The West Dorset Magazine Edition 20, Friday, November 4, 2022

STUNNERS!

The apes at Monkey World were on fine form last week, playing to the half term crowds. This one decided to stay close to the window of its enclosure to view its visitors.

stunnas

Amazing new play equipment to be unveiled

Broadwindsor is set to reveal its transformed village green on Saturday, November 12, with long-awaited and exceptionally exciting play equipment that is bound to be well used.

Contractors Huck have been working in the centre of the village at Bernards’ Place to create an epic area for families to enjoy, in an £85,000 project spearheaded by the Comrades Hall Management Committee. The village green revamp was first mooted almost three years ago when the committee, under the chairmanship of the late David Leader, decided to open up the space for the community and improve the children’s play equipment. David died suddenly and unexpectedly earlier this year, aged just 64, having not seen the spectacular results of his

efforts. The pandemic saw the project delayed and costs rocketed by about £20,000. But villagers were undeterred, and set about raising the remainder. Now villagers have an amazing new space.

“This is fantastic news for the whole village,” said interim committee chairman Andrew Hookings. “There has been so much support for this amazing project in such a short time, from children donating their pocket money to residents of

sheltered housing giving some of their pension money to our Crowdfunder appeal.”

Funding for the project, which sees the installation of challenging and inclusive play equipment and the creation of open space for outdoor events and exercise, has also come from The National Lottery Community Fund, Dorset Council’s Capital Leverage Fund, Sport England’s Places and Spaces Fund and the FMR Trust, which is administered

by Broadwindsor Group Parish Council.

Mr Hookings said: “We are hugely grateful to local residents and to these grantmaking bodies. We also thank those who have been working away to get this project done, through hands-on work on site and beavering away in the background on funding applications.”

He added: “The revamped village green will be a fitting tribute to David’s memory. He was so involved in spearheading community projects, particularly those involving families and children, and the project at Bernards’ Place meant a great deal to him, and to all of us in the village.”

n David Leader has been posthumously nominated for a national award. See page 18.

Top young chef to star on TV

By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk

A young chef from Dorchester who now works at The Dorchester is going into battle with some of the finest cooks around in the BBC’s Masterchef: The Professionals.

Charlie Jeffreys, 24, cut his teeth as a teenage apprentice at Yalbury Cottage Hotel in Lower Bockhampton before making the move to The Dorchester in London, where he has worked his way up to be senior chef de partie at the three Michelin starred Alain Ducasse.

The former Thomas Hardye School student is the grandson of Puddletown’s well-known Weatherbury Garage owner Dave Jeffreys. His dad Mark, who also attended Thomas Hardye, is now a project

manager for an aerospace and defence company.

Charlie’s first employer, Yalbury Cottage Hotel, took him on when he was just 14. They said: “We couldn’t be more proud!”

To see Charlie cooking closer to home, find Wayne Fisherman Hand on Facebook,

who has published videos of the pair fishing at Chesil Beach and cooking the results, with herbs at the seaside. To follow Charlie’s progress on Masterchef: The Professionals go to iPlayer or watch on BBC1 at 9pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays and 8pm on Fridays.

CAFE

Oliver! staged

Lionel Bart’s iconic musical Oliver! is making an exciting debut at Sherborne Abbey. With a talented ensemble cast of 50, drawn entirely from the town’s local schools, Oliver! is produced and directed by The Rector, The Reverend Martin Lee, with Musical Director, James Henderson. This is a three-night show not to be missed, taking place at 7pm on Thursday, November 17, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 –all are welcome and ticketed admission is free.

Free tickets are available at participating schools, from Sherborne Abbey Parish Office and from the Abbey Shop. Interval refreshments will be available, along with a retiring collection after performances. sherborneabbey.com 01935 713777

FINE FOOD: Charlie Jeffreys is on Masterchef: The

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

Goulds’ two stores in South Street, Dorchester are holding a special evening of great deals and discounts until 9pm. The Late Night Shopping Spectacular will include fabulous offers, a host of new ranges and a new look perfumery section and shoppers wanting a fix of festive feel can expect a welcome glass of sparkly wine, food tastings, special offers and the chance to win a £250 gift card.

Quiz Night returns to the Smugglers Inn, Osmington Mills, Weymouth at 7.30pm. £2pp, max team of six. Stonebaked pizzas available.

A community coffee morning will be held at St Swithun’s Church Allington, Bridport from 10.45am-11.45am. Go along for a cup of fresh coffee and a piece of cake at no charge. Enjoy a chat in the company of others.

Archaeology for the Autumn is a six-week course, Face the Past 2 at East Dorset Heritage Trust, Allendale House, Wimborne Minster, 2pm3.45pm. Fee: £96 This new course will examine past people of the British Isles, how they looked, how they lived and how they died. From the man who lived in the time before Stonehenge, the

Group welcomes new members at event

Members of Dorchester & South Dorset LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) welcomed their new members from Bridport to their annual harvest celebration at Martinstown Village Hall. Delicious food was

tragic case of an 18th century ‘witch’ to an Anglo-Saxon warrior and the real face of Elizabeth I, hear their stories.

Dorset Museum Tours Explore 250 million years of Dorset’s history in this volunteer-led highlights tour. Discover Roman mosaics, fossils from the Jurassic Coast, Thomas Hardy manuscripts and the sculptures of Elisabeth Frink – and plenty more along the way.

This free tour is included as a part of your entrance ticket/annual pass or membership. No need to book, but places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

brought to share and trades of clothes, books, preserves and much more were carried out.

Members of LETS trade goods and services with their own currency, the Mart.

Lots of different services

or from the golf club – adults £6, kids £4 and family £18. Cheaper to buy in advance.

are on offer, from gardening to childcare and tuition to baking.

It is £5 per family per year to join and new members receive 20 Marts as a welcome gift. Go to dorchester-lets.co.uk for more details and to join.

The annual fireworks display at Sturminster Marshall Golf Club is back after a two-year break.

Gates open 5pm, food and drink available. 6.30pm bonfire 7pm professional fireworks display. Tickets available on Eventbrite

The Friends of Weymouth Library (Fowl) are hosting a talk by Brian Margetson on his Search for a Lost Farm in Germany at 10.30am in the library.

Booking is essential. £2 for members, £3 for nonmembers. Please contact Weymouth Library on 01305 762410 or email weymouthlibrary@dorsetcoun cil.gov.uk

A Grand Firework Display will be held from 6pm at Bridport Rugby Football Club. The display starts at 8pm. Food and drink will be available.

Admission: Adult: £6, child (under 16): £2.50, family (2 adults, 2 children and a pack of sparklers): £12.

Fireworks at Tolpuddle Martyrs Field, DT2 7EH

Tickets £8 on the night, £6 booked in advance on or before November 4 by email tolpuddlevhinfo@gmail.com. Tickets include free parking, a free cup of soup, with a pay bar, BBQ and live music.

Lyme Regis Spectacular Fireworks & Bonfire kicks off at The Cobb at 6.30pm, hosted by Lyme Regis Regatta and Carnival Committee. 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 beach.

The fireworks start at 6.30pm followed by the lighting of the bonfire on the sandy beach.

The display is free of charge with a collection made to fund future displays, so please bring some cash and place into one of the collecting buckets on the night. Please give generously so that they can

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

continue to provide this wonderful display. You can also donate online at lymeregiscarnival.co.uk/donat eonline

A fireworks display will be held at Dorchester Rugby Club with attractions for all the family, sponsored by Nutley Farm Christmas Experience 2022.

Wide choice of food concessions and fully stocked bars. Doors open at 6pm, fireworks at 8pm. Music by Aural pleasure, DJ Mark Ado to keep you entertained after the fireworks.

Buckland Newton Bonfire Night at the Gaggle of Geese Pub starts at 5pm. Fireworks, bonfire, hog roast, mulled drinks, hot chocolate and more!

This year a lantern procession will start from the Parish Field and walk to the Gaggle. Tissue & willow lantern kits now available from the pub (£3). Lanterns to be star themed. Procession from 5pm. Bonfire from 5.30pm. Fireworks from 7pm.

Pay on arrival. Adults £5. Kids free.

Teas and Talks - Whispers and Cries at Shire Hall Museum from 2pm-3pm. Tim Hitchcock Presents Whispers and Cries: Listening for the Voices of the Dead in a 19th Century Courtroom.

This lecture traces the evolution of the 18th and 19th century British courtroom as it evolved from a plain open space into a complex theatre of justice. Along the way, it suggests that the changing architecture of the courtroom evidences the development of new relationships between defendants, judges, juries and

witnesses. By building 3D models, and testing how, for example, the placing of judges bench, jury box and defendant's dock effected the soundscape of the court it argues that defendants were increasingly disadvantaged by a new kind of trial. Along the way, it explores how we can better understand courts such Shire Hall, and the experience of the defendants tried there for their liberty and their lives. shirehalldorset.org 01305 261849.

A Christmas Craft and Food Fair will be held today and tomorrow at Kingston Maurwood from 10am-5pm. The 38th fair has lots of wonderful stalls selling gifts, crafts, food and drink. Stay for lunch in our street food area.

The Kingston Maurward Farm Animal park is open if you want to stay and make a day of it.

Entry fees frozen for the fourth year!

Adults £3.50, concessions £3 and under 16s free.

It’s the perfect place to start your Christmas shopping!

A Christmas Fayre will be held at Weymouth Bay Methodist Church DT4 7TH between 10am and 2pm. There will be stalls selling cards, tree decorations, gifts or stocking fillers. Coffee, tea and homemade cakes, bacon butties and hot dogs will be on sale.

Code Club at Sturminster Newton Library between 10am and 11am.

Creative fun with CoderDojo and programming for children aged between eight and 13. Every first and third Saturday of the month. Booking is advised, visit Eventbrite online or call 01258 472669.

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

A tabletop sale will be held at Crossways Youth & Community Centre from 9am to noon. Bacon sandwiches & homemade cakes. Large field for the children to play safely outside. Treat yourself to a coffee or tea and cake or butty! Books, bric-a-brac and fresh vegetable stalls too!

Pitches or stalls are £5 each. To book please contact via:Email: bookings@ crosswaysycc.org or Tel: 01305 854988

Sunday, Nov 6

A home cooked roast Sunday lunch will be served up in Glanvilles Wootton Village Hall at 12.30pm in aid of the upkeep of Holnest Church. Sunday, November 6 at 12.30pm at Glanville’s Wootton Village Hall (DT9 5QF).

Two course Lunch £15 per adult £7,50 for Children. Tea and coffee included. Please bring your own wine or drinks with glasses. Booking is essential call Graham on 01963 210632

Bridlit’s Event 4 is Howard Davies – The Chancellors –Steering the British Economy in Crisis Times, at Bridport Electric Palace at 2.30pm. When the Treasury lost control of interest rates to the Bank of England in 1997, its status looked under threat. However, it quickly reasserted its power by dominating policymaking across Whitehall and diminishing other ministries in the process. It also successfully fought off attempts by Prime Ministers, from Blair to Johnson but what now?

In this fascinating and often

Film Soc hits The Road

Dorchester Film Society’s autumn season continues with The Road Dance, to be screened at the Corn Exchange on Monday, November 7 at 7.30pm. The Road Dance, based on a bestselling novel by Scottish author John McKay, is a winning return to traditional story-telling. Set in a crofting community on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides in 1916, the film centres on a young girl whose life takes a dramatic change after a terrible tragedy.

gossipy insider account, based on in-depth interviews with the Chancellors and key senior officials, Howard Davies shows how the past 25 years have nonetheless been a roller coaster ride for the Treasury. Heavily criticised for its response to global financial crises, and for the rigours of the austerity programme, it has been criticised for its role in the Scottish referendum and the Brexit debate. Now more than ever before the role of Chancellor is key to the United Kingdom’s economic future.

Book at bridlit.com or the TIC.

There’s a Friendly Dog Owners’ Meet Up on Lyme Regis Beach at 8.30am. Organisers say: “Following the huge success of our October meet up with 21 dogs and about 30 owners, it would be lovely to get together again in the beginning of November.

The next screening will be on Monday, November 14 – Buladó, again at 7.30pm.

A first for the society, this fascinating film originates from Curaçao, an island country in the former Dutch Caribbean. Kenza is a young and headstrong girl living on a junkyard with her father, Ouira, and grandfather, Weljo. The two men are true polar opposites: Ouira is a determined, rational police officer, while Weljo identifies with the island’s spirituality. dorchesterfilmsociety.org.

A Clothes Sale Event will be held at Chickerell’s Willowbed Hall at 10am.

Lots of private sellers!

Pop-up in the Yard will be held noon-4pm at Dorchester’s De Danan Centre.

Food, music and stalls, with food from Lily Cuisine. Stalls from Tidy Clothing (tiedye clothing and accessories), Molly Alice handmade accessories, Bobbin About handmade textiles, Stay Phunky vintage clothing and more.

27 London Road, Dorchester, DT1 1NF

There is free parking on the Casterbridge Industrial Estate. The event is free to enter.

Monday, Nov 7

Bridport Bridge Club is running a new course of beginner lessons at Bradpole Village Hall starting today at

2pm-4.30pm.

These classes are for anybody who is interested in learning how to play duplicate bridge, and no experience is necessary – although some knowledge of whist may be an advantage.

Also welcome will be ‘rusty’ players who have not played for a long time and would like to get back on track with their bridge.

The course may run for 14 weeks and after that new players will be able to play socially for practice before moving on to club bridge with the club’s Friday Relaxed Bridge sessions.

Bridport Bridge Club currently has three club sessions most weeks with two at St Swithun’s Church Hall and one online.

More information and contact details are available on the club website – just search Bridport Bridge Club or email bridportbridgeclub@outlook. com

From 2pm-3.30pm, an art course entitled ’Observing the everyday and new approaches to British painting’ will be held at United Hall East St, Bridport. Six-week course costs £65. The course will focus on 1950s British art and culture. Artists turn to people, observing and making social commentary and celebrating everyday life. Artists included: Lucien Freud and his circle notably Frank Auerbach, Joan Eardley, Carel Weight, Anne Redpath, the Kitchen sink painters, photography from Grace Robertson. Tutor is Pam Simpson MA, Art Historian, who works at University of the Arts London as an Associate Lecturer. Pam is an experienced tutor, whose career has been spent teaching in London Art schools and

also in West Dorset where she runs courses and gives lectures for groups. Contact Pam to book via email: chris.pamsimpson@btinternet. com or 01300 321715.

Event 12 of Bridlit is Nikki May – Wahala at The Bull Hotel. Ronke, Simi and Boo are three mixed-race friends living in London. They have the gift of two cultures, Nigerian and English, and now in their 30s, they are looking to the future. When Isobel, a lethally glamorous friend from their past arrives in town cracks in their friendship begin to appear, and the women are forced to reckon with a crime in their past. Local author, Nikki May, has written a darkly comic and subversive take on love, race and family. Her book Wahala will have

readers laughing, crying and gasping in horror. Tickets from the TIC on 01308 424901 or bridport.tic@bridporttc.gov.uk and at bridlit.com

toooB is an enchanting, wordless performance for 624-month-olds and their grown-ups, to be hosted at The Corn Exchange, Dorchester. A gentle sensory adventure, where a performer is costumed inside a giant caterpillar-like tunnel creation, magically manipulating it before playfully emerging from the tunnel and inviting the audience to play.

toooB has an original soundtrack, captivating movement and is designed to be a perfect introduction to

Thatched, Grade II-listed 16th century freehouse at the heart of the historic village of Yetminster. Acclaimed Sunday roasts.

Classics fun run. Classic car and motorcycle-friendly.

Large, floodlit asphalt surfaced rear car park with CCTV. Car wash facilities.

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

theatre and dance for the very young, encouraging empathy and playful interaction.

Duration 25 minutes, plus a 25-minute stay and play session with the performer after the show. dorchesterarts.org.uk

Event 7 of Bridlit: Katie Hickman at The Bull Hotel, Bridport.

An extraordinary story of the women of the American West: whether hard-drinking, hardliving poker players and prostitutes of the new boom towns or the ordinary wives and mothers walking thousands of miles with handcarts, the Chinese slave brides working in laundries or the Native American women displaced by mass migration –all have the one trait in common of extreme resilience and courage. This is a gripping and heart rending narrative that covers the period from 1836 to 1880 when the US Census Bureau declared that the ‘frontier’ was no longer. Tickets from the TIC in Bucky Doo Square (01308 424901/ bridport.tic@bridporttc.gov.uk) and at bridlit.com

At 2pm Event 9 of Bridlit is Greg Mosse: The Coming Darkness at The Bull Hotel. Greg Mosse’s debut climate fiction novel has been described as “Bladerunner meets John Le Carre”. Set in an alternate near future in which global warming and pathogenic viruses have torn through the fabric of society, The Coming Darkness follows a secret operative, Alex Lamarque, trailing an ecoterrorist set on destabilising the controls placed on the global population in order to protect them from climate change. Mosse’s storytelling is complex and finely crafted

Get your skates on for opening

Dorchester’s Brewery Square will kick off the festive season with its big Christmas lights switch on event on Saturday, November 26.

The free to attend event will include live entertainment and latenight shopping with stalls selling mulled wine and seasonal snacks.

Describing the build up to its tenth festive season, Brewery Square assistant manager Jade Oddy said: “Our Christmas events bring a special buzz and add a touch of magic to Brewery Square every year, creating memorable moments for visitors, businesses, residents, and our team.

“We are excited to bring shoppers both returning favourites and a few surprises throughout the

and chillingly real. Tickets from Bridport TIC in Bucky Doo Square (01308 424901/bridport.tic@bridport -tc.gov.uk) and at bridlit.com

Tuesday, Nov 8

Sherborne Historical Society welcomes Prof Robert Bickers speaking on Out of China: how the Chinese ended the era of Western domination at 8pm at the Digby Hall, Hound Street. Members free, visitors £5. sherbornehistoricalsociety. co.uk

Event 16 of Bridlit is Nicholas Jubber: The Fairy Tellers at 4pm at The Bull Hotel, Bridport. Fairytales are not just tales:

LIGHTS FANTASTIC: The rink at Brewery Square opens on November 26

seasonal schedule.”

Brewery Square’s festive celebrations will also see the return of its popular Skating in the Square attraction with various free festive events including a Christmas trail throughout December.

Familiar Faces Children’s Parties will also bring a

they are records of historical phenomena, telling us something about how Western civilisation was formed. Award-winning travel writer Nicholas Jubber explores their secret history: the people who told them, the landscapes that forged them and the cultures that formed them. Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson are inextricably associated with fairy tales but Nick discovers significant tellers long buried in history and uncovers the wealth of their long lost lives.

Tickets from Bridport TIC or bridlit.com

Event 14 is Clover Stroud: The Red Of My Blood at noon at The Bull Hotel, Bridport. The writer and journalist’s last

host of characters to the Square for guests to meet between 11am and 1pm on Friday, December 23. Kids can meet their favourite characters including the Snow Queen, with free gifts handed out to get everyone into the festive spirit.

In addition, a Christmas market will run at the Square on December 10 from 11am to 3pm. offering a wide range of gifts from toys and jewellery to personalised goods.

Tickets for Skating In The Square can be purchased in advance from skatinginthesquare.co.uk For more information about Brewery Square, please visit brewerysquare.com

book: My Wild & Sleepless Nights: A Mother’s Story was rated one of the best books of 2020. Her new bestseller has been described as a masterpiece. Aged 46, Clover’s sister Nell Gifford –founder of Gifford’s Circus –died suddenly of breast cancer. Clover charts the first year after Nell’s death which split her own life apart. It is a perilous journey which is both heartbreaking yet life affirming, in which death and life exist vividly beside one another.

Tickets from Bridport TIC in Bucky Doo Square and at bridlit.com

There’s a seasonal crafting workshop with local artist Sara Butterworth, making

sustainable and novel decorations at Loders Village Hall at 7.30pm, costing £5 towards materials. Tea and coffee and cake served after. Further info at Loderswi.org

A make-up workshop will be held from 6pm-8pm, costing £18 at the Duchess of Cornwall pub, 12 Queen Mother Square, Poundbury, DT1 3DD.

A relaxed informative makeup workshop in a friendly environment with a working local makeup artist who works in all areas of makeup artistry, including film, bridal and editorial.

The workshop is not designed to sell you anything. Glass of Prosecco or soft drink on arrival, 15% off food with proof of your workshop booking. Please bring with you your own makeup as well as brushes and a mirror if you want to practice with guidance. Tickets via Eventbrite.

Bridlit’s Event 13 is Benedict Macdonald: Cornerstones at The Bull Hotel, Bridport at 10.30am.

Our precious archipelago is ravaged by climate change, bereft of natural ecosystems, and lies at the mercy of global warming, flooding, drought and catastrophic biodiversity loss. But could restoring species that once helped protect our islands help turn this crisis around? Benedict Macdonald introduces us to nine vital cornerstone species that shape Britain – bees, beavers, birds of prey, boar, cattle, horses, whales, wolves and finally humans. Benedict explains how humans can become the greatest stewards of the natural world.

Tickets from Bridport TIC or bridlit.com

Bridlit’s 23rd event is Andy West: The Life Inside at The Bull Hotel, Bridport at 4pm. What’s the point of teaching philosophy to prisoners? Why feel guilty because members of your close family have been to prison? These are the agonising conundrums Andy

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

West struggles with in his professional and personal life, which he recounts in a raw and unsentimental way. Questions about responsibility, forgiveness, shame, truth are the stuff of everyday life, but more so of prison.

Tickets from Bridport TIC 01308 424901 bridport.tic@ bridport-tc.gov.uk) and online

at bridlit.com. At noon Event 21 is Roger MorganGrenville: Taking Stock at The Bull Hotel. Since highland cattle ransacked his gran’s vegetable patch when he was six, Roger Morgan-Grenville has been fascinated by cows.

Continued next page

Christmas Craft & Gourmet

Fair

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

So much so that, at the age of 61, with no farming experience, he signed on as a part-time labourer at a beef cattle farm to tell their side of the story. The result is this lyrical and evocative book, part unsentimental manifesto for how we should treat cows and how blissfully unaware we are of the de-natured lives we often ask them to lead. Taking Stock explores the 10,000 years our lives have been intertwined with cattle and how we know so little about them.

Tickets from Bridport TIC or bridlit.com

It's Bingo Night at Club Mermaid, The Mermaid Pub & Restaurant, Bristol Rd Sherborne, 7pm-10.30pm. Bingo with major cash prizes including our £500 snowball game. Half time raffle win your Christmas gifts!

An Evening of Open Mic Poetry and recordings of Allen Ginsberg and John Betjeman will be held 6pm -8pm at The Occasional Bookshop, 16 Durngate Street, Dorchester DT1 1JP (Doors open 5.30pm). FREE. Bring your own poems, or anyone else's. Contact: julian@nanglerarebooks.co.uk

Week of events to help grout pool

Bridport Leisure Centre is hosting a week of great fun activities to raise money to refurbish its pool.

The centre, which is a charity, is hoping to raise £30,000 to re-grout the 30year-old pool in December, with specialist scuba divers carrying out the work.

From Sunday, November 20 until Saturday, November 26 there’s a flexible sponsored swim. All lengths in the pool will be recorded and the centre is hoping to reach 30,000 lengths. Sponsorship forms from reception.

On Sunday, November 20 there’s street dance for kids from noon-12.45pm (£5).

The same day, there will be 45-minute gymnastics sessions for age 4-8 (£5) and bouncy castle sessions for age four and under (£3) from noon-2.45pm.

On Monday, November 21 there’s a line dancing class from 12.15pm-1pm and Disney dance from 4.15pm5pm, where you can learn fun moves while dancing to your favourite Disney tunes.

On Wednesday, November 23 from 4.30pm-5.15pm it’s teen yoga for ages 12-15, working on mindfulness, confidence and relaxation (£5).

On Friday, November 25 from 10am-11am there’s an aqua fit session in the pool (£5) and all day (9am-5pm) there’s a coffee morning, with savoury and sweet treats, and a chance to win a luxury Christmas cake.

On Saturday, November 26 there’s trampolining from 11.30am-12.15pm and 12.15pm to 1pm for age 515 (£5).

Also on Saturday, November 26 there’s Aqua Quidditch from 10.15am11.15am in the pool. Fly your noodle broom under the instruction of Professors Wallace and Tozer. Age 715, must be able to swim at least 10m.

To book, call 01308 427464 or go to bridportleisure.com To donate to the campaign, visit Justgiving.com/campaign/ blcpoolregrouting2022

Meet the Brewers at Dorset Museum 7pm-9pm Enjoy a beer tasting whilst learning about the history of both Palmers and Eldrige Pope Breweries, and the relationship between the two families and have the opportunity to discover the brewing process. Non-DNHAS Member Ticket | £15. DNHAS Member Ticket | £12. dorsetmuseum.org

The Comedy Network is at

The Corn Exchange, Dorchester, at 8pm. This month we welcome Thomas Green, whose material is raw, unfiltered, and hysterical; and Luke Honnoraty, whose comedy focuses on relationships. Plus Louise Leigh, an awardnominated comedian who brings daftness, deftness, and a lot of laughs to stories of midlife, motherhood, and middle-class habits. dorchesterarts.org.uk

A Wellbeing Walk will be held at Hardy's Birthplace and Thorncombe Woods 10.15am11am.

Ranger-led wander, via surfaced paths, to explore the seasonal changes taking place across the reserve. Booking is

essential on 01305 251228. These monthly walks are gentle and open to all. You will be encouraged to use your senses as you wander, such as to hear the crisp autumn leaves under foot, the taste of a blackberry, listen to the song of a wren or the feel of warm winter sun. All terrain mobility scooters can be hired. Dementia friendly walk. Suggested donation £3. Car park £1ph.

Bridport History Society meeting United Church Hall, East St, Bridport, 2.15pm for 2.30pm. ‘Looking for Agnes: Bridport's first woman Town Councillor’. Prof. Karen Hunt, All welcome, visitors £3. Contact Jane on 01308 425710 or jferentzi@aol.com

Sturminster Newton Library host Free Health MOTs from the LiveWell Dorset team, 9.30am-12.30pm. Drop by for a 10-minute wellbeing check. For details call 01258 472669.

Robbie McIntosh and Friends will play St Laurence Church Upwey at 7.30pm, playing a set concentrating on his own music, with friends Steve Wilson (Upwey's own!) on bass, Steve Smith on keys, Jody Linscott on percussion –and special guest, singer/songwriter Hannah Robinson. ticketsource.co.uk

The West Dorset Group of the Somerset and Dorset Family

Friday, Nov 11

DIVE IN: Bridport Leisure Centre

Nov 10

History Society, Zoom meeting 2pm, ‘Bridport Rope, Net and Twine Industry’ Richard Sims. Contact Jane if you wish to join via Zoom, email: jferentzi@aol.com

Nev's Fun Quiz will be held at Woodmead Halls, Lyme Regis, at 8pm, hosted by Causley Cabs and Lyme Regis Pantomime Society. Woodmead Halls, Lyme Regis £2.50 per person, bar, raffle and optional half time money round.

Fundraising for the Lyme Panto Society.

Saturday, Nov 12

Prize bingo at Maiden Newton Village Hall. Doors open 2pm eyes down 2.30pm. Raffle, children’s games, tea and cake.

Long Bredy Coffee Break will be held in the Village Hall, 10.30am-noon. This month will include a raffle and a bricabrac sale with some excellent items to buy. Funds raised will go to buying a ‘Tommy’ for the village and remaining monies will go to the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. Also take time to visit the church innovatively decorated for Remembrance Day.

A Quiz Night will be held at Crossways Youth and Community Centre at Old Farm Way, DT2 8TU. Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. £20 per team up to a maximum of six, to include cheese and biscuits during the interval.

A raffle will also be held. Please bring your own liquid refreshments Book early to avoid disappointment cycc@mail.com

A Give or Take Day will be held 9.30am-12.30pm at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Chickerell Road, Weymouth, DT4 9TP (opposite Budmouth School), hosted by Dorset Council Waste Services.

Swap the things you don't want, for the things you do –for FREE! Do you have items at home you no longer use? Or maybe you need some bits and pieces yourself? Then come along to the next Give or Take Day in Weymouth. Local residents are welcome to take along any unwanted household items listed below that they no longer need, to find them a new home. The event is FREE and you don’t need to bring an item along to attend.

What can you bring or take?

• Small furniture

• Kitchenware and other household items

• Tools

• Home entertainment (e.g. DVDs and CDs)

• Bicycles

• Toys and books

• Clothes and reusable linen (e.g. curtains and sheets)

• Bric-a-Brac.

Please do NOT bring: -

• Duvets and pillows

• Hazardous and toxic items

• Large items (items that will not fit into a car)

• Gas appliances

• Electrical items

• Items in poor condition.

A Christmas Market will be held at Longthorns Farm, Wareham BH20 6HH, from 10am-7pm today & 10am3pm tomorrow

Fantastic local stalls, bar open for hot and cold drinks cakes and mince pies, mulled cider and mulled wine, hot food served all day, Wareham town band performing, local choir,

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

alpacas, craft tent, lucky dip all free entry!

An autumn coffee and cake morning will be held in aid of the Children’s Society at the United Church Hall, Dorchester (access from South Street and Charles Street) 10am till noon. Free entry. Homemade cakes, tombola, Christmas stall etc.

A British Sign Language Tour of Dorset Museum will be held from noon-3pm. Join deaf tour guide John Wilson to explore two of Dorset’s most fantastic museums.

Dorset Museum allows you to explore 250 million years of Dorset’s history. Discover Roman mosaics, Jurassic Coast fossils, the literature of Thomas Hardy, and the sculptures of Elisabeth Frink, with much more to see along the way.

Shire Hall Museum is an award-winning social justice museum that brings over 200 years of justice and injustice to life. Walk in the footsteps of people whose lives were forever changed in the historic court at Dorchester’s Shire Hall. Immerse yourself in the cells before ascending to the dock.

Your ticket includes the opportunity to explore the galleries before or after the tour at either museum or both for a joint ticket.

Single BSL Tour Ticket £15 adult, £8 child. Joint ticket £25 adult, £15 child.

Sunday, Nov 13

St Mary’s Parish Church

Litton Cheney will be holding a Choral Evensong at 6.30pm for Remembrance Sunday. This is an opportunity to take a moment at the end of

a busy day for reflection or meditation. All welcome, whatever your beliefs.

Morgan and West: Unbelievable Science will be at The Corn Exchange, Dorchester at 2pm.

Morgan & West present captivating chemistry, phenomenal physics, and bonkers biology in this fun for all the family science

extravaganza. Magicians, time travellers and all-round spiffing chaps Morgan & West have a secret past – they are genuine, bona fide, legitimately qualified scientists, and now are bring their love of enlightenment to the stage! Expect explosive thrills, chemical spills and a risk assessment that gives their stage manager chills, all backed up by the daring duo’s trademark wit, charm and detailed knowledge of the scientific method. Leave your lab coats at the door it’s time for Unbelievable Science!

Please note: Morgan & West take full responsibility for any horizons broadened, passions enflamed or minds blown during the course of the show.

Monday, Nov 14

dorchesterarts.org.uk

St Mary’s Parish Church

Litton Cheney will be holding a coffee morning from 10amnoon.

Call by for a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit and/or slice of cake A warm welcome is assured and oarents and carers with pre-school children will be particularly welcome. If you need a lift to the church car park, that can be arranged. Please contact the Churchwarden (John Vercoe) on 07973 781019.

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

Tolpuddle Village Hall will host Sam Lewis, an American singer/songwriter from Nashville USA.

He has graced some of the worlds iconic venues including Nashville’s The Gand Ole Opry and London’s 02 Arena. He is over here on a solo UK tour. Doors 7.30pm, performance from 8.30pm. Tickets wegottickets.com/ event/540581

Feast awaits at Kingston Maurward

A Christmas craft and gourmet food show will be held at Kingston Maurward House, Dorchester, on Saturday and Sunday, November 5 and 6.

Axminster Musical Theatre will perform Sister Act at the newly refurbished Axminster Guildhall from Wednesday, November 16 to Saturday, November 19 at 7.30pm and with a matinee on the Saturday at 2.30pm. With a 12-piece orchestra and professional sound and lighting, no expense has been spared to bring this fabulous musical to Axminster! Tickets from seaty.co.uk/sisteractaxminster or in person at Axminster Guildhall.

BridFringe: Jonny Fluffypunk LIVE at Clocktower Music Bridport, from 7pm. Acclaimed stand-up poet, storyteller and lo-fi theatremaker Jonny Fluffypunk will perform If We Just Keep Going, We Will Get There In The End: a brand new show about hope. Fully licenced bar.

Proceeds to Bridport Community Kitchen and The Amazing Grace Spaces Pod. Reviews include: “Acute social observation, intricate humour, surreal fantasy, sharp irony and wit...and England's most pretentious moustache.” The Independent “This man truly relishes language. GO SEE HIM!”–

The show is back for its 37th year, and offers even better value for money. As well as keeping the cost of entry the same as in previous years, visitors also get entry to the animal park, soft play area, farm shop and beautiful college grounds.

With nearly 100 craft and food stands selling a variety of brilliant crafts and artisan foods and drink, this really is the perfect day out where you can start your Christmas shopping, and have a fun day for the whole family. Christmas gift ideas start with superb craft products, including fine art, jewellery, cosmetics, candles, balms,

Tony Allen (‘the Godfather of Alternative Comedy’) bridportandwestbay.co.uk

Thursday, Nov 17

Expert local naturalist

Professor Tom Brereton is giving an illustrated talk on the subject of the the Breeding birds of the Bridport area at 7.30pm at the Salthouse in West Bay. In 2021, one of the biggest and most comprehensive surveys ever undertaken of the birds of a British urban area was completed for Bridport and West Bay. The results were remarkable but concerning too, highlighting the need for concerted conservation efforts. The survey was led by renowned local naturalist

Christmas crackers and flower decorations to name some of the high quality assortment of crafts. In the food hall you can taste and purchase delightful food produce including chocolates, cakes, pies, Mediterranean foods, teas, coffees, and much more. There will also be a great selection of liqueurs,

Professor Tom Brereton. Special guest Gavin Haig, a local bird expert will also discuss his unique nocturnal bird recording surveys as part of the presentation. This is the first public talk of the survey’s findings and is thus an essential event for those interested in wildlife and our precious local environment. Tickets £5 are available online or in person from Bridport Tourist Information Centre or in person from the West Bay Discovery Centre.

Groves Garden Centre in Bridport is holding a Christmas Market 4pm8pm. For details see page 15

The next meeting of the Arts Society West Dorset is at 2pm for 2.30pm at Bridport Town

English wines and Dorset gin. Everything to make a perfect Christmas. Stop and enjoy a coffee from Off Grid Espresso before carrying on with your shopping spree.

At the front of the house there are street food stands where you can sit and enjoy pizzas, falafels, Dorset lamb burgers and bratwurst dishes, ice cream, mulled wine and mulled apple juice. There is also Boutique in a Bus Christmas flowers and flower arrangements. There are more craft and food gazebos on the back terrace to continue your enjoyment of the fair.

Admission to the fair is £3.50 for adults, £3 for concessions and children under 16 are free.

Come early, stay late. The parking is free and refreshments are served all day.

Hall. Nigel Bates will talk about Saddler’s Wells – The Theatrical Mothership. More info: taswestdorset.org uk Visitors Welcome £7.50

Bridport & District Gardening Club’s monthly meeting is at 7.30pm at the WI Hall North Street, when Paul Atterbury returns to give a talk: Don't be afraid of the Digger.. The Antiques Roadshow expert lived in Bridport for some time and his talk is the story of his and his wife’s adventure in their garden at Eype. Faced with an awkward and underdeveloped site of three quarters of an acre behind their house Paul and Chrissie decided to create a garden, The meeting is open to non members (£2). Further info at bridportgardeningclub.co.uk

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD: Kick off your Christmas shopping at Kingston Maurward this weekend

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

The WOW Show will be held at 7pm at Weymouth Pavilion. WOW continues its 40th Anniversary Year with a celebration of musicals featuring a selection from many of the acclaimed shows the group has performed over the years.

There is something for everyone in a programme featuring numbers from: 9 to 5, Cabaret, Chicago, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Fiddler on the Roof, Footloose, Guys and Dolls, Hamilton, Mary Poppins, Newsies, The Pajama Game, We Will Rock You, West Side Story and more.

The show is professionally directed and choreographed by Martine Burt, who has directed many of WOW’s celebrated productions, including Grease, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the award-winning WOW Shows. Martine has also received the NODA South West award for Outstanding Choreography.

These young performers will blow you away with the talent, energy and passion they display. Don’t miss out, book now for a truly memorable show!

weymouthpavilion.com

A talk entitled Antarctica, The Falklands and South Georgia: Birding in the footsteps of Shackleton, will start at 2.30pm at Bridport WI Hall, North Street. £5/£4 members includes tea and biscuit, in support of Bridport Millennium Green. Raffle. Details Sandra Brown, 01308 423078.

Friday, Nov 18

Sherborne Library host A Talk on Wildlife Gardening from 2.30pm – 3.30pm. Join Mitch from Dorset

Nursery’s festive market

Enjoy some of Auntie Susie’s punch and one of Mrs Groves’ mince pies at Groves Nurseries’ Christmas market. The Bridport nursery is hosting the market from 4pm to 8pm on Thursday, November 17 where organisers promise an evening of festive joy. This year’s handpicked stall holders are Lloyd Brown of Darkbear,

Wildlife Trust to find out how we can help nature thrive in our gardens. Booking is advised – visit Eventbrite online or call 01935 812683.

Broadwindsor Community Film Club is showing Top Gun: Maverick at Comrades Hall at 7.30pm. After 30 years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN's elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.

12 rating. Doors open from 7pm, tea/coffee, selection of bar drinks available to purchase before screening starts

Charlotte Willmore Design, Furleigh Estate, Toddle and Born, West Dorset Soap, Flamingo & Fairy, Metal Petal, Palmers Brewery, Aleksandra’s Chocolate Shop, Jewellery by Lucy Campbell, Foxy by Design and Jude Colley Potter.

Keep an eye on Groves Nurseries social media for more updates.

Film club members free –guests £4. Refreshments available. Tickets can be booked by contacting: Emma Myers –broadwindsorem@gmail.com Margaret Wing – 01308 867252

The Moviola season at Milborne Port Village Hall (Springfield Road, Milborne Port, DT9 5RE) continues with Downton Abbey – A New Era (certificate PG). Doors open at 7pm for 7.30pm.

The much-anticipated cinematic return of the global phenomenon reunites the beloved cast as they go on a grand journey to the South of France to uncover the mystery of the Dowager

Countess' newly inherited villa.

Meanwhile, strapped for cash and faced with a leaking roof, Lady Mary decides to allow a film crew to use the Abbey as the setting for their latest picture.

Tickets will be available for sale from November 1, exclusively from Wayne Pullen, Family Butcher of High Street, Milborne Port. Ticket prices have been maintained (£5 per person in advance, and £6 on the door). As usual, a limited wine and beer bar will be available, and for this season, they are able to accept payment for on the door tickets by credit or debit card.

Opera Holloway – Opera Gala is at St Andrew’s Church Yetminster at 7.30pm. 01935 873546

£12 / £5 u18s / £30 family Opera Holloway has been touring England for 10 years, taking high quality opera outside of the big cities.

Expect a musical feast in an Opera Gala featuring operatic solos and ensembles from Soprano Callie Gaston, Tenor William Branston and Baritone Sam Oram. A variety of well-loved opera arias, duets and ensembles will be followed by some musical theatre classics. Touring to Dorset with Artsreach. artsreach.co.uk

Email your Whasson? to newsdesk@west dorsetmag.co.uk

Unique kite helping to promote Dorset

A unique kite dreamed up by the High Sheriff of Dorset is flying out around the world after its innovative design captured people’s imaginations.

Sibyl Fine King’s pterodactyl kite is now being sold all over the UK and in Europe,

Australia and North America. Pterodactyls were a type of pterosaur, a flying reptile that flew over the Jurassic Coast millions of years ago when dinosaurs roamed the land. Lyne Regis’s own fossil hunter Mary Anning discovered the fossilised remains of the first

British pterosaur early in the 19th century.

Sibyl Fine King, of the Fine Family Foundation, is a longstanding supporter of projects along the Jurassic Coast. She thought it would be wonderful for pterodactyls to fly once more over the famous Dorset and Devon coastline and so worked with designers to create and patent the design.

Jurassic Kites Ltd started selling the kites to local stockists before moving to direct mail order and soon orders were coming in from all over the world.

She said: “I’m thrilled to see pterodactyls flying so far and wide. It’s wonderful to hear from so many customers how much they enjoy our kite. One of my favourite comments is from a kite festival participant, ‘Pterry’ stole the show! Well worth the money, highly recommended’.”

The company includes information about the history of the dinosaurs and the Jurassic Coast with each kite to help promote Dorset. Jurassic Kite co-director Martin Cooke has spent the last 18 years helping clients to develop, fundraise for and implement projects throughout Dorset with a particular focus

on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

Martin has played a leading role in securing more than £20m of funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and other funding sources, via his consultancy Heritage and Leisure (heritageandleisure.co.uk)

Martin has secured distributors for the kite in Australia and France and a licence for stockists in the USA and Canada.

He has also encouraged customers to send in photos of their pterodactyls flying and the locations have been posted on a world map on the website. More than 70 customer photos have been received with ‘pterodactyl sightings’ in the Seychelles, over the Washington Monument in the USA and above The Pyramids in Egypt. Martin said: “It’s great to see our kite being sold across the globe, from dinosaur museums in the outback of Queensland, Australia to toy shops in states across the US.”

To take a look at pterodactyl sightings visit jurassickites.co.uk/pterodactyl -sightings

For more information visit jurassickites.co.uk

PTERIFFIC:

along the Jurassic Coast, from left, in Charmouth, Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove

It’s Prime time for a grant of £10,500

Organisations and community groups in Dorset are being encouraged to apply for a grant of up to £10,500 from the Prime Foundation to help towards local projects or initiatives before November 11.

The foundation invests in communities where Prime has built new facilities by utilising a proportion of profit generated, ensuring that money is invested locally for good causes with each new build.

Prime is working with Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust on development projects which aim to improve the experience of patients, staff and visitors. Now they are accepting applications from all Dorset postcodes, which match one or more of the foundation’s aims –advancing education outside the classroom, promoting good physical and mental health and/or

furthering the enhancement of social wellbeing through recreation.

In 2019, the Prime Foundation provided funding for a specially adapted bicycle, otherwise known as a trishaw, for a charity in Southampton, Sustrans, who aim to make outdoor activity accessible.

The trishaw enabled volunteers to connect with elderly members of the community who are most at risk of isolation and loneliness.

Genna Handley, Sustrans

Warm welcome awaits at the Bride Valley churches

Bride Valley diocese will start hosting Breakfast Churches to provide a warm meeting space for people from next month. The parish church in Shipton Gorge will host the event on the second Sunday of each month and Puncknowle parish church will host it on the fourth Sunday of each month. Organisers say the breakfast churches have been set up so visitors can enjoy food, hot drinks and good company during an era of rapidly rising fuel bills.

Holy Communion will be held at St Mary’s Church, Burton Bradstock on the first Wednesday of the month, November 2, from 11.30am followed by a warm, light lunch.

St Mary’s Church in Litton Cheney will hold choral evensong on Remembrance Sunday, November 13, from 6.30pm.

The church is also hosting a coffee morning from 10am to noon on Monday, November 14.

Contact churchwarden John Vercoe on 07973 781019 for further details.

representative said: “The trishaw has had an impact in helping the older generation look for activities, connecting them with communities and the environment.”

Last year the Prime Foundation funded tools for a community wood recycling project run by the Jericho Foundation, in Birmingham, made

possible by the development of Birmingham Hospital car park and Harborne Hospital.

This foundation provides support in the form of practical work and training to members of the community who have fallen upon hard times, whether that be due to homelessness, addiction, ill health or low confidence.

Hannah Cashmore, spokesperson for the Prime Foundation, said: “We are pleased to announce applications for funding open to the Dorset area and hope this will serve the community through those that know it best.

Applications for funding are open until November 11 at primeplc.com/ foundation/apply

SHAW THING: The Prime Foundation trishaw

Pub’s saviour nominated for award

By Karen Bate karen@westdorsetmag.co.uk

The late David Leader, who spearheaded the campaign to save Broadwindsor’s only pub, has been nominated posthumously for the Plunkett Foundation’s national Rural Community Business Awards. When The White Lion closed in the summer of 2021, David rallied the troops, campaigning with the whole community on board to re-open it as a community-owned pub. David had already been the driving force of so many amazing things in the village the multi-use games area, the community sports field and the community land trust as well as acting as the village hall chairman.

The committee had just taken on a pub manager, ready for opening in the spring of 2022

when David died suddenly in March 2022 aged 64.

Rick Dyke, who took over as chairman of Broadwindsor Community Pub Ltd, said: “The village was shattered –we’d lost our driving force and the man behind so many good things. But we were determined to make this project happen, as a tribute to David’s memory, as a force for

all that is good in the community.

“The White Lion opened its doors as a community pub on April 29, 2022. And thanks to David Leader, the pub is once again the beating heart of our vibrant village.

“David was always a very supportive, inclusive, energetic and enthusiastic champion for Broadwindsor. He made good

things happen. Leading a committee and taking the local public with him, he headed a campaign to raise the funds needed to take on the pub tenancy as a community.

Under David’s leadership a Crowdfunder campaign was launched and, astonishingly, smashed the target within a week.

“His enthusiasm, kindness and commitment inspired everyone to get on board.”

Mr Dyke added: “We’re delighted that his work has been recognised by The Plunkett Foundation, a national charity which plays such a big role in supporting rural communities across the UK.”

Plunkett’s annual Rural Community Business Awards celebrate inspirational and outstanding examples of

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The winner of the Community Contribution Award, which is sponsored by property developers Thakeham, will be decided by public vote which ends on November 4. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on November 17 at St Martin in the Fields, London. Summaries of the nominations are on Plunkett’s website: plunkett.co.uk/awards-6

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supported by a Crowdfunding campaign and grants from The National Lottery Community Fund, Dorset

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For fork handles & a whole lot more

By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk

“I’m always getting asked for fork handles,” says Simon Larcombe, grinning.

Larcombe’s of Beaminster is 20 years old this month, and it’s the type of shop that really does make you feel you’ve stepped into that scene from The Two Ronnies.

Everything is here. Around 36,000 items, to be almost exact. And if it’s here, Simon, 41, who stocktakes with paper and pen, will know about it – you only have to ask and the information filed away somewhere in his cortexes will offer up the answer. The hard-wearing hardware shop owner works a gruelling six days a week with no staff to give him a break. The shop door is constantly tinkling as customers pop in and out for their DIY, building and gardening items, or to get a key cut (Simon cuts four keys in the half an hour I’m there – it’s evidently a popular service).

Simon launched the shop with his dad Colin in November 2002, after getting frustrated at having to drive to Bridport every time they needed so much as a tube of silicone for a house renovation.

Colin had run a busy builder’s merchants in Lyme Regis (Larcombe’s

Building Supplies, now Travis Perkins in Uplyme Road), while bringing Simon up in Uplyme. By 2002 he had officially ‘retired’, but opening a hardware shop in Beaminster seemed like a good idea as there was nowhere else within miles to lay your hands on a bag of nails and some wood glue. They opened the shop just off the square with an Aladdin’s cave of stuff for the home and garden. A couple of years later they added key

cutting to their services. Aside from some new stock every so often, Larcombe’s has remained unchanged ever since. And people love it that way.

Colin, a well-known face in both towns and the brother of last year’s Lyme Regis Mayor Brian, died earlier this year, aged 69.

But Simon, who lives above the shop with his partner and two sons, aged two and four, is carrying on the family business in his stead, changing nothing too radically –well, if it ain’t broke…

Simon’s sons adore the shop: “They love trashing the place!” he says.

It’s the type of shop everyone wants nearby,

teeming with so many useful items.

Simon also offers a paintmixing service. And there are bits and bobs in here you might not expect, such as a lovely range of pottery and a large range of bakeware.

He said: “The best thing about this job is meeting people. We have a really loyal set of customers here, who have kept us going through the lockdowns and when the tunnel was closed.”

The shop has about 50 account holders, who receive hand-written invoices each month.

Other customers pop in and out, in search of anything from a paintbrush

ALADDIN’S CAVE: Simon Larcombe outside his shop in Beaminster, which stocks just about everything. Inset: A cross stich of the shop by Simon’s mum

twenty years

WHAT A LOT WE’VE GOT:

to wood screws.

The prices are competitive, too.

“You can buy all this online of course,” said Simon. “But many people still prefer to come here and get what they need. We’re always busy.”

Today Larcombe’s is one of a handful of Beaminster businesses to be in the same hands for over two decades. It survived during the first lockdown by taking phone orders and delivering to people’s homes, and in the second Simon opened a hatch in the door to serve his customers without them having to go into the

shop.

Thankfully all that’s behind us now, and we can go and breathe in that very specific and evocative scent belonging to traditional hardware shops everywhere.

“What IS that smell, do you know?” I ask.

“I’ve no idea,” said Simon. “But people are always remarking on it.

“Every old hardware shop has that smell. People love it.”

n Larcombe’s is open from 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 8.30am to 1pm on Saturdays, at 2 Hogshill St, Beaminster DT8 3AE. 01308 862789

Decorating equipment, a wide range of tools and kitchenware are available at Larcombe’s

The team at Bridport Literary Festival is supporting two local charities this year with donations totalling £1,000.

Bridport Refugee Support Campaign and the local branch of Read Easy have each been given £500. Festival director Tanya Bruce-Lockhart said: “Both of these organisations are doing terrific work in the Bridport area. All of us at BridLit are delighted to be supporting them.”

Bridport Refugee Support Campaign began when a group of residents got together in February 2020 to help a refugee family settle in Bridport and rebuild their lives.

Read Easy teaches adults to read. It is now a national charity but was founded in Dorset 12 years ago.

Margie Barbour from the Bridport Refugee Support Campaign said: “Our aim was to bring a family here under the Home Office Community Sponsorship Scheme, a safe and legal route to resettlement for refugees escaping from countries affected by war, persecution or natural disaster. We used this scheme which has been shown to be the most effective way of helping refugee families become valued members of their new community.

Literary festival’s team in grand gesture to charities

“A family from the Sudan arrived in February 2022 and have settled well into Bridport life and are very happy here.

“We are involved in teaching English to the parents of the family, assisting the children with their schoolwork, taking the family out on trips, providing transport to medical appointments, opticians and dentists and helping the family find voluntary work here to prepare them for paid employment.

“The two girls have joined local groups to follow their interests of dance and sport. The committee are hoping to bring

another family here in the future.”

Ali Turnock, fundraiser for Bridport ReadEasy, said: “We teach adults to read using phonics and by providing each of them with their own fully trained coach.

“We use tried and tested texts and back up each reading pair with our extensive resources –games and stories at each level to keep things interesting.

“The pairs meet in private at approved safe venues and our service is completely confidential.

“Our co-ordinator drops in on the pairs regularly to offer advice and

encouragement and we have a literacy adviser we can call on when necessary.

“We are self-funding and raise money locally and are deeply grateful to BridLit for their generous donations and support.

“Imagine a life where you couldn’t enjoy reading a wonderful book and look forward to meeting the author at BridLit.”

n Bridport Literary Festival takes place in venues around the town from Sunday, November 6 to Saturday, November 12. For details, please visit bridlit.com or pick up a brochure from Bridport TIC (01308 424901).

Guest speaker takes the lead for Blind Association talk

A guest speaker will lift the lid on what life is like as a young person living with sight loss and a guide dog at a Dorset Blind Association event. The Low Vision Day, hosted in association with Dorset County Hospital, is being held on Saturday, November 19 from 10am to 2pm at

The Dorford Centre in Bridport Road, Dorchester.

Dorset Blind Association workers and NHS nurses from the hospital’s eye department will be on hand to offer advice and information for anyone suffering poor sight or their relatives.

Talks from a series of guest speakers will cover subjects including macular conditions, cataracts, and life as a younger person with sight loss and a guide dog.

For more information call 01202 712869 or email communityrelations @dorsetblind.org.uk

THANKS SO MUCH: Bridport Refugee Support Campaign members

Festive song a real winner for Oscar

A Christmas single recorded in Sherborne will raise money to help parents at the worst of times.

Santa Leave Something For Me was written by Dorset’s Benjamin Francis after his son Oscar was born with his intestines on the outside of his body and had to be put into a coma to recover after lifesaving surgery. Now nine years old, Oscar helped his dad, who goes by the name Seeking Benjamin, record the track at Mill Farm Studios in Sherborne, produced by Tom Joblin. The track will raise money for Cots for Tots and The Wallace and Gromit Grand Appeal in Bristol, which helped the family so much in 2013. Oscar spent four

months in hospital in Bristol, with his parents by his side while he battled to recover from surgery to correct gastroschisis.

Oscar had several operations at Bristol’s Royal Hospital For Children. Through his tricky recovery, Ben and

Charlotte were given support by the charity Cots for Tots and stayed in their house for four months, with support from other families of very poorly babies, until Oscar was able to return home.

Nine years later his dad, a singer-songwriter, wrote a

track to thank the two organisations for their crucial support.

Benjamin’s debut single Marry Me recently featured on BBC Upload, and has had more than 500 radio plays worldwide to date.

Santa Leave Something For Me is released on November 18.

Cots for Tots runs three accommodation houses that provide a safe and supportive place for families to stay in while their child is in hospital. It also funds state-of-the-art equipment to save little lives.

To donate, or just buy the track, go to seeking benjamin.co.uk or download the song at Bandcamp.

RECOVERING: Oscar as a baby in hospital and right, all smiles after the surgery

MP urging animal welfare Bill priority

West Dorset MP Chris Loder has urged the Government to make proposed animal welfare reforms a priority following the postponement of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals Bill), originally planned to come to Parliament on the September 19, due to the passing of Her Majesty the Queen.

Mr Loder invited a small delegation of local sheep farmers to join the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street to mark the first lamb exports to the United States of America in over 20 years.

Among the delegation was farmer Cameron Farquharson, who has led the Gladis’ Law campaign

W A R D

since the death of his pregnant Highland cow in early 2021 in a suspected dog attack.

Both Mr Farquharson and Mr Loder are campaigning for a change to the law to clamp down on livestock worrying.

Mr Loder introduced

N H

government ministers to Mr Farquharson and urged the Government to double down on measures to crack down on animal worrying promised through the Kept Animals Bill.

Mr Loder also further galvanised his animal welfare campaign when following the meeting in Downing Street, the DEFRA Secretary and Farming Minister reaffirmed their support of the recently introduced ban on live animal exports for fattening and slaughter overseas – a ban strongly

campaigned for and backed by Mr Loder.

Mr Loder said; “I took the opportunity to ensure the government are aware of the real need for action against the suffering of animals as a result of careless or negligent dog owners.

“The Kept Animals Bill is a vital piece of legislation that I have been proud to support, and with my ongoing campaign in Westminster, I hope to see it make progress through Parliament again very soon and will be reflecting this message to the new Prime Minister this week too.”

We’re coming back Just like the good old days

PASTIMES

of Sherborne (near the Abbey)

Thirty years of dealing in antique & collectible toys. Top prices paid for all types of model railway, diecast cars, early Action Man and Star Wars, Scalextric, Meccano, unmade Airfix kit etc. Those magical makes: Hornby, Dinky, Triang, Spot-On, Corgi, Subbuteo, Britains, Lego, Timpo...

01935 816072

URGENT PLEA: Gladis the pregnant Highland cow and, inset below, Cameron Farquharson

In the market for a special Christmas

This year’s Poundbury Christmas Market promises to be a celebration of the best local businesses as well as the festive season. Coinciding with Small Business Saturday, the seasonal market will return to Poundbury’s Crown Square on Saturday, December 3 from 10am until 4pm. There will be live music from the Rock Choir and the Durnovaria Silver Band, Father Christmas will be in his grotto and there will be 75 stalls selling everything from artisan crafts to delicious food and drink.

Founded by Magpie and Boo’s Toy Shop, two independent businesses

in the Buttermarket, the Christmas market has grown significantly since its first outing in 2015 when around 20 traders took part.

Charlotte Fancy from Boo’s Toy Shop said:

“This is a really special day for local businesses and there’s a great atmosphere.

“It’s great to see the wide variety of stalls and year-onyear this market grows.

“We’re really excited to have live music entertainment for the first time this year and it will be a lovely family day out. There’s always something for everybody.

“This year we’re working alongside Art in CONT ON NEXT

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SEASON’S GREETINGS: Find that special gift for the special people in your life at Poundbury Christmas Market

Enjoy & support

human market visitors who are catered for.

Poundbury, who are launching an exhibition in Jubilee Hall the same day.

“This is my favourite annual event. I’m very passionate about it, I love meeting the new businesses who are coming along.

“I can’t wait to welcome everyone to this year’s market, it’s been a difficult couple of years for many businesses. This market gives us the opportunity to celebrate all the amazing businesses around us on a very special day.”

Nail boutique Panemorfii will throw open its doors for the Christmas market and, as licensed premises, will be selling mulled wine.

Owner Deborah Bailey said: “We offer nail beautification for both men and women but with us it’s more like a spa experience. “We’re licensed so our customers can have a glass of prosecco while we make their nails beautiful.

“This is our first time taking part in the Christmas market and we’d love for people to come along and see what we have to offer while enjoying a lovely glass of mulled wine.”

Sadie Roberts of Lilypups Dog Accessories will make sure it’s not just the

Lilypups will be opening its doors during the market and selling puppuccinos for any canine customers who may be flagging.

Sadie said: “Our puppuccinos are very popular now and we’re sure they will go down well at the market.

“We also sell a range of natural chews and treats as well as collars and harnesses anything that your dog may need.

“We also have a grooming service with a dedicated grooming room. We sell mainly UKbased brands and try to be as eco-friendly as possible. We also have a range of Christmas treats for dogs, including toys and advent calendars. I’m looking forward to seeing everybody down there.”

Interior designer Nadine Judd of Punica in Crown Square said: “We make lampshades, curtains, cushions and everything for the home plus draught excluders, bags and clutches, clothing and shoes.

“People visiting the market and seeing my products for the first time are going to see a lot of colour and a lot of unique gift ideas.

“We make a lot of it ourselves and I source all of our materials personally to make sure everything is sustainable.

“We also sell a lot of vintage goods. We’re looking forward to

Boo's Toy Shop, Crown Square, Poundbury,

Boo’s is a beautiful toy shop in the heart of Poundbury, stocking beautiful wooden toys and gifts for newborns and older children.

local businesses

reaching out to people visiting the market and helping them find the perfect, unique gift for a loved one this Christmas.” And Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without those magical scents which feast on our senses.

The Rhubarb Candle Company has a new studio and shop at 3, Canford Street, next to the pink-doored Punica. While this family business may have a new studio, the company launched in 2016 after owner Andrew Whelan began experimenting, creating candles without using paraffin wax, which triggered his son’s asthma.

Now The Rhubarb Candle Company pride itself on using the best products available, achieving unrivalled quality complete with a commitment to sustainability.

The candles, diffusers, room sprays, wax melts, hand soaps and hand and body lotions smell divine and don’t cost the earth.

A spokesperson for Morrish Homes, who are supporting the promotion of this year’s market, said: “We are delighted to continue to support the Poundbury Christmas Market this year.

“We have seen the profile of this event grow over the years and hope that it will remain an integral part of the community in the lead up to the festive period. We also appreciate the hard work that goes into producing this successful event year on year.”

n For more information on the Christmas market, which is sponsored by ZeroC, email Charlotte Fancy at poundbury christmasmarket@ gmail.com

IT’S A GIFT: Home furnishings from Punica and, below, scents from the Rhubarb Candle Company

All safely gathered in for 175 years

An exhibition of photos celebrating 175 years of the Melplash Agricultural Society will be on display at the village church until the end of the month. This year’s harvest festival in Melplash was a joint celebration with the agricultural society as it reaches its milestone birthday.

To mark the anniversary, a display of photos taken over the years has been put together by past society secretary Elizabeth Gale and are free to view in the village church during daylight hours.

Society president Nigel Jones said: “It is a privilege to be able to celebrate the society’s 175th year back where it all started in the parish church of Melplash, making it a significant achievement and one that everyone in the society is immensely proud of.

“As you look at the wonderful display of photos from over the years, it will not only bring back memories but also give a real insight into the skills and talents of our local agricultural community.

“It is so important that we continue to showcase the best of rural life and share it with future generations.

“Many thanks to Elizabeth Gale for giving up her time to put the display together and to the parish of Melplash for enabling us to display our

in with the harvest festival celebrations.”

Society has been associated with Christ Church in Melplash since it was consecrated on October 20, 1846. It was around this time that two local farmers staged a ploughing match to determine whose

ploughman was the best.

The wager was £5 - a large sum at the time – and after the event, local farmers and landowners celebrated in the Melplash Inn, now the Half Moon.

There they agreed to form the Melplash Agricultural

The Melplash Agricultural

MATCH OF THEIR DAY: A hedge laying match at Bradpole in 1948 and, below, pictures from the Melplash Show during the agricultural society’s 175 years

of rural society

Society to enable them to hold an annual ploughing contest.

The first was held the following year on October 20, 1847 to coincide with the first anniversary of the consecration of the church and to commemorate the wager settled the previous year.

The annual ploughing and hedgelaying contest still takes place to this day, with the last one taking

place on Sunday, September 19 earlier this year.

n Photographs of Melplash Agricultural Society’s ploughing and hedgelaying match in our last edition were taken by Andy White, who can be contacted on 01308 456785 or email andyatdownlands@aol.com for copies. Apologies for missing your name off the captions, Andy!

Bonfire night back is with a bang on beach

Weymouth’s Bonfire Night celebrations will return with a bang tomorrow. Weymouth Town Council is hosting a free fireworks display on Saturday, November 5 on the town’s seafront.

The fun starts from 4pm with a family funfair on the Pavilion forecourt with stalls lining the seafront throughout the evening. A giant beach bonfire will be lit at 7.40pm, followed by the fireworks display over Weymouth Bay at 8pm. The fireworks for the display will be provided by Sirotechnics and launched from the boat HM Denham. Weymouth Mayor, Cllr

Ann Weaving, said: “This year’s Guy Fawkes event on November 5 falls on a Saturday so why not put the date in your diary and make a weekend of it in Weymouth?

“As well as the fantastic display at 8pm, the beach bonfire will be lit 20 minutes beforehand, and the fun fair starts from 4pm, so there is plenty to entertain everyone at this popular event which always draws a huge crowd.”

People attending the evening’s activities are asked, where possible, to leave their cars at home and use public transport or walking or cycling.

Children go free at museum

Dorset Museum is offering free children’s entry every weekend this winter, starting this weekend on Saturday, November 5.

Children go in free every Saturday and Sunday when accompanied by a full paying adult, annual pass holder or member. There is no need to book.

Dorset Museum’s interactive galleries cover 250 million years of history. Visitors can

come face to face with the prehistoric marine reptiles of the Jurassic Coast and uncover the archaeology of ancient Wessex. Discover the tales of Thomas Hardy and be inspired by the creativity of Dorset’s artists. The museum also holds regular family-friendly events such as their Sunday or half-term art and craft activities, ArtyFacts, which are included with admission.

ON THE WALL: Society president Nigel Jones with the plaque at Christ Church and the village hall exhibition

BLAZE OF GLORY: Weymouth beach bonfire

Just the jab! 1,891 vaccinated in just one day at surgery

The Grove Surgery in Sherborne vaccinated more than 1,800 people against flu in one day.

Staff from The Grove Medical Centre worked tirelessly to vaccinate 210 people per hour at Digby Hall, a central and accessible venue within the community, protecting a total of 1,891 patients in one day against this potentially life-threatening illness – beating its previous record of 1,800 vaccines in one day.

Stephen Bridger was one of the people receiving his flu vaccination at the

clinic. He said: “I think it’s fantastic what the Grove Medical Centre have done here.

“It has been very well organised. The staff and volunteers are all friendly.

“They gave the vaccine so quickly I barely noticed it!

“I always feel safer going into the winter season knowing that I am protected against flu.” GP Dr Middle said:

“Vaccines are our best protection this winter, and we want to support our patients to stay well during the coming months.

“We managed to vaccinate

a record number of people this weekend, against an illness that can be dangerous, which is a fantastic outcome for our community. We will be running more clinics over the next few weeks for those who couldn’t make it

today. I’d strongly encourage people to have the flu vaccine.”

Alex Kimber, managing partner at The Grove Medical Centre, said: “I want to thank the town council for their support with the venue, and the staff at the practice who have made this possible.

“The GPs, nursing team and administrative team who have all worked extra shifts and the army of community volunteers that helped us with directing in the car park and helped manage patient flow inside the building. It was lovely to see so many happy patients in one day.”

Patients of the practice who would like to enquire about the flu vaccination can either email TGMC. reception@nhs.net or phone in the afternoon to request an appointment.

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NO ARM DONE: Stephen Bridger has his flu jab from Dr Liz Long

Estate pushes on with rewilding plan

A major rewilding project at the Mapperton Estate was featured in the BBC One documentary, To the Manor Farm, part of the We Are England series. centred around Mapperton House, just outside Beaminster, and home to Luke and Julie Montagu, Viscount and Viscountess Hinchingbrooke, the 1,900 acre-estate poses its own set of challenges.

Waning agricultural revenues, a repair bill that regularly runs to six figures, and a global pandemic have meant the couple have had to constantly look for new ways to generate income. These days not only is the house open to visitors, but weddings and yoga retreats

take place on site, and Luke and Julie even run a successful YouTube channel, sharing the ups and downs of running the estate.

Now they’re embarking on a journey that will see them hand hundreds of acres of the estate back to nature, all in an effort to ‘rewild’

the land, create space for wildlife and store carbon. But transforming the rural estate into a wilderness is no small task. And with a host of animals being released onto the estate to shape the landscape in a natural way, there’s a lot to get done.

Luke Montagu said: “We

are really pleased that Mapperton Wildlands are featuring in this BBC documentary and hope it will raise awareness and bring more visitors to see the changes that are underway.

“Rewilding isn’t just about helping to fix our ecology and climate crises – it’s about giving people more opportunities to connect with our magnificent countryside, with all the wonderful wellbeing benefits this brings.”

There is the opportunity to join Mapperton’s Ranger on guided walks through Mapperton Wildlands on Sunday, November 13

n For details visit mappertonwildlands.com

PROJECT: Julie and Luke Montagu at Mapperton

Spectacular scenery and a very warm

If you travel south for about 120 minutes from Bridport’s twin town of St Vaast you will eventually come to the border between the regions of Normandy and Brittany. Here you will find some delightful coastal resorts together with some fascinating inland towns. One I know very well is Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët.

For many years my wife and I visited English friends who had sold a dairy farm in the Dordogne region of France and moved into a magnificent chateau close to the town which they then renovated. The town of St Hilaire has a wonderful church in a central square and amazing weekly market which shouldn’t be missed. Close to the market is one of the cheapest and one of best local restaurants around. The Bar Restaurant du Mail is frequented by the locals. When we were there not so long ago their menu included a three-course lunch with wine for just 12.50 euros. The street market includes livestock, gardening stalls, clothes cheese outlets and much more. With a petit crème at just 1.20 euros in a café adjacent to the market you can easily while way several hours just watching life go by. The area has a number of English expats in residence and so you will often hear English voices in the crowd. A short ride from the town

towards the coast and you come to the delightful town of Ducey with its river and restaurants. Well worth a visit another place we really enjoy visiting is the small hamlet of Genets on the D911 towards Granville. This has a delightful café where the owner will produce some wonderful meals from somewhere at the back of the establishment. There are some amazing walks from here particularly along the edge of the estuary with wonderful views across to St Michael’s Mount. The wall close to the car park and stream is an ideal place on a warm and sunny day to

engage with the local lizard population, follow this wall around the corner and you should then be rewarded with more amazing views across the bay and further lizard encounters.

If you take the road through Ducey in the direction of St Malo you can turn off and hug the coast passing through several villages where you can have a break, enjoy the views and partake of a coffee. Further down this road you will come to the delightful seaside town of Cancale. This is again one of our favourite haunts. Famous for its oyster beds you can buy them from

stalls at the end of the seafront next to the breakwater or enjoy a meal in one of the many restaurants which face onto the seafront.

My late departed mother used to love coming here and enjoying a galette and pitcher of local cider whilst enjoying the spectacular scenery. There is plenty of parking along the front. The town is very popular with the locals and so it is good idea to get their early if you want to ‘bag’ a table. We always enjoy a Kir Royale before our meal.

There are plenty of places to stay in St Hilaire du Harcouet, but you might

GODFREY HALL leaves Bridport’s twin town of St Vaast to venture further south into deepest Normandy seeking out further French delights

FRENCH LEAVE: St Michael’s Mount from Genets and, below, market day in St Hilaire and, right, our friend’s chateau near the town

welcome: Normandy’s dix out of dix

which are on sale all over the town.

The President cheese is also produced in this area along with other major Normandy varieties.

The best time to visit is in early spring and during the autumn when there are fewer tourists. Be prepared sometimes for larger numbers at sites such as Mont St Michael, but you should avoid the crowds with an early start.

Normandy is full of hidden secrets and exploring the back roads is one way of getting a real feel of the region. The local food is excellent, so why not have a drink in one of the local bars, you never know who you might meet.

also like to investigate the Best Western at Ducey which is on the river. One of our treats when visiting this area is to investigate some of the supermarkets in and around the town. Much smaller than many of the major hypermarkets, they are full of local produce and a wide section of wines for all over France. You will also find a branch of Aldi and Lidl on the outskirts which are different from those in the UK with wide ranges of French wine, cheeses and local produce.

A visit to St Michael’s

Mount is a must. There is a long causeway out to the mount and streets that are very similar to locations used in the Harry Potter films.

We always enjoy walking around the lanes and roads just outside St Hilaire and have enjoyed many evening walks through the nearby Normandy countryside.

For those of you who watch Escape to the Chateau you may like to know that Dick and Angel’s place is not that far away. Again, I also remember travelling with

my mother to a village known to be frequented by The Hairy Bikers and searching out where they lived. Unfortunately, they were not at home.

Using the excellent ferry service from Poole, this region of France is easy to access.

You may also like to visit the small towns of Brecey with its weekly market and Domfront, famous for its cheese and town walls.

On your way back to the ferry port at Cherbourg, you should stop off at Villedieu-les-Poeles, famous for its copper pans,

I really enjoy visiting this region of France, which retains a great charm. It has connections with our area and you will find its people warm and welcoming. A short distance away, this is an ideal location for short breaks. There are lots of small hotel and gites available through several internet sites.

It is part of France that always surprises me, not far from home life is so different. Amazing countryside, tasty food and reasonable prices it definitely gets a ten from me.

Next time I shall be venturing a bit further afield. Just 80 minutes from Bristol my destination will be the Swiss city of Geneva which, with careful thought and research, can prove to be not so expensive as you might think.

INSPIRING: The church at St Hilaire and, below, the lovely town of Brecy and, right, St Michael’s Mount

Singing boost thanks to Vicky on TV

Interest in singing groups for people living with dementia has soared in Dorset thanks to a moving two-part documentary fronted by TV star Vicky McClure, says the Alzheimer’s Society. Following the final episode of the BBC One show Our Dementia Choir Sings Again, the charity has recorded a marked increase in enquiries about its popular Singing for the Brain service.

In the programme Line of Duty star Vicky, an Alzheimer’s Society ambassador, shines a light on the connection between music and memory and how participation in singing groups can benefit people living with dementia.

Since Vicky McClure’s choir documentary aired on Mondays October 10 and 17, there have been almost 60 new registration forms submitted to the charity, three times more than normal.

they can communicate through singing when no longer able to do so through speech.

“We are changing the way we provide support for people affected by dementia in the community so we can reach more people through delivery partners.

“We want more people to benefit from our popular Singing for the Brain service.

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Christmas fabric range, advent calendar and stocking kits now in stock.

REDLANDS YARD, BROADWINDSOR, DT8 3PX

There are more than 8,020 people estimated to be living with dementia in Dorset. Singing for the Brain helps to reduce social isolation, improve quality of life, wellbeing and mood. Kelly Inwood, Alzheimer’s Dorset Council and Citizens Advice are asking people to think carefully before committing to equity release schemes. Reasons for taking out equity release vary, but with the increase in the cost-of-living people are looking to supplement their income, especially those on a fixed pension. These schemes often give people considerably less than the market value of their home and can require some upfront costs, including arrangement fees, legal fees and a

Society area manager in Dorset, said: “Music memory is often retained when other memories are lost. Singing for the Brain can help people, even in advanced stages of dementia, to tap into long-term memories linked to music and song –for some, this can mean

“Too many face dementia alone. We want everyone affected by dementia to know that whoever you are, whatever you’re going through, you can turn to Alzheimer’s Society for practical advice, emotional support and guidance for the best next step.” To find out more, join a group or to register your interest to become a Singing for the Brain delivery partner, visit alzheimers.org.uk/singing forthebrain

Be aware on equity release schemes

survey of the property. Before taking out any new loan or signing onto any equity release scheme, residents are encouraged to shop around and seek independent financial advice.

Cllr. Laura Beddow, Dorset Council Cabinet Member for Culture, Communities and Customer Services said: “It is important that residents shop around and look at all the options before signing onto any scheme. We encourage residents to seek advice with organisations such as

Citizens Advice to see if there are other benefits or assistance available. These organisations can signpost residents onto independent financial advice before making any decision.”

For those considering equity release schemes you may wish to consider other benefits and options or check that you’re receiving all the benefits you’re entitled to.

n For more information, visit dorsetcouncil.gov.uk /w/cost-of-living-help or seek independent advice from Citizens Advice.

ALL TOGETHER NOW: There’s a been a marked increase in interest in Singing for the Brain thanks to Vicky McClure, inset below

Church packed for children’s harvest service

It was almost standing room only as the pews in St Osmund’s Church in Evershot were packed with parents, friends and family to join the Stickland’s School Harvest Service. The children donated nonperishable food to be take to food banks to help families in the local area.

Children in Kingfisher Class

told the tale of the Enormous Turnip, with readings, acting and singing, including a fantastic solo by

‘the Mouse’. Children from Woodpecker Class read prayers before every member of the school

joined in and sang their harvest hymns, including some newly learnt sign language.

A spokesman for the school said: “We thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to share learning and the children’s talents, and returning to the church to be able to do this was a very rewarding experience.”

New clinics to open at council office

Health organisations in Dorset have secured £13m to transform two floors of South Walks House in Dorchester into clinical space.

Dorset County Hospital (DCH) has been running an outpatient assessment centre on one floor of the building, which is owned by Dorset Council, since last November.

Initially set up as a temporary measure to tackle NHS waiting lists and created in partnership with NHS Dorset, Dorset HealthCare, Active Dorset and Live Well Dorset, patients were invited to attend orthopaedic, musculoskeletal and physiotherapy appointments there.

In March, DCH signed a 20-year lease with Dorset Council to use three additional floors of the building on a long-term basis allowing the trust

to maximise the use of clinical space on the main hospital site. The building will be used for a combination of clinical and office purposes, with non-clinical teams already using two floors of the building.

A Targeted Investment Fund bid worth £13m was submitted to NHS Improvement to help turn the temporary centre into a more permanent facility and expand the clinical services offered at South

Walks House. The refurbishment will include outpatient clinics, diagnostics, day case capacity and a procedure room.

Interim Chief Executive at Dorset County Hospital Nick Johnson said: “We’re delighted to have received funding to turn two floors into dedicated clinical space.

“The current outpatient assessment centre was set up quickly as a temporary measure to help us tackle

waiting lists with pods used for appointments.

“We can carry out improvement works to turn two floors into a better, permanent clinical space.”

While these building works are carried out, the outpatient assessment centre at South Walks House will temporarily move to Vespasian House in Dorchester and will start running from Monday, November 21. Any patients affected by the move will be contacted directly.

Nick added: “We need to move the existing pop-up outpatient assessment centre to carry out the refurbishment works.”

The aim is that the outpatient assessment centre and additional clinical services will start operating from South Walks House in June 2023.

Read all about libraries cutting down on energy costs

A raft of energy saving measures have been installed at libraries across Dorset to cut down on carbon emissions and energy costs.

Over the past six months, Dorset Council has installed a wide range of

energy efficiency and renewable energy measures at 15 libraries. The measures – from highly efficient LED lighting to advanced building management systems – are part of the council’s response to the climate and

ecological emergency and are expected to save over £40,000 a year in electricity and gas costs and reduce annual energy use by more than 275,000 kwh, more than a quarter of the energy used last year.

BE PATIENT WITH US: The Outpatient Assessment Centre opens at South Walks House

Lensman Steve brings the coast with

The West Dorset coastline features in a new coffeetable book from award-winning marine photographer and sailor Steve Belasco.

Over the years, photobooks have been published highlighting the beauty of this area, both from land and air, but this beautiful volume is the first to feature the entire Jurassic Coast shot from arguably its best viewpoint – the sea.

It takes the form of a 95-

mile boat tour with a marine photographer plainly in love with his home turf (or should that be surf?). Sailing along in his boat, Steve, pictured inset, has captured the very essence of this celebrated coastline in this selection of stunning images.

He not only captures the unrivalled scenery but has a close look at the wide variety of maritime activity, from little fishing boats to large ships, many kinds of water sports and,

of course, the wonderful wildlife.

He said: “Although this is my third book, I wanted to create the first one to view the entire length of the Jurassic Coast from wave level.

“The sea created this coastline so what better viewpoint to enjoy it from?

“I’m deeply fond of my home waters

and am keen to share the ‘out there looking in’ experience”.

From the dazzling chalk stacks around Old Harry, near Poole, to the bright

n A family of peregrines squabble over lunch, Portland Harbour and, right, a wintry wolf moon rises behind Durdle Door

n Hive Beach at Burton Bradstock, with Colmers Hill beyond and, right, an unusual view of The Cobb at Lyme Regis

the most right to your coffee table

sandstone near Exmouth in Devon, this book captures the length of England’s only natural World Heritage Site in vivid colour.

There are unusual views of the Purbeck coastline before arriving in Weymouth Bay and Portland at the heart of the World Heritage Site.

The harsh, industrial beauty of Portland gives way to the 18-mile Chesil Bank and, after passing the striking cliffs of Burton

Bradstock and West Bay, we sail towards the towering heights of West Dorset surrounding majestic Golden Cap, the highest point on England’s south coast.

After crossing the county border into Devon we peer into the lush greenery of the sub-tropical Undercliff, described by author John Fowles as the last true wilderness in Britain. Passing Axmouth and Seaton, the red Triassic sandstone of Devon is now

continuous to the western end of the World Heritage Site. Once desert, and much nearer the equator, this coastline is some 200 million years older than the Cretaceous chalk where our photographic voyage started.

Steve and his family have lived near the coast in Dorset for more than 30 years. He has been a photojournalist for longer and is a volunteer ambassador for the Jurassic Coast Trust.

Interspersed with plenty of local history and enlightening information, the book is a must for proud inhabitants, longterm visitors and casual tourists to this unique and world-class location.

It’s available to pre-order now direct from the author at stevebelasco.net or good bookshops.

n The Jurassic Coast From The Sea £16.99 Halsgrove ISBN 978-0-85704-324-5

n East Cliff (the Broadchurch cliff), near West Bay

n Golden Cap with Doghouse Hill and Thorncombe Beacon beyond and, right, a fishing boat returns to West Bay

n Evening yacht racing in Weymouth Bay with the Hardy Monument on the horizon and, right, millionaires’ beach huts at West Bexington

Focus on mental health as Verne classic is retold

World Mental Health Day was celebrated in a performance of Around the Mind in 80 Days at Bridport Arts Centre. A capacity audience watched a moving performance from Burrough Harmony Centre members, volunteers, staff, local agencies and young people of real-life stories from those with lived experience of mental illness, portraying their innermost thoughts and feelings, hopes and triumphs.

The event was the culmination of 80 days of planning and development with local artists running workshops and worked closely with Harmony members to create this incredible, open and honest look at mental health through the eyes of those who struggle with their mental health.

The project was made possible thanks to an Arts Council grant funded through Dorset Community Foundation as part of Queen Elizabeth ll

Platinum Jubilee. Photographer Eddy Pearce said: “What an amazing

evening. A friend who had absolutely no idea what to expect was really blown

HATS ON: A scene from Around the Mind in 80 Days

away by the open-ness, honesty, and creativity of the evening. It’s meant so much to me to get involved and I’ve enjoyed every minute of the time I’ve spent at Harmony and especially all the wonderful folk I’ve met. “Hope that you are all feeling super proud of giving so many people a chance to share their experiences, and to help each other and so many others beyond. Very special.”

Caroline Gamble, service manager at Harmony, said: “I was so touched by the honesty and courage shown by every single person on the stage. I believe everyone’s work in the planning, rehearsals and on the night has raised awareness and allowed many to start a

conversation about mental health and wellbeing which can only be a good thing.”

Becca Powis, Harmony drop-in facilitator, said: “We could say the final show was ‘a journey, not a destination’. It brought us all months of creative opportunities, collaborations with Eddy Pearce, Martin Maudesly,

Stuart Lloyd, Louise Gunnill, Clive Whaley, Chris Deacon and others. “The journey has been rich and varied and certainly brought times where we stepped outside our comfort zones.”

The evening was compèred by Phileas ‘Brain’ Fogg (convincingly played by Stuart Lloyd) and Harmony members

and staff led the audience from the dark side to the recovery journey of people with mental health challenges through storytelling, poetry, photography, music, art and film.

A spokesman for the centre said: “The Burrough Harmony Centre are very grateful to Bridport Arts Centre for their support, both technically and creatively. This venture has had such an impact to those involved who were able to openly share their experiences and also to the Bridport community by highlighting mental health and its challenges.”

For support with mental health and wellbeing, go to harmonydropin.org.uk or find the Harmony mental health Bridport Facebook page.

CAST OF SEVERAL: Some of the performers at the Burrough Harmony Centre

Coverage ensured we had a sell-out

Dear Dan

Firstly, A HUGE THANK YOU for the article in the mag last week I am sure it helped us achieve a SELL OUT show. The feedback from all who came is that it was an amazing time to share a brilliant evening of variety and fun. The LATCH was full to overflowing with all ages in the audience.

Our comperes, with some really groan provoking jokes, were Pete Dennis and my husband Nigel Gates.

The six acts were all so generous with their time and talent. The school children performed brilliantly, covering numbers from the musicals Oliver, Bugsy and Matilda, with proud parents looking on. Bridport Youth Dance dancers Daisy O’Leary and Coverley Walker were stunning and working closely together mesmerised the audience with their expressive movement.

Burton Bradstock Players then brought laughter to the stage with a sketch by Jack Hutchinson.

Alan Hooley closed the first half with some classic rock music of the past lots of foot tapping and joining in!

During the interval the photography competition was judged by the audience with the winner being Nick Gibbs, with his picture titled Rolling Hills over Litton Cheney and runner up was Keith Whiting, with his picture The Duck Race.

The second half commenced with a more mature lady, Audrey Gates who was accompanied by the amazing local organist and pianist, Paul Cheater. Audrey left the stage at the end of her last number Bridport Baby (rewritten by herself) to a standing ovation. The final act was staged by the very talented musician and singer Becci Taylor, who took the audience down the road of some traditional folk covers and also some significant pieces she produced herself. What an amazing voice!

Total money raised just over £3,000 Thanks again!

Tricia Gates

Dear Lyndon, May I congratulate you on the superb “illustration” on the front cover of Edition 17. I can’t really call it a cartoon, but I suppose it is. It brought a lump to the throat, so clever and sensitive.

The open Pearly Gates and the corgis with wings. Such lovely details and brilliant thinking.

I so enjoy the magazine.

Long may it reign. Elizabeth Gale Bridport

I often read letters in papers/magazine and think I’ll answer that but never do. This time however, I decided I would.

Thankfully we live in a country of free speech so some will agree with me others won’t. In edition 19 one of your readers was complaining about the cost of our late Queen’s funeral on the taxpayer –£12million.

The UK has a population of over 68 million – divide one into the other and the cost per person was 5p. I do accept not everybody pays tax but contrast that with the money that came into this country that week, the hundreds who travelled from aboard to bear witness to the event, two being my brother and son from the USA. Hotel prices rocketed, as they are doing again for the coronation. All those flowers brought and laid out of respect now being recycled as fertiliser to be used on parks across the

country and let’s not forget Paddington Bear, bless him. Over 1,000 are now being given a brush and dust up so they can be given to children in Barnardo’s Homes – the list goes on.

As to the other points raised in the same letter, they are maybe a conversation for another day.

Name withheld

Thank you West Dorset Magazine for printing the two superbly written letters reference the Monarchy versus Republic debate.

The eye-watering financial sums mentioned certainly raise some questions.

While browsing the internet recently I was surprised to find mention of King Charles’ portfolio of properties he owns in Romania. It refers to several guesthouses and a large, luxury farmstead. Apparently visited on a regular basis.

It would be very surprising if many royalist or republican supporters were aware of his Romanian connections.

Thank you again West Dorset Magazine for such interesting reading material.

Mike Harwood

Bridport

I did not see Kelvin Clatyon’s column on the monarchy which has. triggered subsequent illinformed correspondence.

Julian Jones is of course entitled to air his views on the subject but in return for the privilege he should be

Pete Dennis and Nigel Gates treated the audience to some groanworthy jokes

show!

sure of his facts. The net revenue of the Crown Estate for 2021/22 was £312.7 million, from which was deducted the Sovereign Grant of £86.3 million to cover official, ie business expenses. The balance of £226.4 million is pocketed by the treasury: the cost to the ‘poorly paid taxpayers’ is therefore £1.29 per person. The monarch is of course a taxpayer.

The country has been lucky to have had many generations of admirable monarchs.

It was quickly made clear to Edward VIII the unsuitable one that he was not welcome, so the system is seen to work. A centuries old tradition, shorn as it is of power, provides stability lacking in this uncertain century. Change for the sake of change is the last thing the country should have to face.

A president, most probably a superannuated politician, would command little respect either at home or abroad and is unlikely to live economically.

Finally a word about the Princes of Wales and their families: their expenses both public and private are funded by Duchy of Cornwall revenues. Like all public bodies the revenues of the Crown and its associates are readily available so there is no excuse to misrepresent them for propaganda purposes.

Egerton Skipwith

Hugh’s new gaff now open

Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is launching a new River Cottage Kitchen and Store. Located on the Dorset border at the famous River Cottage HQ, the casual cafe is open seven days a week from 9am to 5pm. A new menu, developed by Gelf Alderson, culinary director of River Cottage, includes organic chorizo meatballs, lentil, squash and cauliflower patties and curried rope grown mussels among other dishes.

Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall said: “I’m very excited about our brand new Kitchen & Store at River Cottage HQ which is now open.

“It’s a casual space for breakfast, lunch, drinks and cakes as well as a store where you can buy our River Cottage products and books.

“We’re not currently taking bookings so you and your dogs can simply drop in to check it out and see the beautiful views across the

valley. It’s a beautiful space in a beautiful location – at the top of the hill from the farm, but not on the farm itself - and I hope to see some of you here soon.” Formerly based in Axminster town centre, the new Kitchen & Store brings the River Cottage experience together into one foodie hub.

In keeping with River Cottage’s environmentally conscious ethos, materials, fixtures and fittings from the Axminster site have been upcycled or recycled. Where new materials have been necessary, they have

been chosen for their high environmental standards. Visitors will be able to purchase River Cottage’s range of products from the store, including the many cookbooks written by Hugh and his team as well as local food and drink and homeware.

Also on offer will be the River Cottage Organic range of products including ketchup, kombucha, vegetable stock, cider, beer, sparkling wine, awardwinning yoghurt, kefir as well as soaps and balms –all made in conjunction with local producers.

Great food and drink with fantastic

By Karen Bate karen@westdorsetmag.co.uk

When the coronavirus restrictions of 2020 hit pubs where it hurt, Emma Thorpe and Ian Horton knew they had to make a change. The pub they were running in Cardiff was shuttered and life was looking bleak. So, the pair quite literally took the plunge and moved their worlds onto a widebeam boat, navigating the canal system and a slower way of life.

And while two-and-a-half years of life in the slow lane was ‘idyllic,’ with the couple embracing the boating community and the beauty of nature, Emma began to feel overwhelmed with their life of ‘pottering’. “Life on our boat was blissful but I began to feel that I had no sense of

purpose, and these feeling began to drive me mad,” said Emma.

“Ever since I was 16 years old, I have worked in the hospitality industry, and I missed it.

“My parents had always been in the pub trade so you could say it is in my blood. So, Ian and I began looking for a pub.

“We decided we would go for a pub linked to a family brewery and we saw The Three Horseshoes in Powerstock was available.

“Some years ago, while Ian and I were in between pubs, we spent 18 months working in Charmouth and we loved it.

“We went on a Palmers brewery tour, had our interview, wrote a business plan and a menu and very quickly we were given the keys!”

The Three Horseshoes is steeped in history, sources

Vittles

views: That’s

show it was once called the Farriers Arms and existed possibly as far back as the 17th century.

Two fires have razed the building, the current one was built in 1906.

Emma, Ian and son Joseph moved into The Three Horseshoes, on Dugberry Hill, in July and since then, the pair have settled into the Powerstock community and are loving every moment.

“We have been given such a warm welcome.

“Dorset is beautiful and we have the most amazing views on our terrace, our customers love eating and drinking out here and taking in the stunning views.”

Ian and Joseph run the bar and Emma spends much of her time cooking mostly from scratch in the kitchen, where she creates delicious food, from

traditional Sunday roasts to grass fed sirloin steak, with vegetarian options and European-style platters.

Everything is locally sourced where possible from Dorset’s very own verdant farms and 95 per cent of the menu is cooked from scratch.

The pub has three letting rooms, two with Juliette balconies to soak in the valley and two are pet friendly.

All have super-fast wifi. Its warm welcome extends to our four-legged friends and wellies are perfectly acceptable, the fire is always roaring, and the food is always tasty.

Emma added: “Come and have a drink here, it’s really good!”

n

YOU’RE WELCOME: The team at the Three Horseshoes in Powerstock

Vittles (food & drink)

The closure of Leakers bakery is like reaching the end of a good book and closing it for the last time –there is a sense of loss.

For centuries bread has been a staple for all ages and classes.

It is a representation of culture, it has symbolised times in history, hunger, war and peace, it has been key in our survival.

This insignificant food has been instrumental in the shaping of who we are today and the way we live. Bread is one of the oldest foods in our history.

Our story begins 30,000 years ago in ancient Egypt when bread began its global journey.

It is a food that doesn’t require foraging or hunting, but it is not as innocent as it appears.

It has been instrumental in the downfall of governments and monarchies and global shortages of grain have led to revolutions and riots.

In the 17th century due to many disastrous harvests the government introduced ‘household bread’ – a bread made from rye,

Giving us our daily bread

barley, and oats, but it was coarse and unpalatable. Bread using more refined wheat flour was considered only for the wealthy. The colour of bread signified a person’s class. Some corrupt bakers tainted bread by using lime, chalk, even powdered bones to keep it white. Nothing was wasted – stale bread called a trencher was used as a plate, mopping up prized fats and gravy.

The storming of the Bastille in France was more a cry for help from the starving people of Paris

caused mainly by adverse weather, over-inflated prices and unscrupulous wholesalers hoarding grain. There was no bread available anywhere. Years later Napoleon initiated standards for bread production, elevating the status of bakers and grain farmers, encouraging them to work together to feed a nation, using key reforms including the fixing of bread prices. The overused communal ovens decreased as boulangeries appeared in every village. Bakeries that were once

elitist were used by all classes.

As we mourn the demise of Leakers, we celebrate those bakers who steadfastly continue. Rise, in East Road, Bridport has an amazing choice of specialist breads and patisseries. Their focaccia is delicious, generous in size, it’s not the cheapest but for a treat, why not.

In the past bread has been used as currency, it has been an integral part of our daily lives. But remember, even today countries are using grain as leverage.

Prawns with Oranges

This is an elegant and tasty starter course for a lunch or dinner party.

Serves Four

Ingredients: 200g large prawns, thawed if frozen

4 oranges

150g double cream, whipped until it holds its shape

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley, plus a few sprigs to decorate

Method:

Peel the oranges with a sharp knife, removing all the white pith and outer membrane.

Cut between segments, and remove the membrane between the segments ass you release the segments.

There is a really useful

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.

AMAZING CHOICE: Rise in East Road, Bridport

Vittles (food & drink)

Sausage rolls ready for Christmas

This was a proper Christmas tradition in our house.

Each year, when I was little, my mum would bring out all the gear to make sausage rolls.

I loved rolling out the puff pastry and squishing the sausage meat from those long thin plastic casings. I think you can still buy it like that in butchers. I remember watching mum enthralled and her patiently guiding me as I tried to construct them.

This recipe a variation on traditional sausage rolls sprang to mind when baking recently.

Think pigs in blankets with the addition of stuffing, and you’re there.

They take a bit of effort but you can pop them in the freezer (uncooked) ready for Christmas party season and pull them out as needed.

Stuffing

40g butter 100g onion, diced 1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped finely (1 teaspoon

demonstration of this on YouTube).

Mix together all the ingredients thoroughly, but if you are assembling this early to get ahead, add the oranges about an hour before serving. Scoop into individual serving bowls and decorate with parsley to serve.

dried) 150g mushrooms, finely chopped 250g breadcrumbs

1 lemon, grated zest & juice

75g fresh cream

2 eggs, beaten

Salt and pepper 500g puff pastry

6 slices bacon

600g pork sausage meat

1 egg, beaten

Make the stuffing and leave it to cool.

In a medium pan melt the butter, add the onions and leave to cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.

On a low heat, add sage and mushrooms, cooking until the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated. Mix well with breadcrumbs, lemon zest and juice, cream and eggs. Season with salt and pepper.

Cut the pastry into two pieces and roll each out to approx 45 x 15cms.

Take a piece of cling film and lay half the bacon on it, spreading it out to approx 10cms wide and 45cms long. Repeat with the sausage meat.

Down the centre of each roll take half of the cooled stuffing and spread it down the middle.

Roll the stuffing up in the sausage meat with the cling film. Remove the cling film and place the baconwrapped filling down the centre of the pastry. Roll up making sure the filling is enclosed.

Cut into 10 pieces. Repeat with the second piece of pastry.

(At this stage you can wrap and put in the freezer, then defrost before cooking.)

Glaze with beaten egg and cook the sausage rolls in a hot oven Gas 6/ 200C for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

n Lizzie is having a Christmas Tasting Day at The Old Ship Inn, Upwey on Sunday, November 13 where you can try her festive goodies.

Check out lizziebaking bird.co.uk

Lizzie Crow AKA Lizzie Baking Bird is a self taught baker, who has a stall outside The Old Ship Inn in Upwey each Saturday. See her scrumptious eats at lizziebakingbird.co.uk or find lizzibakingbird on Instagram.

WELL STUFFED: Tasty sausage rolls are easy to make

Down to earth

BEACHCOMBING with JO BELASCO BA Hons History of Architecture and Design

On some Dorset beaches many vintage doll parts can be found.

They were once sold as bath toys, which children down the ages liked to take to the beach as well.

Long have I been looking forward to doing a Halloween extravaganza on this subject.

Only one problem – so far I have only found one little torso.

I kept looking right up to the last moment so yes, I know Halloween is over but bear with me... it’s nearly another full moon.

I just had to put my thinking cap on and imagine a little harder. This tiny torso was probably made in the late 19th century – you can see the little holes which would have had separate arms and legs fitted into them.

As I have not unearthed any limbs yet I let my mind wander to The Flintstones and created a variation on their car using cotton buds for axels and clay beads for wheels left from a previous article.

Bizarre it is – yet not quite Halloween-level scary. As well as looking like a chassis the turbo torso reminded me of a pie funnel.

My mum used to have one

in the shape of a blackbird to let the steam out of pies she made.

Of course she didn’t make blackbird pies any more than I made a torso pastry. Jellyfish are scary too and plentiful in our seas in fact in every ocean. They’re hotly forecast to be part of our diet by 2050 and already on many British menus.

A word of warning though they need to be cleaned and prepared by an expert so please don’t try to eat them as they all have a sting of various intensity and only some are edible even after the sting has gone.

I have only found beached jellyfish, as diving is not my thing.

But I can still appreciate the creatures’ otherworldly allure.

The first photo shows the marvellously coloured blue jellyfish. This second is a compass type.

The delicate markings which decorate its body remind me of a sailor’s tattoo.

Why a beach body really looks like a torso, only more so

JELLY VISION: Top left, a blue jellyfish and, right, a compass jellyfish.

POWER OF PIE: My turbo torso, inset, and helping my pie cook evenly, main picture

Down to earth

A warm welcome to visiting birds this winter

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

The clocks have gone back and we’ve moved into increasingly cooler days and frustratingly longer evenings. Some of my friends have been following the swallow’s example and have headed south to try and squeeze out the last little bit of summer. But I’m here and coping with ‘No dawn, No dusk, No proper time of day, No warmth, No cheerfulness…November’. But as Thomas Hood wrote his dreary poem long before central heating, electricity and box sets on demand, I’m much better placed to cope with my 12th favourite month and in nature there is plenty going on to keep me happy! Although it is the summer swallows that spring to mind when we think of

migration, our relatively mild winter weather attracts huge numbers of visiting birds each winter, and they’re arriving now.

One such visitor is the starling. Although we have starlings resident all year round, I have noticed much greater numbers in the village than over the summer. Thousands of starlings have been reported heading over the North Sea from Europe in recent weeks and joining our resident birds.The starlings roost together, sometimes in huge numbers and their spectacular winter displays or ‘murmurations’ at dusk before they settle down for the night are wonderful to watch.

Other winter visitors that I’m excited to see return in November are the redwings and fieldfares. These beautiful thrushes migrate from their breeding grounds in Scandinavia to feast on our plentiful fruits and berries. The smaller redwing has a distinctive pale eye stripe

and as its name suggests, red patches under its wings, while the larger fieldfare has a grey head and rump, and brown wings. Both birds are very social and will often feed together in large mixed flocks in the fields near me. I love hearing the fieldfare’s chuckling ‘chack chack chack’ when they fly. There is one winter visitor that I have only seen in the village once, though I’m always hoping, and that is the exotic-looking waxwing. A small group of them came and stripped a cotoneaster bush of all its berries a few years ago, causing me great excitement and encouraging several birders with their cameras to the village.

If their food supplies are low in Scandinavia and Russia, great numbers of waxwings may migrate to the UK. Will this year be a ‘waxwing winter’? We’ll have to wait and see.

What a difference a drey makes to a squirrel

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 awardwinning Forager’s Calendar and in 2021 his Spotter’s Guide to Countryside Mysteries was published.

With the leaves progressively abandoning their lofty situation, we can again see the several lumpy, bushy and spikey constructions that have been largely hidden from our view during the warmer months. These could be bird’s nests, cankers, burrs such as the impressive Witch’s broom, or squirrel dreys. Famously, we have both the grey and the red in residence

in Dorset, albeit with the red squirrels confined in glorious isolation on Brownsea Island. While the two species do not get on at all, their dreys are similar and much of my description below applies to both.

Squirrel dreys are substantial affairs, almost invariably high up and typically up to 30 cm in diameter. In fact, these dreys are the largest of three types, the winter drey, and may well be of recent manufacture, as is somtimes evidenced by the presence of relatively fresh leaves poking from the sides. The other two are the summer drey, a simple platform for al fresco sleeping, and the natal drey, a half-way-house between the other two and, obviously, used for the nurturing of the young.

There are also ‘cavity dreys’, also known as ‘dens’, opportunistically built inside holes in trees

As mentioned, winter dreys may be recent, but they may, with a bit of annual DIY, last for years. Sometimes, they can even be passed on to later generations who that grab the chance of not facing a new-build.

While dreys look like a pile of sticks held together and in precarious position only by a pair of miracles, they are complex and built with care. A simple platform is laid down (or an abandoned bird’s nests commandeered for the purpose), then carefully chosen twigs are positioned, also with care, until the exterior is mostly complete. The chamber is then,

effectively, burrowed-out of the pile of twigs. The chamber is then lined with anything up to thirty layers of leaves, all arranged like shingles to keep the rain out. This may be dry, but will also be very cold, so a final layer is added inside consisting of any or all of dried grass, moss, fur, feathers and wool. With the eco-friendly insulation in place, a temperature of twenty-five degrees or more can be maintained, even in the coldest winters.

While this cosy bedroom seems like a five star place to hibernate, squirrels are active all year round and use their dreys only to sleep and rest.

Down to earth

PAGAN VIEWS by JO BELASCO

By the end of the day I would be friends with a polar explorer. The spire of the local church rose above the skyline temptingly.

Having 20 minutes to spare until my next appointment, I wandered over to Holy Trinity Church. To be honest I was planning on a snooze in the car but as I walked along I noticed the raised walkway which carves round in Bradpole and it jogged memories of recent dreams.

From the graveyard I could see a prehistoric barrow mound just across the way. I had read the original church was rebuilt on different ground in Victorian times. Would the inside of the church give much away? And so I walked in. Ah yes, I thought, nearly all 19th century, can’t see many older parts (apart from the font), beautiful stained glass windows and nice angel mural. Before I leave I always have a gander at the visitors’ book and make my mark. The last comment was: “A lovely church, full of secrets” – EC Coleman. Well, that was like a red rag to a bull. I wrote in the visitors’ book: “I wish I had met EC Coleman to show me the secrets.”

And I did wish this but all was not lost… I noticed he or she had left an email address.

E C Coleman? Now was that 12-year-old Elizabeth Caroline who

Going to ends of the earth to explore churchyard’s secrets

had dotted ‘kindness rocks’ around for others to find? No, turns out it was 78-year-old Ernest Coleman – polar explorer! But what was EC Coleman doing at Holy Trinity church and more to the point, what were these secrets he mentions? I can’t say all was revealed after a series of

emails between us but some was. Turns out Bradpole church has been the scene of some rather diabolical doings in the past.

EC Coleman is writing a whole book about the shenanigans. As the book is “tied up with the publisher” at the moment he can’t give

much away but he has published nine other books – some of them history and some adventure (I am talking polar exploring, not my level of adventure which let’s face it is foraging in prickly bushes) I am on tenterhooks waiting to hear the whole story.

COLEMAN’S MUSTARD: EC Coleman’s entry in the visitors’ book and, below, the ancient barrow in the distance seen from Holy Trinity church which is a scheduled monument and, right, the weeping angel in the churchyard

Wessex Military Band will perform a winter concert at Bridport’s Electric Palace from 3pm to 5pm on Sunday, December 4.

Founded as a youth band in 1981, by 1990 the Wessex Military Band had been invited by the Army to form as the voluntary band of the Army Air Corps based at Middle Wallop near Andover, as they didn’t have a regimental band at the time.

The band became known as the Voluntary Band of the Army Air Corps but in 1993 the Army decided to disband the band who, undeterred, went on to reform as the Wessex Military Band.

The Ministry of Defence repaid its gratitude to the musicians by providing financial assistance in reforming as the Wessex Military Band and allowing the band to use the recently decommissioned ‘Wessex’ regiment emblem with its distinctive wyvern. One of the early and most prestigious engagements the band was involved in the early performing for HRH the Prince of Wales and HRH the Duke of Kent.

When, in 2006 the band’s founder retired to Austria, the band was fortunate to

Band set to strike up for winter concert at Palace

perform at the Electric Palace in December and, although the music has not yet been finalised, bandmaster Phil Bond promises an “enjoyable, entertaining and fun programme, with something for all musical tastes young and old.”

who were willing to take over the day to day running of the band. This included Phil Bond as bandmaster, Mandy Bell as band administrator, treasurer and librarian, and Shirley Courage as band co-ordinator plus

marketing manager.

Last year, the band performed several times in Bridport’s Bucky Doo Square and in the town’s remembrance parade as well as at Weymouth’s Nothe Fort.

The Wessex Band will

The band has also been invited to attend perform as Schützenfest in Germany later this year.

For tickets and information about the Winter Concert please contact the Electric Palace: 01308 428354.

Upton, McIntosh and Wilson putting the yippee into Eype

Musical trio Upton, McIntosh and Wilson are performing at Eype Centre for the Arts on Friday, November 4, from 6.30pm.

Also known as Jess, Robbie and Steve, the players will perform some of their favourite songs with expert three-part harmonies.

Robbie McIntosh has a CV which beggars belief, supplying his peerless work for artistes including Paul McCartney, The Pretenders and Tom Jones, Norah Jones and John Mayer. Steve Wilson has become one of the most well-loved local musicians as the bassist with The Little Green Men,

The Guilty Pleasures,and his own band, Wilson.

Jess Upton has established a gilt-edged reputation with her renowned Soul Band as well as The Guilty Pleasures.

Tickets are £13.50 plus fees with all profits going to the centre.

See concertsateype.eventbrite.com

PARP: The Wessex Military Band at the Electric Palace and, below, in Bucky Doo Square

I’m making a mountain of art out of

When artist Anthony Paul moved to Lower Bockhampton eight years ago, his first task was to create a warm studio gallery out of a semiderelict workshop. Now he has accomplished that, he’s throwing open the (presumably) freshly painted door of Molehill Studio to the public for Dorset Arts Week.

Paul’s daughters, Kerry and Sally, are joining him in a special exhibition of their collective artwork at the studio from November 18 to 20 between 10am and 4pm.

Anthony, whose works have been shown in Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The Royal Society of British Artists, and The Royal Society of Marine Artists’ Mall Gallery exhibitions, is showing a variety of pictures, many painted using the hand-made classical mediums of egg and casein tempera. He also displays a great range of greetings cards featuring his work and his work can be viewed on Instagram @anthony paulart_molehill_studio Sally Paul says of her work: “I have always crafted in various materials, but I felt born again when the covid shut down began, allowing me to experiment with a new medium. I had enjoyed seeing foiled stained-glass pieces and fused glass work, but never had the time to learn. I asked my dad to show me how to solder, then I bought some

stained-glass pieces, some copper foil and the necessary tools, and set to work. It didn’t go well to start with, but I persevered and am now enjoying creating exciting and interesting pieces, which will complement my dad’s and sister’s work.”

Sally’s work can be seen

on Instagram @sallypaul 858. Anthony’s other daughter Kerry Tristram has a degree in jewellery design from Middlesex University and later gained her PGCE teacher training qualification at Roehampton.

Over the last 20 years Kerry has worked as a

primary teacher and arts educator, most recently as head of art at Amesbury, an independent prep school in Surrey.

She is now working as an independent designer and maker in her hometown of Farnham, Surrey.

Kerry is showing multimedia works, collages,

FAMILIAR SIGHT: Sheep at Colmers Hill and, below, memories of Brownsea and Kerry’s winter greetings card

my Molehill Studio

prints and greetings cards celebrating nature, and uplifting images of the human experience. Her worked can be viewed on Instagram @studiocuckoo n To get to Molehill Studio from the A35 to the north, follow the signs to Lower Bockhampton

on Bockhampton Lane and park 100 metres past Yalbury Cottage where you will see Bockhampton Bridge. On the left, just before the bridge, you will see a long brick and stone wall running down a farm lane and the gate to Molehill Studio is at its end.

Artists united to raise cash for cancer charity

Artists in Lyme are banding together to show their support for a local cancer charity.

Axminster and Lyme Cancer Support will host an art exhibition in Uplyme Village Hall on Friday and Saturday, November 11 and 12.

Nine local artists will be exhibiting their work and there will be the opportunity to purchase the displayed art during the show to support the charity’s work.

The art show starts on Friday evening, with a private viewing by invitation, followed by an open viewing on Saturday from 10am to noon. Light refreshments will be available.

The artists exhibiting at this year’s show are Anne Townsend, Alban Connell, Alison Boskill, Liz Biles, Jools Woodhouse, Christine Allison, Jeanne Coates,

Maggie Stead and Dot Wood, who died of leukaemia in July.

“We are thrilled to bring to you a mix of talented artists across a range of different forms and materials, with unique styles who are contributing their works to support our charity,” said Mary Kahn, founder of the charity. “We would like to thank all the artists who submitted their works and contributed to making this art show possible, as well as the volunteers making this event possible.

“We support anyone affected by any cancer in our area and this will help us to continue to provide needed help and care to many in our community.”

n If anyone wants to access support or contribute directly to the charity, more information is available at axminsterand lymecancersupport.co.uk

Cartoonists drawn to show

Shaftesbury, widely known as a cultural nerve centre and a pulsing magnet for all things arty and crafty, recently hosted SHAFTOON!, the Shaftesbury Cartoon Convention.

Professional cartoonists from all corners of the UK, including The West Dorset Magazine’s own cartoonist Lyndon Wall, all members of the Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain, converged

on Ye Olde Two Brewers Inn, at the foot of Gold Hill, for four days of frenzied doodling. An open day gave the public the chance to see the cartoonists at work, have their caricatures drawn and purchase books and prints.

MOLEHILL MAESTRO:

Anthony Paul and, above, inside the studio and, below, the derelict workshop

Witchcraft? Yes, we did that for a spell...

Dorchester Arts hosts a nudey-rudey, sidesplittingly funny comedy on Saturday, November 5 at the Corn Exchange. Witch Hunt (A&E Comedy) kicks off at 8pm, (doors and bar 7.30pm), and tickets are £14/£12 members and concessions.

Witch Hunt weaves a cautionary fairy tale for our time. It celebrates the wisdom of the witch, unpacks the notion of predator and conjures a world of coven-ready weird sisters.

A ritualistic voodoo brouhaha designed to enchant and hex the pricks

and predators; imagine Vic and Bob doing The Crucible.

Using buffoon, puppetry and magic and armed with a ‘wiccan’ sense of

humour, A&E Comedy ask: “Can we use witchcraft to take down the Patriarchy?” Yes we can!

‘I think they are

amazing!!’ – Phoebe Waller-Bridge

‘You won’t see a more kick-ass show this year’ – Broadway Baby

‘These two women are unafraid, unabashed, completely hilarious and very, very silly to boot –Broadway Baby

‘Sexy, sassy, two performers at the top of their game’ – Fringe Review

‘Watch out, there are wild women about.

Knicker-Wettingly funny’ – Total Theatre Book at dorchesterarts. org.uk or call 01305 266926.

Once in a blue moon, a book like this

Anyone who’s ever pondered the effect of the moon on our lives will be fascinated by a book by a West Dorset author Kevin Parr due out in January. The Quiet Moon – Tracing Paths to an Ancient Way of Being, tracks the changing moon through the year, leading to some interesting observations on mental health and the changing of the seasons.

Will Millard, BBC presenter and author of The Old Man and the Sand Eel, said: “Kevin Parr stands among the finest natural history writers of our generation ... a masterful storyteller and a man wholly unafraid to bare his soul on the page.”

The ancient Celts lived by and worshipped the moon. In a quest to find a more harmonious way of being,

Kevin Parr discovers how a year of moons has much to teach us about how we live within the world that surrounds us.

January’s Quiet Moon reflects an air of melancholy; it is the time of the Dark Days for the ancient Celts, when the natural world balances on the edge of a knife. By May, the Bright Moon brings happiness, time

slows and the mood lifts. Mayflies cloud and elderflowers cascade. With the descent into winter comes the sadness of December’s Cold Moon. Yet it is the Blue Moon that surprises Kevin most as stoat packs charge, buzzards grapple and salmon leap.

Fergus Collins, Editor of BBC Countryfile Magazine, said: “A

powerfully honest and deeply reassuring exploration of an individual’s place in the world, and the incalculable wealth found when we take the time to notice the natural world and its rhythms.”

Kevin Parr is a writer, fisherman and naturalist. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Rivers Run (2016), which was longlisted for the inaugural Richard Jefferies Prize for Nature Writing. He is a monthly columnist for BBC Countryfile Magazine and the angling correspondent for The Idler magazine and has written for the Daily Telegraph and Independent. Kevin lives in West Dorset with his wife and a colony of grass snakes a few strides from his garden.

WITCH REPORT: A&E Comedy at the Corn Exchange in Dorchester on November 5

CATCH THE MOON: Kevin Parr and The Quiet Moon

Local talent on silver screen

Bridport Arts Centre hosted a fundraising celebration of young Dorset filmmakers. The film screening event raised funds to support a new project called BACSscreen designed to teach and support budding movie producers.

Among the movies on show was Bait and Sudden Light, which was filmed by Sophie Littman around Abbotsbury with a central performance by teenager Millie Ashford that secured her a role in the upcoming Ridley Scott film Napoleon.

The short film Kitchen Remedies, made by a small group in Bridport and later nominated in the Best Indie Short category at the Cannes Film Festival, was also shown.

Kitchen Remedies is the story of a teenage boy grappling with loss and betrayal written and directed by actor-filmmaker Howie Blow, a member of The

National Youth Theatre who is about to start actor training at Drama Studio London.

The lead actor is George Earwicker who recently graduated with a first in film from Falmouth University and is the new facilitator for the BACStage drama group at Bridport Arts Centre.

He said: “Currently, as part of my work for BACstage, I am seeing a great group of young people excited to explore filmmaking for the first time and look forward to what they will bring to the medium.

“Working with BACstage has made me even more excited and hopeful for what it is to come with BACscreen and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with such enthusiastic and creative people to help energise a local film scene.”

Details of how to donate to BACstage project are at bridport-arts.com

Have you herd? Holy Cow all the Raj

Epic Indian Tales are being brought vividly to life in Burton Bradstock and Sydling St Nicholas as Emily Hennessey and Sheema Mukherjee present Holy Cow!

Storyteller Emily and sitar player Sheema have been fusing live storytelling and music for many years, specialising in Indian mythology with music drawing on Indian classical and contemporary traditions. With a style that is highly accessible and deeply engaging, they have toured a wide range of venues including the British Museum, York Theatre Royal and The Ancient Technology Centre.

Work and extensive travel in India have kindled Emily’s great love of Hindu mythology, having lived and worked with a yakherding family on the Tibetan plateau, studied Kathakali dance-drama in Kerala and spent several months at the Kattaikkuttu School in Tamil Nadu.

Sitar player Sheema performed in the 2016 staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe Theatre, and has collaborated with internationally renowned artists such as Courtney Pine and Sir John Tavenor. This outstanding musician has also supported Jimmy

Page and Robert Plant on tour, performed at the Olympics Festival for Sydney 2000 and makes regular appearances at WOMAD Festival with her own ensembles

Expect a mesmerising evening of storytelling and music, with a fast-flowing stream of cosmic creatures, celestial curses, wise women, and gods behaving badly in these tales of liberation, transformation and love.

Emily and Sheema will perform live in Sydling St Nicholas on Wednesday, November 23 and Burton Bradstock on Thursday, November 24.

Tickets at artsreach.co.uk

DOWNSTREAM DORSET, River Tales and Local History by Mary van Coller

pages full of snippets, facts, place names and colour photographs

for

online at

the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance service Published by Spiral Publishing Ltd & Country Books

The Perfect Gift for all Lovers of Dorset

INDIAN INSPIRATION: Emily Hennessey and Sheema Mukherjee Pictures: Richard McMellon

Church

A little faith and belief can go a long way

By Canon Deb Smith, Team Rector of Bridport

One of my favourite sayings of Jesus is the one where he assures the people gathered around him that if we only have faith the size of a mustard seed, the tiniest seed of all, then anything is possible. Many years ago, a shoe company sent one of its salespeople to a faraway country to start a business. After a few months he sent back the message: “Coming home, nobody wears shoes here.” The same company sent another salesperson to the same backward country in his place. After a few months she wrote to the home office this note: “Send more order forms –nobody wears shoes here.” The second salesperson

Services

Monday to Saturday 8.30am, Morning Prayer

Monday 9am Holy Communion Tuesday at noon, Holy Communion

Wednesday at 10.30am, Holy Communion with Homily Thursday at noon, BCP Holy Communion Friday at 9am, Ecumenical Holy Communion

First Friday of the month 9am, Requiem Holy Communion Saturday at 9am, Holy Com munion

Wednesday, November 2

Sherborne Abbey 10.30am Requiem Eucharist –All Souls Sunday, November 6 Sherborne Abbey 8am Holy Communion

saw the opportunity in her situation – not the difficulty – and she believed in her product. And because of that she succeeded where the first salesperson failed.

If we believe – even a little… even the smallest amount – then we are on the right track. It’s why we need each other – the encouragement of friends, people who will help us keep going when all looks lost. That’s an image of faith, knowing we can’t do everything ourselves. It’s why so often those who feel faithless find themselves uttering a prayer in times of great need. That mustard seed faith is all it takes.

Too many of us look at ourselves instead of God. We look at ourselves and we say – I can't do it. I am

9.30am Eucharist 6pm Evensong

Martin of Tours, Lillington: 10am Family Service James the Great, Longburton: 10am Village Communion St Paul’s at The Gryphon: 10.30am Morning Worship St Mary Magdalene, Castleton: 11.15am Mattins

Burton Bradstock: 8am Holy Communion 10.30am Songs of Praise Swyre: 3pm Evening Service Litton Cheney: 9.30am Morning Worship Long Bredy: 11am Holy Communion Friday, November 11

Sherborne Abbey: 11am Remembering the Fallen Powerstock: 9.30am Morning Prayer Loders: 11am Benefice Eucharist, St Mary Magdelene

not strong enough, wise enough, loving enough, I do not have the money, the power, or the faith to succeed at what I am doing.

We have all met people who have lived through very difficult times, and no doubt many of us have looked at them and thought, they must have had great faith to come out of their tribulations as well as they have. We may even have said to them – with respect and admiration: "I don't think I could have faced what you have faced. Your faith must be very great." I have heard this said to people, and I have heard the answer that they normally make. They reply almost always with words like these:

“My faith is no greater than anyone else’s. I just

Sunday, November 13

Sherborne Abbey: 8am Holy Communion 9.30am Parish Eucharist 10.55am Remembrance 6pm Choral Evensong St Paul’s at The Gryphon: 10.30am All Age Parade Mary Magdalene, Castleton: 10.45am Remembrance Martin of Tours, Lillington: 10.45am Remembrance James the Great, Longburton: 10.45am Remembrance St Saviour’s, Dottery: 10.30am Remembrance St Mary Magdalene, Loders: 10.50am Remembrance St Michael and All Angels, Askerswell: 10.50am Remembrance St Mary the Virgin, Powerstock: 10.50am Remembrance St John the Baptist, Symondsbury:

didn't know what I had until I needed it. God helped me, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have made it. If it wasn’t for the people around me, I couldn’t have done it.”

Haven't you heard this kind of thing yourselves? Isn't it one of those occasions when we may have said to ourselves: “I wish I had a faith like theirs?”

I suppose what I am saying to you and to me is not “have more faith" – but rather, “work with the faith that you already have”. When we start acting in faith, the very first thing we discover is that a little is a lot.

10.50am Remembrance St Mary Magdalene, North Poorton: 6.30pm Eucharist Roman Catholic Services 10am Briport 8.30 Chideock Burton Bradstock: 10.45am Remembrance 6.30pm Holy Communion Shipton Gorge: 9.30am Breakfast Church 10am Remembrance Service Swyre: 10.50am Remembrance Puncknowle: 9.30am Holy Communion Litton Cheney: 6.30pm Evensong Littlebredy: 10am Holy Communion and Remembrance Service A weekly telephone service by the Bride Valley team is available on 0300 293062

Sherborne Abbey Weekdays

Green-fingered volunteers on right track

Green-fingered volunteers and railway staff have been recognised for their efforts to bring a splash of colour to West Dorset’s railway stations.

South Western Railway (SWR) hosted this year’s Stations in Bloom awards at Castle Gardens in Sherborne, where volunteers were rewarded for their hard work planting flowers and small shrubs. The awards ceremony followed SWR’s Big Bulb Plant Out, during which staff and volunteers planted over 17,000 bulbs at 35 locations across the operator’s network including West Dorset. Stations In Bloom is based on the competition run by the Royal Horticultural Society and was organised by Blackmore Vale Line Community Rail Partnership, which has been helping to spotlight the work of station volunteers and railway staff since its inception in 2016.

An SWR spokesperson said: “All the stations that were judged were commended in some way for their contributions to the betterment of the railway.

“The daffodils, tulips, crocuses, and other flowers will breathe new and colourful life into stations when they begin to bloom in the springtime next year, helping to make the SWR network more welcoming and

enjoyable for customers.

“They will also enhance the biodiversity of the network in line with SWR’s commitment to improve sustainability, providing new havens for bees, butterflies, and other insects and species to thrive and support the local natural environment.

“Based on the guiding principles of community involvement, sustainability, and horticultural prowess, the awards event was culmination of a summer of judging which considered floral displays, the range of activities by volunteers, positive environmental impact, community engagement with schools and other local groups, and coordination with onward transport links.”

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JUST THE TICKET: Working hard on the Stations in Bloom awards

BRANCH LINE; Volunteers on the railway

Horticulture...

...with botanist Dr Dave Aplin

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

Great impressionists of the plant world

The process of evolution favoured the stick insect’s body to mimic a twig. This occurred through millions of years of natural selection with those insects having the most effective camouflage surviving and passing their genes to the next generation.

This form of mimicry is not confined to insects. Plants can also be superb mimics. Perhaps one of the best examples can be found a short walk from your backdoor.

The one plant every child quickly learns is the stinging nettle. Their leaves have razorsharp hairs constructed with silica that terminate to fragile tips. When brushed the tips shatter, releasing venom.

Nettle’s venom comprises three kinds of acid, when injected onto the skin they cause the tingling pain that everybody knows. Once touched, never forgotten so we all prefer

to steer clear of them. Grazing animals act similarly, leaving the plant largely untouched. Growing in the same habitat as nettle is an unrelated plant known as the white dead nettle. The plant’s similarity to stinging nettle is remarkable. It lacks stinging hairs, yet the dead nettle’s close resemblance to the real nettle proves sufficient to avoid being

eaten. As with stick insects, those dead nettles resembling stinging nettles the closest have the greatest chance of survival and pass their genes to the next generation.

To the casual observer both plants look identical, but during the autumn and winter, the doppelgangers are betrayed by producing attractive white blooms arranged in whorls around square stems, contrasting

with stinging nettle’s green, summer flowers. Several other plants in our gardens adopt different types of mimicry.

Deceptive orchids are well known for mimicking insect mates to lure pollinators.

Other plant groups have evolved pungent odours and alluring colours to mislead insects. The garden plant dragon arum, Dranunculus vulgaris, from the arum family is a good example. Its huge flower mimics a rotting corpse in both colour and smell.

This tempts droves of carrion flies to the inner crypt of the bloom in search for a suitable place to lay their eggs. Of course, this deception is no place for developing maggots, but this botanical invitation is sufficient for the plant to deposit pollen the visiting flies that, with luck, taxi it to another flower of the same species. Aren’t plants amazing!

How to protect the value of your home from care costs

Nobody likes to think about getting old, but it is certainly worth thinking about if you value your home. That is because your house could very well be sold by the local council to pay for your care fees.

As an example, let’s say you own a home jointly with your partner and you live there until one of you dies. The surviving partner continues to live in the house until they must go into a care home run by the local authority. At that point, the local authority will assess the surviving partner for care fees. If their capital and savings are worth

more than £23,250, they will have to fund their own care.

Councils place a charge on the property, which is paid when the house is sold. Alternatively, you may be required to sell the house immediately to raise the cash. Money raised from the sale of the house will fund your care until your savings get down to £23,250.

There are two solutions to the problem available to you. One is a will trust which protects 50% of the value of your home from care costs. The second is a living trust

which shields 100% of the property. Both are relatively inexpensive to put into place. Every trust is administered by trustees, the trustees can be the partners or surviving partner and children.

Chris Tennant of Oakwood Wills said: “The main thing to remember with trusts is that because you do not own the assets held in the trust in your own name, it is more difficult for those assets to be taken away from you or from the beneficiaries of the trust.”

Contact Chris on 07832 331594.

MIMICS: Dragon arum, left, and nettle, right

Constituency issues with West Dorset MP Chris Loder

We must stop eroding our farmland

Over much of October, the overwhelming message I have been receiving from constituents is that my priority and that of my colleagues needs to be political and economic stability.

And it is in this spirit that, after discerning the candidates during the October Conservative Party leadership election, I decided to support Rishi Sunak as our next Prime Minister – as Chancellor he delivered on these aims and am delighted that he has now been appointed Prime Minister.

I am also keen to ensure he builds on the important policy ideas started by Liz

Politics

which despite the political turbulence recently were sound ideas that needed to be discussed.

One of these is the proposals to ban the practice of removing productive arable farmland from food production and turning them into solar farms.

Solar farms currently cover 0.1% of UK farmland, with this figure estimated to rise up to 0.3% in line with net zero driven solar targets.

To put this into context, this equates to 700 square kilometers, almost two

thirds of the West Dorset constituency, one of the largest in England. With much of this land being taken out of often very productive food production, this could equate to well in excess of half a million tonnes of wheat, or around 4% of the UK’s annual wheat yield being removed a year.

The reality is that we only have 60% food self sufficiency here in the UK. That is simply not good enough, and covid and the war in Ukraine should have been important reminders of that, and to ensure

every acre of productive farmland can be worked efficiently as well as sustainably.

I am generally not in favour of large solar farms, and was very much opposed to the 180 acre Stockbridge solar farm just outside Sherborne which was voted through by Green and Liberal Democrat Councillors against the advice of the council’s own planning officer, who recommended the development for refusal, arguing that the benefits were not considered to outweigh the ‘cumulative harm’ to the character of the valued landscape.

A climate change cop-out by new PM Sunak

While the country has been entertained by the implosion of the Conservative Party there has been more bad news concerning the need for climate action. Alok Sharma lost his cabinet role shortly after Rishi Sunak picked up the keys to No 10. It was a shocking action. Sunak could have kept Sharma in place until after COP27. A simple act that would have shown the new Prime Minister’s commitment to the challenge the world faces as the atmosphere and oceans heat. Another simple act would be for the Prime Minister to attend COP27 for a day to show that Britain is not wavering on its commitments on easing climate change.

By ANDY CANNING West Dorset LibDems

The industrial revolution began here in Britain. Its consequences must now be mitigated. We, and the other nations most responsible for greenhouse emissions, must be at the forefront of changing the way we work, the way the world works. This is more a necessary transition than a painful transition. Of course, it costs money up front, but the payback of being ahead on technology change gave us the advantage more than two centuries ago. It should do so again. The UN warned last week that we are not going to

achieve the aim of limiting global warming to 1.5C. Liz Truss was widely reported as banning King Charles from attending COP27. And she wasn’t going to go herself. Sunak has also spoken against onshore wind farms, wanting offshore energy production. But again, this is too obviously a political decision. Sunak wants the rows over energy production insulated so that he can get on with repairing the economy. Not the world economy, which will never be stable until we tackle climate change. He has a selfish UK view. That’s what Sunak did in his cuts to international aid, a lot of which goes to mitigating and coping with the impacts of climate change.

Sunak is a confident man. He is not the ‘rabbit in the headlights’ Truss. He is not the blustering Boris Johnson. He could stand on the world stage and champion Britain’s leading role in tackling climate change. That is not now going happen. By not going to COP27, Sunak has withdrawn our nation from the world stage. But if he thinks he can solve the UK’s problems in isolation, he is on the wrong planet. Britain once again shrinks as a leading nation on the most pressing issues facing the world. If Sunak cannot face up to COP27, we should send the King instead. After all, he has a better record on pitching for environment protection than anyone in the current cabinet.

Rethinking the way democracy works is vital

How many residents of West Dorset feel disconnected from politics, particularly from what’s happening in Westminster? How many of us feel that national politics is a drama being acted out in the national press, a drama that directly affects our lives but one that we have little or no say in? Are such feelings the symptoms of a healthy democracy? As I write, Rishi Sunak has just been appointed our third Prime Minister of the year. The previous one was selected by just 0.3% of the UK electorate (the members of the Conservative Party) whilst Sunak was selected by an even smaller number (Conservative MPs).

Now I know that in theory that at a General Election

By KELVIN CLAYTON West Dorset Green Party

we vote to elect an MP, not a Prime Minister. But we all know that in practice this is not the case. You only have to listen to ordinary people being interviewed during an election to know that they are voting for their choice of Prime Minister.

In West Dorset the 2019 General Election was as much about the election of Boris Johnson and the rejection of Jeremy Corbyn as it was the election of Chris Loder. Perhaps it’s time to acknowledge this and devise a new way of electing our representatives.

The problems for

democracy are not confined to the election of a Prime Minister. At the last General Election Chris Loder was elected with the support of 55% of the West Dorset electorate.

In the scale of things a large majority – but what about the other 45%? Who represents them in Parliament? No matter how hard he tries it is impossible for our MP to represent the views and interests of all his constituents.

To do so would require him to simultaneously hold and argue opposing viewpoints. I can quite honestly state that I do not feel that my views are being represented in Westminster by my MP. Perhaps it is time to rethink how democracy works in

this country. It was reassuring to read Claudia Sorin report that the Labour Party overwhelmingly endorsed proportional representation at their annual conference.

Adopting a form of PR would not, on its own, resolve all the issues of our democratic deficit – but it would be a great start. Unfortunately, up to now, the Labour Party has been firmly against, and I suspect that all the time Keir Starmer believes that they have a chance of an overall majority at the next election he will remain so. However, if we want people to become active participants in democracy his position needs to change.

Improved transport links can ease climate crisis

In March 2021, the Government launched Bus Back Better, a new National Bus Strategy for England with the key aims of improving bus services and making them more affordable. It remains to be seen whether the new government will stick to this plan or whether reliable affordable public transport for millions of people once again falls to the bottom of their priorities.

Dorset Council submitted a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) and bid for funding with aims to revitalise bus services in Dorset but the bid was unsuccessful. They say there will be future funding opportunities which the council will apply for to

By CLAUDIA SORIN West Dorset Labour Party

deliver the plan. The aims of the plan are stated as promoting better use of the existing network introducing simpler and better value fares providing an easier to understand ticketing system providing better connections within the existing transport network improving journey times exploring alternatives to traditional bus services to enlarge the current network. These are all very important and necessary to getting the kind of public transport we desperately need.

In September the council surveyed local people on their experiences of using bus services here and what they

feel is needed to improve them.

West Dorset Labour believes that action to address the climate crisis must include persuading the population to use public transport. In Dorchester we have a potentially excellent transport interchange at Dorchester South Station, which is vastly under-used. The X51 Dorchester to Bridport/Lyme Regis has few connecting services to the trains. The last bus to Bridport is at 18.53 and from Bridport to Dorchester at 19.13. This is the summer timetable, the rest of the year the last buses are even earlier. This route also serves DCH. Whether you’re a patient, a worker or a visitor your ability to get from A to B in West Dorset is

severely hampered if you want to go by public transport. To encourage use we need an hourly connection 0700h to 2300h daily, preferably with the fast train from London Waterloo. Market day buses should be reinstated on Wednesdays to and from outlying villages, this would reduce isolation and also give our market towns a boost to businesses. With housing developments planned in Crossways and Broadmayne these areas will need better bus services too. Reliable, affordable bus services connecting the towns and villages of West Dorset would improve lives, help business and address the climate crisis. It’s a win-win situation so let’s hope we get that funding soon.

Across 1 Licencetoenteracountry (4)

4 Attacking (8)

8 Buttofjokes (6)

9 Measuringthedurationof (6)

10 Spiritualandphysicalrelaxation technique (4)

11 Oftenfruit-flavouredalcoholic liquor (8)

13 MiddleAgescontagion (7,6)

16 Thinks (8)

19 Branchingpoint,inasystem (4)

20 Fix (6)

22 Strata (6)

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24 Loosesoilorearth(4)

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3 Pear-shapedsaladfruit (7)

4 Braid (5)

5 Getthelatestnews,perhaps (5,2)

6 Subsidiarytheoreminaproof (5)

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11

PUZZLES

16

Health & Wellbeing

Walking West Dorset

WARMWELL

This is a comparatively short walk of less than four miles and takes you through terrain and vegetation unlike that on any other of this series. Park in the lay-by near the phone box and walk south through the village to the church, which will probably be closed but has lots of War Graves, mainly RAF, which will, I’m sure, soon be smothered in poppies!

Go back the way you came then take a footpath to your right, which takes you uphill to the north east, passing some horses and the high garden wall of the massive Warmwell House. After about half a mile the path turns right, east, alongside a wood then, at a crosspaths, turn left, northeast.

The terrain here is very flat and full of bog plants, which might explain why

youcantalk.net is a wellness and mental health resource launched by Bridport-based Kerry Miller, pictured, and Alex Fender, who now lives in Snowdonia. It features lots of free resources to help people relax and take stock.

Those of you who have read my earlier posts will already know that for me this year has been about creativity and learning new skills. Most recently I’ve been

it’s called Watercombe. You’ll be walking alongside woodland that has lots of watercourses in it. All the many streams and ditches in the area eventually make their way down to feed the Frome. After half a mile the path bends to the left, west, then curves right and left again, going uphill to meet the road.

Turn left and go down the road for a short distance

until you join a bridleway, part of the Jubilee Trail, heading west. You’re now passing through heathland, much more undulating than before with lots of bracken, heather, ponies and deer.

After a while, the way skirts Warmwell Heath, which is Access Land across which you may wander at will.

When you come to a cross ways (not Crossways which is on your right!)

turn left and head south south east, passing Warmwell Heath again, until you come to the road. Turn right and follow the road for nearly half a mile back to your car.

I’ve got printables for every

thoroughly enjoying learning about printables: I create a digital file and upload it (starting with Etsy) and anyone, anywhere in the world can buy it and print it out. Before printables became a ‘thing’ you had to order, pay and wait for your cards etc. to be delivered. Now you can buy a digital file and print it out whenever you want and as many times as you want. They

are perfect for last minute shoppers, people on a budget, and anyone who has a printer and knows how to use it.

I’ve made a start with greetings cards and I’m really enjoying the design part, and I have hundreds of ideas (see also: etsy.com/uk/shop/ youcantalk), and I’d love you to send me yours too. But the tech? Oh dearie me no, the tech! What a sharp learning

curve that has been. But it will be worth it, it will save me running up and down to the Post Office, and that is good. So, I’ve been advised to follow trends and mark occasions. Here goes … It’s October. Halloween. Trick or Treat.

Starting with Halloween: from a psychotherapist’s point of view it doesn’t quite hold water. Ask anyone who has

with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

REMEMBRANCE: Warmwell’s Holy Trinity church has a lot of war graves

Health

Wellbeing

Positive energy to overcome worries

Andy Cole is a reiki healer based in Middlemarsh. He specialises in planting for healing.

The rain is certainly starting to make up for the dry summer, the water butts are full, and the drought is now a distant memory.

The gardens are back to their full array of colours, which are now the autumn yellows, reds, and browns of the turning leaves. With the approach of bonfire night, don’t forget to check your fire piles for the hedgehogs before you lite them and safely lock up your pets before the fireworks start.

Nerine, pictured, (Guy Fawkes) are summerdormant, perennial bulbs with erect leafless stems which have funnel-shaped flowers in autumn.

The energies from this plant are ideal for meditation, focusing the

mind to concentrate on the thoughts that worry you the most, these thoughts are channeled through your conscious mind to your sub- conscious when meditating, enabling you to get the answer to the problem, or the peace of mind to overcome the situation that is causing the worry, thus putting the problem into perspective.

They are ideally planted around seating areas where you would go for peace and quiet. With the end of British Summer Time, the evenings in the garden have now gone unless you have lighting on the patio, and the time spent in our garden is less, although there is still plenty to do at the moment. The healing we get from the outdoor space is going to be a lot less, because we have less time in the garden, so we must make the most of the

occasion you like!

PTSD, depression or anxiety and so on, and they will tell you their ‘demons’ are never far away, in some cases ever present. If only they just showed up one night a year! Speaking again from the point of view of a psychotherapist –brace yourself people – the ‘demons’ are NOT the real problem here. It’s our relationship with them that can cause big problems. I’ll let

Russ Harris fill you in on this: (youtube.com/watch?v=vyxc8 89gQtY).

Now. Trick or Treat. I cannot stick it. I hate all the darned plastic pumpkins, the fluorescent skeletons, the nylon witches, ghosts and ghouls, rubbery bats and artificial spiders and webs (aka landfill). As for encouraging little kids to knock on strangers’ doors and ask for

time we have and enjoy the energy we can receive at this time. There will still be an array of plants within the garden to enjoy throughout the autumn and winter.

We must however not overlook the indoor plants and the healing they can offer us.

you overall wellbeing. And the energies of the Anthurium are positive and as a result attract more positive energy.

In the art of feng shui you should consider placing the plant in a southwestern location within your house. Here, they can both facilitate good fortune and ward off negative energy.

The lovely flowers and the dark green leaves also provide an overall feeling of well being due to the amount of positive energy they give out.

Orchids are a very popular house plant, the energies from these beautiful flowers are linked to your Chakra’s (which are the body’s energy points) particularly the crown chakra.

It cleanses and balances the crown, which allows other positive energies to flow through, thus increasing

sweets... let’s not go there. This inspired a card design which I have already withdrawn as, on reflection, it seemed far too cynical and included expletives. I wouldn’t have bought it, and couldn’t imagine who else would buy it or who they would send it to. Anyways, I made something else instead. And I’ll try again next month with the whole ‘marking occasions/following guidelines’ thing. November, Remembrance Day and Movember will soon be here. But I don’t want you to think

Avoid both cold drafts and any direct heat sources, as this will adversely affect the plant. This is just a couple of house plants you could have flowering at this time of year.

Any house plants are a welcome addition to the house, at any time of year they can brighten your day up, so don’t forget them, as they can also provide the healing and positive energies we all need to help see us through the day.

I’m a totally grumpy old witch, so here’s a list of all the things I love and appreciate about this time of year: The Hunters’ Moon; morning mists; heavy dew; steaming cows (from a distance); cold, clear skies; cormorants fishing in mirror calm seas; rosehips glistening in the hedgerows; red apples gleaming still on the branches; blazing autumn leaves giving way to skeleton trees; the cacophony of starlings, and those multicoloured mini munchkin pumpkin things.

Sport

By STUART WICKHAM

Manager Chris Herbst was delighted with his team’s performance, as The Bees ended their year-long wait for a league win in some style.

Goals from the returning Tom Richardson, new boy Jack Wright, and Riley Weedon earned them a comfortable victory against Plymouth Marjon. It was a showing which perfectly demonstrated the team’s new-found belief, and Herbst was full of praise for his team, and for the new faces at St Mary’s Field.

Herbst said: “It’s a massive win for us and I couldn’t be happier. I went to a wedding evening do after the match, and I really couldn’t stop smiling. The only disappointment is that we could have won by more, we missed a few chances and winning five or six nil wouldn’t have flattered us at all.”

Former fans’ favourite Richardson returned to the club to add much-needed experience, and made an immediate impact, poking home from short range after 18 minutes to give the hosts the lead.

New boy Wright doubled The Bees’ advantage just before half-time, scoring with a powerful header from a corner, and Weedon made the game safe on 75 minutes, firing past the Marjon goalkeeper following a quick breakaway.

Herbst was quick to single out Richardson and Wright for special mentions.

Richardson’s return fires Bees to first win in a year

“They are both great signings for us, and I’m so pleased that we’ve got them on board, along with Manny Roche and Kieran Daniels. I have been aiming to add their sort of experience and it’s had a massive impact for us. It’s a real boost for the dressing room, and it keeps that competition for places going that’s so vital for us.

We had players on the bench yesterday who probably had strong cases to be playing, but I can only pick 11 and it’s great that we have players wanting to compete for the opportunity.

“Tom spent six or seven years with the club before, and he is so assured in holding the ball up, and will always get goals. It just gives everybody more confidence. Jack was also superb on Saturday and would have been man of

the match had it not been for Tom. He’s such a presence in the defence and getting a clean sheet is absolutely massive for us. I don’t care if we win games one nil, we just have to make it hard for teams to break us down. Really delighted with the players we’ve brought in, and it’s fantastic that they’re so willing to play for our club.”

The Bees came into the match following a bizarre 5-3 reverse at home to Royal Wootton Bassett in the FA Vase. An unlikely comeback looked possible as Bridport looked to fight back from 5-0 down, scoring three goals in the final 20 minutes, and creating more chances as the game drew to a close.

Herbst said: “We made some silly mistakes in that one and gave ourselves a mountain to climb. They

are in a league above us, but we have faced better teams this season. You just can’t afford to concede three goals in the first ten minutes and expect to compete in games.

“What was pleasing against Marjon was that we carried on where we left off, and were positive from the first whistle – and we cut out those mistakes, which we need to continue.”

n The Bees will look to claim more points as they face fellow strugglers, Elburton Villa, and midtable Cullompton Rangers, in their next two games.

Herbst said: “We’ve got a tough looking set of fixtures in December, so really need to win these games against the teams in the bottom half. I hope we can keep the belief going and start working our way up the table.”

Bridport Town FC 3 Plymouth Marjon 0

GOOD TO BE BACK: Tom Richardson,

pictured right, scored on his return to the club

Picture: STEVE BARRETT

By HARRRY ADAMS Dorchester Town Correspondent

Charlie Gunson grabbed the winner as Dorchester Town made it two wins in the space of five days in the Southern League Premier South.

Gunson’s goal, with just 15 minutes remaining, was enough to give the Magpies the points to crown an impressive week, and see them move up to seventh in the table. Glenn Howes’ men were coming into the game full of optimism, fresh from an impressive 3-1 win at Merthyr Town on Tuesday night.

There was only one change from the victory in Wales, with Tiago Sa replacing goal scorer Louie Slough, who dropped to the bench. Aldershot Town loanee Ryan Hall kept his place in goal to make his home debut for the club, with another new face in Harvey Bradbury, signed from Gosport Borough, finding himself among the substitutes.

There were some familiar names in the visiting squad, with Joshua Wakefield, Calvin Brooks, Antonio Diaz and Charlie Davis making up the four ex-Magpies in the Salisbury camp. It was a lively start to proceedings for the hosts, as they squandered two excellent chances within the first ten minutes. First Olaf Koszela flashed a shot just wide of

Gunson’s winner a lift for Magpies

Salisbury keeper Gerard Benfield’s far post after some excellent build up play from Matt Neale, before Gunson headed agonisingly wide after some more excellent play from Neale.

Clear-cut chances were at a minimum in the first quarter of the game, with the visitors only effort coming from a wild long-range effort from Joshua Wakefield.

There was still plenty of creativity from the home side despite the lack of chances.

Jordan Ngalo and Neale linked up well down the left just before the halfhour mark, however, both Olaf Koszela and Alex Moyse were unable to make the most of the opportunities they were presented with.

Salisbury did eventually manage to get a foothold toward the end of the first period, and nearly took the lead in first-half stoppage time.

Ex-Weymouth man Brandon Goodship with a free kick from range that nearly caught out Ryan Hall, who did well to push the ball to safety. It was also the visitors who had the first real chance of the second 45 , with Daniel Fitchett’s close-range header parried away by Hall.

This seemed to wake up the hosts, as they dominated proceedings from this moment onwards, with new signing Bradbury handed his debut just after the hour mark.

Sport

The debutant almost put the Magpies ahead after some excellent play from Koszela saw him slip through Neale, who flashed the ball across goal with Bradbury inches away from getting a toe on it.

There was another chance for the hosts minutes later, with Gunson seeing his long-range effort saved by Benfield, who was having an impressive afternoon. On the 75-minute mark, it was Gunson who finally made the breakthrough. More brilliant work down Dorchester’s left-hand side saw Tiago Sa burst past the Salisbury back line, and his first time cross was thundered into the back of the net by Gunson, leaving Benfield with no chance.

Dorchester remained on top after the goal, dominating the ball and winning all the midfield battles, however, clear-cut chances remained at a minimum.

Koszela firing the ball over from distance being the only effort of note. As the game reached its climax, Salisbury began to pile on the pressure, and had a strong penalty shout waved away by referee Carl Peters in the first of six additional minutes after the ball had bounced up onto the arm of substitute Louie Slough. However, the Magpies managed to hang on to claim the win, and they will aim to make it three on the bounce when the Met Police visit The Avenue on Saturday, November 5.

Dorchester Town 1 Gunson (75’) Salisbury 0

657

NICE ONE: Charlie Gunson is congratulated by team mates and fans for his decisive goal for the Magpies

Pictures: PHIL STANFIELD

n Players, officials, fans and volunteers came together to raise money for MIND at the game between Sherborne Town and Ashton and Backwell United. Zebras’ players donated their expenses from the fixture to the charity, to help support local people in need of help with their mental well-being. Meanwhile on the pitch, striker Alex Murphy, pictured right, scored two goals, including a landmark 50th goal for the club. There was late heartbreak for the Zebras, however, as Ashton scored in stoppage time to win the match 3-2.

Zebras battle back to share the points

Sherborne Town Ladies 2 Bristol Rovers Women 2 Manager Jemma Tewkesbury made a rare appearance on the pitch to help her team come from 2-0 down and earn a point against second-placed Bristol Rovers, and maintain their unbeaten start to the season. Trailing by two goals at the break, Jemma scored ten minutes into the second period, before Kelly Snook equalised just two minutes later.

It was another battling performance from the Zebras, who remain one point clear at the top of the Premier Division. Jemma’s team next entertain Warminster Town, before

travelling to Bristol to play Rovers in the reverse fixture.

Sherborne Town Ladies 4 Ilminster Town Ladies 0 Speaking after an impressive win at home to Ilminster Town Ladies, Jemma Tewkesbury singled

out goalkeeper Emily Hall, who scooped the player of the match award, despite Becky Narramore scoring a hat-trick in the win.

Jemma said: “Sunday’s game was a test for our girls, having lost to Ilminster three times last season, they were motivated to ensure this didn’t happen again.

“Ilminster had a fair share of opportunities and just before half time they were awarded a penalty, which luckily crashed against the bar.

“Emily made a number of fine saves throughout the match to keep the clean sheet. What a great player she is.”

Sherborne started brightly

and were rewarded when Narramore struck from range after cutting inside. Her second came 15 minutes later following a great through ball from Terri Will which sent her in behind the back line, before she shifted the ball away from the keeper to slot home.

Narramore duly completed a first-half hat-trick, firing home after some good work from Kelly Snook. Hall was in inspired form to keep the visitors at bay as they sought to find a way back into the game, before substitute Chloe Perham secured the win with a 20-yard strike in the 80th minute to put the game out of sight.

ON THE PITCH: Jemma Tewkesbury

By STUART BRIGGS

The Blues earned their first win of the season in dramatic style with Mitch Waters converting Stewart Burton’s try with the last kick of the match to secure victory. It was well-deserved win, in an entertaining match, taking place in front of a large crowd at Brewery Fields.

The visitors opened the scoring, gathering the ball and spinning it down the line for a score in the corner, which was well converted. The Blues responded and were held up by some strong Lytchett defence as they looked to wipe out the deficit. The hosts did manage to cross shortly afterwards, turning over a scrum and launching a magnificent driving maul towards the Lytchett 22. The Blues forced a penalty, which was taken quickly by Corbin Newman who crossed for a converted try.

The game was being played at a cracking pace with both teams showing excellent skills in attack and defence. The Blues got a break when Lytchett conceded a penalty after excellent work by Nathan Herbert with Jed Gravelle making sure of the three points with a confident kick.

It was then Lytchett’s turn to apply some pressure and the Blues escaped when the visitors made a clean break after running

Waters’ late conversion seals Blues’ first success

an excellent line in the backs only for the pass to be forward. The reprieve was short-lived as Lytchett’s forwards kept the pressure on and drove over for a converted try. From the restart, the Blues again showed their excellent mauling skills, driving towards Lytchett’s 22, before setting up Samways for a lightning run from the back of the maul, to cross in the corner for an unconverted try, and a well-deserved half-time lead of 15-14. Waters extended the home

side’s lead from a penalty kick after Lytchett were caught offside from a lineout, and added another more spectacular effort shortly afterwards, as he landed a superb kick from just inside the Blues’ half to extend the lead to 21-14.

The game lost some of its momentum with the Blues’ dominant scrum unable to make any real impression on the opponent’s defence, enabling the visitors to regroup and ease their way back into the game.

After a prolonged period of pressure in the Blues’ 22, their defence was finally broken with a try in the corner, which was followed by an excellent kick to tie the scores with ten minutes to go. Lifted by the score, Lytchett turned the screw and with the forwards setting up a good position, excellent handling in the backs gave them and unconverted try in the corner.

The Blues showed tremendous fighting spirit to turn things around at the death. When a Lytchett penalty pushed them back into their own half, they forced their opponents to concede a penalty. Waters found touch on the Lytchett 22, and a superb catch and drive, with backs joining in, gave Burton the score, and Waters kept his cool to secure a deserved victory.

Bridport First XI 28 Lytchett Minster 26

UP FOR IT: A clean line-out ball for Bridport’s Will Murley against Lytchett

Pictures: STUART BRIGGS

CHARGE: Blues on the attack against Lytchett

Sport

Young anglers take on the elements for junior match

Ten hardy young anglers from West Bay Sea Angling Club braved testing weather conditions for their recent junior match on the East Pier. The youngsters battled against squally showers and a strong wind which caused a heavy swell and coloured the water.

The match was finished an hour early due to the worsening weather, however the juniors managed to land a range of species including

whiting, pout, pollack and eel. The award for first and biggest fish went to Mason Price, with Ross

Bourne winning the accolades for most catches and the smallest fish. Mason finished in first

place overall with 268g, with Ross in second place with 176g. Harris Risdale finished in third with 74g. The club would like to thank everybody who braved the inclement conditions to either fish, or to lend their support, particularly Ian Draper and Dean Lodge, and Angling Centre West Bay for providing tackle.

The club’s next match is on Saturday, November 19, please see the club website for details.

Trophy match raises money for MNDA

By BRIAN BAKER

Bridport and West Dorset Indoor Bowls Club opened up their friendlies programme with the annual Max Dare Memorial Charity Trophy match against the Dorset County side, which raised over £300 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

The match swung one way then the other before ending in a 70.79 draw, which left a one rink shoot out between Bridport’s John Burwood’s four and the County’s Paul Tidby’s four.

Burwood looked to have played the perfect wood to win it but, agonisingly, it ran two inches too far to leave the county side the victors by one shot in an enthralling encounter. Mike Smith won the spider, and sportingly donated the bottle of whisky for auction, which raised an

additional £25 for the charity.

Scores: Mike Higman, Mike Smith, Ann Turtell and John Burwood 22.17Mike Craddock, Mel Griffiths, Brian Rumble and Sue Walsh 19.19Gordon Lee, Bob Hill, Andy Marsh and Paul

Hallett, Alan Wotherspoon and Mike Fletcher 19.24. Against the Severalls Club of Crewkerne, Sylvia Fletcher, Penny Pither, Phil Godfrey and Paul Fletcher took top rink award winning 33.8, followed by a 31.6 win for Lorraine Hill, Roger Cowmeadow,

Brian Suffling and Keven Rendell. Bernard Perry, Bill Duchie-Jones, Daniel Humphries and Mary Hansford finished 4.2 for a 16.11 win. Ron Hill, Sue Winkle, Jackie Godfrey and Nick Edwards made it a clean sweep, winning 18.13.

WINDSWEPT: The West Bay Sea Angling Club

GREAT MATCH: Bridport bowlers raise over £300 for the MNDA competing for the Max Dare Memorial Trophy Picture: PHIL GODFREY

Humphrey ready to meet new ewes

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.

So off we went to Gillingham in search of the perfect ewe. We decided at the last minute to leave the trailer at home.

The thinking being that if we took the trailer, we would feel obliged to buy some, a bit like taking a trolley bag to do your shopping, you have a basic need to fill it.

The smallholding was easy to find, and we could not believe our eyes when we saw a field full of Zwartbles all trying to catch my eye.

Walking among them was a joy, and we were once again reminded why we keep this friendly breed. It has taken some time for us to be familiar with all the preferred markings and fleece, and our first choice had already been earmarked for the owner of the flock.

We rounded them up and put them in a manageable sized pen and began to separate our chosen ones. It was so difficult, but eventually we chose five new ewes to take home. Except that we had left the

trailer at home, so there started the great round trip back to Gillingham. While we were gone the breeder filled out the movement papers to enable us to move them from one piece of land to another. They loaded beautifully, like most sheep one went, and the others followed, keen to see where they were off to. We were impressed with the standard of care that the new girls had been having, all wormed and up to date with treatments, we decided to put them straight into the field next to ours.

They spent a few days forming their own flock and running together before being let lose with our girls.

Sheep are curious animals and the breakaway flock of five remains

independent to the rest as I type, they are still slightly nervous and hold back at feed time. The rest are about to be moved around again. The ram lambs have been separated off and are in their own paddock in the village.

The rams are up the top of the village vying for supremacy by butting each other and shoving each other about, all of the ewes and their lambs are currently together but due to be separated in the next fortnight. Humphrey the chosen ram is about to go in with the adult ewes. The behaviour in both those paddocks has changed, the boys are butting each other, and the girls are skipping and jumping. We plan to lamb next Easter as we prefer the

lighter evenings and hopefully less mud, the saying: “In with a bang (bonfire night) out like a fool (April Fool’s Day)” helps us to remember how long the ewe is pregnant for, so we are nearly there. In the last few weeks, we have gone from dry, brown, parched grazing to more grass than we have sheep to graze.

Nature certainly threw a curve ball this year with the weather.

Historically winter can be severe after the scorchers so the next job for us is to ensure that we can sustain and manage the flock where they are if we get snowed in, moving hay around to the various sites and storing it in the dry.

Shelters need repairing and fencing checked, no time to rest those wellies just yet.

ALL PERFECT: The five new ewes are slightly nervous and holding back from the rest of the flock at feeding time

Agriculture

Take care, protect yourself and cut

By DARYL FOOT Vet tech Synergy Farm Health

I’d like to just take a moment and talk to you about health and safety, especially while foot trimming. Did you know, in 2020, there were 11,880 reported injuries that required time off work in the agricultural industry? And that’s not counting deaths and unreported injuries. Most of us at some point

have injured ourselves while trimming feet, I know I have.

There are many ways we

can reduce the risk of injury and to start off with, yes you guessed it, PPE (personal protective

SAFETY

FIRST: Foot trimming can be very dangerous, for both the trimmer and the livestock, so take every precaution

equipment) and it’s not just professional foot trimmers that should be wearing PPE. While we

down the risks when foot trimming

are trimming, we wear arm guards. These prevent cutting our arms if the knife slips.

Kevlar gloves are worn underneath nitrile gloves, preventing cuts to the hand and fingers.

Kevlar gloves are also good while using grinding discs.

I know many people who have caught their finger on a grinding disc, including myself, but the Kevlar glove saved the day.

I have seen many pictures of injuries from others

who haven’t worn Kevlar gloves and have lost the top of a finger.

Goggles are worn to prevent hoof trimmings from flying into the eyes. Hoof trimmings are very sharp and can do a lot of damage. Grinder blades often get smashed while trimming and they have hit people in the face or eyes. Most trimmers wear aprons, not just to keep clean, but to prevent legs being cut, they are also great storage for knives. There are many other

things we can do to ensure we are working safely, for example, properly maintained and safe trimming crushes. Making sure your crush has a floor, or bolted to concrete, is important. Ensure belly bands are used, but with a quick release catch, so if a cow decides to go down in the crush, you can release her quickly, to reduce the risk of injury to the cow. The risks while foot trimming are numerous, but there is a lot we can do to reduce these risks.

The Synergy Farm Health Vet Tech team work independently of our vets, therefore, attend with any farm across the area. The foot trimming team are all trained to industry standards and attend regular CPD. Trimmers attend a client’s farm, bringing a crush to the visit. The trimmer documents findings, to provide reports to monitor herd foot health, for sharing with your extended farm support team and analysis.