Yetminster

REP: Michaela and Graham Plaice: gplaice@gmail.com 872921

I start this article with the announcement that Christmas is officially over – the Christmas tree embedded in the village triangle is no more. Thank you to Andy Perlejewski and his small team for undertaking this task.

This section of the magazine opens with measured optimism for our village community. The pub and sports club opened for outside catering and drinks on 12 April. The Spar, Gallery Café, and many other local businesses are continuing to provide a fantastic service to us all. It will also be a period when our local clubs and organisations will be thinking of slowly re-opening. This is a timely reminder to us that once they are all up and running to full capacity, we need to support them or the old adage of “use them or lose them” will apply. The White Hart Pub: Carole and Jim have worked hard to enhance the outside areas for Yetminster residents and others to enjoy. A softly, softly approach to coming out of lockdown has seen them open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes for the last couple of weeks. Please keep an eye on the pub website and pub door for more info.

Easter was a wonderful period and it was fantastic to attend an actual church service. The Reverend George Moody celebrated Holy Communion. A small choir, conducted by the organist, Simon Eadon, opened with This Joyful Eastertide as an intro and sang three unaccompanied hymns from a distance in the chancel. Julie Simpson and I read the lessons. Patrick and Frances Moule led the prayers. The great, happy surprise was the gathering outside the church at the end when everyone sang!

We also afforded us the opportunity to admire the re-gilded weathercock which will soon go back on top of the tower.

The Easter decoration competition culminated in Julia Simpson winning the adult entry for her spectacular Easter bonnet. The children’s winner was Maggie Doody for her Easter basket, the judges were especially impressed by Maggie’s original artwork. Highly commended were Julie Hunter-McGiven for her beautiful family window and Easter Bonnets by Jessica Farrell and Issy Mills.

A great deal of effort has been expended on the repair of the finger post, please read Geoff Goaters Article on page 33.

I would commend reading the Yetminster and Ryme Intrinseca Neighbourhood Plan Working Group article on page 32 which goes some way to allaying my fears regarding the Dorset Draft Local Plan and the numbers of proposed new dwellings for Yetminster.

I would like to finish this month’s input by noting my astonishment on how fast you can lay tarmac. Village roads have been repaired in what I consider lightning-fast time, this must be progress, not sure about its sustainability.

I am hesitant to say this, but enjoy the good weather, get back to the pub and sports club and stay safe.

Michaela and Graham Plaice

Family window

Easter Bonnets

50/50 Club Result of the April 2021 Draw

1st Prize £50 No. 47 Mr. H. Rowbothom 2nd Prize £30 No. 6 Mrs. L. Manaton 3rd Prize £20 No. 3 Mr. M. Hampson Want to join? – forms available at http://yetminsterparishes.gov.uk/a-z/ yetminster-fair-association The Association raises money for local organisations and is non-profit making and run entirely with voluntary support yetminsterfair@aol.com

St. Andrew’s Church

May … Dorset’s most beautiful bluebell time of year.

As I write just after Easter, we are looking forward to a fuller emergence from lockdown on 17 May ... roll on spring and summer!

Easter update: a wonderful service was held at St Andrews on a gloriously sunny day, with the church as full as possible and more outside in the sun, with the service relayed via a sound system. The children from St. Andrew’s School had created a beautiful Easter garden in the porch.

Afterwards everyone joined up outside to sing a rousing hymn together, Jesus Christ is Risen Today, and to enjoy their Easter eggs. Our golden cockerel glowed and sparkled in the sun – on display at ground level. Grateful thanks to Claire Thomson for his restoration and regilding. Congratulations to the winners of our Easter Decoration competition. Julie Simpson was the adult winner with her marvellous Easter bonnet, and Maggie Doody (age three) won the children’s prize.

Easter Garden

Maggie Doody

Our APCM (AGM) took place on Sunday 18 April, when we bade a fond farewell to both David Price and David Gould after their many years of service to our church, as Treasurer and Churchwarden respectively. We also welcomed three new members onto the PCC: Graham Plaice, Graham Simpson and Amy Whittlesea.

Looking ahead we very much hope to open the Tower again this summer, with teas and the new churchyard map, on Saturday 26 June. Churches and services will be carefully re-opening, and possibly by the end of June some sort of normality will be back in our lives again.

We have a new Curate arriving – Jenny Nelson is a teacher at Sherborne Girls School who will be priested on 27 June and will start working with the Benefice clergy as a self-supporting minister. We warmly welcome her and look forward to meeting her.

Nick Swann has very kindly created a beautiful video of St. Andrew’s Church on Easter Sunday, which can be seen via his youtube channel England’s Old Churches, via this link: https://www.youtube.com/ channel/UClAs6DNnfzkbnVe69u5TUvw

Details of all our church services can be found in this magazine, on the church notice boards, and via the weekly Round Robin. If you would like to get this, please email me.

With my best wishes

Churchwarden Clare

Churchwarden.yet@gmail.com

Yetminster & Ryme Intrinseca Neighbourhood Plan – progress report

This has been a busy month for the YRIPC Neighbourhood Plan Working Group as they have been agreeing and finalising the changes and amendments to the draft text following the assessment of the consultation comments and suggestions. This work is almost complete, and we are grateful for the assistance of the Yetminster & Ryme Intrinseca Walking Group and of the former NP Steering Team Leader for the NP Business Group with this.

AECOM’s consultant, who is advising us on conservation issues has now visited the sites with members of the working group (whilst complying with the Covid restrictions) and this has enabled him to complete his report. The assessments and recommendations are being reviewed and final decisions on possible changes to the number of identified development sites will be made soon.

As part of this finalisation process Dorset Council were asked how they

derived their figures to determine the proposed 154 new dwellings, as identified in the draft Local Plan. This number is higher, even allowing for the shorter life period of the Y&RI Neighbourhood Plan, than that determined by the original NP Steering Group and it was felt to be helpful if the calculation could be understood.

In reviewing their figures, it appears Dorset Council have found two errors that have consequently inflated the draft Local Plan’s overall housing requirement for Yetminster & Ryme Intrinseca. Two major applications had apparently been inadvertently included in the small site’s windfall figure and several small applications had been missed. The revised list of small sites completions is now only seven permissions over the last six years (rather than 32), which has been projected forward as a revised requirement (after the Folly Farm completions) for 16 dwellings, rather than 74 dwellings, over the length of the Local Plan, which is two years longer than our own Neighbourhood Plan. This is a more manageable figure bearing in mind potential changes in the number of sites to be developed.

Under the terms of Locality’s NP Financial Assistance package, an “End of Term” report must be produced to explain how the grant has been spent and this is in hand. Unlike other years the full grant allocation has been used and it is felt that the outstanding YRIPC NP funding as taken forward into 2021/2022 will be sufficient to enable the Plan to be competed and submitted. There is also the benefit of the additional £500 that has been set aside within the agreed precept should it be needed.

YRIPC Neighbourhood Plan Working Group

You may be wondering where it’s gone. Volunteers from the village and the Parish Council dismantled the fingerpost on the crossroads to take it away for refurbishment. The ‘fingers’ were in trouble and had started to fail so the opportunity was taken to overhaul the whole post following the successful repair and reintroduction of the one in Ryme Intrinseca, at the junction of Common Lane.

The fingerposts are iconic and of a design unique to Dorset, part of the county landscape and heritage. Since the County Council devolved the responsibility for maintenance of the items a few years ago, our Parish Council has taken up the mantle and is looking after all five posts within the parish.

The council is indebted to the volunteers as well as to Julian Bennett Joinery who generously donated and made the new ‘fingers’. We hope to see it back soon in all its new glory.

Cllr Geoff Goater

Yetminster and Ryme Intrinseca Parish Council

Chairman’s Notes – April Meeting Plans to repaint the children’s play area have been delayed as the person undertaking the work has unfortunately been taken ill. Quotes for the work to be carried out by a contractor were much higher than expected, so we will need to consider if we can fund this work in this financial year, or to undertake the work ourselves, possibly with the help of volunteers. Some good news for the play area is that Dorset County Council has agreed that the money allocated to provide a gate for the Pound can be spent on a new picnic table in the children’s play area.

With the lease due to expire in August, a review has been undertaken on the operation of the Yetminster Community Sports Club. It has been disappointing that the pandemic has limited opening to 19 weeks in the first year of operation and that organised sport has been greatly curtailed. The work carried out by the tenants in decorating the building throughout and installing a new kitchen was recognised. It was decided to offer a new five-year lease with each party being able to give three months’ notice within that period.

It is pleasing to report that the drains on the approach to Bow Bridge have been emptied and it is hoped that the culvert will be cleared shortly. We will be meeting with the Environment Agency and local landowners to see what other measures can be taken to reduce flooding in this area. We are also expecting news from Wessex Water on their plans to improve the flooding at Brister End.

The first meeting of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) working group has taken place. The group is made up of councillors and volunteers from the community and aims to identify suitable projects and initiatives that meet the funding criteria, while ensuring that any allocated CIL award is administered effectively. The awards must be used for the provision, improvement, replacement, operation, or maintenance of infrastructure needed to support development.

In keeping with many other authorities, Yetminster and Ryme Intrinseca Parish Council has declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency and is committed to do everything within its power to assist a drive to net zero carbon emissions by 2035. We will be drawing up an action plan of things that we can do to reduce global warming.

Our next meeting on 5 May will commence with our Annual Meeting, at which the accounts will be tabled. Permission for councils to hold virtual meetings ends on 7 May and, with restrictions in place until 21 June, there is some reluctance to hold a face-to-face meeting as scheduled on 2 June. We may therefore decide to hold meetings in July and August. The annual village meeting, at which representatives from local clubs can present their reports, will be delayed until it is safe to hold a meeting.

Andy Perlejewski

Chairman of Yetminster and Ryme Intrinseca Parish Council

1st Yetminster Scout Group

The Beavers, Cubs and Scouts had their final Zoom meetings last month before returning to face-to-face meetings later in April. During their final virtual meeting, they all received a barn owl pellet and had great fun dissecting this and examining the bones found. The pellets were purchased from Suffolk Owl Sanctuary and help support their charity.

The Group continues to act as a collection point for food donations for Sherborne Food Bank and we are now also collecting clean used crisp packets for recycling through Terracycle.

The Group is currently looking for a new Chairperson and Treasurer as the current volunteers step down in July. If you would like to know more, please contact me by email or phone.

Paul Hollick

Groups Scout Leader Gsl.1styetminster@gmail.com 07815 135602

1942–2021

My dear wife of 50 years died on 27 March after an eight year struggle with very rare frontotemperal dementia. All the family were gathered around her bed until the last breath. If there is such

John Edward

1934 – 2021

On 14 January 2021, John passed away peacefully aged 86. A loving husband of Caryll and father of Serena, Philip, Dorian and James. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends. A private family funeral took a thing as a beautiful death, then Anne showed us.

We moved to Yetminster in 2013 and had six very happy years in the village, with our daughter Amy, her husband Alex and their two children Danny and Pippa living nearby. There was another move to Thornford in 2019 where Anne lived her last eighteen months. She was a much loved mother of four children, Alex, Alison, Amy and Annalise, and grandmother to eight grandchildren.

Her funeral took place at the parish church of St. Mary Magdelene in Thornford on Friday 16 April, and she was buried in the churchyard with lovely views across the valley, surrounded by primroses, daffodils and with ewes and lambs grazing in a nearby field.

She lived to love – she loved to live.

Adrian Whittlesea

place at Hilfield church on 8 February.

For his first 27 years John lived at Church Farm, Hilfield, working on the family farm. He loved the freedom of the countryside and was instrumental in setting up the popular Hilfield and Hermitage Young Farmers Club.

When John married Caryll in 1963, they lived at Knapp House, Hilfield for two years, where Serena was born, before moving to Bishops Down where their three sons were born. He farmed there for 55 years.

His last wish was to return to Hilfield at the end of his life. John is now buried next to his Mum and Dad.

Donations if desired in memory of John for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance C/O Peter Jackson Funeral Services, High Street, Henstridge, Somerset BA8 0RB.