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THE LIGHT SPIRITUALIST CHURCH
Our Spiritual Home is based at Preston Village Hall, Preston Road, Weymouth, DT3 6BH. We embrace all faiths & genders, recognising the worth & divinity of each and every soul.
n Everyone is welcome
n Weekly Sunday Services
n Free Healing
n Development circles/talks
n Soul Cafe/coffee mornings incl. grief/bereavement support group
n Special events/suppers and lots more.
n Free Parking: Level access to all areas of the hall.
n FB: facebook.com/thelightspiritualistchurch Mobile Phone: 07349 287547
Panes-taking work
The first phase of a £22,000 project to conserve Victorian windows at Sherborne’s Almshouse has been completed.
The project has seen windows removed for the conservation work to fragile glass and leaded frames.
Chair of the Almshouse trustees Richard Hunt said: “The task has been carefully managed by Holy Well Glass, a specialist company that has worked in Winchester and Wells Cathedrals, Penrhyn
Castle and St. Michael’s Mount, and other prestigious locations across the country.
“Visitors to the Abbey Close might have noticed that some of the Almshouse windows have been boarded in recent weeks. The only way to complete repairs to the windows was for the glass and frames to be carefully removed and repaired before being replaced.
“Before too long we hope that our building will provide more much needed affordable
Haddon
HISTORIC HOME: The almshouse has numerous windows that were restored by workers from Holy Well Glass, inset right
at town Almshouse
accommodation, and with the cooperation of the Abbey, prove to be a real community asset for the town.”
A new collaboration involving the Almshouse and Sherborne Abbey was recently announced, which will see some rooms re-modelled to enable affordable independent living for people from the area. The Abbey will use downstairs space for a traditional tearoom and a suite of rooms upstairs to provide a support centre for young
people and separate space for community projects.
“Such a historic listed building does provide challenges, however, and we are asking for support to meet the costs of this essential conservation work.”
Any individual or organisation, interested and able to contribute towards the cost of the repairs should contact the almshouse on 01935 813245 or via housewardens@stjohnshouse. org
CLEAR VISION: Chairman of trustees Richard Hunt
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4
Arts organisation Artwey have a well-stocked Christmas pop-up shop and gallery at 82a St Thomas Street, Weymouth, DT4 8EN until December 21. Make it special this year and buy unique, affordable hand-crafted art, gifts and cards from local artists. Open 10am-4pm daily.
Bridport
holding a Christmas tree festival from today until Sunday, December 15. Opening MonThurs 10am-1pm, Fri 2pm-6pm, Sat 9am-3pm and Sundays 2pm4pm. Today it is also open 4pm-7pm for Christmas Cheer .
An evening of celebrations is planned for Bridport Christmas
from 4pm-8pm, with free parking at East St, Hope Terrace, Rope Walks, South St, West St and Wykes Court.
In Bucky Doo Square there will be carol singing by local primary schools from 3.45pm-5.15pm, then The Bridport Rock Choir singing seasonal songs. The Christmas tree lights will be switched on by Mayor Anne Rickard at 6pm, after which there will be music by Jack Daniels.
At the Electric Palace there’s a Christmas Ballet Show by Perfect Pirouettes (5.15pm-5.45pm) and a new Christmas Food and Drink Fayre, with local producers selling a tasty selection of seasonal produce.
arts, crafts and charity stalls will be selling a wonderful selection of hand crafted and unique Christmas gifts.
Many shops will be staying open as well as local businesses offering seasonal refreshments and the pubs and restaurants will be offering delicious food and Christmas cheer.
There’s a festive market along East, West and South Street, a funfair in South Street, balloon modelling with Strawberry Jam the Clown, Bridport Museum will be offering Christmas fun, refreshments and singing carols at 6pm and The Bridport Christian Fellowship will be serving coffee
Isaac Cider is grown and produced on our third-generation family cider farm just outside Beaminster – named in honour of our long-lost great uncle Sir Isaac Newton.
l Open every day 9am-5pm including bank holidays at Coombe Down Farm, DT8 3LZ. Come for a tour and a tasting!
and mince pies and singing carols in East Street from 4.30pm-8pm. Plus you can wander round The Christmas Tree Festival at Bridport United Church in East Street from 4pm-7pm.
Christmas lunches have started at the Horse with the Red Umbrella in High West Street, Dorchester. The café is also open on Cracker Day – see December 15.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5
Sherborne Museum will be hosting Unlocking the Archives: Digitisting the David Hunt Collection with speakers from their volunteer team at Digby Memorial Church Hall, Digby
Road, DT9 3NL at 2pm. Free for members, £5 non-members. Sherborne resident and keen photographer, David Hunt (19211995), amassed a large collection of Victorian and Edwardian glass plate negatives, which were deposited at Sherborne Museum following his death. Last year, the award of a substantial grant by Dorset Council enabled the museum to digitise and catalogue the collection.
The Red Lion in Beaminster holds its monthly quiz tonight from 7pm. Entry includes supper.
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Dorchester Timber is holding a Christmas clearance event from 4pm-7pm. They are clearing out the shop for an exciting new refit, and that means big savings on hand tools, screws, nails, treatments, fixings, hinges, lighting and timber bargains! Cash deals available. Enjoy hot nibbles and drinks to keep you warm and festive, plus kids’ activities to keep your little elves entertained while you bargain hunt.
This is all happening alongside Weldmar Hospicecare's Late Night Shopping next door – a festive evening of fun and deals!
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6
Symondsbury Mummers will be performing at Symondsbury Christmas Fair at 4.30pm.
A Christmas market is being held at Leweston School Manor House (DT9 6EN) 2pm-6pm, with festive gifts, jewellery, art, candles, crafts, Christmas trees, refreshments and more. Free entry.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7
There’s free parking in Dorset Council car parks today, for Small Business Saturday.
A Christmas tree festival is being held in Cheap Street Church in Sherborne between 10am and 5pm and finishing with a carol service to raise money Sherborne Area Refugee Support and The Rendezvous.
There’s prize bingo at Maiden Newton village hall, 2pm for a 2.30pm eyes down.
The Friends of Weymouth Library will hold a talk about Charles Dickens at 10.30am, his controversial private life, stories, books and characters, presented by Jacqueline and Brian Sutton as the notorious couple Mr and Mrs Bumble from Oliver Twist. Tickets from the library, 01305 762410, £2 members and £3 nonmembers. Refreshments provided and everyone welcome.
There’s a Christmas sale by the
Village Art Group in Sutton Poyntz, near Weymouth, in the Mission Hall 11am-4.30pm. Coffee and cake, craft stall and paintings.
The Hunter’s Moon Inn in Middlemarsh (DT9 5QN) is holding a Christmas karaoke from 8pm. To book a table call 01963 210966.
Plant Heritage Dorset talk at Morden Village Hall, BH20 7DT, 1.30pm for 2pm start. Visitors welcome £5, includes refreshments. A Rogues Gallery for Gardeners and How to Manage Them By Sally Nex. Sally is a gifted speaker and talented horticultural journalist and writer (including BBC Gardener’s World). Her talk covers pests and predators and how to cope with them. Seasonal refreshments, homemade cake stall, Christmas gardening gifts and quality raffle. Contact: martin.plantheritagedorset@btint ernet.com or go to plantheritagedorset.org.uk
Christmas luxury wreath making will be held at Wyke Community Hall, Chamberlaine Road, Wyke Regis, with floral designer Denise Jones. £60 includes all ingredients, accessories, a demonstration and step by step hands on guidance and tools. Just rock up for a festive fun time. Complimentary festive treats and drinks included. denisejonesfloraldesign.co.uk or 07970 460855.
Crossways Youth and Community Centre is holding a Christmas Fayre 9am-1pm. £10 per pitch/table – book via cycc@mail.com
Stanchester Quire presents A Christmas Concert by Candlelight at Holnest Church near Sherborne DT9 5PU at 7pm. Donations welcome. Mulled wine and mince pies. Tickets from Graham 01963 210632. Limited seating, booking advised. Proceeds 50/50 to Stanchester Quire & Friends of Holnest Church. stanchesterquire.org, friendsofholnest@gmail.com
Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 4 mile walk from Lyscombe. For further information please ring 01308 898484 or 01308 863340. New members/visitors welcome.
United Church Dorchester hosts ‘Journey to the Stable’, a personal interactive meditation, open to the public from 11am to 2pm.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8
Symondsbury Mummers will be performing at White Horse, Litton Cheney at 5pm.
Tudor House is holding a Christmas event, offering the chance to get hands-on with preparations for a Tudor Christmas. Music, marchpane (we now call it marzipan) and more. 11am-3pm, 3 Trinity St, Weymouth nr Brewers Quay.
One Voice Choir presents ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas! at Weymouth Bay Methodist Church, 32 Melcombe Avenue, Weymouth DT4 7TH at 3pm. A delightful medley of beloved Christmas classics and festive tunes. Tickets £10 including refreshments (under 16s free) from John Ellis 07779 772264 or cash on the door.
A Christmas tractor run is being held in aid of Will Does, raising money for a bus to provide a safe space for young people in Dorset. Join in by decorating your tractors in Christmas lights and coming on a parade through Dorset, or just gather on the route to watch.
This year there will be refreshments, Busy Birds food, cake stalls, prize for the bestdecorated tractor, and a photographer. Dorset Rural photography will be back for those action shots!
Meet from 2pm at 165- 179 Roke Road, Milborne St Andrew, BH20 7JF, What3Words surveyors, courier, canines. Last entry at 3pm. Price: £10 per tractor and donations for passenger – cash or card. The event will leave at 4.15pm, hitting Bere Regis about 4.20pm.
Then Bovington 4.40pm, Wool 5pm, Red Lion Winfrith 5.15pm, Broadmayne 5.35pm, Weymouth Avenue Dorchester 5.50pm, Top o’ Town roundabout 6.05pm, West Stafford 6.30pm, Crossways 6.45pm, Affpuddle 7pm, Tolpuddle 7.10pm and returning to Milborne St Andrew by about 7.30pm.
Dorset Cottage Garden Society hosts a presentation by Colin Varndell on The Natural Beauty of Dorset at Puddletown Village Hall at 2pm for a 2.30pm start. Guests welcome £5. Christmas refreshments and raffle.
The Hunters Moon Inn in Middlemarsh (DT9 5QN) will be showing Christmas Movies from 4pm onwards. To book a table call 01963 210966.
A free Santa’s grotto will be at Bridport WI Hall 10am until 2pm. Open to all ages. All children will receive a free gift generously donated and wrapped by Bridport’s Toymaster. To remind you of your visit a photograph will be taken by official photographer Tim Russ. To book a slot visit bridportandwestbay.co.uk or ring the Bridport TIC 01308 424801.
United Church Dorchester afternoon tea and carols in the hall 3.30pm-5.30pm.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 9
Every Monday Bridport Folk Dancing Club meet at the WI hall North Street at 7.15pm9.30pm. This is a fun event and beginners are most welcome. Refreshments available at the break. More details on 01308 863552.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10
A divine union soundbath will be held 9pm-10.30pm at Digby Memorial Hall, (Griffiths Room), Digby Rd, Sherborne DT9 3LN, costing £16.
Lie down, relax, and allow the Pure Sounds of a crystal and Tibetan bowl soundbath plus sacred vocal overtoning give you a sonic deep-tissue massage, taking you into the deeper
brainwave states of ‘the relaxation response’, while charging and balancing the aura and chakras of the subtle body, and detoxing the physical body. Book in advance via 01935 389655 or ahiahel@live.com Last minute booking queries or cancellations 07798 530515.
Dorset Landmark, Portland Castle (English Heritage) is open today. It is also open on most weekends.
WEDNESDAY, DEC 11
Symondsbury Mummers will be performing at Bridport Golf Club, Burton Rd at 7pm.
West Dorset Community Orchestra present a Christmas concert in St Swithun’s Church, North Allington, Bridport at 7.30pm. A variety of music with guest appearances. Admission free. Refreshments in the interval, raffle and a retiring collection.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12
There’s free parking in Dorset Council car parks in Dorchester today, including Acland Road, Colliton Park, Durngate Street, Fairfield, Old Market, Top O Town, Trinity Street (south) and Wollaston Field.
Sherborne & District Gardeners’ Association will meet at the Digby Hall, Hound Street at 2.30pm for their Christmas party and quiz. Nonmembers £3. Contact Richard Newcombe on 01935 389375.
20’s Plenty for Dorset invite you to Safer Streets & Roads in Dorset: A Safe System, Vision Zero & 20mph, at 7pm, online Hear from councillors and communities in Dorset about their 20mph schemes. Learn about safe systems with Jeremy Leach of Action Vision Zero. Register in advance at shorturl.at/J8Drl
8.30pm at Oborne Village Hall, DT9 4LA, costing £80/60 concs. Anna Howard and Dean Carter team up once again to give clients a unique healing modality, Anna channelling White Tara and providing a hands-on (or near) ‘traditional’ spiritual healing, while Dean provides a pure sound healing in the client’s home key. One-hour treatments. Book in advance via 01935 389655 or email ahiahel@live.com
The Onyx Bar & Restaurant, at The Crown Hotel Weymouth will host a very special festive quiz night from 7.30pm in aid of Staffie & Stray Rescue. The Bournemouth-based charity works tirelessly to rescue and rehome Staffordshire Bull Terriers and other abandoned dogs of all breeds. Tickets £5 including a Christmas cocktail. The star prize for the raffle is a luxurious overnight stay in the Hotel Rex’s Superior Suite, complete with a three-course dinner and full English breakfast. Plus, there are
lots of other prizes, including carvery meals at Onyx Bar & Restaurant. Tickets from Onyx Bar, The Crown or Hotel Rex.
Chesil Bank Writing Shed meet on the second Thursday of the month, 7pm-9pm at Portesham Village Hall. From poetry to prose, fan fiction to literary fiction and biography to travel guides, come and share it with us for feedback. Challenge yourself with fun writing prompts and learn more about the business of being a writer. New writers welcome. Find out more at lindaph.co.uk
The Hunter’s Moon Inn in Middlemarsh (DT9 5QN) is holding a Christmas Market from 6pm. To book a table call 01963 210966.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13
Music and Carols for Christmas with Weymouth Concert Brass
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Whasson? (and where’s it to?)
All Saints Church, Wyke Regis 7.30pm. Free concert! Come and listen to some lovely Christmas brass music and also sing some of your favourite carols. Cash bar and retiring collection with all money raised going to Christians Against Poverty.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14
Bridport Choral Society presents Sleigh Ride – a journey through Christmas music over the centuries, including traditional and contemporary songs and carols, with some opportunity for audience participation at 7.30pm at Bridport United Church. Tickets £13, including programme and refreshments, available from Bridport Music Centre, Smith & Smith or on the door.
Repair café: Bring your broken items for repair by volunteers in return for a donation from 10.30am to 12.30pm at Top Club, Louviers Road, Littlemoor DT3 6AY.
Sherborne Repair Café 10am12.15pm, in the Cheap Street Church hall. It normally meets on the third Saturday of the month. But not this month! Take your items for repair by volunteers.
Weymouth Choral Society will perform a Christmas Concert with special guests Dorset Sinfonia – Tidings Of Joy! at 7.30pm at St John’s Church, Greenhill, DT4 7SS. Seasonal songs and carols, old and new, including congregational items, interspersed with musical treats of Christmas-themed music including movie soundtrack items like Home Alone, Polar Express and White Christmas Tickets £15 (U16 free) from Weymouth Pavilion, or at weymouthchoralsociety.org.uk Refreshments available). Call 07919 311209.
Would I Lie To You Promises to be an hilarious evening at Charlton Horethorne Village Hall ( DT9 4FY) from 7pm, with the audience being the judges. 100% correct answers have yet to be achieved! Tickets £10 from the village shop or Jenny Biggs on
01935 814199 or jb@classicmedia.co.uk. Donation bucket for the Air Ambulance. Licensed bar, finger food.
Wyke Regis Horticultural Society will serve mince pies and hot drinks on its last opening of the year at The Club House, near the top of Rylands Lane, 9.30am to 12.30pm. It will then close for a month, re-opening Saturday, January 11. The society serves more than 400 members in Weymouth, Portland, Chickerell, and Dorchester. Membership is £10 per year, and is open to anyone with an interest in gardens or allotments.
Symondsbury Mummers will be performing at White Lion, Broadwindsor 7pm.
A table centrepiece masterclass will be held at Wyke Community Hall, Chamberlaine Road, Wyke Regis, with floral designer Denise Jones – cost £75.
If you’re looking for some ‘me time’ and a way to wow your family and guests this Christmas with a stunning table centrepiece this super deluxe workshop could be for you. You’ll work with fabulous foliage, long-lasting luxury flowers, and a variety of beautiful accessories – all while enjoying festive treats. Call 07970 460 855 or email denisejones. floraldesigner@gmail.com
A Christmas market will be held at West Lulworth Village Hall (BH20 5SG) 12pm-5pm, with local artisan sellers, tombola, raffle, mulled wine, sweet treats, snacks, games and a ‘possible boogie’.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15
It’s Dorchester Christmas Cracker day!
Stalls and entertainment for the whole family from 11am to 4pm. High West/East Street will be closed from 8am-6pm. There’s a Christmas fair with 45 traders in the Corn Exchange, and a Santa hat parade from the Top o’ Town at noon, with free hats for the first 100 children. There’s also a chance to meet Santa in his grotto.
There’s a Christmas sing-a-long at Greenhill Gardens, Weymouth at 3pm. Christmas Carols are mixed with festive songs and a lot of fun, with drinks and mince pies for all. No booking required. greenhill-gardens.co.uk
The Hunter’s Moon Inn in Middlemarsh (DT9 5QN) is showing Christmas Movies from 4pm. To book a table call 01963 210966.
A Christingle Service will be held at 4pm in St Mary's Church, Edward Road, Dorchester, DT1 2HL, in aid of the Children's Society. All welcome.
You thought the vintage markets in Bridport had stopped till next year? Think again!
In response to popular demand, St Michael’s Trading Estate (DT6 3RB) is holding a special festive version of its monthly market, with vintage and antique items, food, drink and music. Be there or be square!
One Voice Choir presents ‘Twas
the Night Before Christmas! at St Mary's Church, Maiden Newton DT2 OAA at 3pm. A delightful medley of beloved Christmas classics and festive tunes. Tickets £10 including refreshments (under 16s free) from John Ellis 07779 772264 or cash on the door.
Symondsbury Mummers will be performing at Shave Cross Inn, Shave Cross 4pm.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16
The Live Wire Choir will give an informal, free, half-hour Christmas concert in the skittle alley at The Old Ship, Upwey at 7pm. More info from Juliet Harwood on 07747 373516.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17
The Writing for Pleasure group meet on the third Tuesday of the month in the upstairs of Weymouth library at 2pm. Each month write a short piece on a given prompt and then share
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to have a chat on 01305 786568 or email lisa@primroselodge-weymouth.co.uk Primrose Lodge – Dorchester Road, Weymouth primroselodge-weymouth.co.uk
efforts whether poetry, prose or memories, funny or serious. For details about the prompts contact Jayne 01305 786802
The Hunter’s Moon Inn in Middlemarsh (DT9 5QN) is hosting the Vintage Car Club. To book a table call 01963 210966.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19
The Hunter’s Moon Inn in Middlemarsh (DT9 5QN) is holding Christmas Bingo. Eyes down at 7.30pm. To book a table call 01963 210966.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20
Wacapella will give a half hour
Christmas concert at St Mary's Church, St Mary Street, Weymouth, followed by refreshments at 11am. See wacapella.co.uk or Juliet Harwood 07747 373516.
Sherborne Farmers’ Market will be held 9am-12pm around Cheap Street. Dorset Shellfish will be there, with a veritable shoal of delicious seafood. If you miss them, they are open 10am1pm Wed, Thur and Fri at Unit 4, Maritime Business Centre, Portland. Closed Dec 23-Jan 8.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21
The Hunter’s Moon Inn in Middlemarsh (DT9 5QN) is
holding a Christmas Singalong with Tina from 8pm. To book a table call 01963 210966.
There’s a Santa’s Helper Experience at The Town Mill in Lyme Regis from today until Christmas Eve, 11am-1.30pm. The top floor of The Mill will be transformed into Santa’s Workshop, where many toys and presents will be stored ready for Santa to deliver on Christmas Eve! Using the ancient sack hoist, children can help to get big sacks full of presents up to Santa’s workshop in time for Christmas Eve. Additional activities for children will include Christmas colouring in and making your own salt dough Christmas
decorations to take away, using the mill’s own flour. This is an interactive experience for children of all ages and no booking is required (children must be accompanied by an adult at all times). Entry is free but donations are welcomed.
The Quangle Wangle Choir will give a Christmas concert 3pm5pm at St Nicholas' Church, Broadwey, Weymouth. £10 for adults, children free. See quanglewanglechoir.co.uk or Juliet Harwood 07747 373516.
Christmas coffee morning. All Saints church, Wyke Regis. 10am to midday. All welcome for coffee, tea, cakes, Fairtrade,
books, Christmas music, chat.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22
The Hunter’s Moon Inn in Middlemarsh (DT9 5QN) is showing Christmas movies from 4pm. To book a table call 01963 210966.
Carol service at 6pm in St Mary's Church, Edward Road, Dorchester, DT1 2HL, followed by mince pies and mulled wine. All welcome.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 23
Symondsbury Mummers will be performing at Hare & Hounds, Waytown at 6.30pm.
There’s free parking in the following Weymouth car parks today: Cosens Quay (from 9am), North Quay, Governors Lane, Harbourside, Melcombe Regis, Park Street, Pavilion, Pavilion Forecourt, Royal Yard, Swannery.
The Rotary Club of Lyme Regis is holding carols around the Christmas tree at 7pm – a tradition they have upheld for more than 60 years. Hundreds are expected to gather around the town’s huge Christmas tree at The Shambles, at the bottom of Broad Street, and join in singing traditional Christmas carols in an event that never fails to warm the heart. Carols will be led by Lyme Regis Town Band, with town crier Alan Vian as MC. The road will be closed. Collection in aid of Julia's House and Cancer Research, Lyme Regis Branch. Christmas street collections in aid of Julia's House and Cancer Research Lyme Regis Branch will also be held in Lyme Regis on December 21 and 23, and in Charmouth on Christmas Eve. lymeregisrotary.org or find them on Facebook and Instagram.
CHRISTMAS EVE
Crib Service at 3pm in S Mary's Church, Edward Road, Dorchester, DT1 2HL. Children welcome to come dressed as Mary, Joseph, donkey, angel, shepherd or king. All welcome. Also, Midnight Communion at 11.30pm.
The Red Lion in Beaminster is holding a New Year’s Eve party with a buffet and a disco from 8pm – £10 per person, U14 free. Tickets available at the bar or via Eventbrite (charges apply).
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1
Symondsbury Mummers will be performing at Ilchester Arms, Symondsbury at 6.30pm.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 4
Bridport & West Dorset
Rambling Club 7.5 mile walk from Evershot. For further information please ring 01308 898484 or 01308 863340. New members/visitors welcome.
Celebrate the start of 2025 with an evening of words and music by Rough Assembly and friends at Bridport Town Hall at 7.30pm.
West Dorset folk group Rough Assembly loves playing this event, and enjoys researching the poems and readings they think will make an inspiring start to the year.
Rough Assembly draw their songs and tunes from traditional and modern English and Irish musicians and americana, with an emphasis on strong melody, interesting stories and rousing choruses.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 9
Sherborne Historical Society will hear from Dr James Ross on Henry VI and the Origins of the Wars of the Roses at 8pm at Digby Hall, Hound Street. How did Henry VI's priorities as king diverge from what was expected of medieval monarchs, leading to the collapse of political society and the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses?
Members free, visitors £5 sherbornehistoricalsociety.co.uk
Sherborne & District Gardeners’ Association will meet at the Digby Hall, Hound Street at 2.30pm to hear from Castle Gardens on pests and disease control. Non-members £3. Contact Richard Newcombe on 01935 389375.
Support for hospice needed now more
Weldmar Hospicecare has been hit by a double whammy –losing £400,000 a year of NHS funding while costs are set to rise by £1million a year.
The charity, which has been providing end of life care for thousands of people in the west of Dorset for decades, has an inpatient unit in Dorchester, where patients are cared for until the end.
But a huge part of its work –and this accounts for most of its budgets – is caring for patients in their own homes.
Until now, NHS Dorset has contributed £400,000 towards this service, with Weldmar making the money up to around £1million through fundraising and donations. But from April they will have to find a way to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of the NHS’s Fast Track Funding.
West Dorset MP Edward Morello said: “I am deeply frustrated by the news that
NHS Dorset will not renew its Fast Track Funding for Weldmar Hospicecare.
“This decision is the result of the many strains the NHS is under thanks to years of mismanagement by the previous Government. The Chancellor’s recent decision to raise National Insurance Contributions is only compounding the problems faced by the NHS.
“Weldmar Hospicecare is a
wonderful charity providing pain relief and care to residents of West Dorset reaching endof-life, as well as support to loved ones, and allows them to remain in their homes should they wish to. The withdrawal of NHS funding will result in a significant reduction in the number of people they can help. Weldmar is already largely funded by the generosity of fellow residents and works tirelessly to raise
£27,500 per day to deliver its services.
“I have spoken to NHS Dorset and they have made it clear that residents will still be able to access end-of-life care through other mechanisms. However there is no doubt that the NHS cannot offer the same type of quality home support provided by Weldmar.
“We should be increasing funding for end-of-life care, not cutting it. I will be writing
BRIDPORT DISCOUNT FURNITURE STORE
A fabulous independent, family-owned home furnishing store
Established in Bridport for more than 30 years
than ever before
to the Secretary of State to urge that the funding be provided so that Weldmar can continue to support residents of West Dorset.”
Weldmar’s chief executive Caroline Hamblett said: “We have played a key role over the last few years in keeping people out of hospital by reducing avoidable hospital admissions, and therefore reducing the pressure on the NHS.
“The decision for this care to be provided by domiciliary agencies instead of specialist providers, such as Weldmar, is disappointing and the reduction in funding will clearly impact the number of people that Weldmar can support when they need it most.”
She added: “Alongside the recently announced employer national insurance contribution increase, results
in an additional burden of around £600,000, on top of our already forecast deficit of £1m, and we will therefore need to continue to use what reserves we can to continue our vital services to the Dorset community.
“We are disappointed that this decision has been made and will continue working on redesigning our services to support as many people as possible, as the additional demand on services continues.”
To donate to Weldmar, leave a gift in your will or find one of their shops go to weldmarhospicecare.org/ supporters
Don’t forget Weldmar take away Christmas trees after the festive season! Minimum donation of £10. Go to weldmarhospicecare.org/trees No internet? Call 01305 269898.
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GB sailors join campaigners in seafront protest
Hundreds of people joined a protest on the seafront in Weymouth against the government’s decision to allow a huge incinerator to be built on Portland.
Several members of the Great Britain sailing team were there – it is feared a waste incinerator would make the island less attractive to sports people who come from all over the
world to practice there. So far the campaign has raised more than £70,000 for a judicial review. People say there’s no need for more waste incinerators in the UK and even if there were, Portland would be a poor choice of site.
Campaigner Giovanna Lewis said: “This is all about profit, profit, profit and people are fed up with it.”
MP’s pledge to fight incinerator plan
South Dorset’s new Labour MP Lloyd Hatton says he is fighting hard against a waste incinerator on Portland ‘at every level’.
He says he has been engaging with senior members of the Government to ensure local concerns are heard, and written to and held multiple conversations with the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Minister of State for Nature. He has called on the Government to introduce a nationwide moratorium on the construction of new waste incinerators, emphasising the need to transition away from incinerators as an energy source. He has also raised concerns with the Minister of State for Prisons and Probation regarding the close proximity of HMP The Verne to the proposed site and urged the Minister responsible for UNESCO to consider the risk such a project poses to the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Locally, Mr Hatton, has met with the Chief Executive of Portland Port to make clear the detrimental impact that these proposals are having on Portland Port’s
Winemakers urged to pass the port
Campaigners against the incinerator are demanding to know why Portland Port’s owners are claiming to be ‘environmentally conscious’ while bringing pollution to the Jurassic Coast.
The port’s owners also run Langham Wines, near Dorchester, which claims to ‘minimise environmental impact’.
A campaigner said: “Incinerators are routinely placed in areas of social
reputation. He has strongly encouraged Portland Port to prioritise renewable energy
He has also been engaging with local organisations, such as the National
deprivation – and Portland is no exception. Several of Dorset’s most deprived local areas are on the island, which now faces not only the prospect of pollution from the incinerator but also from the scores of lorries that will deliver waste each day.
“We want Langham to abandon this scheme, which is opposed by people across Portland and the Jurassic Coast. Maybe then – only then – we can enjoy a glass of their wine.”
Sailing Academy, Dorset Wildlife Trust, and other local groups, to coordinate opposition to these proposals.
Mr Hatton continues to work closely with campaigners, including the Portland Association, and is lending his support to the legal challenge against the
proposed incinerator. He said: “There is no business case, no community case, and no environmental case for an incinerator to be built on Portland. Put bluntly, there is no case for an incinerator on Portland. I will continue to oppose these damaging proposals at every turn.”
NOT HERE THANK YOU: The protest march in Weymouth Picture: VIV HORNE
PORT PROTEST: Campaigners outside the Corn Exchange in Dorchester, where Langham Wines sponsored an arts event
Campaign concern as Rayner steps in
By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk
Thousands of people who wrote in opposition to the 4,000-home Norchester development may have wasted their time.
A 8,400-home ‘garden town’ planned for Sittingbourne in Kent, similar to that planned to the north of Dorchester, was set to be refused by councillors on Swale Borough Council, but Secretary of State Angela Rayner snatched the decision from local planners at the 11th hour. Just three hours before a meeting where councillors were due to vote on the proposal, they received a letter telling them Ms Rayner was taking over.
The news comes after Rayner’s department approved hated plans for an enormous waste incinerator on Portland, pulling the rug from under countless campaigners who believed
they had managed to stop it being built.
Swale Council had received more than 700 objections to the plans for the garden town.
There have been thousands of objections to Norchester. But it is unknown if Rayner’s department will take any notice of these – no notice was taken of residents’ objections in the case of the incinerator, when a junior minister seemed to only look at the paperwork rather than consider the wider issues raised by local people. Labour has promised to
OPPOSITION: How the Norchester development could look and, inset, Secretary of State Angela Rayner, who could give the go-ahead for the scheme despite strong objections from Dorchester residents
deliver 1.5million new homes over the next five years, and set high targets for new homes which local councils must allow.
Concerns over Norchester include the development being built on water meadows, and that the homes would affect an important borehole, which could then affect the water supply for Dorchester. The land is considered important too, as the area is central Hardy country.
But Rayner says there’s plenty of countryside left: “The vast majority of England is still very green and will remain so.”
A PALMERS PUB IN A CONSERVATION AREA WITH WONDERFUL ARCHITECTURE AND INDEPENDENT SHOPS
l Hearty home cooked food and local ales
l Spacious, intimate bar with open fire
l Walled garden
l Art gallery
l BIG function room with bar and stage for live music, parties and meetings
l Saturday breakfast from 10. Open all day
l Sunday lunch 12-3 close at 4
l Takeaways
l Monthly quiz (1st Thurs)
l Live music every 3rd Thurs. Mainly folk – listen or join in.
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l Weds-Sat lunch: 2 courses £16
l Very dog friendly!
l Lots of walks (we have maps!)
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LABRADORABLE: Lottie and Keith and, right, Winnie and Bramble
Big day for happy couples
A couple celebrated their marriage with a couple of rather unusual flower girls – two labradors named Winnie and Bramble.
Lottie Hodder and Keith Beech were married by celebrant Tracie Williams of June Rose Ceremonies
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By Karen Bate karen@westdorsetmag.co.uk
Villagers in Langton Herring behind a £650,000 campaign to buy their historic, seaside pub where the ‘bouncing bomb’ was invented, are calling for royal support.
Sir Barnes Wallis drank and lived in The Elm Tree Inn at Langton Herring during the Second World War, while he was testing his famous device, using The Fleet, the five-mile-long seawater lagoon, to conduct his topsecret tests.
And during the Cold War, the 300-year-old pub was the secret rendezvous point for Portland Spy Ring couple
Harry Houghton and girlfriend Ethel Gee worked for the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment (AUWE) at Southwell on the island and would funnel information to their KGB controller at the pub.
The pub has been the social hub of the village for centuries and there are still descendants of previous owners living in the village. Time was called on the pub in 2023 after 300 years of trading.
Anxious not to lose their pub, locals joined forces in September to find the £650,000 needed by February 2025 to buy it.
The pub is now listed as an Asset of Community Value and the village has so far raised £272,000 in pledges.
But another £378,000 is to be secured in just a matter of weeks and The Friends of the Elm Tree steering committee member Anne Kerins has even written a plea to The Duchy in the hope that Prince William and Kate will buy a share or two.
Anne said: “This pub is vital to our community in so many ways.
“The village has no bus or shop, and The Elm Tree was the place where social groups could meet, where
CAMPAIGN: Villagers hope to save the Elm Tree Inn at Langton Herring
Villagers’ £650k target to save the historic Elm Tree
villagers could catch up with each other without having to travel, where walkers and visitors could stop for a drink or bite to eat.
“The pub hosted christenings, engagements, birthday parties, family celebrations and it was where our book club, creative clubs and table tennis clubs would meet.
“We had carols from the pub at Christmas and the Salvation Army would
perform. Musicians and music clubs would meet here too.
“We have been holding informal pop-up pubs every Friday from people’s gardens or houses, but these are not sustainable and of course, not everyone can get an invite as we don’t know who will be visiting Langton Herring at the time.
“We are a friendly village, and the pub was an inclusive, safe and friendly one where
people were welcomed, the perfect antidote to loneliness.
“We are planning a share offer for people who would like to invest and support us, and we are hoping local celebrities will endorse our campaign, businesses will offer their support and William and Kate might buy some shares.”
n If anyone would like to support the campaign, email Anne at anne.kerins6040 @gmail.com or visit
Large stock of unusual – and sometimes collectable – books in very good to fine condition Perfect Christmas presents!
If the shop appears shut,ring the bell as the owners live on the premises and will open the shop during normal business hours if they are home and it is convenient, which it normally is
Rare and secondhand books
Kids benefit from
More than 200 children benefited from a give and take day in Lyme Regis.
Little Green Change held their annual Children’s Christmas Give and Take event, thanks to funding from Lyme Regis Town Council.
They smashed last year’s event figures, with over 200 children directly benefiting from the items taken this year, rehoming 297.02kg’s of children’s clothing, toys, books and dvds. That’s more than the weight of a male grizzly bear!
Little Green Change employees were joined on the day by volunteers from the River Lim
Action Group, All Saints C of E Primary School, and Dorset Council, all of whom helped sort and lay out the mountain of items that had been so kindly donated by local residents. Clare Matheson, founder and director of Little Green Change, said: “I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that helped make this event a success including all the generous residents that donated so many high quality items, our amazing volunteers, and our event funder. It was a huge team effort and one which makes us proud to be based in the wonderful town of Lyme
FOR THE KIDS: Volunteers at the give and take day
give and take day
Regis.”
Missed Little Green Change’s event? Don’t worry. They’re planning a follow-up children’s give and take session in Axminster. Follow them on social media or sign up to their e-news mailing list for the date and location when it’s released.
Rural ISP celebrates landmark
Rural broadband provider Wessex Internet has celebrated its 10,000th customer, rewarding him with 10 years’ free gigabit broadband. The pioneering and award winning rural-focussed ISP is on track for 60 per cent customer growth this year.
littlegreenchange.com/give-take
Little Green Change is an award-winning, non-profit social enterprise based in Lyme Regis, providing environmental education and opportunities for primary and secondary-aged children, both directly in schools and in the community.
Bin collection days
These are the dates to put out your bins over Christmas. You can now put any items made of carton or foil in your recycling bin.
Tuesday 24 DecNo change
Wednesday 25 DecFriday 27 Dec
Thursday 26 DecSaturday 28 Dec
Friday 27 DecMonday 30 Dec
Monday 30 DecTuesday 31 Dec
Tuesday 31 DecThursday 2 Jan
Wednesday 1 JanFriday 3 Jan
Thursday 2 JanSaturday 4 Jan
Friday 3 JanMonday 6 Jan
Monday 6 JanTuesday 7 Jan
Tuesday 7 JanWednesday 8 Jan
Wednesday 8 JanThursday 9 Jan
Thursday 9 JanFriday 10 Jan
Friday 10 JanSaturday 11 Jan
Monday 13 JanNo change
Refer to your calendar or visit dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/bin-day to check your collection days.
The company focusses on delivering network to hard-toreach communities across Dorset, South Somerset, Wiltshire and the New Forest and has government contracts worth £71m deliver full fibre broadband to over 53,000 properties in the next four years.
YEAR FROM ALL AT A-LINE TAXIS
Recycle more
This Christmas, recycle as much of your waste as possible. If you live in Dorset*, you can recycle:
• All cooked and uncooked food waste
• Wrapping paper**, cardboard and Christmas cards (no glitter)
• Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays
• Glass bottles and jars (Please keep glass separate)
• (New) Carton and foil***
We’ll collect extra recycling in your own boxes.
Thank you for recycling!
If you live in Dorset*, check for changes to your collection
* Doesn’t include Bournemouth, Christchurch or Poole. Check your council website for details.
** Scrunch your wrapping paper! If it stays scrunched, it can be recycled. If it doesn’t, or it’s foil-based or glittery, it should go in the rubbish bin.
*** Rinse foil trays and wipe sheet foil clean. Scrunch sheet foil or wrappers together into a tennis-sized ball.
Housing scheme at former auto shop
Dorchester’s former Autobitz store is to be demolished, and a new shop and nine homes will be built in its place.
Autobitz was started in 1968 by Ian Cornwell and John Sherry in a little shop in Dorchester’s Hardye Arcade. It moved to High East Street in 1986 and was the go-to store for car parts for decades, before closing last year.
Now Nylo Homes will be redeveloping the site, with four flats above the shop and three houses and two flats behind it.
They will also be remodelling next door, with an internal refurb planned at Tom Brown’s and a house created behind it.
Dorchester Town Council Planning and Environment Committee welcomed the application in principle but asked that the existing trees be retained and roots be protected by root protection zones.
The old Autobitz will be replaced with a traditional shop front more befitting the Conservation Area.
Dorchester Civic Society said:
“The Dorchester Civic Society is in favour of the general approach in this application. The retention of Tom Browns pub, with the addition of new dwellings, will help to revitalise this end of what was a long-neglected High East Street.
“Local improvements, such as the recent East Gate development, should be reinforced. The new dwellings
in the back-land have an imaginative feel about them. The treatment of the frontage of No.48 sadly replicates the bland style of what was accepted in the 1960s. The Conservation Area would be failed by the ground floor wide frontage of glass.”
Planning officer Richard Temple said: “Overall, it is considered that the proposed changes would result in an improvement to the visual amenity of the site and locality.”
Objections were raised over ‘loss of light’ and
‘overbearing impact’.
But Mr Temple says there would be no ‘significant detrimental impact’ on neighbouring windows or sensitive amenity spaces. He added: “The building would also not create overshadowing to neighbouring dwellings.” All but two of the existing trees at the rear of the site will be retained.
MAKING PLANS: How the development could look
Square all set for a winter wonderland
Dorchester’s Brewery Square is about to be transformed into a magical winter wonderland as they launch their new Dorchester Christmas Market. On daily until December 22 from 10am to 7pm, the market promises visitors an “enchanting experience” with more than 30 chalets full of artisanal treats, food and drink, entertainment, skating and a bit of real festive magic. Adding to the excitement, Brewery Square’s Santa’s Grotto will be open daily, where Santa and his cheerful elf will be ready to meet and
greet children in a cosy, magical grotto. Booking in advance is advised.
Tara Bailey, centre manager at Brewery Square, said: “Christmas at Brewery Square promises to be bigger and brighter than ever before, with 30 festive stalls offering unique artisan treats. We also have skating and a chance to meet Santa, with plenty of live music and Christmas carols. “We invite everyone to come and experience the Christmas magic with us, it’s a great way to get into the spirit, enjoy the lights and sounds of the season.”
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Growing the perfect tree is no easy task
By Karen Bate
In homes everywhere people are dusting off the tinsel and plugging in the fairy lights as they decorate the true star of the show, the Christmas tree.
For 35 years, Pete Hyde of Trinity Street Christmas Trees has lovingly laboured to grow the perfect Christmas tree, whether a Nordman, Fraser Fir, Norway Spruce or Silver Fir, large or small – from the shape of their boughs to their evocative smell, Pete has perfected the art of growing a showstopper.
And Pete grows his own trees right here in Dorset, a decision he made a very long time ago to protect the environment with fewer carbon miles, and he is the only Dorset supplier to wrap each tree in biodegradable netting.
“Real trees are great for the environment,” said Pete.
“Especially when they are grown locally. All my trees are grown in Dorset, so very few carbon miles and they take C02 from the atmosphere while they are growing and are home to lots of
wildlife, compare this to the plastic trees made in far-flung countries across globe and end up in landfill after three years, on average.
“It’s taken a long time to acquire the expertise to grow amazing trees. There is so much that goes into growing a lovely Nordman of the perfect shape.
“We touch the trees in some way more than ten times a year, we prune them accurately to ensure the tree becomes fuller and then we use two very different techniques to reduce the leader height and stunt its growth upwards.
“This combination is the key factor, albeit labour intensive, to create a full tree. In addition, we control aphids, weeds and other negative factors. The whole process is extremely labour intensive and expensive. It takes between seven and ten years to create a great Nordman.
“The environmental benefits of buying a real, locally grown Christmas tree are enormous and we go the extra mile by wrapping
them in biodegradable netting.”
And with the perfect Christmas tree comes the fresh factor consideration.
“Supermarkets, country stores and some garden centres purchase trees that were cut in early November and in some cases October. It Is totally wrong to expect a tree to remain fresh for the festive period when it is cut so early. At Trinity St we harvest our trees daily to ensure the product is as fresh as possible. “It was a choice we made many years to stop sourcing our trees
further afield and start to grow our own.”
Trinity Street Christmas Trees is the largest supplier of Christmas trees in Dorset, offering all sizes and all varieties.
Pete said: “Our Nordman Fir is the most popular, a Norway Spruce for the traditionalists, a Frazier Fir for a slimmer, nondrop tree with a great fragrance and the Silver Fir is perfect for something completely different.”
Tips for selecting a perfect tree: Buy local, buy fresh Look for a tree that is heavy and has retained moisture – a good indicator of freshness.
Ask your supplier to slice off two inches from the bottom to open the channels for the tree to drink in its stand – yes, your tree needs a drink for Christmas, not only you!
Trinity Street Christmas Trees is open seven days a week from Trinity Street in Dorchester, Morrisons, Weymouth and The Watersports Academy in Sandbanks, Poole.
LOOKING SPRUCE: Pete Hyde with a Nordman fir
Jenifer back in the saddle at nearly 87
By Karen Bate karen@westdorsetmag.co.uk
An 86-year-old former jockey from Dorchester who was facing life horseless after losing her beloved ex-polo pony two years ago is nurturing her passion once again thanks to the RAC Saddle Club charity.
Encouraged by her daughter, Jenifer Jones booked a lesson at the charitable BHS livery yard in Bovington, which serves the military and offers the highly-regarded Changing Lives Through Horses programme. The stables also offer gentle lesson to older people, disabled and disadvantaged young people and anyone who wants to be around horses.
Growing up on a farm, Jenifer’s love for horses began early and after sharing several ponies, she was given her own, Smokey, when she was 10.
“In 1967 my family moved to Doha, Qatar, where I quickly established myself at the Ruler’s stables and rode out daily, later working and competing their racehorses,” said Jenifer.
Skydivers’
£15k for
MND fight
A group of skydiving Spider Men – including two ladies aged 79 and 80 –have raised nearly £15,000 for Motor Neurone Disease.
Mary Bates, 80, from Lanehouse, was joined by Susan Pykett, 79, from Upwey and supporters to skydive 15,000ft.
Mary’s son Spencer Bates, a well known drummer, died of the condition.
To donate to Mary’s cause, search justgiving.com for ‘Soar to defeat MND’.
And when Jenifer returned to the UK, she moved to Devon where she bred and showed Dartmoor ponies. But it wasn’t until she moved to Dorchester in 2022 that she found herself without a horse.
RIDING HIGH: Jenifer Jones on Sally at the RAC Saddle Club
So, taking the bit, Jenifer booked a lesson and RAC yard manager Stephanie Buchanan paired her with Sally, a gentle veteran mare.
“It was so much fun,” Jenifer said.
“At almost 87, I’m grateful to still be fit enough to ride, and I can’t wait to return!”
Stephanie said: “It was wonderful to see Jennie enjoying riding again.
“She rode Sally brilliantly, cantering around the arena with enthusiasm. We’re fortunate to have such incredible horses that cater to riders of all ages and abilities.”
The RAC Saddle Club recently hosted residents from Dorset House and Sally once again was in the spotlight, enabling some residents to enjoy a short ride.
Max, a new resident who spent most of his life working with horses, was eager to ride again, while Tom, who experienced riding for the first time, said it was great to feel ‘like a cowboy’.
“I’m not sure what’s more rewarding: watching young children learn to ride or seeing those in their 80s return to the saddle after years away,” said Stephanie.
“With rising costs leading to the closure of many riding centres, it’s crucial that community-focused clubs like ours continue to thrive.”
A Dorchester-born ski instructor forced to return home from Japan by the pandemic has found a new calling – selling vintage and retro clothing in Bridport. Charlie Scott, 29, had a ball teaching skiers in Japan, where the -25 temperatures and powdery, fine snow made for perfect conditions. But when covid started to take hold around the world he flew back – arriving the day before lockdown to stay with his parents. “I was so, so lucky,” he said. He started trading in secondhand clothes a while ago, and enjoyed it so much that when he identified a need
for a preloved men’s clothing store in Bridport and an empty shop in South Street he went for it, opening in September this year. This being his first business, it’s been a learning curve. But his shop, Chapos, is proving very popular indeed. Charlie’s chatty and engaging nature pulls in the customers, who for their part get to choose from a large array of designer labels, from Nike and adidas to Wrangler, The North Face and Carhartt.
The walls are bustling with pop art, there are cool tunes to enjoy and the stock is ever-changing.
Manufacturing business supporting The Lantern
Weymouth’s Titan
Manufacturing is supporting The Lantern Trust over the next year as it helps vulnerable and marginalised people.
The trust offers critical resources to those facing mental health challenges, homelessness support, and advice and support in accessing benefits.
Titan director Ryan Hanger said: “Having seen first-hand, through members of our own team, how challenging times and homelessness can affect
anyone, we are passionate about supporting those in need and are delighted to partner with such a fantastic and impactful organisation.”
Founded in 1983, The Lantern Trust focuses on helping people gain confidence, be included in society, and break free from poverty and hardship.
Lantern Trust chief executive Mike Graham said: “These regular donations over the coming year will enable us to sustain each of our core areas of work.”
RETRO: Charlie Scott at Chapos in Bridport
never gone out of fashion
CIRCULAR ECONOMY: Chapos is always well-stocked with vintage clothing
Charlie, who before going to Japan worked as a documentary researcher in London, said: “There seemed to be so few places for men to shop in Bridport and the UK is terrible for fast
fashion. I wanted to offer somewhere men can buy clothes that fit – they can come in and get their old clothes valued, exchange clothes and buy clothes in a kind of circular economy which benefits the environment.”
Pop in Weds-Sat 10am-4pm or WhatsApp any clothing or pop art or vintage posters you’d like to be valued to 07850 969894.
Plenty of festive joy on the way
Bridport will be full of Christmas cheer with two competitions bringing festive joy to the town.
Bridport businesses are automatically entered into the Christmas Shop Window Competition, with the community voting for their favourite festive shop front by Friday, December 13.
To vote visit bridportandwest bay.co.uk or collect a voting slip from Bridport TIC.
And a Christmas Hamper will be awarded to the winner of the Bridport Christmas Cheer Festive Front Door Competition, which is open to all Bridport folk.
To enter, all you need to do is take a photo of your decorated front door and email it along with your name, address and contact details to bridport. tic@bridport-tc.gov.uk before December 13.
Firm on board to ensure standrads in maternity care
A new partnership is to ensure people using maternity and neonatal services in Dorset are heard.
Evolving Communities has been appointed by NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board (ICB) to deliver the Dorset Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP).
MNVP supports the Local Maternity and Neonatal System to help ensure the service user voice is central to all decisions and
quality oversight.
Evolving Communities, which is a Community Interest Company, specialises in gathering and reporting people’s views and experiences of health and social care to help improve services.
Lucie Woodruff, the CEO of Evolving Communities, said: “To provide quality maternity and neonatal care, services need to understand how to meet the needs of their
Objectors on march against solar park bid
Nearly 200 people attended a public meeting at Bradford Abbas village hall to hear of a campaign against a new solar park – which, if approved, would be the fourth solar farm in the area. Villagers living near the 175hectare proposed Wyke Farm solar park between Bradford Abbas and Thornford say historic farmland will be destroyed ‘simply for financial gain’ if it gets the go ahead.
They have formed Wyke
Against Solar on Arable (WASA) to fight the plans, by RWE. And they are inviting supporters to a Wassail for Wyke Walk on December 8 at 2pm, setting off from Rose & Crown, Bradford Abbas.
The spokesperson said: “Join us on a pre-Christmas protest walk along the site path to see what they may destroy.”
n Follow their campaign on Instagram: wykeagainstsolaronarable
diverse local communities. We are delighted to be supporting our Dorset Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership team to connect with local people and champion their views.”
Hannah Leonard, the deputy director of Maternity and Perinatal Services at the NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board, said: “Dorset maternity and neonatal services are committed to putting the voices of women, birthing people and their families at the heart of care.”
Plan for 64-acre solar farm submitted
Yet another huge solar farm is planned – and this one, claim opposers, would be visible from a number of much-loved West Dorset beauty spots.
Greentech Invest has submitted a planning application for a 64-acre solar farm off Dunsham Lane in Wayford near Crewkerne. Similar to other proposed farms, there would be a 2m fence to keep deer out and permission is sought for a 40year period.
A group has been launched to oppose the scheme, called Stop Wayford Solar Farm (stopwayfordsolarfarm.com).
On their website, they said:
“Since the proposed solar farm site is set on a steep slope overlooking the beautiful Axe valley, the eight
fields of solar panels would be visible for miles around, including from viewpoints such as Pilsdon Pen, the Jubilee Trail, the Liberty Trail, the Wessex Ridgeway and more generally the Dorset National Landscape, the new name for the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. “It would also be visible from villages and hamlets including Drimpton, Clapton, Netherhay, Broadwindsor and Seaborough among others.”
A quarter of a mile away from the site is the Dorset National Landscape, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Pilsdon Pen, despite being six miles away, has farreaching views.
Both Dorset and Somerset branches of the CPRE are
against the plan on the grounds of visual harm to landscapes.
West Dorset CPRE chairman Dr Guy Dickinson added his concerns about the potential dangers of battery storage: “Lithium BESSs are extremely dangerous.
“Last month in South Korea (for example) 23 people died when a BESS exploded. A BESS is a potentially lethal device which can not only cause severe fire but poison water courses.”
Somerset CPRE chairman Hugh Williams wrote that the farm would also affect historic homes, as well as potentially affecting the local water supply: “The site is an entirely inappropriate location for either a solar farm or
BESS facilities.
“The village of Wayford derives its potable drinking water from private wells, boreholes and springs.
“The hill slope north of Wayford is the catchment area for all the village water supplies.”
He added: “There are multiple threats of gross contamination of the Wayford water supply arising from these proposals, which are set out in the hydrogeologist’s report.”
The plan has attracted more than 100 comments from the public.
n To view go to publicaccess.southsomerset. gov.uk and search for application number 24/00352/FUL
SUPPORT: Maiden Newton event organisers Sam, Lillian and Florence
Village raises £800 for Palestine cause
A village event raised £800 for medical aid in Palestine after 60 people turned out to enjoy art and Palestinian food and buy plants.
The event at Maiden Newton village hall in aid of Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) was organised by members of Dorset Palestine Solidarity Campaign (DPSC) and local people.
Stalls included exhibitions by artists Tim Sanders and Inga Bystram, who have
held exhibitions for their work on Palestine and local artist Catherine Greenslade. Other stalls included Palestinian food, an art corner, henna and pebble painting, plants for Palestine and an exhibition of Palestinian artifacts and symbols such as the Palestinian scarf or ‘keffiyeh’, the watermelon symbol, a map of Palestine, house keys, olive branch and kites with explanations of their significance.
christmas trees trees
Land wanted for homes and business
Dorset Council is inviting landowners to submit land for consideration as part of the Dorset Council Local Plan. They are looking for land with potential for housing, employment and accommodation for Gypsies, travellers, and travelling show people.
Submissions will be evaluated based on their suitability for the proposed use, looking at relevant planning policies, site characteristics, and any supporting information or evidence provided. The viability of development and any potential limitations on land use will also be
considered.
Landowners should note that sites previously submitted to any Dorset Council Call for Sites should not be resubmitted unless there have been material changes, such as alterations in site extent or intended use.
n For guidance and to submit a site go to dorsetcouncil. gov.uk/w/land-availability Or you can contact the planning policy team at planningpolicy@dorset council.gov.uk or call 01305 838334.
The deadline for submissions is December 20.
STEVE BANE FABRICS WISH ALL ITS CUSTOMERS A LOVELY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR
WE ARE CLOSED FROM 4PM ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 23RD UNTIL 9AM ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 2ND, 2025
19 High W St, Dorchester DT1 1UW 01305 250990
New £2m dental surgery at DCH
A procedure room at Dorset County Hospital (DCH) has been transformed into a full operating theatre for Special Care Dentistry and general surgery.
The £2m project was jointly funded between DCH and NHS Dorset, which commissions the Special Care Dentistry service provided by Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.
The upgrade means ear, nose and throat, gynaecology, orthopaedic procedures and general surgeries can be performed while giving Special Care Dentistry additional theatre capacity, helping to reduce waiting times.
Daniel Rawles, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s deputy service manager for primary care dental services (Dorset and Somerset), said: “We know that, for various reasons, dentistry has been a hot topic nationally for some time, and our patients in Dorset have also experienced these challenges.
“While this additional capacity will not solve all the challenges of waiting lists for our most vulnerable patient groups, or prevent them from needing a general anaesthetic in the first place, we’re confident that it will make a difference to those who are currently waiting.”
Chance to run a kiosk in gardens
A popular kiosk in Dorchester’s Borough Gardens is coming up for rent.
Dorchester Town Council is looking for a new operator from January, with applications invited by December 9. For more information email tonyhurley@dorchester-tc.gov.uk
SMILE PLEASE: Dental staff at the new surgery
Cut Out and Pin Up
Be Prepared ...
Fill in the form, cut it out, and put it up by your front door in case you need to go into hospital at short notice. I am
My name is:
This person is my carer:
I’m a carer for:
I prefer to be called:
Our care agency is: Phone:
Registered carers: Please make hospital sta昀 aware if you are a registered carer to be appropriately supported.
How I communicate
I have aphasia, anxiety, autism, impaired hearing, a learning disability, sight loss, etc. Please be patient, give me time to communicate.
Please contact: to help me with this. Phone:
My pets I have pets that will need looking after.
My pets are:
Please contact: who will look after them. Phone:
Looking after my home
Please contact: who has a key to my home and will look after it while I am away. Phone:
My emergency bag is (where?):
Things I need
F I wear Glasses
F I wear Hearing Aids
F I have Medication
F I have Dentures
F I have a Mobile Phone
Out and Pin Up
County’s bid to stop domestic abuse
Dorset Council is set to publish its Draft Domestic Abuse Strategy for public consultation.
Cllr Gill Taylor, cabinet member for community safety and chair of the Dorset Community Safety Partnership, said: “Domestic abuse, in all forms, is completely unacceptable. I also want residents who are struggling and affected by domestic abuse to know that support is always available, and how to access it. If you are finding family life difficult, please reach out. Our partners at Paragon are there for you, whatever your age and no matter what time of day it is.”
Molly Rennie, chair of the Dorset Domestic Abuse Forum and Dorchester town councillor, said: “Our relationships are hugely important. If you are feeling unsafe or frightened because someone is hurting you, either
physically or mentally, it’s not your fault. Confidential advice and support is always there for you, whatever your age or gender.
“The Dorset Domestic Abuse Forum, which brings together Domestic Abuse partners and supporters of this work
together to tackle domestic abuse, is joining organisations and communities across Dorset to support White Ribbon.”
Free enamel white ribbon badges are available from Dorchester County Hall and Weymouth and Dorchester
STOP IT: From left: Katrina Duvall, Paragon team manager; Cllr Molly Rennie, Chair of the Dorset Domestic Abuse Forum and Dorchester Town Councillor; Tom Clifton, Dorset Youth Parliament member; Ian Grant, Dorset Council programme lead; Cllr Stella Jones, leader of Dorset Council, Cllr Gill Taylor, Cabinet member Community Safety and Chair of the Dorset Community Safety Partnership) and Ginty McDermott, Paragon service manager
town council offices. People can make a small donation for local charities supporting people affected by domestic abuse.
n For domestic abuse services visit dorsetcouncil. gov.uk/dvahelp
Town’s cinema to close at end of year
Cineworld in Weymouth is closing on December 30 after negotiations with its landlord failed.
The multiplex in New Bond Street opened in 1999, as part of a £40m development including a large Debenhams – now The Range.
But like other entertainment businesses the nine-screen cinema has struggled since
the pandemic changed people’s habits.
Cineworld went into administration last year, and this year announced it was to close several venues across the country, not including Weymouth. As the only cinema in the town, Cineworld should have been in a strong position. But audiences have simply not
returned in the same numbers, making it unsustainable. The chain was trying to negotiate a lower rent on the Weymouth site. However discussions failed to reach a resolution that would allow Cineworld to keep operating there. It is unknown whether the site is viable as a cinema in the future – certainly, Dorchester sustains two, despite being a
Care home launches Memory Café
A nursing home in Dorchester is launching a service to support people with dementia and their carers.
Signature House is launching a Memory Café on January 6, running from 10.30am to noon. A spokesperson for the nursing home said: “This welcoming initiative provides a space for people living with dementia, their carers, and families to socialise, share experiences, and enjoy uplifting activities over a comforting cup of tea or coffee.
“Research shows that such gatherings not only offer crucial respite for carers but also enhance
the well-being of those living with dementia by encouraging social interaction and mental stimulation.
“By fostering understanding and support, the Memory Café aims to make a positive difference in the lives of everyone on this journey.”
Booking is essential – call 01305 257248 to reserve your spot.
smaller town with fewer tourists.
A spokesperson for Cineworld said: “Unlimited members will be contacted shortly via email with details about membership cancellations and options to transfer to another Cineworld site.”
Weymouth’s Repair Café has handed over £1,000 to two worthy charities after people grateful for their free repairs filled the donations pot at their monthly sessions, and they won a national award.
While the repair café is usually solely funded by the donations of people who bring broken items in for repair by its volunteers, this year the café won the Nextdoor social networking website’s best community organisation in the UK award.
“We are a non-profit organisation and we try to run with minimal expenses so we can give away any surplus,” café chair Ros
Dean told The West Dorset Magazine.
“We are distributing our surplus funds from the last two years to four charities nominated by our amazing volunteers.”
At an event this month, the
Good causes are boosted by generous Repair Café
café gave £500 to the Friends of MV Freedom to support their work taking people with disabilities to sea on a specially designed boat, and £500 to the Women’s Refuge.
The café is running another event next month, when they plan to give another £500 each to homelessness charities Julian House and Bus Shelter Dorset.
Although Ros added: “This might be the last year when we make such a gesture as our venue hire costs will be increasing massively.”
The Repair Café won gold at this year’s Weymouth Business Awards in the community category and silver at the West Dorset
Business Awards.
Repair Café patrons often bring broken items for repair to save them from the tip and avoid the need to buy new.
Marianna Dodd, who helps organise the café with Ros, said: “We can fix just about anything our visitors can carry in: electrical, electronics, gadgets and games, mechanical items, tool sharpening, gluing, clocks, leather or sewing. “We’ve already seen some Christmas lights, a singing reindeer head, and a musical Christmas tree decoration with a train on each level.”
She added: “We anticipate a lot more Christmas items at our December event, which
is always a lot of fun.
“Our success rate is about 82 per cent. There are 3,452 Repair Cafés globally and our feedback is helping manufacturers to design for repairability.”
Repair Café Weymouth’s next event is on Saturday, December 14 from 10.30am to 12.30pm at Top Club in Louviers Road.
Events are scheduled for the second Saturday of every month, except July and August.
For more information, visit the Facebook page Repair Café Weymouth, repaircafeweymouth.org or you can volunteer by emailing Ros at repair cafeweymouth@gmail.com
Funds flood in to help improve health of
Lottery players and a government grant is helping fund the Rivers Run Through Us project to improve the health of the River Axe.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £250,630 to Blackdown Hills National Landscape with £60,000 from the Environment Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Fund. Vicky Whitworth, Friends of the River
Axe said: “We all want our river to be clean, with thriving wildlife, but people often wonder what they can do to make rivers better. The River Axe was a splendid lowland river and deserves to be cherished to bring her back to her full glory.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund grant will kick-start change and empower the people of the place to play their part
Axe
in bringing the River Axe and her tributaries back to a gold standard.”
Once renowned for its sparkling trout streams, The River Axe is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area yet has been polluted from water treatment plants and agriculture.
In 2023 alone, River Axe was polluted by sewage 277 times – lasting 3,800 hours.
THANKS SO MUCH: Molly Rennie from the Women’s Refuge with Weymouth Repair Cafe volunteers
Happy Christmas to all our lovely members from the committee and staff at the Wyke Workies!
Vigil for victims of phobia
Members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies gathered in Weymouth to observe a Transgender Day of Remembrance to honour the lives lost to transphobic violence.
Since 2009, people have observed a transgender day of remembrance, to show solidarity with those who face discrimination and to remember those who have died. At the vigil in Weymouth, around 20 people gathered by the Jubilee Clocktower on the seafront, with attendees sharing personal reflections, poetry, and tributes to lost loved ones. The event was organised by locals with support from the Weymouth Gay Group and clergy from Holy Trinity Church, which hosts an ‘open table’ initiative that acts as a safe and welcoming space for members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Feed your spirit at church
A spiritualist church in Weymouth is inviting people to come along. Weekly services are held at Light Spiritualist Church at Preston Village Hall as well as a monthly coffee morning and a grief support service.
A church spokesperson said: “Our church is a tireless advocate for giving back. Donation-only and
subsidised events for our guests include charity raffles – helping local charities such as Weldmar Hospice, Dorset Cancer Trust, Veteran’s Hub and local schools – plus our food collections for Weymouth food bank, with over 190 bags donated this year.” n facebook.com/ thelightspiritualistchurch 07349 287547
Have your say on speed limits
Residents, commuters, and local interest groups have until December 20 to submit their views on reducing speed limits on several roads around Osmington. A353: Move the 30mph terminal at the western end of Osmington about 45 metres to include the entrance for Eweleaze Farm and installation of a speed camera. Extend the current 30mph at the eastern end of Osmington. Lower the speed limit from 60mph to
50mph between Osmington and Poxwell. Extend the current 40mph to incorporate the busy junction used for access to Ringstead Bay.
Mills Road: Reduce the speed limit from 60mph to 30mph. Road to Ringstead Bay: Reduce the speed limit from 60mph to 30mph. Comments in writing to be sent to Traffic Regulation Team, Dorset Council, Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1XJ.
Stalls, a sleigh and Santa!
Market stalls selling crafts and food will be dotted throughout Tolpuddle including the church, chapel and village hall this Saturday, December 7 from 4pm. Father Christmas will turn on the lights. There will be hot chocolate and mulled wine
with mince pies served in the hall. Children can sit and write their letters to Father Christmas with the help of his elves and post them in the North Pole post box. Father Christmas’s sleigh will be there for your Christmas photos.
Festive coffee morning
There’s a Christmas coffee morning on Saturday, December 7, 10am-12.30pm at Comrades Hall, Broadwindsor.
Cake stall, tombola, bric-abrac, books, Christmas stall. Admission £2 to include coffee and mince pie.
Find out about bank hub
There’s an information session about Sherborne’s new banking hub on Friday, December 13 10am-12pm at Oliver’s Coffee Shop in Cheap Street. Anyone who wants to know how they can access banking services via the hub is welcome.
Charities to feature at awards
Creators of the innovative and unique local business awards that have expanded in the last few years to stretch right across Dorset, Marketing West SW Ltd, have decided to do their bit to help local charities.
Organiser Nigel Reeve said:
“We have had charities like Lewis-Manning Hospice Care, Poole Waste Not Want Not, Dorset Mind and local foodbanks winning at our awards, which obviously helps them, but with the recent publicity about charities struggling to meet demand and cover costs we wondered what we could do to help even more.
“We decided, particularly with Christmas coming up, it was a time for giving, so we had a meeting and one of the team suggested we give a different local charity a category sponsorship at all our future awards to promote
themselves. This will allow them to come along to the awards ceremony and talk about their work to all the attendees, and meet local businesses that will hopefully form a relationship whether its financial, fundraising, or some other form of support. We want to work together to get the charity’s work highlighted in the local community.
The first two charities to benefit are Weldmar Hospicecare at the
Shaftesbury Business Awards and the Friends of the Yeatman Hospital in Sherborne. Others include The Lantern Trust in Weymouth & Portland, Dorset Mind in Bridport, Lewis-Manning Hospice Care and Dorchester Poverty Action and any charity that would like to put themselves forward in any of the awards areas are asked to get in touch.
Details can be found at marketingwest.co.uk
Star in Lymelight
Hollywood star Brian Cox is to appear at Lyme Regis’s Marine Theatre. The Scot, who starred in The Succession and Bourne Identity, will launch the theatre’s new cinema equipment by giving an interview before a screening of his 1986 film Manhunter.
The town has been without a cinema since the Regent suffered a fire in 2016. The event will be raising funds for the Marine Theatre Young Filmmakers’ Course starting soon.
Fire service’s £13m tax precept income
Dorset’s fire authority has revealed it received £13million through the council tax precept charge last year while rumours of service cutbacks persist. In response to a Freedom of Information request, the authority also said it has accepted one compulsory redundancy as part of a corporate restructuring during the 2023/24 financial year.
The West Dorset Magazine lodged an information request with the authority about its funding after firefighters arrived for shifts at Wareham and Sturminster Newton stations in October only to find their engines were missing.
The discovery came around the time it was rumoured that Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Authority plans to downgrade its coverage of the region.
The fire authority confirmed it received
£13,015,784.22 for the 2023/24 financial year from the council tax precept. Dorset Council gave the figure as £12,869,158 in response to a separate Freedom of Information request.
restructure.
The service also said it has spent nothing on volunteer recruitment in that time.
Earlier this year, The West Dorset Magazine received an anonymous tip-off warning that fire services in Maiden Newton and Bere Regis could be “significantly reduced or lost altogether” as part of “devastating” plans to cut resources from Dorset and Wiltshire’s fire stations.
“If the claims are realised, the move will be a disaster,
A fire authority spokesperson confirmed during the 2023/2024 period no stations were closed and the authority accepted one compulsory redundancy from a non-operational role due to a corporate
especially with the amount of traffic accidents at peak times on the A37 and the Puddletown bypass,” the informant claimed. “As everyone knows, a swift response is vital to the outcome of an emergency and in rural areas such as ours, immediate deployment of emergency crews is essential and a cut to our emergency services is putting lives at risk.”
They continued: “While I
believe there is a plan to secure wholetime firefighters in Dorchester, ‘on-call’ firefighters in Maiden Newton would still be at an accident, for example in Cerne Abbas faster than a Dorchester crew.”
Portland could lose one of its two fire engines, which will be confirmed following a review in January, under the shake-up by Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS).
The Fire Brigades Union has warned that plans to cut the service will ‘put homes, communities and public safety at risk’.
In a statement, the FBU said: “Plans published by fire service bosses this week threaten to downgrade fire stations across the region, decreasing fire cover across large areas.
“Eight fire stations are set to lose a vital fire engine, leaving many with just one appliance.
“Due to lack of resources, it is currently taking longer than ever before for firefighters to arrive at a fire
in Dorset and Wiltshire – 10 minutes and 46 seconds in 2023.”
In response to the rumour of future cutbacks, West Dorset MP Edward Morello told The West Dorset Magazine: “The Maiden Newton oncall fire service have been providing an amazing service despite operating at half-strength for far too long. “Maiden Newton and the surrounding area cannot afford to lose this vital service as response times from Dorchester and Sherborne can be too long in an emergency.
“I recently met with the station chief to make my support for the service clear and I will be making representations in the hope we can keep the service. “However, the best chance of securing its future is if more people can be convinced to join the team.” Giving its response, a fire service spokesperson told us: “Whilst the data suggests that the removal of some fire engines is the right thing to do, and this presents essential savings to help our financial challenges, this is also a programme of work that includes some reinvestment and will enable us to improve fire cover by increasing the number of wholetime firefighter posts at Westlea fire station and upgrading Amesbury and Dorchester fire stations from on-call only to on-call and wholetime.”
Backed plan to go out for public consultation
Dorset Council has endorsed the draft Weymouth Neighbourhood Plan, meaning it can now go out for public consultation.
The draft plan, which aims to guide development at a local level, said Weymouth should be a ‘resilient coastal community with a diverse range of jobs and homes which meet the needs of
residents for present generations without compromising the needs of future generations’.
Residents will be able to have their say on the plan early next year, before it and the consultation comments are sent for independent examination. The examiner will check the plan is compliant with national and local policy, that a proper
process has been followed, and consider consultation responses and whether changes to the plan are necessary. The last stage is a referendum where residents will vote yes or no on whether they support the plan.
The draft plan and supporting documents are available to view on Weymouth Town Council’s website.
CUTBACKS: Dorset and Wilts Fire and Rescue Service
Beloved dog Alfred back home thanks
By Karen Bate karen@westdorsetmag.co.uk
When my beloved sighthound slipped his lead and disappeared I enlisted the help of Drone SAR for Lost Dogs UK – an ever-growing team of volunteers who drop everything to find our beloved dogs.
It was a stormy day when my husband rang me from a dog walk in a panic.
“Alfred has disappeared. He’s gone. I don’t know what happened, he saw a stag, he slipped his lead and ran into the woods. I can’t see him.
“Please Karen, help, help!”
I drove to where my precious hound was last seen and we searched high and low, calling, whistling, encouraging our collie to howl in the wind to bring Alfred home. Nothing. I was distraught.
We set up a food trap in the open car and left the house open while Stuart and I walked in torrential rain in the pitch black of night across miles of forest, calling his name and trying to block out of my mind the moving pictures of what might have befallen him.
I posted on a million Facebook groups, alerting everyone I could think of that my boy had gone, messaged fellow dog walkers and printed posters, nailing them on gates, signposts and
village shops.
My phone was red hot with sightings, and we chased every single one to no avail. He has a nervous disposition: no one could catch him. And he runs like the wind. But he was alive, for now.
I rang the police when someone had seen him darting across a very busy A road – a good 10 miles from his doomed walk. Ten cars had stopped on the dualcarriageway, and I was scared for drivers. I was scared for Alfred.
approached, I became certain I would never see him again.
I prayed. I spent the night forest tracks unable to shake that awful feeling being in the wrong place at wrong
broke and out of the blue, my friend gave me details of Facebook group, Drone SARS for Lost Dogs UK.
searchers. The group has found more than 7,000 missing dogs, a number growing daily, and they do not charge a penny.
That morning, I received multiple phone calls from strangers with sightings of Alfred, the last one close to a farm.
Will from Drone SARS called and I gave him Alfred’s last known position, as my daughter Flo and I scrambled to pick up the back road to the farm.
Will rang again: “I have eyes on him. I’m on foot.”
As the second night
Graham Burton founded the organisation in 2017, which is now exceeding 104,000 members including 4,000 drone pilots and 3,500 land
£3.8m boost for bus services
The government is pumping more than £3.8million into improving bus services in the county.
Dorset County Council said it welcomes the additional central funding for its bus service improvement plan.
Welcoming the cash injection of £3,815,959, the county council’s spokesperson for place services, Cllr Jon Andrews, said: “We will continue to work closely with our local bus
operators, exploring new ways to provide a bus network that links with other forms of transport to provide all Dorset residents and visitors opportunities to access work, education, training, health services, and leisure opportunities within Dorset and neighbouring council areas.”
n For more information visit dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/dorset-busservice-improvement-plan-2024
And just at that moment, my daughter and I came face to face with Alfred, trotting along the lane with a queue of cars trailing behind him, followed by Will. We jumped out of our car, roast chicken in hand.
Alfred looked bewildered but then headed straight for the
Ex-bank flats plan
A landmark building on Weymouth seafront could be turned into five flats. The former Barclays Bank, next to the historic Black Dog pub in the heart of the conservation area, closed in early 2023. The basement and ground floor office will remain available for commercial rent. Comments on this application are open on the Dorset Council website until December 6.
HUNTING HIGH AND LOW: The Drone SAR group and, inset below, Karen’s beloved Alfred
to help from above
chicken. My hands shook as I hooked his lead on his harness.
Flooded with relief, tears took over and I hugged Will for an eternity.
“Let me give you something please,” I begged, “for your time at least.”
“It is a gift enough to see Alfred reunited,” said Will.
“But if you do want to give me something then a donation to Drone SARS would be welcome.”
Graham said: “Before launching the group, I helped people find their dogs with my drone.
“One day an elderly lady rang me after her golden retriever went missing.
“She explained a drone pilot had heard about her plight and offered to search for £800 a day.
“I knew a few lads who had drones, so they went out and found her dog, they were reunited.
“I couldn’t bear the thought of someone paying that amount of money for a drone pilot, and there was no guarantee the dog would be found on that day.
“There are so many scams and people will do almost anything if they lose their dog. It’s just awful.
“So, I launched Drone SARS, and the group has been unstoppable ever since.”
He added: “I am a retired
press photographer but since running the group I am kept busy from about 8am until 2am, I have never been so busy.
“All the pilots and land searchers volunteer their time for the love of dogs.
“Losing a dog is just awful.
“Everything goes through your head, and you just can’t think straight when your dog goes missing. They are part of our family.
“My admin team are absolutely fantastic; I couldn’t do it without them, they work so hard and some have day jobs too.
“We never ask for money and do this on a voluntary basis.”
Most of the 4,000 plots have their own drones, and Graham has 26 thermal drones for night-time flying, strategically placed in parts of the country where there is a need.
The group have 11 Missy traps – large wire cages which Graham engineers to help capture dogs safely using an infrared beam and magnetic trap door.
“Any donations are welcome, and every single penny is used to buy equipment,” said Graham.
n If anyone would like to donate to this amazing group, you can do so at: paypal.me/dronesarlostdogs Facebook: DroneSARS ForLostDogs
Children on Pathway
Children in Dorset will benefit from top-tier support through the ‘Best Start in Life’ Pathway, a program designed to aid young children with additional needs.
The pathway has recently earned a prestigious 5-Star Registration Status from the National Portage Association.
HONOUR: Dorchester
Trefoil Chair Angela Goldsworthy Chris White and Debbie Scammell of DCH Volunteer hub and, inset below, Maggie Mallon and Linda Scott
Trefoil leaders step up
Trefoil group leaders from Dorchester have been selected for new key roles at a countywide level.
Maggie Mallon and Linda Scott, who lead Dorchester Trefoil’s evening section the Hardy Perennials, will now oversee the work of 18 guilds throughout the county in their new roles as joint chairs.
Judy Thompson of Dorchester Trefoil is also moving from being the guild county level public relations adviser to county secretary. The appointments have been described as “quite an honour” for the Dorchester guild.
Dorset’s has dedicated Best Start in Life Advisors, who collaborate closely with early years settings, health visiting teams, Speech and Language Therapists, and schools to provide comprehensive support for children and families. The programme was developed with input from parent carers.
Judy, who used to lead the guides and brownies in Charminster, and is a former chair of Dorchester Trefoil, currently serves as treasurer and organises Dorchester Trefoil’s Community knitting project for the elderly, dementia and stroke wards at Dorset County Hospital. So far this autumn Dorchester Trefoil has donated 50 blankets, 29 shawls, 15 twiddlemitts and 38 knitted animals. Christine Buffrey from Weymouth Trefoil has also been made the new county president.
n For more information about Trefoil and its work email Judy at jct19336@gmail.com
Time to get on your bike and get back in shape
Free health cycle rides led by trained volunteers are being offered every fortnight in Weymouth.
Dorset Council’s ‘Get Back in the Saddle’ initiative is offering the gentle, entry-level rides every other Wednesday from The Palm House café.
People joining the rides will need to bring a suitable bike in good working order.
Learn more about Dorset Council’s health cycle rides, including when and where you can join them, by visiting dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/health-cycle-rides
or phone 01425 480811.
The council’s health and activity team are always looking for new volunteers to help with the rides. If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer ride leader, please complete the online form or email healthandactivity@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
Brace yourself for a chilly Lunge into 2025
New Year’s Day revellers will be bracing themselves on the first day of 2025 as they take the plunge in Lyme Bay at the Lyme Lunge at 1pm –many in fancy dress and watched by crowds of thousands.
Organised by the Lyme Regis Rotary Club, the Lunge has raised more than £40,000 for charities since it was launched 14 years ago.
The iconic event is one of the biggest events of its kind in the West Country, with hundreds joining the dash to the sea each year. Swimmers will parade their costumes on the beach before a quick dash to the sea at 1pm sharp – before warming up with hot soup courtesy of The Harbour Inn.
This year’s Lunge will be raising
funds for Weldmar Hospicecare Trust and Riding for the Disabled Association along with Rotary youth charities.
If you fancy joining the sponsors including The Pilot Boat Inn, Lyme Bay Holidays, Swim restaurant and Timbervale Caravan Park , Lyme Regis visit lymeregisrotary.org, Facebook or Insta.
Council bids to balance adult care budget
Demand for adult social care has been blamed for a predicted overspend of £13.2 million by the end of this financial year.
Dorset Council says it will bust its £376.7 million budget by 3.5% – £900,000 more than it feared in July. A spokesman said: “The number of adults requiring support from the council is higher than those forecast when the budget was set. Dorset has the largest population of older people per capita of any other county in
England and the council is now seeing an increase in demand to help for carers who can no longer support family members, meaning that the council is now providing the care that is needed.
“The process to set the council’s budget for next financial year is well underway, and the current forecast budget gap is £35 million, around 9% of the budget. Increases to council tax and business rates are set by government, and the provisional detail of local
government funding settlements for next year will not be announced until late December.”
Cllr Simon Clifford, Dorset Council Cabinet Member for finance and capital strategy, said: “The increase to national living wage and national insurance will put significant pressure on many of the small and medium-size businesses that provide much needed local employment.
“Many of these businesses also provide services for the council and may look to the
council for help meeting this additional burden. Without fair funding, it’s not clear how this cost can be met. We now await the detail of what this means for us in Dorset, which we expect will come in late December.
“Like many councils across the country our financial position is extremely challenging, and it is more than likely we will need to make very difficult decisions to meet our legal responsibility to set a balanced budget.”
Great guide to going green
Climate Cafe Sherborne has produced a free Green Guide, with information on what to recycle where, and where to buy package-free and source environmentally friendly products.
From batteries to bubble wrap and Tetrapaks to vapes, it lists places where products can be recycled or re-used. It suggests options available to repair rather than replace, or to give someone else a chance
to love a pre-loved item.
The Green Guide was compiled by Kathryn Phelps with the help of funding from Sherborne Town Council.
Matt Murphy was responsible for the booklet’s design with the artistic input of children from Sherborne Primary School.
A printed copy will be given to each family whose children attend the school. Other copies will be made available
at outlets around Sherborne.
The Climate Café Sherborne is a non-political, non-profit making, inclusive forum for local people with an interest in climate change to meet and pursue projects to improve our local environment.
n For further information on the Climate Café Sherborne or the Green Guide, or for online copies, to update content, email climatecafe sherborne@gmail.com
Volunteers honoured
West Bay Discovery Centre’s volunteers have been awarded The King’s Award –equivalent to an MBE – for Voluntary Service for 2024. Some 45 volunteers plan and run activities, carry out the research for future exhibitions and lead guided walks, which has welcomed 120,000 visitors since its launch in 2018 by the Bridport Area Development Trust. The centre is now run by Bridport Town Council.
John West, chair of the organisation Friends of West Bay Discovery Centre, said: “I am delighted that the volunteers’ work has been recognised, the fact that over 20 volunteers have been with the centre for at least five years, shows both their commitment and how rewarding they find it. “They are a special bunch of people.”
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OUR FUTURE: Sherborne Primary School pupils with the free Green Guide
Charging point installed
A fast electric vehicle charging point has been installed in Cerne Abbas, thanks to help from Dorset Council.
The new charger at Kettle Bridge is part of the council’s Charging Ahead programme, which aims to get 80% of Dorset households within a 10-minute walk of a public charge point by 2030.
By the end of the year, an additional 11 car parks in towns and villages across Dorset will be equipped with electric vehicle chargers, thanks to the programme. This includes the installation of three new charging hubs in Weymouth, Bridport and Blandford. Funding for the new chargers comes from a mix of sources, including
government grants, private investment and local developer contributions.
More chargers are on their way for Dorchester, Sturminster Newton, Sherborne, Wareham and Lyme Regis. The installation of the new chargers will not impact the use of the car parks or nearby businesses. Once complete, the addition of these fast and rapid chargers will bring the total number of public charging points in the county to just under 300.
If your community could benefit from a charge point, you can suggest possible locations at dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/ electric-vehicle-charge-points
Christmas bins: a handy guide
Dorset Council has issued its guide for rubbish and recycling this Christmas and new year.
n They will collect up to two extra sacks of rubbish beside your bin on your first rubbish collection after Christmas Day.
n No garden waste collections will take place from Christmas Day until Wednesday, January 8.
n Household recycling centres are open from 9am to 4pm daily, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
n Extra recycling, including glass and food, will be collected on your recycling collection day, provided it has been separated correctly and placed in a suitable sturdy container (no bags) that can be easily lifted by one person
n Put your glass out for collection before Christmas. This ensures you have as much space as possible in your glass box going into the festive period, helping prevent overspilling containers.
n See what items can be recycled at the kerbside at dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/which-bin
Hi-de-Hi! Camp site’s top honour
Highlands End Holiday Park in Eype has won Best Holiday Park in the UK and Best Family Campsite (South West) Runner Up at the 2024 Campsites.co.uk Camping and Glamping Awards. The site has gained an impressive 4.84 star rating on their travel listing, with 97% saying they would recommend the site.
Freshwater Beach Holiday Park, between Bridport and Burton Bradstock, came runner up in the Best Coastal Campsite.
A little further west, near Charmouth, Monkton Wyld Holiday Park came runner up in the UK Top Dog Award with its great facilities for four-legged friends.
22 years on, work starts on church
A glorious Grade II* listed church is finally being transformed into flats – 22 years after a major fire. Maiden Street Methodist Church in Weymouth has been deteriorating for more than two decades after the blaze. The prominent town centre landmark will soon be home to 24 apartments and a three- bedroom cottage. The five-floor complex will have its own gym for residents. There will be three flats on the ground floor and five flats on each of the other four floors.
Work was supposed to start within three years of the planning permission being granted in 2019, however there have been several setbacks.
But now Cranbourne Enterprises (Weymouth) Ltd has started work on the site. The developments is expected to take 18 months, with prices from £160,000 for an apartment up to £385,000 for the cottage. The church, with its ornate rose windows, was built in 1866–67 as a WesleyanMethodist Church on the site
of the old King’s Head Inn.
The foundation stone was laid by church trustee William Dingley of Sherborne on June 28, 1866. It was built by Stephen Brown of Weymouth, costing £3,700, and could seat 1,000 people. In 1999 a £160,000 restoration was carried out. But three years later churchgoers had to abandon the building after a large blaze – they later chose to build a new church,
Weymouth Bay Methodist Church, near Weymouth College on Melcombe Avenue.
n Keep up to date with the project on Facebook: Evolution Weymouth – The Old Methodist Church.
Shopping voucher up for grabs in council survey
Weymouth Town Council wants to know what you think about services it provides, such as public toilets, parks, gardens, and open spaces.
It is also responsible for projects like developing Tumbledown, a former farm, into a community asset and runs a packed
schedule of events across the town, ranging from large-scale firework displays to the recent Remembrance Sunday service. The residents’ survey, at surveymonkey.com/r/VYSW9T8, runs until 5pm on Wednesday, December 11. Survey questions cover satisfaction levels
when contacting the council, what people think of the events the council puts on, to views on how clean and well-maintained facilities like toilets, parks, gardens, and open spaces are. Everyone who completes the short survey will be offered an entry in a draw to win a £100 shopping voucher.
TRANSFORMATION: How the former church looks today, the height of the fire in 2002 and, right, how it will look
PRAISE BE: How the redeveloped church will look and, right, behind the walls today
Needing Help and Kindness? We’re the
By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk
Are you struggling with anything? Money? Food? Loneliness? Transport? Health?
Jon Sloper and Becca Taylor may just have the solution for you.
Their community interest company Help and Kindness has, for the past five years, built an incredible database of all sorts of resources available in Dorset. Whether it’s help with getting a club off the ground, or getting home from hospital, they know who can help.
If you need food, help applying for pension credits, help getting to the shops, or just need to know what’s happening in your area, they can help with that too. Help and Kindness is primarily a signposting
service, which works with a huge range of people from volunteers in the community, to the NHS, Dorset and BCP councils, the CAB – anyone providing any sort of service or activity to the people of Dorset.
One of the strengths of the organisation is being able to pinpoint on a map areas where services are doubled up, or where they are lacking.
So for example if someone wants to open a chess club they could ask Help and Kindness if any others are nearby, or they could ask for help setting things up.
Their work has been particularly valuable in identifying where foodbanks have doubled up in certain areas, and when one foodbank has a surplus of food and another foodbank could benefit.
They can match would-be volunteers to projects, identify the best source of help for issues and match people up to work together.
Jon said: “It’s about finding help, giving help and working together – that’s the heart and soul of it.
“It’s not just a database. It’s about relationship building, where we put people in touch with each other to work together.
“It’s a question of who you know.
“There are a lot of things going on in Dorset, and the diversity of what we do is just immense. We’ve identified 12,500 activities, groups and events, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The list is growing all the time.”
Help and Kindness, which is based at Agriculture House in Acland Road, Dorchester, started in 2019 by mapping services available and gathering information.
Jon said: “When covid came we were in the right place at the right time. We are the interface between groups and councils and the NHS etc. We got involved in more and more projects and the database grew. The database includes everything – local groups, voluntary and community sector and information on what the public sector provides in the community – anything of use to people when they need help.
“We have a very strong food network, called Feeding Dorset, a partnership involving growers, farmers, people running lunch clubs and more.
“And we undertake a number of things for the council, such as compiling a list of holiday activities for children and getting involved in the new family hubs in Bridport, Dorchester, Ferndown, Swanage, Wareham and
HERE FOR YOU: Becca Taylor and Jon Sloper of Help and Kindness in Dorchester
go-to organisation
HELP AT HAND: Emergency food outlets across the county
Wimborne, which provide families with support for social, emotional, physical and financial needs.”
One of the projects they are spearheading is getting people to prepare an information leaflet to put by their door in case they are taken to hospital, where the paramedic can see whether you wear glasses or a hearing aid, for example, so they know to go and get them, or if you have a pet that will need looking after, and if you normally have a paid carer coming in who will need to be told. We’ve printed one on page 34, for you to cut out, fill in and keep.
Jon said: “We can help with social isolation and loneliness, and with transport problems. Public transport is a massive issue.
“There are all sorts of reasons people cannot access services and activities – lack of transport, disability, anxiety.
“We can help find transport to the shops, we can identify
Women signing up for boat building academy
Women are outnumbering men on a Lyme Regis’s Boat Building Academy course for the first time in its 28-year history.
The newest student cohort at the Boat Building Academy (BBA) in Lyme Regis, Dorset comprises eight women and seven men.
The most women enrolled previously was four – and for two years there were no female students at all.
The achievement has come after work by the academy to
build numbers among women. A five-day Women’s Workshop course now runs annually for women to try their hand at woodworking, before committing to further study.
And a new bursary scheme exclusively for women is making it possible for a growing number of women to meet the cost of the course and access the high-level training and career development opportunities it provides.
Tap off and on the buses
First Wessex buses now offer ‘tap on, tap off’ payments –where you use a contactless card or app as you start your journey, and use the same as you disembark, with no need for tickets. The technology, currently used on the Tube in London among other transport providers, is aimed at making travel quicker and easier.
trades and services, and help people maximise their income.”
The CIC is funded by grants and donations as well as payments for work in the public sector.
Jon said: “We work with social workers, social prescribers, schools and GPs to identify additional support and the hospitals’ discharge and admissions teams. We go where the need is. We’ve got to meet some brilliant people.”
They are launching a new group to support adults with ADD and ADHD to start in Dorchester in January, after identifying a need.
“We identify the gaps in provision,” said Jon. “And we work with maternal mental health, armed forces and adult social care. We join the dots.”
n For more information go to helpandkindness.co.uk
To get in touch with Help and Kindness call 01305 595958 or email hello@ helpandkindness.co.uk
High Angle Battery on Portland has been officially removed from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register, thanks to a restoration campaign.
High Angle Battery is a late Victorian gun battery constructed as part of the defences of Portland Harbour. It fired shells at a high angle onto the vulnerable upper sections of enemy warships, with the added advantage that its location behind the clifftops made it difficult for warships to fire back.
However, over time the site has fallen into disrepair and in 2022 its outdated interpretation panels, graffiti, and heritage damage led to it being placed on the Heritage at Risk register.
Dorset Council has since set up a project to rejuvenate the site and help tell its story to a wider audience, thanks to a grant of nearly £250,000 from The National Lottery
COMMUNITY SUPPORT:
Volunteers working on the site and, above, the ghostly tunnels
Historic gun battery now off the ‘at-risk’ register
Heritage Fund and additional funding from Portland Town Council, Castletown D-Day Centre, and the Fine Family Foundation.
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The project has received overwhelming community support and has already resulted in significant improvements being made to the site.
A timeline of the battery’s restoration is at dorset council.gov.uk/rediscovering -high-angle-battery Councillor Rob Hughes, a ward member for Portland and member of the Rediscovering High Angle Battery project team, said: “From expressing their views on what should happen on the site, to providing information on its history and helping with scrub clearance, the community has been a driving force behind the project.
“Local people have always felt pride in High Angle
Battery, and we hope this project will not only help improve understanding and appreciation of the site but also lead to even greater interest in the unique history and environment of Portland.”
The improvements to the site are well underway, with a focus its heritage, enhancing biodiversity, and improving access.
This work is set to be completed by next summer. Once finished, the battery will become a valuable community asset, regularly hosting a variety of events, tours and school visits.
Portland-based arts organisation b-side is already developing an exciting line-up of events for 2025.
HARD AT WORK:
A team of volunteers helping to keep the site tidy
n The Verne High Angle Battery, originally known as the Verne Quarry Battery, is a former gun battery to the south of the Verne Citadel.
The battery was built between 1890 and 1895 to protect Portland Harbour and its naval establishments. Its operational use was relatively short and the battery was decommissioned in 1906.
The battery became a scheduled monument in 1973 as part of the Verne Citadel's designation. It remains protected to date under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 and also became a Grade II listed monument in May 1993. The bestpreserved battery of its type in the UK, the site is now a tourist attraction and forms part of the Verne Common Local Nature Reserve.
It’s all about the right angle
By Ashley Smith, of the sadly now mothballed portlandhistory.co.uk
The concept of high angle batteries in coastal defence originated in the 1880s to provide a solution to the increasingly stronger armour that battleships were being fitted with. Rather than try to penetrate the thick armour sides of an enemy vessel, high angle batteries allowed shells to be dropped down on the more vulnerable upper decks, where far greater damage could be inflicted. With the majority of rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns considered obsolete by this time, the 9- inch 12ton variety of RML was selected as the gun which would be specifically adapted to fire at a "high angle". After a series of trials starting in 1884, the encouraging results subsequently led to the construction of a small number of high angle batteries to defend important strategic locations, including Portland, Plymouth and the Isle of Wight.
for the work were local builders Messrs Jesty and Baker, although the War Office saved some expenditure through the partial use of convict labour.
As the battery was sited within a former quarry, it was hidden from the view of passing enemy ships. The original battery was designed with six guns installed on mounts which could move 360 degrees. They were able to hit a moving target at a maximum range of 5.6 miles. A tramway system allowed the ammunition to be transported to the guns and between magazines. The battery was remodelled between 1898 and 1899 for a cost of £5,504.
The work involved the construction of a bombproof shelter behind the guns and two Royal Artillery store buildings on its western side, each providing 2,500 cubic feet of space. Two additional emplacements were also added on the flanks, but no guns were ever installed there and they were soon used as latrines instead.
deteriorated. After being decommissioned in 1907 the six guns remained in place until 1910, when they were dismounted and sold to a contractor, who took them away after breaking them up using dynamite.
In 1936, Portland Urban District Council bought the site for £4,375. Weymouth & Portland Borough Council became the new owners in 1974, followed by Dorset Council in 2019.
Today the battery is a tourist attraction and remains the best-preserved battery of its type in the UK.
C HA PO S
RE TR O
Relate in restructure
National charity Relate has warned it is in difficulty –however its services in South and West Dorset remain unchanged.
Working across England and Wales through a network of federated centres, Relate provides relationship support for individuals, couples, and families, regardless of their ability to pay.
A charity spokesperson said: “Relate National is currently undergoing a restructure, which is totally separate to what we do.
“We continue to offer adult relationship counselling, individual adult counselling, children and young people’s counselling, family counselling, psychosexual therapy, one session therapy, behavioural change programmes for male and female perpetrators of domestic abuse and supervised child contact.”
Relove, re u s e , recycle
Construction of the new battery commenced on 30 August 1890 and was declared complete on 30 September 1895 for a cost of £4,007. The main contractors
As maritime warfare developed with the rising use of smaller craft such as torpedo boats, the battery’s guns were far less likely to score a hit and the importance of their defensive role
Retro, vintage, streetwear, sportswear and designer gear. Carhartt, Nike, Adidas, Dickie’s and more. Clothes valued, exchanged and bought. Open 10am-4pm, Weds-Sat at South Street, Bridport. Got vintage clothes to sell? Or retro posters? WhatsApp 07850 969894
Keeping the chippy tradition alive
By Karen Bate karen@westdorsetmag.co.uk
When you find yourself in a good old British ‘chippy’ that does it right, crispy batter, flaky, fresh fish, and a steaming pile of chips, all balanced with vinegar and salt, there is nothing more perfect. Does it taste better by the seaside? Probably. Paul and Donna Merry, who own the three Codfathers in Weymouth, Chickerell and Portland, have worked exceptionally hard to serve up the finest the great British fare has to offer, since opening their first shop 2013.
Donna said: “My parents have always been in the fastfood trade, so I was raised with it. Paul and I bought our first shop from my parents in 2013 when they decided to retire. We’re very proud of what we’ve built, it’s been hard work and long hours, but we now have three shops. Customers recognise our beautiful royal blue branding with our little fish wearing a hat and our bright blue lights. You can’t miss us on a dark winter’s evening! “Fish and chips is a British staple. It’s convenient and has something for everyone – including people with gluten allergies. You can’t go wrong during the summer when it’s too hot to stay in and cook or during the winter, when you just want
those lovely hot chips in a bag to warm your hands. Fish and chips are perfect, fast and convenient.”
In the 1930s there were around 35,000 chip shops,
more facing closure every week as the price of fish, oil, gas and electricity and wages have soared.
Donna said: “Sadly all our stock prices have
and were considered a ‘home comfort’. Fish and chips even escaped rationing in the Second World War, however today there are just 10,000 or so chippies with more and
skyrocketed in recent years, forcing us to increase our prices. This obviously isn’t something we enjoy doing and nobody is ever happy about it, but the whole
country is facing the same problems, inflation has bitten us all.
“We’ve got to pay our staff and we’ve got to pay our bills. It’s been worrying, especially gas and cod prices. All we can do is try to keep the prices as low as possible and that’s what we try to do. Most people understand it’s not us being greedy, it’s just the state of the economy. We endeavour to provide high quality food, lovely chunky chips, fresh golden cod at a reasonable price. We’re very grateful to our loyal customers and hope to keep doing that for as long as we can.”
Despite tough times, Donna and Paul help those less fortunate, working with foodbanks through their ‘suspended meal’ donations, which are turned into food vouchers and working with Help the Homeless, giving volunteers fish and chip meals to distribute at the soup kitchen.
In a country which has a taken an economic battering, it is up to us, the customers, to join the queue of our favourite chippy and keep this tradition alive.
n codfathers.co.uk
44 Weston Road, Portland –01305 820198
25 Buxton Road, Weymouth 01305 777909
2 Lynch Road, Weymouth –01305 783342
CHIP, CHIP HOORAY: Paul and Donna Merry
BLUE FOR YOU: Codfathers on Lynch Road, Weymouth and, right, looking very smart at night
Aria a winner in great storm forum
The tragic 30-hour storm which claimed the lives of 100 people in Weymouth in 1824 was the subject of the Great Gale Exhibition which completed its south coast tour in Portland on the same day Storm Bert hit.
Aria Heals-Taylor was one of the winners of the Dorset Coast Forum Youth Art Competition. The storm, of unprecedented ferocity, hit the Dorset coast on November 22,
1824, flooding homes, destroying villages and claiming many lives during the two days it besieged the coast. Now, 200 years on, Dorset Coast Forum in collaboration with the Environment Agency and BCP are explored the impact The Great Gale of 1824 in the free exhibition. The exhibition was being held across five locations, including Weymouth Library, Lyme Regis and West Bay.
To be in with a chance of winning, tell us: What National Collection does Groves Nurseries hold? Email your answer, plus your name, address and phone number, to classifieds@westdorsetmag.co.uk or post to:
15 Stanstead Rd, Maiden Newton, Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 0BL. Entries to reach us by January 1st, 2025.
DORSET SHELLFISH
wishes all its customers a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year.
We are closed from 1pm on Sunday, December 22nd till 10am Wednesday, January 8th
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Children’s centres to be repurposed for better service
Dorset Council said it is considering “repurposing” some of its children’s centres by relocating services to different venues.
The authority said repurposing them would bring them in line with its Family Hub model to offer an “improved service”. Families across Dorset are being asked for their feedback on the services delivered through the county council’s Family Hubs.
The council said it plans to “evolve” its Family Hub model, leading to changes to the current network of children’s centres.
families by providing improved access to services across more community spaces.
“Over the years, Dorset Council has supported a network of children’s centres, setting itself apart from many other local authorities.
“These centres have adapted to meet changing family needs, but with the introduction of Family Hubs, the opportunity to build on these foundations and reach even more families has grown.”
To participate in the service consultation, visit consultation.dorsetcouncil. gov.uk or your nearest children’s centre or Family Hub for a physical copy. GUITAR TUITION Dean Carter MA PGCE 01935 389655 ahiahel@live.com ADVERTISE HERE: 01305 566336 advertising@westdorsetmag.co.uk
An authority spokesperson said: “This development aims to enhance support for
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Nativity still the greatest story ever told
By Canon Deb Smith
All over the country, all over the world, in the last weeks of December there are people –many of them tiny children –acting out the story of Christmas.
Where I live in Bridport the new-born baby Jesus Christ is welcomed in each year in a re-telling in drama of the story of the nativity, and I’m sure it is wherever you are too.
Here it usually involves shepherds…well, men, women and small children wearing tea towels on their heads; there are often fluffy alpacas posing as camels; tinsel-clad angels; blingy three kings; a shy donkey who never ever is persuaded to come into church, I mean the stable, and a star shining from the top of our tallest actor’s head, pointing the way.
n St George’s Church, Reforne, Portland has its first ever Christmas Tree Festival from December 13-15. The West Dorset Magazine has its ‘Portland People’ column represented, thanks to our columnist Viv Horne. Look closely at each bauble for the folk interviewed so far.
The Bridport Nativity happens – just as the nativities you know happen, sometimes with hilarious mishaps along the way, but always conveying a message of hope
and love. We always try to recruit a new-born to play the part of the infant Jesus. One year we had an eightweek-old, who slept through the whole thing peacefully, even when the brass band reached fever pitch!
Another year it was a two-and-a-half-yearold who ran around, dancing when we sang carols, delighting everyone. And usually hundreds of people, many of whom rarely step inside a church, enter into the story as they take a break from yet more Christmas shopping. This age-old story, which can often seem remote and distant… a fairy tale, even, on
some days, is once very real and very near. Because on that first Christmas it was local. It was personal. God had come near in a very specific place. And that is the whole point, isn’t it?
“Absolutely love this place! It’s my weekly go to chippy, I will not go anywhere else. Food is always fresh, portion sizes are big, staff are so friendly and I get amazing service whether I go in the shop or get it delivered. Highly recommend this place to everyone.”
That God comes to us locally, personally. What changes with the birth of Jesus is this: God becomes flesh. God moves among us in a specific, local, eating-and-drinking way in the person of Jesus. And somehow, the power of that story of love and hope, shines through in those countless re-tellings in school halls and in churches every year…and it is happening again this Christmas!
Open Friday & Saturday 11.30am–9.30pm, Sunday 4.30pm–8.30pm & Mon-Thurs 11.30am–2pm, and 4.30pm–9.30pm
Business
Freelance copywriter ANDREW KNOWLES is based in Wyke Regis and has a keen interest in history. He is currently charting the histories of long-lived Dorset businesses.
County auctioneers with lots of history
They started by selling the occasional field and a few sheep. Today they’re one of the top auctioneers in the country, selling everything from Rolls Royce cars to rubber dog toys shaped like heads of the Spice Girls (yes, those were listed in their most recent catalogue).
Last year Duke’s Auctioneers in Dorchester celebrated their 200th anniversary. Their business began in 1823. In the 1820s, Dorset was a very different place. A deeply rural county where you travelled on foot, horseback or in a wagon or carriage. London was exotically distant, as was the excitement of the king’s visits to
Weymouth. They ended in 1805 and his successor, George IV, preferred the pleasures of Brighton. We can’t know exactly why,
but somehow the farming family of Duke’s got into selling land and animals. For decades they continued to farm east of Dorchester, alongside running agricultural sales.
From the mid-19th century the business was run by Henry Duke. His sons joined later.
Newspaper ads from the 1880s show them selling feed from water and clover meadows, alongside newly built houses. By now they were being referred to as land agents, valuers and auctioneers.
Their reputation grew. In 1896 the firm was entrusted with the sale of Parnham House: An Ancient Elizabethan Family Mansion. By now the business was known as Hy. Duke & Son. It was the era of grand house sales. Impoverished aristocrats, forced to sell property, turned to Duke’s for help. They sold carriages and historic furniture from Came House. The Godmanstone sale of 1907 included the Manor House and almost an entire village.
From selling the contents of great houses it was a small
step to auctioning antiques and fine art for others. Today, Duke’s no longer sells fields, forage or agricultural equipment – unless it’s a collectable.
They’ve sold some fascinating stuff over the years, some more than once. A Roman sarcophagus auctioned in 1913 for £20 was resold a hundred years later for £100,000.
Duke’s ran the sale of the contents of Thomas Hardy’s home at Maxgate in 1938. Stories of hidden treasures are a feature of the auction world. In the 1980s a renaissance marble figure, used to prop open a shed door, sold for £250,000. In 2007 Duke’s were asked about two tiny paintings, lurking behind a bedroom door in Oxford. It turned out they were looted from Italy in the Napoleonic wars. They sold for £2 million.
Duke’s continues the tradition of country house sales. One at Melplash Court in 2010 saw a small collection of antique jade go for over £1 million. But not every collectable they auction carries a big ticket price. Those Spice Girl dog toys (all five) could have been yours for maybe just £30. They’ll be sold by the time you read this. But there will be lots more like them.
Duke’s runs a mix of auctions every month. If you’re not familiar with the world of auctions, they’re all open to the public. Drop in and see how it works. They also offer free valuations.
n If you know of a longestablished Dorset business with a story to tell, get in touch. Email andrew @andrewknowles.co.uk
VALUED BUSINESS; Duke’s in Dorchester
Reflect, recharge and reset for new year’s roadmap
By DUNCAN McKECHNIE of Action COACH
As the year draws to a close, it’s tempting to wind down and wait for January to make plans.
But what if you could hit the ground running in the new year, equipped with clear goals and the momentum to achieve them? The key lies in reflection and planning.
Reflecting on the Past Year Reflection isn’t just about dwelling on what went wrong; it’s about celebrating successes, understanding challenges, and learning from experiences.
Ask yourself and your team: What did we achieve this year, and how did we do it?
What obstacles did we face, and what can we learn from them?
How aligned were our actions with our vision and goals? Taking time to acknowledge accomplishments and identify areas for improvement provides valuable insight, ensuring you build on strengths and address gaps.
The Power of Strategic Planning
Once you’ve reviewed the past, shift your focus forward. A new year is a blank canvas, but successful businesses don’t leave it to chance. Effective planning sets the tone for the months ahead. Start by outlining your objectives. What are the big, ambitious goals you want to
achieve in 2025? Break these down into quarterly targets, ensuring they are actionable, measurable, and aligned with your vision.
Why Plan Now?
Planning in December gives you a competitive advantage. When others are just starting in January, you’ll already be implementing. Plus, it allows your team to return after the holidays with clarity and purpose, avoiding the sluggish start that often accompanies the new year.
Tools for Success Leverage tools like S.M.A.R.T. goals, strategic frameworks, or even workshops designed to support quarterly planning.
Our 90-Day Planning GrowthCLUB sessions, for example, provide a structured environment where business owners and teams can reflect, plan, and leave with a clear roadmap for success.
Looking Ahead
The past year has taught us resilience and adaptability. Use those lessons to fuel your ambition for 2025.
By reflecting on the year behind and planning for the one ahead, you ensure your business doesn’t just survive but thrives.
Take the time now to reflect, recharge, and reset. The next 12 months hold tremendous potential – make sure you’re ready to seize it.
New owners to revamp amusement park
A popular amusement park on the edge of Weymouth has been purchased by a local family-run holiday business.
Fantasy Island at Bowleaze Cove has been a firm favourite with families for years, offering hours of fun with its classic funfair, amusement arcade, slides and soft play.
Kids could enjoy three hours of fun for the price of a wristband – around a tenner –for which they could go on unlimited rides.
However in recent years reviewers have described it as run down, and poorly maintained.
Now it’s set for a revamp, after the Waterside Holiday Group, which runs four holiday parks locally including the one next door to Fantasy Island, bought it for an undisclosed sum.
The group, which owns Bowleaze Cove Holiday Park & Spa next door, plus Chesil
Beach Holiday Park and Osmington Mills Lodge Park as well as Tregoad Holiday Park in Cornwall, is keen to update the attraction while keeping the nostalgic feel. Work to rebrand it will be undertaken over the winter and reopening is expected in March.
NEW ERA: Fantasy Island at Bowleaze, Weymouth, is under new ownership
“We are incredibly excited to welcome Fantasy Island and the Sunset Bar to the Waterside family,” said Dave Bennett, CEO of Waterside Holiday Group. “As a family business that has been rooted in this community for over six decades, it’s a fantastic opportunity to expand our
offerings while preserving the unique charm of Fantasy Island. We’re committed to creating memorable experiences for families, and we look forward to breathing new life into the fairground and restaurant as we prepare for a grand reopening in March 2025.”
BRIDPORT MUSIC CENTRE: 01308 455660
9 Together (3,2,3) 10 Incorrect (8) 11 Pitch (4)
12 Large,crushingsnake (6) 14 Calmanddignified (6) 16 Pace (4)
18 Idolizes (8)
20 Clash (8)
21 Agreement (4)
22 Putabookaway (6)
23 Almostnever(6)
Killer Sudoku
Pro: Place 1 to 9 once each into every row, column and bold-lined 3×3 box. No digit may be repeated in any dashed-line cage, and each dashed-line cage must result in the given value when the stated operation is applied between all of the digits in that cage. For subtraction and division operations, start with the highest number in the cage and then subtract or divide by the other numbers in that cage.
Place 1 to 9 once each into every black-bordered 3×3 area as well as each of the 54 rows indicated by the coloured lines. Rows don’t cross the thick black lines. Cryptic Crossword
22 Computerlanguage,importantpartof Indonesia (4) Jumbo
Long and short term care for the elderly
Primrose Lodge Weymouth is a cheerful residential home popular for its proximity to the seaside. We have a team of highly-trained, friendly and dedicated carers, delivering the highest standard of care and professional support, 24 hours a day.
Come and see for yourself what Primrose Lodge has to offer Call Lisa Summers on 01305 786568 or email lisa@primroselodge-weymouth. co.uk
Can you solve these brain chains entirely in your head? Start with the bold value on the left of a chain, then follow the arrows and apply each operation in turn. Write the result in the box.
Sudoku
Vittles (food & drink)
Karen Broad lives in Burton Bradstock, with her husband and two mad dogs. She ran The Mousetrap in Dorchester, has lived in France and loves discovering new food producers.
Christmas is all but a few weeks away.
Our brief display of ‘seasonal’ weather caused the normal chaos and disappeared as quickly as it arrived, but it so evokes memories of Christmases past. Snow conjures so many memories.
When young, I lived in Essex where winters always seemed harsh, bitterly cold and snowy; bobble hats and homemade woollen gloves, heavy and sodden after too many snowball fights, red cheeks and noses and wellie boots full of melting snow. I have happy recollections of snowy walks in the woods with my children followed by hot chocolate and biscuits, and in recent years a Christmas in France where snow fell for the first time in 20 years and a blanket of snow turned a French Christmas into an enchanted winter wonderland.
Every region in France has different Christmas ‘foody’ traditions and I’ve chosen to show you a Couronne de Noel, (Christmas Crown).
It’s a festive Christmas bread crammed full of Christmas ingredients.
To be enjoyed with a hot chocolate or a cuppa tea and it’s easier than it looks to make.
Je vous souhaite à tous un joyeux Noël
Couronne de Noel
250g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
5g salt
8g instant yeast
50g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
135ml whole milk
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
For the filling and topping
400g ready-made mincemeat
50g smooth redcurrant jam
200g icing sugar
50g almonds
25g glacé cherries. Ready-made marzipan Method
Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other.
Mum’s Kitchen...
Coconut Flapjacks with Chocolate Topping
December is such a busy month, what we all need is a recipe to resort to that is speedy, easy to prepare, and tasty.
Ingredients:
250g salted butter
that the long edge is facing you.
Spread an even layer of mincemeat all over the dough. Roll out the marzipan to a rectangle similar in size to the dough and lay over the mincemeat.
Roll the dough tightly like a Swiss roll from the long end, then make cut in half ‘lengthways’ all the way through leaving one end uncut (like two legs).
FESTIVE FARE; Couronne de Noel
Add the butter, milk and egg and stir the mixture with your fingers until it comes together as a dough. Continue mixing until the sides of the bowl are clean and the dough is soft. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-6 minutes, or until the dough has stopped feeling sticky.
Return the dough to the bowl, cover with cling film and set aside to prove in a warm room for at least 30 minutes and up to one hour.
When the couronne dough has about doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.
Without knocking it back, roll out the dough into a rectangle 33x25cm/13x10in in size and turn the dough rectangle so
150g light soft brown sugar
150g golden syrup
300g jumbo porridge oats
60g desiccated coconut
200g dark chocolate
Method: Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan.
Twist the two lengths of dough together in a spiral, then join the ends to the uncut end forming a ring.
Place the Couronne onto a prepared tin and set aside somewhere warm to prove again for a further 30-60 minutes, or until the dough springs back quickly when lightly prodded.
Preheat the oven to 210C/425F/Gas 7.
Bake the proved Couronne for 20-25 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Heat the apricot jam with a splash of water over a medium heat until runny and brush over the top of the Couronne.
When completely cool, drizzle some glace icing over the top and decorate with almonds, cherries or anything else you like. Delicious! So go and create your own memories – A very merry Christmas to you all.
Lightly butter a 20cm square tin and line with baking parchment, leaving some overhanging.
Put butter, syrup and sugar into a saucepan over a low3 heat and gently melt together, stirring frequently. Pour in the oats and desiccated coconut and stir everything together well. Tip
Vittles (food & drink)
Lizzie Crow – AKA Lizzie Baking Bird – is a self taught baker and has recently moved into her own bakery. She also has a stall outside The Old Ship Inn in Upwey each Saturday. See her scrumptious eats at lizziebakingbird.co.uk or find lizzibakingbird on Instagram.
Handy for surprise guests
Mincemeat Jalousie
Preparing this with shopbought puff pastry makes it a super quick “yikes I’ve people visiting” bake. It’s gloriously simple but easier to make than a batch of mince pies although you can cook individual ones if preferred. Serves 6
1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten 400g mincemeat, one jar 25g almond, sliced
25g Icing sugar
Take the puff pastry from the fridge about 10 minutes before needed. Unroll it and lay it on a flat baking tray. Dampen all the edges with egg. Layer the mince meat down the centre of the pastry leaving approximately 10 cms on the long sides and 2 cm on the short sides.
Take one long edge and pull it over to cover the mince meat. Take the other side and pull it over so that the filling is enclosed. Gently seal the
with Diana Holman
AWARD: Washingpool award from left Simon and Grace Holland and Andrew Batchelor Picture:
Farm shop honoured
Bridport’s Washingpool Farm Shop has been named the top farm shop in the south west.
the mixture into the tin and smooth the surface with a spatula.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and bubbling, then leave to cool completely in the tin. Melt the dark chocolate in a
heatproof bowl in 20-second bursts in the microwave, Spread the melted chocolate over the cooled flapjack. Chill for about an hour until set. Lift out of the tin in the parchment and slice into squares.
pastry edge. Then fold the ends up and seal firmly by pressing the edges together. Roll it over so that the join is on the bottom.
Glaze it all over with egg and sprinkle with almond slices. Cook it in the oven 200C/ gas 6 for approximately 20 - 25 minutes, until golden brown all over.
Dredge with icing sugar as soon as out of the oven. This is best served slightly warm. Just add a gert dollop of
The family business scooped two awards at Taste of the West – best farm shop in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire and Number 1 Place to Go, beating the winners from all the hospitality and retail categories such as fine dining, B&Bs, pubs, delis, street food and butchers to become the overall winner. Grace Holland is a fourthgeneration family member currently working in the shop.
She said: “Winning was so unexpected, we were completely happy with just being a finalist! It really makes me feel proud to be a part of Washingpool.”
Andrew Batchelor, one of the buyers at Washingpool, said: “We are so lucky to have so many wonderful local producers in this area. They make Washingpool what it is. Thank you so much.”
Taste of the West is the UK’s largest independent regional food group. n washingpool.co.uk/ farm-shop
PLEASED TO MEAT YOU: Mincemeant Jalouise
Steve Haywood
Vittles (food & drink)
A historic coaching inn in the heart of Beaminster is offering something a little different – an art gallery dedicated to showing the best of local talent.
Landlord Bryan Greenwood moved in to the Red Lion in the Square in 2021, having run another pub near Salisbury.
The pub was built in 1824 and the coaching house, where the horses would have been kept, still stands.
As a keen artist himself – you can see some of his work in the pub’s gallery – he was keen to provide a space to promote others’ work too, and is inviting local artists to put their work forward for possible inclusion.
He said: “I have three artists in the gallery at the moment. Trai Hiscock does delightful vibrant paintings and has quite a following.
“Then there’s Dave Budden, who does wood carvings, with ammonites and fish.
“Then there’s me. I do a range of artwork – I’ve currently got a two-foot diving board in there, and paintings of ice cream, a kingfisher, a woodpecker… I work in watercolour and coloured pencil – I’ve always painted from when I was a child.”
Bryan and his rescue dog
Tilda – named after the rice –welcome punters five days a
Historic pub is at art of community
week, Wednesday to Sunday, with lovely food, and a monthly quiz on the first Thursday and a live music night, mainly folk, on the
ON DISPLAY: Some of the artworks at the Red Lion
third Thursday. On New Year’s Eve they hold a big bash with buffet and disco – £10, and under-14s free.
There are a few special offers, such as a two-course lunch for £16 Weds-Sat, and Bryan is launching a loyalty card with new food and drink offers every month, starting next year.
There’s a large bar which can cater for large groups and an open fire, plus hearty home cooked food with local ingredients and daily specials. There’s also a sheltered, walled garden and a huge room upstairs with a stage. Bryan said: “We are child friendly and dog friendly –well behaved ones always get a treat!”
Saturday breakfasts are served 10am-12pm and there’s a fabulous Sunday lunch with three roasts (have a trio if you can’t choose) fish and veggie options, 12pm-3pm close at 4pm. Half portions are available for smaller appetites. And there are takeaways if you don’t fancy a sit in meal.
n The Red Lion is at 14 The Square, Beaminster DT8 3AX, open Weds-Thurs 11.30am-2.30pm and 5pm11pm, Fri 11.30am-2.30pm and 4pm-11pm, Sat 10am11pm and Sun 12pm-4pm. 01308 862364
theredlionbeaminster.co.uk
n See the advert on Page 19 for 10% off food until February 2025.
WARM WELCOME: The Red Lion in Beaminster
Vittles
(food & drink)
Sherryn Sanderson is a professional baker who gave up her business to sail the oceans with her husband and dog. Home base is usually Portland Marina, but they are currently circumnavigating the UK. Follow their journey on Facebook and Instagram at September Moon Sailing.
Festive recipes ideal for little helpers
I’ve once again been baking up a storm (no, not Bert) for various fundraisers and seasonal get togethers. Whilst my galley only fits me and really only half of me, I remember the days of baking with little ones in an actual kitchen and all the fun it brought.
Kids love to get their hands into a mix and enjoy sharing their creations, so this month, I have included two recipes that can easily be made with or by children and as a bonus, you won’t even need to turn on the oven.
Chocolate Crackles are a good old Aussie favourite. You won’t go to any party without them.
They are right up there with Fairy Bread (worth googling if you don’t know what that special delight is).
Traditionally, Choccy Crackles only use cocoa but I
like to make them a little more decadent and use melted chocolate as well. And, as it’s Christmas, what’s better than turning them into trees?
Chocolate Crackle
Christmas Trees
4 cups of rice bubbles / rice crispies
¼ cup of icing sugar
½ cup of cocoa powder
1 cup of desiccated coconut
200g coconut oil
200g milk or dark chocolate Christmassy sprinkles.
Melt together the coconut oil and chocolate, either in the microwave or on the stove top, and give it a good stir. In a big bowl, add all the dry ingredients and make a well in the centre.
Pour the chocolate mix into the bowl and stir together gently, making sure all the dry ingredients are well incorporated.
Line a cupcake tray with paper liners and scoop the mix into the liners using your hands to form a tall cone shape.
Add sprinkles to look like Christmas Tree decorations The next recipe is also an Aussie fave at this time of year.
Okay, okay, rum is not best
for children, but adults need a special treat too, don’t they?! (If you don’t like rum, you can substitute any flavouringsuch as peppermint oil, orange zest, coffee etc.)
Rum Balls
250g of plain biscuits
395g tin of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of desiccated coconut ¼ cup of cocoa powder
¼ cup of rum (or flavouring of choice to taste)
Extra coconut or chocolate sprinkles for rolling Crush the biscuits until fine and add to a large mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients. Roll into walnut size balls and then roll into the coconut or sprinkles. Place onto a tray and pop in the fridge to set.
n Wishing you all a beautiful Christmas from our crew to yours.
Ultra-casual vibe at this new Italian eaterie
FOOD REVIEW
Il Nodo, Dorchester
By
John Clements, chef at The Olive Tree, Bridport
The first morning job in the restaurant is to unload the washing machine with aprons from service the night before. It takes at least 15 minutes to unravel the apron-string mega-knot that always emerges. Countless theories on how to avoid the snarl-up. None work. A deep breath, patience and dexterity the only remedy here. Except the one where you pop the machine back on for another cycle, walk away, and leave it for someone else. That works
too. Il Nodo is so new I feel I’ve crashed the party a bit early. It means ‘The Knot’. It’s Italian. It’s in Dorchester and initial reviews are positive. The succinct menu leans heavily on the pescatarian side with a few meat and vegetarian or vegan options. This is a million miles away from your 1980s high-street trattoria.
The space is light, bright, airy and modern. The vibe is ultracasual. Starters and antipasti are dispensed with at lunch, so straight into mains. Choices are various paninis, penne arrabbiata, crab tagliatelle, mixed fried seafood, Mediterranean salad, mussels. We chose steak panini and mixed seafood ‘cuoppo’, like a fish fritto misto. The salad was fresh, interesting and perfectly dressed. A generous lemony, buzzy-garlicky pot of agliata alongside the delightfully crispy cuoppo would have made it even better. It’s very early days for Il
Nodo and early days can be some of the hardest. Everyone has an opinion on how the magic happens. So many things all needing to come together at the right time, in the right order, that it must be easy to get into a right old tangle.
As we left we passed the Italian chef. Jacket on but completely apron-less. No strings attached. Mmmm. There’s a thought. Grazie Mille and buona fortuna Il Nodo.
n Had enough or want some more? Check out The Food Life by John Clements on Substack.
CREATIVE: Chocolate Crackles and Rum Balls
Vittles (food & drink)
Enjoying the Christmas break with
Eat, drink and be merry and not worry about putting on a few extra pounds with these fantastic recipes from Slimming World
Baked ham with cherry sauce and pickled sprouts
The mix of slightly salty meat, fruity sauce and tangy pickled sprouts is a festive flavour sensation!
Any leftover ham will work great in our Christmas mac ’n’ cheese.
4 Syns per serving
2 hours 30 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
and the pickling liquid into a nonmetallic dish and set aside, then drain them when you’re ready to eat later.
1.6kg unsmoked gammon joint, visible fat removed
400g fresh cherries, halved and stoned
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
5 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 level tbsp clear honey
½ tsp ground allspice
For the pickled sprouts:
250g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
100ml red wine vinegar
1 tsp mixed pink and black peppercorns
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
2 level tsp soft dark brown sugar
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
Method
1. Put the gammon in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low, then cover and simmer for 1½ hours (or if a different size, cook for 20 minutes per 450g, plus 20 minutes).
2. While the gammon is simmering, blanch the sprouts in another pan of boiling water over a high heat for 3 minutes, then drain, refresh under cold running water and set aside. Put the remaining sprout ingredients plus ½ tsp salt in the same saucepan and heat until bubbling. Remove from the heat, add the sprouts and toss to coat. Tip the sprouts
3. At the same time, put the cherries in a saucepan with the onion, 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp honey, half the allspice and 150ml water. Bring to the boil and cook over a medium-high heat for about 15 minutes, then set aside to cool a little. Season to taste.
4. Once the gammon is almost done, preheat your oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6. (Now your gammon is cooked, you can call it a ham!) Drain the ham, remove any string, and put the ham in a non-stick roasting tin. Sprinkle with the rest of the allspice and drizzle over the remaining vinegar and honey. Loosely cover with foil and roast for 45 minutes. Slice and serve with the cherry sauce, pickled sprouts and your favourite roast potatoes.
Christmas mac ’n’ cheese
Cosier than a woolly jumper and hammier than your local panto, our festive take on this comfort food classic also has a whole heap of veg and a marvellously mustard-y Cheddar sauce!
Leftover festive ham works fabulously in this dish.
Ingredients
300g dried macaroni
Low-calorie cooking spray
1 large pepper (red, yellow or green), deseeded and roughly chopped
2 medium leeks, sliced
200g baby spinach
250g leftover cooked lean ham, visible fat removed, torn into bite-size pieces
2 level tbsp grated fresh Parmesan
For the sauce:
500g plain quark
200ml skimmed milk
½ tsp ground nutmeg
2 level tbsp Dijon mustard
90g mature Cheddar, grated
4 level tbsp cornflour
Method
1. Cook the macaroni according to the pack instructions (minus 1 minute), then drain and set aside.
2. At the same time, spray a large nonstick saucepan with low-calorie cooking spray and put it over a medium heat. Add the pepper and leeks and cook for 5 minutes or until tender, then remove from the heat and stir through the spinach. Set aside.
3. Preheat your oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6.
4. To make the sauce, put the quark, milk, nutmeg and mustard in a large nonstick saucepan over a medium heat and stir using a balloon whisk until the sauce is smooth. Season lightly and stir through the cheddar. Mix the cornflour with 4 tbsp cold water to form a smooth paste and add to the pan. Continue stirring with the balloon whisk until the sauce has thickened and the cheese has melted.
5. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the macaroni to coat well, then fold through the veg and ham. Turn the mixture out into a 2-litre ovenproof dish, evenly scatter over the parmesan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and bubbling. Serve with salad.
Gazpacho prawn cocktail
This retro starter is still a Christmas Day must-have for many families. A spicy Spanish twist brings it firmly into the 21st century!
Go for reduced-sugar-and-salt tomato ketchup to save ½ Syn per serving.
2 Syns per serving
15 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
5 level tbsp extra-light mayonnaise
5 tbsp fat-free natural Greek yogurt
3 level tbsp tomato ketchup
Vittles (food & drink)
these healthy and tasty festive fill-ups
25g roasted red peppers in brine from a jar, drained and finely chopped
1 tsp lime juice, plus sliced lime to serve
½ red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 6cm piece cucumber, diced
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 little gem lettuce, shredded
225g cooked and peeled king or tiger prawns, thawed if frozen
Method
1. Mix the mayo, yogurt, ketchup, red peppers, lime juice, most of the chopped chilli and 2 tsp water in a small bowl and lightly season.
2. Layer the cucumber, cherry tomatoes and lettuce in 4 wine glasses and pile the prawns on top. Drizzle a quarter of the sauce over each glass and decorate with the rest of the chopped chilli and lime slices to serve.
Raspberry ripple sherry trifle semifreddo
Three classic puds – retro raspberry ripple, boozy sherry trifle and Italian semifreddo – combine to create the ultimate crowd-pleaser.
3 Syns per serving
30 minutes plus 6 hours overnight
freezing
Serves 10
Ingredients
300g fresh raspberries
set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the quark, soft cheese, vanilla, egg yolks and 250g yogurt until combined and smooth.
3. In a large clean bowl, use an electric hand whisk to beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the remaining sweetener and keep whisking until you get stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the quark mixture until combined, then swirl through the raspberry purée.
4. Spoon a third of the quark mixture into a 20cm (about 1.8 litre) pudding basin. Put the sherry in a shallow bowl. Dip 6 of the sponge finger halves into the sherry for 30 seconds so they can soak it all up, then squidge them into the quark mixture in the basin.
5. Reserve a dozen or so raspberries for decorating, then push a few of the remaining raspberries into the quark mixture. Keep layering up the quark mixture, the unsoaked sponge finger halves and the raspberries until you reach the top of the pudding basin. Gently tap the basin on the work surface to make sure the mixture fills it. Level the top, loosely cover and freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight. (Once frozen, you can overwrap in foil and freeze. It will keep for up to 6 weeks.)
8 level tbsp sweetener granules
250g plain quark
165g reduced-fat plain soft cheese
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 medium eggs, separated
375g fat-free natural Greek yogurt
80ml dry sherry
10 sponge fingers, halved
5g toasted flaked almonds
Method
1. Mash 150g raspberries in a bowl with 1 level tbsp sweetener until puréed, and
6. To serve, dip the basin into boiling water for 30 seconds, then upturn onto a plate. Leave to soften at room temperature (this might take up to an hour). Top with the remaining yogurt and raspberries and scatter with the almonds. Cut into 10 even-size wedges to serve.
Streusel pear mince pies
5½ Syns each
1 hour
Makes 12
Streusel is the crumbly topping on these sweet mince pies. Take a bite and feel a warm glow spread right down to your toes!
Ingredients
150g plain flour
65g butter, cut into small cubes
5g hazelnuts, chopped
1½ medium Conference pears, peeled,
cored and finely diced (you’ll need 180g prepared pear)
½ tsp ground ginger (optional)
½ tsp mixed spice
5 level tbsp mincemeat
½ level tsp icing sugar
Method
1. First, make the pastry. Reserve 2 tsp flour for dusting, then put the rest in your food processor along with the butter. Whizz until it resembles fine crumbs. Add 2-3 tbsp cold water and pulse again until it has the texture of coarse breadcrumbs. Transfer 35g to a bowl, mix in the hazelnuts and pop in the fridge for later. Add 1-2 tsp cold water to the processor and blitz until the mixture just comes together. Turn it out, shape into a disc and chill for 30 minutes.
2. While the pastry is chilling, put the pears, ginger (if using) and 100ml water in a small non-stick saucepan. Simmer over a medium heat, then partially cover and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the pears are soft but still holding their shape.
Remove from the heat, use a sieve to drain and return the pears to the pan. Stir in the mixed spice and leave to go cold.
3. Sprinkle the rest of the flour over a work surface, then roll out the pastry very thinly. Cut out 12 rounds with a 7cm cookie cutter, rerolling the pastry when necessary, and use to line a non-stick 12-hole cupcake tin.
4. Preheat your oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6.
5. Mix the mincemeat into the pears, then divide equally between the pastry cases. Scatter the hazelnut crumb mixture evenly over the top of the pies and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and crisp. Allow to cool slightly, then dust with the icing sugar to serve. They’ll keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
The festive season is upon us and blocked drains, blocked gutters, slippery paths and driveways are all nasty surprises waiting to happen!
Valley Drains are available 24-7, 365 days a year, come rain or shine to assist you with your nasty surprises when they pop up or we can help you avoid them by offering proactive
packages to keep on top of the problems. Domestic and commercial and also the farming community. We would like to wish all of our customers past and present a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year and hope the festive season is full of happy times with family and friends. We are available over the Christmas season for any emergencies
A class for sale. Perfect working condition. Space needed. 07823 887511.
WASHER/DRYER – 10 years old, however only been used for seven years (it has been in storage for three years). Good working order with manual. Buyer collects from Portland. £100 ono. 07743 246854, 01305 602336.
Homes & Gardens
Sow much information included
Mike Burks is the MD of The Gardens Group, with garden centres in Sherborne, Yeovil and Poundbury. Mike is a former chairman of the Garden Centre Association and is a passionate advocate of eco-friendly gardening practices. thegardensgroup.co.uk
No matter how many years I have been involved in horticulture, it always amazes me that when I plant a seed, say a runner bean, that it actually germinates, grows and eventually produces something edible.
I just find it extraordinary that in that little, odd-shaped lump that is the seed, is all of the information that is needed for a plant species to perpetuate. The size of the seed from different species varies so much too, which is another source of amazement – the largest that immediately springs to mind would be the coconut.
It is designed not just to carry the genetic blueprint but also to be able to float from one desert island to the next, spreading the population around.
The smallest seed that I can think of would be that of the bedding begonia (B. semperflorens), which is a mass of flowers throughout the summer. Its seed is so tiny that it is often reputed to be more expensive than gold per ounce. I recall a visit to Sutton’s seeds in Torquay as a student, where the ladies on the packing line were joking that they went home each night with a fortune under their fingernails.
Seed also varies in its requirements in order that germination can take place. Some remains dormant until certain conditions are right. Some delphinium, for example, need a period of cold to break the dormancy of seed. This would be achieved
DOWN TO EARTH: Sowing seeds can be addictive
in nature by the winter temperatures and so when the warmth of the spring arrives the plant then knows it’s safe to begin to grow.
Others need a blast of heat and an example of this would be some pine varieties, where the seed sits below the trees in the debris that always accompanies a pine forest. Germination would be useless amongst such debris, but forest fire will clear the space and the heat caused tells the seed that there is now space to grow.
More unusual perhaps is seed that needs a treatment with an acid before it can germinate –some cotoneaster are in this group and such a treatment occurs once the seed is eaten by birds or small mammals –the exposure to the acid occurs in their stomach. To me, such variety of requirements shouldn’t put one off growing from seed as it’s all part of the interest and
the challenge. What helps is that seed packets list the requirements in the instructions and making the necessary adjustment to germination can be achieved with sometimes just a simple lid for the seed tray, whilst the trickier varieties should be possible with a heated propagator.
The early part of the year is a great time to select seeds prior to the new gardening season, which should be not too many weeks around the corner.
The range available is at its peak and if the weather outside isn’t great then come into the centre in the warm and browse the metres and metres that we dedicate to seeds.
The newcomer perhaps should have a go at some easier types. My first seed sowing was a packet of nasturtiums and I also recall sowing radish and then not knowing why on earth anyone found them enjoyable to eat!
Those feeling a little bolder could have a go at something every year that they haven’t tried before – perhaps an annual climber such as morning glory.
I think I ought to warn you though that seed sowing can become addictive.
Remember that it’s also time to choose summer flowering bulbs, and to select potatoes, onions and shallot sets. So plenty to get on with even if the weather may not be encouraging every day of the early part of the new year. It may not seem like it but at some stage we should get a spring!
WANTED FOR CASH!
Vinyl records, old tools,medals, stamps, postcards, ceramics & glass. Any collectable item, anything considered, quirkier the better! Mike 07919 076427
STAMP & COIN COLLECTIONS WANTED
Discerning collector / investor seeks pre-war collections of stamps and coins. Individual items considered. Tel Rod on 01308 863790 or 07802261339
Culture
All happy and settled on the Rock
VIVIANE HORNE meets more of Portland’s people, Portlanders’ and Kimberlins’ stories of migration to the isle, inspired by B-Side’s community project for the next two years Who Do We Think We Are?’
Andrew Cowling is a Fellow of the National Institute of Herbalists (founded in 1864 and the oldest professional association for herbalists) with a vast knowledge of the plants and herbs growing on Portland.
He grew up in Cornwall, moving to London to study at Kings College, University of London in 1968, subsequently working in Social Services.
In 1990 he attended the School of Phytotherapy/Herbal medicine, graduating in 1994. He practised in London until moving to Portland in 1997 for a change of lifestyle and environment – he was already familiar with the isle through having family members in Dorset.
Andrew has recorded around 220 plants with known healing properties growing on the island and has researched extensively and written about these herbs –he will send a pdf to anyone interested.
Antje Becker-Cannons moved to the isle from Swindon in 2017 but is originally from Germany. She had always wanted to live on an island but it wasn’t till she turned 50 she was able to realise her dream.
With an honours degree in art and design/illustration from Cranfield University, printmaking and silhouette paper cut outs were her preferred media until she took courses in stained glass
at New Brewery Arts in Cirencester. Having felt uninspired in Swindon, the move to Portland was to change everything.
Antje immersed herself in the wild environment on the island and was inspired by the light, sea, sky and the changing moods. She walked the island, taking photographs of the tiniest detail, butterflies, wild flowers, raindrops, as well as the great vistas of the landscape, coloured glass reminds her of the sun, sea and sky and she melds all this together to create a flavour of Portland.
Antje says Portland feels like her first true home since leaving Germany 41 years ago.
She loves the sense of community, the enthusiasm to make things happen and how islanders stick together.
She said: “This beautiful, historic and powerful place, never ceases to astound and inspire me.”
Antje Rook moved from Germany to Portland in 2006 after a difficult time of illness and personal changes. She was looking for a peaceful and inspiring place and because her husband is from Poole, they knew the island from holidays in Dorset with their children. It wasn’t long before Antje felt the island was her forever home and wanted to belong. She became a British citizen in 2018.
Antje gained degrees in Social and Feminist studies at Cologne university and trained as a social worker and psychotherapist. She was always creative and from 1992 until 2012 had enjoyed stone carving which
she had to give up for health reasons. She became increasingly interested in art after moving to Portland and now she is a successful textile artist. Although she hadn’t any training with textiles, she learnt by trial and error, soon developing her own style, a combination of appliqué and embroidery, using vibrant colours and recycled material where possible. Recently Antje had the opportunity to work with men from the Bibby Stockholm. She facilitated art sessions for them which she says was a very positive experience, producing surprising artwork and was a lot of fun as well as it being a privilege to meet such brave people who came from unthinkable circumstances yet still managed to be kind, helpful and interested in others.
ISLAND LIFE: Andrew Cowling, Antje Becker-Cannons and, right, Antje Rook
Singers celebrate life of dedicated party animal
The West Dorset Singers will deliver a concert of contrasting choral music at St Swithun’s Church in Bridport on January 25.
The concert will open with Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise written in 1840, followed by Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens written a little later in 1889. By contrast the third piece, Poulenc’s Gloria, dates from 1961.
A spokesperson for the concert said:
“Poulenc was both a devout Catholic and a dedicatedly sinful party animal. These didn’t sit well together in the church’s eyes and his music is similarly full of contrasts.
“He sincerely hoped his compositions might speed his final journey to heaven but worried that it might be to hell.
“As a part-monk, part-playboy, his music
mixes deep spirituality with the sounds of jazzy dance hall bands.”
Under the direction of Matt Kingston, the West Dorset Singers will be accompanied by a professional orchestra and soloists. The concert begins at 7pm on January 25.
n Tickets are available from Goadsby Estate Agents in Bridport and via ticketsource.co.uk/wds
Ridgeway’s traditional tunes and poems
Carols, Dorset songs, dance tunes and poems to celebrate midwinter and the festive season will be performed by The Ridgeway Singers in December.
Formed in 2013 by Artsreach as part of the South Dorset Ridgeway project, the group specialises in Dorset music old and new, in the tradition made famous by Thomas Hardy in Under the Greenwood Tree. Ridgeway Singers are accompanied by stringed and woodwind instruments, and evoke old-fashioned country Christmases when the entertainment was local and home-made.
The group is led by renowned serpent player and Mellstock Band member Phil Humphries and actor and folk musician Tim Laycock.
New to the repertoire are
William Finney’s Anthem for Christmas Day from a manuscript book found at a car boot sale in Bridport, and a setting by Phil Humphries of William Barnes’s poem
Childhood, with arrangements by the late Nick Dunckley.
The concert is being held at St Mary’s Church in Bridport at 4pm on December 15 and the
December 19.
n Tickets from ridgewaysingersandband.org or call 01305 262159.
Story of Lev’s Violin will tug your heartstrings
Theatre and music lovers can follow the incredible story of Lev’s Violin and hear it played by acclaimed violinist Greg Lawson, joined by former Moishe’s Bagel bandmate Phil Alexander, at special village hall performances.
Born with a beautiful sound but no name, Lev’s Violin was valued as worthless. Although its origins remained a mystery, many tales were attached to Lev’s Violin, some true and some wonderfully untrue. Old and worn by its travels, Lev’s Violin eventually broke a few years ago, and the instrument became the subject of a book
by Helena Attlee, Lev’s Violin: An Italian Adventure, which reached many thousands of listeners when it was broadcast as BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week. The violin has since been through an extensive restoration and, having passed through the hands of countless musicians, travelled continents and played the music of many cultures, it is
now in the possession of Greg Lawson.
Hear the story of Lev’s Violin played live: Thursday, December 5 at 7.30pm in Shipton Gorge Village Hall, call 01308 897649
Friday, December 6 at 7.30pm in West Stafford Village Hall, call 07968 633834
Saturday, December 7 at 7.30pm in Chetnole Village Hall, call 01935 873555 n For tickets and further information visit artsreach.co.uk
Rustic
Dorford Centre in Dorchester at 7.30pm on
DOUBLE DATE: Ridgeway Singers are performing in Bridport and Dorchester
Culture
Theatre hosts Dickens classic for festive season
After the success of their first rep season, Gilroy Theatre returns to Lyme Regis’s Marine Theatre with a production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This is the first time in years that the Marine Theatre is staging a Christmas play, marking a resurgence in live drama at the historic venue.
Theatre director Gabby Rabbits said: “I’m so pleased that we’ve got a proper Christmas play happening here in Lyme
Regis. It’s been something we’ve wanted for a while.
“After the positive comments about our summer plays, we’ve now got the perfect troupe of actors. A Christmas Carol always makes me reflect on what’s genuinely important in my life and the true spirit of Christmas.”
Gilroy Theatre has earned a reputation as a company that tells stories well and, as in the summer, it will be performed by a
group of professional actors. For this special play though, they will be joined by members of the Marine Youth Theatre, which runs weekly classes for three to 18-year-olds in acting, singing and dance.
n There are six performances, starting on Thursday, December 19.
For tickets and information visit marinetheatre.com/a-christmas-carol-bycharles-dickens
Author talks of Hardy’s grief
Andrew Norman read and discussed his latest book Thomas Hardy and the Death of Emma – What the writings reveal at Waterstones in Dorchester.
He was interviewed by the chairman and academic director of the Thomas Hardy Society Mark Chutter, answering such questions as why Hardy was so upset by the death of his first wife Emma when they were estranged. Mr Chutter said: “There is a fascination within Hardy studies around the life and his estrangement from Emma.”
Mini-panto goes global?
Oh yes it is!
A Weymouth man’s mini pantos have gone global –with orders coming in from as far away as Australia and Japan.
Mini Pantos are very much shorted versions of traditional pantomimes lasting between one and 15 minutes, which can be performed without rehearsals or costumes – great for work or family gatherings. Writer Iain Campbell now sends them across the world. He said, “Last week I had an order for one from Australia and just this week a buyer living in Hong Kong bought four of them!”
There are 12 available from the well known Peter Pan, Snow White and Aladdin to new ones including Scrooge! and The Nativity Play.
The mini pantos are mostly £24.99 each. Go to minipantos.com or ring Iain on 01305 768446.
Nick’s giving you several kisses for Christmas
Dorset-based musician Nick Capaldi has released a new album for the festive season called 12 Christmas Kisses. Featuring a dozen Yuletide themed songs, all penned by Nick, he told WDM: “I’ve wanted to do a Christmas album for some time but I also wanted it to be different to anything that’s gone before.
“So, I wrote songs about the various perspectives people have around Christmas. Each one portrays a particular theme of the Christmas experience, from the fun we have at celebrations and parties to the more serious business of joining together for Christmas rituals.”
12 Christmas Kisses sees
Nick collaborate with session musicians who have supported artists including The Pretenders, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Elton John. Available through Dorchester based Grinning Dog Records, the album is available on CD, vinyl and limited edition green vinyl, as well as Spotify.
HARDY SOULS: Andrew Norman with Mark Chutter
We left a balanced budget back in May
I write to share deeply concerning news about government funding changes that will severely impact Dorset Council and rural communities like ours. The Government has decided to redirect funding from rural councils to urban and city councils, leaving Dorset with a significant financial shortfall. In the 2024/25 budget, Dorset received £3.2 million from the Rural Services Delivery Grant. This vital funding has now been cut, with the Government proposing councils raise Council Tax beyond the current 5% cap to cover the gap.
For residents already struggling with high Council Tax, this policy change feels deeply unfair. Public services here will suffer, while urban councils—already better funded—benefit. Many of you have told me you feel Council
Tax is too high; under these plans, it could become unaffordable.
This cut will also put additional pressure on Dorset Council’s leadership, who are already grappling with a £13 million deficit since inheriting a balanced budget in May. Without this critical funding, maintaining essential services will become increasingly challenging.
This decision is wrong, and I will continue to stand up for our community and demand fairer treatment for Dorset’s rural areas.
Cllr Craig Monks Beaminster
In Chris Slade’s ‘Walking in Dorset’ article, (The West Dorset Magazine, page 85, November 2024), we are invited to walk SW down the A352 in Broadmayne, from St Martin’s Church to The Black
Dog public house. That should have read ‘south east’. Perhaps Chris had another Black Dog in mind, Weymouth’s oldest pub, which is indeed a south westerly direction from St Martin’s but will result in a considerably longer ramble than the seven mile total he had in mind!
Adam Sykes Dorchester
Friday 22 November marked four years since the previous government’s consultation on pavement parking in England closed. Cars parked on, and sometimes hogging the whole pavement, will be a familiar sight to many.
Pavement parking is dangerous especially for families with young children, people with sight loss and disabled people. A recent poll found that 87 per cent of parents have had to walk in the road because of a
vehicle blocking the pavement. It damages pavement surfaces too.
Living Streets has been campaigning on this issue for over 50 years and it’s high time we saw an end to the problem. Pavement parking has been banned (with exemptions) in London since the 1970s. Scotland adopted a similar approach to London which came into force earlier this year. The Welsh Government has indicated they will take action on pavement parking – but England is way behind.
We hope your readers will join Living Streets and supporters like me, in urging the new Government to deal with the troubling legacy of pavement parking once and for all. Everyone will be the better for it.
Eric Nottley Dorchester
Chesil Champ Dave lands angling trophy
Dave Chidzoy emerged triumphant from a field of 57 entrants to scoop the 49th West Bay Angling Club’s Chesil Champs which took place in November.
This was the first year that the championship was run under a catch and release system using a length to points based on the SAMF system, and Dave’s tally of 559 points earned him the trophy ahead of Gus Parkman and Dave Lane. The anglers fished from the car park at West Bexington to the Dragon’s Teeth at Abbotsbury, in mostly dry conditions but with a cold north-easterly wind.
The organisers were expecting a lot of whiting to be caught with perhaps some cod, but fishing proved to be extremely hard, with just 25 competitors catching fish. Anglers with
AWARD: Dave Chidzoy receives the trophy from last year's winner Dean Francis and Tracey Marley from the Angling Centre West Bay
nothing to show for their efforts were entered into a no-fish draw for a new rod and reel. Cash prizes were awarded to the top five and a pick of the prize table, with prizes also given to the top junior, along with a Super Pool.
Species caught on the day included dogfish, whiting, conger eel, garfish, plaice, black bream and tub gurnard.
1: Dave Chidzoy 559pts 1: in Super Pool
2: Gus Parkman 322pts 2: in Super Pool
3:Dave Lane 310pts 3: in Super Pool
4: Lea Windsor 267pts
5: A Storey 252pts
6: Mark Ayles 246pts
7: Nick Weston 218pts
8: Colin Erscott 185pts
Junior winner: Aaron Chambers 59pts Longest Cod: No cod caught so the £150 prize will be donated to the Angling Trusts National Junior Teams. The club would like to thank you to everyone who donated prizes this year and all those who helped out and took part.
Lions swimarathons now raise £92k
Bridport Lions recently hosted a Swimarathon presentation evening at Highlands End in Eype, with medals, trophies and cups being presented to recognise the fund-raising efforts of those taking part. This was the 28th Swimarathon held by the club and over £2000 was raised, taking the total to £92,000 since the Swimarathon began. All proceeds go to helping people in need in the community.
James Moore from AmSafe Bridport, the event’s main sponsor, presented the awards, and the event also included a raffle and the swimmers enjoyed an excellent buffet. President Clive Greenaway gave three Lionheart Awards to Immy Taylor along with Kiera Vincent-Jones and Leah England from Bothenhampton Brownies to reward their exceptional effort.
Other winners were:
Highest Laps Junior –Salwayash School
Highest Laps under 11 –
Salwayash School
Highest Laps Mixed - Soulfit
Highest Laps Senior – BLC Lifeguards
Highest Sponsor SeniorSwimfit
Highest Sponsor JuniorSwimcredibles
Best Effort by a Youth Team –the three teams from the SEN Swim School, Swimcredibles, Belly Flops and Too Pool for School.
The organisers would like to congratulate all the swimmers
who took part and helped to raise money for such a good cause.
They also acknowledge the support of the event sponsors, who helped to cover the costs of the event. AmSafe Bridport was the main sponsor, with other sponsors ABC Blinds, A J Wakely & Sons, Bridport Lighting, Coneygar Lodge, Freshwater Beach Holiday Park, Gardener & Young, Haddon House Hotel Ltd, Livingston Textiles, Longs
Fish and Chips, Nantes Solicitors & Notaries, Nick Tett Butchers Ltd, RJM Contracts and Son Ltd, Palmers Brewery, Smith & Smith (Bridport) Ltd, The Foxy Cottage, Topsparks, Turner Build Ltd and West Dorset Leisure Holidays. Raffle prizes were donated by Bridport Arts and Crafts Ltd, Framptons of Bridport, Fruit N Two Veg, Olive Tree Restaurant and The Stableyard Restaurant Broadwindsor.
WELL DONE: The SEN teams and right, Keira, Leah and Immy with their awards
The joint managers of Portland United remain upbeat about the team’s prospects for the remainder of the season and beyond, despite the disappointment of a last-gasp defeat to lowly Downton.
Speaking to The West Dorset Magazine after the 3-2 reverse at The Nest, Shaun Bessant and Josh Hickman reflected on the team’s progress since they took on the dual management role in early September.
Josh said: “Looking back, it wasn’t ideal to take over with no close season to work with the players, but we’re really pleased with how it’s going.
“When the previous manager left, the club wanted to maintain some continuity, so they gave us the opportunity to step up from the coaching staff.
“It’s not just us getting used to the players, the lads have to adjust to our style too and this always takes time. It’s certainly a lot easier if you have the close season to work in.”
Josh and Shaun were on the coaching staff at Portland prior to taking on the management of the first team. Josh had been at the
Youth the key for Portland’s joint management team
club for two years, and refers to his co-manager as “Mr Portland” with Shaun having served ten years as player, coach and, now, manager. Shaun was named among the substitutes for the Downton match but did not enter the fray, even when the game was in the balance. Shaun said: “I have clocked up 300
games or so for the club now but it does get harder. If and when needed, I will come on, but I really trust the players we have on the pitch.”
United have had to contend with a fluid squad with many players electing to move on to pastures new, perfectly illustrated by Downton boasting two former Blues,
former captain Josh Williams and Greg Borthwick, who enjoyed a fruitful debut against his old club less than a week after making the switch.
Josh said: “We are in the bottom third for player budgets in the league and there are some clubs with a lot more money than us. We can’t always compete, even if they’re lower in the table, players can still be tempted away with the prospect of earning more.”
Shaun said: “It’s been challenging but we know that players may always be tempted away by clubs who are willing to pay them more.
“We could put an eleven together of the players we’ve lost this season, but I’m really pleased with the young players who have stepped up. They have great attitudes and keep their ears open to advice.
“They will make mistakes along the way but will learn from them.”
“We’ve got no big egos in the dressing room, that’s the last thing we want. I love what we’ve got here with the young group coming through. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Last-gasp own goal spoils Blues’ performance
The Blues succumbed to a spirited second-half fightback at Downton, with an unfortunate stoppage time own goal from Portland’s Ben Holloway, proving the difference between two evenlymatched teams.
Portland took an early lead with their first real attempt, Patrick Jenkins’ precise left-foot strike from 12 yards going in off the post, following a wellworked short corner routine. The away side were much the better team throughout the opening period and seemed to have a firm grip on the game when Brin Doyle pounced to rifle home from close range after the Downton keeper could only parry Freddie Beale’s
curling shot. Doyle’s goal came in the 45th minute, yet there was still time for the Robins to grab a lifeline, with Tom Moseley firing past Tom Jobe with the last kick of the half.
The impressive Beale missed a great chance to restore Portland’s two goal advantage shortly after the restart, when through on goal only to be denied by goalkeeper Hugh Scott. Downton seemed to be lifted and began to impose themselves on the game, enjoying more possession and territorial advantage as the half progressed.
The Blues defended resolutely, limiting the home side to strikes from distance and seemingly weathering the storm,
until Downton were awarded a penalty midway through the half for a mistimed tackle.
Greg Borthwick was happy to take on penalty-taking duties against his former teammates and left Jobe with no chance, firing into the top right corner.
Both teams had chances as the game became stretched and little ill-tempered, with former Blues stalwart Josh Williams receiving a straight red card for a dangerous challenge.
The game looked to be set for a draw, when deep into stoppage time, a high swirling cross, was met by the head of the back-tracking Holloway, with Borthwick in close attendance.
DISAPPOINTMENT: Action from the game PIC Kieron Yeo
Down to earth
I noticed them a few days after we’d moved into the cottage.
I had been rummaging in the understairs cupboard next to the inglenook fireplace and, somewhat overheated by my exertions, I took a breath, leaning against the bressumer beam over the fireplace, and there they were, scratched crudely into a corner of the beam – witches’ marks.
I use the term ‘witches’ marks’ because that is what they are commonly, and incorrectly known as, but I digress and will come back to this point.
They were only really visible from an oblique angle when the natural light from the window fell onto the beam, picking out the lines scored by some former unknown, and superstitious, resident.
A series of boxes, picked out by the thin March light, divided into segments similar to the union flag; the boxes together, five of them, forming the shape of a Greek cross.
By a serendipitous coincidence I had read an article about such marks a few days beforehand, written by an academic who had studied them and published his findings.
My email to him received a courteously swift reply – they were indeed apotropaic marks, ‘merels’ in the shape of a cross, doubling their effectiveness as a sacred and protective geometry. Apotropais is a Greek word meaning ‘protection’. These ritual protective marks were often added to buildings, both religious and secular. The common misconception, that these marks were made by, or for, witches is a complete volte face of the truth – in a time when belief in the supernatural, witchcraft and evil was at its peak, in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, these marks were employed to
KIM BERLIN – A newcomer to the Rock
MAKING A MARK: Apotropais marks were made as ritual protection from witchcraft
The writing’s on the wall for the dark forces of evil
ward off evil and protect the building and those that dwelt therein.
Many of our old buildings have both ritual and secular graffiti. It is very common in churches that survived the worst ravages of Victorian restoration.
Old tombs are particularly fruitful repositories as they were largely untouched by later restorations. The alabaster tomb in St Mary’s at Netherbury, despite being mauled hideously in the Reformation, has hundreds of marks made by people, both seeking divine protection and tourists wishing to leave a mark that says: ‘I was here’. St Mary’s at Puddletown has many Marian marks scored into the stone surrounding the
north door. Marian marks are one of the commonest forms of ritual protection –overlapping VVs that look like a W. The VV stands for Virgin of Virgins, Mary, the mother of Christ. There is possibly another angle to the practice in religious buildings – stone dust harvesting. In his recently published book on reading old buildings, Historic Building Mythbusting, Uncovering Folklore, History and Archaeology, historian and architectural stonemason James Wright records the practice of making marks on religious buildings in eastern Europe, both to leave a protective mark and to harvest the stone dust.
This dust would later be consumed, in wine or beer or perhaps baked into bread, so that the person consuming it would receive divine protection by ingesting part of the building. It is not known if that was the case here – very little is recorded of the practice of leaving graffiti, but it would seem to be a plausible explanation. Tourist graffiti often consists of initials, sometimes a date, or some other device, maybe a heart recording affection for someone. Less interesting, perhaps, than the ritual marks that are shrouded in sacraments that originated in prehistoric times or that crossed continents (many of the devices used can be traced back to the Middle East and Asia Minor in earlier times), nonetheless, both are fascinating records of social history. The anonymity of the people that left them makes them all the more tantalising. The pentangle, which has recently been associated as a modern symbol of witchcraft, began as a Christian sacred protective mark and is present in many old churches, including Malmesbury Abbey. Hexafoils, also known as Daisy Wheels, are also common and are found all across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. If anything, these marks bear witness to our interconnectedness and commonality in belief systems that, on the face of it, seem so different. A curious outlier in the pantheon is the taper mark. A taper was held to a beam and allowed to scorch it, in the belief that by doing so, in a controlled way, a building would be protected from fire. These marks are more common than one might think, often hiding in plain sight, but a tangible link to the hopes and fears of those that were here before us, and present – if you look for them.
A walk on the Wild Woodbury side
A large audience gathered for Sherborne Science Café’s October speaker Daisy Meadowcroft from Dorset Wildlife Trust.
Daisy is a ranger at the Wild Woodbury project in Bere Regis, where the trust has bought 170 hectares of an old farm thanks to a large donation from a benefactor. In the first year of the project, they allowed the land to naturally regenerate, and they saw an immediate increase in biodiversity and abundance, with 1,300 species recorded. In the second year the trust began to re-naturalise the headwaters of the River Sherford.
Much of the site is fed by three springs and should naturally be very wet, encompassing several fields and wet woodland, but the ditches have stopped that, so many were filled in.
Wildlife was quick to take advantage of these new wetland habitats and just a few weeks after the restoration had finished, Wild Woodbury played host to 90 lapwing, 20 golden plover,
and 30 common snipe, all feeding in the newly wetted areas. Amphibians such as common frogs, toad, palmate newt have increased in numbers, as have dragonflies and damselflies. Grass snake numbers are also up, likely
attracted by the wetter areas now on site.
Wild Woodbury now boasts a site list of more than 1,600 species, with new species including the grey partridge, greenfinch and even nightingales – all on the Red List for birds of conservation concern.
The upward trend in ground nesting bird numbers continues from year one, with skylark now at around 50 pairs compared to 18 in 2022, tree pipit increasing from one to seven pairs, and nightjar holding new territories.
The Science Café donated £100 to the DWT along with a generous collection.
PROJECT: Wild Woodbury at Bere Regis
Down to earth
I’ve joined the jet set, by accident
BEACHCOMBING with JO BELASCO BA Hons History of Architecture and Design
Jet is a confusing object. It is made of ancient compressed wood but called a gemstone. It is comprised of lignite, which is the lowest grade of coal but is prized as a precious luxury item and I have found some. I believe it to be the rare and whispered about Kimmeridge Jet – but I found it at Weymouth. It’s important to note that Kimmeridge is an SSI area and nothing is allowed to be taken from there.
I wasn’t looking for jet – in fact I was hyper focussed on taking photos and just happened to notice what I thought was a strange, dark piece of driftwood washed up on the beach. Thought it would make a good display backdrop for my
THE BLACK STUFF: A large piece of raw jet being used as a backdrop to a sales photo and, below, a fragment of jet after I polished it
beachcombing sales pictures. And here it is in all its original glory before it broke into pieces.
Well, yes – NOW I know if I ever find some more jet not to chuck it from outside temperature to warm kitchen
JOHN WRIGHT is a naturalist and forager who lives in rural West Dorset. He has written eight books, four of which were for River Cottage. He wrote the awardwinning Forager’s Calendar and in 2021 his Spotter’s Guide to Countryside Mysteries was published.
Following-on, rather inevitably I think, from my last missive on mistletoe, this month we enter the spiky world of holly, the greatest essential among Christmas decorations.
It is, no doubt, a tree that everyone will know very well, not least from an early and unfortunate encounter with the spines.
temperatures and then out for a wash etc – jet does not take kindly to temperature changes. The thing is, at that point I still had no idea it was jet – not an inkling. It was only when it split open and I casually picked a piece up wondering
what the heck it was amongst my stash of beach booty that I noticed it smooth and gleaming inside, not knobbly and dull as it appeared on the outside.
So, when it dawned on me that I might have found jet I set about testing it.
The various methods for ascertaining if black material is jet include dunking to see if it floats and pricking with red hot needles. There is also the smudge test – rubbing the jet on wet and dry sandpaper. If it shows an auburn colour it is likely to be jet.
But all I found was that it depends what colour the sandpaper is, nothing was definitive. It did not even float but it must have floated to end up on the strand line?
Whitby of course is the worldwide capital for jet. Like us, Yorkshire has a Jurassic coast which enabled the formation of jet. But unlike us, the northern county built a world-renowned business around this mineraloid blackness. It was partly luck and partly volume, as far as I can tell, which divided our fortunes. We may have a little sliver of jet, but they had tons of it!
Straight to the point with holly,
But one thing is not always observed: only the lower leaves are spiky. With the conspicuous absence of giraffes in the British countryside, the tree needs no protection above a couple of metres. The production of spines is at least partly a response to attack from large herbivores.
How leaves, and just about everything else, are formed, is usually down to instructions from the DNA. However, holly trees produce spiny leaves under epigenetic instructions, that
is, those inherited through parts of the cell that are not DNA. This is not a peculiarity of holly, indeed much of the information that constructs and operates our own bodies is held in the same way, passed down the generations in the egg cells of the maternal line. That holly leaves are palatable to large herbivores is evident from the fact the holly needs such defences.
Humans, of course, find a way around this, though not directly for themselves. Holly as a fodder crop has a long history, notably so when open pasture
Down to earth
Sally Cooke lives in Tolpuddle with her husband, two grown-up sons and spotty rescue dog. She loves to photograph and write about the everyday wildlife she sees in her garden and on her daily dog walks. You can follow Sally on Instagram at Sparrows in a Puddle.
Snowy robin does his best to stay warm
‘The north wind doth blow, and we shall have snow’ and, much to our surprise, for one day last month we did! Luckily for me the only thing I had to do that day was postpone driving out for lunch with a friend, so I was able to get my wellies on and enjoy the change in not only how the village looked, but also how it sounded and felt! It was the first time some of the younger children had seen snow and the older ones were very quick to dust off their sledges, it was lovely to hear their squeals of delight. The nursery rhyme warning that ‘the north wind doth blow’, is followed by the concern, ‘what will poor robin do then poor thing?’ Looking out at the garden on that snowy November day it was obvious that my local robins were not sitting out the cold weather ‘in a barn, with their head tucked under
their wing’. Although our garden birds will take shelter in very bad conditions, to keep warm on snowy days they generally need to spend most daylight hours finding food.
oiled from the special gland on their back, then their feathers will be waterproof too.
Providing plenty of high-energy food in harsh weather is known to make a huge difference to our garden birds. I cleared some snow from the garage roof that serves as our oversized bird table and kept it well stocked with sunflower hearts. Robin was there feeding, along with the usual suspects – blackbird, woodpigeon, collared dove and sparrow.
shown fluffy and round, looking fat and well fed, but this is misleading. In cold weather birds fluff up their feathers, trapping a layer of warm air. If they’ve kept up a good preening routine, keeping their feathers well-
It was interesting to see a pied wagtail feeding too, wagtails only turn to seeds when their preferred insects are scarce.
Melting the frozen water in the birdbath was an important job too – birds will eat snow when they can’t find liquid water – but it uses precious energy.
Every other Christmas card coming through the door this December will depict
snowmen, snowflakes and snow-covered scenes, but white Christmases are very unusual in Dorset, no matter how hard we dream about them. Although I took great pleasure in the sudden unexpected beauty of a snowy Tolpuddle, I’ll confess I’d prefer another of the mild sunny Christmas Days we’ve had in recent years, and I’m sure robin would too. But whatever the weather, I hope you have a very Happy Christmas.
one of the more essential decorations for Christmas
was a relative rarity. Most cattle and sheep inhabited ‘wood pasture’, an attractive form of agriculture that to a degree replicated the open woodland that may well have covered much of Britain in prehistory. When there was ‘little winter bite’, as one authority describes it, farmers would feed their stock
on the leaves from high-cut branches. This may not seem as good as hay, but the alternative stopgaps were considerably less appealing.
Stock would have been left ‘to starve on straw, boiled chaff, mashed whins, dry benty grass (Agrostis spp.) and coarse rushes that had been cut in autumn from marshlands’. There might also be an
occasional sheath of oats in late winter when ‘they had reached the limits of endurance’ (Scottish Farming in the Eighteenth Century. J. E. Handley. 1953.) In fact, whins (gorse) were standard fare and presumably palatable once they were sufficiently crushed. But for Holly, I rather like a declaration from the mid-15th century: ‘Lyarde es ane olde horse .... He, salle be putt into the parke holyne for to gnawe’ I am sure you can work it out.
Health & Wellbeing
BEAMINSTER WALKING IN DORSET
with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade
Beaminster is a very large parish so this walk of about 4.5 miles covers only the southern part. We’ll do the northern part on another occasion.
Start at a layby on the A3066 opposite an orchard about half a mile south of the town. Walk north along the road, taking care of traffic as it’s sometimes busy and there’s no pavement. Carry on past the drive to the orchard’s shop and take the next turn on the right, along a bridleway. It goes at first easily along a drive but when past the dwellings becomes a narrow sunken path heading very steeply up Coombe Down Hill between earthen banks and ancient trees. Towards the top, where the
banks are lower, there are lovely views over the town and the landscape to be explored next time.
At the top turn right and head downhill along a bridleway which is soon sunken between massive vertical sandstone banks with murals carved on them here and there. Having passed Coombe Down Farm the path becomes more conventional,
skirting the orchard and then turning right to run parallel with the main road for a short way, then joining it at a place that you might recognise.
Cross the road and join the bridleway that takes you into Parnham Park where you’ll probably soon see venison on the hoof.
The path takes you west across the first field and then to a bridge
over the Brit. Cross it and turn left following the stream. Unfortunately Parnham House is invisible because of woodland. At a junction turn right and head uphill, northward along a ridge, then turn right, south east, and head down a coombe to turn left in the next field and head north east, parallel with the hedge and through a gate to join a lane that takes you down to the town, not far from the church. Turn right and join a footpath that follows several tributories of the Brit until it reaches the road. Turn right and follow the pavement a short distance then right again just before the last house. This footpath takes you south west parallel with the Brit until you come to the footbridge you crossed earlier. You can now find your way back to your car.
Chris Slade
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