Concerts and talks at girls’ school

A rich mixture of concerts and talks will be held at Hanford School in Child Okeford, near Blandford, from June 19-25, as part of their Festival of Performing and Creative Arts.

On Monday, June 19 Spanishborn British soprano Alexandra Lowe will perform. She has made an indelible impression on critics and audiences, from her exquisite Dafne (Apollo e Dafne) to her tour-de-force Pierrot Lunaire at Covent Garden. This season marks her first since graduating from the prestigious Jette Parker Young Artist Progamme at the Royal Opera House.

On Tuesday, June 20 Hal Cazalet’s ‘Play on Words’ will honour his step greatgrandfather PG Wodehouse, alongside Jerome Kern, Gershwin, Alan Jay Lerner,

Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Maury Yeston, Noël Coward, Stephen Sondheim, Hal Cazalet, Dudley Moore, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alan Ayckbourn, and many more.

On Wednesday, June 21 violinist Shana Douglas is in concert with Julian Gallant. Violinist Shana has been subleader in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for ten years. Julian has travelled the world with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Oxford Philomusica, Moscow Philharmonic, City of London Sinfonia, and Kiev Chamber Orchestra.

Saturday, June 24 there’s An Evening with Larry Lamb –one of Britain’s most popular and accomplished stage and screen actors. He has starred in numerous TV series, playing my favourite dances is to Queen’s legendary We Will Rock You.”

Mick Shipman in BBC’s Gavin & Stacey and Archie Mitchell in EastEnders. Larry’s talk, in conversation with a Dorset friend, is loosely entitled ‘Don’t Put Your Daughter On The Stage, Mrs Worthington’ and it promises to be a wonderful evening, full of fun and laughter in wonderful company.

Tickets from £10-£20 from hanfordschool.co.uk Drinks are served from 6.30pm and the events will run from 7pm- 8pm.

On Sunday, June 26 Hanford’s gardens will be open as part of the National Gardens Scheme 2pm-5pm, with music from the Blackmore Vale Brass Band, tea, cake and magic by the Great Baldini.

Tickets from the National Garden Scheme website.

Dancer Jennifer Guest was also a fan of Morris dancing before joining the side. She said: “I get such a buzz from dancing in public. There is great camaraderie in the group and it is so much fun.”

You can see Lyme Morris performing regularly on the Lyme Regis seafront or at various festivals in Dorset and Devon. Lyme Morris’ annual day of dance will be taking place on Saturday, July 15 when Morris sides from across the South West and beyond will be descending on Lyme Regis to perform.

Lyme Morris encourages new dancers to join this fun and social side. Musicians are also urgently needed to help the group perform. For more information contact Peter at petemorton56@googlemail.com

Flood meet at Sydling

West Dorset’s MP Chris Loder met villagers and Environment Agency and Wessex Water staff to address flooding at Sydling St Nicholas.

The village is especially prone to groundwater flooding, particularly as it is in a valley with chalk streams nearby, and suffered significant flooding earlier this year. Wessex Water says improvements to the village’s sewer pipeline are scheduled in the next six months. The Environment Agency is also planning flood resilience schemes in Sydling.