The West Dorset Magazine, Edition 33, October 2023

Edition 33

of

October 2023

Monthly, PRICELESS

The West Dorset Magazine Now incorporating Weymouth, Portland.. and now a bit of North Dorset too!

POLL POSITION:

GHOULIE GATHERING:

Survey puts Lib Dems neck and neck with Tories for the first time in 139 years P20-21

Grab a white sheet and join a ghostly world record attempt for Halloween: P3

Plus 10 pages of Whasson, 11 pages of culture, 50+ pages of news, plus features, puzzles, recipes & more

Your multi-award-winning, deeply Dorsety slice of goodness: 25,000 copies distributed Quality insurance, on your doorstep

With regional experience, local knowledge and your best interests at heart, our team of insurance experts will create tailored cover that’s right for you and your business.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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Miranda Robertson Editor

Karen Bate News Editor

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karen@westdorsetmag.co.uk

Stuart Wickham Sports editor

Laura McManus Advertising sales director

stuart@westdorsetmag.co.uk

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Contact us: ( 01305 566336 News, letters to the editor and general feedback: newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk Display advertising: advertising@westdorsetmag.co.uk Classified advertising (text ads): classifieds@westdorsetmag.co.uk Sport: sport@westdorsetmag.co.uk Post: 15 Stanstead Rd, Maiden Newton, Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 0BL

Nick Horton Chief Sub

Dan Goater Reporter

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Bob Holman Advertising sales

Lyndon Wall Cartoonist

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Contents:

News & features Whasson? (events) Vittles Letters Down to Earth Puzzles Church Home & Garden Culture Health & Wellbeing Business & Recruitment Politics Pets Sport Agriculture

justsocaricatures.co.uk

3-57 6-15 58-61 62 63-65 66-67, 94 68 69-73 74-84 85 86-87 88-89 90 91-93 94

When you respond to advertisers, please tell them you saw their advert in this magazine: It helps them monitor the effectiveness of their advert and helps us cover our costs

Make square your haunt

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

3

New A&E approved Plans for a new Emergency Department and Critical Care Unit at Dorset County Hospital have been approved.

The trust’s Your Future Hospital programme will see the new ED and unit on the site of the former Damers First School.

It will include a rooftop helipad, spaces for major and minor injuries, a mental health facility, a dedicated emergency paediatrics area, 24 critical care beds, and an ambulance arrivals and fast assessment area.

Matthew Bryant, Chief Executive of Dorset County Hospital, said: “This development is very important for the population of Dorset and will deliver much larger, state-of-the-art facilities for patients most in need of lifesaving care.

“It will improve care for patients and help us attract and retain staff who want to provide high quality specialist healthcare in modern facilities. It’s a very exciting time for us at DCH and we’re delighted that Dorset Council has approved the plans.”

Subject to full business case approval by the Government, main construction work on the new ED and CrCU is due to begin in 2024.

The former Damers School was demolished over the summer. More information is at dchft.nhs.uk/nhp-scheme

Who ya gonna call?

Ghostbusters?

We suggest calling several hundred mates, and heading for Dorchester’s Brewery Square... as long as you all have a white sheet each – ones you don’t mind cutting eye holes in.

The shopping and leisure precinct, flanked by the historic Eldridge Pope Brewery buildings, is set to become the venue for a spooky world record attempt – for the largest number of people dressed as ghosts in one place.

Guinness stipulates participants must have a traditional ghost costume – none of your fancy stuff.

The current world record is held by Mercy School Mounthawk in Tralee, Ireland, who gathered 560 people dressed as white sheet ghosts back in 2017.

It’s a tough record to beat – and Brewery Square would be hugely grateful if any local businesses or organisations can donate sheets to help the attempt along – with national and even international publicity guaranteed if you enable them to break the record.

Email us at newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk if you can help.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

FOUR G R E AT VENUE S!

Also showing at: October 2-5, 7.30pm and Weds matinee Tivoli Theatre Wimborne. tivoliwimborne.co.uk, 01202 885566

October 24-28, 7.30pm: Merlin Theatre, Frome, merlintheatre.co.uk 01373 465949 November 1-3: Westlands, Yeovil westlandsyeovil.co.uk, 01935 422884

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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Dame’s donation to Bibby fight Scriptwriter fest to A legal fight to stop the Bibby Stockholm being used as migrant accommodation was being heard in London’s Royal Courts of Justice as we went to press, after a donation from Dame Vanessa Redgrave got the fund over £25,000.

If the case, launched by Portland’s mayor Carralyn Parkes, is approved it goes on to judicial review.

Carralyn, who is mounting the effort as a private citizen, paid tribute to hundreds of donors who enabled her to tackle the Home Office.

She wrote: “I’m particularly grateful to a large donation from Dame Vanessa Redgrave, a longstanding activist and defender of refugee rights, who got us across the £25,000 line. But please know that every donation, large or small, and every single comment of support, have been incredibly heartening and uplifting. Talk about people power!”

A spokesman for Deighton Pierce Glynn Solicitors, who are handling Carralyn’s case, said: “Our client is taking a brave stand against the Home Office’s attempts to circumvent important planning rules and protections to use the Bibby Stockholm

feature new works

barge to accommodate vulnerable asylum seekers. She is asking the court to rule that More than 70 new scripts have been proper procedures should be followed and submitted for the new Dorset Festival of that local people and authorities should be Scriptwriting on Saturday, October 28. given the opportunity to have their say.”

The new festival launched earlier this The court date comes as it was revealed The Home Office is paying nearly £300,000 per year, with an amazing response from week for the empty barge. It is claimed the new writers across Dorset.

The free festival features 15-minute Government will pay more than £22m to extracts from each of the 73 scripts at Corporate Travel Management for an 18Dorchester Corn Exchange and Tom month lease. The i newspaper says The Home Office pays more than £287,000 per Brown’s in High East Street. week, and in the two months since the barge There will be talks from Dorset playwright Jemma Kennedy was evacuated, the bill has totalled more (NT/Hampstead Theatre), screenwriters than £2.2m.

With just 39 asylum seekers accommodated Oriane Messina (Green Wing, Breeders) and Ashley Pharoah (Life on Mars, before it was evacuated due to legionella, the accommodation would have cost more Ashes to Ashes), plus a workshop from than £7,300 per person a week. international director Natasha Nixon.

Ministers insist that refugees will shortly The event is non-ticketed, and doors return to the barge, despite a challenge by open at 9.45am with a full programme the Fire Brigades Union, who are concerned from 10am followed by a celebratory it will pose a huge risk to the refugees on party in the evening featuring live music board. Meanwhile, those who were briefly from local band Stealing Whiskey. living on board say they are fearful of See dorchesterarts.org.uk for more. returning, describing it as “like a prison”.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Email your events to

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk

Bride Valley candles made in the workshop 32 West St, Abbotsbury DT3 4JT Open Mon, Weds, Thurs, Fri Upcycled furniture created 1pm-4pm, Sat 12pm-4pm, and sold in the shop Sun 11am-2pm Candles made and sold Entrance through Antiques & local crafts garden gate.

Workshop space available Mandfabbotsbury@outlook.com

Thurs, October 12 Chesil Bank Writing Shed. meet at Portesham Village Hall, 7pm-9pm.

From poetry to prose, fan

fiction to literary fiction, and biography to travel guides, share your work with us for feedback. Challenge yourself with fun writing prompts and learn more about the business

of being a writer. New writers welcome. lindaph.co.uk

More info: 07802 514171 or info@proutbridgeproject.com

David Mynne will be performing Chaucer's Canterbury Tales at Piddletrenthide Memorial Hall at 7.30pm. Tickets from Kelvin 07786 880676 or artsreach.co.uk

Sat, October 14

Drop in to the Prout Bridge Project at 6 Prout Hill, Beaminster, for coffee, cake and optional crafting every Thursday from 10am-noon.

The Friends of Weymouth Library (FOWL) host an illustrated talk by John Stockley about his upbringing in Weymouth as the child of an African American GI and English mother. His search for his American relatives was filmed for television.

John's reminiscences are always heartfelt and

Bridport Auction No 1, St Michael’s Trading Estate, DT6 3RR Established and selling successfully for 25 years Michael Dark and his team of Linda, Maggie, Sallie, Mo, Sarah and Judy work hard on your behalf to identify, research and market your goods to get the best prices for you in our popular worldwide monthly live on-line auctions of collectables and antiques.

Entries are now being accepted for our forthcoming auctions.

GIGS IN OCTOBER: Thurs 12th 7pm, OPEN MIC SI GENARO. Sat 14th 7pm JASON & ALCONAUTS. Sun 15th 4pm SOULHOLE. Weds 18th 8pm JAZZ JAM. Sat 21st 6pm MAMA FEELGOOD. Sun 22nd 4pm K’FUFFLE. Thurs 26th 7pm WILLOW HILL. Sat 28th 5.30pm SUGAR RUSH. Sun 29th 5PM GLASS SPIDERS. NOVEMBER: Sat 4th 7pm CHRIS DAVIES. Sun 5th 4pm RUMSOAKED. Thurs 9th 4pm OPEN MIC SI GENARO.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

7

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

Join the journey to

brilliant broadband entertaining. Tickets are available at £2 for members and £3 for non-members at the library or ring 01305 762410.

There’s Prize Bingo at Maiden Newton Village Hall DT2 0QL, at 2pm, eyes down 2.30pm.

Children’s games, raffle, tea and coffee.

Two short talks on the endlessly entertaining topic of place names in Dorset will be held at Dorset History Centre in Dorchester at 2pm.

How does a name like ‘Sixpenny Handley’ or ‘Ryme Intrinseca’ come about and what can the name tell us about the history of a place?

Dorset maps from the county’s archive collections will also be on display and delicious refreshments will be provided.

Tickets £8 from orlo.uk/DxXg0 Weymouth’s Motocross extravaganza returns for another year today and Sunday, October 15.

Weymouth & Portland Lions Club and Purbeck Motocross Club will transform the beach into a motocross course, complete with bumps and jumps which will mean there will need to be temporary beach closures.

There will be a motocross demonstration on Weymouth beach at 3pm. On Sunday, the racing will start at 1pm with racers from junior, senior and

expert levels.

The beach will be closed to the public from 8am. No vehicles will be allowed along part of The Esplanade and part of Custom House Quay, Weymouth (in both directions) between 8am and 5pm on the Sunday.

Bridport Christian Fellowship will be holding a ‘Pray.Chat’ Coffee Bar at King's Lane, Bridport DT6 3PL 10am12.30pm.

Free cakes and refreshments.

Open to everyone in the community to just relax, chat, read a paper, take some time out or indeed, pray.

South West Dorset Multicultural Network Celebrates Black History Month at the Corn Exchange, Dorchester, 6pm-10pm.

There’s a speaker, live African music from Mostafa Musto and Afro Fusion with Afro Tallawah, Syrian food, raffle, bar.

Free entry without food.

Tickets available at £8 to include food and children £5, from swdmcn@outlook.com

Sun, October 15 Continuing from Saturday, October 14: Weymouth Beach motocross.

A Stand Up To Cancer

Continued page 8

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

October 15 Ct’d Bake-Off, hosted by Upwey florists P&M Read, is being held at the Memorial Hall at 2pm (staging 11.30am-1pm).

Tombola, prizes, stalls and more.

Grab your entry forms from the florist before October 14, entry £2.

Sherborne Steam and Waterwheel Centre is holding an open day 11.30am3.30pm. The volunteer-run site will have the waterwheel and Hindley steam engine in operation, with audio-visual presentations, displays of machinery and many items of local and historic interest.

There is a tearoom, picnic tables, toilet and free parking on Oborne road. There is wheelchair access to displays,

Email your events to newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk

except toilet and visitor centre.

Entry by donation.

free entry. Visitors: £5 on the door.

retiring collection in aid of Marie Curie. Bar and raffle.

Mon, October 16

Sculpture by the Lakes in Tincleton is holding a fundraiser for Education for All’s Earthquake Crisis Appeal.

Funds to support the return to education for students left homeless after the devastating earthquake in Morocco are being raised with all ticket sales being donated.

Owners Simon and Monique Gudgeon will also be donating 10% of proceeds of all Moroccan items sold at their store.

The day includes live cooking demonstrations and a Moroccan-inspired menu available from The Kitchen.

Book at sculpturebythelakes.co.uk

CarmenCo will perform A Pocket Opera at Portesham Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Presented by ArtsReach and the Portesham Arts Club, CarmenCo intertwines music from Bizet’s Carmen with other Spanish-inspired music (including by Boccherini, Ravel, Delibes and Albeniz). It brings to life the tale of Carmen but is told from her point of view.

What does she think of the men in the story? Did she foresee her gruesome death and does she like Bizet’s opera?

Tickets: £12 (adult), £5 (under 18) from artsreach.co.uk or Julie on 01305 871117.

Sherborne’s popular annual Pack Fair will be held in Cheap Street, Half Moon street, Abbey Road, Digby Road and Pageant Gardens from 8am till late.

Pack Monday Street Fair boasts some 250 artisan and local stalls selling a great variety of clothes, jewellery, food, and household goods plus a traditional fairground.

Thurs, October 19 There’s a talk on Behind the Scenes in Television Period Drama at Digby Memorial Church Hall, Digby Road, Sherborne, DT9 3NL at 2pm.

Sherborne Museum members

Bridport & District Gardening Club meet at 7.30pm at the WI Hall in North Street when Charles Chesshire will give a talk on Japanese Gardens.

Charles is a designer, author and nurseryman who has worked in many countries before setting up the nursery Rare & Special Plants in Symondsbury.

He has designed Morton Hall Gardens and has been a consultant to Sudeley Castle and Sezincote Gardens. He has written several books including Japanese Gardens, Clematis and Flowering Shrubs. Non-members £2.

More information at bridportgardeningclub.co.uk

Friday, October 20 The Winterborne Singers will perform Anything Goes at Martinstown Village Hall at 7pm.

Admission is free with a

The Annual Fundraising Quiz for the Yarn Barton Centre will be held at Beaminster Public Hall, Beaminster, 7pm for 7.30pm.

Six people per team. Tickets including supper available at £10 from the YBC or 01308 862715.

Male sea shanty group Bridport Broadsides will once again be giving a concert in support of Bridport Millennium Green at Bridport Town Hall, 7.30pm.

Non-members £9/members £8 to include glass of wine.

Raffle. Details Sandra Brown 01308 423078.

Sat, October 21 National award-winning Luckley House School Choir will perform at St Andrew’s Church, Charmouth at 5pm.

Free entry but donations are welcome. Ring 01297 560681

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

Sherborne Book Fair

Secondhand book, map & printed ephemera fair

Saturday, November 18, 9.30am-4pm at the Digby Memorial Church Hall, Digby Road, DT9 3NL

LIVE MUSIC

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Sunday & Wednesday

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Sat, October 21 Join Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club on an 8-mile walk from Athelhampton House. For details ring 01308 898484. New members/visitors welcome.

A coffee morning will be held at All Saints church, Wyke Regis from 10am to midday.

All are welcome for coffee, tea, cakes, Fairtrade, books, music and, of course, chat.

Parnham Voices will perform at St Nicholas Church, Abbotsbury at 4pm, directed

by Stephen Tilton. A collection of choral works and pieces to mark the 400th anniversary of William Byrd. Hear Byrd’s works anew with this magical ensemble. Tickets at eventbrite.co.uk or on the door.

Sun, October 22 Sherborne Folk Band is hosting a workshop at Digby Memorial Hall, Digby Road,

DT9 3NL, 1.30pm-4.30pm, led by Julia Catovsky or a guest musician, who will teach tunes and harmonies by ear.

Suitable for all levels and acoustic instruments. Sheet music and audio supplied in advance.

Admission: £15 on the door or at sherbornefolk band.org or contact info@sherbornefolkband.org or Julia: 07527 508277.

There’s a sponsored Knitathon at St Swithun’s Church Hall, West Allington, Bridport, 2.30pm-5pm.

Knitting strips to make blankets for care homes, hospices and Ukraine families.

Raising money to support Dorset young musicians who face challenging circumstances.

Tea and cake available during the afternoon.

Sponsor forms and information available from Livingstone Textiles and The Fabric Larder, South Street, Bridport. 01308 456297.

Mon, October 23

Weds, October 25

Bridport Bridge Club is beginning a new course of bridge lessons – with the first introductory session at Bradpole village hall from 2pm to 4pm.

The session is suitable for complete beginners, including an overview of the game and an outline of the course. As of October 30, sessions cost £5 each. Contact Martin on 01308 861120, email bridportbridgeclub@gmail.co m or visit bridgewebs.com/bridport

The Uplyme and Lyme Regis Horticultural Society host a talk on The Wonderfully Versatile Rose by Michael Marriott, world renowned rosarian, at Uplyme Village Hall, DT7 3UY, 7pm.

Members free, non-members £5. Doors open 7pm for refreshments, talk 7.30pm. ulrhs.wordpress.com

Tues, October 24 Sherborne Historical Society is holding a new members evening at Digby Hall, Hound Street. Prof Jonathan Harris to present Byzantium & the Fall of Constantinople from 8pm.

Members free, visitors £5.

Emily MacCormack will present Stourhead and the Hoare Family to the U3A at Bridport United Church Hall, East Street at 2pm.

Stourhead is a stunning Palladian mansion in Wiltshire with globally important gardens, built by Colen Campbell from 1721-4 for Henry Hoare, a London banker.

The talk will last an hour, then there will be followed by a Q&A followed and refreshments. Members free, visitors £3.

Fri, October 27 One World Group will be holding a Quiz and Fish and Chips night at St Aldhelm’s Church Hall in Spa Road, Weymouth, at 7pm – £12pp for the quiz and a meal, bring your own drink. The group has been raising money for groups and charities for more than 20 years.

The Prout Bridge Project in Beaminster will host a Family Halloween Party, 58pm A disco, spooky games, a fancy-dress competition and refreshments.

Entry is free, children aged under 11 need to be accompanied by an adult.

Sat, October 28 Weymouth Model Railway Association’s annual exhibition will be held today and Sunday, October 29, at Weymouth College, Cranford Avenue, DT4 7LQ, 10am-

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Email your events to

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Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk

LIVE MUSIC THIS MONTH AT

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4.30pm. Lots of exhibits and traders, full catering, free car park and good access to all areas. Entry: Adults £7, Children £2, Family (2+2) £15 Brewery Square in Dorchester is hosting a Halloween spectacular from 4.30pm-6.30pm, with a disco, stilt walkers, and a carved pumpkin competition – and a record breaking attempt to get the most people dressed as ghosts!

To take part in the record attempt, take along a white sheet with eye holes. And take your pals – the record is currently 560…

Join Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club on an eightmile walk from Abbotsbury Swannery. For information call 01308 898484. New members/visitors welcome.

There’s a concert by Cornucopia at St Peter and St Paul's, Cattistock (DT2 OJF) at 6.30pm.

Professional players from Hampshire and Dorset have played and taught in a huge variety of places and groups, ranging from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

The concert will include works by Handel, Bizet,

Khachaturian, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Rimsky-Korsakov.

Tickets are available at £10 (U16 free) from the village shop, or on the door. Profits to Friends of Cattistock Church.

Parnham Voices, popular and accomplished a capella choir from Beaminster, return to All Saints church in Wyke Regis for Byrdsong, a concert of choral music by William Byrd and others. Tickets £10 (includes glass of wine or soft drink). Available at parishofwykeregis.org.uk/ events or from Jeff Thomas on 07710 096174.

Mon, October 30 The National Trust Golden Cap Association will host a talk at the United Church Main Hall, East Street, Bridport, at 2.30pm.

Philip Gamble, garden designer, horticultural adviser and garden photographer, will present a talk entitled Colour in the Garden without Flowers. Ring Mike Nicks on 01308 459855. Members £3, visitors £5.

Weds, November 1 Goulds Home and Fashion Stores in South Street, Dorchester will host The Christmas Late Night

* Oct 14th BUZZ * Oct 21st ROCKING THE JOINT * Oct 28th THE KATZ * Nov 4th FLUKE * Nov 11th KABOODLE * Nov 18th ORIGINALS * Nov 25th ICARUS GREAT LIVE MUSIC FROM ALL ERAS NEW MEMBERS WELCOME * 56 Portland Rd, Wyke Regis, DT4 9AB ( 01305 786867

Shopping Event, 5pm-9pm.

Enjoy a welcome glass of sparkling wine, food tastings, discounts and special offers across both stores, including 10% off all fragrance and cosmetics with a free giftwrapping service.

There will be an exclusive 20% discount on fragrance gift sets, lingerie and across selected fashion brands.

The charity fundraising raffle will be in aid of the Dorset County Hospital Charity – Emergency and Critical Care Appeal – with some great prizes, including a £100 Goulds gift card, a food hamper, a luxury Estee Lauder Beauty Box (worth £441) and much more.

Thurs, November 2 A community coffee morning and sale of Christmas goods will be held at St Swithun's Church Allington, Bridport, DT6 5DU, 9.30am-11am.

Fri, November 3 Tolpuddle will celebrate Guy Fawkes Night with fireworks on the Martyrs Museum Field, DT2 7EH at 6pm, in aid of the church and the hall.

Tickets £8 on the gate (card or cash), including free parking, a free cup of soup, with a pay bar, barbecue and hot drinks.

More details at tolpuddlevillage.co.uk.

A talk entitled Dambuster to Dam Builder hosted by Piddle Valley Twinning will be at Piddletrenthide Memorial Hall, DT2 7QF, 7pm for 7.30pm.

Author Jenny Elmes will give an illustrated talk about her uncle, one of the young Dambuster pilots, whose medals were sold in 2015 to raise money for a dam in Uganda providing fresh water for nearly 100,000 people.

Based on the letters and logbooks of the young pilot of 617 squadron whom Guy Gibson called ‘one of the most outstanding captains of No 5 group’, hear the story of a brave man and his subsequent legacy. Tickets £8 from 01300 348670 or thornton742@btinternet.com

Sat, November 4 There’s an organ recital at St Swithun's Church Allington, Bridport, DT6 5DU at 3pm.

Peter Shepherd, the organist at Colyton Parish Church, will play works by Bach, Walter, Gray and Brown Admission free with retiring collection.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Email your events to

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

November 4 Ct’d South Perrott Steel Band will be in concert at St Mary’s Church, Beaminster, 3pm.

Tickets £5 adults, £2 children from the Church Office,

newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk

Hogshill, Beaminster. Tea and cakes.

Plenty of spooky fun at

Sherborne Digby Hall Monthly Market, DT9 3AA, 10am – 3pm Antiques, arts, crafts, food and much more.

Cafe, free entry.

Parking and toilets. Held on the first Saturday of the month from MarchDecember

Shire Hall museum in Dorchester is promising spooktacular fun for half term. Children will be able make slippery slime from October 23-28, 10am-3pm.

Families can follow a spooky trail and enjoy creepy crafts.

Children in Halloween fancy dress can enter for free – no need to book in advance.

There will also be a selection of Halloween themed treats

and autumnal drinks in the café, including fresh, locallyproduced food.

Alongside its family friendly events, Shire Hall is hosting Spells in the Cells, an evening of magical cocktail making on October 22.

Make your own transfiguration tonic and cauldron cocktails.

Shire Hall Museum brings over 200 years of justice and injustice to life, with

name the teddy.

A Christmas Fayre will be held at Weymouth Bay Methodist Church, 10am-2pm, with stalls and a snack bar.

Free entry. All proceeds to the Weymouth Food Bank.

walk from Symondsbury. For details ring 01308 898484/01308 863340. New members/visitors welcome.

A coffee morning will be held at Maiden Newton Village Hall, DT2 0QL, 10am-noon, with a raffle, tombola, bric-a-brac, nearly new clothes, jewellery and

Join Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club on a 7-mile

JUNE ROSE CEREMONIES Weddings Funerals Celebrations of Life Baby/Child Naming Ceremonies Vow Renewals Birthday memorial celebrations and any other significant celebrations or rights of passage

juneroseceremonies.co.uk

St Peter’s Church, Dorchester will host a ‘Cathedral style’ Choral Eucharist at 10.30am.

Free service and refreshments.

Poundbury Independent Market will be held from 10am-3pm, with more than 100 stalls of goodies. Head for Bonjour Cafe, Queen Mother Square and the park.

07379 982487 | juneroseceremonies@gmail.com

n n n n n n

Sun, November 5

Mon, November 6

HUNNY BUNNIES Fabrics, haberdashery, Craft kits, Handmade products and gifts.

Fabric range, advent calendar and stocking kits now in stock.

07914 387246 Hunnybunnies11@ outlook.com REDLANDS YARD, BROADWINDSOR, DT8 3PX

An art course on the St Ives colony of artists will start at the United Hall, East Street, Bridport at 2pm (or Friday afternoons online). Turner travelled to west Cornwall to make watercolour sketches and drawings. The quality of the light in West Cornwall still draws painters to the area. A six week course £65. Email chris.pamsimpson@btinternet. com

Tues, November 7 Sherborne Historical Society will hear from Christopher

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

13

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

the Shire Hall Museum

history and architecture of Wynford Eagle at The Dorford Centre, Top o’ Town, Dorchester, 7.30pm.

Free for DCS members. Nonmembers are encouraged to make a donation of £3. info@dorchester civicsociety.org.uk

Thurs, November 9

interactive galleries, cells and courtroom.

For more inforgo to shirehalldorset.org/whatson

Massy-Beresford on Feting the Finns 1918-2018: 100 years of intrepid independence at Digby Hall at 8pm.

A consideration of the outstanding achievements of this remote country with its

vast terrain, terrible winters and relatively small population.

Members free, visitors £5 Dorchester Civic Society will hear a talk by Lady Fenella Wynford on the

Toronto-based folk-roots duo Basset will perform at Shipton Gorge Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Sam Clark and Yasmine Shelton explore themes of life in change, their travels around Northern Ontario, the Canadian and American prairies, their lives in the bustling city of Toronto, and the many characters who have crossed their paths. Intricate fiddle playing with stunning

harmonies and musical storytelling. Tickets at artsreach.co.uk / 01308 897407.

The Sherborne and District Gardeners' Association meet at Digby Hall at 2.30pm, where Dr Francis Burroughes will regale them with 'Tales From the Potting Shed'.

All are welcome. Charge for visitors £3.

Further details from Richard Newcombe on 01935 389375.

Dorchester Townswomen’s Guild will hear from Gordon Le Pard on ‘The Curious Archaeologist’ at Dorchester Community Church, Liscombe Street, Poundbury DT1 3DF at 2pm. Visitors are very welcome (£3).

Continued next page

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The full version of our Christmas Day menu and Christmas Party menu is now available at dorsetgreyhound.co.uk dorsetgreyhound.co.uk ( 01300 341303 dorsetgreyhound@gmail.com

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

Fri, November 10 The Friends of Beaminster Festival present an evening concert of choral and instrumental music by Sherborne Girls at Beaminster’s St Mary’s Church at 7.30pm.

Tickets £12 from Yarn Barton,

CALENDARS £10 AVAILABLE NOW!

Fleet Street, Beaminster, The Bookshop, South Street, Bridport, online or on the door (cash or card).

A Film Night: Spirited Away will be held at Wyke Regis Memorial Hall at 7pm (doors open 6.30pm). During her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and spirits. PG. Japanese with English subtitles. Entry £5.50, includes glass of wine or soft drink.

Reserve your seat at parishofwykeregis.org.uk/ events or on 07710 096174.

Sat, November 11 A Christmas Craft And Gourmet Food Show will be held at The Corn Exchange, Dorchester today and Sunday, November 12.

Email your events to newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk

Zombie season extended!

It may be Halloween this month, but if you haven’t had enough of the undead, there are zombies to look forward to on November 18 at The Lyric Theatre, Bridport.

Do zombies dream of undead sheep?

Can the undead feel?

Can the living understand? Is

there a way out of this nightmare? Will you be forced – ultimately – to sing?

A one-man (and one puppet) musical journey through a zombie uprising, combining live performance and animation. Ridiculous, dark, gruesome, warm, funny, sad. ticketsource.co.uk/ thewoodlouse

The Wessex Event Company have been organising craft and food fairs in and around Dorchester for over 37 years, and this year they come back where it all started.

With over 80 craft and food stands selling a variety of brilliant crafts and artisan foods and drink, this really is the perfect place to start your Christmas shopping.

Christmas gift ideas start with

superb craft products, including fine art, jewellery, cosmetics, candles, balms, flower decorations, wood and driftwood items 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.

Airports

Tours extramileuk.co.uk

Ports

Trips & Events Tel: 01305 767 788

Weddings enquiries@extramileuk.co.uk

15

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Whasson? (and where’s it to?)

There will also be a fantastic selection of 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.

Bridport & West Dorset Rambling Club 6 mile walk from Musbury.

For further information please ring 01308 898484/01308 863340. New members/ visitors welcome.

There’s an organ recital at 3pm at St. Swithun's Church Allington, Bridport, DT6 5DU. A programme of mostly short pieces, but including substantial works by JS Bach.

Admission free with retiring collection.

Email your events to newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk

There’s prize bingo at Maiden Newton village hall (DT2 0QL) from 2pm – eyes down 2.30pm.

Children’s games, raffle, teas.

TICKETS at your

local m

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Sun, November 12

Leave the car at home

Continuing from Saturday: Christmas Craft And Gourmet Food Show at The Corn Exchange, Dorchester.

and explore the Isle of Purbeck by train

swanagerailway.co.uk The Swanage Railway reserves the right to alter train times and fares at short notice.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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Saturday, October 28 4.30pm-6.30pm facebook.com/BrewerySquare

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Witch Hunt! ) (Trick or Treat

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

17

Bob’s your uncle! Swimmer breaks record Weymouth pensioner Bob Roberts has swum into the record books as part of the oldest team to swim the Channel – after an attempt last year ended in a row over the rules.

Bob, 75, joined a six-strong team with an average age of over 77 to clinch the record.

Last year, Bob was one of four Dorset-based swimmers attempting the record, which they believed they had clinched.

However the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation’s ratification committee refused to allow the One Foot in the Wave 2 team’s swim, saying they had broken

TRIUMPHANT: The One Foot in the Wave 3 team

the rules. They didn’t believe they had, but appeals fell on deaf ears.

They took comfort from raising over £10,000 for the Alzheimer’s Society and two Dorset swimmers – Weymouth’s Linda Ashmore,

now 76, and Affpuddle’s Bob Holman, now 78, didn’t take part in a second attempt. Linda could not, after an inury, but Mr Holman said: “We know we did it the first time.”

But undeterred, Bob Roberts and his Broadstone friend Robert Lloyd Evans, now 80, joined four others on a chilly Shakespeare Beach, next to Dover, at 2.40am on Sunday to give it another go.

After 17 hours and five minutes, at 7.45pm, Robert

Lloyd Evans swam to the beach in France.

One of the team, Kevin Murphy, 74, said: “It was tough – there wasn’t much wind but it was still a bit choppy. Another team who went out about the same time as us, a swimmer swallowed so much water they had to go to hospital.”

As the oldest swimmer, Robert Lloyd Evans swam the sixth leg each time, but got to finish the attempt – swimming just five minutes in his last leg.

Kevin said: “It was pitch black – very difficult to see where you were going. Everybody was feeling a bit queasy for the first six hours – it was a bit lumpy and the boat was rolling a bit. But there didn’t seem to be any problems.

“They disqualified us last year but they can’t keep us down.

We proved there’s life in the old dogs yet.”

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Magazine distribution When we started the WDM last year, we were determined to reach every tiny place with our distribution, leading us to have some 260 stockists by last month’s magazine.

This is enormously expensive, (and fairly rubbish for the environment) so we have taken the decision to cut the tiny drops of 10-30 copies and redistribute our 25,000 copies – more magazines, to fewer places with higher footfall.

Our costs are something we have to keep an eye on, or we won’t survive.

If you have neighbours who rely on a church porch or a phone box to get our lovely magazine, do consider picking them up a copy while you shop. Or if you’d like a guaranteed copy in the post, contact us on 01305 566336 #1 or email karen@westdorsetmag.co.uk It’s £5 a month for us to post it to you – and any surplus is always used to fund the magazine.

Our current stockist list of 148 places is online at westdorsetmag.co.uk/stockists

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Letting your holiday home has never been easier

KEEP THE DATE FREE: The Keep is one of three museums opening for the evening

Three museums, one ticket You can visit Dorset Museum, the Keep Military Museum and Shire Hall Museum with just one ticket on Friday, October 27 from 5pm-9pm.

Museums After Dark offers the chance to explore all three attractions for £10, with children free.

The Keep Military Museum’s mannequins will come to life,

We know that choosing an agency to let your property can be a big decision.

At Dorset Hideaways our experienced local team is here to make sure the whole process of letting your holiday home is as simple as possible from day one.

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while Dorset Museum is offering gothic fun – meet the museum’s friendly ghosts and ghouls whilst discovering curious objects and spooky surprises. And there will be torchlight tours at Shire Hall Museum – explore historic cells under the cover of darkness.

Tickets at Eventbrite.

Tanks for the memories Review: The Tank Museum

By Diana Holman We took our 15-year-old grandson Robert for a visit to the Tank Museum at Bovington, somewhere we had not visited for a number of years. Robert broke his ankle in July, so we have been seeking attractions that could be enjoyed by the less able.

Outside we gathered with many other families to enjoy a presentation of a number of tanks with a lively commentary about their uses.

Among the vehicles we were shown were a Canadian wheeled Cougar, a Warthog from Singapore and a Leopard Mk 1 designed by Porsche. A mock battle was staged with exciting noisy explosions, bursts of stage fire and clouds of brightly coloured smoke. It was all most exciting!

Inside, there was a very atmospheric and wellpresented First World War battle scene, passing through dimly-lit, devastated streets

with models of injured soldiers on stretchers, a path through to the frontline, and a realistic scene with a tank and soldiers in battle. The next area was dedicated to the horses, with life sized contemporary sculptures.

We were then among the many tanks on display, together with many other exhibits, and screens showing many individuals involved in the wars, with their own commentaries. We could walk into a shop with an assistant to tell us all about the wartime food shortages and rationing.

Robert had best liked the atmospheric war zone, Grampy Rob had enjoyed looking at the numerous screens showing the real people involved at all levels.

My own favourite was the very artistic horse sculptures, and reading all the thoughts those real, beautiful creatures must have had when they were brought into the First World War.

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

19

Get involved in strategy Protect your home from care costs Dorset Coast Forum is inviting people in Portland and Wyke to have their say on a new flooding and erosion strategy.

The forum is inviting residents, community groups and businesses to an online event aimed at helping to develop a new Flood and Coastal Risk Management (FCRM) Strategy.

The strategy is being developed by Dorset Council with the Environment Agency, BCP Council and technical consultants AECOM. A spokesman said: “The new FCRM Strategy will define a 100-year sustainable, adaptable, and integrated approach for managing the risks of coastal flooding, erosion and land-sliding, taking into account the latest data and evidence.

“The project to develop this new strategy will take about two-and-a-half to three years

to complete.”

Wyke councillor Kate Wheller said: “The new FCRM Strategy will provide a framework for future works which will protect both our communities and our environment.

“We are very aware of the power of the sea in this area, so this new strategy is welcomed to help balance the many different priorities of Portland and Wyke Regis.

“I would encourage everyone to engage with the upcoming events. These are vital opportunities to share opinions and concerns on the flood and erosion issues in the area.”

An online engagement event is being held on Tuesday, October 17 from 6pm to 7.30pm.

People can register on the Eventbrite website and an online survey is available at dorsetcoasthaveyoursay.co.uk

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& inheritance tax with a living trust 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 have a charge placed upon it or sold by the local council to pay for your care fees. If a person’s capital and savings including equity in their home is worth more than £23,250, they will have to fund their own care.

A living trust can shield your home and estate from care costs and Inheritance tax in the following ways.

Placing your main home into a living trust ring fences the property from any potential future care costs. Your property is free from Inheritance tax after 7yrs, probate on the property is avoided and protection is

given to beneficiaries from both divorce & creditors.

With a living trust, you can be both a trustee and beneficiary. You can maintain control over your assets even after you pass away.

The situation won’t get better over time. The UK’s fastestgrowing age group comprises those aged over 85. Councils will face even more pressure on budgets, leaving them with little choice but to continue to sell people’s homes.

To protect your home, contact Oakwood Wills on 07832 331594 oakwoodwills.co.uk

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Could blue be set to turn orange in WEST DORSET’S MPs: AN ENDURING LOT n In 1885 Henry Farquharson, who lived near Blandford Forum, was elected the first MP for West Dorset.

He is notable for claiming that Jack the Ripper was the son of a surgeon, who committed suicide after killing Mary Jane Kelly on November 9, 1888. It is believed he was referring to Montague John Druitt, a fellow West Country man, who committed suicide at the end of November 1888 and whose body was retrieved from the Thames at Chiswick a month later.

In the 1892 election, Farquharson libelled his opponent C T Gatty, and had to pay £5,000 damages – about £813,000 in today’s money.

He died on April 19 1895, in the Red Sea, on a voyage home from Colombo, Ceylon. n Robert Williams – not to be confused with a certain pop star – was elected in the 1895 byelection and served for 27 years.

Sir Robert Williams, 1st Baronet, of Bridehead, was a father of eight. He lost his wife Rosa, 19 years his junior, in 1916. He died in 1943 aged 94. n In 1922 Sir Philip Colfox was elected, having been MP for North Dorset for four years. He served 19 years until his resignation in 1941.

Born in Bridport, he was educated at Eton and served in the army, reaching the rank of Major. During the First World War he was wounded twice and received a Military Cross. He then taught classics and mathematics at Eton for the rest of the war. When retired, he taught maths to children in Bridport as a volunteer.

He served as High Sheriff of Dorset for 1946 and was an Alderman of Dorset County Council until he died in 1966. He ran his farm with his son John, based on organic principles. n At the 1941 by-election Simon Digby, or to give him his full title Kenelm Simon Digby Wingfield Digby, was elected, and would become the longest serving MP for the area at 32 years – though he still had a way to go to beat Charles Pelham Villiers, who served for 62 years as Wolverhampton’s MP. Digby’s family were extremely wealthy and he spent much money supporting Dorset charities.He dedicated himself to the restoration and development of Sherborne Castle, built by Sir Walter Raleigh and

inhabited by the Digbys since 1617. From 1952 horse trials took place in the grounds (Wingfield Digby himself was a successful bloodstock breeder) and the castle was opened to the public in 1969. He lived in a small house in the grounds from his retirement from Parliament until his death in 1998. n Sir Jim Spicer stepped up to the podium in 1974, for a 23-year stint. Sir James Wilton Spicer was a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, and was also the MEP for Wessex from 1979 to 1984. At 14, he was an air raid messenger in London during the Blitz. At 15, he was in a Commando Section of his local Home Guard. At 16, he worked as a labourer in a scrap metal yard, before joining the army. Commissioned at 18, he served in North West Europe during the remainder of the Second World War and then in Egypt, Kenya, Cyprus and finally in 1956, with the Parachute Regiment in the illfated attack on Port Said.

He resigned his commission and moved with his wife Winfy to Beaminster, where they farmed. During his long political career, he had one-to-one meetings with Nicolae Ceausescu, Saddam Hussein, President Assad, Robert Mugabe and many other world leaders. n In 1997 Oliver Letwin settled in for an 18-year stint, including a spot in the Cabinet.

He was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer under Michael Howard and Shadow Home Secretary under Iain Duncan Smith. He was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 2014 to 2016.

Letwin was given overall responsibility for the Cabinet Office and became a full member of the Cabinet in in 2015. However Brexit proved a sticking point and he stood down in 2019.

Letwin’s parents were Jewish-American intellectuals from Chicago whose parents had fled persecution in Kiev.

Hugely intelligent and razor sharp, Letwin went to Eton and Cambridge. n Christopher Lionel John Loder, who has been MP for West Dorset since 2019, won 55.1% of the votes, with the Lib Dems’ Edward Morello gaining 32%.

The softly-spoken Sherborne-born farmer’s son is a very different kettle of fish to his predecessors – no fancy titles, no silver spoon and no Eton or Oxbridge, having left The Gryphon School at 18 to work for South West Trains, where he stayed for 20 years before standing for the Conservatives following Boris Johnson’s decision to hold a snap election in 2019.

Since being elected he has campaigned on a number of issues, most notably animal welfare.

By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk

A new poll has predicted the narrowest of wins for the Lib Dems in West Dorset – after 139 years of Conservative MPs. Next year’s General Election could be the first time the area has selected anything other than blue in the history of the constituency, formed in 1885.

Seen as a ‘safe’ seat, there have been few elections where the gap between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems has been narrow, with the slimmest majority being in 2001, when Oliver Letwin scraped in with just 2.8% more than Lib Dem Simon Green.

The West Dorset seat must be comfy, with just seven MPs over 139 years, with six serving between 18 and 32 years apiece. The shortest serving MP was its first – Henry Farquarson, who only relinquished the seat after a mere ten years because he died…

The Lib Dems have come second in every election here for 53 years. But a new poll by Stonehaven reckons 2024 could see them pip the Tories by as few as 112 votes.

If you want a snapshot of population numbers and voting behaviour, there were 7,914 registered voters for that first election in 1885. Some 86.8% voted, with 51% voting Conservative and 49% Liberal.

By contrast, 2019’s election of Chris Loder

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

21

constituency after 139 Tory years?

A BITE AT THE CHERRY? Lib-Dem candidate Edward Morello at Sherborne Abbey

had 83,000 potential voters… Some 60,925 turned out – 74.7%, and they gave him a 14,106 majority over second placed Edward Morello – who is now preparing his campaign for 2024.

If Morello does pip Loder to the post, the farmer’s

son will become the shortest serving MP in West Dorset’s history.

The constituency has been re-drawn many times over the years and has recently lost a large chunk to other areas – notably Chickerell to South Dorset and Tolpuddle and Puddletown

to North Dorset. It’s not clear whether this latest poll takes that into account, as it is sure to change the outcome.

Mr Morello said: “It’s now clearer than ever that only the Liberal Democrats can beat the Conservative Party in West and that

every vote will count. I promise if I am elected as our next MP I will stand up for local families and provide the strong voice in Parliament that our area so desperately needs.”

Mr Loder said: “In 2019, the West Dorset Lib Dems thought that Sherborne was in Gloucestershire.

“Earlier this year, the West Dorset Lib Dems leafleted the wrong constituency.

“In addition, they can’t even spell the names of West Dorset villages correctly.

“I would always err on the side of caution – don’t get over-excited, or take anything for granted, when a poll suggests a Lib Dem might win by 112 from an electorate of 75,000!”

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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£3m boost Battery storage plan opposed Charmouth will benefit from an investment of approximately £3 million to improve the resilience of local heritage and tourism assets.

The seaside town has been selected as a beneficiary of the Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme’s (CTAP) Additional Projects funding.

The CTAP programme is part of the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme, which will run until 2027.

West Dorset MP Chris Loder is backing campaigners who are opposing the proposed construction of a 57-acre battery energy storage system in Chickerell.

In a letter sent to the lead project officer at Dorset Council, the MP expressed concerns with the fire safety of lithium-ion batteries; the proximity of the site to developed residential area;

and the visual impact on the surrounding countryside.

The proposed BESS facility is the smaller part of a £300million application made by the energy firm Statera in 2022. Mr Loder has already successfully opposed the firm’s planned mega solarfarm, which if passed, would have spanned 1,300 acres of land between Buckland Ripers and Friar Waddon.

Speaking about the BESS facility, Mr Loder said: “I am opposed to a scheme on this scale, which carries many risks. It is evident that such a large BESS facility is designed to serve a future solar park, which has already cause immense concern amongst the local community, and I continue to be opposed to any such plans.”

Villages apply for 20mph limit after public consultation Yetminster and Ryme Intrinseca Parish Council has applied for a 20mph speed limit in both villages after a consultation

found a large number of residents backed the move. yetminsterparishes.gov.uk/council

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

hundreds of bulbs in stock Celebrating 10 years GET ONLINE: Volunteers at Weymouth Library

and a national award Daffodils, Tulips, Hyacinths, A free training programme that has recruited an army of special advisors to help thousands of Dorset’s residents get online has scooped a prestigious national award.

Dorset Council’s ‘Embedded Digital Champion’ initiative has won the acclaimed ‘Digital Skills’ title at the Connected Britain awards in London.

The award recognises the feat of training nearly 1,000 of the county’s frontline workers and volunteers to be digital champions in their own organisations.

On average, each embedded digital champion is helping at least one person a week with their digital skills – potentially around 46,000 Dorset residents are being supported every year.

The recruits support people with digital skills like filling out online forms, accessing emails, password management and more.

The service is ten years old and is holding a ‘get online’ roadshow to celebrate, sponsored by Wessex Internet. In national ‘Get Online’ week, from October 16-20, volunteers will be manning stalls in Sherborne, Bridport, Wool and

Wimborne and anyone needing help online is invited.

They will be able to answer questions and visitors can try out some tablets and take part in fun interactive quizzes.

Everyone who visits can enter a free draw for a tablet.

Councillor Jill Haynes said: “When we set up the service in 2013 it was difficult to imagine just how quickly technology would evolve.

“The pandemic escalated things and we are all now living in a predominately digital world. We must never lose sight of the fact there will be people who find the fast pace of change difficult, and our volunteers have never been needed more.”

The Get Online roadshow will be part of Sherborne’s Pack Fair on Monday, October 16, with a stall in The Digby Hall from 10am to 12.30pm.

It then moves to Bridport library from 10am to 12.30pm on Wednesday, October 18.

On Thursday, October 19 they will be at the Wool indoor market at The D’urbeville Centre from 10am to 11.30m.

Can’t make it? Call the Digital Hotline on 01305 221048.

Crocus, Alliums and more..

This is Duane with his favourite bulbs... Allium

West Bay Road, Bridport, grovesnurseries.co.uk 01308 422654

23

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

n West Dorset MP Chris Loder is trying to save a vital bus service serving more than 30 villages.

The West Dorset arm of the Ring and Ride bus service, which also operates in East Devon, is at risk of closure if Dorset Council cannot provide the funding.

Mr Loder has asked Adrian Glover, public transport manager at Dorset Council, what can be done.

He said: “The West Dorset Ring & Ride bus service is vital... an affordable option for those residents who live in remote villages without access to public transport, and/or are disabled or have limited mobility. Many constituents have told me of their fear that this will lead to isolation, in that this is their only form of transport – it is a lifeline.”

Tractor run pays the bills A celebratory tractor run and raffle raised £1,172 for the Caundle Marsh community.

Some 55 tractors assembled on Hiscocks’ farm off the A3030 earlier this month for the fundraising event.

Organised by the Caundle Marsh Parochial Church Council and led by James and Di Hiscock, the event saw drivers and other workers lining up for breakfast cooked

by Di and her family.

Di told the West Dorset Magazine: “The tractors varied from the most modern to older vehicles, some in sparkling order and others wearing their age well.

“The start of the tractor run at about 10am was marked with a blessing given by our benefice Rector Tony

New partnership for school Sunninghill Prep School has announced a new partnership with Inspired Learning Group.

The school said the partnership will allow them to ‘continue providing an exceptional education’ for its pupils aged from 2 years and 9 months to 13.

Head David Newberry said: “Anyone who joins Sunninghill very quickly becomes part of a family that is warm and inclusive. We are a community full of compassion, creativity, commitment and courage which you will see in abundance all around the school. Our staff are committed to these values and weave them through our very strong academic programme and all of our extra-curricular activities too.

“ILG was a clear choice for us because they share these values and will support us in

DEERE FRIENDS: Pictures by Jenny Short

Gilbert.”

Headed by Tim Hiscock driving his Ford 6810 tractor and towing a trailer with passengers, the run made its way around a 22-mile course before returning around 1.30pm for the raffle.

Di added: “This event means our parish has, for a second year running, raised sufficient funds to pay all our church bills and find a sum to donate to a charity which our church council will choose at our next meeting.”

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Amit Mehta, CEO of Inspired Learning Group, pictured with Mr Newberry, said: “We very much look forward to supporting the school in providing a stimulating and highly nurturing education that enables every pupil to thrive.”

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

£9,000 bursary for students Two promising West Dorset students have been awarded a £3,000-a-year bursary from Bridlit.

The literary festival was set to award two students £1,000 a year for their university studies when a generous local couple stepped in to boost the coffers.

Now Jessica St Barbe Baker, from Mosterton, and Medwin Stephen, from Bridport, will each receive £3,000 a year for three years.

Festival director Tanya BruceLockhart said: “The BridLit trustees and I are delighted to be able to contribute to the next stage of education of two brilliant young students.”

Chairman Deirdre Coates said trustees had had a very tough job whittling down the candidates. “Not only did the applicants show enthusiasm and commitment to their chosen subject, but also had all spent much of their time in

WELL DONE: Bursary winners Medwin Stephen and Jessica St Barbe Baker with Bridport Literary Festival director Tanya Bruce-Lockhart Picture: Graham Shackleton

activities which benefited their communities. I was left both edified and uplifted by this impressive group of young people,” she said.

Jessica, a student at the Beaminster and Sir John Colfox Joint Sixth Form, will be attending Yeovil University Centre to read a foundation course in Childhood Studies followed by a Bachelor of Arts degree and Postgraduate

Certificate in Education.

Medwin is going to Selwyn College, Cambridge, to read Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.

This year’s Bridport Literary Festival takes place in venues from November 5-11.

The programme is at bridlit.com where tickets can be purchased. Or you can visit Bridport TIC or call 01308 424901.

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STOP PRESS

n Cheselbourne Village School is set to receive a new modern building.

Head Chris Perry said: “The construction of a new modern building at our school represents a significant step towards enhancing the education of our children. The improvements of important factors, such as toilet facilities, and the expansion in size offer a multitude of benefits.” n Kingston Maurward College will be part of a £10million national programme across England which will see The Open University support nine further education colleges to put on a wider range of technical courses.

The college will get specialist support from The Open University for two years to expand the number of higher education courses. n Landlords can apply to a new £80 million fund to upgrade heating and energy efficiency.

The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Wave 2 will open in November.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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People over 55 are being invited to take the plunge and take part in a host of water activities at Weymouth Outdoor Education Centre.

The Seafarers Over 55 Club, supported by Active Dorset, have tried their hands at everything from sea kayaking to stand-up paddleboarding and sailing dinghies along the Jurassic shoreline.

The club hopes to start a kayak club for adults on a Friday to complement the existing Monday morning meet.

Water sports coach Lesley Kaye said she had tried a number of sports but nothing inspired her until she discovered sailing. She said: “I found sailing at nearly 40 and it literally changed my life. I became so passionate about sailing that I first became a

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sailing instructor, then windsurfing, powerboating and SUP boarding instructor because I really want to spread the joy of water sports with others and how it might enhance their lives too. “‘It has been great coaching the social seafarers and proves that you can take up water sports at any age as there is an activity to suit everyone. It is just a case of trying out the different range of water sports activities WOEC offers to find one that suits you best. It is also great way of taking advantage of our beautiful environment and meeting new people as it is very social.”

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£150 food vouchers on offer Vouchers for groceries are again on offer to low income households under the Household Support Fund.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

New village shop full of beautiful items

By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk

A new shop and creative workshop has opened in Abbotsbury after a candlemaking hobby inspired its owner to take the plunge into running her own business.

Karen Jones, 54, had never run a shop before, but found herself at a loose end after the covid lockdowns.

She had been a visual merchandiser for Arcadia (Top Shop etc) and worked as a teaching assistant for 12 years in Luton. But after moving to Puncknowle three years ago she found herself looking for work, not really sure what she wanted to do next.

She said: “I started making candles as presents, as something creative to do. But then I saw how much people liked them and thought I could do more with them, and as I was looking for work at the time I just went for it. I approached the farm shops, and they agreed to sell my candles.

“But I needed somewhere to make them. Then I saw this shop, which is part of Ilchester Estates. I have an area in the back to make my candles, a shop area and an upstairs area.

“I knew Ian from living in Puncknowle and it seemed ideal to sell his antiques beside my candles, plus soaps

COME AND SEE US: Karen Jones and Ian Balchin at Made & Found in Abbotsbury. Right, candles, antiques and the workshop on the first floor

and cards from different craftspeople. Another lady provides vintage jewellery.”

Ian Balchin, 59, moved to Dorset from South Oxfordshire five years ago for a change of lifestyle after years working in renewables and other types of businesses.

He found an old mill in Puncknowle to live in.

Moving from a modern home to an old one ignited an undiscovered passion for antiques. I immersed myself

in it,” he said.

Ian collects items from all over the place and gives them a little TLC before selling them on, at Alleyways in Bridport, at Karen’s new shop Made & Found and privately.

Between his lovingly restored old items and Karen’s growing collection of items for sale, Made and Found is now a little treasure trove.

Though taking her launch slowly, Karen has further plans for the building. She is

looking for craftspeople to run creative classes upstairs, for instance. The first will be a broomstick making class on Thursday, October 26, costing £25 to include refreshments. There will also be Christmas workshops, including wreath and garland making. n To book for the broomstick making workshop call Lorna on 07496 551989. Made & Found is open 1pm-4pm Monday to Friday (closed Tuesdays), 12pm-4pm Saturdays and 11am-2pm Sundays at 32 West Street, Abbotsbury DT3 4JT.

Possible £25k grant available for heritage project Community and heritage organisations in West Dorset are being urged to apply for up to £25,000 from Historic England.

The national body is giving out between £1,000 and £25,000 to applicants as part of its Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class History.

An Historic England spokesperson said: “The grants are for creative projects that focus on heritage connecting

people to historic places, specifically those people and places that are overlooked or underrepresented.

“We will accept proposals for projects with costs of up to £25,000 but we are keen to fund a number of smaller projects up to £10,000.

“All organisations and individuals are eligible to apply including community interest groups, charities and local authorities. We are especially interested

in applications from groups and individuals that are not heritage organisations but can deliver heritage projects. While we are willing to fund proposals with links to established heritage institutions, we are especially interested in funding communityled projects.”

Proposals must be submitted by 11.59pm, Tuesday, November 7 2023.

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Digging for history at council offices Archaeologists are excavating North Quay, the former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council offices, ahead of demolition next spring.

The excavation is uncovering more of Weymouth’s fascinating harbourside history, such as the old Weymouth Arms pub that was demoloshed in the 60s, and two early 17th century buildings at the other end of the site. The team has found the wall of the service wing behind the pub which had the kitchen, outbuildings and stables.

They have also spotted a possible wall with some medieval roof slate and stone roof tile alongside it, which could be the first sign of a medieval building.

Context One Heritage and Archaeology is leading the dig

DIGGING HISTORY: Volunteers excavating behind the former council offices at North Quay in Weymouth and inset, the old Weymouth Arms

– the same company which carried out preliminary investigations at North Quay in 2021 and Weymouth Bowl in St Nicholas Street in 2022.

North Quay is one of three key sites in Weymouth earmarked for a share of the government’s £19.5m

Levelling Up Fund.

Cllr Andrew Parry, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for assets and property, said: “The explorations that Context One and the local volunteers uncovered at North Quay in 2021, and across the Harbour at the MFA Weymouth Bowl

site in 2022, were beyond anything we thought might be unearthed. Having the chance to peer beneath the tarmac once again, to a Weymouth hundreds of years old is a very exciting prospect. There is such a rich and unique history right under our feet.”

Ready, get set, BAKE!

Friary Care had a great day raising money at a Macmillan Cancer Support coffee morning.

Lots of delicious cakes were made and enjoyed by residents, and their families and friends, all whilst having a chat over coffee,

surrounded by lovely decorations made by our own residents.

We had a raffle with some amazing prizes, had fun with our pinata, and also had a delicious chippy-tea.

We also donated a tray of cakes to our local nurses' station, in order to give back to those who look after us.

The grand total raised for Macmillan was over £440. An amazing donation for an amazing

cause, due to an amazing day!

Come and join us and make your home in one of our care homes in Weymouth, Kingsley Court and Friary House. n Call the owner of Friary Care, Peter Fry, on 01305 787811 or visit friarycare.co.uk

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

33

Air Ambulance on shortlist for series of honours Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance has been shortlisted as a finalist in four categories at this year’s Air Ambulance Awards of Excellence.

Dorset unit chief pilot Captain Mario Carretta has been shortlisted in the Pilot of the Year category while Advanced Practitioner Matt Sawyer has been shortlisted for Critical Care Practitioner of the Year category.

Dorset’s lottery manager Caroline Guy has been shortlisted in the Charity Staff Member of the Year category. The air ambulance team has been shortlisted as finalists in the Campaign of the Year category for their Saving Lives at Glastonbury initiative.

Charles Hackett, Chief Executive Officer of Dorset and Somerset Air

Ambulance said: “We are delighted to be recognised in four categories at this year’s Air Ambulance Awards of Excellence.”

A full list of the award categories and those who have been shortlisted can be found by visiting: www.air ambulancesuk.org/shortlistannounced. The winners will be announced in November.

Trefoil members dig deep for planting Four members of Dorchester Trefoil including chairman Jeane Holmes planted daffodil bulbs near the community allotments in Poundbury in torrential rain, ready for a colourful spring.

Jeane said: “We were all soaked but found it fun all the same!”

Bulb planting is one of the options in Trefoil’s 80th Birthday Challenge.

Trefoil, part of Girlguiding, enjoys taking part in activities for the community. Their knitting project for the hospital has been ongoing for four years now, with more than 200 lap and memory blankets, 150 shawls and 100 twiddlemuffs donated to the elderly/dementia and stroke wards at Dorset County Hospital. Not all their knitters are SPADEWORK: Members of Trefoil plant daffodil bulbs at Poundbury part of Trefoil, and they welcome the help.

The Trefoil afternoon group meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 2.15pm for a 2.30pm start in St George’s Church hall. There’s usually a speaker. There’s also monthly coffee meetings and a knit and natter group.

The evening section meets on the third 33a South Street, 01308 455660 Tuesday of each month for activities such Records, Sell, buy & as meals out and skittles.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Ploughers are in a field of their own The Melplash Agricultural Society’s annual Hedgelaying and Ploughing Match took place on Urless Farm, on land off A356, Near Corscombe.

“It was a fantastic day,” said society match chairman Tim Frampton.

“All classes were well supported, and the competition was keen with a good number taking part for the first time.

“It was so good to see so many people coming to watch despite not being the most favourable weather.

“The annual hedge-laying and ploughing match is always an important day in the society’s calendar. As well as marking the start of the society in 1847, it gives all of us who work on the land an opportunity to show others our skills and the pride we have in the work we do.

“This year is another memorable year as it was the first time that a society’s president has taken part in the competition. It was an honour to have this year’s

TOP GUYS: Champion hedgelayer Steve Eldridge with his winning hedge and, left, champion ploughman Michael Fooks with his prizes

president Michael Fooks competing in the ploughing match as he has done for the last 60 years, only missing it once when he was the society’s chairman in 1984.

“We all congratulate him on winning his class and for being named as the Champion Ploughman for both the local and open classes.

“Winning of course is a bonus and a position we can only enjoy until next year,” he added.

The prize-giving was hosted by the society chairman Philip Hardwill, who thanked everyone who made the day possible – the landowners, Mr and Mrs Oliver Hemsey and the farm manager Ian Andrews, the sponsors, the stewards and helpers, all the competitors and the judges.

The prizes were presented by the society president Michael Fooks.

RESULTS ROUND-UP PLOUGHING RESULTS Chief Steward: Philip Hardwill, Society Chairman Judges: Mr Anthony Butler, Bridport and Mr Richard Curtis, Bridgwater; Mr Arthur Hayward, Tiverton and Mr John Kerslake, Tiverton.

Best Turned-Out Tractor & Plough judged by Mr Roy Vickery and Michael Hole Class 8 - Vintage Trailed: 1: David Cobb 2:Millie Johnston 3: Malcolm Trott Class 9 - Vintage Hydraulic 1: Rodney Cuff 2: Michael Symonds 3: Geoff Fry Class 10 – Match Ploughing 1: Tim Frampton Trophies & Special Prizes Champion Vintage Ploughman and winner of The Jack Dare Memorial Trophy: David Cobb Best Strike Out in Vintage classes: David Cobb Best Finish in Vintage classes: David Cobb Champion Ploughman in Vintage and match ploughing classes & winner of the Blandford & Webb Perpetual Challenge cup: David Cobb Best Ins and Outs in classes: Rodney Cuff Class 11 - Classic Tractor & Plough (without Q cab) Joint 1: David Lockyer & Malcom Selby and winner of the Tony Ascott Perpetual Challenge Cup 2: Tony Ascott 3: Colin Hawkins Class 12 - Tractor & hydraulically operated 2 or 3 furrow plough 1: Michael Fooks 2: John Harris 3: Robert Johnson Class 13 – Tractor & hydraulically operated 4 or more furrow plough 1: John Shute 2: Will Doble 3: Barry Dennett Class 14 – Contractor Challenge – reversible ploughs to use both left- and right-hand board 1: Garry Stevens winner of Creed Brother’s Seaborough Salver 2: Bernard Hayball 3: Tom Baker

Trophies & Special Prizes Champion Ploughman (Open) and winner of Col. Sir Stuart Mallinson cup: Michael Fooks Champion Ploughman (Local) and winner of silver perpetual Challenge : Michael Fooks Winner of The Streatfeild Perpetual Cup to Best YFC Ploughman: Millie Johnston, Marshwood Vale YFC Best Ins & Outs: Dave Lockyer Best Strike out: John Harris Best Finish: Robert Johnson Best Ploughing with Case International Case or David Brown with Kverneland Plough presented with Silver Perpetual Challenge cup: Tim Frampton Best Ploughing with Ford New Holland: John Shute Best Ploughing with a John Deere Tractor presented with a special prize donated by Hunt Forest Group, Dorchester: Garry Stevens Sam Dennett Perpetual Memorial Trophy presented by the family for the best finish with a four or five furrow plough: Bernard Hayball Novice Ploughman 1: Tom Baker 2: Millie Johnston Best Turned-out Tractor & Plough presented with a bottle of whisky donated by Mr Roy Vickery: Adrian Holloway.

HEDGELAYING RESULTS Chief Steward: Mrs Mandy Woodham Judges: Mr Roger Parris, Honiton; Mr Roger Vickery, Thorncombe; Mr Peter Yeates, Bridport. Chainsaw Steward: Mr Mark Tilley Class 1 – Hedgelayer – Local & Open class 1: Steve Eldridge and winner of The Elizabeth Lady Williams Challenge Cup 2: Colin Risdon 3: Russell Woodham

The Cecil A Marsh Challenge Cup presented to the Best Local competitor: Steve Eldridge Class 2 – Novice Hedgelayer1: Michael Baker and winner of Marcus Beresford Trophy 2: Richard Baker 3: David Clark Class 3 – Intermediate Hedgelayer 1: Heath Cregan and winner of Bodger John Trophy 2: Neil Gemmell 3: Anthony Brown Class 4 - Open Pairs 1: Richard Hooker and George Pidgeon and winners of The Bartletts (Dorset) Ltd Cup 2: Simon and Milly Cullingford 3: Steven and Rosie McCulloch Class 5 - Novice Pairs 1: Catherine Carter and Theo Derewnick and winners of the Shedbush Farm Trophy Trophies & Special Prizes Champion Hedgelayer and winner of the Silver Perpetual Challenge Cup presented by Cleeves & Edwina Palmer: Steve Eldridge The Philip Hardwill Trophy for highest placed Young Farmer: Reggie Saint & Jack Ferret, Beaminster YFC The Russell Woodham Bill Hook Trophy for best hand tool competitor: Catherine Carter and Theo Derewnick The Bill Hook Trophy for the best Lady competitor: Lydia Lee Tidiest Kept Site: Simon and Milly Cullingford Best work on a poor length of hedge: Heath Cregan Overall Best Veteran competitor aged 65 years and over: Steve Eldridge Mechanical Flail Hedge Cutting 1: Richard Rowe 2: Nick Fooks 3: Stuart Curtis We also hosted the Dorset Young Farmers hedgelaying competition and the results for this class are below: Judge: Mr Kevin Goodfellow, Bridport; Chainsaw Steward: Mr Matt Bagwell 1: Owen Swatridge and Logan Hayball 2: William Fooks and George Goringe 3: Chloe Caddy and Zoe Raymond

35

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Adopted stations on the right track Community volunteer groups have adopted railway stations Dorchester South, Gillingham, Sherborne, Upwey, Wareham, Weymouth and Wool.

South Western Railway (SWR) said the groups work to ‘enhance their station spaces and environments for the benefit of the whole local area’.

SWR customer and commercial director Peter Williams said: “The bond between South Western Railway and the communities we serve is of great importance to us and our fantastic station adopters have been vitally important in cultivating and deepening that relationship.

GOOD EFFORT: Volunteers planting bulbs at a recently adopted station on the SWR network

“Our station adopters are an integral part of the wider railway family, and it has been wonderful to see the many creative ways that they have contributed to local communities across the network as the number of adoption groups has expanded.”

SWR is currently celebrating the adoption of its 100th railway station by a group of volunteers working at Staines in Surrey.

The programme of station adoption began with the Friends of Christchurch station group in 2007.

Since then, SWR stations have been adopted throughout Dorset and Hampshire as well as Berkshire, Devon, London, Somerset, Surrey, Wiltshire, and the Isle of Wight.

An SWR spokesperson added: “Groups in many towns and villages around the SWR network have signed up to be station adopters, all brought together by a desire to do something to improve both their local station and local areas. Across the network, station adopters have played a vital role in supporting social, cultural, and economic development in their local areas, creating a sense of community and inclusion, and enhancing the customer experience.”

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

A right royal thank you for RVS ladies’ 50 years of service A group of ladies to mark this celebrating 50 years of momentous service were thrilled to occasion. receive a letter from “Invitations were Queen Camilla to mark quickly dispatched the occasion. and our The Royal Voluntary preparations began.

Service Sherborne Lunch “Christine Club marked half a graciously century with a roast dinner accepted our and a special cake for the invitation; and 52 diners. attended as our FOUNDER MEMEBER: Volunteer The club weren’t even guest speaker.

Christine Stones enjoys the lunch aware it was their “At the celebration Rabiah Jackson said: anniversary until they lunch she told us a “After meeting up with received a call from one fascinating story about the of the founder volunteers, her, we immediately interesting people who decided that we would Christine Stones. attended the lunch club, have a celebration lunch Volunteer coordinator and the way of life in

Sherborne, 50 years ago.

“She was happy in her role as chief potato peeler, and helped with the washing up. At the time, the lunch club served lunches, delivered meals as well running a store in Cheap Street which offered clothing to people in need.”

Hunt’s Food Group has supplied foods to the club for all those 50 years.

Queen Camilla is Patron and President of the Royal Voluntary Service. She sent her congratulations to the club.

Charity in hunt to fill treasurer role A charity aimed at improving life and resources for the community in Bridport needs a treasurer.

The Bridport Area Development Trust (BADT) has been responsible for many excellent initiatives in the town – not least the Literary and Scientific Institute (LSI) and the West Bay Discovery Centre.

BADT is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee established in 2009, run mainly by eight volunteer

trustees. The trust works in partnership to identify, plan and deliver projects that meet local need and provide long term economic and community benefit to the town and beyond.

The trust needs a volunteer to oversee its financial accounting and reporting, ensure that controls on income and expenditure are in place and duly executed, oversee BADT’s income, expenditure, and cash flow and liaise with, and where appropriate give direction to the BADT’s self-

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employed bookkeeper.

The treasurer will liaise with the chair on financial matters and with external auditors/examiners as required.

The post will also entail the annual draft budget, monthly management accounts and VAT returns.

Some relevant experience in accountancy and/or finance is essential and experience of the voluntary or charity sector would be useful.

BADT chair Phyllida Culpin said: “We are a tight-knit, focused, hands-

on team and would be delighted to welcome a new member who is equally enthusiastic about actively giving something back to their community.

“The trust will consider any project in and around Bridport that has a regenerative benefit, especially if they are of an economic and/or educational nature, and a top priority for BADT support is sustainability.”

For a role description and a recruitment pack email mail@bridportadt.org.uk bridportadt.org.uk

MP’s pledge on dental service MP Chris Loder has pledged to lobby NHS Dorset and the Government to improve ease the strain on dental practices in West Dorset.

He met members of the Dorset Local Dental Committee in Dorchester, after writing to all NHS dental practices in West

Dorset and making the case for better access to NHS dentistry in Parliament in May. He said: “Our dental practices are facing multifaceted challenges and it’s important that I understand this from dental staff directly dealing with this on a day-to-day basis.”

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Selwood House Care Home Open from September Led by kindness, compassion and dignity our highly trained care teams deliver the kind of care we would want all our loved ones to receive. Selwood House Care Home provides residential care, short-term respite care and specialist dementia care.

If you would like to learn more about life at our home or to book a tour, please call 07399 062 712 or email ben.marsden@countrycourtcare.com 01305 510 403 Chestnut Road, Charlton Down, Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 9FN www.countrycourtcare.com

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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Getting ready for the big step up...

Children in Puddletown anxious about moving up to middle school enjoyed a fun week to settle them in, thanks to Local Alliance Group funding.

A group of 25 children at St Mary’s Middle School had a week-long summer school to boost their confidence before starting Year Six. They enjoyed activities

including friendship bracelet making, treasure chest themed crafts, sewing lavender bags, playing board games, and a party to finish off the week.

One child said “I felt more ready for Year Six and it was nice getting to know the teachers.”

St Mary’s head Tim Ennion said: “There was an

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Pupils at St Mary’s School at their summer school

impressive range of activities on offer to the children that were carefully planned to maximise the fun but also to build self-confidence and engagement with school.”

Community groups and organisations, early years

settings, schools and individuals can apply for fudning for community projects that support belonging for young people.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

New larger premises hot off the press A couple who launched their print business a month before the first covid lockdown, but battled back to win a business award have opened new premises with an expanded offering.

David and Juanita Prince moved from South Africa and took over Dorchester’s main Post Office in Trinity Street in 2018. They bought Sprint Signs in February 2020, and installed a counter in the Post Office and premises down the road to fulfil print orders – but a month later, covid hit.

Three years later, still in business despite the havoc wreaked by the pandemic, they scooped Family Business of the Year at the Dorchester and Poundbury Business Awards and made the decision to expand the printing side, with a franchise from Minuteman – an American-owned business with

PRINCE PRINTS: David and Juanita at their new shop

about 70 franchisees across the UK. The new franchise, and a move to much larger premises in Poundbury, means they can offer the gamut of printed products, at competitive prices while retaining the great customer service that won them

their award.

David, who worked in banking before moving back to his native Dorset, said: “It’s good as a small business to be part of something larger. We get the support and the software to be able to add value for our customers.”

The couple, who have two sons studying at Thomas Hardye, have been manically busy with the move, but are so pleased with their new premises.

Minuteman offers business cards, flyers, brochures, menus and a wide range of promotional products. David added: “Minuteman Press’s tag line is we can Design, Print and Promote You! Whatever print products you need for your business we can help.”

And with the move, to just down from the Buttermarket at 13-14 Jubilee Court, Paceycombe Way, comes free, plentiful parking.

The couple will continue to sponsor Dorchester Ladies football team as Minuteman Press, and support the plan for a new bike park at Castle Park. ( 01305 264171 uk299.minuteman.com uk299@minutemanpress.com

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

43

£250k project will recharge battery A £250,000 project to restore Portland’s historic high angle battery could pave the way for its ‘ghost tunnels’ to reopen.

Dorset Council has secured a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to ‘improve and preserve the heritage site’ close to the Verne citadel.

Built in the 1890s to help defend Portland against invasion, the locally important site has fallen into disrepair.

A council spokesperson said: “Last year, the battery’s outdated interpretation panels, graffiti and heritage damage led to the site being placed on Historic England’s ‘at risk’ HIGH HOPES: Portland’s historic high angle battery Portland’s high angle battery economic, historic, cultural register. and environmental benefits to for future generations.

“This project, which has “Thanks to money raised by the local area and been made possible by communities.”

National Lottery players, money raised by National Dorset Council said once the even more people will be Lottery players, will focus able to access and learn on improving the site’s about the history of the site. heritage, biodiversity, and “Heritage has a huge role to access and aims to help tell play in instilling pride in the story of the battery to a communities, and this much wider audience. project to save this much“A previous consultation loved landmark is a fantastic with the local community example of this.” helped shape the project, through which key partners, A ‘friends of’ group will be set up to help with the longthe community, and term care of the site, which volunteers outlined will be managed in improvements they wanted partnership by Dorset to see made to the site. The Council and Portland Town consultation also Council. highlighted local appetite Councillor Ray Bryan, for more activities and events at the site and for the Dorset Council’s portfolio popular ‘ghost tunnels’ to be holder for highways, travel and environment, said: “We fully opened.”

Dorset Council said it plans are thrilled to receive this award from the Heritage to work closely with Fund and are excited to be Portland Town Council ‘to working in partnership with act on what the community has asked for and rejuvenate the local community on a shared ambition and vision this historically-important for high angle battery. site’.

“The rediscovering of this Lottery funding director for important site will see high the South, Stuart McLeod, angle battery become an said: “We are delighted to integral part of Portland that support this important will provide many social, project to preserve

work has been completed, the battery will become a ‘valuable local asset’ where events, tours and school visits will be a ‘regular occurrence’.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Check to see if free school meals are on the menu

Parents and carers are being urged to check if they are entitled to free school meals as they not only benefit the child – but also their schools.

Dorset Council is encouraging applications to bolster school funds, saying that as well as receiving a free meal every school day, a child’s school will receive extra government funding (the Pupil Premium) towards more teaching staff, tuition or activities.

This could be between £1,035 and

£1,455 per year.

Dorset children who receive free school meals can also take part in free activities during the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays.

Holiday food vouchers will also be provided for eligible pupils until at least March.

Dorset Council provides a confidential checker so parents and carers can quickly see if they qualify.

Schools do not see financial information about the families

Light a candle in memory of your loved ones

applying.

A child may be able to get free school meals if their parent or carer receives any benefits, or if children receive benefits directly.

Free school meals and pupil premiums are automatically applied for immigrant families applying for residency. n Go to dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/ education-and-training/schools-andlearning/at-school/free-school-meals or call 01305 221090.

People are invited to light a candle in memory of a loved one at St Catherine’s Chapel in Abbotsbury on Sunday, November 26.

A spokesperson for the annual candle-lighting event said: “The lighting of candles has a different meaning to so many people, from remembrance to comfort and celebration all interwoven with love and hope.

“Whatever candle lighting means to you please join us on Sunday, November 26 in Abbotsbury to create a day to remember as we light a path with candle bags containing battery tea lights up St Catherine’s Hill to the iconic Chapel which stands majestically above

the Jurassic coast.”

A wheel of light will also be formed in recognition of St Catherine of Alexandria, who was martyred in the early fourth century and in whose name the chapel is dedicated.

A short service will be held in St Catherine’s Chapel at 3.45pm on the day. This will be preceded by a small selection of songs sung by a cappella group Frenchays.

Candle bags will be on sale for £2 each through local shops and Bridport Tourist Information centre in advance of the day, for you to decorate in a manner of your choosing.

They will also be for sale on the day itself from noon until 3pm, in the village hall.

£176k windfall for farmers

West Dorset farmers have Long and short term care for the elderly been awarded a total of more than £176,000 in the Primrose Lodge Weymouth is a first round of Animal Health cheerful residential home popular for and Welfare grants. its proximity to the seaside.

The grants are part of the We have a team of highly-trained, government’s Farming friendly and dedicated carers, delivering the highest standard of Investment Fund and will care and professional support, 24 hours a day. help pig, poultry, sheep and Come and see for yourself what Primrose Lodge has to offer cattle farmers who Call Lisa Summers on 01305 786568 or email successfully applied to lisa@primroselodge-weymouth. co.uk invest in livestock handling

equipment and automated monitoring systems.

West Dorset MP Chris Loder, who is from a tenant beef farming family, said: “It is brilliant news that grants for sums of between £1,000 to £25,000 have been awarded to farmers in the constituency to help support the transition to higher animal welfare practices.”

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

45

A pair of craftsmen have become the best of friends since taking up residence at a farm above Portesham and Abbotsbury. MIRANDA ROBERTSON visits wood turner with a difference Victor Krause and furniture maker Andy Dumolo at Gorwell Farm (DT3 4JX).

Archaeological digs around West Dorset inspired artist Victor Krause so much he has dedicated himself to replicating their finds.

His range of striking Neolithic bowls, produced in his workshop on Gorwell Farm near Abbotsbury, is unlike anything you will find anywhere else.

Victor, 58, ended up in Dorset after moving to the UK from his native South Africa with his wife Siobbhan.

Victor was a wildlife manager at a very large game reserve in South Africa, with 45,000 hectares to manage. The reserve had such success in breeding rare black rhino they would move them to other reserves to restock them.

He said: “In 2000 we moved to Oxfordshire, where we lived for seven years.

“Then we moved to Germany, where my wife taught for the MoD. “In 2017 we moved back to the UK and we could have chosen any place to be, so we did our homework for a long time and decided on Dorset. I still maintain it’s the loveliest county in the whole of the UK. “I started to get fascinated with the whole history of the place, particularly the Neolithic and Bronze Age. I started to produce a whole range of Neolithic bowls like the ones they found here on archaeological digs.

“I turn the wood when it’s

GOOD PALS: Artist Victor Krause and right, furniture maker Andy Dumolo. Below: Victor with one of his bowls and the huge totem pole made for Damers School, Poundbury

Artist is bowled over by county’s ancient history

green, which is not what people do normally.

“It makes a bit of a mess as they are full of moisture, but then I dry them for several months, when they crack and warp and I sew up the cracks.

It’s a stupid and silly way to do it.

“I see myself as a turner and an artist.”

Victor also produces framed art, using coppiced sticks.

He said: “I started

producing art in Germany, completely self-taught.

“I was part of a group of artists in Germany that ran our own gallery and I exhibited there. n CONT ON PAGE 46

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

From Rolls Royce

BOWL A HAT: Victor with one of his bowls

How wood works for environmentalist Vic

n CONT FROM PAGE 45

“At the time my son was two years old and I looked after him while my wife worked – it was wonderful.

“All the wood I use comes from this farm – hundreds and hundreds of trees came from ash dieback. I think I am primarily an environmentalist – I wouldn’t want to travel miles for my materials.”

Last month, Victor finished a stunning commission for the new Damers School site in Poundbury – a huge cedar totem pole adorned with the pupils’ artworks of butterflies.

The piece was officially opened by Mayor Alistair Chisholm after being installed by builders CG Fry. Victor said: “I received the pupils’ art and

stayed as close as I could to the originals when I carved and painted them on to the wood.”

Victor sells his bowls and artwork in Dansel Gallery in Abbotsbury, but he also sells them directly and welcomes visitors to his workshop, between 10am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

He said: “It’s great here – a very special little place. I want local people to feel my workshop is their backyard. They can pop in and have a cup of tea and a chat.” n See more of Victor’s work by searching his name on Facebook or pop into Dansel Gallery, open ThursTues 10am-5pm, Rodden Row, Abbotsbury, Weymouth DT3 4JL.

CHAIR MAN: Andy Dumolo at his studio in Abbotsbury

A self-taught furniture maker who left the security of a 20-year career with Rolls Royce to follow his dreams says he has no regrets.

Andy Dumolo is now 70 years old, but looks years younger – the result, perhaps, of moving to do something he loves surrounded by stunning countryside.

His workshop at Gorwell Farm, near Abbotsbury, is a far cry from his birthplace, in a mining community in South Derbyshire.

It was his father who instilled a love of furniture making in him, restoring and making furniture as a hobby as he grew up.

Andy started work aged 16 as an apprentice at Rolls Royce in Derby and spent decades there, working on aero engines.

But the pull of his hobby

proved too strong to resist and when redundancies were offered Andy grabbed the opportunity to follow his heart.

He said: “Woodworking had been a passion of mine for some years but in 1990 I decided to leave the security of Rolls Royce in Derby and concentrate on a career in furniture making.

“Full of confidence but with little experience I moved into a unit at the Ferrers Centre in Leicestershire. The Ferrers was already established as a centre for arts and crafts and being part of it certainly helped my business start up.”

In 2016 he spotted the workshop at Gorwell and decided to establish himself there. It took months of hard graft to prepare the building so he

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

47

to making unique quality furniture could turn out his unique pieces of furniture – most made to a commission.

Prices can range from a few hundred pounds to several thousands, depending on the amount of work and materials involved.

He is meticulous with his work which includes fine hardwoods, veneers and hand cut dovetails.

His work can be viewed at galleries around the country and also locally in Dansel Gallery in Abbotsbury – although most of his work is made to commission.

Commissioning involves the client at every step with drawings and samples supplied before work begins. He said: Generally speaking, visitors to my

showroom see the quality of my work and that often reassures and gives them the confidence to buy.

“To see a project through from rough boards to a beautiful piece of furniture gives me a real buzz.

“Furniture making is not the most profitable career I could have chosen but the

THINGS OF BEAUTY: A desk and chair in American walnut and sycamore and, left, an architect’s desk in maple with storage for drawings and, top left, a side table in masur birch and maple

rewards are great!”

If you’ve ever wanted to learn new skills with wood, Andy can offer a range of tailored courses from basic woodworking skills, cutting dovetails by hand and working with

veneers and inlays at his workshops at Gorwell. n Phone: 01305 873818 n Email: andrew@ adfurniture.co.uk n Web: adfurniture.co.uk n Facebook: Andrew Dumolo Furniture

150 makers on display Dansel Gallery specialises in contemporary woodwork and has been run by Danielle and Selwyn Holmes since 1979.

It displays handmade original work in wood, which is made by individual designers in the UK. They are designer makers themselves and when looking for a larger workshop, were approached by the Abbotsbury Estate who offered to renovate the

premises in Rodden Row for them. They moved into the 400-year-old thatched converted barn in 1979.

Initially the workshop was in half the building but moved out in 1990 to make room for a larger display of wood work made by over 150 makers based in Britain. They are open all year 10am-5pm.

Pictured right, Selwyn Holmes with his coloured veneer plaques. n danselgallery.co.uk

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48

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Rare species are on road to recovery Dorset Wildlife Trust will work to reduce the number of species at risk of extinction after winning a share of a £14.5million grant from Natural England.

The grant will help recover some of Dorset’s most rare and threatened species – from the sand lizard and lapwing to the great crested newt, greater horseshoe bat and the ladybird spider.

The Dorset Species Recovery Programme will implement a series of practical interventions to create and improve the habitat for a set of ten specially selected ‘Priority Species’ across 11 reserves.

These ‘priority species’ are threatened or near threatened and have a need for urgent action if they are to survive. They include the pillwort, marsh clubmoss, sand lizard, heath tiger beetle, lapwing, dingy mocha, great crested newt, ladybird spider, fly orchid and greater horseshoe bat.

Dorset Wildlife Trust conservation director Andrew Pollard said: “We are thrilled to have been successful in our application for the Natural England’s Species

BACK FROM THE BRINK: A fly orchid, great crested newt, sand lizard and, below, silverstudded blue at Wild Woodbury Right: Ladybird spider Pictures: Phillip Precey, Kevin Caster, Stewart Canham, Seb Haggett and Ian Hughes

Recovery Grant. Dorset Wildlife Trust is in a unique position to make a sustainable difference to the current downward population trends of these

species in our nature reserves across the county.”

DWT is also celebrating its second year running the Wild Woodbury rewilding

project, a landscapechanging river restoration project to restore the headwaters of the River Sherford to allow it to take its natural course.

The land had been drained with a deep ditch and field drain system and the river itself could no longer be seen. By strategically filling in ditches to push water out onto the land, blocking up field drains and creating leaky dams, a once dry and cracked

Community groups in line for car boot proceeds The Dorchester Market Car Boot Fund has reopened for applications from community and voluntary organisations working in and around the town.

The money comes from the weekly car boot sales held at the market.

In 2022, more than £23,000 was

awarded to local community and voluntary organisations, administered

by Dorset Council and Dorchester Town Council.

Decisions will be made at the end of November and groups will be notified before the Christmas break.

An application form and additional

guidance can be found on the Dorset Council website and hard copies can be collected from Dorchester Town Council, 19, North Square, Dorchester DT1 1JF. For further information contact Fiona Thomas in the Communities and Partnerships Team on 01305 838459

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

after grant boost landscape is now a heterogeneous mixture of large flows, ephemeral pools, and delta-like areas. This makes the land much more resilient to drought, filters excess nutrients out of the water, helps to alleviate flash flooding downstream, and will provide habitats and space for biodiversity and bio abundance to increase. Just a few weeks after the restoration had finished, surveys showed a total of 90 lapwing, 20 golden plover, and 30 common snipe, all feeding

in the newly wetted areas.

Overall, the land at Wild Woodbury has seen a huge increase in both biodiversity and bioabundance, with the site list now over 1,600 species, an increase of 300 from the previous year.

Several Redlisted and Red-data Book species, including marsh tit and greenfinch, are using the site to breed, helping smaller populations build resilience, as well as increasing numbers of more common species.

49

Fashion show to raise funds to tackle cancer Women who have had personal experience of breast cancer will hit the catwalk for a fundraising fashion show in Dorchester.

Charity Angels UK’s Dorchester fashion show on Thursday, October 12 at the county museum is already sold out. All proceeds from ticket sales will go to Against Breast Cancer which supports research into secondary breast cancer.

A spokesperson for the event

said: “Few, if any of us do not know someone who has been touched by breast cancer.

Women and families talk of their shock, the devastating side effects that can occur – hair loss, weight gain, lowlevel infections.

“Part of their recovery is rediscovering themselves and learning to live with this new ‘normal’.”

RiskSTOP Group Ltd and CG Fry & Son Builders are key sponsors for the event.

n Girls in Dorset are trailing behind the boys in maths.

Just 66 per cent of girls achieved the expected standard in maths compared to 70 per cent of boys.

For the girls, this is six per cent below the national average and the boys, three per cent.

Dorset Council says it will provide support to parents to enhance their maths skills so they can support their children better with their learning.

Weymouth College is offering free ‘Multiply’ training to parents who wish to strengthen their own maths proficiency.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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51

Cobb stabilisation plan costs increase to £4.5m FARE DEAL: MP Chris Loder with Cllr Jill Haynes on the inaugural bus service from Dorchester to Ansty

Village bus service launched A new bus service serving the villages of Hilton, Ansty, Melcombe Bingham, Cheselbourne, and Dewlish has been launched.

The new Dorchester ‘E’ PlusBus is operated by Dorset Community Transport and has been funded by Dorset Council, running fortnightly on Wednesdays. Villagers can get picked up at their door for £7, or free with a bus pass.

MP Chris Loder hopped on

board the first service. He said: “This bus service would not be possible without the hard work of Carol Eastment, chair of Melcombe Horsey Parish Council, Tim Christian and his team from Dorset Community Transport and Councillor Jill Haynes.” n West Dorset bus services are to benefit from a share of £884, 221 awarded to Dorset Council in Government’s Bus Service Improvement Plan.

A £3million project to stabilise Lyme Regis’s historic Cobb has been hit by inflation and is now expected to cost at least £4.5m.

The latest phase of the wider Lyme Regis Environmental Improvement Scheme aims to reinforce and repair the Cobb, a historic harbour which also acts as a breakwater and protects the Lyme Bay area from coastal erosion and flooding.

Sea-floor erosion, combined with the movement of stone blocks due to wave impact on the outer harbour wall and the deterioration of the structure on the inner

harbour wall, has caused significant destabilisation of the structure in recent years.

The Environment Agency has provided £2.5million and Dorset Council £500k to fund the stabilisation of the Grade One Listed harbour.

The project team are now drawing up a range of additional funding options.

While several sources of funding have been identified, the huge rise in costs could result in delays or a reduced scope.

The Cobb is being monitored by the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) team and the harbours team for signs of storm damage.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Dorchester firm highly commended in national awards A Dorchester telecommunications firm has been recognised by the UK Department for Business and Trade for its global success.

Squire Technologies was selected as one of just three businesses to be

highly commended in the Digital category of the first ever Made In The UK, Sold To The World awards.

The awards were launched by the government to “inspire economic growth through global trade”.

The company said one of the key aspects in the deliberations of the judges was the nature of its global network, which sees its products being used by customers in more than 150 countries.

Care home’s dementia insight a real eye-opener Care home residents’ relatives, care staff and the public were given a moving insight into how it feels to have dementia.

A virtual dementia tour held at Cheriton Care Home in Dorchester by Train 2 Care used specialist equipment to change the way participants used their senses.

The tour was organised by manager Helen Persey and deputy managers Sam Fidler and Kelly-Marie Murton as a training resource for the whole team, but also as a community event to raise awareness about dementia.

Helen said: “To get so

MOVING INSIGHT: Helen Persey, third right, with deputy managers Kelly-Marie Murton, second from right, and Sam Fidler, third from right, and members of the care team.

Inset: Pat Potter, wife of resident Geoffrey, wearing the specialist dementia tour equipment

many people openly talking about dementia was very rewarding. It is only through these discussions that we can learn more about the condition and support each other better.

“Equally, it was so

important to me that every member of the team, including those in maintenance and our kitchen team, had the opportunity to experience what life can be like for those living with dementia.”

Back to nature with gardens project Weymouth folk with dementia and learning difficulties are being invited to reconnect with nature at the Park Community Garden in St John’s Gardens.

The Litter Free Dorset project was designed to bring nature to small outdoor spaces to improve health and well-being through nature.

With specially designed raised beds, potting tables, and benches, people will find it easier to grow plants, cut herbs and spend time in nature.

And to keep the garden

flourishing, members of Green Fingers and stABILITY will be regularly tending to the garden, growing vegetables, flowers, and herbs for everyone to enjoy. And volunteers are always welcome.

Siobhan Davis, Project Coordinator at Volunteer Centre Dorset said: “Volunteering improves our health and wellbeing and provides an opportunity to meet other likeminded people and share skills.”

Angela Lambert, stAbility founder said: “The Park

Community Garden will enable stABILITY members to learn new skills and give back to our community. Members will take ownership of an area of the park, plan ahead, work together as a team and improve communication skills.

Working outside in the fresh air will be great for members’ well-being!”

Weymouth mayor Kate Wheller, said “Growing fruit and vegetables in a community garden is a wonderful way to get active outdoors, meet people and boost your

mental health and wellbeing. I am delighted that this project will support the wonderful ‘Green Fingers’ volunteers to grow even bigger and better veg, and to encourage other groups to come and use this superb resource in St. John’s Gardens. I look forward to tasting next year’s harvest!” n If you would like to get in touch with the Green Fingers Group or volunteering, contact Siobhan Davis on 07918 639014 or email info@ volunteeringdorset. org.uk

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

53

CLT homes development welcomed An environmentally friendly development of 15 homes at Drimpton has been hailed a success for community land trusts (CLTs).

West Dorset MP Chris Loder visited the development Northcombe Lea to see the completed development delivered in partnership by Broadwindsor Group Parish Community Land Trust (CLT), Abri, and CG Fry & Sons.

The new communityowned development comprises 15 affordable homes, all for people with a close connection to the parish. Each home includes solar panels, air source heat pumps, and is EPC rating A. Mr Loder said: “The new development in Drimpton is an outstanding example of what can be achieved through Community Land Trusts, and I am a longstanding champion of this type of development.

“This development is popular, modest, and utilises a fabric-first approach. We are in a

GOOD MOVE: Ralph Facey, Rowland Hibbard, Cllr CarrJones, Chris Loder MP and Sheila Hawkins of the CLT at the Drimpton development

fortunate position in West Dorset, with such a large number of CLTs registered in the constituency, from Broadwindsor to Buckland Newton. The development is a real success, with all properties now either filled or allocated to local people.”

He added: “I’ll continue to work very closely with every single CLT in West Dorset to ensure that smallscale developments can proceed and that local people can remain to live and work. I’ll also raise with the Government the need to reduce the lengthy constraints – sometimes up

Have your say on council tax support reduction plan Council tax support for working people could be reduced – and Dorset Council is asking people what they think.

Reductions in council tax are currently given to people with less than £16,000 in savings, but the proposal would see the support restricted to those with less than £6,000.

In addition, the reduction would only apply up to Band E – people in higher

rated properties would have their reductions capped to Band E level.

The new scheme would calculate people’s means differently, taking into account their dependents and excluding some benefits previously included. Complete the survey at consultation. dorsetcouncil.gov.uk The changes, if adopted, would come into effect from April 1.

to a decade - that hinder the process from development to construction.”

Ralph Facey, Abri’s executive director of operations, said: “Working with community partners like CLTs is so important to ensuring more quality,

affordable housing is available in rural locations where local people can be priced out of their own communities.”

Rowland Hibbard, chairman of Broadwindsor Group Parish CLT, said: “I’m delighted to see our parish’s vision become a reality. Broadwindsor Group Parish CLT was set up as a direct response to the lack of affordable homes in our surrounding parishes. We wanted to support our local people to remain local, ensuring they could live and work in the area where they grew up.”

54

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

£5,000 saw funded by swing seat firm founder The Boat Building Academy (BBA) at Lyme Regis now has the “Rolls Royce of saws” for its students, thanks to the generosity of a fellow local woodworking enthusiast.

Martin Young, founder of the

bespoke swing seat company Sitting Spiritually Of Lyme Regis, donated £5,000 for a Felder K500 dimension saw.

The saw will be invaluable to the students of the BBA’s world-

renowned furniture courses.

In addition to its world-renowned, twice yearly, 40-week boat building course, there’s now a more compact, six-week Build a Boat Course.

Go to boatbuildingacademy.com

Could you be instrumental in orchestra’s continued success?

Do you play an instrument and would like to be inspired and have fun in an orchestra?

Based in Bridport, West Dorset Community Orchestra are welcoming new performers at their weekly meetings every Wednesday during term time. The rehearsals are in the Christian Fellowship Hall, East Street car park, from

6.30pm to 7.45pm.

The orchestra perform a Christmas and Summer concert every year at St John’s Church in West Bay, welcoming a guest conductor for the autumn term ahead of the Christmas concert.

The first half of term is free for new members.

For more information visit westdorsetmusic. org.uk or ring Pat Crawford on 01308 456297.

MUSICIANS APPEAL: West Dorset Community Orchestra

Supporters ride and stride for churches Despite it being one of the hottest days of the year supporters of Dorset Historic Churches Trust turned out in force to raise funds on the annual Ride & Stride day, raising more than £89,000.

Churches across the Melbury and Sherborne benefices were open, and most offered cold drinks and snacks to those taking part. Those taking part included horse riders Susan Soame on Blue Eyes and Caroline Bailey on Sox – seen here arriving at Melbury Osmond church.

Parish Organiser Ros Senior in background welcomed them.

From Frome St Quintin church marathon runner Eric Jager, pictured right at Frome St Quintin, set off early at 8am to avoid the heat for some of his 28-mile route, which took him down to

PEDAL POWER: Cyclists at Melbury

Wynford Eagle church and back to Sherborne Abbey via many other of the more rural churches.

Members of the Frome St Quintin congregation had gathered at their historic church – set off the road in a field – to wish him well and send him on his way. After 6pm and 28 miles later he was in Sherborne Abbey.

These cyclists seen here

JAGER BOMB: Eric at Frome St Quintin

clocking in at Melbury Osmond with parish organiser Ros Senior, had cycled all the way from Poyntington to support Ride & Stride.

Dorset Historic Churches Trust’s area representative Shaun Leavey said: “During the course of the day I saw many supporters of the trust taking part as cyclists, horse riders, and walkers (with and

without their dogs) . . . all defying the very hot weather to support Ride & Stride day.

“We are extremely grateful to every one of them and their sponsors.

“Dorset has very many beautiful and historic churches, and through Ride & Stride the trust raises funds for essential repairs to church buildings when local resources are over-stretched.”

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Big Sleep Out to help the homeless Homelessness charity Julian House is bringing The Big Sleep-Out to Maumbury Rings on November 3 and urging people to take part to raise vital funds for those who sleep on the streets every night.

Annabelle Lowes, Senior Community and Events Fundraiser at Julian House, said: “We are so delighted that this event is now taking place in Dorset. It holds a special place in the heart of our community and generates tremendous support and awareness for the vulnerable people that we care for. We are incredibly grateful for every participants effort in joining us to help raise vital funds.

“No one is under any illusion that spending one night outside could

possibly replicate what it is like to be homeless and on the streets. After the Big Dorset Sleep-Out you can go home, have a warm bath, have a nice breakfast and chat to family or friends about your experience, perhaps even go back to bed to catch up on the sleep you lost the night before.

“However, by being sponsored to sleep out for just one night, you will be helping others who don’t have the luxury of their own home to return to.

“Giving up just one night really could transform the lives of others.” n Places are limited, so sign up at julianhouse.org.uk or contact Annabelle at annabelle.lowes @julianhouse.org.uk

MONDAY 7pm: Crossways Youth & Community Centre, Old Farm Way DT2 8TU TUESDAY 7pm: Brownsword Hall, Pummery Square, Poundbury DT1 3GW THURSDAY 7pm: Puddletown Village Hall, High Street DT2 8FZ FRIDAY 9.30am & 11am and SATURDAY 9.30am: Dorchester Youth & Community Centre, Kings Road, DT1 1NJ

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CROSSWAYS Julie 07871 821928

POUNDBURY Teresa 07854 402259

PUDDLETOWN Julie 07871 821928

DORCHESTER Sam 07814 619200

slimmingworld.co.uk

Joyous times for the effluent society In the quiet village of Willowbrook, nestled amidst the rolling hills of the English countryside, Lady Eleanor Hartwell had recently retired from a life of social engagements and genteel society. Now, in her twilight years, she found herself drawn to the serenity of nature and the simple pleasures of her estate.

One sunny afternoon, Lady Eleanor received a visit from her dearest friend, Lady Matilda Fairchild. As they sat in the dappled shade of the garden, sipping tea, Lady Matilda leaned in conspiratorially. “Eleanor, my dear, I must tell you something of utmost importance,” she whispered.

Lady Eleanor raised an elegant eyebrow, her curiosity piqued.

“Pray, Matilda, do enlighten me.”

With a heavy sigh, Lady Matilda disclosed the shocking news. “It has come to my attention that your septic tank, my dear friend, is illegally polluting our beloved Willowbrook River. The damage it is causing to the local biodiversity is simply dreadful.”

Lady Eleanor’s heart sank at the revelation. She had always considered herself a responsible steward of the land, and the thought that her estate was harming the environment was deeply troubling.

Determined to make amends, Lady Eleanor set out to find a solution. After consulting with various experts, she discovered a

local specialist in wastewater treatment, Mr. Theodore McBurrow. With an air of earnest conviction, she invited him to her estate to assess the situation.

Mr McBurrow, a man of science and engineering, arrived promptly the following week. As he examined the septic tank and discussed the dire consequences of its pollution, Lady Eleanor felt a sense of hope. She commissioned Mr. McBurrow to install a modern wastewater treatment plant that would rectify the issue and safeguard Willowbrook River’s pristine waters.

Months passed, and the construction was completed with meticulous care. Lady Eleanor watched with bated breath as the treatment plant began its work, cleansing the effluent before it could harm the river. The transformation was astonishing,

and the local wildlife returned to the once-polluted waters.

One sunny morning, Lady Eleanor’s grandchildren, Elizabeth and William, arrived for a visit. Their eyes sparkled with youthful enthusiasm as they observed the flourishing riverbanks, now teeming with vibrant flora and fauna.

“Grandmama, what a splendid thing you have done for the river!” exclaimed Elizabeth, her face radiant with admiration.

William, her brother, added, “Indeed, Grandmama, you have secured a beautiful world for our future generations.”

Tears of joy glistened in Lady Eleanor’s eyes as she listened to their words of loving appreciation. n To speak your local specialist about your septic tank, contact Burrow Environmental Ltd. on 01935 507 508 or visit BurrowEnvironmental.com

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Standing by: How Weymouth prepared The Nazis had detailed plans as to how they would invade Weymouth and Portland’s coastline during the Second World War but, as ALVIN HOPPER explains, they would have run into several nasty surprises if they had tried…

I was very interested to recently trawl over this section of a map for the Weymouth and district area which was part of Hitler’s plan to invade this country in 1940, codenamed Operation Sea Lion.

The numbered areas on the map show the strategic locations invaders were to prioritise seizing.

If Hitler’s invasion force had attempted to land on Weymouth beach, they would have had to scale scaffolding poles braised by angle bars, set deep into the sand and a barbed wire entanglement running the whole length of the promenade.

Defences against attack were well-positioned throughout the town, with a machine gun emplacement on the roof of Marks & Spencer as well as anti-tank guns at the top of Upper Bond Street.

Just about every hotel window in the town had a loop-hole for riflemen to use while shooting. If you come across the book Brigade in Action by Doug Acutt, it refers to the town centre as ‘AntiTank Island’.

To boot, Weymouth had its own ‘block ship’ available to block off the harbour to invading forces – the SS Kifvig Pool.

I remember in my youth, seeing an armoured 0.55” rifle position still rusting away at the bottom of

PLAN OF ATTACK: Hitler’s Operation Sea Lion included Weymouth and Portland.

Left, anti-tank blocks on Weymouth sands

King Street at the entrance to Briar-Ashe’s coal yard.

Still visible along Westway Road is the protective brick blast wall that protected Weymouth’s electricity generating substation. Towards the bottom of that wall are two loop-holes for antitank rifles as a defence for the station.

Many will remember Melcombe Regis railway station that served the line

to Portland. All along its platform were a row of pyramid-topped anti-tank concrete obstructions.

There were many more at different sites. I remember there being some stuck in the beach at Bowleaze Cove. One can still spot Crows-foot (Broad Arrow) markings in the kerbstones at the top of

Lennox Street. These were guide makings for the Home Guard to place mobile road blocks, made out of concrete and steel in an X formation.

The Nothe Fort, now a museum, had a battery of anti-aircraft guns and at the Marsh, on the Portland

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

57

for Hitler’s invasion Staff effort up for award railway to be seen embankment, in there was a Portland Bofors Gun Harbour. emplacement, Anyone which is still who has there today as watched a viewing WWII point for Treasure walkers.

Hunters Also on the BOXED OFF: One of the many Weymouth BLAZE pill boxes and the channel, surrounding district had will appreciate the interest many pill boxes as part of in this period in our the coast ‘stop-line’ of history. Unfortunately, defences. time has worn away many One can be seen near the of the remains of that era.

Ferry Bridge end of the Other signs of the sites Fleet. These, and other have been built on, yet wartime structures are now many remain, perhaps yet listed sites. A prime to be rediscovered by example are the floating some intrepid history concrete caissons that are hunter.

West Dorset’s The Gardens Group, which has centres in Poundbury and Sherborne, has been announced as one of the finalists at the Planet Mark Awards 2023 after reducing its employees’ carbon footprint by more than a quarter in a year.

The independent garden centre group has been shortlisted in the Employee Engagement category.

During its third year as voluntary members of Planet Mark, a sustainability certification scheme backed by the Eden Project, The Gardens Group engaged its 160-strong team at all stages of the process, from idea generation and target setting to measurement and review.

Through hundreds of new initiatives, pushed forward by smaller groups of staff

assigned to each task, they have managed to achieve a substantial reduction in carbon emissions in nearly all reported areas, which include buildings, travel, waste, water, procurement and homeworking.

The Planet Mark Awards are set to be presented at The Royal Institution in London on November 2.

Group MD Mike Burks, pictured, said: “Environmental impact is now at the forefront of our minds in everything we do, and this is down to the unwavering enthusiasm of The Gardens Group team, so I couldn’t think of a better category to be nominated in.”

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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RESTAURANT REVIEW Les Enfants Terrible Weymouth

By John Clements, chef at The Olive Tree, Bridport Working in an open restaurant kitchen I’ve witnessed thousands of impeccably behaved children and a handful of les enfants terribles too! One immediately springs to mind.

Aged about 12 he strolled in the restaurant with his parents like he owned the place wearing half a pint of gel in his hair, a gold chain around his neck and what looked like a Rolex on his wrist.

That kid was definitely up to no good. Les Enfants Terribles is also a French seafood restaurant in Weymouth.

It was lunch on a sunny but brisk autumn Friday.

Summer over and hospitality across Dorset are exhaling after the relentless holiday onslaught. We chose to sit outside. The restaurant, the menu and the toilettes are tres bijoux.

Had it been a special occasion we would have ordered the seafood platter of lobster, crab, oysters, prawns, fish cakes, mussels, frites and salad. A pescatarian feast if ever there was one. We were quayside accompanied by the gentle clinking of halyards against masts. Starter was radish and butter to get us in the French mood. For mains I ordered sea bass in foil papilotte with a julienne of leeks, carrots and fennel served with garlicy, buttery, baby potatoes. Chef Eric correctly recommends you eat this in the foil.

Cooked to perfection the potatoes melted into the jus and it was tres bien indeed.

My lunch amie opted for the rather less French fish and chips. The chips were outstanding. Perfectly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Not easy to do this so well.

This restaurant is lovely. It’s a delicious slice of France in Weymouth and, fortunately, on this visit, no les enfants terribles to be found.

A Portland chippie has scooped the Best Fish and Chip Shop title for the region at England’s Business Awards.

Salty Towers Fish and Chips in Fortuneswell is now off to the national finals after impressing the judges in the south west heat, which includes nominations for businesses in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

Owner Iulian Ailenei said: “It still hasn’t sunk in...

“But we are so proud of our achievement. There has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears to achieve this. I’m so proud of our amazing hard working staff, that have helped us achieve this award.

“We would also like to thank each and every one of our individual customers

Chip, chip, hooray! It’s

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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Vittles (food & drink) RESTAURANT REVIEW Moonfleet Manor Nr Weymouth

By Diana Holman There is bygone romance and intrigue woven into the very name Moonfleet, with its associations with Thomas Hardye alumnus John Meade Faulkner’s classic children’s book about 15year-old John Trenchard, caught up in the 18th century world of Dorset smugglers, that makes you long to visit it and see it for yourself.

There is a feeling of magic as you descend the steep hill through meadowland down to the manor, with the Chesil spread out before you. We had chosen to come for lunch rather than dinner in order to enjoy Moonfleet Manor and its surrounding area in the daylight, and were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunny day.

We could have sat outside at one of the many tables on the patio as a number of diners had chosen to do, but instead chose a table in the elegant and tranquil dining room, and were guided to a table overlooking the Chesil.

Absolute treat at Moonfleet

TASTY: The chicken liver parfait and, right, chocolate torte.

Below: Fish and chips and the knickerbocker glory

I chose a starter of saltbaked beetroot with goat’s curd with aged balsamic.

Husband Rob chose chicken liver parfait with sourdough. Both dishes were absolutely delicious.

Salty Towers’ title win

WINNERS: The team with their award

who have faith in us and voted. Without them it would not be possible.

“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. It means so much.”

We both chose cider battered haddock with chunky chips, crushed peas and tartare sauce for our main course. This was also really tasty and beautifully presented. The tartare

sauce was unmistakably homemade, and the crushed peas the most delicious accompaniment imaginable to a very traditional dish.

I will never again eat mundane mushy peas without recalling these crushed fresh peas with nostalgia!

We finished off with two sumptuous desserts. I knew as soon as I saw the dessert menu that Rob would be unable to resist the knickerbocker glory, and he demolished this with great enjoyment. My choice of chocolate torte with ice cream was wonderful – an unmissable treat for chocoholics.

Our waiter Kai was very helpful and attentive throughout the meal which also made the occasion feel special. Indeed, all the staff we encountered were most pleasant and helpful.

Moonfleet Manor has had extensive refurbishment over the past few years and offers a wide range of facilities for all ages including families with young children.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Vittles (food & drink) Karen Broad lives in Burton Bradstock, with her husband and two mad dogs. She ran The Mousetrap in Dorchester, has lived in France and loves discovering new food producers.

Everything gets pickled in our house – even us!

Autumn has arrived, along with a plethora of produce.

I have been busy bottling, pickling and jam making.

This year has proven a popular year for tomatoes, so I’ve made gallons of passata, all bottled for recipes over the next six months. Everything gets ‘pickled’ in our house, including us after making some delicious home-made blackberry gin.

Visiting a Devon farm shop, I was somewhat taken aback by the price of some ‘artisan’ produce; six pickled quail’s eggs priced at an astronomical £9! Yes, it was tastefully bottled with a superfluous piece of raffia twisted around the rim, but each tiny bite cost a staggering £1.50!!! At the same shop I found 12 fresh quail’s eggs for sale at £2.10. With vinegar in my cupboard, I made my own at a far more sensible price.

Admittedly, I will have to wait a few weeks until they are ready, but they will be just as nice.

As much as July and August

proved to be a damp squib, September pulled out her trump card and has blessed us with kaleidoscopic colours of golds and scarlets embodying the perfect Indian summer. It’s the year’s last smile as autumn begins her final melancholy performance. As the evenings draw in, we look to eat more comforting tasty meals, food that will fuel

the heart and soul. Try these tasty soufflé smoked haddock tarts. Lighter than thistledown and a taste sensation.

1 block of pastry 400gms of Smoked Haddock loin 400ml Milk 2 egg yolks 1tsp English mustard Seasoning 25gms butter

Mum’s Kitchen...

Pina Colada Upside Down Cake Ingredients: 175g butter, softened, plus extra to grease the tin 175g golden caster sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 medium eggs, beaten 175g self raising flour

5 tablespoons desiccated coconut Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon 75ml dark rum 4 tablespoons golden syrup About 5 rings of tinned pineapple, drained 25g toasted coconut flakes Method: Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan.

25gms flour 100gms cheese Method Place the smoked haddock in a saucepan with the milk and bring to a gentle boil.

When cooked, remove the fish from the milk and allow both milk and fish to cool.

Divide the pastry into 4 and cut out 4 circles, press into tartlet tins, bake blind for approximately 15-20 minutes, remove from the oven, and allow to cool.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, cook for a few minutes, and slowly add the milk until you have a thick smooth sauce and mix in the cheese.

Flake the fish and add the egg yolks and mustard and mix into the sauce. When combined, spoon into the pastry cases and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

These make a stunning starter; top with lump fish caviar to decorate or a poached egg for a more substantial meal.

I added a dill and lemon crispy crumb which gave the dish texture.

with Diana Holman Grease and line an 18cm round cake tin (not a loose-bottomed one).

Beat sugar and butter and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Gradually add the eggs. If the mixture starts to split, add a tablespoon of flour.

Add the remaining flour, desiccated coconut, lemon zest and juice, and 50ml rum.

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

61

Vittles (food & drink) Lizzie Crow – AKA Lizzie Baking Bird – is a self taught baker and has recently moved into her own bakery. She also 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.

Halloween treat? There’s muffin to it Spooky Chocolate Muffins The muffins are easily whisked up. Light as a feather and very chocolately you can make them for grown up ghouls or spook the kids.

Use sunflower or vegetable oil. The topping calls for dark chocolate however you can dial down the chocolate if you prefer and even use milk chocolate buttons. Make sure if you can’t get buttons that you chop the chocolate into small pieces. Eyeballs are used for decoration but let’s face it - if its gory (and edible) use it.

Tip: leave the middle two holes of the tin clear - the muffins will cook so much better if you use the outside edges.

10 muffins (or more if making cupcakes) 200g plain flour 100g cocoa 220g caster sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 free range eggs

EYES FRONT: Lizzie spooky chocolate muffins complete with scary bloody eyeballs

50ml sunflower oil 150ml milk Ganache: 125ml double cream 175g dark chocolate buttons Bloody eyeballs Oven Gas mark 5/ 190C Line a muffin tin with 10 wrappers.

In a bowl mix together the

Spoon two tablespoons golden syrup over the base of the lined tin and arrange the pineapple rings on top.

Spoon over the cake mixture and bake for around 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool before turning out onto a serving plate. Mix the remaining two tablespoons of golden syrup with the remaining 25ml rum until smooth and then spoon it over the upside down cake and sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes.

dry ingredients and make a ‘well’ in the centre of the flour.

In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, oil and milk and add to the well.

Mix the flour and the liquid ingredients gradually, drawing the flour from the inside walls of the hole.

Avoid over mixing.

When the ingredients are combined you will have a thick pouring batter. Fill the muffin wrappers (about 1/3 full). Cook in the oven for around 15 - 20 minutes until they are well risen and springy to the touch. Leave on a cooling rack until cold.

In the microwave (or on the cooker) heat the cream until it simmers and pour it over the chocolate mixing together until the chocolate has dissolved, Pour the ganache over the top of the cakes and stick the bloody eyes or gummy skulls or chocolate pumpkins on!

Serve with a shiver… n Lizzie can be found at her bakery on Friday mornings 10 - 12 and every Saturday morning at The Old Ship Inn at Upwey selling her wares. Check the website for news about the bakery at lizziebakingbird.co.uk On November 12 she is having her annual Festive Feasting day to try her christmas bakes at the Old Ship Inn, 12- 4 pm.

IF YOU LIKE PINA COLADA...

Then you’ll love this upside down cake

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Letters

LEP allocated so little to our area they must go I’d like to reply to the chair of Dorset LEP’s (Local Enterprise Partnership) ‘hit back’ article last month as I am delighted that the LEP has actually realised that rural and coastal West Dorset exists.

Having lost confidence in the previous chairman of the LEP, I was delighted when Cecilia was appointed in December 2020.

Then I was able to say that West Dorset had not received its fair share of LEP funding and that needed to change – urgently, especially as covid had unduly impacted us. The LEP is basically responsible for distributing a share of public money, awarded by government to boost economic growth. It is an appointed board, with no accountability and are free to choose which of the business cases should receive funding.

If you would like to see what the LEP has done with our money, you can look by visiting chrisloder.co.uk/ DorsetLEP and you will see West Dorset has received 1.4% of the total £98.4m awarded by government, despite us having 11% of the Dorset population.

And West Dorset’s 1.4% either went to Kingston Maurward College or some token gifts toward tourism. £40m went to Bournemouth Airport. £22m went to the Port of Poole – I note that the former chair of the LEP was the chief executive of Poole Port.

The reality is, that Dorset LEP has been geared to help very large business, not small business. And when 97% of businesses in West Dorset are small or micro-sized, delivery for them is everything and until Dorset LEP delivers for rural West Dorset they will, appropriately, receive criticism from me. It is just a shame that they had not taken the feedback on board when I offered it earlier, because I think that we

After three or four weeks orders to go on to Suez came, but our tank did not move (an oil seal had to be flown out). We followed the rest to Suez two or three days later. We were back in Malta for Christmas and home in January. After leave we were sent to Libya and from there a squadron (four tanks) to Cyprus to deal with Bishop Makarios – real excitement and I signed on for a third year and was rewarded with a General Service Medal and bar!

Patrick Gent, Kings Stag

Cartoon by Lyndon Wall

justsocaricatures.co.uk

could have achieved some very exciting things. It is with regret, that I believed the LEP now needs to go, but it is right that the Dorset LEP is stripped of its core functions and funding, rather than the Government continue to subsidise this ineffective and unrepresentative partnership.

Chris Loder MP

was sent back south to join my regiment, The Sixth Royal Tank Regiment, at Tidworth.

In August 1956 we were on leave – I was playing cricket for Wiltshire, a two-day match, when we were ordered to return to our units, where we immediately painted out tanks sand-coloured. Within two or three weeks we were transported to Looe in Cornwall, where we were able to drive off the beach and on to the tank landing craft.

Crossing the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay in flatbottomed boats was not a lot of fun, but a pleasant stop in Gibraltar and on to Malta where we disembarked and parked on the race course outside Valetta.

To preserve the precious turf we were allowed to move only ten yards forwards and backwards to keep our seals lubricated.

I was fascinated by your article on the Suez crisis in your September edition as it does not fit with my memory nor notes by me – a man in the ranks in May 1957.

In August 1955 I was ‘called up’ to do National Service and was sent from Wiltshire to Catterick in Yorkshire to do basic training – I had failed WOSB (War Office Selection Board) to become an officer and so, served in the ranks. From there I

Another interesting article by Jo (Belasco, Down to Earth, WDM September) about the natural resources found on our beaches, that could be used for beauty treatments.

It made me think that for an enterprising person, there might be a business opportunity to provide shoreside treatments.

True, our weather could make appointments challenging, even in the summer, but no doubt an innovative person would find ways around that.

Whilst on holiday in another country, I did have a memorable beauty treatment on the beach with the sound of gentle waves to add to the relaxing experience. Fabulous. In the summer I regularly take all the necessary bits and bobs outside (including the bowl of warm water) to give myself a pedicure. Lovely, out in the fresh air with the sound of birds and the outdoors. And bits of toenail can fly around wherever they like outside.

How about it? Anyone out there enterprising enough to come up with a plan?

June Jach, Bridport Note from Jo: I worry it might catch on too well and lots of less caring people could bring chemical nasties to the water’s edge, which would be quite the opposite of my ideal world!

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Down to earth

63

Down to earth

KIM BERLIN – A newcomer to the Rock

I’m enthusing over a boozy infusion Early autumn is a very special time of year. As Keats observed, it is that time when the frenetic activity of summer draws to a close, the passage of time itself seems to gently dwindle and the hedgerows are heavy with produce that both nourishes and ensures the fertile succession of life, moving forward in the eternal cycle.

I have a special friend, Charlie, who accompanies me out on forays along hedgerows. Charlie’s presence ensures that I always have with me many bags in my pocket that, how can I say this delicately… that can be ‘repurposed’. Today, some of them will be used for gathering the fruitful abundance around me, rather than their intended cargo…

I love this walk. It takes me almost immediately into a small, naturally generated woodland of sycamore, ash and sweet chestnut that clads steep banks of Victorian quarry spoil. There’s no understorey here, it’s too dark. Instead, the ground layer is a rich green cloth of ivy and ferns, Hart’s Tongue in particular, that picks out tiny shafts of sunlight and reflects them back in the languid shade.

It is cool and restful; it invites you to pause and reflect.

There is a tree here, a

sycamore that I call ‘The Harp Tree’ because it is gracefully shaped like an Irish harp. It always makes me think of my wife’s Irish heritage, Co. Clare where her family came from and the old photograph we have of her great grandmother, Mary, sat in the pub with a pint of stout and her pipe of tobacco.

Emerging from the woodland, I am engulfed in bright sunlight and the difference in vegetation

that seed can be distributed elsewhere, and life may begin anew. The honeysuckle and privet are poisonous to humans, so I leave them alone. The birds shall eat them with impunity. My quarry today is the sloe-bearing blackthorn.

Many of us make sloe gin.

I remember as a teenager sitting with my late father, Geoff, in the kitchen of our cottage, each with a pin, assiduously pricking every sloe at least twenty times to release the juice. Each sloe was popped in the bottle and at the end father and son admired their purple stained fingers.

Freezing the sloes cuts out this lengthy business, but it also cuts out the INFUSION: Épine sloe berries conversation, couldn’t be starker. The the stories and the shrub understorey, that bonding that such slow was absent in the wood, is processes bring forth. here in abundance. Spiny But I have another fine contorted growths of product that I wish to blackthorn and hawthorn make and as the weather jostle with honeysuckle is still warm and the shrub and wild privet for still happily producing preferential position; their new leaf growth, I grab a fruits, dusky lilac, handful of leaves along burgundy, scarlet and with the berries. black-as-jet clusters, all A few years ago I read an sing of bountiful promise article in The Guardian and urge to be plucked so written by my esteemed

colleague in this magazine, John Wright, in which he describes a wonderful French infusion called Épine. As a confirmed Francophile, I needed no encouragement to try making it and it has become an annual favourite in our household ever since.

Instead of using the berries, Épine uses the blackthorn leaves which are infused into a mixture of three parts red wine to one part brandy with a scrap of sugar to sweeten it. Left to infuse for a month, turning occasionally, it produces a delicious drink suitable as both an apéritif and as a fireside comforter, judiciously paired with some cheese and one of John’s estimable books!

The original French recipe calls for fresh young growth in the spring, but through experiment I have found that gathering the leaves at different times gives the drink slightly diverse characteristics.

I’ve even made it with the sloes instead of the leaves, a beautifully fruity version.

The product is important, but so is the process, and I would recommend taking it sloe (I’m not apologising!) with friends and family this autumn to see what you can find, and make, from the bounty that surrounds you.

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The West Dorset Magazine, March 2023

Down to earth

Getting spooky with buttons and bones

BEACHCOMBING with JO BELASCO BA Hons History of Architecture and Design

Nowadays we only see bones on our dinner plate.

No wonder we are fascinated by them as they are part of us but unfamiliar and, of course, they are strongly associated with death.

Before bones were deemed ‘spooky’ in our culture they were essential resources.

Before metal and then plastic was commonly available, everyday items were often made of bone. Spoons, spades, hair combs, jewellery, flutes and, of course, the homely Dorset high top button.

This conical-shaped button seen below has a ring of Dorset sheep horn at its base,

from which walls of material and stitch rose. In the early 18th century this button was very popular for gentlemen’s hunting waistcoats.

Next came the Dorset Knob (of knob throwing fame) and yes, if you are wondering if there is some connection between this button and the biscuit you would be correct.

The biscuit is named and

JOHN WRIGHT is a naturalist and forager who lives in rural West Dorset. He has written eight books, four of which were for River Cottage. He wrote the award-winning Forager’s Calendar and in 2021 his Spotter’s Guide to Countryside Mysteries was published.

Late October and early November bring one of our greatest, and certainly brightest, fungal treasures, the Waxcaps.

Though occasionally found in woodland, they are typically denizens of permanent pasture, where they form an intimate association with mosses.

‘Permanent pasture’ effectively includes lawns, so if yours is mossy and has been around for a good few decades, you may

shaped after the button.

It too was based on a disc of sheep horn but was much flatter. This was a transitional button as it was found that the disc of bone was not needed to maintain its shape. Moving on to the more familiar Dorset buttons – the Dorset cartwheel, pictured alongside the bevy of bones. These buttons remind me of

miniature dream catchers and perhaps they are? One I have heard of but did not manage to track down is the ‘Sea Urchin’ button.

Just as the waves, sun and salty breeze pick clean and bleach driftwood, so they do with bone. I have a tiny collection pictured here.

The long one is probably a swan’s wing bone and would have been the type used to make whistles and flutes. It is easy to see how the round one, which may have been a hip bone of a bird, could have been used as a pendant.

I have only found one complete skull of a deer and think it is rather beautiful.

They have what I think of as dubious associations with Satanic worship but even the orthodox cross has a skull and bones on it. In the past I have used the bones in biology lessons for home education – it certainly gets the student’s attention!

And if you think I seem to be veering off into my other column, Pagan Views, well – in my defence, this IS the Halloween edition!

Waxing lyrical about the

find some there. If you have a dozen species, your lawn is a ‘waxcap grassland’ of ‘national importance’.

Maybe you can get a grant for it.

There are upwards of 60 species of Waxcap in Britain, most of them to be found in West Dorset. Indeed, some of our sites contain over half this number, making them of ‘international importance’.

For the casual observer, Waxcaps are beautiful jewels nestling in the turf.

Their colour range is extraordinary to the point that one wonders why they go to so much trouble – to deter grazers, perhaps? From brilliant reds, to oranges, yellows, white, black,

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

65

Down to earth Sally Cooke lives in Tolpuddle with her husband, two grown-up sons and spotty rescue dog. She loves to photograph and write about the everyday wildlife she sees in her garden and on her daily dog walks. You can follow Sally on Instagram at Sparrows in a Puddle.

Collective nouns make great reading A lovely friend gave me a present the other day. It wasn’t my birthday or anything, she had just had one of those ‘I saw this and thought of you’ moments. She bought me a beautifully illustrated compilation of some of the wonderfully descriptive and sometimes ancient names for the collective nouns of animals and birds. Written and illustrated by Steve Palin, it seemed to me the perfect book for autumn, as with breeding over and thoughts turning to the bounty of food available, many of our Dorset birds can be seen grouping together.

My October days often start with one of my absolute favourite sights – a ‘skein’ of geese honking across the early morning sky, loosely making a V shape as they fly. If I see them feeding in the fields,

CORN ROWS: A squabble of seagulls peck over the ground

then they are a ‘gaggle’.

In my garden, the biggest group is the sparrows.

They come in a ‘host’ or ‘pride’ or much more appropriately a ‘quarrel’.

Everything they do at this time of year they do together, feeding on the lavender and hollyhock seeds, bathing in the pond and preening on the fence.

Out on my countryside walks one of the birds I see in a huge ‘parcel’ is the linnet. I sometimes haven’t realised that there are some 50 or so feeding on the grains left among

the stubble until they all fly off and sit on a nearby telephone wire.

Sometimes other finches will join them too, maybe goldfinches in a ‘charm’.

After the stubble comes the plough, and following behind the plough come the birds looking for food in the turned over ground.

It always amazes me how quickly all the birds come, particularly the seagulls. A ‘flock’ is a very dull name for them, the more descriptive ‘squabble’ is better, which is certainly what they do over all the

worms and other tasty snacks in the soil. The plough doesn’t just attract the seagulls, a ‘clamour’ of rooks and a ‘murder’ of crows might also follow, with a ‘clattering’ of jackdaws getting in on the act too.

One of my favourite birds, and the cover star of the book is the starling. In the autumn our British birds are joined by thousands of starlings that come across the North Sea to winter here. A ‘chattering’ seems an appropriate word for them on the chimney pots and TV aerials of the village but as their numbers increase I will be hoping to see a ‘murmuration’, a spectacular dusk display of thousands of birds making shapes in the sky before settling down to roost.

rainbow-hued fungus jewels, nestling in the turf violet, greys, browns, green and pink.

Even a single species can display many of these colours on its own. The Parrot Waxcap, for example, is first visible as a round, emerald-green cap in the grass. As it matures it runs the rainbow through yellows, oranges and reds. The commonest, and earliest, of the Waxcaps is the Blackening Waxcap. It starts life with oranges and yellows before turning patchily, then completely, black.

Most Waxcaps are small at a few centimetres across, though the Crimson

Waxcap can reach 12 centimetres. A few have distinct smells – honey, mice, and most striking, pencils! Some species have a dry surface, while others will have a slimy cap or slimy stem, or both.

Overall, Waxcaps are, well, waxy, in that they look as though they have been carved from wax.

Are any of them edible? Yes, but only three should be eaten (and rarely at that) as most Waxcaps are rare. The (relatively) very common Snowy Waxcap, Cuphophyllus virgineus, is a white species barely two centimetres in

diameter. Despite its unprepossessing appearance, it is very tasty.

The Meadow Waxcap, C. pratensis, more substantial and a with a pale orange cap, is also good to eat, though a bit watery unless well-cooked.

The smallish Scarlet Waxcap, Hygrocybe coccinea, lives up to its name with its brilliant red cap and stem, but its culinary virtues are small and I reserve it for dinner parties to frighten my guests.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Church

Authority is very different to power

By Canon Deb Smith Rector of Bridporr When someone reminds us of their authority over us, it often raises some hackles.

The chief priests and elders often took issue with Jesus’ authority. They’re not the only ones with authority issues. We all have authority issues!

So often we misunderstand what authority really is. We assume it is all rooted in credentials and expertise, success and status. We assume that authority comes from outside a person and that it is given them by their circumstances.

We hear that in the challenge of the chief priests and elders to Jesus, when they ask: “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

True authority always comes from within. It is an interior God-given quality not an exterior circumstance.

In the absence of true authority there will always be power struggles. Look at the gridlock in our political system, the wars throughout the world. Look at the conflicts in your own relationships. Those are about power, not authority.

Services Sherborne Abbey Weekday Services Monday to Saturday at 8.30am, Morning Prayer - The Sepulchre Chapel Every Monday at 9am, Holy Communion – The Lady Chapel Every Tuesday at noon, Holy Communion – The Lady Chapel Every Wednesday at 10.30am, Holy Communion with Homily – The Lady Chapel Every Thursday at noon, BCP Holy Communion – The Lady Chapel Every Friday at 9am, Ecumenical Holy Communion – The Lady Chapel The first Friday of the month at 9am, Requiem Holy Communion – The Sepulchre Chapel Every Saturday at 9am, Holy Communion – The Sepulchre Chapel Saturday, October 14 Cheap Street Church 6.30pm Taize Service Sunday, October 15 Corscombe 11am Morning Worship Evershot 10am Holy Communion Rampisham 11.15am Harvest Communion Maiden Newton 9.30am Holy Communion Chilfrome 11am Morning Prayer Sherborne Abbey 8am Holy Communion 9.30am Parish Eucharist

Think about the people who hold authority for you. They are not concerned about themselves. They do not dominate or control you.

They inspire you. They call forth from you faith, hope, and trust. They expand your world, open new possibilities, and bring forth life and gifts you never knew were there. They make you look at life anew, change your mind, and live differently. That sounds an awful lot like Jesus and it’s very different from those who exercise power.

There are people in your life who have no leadership position, title, or academic

6pm Choral Evensong Martin of Tours, Lillington 9.30am Morning Service St James the Great, Longburton 10am Family Communion St Paul’s at the Gryphon 10.30am All Age Worship St Mary Magdalene, Castleton 11.15am Mattins St Mary Magdalene, Loders 9.30am Celtic Worship St Mary the Virgin, Powerstock 11am Benefice Eucharist St Paul’s, Broadoak 6.30pm Holy Communion Monday, October 16 Sherborne Abbey 2.30pm Pack Monday Service Friday, October 20 Lady Chapel, Sherborne Abbey 11am Remembering the Fallen Sunday, October 22 Halstock 9.30am Breakfast Church Melbury Osmond 9.30am Holy Communion Melbury Bubb 11am Harvest Service Cattistock 9.30am Holy Communion Sherborne Abbey 8am Holy Communion 9.30am Parish Eucharist 6pm Choral Evensong St Martin of Tours, Lillington 9.30am Morning Service St James the Great, Longburton

credentials and yet they have such great authority.

You see it in their compassion and gentleness.

You hear it in the way they speak to others, in their love for people around them, the respect they give to stranger and friend alike.

What is the authority God has given you? What gifts, what divine attributes, has God bestowed upon you?

Use your Godgiven authority!

10am Said Holy Communion St Mary Magdalene, Castleton 11.15am Mattins St Saviour’s, Dottery 9.30am Harvest Holy Communion St John the Baptist, Symondsbury 11am Benefice Eucharist St Michael and All Angels, Askerswell 6.30pm Evensong St Mary Magdalene, North Poorton 6.30pm Harvest Thanksgiving Saturday, October 28 Sherborne Abbey 5.30pm Choral Evensong Sunday, October 29 Melbury Osmond 10.30am Team Service Maiden Newton 8am Holy Communion Sherborne Abbey 8am BCP Holy Communion 9.30am Parish Eucharist 6pm Choral Evensong St Martin of Tours, Lillington 9.30am Common Worship Family Eucharist St Paul’s at the Gryphon 10.30am Morning Worship St Mary Magdalene, Castleton 11.15am BCP Holy Communion St Paul’s, Broadoak 11am Benefice Eucharist Saturday, November 4 St Mary the Virgin, Powerstock 3pm Special Service of Light, Love and Loss

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

69

Homes & Gardens

So many varieties of autumn berries Mike Burks is the MD of The Gardens Group, with garden centres in Sherborne, Yeovil and Poundbury. Mike is a former chairman of the Garden Centre Association and is a passionate advocate of ecofriendly gardening practices.

In the ornamental garden there are some good varieties of pyracantha grown for their berries.

I like the sapphyr range which includes orange, red and yellow forms.

Pyracantha, or firethorn, is best grown against a wall or fence, not because it needs the support or protection but because it is then easier to keep the plants under control using pruning and tying techniques.

Equally, cotoneaster are often seen against the wall – but with a vast range of habits and sizes cotoneaster is a very useful genus of plants and can be used in just about every situation in the garden. Some are evergreen, others lose their leaves and some sit in between the two as semievergreens, losing their leaves in tough winters or at the end of the winter as new leaves form.

Varieties range in growth from prostrate groundhugging forms such as Queen of Carpets through semi-prostrate forms with arching branches (Cotoneaster Coral Beauty) up to large shrubs or small trees including Cotoneaster Cornubia – a large grower with red berries. There is also a similar

BERRY NICE: Cotoneaster is coming into its own

sized yellow-berried form C. Rothchildianus.

A very useful variety, which will happily act as a low-growing wall shrub, is Cotoneaster Horizontalis.

As the name doesn’t suggest, it grows vertically in a single plane and has white flowers in the spring and red berries in the autumn. It also is available with variegated leaves.

Look out for the Rowans or Mountain Ash too, again with a range of berry colours including the variety Sorbus Hupehensis with its white and pink fruit, a tree suitable for the smaller garden. With yellow berries, Joseph Rock is very pleasing and has fabulous autumn colours too.

Other berrying trees include hawthorns or flowering mays, including the variety Crataegus Prunifolia, which has superb autumn foliage as well as lots of red fruit.

And, if these others are in the wrong scale range for you, then berries can be found on several lower growing plants, some of which are great for winter tubs. For a

bit of fun, take a red berry from Gaultheria, commonly known as Wintergreen. It has a scent like muscle rub and was used by Native Americans for that very purpose. This is an acid lover, but will sit through the winter very

happily with autumn and winter bedding before needing to be moved into a pot with some ericaceous compost should your soil not be suitable.

Mike Burks thegardensgroup.co.uk

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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Making the most Andy Cole is a reiki healer at The Potting Shed in Middlemarsh. He specialises in planting for healing.

A picture on Facebook reminded us it was only a year ago since the kitchen was moved from the old potting shed.

What a transformation from a field to a beautiful, buzzing wellbeing nursery and therapy garden.

It’s just amazing what can be created in a year. If you design and build the correct habitat the wildlife will come. We had a visit from a stoat this week, just a fleeting glimpse.

Autumn is nearly on us and some of the leaves are starting to turn, the silver birch are just beginning to drop their leaves. These wonderful trees are a must for any garden being used for meditation, as the energies from this tree provide clarity of vision when on a guided meditation or vision quest. The layers of doubt and confusion are peeled away from your conscious mind to allow a clear understanding of the journey you have undertaken within the meditation.

With the beginning of the autumn leaf drop now is the time to make sure you have plenty of room in your compost area to store the leaves as they make a lovely compost.

The polytunnel is being cleaned out and made ready for housing the more tender plants through the coming winter. It is the ideal time to prepare your greenhouse as the glass will need to be washed to remove any green algae and any shade coverings removed ready for the winter months so you can maximise the sunlight available at this time of year. Clean up your greenhouse and planting equipment for optimum efficiency.

Inspect your greenhouse after cleaning to ensure smooth operation of your door, windows and heating apparatus if you have some. Ensure adequate ventilation. Heat and insulate your greenhouse to keep it warm in winter. Empty and deep clean your greenhouse. Prepare the soil by removing any weeds or debris. Inspect and repair your greenhouse to ensure it is in good condition.

The birds are busy feeding on the seeds in the meadow and the cotoneasters and pyracantha berries are ripening, the yellow, red and orange brightens up the garden.

The fruits are still being picked to make the jams at The Potting Shed, the raspberries have been wonderful, and we have been picking blackberries for an autumn fruits jam.

The blackberry has many different uses from jams to wine. The energies from this

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

71

Homes & Gardensx

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

73

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Lots of special offers and new product lines should get you in the festive spirit, alongside a glass of sparkling wine, tastings of local food and drink, from Fordington Gin to Moores Biscuits, and exclusive promotions.

There’s a 10% discount on all fragrances and a free giftwrapping service, plus a 20% discount on fragrance gift sets, lingerie, and selected fashion.

Director Chris Gould said: “It’s the perfect time to kickstart your Christmas shopping.”

All Goulds reward cardholders who make a purchase that evening will also receive a money-off voucher.

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Hospital Charity – Emergency and Critical Care Appeal. This invaluable charity strives to provide additional facilities for the new Critical Care Unit, including accommodation for relatives overnight and a patient garden, as well as rest facilities and welfare amenities for clinical staff.”

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“To make this appeal successful we need the support of the local community. Our sincere thanks to Goulds for their support.”

To find out more about the appeal go to dchcharity.org.uk

74

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Culture

Get your Trousers on for double date Get ready for an evening of live music, projections and political conjuring tricks when the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists show heads to Dorset.

Artsreach is delighted to welcome Townsend Theatre Productions’ acclaimed actor, writer and musician Neil Gore back this autumn with his adaptation of Robert Tressell’s 1914 classic novel, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

Audiences will meet the famous characters and enjoy the scenes, speeches and songs, featuring the

attacks on the dishonesty of capitalism along with his socialist vision, highlights the exploitation in their workplace but also focuses on the inequality in society as a whole.

WEARING THE TROUSERS: Neil Gore in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

Great Money Trick as its centrepiece.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists follows a group of workers as they renovate The Cave, a threestorey town house, for Mayor Sweater.

It traces their hardships and struggles for survival in a

Get yerself a ticket or two

Oom-pah-pah!

Weymouth’s renowned Wow Youth Musical Theatre group is set to tug audiences into the back streets of Victorian London with a spectacular performance of Oliver! at the Pavilion from November 1518.

The full 2009 West End version of the beloved musical will be staged at 7pm each night, with a 2pm matinee on the Saturday.

Under the expert guidance of talented director Paul Madeley, musical director Jessamy Bowditch and WOW’s creative team, a dedicated ensemble of young performers has been tirelessly rehearsing to bring

this classic production to life.

Drawing from the rich heritage of the original West End version, this rendition of Oliver! promises to be a Expect a seamless blend of outstanding performances, breathtaking sets, and dazzling costumes, all coming together to create an unforgettable evening of entertainment.

Mr Madely said: “We are incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication that our talented ensemble have put into this production.”

Tickets priced from £17-£20 are available at weymouthpavilion.com/shows/ wow-presents-oliver or on 01305 783225.

complacent and stagnating Edwardian England. These workers are the ‘philanthropists’ who throw themselves into backbreaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.

They are joined by artist Owen, whose spirited

n The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists will be performed on Saturday, November 11 at 7.30pm at Briantspuddle Village Hall (07788 100273); and at Drimpton Village Hall (07771 554601) on Sunday, November 12 at 7.30pm.

Tickets and information are available at artsreach.co.uk

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

75

Culture

Parp, parp! It’s the BSO On Your Doorstep A ensemble of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra players will perform On Your Doorstep this autumn thanks to Artsreach.

The mid-scale chamber ensemble will perform at Stalbridge Hall, Sturminster Newton at 7.30pm on October 28 and Sydling St Nicholas village hall on November 30 at 7.30pm.

The BSO On Your Doorstep series brings specially designed, midscale chamber ensembles to a variety of community venues and audiences across the South-West.

Artsreach director Kerry Bartlett said: “We are

incredibly proud of the partnership we have formed with the BSO over many years.”

This autumn, as part of the new Artsreach programme, join BSO’s brass octet ‘From Baroque to Boogie’, a programme of dance-inspired music through the ages.

The players will present and perform a programme of brass music from the ancient to the contemporary alongside new arrangements.

For Stalbridge Village Hall tickets call 01963 362978, for Sydling St Nicholas Village Hall tickets call 01300 341777. n artsreach.co.uk

BRASS, IN POCKET: Players from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra will be On Your Doorstep soon

What a farce! And a classsic of its genre Farcical black comedy doesn’t get much darker than the American classic Arsenic and Old Lace, but Dorchester Drama’s adaptation of the classic play is a dead cert to brighten up a dismal November evening.

Written by Joseph Kesselring and best known for the screwball 1944 film starring Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane and Peter Lorre, it is the tale of spinsters Abby and Martha, their nephews Teddy and Mortimer and the latter’s love for the aunts’ neighbour Elaine.

But behind this sweet facade, all is not as it seems. The aunts have an unusual way of ‘helping’ the neighbourhood’s elderly gentlemen, Teddy is trying to dig the Panama

RIGHT LINES: Eva Staddon and Sam Kelley and, right, Barbara Proctor and Colin Elphic rehearsing their lines for Arsenic and Old Lace from Dorchester Drama

Canal in the cellar and the arrival of the third manic nephew Jonathan throws everything into disarray.

Written in 1939, the play is set in Brooklyn and the writer littered the script with references to the archetypal ‘cutesy’ American lifestyle promoted at the time.

Director Ollie Hickey said: “It is certainly a play of its time, which is why I think it will be such an

interesting experience for today’s audiences. There are the 40s-style anachronisms but also the classic family dramas and disputes that we are all too familiar with.”

He added: “Black comedy, slapstick, horror and humour, the play has it all.

The character of Johnathan is very much a silhouette of the famously imposing Boris Karloff, and his aunts – while appearing as sweet

old ladies – definitely have dubious morals and are a wonderfully dark play on the saccharine image of American apple-pie grandmas.

“We have a terrific cast, made up of local talent taken from existing Dorchester Drama members as well as performers who appeared in Dorchester’s community play Spinning The Moon, which was staged earlier this year.” n Arsenic and Old Lace is at Dorchester Arts, Corn Exchange, High East Street, Dorchester at 7.30pm on Friday, November 24 and 2.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday, November 25. Tickets are £12 from the box office on 01305 266926 or online at dorchesterarts.org.uk

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Oh yes, it’s BridLit ladies night and BridLit is a feast for all tastes, with a host of writers of fiction coming along to the festival, as well as non-fiction, including politics, history, gardening, travel, sport, memoir, nature and cookery.

Female writers are well represented this year, with a range of books vying for attention.

Bestselling author Amanda Craig is at Bridport Arts Centre on Friday, November 10. Her latest novel, The Three Graces, is set against the backdrop of the Tuscan hills.

A comedy of manners, it features three elderly expat women – with four breasts, five eyes and three hip replacements between them – determined to make more than the best of things.

Craig, who grew up in Italy and studied English at Cambridge, is known for her cycle of interconnected novels which deal with contemporary British society.

She is a leading proponent of the social novel, her multi-stranded approach compared to that of Anthony Trollope and Charles Dickens.

Allison Pearson wrote in The Sunday Telegraph: ‘She has everything you look for in a major writer: wit, indignation, an ear for the telling phrase and an unflagging attention to all the individual choices by which we define ourselves

BRIDLIT DATES: Amanda Craig, Celia Brayfield, Madeleine Bunting and Fiona Davison.

Below: Georgina Moore, Georgina Maynard, Alexandra Blanchard and Alex Howlett

– where we stand as a society and how we decline and fall.’

Craig will be in conversation with locallybased writer Celia Brayfield, who will be giving her own talk at the Bull Hotel ballroom on Wednesday, November 8 at 10.30am on Writing Black Beauty: Anna Sewell and the Story of Animal Rights.

Sewell grew up in Victorian London, permanently disabled from an early age fall. Rejecting

the life of an invalid, she developed a remarkable empathy with horses.

Rebellious and independent minded, empowered by women writers, activists and abolitionists, she wrote Black Beauty, published after her death, which became a beacon for the animal welfare movement.

In The Seaside: England’s Love Affair, Madeleine Bunting explores the great coast resorts that have helped shape our national

identity to understand their origins and their heyday, their ongoing influence and their current struggle to survive.

Why have these popular places of pleasure, entertainment and adventure and their enduring appeal have faded to become merely memories of golden sands, cold seas and donkey rides? A must for those of us living in this part of the world who have seen the changing face of our seaside towns over the

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the feeling’s write years.

Bunting’s talk is on Thursday, November 9 in the Bull Hotel ballroom at 2pm.

Getting published is of primary importance to any writer. Top publicity guru Georgina Moore and portraitist and columnist Georgina Maynard had their debut novels published this year.

Moore’s The Garnett Girls is a compelling story of family dynamics and the complexity of human relationships set on the beautiful beaches of the Isle of Wight.

Maynard’s I Will Keep Her is a thrilling, actionpacked adventure with an unexpected twist which erupts from the English countryside to the exotic back streets of Riyadh and across the Saudi Desert.

They will be in conversation with Boris Starling at the Bull ballroom on Monday, November 6 at 2pm.

Wander Women, by Alexandra Blanchard & Alex Howlett, unties tales of journeys around the world – from the streets of London to the ruins of Syria, from Calais to Russia – and shines light on the constraints, that mould the lives of women, transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals.

In this moving and reflective book, two journalists gather voices of activists and artists, matriarchs and mothers, politicians and

humanitarians, drawing links between the gendering of migration and the policing of gender. The writers will be in conversation with Jo Willett on Monday, November 6 at the Bull ballroom at 5pm.While working at the Royal Horticultural Society, Fiona Davison discovered a cache of letters from a young gardener who was denied a scholarship by the RHS on the grounds that she was female.

Appalled and intrigued, she began to research the wider story of early female professional gardeners during a period when British gardens were an arena for radical and far-reaching experiments.

Her book, An Almost Impossible Thing, is a fascinating insight into the lives of six hitherto littleknown female gardeners in the years before the First World War. Davison’s illustrated talk is on Monday, November 6 in the Bull ballroom at noon. n Bridport Literary Festival takes place from November 5-11 in venues all around the town. For more information visit bridlit.com – tickets are available in person or from the box office at Bridport Tourist Information Centre on 01308 424901. n BridLit quiz night: See page 83

ILLUMINATING: James Richardson in The Curiouser Man

Tinker’s tale is a curious blend of traveller history Would you like to trade your curiosity to hear a well-worn, tinkered-with tale?

The Curiouser Man has been gathering curios from neither here nor there, whilst on the long road that lies between this and that: each one is a keepsake wrapped in a tale that speaks to him of something that is true….

At its heart this brand-new show from Angel Heart Theatre’s James Richardson is a celebration of the art of oral storytelling found in the Travelling community, where news was traditionally passed between places and people.

Such tidings would fuse the factual with the farfetched, casting a compelling light on the lesser-known world.

Conjured up from James’ memory of the old, horsedrawn ‘rag-and-bone’ man passing down his

childhood street and influenced by his own family’s Romany and Traveller history, The Curiouser Man is comically quirky and beguiling storytelling performance that reimagines traditional folk stories, with a flair for theatricality and illusion.

Spend an evening with The Curiouser Man as he arrives in Dorset to perform through Artsreach at Chetnole Village Hall (01935 873555) on Saturday, October 28, and Shillingstone Portman Hall (01258 860319) on Sunday, October 29.

Suitable 12+. Tickets and further information are available online at artsreach.co.uk n Sat Oct 28, 7:30pm.

Chetnole Village Hall.

01935 873555 n Sun Oct 29, 7:30pm.

Shillingstone Portman Hall. 01258 860319

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A packed international programme After a scorching summer, Artsreach is introducing a vibrant programme for the autumn featuring 29 artists and companies performing 58 live dates in 42 rural Dorset communities.

With the support of Arts Council England, Dorset Council, and a network of community volunteers, rural venues will host a variety of live music, theatre, dance, storytelling, poetry, family shows and more.

Music lovers can enjoy a real medley of styles and genres from both national and international musicians including Scotland-based European folk band Firelight Trio, a pocket opera from the acclaimed CarmenCo Trio, a musical cabaret based on the life of Gertrude Lawrence, folk and gypsy-flavoured music from Budapest Café Orchestra, seasonal carols from vocal trio Narthen, and a celebration of Welsh identity from Welsh Folk Award winners VRï. Toronto-based indiefolk duo Basset and Siger, with folk music from Flanders, complete the international programme.

Theatregoers can expect innovative physical theatre from internationally award-winning company Dead Rabbits in their hit show about the first known female tiger-tamer.

David Mynne is back with Canterbury Tales expect naughtiness, nonsense, medieval

WHICH WITCH: Scratchworks Theatre’s Hags: A Musical Extravaganza and, left, The Budapest Cafe Orchestra

swearing! Packed full of magic tricks, physical comedy and live music, Scratchworks Theatre explores the witch-hunt mania that sent hundreds of innocent women to the gallows in Hags: A Magical Extravaganza.

Townsend Productions bring Robert Tressell’s novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists to life with projection, conjuring tricks, live music and song.

Celebrating 50 years of touring, New Perspectives are on the road with their playful and subversive

new satire Model Village.

Desert Island Flicks by Spiltmilk Dance sees two leading ladies reimagine, remake and spoof 90 of the most memorable movie moments in a blockbuster, adventure and rom com rolled into one.

Based on the true story of one child’s struggle with letters and words, Aakash Odedra’s Little Murmur is an exciting new dance theatre show featuring ground-breaking projection, an extraordinary soundscape and a blizzard of paper and confetti. This exciting

show visits Dorset through the National Rural Touring Dance Initiative.

Angel Heart’s James Richardson celebrates the art of oral storytelling with The Curiouser Man, a comically quirky and beguiling show that reimagines traditional folk-stories with theatricality and illusion.

Part comedy show, part cooking show, George Egg is back with Set Menu; the best bits, the most delicious jokes, and the funniest food cooked live and in the most unusual ways.

Internationally acclaimed storyteller Dominic Kelly presents a whodunnit, a dive into the dreamscape of Swedish folklore, a love story, a journey into Europe’s ancient forests, and a playful look at our relationship with sleep in Mara.

There’s plenty for families to see too, with four

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for your pleasure SOUNDS OF SPAIN: Emily Andrews, David Massey and Francisco Correa

Carmen down for opera .. if you’re not too Bizet

THEATRE MAGIC: Lyngo Theatre’s Egg and Spoon and, inset, David Mynne’s Canterbury Tales

brilliant productions touring Dorset during the October half term.

With live music, puppetry and clowning, Stories in The Dust is a funny, heartfelt, post-apocalyptic family show that takes you to another world. Two wildlife enthusiasts and an eclectic group of charming yet cheeky animals welcome you to join the conversation about animal conservation in Scarlet Oak Theatre’s The Zoo That Comes To You. Join Agents Kahlo and Dali in The Midnight Mission, an interactive adventure show from the awardwinning Brave Bold Drama featuring nods to

spoof horror and a broad streak of quirky comedy.

Finally, Lyngo Theatre offers the perfect, gentle introduction to the magic of theatre for children ages one-four years in Egg and Spoon. Perfect for families during the festive season, the Travelling Players (Bumblefly, Forest Forge and Mischievous Theatre) share a tale packed with quirky storytelling, merriment and mischief in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. Expect a great deal of swashbuckling, a number of ridiculous fights and some improbable archery! n Full details and tickets are available from artsreach.co.uk

A Pocket Opera combining fantasy, comedy and tragedy with immersive, evocative music will be presented by the CarmenCo trio next month.

Thanks to Artsreach, acclaimed flautist and mezzo soprano Emily Andrews, alongside David Massey and Francisco Correa on guitars, will play two dates in rural Dorset.

The trio intertwine music from Bizet’s Carmen with other Spanish and Spanishinspired music, bringing to life Carmen’s story from her point of view.

Emily Andrews is a passionate chamber musician, performing

regularly with her prizewinning guitar and flute/voice duo, The Andrews Massey Duo, which has released three CDs and performed in Sweden, Germany and Italy as well venues such as Wigmore Hall and Kings Place in the UK. n Artsreach is delighted to present CarmenCo’s ‘A Pocket Opera’ at Portesham Village Hall (01305 871117) at 7.30pm on Friday, October 20, and Sixpenny Handley Village Hall (01725 552812) at 4pm on Sunday, October 22. Tickets are also available online at artsreach.co.uk

Troubadour on a Mission There are celebrated musical troubadours. And then there is Stephen Fearing, whose vivid, lyrical songs are exalted by his masterful guitar playing and melodic, cobalt voice.

Over a long and varied career highlighted by critically acclaimed albums and two JUNO Awards, Fearing has shared studios and stages with an eclectic assortment of artists, from Merle Haggard to Richard

Thompson to Cassandra Wilson. In addition to his extensive solo work, Fearing is also co-founder of veteran Canadian rootsrock giants Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.

He’s appearing at the Mission Hall, Sutton Poyntz, Weymouth, DT3 6LY, on October 21 at 7.30pm. Seats £16 only in advance from songsfromthe halls234@gmail.com or 01305 837299.

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Liam sniffing out a novel enterprise Weymouth author Liam R. Findlay has sniffed out a good tale after publishing The Doom Town Dummies, a children’s book inspired by the sights, sounds and smells of Weymouth.

Liam wrote the book as a means of escape while living with a rare illness called achalasia, which left him weak and virtually reclusive.

The story follows 11-yearold Colette Planchette, who can communicate with the dead through her supernatural sense of smell. This comes in handy, considering her best friend Lucian is a ghost!

Liam said: “My job is a Theme Park & Museum Smell Consultant at AromaPrime, where I

TO BE SNIFFED AT: Liam R Findlay with his new book The Doom Town Dummies

advise visitor attractions such as Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds on the uses of atmospheric smells.

AromaPrime is actually the same company that made the historical pongs for Weymouth’s old Timewalk attraction, which took

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visitors through the town’s past, and which many locals have memories of – good and bad. This attraction, which closed in 2010, played a big role leading me into a career involving storytelling and smells.

“When I became somewhat weak and reclusive with achalasia, I began to reflect on Weymouth, its history, and its smells that have so many links to emotions and memories of growing up here. The fishy smell of the harbour, the aromas of the bakeries, the chip shops whiffs, the sea. Bit by bit, Weymouth started to show itself in the novel I was writing.”

Liam said: “Smells come into play through Colette’s special sniffing ability, known as the Second Smell. This allows her to smell the souls of the living and the dead, but her sense of smell is also heightened in general. Colette’s soul smells like the ocean, while her nasty uncle’s soul smells like seaweed and the taste of ‘choking on seawater’. Colette’s ghost friend Lucian smells floral,

like the flowers I have enjoyed sniffing at Radipole Gardens, and the monster that Colette eventually encounters, the Snouted Snatcher, smells like the harbour: Fishy.

“It’s nice to take the spirit of Weymouth and put it into this world in little ways, giving it roots in real, multisensory foundations that have personal meanings and associations. Perhaps meanings that other locals connect to as well.

“The Doom Town Dummies isn’t a story about Weymouth, I should note.

It’s a story about a girl who sniffs ghosts and explores a village of shopwindow dummies.

“But it’s special to me how I’ve been able to tie my town into this story, and how writing the book helped me through a challenging period.

Celebrating the launch feels a bit like a celebration of Weymouth at the same time.” n The Doom Town Dummies is available at Amazon.

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Culture b-side 2023 review

by Viviane Horne With only an afternoon to see this fabulous four-day free festival celebrating art on Portland, its history and biodiversity, I started off with a trishaw ride to Portland Bill from the Eight Kings with the brilliant Cycling Without Age’s Weymouth branch.

The two bikes were booked by myself, two friends from Maidstone camping at Sweethill and their dog! To enable Bonnie the dog to have a seat, I shared with Vicky.

Bonnie was then safely strapped in.

Steve and Kirsty took us first to the Pulpit Inn for the exhibition on the unspoilt landscape there.

Incredible insect photography by Wayne Copperthwaite on display, the area is a Special Area of Conservation, part of the Isle of Portland and Studland Cliffs SAC and home to rare flora and fauna. Unfortunately a development is planned involving the demolition of the Pulpit Inn. On the way out we stopped to look at the animal masks made by Wildworks landscape performance artists (and islanders) for the dusk show at the Bill, Uncommon Land.

Next stop Portland Bird Observatory at the old lighthouse, an art installation by Emily Tracy highlighting the work done there, invaluable data on bird migration and species living on the island.

Leaving the trishaw at the

ALL ABOARD: Getting in the trishaw for Uncommon Land near The Bill and, below, The Siren of rOpes + Dreams rope sculpture

by Carrie Mason at the D-Day Centre and, right, The animal masks for Wildworks

Cramming it in for brief one-day jaunt of festival Eight Kings I headed for the Islanders’ Club to see the short film by Anna Heinrich and Leon Palmer, Entry, about the doorway in Brandy Row where a Tudor house once stood. Using Lidar 3D technology and photographs, a ghostly effect was created, accompanied by powerful atmospheric sounds, it was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes. It also features a mirror that hung upstairs in 149 Brandy

Row showing the water level reached during the 1824 storm. This now hangs in Portland Museum. I really hope this film will become available for all to see.

So much research was done for this festival by so many, I sadly didn’t have time to read everything in the Stone Hall in Chiswell.

Outside was a ceramic installation by Stephen Yates, a harbour scene.

Lastly to Entry itself,

where Ishwari Bhalerao and Leonie Rousham, aka Kneed, presented their 10minute recording on headphones, interviews with Portlanders, thought provoking and made me stare hard at the rock Entry was cut from, the tiny fossilised shells. I then popped into the Chiswell Walled Garden, where you could listen on an old fashioned phone to poetry by Robert McFarlane on ‘lost’ words removed from the new Oxford children’s dictionary, like acorn and bluebell – a shocking loss!

The D-Day Centre was closed when I got there but the b-siders I bumped into on Black Barge beach said I could probably see the rope sculpture by Carrie Mason through the railings. It holds the hopes and dreams of Portlanders collected over the last two years, The Siren (of rOpes + Dreams).

Wildworks created a stunning show at dusk with island volunteers, beginning with a community circle dance at the Bill, featuring the islands animals (the masks), the ‘voice’ of Portland and ending with the fire spectacle.

I wish, like my fellow trishaw travellers, I’d had the whole four days to enjoy this festival, the work that goes into it is astonishing, well done to the B-siders for all your hard work, it was amazing!

Apologies for what I missed out. Roll on next year, I will be there for ALL of it!

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Spend the evening with a national treasure TV presenter Aled Jones will perform in Dorchester in March.

The singer, who shot to fame as the angelic schoolboy singing Walking in the Air for the animated film The Snowman,

has become something of a national treasure.

Dorchester Arts is welcoming Aled Jones, 52, to the Hardye Theatre on Sunday, March 24, where the audience will be

treated to never-before-heard music, tales from the decades and for the first time, his story told in his own words.

Tickets are £30 to £70 from dorchesterarts.org.uk

MY STORY: Aled Jones

Harry goes fourth with another book It’s all in the stars for Weymouth author Harry Walton, who has just published his fourth book.

Right to the Stars reverses traditional fears of an alien invasion and instead considers what scores of alien worlds might feel at the prospect of warlike Earth discovering space travel.

This stand-alone novel follows The Rusting Shires, Rattle of Bones and Sky Master, a successful trilogy about the adventures of a small community struggling to survive in Cornwall after a plague nearly wipes out the world.

Harry said: “I had the idea for Right to the Stars some years ago, but I have only seriously started to pursue writing books since I retired.

“Public response to my first three books was very good and many people approached me and said

BOOKED UP: Author Harry Walton and, inset, his latest novel Right to the Stars

they hoped I would write more books with the same characters.

“This I am doing, and I hope to publish the first book in a new trilogy of fresh adventures in time for Christmas.”

Harry is working on an historical series of novels

bridging Egypt in 1426BC to present day Weymouth.

He said: “I was recently in Egypt and while I was in Luxor I stumbled across an astonishing open air museum where tens of thousands of different giant blocks of stone with hieroglyphics on them had all been assembled in one spot.

“It covered a colossal area yet tourists on their way to see the Temple of Karnak rushed past its entrance without knowing it was

there. It had no visible sign and a rise in the ground beyond the entrance shielded the main storage area.

“I only found it by accident and I suddenly wondered if discovering something hidden from long ago might not make a very good book. So when I got back to my hotel I sat down, scribbled out a few ideas and came up with a plot where a school bully becomes transformed into a noted scholar who just might have uncovered hints that a pharaoh’s plundered tomb might not be as empty of treasure as people thought.

“It is going to involve a lot of research but I hope to have the first book ready some time in 2025.” n Anyone who would like to browse Harry’s books can find all four of them on Amazon under his name or the book title.

Author inspired to bring it all back home after award Author Isabel Ashdown found inspiration for her latest psychological suspense novel Homecoming walking around Bridport and West Dorset.

The story is set in a gated community in the fictional market town of Highcap and is aimed at readers who enjoyed Big Little Lies and Doctor Foster.

After studying creative writing, Isabel’s first awards success was for a shortlisted poem in the Bridport Prize Competition. On collecting her prize, she fell in love with the town, and

returned year after year, until eventually moving there.

Her time is now divided between Portsmouth and Dorset, and she takes inspiration from coastal locations.

When she’s not writing, Isabel is also a mentor for the Royal Literary Fund, who she has worked with for a number of years.

Homecoming is available now.

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Chip in to help out at exhibition of sculptor Dorset Museum is seeking volunteers for a new exhibition on famed artist Elisabeth Frink.

Elisabeth Frink: A View from Within will run from December 2 to April 21 in the museum’s special exhibition gallery. It will explore Frink’s artistic process, personal life, and the influences that shaped her work.

The exhibition highlights artworks created at her Woolland studio in north Dorset including sculptures, prints, drawings, and personal possessions from the Elisabeth Frink Estate’s

HAVE A FRINK ABOUT IT: Dorset Museum is looking for volunteers to help at an exhibition of the work and life of sculptor Elisabeth Frink, below

collection, acquired by Dorset Museum in 2020.

Some of these objects have never been on public display, such as working plasters that provided the basis for Frink’s bronze sculptures, and tools.

Volunteers will play an important role in engaging with visitors, offering information about the

exhibition, and ensuring that objects on display are supervised at all times.

No prior background in art or knowledge about Elisabeth Frink’s work is necessary. n Go to dorsetmuseum.org/ volunteering or email volunteering@ dorsetmuseum.org

Book up now for literary fest’s quiz Pub quizzers who love books and literature are being invited to take part in a quiz being held in 11 West Dorset locations on October 18 in support of Bridport Literary Festival.

The quiz is open to teams of up to six and the winning team in each pub will receive free guided tours of Palmers’ historic brewhouse in Bridport.

BridLit director Tanya Bruce-Lockhart said: “We are very grateful to Palmers Brewery for their generous support. As well as the main festival, we are involved in extensive local charitable work.

“BridLit funds a university bursary scheme for Colfox

and Beaminster Year 13 students, supports Read Easy Bridport, part of the Read Easy Trust, a national organisation helping to develop adult literacy, and supports The Bank of Dreams and Nightmares, a Bridport- based charity which aims to inspire creative writing in children.”

Palmers chairman and managing director John Palmer said: “Palmers are delighted to be supporting the Bridport Literary Festival 2023. Its charitable work is very important for the local community and each year the festival draws visitors to the area from far and

wide. The traditional pub quiz is a great opportunity to test your general knowledge with friends whilst raising money to support this local charity and its endeavours.”

Entry is £5 per person – please book directly with the participating pubs: n Anchor Inn 01297 489215 Seatown, Chideock, Bridport, DT6 6JU contact@anchorinnseatown.co.uk n Bridport Arms 01308 422994 West Bay, Bridport, DT6 4EN info@thebridportarms.co.uk n Five Bells 01297 489262 Whitchurch Canonicorum, Bridport, DT6 6RH info@thefivebellsinn.co.uk n George Inn 01297 489419 Chideock, Bridport, DT6 6JD

georgeinnchideock@gmail.com n Loders Arms 01308 422431 Loders, Bridport, DT6 3SA hello@lodersarmsdorset.co.uk n Red Lion 01308 862364 14 The Square, Beaminster, DT8 3AX info@theredlionbeaminster.co.uk n Ropemakers 01308 421255 West Street, Bridport, DT6 3QP johnthecelt1@googlemail.com n Three Horseshoes 01308 485328 Powerstock, Bridport, DT6 3TF info@threehorseshoespowerstock.c o.uk n Three Horseshoes 01308 897259 Burton Bradstock, Bridport, DT6 4QZ info@threehorseshoesburtonbradst ock.co.uk n White Lion 01308 425165 1 West Allington, Bridport, DT6 5BJ info@whitelionbridport.co.uk n White Lion 01308 867070 Broadwindsor, Beaminster, DT8 3QD info@whitelionbroadwindsor.co.uk

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Digital dance show explores themes of dyslexia Groundbreaking ‘digital’ dance show Little Murmur, featuring projections and a blizzard of confetti, is coming to Dorset next month.

Diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age, Aakash Odedra found school very challenging: He spelt his name wrongly until he was 21 and it wasn’t until he “found the missing ‘A’” that he felt he belonged.

Based on the true story of one child’s struggle with letters and words, Little

Murmur combines visual design and technology with dance and humour in an honest and heartfelt conversation about the trials and tribulations of living with dyslexia, facing challenges and overcoming the odds.

Artsreach director Kerry Bartlett said: “We are thrilled to be able to bring this exciting digital dance show to Dorset as part of the National Rural Touring Dance Initiative, and are particularly pleased to be able to

work closely with a local primary school to present the show for the community, with children taking part in a creative workshop with the company before the show.” n Little Murmur begins at 2pm on Thursday, November 9 at Broadmayne Village Hall.

For tickets and further information call 07443 659912 or visit artsreach.co.uk

Live for the present with gift making Celebrate the ever-present art of gift making at the Malthouse Gallery, Lyme Regis until November 5.

Sixteen local artists and craft makers are showcasing a wide range of high-quality paintings and handmade items for sale, including glass bowls, ceramics, Japanese Shibori textile bags and raku-fired toys plus demonstrations of pin hole photography.

Curator Alison Shelton Brown says she is ‘passionate’ about the promotion of art and craft and in ‘keeping it local’ by supporting makers in the South West.

Acrylic artist Jonathan Mulvaney said: “Plein-air paintings are an expression of time and place. To own a local painting is a complete statement that holds out

GIFTED: Presents made by Jane Colquhoun, Tony Kerins and Richard Jeffery

against the everhomogenising visual world.”

Among the exhibiting artists is Dorset-based Tony Kerins, who captures the Jurassic Coast using watercolour and drawing,

while Jane Colquhoun’s highly detailed machine embroidered textiles represent groups of people, often at the beach or swimming.

Techniques in clay will be demonstrated by Frances

Pollard from Corfe Castle, and Richard Jeffery will create ceramic toys.

Bridport-based Sharon Campbell makes a variety of textile products including oil cloth ‘artist wraps’ to keep brushes and pencils neatly ordered.

Ever Present is open from 10am to 5pm daily until November 5 at The Malthouse Gallery, Town Mill Courtyard in Lyme Regis.

Piano/sitar mash-up as West meets East in record shop gig Goldberg Romain will be performing at Clocktower Records in Bridport on Thursday, November 16 at 7pm.

Audiences have been mesmerised by the alchemical weavings of Goldberg

Romain, as they explore the relationship between piano and sitar, as well as Western and Indian classical music.

Andrew Goldberg on piano, and

Ricky Romain on sitar, will be joined by the legendary John Robertson on guitar.

For tickets go to Bridport Tourist Information Centre.

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Health & Wellbeing

The flat-pack church with a horsehair-stuffed roof ALLINGTON WALKING IN DORSET

with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

Allington is a parish on the north west side of Bridport.

Park at Court Orchard, a housing estate that appears to be post-war with a GR letter

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The path soon meets a bridleway, part of the Monarch’s Way, where you turn left and head north west to join a road which takes you west through Dottery.

You might notice on your left a church made of wriggly tin. It came as a flat pack from Harrods in 1882 as the locals were fed up with having to box. Join the Hardy Way that walk all the way to Loders on leads north uphill, then down Sundays. It was recently repast Washingpool Farm and roofed and it was then crossing a tributary of the discovered that the original River Brit. The Brit and the roof had been insulated with Simene form the east and west horse hair! boundaries of the parish.

When you meet the main road, Continue uphill to Middle the B3162, turn left and after a Pymore Farm. Curve round to furlong you can join Bilshay the right, eastward for a while, Lane, heading west. After a passing the airport runways. furlong join a footpath on your

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left which takes you south eastwards to Waddon Barn then south across fields then down a minor hollow way between houses and the hospital.

The path then curves to the west and winds its way around, up and over Allington Hill, a nature reserve with lovely views. You descend on the east side then head south to join the main road. Turn left and head towards Bridport, crossing the Brit. Take the next left, towards Coneygar then join a footpath leading over the Brit to join estate roads that take you back to your car.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Business & recruitment Freelance copywriter ANDREW KNOWLES is based in Wyke Regis. He helps to support and train hundreds of small business owners.

Putting the squeeze on your creditors...

The cost of living crisis isn’t just squeezing households.

It’s also squeezing small businesses.

That’s partly because we’re spending less money. But it’s also because bigger businesses are getting worse at paying smaller firms.

The Federation of Small Businesses says that more than half of Britain’s small businesses are being paid late.

For a smaller firm, being paid late isn’t just an inconvenience. It can mean not having enough in the bank to invest in future opportunities. Not having enough to pay for essential supplies. Perhaps not enough to run this month’s payroll.

Where the small business is a one-person operation, without financial reserves, lack of cash can mean not being able to pay your household expenses.

Years ago I worked in finance and spent time on credit control. So from my experience, and that of others, here are some tips on how to handle late payments.

It starts by doing what you can to prevent them becoming late.

There’s a convention that when we sell to other businesses we give them credit. There’s an element of trust here – I give you the goods or services, along with a bill. I trust you’ll pay that bill within the agreed terms perhaps 14 or 30 days.

Are you obliged to give credit? No. The first step in credit control is to determine whether you should give

credit at all and if so, how much. There’s no reason why you can’t ask for some, or all, of the payment up front.

If you decide to give credit (and many do), be clear what terms you offer, and that everyone’s in agreement. You might give 30 days’ credit from the date on the invoice.

Your customer may decide that’s 30 days from the end of the month on the invoice.

Or you’ll get your money in the next payment cycle, after the 30 days have elapsed.

Bigger businesses know how to stretch your credit as far as they can, while making it sound reasonable.

It pays to have a relationship with your customer, and particularly those involved in managing payments. Find out how their payment process works, the dates they usually pay, and jog their memories a couple of days beforehand.

Get their assurance that your invoice will soon be settled.

Having the conversation may also alert you to a problem.

Perhaps your invoice hasn’t been approved for payment – if so, why not? Have your customer explain the problem and then suggest a way forward.

Stay on the case. Keep notes of conversations. Get them to make commitments about dates and amounts, and then follow up. Keep it friendly and polite – you may be talking with a junior in the finance team who has little authority, but they have the knowledge and contacts to keep the payment wheels rolling on your behalf.

If it needs to get legal, take

advice. But if you manage your credit control well, it rarely gets this far. Diligence, consistency and a willingness to invest some time can make all the difference.

In a perfect world you’d get paid on time, every time. But this world isn’t perfect and, while it’s frustrating, small businesses need to put time into ensuring they get paid when they should.

Volunteer Treasurer A group dedicated to providing social, cultural, and economic benefits to Bridport is looking to fill a key role.

The charity behind the landmark Literary and Scien琀fic Ins琀tute (LSi) and the award­winning West Bay Discovery Centre works in partnership to iden琀fy, plan, and deliver projects that meet local needs and provide long­term improvements to community welfare and wellbeing.

The treasurer oversees the trust’s budge琀ng, accoun琀ng and financial repor琀ng, with day­to­day accoun琀ng performed by a self­employed bookkeeper.

Experience in accountancy and/or finance is essen琀al. Familiarity with small/medium­size organisa琀ons is helpful, as would previous involvement in voluntary & charity sectors.

For a role descrip琀on and a recruitment pack contact mail@bridportadt.org.uk

Long and short term care for the elderly HIRING LOVELY CARERS FOR OUR RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME: Come and join our friendly team l Full / part-time hours, nights and days l Free uniform, PPE and DBS check Contact Lisa to have a chat on 01305 786568 or email lisa@primroselodge-weymouth.co.uk Primrose Lodge – Dorchester Road, Weymouth primroselodge-weymouth.co.uk

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Business & recruitment

WDM is golden at business awards The West Dorset Magazine has been named New Business of the Year and Overall Business of the Year in The West Dorset Gold Awards 2023.

Having won best business in the Bridport awards and best new business in Dorchester and Poundbury, we were automatically entered for the new Gold awards, covering West Dorset plus Weymouth and Portland.

Directors Miranda Roberston and Karen Bate, who launched their first edition last year, are elated.

Karen said: “Miranda and I set out to create a magazine which celebrates the best of our area, is free and hugely enjoyable.

“We benefit our advertisers

GOING, GOING, GONG: The winners of the Gold Awards

by giving them a platform that not only reaches upwards of 70,000 people, but by introducing the people behind those businesses, too.

“To print 25,000 copies of our 96-page magazine every month, and for them all to disappear quite so quickly,

THE LAW COLUMN

is no mean feat, so to be recognised gives us confidence we are doing something right!”

Miranda added: “We are utterly over the moon to have won. Thanks to all who voted for us and to Marketing West Events for organising these awards.”

Winners: Independent Business of the Year Dodgsons of Dorchester Retail Business of the Year - Smith and Smith, Bridport Restaurant of the Year - Les Enfants Terrible, Weymouth Best Place to Work - Purple Office, Poundbury Outstanding Community Support Lyme Regis Community Support Green/Eco Business of the Year - West Bay Discovery Centre Family Business of the Year - Heavers of Bridport Cafe, Pub & Casual Dining - Mercato Italiano, Bridport Outstanding Customer Service Razzamataz Theatre School, Weymouth Health & Fitness Business of the Year The Highbrow Skin & Laser Clinic, Dorchester Best Use of Digital Innovation - Shire Hall Museum, Dorchester Young Entrepreneur of the Year Cameron Small of Honey Asset Management, Dorchester B2B Business of the Year - Honey Asset Management, Dorchester Arts & Crafts Business of the Year Aperture Photographic (Doug Chalk)

01305 819696 | pharaohlaw.co.uk

Decide who makes decisions for you if you lose capacity Lisa Pharaoh is the west of Dorset’s only qualified and registered mediator with the Civil Mediation Council.

Contact her on 01305 819696 or at info@pharaohlaw.co.uk What happens if you have enable them to act on behalf not made a Lasting Power of of the person who has lost Attorney (LPA) and you lose capacity. These the ability to make decisions representatives are called about your health and deputies. Like an LPA, the financial affairs? appointed Deputy can take When it comes to making on the responsibility of decisions about your future, making decisions on your knowing who will be behalf when you are unable responsible for making to do this yourself. However, difficult decisions about unlike an LPA, where you as your health and financial the donor can choose who affairs is reassuring. will act as your attorney, it is If an LPA has not been made the court who decides who or is no longer suitable, then will be appointed as your the most appropriate deputy. There are two representatives will need to categories of deputyship apply for a Court of orders: Property & Financial Protection Order, which will Affairs and Personal

Welfare, but the court will decide whether both are required. Deputies do not have the same flexibility to make decisions as attorneys do. For example, the court will only appoint a welfare deputy if they believe the personal decisions being made are not considered in the best interest of the unwell person. The deputy appointed is also not necessarily a member of your family.

The procedure to apply for an order is costly and requires the involvement of an appropriate medical practitioner. The process is much longer than that of an LPA application and can take 6-10 months for an

order to be issued. Having to apply, pay for and attend court hearings to become a deputy can quickly become expensive and stressful for your family.

All of this uncertainty, cost and stress can be avoided by creating an LPA while you are fit and well.

We would be delighted to advise you upon how you can choose those you trust to make decisions for you should you not be able to in the future not only based on practicality, but on knowing you as an individual.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Constituency issues

with West Dorset MP Chris Loder

Single-use plastics ban a welcome move From the first of this month, a widereaching ban on the supply, sale, and offer of a range of single-use plastics was enforced. I’ve been campaigning for this outcome since I was elected to office in 2019, and I’ve been personally involved with the creation of the Environmental Protection Regulations 2023. The ban includes single-use plastic plates, bowls and trays; cutlery and balloon sticks; and polystyrene food and drinks containers.

I’ve been very clear over the years that the supply of single-use plastics needs regulation, especially given our commitment to improving our environment and curbing the levels of waste we produce. In the UK, we’ve tended to ship much of our plastic waste abroad, and this simply must stop. This ban is very welcomed, and I will continue to urge large firms, such as supermarkets, to do more to address their use of single-use plastics. More

sustainable alternatives do exist instead, such as brown paper and/or reusable bags.

In other news, the Prime Minister announced a new approach to delivering our Net Zero commitment last month, especially where it would unfairly impact rural people through rural energy provision. Previously new or replacement oil or gas boilers were banned from 2026. That policy approach risked burdening rural families and those with low-incomes the most, with many rural people being pressed into paying thousands for a new heating system.

The wider debate about Net Zero has rarely included an understanding of its consequences. The language of Net Zero has featured the pros, but very rarely the consequences.

I have been clear that the balancing of pros and cons for rural Britain were not adequately understood which led to my

scepticism with the former policy. It would have seen rural off-grid households and businesses having to pay thousands of pounds for the installation of an alternative, such as an air source heat pump. In rural West Dorset, 51% of households are not on the gas grid. Even with the assistance of a Government grant, it would simply not be practical for these households and businesses to find the extra capital to pay for a new heating system in relative short order.

Under the new approach, off-grid households and businesses will only need to install a heat pump if they are intending to replace their current boiler from 2035, and one-fifth of all households will be exempt where it isn’t practical or affordable to do so.

For households and businesses that want to transition to a heat pump now, grants worth £7,500 – or 50% of the cost of a heat pump – will be available under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

Politics

Consider which party has your best interests at heart?

Jacob Rees-Mogg used his speech at this month’s Conservative Party Conference to say: “I want cheaper food. I want hormoneinjected beef from Australia.”

Meanwhile, at last month’s Liberal Democrat Party Conference we guaranteed that all trade deals would maintain our high health, environmental, and animal welfare standards. As well as announcing we would increase the farming budget by £1billion a year.

The Prime Minister is using his conference to announce the Conservatives will prevent councils from imposing 20mph speed limits in built-up areas. This flies in the face of every conversation I have with

By EDWARD MORELLO West Dorset LibDems

residents of West Dorset, especially in the villages.

Liberal Democrats believe “20’s Plenty” and that will be our policy at next May’s Dorset Council elections.

The Conservative Party has rejected the science of climate change and is now rolling back on commitments to achieve Net Zero. The Liberal Democrats want to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy. Not just because we need to avoid a climate catastrophe but because it will mean lower household bills.

While the Conservatives want to sell more licences to drill

for oil and gas, the Liberal Democrats will invest in renewable power, provide free retrofits for low-income homes, plant 60 million trees a year, promote community energy schemes, and require all new homes to be fitted with solar panels.

We will devolve power to local authorities so that West Dorset can make decisions on the solutions that work best for us.

West Dorset’s bus network is slowly disappearing. What is left is irregular and unreliable.

In our villages especially, this can lead to greater issues of rural isolation, unemployment, the inability to access critical services such as healthcare, and ultimately can force

people from their homes. The Liberal Democrats will give local authorities greater control over the bus networks, including the ability to run their own buses so that routes can be restored, and new ones added based on the needs of residents rather than the profitability for the bus companies.

I don’t have space here to list all of the transformative initiatives we have been announcing recently (I could write a whole column on our £5bn for social care) but as we head towards next year’s local and General Election, I would ask you to think carefully about which party has yours and West Dorset’s best interests at heart.

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Politics

Long-term leadership, not short-term populism On September 9 the first Dorset CoP took place in Dorchester. This was the first community-led, countywide conference on the climate in the country. I attended and thought it a very successful and inspiring event. Attendees included a number of high profile climate activists, a number of Dorset Council officers, and five Dorset councillors. Unfortunately none of these councillors were from the controlling party. This was very disappointing. I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that most local Conservative politicians either don’t understand, or simply choose to ignore the seriousness of the situation we face.

There was, though, one

By KELVIN CLAYTON West Dorset Green Party

local Conservative MP who attended – Tobias Ellwood from Bournemouth East, who is on record as saying that our “biggest existential threat is climate change”.

Despite being initially heckled by an audience sceptical of his party’s lack of commitment to take the necessary actions in response to this threat, he stood his ground and made it clear that he didn’t think that the Government was doing enough. I couldn’t help admiring him for this.

This, of course, was before the various climate related announcements made by our Prime Minister. I hope Tobias holds his ground.

The most serious of these announcements is the green light for the Rosebank oilfield off Shetland, the biggest untapped oil field to be approved by regulators. I agree with Caroline Lucas when she calls this “a climate crime”.

The advice of climate scientists couldn’t be clearer: all new sources of fossil fuels have to stay in the ground. The emissions from this oil field will be the equivalent to those of the world’s 28 lowest income countries. This oil, and it will be mostly oil, will simply be traded on the international market to create profit for the oil companies, it will not create ‘energy security’. To do that we need a total move to renewables like wind, solar

and tidal – energy that we can use directly and not have to trade.

As I’ve said before, what we need is political leadership, not the playing of political games designed solely to capture what is perceived as the popular vote in order to win the next general election, games like ending the so called ‘war on motorists’.

Yes, we may have to accept that future travel needs to be focussed on public rather than private transport, but this will only be achieved when people find public transport easier and cheaper than owning, maintaining and driving their own cars.

Bringing this about will require long-term political leadership not short-term popularist game playing.

Tory conference was chaotic and incoherent The Conservative Party have just had their annual conference in Manchester and what a chaotic, incoherent few days it was, very much like the past 13 years you could say.

I wonder how the people of Manchester felt when Rishi Sunak announced the scrapping of the Birmingham to Manchester section of HS2?

The Prime Minister pointed to years of government failure – he is taking the British people for complete fools.

It just isn’t credible for him to distance himself from the Tory governments that came before.

He was the Chancellor for two years and held roles in

By CLAUDIA SORIN West Dorset Labour Party

successive governments for five.

What a bizarre sight it was when the PM’s wife – a supremely wealthy person – introduced her husband as the right man to look after families who were struggling with poverty and the cost of living. Such irony!

There were ministers indulging in conspiracy theories and post-truth rhetoric about Labour putting a tax on meat, telling the public when they could use their cars and where to shop. These fabrications came on the

heels of Sunak’s “Seven bins” scenario. It’s time we told these Tories that incompetent and ridiculous is not a good look.

Everyone I talk to is angry and upset about the state of our NHS, our schools, our energy prices, dire public transport, global heating and the climate crisis, sewage in rivers and seas and local councils unable to provide the services they once used to. The conference was like a parallel universe where none of these issues exist – or if they do, the governments of the last 13 years have no responsibility for them.

Sunak and his party are totally unconvincing when

they claim they have a long-term vision. Where have we heard that before?

And why should we believe them now? They have lost the public’s trust and many of us can’t wait to vote them out in the next general election.

My hope is that South and West Dorset will vote out the Conservatives locally and nationally so that the Labour Party under Keir Starmer’s leadership can get down to the job of governing for the whole country with competence and fairness, which will include focussing on green jobs in renewables, education and training, health and social care and safer communities.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Pets

New food franchise brings top grub to your door A couple of animal lovers have launched a new pet food delivery service for south and west Dorset.

Vincent & Christine Fry were on the lookout for new careers, having moved to Weymouth from South Africa, when they discovered OSCAR Pet Foods.

Their three border collies approved the food and so

they took the opportunity to be franchisees.

Vincent said: “Even our fussy eater has stopped having issues and eats with gusto – just the way it should be.

“My own experience of showing dogs tells me that if they are lacking in energy it is caused by one thing and one thing only – their food.

Also, Christine’s first dog (a

Nutri琀onal excellence Honestly labelled Personalised service Free delivery Your West Dorset, Weymouth & Portland advisers: VINCENT & CHRISTINE FRY vincent.fry@oscars.co.uk 07943 762054 oscars.co.uk

Tailored dog, cat and wild bird food delivered to your door: Established 1994

rescue) sparked a life-long interest in training and, crucially, an understanding of why good pet care can make such a big difference to a family home.

“Our love of pets stretches way beyond dogs: we’ve owned cats, rabbits, chickens, horses, and geese – always taking an interest in their

Try dog sitting for stress relief!

After what can only be described as a tough few of years for many, ways to improve our mental health and reduce stress have been more important than ever.

From long walks enjoying the beautiful Dorset Coast to connecting with friends and family, there are many ways to improve our mental health, including dog companionship.

And spending time with animals offers powerful physical and mental health benefits.

Making small healthy lifestyle changes can play a role in reducing the symptoms of

depression and anxiety. From increased exercise on walks to companionship and meeting new people, caring for a dog offers a lifeline to those looking to combat loneliness and improve physical health.

Recent studies have shown that: n Playing with a dog or other pet can elevate levels of serotonin and dopamine, the chemicals that create calm and relaxation. n Those who spend time with pets such as dogs and cats are less likely to suffer from depression than those who don’t. n Pet owners aged 65 or

WOOF: Ann Beveridge of Barking Mad with Lucy and Freddie

over make 30% fewer visits to the GP than those without pets. n Those with pets typically have lower blood pressure in stressful situations, than those with no pets.

Ann Beveridge, owner of Barking Mad Dorset Dog

nutritional needs.”

The couple deliver dog food, cat food, and quality pet supplies straight to your door – everything your pet requires from birth to adult and to senior pets including grain-free, gluten-free and weight control options.

Call 07954 762054, or email vincent.fry@oscars.co.uk Care said: “Years ago I started volunteering for Barking Mad as a host dog sitter myself, I couldn’t commit to owning a dog at the time so having ‘friends’ to stay gave me a companion to care for, a purpose for long country walks and lots of fun as I took care of many different breeds with various personalities.

Now the roles have reversed and as the branch owner, I love being able to match a dog loving host with a canine companion for a short stay.” n For more information on welcoming a family friendly dog for cuddles and fun at home on a temporary basis while their owners go on holiday, ring Ann on 01297 811995 or visit: n barkingmad.uk. com/dorset n barkingmad.uk.com/ become-a-dog-sitter/

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

91

Sport

Kids batter parents at fishing West Bay Sea Angling There was a great atmosphere for the Juniors versus Parents match on the East Pier, West Bay, held in changeable weather with an offshore breeze. 15 juniors and ten parents took part, including some debutants with several of the juniors who only started fishing around a year ago, baiting up, casting for themselves, and even tying their own knots.

The water was the clearest of the year and fish were coming to the scales as soon as the lines went down, and all through the day whilst the tide was running. Species caught included whiting, pollack, pouting, corkwing wrasse, ballan wrasse, tompot, shanny, mackerel, freshwater eel, flounder and bass.

The juniors ran out easy winners, landing a mightily-impressive 2167g fish compared to the parents’ 475g. Lidy Carter was the individual winner, catching a superb 608g including a bass of 310g which was the heaviest fish. The highest placed parent was Isabel Bourne in sixth position overall.

The club would like to thank Richard Tiny Daw for keeping records of fish caught and for matching the parents’ entry fees to add to the prize fund; Norman Stokes for keeping everyone in rigs and bait, also untangling numerous messes; Tom Marley at Angling Centre West Bay for much of the bait and gear; Chris Povey at Pure Fishing for all the rods and reels that enable the club to give out free equipment to the juniors.

Full results First place with 608g was Lidy Carter, pictured Second place with 227g was Ross Bourne Third place with 224g was Harry Hamlett First fish to the scales was Sam Carter with a corkwing wrasse. Smallest fish was Harry Hamlett with a whiting of 6g. Most fish was Harry Hamlett with 12 fish. Heaviest fish was Lidy Carter with a bass of 310g. The club’s next match is on Saturday, October 14, please see their website for details.

Dorset Golfer of the year Matt Sandy

n There was a double celebration at Sherborne Golf Club, with Matt Sandy winning the Globacare Race to Remedy Order of Merit 2023. In the last event of the season, with the top 15 players qualifying to play for double points, Matt carded an impressive total of 148 for +4 at Remedy Oak Golf Club.

Meanwhile Sherborne Golf Club Hardy B League team were crowned Hardy League Division 1 Champions following a 3-2 victory away to Bridport.

Special guest teaches juniors some top tricks LINE OF DUTY: From left, Kenzie Toulson gets some expert advice from international angler Callum Dicks, Dicks with the juniors and coaches from DDAS and,right, Josiah Wells-Parkes with his winning catch of 50lbs 12ozs

Former world junior champion Callum Dicks was the special guest of the Dorchester and District Angling Society juniors. Dicks, now in England’s senior international team, met nine excited juniors at Whitemoor Lakes to pass on some expert advice.

The session took place on Chester’s Lake, a small wellstocked lake that proved the perfect setting for the juniors to learn from a world class

angler.

Callum started the session by talking about the different baits he would use and how important it was to use them correctly. He spoke in detail about his rigs, his equipment and how to set it all up efficiently. The juniors were given expert advice and put it all into practice. n Chester’s Lake was also the venue as six juniors sat in mild, but changeable

conditions for Round Eight of the club’s Junior Championship. The freshlymanicured lake looked stunning and perfect for good fishing, with the young anglers able to spread out find the best spot to fish.

Most juniors opted for the method feeder as their main line of attack, but one or two tried the pole. Jack Copp nearly made it pay off for him by catching some larger fish

very close to his platform. One more fish would have grabbed second place for Jack, but he had to be satisfied with 39lbs 7ozs and third place. Just 6ozs ahead was Austin ScottKennedy with 39lbs 13ozs of margin caught Carp. Out in front by some way was Josiah Wells-Parkes, who landed impressive 50lbs 12ozs. Jo takes home 25 points and a £15 voucher for Alan's Angling.

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The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Sport

United colours of Bridport Town after

By Stuart Wickham sport@westdoorsetmag.co.uk

When Clocktower Records was picked as Bridport Town’s main sponsor for the 2023/24 season, its owner decided the relationship should go much further than simply carrying his logo on the shirts. Roy Gregory, who runs Clocktower’s flagship store on St Michael’s Estate and Clocktower Too at the Electric Palace, has now agreed a separate sponsorship deal with the club’s ladies’ team on a two-year sponsorship. He has been proactive in setting up the club’s online shop, and is set to become an integral part of MATCHY-MATCHY: The men’s and ladies’ teams are now in coordinating strips a major fundraising campaign for the Bees.

Roy said: “We are in a position to help the club in a lot of ways and there is a good relationship between sport and music, so it’s a really good fit for us. They have some big financial challenges as they have to fund new floodlights and carry out extensive refurbishments to the changing rooms.”

Clocktower Records were one of many businesses who pledged £150 to support the club ahead of the current season, and were picked in interest in buying the shirts driving shirt sales and want to “I see Adrian (Scadding, the lottery to become the too. It would be fantastic if establish a revenue stream for Bridport FC chairman) doing club’s main shirt sponsor. the club through their shop at a huge amount to keep the Roy explains his motivations we saw a hundred people around Bridport wearing their St Michael’s. Roy said: “It club going and thought we for extending the support to team’s colours. Many of the makes sense for us to become are in a great position to help. the ladies team. an outlet for the club because The club are so lucky to have Roy said: “We saw the ladies players are local and it’s a great way for people to show we are open six days a week Adrian. He has incredible were in different shirts and I their support for their local and get a lot of footfall. commitment, and we want to thought it would be great if team and help to build a “We have lots of expertise in offer some support. they could be aligned with sense of community. online sales too and can “Everything feels very the men’s teams.

Naturally it gets our logo out really support the club with positive about the club, with “I thought it would make there too, which is great.” things like design and the new ladies’ team and the sense that they are on a Roy’s team at Clocktower website content and men doing so well in the similar footing and thought have been instrumental in optimisation. league. They are seeing some that this could help to drive

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

93

Sport

record shop’s spin as its main sponsor Strong start to the season under Chris Herbst Goals from Kieran Daniels and Kieran Coombs were enough for the Bees to win on the road at Okehampton, and consolidate second place in the SW Peninsula League Premier Division East.

It has been a strong start to the season for Chris Herbst’s men, with Bridport winning nine of their 11 games. The team have continued their momentum from the second half of the 2022/23 season and there is a mood of genuine optimism at St Mary’s Field on and off the pitch.

Crowd numbers are on the rise and loyal Bees’ fans are certainly enjoying the club’s reversal in fortunes since their disastrous campaign and relegation in 2021/2022.

Chris said: “It’s been good, we’ve made a strong start. It’s early days, of course, and Ivybridge have done really well so we need to be on top form when we play them.

“We’ve picked up a few injuries but have tried to get a few more players in and have a good strong squad of 22 now. We’ve been winning without playing particularly well at times and they say that’s a sign of a good team.

“Our defeat (to St Gabriel and Torbay Police) was a bit of a wake-up call and probably not great crowds and there’s a good buzz about the club.”

Bridport Town are looking to raise a significant sum of money to pay for LED lights to replace their current halogen bulbs. The overall cost is estimated at between £75,000 and £100,000, with additional funds being sought to revamp the club’s changing rooms.

Long-standing club chairman Adrian Scadding said: “The

a bad thing at all. It’s good to have a kick up the backside sometimes and I’ve been really pleased with how the lads responded. There’s a long way to go, but I’m happy and confident we can improve and do well.”

Nobody is happier than chairman, Adrian Scadding. Adrian said: “I really am so happy with how it’s going under Chris, he’s really turned it around. He’s gone with more local players, more young players, and they’ve gelled together really well.

“There’s a fantastic buzz about the place, we’re seeing 250 or more at Kieran Daniels, pictured our home games and it’s super to see OPTIMISM: earlier in the season, was on the the fans with smiles on their faces. scoresheet in the Bees' win at The more we get coming to see us, Okehampton. Inset, manager Chris the easier it makes life, Herbst PICS BY STEVE BARRETT as everything is getting more ladies’ team is new for us here and expensive for clubs we’re really excited about that too. like ours. I They are an established group of certainly feel very players, and I was delighted when the positive about the team manager, Lianne Dunk, asked if rest of the season on they could come and play at St the pitch.

Mary’s Field. I watched them beat a “The Yeovil Development team 4-2 today and it’s great to have them under our umbrella.”

fundraising is a big priority for us, as we can make a big saving in the cost of running LED lights. It equates to around £60 per match, which is around a 33% saving. The FA are behind the scheme and are supporting clubs with 70% grants, but that still leaves us with a lot of work to do to get the work done.”

Adrian added: “Roy at Clocktower has been very supportive and they were

planning to start a crowdfunding campaign until I said we were looking to do one of our own. Roy is going to talk to our fundraising committee and is happy to be heavily involved or potentially lead the fundraising. It makes sense to have a single campaign and hope we will be able to come up with the right approach to get the money that we need.

“It’s been fantastic to have

Roy’s support and I’m really pleased. It’s a great help to us. Nothing seems too much trouble and he’s got some good technical staff who have helped us too.

“You can see from his website that he’s proud to be supporting the club and he was so proactive in setting up the shirt sales and designing an online shop for us too.”

Go to bridportfcshop.co.uk to get your Bees’ shirt.

94

The West Dorset Magazine, October 2023

Agriculture

£101k grant to promote country life The Stepping into Nature team, led by the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership (AONB), has won £101,286 to help farmers safely run events to make the countryside accessible to a wider range of people.

The Dorset Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme panel awarded the cash for the 18-month Stepping into Nature project to train farmers so they can welcome people living with health conditions and additional needs visit their farms across the county.

Farming in Protected Landscapes Project Support Officer Pia Lindstrom said: “Spending time in nature and

Natural England estimates £2.1 billion a year could be saved in health costs if everyone in England had good access to greenspace.

ONLY NATURAL: Spending time outdoors Steph can improve mental health Aburrow, Stepping into taking part in farm-related Nature Project Officer, added: activities may have the “This project will also bring potential to improve mental partners together to build the health and wellbeing. Being foundations of our ambition to outdoors can provide a create a Nature Buddy calming environment, away from pressure of everyday life, Network across Dorset. This network will be made up of and can relieve stress and anxiety, giving people space to volunteers who can support people to access nature on a be themselves.”

one-to-one basis. These people may be living with anxiety, low confidence or are feeling lonely. The volunteer can help motivate and support them to go for a walk to the local park, sit in the garden or have a conversation about the wildlife out of the window.

“We are busy working behind the scenes, along with a partnership of organisations in Dorset, to make this offer enjoyable, safe and well resourced.” n Find out more about the farmer training offer, Stepping into Nature and developments of the project on www. stepin2nature.org or email stepin2nature@dorset council.gov.uk

From pages 66-67

Puzzle solutions Sudoku

6 4 3 5 2 9 8 7 1

5 1 8 4 3 7 9 2 6

7 2 9 6 8 1 4 3 5

3 9 7 1 6 2 5 8 4

8 5 4 9 7 3 1 6 2

1 6 2 8 4 5 3 9 7

Crossword

2 7 5 3 9 4 6 1 8

9 8 1 7 5 6 2 4 3

4 3 6 2 1 8 7 5 9

Brain chain 39

42

9

3

6

24

Killer Sudoku Pro 17+

6 4 7

80×

8

1

1 5 9 3

2

8

1

3

42×

7

2 17+

9

24×

6 5

7×

5

18+

3

7+

1

7 9

16×

2

25+

4 6 8

3+

6

3

4

1

9

8

2

6

9

3 4

36×

4 7

4

8

2

6

12×

105×

7 8

5

12×

9

1

2÷

0

5

27×

12+

5+

2 7

3÷

3

19+

3

1

2

7

5

4

6

3

4

5

9

9+

36×

9 1

15+

8 7

0

30×

6

8

2

1080×

4÷

11+

5

6

2

1

1

5

9

7

4

8

3

S P E C I F Y S U I T E R L I N O C L O S U R E N A K E D H B S R O N O E L E C T C O W B O Y L E E H W C O R R E R Y K E N N E L N E B S R I S C R O L L E R A S E T A M A N H N A D L I B P R E V E N T L L U A A S C A S E U P G R A D E

Jumbo 3D Sudoku 4 2 3 6 5 8 1 7 6 5 8 9 9 7 2 4 5 4 1 8 9 3 6 7 3 3 2 6 1 1 4 1 3 8 5 1 2 5 2 7 8 9 7 9 9 6 8 3 1 9 6 3 7 4 2 7 6 7 1 4 5 2 4 5 7 9 2 1 4 8 5 8 3 4 4 3 88 5 6 5 8 43 2 9 7 9 3 6 6 7 5 9 3 5 1 2 1 6 9 5 6 1 2 8 7 2 8 9 6 7 5 6 9 4 2 3 2 7 3 4 3 4 6 1 1 9 8 8 2 1 2 7 2 7 4 5 6 1 9 2 4 5 1 4 6 4 3 9 6 9 8 4 3 8 5 8 3 8 1 7 5 3 5 3 7 9 5 2 7 9 7 1 5 9 6 2 1 3 4 6 8 4 5 8 6 7 9 1 2 3 4 1 4 7 6 8 2 8 2 1 6 2 7 5 1 3 9 67 6 9 8 9 49 1 4 5 7 3 8 4 2 6 8 7 1 5 7 5 2 3 8 3 3 5 2 1 6 9 4

Arrow words R F A D A E M I R S C P L E I I R K S A E O R S A E P E R O S

E P T H H O A S N O N R U S C

I N G C L A R E O A T M K R A A A D A H E S A S K I

Brain chain (Hard) 26

136

34

17

21

210

Cryptic Crossword S P A S M S C A T T E R U C P L U G A L F R E S C O T O G A S O Y C T H H E R O I C K N I F E G H W A B A K E O V A R U D D S L T I O U T D O C U C K O O C R G H O C L I M O I D E N T I T Y A V S R T E A L D E N T E S A L T Y

The West Dorset Magazine, February 2023

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