Community

A NEW CHAPTER

THE REMARKABLE JOURNEY OF SHERBORNE’S HISTORIC HOUSE

Stefan Pitman, Director, Spase Design

An extraordinary building with many stories, Sherborne House has served our community in many guises over the centuries – it has been a bishop’s estate office, a barn, a court, a grammar school for girls, and even played host to Charles Dickens, who visited regularly whilst his good friend William Macready took up residence in the 19th century. The threads of time are woven into the fabric of the stunning Grade I Georgian mansion with its Tudor wing and it’s time to peel back the pages of an exciting new chapter.

After more than 30 years of failed attempts to revive the glorious albeit desperately neglected building, work is now well underway. Conserving and re-purposing a location such as Sherborne House is not an easy task. Renovating and moulding it into the new and inspiring space that is to be 'The Sherborne', requires great sympathy, expertise, and skill. You may have caught a glimpse of the activity from the street-side, but what lies within has been nothing short of remarkable.

Stefan Pitman of Spase Design has been the lead for the project since 2018.

Image: Len Copland

First of all, we undertook the survey, design, planning permission and listed building consent for the building. As it’s been empty for over 30 years and on the Buildings at Risk register, planning took almost three years. We then set up the wider design team and Spase Design are now the contract administrators and architects on site. This project, and the client’s vision, is quite unique compared to what you would normally expect to find in this area of the country. For the construction sector to take on a Grade I listed building like this with all the inherent risks and look to significantly extend the size of the building is rather unheard of. There are three elements to the building: the Georgian house which is very significant because of the famous Thornhill Mural within the staircase, the Tudor wing and the coach house and then the modern extensions. We appointed contractors Stonewood Builders for their wealth of experience and capability in both the heritage and new build environments, with specialists to ensure that the quality and finishes are exactly what we want.

When we opened up the building there were some interesting finds. One of those areas was the original Tudor kitchen which we had some inclination of due to the depth of the wall. We pulled back asbestos and fibreboard linings using specialist workers and exposed a series of three Tudor fireplaces that would have been used as part of the main kitchen, as well as a number of different boilers and ovens across two walls which is absolutely fantastic to see. So, we’re going to be exposing those, repairing them, lighting them and making them the feature of the finished project.

In addition, we were bringing some services straight into the front of house and exposed some really lovely Victorian water chambers. Nobody had any idea that they were there as there is no record of them anywhere. We’re going to be retaining these in situ, together with an explanation, within the new landscape finishes, so everyone can understand why they are there. It’s such a satisfying project to be involved with and such a great legacy for all to enjoy.

This glorious building is for the community and we’re working hard to produce an impressive space where creativity is celebrated, people come together, and curiosity is a culture.

As with any substantial renovation project, there’s always a certain level of excitement buzzing in the background and so, we’re delighted to finally invite you to follow our remarkable journey. To receive the latest news, unearth the hidden secrets of Sherborne House, and gain exclusive insight into what lies ahead for its new life as The Sherborne, I encourage you to subscribe to the mailing list and stay connected.

Whether local to Sherborne, a Dorset dweller, or simply looking for cultural things to do in the south west – watch this space.

SHERBORNE COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA

Nick Bathurst, Chair, Sherborne Community Orchestra

Image: Katharine Davies

The Sherborne Community Orchestra reconvened for the 2021-22 season after an enforced break of nearly two years, except for one playing day when restrictions eased in the spring of 2021. In May this year, we returned to concert-giving with a programme which included popular items from the traditional ‘Last Night of the Proms’ pieces to celebrate getting back together.

Our long-standing conductor (since 2009), Ian Pillow led our return concert this year, following which he had decided to step down. We are delighted to welcome John Jenkins, the recently retired Director of Music at the Girls School as our new conductor for the 2022-23 season starting in October.

The Orchestra was formed in 1997 by Dr David Townsend and Mrs Frances Edwards, both learning the clarinet as adults, and their teacher Owen Clarke, to provide an opportunity for musicians in and around Sherborne to play orchestral music. We met initially as a rehearsal orchestra in the Big School Room at the Boys’ School on one Sunday in each school term. In 1998 it was decided to put on a concert at the end of the season and thus the format of four Sunday meetings with a concert given at the last meeting of the season was set. An annual concert has been given for 22 years until the Covid restrictions called a halt in 2020.

We very much welcome new players and would encourage adult learners for whom orchestral playing may be a new experience. A number of our players have used the opportunity to get back to playing an instrument they played at school or university. We suggest a standard of around grade 5. The music we will be working on over the year will include: Beethoven: Symphony No 7 (slow movt.) Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite no1 (selected movts) Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture Sullivan (arr Mackeras) Pineapple Poll Suite (selected movts) Maxwell Davies: Sir Charles Pavane Aaron Copeland: Down a Country Lane

The Orchestra will meet at the Digby Hall, next to the Sherborne Library in Hound Street, on the following Sunday afternoons (2pm–6pm) with a concert at 7pm on the fourth day: 16th October 2022 23rd April 2023 29th January 2023 21st May 2023

The first attendance for a new player can be a free ‘taster day’. The subscription for the series will be £30. Folders of music are provided.

Anyone interested in joining in can send contact details to either the Chair, Nicholas Bathurst nanddbathurst54@gmail.com or the Membership Secretary, Christine Hunt djcd.hunt@gmail.com

We can then send a registration form and arrange for a folder of music for you.

A YEAR OF MENDING

Bridget Joslin, Repair Cafe Committee

It’s hard to believe it’s only a year since Repair Cafe Sherborne opened its doors for the first time. The small band of green enthusiasts who set up the organisation has morphed into 30 repairers and volunteers, all willing and able as we enter our second year.

Our remit is to do our bit for the planet by helping stem the oceans of waste ending up in landfill. By encouraging people to repair, reuse, and recycle, we have struck a chord with Sherborne people who have responded enthusiastically, bringing a vast array of objects for repair – things which would otherwise have been thrown away.

We weigh each item and record it. Since March this year, the date from which we began to keep strict records of weights, we have saved almost 100 kg from landfill and mended 134 items. These results are sent to Repair Cafe International who use our stats to pressurise manufacturers to only make items that are repairable. Our monthly Saturday mornings feed into a much bigger picture. Waste is a major contributor to planetary overheating and all countries need to cut waste to reduce carbon emissions.

Over the year, items repaired have ranged from a model spaceship (our very first repair), a terrifyinglooking chainsaw, a spate of old Henry vacuum cleaners, a number of beloved bears and vintage dolls, to a stuffed shark and everything in between.

Some classic tales have emerged. An eye-catching model of Tower Bridge was brought in with tottering turrets by Robert Membury’s great-great-grandson. Robert was responsible for the ironwork around Sherborne Abbey and had started the model. His son Reg finished it after Robert died and it’s still in the family.

Other stories include saving a boy’s toy rabbit, a gift to him as a baby, a keepsake from a special aunt. A vintage radio repair brought tears to the eyes of one customer – it belonged to her father and was the only memento she had of him. Another customer was delighted with his much spruced-up bear, aged 64 (above), who had looked considerably worse for wear when brought in.

These are small human stories whose reach goes far beyond the personal and local. They gladden the hearts of the repairers too, making it all doubly worthwhile.

In the shortest time, Repair Cafe Sherborne is becoming an institution. People know where to find us and recommend us to others.

To date, we have been entirely self-supporting. Our costs are met by donations only, given by customers for items repaired. These help to pay for hall hire, insurance, expenses and advertising. We are a not-for-profit organisation.

Throughout the year Repair Cafe has greatly appreciated the support given by the community, especially cake donations from Cafe Fontana, Oliver’s and The Pear Tree.

Where to now? We hope to expand, offering howto-do-your-own-repairs and other workshops. One exciting new off-shoot, Insulate Sherborne, sponsored by Repair Cafe Sherborne, is one you can read about in this magazine. Volunteers are always welcome. We particularly need someone with social media skills.

___________________________________________ Saturday 15th October, 19th November and 17th December Repair Cafe Sherborne Cheap Street Church Hall

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INSULATING SHERBORNE

John Bullock, Insulate Sherborne

We are in the middle of a two-pronged crisis. On the one hand, we are threatened with insufficient fuel supplies, leading to energy prices rising beyond anything we’ve ever imagined – predicted to rise to £265 a month (gas + electricity) from October this year. And on the other hand, we have a climate crisis that is threatening our very future, with the possible loss of 200,000 homes in the UK due to irretrievable coastal flooding – and that includes the Somerset Levels. Unfortunately, the answer that we’re looking for that might save those communities is to stop using the very fossil fuels that we need to keep homes warm this winter.

So what can we do? Is there one answer that can help with both situations? It’s funny you should say that...

The aim of Insulate Sherborne is to provide advice about how we can all keep warm and to demonstrate that there are things that can be done that don’t cost money. And it’s all about keeping the heat in and not letting the draughts take it away.

How big is the problem? The Office of National Statistics (ONS) reckons that only 0.2% of properties in England rate an ‘A’ for energy efficiency, while a disastrous 60% rate ‘D’ or less, and are thereby classed as ‘inadequate’. It gives us a good clue as to where our money is going – out through the fabric and those illfitting windows and doors.

Sherborne is an old town, full of gorgeous old buildings. But old buildings need a lot of maintenance and often need a lot of heating. Insulating old houses has never been an easy fix. Centuries-old building methods don’t necessarily lend themselves to easy-fix solutions. But a fix there is.

Since the war, a significant number of homes have

Image: Malcolm Balmer LRPS

been built in the town, but unfortunately, most of these 20th and even 21st-century buildings still need bringing up to speed to make them warm and efficient. It is a great pity that, to date, no commercial house builder in Sherborne has produced passive, fully insulated, warm in winter, cool in summer homes that generate tiny energy bills. We hope any future building in Sherborne will be a different story and builders will take into account the changes in our climate.

Insulate Sherborne is working with Healthy Homes Dorset to provide advice and support to all homeowners and renters. Regardless of our situation, there will be something that we can do to reduce heating bills. At the end of the day, we’re trying to keep whatever heat we generate inside our homes and to keep the cold winter air outside. It’s like wearing an extra layer to trap the heat around our bodies, together with a scarf and a hat to keep the cold air away – that is what insulation is all about.

We have three things to think about; the walls with their windows and doors, the floors and the ceilings. And they are the places where we need to put our energy to save our energy. At one end of the scale we might make creative use of stuffed trouser legs as draft excluders and cling-film as double glazing (yes it works); while further along the street someone might be installing interior wall insulation in their barn conversion.

We have to talk about climate change.

Despite the cost-of-living crisis we still need to have this conversation. The heatwaves – storms –droughts – floods – wildfires are not happening by accident, and they are not happening because it’s ‘what the planet does anyway’. Let’s be clear. This is a human-driven crisis, caused by an excess of carbon dioxide (and other gases) in the atmosphere. The only thing that will save us is to reduce the amount of carbon that we produce. And that means we need to find ways of burning less fossil fuel and to be much more efficient in holding onto the heat that we use in our buildings.

The twentieth century was very good to us, world wars notwithstanding. Those of us who grew up with unheated bedrooms and bathrooms will still remember the discomfort that came with them. Central heating became the norm around fifty years ago, and there are now a couple of generations who have no recollection of those deprivations. It’s those generations who are now making the running with the climate debate. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

It’s better that we choose to work to improve the way that heat is retained in our buildings than to suggest that we all learn to wear more layers like granny did. Not that wearing more layers is a bad thing, of course, but house insulation techniques drive us towards more practical - and more comfortable – solutions to our soon-to-be-devastating climate problem.

To learn more about the ways that you can improve the thermal efficiency of your home, please visit the Insulate Sherborne website, where you’ll find downloadable information sheets on what you can do.

Insulate Sherborne has been set up by the volunteers behind the Sherborne Repair Cafe - we are a not-forprofit organisation. Our aim is to spread the word about the steps we can take to keep warm this winter without it costing the earth.

Image: Len Copland

OUR MAN IN WESTMINSTER

Chris Loder MP, Member of Parliament for West Dorset

Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth has been a cherished constant – a presence that is difficult to describe. One that I’d liken to a close grandparent, even though I have not even shaken her hand personally. Queen Elizabeth has provided a ‘sure foundation’, a rock on which I have aspired and respected and increasingly cherished over the years – and I am only 41! Given she was monarch for 70 years, I am sure there will be many people feeling that loss much more than me.

Being your representative in the House of Commons is an incredible honour for me, especially at this time and I thought you might like to know a little bit of what has actually happened behind the scenes in the run-up to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.

On Thursday 8th September, I was sat in the House of Commons chamber where energy prices were being debated and solutions shared in Parliament. At 12.30pm, there was clearly something going on. Messengers went to the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition. Both left the House. The very busy press gallery, emptied and then refilled. It was clear that a message had been delivered that the Queen was very ill – a rumour that also spread across the back-benches

until the Speaker shared the announcement from Buckingham Palace.

Later that day, the Queen died.

Parliamentary business was halted the next day and replaced with tributes to Her late Majesty the Queen. The Prime Minister gave her speech, followed by the Leader of the Opposition and then the former Prime Ministers. There were very moving tributes all day until late into the night. It is a regular occurrence that parliament sits until 10.30pm or later. I was able to make my tribute to HM The Queen at 9.32pm and if you’d like to see it, you can watch online at www. chrisloder.co.uk/ER.

On behalf of West Dorset, I gave His Majesty King Charles III the deepest condolences on his and his family’s personal bereavement. I also spoke of the fondness and affection with which the Queen is held by West Dorset, with much of this stemming from Her Majesty’s numerous visits to West Dorset over the 70 years of her reign.

I wished the King to know of the profound sadness that we share with him and our sympathies. Of how much we have appreciated the Queen’s incredible leadership and steadfast support and our enormous respect for her duty and service to this country.

Some may recall the Her Majesty’s first visit as Queen to West Dorset in July 1952, only a few months after acceding to the throne when she visited Dorchester. Her reputation was cemented here in Dorset as a warm, down-to-earth lady who cared deeply about the countryside and its people. Here in Sherborne, we received two visits. One in May 1998, packing much activity into her stay. She unveiled the Great West Window at Sherborne Abbey, planted a commemorative tree at Minterne Gardens and opened the new buildings at Dorset County Hospital. Then of course her Diamond Jubilee Tour in 2012, notable for her arrival at Sherborne station by train.

Some of you may know that I am a bellringer – in my spare time! And on Sunday 11th, in the morning, I joined the Sherborne Abbey ringers in the fully muffled ringing of the 8 bells. This was something that I have never done before, nor heard – because it only happens on the passing of a monarch. I then went to Dorchester where King Charles III was proclaimed as the new Monarch at 1pm, and then back to Sherborne at 3pm for the town proclamation before going to London that night.

On Monday 12th, with 1,200 fellow MPs and Peers, we listened to the King speak in Westminster Hall where a presentation of sympathy from both Houses was made to the King. The moving response from King Charles was one that inspired hope through the most painful grief.

Queen Elizabeth lay in state at Westminster Hall for 4 days before her funeral and I was very moved to pay our respects to the Queen on Friday afternoon by going to Westminster Hall in person.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has provided that continuous link to the past, a symbol of all that is good about the United Kingdom, and a reference point for our entire post-war history as a nation. The coronavirus pandemic being a case in point as to how Her Majesty lifted the nation, gave us hope, and shared in our collective grief, as she did during the Second World War. We have been immeasurably fortunate to have had Queen Elizabeth in our lives, and for so long. Charles III will be continuing his late mother’s legacy; maintaining the steadfast and consistent presence as we navigate the many challenges ahead.

chrisloder.co.uk

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MARKET KNOWLEDGE

KATHRYN JOHN, THE NATURAL INK PROJECT

Welcome to The Sherborne Market! What brings you here?

Hello! I have come along to the market to share all things colour with The NATURAL INK. project. Along with selling my work, it has been such a joy to chat and share, and learn, from the folks I meet on the street.

Where have you travelled from?

My studio in Butleigh, near Glastonbury.

Tell us about what you’re selling?

I sell bottles of ink I make in small batches from plants and metals I forage and find: oak galls for hardy black and sepia, copper pipe makes a gorgeous blue, and avocado skins, a dusky pink. These can be used for craft, art and writing, whether you’re a player, nature lover, colour-curious or a full-time artist/maker looking to make your practice more sustainable and rooted in the natural world. I also sell hand-written cards and artwork I have created using these and a host of other inks. I am developing further things for my stall at the moment too. The silly ‘Bum Bum Bum’ and ‘Hello Poo Face’ cards have been very popular! I will be taking card and art commissions this winter too.

Where and when did it all begin?

This all began in 2015, in Hay-on-Wye, when I was using a lot of toxic enamel paints in my work as a trainee traditional sign-painter. Ethically and physically it didn’t sit right to be using these materials. My body had a lot of discomfort breathing in these chemicals day-in-day-out, and I realised they were also similarly harmful to the natural world. My mentor was an avid natural dyer - applying colour to textiles - and I began researching how to take this alchemy and turn it into ink and paint. It all delightfully snowballed from there.

What do you enjoy most about selling at markets?

The conversations with the people I meet. When someone walks by and is drawn in by the colours and I see, and recognise, the curiosity in them I know we will have a good chat. I learn a great deal from the people I meet – it really is a community project. I never anticipated this, but I often leave markets with many notes scribbled in my notebook about new plants, or some interesting piece of related information, that I then research when back in the studio.

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

There are the fabulous seaweed folks who I have met in passing. I am eager to get out and soak it all up, to be honest. Fellow artist-makers and all of the tasty food… There is so much going on.

Where can people find you on market day?

I have been based at the suitcase stalls on Cheap Street this spring/summer but will be back in November and December with a full pitch somewhere new, so keep an eye out for me!