Bring on spring at Dorset’s earliest countryside show

The Spring Countryside Show is back for the second year and will take place on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 April 2023 at the Turnpike Showground in Motcombe.

Tickets for this two-day event are on sale now with early bird prices while available of £10 a ticket for adults and children go free. A perfect gift for a loved one, or why not treat yourself and get something in your 2023 diary now to look forward to?

The first show in 2022 was a huge success, with over 10,000 visitors throughout the weekend. The 2023 show, organised by the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Agricultural Society, promises even more rural activities and events.

Giles Simpson, show chairman, said: “The Spring Countryside Show is all about bringing spring in the countryside to life. The focus is on it being family-friendly with a chance to get close-up with a whole host of animals and learn more about rural ways of life. Being the earliest countryside show in Dorset, it’s also a great way of celebrating the arrival of spring, which we all look forward to after a long, drab winter.”

The theme of this show is ‘Bring Spring to Life’ with an amazing showcase of rural crafts including wood carving, farrier, heavy-horse logging, gun dog displays and terrier racing plus a dedicated Farm Yard Area, full of animals to meet.

There promises to be ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ style sheep at The Sheep Show and the famous Lloyds Bank black horse, Amadeus, will feature in a breathtaking horseback falconry display.

Visitors will also be able to enjoy show gardens, a cookery theatre, shopping village, fun fair and a festival area with live music, food and a bar featuring local ales, gin and cider, which will be open until 10pm on the Saturday evening.

Tickets are available now and exhibition opportunities are still available. www.springcountrysideshow.co.uk

with Weymouth College

Active green skills development will play a key part in supporting the government’s net zero strategy for decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy by 2050 and associated plans for growing the economy and creating high-skilled, high-wage jobs countrywide.

With a planned 400,000 new roles in the green energy sector alone by 2050, an additional 70,000 heat pump installers required by 2035 and electric vehicles generating 50,000 new skilled jobs by 2040* – Green Skills-led training and education will be vital to achieving internationally agreed targets.

Weymouth College is a part of the recently launched Dorset Green Skills Hub – a joint initiative with Bournemouth & Poole College and Skills & Learning

Adult Community Education – to ensure the county’s workforce is up to speed with the latest technology in sustainability.

Weymouth College has been awarded £800,000 to deliver a wide range of green ‘upskilling courses’ in construction, raising the profile of green skills and green job opportunities whilst encouraging local employment, apprenticeships, self-employment and training.

Our first tranche of upskilling courses – in Domestic and Commercial Electric Vehicle Charging Installation, Solar PV Installation, Installation and Maintenance of Heat Pumps and Domestic Retrofit – are now enrolling and are all being delivered free of charge if completed before 31 March 2023.

The offered Domestic Retrofit courses also qualify for CITB short qualification grants, allowing all CITB registered employers – up to date with levy returns – to apply for a grant for all directly employed staff on the payroll, business owners and partners and all subcontractors.

If you would like to find out more about the upskilling opportunities offered by our range of free of charge courses and be amongst the first to know about how our planned green-skills led Weymouth College Future Skills Centre could work for you contact DTA@weymouth.ac.uk.

*Source EngineeringUK /The New Statesman 2/12/2022 www.weymouth.ac.uk