The New Blackmore Vale Magazine - Issue 91

Celebrated gardener Derry Watkins is giving a talk at Tarrant Keyneston village hall Page 4

Gillingham Town Council has signed the National Armed Forces Covenant

The Vale Pantry gets a helping hand to stage yoga-in the-park sessions

Developers return with plans for 1,700 homes

A REVISED planning application for permission to build up to 1,700 new homes on the edge of Frome has been submitted.

The scheme, by Grass Roots Planning Ltd on behalf of Land Value Alliances and Landowners Consortium, would see a development called the Selwood Garden Community built on land south of Frome, off Marston Road.

school, two care homes, shops and cafes.

The application outlines: “The vision is to deliver an innovative and sustainable community integrated with both the town and the countryside.

five-bed houses and 88 selfbuild plots.

Plans for the scheme were originally submitted in 2021, but have now been updated, to address “a range of comments that have been made by statutory consultees and the council”.

An outline application, the plans do not include full details, but do state an intention to build up to 1,700 homes, including an allocation of affordable dwellings, as well as a primary

“Providing intimate neighbourhoods, community facilities and employment spaces set in the distinctive countryside of the River Frome Valley; it will help Frome’s wider transition to a low-carbon economy and will help enable the One Planet Living Agenda to be put into practice.”

The scheme for an edge-oftown site near Frome also includes two care homes and a primary school PHOTOS: Grass Roots Planning Ltd/ Somerset Council

“This housing mix is illustrative and may change, however it gives a general direction to future developers and will not be changed significantly unless updated housing evidence such as a new Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) or commercial assessment identifies that an alternative approach should be considered,” the application said.

It said privately-owned agricultural land would be transformed into community meadows, orchards, parks and allotments, alongside a “network of footpaths and cycleways” and employment premises.

Of the 1,700 homes, the application said 30% would be affordable – around 510 homes. In total, 67% would be for social rent (1,139), 25% first homes (425) and 8% shared ownership (136).

Meanwhile, two care homes would provide up to 105 beds, with a first school providing two-form entry and a nursery. Restaurants and cafes, as well as a convenience store and takeaways would also be developed on the site, as well as a dentist and premises for businesses.

The proposal indicates a split of 29 two-bed flats, 298 two-bed houses, 599 three-bed houses, 159 four-bed houses, 17

A previous application prompted hundreds of comments from residents, but the amended plans are now set to be considered by Somerset Council.

Jobs at the mill

STURMINSTER Newton Heritage Trust is looking for a miller and guides at the Mill.

The trustees are searching for someone to share the role with the current miller, who will pass on all his knowledge to a new miller/guide. Millers lead guided tours of the historic space, while keeping heritage skills alive with milling weekends, where visitors can see flour milled using traditional methods – which is on sale in the shop.

Visitors to the mill are treated to a warm welcome four days a week from March to September by the friendly team of volunteer stewards – and extra guides who will enjoy showing visitors around the beautiful heritage building are also needed.

These are part time, flexible and paid roles. For more information call Pete 01747 854355 or email zillabears@ hotmail.co.uk.

Find out more about SNHT at www.sturminsternewtonmuseum.co.uk.

The closing date for applications is April 30.

Summer colour

CELEBRATED gardening expert Derry Watkins will be giving a talk this month.

Derry, who runs Special Plants in Bath, will be at Tarrant Keyneston Village Hall, near Blandford, on Wednesday, March 20.

Starting at 2.30pm, her talk – organised by Tarrant Valley Gardening Club – will be on Late Summer Colour.

She is the author of two books on greenhouse gardening and has introduced many plants after trips to South Africa and elsewhere.

“For 40 years I have been avidly and unashamedly plantaholic,” she said. “About 25 years ago I started the nursery as a way of justifying all the plants I just had to buy.

“Against everyone’s advice, I began by specialising in tender perennials – plants which need frost protection in winter.

“Irritating because you must remember to take cuttings and bring them inside, delightful because they are some of the longest blooming and most beautiful of all plants.”

Derry will have plants for sale and there will be tea, homemade cakes and a raffle. Tickets are available from Madeleine on 01258 480778 or on the door if available.

It’s show time in Dorset

ORGANISERS of the Dorset Spring Show, being held at Kingston Maurward, Dorchester, next month, are busy making preparations.

The show, presented by the team behind the Dorset County Show, will focus on education and entertainment, on everything to do with food, farming and flowers.

Demonstrations include extreme BMX, beekeeping, terrier racing, axemen, falconry, baking and flower arranging.

Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about some of the rarest pigs in the world and witness ‘pig agility’ in The Hogg Show.

Visitors will also be introduced to nine breeds of sheep – that dance – in the Sheep Show.

Members of the public can get involved too with more than 90 competitions across cookery, photography, flowers, vegetables and crafts.

The show will also have Associated Garden Classes alongside school, college and club competitions.

Event organiser James Cox said: “We welcome in the new season with a spring get together for Dorset.

“Whether you wish to indulge in delicious Dorset foods, purchase local crafts, enjoy watching extreme BMX bikes, meet a lamb or watch local demonstrations, Dorset Spring Show has it all when it comes to celebrating spring in Dorset!”

The show is on Saturday and Sunday, April 27-28. Discounted tickets priced £12 are available until April 20 at www. dorsetcountyshow.ticketsrv.co.uk/tickets/38 Children are admitted free of charge.

Passionate plantaholic

Derry Watkins will be bringing a selection of plants and some expert advice to the Vale this month

Fatal car crash: Family’s tribute Empty home bid

TRIBUTES have been paid to Blandford teenager Ewan Seath, who sadly died after a crash in Somerley last month.

Ewan, 19, (pictured) was driving a black Volkswagen Golf that collided with a tree on Alderholt Road at around 8.50am on Monday, February 26. His family has now paid tribute to the teenager, saying his death leaves an “unimaginable void in our lives”.

such a passion for cars,” they said.

“He was the most selfless, kindest and loving son, brother and friend anyone could have wished for, nothing was ever too much trouble for Ewan, he had a laughter and smile which would light up a room.

“We are all in immense shock and pain at this sudden loss, Ewan leaves an unimaginable void in all of our lives.”

AN empty house in Blandford could be bought and improved for people to live in.

Dorset Council is to submit a compulsory purchase order – where the owner has to sell the property – for 26 East Street in Blandford Forum.

“If the order is confirmed, it will authorise Dorset Council to purchase compulsorily that land for the purpose of facilitating its improvement,” a spokesperson said.

environmental and social problems, but can also provide a ‘new’ home, which helps meet housing demand, reduces pressure on new build development and can also provide an income and asset for the owner.

“We want to encourage owners to bring empty properties back into use as homes. We recognise that properties are often empty for a wide variety of reasons and our role is therefore to initially influence and encourage property owners. This can include advice about undertaking repairs, selling the property or renting it.

“Ewan was living his life to the fullest and so incredibly excited about his future, undertaking an automotive apprenticeship with Poole and Bournemouth College, having

Anyone who witnessed the crash, or has any information relevant to the police investigation, should call 101, quoting reference number 44240083299.

They added: “Empty properties can make an area feel run down and undermine community spirit. They can also become the focus of anti-social behaviour, fly tipping and rodent activity.

“Returning an empty property to use can not only resolve these

“However, we may also take appropriate enforcement action where these informal negotiations fail. We have information for owners of empty properties and also information for those affected by empty properties, such as neighbours and local residents.”

PHOTO: Hampshire Police

Pupils get making for Mother’s Day

CHILMARK Fonthill Bishop

CofE Primary School has been welcoming members of the community into the school.

Visitors joined the school for a community lunch when they sat down with the children and enjoyed fish fingers and chips. The school hopes to make

this a regular event as it was enjoyed by everyone.

Chilmark resident and school volunteer, Jane Middleton, visited to make Mothering Sunday posies with the children. Headteacher, Adam Smith, surprised the year 6 pupils with his floristry skills.

Family Law Advice

Family Law Advice

Carnival cash set to help save lives through clothes

A CHARITY clothing company that donates profits to help people get life-saving counselling has received a boost thanks to Shaftesbury Carnival.

Bad Co spokesperson said.

“This year, we were lucky enough to be one of them. This £600 will go directly towards paying for people’s counselling and will enable two people to receive a course of early intervention, life-saving therapy.

We realise talking about divorce or separation is very personal and so we are offering virtual appointments by Zoom. As an alternative, we offer a one off FREE telephone appointment for initial advice on Wednesdays 9am – 1pm

We realise talking about divorce or separation is very personal and so we are offering appointments at our offices. For new clients seeking initial advice a FREE appointment can be booked on Wednesdays 9am – 1pm.

To book an appointment please call us on 01747 852377

To book an appointment please call us on 01747 852377

Offices in Shaftesbury – Sturminster Newton –

The Dorset-based Brave and Determined Company (Bad Co) was handed a £600 donation from last year’s carnival.

“Every year the volunteers of the Shaftesbury Carnival put on an amazing show for the crowds and also raise a huge amount of money for local charities,” a

“A massive thank you to the carnival club and all the volunteers that make it possible.”

For more information on Bad Co, log on to www.badco.uk

THE Grove Building, Mere, is the venue for Lent Lunches every Monday until Easter week. PHOTO: George Jeans

Bring Your Own packaging

DID you know that food and drink packaging makes up 20% of litter on our streets and beaches?

Litter Free Dorset’s Bring Your Own campaign is encouraging everyone in the county to dig out their tote bags, plastic containers and reusable cups to reduce the amount of packaging littering our towns.

Whether you’re popping to the shops, grabbing a takeaway, or browsing a local market, there are plenty of opportunities to BYO packaging, say organisers.

Some independent businesses are ambassadors for the campaign.

At Baboo Gelato stores, you can take your own cup for a coffee or a scoop of its delicious ice cream; Hive Beach Company is keen for customers to bring or borrow a plate for its takeaway Sunday roast; and Oxfords Bakery stores will happily refill your coffee cup or pop your takeaway lunch into your own reusable box!

Customers can, of course, take their own shopping bags into any retail shop, but businesses such as Groves Garden Centre, Brace of Butchers and Norden Farm Shop are going even further by

Martyrs and more

HEAR the fascinating stories of the Dorset men and women who have found themselves before Dorchester’s Shire Hall Court.

Ann Brown will be telling tales of these 19th century arsonists, smugglers and –most famously – the Tolpuddle martyrs.

The talk is on Wednesday, April 17, at 7.30pm in the Bow Room, The Exchange, Sturminster Newton. Entry is £4. Hot and cold drinks available at the bar.

offering lots of loose items.

The Plaza Cinema in Dorchester is happy for you to

BYO cup for soft drinks, too.

Many more businesses are taking part – look out for the BYO window stickers, strike a pose with your reuseable packaging and post your selfie with the tag @LitterFreeDorset.

To request your poster and window stickers email litterfreedorset@dorsetcouncil. gov.uk or visit www. litterfreedorset.co.uk to find out more.

Garden club plant sale

LONGBURTON Garden Club is holding a plant sale on Satturday, May 18, from 10.30am to noon at 6 Dene Close, Longburton DT9 5LU.

Plant stalls, a cake stall and refreshments, all in aid of club funds, will be available. Admission is free.

Students help cut crime with ads

MEDIA students at Strode College in Street have recorded a series of radio adverts to help cut crime and make people feel safer where they live.

The recordings, made by Radio Ninesprings in partnership with the High Sheriff of Somerset’s Crimebeat Fund, are aimed at raising awareness of issues like cyber crime, stalking and speeding traffic.

Somerset’s High Sheriff, Robert Drewett, said: “I am grateful to the media students at Strode College for all their hard work on this project.

“The radio jingles they produced are to a very high standard and contain important messages that will help to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

“It is important that as many people as possible hear these messages and act upon them.”

The jingles can be heard on Radio Ninesprings – local community radio for Yeovil and South Somerset – 104.5 FM (Yeovil and South Somerset), 103.3 FM (Wincanton) and 107.6 FM (Chard), and online at radioninesprings.com

A walk around…

Kington Magna

Soak up the scenery as you walk with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

PARK in the layby near the church (which was closed on my visit). Walk north east up the road to a junction. Cross over and carry on through Bowden then turn left (north), curving round to north west past Folly Farm to another junction. Cross over and join a footpath that continues north west across a field.

When you reach the next road join it, turning left (south), for a furlong to yet another junction where you turn right (south west),

Military support

GILLINGHAM Town Council has reinforced its allegiance to the Armed Forces community by signing the National Armed Forces Covenant.

The covenant is a national promise that ensures that those who serve or have served in the military, along with their families, are treated fairly and not disadvantaged due to their military service.

The signing of the covenant took place at a ceremony at Gillingham Town Hall.

The covenant was signed by Commander Colin Kiernan, executive officer RNAS Yeovilton on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, and by Cllr Barry von Clemens, mayor of Gillingham.

Cllr Barry von Clemens said: “This is a very special moment which reinforces Gillingham Town Council’s support for military personnel, veterans and their families”.

Any organisation interested in partnering with Defence through signing the Armed Forces Covenant should contact Emily Kadoch at wx-reed2@rfca.mod.uk

Pictured: Emily Kadoch, employer engagement director for Wessex Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association; Cllr Donna Toye; Cllr David Walsh; Dennis Griffin, chair Royal British Legion Gillingham branch; Matt Adams, Royal British Legion Gillingham branch committee member; Cllr Belinda Ridout; Cllr Rupert Evill; Jon Walden; Lt Col Andrew Edwards, The Rifles; Cllr Barry von Clemens, mayor of Gillingham; Commander Colin Kiernan,

which takes you past the village.

Then turn left (east south east), left again (east north east), then left (north), up a cul de sac which takes you to a field which has lots of footpaths and a pond.

Next enter the road just below the church and walk down through the village and visit the phone box library to see if there’s a book that you cannot do without.

Then return to your car, having strolled a gentle four miles and possibly found a couple of geocaches.

PC Mark Pople of Avon and Somerset Police – a now retired – being interviewed by media students at Strode College

Village housing scheme

PLANS for up to 60 new homes in South Petherton have been submitted to Somerset Council.

Persimmon Homes South West’s proposals would see the homes built on the edge of the village off Hamsfield Lane.

Some 35% would be transferred to a local housing association partner.

The proposals include an extension to the open space next to Lime Kiln Avenue that could also include a new children’s play area, and open space to the south-eastern boundary.

About 16 parking spaces are proposed to service South Petherton Surgery.

Daniel Heathcote, Persimmon Homes South West managing director, said: “Persimmon is proud to have submitted plans for up to 60 new homes in South Petherton, developing high-quality homes and infrastructure for the village in a thoughtful and considerate manner.

“Should they be approved, this scheme will not only ease pressure on Somerset’s housing list through the provision of a policy-compliant level of affordable housing, but we will help meet the general

demand for new homes in the area.

“We are proud of a comprehensive vision that will see biodiverse enhancements, active travel links, and common green and play areas for the benefit of local families on site, helping to create a sense of place and leave a positive and lasting legacy in the area.

“Persimmon looks forward to working with Somerset Council to ensure this scheme meets both of our objectives, delivering benefits for the community of South Petherton.”

May fair

POYNTINGTON is holding a May Fair on Saturday, May 18, from 10am-4pm.

The grounds and gardens of the historic Manor House at Poyntington – where Sir Walter Raleigh spent his last night as a free man, before going to the Tower of London – will be home to a range of stalls, including:

• Plants for sale

• Local produce

• Arts and crafts

• Tombola

• Top Edge tool & knife sharpening Car parking and entry to the fair are free. There will be a cafe serving tea, coffee and cake, barbecue, live music and activities for children – including a fancy dress competition with prize for best book character.

The Wessex Morris men will be dancing at 11.30am and 1.30pm. Proceeds from the fair are shared between All Saints Church, the Weldmar Hospice and The Rendezvous charity which works with young people in the Sherborne area.

Dorset children make a difference

CHILDREN at a small Dorset school have raised more than £2,000 for students in Uganda.

Pamphill CofE First School has had a relationship for several years with the Emily Collins School on the outskirts of Kisoro in the south west of the African country.

The British children wanted to help enable those students to enjoy the same things they had – including school trips and

playground equipment.

During the autumn term they began fundraising, which included sponsored runs, sponsored climbs, sponsored swims and cake sales.

The initial target of £250 was quickly exceeded and by the end of the term £2,100.35 had been raised.

Headteacher Mike Wheeler said: “This was very much a pupil-led effort and It’s

Great debaters

STUDENTS debated subjects including artificial intelligence and the monarchy when Shaftesbury Rotary Club held the local heats of the organisation’s Youth Speaks competition.

Youngsters from Shaftesbury School, The Blandford School and King Arthur’s School, Wincanton, engaged in lively debate and did an excellent job of presenting their arguments, for and against their chosen topics.

The judges were teacher Rachael Gale from Williams Barnes Primary School, Simon Hoare MP and Matthew Billingsley from Rutters Solicitor. The students had to field questions from Virginia Edwyn-Jones.

incredible how much they raised considering we are a school of just 74 pupils.

“The money has been used to take the Ugandan students on a trip – many had never left their village before.

“It also paid for some playground equipment and it is enough to sponsor the education of three girls for a year.

“Our relationship with Emily Collins School goes back several years, so our pupils know all about it.”

Martin Duhimbeze, who runs the charity in Uganda, said: “The entire Emily Collins

School. Their topic was ‘Discussing the Pros and Cons of the Pandemic’.

The runner-up team in the intermediate competition were Leo Westlake, Dylan Wild and Finley Arnold from King Arthur’s

School appreciates all the love and support.

“Having children and staff go to Lake Mburo National Park – about a six-hour drive – was so good and educative. Many had never moved beyond their village and had never seen the lake or wild animals.”

Pamphill is part of Initio Learning Trust whose chief executive Liz West said: “This is a wonderful and uplifting story.

“Our children did a wonderful job raising all that money and I hope the relationship between the schools lasts for a long time.”

The runner-up team in the senior competition were Olivia Pretlove, Suden Uysal and Isobel Lulham from Shaftesbury School. Their topic was ‘Is Incarceration Beneficial?’.

Shaftesbury Rotary Club, said: “We’d like to express our huge thanks to the judges, the questioner, Shaftesbury School for hosting, Clive Harris for the buffet and the teachers and students who participated.”

Genette Gale, from

The winning team in the intermediate competition were Chloe Duke, Olivia Calverley and Margaret Jones from Shaftesbury School whose topic was ‘AI Positive or Negative?’

The winning team in the senior competition were Joseph Young, Arthur Wilson and Max Stenner from The Blandford School whose topic was ‘We Should Abolish the Monarchy’

The big reveal: Pamphill pupils learn how much they have raised

Students at the Emily Collins School celebrate their new opportunities

Friendly voices

THE Dorchester-based Encore Singers, who sing mostly songs from the shows and popular modern songs, are looking for new members.

The ever-changing repertoire includes songs from Mary Poppins, Les Miserables, My Fair Lady and other musicals, as well as songs by Adele, The Beatles and Leonard Cohen.

The friendly choir is always looking for opportunities to expand its range and include songs from a wide variety of genres.

It tries to present three or four concerts every year, each usually dedicated to raising funds for a particular charity.

Charities it has supported include Weldmar HospiceCare, Harlequin Care, Citizens Advice, C’Siders and Julia’s house.

It also sings every year at the Carols In The Borough Gardens and the Light Up A Life service in Dorchester.

The Encore Singers currently has about 35 singers across the voice parts and would like to increase its numbers, particularly in the tenor and bass sections, to take on more ambitious works and have greater strength in depth.

A spokesperson for the choir said: “If you are a singer, or even if you have thought about being a singer and never got round to it, why not come

along and see if you enjoy being a part of our choir? The ability to read music is an advantage, though not essential.

“No audition is required, simply come along and sing with us.”

The choir rehearses every Thursday, during school term time, at 7.30pm in the United Church, 29 South Street, Dorchester DT1 1BY.

The spokesperson added: “Please let us know if you wish to attend a rehearsal, so that we can ensure there is music available for you to use.”

Contact Liz Williams on 01305 786421 for further details or leave a message on the choir’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/ EncoreSingersDorchester

Career support

THE Balsam Centre in Wincanton will be the venue for a community jobs fair next week, staged with Yeovil Job Centre.

The event is open to both benefit recipients and the wider public, employers from Somerset and north Dorset will be attending.

The fair is intended to cater for those who are looking for work immediately, would like career guidance/support or require support to move closer to paid employment.

The event is on

Wednesday, March 20, between 10am and 1pm, and free parking is available nearby in the Memorial car park (BA9 9PA).

Tanks for the war effort

THE Tank Museum in Bovington has been playing a role in Ukraine’s war with Russia – by digging out old manuals and parts for Cold War-era vehicles.

Both Ukraine and Russia are using ageing tanks that are suffering damage in the current fighting, often driving over mines and losing their tracks.

As part of the Government’s support to Ukraine, companies have been asked to assist with replacement parts and upgrades to vehicles – including replacement tracks.

However, the technical specifications have been hard to source.

So, when asked to support the project, David Willey, curator of the award-winning museum, looked in the archive and found manuals and drawings for the tanks being used by President Zelenskyy’s forces.

These have helped Cook Defence Systems re-engineer new tracks, some of which have just arrived in Ukraine and will help the country’s army keep fighting.

The MTLB, BMP1 and T72 armoured vehicles were originally in service when Ukraine was part of the USSR, and it is these that are back in action.

Mr Willey said: “When we were asked to help, we immediately went and looked for anything that might be of assistance.

“UK defence companies are very keen to assist but in some cases the people from the Cold War era are no longer around and the knowledge has gone in some areas.

“Details such as the angles, pitch and tension required for the new tracks were sought and our archive was able to provide them.

“We also found examples of the actual items required such as T72 tracks and pins from one of the vehicles in the collection. The new parts could then be made accurately, some for the very first time in the UK.

“We also have Ukrainian soldiers training here at Bovington and they visit the museum and just as with the current British Army, the collection is used for training.

“This goes back to the beginnings of the museum which was created as a teaching collection for the first Tank Corps soldiers at the end of the First World War.

“It has been an honour to play a small part in helping our allies in their war against

an aggressor.

Major challenges to the project remained even after the museum’s plans were provided – these included the development of new steel alloys to match the original Russian specifications, and re-designing forged and welded components as castings to suit the new manufacturing process.

Drawings of the T72 tank’s track

British-made track for the T72 tank

History goes on display at school

THE history of Stalbridge is told in a series of information boards now on permanent show at Stalbridge CofE Primary School.

The New Blackmore Vale reported early last year that pupils had been thrilled to receive boards explaining the market town’s history after a year of planning, research and illustrating.

Now the set, on display in the school hall, has been completed.

Stalbridge Archive Society members Tony and Lesley Woods presented the boards, which provide a timeline of the town’s history, to members of the school council.

Much of the information came from fellow archive society member Irene Jones, author of two books on Stalbridge’s history. Sponsorship from Dikes supermarket enabled the boards to be printed.

Stars in their eyes

THREE days of sky-focussed activities are planned for a family-friendly festival in Cranborne Chase this April.

The annual StarFest event runs from April 2-4 in Wimborne, hosted by the Cranborne Chase National Landscape.

This three-day event celebrates International Dark Sky Week through a range of activities, encouraging everyone to get involved in preserving our dark skies.

Taking place in The Allendale Centre, Wimborne, there is a range of sessions for everyone to enjoy, including

• Arts and craft activities

• Dark sky advice sessions

• Bookable family-friendly sessions in the pop-up planetarium

• Family-friendly Kamishibai storytelling with authors Ewen and Michaela Sedman

• Storytelling with Lizzie Bryant

• Art workshop with Mary McIntyre

• Stargazing evening further afield in Damerham

The event ends with an Astrotourism talk for local businesses, helping them to promote and benefit from the Chase’s dark

skies. It will be presented remotely by astronomer Richard Darn, who will share his experience of working with businesses. Cranborne Chase National Landscape’s dark sky advisor Steve Tonkin will be on-hand to demonstrate a range of equipment and the simple measures you can take to make your business more dark sky friendly.

Cranborne Chase was the first National Landscape (formerly AONB) in the country to be designated in its entirety as an International Dark Sky Reserve in 2019. The event has been organised by Cranborne Chase National Landscape and the Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership, supported by the National Heritage Lottery Fund.

Steve Tonkin, dark sky advisor at Cranborne Chase National Landscape says: “Stargazing unveils the vastness of our universe, igniting wonder and curiosity. Protecting our dark skies ensures future generations can marvel at the beauty of the cosmos, connecting us to the natural world.

“We are delighted that StarFest is returning this year, engaging the community with the preservation of celestial views and

our delicate nocturnal ecosystems.”

All sessions are free, but booking is essential for some – find out more and book at www.eventbrite.com/cc/ starfest-2024-3093829

StarFest’s pop-up planetarium will be home to some family-friendly education sessions

Pupils plant trees for the future

by Chris Harwood

PUPILS on Ludwell Primary School’s eco committee have done their bit in helping to tackle climate change by leading the whole school on a sapling planting day.

The school, with the support of head teacher Harriet Collins, is planting a wildlife corridor which will connect existing woodlands.

A Wiltshire tree warden set up a series of trenches and stakes in a field near the school, and pupils were given oak, sweet chestnut, beech or silver birch saplings.

The youngsters planted their sapling in the trenches, firmed up the soil and filled around the saplings to prevent frost damaging the roots.

The last stage was to slip a 1.2m tube over the saplings and tighten it onto the stake by the side to protect it from deer.

By the time the youngest planter is 15 years old, the trees will be 3m tall.

At a school assembly the week before, pupils were given a child-friendly introduction to climate change and told – as Sir David Attenborough says – the best an individual can do is to plant trees.

The children were each given a wooden tag on which to write their names and the name of someone they loved who they would like to protect from climate change.

On planting day, the tags were pushed into the soil next to the tubes. Each child received a badge and certificate to commemorate the event.

Each tree in its lifetime will draw down 1,000kg of carbon dioxide and fix it in the soil.

The new wildlife corridor makes a much larger habitat, enabling increased biodiversity and better access for animals to food, water, shelter and breeding opportunities.

Anyone who would like to help plant saplings to fight climate change should email Chris at chrisandsue61@ hotmail.com

Solidarity with Ukraine

by Nicci Brown

UKRAINIANS living in the Blandford area gathered with local people who have offered them accommodation when they marked the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mayor of Blandford Hugo Mieville said it was an honour for him and his Consort and wife Yvonne to meet them in the Market Place and hoped they would soon be able to return to their home country.

The Ukrainian women and children carried Ukrainian flags and carried banners, and the Ukraine flag was flown from the Corn Exchange.

The group’s spokesperson, Anna Uskova, thanked local people for their hospitality, and after short speeches and a minute's silence in memory of those who had lost their lives, candles were lit, the Ukrainian national anthem was sung, and members of the public stood in solidarity with Ukraine.

Wanted: your family stories

A LOCAL historian wants to hear your family stories from the Second World War.

Judith Hewitt is putting together a display in Shroton village hall to commemorate the D-Day landings. She would like anyone with memories of WWII connected to Shroton, Farrington, Stepleton or Ranston to share them with her by emailing trevandjude@ btinternet.com

“I would be grateful to hear any family ‘war’ stories that have been passed down the younger generations, whether from serving personnel or people who lived here during the war years,” says Judith.

Fascinating history

THE story of Guernsey under German occupation in the Second World War will be told during Yeovil Rotary Club’s International Charity fundraising dinner.

Guest speaker Richard Bush was born on the island during the war and is a member of the Guernsey branch of the Channel Island Occupation Society.

His acclaimed talk includes video clips, photographs, memorabilia and the personal stories of some who endured the occupation.

The dinner is at the Northover Manor Hotel, Ilchester (BA22 8LD) on Thursday, March 21, at 6.30pm for 7pm.

The cost is £35, including a welcome drink followed by a two-course meal. To reserve a place contact Yeovil Rotary Club secretary, Jackie Henderson, at jackiehenderson01@ btinternet.com, phone 07784 777017.

The event will support the rotary club’s charitable causes.

Ukrainian Anna Uskova addresses the gathering joined by Mayor of Blandford Hugo Mieville and his Consort and wife Yvonne

A big thank you!

A CHARITY sale at Bourton village hall, organised by Barbara Borwell and supported by many friends, raised more than £500 for two good causes.

One of the good causes to benefit was Hope For Tomorrow – the Mobile Cancer Unit, which visits the Peacemarsh Surgery car park and saves patients having to travel to Salisbury for their chemotherapy. The other was mental health charity MIND.

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Placing your main home into a living trust can ring fence the property from any potential future care costs. Thus, protecting your inheritance.

2. Asset Protection:

By transferring ownership of your home and other assets to a living trust, can help protect them from creditors, divorce & remarriage, and other potential claims, including care costs.

3. Inheritance Tax Planning:

A living trust can be part of an estate planning strategy to minimize inheritance tax liability. By placing assets into a trust, they can be excluded from your taxable estate upon your passing, potentially reducing the amount of inheritance tax your beneficiaries would owe.

4. Revocable Nature: One of the advantages of a living trust is that it is revocable, meaning you can make changes to the trust or even revoke it entirely during your lifetime. This flexibility allows you to adapt to changing circumstances or wishes.

5. Trust Administration:

When you establish a living trust, you typically designate yourself as the trustee, thus maintaining control over the assets and allowing you to continue using and managing them as you did before. Should you move home the trust stays in place and protects your new residence. The effectiveness of a living trust in achieving your specific goals will depend on your individual circumstances. Oakwood Wills offer a free consultation in the privacy of our own home.

Tel 07832 331594, email: info@oakwoodwills.co.uk

Young helpers at the event – the fundraising total for which has not yet been released

Lions’ pride at recent donations

MEMBERS of Blackmore Vale Lions Club have been helping people at both ends of the age spectrum.

It has given a mobility scooter used by the late John Old to the Dorset branch of Countrymen UK at Rylands Farm, Boyshill, and laptops to Future Roots.

John had wanted the mobility scooter to help the community when he died, and it will be used by farmers and agricultural workers who want to do something in retirement but are restrained by their mobility.

Lions president Peter Oswick and his neighbour, Derek Rayment, drove a low loader loaned by Symonds Auto Salvage from the garage where it was being stored to the charity’s base.

Liz Rose, Countrymen UK Club manager, said: “I would like to say how grateful we all are to the Lions and how well used the scooter will be to allow our

Befrienders wanted

THE Volunteer Centre Dorset charity wants to set up a group for people with learning disabilities in the Gillingham/ Shaftesbury area.

The group will help individuals get involved with social events and activities before they start volunteering.

The charity’s Community Credit Scheme is seeking befrienders, gardeners and art and crafts lovers to help volunteers with learning disabilities socialise locally.

men to continue to work on the farm, to get around to tend to all the animals and to garden in our polytunnels. Thanks again to all you Lions.

“Any gentlemen who might be interested in joining us and enjoy male company in a farm environment should contact Liz on 01747 210789 or email liz@countrymenuk. org. We are happy to arrange an introductory visit.”

The Lions recently gave three laptops to Future Roots to help youngsters with their projects, literacy and numeracy.

This could involve something as simple as going for a walk or having a coffee together.

Befrienders also attend volunteering roles with learning disability volunteers until they feel confident enough to go alone.

Volunteers need to be able to offer one or two hours weekly, fortnightly or monthly. For more information, contact communitycredits@volunteeringdorset. org.uk or call 01305 269214.

Countrymen UK manager Liz Rose and Blackmore Vale Lions Club president Peter Oswick flank Harry Jeans on the scooter as Countrymen Marc Craner, Chris Cheeseman and Mike Dredge look on

Does the Post Office still have a role to play in serving the local community?

It would be a fair comment to say that the Post Office has known better days: The Horizon scandal, the Royal Mail strikes, the move away from traditional letter writing and the growth in use of the internet have all taken their toll.

We are asked to look ahead to a world where our skies buzz with the sound of overhead drones delivering parcels to our doorstep.

Under such an onslaught, is there any hope for the humble post office?

The team at the Child Okeford Village Post Office believe that the post office will always play a vital role in the local economy. Graham Newby a manager at the Child Okeford Village Post Office is quick to extol the virtues of the village post office; ‘Face to face banking, especially with so many high street banks closing, bill payments, vehicle tax renewals, friendly advice, help with knowing the best service to use when sending mail, becoming a one stop shop to send and receive parcels, these are just a few’ he says.

All of these services have one common factor and that is human contact. The post office epitomises the old-fashioned idea that an essential part of customer service is being present with the person you are trying to serve.

Customers complain that on-line services are soulless and confusing. In many cases they prefer to speak to a real person who they can rely on to do the job for them.

‘We like to create a friendly happy place where the customer when faced with the choice of switching on their computer and doing everything from home or getting out and visiting the local shop and post office, choose the latter because it is a more enjoyable and fulfilling experience’ says Andrew StevensonHamilton, owner of the Child Okeford Village Shop and Post Office.

the day, so as well as meeting commercial demand, the village post office is also extremely important for maintaining mental well-being within the community.

While politicians discuss ways to combat loneliness within our fractured society, at Child Okeford the fab five will continue to get the job done with a smile and a helping hand. Despite the appalling behaviour or some of past executives of the Post Office, at a local level the Post Office will always have a vital role to play. So please remember to support your local post office wherever you live so that the postal drones never darken the skies above the vale.

The Child Okeford village shop is a finalist in the 2024 Countryside Alliance awards for the best village shop and post office. To vote click the QR code in the advert opposite or head to https://research.net/r/CAA24SWBiz Voting closes 1 April 2024.

There are five members of the Child Okeford Post Office team.

Between them, they run a profitable branch at Child Okeford, and they provide a unique mobile post office and banking service called an ‘Outreach’ for seven outlying villages, which no longer have a permanent post office.

For many people who use these services, this is their only chance of human contact during

Don’t forget to pick up your next issue of the New Blackmore Vale Magazine, The Great Child Okeford Bake-off; the importance of an inhouse bakery in the village shop.

Graham welcomes you to the Child Okeford Post Office

The Child Okeford Shop and Post Office

Jane serves customers at the Shillingstone outreach

Sunflowers help DCH blossom

MORE than £15,000 raised by a sunflower trail at Maiden Castle Farm, Dorchester, has been handed to the Special Care Baby Unit at Dorset County Hospital in the town.

The event last summer takes the total raised by the three sunflower events held since 2021 to nearly £47,000.

Hazel Hoskin from the farm visited the hospital to hand over a giant cheque for £15,400 to staff from the baby unit.

Hazel knows many of them personally, as her eldest son, Thomas, was treated there when he was a baby.

SCBU matron Debora Pascoal Horta said: “We are so grateful to Hazel and her family for this amazing donation – one of the ideas is to use the money to help refurbish the family rooms on the unit.

“We want to create an en suite bathroom so that families staying overnight with their children have access to private facilities

– this would make a real difference to them at a very difficult time.”

Simon Pearson, head of charity at Dorset County Hospital, said: “This significant donation is the result of months of hard work by Hazel and everyone at Maiden Castle Farm for which we are extremely grateful.

“We would also like to extend our thanks to everyone who visited the Dorset Sunflower Trail, and to Dorchester Town

Council and all the local businesses who also contributed to the success of this event.”

Hazel is already planning this year’s sunflower event with the money raised going to Dorset County Hospital’s Charity Emergency and Critical Care Appeal.

That is raising £2.5 million to enhance the new Emergency and Critical Care Unit with building work set to begin on the unit on the hospital site shortly.

Hazel Hoskin (third from left) with members of the Dorset County Hospital charity and Special Care Baby Unit teams

Circus fun at town school

CIRCUS is coming to Gillingham School next week with a performance by Max Calaf Sevé of his trampoline show Anyday.

The show, for all the family, is presented by Dorset touring arts charity Artsreach as part of Circus Around and About 2, which aims to bring circus to communities across the southwest.

Max lives on a trampoline, with only his little pet bird for company. Every day his life is the same, but Max decides he wants a change, so they embark on an adventure together.

Max Calaf Sevé is a contemporary circus artist who specialises in trampoline acrobatics, object manipulation and physical theatre.

Matt Huxley, who grew up in Bridport and writes music for

theatre, circus and film, and occasionally pop music, created the soundtrack for Anyday

The show will be staged in the multi-purpose hall at Gillingham School on Thursday, March 21, at 7pm. Tickets and further information are available online at www.artsreach.co.uk

Haunting journey through a murky past

JULIAN Gaskell’s Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (pictured) are Cornwall’s premium post-ragtime, rembetika punk, swing polka klezmer blues trio – and this month they’re touring Dorset.

They will present an anthology of some of the most melodramatic, gruesome and supernatural broadside ballads from the 17th to 19th centuries, covering everything from funeral arrangements to cat food and rural insurrection!

years.

Indeed, many of their tunes have been lost to time, and so the words have been rearranged and re-fitted with newly composed music on piano, accordions, violin, drums, bouzouki, bass, banjo and guitar.

Audiences can expect a wild, haunting journey through a murky past to a dark future, guaranteed to enthral, educate and entertain!

Many of the tunes, printed and sung in the Georgian and Victorian eras, have lain unrecorded and largely unperformed for the last 100

Artsreach, Dorset’s touring arts charity, is presenting Julian Gaskell’s Ragged Trousered Philanthropists at Chetnole village hall on Friday, March 22, Cranborne Middle School on Saturday, March 23, and Broadmayne village hall on Sunday, March 24, all at 7.30pm.

The show is suitable for ages 12-plus – tickets and further information are available online at www.artsreach.co.uk

WHERE DORSET BLOOMS

Blooming marvellous

THE gardens at Weldmar Hospicecare’s Inpatient Unit in Dorchester are blooming thanks to a bulb planting event organised last autumn by Little Green Change.

Students from three Dorset schools – Beaminster School, St Osmund’s C of E Middle School and Thomas Hardye School – went along with adult volunteers.

Little Green Change is a non-profit environmental education social enterprise.

Founder and director Clare Matheson said: “Early flowering plants such as daffodils and snowdrops are so vital for a healthy ecosystem, and they also help to raise the spirits of so many people, adding colour to green spaces and signifying the coming of the warmer, spring weather.

“It’s been wonderful working with Weldmar Hospicecare, who are an amazing charity that have such a huge impact on so many people.

“We are looking forward to doing further environmental activities with them in 2024.”

She added: “Thank you to our event sponsors, The Gardens Group and Taylors Bulbs, for generously donating the bulbs and gardening gloves required for our event.”

Happy 100th birthday!

LEAP year baby Joyce Heath of Bramley House in Mere has celebrated her 100th birthday.

Joyce, who celebrated with family and friends, said “I’m not 100, I’ve only had 25 birthdays.”

Extreme reading

GIRLS at Hanford School at Child Okeford embraced an ‘extreme reading challenge’ in the run up to World Book Day.

Before half-term they were encouraged to have a photo taken of themselves in wild, whacky or unusual places.

The photos flooded in of pupils reading in trees, on ponies, on a trampoline, up a climbing wall, practising

yoga and more.

Hilary Phillips, head of Hanford, said: “Reading for pleasure from an early age brings huge benefits to children throughout their education and beyond.

“Reading is central to the girls’ experience at Hanford and the pupils are often to be seen running from lesson to lesson with a novel in their hands, reading in a quiet spot under a tree in the

summer or curled up in the cosy library during some precious free time.”

Car hit town centre wall

A CAR hit a wall in the centre of Gillingham, closing a road for around three hours.

The incident happened in the High Street at around 10.15am on Thursday, March 7, with a man and a woman taken to hospital for treatment.

“Officers attended with the ambulance service,” a Dorset Police spokesperson said.

“A man and a woman were taken to hospital for treatment to minor injuries.

“The road was closed between the Newbury roundabout and Queen’s Street and reopened at around 2.05pm.”

Drivers faced delays as they made their way into and out of town while police investigated the incident and removed the vehicle involved.

FULL FIBRE BROADBAND HAS LANDED

Pair accused in baby death

A BABY police believe was murdered by his parents died after suffering a “significant fracture to the skull”, a court was told.

Daniel Gunter, 25, and 20-year-old Sophie Staddon, of no fixed address, are accused of killing baby Brendon Staddon at the neo-natal unit of Yeovil District Hospital on March 5.

Both defendants, of no fixed address, have also been charged with causing or allowing the baby’s death.

However, they were excused attendance from a short hearing at Bristol Crown Court on Friday.

Robert Yates, prosecuting, told the court Brendon had been born premature two weeks previously.

Rupert Morgan-Jones, representing Staddon, and Lucy Taylor, representing Gunter, did not apply for bail.

The pair were remanded in custody ahead of hearing on April 5.

Our loose Canon

With the possibility of anarchy around the corner, humility is vital

by Canon Eric Woods

DIVISION, demonstration and disunity are now part of our daily diet of news, reflecting turmoil in many parts of the world, including our own. And throughout history there have been moments when the crowd – or, more commonly, the mob – has erupted in public protest which has often spilled over into violence and destruction. We immediately think of the French Revolution of 1789 or the Russian Revolution of 1917. But England has never been immune. In 1831, when the House of Lords defeated the Reform Bill which had earlier been passed in the Commons, riots took place all over the country. In the south west there were disturbances in Bristol, Exeter, Yeovil and Sherborne. In Bristol the Bishop had his palace burned down – all the Bishops in those days were Tories, and it was the Tories who had opposed the Bill.

describing the atmosphere in some of our cities and towns as “febrile”, and warning against the use of inflammatory language and violence during what ought to be peaceful protests and demonstrations – about Gaza, oil, climate change and so much more.

Two thousand years ago a wandering preacher from Galilee stepped into a much more tense situation in Jerusalem, then occupied by the Romans with the Jewish resistance movement deliberately agitating to create the conditions for the overthrow of the regime. When Jesus made his entry into the city on that first Palm Sunday (which we celebrate on 24 March), the leaders of the resistance saw in him an opportunity to stage-manage an uprising, and so the rent-a-mob swung into action, waving their palm branches which were the first century equivalent of nationalist flags. Jesus had no ambition for secular power – ‘My kingdom is not of this world’, he said – and he defused the moment by choosing to enter Jerusalem on a humble donkey rather than a conqueror’s stallion – a powerful symbol in the Middle East, then and now.

In normally sedate Sherborne an ugly mob gathered on the Abbey Close. The Vicar, who was a magistrate, came out of the Vicarage to read the Riot Act, ordering the crowd to disperse. He was felled by a brick and the mob ransacked his house – and his cellars. The Dorset Yeomanry were meanwhile holed-up in a (long-vanished) pub on Half Moon Street, too frightened to come out. It took a detachment of regular Dragoons to restore order.

Fast-forward to today and both police and politicians are

The crowd is always fickle, and easy to manipulate. Social media has made it so much easier to stir-up emotions quickly, and there is evidence that some of this is controlled from abroad. We have been told so many lies and half-truths, by politicians and agitators alike. It may seem an unlikely thing to say in deepest darkest Dorset, but the possibility of anarchy in our own society is not far away. Everyone in this country would do well to begin to practice something of the humility that Jesus displayed on that first Palm Sunday – before it is too late.

Contemporary

Gillingham Showroom

01747 833 789

Unit 21, Kingsmead Business Park, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5JG

Opening Hours

Monday–Friday: 9am–5pm Saturdays by appointment only

Closed Sunday

www.solsticekitchens.co.uk

Photo by mia swerbs on Unsplash

Nick Clegg among Lib Dems to turn out to back Yeovil candidate Adam

NICK Clegg, former deputy prime minister, has endorsed the Yeovil Lib Dem candidate.

Adam Dance, a Somerset Councillor standing to be the town’s new MP at the next general election, launched his parliamentary campaign at an event on Friday, March 8.

Mr Clegg, who currently serves as president for global affairs at Facebook parent company, Meta, spoke about the importance of restoring respectful and honourable behaviour in government.

He also emphasised the role liberal values have in approaching current issues.

Also in attendance was David Laws, who represented the Somerset town at Westminster between 2001 and 2015, succeeding Lib Dem leader, Paddy Ashdown.

Mr Laws noted the legacy of Mr Ashdown and his hope many West Country seats will return to the Lib Dems in the upcoming general poll.

Mr Dance said: “I was overwhelmed by

the support from all those who attended, in particular from Jane Ashdown, Paddy’s wife, and from both Nick and David.

“Giving me their endorsement means a great deal to me personally and helps enthuse the whole Yeovil team to reach out to voters so that we can return the Yeovil constituency to the Liberal Democrats.

He added: “We need a local voice in parliament which delivers for local businesses and for local people.”

Oyez! Oyez! Dorchester has a new town crier!

OYEZ! Oyez! Dorchester has a new town crier – Anthony Harrison.

Anthony came out on top after a rigorous selection process, which included a trial cry in the town centre that won over a panel of councillors. He faced stiff competition from five other applicants, but has been selected to start in the role once his appointment receives the final stamp of approval from Dorchester Town Council on March 23.

Anthony, pictured, said: “I am delighted to take on the responsibility as Dorchester’s town crier after Alistair’s (Chisholm) magnificent tenure and record-equalling championship titles.

“I am excited to explore new ways to enhance Dorchester’s reputation both for residents and visitors by promoting the town’s rich heritage and highlighting the many great reasons why Dorchester is a fantastic place to work, live and visit.

“I have lots of new ideas and will be working with the many other individuals and bodies who are keen to help Dorchester thrive and blossom.

“In particular, I think there is a great deal we can do to inspire the younger generation of residents to learn, share and shape the future of the town to make sure it is as relevant this century as it has been for the previous 30 or 40.”

Cllr Chisholm, the former

town crier, welcomed Anthony’s appointment.

He said: “I am pleased there was healthy competition for the post of Dorchester town crier following my retirement from the role at the start of the year.

“However, I must admit to

being somewhat disappointed there were no women expressing an interest in this unique opportunity.

“All six candidates had a variety of points in their favour and choosing who was the most suitable was not easy.

“In much the same way as I learned more about the ‘extreme sport’ of town crying as time went on, and developed the role of crier to reflect the town’s situation at any given moment, so too may my successor, Anthony Harrison.

“I wish him the very best of luck and I look forward to this most ancient and traditional of positions continuing to play an important part in the promotion of the county town’s future.”

Left: Adam Dance, centre, with David Laws and Nick Clegg, and right; with Mr Laws and Jane Ashdown

Fast fashion?

VISITORS to a pop-up Fashioning Our World exhibition at Blandford Fashion Museum – and a similar show at Salisbury Museum – are being prompted to think about the impact of clothing on the planet.

The museums’ exhibitions aim to encourage visitors to think differently about the clothes they wear now and promote a more sustainable fashion future.

In the past, clothes were often repaired, re-worn or refashioned, their threads, patches and fabrics telling the story of the garments and the person who wore it.

Today, however, every year up to 92 million tonnes of textile waste is thrown away, according to earth.org

The Blandford exhibition features a sustainable 1880s-style garment created by MA student, Georgia Woodcraft, from Bournemouth Arts University, which is displayed alongside one of the museum’s original Victorian wedding gowns.

Georgia says her green silk and black lace dress was inspired by a 1880s bodice in the Salisbury Museum collection.

The popular shape in the 1880s was narrow and long, when viewed from the front, but when viewed from the side had an extremely

exaggerated bottom.

Blandford Fashion Museum is keen to hear how people repurpose and recycle their garments – leave comments on its social media sites or, if visiting the museum, take time to talk to its volunteers.

The museum is open Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10am-4pm.

Open garden

RESIDENTS of East Knoyle are raising funds to save the playground at Knoyle House Grounds.

The play area is in such a state of disrepair that it will be closed unless the money can be found to make it safe.

On Saturday, May 25, from 10am-4pm, Mr and Mrs Garry Staunton are opening their beautiful garden at Seymour Cottage, Hindon Road, in support of the fundraising.

There will be garden plants for sale, various stalls – including a raffle, and bring and buy – and tea, coffee, cake and sandwiches.

Entry is free, donations accepted at the gate.

More than just books…

AT the end of Bruton High Street sits the town’s community library. Run by a dedicated and enthusiastic band of volunteers (in conjunction with Somerset Libraries), it provides the town with vital library services and a community hub that welcomes all comers.

The library holds its own stock of titles, including a comprehensive local section and a very good children’s book collection. It also has access to the huge catalogue held by Libraries West and can order in books, CDs, DVDs, e-magazines and audiobooks.

Volunteers can help with access to computers, wi-fi and printing and general local information.

During school term time, every Friday morning from 10.30am until midday the library hosts the lively and popular Rhyme Time for babies and pre-school children. This free drop-in session is open to all.

On March 23, the library holds One Planet Bruton’s ‘stitich it, don’t ditch it’ event from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Bring along your latest project or mending pile and keep warm, have a chat and get stitching.

Bruton community library

Quaperlake Street, BA10 0HA brulib@somerset.gov.uk

www.brutontown.com/venue/brutoncommunity-library/

Monday Closed

Tuesday 10am-1pm; 2pm-5pm

Wednesday Closed

Thursday Closed

Friday 10am-1pm; 2pm-5pm

Saturday 10am-1pm

Sunday Closed

Going global

TOP international travel writers, photographers, television and radio personalities will be heading to the Sherborne Travel Writing Festival next month.

Noo Saro-Wiwa, author of the Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year, Looking for Transwonderland, will talk about her new book Black Ghosts

Explorer and filmmaker Benedict Allen will relive his experiences in the Arctic and the Amazon.

Veteran photojournalist Don McCullin will close the weekend reminiscing on his iconic work.

The award-winning photojournalist Nick Danziger will join festival curator Rory MacLean to discuss their humanitarian work.

Sherborne Travel Writing Festival is at the Powell Theatre from Friday to Sunday, April 5-7.

Tickets are available from Winstone’s Bookshop or visit www. sherbornetravelwritingfestival.com

Pantry shares a slice of funding

THE Vale Pantry in Sturminster Newton is among the small charities and voluntary groups to share more than £128,000 in funding from Dorset Community Foundation.

The organisation’s Neighbourhood Fund is aimed at smaller groups and charities tackling social problems including poverty, disadvantage and isolation, and awards grants up to £5,000.

The Vale Pantry will use its £1,840 grant to repeat its popular free yoga in the park sessions in Sturminster Newton.

Trustee Carole Jones said 120 people attended sessions over 10 weeks last year.

Of those who took part, 93% said it had benefited their mental health, 95% said it had helped their physical health and 87% said they had created new friendships because of it.

This year the group plans 17 Saturday morning sessions.

Carole said: “We are specifically looking to engage the whole community to address social anxiety, depression, poor health and poor mobility.

“We will work closely with the GP Practice encouraging those who have health conditions or could be prone to falls.

“We will address this through gentle exercise in the outdoors to promote good mental health and wellbeing.”

The latest round of funding has supported 34 groups across Dorset.

Dorset Community Foundation chief executive Grant Robson said: “Thanks to the generosity of our donors we are able to use this fund to support the work of 34 brilliant grass roots groups who are working so hard to tackle a variety of issues in their community.

Dig this great day out for all the

family!

Digging around for a great gardening day out? Look no further than this year’s Gillingham & Shaftesbury Spring Countryside Show. Taking place 20th and 21st April, horticulture is at the heart of this year’s new-look event. Enjoy a host of gardening talks and workshops from renowned garden experts. From advice on plastic-free gardening to great gardening ideas for kids, interactive sessions will get you going home armed with inspirational growing tips and no doubt new plants!

Keen crafters will love the Hands-On marquee where visitors can enjoy trying felting, willow weaving and many other age-old rural skills. With a focus on a great day out for all the family, there’s free tractor and trailer rides sponsored by Friars Moor Livestock in Sturminster Newton, hilarious pig racing and Keystone cop clown capers as the UK’s only Arena Comedy Car Act and Slapstick Stunt Show hurtles into the main show ring on the Saturday and Sunday. There’re farmyard animals and the brilliant Lamb National.

Think Grand National but with sheep! Children up to age of sixteen go free and there’s brilliant savings to be had with early bird discounts for advance tickets. Visit www.springcountrysideshow.co.uk

“They have the passion and the expertise to improve the lives of people living in their neighbourhoods, so we are really pleased to be able to give them the resources to continue making such a huge and vital difference.

“This fund is always oversubscribed and I’d be really to talk to anyone who’d like to support it so that we can empower many more groups like these.”

The next round of applications for the Neighbourhood Fund opens in November.

To find out more about the work of Dorset Community Foundation and how to support it visit dorsetcommunityfoundation.

The Vale Pantry will use a £1,840 Dorset Community Foundation Neighbourhood Fund grant to repeat its popular free yoga in the park sessions

Events

11 5 40 64 22

BINGO!

Stalbridge Hall

Thursday 28th March

90

Doors open 6.30pm

Eyes down 7.30pm

In aid of hall funds

SPRING COFFEE MORNING and cake sale. Saturday 23rd March. Hooper Hall Lydlinch, DT10-2JA. 10-12. In Aid of Church Funds.

LYN’S BINGO at Marnhull Royal British Legion on Monday March 18th.

Eyes down 7pm

Open Showroom at Plumber Cottage, Fifehead Neville, Sturminster Newton, Dorset DT10 2AL

Thursday 14th - Sunday 17th March, 10am - 5pm every day

Open by appointment at other times

Anne Hildyard’s collection of Central Asian embroideries & robes, Turkish kelims, bags & shoes, and so much more…. www.treasuresfromthesilkroad.co.uk

Instagram:@treasuresfromthesilkroad

Harriet Sandys

SALE OF EX-SHOP STOCK. Cake Decorating stock. Everything must go. Marston Magna Village Hall. 23rd March, 1pm-4pm. Tel: 01935-851186

JUMBLE SALE, Penselwood

Village Hall, Saturday 23rd March at 2pm. Jumble, White Elephant, Raffle, Cakes and Produce. Proceeds in Aid of St Michael’s Church.

SATURDAY MARCH 23rd

6.30pm, ‘A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES’ TOP BRASS & WIND CONCERT BAND, soloist, ARABELLA HEATON, St MARY’S CHURCH, Gillingham

JUMBLE SALE

Saturday 16th March, 1pm

blackmorevale.net

BATCOMBE CHURCH

JUMBLE SALE Leigh Hall

Saturday 23rd March 2.30pm

GARAGE SALE SATURDAY, 23rd MARCH

4 FORD COURT, CHETNOLE, SHERBORNE, DT9 6NX 8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.

SOLAR POWERED POP-UP

DJ totally retro Ecotainment! Suitable for any occasion 07554-477889

JUMBLE SALE Buckhorn

Weston hall Saturday 13th April 2.30pm. Teas-Cakes-Raffle

EASTER BINGO

Oriental Carpets and Decorative Items from Central Asia and India.

Open Days Easter Bank Holiday weekend 2024

Saturday 30th, Sunday 31st March

& Monday 1st April 2-5pm

BVM PROOF

Oriental Carpets, rugs, runners, Indian cotton nightwear, kaftans, silver and gold jewellery, carved wood furniture from the North-West Frontier. Do bring friends and family. Parking in the yard. 10% of proceeds will donated to the charity Medical Life Lines Ukraine.

The Barn at The Manor House, West Compton, Shepton Mallet BA4 4PB

Tel: 01749 890 582 www.sandysorientalcarpets.co.uk

Email: harrietsandys@freeolamail.com

The Hooper Hall, Lydlynch DT10 2JA. Donations welcome Friday/Saturday morning.

CAR BOOT SALE + ARTISAN MARKET

Winterborne Stickland Sports Club. Sunday 17th March Sellers 9:30 am Buyers 10:30am to 1:30 pm

Proceeds to go towards the Club House

Contact 07714 364750

SHAFTESBURYS EMPORIUM

Friday 29th & Saturday 30th March. 9 - 4.30pm

Shaftesbury Town Hall

Winterborne Stickland Sports Club. In aid of repairing the Club House. Thursday 28th March. Doors Open : 6:30pm Eyes Down : 7 pm

Lovely prizes - Families welcome! Contact 07714 364750

SIXPENNY HANDLEY COMMUNITY CINEMA

The Miracle Club

Village Hall, Common Road

SP5 5NJ Friday 15 March | 6.30 for 7.00 pm

£6 | Bar & snacks | Information: 6dhandleyhall@gmail.com

Lots of lovely items for sale under one roof. Supporting Weldmar Hospice and Dorset Somerset Air Ambulance FREE ENTRY

22 MARCH - BLANDFORD & DISTRICT u3a.- 2 pm at Durweston Village Hall. Open Meeting and AGM. Lecture by Gary Biltcliffe : Ley Lines and sacred sites. For further information, please contact 01258 628079, and see https://u3asites.org.uk/ blandford/home.

COMMUNITY POLICING DROP-IN SURGERY.

PCSO 5382 Leatt will be at Shaftesbury Library to offer crimeprevention advice and leaflets, andto hear any local concerns.Shaftesbury Library

Thursday 25 January 10:00am - 11:00am

Thursday 22 February 10:00am - 11:00am

Thursday 21 March 10:00am - 11:00am

For more information: shaftesburylibrary@ dorsetcouncil.gov.uk. Tel: 01747-852256

• Anglican High Mass at Wimborne St Giles: First Sunday of each month at 11am. BH21 5LZ.

• Blandford Methodist Church: Sundays – everyone is invited to Sunday services at 10.45am and to stay for refreshments. Thursdays –coffee and a chat from 10amnoon. Fridays – lunch club for the over-55s from noon at £5 per meal. Phone Joyce Wild on 07817 505543 to book. The church is anxious to offer help to all those in need – call church steward John Cornish on 07799 516735 or leave a message.

• Chalbury Church: Fourth Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion.

• Digby Memorial Church Hall: The Mothers’ Union’s next meeting is on Friday, March 22, at 10am in the Griffiths Room. Nick Pascoe, a retired prison governor, will talk about prisons. Everyone welcome.

• Dorset Chamber Choir in concert: St Mary at the Cross, Monday, March 25, 7.30pm at Broadstone United Reformed Church, Higher Blandford Road (BH18 9AB). Choral music including Stabat Mater by Karl Jenkins. Soloists Jake Bartlett, counter tenor; Ester Davey, soprano; and Clare Whitehead, cor anglais. Tickets £12 on the door/U16 free.

• Hinton Martell: Second Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion.

• Horton Church: First Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion.

• Horton & Chalbury village hall: Third Sunday of the month, 9am Breakfast Church.

• Kingston Lacy: Second Sunday of the month, 9.15am Holy Communion. Fourth Sunday of the month, 9.15am Family Service.

• Lower Stour Benefice:

Sunday, March 17 – 9.30am Communion at St John The Baptist, Spetisbury; 9.30am Family Service at St Mary Church, Charlton Marshall; 11am Morning Worship at All Saints, Langton Long; 11am Communion at St Mary’s Church, Tarrant Rushton.

Sunday, March 24 – 9.30am

Communion at St Mary Church, Charlton Marshall; 9.30am Morning Worship at St John The Baptist, Spetisbury; 11am Communion at All Saints, Langton Long; 11am BCP Communion at St Mary’s Church, Tarrant Rushton. Good

Friday, March 29 – 2.30pm

Good Friday reflective service at St Mary’s Church, Blandford St Mary. Easter Sunday, March 31 – 9.30am Communion at St Mary Church, Charlton Marshall; 9.30am Communion at St John The Baptist, Spetisbury; 11am Communion at All Saints, Langton Long; 11am Communion at St Mary’s Church, Tarrant Rushton. Coffee and cake – Spetisbury 1011.30am first and third Monday each month. Coffee and cake

– Blandford St Mary 1011.30am Thursday, March 21.

• Lillington: All morning services at Lillington now begin at 9.30am.

• Longburton Lent lunches: St James’ Church, Longburton, on Tuesday, March 19, 12.30pm–1.30pm. Soup, bread and cheese. Donations for Christian Aid.

• Longburton Village Café: Tea, coffee – free refills – and great cakes for just £2 in the village church of St James, Tuesday, March 26, 10.30amnoon.

• Our Lady’s RC Church, Marnhull: Mass Sunday, 9am and 6pm.

• Shaftesbury Quakers

(Society of Friends): Meets for one hour each Sunday from 10.30am at the Quaker Meeting House, Abbey Walk, Shaftesbury SP7 8BB.

• Sherborne Abbey: Monday to Saturday, 8.30am Morning Prayer; The Sepulchre Chapel. Mondays, 9am CW Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. Tuesday, noon CW Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. Wednesday, 10.30am Holy Communion with Homily; The Lady Chapel (alternates CW and BCP). Thursday, noon BCP Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. Friday, 9am Ecumenical Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. First Friday of the

month, 9am Requiem Holy Communion; The Sepulchre Chapel. Third Friday of the month, 11am Remembering the Fallen. Saturday, 9am CW Holy Communion; The Sepulchre Chapel.

• Sherborne Churches

Together: The Sacred Heart & St Aldhelm Parish is supporting CAFOD by having a Lent lunch on Wednesday, March 27, 11.30am-1.30pm in the church hall. Homemade soup with bread, cheese and apples, £3.50.

• Sacred Heart, Tisbury, and All Saints’ Wardour Catholic Parish: Sunday Mass times –Sacred Heart, Tisbury 9am, coffee after Mass; All Saints’ Wardour 10.30am.

• Shapwick: Third Sunday of the month, 9.15am Holy Communion.

• Sherborne Abbey: Sherborne Chamber Choir concert on Saturday, March 16, at 7.30pm. Duruflé Requiem – an uplifting concert for Lent. Conductor Paul Ellis, organist Simon Clarkson. Tickets: £5-£18 on 0333 6663366 or www.

sherbornechamberchoir.org.uk.

• Sherborne Quakers: Meet Sundays 10.30am in the Griffiths Room, Digby Memorial Church Hall. Everyone welcome.

• St Benedict’s RC Church, Gillingham: Sunday, 11am.

• St Gregory’s, Marnhull: Stephen Binnington will play a 30-minute programme of Chorale Preludes for Passiontide, on Tuesday, March 19, starting at noon. An opportunity to reflect on Lent and Passiontide through the music of Bach, Brahms, Parry and others. Entry is free but a donation towards church funds would be appreciated. Sunday services 8am and 10am. Other services, visit www. stgregorysmarnhull.org.uk.

• St John’s Church, Enmore Green: Come With Me, Palm Sunday, March 24, 6pm. A journey through Holy Week in memorable words and music led by Rev. Anne Heywood with Gospel music and songs by Leonard Cohen and Van Morrison, featuring the St John’s Singers, conductor Brian Watts

Church

and accompanist David Grierson. Everyone welcome. Service every Sunday at 11.15am; parish communion on the first Sunday of the month; prayer services every other Sunday.

• St Mary’s, Motcombe: Evening worship (BCP) – every first Sunday 6pm; parish communion – every second and fourth Sunday 9.30am; evening worship – every third Sunday 6pm.

• St Mary’s Church, Margaret Marsh (SP7 0AZ): Good Friday service ‘Meditations at the Foot of the Cross’, 6-7pm. Includes music, readings, prayer and contemplation. Everyone welcome.

• St Mary’s, Sturminster Newton: First, third and fourth Sundays – 11am Holy Communion; second Sunday – 9.30am Morning Prayer; fifth Sunday – 11am Benefice Holy Communion; second and fourth Sundays – 6pm Evensong; Wednesdays – 10am Holy Communion.

• St Peter’s, Hinton St Mary: First, second and third Sundays, 9.30am Morning Prayer. Fourth Sunday, 9.30am Holy Communion.

• St Peter’s, Dorchester: Cathedral-style service of Choral Evensong on Saturday, March 23, at 4.30pm. Everyone is welcome at this free event and to stay for a glass of wine after the service. Cathedral-style service of Choral Eucharist on Easter Sunday, March 31, at 10.30am.

• St Thomas’, Lydlinch: Second and fourth Sunday, 11am Holy Communion. Third Sunday, 6pm Evensong.

• West Camel Independent Methodists: Meeting at All Saints Church (BA22 7QB). Sundays, March 17 and 24, 4pm. Good Friday, March 29, 10.30am — United Service on the Village Green. Easter Sunday, March 31, 6pm — United Easter Praise service. Phone: 01935 850838 or email Geoff.mead@yahoo.com.

• Witchampton Church: Third Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion.

Panto gets it right

Review by Barbara

Ireland

COMPACT’S latest production, Snoozy Floozy, was presented at St Nicholas Primary School in Child Okeford during February half-term.

John Nash did a superb job of penning the panto that loosely followed the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty

Three shows – Friday night, Saturday night and a delightfully chaotic matinee on Saturday afternoon – played to full houses.

The cast were clearly inspired by the fabulous Steam Punk set Rob Adams and Celia Ebdon painted, echoed by the costumes Jackie Chapman and Gilli Gale created.

Throw in dramatic lighting by Mike Powell and sometimes hilarious sound effects from Tim Beynon, and this panto was ready to be baked.

The cherry on top was Phil Blake’s and Nick Briggs’ superb musical interpretation – despite losing their drummer 24 hours before curtain up.

The show featured fairies on scooters and an evil Sorceress – with obligatory frog eating, simpering, sidekick – singing Paint It Black

All the bad jokes and classic panto moments were stitched

together under the imaginative direction of Sammy Upton.

Happy audiences headed home still grinning, saying that “that was the best one yet!” and “wish there were still tickets for tomorrow”.

Members of the cast would like to thank audiences for their energy and inspiration. I, for one, can’t wait for the next production.

One-man Chekhov

ACTOR Andrew Scott (pictured), from BBC’s Fleabag, brings multiple characters to life in a radical new version of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya

Hopes, dreams and regrets are thrust into sharp focus in this one-man adaptation which explores the complexities of human emotions.

Shaftesbury Arts Centre will screen the London West End production as part of National Theatre Live on Saturday, March 30, at 7pm.

Tickets are available from the box office or online from the arts centre’s website, www. shaftesburyartscentre.org.uk

COMPACT’s Snoozy Floozy played to satisfied full houses

Telling the gripping tale of Ruth Ellis - the last woman to be hanged...

A GRIPPING drama telling the story of the last woman to be hanged in Britain is set to be performed in Shaftesbury.

Shaftesbury Arts Centre’s Music and Drama Group is putting on The Thrill of Love, from April 10 to 13, which tells the story of Ruth Ellis.

Ruth was hanged in 1955 after shooting dead racing driver David Blakely, who had been her lover but was engaged to someone else.

“Ruth Ellis is no fictional character. She was flesh-andblood and her story is true,” a spokesperson said.

“She has become a symbol of criminal injustice, but in The Thrill of Love she is neither victim, villain or hero.

“The play seeks to understand more about a

complex, enigmatic young woman and the life she lived.

“With Blakely, an off-stage character, the story focuses on

Ruth and her fellow hostesses. They would have known her better than anyone yet they are all but silent in the official

records.

“By finding their voice, we may hear Ruth’s, too. Exactly what drove her out with a gun on Easter Sunday 1955 can never fully be known but we still have much to learn from the question.”

Audiences are being warned the show contains bright, flashing lights, and is not suitable for those with light sensitive conditions such as epilepsy.

It is also not suitable for under-14s, the group added.

Tickets for The Thrill of Love are on sale for £12.50. Arts centre friends and members, £10. They are available online via www. shaftesburyartscentre.org.uk, or from the box office on 01747 854321.

Arts & Entertainment

Listen carefully, I shall say this only once...80s comedy is back

MERE Amateur Dramatic Society has chosen the stage version of the hugely popular television series, ’Allo, ’Allo! for its spring production.

This cult comedy classic

featuring the misadventures of cafe owner René in occupied France during the Second World War ran for nine series from 1982-92.

The stage show was equally

successful with three London runs and international tours from 1986-92, since when it has become a favourite for amateur companies.

René’s café in the small town of Nouvion is the meeting place for Nazi occupiers and various factions of the local population.

René and his wife, Edith, struggle to keep them apart and to keep for themselves a priceless portrait stolen by the Nazis but now stowed in a sausage in the cafe’s cellar.

Add in the two British airmen René is hiding from the

English composers centre stage

DORCHESTER Choral

Society will be joined by the Wessex Schools Choir and a professional orchestra to perform Richard Blackford’s Pietà tomorrow (Saturday, March 16).

The piece, commissioned by Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, was first performed in 2019 to great acclaim.

The concert will also include two further works by English composers, Two Psalms, by Gustav Holst, and the popular orchestral piece, Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus by Ralph Vaughan Williams, as well as short pieces from the

children’s choir.

The concert is at St Mary’s Church, Edward Road, Dorchester (DT1 2HL).

Tickets are available from TicketSource and the choir’s website, www. DorchesterChoralSociety. org.

enemy, the French Resistance, badly disguised wireless equipment, amours and news of a visit by the Fuhrer, and René needs all his wits about him to save the cafe and his life.

René’s cafe opens at The Lecture Hall on Thursday to Saturday, March 21, 22 and 23 at 7.30pm.

Tickets priced £10 are available from Mere Library and Sprout & Flower; by calling 01747 861257 or 07539 329798, online at tickets@ mereamdram.co.uk; and on the door if seats are available.

STAR Trek fans are in for a special treat with a charity screening of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (12A) at the Ocean Theatre in the Pavilion in Bournemouth.

The screening is presented by Filmaholics, who call themselves “film nuts, sci-fi fans and Star Trek ‘Trekkies’ through and through”, and profits will go to two local charities.

Julia’s House based in Wimborne provides vital practical and emotional support for families caring for a child with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition.

Dogs for Autism, based near Winchester, trains and provides assistance dogs, at no charge, to autistic people of any age who will benefit.

The screening is on Saturday, March 16, at 7.30pm – for tickets visit www. pdsw.org.uk/whats-on.

Journey into the world of harp-guitar

A LEADING exponent of the harp-guitar, Jon Pickard, is in concert in Shaftesbury next week.

Jon discovered the rare instrument 15 years ago and is recognised internationally for his artistry, understanding and composing ability on it.

The multi-instrumentalist has specialised at different times in classical guitar, electric and folk fusion, jazz and classical piano and more.

The harp-guitar, which has existed in different forms for over 300 years, has extra banks of strings built in to add extra range and textures.

That makes it more complicated to play than a basic six-string guitar, but John says it produces a magnificent, rich sound.

At the concert in Shaftesbury, he will play a mix of music composed by himself and others for harp guitar, inspired by mythological folk tales from the Celtic world and beyond.

It will combine influences of folk, classical and esoteric spirituality.

Jon also works in video and has created rich video backdrops for most of the show, which play alongside each tune.

The audience will hear tales of Celtic saints, Welsh giants, eastern mystics and more.

Jon graduated as a classical guitarist in 2005 and has enjoyed a busy and varied career as a performer, teacher and composer.

He has toured and given concerts and talks across the UK, and in France, Germany and the USA.

The concert is at St Peter’s Church, Shaftesbury, on Saturday, March 23, at 7.30pm, doors open 7pm. Tickets priced £12 are available from www. wegottickets.com/ event/605137/

Jon Pickard with a unique instrument he designed himself

Music director Colin Howard works on Pietà

Politics

NI cut and the bill for Covid

IT’S been a good Budget for my Wiltshire constituents.

In the second full Budget since the global pandemic, Jeremy Hunt delivered what he had promised – a forwardlooking economic plan that cuts taxes in a sensible way. My hard-working constituents will particularly benefit from the 2% cut to National Insurance.

Combined with a similar cut in the Autumn Statement, it delivers several hundred pounds in annual savings for working families and an incentive for the large number of adults who are not currently economically active to return to the workforce.

Raising the VAT threshold for businesses is a positive for the local economy which is characterised by lots of smaller enterprises.

After launching my TechTrowbridge initiative last year, I’m chuffed with the Chancellor’s emphasis on

Conservative MP for South West Wiltshire

Dr Andrew Murrison

digital technology and AI such as the £7.4 million upskilling fund pilot to help SMEs develop AI skills. I’ll be exploring how we can have some of the action locally.

In my view, the Chancellor has done a good job against an incredibly challenging backdrop. Look at any graph of government debt or spending over the last century and you’ll

notice two massive peaks – one during the Second World War and one during the pandemic. The Treasury spent big time keeping the UK afloat during both. It’s either disingenuous or childishly naïve to suggest that its paymasters – us – wouldn’t have to settle the bill for Covid, just as we, our parents and grandparents did in the post-war years when the standard rate of income tax shot up to 50%.

Since the pandemic, much has been made of data showing taxes to be the highest as a percentage of GDP since the war. But we need to devil into the detail to find who those taxes are falling on. Jeremy Hunt’s NI cuts mean that a person on the average wage actually has the lowest effective personal tax rate since 1975. So, the Government’s strategy is clear – it wants to get its sticky fingers out of the pockets of the hard-working people who power

our economy.

But what, back in the day, Harold Wilson called ‘the pound in your pocket’ isn’t much good if it’s being inflated away. Since coming to office, the Sunak government has more than halved inflation. The OBR is now saying inflation is on the point of dropping sharply –below 2%. That’ll reduce borrowing costs, personal, corporate and governmental. I’m hoping the latter will free up more headroom for further tax cuts later this year as we continue the post-Covid recovery. Indeed, though His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition can hiss and spit as much as it likes, the truth is the UK emerges from the pandemic in a distinctly advantageous economic position compared to its European peers.

The challenge now is to improve the metric that we have for many years struggled with – productivity.

NHS dentistry improvements on way

LAST month, the Government announced its plans to recover and reform NHS dentistry and I am glad to see that rural and coastal communities, such as West Dorset, will receive specific benefits this year. I know how difficult this situation has been and continues to be, having met many constituents who have informed me of their challenges in accessing routine dental treatment.

The new measures include the introduction of new mobile dental provision to bring dental care to the most remote and underserved communities where no NHS dental practices are operating. They also include the introduction of incentives to retain and encourage dentists in areas such as West Dorset, starting with the first cohort of dentists later this year. And we will also see an uplift to the minimum payment for units of dental activity (UDAs), rising to £28 per UDA this year.

While I welcome these measures, which will improve accessibility, I still want to see West Dorset recognised as a priority area for further reforms. It’s vital that any reforms account for the geographical, demographical and economical challenges we face in rural West Dorset.

I’ve raised these views in a letter to the Dentistry Minister this week. And I have raised my

concerns about access to NHS dentistry with the Integrated Care Board at Dorset NHS, which has the ultimate responsibility for commissioning NHS dental services in West Dorset.

I am grateful to all of you who have contacted me in recent months about their challenges – I can assure you I am taking your concerns to the very top of Government to ensure Health Ministers recognise the challenging situation West Dorset – and the south west more broadly – finds itself in.

In other news, I’m glad to report that there’s been significant progress with my campaign to ensure farmers are paid a fair price. The Government announced late last month that new regulations will be laid in Parliament to ensure dairy, poultry and pig farmers’ contracts pay a fair price. These new regulations the

Government has announced will ensure that farmers’ contracts with supermarkets are fair and transparent, with clear pricing terms for farmers. The regulations will apply to new and existing contracts.

It’s immoral that many farmers and food producers who supply the supermarkets are still turning a negligible profit – sometimes of less than 1p profit for the food they produce when supermarkets declare record profits. In addition, the Government will introduce a £15 million fund for farmers to redistribute surplus food at the farm gate which cannot currently be used commercially. This will reduce waste, ensuring that produce is instead put to good use.

As always, if I can help, you can contact me by email at hello@chrisloder.co.uk or write to me at House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.

Conservative MP for West Dorset

Chris Loder

Politics

The real motivation of the Budget...

“LET me tell you how it will be. There’s five for you, but ten for me. Cos I’m the taxman.” As George Harrison might have sung if he penned Taxman in 2024 rather than 1966.

For with this Government, despite its National Insurance cuts, households are £870 worse off on average. I’ve written about fiscal drag before –income tax bands not being increased with inflation, dragging more people into higher bands of tax. The result is Hunt and Sunak take away 10p for every 5p they have given back.

And you know this already. No one is better off, and no one is going to be feeling better off, come the election. What I’d like to focus on though is the integrity of the Government and its MPs around other aspects this Budget.

Let’s take growth. The

Chancellor was crowing that he’d plotted a way out of – his – latest recession. How has he done it? Migration. That’s right – an increase in net migration by 70,000 a year. So while total GDP is nudging up because of

all the additional legal migrants they said they wouldn’t let in post-Brexit, GDP per capita is actually decreasing.

What about his claim to have debt as a percentage of GDP falling? It may do – but only in five years’ time. Borrowing has been revised up in the next four years. And Hunt has only managed to pull this off by planning for the next Government to implement real terms departmental budget cuts.

Here we get to the real motivation behind the Budget – to try and scupper Labour’s plans. We had pledged to abolish the non-dom regime and use the tax raised to increase recruitment and training of NHS staff and spending on school breakfast clubs. We had planned to extend the windfall tax on oil and gas companies to fund what remains of our Green Prosperity Plan, including the programme

of home insulation.

Every Labour policy was fully costed and funded. It’s why we lead the Tories on economic credibility. The tanks parked on their lawn made them angry. So they stole our policies.

Perhaps imitation is the highest form of flattery. But it’s not governing. It’s a party that already has the mindset of defeat, spiking the guns on the way out.

I’m frustrated by it. And I’m okay telling you all I’m frustrated by it. Because that’s all they have left now, folks. So out of ideas that they depend on those of other parties. Putting 5p in your left pocket as they pick 10p out of the right. It’s not being honest with you.

Labour will find other ways to fund the policies that this country needs. And tell you straight.

More women needed in politics

LAST week was International Women’s Day, a day which celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women across the world.

It is over 100 years since the first women won the right to vote and in 2028 it will be 100 years since the Equal Franchise Act finally gave equal voting rights to women and men.

I am extremely proud to be the 562nd woman elected to the House of Commons, with a further two having been elected over the past few months. I am always amazed to think that even if all the women ever elected as MPs were able to gather in the chamber together, we wouldn’t even fill it. The situation in councils is not much better – in August 2022 just 36% of the 19,212 elected councillors across the UK were women and fewer than 5% of all councils have achieved gender parity.

So, although we have come a

Dyke

long way with two of the last four Prime Ministers being women – albeit one lasted just 45 days! – there is even further

to go. It is vitally important that we encourage more women to put themselves forward in politics at all levels, whether that be on parish or town councils, district or county councils and, of course, as Members of Parliament. We need women in every room of power to help make decisions that truly benefit the whole population. Women make significant contributions to their communities, and I encourage more women to be part of the decision-making process to ensure our voices are heard and needs addressed.

By empowering women, we can help create more inclusive and equitable societies where all individuals can thrive and contribute to their fullest potential.

We must also work harder on tackling violence against women and girls. I believe the current Government must do more on this issue and it must be a top priority for all levels of

Government.

Since being elected, I have spoken several times in Parliament about violence against women and girls. Tragically, the daughter of a constituent was stabbed to death by an ex-partner using a knife from her own kitchen.

Currently, offenders convicted of murder using a weapon already available at the crime scene have a starting sentence 10 years lower than those who brought a weapon with them. It is time that we close this legal loophole and urgently act to stop this problem rather than just mourn those killed.

I will continue to fight for women’s equality and a world free from bias, stereotypes and discrimination.

Thank you for reading my contribution and as always if there is anything I can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me at sarah. dyke.mp@parliament.uk

Liberal Democrat MP for Somerton & Frome Sarah

Greg Williams, on behalf of Dorset Labour

Politics

Spring Budget passes crucial tests

“WILL it stand the test of time?” is often a question asked. In short – will something that looks or sound good today be so in the future. When it comes to Budgets there are two tests they need to pass. The first is how do “the markets” respond? The second is does a major announcement unravel when it collides with media and public scrutiny.

On the basis of those tests, the Chancellor’s Budget passed with flying colours. Moreover, the Office of Budget Responsibility – capable of reform I know but the litmus test we have for the foreseeable – did not sound any alarm. In more nuanced terms, the Chancellor’s latest fiscal event continued rebuilding my Party’s reputation for sensible, prudent economic management and our determination to govern in the national interest.

The Budget harvested the benefits of the falling level of

Conservative MP for North Dorset

Simon Hoare

inflation and weakened upward pressures on interest rates. It was not rash. We have a strategy that takes each hurdle as it comes – building on progress and delivering benefits for all.

The progress on childcare and benefit will help many

families across North Dorset. The freeze on fuel duty is always welcomed by communities in rural areas where the use of a car is a necessity rather than a luxury.

The harnessing of digital to drive efficiency is to be heralded across the NHS as it means that all our health data will be easily accessible across the NHS and, as a result, more people can be seen more effectively. The freezing of duty on alcohol for a further year is welcome news to our vital village and town pub sector as it is to those who enjoy a drink at their local. This pub lifeline is on top of the 75% reduction in Business Rates announced in the autumn.

The six-month extension to the Household Support Fund provides the transition for many families as inflation continues to fall, and as welfare payment increases come in in April. This fund, administered by Dorset

Council, has been incredibly helpful to many families in North Dorset. As Local Government Minister, councils told me how useful it is and I made an energetic case to Government colleagues to extend the fund while inflation decreases hardbake themselves into shop prices.

The continuing of the Triple Lock is excellent news for North Dorset pensioners, providing as it does, dignity in old age.

I know some wanted a cut in Income Tax. However, I think the choice of reducing employee NICS by a further 2% – from April 6 it will be a 4% reduction since last autumn –was the right one, reinforcing as it does, a key message that chimes with North Dorset –being in work pays. The path to abolishing employee NICS is clear – to achieve it we just need to stick to the Government’s plan.

Govt takes rural voters for granted

SPRING Budget: Mad march hare or rabbit with no hat?

I thought the Spring Budget would be the one subject worth writing about this week of any consequence, but it turned out that I should have been paying more attention to other things going on in the world.

The Chancellor’s plans were in all the newspapers days in advance. No rabbits were pulled out of hats – even the hypocritical theft of Labour’s non-dom and energy windfall tax plans was predicted.

The lack of surprise was made worse by knowing that neither main contender for government at the general election will dare to be honest. Taxes will go on rising, while spending on unprotected government departments will fall 13% from now to 2028.

The Chancellor could have softened the impact on services by not using up all of what little space he had, but he used it all up anyway.

The national newspapers were full of the impacts on people at different income levels. Quite apart from the general unreality and short termism of the whole Spring Budget, from the overall point of view of North Dorset people there are a few real concerns.

Our median incomes here are lower than average and the least well paid, especially part-time workers, will lose money almost immediately from this budget.

We also have more older people than average, so more pensioners who lose because they won’t benefit from the cut to national insurance.

A mix of other measures were announced helping middle and higher earners in the near term, although tax band freezes will take it back later, but

nothing for younger people hoping for help with sensibly sized and priced housing.

And so it went on. The current government really does take rural places and their voters for granted.

This sounds like a counsel of despair, but there should be hope.

Inflation is coming down as energy and food prices stabilise, and interest rates may start to reduce later this year.

Liberal Democrats will be making the case for a new government to end stagnation, taking long-term action for steady capital investment for growth, higher skills, smarter trade, improving services, real wage increases and higher personal savings. This is only a general election away. Let’s get on with it.

Gary Jackson, North Dorset Liberal Democrats

Council funding: Re-think is needed

MP Chris Loder – New Blackmore Vale, February 16 – appears disingenuous in his attack on council tax rises in Somerset.

Somerset County inherited a financial mess from the Tories two years ago and like most public authorities in England, is facing financial ruin because of lack of central funding and being responsible for costs such as care and special educational needs it has no control over when budgeting.

Last month, more than 40 Tory MPs, including Priti Patel and Robert Jenrick, wrote to the Prime Minister to seek an extra £4 billion for local authorities this year.

Care costs that have been devolved now to local authorities are rocketing because of demand and shortage of care workers post-Brexit.

Some authorities are having to spend a reputed £2.5 million a year on special needs places for a single child.

The Government caps county tax rises for 2024 to no more than 3% for general services and a further 2% for adult social care responsibility costs at a time when inflation has been significantly higher.

Several Tory authorities have already issued Section 114 notices, effectively declaring bankruptcy, and many more councils of all political parties will do so next year unless local authority funding is sorted out.

Golf club helps Mosaic charity

SHERBORNE Golf Club’s captain and ladies captain have met senior representatives of Dorset child bereavement charity Mosaic, to map out fundraising activities for 2024.

Working closely with local schools, Mosaic provides a valuable support network for children aged four to 18.

The children it helps struggle with the effects of close-family bereavement, typically the loss of a mum or dad, a sister or brother.

Mosaic provides bucket-loads of compassion, endless unconditional kindness and lots of meaningful and practical help.

Support that puts the child at the heart of what it does. The kind of support that will see

some of those children try out and enjoy golf for the first time at Sherborne Golf Club.

Mosaic is not particularly well known locally and isn’t flush with cash. Around 95% of its income comes from donations made by ordinary people.

But it punches above its weight and achieves results in an impactful way.

To raise money to support its work, Sherborne Golf Club is staging social events and golf-related competitions.

Notably, in November, the club will hold a public Mosaic charity silent auction with all proceeds from items gifted by club members, local businesses and others going to the charity.

Childhood bereavement is a bigger problem than many realise. Sherborne Golf Club is proud to be associated with Mosaic and the wonderful work it does.

Russell Mead

Club captain, Sherborne Golf Club

The Liberal Democrat-run Yeovil and Taunton town budgets show little change from last year for ongoing expenditure, but there is a large increase in local tax now to fund services that were previously provided at county level but could not be going forward because of budget constraints.

Council tax payers have to pay for services, be it from the county or town, and some services have now been devolved to the town level should they wish to continue them.

I am glad Yeovil Town Council pretty well unanimously agreed to take over running cultural hubs such as The Octagon and Westlands Entertainment Venue plus recreational facilities.

It appears that Chris would prefer such cultural and sporting facilities to be closed.

I cannot understand why the Tories dislike the arts, culture and sport so much, as demonstrated by the funding cuts at national level when those sectors are some of the most successful in an otherwise broken Britain.

We need a fundamental re-think on local authority funding, including a much fairer assessment of council tax, not cheap party point scoring.

Mike Bignell Sherborne

Plant folklore call for help

SINCE the early 1980s the Plant-lore Archive project has been collecting information on the folklore and traditional uses of plants in Britain and beyond.

The archive holds information from about 3,600 contributors but further contributions are needed to improve our knowledge of such matters.

Therefore, if any New Blackmore Vale readers have memories of flowers they

In the picture (left) Wayne Butcher, Mosaic publicity officer, and Patricia Rawlins, Sherborne Golf Club ladies captain, and (right) Jo Revill, Mosaic chief executive, Russell Mead, golf club captain, and Jenny Diffey, Mosaic community fundraiser

consider to be unlucky, wild plants collected for food, herbal remedies, plants used in children’s games and local plant names etc, I would grateful if they could send them to me at roy@plant-lore.com.

Roy Vickery Via email

More cuts, less vision

WITH the new year over two months old, Dorset Council has trumpeted its “Balanced Budget”.

It is time for me to decide whether to stand for the Liberal Democrats in Stalbridge and Marnhull ward.

It is clear this budget reduces what the council does to the barest of minimums – paying for schools, providing social care, patching the roads and collecting the rubbish.

The rest seems to be in abeyance – proactive planning, strategic economic initiatives, investing in our youth, educational needs outside the mainstream, transport

infrastructure, even just maintaining our road signs.

Dorset needs fresh strategic thinking, otherwise the spiral of rural decline seems set to continue. That is enough reason to stand again.

Ros Evelegh Marnhull

Re-nationalise national assets

I WAS struck by Chris Loder’s use of the phrase, “selling-off the family silver...” in his latest criticism of Somerset Council – New Blackmore Vale, March 1.

This phrase was used by Harold Macmillan in an excoriating 1985 speech in which he criticised Mrs Thatcher’s privatisations – that is sellingoff – of state-owned assets, such as council housing, water, gas and electricity.

I agree with Chris, and Mr Macmillan, that “selling the family silver”, nationally or locally, is not sensible.

I am, therefore, encouraged by

Chris’s belief, and can only hope that, come the general election, he will support the re-nationalisation of, for example, the monopolistic and under-performing water companies, and the construction of enough social/council housing to replace the thousands lost to the right-tobuy programme.

I have also read that £70 million of Somerset Council’s £100 million black hole – to use Chris’s term – can be attributed to increases in adult social care expenses – not forgetting dramatic decreases in central government support for local authorities that must surely play a part?.

Perhaps, therefore, the picture is a little more complicated than Chris suggests?

Gordon Morris Leigh

Expert gardener at village hall

COME and hear celebrated gardener Derry Watkins from

Special Plants in Bath!

She is speaking at Tarrant Keyneston village hall, near Blandford, on Late Summer Colour on Wednesday, March 20, at 2.30pm.

Derry is author of two books on greenhouse gardening and has introduced many plants from her plant collecting trips to South Africa and elsewhere.

This will be a very special event with Derry bringing her plants to sell and tea, homemade cakes and a raffle will be on offer.

Tickets are bookable from Madeleine on 01258 480778 or on the door if available.

Madeleine Hemsley

Tarrant Keyneston

Europe illustrates problems with PR

SUSAN Gaisford repeats the often-made call for proportional representation – New Blackmore Vale, March 1.

She may recall that, in the wake of the 2010 election, we had a referendum on this issue which recorded a large majority for our existing first-past-thepost system.

If one looks round Europe at the moment, it is obvious why.

In Germany a coalition was cobbled together but is now splintering because there was no real agreement.

The Netherlands is suffering months without effective government while coalition negotiations continue.

Spain retains a prime minister who was rejected in the last election.

If one does achieve a stable coalition, a minority party has undue influence but the majority party still carries the can – as we saw post-2010.

There are many legitimate criticisms of first-past-the-post, but it generally results in a government which is able to act decisively on its own programme.

If we don’t like the results, we know who to blame.

Mike Keatinge Sherborne

This photo was taken by Brian Stubbs of Wincanton Camera Club. Email your photos

Across

7 Part two (6)

8 Altitude (6)

9 Land surrounded by sea (4)

10 Imperious (8)

11 Organizer (11)

14 Logical equivalences (11)

18 Wholly (8)

19 Grizzly or polar, eg (4)

20 Very serious (6)

21 Dissimilar (6)

Down

1 Edition (7)

Down

1 Edition (7)

2 Give off gas (4)

3 Substance with pH greater than 7 (6)

2 Give off gas (4)

4 Universal Buddhist truth (6)

3 Substance with pH greater than 7 (6)

5 Bell sound (4-4)

4 Universal Buddhist truth (6)

6 Horned African animal (5)

5 Bell sound (4-4)

12 Finally understands (8)

6 Horned African animal (5)

13 Comments (7)

12 Finally understands (8)

15 Finis (3,3)

13 Comments (7)

16 Plan; map (6)

15 Finis (3,3)

17 Pungent vegetable (5)

16 Plan; map (6)

19 Bundle of hay (4)

17 Pungent vegetable (5)

19 Bundle of hay (4)

Jumbo sudoku

Cryptic crossword

Place 1 to 9 once into every black-bordered 3x3 area as well as each of the 54 rows indicated by the coloured lines. Rows don’t cross the thick black lines.

Across

8 Source of oil in Sevastopol I venture (5)

Killer sudoku

Across

Down

8 Source of oil in Sevastopol I venture (5)

9 Raise a reform to suppress start of unrest in large part of world? (7)

9 Raise a reform to suppress start of unrest in large part of world? (7)

10 A decoration on wall curtailed in southern island for warriors (7)

11 See about say mournful work (5)

12 Offer custom in a port possibly with enthusiasm (not half) (9)

14 A lot of speed and weight (3)

15 It’s put on road and pitch (3)

1 Chat is in this way retrograde in hands of doctor (6)

10 A decoration on wall curtailed in southern island for warriors (7)

2 Measure across item read wrongly (8)

3 One succeeding in broadcast on radio (4)

11 See about say mournful work (5)

4 Flawless figure in India for twins (6)

12 Offer custom in a port possibly with enthusiasm (not half) (9)

5 Stoppage increased in onset of winter?

14 A lot of speed and weight (3)

15 It’s put on road and pitch (3)

6 Part of supermarket, we hear, in Skye, maybe (4)

7 Prohibit around a US city loose jacket (6)

16 Brave indication to show decisive sporting moment? (4,5)

16 Brave indication to show decisive sporting moment? (4,5)

19 Not needing introduction, outstanding antique (5)

19 Not needing introduction, outstanding antique (5)

13 Manage newspaper that is covering end razzmatazz (8)

21 One from Lhasa, maybe, I guess in sun (7)

14 Exciting experience with companion taking frame of tasty panelled work (8)

23 Experience a distant line (7)

21 One from Lhasa, maybe, I guess in sun (7)

23 Experience a distant line (7)

24 Some gun cleaned for pawnbroker (5)

Across

8 Source of oil in Sevastopol I venture (5)

Killer Sudoku Place numbers 1 to 9 once each into every row, column and bold-lined 3x3 box. No didgit may be repeated in any dash-lined cage, and all the digits in any cage must add up to the value shown in that cage.

9 Raise a reform to suppress start of unrest in large part of world? (7)

10 A decoration on wall curtailed in southern island for warriors (7)

11 See about say mournful work (5)

12 Offer custom in a port possibly with enthusiasm (not half) (9)

14 A lot of speed and weight (3)

15 It’s put on road and pitch (3)

16 Brave indication to show decisive sporting moment? (4,5)

19 Not needing introduction, outstanding antique (5)

21 One from Lhasa, maybe, I guess in sun (7)

23 Experience a distant line (7)

24 Some gun cleaned for pawnbroker (5)

15 Decline initially discounted in cup (6)

24 Some gun cleaned for pawnbroker (5)

17 Greek character supported by small rebellion (6)

18 Sensitive proposal (6)

20 US lawyer about to get challenge (4)

22 Miserable waste (4)

Down

1 Chat is in this way retrograde in hands of doctor (6)

2 Measure across item read wrongly (8)

3 One succeeding in broadcast on radio (4)

4 Flawless figure in India for twins (6)

5 Stoppage increased in onset of winter? (6-2)

6 Part of supermarket, we hear, in Skye, maybe (4)

7 Prohibit around a US city loose jacket (6)

13 Manage newspaper that is covering end of razzmatazz (8)

14 Exciting experience with companion taking in frame of tasty panelled work (8)

15 Decline initially discounted in cup (6)

17 Greek character supported by small rebellion (6)

18 Sensitive proposal (6)

20 US lawyer about to get challenge (4)

22 Miserable waste (4)

Superb silverware

by Amy Brenan, director

of Heirlooms Jewellers, 21 South Street, Wareham SILVERWARE is a general term for cutlery – also known as flatware – or dining items such as platters, tureens and gravy boats made from sterling silver.

It can also be used to describe trophies, candelabras and dressing table items.

We don’t tend to see traditional silver cutlery in everyday use nowadays but there is no doubt that if it is brought out on special occasions, it can make the table look magnificent!

Silver Tazza (pictured) with lovely engraving, detail and fretwork in superb condition.

This would have been used to display fruits or desserts, but was actually being used on a dressing table for bottles of perfume.

I also acquired a lovely late Georgian silver bowl with engraving and intricate detail called Repousse.

I love discovering antique silver pieces when doing valuations and regularly come across the most beautiful pieces that have graced Georgian and Victorian homes, and have been passed down and treasured as heirlooms.

One unusual find was a gorgeous intricate Edwardian

This ancient method of decorating has been used in metalworking since the 16th century and it is where the decoration is raised from the back or inside of the piece by using a hammer or punch.

If you have any inherited silverware at home in a cupboard and are not sure what the story behind it is, feel free to bring it in to Heirlooms and I can give you a bit more background information. You may be surprised!

Paddle do it!

Ceremonial oar set to go under the hammer

THE private collection of the late ‘Great’ George Withers sold on February 21, 22 and 23 drew 4,500 bidders from around the globe, showing the deep interest from collectors chasing the sole opportunity to acquire items they had never seen before.

A packed saleroom at the start of the first day saw competitive bidding which continued through the duration of the 12-hour long auction days with five online bidding platforms active.

All lots were sold with the top lot being a set of Elizabethan trenchers making £18,200 (including fees).

Hundreds more lots from the George Withers Collection will be offered in the March 26 Select Interiors, May 20 Fine Asian Art and June 5 Fine Silver auctions.

A rare Austral Islands ceremonial paddle with intricate pommel carved with representations of human heads and intricate incised designs is of note in the March 26 Interiors auction. It carries an estimate of £1,500-£2,500.

A programme of auctions planned for 2024 offers a

variety of opportunities for sellers. In particular, specialist auctions of Fine Asian Art (May 20) and Silver, Jewellery and Watches (June 5) provide a curated setting to offer items.

The team at Dore & Rees can help prospective vendors understand the value of their

collections by arranging a free valuation appointment at their homes or at the salerooms in Frome. Valuation days are planned for April 15, 16 and 29. Call 01373 462257 or email enquiries@doreandrees.com to book a free appointment. See doreandrees.com for details.

Auction dates for Acreman

ACREMAN St Auctioneers & Valuers is holding two live hammer auctions this month, General Antiques & Collectors on Thursday, March 28, at 10am; and Jewellery, Silver & Watches on Friday, March 29, at 10am. Viewing is on Wednesday, March 27, from 9am-4pm.

In the Jewellery, Silver & Watches sale is an Art Deco 18ct white gold, sapphire and diamond set ring estimated at £250-£350; 35 pieces of 1854- dated silver flatware £1,000-£1,500; and an Eterna-Matic Sahida gents wristwatch £250-£350.

Acreman also has timed sales running on Auctionet.com with a specialist Modern & Contemporary Art sale to be launched on Friday, March 15, running for nine days.

The catalogue and bidding is available through Easyliveauction. com and Thesaleroom.com, and Auctionet.com for the timed auctions.

Upcoming specialist auctions are: Textile, Fashion & Apparel, Friday, April 19, and Garden & Architectural, Thursday, May 30.

Anyone considering entering items for auction can email photographs to auction@acremanstreetantiques.co.uk or items can be taken into the saleroom Monday to Saturday 9am-4pm. Enquiries can also be made to Gill Norman on 07908 333577 or 01935 508764.

Valuation days are held every Wednesday 10am-4pm at Acreman Auctioneers & Valuers, 121 Acreman Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT93PH.

Howzat for a cricket collection!

A LIFETIME collection of cricket memorabilia is being sold by Charterhouse in Sherborne in its Thursday, April 4, specialist Sporting Auction.

The collection was amassed over many decades by the late Harry Brewer of Nether Compton.

Richard Bromell, from the auction house, said: “Harry was a well known and keen sportsman, but cricket was his main passion.”

His cricket collection, all being sold without reserve, features pottery figures, pictures, balls, bails and more than 1,000 specialist cricket books including a complete run of the famous Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack dating

from 1864 to 2021.

Charterhouse is now accepting entries for its forthcoming specialist auctions of sporting items, automobilia and enamel signs, classic cars, sporting items, pictures, watches and Asian art.

Richard Bromell and the Charterhouse team can be contacted for advice and valuations at The Long Street Salerooms, Sherborne, phone 01935 812277 or via rb@ charterhouse-auction.com.

Diamond ring shines bright Watch chain makes more than £2,500

DUKE’S Jewellery, Watches, Silver and Currency auction is taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, March 27-28.

The auction offers a curated collection of exceptional variety, including treasures for long-time jewellery collectors and first-time buyers alike.

The four pillars of the auction – silver, watches, jewellery and currency, are each marked by pieces of high quality and glistening beauty.

A highlight among the watches is a Rolex Submariner Gentleman’s stainless steel bracelet watch, estimated at £8,000-£12,000 – a fine addition to someone's collection.

A stand-out in the coins section is a special private Dorset collection, including rare US and Australian silver coins.

Alongside the golds and jewels is an abundance of silver, one of the highlights being a Victorian silver coffee pot by Elkington & Co, London 1879.

Finally, to shine in prominence in a sea of diamonds is no easy feat, but a rare 6.00 carat diamond solitaire ring (pictured) gleams in distinction,

For more information on the auction visit www.dukesauctions.com.

CLARKE’S Auctions at Semley had another outstanding sale last weekend – there were only 866 lots but most sold well above the estimate.

The watch section proved popular with an 18ct gold double Albert pocket watch chain fetching more than £2,500 and a Vertex 9ct gold-cased open-faced pocket watch making over £420.

The silver section was a hit with a George III four-piece silver tea set, London 1818, and bearing the crest of possibly Squire Osbaldeston making £1,000, and an early Victorian four-piece silver tea set, initialled London 1846, and maker’s mark for Samuel Hayne & Dudley Cater, selling

for £950.

Clarke’s also sold four boxed Britain’s Racing Colours of Famous Owners, which made £250, and a pair of late 19th/early 20th century Native American gloves with beadwork decoration for £320. A vintage umbrella with cherry amber bakelite-type handle was bought by a phone bidder for £620.

Clarke’s is taking entries for its April 12-13 sale and future sales.

Anyone with anything of interest they may wish to sell can visit Clarke’s on Kingsettle Business Park, Station Road, Semley, Shaftesbury SP7 9BU or phone to arrange a home visit. Richard Clarke also offers free valuations on site Monday to Friday, 9-5pm.

To arrange appointments for valuation enquires phone Richard Clarke or Karen Marshall on 01747 855109.

CLEARANCE SALE

I have a large private collection of French and English antique furniture, antique architectural items, interesting antiquities and objects d’art for home et gardens. I return to Dorset monthly with fresh items from my collection.

Open 7 days, but please check as I may be away on delivering. I look forward to your visit!

Come and see the collection at: The Antiques Barn, Unit 7 and 8, Woodrow Dairy, The Common, Hazelbury Bryan, DT10 2AH

TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME

The

New

Blackmore Vale Magazine

Easter Deadlines

Friday 29th March Edition

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Final Copy

DISPLAY ADS COPY - Thursday 21st March - 4pm

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Thursday 21st March 4pm

Adverts maybe accepted after this, however these will be subject to space

Home & Garden

Dogwoods provide rich splash of colour in a grey garden

by Sally Gregson

AFTER all the heavy, winter rain our gardens can seem too muddy. It’s easy to believe that nothing will grow in such conditions. But, the bright coloured stems of the dogwoods are completely at home and relish the damp, heavy soil.

Dogwoods are brilliant winter plants. They produce rich splashes of colour in a grey garden and outshine most other plants being grown for winter. The red forms, Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ and its kin, are especially good if grown alongside white-stemmed Silver Birches. The contrast could be further heightened by planting crowds of snowdrops and perhaps the red-leaved Epimedium ‘Black Sea’. This is grown for its foliage alone – the flowers are what horticulturists call ‘Insignificant’. Which is to do them an injustice, but perhaps they are not the most spectacular.

‘Sibirica’ next to the blackcurrant stems of C. alba ‘Kesselringii’. Enrich this combination perhaps with a few clumps of ‘black grass’ with the impossible name, Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’. Add some of the red-leaved Japanese Blood Grass, Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron’, and the combination will be sensational later in the summer. The ‘grasses’ would not enjoy a damp situation, but any soil that drains reasonably well would suit them all.

There are many and various coloured stems among the dogwoods. Try mixing C. alba ‘Aurea’ with its golden stems and a red cast to the leaves, with summer-flowering Day Lilies. Or, plant C. alba

However, there is a pitfall for the unwary gardener. Cornus alba needs to be cut back hard now, at the end of March, or it will grow into a large, muddled shrub. After a few years of neglect, you will wonder why you chose to plant it in your garden in the first place. But dogwoods are very tough plants and cutting an overgrown plant right down with a saw, if necessary, in late March will restore a beautiful shrub that would grace any winter garden. Alternatively, why not dig out the offending plant and replace it with a new coloured form. The whole garden will enjoy a facelift.

The red forms of dogwood, Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ (left) and its kin, are good grown alongside white-stemmed silver birches

As

Home & Garden

Poppies to brighten up the borders

by Sally Gregson

SUDDENLY spring is starting to burst forth in all its green glory. The hedges are beginning to shimmer with young leaves, the grass is beginning to grow and the weeds are beginning to emerge. Life is getting ready for another summer.

Leaping on the back of this readiness is the wise gardener who sows seed of hardy annuals in the open ground, and tender perennials in the greenhouse or on a cool windowsill. Providing the ground is not too wet, or even flooded, the soil temperature has risen enough to prompt germination outdoors.

So, if you like to garland the border with annual poppies such as Papaver somniferum, prepare space around the burgeoning perennials. Weed and scratch the soil surface with a hand-held rake, and scatter the seed very thinly where you

want the poppies to emerge. They should germinate in the next few weeks ready for thinning, leaving plenty of room for individual plants to flourish.

Poppies hate disturbance, so sowing them in trays and pricking them out is not advised. But they could be sown in plug-trays to minimise root disturbance. Thin each

plug once the seedlings have made true leaves to give each plant plenty of room. Once the seedling’s roots have filled up the plug, pop each one into a pot to keep it growing.

sown about a month later. Too early and your windowsills will be filled with straggly seedlings itching to be outside when it’s still too cold and the danger of overnight frosts is still present.

The same procedure works with half-hardy, tender perennials, but they need to be

Once the seedlings have started to grow away, nip out the growing tip to encourage the seedling to branch. Wellshaped little plants are the easiest to deal with. However, it is wise to be aware, always, that each perfect little plant is a mere mouthful for a passing slug or snail. Protect them with whatever preventative you currently favour. Then plant them out in the border once they are big enough to stand up to the bullies on their own. And prepare for a great show.

Blue door leads to a special place...

THE blue door marked 57c on Shepton High Street was not there when the nuns were coming and going decades earlier.

Worshiping in what is now Mind in Somerset’s meeting room has left a faint peaceful feeling, perfect for this wellbeing hub, which opened to the community on September 8, 2021.

If you follow the blue flagstones from that door, straight though the fully-equipped kitchen (provided by generous donations from local business), you will open a back door ont.o an enclosed walled garden.

A place hidden from the high street.

You are probably aware that Mind in Somerset is a mental health charity.

The project ‘Well Grounded’ has been set up by Mind to work with a small group of people once a week with the intent to provide a safe, supportive space where we can gain some level of peace and recovery from whatever troubles us.

Horticultural therapy is not new, Mind has been offering it in one form or another for over 15 years.

Historically it goes back a couple of centuries.

GARDENING FOR THE MIND

by ALISON HAYWARD

We will be growing a small amount of vegetables and herbs which we can use in the fortnightly Wednesday cooking sessions.

raised beds using stone dug out of the ground.

Nestling flowers and vegetables will hopefully spring forth together in a potagerstyle garden as spring strengthens.

Nursery beds on stilts are being painted to defeat the slugs and snails, to bring on the seeds waiting to be sown.

So, March is an exciting time in the garden. Until 1752 in Britain, the legal new year began not on January 1 but March 25.

When we started over two years ago, the garden had lain undisturbed for many years, and a feeling of peace enveloped it, years of wonderful leaf mould covered the Victorian gothic rockery stones.

Steps were revealed, pathways and the original ideas showed themselves. Toads found a new home in the small dug pond.

We cleared the meters of ivy and deep moss that further evoked the gothic feel.

It did feel intrusive to disturb the garden from years of silence and crack open the light into edges, but we had come to garden.

We now have a newly-rebuilt shed and

This reflects the agrarian society, when it made sense to follow the sun and the rhythm of plant growth.

The Roman year began on the Ides of March (15). The Equinox which falls on March 19 this year (a leap year) indicates equal hours of day and night, considered by many traditions to be the dawn of new life.

We will now tip over into lengthening days and light, hence it was linked to a goddess of spring, Saxon goddess, Eostre, after whom we have named east, the direction of the rising sun and Easter.

If you want to visit us in Shepton or find out more about all the projects Mind delivers, visit mindinsomerset.org.uk.

Working with poppy Papaver somniferum seed pots

blackmorevale.net

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Services

Kingsmere Surfacing are a specialist driveway company working within Dorset, Wiltshire & Somerset. We can transform the look of your home, by laying a new surface to your driveway, giving a beautiful, eye catching and individual look.

Kingsmere Surfacing are a specialist driveway company working within Dorset, Wiltshire & Somerset. We can transform the look of your home, by laying a new surface to your driveway, giving a beautiful, eye catching and individual look.

Kingsmere Surfacing are a specialist driveway company working within Dorset, Wiltshire & Somerset. We can transform the look of your home, by laying a new surface to your driveway, giving a beautiful, eye catching and individual look.

Kingsmere Surfacing are a specialist driveway company working within Dorset, Wiltshire & Somerset. We can transform the look of your home, by laying a new surface to your driveway, giving a beautiful, eye catching and individual look.

Kingsmere Surfacing are a specialist driveway company working within Dorset, Wiltshire & Somerset. We can transform the look of your home, by laying a new surface to your driveway, giving a beautiful, eye catching and individual look.

We offer a most attractive and versatile choice of surfaces for both classic and contemporary driveways.

We offer a most attractive and versatile choice of surfaces for both classic and contemporary driveways.

We offer a most attractive and versatile choice of surfaces for both classic and contemporary driveways.

We offer a most attractive and versatile choice of surfaces for both classic and contemporary driveways.

We offer a most attractive and versatile choice of surfaces for both classic and contemporary driveways.

We offer a most attractive and versatile choice of surfaces for both classic and contemporary driveways.

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We offer a most attractive and versatile choice of surfaces for both classic and contemporary driveways and specialise in fully SUDS permeable drainage surfaces.

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Local Services

ARCHITECTURAL, BUILDING & ELECTRICAL

blackmorevale.net

J& C Handyman Services

Plumbing

Painting & decorating

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Flat pack furniture

Shelves & curtain rails

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Guttering and facia clearing and replacement Fencing Pointing etc...

No job too small. Please call with your requirements. 01963 364457 07368 516658

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KBB KITCHEN FITTER, all aspects of kitchen fitting undertaken. 30 years experience, free estimates given. Tel: 01963 364550 or 0789 0841827

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Fully Insured, Free Survey Failed Double Glazed Units UPVC Windows and Doors

Shower Screens, Balustrades T: 01747 631899 / 07708 180306

e: shaftesburyglass@gmail.com

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New build, refurbishment, restoration, extensions, garden buildings. Free estimates. Call Dom on 0 073 99 649 62 8

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HANDYMAN, reliable and experienced Call Chris 07413 678076

L R MASONRY GENERAL BUILDER, Stone work, Brick work 07971-982565

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Deadline to place your advert is the Friday before publication.

ALL IRONWORK. Handrails.Gates. Railings. Repairs. Restoration. 01258 880301

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25+ Years Experience, City & Guilds Qualified Extensions, Renovations, Alterations, New Build, Plastering, Floor and Wall Tiling, Brickwork, Blockwork, Stonework and Patios, Fencing and Decorating. FREE estimates, No VAT 01747 228827 07809 362919

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Tips on Preparing your House for Sale

Lizzie Ball, Rural View

Once you have the made the decision to sell your house it is worthwhile taking time to prepare your home for the market, as first impressions for a potential buyer are all important.

If you have lived in your home for several years, it is a good idea to spend time seeing if you can declutter by removing personal items, excess furniture and anything that makes the space look crowded. Do have a spring clean throughout so the house, including windows, looks clean and fresh.

Have a look at any minor repairs that you feel need doing; a well-maintained home gives a positive impression. You may wish to consider staging to showcase the best features of your home, as well-placed furniture and décor can help buyers visualise the potential of each space.

Kitchens and Bathrooms are often focal points for buyers, so ensure that they are clean and well-lit.

Buyers will often look at storage spaces, so do organise your cupboards and storage areas to make them look as spacious and well-maintained as you can. Lighting is important and natural light is preferred, so open curtains and blinds for viewings - a room can look more welcoming with sun light streaming in through clean windows. If you feel there are certain rooms that would benefit from a coat of paint, then redecorate and use neutral colours to appeal to a broader range of buyers. Prior to viewings, it is worth eliminating unpleasant odours in the home, such as cooking smells which can be off-putting.

If your home has energy-efficient features, make sure to highlight them, mentioning upgraded insulation, energy-efficient appliances or solar panels. Initial impressions matter, so enhance your home’s kerb appeal by maintaining the lawn, trimming bushes and shrubs and if required adding some colourful flowers. Clean the exterior of the house, consider areas that may benefit from power washing to give a fresh appearance.

Look out all necessary documentation relating to the house, so that once a sale is agreed these can be handed to your solicitor without delay. You may wish to instruct a solicitor prior to a sale being agreed to speed up the process.

Total Energy Services is now MCS Certified for Heat Pumps

We are delighted to announce we have been awarded MCS certification for Air Source Heat Pumps. Get £7,500 off your Air Source Heat Pump with Total Energy Services, your local qualified and accredited heat pump installer.

Being MCS certified means we are registered to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) allowing us to claim a £7,500 Government discount along with no VAT!

What is MCS?

MCS are an independent body which are supported by the Government. The Microgeneration Certification System (MCS) are a standards organisation. They create and maintain standards that allows for the certification of products, installers and their installations. Associated with these standards is the certification scheme, run on behalf of MCS by Certification Bodies who hold UKAS accreditation to ISO 17065.

What does that mean for homeowners?

As a homeowner you can rest assured an MCS certified installer operates in a safe and efficient manner and only uses the highest quality equipment.

Not only does being MCS certified highlight our competence and commitment to providing low carbon heating systems it also gives our customers peace of mind that they are dealing with a professional and certified organisation.

How can we help?

Our experienced surveyor will carry out a no obligation home survey to determine the most suitable heat pump for your home or if indeed your home is suitable this type of low carbon heating.

Please call 01258 472132 or email info@totalenergy.co.uk and one of the team will get back to you.

Why use Total Energy Services for your Heat Pump installation?

• Certified MCS heat pump installer

• Access the £7,500 government grant

• Qualified and accredited heat pump installer

• Professional and reliable engineers

• Family run business for over 25 years

• Fully insured and qualified

• Engineers DBS checked

• Friendly office based staff to assist you

Easter – and it’s time for lamb

by Barbara Cossins

WE have just celebrated Mothering Sunday on March 10 and Easter is galloping up fast at the end of the month – it feels like it’s all upon us at once this year with Easter so early. It seems like it has all come together very quickly for us in the restaurant and hospitality business.

Mothering Sunday and Easter is all about lamb being on the menu for me.

I love to showcase what is local and in season and, of course, it’s all about being British. Why should you buy British you might say? Well British lamb is produced to the highest animal welfare standards in the world and is fully traceable.

New Zealand lamb has usually been cheaper than

British because of lower farming costs and standards. New Zealand has more sheep than people. The first sheep arrived in 1773, introduced by Captain James Cook, the British explorer and navigator – he dropped off a single ewe and ram to South Island at Queen Charlotte South.

Other sheep were introduced by whalers and missionaries and by the 1840s major flocks were successfully established.

Many of you will not be aware of a post-Brexit trade agreement with Australia which has certainly not been a very good one for British farmers.

Australia can export as much red meat, tariff free, into our country as it wants, apparently – they can’t believe their luck Down Under.

Our government has made

ambitious climate commitments, but the trade agreements we have signed continue to bring in produce from the other side of the world, which is utter madness.

The need to buy British is important, especially as we need to reduce the carbon footprint on our planet.

Farmers in England are working hard to reduce carbon emissions – there is a real problem when feeding the constantly growing population.

Supporting our own agricultural system in our own

New Zealand lamb has usually been cheaper than British because of lower farming costs and standards, says

Barbara Cossins

country is vital, so please remember that even if there is a Union Jack printed on the outside wrapping, inside it might be from a country afar. Always check the origin of what you are buying from the supermarket. Wherever possible use a good butcher – they will always be able to tell you where the meat comes from and will be supporting British farmers. n Barbara Cossins is creator of Love Local Trust Local and proprietor of The Langton Arms and Rawston Farm Butchery & Shop

TRADITIONAL COUNTRY PUB SERVING FINE FOOD AND DRINKS

Peter and Karlene are delighted to invite you to the Plough Inn at Manston and look forward to seeing you soon.

We are delighted that our renovation and expansion project has been well received by customers as have our food and beverage offerings. After a very long search, we now have a fully staffed kitchen and offer our full lunch and dinner menu every day from Tuesday lunch until Sunday lunch. We are closed after lunch on Sunday and all day Monday. We offer a wide range of beers, cider, wines and spirits as well as a range of non-alcoholic options.

A Pub With Warmth And Atmosphere

The bar and snug have been refreshed but retain all the old features that made this cosy area so attractive. And, by popular demand, we have a new wood burning stove to provide atmosphere and warmth whenever needed! We have a completely new kitchen, beer cellar and new male, female and disabled washrooms. The old conservatory is now an insulated garden room and we have a new dining area which can accommodate a further twenty guests.

Hearty Food And Distinctive Drinks

By experimenting with our menu and listening to our customers we have developed a popular menu ranging from light snacks to exciting specials and everything in-between. Please look at our menu and see if you can spot your favourite country pub meal. For Sunday lunch, in addition to our full menu, we offer a traditional roast with all the trimmings. Our range of drinks has evolved in response to customer demand and caters for all tastes. But most importantly we have built a wonderful team to look after you all and ensure a great experience at the Plough.

We hope to see you soon, Cheers, Peter & Karlene

07783

Cheese awards at new festival

SIX-HUNDRED British cheeses will be judged in the prestigious British Cheese Awards held at the Bath & West Showground in Shepton Mallet next weekend.

The 28th edition of the event on Friday, March 22, is this year being hosted by the new Bath & West Food & Drink Festival.

Among this year’s entries from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales are 25 new cheeses, launched since the last edition of the awards.

All cheese entries will be judged in a single day by a 63-strong judging panel, including cheesemakers,

cheesemongers, cheese experts, buyers and commentators.

Entries will be judged in individual classes during round one, as the panel decides the Gold, Silver and Bronze award winners, before all Gold winners are judged again to identify the category winners.

After a final round of judging of the category winners, the 2024 Supreme Champion will be selected and revealed during the British Cheese Awards dinner on the evening of Friday, March 22.

The line up for the festival on Saturday and Sunday, March 23 and 24, will include television presenter and Great British Bake Off contestant, Briony May Williams, food and drink broadcaster Nigel Barden and comedian George Egg.

The Farmhouse Tavern will showcase beverages of all kinds, and the Little Foodies zone will keep families entertained.

Tickets are available from www.bathandwest.com/tickets

Health & Wellbeing

Trimmer and feeling 10 years younger after Ayurvedic sojourn

by Fiona Chapman

VERY sadly we are coming to the end of our Ayurvedic sojourn. It has been a great success. The few grumbles, refusals and false starts we had at the beginning were sorted out, the ghee was drunk, the purgation done, and everyone got into the swing and loved it. We have all lost weight and look and feel about 10 years younger, particularly my husband!

The two-hour “treatments” have continued everyday throughout the whole time we have been here. These are tailored to any ailments that

needed sorting out.

Part of my treatment was to try and sort out my ears, as they are incredibly itchy. (I think they would sort themselves out if I cut out ALL sugar, but I have been eating lots of fresh fruit here, pineapple, pawpaw and watermelon – all super foods and incredibly healthy, but they do contain sugar).

Most of the treatments involve concoctions of coconut oil infused with herbs. This goes on your head and all over your body for the main massage. Hot oil bandages are put on bits that hurt. You have oil baths, like

The trumpet-like apparatus consisting of a cone at the bottom, a tube and a coconut shell used to help unblock ears

heavy warm silk, poured over your body – the downside is slipping around on a wooden table rather like a beached whale.

Oil goes up your bottom as part of an enema course for those who want – so naturally I had oil poured into my ears. This managed to block them both for a day, which I told Timi, my therapist, so the next thing I knew hot coals were brought into the treatment room with a trumpet-like apparatus consisting of a cone at the bottom, a tube and a coconut

shell at the top for my ear.

Frankincense was thrown onto the burning coals – all very close to my naked, very oily body – which caused a huge amount of smoke. The apparatus is put to the coal and ear and then the therapist blows on the coals to make the hot smoke go into the ear!

What a brilliant treatment – Frankincense is anti-microbial, astringent and very healing. It certainly unblocked my ears –time will tell if it has made a difference to the itching as I am still having the treatment.

This rather hilarious treatment was then followed by a slightly batty, old French lady who was convinced she had left her earing in the treatment room, barging in with me starkers on the table slipping around in an oil bath demanding to search the room! A sense of humour is essential!

n Fiona Chapman is a naturopathic herbalist email Pellyfiona@gmail.com.

Take a break from your phone

by Alice Johnsen

WHEN it rains as much as it has done recently, our minds can drift abroad to a dreamed of holiday where we can re-charge and life will be more than alright.

But I’ve been reading about other types of holidays. Digital holidays. Time away from all screens is good for us, we all know that. Unfortunately, we also all know that’s nigh on impossible. Where we go, our phones go.

A week-long break from your phone is unlikely to work. Short breaks are almost as good.

I know if I go for a walk with my phone the temptation is there to take lots of photographs I will never use.

But a walk without my phone is a different thing altogether. Not only do you immediately come back to your surroundings and the present but you return home feeling like you’ve had a proper break.

So why do we not all spend more time away from our phones?

It’s down to habit and I wrote about changing habits recently.

If you decide you want to spend less time looking at a small rectangle, start small. Go for the walk without your phone.

Actually, the first step is to leave your phone outside your bedroom at night. Remember, before phones we used alarm clocks and they’re still really good.

If you can manage no phones in the bedroom and not always taking a phone with you when you walk - your brain will already be benefiting.

By disconnecting yourself now and then, you are allowing your mind to process and re-set, which means you will be in a better state to do what you need to do.

Other good times to lose the phone are mealtimes. Or time

Don’t take your phone when you go for walk, or use it when you are having a meal or are with friends

with friends. Or if you are working on something that requires focus - leave your phone in another room.

Having a phone with us all the time is just a recently acquired habit and unless we are on call or have a family situation that requires us to be contactable, do we really need everyone to be able to get hold of us all the time or to know

where our loved ones are all the time? What happened to freedom and independence?

A constant exposure to smart screens is slowly eroding our ability to focus and to be alone with our own thoughts. So why not take a few steps to address and see how different you feel.

n Alice Johnsen is a life coach based near Sherborne (07961 080513; alicejohnsen.co.uk).

Meditations in nature: Where eagles dare

by Dr Susanna Curtin

I AM at RSPB Arne on this cold, blustery day. Despite the elements, I am thrilled to be here. For today is the day I have finally been in the right place at the right time to see white-tailed eagles courting over the Purbecks. Admittedly, they are a long way away, but they are unmistakable.

I had been walking for a couple of hours and seen relatively few birds given the weather. But my last stop was here in this viewpoint overlooking the Middlebere channel. I was just about to call it a day, when I happened to notice two large shapes drifting over the hills in the far distance. Through my binoculars, I could see the long black wings of two enormous birds gliding side by side, their long feathery fingertips reaching out and almost touching. Now with them still in view, I can’t believe how lucky I am to be here in my home county watching these majestic, iconic birds. They are often referred to as sea eagles given their Latin name, Haliaeetus albicilla, Halia meaning sea and ‘eetus’ meaning eagle.

They are Britain’s largest bird of prey with an incredible 8ft wingspan, a foot longer than a golden eagle. They have distinctive long, broad,

rectangular wings with feathered tips and a short wedged white tail. To complement this ensemble, they have yellow legs and feet, and yellow hooked beaks. Their eyes, too, are an extraordinary golden colour befitting their Gaelic name of Lolair Suil na Greine, meaning ‘eagle with the sunlit eye’. Eagles also have the best eyesight in the animal kingdom, allowing them to see great distances and detail.

These awe-inspiring birds extend throughout Europe, Asia and Japan. They were once prevalent in England but were hunted to extinction 240 years ago having been persecuted by gamekeepers, fisheries, farmers, taxidermists and egg collectors. The last breeding pair were recorded in 1780. Fortunately, today they are considered a Schedule 1 species in the Wildlife and Countryside Act and are therefore protected by law. Now, here they are once again after having been reintroduced to the south coast by the Roy Dennis Foundation in 2019 when six young birds were transported from Scotland, resettled into familiarisation pens and finally set free in August, a few months later.

These ginormous raptors prefer to eat fish whenever they can and therefore favour rocky coastlines, estuaries and lochs

Bad

near the sea, although juveniles will often venture further inland. However, they are also opportunistic hunters and carrion becomes an essential part of their diet during the winter months as well as wildfowl, shorebirds and small mammals. They can live up to 30 years and form monogamous and life-long bonds with their partner, only finding a new mate if one of the pair dies. They begin breeding when they are five to six years old, laying two or three eggs in March or April in nests, known as eyries, which are built on cliff edges or at the top of mature trees. They will return to the same nests each year if successful, adding more and more nest material until they

become huge structures.

Eagles appear as strong powerful symbols in many cultures in the world and it is easy to see why as I watch this pair glide effortlessly together, playing in the wind. They are breathtaking. And yet, even now, they are still persecuted. One of the young satellite-tagged birds from the reintroduction was found poisoned on a Dorset game shooting estate a year or so ago. I find it hard to understand how anyone could harm these magnificent birds that have come back from the dead, bringing drama and intrigue to the skies above our southern shores.

n Dr Susie Curtin (email curtin. susanna@gmail.com).

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The white-tailed eagle is Britain’s largest bird of prey with an incredible 8ft wingspan PHOTO: Mark Wright

GoodOaks Homecare receives double honour at the Home Care Awards

Local Visiting and Live-in Care provider

GoodOaks Homecare has been heralded as experts across two fields after winning at the prestigious Home Care Awards in Birmingham last week.

Fighting for their position amongst hundreds of other entrants and some big

names in the sector, GoodOaks went on to scoop two categories: Nutrition and Hydration Expertise and Training and Development Expertise. The Home Care Awards pursue examples of expertise of companies providing home care in the UK and praises the teams that are looking to raise standards. GoodOaks have taken huge strides over the past year, offering quality training and development to their people by launching the online learning platform, the GoodOaks Academy. Offering over

30 free courses for staff, paid and unpaid carers, delivering targeted learning to help people caring for a loved one at home. They have also collaborated with Bournemouth University on a long term study aiming to work together to support family carers to provide nutritional care for people living at home with dementia. GoodOaks will continue to develop relevant courses on subjects of nutrition and hydration to further support, train and develop their care teams and staff. Lorraine Hunt, People and Development Manager said: “It has been really exciting working on the GoodOaks Homecare Academy knowing we are creating short courses that will directly benefit those people looking to remain at home.”

GoodOaks provide Live-in and Visiting Homecare to clients in the comfort and familiarity of their own homes. For more information please call 01202 125882

State of villages’ roads under fire

“THE state of roads is simply atrocious.” So says Wiltshire Councillor Richard Budden (Lib Dem, Tisbury), who has joined with the chairs of Donhead St Andrew and Donhead St Mary parish councils to call for action over routes in the area.

The plea for action to tackle “broken-down” roads comes as Wiltshire Council says it is investing an extra £10 million in fixing county routes, including resurfacing work and filling in potholes, with the Donheads area set to be reinspected “shortly” to identify required work.

But Cllr Budden said the response from the council at a recent meeting – that they would “respond in due course” to concerns – had been “unacceptable”.

“Since then, the impact of

winter weather and storm Henk have only made matters worse,” he went on. “You cannot drive into or through either of the Donhead communities without coming across stretches where the surface is completely broken down. All I have heard from Caroline Thomas is that the council’s officers “will be in a position to reply in due course”.

“This is simply unacceptable to the people who live here, with no facilities of their own, who must travel on these brokendown roads every day to get to any and every service.”

Simon Barkham, chair of Donhead St Andrew Parish Council, added: “These neglected roads are adding an unnecessary stress to the lives of the residents who face a daily battle with broken roads. They are dangerous, cause damage to

vehicles and cycles, and add to the risk of flooding.”

And his counterpart at Donhead St Mary Parish Council, John Feltham, said: “People are trying to use these roads on a daily basis, whether by car, cycle or walking to live their lives; to go to school, the doctors, shopping or whatever. It has got to the stage where they have to choose the least potholed, least dangerous route to make their journey.

“This has come about from years of neglect and it has now reached the stage where major works are needed to make the roads passable and safe again.”

Cllr Thomas (Con, Marlborough East), cabinet member for Transport, Street Scene and Flooding, said: “We’re aware of concerns around potholes on C and U/C-class roads in the Donheads area and we’re investing an additional £10m to fund a programme of works to address potholes and increase resurfacing in all areas in the

Motoring

county, including on lower priority roads.”

She said the funding was on top of “tens of millions” spent on the roads from Department for Transport (DfT) grants.

“However, as the DfT funding does not enable us to address all resurfacing needs, we prioritise the A and B class road network, which carries most of the traffic across the county,” she added.

“Wiltshire has a vast road network of over 2,800 miles and our additional £10m investment will enable us to tackle more repairs on C and U/C class roads. To understand which roads are a priority, we are actively engaging with local communities and town and parish councils through Highways Matters community events and our local highway and footway improvement groups (LHFIGs). We will shortly be reinspecting roads in the Donheads area to understand the extent of the work required so that they can be considered in our programme of works.”

2019 (19) Dacia Duster 1.3Tce Prestige SUV 5dr. 130bhp, petrol, 6 speed manual gearbox, high seating position, high ground clearance, large boot, sat nav, parking sensors & parking cameras, cruise control, auto lights, blind spot assistance, 24,000 miles

2015 (65) Ford Fiesta 1.0T Titanium Automatic 5dr. 100bhp, petrol, 6 speed automatic gearbox, only 21,000 miles, sat nav, parking sensors, cruise control, heated front screen, hill start assist, auto lights & wipers, only £35 a year road tax & upto 56mpg economy, only 20,900 miles ....£9850

2017 (17) Kia Venga 3, 1.6CRDi 5dr. 114bhp, diesel, 6 speed manual gearbox, high seating position, decent boot, partial leather, heated seats, automatic lights, cruise control, parking sensors & parking camera, sat nav, great performance & economy, upto 64mpg, only 33,500 miles .................£8950

2016 (66) Vauxhall Astra 1.4 Design 5dr. 100bhp, petrol, 5 speed manual gearbox, cruise control, auto lights, low mileage example with only 43,500 miles ......................£7850

2019 (19) Vauxhall Crossland X 1.2 Elite Estate MPV 5dr. 82bhp, petrol, 5 speed manual gearbox, high seating, parking sensors, cruise control, 51,900 miles ...............£9650

1989 (G) Land Rover Defender

110 County 2.5TD

Station Wagon. 5 speed manual gearbox, 4x4, diesel, 3 front seats, 3 central seats, 2 rear bench seats, windows all round, big wheels, MOT until December, only 111,500 miles, although it has an MOT it could do with a lot of improvements & tidying up to make it worth some really good money, selling as seen on behalf of a customer

£5500

Motoring

New cameras can spot drivers on the phone

NEW cameras that can detect whether drivers are wearing a seatbelt or using a mobile phone are being trialled on Wiltshire roads.

National Highways has revealed Wiltshire Police is among 10 forces set to trial the technology.

The new kit is mounted to a vehicle or trailer and has multiple cameras giving different views of the driver and their passengers.

The National Highways trial first launched in 2021, when motorists spotted driving without seatbelts or on the phone by police using the technology were sent warning letters informing them of the dangers of their behaviour.

Research shows that motorists are four times more likely to be in a crash if they use a phone while driving and are twice as likely to die in a crash if they don’t wear a seatbelt.

In partnership with AECOM, the research is now being extended to work with more police forces to help learn more about how the technology could work on National Highways roads and inform a possible future roll-out nationwide.

The latest trial will run until March 2025.

SUNRISE SERVICE & MOT CENTRE

It is planned plans for the technology to be fixed to gantries for the first time giving an unobscured view of all lanes.

The new technology captures footage of passing motorists.

MOTS, SERVICING AND REPAIRS ON ALL VEHICLES UP TO 3.5 TONNES INCLUDING HORSEBOXES AND MOTORHOMES

SUNRISE SERVICE & MOT CENTRE

SUNRISE SERVICE & MOT CENTRE

Bodyshop open for all repairs and restorations, from small scratches to complete resprays, insurance work welcome.

MOTS, SERVICING AND REPAIRS ON ALL VEHICLES UP TO 3.5 TONNES INCLUDING HORSEBOXES AND MOTORHOMES

MOTS – class 4,5 and 7

MOTS, SERVICING AND REPAIRS ON ALL VEHICLES UP TO 3.5 TONNES INCLUDING HORSEBOXES AND MOTORHOMES

Diagnostics

Bodyshop open for all repairs and restorations, from small scratches to complete resprays, insurance work welcome.

Air conditioning

Valets

Bodyshop open for all repairs and restorations, from small scratches to complete resprays, insurance work welcome.

The images are processed using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse whether the motorists could be using a handheld mobile phone or drivers may be without a seatbelt.

The images are then passed to police for consideration on any action to be taken.

Drivers can be fined up to £500 for not wearing a seatbelt in addition to penalty points. Using a mobile phone while driving can result in a fine of up to £1,000 and six penalty points.

National Highways head of national road user safety delivery, Matt Staton, said: “We know that distracted driving and not wearing seatbelts were key factors in a high number of incidents that resulted in people being killed or seriously injured.

“Working with our police partners we want to reduce such dangerous driving and reduce the risks posed to both the drivers and other people. We believe that using technology like this will make people seriously consider their driving

behaviour.

“We will continue to invest in technology that could help make sure everyone using our roads gets home safe and well.”

Dr Jamie Uff, technical director at AECOM, has been managing the deployment of the technology.

He said: “AECOM is really pleased to be continuing our work with National Highways, the Police and camera suppliers. Our work to date has highlighted the scale of the issue, has shown that technology can play a valuable role, and that there is much still to be understood about driver behaviour given the new insights gained.

“Expanding the deployments and integrating data processing with police systems is an important step towards this technology making a significant contribution to road safety.”

Although the research is funded by National Highways, enforcement of motoring offences will remain with police forces.

MOTs – class 4, 5 and 7

MOTS – class 4,5 and 7

Courtesy Cars

Diagnostics Air Conditioning

MOTS – class 4,5 and 7

Diagnostics

Air conditioning

Diagnostics

Collections within a 5 mile radius

Courtesy Cars

Valets

Air conditioning

Concessions for Pensioners, Armed Forces and Emergency Services

Concessions for Armed Forces and Emergency Services

Valets

Courtesy Cars

Collections within a 5 mile radius

Courtesy Cars

Collections within a 5 mile radius

Concessions for Pensioners, Armed Forces and Emergency Services

Concessions for Pensioners, Armed Forces and Emergency Services

15B Sunrise Business Park, Higher Shaftesbury Road

Blandford DT11 8ST

15B Sunrise Business Park, Higher Shaftesbury Road

15B Sunrise Business Park, Higher Shaftesbury Road

Tel: 01258 459798

Blandford DT11 8ST

Blandford DT11 8ST

Tel: 01258 459798

Email sunriseservicecentre@hotmail.com

Tel: 01258 459798

Email sunriseservicecentre@hotmail.com

www.sunriseserviceandmotcentre.com

www.sunriseserviceandmotcentre.com

Email sunriseservicecentre@hotmail.com

www.sunriseserviceandmotcentre.com

DACIA DUSTER 1.6

Ambience SCE 4X2. White, petrol 36,600 miles 17 Reg £5250. 03330-112174 Blandford .

LANDROVER DOUBLE CAB PICK-UP. XS. Metallic green. 49k miles, 1 owner, FSH. 2015. VGC. £45,000.00 Tel: 07787-447236

CITROEN HY LO CAMPER, immaculate, MOT, Feb 2025, £15,000. Tel: 01258-818304

MINI ONE SOFT TOP. 2010 plate. 68k Red. Full MOT. Serviced regularly. lady driver. £2800 ono. Tel: 07715-867145

SILVER BMW 06 plate.1600.5door..mot till aug 24. 133.000 miles, vgc good runner. Lots of fuel in tank. £800. Cash. Tel 01258-473715

STORAGE FOR CARAVANS, boats and cars at Enford Farm near Blandford. 01258 450050 / 07704 813025

BESSACARR MOTOR

HOME. 2002, 2-berth, 2.8Tdi, 25,000miles, excellent condition, many extras. £14,750. Call for Details: 01258-472818 / Mob: 07807-971670

OLD, INTERESTING & CLASSIC CARS wanted pre 1990s Any condition including unfinished projects Cash/Transfer

Please Phone Paul 07890 096907

1992 VAUXHALL CAVALIER ENVOY SALOON, white, 1 owner from new, with complete service history, MOT until Nov 24. No advisories. replacement cam-belt, clutch and battery. Good runner, £1,995. Tel: 07808-094803

UNWANTED VEHICLES

PEUGEOT 305 ESTATE, manual, MOT exp 18/7, Blue, 77k miles. FSH, 1 owner since 4k miles. £4,950. Reluctant sale due to re-location to USA of our reliable family car.

Tel: 07879-427808

BRIDGE MOTORS

Wincanton Ltd. Silver Street | Wincanton | 01963 33313 www.bridgemotorswincanton.co.uk

2021 (21) Abarth 595 1.4 T-Jet Ltd Edition Monster Yamaha, 7000 Miles, Blue/Black 17” Alloys, Apple & Android Car Play, Full History, £1000 In Upgrades...........................................................................................£16695

2021 (21) Ford Fiesta 1.0 T Ecoboost ST Line Edition, 1 Owner, 40,000 Miles, White..........................................................................................£11495

2018 (68) Nissan Qashqai 1.5 DCI Tekna, 2 Owners, 47,000 Miles, Alloys, AC, Half Leather, Sat Nav, Panoramic Roof, Met Blue.....£12495

2018 (18) Peugeot 208 1.2 GT Line 5dr, 38,000 Miles, Half Leather, Black.................................................................................................£8995

2017 (67) BMW 118D Sport, 46,000 Miles, BMW Service History, Alloys, Sat Nav....................................................................................£11295

2017 (67) Vauxhall Mokka X Active Turbo 1.4, 2 Owners, 34,000 Miles, Alloys......................................................................................... £9695

2017 (67) DS 3 1.2 Puretech Givenchy Le MakeUp Ltd Edition, 2 Owners, 45,000 Miles, Full Leather......................................................................£7995

1 Owner, 43,000 Miles, White........£

2013 (13) Mini Cooper 1.6 Cabrio, 2 Owners, 84,000 Miles, Chilli Pack, Half Leather....................................................................................................£

2017 (17)

Note 1.2 Acenta Premium, 2 Owners, 48,000 Miles, £20 Road Tax, Sat Nav, Alloys........................................................................

Announcements

PUBLIC NOTICES DEATHS

Goods Vehicle Operator’s Licence

L.C.Rance Groundworks & Agri Ltd. trading as L.C.Rance Groundworks & Agri Ltd of 3 Higher Southcombe Farm, Old Sherborne Road, Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 7TF. is applying for a licence to use: The Old Poultry Unit opposite Dyers Farm, Holnest, Sherborne, Dorset, DT9 5PU. As an operating centre for 1 goods vehicle and 0 Trailers. Owners or occupiers of land (including buildings) near the operating centre(s) who believe that their use or enjoyment of that land would be affected, should make written representations to the Traffic Commissioner at Hillcrest House, 386 Harehills Lane, Leeds, LS9 6NF, stating their reasons, within 21 days of this notice. Representors must at the same time send a copy of their representations to the applicant at the address given at the top of this notice. A guide to Making Representations is available from the Traffic Commissioner’s office

THANK YOU

TURKS GARAGE.

After 36 years running Turks Garage, the doors will finally close at the end of March, due to retirement. Steve and Christine would like to thank all our local customers for all their support over the years. It’s been a pleasurer, and thank you all.

MEETING PLACE

RETIRED LADY would like phone/pen-pals, preferably retired. male or female.

Tel: 07786-771409

AMOS Janet

Of: Richmond Road Blandford Forum

Passed away peacefully on 8th February 2024 aged 79 years.

A much-loved Mum to Sue and Judy and cherished Nanny and Great Grandma.

Funeral service to be held at Ham Down Woodland Burial Ground Friday 15th March 12:00. No black attire, bright colours please. Family flowers only please but if desired, donations to benefit Marie Curie. Nicholas O’Hara Funeral Directors, 38 Rowlands Hill, Wimborne BH21 1AW 01202 882134 www.oharafunerals.co.uk

BARRY SILSBY

Peacefully passed away on 16th February 2024 in Yeovil District Hospital, aged 84 years. Much loved Husband, Dad, Grandad and Brother. Funeral service at Yeovil Crematorium on Thursday 21st March at 11.20am. No flowers please. Donations if desired, for

Dorset Health Care Charitable Funds (Yeatman Hospital) can be made online

at peterjacksonfuneralservices.co.uk or cheques made payable to the charity can be sent

c/o Peter Jackson Funeral Services, Mons, High St, Henstridge BA8 0RB. Tel 01963 362570

Marion Sylvia Lovelace

Aged 81, from Henstridge Somerset. Marion passed away peacefully in the presence of her sons after a short illness on the 19th of February 2024. Beloved wife, mother and grandmother, she will be greatly missed by her family and many friends.

The family wish to thank Yeovil hospital and Ivelhurst nursing home for their skill and kindness.

There will be a committal service at St Nicholas’ Church, Henstridge on the 19th of March at 12 noon 2024.

Family flowers only please

Donations if desired please send to St James City Farm, Albany street, Gloucester, or via Peter Jackson Funeral Directors https://stjamescityfarm.co.uk/support-us/

DEATHS

Warr

Owen Edgar

Peacefully on 3rd March, aged 88 years.

Funeral service will take place at St Mary Magdalene, Castleton Church, Sherborne, on Wednesday 27th March, at 11:00am.

Trevor

Armitage

Passed away peacefully at home on 23rd February 2024.

Aged 87 years.

A loving partner to Wendy, a much loved dad, granddad and great granddad.

He will be greatly missed by all family and friends. Private cremation with service at a later date.

Donations if desired to the RNLI

Bracher Brothers, Newbury, Gillingham. SP8 4QL

FOX

Nigel Peter

Passed away peacefully on 26th February 2024, aged 79. Much loved husband of Liz, father of Louisa, Tim and Victoria, and grandad to Jonah, Eliza, Mars and Finn.

A true gentleman who will be sadly missed by family and friends. Funeral service to take place at Mendip Crematorium, BA5 3RR on 21st March 2024 at 1.30pm.

Family flowers only please.

Donations in memory of Nigel for the R.N.L.I. may be sent c/o A. J. Wakely & Sons, The Old Police Station, Carrington Way, Wincanton, BA9 9JS. Tel: 01963 31310.

Please make cheques payable to R.N.L.I

Mary Evelyn

Van Iwaarden

Passed away peacefully on 15th February 2024 after a long illness aged 85 years old.

Much loved by her remaining family and friends, She will be missed by all who knew her.

The funeral Service will take place on Tuesday 26th March at St Mary and St James Church, Hazelbury Bryan from 11.00am.

Family Flowers only, Donations are welcome in memory of Mary to R.N.L.I and can be placed in the donation box at church on the day. For further enquiries, please contact; Bracher Brothers Funeral Directors, Newell, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4EZ

Tel: 01935 813479

Announcements

Richards

Shirley Rose

Peacefully at West Abbey Care Centre, Yeovil, on 28th February 2024, aged 90 years.

Funeral service will take place at Yeovil Crematorium on Wednesday 3rd April, at 11:20am.

Enquiries c/o Brister & Son Funeral Directors

Tel: 01935 812647

BRAGG Sylvia

Passed away peacefully at The Hayes Nursing Home, Sherborne, on 29th February, aged 94 years.

Beloved wife to the late Gord, mum to Jane, grandmother to Robert and Nikola and great grandmother to Josie.

Funeral Service will take place at Yeovil Crematorium on Monday 25th March, 2024,at 11.20am. Family flowers only please.

Donations in memory of Sylvia for Friends of the Yeatman Hospital, may be sent c/o A.J. Wakely & Sons, 16 Newland, Sherborne, DT9 3JQ

Announcements

DEATHS

Sue King (Née Barnes)

Passed away peacefully at Poole Hospital on 1st March 2024 Aged 64 years.

Loving Wife to Melvyn. Beloved Mum to Steven and Sheri and Grandmother to Ben and Archie.

Funeral Service to be held at Poole Crematorium on Thursday 21st March at 11am.

Family flowers only please, but donations, if desired for the Guide Dogs, may be made online by visiting www.closefuneral.co.uk or cheques payable to the charity c/o Colin J Close Funeral Service, Peel Close, Salisbury Road, Blandford DT11 7JU. Tel: 01258 453133

ROBERT ANTHONY HAWKINS

We are sad to announce the death of Tony Hawkins of Shaftesbury, on 24th February at Salisbury Hospital, very peacefully after a short illness; much loved father to Richard, Michael, Philip and our late brother Peter, husband to our late mother Mary and grandfather to Jack, Polly, Harry, Gabriel and Rayen. Funeral at St Peter’s Church, Shaftesbury on Monday 18th March at 2pm. Cremation service on Tuesday 19th March 2pm at Salisbury Crematorium. Family flowers only, donations to St Peter’s Church, The Children’s Society and Salisbury Hospital League of Friends can be made online at www.mhfd.co.uk or cheques, made payable to the individual charity, can be sent c/o Merefield & Henstridge F/D, Ridgemount, Pitts Lane, West Melbury, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 0BU. Tel: 01747 853532

PATRICIA ANNE SEARLE née LYDFORD

of Gillingham, peacefully passed away on the 28th February 2024 in Salisbury District Hospital aged 77 years. A much loved Mum and Granny who will be sorely missed. A service to celebrate Pat’s life takes place at St Nicholas Church, Ashmore on Wednesday 27th March at 11.00am followed by a private cremation.

If desired, donations for The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust may be made online at www.mhfd.co.uk or sent to Merefield & Henstridge F/D, Ridgemount, Pitts Lane, West Melbury, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 0BU. Tel: 01747 853532. Please make any cheques payable to The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

AVRIL ORCHARD

Peacefully on the 28th February 2024.

Avril aged 90 years of Stalbridge. Dearly loved Wife of the late Don. Much loved Mum of Tony, Sarah & the late Nigel. Special Grandma & Great Grandma. Funeral service at St Mary’s Church, Stalbridge on Tuesday 26th March at 11am. Family flowers only please, donations for the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance Trust or Neuroblastoma UK.

C/o Peter Jackson Funeral Services, Mons, High St, Henstridge, BA8 0RB. peterjacksonfuneralservices.co.uk

DAVE DOWNTON

Passed away peacefully on 3rd March 2024, aged 68 years of Henstridge.

Dearly loved Dad, Grandad, Brother, Uncle and Partner. Funeral service at St. Nicholas’ Church, Henstridge

On Tuesday 2nd April at 1.00pm. Attire: Smart/Casual. Donations for St. Margaret’s Somerset Hospice can be sent c/o Peter Jackson Funeral Services, Mons, High St, Henstridge BA8 0RB

BASIL BEARDMORE

Peacefully on 25th February 2024. Basil aged 84 years of Stalbridge. Funeral service at Yeovil Crematorium on Wednesday 20th March at 2pm. Family flowers only please, donations if desired for the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance Trust. C/o Peter Jackson Funeral Services, Mons, High St, Henstridge, BA8 0RB. Tel: 01963 362570.

Nicholas James Thorne

16th February 1967 - 19th February 2024

Beloved Son to Joyce and the late Brian, Brother to Theresa, Diana, Brian and Philip.

Dearly loved and missed by all his family and many friends.

Celebration of his life to be held at Milborne St Andrew Sports Club on Saturday 30th March 2024 2pm - 5pm.

Please bring a photograph of your favourite car.

DEATHS

Moorse

Patricia Elizabeth

Peacefully on 6th March, at Fir Villa after a very comfortable stay. A dearly loved Mum and friend to many. Funeral service will take place at Yeovil Crematorium, on Friday 22nd March, at 12:40pm.

Dorothie Barbara Eggs

Dorothie Eggs of Sturminster Newton , sadly passed away on 2nd March aged 82 years. Loving wife, step-mother, sister and friend. Funeral Service at Yeovil Crematorium on Tuesday 2nd April at 11.20am. Family flowers please, but donations if desired for RAFA Sturminster and Gillingham and PDSA may be sent to Grassby and Close Funeral Service, 4 Innes Court, Sturminster Newton, DT10 1BB, Tel: 01258 471024 or made online by visiting www.grassbyclose-funeral.co.uk

DEREK WALTER OLD B.E.M.

Peacefully on the 8th March 2024 at home in Ibberton aged 85 years. Dearly loved Husband, Dad, Grandad, Great Grandad and Brother who will be greatly missed by all his family and friends. Funeral Service at St Eustace Church, Ibberton on Thursday, 28th March at 11.30am.

Family flowers only please, donations if desired for the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance Trust or St Eustace Church. C/o Peter Jackson Funeral Services, Mons, High Street, Henstridge, BA8 0RB. Tel: 01963 362570

OSWALD Jean

We are very sad to announce the passing of Jean Oswald of Castle Cary on the 5th March 2024, aged 93.

Funeral service at St. Michael’s Church, North Cadbury on Friday 5th April 2024 at 2.00p.m.

Family flowers only please. Donations in memory of Jean for Christian Aid may be sent c/o A. J. Wakely & Sons, The Old Police Station, Carrington Way, Wincanton, BA9 9JS. Tel: 01963 31310.

Please make cheques payable to Christian Aid.

"The New Blackmore Vale Magazine DEADLINES

Display ads must be booked by Wednesday the week prior to publication, with final copy submitted by the Friday.

Classified ads may be accepted after this, HOWEVER these will be subject to space.

Recruitment

Landscape Labourers

We are looking for skilled landscapers and general labourers to join our team. A good knowledge of hard and soft landscaping along with a can do attitude required, drivers preferred but not essential. Long term positions within an establish local company. Previous applicants need not reapply.

07792892999

info@greenhavenlandscapes.co.uk

SELF EMPLOYED EXPERIENCED GROUNDWORKERS/PLANT OPERATORS

We are looking for an experienced Groundworker who can also operate a 360° Excavator for local interesting contracts, working as part of a team. Applicants must be con dent in their ability to carry out all aspects of groundwork to a good standard with attention to detail.

We o er a safe working environment with good rates of pay. Local work and an opportunity of long-term employment with a friendly family run business.

If you are that exible, skilled groundworker who can also operate plant to a good standard please call, Martin on 01258 455219 or email admin@farwellplanthire.co.uk

Yard Manager/ Concrete Batcher

Blandford Concrete are looking for a new Yard Manager and Concrete Batcher. The successful applicant would be responsible for:

• Serving customers onsite both face to face and by telephone.

• Ordering materials and dealing with suppliers.

• Running the concrete plant and managing the weighbridge.

Hours are: 7am-5pm – Mon-Fridays, plus some Saturday mornings, 7am-12pm. Good rates of pay. It would be bene cial that applicants have previous managerial experience and some knowledge of the building trade. Telehandler ticket would be preferred but not essential as training will be provided.

Please apply either by email to: admin@farwellplanthire.co.uk or telephone: 01258 455219

Full or part time Maintenance Manager/ Handyman/Assistant Gardener

Live-in position for a large property near Sixpenny Handley. Mechanical and IT competence of particular interest plus ideally basic electrics.

Occasional housekeeping/kitchen help also needed. Caretaking duties every other w/e. Charming secluded cottage included.

Phone 0777 186 1110

TEACHING JOBS

RECRUITMENT OPEN EVENING

Monday 15TH April 2024, starting at 16:30 Shaftesbury based SEN School

To book your place call 01747 449858 or email HR@dorsetcentreofexcellence.org.uk www.coombehouseschool.org.uk

MERE SURGERY

We are looking to recruit enthusias�c and mo�vated individuals to join our exis�ng teams at Mere Surgery. Candidates must be flexible to work a combina�on of shi�s including 0830-1700 or 1830 and to work addi�onal hours to cover absences. Ideally, candidates will have previous general prac�ce experience although training will be provided.

Successful candidates will have strong interpersonal, customer care and organisa�onal skills.

DISPENSER

16 hours per week – over 3 days

The successful candidate will assist in the prepara�on of all aspects of dispensing, stock control, ordering and re-stocking of the dispensary. Ideally the candidate will hold an NVQ 2 Pharmacy Services qualifica�on or equivalent.

RECEPTIONIST

Minimum 20 hours per week – over 3 days

Working front of house, successful candidate will assist pa�ents contac�ng the surgery and processing requests.

To see the job descrip�on and person specifica�on please visit the vacancies sec�on on www.meresurgery.co.uk

To apply please send a CV and covering le�er to: Michele Mason, Prac�ce Manager, Mere Surgery, Dark Lane, Mere, Wiltshire, BA12 6DT or alterna�vely email: michelemason@nhs.net Telephone: 01747 860001

Recruitment

EXPERIENCED CLEANER NEEDED asap to help with changeover (mainly Friday) in two small Holiday Lets (3 mls Wincanton / 5 mls Gillingham) – 07740 466633

SENIOR CHEF REQUIRED for busy country pub. All home cooked food to a high standard. Looking for the right candidate to fit into our ever growing team. the right person must have a passion for food and be willing to work as an important role within the team. Must be willing to work evenings and weekends as well as week days on a rota pattern. Good rates of pay for the right person.

For more detailed information please email greyhoundinnfreehouse@gmail.com with your cv and any relevant information. alternatively pls call Emma on 07976-530580

ARMISHAWS REMOVALS GROUP

Have a Vacancy for An Office Junior to learn basic office skills

The person we are seeking will be a good communicator, be computer literate, and have a sense of humour.

In return we offer a permanent salaried position with excellent prospects for advancement. Based at our Head Office in Wincanton In the first instance please apply by telephoning

Kathryn on 01963 34065

SITUATIONS WANTED

CHEMISTRY TUTOR Experienced GCSE and A Level teacher. Call 07732 418488 or visit www.cometugrow.com/services.

PRIVATE CARER, HELP AROUND THE HOUSE, COMPANIONSHIP.

How can I help you? I am DBS checked. Fully insured. Over 20 years of experience in Care Sector including management. Work around Yeovil/ Sherborne area. Please contact me on 07565 915736

HOUSE KEEPING SERVICES and Dog Walking. Honest and reliable and pet friendly. Tisbury and surrounding areas.My rates are £15 an hour.Please phone me on 07931-423596

EXPERIENCED CLEANER. needed, family home. Child Okeford, 6/8 hours per week. References essential. Contact; 07770-536009

PART-TIME TELESALES: Monday-Thursday 9.00am-1.00pm. To take orders, sell products and deal with enquiries, increase sales and support the Sales Team. An interest and knowledge of food would be beneficial.

Email: careers@finefoodco.co.uk

PART-TIME PURCHASE LEDGER CLERK REQUIRED. To match invoices and maintain ledger, plus general office admin. Appx 15 hrs pw (flexible over 3-4 days).

Email:

careers@finefoodco.co.uk

ACTIVE CARER/PA WANTED. To join busy team, helping wheel chair user. Character more important than qualifications. Tel: 07790-524241

SELF-EMPLOYED DOG WALKER/PET SITTER position, visit http://www. moocheswithpooches.com

A.P.STEPHENS AND SON require a full time Bricklayer and Labourer, driving license needed. Call Luke 07818 297152

PART TIME HANDY-MAN/ HELPER wanted to tidy up garage, shed and garden. Private house in Ashmore. Please contact Rebecca: 07789-848896

PART TIME HANDY-MAN/ HELPER WANTED to tidy up garage, shed and garden. Private house in Ashmore. Please contact Rebecca: 07789-848896

PART TIME CLEANER, reliable and trustworthy. Wanted for private house. Ashmore village. Good pay. Please contact Gloria 07789-848896

COMPANION SOUGHT FOR 56 YEAR OLD LADY with Parkinson’s. Car and current driving licence essential. Lives in a Wincanton care home. Background in social care a bonus. Hours flexible twice a week. £13.00/hour Contact Philippa 07970-056694

Blackmore

Recruitment

MULTI-DROP DRIVER required driving a 3.5 tonne vehicle, delivering picked orders to customers. Approximately 25hrs per week Monday – Friday, plus Saturday mornings start 6.30am. Clean licence preferred. Email: careers@finefoodco.co.uk

RELIEF MILKER

REQUIRED on small organic farm near Sturminster Newton. Up to 1.5 days a week. Sundays preferred. Excellent rate of pay. 07944-392177

PART TIME CLEANER, reliable and trustworthy. Wanted for private house. Ashmore village. Good pay. Please contact Gloria 07789-848896

CARER/HOUSEKEEPER/ COMPANION required for elderly lady Marnhull - Weekdays 6-8 hours per day

Call 07807-046119

HOUSEKEEPER/COOK required for a family near Tisbury, Wiltshire. This will be a full time live in or out position. The successful applicant will be required to work with other household staff. Key competencies: organisation, team work, honesty, proactiveness, energy, perceptiveness, flexibility, communication, reliability, sense of humour & must be happy around dogs. Full clean driving licence essential. Applicants should send their CV and covering letter to Mrs Vicky Macaskie vm@fonthill.co.uk.

01963

OFFICE AND SERVICES SUPPORT MANAGER

Age Concern North Dorset requires a part-time Office and Services Support Manager to join this well-established, small, independent charity based in Sturminster Newton. You will be supporting all the services provided by the charity, managing our office-based Telephone Support Service, ensuring the continuity and smooth running of the office as well as supporting the Trustees to achieve the aims and objectives of the charity. A flexible 18-20 hrs per week. Applicants must be numerate, IT literate, have strong written and spoken communication skills and be able to work alone as well as with a small team of volunteers. This is an office-based role but there is flexibility for some hours to be home based. Training will be provided. For more information and an Application Form please contact the Age Concern office on 01258 475582

J. A. & E. Montgomery Ltd.

Manor Farm, North Cadbury, Somerset, BA22 7DW

ASSISTANT CHEESEMAKER

An excellent opportunity has arisen to join our team, making cheese in Somerset. We are looking for someone full time, to work alongside our dedicated and enthusiastic team who make our internationally renowned, award winning cheese.

You will be responsible for assisting in the day to day production of both cheddar and Ogleshield with the opportunity to grow and develop new dairy products within the business.

Cheese making experience is not essential as full training will be given to the successful candidate. A food hygiene certificate would be peferred but not required.

A high attention to detail and positive work ethic is a must for this role. Heavy lifting is part of the job, so you will need to be physically fit and capable with a high standard of hygiene and cleanliness. We are offering a competitive salary with a company pension. A cottage would be available for the right candidate.

SKILLED TRACTOR DRIVER/ SPRAYER OPERATOR

Skilled operator required to replace a current member of staff returning to his family farm. Working in a team of three on the arable side of an established 1500 acre mixed farm in Somerset. This team carries out all the tractor work on 900 acres of cropping and for two herds of 200 dairy cows each.

The candidate’s duties will particularly involve all aspects of the machinery work on 150 acres of potatoes, operating a Fendt 718 tractor on a Grimme harvester and planter, as well as spraying with a Househam 3000 24m sprayer.

Experience in potatoes advantageous but not necessary. PA1, PA2, Tele handler ticket is a necessity. Good workshop skills and experience of practical repairs is important. Ability to organise labour teams and prioritise work schedules is an advantage.

We are offering a competitive package. Salary will depend upon experience. Accommodation could also be available with 2 or 4 bedroom cottages currently available.

For more information on both positions, please visit www.montgomeryscheese.co.uk/job-vacancies or apply with CV to office@montgomeryscheddar.co.uk

North Dorset work it out after slow start

by Andrew Wallace Clunes

Southern Counties South

Corsham 1st XV 5

NDRFC 1st XV 31

Dorset & Wilts 1 South

NDRFC 2nd XV 48

Wheatsheaf Cabin Crew 7

NORTH Dorset 1st XV travelled to Corsham after a few weeks off, for a tough encounter with the Wiltshire side.

Corsham scored first after an uneventful 20 minutes in which neither side managed to get

RUGBY

going.

But North struck back with two tries to Lewis Munster, who found space through the centres, so that the teams went to the break 5-12 in favour of the away side.

North composed themselves at half-time and were workmanlike in their game plan.

The forwards carried well and made good yards through Brandon Ward, Richard Miller

and Sam Stinton, which opened up the field for the backs to capitalise with second half tries going to Tom Stewart and Jake Cannings as they secured a bonus point win.

Ryan Boardwell and Munster gave stand-out performances in the centres – both carried well and strongly defended all afternoon.

Jaime Bettesworth was clinical in the scrums and constantly troubled the Corsham defence in attack, but it was 17-year- old Arthur Dimmack who was named man of the match in his first game starting in the pack for the 1st XV. He was a constant menace at the breakdown.

The “Battle of Badgers” took place the previous weekend when North Dorset took on

Club’s open day invitation

WINTERBORNE Valley Croquet Club are looking to expand the membership and are staging an open day for prospective players to find out what the sport is about.

The club are based at Winterborne Stickland Village Sports and Social Club, 10 minutes from Blandford Forum, and the open day is on Saturday, April 27, from 11am.

The club were established at

CROQUET

Winterborne Stickland in 2019 and the lawns are open for play between April and October each year, seven days a week from 10am to 8pm.

Club days are held on a Monday, and Roll-Up Saturday afternoons and Twilight Evening play offer a chance for new players to meet and compete with other players.

Ladies swap golf for skittles

THE ladies section at Wheathill Golf Club met up at The Quarry Inn in Keinton Mandeville for a skittles evening and a meal provided by the hosts.

Becky Thompson said: “Our ladies are not known for our ‘skittling’ expertise but as always they were up for the

Wheatsheaf Cabin Crew at Slaughtergate. Dave Allen opened the try scoring for North Dorset, diving over from the edge of ruck.

Ben Stokes was the next to cross the whitewash, handing off three would-be tacklers en route to the line.

A nice counter-attack from Dan Potts, Harry Phipps and Sean Perry saw Tom Rose, down before Wheatsheaf hit back with a try of their own.

From then on it was oneway traffic with Harry Phipps, James Trevis and Adam Trevis scoring tries, before the Badgers’ latest acquisition, Jack Parker, chalked up two tries to see the home side run out easy victors.

Fly-half Luke Spicer was man of the match.

GOLF

The club operate a Croquet Club Ladder playing friendly matches against other clubs in the south west.

Club representative Isabell van Millinge said: “The club is a great way to keep healthy and have fun – adult and junior membership is available.”

For more details, visit the club’s website, www.wvcroquet. co.uk, or call 01202 578356 to book a free taster session.

challenge and there were some impressive – and not so impressive! – scores.”

The fun evening helped make up for the lack of golf due to the recent bad weather.

Team B were the victors with Becky Thompson making the highest score and Gaye Volk winning an exciting “killer” game to end the evening.

Wincanton winners

WINCANTON Golf Club results.

Seniors Texas Scramble – March 5: 1 John Westaway/Kees Schouten/ Harry Eden/Steven Ireland 47; 2 Chris Dibben/Philip Dewar/Jim Stephen/Simon Lenton 46; 3 Rick Graham/ Phil Francis/Ray Phillips/ Richard Strong 43; 4 Kevin George/Chris Mieville/Colin Jacob 36.

Seniors 9 Hole Texas Scramble – March 5: 1 Chris Dibben/Philip Dewar/ Jim Stephen/Simon Lenton 24; 2 John Westaway/Kees Schouten/Harry Eden/ Steven Ireland 23; 3 Geoff Lye/Pete Starkey/Keith Williams/Jon Reed 22 ocb; 4 Rick Graham/Phil Francis/ Ray Phillips/Richard Strong 22; 5 Kevin George/Chris Mieville/Colin Jacob 18.

Monthly Stableford –March 9: 1 Colin Jacobs 40; 2 Rick Graham 37; 3 Jim Stephen 36.

Beard on target for Rockies

by Avril Lancaster

Lymington Town FC 1

Shaftesbury FC 3

THE Rockies picked up a second successive win in their Velocity Wessex Premier Division promotion chase at the Sports Field, in a game dominated by a swirling wind.

Brett Pitman headed the ball into the path of Cameron Beard who buried the ball past Linnets keeper Chris Raven.

The home side levelled two

FOOTBALL

minutes into the second half when Richard Backary was tripped by Shane Murphy for a penalty, Bakary converting the spot-kick.

Confusion reigned when it appeared Stuart Green was sent to the sin bin, but it eventually transpired that it was Ben Satterley who was being penalised.

The Rockies, down to 10

men for 10 minutes, sustained some Lymington pressure, but got back ahead when Eddie Perrett's trademark throw in was flicked on to the head of Beard to put Shaftesbury ahead.

Stuart Green then whipped in a third goal in the 73rd minute to seal the deal.

Substitute Asa Philips, on his 75th appearance, was sin-binned late on as Shaftesbury finished the game with 10 men.

Mixed results for youngsters

by Andy Carver BLANDFORD

and Sturminster Hockey Club entered three junior teams in the Dorset championship in Bournemouth.

The U10 mixed team had an early start on a cold and windy day. The newly formed development squad, who do not have much hockey experience, played brilliantly with good defending and strong hitting.

The boys and girls under 12 teams played Bournemouth, Wimborne and Weymouth. The girls team had some tough games, beating Weymouth but

HOCKEY

losing to Bournemouth and Wimborne. They displayed some fantastic skills and showed real potential.

The boys also showed great teamwork, in attack and defence, with some notable runs to score from midfield. They beat Wimborne and Weymouth, coming in as runners-up and qualifying for the regional finals on April 21.

The U14’s team played a combined Wimborne/Poole team in challenging weather.

They lost against some strong players but the potential of the team looks great and bodes well for future BSHC adult teams.

The Ladies adult team continues in the Forest league division well led by Linda Smith. They sit in the top third, having have had an influx of new players this year, boosting the team.

The season is coming to a close but new players are always welcome at the club with the new season beginning in September. For more information, head to www. blandfordandsturhc.co.uk.

Good turnout in Food Bank Run

by Paul Russell

A FOOD Bank Run in Sturminster Newton, in support of the Vale Pantry and organised by Dorset Doddlers Running Club, had a great turn-out with more than 70 people taking part.

Members of the Doddlers and the local community walked, jogged and ran the various routes, with a route on offer for everyone.

The Food Bank Run is a national event for running clubs across the country and the Doddlers are adding it to their annual calendar.

The event is free to enter, but participants were asked to make either a donation of dry foods or a small monetary donation.

A group of Clayesmore School students made the event a colourful one when they arrived in fancy dress to the amusement of the other participants.

The Vale Pantry were also in attendance and kept visitors supplied with cakes, hot drinks and other goodies.

First blood to Oliver

YOUNG Oliver Smith opened his account by winning the first round of the Dorchester Junior Championship at a sunny, if at times chilly, Luckfield Lake, near Broadmayne.

The endless rain made conditions extremely challenging for all seven competitors.

A very cold night and the muddy-coloured water meant carp would be difficult to catch, so roach were the target species.

Oliver fished the pole with maggots to catch 9lb 2oz of fish, which included a guest tench of 2lb.

Jack Cryer put 5lb 12oz on the scales to claim second place, and reigning junior champion, Jack Copp, was third with 4lb 14oz.

The event saw £1,200 donated to the Vale Pantry, along with a large donation of dried food.

The Dorset Doddlers would like to thank everyone who went along and the Vale Pantry for their support on the day –and everyone who donated in advance.

Oliver won the Alan Hilton Memorial Cup, a £15 voucher for Alan’s Angling and 25 points to start his championship campaign.

For more information about Dorchester & District Angling Society Juniors, visit their website at ddasjuniors.co.uk or email juniors.sec@d-das.com

Match winner Oliver Smith with his catch at Luckfield Lake

Participants in the run organised by the Dorset Doddlers

Pets

When should I get my pet’s eyes checked?

by Lynn Broom Longmead Veterinary Practice

EYES are very sensitive organs and injury or infection can rapidly progress to severe irreversible damage meaning they should always be checked immediately if there are significant changes.

Significant changes will include any asymmetry such as one eye looking ‘different’ to the other. For instance, if one eye is red, looks a different size to the other one, has a discharge, looks cloudy or is being held partly or fully closed. The animal may rub at the affected eye or flinch if you go to stroke their head.

Other things to look out for are changes in pupil size –particularly if one is different to the other. Swelling of the eyelids or surrounding face may indicate a problem outside the eye. Changing colour within one eye is frequently significant

and should be investigated.

Bilateral changes are often less serious, although some conditions can affect both eyes. Conjunctivitis is a common and normally mild inflammation that usually affects both eyes though may start initially in one. Many cases of conjunctivitis will resolve just with flushing the eyes out with cooled boiled water for a few days. It is important to get the eyes checked if symptoms are severe or do not resolve.

Trauma is common and scratches to the cornea frequently occur. These can be superficial and heal quickly, although even mild scratches are painful and healing may be delayed in the presence of any infection. Scratches can be deep and may cause eye rupture or a foreign body may remain within the eye or under the eyelid. Aggressive emergency treatment is generally needed for these injuries to prevent

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further deterioration and potential loss of the eye.

Brachycephalic breeds are prone to non-healing ulcers. The eye protrudes more because of the shallow eye socket, the lack of nose allows direct contact of the eye with surfaces if the face collides with something, which leads to frequent eye injury resulting in a reduced pain response, and ulcers may be advanced before they are noticed. They often need more aggressive treatment and may still not heal leading to loss of the eye. According to a study by the Royal Veterinary College in 2023, pugs are 19 times more likely to develop an eye ulcer than crossbreed dogs and the risk increases with age.

Other breeds can be prone to eye abnormalities. Greyhounds

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can have corneal dystrophy where the cornea becomes cloudy and, if ulcers develop, healing may be poor. German Shepherds can develop an immune mediated condition called pannus where both eyes become cloudy but do not appear painful. Long term medication is required to control this.

Some breeds, such as Cocker Spaniels and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, as well as other individuals of other breeds, can develop a condition called dry eye as they get older. This often initially presents as a thick eye discharge or recurrent ulcers, and is due to the body ‘attacking’ the tear-producing structures of the eye, leading to reduced tear quality and production, which leads to secondary infection and irritation of the cornea. In mild cases this will respond to regular lubrication using lubricants only, but many cases require immune-suppressing drugs to reverse and control the process.

It is better to get an eye checked quickly by your vet to rule out significant damage than to leave it too long, causing permanent damage which does not resolve even with treatment.

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Cocker Spaniels can develop a condition called dry eye as they get older

MID DORSET CATS PROTECTION

Cats looking for new homes

n Tigger (10 months). Has a curious and loving nature and craves attention!

Four common recall mistakes

by Raychel Hill

TEACHING your dog to come when called, is one of the most crucial skills for their safety and your peace of mind.

n Harlow (12 years). Looking for a new home where she can continue her socialisation and have a stable, settled forever home.

For details, please call our helpline on 01258 858644 or visit our website www.cats.org.uk/blandford

Lost cats

IF you have lost a cat, please contact us via our website, phone or Facebook. Please make sure we have a contact phone number so we can get in touch with you quickly if needed.

n Black fluffy male, missing since January 23 from Buckhorn Weston.

n Small tuxedo female, missing since February 27 from Bourton.

n White and black cat, Sidney, (pictured) missing since October 17 from Iwerne Minster.

Found cats

IF you regularly see a cat in your garden or down your street that you don’t think has an owner, please give us a call. It might be a lost cat that could be reunited with its owner.

n Black fluffy male cat, Corton Denham, which has been around for about six months.

One common mistake is being inconsistent with reinforcement. If you call your dog and they come to you, but you don’t reward them, this can weaken the association between the cue and the desired behaviour. Ensure that you consistently reward your dog with treats, praise or play whenever they respond to your recall cue – and ensure the reward you are using is actually rewarding for your dog.

Another mistake is associating the recall cue with negative situations, such as calling your dog to end playtime or to administer medication. If your dog learns that coming when called leads to unpleasant experiences, they may become hesitant or reluctant to respond in future. Instead, make coming when called a positive experience by rewarding your dog with praise and treats, even if it means ending playtime temporarily.

We all want our dogs to recall under any circumstance, but many make the mistake of

practising recall only in lowdistraction environments and when they attempt recalling their dog off lead in more stimulating environments, their dog ignores them. If your dog rehearses ignoring the recall cue, this will only worsen their response.

Gradually increase the level of distraction during recall training, starting in quiet environments and gradually progressing to more challenging ones. Use high value treats and toys to capture your dog’s attention and reinforce their response despite distractions.

Not only is using punishment when your dog fails to come when called counterproductive, it can damage your relationship with them. If your dog associates returning to you with punishment, they’re less likely to respond to your recall command in the future. Avoid scolding, yelling or using aversive methods when your dog doesn’t respond promptly. Instead, remain calm, use a long line to prevent running off and use games to make recall fun.

n Raychel Hill BSc (Hons) MA CCAB APBC-CAB FABC ABTC-CAB; owner of Pet Peeves Animal Behaviour & Teaching; email raychel@ petpeevessomerset.co.uk.

Field & Stream

Spring is here after the winter that never was

by Tria Stebbing

THE grass is growing and the stock are getting fat. The winter that never was seems to have gone now – it left us with a few hours of snow and not many notable frosts.

We are told that parts of southern England had the wettest and warmest February since 1836, and the winter weather of my childhood now seems a thing of the past. Will the current generation ever see glass milk bottles on doorsteps so frozen that the cream appears like an ice pop sticking out of

the top of the bottle? The brief dusting of snow came and went within about four hours.

The signs are that spring has sprung. The grass that has taken a battering by the rain is starting to grow and thoughts are turning to spending time servicing the old faithful equipment that mows, turns and bales each summer.

The window to trim the hedges along the perimeter of the field came and went, and as the nesting period for the birds has now started, it is going to have to wait.

We have seen groups of ladybirds emerging from cracks in the fence posts and converging in the sun in a clump. The seven spot ladybirds feed off aphids, so are a useful addition to the paddock – their red colouration warns predators that they are distasteful, and they release a pungent yellow substance that can stain the skin. They lay their eggs in March, and the young emerge from April, depending on the weather. The warmer it is the faster they develop.

The Highland fold are still relying on us taking up bales of hay daily, which they enjoy picking over. Babybel has been naturally weaned away from Belle, and we have everything crossed that we will be the proud step-parents of a new calf in the summer. Belle is looking a bit rotund in her mid-section,

but that could be down to the hay.

It has been a relief not to be lambing in the wet conditions, but we are still waiting to hear if King is to be a daddy. The ewes being scanned at the care farm in the next few weeks.

A reminder to you all, if you do see a sheep on its back, especially over the next few weeks, and cannot find the farmer, turn it over. The sheep will die quickly if not turned back, but it will seem disorientated when it gets back on its feet. A farmer will never mind you climbing over a gate to help.

We lost our dear Gizmo two years ago this month – she got stuck on her back – cast – and died along with her unborn triplets. So please, if you are out walking – dogs on leads – keep an eye out for cast sheep.

Cake wins winter championship

by Simon Hebditch

GILLINGHAM AA sixth winter championship, Upper Stour Dave Hillier Memorial

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- 21 pegs River Stour from Highbridge to Catholics.

The last winter championship, combined with the Upper Stour Open and the Committee match, fished well on a rising river.

Winner was Craig Fletcher (Gillingham AA) who caught nine bream to 4lb, a big perch and some bits on the pole and

feeder to weigh an impressive 28lb 4oz from peg 17.

Runner-up was Danny McCoy who drew peg 63 and caught six chub on bread and lobworms to weigh 13lb 14oz.

Third was James Kiernan who caught eight chub from peg 57 and weighed 12lb 4oz.

Other places: 4 Ben Dukes 10lb 9oz; 5 Dave Sealey 10lb

1oz; 6 Pete Leach 9lb 14oz.

This meant that Richard Cake won the winter championship with 488 points, with Jason Twining and James Kiernan runners-up, both on 482 points.

Pete Edwards won the veterans with 481 points and James Kiernan won the Committee match.

The Highlands in the snow (right) – a photo Tria Stebbing had been chasing all winter, and (above) groups of ladybirds have been emerging from cracks in the fence posts

Farming

Starlings on the Levels make a splendid sight

by Ruth Kimber

IN like a lion, out like a lamb, the saying goes of March! Paul drew the curtains back early on Saturday, March 2, as it was farmers market, and to our surprise, we were greeted with five to six inches of snow.

Real picture postcard stuff, clinging to the fences, branches and roofs. But when we ventured out it wasn’t particularly cold and the snow was wet and slushy. A neighbouring farmer, Joe Cook, would tell you: “Ice in November to carry a duck, the rest of the winter will be slush and muck!”

Snow had been forecast but

not for as far south as us. Paul went to Bath Farmers’ Market, where several stallholders didn’t make it, and I went to Shaftesbury. Lots of Dorset escaped the snow, and although Shaftesbury had snow, it wasn’t too much and was soon all gone.

We had a record amount of rain in February at about six inches plus. Weather patterns are certainly different, bringing challenges with them.

Lambing at Linley is in full swing, and all is going well so far, but the wet weather isn’t the best. Triples and singles magically become twins, down to Darren’s shepherding skills. His lambs are all sold via the

farm shop.

We went down to the Somerset Levels to see the starling murmurations with friends, then with family.

It is such an amazing spectacle – millions of birds come in from different directions to form a huge roost on the reeds. One of nature’s wonders.

However, we are not so pleased to see them in our buildings stealing the cow food, and especially messing everywhere. We use a bird scarier, to good effect. We have a big population of starlings on the farm, feeding on the fields in clouds, then most probably roosting down on the Levels. It’s not that far as the crow flies.

We also heard bitterns booming and saw great egrets.

Calving is nearly over, with only a handful left. The milking parlour is slowly progressing. We are installing auto-identification, which will

mean the cows will be automatically identified and fed according to their requirements, making milking quicker and more accurate.

Little responder buttons are installed in the cow’s ear containing her identification details, matching up to the computer, where the milk, medical and breeding records join the animal’s birth and genealogy records. It’s been a long haul, but with little disruption to daily milking.

The silage stocks are holding up, and after all this winter rain, we hope for a drier spring and early turnout. It’s a time-honoured discussion – will we have enough fodder, will the straw last, when will it dry up?

n Kimbers Farm Shop, The Kitchen at Kimbers, Somerset Trading Barn; Linley Farm Charlton Musgrove BA9 8HD Tel. 01963 33177; www. kimbersfarmshop.co.uk info@ kimbersfarmshop.co.uk.

Starling murmurations are one of nature’s wonders – but down on the farm they can be a nuisance

Farming

#ColostrumIsGold

by Lucy Hepworth Friars Moor Livestock Health

WE recently had a great meeting in the practice with our sheep farmers on colostrum –how to get the quality right, and how intake impacts on lamb disease.

The biggest driver of colostrum quality is ewe nutrition. The correct protein intake in the last three weeks of pregnancy is key. Long term protein intake is also really important; it is reflected in ewe body condition, and is also impacted, chronic disease such as lameness, some “iceberg diseases” as well as parasite burden.

Forage analysis for an indoor system is actively encouraged to correctly balance up supplementary feed. Equally, the protein intake from spring grass is important in later lambing flocks.

Metabolic profiles can be used on a sample of ewes –multiples, shearlings – three weeks before lambing to assess energy and protein intake. For the cost of a lamb or two, one can properly assess the ewe intake and whether it meets

demands, with time to correct if necessary.

Farmers can easily measure colostrum quality with an inexpensive Brix refractometer. The target is over 26.5%. The first few ewes to lamb can be measured to see if feeding is on track, as well as measuring quality on spare colostrum to supplement other lambs. A sample of lambs can also be checked for colostrum intake at the start of lambing.

Whilst only half as good as ewe colostrum, many flocks use some artificial colostrum with a huge range in quality of product. XL Premium Lamb Colostrum – identical to Immucol Platinum – is our product of choice, selected because it provides 5g IgG per feed when fed at the replacement rate. Many products do not meet the required 3g IgG per feed.

Getting mineral balance correct in the ewe around lambing with respect to macrominerals – calcium and magnesium is very important. Factors influencing milk fever in indoor and outdoor systems were discussed as well as

evidence showing how supplementation of calcium can help immunity of lambs and growth rates. Microminerals –trace elements – interact closely and influence lamb vigour.

Most lamb growth takes place in the last six weeks. If lambs are born light or heavy, this has a significant impact on risk of mortality.

Hygiene tips:

n Clean storage of stomach tubes and use Milton as a

disinfectant for tubes between lambs.

n Keep ear tags and rubber rings in sealed boxes and dip in surgical spirit ahead of use.

n Wear long gloves to lamb ewes so one does not to transfer Strep bacteria – that cause joint ill – from carrier ewes onto other lambs.

n Use preparatory 10% iodine dip, not spray – will contain alcohol drying agent. Dip twice for indoor systems.

friarsmoorlivestockhealth

The biggest driver of colostrum quality is ewe nutrition

First Milk buys BV Dairy business

THE BV Dairy has been sold.

The Highnam family, which has run the dairy for generations, has been bought by First Milk – a co-operative business owned by British family farms.

BV Dairy manufactures specialist chilled dairy products at its base in Shaftesbury, with customers across the UK.

The foundations of the company were formed in Somerset in the 1930s, before Highnam’s Dairy evolved into BV Dairy in 2001 after purchasing farms and the Gillingham Dairies firm.

The final family member to be managing director of the company, Jim Highnam, said

after the sale was confirmed: “Having made the decision to sell the business, we wanted to ensure that the new owners would provide a secure future for our customers, colleagues, farmers and suppliers.

“As such, I’m pleased to finalise this transaction and see BV Dairy become part of First Milk, as both businesses share a down-to-earth, pragmatic approach, balancing the needs of all stakeholders.

“I look forward to working with our new First Milk colleagues to continue to grow and develop BV Dairy.”

Shelagh Hancock, chief executive of First Milk, said: “I am delighted to complete the

acquisition of BV Dairy, a successful family-owned business, which shares many common values with First Milk – a focus on people and community, environmental performance, exceptional quality and long-term value creation.

“We look forward to welcoming the wider BV Dairy family into our First Milk family.

“The BV Dairy business has strong customer relationships and a reputation for quality and service across food manufacture and food service.

“This provides a genuine extension to our business,

extending our manufacturing and market reach, offering a platform for the further growth and development of our business.”

Farmer director and vicechairman, Mike Smith, added: “This purchase builds on the existing strengths of First Milk and will bring wider benefits, adding value for our members while creating opportunities for our colleagues and enabling us to extend our regenerative positioning into a broader range of dairy products and customers.

“This is a great step forward as we work together to secure the future.”

The BV Dairy base in Shaftesbury

PHOTO:

First Milk

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Farmer’s leader cautious on Spring Budget

FARMERS have welcomed some of the announcements in the Chancellor’s Spring Budget, but say it didn’t go far enough in offering stability for agricultural businesses, growth in food production and decarbonising the sector.

Responding to the Spring Budget, NFU president, Tom Bradshaw, said: “Where some of the headline announcements, such as an extension to agricultural property relief (APR) and a reduction of National Insurance for the self-employed, could offer some benefits to agricultural businesses, the Chancellor has missed an opportunity to deliver resilience for food producers.

“We welcome the Government backing the NFU’s call for the extension of APR to land in Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes as it will remove a barrier of entry for a number of farm businesses and give farmers more choice about how to use their land.

“But the extension of this beyond ELMs may have an adverse impact on food production and farm tenancies, and we will work with Treasury to assess those implications.

“Agricultural businesses are facing a challenging economic backdrop, with input costs at

persistently high levels and at least a 50% reduction in direct farm payment support due this year.

“The announcement on the abolition of the Furnished Housing Letting regime is a significant concern, as it’s an important source of diversification for farm businesses which underpins resilience.

“We will be looking to engage further with Treasury on this announcement.”

The NFU says food and drink is the UK’s biggest manufacturing sector worth £120 billion to the nation’s economy.

100 ORGANIC SMALL HAY BALES. £4.50 per bale. Made July 2023. goldhillorganicfarm@gmail. com. Child Okeford

BLACKMORE VALE JOBS GROUP

Bay PRE stallion from the well-respected Francisco Santiago Ruiz stud in Spain. Primoroso is a grandson of Elite Graded Spanish stallion Educado X, champion of Spain. His sire is calificado stallion Judio X. Primoroso not only boasts strong breeding from Guardiola, Muira and Escalera lines, from the famous well-established studs of Spain, but he has a wonderful temperament and conformation to match the quality of his breeding. Primoroso is a high school trained stallion imported from Spain, offering athletic ability with true Spanish looks and personality. With a smaller stature at 15.2 he is ideally suited to smaller PRE mares to create a lovely riding horse, or to cross with pony breeds to create a sporty capable smaller riding horse or pony. Graded in 2022 he will be standing this year 2024 at Coombe Cross Farm Stud, Horsington, Templecombe BA8 ODP.

Please contact Harriet Ray on rayswestcompton@btinternet.com or 01749 890 582 (owner) or Sharon Brooks at the stud 07970793821 for further details. Primoroso LXV has his own facebook page.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw

Farming

DORSET | DEVON | SOMERSET | HAMPSHIRE | WILTSHIRE | CORNWALL | LONDON

Tuesday 19th March

ON-FARM MACHINERY AUCTIONS

Forest of Bere Farm, Ashley, Kings Somborne Hampshire, SO20 6RA Dispersal of Combine, Tractors, Telehandler, Arable Machinery, Workshop Equipment, etc.

Including: John Deere S680i Hillmaster Combine c/w 630R Header 1400hrs (14), Johne Deere 6250R Premium 3,000hrs (19) & 6215R

Ultimate 5,650hrs (16), Case Farmall 95A with Forestry Kit 800hrs (19), Manitou MLT 840-137 Telehandler 1,780hrs (15), John Deere X748

Ultimate Ride-On Tractor, John Deere M740i 24m Trailed Sprayer (19), Jarmet P328 12m Sprayer, Moore 3m Uni-Drill Unused (23), Vaderstad Rapid 6m Drill (17), Vaderstad Biodrill (13), KV Accord 6 Row Maize Drill, Massey Ferguson MF30 Drill, Vaderstad 4m Topdown (12), HE-VA Stealth 3m 6-leg Subsoiler (21), McConnel Shakerator, 4m Combi Cultivator, Kverneland LD85 5f Plough, KRM M35W Fertiliser Spreader (21), Twose 12m Cambridge Rollers, AW Ultima Xtra 16T Grain Trailer (17), 2 x AS Marston 14T Grain Trailers, Galucho 4t Tipping Trailer (11), Protec P180 Post Driver (20), 2 x 20’ Shipping Containers, 2 x John Deere Starfire 3000 Receivers (RTK), 2 x John Deere 10.4” Cab Monitors, 2 way Radios, etc.

On behalf of J & J Kelly (Having sold the farm). Online bidding available

Thursday 21st March – Next on Farm Fodder Auction

Please see website for futher details

GRASS KEEP

Frog Lane Farm, Frog Lane, Motcombe, SP7 9NY

Grass Keep

342.36 acres (138.55 ha) of productive pasture land available by informal tender as a whole or in two lots for grazing and/or mowing.

Lot 1: 244.21 ac

Lot 2: 98.16 ac

Tenders close 12 noon Friday 22nd March

Thursday 28th March

Vale View Farm, West Stour, Gillingham, SP8 5SF Dispersal of Tractors, Pick-Up, Grassland Machinery, Livestock Equipment & Workshop Items

Including: John Deere 6115M (14) with H340 Loader approx. 1129hrs, McCormick T80 Max T3 (12) approx. 1,807hrs, Nissan Navara Acenta + 2.3 DCI (17), Bunning Lowlander Mk1 60 Rear Discharge Muck Spreader, Lucas Castor+ 30R Straw Chopper, McConnel PA50E Hedge Trimmer, Lely Splendimo 320PC Mower Conditioner, Kuhn 8 Rotor Tedder, Kuhn GA7301 Twin Rotor Rake, Opico Swardlifter, Opico 6m Grass Harrows, Browns 4m Folding Aerator, Twose 6.3m Cambridge Roller, 10ft Ballast Roller, 8ft Cambridge Roller, Port Agric 9’ Cutlass Topper, 25ft Single Axle Flatbed Bale Trailer, 3T Tipping Trailer, Lemken 4f Rev. Plough, Kuhn HR301M Power Harrow, Vicon PS604 and 400/500 Fertiliser Spreaders, McHale 601 Bale Squeeze, Albutt Rehandling Buckets, McHale Shear Grab, Browns SB1 HD Bale Grab, Ifor Williams TA5 10G Livestock Box, 2 x 14ft John Shepherd Feed Barriers with Manger, John Shepherd 10’ Hurdles, IAE Belly Clipping Cattle Crush, Approx. 12T & 13T Bulk Bins, etc

On behalf of Mr Nick Hudson (Retiring). Online bidding available

Online Collective Sale closing Tuesday 26th March from 7.00pm Including: 3 Tractors, Quad, Farm Machinery, Ifor Williams Livestock Trailer, Collinson Silo approx. 17m3, etc

Tuesday 9th April

On-Farm Dispersal of 250 Head of Dairy Cows and In-Calf Heifers In conjunction with Cooper & Tanner and Norton & Brooksbank

On behalf of Hollands Farms Dorchester Ltd, Higher Kingston Farm, Stinsford, Dorchester DT2 8QE

Saturday 13th April

Dispersal Sale to include Quad, Livestock Trailer and Large Quantity of Static & Mobile Sheep Handling Equipment

Tuesday 16th April

Dispersal Sale of 2 Tractors, Telehandler, Farm Machinery, 12 Silos and Pig Rearing Unit

Saturday 20th April

Dispersal Sale of Tractors, Farm Machinery & Livestock Equipment

DORSET | DEVON | SOMERSET | HAMPSHIRE | WILTSHIRE | CORNWALL | LONDON

Sherborne Guide £375,000

A modern 3 bedroom semi-detached house offering contemporary living with a high specification kitchen/diner and established level garden nestled in a quiet cul-de-sac. CTB C

Sherborne | 01935 814488

Hazelbury Bryan

Guide £400,000

A beautifully presented mid terraced 3 double bedroom house with a single garage in a quiet area of a desirable village with amenities. CTB D

Sturminster Newton | 01258 473766

Marnhull Guide £500,000

A well presented and beautifully maintained detached 3 bedroom bungalow with an integral garage on a quiet cul de sac in this popular village. CTB E

Sturminster Newton | 01258 473766

West Orchard Guide £750,000

An updated and extended 4 bedroom detached character house with 0.45 acre south facing garden enjoying far reaching and beautiful countryside views. CTB E

Sturminster Newton | 01258 473766

Shillingstone Guide £625,000

A spacious detached 2 bedroom bungalow with a range of outbuildings, gardens and paddock and magnificent far reaching views. In all, approx. 1.74 acres. CTB D

Sturminster Newton | 01258 473766

Bourton, Gillingham Guide £160,000

Two enclosures of level land in a strategic position between the villages of Bourton and Zeals. Suitable for a range of agricultural and recreational uses plus scope for development (subject to consents). 4.51 acres (1.82ha)

Sturminster Newton | 01258 472244

PROPERTY AUCTION 21 MARCH AT DIGBY HALL, SHERBORNE AND VIA LIVESTREAM

Minterne Magna Guide £735,000 (whole)

98.96 acres of arable, pasture, and woodland offered in three lots of 21.26 ac, 34.85 ac and 42.85 ac.

Freehold

Sturminster Newton | 01258 472244

Milborne Port Guide £125,000 A 3 bedroom cottage in need of renovation, enjoying a quiet location on the edge of the village.

CTB C; Freehold

Sherborne | 01935 814488

Bournemouth £175,000

A refurbished 3-4 bed maisonette with a private entrance. Ground Rent: £300p/a

Service Charge: £200p/a

Buildings Ins: £85p/a

CTB B; Leasehold

Wimborne | 01202 843190

Bryanston Guide £395,000 A detached 3 bedroom bungalow in an idyllic rural location with scope for renovation and extension (STPP). 0.68 acres. CTB E; Freehold Blandford | 01258 452670

Nether Compton Guide £230,000 (whole)

28.89 acres of sloping and gently sloping pasture land offered in three lots, all with road access.

Freehold

Yeovil | 01935 382901

East Morden Guide £125,000

A period bungalow in 0.12 acres for renovation/replacement (STPP) with an option to purchase an additional 0.19 acres.

CTB D; Freehold

Wimborne | 01202 843190

Dorchester Guide £225,000

An attractive Grade II Listed Georgian style premises over four floors with vacant possession, to suit various uses (STPP).

RV £1300; Freehold

Dorchester | 01305 236237

Wardon Hill, Dorchester Guide £550,000 A former donkey/equine sanctuary comprising a bungalow, extensive stabling and outbuildings and about 24.54 acres (9.93 ha) of pasture.

CTB C; Freehold

Sturminster | 01258 473766

Tincleton Guide £80,000 5.89 acres of pasture land situated on the banks of the River Frome with direct road access. Freehold

Burraton House | 01305 236237

Milborne Port Guide £150,000

A detached 2 bedroom bungalow of non-standard construction in an elevated position with a garden and garage.

CTB C; Freehold

Sherborne | 01935 814488

Hinton St George Guide £350,000 A well-presented bungalow of non-standard construction in 0.30 acres situated on the edge of a sought-after village.

CTB C; Freehold

Ilminster | 01460 200790

Beaminster £550,000-£650,000 A terrace of interlinked accommodation with scope for use as an HMO or to split into 3 or 4 separate dwellings (STPP).

CTB A; Freehold

Beaminster | 01308 863100

Yeovil Guide £75,000

A well-proportioned mid terrace 3 bedroom property for complete renovation with a courtyard garden.

CTB A; Freehold

Yeovil | 01935 423526

Milborne St Andrew Guide £150,000

A re-development opportunity comprising a substantial dwelling with barn and outbuildings in 0.16 acres.

CTB E; Freehold

Blandford | 01258 452670

Cricket Malherbie Guide £350,000

A former coach house in 0.25 acres in an idyllic location with scope for remodelling/ refurbishment

CTB D; Freehold

Ilminster | 01460 200790

Weymouth Guide £695,000

A pair of semi-detached dwellings and a range of outbuildings in 1.24 acres with scope for conversion, or re-development (STPP). Situated in a quiet position

CTB C and D; Freehold

Poundbury | 01305 251154

PROPERTY AUCTION 18 APRIL AT DIGBY HALL, SHERBORNE AND VIA LIVESTREAM

Osmington Guide £55,000

A level productive paddock close to Osmington and the coast. 1.18 acres in total.

Freehold.

Burraton House | 01305 236237

Bournemouth Guide £105,000

A one bedroom flat in a converted dwelling, situated only 0.5 miles away from the seafront.

CTB A; Leasehold – 62 years remaining.

Wimborne | 01202 843190

Cranborne Guide £225,000

A semi-detached cottage for renovation/remodelling with an outbuilding and scope to create off-road parking.

CTB C; Freehold

Wimborne | 01202 843190

Lydlinch Guide £450,000

A substantial barn conversion with scope for refurbishment, set in 0.78 acres with potential for self contained annexe.

CTB F; Freehold.

Blandford | 01258 452670

Halstock Guide £65,000 5.38 acres of level pasture land. Situated close to Halstock with direct road access. Freehold.

Yeovil | 01935 382901

Ilchester Guide £125,000

A three bedroom, detached property with garage and parking, in need of renovation.

CTB B; Freehold.

Yeovil | 01935 382901

Bournemouth Guide £250,000

A semi-detached two storey dwelling that has been converted to two flats but would suit being converted back to a single dwelling (STPP).

CTB A; Freehold.

Wimborne | 01202 843190

Merriott Guide £450,000

A substantial Grade II listed former pub, set in 1.02 acres with full planning permission for residential. Scope for a range of uses (STPP).

CTB F, A; Freehold.

Ilminster | 01460 200790

Limington Guide £70,000 3.55 acres of pasture land near the edge of Limington. With direct road access. Freehold.

Yeovil | 01935 382901

Crewkerne Guide £125,000

An attractive Grade II listed building with prominent corner position in Crewkerne. May be suitable for residential use (STPP). Freehold.

Dorchester | 01305 261008

Ringwood Guide £275,000 6.43 acres of mixed woodland alongside a single brick bungalow for substantial renovation. Range of outbuildings.

CTB E; Freehold.

Wimborne | 01202 843190

Chard Guide £650,000

An elegant Victorian house with stunning original features with great potential. Set in 1.96 acres with self contained annexe.

CTB G; Freehold.

Ilminster | 01460 200790

Melplash Guide £240,000

A well-proportioned mid terrace 3 bedroom property for complete renovation with a courtyard garden.

CTB A; Freehold

Burraton House | 01305 236237

Cranborne Guide £215,000

A semi-detached cottage for remodelling and refurbishment with an attached outbuilding and character features.

CTB C; Freehold

Wimborne | 01202 843190

Lytchett Matravers Guide £395,000 A spacious three bedroom property in a semi-rural setting on the edge of a small development.

CTB E; Freehold.

Wimborne | 01202 843190

Sedgehill Guide £775,000

A four bedroom detached house with paddock and far reaching views, in all 5.5 acres. In need of updating.

CTB G; Freehold.

Sturminster Newton | 01258 473766

£420,000 Sparkford

£235,000 Wincanton

Thinking of moving in 2024?

As we move towards spring, now is the ideal time to contact us for a free valuation and marketing advice.

Many potential buyers are registering with us wishing to purchase a property in the coming months within the local towns and villages.

If you are considering bringing your property to the market we would be delighted to hear from you.

Please call 01963 34000 to arrange an appointment or email wincanton@hambledon.net

£250,000 Wincanton

£425,000 Wincanton

£490,000 Maperton

kitchen/ breakfast room, cloakroom, utility room, master bedroom with stylish en-suite, bathroom, single garage and attractive rear garden. EPC Rating: C. Freehold.

An attractive three bedroom semi-detached cottage situated in the semi rural hamlet of Maperton. Comprising bright & airy sitting room with fireplace, stunning full height central hallway featuring galleried landing and fireplace, kitchen/diner, utility/boot room, cloakroom, extensive gravel parking, double car port, two workshops and delightful gardens. EPC Rating: E. Freehold.

An ideal first time buy or investment situated in a no through road. This two bedroom semi-detached house enjoys the benefit of a spacious kitchen/diner with French doors to garden, light and airy living room, long driveway & no forward chain. EPC Rating: tbc. Freehold.

A delightful three bedroom town house comprising entrance hall, living room with French doors to garden, cloakroom, stylish fitted kitchen/breakfast room, master bedroom with en-suite, tandem parking for two cars and rear garden. EPC Rating: C. Freehold.

Buying new can be cheaper than resale

PROPERTY website Zoopla has revealed some of the areas in the UK where the asking price of a three-bed new-build home is up to £120,000 cheaper than a resale property.

In the cathedral city of Winchester a three-bed new-build home is £118,500 (22%) cheaper than an equivalent resale home.

In the nearby New Forest, a three-bed new-build home is £45,000 cheaper than a three-bed resale property.

Value for money can also be found in new-build properties in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty including Chichester – £35,000 cheaper than a resale property; Stroud – £20,000 cheaper than a resale

property; South Hams –£25,000 cheaper than a resale property; and North Somerset – £8,500 cheaper than a resale property.

Daniel Copley, consumer expert at Zoopla, said: “There’s often a perception that newbuild properties are more expensive than resale homes – however, our data shows that there are, in fact, many areas of the country where new-builds are cheaper than resale homes.

“Two-thirds of buyers either want a new home or would consider buying new. Newbuild homes offer additional benefits over buying a secondhand property, most notably better energy efficiency.”

CLASSIFIED ADS

SET OF 4 DRAKES PRIDE SIZE

3, medium bowls, with wheeled carrying bag. Separate shoe bag, 4 bowl carrier and measures. £70.

Tel: 01747-823757

HAYTER MOWER, 96. £499.00 Collection only. Yeovil.

Tel: 07703-261181

RECORD WOOD TURNING LATHE, on stand with extras plus tools and blanks. £600

Tel: 07788-255718

FISHING RODS and REELS.4 x 12ft rods . 3 x Okuma reels, £150 ono, 01460 929580

BENTLEY PIANO good condition £250 Z Bed £50 Tel 01963 362779

FREE CLASSIFIED ADS

REGENCY STRIPE CURTAINS and 5 cushion covers in Red and Cream, vgc. 72”x90”drop. £45ono. Sherborne area 07971 001852

CARVED WOODEN INDIAN ELEPHANTS(over 70 years old)--2 large -over 6” 7 smaller £50 or will split Tel 01935-873441

LONG ACRO PROP £20 phone 01749-850356

GENTS GERMAN MADE STEEL

STEP through bike, lovely condition, no gears, suit tall man with with limited dexterity. £25. Tel: 01722-781270

BUSH ELECTRIC TILED FLOOR CLEANER. Perfect working order. £5. Tel: 01258 452166

RISE & RECLINER CHAIR. Dark brown, right hand side electrics. £45.00. Tel: 01258-880724

COOKWORKS, WHITE. Bread/meat, food slicer. Electric. Hardly used. £10.00 Tel: 01258-817874

BREVILLE, LARGE SLOW COOKER. Used once. Bargain £15.00 Tel: 01258-817874

2 X DOG CRATES. Perfect condition. £20. Phone 07785 534524

TABLE TOP COOKER WITH SHELF. 23 litre oven. Good condition. Hardly used. £25. 01963 23477

EARLEX PAINT STATION 3000, the complete paint spraying system. hardly used very good condition still boxed. £25. Tel: 01935 834270

TUFFLOCK 35M TUFFHOSE. Used once. As new £50. Tel: 07984 192409 (after 5.30pm).

GERMAN NOVELS PAPERBACK, Cost £8, perfect condition, read once, selling at £4, details 01258 817226.

GALVANISED STEEL CHICKEN FEEDER 100cm long used £12. Double wooden wine rack 48 bottles £20.00, phone 07743 731685

QUALCAST 18V CORDLESS POLE hedge trimmer, as new.£50. Tel 07754 841324

LADIES RALEIGH URBAN 2 BIKE. 24 gears, step through, good condition. £50 ono. East Stour. 07745 876272

SAMSUNG 45 INCH TELEVISION including wall mounting bracket £50 Sturminster Newton area 07717 787937

BEAUTIFUL CYPRUS INLAYED folding backgammon and chess board. £30. Tel 07519 299005

GOLF CLUBS. Full set of Slazenger left handed golf club’s and trolley. £50. 01935-421313

SELF BUILD SURPLUS MATERIALS and tools max price £15 (e.g. storage unit) Call for list 07949 750457

NEW WHITE CHINA, single taphole basin. 600mm X 510mm. No pedestal. £45. Tel: 01747-830000

REAL SHEEPSKIN JACKET. Air Force style. Dark Brown. Vgc. Size 12. £40 Tel: 01747 229148

CHILD’S INDOOR/OUTDOOR PLAY TENT and tunnel tube. Little used. £5. 07938 976191

BROWN ALUMINIUM CONSERVATORY VICTORIAN SHAPE. 13ft x 11’6 carefully dismantled. v good condition. Tel 01747 838449. Must go. All offers considered

HAM STONE suitable for garden rockeries or other projects, 14 larger pieces and 3 smaller £25 the lot

Tel: 07891 987809

HAMA BRAND

2 TON HYDRAULIC TROLLEY jack as new in original carrying case. £35.

Tel: 01258-817810

VARIOUS TOOLS. Adjustable spanners, Allen keys, hammers, extension leads etc. £35 ono.

Tel: 01747-870824

MULTI FUEL STOVE, spare glass panels and some flue pipes. £50. Collection only. More information,

Tel: 01963 846153

IGENIX 47L COUNTER-TOP FRIDGE with lock and keys. £25 as new. 01935-389418 Sherborne

GENUINE PEUGEOT ROOF BARS +2 keys and allen key, to fit model 2008 from 2013-19.Black, very good condition,,as new £45. 07747-098126

DRAPER CORDLESS HAMMER

DRILL incl.charger, bits and instr. booklet £25. Tel. 01258 628324. Stur.

ZANUSSI UNDER COUNTER FREEZER, surplus to requirements £25 Tel 01258 454021

Mob 07712-729098

FULL SET BOB CHARLES left handed golf clubs. Bag and Trolly all good condition. £50, Tel. 07875-923937

SET OF OXFORD MOTORCYCLE clothing, helmet, jacket, over trousers, Size XL. Boots size 9, £40. for the set. Tel 01963-250433

MIRANDA PRO 1 Video Tripod £10. 01258 820869

TILE CUTTER, B&Q PTC 450E, used for only one small job. £20, 07767-863177

Items for sale

A COLLECTION OF OLD AND NEW 20 gauge cartridges over 100. Licence holders only please £40 07707-475328

JET SPRAY GUN. Long reach nozzle. Detergent bottle. Screw on universal fit for hosepipe. ( Connector required)

NEW - £5 Tel: 01935 851076

ORVIS MEMORY FOAM BED with bolster £50 or ono. good condition in Tisbury area, Phone 01747 873103

STRIMMER - Petrol. Working, but not run recently, so light attention probably needed. £20. Wincanton area. 01963 33388.

FOR SALE 6 PADDED DINING CHAIRS (2 carvers and 4 chairs) v.g.c. £50. Can deliver locally. Phone 01963 363586.

REEBOX STEP AEROBIC EXERCISE PLATFORM 3 x height positions excellent condition colour black/grey only £15 01747-835680

TAYLOR MADE JET SPEED GOLF CLUBS, get’s you out of trouble. £10. Tel: 01935-476815

PINE FOUR FOOT BED complete with spring mattress vgc £40. Call 01258 820869.

MODERN 4FT 6 BED. Complete with matress, hardly used, immaculate condition. Must be seen to be appreciated. £15.00

Tel: 01258-452166

PINE BED WITH SPINDAL HEADBOARD - 4’ 6” wide. New condition. £50. Phone 07903 907008

OLD BOOKS BOUGHT. Will call by appointment entirely without obligation. Bristow & Garland 07392 602014

STAMPS & COINS wanted by collector/ investor. I

very keen to purchase large or small collections at this time.

Tel Rod 01308 863790 or 07802 261339

2024 British & European HOLIDAY BROCHURE

Our selection of individually tailo red co ach holiday tours offer a custom mad e product providing a feeling of luxury and aspiration. Sp ecifically aim ed at the more discerning cu stomer.

Convenient & FREE local picking up points throughout DORSET

Including Sherborne, Sturminster, Blandford Plus Yeovil And many more …

3 days - Fri 3rd to Sun 5th May 2023

Magical Mystery Tour

4 STAR HOTEL. Inc Admissions

5 Days – Weds 8th to Sun 12th May

Around Rutland Water

The smallest county and largest lake

5 Days – Mon 3rd to Fri 7th June

Barging Around Cheshire

Waterways & heritage attractions

Sat 8th to Sat 15th June

Scotland – Beautiful Bute

Amazing landscapes and sea-views

6 days – Sun 16th to Fri 21st June

Yorkshire – Dales & Rails

Includes the iconic Settle-Carlisle

5 Days – Sun 22nd to Thur 26th July

Snowdonia

From Summit to Seaside

Includes the Snowdon Mountain Railway to the “Top of the World”

5 days – Sun 28th July to Thu 1st Aug

Welsh Wilderness Railways

Wales’s magnificent high country

EUROPEAN

10 Days – Sat 18th to Mon 27th May

SPAIN – The Pyrenees

Explored by boats & trains

8 days – Sat 22nd to Sat 29th June

AUSTRIA –

High Alps Explorer

Sightseeing on an epic scale!

5 days – Mon 1st to Fri 5th July

DUBLIN – River & Rail

No passport required

8 Days – Sat 6th to Sat 13th July

FRANCE - The Dordogne

Breathtaking landscapes

5 days – Thur 26th to Mon 30th Sept

FRANCE Gardens & Chateau

Enhanced by Candlelight

4

8 Days – Sat 19th to Sat 26th October

ITALY –

The Impossible Coast

Gulf of Poets & Cinque Terre

4 Days – Mon 2nd to Thur 5th Dec

THREE COUNTRIES

Christmas Markets