Edition 13
Friday, July 29, 2022
Fortnightly, FREE
The West Dorset Magazine Life’s a beach! Sands are declared some of the finest in the world P15 Concern over historic village pub P25 Plus EIGHT pages of Whasson?, FIVE pages of Sport SIX pages of arts plus puzzles, recipes and more
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Karen Bate News Editor
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karen@westdorsetmag.co.uk
Emma Mitchell Advertising sales manager
Lyndon Wall Cartoonist
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Contact us: News, letters to the editor and general feedback: newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk Display advertising: advertising@westdorsetmag.co.uk Classified advertising (text ads): classifieds@westdorsetmag.co.uk Sport: sport@westdorsetmag.co.uk Post: 15 Stanstead Rd, Maiden Newton, Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 0BL
Stuart Wickham Sports editor
Nick Horton Chief Sub
Miranda Robertson Editor
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Alana Robertson Classifieds
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Dan Goater Reporter dan@westdorsetmag.co.uk
( 01305 566336 Contents: News & features 4-37 Whasson? (events) 6-13 Vittles (food & drink) 34-36 Down to earth 37-42 Antiques & Collectibles 43 Culture 44-49 Home & Garden 50-53
Constituency issues 54 Politics 54-55 Puzzles 56-57 & 71 Health & Wellbeing 58-60 Business 61 Church 62 Letters 63 Sport 64-68 Agriculture 69-71
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
RS! E N N U ST PAGE 3
We’re peachy keen! Dear WDM, I have to commend you on your superb publication. However, I have noticed a disproportionate amount of dogs featured in Page 3 Stunners! There are many other animals of note and while we live in this enlightened age, why do we limit this page to animals? For example, I've never seen a peach, pear or plum featured in this slot, which forgive me for stating the obvious, is inexcusable. Sam Lampard Here you go, Sam! Hope you like it. Would you believe this peach was grown in Maiden Newton? It’s 258g and was grown by our gardening writer, Dr Dave Aplin. Ed
Submit your Page 3 stunnas to newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Orienteering course is set to put fitness back on the map A new orienteering course is being launched in Sherborne. The initiative aims to encourage all town residents to increase their physical activity and use local green spaces for recreation. The course will be officially launched at 2pm on Saturday, July 30 at Sherborne Library by dignitaries from Sherborne Town Council and The Grove Surgery Patient Participation Group. The course, which is open to everyone, is a blend of rural and urban exploration with each course marked by small plaques with letter codes along the route. Using a ‘Maprun6’ phone
app or a waterproof map, orienteers can walk or run the course with the aim of gaining maximum points from as many plaques as possible. Maps can be downloaded and printed from the Wimborne Orienteers website or borrowed from the Sherborne Library or town council offices. Sherborne town councillor and former mayor Anne Hall said: “The course will encourage residents and visitors to get out into the local surroundings to see areas that would not normally be on their radar and having a connection to the outside environment brings many health benefits.” n wimborne-orienteers.co.uk
Water companies A damning new report by the Environment Agency has slated two water companies that serve west Dorset – and suggests some water company executives should be jailed. The 2021 environmental performance report on UK water and sewerage companies said South West Water has fallen to a single star rating, meaning their performance was ‘terrible across the board’. West Dorset MP Chris Loder also piled on criticism of the company, saying their one-star
performance on environmental performance is ‘very disappointing’. Wessex Water – who fell to an overall two-star rating – was also criticised in the report for performing ‘significantly below target’ on serious pollution incidents since 2020. The report said: “We would like to see prison sentences for chief executives and board members whose companies are responsible for the most serious incidents. WEEKEND TICKETS £135
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
are slated for pollution performance “We would also like to see company directors being struck off so they cannot simply delete illegal environmental damage from their CV and move on to their next role.” The report says Wessex Water requires ‘significant improvement’ overall, but it did praise the company for its record on selfreporting and data sharing. The report said South West Water “continued to perform significantly below target” in several areas, including sewerage pollution incidents since 2015, complying with permits on sewage treatment and on balancing supply and
WATER WORRY: Two water companies have been criticised in a report. Inset: MP Chris Loder
demand. According to the report, South West Water was one of “only two water companies” in the country to perform “significantly below target” on the number of pollution incidents they have been responsible for since 2005. South West Water was also slated for its lack of compliance with permits on discharging treated wastewater.
West Dorset MP Chris Loder said: “I have already made it clear during a summit I held with them – in no uncertain terms – that South West Water need to properly address the serious concerns about water quality within its remit. That it has come to this after so many repeated warnings is very disappointing.” A SWW spokesperson said: “We are disappointed to receive this assessment for 2021 and this is not
where we want to be. The investments and changes we are already making across our network are delivering real results, including a one-third reduction in pollution incidents last year.” A Wessex Water spokesperson said: “Having been an industry leader for environmental performance for so long, we are very disappointed at this result for 2021. “However, the Environment Agency did recognise that we had the lowest number of total pollutions for a decade and praised us for selfreporting potential incidents and meeting treatment works compliance.”
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Whasson? (and where’s it to?) Friday, July 29 Drinks in the Clink – Cocktails and Crime is being held at Dorchester’s Shire Hall Museum from 6.30pm. Tickets are £30 per person, and include all your drinks and nibbles. Call 01305 261849 to book or go to shirehalldorset.org The Amateur Players of Sherborne will be treading the boards and performing the Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall classic, Billy Liar at Sherborne Studio in Martson Road until Saturday, July 30. Jessica Colson is directing this popular 1960s classic, which tells the story of Billy Fisher, a young man living with his parents in the fictional town of Stradhoughton in Yorkshire. Billy is idle, dishonest and an uncurable liar. Bored by his dull job as an undertaker’s clerk and his dreary domestic background, he tries to escape by weaving a world of his own out of fantasies and dreams. Billy’s imaginary life becomes so complicated, and he concocts so many different fantasy situations that truth and fiction become hopelessly intermingled. This inevitably lands him in trouble with his family, girlfriends and employers. But when he is given the chance to start a new life, he turns it down, preferring his dreams to reality. For tickets visit thelittleboxoffice.com/aps Rob’s Famous Quiz will be held from 7pm at Dorchester Rugby Club. Rob is back with his popular quiz night. £5 per person, teams of up to eight. First prize £50.
Picnic for autistic youngsters ASCape, a Bridport based charity providing support, signposting, and activities for children and young people 0-25 with autism and mental health challenges, and their families, is holding a bring and share picnic party at Salway Ash Village Hall from 4pm-8pm on Wednesday, August 3. Families with children or young people with autism or social anxiety can enjoy a toy and sensory equipment sale, a cake Cheeseboards available for £20 per team. Booking is advisable. 01305 265692 07570 922614 or visit the club’s Facebook page. Hidden Patterns in the South Dorset Landscape is a talk at Dorset Museum by Jonathan Harwood, who has a degree in social anthropology and spent 29 years in HM Land Registry. The positions of churches in the South Dorset landscape, when connected together by straight lines (drawn from church symbol to church symbol on a map at a scale of 1:25,000) reveal deliberate and meaningful patterns. Jonathan began to explore these patterns in 1997 and, over the years, has
dorsetmuseum.org/whatson
Saturday, July 30 The Cinnamon Trust is holding a fundraiser in Cheap Street, Sherborne from 10am. Volunteer Maggie is running a stall with homemade cakes, dog accessories and lots more.
sale, stalls, outdoor games and nature based activities including art, and a bug hunt. Find out more about the charity at: ascape.club, Facebook: ASCape or email support@bridport.club carefully considered whether these arrangements of churches in the landscape could be the result of chance. In this talk, Jonathan explores his hypothesis that one particularly remarkable pattern encapsulates the, to us, very curious beliefs and practices of Gnostic Christians who were present amongst the villaowning elite in Dorset during the Roman period. In the 17th century, a group of puritans in Dorchester pursued a project to transform the town into the ‘New Jerusalem’. More than a thousand years before it seems that another group was motivated to imprint a scaled-up version of the floor plan of the Holy of Holies of the Temple of Solomon onto the Dorset landscape.
There’s a Unions’ Summer Celebration in Dorchester’s Borough Gardens from 11am. Dorset TUC is inviting everyone to join them for music, speakers and much more. Music on the day will be provided by bands and musicians including Negra Santa, John D Revelator, Shannon White, Dylan Ross, Mustafa Musto and Tijuana – with it all kicking off with Bridport based choir Dorset Red. There’s a tour of Dorchester Water Meadows at 2pm, with Ian Gosling of Dorchester Civic Society and STAND. Find out how the 17th century system of hatches and weirs that created the water meadows were used to manage the land and how they increased agricultural productivity. The walk will start at the bridge at the North end of Friary Lane, Dorchester (SY694909) – the West end of Frome Terrace – for a 3.5 mile walk across the water meadows and over the downland to the North of Dorchester STAND are a group of local people campaigning against the proposal to
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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Whasson? (and where’s it to?) build over 4,000 houses on countryside to the north of Dorchester, which would result in the loss of the water meadows and this important part of Dorchester’s heritage. The event is part of the National CBA Festival of Archaeology 2022 and activities will take place at multiple locations across the town. Weymouth Food Festival kicks off at 10am at Lodmoor Country Park, for two days, closing at 7.30pm both days. With over 60 food, art and drink stalls, live music, children’s entertainment, companion dog shows, cooking demonstrations by our comedy chef duo, dance performances we hope to offer a great day for the whole family to enjoy. A celebration party is being held at Bridport United Church, East St, DT6 3LJ, at midday till 4pm. There’ll be burgers and hot dogs, fairground stalls, fun and games and music. All welcome. Gaggle Fest 2022 is being held at Buckland Newton’s The Gaggle of Geese Pub from noon. It’s a family-friendly day of live music, fun, food and drinks. Bands this year include Stone Groove, Chief Lazarus, The Swamp Stomp Stringband, RaZar, Rip It Up & Fiddleback. Wood-fired pizzas, hog roast, BBQ, garden bar, double-decker playbus, camping and more! Tickets now available from the pub or via ticketsource.co.uk/gaggle
Abbotsbury fete is being held from noon today in Rodden Row, featuring an extra attraction – a vintage vehicle display. Today and tomorrow, 10am4pm, there’s a Dark Ages Weekend at Cranborne’s Ancient Technology Centre. Explore hands-on living history, including meet the Saxon Forager, living history displays & demonstrations, wool washing, daubing, breadmaking, pole lathing, textiles, blacksmithing, young archaeologist—dig for artefacts, storytelling and more. Cranborne Middle School entrance, Damerham Road, Cranborne, Dorset BH21 5RP Adults £10, Children £5, under-4s free Tickets available on the gate and via Eventbrite. Family tickets £30 for two adults and up to five children.
THIS WEEK WEEK’S TOP TEN VINYL INYL SELLERS 1. Frank Sinatra 2. The Beatles 3. Cream 4. Guns n Roses 5. The Ramones
6. Frank Zappa 7. Abba 8. Pink Floyd 9. Rolling Stones 10. Miles Davis
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The Few are performing Back on the Road at The Three Compasses in Charminster, Dorchester at 5pm. There’s an Auto Italian BBQ at Laycock Cider Farm, Sherborne, from 1pm-7pm. Italian car enthusiasts can
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Sunday, July 31 Dorchester Repair Café is being held at Bradford Peverell Village Hall from 10am-noon. Bring your broken things for volunteers to repair. Details on Instagram/ Facebook @dorchesterrepaircafe
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Monday, August 1 Weymouth Town Council will host three spectacular firework displays on the seafront on August 1, 15 and 29 at 9.30pm. The displays on August 1 and 15 will be lower noise displays.
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Whasson? (and where’s it to?) Weds, August 3 Dorchester and District Gardening Club will be welcoming a speaker from the Gardens Group Gold Club for a talk on patio gardens, a guide to growing plants on the patio. The club meets at St George’s Church Hall, High Street, Fordington in Dorchester at 7.15pm. Free entry for members, visitors £4 on the door. There is a bring and buy stall plus a draw, with refreshments available. All welcome. Sherborne Library is running Wellbeing Wednesday from 2pm4pm. This is a free event on the first Wednesday of the month where you can come along to meet new people, start a conversation and enjoy a cup of tea and piece of cake. Email info@totalwell beingmatters.com to find out more
Thursday, August 4 One of West Dorset’s bestloved summer village events, Burton Bradstock Church Fete will be held from 2pm-5pm. A classic garden fete held in the beautiful grounds of Burton Bradstock Rectory and around the village green, the summer fete is back for 2022 after a gap of two years. There will be fun for all the family including a children’s magic show, face-painting, stalls, games, and a Grand Draw, as well as teas and cakes, barbecue and ice-cream to
Vintage market this Sunday Bridport Vintage Market is open from 10am-4pm on Sunday, July 31. The St Michael’s Trading Estate (head to DT6 3RB) will, as always, be an exciting and interesting way to spend your time on the last Sunday of the month, March through to October. Besides the antiques & vintage shops you will find Artist Studios, places to eat, and much more. enjoy. There will be live music during the afternoon and the opportunity to get unparalleled views of the Jurassic Coast from the top of St Mary’s Church tower. Free parking. Entry £1, free for under-12s. Proceeds will go towards providing a community space in St Mary’s. Lyme Regis will host a spectacular fireworks display from The Cobb at 10pm. Lyme Regis harbour offers the perfect setting for an explosion of light and colour with the skies above Lyme Regis seafront illuminated by a stunning pyrotechnic display. Watch from Langmoor and Lister Gardens or anywhere along the seafront near the sandy
So many shops and you’ll discover a hoard of extra eclectic traders. For a comprehensive list or to find out more go to: stmichaelsbridport.co.uk beach. This free event will kick off Lyme Regis Regatta and Carnival week with a bang and is jointly organised by Lyme Regis Regatta and Carnival and Lyme Regis RNLI with funds collected on the night divided equally between the two organisations.
Saturday, August 6 Loders Fete in Bridport will be held from 2pm5pm in the picturesque grounds of Loders Court. There is plenty of free parking on site and lots to do including the return of magician and entertainer Count Backwards, who was a huge hit in 2021. There is some fantastic music from the Bridport Broadsides Sea Shanty Crew and a variety of stalls
and games, including a grand raffle, a silent auction and a crockery smash, tombola, coconut shy, plant and cake stalls, fresh produce and homemade savouries, a tea tent, barbecue and pop-up bar. Dogs on leads welcome. Admission: Adults £2 Children Under 12 free. Lyme Regis Regatta and Carnival Week starts today! The week is packed full of fun events and activities for all the family to enjoy, culminating in the Grand Carnival Procession (see other listings). Over the years many thousands of pounds have been raised for local good causes. Lyme Regis Sailing Club Regatta will be held today and tomorrow (7th) from 10am-4pm at The Slipway, Lyme Regis. There will be a Torchlight Procession at Langmoor & Lister Gardens at 9pm. Family music festival Duck Fest will be held in Charminster in aid of the Ducks & Drakes Cancer Trust today and tomorrow (7th). Great live music, stalls, fun for the children, food and refreshments and a fantastic atmosphere. Camping (tents and campervans) available. Organised by local charity Ducks & Drakes Cancer Trust to raise funds and promote the work of the charity, which was founded to support local bowel cancer patients and boost awareness of bowel cancer signs and symptoms and the importance of an early diagnosis – 90% of bowel cancer cases can be
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
The Chiropody Clinic successfully treated if diagnosed early enough. Visit duckfest.co.uk for more information and the band line-up. There’ll be Brazilian music at Litton Cheney with London-based band Polcas e Boas. Tuneful dance music with Afro-Brazilian flavours. Special refreshments from 6pm, music at 6.30pm. LATCH Village Hall, School Lane, DT2 9AU. Adults £10, children £2, students/UB £5, cash please. Reservations essential, email your names to David on D.Charlton@rhul.ac.uk or phone 01308 482514.
Sunday, August 7 The Big Affair – Upwey’s Summer Picnic – will be held from 2pm in the grounds of Upwey House with food and drink, competitions, stalls, sideshows and music. Children’s fancy dress competition, face painting, welly wanging, tug o’ war, bouncy castle, crazy golf, fairground stalls, raffle. Food from Sourdough Ted’s Pizzas, Lizzie Baking Bird, Hamza’s Middle Eastern Cuisine, Tikka Trak curries. Beer tent. Live band from 4pm. A Family Dog Show will be held as part of Lyme Regis Carnival week at Marine Parade Shelters from 2pm-3.30pm. There will also be carnival Welly Wanging at Sandy Beach from 6pm-7pm. Using the reverse, overhead style of projection, each contestant
will throw two wellies (not at the same time!) filled with water. The furthest throw in each age group will be deemed to have won and will be awarded the coveted ‘golden boot’. Fair play and good humour shall be exhibited at all times. Please note that Welly Wanging is classed as a dangerous sport – keep your eyes open! Entry costs £2 per person. The carnival fun continues with an Adult Quiz Night at Woodmead Halls from 8pm-10pm. Flex your grey matter and pit your wits against others. Town crier Alan Vian will be quizmaster for the night. A fast and exhilarating 30 minute cruise courtesy of Lyme Rib Rides is up for grabs for the winners. Feel the wind in your hair and enjoy the thrills of the boat turning a tight circle. Entry £2 per person, teams of up to six. Bar, car parking on site. Book or turn up on the night. The Three Musketeers will be performed by Boxtree Productions at Maumbury Rings in Dorchester at 5pm. This family friendly musical will be an incredible mix of amazing adventure, magical music, comical characters and swashbuckling sword fights. The whole family will be entertained, from the youngest to the eldest and we will give you an experience you’ll be talking about for years to come! So, pack up a picnic, a low-backed chair or
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Whasson? (and where’s it to?) blanket and join Boxtree Productions in the open air for this wonderful show. Your buckle will have never been so swashed! Young D’Artagnan comes to the big city with one aim: to follow in his father’s footsteps and become one of the King’s Musketeers. When he gets to Paris he meets three of the Musketeers; Athos, Porthos and Aramis. With his new-found friends he must prove himself and try to stop the evil plans of Cardinal Richelieu and the mysterious Milady, but will he do enough to earn his place as a Musketeer? dorchesterarts.savoysystem s.co.uk
Monday, August 8 Treacle Eater North West Clog Morris Dancers and Musicians will be performing in the Square, Cerne Abbas at 7.45pm and at the Hunter’s Moon, Middlemarsh at 8.45pm. Already fed up with your kids shouting at you in the holidays? This one’s for them. Lyme carnival week continues with a Junior Town Crier Competition at Marine Parade Shelters from 4pm-5pm. Loud youngsters from roaring rug rats to teens testing their tonsils have the chance to be crowned the next Junior Town Crier of Lyme Regis. They can dress up as a Town Crier in a tricorn hat, red waistcoat and jabot and make their own scripted ‘cry’ in the performance area while ringing the bell. Glorious. The contest will be hosted
Finale of archaeology festival beckons
HengeFest 2022 will be held at Maumbury Rings in Dorchester on Sunday, July 31, to round off a feast of historical events. From 10am until 4pm the free entry event will celebrate the sacred history of the space and its vibrant history. by current Lyme Regis Town Crier Alan Vian, who has served in this role since 2012. Entry costs £2 per child and every entrant will receive a certificate. Carnival week also offers fossil polishing today, at Marine Parade Shelters from 10am-3.30pm. Join the folks from the Lyme Regis Museum for some seaside fossil fun! Buy a cut fossil at pocket money prices and polish it like a palaeontologist… then take home a personal 200 million-year-old souvenir! All equipment is provided. Candles Down the River will be held at Jericho Bridge for Lyme Regis Carnival today at 9pm.
There will be a pebble labyrinth, Viking axe throwing, Roman displays, medieval grass billiards, bushcraft, storytelling, performance workshops, wild meadow flower talks, nature crafts, wild foraging, nature trails, animal handling, Sponsor a candle in memory of a loved one and watch as it drifts gently down the river Lim in the quietness of the evening as the light fades over Lyme Regis. This very special and moving event has captured the imagination of the many who have witnessed it over the past few years. Candles can be purchased for £3 online, from the Carnival Kiosk in the Marine Parade Shelters on the seafront during Carnival Week and on the night at the event starting point. With each candle purchased you can add a message which will be placed in a “boat” with your candle so that they will float down the river together. Candles are removed from
Dorset butterflies and Dorset hillforts & habitats. Also at the event will be Dorchester Yoga & Therapy Centre, sound gong therapy, reiki taster sessions, hair braiding, live music and performance and trade stands. the river at Jordan Flats. For those unable to attend in person, the event will be recorded and uploaded to the carnival’s website.
Tuesday, August 9 Lyme Carnival continues with a family quiz night at Woodmead Halls from 6.45pm-8.45pm. Teams of up to six, £2 per person. Drinks and snacks will be available from the bar and there is car parking on site.
Weds, August 10 Fancy doing do-si-do and helping to raise some funds for a local charity? Tickets are now on sale for a charity darn dance in aid of the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show’s
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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Whasson? (and where’s it to?) Student Support Fund. This fund, only in its second year, was set up by the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Agricultural Society to offer grants to students entering into agricultural, horticultural, countryside and land-based industries. It offers help with costs towards college or university course fees, books and equipment or even to help meet transport costs of getting to a place of study from a rural location. In 2021 the fund gave out £3,674.76. This year the fund is due to give out over £4,000 from £100 to £1,500 to students of all ages requiring financial help to get onto their courses. The barn dance will be held at the Turnpike Showground at 6pm. There will be music from Black Sheep, one of Dorset’s most popular barn dance and ceilidh band, who have been entertaining audiences across the county for over 30 years. Tickets are £10. Have a dance and enjoy a pizza Book via info@gillinghamandshafte sburyshow.co.uk or call 01747 823955.
Thurs, August 11 A glorious garden is open at Broomhill in Rampisham between 2pm and 5pm for the NGS. Entry £5. The two-acre garden boasts extensive herbaceous borders planted for colour and bees. The lawns lead to an informal area with a large wildlife pond and a
small meadow. The garden has a productive vegetable garden and orchard. There is wheel-chair access. Well behaved dogs on leads are welcome. Delicious homemade teas and quality plants for sale. The Lyme Carnival festivities continue with free fishing boat rides for children from 9am today at the Cobb. Boatmen and fishermen are generously providing short trips around the bay at no charge. The trips depart from Victoria Pier at the end of the Cobb and parents are welcome to accompany small children. There is no need to book, just turn up on the day. Thanks to Harry May, Steve Postles, Rob King and Jurassic Boat Trips for organising this event. A bingo night will be held at Woodmead Halls for Lyme Regis Carnival at 8pm. Grab a dabber, eyes down and watch out for two little ducks. Fabulous cash prizes up for grabs. Drinks available from the bar and there is car parking on site. Doors open at 7.30pm, eyes down at 8pm.
10th & 11th sept 2022 weymouth peninsula This year at SEAFEAST – The Dorset Seafood Festival, you can have your fill of seafood from an incredible selection of stalls. Watch cooking demos from top chefs. Enjoy live music from talented local acts. Try sensational rosé wines from Miraval, delicious beers from Badger and Dorset sparkling wines from Bride Valley, Furleigh and Langham. Learn about ocean health at our BLUE Seas feature and enrol your kids in our free children’s cookery workshops. All while helping to raise vital funds for the Fishermen’s Mission charity.
WATCH LEARN TASTE ENJOY
Friday, August 12 Continuing the Lyme Carnival fun, there’s a disco at the Marine Theatre from 8pm till midnight. Step back in time and relive those glory years! A throwback to Marine discos from years gone by, this is your chance to
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www.dorsetseafood.co.uk
SPECIAL READER OFFER SUNDAY TICKETS JUST £5 (under 16s go free)
To claim this offer you must pre-book online at www.dorsetseafood.co.uk/book/ and enter promo code WESTDORSET.
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Whasson? (and where’s it to?) boogie to disco hits, classic dance tracks and the best of today’s floor fillers. Chris Hutchings of Wessex Star Disco will be spinning the tunes. Tickets £5 per person. Over 18s only.
Saturday 13th August 2022
THE BERE ESSENTIALS LIVE @ AFFPUDDLE Bring a picnic and join us in the Peace Garden, St Laurence Church, for some fantastic music!
2pm start £10 on the gate per adult KIDS ENTRY FREE!
Fireside tales from Wessex: Story-telling with Tim Laycock will be held at Dorset Museum, Dorchester, from 10.30am -11.30am. The first stories that Thomas Hardy heard were local legends and tales, told by his grandmother in front of the fire on long winter evenings. In later life, he included many of the themes and characters in his poems and novels. Tim Laycock tells and sings folk tales and story songs from Wiltshire and Dorset for all the family, accompanying himself on concertina and guitar.
Sat, August 13 Folk group Bere Essentials will be performing in the Peace Garden at St Laurence Church in Affpuddle from 2pm. The event is to raise money for the church. Bring your own picnic. Admission is £10, children free. A Grand Jumble & New to You Sale will be held at Glanvilles Wootton Village Hall DT9 5QF from midday to 4pm. Clothing, linen, bric-a-brac, books, toys, household etc. Admission £1, refreshments available. Jumble etc. to Jenny 07974 590927 or Graham 01963 210632. Proceeds to Holnest Church Funds.
Lyme Carnival week continues with a Gig Club Regatta at The Cobb at 11am. Then there’s the Grand Carnival Procession from Broad Street from 8pm – one of the biggest highlights of Carnival Week. The procession makes its way down Pound Street, Broad Street, through Cobb Gate and along the seafront to Cobb Square. Entries will include individuals and groups, local organisations and businesses plus majorettes. Judging of entries takes place in Holmbush Car Park at 7.30pm. Full details on how to enter the procession can be found at lymeregiscarnival.co.uk/ takepart Awful Auntie by David Walliams will be performed at Dorchester’s Maumbury Rings. The book has been adapted for the outdoor stage and is a truly thrilling tale. Owls, ghosts, chases, escapes, motorcycle rides, and tiddlywinks all fill Stella’s days as she evades her menacing aunt and saves the family home. Bring a blanket or chair to sit on and a picnic. dorchesterarts.savoysystem s.co.uk A family fun day is being held at Dorchester Rugby Club from 1pm-4pm, with free entry. Bouncy castle, Hansel and Gretel band, barbecue, children’s games and more. Just turn up – free parking. Email your events to newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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Shingle-minded prof’s praise for beach An American professor and beach expert has praised the fine sand of Weymouth beach and the impressive geology of Chesil Beach, saying he has “never seen such super fine sand around the British coast and very few beaches in the United States have it.” Dr Beach, or Professor Stephen Leatherman from Florida International University in Miami, gave the sand 4.5 out of 5 for whiteness, adding: “California has some great beaches but not sand like this. This is super.” The prof’s criteria for judging beaches uses 50 points to establish the ranking. The current top beach is Ocracoke Island Beach in North Carolina. Of Weymouth, he said: “Another impressive point is how safe the beach is. No rip currents, no shore breaks, a gentle, sloping angle. “The main three important points are clean sand, clean water and a safe beach – this beach in Weymouth has all of these and I would rate this very highly indeed.”
SANDS OF TIME: Prof Stephen Leatherman on Weymouth Beach
He toured Chesil Beach from one end to the other and was in awe of its length and its general scale and in some places the height and steepness of it. He said Chesil is so well known around the world “I had to come and see it myself. “It was more spectacular than I imagined. It was bigger, higher and steeper – especially at the Portland end. It has been a great joy to come here. There is nothing like it in the world.
Beach basks in Lyme-light
Lyme Regis Fossil Beach has been named one of the top ten beaches in England. According to the 2022 best beaches index compiled by Holidu, the West Dorset beach comes in at number ten on the list.
Elsewhere in the county, Mudeford Sandbank came in at number six and Hengistbury Head Beach was ranked seventh. The number one spot went to Bossiney Cove in Cornwall.
“It was a great experience.” He added: “Today seeing the gradation of pebbles from pea size at West Bay to potato size at Portland has been enlightening. I
PIC: GEOFF MOORE
have taken samples for scientific research at three points along its length which will be measured, recorded and assessed when I return to Miami.”
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Shire Hall’s ticket donation to make ends meet Dorchester’s Shire Hall Museum is lending a helping hand to families struggling to make ends meet this summer. The former courthouse museum has donated 80 family tickets to local food banks and schools to help the community during the cost of living crisis. The museum has also cut the cost of a child’s ticket to £1 during the summer holidays. Museum director Abbie King said:
“With the cost of living rising, we know that the summer holidays will be difficult for a lot of families. “As a social justice museum, it’s really important to us that we support our community, who mean so much to us. This is why we’ve made the decision to reduce children’s museum tickets to £1 for the summer holidays.” Families visiting the museum can dress up in period clothing in the
Georgian courtroom, explore the historic cells and discover stories from the past using the museum’s interactive guides. This summer holiday is also the last chance to view the museum’s Agatha Christie exhibition, which closes on September 2. The exhibition explores the life and works of the crime writer, featuring books and artwork. n shirehalldorset.org
County Show gears up for comeback
After a two-year hiatus caused by the covid pandemic, Dorset County Show returns on September 3 and 4. Organisers are preparing to welcome 60,000 visitors back to the Dorchester showground in Cokers Frome. Visitors will be able to enjoy a full programme of events and attractions across the two days including the main ring, 500 trade stands, and 6,000 exhibits from a variety of sections including livestock, horses, homecraft and horticulture. Nicki Ralph, chairman of Dorchester Agricultural Society, said: “We’re delighted to announce the Dorset County Show is back this year. We’ll see the return of all the major attractions the show is known and loved for, such as cattle and livestock, sheep shearing, vintage tractors, show jumping, shopping, and plenty of good food and drink. “It’s important to the society that the show continues to offer great value for money and appeals to people of all ages and walks of life. “Attractions such as the live music in the
SEE EWE THERE: Dorset County Show is returning with two days of events and attractions on September 3 and 4
Countryside Area, the fun fair, local artisans’ tent, as well as the Fabulous Food and Farming learning zone, make ideal family entertainment. We hope to see lots of new visitors this year, as well as those returning who have enjoyed the show for many years.” The Dorset County Show, which is 180 years old, showcases ‘excellence in agriculture’ and supports
local farmers and producers. Many Dorset-based artisans will be trading over the weekend offering products such as gin, cider, cheese and jewellery. The show takes place on the first weekend of September 2022 and ‘Early Bird’ tickets go on sale later this month. Children under the age of 16 enjoy free entry. For more information about the show visit
dorsetcountyshow.co.uk n Dorset Agricultural Society’s annual charity night takes place on Wednesday, August 31, with the chosen charity to be announced. Other events being held by the Dorset Agricultural Society later this year include the Dorset Sheep Dog Trials on September 10 and 11, a ploughing match on October 2 and the Winter Show on November 26.
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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Coast path back on track after work Two sections of the Southwest Coast path have been restored and reopened following damage caused almost 30 years ago. Major cliff falls and landslides in 1995 and 2001 between Lyme Regis and Stonebarrow left walkers being diverted from the path onto a road diversion following the A3052. But now the coastal pathway has been fixed, with Lyme Regis Golf Club allowing public access to a newly created path between Lyme Regis and Charmouth. Dorset Council said it worked with the golf club, the local community and Southwest Coast path volunteers to design a new route that is both safe and
GET WALKING: Paul Mellor of The Lyme Regis Society, Tara Hansford of Dorset Council, Gary Holpin, SWCP volunteer and Allan Swannell of The Lyme Regis Society
takes in breathtaking views of the county coast. Tara Hansford, Dorset Council’s strategic outdoor access development coordinator, said: “The path is clearly marked by signposting and a newly surfaced path from both
Lyme Regis and Charmouth taking you around and across the golf course and through woodland. “Where necessary the path is protected by a safety fence to protect you from the occasional flying golf ball.
“In the woodland you travel through three parishes and will encounter two coast path parish boundary markers – one by local craftsman Alex Brooks celebrating the stunning local topography and the other by local artist Greta Berlin celebrating local archaeologist Mary Anning.” The work was funded by the Rural Development Programme England (RDPE) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), the Southwest Coast Path Association and Dorset Council. Parish boundary markers were funded by the Coastal Communities Fund through the Dorset Coast Forum.
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
A beaver has been born in West Dorset for the first time in more than 400 years. Trail cameras at a beaver enclosure on Dorset Wildlife Trust land have captured images of the new kit and his mum. The adorable little kit can be seen exploring the waterlogged woodland created by its parents after they were released in the area in February 2021. Dorset Wildlife Trust worked with partners from the University of Exeter and Wessex Water to undertake a scientific study to assess all the impacts beavers make on the natural environment, including river flow, water quality and biodiversity. Since the beavers were introduced to the wildlife trust’s West Dorset site, they have built dams to create a wetland to suit their needs and provide a habitat for other species, such as frogs and newts. DWT rivers conservation officer Steve Oliver said: “We have been closely monitoring the pair since their release and it has been clear that they have formed a strong bond in the time they have been on site, and this latest discovery is further evidence of this, alongside their industrious dam building activity. “The trail cams have only identified one kit so far, but beavers can typically
DAM GOOD SHOW: One of the first beavers to be released in Dorset and inset with her kit
DWT eager to show first beaver born in 400 years
have one to four kits in a litter, and we are discreetly observing their activity to see if any others have been born.” He added: “Seeing the first kit is an incredibly exciting moment for the project and breeding is a clear indication of normal behaviour and that the adult pair are healthy and happily settled. “This local project is an
enormous step forward on the journey to restore beavers to Dorset, helping us to raise awareness and understanding of what it means to have these influential mammals back in our county. “Beavers have the potential to make a huge difference to our natural environment and can assist nature’s recovery as well as providing other
benefits for humans.” A wildlife trust spokesman said the Eurasian beaver, once native to Dorset, has the potential to reduce flooding through its construction of dams. n To find out more about the Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Beaver project, visit dorsetwildlifetrust. org.uk/BeaverProject
Brace of golds for pioneering village pastry producer A Crossways pastry maker has scooped a brace of golds at the Taste of the West Awards. Dorset Pastry, on Hybris
Business Park, saw its Premium Fine Puff Retail 325G and its Premium Shortcrust 325G receive top honours in the Savoury
Bakery category. The family-run business has been going for more than two decades and was the first producer of organic puff
pastry in the world. They use traditional pastry-making methods, with no additives, preservatives or stabilisers. n dorsetpastry.com
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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Hospital’s volunters are honoured Volunteers from Dorset County Hospital (DCH) were treated to a summer tea party as a thank you for their hard work. More than 50 volunteers gathered at Sunninghill Prep in Dorchester for an afternoon of fun and games, plus sandwiches, cakes and refreshments by Dorset Delights. DCH chairman Mark Addison and chief nursing officer Nicky Lucey presented service recognition certificates to those who have completed between three and 25 years of service. Nicky said: “They are a truly wonderful group of people who give up their time to help our patients,
WELL DONE: Patient experience lead Ali Male, chief nursing officer Wendy Lake, Nicky Lucey and volunteer co-ordinator Louisa Plant and, right, Ruth Bell, with 20 years’ service
staff and visitors. From helping people find their way around the hospital to playing a game of dominoes with patients in day rooms, they are a vital part of Team DCH and I don’t know what we would do without them.” Among those receiving certificates were Ruth Bell for 20 years of service with the Friends of Dorset
County Hospital and their longest serving volunteer, Wendy Lake, for 25 years. Hannah Robinson, volunteer and patient experience lead, said: “We are so grateful for our volunteers and all they do.” She added: “Our volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds and the experience and skills they bring to the hospital are
greatly valued. There are a variety of roles available, and we’re committed to supporting our volunteers and making sure they enjoy their time with us. If anyone is interested in joining Team DCH as a volunteer, then please get in touch.” To find out more email volunteering@dchft.nhs.uk or call 01305 255351.
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
United we stand as thousands visit
LABOUR OF LOVE: Angela Rayner writes her tribute in the visitors book joins the wreath-laying ceremony and, right, meets photographer Steve Pallant
By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk
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Thousands swarmed to the little village of Tolpuddle to hear fantastic, moving speeches and heartfelt music in what was retiring organiser Nigel Costley’s (pictured left, above) final year at the helm of the Martyrs’ Festival after 27 years. Nigel, 65, said: “The first time I came down I arrived Sunday morning to see residents busy tidying flower beds and buttering sandwiches. “It was just a one-day rally in those days, but now it’s full on hard work all year round. But the festival has such a lovely spirit and such a great team – what’s not to like?” Nigel spent much of his
teenage years on the Devon-Dorset border “so it felt like a bit of a home for me”. He became immersed in trades unions early on, and became a union official before joining the TUC as a staff member full time in 1996. The Tolpuddle Martyrs’ festival was then run by a small agricultural committee in Dorset. Nigel said “I was a trades union official and didn’t know about organising festivals and bands. It got bigger and better and we learned lots of lessons – it’s still developing. “The festival is hopefully an important part of educating and inspiring people and it’s been an honour to do this job.” He added: “Tolpuddle isn’t a hotbed of unionism but we’ve come to work
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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Martyrs’ Festival
SAY HELLO: Jeremy Corbyn with Katherine Percy from the museum Pictures: STEVE PALLANT
books and plays. together well with the community. Bands and Nigel said: “The festival contractors say they’ve has followed the trials and never been treated better at tribulations of unions a festival, generally, with because we battles with value the Communists work people turning up at the do. rally during the “I’m still Cold War and going to be tensions in 1984. very much “This year I feel involved – as if we’re on the I’m not going move again, to walk away heading for an from this autumn of great event. industrial action. ON SONG: Billy “But Ines “We were Bragg and son Jack Lage is struggling to taking over and will bring squeeze in all the different fresh ideas.” unions that wanted to be The earliest photo the TUC involved this year – the has of the event is from the BMA’s junior doctors 1920s – possibly 1918, came for the first time. when the arch was erected. “There are now 30 In 1934 the rally went all different unions that out, with huge events in support the festival. Dorchester and Weymouth “We need to be strong and as well as the village, with solid and support them.”
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Lights, camera and attraction: Why From sweeping period dramas to gritty murder mysteries, West Dorset is rapidly becoming one of the most popular locations in the UK for film and TV productions. Lyme Regis features prominently in the new Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion and will return to the big screen next year in the new movie Wonka starring Timothee Chalomet. Meanwhile, a little further along the county coastline, Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley has been filming scenes in Portland for a new Disney movie. So, with West Dorset now appearing on the big and small screen more than ever before, what is it about our quiet little corner of England that is so appealing to Hollywood producers and TV streaming service studios? You don’t have to spend much time walking along our county’s beautiful Jurassic Coastline to see why it may be the biggest draw for filming location scouts. When the executives behind TV murder mystery Broadchurch were looking for a beautiful yet imposingly rugged stretch of coastline as the backdrop for the discovery of a body, they chose the cliffs at West Bay with
STAR TURN:Kate Winslet filming Ammonite at Bell Cliff with the set top right, and below, right, Matt Lucas filming Wonka in Lyme Regis Pictures: Rob James/lovelymeregis.co.uk
some help from the National Trust. Harvey Edgington, the trust’s senior filming and locations manager, has overseen production logistics on numerous film shoots including Poldark, Bridgerton, Persuasion and Broadchurch. Describing his role, Harvey said: “Typically – for example on the recent production of Persuasion a location manager will phone me up after they’ve read through a script and seen that they need two or three beach locations – and they will want to see every
A POTTED HISTORY OF DORSET ON FILM AND TV n n n n n n n n
2022, New Daisy Ridley movie for Disney filmed off Portland coast 2021, Enola Holmes 2 at Dorchester prison 2021, New Netflix show Sandman at Sandbanks 2021, Star Wars spin-off show Andor for Disney+ at Winspitt Quarry, Worth Matravers 2021, Persuasion at Lyme Regis and Burton Bradstock 2021, Wonka at Lyme Regis 2019, Ammonite at Lyme Regis and Charmouth 2016, Dunkirk in Weymouth harbour and Swanage
location you have that would suit. “For Persuasion they literally just wanted a beach, so we shot in part at Burton Bradstock, doing a lot of what I call walking and talking shooting. “There was also one swimming scene, so there needed to be a safety team in the water. “The production also had to pay for a bench that was outside of the time period to be removed from the site and then put back after shooting.” Harvey said: “When a suitable location is found
you need to think about logistics – where are the film crew going to park? “There’s likely to be no electricity outlets, so crews will need to bring generators. “When shooting at the coast, the tide is another issue. You also have to think about public access to the land during filming will it be safe? “For example, when I was working with the producers of Broadchurch, they asked for help finding a suitable cliff for the scene where the body is found.
n 2016, On Chesil Beach at the location of the same name n 2013 to 2016, Broadchurch n 2013, Far From the Madding Crowd at Sherborne, Mapperton and Beaminster n 2012, Brad Pitt seen filming for World War Z at Durdle Door n 2008, The Boat That Rocked off Portland n 2008, episodes of EastEnders shot in Weymouth n 2004, Nanny McPhee at Durdle Door n 1998-1999, TV show Harbour Lights n 1980, The French Lieutenant’s Woman on The Cobb, Lyme Regis n 1961, The Damned, starring Oliver Reed, in Weymouth and Portland
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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we’re the go-to place for TV & film
ON SET: Filming at Lyme Regis for Persuasion and, right, Timothee Chalomet on the set of Wonka and, inset below, Dakota Johnson filming Persuasion
“We found a location they really liked but the cliff was too unstable for filming, so we had to find somewhere else.” Harvey, who also worked with film crews at Charmouth for Kate Winslet movie Ammonite, added: “When a film or show comes out, we always try to piggyback on the social media publicity. “We co-ordinate with producers so we don’t spoil anything, but we do try to capitalise where possible. “Even when Countryfile has aired on a Sunday, we see an uptick in visitors to that film shoot location afterwards. “The benefits for communities from local filming is the extra visitors and the boost to the economy. “For Persuasion,
and most film shoots of a similar size, there’s about 150 people coming to town and spending their money, that includes caterers buying food locally and set designers buying building materials locally.” Bristol-based Creative England is another body that helps film crews shoot in West Dorset. Charlotte Wood, production liaison manager for Creative England, said West Dorset played host to three ‘high end’ TV
productions and two feature films last year, including Wonka and Persuasion. She added that so far this year there has been one ‘high end’ TV series and two feature films being shot in the county. She said: “The UK film and TV industry is booming and the South West region has a lot to offer to production. Dorset is just over two hours from the main production hub of Bristol. Dorset also hosts a number of famous landmarks and locations, including the iconic Durdle Door, the Cobb in Lyme Regis, Chesil
Beach and Gold Hill in Shaftesbury along with a number of stunning stately homes, idyllic villages and sweeping rural countryside. “The amount of filming in the area is also further testament to the filmfriendly attitude of Dorset Council. The county has long been a popular county to film in and will continue to attract productions to the region.” A Dorset Council spokesperson said: “We are always happy to support film production when the shooting location is on our land, such as when Wonka recently filmed on Lyme Regis’s Cobb, or when Dunkirk shot a scene on Weymouth Harbour a few years back. “We are broadly supportive of the increased number of productions coming into the county, and look forward to welcoming more in the future as it benefits our local economy and can help boost tourism.” Photographer Rob James, who runs lovelymeregis. co.uk and has photographed numerous stars working in the town, added: “The popularity of Lyme Regis in particular as a filming location is undoubtedly due to its spectacular natural beauty, offering filmmakers a stunning backdrop. “The unspoilt nature of the town, with the Cobb area in particular unchanged over time, provides those looking to produce period dramas the perfect film set.”
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Dorset’s first-ever live and interactive coding day for children will be held this September and schools across the county are being urged to take part. Held on September 15 during National Coding Week, the Dorset Coding Day is for children in years 5, 6 and 7 and aims to inspire future digital whizzes. Cllr Jill Haynes, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for Corporate Development and Transformation said: “We hope to see schools across the county sign up to this exciting event, which aims to inspire their pupils about coding and encourage them to explore the opportunities digital can offer. “It’s our vision to make the county a digital place and to achieve that it’s crucial we encourage our young people to work in digital
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Pupils’ lessons in cracking the code industries and to do that here in Dorset.” The Dorset Coding Day will run two sessions, covering computer programming topics in the Key Stage two and three curriculums. Run by Barclays Digital Eagles, the online sessions will enable schools to join in
virtually from across the county. IT specialists from local tech companies can also be part of Dorset Coding Day. They are invited to attend a school in-person to talk to the pupils and share their own experiences of using coding in their careers. Kevin Garner, Barclays
Head of Code Playground, added: “We’re delighted to be supporting Dorset Coding Day. Events like this can equip young people with new digital skills and gives schools the opportunity to introduce pupils to the exciting world of coding.” Since the beginning of 2021, over 25,000 primary school pupils have joined the Barclays Digital Eagles’ monthly Code Playground sessions, building coding confidence and preparing them for the careers and jobs. Schools and IT specialists that would like to sign up to the Dorset Coding Day can register their interest by emailing digitaldorset@ dorsetcouncil.gov.uk Dorset Coding Day will also feature as part of this year’s Festival of Future in October, showcasing digital innovations.
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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Concern for historic pub ‘left to rot’ By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk
A former councillor says she is ‘disgusted’ nothing is being done to save a historic pub from being ruined. But the current councillor says hope may be on the horizon, though it may not ever reopen as a pub. The 1585 Bottle Inn at Marshwood – for years the venue for the famous nettle eating championships – has been closed since 2019, when its owner Michael Brookes died. His widow Pauline moved to Australia and it has since lain empty. Villagers say Paul Clement Richards, otherwise known as ‘Snapper’ – a colourful character who holds directorships in several businesses – has been removing items from the
Left, Jacqui Sewell (pic by Sandra Hutchings) and right, the Bottle Inn is looking unloved
building – most notably the ridge thatch – and it is being allowed to rot. Jacqui Sewell, who was previously councillor for the area, said: “I am disgusted it’s been allowed to disintegrate. I lived in Marshwood and brought up my daughters there and have such happy memories of the pub. “We keep asking questions but all we get is words.” Jacqui says the council could
exercise its right to buy the building under a compulsory purchase order. However the current councillor for the area Simon Christopher says action is being taken ‘shortly’ and that three separate departments of Dorset Council are working together on the issue. He said: “I am actively involved and planning, legal and enforcement are involved. “I anticipate that the matter
will move forward shortly given all the efforts the officers are making. “Many pubs have been converted to residential, some others to other commercial uses. It’s not for me to speculate on the motives of any present or future owners.” Cllr Christopher added: “The local hospitality sector has had certain difficulties. However I’m very pleased that the Broadwindsor pub has reopened – my wife and I donated money towards that and it’s terrific, but that’s only been made possible because of the cooperation of Palmer’s Brewery. I like many others have a great concern for the listed building and the site.” A Dorset Council spokesman said: “Our planning enforcement are currently investigating the situation.”
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Transports of delight for classic car members Members of Transport of Yesteryear, Dorset gathered at The Victoria Inn in Chickerell, with 25 cars forming a static vehicle display. The club has had a busy year
hosting and taking part in various runs and visits and welcomed two new members at their meeting. The group will meet again at The Victoria Inn on Tuesday, August 2 at 7pm for another static display
and anyone interested in joining are invited to come along. The club is holding a Picnic Run on Sunday, August 7 starting Dorchester’s Top o’ Town car park at 10.30am.
Futuristic project brings 5g to coast A ground-breaking telecommunications project that uses drones, AI and robots to help Dorset’s farmers has won an award. The 5G RuralDorset project was highly commended in the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) awards in the Future Places category. A spokesperson for the project, led by Dorset Council, said: “From farming robots to the world’s first coastal connected 5G buoys, the 5G team’s work is proving how next generation connectivity can make rural areas like Dorset better places
to work, live and visit. In farming the team has used drone imaging and sensors to show that crop irrigation and weed control can be more efficient and environmentally friendly. “The team also used digital imaging and artificial intelligence to monitor the wellbeing and productivity of cattle herds. “And in aquaculture, underwater cameras have been used to assist fishers and farmers with crop and water quality, saving both time and money.” To improve coastal safety for
both residents and visitors, the 5G team installed the world’s first standalone 5G network along the Lulworth coastline. This network can feed live data on sea temperature and wave heights back to information signs located at tourist hot spots. The digital signage also informs the council and emergency services about the number of people on the beaches and using the car parks, helping to reduce the risk of incidences. An added benefit has been the ability to equip Lulworth First
Responders with communication tools that have 5G data coverage so they can make emergency calls. To further improve coastal safety, 5G sensors have also been installed along the Jurassic coastline to monitor cliff movement and potential rock falls. The 5G team has also been looking how tech can be improve the wellbeing of Dorset’s elderly and vulnerable residents. It has provided devices that can help inform carers of their loved one’s movements and fluid intake.
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Sunflowers to help hospitals here and in Ukraine Dorchester is bursting with brightly coloured sunflowers to raise money for Dorset County Hospital’s Kingfisher Children’s Unit and Cherkasy Hospital in Ukraine. Summer of Sunflowers is all about putting a smile on people’s faces and helping good causes. Everyone is welcome to view the spectacular sunflower displays that are hanging across South Street, adorning shop windows and growing in Borough Gardens. And a scenic walk boasting sunflower pavement stickers is leading people from the town to the Sunflower Trail, which raised nearly £25,000 for Dorset County Hospital’s
HELLO YELLOW: The sunflowers at Maiden Castle Farm
Special Care Baby Unit last year. This amazing spectacle is back again at Maiden Castle Farm, nestled at the foot of the historic Maiden Castle, the largest prehistoric hill fort in England.
Trail organiser Hazel Hoskins said: “It was fantastic last year seeing the thousands of people who visited the farm to see the sunflowers. Judging by all the pictures we saw on social media we like to think we helped families make some
special memories. I’m over the moon with the amount of money we raised last year and glad to see that sunflowers are appearing in the town centre too to extend the magic and increase the money we raise.” Dorchester Town Council has funded the town centre sunflower displays and organised the sunflower shop window decoration competition and hope these sunflowers will add a welcoming vibrancy to the town this summer. The sunflower festivities will be up until the end of August. If you would like to donate, please use this link: gofund.me/eacdafbe
Angel of the South idea circulates online By Dan Goater Would Dorset benefit from an Angel of the North-style sculpture overlooking its rolling fields – an Angel of the South – if you will? It’s a question that’s prompted some lively debate and interesting responses after it was posted on social media site Reddit. Posting in the r/Dorset subreddit, username VirusRelative asked if the county would want or benefit from a large sculpture ‘like the Angel of the North or the Elizabeth landmark’. The top response asks if the Cerne Abbas Giant or Weymouth’s King George statue count as significantly iconic structures, with another user replying: “Cerne Abbas dude is a million times better than the Angel of the North.” Talk of the Cerne Abbas Giant prompted another user to write: “This thread is making me imagine a Harry Hill-style dust-up between the Angel of
the North and the Cerne Abbas giant – ‘I like them both, but which one is better? There’s only one way to find out. FIIIIIGHT!’” Other commentors took the post more seriously, with one user saying the idea of installing an Angel of the North style sculpture in the county is ‘an interesting thought’ but that the authorities would have to be ‘very careful of the location’. Another user said that any new sculpture should be ‘near enough to a town that they would get some benefit’ from
passing tourism trade. Dorset-based sculptor and photographer Steve Pallant said he would be in favour of an Angel of the North style structure that dominates the right rural landscape. He said: “I had a similar idea to this a while ago after I visited the Five Marys burial mounds in Chaldon Herring. “When these mounds were excavated, in one of the barrows was found a man and a woman with deer antlers on their shoulders, showing they were clearly wearing cloaks. And in another barrow,
archaeologists found a single male with antlers on his shoulders. “I thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be fantastic if you saw these antlers on the hill overlooking these burial mounds?’ “I made a maquette of what I envisioned, but we would be talking about antlers up to 50 metres tall with a viewing area inside one of them. I thought it would be an interesting way of telling the story of what was found in the barrows.” Steve added: “We have Hardy’s Monument, it’s not really a sculpture like the Angel of the North but it shows how prominent a monument on that scale would be on the horizon. “I’d love it. If it was built right, I think that would be fantastic. “Some people would say: ‘Let’s leave sleepy little Dorset as it is’ but people said the same thing about the Angel of the North before it went up. “Some people hated that idea at first but now people love it.”
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The renowned Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show will be putting big smiles on show-goers faces when it returns on August 17 for an action-packed programme with a new star attraction. The world-famous motorcycle spectacular, The IMPs Motorcycle Display Team sponsored by Fuel10K, will be performing dynamic stunt displays and a deathdefying fire jump, with the youngest daredevil just five years old. And from two wheels to four legs, for the first time in 15 years, the much love Grand Parade of Livestock with champion cattle and sheep of the 2022 Show, will parade in the Main Ring. Horse fans will love the Heavy Horse Village, with heavy horse competitions in the morning and demonstrations by these gentle giants of the equestrian world in the afternoon. Faster on their feet, polo ponies will be put through their paces as Dorset Polo puts on exciting match displays throughout the day. From prize ponies and star sheep to champion cows, some 500 competitions for livestock lovers and keen equestrians will be open to enter. Livestock classes include rare and minority breeds so visitors to the show can expect to see some wonderful animals hoping to be awarded a coveted trophy. And if you can’t ride it or show it, you can make it, bake it or grow it with more than 2,000 entries expected in the horticulture section,
SHOW-TIME: The IMPs Motorcycle Display Team and, below, junior jockeys and a winner in the main ring
Show returns in a blaze of glory in action-packed day
displayed in the 80m long marquee. From massive marrows to flawless flower displays – it’s a rural delight. Event organiser James Cox said: “The three H’s – horticulture, homecrafts and handicrafts – are such an important element of The Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show. “It shines a spotlight on the amazing creativity of our county, whether it’s brilliant photography or
mouth-watering Victoria sponges. “We are always blown away by how skilled and artistic the entries are. It just proves that the great pleasure of rural pastimes lives on.’’ James added: “This spectacular parade sums up what this countryside show is all about. Our aim this year has been to put livestock and agriculture truly at the heart of the show. This is an event
where business gets done in the agricultural sector, which will now have agricultural and rural businesses on all four sides of the ring. “This is just the start. We have more new acts and exhibitors to confirm in the next month. The phone just doesn’t stop ringing. “Visitors are in for an even greater day out this year!” n For more details visit gillinghamandshaftesbury show.co.uk
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A charity working to eradicate motorcyclist deaths will be riding out en masse to raise vital funds on Sunday, September 25. Last year some 200 motorcyclists took part in the DocBike event, raising £3,000 and it is hoped bikers will join this year before storing their bikes away for the winter. This year’s event will give participants two ride-out routes to choose from, including a 30-mile route from The Churchill Arms in Alderholt to Henstridge Airfield, along with a new 40-mile route from West Bay, which also finishes at Henstridge Airfield. Refreshments will be available to purchase at both start locations from 8.30am to 10am, with all participants needing to sign in for the ride-out by 10am. The finishing point at Henstridge Airfield is once again set to be a fantastic occasion, with music, refreshments, a selection of stalls to browse and a grand raffle with some amazing prizes which have kindly been donated by local businesses in Dorset. DocBike receives no direct funding from the
REVVING UP: Motorcyclists arriving at Henstridge Airfield in 2021
Bikers all ready to ride out to boost life-saving mission
Government and relies on the generosity of the public to continue their life-saving work, which puts highly trained trauma doctors or critical care paramedics on two wheels, to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads due to motorcycle collisions. With the Dorset ride-out being the charity’s only fundraising event, DocBike is hoping that anyone who registers to take part will also use the opportunity to make an additional donation or raise a minimum of £25 through sponsorship.
Dr Ian Mew, a co-founder and trustee of DocBike, said: “The DocBikes have become a familiar sight in Dorset and our work here is inspiring others around the UK to help keep bikers from being involved in crashes. “Our volunteers give their time for free, but the equipment that we need to undertake our life-saving work is expensive. “To make a real difference, we need the public’s help to raise much-needed funds for the charity, so we hope that people will show their support by registering to
take part in our Dorset ride out. “I would like to say a big personal thank you to everyone who has made this event possible and to each and every person who donates to help us save people’s lives in the community.” To take part in the Dorset ride out and support DocBike, simply register online via the charity’s website: DocBike.org Registration costs £10 per person and includes automatic entry into the grand raffle.
Vouchers for pensioners with less than £10,000 in savings Pensioners are urged to apply for the government’s Household Support Fund before the cash is gone. Citizens Advice in Dorset is working with Dorset Council to administer the funding which is now available to pensioners who are on a low income and facing steep cost of living increases. Funding project leader Nina Downes said: “The government has allocated funding for pensioners to help with the increase in the cost of living and spiralling energy
prices. If you’re a pensioner living in the Dorset Council area and are on a low income, we urge you to apply for the fund. It’s easy to apply and if you’re not online, there are other options available.” You can help an elderly relative, friend or neighbour who could be eligible by telling them about the funding and helping with the application. The online application asks for proof of ID and providing pensioners do not have savings of more than £10,000, a
supermarket voucher will be issued. Nina added: “It’s really important people apply now before the funding is no longer available. There is a time limit, so we want to encourage as many pensioners as possible to apply. This is not a grant, they don’t need to pay it back, it’s a voucher to help with the cost of living increase.” Apply at dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/householdsupport-fund or call into your local Citizens Advice office for help. Call the Dorset Adviceline on 0800 144 8848.
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Aidan on the march to say thank you A retired engineer is walking the South West Coast Path to raise money for the Southampton Hospital Charity after ‘miraculous’ surgery meant he was walking within days of a spinal stroke. The coastal path Aidan Smith is walking is the equivalent to scaling Mount Everest four times. He said: “One Saturday in 2019 I was doing some DIY on my house when I suddenly felt immense pain across my shoulders. “Within the next 15 minutes, I couldn’t move my left arm or leg. “It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. “My wife Anita was out, but thankfully we are really close with our neighbours. “I used our WhatsApp neighbours group chat, and they came to help, calling 999 for an ambulance. I was taken to Dorset County Hospital but as they didn’t have an operating MRI scanner, I was transferred to University Hospital Southampton. Scans
STRIDING OUT: Aidan Smith is walking the South West Coast Path to raise money for the hospital which cared for him
showed that I had suffered from a spinal stroke. “One of the blood vessels in my spinal column had burst, causing a blood clot and subsequently, my stroke and immobility. “Surgery was booked for the next day, so I spent a night wondering if I would ever gain my mobility back again, or how long it would take to recover. “The surgery was nothing more than miraculous!” Aidan added: “They withdrew the blood clot from the back of my neck,
and by the time I came out of recovery, I could move my left arm. It was that quick. Next day, physiotherapists got me up from bed and walking with a frame. I was not steady at first, but I just improved from there, slowly increasing the distance. “I was discharged on the Tuesday and have fully recovered thanks to the incredible care and treatment I received in Southampton. Within just a few weeks, I could walk up to four miles which, when I
was waiting for ambulance, I never thought would happen again.” Aiden lives along the south coast and before his spinal stroke, had already begun walking the 630 miles of the coast path. But his efforts were put on hold after the coronavirus outbreak in 2020. In June 2022, Aidan clocked up 164 miles and is now completing the remaining 480 miles of the 630-mile stretch. Aiden said: “I am going to be completing the last 480 miles in support of Southampton Hospitals Charity. The path has fantastic scenery, although it is not flat by any means. “Walking the entire South West Coast Path is equivalent to scaling the world’s tallest mountain four times. That’s right, with 115,000 feet of ascent and descent the path rivals the likes of Mount Everest.” n To support Aidan visit: justgiving.com/fundraising/ aidan-smith17
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These pages contain some very flash A well-known former local press photographer from Portesham has been named Photojournalism/ Reportage Photographer of The Year for the South West Region. Marine photographer and writer Steve Belasco, 64, whose wife Jo writes for the West Dorset Magazine, was recognised by the British Institute of Professional Photography in their yearly regional image competition. Steve also picked up BIPP merits for his shipping images – one for Last Of The Liners in the Photojournalism category and two in the Industrial Photography category: Approaching The Anchorage and Tugs At Twilight. His winning image shows a bottlenose dolphin apparently jumping to challenge a huge ship. It was captured in Weymouth Bay in January this year. Steve named the image So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, a witty reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, when all the dolphins elected to leave earth shortly before its destruction. Father of two Steve worked for the Western Gazette and then the Dorset Echo as a photographer before becoming a sub editor. He has most recently been working as a freelance production journalist. But he never stopped snapping and has in recent years released two books of his amazing images of Dorset from a different
n Steve’s prize-winning shot So Long and Thanks for All the Fish
perspective – shots taken from his boat. He also currently has work on display at Duck’s Farm Shop in Portesham, the Ilchester Arms in Abbotsbury and the Kings Arms in Weymouth.
Dorset From the Sea: The Jurassic Coast from Lyme Regis to Old Harry Rocks was released in 2015, and he has since released a limited edition, Portland from the Sea, which is almost sold out.
Steve said: “It’s taken long enough to get there but at last I can call myself award-winning… Just before my retirement!” The British Institute of Professional Photography Awards, which is the
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photography by prize-winner Steve
Approaching the Anchorage and, right, Tugs At Twilight
PRIZE GUY: Photographer Steve Belasco and, above, his latest book and the BIPP award. Right: Last of the Liners
leading qualifying body for professional photographers, celebrates the very best international photography, highlighting some of the most creative established and emerging talent. This award
recognises the excellence in standards above all others. Talking about this year’s submissions and the winning image, CEO Martin Baynes said: “The quality of this year’s entries was very high, with
many wonderful and creative images in all genres. Myself and the judges were blown away by the talent and creativity shown.” Steve’s third book, called The Jurassic Coast from
the Sea, covers the entire Jurassic Coast from Poole to Exmouth. All images are available to purchase. The book is due out around now – email stevebelasco16@gmail.com or go to stevebelasco.net
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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. Its official, this country is ‘weather’ obsessed! Yes, it was hot, but seriously, how many of you can remember the summer of 1976, when there was no rain for four months and we basked in 15 days of relentless scorching sunshine and soaring temperatures? I remember it well, as I was in labour. Give it a month and it will be the beginning of the storm season, and colour-coded warnings will be issued with possible ‘threats to life’. Walking down the road can be a ‘threat to life’. Like me, you have probably experienced reduced appetites during the hot weather? There are a couple of reasons for this, firstly, your body is fighting to keep itself cool. All our body’s functions create heat, especially the digestion, so a body that is working hard not to overheat will shut down your appetite to lessen its load. The other reason
IDEAL FOR SUMMER: The ham hock terrine
When it’s too hot, time for the hock
is that slaving over a hot stove is ‘not’ an attractive prospect, that’s reasonable! In countries more accustomed to heat, they have adapted the way they eat. Little and often! Lots of ‘picky’ foods, tapas for example, tempting one’s appetite, including salty hams and pickles, increasing the need to drink. A trick adopted by medieval Andalusian
taverna owners, the saltier the meats, the more alcohol consumed. Centuries later it’s a technique still used today in various guises. Today I have come up with an easy, refreshing, and cheap recipe to enjoy with a lush green salad and sour dough toast. Ham hock terrine 1 ham hock (cheap joint from the butchers)
Mum’s Kitchen... Raspberry, Ricotta and Hazelnut Cake This unusual cake might also work well with blackberries as these come into their season Ingredients 100g blanched hazelnuts 200g caster sugar 175g plain flour 2 teaspoons baking powder
3 eggs 250g pot of Ricotta 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon 150g raspberries Method: Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan. Spread the hazelnuts out on a baking tray and roast for around eight minutes or until they are golden. Set them aside to cool.
Half a jar of gherkins Few capers (optional) 3 Leaf gelatine Baby carrots, blanched 4 tablespoons of cider vinegar Tarragon and parsley Wholegrain mustard (optional) Method Boil the ham hock for a few hours, or until meat falls off the bone When cooked remove hock from the liquid and allow to cool. Do not discard liquid. Strip the lean meat from the bone, discarding fat. In a bowl chop the ham. Chop the capers and gherkins, herbs and mustard and add to meat. Mix and Season with pepper. Bring one litre of the fluid to the boil and add vinegar, to boil reducing liquid by half, add gelatine. Line a terrine dish with food safe cling film Layer the hock mix, adding the cooked carrots for colour and texture. Pour over liquid and refrigerate until set.
with Diana Holman Reduce the oven temperature to 170C/160C fan. Put the cooled hazelnuts into the food processor with 1 tablespoon of sugar taken from the measured 200g and whizz until the nuts are finely ground. In a bowl, stir them into the sugar, flour and baking powder. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, ricotta, vanilla and lemon zest until it is soft and fluffy. Add to the dry ingredients and gently
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Vittles (food & drink) Lizzie Crow – AKA Lizzie Baking Bird – is a self taught baker, who has a stall outside her home in Upwey each Saturday. See her scrumptious eats at lizziebakingbird.co.uk or find lizzibakingbird on Instagram.
Use my loaf and enjoy a perfect picnic Picnic loaf 3 large tomatoes, sliced 1 orange pepper, sliced lengthways 1 yellow pepper, sliced lengthways 1 courgette, sliced into 5mm rounds 1 aubergine, sliced into 5mm rounds 1/2 red onion, sliced in 5mm rounds 4 tbsp olive oil Dried basil Salt & pepper 600g round boule or crusty cob 3 tbsp vegan mayonnaise 2 tsp vegan pesto Switch the oven on at gas 6/200C. Place each of the prepared vegetables on a lined baking tray. If you keep the veggies separate you can layer according to the rainbow. Drizzle olive oil over the top, sprinkle with dried basil, salt and pepper. Pop them in the hot oven for about 20 - 25
back up in the cling film and it’s ready to go. Macaroni cheese cups
minutes until softened. Cut the top off the bread and scoop out the crumb. Leave the crust relatively thick so that the loaf holds together. Mix the mayo and pesto together. Add salt and pepper. Spread the inside of the loaf and lid with this mixture. Layer the cool vegetables, beginning with the tomatoes, in the base of the bread. Follow with yellow pepper, orange pepper, courgette, aubergine and finish with onion on top. Pop the lid on. Wrap the entire loaf with cling film and keep in the fridge for two hours (or overnight if you prefer). Next day cut into 8 pieces and wrap it
fold together until combined. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line with baking parchment. Spoon half the cake mixture into the tin and sprinkle it with 75g raspberries. Spoon over the remaining cake mixture and top with the other 75g raspberries. Bake for around 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. If you wish to make a drizzle topping (and save wasting the fruit of the lemon!), mix the squeezed juice of the lemon with 80g caster sugar and drizzle it over the hot cake.
12 hole muffin tin 25g butter 25g flour 200ml milk 200g tasty cheddar (plus 25g for topping) 1/4 teaspoon paprika Salt and pepper Optional 100g cooked bacon, cut into small pieces (optional) 2 eggs 25g flour 140g macaroni, cooked according to the instructions 20g breadcrumbs 1 tbsp butter for greasing the tin Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat. Pop in the flour and cook for around a minute. Add the milk in 3 batches – making sure that the flour absorbs the milk before adding more. Include the cheese, paprika, salt &
pepper and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes. This is where you use the bacon. Give it good stir and allow to cool slightly (10 minutes). Add the eggs and macaroni. Grease muffin tins well and fill each with a tablespoon of macaroni, top with a few breadcrumbs and a sprinkle of cheese . Fling in the oven (gas 5/190C) for 15 minutes. When cooked take out and leave to cool for about 15 minutes. Using a flat bladed knife around the edge of each one loosen and turn them out. Allow to cool and store in the fridge overnight. n Make breadcrumbs with the bread you scoop out and put them in the freezer. Whenever you have a dish with a cheese topping sprinkle over the top for a crunchy finish. Lizzie is at the Old Ship Inn at Upwey each Saturday. Follow her on instagram: lizzibakingbird. lizziebakingbird. co.uk
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Vittles (food & drink) A feast of epic proportions is set to be served up at Seafeast, The Dorset Seafood Festival, on September 10 and 11 at the Weymouth Peninsula. Miraval Wines is a new sponsor this year, and will be delighting festivalgoers with their delicious French rosé wines. Produced from grapes grown in Provence, the irresistible Miraval Rosé has a beautifully fresh taste with subtle fruity aromas that are a real palate-pleaser. Don’t miss their masterclass tasting session and food pairing demo, on the main stage each day. This year there will be a trio of fantastic Dorset wines to enjoy. The Dorset Sparkling bar will be serving English sparkling wines from Bride Valley, Furleigh and Langham. There will be a wine tasting session each day, with the brilliant Susy Atkins as host, giving the audience the chance to sample all three wines. For beer lovers, Hall & Woodhouse will be on hand to serve Badger beers, and back by popular demand, they will be hosting fun and informative Badger beer and cheese pairing tutorials on the stage. As always, the festival, sponsored by Miraval Wines, Hall & Woodhouse, Weyfish and Dream Cottages, welcomes some of the top names in seafood cookery. Chefs, local fishermen, fishmongers, top seafood organisations and well-
FISHY TAILS: There will plenty of demonstrations at the Dorset Seafood Festival
A feast of epic proportions ... and we’ll sea you there!
known names from the fishing industry will bring the peninsula alive with knowledgeable talks and entertainment. Two cookery theatres, live music and, of course, the seafood village, means there is something for
everyone to enjoy. The children’s cookery school was a huge success last year and it returns in 2022. Weyfish, Weymouth’s harbourside fishmongers, will be supplying the fresh fish to be cooked by the
chefs in the cookery theatre. They will also have their own Dorset zone, fine dining from Catch restaurant, street food from the Hatch, fresh shellfish pots and of course oysters galore, not to forget their fresh fish counter. The festival puts an emphasis on responsiblysourced seafood from the region where possible. It also helps raise money for the Fishermen’s Mission charity, and has raised more than £80,000 to date. Find out more at fishermensmission.org.uk You can book tickets at dorsetseafood.co.uk/book, when you can also donate to the charity. n Please see the Seafeast advert in this edition of West Dorset Magazine for a very special reader offer on Sunday tickets.
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Down to earth
Saturn leading return of planets suite Kevin Quinn is a Dark Sky Custodian for the Cranborne Chase Dark Sky Reserve who lives in Piddletrenthide. Read his blog at theastroguy.wordpress.com August is a special time of the year with regard to all things ‘night sky’. The weather’s still warm, the nights are getting a little longer, and there’s what is probably the best meteor shower of the year (the Perseids, although this year the peak coincides with the full moon). However, what I’m most excited about is the return of the planets to the evening sky (at a reasonable hour, that is). Saturn will lead the way, appearing (low in the south east) just after sunset at the beginning of the month, but higher in the sky as the days go by, and will be followed by Neptune and then Jupiter. Saturn and Jupiter will be easy naked-eye objects, whilst Neptune, which lies to the right of Jupiter (about a quarter of the distance between the two gas giants), will require at least a pair of binoculars to see. By midnight Uranus and Mars will join the show. During the recent heatwave, I struggled to sleep, as I’m sure did many others. I got up and went out at around 3.30am, walked up out of the Piddle valley, and had a look at the solar system. The view was astounding: the Milky Way was bright,
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W MARKS THE SPOT: Look between the large 'W' of Cassiopeia and the Great Square of Pegasus to find the Andromeda galaxy (Messier 31)0
if a little hazy, but Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Venus were blazing away brightly, especially the latter. Close inspection of one of the photos I took with my phone revealed a dim Neptune. The power of the technology we carry around with us is truly mind boggling. Anyway, while it’s nice to be able to spot one planet in the sky, seeing several at the same time, contemplating their positions in their orbits relative to the Sun, visualising the tilt of the ecliptic (the flat plane upon which the planets lie), and then comparing that with the galactic plane of the Milky Way, all combine to
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instil a mind-boggling sense of scale and belonging to a greater whole. That’s true of the night sky generally, but really comes across when one sees the clockworklike solar system in action. Something else to look out for is the return of the Andromeda galaxy (Messier 31) to the evening sky, currently rising in the north-east around 10pm. At 'only' 2.5 million light years away, and with a diameter around six times that of the full moon, it's an easy spot from a reasonably dark site, but is actually best viewed with a pair of binoculars, such as 10x50s. Look for it between the large ‘W’ of Cassiopeia
and the Great square of Pegasus – use the accompanying photo, or a star map app on your phone to help find it. To the naked eye it appears as a small fuzzy patch, but with binoculars the inclined galactic disc, complete with dark dust lanes, becomes apparent. See if you can see Andromeda’s satellite galaxies, M32 and M110, as well … three galaxies for the price of one!
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Down to earth
BEACHCOMBING with JO BELASCO BA Hons History of Architecture and Design
Not having an ‘outdoorsy’ childhood and growing up in the suburbs of London, the moon did not feature much in my life. The moon to me was a romantic accoutrement in songs and stories. A full moon was a symbol of magic with its connections to werewolves and (luna)tics and that was about the limit to which the moon touched my life. The first shift in this thinking was learning to sail. My day skipper theory course was the first time I thought of the moon in a practical rather than literary sense. The moon affects tidal pull and therefore is a vital factor in passage planning. But still I never really took to sailing (unlike my husband) but prefer to beachcomb. Getting a growing awareness of the tides and the moon phases enhances beachcombing but is not essential like it is in sailing. Knowing that the full moon and the new moon bring spring tides where the tide, springs fast from very low to very high helps you plan when you want to visit an area which is usually out of reach. I love the area of the Fleet Lagoon near the old Moonfleet church. Where there are signs warning you
SEA MOON: A full moon and sea pictured by Steve Belasco
SHE’S GOT MUSSELS: Isis Goddess picture with mussel shell wings and, right, moon phases with bone, seaglass and oyster shell
THIS IS THE WAY: The old church signpost near Moonfleet
Keeping track of the moon and tides to improve hunts to be careful of patches of deep soft sand do take heed. I did not – believing the signs to be just a Scooby Dooby Doo device to frighten off those ‘pesky kids’. I sunk to my waist and my mobile phone never recovered. A project to make a picture showing the moon phases suggested itself to me. Over the years I have
found a lot of bottle bases for full moons. Finding crescent moons which are the same size and right shape is harder. Around Moonfleet there are a lot of oyster shells and the occasional bone which I have combined to make the Moon-phase picture shown. In researching moon phases I got side tracked by an image of the Egyptian Goddess Isis (as
you do...) Moonfleet also has quite a lot of mussel shells discarded after being the crows’ lunch. One time I came across the remains of a barbecue feast of party proportions and managed to collect a lot. This booty once scrubbed clean became the feathers of the Goddesses wings. I am not sure the picture is finished yet – I will wait to see what the beach offers next.
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Down to earth By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk
The newest bike shop on the block has opened in Dorchester’s Brewery Square – and it’s an Aladdin’s cave for the pedalling fraternity. Pope St Cycles is not a completely new venture for its owner Martin Cracknell, 38. Martin and wife Chauntelle ran a coffee and bike shop in Wool for some time before making the move to the county town. A keen road and mountain biker himself, Martin and his hand-picked staff offer a wealth of knowledge alongside the sales and servicing. The move to the new premises means no coffee shop (though there is a coffee machine), but more space to offer the types of services demanded by toplevel cyclists alongside bikes and accessories for beginners and children and anyone in between. A large range of the increasingly popular electric bikes are here too. And a new ‘bike fit studio’ offers people buying the top-end bikes the chance to calibrate them minutely.
ON YOUR BIKES: John Burrow and Martin Cracknell at Pope Street Cycles
It’s a chain reaction as new bike shop opens in Square ALL THE RIGHT GEAR: Some of the calibration equipment in the workshop
Martin, who is an Army reservist at Bovington and rides for their enduro team, said: “I always said I never wanted to own a bike shop! I don’t know what happened there…
“Incredibly, the idea has worked straight away – we are booked up for the next two weeks.” Bookings being brisk for their servicing and repairs is no surprise when you
consider the shop has well over 2,000 followers on Facebook and boasts 58 five-star reviews. Martin is also planning to organise ‘ride-outs’, offering people the chance to cycle Dorset’s many biking trails alongside people who know the terrain well. n Find Pope Street Cycles on Facebook or go to popestreetcycles.co.uk, email martin@ dreamadventures.co.uk or call 01305 520 320.
Beryl’s big bikeshare boost for jobs and tourism A new bikeshare scheme by Beryl in partnership with Dorset Council and South Western Railway, is set to boost access to employment and visitor attractions while further encouraging sustainable commuting. The UK’s leading micromobility provider has launched ten bikes and six parking bays at the Dorset Innovation Park and Wool station with further bays available nearby in
Wool and Bovington. Funded by £57,500 from the South Western Railway’s Customer and Communities Fund (CCIF) and £15,000 from Dorset & Wool Parish Council, the scheme aims to encourage more people to leave their car at home when commuting to and from the park. The bikes will give workers the option of a 10-minute cycle ride
either to or from Wool railway station, normally a 40-minute walk. The park currently employs 804 people across 36 companies and is set for a £14.6m investment after Dorset Council approved funding last week. This could add a further 1,200 jobs in years to come. The scheme will also complement local bus services, boosting access to nearby visitor attractions.
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Down to earth
A stepping stone to the inner circle PAGAN VIEWS by JO BELASCO
Shortly after Zelda was old enough to go on a decent walk we set out for Kingston Russell stone circle. I was very excited to be able to walk from our home to a prehistoric site. She was full of puppyish energy, bounding everywhere. Suddenly, there was the sound of hooves (lots of hooves) and I called Zelda to me quickly. It seems my faithful hound was unwittingly flushing out pheasants which the hunt hoped to surprise. I explained we were on our way to Kingston Russell Stone circle. To my amazement they suggested we turn right and soon we would come across another stone circle. I was not going to antagonise the hunt and my interest was piqued about a second stone circle so I turned right and got out of their path. Yes, another stone circle only about half-a-mile from home. Up a steep hill so you get a sense of arrival with the view and the effort you have made. It’s only a small circle – it doesn’t have the theatricality which Kingston Russell possesses. But the more you visit the more you notice – the more you zone in. There is a plaque by the side of the overgrown site which gives a potted history but
COO-WEEE: Me at The Helstone at Portesham, pictured by Steve Belasco
Ancient elder tree by the side of Hampton stone circle framing The Hardy Monument in the distance and, right, the Hamptone Circle at Portesham. Below: The view from there
it’s mostly what you can see from the stones which excites me. Imagining our ancestors meeting there and lighting fires to communicate with others at different sites. Maybe, using certain materials to create purplish smoke to mean, “Urgent – Run for your lives!” or red smoke circles to indicate, “We have a feast ready for you!”
You can see the Hardy Monument very clearly which of course would not have been there in stone age times but helps to give a lay of the land. By the side of the Hardy Monument is another stone circle but this one is not officially sanctioned. You can also see St Catherine’s Chapel, which again did not exist in the Stone Age, but you can be sure
the hill was place of worship and lookout. To the east is Portland’s long, low wedge, which apparently once had an ancient stone circle at The Grove. And of course the Helstone is not far away as Peter Knight explains in his book Ancient Stones of Dorset. In other words Hampton stone circle is surrounded by a myriad Pagan sites.
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Down to earth
Sparrowhawks ensure survival of fittest Sparrowhawk on the hunt! Sometimes all I glimpse is a dark shape swooping fast through the garden, at other times I’ve been lucky to see this splendid bird of prey resting on our garden fence. Once I even watched one as it ate its pigeon breakfast on our lawn! The sparrows in our garden have bred well this year, they have nests in holes and crevices in the bungalow’s wooden cladding as well as in their purpose-built nestbox ‘terraces’. As the new fledglings join their parents in large flocks in the garden, it’s not surprising they’re attracting the attention of sparrowhawks. Sparrowhawks are quite small birds of prey, around the size of a collared dove, with the males having blue-grey wings and orange chest bars and the larger females looking similar but with brown markings.
They can employ different hunting techniques, sometimes they will reach speeds of 50kph as they swoop on their prey, other times I have seen one wait in our hedge for an ambush. They don’t exclusively feed on sparrows, any small bird will do, with the female birds sometimes catching birds up to pigeon size. According to the RSPB, 120 different prey species have been recorded. They are not always successful, in fact research has found that only about one attack in ten results in a kill. They are quite easily seen and small birds give warning calls to each other. One evening recently it was the loud alarm calls that alerted me to the sight of a sparrowhawk swooping across the road to try and help itself to a swallow where several were feeding on insects quite low in the sky. Not only did it fail in its attempt, but it was also
aggressively sent packing by the angry swallows who chased and mobbed it until they were all out of sight. I know some people find it distressing to see a young bird taken by a predator, but for a ‘top predator’ such as a sparrowhawk to thrive there must be a healthy sparrow population. I know many of the sparrows in my garden have three broods over the summer, if all the fledglings survived there wouldn’t be enough food or nest holes for them, the sparrowhawk picking off the weakest ensures ‘survival of the fittest’ for the sparrows! Sally Cooke lives in Tolpuddle with her husband, two grown up sons and her spotty rescue dog. You can follow Sally on Instagram at Sparrows in a Puddle
Try some Carragheen for the perfect panna cotta 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 award-winning Forager’s Calendar and in 2021 his Spotter’s Guide to Countryside Mysteries was published. I hope you have been enjoying the Dulse I recommended to you a few weeks ago – great stuff, I am sure you agree. Time, I think, to introduce my second favourite seaweed, one that can be used to make a splendid dessert. It is Carragheen. This is a small-fist-sized, wiry seaweed found attached to rocks and often inhabiting rock pools. False Carragheen is very similar, but no problem as both can
be used for the same recipes and if you get it wrong, you will not find yourself in A&E, as no seaweed is poisonous. Both Carragheens contain organic chemicals (polysaccharides, should you be interested) called carrageenans. They are commonly used as food thickeners and can be seen on food labels as E407. Carrageenans can only form weak table jellies at concentrations dilute enough to be palatable, but strongly bind the proteins in milk at relatively low concentrations. Enter, then, the panna cotta and the salmon mousse. I always ignore detailed recipes and hate it when I have to write one, but the following (for a panna cotta) should work
well enough, maybe with a bit of tweaking. Take a handful of thoroughly washed Carragheen and boil it in about 400mls of water for half an hour. Stir often, top up with water occasionally, and enjoy the heady aroma of Weymouth Bay. At more or less the same time, boil 400mls of milk, with sugar to taste, and a flavouring ingredient. The flavour can be almost anything you fancy: rose petals, Elderflowers, Lemon Verbena or Woodruff (all held in a muslin bag), chocolate or vanilla. However, it must not be acidic in the slightest as it will separate out and flatly refuse to set. Mix the contents of the two saucepans, then, using
rubber gloves, squeeze through muslin or nylon straining bag into a bowl. Squeeze as much as you can and do not worry that it gets ‘snottier’ towards the end – that is the carrageenan at high concentration. Stir in as much cream as you fancy (‘lots’ being best) and pour into darioles or small cups. Don’t hang around as it sets extremely quickly and can form a ‘frozen waterfall’ as you pour if it gets too cold. Allow it to set at room temperature before putting it in a fridge. The set is always perfect and the mild evocation of Weymouth Bay a delight.
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Down to earth By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk
Think all palm oil is bad? It may be time to think again. A Dorchester company is urging businesses and individuals to seek out products that include sustainable palm oil, saying alternative oils can be even more detrimental to the earth. They are urging people to weigh up the facts and help Dorset become the world’s first ‘Sustainable Palm Oil County’. Efeca, a Dorset-based natural resources company working on resourcing commodities sustainably, is trying to help Dorset become the world’s first sustainable palm oil county by encouraging local businesses and organisations – whether they are cafes, restaurants, fast food outlets, large businesses, tourist attractions, councils, hospitals or schools – to make the switch to sustainable palm oil in the food they use, serve and sell. The Mayor of Bridport Ian Bark has launched the Bridport Sustainable Palm Oil Community, having been impressed with Efeca’s facts and figures on the subject. Lucy Cullinane, Efeca’s operations director, pictured inset, said: “Palm oil appears in 50% of packaged products on a supermarket shelf, from
Firm pushes for sustainable palm oil use in county cloudy lemonade to biscuits, chocolate to lipstick, shampoo to cakes, and even some toilet rolls. “Palm oil is an extremely versatile oil that has many different properties and functions that makes it so useful and so widely used. “It is semi-solid at room temperature so can keep spreads spreadable; it is resistant to oxidation so can give products a longer shelflife; it’s stable at high temperatures so helps to give fried products a crispy and crunchy texture; and it’s also odourless and colourless so doesn’t alter the look or smell of food products. “With over 200 names of palm oil however, you may not be aware that you
are using or buying it. The aim of this free initiative is to help local businesses identify conventional palm oil in the products they use and sell, and assist them in making the switch to a 100% certified sustainable alternative. “Making this switch to sustainable palm oil is easy, and should not bring any additional cost.” Lucy says palm oil is the world’s most widely used vegetable oil. Palm oil trees are highly productive and the yield per square km is higher than for any other edible oil. She added: “Growing palm oil trees is the most efficient use of land for oil – globally, palm oil supplies 40% of the world’s vegetable oil demand on just under 6% of the land used to produce all vegetable oils. “However, palm oil continues to be a
significant threat to some of the world’s most biodiverse forests. It can only be grown in tropical regions, and the expansion of production over past decades has been a major driver of deforestation and habitat loss. “We can send a clear message to businesses, traders and producers by demanding sustainable palm oil, and rejecting conventional palm oil.” Certified sustainable palm oil needs to adhere to strict criteria including no deforestation, no planting on peatland, no burning to clear land, creating wildlife corridors in plantations and respecting workers’ rights including informing local communities, fair pay, no child labour, no forced labour. A wide range of Dorset businesses have pledged to only use sustainable palm oil already, including West Dorset businesses Local Food Links, Baboo Gelato, Longs Fish and Chips, Coconut and Cotton, olives et Al, The Healthy Weigh and several schools. n If you want to find out more and sign up go to efeca.com/our-work/ dorset-sustainablecommunity or email dorsetsustainable community@efeca.com. Lucy said: “Efeca will be there to help you every step of the way. We really need hospitality businesses and also workplaces with over 20 employees, but all organisations would be welcome.”
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Antiques
Roy has us in a spin World class Clocktower Music in Bridport is fuelling the record shop renaissance ever since Roy Gregory opened his doors at St Michael’s in 2016, and with intimate gigs, a clutch of kitsch and realms of vinyl, Clocktower has become a beanfeast for music lovers everywhere. Roy grew up in Merseyside, surrounded by musical mates and so began his journey of buying and collecting records, many unusual or rare. Clocktower began as a market stall, the perfect medium for the millions of vinyl records Roy had collected over the years. He became a magnet for musos. His shop is became the same – a destination, and with his highly talented and gifted team, the crew, it is little
surprise he won a top slot in the Long Live Vinyl Independent Record Shop of the Year competition and Number One Best Independent Record Store in the south prior to lockdown. Clocktower has weathered the storm of covid, and in fact has come back stronger with a vamped-up décor, world-class photography from some of the most compelling artists, and of course its vast stock of preowned and new vinyl records, CDs and cassettes from the much-pressed to the ultra-rare, it is no surprise Clocktower Music has secured a reputation as a world-class record shop. CLOCKTOWER MUSIC 10a Tower Alley, St Michael’s, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3RR Tel: 01308 458077 clocktowermusic.co.uk
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Open Weds to Sun 10am-4pm globalartandantiques.com We buy art & antiques etc – call 07894 555107
Mix of items in next sales Acreman St Antiques & Interiors Sherborne has an eclectic mix of items for sale including furniture, paintings & prints, ceramics and glass, jewellery. rugs. garden furniture, pots & statuary, oriental, etc. Open Mon-Fri 10am-4.30pm with parking on site. Their monthly auctions are listed on easyliveauction.com & saleroom.com. There are 780 lots on offer in the July 29th sale. Now taking items for the August general antiques auction. To discuss items for auction call Gill Norman (see number below). Home visits, house clearance and probate valuations can also be given.
ACREMAN STREET ANTIQUES SHERBORNE GENERAL ANTIQUES & COLLECTORS’ AUCTION Friday, 26th August, 10am-5pm VIEWING: Thursday, 25th August 10am-5pm
Catalogue available to view through saleroom.com & easyliveauction.com We are now accepting entries for our August sale For all enquiries please contact Gill Norman on 07908 333577 or 01935 508764 auction@acremanstreetantiques.co.uk
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Culture
International flavour to folk festival International stars are set to descend on Purbeck Valley Folk Festival for four days of magic, set on farmland near Swanage from August 18 to 21. Headliners include Mexican party band, Los de Abajo, along with Guinea’s N’Famady Kouyaté, a master of the balafon – the traditional wooden xylophone from West Africa, and Gasper Nali from Malawi, who serves up Afro Beats from his one-string, home-made three-metre long Babatoni bass guitar. There is also a big helping of Americana/country from Amethyst Kiah, The Once, Laura Cortése & the Dance Cards and Dana Wylie. This year marks the return of global stars to the festival’s five stages after the pandemic prevented them attending last year. The festival also features English folk royalty – top roots duo Show of Hands. Other stars include veteran Scottish big band Shooglenifty, Radio 2
GOING TO BLAZES: The breath-taking Pantheatrix
favourite Kathryn Williams, BBC Folk Award winning Rionnagh Connelly with her funkfolk band Honeyfeet, supergroup Magpie Arc and flute/whistle and uilleann pipes maestro Michael McGoldrick’s band. Tickets for the festival – set on a farm with views across Corfe Castle and the Swanage Steam railway running alongside – are selling fast. Festival director Catherine
Burke said: “We are so glad to be back in full flow for PVFF22. Our incredible line-up would do justice to any folk festival and we are especially pleased to welcome back our international artistes. “Purbeck Valley Folk Festival is set on a unique and compact farm arena with professional stages in barns. It’s a little farm so it doesn’t take you ages to walk from one stage to the other, and it’s always easy to find your friends.”
Children’s activities include storytelling, theatre workshops, fun crafts, puppet shows, bubble displays, baby/toddler rhyme time sessions, facepainting, a treasure hunt, bouncy castles, fancy dress, maypole dancing and Morris dance workshops. And all kids’ activities are free – included in the ticket price, so there are no hidden costs. And for musical kids there are youth music workshops and ‘Come and Try’ instruments try-outs which allow youths and adults the opportunity to try out instruments that they might not get a chance to otherwise without having to invest in them first. Tickets are on sale now from £150 (£75 youth/£30 child) for the weekend Thursday to Sunday, including camping. Any remaining tickets sold at the gate will be £165/£85/£30 n See purbeckvalleyfolk festival.co.uk/shop/tickets
More rock and more ribs as festival REVIEW Rock n Ribs Festival Wincanton Racecourse By MIRANDA ROBERTSON
SHOCKIN’: Double denim alert at Rock n Ribs
Having visited Rock n Ribs when it was held in Dorset last year, I can confirm the move to Somerset has massively paid off. More space, more to do and it just feels… more festivally. Organisers Bearfoot productions laid on a feast
COOKIN’: It’s a car-becue
for metalheads, with tributes to more top rock bands than you could shake a Harley at, scores of gleaming American vintage cars and bikes, lots of Yankee scran on offer and even stalls where you
could buy yet more denim, assuming you were not already fully kitted out already. A full three days and nights of entertainment was scheduled this year and the plethora of bands executed their sets impeccably – the Nirvana and Guns & Roses acts seeming to particularly energise the crowd. Queues were long but swift, and there was
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Culture Bridport Arts Centre has announced a series of exhibitions, live acts and movie screenings taking place until August. Until August 20, the arts centre will host an exhibition of photography by Sam Rose called Rewilding Unwrapped. The exhibition has been described as ‘quite simply marvellous’ by Eden Project founder Tim Smit. On Tuesday, July 26 there will be a live performance of King Arthur by The Last Baguette Theatre Company on the town’s Millennium Green at 4.30pm. Organisers describe the show as a ‘deliberately anarchic and anachronistic retelling of the Arthurian legend with live music, physical comedy and lo-fi acrobatics’. Circus Raj from Rajasthan will perform on the Millennium Green at 7.30pm on Wednesday, July 27. The cast includes aerialists, acrobats, musicians, slackrope walkers, dancers and puppeteers plus ‘eyewatering displays’ by the
USE YOUR LOAF: King Arthur from the Last Baguette Theatre Company and, inset, Circus Raj knife juggler
A super summer series on way at town arts centre
circus’s fakir. Feel free to pack a picnic, bring a blanket and chairs, and be prepared for all weather (suncream, umbrella, warm clothes, and waterproofs). On Saturday, July 30 at 11am there will be a screening of animated
movie Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazons (PG) at the arts centre. At 5pm on Saturday there will be a screening of Jazz on a Summer’s Day (U), a documentary on the 1958 jazz festival at Newport, which featured
Orlando’s roof-raiser
gets bigger enough there to do apart from the music to make it a truly enjoyable weekend for all. The campsite was well organised and close to the action and there were plenty of bins and cleaneruppers and security staff. Keep a look out for earlybird tickets for next year’s event – given how the festival’s grown in just a year I’d say it’s going to be an absolute stonker.
performances by Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington and Chuck Berry among others. To donate £2 to support Bridport Arts Centre text ‘Bridport’ to 70085 (texts cost £2 plus standard network rate).
ROCKIN’: The Guns & Roses tribute on stage
Acclaimed cellist Orlando Jopling will put on a concert in support of a church’s roof repair fund. Mr Jopling will play Bach Cello Suites 1, 2 and 3 at St Mary’s Church in Frome St Quintin on Saturday, August 20 at 6.30pm. Tickets are £25, including interval drinks, and are available by emailing sophie.stovin@hotmail.com
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Culture
Oh, we do like to be b-side the seaside, Poetry lovers can abseil to one of the acts at Portland’s b-side arts festival. Poet and climber Penny Newell will be making her first appearance at b-side this year with her Poetry Ledge. Inspired by the seacliffs and quarry walls of Portland, Newell unites poetry and climbing. Visitors can expect to journey via abseil to their one-to-one poetry workshop, taking place on Portland’s world-famous sea cliffs, to put their experience of the island on paper. The popular festival is back from September 8-11, celebrating the unique island and inviting guests to explore their relationship with the land. Portland will host local and international artists who will take festivalgoers on an experimental tour around this distinctive part of the UK, exploring its history through their creative visions. This year’s theme of Common Lands will encourage visitors to consider a range of connections to the land, including migratory, LGBTQ+ and environmental relationships. Attendees will be invited to reflect on their own experiences and to consider those of others, including how the land can become more inclusive to minority communities, its migratory history and the importance of preserving Portland’s unique ecology
DESTINED FOR HIGHER THINGS: Poet Penny Newell
Picture: John Laidler
ON SHOW: Clockwise from left,Caitlin Akers, one of Babar Suleman’s mermaids and Steve Urquhart
for future generations. Artist Babar Suleman takes the lead of b-side 2022 with his augmented reality artwork of sirens – mythical mermaids infamous for luring men to their deaths in classical tales such as The Odyssey. Using augmented reality on either a phone or tablet, visitors will be able to see the artwork brought to life
on the side of Portland’s Grade II-listed lighthouse, Portland Bill. BBC radio producer and sound artist Steve Urquart will explore the island’s alternative realities by inviting visitors into the soundscape of Portland’s prisons. While working at National Prison Radio, Steve glimpsed into the
realities of prisoners in Portland’s The Verne Prison through their letters. Now, he lets their voices and intriguing experiences be heard through sharing recordings from behind Portland’s mysterious prison walls. Portland is also set to become a hive of radical activity, as printmaker Caitlin Akers brings her
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Culture
particularly if there’s an art festival
KENYA BELIEVE IT? Kenyan artist Kevo Stero
ORIGINAL ARTISTS: Claudia Antonius and Jörg Jozwiak, a Kneed banner and, right, Emily Tracey
Portland Print Workshop to the island. Festivalgoers who aren’t afraid to make a statement can take part in the art of activism by learning how to print their own posters and zines. In their uniquely tragicomic take on the island, Austrian artists Claudia Antonius and Jörg Jozwiak will explore
the contentious issue of land use following their launch of the Easton Ridge National Park in 2018. The festival will close with this year’s Big Portland Parade, featuring banners created during Kenyan artist Kevo Stero’s banner making workshops, which will take place throughout the entire festival. Stero’s
workshops will incorporate his signature revolutionary spirit, which encourages visitors to take action on environmental issues by using art as a mouthpiece. Alongside showcases from artist Emily Tracey and artist duo Kneed as part of b-side’s community-based heritage programme This Land, the festival will also
see the launch of a brand new programme Who Do We Think We Are?. The programme will focus on movement and migration, with fresh perspectives ready to be unveiled. n For more information, go to b-side.org.uk and follow b-side festival on Instagram @bsidefestival, Twitter @bsidefest and Facebook @bsidefest
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Culture REVIEW Billy Mumford at the Electric Palace By Diana Holman
Bridport is artist Billy Mumford’s happy place. This is because the people of Bridport have always been so welcoming and so nice to him, says local businessman and art dealer James Hartey, who promotes Billy’s work in the town. I was privileged to go along to An Evening with Billy Mumford at the Electric Palace, and spent a most entertaining evening hearing this gentle and unassuming man talk about his life. His audience was IN THE FRAME: Artist Billy Mumford at the Electric Palace spellbound as his monologue unfolded, more in the way of a friend chatting over a cup of coffee than as a dramatic theatrical performance. Born three years after the end of the war to Jewish working class parents in the East End of London, Billy made his entrance to wing as her most talented but found it impossible to the world just outside the establish a successful student. He gained a hospital in his father’s fish scholarship to St Martin’s career in the art world. monger’s cart. in London, gaining a place Thus, he began his career This was the only vehicle as a forger of the works of on a two-year fine arts his father had to take his the highly collectable course with the quality of wife to hospital when she artists. He became skilled his work rather than as a went into labour, and they in mastering widely result of academic didn’t quite make it in diverse painting achievement. time! “But I was a drinker with a techniques, plus the Growing up in the East supporting skills needed to painting problem,” End, life was very hard, present works as originals. reflected Billy, “My and as a child Billy read Arrested in France, he behaviour was terrible, everything he could get his and I got thrown out. spent six weeks in prison hands on as a means of before being released. “Quite a lot of painting escape. He also spent two years in equipment left with me.” After a visit to the Brixton prison. However, He sold his first painting National Portrait Gallery, although 180 paintings for £25. went to 43 countries, only he never looked back. Largely self-taught by 14 were ever returned by Billy began painting as a copying the paintings of their purchasers. young teenager, and his art the great artists, he When the time came for teacher took him under her developed his own style
Spellbinding tale of master forger’s brush with prison
Billy’s release from prison, he was longing to get out as quickly as possible. He could see his beloved wife that he loves more than anything, outside in the car together with their dog, whose paws were up at the window. However, there was a delay! Prison canteen accounts had to be settled before a prisoner’s release, but Billy knew he had paid everything up. What could have gone wrong? It turned out that kind family members had been paying money into Billy’s canteen account for him to have treats and extras. He had used the account so little that there was £1,400 due back to him! Nobody was around the sign the cheque, hence the delay in his release. Audience members had the opportunity to ask Billy questions. Who was the artist whose style was the most difficult to emulate? After giving this careful thought, Billy said it was Jackson Pollock. A collection of beautiful paintings had been used to decorate the stage, and an interpretation of Claude Monet’s waterlilies was donated by Billy to be auctioned for Dorset Police Welfare Fund. Bidding was brisk, and the painting was sold for £450, no doubt to give its successful bidder years of pleasure. Indeed if a work of art has such quality and beauty, does it matter whether it was painted by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso or Billy Mumford?
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Culture Burton Bradstock is celebrating its 40th festival of music and art for six days from Tuesday, August 16. A feast of classical, jazz and world music from internationally acclaimed performers and an exhibition of art and ceramics is promised, with a packed programme of music to suit all tastes as well as affordable highquality art and crafts on show to view and buy. From the evening of Tuesday, August 16 the village hall becomes an art gallery for six days. A Festival Evensong will also be held in St Mary’s Church that evening. The programme of concerts from Wednesday to Friday includes a jazz evening, a touch of tango, a lunchtime recital, a chamber music concert, and late night French Baroque music. It concludes with a Gala Concert which includes a Ukrainian accordion concerto in honour and solidarity with the wartorn country. The festival musicians are all internationally acclaimed performers who are hosted by local villagers and many have become friends over the years. Artistic director David Juritz said: “It’s wonderful to be back in Burton Bradstock and, after a two-year hiatus, we’re celebrating with a real musical jamboree. “The musicians will be working their fingers to the bone but it’s all so much fun that nobody minds!”
SIMPLY THE FEST: Harpist Eluned Pierce, chairman Janny Malyon and director David Junitz
Village celebrates 40 years of music and arts festival
MUSICAL JAMBOREE: David Juritz with Festival musicians Milos Milivojevic and Craig Ogden and, right, St Mary’s Church at Burton Bradstock
Chair of the festival committee Jenny Malyon said: “Over time, the festival has grown to include an exhibition of local, affordable, art and craft.
“We are looking forward to welcoming back musicians who have visited us for many years, as well as meeting some new faces at the concerts in St Mary’s, our beautiful
church in the heart of the village.” n Tickets can be bought through the Bridport TIC. More information at burtonbradstock festival.com
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The wonderfully camouflaged Mullein moth caterpillar (striped lychnis) is a rather stunning example of this ‘nationally scarce’ moth. This caterpillar was feasting on its favourite food plant, Verbascum nigrum, in the Toller Percorum garden it calls home.
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Homes & Gardens x
Horticulture...
Born and bred in West Dorset, Dave has worked in horticulture and botany locally and internationally, notably in Belgium, Jordan and the UAE. He brings a wealth of practical knowledge with its underlying principles to his writing
The gloves are off when it comes to our During July and August, scaremongering stories emerge across the media about killer plants. The other weekend, a local news publication’s website published ‘Dangerous and potentially deadly animals and wildlife to watch out for in Dorset’. It was a generic article published across the news group’s publications with the word ‘Dorset’ in the headline replaced by summer or a different location name. While I understand this to be an economic response to providing informative copy it should at least be accurate… and informative. The article stated: ‘… the berries of foxgloves are particularly poisonous.’ Foxgloves are poisonous, but why specifically mention their berries when they have none! Mistakes like this can take you on a journey to scrutinise other parts of the article. I limited myself to the paragraph on foxgloves. Apparently, ‘foxgloves
HAND IN GLOVE: Foxgloves are no more dangerous than many other plants
cause at least 190 urgent alerts to the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) each year’, but what actually is an ‘urgent alert’? The article failed to explain and nor did the NPIS website, so without this
information we are unable to conclude anything about poisonings from this plant, although I suspect it’s close to, or very probably, zero. The most recent information I found from the Office of National Statistics reveal a
Plant of the week: Rock samphire Crithmum maritimum If you are travelling to a beach in the next few weeks look out for rock samphire, sometimes called sea fennel. This curious member of the carrot family is confined in the wild to coastal areas, especially rocky cliffs. Plants have succulent (fleshy) divided leaves that are grey in colour. When cut they are triangular in
cross section. Flowers appear through summer and are characteristically arranged in an umbel, a trait typical for its family. Plants are edible, although fellow columnist John Wright describes its flavour in the Edible Seashore (River Cottage Handbook) as being something akin to ‘carrots and kerosene’.
single human death in England and Wales during 2016 from accidental ingestion of an unnamed toxic plant. Compare this with 15 deaths on Dorset roads in that year and we gain perspective.
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Homes & Gardensx
...with botanist Dr Dave Aplin
poisonous plants Besides, if we were to make an inventory of poisonous plants around the home and garden the list would be long. One of our most poisonous plants freely inhabit rivers and damp ground, yet we hear nothing about cases of people being poisoned by them or other plants, why? Because humans don’t go indiscriminately munching handfuls of foliage and for that matter nor do pets. Naturally, mistakes can happen, but the risk is so infinitesimally small it
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Constituency issues
with West Dorset MP Chris Loder
In Liz I Truss – she’ll get things done I am recruiting! So if you’d like to work for an MP, please visit chrisloder.co.uk/jobs n Conservative MPs have chosen the two candidates to be our next Prime Minister. I voted for and am supporting Liz Truss to be the next leader with a strong record of delivery that will get things done. This process over the last few weeks has also shown the diversity of the Conservative party and just how meritocratic it is. n The last couple of weeks has shown West Dorset at its best with wonderful events. I really enjoyed Piddlehinton and Cattistock fetes. n I lobbied the government during a schools debate to support the Gryphon School in sorting out the ‘temporary’ classrooms in need of
replacement – classrooms that I was schooled in 25 years ago – the same for Dorchester Middle School. And I visited St Andrew’s Primary School in Yetminster to open their new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) building and wildflower garden. n I was pleased to see that Leonardo has been awarded a £60million contract to develop an unmanned aircraft for the MoD. A fantastic boost to the local economy which will play a key part in the longevity of a company that is keeping 100 local people in employment and launching fulfilling
careers for many more young people from West Dorset. n In the last edition, I was interested to read Kelvin Clayton’s assessment of the Thomas Hardy connection to West Dorset, which he deems ‘quaint’ and ‘nostalgic’ and that he doubted Hardy could comprehend weapons of mass destruction. I was at the opening of Athelhampton House’s Elizabethan kitchen and was shown the room where Thomas Hardy was told the First World War had started. I thought it is just worth adding to my column two editions ago that Hardy would have watched a generation of brave young men killed, maimed and poisoned with mustard gas. Swathes of
Europe turned to mud and ashes at that time. Hardy lived through a time of heartache and destruction the kind of which very few of us today will have known. And yet the themes his work portrays are just as fresh today. For many like me whose family experienced some of the grim realities of rural living like the BSE outbreak or even losing their livelihoods through bovine TB, Hardy’s often bleak dramas provide a relatable outlet for many country folk to this day. Hardy greatly benefits our local economy, the education of young people and our local culture. This is why as West Dorset’s MP, I am proud to defend his legacy.
Politics
Action is needed NOW on climate change crisis At times it seems that the climate change emergency is getting worse by the day! Record high temperatures in England, wildfires out of control and increased deaths amongst vulnerable and elderly people have all become too common. The Paris Accord was agreed in 2015 with the intention of keeping temperature increases to less than 2°C. But, as we’ve seen in recent times, the actual increases have been far worse than this. At the end of the last century the highest recorded temperature in England was 37.1°C in 1990. In 2019 this record was surpassed and a new high of 38.7°C was set. Shockingly, this new record lasted only three years. This
By NICK IRELAND West Dorset LibDems
summer we’ve experienced a new high of 40.3°C. The speed and size of these changes are a threat to the human race. Amazingly while all of this has been going on the Conservatives have been choosing their next Leader and our new Prime Minister. Just what have the contenders, who came from every wing of the Conservative party, to say about the climate emergency? Zero, zip, zilch, nada. It’s not yet too late to tackle the climate change
emergency but the Doomsday Clock is very close to midnight. The Liberal Democrats are committed to an international, national and local partnership to deal with this crisis. Here in Dorset we need to produce more renewable energy. That means going back to plans for offshore windfarms and providing a major boost for tidal power. Our Local Plan must make it clear that extraction of fossil fuels (whether gas, coal or oil) and fracking are not acceptable. All new buildings should have solar panels and/or geothermal energy as standard. But, our major effort needs to be directed
towards retrofitting older buildings. A massive increase in insulation can both cut emissions and help those on low incomes cope with fuel poverty. We need to ensure that nobody has to face the choice of eating or heating! We must also encourage the switch to electric cars by providing many more car charging points in Dorset Council car parks and making them mandatory on all new buildings. But, the biggest single change is that we need to make changes NOW, not in ten or fifteen years’ time. That requires political leadership – will we get that from the Conservatives? I don’t think so.
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Politics
We’re missing the bus in transport debate As a recent report by Dorset 2030 points out, not only does transport account for a third of Dorset’s carbon emissions, but our above average car ownership is driven by a lack of realistic alternatives ie: a cheap and reliable public transport system. This was acknowledged by Ray Bryan, Dorset Council portfolio holder for Highways, Travel and the Environment, when, at the last full council meeting, he said: “To enable us to become carbon zero by 2050 we need to provide Dorset residents with a public transport system that gives them an alternative to use of their car.” So what’s stopping Dorset Council doing this? What’s
By KELVIN CLAYTON West Dorset Green Party
preventing the development of an effective and affordable public transport system for Dorset? In a word – the Government. Dorset Council recently made a bid for government money through the submission of a Bus Service Improvement Plan, a bid that failed. The problem here is not so much that the bid failed, but that local authorities like Dorset are having to bid for a limited amount of money to make their public transport systems fit for purpose. The government needs to be much more proactive in not only reducing our
dependency on private cars, but in achieving net-zero carbon emissions. So should we be expecting an improvement when the new PM takes office? As Caroline Lucas said on a recent Newsnight: “The issue of climate change… simply has not featured in the (leadership) debate so far.” This omission illustrates the lack of importance the candidates have attached to the issue, a point that has been emphasised by Alok Sharma, the cabinet minister who led last year’s Cop26 UN climate summit. In a newspaper interview he accused some of the candidates of being ‘lukewarm’ to the net-zero target.
But it’s worse than this. The High Court has just ruled the government’s proposals for achieving net-zero by 2050 inadequate and unlawful. They were too vague to satisfy the court that the statutory targets set by the Climate Change Act would be met. Whoever is selected to become leader of the Conservative Party and our next PM needs to take this issue much more seriously. They need to show leadership on the issue, and the government needs to enable local authorities to do what they recognise as necessary. If it doesn’t not only will Dorset Council’s public transport ambitions be thwarted, but so will any hope of achieving net-zero in time to avert disaster.
Change needed to restore trust and deliver By the time you read this, the heatwave will be over for another year, the headlines will have moved on to another topic and concern about climate change will again have taken a back seat. The government’s inability to deal with what can only be described as a future catastrophe was magnified by the recent Tory leadership election debates. According to a YouGov poll, only 4% of those who will be choosing the next leader (Tory Party members) thought meeting net zero emissions by 2050 should be a priority for the new Prime Minister. Judging by the election debates, and the record of candidates, the membership has little to
By CLAUDIA SORIN West Dorset Labour Party
fear. The former chancellor in 2021, for example, halved air passenger duty and watered-down policies on infrastructure spending to reduce climate change, including kick-starting home insulation initiatives. Another candidate rejected the idea of the 2050 target altogether. Maybe we should all stop blaming others and focus on the small contributions we can all make to protect the planet. The trouble with this argument, attractive though it may sound, is that all the evidence in the UK and
around the world is that it has not worked to date and shows little signs of doing so in the future. For decades, unregulated or lightly regulated markets have proved to be the perfect mechanism for destroying our planet. It requires action not only by individuals but also by national governments and international businesses and global agreements to bring about the type of economic change which will prevent a heat apocalypse. That is why we need to trust these institutions to act in our best interest and the interest of our children and the planet. The evidence of covid and in particular lockdown is that people will make enormous
changes and will comply with quite drastic measures if they think it is in their best interest, the interest of others and when they are supported to be able to do so. But politics has been dealt a hefty blow by those who currently hold power. When politicians lose the trust of the people, when we stop believing what they say or question their motives for the actions they take, they lose the ability to govern. The next government has to restore trust and deliver on the major issues. Addressing global warming has to be top of the list; whether popular or not. A general election cannot come soon enough.
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
EASIER PUZZLES
PUZZLING OVER YOUR ADVERTISING? Email advertising@westdorsetmag.co.uk | Call 01305 566336 Crossword
Arrow words Defence excuse
Office record keeper
Digger brand (inits)
Frost
Citrus fruit preserve
Teapot cover
Scottish council area
Bug
Enemy
US Republicans (inits)
Reorganize
3
4
5
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Ascends
Member of Cooked a Biblical pig’s meat Jewish sect
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Brussels politician (inits)
Open grill (inits)
Spike
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Title for a young man (abbr)
Compel
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Freezes over
23 Beers
Utter
‘Not yet public’ (inits)
Splendid
Online photo, perhaps (inits)
8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 19 21 23 24
Handicap
Waffles
Wordsearch Four Consecutive Vowels
D M A O G O O I E S T I O A H
R C M I R P G I R I O T I E O
C L M U E A S E I U T E P I M
O A C I O O L G E U O Y T U O
AQUEOUS COOEE EUOI GIAOUR GOOIEST GUAIAC HOMOIOUSIAN MAIEUTIC
E T I R N I P S I P A E C H I
D N P A Q O E O O A N A A O O
E S E U U Q C T C U O Q I R U
U A I E U G A I I A U U H C S
A A A O O M E O T E M C R A I
E I I U O O U A O U S R E M A
T A A N C S C U U G E I A N N
A Q O U E S S E U I O I O H M
L S I Y A U A D S T R O A T P
MYTHOPOEIA ONOMATOPOEIA PHARMACOPOEIA PLATEAUED QUEUING RELIQUIAE SEQUOIA TENUIOUS
P G G N I U E U Q A E I I M I
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Kind
A I S A I E O P O H T Y M R A
Across Pivotal (5) Causes harm (7) Dwell in (7) Soup spoon (5) Make instant coffee, eg (6-3) Elongated fish (3) One of seven deadly things (3) Bank account deficit (9) To any degree (2,3) At the front (7) Deep-seated (7) Get ready to propose, maybe (5)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13 14 15 17 18 20 22
Down Import duty (6) Age of consent (8) Group or society (4) Amended (6) In a job (8) Got older (4) Also (2,4) Telephoto camera component (4,4) Test reviewer (8) Quest (6) Tangle up (6) Two-way switch (6) Land measure (4) Ancient symbol of life (4)
Sudoku
4
9 1 6 3 3
5 3
4 2
1 9 4
5 4 5
1 2
1 20
6
9 3 9
5 1 4 8
+50%
For the solutions turn to page 70
×1/2
2
÷3
+46
-17
RESULT
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
THIS IS THE PAGE TO ADVERTISE ON!
HARD PUZZLES
Advertise on the page most likely to be left open on the coffee table Jumbo 3D Sudoku
Cryptic Crossword
1 7
8 3
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5 1
9
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8 3 2 5 9 4 8 7 2
9
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Brain chain (Hard version) 142
+50%
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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. 1
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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.
RESULT
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.
15
18
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Across 1 Principal protest with month gone (4) 4 William is about working for huge amounts (8) 8 Government body in French city completely depleted (6) 9 Tiny figure wasted time around BBC executive (6) 10 Confused impression in Britpop group (4) 11 Goes ahead getting money (8) 13 Prominent lady is relaxed for the most part (13) 16 Hearty is mistakenly showing neurotic behaviour (8) 19 By the sound of it, encounter chicken, say (4) 20 Line by Arab cutting for instance wages (6) 22 A doctor with round appeal is skilful (6) 23 Confines much of group amid rowdy scenes (8) 24 Bollard caught by individual (4)
Down 2 Rule Gary broke about Latin in a consistent way (9) 3 A large number in old county division (7) 4 Purchase all stock with extra, we hear, raised (3,2) 5 Savage parody upset man with pool (7) 6 Non-mainstream group at home to stop working (5) 7 Joint not opening for unmarried female name (3) 12 Daughter with animal at ground spotted dog (9) 14 Tray awkwardly carried by married woman showing saints, maybe (7) 15 Miners given fine concerning figures? (7) 17 Advertise path in the wilds (5) 18 Gather together a service (5) 21 Shelter type that’s manipulated after losing power (3)
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Health & Wellbeing
Walking West Dorset
with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade
FROME VALLEY TRAIL: 10th WALK This walk is mostly on asphalt as there are so few footpaths crossing the water meadows in this part of the Frome Valley. It makes a circuit of about seven miles starting at West Woodsford. Park at the roadside near Woodsford Castle Farm where there’s space opposite the bus shelter. Walk past the farm buildings and turn left, heading north across several fields from which you get a good view of the ancient Woodsford Castle. After crossing the Frome, the path turns right and heads east for a mile, sometimes skirting the meandering Frome. Towards the end, your route is crossed by an invisible, unsigned, public footpath path that crosses the river without a bridge! When you reach the road, turn left and head north, crossing several bridges. After half a mile you reach youcantalk.net is a new wellness and mental health resource launched by Bridport-based duo Kerry Miller, pictured, and Alex Fender. It features lots of free resources to help people relax and take stock. If you’ve read my earlier posts you might remember I wrote about Life Reviews and the clarity they can bring, and the usefulness of ‘Check-ins’ to explore past behaviour
a crossroads by a watercress farm at the start of the village of Tincleton. Turn right and follow the road through the village until, after turning left, you get to the ‘main’ road opposite the tiny village hall. Turn left and head west along the road for a couple of miles. It’s rather narrow and without verges so be careful of traffic.
Eventually you reach Norris Mill Farm where you join a BOAT (Byway Open to All Traffic) that wends its way south. When you reach a ford, turn back 20 yards and join a footpath that loops over a bridge upstream and then rejoins the BOAT. You’ll soon find a stream across the way. This one has stepping slabs visible under the surface. If you
have decent walking boots you won’t get soggy socks. At Lewell Mill Farm, join the road that takes you up to Tenantrees where you turn left and walk a mile back to your car.
Working together to make a (youcantalk.net/alexandraon-life-reviews). I was thinking about the power of Life Reviews and Check-ins recently as something new came into my life: a family of moles. The moles are conducting a subterranean nocturnal assault across the middle of the lawn. There is obviously a mature mole leaving big
widespread untidy mole hills in the heart of the lawn and tiny apologetic looking mole hills zig zagging alongside towards
the fence, certainly nothing to make a mountain out of. A builder, working on the house, gazed at the lawn carnage and told me with a
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Health & Wellbeing
Watering key to establishing balance Andy Cole is a reiki healer based in Middlemarsh. He specialises in planting for healing. The continuing hot weather is certainly very draining working out in the heat, the saying the heat sucks out your energy is certainly correct. We have been taking time out during the day and working on in the evenings, when the temperatures have been kinder. The garden plants, like us, are needing to be kept well-watered and some plants are showing signs of stress due to the excessive heat. The NHS recommended that we drink around 6-8 glasses of water, with more required in hot weather or if exercising. With most types of energy healing, after treatment practitioners always recommend drinking plenty of water. This is to keep your energy level up
DOING WELL: Berberis
so you can maximise the healing you have received. Water is a main source of life energy and when our levels drop so does our energy, hence the saying that the heat sucks out our energy. This also holds true for plants, the energy they have will also drop, thus reducing the healing received, you would need to be by the plant for a longer period of time to receive the same benefit, this makes perfect sense, as during hot weather you would probably sit for longer period of time by the plants as it would be too hot to do much else, and the healing you
received would be the same as in more favorable conditions, but will just take a little longer. Nature’s balance at work again, it never ceases to amaze me how the balance of nature always provides the solution to the problem. Berberis are doing particularly well at the moment. These plants provide an excellent deterrent against unwanted visitors in the garden at night as they are prickly and will stop most people from going any further. The energies from this plant help to reduce hypertension, they steady the mind and reduce stress that an overactive mind can create dwelling on your problems. The sharp thorns are a reminder of the pain stress can give us when we become to focused on the problem, rather than looking for the solution. The red leaves help to balance the base chakra, this will assist in slowing your mind down, binging a calmer and more balanced
molehill out of a mountain grim smile he could put me in touch with a mole catcher. I felt very protective of the family of tunnellers who morphed into cartoonesque moles wearing immaculate white shirts with neat tweed waistcoats and tamped down Balkan Sobranie into their clay pipes. Admittedly, it’s a strange and uninvited change to my
new garden but I was told in the past that the earth moles shovel to the surface is aerated and rich. I decided to fill all my spare garden pots with the freshly excavated soil and take advantage of their helpfulness, work with them instead of against them. Some things are not easy to change without radical
upheaval and sometimes the results of those changes can be difficult to live with. There are times when a ‘Check-in’ is helpful. I know from experience of tough choices; I will not be comfortable signing Mr Mole and his family’s death warrant so let’s hope this collaboration between woman and mole has a true Hollywood ending.
approach to your general wellbeing. Red Chief is a compact form of the berberis shrub with red-tinted foliage carried on arching stems. The deep red-purple leaves turn a vibrant scarlet in the Autumn, adding a real splash of colour to the garden when there are less flowers around. In the spring it has pale yellow flowers, and these are followed by small red berries in Autumn. Berberis are easy to grow and ideal for encouraging wildlife into the garden. They provide shelter to both birds and insects. A perfect deciduous shrub that will make an attractive bush for a sunny or partially shady garden bed or border. There are many different varieties of berberis and their healing properties will vary slightly due to the different colour of the foliage and also if they are evergreen, however the general energy healing of reducing stress and hypertension will be the same for all varieties.
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The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Health & Wellbeing By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk
Two best friends from Essex who decided to dip a toe in the water of running their own business say they are loving life in the south west after moving lock, stock and barrel to Dorchester within a month. James Lawdrum, 34, was working for Lloyds of London and Gillian May was a podiatrist for another firm when they decided they wanted to run their own clinic. The pair visited the Royal College of Podiatry website and Dorchester’s The Chiropody Clinic, located opposite the old Argos building on Princes Street, had been listed only the day before A day after they made their plans, they headed down to see it and a month later, it was theirs. They moved in on June 1 – a whirlwind move, but one which they haven’t regretted. Now they are offering foot treatments in their newly-acquired clinic, which has been a chiropodist’s for years. So… feet. Some people are squeamish about them, some people have odd fetishes. One thing’s for sure, we all get some use out of them. And for many, painful feet are just unbearable. A national shortage of podiatrists is matching shortages among other vital medical services. It’s hard to find clinics that have capacity for new
WELCOME: Gillian May and James Lawdrum at The Chiropody Clinic in Dorchester
Best foot forward at podiatry clinic patients. But Gillian and James want to offer the opportunity for a foot health practitioner (FHP) to join them while they study for a degree in podiatry. With a national shortage of podiatrists this could be the key to a solid career. Gillian, 44, got into podiatry after experiencing foot problems herself, intermittently throughout childhood and adulthood. It made her determined to make a difference. Gillian has been a podiatrist for nine years,
since gaining her degree. She was running a clinic for someone else, but had long wanted to run her own when she got chatting to James about it. “I inherited my foot problems and it made me want to help others,” she said. “People leave here able to walk again, with no pain. “It can be life-changing, our treatments. Our equipment can pick up atrial fibrillation, an erratic heartbeat, for instance, before surgery. I diagnosed it in a 16-yearold boy recently – he had
no idea he had it.” She added: “I always wanted my own practice and when we saw this one it was perfect. We wanted a change of lifestyle too – it’s lovely here.” James said: “We live ten minutes away from the clinic so if there’s ever and emergency we can be here quickly. It’s a fantastic location.” Currently they offer a range of treatments including surgery, and they are keen to extend the surgical side. Routine appointments are £37, with an express nail cut and file £20, while diabetic assessments are £40. Corn removal (2 corns) is £25, ingrowing toenail treatment £25 and verruca treatment (acid) is £25. There’s verruca needling surgery under local anaesthetic for £180, LCN toenail reconstruction from £50 and ingrowing toenail surgery from £270. Nail cutting is a vital service for older people, as their nails are thicker and their joints are stiffer so it can often be impossible for them to do themselves. Diabetics should always have a professional cut their nails. Toenail reconstruction is less well known, but offers people who have lost partial or full nails the opportunity to get a full set again. And there’s treatments for chilblains and Reynaud’s, dry feet and calluses too. n Call 01305 259909 or go to dorchesterchiropody.co.uk
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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Business
Here’s your chance to nominate a woman’s work The West Country Women Awards 2022 is open for nominations to celebrate and recognise the work of women across the region. With a new collaboration with Devon Women in Business Awards and the West Country Women Awards businesswoman in Devon and the south west will have greater opportunities to shine. Winners of the Devon awards going straight through to the West Country Women Awards on a Golden Ticket. Alexis Bowater, OBE, of West Country Women Awards CIC, said: “We are
TIME TO VOTE: The West Country Women Awards
delighted to be working together with Devon Women in Business, this absolutely ties in with our purpose and philosophy of collaboration, co-operation and community: the Golden Ticket from county awards taking them straight through to regionals is
brilliant for everyone.” Categories are: n Combatting Violence Against Women and Girls - Sponsored by Alison Hernandez the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. n Diversity and Equality Sponsored by Plymouth Charter. n Employer of the Year Sponsored by St Austell Brewery. n Green Business - Sponsored by
LHC Design. n Women in STEM - Sponsored by Msubs. n Women in Tech - Sponsored by the Real Ideas Organisation. n Women in Health - Sponsored by Plymouth Science Park and Exeter Science Park. n Employee of the Year - Sponsored by Womble Bond Dickinson. n Entrepreneur of the Year Sponsored by Continuum Financial Advisers. n The Phoenix Award - Sponsored by Michael Spiers Jewellers n Inspirational Leader n Small Business n Best Supporting Act n Women in Sport n Women in Construction and Property.
n For information and to nominate go to westcountrywomenawards.c o.uk and devonwomen inbusiness.com
Bathroom firm is flushed with success By Andrew Diprose editor@dorsetbiznews.co.uk
A Dorset bathroom specialist made a splash when it was named Installation Company of the Year at a national awards ceremony. Bridport-based Ocean Bathrooms beat competition from four other installation firms to win the title at the BKU (Bathroom and Kitchen Update) Awards. Joe Mühl, Contracts and Projects MD, said the win was totally unexpected. This year’s BKU Awards were held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel near London’s Hyde Park. Comedian Ed Byrne hosted the ceremony and also
TOP AWARD: The Ocean Bathrooms team and, inset, awards host Ed Byrne
presented the awards. Established in 1993 by Robert Mühl – Joe’s father – Ocean Bathrooms now has three showrooms in Bridport, Poole and London’s Mayfair. The company mainly
services the retail and hospitality sectors. It is part of the Ocean Collection which includes Ocean Super Prime Mayfair, Ocean Spa and Wellness and Ocean Trade. Projects from the team at Ocean Bathrooms in the last 12 months, which were taken into account for the
award, included: n A luxury renovation three-bathroom project in Kensington. n Master ensuite with private spa. n Eight bathrooms for a private hotel in Lyme Regis. n An elegant, yet fully accessible and adapted, bathroom for a wheelchair user in Hendon. n Multiple high-grade family bathroom spaces. Joe, who launched Ocean Bathrooms’ Poole showroom in 2020, said: “It is great to receive the award for Installation Company of the Year. “The team have done excellently and maintained a great customer service. “They always work so hard and it’s such a boost for everyone.” n oceanbathrooms.com
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Church
Be prepared to be turned upside-down By Canon Deb Smith, Team Rector of Bridport Stories are so beguiling. Real life has messy edges and is unresolved. But making little patchworks of stories helps us see drops of life in focus for a moment. This week I remembered a story a parishioner from long ago shared with me of her life. She was a lovely woman in her eighties. She hailed from Yorkshire. She was the archetypal sweet old
Services Sunday, July 31 Sherborne Abbey 8am Holy Communion 9.30am Parish Eucharist 6pm Evensong St Martin of Tours, Lillington 10am Morning Service St James the Great, Longburton 6pm Songs of Praise St Paul’s at The Gryphon 10.30am All Age Worship St Mary Magdalene, Castleton 11.15am Communion Roman Catholic Mass is held each week in Beaminster and Chideock. Saturday in Beaminster at 6pm Sunday 8.30am in Chideock and 10am in Bridport St Mary’s Church in Litton Cheney has Wi-Fi and every Sunday, organist and lay worship leader Paul Cheater, leads the Morning Prayer which is broadcast to St Gregory’s Church in
lady; kind, thoughtful and selfless. As a young woman she set off on a journey to New Zealand to be married. Her fiancé had sailed out ahead of her to find a home for them and they planned to have the wedding soon after she arrived. She was full of trepidation for the journey alone – three weeks at sea. But she felt confident of the life she was travelling towards. On the ship she met a young man. By the time she arrived in New Zealand
everything had changed. She knew without question the man she would spend the rest of her life with was not her fiancé, but the young man on the ship. All she expected her life to be was turned upside down. When I met her she was a widow, but she had spent her life with her young man, her husband for over 50 years. Why have I been thinking of Peggy and her story this week? Maybe her experience describes waking up to life, a theme of this strange time
when life is so uncertain and for so many, turned upside down. The act of paying attention helps us to see our own stories and the stories of our community. The things that turn our world upside down can sometimes be the very things that make life precious.
Boca Raton, Florida, every week. You can join him: facebook.com/SaintGregory s Beaminster – St Mary of the Annunciation 8am Eucharist 9.30am Eucharist Broadwindsor - The Nativity of St John the Baptist 3.30pm Tea Church St Juthware and St Mary’s, Halstock 9.30am Breakfast Church Maiden Newton 8am Morning Service Dorchester United Church 10.30am Morning Worship and Junior Church Bridport Catholic Church 10am Mass Little Bredy 11am The churches of the Bride Valley Benefice will join with Langton, Portesham and Abbotsbury for a service at St Michael and All Angels in Littlebredy followed by a picnic next to the lake. Melbury Bubb 11am team Service and picnic
Cerne Abbas 11.15am Sung Matins Melbury Bubb 11am Team Service & Picnic Maiden Newton 8am Holy Communion
9.30am Prayer Meeting at Thomas Hardye School 10am Sunday Service at Thomas Hardye School Toller Percorum 3.30pm Tea Church Sherborne Abbey Burton Bradstock 8am Holy Communion 10.30 Songs of Praise Swyre 6.30pm Songs of Praise Punchknowle 9.30am Holy Communion Litton Cheney 9.30am Morning Worship Long Bredy 11am Holy Communion Corscombe 10am Holy Communion East Chelborough 11.15am Holy Communion Melbury Osmund 6.30pm Evening Prayer Wraxall 11am Holy Communion Maiden Newton 9.30am Family Communion
Sunday, August 7 Sherborne Abbey 8am Holy Communion 9.30am Parish Eucharist 6pm Evensong St Martin Of Tours, Lillington 10.30am All Age Worship St James The Great, Longburton 11am Village Communion St Paul’s at The Gryphon 10.30am Holy Communion St Mary Magdalene, Castleton 11am Mattins Toller Percorum 11am Eucharist South Perrott 11am Eucharist Bridport St Mary 8am Service 11am Holy Communion Swyre 6pm Songs of Praise Dorchester Family Church
Tuesday, August 9 Sherborne Abbey 5pm Service with Bishop Isaac, Ezo (Sudan)
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Letters
newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk
Hardy is still relevant in the classroom While I did not read the original piece by Chris Loder, I was rather surprised to see such a dismissive attitude towards Thomas Hardy from a member of West Dorset’s Green Party (Kelvin Clayton Politics, July 15). Hardy’s deep love and acute observation of the natural world permeates his work, which is heavily ‘nostalgic’. I think the man who wrote: “After 2,000 years of mass we’ve got as far as poison gas” and the harrowing description of agricultural working conditions in Tess of the D’Urbevilles would have had no trouble engaging with weapons of mass destruction and the chaos of climate change. Our children spend quite enough time worrying about these things anyway – rather than burdening them with more of the same it is the business of English literature to equip them with the emotional intelligence, social awareness and spiritual hinterland to enable them to cope with such issues. I would argue that Hardy’s work is supremely well-suited to do this, as well as being particularly relevant to Dorset’s children, something I was very grateful for during my own time as a teacher. I am not quite sure why Kelvin finds the association of Hardy with West Dorset ‘quaint’ and wonder if he has ever read Fellow Townsman – one of the writer’s most quintessential stories, which is actually set in Bridport and West Bay? As for his assertion that the past is in the past and the future is in the front of us may I remind him of a fellow philosopher’s saying, that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it?
Great magazine. Keep up the good work! Sue Baillie, Bridport I would like to give readers an update from the Schoolroom Quilters in Eype after our exhibition. We collected a whopping £2,509.19 for West Dorset Motor Neurone Disease. That amount includes the £503.48 from donations, the sale of cream teas, cakes refreshments, percentage of sales from Dorset Patchworks and items made and donated by the group. We also donated £503.48 to Friends of St Peters Church for the upkeep of this beautiful church. We could not have done this without the support of people such as The West Dorset Magazine and others who have supported us. Nor could we have done it without the wonderful support of Bridport Round Table with their donation of £1,000 and initial donation to get the project off the ground. Diana Harvey Rosemary Binns Co Organisers Eype Schoolroom quilters Neil Matthews (‘Returning wildlife placed at risk with development’ July 15) is quite right to use the opportunity to castigate Dorset Council for its promotion of the North Dorchester housing scheme. It cannot be said too often that the council is completely wrong-headed in this, and more generally in its preference for promoting a small number of large add-ons to Dorset’s towns, rather than facilitate small add-ons to towns and villages that would actually cater for real local needs. Arguably the root of the problem is the
government’s top-down imposition of housing targets that are determined by some algorithm rather than by any examination of the situation on the ground. But Dorset Council compounds this folly by its policy – which of course arises not from the views of residents but from the fact that it makes life much easier for the planning department and committee to have to deal with just a handful of mega schemes rather than a multiplicity of smaller ones. It also makes it easier for the small number of very large national builders that dominate the housebuilding scene, as opposed to the small local firms who are almost always far better attuned to local needs and local architectural traditions. Roger White, Sherborne In response to the Issue 11 article ‘A toast to our hospital food’ I can’t believe this article was ever worth writing, and am surprised it was considered appropriate to publish it. The NHS is on its knees, and out of everything that could be addressed, complaining about hospital food seems ridiculous. I have been in awe of the NHS this past year, more so than normal. I gave birth in November to a beautiful baby who has been diagnosed with a rare disease and so is medically complex. We had a six-week stay in three different hospitals when he was born. He had experts from every conceivable speciality see him, whilst dozens of tests were ran to figure out what was wrong. All for free. As a breastfeeding mum, the NHS offered to feed me three times per day, plus snacks. I bought my own food whenever
possible to help, but often did end up eating NHS food by the bedside. Despite not being the patient myself, nurses continually offered to fetch me hot and cold drinks. I cannot conceive of complaining about this free service. I myself underwent surgery last week to find out more about my son’s genetic disease. This time as the patient I was brought food, the lady next to me was found something suitable to eat as she was gluten intolerant. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the primary concern of our NHS was food, and we were in a position where we could fund ‘localised catering facilities in every department’. The article did contain a line about the amazing staff, but almost as an afterthought. I’m writing this from the hospital bedside of my son, where we’re fortunate tonight to just be overnight visitors. I see how many people are involved in the care of my son for another 14-hour inpatient stay; so far two sisters, three nurses (one of whom has found me bedding and made up a bed), one doctor, one specialist, one auxiliary nurse, one cleaner. I see how many beds are on this ward, and how many patients the staff have to care for. We arrived late tonight, so didn’t see the food trolley, but I know they’ll be round in the morning. And I certainly won’t have the gall to comment on what I expect to see on the menu. I’m really enjoying the magazine so far (with the exception of this), and so my apologies for getting in touch to primarily complain, rather than congratulate you and the team. The magazine is a great local asset, keep up the good work. Amy Hogben
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Sport By Stuart Wickham stuart@westdorsetmag.co.uk
Although some Bridport Town fans are looking forward to their season in the South West Peninsula League Premier League, under new management team of Edgar Marcu and his assistant James Lukosius, others seem less confident on the team’s chances. The Bees have largely performed well in friendly games, some of which have been against higher-ranked opposition, but concerns remain about the team’s ability to gel quickly enough while adapting to a new playing style. Marcu takes charge in his first competitive Bees’ match, away to Ivybridge as the season kicks off on Saturday, August 6. Back-to-back home matches against Honiton and Crediton quickly follow, with the opening games likely to prove a good barometer for the season ahead, following wholesale squad changes and the implementation of a new style. Marcu has retained some experienced players with Dan Baggs, Harley Brook, Adam Steele and Riley Greenwood-Neate all re-signing for the Bees. Centreback Ryan Gall has been restored to the first team, and has looked a solid presence in defence during pre-season. Steve Barrett has been a fan of the club for over five years and is the club’s unofficial photographer Steve is generally optimistic about the season, although is concerned at the time it may take for new players to bed into the team, and adapt
TAKING CHARGE; Bees manager Edgar Marcu and, below, Ryan Gall and Dan Baggs Pictures; STEVE BARRETT
New season & new style for Bridport under boss Marcu to a new way of playing. Steve said: “I am looking forward to the new season, and have enjoyed watching the team in the friendlies. They played well against Weymouth. Although they lost 10-0, Weymouth are a professional team and we certainly competed well. They have had a couple of good wins against decent opposition and put up a good showing against Portland despite having several regular first-teamers unavailable.
“I like Edgar’s enthusiasm for the challenge and his confidence – he says he’s there to win the league and seems determined to set the standards high. You can certainly see the change in style. Before, we would knock it long to a big man up front to try and flick it on or hold it up, but now everybody is trying to play proper football out from the back – tippy tappy football – and so far we haven’t been caught out much by it. “The thing that worries me
and many of the other fans I’ve spoken to, is that we’ve had other new managers since Adam Fricker left. It always takes time for players to get used to each other and start playing as a team, and it remains to be seen if Edgar has had enough time to prepare his players properly. An example of this is where the Reserves beat the First Team early in pre-season – they were just a better unit, not necessarily better players. Much of my hope comes from the fact we are playing in a lower division, but I know that many fans are worried that it still might take us time to adjust. “I like the look of our defence and Ryan Gall has been excellent in the friendlies. He looks really assured alongside Dan Baggs, and hope they can form a really solid partnership. “As a fan, I think you have to be quietly optimistic, but the early league matches will certainly tell us a lot about how ready the team is.” If there is any uncertainty on the terraces, Marcu has no doubts about his team’s readiness. He said: “Our pre-season has been fantastic, we are more than ready for the new season. We started to play with the right shape against Radstock and I can see the quality that these players have. Many will go on to play at a higher level. The team is ready.” Bridport FC Opening Fixtures South West Pensinsula League Premier Division East Saturday, August 6: Ivybridge A Tuesday, August 9: Honiton H Saturday, August 13: Crediton H Wednesday, August 17: Elmore A Saturday, August 20: Brixham A Tuesday, August 30: Cullompton H
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Sport
KEEPER: Harry Dillon
New faces for Magpies HAPPIER TIMES: Wayne Jerome and his all-conquering Zebras team from last season Picture: MARK WOOLMINGTON
Zebras in shock as Jerome leaves league’s champions By Stuart Wickham stuart@westdorsetmag.co.uk
Sherborne Town fans have been rocked by the departure of manager Wayne Jerome, just two weeks before the start of the new season. Jerome led the team to the league title, culminating in a 21-match winning run. The announcement of Jerome’s departure was made via a club statement on Twitter, published on Wednesday, July 17. The exit follows the departure of long term assistant Neil Waddleton at the start of the close season, and although it has inevitably disrupted preparations for the Premier Division campaign, it is clear that there is plenty of mutual respect between Jerome and the club. Chairman John Bowers, took to
Twitter to confirm Jerome’s place in Zebras’ folklore. Bowers tweeted: “For being the driving force behind last seasons success and giving me one of the best experiences of my life I will forever be grateful. “Once a Zebra always a Zebra.” Jerome, consistently reluctant to talk publicly, posted a statement to show his passion and affection for the club. He tweeted: “It’s been a privilege to be part of the history of Sherborne Town FC and I’d like to thank the following: Chairman John Bowers for believing in me five seasons ago when he offered me the job. “Thanks also to Sam Bowers, the man who is the heart and soul of this club. “To all the volunteers and
committe members, you really are the club’s unsung heroes. “To my backroom staff: We’ve argued, we’ve fallen out, we’ve yelled at each other in the heat of the moment, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. “It’s just passion and pride for the love of the game. “And finally to you, the players. What a group of men you have become: Humble in victory, hardworking in training, given your all for each other. “It’s been a roller coaster of emotions and ups and downs, but we sacrificed everything and won the ultimate prize. Be proud Sherborne FC and thanks for the memories.” The club have advised that an interim management team are in place and have been approached for further comment.
Dorchester Town kick off their 2022/23 campaign at The Avenue, with the visit of North Leigh on Saturday, August 6. This is followed by a trip to Truro City a week later, before hosting Plymouth Parkway on Tuesday, August 16. The club have welcomed a number of new faces during the close season, including highly-rated goalkeeper Harry Dillon, while former U23 captain Jordi Foot returns to the club following a successful season at Shaftesbury. Brinley Doyle has earned a promotion to the first team squad. With a full season ahead and with the momentum gained from a successful scrap for survival, Glenn Howes will be hoping that his charges can avoid another relegation battle, and compete higher up the Southern Premier League table. The opening fixtures look like they could yield points for The Magpies, and the mood among fans is generally positive ahead of the new campaign. Dorchester Town FC August Fixtures Southern Premier League 2022/23 Season Saturday, August 6: North Leigh H Saturday, August 13: Truro City A Tuesday, August 16: Plymouth Parkway H Saturday, August 20: Beaconsfield Town A Saturday, August 27: Hartley Wintney H Monday, August 29: Yate Town A
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Sport Dorchester CC 1st XI 331/6 (50 Overs) Puddletown CC Saturday XI 153 (37.4 Overs) Dorchester CC 1st XI won by 178 runs - Dorchester CC 1st XI 20 points; Puddletown Saturday XI 5 points Dorchester opener Seb Carty scored a brilliant 150 to lay the foundation for a crushing win against Puddletown. Carty’s fluid innings came off 122 balls and included 19 fours. Batting first on a great batting strip at the Rec, the home side amassed a huge total, with Eral Anderson (79) and Carty putting on 175 for the third wicket. Puddletown lost both openers without scoring, with James Dunham and captain Dan Belt taking the scalps of Adam Barrett and Robert Snow respectively. Wicket-keeper Reagan Norman (39), helped the visitors recover, but his dismissal was one of three quick wickets which reduced Puddletown to 59-5, and effectively ended any prospect of a successful run chase, The Dorchester bowlers continued to chip away, with only Jordan King (33) offering sustained resistance. Jamie Barrett finished with 3-35, with two wickets apiece for Dunham, Rob Nobbs and Jack Owens, with Owens taking the wicket of James Morris to seal the win in the 38th over. Dorchester remain third in the Premier Division, 25 points behind leaders, Wimborne and Colehill. Bere Regis CC 1st XI 105 (27.4 Overs) Sherborne CC 1st XI 106/7 (31.2 Overs) Sherborne CC 1st XI won by
Wimborne & Colehill CC 1st XI 319/3 (50 Overs) Martinstown CC 1st XI 64 (25.1 Overs) Wimborne & Colehill CC 1st XI won by 255 runs Wimborne CC 1st XI 20 points; Martinstown CC 1st XI 1 point
TAKE THAT: Eral Anderson on his way to 79 for Dorchester
3 wickets - Sherborne CC 1st XI 18 points; Bere Regis CC 1st XI 4 points Jake Ellsworth starred for Sherborne, his figures of 6 for 24 helping to bowl out the visitors inside 28 overs, in a low-scoring game at The Terraces. Andy Nurton took 2 for 10, with Jacob Kennard top-scoring for Bere Regis, who started the day fourth in the league. Had it not been for 46 extras, the hosts may have found themselves chasing a very modest total, however they still managed to overhaul the visitors’ total with time and wickets to spare. Opener Josh Lawrence top-scored with 38 to lay a solid platform, but regular wickets fell to keep the game in the balance. When Tom Harris fell to Sam Goodhew (3-20), the home side were 76-6, giving Bere Regis the chance of an unlikely victory. Captain Shane Pulling then produced a composed cameo of 22 not out to steer Sherborne to a three-wicket win. The win lifted Sherborne to fifth in the table, with Bere Regis remaining in fourth.
An under-strength Martinstown suffered a chastening defeat away to league leaders, Wimborne, being outgunned in all departments. Among the absentees were in-form Will Maltby, who scored 86 in the previous week’s defeat to Bere Regis, and experienced batter, Sam Kershaw. Only two of the visitors’ batsmen reached double figures, Lee House (11) and Ralph Daubeney (12), as Martinstown were bowled out inside 26 overs, with Joe Welch (3 for 23) spearheading an impressive Wimborne attack. Batting first, the hosts had found things much easier, with opener Ben Bridgen hitting a superb unbeaten century. Bridgen’s 144 not out included 20 fours, and excellent support came from Mark House, who made 71 from 61 balls, as the Martinstown bowlers struggled to take wickets or curtail the flow of runs. Martinstown remain in seventh place in the Premier Division, while Wimborne’s 12th consecutive win keeps them firmly at the top. Poole CC 1st XI 238/6 (50 Overs) Cattistock & Symene CC 1st XI 230 (47.3 Overs) Poole CC 1st XI won by 8 runs – Poole CC 1st XI 20 points; Cattistock & Symene CC 1st XI 11 points
Cattistock & Symene Firsts fell agonisingly short of pulling off an incredible run chase against high-flying Poole. In a tense finish, the home side were dismissed just eight runs shy of Poole’s total, with two and a half overs remaining in their innings. Cattistock & Symene’s openers, Wes Lewis (55) and Luke King (36), set them on their way. Steven Tucker’s fine 50 from just 60 balls then gave the hosts some important middle-order momentum. Tucker’s dismissal, and the re-introduction of Poole bowler Scott Bellamy, proved decisive however, with Bellamy’s three late wickets in his 4 for 56 instrumental in stopping the run chase in its tracks. Earlier, Ollie Legg produced a mean spell of bowling to help restrict the away team’s total, finishing with 2-17 from his 10 overs. Aryan Mehta top scored with 59 not out, with valuable contributions from Badrul Alam (47) and David Miller (51). Despite a haul of 11 points from the match, Cattistock & Symene remain bottom of the Premier Division with 87 points. Division 2 Corfe Mullen CC 1st XI 139 (35.3 Overs) Beaminster CC 1st XI 140/7 (38.4 Overs) Beaminster CC 1st XI won by 3 wickets – Beaminster CC 1st XI 17 points; Corfe Mullen CC 1st XI 5 points Lahiru Abeywickrama was the star man for Beaminster Firsts, as they won a tense, low-scoring game at home to
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Sport Corfe Mullen. Lahiru scored a precious 35 as Beaminster laboured towards their victory target, having earlier taken 2 for 12 to help restrict the visitors’ total. The home side had looked on course for a comfortable run chase having dismissed Corfe Mullen for just 139 inside 36 overs. Oliver Bareham’s 3 for 29 was the standout performance, with Ross Baker and Simon Jones also getting a pair of victims each. The visitors’ first change bowler Mark Hodges, had other ideas, dismissing Beaminster’s top four in a blistering spell and finishing with 4 for 23. When Adam Moss and Daniel Hillier also went cheaply, the game looked to be slipping away, before Lahiru’s composed innings swung the pendulum back to the home side. Simon Jones (13 not out) and Oliver Bareham (one not out) saw Beaminster home with over six overs remaining. The win gives Beaminster a share of the lead in Division 2 on 226 points, along with Chalke Valley 1st XI. Beaminster CC 1st XI 314/3 (45 Overs) Dorchester CC 2nd XI 202 (44.2 Overs) Beaminster CC 1st XI won by 112 runs – Beaminster CC 1st XI 20 points; Dorchester CC 2nd XI 6 points Beaminster made the most of winning the toss and electing to bat first on a flat wicket at the Rec, racking up a matchwinning score, as the Dorchester bowlers toiled in the searing 30 degree heat. Captain Jim Park immediately put the opening
bowlers under pressure, scoring positively off the front and back foot, and raced to a fifty partnership inside seven overs, alongside Moss. Moss was dismissed for 20 off the bowling of Jamie Egan, but not before Beaminster’s openers had reached 77 from just 15
TOP FORM: Lahiru Abeywickrama starred in Beaminster CC's win against Corfe Mullen 1st XI
overs. Tom Fowler was elevated to number three, to try and reverse his recent poor form, but unfortunately Fowler misread a leg break from youngster Tom Kinsey (1-43) and found himself caught between two shots, missing the ball, and hearing the clatter of stumps behind him. This brought Ben Gollege to the middle who has looked like scoring some runs recently without converting many of his starts into big scores. Gollege struggled initially against the seam and leg spin combination working in tandem, while Park continued to smash his was to a half century. The pair added 46 for the third wicket, before a weary Park pulled a short ball into mid-
wicket’s hands, falling just 15 short of a century, in an innings which included 15 fours. Ross Baker joined Gollege in the middle and the pair maintained the pressure on the home side, who were clearly struggling in the intense heat. Gollege, now well set, began to expand his stroke play guiding and bashing balls to all areas of the ground. Baker quickly got into his own stride, ensuring the Dorchester bowlers had no respite. The pair brought up 300 in the 43rd over - a feat not achieved by a Beaminster side in recent memory. Gollege ended with a fine 81 not out, which included 11 boundaries, and Baker a sublime 90 not out with 13 fours and one maximum. Beaminster completing their 45 overs with a mammoth 314-3. Nick Hollely made an early breakthrough in the third over, clean bowling former Dorchester first teamer Simon Joslin for a duck, although on a pitch favouring the batters, it became apparent the away team were going to have to apply themselves in all areas to take maximum points from the game. In the seventh over, Hollely bagged Dorchester captain Nick Joslin for nine, to reduce the hosts to 27 for 2. Wicket keeper batsman, Scott Peach, launched an impressive counter attack, smashing Hollely for five fours and a six inside three overs, which helped the home side recover to 81 in 13 overs. Peach put on 59 for the third wicket with Remy Wood, before Baker found
the edge of his bat, and Gollege snaffled the chance at first slip. Daniel Hill came out to join Wood and the young pair handled everything that the Beaminster bowlers could throw at them as the wicket stayed true. Batting with a confidence that belied their years, it took an outstanding piece of fielding from Hollely at mid off to dismiss Wood. The number four batter nailed a forward defence off Lahiru and took on the field, only for Hollely to obliterate the stumps at the non-striker’s end, running out the in-form batter by the barest of margins. Wood and Hill had put on a fine 72 in just 14 overs. Young leg spinner, Henry Everitt, then had Hill caught by Park in the following over and, although it looked like Beaminster may be able to open up the tail, the Dorchester batsmen continued to bat with dogged determination. The home side had reached 160 -6 by the 30th over, when Lahiru Abeywickrama trapped Daniel Spears leg before, in a fine spell, bowling nine overs on the trot to return 127. Baker bowled Ned Cartwright for a duck in the 35th over finishing with figures of 1 for 50, and with youngsters Kinsey and Egan playing pace with relative ease, Park decided to take that pace off the ball in order to try and take the final two Dorchester wickets. His decision was rewarded by Everitt as he bowled Egan for 10 with just his second deliver, and the final home wicket fell in the last over as Kinsey spooned the ball to Park at short mid-off.
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Sport
Stormin’ Norman fires Puddletown Dorchester and District Evening Cricket League round-up By Robin Potter
Dorchester and District Evening League Division I P W L Pts Puddletown 7 7 0 14 St George’s 5 4 1 8 Charlton Down 8 2 6 4 Martinstown 6 2 4 4 Hazel. Bryan 6 1 5 2
Puddletown completed the first leg of their double by winning the Doug Read Cup with a comfortable victory over Hazelbury Bryan. Skipper Ryan Norman was the chief architect, winning the toss and putting Hazelbury in then taking four wickets to help restrict them to just 96 runs. Puddletown’s batters saw off this total with few alarms to give them the trophy by six wickets. Puddletown’s quest for the league title now goes to their final game against the only side that can catch them when they meet St George’s on August 1. Cattistock & Symene guaranteed themselves top spot in Division II by beating both Plush and Puddletown Reserves. Against Plush it was Luke King with 75* and Steven Tucker 76 that gave then an eight-wicket win, while against Puddletown, Wes
Lewis with 119* at a strike rate of 224 set up the win, Luke Robertson sealing it with 3 wickets in 7 balls. Abbotsbury pulled off a rare win in their final game against Cerne Valley, Neil Walton’s splendid 81*giving them a six-wicket victory in a bid to stave off relegation. Cerne fared better against Plush with an eight-wicket victory, Plush themselves rebounding with a victory over Dewlish.
Lyme Bowls Club Round-up By Paul Moffitt The championship side were resting this week whilst the second team played Bridport away. The ladies lost on both rinks at home to Dorchester 'A' in the Dorset League. The men played Dorchester in the semi-final of the Top Club competition and did well to secure wins in two
disciplines against arguably the strongest team in Dorset. In the friendlies, Lyme had a good win against Paignton at home but lost away to Severalls. Results: Men's Top Club: Lyme 2, Dorchester 3. 2 Wood Singles Carl Stephens lost 8-18 4 Wood Singles Paul Pomeroy lost 9-21 Pairs
Division II Catt & Symene 9 Plush 9 Dewlish 9 Cerne Valley 10 Puddletown 2 9 Abbotsbury 10
FOUR WICKETS: Puddletown skipper Ryan Norman
The game between the top two sides in Division III went the way of Frampton when their openers John Horford 82 and Janes Butler 71 set up a good total and Chas Duerdoth’s 3 for 12 cemented the win. Frampton now have two games left to try and catch Bere at the top. Mention must be made of an excellent match between Dorchester Colts and New Look/ASM. Simon Dowling & Charlie Barber won 16-14 Triples Ron Hunt, Alan Nabarro & Steve Pomeroy lost 3-27 Fours Trevor Allman, Richard Cridge, Allan Weech & Barry Rattenbury won 1814. Friendly: Lyme 107 Paignton 80 J Moon/B Moon, P Stephens & J Moseley 2016
8 6 5 5 2 2
1 3 4 5 7 8
16 12 10 10 4 4
Division III Bere Regis 11 8 Frampton 10 7 New Look/ASM 11 6 Puddletown III 11 6 Charlton Down II 12 4 Dorc Colts 11 4 Puddletown RFC 10 2
3 3 5 5 7 7 7
16 14 12 12 9 8 5
Paul Chatterton’s 55 seemed to have set up New Look well until Billy Baker’s 4 -16 at the end of the innings kept them to 155. Colts then struggled against Mo Sheraz who took 4 for 21. Billy then came to the rescue with a rapid 79 but it still needed Nick Joslin to hit the only two balls he faced to the boundary, giving Colts the win with only one ball to spare. A Hopkins, N Stephens & R Hunt 16-15 P Moseley, E Sarsons & A Preece 14-14 P Stoke-Faires, A Nabarro & J Maslen 24-11 J Enticott, S White & A Weech 19-8 M Haseman, N Benson & A Darvill 14-16 The league teams will now be rested for two weeks because Poole & Bournemouth have their tournament weeks.
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
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Agriculture
Mud-phobic Tria Stebbing lives on the outskirts of Sherborne. She keeps sheep, is working on her first book, and works in a village school.
The heat of the last week has meant that all baling is now done and in the barn. Who in their right mind would be walking around behind a baler on the hottest day of the year? I would, whilst the other half is driving the tractor up and down, the tractor with air conditioning... Right on cue the old baler decided to hiccup every sixth bale and chuck one out with no strings tied. We bale small bales, more useful to the smallholder as easier to handle, they are traditionally tied with two strings. The baler is a fascinating piece of engineering, picking up the mown grass, gobbling it up, pressing it into a square and tying two strings around it, before spitting it out. You can adjust the weight of the bale by increasing the tension on the chamber so it must pack more hay in, if the bale is too loose it will fall apart when picked up, if too tight it will be far to heavy for lightweights like me to lift. I walk behind the baler to scoop the hay up if it doesn’t knot and throw it back into the next
HAY PRESTO: Hard at work out in the fields in an air-conditioned tractor
Working during this heat? Sorry, but I’ll have to bale line. When it is pushing 30 degrees it is a hard job, dusty and thankless and seemingly never ending. Worse still all those bales need moving out of the way of the next row so the tractor wheels do not squash them, then when stacked, collected by the trailer to be stacked in the barn. By this time, I have lifted them three times so the strings do need to be firm. This year the hay is beautiful, but because of the searing heat, the grass underneath is brown and parched which is not ideal to put the sheep back on to. On the same day our
friend Kate passed through the area on her epic 1,300-mile horse ride from John O’Groats to Lands end in aid of Pets as Therapy and VetLife, riding her six-year-old palomino Marilyn. We are pleased to be caring for her ram Glastonbury while she rides, and her story is fascinating. Kate is fulfilling a lifelong dream to ride the full distance and spurred on by the recent pandemic and a big birthday she realised that life is too short to wait. She set off on April 24 in cold conditions and this week has had to shelter for a few days from the heat,
relying on the kindness of others. She is on target to finish on time. Armed with wire cutters, a neck warmer, and a sharp knife in case of emergency her kit is moved on by complete strangers on the way who are keen to help her in her quest. She loved riding through Dorset and found the countryside simply stunning. If you would like to follow Kates story it can be found on Vettrek.UK or The Great British Vet Trek on Facebook. Glastonbury is being pampered whilst she is gone, but I suspect he cannot wait to see her again.
70
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
Agriculture
It’s safety first every time for both Our vet tech teams attend client farms, some clients work with other veterinary practices and some work with Synergy Farm Health. Our employees and the animals we handle daily are of the highest importance. We make sure our equipment is maintained and of the highest standard. Our staff are trained to deliver a safe, quality assured service, whilst working in and with a wide range of farm
By DAVE FECKNALL Vet tech manager Synergy Farm Health
facilities. Handling facilities on farm can be overlooked or taken for granted. Correct levels of restraint and calm handling of cattle whilst feeling safe is paramount. Our vet techs are not allowed to carry sticks or cattle prodders to aid
herding. Struggling to load or handle animals safely, stresses animals and almost certainly the people involved. When physically and mentally tired, that’s when accidents and injuries are more likely to occur. Everyone must work together to find practical solutions when
From pages 56-57
Puzzle solutions Sudoku
Crossword
1 7 4 9 6 8 2 5 3
9 5 2 3 4 7 1 6 8
8 3 6 1 2 5 7 9 4
5 6 7 8 1 4 3 2 9
2 1 3 6 7 9 4 8 5
4 9 8 5 3 2 6 7 1
3 4 9 2 5 6 8 1 7
7 2 5 4 8 1 9 3 6
6 8 1 7 9 3 5 4 2
Brain chain 20
30
15
5
34
51
Killer Sudoku Pro 1
9 2 1 5
336×
8 6 7
7+
3 4
6
18+
8 4
189×
9 3 7
0
5
12×
1 2
1
3
12+
7 5
1
2
2
11+
5 1
6
1
8
9 8 6
4 3
7
1
1
1
6
810×
4
8÷
8÷
4 9 4
3
5 9
4÷
8 2 7
8
13+
7
5
9
6
1
7
8
4
3
3
504×
12×
1
2 3
7+
1
9
84×
7
1
6
4
2
3
2
3
6
5
4
5
9
8
45×
addressing situations. Part of the appeal/benefits of using vet techs for routine tasks is we provide a very cost efficient and laboursaving service, working mainly alone and unaided. For some visits we do require either help, or two vet techs will be booked. Most of our crushes are new remote controlled machines which can make a big difference. In recent years we have also been working very closely with a local engineering company
7+
4 3
144×
2 8 9
18+
5 6
0
7 1
T E C A X I A L R G U I N H A B F T F R E E Z E O S I N O E M A T A L L R C E C H R O N H E S
Arrow words E E A D A M A G I P E I T L A D E O E D R Y E E X V E R D R A N M L E A D I A N N I C K N E E H R
A E S W L E L E L F T O N G G E L E
Jumbo 3D Sudoku 8 3 9 1 5 7 2 6 2 3 6 2 4 7 6 4 8 3 5 5 9 9 3 4 9 7 4 4 6 1 8 1 8 1 2 5 8 5 1 9 4 5 8 1 2 7 1 7 2 3 9 4 6 9 6 2 1 5 2 8 7 6 3 7 5 7 3 5 7 4 6 9 6 4 3 1 41 2 8 7 9 28 3 9 3 1 8 3 5 2 6 8 4 5 8 9 6 3 6 7 5 4 8 9 3 7 2 7 9 1 8 8 1 5 2 9 5 4 6 7 2 6 1 6 3 6 5 6 3 4 7 9 4 4 5 1 3 6 4 2 9 8 3 7 1 3 4 7 7 5 1 9 5 2 8 3 2 9 1 2 9 4 2 9 8 5 6 7 3 5 4 1 8 4 8 7 8 4 1 2 6 1 7 7 1 6 6 3 2 9 7 1 5 2 3 5 9 5 8 9 2 8 2 3 8 4 5 67 9 5 9 6 17 2 1 7 3 4 8 2 4 5 9 3 1 3 6 4 6 6 8 2 8 3 5 1 7 4 9
A C L L R I M E B A R I R K M P H A R A L E M A J D I J P E G
J E C O S B B Q B L F I F R G O I S E E S E S T I S A B L Y A K
Y M E P I C E S
Brain chain (Hard) 142
213
22
189
18
28
Cryptic Crossword A B A N D O N S E A S E
A I A G H D A E A O D E M A R G A N A A T I R I H E L E C T I R U N E E R D N
D O U B L E C R O S S
G M M E L I T E L N S L A T O R S T T E O P A R D U I Y A R D S E P N S G E L M A A H A R P L Y N E S
The West Dorset Magazine, July 29, 2022
71
Agriculture
animals and employees on a call-out
ON THE ROAD: A vet tech team visiting a client
designing and developing our own hoof trimming crushes, with health and safety at the forefront of our thoughts. We have two
of these crushes and a third nearly ready. We rely on the farms we visit having adequate handling facilities, well
designed, maintained and in good working order. It is much easier to deliver quality hoof trimming, clear freeze brands,
You herd it here first...
accurate weighing or scanning when the handling area and facilities work well. Our teams all have a wealth of experience and are more than happy to help advise on handling issues. We probably all know someone injured on farm, for this reason alone we all need to think about health and safety. As we work in an industry that unfortunately boasts some of the worst statistics for injuries and fatalities, I’d like to encourage everyone to step back and assess their own systems, so we can all work towards a safer working environment. with Rachel Hayball
Getting to know my new Eweleaze ladies Rachel Hayball is a mum of six from Beaminster. She is a herdsperson, has a small flock of sheep and sells lamb. Apologies for my disappearance in the last edition. I recently changed jobs so have been busy getting to know new cows, a new farm and a new routine. I loved my previous job and the farm that I worked on but wanted to progress in my farming career and when I received a message on Facebook with details of a
job being advertised locally I just had to apply. Anyway, to cut the story short, I am now busy settling into my new job and am really enjoying it. Now you may assume that a farm is a farm and cows are cows and that there isn’t much difference between farms or cows, however your assumption would be wrong. Every farm is different, every system is different and cows can differ as much as your Shetland pony differs to your racehorse. When you start a new job on a new farm you suddenly have to get to know lots of new cows and what’s normal and abnormal for all
of them. For example, 433 may normally come in the milking parlour first, but one day she may come in at the end of milking instead, which may signify that she is feelig under the weather. This is easy to spot when you know the cows, but when you don’t know the cows you may miss it. Then there are the field names. Getting to know the field names can take time, especially when you have several fields with very similar names for example Sea View, Sea View South, Sea View North. Yes, I spent my first week wondering where on earth I was and which field I was actually meant to be in.
A lot of record-keeping on farms now is done via computer software, and this is another thing that I had to get to grips with. My new farm uses software that my previous farms didn’t so I had to learn how to use the software package quickly. I have to admit that I was very surprised at how easy it is to accidentally ‘kill a cow’ on the system. Thankfully it is also easy to bring them ‘back to life’ although it took a minor breakdown before I worked out how to do that. Meanwhile the cows in question were happily grazing in the field and didn’t have a clue that I had just had to bring them back to life on the computer...
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