The West Dorset Magazine, February 25, 2022
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Culture -
Bagel on the menu with cutting-edge klezmer Expect thrillingly original cutting-edge klezmer and world folk music from some of Scotland’s finest musicians as Moishe’s Bagel bring their performance to Cerne Abbas Village Hall on Sunday, March 13 at 7.30pm. Formed in Edinburgh in 2003, Moishe’s Bagel combines the energy and passion of Eastern
European folk music with the excitement and soul of improvisation. Moishe’s Bagel have notched up sellout gigs at venues across the country and have recordedfour albums, earning them a Songlines Top of the World and Sunday Telegraph top 10 world albums accolade. For tickets ring 07823 778758 or online at artsreach.co.uk CERNE ABBAS DATE: Moishe’s Bagel
Is Harry’s Kane able to survive plague? By Karen Bate newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk
Dorchester Football Club, the Army Camp and Royal Signals Museum at Blandford and Launceston in Cornwall are featured in The Rusting Shires, the debut novel set in Weymouth by Dorset author Harry Walton. The former Dorset Echo journalist, who lives in Weymouth with his wife Hazel, has wanted to write a novel for years. His retirement coupled with covid restrictions gave him the time to achieve his dream. The novel is set in 2048 as the world attempts to recover from a The Red Plague, which takes the planet to the brink of extinction. Using the vast storehouse of abandoned food and goods, mechanic John Kane attempts to rebuild his life in Cornwall. Two women cross his path, 73-year-old Maisie, who might save him from
fraught with danger. The book follows Kane’s survival efforts and find a way of making contact with any viable society left in the world. Harry said: “This novel has been something I’ve wanted to write for a long time. It took retirement and covid restrictions to give it life. I began just after Harry with The Rusting Shires Christmas 2019 and finished in loneliness if he can keep May 2020 after which my her alive and Army fantastic illustrator Kevin communications corporal Frost, a talented painter, Dawn, who might become the love of his life if he can took over and designed the cover while I began to edit find her. the manuscript. But to do either, John must “Various interruptions face lawless gangs, tackle along the way included a journeys through major operation for me and overgrown towns and numerous work trips to villages which have South Korea for Kevin, but become silent graves for we came through and the the dead and survive book was published just escaped big game animals before Christmas 2021.” in a wild countryside
And now Harry, who worked in the Dorset Echo newsroom for almost 30 years, has already completed the draft for a sequel and has the plot outlined for a third book to complete the trilogy. Harry added: “Readers really seem to like it and want more. Fortunately I’ve already written a sequel which I hope will be published later this year. “I’ve also got the plot sorted out for the final part of the trilogy, but at the moment I’m writing a completely different book about a spaceship appearing over Weymouth. The story twist is that the plot doesn’t involve an alien invasion but a test of whether Earth should be allowed space travel. “Finally, I have ideas for a fifth book completely unconnected with the other novels. It will be a love story with a difference.” n The Rusting Shires is available from Amazon or as an eBook from Kindle.