Services & Classified

FOR SALE

“Roberts” digital sound

system - £80. cd/usb/ sd/dab/fm. With dock for iPod and iPhone. Instruction book. Tel: 07720 437 876. Pair lined curtains - £150. + Additional thermal interlining. Aquamarine with delicate silver motif. Pewter-look eyelet headings. Each H. 7’7” x W. 13’3” Tel: 07720 437 876. Double bedstead 4’6” - £150. (Furniture Village “Emily” - 2019). Plain Oak & Soft Grey painted. Dismantled. Ground floor collection. Tel: 07720 437 876. Pair of armchairs (IKEA - “Ektorp”) £30 each - £50 the pair. White loose covers. Tel: 07720 437 876. Ceramic Wall Tiles over 300 reclaimed 8 x 4 inch, light colour, free. 01308 422879.

Mowbray lite adjustable

toilet seat and frame flat packed in box, perfect clean condition. £20. Hardcastle rotating car seat. £6. (01305 871716) Hunter Herald 14 Wood burning multi-fuel stove. Second hand £175. Can email photos can if reqd. Phone 07887 372623 Crewkerne area. Table Top Football Set £30, Sturdy Swing Ball £20, Vintage Oak Mirror 75cmx67cm £15, Philips 32” Flat Screen TV with Remote £30, Family Bicycles: Mens, Womans shopper, Childs two wheels (need TLC), The lot £50o/o., Round Barbecue Free, Philips 22” TV Free. 07985 013 996. Microwave Panasonic, stainless steel. Very good condition. 500mm wide. £25. Tel: 01460 242644.

Student Alto Saxophone

(Chateau) black/silver nickel plated. American design by Steve Goodson. As new, serviced by Wessex Music. Complete with good quality case and accessories. Bridport 01308 425037.

Men’s Bicycle, Ridgeway

GX750, 12 speed, 26” wheels. £25. Bridport 01308 425037. Metal and glass extending dining table. 80\139/169 and 4 chairs Seaton 01297 24745. Aquaroll £20, Wastemaster £20, whale pump £15 and digital aerial £35 Telephone 07719362164 after 6pm.

Tormek SA 250 wet

grinder. Very good condition. Complete with new adjustable blade and chisel holder. £250. 07905 627483. 3 fold, wood, loft stairway. Open length 9’ - 7”. Treads 12. Complete with wood surround, fitted drop down door, and spring mechanism. £45. 0129734259. Single Divan Bed with 2 storage drawers and hardly used memory foam mattress, £50. Antique Pine chest of drawers (5 drawers) 107cm W 48cms D and 97cms H £50. Occasional table in dark finish with shelf underneath, ideal for chalk paint makeover. 77cms W 48cms D and 42cms H £20. Hardwood Bureau with opening desk top and two drawers 77cms W 41cms D and 100cms H £25. 07875763304 or 07836656453. Sets of Bowls sizes ‘O’ to ‘5’ from £40. “Try before you buy” For further details tel. Arthur at Bridport 01308 425278. Beautiful Qashqai Persian Carpet in excellent, clean condition. size: 89” long x 41” wide (226cm x 104cm). £195. Tel: 01395 487554 Exceptional Wall Mirror, size: 47ins x 54ins in a pine frame and with a boarded and jointed back. Would enhance any space. £150. Tel: 01395 487554 Lovely Art Deco style quality large Table Lamp

HOME DECORS RESTORATION

with a coloured glass shade in excellent condition, size: 22ins high x 13ins wide. £50. Tel: 01395 487554

Vintage Fisher Price

Play Family School House Set with Clock and bell, complete with all accessories including play people, desks, chairs, magnetic letters and numbers, chalk board etc, playground equipment including roundabout, swings, slide, etc, plus also a nursery set with push chair, high chair, play pen, rocking horse, etc. Hours of fun. VGC. £50. Tel: 01395 487554

“Next” rectangular

cushions in various colours and all in excellent condition, £3.00 each. Lovely quality Chenille Throw, size double 150cm x 212cm, in excellent condition, £8. Tel: 01395 487554.

English paint 2.5 litres

unused, world of colour Skye Blue Silk £10. Ice Pink matt finish £10.Also Plants for sale, Buddleia, Forsythia, Hydrangea, Rowan tree saplings. V cheap, visit Corner Gore Lane/ Cuckoo Lane, Uplyme. 01297 443930. Ice-cream maker Magimix Gelato Chef 2200 Freezer compressor, churn mechanism, working order, makes lovely ice-cream and sorbets, original instruction booklet and recipes, bit of wear and tear but works very well. £100ono. Bradpole 01308 421720. Vintage steamer; trunk metal hinges perfect renovation project (to coffee table) length 31 1/4inch, width 17 inch, depth 13 inch £25. Photo can be emailed. 079707 15413 or 01395 577859. Sidmouth.

Vintage large 2 handled

white and blue enamel washbowl ideal as a garden planter or bird bath. 15 inch diameter, 16 inch height. £15. 079707 15413 or 01395 577859. Sidmouth.

Chalk & Chisel:

Distinctive Vintage Mirrors. We sell beautiful, well-priced vintage mirrors. Visit our store at The Emporium, 39 Princes Street, Yeovil BA20 1EG. Discover more at chalkandchisel. co.uk

Jul 22

PEST CONTROL

Wasps Rodents Insects

Professional eradication and control from Three Counties Pest Control 07484 677457 www.3cpestcontrol.co.uk

Aug 22

SHEDS

Ex-display sheds,

Stables/field shelters, summerhouses, offices, workshops, agricultural 01935 891195 sept 22

TUITION

Piano, Violin, Theory

tuition at your homw. Highly qualified teacher. Adults and children welcome from beginners to advanced. Dr Thomas Gold 07917 835781 oct 22

FOR SALE

Under counter fridge

good condition £40 ono. Dyson top of range Vac AI cond. £300 new, asking £60. Various airline tools, one box full, £65ono. 01460 929692.

Spode-Copeland dinner

service from Thomas Goode, London, ivory white classic embossed silver rims, 17 dinner, 11 dessert, 11 soups, 3 sauce boats, elegant lids crescent by 7 plates, 2 charger dishes, £95, 57 pieces. 01460 72980.

Georgian arched large

room divider doors, including lining and

FURNITURE.

Antique Restoration and Bespoke Furniture. Furniture large and small carefully restored and new commissions undertaken. City and Guilds qualified. Experienced local family firm. Phil Meadley 01297 560335

Beaminster upholstery

and furniture repair. Tel. Mike Oaten 07470 007588.

PROOFREADING

Proofreading,

editing, transcription, secretarial for writers and businesses. Excellent references. Penny Dunscombe 07825339289.

THERAPIES

Somerset Reiki:

Complementary therapy for body & mind in South Somerset. Read about Reiki & its practical benefits at somersetreiki. com. Contact sara@ somersetreiki.com 07484 636577. Jul 22

FOR SALE

architrave. £265. Can text pictures, 07932 122398.

Black & Deckeer GT200

electric hedge trimmer, good working order. £40. 01297 489495. 4ft Divan base. Four roomy drawers under base folds in half. Good condition only £35. 01460 220081.

Lalique crystal glass 3 ¼

inch bird figure sparrow, no damage £40. Late 19th century galvanized Dolly Tub, good condition, ideal ornamental garden planter. £30. Rugby World Cup 2015

WANTED ELECTRICAL CHIMNEY SWEEP

Wanted - Old slot

machines, shop signs, fairground & military items, Old Interesting items & collections, 07875 677897

oct 22

Vintage & antique

textiles, linens, costume buttons etc. always sought by Caroline Bushell. Tel. 01404 45901. Oct 22

Secondhand tools. All trades and crafts. Old and modern. G & E C Dawson. 01297 23826. www.secondhandtools. co.uk.

Aug 22

Dave buys all types of

tools 01935 428975

Jul 22

Wanted: Old tractors

and vehicles. Running, non running. Good price paid. 01308 482320 07971 866364

Dec 22

Coins wanted. Part or full collections purchased for cash. Please phone John on 01460 62109 Oct 22

Stamp collections/ albums especially Great Britain and empire. Please contact Mike 075 275 38863.

FOR SALE

Canterbury short sleeved white top, large, officially licensed product in original sealed packaging. £30. 07970 715413 or 01395 577859. Sidmouth. Trespass unisex ski jacket grey with built in hood, size large, 38” to 40” chest, worn few ties. £5. 01935 422629. Bradford Abbas. Suffolk Colt petrol mower, in need of good service, cuts well (old) £30. Buyer to

FOR SALE

collect. 01308 456479.

Toyota Aygo wheels

multi-spoke silver alloy 15 inch (as new) with Nankang Ultrasport tyres, transform looks and handling £350. 01297 624165.

Ikea beech veneer table

good condition H 74, W 50 extends to 78, L 90. £20. 01308 420580.

Vax Floormate upright

hard floor washer. Works similar way to Vax carpet cleaner. Excellent condition. £75. 07581 749564 (Dorchester).

Antique Pine Dresser

base, 3 drawers 3 cupboards, H 1m 5cm. W 2m 1cm, D 55cm. Nr Crewkerne. £200. 01460 72682.

Free Piano upright –

Fleurich of Leipzic, 07983 164325. (Sidmouth).

BBQ Cadac Safari

Chef for use with Butane or Propane Gaz, good condition. £25. Seaton 01297 20151. Vintage Sarah Kay girls bedroom set two duvet covers, four pillowslips, one cushion cover, curtains, 66”w x 54” drop. All excellent condition. £30. Jeans M&S indigo slimleg size 8 unworn £10. 01297 443930.

Vintage Ercol easychair,

low armchair Yorkshire Design circa 1960s. Has new webbing, recovered Chintz as new. £500ono. Matching footstool £200ono. Ercol Windsor Goldsmith Carver Chair £150ono. 01297 443930.

Tennis Racquet Dunlop

Max 27 with cover £10. John Lewis pleated skirt unworn 26” waist £10. Carlton Squash racquet with cover £10. M&S man’s shirt. 15 ½ collar, regular fit. New £10. 01297 443930. G Plan Teak cabinet 48” x 30”w, 2 doors, 2 large 2 small drawers, one lined as jewellery compartment. £50. Old oak cabinet 1930’s Barleytwist legs 2 doors, formerly held gramophone £45. 36”w x 30”h, local delivery possible. 01297 443930. Sit on Sholley with bag etc, used only once, cost £200. Price £150. 01308 459751.

Long mid green brocade

dress – jacket Eastex 16. Pale green skirt and top Jacques Vert 16. Both suitable for wedding or evening. £25 each. Immaculate, selling due to weight loss. 01305 266726. Equinox 600 Detector 11” coil cuff cover, control box cover, super condition Little used, with Andy Sabisch hand book, genuine reason for sale. £600. Best offer accepted. 07591 058862.

Wooden artist’s painting

drawing box easel, easy to carry, size 270w 380l 85d. £15ono. 07730 376626. Old Pine, flour, grain, blanket box. Length 830mm,

DISTRIBUTION

FOR SALE

width 440mm, high 660mm. £40ono. 07730 376626.

Four Redwood Garden

recliner chairs, still new, boxed, cost £150. Will accept £90. Bridport 07916 873161. Gents Scarpa light weight walking boots.Are size 12 but fit my size 11 feet perfectly. Good condition £30. Panasonic webcam with wide HD & microphone Model TYCC20W £15. Hauck travel cot.Good condition £15 Gazco Logic HE gas fire with modern surround to fit fireplace with conventional flue.Cost £700 but hardly used Will sell for £150 with free marble back panel & hearth. Tel:01308 423849

MARIA STRANI-POTTS

an obituary and literary tribute

Maria Strani-Potts in Corfu

Maria Potts, nėe Strani (1946-2022), whose home was in Dorchester, died on May 7th, when swimming in the sea whilst on holiday in Greece.

Maria, who was born in Corfu, wrote as Maria StraniPotts. She earned a degree in Contemporary East European Studies from the University of London and always had a thirst for knowledge and travel, for foreign languages, history, international relations and world literature.

Apart from her academic interests, Maria came to be regarded as an original writer of fiction. Much of her published writing has been in English. Her consistently popular novel, The Cat of Portovechio, Corfu Tales, will be republished in a British edition by Colenso Books next year. The Australian edition was published by Brandl & Schlesinger in 2007, and a Greek language version was published by Kedros in 2011.

At the first launch of the Australian edition, David Malouf AO, one of Australia’s greatest writers, had this to say of the book (13 November 2007):

“In The Cat of Portovecchio Maria Strani-Potts has produced a genuinely charming book...The charm consists in the book’s wholeness of view...the writer’s generosity in letting everything in; her allowing a place for all sorts of ordinary human follies and indiscretions, for bad humour as well as good, but with a sense that what all this makes up is a picture of the way we are… She takes us inside a whole world, lovingly created, that is like no other we have been invited into, but with an eye that can be savage as well as loving. Just when we think we know some of these characters, and feel comfortable with them—too comfortable in fact—she catches them for us in a new and altogether less easy light...She has the writer’s eye for detail: for the small, unnoticed aspect of a thing that makes it immediately alive to us; the writer’s sense of pace, that makes time, and room in the writing, so that everything finds its place; and the writer’s unsparingness that makes truth more important to her than any desire to please.’

Writing in The Anglo-Hellenic Review (Spring 2009), Richard Pine captured other aspects of her achievement:

“Maria Strani-Potts is incisive in her observations of her locale…Strani-Potts’ writing is characterized by a relentless and seductive intelligence which can be cruel, compassionate and ironically amusing- often all at the same time. She is never less than provocative. A pleasure to read and, even for Corfiots, an education”.

Cathy Peake wrote in an extensive review in The Weekend Australian, February 9, 2008:

“Strani-Potts conjures a world that assaults the senses and her affectionate descriptions of recipes and food preparation of the kind authentic to Corfu are so vivid and mesmerizing, so imbued with social custom and occasion they are a unifying thread running through the fractured, passionate and often difficult lives of her characters”.

She concluded:

“The Cat of Portovecchio is notable for its freshness, warmth and spontaneity. Strani-Potts invites us to step into the lives and over the thresholds of this island community with charm and generosity. She leaves us with a seaside village and a landscape so vibrant that it stays in the mind long after the book is closed.”

In The Age, Thuy On wrote (Saturday January 19, 2008)

“The Cat of Portovecchio is a deeply sensual novel; you can almost smell the sea brine, the diced garlic, the fresh bread, and even the metallic blood scent wafting from the nearby slaughterhouse. This is a busy book; the characters’ lives intersect as they go about their daily business. As you’d expect from any close-knit village, there are widow(ers), adulterers, the forlorn, the gossips and the fearless. Secrets and lies plague the seemingly virtuous and hidden passions are closely guarded”.

Of Maria’s collection of four short stories, When the sun goes down, Island stories (available in Kindle e-book and paperback editions), one verified reviewer wrote enthusiastically and perceptively:

“Strani-Potts most recent collection further establishes her high position among 21st century authors and

critics…The Cat of Portovecchio, Corfu Tales stands as a singular example of story writing at its finest. This collection emphasizes the sundry metaphors of “the island”: a physical, emotional, and/or a political territory isolated from the mainland by the vastness of the sea (itself a chimeric metaphor). One story in particular, “The Exploitation of Panorea,” is as fine a parable as Kafka’s “Hunger Artist” or Walser’s “Battle of Sempach.” StraniPotts, a Corfiot, cleverly situates her characters in narratives that require a strong sense of place, a temporal anchor. Like Flannery O’Connor’s undeniable identification with the South, Strani-Potts’ fiction is tied to the Ionian Islands and to the culture of freedom found there”.

The collection includes “The Exploitation of Panorea. an abridged version in English of Maria’s powerful environmental Greek allegory, “To Poulima tis Panoraias” , 2008.“

Dimitris Konidaris, of The Society for Corfiot Studies, commented in the newspaper Enimerosi (translation from the Greek article):

“I didn’t just read it, I studied it closely. This book should be read by political candidates, and by all those who work in institutions and who hold any kind of power, or who hold the fate of the island in their hands”.

Maria also conceived the idea for an anthology of over 130 Dorset writers and photographers, which was published by Roving Press as Dorset Voices, with a preface by Prince Charles. It was co-edited by Maria and Jim Potts and by Louisa Adjoa Parker.

Maria wrote a moving play for radio (The Children of Others), and she kept extensive diaries which she had hoped to finalise as a volume of memoirs, initially for the family. She worked on this project for many years and had begun the process of editing, as it ran to 150,000 words. It remains unfinished but it is Jim’ Potts’ intention to complete the project and to collect other unpublished stories and writings.

Maria’s first love was quilting - patchwork quilting-, which she developed as a committed textile artist who always delighted in sharing her knowledge and skills and in introducing the art to new groups around the world. Maria had wide international connections both in person and through Facebook.

Jim and Maria, and then their children Nina-Maria and Alexander, shared their lives together in countries as far afield as Ethiopia, Kenya, Greece, Czechoslovakia (as it was), Australia and Sweden. They served in London on several occasions. In 2009, they made their home in Dorchester, Dorset, where they lived very happily for twelve years. They had both spent extended periods living in Castle Cary. Somerset and in West Bay, Bridport, Dorset.

Jim worked for, and represented, The British Council for 35 years, strongly and ably supported by Maria in many areas of his cultural relations work.

The family lived through national revolutions, terrorist bombings of offices, assassinations of colleagues, profound changes and upheavals of many different sorts.

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Community Land Trust celebrates decade

LAST month was an exciting time for the Norton sub Hamdon Community Land Trust (CLT), when they celebrated ten years since becoming a legal entity. They had plenty of reasons to celebrate—having, over the course of that decade, created ten affordable homes for local people The CLT has created 10 affordable homes and saved the village shop and post office from closure.

‘The CLT members, many of whom volunteer in the shop, are very proud of this record’ said Elizabeth Maunder, Secretary and one of the founders.

The CLT is a form of not-for-profit organisation called a “Community Benefit Society”. The members, all volunteers, are people who care about the community in which they live and want to keep it vibrant into the future. ‘The CLT does what is says on the tin’ says Elizabeth, ‘it holds land in trust for the benefit of the Community. It is run democratically by it’s members and protects local assets, such as the land our affordable housing was built on and the community shop.

‘Working on the housing project gave us enough confidence to tackle other things. We have been running our Community Shop and Post Office for nearly eight years, saving both from closure. Their importance to the local community cannot be underestimated and were essential services throughout the pandemic—not closing for a single day in all that time and making deliveries to the most vulnerable.’

There are many local CLTs across the West Country now, with over 200 homes built on their land across Devon, Dorset and Somerset and another 350 or so in the pipeline. New CLTs are springing up across the region hoping to copy the successes of the established groups such as Nortonsub-Hamdon.