Letters

34 The West Dorset Magazine, February 11, 2022 Letters My concern over oil well application

I hope you will print my letter about the terrible planning application for a new oil well near Puddletown. I can’t believe Dorset Council would even consider this when they have publicly declared a Climate Emergency. It fills me with dread for the future of our planet. In Dorset we have experienced the worst flooding in the last few years than anyone can remember. It is hypocritical to want people to Go Green and reduce our CO2 emissions and at the same time dig for oil in a rural area. It doesn’t stop there, the oil would be dug for over 20 years and every day, huge, dirty oil tankers would take the oil to Fawley Oil Refinery. This will destroy the quiet village, cause more traffic on our roads while dirty diesel goes into the atmosphere. There is no reason to approve this application. I want to urge everyone please, for the sake of this small village, Dorset and our planet to sign the petition to say no to the application to drill for oil in Puddletown from South Western Energy Ltd. You can sign the petition at you.38degrees.org.uk/petiti ons/stop-new-oil-drillingin-puddletown We must all stand together and fight this. I wish you lots of luck at The West Dorset Magazine Yours Sincerely Cath Baker Name and address supplied n Now that we’re getting tuned into covid, folk music sessions are resuming in some pubs. The trouble is that some pubs have closed and some dates have changed. I regularly attend the Sunday evening sessions at the Convivial Rabbit in Dorchester and sessions at the Fox and Hounds in Cattistock and the Red Lion at Beaminster, but there must be many other sessions of which I’m unaware. It would be helpful if leaders and/or landlords could let you know what’s on, when and where so you could publish a diary. This would help keep the music going and the pubs open. Chris Slade Maiden Newton All events welcome! To see your event in The West Dorset Magazine email newsdesk@westdorsetmag. co.uk

n Have you ever wanted to learn to arrange flowers? If so, Bere Regis Floral Group is planning a class for beginners on Tuesday August 9 at 2pm at Winterborne Kingston village hall. This class will be to learn how to do a table arrangement. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 8 at 2pm. Area Demonstrator Lucy Ellis’ title is Opera Goes to the Movies. If it is your first visit to the club, it is free of charge. Diana Holman, Bere Regis Floral Group. 01305 848262. bobdiholman@ btinternet.com

Meet our cartoonist

Our cartoonist Lyndon Wall lives in Blandford and divides his time between his art work, teaching singing and piano at local schools, playing the organ at Moreton (where Lawrence of Arabia is buried) and bagpiping wherever he is asked. (He appeared on BBC South Today during the first lockdown, piping for the NHS). He first received payment for his art as a teenager, drawing signs for London department stores and animals for greetings cards. On one occasion he was asked to draw caricatures of all the guests at a wedding and, to his dismay, following the three weeks it took to complete the commission, one of the couples had actually broken up! On another occasion, a formal portrait of a retired army officer was paid for, astonishingly, with a case of vintage wine... Lyndon’s cartoons have appeared in various journals over the years, most recently Dorset Life and The Dorset Year Book, and have even been sold in charity auctions. He is a member of the prestigious Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain. justsocaricatures .co.uk