News & Views

GOLDEN CAP

Family fun activities

The National Trust is inviting families to make Golden Cap their playground with a range of free activities. Families are encouraged to head to Stonebarrow car park where they can collect a ‘Come Out and Play’ leaflet, which details some of the things you can do on the estate. Activities include a Smugglers Trail with brass rubbing, orienteering, a challenging 10km walk and free use of balance bikes. The leaflet is also available from the National Trust Hive Beach Hut and can be downloaded from the Golden Cap website www.nationaltrust.org.uk/golden-cap.

BRIDPORT

UK’s longest mural

Painted on the hottest day of the year, a youth-led project supported by Bridport Arts Centre and funded by Bridport Town Council and Dorset Council has resulted in the creation of the UK’s longest mural reaching an impressive 133 metres long. The aim of the mural project was to encourage young people to design and create an ambitious artwork in the town that celebrated the local area and gave voice to their views for the future. The project began with an agreement from Bridport Football Club that the wall could be a canvas for a street art mural.

BRADFORD ABBAS

Neighbourhood Plan

Residents of Bradford Abbas and Clifton Maybank have the opportunity to shape their community through the development of a Neighbourhood Plan. Dorset Council has received a request from Bradford Abbas Parish Council for the approval of a Bradford Abbas and Clifton Maybank Neighbourhood Area, which is the first formal stage of preparing a plan. The application and supporting information can be viewed at www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/ neighbourhood-area. Residents who have any comments about the Neighbourhood Plan can send them to the Spatial Planning Team at Dorset Council by Friday 16 September 2022.

CHARMOUTH

Grant to help clean the Char

The Lower Char Community Project has secured a £1,500 grant from the Wessex Water Foundation Environment Fund to start to clean up the River Char as it runs through the village of Charmouth and out to sea. The Project aims to bring the river back to health, to make the water safer for local people and visitors to enjoy and to allow wildlife that has disappeared from the Char Valley to return and flourish there. To find out more visit www.riverchar.org

DORCHESTER

Fundraising to unlock archive

Dorset Archives Trust (DAT) is leading a fundraising effort to permanently unlock the internationally significant, UNESCO-listed archive of author Thomas Hardy. At present, the collection which consists of over 150 boxes of material spanning Hardy’s life and including diaries, photographs, letters, books, architectural plans and poetry is almost invisible to the wider world. The archive contains such items as the manuscript of the Mayor of Casterbridge, correspondence to Hardy from such luminaries as T. E. Lawrence and Siegfried Sassoon and the plans for Max Gate. The project will require £60,000 and DAT has started a crowdfunding campaign at www.dorsetarchivestrust.org.