is laid. The sort of material that wormeries easily deal with is kitchen waste such as vegetable peelings into which worms (usually tiger worms) work hard munching away at the plant material. As they munch away, they move upwards into the new material that is put in the bin. Once the bin is full, the top layer is put to one side whilst the compost below is used and then it’s placed back at the bottom to start all over again.

Once you have the worms, it’s a bit like having your own starter kit for a sourdough loaf – although, that comparison has now probably put you off your loaf !

The second style of bin is a series of deep trays which are stacked on each other and filled one at a time.

The worms work away from the bottom tray moving upwards as each tray is added. Once all of the trays are full, the lower trays can be emptied, and the top bin is moved to the bottom to start the process again.

The compost that comes out of wormeries looks fabulous but should be used as a soil improver rather than a potting compost. It’s also a sound method of dealing with garden waste rather than sending it off for landfill or for the council to compost and is a free of charge material that will improve your garden.

And, from time to time, you get surprises such as avocados! thegardensgroup.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 69

Gardening

ROOMS OUTSIDE Alan Dodge, Company of Landscapers

D

esigning and building gardens has been one of my life’s passions. Brought up on a dairy farm in Melbury Osmond, there was no pedigree for the subject; milking cows, mending tractors and tilling the land were the order of the day. The only connection I can draw is that I unwittingly grew up in a beautiful place, subconsciously taking in nature’s ways in terms of scale, shape, form, textures, colours and even the differences in local building stone. Finding myself in London after studying at University, I took a part-time job clearing the carnage of the great storm of November ’87. Gardens, as well as the countryside, had been ravaged but once the destruction was cleared, I found myself being asked my opinion on new layouts and ideas by their owners. I found this came quite naturally to me. Wimbledon library had four or five books on the subject at the time - they 70 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

probably have a whole section now - which I studied and soon was able to put forward designs and sketches.

Thirty-four years on you’d think I would have built up a vast catalogue of solutions for any conceivable situation that presented itself as far as a new garden was concerned. A new plan or layout would fly onto the drawing board with ease, in a matter of hours with little or no effort… if only! The truth is that every garden is different, presenting different challenges: soils, levels, aspects and many other variables. I have, however, developed over the years some straightforward design principles which I think have stood me in good stead and can be seen replicated in many popular gardens all over the country.

Having decided on what style your garden will follow, usually dictated by the style of property but also

such as from paving to the lawn for instance, can be effective; a low box hedge with clipped topiary balls, highlighting a gap through which another ‘room’ is perceived, works very well. Maybe the vegetable area, if you have one, can be divided from the rest of the garden with espalier apples, pears or soft fruit, which are both attractive when in flower and provide tasty and attractive fruit. Differences in level can also help; a raised terrace gives a wonderful vantage point of all or part of a garden - a room in itself. And of course, the greatest trick of all, the Ha-Ha - levels permitting, an unseen ditch at the end of the garden to divide it from the surrounding countryside, but make it look like it belongs to you!

Principle 2: Don’t try too hard

It is difficult to force creativity. Creating the right atmosphere can help, also being organised and having all the facts, but the art, for that is what it is, may happen instantly or take days to filter through. How many of us have found that walking away from an impasse, and even sleeping on it, has allowed the brain to unravel the confusion and upon returning to it the next morning the solution is straightforward? I can certainly vouch for this. Gut feeling, more often than not, should be trusted, especially as you get to know the site and the ‘feel’ for the spaces you want to create.

Principle 3: The new visitor Antonina Potapenko/Shutterstock

taking into consideration the owner’s taste, personality and views on how they will use their outside space, what you have to work with regarding the situation of the house and boundaries, as well as levels, must be transcribed onto paper.

Principle 1: Rooms outside

Rooms outside is one of my favourite ways at looking at how a garden can be laid out. A house without any dividing walls inside would be a little odd if you could see the kitchen, lounge, hallways and bedrooms as soon as you entered the front door. Likewise, it’s a good plan to divide your garden up into different rooms, if you have space. Outside, of course, walls and fences can be used, particularly in larger gardens, but more subtle methods also work. Changes in surface,

How would a new visitor explore the garden? This always intrigues me; what draws people to investigate new spaces? I think it’s a range of things depending upon the individual. A focal point of a statue may draw one’s eye to go and inspect it more closely. The gap in that hedge or border may have a view beyond to open countryside which you’ll want to take in. When you turn back, perhaps a pathway may lead a different route back or the sound of water will guide you to a yet unseen area. The curve of a bed can lead the eye and then the feet from a terrace, onto the lawn, where maybe a quite sheltered seating area can be spotted under a tree, ideal for snoozing or reading a book.

Employing these basic, if not simplistic principals, together with an adherence to more conventional design criteria such as scale, proportion and practicalities, can combine to make a garden layout interesting, intriguing and exciting. co-landscapers.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 71

Gardening

DIARY OF A FLOWER FARMER Paul Stickland, Blackshed Flowers

A

s we head towards the fourth anniversary of Black Shed this April, our preparation for spring has been very different this year.

We’re still sowing and germinating seeds in the studio, at home in Sherborne, but thanks to our wonderful polytunnel, we’ve been able to grow a really early crop of gorgeous ranunculi, anemones and tulips. We’re not using any heat to bring them on; the doors have been open in all but the most inclement weather. The simple shelter it offers allows these early spring gems the chance to really thrive at a time when we are usually just dreaming of that thrilling first flush of flowers.

So, this year we’ll have wonderful flowers available for Mother’s Day and Easter. Exciting!

As the world changed last spring, bringing the loss of all those weddings and events, we had to rapidly change our business model. We were lucky our decision to offer mail order tulips, anemones and ranunculi was a huge and unexpected success. Finding a courier that offered reliable and careful overnight delivery led us to offering our bouquets by post and we’ve sent out an incredible number, all over the UK, since then. Flowers by post is definitely a thing for us now.

So, what else are we planning for this year? It’s very difficult to predict! We have a huge number of wedding enquiries to start with. I feel so sorry for the brides, grooms and families; no-one knows whether their endlessly altered and revised plans will come to fruition, but we’ll be there for them when they’re ready.

We’re already sending out our spring flowers by post and our bouquets are flying out as usual. Our dried flowers were very popular again last year, and we’ll need to increase our production and harvest this year to meet the demand. We used every fresh flower on the farm last year, so this year we’re growing even more. We’ve sown more seeds, bought more perennials, divided existing ones, planted dozens of shrubs and trees for

72 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

foliage. Our dahlia range will increase, with many new varieties amongst our tried and tested favourites.

We’ll have gladiolus and irises galore, tuberoses and freesias in the tunnel and an extraordinary collection of chrysanthemums for late summer and autumn.

There should be plenty of flowers! I’m sure we’ll find a use for them too, but it’s important to make it as easy as possible for customers to find out about us and what we do. Which is why I’ve spent rather a lot of time this winter creating a new website and online shop – feeling slightly guilty about sitting in the warm, at the computer, whilst Helen, Emma, Jenny and Jack toil away on the freezing wet farm, of course. The task of creating a website to promote all the different aspects of Black Shed makes us realise how far we’ve come in these four years. There are pages for bouquets, weddings and funerals, fresh flowers and dried, house flowers and installations, flowers by month, a natty online store, hundreds of pictures of our flowers and floristry, hopeful pages full of workshops and events, garden openings, pick-your-own days…

Extraordinary to think that behind each of those images lies a story – a glimpse into our community.

A glorious summer wedding, a sad passing, a golden wedding, an engagement, a new job, a gift on retirement, a ‘thank you’ for lockdown kindness. Flowers play an important role in so many aspects of our lives and it’s wonderful to be part of that. Even delivering a simple bouquet to a surprised and delighted recipient is a joy I doubt I’ll tire of soon!

If you want to read more about our lives in flowers, you can read all my Sherborne Times articles on the new website; they pretty much sum up our unexpected and wonderful adventure here at Blackmarsh Farm. blackshed.flowers @blackshedhelen @blackshedflowers

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 73

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY Words Jo Denbury Photography Katharine Davies

T

he 8th of March is International Women’s Day (IWD), a day – first formally observed in 1911 – to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, while raising awareness about equality. To mark this important event we are saluting the many talented and inspiring women of our town. Here, we meet just a few and learn who, in turn, inspired them.

Nicki Edwards

‘It’s been a bonkers year; an absolute roller-coaster,’ says Nicki Edwards, headteacher of The Gryphon School. ‘Luckily, we have an amazing team.’ In ‘normal’ times she is responsible for approximately 2,000 people on and off site. ‘The Gryphon School is ingrained in me,’ she adds, ‘I joined in 2002 and my children came here; it’s in my blood.’ >

76 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Nicki Edwards sherbornetimes.co.uk | 77

Dr Sally Dangerfield

Laura Harper 78 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

‘I grew up in Sturminster and went to Imperial College, London, to study biology. I had a place to work on the eradication of malaria after graduation, but every Wednesday I did volunteer work at Pimlico School and loved the buzz of being there, so instead I did a teacher training course at Oxford.’

‘What I love most about being the head at The Gryphon is that no two days are the same, although, admittedly, through the pandemic this has been entirely off the scale. As a scientist, I like to solve problems and have felt able to rise to the occasion. This year has required an unprecedented rapidity of response: heads are told something by the government at 4pm on a Friday for implementation the following week. We are given courses in crisis management, but you’d never think of a crisis that lasts two years.’

Nicki admits she couldn’t do it without her fantastic staff and the support of the town. ‘There is a sense of community here that is second to none,’ she says. ‘All sorts of support happens when you need it. There has been Sherborne Viral Kindness, the Rotary raising funds for lap-tops for children, Sherborne Abbey’s ‘Faith in Action’ sponsoring a youth worker and the Town Council helping to provide us with a roadcrossing by the school.’

‘My inspiration? My grandmother, Lilian Vining, who lived in Holwell. She was a farmer’s wife, had 12 children and lived to be 99. She was an indomitable character and taught me that if you want something, you go out and get it. She taught me the importance of having a ‘quiet’ strength, of knowing what’s right and setting a standard for how you live your life. I come from a long line of determined women who know what they want and get it.’

That explains how Nicki sets out her goals for The Gryphon: ‘I ask myself what is this school about? And try not to be swayed by pleasing external agencies, but to make it the best school for the town. To do that you have got to have an inner strength, which for me, is also supported by my Christian faith.'

Dr Sally Dangerfield

Doctor Sally Dangerfield is a GP at The Grove Medical Practice and has worked in Sherborne since 2015; prior to that and after graduating from Birmingham Medical School, she had spent 18 years in the British Army as a Medical Officer. Her tours of duty included a lot of traveling: ‘I was with the peacekeeping force in Kosovo and Sierra Leone among many other places,’ she says,

‘I have supported a field hospital in Iraq as we trained the Iraqi Forces and also developed an operating theatre complex in a 25-bed tented hospital in Bosnia in what was a clothing factory.’ On talking to her about her time with the Army, it’s clear she enjoyed it – even the moments when she was the only woman and would therefore require separate ‘facilities’. ‘I miss the dark humour of the Army,’ she says, ‘but there were times, when as one of a few women, it was very challenging.’

Sally met her husband at Sandhurst, and they did a tour of duty in Iraq together. She left the Army in 2006 and later came to settle in Dorset in 2008. She wears the Military Veterans Badge and is a key lead in making the practice a Military Veterans Championing Practice.

‘Sometimes it can be very difficult for soldiers who have come out of service,’ says Sally, ‘and there can be mental health issues. I want military veterans to be able to come here to be helped because I know something of what they have been through.’

Sally’s inspiration is another doctor and the first female doctor in the UK – confusingly named Dr James Barry. It’s a remarkable and controversial story but her sex was not discovered until her death. Dr James Barry was a woman ahead of her time, born Margret Bulkley in 1789 – she dressed as a man to study medicine at Edinburgh and then joined the Army and became a military surgeon. As Sally says, ‘She had to disguise herself as a man to follow her dreams, becoming the 2nd highest ranking Medical Officer in the British Army. She did a great deal to help reform cleanliness and hygiene in field hospitals and performed one of the first successful caesarians where both the mother and the baby lived. I often think of her.’

Laura Harper

Laura Harper is head of girl’s sport at Sherborne Prep and also the youngest ever woman to play cricket as part of England’s Women’s Cricket Team. ‘I started at eight,’ she says, ‘and found a women’s county team at 13.’ She then joined the England squad at 14 and straight after completing her GCSEs made her debut for England. ‘Basically, it was a boy’s game when I started but in reality, that helped my game. I never really knew I was any good until my English teacher, Mr Pierce – who gave up his free time to take cricket nets on Saturday – said to me, come and have a go. I owe a lot of my success to him; he was one in a million. And also, to my mother who gave up her time to drive me to practices and matches when I was a kid.’ > sherbornetimes.co.uk | 79

Hannah Wilkins 80 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Sadie Wilkins

Laura grew up in Cornwall, but they didn’t have a women’s team, so she joined Somerset which meant a home game was in Bath and away matches could be as far as Kent.

‘It meant I would get up at 5am and sleep in the car, while my mother drove me to matches or practices.’

Laura’s 26 caps for England gave her a chance to travel the world, ‘but,’ she explains, ‘it’s the support from my mum, who gave up her life for it, that is massive.’

When I ask who her female role-model would be she says: ‘It has to be Charlotte Edwards; she was my inspiration when I was 17. She had played in boys’ teams and went straight into the England squad, and I wanted to follow her. In the end, I played with her, and against her, in club cricket.’

Hannah and Sadie Wilkins

Hannah and Sadie Wilkins own Sherborne’s indie wine shop, Vineyards, and with the help of their allfemale team have landed a spot in Harper’s Top 50 wine merchants as highest new entry for 2020. Let’s face it, there’s been a lot of gender-stereotyping in the wine industry over the years. Sixteen years ago, when Hannah started Vineyards, it was still very much a male-dominated industry, but now it is estimated that

women buy 80% of the wine sold in the UK and there is a growing number of female winemakers.

‘Take Marinette Garnier, for example,’ says Sadie. ‘She is one of the youngest female winemakers to be taken on by a Burgundy house and is currently at the helm of Maison Jaffelin – where she’s changing the face of the industry.’

‘The key thing is that the industry has gone through waves of change and if people enjoy wine, they want to buy wine,’ adds Hannah. ‘But it is our duty, as women, to highlight wine made by women and up the representation,’ says Sadie. This month, as part of IWD, they will be doing just that by running a series of ‘masterclasses’ by award-winning female winemakers from across the globe on Instagram Live.

‘The reality is it’s nice to work with inclusive people,’ says Hannah. ‘Inequality is still there,’ says Sadie, ‘and we wish we didn’t have to single out wines based on the gender of the winemaker behind them to highlight the success, but representation leads to change, and change is the future.’

And who is their inspiration? ‘Mine would be [the sailor] Ellen MacArthur,’ says Hannah. ‘I remember reading her book and thinking how amazing it is that a young woman can circumnavigate the world on her own. > sherbornetimes.co.uk | 81

Jules Bradburn

Eleanor Goulding and her daughter Gwen 82 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

It certainly made me think you really should chase your dreams and if you put your mind to it, you can achieve them. Opening a business in a very male-dominated arena at the age of 24 was certainly an achievement.’

‘Mine would be Emilia Bassano,’ says Sadie. ‘She was the original trailblazer; no one had heard of her, yet she was the first published female poet in England. Many believe she was Shakespeare’s ‘dark lady’. Another who went against the grain to be heard by concealing her gender.

Jules Bradburn

By trade, Jules Bradburn is a solicitor and when not delivering lectures on the legal intricacies of forensic archaeology, she is sitting on tribunals as part of her new judicial post. Her background is in local government administrative law, which came in handy when faced with a pandemic and the need to corral a community into positive action. ‘It was at the start of the first lockdown when Hannah Wilkins, Jane Wood, and I said, how can we make sure people are looked after in this town? The answer was Sherborne Viral Kindness.

It has spiralled into a huge thing,’ explains Jules, ‘with over 500 volunteers on our books, who do all sorts of things from shopping to delivering pharmaceuticals.

During the first lockdown we provided over 100 free meals a day.’

‘Sherborne is a very affluent town,’ says Jules, ‘but there are a large number of families who struggle enormously. I also volunteer for the Fabulous Foundation, which we formed in 2015, to run the Camelot Challenge. It raises money to ensure U25s get to attend things such as school trips, extra lessons, clubs and the Duke of Edinburgh Award.’

If that’s not enough, she also helps organise the Sherborne Literary Festival. ‘We’re really hoping we can do something this year,’ she says. Although, at the moment, they can’t confirm.

So, where does this energy come from? ‘My inspiration is my grandmother,’ says Jules. ‘Her name was Katharine Bestwick; she died when my Dad was a teenager, so I never met her, but the stories remain. She ran businesses in the North East, including amusement arcades, and held the family together whilst her husband was a career Army Officer,’ explains Jules. ‘In the 1950s, she became the Mayoress of Redcar. She had grit and determination and it was women like her who did the groundwork for us [women] today.’

Eleanor Goulding

Eleanor Goulding is one half of Denman+Gould, a multi-discipline art and design studio working out of the former St Catherine’s Church in Haydon. Over the last few years, they have participated in Dorset Art Weeks and hosted film screenings, talks and live music.

Two years ago, Eleanor organised a family screening of Moomins on the Riviera for the town and has also curated FILMDorset: a site-specific film programme, currently on pause until lockdown lifts for good.

Denman+Gould has spread its wings of late and, increasingly, Eleanor and her partner Russell Denman have become involved in larger projects. Recently, they completed a series of Wildlife Pods: a public art project that provided pods for wildlife on a wildflower bank that has been planted at Winterbourne Abbas. The pods were carved from English oak and use an abstracted design based on Eleanor’s drawings of seed heads.

Another recently completed project is Courtyard Constellation: a public art space for student accommodation at Cumberland Place in Southampton.

The cast installation is based on an 11-star grid; the palette inspired by old hand-painted British survey maps. Both projects have taken Denman+Gould in new directions which Eleanor hopes to build on.

‘We are super busy and it’s all happening at once,’ says Eleanor, ‘but we are very thankful. When we did the first DAWS it was a very hand-to-mouth existence, so it’s nice to get public-funded projects.’

She cites her friends as her inspiration but currently one in particular: Melody Razak, who worked as pastry chef by day and wrote her debut novel Moth in her spare moments. ‘Melody’s self-discipline is what I admire the most,’ says Eleanor, ‘making sure that she writes every day and having moved from a cake shop baker to a full-time writer, which is such a hard thing to do.’ As a busy working mother Eleanor knows a thing or two about that.

There are countless women in Sherborne doing incredible things. The majority of our town’s businesses are in fact run by women and new ventures are emerging each month. Its testament to our safe and inclusive community that so many aspiring women chose to call Sherborne home. Long may that last.

And here’s to our daughters, lighting the way ahead… internationalwomensday.com #IWD2021 sherbornetimes.co.uk | 83

elizabethwatsonillustration.com 84 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 85

Food and Drink

THE CAKE WHISPERER Val Stones

CARROT AND PINEAPPLE WITH MERINGUE KISSES MOTHER’S DAY CAKE

A

cake that is so moist, with the help of juicy carrots and pineapple, it is irresistible. I made this cake for my granddaughter’s birthday and I think that this is an easy one for children to help with as a surprise for mums on Mother’s Day. There’s lots the children can do – weighing out, chopping and grating. This recipe makes 16 pieces.

You might wish to leave the nuts out of the cake and replace with the same amount of grated carrot.

If you wish to lower the calories, you might like to halve the amount of cream cheese topping, and leave out the meringue kisses, and replace with fresh berries.

Meringue Kisses

Tip – these can be made first, as they can be kept in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks.

90g egg white, at room temperature 2g cream of tarter 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 -3 drops of yellow gel food colouring Time preparation 15 minutes Baking 1 hour What you will need

Two flat baking sheets (it helps not to have a lip on baking sheets - lined with either baking parchment or silicon liners). I have bought two silicon sheets that are already marked with circles that are the right size for piping macarons, but they work perfectly for meringues and nests too.

A mixing bowl.

Large piping bag (you can use a disposable one) fitted with a JEM 1G star nozzle or 8-point star nozzle.

A stand mixer with whisk attachment saves a lot of your time and effort, or an electric hand-mixer.

86 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Method

Preheat the oven to 100C fan assisted, 100C, 200F, gas mark ¼ 1 Line two baking sheets with either the baking parchment or silicon sheets.

2 Place the egg whites with the cream of tartar into a mixing bowl and whisk on medium, until the mixture reaches ‘soft peak’ stage. Add the vanilla extract and then turn back on to beat on high.

3 Gradually add a teaspoon of the caster sugar to the egg white, a little at a time, allowing a few seconds between each spoonful. Continue whipping until the whites are shiny and hold stiff peaks. Tip – take a little mixture between your finger and thumb - it should feel smooth. If it feels gritty, beat the mixture a little more to make sure all the sugar has dissolved.

4 Place the nozzle in the bag and stand the prepared piping bag inside a large jug (a pint beer glass will do but improvise). Place the meringue in the bag and fasten the end with a clip or a peg.

5 Holding the piping bag vertically, start at the middle of a circle on your baking sheet and squeeze the bag steadily slightly up and down to create a kiss about 3cm high. When you reach this point, lift the piping bag a little higher and lift off.

6 Repeat this until you have used up the mixture.

7 Place in the oven and they are ready when you lift a meringue and it comes away from the parchment cleanly, with no sticking.

8 Place on a cooling rack and when cold store in an airtight container.

Cake

450g soft light brown sugar 375ml sunflower oil 380g grated carrot 5 large eggs (320g out of their shells) 225g self-raising flour 185g pecans (optional)

120g sultanas 100g finely chopped tinned pineapple - reserve the juice for the topping syrup 14g ground mixed spice 2g ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla extract A pinch of fine sea salt Grated zest of one unwaxed orange - save the juice for the syrup Orange and pineapple syrup

Juice of one whole orange 4 tablespoons of the reserved pineapple juice 40g caster sugar Cream cheese frosting

600g icing sugar 200g unsalted butter 100g full-fat cream cheese Finely grated zest and juice of an unwaxed orange 1 teaspoon orange extract What you will need

A mixer (a stand mixer if you have one, or an electric hand mixer if not. If you haven’t either of these then use muscle power and beat the mixture with a balloon whisk).

A round 20cm diameter deep baking tin (lined and greased) - a clip release tin would be best.

Method

Pre heat the oven to 160ºC fan, 180ºC, Gas Mark 4 1 Place the sugar and oil in the stand mixer bowl, or your chosen mixing method, and mix well until all combined and smooth.

2 Whilst the sugar and oil are combining, break the eggs into a bowl and beat lightly. Add the eggs slowly to the sugar mixture and beat until smooth.

3 Sift the flour, spices, salt and fold into the oil mixture with a metal tablespoon.

4 Then, fold in the grated carrot, pineapple, pecans, orange zest, orange extract, vanilla extract and sultanas. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and tap the tin on the work surface to level off.

5 Place in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 1 and a half hours. Tip – check the cake after an hour and 15 minutes by gently tapping the cake tin. If the centre wobbles, the cake will need at least another 15 minutes. The cake should be golden and firm to touch; a skewer should come out cleanly, if

inserted in the middle of the cake. If you lift the cake to your ear, it should hardly be making a sound - no crackling from any mixture still cooking inside the cake.

Orange and pineapple syrup

1 Place the orange, pineapple juice and sugar into a small pan; swirl the pan over the heat to help dissolve the sugar and bring to a steady boil.

2 Reduce the heat and simmer, until the syrup is reduced by one-third – this should take about 5 minutes.

3 When baked, remove the cake from the oven and brush with the warm syrup. Place the tin on a cooling rack and leave in the tin to go completely cold.

Buttercream frosting

1 Place the butter and cream cheese in a bowl and beat until combined.

2 Add the orange zest, juice and orange extract.

3 Add the icing sugar - a dessert spoon at a time – until all combined. Beat for 8-10 minutes until light and fluffy.

To decorate the cake

Spread the frosting evenly over the top and sides of the cake. Decorate the top with the meringue kisses or fresh berries and, if you wish, you can add a few primrose flowers if available. bakerval.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 87

Food and Drink

DARK CHOCOLATE CLAFOUTIS

WITH GRIOTTINE CHERRIES & DORSET SEA BUCKTHORN

T

Sasha Matkevich and Jack Smith, The Green

his is our take on a classic French dessert.

The better the chocolate you use, the tastier the result. At the restaurant we use Valrhona, available from The Chocolate Society in Bruton via their website chocolate.co.uk.

Ingredients Serves 6

135g egg whites 85g sugar 4 egg yolks 100g unsalted butter 1 single espresso 1 tbsp cocoa powder 62g plain flour 200g 70% cocoa chocolate 50g sea buckthorn 50g Griottine cherries

Method

1 In a large bowl or mixer, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Once achieved, continue mixing, while adding a tablespoon of sugar at a time, until all the sugar has been incorporated.

2 Place a bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt the chocolate and butter until smooth. Add the espresso, add the egg yolks, and sift in the flour and cocoa powder.

3 Fold the egg whites into the chocolate carefully, until the mixture resembles a loose cake batter.

4 Pipe, or pour, the mixture evenly into 6 ramekins and add 6 Griottine cherries into each clafoutis.

Cook in an oven at 180˚C for 7-8 minutes. Once cooked, add a teaspoon of sea buckthorn berries on top of each and serve immediately with an ice cream of your choice. greenrestaurant.co.uk

88 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

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

A

t the time of writing, we are in the grip of a freezing spell of weather. The ground, which for the last few months has been deluged with relentless rain and is full of tracks from where we have driven through the mud, has changed overnight: now, frozen solid, the deep ruts are perilous to cross! Driving round the pig fields now takes me back to being a child. Remember those gaudy plastic toy cars outside supermarkets that we begged our parents to let us sit in and drive? They used to buck and dive crazily for five minutes at a time… well, that’s what it’s like at the moment! The mud, temporarily suspended in time, with dust blowing around our yard, is something we haven’t seen for a long while. The pigs have lost a bit of their enthusiasm for being fed; they are not keen on walking over bumpy frozen ground and pick their way delicately to the feed troughs. We are taking water to them, as all the water troughs are frozen solid. Although, they don’t drink much when it’s this cold.

A month ago, I wrote about our newest piglets arriving… well, all six sows gave birth over the following couple of days. We had 60 new piglets born!

For several days, they stayed in their new beds - all separate groups from each other – but then, at about a week old, the mixing began. Until now, four weeks on, we have an unruly mob of four-week-old piglets charging round the place. They have grown incredibly well; their devoted mothers producing lots of milk to

turn them into little barrels of muscle. They are already starting to steal their mothers’ food and begin the transition to solid food. It always amazes me how fast they grow at this stage.

Whilst I write this, the radio is on in the background: BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today gently wafting over me; they are talking about Covid and how its impact on the pig supply chain means pigs are staying on farms longer and getting too big for the supermarkets packaging and shelving. That… right there… is what’s wrong with our world! When an animal is raised, and the only thought is how it will fit on a shelf, surely something has gone seriously wrong. Where the pig, the farmer, and the farm fit in to this system – I am not sure. But I am sure it’s not for us at The Story Pig. We know every pig we grow; every sausage is handmade by me; every joint is lovingly packed by Charlotte. They are all different and we celebrate that – some chops are bigger – that’s because the pig they came from was bigger. If we are going to eat meat, then I believe we should cherish it and value the animal it came from, not grow it to a certain size in order to fit on a shelf. So, come to us where our meat is real, and our chops are different sizes! Every Saturday 10am2pm, Charlotte will welcome you to our safe pop-up shop packed full of Tamworth pork of all shapes. thestorypig.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 89

Food and Drink

IN THE CAN David Copp

Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock

I

n the Spring of 1964, as the newly appointed southern area sales representative for Bouchard Aine - one of the leading Burgundy houses - I was asked to assess the market for canned Beaujolais in the UK. Our supplier Faye had done considerable homework and overcome all the problems of pricing 90 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

wine putting a ‘young red’ into a tin. Supermarkets were generally unlicensed, so wine was mainly sold through wine merchants and retail chains such as Victoria Wine, plus hotels and restaurant chains.

The trade was very traditional and was generally slow to adopt new technology. I did not expect interest beyond curiosity from our established

customers but had a lucky breakthrough. One of my friends was a wine enthusiast and had a small but smart motorboat on the Thames. As others walked the tow paths, he sped down to keep dates at places like Richmond and Hampton Court.

‘Just what I need for my picnics,’ he said. The long and the short of it was the next Saturday we piled 20 boxes of 24 cans of Beaujolais onto his boat and set off to sell them to other boat owners. We departed at about ten o’clock and by midday had completely sold out. Novelty, convenience and weight were the decisive factors.

On Monday morning, I parked my car on Earls Court Road and sold another 20 cartons to small, downstairs restaurants whose main customers were courting couples. They sold wine by the carafe, so the can did not appear on the table. The attraction was taking up less storage space and ease of handling.

Once people realised that the wine was good, canned wine was embraced as a convenience product.

Hobbyists and small, crowded restaurants embraced it. Young people liked the novelty of it. Furthermore, it was less formal and less stuffy than drawing a cork.

Sales began to take off when wine enthusiasts realised they could make a contribution to saving the planet.

Canned wine led to the introduction of other energy-saving packaging.

Looking at alternatives to glass makes absolute sense. Before I go any further, I am quite convinced that glass will remain the material of choice for fine winemakers whose wines merit long ageing. I recently enjoyed a bottle of Vosne-Romanée 1953 from the Dr Barolet collection which was in perfect condition.

But fine wines aged for a long period make up less than 5% of world consumption. Most wine produced is consumed within a year or two of its making. It does not need glass. If you like to serve wine from glass, as I do, use a decanter!

What I like best about canned wines is their convenience and informality. As a wine writer, I get invited to taste new wines. But members of the public at large have to pay for their samples! Smaller quantities in a can are a good way to taste new or different wines, particularly white, rosé and sparkling wines, as well as lighter red wines such as Beaujolais.

Bath Canned Wine Company is an enterprising new company specialises in sourcing wines that have been made to be canned. The company delights in discovering individual wines that are relatively unknown. It sources

single vintage and single varietal wines and also has a stock of exceptional limited editions.

But all good wine retailers now offer canned wines and I expect sales to leap ahead as more people get to know about them.

For the record, I pour canned wine into a glass because I think it tastes better. It may not taste better, but I think it does!

If you have not already done so, take the plunge and try a canned wine, and something you have never had before.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE Small But Perfectly Formed Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina 250ml can, £3.75 Vineyards Small But Perfectly Formed is a project created by Bibendum with the aim of creating great tasting wine in a small,

convenient and sustainable package. This wine has the typical deep, dark violet

colour of an Argentine Malbec. The nose offers intense aromas of black stone fruit interwoven with notes of

chocolate and sweet spice. The balanced acidity leads into a long, velvety finish.

Small But Perfectly Formed Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 250ml can, £3.75 Vineyards This bright, refreshing Sauvignon Blanc has aromas and flavours of apples, pears

and gooseberries; exactly what you expect from a NZ Savvy B. It’s produced by an

extremely reputable winery and you are getting a lot of

bang for your buck tucked inside this little can! Trust us…

On the topic of canned wine, we also wanted to share the news that we are in the process of purchasing our own canning machine which will allow us to expand our virtual wine tastings and customers will be able to sample several wines in one sitting in a more economical fashion. We can’t wait! vineyardsofsherborne.co.uk

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 91

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Bella’s Can ne and Cat Care Pet Sitting and Dog Walks T: 07531 228188

Independent veterinary services for livestock in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire Collection points for livestock medicines and supplies at Sherborne, Sturminster Newton, Blandford and Shaftesbury Please call the office on 01258 472314

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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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Sherborne Surgery Swan House Lower Acreman Street 01935 816228

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www.newtonclarkevet.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 93

Animal Care

YEAR OF THE JAB

Mark Newton-Clarke MAVetMB PhD MRCVS, Newton Clarke Veterinary Surgeon

I

t is, perhaps, about time I wrote something more about vaccines. With so much information flying around, either in the news or on social media, we have all been bombarded daily with vaccine science and terminology. Almost everyone has now heard of messenger RNA, spike proteins and how antibodies work. Safety and efficacy data are topics of conversation around the world. 2021 may well be named the year of the jab.

Many of you may know that the word ‘vaccination’ is derived from ‘vacca’, the Latin for a cow. Edward Jenner, the celebrated English physician, is credited with the discovery that cowpox infection protected humans against smallpox. One hundred and eighty years later, smallpox was eradicated after a global vaccination programme. So, can vaccination eliminate other diseases entirely? The answer to this question lies in whether the causative agent has its reservoir exclusively in the human or animal at risk of the disease. If so, then if all susceptible individuals in a population are vaccinated, 94 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

the pathogen has nowhere to go and will eventually become extinct. Unfortunately, many common diseases are caused by viruses and bacteria that can live in the environment or animals, making their elimination impossible. One familiar example is tetanus, which most of us know as a soil-borne organism, actually derived from the guts of herbivores, spread in their faeces. The best we can hope for is to protect ourselves (and our horses, especially) from the toxin that causes the symptoms of tetanus (which literally means muscle spasm). I have seen tetanus in two dogs over the years and I am glad to report both survived. The poor victims were stiff as a board, resembling Spotty Dog of the Wooden Tops. Now, I really am showing my age!

Let’s turn to the risk of side-effects from a vaccination. This is a really important factor in deciding whether a person chooses to vaccinate their dog or cat, their children or themselves with a given vaccine. One of the best times to measure the frequency of sideeffects is during a clinical trial in which a large number

VP Photo Studio/Shutterstock

of individuals are randomly assigned to treatment or placebo groups and nobody knows who’s been given what, including the investigators. Symptoms of all types of illness are monitored in all participants and then compared between the two groups. Now, serious side-effects to a vaccine can take many forms e.g. auto-immune disease, allergic reactions and sudden death, but these occur in non-vaccinated animals too.

Only by knowing the pre-existing background level of these diseases can we judge whether a vaccine is causing a genuine rise in their incidence.

In the population of dogs that we vaccinate yearly in Sherborne and Yeovil, I can honestly say we have not seen an increase in any of the diseases claimed to be side-effects of the leptospirosis vaccine – a vaccination which, from my research, has many ‘fake news’ stories attached to. Yes, we do see allergic reactions, auto-immune disease and occasionally, unexplained sudden death but only one event, an anaphylactic reaction directly after a puppy’s second

vaccination, can I directly attribute to a vaccine.

Anaphylaxis is the most dramatic example of a serious and severe allergic reaction caused by exposure to a foreign substance; in this case; a combination vaccine to distemper, parvovirus and leptospirosis (the older L2 form). The catastrophic series of events triggered by this reaction differs between dogs and humans, but the result is the same: circulatory collapse and potentially, death. Luckily, we recognised the signs immediately and after some anxious minutes and several treatments with adrenaline and steroids, the puppy made a full recovery.

It was also brought to my attention that psychomotor seizures (epileptic fits) in dogs are considered by some people to be a potential vaccination side-effect. Seizures in dogs are really quite common: a study in 2013 gave a rate of over 80 dogs per 10,000 showing the background level of this disorder in our pet dogs as quite high. So, how do these numbers sit with the rate of suspected adverse reactions (of all types, including those found to be spurious) to leptospirosis vaccine? Well, this was reported in 2017 to be less than 9 per 10,000, combined for both types of vaccine (L2 and L4*). These numbers are reassuring, but we must remember most adverse reactions are minor and not reported. For example, about 1 in 10 puppies vaccinated will develop a mild fever, go off their food and perhaps get a little lump at the injection site – the equivalent of a sore arm in humans. In general, these mild symptoms are selflimiting and so, not worrying. It interests me that apart from injection-site swelling, vaccine reactions in cats are rarely discussed. For the record, there is a vaccine-site associated form of cancer in cats, well-documented in the USA, but thankfully very rare in the UK. Now, how about the other side of the coin? How common is leptospirosis in dogs and is it really a risk that justifies a yearly vaccine? A map of Great Britain showing disease incidence (number of new cases per year) indicates Dorset is at ‘medium’ risk. I suggest that in our area of North Dorset and South Somerset the level is high. We have seen four dogs die in the last year or so from leptospirosis – all confirmed by laboratory testing. Like the 80 or so humans who suffer from Weil’s disease every year, most victims had contact with water and the dogs had missed at least one vaccine booster.

No vaccine is mandatory, not in humans nor animals, but they are the best weapon we have against infectious disease and some tumours. newtonclarkevet.com sherbornetimes.co.uk | 95

Animal Care

FINDING THE IDEAL WEIGHT FOR YOUR HORSE Dr Imogen Frame MRCVS, Kingston Vets

Horse Crazy/Shutterstock

O

besity in horses is not a new problem but it is becoming an ever more common disease seen in the veterinary world with very serious consequences. Weight management of horses can be challenging to say the least, often due to the endless amount of conflicting information out there along with many of us not understanding when our horses are overweight.

Why is weight management so difficult in horses?

Horses evolved in the wild to survive, procreate and cover vast distances, daily, and on very limited amounts of food. Their digestive system allows them to be one of the most efficient species at extracting energy from their food sources. This is most commonly demonstrated in the native pony, who is often nicknamed a ‘good doer’.

We horse owners often say our horses need only look at grass and they will balloon.

Part of the problem is domestication – wild ponies in late winter and early spring will look very 96 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

underweight but they will spend the next few seasons gaining weight to see them through the tough winter, where calories are scarce. However, it takes effort for the wild pony to find food with many miles covered, often they will be pregnant or have a foal at foot, all of which have high calorific demands.

The type of food available to our domesticated horse is far more varied and abundant than that available to the wild pony. We cannot monitor how many calories horses consume when out on pasture and so, grass is often the number one culprit in weight gain. Horses have very low energy requirements on a day-to-day basis and most grasses will provide an excess of calories.

Standing in a stable or a small paddock is about as unnatural as it gets for these herd animals and has led to this sedentary lifestyle for horses.

What are the consequences for an overweight horse?

There is an ideal weight individual to every horse; as vets don’t usually carry horse-sized scales, we most

often use a set of criteria to give each horse a body condition score. Using this, we can determine if a horse is overweight or underweight.

Health risks associated with overweight horses: • Laminitis • Osteoarthritis • Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) and insulin dysregulation • Respiratory problems • Increased strain on the heart If your horse does struggle to gain weight or suddenly loses weight, please contact your veterinarian for a thorough clinical exam.

How to assess your horse’s weight

A weighbridge The only true way to measure a horse’s weight, but not commonly available to most owners.

Weigh tape These are widely available. Place the tape around the horse’s chest similar to where a surcingle would be placed. These can be deceivingly inaccurate; however, they are a useful tool in monitoring weight. Measure the horse at the same point on the body each time for accuracy.

Body condition scoring This is a practical assessment of the fat across a horse’s body.

You can find a comprehensive Equine Body Condition Scoring chart on the Redwings Horse sanctuary website: redwings.org.uk Essentially, you divide the body into three sections – the pelvis, neck, and back with ribs – to assess the amount of fat. It is important to do this because many horses carry weight in different parts of the body; just because a horse is ‘ribby’ does not mean they are a healthy weight.

It is also important to understand what you are feeling: muscle will feel hard and firm, while fat softer and wobblier. If all of this seems too daunting, ask your vet.

How to manage your horse’s weight

Dietary changes • Horses can eat their daily intake of calories in a few hours. So, reducing time out grazing isn’t a reliable

method of achieving weight loss. You could try strip grazing or grazing muzzles. If you put them in a muddy field, a sand school or any other enclosure without forage, ensure you are providing them with something to eat – starving horses is very dangerous.

• Soak hay in clean water for 12 hours. The sugar in hay moves down a concentration gradient, so the fresher water it’s soaked in, the more sugar will be removed. It is important to note steaming does not remove sugars.

• If your horse requires medication, administer in only a handful of unmolassed chaff or syringe it if you can.

• Scales are required to measure all feed – guesstimating will never work.

Exercise • If your horse is currently suffering from laminitis, please do not exercise it.

• The simplest thing is to increase the exercise you are already doing, keeping track of it though. If you, on average, do 10 minutes of trotting on a hack or in a lesson, up that to 15 and you can continue to increase this as your horse gets fitter.

• Exercise also increases sensitivity to insulin; this is important because overweight horses often become resistant to insulin, which puts them at a higher risk for laminitis.

Still not losing weight?

Consult your vet for further investigation.

TAKE CARE

• DO NOT starve your horse, this can cause hyperlipaemia – a condition that causes fat to circulate in the blood and damage organs.

• All dietary changes should be gradual.

• Don’t expect to see weight loss overnight, this is a gradual journey.

• Beware of hungry horses eating bedding – this can lead to colic.

• If your horse is currently suffering from laminitis, do not exercise and consult your veterinarian.

Having had a handful of native ponies over the years, I understand how frustrating weight management is for so many owners. It is important for clients and vets to work together to create a tailored plan to help improve the health and welfare of your horse. kingstonvets.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 97

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Branch and Root Therapy and Supervision Explore the roots of your feelings and behaviour in order to grow and flourish Qualified counsellor, based in Sherborne, offering phone and online consultations during lockdown. Specialising in working with young people but also experienced in working with adults.

For more information visit www.branchandroot.co.uk or email karenbranchandroot@gmail.com

98 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

YogaSherborne Classes and 1-1’s online • Hatha Yoga • Relaxation and guided meditation Contact Dawn for more details 07817 624081 @yogasherborne hello@yogasherborne.co.uk Yoga Alliance qualified teacher

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Body and Mind

HYDRATION STATIONS Sarah Hitch, The Sanctuary Beauty Rooms and The Margaret Balfour Beauty Centre

O

ur skin is made up of 60% water and therefore needs this precious commodity to function and to look its best. Without it, our bodies and minds become sluggish and our skin suffers too.

Dehydration is a skin condition, not a skin type, so every skin type and age can be dehydrated. It’s caused by a lack of water or moisture in the upper layers of the skin – not a lack of oil – which results in dry skin.

Factors within our control are water, caffeine and alcohol consumption, as well as avoiding skin-stripping astringent products. External factors such as central heating, air conditioning and pollution dehydrate the skin by impacting on its own natural barrier defence. This barrier is a layer of lipids and oils which act as protection to keep nasties out and good things in. As it loses moisture, it becomes fragile and more prone to sensitivity.

When skin is deeply dehydrated, it may become very tight, look almost dusty and even crack. This is the point where extreme sensitivity causes everything to sting your skin as your lipid barrier is impaired.

Dehydration in the skin generally manifests as fine lines, lack lustre and tight skin. The fine lines and crepiness that you may have noticed could be dehydration lines – not ageing lines – and can be easily combatted. Even deeper lines and wrinkles can appear more prominent when there is dehydration.

Think of your skin cells as lovely fat juicy grapes; when they haven’t got water in them, they become like shrivelled raisins and this shows on the skin’s surface.

When they are full of lovely water, they will be plump, 100 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Goodluz/Shutterstock

smooth and dewy, which can quickly transform your skin. It is important to hydrate through drinking plenty of water throughout the day and reducing caffeine as it’s a diuretic.

Even younger skin, or acne-prone and breakout skin can be dehydrated. Oily skin that isn’t hydrated by use of products, due to a fear of making the skin breakout, is very likely to get worse. When the skin feels that its natural barrier isn’t intact, it can make more oil to compensate and protect, so, in fact, the skin will become oilier and potentially more congested. However, using an oil-free moisturiser will hydrate your skin, protect your barrier and allow your pores to release the congestion below.

Applying a hydrating toner underneath your moisturiser will quickly quench your skin’s thirst so that it doesn’t drink up your moisturiser excessively, allowing it to go further. This can be applied via cotton wool, pressed onto the face with your hands or a simple spritz before moisturising and is a quick way of putting moisture where you need it most. There are also serums, masks and specific hydrating products available containing calming, soothing and, of course, hydrating ingredients to pep up your routine. No matter how much water you consume, our bodies will always take more than their fair share; so, by topically applying face and body products too, you can tackle this from both sides. thesanctuarysherborne.co.uk margaretbalfour.co.uk

Join our online community. osc_info@sherborne.com

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Muntanya is an independent trekking and outdoors shop offering clothing and equipment from major suppliers.

7 Cheap St, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PT david@muntanya.co.uk 01935 389484 • 07875 465218 www.muntanya.co.uk

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Body & Mind

102 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

EMBRACING THE CHANGE

T

Beverley Welch, Yoga and Qigong Teacher

he weaker sex – how did that expression come about? I never understood that saying, when sometimes it feels like we have the weight of the world on our shoulders. We juggle work, home, relationships, friends and family. I think women are true warriors; we can handle most things.

But for me, when peri-menopause hit and the hot flushes, lack of sleep and anxiety began, I suddenly lost some of that inner strength. For many women, these changes can knock the wind out of their sails and the warrior soul that they once knew can get a little lost.

In Western medicine, menopause is sometimes known as ‘the window of vulnerability’.

Fluctuations in hormones can lead to mood changes, a sense of loss, tearfulness and even depression. Life can begin to feel joyless and there can be a loss of confidence. If this feels like you, then it is vital that you take extra care of your emotional, mental and physical wellbeing.

Added to this is a slowing down of the metabolism as digestion becomes sluggish and this can lead to weight gain – especially round the middle, a loss of energy and a lack of motivation.

Women can end up in a rut, stop wanting to go out as much, begin to binge eat or drink more alcohol at home – and so the cycle begins.

It’s so important to find ways to lift your energy and your mood. To get out and talk to others in a similar situation and use them for advice and support. Qigong, yoga, meditation, chatting with friends, walks in nature, reading a great book and family time can all help to boost your mood.

It’s now more vital than ever to begin to exercise regularly. Start with small steps – just 15 minutes a day – every day can be less daunting. Create daily habits that you can stick with. You will quickly notice changes in your energy levels and your mood. These can be used in conjunction with any other treatments your doctor recommends.

• Yoga and Qigong Flow help to energise the body and release stagnation while strengthening the joints, muscles and ligaments.

• Core strengtheners embrace your inner warrior to boost confidence as well as lift, tighten and tone.

• Twists and heart openers will raise mood and energy levels. Self-massage and body tapping increase circulation, release tension and promote the release of serotonin: your body’s natural ‘feel good’ medicine.

• Meditation, relaxation and breath-work practices will calm a busy mind, boost immunity and create healthy sleep patterns.

It is important to listen to your body, every day, to understand if it is asking you to rest and retreat, to take time and space for yourself or to energise, get moving and feel strong.

Your body is asking you to pause and prioritise yourself and your own emotional and physical needs; to reconnect with yourself again and to put yourself first.

Menopausal symptoms can begin months or even years before your periods stop and last around 4 years after your last period, although some women experience them for much longer. But menopause is not just a list of symptoms that you have to get through. It is an exciting, amazing journey into the next phase of your life. In Eastern medicine, they call it ‘Second Spring’ - it is an honour many do not have and a wonder to behold. So, let’s support each other and embrace it. bevsqiflow.com

sherbornetimes.co.uk | 103

Body & Mind

MANAGING EATING DISORDERS DURING A PANDEMIC

L

Lucy Lewis, Dorset Mind Ambassador

ife is challenging enough for most of us. However, if you are experiencing an eating disorder, or are recovering from one, the pandemic and lockdowns could have caused even more difficulties. Increased anxiety, empty supermarket shelves, and more time alone with our thoughts can all exacerbate existing eating disorder issues and challenge recovery.

People who present with eating disorders sometimes focus on their feelings of control; however, many of us are now trying our best to exist in a situation that we have very little control over. If you are struggling to manage your eating disorder during this ‘new normal’, read some of our top tips to help you cope in this trying time.

Social media safety

Social media can be a positive force. If you are feeling isolated, it can be a useful tool to allow you to connect with loved ones. Additionally, it can be beneficial to follow positive or informative accounts, such as those run by mental health or eating disorder charities. But social media can also have a detrimental effect on our wellbeing - especially if you are struggling with an eating disorder.

To minimise this, try unfollowing triggering accounts, such as accounts that promote diets and unrealistic body standards. Remember, it is always OK to remove negative forces from your life, whether that is offline or online. It can also be helpful to set limits on your social media consumption to ensure that you are not continuously scrolling through content or refreshing news sites. Instead, focus on engaging in meaningful activities that you enjoy away from a screen.

Routine

Many of us were used to a pre-existing routine to follow for work, school or childcare. However, lockdown has removed this structure, which can make our weeks feel 104 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

empty and long. Try creating your own routine using a digital or paper calendar. Make sure you set regular times for meals, enjoyable activities, gentle activities, self-care, necessary tasks and get plenty of sleep.

Self-kindness

Be kind to yourself, always. Remember that thoughts are not always factual, and negative self-talk can cause your mood and behaviour to suffer. Make a conscious effort to avoid thinking this way about yourself. It may feel awkward at first, but positive self-talk is a skill that can be practised and improved over time.

Also, remember it is perfectly normal to be struggling in such a difficult time. If you are struggling to manage your thoughts, try noting down any common themes or thoughts that distress you

GaudiLab/Shutterstock

for example about your body image and/or unhealthy behaviours such as constant weighing and body monitoring. Being aware of how you think and act when feeling unwell may help you to avoid distressing thoughts and behaviours that impact on your mental health. You might need the support of a professional to help you process this further.

Social support

Eating disorders can thrive in isolation. Reach out to loved ones regularly, and schedule time to talk and socialise into your routine. You can also try sharing what signs someone might be able to notice if you are beginning to feel worse and ask if they can check up on you regularly. There are online support groups and helplines that may help you to feel less alone.

Reach out

If you think you may be struggling with an eating disorder, contact your GP as soon as you can. There are professionals and organisations who can help you to manage your mental health, such as BEAT Eating Disorders. Additionally, you can call Samaritans at 116 123 if you are ever in a crisis. dorsetmind.uk Locally, Dorset Mind offer their Restored Eating Disorder service for people aged 16 upward, that offers 1-2-1 mentoring and an online support group. Visit dorsetmind.uk/help-and-support/support-groups/ restored-eating-disorders/ to find out more. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 105

Body & Mind

RUNNING IN SHERBORNE Craig Hardaker BSc (Hons), Communifit

T

raining online has been a huge success and I’ve very much enjoyed delivering sessions this way. We must, however, also continue to train outside. Being in the fresh air, no matter what the weather, is a great way to de-stress. Our running groups are currently on pause, although most are still running individually. But, I know many of you have run out of ideas (no pun intended!) So, here are some suggestions to reignite your training and encourage you to try something different. It is important to complete a full body warm-up and stretch before you start your training, and that you are well hydrated. The following destinations are examples to aid clarity, please choose somewhere quiet and traffic/pedestrian-light to train!

Bristol Road hill training:

There are 18 lamp posts from the bottom of Bristol Road up to The Carpenters Arms. Starting at the bottom lamp post (the base), run to the first lamp post, and return to the base. Run to the second lamp post, back to the base. Repeat this method until you reach the 18th lamp post. Hill training complete! Record your time taken and aim to beat it the next time.

Pageant Gardens endurance bench workout:

There are 12 benches around the outside of Pageant Gardens. Starting at your first bench, perform 20 star jumps. Walk or run to your next bench and repeat 20 squats. Walk or run to the next bench and perform 20 arm circles. Walk or run to the next bench and do 20 lunges. Return to the star jumps and repeat all exercises until you have completed a full lap. How many laps can you complete continuously?

106 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Image: Dave Bendell

Abbey strength session:

Run a small loop from the steps in front of the Abbey, then down Digby Road, around Pageant Gardens, up South Street and back to the beginning. When back at your starting point, complete the following circuit 5 times: 10 press ups, 10 knee drives, 10 triceps dips, finishing with 10 step squat jumps. All of which can be completed using the stairs. Once completed, run the loop for a second time before warming down… Want to be competitive? Record the time taken to complete, and use as a target for your next workout.

Communifit Sherborne 5k series (pictured):

Although our charity 5k is postponed until we are allowed to continue, why not start practising the route ready for when we do return! The route starts and finishes at The Terraces, looping around Sherborne taking in sights of the castle and Sherborne Abbey; it has everything - uphill and downhill sections and plenty to see!

A30 lamp posts Fartlek training:

‘Fartlek’, which means ‘speed play’ in Swedish, is continuous training with interval training. Leaving Abbey View, jog to the first lamp post and from here you will sprint to the next, return to your jog, then sprint and so on, until the roundabout. This would be set 1 - how many continuous sets can you complete?

Fartlek training is proven to improve your overall speed and stamina; an important running training method.

So, there you have it! Some ideas to spice up your training in March. Continue your online training, keep pushing yourself for progression, but don’t forget to get some fresh air too.

Take care and stay safe. communifit.co.uk

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Body & Mind

SHAPE UP YOUR STRENGTH TRAINING PROGRAMME Simon Partridge BSc (Sports Science), Personal Trainer, SPFit

W

e have written many articles, in both the Sherborne Times and other magazines, extolling the values of strength training. But we know, and are constantly told by our clients, that it is difficult to keep going while we are all training from home, often with limited equipment.

So, here are five ways to use advanced protocols to keep your motivation and shake up tired routines to break through plateaus and start making progress again.

form. You then remove some weight from your bar or grab a lighter dumbbell and keep lifting.

Drops sets are great because they push your muscles past the point they would normally fail, encouraging them to grow and tone. You can still do these even if you only have one set of dumbbells by doing a technical drop set.

Instead of grabbing lighter weights, continue doing more reps with an easier exercise. These will be added to SPFit’s next resistance bands online group training session.

Giant sets

Pyramid sets

These are multiple sets of different moves done backto-back with little or no rest. They are not the same as super sets, which often target opposing muscles.

Giant sets have four or five moves targeting one part of the body; they often kick-start stubborn muscles into growing and toning, but also burn more fat because of the high work rate.

Start with a lightweight resistance, and then increase the weight (ascending pyramids) with each successive set, whilst reducing the target reps to compensate. It is a great way to incorporate your warm-up into your workout and also ensure you get lots of volume. You can also reverse the process (descending pyramids).

German Volume Training (GVT)

These are done with short, built-in pauses. Chose a weight you can lift for 3-5 reps and do a set of 2-2-2(2) reps, so you do a total of 6 to 8 reps, pausing for 10 seconds every time you do 2 reps. This protocol allows you to achieve more volume (reps) at a heavier weight than you could usually achieve. It does also mean you need a lot of weight if you want to do these at home, but let’s hope all our gyms can reopen soon.

Good luck with trying different ways to train.

Let’s ensure every workout we do gives our bodies a chance to progress and also prevents our minds from getting bored.

This is a good way to combine strength and hypertrophy (growing/toning muscle) at the same time.

It uses two different moves like a super set for 10 sets of 10 reps. However, it is especially tough on your recovery system when using heavy weights. Your goal is to try and achieve 100 reps of each of the two exercises. It can also work well when training at home and without lots of weights/equipment to work with. It is then easier to recover from before your next workout.

Drop sets

This is where you keep lifting until you cannot complete another rep without losing good technique/ 108 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Cluster sets

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Body & Mind

VEGETABLES

WHY ARE THEY SO IMPORTANT?

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

W

e all know that eating vegetables is important, but why? Because they provide your body with all the components that support the function and repair that brings about optimal health and wellbeing.

Vegetables, according to the dictionary, are edible plants other than seeds. They come in all shapes, sizes and colours; each provide different dietary components which fall into the three categories of minerals, vitamins and fibre.

Vegetables provide us with minerals; these are important for many cellular processes. Green vegetables contain the molecule chlorophyl which has magnesium at the heart of it. This is needed for muscle and nerve function. It is also important for bone formation along with calcium, which is also contained in vegetables.

Other minerals present are iron for haemoglobin in red blood cells to carry oxygen, zinc and selenium, as well as many others at trace levels for the immune system.

Vegetables also provide us with vitamins; these too are essential for optimal biochemical and metabolic functions. Vitamin C is needed for at least 300 metabolic reactions for growth and repair, to maintain healthy skin bones, teeth and muscles tissues. It is also important, along with vitamin E, for metabolism for stress hormones, as well as support of the immune system. Vitamin A in carrots is also needed for all these processes as well as eye function – as Mother told us, ‘so we can see in the dark!’ Vitamin K has an important role in the blood-clotting system.

Vegetables are also a natural source of dietary fibre, due to the plant walls being made of the insoluble carbohydrate cellulose. Fibre provides roughage, which maintains a regular bowel habit, which in turn 110 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

reduces the risk of bowel cancer. Fibre also provides nourishment to the ‘friendly’ bacteria contained in the large intestine. These have many essential functions but especially maintenance of the immune system, production of hormones, as well as brain and nerve biochemical molecules. There are at least 1000 different species of the bowel bacterial microflora, each dependant on different vegetable components, hence the importance of having a broad mix of vegetables.

The final essential group of molecules contained in vegetables are the flavonoids. These are responsible for their exciting spectrum of colours – orange, yellow, purple, red etc. Flavonoids are chemicals that have antioxidant properties. These are needed to mop-up the harmful breakdown products of cell metabolism that can cause destructive processes within cells, leading to degenerative changes, inflammation and cancer.

For all the reasons given, a regular daily intake of vegetables is so important for healthy living. Research has shown that eating at least three servings of vegetables per day can reduce heart disease and stroke by twenty percent. Add to this the protection against the internal cellular damage, inflammation and cancer, it is obvious to us all that a regular intake makes perfect sense. If your lifestyle doesn’t enable you to have a regular vegetable intake, supplementing with a multimineral/vitamin tablet will compensate but their components can never be as bio-available to the body compared with the real thing. Remember the old saying, ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.’

Go on, as Mother said, ‘Eat up your veggies, dear!’ doctortwrobinson.com glencairnhouse.co.uk

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Home

DID I DO THAT? Andy Foster, Raise Architects

I

t’s mid-afternoon, with 28 degrees of hazy sunshine, as Khushi talks to us from her Bangalore bedroom. Meanwhile, in storm-battered Britain, it’s early morning; Matt is in Bristol, Hannah in Bradford, and I’m sitting at my Sherborne kitchen table. Beyond my laptop screen, the window looks out to a dark, miserable sky – it’s cheering, then, to catch a glimpse of Khushi’s Indian sunlight. She tells us that her father is a builder, that she’s been fascinated by buildings since childhood, and it was natural for her to study architecture.

We’ve been sharing our background stories and expectations of a career designing buildings. My student cohort will soon be applying for their first work placements; this year, it will be especially tough, and I want to help them as much as I can. We’ve talked about CV writing and how best to present design portfolios, and we’ve rehearsed some strategies for interviews.

Now, our online mentoring session moves on to office 114 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

life: what they can expect; the support they’ll receive, and the experience they’ll gain.

Hannah is looking forward to working for the first time, but she’s concerned about getting things wrong.

‘What happens if we make mistakes at work?’ she wants to know. ‘Have you ever made any mistakes?’ I’m flattered at the implication that I might not and assure her that I deal with mistakes all the time – my own and those of the team. They’re an inevitable result of people learning and experimenting and having a go. I suggest that to develop as a designer – to improve in almost anything – they should learn to keep some distance from their work while still being intensely focused on it.

That leads to some puzzled expressions, and so I try to explain with some examples.

I tell them that I spend a lot of time reviewing drawings, mostly other people’s. I want to check them for their underlying content; for what they describe. Is the overall scheme working? Is everything in the right

Georgijevic/iStock

place? What will other people think of the proposals?

But often, important issues like those are obscured by distracting errors. The drawing might be missing some explanatory information or contain incorrect symbols, or numerical errors or simple mis-spellings; annoying, secondary things that should be easy to get right. Or at least you would think so.

It’s a common problem that everyone faces – not just in architecture. It seems that the more you concentrate on something, the more difficult it is to see what you’re doing. I tell my group the story of a notable early howler of my own. I’d been asked to draw a spiral escape stair that was to be added to the rear elevation of an existing building. This was in the days of Rotring pens and tracing paper, and the helical geometry made things really difficult. But I set about my task with enthusiasm, confident in my abilities and keen to demonstrate that I could handle a tricky job.

Two long days later, the practice principal came

to see how I was doing, and I was pleased to be complimented on my efforts. However, she returned a few minutes later to say that something wasn’t quite right. ‘Ah yes,’ she said, taking a second look, ‘that’s it.’

‘You’ve drawn the stair at half the scale of the building.’

I stared at my drawing in disbelief, but sadly, she was right. Only a person under three feet tall could use my stair, and they would end up dizzy from the number of rotations required to descend it. All that work, and I hadn’t seen what was obvious. How could that be?

Now everyone starts to get it. ‘Yes, it’s the same for us when we present our projects,’ Matt says. ‘The tutors pick up on all sorts of things about our work that we haven’t seen, even though we did it.’

‘Perhaps there’s an advantage in seeing it for the first time?’ suggests Khushi.

I agree, adding, ‘that’s it – that’s why you need some distance, so that you can also see your work as if for the first time.’

Hannah is doubtful and asks ‘OK, but how do you actually do that?’

It’s a good question and one that, surprisingly, isn’t discussed much in architecture. In the field of writing, I’ve seen advice that suggests you should put your good draft away for a few months so that you can later see it afresh. That’s great if you have the time, but we usually don’t have that luxury. From experience, I’ve realised that time, although helpful, isn’t the critical issue. The important thing is to get thoughts of your work out of your head, and this is best done by replacing them with something else.

When you’re nearly finished with a task, you should stop and leave it alone. Go for a walk or a run. Sleep on it. Better still, do something that will fill your mind with new thoughts. Go and see a movie, have a night out with friends or start a new project. Do anything that clears your mind of what you’ve just been doing.

Then come back and see what you’ve got. If you need to, change it, revise it, improve it.

‘But it would feel wrong to stop and have a break just before a hand-in,’ argues Khushi.

‘That’s why it takes a bit of discipline,’ I counter, adding that it’s still worth trying. You need to experiment a little and find what works for you.

It will be helpful in most things you do – not just when drawing. It’s like a mini-superpower; another skill to add to your growing list. raisearchitects.co.uk sherbornetimes.co.uk | 115

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Legal

CHANGING WILLS AFTER DEATH David Hill, Private Client Partner, Mogers Drewett

A

lthough not common, mistakes and errors in wills do happen. However, when they are discovered after the testator (the individual who has made a will) has passed away, this can cause problems for expectant beneficiaries.

What is a deed of variation?

Where there is a mistake in a will, or if the will is simply out of date, and the beneficiaries are all agreeable to it being amended, it may be possible to complete a ‘deed of variation’ to change the contents of the will.

This must be done in writing. The document must be signed by the beneficiaries, who are prejudiced by the variation, and if the variation affects the amount of inheritance tax or capital gains tax payable by the estate, it must also be signed by the executor of the estate.

Why would someone make a variation?

There are a number of reasons one might wish to make a variation, for example, to make provision for someone who was excluded from the will, to make it more tax efficient or to simply pass assets on to the next generation.

A deed of variation is often the quickest and most cost-effective way of amending the terms of a will 118 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

after someone has died, but it is important not to rely on this and instead regularly review your will, to ensure it is up to date.

There are, however, occasions when a will is incorrect due to a clerical error or failure to understand someone’s wishes, and this is where ‘rectification’ could be the solution. It may be possible to fix the mistake by way of an application for ‘rectification’ under s20 Administration of Justice Act 1982 within six months of probate being granted. By rectifying the will, the court gives effect to the testator’s real intentions.

If rectification of a will is available, it is generally the best option for beneficiaries who are adversely affected.

If a will is capable of being rectified and the beneficiaries suffer no loss, then they have no right to a further claim against the professional who made the mistake.

Where rectification is ordered and the costs of that process are to be paid from the estate, the beneficiaries might seek to bring a professional negligence claim against the professionals involved in the preparation of the will on the basis that rectification would not have been necessary but for the solicitor’s error. mogersdrewett.com

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Finance

FINANCIAL WELLBEING

F

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

inancial wellbeing means having financial security and financial freedom of choice, both now and in the future. Many things are tightly wrapped into financial decisions – beliefs and values, emotions and experience, so, what steps can you take to establish financial wellbeing?

Consider how well protected you and your family are. Life is full of ups and downs, so, being prepared for the unknown allows for peace of mind, and the ability to navigate yourself and your family through a financial crisis (death, illness, redundancy or an accident).

Set life and financial goals based on what matters to you and where you want be. Are these goals within reach? If not, what needs to happen to bring them closer?

Plan for the worst. Death is an uncomfortable subject but it must be broached. When did you last review your will? Is it still valid? Will your assets go to the right people? Do you have a lasting power of attorney?

Save for the future, by having ‘savings goals’.

And what about retirement? What will that look like? And how will you fill your days when you no longer have to go to work?

How much will your desired lifestyle cost?

Plan your budget and spend less than you earn. Comparing costs of insurances might require a bit of research but the savings can be significant. Also, try to reduce non-essential expenditure. When shopping, ask yourself: • Do I need it?

• Can I afford it?

• Will I use it?

• Is it worth it?

• Do I have one already?

Consider sitting down with a financial wellbeing planner. By working together, they can assist you in maximising your money’s potential.

120 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

Be financially well-organised. It’s not easy but if you partner with a real financial planner, they can help guide you in the right direction.

In essence, financial wellbeing allows you to concentrate on enjoying life without worrying about many of the ‘what ifs’.

It pleases me to know that the clients of my firm worry less about money and their future than they used to. Much of my own happiness derives from knowing that while I’m alive my wife and I are able to do the things we enjoy and spend quality time with our family, while at the same time knowing that when our time is up the people that we want to benefit will benefit. ffp.org.uk

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sherbornetimes.co.uk | 121

Finance

WEALTH MANAGEMENT FOR WOMEN

DESIGNING YOUR OWN LIFESTYLE PLAN Sarah Roughsedge, Founder, Eva Wealth Management for Women

I

n the month where we celebrate International Women’s Day, it seems only appropriate to give some focus to further empower women to take control of their finances and make sound life and finance decisions.

The traditional model of the man of the household running the finances is becoming an outmoded concept as more and more women take control of their financial future. Breaking down the jargon of financial terms and providing advice in a way that, despite its complexities, is easy to understand and process, is vital. And so, this article, whilst applicable for everyone, I hope will be of particular interest to women who are seeking to further their personal financial planning.

Although January already seems far behind us, it is perhaps not so far to recall some of the aspirations, we may have had at the start of a new calendar year.

This year in particular, after the financial and emotional devastation caused by the pandemic, many of us are reflecting on the way we live our lives and what positive changes we can make going forward. Ultimately, it’s important to remember that we are in charge of our own destiny, whether we’re fresh out of education, or much further along in the journey of life.

122 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

The pandemic has of course affected us all in markedly different ways and will continue to affect our finances for years to come. What is essential is that we don’t let fear get in the way just because we’re not sure exactly what these changes will bring. We may be comfortable with our lives currently but let’s not be complacent.

Creating your own lifestyle financial plan starts by taking into account your financial needs and wants, from wealth creation, to investing, to protection. For most of us, it’s our financial ambitions that are likely to be the biggest, most life-changing goals of all. But, due to the hectic lives we live, they can all too often be put on the back burner. Identifying and setting our short-term, mid-term and long-term financial goals are important parts of the process towards becoming financially secure and being able to carve out our desired lifestyle, or think about how to make the most of our accumulated wealth for ourselves and our families beyond, instead of simply being caught on the treadmill, or assumptions of life.

If you’re not working towards something specific, it is all too easy to spend more than you should and then come up short when money is required for unexpected

How to create your own lifestyle plan

1. Gather your personal financial data

2. Identify your unique goals and vision for the future

6. Review and revise your plan as your life changes over time

3. Evaluate your current financial situation 5. Take action by implementing your financial lifestyle plan

bills, not to mention when you want to retire, or give gifts to loved ones, without detrimentally impacting on your own lifestyle now.

Whatever stage of life you’re at, having a clear financial plan in place will ensure you can take advantage of the opportunities as they present themselves and prepare for any challenges that you, your family or business may face. Once you understand your dreams, ambitions and needs, you can take action to make sure these become a reality. Life doesn’t stand still, so your financial plans shouldn’t either.

Consider the questions you may need to ask to shape your future and the actions required to make it happen.

As we all know and have probably experienced, there will be bumps along the road to prepare for.

1 Understand your current financial position as a starting point.

2 Allow yourself to explore what you actually want from life. Try asking yourself the following questions: • Can I sleep comfortably knowing I’ll have enough money for my future?

• Am I ready for life beyond work?

• What is ‘my number’ to ensure my current and

4. Create a financial lifestyle plan and consider any alternatives

future lifestyle?

• What will my children’s future hold?

• How can I pass on my wealth to the next generation?

• Is now the right time to sell my business?

3 How important is each of your goals?

4 Do you need to consider protecting them? If so, how?

5 Put an appropriate investment strategy in place • Build a diversified portfolio • Understand the level of investment risk you need to take • Ensure the time frame of the investment is suitable • Consider your opinions around responsible investing and how important this is to you.

6 Test and review your lifestyle plan to ensure that your various components (protection, investments, legacy, savings plans) remain relevant and applicable to your goals.

Setting financial goals for your lifestyle plan is critical but discovering how to create that plan takes you beyond goal-setting. It adds an emotional element to those goals, infusing all that you do with meaning.

With lifestyle planning, you get to the core of who you are, what you want and how to accomplish it. sherbornetimes.co.uk | 123

Tech

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DISK James Flynn, Milborne Port Computers

A

revisit to a great article from Jimmy, with a few updates. A hard disk, as opposed to a floppy disk – now obsolete, is a disk of magnetic media that spins at a high speed and has an arm that reads the data stored on its surface or writes data to it.

If you like, it’s the same as an old record player with a bit more technology. They can store unimaginable amounts of data; on a 1tb (terabyte – 1,000gb) hard disk you could fit 728 million of the old 1.44mb floppy disks. 20tb disks are now available, and my brain just can’t cope!

So, the floppy disk has gone, the IDE hard disk (IBM compatible) has gone, ESDI has gone, PATA disks are rare and we are left with SATA that now has versions I, II and III. What’s next? SATA Express! All of these new terms actually relate to the connection between the disk and the computer and the improvements are all about the speed of data transfer between the two of them. Until now, the weakest link has been the speed with which the disk can collect its data from the spinning disk; the faster the disk spins the faster the transfer rate but, the more unstable it becomes. 7,200rpm is really the fastest you can physically spin a disk, before it vibrates so much it can’t actually be read. The downside to the SATA drive is that over time it becomes slower with more clicking noises, which is a sign that the drive is starting to fail.

This is sometimes helpful and a warning sign when the disk needs replacing.

Most consumer laptops and PCs have a hard disk of 1tb or 2tb, and this is loads of storage for the average user who is emailing, internet browsing, watching a few videos and holding some pictures. When we are asked to transfer data from an old PC to a new one, most 124 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

users are surprised how little storage they have used from their capacity: typically, 50-100gb. Now think about internet speeds which have gone ballistic recently with the introduction of fibre, and the fact that online data storage has become so cheap that everybody can afford it. The conclusion of these facts is that what we need now is a super-fast disk that’s not really about storage, but more about making the laptop or PC equally super-fast.

Enter the SSD… that stands for ‘Solid State Disk’.

A device which is completely electronic and has no moving parts, no spinning disk, no little arm, no noise, nothing. It uses a fraction of the power that a traditional disk uses, giving hours more battery life to laptops. They’ve been around for a couple of years, but with expensive price tags. However, the cost has plummeted in the last 12 months and they are now affordable and fitted in new computers, as well as an upgrade option. Typically, a three-year-old laptop with a traditional hard disk starts up in about 2-3 minutes; a similar maching with a replacement SSD will start up within 30 seconds. The future is here, now!

All you have to do is copy your existing disk to a new SSD… job done.

The downside? Most of the time with an SSD you sadly don’t receive a warning if the disk is close to failing or about to. Although, it is rare for this to happen. So, even though these devices are crazy fast they still have the ability to fail – meaning you should always have backup.

As ever, if you need help, you know where to come! computing-mp.co.uk

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Short Story

ABRACADABRA

O

Jan Pain, Sherborne Scribblers

f all her charges in the Sunnyside Home for Retired Gentlefolk, 18-year-old Lisa liked Frank Pearce the best. Over the period of three months working there, she had observed the foibles of most of the residents, such as the snobbish and demanding attitude of Mrs Chatwin-Jones, the irascible nature of retired army officer, Major Jackson, and the simple trusting soul of Miss Briggs, who wandered around clutching an outsized Tweetie Pie, which bird even accompanied her at mealtimes.

It could be said these residents had whims to which Lisa had to defer, whereas Frank never displayed any unpredictable traits and was always friendly and cheerful. He was a snappy dresser too, who fussed about his carefully ironed shirt and change of natty bow tie, every day. A trouser press stood in the corner of his room; Lisa noted.

‘Come in, sweetheart,’ he would say, when she tapped on his door. The bedsit had a welcoming feel, despite the dated 1960’s décor. Colourful posters adorned the walls and cherished knick-knacks littered the windowsills.

The first time she’d met him he’d been playing Patience. As she bent forward to put his cup of tea on the table, he reached upwards and, with a chuckle, withdrew a playing card from behind her left ear. This little exercise was repeated a few times before she asked, ‘Frank, are you a magician and do you have any other tricks?’ Needing no second bidding and giving her a knowing wink, he rummaged in the duffel bag beside his chair, revealing three plastic flowerpots, which he inverted onto the table, and a ping pong ball.

‘Come on then sweetheart, which pot’s the ball under?’ Lisa failed to guess at every turn, collapsing with a fit of the giggles, as Frank eventually withdrew the ball from his mouth.

‘Ha! Ha!’ he said, ‘I’m glad the hand hasn’t lost its cunning. Yes, I’m a magician, or rather I was. I shall be ninety soon, but I still remember most of my act. I had my first conjuring set when I was ten and soon mastered the basics. By the time I was 13, I was entertaining at kiddies’ parties. That was the biggest test; the little boys in particular always hoped to trip me up and expose my tricks, so I quickly learned to build up an aura of mystery.

By the time I was 18, I’d been accepted into the Magic Circle.’

‘Wow, Frank,’ exclaimed Lisa, ‘did your career take off ?’

126 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

‘You could say I was lucky. It was the time of variety shows in the fifties, so I togged myself up in the full works – evening dress, voluminous black cape, top hat and magic wand. I’d raise my left arm parallel with my nose to appear as mysterious as possible and, Bob’s your uncle, I was soon touring all over. I had another stroke of luck when I met my beautiful Gloria (oh! what a pair of legs!) who became my assistant and eventually my wife. We were billed as The Illustrious Illusionists – Mister Ree and Miss Teek. What a time we had; even finishing up with our own TV show! Sadly, my darling wife died five years ago, and I came here when I couldn’t manage on my own. Have a look in the wardrobe - I’ve still got all our gear.’

Lisa opened the door to reveal the props and paraphernalia of Frank’s theatrical life, including the gold lamé costume once worn by Gloria.

‘Tell you what,’ Frank said, ‘if Matron would let me, I’d love to hold a party for my 90th, and have the opportunity to go through the old routine one more time. Best of all would be if you could wear Gloria’s costume and be my assistant. You’ve certainly got the legs for it,’ he said, with a twinkle in his eye.

A few weeks later, Frank and Lisa dressed themselves in their stage finery and entertained the residents with nearly an hour of magic. Mrs Chatwin-Jones let go her inhibitions and cheered when Frank produced yards of silk scarves from the pockets of Matron’s uniform. Major Jackson guffawed when Lisa disappeared from their largest prop, a big black box, and little Miss Briggs practically swooned at the sight of a rabbit being withdrawn from the top hat, rushing forward to introduce it to Tweetie Pie. ‘I’m so glad I pulled it off one last time,’ Frank said to Lisa. ‘It’s because they can’t figure how it’s done that keeps up the suspense, you know. By the way, sweetheart, if you’re still around when I pop my clogs, I’d like them to drape my cape over the coffin so that I can still be cloaked in mystery when I reach the pearly gates.’

Dying without a Will.

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FEBRUARY SOLUTIONS

ACROSS 1. Very steep (11) 9. Strong fibrous tissue (5) 10. Bind (3) 11. Tiny arachnids (5) 12. Broadcast again (5) 13. Country one lives in (8) 16. Getting away from (8) 18. This date (5) 21. Comic dramatic work (5) 22. Research place (abbrev.) (3) 23. Rogue; scoundrel (5) 24. Radically (11)

128 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

DOWN 2. Perfect example of a quality (7) 3. Tuft of grass (7) 4. Cordial (6) 5. More recent (5) 6. Express; complete (5) 7. Instantly (11) 8. Unintelligible (11) 14. Silk-like fabric (7) 15. Active during the day (7) 17. Sightseeing trip in Africa (6) 19. Suspend; prevent (5) 20. Bonds of union (5)

Literature

LITERARY REVIEW Mark Greenstock, Sherborne Literary Society

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex, (Picador March 2021), £14.99 (hardback) Sherborne Times Reader Offer Price of £13.99 from Winstone’s Books

L

ockdown is a way of life that profoundly affects mind, body and spirit, whether or not it is embraced willingly by those who endure it. Emma Stonex’s debut venture into literary fiction is likely to become one of the most talkedabout books of 2021. The action takes place on and off the coast of Cornwall’s Land’s End. The author, born in 1983, now lives in Bristol with her husband and two children, but the genesis of the book is the obsession she admits to having with lighthouses – in particular with the historical mystery surrounding the loss of three lighthouse keepers from a sea-girt tower in the Outer Hebrides in 1900, a loss that was never satisfactorily explained. Stonex moves the location to the other end of Britain to the invented small town of Mortehaven (a significant place name in itself ), where a small row of separate keepers’ cottages owned by Trident House faces the Maiden Rock light fifteen miles out to sea. Thus, we have two lockdown situations mirroring one another and shifting according to the periods of duty imposed upon each of the men whose wife or partner remains on shore.

‘People will believe anything and, given the choice, they prefer lies to the truth because lies are usually more interesting.’ We are let into the situations of each of the couples and of a substantial list of other characters who play an integral part in the action. The tautness of the narrative and the atmospheric writing are maintained throughout the book, with psychological

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

and supernatural elements interweaving or unfolding through the relationships of the six main participants. Author and reader are engaged in a game of mystery cat-andmouse, as events switch between 1972 (the year of the tragedy) and twenty years later.

At every point, the reader is challenged to provide a rational explanation for the happenings but is kept baffled until the blunt and explosive climax.

The sea and the Maiden herself are the enduring characters in the book. ‘Wind waves and horses ride, froth and spume then calm and calm; endless sea, rapidly changing mood, whispering and whistling its sad song, soul song, lost song, gone but never for long, up again till it’s rolling, and at the heart of it our Maiden, rooted down like a centuries-old oak, hunkered right into the rock.’ The men who operate the lighthouse have their routines and their preoccupations, but the elements are bigger than they are, and their fragile personalities rebound as the pressure mounts.

The contrast between the earthy conversation of the three keepers and the eerie interventions of a different world is driven hard, though the reader sometimes has to work out which side of the probability watershed certain incidents belong. The ending brings hope of a sort, but the sense of loss is palpable. The quality of the writing is considerable, and this author is one to watch. sherborneliterarysociety.com

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STAY WELL. STAY WELL-READ

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

T

Diane Tregale, Chaplain, The Gryphon School

he African impala is a medium-sized antelope; it is majestic, beautiful and incredibly athletic.

In one leap it can reach a height of 3 metres whilst covering a distance of 10 metres.

When kept in captivity however, a 1-metre-high wall will contain it. It could easily scale the fence, but it never will. Impalas won’t jump over something if they cannot see where their feet will land.

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in a jail in South Africa for 27 years because of the oppressive apartheid system there. On his release from prison, he became Prime Minister and brought about peace and reconciliation. In his book called The Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela gives some great advice. He said: ‘Let your choices reflect your hopes not your fears.’

Mandela always tried to live by this principle – and it is my prayer that you will too, as we continue to navigate our way through the pandemic and all that lies beyond. It’s right that we are careful and that we don’t put ourselves, others and the NHS in danger. But it’s unhealthy to allow our fears to define us and to shape our attitudes. Let’s not allow our fears to be like the 1-metrefence that robs us of hope. Let’s not become discouraged even though we can’t yet see where our feet will land.

When the movie The Shawshank Redemption was premiered, I was living in London. It seemed to be advertised in every underground station and I was inspired by the strapline of the film, which I still remember 27 years later: ‘Fear can hold you captive. Hope can set you free.’

I wonder how would you define hope? During Lockdown 1, pupils at the Gryphon were asked for suggestions. Here are my two favourite ideas: A target to aim for.

A way of life.

What are you hoping for after this lockdown is lifted and, further ahead, when the pandemic is over? You might like to write these hopes on slips of paper; fold them up; put them inside a jar and close it. Keep it somewhere visible to help keep hope alive and then, when lockdown is over or when the pandemic has been brought under control, open it and take the pieces of paper out. Do the things you have written down, giving thanks as you do so, and rejoicing that we are free.

And while you wait, don’t lose hope.

This prayer was written by teenagers in a secondary school in Bristol last March: Creator God, send your Holy Spirit to fill us with hope today Hope that rises like the sun and provides us with faith Hope that inspires us to get out of bed and face any day Hope that can change someone’s story and someone’s prospect Hope that can guide us on the right path when we’ve lost it May we live in hope and grow in the likeness of your Son, Jesus, Amen gryphon.dorset.sch.uk

130 | Sherborne Times | March 2021

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