You could be eligible for an attendance allowance

Citizens Advice is reminding people who take care of others they may be eligible for an attendance allowance. A spokesperson for Citizens’ Advice in Dorchester and Sherborne said: “With the present cost of living crisis and pressures on the NHS and social care, do you live with someone, or know someone perhaps living on their own, who needs daily help or supervision to look after themselves? “If so, you could be eligible for attendance allowance if you have reached state pension age and have a disability or health condition that makes it hard to look after yourself.

“It is currently worth between £61.85 or £92.40 per week dependent on how much help you need. It doesn’t affect your pension and can be claimed if you are still working.” To apply for attendance allowance call 0800 731 0122 to request an application form.

By Diana Holman

A party is planned in August to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Bere Regis Floral Group. Flower arranging societies have a long history in Dorset thanks to Mary Pope, a member of the Eldridge Pope Brewery family.

Impressed by the garden clubs of America where she spent time during the Second World War, she came home fired with enthusiasm to form the Dorchester Floral Decoration Society in 1950. Picture Post Magazine of March 1952 carried the lavishly illustrated feature written by London florist and teacher Constance Spry about a competition held in the Dorchester Corn Exchange. In 1959, with guidance from the Royal Horticultural Society, Mary Pope went on to start the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies, NAFAS, and became its founder president. Flower arranging societies were forming all over Dorset throughout the 50s, and in 1958 a Bere Regis lady called Maureen Anderson formed Bere Regis Floral Group, drawing an enthusiastic membership of around 50 from the surrounding rural area. The club has flourished through the years and is a member of the Dorset and Guernsey Area of NAFAS, currently one of 17 clubs in the area.

Our present-day club retains the same love of flowers, plants, nature and art that Constance Spry identified in those ladies in the Dorchester corn exchange all those years ago, but how things have moved on with members who compete at national shows like the National Flower Arranging Competitions, Chelsea Flower Show and Malvern Spring